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

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They showed us a statue though and it clearly has wings also something on that are they teaching us how to carve rock

It'll work better with wyverns.

D, trying to make something out of plants/roots sounds useful.

I don't think we have rupestre painting Oscar (I guess somebody could have picked up a chunk of burned wood and drawn something on a rock, but that's it).

Ah right, it wasn't cave paintings but carved figurines and fire spirits. But still, we're not completely culturally barren.

Well, that was hilarious. Seems like this time A or D are both worthwhile choices. What I really think is crucial is for us to somehow figure out some forms of construction - we need to start to build things, and that will quickly transpose into all kinds of structures from fortresses to bridges. One might think A will lead us to metals, etc., but I don't know if you send a bunch of hunting primitives, will they even find/identify metal? Will we come across lava and form furnaces? What? Or would we just become excellent trekkers, but reliant on the terrain?

All in all, I do think it is about time we looked at the mountain properly, instead of chasing after all the new things that pop up. Ever since we settled we've been distracted by the mystery animal, the new tribe, the Bear Cavalry idea, etc. - so let's for once make sure we get to it. A it is.

D, Chemical Warfare! Drugs!

Taming bears didn't seem like a waste to me.

Metallurgy and bear taming are the same, impossible to achieve any time soon but with enough time become possible.

Did anyone listen to my explanation of why, even if it did work, bear cavalry would be useless?

Well zebra's are quite untameable to, so if our tribe could tame them when they had no previous experience with taming, then would bears be completely impossible?


Joking aside, Curufinwe could you add another overview of the tribes current status sometime soon?

Nah Oscar, you are underrating bear-mounts. Battle-frenzied bear aren't scared of some little mammals that are less then one fourth of their weight and scream in a weird pitched voice, plus their fur is thick enough for the arrows that are available at this time in history (and later on, we could have bears with steel plating).

Honeybees could pose a serious threat though.

I think most people in favor of bears mainly see in them something that is characteristic of our tribe (for a good reason one could argue, but still), like driving on the left in the UK, massive becherovka consumption in the Czech Republic or the 21 years old drinking age in the US. Plus, what if another tribe's scout approaches our land and spots one of our tamers with a bear? Surely this foreigner would think that people capable of pursuing such a costly feat (both in terms of time, human lives and foodstuff) must have almost limitless resources and is not to be trifled with!

I'm leaving before Esquilax goes berserk on me

That, or they would think we are idiots.

Idiots that play with bears!
Whats the problem with that? The first thing we do after seeing people scared shitless of us is give them help, we can only go up from here.

So far I find that Curfinwe just isn't too comfortable with non standard choices.
The latest update is what I actually expected throughout the LP. We undeniable wasted a TON of resources and lives but gained a few Bear BRO tamers.
I'm expecting more backstabbing, inner tribe quarreling action, superstitious-power hungry shamans.
ie. If we choose to search for rare metals, we succeed but the metals give off low radiation/ "Magic curse" that slowly weakens the user.

The world currently seems like Monster Hunters world.

Alternatively we could allow Curfinwe to develop the world (based on our choices) as he sees fit without repeatedly attempting to influence him, as not everyone will have the same idea of how the world 'should' turn out.

Curufinwe has made up what's in this world, doesn't care one iota about attempts to influence it unless they are good ideas and then stealthily implements them and uses his wacky logic to decide what makes sense and what doesn't. :p

And he also apparently went off the deep end since he started speaking about himself in the third person!

Don't worry Lindblum, there's enough non standard crap to make you happy. Somewhere. I stress again that I don't plan this to be a short-term thing, so if 'story' progress might seem a bit glacial at times it's done completely on purpose.

I'd rather have you face the weird things I put around with a tribe with a real, deep identity established in a hundred updates than have Generic Caveman Tribe face Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the fifth update. The LP is about your choices, not the world I create. That's just the background.

A

Mountain exploration it is!




The eldest could not be swayed. After days of fierce discussion between him and some councilmen who, to the scavengers' great surprise, championed the cause of studying plant life, a consensus was reached: we had lived in the shadow of the great mountain without exploring it for too many years, now was the time.

Several expeditions, comprised mainly of hunters and militiamen were formed and scattered on the lower slopes. One headed for the caves that were spotted years ago, armed with fire.

The first result was immediate: with height came sight. We could see for miles around, and we found out that towards the rising sun a rocky plain extended beyond our sight.

The other results took more time: resources. The first was wood. The slopes of the mountains were in places thickly forested, we would never want for firewood again. Secondly, rocks of every form and color abounded everywhere. Some were worthless even to make basic tools, others, the ones that reflected the light of the sun, were so hard they could not be shaped even by our hardest obsidian knives. We didn't know how to use them yet. Others yet were pretty pebbles that looked great as decorations and trinkets.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we discovered a stone that appeared to be a great kindred to the spirit of fire. And it was an accident.
Two hunters, bored by the ranging, set up camp while a keeper built a small campfire. To pass time, they started tossing back and forth a dull black rock they had found laying nearby, until one of them dropped it in the fire. 'Clumsy fool!' shouted the first, and they started quarrelling amicably.
A few moments later, the keeper ran back, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, pointing at the fire and babbling incoherently: the fire had suddenly started burning hotter, giving away a thick black smoke... the rock was burning, brighter and warmer than the best firewood!

The small group rushed back to camp bringing back further samples of the black rock and excitedly told its tale. The council convened and agreed to send people to gather more of the substance and allow the keepers of fire to study it further.

The council convened again:

A. The keepers of fire loudly clamored: 'The black rock is a boon bestowed upon us by the fire spirits! Let's gather it, feed it to the spirit to reach further perfection in worship!'
B. The hunters, always pragmatic, objected: 'We found more wood than we have ever seen after the great forest of ancestral legends. We should bring it back here and use it, it can't be useful only to feed fires.'
C. The women of the tribe rose up: 'We like the pretty shiny pebbles. Bring some back, we'll make decorations for our warriors and hunters, to reward the most valiant ones.'

B. It looks like it leads to shelter and that is a very good thing also you didn't answer my question if the refugees are teaching us rock carving

The dragon or wyvern or lizard figurine was wooden. Thought the image was clear about that, guess it wasn't. And no, you nor the refugees have refined enough tools for rock carving, sorry.

C. Impress the women for a larger population.

Hmmm, industrial revolution, IKEA furniture or medals for our generals. All have their benefits but think I'll go with:

A

B.

We have made weapons out of wood before this, haven't we? Such as the clubs?

Anyway, A doesn't seem like a good idea to me. It wastes (admittedly trivial amounts of) a potential future resource to make our fire burn somewhat hotter and brighter and with a bit more heat, but not much of any other benefit beyond keeping the religious leaders happy. I think that getting laid by presenting women with useless trinkets should be ranked higher in our priorities.

the clubs come from branches they aren't made there found

B

No need to decline our men with gaudy jewellery.

Even if branches are found, surely we realize that the branches we carry to club things with are the same as the ones waving around on the trees? We can't be that stupid, can we?

You would be surprised and also were looking at the trees for houses not for weapons

Am I the only one that thinks maintaining a fire that will constantly spew huge black clouds of smoke into the air that could possibly be seen for miles around isn't a very good idea?
Going with B here.