I just can't wait to be [King of Dragon Pass] (or Queen, maybe)

[Rehab]

Two hundred years ago, in the shadow of the mountain at the center of the world, our ancestors fought a great war against the dragons.

Our ancestors lost.

The dragons ate every warrior who marched against them. They ate every magician who supported the warriors. Then they ate everyone else.

...Well, actually, it's not as though all of our ancestors lost. Our direct ascendants had the good sense to not stick their heads into The Dragonkill War, and sat pretty in our ancestral homeland of Heortland.

Now, however, circumstances have forced both our clan and some twenty others to again migrate to the wide open plains of Dragon Pass, the very place where the less fortunate of our ancestors were eaten en masse.

It's a long story.

Table of Contents:

-Intro = right here
-Mechanics
-Our history
-Year One: | Part one | Part two | Part two-and-a-half | Part three | Part four | Part five | Part six | Part seven | Part eight/eight |


1. What the heck is this

King of Dragon Pass is a fantasy bucolic Bronze Age-ish clan/tribe role-playing simulator... game. In a world where Gods And Magic And Dragons And Shit Are Real, you try to manage a few hundred fiercely-independent and often-belligerent not!Vikings warrior-farmers, known alternatively as Orlanthi, Heortlings, and Vingkotlings, (after their religion, culture, and god's son from which they claim to be descended, respectively) who are generally just trying to avoid dying in a strange land. This means respecting, worshiping and emulating your gods and ancestors, keeping your precious cattle (and pig, and sheep, and horse) herds safe and flourishing, and figuring out how to deal with your neighbors, human and otherwise. Oh, and farming enough crops to stay fed helps.

There are many paths to both victory and defeat, and the hundreds of possible events really make every playthrough a little different. Perfect for a Let's Play!

(Originally released in 1999 for PC/Mac, KoDP was ported to Good Old Games in 2012 and saw a new version released for iPhone and Android in 2011 and 2014 respectively. While the phone version has a couple knobs and options removed, it also had a cartload of content added and is considered the best entry version, so far as I've been told. The latter is the version we'll be playing.) (This is me trying to LP a game on my Galaxy S4. Wish me luck.)

2. How the heck do you win?

By faithfully following the ways and laws of Not!Thor Orlanth, king of the gods, master of the storm and bringer of Change, of course!

The game is won by forming a tribe together with other clans over years or even decades ingame, which is done by garnering the respect of your fellow clans and also by successfully performing rituals called Heroquests, wherein a worshipper of a given god of the Orlanthi Pantheon will by thrust into the magical Godrealm and take the god's place as they perform some of the mythic deeds for which the god is most famed. It'll seem less complicated as we go, honest.

In the Long version of the game, once you've formed a tribe, had a member of your clan elected to lead it and done all of the Heroquests, then some... stuff. will happen, and if you're audacious enough, you just might follow the path of Orlanth in the greatest way possible- by making A Thing Which Has Never Before Been.

(It's a kingdom. You form the Kingdom of Dragon Pass, and one of your clan leaders becomes its King.) (Or Queen!)

Or we could play the Short game, which would be a hell of a lot less arduous but ends when we've merely made a tribe and done a couple more Heroquests after.

You may have gathered by now that there's going to be a lot of lore here. There is in fact so much lore that asking you to absorb all of it, much less all at once would be stupid and also unnecessary, so we'll instead just be doling it out as relevant, for the most part. For your reference and pleasure, though, know that the game is based around the lore of Glorantha, the original world of Runequest, apparently one of the biggest-name and longest-running role-playing games out there (that I had had never in my life heard of before stumbling upon an LP of this very game).

In conclusion: RP good, metagame bad. Hail Orlanth!


3. Let's make a clan already (TL;DR start here)

We are mortals living in a magical world. The world is alive. Every river and rock has a spirit, as does our clan. The greatest of these spirits sometimes share their magic with humans. The very greatest of the spirits are the gods.

Our gods are the source of nearly all the advantages that let our clan survive and prosper. Without the blessings of the gods, our crops will fail, our herds will dwindle, our traders will make stupid bargains, and our warriors will fall beneath enemy swords.

We worship the Orlanthi pantheon, the group of gods headed by Orlanth, King of Gods. Orlanth is the god of moving Air, of life-giving Rain, and also of devastating Lightning and sudden Change. He is the unpredictable god of the Storm.

We live inside Time, separate from the timeless realm of the immortals, but able to join with our deities through rituals and quests. Our god-talkers perform rituals to gain divine blessings for trade, farming, and war. Our mightiest leaders heroquest to the Godplane to perform the gods original mythic events anew, returning with gifts from the time of Creation.

The game opens with 11 questions that shape our beginning identity. The questions and answers themselves are kinda wrapped in lore that doesn't exhaustively explain their practical effects to the uninitiated, so I'll try to help out.

1. Who is our patron deity?

Orlanthi generally worship all the good gods of the Orlanthi pantheon, but each worshipper identifies with and is favored by one in particular. We have three choices available, and will start with a shrine which gives one permanent blessing from the picked god so long as we keep up sacrifices to it, along with knowledge of their Heroquest. (We generally have to make larger sacrifices to the gods to learn how to perform their quests and receive their blessings. There's a couple dozen in all to learn.)

-Most are known as Orlanth clans. God of storms and general Zeus-meister, Orlanth likes to party and knock heads, within some reason. His blessings help with combat, raising crops, and keeping our farmers alive in fights. He's also the only god with two heroquests to perform ingame. His cultists are... well, I guess they're not really cultists if they're "just about everyone you know."

-Some, considered slightly odd men out in Dragon Pass, are Elmal clans. God of the sun and horses, the Loyal Thane is Orlanth's designated driver. Or rather, the only guy Orlanth trusts to guard his shit while he's either getting drunk or out adventuring. His blessings provide defensive combat bonuses, protect our weaponthanes (main warriors) as Orlanth protects farmers, ensure we have enough horses, and also help raise our crops. His heroquest is generally considered hard as fuck. His cultists breed the finest horses, and occasionally endure "gentle" teasing from Orlanth worshipers (so, "everybody else").

-Others are Ernalda clans, which are much more likely than the others to be led by women (though the reverse isn't unheard-of). Earth Mother and wife of Orlanth, she's more chill than most of the other gods and generally resolves conflict by talking things out, if you're into that kind of thing. Her blessings mostly help us stay fed, along with one "Bless Children" that ensures our population continues to grow without outside help, at the cost of having more unproductive mouths to feed. Her heroquest is considered... relatively easy? The heroquester risks death or other penalties in all of them, though. Her cultists farm the most bountiful fields, and tend to be in charge of fertility rituals. Secretly the most dangerous person in the pantheon, because fucking with her means fucking with everybody.

We can learn all the blessings and heroquest details as the game progresses, this choice just determines what we start with. And maybe some events that I haven't yet encountered for myself.


2. What was the most important event in our early history?

Our clan will start out particularly above-average at a different thing depending on which mythic event we say was most important to us.

-The Healing of Orlanth: will start us with an extra blessing known of Chalana Arroy, goddess of healing, and possibly a shrine. Helps us recover from sickness and injury quicker. A solid beginner's choice.

-The Hundred Day Hunt: will make our leaders a little better at Combat, Animals, and Plants. Only Combat booster available in the iOS version, if a small one.

-Jested's Settlement: makes us better at Bargaining. We'll be doing a lot of that even if we're bullies.

-Procession of the Animals: makes us better at Animals. A good hedged bet.

-Barntar harnesses the oxen: makes us better at Plants. Crops provide most of our Food, a basic survival necessity and occasional trade currency (if a spoilable one).

-Lhankor Mhy uses the marking bone: makes us better at Custom. Know-It-All clan.

-Pella makes the first pot: allows us to make more Trade Goods than other clans. Goods are used to build defensive fortifications, build and maintain shrines for permanent blessings, are a popular trade currency and sacrifice alongside cows, and are pretty Good all around.

-Roitina dances the first clan-making dance: makes us better at Leadership. You need good leaders to keep a bunch of Orlanthi on the same page for any length of time.

[spoiler=The seven skills, for reference:]-Animals: determines how well we raise and keep cows, pigs, sheep and horses. The number of cattle owned is treated as the primary measure of clan's wealth, each warrior and clan noble requires a horse, and sheep make up the bulk of our animal sacrifices+produce some wool as trade goods, so this is important for more than just food or trading.

-Bargaining: determines how well our traders can haggle their way to good prices, and how good they are at convincing other clans to form trade routes with us. Important part of diplomacy and exploration.

-Combat: well, you know. Important for raiding others, defending ourselves and keeping our explorers alive.

-Custom: determines how well we know the laws of Orlanth. Important for legal disputes and emissaries sent to other clans resolving in our favor.

-Leadership: important for the person leading the clan, and contributes a little to how well we do everything. Important for all diplomacy.

-Magic: determines how many blessings we can give ourselves at the beginning of each year, how good our divination rituals are, and is vital for successful heroquests and sacrifices.

-Plants: you gotta eat.

3. Newcomers: Slaves or family?

We were once given charge of a bunch of beggar refugees, called the Nalda Bin or Stick Farmers, by the son of Orlanth himself. Did we make them thralls, or adopt them into our clan as full members and family?

Choosing thralls starts us off with about a dozen people who do twice the work of normal clan farmers and require less food (eesh), but who may rebel if we treat them like total shit. Their children are born free, though, so eventually their number will dwindle. Hospitality and generosity, on the other hand, are cardinal Orlanthi virtues, if sometimes difficult to justify to one's clanmates when we're barely getting by ourselves.

The spirits of our ancestors will be paying attention to whether we ever take slaves or not during certain events, or from battle captives.


4. Who do we really hate?

Orlanth and his crew fought many bunches of dudes, but one in particular really stuck in our ancestors collective craw. Was it:

-The trolls, who are inclined to raid us in large numbers near the end of the year, but have few truly strong warriors?

-The beastmen, part-animal people who are hated, territorial and dangerous, but can occasionally do us a solid for a solid?

(yes, that is in fact a duck on the left)

-The elves, weird plant-based forest people who occasionally use magic to fuck with us for monopolizing Ernalda's attention or something?

-Praxians, easterner un-Orlanthi humans who ride crazy shit like ostriches and rhinos and bisons (but never horses), and sometimes raid us for no blasted reason?

-Or the tribe of giant Ice Demons, who steal precious cattle during winter, as if that time of the year wasn't hard enough already, but whose attacks will have trained us to better fight during winter such that our warriors occasionally won't just tell us to fuck off if we want to go raiding then?

There are possibly-positive random events with all of them except for the ice demons, but if we're friendly with the ones our ancestors hated, we'll be looking at some pissed ghosts, even if our choice is either that or die.
Also note: two of these and a couple of other not-listed factions can give us a "fuck you, game over" automatic whupping if we piss them off enough, but will generally warn us when we get close to triggering it. Should I tell you guys who, or maybe let you figure it out?


5. How peaceful are we, in general?

We have to choose whether our clan is inclined towards War, Peace, or a Balance. This determines whether we can spend more magic each year on making our warriors more likely to win fights, on minding our crops and animals, or whether we prefer to have an even spread. Note that we can change our current stance during the game, this just determines which we start out as and how our ancestors liked to do things. Also note that every year, even a clan which raids a lot still must plant and harvest crops to eat, and even a clan which prefers to mind themselves and trade will get raided by somebody.

Oh, and if we go a couple years without raiding anybody, spending magic on improving our fighting ability will become ineffective, so a peaceful Orlanthi clan is more like a "one small raid a year" clan.


6. Who's our secondary god?

We start the game either with shrines to two of the different worshipable deities, which give each one continuous blessing from their respective god, or with a temple which bestows two blessings from the same god we selected as our patron in question one.
In addition to Orlanth, Elmal and Ernalda, we can also choose from:

-Urox, the Storm Bull. A musclebound, shirtless and perpetually-angry man with the head of a bull, Urox is the resident berserker god, one of Orlanth's brothers and chief smiter of Chaos, a nasty life-corrupting force one may invite by disobeying Orlanth's laws. His blessings help us find Chaos in our territory before it becomes our problem, help us wreck its shit if it ever does become our problem, and boost our chances of winning any fight, albeit with more wounded and dead on both sides. He has many kinda-clanless followers who travel the land in search of Chaos to smite, who are feared (by idiots who don't get how bad Chaos really is) almost as much as Chaos itself, due to their short tempers and how badly they'll fuck up your drinking hall.

-Odayla, the Hunter. Son of Orlanth, god of hunters, and close friend of another brother of Orlanth, Catboy Supreme Yinkin, there's less flavor information on Odayla ingame, but he's no lesser deity. His blessings help us find things when we send exploring parties into the unknown (and also the known), help our hunters (our tertiary food source after crops and animals) to improve their yields, and help us preserve what food we do have from spoiling (by protecting against vermin). He has another wandering cult, which may show up and perform a ritual to improve game in our wildlands in exchange for some tribute. His explorer's blessing is widely considered near-necessary to get good returns on any exploration missions past the first couple.

(Odayla was either too shy or busy to lend his likeness to the game, far as I know)

-Issaries, the Talking God. God of trade, sorta-peacemakers (feuds = bad for trade), and a fast-talking homie of Orlanth's. Might have ADHD. Issaries' blessings can boost the amount of trade goods our market generates from established trade relationships, make our traders better at establishing them and haggling in general, make any trading mission more profitable, and get us extra food from trading. The number of clans we can have a continuous trading relationship with at once directly depends on the size of our Issaries temple, so unless we really hate trade (you don't have many practical reasons to hate trade), we'll really want to build him something eventually. His cultists are also known as "all of your traders." Though they've teamed up many times, he and his worshipers kinda think Lhankor Mhy is a stuffy know-it-all, which he kinda is.

(pictured: a man who sees mammoths and sabretooths fighting, and thinks "I should get involved in that")

-Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God. God of scholars, knowledge, and lawyers, and a fast-thinking homie of Orlanth's. Might have Asperger's. Lhankor Mhy's blessings make our diplomats better at negotiations that don't involve price haggling, make the answers we get when performing a divination ritual more likely to be accurate, and make our lawyers better at throwing the book at fools, both those in other clans and those in our own. He can also tell us who in the neighborhood hates our guts most, in return for a sacrifice. His cultists are all hyped-up about this thing called "literacy," I wonder if it'll catch on. Though they've teamed up many times, he and his worshipers kinda think Issaries is a smug meddler, which he kinda is.

(pictured: a man who wishes people would stop interrupting his "grab some thorns and see what happens" experiment)

-Chalana Arroy, the Healing Goddess. God of fearless battlemedics and doctors, and another really single-minded follower of Orlanth's, Chalana Arroy can heal a fight before it even starts. Aside from blessings that passively increase how quickly our sick and wounded recover, she can heal everyone in one of those two groups with a single more costly ritual, boost our clan's morale level for a like sacrifice, and for a really big sacrifice bring someone back from an untimely demise (doesn't work on those who died of old age, or in the godrealm during a heroquest). She has another wandering cult, which will heal as many of our infirm people as we like in return for owing them a favor to be repaid later. Has an occasionally-tense relationship with the god of death and his followers, who guard against the menace of undeath and believe dead oughta mean dead.

-Uralda, the Cow Mother. Sentient cow, guardian of all cattle and Ernalda's daughter (it's a mystery to everyone). Her blessings make our cattle breed more prodigiously and yield more milk. Also has a traveling cult which will perform rituals to boost cattle fertility for some tribute. Neighboring clans measure our wealth not by our number of temples, stockpiles of silver or area of land owned, but rather exclusively by the size of our cattle herds, so Uralda's actually kind of a big a deal.

-Or maybe our ancestors. There's few better ways to gain magic power than to please them, and few better ways to lose it than to displease them. Building a shrine to them grants some protection from evil spirits, and they can tell us if we're suffering any curses for a sacrifice. They can also summon our ancient enemies for a fight, and will reward us with magic power if we win.

As the game goes on we can build as many temples as our clan can sustain in worshipers and material sacrifices, so this is another decision that mostly just affects our starting conditions. Unless you want to RP otherwise, of course!


7. What did/do we think about dragons?

Believe it or not, before the dragons fucking ate everybody in Dragon Pass, they and their representatives came to our ancestors with offers of gifts and knowledge. (This was kinda weird even then, because Orlanth seems to kick a dragon's ass every third story.) In fact, the Dragonkill War was originally fought between a bunch of Orlanthi who were taken enough with the dragons to ally with and even worship them, and another bunch of Orlanthi who were like "wait, what is this Wyrm Friends shit?" (It remains unknown exactly why the dragons ate all of them.)
Did our ancestors respond to their dragon emissaries:

-Positively, and show off their dragon bling to their friends?

-Neutrally, and very politely pretend they couldn't see or hear the dragons until they left?

-Or with Hostility, leaving no price unpaid to chase the dragons off their doorstep?

There'll be some dragon-related events where our ancestors will award us magic for sticking with their attitude, and take some if we go against them. Unless our ancestors were neutral, then they'll reward us for taking the most hands-off approach but won't penalize us if we're positive or hostile.


8. How much land did we claim when we got to Dragon Pass?

We always arrive with a population of around 800, so what this most immediately affects is how much land we're not using to start with. Having only a little unused land limits how big our clan can comfortably grow (and therefore how many temples we can maintain and how big our cattle herd can be), but also makes us harder to sneak up on in a raid and less obtrusive to our neighbors. The less land we claim here, the less unused land we'll have at the start.

-Just enough land to support the population we arrive with. Singapore.

-A little more than strictly needed, to grow into. What's the closest nation in the world to the average size? Turkey?

-Rather a lot more than we'll need for quite a while, maybe ever. Brazil.

-More than we could ever possibly need. Russia.

We can get more than we start with if we need more farmland to feed everyone, but the only way to do that is to steal some from a neighboring clan, and there's nothing that will make anybody hate us more than doing that. Also, once our population is big enough, our newer arrivals will start to complain that our leadership doesn't represent them, even if we do have enough land to support everyone. This will either make us reorganize our leadership, split off some of our population and land to form a new clan, bribe the complainers, or undertake a heroquest to shut them up.


9. What do we call ourselves?

Practically-speaking, names have a 13-character limit.


10. What difficulty are we playing on?

Of the three difficulties, the lowest (Normal) does a fine enough job of providing challenge for the uninitiated. The highest (Hard) is a fine pick if you derive pleasure from watching human beings suffer and die. There's also Moderate, which is for those in transition and the indecisive.


11. Are we playing the Long or Short game type?

The long game requires more of us, will end differently, and can indeed take a longass time, both ingame and in real life. The short game is closer to the length of your average strategy game, I think, but ends less conclusively. Also, there's sort of a time limit in the short game that isn't there in the long game.


A 12th question: are we savescumming? (aka the REAL determinant of how long this LP will take)

I'll be honest with you guys- I savescum like hell in this game in certain situations. By that I mostly mean during heroquests, which can kill a character even if we've raised them to become as strong as possible, spent as many resources as possible on ensuring their success, and made all the decisions most likely to succeed. Ingame years of work and one of the clan's most valuable assets can easily end up gone. I haven't yet completed a playthrough where I've never had to reset in order to avoid losing a character like that.
However, it might be that much more gratifying to finally do a playthrough that takes a loss like that and keeps going through the pain. And of course I might be that much more willing to bear it if you guys share in my pain. If you have the attention span for it, which I legit wouldn't blame you for not having.
The whole thing will go on long enough either way, though, and I won't exactly be reloading after every little misfortune even if we do savescum.


Phew. Congrats if you got to the bottom of this too. Now make us a clan! I'll be working on the mechanics post for like a week. Check in then to see what the heck we're doing in Dragon Pass.
[spoiler=A recap of the questions]1. Who is our patron deity?
2. What did we experience in our early history?
3. Do we take thralls?
4. Who do we really hate?
5. War, Peace, or Balance?
6. Who's our secondary deity?
7. How do we feel about dragons?
8. How much land have we claimed?
9. What's our clan's name?
10. How difficult is our life?
11. Are we in this for the Short or Long haul?
12. Do we endorse savescumming?

Edited May 1, 2015 by Rehab

[Parrhesia]

1. Ernalda.
2. Roitina's dance.
3. Thralls.
4. Elves.
5. War.
6. Ancestors.
7. Positively.
8. Brazil.
9. The Strongest.
10. Normal.
11. Long
12. Only if the price of failure is the end of the LP.

[Integrity]

1: Orlanthi

2: Roitina dances the first clan-making dance

3: Thralls

4: Ice Demons

5: War

6: Our ancestors

7: Positively

8: Brazil

9: Hard Muscle

10: Moderate

11: Long

12: Scum, but don't be scummy about it

[Rehab]

Added a runoff poll for finishing clan creation! I'll leave it up for a couple days, and if there are questions without a winner I'll use an RNG to decide.


Mechanics Time


But first, the cover art.



Marvel at that pulpy goodness. Watermarks untouched for your pleasure.


Sacred Time



During Sacred Time, the special week which begins every year, our clan's supply of magic is replenished, and we must decide how to allocate it among rituals that will make us better at different things during the coming year. Our God-Talkers also receive visions of coming events, and while they vary in their specificity and accuracy, it's generally considered a good idea to take them seriously. Sacred Time is Sacred enough that nobody messes with each other during that time, human or otherwise.
Leaving at least one point of magic unspent will improve our luck in many things, and events where we could need some for divination rituals are pretty common, so in the beginning we'll likely be focusing our efforts just on getting fed and maybe a couple other things every year. Always hard to go wrong throwing some in Herds and Crops, though.


Our Root Menu



Being mere mortals, our lives revolve around the seasons, each of which will last long enough for us to perform roughly two major actions for about ten actions a year.
First in the year after Sacred Time is Sea, a springlike season during which we plant our crops. It's generally held that only the stupid distract their farmers from planting efforts so they can raid other clans during Sea, but it's a fine time for exploration and trading.
Sea is followed by Fire, when the crops will be fine if left alone and our warriors start itching to go a-raiding, though it's also still a good time for other outdoors endeavors.
Next is Earth, when the crops are harvested. It's generally held that only the desperate raid during Earth, though again anything else is fine.
The wintry season of Dark follows, and winter in Dragon Pass is hard enough that almost nobody's going to want to do shit but curl up by the hearth, with the exceptions of building a temple, sacrificing to the gods, or a couple of other things that don't involve travel.
The year ends with Storm, full of thunder and lightning and said to be favored (in some nebulous way) by Orlanth, during which anything goes. The second-best time to raid, if only because raiding at any other time that isn't Fire is (usually) stupid.

Clan Status


(sorry about the screenshot notice, was rushing a little there)

The main clan status screen lets us:
-Reallocate the number of bodies allocated to the tasks of farming, fighting and hunting, hiring more if necessary
-Check how many clan members are infirm
-Change our Peace/War focus
-Change which nobles we have on our clan's leadership body, the clan ring
-Check the morale of our farmers, weaponthanes, and clan at large. The former two can both be improved by giving them trade goods, and the latter can be improved by holding a big ol' feast, if we've got the spare food. We can also invite our neighbors over to one, to improve relations and their overall esteem of us!

The interests of the farmers and weaponthanes tend to live in at least some tension, if not total opposition, but unless we're really in the hot seat that shouldn't be too big of a concern. Knock on wood...

On that second-to-last note;


The Clan Ring



At any time, we can ask for the advice of the seven people who have been chosen to represent and lead the clan. It's never a bad idea to check out what they have to say, though it's good to keep in mind that they'll each have their own interests and perspectives, which depend on their skills, favored god, and the odd personality quirk.

On its composition:


The ideal clan ring has worshipers of seven different gods, all of whom are young enough to get a few decades assured use (so 30's/40's-ish), six of whom have no less than Excellent proficiency in one or more of the seven skills, the leader of whom is a worshiper of our clan's patron deity with high Leadership, one of whom is a follower of Chalana Arroy who'll perform our all-in-one healing rituals, and the seventh of whom is a follower of Eurmal, the Trickster. An especially ideal ring would also have the members all be worshipers of different kinds of gods, like war, farming or diplomacy, so as to allow the most magic to be spent on every possible area during Sacred Time.
We probably won't be able to set up a ring exactly like that very often. We'll have to figure out a way to make do, and whether we place more importance on varied gods/stronger magic or an even spread of skill coverage. Because the ring basically never starts out perfect, reorganizing will probably be the first thing we do, even though it might annoy the clan a little.

On Eurmal: the Thief, Trickster, and Betrayer, Eurmal's not a god for whom many clans will build a shrine, but having a worshiper of his on our ring will make our magic stronger, allow us to spend more magic on heroquests, give us both unique events and the option of choosing unique responses in some events, and will generally make our lives more interesting. Even if they do occasionally give away a herd of cows just for being funny-looking. (Eurmali have a unique Religious Right Of Betrayal, which probably says it all.)


Farming



The amount of land we'll need to use for crops will gradually increase with our population, as will the amount needed for pastures with our herds. Our ring will let us know when we should be fiddling with it. When we decide to enlarge our used acreage, new land will be gradually cleared from our wildlands by our oxen. In a twist, though, our pig herds actually need free wildlands to roam, not pastures, so our hunting won't be the only foodsource damaged if we clear too much wildlands.

If our expected yearly food intake ever drops below our population, something's gonna give. In that event, we can:
-Go trading for more food
-Go raiding for more food
-Clear more cropland like mad
-Slaughter horses or cows, when really desperate. This gives a good deal less food per cow or horse than they're worth in trade, so we don't want to have to get here.
-Allow our population to slowly (in the beginning) die of starvation as our morale tanks, until the next harvest or something at latest. I would politely recommend trying to avoid this clan death knell unpleasant eventuality.


Trade



The number of trade goods we produce each year, and at what intervals we produce them, depends on the number of trading partners we support. We'll want as many of those as possible, unless we fashion ourselves austere minimalists. That in turn means we want as big a temple to Issaries as we can get, unless we distrust all this "trade" and "material wealth" stuff.

We can send caravans to other clans to either establish new partnerships, or just exchange one form of riches for another. The different trade currencies: cattle, goods, food, horses, and Treasures.
Treasures are unique items which can have unique effects, or less commonly just look baller. Their values vary greatly (between "I kinda wish I didn't own this, actually" and "fucking priceless"), but traders in the game mention a baseline of about 40 cows, or cows-worth of goods. However, actually trying to get another clan to part with a treasure we have our eye on can easily see us spending over 200 goods and cattle, though 200 goods is more likely.
Treasure-hoarding isn't really an early-game activity, one may find. We always start the game with Blacktail up there, though. He's, uh, really virile. That's his thing. He's an example of a treasure with a finite lifespan, though.


Magic



At any time we can expend some cattle or goods to learn or receive a blessing from one of the 16 worshipable gods, or spend the goods to build/upgrade a shrine to receive one of those blessings in perpetuity, assuming we know the blessing, have enough people in the clan to dedicate the required worshipers and can spare the goods+cattle.
We can also go on a heroquest if we've learned the myth from a sacrifice or from another clan, which is less of a do-anytime proposition. Those are better done with at least a year in between every attempt, and after having spent magic on their preparation during that year's Sacred Time.

Temples



It's easier to keep up a lot of smaller shrines than a smaller number of 3-blessing Great Temples, but every Great Temple helps fulfill our Destiny... according to the manual. Tough choice.


Relations/Exploration Map



The name in gold is us. Red means we're outright feuding with a clan, lighter pinkish red means we're close to the former, dark brownish purple is like whatever, royal/more vibrant purple means trading partners and/or friendly relations, and blue means allies. We send emissaries to end feuds, propose alliances, ask/call on/return favors, give gifts and demand tribute through this screen.
We start off with not much of the map uncovered, and could go the whole game without uncovering much more of it, but that would forgo a lot of treasure and adventure and fun! It would also forgo the possibility of an exploration party never returning, though. That always smarts, though it can be a way to get rid of a problematic thane, if, uh, "necessary."
One of the best things to do early in the game is to explore our own tula (territory) a bit, though. It's instant (whereas other exploration parties take time to return), can find material for trade goods, and can even turn up treasures at relatively low risk.


War



Finally, during Fire and Storm (and other seasons, if we're dumb or desperate), we can RAID. Or build fortifications.
There are six fortifications, which each have a cost in goods to build, and afford some kind of protection like making us harder to sneak up on, harder to charge as cavalry and just plain harder to beat at home.

A cattle raid is a small-scale affair which is basically expected even among allies to Orlanthi like us, though it will break any truce and clans on the cusp of a feud may take offense to it. Like an amiable punch in the arm, albeit one where a bunch of people can die. We send however many of our weaponthanes and maybe thirty footmen (able-bodied farmers) to try to sneak around a neighboring clan's patrols, maybe win a small skirmish without bringing their entire defense force down on our heads, and make off with a dozen cattle or so.
Actual Raids, on the other hand, mean war. We can call in alliances and favors on those, in exchange for splitting the plunder, and we can bring every warrior in our clan to bear if we choose (although that leaves us vulnerable to raids while they're away), along with some clan women as auxiliaries to heal the wounded and exhort the cowardly (although in the worst event they may end up captured, forcing us to pay their ransom). Raids can see us taking horses and goods in addition to cattle, along with food if we're hurting for it.

We can also hire or promote up weaponthanes from here, in addition to the clan screen. Each clan can by population support only so many weaponthanes, so one may wish to hire all they can, but each weaponthane also requires a horse and a yearly stipend of goods and cattle, which may make the clan's farmers chafe (especially if they feel they don't have enough hands in the fields).


Double phew. Congrats again on getting to the bottom of this post. I swear the actual gameplay of the LP won't require nearly so much reading, and participation will be very cut-and-dry "do we do this, or that?"
Check in next time, actually, for reals, to see what the heck is going on in Dragon Pass.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rehab

[Jedi]

Glad I'm not the only one on SF who has played KODP. Wonderful game and I'll be keeping up with this. Voted in that poll up there too.

[blah the Prussian]

God dammit if Id found this sooner I could have suggested Woodrow Wilson as our worst enemy.

[Jedi]

God dammit if Id found this sooner I could have suggested Woodrow Wilson as our worst enemy.

Bwhaha,

also I tend to always use the Ice Demons as my foe, its brutal sometimes, but the ability to raid in Winter helps sometimes.

[Rehab]

Glad I'm not the only one on SF who has played KODP. Wonderful game and I'll be keeping up with this. Voted in that poll up there too.

Good to know somebody else will have some experience with what's going on here!

God dammit if Id found this sooner I could have suggested Woodrow Wilson as our worst enemy.

I'm afraid this game at times incentivizes us to be Woodrow Wilson, or at least the Woodrow Wilson whom Woodrow Wilson wished he was. We can, at the least, have those queer wood-folk as our worst enemies, though!

Drumroll, please

There once was a time when gods and people walked the earth together. Your clan traces its ancestry back to those times. Your clan history begins when you joined the forces of the storm god Orlanth. Back then, Orlanth was simply one of many upstart, rebellious gods bent upon conquest of the world. Orlanth's unique contributions at that time were personal honor and a close kinship to the other deities who seemed to be on the winning side.

After many tribulations, adventures and discoveries Orlanth proved himself worthy of marrying Ernalda, the Earth Mother. The two of them created the Marriage Ring and established great harmony in the world through this sacred bonding. Our clan took part in the wedding ceremony. Most clans either whooped with Orlanth or learned a secret from Ernalda. A few clans stood with Elmal, God of Horses and the Sun, as an honour guard. Our women withdrew with Ernalda and learned a List of Names, which they promised not to repeat to the men.

Orlanth's struggle to remake the world was just beginning, and many other gods joined him in it. Orlanth undertook many wars of conquest. Other more peaceful deeds were just as important. Our earliest famous event was when Roitana, lady of dance, performed the Clan-making Dance.

Orlanth succeeded in remaking the world, and thus began the golden era called the Storm Age. Orlanth's son, Vingkot was a famous warlord during this time. Most of the people in the area were among his followers. Many people who would not have survived joined his tribes. He was a great organizer and helped the many scattered people form into new clans and tribes. Your clan was one of those aided by King Vingkot. After you proved yourself robust and capable of survival, Vingkot placed a remnant people under your protection. They were the Nalda Bin, or "Stick Farmers." We had a choice whether to make them into thralls (slaves) or adopt them as members of our clan. We added them to our number as thralls.

The foes of the Vingkotlings were many, and our people fought hard against them. We in particular fought Chinkis Mor, the elf warlord.

The Storm Age ended in disaster when the gods and creatures of Chaos came and destroyed nearly everything. Orlanth and his allies fought hard against them, but Chaos almost always won. Catastrophes shook the world, such as the Sun Fall, the Rain of Blood, and the terrible Laughing Tsunami. In this era many gods died, and many new ones rose to prominence. The Darkness got so bad that even Orlanth and his companions had to abandon humans to their own destiny. Only a few deities, either small or weak ones, remained at all. The world stagnated and died. Our clan was diminished to a ragged handful of hardy survivors.

Heort the King was the leader who emerged amid the turmoil of the Darkness. The combined efforts of Heort and his companions helped set the world in order again. He created the laws that we follow to this day. One of the great distinctions which Heort discerned among his clans was that some of them tended towards either peace or war, while others maintained a balance between these two principles. Ours was a War clan, known for our leadership in battle.

Finally, the sun rose again. While the rest of society worked to find food, or just otherwise survive, the First Priests worked to re-establish links with the ancient deities. Thanks to this new harmony between people and deities, the world was slowly improved. Once the awakening process had begun, it got easier and went quicker as the gods helped wake each other up. We contacted the spirits of our wise ancestors before any god, though.

Things have been different since the Dawn, thirteen hundred years ago. Orlanth and the other gods retreated from the world, leaving it to mortals. We can still contact the gods through ritual and sacrifice, or enter their realm by re-enacting the great stories about their deeds, which contain great magic. But they no longer walk beside us. When we settled in a new place we marked this great change in the world by naming our land, not after a god, but after a mortal like ourselves. We named it Heortland, in honor of the king who taught us how to survive during the Darkness.

About six hundred years ago, a dragon approached us, in either its own form or that of a human with a dragon's soul inside it. The dragons had always been hostile, or at the very best, utterly uncaring. Orlanth has always been the dragon-slayer. After an appropriate debate, we had to choose whether to believe the dragon, to cooperate and learn what dragons know, or to refuse the dragon and maintain neutrality, or to actively oppose the dragon's plans. We reacted positively, joining into their dragon knowledge.

Most of the people who said "Yes" to the dragons moved to Dragon Pass, a land to the north of our home, Heortland. We stayed in Heortland, and it was a good thing, too, for a little over two hundred years ago, the dragons rose up and ate everyone who lived in Dragon pass. They ate the Orlanthi along with all the other foolish human dragonfriends. For a long time, no humans went to Dragon Pass; everyone was sure the dragons would eat them, too. Uh, no offense to our ancestors, decidedly less-foolish dragonfriends.

Recent events in Heortland made us think twice about the abandoned land of Dragon Pass. A generation ago, an usurper who called himself the Pharaoh came to Heortland and started a civil war. Our clan was one which broke into disputes, sometimes violent, about whether to support the Pharaoh or not. In the end, our group of dissidents decided it would be better to risk the dangers of Dragon Pass than to stay and kill our own kin, which is the greatest sin an Orlanthi can commit. The dissidents unable to live under the Pharaoh would come northward to Dragon Pass. People of similar beliefs from other clans had already made the same decision, and settled lands there. So we made a new clan, and made it a War clan, just as our ancestors had done in the time of King Heort.

Our new clan made the dangerous trek to Dragon Pass and selected a place to live. Like the other Orlanthi refugees from Heortland, we settled in Quiviniland, a mountainous area in the southeastern quadrent of Dragon Pass. We would call these lands our home, or tula. Tradition required that we make a formal land claim, and we took lots more than we would probably need. For the moment.

Next, we get to actually play the game. Please stand by

Edited May 1, 2015 by Rehab

[Rehab]

"What do you mean, you put us down as 'TheStrongest?'"

"What do you mean, what do you mean? That's the name you gave, isn't it? Not our fault you capitalized it all funny."

"Yes, but as two words, you stickpicker!"

"Well that doesn't make any sense! Names are one word, not two! They don't call you The Rehab, do they?"

"THERE ARE PLENTY OF INGAME CLANS WITH TWO-WORD NAMES! Grey Fox, Blue Jay, Squat Oak, Tree Brother, Et Cetera! And 'The Strongest' fits well within a 13 character limit!"

"AI clans, sure. Look, buddy, you're the player, and this is the smartphone version, so either you lose the incorrect capital letter, change your name some other way, or learn to live with your name being written as 'TheStrongest.'"

"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFine. Strongest, we'll be Clan Strongest. Strongest clan. Hehe."

"There. Wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Go pick yourself, sheep-lover."

The actual playthrough begins, circa 1330 Sacred Time

Thus does our story begin! We made sure to arrive at the tail end of 1329 so that we'd be able to perform our Sacred Time rituals as soon as we got here.

Just to make sure you guys don't get choice paralysis too bad, I'll handle a good bit of the first year, then hopefully the next years can be driven a lot more by not-me.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any really good Uralda worshipers among candidates for our ring, so we may have to make do without rituals for herd health and fertility if we maintain our War focus. Hopefully our raiding will be so successful that we won't even notice!

(I could've stood to throw a few points into Trade or Diplomacy, to make us more lucky with forging trade arrangements and other diplomatic acrobatics, but I wanted to focus on building up our magic balance a little and leave us more than one point for emergencies. We'll have to wait and see whether that works out)

Meet the Strongest clan

Clan Strongest has started with a goodly number of weaponthanes, all of them thankfully healthy, and a small enough number of thralls to manage with ease. That sure is a lot of kids, though.

Our Agriculture Department

We'll be harvesting just enough food to feed everybody by the end of Earth season, which should come early enough that our current supply doesn't run out. Also holy Uralda, we have even more wildland than we do farmland! Hopefully our patrols will be able to cover it all.

Our Commerce Division

We start out with few enough trading partners that our market only convenes once a year, making goods production a bit slow, but it beats what I've had to start with a couple of times. Our beginning partners:

-The Namolding are known for their hunting prowess. Food-focused for a martial clan, or vice versa, they're likely on good terms with the local Odayla hunter-cultists.

-The Peluski, a fellow Ernalda clan known for especially bountiful fields, is both our ally and trading partner.

-The Rakstanti are rich, but also an oddball clan, known for their enormous pig herd and worship of some kinda lesser-known Orlanthi pig guardian.

Good old Blacktail up there should ensure our cattle herds maintain a healthy little growth rate even without Herd magic for some years.

Our Foreign Relations

That's a lot of unmapped territory near us!

We start out having bad blood with:

-The Anmangarn, an Elmal clan known for their fine horses, and not-insignificant fighting prowess. Solidarity between non-Orlanth clans hasn't been working out, apparently.

-The Orladnast, possibly the earliest of the recent Orlanthi arrivals in Dragon Pass, and the closest neighbors we're feuding with. They're known for having strong magic, their hatred of beastmen, having no bones about taking thralls, and being the kind of slightly-kooky you don't want to mess with (though it's a bit late for that in our case). To be sure, consider what kind of people would be the first to immigrate to a place nobody has seen in generations, where all the people who went last time got eaten by dragons. Add onto that how Orlanthi are loose cannons to start with.

Aside from the Peluski, we also have as allies:

-The Tedanling, known for their reliance on raiding. Kindred spirits! Also, bigger troll-haters than your average Orlanthi.

Should be an interesting first few years.

TL;DR- First Order of Business

[spoiler=Remaking the ring]

As expected, our initial clan ring could stand some restructuring.

Our default clan leader has unusually good leadership at Renowned, but he's an Orlanth worshiper and around 60, so we switch to Minara, an Ernalda worshiper with Excellent leadership who should last us a while more. Having Very Good custom, she should also be a good poet! (Yes, poetry skill is a thing in King of Dragon Pass. Combination of leadership and custom)

Again, our warrior who's strictly the best at combat is an Urox worshiper, but he happens to be 58, so we switch in Orlgard, who's almost as skilled a fighter at Excellent and also a better leader. He's a worshiper of Humakt, another brother of Orlanth, the god (or rather guardian) of death and possibly the best fighter in the Orlanthi pantheon. But that's a story for another time.

Our best animal specialist, Yaransor, is already on the ring to start with. She worships Odayla, which also makes her one of our better explorers.

...And then there's Ingard. It's a good thing we went diving for ring replacements, or we might have missed the only Eurmali in the clan! I have to say, though, that might be the least trustworthy face I've yet seen in Dragon Pass.

Partially out-of-frame is Frithorf, the best bargainer in the clan. We couldn't find anybody both younger and good enough to put on the ring, but he should pull his weight okay for a while.

Lothario Saronil up there has the highest custom and plants skills in the clan, and is also a Chalana Arroy worshiper, which lets us enact all-in-one healing rituals. We also have Terasarin, who's older and actually has worse custom than Saronil, but worships Lhankor Mhy, whose heroquest gives a big enough custom boost that it might put him over.

We might replace Terasarin.

Thus, the Strongest start out with a rating of Excellent in every stat but magic, at which our best ring member is currently Very Good. I don't have the best luck in starting out with high-magic dudes...

[The best defense is a good raid] Department

Though raiding before Fire season is stupid, preparing for raiding is not!

The watch tower is the cheapest fortification to construct, and makes it less likely that a raid will sneak by our patrols. The stake perimeter we start with gives horse-riding warriors (including all weaponthanes) a hard time.

That was two actions, but we didn't switch seasons? Some actions don't always take up a turn. More preparations then!

We can hire as many weaponthanes as we want theoretically, but after we hit a certain number for our population we can only hire one at a time. Let's hit that number!

Our resident Eurmali doing his job already.

And that did it, we receive our first event!

Asborn, a member of the Orleving clan, comes to you seeking aid. "Plant people ~ the elves ~ have descended on our tula, and demand the right to worship at our shrine to Flamal. They will harm us if we refuse, they say. But we do not want our shrine strengthening the magic of the deadly forest folk."

Our options:

1. Convince the Orleving to allow limited use of their temple by the elves.
2. Do nothing.
3. Find elves and tell them you support their demands.
4. Offer the elves compensation instead of temple rights.
5. Send a war party to attack the petitioning elves.

Our clan ring's advice:

Minara: Helping the Orlevings will improve our relations with them. recommends 1, 4, or 5.

Frithorf: The elves hate us. We couldn't convince them the sky is blue. recommends 2.

Terasarin: Flamal, who was killed and then came back, loves elves more than us. If we harm the elves, our fertility could suffer. If we raid during Sea season, our crops will suffer. recommends 3. treasonous elf-lover.

Yaransor: The elves are our ancient enemies, Our clan magic will suffer if we aid them. recommends 5.

Saronil: We are not obligated to do anything. recommends 2.

Orlgard: The elves are terrifying opponents. If we wish to fight them, the war party must be led by someone proficient at both combat and magic. [His magic is only Good.] no recommendation.

Ingard: Flamal is the god of vegetation. Some say he was married to Ernalda before she married Orlanth. no recommendation.

Rehab: Geez, I didn't realize before how much this event's choices are about appeasing the elves. One may infer that this, in combination with our normally-militaristic war leader having lukewarm feet at best, says something about the elves, though.

What do we do?

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rehab

[Jedi]

As our foe is the elves, this isn't an easy choice, I'll say 2 for now, because it'll piss them off the least AND piss our elders off the LEAST.

While the Elves are our foe. Giving them reason to put plants in our people at this point in time, isn't wise.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Jedi

[Rehab]

We decide to blow them off tell the Orlevings we're busy.

"You're the guys who couldn't wait till Fire!"

Speaking of.

Now we can raid.

But first, a little fiddling in the farming section, to make sure our food production grows a little with our population. Probably shoulda done this during Sea, but y'know.

We take it slower than Saronil's upper limit for us, and clear 5 hides of wildland. We could probably handle more, but this should be sure to avoid overworking our farmers.

Now, the raiding.

Cattle raids involve fewer bodies and are lower-risk than regular raids, and we can even sneak the cattle away without a fight if we get lucky. On the other hand, if we get screwed, the party we send can get discovered and chased out by their entire clan without a shot at plunder. Here, I err on the side of being able to whup anybody we find in a fight.

Cattle raids are also not nearly as bad for relations, though they can push a steamed clan over the edge. We're not too worried about that, though, since we'll be raiding the Orladnast first, and we're already feuding.

You said it, Ingard.

And we do indeed get lucky!

Successful raids also make for morale boosts, which are essential for our weaponthanes to fight well, and for our farmers to, uh, not complain.

Next, we raid a clan we're less familiar with, a relatively pacifistic (some would say to the point of sloth) clan known for its cooking.

They'll know we're just playing. Probably.

And we're on a roll!

Pretty slick, Orlgard.

With the end of Fire comes another issue demanding the ring's attention, this one perhaps a bit less urgent than the last. Unless your name is Rostakos.

Rostakos, one of your weaponthanes, complains that he was insulted when invited to dine among the Squat Oaks. He was fed disgusting, rotten food, while his hosts dined well. He asked for a towel to wipe his hands, and was given one which was dirty and full of holes. "They meant to slight us," Rostakos says, "and I say that we should punish them for their gross insolence!" Some of the other weaponthanes murmur their support for Rostakos' words.

Our options:

1. Compose a poem satirizing the Squat Oaks.

2. Convince Rostakos to forget this slight.

3. Do nothing.

4. Raid the Squat Oaks.

5. Send a delegation to protest the Squat Oak's poor hospitality.

Ring suggestions:

Minara: Relations between our clans are poor, and they are daring us to make things worse. no recommendation.

Frithorf: Rostakos holds this insult close to his bosom. It will be hard, but not impossible, to convince him to give it up. recommends 2, volunteers.

Terasarin: The Squat Oaks have insulted us without actually breaking the rules of hospitality. recommends 5, volunteers.

Yaransor: This could lead to a feud. no recommendation.

Saronil: A well-phrased satire stings longer than a sword; its bite can linger for generations. recommends 1.

Orlgard: Raid them! recommends 4.

Ingard: A poem, a poem! A scurrilous poem! recommends 1.

Rehab: Our honor may suffer if we ignore it all, but more feuds means we suffer more raids. The Squat Oaks are known for their tradition of female chieftans, the weirdos. At least they're not our neighbors.

What do we do?

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rehab

[Jedi]

I'm torn between 4 and 1 because a poem would be amusing, it's not exactly WAR TRIBE like. 4 is and the name is STRONGEST for a reason :P

[Parrhesia]

kill

Annoyingly I have to ruin the one-word post to mention that when I opened the thread I'd already voted for 2 somehow in the poll, which I now can't vote in because I 'have to vote for every question in the poll'. I swear polls on this site worked at some point.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Parrhesia

[Rehab]

Aw, god damn it, I guess I didn't really get integ's advice on how to not have that happen was supposed to go the first time. My bad!

Phew, editing that on a smartphone was a taste of hell. If you would be so kind as to vote again?

Edited April 14, 2015 by Rehab

[Integrity]

somebody who is not me please vote in the poll or say that you have voted in the poll so we can figure if it works

[Rehab]

And it is good! I think. False alarm. Probably.

[Jedi]

Voting works again.

[Rehab]

Though I must confess that the poem choice is one of my personal favorite interactions with another clan, the ring has decided to follow the ways of our ancestors and raid-

wait what

Aw, sticks. Sorry, fellas, it looks like the event was lost- in the smartphone version at least, when you exit the game in the middle of an event, you can apparently get plopped back to the menu like it never happened on restarting. Since this version of the game also moderates savescumming by only letting us go back to the end of any previous year, losing events like that generally means "they gone." (This is one of the reasons why I won't be doing much reloading even during bad times. at least not intentionally) (This also means I'll have to let my phone and KoDP run on standby for a couple days whenever I get an event X{ )

Our game does say we still succeeded at those last two cattle raids, though, so this could also be considered us bumping into an unintentional exploit to get more actions out of one season and dodge events we don't like. We'll try to avoid repeating ourselves here.

Just this once, we console ourselves with the knowledge that we'll be able to raid our Orladnast neighbors for cattle once more this Fire.

Hot dang, Orlgard, you really are on a roll. I assumed I would've gotten the chance to explain the combat system by now.

And right after that, another event fires! I'll try to not lose it/call the poll closed earlier this time.

A milk-white calf has been born into the herd of one of your carls [TN: average-to-high-wealth farmers], Orendal. A white calf is considered a creature of great good omen.

Our options:

1. Let Orendal tend to the calf.

2. Sacrifice the calf to Orlanth.

3. Sacrifice the cow to Uralda, the Cow Mother.

4. Take the calf into the chief's herds.

5. Trade the calf to another clan.

Our ring's advice:

Minara: We could gain great magical benefits by sacrificing the cow. recommends 2 or 3.

Frithorf: Orendal wishes to seem generous, but does not want to give up the calf. no recommendation.

Terasarin: When Uralda's favorite calf wandered into the land of the dead, it turned white. When Ty Kora Tek returned it, Orlanth's tribe rejoiced. recommends 2 or 3.

Yaransor: This is no ordinary calf. Whoever owns it gains great good fortune. recommends 3 or 4.

Saronil: We can argue that it is Orendal's duty to give up the calf, provided that the whole clan will benefit. no recommendation.

Orlgard: Orendal will understand if we take the calf from him. no recommendation.

Ingard: I don't know. thanks, Ingard.

Rehab: We may get a treasure with a finite lifespan if we simply take the calf, cheer the farmers if we leave it to Orendal, or gain magic and possibly additional good luck if we sacrifice it. Or we could just trade it for more cattle/goods.

What do we do?

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rehab

[Integrity]

orendal is a good man, the ancestors gave him this blessing

[Jedi]

Gonna agree with Ike here. The man was blessed by the ancestors.

[Parrhesia]

Possession's nine-tenths of the law, bitches.

[Rehab]

With Orendal so far ahead, it looks like we can call the poll early.

I didn't even know that could happen, so infrequently have I picked that choice, but it landed us 30 more cows! Nice job, guys!

Then another event fires right after the first one ends:

Two handsome young men of the clan are captured by outlaw women! The women ride quickly onto your tula, grab the men, and ride off. Both men are married.

Our options:

1. Conduct a divination. [As in, ask the spirits what we should do. Spends magic]

2. Do nothing.

3. Sacrifice to Orlanth to strengthen your hand against outlaws.

4. Send a war party to rescue the men and kill the outlaws.

5. Send a war party to rescue the men.

Ring advice:

Minara: Good King Oskul was born to an outlaw woman who once captured his father. recommends 2.

Frithorf: I have heard of these outlaw women. Every now and then they kidnap fine young men and have their way with them! no recommendation.

Terasarin: It is better to drive off a foe than to kill her, for mercy begets mercy. recommends 5.

Yaransor: We must learn the motives of the outlaws before we decide what to do. recommends 1.

Saronil: The kidnapped men are married. If they dally with these outlaw women, they commit a grave offense! recommends 5.

Orlgard: If we fight to drive them off, we risk less, but will get the same result when we succeed. recommends 5.

Ingard: Do nothing, and they will soon be home. They will be sheepish with their wives, and proud among the men. recommends 2.

Rehab: Uh. Clan morale may be involved here, but I'm not quite sure of the details.

What do we do?

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rehab

[Jedi]

I say send a party to drive them off, and see if you can rescue them.

[Parrhesia]

As much as I kind of want to just start voting with Ingard on everything... no.

[Rehab]

We form a rescue party, led by our war leader.

Our party is 38 strong, as many as can be sent, to ensure victory.

...If we could only find them, that is.

Doh. Yaransor might have been a better choice to actually find them, being a worshiper of Odayla the hunter, but the outlaw women are tough enough to beat that even our strongest would get a run for their money. I guess every streak has to end sometime.

And then the men return.

Hendrick and Jarnandar, the two young men who were carried off by outlaws come back to the tula at dawn. When asked what happened, at first Jarnandar says, "Nothing." Then Hendrick chimes in with an elaborate story of their escape from the outlaw women, who meant to sacrifice them on a bloody altar to Gagarth, god of outlaws. The women suspect Hendrick and Jarnandar are both lying, and that they committed adultery with the outlaw women. Adultery is a serious crime among the Orlanthi.

Our options:

1. Convince the women that nothing untoward happened.

2. Do nothing.

3. Question Hendrick until he admits adultery.

4. Question Jarnandar until he admits adultery.

5. Send a war party to drive off the outlaws.

6. Send a war party to slay the outlaws.

Ring advice:

Minara: Only the women want to press this issue. I can convince them to let the matter rest. recommends 1, volunteers.

Frithorf: A sleeping alynx* is best left undisturbed. no recommendation.

Terasarin: You cannot blame the young fellows; what they did, they did while captured. recommends 2.

Yaransor: Errarth tolerated adultery, because he was tempted towards it himself. Thus began the chain of events that made him the tragic king. recommends 3 or 4.

Saronil: They are obviously lying, but it will be hard to prove. Hendrick is the cleverer of the two, but is likeliest to trip himself up with his runaway tongue. recommends 3.

Orlgard: We can bluff the outlaws into fleeing, but should avoid a battle to the death. recommends 5, volunteers.

Ingard: The truth has many virtues, but it does not help you sleep at night. recommends 1.

*Orlanthi have alynxes, which are kinda like plus-size bobcats, that basically fulfill the role of dogs. Don't tell an Orlanthi that, though, they generally consider dogs vermin and enemies of Orlanth's brother Catboy Supreme Yinkin.

Rehab: Funny how Minara's the one specifically downplaying the concerns of the women. Also, note how Minara and Yaransor's lore citations conflict. Doing nothing will probably leave morale tense at best for a while. Successfully convincing the women nothing happened could smooth things over, and Minara does seem to feel up to the task, but things could get even worse if it fails (and, well, whatever happened, it probably wasn't in fact nothing). If we question one of the men until they admit adultery, Orlanthi law is strict enough that we'll probably be forced to outlaw them, which strips them of our clan's protection and exiles them. Fighting the outlaw women may or may not actually help our current morale problem, but maybe it's the principle of the thing for us.

There are times where Orlanthi law is decidedly not-fun.

What do we do?

Edited April 21, 2015 by Rehab