Spawl: Rise of an Empire

[Flaise]

That's not what prevents bigotry. Schools can definitely teach bigotry. If you mean they don't grow up uneducated, that's different.

Schools reduce superstition and general irrationality, and higher education especially is proven to turn people away from religion in favor of atheism. And religion is definitely a major cause of bigotry, because it's what spiritual leaders use to manipulate the way people think. Case in point: the Christian bible does NOT say that homosexuality is wrong.

ANYWAY

> Erect a series of wooden poles to hold up a wire, which you will use to transfer power from one part of your settlement to another.

[Kurush the Mighty]

(Erm, Flaise, you seem to be a tad off with the era. We do not have electricity here. There are no centralized schools and anything of that sort. This is 2500 BC, the Bronze age, when the development of writing and most technology had just started. You're talking about concepts which wouldn't be understood until the 19th century.)

[Kíeros]

> Yeah, I think it's high time we finally started that bloody watchtower.

[kd7sov]

> Let's get us a tower!

[Panda-s1]

Schools reduce superstition and general irrationality, and higher education especially is proven to turn people away from religion in favor of atheism. And religion is definitely a major cause of bigotry, because it's what spiritual leaders use to manipulate the way people think. Case in point: the Christian bible does NOT say that homosexuality is wrong.

yeah, hello, there's this thing called Christian school? Or any kind of religious school, really. Or any private school, for that matter. Public schools are generally secular for one reason or another, but I'm sure in some places they allow religious public schools. Hell, if a prevailing attitude is strong enough they'll teach it anyway. Case in point, a lot of people in my dad's generation learned about people of African origin having smaller brains than those of European origin. This was only beat out of everyone's head 'cause the public in general realized this was scientifically untrue (though it would not surprise me if there are people who still believe this). Why do you think liberals in America are afraid of school vouchers? That's essentially public funding for religious education.

In the time this adventure is set, schools may push this civilization in that direction, and definitely lead them in a prosperous direction, but I doubt it will have any major cultural impact for a long time. If anything, it'll make them feel more elite than the hill people, maybe even push them into excluding them.

[aattss]

It has been shown that, in order for a nation to become civilized, the first step is to get and store food to support additional full-time non-farmers (i.e. craftmen, beurucrats, warriors)

Also, what weapons are the bandits using? If we both use stone, then we're not that much at a disadvantage, and if they die then we don't need as many farms.

Edit:Also, it doesn't have to be an all-out religion to manipulate people. I mean, the people who sell scientology don't even know it's a religion until later, and much of the actual theology isn't revealed until a lot of classes and payments later.

[Flaise]

(Erm, Flaise, you seem to be a tad off with the era. We do not have electricity here. There are no centralized schools and anything of that sort. This is 2500 BC, the Bronze age, when the development of writing and most technology had just started. You're talking about concepts which wouldn't be understood until the 19th century.)

I know.

[Kurush the Mighty]

Before you go off to prepare to do battle against these ruffians, you make a note of what exactly they are. They appear to be well equipped bandits, that much is certain. Obviously, armor is prohibitively expensive and unwieldy, so they use their clothes, but a few of them have tough leather coats. They have bronze weapons, which is worrying prospect. You, however, have numbers, bone javelins, and slings, as well as a few copper weapons here and there. It should be enough to stave them off, but you need a watchtower to catch them first.

You begin constructing the watchtower with due diligence. One fateful day, however, as dusk begins to fall, the Bandits attack your construction crews. Unarmed, a few are killed and many more taken captive. Where they are taken you cannot know. From then on, you put considerable amounts of your hills militia in order to protect your men. You want to capture a few of the bandits and find their hiding place so you can properly give them death.

An important meeting is made between you and traders. You construct a dock in haste so their little boats can come in, and they offer you much tin and any other materials which you may need. They say they are from Ebla, a wonderful city in the east of orchards and strange drinks. They share one of them with you, something they call wine, and give you a few grape seeds as a gift for allowing them to trade. In Exchange for their own trade they ask for your plentiful lamb, stone, wood, and other wonderful things. They also bring blessing from the Sheep Gods.

That is not a good sign. Luckily though, they don't mention it any more, so you pass it off as a coincidence and they give you a large quantity with tin. Such is the amount that you could easily make

Finally, your men construct the watchtower and you consign plentiful watchmen to it.



The next night, the Beer God, wonderful as he is, answers your drunken prayers and your men catch some bandits stealing sheep. You kill three and capture the rest. After lengthy interrogation and the confiscation of their bronze weapons for later use, you find that they are deep in the forest where your men hunted the lion. You decide that soon it will be time to kill some bandits.

Your men now await your orders. Your assistant advises caution on the matter, to construct a smithy, copper mine, and rough road as planned. You, however, are worried about how with every passing day the captured peoples' lives become more tenuous. It is a difficult decision: Do you strike now, or wait until everything is ready for a massive attack?

[Kíeros]

> Prepare the massive attack.

[Chickenspleen]

>Decimate those bandits.

[aattss]

> Prepare first, but keep your defense defending.

[Flaise]

> Build a weaving mill. Use it to make clothing. Out of kevlar.

[kd7sov]

...Why? Kevlar isn't useful until you get attacked by things that go rather faster than arrows do, and we have no information that the bandits even have arrows. It does nothing (or nothing more than normal cloth, anyway) against blades.

[Kurush the Mighty]

Your strong militiamen with their weapons of copper, their powerful swings, and bone javelins march off into the forest in search of the bandits, using the paths the captured ones indicated were correct. Eventually, they found the bandits and surprised them by attacking in the middle of the day, when most of them were sleeping. Most of the bandits outside of the cave were killed, though you lost a few of your own men. Inside the cave where they made their lair, however, a fierce melee ensured. Though the great Zrog of the mountain men killed five bandits with his bare hands.

Once the fighting is finally done, you see that a considerable amount of your own men have been wounded. Your hillmen especially seem particularly weak now. Without any sort of medical facilities and no knowledge of medicine, many will die in the following days, though herbal salves may save some yet.

However, you managed to save a large amount of civilians and led them back to the village safely. If you had persisted and constructed a smithy and copper mine, your men might have had less casualties, but the bandits would have slaughtered many of them to spite you.

In honor of your victory, your people renovate the administrative building. They make it far larger, fix all of the deformed mud bricks, and add an entirely new second floor as well as chimneys for you! Great stuff.



The opening of trade and the end of the bandit threat truly opens up a new age for your village. Your people are as happy as ever, your population swells with the immense amount of new people coming in from the surrounding lands, and your resources are bountiful. However, as you have learned before, with this expansion comes more farming requirements. Now, with this expanded population, you can construct five buildings at a time. There are many things you can construct, such as:

Granary
Warehouse
Well
Stone Camp
Rough Road
Bread Mill
Clothesmaker
Wood Camp
Garbage Pit
Winery
Grape Farm
Sheep Farm
Wheat Farm
Fishery
Olive Farm
Olive Press
School
Temple
Smithy
Copper Mine
Large Dock
Boatyard
Storytellers' School


It is time to go from a time of building and development to a time of civilization. From the east comes writing, reading, and a new culture which overflows your people. It is time to truly become a city, a village no longer. From the east comes new things too, such as the knowledge of grapes and olives, which you can use to make grape and olive farms respectively. With olives you can do many things, such as light better fires after dusk and utilize it in production and culinary work. The Temple is a far larger shrine that your people will dedicate to the Beer God.

Of course, you are also running out of space on your native hill. It is time to choose where you will grow towards. The shore, where you can benefit from a large waterfront and only have to defend one side, or to the inland, where you don't have to worry about taking away fertile land and don't have to be bound by the river in your expansion. Your people ask for food, for bronze weapons, and for some luxuries of life.

The choice is yours. No longer a Village Chieftain, you are the Prelate of this town, the great and mighty viceroy of the Beer God on earth. You may choose whatever you like.

[Flaise]

...Why? Kevlar isn't useful until you get attacked by things that go rather faster than arrows do, and we have no information that the bandits even have arrows. It does nothing (or nothing more than normal cloth, anyway) against blades.

I know.



> Build a an enormous pyramid to store the bodies of the brave warriors that have sacrificed their lives.

[Kíeros]

> Build a Copper Mine (w/ Rough Road), Smithy, School, and Olive Farm. Also, expand towards the water edge; civilisations flourish more nearer to water sources.

[cryptidWrangler]

Copper mine with Rough Road, Storytellers School, School, Fishery. Expand waterwards.

Could we get a spoiler-hidden list of current buildings? Just to keep track of matters.

[aattss]

>Water. It will, for one thing, help connect us to other civilizations, from whom which we may recieve new technologies and knowledge. We can also use an irragation system.

Edit:Btw, will there be any magic in this Forum Adventure?

[Kurush the Mighty]

Copper mine with Rough Road, Storytellers School, School, Fishery. Expand waterwards.

Could we get a spoiler-hidden list of current buildings? Just to keep track of matters.

Sure! Also, I'll pick the buildings which are mentioned most. So you may not get a storyteller's school but since two people have already chosen a normal School you'll get that.

show spoiler

hide spoiler

-Large Granary
- Warehouse
-Stone camp
-Wood Camp
-Clothesmaker
-Administrator's building
-Shrine/Beer Hall
-Brewery
-3x Wheat farm
-2x Sheep farm
-1x Flax Farm
-Well
-Watchtower
-Dock

[Kurush the Mighty]

You bask in the prosperity of your new town. Men pay their respects to you and women speak of you as if you were a glamorous young king, although by all accounts you are at the ripe old age of 150. Many times you have investigate your strange condition by going to the shamans and each time your questions have only been met by cryptic metaphor or shrugs. It seems you are the only real immortal in this world, and the Beer Gods have entrusted you to take care of this town. In truth, you never actually remembered your youth. One day you did not exist and the next you did. The Villagers claimed you had appeared to them and offered to protect them with a sword of fire, but you remember no sword and nothing of coming to them. Not much is remembered from before you founded the village.

You turn back to the business at hand. It is found that because of the preparation against the bandits, you did not use nearly so many resources as you would have used. Therefore, all the structures which you have planned to build are constructed. You offer the idea to build an immense pyramid honoring the men fallen, but your assistant advises against it; too many resources would be taken, and many of the men fallen had already been burnt, as was customary of your people. The truly notable were set on a burning funeral pyre atop a boat and sent onto the river, where they would be retaken by the land from whence they came.

Your men construct the copper mine, rough road, and smithy first. According to your assistant they have gotten better at constructing these roads, and less ruts are made from the wagons. He suggests that perhaps in some years you may have the leftover resources to make the roads far better.

Next, your men till the land and prepare an olive farm. You had never known of the strange plants as a younger man; they had been a gift from the traders of Ebla as much as the Grapes had. They grow quickly and with the seasons, and when you squeeze them and grind them they make a delightful oil that can be used to light the night, not to mention that they are useful in food as well. Nevertheless, your people worry that you need a more food-oriented construction now. They suggest a new wheat farm or perhaps a breadmill, even. Breadmills could make the making of bread from wheat more efficient, and you can trade some of your delicious olives and flax for donkeys to pull the grinding stone.

Finally, you finish the school. You had worried that you didn't have room for it, but luckily, a farming family, the Pentekonters, are amiable to moving down to their farm in order to allow you to put a school where once they were. You reward the Pentekonters with an offer to expand their housing, and they say that in future years they will use it to expand the size of their homestead. They also moved there, clearly, to be nearer to their farm, since they say it is a long walk from their house along the road to the farm. Many of the people are quite unsure of what to do with the school, and you realize that only a few older men know how to read and write. You offer them the jobs, and they, too old to farm well, take up the offer gleefully. Some of the boys are quicker to it than others, while others are quite slow at it. Still, they all learn how to write soon enough. Eventually, you think, you will expand your building and start creating some scribes to write things down for you.



With the completion of so many things, your townsmen are pleased. Still, there is some discontent, and many things to do still. The streets have begun to become quite dirty as everyone just throws things off their houses. Your Assistant suggests that a small garbage pit be constructed outside the city, on infertile ground. Human manure is not healthy to be simply left on the street, so having a garbage pit would be a good idea. It simply requires a few shovels, so you don't need to use any resources.

With the creation of a copper mine, and a smithy, as well as trade of tin from Ebla, it is finally time for you to actually create some sort of guard. The militia has served you well and you would like to keep them, but they are citizens with weapons, nothing more. You need a more trained garrison force, and what better an opportunity for that than to have a guard? Of course, a guard takes time to train and will require a barracks. A barracks is a large building of wood and stone, and will therefore require both resources.

Next, the merchants which you trade with have grown tired trying to fit their large ships on your minuscule docks. It is time to get a small trading fleet of your own. In order to get one, you need a large dock and a Boatyard, which can build both fishing boats and larger trading ships. It is important to note that this will require an immense amount of wood, will take twice as long as any other project, and will bar you from having anything else built. The rewards afterwards, however, could be blissfully sweet.

Finally, as mentioned before, your citizens suggest the building of a breadmill, and you think it is a good idea. It would increase your food efficiency without taking as much space as a farm. You don't have many men to man a farm, either. However, it would use quite a bit of stone, stopping the construction of barracks.

[Kíeros]

> Build the boatyard stuff.

[Chickenspleen]

Build a barracks.

[kd7sov]

> Get a garbage pit and a mill; barracks next turn.

[cryptidWrangler]

>Build the breadmill.

[Kurush the Mighty]

A note to everyone reading this adventure: It will be moved out of The Cradle soon, so do not be worried if you can't find it.