Explaining turn #9

Looking at the basic data:

No big surprises here faith is up a little but not a ton since nothing major happened. Fear is down a point as the people are more settled again, they figure they have a pretty good handle on their god now. The big thing is that each village has been given a seperate population value. The reason for this is twofold.

First I don't want to forget what towns this guy has and how big they each are (eventually I may make my OWN notes on location, size, culture etc . . . that I will only share with the player if he asks I have a lot of data to keep track of); And second the towns are big enough and far enough apart that they really do have their own breeding populations, they also have their own government of elders. They have the potential to develop their own cultures.

This seperation may only last a few turns though because the player just invented mass transit which will unify them culturally and probably result in other unexpected changes to how they rule themselves.

Beyond that you'll notice they now have a list for rituals just like they do for technology. These rituals are a lot like tech in many ways, except that it can't be studied, each "spell" comes from the god directly and works because he wills it to. The way he set it up it's not something you can study and improve upon.

Looking at the description

It's another day operating on the plan for Mesnoth. His people have figured out how to live well in their environment and he's not thrown any really big changes at them yet. If he left them alone and nothing bad happened they could survive in this situation for quite some time.

Often games go through quiet periods like this until something happens, someone screws up, or the player decides to go exploring and runs into his nearest neighbor, an alien frontier, or the local demonic critter.

The Conversation

Mesnoth screwed up this turn in a major way. He realized that NEXT turn he needed to be able to cart that new one ton obelisk seed out of the area or spend another 500 years waiting and went for it AT ALL COST this turn. He really did need it, and he couldn't wait, so he messed up.

How? What he did certainly looks sweet. It is sweet, but it's also not something he would have ever been expected to do to his people. That scarring ceremony is going to SHOCK them. These guys are so gentle they had to be nudged into going out and hunting, they aren't exactly timid anymore but they don't ritually mutilate each other either. They have no PREPARATION for the idea he's thrusting fully formed into their minds.

Furthermore in order to get it at a decent point cost he gave up more than was wise. His rituals are now a LOT more powerful and he's invested heavilly into them so he'd better make them useful . . . but not only won't they work outside his area, objects made with them can't LEAVE the area.

Imagine if the president was sending you on a business trip to Asia but your car wouldn't run there, your watch wouldn't cross the border, your gun wouldn't fire, etc . . . Mesnoth's people are set to become VERY powerful within a VERY small and slowly expanding area. But only within that area. The next time he has to move a seed out of his people are likely to have to leave behind most of their advantages and power to do it!

Also imagine them trying to fight a war to take over territory to place a new seed within, stripped of most of their power! The world won't remain empty forever. It's a mistake he may or may not eventually regret.