Explaining turn #5

Looking at the basic Data

This is actually a fairly important turn. All the vultures are currently domesticated and getting fat living off the humans, but the big deal here is that we are viewing a schism in the faith of Drethnor. His people have split into two groups with different beliefs about the god. Right now they are still in contact with each other and the "Scavengers" group is very small, but if both groups continue to exist for a few turns and seperate out Drethnor may end up getting faith points from two completely cultures or religious sects!

Right now though that hasn't happened, it's just something we are tracking because it could become important later. If drethnor doesn't act it's fairly likely these 15 scavengers will simply die out. They have a very small population and aren't living a healthy safe lifestyle.

Looking at the description

As always the description is important because it explains exactly what has been happening and even a bit of the why. It also shows how the PEOPLE are viewing and reacting to the players actions.

I'm fairly sure that Drethnor didn't intend for a power struggle to ensue between the "noble" men and women of the tribe. He just wanted to lift up the women a bit, and eventually that will likely happen, it's just not a quick process. Now the "chosen" men and women with their Drethnor taught skills are competing for power and prestige, working out their exact relationship to each other and to the lower classes of the tribe.

One result of this infighting was the scavengers group being declared unclean and driven out of the tribe. Part of this was due to their high rate of injury and sickness, but another part is likely due to the fact that they are not noble hunters able to defend themselves, and they obviously eat tainted uncooked meat which the women have been told not to do anymore. When your out alone for days on end scavenging from the kills of lions you don't have an upper class woman there to get you pure water, check out the meat, and cook it for you. By surviving they were showing that the women weren't NEEDED.

Thus this split in the people was an unintentional side effect of both the power struggle and the new teachings. Scavenging wasn't respected and didn't fit in with the way the tribe has been told to live NOW, even though it used to be the most sacred profession in the tribe.

Examining the conversation

This is going to be huge. Drethnor has decided to blow ALL his points on one huge action. Twenty Two points are going to transform 15 scavengers into something else entirely, a new intelligent race within the world. It's huge, and it's going to totally change the course of this game. Which it should given that 22 points for an action is a MAJOR earth shattering thing this early in the turns.

However what is really important to notice here is the way the players previous actions and experience effected the point costs. Drethnor's first major action was to alter an animal and so he knows how it's done, he's also got a connection both to the people and to the vultures which made him familiar with how both species bodies work lowering the cost again, plus he's not simply giving them things, he's copying all the changes from animals in the environment that he and his people have seen, vultures, owls, lions, and of course people.

If another deity had done the same thing the point cost would have been MUCH higher. This might be a 40 or even 60 point action for another deity. What you do and HOW you do it counts for a lot. Every player starts out the same, but over time you define yourself. Drenthor is very into animals and domestication, he's also very into birds. If he's wanted to create Lion-Men instead he would have been out of luck.