The world is out of order. No one knows why, what spirits or ancestors have been angered, but the land is shifting in ways that bring tremendous hardship to the people. Landmarks known for generations are no longer corresponding to what they should be. The elders remember the course of rivers and the boundaries of forests and being different, and speak of their elders worrying over these shifts as well. Every season the hunting grows harder and the plants that feed your people grow increasingly scarce. The future feels dangerous and uncertain, and as the tribe gathers for the summer meet there is a palpable feeling that something must change, that life will go on, but perhaps not as before.



After the initial round of standard calls to the spirits and ancestors to watch over them and initial airing of grievances among the tribe, one of the younger men takes up the speaking stick and says, "Brothers, elders, and young mothers, I come before you to speak of the people of the river valley. Tales tell of how poor the region is and has been, and yet my clan peers down on them from our lands and sees that their numbers grow greater each year even as I see fewer young mothers inducted in place of passing elders each time we meet like this. I have watched them, and how they scatter seeds to the mud left by spring flooding and then collect a tremendous bounty of food come the autumn chills. I and members of my clan have gone seeking food in hard times, and they dare to call us lazy and greedy and only begrudgingly share their plenty when we are hungry, or even refuse to altogether."



At this there is general harrumphing from the council, and the young man says, "These people, they refuse to help, and so they will slowly strangle us. As of yet their numbers are small, but they grow quickly, and worse yet they have started to attack game not because they are hungry or to honour the ancestors, but because the animals are eating the plants they grow. They are a wicked lot, and must be dealt with quickly and decisively, lest they drive away all the game and leave us to starve while gorging themselves."



"You propose to attack as one, to drive these people off?" One of the elders asks with skepticism and the faint air of disgust.



"Yes. As one the tribe is still greater than them, we have the numbers to put an end to their wickedness before they grow too numerous and we grow too weak," the man explains, his face hardening at that.



"Pfah! No wonder your neighbours do not wish to extend charity to you!" The elder proclaims, waving at him dismissively. One of the other elders gestures to have the speaking stick, and the bellicose man hands it to her.



"I too have seen these people, and while I agree with my nephew's assessment in part, that we cannot simply let the situation continue without action, I disagree on what that action should be. The people of the river valley do not simply sit back and amass food at little effort, they put considerable work caring to the grasses they grow, watching over them as a mother tends to a child. Of course they do not wish to simply share their efforts with anyone who asks. However, I remember stories of older times, of when things were better, of men who would walk long paths across the seasons, gathering little themselves but carrying with them fine items from distant lands that they could exchange for food. They no longer walk the paths to our lands, there being little here for them anymore, but perhaps if we had things that the people of the rivers wanted we could simply exchange for food," the old woman explained, to general vocal disagreement until by holding up the speaking stick long enough she managed to shame them back into general decorum.



She said, "If nothing else, we will need to travel further with the seasons as the valley people disrupt the herds with their habits. We may as well find ways to bring in more food for our efforts."



Handing the stick over to an older man not quite to the full greyness of a proper elder, he says, "I hear the others speak and know from my own experiences, and I know that only uncertainty lies before us. Fundamentally though, I think we are confronted with the question of 'do we move, or do we move the valley people'? Any other answer is unacceptable, we cannot continue like this. Posed in such a way, we must consider a simpler and yet perhaps more disquieting way of addressing the issue: we leave these lands for ones where prospects are better."



At that there is another explosion of shouting and protest, but the most white haired elders had already anticipated it this time and formed up a unified front of disapproving faces to glare down the more red faced members of the tribe, despite their own obvious displeasure with the proposal. Some things were sacred, including allowing the one with the speaking stick to give his or her peace, even if the words flirted with the profane. Waiting for silence to die down properly again, the man said, "I know it would be abandoning the lands of our ancestors, but if there is not enough food here, do we have any choice but to seek out better elsewhere, if we are not to stain these lands with the murder of our neighbours?"



At this, one of the younger men raises a hand to have a turn to speak, and the man who proposed the tribe move to better grounds gave it over to him. "Older brother of the tribe, I think that your proposal has merit, but surely the best hunting grounds are guarded by other tribes who feel threatened? If the people of this valley can learn to turn mud and grass to a bounty of food, can we not do the same? Could we not find another valley shunned for its floods that we might spread seed as our neighbours do? Would not the numbers that could let us take the land of our neighbours today protect us even as we reverse our fortunes?"



This of course kicks off an even bigger argument at the proposal of abandoning not just land but ways as well. It is at this point that those overseeing the argument simply give up on simple one-at-a-time measures and call for organized debate and organization.



Choose a path for the people...

[] Path of War

[] Path of Trade

[] Path of Wanderers

[] Path of Settlers



AN: A curious idea, I wanted to do a civilization type game, but move away from a lot of the micromanaging type details and more towards something a bit more general. This is not about optimizing minutiae, but about choosing the structures and ideals of a people, culture, and civilization over time as various challenges rear their head.