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In the last age, our people eliminated two threats to our population; the rat-goblins, who attempted to poison us with diseases by contaminating our water and fish, and the terrifying draconic spider-things which were mutated by an eldritch orb of unknown origin. We lost one of our dragons to the debris of a meteor shower, and sealed away the ancient orb in our pocket dimension at the advice of our naga lord.

We made contact with a strange population of frightening, yet seemingly peaceful, four-armed creatures to the northwest with obsidian skin and white manes of hair, the Draegloths. We made a concentrated effort to collect more dragon eggs from fallen meteors, and hatched two of them; we now possess one young adult dragon, and two just beyond infancy, with six unhatched eggs kept safe within the pools of our mage hall, the Curia.

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In the twelfth age of our world, there were no new technological achievements by any player (which is to say, no one researched a technology first before any other civilization), but there were some magical advancements in the form of discoveries of new schools of magic, as well as two players adopting previously-hidden civilizations: the Ottoman Dark Elves and the Zulu Catfolk.

At the tail end of Age 12, two player civilizations have officially made contact with each other, becoming the first players in the history of the game to do so: the Korean Lizardfolk and Incan Lamia.

Here is our current regional map.

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Our demographics for Age 13 can be found here.

Your chronological list of techs:
Stone Tools
Fire
Weaving
Fishing
Burial Rites
Abstract Art
Society
Bladed Tools
Domestication
Agriculture
Clothing (Weaponry for free)
Architecture
Advanced Foraging (Furnace for free)

Exploration-Boosting Techs Unlocked:
None

Current Fruits/Vegetables harvested by your civilization:
Barley
Breadnuts
Grapes
Huckleberries
Peas
Peppers
Red Cabbage
Rice
Shallots
Star Fruits
Truffles

Current animals domesticated by your civilization:
Cattle
Chamoises (Goat-Antelopes)
Herd-Bugs
Horses (Mustangs)
Llamas
Rocs
Stegosauruses
Talbuks (Colored Antelope-Adjacents)
Wolves

Current animals hunted/exploited by your civilization:
Devilsaurs
Porpoises
Prairie Dogs
Quagga (Zebra Subspecies)
Rabbits
Weasels
Winged Lions
Wyverns (Monsters)

Natural Resources exploited by your civilization:
Basic Resources (Stone, Wood)

Magical Knowledge and Ranks:
Rank 2 Restoration
Rank 1 Abjuration
Rank 1 Divination
Rank 1 Enchantment
Rank 1 Evocation
Rank 1 Illusion

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>>5810205
Slight error on this post that I did not immediately catch; we have not domesticated Rocs, they belong in the category below it. We lack the sufficient power currently to domesticate such gigantic birds, but it isn't an impossibility in the future.

>Bloodline Updates

This age, the 11th Regina comes to power. She is the daughter of the 10th Rex, whose equally influential and historically significant twin sister had a son. As for their brother, the neglected thirdborn, he went missing, never to be seen again...

Though not as immediately notable or influential as their parents, the children of the rulers of the last age are still capable members of the bloodline, ready to carry on the legacy of their forebears.

The current Regina is noted for her close relationship to the eldest dragon, who is now large enough to carry her upon his back; they are often seen together as he soars over the countryside with her upon his back.

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And now for the random events of our age.

It is an Age of Divination. Divination, being one of the core magical schools, governs many useful spells and spell-like abilities. This age, your people advance in the art of divination, earning them a free rank in this school, or an advancement in some other fashion, perhaps the creation of a powerful artifact, location or ritual that is related to divination. Regardless, divination is also particularly strong this age and is doubly effective.

Will we take a second rank in Divination (allowing use of spells of a second a third level using D&D as a general guideline), or create some artifact or ritual or something else similar to that? The benefit of creating an artifact is that it will carry forward, becoming a cultural artifact with potential applications or ties to bloodlines or traditions; an artifact can be a potentially useful or powerful item when wielded in the right hands. In creating a powerful divination ritual, we can more reliably perform that specific ritual, increasing its chances for success; for example, a ritual of farsight, or weather prediction, or attempting to divine future events.

What shall we select for our Age of Divination?

>>5810212
>Create an artifact
Specifically, create an artifact that allows us to tap in to our ancesters in order to access their knowledge. Make it a spear or a symbol of office for our Regina

so excited to see this quest again

>>5810212
Create a relic. A cup that when you drink from it you get a massive spike in divination abilities

>>5810212
I say we take the free rank.

>>5810217
Supporting a spear/sceptre of divination.

>>5810208
>The dragon and queen are remarkably close
Oh no, our ruler is a scaly.

>>5810230
Get more the feeling that we are gonna turn into Valyria, we even got the whole Roman-esque dragonriders thing going for us

>>5810212
Wouldn't it make sense to make our capitol a place of divination? More could utilize the ability then

>>5810259
OOOOH I do like that idea actually. So what, it'd be like a giant ritual that permanently makes divination stronger in the city area? Would it be like increasing the magnitude of the visions, amplifying them by 2-3x?

>>5810259
>>5810271
I don't quite think I'll allow a permanent buff to divination within the city limits; that's a bit too open and its effects widespread. A ritual or artifact can be performed/taken elsewhere and not inherently tied to a single location, it's more personal-scale in that respect.
I wouldn't take location-based magical bonuses off the menu forever, but that might be more of a thing later on than it is right now.

>>5810212
What about a stationary Zone of Truth type area is discovered. The kind of thing a court or other important place be built around(dungeon maybe or military oath area)?

>>5810217
>>5810230
So far that's two votes for a spear/scepter of divination. I'll let others weigh in for a little while longer yet.

>>5810212
Wouldn't a free rank be pretty good here? Artifacts and rituals can get stolen or copied, which I worry will happen by what's been happening with our thirdsons.

>>5810212
>Second Rank in Dvination
Nice to see this back. I'll admit I though it dieded.

>>5810672
Yeah I think that's the best play here. Having an artifact could be more detrimental in the long run, just look at how many stories there are of civilizations ending/declining because their macguffin got stolen.

>>5810212
Create an artifact that shields us from divination.

>>5810212
>>5810734
>Second Rank in Dvination

>>5810967
ID changed from this
>>5810672

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>>5810229
>>5810734
>>5810672
>>5810967
>>5810970
Alright, three votes seems enough to call it.

A second rank in Divination it is, then.

We now move onto our random events for the age.

>Murder

A body is discovered in the home of its owner, a respected if somewhat obscure man, a worker and father of three. He has been stabbed and bled out from multiple wounds.

This would not be a great mystery in of itself, but the fact that this is the third such body found in this manner means there is a serial killer amongst the populace. Our seers and priests attempt to use divination to determine the killer, but whether through supernatural or exceptionally clever means, the killer's trail is cold.

The people are afraid, taking extra precautions at night and doing what they can to keep each other alert. Rumors of a vengeful spirit of some kind, a stalker of the living, are spoken of in hushed tones. Some say it is a woman, for a mysterious lady has been glimpsed in the night, but no one has ever verified such a claim with any evidence, such as corroborating witnesses.

There have been several strangers in our communities as of late; such things are not entirely uncommon, as there exist plenty of small or isolated families that live on the periphery of society who no one has ever seen until they come into the towns for one reason or another.

As for the victims themselves, there doesn't seem to be any connection between them personally, other then them all being male warriors.

How should we take steps to solve this mystery and catch the killer?

>>5811015
Look closer into possible connections. Do they all belong to a certain faction within the military? Maybe this isn't even one killer but a kind of turf war?

>>5811015
double the watch. Have some of the scouts transfered to a kind of Frumentarii
unit to watch the dark alleys, inns and shady business and the like

>>5811015
Investigate any leads and connections, look into prophecies or divinations if we can.

>>5811043
Also supporting this.

>>5811057
He just said divinations are off the table; something is obscuring the killer from supernatural identification.

>>5811043
Supporting, establishing an official police/intelligence force is a solid plan.

>>5811015
We should shelter the warriors into one area, and task watchmen to guard them in their rest and sleep.

>>5811043
Supporting

>>5811120
Seems impractical, since then who was guard our settlements and patrol?

>>5811043
Supporting this one.

>>5811015

>>5811079
Well then maybe we can try to connect the dots starting from the fact we don't have access to divination for some reason. Combined with the Frimentarii idea and looking for any connections between the victims, it could help.
I suspect this is somehow connected to the mystery magic woman that took away the neglected royal brother.

>>5811015
>Get creative with the divinations. Instead of the killer, seek the murder weapon, or the victim's blood on the weapon.
>Employ mundane methods as well. Do we have dogs?

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>Nice to see this back. I'll admit I though it dieded.
It's been a busy time, but I assure you the players and myself are always active on the discord, discussing the game and resolving their civilization ages.
Here's a fun little guide for what it's like!

>>5811791
Man all this rape talk is making me thirsty. Shame we don't have any hot neighbors except for the sylvans who are like our GF.

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>>5811043
>>5811057
>>5811087
>>5811146
>>5811209

Several of our exceptional scouts, the wolf-scouts, noted for their exceptional bond with their canine companions, are selected to serve as our watchers. We double the watch, placing a high priority on keeping our warriors safe.

Having long since learned to trust the keen senses of our hounds, the wolf-scouts we assign to this task rely heavily upon them, and our wolves do not disappoint. There is a foul presence stalking our capital, some kind of monster clad in the trappings of a feminine form.

One particularly dark night, with barely any light showing from the two moons, the wolf scouts corner a woman in an alley. Her shadows are cast off to reveal a mysterious form with dark, purplish-skin and glowing eyes. Her smile glints in the darkness with fangs.

"Do as you like; my blood will soon rule this land."

Displaying magical powers and strength beyond that of a mortal man, she kills several men and wolves before being subdued. However, she is not killed, but rather captured. Bound and dragged before the Regina, the demoness is questioned about her meaning. She is rather forthcoming; her sons, the children of the lost thirdborn noble from the age prior, are advancing their plans. In creating a distraction in the form of the serial murders, other things were not reported or investigated, but she will not reveal what those actions were.

When questioned about the lost scion, she replies that he is dead; he spent his life devoted to her every whim, giving her exactly what she wanted from him: noble blood, in the form of several scions. These male heirs are now somewhere in your populace, doing something nefarious.

What will you do with this information? What about the captive?

>>5812049
Maybe Divination magic might help locating the scions and maybe, find the people who divination doesnt work on. Start an investigation of new comers aswell. Also, execute the woman

>>5812049
Close the city gates, everyone going in our out will be thoroughly checked. Incentivize population to report any suspicious activity. Question all reported newcomers.

Put spies on all military leaders (I think they are planning a coup and the murders were not only a distraction but also removing opponents/witnesses).

And torture the bitch until she spits out more info.

>>5812049
Maybe set the military and mages on high alert and prepare for hostile action?

As for the demoness, maybe use her some kind of divination focus for her children?

>>5812049
>Look for people without families. Check each with divination

>>5812049
>Close the gates
>Investigate and monitor those without families
>Torture the demonic woman, publicly, in the hooes of extracting info or drawing out her sons

>>5812242
>>5812049

Seconding, but they could have infiltrated and started families some time ago leave no one out.
We need to incorporate some of our wolf-scouts and rabidly devoted warriors into an Oprichnina and comb our civ for the dissident half-bloods and whatever possible coup they're plotting.

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>>5812060
>>5812108
>>5812134
>>5812176
>>5812242
>>5812285

Unsure of both the scale and minute details of the threat, steps are taken to track down and detain anyone suspicious. Unfortunately, this leads to some confusion, as people begin to suspect their neighbors of collaborating with demons. To add onto this, it is likely that these demonic scions, whomever they might be, could be adding to the confusion with controlled disinformation and rumor meant to obfuscate and further mask their presence.

Our wolf-scouts and warrior-priests are put on high alert to single out people without established families, or people who have not been in communities for very long and may have started families of their own.

In the meantime, torture is implemented upon the demoness, but she seems to revel in pain. "My home realm is one of torment and fire; you can do nothing to me I have not lived through a thousand times." She reveals nothing, despite your people's most creative and downright sadistic tortures being inflicted upon her. Whatever your people can imagine, the greater demons of her home have undoubtedly thought of worse. The public spectacle of the demon being tortured yet laughing has a lasting impression upon the people; it frightens them.

There is one advantage in this situation that come to our aid, as they have so often in the past: the sylvians. Pureblooded sylvians are beyond reproach in this instance, for even if scions of this demon could have seduced and mated with a sylvian or half-sylvian, their children wouldn't be full-blooded sylvians themselves. Diviners and priests from pureblooded sylvian lines are trusted and the faith of the people is placed upon them to aid them in this battle against an unknown enemy.

They conduct a thorough investigation, working tirelessly to sort through rumor and suspicions from multiple sources. They produce a number of suspects, one of whom is all but confirmed to be one of the sons of the lost thirdborn; he looks nearly identical to his father, though with darker hair, and his amber eyes burn brilliantly with a keen intellect.

He is brought before the Regina and a council of seers, warrior-priests, priests and notable figures to answer for himself. "Even if my blood were demonic, what crime have I committed? Is it is a crime to be born?" he asks the crowd. "And even if it were, then our ruler should be damned as well, for tainted blood runs in her veins---the blood of those who drink blood!"

It has not been public knowledge that the royal line, for two ages now, descended from the male half-vampiric twins, the children
of the thirdborn brother of the 5th Regina and the Vampire Queen---the original source of the thirdborn curse. Somehow, the demon knew of it. There is no falsehood detected in his words by the truth-seeking diviners, and public attitude quickly shifts against the Regina---particularly from the vampire-hating Sylvians.

What is to be done about this tumultuous turn of events?

>>5812715
he is not under trial for being born but for treason and consorting with an enemy of the state

>>5812718
I don't think it matters anymore, there was already a lack of trust and paranoia building. A bombshell like this dropping in the midst of the uncertainty was probably what the demoness wanted. I have a bad feeling we are in a lose lose situation now

>>5812715
Perhaps holding trials for a new dynasty is inorder once this attack is delt with

Looks like torture and public humiliation was the wrong way to go, who knew.

>>5812715
Execute them and continue the search for the remaining family members.
Promise to hold trials for a new dynasty once the spawn and family of the demoness are fully destroyed. And I don't just mean killed, use any form of holy magic against them. Execute them the old fashioned way if nothing else works, but don't make it a show trial like with the torture, that's just dumb.

>>5812715
>Imprison the known scion
>Promise to hold a new leadership trial when this crisis has passed

>>5812715
Seems like we fell for the traps they set, the next beat of this would probably be some riot or what not where agitators in the crowd and infiltrators within the guard enflame tensions and put the dynasty in check.

Only way we can somewhat win here is to silently execute the demon and whatever children she had to deny the other team their pieces.

Though before that, just giving a public statement where the Regina states their good intent and that they never really continued the Vampiric heritage with the seers giving proof of it might be good? Or doing the CIA thing on the scion because I doubt he's as resilient as his mother.

Beyond, maybe something about securing the eggs in the Curia? I'm really worried on those now that the dynasty is in question.

>>5812825
Although, I'm also worried about the demon not dying right, so maybe do it in the presence of the naga, or at least near his temple.

>>5812715
>Purge all the most obvious suspects and dissenters.

Bar anything else, we need to nip a revolt in the bud.

>>5812739
Supporting trials. Kinda like the demoness DESU lol

>>5812715
Say that vampiric blood is not a crime, and if he didn't do anything wrong, we want his cooperation in solving the murders and infiltration.
And if he refuses, THAT would be a crime.

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>>5812718
>>5812739
>>5812755
>>5812765
>>5812825
>>5812826
>>5812855
>>5812925
>>5812948

When demanded to cooperate by revealing his fellow conspirators, he refuses, coyly playing at being ignorant. When told that if he would not cooperate, he replies that his task is done, and his life means nothing. A warrior steps forth to slit his neck as his demoness mother laughs, before she herself is put to death. Unlike her son, her body bursts into flames; she does not die, but is rather sent back to where she came from. It is clear, however, that her work is not done and will be carried out by her spawn hidden amidst the populace.

The Regina's credibility drops to an all-time low; people call for a change in leadership, and the assembled council of warrior-priests, priests and other community heads agree: no descendent of the white-haired half-vampire twin brothers is fit to lead. The sylvians, in particular, threaten to pull thier support from the civilization if it is led by tainted blood. To maintain order, the civilization must be led by another. No matter how well the descendents of the half-vampires led the people, such as the dynamic duo of the brother and sister of the age prior, and no matter how well the current scion is liked by the heads of the communities, the public outcry of their 'tainted blood' means they will never again have the support of the masses.

However the risk of one of these half-demons becoming Rex or Regina is far too great, and so a new dynasty must only be established after the crisis is past. The slain body of the half-demon is inspected, and there is no physical difference between it and a normal man's, meaning that they could very well fool enough people into earning a spot to compete to be the next ruler.

It is clear enough that the spawn have some plan, though its full reach is not yet well known. Whatever knowledge their mother has left them with, some infernal magic or rituals, must be stopped before it can bring ruin to your people.

The Regina is despondent. She wants so desperately to help her people, but is now seen as a pariah, merely due to the circumstances of her birth, and so can do nothing without risking making the situation worse. Even though she carries tainted blood, she was not raised with the explicit goal of being used as some nefarious demon's pawn---even though she ended up being as such anyway. She seeks comfort with her only true friend, the dragon, confiding in him her despair. He alone listens to her and comforts her, for he knows her heart is true.

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>>5813515


The matter of the demonic infiltration of your nation is finally brought to the attention of the wise naga, who ponders the information. He believes that the demonic woman may have overplayed her advantage. In sending one of her children to become a sacrificial lamb for the express purpose of casting doubt upon the leadership of the Regina and throwing the civilization into political disarray, she may very well have provided the means with which your people can find the other spawn. Infernal blood has special properties, and if exploited properly, can reveal his devilish siblings.

The corpse is brought to the temple of the naga, and under the careful instruction of the wise serpent, its blood is drained into a recess. Magic is utilized and the blood bursts into flames. The naga is pleased with the results; with but a small amount of blood, those with infernal origins can be found out.

Civilians are summoned to provided their blood. A cut across the non-dominant palm and a test is performed. Those who bear the mark of the cut and whose blood does not burn are cleared. Any who refuse the test initially are threatened with torture or death; any who run are killed. The full-blooded sylvians are relied upon heavily during this time, both in observing and capturing suspicious individuals.

When the first person to have their blood ignite is tested, he is immediately captured. By the end of it all, eleven men of similar appearance, build, height and other qualities, all of whom had blood which ignited when subjected to the naga's magic, are detained. For years and years the demoness must have kept the thirdborn under her thrall, using her unnatural physiology to spawn this near-dozen, each of whom were raied by her and trained in the dark arts of demonic summoning rituals. They were sent to your capital with the express purpose of sowing enough discontent and turmoil that the summoning of additional and even more powerful entities from whatever hellish domain she came from would be easier.

What is to be done with these eleven demon-spawn?

>>5813516
>Interrogated separately to make sure we got them all.
>Then executed publicly and their corpses immolated in their own blood.

>>5813516
This all feels... Too easy. I'm suspicious.
>keep them all prisoner, hands cuffed and monitored so they cannot cast spells, mouths gagged except when questioned

>>5813527
Support

>>5813516
>Interrogate to see how deep the extent of the demon's teaching are.
>Put the ones that are redeemable under watched probation, execute the rest.
>Catalogue these summoning rites for the most trustworthy of the Curia.

I thirst for Conjuration.

>>5813555
>>5813648
seconded,
they could be a source of power for us, if w raise loyal heirs

>>5813516
>Stud the demon-spawn
The irony of treating the demoness' descendents the same way she treated the third brother is not lost on me

>>5813516
>Execute

We have learned that interrogation will lead no results and only gives them a stage to spread their venom, just exterminate them like vermin

>>5813516
>Interrogated separately to make sure we got them all.
>Execute

>>5813693
The whole mistake of the previous interrogations was doing it as a trial. Even if it was a failure in otherways, we did just interrogate the two people within this conspiracy that are likely to be good at the charisma game.

Besides, they might have had a demon summoned or two that we need to deal with and they're the foremost demonologists here so no harm done trying to turn them to our sides as long as we take precautions.

>>5813729
Is this id.
>>5813648

>>5813516
>Interrogated separately to make sure we got them all, and try to make sure we don't find any surprises from them.
>Then execute those that refuse to renounce their demonic roots.
>Try to find any mind control or subconscious compelling on any of them. See if there's some fate in store within their futures which we can see with our divination
I don't trust this, there's something going on.

>>5813729
>>5813688
>>5813670
>>5813648
We need their power to bring back stability. A line of demonologists or occultists would go a long way to protect us in the future.
Interrogate
Stud
Kill if they won't renounce their loyalties to the demoness

>>5814115
I think the idea of 'studding' this demonic line is stupid. This is asking for something bad to happen in the future, not to mention the social fallout.

>>5813516
>>5813736
Adding to my vote
>do not stud the demon spawn of the woman, castrate them if needed

>>5813516
Let me vote against "studding" as well.

Just cull them, fuck guys this is Rat Goblins 2.0!

I'm this >>5813693 anon phoneposting

>>5814115
"Tainted" blood is what's been biting us. I don't think knowledge itself can pass off vampiric or demonic influence so we can take their power that a way.

We just need to empower the Curia until a magocracy is viable is what I'm saying.

Is this ID
>>5813732

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>>5813527
>>5813567
>>5813693
>>5813697
>>5813555
>>5813648
>>5813670
>>5813736
>>5814115
>>5814203

In the absence of a Rex or Regina, impassioned debate over the fate of these eleven prisoners takes place. Nearly split down the middle are those who advocate for their death, and those who advocate for imprisonment, interrogation, and in some cases, studding. This is a controversial issue, particularly the last notion; the sylvians are strongly against any kind of unnatural blood proliferating amongst the populace.

"Let those who are cursed with fell blood keep it in their own veins, and not curse our children, and our children's children with it!" is the rallying cry of the sylvian spokespersons.

There is a desire among several prominent leaders to take whatever knowledge the mother bestowed upon them and turn it against her masters and their ilk; greater knowledge of these dark arts is required in order to defend against them.

The prisoners, each and every single one of them, are willing to share their secrets in exchange for their lives. The sylvians call for their execution, or at the very least, castration. Prevent them from breeding, and take the knowledge they're willing to share for ourselves, but only to be used for defense. They do not wish for such knowledge to be twisted against us; even some well-meaning mage in the future may bring unintentional ruin with it.

There are others who cry out against this very act; how can their word be trusted? The first one was willing to die for his cause, so why are these ones not? There must be some greater plot at work! They may even have non-demonic conspirators; who knows who else the demoness may have sunken her fangs into but not bred with! A zero-tolerance stance must be adopted, lest we settle into the comfort of thinking the problem is past, only for their true plan to reveal itself, only by then it will have been too late! We must torture them for more information about co-conspirators!

The debates rage long into the nights, lasting days. Kill them, imprison them, reform them, stud them, castrate them, torture them---the options are too many, and combinations of them pile upon each other.

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>>5814554

It is in the midst of all of this talk when the former Regina requests the right to speak before the assembly. Though the sylvians object to so much as allowing her to speak, she is granted the right to appear before them. She explains that while debate over the fate of the prisoners has been raging, the question of the fate of the vampire-descended white-maned families has also been conducted, mostly internally amongst themselves. As their elected spokesperson, she proposes that she and her family, along with the demon-spawn, be exiled. She speaks about how even though her blood is tainted, she and her father's family and their parenthood have only ever fought for the greater interests of the civilization. She and her family volunteer to be the wardens of the half-demons, removing both them and themselves from society. They will create a place where prisoners may be sent, and in this place will she and her descendants keep watch over these malcontents.

Flying upon the back of her dragon, she has discovered islands to the north. There is no easy escape from these places, and she and her kin are prepared to make a sacred vow to dedicate their lives and the lives of their children to forever becoming the wardens of such an isle. She wishes so desperately to help her mother country, and if removing herself and her kin from it is the best way she can do so, she will bear the burden. She and her dragon will even survey the islands to determine which would be best upon which to base this land of exile.

Once she is done speaking, debate rages once more. Should exile be considered? If someone is condemned to the islands, and they should escape, how should it be known? They could be branded, and killed if the brand is seen upon the mainland. What of castration? They shouldn't be sent off to some place and allowed to breed uncontrollably. How will the descendants of the half-vampires breed? Are we to send them supplies and women? Are we to adopt these new wardens as an official organization within our society, and allow people to pledge themselves to the cause, take the same oath, and be sent to the island to watch over our criminals?

What is to be done?

>>5814556
Word is bond. Have they and their forebearers not already proven their loyalty time and time again? Proof of love for one's nation supercedes whatever notions and preconceived notions we may have.

Swear a blood oath and it shall be done. To everyone gathered, this is not a punishment, but an honor bestowed to only those with the abilities and conviction to perform such a task.

>>5814556
>They may be exiled only on the condition that their entire system of government and traditions of the island hinge on them serving their mother country. The demonically descended sons will be castrated, only leaving the royal family itself to proliferate and act as wardens.
>Adopt the wardens as a new official organization in our society, in which these traditions must be upheld by those who are undeniably loyal to the mainland. They will be sent supplies and the occasional volunteers. As for how they will continue their lineage, there is bound to be women/men that are willing to marry them once they arrive to the island as volunteers.
I'm willing to listen to any arguments in favor of executing the demonic spawn instead of just exiling and castrating them. I refuse to just send them there with the ability to continue their demonic line, that's just asking for the demoness to destroy us later on.

>>5814556
>>5814595
+1

>>5814556
>Vampire spawn should be sent on a trial

Their long decades of service to the nation and the people should have earned them the right to a trial. If they pass, they will be welcomed into society as valued members even though not rulers anymore.

>Execute demonspawn
We know for a fact that they were created with the stated purpose of bringing ruin to our society so we should curb them.

Basically chad vampire vs virgin ratpeople all over again.

>>5814556
>>5814565
To keep the sylvian support,
Send her and her family away, castrate the spawn as they are out of our purview.
This is a blood oath.
Their trial to redemption.
They should not be allowed again into society, but not entirely apart.
Volunteers can go and live with them, work as prison guards.
Make it an outpost. Our Penal Colony we can utilize as our civ gross.
This is their task.

Additionally we should keep them at hand to help future dragon tamers

>>5814556
Supporting >>5814595 and >>5814645
But castrate the demon spawn and let it be overseen by the Sylvians to make sure there is no loopholes for the demons to take in order to continue the demonic bloodline.

Man I really want to execute them but I don't know if this will play into the hands of the demoness.

>>5814693
And also try to use our divination on everything to make sure nothing catches us off guard.

>>5814556
Allow them to be exiled as they request. No need for any castration or anything; the vampire-blooded are proof enough (whatever the Sylvian might say) that 'tainted' blood does not make one a creature of dishonou and darkness.

>>5814595
Support, except for castration. Let them be, they did not choose their existence.

Perhaps those with demonblood might be barred from any positions of leadership over the island? Brands or tattoos could be applied showing bloodlines.

>>5814556
There's no point in castration. If we don't want them to breed they can just be executed.
Just exile them. Don't send them supplies, we're a subsistence agriculture society and they can feed themselves.

>>5814556
For the vampire spawn, I support >>5814625's vote of sending them to a trial. I really don't want to see how their descendants will think of us once the love of country that their ancestors has became lost to time. I don't think they even did anything wrong too.

For the demon spawn, castration to appease the sylvians, and just spreading them out around our cities and one or two sent with a band to settle the isles is probably fine? As long as their correspondences and communications are watched, they can't gather the plot power to do anything.

Along with that, I don't think we should really execute them? The whole method of the demoness is to play people that don't know any better, and kids are vulnerable victims to those kinds of play. Persecuting them now is inviting the retribution that they'll feel they are owed to.

>>5814645
For clarification I think the demons should be castrated not the halfvamps.
>>5814766
I agree with your second and third points.
But if this is a voluntary exile we can keep the sylvians on outside and not lose the valuable asset that was the ruling dynasty. We can even keep some ties to them on a penal colony where they are both the wardens and prisoners like I said. They just won't have a say in the nation any longer

>>5814801
This island will become Dragonstone and they will conquer our lands from it

>>5814556
Support the idea, without castrating the demonspawn.

>>5814806
Unlikely Especially if contact is kept with them

>>5814645
>>5814801
>>5814693
>>5814696
>>5814766
Agreed, take precautions and geld the scions of the demon
With the Half Vamp family, they should get their exile but we should send additional guards with to the prison island to ensure they don't try anything funny, but tell them its for support in keeping the demons restrained.
If the family of half vamps remains loyal to us we might as well use that to our advantage

>>5814842
I don't think the vampire spawns are actually going to act funny if we treat them as people. In a dozen or so generations, keeping them on some isle with not much on it (without reason, considering these demon spawns are going to die in a generation or two.) is what would make them act out.

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>>5814595
>>5814617
>>5814645
>>5814693
>>5814766
>>5814709
>>5814725
>>5814763
>>5814816
>>5814801
>>5814842

The decision is finally made, one that appeases both the sylvians and the mages of the Curia---exile with castration for the demon-spawn.

Those descended from the vampires of old will be appointed the Wardens of the Isle. The largest island to the north is chosen as this place of exile; it contains apples, large territorial and dangerous walking turtles known as shalebacks, and its waters are patrolled by dangerous long-necked reptiles and sea tigers.

Utilizing our dragon, both the vampire-descended scions and the half-demons will be brought there, along with volunteers and such. Frequent trips between the mainland and the island will be made, both to check on them and to deliver supplies and volunteers.

In their exile, the demonspawn will live a life of penance and labor, and conditional to them getting to live their lives is the release of all information and secrets their mother taught to them. Through these secrets, our civilization has unlocked a free rank of Conjuration magic.

With the issues of the demoness and her children along with those descended from the vampires taken care of, our society may now move onto the choosing of a new leader. After many trials, a male arises above all others: a descendant of the very first Rex, carrying both half-elven and sylvian blood in his veins. Favored by all, he takes his place as the 12th Rex and vows to maintain peace in this time after having dealt with those of tainted blood and promises that from now on only those of untainted blood will be welcomed within the civilization. With strong leadership restored and peace returned, now the people can look to the future with hope.

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>>5814863

Unbeknownst to all, save for one of the exiles who now toils and repents with his similarly-castrated brothers under the watchful eye of the white-haired wardens, a lone woman stands upon the edge of the sea, looking northwards, her belly round with child. She knows she will never see her love again, nor will her child ever see his father, and knows that her love knows this as well. She also knows that if the truth of this child ever comes to light, there will be no mercy spared to the innocent babe, and so she remains quiet and lies to her family about who the real father is.

>...

With that, we now move onto our player actions for the age. Our current population size dictates that we have three actions available.

As a reminder, player actions are purely on the initiative of whatever we would like to accomplish; for example, purely as a list of ideas (and is nowhere near final or limited to) consider the following:

>Attack
>Breed
>Build
>Create
>Defend
>Diplomacy
>Divine
>Domesticate
>Experiment
>Exploit
>Explore
>Exterminate
>Farm
>Festival
>Govern
>Hatch
>Magic
>Mine
>Modify
>Refine
>Religion
>Repair
>Ritual
>Settle
>Stockpile
>Study
>Trade
>Worship

Study the map in >>5814863 and compare the information in >>5810205 to help narrow down your ideas.

>What will our three actions be? You may list them one at a time, or suggest three.

>>5814873
Dammit why didn't we do that cool truth spell on them to ask if they impregnated anyone.

>>5814873
Goddamnit it, we did a Herod and made a demonblooded vengeance baby. Welp.

>Magic
Expand our knowledge of conjuration and, especially, exorcism/banishment of conjured beings

>Festival
Institute an annual festival of purification and chastity, commemorating the memory of the Years of Tainted Blood and the price we paid to end them (might as well memorialize such a major event)

>Govern
Work at bringing the Sylvians more in line with our mainstream culture, so they can't wield such outsized influence in the future. Begin it with a Syvian honor-guard for our new Rex and his bloodline, but sue this as an excuse to take the best, strongest, and smartest of their children and raise them in line with our culture.

>>5814873
Domesticate
The winged lions

>>5814873
>Make a rite of purification for any future Rex or Regina to ensure there is no demonic blood.
>Start a festival commemorating the defeat of the demoness and her spawn , as well as the sacrifice and honor of the Wardens.
>Look into new ways to better organize our magic. Can we create a 'pure' holy magic to find people with tainted blood?

>>5814873
>Attempt to summon other things than demons.
>Create some kind of note-keeping over the populace to watch for these kinds of infiltrators.
>Send a party to explore that tomb near Taurica.

>Hatch more dragons
>Study divination further
>Explore

>>5814873
>>5814879
Supporting.

>>5814882
This one is also good, I'll support this too since it seems close enough to what the other anon suggested.

>>5814873
Supporting >>5814905

Wait did we also castrate vampire spawn? I don't think anyone voted for that

>>5815382
It didn't read like it to me.

>>5815382
I think one person did, I know I was against that

>>5815382
No, the vampire-descended scions were not castrated; their family lines will continue.

>>5815656
Thanks for clarifying! Don't really like that our multicultural Roman society is all about pure-blood now but we'll get back into it I guess. Maybe can breed with the Dragonfolk lol

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>>5814882
>>5814905
>>5815138
>>5815381

One of the early conjuration spells available within Rank 1 is the summoning of familiars, which take simple animalistic forms. Our warrior-priests and sylvians quickly adapt such knowledge into making familiars a common sight for the magically-inclined; birds, in particular, are a common familiar, along wih snakes (in honor of our Naga lord) and frogs and other small animals found along the rivers, lakes and swamp to the north.

Furthermore, through use of divination to further investigate the connections of the demoness and the lost thirdborn of the age prior, our people travel to the tombs outside of Taurica. A special task force is selected to enter this place; previously, it was banned from entry by the brother and sister of the lost thirdborn of the age prior, but given the events of this age along with their word no longer being heeded as law (due to the revelation of their vampiric heritage) the tombs are once more opened for exploration.

It is quickly discovered that multiple smaller demons inhabit these tombs, likely summoned by the demoness. These small dretches are cowardly, attacking only in ambushes with greater numbers as they are opportunistic and weak. it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine excactly how many of these vile creatures proliferate this ancient series of underground tombs, which are surprisingly expansive.

What is clear is that a number of profane rites took place here. Ritual circles, runes, and all manner of arcane writings, both ancient and new, can be found. In studying these runes, the warrior-priests specifically note their composition, but also how to counter them. Deciding to focus on caution and defense, given the relatively unknown nature of the threat arrayed against them, the warrior-priests opt to learn means with which to better protect themselves, their leaders and their society from the influence of evil. The ruins are left behind and sealed for the time being, leaving the minor demons in there to fester until more knowledge can be gained and they can be more effectively wiped out.

Our society has gained a second rank in Abjuration magic.

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>>5815892

In coming to rely upon the sylvians so much during this age, stronger ties and connections are made and more sylvians are encouraged to join our mainline population centers. This is done with good intentions, yet also with the goal of ensuring that the sylvians become more intricately woven within our society and raised with morals and loyalties tied more closely to the Rex/Regina. As a consequence of this, the number of half-breed sylvians increases, as people come to see sylvians as representing a pure and untainted line, free of any dark influences, and are thus more highly valued as breeding/marriageable material.

A cultural value of Purity, which is to say a value on not having tainted blood or origins, is adopted by the populace.

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>>5815894

A festival will be created, one that celebrates the crowning and selection of a new Rex or Regina, capping it off with a new series of rites of purification to ensure that no unnatural blood of any origin (infernal, abyssal, shadow, eldritch, vampiric, etc) makes its way into the leadership of our society. The festival is also a time of mermorial to the time of the threat of tainted blood, serving to reinforce the values of blood purity amongst the populace. Included in this is a celebration of the defeat of the demoness and her spawn, as well as the honoring the oaths of the wardens. Our society is happy that the problem is dealt with in the eyes of the majority; by simply exiling them, most people cease to think about them as anything more than a faraway issue, easily ignored.

Currently, the only means by which the island may be reached is by dragon, at least until sailing becomes commonplace. The dragons, though associated most strongly with the current ruling family, have memories that reach back far. Though two of the dragons were only born last age, and thus will not come of age for quite some time, the elder of our three dragons cannot so easily forget the strong ties with the family descended from the half-vampiric scions. In particular, as the only dragon his age was lost last age to a tragic chunk of debris from a falling meteorite, and now that he has entered young adulthood, he finds his heart longing for companionship. He has grown close to the now-deposed 11th Regina---some would say too close. The dragon makes frequent trips to the island for the express purpose of seeing her.

As prized treasures of the civilization, the activity of the dragon does not escape the current leadership. The foremost of the warrior-priests, seers and current royals and other associated community heads are concerned by the affection the dragon has for the woman. While this is primarily due to the worry over the wardens having influence over the dragon (and thus, influence over a very valuable asset to the society), the unspoken and unthinkable fear is the mingling of draconic and vampire-descended-elven/sylvian blood. The true origins of these dragons is as of yet unknown to us, and while they are useful, we must tread carefully on how they are viewed by our society.

Are we to forbid the dragon from seeing her? How will we sate the dragon's natural urges if so?

>>5815896
>Are we to forbid the dragon from seeing her?

We should not, the dragon is not a beast of burden but an honored member of our society with free will.

Besides, it is a young adult, to attempt to shackle it would invite rebellion.

>>5815896
>
We allow this to continue, I saw to the point where we send future dragon handlers along on the dragons trips to learn tips from the ex-regina. She loves this nation and I think we should let her feel useful in ways other than as a warden.

>>5815896
You do you dragon, the whole deal over pure blood was pushed through by a sizable minority.

(of the in-game population that is, abdicating more or less became required unless we wanted to risk civil war or a large Sylvian shitfit)

>>5815896
How are we going to keep a giant flying fire-breathing lizard from doing what it wants?
Instead give it a handler from the line of the new Rex, who will accompany it everywhere to monitor its interactions with the former Regina and bond with it to become its new master after she dies.

>>5815896
>>5815975
+1
And if this is about sexual urges why not give him a female dragon as a mate? Do we have any?

>>5815967
Supporting. Pure-blood Nazis can GTFO.

>>5815985
He is the only young adult dragon currently hatched. The only other two were hatched last age, making them functionally children.

>>5815896
The dragon's fiery blood would clearly cleanse the deposed's line of darkness. It's just common sense.

>Support the dragon wholeheartedly.

>>5815896
>5815896
>Give the dragon free reign to fuck whoever it pleases
It's studding time

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>>5815914
>>5815952
>>5815967
>>5815996
>>5816011
>>5816013

The decision is made to not alienate the dragon; it is clear that the civilization leans too heavily upon the potential of these winged, fire-breathing beasts. The dragon is given free reign to fly to the island as often as he likes. The 11th Regina and her family, consisting of a single male cousin and three female distant cousins, take to their role upon the island as the Wardens of the Isle.

In the ages to come, through means that the visiting mainland dignitaries do not disclose to the public, the descendants of the vampiric line come to have draconic features: wings, horns, claws, and the ability to breathe fire. The winged scions patrol the isle, preventing any who are sent their way for exile from escaping. Volunteers sent to the island to join their cause form the bulk of the workforce, but it is the white-haired draconic scions who truly represent the Wardens.

As for the dragon, he continues to make many, many frequent trips to the island, both for official business such as the transportation of exiles, volunteers, dignitaries coming to check up on things, and for personal reasons.

With that, we shall move onto our choice of technology as this age, and this chapter in our people's history, comes to a close.

>Choose one of the following technologies to unlock for use in the next age:

TIER 2
>Art (Leads to Astrology, Proto-Writing, Numerals, and Pottery) (Culture Boost)
>Music (Leads to Dancing) (Culture/Happiness Boost)

TIER 3
>Early Medicine (Leads to Early Surgery, and Herbology) (Protection Boost)
>Mining (Leads to Masonry, Cement, Canals, and Bronze Working) (Production Boost)
>Pathfinding (Leads to Shipbuilding, Smoke Signals, Athleticism, and Herbology) (Exploration Boost)
>Sailing (Leads to Shipbuilding, Canals, and Aquaculture) (Exploration Boost)
>Taxation (Leads to Bartering) (Economic Boost)
>The Wheel (Leads to Advanced Pottery, Irrigation, Siege Towers, and Wagons) (Production Boost)

TIER 4
>Advanced Cooking (Leads to Advanced Preservation) (Food Boost)
>Animal Husbandry (Leads to Aquatic Husbandry, Chariotry, Riding, and Falconry) (Animal Boost)
>Archery (Leads to Crossbows, Ballistae, and Soldiering) (Combat Boost)
>Fermentation (Leads to Advanced Medicine, Advanced Preservation, and Distillation) (Food/Culture/Happiness Boost)
>Forge (Leads to Iron Working, and Porcelain) (Production Boost)

>>5816102
>Sailing (Leads to Shipbuilding, Canals, and Aquaculture) (Exploration Boost)

>>5816102
>>Sailing (Leads to Shipbuilding, Canals, and Aquaculture) (Exploration Boost)
Here we can lessen our reliance on the dragon

>>5816102
>Art (Leads to Astrology, Proto-Writing, Numerals, and Pottery) (Culture Boost)

Would be funny not to have this until a very late age, but I want my numbers and words.

>>5816102
>>Sailing (Leads to Shipbuilding, Canals, and Aquaculture) (Exploration Boost)

>>5815996
>pure-blood Nazis
Our civiziationw as founded by mixed-blood human/elf hybrids and is now chock full of green forest spirit fluids, even ignoring the dhampirs, demonspawn, and now the half-dragons. We may not want a ton of undead and abyssal bloodlines, but true genetic monoculture was never an option for this civ.

>>5816102
>Art (Leads to Astrology, Proto-Writing, Numerals, and Pottery) (Culture Boost)
Pretty sure our ex-Regina knows more than enough about animal husbandry already, kek.

>>5816102
>the descendants of the vampiric line come to have draconic features: wings, horns, claws, and the ability to breathe fire.

Gross.

>>Sailing (Leads to Shipbuilding, Canals, and Aquaculture) (Exploration Boost)

Part of me is happy the Regina was deposed. Not because of her being a half vamp, but because she's a scalie.

>>5816220
I, too, am happy for our eccentric dragonfucking Warden-Mistress. Living her best life.
Called it, though, didn't I?

>>5816102
>Art (Leads to Astrology, Proto-Writing, Numerals, and Pottery) (Culture Boost)

>>5816102
>Animal Husbandry (Leads to Aquatic Husbandry, Chariotry, Riding, and Falconry) (Animal Boost)

I still maintain that we don't even need ships or wagons if we lean fully into the animal stuff, lots of untapped potential still there

>>5816102
>Art (Leads to Astrology, Proto-Writing, Numerals, and Pottery) (Culture Boost)
Pottery!

>>5816102
>Art (Leads to Astrology, Proto-Writing, Numerals, and Pottery) (Culture Boost)

On a side note the adult dragon is clearly more loyal to the Wardens than the mainland. If he gets too arrogant we should prepare a contingency plan against him.

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>>5816105
>>5816118
>>5816146
>>5816215

>>5816140
>>5816159
>>5816274
>>5816369
>>5816451

Well, it's a close race, but I'll call it at Art, which will boost our culture by a point. We could use it, too; as far as culture rating goes, our civilization is in 20th place. When it comes to production, our civilization is in 14th place, which is a solid "middle" position to be in.

We'll go ahead and call it there for this age. Thank you very much for participating in this thread. I mentioned it earlier, but at the end of Age 12 two players met for the very first time---the world is getting more and more filled in, and it won't be long before borders get drawn, cultures begin to clash, holy wars launched and alliances will be both made and broken.

Thread Archivet: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=untamed%2C+civilization

As always, you can join the discord server to talk with the players of their own civilizations as well as get updates on when the next thread will be up, as well as changes I'm making to the tech tree and any other mechanics.

Discord Server: https://discord.gg/xeYq6mJ9TB

Until next time, have a good one.

As a bonus, here's some art from an artist friend of one of the players, depicting what our Roman Half-Elves would see (or near it, maybe, possibly, it's just an interpretation) of their night sky, with the moons and ring (being nearly a flat line due to our nigh-equatorial position on the world).

>>5816806
Thank you for running QM!
Based art.

>>5816806
Thanks for running!
I can't help but notice that the technological and cultural progress is very slow.

>>5816925
That's very much by design. Things will pick up in time; right now it's more due to the luck of the draw when it comes to random events and such for getting things like multiple techs per age, but I've got plans in place for an acceleration of technological progress at what I consider to be an acceptable pace. Keep in mind that the primary goal of all of this is to flesh out the world, culture, history and such of our society over many ages to allow things to become more fleshed-out and entrenched; nothing in the world is planned from the start, and everything being randomly generated, such as each new hex and events that occur each age, gives us an opportunity to continually react to changes as they happen and for our society to adapt to them and those adaptions can be reinforced or altered slightly in following ages. As for technology and culture on a macro level, I tend to adopt the philosophy of change coming slowly over long periods of time. Like I mentioned, I do have plans for acceleration, but I want it to be a gradual acceleration.

Huh, didn't know this was back
After reading the quest I can now safely say that I don't like dragons anymore. If that horny bastard wants to prove his loyalty surely he wouldn't mind being send as the front line against any threat.

>>5816806
Very cool art! Reminds me of life on the prairies, albeit with cool spooky alien skies. I enjoy it a lot, and likewise this quest.

>>5818774
We should've castrated him.

>>5819577
>>5818774
What? Why?? He didn't do anything except have consensual sex with a lady we disenfranchised and ostracized for blood impurity anyway.

>>5819584
Think of the big picture anon. He clearly doesn't care much about the mainland, and is creating a legion of descendants that are definitely more loyal to him than anyone else. He might join forces with the demon blood kid and bring about a reign of tyranny for all we know.
Also its just gross, man. If we wanted to go down that route we should've mixed with the rat goblins lmao. Literally no reason why we genocided them or castrated the demon spawn.

>>5818774
>>5819608

Agreed. I was under the assumption that dragon would breed with dragon, don't care for how this is going.

From the get go of mixing with the vampires to going easy on the rat goblins, all these half measures are just going to bring more and more trouble. Hell, we're dividing and conquering ourselves.

>>5819608
>>5823724
He has loyally served us for devades and continues to do so, having married a woman we literally trusted to rule us until we caved to political pressure. The only living members of his species are a half-elf's lifetime away from sexual maturity, while he is lonely and has a female who loves him NOW. Let the dragon have his waifu.

If you're so cocnerned about divisions, just reinvite and reintegrate the Wardens in the next age, as we have integrated the Sylvans.

>>5823981
Yea whatever, dragons are cool but dragons reproducing with people isn't.

There's no integration to be done, we now have an exclave of part vampire part dragon creatures, living alongside demon halfbreeds - that have the fucking dragon.

Quite the issue, I'm sure it won't bite us in the ass. Perhaps anons will finally get on board with exterminating problems instead of getting all limp wristed about it and trying to be nice after we deal with this issue.

>>5823993
We don't need to worry about the stray quarterbreed when the dangerous thing about them was their tutelage. The halfbreeds are dated to end in a generation or so, not that big of a problem.

The exclave will culturally diverge with us, but just encouraging the movement of people between there and the mainland, or letting the Wardens visit the mainland would probably help include them as our people.

Besides, exterminating them is going to strengthen the Purity ideal that the Sylvian brought with them, and that was half the problem we faced this turn.

>>5823993
>dragons are cool but dragons reproducing with people isn't
Why?

>>5824045
I see we have a scalie. I hope you don't have pets.

>>5823993
Perhaps you may be right. I used to vote more on leniency and tolerance but letting things fester like this isn't good.

>>5824782
Don't worry, I don't have any pet hexapodal flying magic dinosaurs with the power of speech and higher thought who can outlive multiple human generations and interbreed with humanoids.

>>5824826
I have been lenient for most of my life with furries and scalies, and was friend with a chunk of them. But there always tends to be a downplaying of bestiality and animal cruelty when it happens in their community. Every time I go back around to liking or trusting them there's always another story about puppy rapists that gets thrown under the rug. Never again.
But either way this doesn't ave much to do with anything in the quest, so let's drop it.
>interbreed with humanoids
I have to really put on my suspension of disbelief when I heard about that. Is there some sort of magic when this happens? What's preventing a human fucking a dog and not have half-dog children with it in this setting?
And again I want to go back to my main point of not being able to trust a powerful beast that doesn't care about the main culture is a danger to our civ. He's not loyal to us, but to the regina and his bastard children.

>>5825878
>What's preventing a human fucking a dog and not have half-dog children with it in this setting?
Tragically, I have a Minotaur to tell you.

Though, I think the dragon sex is less than egregious than it would usually be considering their ancestor specifically died to adapt their descendants to the world, if I remembered right. Some fleshchanging might be in their capability.

>>5825878
>I have to really put on my suspension of disbelief when I heard about that. Is there some sort of magic when this happens?
Anon, yes. Obviously yes. The dragon was born when a magic sky comet hatched into a being of magma and fire who immediately died and then produced an egg containing a slow-maturing biological equivalent which can still exhale flames. He presumably violates the principles of aerodynamics when he flies. He is capable of human (well, half-elf) speech with a dragon face and mouth.

>I want to go back to my main point of not being able to trust a powerful beast that doesn't care about the main culture is a danger to our civ. He's not loyal to us, but to the regina and his bastard children.
Neither he nor his girlfriend (who was our civilization's ruler and willingly, peaceably abdicated to a position of service to our government) have shown any signs of disloyalty. Let's not punish their love because someone you know unfortunately ants to pork dogs. It will just create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

>>5825993
>Tragically, I have a Minotaur to tell you.
Kek.

>>5825993
>Minotaurs
That's fair, yet minotaurs aren't exactly the most noble beasts in ancient myths and legends.
>fleshchanging
I'm not entirely sure we know.if that's possible or not, we'd have to ask the dragons themselves. But what we do see is half-elves with scales that can breathe fire and are probably more loyal to an exiled community than Elven Rome.

>>5826378
Again the horny dragon is obviously more fond of the exiled place over the mainland, and will definitely act in favor of it if there's a choice between having both suffer equally or just having the mainland suffer. I'm not too worried about the other leader's loyalty (the one who raised the dragon she's fucking), but about the loyalty of her descendants. I am not saying that we should punish them, just that we should be prepared to fight them. Castrating the dragon will solve many future headaches, but from your words you seem to be too enamored with the romance between woman and dragon to care about practical concerns like future stability.
I am starting to seriously regret voting to agree with her idea. The creation of colony for exiles with powerful half-scalies and a mature dragon protector will obviously cause tension.

>>5826445
>enamored with the romance

Anon, don't project. I just think it's:
>harmless
>way more likely likely to bite us if we try to fucking cut his balls off

Like, right now we have a woman who is loyal to our nation and a dragon who was raised by our nation, having kids who they are raising to run our empire's prison-island. You're so paranoid about scalies and divided loyalties that your'e talking about trying to make the thus-far loyal dragon and his wife (?) submit to mutilating his genitals and rendering him sterile for... No actual crime. Just the POSSIBILITY of FUTURE disloyalty, and also because you think they're gross.

Tell me, does that sound like something that might provoke their family to rebel?

>>5826445
For a person who clearly has the understanding that the dragon is an independent being who can make its own decisions, and not just a videogame unit, you curiously keep ignoring that same understanding when it comes to castration.
Or, to put it in simpler terms, why the fuck do you think the dragon will just take it lying down?

>>5826457
>projecting
lol. lmao, even
>Tell me, does that sound like something that might provoke their family to rebel?
If they are as loyal as you say they are, then no. But if they aren't and I'm correct, then there will be a future civil war of sorts if we don't take action now.
He was one of the dragons that helped genocide the rat goblins. They were exterminated for no real reason other than being different than us. He would understand why we're doing such a thing, and if he is truly as loyal as you say he is then he'd know how bad it looks to have a faction that looks similar to him be loyal to somewhere that isn't the mainlaind.
This conversation has made me realize the other anon that mentioned this becoming our Dragonstone will be on the money. I regret supporting the ex-regina's wishes with my write-in.

>>5826624
It depends on how truly loyal it is to the civ. If you anons both are correct, then he should be willing to take one for the team just the same way the ex-leader did.
However you bring up an interesting point. Perhaps it isn't him who should be castrated, but the ex-regina should not be allowed to have children.

>>5826777
>If you anons both are correct, then he should be willing to take one for the team just the same way the ex-leader did.
I am not saying the dragon is so loyal it will allow itself to be castrated. I am saying the inverse, actually.
But between "willing to be castrated" and "traitor" there is a wide gap, and I think the dragon is much closer to the loyal side of it - unless we try to bodily harm it like you suggest.

>>5826777
>rat-goblins
We are currently neighbours with terrifying spider-monsters who are even more different than the rat-monsters, and aren't genociding them. We genocided the rat-goblins (a contentious vote, btw) because they had a faith which was incompatible with our dragon friends (or with basic cleanliness), and tried to genocide US first with a plague for religious reasons.

>spaying the ex-regina
Lol, right. Imagine you loyally serve your government for your whole life, and they banish your girlfriend to appease an angry mob during a moral panic. You let it happen, she lets it happen, because you both are loyal. She asks to serve the government and the people from afar. They allow it. You ask to be allowed to visit your GF. They allow it. You settle down, have a family. You and your family are regarded with suspicion at times, but you earn a position of honour by continuing to loyally serve, even so. Then, the government says "you two are gross, and we think you might betray us someday, so we want to remove your testicles. You say "wtf, no". They turn to your wife then any say "okay, guess we're removing your uterus. Btw, we have no modern medicine or magical equivalents, nor anesthesia, so buckle up."

You are going to CREATE the conditions for disloyalty and rebellion.

>>5826624
>Or, to put it in simpler terms, why the fuck do you think the dragon will just take it lying down?
Wait, why the fuck are we scared of him? Why are we appeasing him? Can he literally just do what he wants? That shit shouldn't fly. We're the boss here, not him.
Having a bunch of independent powers doing what they want in your gov leads to bullshit like Russian oligarchs.

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>>5826784
>>5826794
>We are currently neighbours with terrifying spider-monsters who are even more different than the rat-monsters, and aren't genociding them. We genocided the rat-gobluns (a contentious vote, btw) because they had a faith which was incompatible with our dragon friendsor with basic cleanliness, and tried to genocide US first with a plague for religious reasons.
They haven't attacked us yet and were friendly, which is why we haven't done anything. That's fair about the rat goblins trying to genocide us, it pushed a few people to want to get rid of them (I was one of the people that wanted to spare them and live in harmony. I don't remember it being so contentious, most anons wanted to just get rid of them or tell them to stop messing with us since they were causing too many problems things I'm now starting to see the wisdom in).
>Imagine you loyally serve your government for your whole life, and they banish your girlfriend to appease an angry mob during a moral panic. You let it happen, she lets it happen, because you both are loyal.
She was the one who suggested it, anon, not the other way around. She didn't get forced, hell not even the sylvians asked her to do that. They would've all probably allowed them to quietly assimilate back into our culture (I wish I had voted for that), but she self-exiled because she still wanted to feel useful.
The panic was somewhat justified, since there was a cave full of murder demons that was being hidden by the royal family. It's definitely going to be something that bites us in the ass in the future (we could probably send the horny dragon to incinerate and eliminate them if he wants to prove his loyalty to the civilization over his waifu).
>they're loyal if treated well
Again if the dragon is truly loyal to the civ he will let it happen. That is the nature of loyalty to one's nation (especially in ancient culture, pic related), you make sacrifices for the greater good of everyone. It is the very reason why the scalie ex-regina abdicated in the first place, and also why the former rex didn't marry the vampire chick. Selflessness is a virtue, anon.
However, once again, my main point is not about them but about those that will come after. His descendants will obviously be ambitious and resentful, and he will likely feel very bad for them and will start a campaign against the civ even if we go full on appeasement.
But yeah the exile was fucking stupid. I can't believe I thought it was a good idea. First chance we get we should tell them to fuck off and find somewhere else to live. Hell they could make a new nation in another continent and get adopted by some other player.
also
>no anesthesia
We have illusion magic lmao. We can just make her feel numb while the operation is taking place, there's no reason why illusion magic shouldn't work for senses other than sight. If it doesn't then we should look into it first thing, it would be dumb not to have it.

>>5826785
I'm glad we agree about the dragon not being totally loyal to the civ. He's obviously more loyal to the girl that I assume raised him and is now fucking. We should make contingency plans in case things go south, which they obviously will (and I'm not talking just about the dragon, but about all these problems we're having as a whole).

>>5826963
>Having a bunch of independent powers doing what they want in your gov leads to bullshit like Russian oligarchs.
lol thanks for the laugh anon. But yeah I agree it is a big concern.

>>5827020
>if you're a real patriot, you'll willingly let people remove your testicles or spay your wife/girlfriend/baby mama like an animal for hypothetical future crimes
Absolute depersonalization and submissiveness is the future you want for our culture? Well, okay. If it comes to that, I'm Team Warden. I hope it doesn't, but we'll see where the votes land.

>>5827024
>the girl that I assume raised him and is now fucking
Anon, the dragon was hatched before she was born, I'm pretty sure... or at least when she was quite young. it takes, like, an Age for them to sexually mature, and she hasn't been our Regina that long. Remember that he lost his originally-intended mate in the war against the dragon-spider hive?

>>5827026
>Absolute depersonalization and submissiveness is the future you want for our culture?
Ancient cultures were all like this, and it's not absolute depersonalization you idiot. Good leaders sacrifice for their country, bad leaders only care about themselves or their family. In Greece there was literally no translation for the words 'my rights'. As in, they you could literally not say it since the words for it didn't exist, morality (according to Plato and the other Greek philosophers) stemmed from social harmony. Rome was the country looked at when thinking about social harmony over individual liberty.
>Well, okay. If it comes to that, I'm Team Warden. I hope it doesn't, but we'll see where the votes land.
Good to see you reveal your lack of care for the Roman civ. Maybe you can adopt that civ if we do exile them to another continent.

>>5827030
It's the same dragon? Interesting. But if what you're saying is true, it's even more creepy since the dragon was close to mature while she was (at most) a kid.

>>5827054
>can't conceive of ancient cultures having anything similar to rights
>thinks we should emulate his flawed misconception of Ancient GREECE even though we're playing as Roman-INSPIRED half-elves in a completely different world
You're so hilariously narrow-minded and misinformed. Yes, I'm sure all ancient societies were full of men who would glaldy give up their balls to the central government of their country or society. Yup. Absolutely. Happened all the time. Definitely nobody had any concept of having personal autonomy or deserved privileges, or fairness in reward and punishment, because they didn't use the literal word "rights". The Twelve Tables? What are those?

>But if what you're saying is true, it's even more creepy since the dragon was close to mature while she was (at most) a kid.
I return to: you are hilariously narrow-minded. This is just like your "but how can dragon impregnate vampire-blooded half-elf? my immersion is broken!!" complaint. This is a high fantasy setting, anon. Different rates of maturation and mortality, relationships across species, and violation of biological principles are common. When Arwen met Aragorn, she was 2710 and he was 20. And if you really, desperately want us to behave and vote as if we were ancient Greeks/Romans, they had a pantheon of immortals who impregnated humans who were much younger all the time, and each other, and also even their real life human people were not very concerned about relative ages or even, ahem, physical/emotional maturity.

>Good to see you reveal your lack of care for the Roman civ.
Oh fuck off. You just think anyone who doesn't share you exact, anal-retentive and autistic vision for the civ "doesn't care". Your sort of voter is always the same, ignoring alternative interpretations to try to browbeat other people into playing/voting 'right'. If things go your way, which I hope they don't, it is what it is. I disagree with you, but I wouldn't have the ego or temerity to accuse you of 'not caring' about the quest because you vote differently and have a different perspective. I'll see you next thread, and hopefully you extract the stick from your ass by then.

>>5827054
>Ancient cultures were all like this
They weren't, that's all I can say.

>>5827081
>thinks we should emulate his flawed misconception of Ancient GREECE even though we're playing as Roman-INSPIRED half-elves in a completely different world
Rome was basically a bad copy of Greek culture, and "inspired" can mean a whole different amount of things. Sure we have tons of flexibility in what we do and act.
>The Twelve Tables
>Ignoring how they were created by the upper class in order to distract the plebeians and create more social harmony
Yes, very individualistic. Maybe we should create our own Twelve Tables for when the masses get uppity, if we really want to go down that route. I'm not saying we should go for a heartless government, just that it isn't unheard of for people to care about others and make noble personal sacrifices in ancient times (yes this includes castration and not having children).
And once again, ancient peoples did big sacrifices for what they considered to be the right thing. I'll correct myself and say not ALL of them cared, selfish and delusional tyrants existed as well as overly individualistic "don't care what happens to you, keep to you and I'll do me" people.
>When Arwen met Aragorn, she was 2710 and he was 20.
>Greeks/Romans pantheon of immortals who impregnated humans who were much younger
All of that is true, but it's still weird to (my admittedly modern) view of the world. Back in those times a 24 year old man could marry a 14 year old girl. Just because people thought that was alright doesn't mean it was alright (once again, to my modern view of the world). Something this does remind me of is all the people that might say their waifu is actually a 1000 year old dragon in the body of a little girl so it's alright to fuck hert. Doesn't have much to do with what we're talking about, but it struck me as funny.
It's like saying we should be accepting normalized suicide or child sacrifice because it was normal to do these things in ancient central american societies. I can see where you're going with this, since in the context of this quest (though many in said qst society disagree) it can be done and can be part of the 'legendary' or 'mythical' aspect, which is fair enough.
>You just think anyone who doesn't share you exact, anal-retentive and autistic vision for the civ "doesn't care"
You literally said you'd be on Team Warden, an entity that I theorized would eventually cause civil strife (and possibly cause a coup) within the civilization, if things didn't go your way. What exactly was I supposed to think? Though that's clearly not what you meant, so I'll apologize for that misunderstanding.

Honestly I'm a bit too tired to go on with this, I don't have anything against the concept of furries or scalies but I have had bad experiences with them (I don't even agree with the ideas of social harmony over individuals or whatever). Let's agree to disagree alright? If you win, I'll accept it. But either way we can both agree that this quest is something to be appreciated.

>>5827146
Things back then weren't like they are right now. There wasn't as much of an importance placed on the individual liberties of people as it is today.
Yes not ALL of them did this, but cultures like Rome and Greece did (for the vast majority of the time, at least).

>>5827164
There's "not as much of an importance placed on the individual liberties" and then there's "people were willing to cut off their balls if their ruler told them so", and those are two very different things.

>>5827210
Agree to disagree. I just know if the Roman emperor came into my house with a full legion and told me to cut my balls I'd do it.

>>5827243
What if you're a dragon capable of destroying said legion?

>>5827270
What if the legion has two other dragons in it?

>>5827243
We need to get Sailing tech and discredit them further / staff the legion with racial purists to do that cleanly.

It's pretty costly but it does remove a theoretical future threat.

>>5827243
>>5827291
You've shifted from "people in antiquity were so collectivist they;d willingly castrate themselves out of patriotic loyalty without complaint" to "if they had to choose between immediate death and castration, people in antiquity might choose castration, under coercive duress." I hope you recognize this.

>>5827566
Yeah I agree.

>>5827643
I mentioned that I would be willing to cut my balls if a legion came at my doorstep due to coercion, since your argument was that ancient people would act more under coercion rather than social harmony for outrageous demands. You asked me, a person living in the modern age with modern values, if I'd resist a legion if I was a dragon. I implied that I probably wouldn't if said legion had two dragons that were loyal to them. But I will say now that otherwise I totally would resist that legion, since I have modern values and I don't like being forced to do things like cutting my balls off.
If I was an ancient person with a mindset from that era I might be more inclined to go along with the Roman legion's orders despite the outrage, dragon or not, the same way Socrates willingly drank the poison when he was commanded to do so.
I made the mistake last time by saying 'all' so I'll mention that not everyone back then will just submit to their rulers, yet the ancient mindset would be more likely to do what they're told than people right now. Humans back then and today had values and beliefs that might seems alien to one another (you could always argue that history rhymes but things aren't literally the same back then as today with social values and thought processes).
Look I respect your opinion, and I don't mean any offense by saying my own opinion on things. Can't we just agree to disagree?

However this doesn't really have anything to do with the quest. I'll admit the other anon, despite how much we disagreed, brought up a good point that this is a fantasy world with fantasy values, ancient social structures are more like suggestions.
Ultimately it's up to us as the players and the QM, it's how things are in most quests with freedom to write and have fun.

>>5827729
Socrates was such an outlier he went into legend. And he certainly didn't do it out of loyalty to the state, he was pretty disruptive.
Again, the mast might be a foreign country, but we have no evidence at all of it being like you imagine it.

>>5827786
Yes I agree he liked to troll Athenian democracy and corruption, some (like Plato) might argue he didn't like democracy that much. He was an inspiration for almost all philosophy and society, and even in his death (and it's been debated by all sorts of historians) he probably saw himself as healing social strife and creating more unity in Athens by sacrificing himself for the greater good.

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Goodness, I check on the thread after a few days and come back to all of this, lol

I would like to address a few points; none of the historic/political ones, of which I am no expert, but I can talk about a few things that clarity would be helpful on.

In regards to hybridization, crossbreeding, whatever you would like to call it, I don't approach anything from a fetishistic or furry perspective. This is a high fantasy setting, it has cat people and dragon people and minotaurs and such, and simply because furries/scalies/whatever happen to be attracted to those has no bearing on me or my decisions. In all things, I try to be impartial, and act in good faith; minotaurs are cool, catfolk are cool, dragonfolk are cool. I don't see them as inherently sexual beings, even if our sexual characteristics are applied to them (for example, tits on a lizardfolk/dragonfolk etc). I don't believe that the mere act of including these things in a setting makes one a fetishist for them.

On a more specific note regarding hybrids, due to one player (well, more like two or three) I have been developing a chart in regards to what species can interbreed, inspired by the old TOEF but updated with my own personal beliefs as I find that book's chart to be insubstantial for my purposes. However, one thing I am carrying over and have always had as a quality in my settings is the ability of extraplanar creatures to universally breed with mortals. For example, demons, devils, angels, elementals, eldritch beings, etc, and yes, Dragons are part of this group, being inherently magical to some degree. Part of this is due to magic, part of this is due to shapeshifting capabilities, or something else along similar lines. Tieflings, aasimar, half-dragons and others are all part of this logic, much like the half-demons who beset us this age, who strictly speaking may not even be demons if I were to actually reveal what that woman was, but I use half-demon and half-devil interchangeably for our civilization's purposes as they would not know any better and the distinction doesn't matter much at this moment.

Note that hybridization doesn't always turn out pretty; eldritch entities in particular, being horrifying Lovecraft abominations, don't turn out well. I often point to the Dunwich Horror as an example of this.

In regards to the topic of bestiality that was raised, I don't consider consenting sapient creatures to be bestiality and refer to pic related.

In regards to the warden, the isles, the dragon's loyalty and such and concerns for the future, I'll just say that, like with every civilization each player controls, I have nothing planned and leave it solely up to my random event generator each age to determine story elements that get introduced or changed, but if nothing along those events which are generated upsets the status quo, then the status quo continues. Consider also that things could turn out to be even better for our civilization as a result of what happened this age.

>>5828360

And finally, let's just remember to keep things civil. I don't believe anyone here is making any choices or doing anything in bad faith or in an attempt to ruin the civilization, so please refrain from personal attacks. I don't think anything that was said was over the line or something, but like I said let's just remain polite and if you disagree with someone else, that's fine, but try to do so in a polite manner.

Anyway, the original reason I popped back in here was to make a post about how I've been hard at work on several things, notably some pretty big additions to agriculture and the tech tree. I put a lot of time and effort into the project, too many things to list easily or readily, but it's mostly stuff that's all on my side of things and will be presented organically/automatically to the players next age. I've made some changes to tech requirements for some later tier techs, been researching more ancient technology and what have you, and have been doing a lot of digging into topics related to agriculture.

As always, there's more to come in the coming ages, so I hope you're all looking forwards to it.

>>5828360
>>5828363
Thank you QM for the clarification. I think it is much needed, and I myself personally appreciate it.
I'm looking forward to this quest returning!

Just gotta say to the QM, I'm reading through the previous quests and trying to catch up to this one. I liked the first thread quite a bit, good job man.

>>5828360
>On a more specific note regarding hybrids, due to one player (well, more like two or three) I have been developing a chart in regards to what species can interbreed

Sounds like typical discord degeneracy.