Until now, you have slumbered. More accurately, you perhaps haven't even existed. You seem to have some vague memory of a time before now, but nothing more than a half-forgotten echo. The stirring of not merely life, but civilisation has come upon you. You are what the humans who have arrived in your valley might call a "genius loci", had they the words. You are the spirits of these lands, and these men are living here at your sufferance.
You can sense a handful of huts in the valley, clustered around the wide stream that runs through your reach. You have a rough sense of the inhabitants, perhaps twenty or thirty minds. They seem to be simple folk, scratching out a living from a handful of roots and vegetables planted in your soil, supplemented by fishing and hunting. They cut a few trees for firewood, but otherwise have little impact upon your forests.
Their very presence is causing your awakening, and yet they may not ultimately have your best interests in mind. You draw a modicum of strength from them, but you can feel more power drawn from the forest and stream about you. They might, left to their own devices, damage your wilds.
There are four others besides you, you can sense. Other, bare glimmerings of awareness. One spirit inhabits the river and streams that run through this valley. One spirit runs through the high hills on either side. One spirit fills the forests that cover the slopes. One spirit reaches across the rolling plains at the valley's base. One spirit lurks in the bogs at the bottom of the valley, where the river runs out to sea. And one spirit, the weakest, seems to filter through the tiny settlement itself.
The villagers have begun naming this place, these lands -
you. What do they call the river, the hills, the forests, the plains, the bogs and their own tiny settlement?
And what will you do?
AWARENESS
Your awareness is limited, and merely remaining aware at all consumes strength. Focusing your awareness down to anything less than a broad view of the valley consumes even more strength.
FOCUS
It is very hard to perform actions on a small scale. Performing actions that affect the valley as a whole work at base cost. The smaller the focus, the higher the multiplied cost of the intended action.
Valley Focus: x1 cost
Broad Focus: x2 cost (down to about a quarter of the valley; actions affecting a settlement as a whole might count here)
Narrow Focus: x4 cost (down to a single street in a settlement)
Fine Focus: x8 cost (down to a single household)
Personal Focus: x16 cost (affecting a single person or object)
The flip side of focus is that while smaller focus is drastically more expensive, the effects of actions are more potent when applied to such a small area. Trying to improve health across the valley may result in a general resistance to sickness, whereas focused on a single person it might bring them back from the very brink of death.
STRENGTH
You gain power, slowly and over time, from both the valley's inhabitants and the valley itself. Your power is split into broad categories, based on the source and application of the power.
GENERAL STRENGTH is derived from all other sources of power in part, and directly from human population. The more humans living in your valley, the healthier they are and the happier they are, the more General strength you get. You can spend general strength on any action. All spirits get a share of this strength.
NATURAL STRENGTH comes from having a robust ecology in the valley. The more biodiversity, the more stable and the greater overall health of the valley's wildlife (both animal and plant), the more Natural strength you will gain. Natural strength can be spent on any action tagged with [NAT], usually relating to nature in some way. Spirits get this strength from the ecology in their own demesne.
CULTURAL STRENGTH comes from a strong culture in the local settlement. The more cultural diversity, the more elaborate and rich the local culture in terms of traditions, art and the like, the more Cultural strength you will gain. Cultural strength can be spent on any action tagged with [CUL], usually relating to civic actions. Spirits get this strength from the culture in their own demesne (including the Town spirit, who also takes 1/5th of all other cultural power).
As the game progresses, new forms of strength might become unlocked.
ACTIONS
All actions cost Strength, to varying degrees. The quoted cost is the base strength for the action, if it were performed over the whole valley. Remember that the smaller the focus, the higher the cost but the greater the effect. If an action here doesn't describe what you want to do, you can try doing something else and see if it takes. More basic actions may become available with time.
Note that while you draw strength mostly from your own demesne, you can perform actions that cover all or any part of the valley, even outside your own demesne.
VIEW: 1 Strength. Allows you to perceive in broadly human senses everything going on within the given focus. At base cost, it gives you an overview of the valley. Narrower foci give you more specific detail, down to the level of being able to listen to individual conversations if you really want. On the personal level, you can hear an individual's thoughts.
WHISPER [CUL]: 1 Strength. Allows you to communicate with the inhabitants of the valley. The more focused, the more coherent the message. At the broadest level, all you can do is give the inhabitants a general push towards a specific course of action. On the personal level, you can carry out a conversation.
GUIDE [NAT]: 1 Strength. Allows you to communicate with native fauna on a basic level, giving them instructions. On the broadest level, this can control migration patterns, all the way down to commanding an individual beast.
HEAL [NAT]: 4 Strength. Allows you to improve the health of target flora or fauna (or inhabitants) within the given focus.
HARM [NAT]: 4 Strength. Allows you to damage the health of target flora, fauna or inhabitants within the given focus.
CONTROL WEATHER [NAT]: 5 Strength. Allows you to change the ongoing climate of the valley. Smaller foci permit more detailed effects, down to specific lightning bolts on the finer scales.
ALTER [NAT]: 10 Strength. Allows you to alter flora, fauna or inhabitants within the given focus, changing their physical or mental attributes in a manner of your choosing. How extreme the change can be is limited by focus. Affected beings will breed true (unless you sterilised them), although severe change may cause them to speciate.
IMBUE [CUL]: 10 Strength. Allows you to imbue targets with supernatural power; objects, flora, fauna or inhabitants. Depth of focus affects how potent the ability is. Creatures will breed true, their offspring inheriting the ability, although extreme change may result in speciation.
SHAPE [CUL]: 10 Strength. Allows you to reshape terrain, objects or appopriate flora (e.g. trees) within the given focus. Depth of focus affects potency. Reshaped flora will pass on their changed shape where appropriate. This will not result in speciation.
SLEEP: When you run out of strength, you will automatically go to sleep to regenerate your reserves. You can also opt to sleep early.
Inhabitants: 12 (Fishermen)
Health: Moderate
Happiness: Optimistic
Ecology: Stable
Natural Health: Fine
Biodiversity: Moderate
Biomass: Moderate
General Strength: 5
Natural Strength: 10
Cultural Strength: 0
Inhabitants: 8 (Farmers)
Health: Moderate
Happiness: Optimistic
Ecology: Stable
Natural Health: Fine
Biodiversity: Moderate
Biomass: Moderate
General Strength: 5
Natural Strength: 10
Cultural Strength: 0
Inhabitants: 3 (Foresters)
Health: Moderate
Happiness: Optimistic
Ecology: Stable
Natural Health: Fine
Biodiversity: Moderate
Biomass: Moderate
General Strength: 5
Natural Strength: 10
Cultural Strength: 0
Inhabitants: 0
Health: -
Happiness: -
Ecology: Stable
Natural Health: Fine
Biodiversity: Fairly High
Biomass: Sparse
General Strength: 5
Natural Strength: 10
Cultural Strength: 0
Inhabitants: 0
Health: -
Happiness: -
Ecology: Stable
Natural Health: Fine
Biodiversity: Moderate
Biomass: Moderate
General Strength: 5
Natural Strength: 10
Cultural Strength: 0
Inhabitants: 23
Health: Moderate
Happiness: Optimistic
Ecology: None
Natural Health: -
Biodiversity: Nil
Biomass: Nil
General Strength: 5
Natural Strength: 0
Cultural Strength: 1
Hello and welcome to my new game, The Valley! In it, players play
genius locorum (singular
genius loci), the guardian spirits of different parts of the valley. Sign-ups are first come, first serve - name yourself, and then claim the spirit you want to play. A word of warning: the Town spirit plays on slightly different rules. How much strength they get depends on how well the humans as a whole are doing, rather than how they are doing in any one biome.
Any players who don't make the initial signups can be waitlisted, so that if anyone drops out they can take their place.
Author
Topic: The Valley (Genii Locus) [For 6 Players] (Read 8178 times)