Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Jerick]

Compression Dust
Compression dust is a particularly fine dust from our homeland. It is unusually light and has always had something of a spring-like quality to it when densely packed. This made it excellent for use as a packing material. Bags of it are in almost every crate and container we receive from our home. It was only when it was brought to the Harren islands that it's more unusual qualities were made apparent. We started to receive odd reports. Crates were found split open with no apparent cause. When our facilities were full of cargo people reported that some corridors seemed much longer than the should be. People walked into a warehouse and found themselves outside. Considering the already unusual nature of the islands we understandably suspected something about the island was to blame. After eliminating all other possible sources for these anomalies we found that somehow it was our packing sand.

Research into compression dust and the anomalies it causes in and around these islands is ongoing. Preliminary findings are as follows;
It appears to be some form of space expansion and distortion effect. These effects are proportional in scale to the mechanical force applied to the dust. The greater the force applied the greater the spatial distortion. When the mechanical force is removed the distortion vanishes. Quantity of dust is also relevant. The effects in our warehouses were only seen due to the large quantity of dust present.

We believe that this material has always pushed against the fabric of space but outside of the Harren islands the effects were so small that they were insignificant. Our current hypothesis is that some event (perhaps the same event that froze the island) has made space more malleable in and around these islands.

An important property observed is when this dust is in this environment it now appears infinitely compressible or rather that adding more dust scales the spatial distortion in such a way that adding more dust doesn't take up more volume. This means we can store any amount of dust in any space provided the container can withstand the mechanical pressure. However, we would caution against pushing this too far there's still a lot we don't know about what is happening here. None the less high command is eager for metamaterials we can use to fight the pack with. Due to its nature research and development of spatial distortion weaponry and tech can only be performed here on this island. It is recommended we build more shipping docks to allow a greater flow of compression dust from the homeland to better accommodate this R&D



Right I know, terrible name. I suck at names and would be happy to change it to a better one if you have a suggestion.

[Man of Paper]

Initharian Defining Tech: Stone Age

Proposal: Voyaging Canoe

The sounds of the sea and the flapping of his sail greeted Saia's ears as he woke -- he had spent the night asleep on his canoe, as did most men of his tribe when the voyaging time came. The life of a member of the tribe was a life conducted often on the move, over the open water, and key to that process was their canoes -- normally, Saia wouldn't be alone with one, as the craft were large, allowing family to stay together as they sailed, but right now he was, well, having a little bit of a spat. It would be fine -- after the days of the voyage they would probably have forgiven him. And well-made craft were capable of going for days, food stored in the back of the canoe, the sail catching the wind and lazily but purposefully drifting along the waves...

The Voyaging Canoe is a large canoe built primarily of wood, with a large sail made of long, narrow palm fronds woven together tightly, and light wooden outrigging built at the side of the craft. The craft don't exactly take a short time to make because of the amount of stone-carved wood that has to be put plank-by-plank (each plank split and shaped carefully through merely different kinds of stones) together and the careful weaving of the palm fronds that make up the sail, and they aren't exactly fast or maneuverable, but this cost comes with the main benefit of the craft: being able to travel shockingly large distances and voyage for surprisingly long times, days at a time, allowing the tribe incredible overall mobility and nomadism over the water.

Difficulty: Normal
Result: (6+5)+0=11, Masterwork

It is said the first Inithar left the mainland in search of new, bountiful lands, but were washed away in a storm and lost asea. These lost ancestors came across a large chain of islands which, as luck would have it, did indeed prove to be bountiful and, most importantly, uninhabited by other humans. Being a people confined to a collection of widespread islands had many difficulties to overcome, not the least of which was crossing the sea itself.

Historians have recently discovered that this was, in fact, no issue at all. The early Inithar were master woodworkers and seafarers, and their ability to carve and shape wood into large seaworthy outrigger canoes was unprecedented.

Trees from the larger islands provided the wood necessary to carve the planks and rigging for the vessels as well as the palm fronds that were delicately woven together to create the sails. The vessels would end up anywhere from eight to ten meters long and were stable enough to withstand moderately rough seas or the occasional pop-up storm. Each craft was built by a family for that family, with the most skilled woodworker in charge of the construction. It was very common for a family to call upon skilled woodworkers from other families to aid in the long process required to carve the wood with stone and shell tools. The skills and steps required to construct one of these canoes were passed down from generation to generation, but amazingly there was never a loss of quality in the craft. There was not much improvement either, but there was no need, as the Voyaging Canoes provided the Inithar the ability to cross vast distances of ocean with little risk to themselves (past being lost at sea). It was not uncommon for a canoe to head out to sea for days at a time simply wandering to discover more islands for their people to spread to.

The Voyaging Canoe was the life-blood of the Inithar in the Stone Age, and provided them the means of becoming a dominant oceangoing people.


----------------


IT IS NOW THE REVISION PHASE.

As this turn has no previous age's tech to advance, you're given a little more leeway in regards to revision difficulty. This means a proposal can be very loosely connected to the design and it won't impact difficulty as badly as a Revision would normally see.

Spoiler: Preliminary Proposals (click to show/hide)

Voyaging Canoe: A single-outrigger canoe with a sail. Constructed of stone-carved wood and 8-10m long. Stable, sturdy, seaworthy, and reliable. This stands out not just in Inithar history, but in the history of the world.

[Powder Miner]

Tales of Color

Life in Inithar is dazzlingly colorful, a vivid spectrum of oranges, reds, purples, yellow from the flowers of the islands, the green of the trees, the deep unending blue of the seas and skies. The ships of Inithar became no exceptions to this -- starting with voyaging families hanging patterned sets of flowers and vines off of their ships to indicate their presence and to add vibrancy to their travels, it eventually became a tradition to paint the ships of Inithar extremely colorfully, the patterns and designs of color that marked each ship unique and passed through the generations much like the woodworking skills that created the ships in the first place. Whereas the ships may have stayed static, these color patterns didn't, with each successive family painter both learning how to grind the dyes with which the ships were painted and adding their generation's accomplishments to the tale the colors told.

Each Voyaging Canoe is painted with a brilliant array of different colors, patterned and designed, and each of these ships is painted in a way that is totally unique to the family who the canoe belongs to. The color language has taken on a sort of communicative aspect, as well, as each generation of a family slightly alters the patterns and colors of their ships in order to record the accomplishments of the generation it belongs to. This ends up with skilled Initharians being able to recognize whose canoes are approaching from afar, and to recognize what they're famed for doing long before they get into speaking distance, if they do at all. This allows for a sort of teamwork-based communication between ships on the open ocean, allowing them to fall to some extent into their family's skilled roles and work together without even having to stop voyaging.

[Doomblade187]

Tales of the Deep

The Inithar rarely dreamed of empire as many of their seafaring compatriots. Rather, they searched out maximal use of their own territory, diving into the deeps. Plants, resin, processed seashells, all went into what would become an early underwater breathing apparatus. The treasure of the deep, corals, shells, minerals, would adorn the halls of the Inithar for years to come, and raise them up in the world to a favorable position.

[TricMagic]

Tree-blessed Spear
During the End of his life, Saia's children lie around him, he having breathed his last. Together they prepare him for the next great voyage, his Voyaging Canoe sent out to see, with his Tree-blessed Spear and other items, which served him well in life, following him to death. The Tribe looks on as the Voyaging Canoe is pushed out into the waves. And so, they remember him as he passes on to the next adventure.

From his hunting of the great boars, to fishing, and battling a great shark. From the moment he presented a coral ring to his love. From his time when he first carved his boat with his own family, and the time he too pushed his father and mother off with his siblings. From his travels with his family, he finally joins with his departed family. As the Canoe passes out to the sea, it eventually sinks beneath the waves after traveling out into the great beyond.


Many historians now note that the Inithar had a great understanding of the waves. And the way the first canoe was found at the bottom of the ocean states that they had long had a history of burying their loved ones at sea, using their knowledge of the currents so that the secured gear brought them far out. It is in this way we found a miraculously intact spear, preserved through the first polymer created by them, made from local tree resins to preserve the spear, and their own wood-crafting techniques.


An early innovation of the Inithar was the creation of the Tree-blessed Spear. A tree branch was carefully chosen, then chipped through merely different kinds of stones. A stone was chipped to serve as a part of the spear, it's head. Last, the Inithar boiled resins to form the first varnish, to protect these treasured and carefully made spears for generations.

They were used during those ancient times for fishing in the sea, or during hunts. And in the sea or humidity, the Varnish protected it from rotting. A Tree-blessed Spear usually lasted for a user's entire life before being buried with them.


Need to do the blurb for the info. Though if someone else wants to? The blessing is the varnish, since it protects against the elements.

[Twinwolf]

Tales of Color (1): Twinwolf
Tales of the Deep ():
Tree-blessed Spear ():

[TricMagic]

Tales of Color (1): Twinwolf
Tales of the Deep ():
Tree-blessed Spear (1): TricMagic

[Powder Miner]

Tales of Color (2): Twinwolf, Powder Miner
Tales of the Deep ():
Tree-blessed Spear (1): TricMagic

[m1895]

Tales of Color (3): Twinwolf, Powder Miner, m1895
Tales of the Deep ():
Tree-blessed Spear (1): TricMagic

[Jerick]

Tales of Color (4): Twinwolf, Powder Miner, m1895, Jerick
Tales of the Deep ():
Tree-blessed Spear (1): TricMagic

[Man of Paper]

Initharite Defining Tech: Stone Age Revision

Proposal: Tales of Color

Life in Inithar is dazzlingly colorful, a vivid spectrum of oranges, reds, purples, yellow from the flowers of the islands, the green of the trees, the deep unending blue of the seas and skies. The ships of Inithar became no exceptions to this -- starting with voyaging families hanging patterned sets of flowers and vines off of their ships to indicate their presence and to add vibrancy to their travels, it eventually became a tradition to paint the ships of Inithar extremely colorfully, the patterns and designs of color that marked each ship unique and passed through the generations much like the woodworking skills that created the ships in the first place. Whereas the ships may have stayed static, these color patterns didn't, with each successive family painter both learning how to grind the dyes with which the ships were painted and adding their generation's accomplishments to the tale the colors told.

Each Voyaging Canoe is painted with a brilliant array of different colors, patterned and designed, and each of these ships is painted in a way that is totally unique to the family who the canoe belongs to. The color language has taken on a sort of communicative aspect, as well, as each generation of a family slightly alters the patterns and colors of their ships in order to record the accomplishments of the generation it belongs to. This ends up with skilled Initharians being able to recognize whose canoes are approaching from afar, and to recognize what they're famed for doing long before they get into speaking distance, if they do at all. This allows for a sort of teamwork-based communication between ships on the open ocean, allowing them to fall to some extent into their family's skilled roles and work together without even having to stop voyaging.

Difficulty: Very Easy
Result: (6+5)+2=13, Unexpected Boon

The Tales of Color is one of the first "written" languages on the planet. Used initially to easily identify the family a sea craft belonged to, it evolved to denote the skills and accomplishments of each member of the family. This rapidly spread to other parts of society, and it was not uncommon for a skilled craftsworker to don clothing dyed to represent their craft and level of skill. While this did create a somewhat unofficial class system, it was often only those among the most skilled of their profession that donned the Colors.

As the islands of Inithar were settled further and their society became more sedentary the Tales of Color evolved with them. While a true written language was eventually formulated, the Tales of Color provided the Initharites with a nearly unbreakable code of communication layered on top of it that even today frequently stumps foreign anthropologists and researchers.

----

The Bronze Age

Initharite civilization flourished as the only threat they had to tackle regularly were storms and the occasional outbreak of illness. As society continued to advance the barest forms of metal industry appeared - first in tools, then in weapons. The rest of the world was also progressing, and eventually the isolated island people of Inithar drew the attention of a rapidly expanding empire. While their ships paled in comparison to Initharite designs, this empire had a seemingly endless pool of men and material to throw across the waves from the Big Island. The people of Inithar did not stand idly by as these invaders sought to take life and land from them, and made this growing menace regret every landing performed. This did not stop them from building footholds within rightful Initharite territory, claiming what they could as their own in their conquest and greed.

Your design this turn will be the thing that aided most in your ability to assault these fortified locations and push back into their own homeland. These guys are the equivalent of the Achaemenid Empire at it's height; well-trained, well-armed, seemingly endless and, up until their encounter with Inithar, largely undefeated. This design will be seen as the biggest contributing factor to a string of defeats up to and including the sacking of their capital.

IT IS NOW THE DESIGN PHASE.

Spoiler: Preliminary Proposals (click to show/hide)

Voyaging Canoe: A single-outrigger canoe with a sail. Constructed of stone-carved wood and 8-10m long. Stable, sturdy, seaworthy, and reliable. This stands out not just in Inithar history, but in the history of the world.

Tales of Color: A highly complex system of identification and communication relying solely on colors and patterns. It is nearly impenetrable for outsiders even by today's standards.

[Doomblade187]

Frogmen/Underwater sappers isy preference.

[Taricus]

Yeah, we kinda happen to be sacking a land based empire. Sappers aren't going to be a big help there doing it from the ocean.

Of course, it's nothing a bigger ship with siege weapons can't solve!

[Jerick]

Spoiler: Smoke Slings (click to show/hide)

The problem of fortified positions was very troublesome for the Inithar. Prior to that period all their conflicts were centered around mobility and navel combat. Fortified positions created a new problem they had never encountered before. They adapted by creating the smoke sling. The projectile was a tightly bound ball of dried herbs and leaves about twice the size of a clenched fist. There was a hollow wooden reed leading to the center of the ball. Just before being launched at the enemy burning embers would be poured down the reed into the center of the ball. Without much oxygen the fire would burn slowly and generate an acrid cloud of dense black smoke that typically caused a burning sensation in the eyes and in the throat. The exact effects of this smoke were determined by the herbs and plants used but it was usually pretty effective at driving the enemy out of a fortified position.

However since the projectile was larger than normal and needed to hurled great distances regular slings were insufficient. Which is why the Inithar adopted the staff sling. It was a two meter stick with a rope and cradle on the end for the projectile. The staff acted as a level propelling the ball of burning herbs great distances and often in steep arcs, allowing it to get into fortified positions.

This early form of chemical warfare allowed the Inithar to push back the invaders

[TricMagic]

The issue of the battle against this never-ending force was varied. Their abilty to replace lost troops so quickly allowed them to suffer losses most Initharite would find disastrous. This allowed them to set up positions that were fortified, and protect themselves against the Initharite response. Beyond that, their enemy had many weapons to use, including the bow. However, never let it be said that the Inithar lacked dedication, or a response.

An Advanced Age
In response to the never-ending waves, the Inithar brought about the first dedicated training programs, bringing their forces up so that 1 of them in their chosen environment were equal to many ordinary men. Beyond that, they came up with a decoding of their enemies language, and with this, stole much of the Empire's technology. From there, they used their skills to make even better craft of enemy weapons, from the longbow, created from enemy bow designs, to the first major ships they built. In addition, being able to read enemy missives allowed them to gain intelligence on enemy supply lines. This combination of technologies, and their own codes, allowed them to fight the enemy on the sea and islands, eventually pushing them out entirely simply through preventing enemy lines from reaching the islands to resupply the fortifications. This gave them time. Time to prepare and invade. Their enemies would learn that the Inithar were masters of navel combat and espionage far too late.