On the shoulders of giants: a new multiple choices LP!

[Curufinwe]

A Beat those refugee fuckers where they stand.

On second thought... Gods have always brought out the worse in this tribe.
Believe in one man! For the emperor!!!
D

Now that the Emprah is on my side, this thread can't fail. Ever.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

C

 

[Computer Gamer Refugee]

So, that makes over 1k replies in a month. I thought that kind of response only came from the porn Let's Plays.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

As much as I'd love a Conanesque fuckyeah, our tribe just doesn't have anything but religion on which to base its culture. Religion doesn't mean we have to go all nuts on it or be ruled by theocracy - keeping it in the background is enough and where I expect it to end up (hopefully, soon).
What do we gain by abolishing religion, anyway? I'd swap it for a warrior culture based on personal excellence, but (D) doesn't seem to offer that - or anything else - in return.

 

[Curufinwe]

2 for A, 0 for B, 15 for C, 7 for D. We have a clear winner for ecumenism. John Paul II would be proud of you guys.

Cooler heads in the end prevailed, although it wasn't easy. Tensions would run high for a long time yet, with the most fanatical supporters of the two religions doing their utmost to undermine their opponents' position and proselitizing to gain more followers.

It was in those hectic days, when both camps were still arguing and tempers were running high that he came back.

Nobody saw him coming. One night he just walked into the camp and stood in front of the largest fire. At first no one noticed him, then one of the keepers suddenly gave a great start and ran to him.
'This can't be... you were leading the scouts in the mountain... yet... you're back... you're back...' he said.

And indeed, he was back. When he should have been dead, where he must have been dead, he was back. With the mountain exploding around him, he was back.

His voice was hoarse, like the crackling of a dying fire: 'Yes. I am back.'

He produced something from his furs. A bright red glow was seen in his hand, and he tossed a big, red stone into the fire. The flame suddenly exploded outwards, rising to the height of three men, while everyone jumped back. His face was lit by the enraged fire, and it was not the face he wore just a few months ago.

His hair, beard and eyebrow were gone. Nothing marred the strange smoothness of his face. And his eyes... maybe it was a trick of the light, but they were red. The same red of the fire.

He stood straighter, and he screamed, his voice like the roar of a great flame: 'I AM BACK! AND I BRING WITH ME THE HOLY POWER OF THE FIRE SPIRIT!' and suddenly flames were coming out from his hands. He crouched and thrust his right hand in the middle of the conflagration before him, picking up the red gem from its core. The flames immediately extinguished themselves, and yet his eyes remained red, red as the glow coming from the stone in his hand.

'Our tribe is destined for great glory! The spirit has spoken to me! There are weak tribes all around this body of water, weak, unknowing of the glory of the spirit that walks besides me! With my power, the power that I will bestow on those who dare follow me, we will grow strong! Stronger than anyone! And we will conquer! All for the glory of the Flame!'

He fell silent again, then whispered, his voice again the crackle of embers: 'Who dares follow me?'


Ok, this is going to be an open update. I could have given options, but I'm very curious to see what you want to do with this guy and his claims. Yes, he is the wielder of fire mentioned at the end of act I, obviously.

You can propose anything, no matter how crackpot and far-fetched. Will you listen politely to him but ignore his claims? Will you make him your god-emperor and follow his leadership? Will you try to rob the stone from him and study it? Will you try to persuade him to calm down following your ecumenical stance regarding water-worship?

I have no idea, I want to find out what you'll do. Then you will deal with the consequences, as usual.

Rules are the same as for the usual open updates. Get proposing!

 

[newcomer]

Hmm, god-emperor will be interesting, but will definitely result in forced conversions of water believers.
Shall we try to produce a water wielder as well? My choice will be

PERSUADE HIM TO CALM DOWN, AND ATTEMPT TO LEARN HIS POWERS. MAKE HIM ONE OF THE COUNCIL, BUT NO MORE.

You can give him a spot in the council and hail him as the archbishop/pope of the fire religion, and maybe aim for conquests, but keep options open to produce another "element wielder"

EDIT: AND ALLOW HIM TO TRAIN PEOPLE (IN PUBLIC) WHO SUPPORTS THE COUNCIL

 

[m4davis]

agreeing with newcomer for now

 

[Vernydar]

No, no and no again. This guy is dangerous. He's powerful, yes. Very much so I'd say. But he's completely deranged. And he's going to try to convert our people. I do not want him anywhere near our tribe.

Consider this person as this

but without subtlety and changing lightning to fire.

If we keep him around our youth will become fanatics. We can't even put him in the council, he will subvert it from within.

I say, SEND HIM AWAY WITHOUT ANTAGONIZING HIM. Let him leave, and keep in mind he has left but might be back one day. Attacking him now would be folly I think

 

[newcomer]

If you send him away, what will we do when he befriends the cannibal barbarian tribe? At the very least we have to dispose him, best outcome would be to steal his stone & attempt to gain more of such stones. Don't forget some fire zealots will follow him, or maybe he'll try to cook you to show his power to the other tribes

 

[ScubaV]

I don't really care for the bombast and over-the-top nature of Warhammer 40k. Nevertheless:

FIRE FOR THE FIRE SPIRITS!

Let's not go for the full god-emperor thing, but instead make him our religious leader on equal footing with our military/warrior leader. Then, combining our mastery of fire and obsidian, we shall rampage around the lake assimilating those who will convert and accept our ways and raping and pillaging those who won't.

 

[Kz3r0]

Time to test the power of the spirits, with an obsidian spear through his heart, tell him that is a test, a proof that he really speaks for the spirit of the flame, being obsidian produced by fire it shouldn't harm him.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

1) Introduce an obsidian axe to his skull and study the rock. We don't need a cult following this idiot around - especially, if it means splitting up the tribe. Better for the whole tribe to benefit and decide rationally.

Fanatics cannot be persuaded or bargained with, fanatics with power - doubly so. All that "Conquer for the glory of the Flame!" is too predictable to be entertaining, in the long run. Religion is already starting to outlive its ruling days, rekindling it again will only serve to throw us back into ignorance.

 

[Vernydar]

1) Introduce an obsidian axe to his skull and study the rock. We don't need a cult following this idiot around - especially, if it means splitting up the tribe. Better for the whole tribe to benefit and decide rationally.

Fanatics cannot be persuaded or bargained with, fanatics with power - doubly so. All that "Conquer for the glory of the Flame!" is too predictable to be entertaining, in the long run. Religion is already starting to outlive its ruling days, rekindling it again will only serve to throw us back into ignorance.

Killing him would also be ok. But I do not think studying the rock would be good. I think it is the cause of how he is. It may have possessed him.. and may do it again...

 

[Cassidy]

1) Introduce an obsidian axe to his skull and study the rock. We don't need a cult following this idiot around - especially, if it means splitting up the tribe. Better for the whole tribe to benefit and decide rationally.

Fanatics cannot be persuaded or bargained with, fanatics with power - doubly so. All that "Conquer for the glory of the Flame!" is too predictable to be entertaining, in the long run. Religion is already starting to outlive its ruling days, rekindling it again will only serve to throw us back into ignorance.

Pretty much, but throw the rock into the water instead.

 

[newcomer]

Ah, I just thought of a good way of killing him if you really want to do so: push him into the big lake near us :D
Good thing we have a lot of water nearby, and if he tries to resurface push him with our spear

 

[Monty]

Why expel or kill a powerful ally? We should be glad he didn't come from another tribe in which case he would be destroying us now. I'm also not keen on the whole God-Emperor thing, but agree with Newcomer's plan - keep him around, give him a position on the council but not supreme authority, use his power to crush the cannibal tribe.

And in the longer run learn all we can about the stone and search for the equivalent Water ward so we can have a wielder of water as a counterbalance to his power.

 

[Vernydar]

Keep him around, give him a position on the council but not supreme authority, use his power to crush the cannibal tribe.

Really, do you really want him on the council?

or if you prefer

Because you know...
Besides, soon there will be no other councilmen left. They will have failed him for the last time...

 

[Omicron]

We shouldn't harm a holy man, clearly blessed with by the spirit of fire. He should be made a religious leader of the tribe, and bring glory to our tribe.

On the other hand, we must carefully try to temper his fanaticism. While a fire we control will benefit us greatly, a wild flame will just burn us to ashes.

 

[Esquilax]

Ah, I just thought of a good way of killing him if you really want to do so: push him into the big lake near us :D
Good thing we have a lot of water nearby, and if he tries to resurface push him with our spear

Problem is, that would push everybody towards water-worship. It might backfire because it could push everybody to another extreme. Instead of becoming a bunch of fanatical pyromaniacs, we could just as easily become a bunch of fanatical sea pirates. I think we need this guy, but we also need a way to keep his influence in check. This will be very hard considering that a great many of the tribe will consider this man to be a physical manifestation of the Fire Spirit, a prophet.

Sending him away is a bad idea, I think - a lot of people would go with him and we'd have an army of fanatics to contend with in addition to a barbarian threat lurking within the forest.

I think we could convince him to back off on his fanaticism a little bit. I think he could be a great leader and ally, but I don't want him to start repressing our water-worshippers or turn us into a bunch of blind, idiotic fundie savages. So yeah, don't attack him, don't let him go, but instead do this:

Offer him a position as our spiritual guide, under the condition that he submerge himself into the lake

 

[Vernydar]

I think we could convince him to back off on his fanaticism a little bit. I think he could be a great leader and ally, but I don't want him to start repressing our water-worshippers or turn us into a bunch of blind, idiotic fundie savages.

You are working under the assumption that he can be convinced. I am working under the assumption that he's being mind controlled by some evil flame spirit. Reasoning does not work very well against mind control....

 

[Monty]

Vernydar said:

Besides, soon there will be no other councilmen left. They will have failed him for the last time...

Well, if the worst comes to the worst and he gets out of hand and seizes total control, I think I'd rather be an imperial stormtrooper than have my bones gnawed on by cannibals!

 

[ScubaV]

Maybe the Codexians with balls haven't voted yet, but I distinctly remember a lot of people complaining about "pussying out" in previous updates, which is where this is headed right now. Yes, let's bend over backwards to not only accommodate the water-loving refugees, but also actively damage our own culture (intentional or not, this is exactly what should happen by killing the Wielder of Fire). This is not Earth, there are supernatural forces at play and we would be fools to toss those aside. Ideally, we could master some or all of those forces through some kind of meritocracy, but realistically we're going to have to use religion as a conduit for the time being.

 

[Vernydar]

I want to build a galaxy spanning empire. I do not call this as "pussying out". I seriously doubt that becoming a fanatic, fire wielding, people-impaling tribe of cannibals who sacrifice all enemies to the the holy fire by burning them alive is a good way to build a solid militaristic nation. I also seriously doubt that we would be left alone after this. Other tribes, or wielders of other elements would try to kill us. And quoting from Curufinwe's post at the end of act I:

"NO! - the second shadow growled – This has gone far enough. Me and mine will not stand for further tampering. We must intervene. We WILL intervene."
The first shadow turned, alarmed: "You cannot mean it. It would be a direct violation of our duty, bestowed upon us so long ago."
"Duty? - the second shadow snorted – If we don't do something our own position will be endangered. You know humans. They are unconsequential, they crawl and breed far beneath our notice... until they're suddenly a danger. No, I will not repeat the mistakes that brought us to this point. Heed my words, old friend. If you don't, one day you will regret this."
The second shadow disappeared, leaving the first brooding amidst the white silence, cold and unmoving."

I do not know who these guys are, but do we really want to give them a very good reason to come and kill us?

 

[m4davis]

One of them already intends to do that and as has been said it never said he's under mind control plus if there are more of them we want something that can reasonably fight them.

 

[Monty]

Yes, even the 'shadows' fear that their own position would be endangered. So this is a powerful force that has been awakened. We cannot simply discard it or pretend it doesn't exist. If we can master the other elements too then no individual would be all powerful and we could better resist any threats.