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

[Esquilax]

He was raving about conquest and roaring "Join me! And we shall rule this galaxy together!", and was suddenly silenced by a token council position and a couple of trainees? Sigh...
There really are no bad choices, are there.
No matter...

C. Might as well see the depths of his madness.

I disagree, he's probably biding his time. Besides, I hardly think that this means that there aren't any bad choices - imagine if we had decided to stay on the mountain, we would have been really fucked because of that. And I also think that it bears mentioning that we've made silly decisions before as well. Things would probably have been different if our expedition decided to go in a different path.

For now, there are a few ways that I can see C backfiring. His attempts to bring the refugees over might end up working too well, resulting in the refugees taking a decidedly fanatical bent in their new faith. The Wielder of Fire isn't just a crazy fanatic, he seems to also be very charismatic as well. These refugees, look at the state they're in and put yourself in their shoes: you're barely eking out a living now that your home is gone, your family is probably all dead, then this strange man suddenly comes to you - he can perform miracles, he can control the very elements themselves, and most importantly, he promises you that everybody who wronged you is going to die screaming in flames. How are you not going to get behind a dude like that?

 

[Jick Magger]

C

 

[newcomer]

I disagree, he's probably biding his time.

Good thing that the moderates are able to learn something from him. Now we only need to have a nice chat with them and confirm whether they had turn fanatical or not, and if not that means we can apply some strategies, such as an antipope strategy

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

imagine if we had decided to stay on the mountain, we would have been really fucked because of that. And I also think that it bears mentioning that we've made silly decisions before as well. Things would probably have been different if our expedition decided to go in a different path.

Yes, I imagine nothing bad would've happened to us on the mountain, as well. Either it wouldn't have erupted or the Wielder came in the nick of time and saved us.
And bear in mind, silly decisions != harmful decisions.

For now, there are a few ways that I can see C backfiring. His attempts to bring the refugees over might end up working too well, resulting in the refugees taking a decidedly fanatical bent in their new faith. The Wielder of Fire isn't just a crazy fanatic, he seems to also be very charismatic as well. These refugees, look at the state they're in and put yourself in their shoes: you're barely eking out a living now that your home is gone, your family is probably all dead, then this strange man suddenly comes to you - he can perform miracles, he can control the very elements themselves, and most importantly, he promises you that everybody who wronged you is going to die screaming in flames. How are you not going to get behind a dude like that?

Well, let's hope at least this decision has some C&C, then.


It's just so... next-gen, realizing that no matter what we do, we still get to unlock the achievements, you know. I understand the story needs continuity, but getting smacked upside the head by the GM for being stupid, once in a while, is refreshing to the game.

 

[Esquilax]

Yes, I imagine nothing bad would've happened to us on the mountain, as well. Either it wouldn't have erupted or the Wielder came in the nick of time and saved us.
And bear in mind, silly decisions != harmful decisions.

It's just so... next-gen, realizing that no matter what we do, we still get to unlock the achievements, you know. I understand the story needs continuity, but getting smacked upside the head by the GM for being stupid, once in a while, is refreshing to the game.

That's fair, but don't you think you're being a little overbearing? I will give our GM the benefit of the doubt in Act I since a lot of that involved setting the stage for what our society was going to be, what our principles were, how spiritually inclined we became, etc? Curufinwe himself mentioned several pages ago that had we stayed after the Seer's warning, our tribe would have been in deep shit afterward. Who knows what kind of grizzly deaths would have awaited us had we stayed there? Furthermore, I also believe that had our mighty spiritual leader decided not to touch the gem to begin with, we would probably still be relaxing peacefully at our mountain. There's also the possibility that we've alerted mystical beings to our presence, which also wouldn't have happened.

Anyways, I find this whole thing pretty compelling and I have faith in our GM's skills, otherwise I wouldn't be posting. I kinda want to know what would have happened in different circumstances, but at the same time I don't because I don't want to be spoiled for future encounters. Still, it would be nice to know whether the volcanic eruption could have been avoided since we already blew it.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

overbearing ... grizzly deaths ... Furthermore

Alright, alright! By Thor's beard...

The way this narrative works, there are no "what ifs" or preset outcomes, though - it's a storyteller's game, after all. But I guess it's a cross we have to... carry.

 

[Curufinwe]

Regarding consequences... yes, standing right next to a volcanic explosion would have been slightly unpleasant, indeed.
Picking the gem had very clear consequences, some of whom I don't think you realized fully, but I'll stop here.

 

[Stygian Lurker]

C

 

[oscar]

I don't think Curufinwe is "coddling" us. We only avoided the likely annihilation of our tribe by about one vote.

Just that, sans bear taming, we haven't made any real catastrophic decisions and have been pretty conservative.

 

[Vernydar]

What we have lost in the volcano explosion? Well let me think...
A nice place
Some years
Coal
Wolves
Carrots
Obsidian (yes, obsidian. We have some weapon, we don't have a way to replace them. You did notice this, right?)
I call this pretty catastrophic


What are we going to lose by having this wielder of fire with us? Much more I think XD

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Regarding consequences... yes, standing right next to a volcanic explosion would have been slightly unpleasant, indeed.
Picking the gem had very clear consequences, some of whom I don't think you realized fully, but I'll stop here.

Promises, promises...

I don't think Curufinwe is "coddling" us. We only avoided the likely annihilation of our tribe by about one vote.

Just that, sans bear taming, we haven't made any real catastrophic decisions and have been pretty conservative.

That's what I'm wondering: would the LP have just been allowed to end there? No way to tell now, but the sudden change in the Wielder's behaviour kinda irks me in that it annuls the whole premise of that update - which was his mad fanaticism and eagerness to lead and conquer - which was what I based my decision on. But despite being told "lol no", he - instead of storming off or punishing the puny weaklings or more pyrotechnics or anything at all - just said "oh, ok" and went limp.

Aah, let's just accept that consistency isn't the Wielder's strongest suit and move on with the LP. What's done is done.

 

[oscar]

- Have we lost obsidian? As I understand it can be found as far as the lava flows which, in any case, isn't too far from our site. Especially as we use our boats to efficiently transport it downriver

- Our present spot is pretty good

- I would be surprised if not a single carrot seeds made the journey. As is my understanding, we left the volcano in pretty good order

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

A nice place

Replaced by another nice place.

Some years

To what effect?

Wolves

We never had them as a commodity. And if they exist anywhere, they can be found pretty much everywhere, in one form or another. Most notably, forest.

Carrots

Meh. Plus, mountain can't be the only place for it to grow. The land we're now on is pretty fertile, no reason carrots couldn't be found here - especially, since we're downriver from where we found them.

Coal
Obsidian (yes, obsidian. We have some weapon, we don't have a way to replace them. You did notice this, right?)

Obsidian is the only real loss, in the long term. But I see no reason why we can't send people upriver for boatfulls of both.

 

[newcomer]

A nice place

And not to mention that with all those ashes this place becomes much more fertile than it was

Obsidian

Replaced by FIRE

 

[Jick Magger]

Just that, sans bear taming,

I wouldn't say it was a catastrophic misstep, per se. It was a complete waste of time, for sure, but we had the good luck to make it in a time period in which we could afford to experiment and make mistakes.

We COULD get something useful out of this. Someday. Maybe. Maybe we'll find some forest spirit and train some of the moderates to become druids or something.

- Have we lost obsidian? As I understand it can be found as far as the lava flows which, in any case, isn't too far from our site. Especially as we use our boats to efficiently transport it downriver

We found Obsidian on the mountain slopes, and the slopes are fairly inaccessible at this point. It's formed by rapid cooling of lava, so if anything the eruption could lead to us getting even more of it. The only problem would be getting near the lava, which would be damn near fucking impossible for our people to get near without getting severely burned (assuming we're following real-world logic for this, they wouldn't even need to touch the lava to get killed). We'd need to get The Burning Man to fetch it for us, and I doubt he'll want to do something so mundane.

 

[Monty]

instead of storming off or punishing the puny weaklings or more pyrotechnics or anything at all - just said "oh, ok" and went limp.

Aah, let's just accept that consistency isn't the Wielder's strongest suit and move on with the LP. What's done is done.

I think your compaint is based on your expectations of the wielder, which were different to many other voters here. Some people thought, based on the few sentences we'd heard from him, that he was utterly insane and uncontrollable and allowing him back into our tribe was madness. Others pointed out that he had returned to join our tribe after all, and wasn't incinerating tribesmen on sight. They thought there may be more to him than his sinister appearance. This was a reasonable difference of opinion and either faction could have been right. But just because a contrary view prevailed and there have been no immediate calamitous events I don't think that's necessarily a reason to criticise the LP or hint that you want more bad effects of the decision to surface, not everyone here has the same opinion and we should probably leave the consequences up to Curufinwe to choose. He has already given us glimpses of a much more sinister 'big picture' out there and who knows what is coming.

 

[newcomer]

We found Obsidian on the mountain slopes, and the slopes are fairly inaccessible at this point. It's formed by rapid cooling of lava, so if anything the eruption could lead to us getting even more of it. The only problem would be getting near the lava, which would be damn near fucking impossible for our people to get near without getting severely burned (assuming we're following real-world logic for this, they wouldn't even need to touch the lava to get killed). We'd need to get The Burning Man to fetch it for us, and I doubt he'll want to do something so mundane.

If everything goes alright, the wielder will eventually teaches the scavengers to walk on flame
Until then, I think our tribe won't be able to collect obsidian in the near future

Curufinwe , suddenly I'm curious on the age of the wielder before he entered the lava. Can you share it?

 

[oscar]

Yeah it was more your own doom and gloom predictions about the Wielder (that still may have some truth to them) when all he'd done was give a "our tribe rocks and lets kick some ass" speech, rather than any softness on Curufinwe's part. Too early to say what this guy's influence (negative or positive) will be on us.

 

[Hirato]

I'd like to change my vote a bit and add the following clause.
Depending on how things go, I'd be willing to loosen the restrictions we placed on him a bit based on some conditions...

1) he befriends the other tribe, or at least makes a favourable impression on them.
2) does not resort to force or coercion to "convert" the other tribe, regardless of whether he fails or succeeds.
3) The moderates who received his training remain sane and non-fanatical.

If those conditions are met, I'd be more than happy to let the Fire Wielder train any volunteers as he sees fit

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

But just because a contrary view prevailed and there have been no immediate calamitous events I don't think that's necessarily a reason to criticise the LP

Where have I based my "complaints" on the "contrary view" winning? My point was inconsistency in the Wielder's behaviour, which made my vote preference meaningless. And I've agreed to ignore it and move on - twice. It isn't going to change just because you believe differently (which is the only argument I hear). So. Moving on?

 

[Jick Magger]

I'm viewing the Wielder of fire as more of a Randall Flagg type of crazy. He's charismatic and good at getting people to do things he wants them to do. He approached the tribe and manipulated flames, which is the very basis of one of our major religions and basically guaranteed to get people to side with him. We of course see this shit as evil, but the tribesman are probably seeing the primitive equivalent of Jesus walking on water or turning water into wine. When he reaches the refugees I'd imagine he'd just walk up to them, stare at them with his blood-red eyes, put on a big shit eating grin and plainly tell them "You follow me and everybody who wronged you will burn forever".

 

[Curufinwe]

But just because a contrary view prevailed and there have been no immediate calamitous events I don't think that's necessarily a reason to criticise the LP

Where have I based my "complaints" on the "contrary view" winning? My point was inconsistency in the Wielder's behaviour, which made my vote preference meaningless. And I've agreed to ignore it and move on - twice. It isn't going to change just because you believe differently (which is the only argument I hear). So. Moving on?

The Wielder's behavior is consistent. On his first appearance I have put emphasis on his sinister appearance and apparent madness, as you said, but if he was only a one-dimensional, chaotic evil, batshit 'let's burn the unbeleviers' character it would be pretty lame, imo. He has been around for just two updates, give him time

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

The Wielder's behavior is consistent. On his first appearance I have put emphasis on his sinister appearance and apparent madness, as you said, but if he was only a one-dimensional, chaotic evil, batshit 'let's burn the unbeleviers' character it would be pretty lame, imo. He has been around for just two updates, give him time

Heh, I will put my outrageous dissentious thoughts aside, then.

 

[Curufinwe]

Heh, I will put my outrageous dissentious thoughts aside, then.

Yes, do so. I remind you that the Emperor of Mankind himself apparently endorsed this thread a few pages ago. Do I need to tell what are the consequences of defying His will and expressing what you rightly called outrageous dissention? No? Didn't think so.

 

[Rumsfeld]

My point was inconsistency in the Wielder's behaviour, which made my vote preference meaningless.

You think his behaviour inconsistent because you expected disastrous consequences within 1 update (they may still happen). Then you posted earlier today that there are clearly no 'wrong decisions' and that "It's just so... next-gen, realizing that no matter what we do, we still get to unlock the achievements". The point others are making in response to you is that just because you think a decision is wrong and should result in instant disaster doesn't necessarily make it so. Otherwise this would be boring if we all agreed and decisons were that clear cut!

You may now say that you're prepared to 'ignore it' but I think we have a right to respond to all the stuff you posted today. So. Moving on?