(Starting Points: 12)
Advance Civilization (5)
The Feisty Lass rolled over starboard-wise, nearly dumping its crew into the ocean fifty feet below. All three of them screamed and clutched the wooden gunwales for dear life, but only Bran sprayed.
"Rock more starboard!" shouted Fianna.
"The rocks are falling out?!" said Bran in the stern.
Big Scott said, "No, they're not!"
Fianna risked a backwards (and upside-down) glance and saw that most of the boxes of floatstone were still firmly attached, though one of them was starting to come loose but for Scott's hefty tail in the way. "I meant, everyone roll to starboard to flip us back around rightways!" Meanwhile she feared for the mast and sails, dangling below them like a flimsy anchor and starting to lash at them with loose rope ends.
The three grunted and tried to shift their weight around without falling out. Fianna caught sight of spectators on the cliffs, cheering and placing bets. A pox on them! Scott wasn't moving enough either. "Scott, I need more power!"
"I'm givin' it all I've got, cap'n! My tail canna take much more o'this!"
"Heave! On three!"
Fianna joined in the next scream. They were wobbling sickeningly in the sky, pitching... and rolling! Finally, they got momentum working for them and bobbed back to something resembling level flight.
Bran was white-knuckled on all fours on the gunwales, and had his hands over his eyes. "Are we dead yet?"
Fianna, the poor daughter of nobody important, began to pry her own hands and feet and forepaws off of the ship. She took hold of the mast so that she could stand on her hindlegs and look up at the flapping sails. She pointed dramatically with a forepaw. "No, ensign, we have quite a lot to do before we can die. Tiller to port! Sheet in the sails! There's a south wind, and we're off to Lindisfarne to collect our prize!"
Airship technology was an outgrowth of experiments with the floatstone of the southern isles of Highland. The Chiaro, though terrified of it at first for good reason, quickly saw its potential for trade, exploration... and even fighting. Chiaro airships were powered by sails and held aloft with stone. Later improvements added magic-assisted height control, greater cargo capacity, and (on premium models) safety belts.
Command Avatar (Wheel) to Create Army (1)
Ah, for the first days of the Highland Sky Fleet! Those first flying ships of theirs must have been a pure joy to sail through the clouds, not like the later models that were so designed with so much concern for "safety" that there was hardly any skill involved. The daring men and women of those days, led by Fianna the Feisty, were traders and explorers first. But they stood ready to swoop in for a heroic rescue, a cunning night raid, or whatever other excuse for a heroic tale might present itself. Youngsters swooned at pictures of their favorite sky-pilots posing with goggles and taurtan scarves, or wanted to be great builders and designers of the ships themselves.
Command Avatar (Wheel): Attack! (1)
The first order of business (after making some money off airships) was to deal with the troublesome news that had come a few years earlier: the Chiaro league's resident pirates had discovered aliens, and invaded their land! Horrified Chiaro leaders (who'd been planning to go out that way anyway to make some money) funded an expedition to fly the Highland Sky Fleet west to Say and crush the brigands. (And also make some money.) Fianna herself took the lead in this expedition. The fleet didn't really know what to expect. After all, it had been years since that rowdy gang went west, and hopefully the rumors were false about them having actually taken a city. The expedition's orders were to withdraw peacefully against any force other than the brigands "or anything obviously nasty". Chiaro intentions are to return Say to its owners, not to keep it.
Command Avatar (Zenith) to Create City (1)
Deep underground, the sunrod's light shined on orange fur. Lady Connach the Citrine had been transformed, turning her bright orange with cream-colored spots -- not to mention female -- and had gotten a very different perspective on life when anonymity became impossible for her. That sort of thing came with the perks of holding the Zenith. Currently she carried it in the form of a giant scythe made of blue crystal. Not very many people called her "Lady Cream-Sickle" to her face.
"So what are we doing here, m'lady?" said Garrett, who had most of the luggage on his lower back.
"I'm just visiting, actually. You're staying."
"Wait, what? But there're monsters!"
She turned back to grin at Garrett. "You'll have my support, m'lord."
Now he was even more baffled. He stomped the ground with his forepaws, saying, "I'm not --"
"You wanted to get away from us 'annoying politicians' in Lindesfarne, right? Have your own place with your own rules? Well, now's your chance! I actually think it's a good idea to have more settlements where we can be safe and come up with new ideas. Literally come up, since you'll be underground and all. Open the box."
Garrett grumbled and sputtered protests about being abandoned and tricked. He let the chest thud to the cavern floor, threw it open, and stared at a mass of gold pieces, gems, and magic items donated by Connach and invested by Black Watch. "This... I think I could work with this, m'lady."
The City of Tuatha, in (B6), was built entirely underground. Even more so than Black Watch, it was forced to develop self-sufficiency magic and technology...
Advance City: Life Support Magitech (4)
...Which paid off in the form of massive magic-lit cavern farms, spectacular artificial waterfalls that purified themselves again and again, and various Aeon-derived means of regenerating the air. The new ideas here were first focused on keeping the new city alive, but soon airship engineers would begin to buy their technology and learn to make long-duration voyages, high into the sky.
Not a Formal Action
"Order! The gentleman is out of order!"
"Sure I am!" said Drust, shouting over the professors and the chairman's gavel. "Do you realize how long it's been since we truly learned anything new? Decades after the first airship flight, even longer since those elementals showed up, and the esteemed College of Black Watch insists on keeping its heads --"
"The gentleman will return to his seat."
That could have been the end of it, what with the burly guards starting to close in on Drust. But one man stood up. He was no hero; he didn't need to be. "I wish to yield five minutes to young Drust. I'm enjoying hearing his fresh perspective." He gave a wicked grin.
There were objections and motions, but the College's committees were bound by their own laws. Decreasingly so, these days, but they still loved their parliamentary procedure. Or at least they preferred it to the more traditional dispute resolution method, thought Drust; how many of them had ever hefted an axe?
Drust cleared his throat. "To put it more politely, I'm saying I want two airships, some stout scholars and fighters and mages, and supplies for a year. In return, I will bring you knowledge of things you've never even imagined." He didn't add: Things you hidebound, fat-bellied academics can't imagine. Things that might spark a revolution.
The Drust and Tess Expedition flew far beyond civilized lands... but their initial plans were sent spinning by recent events. First contact with the Terrans had apparently not gone well. The expedition's airships flew southwest and discovered two things. One was the race of strange artificial creatures known as the Utoypians. The meeting was happy, though they narrowly averted an unfortunate incident involving Martin the Masked Mace Mauler and a village of sentient pinatas. Magic research and trade increased from the new contact. The relationship only got stranger from there. They both discussed the two bizarre "avatar" creatures that had spawned the pirate menace, and the troubling shadow on the world around (E4), which the airships had passed on the way.
Drust later flew to the far east, straight over the massive tunnels, and was spotted by the Zemeri. More bipeds! They seemed to be fellow delvers, with important knowledge of metalworking. Drust attempted trade with them, and with growing alarm learned that the Shadow-On-the-World existed in their lands, too. Something would have to be done about that, before these innocent people could become corrupted by it. The Chiaro also warned the Aeons about this shadow, and were warned in turn that a mad sorcerer was on the loose!
New lands, new cultures, new magic, new ideas, and threats to the land itself. Drust brought home such tales that he soon got his revolution.
Might justify small territory claims on an (E3) floating island and a bit of (C6), if those cost nothing.
(Ending Points: 0. Next Turn Bonus: 3.)
(Races Known: Aeon/Elemental: friendly, minor trade. Terran: frightened. Utoypian: friendly, eager magic collaboration. Zemeri: neutral, worrisome.)
"Be on the lookout for anything weird while you're out there!" "You mean like a giant magical talking inflated pink orca that wants to teach us?" "That already happened. Think weirder!"
