Starting points: 16
Age Vote: YES, advance to Third Age
Command Avatar (Zenith) to Create City (1)
Ultima Thule. The new city lurked deep underground, sustaining itself with the heat and energy of the region's geothermal vents. Its people desperately dug in, so fearful of the traitors outdoors that generations grew up thinking of their ancestral home, the Brightlands, as a place of terror. In this respect the fire-worshipers had already won. Chiaro historians decreed that this city's founding marked the end of the true era of heroic adventure. It was a place established out of fear, and its outer walls and convoluted entrances made that plain. Yet inside, those welcomed to Ultima Thule could find shelter, food and light even in what would naturally be a deadly place. The Chiaro took some solace in that.
Purify City (Area around Tuatha: B6,A6,B7 and E6) (3)
"The Adventurers' Guild? Why do we even call it that anymore? We're practically afraid of the sun!"
"Not sunlight, kid. Fire."
The young mage stomped his paws and raised his tail. "So there's no plan at all to go liberate Lindisfarne? The land itself is losing its holy power! I've seen evidence from the scouts!"
"And? You volunteer to get yourself killed out there? There's enough 'adventure' here in the caves, still. Have you even been out east?" The lizardmen say there's no end to the tunnel networks."
"Even if we can't save the Brightlands directly, we can still fight back."
Chiaro researchers who had seen both the power of the Brightlands and the extensive magitech of Tuatha and the new orbital settlement, had a strong understanding of what exactly made land "purified" and "liveable". So, they used their most advanced enchantments to enhance Tuatha and much of the surrounding area. In the process they made Tuatha itself more "pure" and "holy" than any place ever seen before. Where one tier of purification made for a land of unnaturally pleasant climate and fertile land, two tiers brought a vague mythic quality to reality such that people began to feel that everything would be okay, no matter what. And three tiers...
Purify Civ (Chiaro)(3)
"Gentlemen, the fault lies in our own nature." Professor Bligh Machugh showed off diagrams of the Chiaro people's lands, and of a stylized Chiaro posing in a circle. "We are both black and white. I don't particularly want to change that in a literal sense, but we've seen now that because of the natural advantages we have over the hapless bipeds, the greatest threat to our people are themselves. Our own people can turn against the cause of light and liberty! And so I propose to begin the modification and purification of our own kind, and not merely the caverns and fields of home."
The Chiaro reach an alignment of +2. Note that this change does not affect their wayward, increasingly evil kin in the Lindisfarne area. (If allowed, though it's probably not, it'll affect the Plushstripes too.)
Command Order (Adventurers' Guild) to Create Army + Command Avatar (Zenith) to Lead Army (3+1)
The Plushstripe ambassador hopped down from his airship and squished slightly as his fabric body took the impact. The hovering island itself also gave, since it was inflated. "We need your help!" he said. "Can't you whip up some kind of artificial juggernaut to help us take back our capital from the scary evil fire people?"
"No," said the perpetually smiling plush bear wizard. "But only because the name's already taken."
Soon, a terrifying and/or ridiculous sight came slouching toward Lindisfarne. Its entire body rattled faintly when it moved, like a sack of small objects. Its claws were mere fabric, but the razors at their edges were not. Of course, the whole thing was designed with fireproofing in mind. A terrified scout raced home, shouting, "It's some kind of... It's...!"
Another villainous Chiaro pointed and shouted. "Look! The Beanheamoth is attacking the city!"
The Beanheamoth gave a mighty squeak and charged, with magical bubbles issuing from its maw.
And finally, Command Avatar (Wheel) To Create City (1)
The city of Newcastle was established as a resource-gathering base for the people of Leod's Dun, who found it most convenient to land in places near the equator. Chiaro youths from the sky were surprised and delighted by what they found: Dirt! Monsters! Rain! All kinds of cool things to rekindle the adventuring spirit! A coastal site at E5 became the new local population center, with a distinct high-tech look due to its orbital origins. The new groundlings continued to trade with Leod's Dun and the Utoypians, while some of the braver Plushstripes focused on exploring the hot, dangerous canyon and the nearby cave networks.
Ending points: 4. Next turn bonus: +3.
