“I didn’t know,” Mitchell said again, his throat’s rawness already healing up. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that - the feeling helped, and he almost wished it would heal slower so he could use it as a distraction. Even so, in the dim light of the early morning, with the water of the river burbling gently along, he was finding it difficult to feel anything other than peace. He knew objectively that he had been through a terrible, terrible ordeal, yet here he knew he was safe and had people to watch his back. Further, now he could contribute and not be left behind.
It was bittersweet.
“I know.” Miriam replied softly. She was also uneasy - Mitchell was typically her rock, her safe place to land. To know that he’d essentially walked into the forest to die… Her breath caught, and she blinked the starts of tears from her eyes. It would do no good to think of what could have been. “Even so, you should have told me.”
Mitchell nodded in agreement. “I should’ve.” The pair sat quietly on the banks of the river for a moment, until Mitchell spoke his mind.
“I thought I was holding us back.” He began. “You know me. You know I have some… less than popular takes. It was hard to see a way forward that didn’t involve charity.”
“What’s wrong with charity, Mitchell?” Sarah rubbed sleep from her eyes as she strolled over.
Miriam looked up in surprise. She wouldn’t have thought anyone else as early a riser as Mitchell was. Even she wasn’t one to be up at the crack of dawn, but given the circumstances she didn’t want him to be alone. “Huh, you’re up early.”
“Dreams,” Sarah waved off, looking expectantly at Mitchell for his answer.
“Plenty. Even beyond the mess that charities were in the Before, the very concept doesn’t sit well with me. It’s an active suppression of natural selection. It’s part of why so many kids are being born with terrible issues, being consigned to a life of suffering just because some bleeding heart couldn’t make the tough call.”
Sarah glared at him. “Sounds like you’re advocating for the killing of babies with problems.”
“No! Really? Killing babies?” Mitchell fell back and sighed, running his hands through his hair. Then he did it again, just because he could. “I’m not saying we kill off the babies, but maybe don’t subsidise people with genetic issues into being able to pass on those genetic issues. Like, for a minor example, my mum had psoriasis. I had psoriasis - until I hit my class, at least. Psoriasis could be just some itch, or it could penetrate deep and cause debilitating arthritis. Sure, I wouldn’t have been born if my mother couldn’t have kids, but I’m not so selfish to consider that a bad thing.”
Miriam frowned, having heard this before, but Sarah was paying avid attention.
“Really. You don’t believe in medicine, is that it? Or is it just reproductive rights?”
“Not- It’s more complicated than that! Stop boiling my views down. I could do the same to you and make you sound bad.”
“Oh really? So when I say I want to do my best to ensure everyone around me is happy and healthy?”
“Would you consider the average mood of someone with that brittle bone disease happy and healthy?”
“That depends on their support group.”
“Charity. What about broke meth addicts who can’t afford a re-up?”
“Safe consumption sites.”
“I won’t even start on those, but also charity. What about the old and infirm who can’t last a week without some procedure or another? Are they happy and healthy?”
“Oh c’mon, that’s not even medic-”
“Charity! If you want happiness and healthiness, why allow the sad and sick to even exist? If you can’t ‘fix’ them, what do you do?”
“I keep working!” Sarah shot back. “That’s where we differ. You seem to think that there’s problems that can’t be fixed.”
“No, I don’t. I think that until we can fix it, patching it in a way that expands the issue is the most idiotic tactic, but we can’t see that because the problem is people and we have empathy.”
Sarah frowned, and Mitchell continued. “It’s not like I’m saying that since there’s no cure for cancer, let them die. It’s things like psoriasis which is genetic and nobody stopped my mother from bringing three more diseased people into this world. If we have kids-”
“Excuse me?” Miriam finally barged back into the conversation. “If we have kids? Would you like to talk about that statement, Mitchell, or are you going to keep arguing philosophy?”
Mitchell whirled about on her. “It’s not arguing I just need to be sure she doesn’t think I’m some crazy sociopath who’s going to murder anyone who gets a cold! Why are you laughing?”
Sarah shook her head, doing her best to stifle it. “You know, it’s really not a stretch to say that I could cure most diseases. Easily, too.”
Mitchell sputtered, and Miriam went to go shove her fiance into the water for being silly. With a grin on his face, he whirled about in time to grab her sleeve, and even as she toppled over after him, she couldn’t help but give a mental sigh of relief.
At least he was smiling again.
----------------------------------------
It was at least an hour before George got up and crawled out of the mill, and an hour after that before he returned from the forest with a pair of rabbits to cook up for breakfast. A third hour passed before John returned to the camp, to confused questions. He carried a pair of tree trunks that he dropped beside the river, then lumbered over to the growing camp they had set.
Between John’s carpentry and George's cooking, they were starting to build some aspects of comfort. Crude wooden benches surrounded the firepit, and a frame around the pit allowed George to slowly roast the rabbits on a pair of spits he’d crafted from wood. The hunter was engrossed in his cooking, and let out a quiet cheer when he got himself his next level, bringing his race level to 7.
John waited until they were all sat around eating food, before he spoke. “We have a decision to make.”
Sarah continued, her voice curt. “We opened the chest last night. Mitch, this is yours.” With an underhand toss, she threw a piece of jewellery at him. Not wanting to make a fool of himself, Mitchell inspected it.
Pendant of Health and Sustenance
Disposition: Not available
Mitchell sighed. “Can someone Analyse this for me? My upgrade sucks.”
“10% boost to total health and rate of healing.” Miriam offered before anyone else. “It can also let you go for longer without food.”
Mitchell looked once more at the chain. It was a basic silver chain with a small, heart-shaped pendant embedded with a small ruby. He shrugged, and slipped it over his neck. The change felt minor, but he couldn’t pin down exactly what it was.
“Who’s next?” George asked, excited.
“Not you. You already got a sword.” John pointed.
“Yea, and you got armour.”
“Actually, that’s going to Mitchell as well.” Sarah answered easily. “John and I were talking, and we think his class is more suited towards being the ‘tank’ type than John’s is. Besides, he’s already got armour. I got these, though!” John and Sarah both analysed the item, and then Sarah held them up for everyone to see.
“One sec… There.” John muttered as he poked through his screens.
It was a pair of gauntlets that shone with an odd, red light. They caught the light in an almost iridescent way, shimmers of ruby crawling across the black chitin. The impressive thing was the small window that appeared above it, showing much more than Mitchell’s Intuit skill could grasp.
Chitinscald Gauntlets
Requires Vitality of 12 to wield.
Invoke to cast the spell Flame Spray without utilising arrays or materials. Damage and range scale with Vitality.
“It’s short ranged, and recharges every 5 minutes or so, but it gives me damage to deal where I didn’t have it before.”
The centurion described his ‘Briefing’ skill, saying that he could share analysis in aggregate with his allies, so all of their analysis would be useful in creating a greater picture. In regards to the items, nobody had an issue with the distribution and so they moved on.
John pulled the chest into the middle of the group, and kicked open the lid, revealing piles and piles of wooden discs, each etched with a small, triangular symbol.
F-grade coins (500)
But Mitchell’s attention was drawn to the small crystal that hovered its way out of the box, drifting up to his eye level. It might have been his imagination, but was it floating towards him? Without thinking, he analysed it.
Settlement Stone (Untethered|Unique)
Grade F
Must be used by rewardee.
Conditions:
Settlement must have at least three (3) functioning structures
Settlement must have a population of at least five (5).
Settlement must have access to two (2) or more Basic Resources
Settlement must have at least one (1) rare class among its population.
Conditions Met!
Secondary Requirements:
Settlement is within range of Regional Capital (Not met)
Settlement is within range of one(1) or more dungeons (Met)
Settlement is above a subterranean settlement (Not Met)
Settlement is below an aerial settlement (Not Met)
Settlement is %&$##_X a Celestial settlement (Not Met)
Settlement has a Very Rare Class citizen (Met x 2)
Location eligible for upgrade to Basic Settlement - F3!
To obtain secondary permutations, Settlement must be created by VR Class citizen.
To remove secondary permutations, activate with a Rare-or-lower class citizen after clearing the local dungeon.
Tether Settlement Stone? (YES|NO)
Mitchell accepted the offer, and the scene around him froze. The fire paused in its chaotic licks to the sky, the river's motion ceased - briefly, Mitchell recalled that any stopped body of water would require an absurd amount of power, as it contained more force than expected, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
He briefly panicked when he tried to turn his head and it didn’t work, but another pop-up soothed his rapidly panicking heart.
Tutorial paused during Settlement Creation.
Primary prerequisites met!
Secondary prerequisites partially met!
Tertiary prerequisites pending!
Settlement Level Up!
Settlement Level Up!
Parameters must be set at activation of Settlement Stone. Levels will be delayed until Settlement is established.
Please set your Settlement’s basic political system:
-Dictatorship
-Democracy
-Socialism
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
-Monarchy
‘Well, at least that one’s easy.’
He selected Dictatorship, reasoning that one strong leader was necessary for now. Democracy was just a popularity contest, and if people came to a settlement with enough supporters, they could lose everything. Maybe once their settlement was established, they could let people with actual ties to the settlement vote, but for now, he would have one leader. Not one with any sort of familial ties, which was why he didn’t bother with monarchy.
Please set your Settlement’s Core Cultural Value:
-Earth Derived (May recreate an existing culture from previous home planet)
-Core Group (Culture is based on the actions and decrees of the Core Group)
-Core Values (Culture is based around a document created upon inception of Settlement)
-Valueless (No unifying cultural aspect)
For a brief moment, Mitchell considered, but quickly dismissed the idea of rebuilding an old country. It’s not like he was some sort of political science student, or government employee. He was an IT worker. Given it was the most able to be changed later, he went with the Core Group. Then, whoever was in the core group could change the culture if they needed to.
Please set your Settlement’s interaction stance:
-Isolationist
-Expansionist
-Cooperative
-Hegemonic
-Neutral
-Defensive
Now Mitchell had to think. He could easily write off isolation and defensive stances, as he knew his class would not abide by sitting and hiding in his own little corner of the world. Expansionist seemed like it could cause issues, if their neighbours-
Mitchell stopped himself. Neighbours? They’d met a grand total of one group, and that group had apparently tried to kill his own friends. What was hegemonic? Something to do with religion, he thought, so that was out. It was really between Neutral, Expansion, or Cooperation. Mitchell knew he wasn’t the most diplomatic, but he chose Cooperative regardless, as it lead well towards advancing humanity.
Please set your Settlement’s Priorities in order from most important (1) to least important (7):
Expansion
Research
Theocratic Works
Magocratic Works
Martial Prowess
Quality of Life
Economic Strength
Diplomatic Prowess
Mitchell was lost here, so he just did what he would have done back when he played games - make it for him, and hope people showed up..
* Economic Strength
* Quality of Life
* Martial Prowess
* Magocratic Works
* Research
* Expansion
* Diplomatic Prowess
* Theocratic Works
With a sigh, he made his selections and got ready to tell his friends, but there was more:
Please set your Settlement’s Core Group Structure:
-Homestead
-Tribal
-Council
-Colony (N/A, requires other settlement with diplomatic ties)
-Senate
‘Homestead’ Mitchell thought, ‘works perfectly. I hope.’
Please set your Settlement’s Core Group and Roles:
With a smile, Mitchell easily placed each of his friends and himself.
Patriarch - Mitchell LeFleur
Master Hunter - George Lopez
Surgeon General - Sarah Forrest
Master of Law and Order - John Forrest
Master of Magic - Miriam Agnello
Please set your settlement’s Guard makeup.
Connecting to Master of Law and Order….
Connected
“What the f- why is everyone sitting still? Why has the fire stopped? Wh- Mitchell? Damnit, did you activate it?”
Mitchell blinked. That sound wasn’t coming from John, it was more like it was coming from the screen. In his peripheral, John still seemed frozen. “Sorry, busy, making a settlement. Congrats, you’re the chief of police.”
“We don’t have police.”
“Well, we might. So you’re officially the Master of Law and Order. Enjoy.”
“So… why are we stuck?”
Please set your settlement’s Guard makeup.
“Oh! I get to choose our guards? Hmm.. Full time, part time, or militia?”
“I mean, full time would be best, I just don’t know how much-” Mitchell thought out loud.
“Nope. We need income to offset wages with, and I’m getting told we have no sources of income. Part time is out too, so I’m plugging in the militia option, cool?”
“Uh, sure? Where did you see all that?”
“Looks like I get my own Settlement screens. Oh, if it’s not too late, go from Dictatorship to Monarchy. You can switch it later, and you don’t actually have to have it be descendant based. Dictatorship reduces immigration by 1 until you offset it with Deeds, and we only get one immigration to start with. So - militia. Do you approve?”
Mitchell tried to go back, but the screen still stared into his face, unchanging. “Yea, I guess?”
Guard Makeup - Militia
Please set your Settlement’s immigration options.
“John, do your screens say- Oh. He’s gone. Uhh..”
Mitchell paused for a moment, suddenly regretting his decisions to fly through the creation process, especially considering the array of numbers before him, complete with sliding scales and pie charts. Mitchell swallowed, and dove into it.
It turned out to be a bit easier to understand than he had expected. As a level one settlement, their location gained about 1 xp per day. Every 100 population would increase that xp by one. At higher levels, that number was greater, but until they had a hundred people - and wouldn’t THAT be weird - they would keep their 1 xp per day. Or however much a level three settlement got.
For each xp they got, there was progress towards convincing the next immigrant to come to their settlement. As he moved the sliders and toggled options, Mitchell pieced out two things:
Firstly, Immigrants were categorised. They were either skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled. Skilled workers had a relevant crafting class that was levelled at least to the settlements level, at minimum. Semi-skilled workers had a modest class, and so were gaining stats that allowed them to perform work unrelated to their class. This meant that in a village with lots of clay, a potter would be considered a skilled worker, but in a dry, mountainous village, they would only be considered semi-skilled.
Then finally were the peasants, or the unskilled. These only cost a single XP, so they could have a person showing up every day, but the new person would just be a drain on resources until they figured out something for them to do.
Then there were various parameters he could choose from, like loyalty, heartiness, cultural compatibility, species deviation, or even directly recruiting for a specific skill, all of which would influence the gain rate of experience for the town. For now, Mitchell set it to start working on finding them a semi-skilled, loyal human who was fine with their culture.
The screen flashed red for a brief moment, drawing his eyes to the bottom:
Current gain rate: 1xp/day
-Level One Settlement (1xp/day)
Current Modifiers: -2xp/day
-Loyal (-1xp/day)
-Cultural Primer (-1xp/day)
Current Cost:
Base (Semi-skilled): 1xp/day
Modifiers: -2xp/day
Surplus gain rate: -2xp/day
INCOMPATIBLE
Mitchell cursed. This would be absolutely fine once they hit level 3, which was already guaranteed by the System, but it wouldn’t let him start in the negatives. What would even happen then? Would the settlement disappear?
He didn’t know, and a headache was starting to develop, so he swapped some parameters around until the system was happy.
Current gain rate: 1xp/day
Current immigration policy cost: 0.5xp/day
Semi-skilled (1xp) x Monospecies (.5x)
Surplus gain rate: .5xp/day
COMPATIBLE
Hopefully this could be changed later, Mitchell thought to himself, or else it would just be random humans showing up. He spared a brief thought for how it was going to actually happen. Would someone just show up at the gate every morning or something? It was interesting to think about. He locked in the setting and proceeded to the next.
Due to lack of housing, level-up rewards are being automatically allocated towards Basic House (x5).
Due to lack of suitable housing for a Patriarch, level-up rewards are being automatically allocated towards Basic House->Clan House
Due to the existence of a higher-tier structure (Sturdy Wood Wall) in the settlement area, resources are refunded. 500 F-Coins added to Settlement Treasury. 50 coins are removed to bring the structure up to standards.
Congratulations! For creating a settlement with the Homestead/Dictator combination, you have been granted the Aspiring Clan Leader secondary class! This class must be taken and retained in order to continue having ownership of the settlement.
Please name your Settlement:
Mitchell’s headache was building, so he wasn’t as imaginative as he could’ve been.
Settlement named! Your settlement will now be referred to as Old Mill Town.
Building Options:
* Farm (100F)
* Leatherworkers Hut (100F)
* Market Stall (100F)
* Docks (250F)
* Mill* (450F)
* Mining Camp (N/A)
* Dungeon Gate (100E)
* Basic House (50F)
Mitchell’s headache was growing, so he backed out of the screen before choosing anything, and the world roared back to life.
“-splitting up these co- Whoa.” George was cut off by the sudden appearance of shade over their gathering point, which was odd considering the height of the sun in the sky.
There was a new building in their clearing. Made from sturdy logs that matched their wall, this giant wood cabin could be better considered a lodge, or even a longhouse. Mosscovered stone acted as a foundation, making it look like the building had always been there, and a pair of solid slabs acted as barn doors on the side facing the river. The roof was half-logs covered in more moss, and small holes in the walls acted as windows. Small awnings covered the openings to keep the weather out, and the awnings could be put down to act as shutters.
The lodge was easily double the size of the mill’s ruins.
Mitchell didn’t take as close of a look as the others were. Mitchell was busy, being surrounded by a golden glow as his secondary class took hold. Muscles rippled and tightened, the world got just a bit clearer, and he felt a surge of energy run through him, as if he’d just awoken from a long, restful sleep. Almost subconsciously, he let out a whoop that shattered the stunned silence.
“All hail the clan!” Mitchell announced boisterously, gesturing to the group. “All hail the Clan’s Core Group!”
“All hail- wait, clan? Whoa!” George gained that mid-distance stare, eyes flicking left to right, that showed he was checking out a menu. Soon, everyone but Mitchell was checking out their new ‘Clan’ menu. Leaving them to it, Mitchell went to go check out the new building. He imagined he would get some questions on choosing to create a dictatorship, but his reasoning was simple - in the currently evolving situation, speed of action was likely to become the order of progress. Democracy, when inflated, would be too slow to react to a situation. Monarchy could have worked, but he didn’t want to immediately resume the class conflict that had threatened to erupt in the Before.
Socialism was just… no thanks. Maybe they could change to it when they could afford to do so, but right now they had no way to print money from out of nowhere to make it work.
So, dictatorship. Besides, with his primary class gaining experience from pushing mankind forwards, he imagined it would be much easier for him to gain experience that way.
He dove back into the Clan menu, swapping out the immigration policy to account for the 3 xp per day they were now receiving as a level three settlement. With that budget, Mitchell was able to get what he had originally wanted.
Current Income: 6xp/day
-Level Three Settlement (3xp/day)
-Regional Capital (x2 xp/day)
Current Modifiers: -4xp/day
-Loyal (-1xp/day)
-Cultural Primer (-1xp/day)
-Hardy Folk (x2xp modifier cost)
Current Cost:
Base (Semi-skilled): 1xp per day
Modified: 5xp per day
Surplus gain rate: 1xp/day
COMPATIBLE
Well, the Regional Capital designation was new, even newer than the rest of it. Either way, they should have a loyal, hardy, and culturally compatible settler show up tomorrow. Or today. He really wasn’t sure at this point, but that change to the immigration had covered the time he needed to walk to the doors of the clan house. He quickly went back into the menu and added the Monospecies trait, taking up his last surplus xp but ensuring whoever showed up would be human. With that done, he backed out of the immigration menu and started poking around the Clan menu, not wanting to explore the house without the rest of the group. Or clan, he supposed.
The menu seemed very limited, but Mitchell could tell it would expand along with the settlement. There was a list of buildings, both existing and available for construction. There was a list of settlers, though it lacked anything beyond their name. It even had a small tab for prisoners, though he was unable to interact with it beyond seeing the list, the menu locked until a suitable building was created.
A whistle pierced through his musing, and he closed down the menu to see John standing there in front of him. “There you are. We going to check out our new digs anytime soon?”
“Our? This is the clan leaders house, bub.” Mitchell shot back with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “I suppose, as a core member, you could be entitled to sleep within range of my glorious presence.”
John scoffed half-heartedly and pushed past, pushing the heavy door open with ease and pausing in the doorway. “Does this-”
“Remind you of vikings? Yep.” Miriam finished for him, coming up behind the two and pushing her way through.
The house was dark inside, the only light being from the sunlight streaming through the open windows, but as the door opened further and their eyes adjusted, more of the structure became clear. There was a small, stone room at the start, complete with iron hooks on the walls. Mitchell designated this the mud room.
Further in, cobbled stone took over as the main flooring, and with the size of the firepit, it was clear as to why. Shelves adorned the walls, and counters were tucked away, able to be pulled out when needed. A ladder against the back well led up into a loft, but well before that ladder was a section of raised stone, wide and looking over the main hall. He imagined that would be where the chief would sit during feasts, and to his delight it appeared there was more than enough room for all of them up there. Floating towards the back, in the centre of the raised platform was the Settlement Crystal, rotating slowly in space. In the dim light, it seemed dull.
Miriam had made a beeline for the ladder as soon as her eyes adjusted enough to spot it. “I mean, it would but there’s multiple floors. I don’t think they built vertically.”
“So it’s derivative? Did I use that right?” John asked, and Sarah’s voice responded from close by.
“Yes dear, but let’s talk more in our room, which-”
“Dibs!” Miriam’s voice called from upstairs.
Sarah sighed. “Is not the best one anymore. Come, John. We can’t let George get the second best room.”
“What? Why not? I only feed us every day!”
“Do you want healing for that damaged ego?” Sarah called over her shoulder, and George grumbled as he made his way in. Mitchell shrugged, letting them explore the house while he got started on moving the small pile of firewood they’d accumulated inside, and preparing the wood in the centre firepit.
He didn’t have enough. The long fireplace was at least 8 feet long and two wide, and stone brackets on each side supported a cast iron spit that hung over the empty pit. With the wood they had, he was only able to fill about half of the pit. John was checking out the storage shelves on the wall, humming in approval at the carpentry, and with him distracted, Mitchell’s eyes lingered on the raised stone as he tried to envision the future.
A loud thunk disturbed his musing, as John dropped a 10 foot log into the firepit, only the first few feet hanging over the recessed stone. He grinned at Mitchell’s quizzical look.
“Well? What do you think?”
“Uhhh… nice log?”
John shook his head. “Not just a log. Our first tradition - when we build a house, we hold a housewarming party.” He gestured at the log. “Literally. I think once we get there, it will be important to welcome people.”
Mitchell nodded, mentally sighing in relief. He had been worried about even forming a culture for the culturally primed immigrant to be primed on. Now he was just curious if he was wasting a whole xp of the budget on a pun.