Part 387: Feathered Horse Queen 1
Oh well, we tried!
Good news: Our sheep herds are recovering! Not very quickly(we were hovering around 1970 sheep in previous years), but the power of exponential growth will help them along with time.
Also, one thing I didn't realize until this game is that having way too much land doesn't just help you produce more food with farming(since you have huge amounts of farmland), but it also increases the food your hunters get as well(since you have huge amounts of forests). We'd normally need 100 hunters to get that much food(probably slightly less since we have the First Arrow), but we only have 58.
After this, it's treasure shopping time again. I pick the Hiord since I think I've run out of clans we haven't hit up before(aside from the ones we're feuding with, but they won't sell treasure to us).
For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this.
Wait, forget that bad feeling! The endgame is finally starting! Break out the eight known drinks & propitiate Arengee!
Women from the enemy people you know as the Horse-Spawn come to speak to your priestesses. They come not to make threats but to inform you of a change in leadership within the Horse-Spawn ranks. Their new leader is not a king, but the Feathered Horse Queen, who derives her power from the goddesses of the earth, not the god of the sun. "We offer your people an opportunity to make a new relationship with our queen," they say.
-Give them a treasure. (Specify which one or I'm going to close my eyes and pick one at random)
-Give them gifts.
-Offer them hospitality.
-Send them packing.
-Thank them for the news, but offer them nothing.
This is a rare chance to improve our antagonistic relations with these people.
An offer of hospitality will neither offend the Horse-Spawn, or arouse the anger of our warriors.
The warriors will be pleased if we boldly rebuke them.
It couldn't hurt to be generous with them.
The Horse-Spawn hold us in low esteem. We should gift them generously, and turn a foe into a friend.
Many times have they raided Orlanthi clans, aided by their fiery, leaping steeds.
We are not obligated to scorn them, nor are we obligated to befriend them.