Part 5: Clan Creation Part V

Our constant struggles against the trolls defined our history for a time. Although no stronger than a man, they were tougher and more savage, and seemingly numberless, as no matter how many times we defeated them, they would return.



The Storm Age ended in disaster when the gods and creatures of Chaos came and destroyed nearly everything. Orlanth and his allies fought hard against them, but Chaos almost always won. Catastrophes shook the world, such as the Sun Fall, the Rain of Blood, and the terrible Laughing Tsunami. In this era many gods died, and many new ones rose to prominence. The Darkness got so bad that even Orlanth and his companions had to abandon humans to their own destiny. Only a few deities, either small or weak ones, remained at all. The world stagnated and died. Our clan was diminished to a ragged handful of hardy survivors.



Heort the King was the leader who emerged amid the turmoil of the Darkness. The combined efforts of Heort and his companions helped set the world in order again. He created the laws that we follow to this day. One of the great distinctions which Heort discerned among his clans was that some of them tended towards either peace or war, while others maintained a balance between these two principles.

Which kind was your clan?

War
Balanced
Peace

Trolls it is! The most numerous of our potential foes. For the record, the beastmen are less numerous but much scarier in combat. We'll meet them soon enough--I'm sure that if you haven't played this game yourself, whatever image you have of them in your mind is wrong.

Oh, and because we selected the trolls, we have a very large, very scary foe to deal with in the future.

Side note: The Lord of the Sea is kind of a pushover if you use your magic to defend yourself instead of spending it all on bonus cows.

This choice is special in that you can change it any time during game play--a clan can freely select the principle they follow. A WAR clan gets to spend more of its precious magic on waging war, and less on the fields, the herds, and the fertility of its women. Peace clans can spend more magic on food, cows, and spreading the legs of our teenagers. Because food and children are both phenomenally important to the well-being of our clan, I strongly suggest against selecting War. Even if you plan on raiding your neighbors a lot, it's best for the clan's welfare to be balanced. Or if you want to focus on a powerful economy, many cows, and billions of crotch-spawn, we can go peace.

Note that even peace clans get upset if you go to long without attacking a neighbor. Fewer than one raid a year is generally a bad idea--you don't want groups of armed men lounging about your tula trying to come up with things to do.