Part 7: Clan Creation Part VII

Our priests worked hard and long to awaken Orlanth, the most important of our gods. He has always remembered our dedication, and to this day he favors our people.



Things have been different since the Dawn, thirteen hundred years ago. Orlanth and the other gods retreated from the world, leaving it to mortals. We can still contact the gods through ritual and sacrifice, or enter their realm by re-enacting the great stories about their deeds, which contain great magic. But they no longer walk beside us. When we settled in a new place we marked this great change in the world by naming our land, not after a god, but after a mortal like ourselves. We named it Heortland, in honor of the king who taught us how to survive during the Darkness.



About six hundred years ago, a dragon approached us, in either its own form or that of a human with a dragon's soul inside it. The dragons had always been hostile, or at the very best, utterly uncaring. Orlanth has always been the dragon-slayer. After an appropriate debate, we had to choose whether to believe the dragon, to cooperate and learn what dragons know, or to refuse the dragon and maintain neutrality, or to actively oppose the dragon's plans.

What was our attitude towards the dragons?

Hostile - We fought against them.

Negative - We would never believe a dragon.

Neutral - We didn't go along.

Positive - We joined into their dragon knowledge.

Orlanth is clearly our boy--we sure are fuckin' impressed with the king of the gods. Those eight drinks were really something, huh?

This choice determines how our ancestors reacted to the dragons. Again, this is mostly a precident question. If we choose to be friendly with dragons in the past, if we aren't friendly with them in the future our ancestors will grow angry with us.

The main problem with choosing to be hostile with dragons is that dragons are pretty big. Early in the game they eat your soldiers like popcorn. Late in the game, when you have a dozen temples up enchanting your holy female sword saints with the power of thunder and blood, protecting them from chaos and giving them giant golden dildos to fuck their enemies to death--they'll still eat your soldiers like popcorn. Scary monsters.

The problem with being friendly is that the dragons may not be friendly back. And then you've lost your diplomats, and your ancestors are pissed because you're fighting with dragons.