So! To provide some more substantial content during the early bits where we're just making the clan, I'll follow up each voting period with just
what the hell you guys got me into.
Question 1: Main GodWhile our peoples in general are known as the Orlanthi, and the vast majority do worship Orlanth as the main god of the pantheon, many individuals and even some clans do hold other gods more dearly. We'll see once we start playing that each god's worshipers have certain things they're particularly good at, and thus, some stats higher than others.
But more importantly,
as a clan, we'll be expected to have our chief be a worshiper of our main god, or else our magic will suffer. (Admittedly, while the penalty does hurt, the events for having someone who's
not high Leadership as your chief are irritating enough that if I don't have a main god worshiper in my top 2 or 3 leaders, I'll typically just suck it up and put the best leader as chief while I try to train a main god worshiper up a bit.) We'll also be expected not to have any shrines to other gods larger than that to our main god. (I'm not sure what the penalty for not doing so is but I don't really have any desire to find out!) It's not all bad, though, as we do get to start with a shrine already active granting us a constant blessing.
Orlanth, god of storms, is the king and main god of the pantheon, and us being Elmali does nothing to change that. His followers tend to have particularly good Leadership, so it's not unlikely that we might run with one as chief despite penalties (and yet whenever I'm an Orlanth-main clan all my best leaders are Ernaldans). All Orlanth worshipers are men, but his daughter Vinga, the goddess of women who take up men's role of warrior, has female devotees and is treated as equivalent to Orlanth for the purpose of main god-ness. Our initial shrine would grant the
Rain blessing, which helps raise our crops and is probably the best of his blessings by far, though none of them are bad.
Elmal is a defensively-oriented war god, and the Orlanthi god of the sun. As befitting a war god, his followers tend to be particularly strong at Combat. His devotees are all male, and I don't think I tend to see a lot normally so this playthrough may end up accounting for more Elmali than I've seen otherwise combined. :V There's usually one other Elmali clan floating around the pass, so we're only
mostly the weirdos in town. His initial shrine grants
Steadfast, which improves our combat chances when defending, and IMO out of the 3 options here his overall blessing quality is the best.
Ernalda is the queen of the gods and the primary earth goddess. Her devotees get a bonus to Plants skill, and are all female. (There is a god in the setting who is to Ernalda similar to what Vinga is for Orlanth, but there's no Nandan worshipers in KoDP.) We'd also have no clans around that are weirdos in the same way we are.
Though I don't think it actually matters too too much. Her initial shrine provides
Bless Crops, which good lord it is the best crop blessing I am getting this early anyway, but her other blessings are two mediocre ones and one
actively detrimental one.
Question 2: Earliest Famous EventThe majority of these choices give all nobles in your clan a boost to a particular stat, and provide knowledge of (but not a shrine maintaining) a particular blessing.
The Battle of Extinguish Field, naturally, provides a bonus to Combat. This is probably one of the top couple choices for the stat boost, since the Combat skill is used frequently and you don't always get to pick
who's trying to use it. The blessing it provides is
Thunderstone (makes skirmishing more effective), which is pretty soundly mediocre - you'll see why when I'm actually explaining combat. Overall I'd say y'all did OK. :3
The Hundred-Day Hunt boosts Combat, Animals, and Plants, but none of them by as much as any of the other events. Its blessing is
Tracking ("helps find things" - yes a lot of blessing descriptions are vague and unquantified, though this is still more explanatory than a lot of 'em), which is possibly Odayla's best blessing but still thoroughly expendable. Not particularly worth it, but still not the worst option here.
Jested's Settlement boosts Bargaining. A good trader will help you profit (and thus prosper!), and since I'm generally more inclined to send out my trading missions back-to-back than many seem to be, I do tend to like having multiple strong bargainers more than a lot of people. Plus it helps out in explorations. Its blessing is
Silvertongue, which helps traders and negotiators.
The Procession of Animals boost Animals skill. While all the skills are valuable, some are slightly more expendable than others, and this is one of them - but anything that helps our herds is a good thing, since cows are sorta the basic unit of wealth in Dragon Pass! Also though, you usually only need one noble really good at it at any one time. The blessing it teaches, though,
Calf Blessing (increases the fertility of our cows), is an absolute must on par with Bless Crops.
Harnessing oxen to plow doesn't have a snappy name grants Plants skill - like Animals, anything that ups the harvest is a good thing, but also like Animals, you probably don't need more than one person who's good at it.
Plowsong (allows oxen to plow more) is a really good blessing though.
The Hidden Place boosts Magic skill. This is fantastic, much like Combat it will kick in quite often, and also nobles with high Magic will give valuable advice in quite a lot of events.
Bless Children, though, is horrible kids eat food and don't make food. If you need more kids for god knows what reason, recruit some adult farmers who bring their kids along.
Knowing how to use pencils (no really) boosts Custom. This is pretty much the skill of history and legal precedent - more useful than it sounds, a good lawspeaker is an advice dispenser of similar quality (but usually for different situations) to a high-Magic noble. It's another one that you don't really need more than one of, but quite possibly more vital of a one than Animals or Plants people. The
Literacy blessing helps our dealings with other clans, it's also a good one to have around, especially approaching the midgame.
The first pot teaches the
Preserve blessing (reduces food spoilage) and gives 5 more farmers and crafters thank god you guys didn't vote for this. You always want all the crafters you can get but not to the point of giving up a more useful choice here. The blessing's fine but not particularly urgent or exciting - since we're not an Ernalda clan I may never even expand a shrine for it.
The Clan-Making Dance boosts Leadership - another "you really want a good one but probably don't need more than one good one" skill, though it is more likely to come up in varied situations than a lot of the others. Instead of a blessing, it gives us
knowledge of a heroquest - we'll need to godLARP plenty to win the game, and even before it's actually required we'll likely want to do plenty!
