Quin Rambles On

In June 2022, I wrote up a statement of what my sim world of Juvash is. A lot of it still applies now, but as I've done a lot of personal healing and grown as a simmer as well, I wanted to update it for its latest iteration.

The original post started with, Juvash is a fantasy world, but it is not a standard pseudo-medieval world with medieval practices and prejudices. It doesn’t assign universal traits to its peoples (“all orcs are evil, all elves are good archers”) and there are no major rivalries between groups/species – “out-decorate the neighbours” yes, “elves and dwarves hate each other” no. All the species of Juvash live together; there are no “elven nations” or “orc tribes” and even if most of the sims in Kulo Seeri [now called Kulo Sena] are of mixed human and dragonspark ancestry, that doesn’t make anyone else unwelcome. This is still very much the case. Here's a run-down of what's new:

The Sheltering Unity of Lake Lulla encompasses Kulo Sena and a handful of other villages. Most of its inhabitants are descendants of the Nuidya tribespeople who long ago settled on the shore of the enchanted salt lake, but recently there have been new arrivals from other parts of Juvash - and even other worlds of the cosmos that Juvash is part of. Although they were wary of the first outsiders, the Nuidya now welcome friendly strangers, and the off-world envoys were no exception. What will happen as they navigate this shift in their traditional ways?

It's been slow going, since square 1 is always a difficult place for me to find myself. Also, it's been a week of major hospital drama for my family - things are fine now, hoping they stay that way - and so I've been staying in solo-RPG mode where I don't have to build.

But now things are resolved - with my family, with GOS, with a few ideas for storylines that needed fleshing out - and I'm ready to make a comeback myself. I still don't want to play strictly time-synced, but I don't want to get too out of sync either, so I'm looking for a middle ground. I'm finally looking forward to playing more than I'm trying to dodge building!

Hearthday, 16th of Tidesband, 1st Year Post-Incorporation

Following the highly informal clasping ceremony, life on Steamrock Island takes a few more difficult turns. An infestation of roaches near the nest that holds Risimolni's egg has everyone worried, but thankfully it's able to be contained quickly.

One thing that isn't as easily contained is Risi's ever-increasing ill will toward her sister's new clasping circle. Zyulo is the target of most of her insults, which usually require Sutama to swoop in and distract her with a question about food supplies or a theory about what might have become of the older generations. Both concerns are usually enough to get Risi to help out instead of picking fights, at least for a while.

Tradesday, 15th of Tidesband, 1st Year Post-Incorporation

Sutama and Zyulo both know they're not a formal clasping circle yet. There are no elders around to witness a ceremony, no fully-fledged shaman to read omens and ask the spirits to bless the bond. They could have invited one of Shaman Mari's apprentices to their nest, but those rites would mean very little to Javiera, and they don't even know what she'd expect to mark such an occasion.

Still, Sutama brings it up to Javiera, explaining that, among her people, clasping is a form of trial pathbonding and mentoring. Zyulo adds that both of them have thought about and discussed it, and they'd like to form a clasping circle in a way that would have meaning to all three of them. Given Risi's increasing hostility toward them, Javiera accepts.

Brightday, 14th of Tidesband, 1st Year Post-Incorporation

Jealousy is not an emotion Nuidya elders encourage. It's commonly believed among Risimolni's people that harmony is best achieved when there's no sense of possessiveness in a bond. But the elders are missing, and no diviner or scouting party has located them yet.

So there's no one to stop Risi lashing out at Javiera - who's not even in her clasping circle, but her sister's - for spending too much time with Zyulo. The newcomer isn't speaking to Risi any more, and Risi's interactions with Zyulo are quickly moving from functional to hostile. Finally, her own twin gives her an ultimatum: leave their nest as soon as another one is established, and be prepared to treat Sutama's bond with respect until then, or be cast out into the cold now.

Since when does Sutama so much as shake a leaf at a caterpillar? Risi thinks one night, walking angrily from her hut to the latrine. That time away has changed her. It's enough to make anyone sick.

By the time Zyulo comes across her, on her knees gagging by one of the crystal formations on the beach, she's wondering if there might be another reason she's not feeling too good.

Curse that Javiera beyond the Void. No one told me she was a bee.

-----

Risingday, 13th of Tidesband, Year 1 Post-Incorporation

Before meeting the two young Nuidya, Areksutama and Kuvamatazyulo, during their companion journey, Javiera had always preferred to keep to herself and her studies. She never expected to be drawn to either of them in such a way, let alone both. So when she returned to their homeland with them, she mostly expected to carry on as before, maybe run a few experiments with the mystical waters of Lake Lulla. Certainly not to catch the eye of anyone else.

Sutama's twin sister, Risimolni, quickly disproved her theory. While she can't put her finger on what about herself drew the attention of these people, members of a close-knit tribe with no great love for artifice, Javiera also finds it difficult to understand what would put a Nuidya off - or at least let one down gently.

I didn't take too many screenahots in the early days, because I was just that happy to be playing. But I did get these ones on day 1 - the polyamorous bond between Zyulo, Javiera and Sutama is coming back into play.

Guess who's simming again?

Steamrock Island, off the coast of Kulo Sena proper, is going to be home to one nest at the start of the new KS setup. That nest is called Legacy of Sena - though please note that this is not a legacy challenge. It refers to the dragonspark Sena Yuleng, who is the first ancestor of most Nuidya living today, and the fact that two of the nest's sims are ninth-generation direct descendants of the mi Avira line - the only clan of the Nuidya tribe that can trace an unbroken female lineage back to Sena - and a third resident is the fifth known reincarnation of Sena. There's also a trio of quirky pets, and a remake of a TS3 premade who I (and two of the other sims) got attached to during a side project.

Ready to meet them?

Since my object limit crashes only ever seem to happen on unoccupied lots - which makes building community lots hard - I've decided to gamify that a bit, almost BACC style. I'll say that each community lot I want to add has to be donated by one or more nests using the OFB lot system. They will use their resources to develop the structure of the lots, then donate it back to the community - no receiving extra esteem for that! (Esteem is what wealth and family funds represent in my game.)

For the home lots and their inhabitants, I'm doing one first rotation where I add a single nest, play them for a week to get them established, and then add the next one. It means I'm not doing huge piles of building or sim making or SimPE all at once, and it lets me spend a little time with each of my families in turn before I throw out the strict rotations.

On one hand, I do want to get the building done now, so that's one less stress she has to deal with. On the other hand... yeah, I'm scared. I don't feel like I can face anything now. I depend on my mum for pretty much everything - I literally cannot cope with daily life at all and I've been getting increasingly fearful for my own future as my parents have aged. I don't want to lose my best friend. Not like this... not when I still have the stress of building hanging over both of us. I feel terrible.

Kulo Sena is coming along, but it's too many sims to recreate while I'm still between rebuilds. I've been batting around ideas with my mum, and I now have two smaller side hood ideas to share. The idea is that I'll play these littler hoods while I remake Kulo Sena.

First off, I have the idea of pets/other animals transformed into sentient sims. My idea is that they'll have either 0, 5 or 10 in each personality point to start with, mirroring the three-point scale of TS2 pets' personalities. I don't play to get through generations, so - instead of having the traits evolve with each generation born - I'm planning to adjust their personality points whenever a life event warrants it, sort of a personal growth and self-discovery thing. I'm still fleshing out this hood, but I like the idea that they're descended from sims bound to animal form by probably-forbidden spiritbinding magic.

The second idea began with the thought: what if family life and relationships weren't the core of these sims' lives? I decided to give most or all of the ten sims in this hood Knowledge primary aspiration, and the basic concept is that they are Juvash's celestial lorekeepers - almost like muses. Each has a different sphere of interest: Trade, Arts, Ritual, Nature, Dreams, Magic, Mischief, Sport, Sustenance, Culture. (I kind of vaguely mapped them to the ten hobbies at first.) They're not immortal, but are very long-lived, and they're more fun-loving than their aspirations and purpose would suggest - they have engaged in experiments and practical jokes on mortals throughout Juvash's history. (You know, For Science!)

Hmm... where might the story of the Senaverse go next? ;)

On the subject of sims, I tried taking an emptied version of Riverblossom Hills and placing fourteen of my RPG characters' assorted infant/toddler offspring, simmified and aged to adults, in the playables' houses. Lazy shortcuts to dodge building? Those never work for me, and oh boy, this is why.