#plebeian

Today we are visiting the plebeians who are all living together. Maria aged up and became a Fortune sim. I don't know how much money she is going to earn but she can have her ambitions.

She wanted to autonomously caress Aulus first thing after getting her gender preference. They have 2 bolts together, but Aulus just shrugs at her. Yet, somehow he fell in love with her before she did, and it was his idea to go steady.

There is definitely a little age gap between them - while Aulus is halfway through teenage years, Maria just became a teenager (I mean she was born when he was already a toddler/small child). If they do end up together, this couple will make all my original families related to each other.

As a child, Aulus taught Maria the Nursery Rhyme, but besides that Maria learnt all the other toddler skills from Volesus (who was never interested in her, he has his male love interest), so... I hope this pairing is not too creepy just because they were both brought up in this orphanage-esque establishment.

~*~

Volesus also aged up and he was able to fall back in love with Harmine again. At first I thought Harmine would be carrying this whole relationship, but Volesus fell in love first and he wanted to get engaged...

I don't know if they will ever get married, but they will definitely be together as boyfriends. Like I've said before, I'm planning on having them live with Volesus's sister when she stops being a Vestal Virgin and gets her residence.

Aulus wanted to max out Arts&Crafts, so he painted the couple's portrait.

~*~

I wanted this household to make cheese, as they have a lot of milk, but there is no salt in town. Apparently salt making was not very expensive in ancient times, but I need a household living close to the sea to produce it...

The ROS was rather uneventful for this household, and they got a free pair of chickens. This can bring even more flu to my hood, as if everybody wasn't already sick...

Marius got 4 paychecks of 420$ each, and I think they earned 1435$ in the business. The business got to rank 4.

500$ - rent

1246$ - tax

312$ - tithe

Happy birthday to me? It's a rare post where none of my sims are aging up, but that will have to do.

Marius felt a little sick after his war duties so he took a day off (let's consider it his payment for war service). His 6-round-long contract should be coming to an end soon, and perhaps it's time to build another house for him and his daughter soon.

Marius got a date gift from his (late) wife in the mailbox, which was really sad, but also immersion-breaking. I also made him 2 seasons older, and by the end of the round he was already halfway through his adult years.

~*~

The ROS was expansion. I will build a lot, probably an asylum, because for now I just put Ninildu and Lalli into the Chinese monastery, which doesn't make much sense, naturally...

This was originally the Orange house, now Ninildu is at the asylum, so it is really Aulus's. Aulus might wait with getting married, depending on what fate brings. If he does, he might marry someone younger. There isn't much to say about him, besides him wanting to befriend all the dogs. He also would like to sell a masterpiece someday, so that is something to keep him occupied in his free time. His paintings haven't been worth much yet.

~*~

Volesus will probably move in with his twin sister once she finishes her vestal obligations, but that still won't be for a while... He has chemistry with Harmine Garas. They could live with the ex-vestal someday, but that is a very long term goal...

~*~

Two of the dogs became enemies at some point, due to all the chasing and challenging, and Fitela's life came to an end. Alia was returned by Saku, after running away due to being chased by a stray wolf. It might not seem like that from my posts, but there is always a lot of drama with the wolves.

Skylax, the puppy chose Maria as master. That was a big want for the little girl, so I'm glad the puppy didn't randomly pick someone else. Maria got to a silver gardening badge, by helping Volesus and Aulus in the poppy garden.

~*~

The business got to level 3, and the Business Reviewer gave it a positive review. They earned 1221$ in the business because the poppy prices are kind of insane. I only open my sims' businesses once per round, to balance incomes a bit...

500$ - rent

1160$ - tax (calculated for the business and Maxis career)

290$ - tithe

They paid 1950$. Surprisingly, they still have ~1000$ left. Marius might want to reserve this amount for Maria's future dowry, even though she doesn't need to get married immediately after aging up next round. It's just some safety net for her future in case another lot disappears... let's hope that doesn't happen again... Speaking of, my graves disappeared again after running Hood Checker, I have no idea why.

Today we are visiting the Orange/Wolfen household consisting of half orphans, surrounded by dogs...

The puppy Lykaia aged up at the very beginning of the round... and by the end of the round, she had a puppy of her own, because the Leader of the Pack graced this lot with his presence. The new puppy is called Skylax, and it's a 5th generation dog.

Unfortunately, something very sad happened to the pets, too. One of the dogs, Alia, ran away. I know it can happen when they have low relationships with household members or their master dies. However, I think in this case it must have been either jealousy, or the fact that all these dogs are so 'territorial' over the food and dog houses. Because they are all 'wolves', they are very aggressive even if they like each other.

In addition to the above, the family lost one of the goats as well, so even without a bad ROS there still was some misfortune.

~*~

Both Volesus and Aulus were sick since the beginning of the round. But thankfully, Volesus got over the sickness very quickly. Aulus needed to spend a lot longer in bed, which made sense for a child.

Volesus taught Maria all her toddler skills. He was very happy about Maria aging up, because she's a great conversation partner for his eccentric topics. Aulus isn't nice enough to talk about grilled cheese. Maria's traits were randomized to: Absent-Minded, Virtuoso, and Equestrian.

Aulus aged up and became a Popularity sim. He is now Nurturing, Handy, Avant Garde, and Loves the Outdoors. I'm not sure about the 'nurturing' part with how grouchy he is, but he enjoys the company of Maria who is younger than him, so that's something.

I am actually considering making Maria and Aulus a couple someday, but obviously, Maria is quite a bit younger. It is not a perfect match by any means, as they were growing up under the same roof, despite having no family connections. I will have to see how they feel about each other once Maria is a teenager. It's possible they won't be able to see each other as anything else other than almost 'siblings'.

~*~

Caesulla's and Adriana's ghosts showed up and they were moved to the graveyard, but... I forgot to pay the burial fees for them.

They earned ~500$, by selling whatever vegetables they stocked up on the previous season.

500$ - rent

200$ - tax

50$ - tithe

They paid 750$.

Initially, Aulus seemed quite interested in the business. He wanted to get a customer star and work on the Bronze Sales Badge. I hope he will stay ambitious, since there is nobody else to count on in this household for now.

~*~

Wagon of newcomers was the ROS I got this time, but it has nothing to do with the household I was playing, so I just created them later. I was supposed to add 3 sims to my town. I rolled for their genders, ages, aspirations and personalities, but their looks are quite similar. The family consists of:

Alaric - adult male [Popularity/Taurus] - green-eyed blonde - 6 Neat, 2 Shy, 5 Active, 9 Playful, 3 Grouchy... he's going to want to fight my sims, isn't he...?

Eric - adult male [Pleasure/Aries] - blue-eyed redhead - 7 Neat, 9 Outgoing, 9 Active, 0 Serious, 0 Grouchy... he has got a very edgy personality as well...

Amalaric - teen male [Popularity/Virgo] - blue-eyed blonde - 10 Neat, 3 Shy, 8 Active, 1 Serious, 3 Grouchy

Amalaric is the son of the 'popular' brother, Alaric. The game randomized interesting relationships for them - uncle Eric likes his nephew but... the brothers don't like each other much at all. They do all want to make friends though, naturally.

I'm starting round 12 with the plebeians. This household consists of 3 families: the Oranges (Aulus Orange, his dad is at war), the Wolfens (Maria Wolfen, her dad is also at war), and the orphan, Volesus Bruni.

I believe Volesus and Aulus are cousins once removed, but the game doesn't consider them related. They have the same great-grandparents.

Volesus is taking care of the kids, which he enjoys as a Family-Oriented sim, despite being Romance aspiration... Well, actually he's not even a Romance sim anymore...

The ROS gods selected the Grilled Cheese secondary aspiration as a gift from heavens (or maybe from another planet?) for Volesus... His mother had this secondary aspiration, too... Unfortunately, the aspiration change backfired. Volesus's aspiration meter was just below gold and the ReNuYu Senso Orb turned him into a primary Grilled Cheese sim. To be honest, on one hand I'm relieved the Romance aspiration is gone before he started working on his conquests.

~*~

Fitela is an elderly dog now. Volesus would like to become the master of the little Lykaia (Fitela's puppy). That was the last wish I locked before he turned into a cheese-eating monster.

My game decided to spawn one more alpha/leader of the pack. His name is Killer, how scary! The previous one is named Forest, and one of my families might adopt him if they get a chance.

~*~

Maria Wolfen became a toddler. She's a Pisces: 6 Neat, 3 Shy, 9 Active, 2 Serious and 9 Nice. Her one true hobby is Tinkering and she already has 4 mechanical skill points. Her greatest fear is that her elderly dog dies.

Volesus didn't manage to teach her any skills yet, as there was quite a lot to do with the 'farm', and also he was sick with the 'bird' flu...

~*~

Volesus opened the home business I had closed earlier, so it's back to rank 0 again. Once Aulus becomes a teen, I'll probably move ownership to him.

They earned ~750$.

500% - rent

300$ - tax

75$ - tithe

The Random Occurrence Scenario gods agreed with me I should have added more sims to my world! But I rolled again because I did that before I even rolled the dice, so the actual scenario for the Orange/Wolfen household was for a child to run away...

It might not be making the most sense, but Primula is becoming a Vestal Virgin, just because I think it makes more sense than Volesus going to the monastery in the Asian part of town...

Primula just turned into a child at the end of the last round. When she's around '36' (not sure how I'll determine it yet) she'll be able to start her own household, and maybe settle down with someone. I use just the regular Maxis aging and while it's not perfect, it works for me, especially that the teenage life stage is so long. But I might someday make my own, I will see.

~*~

Thanks to this ROS I will have an incentive to actually play the Vestals' lot because Primula has got a twin brother, so they need to age at around the same time.

On topic of how I play the Vestal lot:

I have one of these altars there just for the looks so the fire is everlasting, but also it's an easy way to either max out your sim's energy bar, or to make them pass out.

For the actual functional aspect of the lot I use Sun&Moon's All Fired Up. My sims need to light up the fire and collect the ashes every ~8 hours. But I give them an hour to do it, so I'm not very strict about it.

One Vestal Virgin has to be awake when another one is asleep so that there is always someone to collect the ashes and light the fire again as soon as possible, at all times. They also pray at the main altar, so that I can decide who is on the watch duty. I also allow them to go to the bathhouse once a day when I'm sure the fire won't stop burning.

~*~

Back to the main household...

Marius Wolfen met a newcomer to town, Polla, at the temple. She must have been mourning the unfortunate disappearance of their relative.

On the following day, her cousin Caesulla was walking by the Orange/Wolfen lot. Marius didn't have great chemistry with her, but she liked him quite a lot! Her relative, Polla, already made friends with Marius by that point, and to their knowledge she's her only relative, so this betrothal was fully approved.

The young couple went on two dates before they tied the knot. Their first date wasn't very good because Marius had to go to work, and I imagine he might have mentioned something about preparing for the upcoming war... But Caesulla warmed up to him the second time they met.

They didn't have a huge crowd at the wedding, but I decided to invite Primula and Rana, so everyone knows the whereabouts of the missing child. I'm sure it's reassuring to them to know she is fine and well, even if she's far away from home.

~*~

Marius and Caesulla had a baby girl named Maria together. She is a blue-eyed brunette. Maria Wolfen is totally fine and she will live a long, healthy life, unless something unexpected happens to her. Unfortunately, her mom felt bad after giving birth and she didn't survive... That also means the Wolfen family name will end with this generation.

Maria is a Pisces and she has a very similar personality to her mom's, the only difference is that she's 9 Nice (other than that she's the exact copy in terms of personality: 6 Neat, 3 Shy, 9 Active, 2 Serious). I think she has got her dad's nose, but she might have inherited her mom's eyes and mouth. She is darker skinned than her parents, I think it's because my alien skin is on the scale (or maybe she just inherited it from her grandpa, I'm not sure).

Caesulla's death was tragic and there was nothing funny about it, but I couldn't help but notice her husband was in the middle of something (likely sponge bathing) while she was 'expiring'... So he was captured mourning, clad in nothing but his tears, I suppose.

I am very sorry her life was so short, especially that we didn't really get to know her very well... I hope her cousin's fate will be better.

~*~

It was high time to find a mate for Fitela this round, before he would become an elderly dog. Fitela and Alia (a newly-adopted stray wolf) had one female puppy together. I called her Lykaia.

Luna (Fitela's mother, and enemy) crossed the rainbow bridge on the same day when the household witnessed the birth of two little goat kids. It is a slow process, but someday they will have a big goat farm.

~*~

The Orange/Wolfen home business earned ~800$, and together with Marius's military career paychecks they earned 1285$ this round.

500$ - rent

514$ - tax

129$ - tithe

They paid 1150$.

Before Marius and Ninildu went off to war, Volesus aged up into a teen and was rolled to become a Romance sim. He will stay home and take care of Aulus, to pay off his 'debt'. After all, he was well looked after in this household after he had been orphaned.

Today we are visiting the Orange/Wolfen household. The ROS I got for them applies to Marius Wolfen. He's getting a 6-round-long contract and he is becoming a knight. He had just lost his home and business, so it's perfect he has something else to do now, besides taking care of orphaned aliens.

There are no negatives to this ROS... unless a war breaks out during these 6 rounds. If that happens, Marius will be the first soldier to go. I might decide to start a war, but I would like the population to be at a decently high level before I willingly call my sims to war.

Interestingly, Marius got the Coward trait when I was randomizing everyone's traits (as always, you can see everyone's traits here). I'm guessing he would have never chosen this career for himself, but he was forcefully drafted.

Marius is a Family sim and he would like to fall in love. Next round I might find a lady for him to get a crush on. Since he's supposed to be a knight now, he probably won't marry immediately. If he does well in his career, he might end up in my Sim Egypt.

~*~

This round was filled with skilling the twin toddlers and looking after the pregnant Adriana, Ninildu's wife.

At first Primula was a bit ahead in terms of development in comparison to her brother, but Volesus quickly caught up to her. They both learned all of the toddler skills in the end, except for the Nursery Rhyme.

The twins aged up a day before Ninildu's and his baby's birthday. Sadly, Ninildu aged up in aspiration failure...

~*~

Unfortunately, Adriana did not have a good birth... But before that I had also almost experienced the first random miscarriage in my game. I accidentally cancelled it, but I found it strange that it was going to happen in the last trimester. It's possible I had the mod order set up wrong before, now I have the alt pregnancy controller loading last. The miscarriage alert was definitely a bad sign for the things to come...

Adriana gave birth to a baby boy. His name is Aulus. He's a gray-eyed brunette. He looks more like his mom, but he has gray eyes of his great-grandfather. He's a Virgo: max Neat, 5 Outgoing, 5 Active, 4 Serious, and 3 Grouchy. He's quite different from both of his parents, which is quite unusual.

Because Adriana's health score was supposed to be very high, something must have been really wrong with this pregnancy, or maybe the birth was really hard. I really need a midwife or a doctor in my town soon... This baby will be fed 'goat' milk, since they have farm animals, and I won't be getting a wet nurse for them.

~*~

I will have to move in Fitela's mate next round, as he is nearing elderhood, but no dogs were walking by the Oranges' lot this rotation. Fitela's mom, Luna, hates him now. They were not really fighting, but they kept chasing each other. Moving in the dogs together was not a good choice apparently.

~*~

Marius was in luck, because the Knighthood career happened to be available, so the army was actively looking for soldiers. He earned 388$ (his paycheck is 97$).

Ninildu opened his store for one short shift and earned 595$. Together they earned 983$, and I decided they would be paying their taxes together, since they all live on one lot.

500$ - rent

393$ - tax (40%)

98$ - tithe

They paid 1000$.

Today's post can be summed up by just saying 'death'. It's a very unfortunate round for the Wolfen household, where not one, but two sims die... and also pets.

Venus sadly doesn't survive her twin birth, and her husband Nepri gets a deadly ROS. I am counting them as victims of the flu plague. Venus was pregnant while sick, so I'm not surprised she had some complications.

Marius Wolfen has been through a lot. Everyone dear to him dies. All his family members are dead, and now it's his alien friend's turn. Marius ages up on the 4th day of the rotation, so he can take care of the babies. He was rolled to be a Family sim. Ignore the eyes he got as a teen, they should look fine on his next birthday.

I know I'd considered using wet nurses' services for all families with babies, but I decided to skip them this round, at least for the lower classes. It is the plague season after all and the wet nurses have been working for the higher class households. Patricians probably don't want servants to bring the plague to their homes.

~*~

Nepri wanted to have a baby, while Venus didn't really care. I thought it made sense for an alien not to have maternal instincs. Reproduction is probably different for their species.

Before Venus died, she managed to max out creativity, so she fulfilled at least one of her goals. I'd like to think the couple were at least a little bit happy with their lives.

~*~

The eldest wolves also died this round. I knew they were going to pass away, but I didn't expect Midnight to die on the very first day of the season. Right after she died, her puppy Hati turned into an elderly dog. Balin died when Luna, Hati's mate, became an elderly wolf.

They both had a master, Ishum Wolfen, until he passed away. Sadly, they never made friends with Marius before they crossed the rainbow bridge. Marius wanted to spend some time with Hati and Luna before they would pass away too, so he taught them some tricks.

~*~

Venus and Marius's twins are a girl and a boy. The girl is called Primula, after her mother, and the boy is called Volesus.

Primula is a blue-eyed redhead (like her dad), but she has the mannequin skin (the default I use only shows up on toddlers+ so excuse the zombie-like skin on the baby). She has her mother's face, or at least ears. She's a Scorpio: 9 Neat (like mom), 4 Outgoing, 9 Active (like both parents), 9 Playful, and 3 Grouchy.

Her brother Volesus is a blonde with alien eyes, and he has skin 4. He's a Pisces: 9 Neat (like mom), 7 Outgoing (like mom), 9 Active (like both parents), 0 Serious (like both parents), and 9 Nice (like dad). He already knows he's interested in Science. And I think he's more similar to his parents, at least in terms of personality.

~*~

By the way I now use this mod, that's why the alien skin is on the scale and not dominant. I use specifically these parts of the mod if anyone cares:

simNopke-geneticsDIY-skin-alien-0.001-unlocked-townified

simNopke-geneticsDIY-eyes-alien-2-unlocked-townified

simNopke-geneticsDIY-skin-mannequin-0.01-unlocked-townified

This combination also makes alien eyes recessive [recessive eyes have the value of '2']. Let me briefly explain what this mod does with skins. If you have an alien and a skin 4 sim procreate, their babies could be between alien and skin 4 skins, so they could end up lighter-skinned. I prefer this to alien genetics always being dominant, but this might not be to everyone's tastes.

~*~

I calculated the health scores of Marius and the little babies. They have nothing to worry about. Marius has a health score of 87 as a child ('superior'). The infants have scores of 90 and 81, so one of them has 'excellent' health, while the other's health is 'superior'.

~*~

Marius opened the business at the very end of the round. He was able to sell some poppy cakes and he earned 1182$.

473$ - tax

500$ - rent

118$ - tithe

200$ - burial fees [for Venus and Nepri]