#settler challenge

Welcome to the It Takes a Village Challenge! by @knotleaf

basically its a mix of the settler challenge + sim crossing + differences in the family! the goal is to build and populate a town and fill a museum w/ collectables!

the only other touch I’ve added is that every heir must have the insane trait (how else can they hear the watchers voice?)

The Settler Challenge

Two new families had arrived in Oasis Springs, fugitives who had come from England in the early years of the world war. The Villareal were an old noble house and their firstborn Hugo almost immediately attached himself to his agemate Adeline MacArthur. The Munch were upper middle class enterpreteurs and artists just like the Blackbirds. It was only natural that the children of these four priviledged families mingled and founded their own “gang”, the Renegades. Much to his own surprise sickly Henry Blackbird was invited, too.

“Are you by chance related to the explorer John Blackbird or the archaeologist Professor Peter Blackbird?” Max Villareal asked one day. “Peter was my great-grandfather and John his brother”, Henry answered. “Blimey! You have it good!” Max exclaimed. “Good?” Henry echoed. “You have no idea! You know nothing!” “I know everything about exploring!” Max protested. “I read books and stuff!” “Then you must know that the brothers were exiles, thrown away to die abroad and work themselves to death by building a cosy nest for the desired settlers that came after them...” “Did that working to death part happen before or after they died as throwaways?” Max asked with a grin on his face. When Henry only grumbled, the boy emphasized: “This is so awesome!” “Ahem, well, maybe” Henry admitted. “Did you know that this bath was built from the planks of the first prison ship that made landfall here? And the ship on our front lawn was originally one of the lifeboats!” Both boys looked doubtful. Would the wood really have endured for longer than a century? Still, it made a great background for their games.

The Settler Challenge

Henry left the rockethsip, after all, though he donned his grandfather’s spacesuit and a helmet before doing so - better safe than sorry, right? It took some persuading to make the boy remove at least the useless helmet and even then his face stayed grumpy all the time.

The Settler Challenge

“Daniel Winter”, the young man replied when asked about his name. “What’s the matter? Did I say something funny? Old tongue’s not quite what it should be after the graduation party, let alone my poor brain...”

“Oh, it’s just... Daniel? Winter? That doesn’t exactly sound very alien.”

“It’s my name translated into your tongue, like I say “tree” when I refer to a tree and so on.”

“We do not usually translate our names between the languages”, Mary explained. More and more dissimilarities surfaced during their talk and with each and every one the girl grew more confident. True, her skin looked strange, but she realized how deeply she was routed in her own culture and that she didn’t want it any different. Mary Blackbird was a perfectly average human talking to a probably equally average alien. And even moreso, she was a Blackbird scion. When she’d returned home, there was some stern talking-to she’d have to give the other girls who had made fun of her! It could not hurt to bring her dad’s freeze ray, either... Come to think of it, “freeze-ray accident” was an even better explanation for her blue skin than “rare skin disease”, the girl thought. “It is only contagious if I shoot you with this gun here!” - now THAT sounded a lot better than a meek “Really, I’m not contagious, you must believe me...”. Things would change now in Oasis Springs!

The Settler Challenge

Mary Blackbird didn’t know what exactly she had expected from her first visit to Sixam, but she had a clear picture of it’s inhabitants: Advanced, sophisticated, even enlightened. So when the first actual native approached with his back arched and the arms flailing to the sides like these of a gorilla, the girl let out a shriek!

“Animals! They are animals! Beasts!”

“Ey, what is it? Not so loud! My head’s still spinning from yesterday’s party!”

The Settler Challenge

Mary: “What are you doing, brother? Why is my hand reacting to your gestures almost out of it’s own accord? Is that attraction? You aren’t going for some creepy incest stuff here, are you?!”

Henry: “Shut up for a minute and try to memorize the pattern! This is something that comes with our otherworldy heritage. Mom taught it to me and she’ll soon teach it to you, too, but I need you to learn it right now.”

Mary: “Why?”

Instead of answering Henry just shoved his sister into the family rocket ship, clambered after her and started the engine.

Settler Challenge Generations

Settler Challenge, rebooted (cont.)

Four generations of Blackbirds before Henry had built up the family fortune by tilling the soil and adding to the settlers’  knowledge of the new world. A few of them, his direct descendants, rested behind the house, as would his mother and father, aunt Jackie, uncle Eric, uncle Lincoln and, ultimately, Henry and his sister.

One day Henry asked where the ones from even earlier were. Or had Jack come with Adam and Eve right out of paradise?

“Nah, to the contrary”, his father explained. “What, from hell?” “Close enough: from London.” And then Ebenezer had told his son the story of how Jack had been the first to bear the name Blackbird and how he had been deported from England for some petty crime: http://enkisstories.tumblr.com/tagged/settler%20challenge/chrono

With that revelation everything the child had known and taken for granted shattered. His parents and all the relatives that he loved - just a bunch of unwanted that one had gotten rid of. Exiled, never to return. The rejection hurt. “But now that so much time has passed, can’t we go home?” Henry asked. “None of us is guilty of whatever Jack was convicted for!” “We are home, sprout!” Ebenezer laughed. “Oasis Springs is our home. Just to think to trade this for endless mist and rain... no way!” Henry gulped. He had no argument to sway his father’s opinion and was afraid of asking if there were convicts employed in his mine to this very day. The answer to his first question had been bad enough already. In time Henry’s disappointment and humilation fueled a red-hot rage. It was better, the boy believed, to smash the occasional plushie than to cry into it’s stuffing...