If Otso had one dominant character trait, it was indolence. Sina’s giant feline pet spent much of the day lying on his side, watching her work, while his ears twitched and oriented towards any new sounds and the small tendrils around his mouth undulated as if swaying to music. So when the Otaxel leaped to his feet, back arching and fur rising, Sina interrupted her current task (sawing logs) and looked around.

‘What is it Otso? What do you hear?’ Gathering up her tools and stashing them in her inventory, Sina ran towards the edge of the forest for a better view of whatever was bothering the giant cat. There in the distance, walking through the tall grass towards the stockade were six people: five in brown clothes like those of a Christian monk, one in metal armour that glittered in the sunlight.

Hurriedly, Sina checked her quests. Why hadn’t the game given her an alert if this were another raid by the slavers? There were no new quests. Something had changed though, something on the main page? Backtracking from quests to the top level menu Sina saw the difference. And an explosion of happiness coursed through her whole body.

The Fins

Population: 8

Happiness: 54/100

Stockpile: roofed stockpile; unroofed stockpile

Residences: huts x 2

Industrial Buildings: none

Energy sources: none

Agricultural lands: 1 small animal pen

Mines: none

Armoury: not constructed

Prisons: not constructed

Those people had joined the menu, which surely had to mean that Marcus had escaped and he was among those distant figures? It was easy to find out. Opening the population sub menu confirmed the wonderful event.

Admin: Sina, Marcus

Members: Moon Jackal, Carmella, Farkin, Rosemary, Jasmine, Gettan

Prisoners:

In her whole life, she had never been this thrilled. Not even on her tenth birthday, when she had been given her pony, Cody. As she ran towards the newcomers, Otso loping beside her, Sina glanced through their character sheets.

Carmella

Female, age 42

Backstory: Kidnapped from the Jaranisians, Carmella was a slave of the Ark Andulan working as a pottery maker for six year.

Traits: Vengeful. Loyal.

Health: Poor posture.

Relations: Reveres Marcus, who she believes has been touched by a god. +3 tribal happiness if within 1km of Marcus.

Skills

Agriculture 3

Artistry 4

Blunt weapon 1

Construction 2

Cooking 2

Crafting 7

Listen 4

Research 1

Farkin

Male, age 19

Backstory: Sold as a slave to the Ark Andulan having failed to satisfy the Guhma

Traits: Dull witted. Easily led.

Health:

Relations: Worked as a slave alongside Carmella for a year and respects her. +1 tribal happiness if a member of the same tribe as Carmella.

Skills

Agriculture 3

Blunt weapon 2

Construction 3

Crafting 2

Listen 5

Shield 4

Singing 8

Sword 3

Jasmine

Female, age 21

Backstory: Born into slavery with the Ark Andulan

Traits: Brave. Outspoken.

Health:

Relations: Has a sister, Rosemary. +3 tribal happiness if a member of the same tribe as Rosemary.

Skills

Agriculture 2

Construction 3

Crafting 2

Hide 5

Knife 1

Listen 4

Move Silently 4

Negotiation 3

Research 4

Rosemary

Female, age 19

Backstory: Born into slavery with the Ark Andulan

Traits: Flirtatious. Selfish.

Health:

Relations: Has a sister, Jasmine. +2 tribal happiness if a member of the same tribe as Rosemary.

Skills

Agriculture 2

Construction 1

Crafting 1

Hide 5

Knife 1

Listen 5

Move Silently 2

Negotiation 4

Research 3

Gettan

Male, age 48

Backstory: Captured from the Galgor, Gettan was a slave of the Ark Andulan for sixteen years, working mostly in a bakery.

Traits: Serious. Unenthusiastic.

Health:

Relations: Fell in love with Carmella, who worked as a slave in a nearby workshop. +2 tribal happiness if a member of the same tribe as Carmella; +5 if married to Carmella; -5 if Carmella marries someone else.

Skills

Agriculture 5

Construction 4

Cooking 8

Crafting 1

Foraging 4

Knife 2

Mining 2

Research 1

The population menu had changed, with the details about each person slightly more complex than before; their attribute scores were now a submenu and there was also additional information about backstory and relations. By all the rules of decency and politeness that had been instilled in Sina from an early age, she really should not have such an intimate glimpse into the personal lives and traits of these people. Sina was particularly embarrassed at being given knowledge of Gettan’s love for Carmella. How awkward. Were these insights powers that admins received once a community had non-admin members? If so, she would rather not have them. There was something unethical about this. Perhaps there was some kind of option to turn it off.

They had seen her! As she ran towards the group, Sina could see that it was Marcus in the shining armour. And that thought as well as the floodtide of wellbeing that was flowing through her made her laugh aloud.

‘Marcus! Marcus!’

‘Sina!’

Twenty metres. Ten. Then she was holding both of his hands, laughing and he was laughing too and while Sina was aware of the onlookers, she didn’t care. ‘I was so worried about you.’

‘Me too.’ His hands tightened. ‘I’m so glad to see you alive and well.’

‘I was going to come for you. But I had to find a way. It might have taken months, but I would have come.’

‘I know, I know. But here I am!’

‘How?’

Marcus laughed, his bright, perfect teeth visible. ‘It’s a long story, but we took advantage of a row between the Ark Andulan elders and the rest of their citizens to run.’ He gestured towards Otso. ‘I see you completed the Otaxel quest; well done. Is he safe?’

‘Probably,’ Sina glanced teasingly and a little proudly at her companion from Earth. ‘He’s called Otso.’

‘Hello Otso.’ The beast showed no interest in Marcus, nor much in the other people staring at him. Instead, he put his head up to the air and his mouth tentacles waved for several moments, before he loped off in the direction of the base.

‘Allow me to make the introductions,’ said Marcus. And having told everyone that Sina was his partner in founding the Fins, he named them all. Shaking hands politely with each person, Sina could have named them herself based on having read through the character menus. The sour-looking, middle-aged man was Gettan and even though she tried to forget that she knew anything about him, Sina had to look away, her cheeks flushing. At least she hadn’t given in to the temptation to immediately glance at the grey-haired woman who must be Carmella. The two sisters were easy to tell apart. Jasmine was older, taller and prettier, particularly in the length and deeper colour of her chestnut hair; Rosemary, though, was the more enthusiastic of the two in her greeting. The young man staring after the departing Otso was presumably Farkin. That left a tall man who was probably in his thirties. Who was he? Not anyone from the tribe menu.

‘And this is Arderlee,’ said Marcus. ‘He’s one of the Kanagarans we are going to rescue.’

‘I will help you until my people come back to this area,’ Arderlee blinked slowly. ‘You are impossibly beautiful.’

Beside him, the younger of the two sisters snorted.

‘Thank you,’ said Sina and immediately turned away to face the direction of the stockade. ‘Let’s go back to our base.’ Often as a princess on official duties, she had experienced similar awkward statements made by someone a little off balance by her presence. Back on Earth it wasn’t so much that she was physically attractive as that her role as a princess and Instagram celebrity sometimes made people clumsy in her presence. She had learned not to dwell on such moments.

Smiling at Marcus, who fell in step beside her, Sina said, ‘I hope you’ll be impressed; I think I made a lot of progress.’

‘I’m already impressed. I took a look at our inventory, it’s full of useful tools now. How did you get them? And who is Moon Jackal?’

‘There was a shipwreck. He was the only sailor to survive.’

When the stockade came into sight, Marcus stopped with an expression of amazement. ‘How did you manage that? Those walls must be over five metres tall. How did you even get the logs lifted up that high?’

‘With a pulley and with help from Moon Jackal.’

‘He must have a lot of useful skills.’ A distant expression came over Marcus’s face. Possibly he was reading over Moon Jackal’s character information in the menu, so Sina opened it also.

Moon Jackal

Male, age 28

Backstory: Born into the Jaranisian tribe, Moon Jackal suffered a permanent injury during the wreck of the Pekelon. Almost blind, he suffers from shocking headaches.

Traits: Misanthropic. Steady in a crisis.

Health: Loss of vision and bouts of severe headaches. His tribe’s happiness is -2 until securing a reliable source of pain relief.

Relations:

Skills

Listen 11

Move Silently 9

Dagger 6

Hide 5

Construction 5

Crafting 5

Research 4

Mining 4

Sailing 4

Foraging 3

Weaponsmithing 3

Revolver 2

Pathfinding 1

‘Those headaches sound terrible,’ said Marcus, which confirmed he was indeed looking at Moon Jackal’s character sheet. ‘I wonder if we could research a painkiller for him?’

‘Oh, that’s a good idea. But we need to discuss our priorities. I haven’t even made the research workshop yet. And with all these new people, we are going to need several more huts first.’

‘Food too,’ mused Marcus.

‘Power, from a windmill perhaps,’ Sina offered.

‘Weapons.’

‘Clothing.’

‘Refrigeration.’

‘Art.’

Marcus laughed, ‘art?’

‘For our own sakes and for trading.’

‘All right then, art.’ Still smiling Marcus held out his hand to her and Sina was very glad to hold it as they walked through the grass back to their base. He really was here. Only now it was melting away did she realise quite how much dread and fear had built up around her thoughts of Marcus in captivity.

Once inside the stockade, Sina introduced everyone to Moon Jackal and proposed that once the new arrivals had refreshed themselves at the stream, they hold a meeting to decide on their priorities

When they were gathered together in the large space at the centre of the stockade, Sina felt that all her progress had in fact amounted to very little. There wasn’t even a stool between them. So most people were standing, apart from the sisters who were sat cross-legged on the dry earth.

‘Is this it?’ said Gettan, an expression of dismay on his face. ‘Is this all there is? Where do we sleep?’

‘We’re a new tribe,’ replied Moon Jackal immediately and Sina felt an upsurge of appreciation for him. ‘But we are off to a good start: we have a lot of tools from the shipwreck that brought me here.’

‘We can make a success of this,’ added Marcus, ‘between us we have the necessary skills and experience.’

Encouraged by the positive murmurs from around the group, Sina said, ‘It will be hard at first, but we are alive and free. And the planet, Grimworld, believes in us. Moon Jackal met the avatar of the planet and she thinks we can solve the Ultima quest.’

There was a long silence at this. Marcus was staring at Sina, surprised; Gettan was shaking his head in disbelief.

Although he couldn’t have seen the expressions of the sceptics, Moon Jackal perhaps sensed something in the silence and spoke in her support. ‘It’s true.’

‘I’m sure that it is true,’ said Carmella. ‘Tell me, though, who is in charge here? You and Marcus?’

‘Marcus and I are admins for the menu. That doesn’t mean we have to be in charge. Everyone can decide what to do at meetings like this.’

‘How’s that going to work?’ Jasmine stood up. ‘Isn’t that going to mean a lot of wasted time and a lot of wrangling?’

Unexpectedly, Gettan supported Sina. ‘My old tribe, the Galgor, gave everyone a voice at assemblies: like this but bigger. For important decisions at least. And we changed the admins at a festival every year, drawing lots for the new ones. So no one got to be like a king or queen.’

‘No slaves?’ asked Carmella.

‘Of course not.’

‘I’m from the Jaranisians,’ said Moon Jackal, ‘and life was miserable there. The admins even used whips to keep us at our tasks.’

Arderlee raised his arm and assuming he wanted to speak but was too polite just to call out, Sina spoke his name.

‘We Kanagarans follow our elders. We don’t need whips though, because our elders do as the goddess asks in all matters and we trust them.’

‘How do you know what the goddess wants?’ asked Marcus. ‘Do you see her, like Moon Jackal did?’

‘The quests; we always fulfil the quests.’

‘Of course.’ Marcus rolled his eyes as if to reprimand himself for missing the obvious.

‘Let’s get some essential work done,’ said Sina, ‘and then meet again to look over our quests. First though, I think some of us should build new huts, others should gather more nuts and berries.’

No one disagreed, so Sina went on, ‘Gettan has Foraging four and Moon Jackal Foraging three; how about I assign the gathering of food to them and build huts to the rest of us? We all have the Construction skill.’

There were nods at this, so Sina set the tasks. While she was placing the green square for the future location of six new huts, Arderlee raised his hand again.

‘Arderlee?’

‘We are not safe from reprisals by the Ark Andulan. I propose we build a tower on the corner of the stockade there and that always someone keeps watch.’

‘Just a moment.’ Having arranged the huts in two rows of four, Sina brought her attention back to the people around her. ‘Is that agreed?’

Carmella shook her head. ‘Huts first, or we will lose energy and health. And if someone is up on a tower, watching, that person isn’t working. It would make a big difference to how quickly we can grow.’

‘You can still create the task for the tower,’ said Arderlee, ‘you can create dozens of tasks. When you do, you can assign them a priority. Unless we overrule them, our bodies will move to a task Level One first, then Two and so on. And I hear and respect what Carmella says. When the goddess speaks and gives a quest alert to survive a raid or attack, that’s when to occupy the tower. Otherwise, everyone should work.’

‘Oh, how interesting, I’ll do that then. And make the tower Level Two?’ No one demurred so Sina looked again at the green square of one of the huts and tried glancing up and down, left and right. It was the right glance that opened a new priority menu and she selected 1. Then she did the same for the other huts. After that, she found the option for a wooden tower and set it on the south east corner of the stockade with priority 2.

Basic Wooden Tower

With two arrow slots.

Requirements: Stockade of at least 10 square metres; 50 units of timber; a saw; a hammer; 420 nails; a borer; a file; Construction skill 2.

This simple tower provides additional defence through height at the corner of a stockade. It has room for two archers.

‘Is that it,’ asked Jasmine, ‘are we off to work then?’

‘Please,’ answered Sina.

And suddenly everyone was moving, Gettan and Moon Jackal on a slightly more southern line than everyone else, who with uncanny evenness in their strides were heading west towards the stockpile with the wood that they kept near the forest. By pausing her task until he came up, Sina was able to walk alongside Marcus.

‘The goddess, the planet’s avatar, she said that if we solved the Ultima quest, she’d send us home.’

For a moment Marcus looked alarmed, then he laughed. ‘Look at me Sina, I’m young, healthy, and my art has a purpose. This is my home.’