Clan Creation

All games begin with the task of defining the clan you will soon assume control over. There are no wrong answers here, but the decisions you make will have a significant impact on how the rest of the game plays out.

Choice One: The Marriage of Orlanth and Ernalda

“	How did you prepare for the great marriage? Your men and women donned gleaming armor and stood guard with Elmal, to protect the celebrants from Orlanth's many enemies. Your men whooped with Orlanth and drank the Eight Known Drinks, so that their heads would hurt during the ceremony. Your women withdrew with Ernalda, and learned a List of Names, which they promised not to repeat to the men.	”
–King of Dragon Pass

Your selection here will decide which of the three primary deities of the Orlanthi pantheon your clan reveres most. Each god makes for a slightly different game experience.

• Orlanth as the king of the gods is the deity which most of your Orlanthi neighbors will prioritize. This makes selecting him perhaps the easiest of the three choices, as you will share this trait with most of the Orlanthi clans around you.

• Ernalda is the earth mother; prioritizing her will make your clan stand out a bit, but not to the degree selecting Elmal does.

• Elmal is perhaps the most difficult of the choices presented. You will have some additional challenges in the form of random scenes, and his heroquest is widely regarded as the most difficult of the 9.

Each of the three deities have their own heroquest which must be performed to achieve victory, however Orlanth's and Ernalda's variants are far less challenging. Your choice will also give you a shrine with a blessing from the god you selected.

Choice Two: Early History

“	Your earliest Famous Event was:	”
–King of Dragon Pass

This question allows you to flesh out a bit of background history regarding your clan. Your choice here will grant an additional blessing, increase the number of craftsmen your clan can support, or give you the knowledge of the Clan-making myth.

• [iOS version] Healing of Orlanth: start with an extra Chalana Arroy blessing.
• [Original version] Battle of Extinguish Field: learn the Thunderstone ritual from Orlanth.
• Hundred-Day Hunt: learn the Tracking ritual from Odayla.
• Jested’s Settlement: learn the Silvertongue ritual from Issaries.
• Procession of the Animals: learn the Calf Blessing ritual from Uralda.
• Barntar Harnessing the Oxen: learn the Plowsong ritual from Barntar.
• [Original version] Ernalda visits the Hidden Place: learn the Plowsong ritual from Barntar.
• Lhankor Mhy Learns to Use the Marking Bone: learn the Literacy ritual from Lhankor Mhy.
• The First Pot: support more crafters than usual.
• The Clan-making Dance: learn the details of Clan-making myth.

Choice Three: Thralldom

“	They were the Nalda Bin, or "Stick Farmers." You had a choice whether to make them into thralls (slaves) or adopt them as a member of your clan. How did you add these strangers? As thralls As adopted family	”
–King of Dragon Pass

Here you will select whether or not your ancestors took slaves (called thralls within Orlanthi culture). Whatever your choice, your ancestors expect you to maintain consistency in the generations to come. Failure to adhere to your choices in this process will make your clan magic suffer. Thralls serve as a source of labor, performing menial tasks in the fields and leightening the burden on your cottars and carls. Be warned however that it can be risky keeping large numbers of them around!

Choice Four: Ancestral Foes

“	The foes of the Vingkotlings were many. Your people fought hard against them. Which one of them in particular did you fight? Boztakang the Troll Lord Ukkar Gra, King of the Basmoli Beastmen Chinkis Mor, the Elf Warlord Tada the Green, champion of the flat land called Prax Faralinthor, Salty Lord of the Sea Ves Venna, Son of Valind, Warlord of the Ice Tribe	”
–King of Dragon Pass

Whichever selection you make here decides who your ancestors fought against in eras past. Your ancestors expect you to maintain the enmity, and as with the other choices you make, failure to do so will drain your magic reserves. Making peace with your ancestral enemy is a great way to truly piss off your ancestors, so remember to be consistent.

• The trolls are weak individually but incredibly numerous.
  • As ancestral enemies, the trolls will raid you much more frequently. This can be a problem early on, but they are easy to defeat after you collect some treasures and war blessings.
  • One of the clans you can approach to make a tribe will demand peace with the trolls. Another clan hates the trolls.
  • Angering the trolls too much can result in Troll: Clan Destruction (Steam/iOS only).

• The beastmen lack numbers but make up for it through sheer strength and savagery.
  • As ancestral enemies, you will have more trouble with your duck neighbors, including raids from them.
  • One of the clans you can approach to make a tribe will demand war with the beastmen.
  • Angering the beastmen too much can result in Beastfolk: Clan Destruction.

• The elves are fierce opponents and lovers, as always, of nature.
  • They hide in the forests and do not present an easy target to war against. However, they do not commit conventional raids against your clan.
  • Increases the frequency of elf events, but most of them are not very harmful.

• The praxians are quite unique, but perhaps the least threatening of the factions.
  • As ancestral enemies, Prax will launch the occasional raid. It is not particularly worse than the raids of trolls or beastmen.
    • This option may be bugged, as even with them as my ancestral foe, they only raided me once in 80+ years, while the trolls raided me multiple times even though I was not going out of my way to anger them.
  • Opportunities to gain magic by sending exploration parties into Prax are very limited. Non-scripted events do not grant magic even if it states that your party defeated some praxians.

• The ice demons offer both upsides and downsides.
  • Your chance to successfully raid during Dark season is increased, and you gain magic for doing so.
  • Increases the frequency of the Ice Demon Storm (Blizzard) event. The effect is fairly mild.

• The Salty Sea will make a Flood a more frequent occurrence.
  • The associated event is fairly brutal and cannot be protected against very easily.

Choice Five: Clan Disposition

“	[...] some of [the clans] tended towards either peace or war, while others maintained a balance between these two principles. Which kind was your clan? War Balanced Peace	”
–King of Dragon Pass

Here you decide whether or not your clan favors a warlike model, a peaceful model or a balance between the two. This is the only choice during clan creation which can be changed throughout the game (changing the clan disposition does however take a few years game time to complete). War clans can spend more magic on war rituals during Sacred Time, peace clans can spend more magic on crops and herds, and balance clans, unsurprisingly, are balanced between the two. Playing a war clan can be significantly more challenging than the other two options. (And note that it does not commit you to ceaseless conflict.)

Choice Six: Awakening

“	Who was the first deity which your clan helped to awaken? 1. None. Our ancestors are good enough. None. We retained worship of our Living Deity: 2. Elmal, the Loyal Thane 3. Urox, the Storm Bull 4. Odayla the Hunter 5. Ernalda, The Mother Goddess 6. Orlanth, the Father 7. Issaries, the Talking God 8. Lhankor Mhy, the Knowing God 9. Chalana Arroy, the Healing Goddess 10. Uralda, the Cow Mother	”
–King of Dragon Pass

This selection lets you decide which of the gods your ancestors helped to awaken after the darkness. Your choice will give you a shrine with a blessing of the deity you select, or a temple if you choose the deity you picked during part one of clan creation. Your ancestors are also an option, providing a shrine with their protection for your clan Tula.

The boost here is minor because you will later build other shrines. Chalana Arroy is a solid choice, as you will often find constant curing or healing to be useful. Orlanth or Elmal (whomever is not the primary deity) are also good choices to bolster against early raids.

Choice Seven: Dragons

“	What was your attitude towards the dragons? Hostile -- we fought against them. Negative -- we would never believe a dragon. Neutral -- we didn't go along. Positive -- we joined into their dragon knowledge.	”
–King of Dragon Pass

Here you select the tone of relations between your ancestors and the draconic races. As always, your ancestors will expect you to maintain whatever disposition they followed in the generations to come. Choosing to be openly hostile to dragons can be difficult, as they are fearsome opponents and remain so throughout the entirety of the game. Befriending dragonkind appears to be the easiest option, all but one dragon related event is easier to resolve via peaceful means than attacking them.

Choice Eight: Land

“	How much land did you claim? As much as we needed, no more More land than we needed, to grow into Lots more than we would probably need Huge tracts, far more than we needed	”
–King of Dragon Pass

Finally, you need to select how much land your emigrating clan claims when they arrive in Dragon Pass. The more land you have, the more croplands, pastures and wildlands you'll be able to work with (provided you have the manpower for them), however larger tracts of land make it easier for other clans to steal your cattle and avoid your patrols during raids.

The second option (more land than we needed) is a good compromise. Taking more is of limited use. Orlanthi clans start to feel crowded at 1200 population, even if you have the land to support it.

Clan History

From here, you will be able to change any of the decisions you've made earlier. You have the possibility to rename your clan, and you'll also select game length and difficulty here. That concludes clan creation, and you are taken to the Sacred Time magic screen where the game begins in earnest. Good luck!