When it ca to the system, Ace didn’t believe in coincidences. Though he wasn’t sure what significance having the list of people they could invite showing up the day of the first freeze would have. So others joked about it being a reminder that winter was coming and to not be too ambitious on who they invited. Others just shrugged as they felt the system was probably being a bit more hands on with the planet during integration and was doing so things in batches for efficiency or so such.
Whatever the case, Ace set it to the side for the mont as he needed to gather a full eting of all the core mbers and even so people from the outer circle to figure out how many and who to invite. Because if there was one thing Ace was certain of, it was that they couldn’t fit everyone. Even after whatever event took down the other community, there was at least half of their population still alive.
Even with how much at they can pull out of the dungeon, it was not possible to feed that many. Not that Ace was ever under the illusion that they could claim them all. Sure, not every other community in the world would be looking for new people to join them, but to believe only his community was doing good would be folly.
Of course, this is just the preliminary discussion. Everyone else in the community, even those on the opposite side, would likely want a say and for that they needed to wait. Ace actually wasn’t sure why the gathering place was Wolf’s Rest. It was kind of the worst place for it.
If you laid every settlent in the community out on a map, they would form a diamond and Wolf’s Rest would be one of the points with an acute angle. That ant people on the far side had all the distance to travel. Sure, it wasn’t the skinniest rhombus, but they would be traveling over twice as long as soone trying to go from one side to the other from the other direction.
Not exactly the best shape for a community, as it leaves the middle unnecessarily open compared to a simple circle. However, it was agreed upon that the shape was the result of where the two dungeons they had were placed. Though it would be interesting to see what the people from the failed community could say about their original place. It was entirely possible that the diamond shape was on purpose to make sure the center isn’t too safe.
As Ace continues to ponder these things, everyone else slowly filters into the eting hall. It wasn’t the biggest building, the compound around the dungeon gate took that title. However, the eting hall was the biggest space, being just a hollow shell placed right next to the gate allowing people onto dungeon row, the creatively nad street leading through the inner circle to the dungeon gate.
And there were a lot of people. Every industry, even those with only one or two people currently working them, was represented. After all, they had the option to try and recruit people from all walks of life. So suffice it to say, the eting hall was louder than it had ever been before.
Still, Ace was able to quiet the crowd within seconds. While not everyone here was actively dungeon diving, they had all grown stronger and more sensitive to magic. So when Ace flared his power, everyone knew to shut up and look at him.
Ace nodded, “Good, now so ground rules. We are not inviting the strongest. They failed to protect their community for one, and there is also the problem of loyalty. In fact, I advise anyone looking to expand the people working for them, don’t invite anyone stronger than you. While the system is protecting their privacy, it does mark those who are in the top ten percent as well as allowing us to et those we want to invite before either side accepts.
“We are also going to avoid lone wolves as much as possible. With the caveat that we are super interested in inviting anyone with family here. We’re not going to honeypot them to try and force their loyalty. I would rather have a decent smith with a family to protect over a genius who is alone in the world.
“And most importantly, don’t be racist. In fact, if you have to choose between two people, I don’t care what race or species they are. If it is truly that difficult to choose, pick them both. After all, we’re fighting against every other community for these people and so picking just one might an you get no one.
“Oh, and while this slightly goes against what I just said, we are to actively try and recruit as many otherworlders as possible. This is mostly because while we have access to our planet’s knowledge base, who knows what people from other planets might have figured out? Sure, they’ll have been without magic as well, but every new angle is a potential benefit when combined with our own.”
With that, the crowd once again burst into noise. Though this ti it was more guided as people began working through the list of possible recruits. Well, working through their own section of the list.
There was no way to actually go through the entire list during the eting. Instead, they had the system filter it down to their own areas and began to debate with one another. Ace looked out over the crowd and shook his head. He didn’t expect too much from this first pass, but it was needed to get people thinking along the right lines and communicating with one another.
Satisfied that those goals would be t, he turned his attention to the list as well. He had denied the so-called top ten percent right out of the gate, but that didn’t an he wouldn’t take a look. Of course, there was a question of what the system ant when it said “top ten percent”. Though going by the very basic description given for each, most were fighters of so sort.
In fact, there was a disturbing lack of magic users and crafters. Not that they weren’t there, but the numbers were truly miniscule. Even worse, at least from Ace’s perspective, there wasn’t a single person in that ten percent that wasn’t from this planet. Not that they didn’t have otherworlders, the na Ace had literally just coined because “alien” didn’t feel right and so might have been human.
In fact, that community seed to have gotten two of the kin species. The deerkin, which a quick glance at Cala and her nod in response showed were not going to be an easy recruit, and the raccoonkin. Both of which Ace wanted to recruit a significant number of.
While their original planet hadn’t been all that technologically advanced, the knowledge they had would be useful for the early years of integration. The wolfkin alone had been quite a boom for their rangers and even helped with figuring out teamwork for adventuring parties. As while Ace’s planet hadn’t ever fully been at peace, the advent of guns had warped military tactics around itself in a way that left most normal people in the dark about how to fight with a team.
Ace saw the deerkin as potentially being a great boon to their farming efforts, another thing technology had stunted when it ca to traditional knowledge. As for the raccoonkin? He wasn’t certain what they would bring to the table, but as the natural beasts were already quite handy, he couldn’t imagine them being useless. Though he would have to talk to Camila after the gathering to get her opinions.
For now, he could only stand back and let the crowd chatter itself out. Not that he was left alone. Once it was clear, he wasn’t in the middle of sothing, all the people from the outer circle made sure to stop by and have a chat with him. Ace didn’t exactly try to hide away from the town’s populace, but most of his work was within the inner circle and so he wasn’t seen often.
This allowed ti to pass quickly for him and before he knew it, Ace was in that eting with Cala.
Ace sighed, “So I assu the deerkin aren’t going to be easy to recruit?”
Camila shrugged, “Well, I did tell you what to expect where the kin’s beast had a relationship to wolves. They can work through it and depending on where these deerkin are from may be easier or harder. However, don’t expect it to be on the easy side if you reveal my people are living here.”
Ace nods, “Disappointing, but about what I expected. Now, what can you tell about the raccoonkin?”
Camila, “A clever and tidy people, raccoonkin won’t have a problem joining up with our settlent even with my people already living here. I can’t say too much as there weren’t any large communities of them around where I live.
“However, going by what little I have seen and stories I’ve heard? Even if they didn’t invent much of the technology we had, at so point a raccoon likely helped refine it.
“One caveat I realized as I looked at that list. My planet likely won’t be the only one to fail and have the population excavated. So while general trends might hold true, the longer we go, the more likely any specific knowledge of the kin I have will be inaccurate for any specific group.”
Ace nods, “It will be interesting to see what kind of people show up over the next century. I don’t know what it is like now, but pre-system my planet was seventy percent covered in water. I doubt the system will let that real estate just sit there if it still exists.”
Camila shudders, “So uh, take it with a grain of salt, but on my original planet the idea of aquatic kin? Yeah, they’re all covered under scary stories to frighten kids. If there is any truth to them at one point existing, they did not get along with the more terrestrial kin. In particular, the otter and beaver kin all have stories about fighting them off. In fact, while we now understand why beavers build dams, their main creation myth involves then learning to build dams to keep the horrors from moving further upstream.”
Ace frowns, “I must admit, my planet also has more than its fair share of horror stories about those that live in the deep. Which, seeing as we now know such things could be the result of knowledge being spiritually passed on, makes worry a bit.”
Ace’s frown deepens, “Does the term ‘Lovecraft’ have any aning to you?”
Camila shakes her head, “That doesn’t ring any bells.”
Ace nods, “Well, that was a bit far fetched as it was the author’s na. I just want to avoid the more aningful nas to avoid drawing attention. How about the deep ones or Leng?”
Camila shrugs, “The deep ones were one of the mythical races, but that isn’t exactly the best thing to go off of. After all, it’s like how so animals end up nad after their location. Yes, we have myths of the deep ones, but you could na any kin species that lives in an ocean’s depths the deep ones.”
Ace, “True, besides, one of the classic traits of the mythos here is the fact they breed with humans and the offspring slowly beco more like them until they abandon the surface. I’m sure with multiple different kin such things wouldn’t be there. After all, it was more likely the original author’s bigoted hate for things like interracial marriages that drove much of their characterization.”
Camila rubs her temple, “And let guess? The hybrids have large protruding eyes, small ears, rubbery skin, and sotis webbing between fingers or toes?”
Ace closes his eyes, “Please, tell that was just a guess.”
Camila sighs, “We both know that isn’t the case. Though since you specifically ntioned an author, is this a more recent myth here?”
Ace nods.
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