Tweet
First, a bit of Clay history, paraphrased from recently compiled documents in the storage room:
For many generations the Claykin were ruled by absolute monarchs, with varying degrees of success. A strong, wise, competent king could bind together the will of the army, nobility, bourgeoisie and peasant classes, and devote their energies towards productive and successful ends. Such monarchs were few and far in between. One such ruler came 6 generations ago. King Edrelsquing III saw the mediocre state of his people, how the elements of society were set at odds and often prayed on each other, and were more often than not worsened in their condition by their leader. So he created and implemented a system utilizing the strengths of the elements of Clay society to overcome many of its most crippling weaknesses. Instead of simple hereditary succession to the throne, the council of nobles chooses, upon the death or abdication of the previous monarch, the successor from among any direct descendent of any monarch up to 3 generation previous. In practice, they will choose the most capable candidate. This is because the aristocracy needs the king’s power to protect them against the legal powers of the general classes, because the king appoints the judges that rule on matter of law within the colony. The aristocracy has power because the judges must come from within their ranks, and they have veto power over some matters of colony resource allocation (but the king can create new positions to the aristocracy out of the general public, but rarely does this because the aristocracy and throne tend to get along). The commoners have power because their tribunes make most of the laws governing the people. This system is fairly balanced, keeping the three sections of society from teeming up against each other, but also keeping them having to cooperate fairly equally with both other elements or their position will be compromised. The system has worked fairly well, with only minor and correctable exceptions, since it was implemented.
6 gnomes to go to the land of the Wall gnomes and show them tunneling methods and how to make good pebble axes.
5 gnomes to study and learn rope-making techniques from the Wall gnomes
all 10 ants and 15 gnomes to try harvesting fibers from the grass and bushes in and on the edge of our territory to see which ones make the best ropes (types that are strong, types that are simple and easy to weave, types that are flexible)
5 gnomes to go to the nearby trees and find the biggest, strongest shells from acorns available. They are also to look for sources of good strong bark that can be easily harvested. More information next turn on what we will do with this stuff.
And finally, 5 gnomes are going to put to use the excellent innovation that one exceedingly clever gnome recently had: Scratch-remembering. We take a piece of grass, or bark, or small rock, anything with a surface that can be scratched into, and simply draw a series of pictures of objects! Instead of the bulky remembering system using objects themselves, this will take much less space, and much less time to compile, as objects can be easily reproduced on grass, instead of having to go out and find another object to complete the sentence. The choppy system used to decipher the previous object code has been amended, expanded in its use of the precision of symbols to allow for greater accuracy and subtlety of thought. This method will greatly increase the quantity of information that can be stored and the ease of creating and deciphering records.
The rest (28) breed.
For many generations the Claykin were ruled by absolute monarchs, with varying degrees of success. A strong, wise, competent king could bind together the will of the army, nobility, bourgeoisie and peasant classes, and devote their energies towards productive and successful ends. Such monarchs were few and far in between. One such ruler came 6 generations ago. King Edrelsquing III saw the mediocre state of his people, how the elements of society were set at odds and often prayed on each other, and were more often than not worsened in their condition by their leader. So he created and implemented a system utilizing the strengths of the elements of Clay society to overcome many of its most crippling weaknesses. Instead of simple hereditary succession to the throne, the council of nobles chooses, upon the death or abdication of the previous monarch, the successor from among any direct descendent of any monarch up to 3 generation previous. In practice, they will choose the most capable candidate. This is because the aristocracy needs the king’s power to protect them against the legal powers of the general classes, because the king appoints the judges that rule on matter of law within the colony. The aristocracy has power because the judges must come from within their ranks, and they have veto power over some matters of colony resource allocation (but the king can create new positions to the aristocracy out of the general public, but rarely does this because the aristocracy and throne tend to get along). The commoners have power because their tribunes make most of the laws governing the people. This system is fairly balanced, keeping the three sections of society from teeming up against each other, but also keeping them having to cooperate fairly equally with both other elements or their position will be compromised. The system has worked fairly well, with only minor and correctable exceptions, since it was implemented.
6 gnomes to go to the land of the Wall gnomes and show them tunneling methods and how to make good pebble axes.
5 gnomes to study and learn rope-making techniques from the Wall gnomes
all 10 ants and 15 gnomes to try harvesting fibers from the grass and bushes in and on the edge of our territory to see which ones make the best ropes (types that are strong, types that are simple and easy to weave, types that are flexible)
5 gnomes to go to the nearby trees and find the biggest, strongest shells from acorns available. They are also to look for sources of good strong bark that can be easily harvested. More information next turn on what we will do with this stuff.
And finally, 5 gnomes are going to put to use the excellent innovation that one exceedingly clever gnome recently had: Scratch-remembering. We take a piece of grass, or bark, or small rock, anything with a surface that can be scratched into, and simply draw a series of pictures of objects! Instead of the bulky remembering system using objects themselves, this will take much less space, and much less time to compile, as objects can be easily reproduced on grass, instead of having to go out and find another object to complete the sentence. The choppy system used to decipher the previous object code has been amended, expanded in its use of the precision of symbols to allow for greater accuracy and subtlety of thought. This method will greatly increase the quantity of information that can be stored and the ease of creating and deciphering records.
The rest (28) breed.
If the clay Gnomes send their ants as scholars to us, it makes us doubt their appreciation of our technology... 
Comment