Quoted By:
>The civilisation gets +5 Equality.
>The civilisation gets -5 Health, Education and Prosperity.
After the feast, knowledge of this growing shortage is spread throughout the Croglatol. Copper shall become more scarce and more valuable – those who are willing to mine it shall be able to earn a great deal of shell money. The allure of wealth encourages some of the Croglatovic to overcome superstition and venture into the foothills, to work alongside the slaves in the acquisition of valuable ore. Some are even to serve as haulers and spend their days hauling carts full of copper-rich stone back to the banks of the great lake, in exchange for a few toroc.
While the value of copper does rise and many tribesmen find themselves worse off, the impact isn't as dramatic as it could have been. As for the Croglatovic who took up this backbreaking work, they find themselves enfeebled by the thin air of the foothills and far more likely to suffer from injury in this line of work. Not only that, but all of the time that they toiling in this desolate region prevents them from honing their intellects – they simply lack the energy for it. Whenever they aren't working, they're resting.
As for the good news, the supply of copper remains stable and though tools are more costly, the productivity of the chiefdom is not impaired. Not only that but the Anamilivic reformists are rather pleased with this development, even the more conservative stone men are upset by it. Heavy physical labour is no longer the sole purview of slaves.
A couple of seasons pass before terrible news spreads around the great lake. Tradul Igladac is dead.
Not so long ago, the chieftain of the Croglatovic people fought in the fighting pit of Ancron in an attempt to bring joy to the audience. Though he bested his opponent, a wound in his shoulder that he received during the bout soon began to stink and ooze a foul fluid. After a month, he was feverish, delirious and wracked with endless nausea. Before the second month had passed, he succumbed to his wound and left Sitrun without her lover and their two children without their father.
The feast that marks the end of summer is tense, with the stone men remaining apart from the rest of the chiefdom's leaders, murmuring among themselves. By now, the vast majority of the more open-minded Rodac have converted to the way of Sitrun. Most of those who still call themselves stone men are stuck in their ways.
So when the autumnal feast comes around, perhaps it isn't surprising that the heads of the remaining Rodac families present Sitrun with a demand – she must stand down and declare her son the new chieftain of the Croglatovic. The stone men follow the strongest man of their strongest family, and she is neither male nor Rodac. They will heed the will of Tradul's spawn, but they have no interest in serving a feeble-minded waif who speaks in riddles.
