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View Full Version : ALT Week 1 in Review


Glen
December 16th, 2005, 04:27 PM
Well, we have spent our first week in 3000 BCE San Francisco and it has been an eventful time.

Day One saw our appearance with Ian's Apartment at dawn in the 3000 BCE version of the San Francisco region. Chaotic at first, efforts were made to organize the area into a camp on the roman style, with lanes for foot and hoof traffic and a large central area for meetings. Also a priority was establishing a latrine system and a separate area for the livestock. A medical aide station was established near the stream. Also organized were impromptu guards for the camp and a scouting party to a proposed site for the main settlement as well as our local environs. A few people set out immediately from the ISOT site to find their fortune, with varying degrees of initial success (and failure). Shadestorm rode off into the sunset on his Buffalo, at the last minute deciding to free himself from the drugs he had briefly considered using to start a slaver empire. Nappy had a wagon accident and was abandoned by his 'clone wife'. Intriguingly, many people noted that previous handicaps and ailments had disappeared with the ISOT, causing in some instances tearful jubilation, and in many relief that their first month would not also be their last.

That first night saw a general meeting of all the AH.commers and their families as publicized throughout the day by Doc Finney and his runners. A vote was called for confirming the 'Bill of Rights' and English/American Common Law as the guiding principles of the community for the year, with an age of majority of 16 years old being agreed upon and one adult = one vote being generally held as the norm (including 'clone wives'). Following this the proposal for a Council of heads of the various needs of the community was taken up, and after some debate eleven positions were agreed to. Glen Finney was chosen as Chairman for the Council. The Council was given authority for the first year. One of the first acts of the Chairman was to adopt a suggestion from the community for a census and inventory to be initiated. People with laptops and power sources were asked to report after the meeting to Chairman Finney and the Treasurer for a brief first meeting.

The Second Day was a catch-your-breath sort of day for the camp, as people began to get their bearings after the hectic first day. A snake bite case increased awareness that caution would have to be taken in the great wide open. Foraging parties were organized by our GWF councillor to collect edible foods (after a brief orientation using some books on the subject brought by several AH.commers), as were hunting parties. Fishing was a bit more haphazard at first, but several people were working on this downstream from the camp. Efforts to organize the collection of firewood and start logging both to clear some areas for further use and for the materials. A small market began at the camp center, based on barter mostly. The inventory was instructed to help with the transactions (as well as recording who was getting what for location later if needed). Plans were discussed to use jolo's cash as our community's money, which would be backed by the value of the community's goods. It will have to wait until the completion of our inventory for this plan to be implemented. Also, early attempts were made to record who was doing what, so their efforts could be credited in the records of the community. These early efforts had varying degrees of success, but at least something was being done towards that end.

Our scouting party by the end of the day made their first encounter with Native Americans of the period, with a fair amount of success. Fortunately, no one from uptime appeared to be sick to pass on disease to our new neighbors (it had not yet become apparent that communicable diseases had been removed by the ASBs).

On Day Three, tragedy struck on many fronts. Rommy went mad, trying to assault his 'clone wife' and then firing wildly into the crowded camp, resulting in two deaths, including a child's. Iron Yuppie brought him down and he was remanded to custody. After a busy day in surgery, Doc Finney examined the prisoner and found him to have had a psychotic break and to be incapacitated, ordering a suicide watch on the prisoner. The newly formed judiciary would be debating for the next several days whether to declare him competent to even stand trial, and this would carry over to the beginning of our first week. Our scouting party also had a member struck by an arrow, requiring them to return to the native village for assistance. Fortunately, that member would survive.

Disrupted by the dramatic events early in the day, the census and inventory made less progress than hoped, but continued.

On Day Four, it became apparent that there would need to be further measures taken to deal with safety issues. 'Criers' went out through the camp to remind people to wash their hands as often as possible, to use the latrines (which would have to be extended, as the initial ones were already starting to fill), and to wash clothes and bath at the far end of the stream from camp. A call went out for anyone with water purification materials to report to the medical tent, as the initial supplies brought by people Dr Finney had met on the first day were a beginning to become sparse. Also mentioned was a fire safety meeting, as there had already been several burn cases (several children) from fires, and at least one tent that had almost burned).

Also on this day, the scouting party returned with their injured member, and a native ambassador, taken under the wing of Doctor What.

That night, the council heard the scouting reports and other information and a general opinion of the council seemed to be to recommend moving to the previously proposed site at Berkeley.

On Day Five, word went out that a special general meeting would be held that night to hear the scouting report, progress reports and opinions from the council, and have a vote on the proposed move. The Chairman made a strong recommendation for the move, and the vote was over 90% for the Berkeley settlement. It was also decided at the general meeting, that based on continued encounters with predators and concern about the food supply, that a 'Great Hunt' would be held on the seventh day, and people were asked over the next several days to sign up for roles in the hunt.

Day Six was filled mostly with the continued work of survival, the census and inventory, and preparations for the Great Hunt. Work on wagons and other preparations for the Great Trek also increased. Plans were for a forward party to go as soon as possible, to be followed a week or two later by the rest of the camp. Also brought up this day were concerns about people (mostly clones) who had been abandoned in the first few days of the ISOT and were in need of food and shelter. Calls went out for people to assist in sheltering any who needed a home, and it was reemphasized that the work parties were open to all and food would be available through the community stores that were beginning to form from the foraging, hunting, and fishing efforts.

And Day Seven was almost exclusively filled by the Great Hunt and all the work of meat collection thereafter. It was perhaps the biggest workday for most of the camp, but led to a lot of excitement by the end of the day over the boost in the food supply. Also, this provided a lot of skin, teeth, claws, hooves, and bone for use in crafts. On the downside, there were several minor injuries during the hunt, and one serious gunshot wound.

And that is at least my brief wrap-up of the first week...

jolo
December 17th, 2005, 03:50 AM
Week in review considering me and the people who like to stay for now (others are welcome to add or influence details).

Day 1

- Explaining everything to my wife and promising her I brought along everything needed for us to have a good life

- A few words of getting to know and talking to our immediate neighbours - getting clear about the situation, talking about what we brought along, thinking the other brought along the wrong things, beginning to question the own choices, and stopping to talk and think about it to avoid worrying the wife.

- I, my wife, and our horse pulled our things to a free patch of land closer to Ian's home.

- I pulled the tent from our things and started to erect it while my wife unpacked our things to look what I brought along.

- I put up a list at the front door of Ian's apartment for everyone to sign who wanted to stay and who wanted to contribute to the fort until leaving - to make it easier to contact the people.

- I put up a name tag so that everyone would know me. People who knew I'd stay (for a while) could contact me if they also wanted to stay. Some people tried to talk me out of it.

- I went inside Ian's apartment building. The asb's left the doors open, only Ian's apartment was closed. Seeing others did the same, I collected a few bags of useful things I found in the apartments - food, knifes, a few forks and spoons, and so on. I told people who apparently wanted to stay that the place would be used as a storage.

- After meeting a few of the people who also wanted to stay, we put up a note saying there'd be a meeting tomorrow for the people staying. We also agreed to try to communicate to the others what would happen when and where.

- I came back to my wife with the bags, and she left to get some more. Unluckily, it was already too late - she could only get some clothes, some bed sheets, and a few things of mainly decorative value. The most useful things she brought along were a few plants.

- A few things were unpacked and put in the tent. With the empty containers I took a ride around the camp to feed the horse, to get an overview, and to let the horse drink at the creek - a little bit downwards, to avoid people complaining. I took the containers and filled them with water. I also collected some wood from the ground to take it with me. Then I returned slowly, and bound the horse with a rope to another tree.

- My wife left to gather some food and useful plants, while I talked to the neighbours and helped a little with a latrine.

- I made a plan of the surroundings I could see on my ride and from where I was.

- On the grand meeting, I proposed a market economy and gave the people organizing the election the bills I had brought along for that purpose. That even gave me the job as treasury! I had to make some compromises on how free the economy would be in the beginning, but the result we could all agree on appears to be a good compromise.

Day 2

- I helped start to build a simple corral for the large animals. It and the others would be finished in the next few days.

- My wife collected food and further plants in the area.

- I started setting up a sun dial on the southern wall of Ian's apartment building from a top floor window. Every once in a while over the next days I'd go there and paint the right numbers on the wall.

- Realizing that people were putting too many heavy things on the top floors, I warned them and put up a sign at the front door asking people to store heavy things on the lowest floor.

- I took the horse out for a ride.

- I gave my boat and my fishing equipment (nets and angling stuff) to a few fishermen who took it downstream for fishing in the creek and the bay. A few guards and a lumber jack accompanied them, to set up a fishing camp. In return for the boat, I could come and get some fish or make a boat trip whenever I wanted.

- I gave my boat trailer and my chain saw to the lumber jacks so that they had it easier to cut down trees and transport the logs to the places where they were needed.

- With some of the people who wanted to stay we made a sketch of the surrounding area to coordinate wood cutting, corral building, and so on with some planning for the future of "Fort Ian".

- In the evening, an informal organization was arranged for the people who wanted to stay - a temporary "mayor" was elected, a few guards/militias who'd also do some hunting were given their job (for now under the command of the whole community), a plan what to do where was made, and it was planned to ensure that the work done by the main settlers would also incorporate our interests - like noting which live stock, seeds, tools, and so on belonged to which people, so that both sides knew what to exchange before the main settlers would leave. Quite a few people who didn't know what to do yet were assigned for wood cutting, for hunting, for gathering, for fishing, and so on.

Day 3

- Together with a few other people, we built a "lumber mill" with my bench saw and solar cells, and a roof on stilts to protect the equipment from rain.

- My turn table was used to create wooden wheels to later build simple small hand carts.

- My wife did some more gathering.

- Inbetween, we exercised using the bows.

- I took the horse for a ride to gather some food and other useful things.

Day 4

- Temporary allotments for the private grounds of each family to build their homes and gardens, the farms, and other businesses were assigned, based on what was already being used and what was apparently suitable for the respective task.

- An irrigation and sanitation system was being planned.

- I reserved an area for me at a second nearby creek suitable for building a fish pond and being irrigated.

- People slowly began to spread out accordingly and started some gardening.

- Hand carts to move things (like water and logs) around more easily were built and construction of a dinghy was started.

- The fishermen were able to deliver their first small surplus fish production. They got some other food in return. A few more people were assigned to them.

- I asked a neighbour to keep an eye on our things and rode with my wife to the area where I wanted to build a fish pond. I drew a map of the area and planned how it would be, while my wife used the opportunity to gather food and look for useful plants. We returned with some grass for the goat, too.

- In the evening I researched farming and gardening, to make sure my seeds would be well off.

Day 5

- Another grand meeting was held. I was able to make sure people got some money already, even though the inventory was not complete. This was mainly to allow some work to pay off which was not planned for, but had big demand - preparing game and fish for people who didn't want to do that, building things whose value for the community was not perfectly clear, and so on. Everyone who added to the community would get a small weekly allowance useful to buy food and other things on the market. All foods (besides what the people used for themselves and their families) had to be delivered to the market. The number of people assigned to get food was made dependent on the food stocks. Unproductive people could now easily be determined and were assigned other jobs.

- It was decided to assign a few people to improve the paths between different parts of the camp to keep accidents from happening.

- Realizing that food stocks dwindled far too fast, we started to use survival foods in growing amounts - digestable parts of trees, algae, and so on.

- A dinghy was finished and given to the fishermen. They'd have to use the replacement sail of the first boat though. Construction of a slightly bigger dinghy was started, and it was looked for materials to build sails from.

- The fishing camp was getting big, and they started building a dinghy themselves.

- The first seeds were planted in suitable places (clearings close to creeks, areas freed of trees close to creeks, and so on). Most tree stumps were left for later removal.

- I rode to my patch of land for the same and I started the first preparational work on my fish pond.

- I traded some of my seeds for ones more suitable for the kind of farming possible in this area.

- A small expedition was send to the ocean to explore that part of the area.

- It was arranged with MBarry to teach everyone interested the necessary hunting and fighting skills beginning day 8.

Day 6

- I took a position as beater for tomorrows hunt, together with my wife.

- It was decided to use the sail from the lightweight boat for the bigger boat, and to build sails from cotton bed sheets for the smaller boats, until better materials were available. People were assigned for making the sails and for finding better materials.

- My wife worked on our garden at the camp while I worked on our farm and caught a few fish.

Day 7

- The expedition to the ocean returned.

- My wife and I were occupied with the big hunt.

I hope this is realistic enough. Everything is checked with Glen's post. Only my fishpond and the mayor were below 50% in the poll. The mayor was only slightly below 50%, and it's now only an informal temporary position with apostrophies around the title. The construction of the fishpond wasn't even really started yet. The money is used as was proposed by Glen for a very limited market, while the more communal aspects are unchanged. The credits for hard work Glen wants can be given once the assessment is done. My job as treasury can be done from Ian's fort as long as I stay there, with visits to the main settlement whenever necessary - every few weeks I suppose.

Grimm Reaper
January 3rd, 2006, 05:23 PM
God, just imagine all our future relations with the natives lies in the hands of Doctor What. The possible results truly beggar the imagination.

...hey, Ward, it all checks out! Every native in 300 miles is leaving! Something about the psycho-whites moving in...