Category: 4D Foundation II – G7

Sheans who were always contented with their lives, did not have many entertainment as they see no need for it. Hence, since the beginning of time, the only source of entertainment they had is a traditional mass dance session held every first day of the month when they are celebrating the existence of Riahs. Some of the Sheans will make music out of their hands and mouths while others will create music using sounds drums made out of large pieces of land they gathered while cleaning up. All these while everyone else sings along to the traditional song and dance to the rhythm of it. It is a day of hard work and celebration and the Sheans spares no effort into making it a memorable day every single month. It is one of the few times when everyone will gather around and mingle together anyway.

Other than that, they spend their free time either resting or helping the community by collecting more resources within their capabilities. However, as time passes by and with the younger generations growing up to be more intellectual, their expectations and wants in life started to manifest. Never in the past where the need to find a higher meaning in life came about so strongly. The younger Sheans began trying out new stuff and inventing. The first ever invention that came about from their desires in life was a device that allows the Sheans to glide from Riahs to Riahs. It is made up of dried land stretched and held in place on hardened cut up Riahs. By putting on this device on their backs, named glider, a Shean has the ability to glide from Riahs to Riahs effortlessly.

With this new invention, and with more and more Sheans experiencing and witnessing the Glider, they started to get really intrigued with the stuff that were actually possible despite their limited resources and that inspired more Sheans to start experimenting during their free time. This new found source of entertainment brought about by the sheer desire for more in their lives is actually starting to slowly change the world…

Although in abundance, Sheans never took the Riahs for granted. Riahs served many purposes and Sheans can never survive without them. Hence, every first day of the month is dedicated to celebrate the existence of the Riah and for Sheans to be thankful for it. They believe that it is a gift bestowed upon them by the Gods.

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Prior to the days of celebration, Sheans will gather lots of fresh and salty water. When the first day of every month arrives, all of the Sheans will be excused from their duties and will be living on the resources accumulated beforehand. They will dedicate the entire day roaming around and cleaning whatever dusts that has accumulated on or around the Riahs. Sometimes, there will be huge pieces of dried land that forms around the Riahs and threaten the growth of the Riahs by suffocating them. The Sheans will then gather and work together to get rid of it in order for the Riah to continue growing healthily.

Through experience, they also found out that by jumping on the soft ground around the Riahs, Riahs tend to grow thicker and taller. Therefore, heavier Sheans are tasked to jump around the Riahs to facilitate their growths while the rest clean the Riahs up. And by the end of the day, the weary Sheans will feast on whatever is accumulated while hanging on the highest point on a Riah they can ascend. This is their sign of respect and thanks to God for the Riahs that are given to them.

The committee initially hoped that the situation where Sheans stopped fulfilling their duties will get better with time when people learn how to deal with their grief, but with the rippling effect of the negativity, more and more Sheans started to skive on their duties. Even some of the Sheans were not affected by the tragedy started to skive on their duties because they were bitter that they had to be doing more work. The group of intellects foresee that if this situation continues, Shea will fall apart within a month when all reserves run out or when everyone just gives up on life.

They decided that they needed a course action that will bring about the most immediate impact that will revert everything back to normal. Persuasion was first attempted but it was not really effective as the Sheans tend to just ignore it. One of the intellects suggested providing counselling to those who are affected but that will take too long and they did not have the luxury of time. As their final resort, they had to implement law and order to bring back the stability they used to enjoy. Although this will be at the expense of the Sheans and it will require violence which was never encouraged in the peaceful Shea, the intellects felt that this was a situation that requires such drastic measure.

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LAW 

The one and only law Sheans have to abide to is that they fulfil all the required tasks assigned to them by Alda. These tasks will be equally and fairly distributed to each of them and this will ensure the survivability of their species and the sustainability of their world. If they fail to comply to what is asked of them, they will be brought to Alda by his henchmen for Alda to be trialled and to decide what course of action or punishment is to be meted out. They will be asked to do extra work under the supervision of the law enforcers throughout a period of time.

If they resist or fail to comply with what is asked of them, they will be subjected to caning, torture and for worst case scenario, a death penalty. Nobody is to be threatening the existence of the entire world with their stupidity and if they do, they should cease to exist and not take up the resources painstakingly gathered by those who contributes.

 

Function of the architecture in Shea

The only form of architecture around Shea are the Riahs. It is the most basic and the only form of structure that is present in Shea. No one actually knows what they are made up of and why they emerge from the craters on the ground but they serve several important purposes for the Sheans. It allows Sheans to collect nitrogen from the air at higher altitudes, provides them with space and shelter which allows them to rest and reside in and functions as support for the Sheans to hold on to when the daily flood comes.

Physical outlook of the Riahs

There are no two Riahs that are of the same length and they are always thickest at the bottom and tapers as it reaches towards the top. Riahs are constantly growing upwards and there are always new ones that are emerging from the ground. They are all clustered relatively close together and sometimes, when the wind blows, the Riahs will sway and its tips will brush against each other.

Riahs that just start to grow out from the ground are usually much thinner and greyish-white in colour, while those which are more mature, are thicker and jet black. Sheans always wait for the Riahs to be of a certain thickness before converting them into shelters for their purposes. Firstly, because it gives them more internal space but more importantly cause when they reach a certain thickness, their growth will be impeded and they stop growing upwards as quickly as before. Saving them the effort to have to scale high up to get to their homes.

There was one exception to the colour of the Riahs though. The one which got uprooted and flew off along with the Shean actually turned into a fully white opaque one. It was the first time any Shean witnessed such an occurrence but no one actually thought it was a matter to be concerned with as the Sheans’ knowledge about the Riahs is relatively limited and they thought that it was a natural occurrence for it to eventually become white. Never did they expect it to uproot soon after it turned white.

The group of intellects whom gathered are now starting to do in-depth study on the nature of Riahs and if there is a direct co-relation between the colour of the Riah and the possibility of it detaching. Hoping to find a solution to their situation.

Literally half a minute before the flood came in, a female Shean who thought she was too late to bring herself to safety, screeched at the top of her voice when the water touched her foot. Luckily for Klaus, her piercing scream jolted him up from his slumber. It took a while for reality to settle into his groggy, sleep deprived brain which was blissfully unaware of impending doom. With the water gushing towards him just metres away and the panicky Sheans climbing up all around him, the only thing that came into his mind was to save the precious books of knowledge. With his relatively petite build and lack of agility, Klaus manages to salvage most but not all of the books by gathering them and swiftly placing them in one of the Riahs. He has enough faith in the Riah to keep the books safe but not enough for him to seek shelter in it, worrying that the Riah will be washed away, along with him in it.

Whilst all those were happening, Kappa, who was nearby collecting nitrogen, started his descent from his 35th trip of the day. He was considering a break before heading for a well deserved meal when the signs of impending flood came. Even though he probably had sufficient time to descend fully and find a proper shelter if he picked up his pace, he was too lazy and tired and decided to just hold on to where he was. It was a height high enough on the Riah for him to stay dry from the flood anyway. From where he was, he could clearly see what Klaus was doing. From the time when he jolted up from his sleep to this very moment when he entered the Riah to keep the books safe, he witnessed it all. This whole time Kappa was worried and he thinking to himself how ludicrous Klaus was, putting the safety of the books in front of his own life. He eventually heaved a sigh of relieve when he saw Klaus entering the Riah with the books.

But to Kappa’s disbelieve, Klaus comes dashing out of the Riah and attempts to scale it to safety. He musters all his strength and tries to get a grip but fails terribly and fell back to the ground as he had used up all his strength previously in getting the books to safety at the quickest time possible. Bewildered by Klaus’s choice of actions, but having a bird eye’s view of the impending flood, Kappa’s instinct kicks in and brings him leaping towards the Riah Klaus is at. He releases his grip, slides down the Riah to get down low enough to reach out to Klaus and shouts out “Grab my hands, I’ll pull you up!”

Klaus instantaneously seizes Kappa’s hand and gives his all to try to climb the Riah again. He knows that if he fails to do so on this attempt, he will not have sufficient time to seek shelter in the Riah even if he wanted to, and he will definitely end up like the Shean who got washed off. As for Kappa, he cannot even start to imagine how is it like to have another one of his own getting washed off right in front of him. And so, even with his burnt hands from sliding down the Riah, sore muscles from the climbs and the doubt that he can actually save the both of them with whatever leftover strength he can muster, he did not hesitate a single second to try save Klaus.

With Klaus’ fear and Kappa’s resolve, they garner just enough strength to ascend high enough to be safe from being washed away. Luckily for them, the flood water was raising slower than usual and the water only rose up to their knee level, not quite enough for the gushing water to wash them away. While waiting for the water to fully reside, both of their muscles started to tremble with fatigue and they both burst out in laughter at each other, seemingly forgetting how they just narrowly escaped death. Just as they are laughing, the water fully resided and they made their way down to the ground.

Klaus was immensely thankful for Kappa’s help and bravery. If not for Kappa, he would have been washed off from face of the world for eternity. As they were introducing themselves, a thought came up to Klaus’ mind. “Why don’t I bring Kappa to meet the Chieftain and get him to try and run as a candidate for the second role as a Henchman? He has what it takes to be the second Henchman. Physically inclined, courageous and has very good situation awareness.”

Despite the fact that they just met moments ago, they had that affinity which kept them chattering on and on throughout the journey to the Chieftain’s place. Klaus was overjoyed at the thought that Kappa will possibly be his partner as the second Henchman and he could not wait to tell Alda about him.

For Kappa, roll two dice and add the value to your intelligence. If it adds up to a value greater than 6, Alda will accept you as his second Henchman. Thereafter, describe how the two of you manage to convince the Chieftain to accept Kappa as his second Henchman and being the second in command for the whole of Shea or what did the two of you decides to do if Alda finds you unsuitable.

Prior to the incident whereby the Riah got uprooted, Sheans led very easy and carefree lives. They had nothing to worry about and they were all easily satisfied. They minded their own business as everyone were responsible and their respective tasks were sufficient for the world to be functioning. But now, with doubts lingering all around and having some Sheans being too worried to be doing their part for the sustainability of the world, the group of intellects whom gathered for that sole purpose realise that there is a more apparent hindrance. They have to find a way to bring those Sheans who are badly affected back to normal by means of persuasion or fear if need be, for the better of the world.

The intellects discussed and decided that there is now a need for a leader in their world to keep the order in place in the world and to ensure that the peace is not disrupted. The behaviour of some of the Sheans now, may very well threaten the sustainability of Shea. After all, the Sheans are surviving up till now because everyone were doing their respective tasks. They come to a conclusion that the leader has to be someone respected enough for the rest of the Sheans to be obeying him and wise enough to be making the right decisions for the better of Shea.

They unanimously agreed that Alda, the oldest Shean will take on the role of the Chieftain. After all, he is the one who has seen the most in the world and has spent the second half of his life reading up and gathering knowledge. His role is to delegate responsibilities for each of the Sheans to ensure that the world could continue functioning properly, and also, to mete out necessary punishments to Sheans who fails to carry out their own roles. Due to his age and slightly frailer body, he is assigned with two henchmen to help him with the physical needs of his role.

The Henchmen’s role is to patrol around the world and to make sure that everyone is doing their respective jobs. They are also required to act as the hands and legs of Alda, to gather the Sheans or the intellectual committee when required or to help Alda pass on messages. Klaus is one of the henchmen selected as he is one of those who were called to for the meeting. He has a decent level of intellect and is also fit enough to be able to carry out the necessary jobs of a henchman. The second henchman’s selection is put on hold. They decided that he has to be someone of much higher physical capability in order to instil a sufficient amount of fear for the more rebellious Sheans to obey commands.

Hence, with the start of this system in the hope that it is better for Shea, we shall see how things turn out in the near future..

The broadcast of the tragedy throughout Shea meant for awareness inevitably brought about increasing worrying small talks throughout the world. Some of the Sheans who are more afraid of getting carried away to nothingness even resorted to sleeping outside of their houses and on the ground with fewer craters. Life is still pretty much the same except for the decrease in efficiency for some of the Sheans due to over-worrying that resulted in them being less motivated to do their respective tasks. This forced the others to have to work a little harder to make up for those who needed time to recover. But being a small and close knitted community, none of them actually mind.

Kappa is one of those Sheans who were working harder for the better of the world. Although he was quite taken aback and emotionally affected by the tragedy, he is well aware that life has to go on and he quickly moved on. More than ever before, he now has a higher purpose in climbing the Riahs. He starts to climb twice the amount the usually climbs in order to collect sufficient nitrogen for all those below. Although he no longer has the time to challenge himself and is unable to reach the height he used to be able to, he was actually getting stronger unknowingly.

Klaus, a Shean on the other hand, is a worrywart and one of those who choose to sleep outside of his house. He is a book lover and he loves gaining knowledge. The Shean who was recently thrown off was actually a friend of his and that made him realise the severity of the situation they were in. That gave him more purpose to gaining knowledge in hope to find a solution. Needless to say, the spot he choose to make his new resting spot a high ground right beside the library and was gaining knowledge at a much higher speed. Some times he even ends up losing sleep when he gets too engrossed in his readings.

It has been three days after the tragedy happened and Klaus was napping in the day as he was too exhausted from all his readings. He fell asleep right beside the mountain of books he has been reading for the past few hours. Without any warning, the weather got a lot more humid and the sound of gushing water was getting increasingly loud. All the Sheans knew what this mean. The daily flooding situation has arrived. But now?! At this hour?! All the Sheans started to panic and either went to take shelter in their respective Riahs or held on tightly to them. Klaus, who was fast asleep, was oblivion to it and was too tired to be awaken by the loud warnings from everyone else. Kappa who just came down from his 35th trip for the day, collecting nitrogen, happened to pass by and saw Klaus lying motionless on the ground.

Will Klaus wake up in time? (Roll two dice at http://www.random.org/dice and add the value of your agility to the final value. If it exceeds a value of 10, he wakes up and describe his choice of actions. If not, he will remain asleep. With barely enough energy to hold on to the Riahs himself to keep him safe and with the flood coming in in seconds, what will Kappa’s next course of action be?

The Sheans are highly adaptable as a species. They make use of whatever were available.

Riahs are not just structures for the Sheans to scale up to collect nitrogen, they also serve as housings for the Sheans. With its sheer height and thickness, there is plenty of room for each of them. Sheans make us of the size and abundance of the strands by making it hollow and make room for them to reside it. The insides are relatively simple, complementing the kind of lifestyle they lead. Housings were mostly for rest and shelter and they were all clustered together as the population of Shea is only a few thousand.

However, with the uprooting of one of the strands, some of the Sheans were starting to fear for their housing. Their worry is if they would actually be carried away with the strand when it uproots and they happen to be in it. These eventually set off some discussions about whether Shea is actually a sustainable world to be living in. After all, if all the strands were to start falling off, what would be left for them to live and hide in?

Hence, some of the more intelligent Sheans gathered and began to think about how they can make their world more sustainable…

LORE

 

Background

Shea is a world with endless black towering strands, called Riah, that shoot up from the ground. Or so it seems. The strands block out most of the light, making Shea a generally dark place to be residing in.

The ground on Shea is relatively soft, sinking in with every step taken, and is constantly pulsating. Also, it is filled with craters and all of this makes it tough for the inhabitants, Sheans, to transverse. To make things worse, giant puddles of salty water will erupt from the craters at random moments. Mostly when the pulsation increases or when the weather gets warmer. These puddles of salty water are also the source of food for the Sheans.

 

The Sheans’ capabilites

Once or twice a day, multiple blasts of bubbly fluid and pure water pours down from above and threatens to wash the Sheans off if they do not hold on tight to the Riahs. These required them to have a certain amount of strength for their survival to make sure that they do not get flushed away along with the bursts of fluids. Sheans who are strong enough take this opportunity to gather the only source of fresh water while holding on for their lives.

Sheans found no need to be intelligent as they lead very simple lives and they are easily satisfied with what they have. Although a minority of them with thirst for knowledge do read up in the library during their past time. Sheans who are agile are highly valued as the land below was so dense that air could barely reach the base and they are able to maneuver their way up the towering strands to obtain nitrogen from the air in order for them to breathe.

 

Problem

The Sheans were all happy and carefree till one day, one of their agile counterparts got thrown off the world to what seemed like an endless abyss. He was up on a Riah gathering nitrogen when it just detached and flew off and he got carried away with it.

Now the Sheans had something to worry about. It was the first time ever they had witnessed a Riah detaching and them losing one of their own. Amongst the mourning, they realised that they could no longer just rely on one aspect of their abilities. They had to have a certain amount of strength in order for them to not get flushed away from the daily flood. A certain level of agility for them to maneuver on the tough terrain and maybe, just maybe, a higher mental capability for them to predict what could come their way in future and ways to prevent such catastrophes from happening again.

 

Characters

Feel free to create your own characters to play in this seemingly small and simple world to just keep yourself alive and easily contented or create it in such a way whereby you help the world keep themselves safe or reach further heights.

Do include your name, general appearance, age, distribute your points for strength, agility and intelligence, totalling up to 8 points and any other information you want to add for your character.
Thank you