Kulo Seeri Jumps the Shark

The good thing about it is, you'll likely be seeing a lot fewer interruptions from me.

Anyway, Big Announcement time: Kulo Seeri is moving away from the FSBS angle.

(oh brother, I really hope my handful of occasional readers don't hate me now!)

You see, I was feeling a bit constrained by "the Sim thing" as far as storytelling went. I wanted to really show the ways in which my Nuidya are different from most other hoods, but I'm paranoid and I kept thinking all the other Simmers would think I'm weird. I was feeling under pressure to be "generic modern" even though I don't want to and I know there's no pressure to do that anyway. And I wanted to show the hood as being under threat from an extradimensional enemy without getting myself chased by a mob of angry T"S"3 players.

So, as of now, Kulo Seeri is an alternative science-fantasy drama set in a world that is similar to the one inhabited by most Sim hoods, but is actually not. That's how I prefer to work anyway, and my writing is for me first and anyone else who might read it second, so for me it's better this way.

(Alternative science-fantasy, for those of you who don't know, is a genre fusion containing both supernatural and technological elements; the "alternative" bit means it goes easy on the major clichés such as tree elves, evil alien empires and prophecies. I am fairly certain I have invented this term, but I probably haven't.)

The blog is on hiatus while I rearrange things and work out what I'm going to do next, but we will be back ASAP with a new style and possibly a new look, for those of you who are still interested.

- VT

Seriously Worried, Longday 29

Midquarter, Longday 11th 29 A.G.S.
Claire zan-Avira (54), Joe zan-Avira (52), Daniel zan-Avira (12)

Daniel's Journal
Keep Out
This Means You Alexa

...but Alexa's not here any more, is she? Not that I mind about that. She just sees "Keep Out" as an invitation to snoop. I pity all the other single girls in the Women's Lodge. Bet they get no privacy at all.

I should be in the Men's Lodge now myself. Me and Armando... but he's not here any more either. It's been about a year and a half since we lost him, and I still feel like it was this morning. It's still hard to believe it happened at all. He was always the life of the party, with a wisecrack for every occasion and a barrel full of tall tales about his life in SimCity, before we adopted him.

I still want to know what a "TV" is. He never finished telling me.

We still have his book collection - I sort of inherited them. I've been reading through them all - most of it's about spaceships and aliens and machines that do all sorts of incredible things. I'd love to have stuff like that. I know most of the tribe prefers not to rely on technology for everything, but if you ask me, a laser cannon would be way more useful than our slings and spears if that new dimension invasion everyone's been babbling on about since the time of the dinosaurs ever actually happens.

I think I'd like to work with machines myself. I've talked to Dad about finding me a mentor that knows about that sort of thing, now they've changed the coming of age rites so I need one. He just thinks I'm crazy, though.

Ha. I'm crazy? That's like the ocean calling a raindrop wet. What does he call cuddling an old sack, then?

He's been like that ever since Armando died, and I think he's getting worse. Talking to the flour sacks is definitely a new one. Mum and I are really starting to worry about him.

At least he retained enough of his sanity to remember her birthday was today. She's officially one of our elders now, so she's retired from the fields - and guess who gets to take over the bulk of the farm work? Anyway, Dad got her some sort of thing full of flowers that you make, er, bunches of flowers with. It would have been much easier to just get one bunch of flowers, but hey, he talks to flour now.

It's given me an idea - but I'll have to make sure I don't tell anyone. (Score one for Alexa not being here! If she was, it'd be all over the village by tomorrow noon.) I am going to try building one of those things myself. Not for flowers, mind. I'm going to get myself some gadget parts - don't ask me how - and learn how to make super-machine-things like the ones in those space books. Oh, they'll all call me crazy, but when the tayzi do invade and I save everyone with my giant fighting robot, we'll see who's crazy then!

Question: How do I hide a giant fighting robot while I wait for us to need one?

*****

VT says: I'm experimenting with a new style, trying to figure out what works best for me and also to get inside my Sims' heads a little more. I think I might have a mix of first- and third-person perspectives in the updates.

I'm not sure where Daniel gets his interest in technology from. It's certainly not Nuidya, but I do plan to run with it and see what happens.

Tayzi, by the way, means "Sim from the new dimension" in Maltiazi, my Universal Sim Language. The Nuidya have never trusted the new dimension - to this day, the number 3 is very unlucky over there.

Stranger Things Happen, Bluesky 29

Skyday, Bluesky 24th 29 A.G.S.

Rommy zan-Ace (55), Zareb zan-Ace (6)

One year had passed since the Nuidya tribe had settled in Kulo Seeri; one year, for former chief Rommy zan-Ace, without the responsibilities of leading the tribe. For nearly thirty years, ever since the Great Storm, the Nuidya had looked to Rommy to get them through the difficult times that followed. Now that he had retired, those duties belonged to young Sena Seerijata zan-Avira, in whose honour the new settlement had been named.

Rommy had never seen himself as a leader before the Great Storm. He had always been the quiet, bookish type, preferring to keep to himself rather than socialising and chasing girls like his brothers had. Remy, his twin, used to call him... what was that funny city word he used to use? A dirk, or a dark, something like that. But the storm had changed all that, forcing the survivors - all seven of them -  to take on new responsibilities. Still, that was twenty-nine years ago. A new generation was growing up, and Rommy could enjoy his retirement... and there was one aspect of his new life in Kulo Seeri that he was particularly enjoying.

She had arrived at the village gates late last spring, saying she "wanted to meet her new neighbours", as if this was a suburban neighbourhood in SimNation and they had just moved in next door. She introduced herself as Jill Taylor, and spoke of strange, mystical things, great power and how to use it for good. Rommy's niece Soleil had even begun to learn some of these skills from the elderly woman, and more recently, so had Rommy himself.

He had to admit, he did look quite good in the hat and coat.

Mostly, though, he wore the fancy outfit to impress Jill. It was almost as if he was under a spell himself. Neither of them were young any more, but he was beginning to feel like a lovesick teenager again. The more they saw of each other, the stronger the feeling became, and over the next year, the sense of loss that had been with him since his ex-wife Manewa left began to fade.

Rommy now spent every spare moment studying, as he had done in his younger years - this time, though, knowledge itself was only half the motivation. This time, he mostly wanted to show off in front of a woman. Remy would have been proud.

Zareb, Rommy's young alien son, was equally fascinated by the newcomer. Whenever she visited, he would rush to meet her and immediately let loose a stream of questions ranging from "how do you make the brush fly?" to "where can I get one of those hats?"

She seemed to have infinite patience with the small child, although she couldn't always explain things in a way his six-year-old mind could easily grasp.

It was easily the most excited Rommy had ever seen his son, too - mostly Zareb, the only child in the village, was alone with his toys and books. Maybe he would develop similar powers when he grew older. Stranger things have happened, after all - Rommy still remembered his parents howling at the moon.

He had known what he needed to do for a long time, but was only just beginning to gather the courage to put his plans into action.

On Jill's next visit, the twenty-fourth of Bluesky by the new calendar, Rommy invited her to his home for the evening. Nothing unusual about that, he thought, she was around often enough. Nothing unusual about the visit, either, at least as far as there can be nothing unusual about a witch, a warlock and a half-alien child sharing sandwiches. As she was about to leave, however, Rommy prepared to take things to the next level.

"Wait - before you go, there's something I need to ask you."

(Zareb crouched in the vegetable patch behind them, under the pretence of pulling weeds)

As Jill turned around, Rommy made his move - city-style, with a ring and everything.

"I know this is a little sudden, but... but I love you, and I want us to be together... will you marry me?"

The words came out much more easily than they had thirty years earlier, when he asked Manewa the same question. There was a greater fear of rejection this time, but he couldn't put it off any longer. Trying to keep calm, he waited for the answer.

"Rommy, you are crazy..."

Oh, no... is there a rock I can go crawl under?

"But you are the sweetest crazy man I ever met. Of course I will."

Rommy leapt up to embrace his new fiancée.

Did that tomato plant just say "eww"?

*****

VT says: I actually wasn't planning on having any NPCs in the hood at all. I just forgot to tell the Visitor Controller to block them, and when Jill showed up, I thought I might as well have a couple of my Sims learn a little magic... and I certainly wasn't planning on her having two bolts of chemistry with Rommy, but what can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic, and (IMO) they are the cutest elder couple I have ever seen in four and a half years of playing the Nuidya.

Li Yoo Visits

Kulo Seeri, starting 28: Aurora zan-Sophie (30) & John zan-Sophie (28); Li Yoo of Apple Valley is visiting

"Welcome to Kulo Seeri, Ms. Yoo. I'm John zan-Sophie, captain of the Wolves - the Nuidya military - and..."

"...and there's only one other member and she's been there longer..." the woman behind John interrupted.

John ignored her comment, and continued, "...and this is Aurora, my wife. So what about you, do you have anyone special in Apple Valley? Any family?"

Li hesitated for a moment. How would these Sims react to hearing about her family life? It hadn't exactly been perfect, but then... what was? She explained that she had been married, but it hadn't worked out, and that her children were now with her ex-husband - most of them.

As she had predicted, her hosts were unsure how to react to that piece of information. Aurora broke the awkward silence with an offer to show Li what few sights the new hood had to see.

*****

"It's not much, but it's somewhere we can get together," Aurora said as they arrived at Kulo Seeri's one community lot, the park in the centre of the hood. "We haven't had much time to set anything else up, since we've only just moved in."

It wasn't Apple Valley Metro, that was for sure. But then what could one expect from a newly settled hood in such a remote place? This was one of the reasons Li had been invited to visit - the Nuidya were hoping to turn their new settlement into something more, and Li's experience as a city planner was, well, certainly much better than theirs, as one of the locals she met there explained.
 

"It's been the same old routine the same everywhere we've lived. Arrive, put up a few simple houses, wait for a storm to blow them over, leave. We've never had anything more than that, because we've never expected to stay anywhere. This time we want to have a proper community, with more places to get together and houses that aren't just three rooms."


Roma zan-Avira, the young Sim in charge of the Kulo Seeri building projects (well, the only Sim currently working on them) was eager to learn how things were done in SimNation, and what sort of projects Li had worked on in Apple Valley. After a discussion of plans and designs, Li returned to the house she was staying in to find two more Sims she didn't recognise - although how could she, when she hadn't been there a day - having a rather loud conversation with John about something she couldn't quite make out.

The two newcomers turned out to be Aurora's older brother Ben and his wife Angel, the one other member of the Kulo Seeri Wolves. Li had to admit that she found Ben rather attractive, but something about him reminded her vaguely of her ex-husband Tobi Sweeny. Maybe it was the hair.

Ben left after a brief "hi, welcome to Kulo Seeri", leaving Angel to explain why.

"Don't mind him, Ms. Yoo. He's not exactly the friendliest of Sims anyway, but when it comes to visiting other hoods... well. He's got a twin sister out in New Eden, see, and he won't admit it but I know he misses her. We just can't afford to spend what little we have left after fifty million moves to go out to visit or anything. As you might have guessed, we don't have a lot in general right now."

*****

Li was already beginning to miss the comforts of home by the next morning, although she didn't say so to Aurora or John. It was obvious that Kulo Seeri was a relatively poor hood as a result of so many disasters, but its residents still seemed to be very proud of their hood and culture.

Roma had made it clear that the Nuidya weren't interested in skyscrapers and high-tech gadgets. (Li wasn't even sure they were interested in indoor plumbing - although that could just have been a side effect of being a newly settled area.) Aurora had also explained that it would be a long time before anything major got done, with hardly any of the residents having the skills to work on any building projects.

Li was starting to get a little restless. Aurora, Angel and Roma were all sort of her friends now, but she really wanted a little male company - perhaps now, in this new place miles from everything she knew, more than ever. That was the main reason she didn't argue too much when John, who she had noticed seemed to be avoiding her lately, suddenly started giving her a little more attention than maybe he should.

Before either of them had time to think about it, well, Li had lost one of her sort-of friends.

Things were very different after that. For the most part, no one in the house would speak to the other two.


Li's daily routine was disrupted as well, as she found herself needing to sleep in the middle of the afternoon...

...and then waking up at midnight with a craving for some food or another.

She wished she could blame jet lag, but after four children, denial can only take you so far.

On the upside, it wasn't long before Aurora managed to forgive them both... maybe a little too soon, but at least the awkwardness was starting to lessen.

Until, that is, the subject was brought up again over breakfast one morning.

"Li, we've noticed... you haven't been quite the same since... well..." Aurora began, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. "I was just... er... are you..."

John finished for her, getting straight to the point.

"Are you going to have a baby, Li?"

Of course, the answer to that was "very likely yes".

*****

Li stayed in Kulo Seeri longer than she had planned, waiting for the baby to arrive. Her international travels had to be put on hold, and she had to admit she was going a little stir-crazy.

The wait ended in early summer, with the arrival of a baby girl named Kim.

Once Li recovered from the birth, she would move on to a new hood, a new assignment. Kim would be staying behind.

The first birth in Kulo Seeri. There is irony in that somewhere, most of the Nuidya agreed. We're just not quite sure how exactly.

*****

VT says: Boy, was it hard work keeping this post to a reasonable length! All this took place over the course of a season (and pre-Solupian Calendar at that!), which when you always play one day at a time is Way Too Long as far as both picture-taking and playing one family are concerned. Kim is a little bundle of adorable though, and I have enjoyed the drama factor, which is always a bonus in the first few rotations.

Kim will be staying in Kulo Seeri with her dad and stepmother; Apple Valley's player has said this is probably for the best. Given Aurora's fertility problems (it would be the Family couple who got the bad die roll!) she looks set to become the first "only child" in Nuidya history. We'll just have to wait and see what side effects that will have. :)