This Sims 2 blog follows the lives of the Nuidya tribespeople of the southern plains, as they try to survive, thrive and figure out what exactly it means to be a dragonspark. Along the way, there'll be drama, romance, utter silliness, high-fantasy worldbuilder rambling and lots of cats. Just watch out for those storm demons - they're sneaky. :)

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

The Kora Pact: Introduction

New Kulo Seeri is coming along nicely - I'm playing the first rotation as I move each family in, so the second rotation is where you'll start getting updates. I also still have a couple of posts from the last version to publish.

However! I have also just set up for a TS3 challenge I'm really excited about trying! This will be my go-to thing to play while I finish building. Although I'm not usually one for death or baby challenges, this one caught my eye and I just had to give it a shot (and take the number of houses to create in TS2 KS down by one) - read on for the intro!

Friday, September 29, 2017

Another Bad Omen, 143

Burial grounds, Fire Moon 143.

On one hand, Zita couldn't quite believe this was happening. She knew Branch felt silly in the traditional white facepaint, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what was going through Dayvid's head right now.

Friday, September 01, 2017

Pushover Charm, 143

Burial grounds, Fire Moon 143.

There had been a time, moons ago when Vedrafe was a young apprentice healer, when she'd thought her brother was the worst choice for a shaman the ancestors could have ever made. Now, taking on the role herself and training her own apprentice, she was starting to wonder if maybe Pel zan-Nate would steal that title. The young risfe was a good student, but hardly the natural leader type the position really required.

At least she had her best friend, Melchol zan-Ku, to turn to when things got a little too much to handle.


"All I'm saying is, if we take any more baby steps Pel's going to start needing wrap changes. I just can't see them* being taken seriously once I'm not around to keep an eye on things."


"Don't give up just yet," Melchol replied. "You might be surprised. Ask any of my siblings, they'd never have picked me as most likely to take charge of an entire village's resources. But I did, because there wasn't much else I could do while I looked after Abina. Maybe Pel will step up too, once they have no choice in the matter."


Vedrafe didn't look convinced. "No choice is the exact reason I took Pel on in the first place! They're the only risfe in the entire tribe. That has to mean something, to the spirits at least..."




"What do the stones say?" Melchol asked. Reading fortune stones was the most common method of divination Vedrafe used.


"The stones...." Vedrafe's voice was faint. "No, I'm not getting much from them, not as far as Pel's concerned." She shook her head.


Melchol placed a hand on Vedrafe's shoulder, and gently said "Then maybe we should forget it for a while. Forget Pel, the stones and the fact that we're responsible adults." He smiled and added "Race you to the swing!" before turning and running in that direction .




That was exactly what Vedrafe loved about Melchol - he rarely goofed around with anyone besides her, and always seemed to know what to do to make her feel better. She had to admit she had some feelings for him... and maybe also for his older brothers, Sophos and Pollux. What was it with those zan-Ku men?


**********


The next day, Vedrafe, Pel and several other villagers made their way into the forest to gather as much food as they could find. This foraging trip would probably be the last of the season - winter was taking its time to arrive, but the air was getting colder each day. Storing food had become first priority for Kulo Seeri.





The group stopped beside the small lake in the middle of the forest, and Vedrafe headed for the far side of the lake so she could catch a few fish while still keeping an eye on the goings-on. Pel stayed snacking on some of the nuts and berries with the rest of the party, much to their mentor's surprise.




She'd expected Pel to join her, if not to fish, then at least to get away from Moli and Petal. With Vedrafe close to her apprentice, both women mostly left them alone, but still seemed to enjoy picking on Pel at every opportunity they got. It already looked like it was going that way, even though Vedrafe could see everything that was happening.




Pel didn't seem particularly bothered by Moli's taunts - Moli tended to pick on everyone - but as soon as Medeia zan-Shola distracted her, Petal zan-Ace swooped in with a barrage of insults and finger jabs. Petal was Zita's eldest daughter, born and raised in Moonlight Falls; she and Pel had hated each other from the start, not that anyone had been able to discover why.




Actually, Vedrafe suspected that Petal had a crush on her apprentice. If that was the case, Pel hadn't figured it out - they looked extremely embarrassed by the time Petal let it drop.

Either way, it couldn't carry on. It was bad enough that there were bullies like Moli and Petal in Kulo Seeri in the first place, but Pel never tried standing up to either of them. If they'd been apprentice to anyone else in the village, it wouldn't have been as much of a problem, but a shaman really needed to command respect. Pel would be the third highest ranking member of the tribe one day - how could they take on that responsibility when everyone walked all over them?





Enough was enough. Vedrafe picked up her fish and stormed over to the other side of the lake, where a very upset-looking Pel was taking yet more of Petal and Moli's nonsense. She drew her wand, targeting the two women with one of her more powerful friendship charms, willing them to treat Pel with more kindness for as long as the spell lasted.




A flash of light surrounded the pair. Pel stepped forward, probably guessing what Vedrafe had done.

"Hey, Petal..." they started to say, before being pulled away by their mentor. Vedrafe was relatively sure the charm had worked, but she wasn't taking any chances if it hadn't. They were heading back to her tents for another lesson, whether Pel wanted to stick around or not.

It wasn't long before Petal arrived there. She's followed us back, Vedrafe thought, maybe she does like Pel? She left her working tent, motioning for Pel to follow her, and quietly assuring him that her spell would stop Petal trying to pick fights with him for a while.



Vedrafe greeted Petal, and suggested that she might want to admit to Pel how she felt about them.

"I'd be happy to, Vedrafe," the younger woman said, before Pel cut in with "Only if I get to go first!"

Pel slowly walked towards Petal, and told her "I've been wanting to say this for a long, long time..."

Vedrafe smiled to herself. Was this the unexpected union she'd received the sign about?


However, she was snapped out of that thought as she saw Pel slap Petal and yell "Go back to Moonlight Falls and leave me alone for once!"


Of all the times for her apprentice to grow a spine. Well, she'd been given her powers to act as a shaman, not a matchmaker...

********** *Although Nuidya culture has three genders, their language doesn't use gender-specific pronouns. So, the translation convention in this blog is to use "they/them" for risfe. As a "they/them" risfe myself, and the inventor of the Nuidya culture and language, I don't mind this at all. - VT

Friday, August 11, 2017

Revenge, 143

Headwoman's tents, Fire Moon 143.

Ganyalis felt like he was going to snap any moment.

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Things to Come, 142.5

Shaman's tent, Winter Flames Festival, just before the 143rd moon.

Muttering a divination chant - quietly, to avoid waking her brother - Vedrafe watched the dancing flames carefully, searching for any messages from the spirits.


Sunday, July 30, 2017

One step forward, two steps back

OK, I have a confession to make - at the moment I'm rebuilding again due to urnstone borkage, so that story post I promised? Probably sometime in the next couple of weeks. But...

Saturday, May 06, 2017

Next time, I'll do a story post. Promise.

Sorry for disappearing again! I've been happily distracted in TS3 with a reboot of last year's birthday special, which has managed to spiral out of control and leave me with fifteen Sims in a two-bed house (yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!) - and now I'm back to TS2, I'm also trying to find appropriate winter clothing for my Kulo Seeri Sims, because I started the newest KS in early spring (Sim-time) and it's now late autumn.

Speaking of winter, read on for my latest kooky plan:

Saturday, April 15, 2017

New Cast and Story So Far

Hey everyone, Kulo Seeri is ten years old tomorrow and officially in a bloggable state again! Wooo!

I have to admit there won't be pics of the early rotations (no screenshots while I got everything established) or of the bachelorette challenge (so long ago I forgot what happened, even with screenshots) - thanks to some advice from a couple of my tumblr followers, I've decided to write about what's getting me excited in my game right now. :)


So, I think a catch-up post is in order:

Monday, February 20, 2017

Return to Kulo Seeri

Hi all! Unfortunately my depression has been biting really badly lately, and I've taken myself away from the simming community for a while so I had time to recover. But now I'm back, feeling better, and about to start yet another new iteration of KS (old one got corrupted, and depression + aversion to building = a long, hoodless month.)

And I have a few things I'd like to say:

Sunday, January 08, 2017

Trouble Comes in Threes: Triple Bachelorette Challenge Intro

VT says: Well, I'm rebuilding again, but until I get back to blogging regularly, here's something for you all to read in the meantime!

Inspired by all the hilarious Bachelor and Bachelorette challenges I've read at Plumb Bob Keep, the need for at least one of the three zan-Avira sisters to produce an heir, and the general lack of eligible men in Kulo Seeri, I have outdone myself in the "overly complicated" department and devised a series of challenges for a group of ten men - some donated by other simmers at PBK, others made by me, all competing for the hand of either Headwoman Kitira or one of her younger sisters. And all three sisters will be part of the challenge at once!

Read on over the next couple of weeks for the first day of random photos, goofy challenges and possibly the occasional terrible pun!


(Note: None of this, except the identities of the three winners, will be canon in "regular" KS posts. Just saying.)


Right. Ready to start? Let's meet the guys...



From left to right:
Gaston LeBeau (created by Morganna from PBK), a great hunter from Tressia who enjoys sports, killing things and woohoo;
Adam Brentsson (created by me), a younger son of the nearby Blue Forest clan's chieftain, sent on a diplomatic mission to Kulo Seeri;
Tiolata zan-Ave Merrick (created by me), the half-Nuidya, non-vampire son of Larkspur zan-Ave and Beau Merrick, hoping to find himself and maybe true love among his mother's people;
Rock Greenman (created by me), another diplomatic envoy from that plantsim community Rose Greenman in Riverblossom Hills came from;
and Jason Riggs (created by Rowena from PBK), son of medieval versions of Rowena's character Trace and Corso Riggs, who longs for family, stability and a soulmate who understands him.


Trevor Gorski (created by me), younger brother of the late Nathan "Pit Boy" Gorski who spent most of his life in Kulo Seeri as a menial labourer but managed to die a war hero after zombies appeared, hoping to continue his family legacy of unexpected awesomeness;
Kane Tiani (created by me), great-grandson of Olabisi Tiani of "eighth survivor of the Great Storm" fame, who was just visiting but got roped into the contest by the elders;
Melchol Stone (born in FlyingRaccoon's game), once a sickly toddler, now all grown up in my game (though not in the game where he was born) and looking for a new start in a new place;
Sophos Stone (also from FlyingRaccoon's game), Melchol's older brother, a take-no-nonsense type who may well be here mostly for the sake of brotherly competition;
and Jay Sharp (created by me), son of a celebrity couple from SimNation, who appears to be here for the publicity more than anything else.

As for the three bachelorettes:


Repeating my intro from PBK here, so:

On the left is Kenda zan-Avira, youngest of the sisters. She's a Popularity/Fortune sim, her personality is 7/8/2/4/1 (Aquarius) and she is attracted to good cooks and bearded men, but somewhat repulsed by zombies. Kenda is pretty squeamish - despite her good aim and ability to run fast, she knew she was never going to be a hunter after throwing up at the birth of a litter of puppies - and isn't really that keen on the idea of having children, but the next generation will need a headwoman and it will shut the elders up for a while, so she might as well get in on this stupid contest.

In the middle is Kitira mi-Avira, the alternative form of the clan name indicating that she is the current headwoman of Kulo Seeri. She's a Knowledge/Popularity sim, and an Aries with the personality 5/10/8/3/6. She likes men with a larger body type, and is also attracted to jewellery and other adornments (as long as they're binned as glasses). However, she's less attracted to blond men, for reasons that may or may not involve goofball cousins. Kitira works hard and plays hard, enjoying a good party as much as a good story from the lorekeepers, and while she's never had much experience with romance, she knows this could be her best chance to find a suitable partner.

On the right is Abina zan-Avira, Kenda's older twin. She is a Pleasure/Family sim, her personality is 8/5/2/7/8, and like her twin she is an Aquarius and attracted to bearded men. She also likes athletic sims, but is not keen on overly logical types. Although she lost her sight at a young age, Abina is a fun-loving sim, a talented musician, and probably the most romantically inclined of the trio. She's hoping to meet the perfect match in this contest, and also hopes that it will be easier for her to find the right one than it will be for her sisters - after all, she's not going to get sidetracked by pretty faces, which she considers to be her main advantage in the contest.

Stay tuned for day 1! :)