#test of time

[quietlyunravelling]

[billionaireblueprint]

Failure is Nothing More than a small Road Marker on a Highway.

[ivkafisik-simblr]

For Fun and Glory

While the Balefires may have entered the Roman era with more than 80k Simoleons, Emperor Kraken Scale, the Emperor of Love, declared that their wealth should be used elsewhere, and to the benefit of all. So the Balefires relocated to a humble farm and Kraken used their money to pay for this peak of my building skills: the Colosseum.

Emperor Kraken, being the Emperor of Love, also declared that each Servant sent to the Colosseum deserves at least a fighting chance. For that purpose, the Gladiator Academy was established.

I would describe the Gladiator Academy as something akin to a modern workplace: should you survive your tenure, you may be rewarded with a career advance. Any unmarried Servant wishing to improve their social standing may decide to join the academy. If they win three fights and the Emperor likes them, they are free to leave as a Plebeian, broadening their marriage options and general survival.

Needless to say, none of the Servants were too thrilled to join the Gladiator Academy, so it was declared that the first Servant drawn for a Colosseum fight will be considered a happy volunteer. 

And that first Servant was Astral Hex, the youngest boy from the main Hex household. Oh, if only he were born to a wealthy family! If only he could expect a nice and comfy life, just like Granite Stone here!

The first real gladiatorial fight was scheduled on the first day of summer as a part of the festive activities accompanying the once-in-a-generation wedding of Emperor Kraken Scale and the future Empress Dark Opal Silver Dawn.

So Astral spent the spring preparing for the fight with the next randomly drawn Servant. There was nothing to do at the Academy but to exercise and Astral made use of every second.

Emperor Kraken, who happened to be best friends with young Astral, was very supportive. “I can’t wait for your big performance,“ he said over a dinner in the palace.

“If only the future Empress would get sprayed by a skunk,” Astral muttered while glaring at Kraken's palace conveniently located just across the street.

Then the first day of summer came and I rolled the dice.

And it was Bloom II Leaf-Hex, that Bloom who basically lived on the monkey bars, because her brother was obsessed with exercising. She had only 6 Body points, but she already carried herself as a winner.

My life is so over, Astral thought.

And he was right, because the greeting they exchanged was the last polite interaction they had before Bloom wiped the floor with him.

Bloom won and Astral died. None of his closest family members were present, because they were all lying in bed with the flu, so his body was buried behind the Colosseum, Bloom joined the Gladiator Academy and everyone moved to the next big event of the day: the grand wedding. 

[guessimate]

The Random Occurrence Scenario gods agreed with me I should have added more sims to my world! But I rolled again because I did that before I even rolled the dice, so the actual scenario for the Orange/Wolfen household was for a child to run away...

It might not be making the most sense, but Primula is becoming a Vestal Virgin, just because I think it makes more sense than Volesus going to the monastery in the Asian part of town...

Primula just turned into a child at the end of the last round. When she's around '36' (not sure how I'll determine it yet) she'll be able to start her own household, and maybe settle down with someone. I use just the regular Maxis aging and while it's not perfect, it works for me, especially that the teenage life stage is so long. But I might someday make my own, I will see.

~*~

Thanks to this ROS I will have an incentive to actually play the Vestals' lot because Primula has got a twin brother, so they need to age at around the same time.

On topic of how I play the Vestal lot:

I have one of these altars there just for the looks so the fire is everlasting, but also it's an easy way to either max out your sim's energy bar, or to make them pass out.

For the actual functional aspect of the lot I use Sun&Moon's All Fired Up. My sims need to light up the fire and collect the ashes every ~8 hours. But I give them an hour to do it, so I'm not very strict about it.

One Vestal Virgin has to be awake when another one is asleep so that there is always someone to collect the ashes and light the fire again as soon as possible, at all times. They also pray at the main altar, so that I can decide who is on the watch duty. I also allow them to go to the bathhouse once a day when I'm sure the fire won't stop burning.

~*~

Back to the main household...

Marius Wolfen met a newcomer to town, Polla, at the temple. She must have been mourning the unfortunate disappearance of their relative.

On the following day, her cousin Caesulla was walking by the Orange/Wolfen lot. Marius didn't have great chemistry with her, but she liked him quite a lot! Her relative, Polla, already made friends with Marius by that point, and to their knowledge she's her only relative, so this betrothal was fully approved.

The young couple went on two dates before they tied the knot. Their first date wasn't very good because Marius had to go to work, and I imagine he might have mentioned something about preparing for the upcoming war... But Caesulla warmed up to him the second time they met.

They didn't have a huge crowd at the wedding, but I decided to invite Primula and Rana, so everyone knows the whereabouts of the missing child. I'm sure it's reassuring to them to know she is fine and well, even if she's far away from home.

~*~

Marius and Caesulla had a baby girl named Maria together. She is a blue-eyed brunette. Maria Wolfen is totally fine and she will live a long, healthy life, unless something unexpected happens to her. Unfortunately, her mom felt bad after giving birth and she didn't survive... That also means the Wolfen family name will end with this generation.

Maria is a Pisces and she has a very similar personality to her mom's, the only difference is that she's 9 Nice (other than that she's the exact copy in terms of personality: 6 Neat, 3 Shy, 9 Active, 2 Serious). I think she has got her dad's nose, but she might have inherited her mom's eyes and mouth. She is darker skinned than her parents, I think it's because my alien skin is on the scale (or maybe she just inherited it from her grandpa, I'm not sure).

Caesulla's death was tragic and there was nothing funny about it, but I couldn't help but notice her husband was in the middle of something (likely sponge bathing) while she was 'expiring'... So he was captured mourning, clad in nothing but his tears, I suppose.

I am very sorry her life was so short, especially that we didn't really get to know her very well... I hope her cousin's fate will be better.

~*~

It was high time to find a mate for Fitela this round, before he would become an elderly dog. Fitela and Alia (a newly-adopted stray wolf) had one female puppy together. I called her Lykaia.

Luna (Fitela's mother, and enemy) crossed the rainbow bridge on the same day when the household witnessed the birth of two little goat kids. It is a slow process, but someday they will have a big goat farm.

~*~

The Orange/Wolfen home business earned ~800$, and together with Marius's military career paychecks they earned 1285$ this round.

500$ - rent

514$ - tax

129$ - tithe

They paid 1150$.

Before Marius and Ninildu went off to war, Volesus aged up into a teen and was rolled to become a Romance sim. He will stay home and take care of Aulus, to pay off his 'debt'. After all, he was well looked after in this household after he had been orphaned.

I also had Ninildu close the home business to avoid any issues. Volesus will need to open it on his own... after which I will probably have Aulus take over.

[androdconstruction]

 “It is not the beauty of the building you should look at: it’s the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.”

– David Allen Coe

[purble-turble]

test of time red son gives me so much secondhand embarrassment it's unreal, like everyone is so mean to him :[ he kinda deserves it but still

Oh my gosh totally- I am glad you thought so because that was exactly the feeling I was hoping for when writing it! Red Son is super dramatic and cocky which normally is not a big deal, but in this future his normal mannerisms are unwelcome and frankly upsetting to everyone around him, so it's just cringey and awkward when he tries to interact with them as he normally would.

Also yes, he totally deserves it :P

[equinoxts2]

I’ve got to rebuild again... ugh, mod conflicts and resets suck. For my first Kulo Seeri rebuild of 2023, though, I’m trying something different: turning KS’ frontier subhood into its own main hood in a separate save folder, and converting Kulo Seeri proper into a heavily modified Test of Time challenge. Story posts from it will live on my Dreamwidth and be linked here.

Obviously, I’ve changed most of the details regarding what the eras represent, I’m reversing the gender-based restrictions, and I’m ignoring the CAS sim guidelines (I have seven already established clans) and anything in the original rules related to genetics. I do have one slight problem though... (cut for personal issue impacting my game)

I still don’t know what I want to do about male sims. I will definitely keep them, but I’m unsure how my variant ruleset will treat them. It’s not in my nature to be harsh or repressive, but - even though the last fifteen months have seen me overcoming a lot of my PTSD - I still can’t play out any situation in which a male sim has power/authority over a female sim, and I still occasionally want to get back at/spite the male classmates and teachers who literally tortured me at school.

Basically I’m torn between the core gentle, caring nature that wants my game to be a safe place to escape to with as few unnecessary restrictions as possible, and the less than pleasant side of me that wants my game to be a revenge fantasy and says that keeping male sims down is a necessary restriction, which is not how I want to think at all. I don’t know... I just want a peaceful escapist hood but my inner demons still won’t let me... help?