Story guide

The folly of this island! They say there’s but five upon the isle. We are three of them; if the other two be brained like us, the state totters.

The Tempest

Prologue

For thousands of years, strangers came to the Isles from across the sea. Sometimes alone and sometimes in hordes. We in turn dispatched hordes of our own who sought freedom, or profit, or adventure.

Those of us who became wealthy eventually tired of guarding their goods. To pass them on was a relief from the prospect of theft. In uncertain times, the right to it tomorrow became more attractive than the use of the thing today.

And so we built a system of title, whereby the limited supply of things on this island were jointly claimed and severally owned. We rented them out and leased them back. We created contracts and bills of exchange.

All the while, those of us who could were buying up the space to live in. And paying with all kinds of intangibles; with our reputation, with the fortunes of our parents, and with the expectations of our children.

Eargain

Eargain is part of the Turberfield project. It tries to construct an interactive narrative around the simulation of an economic system.

When it is ready, it should feel like a game. It will live on the web, but all the code is here for you to play with at home.

The story is set in the Brythonic region which became Archenfield. It is the year AD 396.

The occupying Imperial forces are beginning to lose their support from Rome and are busy preparing for an orderly withdrawal. Already their influence is contested. Pockets of resistance are forming in some remote areas.

This is of great concern to many inhabitants. The educated elite and the Christian orthodoxy have largely benefitted from Roman rule. There is fear of reprisals, revolt and invasion.

For others, it will be a chance for power and riches. To forge trade with Franks and Danes. A time to claim back the land from our oppressors.

Characters

Ant the merchant

Anatol Bospor was a Roman legionnaire for almost thirty years. He got paid off and set up the regular mule train which links the quarry to its customers far away.

Ant’s biggest worry is being robbed. No one wants to steal stone, but the bags of silver coin which will pay for each load bring desperate men to him every trip. In the mud and brambles he and his crew must fight off the bandits, then load up and bring the lime home.

Bryn the miner

A beast of a man, Bryn’s craggy features intimidate almost everyone he meets. The scars on his huge hands and arms tell of many years of cutting lime. He has few words for strangers, but he is a good and trusted friend to those who know him.

Cadi the wife

Not many people know how Cadi Ingenbrettar ended up here at the quarry. Wherever she came from, she has certainly learned to prevail under difficult circumstances.

Cadi makes food for the quarry workers. She is proud of her kitchen, but the fierce twinkle in her eye suggests she may not settle here for long.

Dolphus the custodian

Dolphus Bifling is an elder of the sect which inhabits the Mithraeum. He is not well known outside his congregation. Only Ant and Bryn seem to have a need to speak with him. But where and why they meet is a mystery.

Locations

The Quarry

For many years, a single family has operated a small quarry in the woods. They hack out the limestone which they sell to be burnt with iron ore in furnaces far to the North.

In these changing times, young people are on the move. Chased away from poor hill communities, or fleeing enslavement by local warlords, they seek on foot for a place to settle.

Some who find the Quarry choose to stay in return for work.

The Common houses

Not far from the quarry edge, on the flattest part of the hill, lies a cluster of wooden lodges. Bryn and his workers build and maintain them when there is need.

They are roughly made. The men rarely practice this kind of work, and Bryn frets that the time spent on building them leaves stone in the ground.

The community of workers is forever changing. But whether laughing or fighting, thieving or scheming, the men will put all else aside for food and a game of chance.

The Tavern

A small dwelling sits on the path to the quarry. It has been built from the pieces of a tumbled-down bath house. Those who know it, keep it. Those who come as strangers do well to pass on by.

The Mithraeum

In a grove of thick-tangled creeper lies the entrance to a network of limestone caves. They are home to a religious community of obscure origin.

Of all the settlements in the region, the Mithraeum is the most forbidding to those who don’t belong. No one really knows how many live there, but rumour has it they guard the remains of ancient Princes and relics from the bodies of the very first Bishops.

Outside the caves grows the Cubby tree. Its fruit is like a walnut, yet tougher and more bitter. The nut begins round, but when carefully and progressively dried, acquires a dimple which stops it from rolling about.

Those hardened Cubbynuts are the counters in childrens’ games and the tokens exchanged by separated lovers.