When we dance, we dance between the towers: Dara

I am Dara. I am a child of the future - my father was not even born when I was an infant, and would not be born for a century or more. I have returned to the future - perhaps the only one of the changing breed that still exists here - to continue what my mother had started. I will study Luna and her star sisters, I will learn where the spirits come from, and I will master their gifts. Then I will return this knowledge to my half siblings, and we will end the blight that the world still endures.

This is Dara, on her own, in the future, trying to finish off Alien Technology. She has 25 days to go as a YA (that is, she is here on her birthday). She has to lift the Astrophysicist branch. To that end, she already has Logic 10, but of course Advanced Technology 0. While I could do the Emit quests again - see previous post for the crash explanation - that would clearly not be in the spirit of things, so I won't.

At the end of week 1, I am a Star Charter (Astrophysics 6), with Advanced Technology 7 and 3 unique nanites (Heisenberg, Thermo, Tunnelling). I have set the seasons to 7 days winter/7 days spring, since it is really hard to see the nanites anyway and the snow doesn't help, but so far it is still winter.

It took me surprisingly little time to master the advanced technology of the future, and eventually I discovered the source of the spirit technology. The future is drenched in the proceeds of these machines - and I believed I knew the basics on how to recreate this in my own time. The power source was the tricky part - in the future, nanites grow wild from forgotten experiments, and without a substantial supply of such nanites none of the spirit-tech would work. I had been scrounging some where I could, but I had a little more to do.

It was difficult to find the nanites under the snow, so I performed the howl of spring. The elusive creatures that I so struggled to find in winter were revealed easily to my enhanced senses, and in short order I was ready to return to the present.

Week 2, Day 6 (so, 13 days in the future) Dara has hit level 10. This coincides with the first day of spring, and so I can reasonably hope to get the last nanite I need on the Saturday.

And wow, what a difference spring makes! I easily found 9 more nanites (counting only unique varieties - including an Uber and a Damping). Conclusion is unavoidable - friends don't let friends go nanite hunting in the snow.

So after 14 days in the future, it was time to send Dara home.

I took the nanites and my data to the science facility in my own time. With my aid, we were able to reverse engineer much of the spirit tech - I have no doubt that this has destroyed the time line, but the future we will have will be better.

In fact, I decided to make sure it was. Who better to lead the world than the one that knows what it could be like? None better - I was prepared to join at the bottom of the ladder, but it was a life of politics for me. Human politics is messy and subtle - so unlike the changing breed - but I have half human siblings, it is not as if they are an alien race. I will prevail.

The tour of the science centre is complete - Alien Technology lifted. On "Week 2, Day 1" I kicked out Ann and Random; this was shortly after the twins had become teenagers. I used Ann (armed with a Collection Helper, thanks to Dara lifting AT) to collect a bunch of gems and metals, boosting my bonus points considerably.

Eric finally purified himself, and then died of ritual starvation. A harsh way to go, but he was somewhat mollified when I told him that the future showed he had died in such a fashion. I lied, of course - I am nowhere near ghoulish enough to have spent my time in the future looking up my family's obituaries - but it was only a little white lie.

My progress as a politician was rapid. I was already the local representative of the area when Eric passed away, but I had my sights set far higher. With my extensive contacts - forged from trips mainly to the library, as I wanted well educated constituents and that seemed a good place to find them - I had no trouble raising campaign donations. My half siblings were similarly successful.

"Week 2 Day 4", the 5th platinum tombstone (starvation, Eric). This brings me up to 215 points with 5 lifts to go, so I will get a maximum score (all I'm after, not being able to win and all). I have had few issues; the massive stockpile of Sleeping Elixirs that Florimel made still hasn't run out, and so my Sims are highly productive. Indeed, on the same day:

Indeed, shortly after Eric's death Vialle managed an interesting coup - she had become the master art appraiser of the city, and using her influence demanded that the building codes be considerably relaxed or else she would have to stop releasing art. This was a dire threat indeed, judging by how quickly the current city administrators folded; she did not even need my influence. With access to far more high quality goods now, Gerard requested a personal laboratory to continue his research; we could hardly say no. Vialle left to work in a more global capacity as the building code enforcer, and managed to get a laboratory station delivered as a parting gift.

Architect lifted. This took a while, because there are lots of days off, mainly. The primary reason for pushing this was to get access to the Science Research Station for Gerard, who is already at Science 8 despite Vialle's considerable head start. Having made the lift, she gets kicked out.

At last I achieve my goal - winning the first election by a landslide. My first goal was to pass laws forbidding hate speech against the changing breed - my werewolf status is not public knowledge, but it is probably suspected, and certainly my family's connection to the moon touched is well documented by this point. In order to make sure the coming golden age will be a reality, I release funds to re-open several boarding schools, and to show our support I send my nephew to complete his high school years there. My half brother Gerard seemed obsessed with finding a way to isolate the changing gene - perhaps to give himself our powers - but in the process he had already figured out several techniques that, with a little more research, could restore not only edible fruits and vegetables but even plants that could be exothermic - leading to the return of normal seasons, without even requiring the Howl of Spring. After I promised to give him the blessing of the change if he completed this research, Gerard redoubled his efforts.

"Week 3, Day 2", Politics is lifted and the only remaining Naturalist part is now the Experienced Experimentalist part (the Free Range Scientist I've already got). 99 more successful experiments to go.

Just for a change, I send Oberon off to boarding school (he only has 4 days to go till YA) - the School of Peace and Love. I'm keeping Dara around strictly for story purposes at the moment.

With my leading the world, and Gerard attempting to cure it, Julian's contribution might seem frivolous, but far from it. His werewolf inspired "Lycan Rock" style lifted the morale of all who heard it, and there was a definite surge in productivity after every public appearance.

"Week 3, Day 4" (or actually just after Day 3, but whatever), Entertainment is lifted. I have Julian head down and buy some song compositions; there are a few skill challenges he can contribute. I was also thinking about making him a celebrity, but the purchased Map to the Stars shows no celebrities at all.

My nephew returned from his boarding school and immediately took a job in our restaurant - he wanted no special favours, and started at the very bottom. I approved; he was a worthy addition to our family, even if he lacked the changing gene.

Oberon returns from boarding school, a young adult.

Incidentally - when going for the experiments for Naturalist, use Gene Splicing. Horticultural Experiment will fail (a lot), Gene Splicing doesn't seem to ever fail. Sure, it doesn't improve the seeds or anything, but that's fine - we're not trying to get anything except 100 successful experiments.

Gerard finally completed his experiment. It saddened me, but it made a lot of sense. The reason there were none of the changing breed in the future was now clear to me - Gerard had discovered a way to implement a genetic resequencing that would give humans many plant like characteristics. Spreading this amongst the human population would quickly soak up the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and end the global cooling effect - winter would end, spring would come, and even summer and autumn would follow. We could eat food that wasn't grown under greenhouse conditions - which meant more of it, and better tasting.

But it was incompatible with lycanthropy. Our heritage was over; we would be the last of the changing breed. There were ways for us to extend our lifespan - perhaps, Gerard suggested, even for us to come back from death itself, at least for a while - but with no humans to provide for future breeding stock, there could be no more of us.

The final steps were up to Oberon. Gerard had produced the necessary prototypes, but Oberon still needed to work out a safe procedure to apply it. Since food was still strictly controlled - and I could ensure that remained true for long enough - it was the logical vector for the treatment. Oberon needed to become a celebrated chef, so that his seemingly innocuous recipes would be copied, eaten - and the results unavoidable.

"Week 4, Day 5" - Naturalist lifted. This actually goes pretty fast once you realise that Gene Splicing is the key. Gerard ended up with 23 Forbidden Fruit in the process - hence, the story explanation.

With no particular further use for Gerard, I had him move out.

I had 2 promotions to go for Culinary on "Week 5, Day 4". I got one, but thanks to days off and Love Day, there was a 3 day wait before the next work day (but fortunately there are 3 work days in a row, so if I miss it I'll get it on the next day). I had Dara collect gems and metals, cranking up the Compendium bars and completing my gem collection (though it must be said, even with a Collection Helper and sometimes twice daily trips Plutonium is still really rare, as are a lot of the gems - I really think the best bet for gems is the martial arts board, but I am not going to go to China at this late stage just to get one). I've been buying up businesses too; just before it is clear I will to get Culinary 10 I will sell them all off of course.

I managed to get a Plutonium ingot returned on one of my transfigurations; I'm not sure the exact formula, but I think it was Compendium, 10 Iron, and 2 Silver. (I got a Compendium and a Plutonium and an Iron back - but I'm not sure if that is even the right recipe, let alone repeatable). Then of course the very next day I found some Plutonium "in the wild", so to speak. I still experimented further, and I was able on one out of two tries with Compendium + 10 Iron to get this result - which suggests it is bound by the value of the metals as well as the quantity.

With Oberon's success, the world changed. The future I had visited would never come to pass, and the human race as we knew it no longer really existed. Adults all over the world unsuspectingly ate the recipes that Oberon suggested, with the combination of ingredients enough to trigger the genetic resequencing Gerard had perfected. The new race of Homo Vegetalis quickly supplanted the few hold outs, and babies were uniformly "born green". While our kind achieved a limited immortality, we no longer have any fresh human blood to bring into the line. We are the first dying race that can be termed immortal - the contradiction amuses me as I observe a world that has elected me the supreme leader for my third consecutive term.

In times past, we were predators on humanity, but when humans really needed us, my family showed we were more kin than stranger. Even if the humanity we once knew no longer exists, still the race that replaced it knows the loyalty of the wolf, and we are content.

And Culinary is lifted, "Week 5, Day 6" (see below). The apocalypse is over.

Here's the scoring breakdown:

• All restrictions lifted: 25 points.
• 156 points in bonuses:
• 3 points Copious Librarian (35 books)
• 60 points Amazing Naturalist (almost all space rocks, a variety of gems, metals, and nanites, and a single sprite).
• 24 points Admirable Adonis (18 trained family members, plus Emit Relevart and Tina Talisman trained for 10 hours each).
• 30 points Skill Meister (too many to list, but notably Master Guitarist, Pianist, and Bassist for Julian, and 3 collectible challenges for Dara).
• 12 points Lifetime Wants (surprisingly low).
• 15 points tombstones.
• 2 gnomes (Evil and Bittertrotter)
• 2 points money ($404 333 - I lost a lot when the game crashed, because I had to rebuy all the businesses I owned, but that's OK).
• 8 points Time in a Bottle (2 days used).
• 75 points in Prestige (105 total):
• Prestige Hard Non-Uni
• Prestige Werewolf
• Prestige Male Founder
• 0 penalties
• 4 bloopers: I had the chin up bar and the stereo at the start, I placed the gypsy wagon and movie studio after the start, and I went to Hospital for giving birth after lifting Medical but before lifting Military)

Total score: 220 (maximum). Figuring in the days from before the crash, and adding in time travel days, it comes to a total of 244 days.

Thanks for reading this far!

It's actually factually not that white and black: Eric

It was the last days of the bad times. Mother wolf Florimel had made the next to last sacrifice that the moon god needed, leaving the running of the household to me as heir.

Finally Florimel dies, of old age, with an easily platinum grave. This is Week 25, Day 3. Naturally enough, her passing immediately sends the werewolves into a feral change.

The good news: I had twins. The bad news, they were both normal humans. Is it legal to have the last generation contain no heirs? A quick check with my fellow adjudicators and we decided that yes, this is OK - I posted a tournament clarification.

My twins were born - the last of the pack to be born in the bad times. Though perhaps they should not be referred to as part of the pack. The changing blood had been growing thinner every generation, and neither of my children had the gift. Perhaps this was for the best. Perhaps the future contains no place for those of the wolf.

Week 25, Day 5. The final two, and frankly I don't need them both. A quick look at the optional clears convinces me it's way too much effort to lift one of those this late - so sorry Random, things aren't looking good for you.

My investigations were perhaps a little unseemly. The dead do not rest since the event, and I took it upon myself to discover why. I wrote my notes up and published them widely - though to my dismay they were published as fiction. But I gradually began to understand what tied the departed to our realm, and put together a new howl.

Week 26, Day 3. Eric has already gotten to level 3 Mausoleum, has befriended 3 ghosts, and has beaten 2 of them in chess; he has Logic 10, so just one more point of Writing and beating the last ghost in chess and Paranormal is clear.

It turns out that I was missing something important. I needed to learn from someone who predated the event - and yet, someone I could trust. Great Grandfather Benedict agreed to teach me what I needed, but only if I could beat him at chess. I found this somewhat superficial and cryptic, but after finally catching him in French Defence trap, he revealed that the dead were bound by such ridiculous requirements - they wanted to help, but they could not disobey the rules - there must be a challenge, and the challenge must be won.

I knew now. With a mighty roar the dead were scattered - the only ones that could remain were those who had purified themselves in sacrifice. Clarissa, Llewellyn, Florimel, Corwin - these ghosts would stay as a barrier to others. But there was a price for this power - I would have to join them myself, once I was sufficiently purified. I am no coward, but this thought troubles me nonetheless.

Week , Day , Paranormal lifted. Eric befriended Chrystal, Clarissa, and Llewellyn; he beat Clarissa and Llewellyn at chess, but never managed to beat Chrystal, so eventually just beat Benedict instead. The problem with playing chess against "household ghosts" is that they're really good at it; after all, they are "former playables" and I almost always max Logic with a household Sim. But Eric managed to win three games (it took maybe 12 tries all up). The main thing Paranormal gives me is Meditative Trance Sleep - plus, of course, cleaning up the non-platinum ghosts. Beds it doesn't really affect - the best bunk beds are no better than the worst, and Architect still stops the best double beds. Of course once Architect is lifted I can certainly get better beds, but it's not that helpful.

Dara was a product of future science - the proof that the wolf still abides in the future, if not openly. We shared mother Florimel, though her father has yet to be born. Perhaps she was always destined to walk this path, but she tells me she must travel to the future, to finish the research that mother began. I wished her the best, and hoped for her safe return.

Week 27, Day 2, Dara hits YA. That means it's time for her to go to the future and finish lifting Alien Technology. Vialle has two more promotions (maybe as long as 5 days) before lifting Architect, Gerard is on Science 2, Julian is on Music 2, and Eric has 130k LTR points (with 12k locked wishes, and now he's in Journalism - he had a wish for it, so why not? - he'll likely get the rest from that). I set her LTW as "Leader of the Free World" (the intention is to have her lift Politics, too, and my Florimel experimentation shows that you can totally have a career in the present and the future), and then send her "back to the future!"

At this point I experienced a fairly serious issue - sending Dara to the future crashed the game. I tried various remedies, but in the end I had to move to a new neighbourhood (well, a new instance of Sunset Valley, but still) and tinker with Debug Enabler to get it to work. I did manage to do this, but the upshot was that it removed basically all of my money, all of my properties, and (as a consequence) a lot of my LTR goals regarding Eric's status as a 5th ghost (he had locked "Own 5 properties"). To be as fair as possible, as I start buying properties I will be locking and completing "Own 3 properties" wishes, but then using Master Controller to remove the LTR points for it. I have to take the wish - if I ignore it I won't get the "Own 5" - but I do not wish to double dip for the LTR points.

I need to remember to add 197 days to my "real" end date, too. Also, since my "proper" save was at 23:58 on a Monday, and my "new" save is early on Sunday, I intend to skip forward time and then use Master Controller to reset everyone's age for the time skip.

But anyway, let's continue this with Dara's adventures in the future.

Here we are, born to be kings: Florimel

With Llewellyn's contributions to the adult movie industry, the demand for her - art? - became such that the bandwidth restrictions we had been forced to endure collapsed. I shudder to imagine what sort of debased activities those using this new "internet" are engaging in, but it is not without its compensations.

Week 22, Day 2, Gamer is lifted. She has about 137k in LTR points, so she'll be fine for a new tombstone.

With my new twins Gerard and Julian, I decided it was time to start experimenting with time travel once more. However, first, I had to convince my siblings to move on with their lives - sort of literally. We needed more blood sacrifice, and it would require them to be very valuable sacrifices to count.

Week 22, Day 5, new twins Gerard and Julian are born (only Julian is a werewolf). Gerard came with Athletic, and I thought, "Right, I'll get him to do Entertainment via Actor" and picked Friendly. Then Julian came with Virtuoso - which means, effectively, that he has to go Entertainment with Rock Star, since otherwise that trait is useless, so I gave him Artistic as well. Gerard will try for Naturalist via the Genetic Engineering method, assuming Florimel can lift AT. An early Naturalist, why not?

With my first set of twins now teenagers, I spent a lot of time at home both raising my infants and convincing Corwin and Vialle of the necessity of their sacrifice. Neither were easy to sway, but I am the alpha.

Same day, the first set of twins are now teens. Vialle (aimed at Politics) has the traits Ambitious, Athletic, Charismatic, and Slob, with the skills Athletics 3, Logic 7, Painting 2. Eric (aimed at Paranormal via the base game method) has identical traits (Charismatic is the new one; seemed fair enough to help him befriend ghosts) has only Logic 8 as his skills.

Corwin was the first to accept my reasoning, vowing to call the power of the heavens through his body in order to make his sacrifice worthwhile. His screams as the electricity flowed through his veins were painful to hear, but he went knowing that his death had meaning.

Sorry about the screenshot; this is Corwin's electrocuted corpse. I had him buy Midlife Crisis and gave him Technophobe, then sabotage a TV, then fix it while standing in a puddle from the shower. Week 22, Day 7, my second platinum tombstone. This is in a very inconvenient position - right in front of the shower - requiring me to move the shower up a floor.

With Corwin's passing I returned to the future, spending many of the best years of my life there. I became a Beam Commander, mastering the art of space exploration with the hope that it would lead to the knowledge of advanced technology - but as my time grew short I realised I would never manage this on my own. With the consent of one of my friends there, we genetically engineered Dara. These hopes are now hers to fulfil - it is my wish, as alpha, that once she grows to adulthood she follows the path I pioneered, and returns to the future to study the astrophysics that we will need.

Space Explorer 10, plus an engineered baby. Alien Technology now just requires Dara to go back, get to Astrophysics 10, and collect some nanites. Having done that she will still be able to lift another restriction; I'm going to try for Architect via the Art Appraisal method.

On returning to the present I had a weird glitch - all my Sims were gone from the left hand panel. I managed to fix this by saving, then going to the main menu, then loading the save and changing the active household to the Primals. This did the trick - in case you have similar problems. Note that I do use NRAAS Traveller, which may have been either the cause or the cure.

I think, on balance, that Llewellyn wishes she had heeded me sooner. Corwin's death was painful but quick; Llewellyn had to endure the slow torture of freezing to death with an empty belly. But she made her sacrifice without complaint, and we were all the better for it. My own time will come soon enough; the twilight years are upon me.

Llewellyn freezes to death. Insert snide comment here about how genies, with their traditional mid riff outfits, cannot die this way, while werewolves, with their thick fur, can. Week 23, Day 2.

Finally, we took over the last of the criminal organisations that were demanding protection money. We could have simply started collecting it ourselves, but that would lack honour. We began to use the former mob to help fight crime, and opened the black market to law abiding citizens. We were not savages.

Week 23, Day 3, Criminal is lifted.

Eric, as my heir, has begun his own challenges early. He seeks to understand death and bring peace to the spirits, and he spoke to me quite meaningfully. His intent is clear, and my time grows short.

Week 23, Day 7, Mausoleum Level 3.

With my eldest kids now adults, the house begins to feel cramped. I have been preparing for my passing, and trying to keep the medical notes that Eric has requested for his records, but I seem to get distracted more easily than I did.

Week 24, Day 5, the elder twins are now young adults. Vialle is straight into Art Appraisal; Eric is now - bizarrely - hoping that the ghosts will emerge tonight (the ghosts that he befriends or plays at chess can absolutely be those on his own lot - there's no rule that they can't be family. Technically in a prestige occult ghost they could even be in your household).

Eric chose himself a mate. While the very clear indications are that I am surplus, a drain on the household, I am not quite ready to go yet, and my children are fortunately not so crass as to force me. But even my beloved Amir has moved out to a nursing home, rather than remain a burden on the family - I would join him, if not for the fact that more blood is needed.

I've been watching Ann, Eric's high school girlfriend, to see when she became a YA; on the day that this occurred (Week 25, Day 2) she was invited over, married, and impregnated. I have absolutely no use for her other than as the mother of whoever will lift Culinary. Hopefully the first kid will be a werewolf; to balance the chances, I am hoping Florimel (86 days old) will die before the baby is born to give me a shot at twins.

Ann is Bot Fan, Dog Person, Family-Oriented, Kleptomaniac, Slob. Not bad traits; Slob and Family-Oriented are the only ones that I care about.

Even my henchmen think I'm crazy: Florimel

Our plan was in motion; it was proceeding satisfactorily, if not quite as promptly as I could have wished for.

Last time Florimel had just gotten preggers. On Week 20, Day 2, I have Caine as Top Gun (should be lifted by Friday at the latest, outside chance of Wednesday); Corwin as Team Captain (probably another 7 days I'd say, unless I get a lucky opportunity); Llewellyn as Production Manager (hard to guess; depends a lot on whether she meets a Celebrity or not, but I've given her Star Quality now); Clarissa as Genetic Resequencer (at least another 7 days, since Snow Day is going to fall this Thursday so she effectively has only 2 more work days this week); Amin as Thug (a lot still to do here).

My first two cubs - Eric and Vialle - were born healthy and without problems.

The twins are both Athletic Slobs. I'm intending Paranormal and Politics for these two. With a current full house, it occurs to me that Florimel - still with 3 days to go until adult - might well be able to kill some time usefully.

Clarissa reported a strange device she'd discovered at the science lab. Using Amin's contacts, we managed to steal it and bring it home. I am clearly the brightest and most capable to analyse this device, and after a few preliminary investigations it became clear that this was a valuable object indeed: a portal to the future.

Such experimentation was dangerous, but I was clearly capable of dealing with the danger - and the potential power was enormous. I re-powered the device, and stepped through the portal.

Alien Technology via Into the Future - why not? She can intersperse pregnancies. I see no down side to this, and in fact could well have justified doing this last generation.

I did Dystopia, and got started on Utopia after finishing "The Tinkerer" and becoming an adult.

With access to the space program, we were now in an ideal position to sample and consider potential solutions to the eternal winter - of course, we were to some extent already in possession of a solution via the Howl of Spring, but nonetheless Caine's efforts also secured a massive purging of the zombie outbreaks. No longer would we be subject to curfews, travel restrictions within the city, and similar obstructions to our progress.While he obviously got the bad genes, my twin has achieved much that he can be proud of. He has performed adequately.

I spent 3 years in the future, discovering and exploring an alien spacecraft. When I returned home, there was a moment when it appeared I'd missed my toddler's formative years, but then I blinked and realised that they hadn't aged a day since I left. I will have to ration my time carefully.

Week 20, Day 6, Military lifted. Can freely move about town now, as well as free job selection. This is of course also another LTW established.

I also note that he's on 104k LTR points with 6 more days till he's an elder, plus another 14 (at least) is 20 days - a distinct possibility for the 150k mark. I edit his traits to give him Ambitious (boosts all wish rewards), Athletic (so that it will throw up easy wishes like "Work Out for X hours", Genius (he still needs to max Logic, so this will help) and Natural Cook (one of his locked wishes is to max Cooking). I'll have him start street art as well, as that's usually good for a few points too.

It takes 3 days in the future for me to unlock the alien spaceship; I had Florimel (20 days till elder) return at this point. I want to get at least 2 more kids before returning, which of course means that I need to lift at least two restrictions.

Upon returning home, I had a weird glitch. All of my Sims had aged 3 days, including toddlers to children. After checking with my fellow adjudicator (thanks Audrey!) and being assured this is not normal behaviour, I used Master Controller to fix everything - but that's something I'm going to have to watch for. I checked my patch level and updated everything.

While I feel considerable affection for both of my children, it is clear that Eric must be the one that bears the brunt of responsibility and, therefore, my attention. Vialle, sadly, has not inherited the changing power.

Week 21, Day 2, the twins are now children.

Clarissa finally completed her investigations. It seemed that with her new laboratory access, she was able to finally provide us with consistent power. I did not enquire too closely into what the source of this power was, but I did observe far fewer vampires and witches around than I had previously noted.

Science lifted, Week 21, Day 6. Florimel has 13 days till she is an adult. I am keeping an eye on this because I want to allow 20 days to complete an Astronomy career, which means if it gets down to 6, I'll have to cut my kids here short. But there's still time yet - despite never meeting any celebrities, Llewellyn will lift Gamer (via Movie Director) in 3 days (next time she is back at work), and Corwin will lift Athletics today in a few hours. I plan on getting pregnant tomorrow, and hopefully will get at least twins.

Corwin also had achieved success. With his image now on everyone's newly working television screens, his endorsement of our new gymnasiums and muscle restoring tonics allowed us to finally begin to plan for a final solution. There were still some pieces of the puzzle remaining - but the end was now in sight.

Same day, Athletics lifted too.

A quick check of LTW totals shows me that Caine is a bad investment. I want to free up a slot immediately, so I get rid of him via moving out.

Unfortunately we still required more sacrifice. Clarissa believed that the afterlife held no fears for a werewolf such as her, and howled her defiance to death itself. I am not sure if the result was what she had anticipated - but her sacrifice was not in vain.

Clarissa breaks 150k, so I have her rant to death. There are now two "slots" available. It is Week 22, Day 1; I will lift Gamer the next day, and Corwin has 140k LTW points with excellent chances of getting to 150 soon.

From death, new life. I will have more children, before returning to the future to see how best to plan.

Amir is on Athletics 10 too now, and a Henchman with 13 days until he is an elder (so Criminal will clear easily). I am planning Paranormal and Politics for the twins.

Television freakshow; cops and robbers everywhere: Florimel

The very real problem, as I understand it, is one of education. More than the loss of technology, more than the zombies at our doors, more even than the mob - which remains a force to be reckoned with, even after mother's efforts - the problem is that our teenagers no longer learn history.

And those who do not learn their history are doomed to repeat it. But those who do not learn their arithmetic, their literature, their science - what of them? They have little point in living at all. We could defeat the zombies, and howl the Song of Spring to bring back the Sun, but our unlettered existence would be little more sophisticated than the beasts whose shapes we wear.

The start here is just waiting for Brand and Deirdre to die. Unlucky truly is an awful trait in many ways; there was one point where Brand died of freezing, got resurrected, immediately died of starvation, and then got resurrected again. Grim was a most frequent visitor.

It falls to me, Florimel, daughter of Brand son of Benedict, to correct this glaring hole in our society. From lowly beginnings I set out to learn, to teach, and to learn to teach - all the while carefully considering the optimal use of my siblings. It is clear that our situation will be clearer with satellite coverage and military assistance, so Caine's role in the air force is crucial. But what of the triplets? Well, though it is a crutch, it cannot be avoided that technology is necessary to save us; we need to discover what is being hoarded, reverse engineer the principles, and teach it to others. While Clarissa is uncouth and lacks social graces, her mind is sharp enough, and scientists tend not to care so much about niceties - her path is clear.

Once we have electricity, we'll need reliable communications. We need what Grand Wolf Benedict referred to in his notes as "the Internet". It seems that the major push for this came about due to the desire to easily transport adult material. This is hardly dignified, but our need is considerable. Llewella will learn the tricks of the movie trade so that she can apply it to a more mature audience, and the resulting demand should hopefully have the same predictable response.

It is important to have healthy bodies as well as healthy minds - our house grows cluttered with objects too difficult to move, due to the muscular deterioration that even affects us in our beast shape. And yet there are still sporting events with somewhat impressive feats. Our medical knowledge offers only one explanation - there are clearly treatments that fight this process, that are being withheld from the general public. Caine will find these treatments - and if he has to, he will become the greatest of sports heroes to do so.

And finally the teenage years are over (Week 17 Day 5). I decided that these three would get Athletics (via Professional Sports), Gamer (via Movie Director), and Science. So, celebrity mode is turned on.

Clarissa is Equestrian, Mean-Spirited, Slob, Supernatural Fan, Virtuoso; her skills are Athletics 10, Logic 5, Painting 9. I give her the Creature/Robot Cross Breeder LTW, and whack her in Science where her antisocial traits won't hurt too much. As it happens Science was one of the three jobs in the paper, so she's in immediately.

Caine is Dislikes Children, Excitable, Insane, Lucky, Over-Emotional; his skills are Athletics 10, Logic 9. He gets Superstar Athlete as LTW and he's going into Professional Sports (when it comes up).

That leaves Llewellyn - Artistic, Kleptomaniac, Loves the Cold, Snob, Unlucky; skills are Athletics 10, Logic 9, Painting 4, Writing 5. Swimming in Cash is her LTW (should be doable with Business countering Criminal - I haven't really bothered so far, since I haven't lifted Politics, but I will do the tedious buy/clear/sell now). She's going to have to get into Film, when it comes up.

I mildly dislike Celebrities, but whatever - something different for a change. And I've lifted Espionage, so I can freely associate with paparazzi. 

Father's passing was sad, but perhaps not unexpected. He'd had several close shaves that he'd survived only because of the pact with Death that Aunt Deirdre had made. Llewellyn, too, was covered by the pact, which had grave implications if Caine was unsuccessful at arranging more efficient military patrols so that homesteads could be more flexible.

Brand finally dies of old age, at 77 days old. It is Week 17, Day 7; Corwin has found a Professional Sports job but I'm still waiting for Film to appear for Llewellyn. In the meantime they're building a littler Charisma skill. It took until Week 18 Day 6 to finally get Llewellyn her Film job, but she has plenty of time.

Having risen to the position of District Superintendent, I knew enough about the education system to overhaul it. I even had Aunt Deirdre and Llewellyn submitted for intensive psychotherapy with the result that they had intense personality changes - and, as an added side benefit, broke their pact with Death. We'll be having no more of that in this family.

It was time to look at giving my educational theories a practical test on children of my own - or at least, to find an appropriate mate to father such children.

Education lifted; it is Week 19, Day 3. Deirdre is still alive (83 days old), but now she'll die - I use Midlife Crisis to remove the Unlucky trait (just for fun, I replace her traits with Brace, Daredevil, Easily Impressed, Excitable, and Loves the Outdoors). She has 23 hours until dying of hunger; hopefully she'll last long enough that she won't die of old age on my lot. I also edit Llewellyn's traits (to Ambitious, Artistic, Bookworm, Schmoozer, Workaholic - I should have taken Star Quality, but to be honest I forgot - the good news is another 7k and I'll swap out Artistic for that).

With her pact broken, Aunt Deirdre did not persist much longer. It was a mercy, truly; she had refused all food and even a bed for years, so as not to unduly burden us. But something nags at me and wonders if perhaps she could have achieved something more than she did.

At 84 days old, finally I'm rid of my troublesome Unluckies. :) To be honest, had I known she was going to last that long, I'd have made a more concerted effort to make the 150k. But there seems little way to predict these things.

With only 5 Sims in the house it's almost like easy mode now. Caine (now an adult) is a Squadron Leader (Week 19, Day 4) with a decent shot at making it to Astronaut on next Monday or Wednesday (no early than that though; Military get lots of days off).

Amir was a low level mob contact that I'd found listed in mother's notes. It was evidently sensible to finish the job she had started, and completely eliminate the organised crime element - at least, as far as the Primals were concerned.

It was also important to realise that my own children would be needed for further progress. So we engaged in a mating ritual designed to facilitate this outcome.

Amir took a bit of convincing; I could get him to "very alluring" and then it reset to "okay" a couple of times - possibly because of hunger, tiredness, whatever. I got Florimel to 10 Charisma so she could use Irresistible Greet and get through that nonsense.

Amir is Eccentric, Evil, Friendly, Genius, Irresistible (apparently not!). He has Athletics 1, Logic 2, Painting 1, and he's a Cutpurse (which will suffice; I'll clear Criminal with him). He has 12 days until he is an adult, so he should have plenty of time.

My enhanced fertility should, with luck, provide me with the possibility of multiple births.

This should work out fine; Florimel has Fertility Treatment and she can work out alongside Amir who needs the Athletics skill. At some point Corwin will lift Athletics at which point - if still needed - he can be trained the rest of the way.

So, going OK so far. The only stickler is Llewellyn, as she is still Celebrity Level 0 and has not in fact even seen any other celebrities or paparazzi. Let's pick this up next time.

You and me baby, we ain't nothing but mammals: Brand

Even with our advances, we are still affected by the corrosive environment. Our lives are as mayflies.

1 house. No Culinary. 1 Slob. 6 Werewolves. 6 Homebodies (5 teens and Brand).

And it wasn't just me. Even Deirdre's pact with Death grew ever closer to expiry.

Brand has 34k LTR to get, with 14 days minimum. A stretch. Perhaps not possible, given restricted activity due to rationing. But worth a shot.

With careful rationing, and a lot of sleep, we were able to avoid starving. There were even some good times, and while I did not perhaps get to know all of my cubs as well as I might have liked, I shared at least a moment with all of them. I like to think they appreciated the constantly changing murals I kept painting, even if some of them were somewhat abstract.

88k, so there's no realistic chance she'll make it to 150k in the next few days. There are 8 days until the next full moon (it is Week 16 Day 3), so if she doesn't last too long I can have her die of old age between full moons. (Note that she won't ever die of old age in wolf form - or so I assume, since birthdays don't get triggered). Brand has another 25k to go, and 10 or more days - which looks like I've been doing well, but he just got a big bonus from Street Art 10 and I do not believe I can keep that sort of average up.

My time was growing short - Chrystal's, too. Even Deirdre would not last much longer. What will they say of my legacy? I solved all our money problems, and thanks to Chrystal we no longer have the mob forcing us to take undesirable occupations. Was it enough? I feel there was more I could have accomplished, but time was never on our side.

Master Thief lifted; it is Week 17, Day 1, and while it is Chrystal's birthday, she technically managed to lift it as an adult. Brand still needs 20k to get to 150, and may have as few as 4 days, and there comes a point when you just have to conclude he's not going to make it. Have to leave that for the next generation. The good news is that this means I can certainly arrange to starve Brand and Chrystal to death; there are 4 days till the next full moon, so both can die off lot (indeed, were it not for the fact that Brand is already Very Hungry, he could feasibly die of old age first).

Perhaps the only real legacy I have is my children. Caine is now signed up in the armed forces, planning to work his way up and observe the situation from space. Florimel - the only one of my cubs special enough to succeed me - she has taken on the daunting task of repairing the education system, specifically with the idea of providing something for teenagers to do. What will my other cubs do? That is for Florimel to decide.

Caine's traits at YA are Athletic, Excitable, Insane, Mooch, Unlucky; he has Athletics 10, Logic 9, Painting 2. His LTW is to become an Astronaut.

Florimel (the heir) is Eccentric, Insane, Light Sleeper, Loves the Heat, Virtuoso; her skills are Athletics 10, Handiness 1, Logic 10, Painting 4. (Which means she would have been better off in Military, but I forgot which one I had repair the shower). Her LTW is The Tinkerer. As it happens the paper the next day has both Military and Education in it - Caine joins Military, Florimel joins Education. Both head to the library to learn Charisma (minimal for Caine, and he will learn to cook too; Florimel might as well learn as much as she can as she'll need it). They got to graduate first, not that it matters anymore.

But it seems my sister's pact with Death includes me also. My wife remains frozen; I am returned. Only old age can claim me.

Chrystal actually froze to death a few hours before she was scheduled to starve, which means that she is unfortunately on the home lot. But Brand managed to get to the park and die there. Unfortunately, I forgot a crucial point about Brand - like Deirdre, he's Unlucky. And therefore, did not remain dead. ARGH! I'll pick it up next time.

I hear a bad moon rising: Brand

There was something none of us wanted to discuss, but it was required. Simply put, the pack had grown too large. We needed space for the cubs, and with the military still tightly controlling housing, none of us could simply move out.

Some of us had to die.

I was needed as the father of the next generation. Chrystal, clearly, was needed as the mother. Deirdre had make a pact with Death - she couldn't be permanently harmed by anything except old age.

That left just Bleys and Deirdre. While hardly looking forward to it, they accepted their fate - they just wanted it to be quick. There was a way to summon Death, but they wanted to do it far from here, so that their ghosts would not disturb us.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Howl for Death was attuned to our land - despite several tries, Death did not respond to either of them.

The immediate goal is to get to Cooking 10 for Fiona, and then I will have all three of them rant to death. Or at least, that would be the plan. Unfortunately Deirdre is Unlucky, and thus unkillable by such crude tactics.

A trip to the library and on Week 12, Day 4 Fiona succeeds in getting Renaissance Sim; it is too late at the moment to kill her though. The next day I send both Fiona and Bleys to the park to try and rant themselves to death; this does not appear to work despite several tries - Death does not even appear. I conclude that you probably can't die off-lot via ranting, bring them home for curfew, and stick them in a corner of the lot for the moment. It's going to have to be starvation, by the looks, but I think I can still time it OK.

The arrival of the twins made the problem immediate. With no other recourse, they resigned themselves to hunger and starvation, as long as they could manage to do so within curfew.

Florimel and Caine; Florimel is a werewolf, so she is the heir. Both babies are Insane; Florimel is Eccentric while Caine is Excitable. It is Week 12, Day 6. When 0600 the next day comes around - if I've counted correctly - Bleys will have 10 hours until he dies of starvation, while Fiona will have 14. This doesn't work out for Fiona; the maximum time you can spend on a lot is 13 hours (0600-1900). I may have miscalculated; it's worth at least trying.

Bleys died first. It was horrible. But Fiona was worse.

Because of curfew, even though she was death walking, she had to return home. There was a full moon coming soon; never did I think that I would have to dispassionately calculate how to assist my sister's suicide. We fed her a single bite of sandwich, enough to prevent her dying until the next day, when she left to join Bleys.

Bleys was fine. This occurred at 1548, and Fiona shows 4 hours to go. Because of the way Sims 3 shows this sort of thing, I cannot be certain that she'll make it - it could be as few as 3 hours and 1 minute. So I carefully watch until 1600, but it is still 4 hours - so she cannot die here. The next full moon is in 2 days. I suspect if I feed her anything at all, even for an instant, it will reset back to Very Hungry rather than Starving, but hopefully will reset to Starving quickly. With that in mind, I send her home. With quick timing she has a single bite, that resets her to 19 hours to go at 1803. That will work. Back outside to stand in the corner she goes - and I learn a useful piece of information - a single bite does not remove Starving. With that sorted, Florimel gets pregnant again after receiving Fertility Treatment; with any luck at all I'll get another set of twins.

Our ways are the ways of the wild. Nature can be beautiful, but it is also the place where tooth and claw reign supreme - and sometimes the old and the infirm must make way.

Excess Sims trimmed. Just wish Deirdre wasn't Unlucky, but that's the way it works out sometimes - it will be at least another 23 days before she can be dealt with. I might as well try to get a large tombstone for her; she needs another 88k, but that might actually be feasible.

Perhaps Chrystal has some latent wolf blood after all; we appear to produce litters with little difficulty. I never even knew I'd be a father, and now I find myself with 5 cubs.

I had Mum's notes and knew there was a powerful criminal element in charge of the job restrictions - even though she herself had loosened those somewhat. Having quit work some time ago, I decided to take full responsibility for the cubs so that Chrystal could take a job with a fairly seedy looking individual; with Mum's notes to help us with blackmail and bribery, my beloved could potentially take over the whole organisation. It was worth a shot, even if it meant she would miss a lot of the formative years with the cubs while she worked on decidedly unpleasant tasks.

Did I say twins? Of course that means I'll get triplets. So a full house here; Clarissa ended up with Slob and Virtuoso; Corwin Excitable and Insane; Llewellyn Artistic, Loves the Cold. All three are werewolves (making Caine the odd one out this generation).

To close out the day, Chrystal checks the paper (I have lifted Journalism, so I can look at all the jobs). Criminal is up, which means I can do Master Thief, which means there is no choice to be made but how to lift it. Since there's no feasible way I'm getting 10 Rebel in short order for Art Acquisition, we're going with the old fashioned method, and she becomes a Decoy.

A few days later (Week 14, Day 2) Brand becomes a Chess Legend. Not too hard to get, but probably best to lift Gamer first so you can play every day rather than just Monday and Thursday before curfew. If you can't - I didn't here - it's easier if you clear your restriction first, so they can get games in from 0600-1900 Monday and Thursday (though opponents at work will not leave work to play chess).

As the twins got older, our problems increased. No functioning high school meant that our large family could not depend on school lunches for the teens, and while we were immune to all known bacteria and pathogens in spoiled food, nonetheless there were harsh limits on our supplies. We spent much of our time with bellies growling scarcely softer than our monthly communes with the moon.

The twins are now teens. Florimel is now Eccentric, Insane, Loves the Heat, Virtuoso; her skills are Athletics 3, Logic 7, Painting 2. Caine is Athletic, Excitable, Insane, Mooch; his skills are Athletics 3, Logic 7. It is Week 15, Day 1, and Chrystal is in her last shift as a Bagwoman, so she will be a Con Artist after 0300 the next day. That will induce the Promotion After Midnight bug, but she has 13 days to go before she becomes a (completely controllable) elder - she'll make it.

The real problem is that my food stash is running low, since I've been trying to keep my werewolves from changing all the time. This strategy must now be abandoned, and 1 meal a day must be the rule.

We had thought we had tightened our belts, but when the triplets had their 13th birthday and we could no longer send them to school, I think we began to learn - at least a little - what Bleys and Fiona went through. There were even times we considered exploiting Deirdre's pact with Death - she couldn't actually die of starvation - but that seemed too cruel, even given our dire circumstances.

Chrystal ate well. She needed her strength, with her ever increasing penetration into the inner circle of the mob. Clarissa managed to find sustenance even with what appeared to us to be empty plates. But the rest of us spent many years not really knowing what a full belly felt like; I could count all of my ribs, and it was so very difficult to control the change sometimes. Control it we had to though; the wolf is less discerning about food, and much of what the wolf would eat - in desperation - would be toxic to even us.

It is Week 15, Day 5, and now the food situation is basically as hard as it will ever get. Of 8 Sims, only 2 ever leave the lot. If Brand wasn't on 113k LTR, I'd have him killed, but it's reasonably possible he'll make it over the line (1 day to elder, then at least 14 more - about 2k per day, which is a stretch but doable, especially if I get extra time). Deidre looks unlikely to make it (83k, 4 days till elder - almost 4k per day, which is highly unlikely) but she's Unlucky, so she is here for the duration. (Though in dire straits I can starve her, since she can't actually die). And of course Chrystal is not for the chop yet, as she's only a Safecracker.

Llewellyn is Artistic, Kleptomaniac, Loves the Cold, Unlucky; she has Athletics 3, Logic 4, Painting 2, Writing 5. (Yes, another Unlucky, but once Chrystal lifts I can arrange to get one of the twins to lift Military, so this will be OK). Corwin is Dislikes Children, Excitable, Lucky, Insane; he has Athletics 3, Logic 6. Clarissa is Equestrian, Slob (yay!), Supernatural Fan, Virtuoso; she has Athletics 1, Painting 6.

I have 10 days until the twins are YAs. I have a decent amount of stashed food, but they're not going to be getting fed more than once per day; extra rations have to go to Chrystal, so that she can try and get Master Thief before the twins get to YA stage.