You · Kindred of the Marsh
Riverine · Neolithic 12 of 14
In the seventh year after the river receded, the council kept its winter feast plain…
Read at the pace of attention. For as long as it holds you.
Epoch is built around four nested rhythms — daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and the slow turning of epochs. Click through them. This page is itself a small demonstration.
Phase one · the daily card
One small choice. Two or three sentences in return.
A single card arrives each day. Setup prose, two to four options written in the chronicler's voice. Choosing nudges three to eight backend stats by one to five points each — invisibly. What you see is a fragment added to your chronicle. Sit with it as long as you like.
Daily≈ 2 civ-years1 fragment generated
Day 14 · River Valley · Late autumn
“A potter from a downstream village arrives with a jar of red glaze and a request: she would teach the technique here, in exchange for a winter's keep, and the right to sign her work with her own mark.”
AWelcome her, and let the mark be hers.
BWelcome her, but the mark belongs to the council.
CSend her on with stores for the road.
Phase two · the weekly deep question
Five to eight questions. The pillars move noticeably.
Once a week, a longer questionnaire. The kind your civilization is becoming gets clearer in your hand. The seal earns a new mark; the historical parallel updates; the chronicler reflects on what was decided. Read it slowly, or fast — the questions reward attention but do not demand it.
Weekly≈ 14 civ-yearsVisual artifact updates
Question 3 of 7 · “On surplus” · take your time
Your people have come together. The first full year has passed. Where does the surplus go?
◯ Common storage for hard times● Trade to neighbours, build relations◯ Offerings to those who came before us
If you choose this
Plenty
+8
Knowledge
+4
Harmony
−3
Phase three · the witness moment
Friends become readers of each other.
Every two weeks, your friend group's chronicle pages open to one another. No conquest, no leaderboards. Optionally, a trade can be proposed: a verse exchanged for a recipe, a season of grain for a season of metal. Stay an hour or stay an evening.
3–8 friendsMutual, optionalSoft narrative consequences
Ora · The Reed-City
Coastal · Neolithic 10 of 14
The salt-wells have come in early. Boats from the south, three of them, asking for grain…
Arun · The Stone-Folk
Highland · Neolithic 11 of 14
The terrace gave its second yield this autumn. We are learning the measure of what the soil will not give twice…
Ines · The Forest-Hearth
Forest · Neolithic 09 of 14
The boys came home with three deer, but only two arrows returned. We will have to ask the smith…
Phase four · the epoch book
As the seasons turn, a small history is bound.
A four-to-six page illustrated history of the epoch you just lived. Map, seal, named figures, parallels, artifacts. Yours to keep. Yours to share. Yours to print and have on the shelf.
4–6 pagesPDF + web · printableGenerated once · stored forever
Chapter II — Of the floods, and what was kept
In the seventh year after the river receded, the council kept its winter feast plain. There had been a poor harvest in the south; we did not speak of the storehouse, but ate what was put before us.
— ii —
A map of the Kindred, in this season
Drawn by an unknown hand at the close of the second neolithic count.
— iii —
The full cadence, written out.
Game time and real time are deliberately uneven. Some days are quiet; some weeks earn you a small book. We do not count your minutes — read at the pace of attention.
| Tempo | What arrives | Civ time |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | A card. A fragment. A few stats stir. | ≈ 2 civ-years |
| Weekly | A deep question. The seal grows. The parallel may shift. | ≈ 14 civ-years |
| Bi-weekly | Witness moment with friends. Trade or alliance, optionally. | ≈ 28 civ-years |
| As the seasons turn | Epoch book is bound. Mood-board. Named figures recap. | ≈ 100–200 civ-years |
| Across many months | Ten epochs, end to end. Endgame essence. | Paleolithic → Future |
Questions a thoughtful person might ask.
Can I play alone?
Yes — but it is sweeter as a parallel exercise. We recommend three to eight friends. If a friend goes quiet, their civilization is tended by a Council of Stewards in their absence; nothing is lost.
Can I lose?
Civilizations can collapse, but never from absence. Collapse is a narrative outcome — sustained instability over multiple epochs. After a collapse, you found a successor in the ruins of your old civilization, and old becomes lore.
How long is the whole thing?
The full ten-epoch arc unfolds over many months — paced by the seasons of play, not by the clock. Most players will not finish all ten. That is fine — early epochs are designed to stand alone as complete experiences. Stay as long as it holds you; come back when you're ready.
Is the AI doing the writing?
Yes and no. Scenarios are written by humans. The chronicle in your civilization is generated, but each civilization has a fixed, hand-authored chronicler voice; a style bible; and an editorial pass for epoch books for the first six months post-launch.
What does it cost?
Beta is free. We are deferring monetisation until we know the game is loved.