Chronomancy, Part 2: Merlin

My namme is Merlin. I am sevan yeers old.

Mumy sed that I had to keep a dieree. I am not good at writink yet but Mumy left me her jernals.

Mumy is sic and cant write anymore.

When last we met, Poledra (the founder) had just become an elder, and hence uncontrollable. Therefore, Merlin - the sole witch of her offspring - is the heir. Blair (Poledra's husband) has 14 more days to lift Culinary, and he's currently at level 4 - I noted that this lift was unlikely, but there's nothing to be gained by abandoning it. Other than Athletics nothing is lifted yet.

I do have Blair use "Call Household to Meal" where appropriate, because keeping Poledra around means he can still go to work while there's a toddler in the house, plus he can Woo-Hoo Poledra for a Fun boost.

My big sisters are thirteen years old now. I am still only eleven, but I'm a big boy. I am sorry for my spelling mistakes; my teacher says that I am a great speller now, but I wasn't very good a few years ago.

Mum is still very sick. She stands around the house and collapses every now and then; if Dad didn't remind her, she'd never even eat. I made a school project about Mum's journals, but Dad said I had to keep it a secret, so I just did a stupid volcano thing instead. I still got an A.

My sisters don't have to go to school anymore. Mum gets confused, and often tells them off, even though they're not allowed to go. I don't think they like Mum much anymore.

Week 6, day 5, the eldest twins are now teens.

Glenda has Athletics 1, Logic 3, Painting 2, and Writing 3. Polgara has Athletics 3, Logic 4, Paintin 3, and Writing 3. Weirdly the two have done pretty much the same things, but their traits are different of course. (Glenda is Brave Disciplined Grumpy Mooch, Polgara is Brave Hopeless Romantic Neurotic Snob).

Blair has 6 days to get 3 promotions, and won't make it. As soon as Merlin becomes a teen I'm going to turn aging off for the other 5 days I have, as having come this far (Blair is at level 7) I might as well clear Culinary.

Thirteen years old. A turning point, I suppose, in more ways than one.

I have read Mum's notes many times, but it is as if I never understood them until today. I wouldn't put it past her - her knowledge of magic is unparalleled - perhaps there was a spell lock of some kind keyed to my birthday. She lives, still - if you can call it living; a wealth of information tied up in her mind, just for the asking. But she might as well be dead already, nothing in her mind is accessible to her, let alone me, any more.

All I have is her notes. I can now see that parts of them are obscured to me; I can sense that I'm not yet ready for them. That's OK. One spell I can cast, and do, is the spell of stasis. Of course it caused nasty side effects when Mum did it, but the damage is done - I can't make it any worse. Dad needs the time; I can already see the signs of senility beginning to creep up.

Week 7, day 1, the heir (and his twin) are now teens. At midnight (Monday), I turn off aging; I must turn it back on after midnight on Saturday at the latest as I only have 5 days left.

Merlin is Clumsy, Flirty, Frugal, and Grumpy. (It could have been worse, I suppose). He has Athletics 3, Logic 3, Painting 3, and Writing 3. Elphaba is Absent-Minded, Artistic, Computer Whiz, and Mooch; she has Athletics 3, Logic 4, Painting 3, and Writing 3.

Blair gets to a point where he is level 9 with three work days in a row; this is on Week 7, Day 6, so I turn aging back on (I have 1 day left); he has 4 days till he is an elder, so we're set - he will make it in 3, or he will not make it at all.

With the extra time from stasis, I uncovered one of Mum's spells. It was fairly simple, and would not only work in the current low magic environment, but even someone with no magical abilities at all ought to be able to cast it. Dad was such a famous chef that everybody read his recipe books; we snuck the spell into his recipe for Veggie Rolls, and within days the Spell of Plenty took effect. Basic ingredients were now virtually limitless; rationing was over.

Week 7, day 7, Culinary is lifted. A bit quicker than anticipated, because of an opportunity at level 9. A shame I burned too many aging off days, but hindsight is a perfect science.

Athletics and Culinary is not a good start, but we can't choose in the Apocalypse Challenge. It's not terrible; I can essentially re-arrange the house as needed, and I no longer have to care about eating spoiled food. But honestly, the next generation can only be better.

It was time for Mum and Dad to go. I mean that literally - Mum's journals said that on this day, they both had to go. There was a key phrase that Dad had to say to Mum; it triggered a long dormant spell that instantly set her alight. Not the way I would have chosen to die personally, but I cannot help but obey her wishes.

As far Dad, he used Mum's wand to call forth a surge of magical energy. Grounded through him, I will be able to use this later - but it was, of course, fatal to Dad.

We mourned, of course, but in a sense it's like it is happening to someone else. It's hard to truly grieve for a mother who seems to have known down to the hour everything that would happen in my life. Where did she come from? Why the secrecy? I extract fragments from her journal, and trust that it will be enough. It is becoming clear that not all of her messages are for me. My children, perhaps? Not the sort of thoughts the average 15 year old boy wants to be burdened with, but there's very little average about the world right now.

Divide by zero on Poledra, and Rant About Death for Blair. I did have Blair make lots of Veggie Rolls before this, but honestly he has nothing more to contribute.

My elder sisters were now eligible to work. We possibly made some sort of filing error; even two years later, when Elphaba and I had our own 18th birthday, they still had not been assigned work.

Week 9, Day 3, I finally have (young) adults again. And of course the very first thing Glenda does on aging up is to scold all the teens for skipping school.

Because of Generations I wait until graduation day before getting them jobs. Polgara is Brave, Dislikes Children, Hopeless Romantic, Neurotic, Snob; she has Athletics 10, Charisma 3, Handiness 2, Logic 7, Painting 5, Writing 6; her LTW is Illustrious Author. Glen is Brave, Disciplined, Grumpy, Mooch, Technophobe; she has Athletics 10, Charisma 2, Handiness 1, Logic 8, Painting 4, Writing 6; her LTW is Perfect Mind Perfect Body.

Not exactly enviable traits.

We refiled their paperwork, and filed ours. Polgara was sent to make coffee for some of the local shop owners, Glenda was made to scrub military latrines, and Elphaba was sent to donate non-essential organs. They misplaced my own paperwork, but the year after I managed to get placed myself close to the councillors - polishing their podium. (That's not a euphemism. And ugh, thanks for the image).

Not exactly prestigious, and you may be sure we caught the implied insult. But we were bigger than they, and we knew we could turn these lowly roles to our advantage.

&(^&*^*& graduation day. When you want it, it doesn't happen; when you don't, it happens immediately. The immediate temptation is to get all four of them jobs ASAP and just forget about it. However, it is currently a Saturday, and the chances have to be considered pretty high that the graduation day is going to hit Monday - Gandalf still has 3 days. so he doesn't age up until Tuesday.

It wouldn't be out of the running for the ()*&*(&*(& algorithm to decide, "Oh, you have another one in just a day, we'll wait."

Bugger it. If there is a graduation day on Monday, at least it will be a war dialling day. I can't wait forever; none of my sims is Ambitious and they might need the time. Polgara gets Business, Glenda gets Military (at this point Murphy's Law pretty much guarantees I'm going to lose it...)

Polgara (who is Absent-Minded, Artistic, Computer Whiz, Grumpy, Mooch - with Athletics 10, Charisma 2, Handiness 2, Logic 9, Painting 5, Writing 6 - LTW Renaissance Sim) gets Medical.

As soon as Saturday 0600 hits, so does Graduation Day. I wasn't aware they could happen on the weekend - that's convenient, no missed days, no job on the line. (Although I'll have to be careful when Gandalf graduates).

 I wait until after this graduation to get Merlin (who is Clumsy, Flirty, Frugal, Gumpy, Snob - with Athletics 10, Charisma 2, Handiness 4, Logic 6, Painting 7, Writing 4 - LTW The Tinkerer). He ends up with Political.

Even Gandalf is grown now. We expected another paperwork delay, perhaps petty vengeance for the rapid progress the other four of us were making in our respective careers, but it seemed some of the corrupt councillors had a practical bent, and wanted Gandalf employed as soon as possible.

If "employed" is the right word. He was now a professional music fan. The pay was crap, but at least the hours were long.

Week 10, day 3, and now I'm teenless. Gandalf is Athletic, Friendly, Good, Light Sleeper, Snob (probably the most helpful traits of this brood); he has Athletics 10, Charisma 2, Handiness 2, Logic 7, Painting 4, Writing 5 - LTW Professional Author. Since it's a Tuesday, I decide to wait a day before getting him a job; if he gets a job on Wednesday, then if Thursday is graduation day he'll have all day to war dial his boss.

At least, that was the plan. Then, I saw that all my other Sims had the day off - Wednesday was graduation day. So I got him a job as soon as he had graduated - in Music, as it turned out, so that's Symphonic.

From a latrine cleaner, Glenda rose to command all the combined military forces of the community. While it was still dangerous to travel alone outside the Safe Zone, it was at least possible for two or more of us to travel, now that her superior tactics and strategy kept the bulk of the threats at bay. Of course this was a full time occupation, so she now lived in her barracks. She was perhaps not my favourite sibling, but she did well for the family. Mother's journals have nothing to say about Glenda after this date, so I can only imagine things are progressing as she wished.

Week 12, Day 6, Military is lifted. Military is, depending on your perspective, either the best restriction to lift or the second best (Master Thief is the only possible competitor), so this is great news for this attempt. Having fulfilled her LTW, I have her accompany Merlin to the Business building so he can do his interview job opportunity, and then once that's complete, she moves out.

If you can't beat them, join them. I was now in charge - at least, as far as the corrupt political system would let me be in charge. My political power was extremely limited, due to the largely independent law enforcement community, rampant corruption and black markets, and many more supernatural problems.

Which is not to say I was powerless. I managed to have our lot rezoned, so that we could build a much larger house.

Week 13, day 2, Merlin lifts Politics. With 8 days to go until he is an elder, he's going to have to move on his LTW and the next generation.

And Polgara's assistance with setting up new suppliers was of tremendous help here.

Business lifted too.

And we could use the space, as I'd married a young woman named Faith, with whom I planned to have many children.

Faith joins the family with 13 days to go until she's an Adult - I had been stalking her as a teen. She is Absent-Minded, Avant Garde, Brave, Couch Potato, and Family-Oriented. I get her pregnant immediately.

It was safer now, with Elphaba's ground breaking medical advances, including para-bacteria that cleansed toxins from the water. Mother mentions "showers" in her journals; I had never known the luxury before, and it seems cruel to discover it so late in life. My sisters agree even more vehemently.

Medical lifted. These Sims are now unemployed so they can work full time on their LTWs.

At last I can translate the portion of the journal that pertains to my own children - though only the titles, really. "To my grand daughter Willow..." - at least I knew what to name the first one. Willow clearly has the spark of magic passed down from Mother to me - let us hope she will learn to do more with it.

Polgara finally decided she'd had enough. Never great with children, she decided to move to a new apartment up town near the business district; we wished her the best, as frankly the space will be handy. Elphaba followed shortly thereafter, citing a need to make sure her new medical breakthroughs were being used responsibly, and being unable to do that in such a noisy environment.

In fact, I could see her point. It was tricky to be in charge of the local council and still look after triplets, and Faith seemed capable. Gandalf said he would help, even. I took an apartment near City Hall, but I sent my journals to you Willow. I trust Mummy has read them to you. You understand why I cannot visit you, or you will, when you're older. Look after your siblings. Listen to Uncle Gandalf.

Week 13, Day 6. Willow is a witch, so I already have an heir. But I might be able to squeeze out two more, if Polgara and Elphaba can get their acts together.

The next day, Polgara was due to age up. She had Painting 10 but only Writing 8, so there was no way she was getting 2 more points of Writing in a day to lift her LTW. I moved her out.

Week 14, Day 2, Elphaba finally got to Street Art 10 (having previously hit Logic 10 and Athletics 10) to clear Renaissance Sim. Sadly I noted that Merlin, still 2 whole bars away from the Logic 10 he needed to lift The Tinkerer, was not going to make it with only 1 day left until he became uncontrollable. I moved him out too.

Uncle Gandalf, the one who found the magic in music? The one that can make the sun shine with a strum of his guitar? Yes, Willow - listen carefully to Uncle Gandalf, for he has his own magic, different to but no less impressive than our own.

On the same day, Symphonic is lifted. I plan on keeping Gandalf around; he has 5 days to go until he's an elder, and as an elder he'll be handy to make sure no babysitters are needed.

I leave the fate of Hermione, Dumbledore, and Morgana in your care. Should you falter, look to Hermione for support, for she understands what we understand - that the world we see is but a facade for the magical world beneath.

Week 14, Day 5, three more. Of Dumbledore, Morgana, and Hermione, only Hermione is a witch - but still, that's two this generation, which is better than last time.

Faith then gets employed in Law Enforcement; Forensics here I come!

But maybe don't pay too much attention to Uncle Gandalf when he is spouting gibberish.

Week 14, Day 7. This was a terrible showing for LTWs; I missed Tinkerer, Illustrative Author, and now Professional Author. Gandalf gets to live because he'll still count as looking after the kids for the purposes of baby sitting.

With the first set of triplets as children, and the second set as toddlers, this is a good point to switch off. Faith has 18 days to get 8 promotions before she's an elder too - to be honest, that doesn't look that promising either. But it's not clearly broken, so we'll give it a bash.