timeless-toaster

[timeless-toaster]

A New Era

The elders of Moonwell Valley have gathered around a campfire. The reason is the unfortunate disaster that hit the peaceful place they share.

I've watched the people of the Valley for two generations now, and I saw them develop a more and more comfortable lifestyle, even with the occasional hardships they had. However, one faithful day generations worth of progress has disappeared in a swift moment. An earthquake has struck Moonwell Valley, and brought down the houses of all the tribes.

The people knew they could only rebuild what was lost, by joining forces. After a long meeting, it was decided, that Cliff Hunter would be leading the rebuilding operations, as his family had the most resources.

And so a new era began...

~~

Where It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

OOC: this is a slow process but the valley is changing...

Around the start of Tribal Stage:

At the end of Tribal Stage:

WiP before Ancient Stage:

Oh and I can't forget that a new face has shown up in the Valley:

----

On an off topic note, I bless the "no unlink on delete" mod, it was definitely a worth download, because my DUMB DUMB ass just demolished every old lot WITH THE GRAVES ON THEM.... I know I can recover them, so eventually I want to do that. As soon as I get the families sorted and their daily lives can resume.

[timeless-toaster]

OOC: The end of Tribal Stage, and my reflection on the journey.

So... phew, that was a long road. Unfortunately I didn't record exactly when I started the Test of Time challenge, but from what I could gather from my files, the earliest date is 2022.06.22. It's 2023.11.30. as of writing this post. I didn't play continously, as a lot of simmers can probably relate. I had my hyperfocus moments on the game, then I had my "not opening Sims 2 for a month" phases.

I wanna talk about the thing I've seen commonly said regarding this challenge: is it boring?

My answer is nah and yah.

In my opinion it really depends on your playstyle, how much you like breaking rules, and how much you like making stories.

Do you hate breaking rules and insist on keeping everything like "it's supposed to be"? Then yes, with the original rules I believe this challenge is very boring, long and repetitive.

Especially if you're the kind of player who plays purely wants and fears and doesn't deviate from that at all. There's not many very interesting wants you can fulfill in the first period. Warning for wants'n'fears kinda simmers: the wants in the first stage of the challenge mostly consist of nature hobby wants, skill point and love/family wants. (I'm just saying, cause when I discovered wants and the fears playstyle, I used to play like this. I still play loosely like it, but now I understand that sims will never roll for certain things that I wanna do.)

However if you like to make storylines I think the limitations (and how you could break them) actually give you a pretty good playground for storytelling.

Okay, this broke the rule, but why? How am I gonna play with it in the future? (Me starting with the rule that only men can be heir, but making a family with a woman heir. Contributed to like 75% of the drama.)

Also, real talk here. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't have that much fun in certian parts. The start feels a little too hard, and limiting, with the food and overheating (god, the overheating is so freaking annoying), and by the original rules your sims are not even meant to bathe/shower?! From the start I was like "I'm not gonna listen to them complain 24/7 shouting for a shower, and I'm not gonna spam the Wash Hands action for 4 in game hours". That was the main reason I stopped with the Apocalypse challenge.

Elders got boring too, news flash I know.

Also I had a huge push when the closing generation aged up to teens. I got really hyped for the end of the stage, and wanted to rush through it. (One of the reasons I stopped with the Moonwell Valley posts.)

But overall I don't think this challenge is more repetitive than playing regular Sims 2. It is a game that becomes repetitive if binged for too long, no matter what... I think. Take breaks, guys, the game is still here after 20 years, it's not going anywhere.

I did make a modified ruleset for the challenge's first stage, where I tried to fix whatever I found annoying rather than challenging.

Overall I enjoyed it, I like the lore of the neighbourhood I created. If it says something, this is my second longest running Sims 2 game. (I played a total of 540 sim days in Moonwell Valley, and my second longest game in Veronaville I played 621 sim days.)

[timeless-toaster]

As The Years Passed...

For some time now I've found some other interests to occupy me in my eternal life and I've only occasionally looked at Moonwell Valley. Of course I didn't want to miss anything major happening.

The Bloodechoes:

Spring grew up being guarded and teased by her big sister, Valkyra.

The twins got braver since they've become teenagers (at least Valkyra did, Baldur is just helplessly being dragged to everywhere his sister goes). They quickly got to know the Valley's other teens, including their cousins.

Both Valkyra and Baldur got their eyes on the Zyr tribe's heir, Zurry. To Baldur's disappointment the boy didn't seem to be interested in him. However he was very much fascinated by the other twin. Soon the two got closer to each other, however Zurry didn't yet know that he's got competition for Valkyra's heart.

River realised that what her lover, Zoma, really was. The man had most of the women in the Valley enamored by him, and he seemed to very much enjoy it. Who knows how many children has been born from the numerous affairs he kept secret.

The Bloodecho matriarch finally worked up the courage to visit her childhood home. She didn't have to fear it anymore, since her mother, Wind was long dead by the time. She apologized to her sister for everything. Of course Forest didn't keep any grudges. She simply wasn't the person to do that.

On the way home River stopped at the hot springs to relax. Coincidentally she bumped into Naoko from the Northwalkers there, and decided that it's time to finally catch up with the family that once was hers. Naoko, famous for being the nicest and most motherly person in the valley was very comforting and understanding about her situation and her past. The women talked about their lives after Oddy's and Amana's death, and shared stories about their children before parting ways.

Yoko and Azra:

Azra living alone has found herself naturally talented with taming the wildlife. She craved some sort of company, so she decided to adopt the wild cat that was regularly visiting her for food. She named her new four legged family member Zimi and taught her to behave.

Yoko was surprised by her developing feelings for Azra that went beyond friendship. She'd never looked at a woman like that before. While she found it quite strange, she felt happy and safe, and wasn't surprised when that woman asked her hand in marriage. It was an immediate yes. Since the Zyr family was already "too big", Azra decided to join the Eastwalkers and the two moved into their own little house and grew their family with another cat, which lead to even more little cats and the work they came with.

-

The end of the current era of Moonwell Valley is rapidly approaching, however the stories of it's people continue.

~~

Where It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

Welcome! Have a seat at the campfire.

Here you'll find some guidance for this messy page.

My Test of Time Rules (being updated very slowly)

Moonwell Valley Story

Out of character posts are labeled with "OOC".

[timeless-toaster]

OOC: The Test of Time Challenge modified challenge rules

So I finally decided to modify the rules for myself. For the actual rules scroll down. Now I'm gonna be talking about the why. Why do I wanna have my version of the challenge?

Well, first of all, I have my own ideas that I think would add to this challenge, while I also have some rebalancing ideas I thought of while playing/playtesting the challenge. I really do love this challenge, and I feel like I could improve it.

The other reason is that I'd prefer removing the skin tone related restrictions in this challenge (that's why I started playing with the Pleasantsims modifications). I'd also like to use some different language while refering to some aspects.

While I generally think the Pleasantsims version is fine, due to recent events with the owner of the site, I no longer want to link to her and I try to find alternative resources to the site.

Now... Onto the actual rules. Disclaimer: I'll only write the rules for the current stage I'm playing. This post will be updated slowly!

I strongly reccomend you to bend and break these rules for your likings.

What is the Test of Time Challenge about?

The general idea of the challenge, is starting out at the beginning of time, with a few couples, and following their descendants throughout all the major stages of history. The rules change according to time periods, but there are some general rules that apply to every period, unless specified otherwise. This challenge is built on the rotational playstyle, as you will be switching between multiple households from the start.

General Rules:

You can only add new sims to your hood at the beginning of a new stage. Only one sim can be added at a time. This sim could look any way and they can be any class. They could also be supernatural sims like vampires or witches or whatever you want.

All your families must have a method of choosing the heir. You could have a family where the heir is always the oldest man, you could have a family where the heir is always the oldest woman. You could also have a family where the heir is chosen through ritualistic battle, or some kind of test.

The sim marrying into the family always has to take the family name.

If anyone gets into a fight, the loser must die. They can take some time to succumb to their wounds, but do it quickly, with whatever method you choose.

When sims Woohoo, they always must try for baby. Sorry, reliable contraception took some time to develop.

Switch stages after the first grandchild of the "stage starting" adult becomes an adult.

You can add any amount of pets at any time. However you have to be able to feed them just like you feed your sims. (Refer to rule number 9.)

Try to remain logical and period approriate with the items and CC. However you do not have to be perfect historically accurate, I'm not here to give you sleepless nights of researching the lives of people in the middle ages, and desperately trying to find that one perfectly approriate undergarment for your sims.

Food must come from a source. This source could be gathering, farming, fishing or buying it from other sims who did the hard part for you. Food must be made by stocking the ingredient or ingredients used into the fridge first. You can make up your own recipes.

The technology and living enviroment of your sims can change gradually throughout the stage. No need to play for 50 hours with the same basic stuff, that would become boring. It would also be unrealistic to just flip a switch and suddenly go from sleeping under the stars to having a palace.

If the given period has no way of keeping the food items from going wrong, you have to sell every food item in your sim's inventory after an X amount of time. I personally do this every 3 days, cause that's how long my rounds are and leave enough for only one portion. The exception are non heir teens and children, cause they'll gather the food that will be immediately sold if they move out so they can start their adult life easier, or can give it as a marriage gift in the form of funds.

You're not allowed to dig for treasure.

Optional:

Sims from the same family must all dress in their assigned family colors. This just helps with quickly identifying and separating your families. Heirs can have something identifying them through their clothing.

Roleplay. If you wanna do something, think about how that would be possible. For example: you have a lot of money in one family, and think about building a bigger and more complex house for them. Would that be possible or period appropriate? You could say that it's a family with a lot of people in it, and the family members are in good connection with each other, so it could be possible for them to do bigger projects like that.

Use sim hobbies to introduce new items, like a sim with Music & Dance hobby could invent instruments. A sim with the Science hobby could invent the telescope, etc.

Tribal Stage Rules:

This is where the challenge starts. I decided to rename this stage, from "Neanderthal Stage" cause I feel like this one captures the feel of the stage better for me.

First of all, you need a place for your sims to live in. Create a neighbourhood with all time Summer. They're blessed with a perfect weather for farming, but they're cursed by getting roasted while being outside.

You can reset the sims temperature at night. Technically this is not a Tribal Stage exclusive rule, but I think it's gonna be the most relevant here. Your sims can cool off, since the air cools off when the sun is gone. If you wanna be extra realistic you could wait a few hours after night falls.

Sims can only interact with sims that are considered to be part of the challenge. So I strongly recommend you to get the Visitor Controller mod if you don't already have it, or you could just pretend that the random walkbys don't exist.

Couples must Woohoo at least once every 24 hours. However mothers who just gave birth can take a day off, unless they decide to do it anyway with your ACR on.

Sims can't get jobs.

Your sims can visit community lots, but more on those later.

When a sim grows up into an adult, and they're not the heir, they need to move out. They'll get the default 3000 simoleons for moving into the same sized lot as their parents, plus they'll take their belongings if they have any, and the plants and food they gathered.

Graves need to stay on their original lots. Exception are child graves, more on that later.

Your sims can't read. Writing, and especially books haven't been invented yet. Of course this means you can't put down any bookcases and you must cancel any autonomous reading.

How to start the Tribal Stage:

First and foremost create a neighbourhood and gather up your preferred amount of CC. Now you have to populate your place.

Create 5 pairs of adults. You'll need to create them according to these characteristics:

2 couples with Skin 4

2 couples with Skin 1

1 mixed couple with one of them being Skin 2 and the other one being Skin 3

Feel free to ignore this part if you're using custom skin colors, but if you're sticking to basegame, this will ensure you to have pretty varied genetics. Everyone is just gonna end up having black hair and Skin 2 and 3 anyway, lol.

You can freely choose your hair and eye colors.

Optional: Create a story for your couples to know where they came from, why did they move to this new place and how they met each other.

Now it's time to move in everyone. Keep in mind that after you move in your families, you need to set their funds to 3000 simoleons.

Lots in Tribal Stage:

Family lots:

These must be 2x2 lots.

These lots must contain a water source.

These lots must contain the following items (or CC that functions the same way): a stove, a fridge, a table with at least 2 chairs, a counter, a sink, a dresser, a loveseat, a double bed/tent, something for trash collecting, and a toilet.

These plots must have plants or gardening plots for farming.

Everything listed above must be purchised with the starting money of 3000 simoleons.

Community Lots:

You can have any community lot that you like, but you have to keep them natural and you can't have "sim buildings" on it. No one owns these places, so no one wants to build here, they just come here to hang out or gather something.

Examples for lots: forest, hot springs, waterfall, cave, meadow, etc. If you really want some buildings you could have some ruins from an unknown civilization before humanity or whatever you can come up with.

Regarding the cemetery: by the rules of the stage, you need to let the graves stay on their original lot, however, I'd personally recommend you to have a cemetery for the sole reason of ghost children. If by any chance you get one, I would rather send them to an outside burial side, cause I never had children ghosts and I don't know how bad they get with the glitching.

Now everything is ready to play. Don't stress on the rules, go, modify what you want, cause what's important is that you have fun with it.

Finishing the Tribal Stage:

Congratulations, you reached the time of change. Or you're just reading this in advance.

What you have to do now, is some cool **math**, and gather all your families with the same names, and add up how much money they have in total.

This is gonna be important, cause the next stage will introduce the following classes:

Ruling Class (includes the Emperor)

Upper Class/Patricians

Lower Class/Plebeians

Servants

Obviously, the family with the most amount of money will be the ruling class, the next one with the most money will be the patricians and so forth. Keep in mind, that the ruling class is just one family, and there should be less families in higher classes than in the lower classes.

The rest should be taken care of in the Ancient Stage.

Ancient Stage Rules:

I renamed this stage from "Roman Stage" cause I'd like to explore more than just the Roman Empire. I also like to keep my Sims game away from references to the real world.

WARNING: This section is in the progress of playtesting, and I will probably change it in the future.

The weather has changed. Now your sims will live in changing seasons consisting of a humid and a dry period. (Set the weather to Summer -> Summer -> Spring -> Spring.)

A broad range of new objects have been unlocked for you to use. This is rather straighforward on what you can use or not, but if you're not sure if something specific has been invented yet, then you can freely consult your search engine.

Class Specific Rules:

Ruling Class:

Allowed Lot Size: Large.

The heir of your Ruling Class family becomes the Emperor/Empress.

Ruling Class are only allowed to marry Upper Class. If there aren't any Upper Class avaliable, then you can use the Lower Class for pairing.

Your Emperor/Empress will hire two servants, who will live at the palace. They'll do the housework, and in return they'll get a salary that they can send back home to their families. (I don't have a specified amount for it yet.) You can build them their own living space.

The teens of the Ruling Class can attend school. (You can also choose someone from the Ruling-Upper Class to be a teacher.)

The heir teen of the Emperor/Empress can take a job in Politics.

Sims who're not the heir must move out when they become adults.

Upper Class:

Allowed Lot Size: Large-Medium

Jobs Allowed: Politics, Medicine, Military, Law Enforcement, Science, Education.

Upper Class is able to marry up into Ruling Class. Requirements for this: sim must have a good relationship with the parents/guardians of their desired mate and they must have a $3,000 worth of gift in their inventory. To marry the Emperor/Empress, the same applies, but they must have a gift equaling $5,000.

Upper Class can marry Lower Class.

They can hire 1 servant per household.

Teens may go to school, however they can't take jobs. They can work on some profession at home.

Can own community businesses.

Lower Class:

Allowed Lot Size: Medium

Jobs Allowed: Military, Education, Architecture, Artist (may take lower ranks only).

Lower Class can marry up in rank to Upper Class. Requirements: sim must have a good relationship with the parents/guardians of the desired mate and they must have a $1,000 worth of gift in their inventory.

Can't hire servants.

Teens may go to school, however they can't take jobs. They can work on some profession at home. Lower Class teens can be hired as servants only by the Ruling Class.

Can own community businesses.

Servants:

Allowed Lot Size: Small

Jobs Allowed: Criminal, hired by a family.

If a Servant Class is hired to work at a family, they can't take a job.

Servant Class can marry up into Lower Class. Requirements: none, however if they don't have a good relationship with their desired mate's parents/guardians, they won't be welcome in the family, and won't get into higher class, instead, their spouse will rank down.

Just before a Servant gets married, they have to move out onto their own lot from the family's house they're hired by. Therefore they won't be employed by them anymore.

Servants are not allowed to own anything that costs more than $1,000, as it would seem suspicious. If a member of the Ruling Family or someone who works in Military/Law Enforcement walks by, they'll be charged with stealing. More on that later.

Crime:

With a structured society there came laws. The following are now punishable:

killing someone (severe)

fighting someone outside of an agreed duel (severe)

stealing (moderate)

working in the Criminal career (lol) (moderate)

not paying taxes (moderate)

gossiping about a Ruling Class member (minor)

Sims will only get punished if their crime is witnessed. You can also say that the witness present might not report them for some reason. Feel free to play around with this.

Punishments:

For severe crime: prison with variable sentence (can be lifelong)

For moderate crime: prison with shorter sentence

For minor crime: 1 day of "communal work" at the mine (or any place you can think of)

On the case of the Criminal career:

Sims who work in the Criminal career have a starting chance of "getting caught" at 3% per each day they go to work. With every level they gain in the Criminal career, this chance goes up by 3% per level. (Maxing out at 30% on level 10.) (This number is subject to change.)

Lots in the Ancient Stage:

Family lots:

These kind of lots don't have any required furniture anymore. Feel free to do anything you want, but I'd recommend trying to theme them around the different classes.

Community lots:

For tribal stage I didn't make any community lots a must have. However, if you had community lots, I'd recommend upgrading them while keeping in mind what their purpose was. For example if you had a bathing lot, you can now transform it into a proper public bath. If you had a cave lot, you can transform it into a mine.

Some ideas for Ancient Stage: squares, temples, forests, baths, lakes.

Specific lots:

Non of these are must have, but they give you some ideas depending on how you want your empire to be.

Prison: A place for your criminals. Should be made as a residential lot. You can temporarily or permanently move outlaws here. You should also have a guard live here.

Colosseum: If you have a strict and cruel ruler, you might want this building. (Or if your empire is overpopulated.) Similarly to the original rules, every week, you can randomly choose one sim from the servant or lower class to be sent here. The first time you use the Colosseum, you must send two sims. They must fight, and the winner will be let go to live freely, however, the next week one random sim will be choosen to duel them. This goes on in a pattern like this, always leaving one winner. Your winner can also bring home a prize (money).

Theater: I don't really have any gameplay ideas for this yet, but this was a type of building that was definitely a new and important thing in ancient times. Maybe your sims could perform music for tips here.

The Emperor's Burial Site: Think of over the top burial sites like the Pyramids or something similar. The Emperor would definitely deserve something like that.

Finishing the Ancient Stage:

WARNING: Everything after this is heavily WIP.

Ending this stage shouldn't be that complicated. You will just need to convert the classes like this:

Ruling Class -> Monarchs

Upper Class -> Nobles

Lower Class will recieve two division: Merchants (those who owned businesses before) and Knights (those who worked in Law Enforcement/Military)

Servants -> Peasants. Those who still work for other families will stay Servants

Create a new lowest rank: Outlaws (Those who've worked in the Criminal carrier.)

Medieval Stage Rules:

Now, this is the first time this ruleset will deviate from the original time stages. We're skipping the Dark Ages Stage from the original ruleset, because I personally feel like it does not blend well into the two stages surrounding it. I will try to combine the original "Medieval/Renaissance" and "Dark Ages" together, and take the aspects I like in both to make my rules.

To be continued.

-----------------------

Thank you for reading this far. If you're interested in the challenge, and updates to my rule modifications, be sure to not lose this post in the unending vortex of the internet. Also feel free to give me any feedback. See you next time!

[timeless-toaster]

A Tribe Renamed

Lets take a look at how River's family is doing...

Valkyra didn't ever stop being her energetic self. She could probably run a whole circle around the Valley and still not get tired.

Baldur on the other hand preferred to take care of the garden, and enjoy nature while sitting around the house.

Of course Valkyra was the first to run to her sister, Spring, when she was born. She was overjoyed by the arrival of a new sibling.

.

Sadly, Amana has passed soon after Spring arrived. It's how life seems to balance things...

.

Oddy's ghost didn't seem to welcome the new family member, who wasn't deserving of the Northwalker name. He scared River after she put Spring into her crib.

After Amana's death, River felt lost. She no longer had anyone connecting her to the Northwalkers. She hasn't heard from Loki, the only living descendant of Amana in years. He certainly didn't want the house back.

River considered the idea of taking back her Goldfinder name and rejoining the tribe. However she quickly decided against it. She could never show her face again to her mother after she gave up her heirness.

Her ultimate decision was to give herself and her family their own name. She decided to be called Bloodecho, a name reflecting the tragic day her life took a different turn. She changed their clothing to dark colors. People should know that the Bloodechos shouldn't be messed with.

.

Time passed and the twins grew into teenagers.

It was pretty clear now that Baldur took after his dad, while Valkyra was much more like her mother.

While Valkyra looked kind of threatening from the outside, in reality she was very caring, and protected her little sister with her life.

Baldur stayed the chill dude he always was. He found out that he likes to cook for his family and took on the role of being the main chef.

For some reason Snake really liked to entertain himself by scaring him all the time. I'm not sure if he just wasn't fond of his grandchildren, or he was just being bored of his enternal afterlife... Maybe he should write something too, like me. Wait, can ghosts even write? Anyway...

Spring was being a toddler and doing what toddlers do, causing mischeif, being cute and crying. Thank you Spring for being the closing words for now. I can't wait to visit the North- Bloodechos again and see how they're doing.

~~

How It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

The Single Girls Of The Valley

Recently three teenagers have grown up into adults, and they've all moved out into their individual lands. Their families helped them with building their new houses and setting up their gardens.

Here's Azra being proud of her indipendence. She has always found a way to solve her problems, so she's pretty confident in living alone. She does miss having a big family around her.

Loki and Ukido came to greet her.

The next young woman was Yoko. She was generally very shy, which made her worry a lot about living alone. To make herself feel better, she decided to go down to the Hot Springs and try to get to know the others. Perhaps she could make some friends.

She met a man named Loki who wasn't very nice to her. She decided to just leave him alone.

She also met her brother and the two of them decided to soak in the water while talking. Soon a woman appeared who wasn't shy at all, and hopped in. Yoko clearly wasn't happy about the "openness" of Maza.

And lastly...

We have Hail, who was quickly greated by Zoma, Maza and Loki. She's pretty good with taking care of her guests and making herself likeable, because she decided to cook some lunch for them.

Loki then proceeded to be not so nice with her, so she told him to leave immediately if he can't behave.

Next day her own family came to help her out and check up on her.

She even started to make some four legged friends too.

.

Will the women find company? Perhaps. Or maybe they'll flourish, even while living alone. Only time will tell...

~~

Where It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

OOC: Baby Pics Of Moonwell Valley (my custom hood)

Okay, so this is an out of character post. I just recently stumbled onto the "Storytelling" folder of my custom hood by total accident and I unlocked some core memories. It's nostalgic for me, and probably not that interesting for anyone else, but I'm still gonna post them, and no one can stop me.

Be prepared, these pics were taken in game (for some reason), so they are suuuuper crispy.

Xenry and Boyona. At least you can see the original hair colors of the founders now, if you're interested in that. Fun fact, Ravvin's red hair came from Xenry. I swear, I hit the jackspot with the recessive genes.

Snake and Amana. Yeah, you can finally get introduced to the sims who died before I started this blog.

Wind and Bear. Omg, Wind looked so different.

Shandra and Zavyr. Another one of the red haired sims who's genetics I'll cry about being gone forever.

Thundera and Earthquake. I originally imagined them being these badass people while creating them, then they turned out to be one of the chillest. Hello there Earthquake! Another long gone dude. Now that I see him, I think Cloud is almost a copy of him.

.

Okay, now onto the random gameplay pics.

Omg they're on fire!!!4!!!44!4

What even is this angle?

Yeah... That's how this challenge plays in the start.

I actually completely forgot about this, but I let Bear beg for Wind's life, which I wouldn't let today. I think I originally did it, cause it was fricking twins (she died from birth with a mod)! I don't regret it. Maybe it's destiny that Wind ended up taking out 2 other people while she lived. It was perhaps the price for her life in the long run.

Little Feather and the even smaller Forest. I love them.

I gotta be honest, the twins are my favourite still to this day.

More Goldfinders... The hood used to have almost no trees, it was so barren.

Shandra with little Zoma who was rebelling against the dress code. I can't believe he ended up being such a good looking sim, his toddler face didn't do him justice.

Woooow, clay hair. That toddler is... I honestly can't tell if she's Maza or Azra. I think it's Azra judging from the eyebrows.

Wait, what the hell was Zoma doing with one of the Goldfinder twins?

Well, he ended up marrying Cliff, so...

Out of order pic, but the babyface Zoma is so cute... Oh no, you can see the old Hot Springs community lot in the background. It was so horrible. I decided to remove the palm trees, cause the rest of the neighbourhood's trees didn't match at all. But thinking logically? It was actually the palm trees that fit the all time summer, and not those fricking trees that are used to 4 seasons... But whatever, this is the Sims, damn it, I can do whatever I want.

.

Thank you for reading this far if you did. I hope you enjoy Moonwell Valley, I certainly do. c:

[timeless-toaster]

The Newly Weds Of The Goldfinders

Maza and Sand make a good team for now.

Look! Kitara came to visit. She and Sand also used to be romantically involved, but that's a thing of the past. They still stayed friends despite that.

Maza also met a familiar face. She and Azra shared the latest gossip of the Valley.

.

I feel some awkward tension between Maza and Sand for. Maza is having a hard time adjusting to the idea of her being the head of the family (by Goldfinder traditions). She's pretty confident in her ability to hold together a group, but she just has to shift her mindset around, after all, she grew up with men being the lead in her family.

Well, that was a short one, but at least I don't have to see anyone die this time.

~~

How It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

The Hunter Tribe With A Surprising Lack Of Hunting

There's not much happening with the Hunters. I've already written about the Eastwalkers, and how they like to stay distant from the other tribes, but the same could be said about these guys. They're not particularly shy, in fact, they're quite open and friendly, but they like stay out of causing trouble.

I didn't bring up the Eastwalkers for nothing, cause Cloud, the heir ended up marrying the second daughter of Xenry and Boyona. Kitara gladly took Cloud as his husband, both of them were very attracted to each other. By norm, they soon had their first child, who they named Wave by Hunter tradition.

Earthquake, the grandfather wasn't alive to see his grandson, but Thundera was very happy. She helped the young couple whenever she could.

Ukido came to visit her sister to see if everything was fine. The family assured him.

Cliff has also decided to visit while... being heavily pregnant. Was that a good idea? At least she could get some advice from her mother.

.

Not much time has passed and Thundera left the mortal realm in peace, with family surrounding her. We know how it is...

It was just in time for little Wave to mature just enough that he was capable of comprehending the loss of his grandmother.

Unfortunately for his younger sibling, Wave vented his frustration by poking fun of him.

.

That's not a very happy moment to end it on, but for now that's what I got. We'll have to see how the children will grow, and how the adults will do without an adulter adult around.

~~

How It All Started

Previously on Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

The Goldfinders And The Most Dangerous Person In The Valley

The Goldfinder people are known for always aspiring for something bigger and better. No wonder that the oldest children have left to seek a better life for themselves outside the family.

However Forest stayed. She was different from the others. She always knew that. While the others pursued life changing goals, she just wanted to relax and have fun.

The Goldfinders were mostly left alone by the other tribes. The biggest reason for that was Wind. The people of Moonwell Valley would only dare to whisper her name. There were rumors going around of her cheating death in a mysterious way and killing her own husband because of jealousy. Some even said that she was the reason behind Oddy's early demise. If you asked Forest about any of these, she wouldn't be sure either. For Sand, as the youngest child of the founders, he doesn't even remember anything. However all the children consider their mother a good and caring parent, but neither of them agree with her violence against others.

Forest never married, since her generation didn't have any more single people left. She didn't really mind it. She used to spend some time with a certain man from the Northwalker family before he died. From their time together, Sky was born. (Who I'll introduce later.)

Forest's new "free time partner" ended up being Zoma. They've met at the Hot Springs, and both realised how much they like each other. The man frequently visited their home, which Wind wasn't very fond of. (Or she just didn't find the prank funny. Forest influencing Zoma to do that is like playing with fire.)

Well... fast forward some time, and Sand quickly grew into an adult. Since he wasn't the heir, he moved out and found his own land to live on.

A lot of young people realise at this point, that living alone is not so easy. Sand wasn't different. He wasn't scared at all, cause all he had to do is walk a little and find a familiar face to couple up with.

He didn't really want to marry Maza - or anyone else - but he didn't mind it. He still liked her a lot, and knew that the two of them could live well together.

But more on these two later. *wink wink*

~~

How It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

The family dressed in green

Remember River and her unfortunate life? (If not, you can read it here). Now I'm gonna tell you about what happened to her twin sister, Feather.

Feather was the first one to leave the Goldfinder family and throw away her position of being an heir. Similarly to her twin sister, her mother Wind didn't support her decision and they've never spoken to each other ever again since that day.

Now calling herself an Eastwalker, Feather married Ukido (that's his dad not to be confused with Ukido), the man she had her eyes on ever since they met around the hot springs. She didn't mind cutting contact with her mother, since her new family welcomed her with open arms. She also enjoyed not having the responsibilities and pressures of being an heir herself, as she never was fond of her past role.

The couple soon had Sahh, which obviously made the now grandparents very happy.

Even Feather's brother, Sand came to visit the newest member of the family. He still liked his sister very much, and wanted the best future for her.

The Eastwalker tribe was full of withdrawn people, with every children - not surprisingly - inheriting their parents' shyness. Therefore their lives were peaceful in these years. They never made enemies and planned on keeping this tradition going forward.

One day Naoko came to visit with news, that she was pregnant with her second child.

Their family still felt very close, even after she has moved out to become a Northwalker. You can also see that Ukido really enjoys being a family man.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the most silent member of the family, Yoko. She often likes to stay in the background, tend their fruit trees, and take care of her nephews. And that's completely fine for her, as she doesn't like to be the center of attention. However, when no one notices, she slips away into the night and sneaks up to the hot springs to meet a handsome boy.

.

Sadly, bad news soon hit the Eastwalker tribe.

Time is cruel, and no one is immune to it's effects, not even Boyona. (But at least she won the "prize" for being the first female to die in Moonwell Valley. Not very comforting, I know.)

Poor Xenry's heart was broken. His wife meant the world to him. He craved love. He craved company. But it felt like all of that was gone. May they meet in the afterlife, whenever that will be...

Ukido tried his best to not let little Sahh feel sad for long. That night he tucked him in bed and watched him until he fell asleep.

To end on a positive note, life went on, and a new member of the tribe arrived. Everyone welcomed little Yun with smiles.

I'll visit the Eastwalkers later. For now everything seems to be going alright.

~~

Where It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

The Most Crowded Family In Moonwell Valley: The Zyrs

Shandra and Zavyr are the forever lovebirds of Moonwell Valley. Even after so many years, you'll still frequently see them playfully flirting with each other like teenagers.

Together, they have three children: Zoma, Maza and Azra.

Zoma, the oldest, used to be considered a weak child, who suffered from the warm weather more than the others. Thankfully, he grew into a strong and healthy man. He married his teenage love, Cliff from the Hunter family, and now has kids of his own.

The Zyr girls had a rocky relationship throughout their life. As children, they would argue and poke at each other constantly, but it seems like as teenagers, they've grown out of their sibling rivalry.

Maza also has her eyes on the Goldfinder's only living male member, Sand. Little does she know, that he's interested in more girls than just her.

Azra herself always wanted a relationship ever since she grew up to a teen, but never found any of the boys likeable in her age group. She feels alone, but taking care of her nephews helps her distract her thoughts.

And lastly, I'll introduce Zurry, the next in line heir after Zoma. He's a smart kid, who likes to help around the plants, and generally behaves like an angel. (His parents must be very lucky.)

~~

Where It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

The Other Northwalker family

After Loki grew into an adult, he had to leave his home as every non heir adult does. He married Naoko, a woman from the Eastwalker tribe, who was already living on her own. They were lucky to get married for not just survival, but for love too, since they liked each other ever since they were teens.

They led a peaceful, almost uneventful but happy life together. Soon their first child, Ravvin was born.

After his brother's untimely death, Loki became the heir of his tribe. He never aspired to be a leader, but he swore to be a good father, and took care in teaching and protecting his son.

Of course Naoko was a great mother too.

It didn't take long for their family to grow... with another boy, Noyo.

Amana, Loki's mother, and Kitara, Naoko's sister decided to visit when Noyo grew up into a toddler to see the children, and to tighten the relationship between the two tribes.

Ravvin quickly rose to the role of the oldest sibling and entertained his brother, or at least that's what it looks like from the outside. In reality, he was just bored, and the adults were sleeping.

Only a few weeks passed for the bad news to come. Amana has passed away due to old age. Loki took the news well, or at least he tried to mask his emotions. Maybe it was Ravvin who was affected by it the worst.

The Northwalkers didn't have any news of how River and her children were doing yet. I'll tell you about it later. For Loki and his family, this is all I can write. We'll check in on them later.

~~

Where It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

The lives of the Northwalkers so far...

Several years have passed since River has decided to leave the Goldfinder tribe for her love, Oddy from the Northwalkers. She wasn’t the first in her family to disregard their traditions. Feather, her twin sister has also left their tribe, and gave up her position to be with her love. After that, River was on the line for being the heir, since their family followed matriarchal traditions. She had ran into a dilemma. She was in love with the Northwalker’s heir, and they wouldn’t give their eldest son to her family the same way her mother, Wind wouldn’t want another daughter taken away. In the end River made her choice when she grew into an adult, and still having a younger sister who could inherit her position, she left her home with only little guilt, and got married to Oddy.

Even tho she was first considered an outsider by her mother-in-law, Amana, River was quick to adjust to her new living situation. She soon became a mother of twins, Baldur and Valkyra. It came instinctively to her to be on top of the housekeeping and taking care of two toddlers at once. She was happy with her decision leaving her old family and she hasn’t talked to her mother ever since she left on that day.

However interesting stories never stay happy forever.

On one day, her husband came back home in the middle of the night. He was severly wounded and they couldn’t help him. In his dying words Oddy told River that he got in a fight with Wind and lost. This event completely turned River’s life around. She felt furious with her mother, and she couldn’t understand why she would do this. She was left alone to take care of two toddlers while she couldn’t even take care of herself due to her grief. Or so she thought. Amana also cursed Wind, and knowing River’s story, she immediately rose to take care of her and her grandchildren. They bonded over shared their grief. For a while the elderly woman worked hard to let River mourn in peace. She has also lost her husband, Snake years ago when Oddy was a teen, also to the wounds of fight and was left alone with two children.

Hearing the news of his older brother’s death, Loki came to visit and comfort his mother. This incident left him to be the heir of the family, however he didn’t decide to move back to his original home. He and his wife Naoko swore to help if needed.

River also got emotional support through her younger sibling, Forest, who still lived with her mother, but didn’t support her violent tendencies. She was also glad to give a helping hand.

Years passed and Baldur and Valkyra grew and spread their energy and happiness to the adults around them.

River also grew acceptence over her husband’s death, but never stopped missing him. She craved companionship, but couldn’t find it. Unfortunately Moonwell Valley didn’t have anyone in her age group who wasn’t already paired up with someone else. 

She started visiting the nearby hot springs. Eventually she got close to a man  named Cloud from the Hunter family. She knew that their relationship won’t be long term, but she cherished the few moments she had with him.

And with that we’re mostly caught up with the Northwalkers for now. Their family bond seems strong, and I’m positive they can face their challenges after overcoming this much so far. I suspect they’ll soon welcome a new “surprise” member to the tribe, so their lives certianly won’t stay uneventful.

~~

Where It All Started

Previously On Moonwell Valley (same as the above)

Next On Moonwell Valley

[timeless-toaster]

Let me tell you about Moonwell Valley

As I was traveling time and space out of boredom, a little place has caught my attention. It’s quite a charming valley, which opens up into a lagoon. It’s surrounded with mountains to keep the weather peaceful, and it’s forests and meadows give the wildlife more than enough to thrive.

No wonder that some people have decided to settle down here after traveling great distances. Someone has given the name “Moonwell Valley” to this place, and it spread from word of mouth until it was widely known and accepted by the community.

I was immediately fascinated by them, and after I’ve watched them for a few decades, I decided to document their growth. Why? Because it’s fun, and I’m an immortal being so I have nothing better to do.

-

Five couples moved in around the same time. Their technology and knowledge seem primitive. They can’t write or read, but they are quite intelligent. They survive by growing and gathering their own food. They’re also very resilient, but they lack the knowledge to heal wounds, so having an enemy can become deadly fast here.

For now, I’ll only briefly introduce the tribes, and I’ll go in depth with their lives later. They gave themselves their names, don’t blame me for the uncreativeness. *wink wink*

The Northwalker and the Eastwalker families are pretty self explanitory on where they come from. Snake and Amana Northwalker has travelled south to start a family in a warmer climate, which would hopefully contain more food  and resources. Meanwhile Xenry and Boyona Eastwalker fled to the west from a dangerous place.

Bear and Wind of the Goldfinder family was always after something better or bigger. After they have found Moonwell Valley, it seemed like their search has finally ended... at least in the home department. 

Thundera and Earthquake Hunter got lost one day, while searching for food in the area. They accidently stumbled into the valley, and thought it would be an upgrade. Yes, that’s all.

And the last couple is the Zyrs, namely Shandra and Zavyr. They were both cast out from their previous tribe for not being up to their standards. Well, I guess that’s how things go, if you just wanna chill and love each other while the others are up to fabricating war between each other.

At this point in time all the original couples are elders, and there’re some of them already six feet under, as you can see. However they’ve succesfully more than doubled the population and made the future generation’s lives much easier.

For now this is all I’ll say about the founding generation, and I’ll probably go more in depth on what happened in their individual families later.

~~

Where It All Started (This is it!)

Previously On Moonwell Valley

Next On Moonwell Valley