[b]Time: Era of Gray (no precise timekeeping system developed)[/b]

[u]Platta Civilization[/u]
Population: 40

[u]Demands of Complexity[/u]
Late that night, the gray secretary visited Darbu and explained, "I have searched back through the words of ancestor upon ancestor, dating to the first secretaries and to the first Platta."

Darbu was excited to learn the meaning of the sky, but realized the secretary seemed disturbed. The secretary continued, "I cannot recall any answer. I am not sure if the sky has a meaning, but at the same time, it seems it must, as all things do. This is a new question, and as is my duty to make decisions of the unknown, I have been thinking about what must be done. I find the answer is a very disturbing one."

"Why? What is it?"

"The sky's meanings show to me the future of the world will not belong to nature, but the Platta. A force equivalent to the works of yellow Platta shall dominate the land beyond the scout's farthest walks. But the scouts of that era will travel even farther. They will communicate of their finds, but it will bring much tension which will change many ways of life."

In Platta symbolism, yellow was the hybrid of red and green, meaning it was the realm of order and life, which translates to engineering. The loss of nature to Platta refers to how engineering is seen as taking from nature for Platta to use. The secretary sees this as the future from the fact the star is yellow. The scout travels come from the light blue look of the sky. Light blue translating as the meaning of the realm of place and courage, or scouting. But as the sky is also darker blue some days, which translates out to the realm of place and caution or messengers and communication, they also see this coming. The large scale of it is from how the sky shows itself everywhere on an unknown scale. The tension comes from how the sky is black at night, which represents disagreement. The secretary is interpreting this as a sign of tensions shall dominate the future.

The secretary continued, "I think you are not fit to be merely a scout of place, but a scout of order, of life, and of place. But you also show the drive to ask of the world. I must ponder about what to do with this in mind. In the discussion tomorrow, I will announce my answer."

And that night, Darbu wondered what was about to happen. She wondered if this would be her death for messing with the order of the Platta, but also knew that the Platta were mostly willing to learn of the new.

At the discussion, the gray secretary explained what had happened with Darbu, and the answer. They said, "Change is coming from all directions, so we must go meet it in all directions. In the coming generations, we must explore beyond the land of the Platta to the lands of the unseen. Darbu has found our future, and it is not going to be a simple life."

All Platta became scouts that day, in addition to the other roles held, and as more saw places of inspiration, the more they wanted to make something. But as the labor had increased for all, so there was also less time to work on art. This led to a push to have more children to aid in different ways figuring the more children did, the less they would have to, and though the children would have their own inspirations, they would have others working for them in regards to food gathering and care taking. It would merge in a more labor-intensive but balanced system. The next few years would be a faster expansion. However, the costs of doing so were not considered very closely...