[h2][center][color=Brown]Raethel Norvegicus and the Rattus People[/color][/center][/h2]

As the heat of the sky returned and chased away the cool darkness that had lingered on the sands, Raethel sighed softly to himself as he quietly watched the Rattus that had followed him out to investigate the monsters that had assaulted the Rattus outpost skittered around, performing what last minute tasks they needed to do in order to prepare for the trip back to where they had started while he sat and watched the river flow by.

It wasn't a dangerous trip traveling between the outposts where Rattus life had claimed as their strong holds while they strove to claim more ground and resources... at least it wasn't, but the presence of the Pretenders going forward might change things. Scampering from one outpost to the next was just time consuming... and the heat of the sky and the chill of the shadows held their own discomforts that made the journeys more taxing.

Moving resources was also proving difficult. Currently if a Rattus wanted to take something from one outpost to the next, it had to be carried either by paw or on their backs. While there were Rattus among their people who were naturally blessed with the physical strength and endurance to bare greater loads then their peers, this did not change the fact that there was a sharp limitation to how much could be transported by a band of Rattus in a single trip. Not to mention that while Raethel himself could make such trips without needing to much in the way of supplies, the other Rattus tended to require having some of their carry capacity dedicated to things such as prepared food for their own personal usage. There had to be a better way to travel...

By happenstance, Raethel lazily watched as one of the plants that grew beside the river floated by on the flow, slowly heading towards where the river met the endless water where the land ended... and as it did so an idea started to form in Raethel's head. There was some difficulty in seeing just what the end result would look like, but while he wanted for his escort to be prepared the First of the Rattus started to gather some of the river plants that he knew for a fact floated and... experimented a little. A single plant would never be able to hold the weight of anything on top of itself... but maybe if several plants were bound together like the Rattus did as a people...

The thing that Raethel created was crude, was barely big enough that one paw needed to be dedicated to carrying it and artistically... it wasn't pleasing to the eye. But when he carefully placed it in the waters of the river and stopped it from floating away by using his tail as an obstruction, it floated just fine. Even when he started to place pebbles on it, it continued to float... through one stone to many caused it to flip over and dunk all the stones into the river, even as the object itself remained floating while upside down. But the concept was clearly workable. 

Of course the whole thing needed to be refined, made bigger and issues such as it flipping over like that needed to be addressed and solved but no idea was made fully formed from the beginning. It was a solid start through... and there were a lot more of these plants back where they were heading. 

[hr]

Raethel himself got involved with the process of developing his idea whenever possible, but his duties as leader of the Rattus and the mandate from their absent co-creator to see that all the Rattus had names ensured that they didn't have as much time to focus on any individual project as he might have liked. However, like with many things he didn't [i]need[/i] to do it all by himself. Once he had gotten back to the birthplace of his people, Raethel had dug a hole down in the tunnels away from the heat of the sky, filled it with some water and placed his example into it in order to show his vision to others. 

Time and again, Raethel saw a spark of something in the eyes of his fellow Rattus as they gazed upon his floating creation. Their minds had never considered this possibility before, but now that the possibility had been shown to them it was as if a wall had been knocked down and a wave of ideas on how to make this floating marvel actually work for the benefit of the Rattus surged forth without an end in sight. 

Groups of Rattus had formed around different attempts at making a proper, Rattus sized version of his creation. It was something to be apart of in ones spare time when other duties were done. There was something of a competition between the different bands... a friendly rivalry that sort to drive all taking part onward. The best way to witness this friendly rivalry in action was when they were testing each others designs and attempts to work around issues like the water craft flipping over; While they were utterly unforgiving in their process of testing and seemed bent on doing everything possible to expose some new flaw that a method to solve an existing problem had created, it was clear to all involved that this wasn't happening out of hostility. 

While the first group to get a successful working method out onto the river would win their little contest, no one wanted that victory to be undercut by some fatal flaw that should have been spotted and wasn't causing the whole thing to fall apart and endanger someone's life. So the cycle repeated over the course of days... weeks... until at last something was pushed onto the river from the bank. 


[hider=It was a rather simple thing.]
[img]https://www.treefrogtreasures.com/images/Product/medium/AE050.jpg[/img]
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Raethel couldn't help but grin as he watched from the river bank as a small team of Rattus on board their craft bent the waters of the river in order to push themselves against the flow and heading upriver at a respectable pace... and clearly carrying as much weight as a traveling band three times their number would be required on board next to themselves.

The grin on Raethel's face was filled with pride as he reached up to wipe a tear that had been forming in their eye away. It might have been a simple thing, but it was the dawn of a new era all the same.


[hider=Summary]
Raethel ponders the issues of transportation and travel across land and feels like a better means is possible. Spying a reed float past in the river, inspiration strikes the First of the Rattus as he develops a quick crude prototype toy boat out of river reeds in order to test the idea and concept. 

Happy with the idea but unable to dedicate as much time as he would like to working on scaling it up and dealing with the issues and flaws of his original design due to leadership requirements, Raethel showcases his idea to other Rattus in order to inspire and challenge their minds... and accept the challenge they did. 

After several weeks of dedicated hard work and testing, the first Rattus reed skiff successfully takes to the river. While a simple design, it is a successful one... and is now the first foundation block of future river and possibly ocean traveling designs and aspirations.  
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[hider=Spirit]
[b]Start:[/b] 8

+1 for being apart of a post for longer then a line.
+1 for being the main character/focus on the post.
+1 for medium length.

-8 For introducing a new technology to the Rattus people (Boats)

Still working on the quest to see all Rattus are named.

[b]End:[/b] 3
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