New Friends

Discovery, Exploration

Franz helps the colonists communicate with the Piggen.

The colonists first met the Piggen during routine patrol of herd land near the colony. There was a language barrier, but Franz was able to make a deal for passage in exchange for rations, and the deal eventually continued, with humans learning the native tongue.   A mutual skirmish against the Underhill tendril near the colony netted some positive relations, and eventually colonists were permitted to visit the Piggen village in the forest. The village was stone age, in all but the temple, where they were told the Piggen gods slept underneath.   These gods turned out to be AI cores, from a beyond ancient ship that first brought the Piggen to this world, though their star-faring days were so old, it had become a creation myth of sorts. The 'shepherds' as they were called, were turned on, and after a very tense negotiation, the village emptied, their gods convincing the Piggen that the human colony was more capable of protecting them.