Stagecoach Village: Fill & Download for Free

In the my country, which is the United Kingdom, some cheese looks like this :-This is Stilton cheese, which is a traditional English blue cheese. Blue Stilton's distinctive blue veins are created by piercing the crust of the cheese with stainless steel needles, allowing air into the core. The manufacturing and ripening process takes approximately nine to twelve weeks.According to the Stilton Cheesemaker's Association, the first person to market Blue Stilton cheese was Cooper Thornhill, owner of the Bell Inn on the Great North Road, in the village of Stilton, Huntingdonshire (nowadays an administrative district of Cambridgeshire). Traditional legend has it that in 1730, Thornhill discovered a distinctive blue cheese while visiting a small farm near Melton Mowbray in rural Leicestershire. He fell in love with the cheese and made a business arrangement that granted the Bell Inn exclusive marketing rights to Blue Stilton. Soon thereafter, wagon loads of cheese were being delivered to the inn. Since the main stagecoach routes from London to Northern England passed through the village of Stilton he was able to promote the sale of this cheese and the fame of Stilton rapidly spread.For cheese to use the name "Stilton", it must be made in one of the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, and must use pasteurised local milk. The manufacturers of Stilton cheese in these counties applied for and received Protected Geographical Status (PDO) in 1996.Stilton cheese cannot be produced in the village that gave the cheese its name. Stilton village is not in the three permitted counties; it is in the administrative county of Cambridgeshire, and in the historic county of Huntingdonshire. The Original Cheese Company applied to the U.K. Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to amend the Stilton PDO to include the village but the application was rejected in 2013.It has always been a favourite cheese of mine, and our two boys also love it. However my wife, who is from the Philippines, did not like it at first, and indeed did not like most English cheese; in fact, the only cheese that she would eat at first in this country was Kraft Cheese Slices. It is not surprising that she was wary of our cheese at first, when cheese from the Philippines looks like this :-Whenever I go to the Philippines I am always disappointed that proper cheese seems virtually unobtainable there, and you can only find these poor quality processed items, for sandwich spread or cheese topping in cheeseburgers, etc. However more recently I have discovered that several varieties of English and European cheese are available in the International Supermarket in the SM Aura Shopping Mall in Fort Bonifacio Global Village in Metro Manila. However I could not find any Stilton cheese among the cheeses there.Meanwhile, although my wife now likes many English cheeses, she is still not so fond of Stilton. And also whenever we visit the home of her Filipina friend in a village out in the Nottinghamshire countryside that is renowned for producing Stilton cheese, the friend is very kind and hospitable in the way she caters for us, but there is never any Stilton cheese on her table.

The most common on I can think of is: When European colonization of the Western Hemisphere began, they encountered sparsely populated continent that contained nothing but primitive, savage tribes that were incapable of competing with the advanced civilizations that were found in Europe.When I was growing up in the 60’s & 70’s we were just beginning to get the idea that the popular view of slavery (slaves were generally well treated and happy). Reconstruction failed because of rampant corruption and the inability of people of color to perform at the necessary level of intelligence and competence to run a government wasn’t, shall we say, accurate. But my view of native American cultures was still pretty much shaped by Hollywood. Think John Wayne in Stagecoach or the old TV series Wagon Train. White conquest of the hemisphere was an inevitable result of what happens when technologically advanced societies come into contact with more primitive ones. Sad but necessary for the advance of civilization and a benefit for mankind as a whole.It wasn’t until I read the book 1491 by Charles Mann ten years ago that I realized how completely, totally wrong that view is/was. Far from being sparsely populated, there were probably more people in North America in 1491 than there were in Europe at the time. The first explorers describe the east coast of North America as being so densely populated that they couldn’t find a place to land. The cultures were astonishingly advanced. It was easy for scientists to find the wild versions of rice, wheat, barley, oats and other grains used for agriculture in Asia, Africa and Europe. Not so for corn. No wild equivalent could be found. After years of searching the wild version was located in Mexico. It’s a small grass that rarely gets more than 3 or 4 inches tall. The “ears” are barely the size of your thumb. That native cultures could recognize the potential that this plant had is amazing enough.That they were able to discover the means of developing that potential, meaning that they had to have an understanding of the scientific method, the concept of genetics and carefully monitored and controlled agriculture is astounding. They accomplished this perhaps as much as 1,000 years before Gregor Mendel first codified the concept of genetics.That’s not the only thing that was amazing about native American practices. The only animal species suitable for domestication in the Western Hemisphere is the Llama. Cultures in North America had no domestic animal husbandry. That did not mean that they didn’t manage game populations. Native villages would regularly set forest fires. They knew that such fires would harm few trees but they would clear out the underbrush. This made the forests more attractive for large game species like deer. The deer could see in all directions so they would venture into the forests near native encampments where they could be hunted. Henry Hudson who modestly named the Hudson River after himself, reported massive fires on both sides of the river on his first journey. When European settlers first arrived, they discovered to there astonishment that they could drive carriages and wagons through forests. One South American culture even had constructed its own theme park.All of this came to an abrupt end when Columbus showed up. It wasn’t the advanced technology, Christianity or Culture he brought that began the process, it was the diseases. Possibly as much as 95% of the indigenous population would be wiped out and certainly no less than 70%. This took some time, about 130 years but at the end, the Western Hemisphere was empty. That why that although Columbus’ voyages occurred in the 1490s, the first permanent settlement in North America, St. Augustine in Florida wasn’t founded until 1565 and Jamestown wasn’t founded until 1605, over 115 years after Columbus’ first voyage. It took that long to clear out the existing population. English explorers in the late 15th century report sailing by mile after mile of abandoned settlements, in some cases with skeletons still clearly visible. Even the Jewish holocaust in the 20th century is dwarfed by comparison. This was the largest single cause loss of life in human history.The myth I grew up with is that it was European intellect and technology that defeated Native Americans. The truth is it was their diseases.P.S. Equally interesting is Mann’s sequel to 1491, 1493 which deals with the aftermath of Columbus’ voyages. After reading that book, it’s hard to answer the question “Who is the most important individual in human history?” as anybody other than Christopher Columbus.P.P.S. Some people have criticized this answer on the basis that I only cite one source. Of course these folks cite no sources of their own, just a general feeling that I’ve got my facts wrong. Let me expand on my only source a little bit. The full title of the book is “1491 The Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus”. As the title implies, the book is a survey of the current state of scientific and historical research into the hemisphere prior to Columbus’ arrival. As such it has hundreds of sources which are documented in the bibliography. Before anybody else suggests that I’ve got my facts wrong, they should try getting a few of their own.

What gets players invested in ANYTHING in a game? Sometimes people agonize over the death of a stupid throwaway NPC they mostly joked about, yet other times they drop their Sword of Dragon Slaying +4 down a well because they can and it’s funny. (They DID manage to stab the fish they saw down there. Stupid natural 20)While there are a bunch of ways to describe what gets players to invest in something, I think the best way is this.Players invest in something they want to see more of. Will this person/thing/place come back? Are they around for the POTENTIAL for them to come back. (Just the potential, not actually)When they hear their favorite NPC died in the dragon attack, it’s because they wanted to see him again, or at least know it’s POSSIBLE he is still around, that he survived for them to keep him around in their mental world.That one goblin they kept on encountering who always had a good deal to trade with them, even if it usually brought them trouble.The Spear of Grimsdat’r they used in their last ditch gambit that killed the war troll but snapped in the effort.The Storekeeper in Gravehelm whose house was saved by the party’s heroic effort to put out the fire even at the cost of every member’s House cloak.Every item or NPC or place that people in your D&D game really invest in, and feel pain when it’s damaged and elation when it’s saved in my mind boils down to this.When they invest in something, it becomes a part of their future.There are many tools that use the future to improve the now.Hope:Hope is a verb for the future, you hope something WILL happen. You WANT to see something happen. Something is coming, you hope. So you work NOW for the future.The classic D&D party usually falls under this. They are promised a reward, and if they work hard at doing something, they get a reward. They are working NOW for the FUTURE, they hope to get that dragon’s hoard.Intrigue:Intrigue is a mystery. Something is weird, unknown, but in the future, if you work at it NOW, you will find out what it is in the FUTURE.The town they have been in for a bit is changing, something is happening. The Tavern-keeper's daughter is missing and no one is talking about it. Why? We need to find out.Addiction:Addiction is perhaps a strong word to use here, but it fits well. Addiction isn’t being used as a negative word but a status. You really enjoyed this thing and are having troubles imagining continuing without it, so you make sure it isn’t harmed, or you work towards getting more in the future. The goblin in the earlier example would fall under this heading. The game flow is just built around encountering this goblin more often then they should, and the items he has are always interesting, for the right price. They don’t want to see this stop. They don’t want the FUTURE to not have this goblin.Growth:Growth would more be secondary and after you have already invested in something. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. You have helped save this town, and want to see it prosper. You work NOW so the FUTURE town is better. If you keep the town safe for another season, the wall can be built and the canal can be finished.So when you design the village, make it something that they want to see build on itself. What’s the NEXT thing that is going to happen here? To get them invested is to get them to act like they put money into it. Emotional money, that they will get a return on investment on. It’s why it’s called investment after all.Intrigue:The party walks into town and sees the village is preparing for something in the square. Oh? What’s going on?They are preparing a festival of some sort perhaps? The villagers are very polite, but don’t really explain whats going on here. But all of them mention it’s a tradition to keep the town working. Huh…Hope:I’m so glad you adventurers arrived. Our town is being ravaged by a necromancer. At least the zombies attacking and dragging off people every night make me think so. But if you can stay and protect us tonight and then figure out how to stop this, we’ll be mightily grateful. Our town guards are trained for riff-raff and cudgel fights not THIS!I know how you adventure folk work. So i’ll talk to the townfolk and see if we can’t scrounge up some kind of incentive for you.Addiction:Every time your party has come through this town something has happened. Last year it was the Mayor’s daughter being thrown out the 2nd story window and landing on your stagecoach as you passed through. (incidentally probably saving her life, the stone road below wasn’t a good landing place.)Year before that, the tavern caught fire and you all were thrown a party for saving it from burning down.Year before THAT the town crier was a treasure trove of tips and rumors on how to finish your quest. This town just always provides SOMETHING.Growth:The 3 party members have been a part of the town their whole life, they grew up here. But the town and surrounding farms had a terrible harvest this year. What little food is for taxes and thus no food to store for the winter. But you 3 DID hear that one traveler in the tavern mention a landslide uncovered something interesting. Treasure sells for food as well as gold after all…