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« on: October 02, 2017, 10:58:13 PM »
Yesterday, my cat returned with the 5th gift this week. This time, he had actually bothered killing it, making it much easier for me to rid him of his triumph.
As I did, he just lay down on the sofa, unbothered by his prey being removed. His diligence is surprising, but not uncommon for cats. This time though, it made me think.
"Go to hell, you feline bastard." I thought.
It also made me think of nature, which led to Unrealworld eventually.
Now, what did this long and pointless story about my cat have to do with the suggestion?
Nothing at all. Or at least very little...
Dogs are so far the only pet you can own in Unrealworld, and it is more or less only good for hunting game and njerpez.
Since diseases/illnesses are planned, I think it would be fitting to also add another pet.
Illnesses could be caught through human interaction, or be spread via some kind of pathogen. This would mean you could get bitten by rats in your sleep, and that would have a chance of making you ill. Rats could also chew on your smoked njerpez reindeer as well, of course.
These ilnesses would be connected to herblore (understanding which herbs help which symptoms), that would help you find possible cures/ailments that might help.
Shamans can help, but you shouldn't place all your eggs in one basket, so shamans might fail in treating you, making herblore a more viable skill to focus on.
(Herblore might need some kind of name change if this happens, though.)
Cats would be the way to prevent pests from pestering you. They would be a low-maintinence (no need to feed), but very expensive/rare to buy. Possible only avaliable from foreign merchants or something along those lines. Cats would be a luxury for sure, and nothing a poor hermit usualy can afford. But there's always murdering and stealing.
To avoid slowing down the game too much/ crowding the world beyond capacity, pests might not need to be actual animals, just a state of a tile. Much like snow, it can have different levels of pests around it:
Pest-free (need several cats)
Bugs (lowest you can get with one cat)
Rodents and bugs (the normal state)
A lot of pests (unusually high)
Pests everywhere (dangerously high)
The more people-the more pests.
Note: I might be WAY off historically. Please correct me if I am.