Clan Douglas Dynasty (Finished)

[Schipperke]

Note to anyone reading this story for the first time:  When this story was written, the forum had an in-house image posting service that has since been removed.  Fortunately, removing the service didn't remove the pictures but they are smaller than most of the pictures you'll see on the forum now.  If you want a closer look at any of the pictures, just click on it and wait for a larger view to appear.


My dynasty is about the Douglas clan (Douglas being my surname).  Fortuitously, the Dynasty Challenge runs to 8 generations, and it just happens that I have had 8 schipperkes, 4 of whom are still with me.  So my immortals will each be named after one of the schips:  Wimsey, Kissy, Molly, Millie and Martha will be girls (we hope).  The males are Sleuth, Mojo and James.  James (named after Sir James Douglas, aka The Black Douglas) is the founder.  Here he is, newly arrived on his bare lot:



As you see, he is wearing (simulated) Douglas tartan in his tam and kilt.  All the immortals will wear the tartan.    James has the following traits:  Angler (as his SuperMax skill will be fishing), Loves the Outdoors (it will likely be a while before he can afford to build a house), Friendly (I want him to get along well with people but not to build up his charisma skill too high), Handy (I don’t plan to have this as one of the SuperMax skills) and Kleptomaniac (to help with the clan’s finances early on).  His LTW is one I haven’t tried before, Presenting the Perfect Private Aquarium.  He will register as a self-employed fisherman.  His first week will be spent developing his fishing skill, salvaging at the junk yard, and starting to build up a reputation at the consignment store.  He is also looking for a young woman with artistic talent who can begin the clan’s portrait collection and help him establish the Clan Douglas in their new home.  His future wife will also need to be able to cook and keep the garden.

[Metropolis Man]

I'm looking forward to reading more on your Dynasty's progress, Schipperke. Once I get my bearings on how I want to approach the Dynasty, I'll have to pen a story too.

[samoht04]

I only just got back from Scotland and I am still seeing Kilts!  I am interested on this challenge but not sure if I will go for it or not... So in the meantime I will watch your Dynasty. 

[Schipperke]

Thanks Metro and Samoht for your interest.  Pam, your post is just showing up as a copy of mine - I'm not sure what to make of that.  

Samoht, I certainly don't aspire to as detailed and interesting a legacy story as yours!  But a lot of Scots settled in Canada, among them my ancestors, so it seemed natural to use that little bit of family history here.  I will be very interested to see how the different Dynasties evolve.

[samoht04]

Thanks Schipperke! I am sure you will do just fine though, the odd picture here and there and basic story is good enough for me. 

[Pam]

Sorry, Schipperke!  I meant to say how cute the kilt was.  It's probably third party cc, though.

[Schipperke]

Sorry, Schipperke!  I meant to say how cute the kilt was.  It's probably third party cc, though.

The kilt was purchased from the sims store and I applied the Simulated Douglas tartan.

[samoht04]

Can I ask what you mean by 'Adding the Simulated Tartan'?

[Schipperke]

Can I ask what you mean by 'Adding the Simulated Tartan'?

I recoloured one of the plaids in Create-a-style to resemble Douglas tartan, added it to the Favourites section, and used it on the kilt.  It is a Simulated Douglas tartan because it isn't the real thing and because Sims don't wear real tartans - their tartans are Simulated.  Or you could also say that it is a facSimile of the real thing! 

[samoht04]

Ahh, thanks for explaining. 

[Pam]

The kilt was purchased from the sims store and I applied the Simulated Douglas tartan.

That's awesome!  I didn't know the Store had kilts. 

[samoht04]

Found Em! 

[Schipperke]

Thanks Samoht for the picture of the kilt, which I really think looks a lot better in tartan!

My founder, James, or The Laird, as I think of him, managed to find an artistic girl to marry, and she turned out to be the girl next door - Holly Alto.  Holly's new home is a lot different from the palatial digs she was accustomed to, but I think she's glad to be away from those nasty parents of hers.  According to her relationship panel, she is barely on speaking terms with them.  She arrived with the LTW to achieve a totally unrealistic number of completed jobs in the Architectural Design profession, which I changed to Master of the Arts (guitar and painting) in hopes that she will actually be able to achieve it.  I know, the spouses' LTWs don't really matter here, and maybe those happiness points could have been used differently, but I like to keep my sims happy.

Holly is painting and learning to cook, while James continues to spend every moment fishing.  Achieving his Aquarium LTW was easy - he completed that early in the second week.  But getting promoted in the fisherman career is taking quite a bit longer.  Also, as a self-employed fisherman, he sure isn't getting many skill opportunities.

Neither of them has shown any interest in having children, but James will be aging up soon so I built them a nursery, hoping that would get them in the mood:



Also, Holly is a vegetarian and I am wondering if she will still be able to prepare recipes with fish (ambrosia)?  Does anyone know?

[Saltypaws]

They can prepare them,  but if they eat the dish, they just get negative moodlet and then throw up.  I think they forget they are vegetarians. 

[Schipperke]

They can prepare them,  but if they eat the dish, they just get negative moodlet and then throw up.  I think they forget they are vegetarians. 

Oh, that's good then.  She won't be eating the ambrosia herself, just preparing it for the immortals until an immortal cook comes along.

[Pam]

I've never encountered a Vegetarian who prepared Ambrosia.  In other recipes that call for meat, a Vegetarian cook substitutes tofu for the meat.  Like tofu hot dogs.  I don't remember the others specifically.  It wouldn't be a bad idea to research this or ask it on the forum to be sure.

[LlamaMama]

Douglas is my clan name too! And they emigrated to Canada as well!

[Schipperke]

It wouldn't be a bad idea to research this or ask it on the forum to be sure.

Good suggestion, Pam.  Thanks.  I've just started a thread on vegetarian cooks in the skills section.

[Schipperke]

Douglas is my clan name too! And they emigrated to Canada as well!

Sounds like we have something in common in addition to our Simming habit.  By the way, did you remove your dynasty thread?  I can't seem to find it anymore.

[LlamaMama]

Yes I did. I'm going to finish my legacy first.

[Schipperke]

The clan Douglas Dynasty is now at the beginning of the fourth week.  They are making slow but steady progress toward their goals.   There is no photograph or ice sculpture of founder James as a young adult, but Holly’s portrait of him was her first brilliant painting  and is now appreciating in value in the basement gallery.  Holly has reached level 10 painting and is ready to learn sculpting, although it’s uncertain whether she will be ready to do a permanent (non-melting) ice sculpture before toddler Wimsey ages up to childhood.  Holly also needs to gain enough photography skill to take a picture of James, as well as keeping the household fed.  She is a busy person these days.  Here she is, working on James’ adult portrait:

[Schipperke]

James has finally reached level 10 as a self-employed fisherman.  He will continue his nightly fishing expeditions at the graveyard, but he will also work to get his photography skill up and take over the garden to give Holly more time to sculpt.  Here he is teaching toddler Wimsey to talk:

[Schipperke]

Is it my imagination, or does that child look a lot like Vita Alto (shudder)?  I expected her to inherit either her mother’s blond hair or her dad’s red hair.  In any case, she is nothing like the ghoulish granny in temperament - she has inherited her dad’s love of the outdoors and friendly disposition.  Speaking of the grotesque grandparents, neither Vicious Vita nor Nasty Nick has shown the slightest interest in either their daughter or their new granddaughter.  They never call or come to visit, despite living just around the corner.  James is very relieved that he doesn’t have to deal with his nightmarish in-laws.

After hearing of the meteor disaster that hit their friends in the Hero Dynasty, James and Holly decided it was time to build a house and move in off the grass.   Holly has been pushing for this ever since the time she came home and found Dustin Langerak lying in bed beside her husband.  James swore he was asleep the whole time and didn’t even know Dustin was there.  Holly, like the good person she is, chose to accept his explanation, but this reinforced the need for a house with walls and a door.  The architect they chose to build their house - an inexperienced builder named Schipperke - gave them a boxy-looking structure.  It doesn’t look like much but they are quite happy with the decorating, rudimentary as it is at this stage.  Maybe later they’ll be able to afford one of the famous architects that advertise in Carl and Pam’s Forum.  They’ve heard good things about TommyT and Samoht.  Next time!

[Metropolis Man]

That's a massive room Holly is painting in. I see stairs in the background and predict one heir is going to fill up that basement with nectar for that particular LTW.   Right now that's actually my own plans for generation 2 — business career, Bottomless Cellar LTW, and nectar making skill. My Founder will have already maxed gardening at that point, so he'll just be able to pass the goodies from the garden to the heir.

Good stuff, Schipperke. Nice progress.

[Schipperke]

I wasn't even thinking of nectar, although that's a good idea and will keep it in mind.  I just wanted to be sure I had room for all the ice sculptures to come - 8 immortals, with 6 lifestages each, so 48 sculptures, less the early ones that get missed.

As for the massive room - it will likely get bigger as the household grows.  My building style, if it can be called that, is to have one huge room with as many bedrooms and bathrooms as necessary.  It doesn't look pretty, but I find it efficient.