Silas Gen 1 Chapter 1 - Troublemaker

Generation 1 - Silas Rivers

Family Structure: Single Parent

Number of Children: 2

Occupation: Mixologist

Misc Fun: Fighter - get into a bar fight or brawl once a Sim week

Silas Rivers took a moment to revel in the silence, not that it was ever loud on this tiny island. He had managed to sneak out from the disapproving eyes of his parents, and escaped to the only bar in the village. It had no name, so everyone had taken to just calling it the Watering Hole, a small joke started long ago by someone no one could remember, and had probably never met.

Silas lived on Cyrene Island, apparently named after some mythological being or some such, but no one currently alive on the island knew anything about....anything, really. There were only a few families left on the island, after all. Many families died years ago, succumbing to some strange disease that wiped out over half the population of the small island, leaving behind a smothering emptiness. All that was left were crumbling shacks that once housed happy families, and the few people that survived were trying their best to fill the void.

With the demise of 90% of the island's population, the remaining few people were left in the dark about life outside of Cyrene. No one even knew where the island was located in relation to the rest of the world, or if there was even a world behind the sparking, bright blue ocean. Had the disease touched anywhere else? Was there anyone left? Silas didn't know. And Silas didn't care. He was too busy arguing with his parents every day.

Just this morning, he had gotten into a fight with his father, Nathan, because Silas skipped school.  Again. Silas had just never seen the point in school; by the time he was 10, he was already smarter than the one teacher the island had. Silas thought it would be better to focus on more pertinent skills like fishing or gardening, or anything else that was more useful than rereading the same 10 "educational" books the village had left. He was pretty sure that the children of this island had been reading the same history books for the last 100 years, at least.

The only history that interested Silas was his mother, Lily's. He knew that his mother was not born here on the island, but she never talked about where she came from or how she ended up here. The most she had ever revealed, even to her husband, was that she washed up on the shore with no memory of how she got there. The locals had found her, given her new clothing (or rather, clothing that wasn't torn to shreds), and helped her start her own little farm. That's when she met dad. He lived nearby and would often come over to help her with her fledgling garden so she could get some crops going before winter sent everything dormant. He'd even helped her build the house they lived in now, though they had added on to it quite a lot over the years.

 Left to Right: Nathan Rivers, Willow Wisp, Tristan Swiftsong, Chris Greenwood, Keely Greenwood, Lily Rivers, Dana Swiftstream, Not pictures: Derrick Wisp.

It wasn't much to look at, but the small family had everything they needed: fresh food, grown or caught by themselves, a warm fire going at all times, soft beds made of feathers and straw. It rarely, if ever, snowed on the island, but the winters could still be brutal and cold. The strong, solid walls were built sturdy, keeping out the harsh winter that stifled the island.



When Silas wasn't out fishing, he was getting into trouble. He never really meant to get into trouble, but it seemed like he always was. Staying out too late, forgetting to bring the linens in before they froze over, forgetting to weed the garden causing the last of the tomato plants to die, forgetting to put the fire out, nearly setting the house ablaze, anything and everything. There wasn't a day in his life where his parents didn't yell him at or were otherwise disappointed in him. He knew they had always been loving, doting parents to him, and had fond memories of them all together, but in the last few years, he had become quick to anger.

Silas wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but he felt like he never really fit in with any of the other children on the island, not that there were very many. He had one friend, Marilyn Greenwood, but ever since her 16th birthday, she wasn't really that interested in hanging out anymore.

He fondly recalled memories of the two of them playing together, despite the constant rain, and it was always raining.

Even now, months since the last time he had even said hello to Marilyn, he missed her dearly. He had overheard snippets of conversation between some of the other kids that she was dating Brandon Swiftstream now. Silas hated Brandon. Brandon was a good kid. Everyone on the island loved him, even Silas's own parents. Brandon had never done anything wrong, he was perfect. Perfect garden, perfect house, perfect clothes, perfect girlfriend. Every time Silas saw Brandon's stupid face caused a deep rage inside of him.

Really, who wouldn't want to punch that stupid smirk off his face?

One mornings like this, Nathan would attempt to cheer Silas up, despite their strained relationship. Once Silas hit puberty, their relationship tanked, although Nathan and Lily tried their best to steer Silas in the right direction. It seemed like no matter how hard they tried, Silas just wouldn't listen.

"Son, I know it's hard, but please, you have to at least try to do well in school. It's good to learn, and it'll keep you out of trouble. Derrick can't keep escorting you home every night, he has other things he needs to worry about."

Derrick, the only law enforcement in town, was a frequent guest at the River household. Cyrene Island has a strict curfew for minors, to make sure they don't get hurt wandering the very dark island by themselves. Or getting up to no good with each other. Although they desperately needed to repopulate the island, pregnancy and births could be dangerous, and there were no healers left after Olivia passed 5 years ago, leaving no heirs behind. Most of the villagers had decent enough knowledge of herbs and medicine to keep themselves healthy or to nurse a cold away, but no one knew what to do in the event of a birthing gone wrong.

"What does it matter, anyway? I'll just end up doing the same thing as everyone else, fishing or hunting, or farming." Silas was less than enthused about his father's little pep talk.

Once Silas left for school (for once), Nathan called for Lily.

"I'm worried about Silas, Lil. I just don't know what to do with him anymore." Nathan sighed. He had always been on the sensitive side, which Lily had always loved about him. He was the island's source for entertainment, writing books in his spare time. Many of the children here had grown up reading his novels, and they even made requests for certain story lines or ideas on where they wanted their beloved characters to go next. Lily herself loved to paint, and was the local source for new artwork. The villagers would trade valuable items for even just one of her pieces, looking to her for images of far away lands (even if they didn't really exist), of anything other than the island they all knew so well.

Nathan and Lily were more than happy to provide an escape for their friends, they knew that although they weren't providing anything necessary for pure survival, their art was a gift that the entire village cherished.

"I know, sweetheart. But he's nearly an adult now, his 18th birthday is just around the corner and we can't keep him here if he wants to go off on his own. Once he leaves, there's nothing we can do for him anymore. And it's not like he'll ever get into serious trouble....I hope." And although Lily had been on the island for nearly 20 years, she had never once seen anyone be punished for anything, though no one had ever actually done anything deserving of punishment. A few spats here, a few stolen vegetables there, once some kids had even tried to steal Dana Swiftsong's chickens, but apparently felt too guilty to keep it, and the bird was returned the very next night.

"I hope for his sake that everyone as passive as they've been for years now..." Nathan said. He didn't have the heart to tell his wife that things haven't always been as peaceful as they are now, and that he hoped, for his son's sake, that she never had to find out what the consequence for a serious crime is.

Chapter 1.2


Author's Notes
I decided to do a Random Challenge Legacy, but originally I wanted Lily and Nathan to be my generation 1 but it I moved them around so much to different versions of Cyrene Island that most of the pictures I have of them and the other Sim's on the island have vastly different backgrounds and it was a little too confusing, so Silas is the official founder. Lily and Nathan rolled Artist and Author, a couple, and misc fun was Joker, which is why they are the village's resident creatives. I've severely restricted rolls to better fit in the world I'm building, so I'll never roll international super spy or anything related to technology (for now). I plan to slowly add things into the world as the generations move forward, and if I ever roll adventurer or if the story takes me there, I'll move to a new world. Or if this one just gets too inbred, who knows. But for now, my Sims live on a very tiny, isolated, farming oriented island, where there isn't much to do but steal chickens apparently.