The Holy Moti Empire has sent The Clan of Kogur on an expedition to the south, to spread the name of Opporia to the uncivilized, and to bring glory to the Empire.

OOC: I'll PM my stat crap to NK or bug him on the chat :p

I am Holy Moti Emperor Fifth-Gaci and I endorse this message. Go forth and spread the Good Word; the Empire is with you!

From: Nephrax-ta-Delphis, Prince of the Scroll, Satrap of Kargan
To: His Subjects in Neruss

Excellent. We haven't had a proper battle-challenge from you little people in years.

Know this. When your people's children are marched to the mines deep in the heart of the Parda, to extract metal with which to forge new masks to place upon the faces of your enslaved descendants, and they ask, with despair in their voices, to know which accursed man's memory they should spit upon for dooming them to such a horrendous fate, their parents will raise their heads, with cold, sad eyes, and speak your name. Its very syllables will become a curse in your language. Its mere utterance will become a taboo.

And that is how your legacy will resound throughout all time. Perhaps they will even tell tales of you. But they will all have the same ending.

Regardless, I am looking forward to having something to do this summer.

From: Nephrax-ta-Delphis, Prince of the Scroll, Satrap of Kargan
To: His Subjects in Neruss

Excellent. We haven't had a proper battle-challenge from you little people in years.

Know this. When your people's children are marched to the mines deep in the heart of the Parda, to extract metal with which to forge new masks to place upon the faces of your enslaved descendants, and they ask, with despair in their voices, to know which accursed man's memory they should spit upon for dooming them to such a horrendous fate, their parents will raise their heads, with cold, sad eyes, and speak your name. Its very syllables will become a curse in your language. Its mere utterance will become a taboo.

And that is how your legacy will resound throughout all time. Perhaps they will even tell tales of you. But they will all have the same ending.

Regardless, I am looking forward to having something to do this summer.

To: The horselord's horse
From: Neruss

When you ask your master why the arrow is sticking out of your rump, know it is because of his hubris.

From: Ateninu, Hno of Kogur
To: Putra

As rightful owner of Rangi, but also as a brother in faith with your people, I do humbly request that you put that aforementioned island under my control.

To the Vile Vithana

Word comes to you from Dāroćramįr, Thorsrdyn of Evyn, Sovereign of the Empire, Herald of Anyāis, Lord of the North, Scourge of Those Broken, and the Most Glorious of All Rulers. He takes note of the change in your tone- the loss of that infuriating bravado- and accepts it with a smile. As for the reason behind his harsh tone towards you and your people, you must only look to what you claim to see the source of his ire. He is the Lawgiver of the Most Glorious of Empires; Lord of limitless centers of learning, art, and thought- is there any city in the world that dares challenge the beauty and sophistication of Anyāis? You claim brethren with those who have made a name for destroying that which he takes most pride in, so is his ire not natural? You claim to be World-Destroyers and breakers of men- this is an insult to the Lord of the North, his word be law, who have for countless generations spread the essence of our superior culture.

Yet you wish to know why he holds such hostility towards you? You insult him, insult his nature, insult his throne, insult his Host, and insult the very fabric of our mighty Empire. Such cannot be tolerated by a competent Lawgiver. The Empire may have lacked in the past two centuries- troubled by weak leadership and unwilling men- but that is the past, and this is the time of now. This Thorsrdyn of Evyn fears no man, and like those gloried who came before, will bring defeat to his enemies. As he speaks, his Host gathers spear and blade to bring the Vile Xieni to their knees in submission, and if needed he will have them bring spear against you. He fears no man, much less you, Horse-Lord.

The Rhon is his territory, any trespassing will be dealt with by force of arms- should you seek to take the refugee upon the river, then we are at war. There is no discussion upon this. However, as the petty curse of the Elets has rebuked the Old Offer, the Thorsrdyn sees no reason beyond this to war against you. You may, if you wish peace as you say, keep the lands you have taken while the Throne reclaims what is rightfully its own. Should time pass between us, and you do not meddle in what is rightfully his domain, the Thorsrdyn may see fit to grant you boon. But that is not this time. Stay clear of the Rhon, stay clear of his borderlands, and you may have your peace.

Confirming that I will be returning as the Empire of Helsia. Theige, we should talk later so I can fill you in a bit on the history of Farea and its people.

A little history on Parna, Part 1 of 3

Overview

The exact origin of the Kayana culture and its etymology is unknown to modern archeologists. Earliest records of the Kayana people stem from accounts of settlers from the short lived Kratoan colony at Anzai. The Kratoans were met with hostility from most natives, except for the tribe of Gu Ya Rot. The Kratoan colony remained until their destruction and subsequent chaos in the aftermath of the Satar Wars that engulfed the cradle.

That brief contact with the cradle may have spurred the development of the Kayanan people. The exchange of metalworking, masonry, and shipbuilding with the traders is believed to have trickled down the coast, which was much more passable than the thick jungle. The tribes in the area first organized into a triplicate of states: Putra, Shentha, and Parna. Each state very similar in culture, language and lifestyle and are generally peaceful as the divisions that drive nations to war are not yet present.

Initially, focused along the narrow coast, hugged by the vast jungle to the west, the Parna have begun to infiltrate the jungle as the local tribes have become assimilated into the new states. Overgrown trails, linking isolated villages which have only begun to carve their niche in the vast mass of nature, trickle with brave traders who dare to travel between the relative safeties of the villages. Men do not dare to venture off the path, lest they become prey to a jaguar or worse, an anaconda. Even when on the trail, the bravest travelers are still startled by the sounds of the jungle. However, life in the jungle has bred a people which can survive within it if need be.

Inland, the villages are constructed into the trees, much like a series of tree houses encircling a central clearing where the locals gather to socialize and trade. While under a central leadership, the villages are mostly autonomous due to their inaccessibility and terrain. The larger villages along the coast are constructed of more robust building materials such as some stone but more commonly, coral. However, a majority of the building materials remain wood, which is harvested from the seamlessly endless supply in the jungle. However, they are not much different than the inland villages with the exception of a greater integration into the state. The largest villages are the seats of power and contain the more modern pieces such as a port, primitive arts, religious structures and a central square. Obviously, the authority of the monarchy is most predominant here as the largest villages contribute more to the overall economy of the state.

Government

Historically, the governing structure of Parna is a monarchy. In the past, when the state was just perhaps a dozen tribes, the monarch would rule till death, which at that time a new monarch was determined through competition. A candidate from each tribe was sent to the capital, where they were sent into the jungle alone, within 3 days, one would have to return with the head of a jaguar. The man who did this would be proclaimed king. However, as Parna grew and more tribes became involved, the competition became crowded and intense. After a particularly bad incident, in which the candidate from the Gooh Ya tribe stabbed the candidate from the Oa Yo tribe, the ancient competition was banned. Replaced by a system in which the monarch was elected by the tribal leaders. However, the democratic system was short lived and quickly dissolved when a scandal involving bribes was uncovered amongst the electors. A predominant military general removed the electing body and gave power to the Ou Hoxi tribe (one of the more influential tribes in Parna), which the current line of monarchs come from. While, the first generations of monarchs ruled more strictly; recently, following a brief period of unrest, a council of the largest tribal leaders was formed to advise the monarch on governmental decisions.

How long do you plan on having the next update last NK? 10-20 years? More?

Selections from Satar Philosophy of the 4th Century RM

"What is the main attribute of a god? The power of creation. This world was shaped by the gods and the spirits. But it was not a united creation, which is why the earth is constantly changing in a chaotic fashion.

If the earth were made by a single god, it would show signs of order. But, instead, the earth seems to be at war with itself. Mountains burst into flame, and the earth shakes and tears. The sea is swept by terrible storms. There are places of great heat and great cold. Even the creatures of this world live in constant struggle; the insect is eaten by the snake, the snake by the bird and so on.

Did not the gods (for, as we have proven and will prove, the world was made by no single god) create the world in their image? Therefore, we can only assume that the world beyond is identical to the world before us. The heavens are at war."

-Carnax-ta-Atracta, Xephatarxis [Tome of Observation]

Editor's note: Carnax-ta-Atracta (Carnax of Atracta) was a remarkably lucid and eloquent Satar thinker. One of his main tasks was the justification of the Ardavani cosmology in light of the the material world. He also developed a rational morality of Exatas, centered around bringing divine order to a world of chaos. His political works are not absent from any well-stocked library of a Satar Prince or Redeemer.

"I have taken note that some men, mostly Accar, but even some blooded Satar as well, have begun to reckon their days by the calendar of the slave peoples, the Seis-wai. This disgusts and enrages me, as do all the features of this accursed people. But I contained my rage for the space of time required to discern any merits this slave-calendar might possess. This required a study of the history of the Seis-wai, a history of nothing but sordid weakness, the reading of which gave much disruption to my health. They failed on land to conquer the Bahran kings, and on sea the Triluin were their masters. And still they claim to be a chosen people.

Furthermore, they reckon their days from the birth of their union, a union long dead, destroyed utterly by The First and the Second. But it is but one of countless such unions, and empires, and republics. Even their current goddess, the failed rebel 'Aitah,' is but a copy of an earlier goddess, Matah, who fled into the east at the coming of the Golden Mask, just as Aitah fled before the conquering armies of the Noble Restorer, Macrinus.

By comparison, dating the years from the Mask Reforged is noble and good. Even our enemies know that the return of the Satar was the breaking and remaking of the world. They cannot deny the power and terror of the First Exatai. By comparison, what does this slave-calendar even count? The days from the beginning of one nameless, forgotten Seis-wai state among many, as useless and unsuccessful as all the endeavors of this truly revolting, nauseating slave-race. I sincerely advocate the proscription of its use by Sixth Redeemer Petraxes."

Tarkalik the Lesser, Polemic Against the Subject Peoples

Editor's Note: Tarkalik the Lesser was a veteran soldier serving the Prince of the Sword, who took to writing after losing a leg defending against a Moti raid. He was not particularly profound or well-known beyond his time, but his works were preserved due to his influence over the Wind-Lord, Petraxes, and subsequent installation as court philosopher in Magha. Some of his vitriolic denouncements of the Moti, Seshweay, and Vithana have been expropriated by others over the years. Petraxes ultimately did ban the usage of the Seshweay calendar in the Exatai, a ban which remains in force.

"First Meditation. How does one master the Aspect of Thought?

The number of unanswerable questions can enrage. Rage, while useful to a servant of Taleldil, cannot be allowed to overpower patience. Even while rage consumed him, Arastephas the Great retained the clarity of his thought. He attacked neither too early, nor too late. Equally so, abandoning your rage heralds weakness, of strength and of the mind.

The Aspect of Thought is as crucial to the warrior as it is to the thinker. Any mere soldier can direct his spear into the gap between his enemy's armor, but for a Prince fighting a battle, knowing when to direct his army to charge or to flank, that is the possession of EXATAS.

Therefore, the first step towards the mastery of the Aspect of Thought is the maintenance of rage, and the maintenance of patience. Consider again the Prince who wishes to break the enemy's army. If his rage overwhelms his patience, he shall direct his troops to charge too early, and the charge will be broken. If his patience overwhelms his rage, he will direct his troops to charge too late, and they will be drawn into a trap. But if he charges neither too early nor too late, his rage tempered by patience acts acts in unity with the patience tempered rage of his army, and the enemy is broken by the ferocity of the charge, and the possession of EXATAS.

When patience and rage have been brought into perfect balance, one has achieved the first sha [step] towards Mastery of the Aspect of Thought. Withdraw within your own mind. Feel the blazing fire that is your rage, and the wall of ice that is your patience. Combine them within your mind, and form water. This water shall nourish the garden of your thought. The blood red flowers will bloom.

Second Meditation. How does one master the Aspect of Thought?"

-Ixat-ha, Seventy-Seven Meditations on the Mastery of the Aspect of Thought

Editor's Note: Ixat-ha [Ixat the High] was a famous monastic of Magha. He first became Avet-ha of an influential monastery in the cliffs of the city, later rising to become the High Oracle of Magha. He dedicated his writings to the achievement of mastery over the Aspect of Thought, always arguing ardently for the balance of the warrior's code with intellectual training. He remains widely read in monastic circles, especially among the Avetai.

How long do you plan on having the next update last NK? 10-20 years? More?

Plan around ten years.

From: Ateninu, Hno of Kogur
To: Putra

As rightful owner of Rangi, but also as a brother in faith with your people, I do humbly request that you put that aforementioned island under my control.

By what right are you claiming this island? You say you are the rightful owner, but it has been more than two centuries since any but us have owned it, and even then, these were the lands of the Kratoan King. Are you he? I think not.

Krato never had a king, but many Hnos (Chiefs). Together they could lay claim to this island. But now, they serve the Hno of Moti, who thus can claim all they could and more. We act in the Hno of Moti's name, and thus can claim this island.

Our arrival can only benefit this dark corner of the world. Clergymen from Opios will arrive with more accurate scriptures, and our traders will once again bring their goods to these shores. You will grow rich, and your wisdom will be hailed in a multitude of lands. All of this, for but one small island.

Born into freedom, cast down by the raid
In chains and twine the boy became a beast
Of the world he was, mouth suckling her teat
His freedom worth more than any price long paid

Fallowed in blood the land of his fathers
From sea they came, iron thrust into his kin
Lashings and cages kept him quietly within
They beat him, worth less than his whore mother

Cold and frozen the wind ripped his face
Beyond the horizon mountains rose
This stench, a civilization it could not pose
Worked to near death at an unrelenting pace

Fulwarc grew to a man with his prison
Blood and flesh, with sweat all lost
Starved like rats and black with the frost
Sober to this punishment, he let loose his superstition

The wild beast spoke to the him
Freedom they whispered
Freedom they whispered
He could hear them

To: some Hno
From: Putra

Is it the custom of every people in these north lands of yours to threaten their neighbors and break the peace so constantly? We may be a small state, on the edge of the world, but our people are happy and we are content.

We will give you this island, for we (apparently unlike many) love nothing more than to watch our wives grow old with us, and our children become strong men and beautiful women. Consider it a gift. No repayment is necessary, please, keep your learned men in their learned schools, where they may best contemplate who next to bully.

I have become the one thing I hated most :(

IC: We appreciate your compliance. May your lampshades stay forever hung.

Nope!

Ancestor Worship, the old Seshweay doctrine.

The front page is about as updated as it's going to be for a while, so let me know now of any errors you see there. Oh, and most descriptions are up; I got lazy with the Siran successor states, the Stettin, and the Kayana.

Ninja's clan hasn't been added because he hasn't done anything yet. :p

The front page is about as updated as it's going to be for a while, so let me know now of any errors you see there. Oh, and most descriptions are up; I got lazy with the Siran successor states, the Stettin, and the Kayana.

Ninja's clan hasn't been added because he hasn't done anything yet. :p

Well I'm only gonna do stuff during the update :p

Not to sound impatient, but is there a deadline for claiming/getting order in yet?

Claiming nations time is over. Order deadline is 6 PM, Friday, April 1st, Vienna time. That's like... noon eastern. Not gonna figure out more than that.

Update 1
Dldnjstjr :Culture Anaroth (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6841131&postcount=14) (Dropped due to crowding)
Flying Chicken: Culture Lutto (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6841152&postcount=15)
Conehead234--Culture Trilui (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6841193&postcount=18)
Masada--Culture Seshweay (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6841260&postcount=20)
Neverwonagam3--Culture Arkage (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6841269&postcount=21)
--The Barbarians, the Graknids, and the Arkage (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6844627&postcount=41)
--The Mandate of Heaven, The Begginings of Slavery, and the Rise and Fall of the Craknids (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6844811&postcount=43)
Haseri--Culture Ederru (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6841795&postcount=23)
Kal’thzar--Culture Lieab (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6841946&postcount=25)
Toltec--Culture Arta Xorti (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6842560&postcount=28)
Abaddon--Culture Salgaron (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6842831&postcount=29)
Ninja Dude-- Culture Uggor (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6843341&postcount=31)
--Funny Sku (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6847887&postcount=68)
Lord Iggy-- Culture Farou (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6843832&postcount=35)
Jason the King--Culture Bahra (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6844770&postcount=42)
Lord Joakim--Culture Hu’ut (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6845400&postcount=44)
~Darkening~--Culture Bosrttia (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6846438&postcount=47)
Justo--Culture Ferman (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6848624&postcount=73)
erez87--Culture Nahsjad (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6849787&postcount=75)
Slavic Sioux--Palmyrian (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6852105&postcount=83)
Birdjaguar--Culture Hamakua (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6852589&postcount=87)
Yui108--Culture Opulensi (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6855197&postcount=93)
Thlayli--Culture Satari (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6863148&postcount=103)


Update 2
Lord Iggy- Aous Endelei Salei o Faeiao (Of the Fall of Faeiao of Salei) ( http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6863675&postcount=109)
Masada-Unity and Moralism ( http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6863894&postcount=110)
Rise of Aya’se ( http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6863989&postcount=113)
Neverwonagam3-The Later Craknids ( http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6863897&postcount=111)
Arkage Rank and File (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6864188&postcount=117)
Haseri-The Barbarian Trader ( http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6863981&postcount=112)
Flying Chicken-the Issitti (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6864172&postcount=116)
Ailuttorutto (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6865255&postcount=125)
Lord Joakin-The Battle of Jahip (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6864550&postcount=119)
Ninja Dude-Founding the Council of Chiefs (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6865917&postcount=127)
Darth Nader-Pekorovian Confederation (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6870048&postcount=169) The Great Assembly (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6873137&postcount=193)
Yui108Running the Spice Route (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6871133&postcount=176)
Kal’thzarRule of Ujjayad, Lord Of Thearak (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6871461&postcount=177)
Abaddon-Secret of the Kopesh (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6873004&postcount=191)
Tales of the Nakalani (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6873996&postcount=195
)
Skizzik- Rise of Nerruss (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6874067&postcount=196)
Conehead123Journey of Alovui (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6875171&postcount=224)


Update 3
Neverwonagam3-Disputes of the Craknid Line of Sucession (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6877118&postcount=250)
The Tradition of Arkage Slave Revolts (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6877227&postcount=257)
The Game of Grang (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6880265&postcount=310)
Flying Chicken-About an Expedition (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6877867&postcount=277)
Ailuttorutto - Bronze Age (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6891964&postcount=377)
Ninja Dude-Chief Bonto (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6878761&postcount=291)
New Galcia (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6910591&postcount=397)
Cuivienen- Creation Myth (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6884954&postcount=339)
[http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6889726&postcount=356"]Death of a King[/URL]
Culture Gallat (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6893555&postcount=379)
Galletene Culture (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6885711&postcount=341)
Lord Joakim-Hu’ut Culture (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6886156&postcount=342)
Birdjaguar-Hamakua Culture (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6887439&postcount=345)
Foolish icarus- Zyeshu (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6887611&postcount=346)
Haseri-Ederru Culture (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6887642&postcount=347)
Abaddon-Serat Culture (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6887668&postcount=348)
Kal’thzarThearak Culture: (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6889084&postcount=353)
The Beginnings of the First True Dynasty/Reclaiming what was Once Lost (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6889168&postcount=354)
Justo-Ferman Culture (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6890743&postcount=370)
Darth Nader-Pekorov Culture (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6890788&postcount=371)
Thlayli-A Gathering of Men (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6908146&postcount=391)
Mythmonster2-Myt-Monsta and the Stadmen (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6908330&postcount=393)
conehead234 -Augutui: A new Triluin city (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=6915565&postcount=420)

"When a man burns the world and builds his own among the ashes, he becomes a god."

-Arastephas the Redeemer

"The greatest palace, the tallest spire, the noblest victory, is nothing before the joy of a father and his son."

-Atraxes the Silver Prince

"Claim the strength of the mountain. Claim the justice of the predator. Claim the righteousness of the thunderbolt."

-Xetares the Proud

"Redeem yourself."

Hashaskor the Unburnt

"Whatever task you are appointed, pursue it with a will of iron."

Macrinus the Restorer

"We are born into a world that kills us. Life is death. Learn this lesson and you will learn power."

Petraxes the Wind Lord

"The subtlest wars are those of the mind. Win this war, and all others are simply skirmish."

-Tavha the White

Awesome story hunting Terrance! And great quotes Thlayli, I'll strive to make my Helsian quotations equally... quotable.

Gosh, I attempted to write for this once.. horrible, simplistic, paragraphs at best..

..I wish I could write.. it would be a handy skill in NESing ;)

Practice makes, if not perfect, then at least significantly better. Never be afraid to write Abaddon!

You can't do worse than my first try, can you? (searching...)

here! (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=5735261&postcount=124) Laugh in awe of my ancient fails!

The people of Parthe are called Partheca, and they are known to value exploration and curiosity, as well as hard work. The people also believe in Jarthe, or clan loyalty, that the Partheca live by. Their villages represent this best: often they are huts surrounding a central square, which is dominated by the building built by the founder of the homestead. Whenever the family that lives there grows too big, some of the younger generation either start a second square nearby and attach their center with the first, forming a town that is usually sustained by resources or trade. Or, they will migrate, forming bands of homesteaders dotting the landscape far beyond the normal borders of those directly loyal to the King.

And so is the unique shape and status of the capital city of Parwen. In the center of the land it was considered the heart of Partheca culture that spawned the entire exploring race. Although the legendary founder of that oversized town and his known descendents are long gone, the Thewen family now controls the city. They are ruling in the characteristic Partheca manner: loose governing, governor marrying and tax lowering. They have blood line ties to every major town south of Parwen, and use the Jarthe to control their loose nation.

The towns themselves are dominated by head of the family, or more often the most skilled heads of the various fractions of the clan. These trials of the chiefs are often also calls for celebration and merriment. Outsiders travel there to trade and make merry as they battled with riddles, goods made by hand and debate. The atmosphere is calm, and often times the governor chief would rule until the birth of his first granddaughter and abdicate the rule.

There are two other things about the Partheca people and their towns. First are roamers called Parca. Usually they hold no known blood lines, and so are shunned from the usually open town centers. However, their movements often brings news, trade and exploration of the originals, and that gives every Partheca the chance to invite one in to the house in hopes of a good deal. Parca who have ‘families’, whether be they bonds of marriage or comradeship, often found homesteads far to beyond the known border when they become older. Others join Parca communities which themselves migrate in their wagon towns. Some Parca are simply those visitng family, but this is rare in itself. Also well known are the crafters. Whether famed for metal working, wood crafting or trade management, they form their own social class within the city and often their own central Jarca (Plaza?) as well. They usually don’t live by blood lines but to guild loyalty, and even in small towns they will invite Parca who deal in his particular wares to settle in a small Jarca of wagons around him.


Roots!
Par – Orgin/Original
The (Short e)- Desendents
Ca- Adjective Enclitic for stuff that represents it (so a hearty man would be Jarca, one with much heart/center)
Cas- Undefined pronoun usage (Ones, those people, anyone, ect)
Jar- Center, heart
Wen- Root, Home
Parthe: Desendents of the Original Peoples (Founder of Parwen)
Parwen: The Original Home
Jarthe: The Desendents of the Heart
Thewen: Current Dynasty, Desendents of the Home,
Parcas: The family name of the legendary founding dynasty “The Original Ones ”
Parca: Like the Originals, Explorer
Jarca: Plazas, centers of villages, towns and guild sections (usually only in cities or large towns)

Language: Their most basic and central words are based on roots, but as their culture expanded and as Parwen grew into a city, the newer words for Iron, Sword, Horses and such are more relaxed than the roots. There are many relations within the roots: Par and Jar both show the center where things began.

TO: Parthe
FROM: Leunan Empire

Greetings, Friends of the far off islands to the north. We have only recently heard of your existence, and wish to welcome you to the greater world beyond. Common knowledge is that our merchants are eager to visit and commence commerce with a nation of such intrigue. It is our hope that you will allow the floodgates to greater wealth and prosperity to be opened, and we are eager to maintain sustained contact and cooperation between us.

Bah, stole the nation I was interested in! ;)

I'll stick with my jungle warriors however.

The King Querca Gandoros Thewen, the Man of Iron, Founder of the Decendent of the Home dynasty

For centuries the city of Parwen controlled only some of the Partheca. Their territory is limited to how wide their bloodlines can flow without being too diluted, and how the frontier homesteads feel about safety within the kingdom compared to without. The ancient, legendary first dynasty of the Parcas had been prolific, and had controlled a much wider territory by the simple means of blood and marriage. However, one of the reasons for their downfall in legend is that they cast their nets too wide, their blood lost power while the people gained it. They became increasingly sedentary while the people they founded and ruled, the Partheca, spread without them. Their last king died without fanfare, and the various governors and homesteaders slowly wandered away from Parwen. So the legends say that the price of success is hubris, and those who can look past pride and strive for more can be rightfully proud of their accomplishments.

Thus for centuries the Partheca lived, spread among the non Partheca peoples and free. The city itself, once sustained by grain taxes and trade, slowly crumbled and survived only as a site of pilgrimage. This changed, and the change was dramatic.

The ancient tin mines have been running low for generations, but there are still enough bronze that the Partheca guilds didn’t worry. However, one year it stopped sending production. And that year was also a year of famine and death as the ground failed to produce. This lasted for generations from some stories, or a decade in others. However long it lasted, the Partheca looked for new leaders and a new way of life. At the same time, ships arrived in Parwen that can hold many men or goods… but was it a ship of conquest or trade? No one knew.

Gandoros was a bronze smith of the time, and he greeted the strange men. Trading with the Parca Tin dealers gave him a good command of various languages, but even still he had a hard time. However, he soon understood that they are known as Kitaluk, and that they are willing to trade. It must be hard for him to part with some of his final few bronze tools and trinkets, but in exchange were wonders: Bright gems, sweet nectar of tree stones, and various furs. What most intrigued him was a simple knife that shone dull grey in the sunlight: thus made of Iron.

And so Gandoros pleaded with his dying guild to release him and let him travel as a Parca to distant lands. And his brother comrades refused again and again as the strange ship kept trading, for he was one of their master smiths… master of a lost metal. So as the ship began to leave, he swam out to the ship and with a present of his freedom for five years and his last coins of gold, he brought passage to their country as an apprentice.

There was a long voyage, and the man learned of their language, customs and beliefs. Their ship was large for him, but for the strangers it was a rather small merchant boat that was scouting the north. It had twin sails, and three hulls so the stories told, and their larger ships have many combinations of such. Between the two outer hulls that held the sails and the sailors at work was a large inner barge holding the people at rest and the supplies.

Finally, he arrived at their city. He learned more things he cannot place in his own language, and worked hard as a servant of the blacksmith Quersados. He slowly repaid his debt to the servants and learned the workings of Iron from his master. In Partheca, he called the metal Quer. Therefore he lived to his 444th moon in the land of Kitaluk before he was free.

But now he has a vision. With bronze gone, Iron would replace it. And with his own arms he will rebuild the dying city of Parwen. And so he became a trader for another 37 moons in Kitaluk, buying Iron and hiring ships while establishing the first Parwen-Kitaluk trade route. Already the city was growing again, as the goods from Kitaluk was trader to distant Partheca towns; grains flowed back to the starving city. However, it still had no central leader, as it was split between competing chiefs.

At the end of his 484th moon, Gandoros returned, and he challenged all the chiefs of Parwen to his contest. Riddles he gave in many languages, puzzles he broke with uncanny skill. In the competition of craft his Iron Sword cut through his opponents bronze blades, shined brighter than their golden broaches, and was more beautiful with its inlaid gems than any Mother of Pearl ring. So became King of Parwen. And so he called himself Thewen, the Desendent of those who defends Homes. And his chiefs called him father and Querca, he who is like iron.

Querca Gandoros Thewen, the first king of the second dynasty of Parwen, married into the family of the town of Querwen, and his sons and daughters spread throughout the land. His Iron was given to his comrades in his guild, and taught them how to make steel. Their skill of the Metalworkers guild was greater than that of Kitaluk, and so his own trade route became from that of scrounged relics to that of intricate iron pieces. His iron too, was provided to his army of Parca, and they traveled throughout his growing realm to kill Parca bandits, protect the homesteads, villages and towns of the new Parthe kingdom and to spread the borders beyond the bloodline, the first time that has ever happened. He accepted the defense of his city by the Kitaluk, now almost dependent on his nation for advanced tools and he was on their Iron. So he ruled.

And so when Querca Gandoros Thewen died at an age of 1111 moons, (about 93) he has literally reforged a new Kingdom of Parthe, rebuilt the city of Parwen, and established a small yet growing nation of Partheca.


to Leunan Empire
From Parthe

Welcome, land of legend, for it is a miracle that ships can travel such a wide distance and survive. We are eager to learn more of your nation, as we know you are eager to learn of us. We accept this offer of trade and friendship, and will prepare a port for you.
(Can I have a few of my people travel on your ships to visit your country?)

The Khan of the Tazari is here.

I'll now assume in control of Farea, a small nation in "the East".

I'll be replacing Theige, who took control of a new nation.

This is my first, "this kind" NES - so, I hope, that I'll prove to be a capable opponent (or a friend) to you guys.

You should be great for Farea, Northen! You should talk to Iggy or check out the wiki for more info on Faronun traditions.

I confirm Northern Wolf has taken Farea, and I myself have assumed control of Gallat.

Orders sent!

From: Satores-ta-Yashidim, Prince of the Arrow, Nephrax-ta-Delphis, Prince of the Scroll
To: Exalted Redeemer Vespelian, Ninth of the Mask, Noble High Prince of the Sun

We wish to request the consent and support of the noble Redeemer for an expedition to the north, to confirm our new ties among the Vithana. We also plan to provide many of our brother tribes with the Kaphaiavai, and to determine if the Kothai truly runs until the end of the world, as the tales say.

From: Ninth Redeemer Vespelian, Prince of the Sun
To: His Brother Princes

I give not simply my consent, but my blessing. Go forth until the praises of the Lord of Wind and Thunder are heard through all the nations!

From: Tarkas Sarturro, Second Censoratta of the Exatai
To: Vespelian, First Censoratta of the Exatai

The defenses of Acca are in great need of restoration. It would set my mind at ease if the northern borders were more secure.

From: Vespelian
To: Tarkas Sarturro

Your diligence is admirable, my friend. Your words are heard and shall be acted upon.

From: Nephrax-ta-Delphis, Prince of the Scroll
To: Itarephas, Prince of the Sword

I call upon you for aid, my tarkan, blooded cousin and comrade. The wretches of Neruss have insulted me for the last time. But I and mine are not nearly as great warriors as that of the Sword. Since the southern border has been quiet of late, will you join me in my campaign for the glory of the Redeemer?

From: Itarephas, Prince of the Sword
To: Nephrax-ta-Delphis, Prince of the Scroll

EXATAS!

TO: Opulensi Empire
FROM: Leunan Empire

In the interest of the plentiful trade which flows throughout our respective realms, we wish to sign a series of agreements with the greater empire to formally recognize Opulensi and Leunan claims and possessions in the various seas and regions for which we co-inhabit. It is but our sole wish to retain and encourage these times of prosperity, and to eliminate such obvious sources of possible future friction not by war and conflict, but by mutually beneficial cooperation.

Guild of Governors

It was the time of the Plague.

The father of our current king, Jarshuan Thewen, was known as Wendicas Thewen. He ruled during the time of troubles. It seemed like the time before Gordoros all over again. Towns broke free of Parwen as governors within the Thewenca Jarthe died. The city can’t send troops to support one of the King’s closer relatives because there are no troops to send and to relatives to marry into the new Governor’s family. It was also a rare time of warfare, for as people died farm fell into disrepair, leaving the survivors hungry and weak, crying for their governor to take food. Homesteads and villages disappeared off the world as everyone died, survivors of the plague too weak to take care of themselves before they too perished. The King himself caught the disease, and wasn’t able to help his people.

Therefore the Partheca slowly left each other alone again, settling their eyes on their own towns and villages and away from the outside world. Once again is the power in Parwen in dissent, not for the lack of a King but of the King’s power. Battles raged from the few troops that survived, and fires licked the city at night, silhouetting the power struggle. Three Prefects rose to prominence in the wake of the King’s illness: Chiefs Querdoros, Senuencas and Hathenan. They battled as the city crumbled.

But this sparked something new for Parthecas society, something that has profound impacts a single generation later…. The first guild of governors was formed. Guilds were not cartels of craftsmen seeking to preserve quality and profit, but are instead bands of comradeship that are sought for and are sometimes though to be stronger than Jarthe, the value of the clan. In Parthecas, a guild of governors is called Hanuen, after the union of the two chiefs Senuencas and Hathen in brotherhood. Soon, Hanuen of Chiefs and Governors were forming throughout the Partheca. Once again, they began to spread their power faster than ever before. The Hanuen soon defeated chief Querdoros and began the process of union by blood. Beyond the Hanuen itself, more Guilds of Governors formed. But they all had one in common: they included the King, Wendicas, as their leader. When the King revived and retook control, he gave the Hanuencas, as they are now called, special authority along with those who have direct blood. No longer is Parthe and the rule of Parwen limited by blood, for the Hanuencas now spread the power of the King beyond his blood by the right of Jarthe.


Government of Parthe

Traditionally, the government was that of Jarthe, or right of Blood and Clan. The King kept many relatives in his fortified central square in Parwen, and whenever a governor dies or is replaced, he sends a relative and a company of soldiers to force the new Governor to marry into his family. Due to this, family is very important and family trees are kept for years upon years. The governors themselves are chosen with festivities cumulating with a simple contest: the different Chiefs of the town battled with riddles, craftsmanship and knowledge. Within the city, the same process went with the Prefects, or city governors. So far, only Parwen is large enough to hold prefects: they have three.

The Hanuencas was a new invention and it utilized the Guild. A guild is a bond of artificial brotherhood and comradeship based on trade. Some feel their guild is stronger than Jarthe, and travel along their guildmates to settle in new towns. The Hanuencas is the Guild of Governors, and it is beyond blood. It was like a provincial command, for the guild had a Guildmaster over all of them, and often includes the King himself in their brother hood. Using this new form of expansion, the King can often impose an Hanuencas upon a new land, controlling it while using a minimum amount of relatives while letting them keep some power and local culture. The hanuencas of Parwen and its closest towns as well as the head of the strongest hanuencas leaders elsewhere form a Council that advises the King.


New Words
Senuen- Crafty, tricky one,
Ha-n- Showing much of
Hanuen- Guild of Prefects (Parts of a city)
Hanuencas- Guild of Governors (Ruler of a town)
=

Originally, the hierarchy of the Satar was simple. The Redeemer stood above all, the Princes stood below the Redeemer, the Satar of each Tribe obeyed the Princes, and the Satar stood above all non-Satar. But by the 3rd and 4th centuries RM, the Accan people had become an integral part of the Exatai. They were not Satar, but they were faithful, and the Redeemer himself was of Accan blood, though he would frequently take a Satar wife to strengthen his ties to the Princes. As the Ardavai Exatai was a multi-cultural institution, societal structures had to evolve to accommodate this new reality. The Censoratta [Sensora] bureaucrat-cum-police system was firmly established in the Sesh, perhaps in part to give Accans a route to political power in the Exatai, and the monastic hierarchy expanded during this period as well, each providing their own route to power and influence in exatal politics. Furthermore, Princes found themselves in control of territories far from their personal lands, necessitating a new class of middle-range officials to govern and protect these outlying areas. This resulted in a major new expansion of the petty nobility. Naturally, questions cropped up. Who was more powerful, a Sephalite or a Satrap? How did Accans compare to Satar? The grappling for power between the traditional, monastic, and Accan-bureaucratic hierarchies resulted in more than a few power clashes, but by the 4th century RM, a somewhat stable system of precedence had been established.

This, of course, manifested itself in the traditional way: With ever more elaborate displays of mask culture. The mask was an useful tool for the Exatai because it provided an instant indication of where someone stood in society. While the mask culture never caught on in relatively mono-cultural Acca to the degree that it did in the Sesh Valley, even here records attest masks being used for many ceremonial functions.

In certain parts of the Exatai, specifically the Sesh Delta, being caught without a mask in certain situations could cause enslavement or death. Maskhood didn't simply confer status. In many cases, it conferred survival. Of course, many unmasked slaves attempted to produce counterfeit masks and blend in with the masked elements of society, but the penalty for discovery was unspeakably harsh.

Table 2.3: Mask Precedence During The Late 4th Century RM.

1. Golden Mask – The Redeemer [1]
2. Silver Mask – Prince [6]
3. Sapphire Mask – High Oracle [equal in rank with a Prince] [1]
4. Black Mask (inset diamond) – Censoratta [20-30]
5. Gold Edged Mask – Argai [Aspect Warrior, personal guard of the Redeemer] [200-300]
6. Silver Edged mask – Satrap [Provincial governor of a small territory] [10-15]
7. Half Black, Half White Mask – Sephalite [Head of Monastery] [150-200]
8. Red Mask – Tarkan [companion] [retinue of a Prince; garrison commander] [500]
9. White or Black Mask (inset ruby or lesser stone) – Kaphet-ha and Avet-ha, Chief Warrior and Chief Scribe of a Monastery [300-400]
10. Red Edged Bronze Mask – Artakasa [blooded warrior] [captain of a small group] [~3000-3500]
11. Bronze Mask – Satar
12. Iron Mask – Acca (only worn in ceremonial functions, equal in rank with a normal Satar)
13. Lacquered Wood Half-Mask – Freedmen Artisan (painted with various symbols to indicate trade)
14. Unmasked – Slaves.

This precedence system should be considered more of a guideline than a rule; while de jure a Satrap might outrank a Sephalite, the Sephalite of a particularly wealthy and influential monastery would wield more power than the Satrap of a particularly poor and peripheral territory. This survey places the number of ranked nobility somewhere in the vicinity of 5000 individuals, using liberal estimates. Naturally, this number fails to consider family members, and other various prestigious individuals such as Oracles and scholars that did not directly fit into the system, but in comparison to the 7 person nobility of the early Satar, it provides at least superficial background for the reality of the 3rd and early 4th century Exatai: An increased amount of civil strife and rising administrative costs. This, of course, fails to consider the benefits of the new institutions...

-Netraxes Pellarkes, Exatal Culture in the Lovi-Kern Littoral, 100-400 RM

smech

Tiratas Agreements
- 208 IL -

1.) The Leunan Empire agrees to respect the Opulensi Empire’s area of influence over all regions bordering the Cyntal and Kbirilma Seas, wherein the Leunan Empire shall not use military force, nor actively support other polities, nor in any other action, exert influence in the aforementioned geographic regions beyond the encouragement of commerce.

2.) The Opulensi Empire agrees to respect the Leunan Empire’s area of influence over all of Auona not bordered by the Cyntal Sea, and of all regions which necessitate travel east of Auona, wherein the Opulensi Empire shall not use military force, nor actively support other polities, nor in any other action, exert influence in the aforementioned geographic regions beyond the encouragement of commerce, except in the garrison of previously established Opulensi colonies.

3.) Together, the Opulensi Empire and Leunan Empire agree to the active support of cordiale relations, for prosperity and the enrichment of all, and to embrace peace on all seas.


Signed,

Emperor Issaos of Leun

Signed

Emperor Haradnos-Karash of Opulensi empire

Claiming Vischa.

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/610/farea.png

A map of Farea, circa 250 by the Seshweay Calendar.

Thank you Iggy!

A map of Farea, circa 250 by the Seshweay Calendar calendar not predicated on mass murder.

Fixed that for you.

Sounds good to me!

I'll join Sunday evening, when I get home from a school trip.

I'm really sad to see the Hu'ut culture throughoutly purged, though. :/ It's not like I wanted to use them, but you know.

- I'll probably join as some barbarian chiefdom near the border, if that's OK with NK.

Sounds great lj! Don't worry, the Hu'ut are still kicking about -- albeit under the boot of numerous other powers. :p

:) :) That makes me happy. I don't expect them to rise to an empire ever again - at least not in this era - but as a culture, I hope they exist. I love the language.

:) :) That makes me happy. I don't expect them to rise to an empire ever again - at least not in this era - but as a culture, I hope they exist. I love the language.

There are some in My nation - Farea.

@Edit
Orders sent

http://i.imgur.com/VSFCJ.png

There's a climate key on the last climate map.

And remember to send orders before Friday noon.

OOC: I NEED MORE INFO NORTH King! :(

[17:21] <%NK> I don't even know what alex wants to play
[17:21] <%NK> he's phased in and out too often
[17:21] <+MattBusy> Help him figure out that then :p
[17:22] <%NK> I'm like
[17:22] <%NK> doing ten other things
[17:22] <%NK> and when someone says
[17:23] <%NK> "I NEED MORE INFO"
[17:23] <%NK> it's surprisingly not very helpful. :(

OOC: I NEED MORE INFO NORTH King! :(

Protip: When you have specific questions, PM them to the moderator. You're a big boy alex, you can handle it. :p

Thirty Hours*

*Evidently I thought I was on Eastern Time for some reason.

Don't worry, alex994 is very good at sending voluminous heaps of questions to moderators. ;)

Okay, I'm hoping to manage orders within... ten hours, give or take. That sound alright?

Okay, I'm hoping to manage orders within... ten hours, give or take. That sound alright?

Yes it is.

Found It!

Name of Culture: Kitiluk

Place of origin: A coastal, forested region, quite cold and wet.

Gods & Goddesses and related beings: The Kitaluk don't believe in true "gods" and "goddesses" in the sense that most nations do. The closest things to divine beings are their heroic, mostly mythical predecessors, who were, it is said, the first to top the waves on wooden vessel. They are still said to prowl the ocean to this day, watching over their people. This is, however, a fairy tale, and very few believe that these ancestors were anything more than just that--ancestors to their people. Their tales are mostly made to inspire.

Any significant past accomplishments: Seaworthy vessels; extremely skilled carving, especially in ivory; good knowledge of fortifications; sophisticated fishing technology.

Current economic base: What is not derived from the sea (fishing), or from the coasts (hunting) is traded for; given their general lack of land area to settle on, they tend to rely heavily on products gotten from the mainland.

Current location: A temperate, heavily forested, rocky coastline, quite wet, though they are eager to make forays just about everywhere. They do not actually hold significant lands in any place: the largest bits they hold are islands. They usually pick a particularly large coastal hill or rock, build a fortress on it, and make a good harbor so that they can use it as a resupply point and anchorage; through these they trade with the mainlanders. Their society is so lacking in conventional land power that most nations ignore them--the rock fortresses are worthless if taken and a pain to take. Their true power lies in their ships: nearly their entire nation is at sea.

Lineage: Essentially ignored by the great part of the populace. Since there are more or less no lands to settle upon, there is no real need for inheritance, and captains of the ships are elected on merit by crews. Most men keep a necklace or bracelet of carved ivory beads that carry single words that their friends carved for them--usually descriptions of their character.

Spoken language: An isolate, unrelated to its neighbors (the Kitaluki migrated from a colder region to the coasts of their present lands, and the relatives of the old language have probably died out). Nothing particularly surprising compared to most other languages.

Written language: Highly distinctive, the Kitaluki do not write in grammatically correct sentences. Instead, their writing consists of a string of words arranged almost in the stream-of-consciousness style, designed to evoke images and thoughts in the reader's mind. It is also one of the few truly three dimensional systems of writing in the world--feeling the "text" is just as important, if not more, than reading it.

Medium for writing: Usually a string of carved ivory beads on a long string. Each ivory bead is carved as a word or expression, and a person "reads" them by feeling each bead in turn on the string. Stone is occasionally used, as is wood, all in the form of beads. This doesn't lend itself to monumental inscription very well, however, and the crude derivations of the carvings projected onto a flat surface are usually curt in message. One would be correct in getting the impression that the Kitaluki detest transferring their writing to a stone's surface.

Class structure: The rulers of the Kitaluki are almost universally elected. Captains are elected by their men, and when the men want to throw out a captain, they vote on that, as well. Captains elect an admiral when command must be centralized. The nation itself rarely has one ruler, but when one must be agreed upon, anyone who can arrive to cast a vote is allowed to, with no man's vote held in higher regard than any other's. Candidates for elections tend to be disregarded unless they win a large majority of the vote--those who win a small majority are usually pressed to hold elections again and again until they can manage a larger share. This staggering level of egalitarianism and decentralization is due mostly to the utter lack of lands to be inherited, and even ships are not passed from father to son.

Ruling class: Since almost all Kitaluki are held in equal regard, there is no universally defined ruling class. Even when they must elect a universal leader, his power is not absolute.

Key values: Advance by merit; honesty; service to society.

OTL mix: None that I'm aware of.

Dropping.

If it's alright, I'd like to pick up Tars. I'll do my best, if you'll have me. :)

Orders sent.

If it's alright, I'd like to pick up Tars. I'll do my best, if you'll have me. :)

Awesome!

Orders coming in the morning.

OOC: so many missing, but I can only plow on ahead and deliver the following message:

I have been instructed to deliver the following diplomacy:

But in truth, it is delivered by other means. In some cases, it comes tied to the leg of a bird, a raven or pigeon, somehow trained to home in on the local ruler. In some cases, it arrives in the hands of a ragged messenger – and in some, it is pressed into a leader's hand by his most trusted servant.

In all cases, it says the same thing:

To: All nations in the cradle
From: Mysterious voyagers

Greetings, ruler. Three centuries ago, my people left their home; we had been driven from it by the war and strife that had befallen our old continents, by the savage days and red dawns that every pregnant twilight promised.

And we wept. We wept for civilization, for the price that man had to pay to live in comfort – we wept, and we sailed, and we vanished. You would not know their names, for theirs are as alien as yours are to our tongues. Nor, truly, do you know our name, for it is difficult to translate.

Suffice it to say that we bring word.

Not merely of our coming, and of the fact that we bring marvelous gifts of technology and wisdom to your people, but also a warning. There is another in this world, who would seek to destroy all civilization, who would seek to tear it down for little reason other than their own gratification.

We aim to stop that.

Join us, and we will bring the world into a new era of harmony.

As a first gift, I have attached the first true world map that to our knowledge has ever been created; as a second, we shall send you the technology to create the fire of the heavens themselves.

P.S. We should also probably mention our true name – the Citadel.

The message also contains instructions for reply: sending the messenger bird back to its home, or taking a reply to a certain person or location, varying for each nation.

http://i.imgur.com/9Azmt.png



OOC: and welcome on board, Lord_Iggy, new fellow comoderator!

It probably seems like it will be strange at first, but trust me, we'll work all the kinks out. ;)

Wow- thats a lot of work to put into an april fool's joke.

OOC: A pity. I almost died from joy. But technically, there were indeed spice islands to the west of Guangfei/Myocaca/Khermi that I sent troops to occupy... :mischief:

The Lords of the Dengarai and Veranaxes, Ninth Redeemer of Man announce that they have nominated the nation of Kelios for the site of their ultimate battle. There can only be one.

The maid is blind
The maid's god is blind
The maid is happy and the maid shall marry
God grows in gardens and on graves

-Children's rhyme

To: The Opuelensi and Leunan "Empires"
From: The Empire of Guangfei

Submit and pay homage to the Emperor and your Kings will be made the Lord Dukes of these Eastern Marches, entrusted in pacifying these lands for the Emperor. Our armies are beyond reckoning; our fleets, invincible. Submit, and your foes' blood will flow in rivers. Refuse, and we shall rain destruction upon your lands.

Hi NK, it's great to be back on board moderating these two classic NESes. :D

To: The World
From: The Evil Citadel

Cower before our monstrous turtle-men!

so, is that map still correct?

Update 13/33: Tellusian Section

It has been a long and arduous war. The Coming of the Second Citadel was a complex affair. It is now understood that they were a rogue group who broke away from the Citadel of Knowledge nearly two centuries before their appearance.

Contrary to popular belief, the Citadel of Knowledge was not some all-powerful organization hiding unspeakably powerful technologies. Yes, they did possess well-developed metallurgical skills, which they put into developing ostentatious displays of technology, but it seems unlikely that many of their seafaring steam-owered contraptions were actually significantly better than, say, a good old fashioned Caravel.

At any rate, the split took place as a result of a fundamental dispute between two camps of the Citadel- one that held on to idealism, believing that through gentle nudging of world events, they could help the world develop into a more peaceful place, where humanity could follow higher pursuits than mundane war and sustenance. The other, that which came to be known as the Second Citadel, once held to these ideals as well. However, century upon century of unending war, destruction, murder and suffering slowly grated away at their souls. How could they, with all of their gifts and prowess, allow the world to fall apart this way? They would not. The convened Librarians of the Citadel debated for years on the matter, until no reconciliation could be made. A grand portion of their finest minds defected, fleeing into the east, and vowing to bring about a true peace, even if it had to be done by force.

When it struck, the Second Citadel was ferocious. Commanding a vast army of Ida'an'i'i, they swept like a tidal wave across Azulia, overhwelming the weakened nations one by one. The nations of Terrania were by and large preoccupied with their own feuds, and only a few actually sent forces to try and cut off the Second Citadel in the bud. It would take their inexplicable arrival in Croyodon to stir most into action, and by then it was too late to stop the might war-machine which now controlled all of southern Azulia, and had established a beachhead in the Old World.

Croyodon, struggling to maintain widespread Gorinese unrest, sought allegiance with these new arrivals, aiding them in campaigns against the far north and the continental interior. It seemed that no one could stop this force, until the Valins, caught up in suppressing a widespread Khemrian perversion of Oneism, finally decided to align their forces against the Second Citadel. Establishing Autoregium, the disunited republics of Veritas denied a command to surrender, and launched grand armies into Gorin to confront Croyodon and its allies.

Widespread and bloody warfare followed, and it seemed that the resolve of the Second Citadel was beginning to shake. However, these hopes were dashed when a huge new wave struck all over Terrania.

Guangfei, the strongest supporter of the Citadel, and perhaps the only reason that all of Azulia had not fallen to the Eastern threat, found itself under direct attack. With many forces away from home, the Second Citadel was able to race upstream and seize the Imperial Capital, decapitating the state in a stroke. While the Emperor escaped, the wily Second Citadel wasted no time in installing a new government atop of the civil service of the old, establishing a 'Bureaucratic Republic of Guangfei'. Pursuing the fleeing Emperor northwards, the new Republic smashed through Aryie, before being confronted by the Valins.

Neaveritas' relation with Guangfei had been often strained, but its allegiance with the conquering powers necessitated, in the Autoregium's mind, the necessity for a renewed war. Valins fought and died in vast numbers, but ultimately a new frontier was secured at the White Mountains.

Throughout the world, vast forces moved hither and thither, crushing many smaller states beneath them. The Second Citadel seized much of the peripheries of the world, while the First Citadel resisted them at every point. However, always were the forces of the Second seeking to disrupt their enemies. Valin mistrust of the Citadel erupted into war multiple times, causing the fourth and fifth Autoregia, and allowing the flagging Second Citadel to once again regain lost ground.

It is in this environment that, desperate to prevent the domination of the Second Citadel, messengers of the first struck out into the East, bringing word of their plight to a newer world.

Times are difficult. Guangfei has managed to overthrow the shackles of their erstwhile Second Citadel overlords, but the Emperor Remains lost and hostilities remain with the Valins, who are only barely co-belligerents. The Bladeists are reduced to the heart of the Cultesian Rainforests, but they fight mightily against all who attempt to break into their last redoubt. The world stands on a dime.

The Map Soul Brother

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/6433/lin3s.png

From: The Ardavai Exatai
To: The Sixth Autoregium of High Veritas

In hundreds of years of conquest and war, the Satar have known no master.

Until now.

Your "One" is clearly Taleldil himself, in a superior, more glorious form. What right do we have, in our petty kingdoms, to oppose those whose great ships and machines could slay the gods themselves? And so, the Satar, as one, kneel, to the Valins. May your Stratikrator accept our masks as a sign of our submission.

TO: The Empire of Guangfei
FROM: Leunan Empire

I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. Good Day!:yup:

From: The Sixth Autoregium of High Veritas
To: The Ardavai Exatai

ONCE, we accepted fealty. Those of Emor, we sheltered and protected. We counted them as allies, uplifted friends whom we would die to protect. Then, they burned the White Harbor in our time of greatest need. Then, they destroyed the great statue of the One which stood above the Holy Isle. Then, they slaughtered the Assemblum Popularum. With cruel swords and crueler fire, they ruined the greatest beacon of light which had ever stood above the endless sea. Strategius, in his cold stone tomb under the city of Kallamas, wept even in death.

It took Six Autoregia, the suspension of our people's democracy for the greater good, to restore what we have lost. And even then, betrayal stings like a sliver of cold steel, lodged in our very HEART.

And you claim fealty. We will accept your submission. But you have not our trust. For these are dark times, and you could so easily be a pawn of the Enemy, a trap set to ensnare us. Prove yourselves in battle against the Citadel and their hellish allies, and we shall welcome you as confederates into the glorious Autoregium.

In Redemption, Autorex Quisani, Stratikrator and High Elder of the Valin Republics, Protector of Veritas, Grand Master of the Order of the White Rose, Son of Strategius, Brother of Tactius, Servant of the One.

OOC: Orders sent. The Empire strikes back.

Really? I destroy one annoying China-ripoff and you people have to bring ANOTHER? Oh well, gah, my work is never done!

The Thorsrdyn of Evyn declares unending war against these heretical demons!

can we spoiler those maps guys? Really distorting the thread!

can we spoiler those maps guys? Really distorting the thread!

Here's a nice shiny new page for you, buddy. Now you don't have to look at the big scary maps.

Tremble before the might of new and newer Khemri!

Wow! Hitting us TWICE!

At least I didn't fall off for it twice.


EDIT: Interesting to note the diffrerences. NK's side is fussyly neat, all the mountains the same size and shape, and so small that most of the Citadel Continent would be considered a land of empires. LI's map has mountains with 'character' and with lots of wide open areas for us to contest!

Charles, come on now. Sentence structure and spell check, you're old enough to do these things.

Thus conclusively demonstrating that drawing with a shaky hand is what gives character to a map! ;)

Bound together in the land
Hold onto to Her and saay:
"Brothers, sisters make a stand
the Union will win the day!"

Raise our banner on high
Strength to strength, day by day
the Union will never die
Raise our banner and say!

Bound together in our land
Hold to Her and saay:
Brothers, sisters take a stand
Our Union will carry the day!

Raise our banner on high
Strength to strength, day by day
the Union will never die
Raise our banner and say!

Our Glorious Union will rise on high once more anew!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm198/Masada69er/UnionofAyase.jpg

Again you wave your anachronistic little banner, and again I will crush you utterly. :rolleyes:

As everyone who asked for an extension has submitted orders, I'm not going to accept any more sets. Working on the update now.

Oh poop! I was thrown by the April Fools fun and was going to wait til today...just sent orders regardless

Oh poop! I was thrown by the April Fools fun and was going to wait til today...just sent orders regardless

http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/5694/n3sandiggy.png
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/83/n3sandiggy1.png


Other than this small error, that's probably caused by me.
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/2921/n3s.png

Thats awesome Northen. How did you make that happen???

Could you do it for Beej's NES too please? :)

Thats awesome Northen. How did you make that happen???

A 3D sphere, that has this map applied as texture.

Basically this:
RqZ-Ikn2M0g

Awesome. makes me wish i only had 1 planet.

Nah, that was me being deliberately stupid with the cloak, you did it right. ;)

This almost makes me want to reveal the actual full map, just to see it on a sphere. :(

That was a giant shock to see, NK. You almost had me there. Didn't know what to think of it. :p

Anyways, I'll be wooping up a culture asap.

Update incoming from NK! To the top of the next page!:D

It was beautifully depressing, like a streetcar named desire...

My favorite color is blue. :)

Let it fade away... (don't fade away...)

End of Empires - Update Thirteen
Wolf Pack
Ten Years
490-500 SR by the Seshweay Calendar
379-389 RM by the Satar Calendar
205-215 IL by the Leunan Calendar



Ware! thou art never safe, for our kin lie eternal, waiting.

Words I, V

“Golden valley, silver dust
Steel swords, human rust.”
~Satar Couplet

“All shall tremble; peace is lost,
For the River Sesh is crossed.”
~Ancient proverb

My name is Aitah, and I am what you seek.

* * * * * * * * *

The emissaries cut a strange figure on the open steppe. Leagues of grass surrounded them on every side, blades of yellow green sprouting from the dark earth. To the south they could still see the far distant peaks of the Kothai, white peaks behind a pale blue haze; the the north, the clouds drifted light and quick across a summery azure sky. And here they were, a hundred men, some dressed in rich silks, some in plain, sturdy leathers, all wearing masks.

They had made their way west for months now, wandering away from the citadel of Arastephaion, meeting with the Redeemer of the Vithana and exchanging gifts, and finally striking out into the deep unknown. Their stated intent: to find the end of the Kothai, and in so doing, possibly find the end of the world.

And so they passed into the territory of the Vischa, disregarding the warnings of the Vithana, who assured them that nothing good could come out of the legendary homeland of their people.

The Vischa were surprisingly hospitable, accepting with grace the gifts the Satar offered from the “civilized” East, and agreeing to trade with the newcomers and their allies. Then, the Satar brought out their most prized possessions – the Kaphaiavai, the holy book of their people. With the Vischa looking on slightly bemusedly, they told the court of the great battle in the heavens – the one that was mirrored on earth below, and implored them to give their services to the great Taleldil, that he could ultimately triumph and Exatas could rule through the whole land.

The Vischa lord smiled understandingly, but he gently refused; his people, he explained, were still contented with their old gods, who had served them well enough in the past few centuries that he was confident they were alive and well.

The emissaries were disappointed, of course, but undeterred. They carefully began to take notes of their surroundings before continuing on. The Vischa heartland was a fertile river valley in a dry and level plain, much like the Sesh the Satar had only left months before, but their new friends assured them that this river was much longer than any they had seen before – running over thousands of miles before it finally tumbled into the great world ocean. The valley was home to a great number of subject peoples, though unlike in the Exatai, these people were not so much enslaved as simply subject to their horselord wills.

The Vischa lord made his home here, comfortably surrounded by a personal guard of several thousand, but his empire extended into the vast northern plain for many hundreds of miles, where a hundred chiefs owed him allegiance, the peoples of the steppe wandering as they had for a thousand years.

The Satar were eager to continue, but they were well aware their purses were not inexhaustible, nor were their vital supply of sumptuous gifts. The Kothai, the Vischa told them, extended for many, many more miles to the west, further than the Vischa themselves had ever bothered to travel. Annoyed, the expedition decided to cross the Kothai here and double back, hoping their attempts to convert these lands would be more successful.

One of the expedition refused to follow them, dreaming of the end of the world; he rode off into the literal sunset.

The rest took careful note of what the Vischa had to say of their known neighbors to the southwest – Naran, a small nation in a high pass that had held off the nomads though an extensive set of concentrated fortifications, and the Limach, who were wedged between them and the mighty Dulama to the south. The Satar had no desire to meet the Dulama, and thus passed to the southeast, entering into the deserts of the Hai Vithana.

When they arrived at the capital of the southerners, they found something quite astonishing. These Vithana welcomed them, and hosted them freely, but when they were seated for a royal feast, they found themselves at the same table as two other groups of emissaries – one, an Aitahist mission from the far northeast, another, an Iralliam mission from the Grandpatriarch himself.

Sadly, no one recorded the table conversation that night for posterity.

The Hai Vithana lord was presented with an interesting situation. All three religions had something to offer him, to be sure, and all three peoples had convincing arguments as to why he should take his place by their side. But ultimately, he had no particular interest in converting to any – not yet; he allowed each of them to leave three priests who could continue to tell him of the ways of their faith over the next decade so he could decide in his own time. The rest of the delegations were welcome to stay and enjoy his hospitality for a while, but ultimately they returned to their respective homes.

For the Satar travelers, it had been a frustratingly unproductive adventure, except in securing intelligence on their western neighbors.

Imagine their surprise when they crossed the border again...

Elsewhere, the Satar Redeemer focused his energies primarily on the construction of a new citadel on the border with the Moti, naming it Xephaias after the greatest of the High Oracles, and on the fortification of several of his cities against potential attacks.

* * * * * * * * *

In the north of the Savirai Empire, they say the moon is a mirror, reflecting the world below. As white sands snake through the desert, driven by endless sands, so the mirror turns white. As the dust turns gold under the stars, so the white becomes streaked with gold. And when the rocks surface from under this inland sea, the moon marbles smoothly, and the red beneath its sands shines through on clear nights. And so they do not call this land a desert. It is more than that. It is the Face of the Moon.

Here the call of human song might sweep across the desert for miles on a quiet night, breaking stillness as surely as any thunderclap. Here the dust rises into the air so thickly that at times a man can do naught but find low ground, pull their cloak over their eyes, and pray to some god to be merciful.

Here rose a god.

Where did she come from? No one is entirely certain. Whispers say many things, from west, from south, from, improbably, north. She was made a slave, and she was brought into the heart of the Empire of freed-men, and beyond that... we can say little.

The area had belonged to the Faith for a long century now. The Wards of the region had done their tasks well, stamping out little heresies here and there – the odd man who might claim that Manin had appeared to him in a dream, as though the Way were some kind of spirit who came when men beckoned – or one who referred to the old pagan gods as though they were anything other than dusty idols of a useless creed. Officially, the Empire was of another religion, but here the Faith ruled supreme.

Until she.

She was to be an acolyte at the temple as well, to learn the ways of the Faith and preach them as best she could. But she became something much more than that. She called herself Aitah, Aitah come again, a savior. No, the savior – the one who was halfway between us and the totality. Dream-kin of man. Or perhaps she was the face of Manin, manifested on earth, the way of the light incarnate, the path to righteousness in human form. Maybe she was all of them.

When the Plague came, it was said she could heal the sick. The Wards already tried to stamp out that belief before she had cured even a dozen – but that of course only meant more heard of her, more gained faith, more prayed. Driven from the temples, she assembled a little rag-tag band, and soon she began to rally whole tribes to her banner. The Wards pleaded with the government to help them, and so the emperor of the Savirai bade the loyal tribes assemble under the banner of his son.

When they marched on the new uprising, which had holed itself up the nigh-impregnable rock-fortress of Gurach, the stage seemed set for one of the bloodiest battles in Savirai history. But it was not to be; the Aitah offered an olive branch to the forces of the emperor if they would but grant her the right to travel freely to the capital with her faithful companion, Tauras. They consented, and she rode into history.

The meeting of Aitah and the old Emperor lies somewhere between myth and legend. Some say she told him of his ancestors, some say she told him of what lay in the totality. All say she opened his eyes, and brought him to the light, more surely than had any monk of Indagahor.

All that is truly certain that he immediately swore to follow her to the end, swore that the Empire would be Aitahist forevermore.

Naturally, this infuriated the Indagahor elite, who had worked so hard for so many centuries to ensure that the conquest of the Nahari would not deprive them of political power, and so they overthrew the ancient king, installing a puppet on the throne.

The Savirai dynasty had lasted for hundreds of years already; it had united the tribes by blood, knitting together the nomads into a confederation across the Face of the Moon. It had remained undefeated in half a dozen wars, toppling all its rivals in the east, west, and south, crushing the Nahari with relative ease. And at a stroke, the Nahari cabal had undone all that. Bad enough that their emperors had been hoodwinked by a southern faith – the northern tribes now saw the one bloodline that had retained their loyalty ousted from Hrn.

Of course, the Nahari had forgotten about the King's son, still in the north, still at the head of an army.

And, of course, Qasaarai himself was furious over the death of his father. He declared himself the new emperor, and bade the Aitah crown him at the Rock of Gurach. He clad himself in the golden mantle of the old Kings, and raised a mighty host. The Savirai tribes flocked to his banner, welcoming the new, most Savirai of princes. Many and more converted to the new faith as well; with the blessing of Aitah behind him, he led his army to the capital at Hrn and smote the feeble Nahari army that opposed him there.

Naturally, the south had already splintered to pieces, as different Nahari groups jockeyed for power in each of the cities, spurred on by Opulensi funds and prodded into fighting amongst themselves while all the various Empires were distracted by one another. It was quite difficult to bring together these groups under the banner of Qasaarai, for even with their disloyalty to the central “Nahari” government, the municipal governments were not eager to sign away their new found autonomy.

Nahar itself was one of the few that had remained loyal to the pretender's government, but it was far too close to Hrn and the great forces that Qasaarai could bring to bear. Kest, Aran, and Sealis all refused to join one side or the other initially, but their hands were forced by a number of factors. First, Aitah herself rode over the coastline and converted many by sheer force of persuasion. Second, the threat of the Opulensi worried merchants who might otherwise have desired independence. And, of course, thirdly, there was the not-so-small matter of the Aitahist army. Most immediately fell in line behind the new regime.

A few could not be immediately reached, of course, like Baharr, but even that state realized the only plausible way to remain free of the Opulensi menace was to align with the Savirai. A much more potent threat, on the other hand, was that of the still-Orthodox Maninist tribes in the far northwest; these could not be brought to heel quite so easily, and declared openly their intentions to fight against the Aitahist Savirai.

But these were minor distractions, and as soon as the Emperor brought even a decent fraction of his army up from the south to deal with them, it was expected they would fall.

The question, then, was where the Savirai might turn their eyes next, for there were no shortage of options – the traditional route against the Opulensi, of course, the struggling Sirans to the west... or perhaps somewhere else entirely?

* * * * * * * * *

Despite minor raids and counter-raids across the Kothari-Helsian borders, the Exatai of the East had been surprisingly domestic over much of the fifth century. Admittedly, this was less due to any strength of its neighbors, or some sort of new-found kindness in the Kothari persona, and much more due to religious turmoil that had beset the country again and again until they had finally converted to Iralliam for good – and even then, the country was clearly exhausted.

But the plague had provided an opening. Certainly, it had been anything but a boon for the Kothari themselves, but they regained their footing in fairly short order, while the surrounding nations seemed somewhat slow to recover. It was a chance.

And so, in short order, the Kothari Redeemer Vexanares led his armies over the Kothai in the name of Opporia, the bulk of his host to force the issue against the Zyeshu.

It seemed, however, that the allied states in the south had been warned somehow that the Satar might be invading, and numerous levies and regulars defended the fortresses against their approach. They were still insufficient to stop the Kothari, but they were sufficient to slow them significantly, allowing the cities behind the mountains to better prepare for their assault, and many in the region could also flee before coming under the rule of the Satar.

By the time Vexanares' host had crossed the mountains, he found a difficult country to conquer, full of secret paths and woods, a hundred castles offering resistance in some small measure. His cavalry especially suffered heavily in the woodland regions – which was, after all, essentially the region. The Zyeshu were unable to win pitched battles against the superior numbers, and their cities fell, but more than a few ambushes inflicted a heavy toll on the invading forces.

By the end, of course, it was clear that the Satar could not be stopped here, and many Zyeshu bent the knee to live to fight another day – and many also left the land for Zhish, Kilar, Jipha, Hanakahi, and the Opulensi Empire as refugees.

Bloodied but confident, the Satar continued onwards, attacking east into the Hanakahi peninsula, with another army crossing the Kothai and attacking down the eastern coast of the nation even as the Redeemer took the west. Unable to hold back the twin threats, and with significantly less favorable terrain than the Zyeshu had had, the Hanakahi were much less capable of resistance. Most of the interior of the state fell without much blood, as this heartland was both depopulated and devoid of much tree cover.

The cities and fortresses on the coastlines fringing the country were much more able to resist, and some of them continued to struggle on and preoccupy the Redeemer even as the capital of Hankahi proper fell to the invader.

Meanwhile, the Redeemer's general Tarkan Seralik carried the Satar war machine further west against the forces of Zhish and Laoash. Here, the Satar continued to have problems; the geography was still quite unfavorable, even if for rather different reasons, and the Zhish had used the time the fall of Zyeshu proper bought them in order to shore up their fortifications and ready their armies for the engagement proper.

Again, the Satar were triumphant in most of their pitched battles, defeating several Zhish armies, but these forces were able to melt away into the countryside and take refuge in the numerous castles. The city of Laoash in particular proved extremely difficult to subdue, and even when the Redeemer sent reinforcements, it resisted Satar attempts to reduce it. The Zhish, of course, have already appealed for help to their old friends the Jiphans and their somewhat dangerous neighbors in Kilar, reasoning that they are the lesser of two evils.

The Zyeshu refugees in the Opulensi Empire have already begun to take up work as artisans and musicians in their new home, all the while lobbying the government of that empire to do something against the Satar menace.

* * * * * * * * *

Perhaps with little better for the leaders to do, war has once again flared up in the Roshates. The Airani, annoyed by repeated insults from the Khivani and egged on by their nobility, launched a daring attack into the heart of the Khivani lands, managing to pillage a considerable territory before they escaped again. The quick raid was probably intended to draw out their opponents to fight the Airani in their own territory, but the Khivani were far more intelligent than that and simply secured the valuable parts of their frontier before searching for allies.

The other Roshates might have been keen to jump in on this war, but they were otherwise occupied – the Occarans with their new Aitahist minority, and the Bhari by a war of their own. To their north, the beleaguered Gallatenes seemed unable to force a decision against the rebels, which the Rosh took as a sign of weakness. Attacking quickly, he managed to take Sern without too much fuss, while on the other side of Gallat, the rebellion continued to flare as the cities grew more and more frustrated with the firm incompetence of the center.

Indeed, before long, Gallasa itself fell to them, the High Ward fleeing to the capital of Marona. The rebels took the opportunity to raise one of their own to the throne, and there could be little doubt in anyone's mind that the position was a meaningless one.

At the same time, the strongest of the Stettin nations took advantage of Gallat's instability and attacked across the border, seizing much of the valley and almost driving the Gallatenes completely out of the east. Other nations began to perk up at the possibility of an easy war, and rumors have begun to spread that perhaps Nech or Cyre will join the war next, or, indeed, the Evyni – though later events proved that to be an unlikely possibility.

Cyre, for its part, decided to take action against the Luskan, king Glynt deciding that the only way they could ever have peace was to remove the Luskan from their island entirely. Summoning the entirety of his military strength, his soldiers surprised the Sarrukh enclaves, stormed the walls, and massacred the enemy warriors within their bounds. A number of ships were found in the harbors, and though the Cyvians had little capacity for a growing fleet, they were happy to replace a few of their own vessels with the superior Luskan designs, selling the others to merchants.

At the same time, Glynt received an embassy from the tiny city-states of the Frelesti to his northeast, which he warmly received in his palace. They told the story of their own struggles against the Luskan, and proposed trade and an alliance between the two peoples.

The Frelesti continued along their merry way at home, with inter-city politics occupying a great deal of their efforts. Nevertheless, it was becoming obvious that the strategically positioned House of Aulfrelesti was becoming the dominant faction, and the northern people were not so far from unification yet. Simultaneously, the Frelesti began to raid their barbarian neighbors, capturing a number of slaves and selling them to southern markets. This worried many, who believed they should focus more on defense against the Luskan attacks, but these surprisingly died down for a while, the Luskan apparently having better things to do for the moment.

All, however, is not entirely well on the northern edge of the world. The rural areas of the Frelesti chafed under the seemingly deliberate persecution by city-dwellers, and several minor rebellions popped up, though the cities dealt with all of them quickly enough – for now.

* * * * * * * * *

Things in the East would quite probably never be the same again.

A new treaty between the Opulensi and Leunan empires turned the traditional trading rivalries on their head. Its stipulations were fairly simple – that the Opulensi and Leunans not place undue hardships on each others' merchants, that the two empires respect their respective spheres of influence, and that “cordial relations” reign forevermore. It was not an alliance, nor could it really be mistaken for friendship or indeed anything other than a pragmatically extended olive branch.

Despite this, the old standard of Leun preventing the Opulensi from overreaching themselves was suddenly off the table. The Eastern League states immediately shifted into panic mode, mobilizing their armed forces (ultimately, a good decision), and letting loose a flurry of diplomacy to try and secure some kind of new allies against the Opulensi threat.

By contrast, the Leunans had more or less secured absolute peace for the next decade, and took full advantage of it.

That is to say, like any self-respecting state with spare time, they had a coup d'etat.

The Emperor of Leun had finally succumbed to the plague immediately before the treaty; an interregnum was set up while a viable heir was sought. Initially, this was a cautious, guarded search, but with the Opulensi threat off the table, the various factions were essentially free to move against each other.

It seemed like this might lead to another north-south conflict between the various nobles once again, but before that could happen, a cabal of merchants read the signs and moved first. They seized control of the city of Leun proper, and set up a puppet emperor who was vaguely descended from... someone important or other. This was enough to secure their legitimacy, apparently, and their stranglehold over what was the greatest source of Leunan income meant that they also had significant power backing that up.

This coup, of course, did not please everyone, especially the aristocratic factions who had thought that this might have been their greatest chance to seize control of the country since the end of the civil war; they remained discontented with the new regime for quite some time.

Much more embarrassing and costly for Leun in the long run was a clumsy attempt to “seize control” of the military of the little state of Alar just to the north. The practical difficulties of such an operation were compounded by poor organization, and the plan failed miserably; the state immediately killed the majority of the Leunan agents within their borders, and signed an alliance with the age-old Leunan foe, Gadia.

The Farean state enjoyed obscurity and the freedom that obscurity tends to bring, expanding quietly across their home island (recently rechristened “Naelsia” or “New Helsia” in Faronun). Careful not to offend potential foes, they adopted a curious scheme for colonization, introducing merchants to various native villages, offering them protection from their foes, and in such a way taking control of much of the northern hills and northeastern plain in a relatively short time. Simultaneously, they created a new system of tracking goods that were shipped out of Farean ports in order to catch contraband; the scheme was naturally imitated by neighbors in quick order.

Despite this, here, too, problems surfaced. Piracy began to escalate extremely quickly off the coast of the island, and both Leunan and Farean traders came under repeated attacks – ironically immediately after the Leunans sold away a fair chunk of their naval forces and while the Fareans invested into numerous anti-piracy measures.

For their part, even in the middle of a fairly major war, the Opulensi cultural revival continued. The students of old Arasos continued to question the long-standing beliefs of the old religion, and indeed the Emperor himself was deeply troubled until he met with a pupil of the old monk who settled his thoughts on the matter. An influx of refugees from the Zyeshu and Hanakahi states, while they did not integrate particularly well, at least gave Epichirisi interesting street food, and moreover imported some of the better musical traditions of the cradle.

With problems engulfing many of the mercantile states of the region, the slightly more stable overland route through the Savirai gained a little more prominence, though of course this was not yet enough of a bounce to offset their losses from their own problems.

In the far north, the Tazari tribes began to unite under a single chieftain, though much of the prestige earned by this unnamed leader's military successes was lost after his attempt to convert the people to Indagahor – a religion which had little backing in the nation and came rather unexpectedly. Nevertheless, any sign of unity from their barbarian neighbor tends to worry the Acayan city-states, several of whom have begun to step up their frontier defenses.

One city decided to go rather further than its neighbors – Iolha used the distraction to attack their neighbors in Bacu, and put the city under siege while their other neighbors looked on with paralyzing indecision as the threat of the Tazari raiders grew.

Leunan embassies and trade missions began to the Parthe and the Kitaluk, with modest success.

The Parthe, an intensely tightly-woven society of numerous familial ties, began to expand into the north, and to encourage the cultivation of various plantation crops to try and make themselves into an even more valuable trade partner for both the westerners and the Kitaluk. Citrus fruits were grown on some plantations, but this ultimately proved less profitable than the native indigo dye, which soon became an intensely popular luxury throughout the Acayan cities, and even further west, as well as with the Kitaluk.

Though the Leunans attempted quite earnestly to find out exactly where the “Kitaluyans” came from, they were unable to determine much beyond the initial kernel of knowledge: that they came from across “a great sea.”

* * * * * * * * *

* * * * * * * * *

The newest Dulama Emperor, Orlagh Saghir, had an unenviable position. The Eastern Plague had arrived in his realm only a few years earlier, and it continued to eat away at the population of the empire and his army as well. At the same time, the threat of the Hai Vithana remained inactive for the time being, but he did not trust his armies to stop their raids into the heartland of the empire itself.

Wanting to solidify his hold on the farther reaches of the empire, he decided to take a radical step – moving the capital from the ancient and massive city of Dula to the centrally positioned Mora. The idea had been considered many times before, and Mora had always been the city of preference for Emperors when they were defending the northern frontier against the Vithana, but it still incensed the people of Dula itself, who treasured their imperial heritage above all else. Elsewhere in the empire, it was a popular theory that the Emperor had fled the piles of dead that were heaped in the streets of Dula, or perhaps that he was a Machai and simply wanted to avoid the somewhat distasteful human sacrifices of the old capital.

In any case, he constructed a great new palace complex at Mora, surrounded with a number of similarly large buildings for the bureaucracy. Tellingly, he did not bother to establish more than a small temple for the old Dulama religion, and allowed the peaked temples of the Machai faith to continue to dominate the city skyline.

Also eager to link together the disparate parts of his empire, the Dulama surveyed the route for a great canal to the western river, which they proceeded to begin excavating. The process would take much of the next decade to complete even halfway, but the engineers were quietly confident that all would go well – they had even invented a new set of locks to enable them to traverse the slight ridge in the middle without digging a ludicrously deep trench.

Of course, even all these building projects could not distract the populace from the fact that a number of their friends and family were dying of an incurable disease from the East. Morale was less awful than it might have been, but not exactly high, either.

To the southeast of the Dulama, the infant Laitra Empire got off to a somewhat bad start, as the emperor simply budgeted far more money than the kingdom could possibly afford. Despite this, his efforts to expand the realm scored small successes; efforts to facilitate trade through his realm faltered a little for the moment, as the Dulama were rather too busy dying of plague to be terribly interested in establishing stronger links with the east. The Laitra themselves were lightly affected by the plague for the moment, though suffered a slight decline in income and manpower over the span of the decade.

On the other side of the rainforest, the Kogur, an exiled clan of the Holy Moti Empire, began a series of expeditions to the south in the name of the Emperor. First, they bullied the tiny country of Putra into ceding the island of Rangi to them, then they began to rebuild the ancient Kratoan city there. Apparently not content with his new home in exile, the Kogur Hno decided to send his ships southwards, to establish contact with all the Kayana states and see if the world ended there.

The Parna state is probably the most powerful of these, a place where brave Iralliam missionaries long ago wandered into the jungle to the horror of their compatriots – and somehow managed to convert a whole number of people. Slowly solidifying into little countries, the Parna in particular have managed to unite a number of growing villages and even a few cities under their rule – building raised causeways through the jungle to speed communication and slowly spreading into the interior of the land.

Meanwhile, in the mainland of the Holy Moti Empire, while the Emperor himself was off to war, the Church began to expand a number of their operations, most prominently those of a moneylending nature. With advanced financial techniques and a rather secure location, they became the most prominent bankers in the cradle.

As the Emperor of Moti himself grew increasingly busy with other affairs, his chief minister began to quietly and subtly reform some of the inner mechanics of the Empire – most notably the administration of the imperial cities, which continued to thrive despite the challenges facing the Empire.

* * * * * * * * *

The harbor was a deep-shot blue, patches of sunlight glinting off the waves like scattered sapphires on a sea of pitch. The sky was thickly clouded, and only narrow rays filtered through the air onto the ground below.

The city that lay beside it looked much as it always had. The buildings clustered around the harbor, and ran up the sides of the sheer cliffs, white and gold walls arrayed down its slopes, red roofs like giants' stairs. But there was no life in the city. New Kalos was silent, its people hurrying if they had to go outside at all, its walls carefully guarded, all eyes outwards.

Across a gap, barely outside bow range, ran another wall. Here, too, were soldiers, but they seemed rather less concerned than the people inside the city; those who were not guarding the walls were moving easily about their encampments. They had not been here long enough to be restless or uncomfortable, but there was almost an air of familiarity about the siege now. It had stretched into its second year.

The war in the East had started much as anyone might have expected. While the League focused on survival, the Opulensi launched no less than three separate campaigns – plowing through the rugged terrain of New Kalos' peninsula to lay siege to the city, swooping through the League possessions in the southeastern corner of Spitos itself, and attacking Erlias by sea. The Eastern League kept their fleet in being, and tried to check the Opulensi advance in places – particularly New Kalos, where they hoped to keep open a lane of supply to the city from the sea.

The Opulensi had committed only a little over a third of their fleet to this particular endeavor, but so had the Eastern League, and given their disparity numbers-wise, the fight wasn't even close to even. At the same time, the League had much better knowledge of the terrain, and only had to hold the straits against the invaders.

Neither side was going to give up.

There are few things so terrible as a naval battle. Ships race towards each other, their speed scarcely believable. Oars rise and fall as a steady drumbeat issues from within, cutting into the water, circling, then rising again as a sheen of water sparkles in the air. They close, they jockey for position, and suddenly the oars raise as one smashes into the side of the other, tearing a gaping hole in its side. Water rushes into the open hull, and oarsmen who are trapped below deck shout and scream as it rises above their chest, above their necks. Splinters fly everywhere, and slice open arms, legs, raw muscle opening to the air.

Nearby, a ship brushes against another like a lover, and there is a terrible shivering sound as the oars get torn off. Suddenly one is like a wounded animal, unable to steer itself, only able to watch as another ship comes tearing in from the flank, its ram like a hungry beast.

One ship grapples onto another, tangling lines between them, and daring soldiers leap from the deck of one to the other, and there a battle more bloody than any on land ensues, for here there is no room to allow. A few feet backwards would send a man tumbling over the railing into the sea, and surprisingly few of them have even the slightest idea of how to swim. So they fight ferociously for every inch of space as more men try to crowd onto the deck of the same ship, and if at last the invaders are successful, they storm below deck, slaughter the guards, and announce to the oarsmen, still spattered in the blood of their former commanders, that they will now obey the commands of the other side.

And so it continues, ships leaking blood as though they were animals, bodies crowding the water and thumping dully into the hulls of the vessels as they move through the crowded waters, with no rest for the dead or wounded. A few men struggle feebly to make their way to shore, and when they are not ignored, they are helpless against the shots of bowmen on the decks of enemy craft.

By the end of the day, the great bay is red with blood, and the burnished orange sunset glints with a sinister tone off of the waves, rimmed in pinkish froth.

The Opulensi had attempted to force the enemy line at several points, and though they fell back, unsuccessful the first day, they returned again and again. Finally the League fleet could do little more than attempt to preserve itself by escaping, or get trapped in the harbor itself; they slipped by the Opulensi and made their way for another of the cities. New Kalos was sealed off.

Ichan and Erlias were far easier to approach, far harder to blockade, but conversely much less defensible than New Kalos was from landward attacks. Ichan fell within a few months of the Opulensi invasion. Erlias was able to hold out as long as they kept the Opulensi from landing troops, but ultimately such an endeavor is futile in this era of naval warfare; Erlias, too, fell to the enemy.

One fleet continued on to Tars' colony at Pulchas, where the majority of the League fleet was stationed. Here in the open waters of the Cyntal Sea, the Opulensi could make much better use of their numerical superiority, and drove the League fleet aside. The city was put under siege, and though it had been fortified for just such an occasion many times over the past two centuries, it seemed like it would only be a matter of time before the Opulensi subjugated them as well.

Another fleet sailed across the Cyntal Sea, and surprised Tars by landing at that city, a force of sixteen thousand putting it under heavy siege. Walls of circumvallation were built as they had done at New Kalos, and the city, unused to direct attack as New Kalos or Pulchas was, fell to Opulensi troops after a short but difficult fight.

In a somewhat petty gesture, New Kalos launched a counterattack against the Opulensi colony at Palinth, taking it with relative ease and surprising a number of Opulensi merchantmen who made a routine stop there on their way towards the Leunan Empire. Their goods were, of course, seized, for the good of the League's cause.

Already, though, the situation was looking almost impossibly desperate. Tars, Ichan, and Erlias had fallen, though their fleets had managed to escape with some heavy losses. New Kalos and Pulchas looked likely to fall at any moment, while the Opulensi armies had marched onwards to put Cheidia under siege as well. Help seemed unlikely from any quarter – the Savirai were too wrapped up in their religious struggles now, and the Leunans had, of course, sworn not to interfere. It seemed like it was only a matter of time now...

* * * * * * * * *

The King of Neruss had never despaired, not for one moment. But even now, even as everything was coming into place, he could not push aside that tiny corner of his mind which whispered, “worry, worry, worry.” It gnawed at him by night and distracted him by day. It was in all his dreams in all of his dead relatives' mouths. “Worry.”

He drew back the curtains to his bedroom, and sighed. Such a beautiful sunrise – lambent gold and silver cloud, and a blue sea laughing under open sky.

They told him the Satar had already crossed the border. They were pillaging what they could find, burning the deserted villages. They would be furious at the absence of his people, no doubt. Furious that they could not slaughter as they so desired, that there would be no slaves and little enough loot from this campaign. And if they broke down the gates of Neruss proper, there would be no quarter.

Such are the risks that kings take.

The port was quiet, the city almost silent. It was a clever idea, he knew, evacuating all the people. Taking them across the little gap of sea, to Dremai's islands. Let them wait out the storm. But it was so depressing in Neruss now, empty as it was. No children laughing – his own were tucked away in a far-off court. No bards singing, no merchants hawking. Only the cold, remorseless procedures of military preparations.

Oh, those Satar would be furious if they ever breached the walls and found out that Neruss was practically empty. A locked door with nothing behind it. Oh, their rage would be towering. And hilarious.

And so the Satar came, like a wave, pillaging the land around the city, sowing it with salt, doing their worst to tear apart the land as best they could. And then they stopped. The King of Neruss grew quite concerned, for he had hoped the Satar would offer battle, attacking the city like the savage beasts they had always been. But it seemed as though they were happy enough to simply pillage, trying to starve Neruss out in the long run.

Of course, Neruss had never been particularly reliant on its farmland. It was a dry, slightly barren place, and so the Satar raids achieved little.

And though the raids continued, they found that the Nerussians simply hadn't bothered to rebuild their farms. There was nothing to pillage, either. The soldiers grew restless, and the King of Neruss continued sending little clever insults to the Satar Princes, and everyone itched for the joining of battle. Eventually, the Satar lords, impetuous as they were, and with no apparent help coming to the Nerussians, decided that they might as well invest the city and prevent their foes from bringing in grain from outside sources. Given that this factor was ruining their entire strategy of starving Neruss out, there really wasn't any other option.

But of course, a full investment would require them to seal off the city by sea as well. No matter – even the pitiful Satar fleet was four times as large as that of Neruss. They set sail from Kargan.

Little did they know, however, that this – the attack on Neruss itself – was the moment that everyone had been waiting for. The ships of Mahid, Hanno, the Empire of Dremai, and Neruss all pounced on the Satar fleet, attacking it viciously in the midst of the islands north of Neruss. Many of the galley slaves were only too eager to be freed, as were many of the skilled sailors, and so, even as the Satar fleet was picked apart by a much larger and much more talented fleet, parts of it killed their own commanders and defected to the enemy.

The Satar Princes were furious at this, and sent a message west, to the Redeemer, announcing to him that an annoying band of Aitahist states were interfering with their campaign. They desired more resources, to begin a naval campaign if nothing else. In the meantime, they began to attack Neruss in earnest, and simultaneously sent out cavalry raids in retribution against the Empire of Dremai.

But when the Redeemer's returned their message, he said nothing of a continuing campaign – he instead ordered the Prince of the Sword back to the Sesh; the Prince of the Scroll could defend against these pesky little nations himself. For more nations still had joined the war – the Moti and the Evyni, and though it was not of any particular concern yet, the extra forces would be vital to driving off any attacks from these larger nations.

No, indeed, as it transpired, the situation was not desperate in the least. The Moti Ayasi attacked northwards from the border mountains, but the new Satar citadel at Xephaias and the monasteries in the passes were more than sufficient to deal with them. Indeed, so pitiful were the Moti efforts that the forces in Magha were almost tempted to carry the attacks into Moti itself – but for the moment they restrained themselves. If this was the best that Fifth-Gaci could bring to bear, then there was no need to hurry.

And for the Evyni's part, despite the fact that the Moti had even mentioned them as a co-belligerent in the declaration of war, the northerners hadn't even stirred on the border; they seemed focused on their little dispute with the Vithana and the Xieni.

But all the same, the additional forces would be welcome.

It was southeast of Pa, at a little town called Haveha, that they were completely blindsided.

The Satar column stretched out in a vast line as it crossed the hills, deep within their own territory. There was nothing to fear here. Or was there?

Quite suddenly, out of the south came a massive army. The outriders, sent out as a mere formality, could scarcely believe their eyes – it stretched from horizon to horizon, it seemed. Their numbers were beyond counting. It was like it was out of a nightmare. Where could such an army have even issued from?

Then they saw the banners, and returned to the column at a full gallop, rushing to Itarephas' place in line. The Ayasi Fifth-Gaci was not in the south, incompetently leading one of the lackluster border raids that had been the norm for the past two centuries.

He was here.

And so were much of the land power of Dremai. So was the Empire of Helsia, and even Faerouhaiaouan soldiers. So were Gyzan levies who had simply joined the Moti as soon as they had arrived.

Itarephas was not an idiot, and did not want to offer battle to a vastly superior enemy. But the Moti had spotted his outriders already, and they were coming in full tilt to try and catch the Satar force before it could escape. The best he could do would be to fight some kind of desperate, fighting retreat to try and reach the safety of some citadel.

The Satar believed their best chance was to attempt a shock cavalry charge, to drive away the presumably shaky allied cavalry, so that they could then focus on the lumbering infantry force. But that was easier said than done – the allies had the initiative already, and Fifth-Gaci had intermixed his forces; the cavalry were supported by archers and pikemen, and both of them by the elephant corps, which, despite everything, the Satar horses were still not used to fighting.

There wasn't enough time to come up with some kind of clever flanking maneuver; his army was only barely drawn up in time to face the enemy at all without getting disastrously caught in the marching column. He decided to advance.

Waves of Satar cavalry were unable to break the pike formations, and Moti elephants were able to drive them off easily enough, but Fifth-Gaci was careful not to let his elephants lose themselves in the enemy forces or panic unduly. Instead, he steadily continued the engagement, prodding and poking at the Satar from all sides. No need to take too many risks, not with so great an advantage already.

Itarephas could not finagle a way to outwit his opponent, and ordered a cavalry rearguard to cover his retreat.

But where could they run to? Pa and Seis were the closest cities by far, but the Satar themselves had torn down the walls of either city to make them easier to reduce in the event of a rebellion. Arkantis was a much better option, if they could have gotten to it – but the allied army had placed themselves directly between the Satar and the city. The only options were back into the Parda Hills – an unattractive, risky option with an army right behind them, or Jania, where they might be able to regroup and wait for reinforcements.

So the Satar fled north, and the allied army quickly arrived at the Delta, spurring a revolt of the Seshweay, who were overjoyed at the prospect of finally throwing off their chains. The Satar garrison there was unable to hold the city – again, there simply were no walls to defend it – and withdrew as best they could upriver, to Arkantis, to wait for reinforcements.

At the same time, the Seshweay rebellion spread like wildfire. The Satar had of course created many countermeasures, and several rebellions were snuffed out before they started, a priestess or a resistance leader stabbed in the dark by terrifying assassins, but there were simply too many to fight at once. Literally centuries of Satar repression, enslavement and violence had alienated nearly the entire local population; only the Accan immigrants were in any way loyal to their masters, and they were far outnumbered by everyone else. In Jania, traitors opened the city gates to the approaching Moti army, and the citizens and the army fell upon Itarephas' army, ill-suited as it was for urban combat, massacring them.

The Parda Hills, meanwhile, flared into open rebellion, with little to no Satar garrison; hastily raised levies simply fell to more numerous and better motivated rebels. While the Moti turned south to deal with the vast majority of the remaining Satar forces, the combined Faronun forces – allied for this first time in nearly a century – turned to liberate Neruss. Their journey through the Parda Hills was simple enough – the surviving Satar forces simply could not deal with the rebels and the organized troops at the same time. Driving off the now outnumbered and rather outfoxed Nephrax-ta-Delphia, the Helsian general Folunlui Aramsayafa was welcomed by the Nerussian forces, who joined with him to press the Prince of the Scroll backwards, all the way to Kargan itself, which now came under a combined siege from the various Aitahist states and the Empire of Helsia.

The Aitahist fleet, meanwhile, moved into full-scale raiding mode, attacking the western shore of the Kern Sea, harassing any troop movements that took place there to reinforce either north or south, trapping the Accan garrison where it was, and, of course, limiting its resupply.

For while the Satar worked furiously to build up some kind of bulwark against the continuing Moti advance, the Evyni finally launched their own attack even as the Accan garrison prepared to send some soldiers south.

The Evyni had initially looked to not even attack the Satar at all – they simply ignored the conflagration to their south. Instead, they busily tried to impose their will on the Xieni, and drive the Vithana back from the latter's new gains in Elets. The Evyni were quite unsuccessful here; they simply did not have the forces to destroy the Xieni, and the Vithana were able to outfox them and drive them back a fair distance, even taking one of the Evyni's own cities.

But it turned out the Evyni had not even attempted to focus the majority of their forces against the steppe nations. A vast host waited at Ayais, and, after the Satar had let their guard down, attacked.

Storming out of the Rhoms, a completely unexpected angle, the Evyni army was incredibly swift in their forward march, trapping much of the Satar army in Acca before they could even react to what was happening. At the same time, the Evyni fleet took the outlying islands and bottled up the Satar, who on some level simply couldn't keep supplying their nearly seven thousand strong garrison – after only a few weeks, starvation began to set in.

After the Evyni judged that the city had been properly softened up, they led an assault, and even the massive new fortifications at Acca were unable to hold back an army quadruple the size of the attacking force.

Past here, there was really little that the Satar might do to hold back the oncoming tide – the Evyni simply swept over the remaining towns in old Acca, and in the old lands of Bosrttia and Oscadia. Perhaps naively, the population welcomed them as liberators, and Satar resistance simply collapsed in the north. The Evyni armies reached all the way to Onesh before finally halting, giving their exhausted troops a well-earned breather.

Meanwhile, another Evyni force struck out over the steppe to attempt to take the Vithana by surprise and seize their capital. It was a somewhat foolish idea, and ultimately they were forced to retreat after heavy resistance by the more mobile Vithana. The distraction they generated, however, was sufficient for the Evyni forces in the north to regain some momentum; they retook Elova without too much trouble.

The Prince of the Sun took the loss of the north hard. Not only were most of his family's ancestral lands there, a great number of Satar forces had simply disappeared into that black hole; the remainder had largely fallen prey to Aitahist raiders down the Kern Sea coast. The Prince of the Sword's army fell apart at Jania, while the Prince of the Scroll was holed up in Kargan. All in all, they had already lost some forty thousand in the various battles, as well as many of the most productive areas of their empire.

At the same time, his forces in the southern Sesh were caught in an extremely awkward position. The Moti forces in the north, still well over a hundred thousand strong even after leaving garrisons in the northern cities, clamped down from that end, while the Moti diversionary army in the south was still large enough to equal most of the Satar armies in open battle. He could not draw too heavily from his garrisons to fight the northern army.

As a result, when the Moti launched their attack on Arkantis, they continued to outnumber the Satar forces, who fell back after two days of heavy fighting. Arkantis itself was besieged by Moti with the aid of Seshweay siege engineers, who were only too happy to show them the new designs for lovely siege engines that they had devised for the Satar earlier, and also to show them various weaknesses in the walls of Arkantis itself.

All in all, it was a crushing victory for the alliance. The Satar still held onto Satara, and they retained most of their western territories, but even there the unscrupulous Hai Vithana were starting to raid. They were running out of money, with three-quarters of the traditionally most productive areas of the Exatai lost already. But perhaps most importantly, morale had dropped precipitously.

Somehow, the Satar had managed to alienate almost every single one of their neighbors. They had threatened the ones who might not have joined the war out of fear, forcing them to join out of necessity. They had smirked at the possibility of the larger nations joining in against them, resting quite assured that there was little reason to fear, given the traditional course of warfare in the last two centuries. And it turned out that the Satar simply could not hold on against every single other nations in the cradle of civilization.

Defeated at sea, defeated by land, with most of their nation occupied or rebelling, and only a few of the great cities of the empire still remaining in their hands. The Sesh had become for them what it had been for so many civilizations before them.

A death trap.

* * * * * * * * *

http://i.imgur.com/ZjNXV.png
Political Map

http://i.imgur.com/wThpH.png
Religious Map

* * * * * * * * *

Casualties

The War of Exatais:

Ardavai Exatai: -50,000 Infantry, -17,000 Cavalry, -Siege Train, -20 Ships; -50,000 Income
Holy Moti Empire: -35,000 Infantry, -8,000 Cavalry, -50 Elephants, +5,000 to Treasury
Evyni Empire: -20,000 Infantry, -5,000 Cavalry, +3,000 to Treasury
Vithana: -4,000 Steppe Cavalry
Xieni: -2,000 Steppe Cavalry
Mahid: -3 Ships, -500 Infantry
Hanno: -2 Ships
Neruss: -2,000 Infantry
Empire of Dremai: -2,000 Infantry, -500 Cavalry
Empire of Helsia: -2,000 Infantry, -500 Cavalry
Faerouhaiaou: -1,000 Infantry

Kothari Invasion of the South:

Kothari: -15,000 Infantry, -7,000 Cavalry, +6,000 to Treasury
Hanakahi: -3,000 Infantry, -500 Cavalry
Zhish: -3,500 Infantry, -500 Cavalry, - 3,000 Levies
-Zyeshu

Great Eastern War:

Opulensi: -20,000 Infantry, -1,000 Cavalry, -90 ships, -5,000 Income +2,000 to Treasury
New Kalos: -1,000 Infantry, -20 ships -1,000 Income, +4,000 to Treasury
Tars: -1,500 Infantry, -200 Cavalry, -10 ships -1,000 Income
Ichan: -1,000 Infantry, -5 ships -500 Income
Erlias: -1,000 Infantry, -5 ships -500 Income
Cheidia: -500 Infantry, -5 ships

Gallatene Turmoil:

Gallat: - 3,000 Infantry, 1,000 Cavalry, -250 Income
Gallatene Rebels: -2,000 Infantry

Northern Wars:

Cyve: -500 Infantry
Luskan: -500 Infantry, -5 Ships

Frelesti: +200 to Treasury

Plague vs. Dulama:
-5,000 Income, -20,000 Manpower

* * * * * * * * *

OOC:

Penalties:
Very late orders (with no extensions requested): Abaddon, DarthNader – policies were generally less successful.

Hope this quick turnaround makes up for the April Fools' silliness. ;) And also the slight brevity compared to other updates of mine lately.

Orders for this update were almost universally good, especially from those who were worried.

As always, I am saddened to have to pick a winner and a loser. Consider this a somewhat lame apology. :(

In case the shading is unclear, the people in the Jania area are a group of Aitahist rebels rather than Mahid crossing the straits.

Try not to send late orders next time, guys.

Also, since this seems to be unclear for some reason despite the fact that it has always been this way for the NES: your “income” has not had the military upkeep costs previously deducted from it. You need to pay for it as well, unless you want your army to do badly on campaign.

I'm going on a vacation for the week before Easter, so an update in two weeks is somewhat unlikely to work. This, of course, leaves one week from now, or three weeks from now. The former makes me nervous, cause people managed to send orders late despite having two weeks and me reminding everyone about the deadline constantly for a week on end. The latter makes me nervous because I don't want to lose this momentum.

What do you think?

Great update. :3

Go for the one week update NK, punish those who send late orders!:deadhorse:

Holy crap, amazing job NK. I honestly wasn't expecting this, and its nice to see I didn't completely die.

From: His Glorious Majesty, Patriarch of the House of Aulfrelesti and its City, and Emperor of All Frelesti, Ostfretis VI
To: Civilized foreign peoples, merchants, the lot
Open your markets and harbors, friends. We come bearing gifts of barbarian men for your mines, and women for your kitchens, for a small fee, of course.

EDIT: One week deadline.

Awesome quick turn around!

:D

From Vexanares, Ninth Redeemer of the Kothari
To Hanakara and Zeshara

Your kingdoms and armies have been set against the might of the Satar, against the light of Opporia, and they have been found lacking. You cower in your remaining fortresses and upon your ships, unwilling to seek absolution for your sin and weakness in battle. If you continue to defy me, I will burn Laoash and make it a graveyard among cities. I will do the same to your surviving strongholds, until all that remains are pirates and brigands who cling to dirty banners.

Or you can bow before the Silver, and survive. Satraps will rule from your cities, your writings and art will spread throughout the world, and unity will be imposed on both sides of the Kothai. Unity that we have brought about with exatas.

Is submission not preferable to extinction?

The drums of the evening hymn rolled dimly from the valley. Carved in bark and vine, I held the idol and beat the trees and logs on my way uphill. The strain on my foot wasn’t serious, rather I felt a pleasant thrill through my legs and back. I smelled the warm, soft sensation of the jungle. On my shoulder, the dry bone strips were tied in a knot of vines, cackling as I walked onward. I panted in excitement and rashness. The night had been so thrilling. It was the celebration of my sister’s birthright. Brakkebone’s hunters roasted a number of pigs and the village elders had gathered soul-eaters for us to savor. It was my first time trying the bitter drink. While walking, I was still nauseated and dizzy. In this jungle, I could take on the world. There were still droplets of pig blood smeared on my chest and face.

Ahead of me, the clearing cut open the thick bush and replaced the night with stars. I imagined how it would become one day when I met my own spouse and we shared borneblod. I smiled at the thought; the sensation of flesh tingled my senses, the beauty of the human creature breathed images into my spirit. But this was not for me or my fantasies. This night, I would celebrate my sister’s fresh womanhood. In the distance the great volcano Ilmun slumbered in peace. I was getting close to a bonfire, lit at a deepening in the clearing rocks. The stones were wet from the evening humidity, but became ashlike and dry as I approached. My family and priest Havkafte stood readily. I was greeted by no acknowledgment, not even an eye – this was the gods’ rest, and through here only our souls should travel. I bowed to Havkafte and handed him the bone strips. He calmly accepted them and wavered them over the pyre. His summons began in a low, haunting tone.

“Gods, serpent wind, tortoise of the molten depths, Ilmun, deity-maw of flame, all that would watch us today, spare us your goodwill! For we have brought to you our gift of haven, the child-bearer, the mother-being! One girl shall rise to wisdom and adult blood!”

I gulped in excitement, but tried to stand still. In the distance, the low, gurgling sound of tears, screaming and baby cries hollowed the night. My stomach twisted, possibly from the soul-eaters. But she was ready. The shade of a moot gray blurred at the edge of the jungle. Shaping into colors, I recognized my sister and her male, carrying a screaming newborn. The sapling girl was covered in what would be tears, possibly. My sister panted and lay down by the fire as her male handed the screaming child to the priest. Havkafte made a gesture; waking up, I handed him the idol which he held to the sky.

“Oh, Ilmun, breathe in the wind and help us forsake the black spirit! With this, her birthright is brought free. Through flesh our flesh shall glitter in sparks and the two moons! Oh, boiling sea! Let our blood boil like you! Gods – Let me! I will take this trolstav and place your fangs at this dark creature –” He took the idol and shoved it into the girl’s mouth. “– And let the darkness of the mother be lifted to the clouds and be drained!”

Bursting with his own power of words, Havkafte breathed heavily while drawing the stone carver. He drew a line of blood in the yelping baby. It was like stoking blood in evil. The chops sounded as my sister panted. The girl gurgled in its mouthful of dark liquid and the vines the priest had forced into it. He bit in its skin and dragged it off with his jaw, then spat flesh into the fire. My family stared in hunger.

“See how pain of earth is abhorred and rejected! See how we accept your trolldom and pyre! See how we allow our wills to be free like the serpent wind! Let us purify the darkness with you!”

Each of us held out a clay cup. The child-creature was now silent. Havkafte poured its dark blood into a bowl, which we all took a cup of. He threw the carcass on the bonfire. We cheered at the wailing embers and drank our share of darkness. My sister was too weak from birth to hold her own cup – her mate helped her drink her share.

~
~

Ilfolk
Starting Location: See map below.
Society: I take this as the general information. Ilmun is a great volcano that Ilfolk worships and sacrifices to. It is the source of the island riches and is the “frontal deity” of the people. Frontal in that it’s not their main deity, but it’s the god they believe they have the most contact with – a connection with the spirit world, if you will. Politically, the tribes are structured as smaller chiefdoms, but are bound through the priesthood. The entity most resembling a state and head of state is the Great Shaman, who is the leader of the religious unit. The chief council must serve under him.
Lineage: The priests write down people’s lineages in primitive paper (Papyrus? Bark? I don’t know what predecessors exist. Possibly use soft rock?) for each respective village, it’s part of their jobs as spiritual leaders. There is equality for genders in most accounts other than in rituals, which are gender based.
Values: Ilfolk are very zealous, so their societal structure and cultural values mirror their religious viewpoints quite a bit. Generally, they would be considered hedonistic in our world. They worship blood and spirit and experience life through a great deal of poisons, mating rituals, music, poetry etc. Both a valuable male or female is expected to be a powerful individual and upfront. Shyness is usually signs of “darkness” – possibly demons that are to be cleansed with “soul-eaters”, potent poisonous beverages much like alcohol, but made on mushrooms. That is, if they’re shy, they will be made drunk.
Religion(s): The world is an embodiment of a number of spirits, who each maintain a seperate part of it. These spirits must be pleased through a number of lively rituals. The rites of passage for women are blodlod, utfrilse, borneblod, giftfrilse and preburial ceremony. The rites of passage for men are sadlod, utfrilse, borneblod, tarnfrelse and preburial ceremony. Most of these rituals are incredibly bloody.
Language(s): I have taken experience from Danish to make the language used. Ilfolk is much like ildfolk which is “fire people” in Danish.
Mythos: Founded in religion. Humanity is given birth to by the Dark Mother. This is a spiritual, demonic entity. However, the gods liked humanity, and after the death of the Dark Mother, the gods gave humanity the abilities of will, fire, freedom, childbearing, etc. But each human is born with darkness within and must regularly be cleansed through one of the blood rituals performed by the priests.
Economic Base: I have no idea and don’t really care. :D I would imagine that as tribal islanders, they’re pretty much into fishing and trade. I have chosen to focus on their culture for now.
Nation Names: Ilfolk. I would imagine there would only be one nation for me right now. It’s not very centralized anyways – it would be present as a cultural map, but would never be a part of the UN.
Person Names: The current Great Shaman’s name is Synkafte.
Place Names: There isn’t really any capital, but the administrative center is the Temple of Snakes.

~

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/6411/whereabouts.png

The image got shrunk of some reason. But you get it.

~

I think that's it.

Grand update, and I'm ready to get in. I vote one week.

Nope!

I will have a go at this with Vithana.

Great update, I vote one week.

I vote one week.

edit: ninja'd.

One week update or death!

Oh yes.

Edit: One week!

I agree, one week is perfectly reasonable.

The Vischa are available for hire as mercenaries for the right price.

Ninth Redeemer Vespelian has died of his wounds in battle. High Oracle Elperion-ha will act as regent until such a time as the Tenth Redeemer of Man has been chosen.

From: The Ardavai Exatai
To: Our Foes

You pay us a great, great compliment. You have correctly measured that no one nation, or even two, or three, can defeat us. You have summoned the world to fight the Satar. Truly this is fitting.

You have lit a fire. It will burn.

You have cracked the ice that lays over the still pool. We will plunge into the water.

You have planted the seed. It will grow into a tree that weeps blood.

You have birthed a child. In one hand, it will hold terror, and in the other hand, it will hold despair.

You have challenged a god.

We ride.

To: The Tribes of Shentha
From: Diru, Hno of Kogur

I wish to ask for the right to supply my ships in your ports, so that we may continue our journeys south. My men wish to know just how far the True Faith has spread to the south, and I myself am interested in seeing how far this land stretches.

To: Putra, Unlawful Holder of Anzai
From: Diru, Hno of Kogur

You have handed over Rangi to its rightful owner. Since you have agreed that Rangi was rightfully ours by this act, you must agree that Anzai should be ours as well. We promise to respect the rights of those currently inhabiting the old city, and we will force none to leave.

To: Parna, Unlawful Holder of Anzai
From: Diru, Hno of Kogur

You have handed over Rangi to its rightful owner. Since you have agreed that Rangi was rightfully ours by this act, you must agree that Anzai should be ours as well. We promise to respect the rights of those currently inhabiting the old city, and we will force none to leave.

to: Diru, Hno of Kogur
from: Parna
We don't know of this Anzai that you speak of, I think your men need to update their maps, or perhaps take them and go home. Your aggression and demands toward the Kayana states is disturbing.

Our apologies, but we meant to contact Putra, not Parna. And this is not aggression. They are requests, and we believe you should let your neighbors think for themselves. This issue doesn't exactly concern you.

Houa Pahouaia.

Destroy the destroyer.

The Lawgiver of the North does not fear the barbaric Horse-Lords- may they be destroyed for good this time, and may this scourge be driven from the world with utter no remorse. The Host of Evyn, all of the men of the nations from the Empire, will surely show none.

Diplomacy and suchlike will be answered later. I'm fine with a one-week update; we should at least try and keep up the pace while it's actually possible. We will do our part.

What did the Satar do to civilise?
Cut in half the times they loved their horses.

If your stable has a better stuffed bed than your house.
You just might be a Satar.

How do you know that a Satar has moved in next door?
Because it's not next door anymore. Your house has burnt down!

What do you call a dead man rotting away on the ground?
A Satar Funeral!

What do you call a brainless satar?
Par for the course.

One Satar Child killed his siblings at age two. He's a 'high achiever'.

There once was a kindly Satar.
...
Okay that bit was a joke.

*

What Gods has Taleldil slain in recent times? None. What Gods has Aitah slain in recent times? None, she has replaced them all. She is the legitimate heir to the other realm. She holds the keys to heaven, to the totality, to enlightenment. It is she who decides who is worthy and who is not. And you are not worthy. She has banished you, cast you from her red gaze. You can see this: has not Acca fallen? Have not princes fallen? Your redeemer of corpses, not men? Is it not ironic that in this time of tragedy that a women has taken to her rightful throne? These are signs. These are portents. They announced her coming and you turned still further away. She has come and you will fall. That is ordained. The old princes defeated on the field kill themselves in shame, in cowardice and did not see their women-folk through. We would spare you from that shame. Aitah is merciful. Turn from error, turn to truth and she will forgive you. We will forgive you. Go in peace, daub your tears, pray to her and you shall be spared.

To: The Tribes of Shentha
From: Diru, Hno of Kogur

I wish to ask for the right to supply my ships in your ports, so that we may continue our journeys south. My men wish to know just how far the True Faith has spread to the south, and I myself am interested in seeing how far this land stretches.

We have no doubt that if we let you into our ports, you would never leave again. Don't come.


To: Putra, Unlawful Holder of Anzai
From: Diru, Hno of Kogur

You have handed over Rangi to its rightful owner. Since you have agreed that Rangi was rightfully ours by this act, you must agree that Anzai should be ours as well. We promise to respect the rights of those currently inhabiting the old city, and we will force none to leave.

Oh, the beast shows his true colors now!

No.

You have lit a fire. It will burn.

Of course it will, that was demonstrated – oh when the ancestors walked the earth.

You have cracked the ice that lays over the still pool. We will plunge into the water.

It's a well-known fact that Satari can't swim, something about hooves being poor substitutes for feet. So with that in mind, am I take it that you are surrendering or are you undertaking to commit suicide? I should like some clarification. Certainly, suicide seems the norm for your ilk.

You have planted the seed. It will grow into a tree that weeps blood.

Satari blood, yes.

You have birthed a child. In one hand, it will hold terror, and in the other hand, it will hold despair.

Your classic Seshweay education has failed you. The quote is: Thou hath birthed a child - in one hand he holdst terror, in the other despair.

You have challenged a god.

We see no God, save She. Did she not say: She walketh amongst us and we know her not.

We ride.

To where? Rath Tephas? Suicide? To sign terms of surrender? The diplomatic skill of the Exatai has collapsed in recent times. Might that be because the writers have freed themselves and the horse-men know not how to write? The old joke:

What do you call a brainless satar?
Par for the course.

seems to hold more truth the longer I live.

EDIT: Nah, one week. Okay, midday Saturday deadline.

The Ninth Redeemer of the Kothari believes certain nations would do well to remember that the Accan Exatai is neither led by the Satar, nor does it represent all of the Satar. No one wants to get the wrong impression about your intentions.

OOC: if people want to talk to me, they should PM me. I'm open to suggestions of peace or alliance, but I probably haven't got time any time very soon to idle on #nes.

We have no doubt that if we let you into our ports, you would never leave again. Don't come.



Oh, the beast shows his true colors now!

No.

Hmph. Our people brought the true light of Iralliam to your people in days long past. Yet this is how you repay us? Does a long lost friend find warm welcome in his old companion's household? We come to the south with high hopes, but we are disappointed. Selfishness, ignorance, and an unwillingness to assist brothers in faith are all that greet us.

Pants, totally forgot upkeep, its crippling me!

What Gods has Taleldil slain in recent times? None. What Gods has Aitah slain in recent times? None, she has replaced them all. She is the legitimate heir to the other realm. She holds the keys to heaven, to the totality, to enlightenment. It is she who decides who is worthy and who is not. And you are not worthy. She has banished you, cast you from her red gaze. You can see this: has not Acca fallen? Have not princes fallen? Your redeemer of corpses, not men? Is it not ironic that in this time of tragedy that a women has taken to her rightful throne? These are signs. These are portents. They announced her coming and you turned still further away. She has come and you will fall. That is ordained. The old princes defeated on the field kill themselves in shame, in cowardice and did not see their women-folk through. We would spare you from that shame. Aitah is merciful. Turn from error, turn to truth and she will forgive you. We will forgive you. Go in peace, daub your tears, pray to her and you shall be spared.

The b*tch goddess will burn.

Heres a Religion/political and a Terrain/political overlay. I can play around with the opacity some more if you guys want, currently its a bit annoying :sad:


http://i.imgur.com/4R0AN.png

and

http://i.imgur.com/u2avS.png

EDIT: Some Clearer ones, thank you iggy :)


http://i.imgur.com/cHFHr.png

and

http://i.imgur.com/rgDMb.png

Climate/Physical would be a good overlay.

Treaty of Mirof

Nations of Farea and Opulensi empire hereby sign a pact of mutual co-operation and friendship. Both countries agree to respect eachother's sovereignity and promise to work towards better mutual relations and economic growth.

Signed

Emperor Haradnos-Karash of Opulensi Empire

Treaty of Mirof

Nations of Farea and Opulensi empire hereby sign a pact of mutual co-operation and friendship. Both countries agree to respect eachother's sovereignity and promise to work towards better mutual relations and economic growth.

Signed

Emperor Haradnos-Karash of Opulensi Empire

Confirmed by Farean diplomat/foreign Representative.

Hello everyone! I'd like to join up as Nech:D

Just to see what all this NES stuff is about:p

-L

Works for me! Orders are due on Friday (by PM), just ask if you need anything.

I remember you from somewhere, just not that avatar?

Yeah, I need to change it soon.

Forum Games. IOTs, actually.:p

I'll probably be settling in for a few days figuring this stuff out:D

-L

To the Opulensi Empire
From New Kalos and the Eastern League

What are your terms for peace?

To: New Kalos and the Eastern League
From: Opulensi Empire

Your unconditional surrender.

If we broke up the League and surrendered our navies, would that do?

I guess I might as well turn this post into something useful and... yeah I got nothing. Complete accident. :p

"Father?"

"Quiet, my son, the gazelles are coming."

"I wonder what the outsiders think of us."

"Why does it matter what they think of us, Satores?"

"Well, we are proud. They do not know that we love our wives, and children, and friends."

"Love is a private thing, like music. If you show it in public, you release power into the air, and it dissipates. Better to keep such things within walls."

"Father, why are there slaves?"

"There are slaves because they are unworthy to be free."

"Unworthy?"

"Yes, they are unworthy because they are too weak to claim their freedom."

"But what if the slaves decide that they are not weak? What if they all decide to claim their freedom at once?"

"That day will never come, Satores."

"But what if it does come, father? What will the Satar do then?"

"I suppose...if all the slaves rose up, we would be forced to fight them."

"Father, if we keep telling the slaves that exatas is strength of will, are we not making the slaves stronger? Are we not preparing them to fight us?"

"No, the slaves are weak. They will never understand exatas."

"But what if they do?"

"Foolish words. They would take the field and we would slaughter them in battle."

"But what if they find friends who will help them, father? What if they see what we have done in masking the Accan king? What if they too mask a foreigner king?"

"They are not clever, son. If they were clever like Atraxes, would they be slaves?"

"I do not know. Most of the slaves were born as slaves, not made slaves. Should not the ones who are born be tested to see if they are weak, or strong?"

"All slaves are weak."

"What if they become strong, father? What if the slaves gain exatas and they fight us and they win?"

"You go to far, Satores!"

"Ah!"

"You shall taste more than the back of my hand if you ask such questions of your Prince, or your Redeemer! Know only that the Satar are strong and the slaves are weak because Taleldil has seen fit to make it so."

"What would happen...if they won?"

"If the slaves rose up and killed us?"

"Yes."

"Then they would be the Satar, and we would be the slaves."

"Why can they not be Satar now? Why can we not make them Satar?"

"That is simply how it is."

"But Satar are made, not born. Slave or free is not in the chains or the mask he wears, but the heart he holds. We must change the slaves hearts, and then they can be Satar, and then they can be free! Do you not see, father? Do you not see?"

"Silence now, Satores. The gazelles are coming."

Saturday, April 9th, 2011, Friday, 12 PM Eastern Time.

Am I the only one confused by this due date? :p

I think he meant to say Friday the 9th.

Except Friday's the 8th. :3

Except Friday's the 8th. :3

Woah.

I think I meant to say Saturday.

I don't expect that I have a need to submit orders.

Ok

Physical/Terrain
http://i.imgur.com/Ku0WZ.png
Economic/City (still figuring what I could do with economic, nation economic didn't work out too nice)
http://i.imgur.com/xGHVt.png
MIND DESTROY
http://i.imgur.com/tdZIk.png

Saturday, eh? Much more manageable for me than Friday, I'm happy to say. :D (Unless I forget about it until the last moment again.)

Kal'thzar, I quite like the economic. Mind destroy is apt.

Eco/city and terrain/phys are excellent renders. Thank you. :)

I suppose I'll update them as NK makes new ones.

Expressing interest in Gallat, pending the approval+advice of NK

The Leunan Empire will be purchasing Paulinth from New Kalos, effective immediately. All tariffs, port duties, and other local policies, will remain the same. :)

Expressing interest in Gallat, pending the approval+advice of NK

Gallat has a player.

Gallat has a player.

My bad D:. Didn't notice until earlier today.

*skulks away*

The Leunan Empire will be purchasing Paulinth from New Kalos, effective immediately. All tariffs, port duties, and other local policies, will remain the same. :)

Palinth is colony of Opulensi empire, not possession of New Kalos.

The Bāribai - "boar people"

Bāri - A type of wild boar native to the home islands. Known for its black stripes and its aggressive nature, it is the most dominant predator on the islands.

Bai - People

Papu-papua'a - Bāribai cultural religious system which consists of idol worship, cannibalism/power absorption, and warrior mentality.

The Bāribai people worship a large quantity of god-like spirits as well as physical objects around them in nature, both called Ta'argi (both plural and singular). Each Ta'argi is master of itself. For example, the Sea is a Ta'argi for all oceans and seas while the Fish is a Ta'argi for all fish. People generally show Ta'argi respect as to prevent their negative effects on their lives (for example, angering the Tree Ta'argi may cause a tree to fall on your home, while angering the Storm Ta'argi may cause a large storm to hit). Physical objects (animals, the weather, etc) as well as ideas (war, intellegence, etc) each have a Ta'argi. Ta'argi are nearly infinite in quantity. Kedi-kedi are used to pay homage to Ta'argi.

The Bāribai people believe they are able to absorb the power of any creature or man by eating it. This is so key to Bāribai culture that it is the massive portion of their creation story and the reason they are named the Bāribai. [Long ago, a people travelled a great distance across the sea and landed on some islands where they encountered the Bāri. Life was hard on the islands and the humans floundered while the Bāri continued to flourish. One day, a man, Ikut, in order to feed his starving family, began to hunt the Bāri, which was previously unheard of. Suddenly, Ikut and his family began to thrive. Ikut and his offspring were stronger, his wife able to birth more children, his elders lived longer, and the family's males became great warriors. This was attributed to the introduction of the soul of the Bāri to each of their own souls. As many other families died off, more people turned to hunting Bāri, and they too became like Ikut and his family. Those who survived from the soul of the Bāri went on to be the Bāribai. In respect to the creature that ensured their survival, men bear black stripes and patterns (Pitu) all over their bodies, which resemble those of the Bāri.] Specific body parts of a man or animal can be eaten to acquire their abilities (for example, a leg would be eaten for speed, an arm for strength, the loins for fertility, the heart for the soul, etc). It is not uncommon for a warrior to eat a worthy foe to gain his strength. The Bāribai will never eat a man for nourishment.

The Bāribai people are fierce warriors. It is believed the natural warrior instinct is from the Bāri. Bāribai warriors are known for their intimidation, both deliberate and unintentional. Every warrior, like all the other males, is covered with black stripes called Pitu, which has been incorrectly viewed as warrior markings by foreigners. A warrior's tendency to eat worthy foes to gain their strength is seen the same way, but it is actually an important part of the Bāribai culture. The kedi-kedi made before battle, however, is used to intimidate an enemy, but it is also used to prepare warriors psychologically as well as for non-military uses. Bāribai warriors use obsidian knives, swords, spears and arrows. Bāribai warriors are known to try and finish off entire groups of enemies, as to prevent them from attempting to wreak vengeance against them. All males are trained in basic combat at a fairly young age.

Ta'argi - An idol.

Pitu - Black markings covering males. They are given to youths between the ages of 8 and 12 in special ceremonies. They are homage to the Bāri.

Kedi-kedi - A dance used in worship/prayer, communication, paying homage, heraldry, and combat preparedness. Involves stomping, jumping, chest-beating, and chanting.

Mexā - Volcano

Tepari'i - Bāribai ship (catamaran/outrigger boat)

Iai - City/Town/Village

Beni Iai - "Home City" The capital.

Pok - Islands

Beni Pok - "Home Islands"

Varmoa Pok “Explorer Islands” The small islands off the northern tip of Beni Pok. Named due to its importance as a starting point for travelers who found Pekshi and Siru Pok.

Pekshi Pok - "Coral Islands" The small islands between Varmoa Pok and Ichan and Erlias. Named for their extensive coral reefs.

Siru Pok - “Lonely Islands” East of the Varmoa Pok and west of the Leli’i Pok. Named due to their isolation from the rest of the island chain.

Leli'i Pok - "White Islands" Western islands near Hanakahi. Named after the white sand beaches, vastly different from Beni Pok's black sand beaches.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/9775/bribaiislandsmap.png

The old man rises from his squatting position arms shaking on cane as he pushes up on legs long since stilled in the ice of age. Eyes shot with black ice open as cracked eyelids retreat still further into the rough sea of his brow. They focus briefly on the faces of those assembled before him though he cannot see them. It is not for his eyes that they have come or his shuffling but for the words of a tongue that has never been stilled nor bent nor broken.

He speaks now tongue working against teeth long since taken in revenge for another speech he had given when his eyes still worked and his legs did not bother him so in cold mornings. “I am not so old.” He said, “Yet I have seen much." Chuckles at this, sightless gaze sweeping over a crowd which has grown past the dozens through the hundreds sailing on into the thousands as the crowd throngs and surges up into apartments and into the square itself.

"They have fallen.” The voice of a people united repeat this phrase. First soft whisperings then reflexive glaces over shoulders for masks no longer worn. Slowly the tide comes in, voices rising first to a murmur in the front ranks then a roar in the square as the message spreads rippling out growing ever louder as it rises against the apartments and breaks their boundries crashing over the walls and rippling out across the countryside in a single voice: "They have fallen".

It returns to him this tide of collective praise. His voice rises one more as does his hand and with it the tide ceases rippling out and retreating outwards from the front to the back. His voices grows now to meet its decline. "I had not thought it possible. I had never dreamed. Though my tongue could not be stilled, I did not believe it possible. I was to be a martyr that was the fate I had chosen. This is not to be. What purpose is a martyr without a cause?”

Silence. The thoughts of a nation lost in unbelieving words from an unbelieving man.

Palinth is colony of Opulensi empire, not possession of New Kalos.

Paulinth is the property of New Kalos.

"Hail, Outrider!"

The Outrider dismounted in one smooth movement, bespeaking of a lifetime in the saddle. His brown cloak rustled around him in the stiff breeze as he strode up the steps to the man who hailed him.

"Hail, my Prince!" He called out as a stableboy escorted his horse away.

"What news?" Prince Arthain of Nech called, clapping the Outrider on the back. The Outriders of Nech were a moderately large group of horsemen that roamed the ill-known paths among the hills a mists of the small kingdom. Some were even rumored to travel across national borders following bandits - or on simple exploration. The Outriders were the principle reason that Nech's hills and swamps - far removed indeed from the capital - were kept in any semblance of order. They were a lasting order, having survived the machinations of several Nechani kings who grew angry at their independence from the Crown. Their loyalty to the nation was absolute, however.

"Little of note." The Outrider said. "The bandits of the Greenswamp are scattered, and I doubt they will be a threat for many months yet."

Arthain clapped him on the back again. "Good news indeed!" He said jovially. The Outrider - fifteen years older then the prince - smiled ruefully. Arthain was a strong lad, raised in the Nechani tradition of warriors. He was a skilled rider and archer, unlike his brother, but Prince Nylz was more a master of the one-handed short swords favored by the Nechani.

"Ironhall approaches completion." The Outrider said. "Within the next few days your family will be able to relocate there."

Arthain paused thoughtfully. Ironhall had been under construction since before he was born. The great fortress-city was supposed to rival even the great capitals of the Southlands in luxury and splendor(from a Northern perspective, at least, and a Nechani one at that) as well as being nigh-impregnable to assault. Then again, that was all theory, and Arthain was well-versed in the distant relationship between paper and the real world.

"That is good news." He said slowly. "I've kept you too long, Outrider. You should be conversing with my father." He laughed.

The Outrider grinned, clapped a fist to his breast in typical Nechani salute, and bowed his head as he left. Arthain chuckled, remembering that the Outriders were by far the least formal of the Nechani peoples to the royalty.

Ironhall, he reflected. I wonder what the place is like. Should be a nice change of scenery from here, but I can't help but think I'll miss this place. Though a city like Ironhall would be a wonderful new capital for Nech.

_

Well, I'm in. I may not be very active for a little bit - still feeling my way around this buisness, after all! - but I'll be playing as best I can.

-L

Paulinth is the property of New Kalos.

What is that, a buzz of flies in our ears? New kalos will be crushed like the insect they are.

Young people think they know everything. Young Priests are worse, enthused with religious fervor, not only do they think they know everything, but they also want to tell everyone about it. Certainly useful on the frontier in converting people to the 'One True Path', where this conviction is an important attribute, ensuring that the Priest becomes involved with his local community.

However, here, in Opios, it only served to annoy. When combined with the power and prestige of a powerful family, such as a member of the the Eso Soggo clan (however far their star had fallen), or worse one of the political families involved in the Royal Courts of the Moti or Kothari.

Kleaotras snapped out of his reverie, peering down at the latest example of a youthful priest in front of him, Grae. He had already broken down Grae's prejudicial assumptions [1] on life, culture and Opporia. Perhaps it was time to begin to begin to mold him into a true thinker of Opporia and the Path.

"What is wisdom?" A simple question,

Grae eagerly replied "The Prophet said that the foundation of a wise priest was in knowing the correct words to keep a man on The Path. So wisdom is in getting an effective response of the knowledge you have, in the case of a priest, in shaping the words of The Prophet and the works of the Patriarchs and the Church in keeping a man true to The Path so he may find happiness,"

An answer by rote, again, good enough for the frontiers, but in Opios you were expected to think.

"But how does a man gain knowledge if there is none to teach?," Kleaotras looked to the heavens.

Grae struggled for a bit, "Then man must reason himself to an answer,"

Kleaotras nodded "Why do we know that the world is a sphere?".

Grae knew this, "There are three commonly accepted arguments. The first is ancient, sailors traveling north, to the lands were the Evyni are now found, were quick to notice that the heavens above them changed, this proves that the world is not flat. Further it is said that the mathematicians on the other side of the Kothai have been able to figure out that there is a change in lengths and angles on this north south axis, from which the size of the world has been calculated. Finally, it has been observed, here in Opios, that during a lunar [2] eclipse the shadow of the earth on the moon is always round, if it were flat one of these observations would lead to the observations of an oval or even a line,"

Kleaotras then asked "So do you think that wisdom can only come from deduction and learning?"

Grae spent some time pondering this one before replying, "No, sometimes deduction is incomplete, such as the lightning that strikes the great Basilica of Opios does not destroy it. It is known that the Spear of Opporia [3] serves to protect the Basilica but not why Opporia is appeased by this. Learning why this is so could help protect people from Opporia's wrath and help them on their journey[4],"

Kleaotras smiled, "Wisdom through learning, and the better path traveled,"

[1] Well, as much as is possible
[2] Couldn't think of a better name for the moon
[3] A lightning rod, just read that they were present in Sri Lanka for a LONG time
[4] Of course in the future they discover its just electricity through some natural process, But whilst as a 'god of the gaps' retreats the religion will focus more and more on the path traveled (I did think this through!). Such that there will be a few interpretations of how closely Opporia is involved with your life on a personal level but the path is the same.

Until finally, it is revealed that lurking in the final gap is NK himself! ;)

Ten years again, right? Orders tommorow.

Yeah, ten.

By the will of the gods, by the breath in the body, by the custom of mankind: The Lords of Zhish kneel to the Kothari and give as hostage their lands and their Word of fealty to the Redeemer.

[...] indeed, the language of the Haina has a most unique structure. It is only due to the efforts of the late J. Essex that we have any understanding of their writings whatsoever. Having no formal background in linguistics, J. Essex was able to look at the Haina records from the simplistic point of view of one ignorant of pre-existing conventions, and so made the stunning proposition that nouns were utterly foreign to the Haina.

[...] the Haina enigmatic writings were finally understood. The first Haina phrase to be discovered, "hlor u fang axaxaxas mlo", which experts had previously translated into the nonsensical "up[?] behind[?] flowing lighted[?]" was now conjectured to mean "above and behind the river, the moon shone", or literally "upward behind the onstreaming it mooned." A new [...]

To the Haina, objects weren't defined by what they were, but what they could do. Instead of calling a boat a "boat," they called it a "sailer;" they did not have "parents," they had "birth-givers." [...] a complex object was formed by appending actions and modifiers to the simple description. Even complex phrases such as "the big red boat on a voyage to the Dulama" were a single word for the Haina.

[...] came as no surprise. Neologisms were adopted into the Haina language by simply adding an appropriate verbial suffix. It does however seem that this method was not without flaws; occasionally, a neologism would enter the language in different forms, with both forms persisting. A widely-studied example is the case of the word "wheat". Originally a rare curiosity to be found in the markets of Saigh, it entered the Haina language as both "wheater" and "large-maizer" at the same time. Both forms persisted, and [...]

Although there is room for additional research, there is ample evidence that the odd Haina language uniquely shaped their culture. The large cache of manuscripts (conjectured to be the private collection of a noble, or perhaps even a king) found at the ancient site of "ruler-city", or Thagnor, has so far confirmed that the Haina were far less concerned with abstract objects and ideas than with more practical ones. The subject of metaphysics seems almost foreign to the Haina. On the other hand, the vast material knowledge contained in this collection is rather astounding. Some historians believe that limited contact must have occurred between the Haina and the Triuli or Opulensi; so out-of-place is the naval know-how exhibited by the isolated Haina.

That is not to say, however, that the Haina possessed no cultural legacy. Indeed, large parts of the Thagnor cache have been labeled as epics, myths, and religious writings. The infant stages of Machianism are now thought to have been heavily influenced by the Haina culture. Unfortunately, the bulk of the cultural documents found at Thagnor have been damaged beyond reconstruction. [...]



Excerpts from "The History of the World", Volume XLVI

How the one-who-thinks learned farming

Before as many traveling-of-the-((blue-(on-top-of-all))-(one-who-gives-brightness)) had occurred as now, the one-who-thinks lived as one-who-does-not-think. His living was difficult and he did not yet know that unlike the ones-who-does-not-think he alone had divine-inside. Awakening-from-sleeping-during-dark he saw a one-who-flies eating a small-(one-who-grows-still). "Help me one-who-thinks, and I will help you too!" cried the being-attacked. Being batted-away, the doing-attack ((ran-away)-flying)-(dropping-(will-once-be-big-(one-who-grows-still)))).

"Look-upon one-who-thinks. Leave-be the will-once-be-big while the one-who-gives-brightness travels once and you will return to be nourished." [...]

[...] understood. "You, small-(one-who-grows-still) are one-who-grows-still-and-nourishes. All-of-me will forever protect all-of-you, and all-of-you will forever feed all-of-me. This I establish with you now." [...]

One-who-knows now realized his divine-inside: that he was (one-who-names)-and-(one-who-orders); that one-who-grows-still-and-nourishes was the first of many to learn to obey him. He built his to-live-in where he stood and named it from-where-to-rule [Thagnor], for here had one-who-knows begun to rule over all-that-is.



Key:
one-who-thinks = human
one-who-does-not-think = animal
divine-inside = soul
on-top-of-all = sky
blue-sky = daytime sky
one-who-gives-brightness = light source
daytime sky + light source = sun
one-who-grows-still = plant
being-attacked = victim
doing-attack = aggressor
will-once-be-big = baby/egg/fetus/seed/etc
one-who-grows-still-and-nourishes = maize
all-of-X = X-kind (example: all-of-human = humankind).
to-live-in = house; archaically also meant settlement
all-that-is = the world


Edit: Not trying that again...

Orders: More of the same as last turn, concentrate pushing south. Don't screw up spending however ;)

Hi. I'm a new poster, but not new to following this thread. I'd like to join this NES after the update, maybe as Trahana. What is the culture of that area like? (Sorry for not doing this by PM; I just registered today and can't use PMs yet.)

Thanks!

Hi. I'm a new poster, but not new to following this thread. I'd like to join this NES after the update, maybe as Trahana. What is the culture of that area like? (Sorry for not doing this by PM; I just registered today and can't use PMs yet.)

Thanks!

Welcome to NESing Hightower! I'd tell you to go look at the stickies, but you've probably already lurked through them and all. We have an IRC chatroom (you can get on at nes-chat.tk even if you don't have an IRC client) where people should be happy to answer your questions.

As for Trahana, NK has yet to flesh out the stats and background of that part of the world (Dehr, Haina, Trahana). You're Machaia1, you're in a tropical climate, there's spices all over that peninsula, your main crop is maize (corn), and you have a "cordial disdain" going on with me (Haina), but "neither one considers the other a threat"2. So you have a lot of freedom to create your own culture (as long as it doesn't involve killing me, because that'd just be mean D:).

1"This is popularly known as Machaianism, an almost animist system of belief that attributes numerous powers to the various spirits that inhabit our world, but believes that none of them have any sort of divine power, and that that power rests instead inside the souls of men themselves."

2I was going to try to change that.

A Brief Cultural Overview of Naran.

The three táelic of Naran are comprised of Léon, Nuín, and Únnáhá.

Táelic u Léon live primarily in the northeast of Naran and closest to Bhísía (Vischa). They have historically been the defenders of Naran from nomads coming out of the steppe. They view themselves as similar to the mountain goats that traverse the slopes around them. Constantly being rammed by raiders from below; they might not be the largest (group), but they pride themselves at never losing their footing in the battles. They primarily worship Gaúin as the Guardian of the Pass who watches over their walls and when in battle, though there are many lesser deities and spirits.

Táelic u Nuín live on the western edge of the mountain pass and around the city of Naranué, which serves as the capital. Ón Nuín is the leader of the Táelic u Nuín and Ónnaran, or leader of Naran (lit. “The Naran”). The current Ónnaran is Bóac Nuín; formally: Bóac Ón Nuín, Ónnaran. He has family wedded in Táelic u Léon and has started the proccess with Táelic u Húnnáhá. It promotes unity among the táelic and Naran as a whole.
The city of Naran exists at the foot of Góaluekíern, or Mount Kíern. Kíern is also the deity primarily worshiped by Táelic u Nuín as the Keeper of Shadows.

Táelic u Húnnáhá are those who live primarily in the southern coastal region of Naran. They live in what was Unnaha before being conquered by Naran. Táelic u Húnnáhá were slightly loyal to Naran before the invasion and chose not to leave for Nóacúnnáhá (New Unnaha). Their focus of worships has been on a female sea deity that was assimilated into Naran’s own pantheons by way of the Naran female water deity Moráná.

There are those that are not of any táelic who live throughout Naran. While not openly treated hostile, they do not always enjoy the same privileges that members of a táelic recieve. They are mostly comprised of citizens of Old Unnaha who were not part of Táelic u Húnnáhá and didn’t travel to New Unnaha. The remaining are assimilated nomads from the steppe or travellers from Limach, Ther, and Dulama.

The Naran are a polytheistic society. Each táelic has their deity of focus however they see spirits and deities in all aspects of life and many have multiple names depending on the person with whom you speak. Festivals are held for many reasons. The best known is Séalúmoc, a winter solstice festival celebrating Kíern.

Dulama influence is seen in the foods eaten by Naran. Maize, beans, and chicken make up a decent portion of their diet. This is supplemented by mussels and fish brought in from the sea, some root vegetables that can grow in the poorer soils of the mountain pass, and occasionally mountain goat cheese. Many popular dishes include tóasu, a fermented fish sauce, and lots of pepper.

Music is comprised of percussion, plucked strings, pipes and signal horns made of the wood of small scrub trees. The signal horns are primarily used to send simple alarms and messages up and down the mountain pass, but occasionally used musically. A unique instrument called a paóluíse is made from the skin of young mountain goats. It consists of a blow pipe which fills the animal skin full of air and a reeded pipe with finger holes that is used to produce a melody as the air escapes the animal skin. Some paóluíse are made with additional pipes that provide additional tones.


Words:
paóluíse: A wind instrument consisting of multiple pipes and an animal skin air reservoir.
Séalúmoc: Winter Solstice festival honoring Kíern
táelic: extended family
tóasu: fermented fish sauce

People:
Ónnaran: Leader of Naran
Ón Nuín: Leader of Nuín
Ón Léon: Leader of Léon
Ón Túnnáhá: Leader of Únnáhá

Deities:
Gaúin: “Guardian of the Pass”, Primary deity of Léon
Kíern: “Keeper of Shadows”, Primary deity of Nuín
Moráná: “Sea Mistress”, Primary deity of Únnáhá

Places:
Bhísía: Vischa
Góaluekíern: Mount Kíern
Nóacúnnáhá: New Unnaha



---

OOC: I have claimed Naran if it is not obvious. :p

Welcome to NESing Hightower! I'd tell you to go look at the stickies, but you've probably already lurked through them and all. We have an IRC chatroom (you can get on at nes-chat.tk even if you don't have an IRC client) where people should be happy to answer your questions.

As for Trahana, NK has yet to flesh out the stats and background of that part of the world (Dehr, Haina, Trahana). You're Machaia1, you're in a tropical climate, there's spices all over that peninsula, your main crop is maize (corn), and you have a "cordial disdain" going on with me (Haina), but "neither one considers the other a threat"2. So you have a lot of freedom to create your own culture (as long as it doesn't involve killing me, because that'd just be mean D:).

1"This is popularly known as Machaianism, an almost animist system of belief that attributes numerous powers to the various spirits that inhabit our world, but believes that none of them have any sort of divine power, and that that power rests instead inside the souls of men themselves."

2I was going to try to change that.

Oh! I didn't realize someone else had taken a country nearby. I'll take somewhere else remote if you'd rather not have a player right on your doorstep. But I'm also open to mending tensions :)

[...] Among the writings recovered from the Thagnor cache, several documents have been identified that offer great insight into the origins of Machianism. It is now widely accepted that Machianism was conceived either by a proto-Haina culture or by sedentary peoples who were shortly thereafter assimilated by the Haina.

A peculiarity of traditional Machiani myths is that the physical appearance of spirits is rarely described; their only identifying characteristics are the specific powers they possess. [...] Stranger still is evidence found in the Dulama records: in parts of Dulama the names of several spirits seem to be translations of their Haina names; Maráno, the main sea spirit in Machianism, is referred to among some Dulama as "one-who-rules-over-the-flowing-blue". All this suggests that the Haina at the very least were the main agents of the spread of Machianism.

[...] Haina traditional myths on the other hand contain numerous references to Machiani beliefs. Though there is the distinct possibility that these were inserted by revisionists after the conversion of the Haina, several historians believe these references play such central roles in the myths of the Haina that they must have been authentic.



Excerpts from "The History of the World", Volume XLVI



Oh! I didn't realize someone else had taken a country nearby. I'll take somewhere else remote if you'd rather not have a player right on your doorstep. But I'm also open to mending tensions :)

I'll send you a princess if you have a prince to marry her to :p.

I'll send you a princess if you have a prince to marry her to :p.

I hear the sound of spire-bells... (can't well call them churches, now can we?).

It was a sight for one to behold.

Dula, the Bastion of Cities, glistened under the mid-day sun. Here, ages ago, the armies of Dula went forth. The borders of the Dulama came to encompass the known world. Viceroys put in command of vast territories with annual tribute flowing to Dula incessantly. It was said, that Dula was the seat of the God-on-Earth.

For life is a continuous struggle, a struggle between man and the Gods. And Dula, was the sign of man’s greatness and success in that war against the Gods. For against all odds, the Emperors of Dula had built something that had endured countless crises. Generations had been born, and generations had died. But no more generations in Dula would know of the glory that once was- for an imperial capital she was no more.

The wheels of fate had pitted the Gods against the city of Dula. And fate had chosen their victor; the Gods had vanquished Dula. And as the imperial procession slowly boarded the ships leaving the city, the Gods looked upon the scene and laughed.

For the Gods hath spoken.

-----------------------------------------

Wise men say that a child’s smile is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

There had not been many smiling children as of late. He sniffed the cold night air. It was hardly the best of times to go on a night-time stroll. As if he had a choice. The plague had died down, but it still stalked the land. It was good business. Good business for him at least; he had an arrangement with certain individuals in the temples. They would leave certain gates unlocked, or leaves some graves not dug as deeply. Then he would come to dig up the poor and sell their bodies to other certain individuals.

Not to mention he would pocket anything of value those poor people might have had.

It was a sad life really. He would end up like that most likely. Reaching the gate, he cursed when he realized that it had been left locked. “Curse the Gods, that dim-witted brain addled fool Ranji must have forgotten.” Turning around, he found himself staring into the eyes of several guardsmen, several heavily armed guardsmen.

“So… what do we have here gentlemen? A grave-robber?” One of the guardsmen just sneered at him. This would be… dangerous to say the least. And he could smell the alcohol emanating from them. The plague had taken its toll on everyone. “I’m guessing you don’t know that an investigation was launched into the matter of the desecrated graves? The Dula priests aren’t exactly in good moods these days you know little digger.”

He just smiled and ran through all of his options. Try to make a run for it, attack the guardsmen or something else. “Oh great lords! May the Gods look away from you! I am but one of many of the humble gravediggers employed by the priests. Woe was to me for I fell asleep during twilight and woke up now. Please great lords, my woman will surely berate me for my stupidity.”

Another one simply smiled, “Of course! How foolish of us to think a man of your piety and faith would dare desecrate a holy grave? Yet it has been a long night and we were aroused from our celebrations in the name of the Emperor.” He got the hint and bowed, and scraped at the feet of the guardsmen. Taking a little bag from his pouch, he offered it as a gift: “I do most sincerely hope this will make your nights more enjoyable.” The guardsmen took the gift amusedly, and he fled into the night.

------

The work of recent scholars claiming that the so-called state of Haina formed the premise of Machainism is nothing short of simple idiocy. Considering the extent of the records found in recent times of the precise and detailed Dulama Empire, it is well known that Machainism had a great following amongst the western half of their empire. Needless to say, the extent at which Machainism was influential suggests that it was one of the great Empires of the Thala river basin that first adopted the faith.

There are records shown that the Tollanaugh Empire’s rulers had adhered to the faith, and it is certainly more likely it was through that Empire’s extensive trade and cultural influence that Machainism came to dominate the Western half of the Dulama Empire as well as the seafaring states to its northwest and southwest.

Now it is certainly possible that a precursor of Machainism came out of the peninsula, but it did not reach the state that it came to be until its adoption by one of the Empires of the Thala. Murals in both the ancient cities of Aeda and Saigh point to the existence, and prevalence of Machainism long before there were any contemporary records amongst the peninsula.

And considering the loose nature of the faith, it is also possible that it grew independently in various locales...

Out of that red twilight they came crossing the horizon as they surmounted the crest of those dark hills, long black shadows of nothing fit to quench the last gasps of that dying sun and it slid behind the hills and into embrace of mother night. Down past the warnings they came great piles of bones and skulls set upon spears jaws hanging loose and gaping lost in the maudlin laughter of death and past the fetishes protections against the other place warnings against spirits, devils, djinn and the hand of man.

What fear we? We brave men, we sons of brave men: Hai Vithana. Up into saddles we went, leather worn smooth under constant use, stained brown with blood and viscera with chasing of silver, foriegn work, lost under the skulls of enemies slain hair still stuck to skeletal brows. Hands heft lances, fingers run the length of bow-strings checking for moisture and men nuzzle their horses gauze covered heads which made them look like the veiled equine brides of desperate men.

There were but two of them. There were many of us. I said let us be at them. Out past the tree that hung over our hide we rode the sound of hooves muted by the sand and booties made of leather. All that could be seen was the steam rising from horse and man's noses. All that coule be heard was the cracking of the desert as it set down to slumber. Into the wadi we rode the false green of its trees fit to attract fools obscured in the steam and darknesss. Out of it we passed and with its passing went any semblance of life as the sand piled up in deep drifts fit to drown a man if he strayed from that unmarked path.

Even our harnesses were wrapped. Soft linen proof against sound. Our shoes removed for the same. All of our clothes tight against bodies hard with hunger and want and need. Of souls long since estranged from that other place where the women lived and laughter prevailed. That place where we were not yet welcome. In the darkness sometimes muffled against a grooms own veil came a curse as a horse-bride stumbled upon a rock for which it could not see. Not once did we come down to walk our loves. They knew the path as sure as we.

Now they are fading into darkness embraced in the blackness from whence they came as they passs the horizon into the lee of that hill. Out of sight and into imagination they walked our co-heirs to that dark night; our of courage and into fear went we. The stars dipped dimmed turn on themselves in a dance all of their own making and with a final turn they hide their faces to us. Into darkness we plunged. The moon did not dance but hid amidst a cloudless sky. The light of her eye winked out and a stream of light poured forth racing across the sky. We knew not then but they were her tears.

We rode on we the brave. Past fear into terror. The path lost to us though we had ridden it much. Horses plunging on into nothingness. They spoke to us then not in the language of men but in the way of horses. A quiet whinny of sadness for us on that ride. We knew then that we had died. In time they walked upon two legs carrying us along like babes holding us in the crook of their hooves against the beating of their hearts. Lost we rode on, man unto horse, horse unto man. Eyes straining against the veil that covers all things.

Soon the laughing began. Harsh sounds, easy to confuse with the desert fox. Erupting bursting upon the silence piercing it. Then nothing. We saw nothing. Heard naught but the beating of equine hearts. The horses had stilled. Sadness fading into silence. We moaned all collective in our grief and in the knowing of our fate. Lost. Lost of soul. Lost of fixed things. Left in torpor and darkness. Uncertainty and error our guide. We moaned once more. A flicker against the nothing just the barest crack. Nothing to see with eyes. But deeper than that rubbing the soul raw in its intensity and ambiguity and want. We cried then. Not for fear. We had long gone past that but for hope.

Darkness and silence. Hope and light. Again and again it changed. First pushing against our soul, then our hearts, prodding at the receptacles of our hope, kicking up against our minds opening them to it. To her. Once more we moaned. It dimmed threatening to burn out and leave us in obscurity. We prayed in the old way though we had no cause to. It burned shifting past our eyes and into our minds a great light illuminating us for what we were burning asunder that which it found wanting shifting and changing us in that light. Error fled its cry while uncertainty died. It burned low again then blue like the poor man's candle of fat starved of sustenance.

Then words came to us unbidden etched in our hearts though we had known them not. Words to prayers to a lady we knew not. It burned slipping past our mind and into our heart. Burning out ignorance and vice. And left in its place her. Eyes afire. Red as mulberries. Mark of the Gods. She turned. Figure of glory. Face shielded from us behind a veil of finest gauze. She danced away and the light passed from us. She sung alien tunes and it returned beaming to the rise and fall of her voice. We wept for salvation. She smiled.

And it shifted once more. Away from our heart deeper still into the soul. Searching pearcing. Eyes flaming like hottest coals. And the horses rode us. Drove us forward. Our heads against their breasts still. The beating of hearts long since lost to the intensity of the flames. Once more she smiled. And into our mind flowed her words you shall know I come when the horses shall walk on two feet and shall speak in the tongues of men.

Out of the darkness we rode. Into a fire that burned and into the company of the men we had proposed to kill. They had heard us long before, seen us almost as long and they had sat while we stood transfixed by her and lit a fire and cooked a string of rabbits and prepared flat-bread on the rocks around the edge of the fire. Sane men would not have stopped as they did. Sane men would not have stopped as we did. Their eyes fixed on us. No mercy. No sense. Cunning. Cruel. I knew then what the hare feels. Not before his last moment but before the chase. That moment of freedom sweet to savor snapping instantly into fear.

They were dressed in cowls of rags finger-bones to hold their hair a skull upon their staffs and ears pricked through with ribs like the evils of old. Not men then but monsters. Fit to pluck fingers from hands, rip skulls from necks and pull ribs like teeth. Not monsters then but gathers of men. They looked and we sat. And long into the night did they tell us of her. Our lady. Our temptress of the soul. Our wife.

Hi. I'm a new poster, but not new to following this thread. I'd like to join this NES after the update, maybe as Trahana. What is the culture of that area like? (Sorry for not doing this by PM; I just registered today and can't use PMs yet.)

Thanks!

Unlock your PM's here. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=350036)

@NK
My orders will arrive today, but they may arrive slightly later than what is your orders due that - my dads birthday. Sorry.

The world may have changed,
but order will always be restored by EXATAS.
Slaves can not masquerade as freemen.
Taleldil will not allow it.
Your defeat was sealed from your first foray,
even as you thought yourself victorious.
You will tremble before the might of the Redeemer.
The mask glints the brightest gold.

Unlock your PM's here. (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=350036)

@NK
My orders will arrive today, but they may arrive slightly later than what is your orders due that - my dads birthday. Sorry.

Thanks for the link, but the issue for me is I think the short registration time, not post count (which I could up pretty quickly if I wanted/needed to).

Anyway, as a result I will post orders here; hopefully North King will see them. Since Trahana does not have stats yet, these will be pretty general, and none of it is private enough to be worried about not sending them via PM.

1. Reach an amicable solution as to whatever conflict is ongoing on our northwestern borders, annexing what we currently control and whatever else can be easily taken beforehand. Our goal is to keep the peace and safety of Trahana, although we are willing to annex territory if it furthers that goal.
2. Arrange the marriage of the Enadanbar (prince), eldest son of the Danbar (king), the ruler of Trahana, with the daughter of the ruler of Haina. Generally facilitate peaceful relations with the Haina through trade, small gifts and diplomatic missions.
3. Promote the development of the already high-quality Trahana masonry, stoneworking and stonewares. Commission the construction of new, larger Machaiambarai (Machai temples with dramatically tall spires, sort of like steeples but with multiple per temple) in each major city of Trahana to promote the guild of masons and showcase Trahana's great pride in its architectural ability.
4. Send emissaries to the city-states to the north, between Trahana and Dehr, expressing our friendship and desire for peace.

Stories to come later today, after the deadline.

Thanks for the link, but the issue for me is I think the short registration time, not post count (which I could up pretty quickly if I wanted/needed to).



AFAIK They should be able to unlock postcounts for any user, does not matter whatever you have been member for 5 days and/or have 5 posts.

Orders incoming shortly. :)

The world may have changed,
but order will always be restored by EXATAS.
Slaves can not masquerade as freemen.
Taleldil will not allow it.
Your defeat was sealed from your first foray,
even as you thought yourself victorious.
You will tremble before the might of the Redeemer.
The mask glints the brightest gold.

As the silver sees the gold,
men shall know their masters.
As the arrow takes the sky,
righteousness shall be restored.
As the hooves pave the ground,
the holy shall triumph over the impious.
Thunder shall strike the sea,
and the sea shall retreat.
For after every flood returns the Sun,
And after every Sun returns the Moon.
And we shall bless the ground anew with blood,
In Taleldil's holy name.
EXATAS

Prince Satores-ta-Yashidim of the Arrow, Prince Nephrax-ta-Delphis of the Scroll, Prince Taraxilas-ha of the Sword, Prince Elikas-ta-Tisatar of the Shield, Prince Zephtalik of the Spear, Prince Ilparnir-ta-Atracta of the Wheel.

We cut our arms anew, and place the blood upon the mask. For the Six shall crown a Seventh, as it has always been. At Magha, in conclave, 391.

And the Satar prostitute themselves to expediency again. Taleldil is not only a piss-poor slayer of Goddesses but a slut for whatever new steppe tail comes past his equine nose.

One wonders how Scroll or any of his minions managed to escape his little rat's-nest in the fair city of Kargan to attend such a conclave.

One wonders how Scroll or any of his minions managed to escape his little rat's-nest in the fair city of Kargan to attend such a conclave.

Sesalik-ta-Shaim, fourth son of Nephrax-ta-Delphis, bled for his father by proxy.

Faeorias* of Farea

Only most important Faeorian elders, from Faeorias who were large enough to posses some power in 3 states of Farea, had gathered to the Meeting Hall of Farea. Well, less than 10 years ago it had been only 2 states, but times have changed. One of those two was Norupi, oldest of the states, simply known as 'Farea' for foreign merchants. Home of countless Faeorias, dominated by capital of Farea - a city like no other. Province of Ania, on the other hand, was settled several years after Norupi/Farea had been settled. Ania, ania was taken via peaceful expansion, to aid chaotic city state to restore order from chaos it had fallen into. And now, with the colonization of new lands, new province was created after Faeorian meeting decision. That Decision had gained significant support. "The New Colonies" that this "province" held, was named 'Hirulaho', meaning something in lines of 'Green Mountains' in one of the Farean dialects. Even tho this new province was small and weak, most of Feorias had charged into colonization attempt, once it passed the election. There was a chance of bright future for Hirulaho province.

This colonization idea had already been incredibly successful - with in less than 10 years, Natives North and North-East of Farea, had been convinced of Goodness and kindness of Farean leadership. Everything went, just like Grael had predicted when he first proposed this "colonization idea". Many of the natives had joined new colonies or were working together with colonists and some had chosen to live together with colonists, absorbing Farean culture. Trading with natives had proven to be very useful as well, although origin and worth of goods was often greatly under question, aslong as they were not Farean goods, everything was good and these new goods improved colonial growth by quite a bit. Sending Idaghor priests to outlying native villages to live with and to work as diplomats was also a great and rather successful idea.

And just like Grael had predicted about successfully befriending natives, These new colonies were chance for large Faeorias to expand - to put down their rivaly, due to their always increasing size. And, like he expected, many of the small colonies fell under control of small or even 'minor' Faeorias. This helped to solve civil problem of large Faeorias gaining all power and ignoring small faeorias. Among Several small Faeorias, that had gained power hold in Hirulaho - the new colonies - was also Graels own Feoria. Yes, he was known as Grael of Raev. Raevs Faeoria was formed not so long ago, after Hiolof Feaoria infighting had split this family into several small faeorias. Raev was one of the smallest of Hiolof feaorias, still it was rated as "medium sized" feoria as there were simply too many small faeorias.

Yet, Grael had bargained on right deals. First, when voting for allowing all traders into Farean Ports, as long as traders had not done any harm to Farea and its friends. Then, when he founded a small trader shop in Surgoai, using all of his Raev Faeorias funds, and even borrowing some more (Crazy idea, some said). Once this new edict had passed, Raevs small trader shop business bloomed and produced almost triple of the expected income. But those were not all of the bargains that Grael had successfully made - he was one of the first Feaorian Elders, who proposed colonization of new lands and he successfully convinced many important and influential elders to vote for this plan. He had to, as he had gambled quite a bit - Faeoria Raev, together with many other small Faeorias had borrowed large sums of money, hired many scouts and best supplies, well before this edict came into open discussion. And that gave Raev Faeoria considerable head-start, in comparison to other Faerias, when colonization began. When first colonists finished building foundations of new colonies, Grael sent cheap supplies from Raevs trader shop to these colonies and made sure that natives would love inhabitants of his colonies. He saw no sense in attacking these natives, unless they were threat to everyone. Why waste your life taking lives, when you could work towards peaceful life and enlightenment. Soon, after very good expansion and deals, his Faeoria had more marriage requests, than he could have ever hoped for. A tiny Faeoria, in comparison to huge and always existing Faeorias, had grown into considerable power with in about ten years. And most of this, was thanks to Raevs elders, especially Grael - because they dared to take risks.

By now, Graels actions had earned him excellent reputation among other Faeorian Elders. He was trusted, respected and his advice was well worth of gold to many. But even in his height of power, he cared for those, who were not in any faeorias and often donated or employed poor people to do non important tasks, that other Faeorias used trained and experienced workers for. That kindness and care, had given Grael of Raev considerable support amongst poorer citizens and villagers of Farea. And now, he planned to use this respect to achieve his long dream - his life goal. Dream that he had dreamed so long about, ever since his mother told him the story How Farea was founded ... And since then, he had worked towards that goal - To build a city and to be chosen into honorable office of leading Elders of that city. He knew, that his Faeorias expansion options were limited, only beacuse children do not mature in 10 years, that Raev had gained power and respect. Grael knew, that this idea will find much opposition amongst larger Faeorias, yet he was certain, that if he presented facts in proper order, he could convince some of the elders and press his dream through. He was certain that, even if his Faeoria would have to give up few colonies, as his small Faeoria would lack manpower to be leading family in this city, he could earn Raev a position, to become one of the most influencial families in that city and within 20 years, he would gain a seat in City Elders council.

And so, he stood today before Elders of countless but influential Faeorias, who had been gathered into Election Hall. This meeting, summoned by him and several other influential Elders of Farea, would be the meeting, that would fulfill his goal... his dream. And so he walked onto pedestal and rised his hand and swore loyalty of himself and his Faeoria to Farea. And most elders to stop speaking about trivial matters and started to listen to him. And so Grael spoke. He presented his facts, He countered insults and stupididy, He convinced Elders, as well as he could. He knew, that should he make even one slight mistake, it'll tip of the balance of scales and he will not be able to find enough support amongst the crowd.

After several days, when Faeorias had had enough time, to think his request through, voting commenced. And Grael was certain, that his request would pass. It had to pass, there was no other solution. Solution, that would further improve Farea. He knew that Farea required another Economical center and he hoped that other Faeorias would know this aswell. A city that would not be coastal but located deep inside the mainland. A city, that could trade with Cyntan merchants, coordinate relations and trade between natives and colonies and eventually most of the inland. A city, That would become center of inland trade, maybe even Fareans future capital. And he even had name for this new population center. Mirof. Known as Central Fortification. He chosen a site for this city - a place near a small river, with incredibly clean water. A place near forest and place, where there was a border patrol fortification - this was good site. Good for defense, good for food, good for fresh water. Good for construction supplies and farming. A perfect site for new city.

Graels Faeoria, t'was known as Raev, had taken an incredibly huge risk. They had borrowed even more money and tripled loans on their Faeoria. He had taken huge risk, should that project fail, his Faeoria shall collapse. And Raev was not the only Faeoria that had taken huge loans. They had all taken from countless loans from countless of places. No-one knew who owed whom and how much, but they all knew .. they knew that They all had debts. Even large Faeorias. They had bet on that, that their future is secure, that their future expansion will pay for loans. That their investment was well worth the price. And Grael hoped, that it was worth it, or Farea - the moral Successor of the First empire of Helsians - shall fall into nothing but small city states. But he had to risk ... because he knew, that he could only achieve enlightenment when he fulfills his dream - his life long goal. To become one of the Leading elders of a Town. And that was nearly impossible for Faeoria that has the the size of Raev. But size can be changed in the long run, like large empires fall and Small nations become Empires.

*Farea is lead by powerful families that are called Faeorias (http://endofempires.wiki-site.com/index.php/Faeoria)

Fantastic story Northen, you're really taking off with the Fareans. :D

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9624/fareamap.png

A map, that has to show general locations of Hirulaho province, as well as show general placement of this new city of Mirof. It is not accurate in terms of borders or landscape but should be enough for visual estimates.

EDIT:

Orders sent (late but with permission to be late).

I want to start a nation but i don't know how, i need to see a recent map to know where to put it and, also, what information do i need to give in order to be established?

Sorry i am new to NES's and i was browsing the thread here and it looked interesting so i thought i might as well give it a go.

I want to start a nation but i don't know how, i need to see a recent map to know where to put it and, also, what information do i need to give in order to be established?

Sorry i am new to NES's and i was browsing the thread here and it looked interesting so i thought i might as well give it a go.

Generally all that information is found on the front page :p.

Here: http://i.imgur.com/tzOaK.png

And here: If you are starting a new culture entirely, fill out the following template:

[Culture Name]
Starting Location: [Choose from the cradle map; preferably giving me your own map pinpointing the location for me and other players]
Society: [Add a description of your people’s society: how it is structured, how it functions]
Lineage: [How do your people trace descent?]
Values: [What do your people believe to be the most important human qualities?]
Religion(s): [Add a description of your people’s religious ideas]
Language(s): [Add a description of your people’s language, including, if applicable, their writing system]
Mythos: [Explain the mythic origin of your people]
Economic Base: [Give the general economic basis of life for your people]
Nation Names: [Make a list of nation names for me to use]
Person Names: [Make a list of names for me to use of famous persons]
Place Names: [Make a list of place for me to use for notable places]
[Add anything else you want to say]


I would advise reading the entire posts 1,2, and 4 though; they may will provide some valuable information.


Oh, and welcome to NESing!

Utugia
Starting Location: Very far south in isolation
Society: Chief ruling each minor tribe and one major chief ruling the nation as a whole. Men hunt, farm, and fight, and women take care of the villages, cook and make supplies. Pretty basic society.
Lineage: on a small series of islands, then they slowly moved onto the continent
Values: They believe in truth, fairness, and freedom. They are very closely tied with nature. They hate war but will fight to the death if it means to protect their values and people.
Religion(s): Sort of a nature-worshipping culture. They don't believe in a god, but they are aware of their world and they do everything in mind with preserving and helping nature.
Language(s): They speak Utugian, which can be seen as sort of an african language in terms of the pronunciation of their words and names. They write on very thin sheets of a type of rock near their villages, and they write it with a different type of rock which leaves a dark mark on surfaces.
Mythos: Not really sure about this one, i'm going to leave this blank.
Economic Base: They do not operate with a monetary system of any sort, they beleieve that everything is natures and they use what they need to sustain life. They trade resources with others if they need but do not accept anything that is supposed to represent money.
Nation Names: Utugia, Orombuwe, Pitura, Noromwemba, Uri Mdobwe, Lomongo
Person Names: Bathili, Mposi, Kodosa, Mbewela-Utugwomite (original chief of Utugia) Lumosa
Place Names: Ustututar, Bolkongo, Manikeme, Bofasa, Estombi-Rawanto, Rebozo, Tentwekenga.

They are somewhat of an isolated peoples, but they are very friendly to those who are friendly in return. They are quiet and they enjoy exploring. The chiefs are people who have done many things for the tribe. The tribe consists of several large stone-mud huts, smaller huts for storage of supplies and food, and a few fire pits in the center for meals. The Utugu people wear animal furs and the average man in the tribe is about 6 feet tall and very strong and has a grey tone of brown skin.

Awesome join app! But how does one explain black people in cold areas? Those are cold areas...

http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/8840/year9climateswx3.png

i fixed it for you :lol:

Black people can't naturally inhabit ice regions, or come from them, that isn't how biology works. White people are white because of the regions they inhabit, everyone was black originally, we changed because we needed to.

Black people can't naturally inhabit ice regions, or come from them, that isn't how biology works. White people are white because of the regions they inhabit, everyone was black originally, we changed because we needed to.

i changed it in my original post, the now originate from the south but moved north, but it was recent so their skin never changed

i changed it in my original post, the now originate from the south but moved north, but it was recent so their skin never changed


Does not compute. #1, you original post still refers to having lived northwards, and then wandered south. This has been addressed. #2, the reverse does not work either- the area you wish to be in does not have darker skin. I should know, considering I'm the huge orange blob to your general southernly direction. Instead, the region has a mixture of Asian and Caucasian-lite features. The closest you have to what you want is in Moti, far far to the south.

maybe they migrated from there in some sort of religious-motivated exodus 200-600 years past... that would still fit.

Not really, considering that the history of my people lies in the area for over the last 500 years. And before that, the area was home to the Ming Duchy, which would have been in the area the peoples would have to go through, and would have surely taken note.

i maintain that it is still possible.

I'll leave it to NK, though I still severely doubt the possibility of a migration from the far south to the far north.

The language sounds pretty similar to Uggor, and like everyone says, appearance wise it'd make much more sense with them being in the south. Also, welcome to NESing! :)

Uggor is just bad Seshweay anyways.

Ahaha okay

i changed it, i'm now somewhere south in a very isolated land if that computes with the map.

The towers of Traha, glorious and ancient capital of the Trahana people, rose in front of the procession. From afar, they blended with the peaks of Kossai amid which they rose. Hewn from the same stone that formed the eternal mountains, the city appeared barely more than an odd outcropping, disappearing at times when the light shifted. In darker times, that itself had been a great defense of the city. Today, it was a mere curiosity, so long had it been since the end of the old empire.

“Your land is a strange one.” The woman with whom he rode spoke for the first time this day, her tongue speedy and touched with the harsh accent of the lowlanders. Despite their few weeks together, that foreign sound coming from his young wife’s lips still startled Kutir. Of course, they spoke little, each unsure how to approach the other.

After a long pause, she continued. “So much stone, and so beautiful! I have seen the work of the Trahana artisans in Haina, but none like what work you Trahana keep for yourselves.”

Kutir could not help but chuckle. “Yes, that is very true, my wife. We Trahana are too proud of our great works to part with many of them. The Dulama Emperor is said to collect statues of Trahana make, but nothing in his collection would compare to those in the home of a common merchant in Traha. What about that seems strange to you?”

She furrowed her brow and thought for a moment before replying. Kutir sighed inwardly, aware that his bride was not yet comfortable with speaking to the heir of the realm frankly and in open terms. Much was different in Haina, he supposed, despite their ancient bonds.

“You give little weigh to what the outside world thinks, you Trahana. Our merchants…” She hesitated before continuing, “My father’s merchants come to you for the best, but you do not sell. You live your isolated lives instead, peaceful and productive. But if Trahana were a person, it would be a noble hermit, living high in the mountains.”

“And so we are!” This truth seemed obvious. “The days of empire are long over, and what we learned from them, and from the Machai, is appreciation of our own domain and exultation in it. There is little reason for our people to live in any way but simply.”

“Perhaps.” Her eyes were clouded. “Such a simple life does not always last, for hermits or for nations.”

She was silent thereafter, and Kutir had no response. It was an unusual day, the celebration of the second week after the wedding of prince of Trahana to princess of Haina.



City Names:
Traha (the capital)
Bashima (city near Haina on the coast)
Marheshi (southern city)
Mara (city on the smaller lake)
Ardebal (city on the larger, northern lake)

Future City Names:
Maregai
Shelmis
Miandib
Heshete
Phara
Shemedi
Arakezi

Other Locations:
Kossai Mountains (the main mountain chain through Trahana)
Bay of Margous (bay to the west of Trahana)
Ragain Islands (islands south of Trahana)
Lake Maregai (lake just east of the capital)
Lake Nourmesha (northern lake on which Ardebal lies)

(The language, in case it is unclear, is loosely based on Farsi.)

Just something random I threw together. It is intentionally ambiguous and not supposed to rewrite whatever history North King has devised.

“Traditional literature of the peninsular peoples generally indicates an ancient empire that united all of their realms at some point in distant history. Once historians moved past uncritical acceptance of such claims and into solidly grounded historiographic methods, there existed for a long time broad consensus that no such empire ever arose, or, if it did, that it was dramatically reduced in scope from the proclamations of peninsular mythos.

Recent archaeological records have, however, suggested otherwise. In particular, the discovery of what are apparently ancient roads in the mountains north of Traha suggest that, at some point, a realm existed strong enough to have need for wide, straight, flat road surfaces between the various peninsular domains. The best explanation history and archaeology can provide is a unified domain.

Beyond that, our information today, so far removed from the peninsular civilizations of old, is scarce. Their records speak of Machai ruling alongside men. This can surely be discounted out of hand. Yet the great emperor who united all peninsular peoples might be only an embellishment of true history. What remains to be explained is how this potentially enormous empire—far larger than the Dulama at its peak, if the records are to be believed—declined into the well-known and well-studied peninsular kingdoms whose histories are properly attested.

The most popular explanation is some sort of outside invasion, though some have suggested devastating plague. I take no position...”


---Excerpt, Histories of the Ancient Domains, published 3419 S.E.

The Storm

“In the twilight of the Second Exatai, during the rise of the Jahanid Dynasty, there was a brief time when Sataran Princes, long dependent upon the Macrinids, were directly responsible for the survival of Exatas in the Sesh. With the longstanding Accan protections of the state stripped away, the Satar found themselves, as before, alone. Into this gap stepped the Prince of the Arrow, Satores-ta-Yashidim.”

-Sesin Taracco, The Cycles of Exatai

"There is no greater anguish than victory in battle."

-Satores-ta-Yashidim

---

During two months of the year, a great storm comes down from the north.

It rises over a cold, nameless ocean of endless ice, driving schools of pale pink and gold fish into the dark depths, where they are consumed by the darker creatures that wait below. It covers the valleys of the Einan [1] in a thick mist, curling blankets of vapor obscuring the small, darting boats that ply their trade across the smooth grey waters. It enters the Rath Satar, first lashing down the sparse grasses, then leaving a carpet of sparkling, tiny flowers, soon to die, in its wake.

Usually, this is where the storm ends, trapped by the mountains.

But the greatest storms continue further south, overwhelming the Kothai. They fall as snow upon the high peaks of the na-Tashal, luring out the white winter rabbits and the grey mountain lions that prey upon them. Then they cross the Rath Tephas, where an unusual amount of lightning cracks and blasts the few trees that choose to grow on this unchangeably green grassland. A few tent-dwelling men cavort amongst the vast echoes of the thunder, chanting praises carried off as fast as they are spoken by the wind.

And at last, the storm comes to two young rivers, swollen and churning from the rain, cutting through the red rock. The rain falls upon a great city at the rivers joining, a city of walls and secrets, of bastions and chains. The streets and buildings turn dark red, the color of old blood. Women dart through the streets to collect fresh water from the cisterns, wearing ancient, intricately carved masks of indigo and ochre. The silver runes upon them speak of the last seven or eight generations of women that bore their mask, women who darted through the same streets to the same cisterns. In time, their daughters and granddaughters will do the same.

The rain falls upon the thick, high walls where weary guards watch the scrubland. It falls upon the cliffside monasteries, whose monks retreat into the tunnels to practice their forms by lamplight in secret caverns. And it falls upon the dome of the Metraxas.

---

Satores gazed blankly at the rain falling in sheets through the circular hole in the dome. It was a column of water, surrounded by air. His mind was elsewhere, in a memory that took place, days earlier.

Endless rain created a circle of mud, where the princes gathered. There was an angular pavilion nearby, and a smoking brazier from which six metal poles extended. They were not cooking meat. Yet.

The body of a naked man lay in the midst of them, curled up in the position of a scared child in the night. The five tall, armored figures gathered around him, rain pattering on their steel skin with a thousand tiny clinks.

Satores dismounted from his horse, for he had come at the summons. Three days earlier, they had given him command. He had denied them three times, and agreed the fourth. In two days time, they were to ride downstream to meet the army. It was Zephtalik of the Spear who greeted him. Satores hissed under his breath. Zephtalik was a bloody-minded man.

“Prince-artakasa [2], we have a gift for you. Some of the servants of Sarturro [3] entered Jania by stealth. Dressed as slave men, they found one of those who opened the gates our brother Sword tried to defend. And they have brought him back to us.”

Satores stepped back, horrified. “Then kill him for his treachery, if you must. Or turn him to our purpose. He is no use to us weeping like a child!”

The Spear chuckled, softly. “You are innocent in some things, Satores. No. We will show the slaves the price of treachery to their lawful masters. Take up your brand, brother.” He held up one of the glowing poles from the brazier. Now Satores could clearly see their purpose. The Satar runes for ‘arrow’ were there, in glowing, red iron. Each of the other princes claimed their own, bearing their tribe’s name in burning metal. Below their iron-shod feet, their victim sobbed, covered in mud and lashes.

The mask was impassive, but the face behind was a rictus of anguish. “The Silver Fist never knew defeat. And he never knew hatred. You are vicious children if you do this.”

Zephtalik merely paused. “Take up your brand, Arrow.”

The Prince of the Arrow made a short, brutal cut with his hand, a gesture of total negation. “Shan se katan dev nakar se vaxalai.” [4]

“Then go, artakasa. Think not of how the slaves butchered your brother Prince. Think not of the festering wound that killed your Redeemer. Think not of what they will do to our women and children if they win. Your mercy has a price, Arrow. It is a price I will not pay.”

“No,” Satores replied. “No.” He broke the circle, gray cloak swirling behind him. Zephtalik shrugged, wielding Satores’ brand in his other hand. “For Itarephas.”

A wet hissing sound, and the first of many screams, pursued the fleeing Prince of the Satar into the night.

Satores gritted his teeth as his horse galloped for the city across the windswept plain. Half way back, his legs lost their strength, and he fell from his horse. He screamed his wordless rage into the night, tearing at the muddy ground with gauntleted fists, roaring at the thunder in boundless sorrow.

He walked back to the city.

---

“He cared for them as you do, the Silver Prince.”

Satores was jarred out of his recollection by the quiet, patient voice of the High Oracle, who was a thin, tall man. Evidently he had snuck up on him while he was lost in thought.

The eyes of Elperion-ha were black pools behind the mask. “Atraxes said that slavery should be but a passing effect of our conquest. As he aged, he desired to give any slave who wished it a mask, and send those who did not away. But the Princes, and his High Oracle, did not agree."

Satores looked up at the small square of grass, slick and wet, shining brightly in the moonlight. “How do you know this?”

But the High Oracle was gone. And the rain fell.

---

[1] Evyni transliteration of Weinan.

[2] Artakasa – Equivalent to captain, or commander. Used here in an informal sense.

[3] Tarkas Sarturro, Second Censoratta. Governor-in-exile of Acca, influential nobleman and bureaucrat.

[4] “Pain without purpose is an end without redemption.” Famous quote from the Kaphaiavai.

Wenyn? Wrong. Really, really wrong- especially considering the lack of ‘w’ in the Evyni tongue. The probable word you want would be Ēinān. It might have actually benefited you to ask before just throwing out random things ;).

Edited accordingly. I do find your "let's cram as many diacritical marks as possible into every word" language amusing, though. :p

I'm glad you do! Isn't it ever so pretty :)? Though, for the record, they do serve a pretty nifty purpose.

~Darkening~ - such as? :p

(In before it turns out I missed detailed exposition on the intricacies of Evyni language and alphabet.)

The grandest purpose of them all- to annoy the hell out of the mod, of course!......Yeah, that’s it- you’re not expecting anything real, are you? Well, being honest- it’s mostly schematics, in the sense that it’s an alternative an easier method of writing things. It makes long, ugly words all nice and short and pretty! For example, macrons represent a doubled sound- Anyāis can be rendered Anyaais, but that’s not really pretty at all. Also as with Dāroćramįr and its uglier twin, Daarokhrahmizhr. Ēinān -> Eeinaan, which would be the rough transliteration for the Ming name of the river, not the actual Evyn. And so on, so on. I’m too lazy to a full write up at the moment, so I’ll just leave it as that for now.

Edit: The alphabet is based upon the old Seshweay, like, way way way in the past, modified over time with local flavor but which I really don't see myself fleshing out at the moment.

The alphabet is based upon the old Seshweay, like, way way way in the past, modified over time with local flavor but which I really don't see myself fleshing out at the moment.

:love:

Some Satar Etymologies

Atraxes - [at-rhax-ees]

A-, when used as prefix - Possessor of, in possession of.
trax, silver
es, when used as suffix - "prince" or "lord," though the suffix is not reserved to princes alone and is merely good fortune.

By itself, Trax refers to the element of silver. In comparison, atrax would mean "having silver" or "silver-bearing," perhaps "silvery". Atraxes technically means "prince having the quality of silver," since traxes would mean 'a prince composed of silver'. This would refer to an statue or a carving, not a human being. 'Silver Prince' is one translation of Atraxes, though 'Prince of Silver' would be closer to the truth.

Arastephas - [ahr-ass-tef-ahs] the Redeemer (in Satar, Arastephas-ta-Vaxalai)

A-, when used as prefix - Possessor of, in possession of.
ras, Oracle.
-tephas, Wind, also referring to the location Rath Tephas, the "Court of Wind."

Oracle is technically a title or profession. Arastephas saw himself as a religious as well as a political leader, the leader of a people and the scion of a god. The technical translation of 'Arastephas' in English would be '[Possessor of] Oracle of [the Court of] Wind,' though this is ungainly and fails to demonstrate its true purpose. Again, Rastephas is not sufficient as this could technically imply 'an Oracle made of the wind'. A- designates -tephas as a quality, not a nature.



The meaning of Arastephas can most easily be summarized as 'Prophet of Wind' or 'Oracle of Wind,' though the word for 'wind' also means 'holy land,' since Rath Tephas is the heart of the Ardavani religion. By naming himself Arastephas, the First Redeemer consciously invoked this dual meaning, making connections to the elemental force of wind, a power of Taleldil, and to the Oracle of the Holy Land, chief shaman of his people leading them back to the fields upon which their god-father was born.

---

Satar Honorifics: Ta and Ha

-ta- from or of. Can be used as an honorific or a locator. Nephrax-ta-Delphis was born in the village of Delphis, so he is Nephrax of Delphis. However, Aphas-ta-Shaim, Prince of the Sword and lieutenant of Third Redeemer Xetares, translates to Aphas [of] the Sword, an honorific. Arastephas-ta-Vaxalai is Arastephas [of] the Redeemer.

-ha, High. Connotations of 'first' or 'best'. The companion of Atraxes and later Prince of the Spear, Isal-ha, technically translates to High Isal, but a better translation would be Isal the Honored.

So, if a Satar named Vetalik was named High Oracle, his full title would be [I]Ras Vetalik-ha.

Bugarcāyn Roāium .
The House of Roach; the ruling dynasty of the Empire of Evyn from the founding to the current day.


Roach (27 Sh-60 Sh)
Unserch (60 Sh- 79 Sh)
Alestyn (79 Sh-103 Sh)
Thromyn (103 Sh-123 Sh)
Drarch (123 Sh-136 Sh)
Vtaityn (136 Sh- 182 Sh)
Morenyn (182 Sh- 199 Sh)
Áyinse (199 Sh- 202 Sh){1}
Shadyn (202 Sh- 254 Sh)
Imrnyn (254 Sh-281 Sh)
Tomoyr (281 Sh- 284 Sh)
Enolæyr (284 Sh- 307 Sh)
Naćmasra (307 Sh- 331 Sh)
Atonār (331 Sh- 359 Sh)
Ħasōsĕr (359 Sh- 382 Sh)
Baimāyr (382 Sh- 395 Sh)
Tiahįr (395 Sh- 422 Sh)
Shoræyr (422 Sh- 453 Sh)
Ardōsĕr (453 Sh- 483 Sh)
Dāroćramįr (483-501 Sh)
Isāthmæyr (501 Sh-)

{1} While Áyinse was not technically a Thorsrdyn, considering women are not allowed to hold the throne, she yet remained as regent for the time and so was included.

I’ve retconned quite a bit, considering most of the dates of reigns were just aweful. Hopefully it’s not too horrible.

Some Utugu quotes made by Mbewela-Utugwomite (translated of course)

Every sunset is like a new end. When you think something has ended, there is always a good chance that sun will rise once more.

Life is not sun there is only night. How can a man live in the shadow of another if there is no sun to make the shadow?

Great tribes are not made from currency. They are forged by the blood of men who make sacrifices for their communities.

One i was not able to translate (it is a legendary one)

Tonosore matakwe ba'liund lilon wesewe. Ma'liund'ak Ma'liund misiko usukwerawe. Jufasa bontobwe otogwena basara ut mawari jufasa'liund ilas nahibwe'nar, katega'nar, atgur'nar.

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/7449/aitah2.png

She is thee, me and she. We are she, thee and me. She is me, she and thee. Gods pacific, triple stars, thrice at once, triplicates of me, and triplets we. Three is she, and three is thee, and we are three! All things in threes: beginning, middle end; past, present, future; she, thee and me.

Nope!

Somewhere... over the rainbow...

I hate you both.

The update will come when it comes, NK just got back to North America now, so it could be fairly soon.

At any rate, I can't wait to find out what happens. :D

I can't even remember what I was trying to do, an im still very excited! :p

Is it too late to join in time for this update, NK? This NES looks fantastic.

It is too late, it is fantastic compared to most of the crap that passes for NESes these days, and welcome aboard, old NESer who nobody remembers. ;)

It is too late, it is fantastic compares to most of the crap that passes for NESes these days, and welcome aboard, old NESer who nobody remembers. ;)

Oh ho ho you got them.

There are lots of fun NESes going on right now Thlayli, so just cut that out!

I'm really starting to sympathize with Symphony these days. It seems like so many people are just willing to settle.

Yeah, there are fun NESes going on. It doesn't mean that we're working up to our full potential.

And why do I single N3S out? It's the only long-running NES that attempts to simulate history in a way that's accurate or true.

But that doesn't automatically make it better than other NESes. If you like it more than others, fine. But don't go on belittling other types of NESes.

Hey can we not have this discussion here? Thanks.

Plexus, it's pretty much impossible to join as one of the main countries this turn. If you want to start a culture on the edge of things I might be able to shoehorn it in, but no guarantees. Best bet is waiting for the update.

It's the only long-running NES that attempts to simulate history in a way that's accurate or true.

All civilised folk agree, Satari breed with horses. HOW IS THAT ACCURATE?

Hey can we not have this discussion here? Thanks.

Plexus, it's pretty much impossible to join as one of the main countries this turn. If you want to start a culture on the edge of things I might be able to shoehorn it in, but no guarantees. Best bet is waiting for the update.

Wilco. :)

So stopped eating divisions then?

It's dead-on accurate Masada! The Last Scion Lives.

All civilised folk agree, Satari breed with horses. HOW IS THAT ACCURATE?

Celtic kings, from prehistory to Wales, would often penetrate horses when they ascended to the throne. The Romans trained animals to rape women as part of the gladiatorial games (halftime?), the Greeks write commonly about Egyptians having sex with animals, ancient Hindus believed copulation with the Sacred Cow brought good fortune...

And the Seshwaey love their dolphins.

Celtic kings, from prehistory to Wales, would often penetrate horses when they ascended to the throne. The Romans trained animals to rape women as part of the gladiatorial games (halftime?), the Greeks write commonly about Egyptians having sex with animals, ancient Hindus believed copulation with the Sacred Cow brought good fortune...

And the Seshwaey love their dolphins.

Err, interesting research you must have done for that information! :vomit:

There was an episode of Bones on.

Celtic kings, from prehistory to Wales, would often penetrate horses when they ascended to the throne. The Romans trained animals to rape women as part of the gladiatorial games (halftime?), the Greeks write commonly about Egyptians having sex with animals, ancient Hindus believed copulation with the Sacred Cow brought good fortune...

Granted, but the Satari are the spawn of horses and men. LITERALLY.

Keeping in mind that this is said by one of the slippery fish people.

Granted, but the Satari are the spawn of horses and men. LITERALLY.

LITERALLY mythological.

(I am sure that would be the case. Otherwise... Whaaat?)

Keeping in mind that this is said by one of the slippery fish people.

IT IS SAID BY SHE, OF THE BLOOD AND THE POWER, OF THE SUN AND THE MOON, OF THE OCEANS AND THE LAND; SHE OF THE HERE AND HEREAFTER, OF THIS WORLD AND THAT, OF US BUT NOT; THROUGH HER IS SALVATION, AROUND HER IS DEATH, BENEATH HER IS GLORY; ALL THINGS IN THREE; SHE IS THREE, THRICE AND TRIPLE; GLORY TO HER, GLORY OF HER, SHE IS GLORY.

WA - AITAH.

LITERALLY mythological.

LITERALLY. The Satari are not capable of deep thought. The horse parts interfere with the human parts creating something like an animal - beastal, dull-witted, stupid - with some human limited human input - tool use, limited speech and reasoning faculties.

(I am sure that would be the case. Otherwise... Whaaat?)

IT IS KNOWN.

It's funny to see such an intense cultural frustration. Of course, we believe this stems from frustrations of another sort, given the Seshites legendary lack of sexual prowess.

Satar would know all about Seshite sexual prowess, having experienced surprise attacks from the rear all throughout the delta area.