Chapter 21: The Scourge of God
It was the year 382. There wasn't much for the Vandals to do at the moment. They could build, they could expand a bit more, and they could prepare for later- for fighting wars, for research, for plenty of things. But there wasn't much to do right now.
To the West, the conflict between the Franks and Anglo-Saxons raged on. The Anglo-Saxon city of Hohwacht, a bit to the East of Kiel, disappeared from the Earth, burned to the ground by the Franks in 383. Gaiseric found their targeting to be highly illogical, to say the least. Why ignore the two cities that were farther West and closer to go after the more Eastern ones?
Nevertheless, the Vandals wish to find a way to gain from this. The Franks are one of the stronger of the barbarian tribes, too weak for the Vandals to take on alone. For that matter, the Vandals are weaker than most, and would be for a while, but they still seek ways to fight against the stronger foes. The Franks could easily be defeated by the combined forces of the Anglo-Saxons and Vandals, assuming their estimate of Frankish strength wasn't too low.
But it would have to wait while they built up their forces, claimed more resources, and most importantly, built more roads. The only road leading out of the Vandal Empire went through two cities controlled by the Franks. They'd be unable to trade while at war with the Franks if they didn't build another one, to the South, going towards Western Rome. For that matter, it would make it easier to fight the Romans and others- when the time came for that.
The Vandals built their 11th city in 386- Sabratha, a little farther up the Oder River than Liliybaeum. It was right on the border of the Anglo-Saxon city of Lindsey.
The decade of the 390's was a period of utmost nothingness happening. Well, okay, things happened, but not much of importance. The workers continued building roads and mines, and cutting down trees and clearing the forests in the area. The Military fortified in various cities, sometimes upgraded itself, kept the peace, and generally did nothing. The citizens collected food and gold and built things in the cities. The scientists researched something they were sure would be very promising.
Finally, in 401, a brilliant scientist named Gunderic made a breakthrough in new ideas for how to be good at being a barbarian. After years of work researching in Hippo Regius, he came up with a working idea for Barbarian Leadership, or something along those lines. Gaiseric didn't really understand it, but thought it sounded awesome.
"So," Gaiseric asked Gunderic, "What can we do with this?"
The scientist replied that they could make the Vandals known as the Scourge of God, striking fear into the hearts of Romans and weaker barbarians everywhere. They would be able to create powerful Barbarian Warlords at a fast rate, their Great Military Leaders would become more numerous and easier to find, and be able to lead larger armies. And they could do it in a couple of years with Gunderic's help.
In 403, they were finished perfecting this. It was official: The Vandals were the Scourge of God.
The best thing about this was that other barbarians would happily accept the technology of Barbarian Leadership in trade- even though it was completely useless to any of them.
For now they had nothing to trade the Vandals in return, although they probably soon would.
The Vandals heard that the Eastern Romans were building something called "Justinian's Leadership" in 405, which would apparently give them a bunch of free Barracks. The Western Romans later did the same. It was an obvious indication that the Romans remained quite a bit ahead of all of the barbarians in technology.
Speaking of which, several other barbarians developed advanced Construction techniques in 409. Now they actually had something which the Vandals could trade them Barbarian Leadership for.
And that's exactly what they did the following year, after going around a bit to look for the best price. The Ostrogoths gave them the most- in exchange for Barbarian Leadership, they were willing to give the Vandals Construction, and Polytheism, all their gold, and a map.
After this, they decided to go sell it to some other people to get more money. The Celts were now the only ones who didn't know about Polytheism, so the Vandals decided to sell it to them.
They then went and sold Barbarian Leadership to the Franks, who offered a great price, and the Huns, who didn't. Judging from the Hunnic price, they were already close to researching it themselves, so... why not?
Those Maps showed them a lot that they didn't know, mostly the territories of the Sassanids and Huns, and a lot more in the East.
That year, they also built the city of Cirta on the Vistula, near some Furs they wanted to claim. If they built a road to them, they could sell the extra Furs to someone else for profit.
With the road finished soon after, the Furs were ready for export in 412. Both halves of the Roman Empire and the Sassanids had something to trade for it. The Western Roman Empire was chosen to export the Furs to in the end, largely because they had the most and they were the closest. They offered Wines, Gold, Silver, and even the technology of Fortification that the Vandals had been working on. This was good, as this would let them build Forts in important areas and build bridges to cross rivers. The Wines would help keep the citizens happy. The precious metals weren't really useful for anything right now (they're required for two late-game Great Wonders), but hey, Gold and Silver were nice, so why not?
Theodoric showed up in Hippo Regius with a rather rude demand for gold and a map in 413. The Vandals probably could have survived a war if they decided to follow through on their threat, but it wasn't something they really wanted, and it's not like it was a huge demand. So they gave the Ostrogoths want they wanted... this time.
The first of many Warlords was created from the Scourge of God that year. They would continue to spawn every 10 years for... well, who knows how long?
The next few years were little more than a period of some expansion taking place. Not just for the Vandals, the Western Romans continued building more cities in what they claimed belonged to them, as did, finally, the Eastern Romans. Some other barbarians started building some more cities, too. But most importantly, the Vandals were expanding.
In 416, the city of Hadrumetum was built in the South, near a Visigoth city, to claim a valuable source of Iron.
2 years later, Ammaedara was built on the Anglo-Saxon border, further surrounding Lindsey.
Speaking of the Anglo-Saxons, it was in 420 that the Vandals finally decided to establish an embassy in Kiel, in preparation for a possible future alliance between the Vandals and Anglo-Saxons. They were somewhat disappointed to learn that the Anglo-Saxons and Franks must have signed a peace treaty some time ago, as they certainly weren't at war now. But oh well, the information they learned about Kiel was nice. For a barbarian city, it was pretty large and well-developed, and had plenty of Spearmen defending it, more so than many other cities, and probably more Spearmen than the Vandals had total. Well, so what? Spearmen were weak. Warlords and Pillagers were strong.
Even if they were foolishly choosing to build tons of Spearmen, they'd still probably be a good friend if the Vandals needed one. And soon, they might.
Shapur, King of the Sassanids demanded that the Vandals teach them Fortification in 421. Perhaps they were getting ready for war, or perhaps they wanted bridges to cross the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with, as not having bridges was getting annoying. Either way, the Vandals refused the demand. They may be willing to give minor amounts of gold and maps- but no, not a technology, and not to someone way too far away to come fight them.
Apparently the Sassanids thought they weren't too far away, as they declared war when their demand was refused.
The Vandals would prepare some minor defenses in the off-chance that the Sassanids actually did bother to send a few Archers or Horsemen up North, but that was unlikely. A more real threat would be them convincing someone else to fight the Vandals, but they were poor before they declared war, and the Vandals didn't assume that would change any time soon.
No Sassanids showed up in the next few years, and for that matter, nothing at all happened for a while. The next noteworthy event was the building of the Vandals' 15th city in 428, named New Carthage, formally forfeiting all claims of building cities with original names. It was in the South, to get some Iron, and finally get them on the border of Western Rome.
The Romans either didn't like this or just felt in a demandy mood that day, as in 429, they showed up asking for tribute of some Gold. The Vandals begrudgingly gave it to them, knowing that the Romans could, in fact, hurt them, and a small amount of Gold was easily worth it. They were also trading them several resources. Gaiseric found this demand to be a rude way to treat a trading partner, but, oh well.
A bit later, research was finished on creating a Vandal currency so that they could make themselves richer and build markets.
It was shortly after noticed that this discovery had pushed them forward to a new age, in which pretty much nothing was actually different. Meh. Well, they could start catching up with the Romans a bit more, at least.
And so, in 430, at the start of this new age, the Vandals looked on hopefully. With their Warlords continuously growing in number, they would slowly become more and more powerful. When their final wave of expansion and building was finished, they would be more than ready to start conquering others. They were probably ready now, but they wanted to finish some things first, like that road to the border of Western Rome.
It was the year 382. There wasn't much for the Vandals to do at the moment. They could build, they could expand a bit more, and they could prepare for later- for fighting wars, for research, for plenty of things. But there wasn't much to do right now.
To the West, the conflict between the Franks and Anglo-Saxons raged on. The Anglo-Saxon city of Hohwacht, a bit to the East of Kiel, disappeared from the Earth, burned to the ground by the Franks in 383. Gaiseric found their targeting to be highly illogical, to say the least. Why ignore the two cities that were farther West and closer to go after the more Eastern ones?
Nevertheless, the Vandals wish to find a way to gain from this. The Franks are one of the stronger of the barbarian tribes, too weak for the Vandals to take on alone. For that matter, the Vandals are weaker than most, and would be for a while, but they still seek ways to fight against the stronger foes. The Franks could easily be defeated by the combined forces of the Anglo-Saxons and Vandals, assuming their estimate of Frankish strength wasn't too low.
But it would have to wait while they built up their forces, claimed more resources, and most importantly, built more roads. The only road leading out of the Vandal Empire went through two cities controlled by the Franks. They'd be unable to trade while at war with the Franks if they didn't build another one, to the South, going towards Western Rome. For that matter, it would make it easier to fight the Romans and others- when the time came for that.
The Vandals built their 11th city in 386- Sabratha, a little farther up the Oder River than Liliybaeum. It was right on the border of the Anglo-Saxon city of Lindsey.
The decade of the 390's was a period of utmost nothingness happening. Well, okay, things happened, but not much of importance. The workers continued building roads and mines, and cutting down trees and clearing the forests in the area. The Military fortified in various cities, sometimes upgraded itself, kept the peace, and generally did nothing. The citizens collected food and gold and built things in the cities. The scientists researched something they were sure would be very promising.
Finally, in 401, a brilliant scientist named Gunderic made a breakthrough in new ideas for how to be good at being a barbarian. After years of work researching in Hippo Regius, he came up with a working idea for Barbarian Leadership, or something along those lines. Gaiseric didn't really understand it, but thought it sounded awesome.
"So," Gaiseric asked Gunderic, "What can we do with this?"
The scientist replied that they could make the Vandals known as the Scourge of God, striking fear into the hearts of Romans and weaker barbarians everywhere. They would be able to create powerful Barbarian Warlords at a fast rate, their Great Military Leaders would become more numerous and easier to find, and be able to lead larger armies. And they could do it in a couple of years with Gunderic's help.
In 403, they were finished perfecting this. It was official: The Vandals were the Scourge of God.
The best thing about this was that other barbarians would happily accept the technology of Barbarian Leadership in trade- even though it was completely useless to any of them.
For now they had nothing to trade the Vandals in return, although they probably soon would.
The Vandals heard that the Eastern Romans were building something called "Justinian's Leadership" in 405, which would apparently give them a bunch of free Barracks. The Western Romans later did the same. It was an obvious indication that the Romans remained quite a bit ahead of all of the barbarians in technology.
Speaking of which, several other barbarians developed advanced Construction techniques in 409. Now they actually had something which the Vandals could trade them Barbarian Leadership for.
And that's exactly what they did the following year, after going around a bit to look for the best price. The Ostrogoths gave them the most- in exchange for Barbarian Leadership, they were willing to give the Vandals Construction, and Polytheism, all their gold, and a map.
After this, they decided to go sell it to some other people to get more money. The Celts were now the only ones who didn't know about Polytheism, so the Vandals decided to sell it to them.
They then went and sold Barbarian Leadership to the Franks, who offered a great price, and the Huns, who didn't. Judging from the Hunnic price, they were already close to researching it themselves, so... why not?
Those Maps showed them a lot that they didn't know, mostly the territories of the Sassanids and Huns, and a lot more in the East.
That year, they also built the city of Cirta on the Vistula, near some Furs they wanted to claim. If they built a road to them, they could sell the extra Furs to someone else for profit.
With the road finished soon after, the Furs were ready for export in 412. Both halves of the Roman Empire and the Sassanids had something to trade for it. The Western Roman Empire was chosen to export the Furs to in the end, largely because they had the most and they were the closest. They offered Wines, Gold, Silver, and even the technology of Fortification that the Vandals had been working on. This was good, as this would let them build Forts in important areas and build bridges to cross rivers. The Wines would help keep the citizens happy. The precious metals weren't really useful for anything right now (they're required for two late-game Great Wonders), but hey, Gold and Silver were nice, so why not?
Theodoric showed up in Hippo Regius with a rather rude demand for gold and a map in 413. The Vandals probably could have survived a war if they decided to follow through on their threat, but it wasn't something they really wanted, and it's not like it was a huge demand. So they gave the Ostrogoths want they wanted... this time.
The first of many Warlords was created from the Scourge of God that year. They would continue to spawn every 10 years for... well, who knows how long?
The next few years were little more than a period of some expansion taking place. Not just for the Vandals, the Western Romans continued building more cities in what they claimed belonged to them, as did, finally, the Eastern Romans. Some other barbarians started building some more cities, too. But most importantly, the Vandals were expanding.
In 416, the city of Hadrumetum was built in the South, near a Visigoth city, to claim a valuable source of Iron.
2 years later, Ammaedara was built on the Anglo-Saxon border, further surrounding Lindsey.
Speaking of the Anglo-Saxons, it was in 420 that the Vandals finally decided to establish an embassy in Kiel, in preparation for a possible future alliance between the Vandals and Anglo-Saxons. They were somewhat disappointed to learn that the Anglo-Saxons and Franks must have signed a peace treaty some time ago, as they certainly weren't at war now. But oh well, the information they learned about Kiel was nice. For a barbarian city, it was pretty large and well-developed, and had plenty of Spearmen defending it, more so than many other cities, and probably more Spearmen than the Vandals had total. Well, so what? Spearmen were weak. Warlords and Pillagers were strong.
Even if they were foolishly choosing to build tons of Spearmen, they'd still probably be a good friend if the Vandals needed one. And soon, they might.
Shapur, King of the Sassanids demanded that the Vandals teach them Fortification in 421. Perhaps they were getting ready for war, or perhaps they wanted bridges to cross the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with, as not having bridges was getting annoying. Either way, the Vandals refused the demand. They may be willing to give minor amounts of gold and maps- but no, not a technology, and not to someone way too far away to come fight them.
Apparently the Sassanids thought they weren't too far away, as they declared war when their demand was refused.
The Vandals would prepare some minor defenses in the off-chance that the Sassanids actually did bother to send a few Archers or Horsemen up North, but that was unlikely. A more real threat would be them convincing someone else to fight the Vandals, but they were poor before they declared war, and the Vandals didn't assume that would change any time soon.
No Sassanids showed up in the next few years, and for that matter, nothing at all happened for a while. The next noteworthy event was the building of the Vandals' 15th city in 428, named New Carthage, formally forfeiting all claims of building cities with original names. It was in the South, to get some Iron, and finally get them on the border of Western Rome.
The Romans either didn't like this or just felt in a demandy mood that day, as in 429, they showed up asking for tribute of some Gold. The Vandals begrudgingly gave it to them, knowing that the Romans could, in fact, hurt them, and a small amount of Gold was easily worth it. They were also trading them several resources. Gaiseric found this demand to be a rude way to treat a trading partner, but, oh well.
A bit later, research was finished on creating a Vandal currency so that they could make themselves richer and build markets.
It was shortly after noticed that this discovery had pushed them forward to a new age, in which pretty much nothing was actually different. Meh. Well, they could start catching up with the Romans a bit more, at least.
And so, in 430, at the start of this new age, the Vandals looked on hopefully. With their Warlords continuously growing in number, they would slowly become more and more powerful. When their final wave of expansion and building was finished, they would be more than ready to start conquering others. They were probably ready now, but they wanted to finish some things first, like that road to the border of Western Rome.
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