Chapter 35: The Warriors of the Jungle
The Warriors and the Settlers that had left Chichen Itza in 300 didn't really know where they were going. The location of the city they were going to build was in an area a little bit to the South of what the Mayans then knew of the world. They knew they were going to head to the general area of the Tobacco plants that grew to the South of Chichen Itza, as gaining control of those would be valuable. More specific than that, they weren't sure. By 310, they were getting close, and from what they could tell, just to the Southwest would probably make the best location.
They reached that location in 320. It was every bit as full of jungle as Chichen Itza was, although it was also on the coast. This would indeed make a good location for the second city in the Mayan Empire. The new city, Copan, was founded in 330.
The Warriors, having accomplished the mission of escorting the Settlers to this position, departed the newly-built city to continue exploring the jungle to see if there was an end to it, and also to find out more about the area around the nearby river, which would also make a good future city.
The workers finished building the road from Chichen to the Gold in 335, making some people a bit richer. They then went South, to connect the Tobacco, and with it, Copan, to Chichen Itza.
In other news, Chichen finished work on training some people to use Spears in 345, and the Warriors kept exploring, finding more jungle, some not-jungle, some hills, and some resources, followed by a Barbaric people without a name that did little but fight in the jungles of the area spotted moving up onto a hill in 355.
Said Barbarian Warriors were killed by the Mayan explorer-warriors when they attacked in 360. Their lack of actual combat skill despite living for combat was evidenced by their inexperience and loss despite having the advantage of a river and a hill for defense.
Upon climbing up to the top of that hill, the Warriors reported a great view, of a valley to the west surrounded by resources, some Mountains to the South, and the main camp of the Barbarians to the East. They would hold there to heal before attempting to take the camp out. They also saw a large body of water to the Southwest, a bit closer to the end of the Mayan peninsula than they had expected. Maybe it wasn't that big, or maybe it was.
Meanwhile, a new group of Warriors trained in Chichen Itza also went out to explore, a bit to the west of the old ones.
The now-healed Warriors attacked the barbarian camp in 380, emerging easily victorious over the poor fighting of the barbarians. The ransack of the camp saw plenty of gold returned back to Chichen Itza. The Warriors also saw that, a bit to the south, there were more Mountains... and what appeared to be signs of another civilized people.
The Warriors began a journey South to meet these people in 390, heading for the mountain on their borders. They planned to reach the mountain in 400.
They didn't actually reach the mountain, since the borders of the Yellowish-wearing people expanded to claim it in 395, and they decided maybe it would be better to stay outside for now. For some reason, this border expansion didn't introduce the Mayans and these people, so they went up on the nearby hill.
Meanwhile, the Warriors to the Northwest saw some more barbarians in the Western Plains, and what looked like more borders to the Northwest. This area was certainly a crowded one.
The Tobacco Road finally finished in 405, keeping Chichen Itzians happier that they could much more easily get it. And that they could get to Copan faster, but mostly the Tobacco.
In 410, Smoke-Jaguar personally went to meet these people. Their leader, Ce Acatl Topiltzin, also known as he of the unspellable name, met Smoke-Jaguar, and introduced his people, the Toltecs. After much discussion, they finally came to the issue of trading. Each had knowledge of two technologies the other didn't know. Seems like a great trade opportunity, but the Toltecs valued theirs more highly. Being unable to get both of them, Smoke-Jaguar decided settling for just one, the knowledge of Ceremonial Burial, was fair if he also got some Toltec Slaves and Gold out of the deal.
After this, the Warriors went right about going up on that Mountain they had avoided earlier, just for the view. It offered a nice view of the Toltec capital of Tula, as well as a view of more of the Sea to the Southwest. It's now pretty much confirmed that whatever is down there, it's pretty big. A nice discovery, but even so, going up on the Toltec mountain still annoyed the Toltecs a bit, so it was understandable when the Mayans were asked to leave a bit later.
A bit to the North, the other Warriors, assuming these barbarians in the coastal plains to be as weak as the ones in the jungle, attacked in 420. Well, not quite as weak, and they were able to give the Warriors quite a bit of trouble before finally dying. Reasons for the underestimation of the Barbarians are unknown, but blamed on either poor coordination, bad judgement, or smoking way too much tobacco. Whatever the case, they won anyway, destroyed the camp, and saw some more borders to the Northwest.
They went west to meet these people a bit later. After moving west in 430, they found that there was another village of barbarians to the South- but luckily, barbarians not wishing to kill them. They'd have to decide whether or not to meet the barbarians or the Dark Brown Bordered People first.
In the meantime, the Mayan Scientists were hard at work doing Sciency things, and finished work on making an Alphabet for the Mayans in 435.
The Warriors decided to go visit the village to the South in 440. The villagers were nice enough people, offering to give them maps of the region to the West, which they kindly accepted. The maps just showed more of the same Jungle the Mayans already knew more than enough about, although it seemed thinner here simply because of the elevation.
Other barbarians, on the other hand, weren't so friendly, like the ones that appeared to the Southeast of the injured warriors in 445. They could hardly fight in this state, but they could still head towards the Dark Brown People.
They reached the borders in 460, curiously not followed by the Barbarians (I think I forgot to set NoAIPatrol to 0), and found the borders to be held by people named the Olmecs. Their leader called himself "Jaguar," which Smoke-Jaguar decried as the least original and creative name ever. They only had one technology to trade, the knowledge of how to make Pots, when the Mayans had both the knowledge of an Alphabet and how to make bricks, but the Olmecs valued this technology more than either of those two alone. Luckily, the Olmecs also had slaves and gold, and when added to the deal, Smoke-Jaguar found the trade more than fair.
With this newfound knowledge, they were able to finally convince the Toltecs to teach them how to make archers, although they did have to pay two techs for one, yet again.
The barbarians curiously reappeared in 465, again prompting the Mayan Warriors to run away. There were more to the West, meaning there wasn't much the Mayan Warriors could do to escape, but they could go up on a mountain and fortify to heal and defend from the attack.
Only one of them actually did attack when they got the chance in 485, and it is probably for this reason that the Warriors won the battle, and even healed a bit due to being fortified. The other barbarians, still to the Northwest, could now be dealt with.
Meanwhile, to the Southeast, the other Warriors kept exploring, finding yet more resources, jungles, and hills. They also reported that the Southern Sea was indeed very large, and the land here just kept narrowing. It almost seemed like the world was a giant thin line running from Northwest to Southeast, with a long peninsula jutting out of the middle that the Mayans occupied. Anyway, they found some more barbarians here.
Despite said barbarians being on a mountain, the Mayans were easily able to kill them in 490. It's like they weren't even trying. From this mountain, they got a good glimpse of the camp to the east the barbarians called home.
The now slightly less injured Warriors to the Northwest, meanwhile, headed to see if the barbarians were still there, and to see if the village near Olmec borders also in that area had somehow not been visited by someone yet.
Both were reported still being there when the Warriors got to the nearby Hill in 500, although why they occupied the same space wasn't clear. They didn't seem to be particularly friendly towards each other.
Back on the Mayan peninsula, not much notable had happened for a while aside from the usual road-building and occasional mining. However, they did still want to expand, and after getting a bunch of Settlers and a Spearmen escort ready, they were finally able to build the third Mayan city, Palenque, in the area around the River on the peninsula's edge in 500. This had the additional effect of bringing the Quetzal Birds in the area into Mayan territory, which probably counted for something.
The Western barbarians attacked the Warriors in 505 and again fell to the superior Mayan axes, again demonstrating how much better than barbarians the Mayans were at combat and giving them much easier access to the village.
They went in in 510. The villagers, presumably liking that the violent barbarians were dead, gave them money.
Sadly, though, the Mayans couldn't win every battle. In the Southeastern area, the Warriors charged down the mountain to take out the camp there- and the result was the first battle the Mayans had lost against barbarians. A bit of a setback, but they'll get back to exploring that area as soon as they can get more warriors down there.
The Mayan scientists, pushed forward by the massive amounts of money they were getting, eagerly continued their research, and made another breakthrough in 525. Apparently figuring out exactly how best to sacrifice people to the Gods was a great technological breakthrough. They could easily use their Toltec and Olmec slaves for this purpose if they wanted to, but they were more useful doing work. For now, at least. Mwahahahahaha!
The Toltecs built a city in a resourced area to the Northeast of Tula in 535. It seems to be a nice target for the Mayans when they get around to it, although that's probably quite a bit off. It does, however, make it impossible to get to the Southeast without going through Toltec borders, somewhat annoyingly.
Speaking of borders, the Northwestern Warriors found some borders owned by Green People in 540, just to the Northwest of the Olmecs, in an area slightly more hilly and slightly less jungly than what they'd already seen. Just how crowded can this place get?
They introduced themselves in 550. The Green People called themselves the Aztecs and called their leader Montezuma. They were rich and large like the Mayans and not like the Olmecs and Toltecs, but they were far behind the other three countries in technology, perhaps as a consequence of being isolated from them until now while the Olmecs, Toltecs, and Mayans had known each other and traded for a century or more longer.
Perhaps this makes them less of a threat, perhaps more of one. They certainly aren't a big threat to the Mayans right now, seeing as how the Olmecs are between the two.
Smoke-Jaguar does, however, worry a bit about the future. This is a pretty cramped area that the 4 of them share, and it seems like it's only a matter of time before their lack of space causes them to have to fight each other.
Good. More slaves for the sacrifice! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
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