Absolution 4: Tabula Rasa

Hey,

What no military stats?


Blaze Injun

Major Armed Conflicts

I think that the statistics cover the rest.

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Rough Comparative Analysis of Armies

Hey,

To: Consul Scooby of Kush
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

I would offer you a peaceful trade. For your Herbal Extracts & 2 EP I offer you Acupuncture and Baskets.

To: Chief Yahh of Korea
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

I offer to send my personal Dragon Healers to teach your peoples the Dragon's Wisdom of Acupuncture for 2 EP.

To: High Priest Koreandre of Persia
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

I offer you Dragons Wisdom of Acupuncture for 2 EP.

To: Huzau of Far Cyria
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

The world is truely a travelers dream. I would offer you the Dragon's Wisdom of Acupuncture for 2 EP. I would also like to have the company of Cyrian Diplomats
at my court in Junjan.


EDIT: That is funny.
AT01

To: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire
From: Cyria

Our diplomats will follow the trade routes to your lands. Your medical wisdom would be well worth 2EP.

To: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire
From: Persia

We find your offer agreeable. But we wonder if you would be willing, as an ally, to send either peacemakers or warriors to help relieve the tensions in our lands. We see the wisdom with which you manage the faiths of your land and we wish you to either help us learn these skills or help us defeat the insurgents who defile our temples.

To: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire
From: Korea

I find this agreeable.

To: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire
From: Kush

Yes, this could be workable, the trade agreement will be started without hesitation. But I do wonder whether you would be willing to throw in Subterfuge?

Hey,

To: To: Consul Scooby of Kush
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

Subterfuge? Perhaps if you paid for and built a wall for the City of Paranaa. I would give you the Dragon's most secret Wisdom.



Kt02

Hey,

To: High Priest Koreandre of Persia
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

To equip a such a force I would ask for 2 EP. These troops will have the best equipment of the Dragon Empire. I caution his High Priest that the Khanate will not like such a move.


DEPm01

1. Ale takes more skill to make and enjoy. For beer you toss wheat into a pot (made by us), add water, and hope it doesn't get moldy. Ale, you need to heat the gruel in the sun, inside a brass container of perfect 80/10/10 Golden Brass, for exactly 3.14 days. At the same time you have to heat the amount of Hops at a 89.32/1 Molar ratio for 42 seconds, extactly, each hops. Then you need to pop them within .01+/-.0001 seconds of each other, before mixing it into the ale with exactly 13 stirs.
2. I can stab your face off with this diamond
3. I saw in the distance in the Oracle. Pottery is invented in the far east, liar.
4. Literate in Saturan-Influenced script! Mwaha! (see the turn you got the random +1writing)
5. Cuz you use our awesome pot-influenced sewer system.
6. Waset has more awesome wonders
7. Long enough to die in agony of athritis and muscle atrophy. Our expectancy is low only because we practice the Death Penalty for Religious Insurrection
8. Yeah. So cool its basically stone cold dead of feeling.
9. But only Zorrkanism has nations who love it.
10. Yeah, we're so awesome that golden jewlery and incrusted stonecrafts which takes months to make are simply scattered all over the place as if no one wants them. We all know the real deal takes at least two lifetimes to perfect. Nontheless, you can find them randomly all over the place because the stuff that's worth fifty kegs of beer in Zull are worthless in Satura
11. JINX! Designed Wonders, baby!
12. Says' who?
13. Apparently Napata isn't in Satura. Also; merchants in the countryside.
14. You just dissed your fellow Stone-Cold Dead country!
15. See 12. We actually have the longer list.

WE agree with your score.
Zulappi has -1 points
Satura has -0 points.
Satura wins by 1 point.

To: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire
From: Consul Scooby of Kush

I see that I've asked the moon, I am afraid I am not in a position to construct such a wall for you and I apologize for my boldness. The trade arrangement will suffice.

To:Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire
From: High Priest Koreandre of Persia

The Khanate wants to occupy us with their own soldiers, and they are a bunch of heretics to boot, their version of Zorrkanism strays far afield from our mainstream beliefs. The Khan would send foreign soldiers to slaughter Persians of the wrong faith but this is not an act worthy of Zorro.

If I am to pay you another 2 EP for your assistance in this matter I will require certain assurances.

1. During these unstable times in Persia the High Priest has invited a small group of diplomats and soldiers from the lands of the Heavenly Dragon to secure the safety of the Persian people.

2. These soldiers may profess any faith, but if they are found to be assisting Eastern Zorroists in acts of terror against the Zorrkanist faith or the Persian State they will be banished from these lands.

3. Any soldiers from Soo who wish to bring a relic of Xerxes and prepare a proper East Zorroist temple in Parsgasae will be encouraged to do so as long as the Temple becomes a moderating force to the Eastern Zorroists of our lands.

4. The Soldiers may not cause undue harm to the property of Persia or her citizens, under threat of banishment though they shall return to the Emperor unharmed.


-
ooc:

Apparently Napata isn't in Satura

Click to expand...

Those vassal states hold a pretty funny place in the statistics right now since they are still listed as NPCs, just as "The Vassal of" instead of a "NPC."

But I would encourage you to think of Napata and the rest of the Sudan as "part of Satura" just "A distinct part of Satura"

Same goes for Paranaa and the Dragon.

Hey,

To: Consul Scooby of Kush
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

Please honorable Consul Scooby it is not the moon you asked for. It is the shadows from it's light. There is no need to apologize. Perhaps in the near future we can come to a agreement on the shadowy arts.

To: High Priest Koreandre of Persia
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

You ask for help then want to put restaints on my abilities to help you. Priest you are a strange man. First. I care not for religious matters as long as it does not attract my atention. I look for the Wisdom of the Heavenly Dragon. For the Dragon's Puzzle is above all the most important knowledge.

As to the East Zorroist Priests of Soo. The High Priest is Persian in my eyes as is his family. Xerxes was sent of the Heavenly Kingdom as a Persian Diplomate. It will be his to decide on building a temple in Parsgasae. I will see that no soldiers are sent from Soo.

The soldiers that will be sent to Persia will be from the south of the Dragon's Empire who care not for religious ways. Far General Nianzu will command them & he will not be under Perian command. The Far General will be ordered to keep the peace & defend Persia and its peolpe against the Khanate.


EDIT: OOC
I still see Paranaa as a NPC since you will be spending the EPs.
PKd22

To: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire
From: High Priest Koreandre of Persia

I do not seek to dictate the terms of the arrangement, I simply seek assurances that your soldiers will not work to make things worse. I seem to have a choice between an occupation by your soldiers or an occupation by the Khan's men. The Khan's men would make matters worse. I am willing to pay you 2 EP for the courtesy of your assistance but if I am going to pay from my coffers for a foreign occupation I wanted to be assured that these soldiers will be friends of Persia. But your understanding of the operation seems satisfactory and I do believe that your soldiers will be helpful.

I often wish I could summon Xerxes himself to reprimand his followers in Persia for the things they have done. But sadly he is long dead. He was sent to you a Zorroist and he learned the ways of your Dragon Puzzle so that he could fuse them with our faith, as he had disagreements with the theologians of his day. I do not blame you for this faith of his, but I notice that Eastern Zorroists in your lands, some of whom I have heard to be in your armies, do not practice sedition and revolt. It was simply my hope that by bringing relics of Xerxes and his time in Soo that men of your lands might be able to reach out to the insurgents and teach them a more moderate path than they currently travel. I would like them to survive, but I cannot abide further desecration of Zorrkanist temples.

-

Glossary of Persian Religion

Zorroism: Original Faith of Persia, now split into two branches.
-Zorrkanism: Official heir to Zorroism, Theistic and Western. Saturan deities included for no extra cost.
-Eastern Zorroism: Popular in Soo and Shang, this religion does not have Deities of any sort but combines original Zorroist philosophy with secular philosophy from Shang and the Puzzle of the Heavenly Dragon.

Hey,

To: High Priest Koreandre of Persia
From: Emperor Chao Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

If you wish I will sent a unit of these Eastern Zorroism troops.

Pd03

Blaze Injun said:

EDIT: OOC
I still see Paranaa as a NPC since you will be spending the EPs.
PKd22

Click to expand...

Yes, but that's your option, you could spend those EPs if you wanted.

And I find this especially funny since you built a Wonder in Paranaa that you receive the benefit from.

-

Granted the main appeal of spending a Vassal State's EP would be to say "My Vassal gives me all of it's income" and without Paper Ledgers and a Tax Office in the Vassal State you can't do that, but if you had wanted to spend some of Paranaa's income on the United Purpose temple there I would have let you.

Heck, if you wanted to conscript some Paranese Spearmen you could use their income to do that.

I think it would work better if you managed the vassal a little to make sure that when you need something out of it (Build a Wonder for me! or Supply my armies with reinforcements!) you could get it. A wealthy, stable vassal can give you those things in greater quantity and can be more helpful and I'm not going to promise that the "automanage" feature on these NPCs is the best way to get that.

Look at Kitanato, or the Land of the Sun. It turns out I'm not actually very good at playing this game.

Ahhh... those who can't do... moderate.

Hey,

OOC

SKILORD said:

Yes, but that's your option, you could spend those EPs if you wanted.

Granted the main appeal of spending a Vassal State's EP would be to say "My Vassal gives me all of it's income" and without Paper Ledgers and a Tax Office in the Vassal State you can't do that, but if you had wanted to spend some of Paranaa's income on the United Purpose temple there I would have let you.

I think it would work better if you managed the vassal a little to make sure that when you need something out of it (Build a Wonder for me! or Supply my armies with reinforcements!) you could get it. A wealthy, stable vassal can give you those things in greater quantity and can be more helpful and I'm not going to promise that the "automanage" feature on these NPCs is the best way to get that.

Click to expand...

Ok Paranaa Orders will be sent with The Dragon's. It would be easier. But they will be 2 sets of orders.

SKILORD said:

Heck, if you wanted to conscript some Paranese Spearmen you could use their income to do that.

Click to expand...

This is funny. I was doing pre orders when you wrote this and I had already planned to spend Dragon EP on 2 Spearmen for Paranaa.

SKILORD said:

And I find this especially funny since you built a Wonder in Paranaa that you receive the benefit from.

Click to expand...

Well, the Dragon's Empire sent workers to help build the 1st Temple of the Heavenly Dragon there so it seemed natural to build the Temple Wonder there.


Blaze Injun

Paranese units are Paranese units too. You command them, but they count towards Paranaa's upkeep not yours.

Unless you keep Paranaa for eight turns and take it over peacefully.

I'm going to move vassal stats out of NPCs and next to the faction that is managing them.

2 sets of orders isn't necessary, just do what feels right.

Last one, I swear.

Shared Cultural Bonds:


But I only shared that because I thought it was funny that for the first time in the game something crossed between the cradles.

That is the Hanghui. A piece of the Dragon's Puzzle made it all the way to the Nule by way of Persia.

Other than that you might use it if you are trying to figure out "who do I have contact with"

What sort of cultural similarities are there? People who speak a bastardized version of your language or use the same caravans, or who have religious ties of some sort, your messages will probably get through to them.

Hey,

Yunghi, Master of Forges. (scientific)

"Do you know what this is?" Said Yunghi, Master of Forges in Bia Xi excititedly to the Bronze Hanghui messenger. "This is Wisdom of the Dragon!" He continued reading the recipe from the Bronze Hanghui.

"All I know is you are to have the forges made ready." The Bronze Hanghui messenger turned to leave. "The wagons of ore will be here this afternoon."

"What about the unfinished spear run?" Yunghi looked up at the leaving offical. For twenty years he had produced the best bronze weapons. "One hundred bronze spears are to be wasted?"

The messenger turned back to Yunghi. "The new weapons are to be ready by the time Far General Nianzu arrives from Junjan."

"By my ancestors and Heavenly Dragon it will be done." Yunghi smiled.


IW01

HEY YOU GUYS
We have Jewlery and Spices for sale, as well as our newest upcoming products "Inquisitorial Tools" and "koughphee".
EDIT: We also have Gold Available. If no one purchases them, we will export them wholesale into a selected nation, collapsing their economy with the sheer mass of trade goods, driving all the local merchants out of business and filling up the houses with stuff the people can't afford, forcing them into bankrupcy and slavery. So buy our stuff, or suffer.

It will start with a single caravan. IT will unload goods which your people can't afford. Our guard will prevent theft.

Then, five more arrive. The mountain of goods goes higher and higher.

Gold... Iron Maidens... Roasted Koughfee... Jewlery... Sacks of Spices... We will bury you! We will bury you in wealth you cannot afford! We will suck every last coin from your nation, and then take the bodies of your citizens as collaterol for our purposes. We will cause hyperinflation, makeing your local currencies totally worthless. We will demolish economies, buy out all the land within your nation, and relocate all your people into slave camps.

Unless... unless you guys would make fair deals with us and buy our goods. Then, by unlocking the mercantile potential of your people, trade can flow and wealth can be given for both of us.

Why should we crush you when it is more profitable to lease?

Iason is just another herder in the high hills of sudan. The nation has always looked up to Satura, but for him, the main benefit is that he can cross the border to herd his sheep without people looking at him wierd.

Another benefit is that there were several Aset-Cultist thugs who threatened him on the way to his pastures, because of his small disk of Aset he hung about his neck, his last gift from his mother, who died in the Land of the Sun from drinking water dirtied by the Aset-Cultists there. When Sudan was annexed, their famed toleration was enforced with the might of the Orangesmith. Within three days of him reporting the next incident where he lost five sheet, soldiers dragged the bandits away into the ominous "Reeducation Camp". It wasn't merely Aset-Cultists, either. He also saw one of his friends dragged away from raping one of them cultists because "They are more stone than women". Overall, it balances out so that the cronic religious strife mostly is achieved with glares instead of punches.

Feeling tired, he went to eat some Kough Kough berries. These small berries keep him awake while looking after his sheep under the glare of Akten's Disk. It was a good day, and he begun playing a little tune on his whistle; softly, for blowing on it would turn it from an instrument of satisfaction to an instrument of alarm.

A hand tapped his back, he turned around to see a Merchant behind him. A Zorrkanist, it seems, looking at how he winces when he bends back from his prone body. Iason stood up as fast as he could and bowed to the obviously rich merchant.

"Finest sheep in Sudan" he said, keeping his eyes low. If he is lucky, he might get enough gold coins to plate another side of his Father's tombstone, further seeling Aset's tomb from the recent earthquake.

The Merchant however, had no eyes for the sheep, "You have stayed awake for five days watching sheep and playing that tune; how did you do that?"

Iason blinked. Five days?

He koughed, and said, "It will cost you."

"Spoken like a Saturan. Try this on for weight."

So much gold! Enough to finish his father's tomb and start on his own as well! Iason felt the weight of the gold, and opened and basked in the reflected sunlight of Akten's might.

"Deal, follow me to the Phee river, and I will show you the Kough Kough berries."

"So you call it Koughphee, eh?" laughed the man, "Come, show me, and we can be rich beyond all imagination."

Iason decided he liked the man. He thinks like an Aktenist.

To the General of Peace, to the Land of the Sun
From Satura

We're willing to offer this deal.

The Temple of the Stones is rebuilt. Prosecution of all kinds is outlawed in the Land of the Sun. A secular leader will lead, to be chosen by all the religious authorities of the land, in proportion to their adherents. No retroactive punishment, but we will reimburse damages for the unfortunate Aset-Cultists who were chased out and we will crush any future prosecution.

In return, the City of Peace will remain peaceful, and accept any and all Zorrkanists in their lands as we will accept Aset-Cultists. They will accept the reparations and will calm their people.

We will provide the funds necessary for both these actions. Com'n, how much could have been destroyed... 3,4 EP from a nation with less than even that? Small fry for us.

Looks like I need to get updating on that Story list.

EDIT: Done. But it made me wonder how great the story list here would work as a Table. Still, it's already kind of formatted like that and in my experience you can't just slap table tags on something that's formatted like a table and hope for it to work out (and because of that UUs was enough of a pain to make me a little cautious about trying to convert something as big as the story list).

But I bet it would look great.

-

To: Satura
From: Land of the Sun

We agree.

To: Satura
From: Cyria

Make me.

To: Satura
From: Punt

We are willing to trade our Wine for your Koughfee.