Absolution 4: Tabula Rasa

Hey,

OOC
I will hold my tongue at you thinking that I would cheat in that way.

The Treaty was signed right after Story Post: Yiu Doo. Imperial Collector of the Graceful Flower Girl.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=11420974&postcount=466


Blaze Injun

Speak to the Emperor if you want the details.

As long as no shady business is going under your end of the table other than those agreements signed long before the start of negotiations of this treaty, we end developing agreements and accept those which are signed before the start of negotiation of this treaty.



This treaty of the Sunrise and the Sunset lands, dividing the world into two to prevent war between Satura and the Empire of the Heavenly Dragon, with Punt and Persia as regions of coexistance without dominance of either party, this pact is hereby signed by Octavian, Prime Citizen of Satura.

Hey.

To: Octavian, the Prime Citizen of Satura
From: Crown Prince Fu Longwei of the Heavenly Dragon Empire

Then Let the World be Divided!


DESt03

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After I fixed your stat error I realized that you should have been charged upkeep and fixed that stat error as well.

@Terrance & Blaze Injun

I am deeply concerned with you moving in over my territory with that world division map...

We are only stating that the Eastern and the Western World shall be divided forevermore between us two imperialists to preserve peace. The Heavenly Dragon needs not to fight with us Saturan Weasels. This is diplomatic and militaristic: I will not send troops over, neither will they. If you cross "the line" then I am of course allowed to establish legal diplomacy with you. Same goes if, say, Cyria developes a russian empire and expands over east of Persia.

Compare: American Eagle v.s. Russian Bear.

So uh, we never really have a strong army or anything so...um...

Bah, better come straight out and say it.

How do you pay upkeep?

Also: Do Freelancer Bonuses stack?

It's already been subtracted. It will be be taken out up front.

So my income is already 24, no fuss and no worry?

Affirmative.

Re: Freelancer Bonuses

They do not stack.

Important Nobles of Satura
Although "Nobility" is gained through deeds and the title lasts forever, power of a title doesn't. Some of these nobles are fresh, and are willing to prove their loyalty further. Others, others want to regain what is rightfully theirs.

Hadrian "The Scholar" Gideon, King of Waset,-Sees to bring Satura back under the rule of Kings, he has gave himself a great following at home due to many factors, including fairnesses, perspective to do everything in Satura's advantage, and being an exemplar of one who actively seeks the truth to Zorro's Riddles.

Trajan Gideon, Prince of Eliat-Son of Hadrian, he has a much different view of the future.

Logar, Lord of Lotalogas-Ruler of the Junglite realm, he is loyal only to Octavian and to the Saturan state. Under his rule, Junglite resistance has been undercut and eventually decayed as the glory that is Satura suffused every inch of this land.

Launar, Archiver of Sereg-Head of Orangesmith's Archives, he, among all the petty seregite and saturan petty nobles in the Sahel, holds the most power. He has a good relationship with Hadrian, and his Archives contain expansive histories and logs from all over Satura, from the farmer hoping to be a novelist, to Inquisitorial records, to bureaucratic business.

Malach "The Mage", King of Nubia, Master of Malachite Marvels-Youngest of them all, Malach is seen by many another exemplar of Zorro in pair with Hadrian, despite being a strict Stoner. He has brought his throne from the House Bumlai in Napata with his massive wealth, and owns such wonders as Aureas' Forges and The Great Lighthouse.

Sheba, Queen of Nubia-A princess who claims lineage to Nubia of old, she has married the fortunes of her family into that of Malach's bloodline, hoping to reestablish Nubia for prosperity.

Dalek Bumlai, Lord of War in Nubia-Son of the Last Warlord, he has no resentment; messing with paper records and such things as engineering is not fit for one of his lineage: he only wants war, and he has been promised so by Octavian if he were to convince his father to sell the throne.

At Aureapolis, the armies of Satura gather.


Link to video.

From the depths of history, we have the Pharon's Spear and Gideon's Sword regiments.

Pharon's Spear Regiment survived battles such as those of the Nule Gullies and Irud, using their retreat skills to tempt the enemy into false hope, before galloping away after a shower of javelins.

Gideon's Sword Regiment dates all the way to the first warriors of Gideon. They trace their lineage to a unit of Rangers at the battle of Nule Gullies. At Irud, all the rangers were slaughtered by spearmen, but the survivors reconstituted the Gideon's Sword Regiment.

From Nubia, the Warlord's Own is a bodyguard unit, terrifying in its attack and defense lead from the front by Dalek himself. Training for decades at a time, no armor is thicker, nor weapons stronger, than those of Warlord's Own.

However there are many more units in the armies of Satura.

Thousands... no, tens of thousands are to be recruited from across the constituting kingdoms of Satura. From the Kingdom of the Nule, to the great Seregite March, to the Junglite Duchy, to those of the Kingdom of Nubia. Even Punt sent a few regiments in support of the Saturan Cause.

There, they gather under the rising Tower of Aureapolis, where the golden council holds its meetings.

I'm amazed. My expeditionary force requires more upkeep than the entire Army of the Heavenly Dragon.

Terrance888 said:

I'm amazed. My expeditionary force requires more upkeep than the entire Army of the Heavenly Dragon.

Click to expand...

?

The Emperor pays twice as much upkeep as you do, and nearly three times. Where did you get those numbers from?

31 Units +3 Forges. Count them and weep.

The Woodcarvers

The Emperor of the Shang dynasty, twenty seventh emperor of his linage, was a highly busy man. As part of his wishes to continue micromanaging just about everything, he was always perched on the edge of exhaustion, yet still worked with his ministers and the others that were around him, making sure that the Great Kingdom ran and went smoothly like it was supposed to do so, and despite all of this, the Emperor could be a happy and a boisterous man despite all of that, even with the troubles and tribulations forced and foisted upon him like he wished and how he wanted it to be, even with the diplomatic games that stretched an entire world around him... and the Emperor knew that he had to work tirelessly to preserve the nation founded by his ancestors, founded with the express purpose for surviving the tests of time.

It was at one point in one day when he was convening with the court of ministers and other folk who were there to bring their complaints and their problems and their issues before the Emperor, that the woodcarver came into the hall and stood in the center of it, legs shoulder width apart, hands behind his back, and looking up into the eyes of the Emperor passively, as if he was waiting for something. This stayed like that for nigh on ten minutes, something that had never happened before in the halls of the palace of the Shang, as the fearful people who stood and waited watched for any sign that something might go on.

A less kind Emperor would have had the man taken out and drawn and quartered for insolence.

But, the woodcarver reached into his robes, and gently pulled out a sizeable wood carving of a figure... a wooden carving of the Emperor, and yet it was so magnificent that it did not appear to at first be made out of wood. Carved and whittled to a high extreme, with minute and tiny details in it (including the pores of the Emperor himself!), the wooden Emperor smiled benignly with his hands spread forth, polished and gleaming as the rays of the sun caressed the little effigy, smooth and sanded down to be as glossy as newly forged iron.

The Emperor leaned forward to get a closer look, then deigned to step off of the throne and draw forth. Gently, the woodcarver gave the Emperor the carving, small and yet large at the same time. The Emperor raised his eyebrows as he moved his gaze across the figure, admiring it at every turn.

Carefully, he set it down onto the ground, where it was whisked up by a servant. After that, he turned to the woodcarver and smiled. "What sort of trade will we be doing?"

The woodcarver smiled, and began to speak.

The Iberion Efforts

(Militaristic Story: Cyria)

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The ships arrived in port at long last, along the great Sea, the rumors of Iberion support finally materialized and began marching at once for Syrius.

They found themselves far from the front, back where support was raised for the war and recruits were brought in to replace fallen soldiers and the Iberions complained often as they marched that there was no real action. The Iberion Archers were inexpensive and effective, they thought themselves quite glorious, and the absence of even any far off targets upset them.

So they taught their craft to the people that they met in Cyria, the concepts of leverage and tension and propulsion, each of which had been hard won to the Iberions through trial and error. They offered bits of knowledge from one person to the next and by the time they reached Syrius the word of their teachings had preceded them. A group of enterprising young cowards (for these men were not afield in the time of war) had even constructed a model catapult which they paraded around the walls and showed to the visitors.

The Iberions smiled, "It is a workable model," one of them said, "But not good enough for combat. And your pieces were all hand-made by different contractors I assume, they don't look standardized."

"Is that important?"

"That is very important! Do you not have a standard forge for production? You must build forges and smith your own metal for the bindings if you want to build a proper catapult!"

The men of Syrius nodded, and looked down a little shamefully. But the Iberions offered them a bow, saying, "Perhaps something like this would be more to your taste?"

And so the Cyrians who hid behind the lines came to appreciate the use of the bow, and to practice with it.

And as the Iberions marched South to join the fray they hoped that the Cyrian Archers and Catapults would soon follow.

"Phase two," one Iberion smiled to a Cyrian, "You have done well, you and Kurdia to get this far. The advance armies are in place, the line holds for now, and the bear has been baited. But now for phase two. It will be glorious."

And the Archers laughed as they marched to battle against the weak and decadent Zorrkanists.

King Hadrian

He stood, looking out at the people of Waset. In the back of his head, he thought hard about the message Octavian sent him, the request for troops... thousands, no, tens of thousands of them are called to battle.

In his hand, he held another message, this one sent from Cyria.

Kurds sup on battle while Saturans eat decadent meals that expand their circumference and burden their lazy horses.

Click to expand...

He coughed, and looked one last time over the crowd. The people below were well fed, happy for the most part. Dressed in clean clothes with even the begger already accounted for a new job at the forge. To gather an army from a happy population.

Ah. He knew exactly what he must do.

"My Fellow Saturans, once again, the Solarians face war from the Stoners"

A chorus rose, composed of both boos and shouts rose from the crowd. Perhaps they are thinking about the loss of trade?

"Yes, the Stoners march upon the lands of Solaria, the Land of the Sun, seeking to extinguish the light of Freedom there forever."

The crowd continued to mill, but Hadrian gagued the atmosphere, tasting the subtle changes as the silenced held, then begun again.

"And they laugh at the thought of us helping them. They laugh, for so they thought, we care nothing more than to "expand our circumferences" and "burden our lazy horses"!"

The crowd roared again, but this time not of annoyance, but of anger.

"Saturans! Show them your might!" cried the King.

And each and every Saturan man tore off their sleeves, to reveal arms strong, mighty in the purifying art of the whip, an art so close to that of the sword.

"Saturans! Show them your strength!" cried the King.

And each and every Saturan ripped off their clothes, revealing toned bodies covered with tatooes, each of whom carefully carved inch by inch by knives and scourges, painful as any, and even more so.

"Saturans! Show them your scars!" cried the King.

And each and every Saturan turned to reveal their scarred back, toughened and smooth after decades of whipping, of labor, of exercise.

"Saturans! Show them your swords!" cried the King.

And with a final roar, they pulled out their swords. For the Sword is the weapon of Zorro, with which he used to cut the Baejon Knot, with which he has fought Zulep, and with which he has achieved ascendency.

"Saturans! Tell Cyria your answer!" finished the king, raising his own blade into the sky.

"THE SUN WILL BURN THEM FROM HISTORY ITSELF!" they swore. In their frenzy, they begun milling towards the docks.

Hadrian turned to a Junglite helper he had on hand to serve as Malach is away, "How much can this arena hold" he asked.

"Five hundred, sir" replied the servant.

"Good, I am just getting into my stride. Tell Octavian that he might have additional reinforcements."

Never insult a follower of Zorro, for he has practiced in all arts. For he has practiced with the sword and the spear and the shield and the horse along with the carving and the reading and the writing and the crafts and the merchant.

For Zorro is the Exemplar of Humanity, he who is rich without being decadent, he who is strong without being grotesque, he who is handsome without being blinding, he who is smart without being obscure.

For Zorro is the Exemplar of Satura, and all who follow him know this.

If you can't see perfection, you are a spawn of Aset and nothing can be done.

If you wish to destroy perfection, perfection will destroy you first.

And hold a party over your remains.