A Tryst with Destiny

"Technically , the Egyptians had been effectively hellenized into Egypto-Greeks along with the Ptolemy Dynasty" ~ That is true for the Real world, but in this story it was the other way around.

Egypt wasn't fully conquered by Alexander and Ptolemy's line was put on the throne of Egypt through usurious ways. The Greeks then made a kind of 'deal' with the Egyptians to continue to rule them, that required a tolerance of Egyptian culture.

Basically the in-game situation was like this, two cities of Egypt were taken out by the Greeks, but the greek stacks did not move out and all the tiles of those cities were Egyptian colored. When the Egyptians vassalized the territorial boundaries became normalized. The moment Greece's empire collapsed, Egypt flipped back those cities. That is why I interpreted it in the way I did.

So basically while we're playing *with* history we are also changing it . Same goes for India for that matter where a Deccan dynasty (Satavahanas) are ruling from Magadh !

Emperor Vedistri was excited. The Royal Cartographer, and the minister for explorations, Amatya Chitragupt had perfected a wonderful new map of the empire. "I must see this. let us see what the master has crafted" he said as he paced the corridors of the palace of Pataliputra. Amatya Chitragupt was seated by his work table, where he went over notes, he stood up and bowed when the emperor entered, "So show me what you have made" .

Vedistri had only heard from his father, of Chitragupt's skills in map making. His drawings were both precise and exquisite. The great queen Naganika had once commissioned a map of the empire showing only the land of Bharata and how much of it the emperor of Magadh controls. She was so impressed by it, that she created the position of Royal Cartographer and thereafter the ministry of explorations. Amatya Chitragupt would later establish the Magadh school of cartography where he would teach a few select skilled youth the art of map making and the science involved in cartography.

"My emperor, after long years of explorations, we have uncovered new lands, new cultures and new trade routes. It has brought us much prosperity." Amatya Chitragupt started, "I have taken your instructions as precisely as I could and finally completed this map of our empire. I would say that till date, of all the maps I have made, this would be my finest work". The amatya unfolded the map before the emperor with the help of his two assistants. It was a large map at least three feet across and five feet in length. The emperor's eyes lit up, "Splendid!" he exclaimed.

The map showed all those regions which were controlled from the Magadhan capital as provinces, those regions which were claimed and yet unsettled, those regions which were claimed but controlled by foreign nations, and the boundaries of the nation of Chin and the large Parthian empire. The emperor had decreed invoking the Great ruler, Chandragupt Maurya, "Our borders will go wherever our culture does" and decreed that the regions of Balochistan and 'Virat Gandhaar' be drawn as contested regions as those fell into the Eastern realms of the Parthians.

"You have outdone yourself Chitragupt." the emperor then took off a brilliant diamond ring from his right index finger, "Take this as gift Amatya!" "Your majesty but I must protest.." "No you deserve this gift Amatya. You have served this realm ably, both as Royal Cartographer and as the minister for explorations. Because of you, our empire is filled with wealth. I commend you". The Amatya felt humbled by the emperor's praises "Your majesty is most generous" for a while, the doubt escaped the mind of the Amatya, the question he had been wanting to ask the emperor, then he remembered "If I may be so bold your majesty, may I say something ?" "What bothers you so?" Amatya Chitragupt said with some degree of nervousness, "You have claimed all the lands which belong to the Parada kingdom, those presently belong with the Parthians. The emperor Phraates will not take that lightly".

The emperor thought for sometime on how to best answer this, then he smiled, "Let us cross that bridge when we come to it". Amatya Chitragupt did not feel very assured by that statement.

Well I would but I'm not in it

Excellent map as usual Spirictum!

Excellent writing as usual Adhiraj!
Sorry if I'm starting to sound repetitive with my comments. I just don't know what to say if the writing is already good enough that there are no mistakes to point out.

If it keeps growing at this rate it will be at 270,000. No offense but I don't think that's happening A more realistic number would be taking the 17000 you are at and multiply that by 4 as if your story lasts a year and we have already gone through 3 months you be around 68,000. A low estimate I would put it at 50,000 (that's if you have a period where you don't update or so) and 80,000 if it grows more. I just remember the boom in America though In like a week it jumped by over 10,000 views and 30 pages I hope India keeps growing I personally couldn't do a story for that long. I like to keep it fresh and keep people interested in new civs.

In like a week it jumped by over 10,000 views and 30 pages

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Guilty as charged.

Yeah I know I think people really hated us for that I remember people saying "I was gone for an hour and there are ten pages for me to read!" I felt bad for the ones gone all day

I think the reason America was so popular was because it was so easy to relate to because, as the poll stated, most people here are American Also the communism seemed so crazy because IRL America was about as communist at any given point as John F. Kennedy There were some socialist movements though. Small ones albeit.

CaterpillarKing said:

In like a day it jumped by over 10,000 views and 30 pages

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Fixed

adhiraj.bose said:

As GRRM would say "the story grows in the writing" . The boom in America though was influenced by the Communism vs Capitalism in the elections in the 1910s. The communists made the America story really popular . There will be a big side story around that when we get the Communist Party of India, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Thing is, this is my first story and I'm excited that it is turning out so well. Beside that, I'd really like to see a good India story on this thread and rank well. I can't find any india stories on this thread beside my own . There was one of the Mughals, but that one is dead now. It had around 26000 views before it went.

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There's my Tamil story in my sig. It's dead for now, but I might update it soon.

In the diary of Captain Murugan :

Day 1 of the sixth expedition :



It is the sixth expedition commissioned by emperor Vedistri. In the first five expeditions, we have uncovered new lands, but no civilization. We have seen the islands east of the Eastern Sea and found them to be rich in tropical fruits and their coastline rich in fishes. The locals were suspicious of us when we first arrived, but later welcomed us and treated our sailors warmly. The isle of Suvarnadweep had iron deposits in the hills as well as wild soil conducive for sugar plantations.

The navites spoke of many more islands farther East and a great continent towards the South. The tales from this Southern land seemed to tell of a bizarre desert land where primitive tribes roam with strange creatures. As fantastic as these tales were, that mysterious continent is none of our concern. Our mission would take us North and East, to where we speculated would find the Chinese coastline and the port cities of the Han empire.

The city of Kanchipuram saw no fanfare when our expedition fleet set sail. An emissary of the Magadhan emperor announced before a modest and unenthusiastic gathering of fifty or so people of the grand expedition. It was all bland formality. Kanchipuram is a city that has known only sorrow for over a century and a half, or so my grandfather told me. I was raised with tales or a time I have never known, of when my people were free from the North, my grandfather had seen the terrible end of those days when the hordes of the Magadhan army laid waste to the kingdom of the Pandyas and Cheras. Chola Nadu was spared only because of Samrat Satakarni's diplomacy and Raja Perun Gilli's surrender, the king who knelt. Seeing the funeral of the last Chola king, Raja Karikaalan, I could see the sun finally set on whatever freedom we had left.

The city had been in mourning for two whole weeks. People came from far and wide to pay their respects to the last of the Cholas, the noble Raja Karikaalan. It was but natural then that no one would come out to bid us on our journey.

Enough provisions had been given to us on board our galleys to survive at least one month of the trip, but beyond that, we had to fend for ourselves. I have been a captain of what is now the navy of Magadh, for five years, and this would be my second exploratory expedition. These ships were made for war, but they have seen no fighting. Instead, we are sent as messengers to far off lands to scout for new land and new trade routes. It is Amatya Chitragupt's ambition to know more of the world. I have now been tasked to fulfill his ambition.

The five expeditions before this have uncovered a large peninsula North of the isle of Suvarnadweep which extends several leagues along the Eastern sea, Southwards from Brahmadesh. Many different exotic but primitive tribes live along this region which is abundant in various agricultural products, however, the primitive peoples of these regions are unable to harvest them. From earlier expeditions, some of our sailors and intrepid adventurers have decided to stay on and live among these people, some had taken it upon themselves to teach them the Vedic faith and the way of the Buddha. Perhaps at some point of time, they too shall become Bharatiya.

Beyond the long peninsula, lay another bay, smaller than the Eastern sea. When turning North from the peninsula, we come at the mouth of a large river which opens into this sea. The lands along this river are not yet known to us, but our view from the coast has revealed this land to be full of thick jungles and hills. There is some potential for agriculture along the rivers in which the primitive men of the region seem to live in rice cultivating villages and fishing villages. Strangely, these people seem to have been familiar with our culture, language and gods. I had been in the last expedition which had uncovered these lands, including a large island South of the bay, I participated in an event that seemed uncannily similar to a puja offering to the Goddess Durga in a fishing village.

The lands further North has yet to be discovered. It has been theorized by Amatya Chitragupt, that the Chinese coast should lay somewhere North East of the landmass of Brahmadesh and East of the land of Tibet. If we kept sailing along with the currents eastwards and northwards, we would eventually arrive at what he claimed was Southern China. I pray to the goddess Tara that he is right.

Day 20 of the expedition :

Twenty days have passed since we set sail for China. In this time, we passed through lands now familiar to us. In the previous five expeditions had made known to us, the myriad isles East of the peninsula, which the locals now call Maleya.

We passed this land two days before us making a brief stop at a fishing village, I had visited in my last expedition. We had set sail with three of our most sturdy galleys, and a crew of three hundred and provisions of food for a month. These continue to sustain us in the journey so far.

While fishing is abundant in these waters especially around the large isle of jungles, we have thus far not needed to resort to fishing on the high seas. We are only moderately armed with steel weapons which should be enough to fight off any hostile natives, but this too seems an unnecessary burden. Thus far, they remain friendly with us.

The weather here is sultry, far more than back home in Chola Nadu. Our men tend to get more agitated by this weather. Earlier today, two of our sailors got into a fist fight over food. It took my intervention and the intervention of ten others to stop it getting out of hand. Such behaviour was uncharacteristic of our sailors. I suspect there is some frustration within them that provokes such actions. Regardless, our journey goes on.

We now sail North along the rounded coast of this new landmass.

There have been some reports of storms in the North, near the coast of China. There is no way to affirm this, and I for one would not take the word of the primitive native in this region without caution. I will say this though, that the winds have been unusually strong and the currents have acted erratically. Perhaps it would be wiser to prepare for the worst ….

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Day 27 of the expedition :

Our journey came to a halt seven days ago, when the seas became rough and the winds became harsh. The reports of the storms were true, and it was decided to wait along the coast before going farther North. The locals here seemed as friendly as in the other isles we travelled to, and helped us find shelter near the coast.

The storms had damaged our ships badly, but the ships of the Chola are made strong, they can weather this and many more storms to come. We would however, need to repair the ships which have been damaged by the storm before we move on. Our remaining food supplies have been lost to the storms though, forcing us to find food from the sea.

The natives of the region, tell other interesting tales. It would seem the land of the Chin, are not far from here and that North of the Mon river, we can find our destination. The descriptions they give of the Chinese seem wondrous and exaggerated. Their cities are grand places where hundreds of thousands dwell. For ages, their people have traded with them for exotic sea food and fresh pig meat which seems to be in abundance along the hilly coastline.

Going over our navigational maps, it dawned on us, that we were now sailing along a continuous coastline. This was not an archipelago like the lands to the South but one landmass as part of the larger landmass of Asia. These lands were part of the same landmass that was theorized to stretch from Brahmadesh eastwards to the coastline of China. Comparing this to the accounts of the natives, it would seem that it was indeed true, that China was afoot.

It is only a matter of a few days now that our ships would be repaired and ready to go. The storms have long since passed and the seas are calm. It was a short spell which the locals say is not unnatural for this region. The southern coast sees many storms. This storm, though, was an aberration and it would not last for very long. The sun had started to shine through the clouds already, perhaps it would greet us with the same glee when we enter China.

Day 29 of the expedition :

It had been two days sail from the village the locals called Hanoi. Our ships were fully repaired by now and our supply of food had been replenished with the rich bounty of the coasts here.

The fishermen told us, that it would be not more than two day's journey from here to the city of Guangzhou. The city they said, was a dozen times larger than their village, and was greater than anything they had ever seen. For these primitive people perhaps that was so, but not for us. In Bharata, there was Pataliputra, Indraprasth, Takshashila... and once there was Kanchipuram, we Bharatiya were no strangers to great cities.

But there was something special about Guangzhou.

We had sailed for two days before we could see the Chinese coastline on the horizon. The sun rose on the Eastern horizon over a crimson sea bringing forth the beautiful city from the shadows of the night. Palatial mansions and beautiful apartments gleamed against the sunlight and from the distance, the first Bharatiya would lay eyes upon the people of a land as ancient and vast as our own.

It was an amazing sight to behold. In the early morning, we could see dozens of fishing boats making their way from the city's great harbor to the nearby clam fishing zone. Here, they would take the morning's first catch.

The sight of our alien galleys must have been strange to them, not to mention the dark skinned visitors from a foreign land. They looked up at us, clad in our light Chola armor, with fear and amazement in their eyes.

We sailed on, till we reached the harbor. There we were greeted by the city's governor, "who comes to our shores?" he questioned, then I took out the imperial charter with the seal of the samrat of Magadh. His next reaction came to us as a pleasant surprise, with arms widened he gave me the warmest embrace, "Welcome to China, dear friend" .

I have ambitions towards the mapmaking of this, but I can't promise anything yet. Let's see what happens.

Great stories, all of them. I need more time in my day, 24h isn't enough!

Ooooh.

By the way have you considered taking any pictures using camera flying?