adhiraj.bose
Deity
The night sky was clear, the stars shone brightly, a lone figure stood in wait on the banks of the Oxus dressed in a cowl. His face was concealed by a covered hood and his arms were folded. From a distance came the sounds of hoofbeats. 'They are here..' the lone man thought to himself, as the sounds grew louder the faint silhouette of three riders showed up in the darkness of the night.
At this time of the year, the river notorious for its wildness was yet calm. Over a shallow patch, the horses could cross over. The cowled man stood on the North bank while the riders came from the South. The riders rode cautiously over the waters of the river till they came to the cowled man. They each dressed alike, wearing the same cowled robe as the man standing on the riverbank. The lead rider came forth to greet the man on the riverbank, he was a tall man whose stature was made all the taller on horseback.
"Sarve Nara Mriyantām" the rider greeted with his right hand raised, "Sarve Nara Mriyantām" the cowled man replied. The cowled man removed his hood revealing a short bald hindu brahmin with the ritual marks on his forehead and a pony tail from the back of his head, his fair skin suggested Kamboja ethnicity. The rider did likewise and removed his cowl, revealing himself to be a dark skinned man wearing a white turban in the style of the Dravidans of the South. He continued, "It has been very long since our last meeting Acharya Siddheshwar"
"Indeed arya Sigham, almost too long."
The other riders also revealed themselves after exchanging the customary greeting, "Sarve nara Mriyantām". One of the two riders spoke in a most feeble tone and stood out as the most elderly of the band, his wrinkled forehead and thin limbs betrayed his age, but it was the gaze of his eyes that gave away his identity. Beneath the frail loose skin, this elderly man was none other than the infamous renegade Amatya Kartikeya. "Sarve nara mriyantām." he greeted with folded hands.
"Acharya Siddheshwar, it is indeed good to finally meet with you here. Shall we proceed to the place of gathering ?"
"My brethren," Acharya Siddeshwar said, addressing the riders, "Follow me."
five years had passed since last when the elders of the minions of death had met, today this mysterious cult of death would meet again, to hatch their next grand scheme. There were twenty seven elders in the council of the minions of death, of these the three who joined were among the most recent entrants. The former mahamatya of Magadh Ponnumalai Kartikeya, the captain of the garrison of Takshashila, Surya Singham, and the richest Greek merchant in Syria Theodoros.
Over the two centuries that spanned their existence minions had spread themselves throughout the known world from the far East of Goguryeo to the far west of Gaul. There was no high office in all the seven great kingdoms of the world where the minions did not have one of their own in place.
Acharya Siddheshwar led on the three other minions to the site of the council's meeting. A ruined temple built from a cave on a hillock that faced the curve of the Oxus river. The minions had no permanent headquarters, every five years the council of elders would chose a place of meeting and there every leading figure of the minions would congregate to hatch a new grand scheme to plunge humanity into the abyss of doom. This meeting would be conducted in this forgotten temple on the banks of the Oxus. The ancient temple spoke of an ancient lost civilization, one which was neither vedic, nor hellenic, nor Chinese nor Tocharian, but a combination of all of them.
The inner sanctum of the temple was a round hall lit with a central fire upon a pedestal where an idol must have once stood. Around it seventeen men were seated around it wearing the same dark robes that Acharya Siddheshwar and the other elders had worn. "Sarve nara mriyantām" the elders greeted one another. Kartikeya noticed that there were only seventeen elders, together with him and the other three, there would be twenty one. "Where are the other elders?" Kartikeya asked.
Acharya Siddeshwar answered, "They are on their way. The elders from the Dravida lands and Persia are taking longer to arrive. Someone destroyed the road links between the Oxus and the empire of Magadh." He gave a knowing look with an unassuming smile. Kartikeya did not know whether to consider it a complement or an insult. He knew of the matter at hand before the council of elders, it would be his failure in his mission to demolish the vedic civilization and destroy the empire of Magadh.
One by one the elders from the Persian lands and the Dravida lands came to the temple. Acharya Siddheshwar rose to address this council. All the elders recited the gayatri mantra in unison before the Acharya's address would begin.
"Brethren!" he began, "After five years, we of the council of elders meet for the thirtieth time. Much and more of the world has changed in this time, with our intervention the empire of Rome has arisen a great devouring monster. The civilization of the Greeks have fallen, and that of the Phoenicians are perched on the edge of collapse. Hordes of murderous barbarians ride out from the plains of the North reaving the lands of the East. All of this was made possible by the discovery of only one of nine books of knowledge of the Nine unknown.
Every step of war and destruction brings our brotherhood closer to the final goal, when all of humanity shall embrace the eternal peace of death. Whilst we have succeeded by and large in our endeavors, there have been failures. The defenders of the nine unknown, have worked to foil our schemes over Persia and even now, we see failure in the empire of Magadh." Siddheshwar turned to Kartikeya, "Brother Kartikeya, who had risen to the rank of Mahamatya, who virtually ruled all of Bharatvarsh, failed before the armies of Lanka and Kanchipuram. Today he sits among us, an exile." Kartikeya frowned at those remarks, he felt he was being unfairly targeted. "But the burden of this failure cannot be cast upon one man, for it is the brotherhood that has incurred this failure. We learn from our mistakes."
Kartikeya was inching for an opportunity to explain his work and explain how it was he that has opened the road for the Kushans to conquer Bharatvarsh, but refrained. 'Let my turn come' he thought to himself. Siddheshwar continued, "Brethren, the affairs of the east have taken a turn for the worst for us, but in the west we remain strong. The bulk of the fertile crescent remains at war, and even now the Syrian army faces the walls of Jerusalem, soon the last free nation of the Western realms will fall to Phoenician spears. Brother Theodoros will tell us now of the plans he has etched out for that cursed region."
Theodoros rose to speak, "Brothers! We have brought the fall of Greece, we brought about the enslavement of Phoenicia, we brought about the enslavement of Egypt. Rome has expanded to become the greatest of imperial powers the world had ever seen. Its power has been stretched to its farthest limits. It was we who had once saved the great Caesar, now his son's son presides over the throne of Rome. Today, glorious Rome stands besieged from quarelling factions within and insurrectionary movements without. Phoenicia and Egypt are lying in wait for when to retrieve the independence taken from them. As it has been written in the book of the rise and fall of empires, the empire of Rome stares at the mid-day sun of its power, from here on, its sun can only set and it begins its descent in Phoenicia !"
The elders listened with rapt attention at the speech of Theodoros the merchant. The prospect of a Roman collapse intrigued all the elders, Kartikeya however sat frowning and felt under appreciated. Theodoros continued, "Through my wealth and influence I have guarded and funded the insurgents who base themselves around the Phoenician capital. The army is on the verge of mutiny, and soon, after the fall of Jerusalem, we shall strike! The mutineering army and navy shall break away from Rome and declare war. Soon after Phoenicia breaks, Egypt shall move. Rome shall once again be surrounded by enemies."
The elders were satisfied at this plan, all but Kartikeya. "Brother Siddheshwar ! I wish to be heard." he called out, "Speak brethren" Siddheshwar said, "I find it difficult to believe that our brotherhood would so easily give up on the affairs of the east. It was with my efforts that the gates of Bharata have been opened to invasion, it is with my efforts, and ye all know this to be true, that the Kushanas were bestirred into action. It is with my efforts that Persia has once again been opened for conquest and collapse. With my intrigues did the Parthian dynasty fall and it was with my efforts, that the empire of Magadh is perched on the edge of bankruptcy and finds itself surrounded by a nest of snakes to its west."
Kartikeya turned to Theodoros and then to Siddheshwar, "brethren, I ask you only this, do not turn away from the affairs of the East. Give to me one more chance to fulfill my mission. There is more than just the collapse of nations that we can achieve with the knowledge of the nine unknown. The secret of the location of the eight other books is still unknown to us. The key to finding that secret lay in the plains of the Ganga and Sindhu. In the hills of Dakshinapatha and the mountains of the himalayas. Allow one chance to rectify my errors."
None of the elders uttered a word, Theodoros gave Kartikeya no expression, but merely looked on the exiled minister as he spoke. Kartikeya's words had left an impression upon the other elders no doubt. After a long moment of silence, it was the elder of Chin, Xuang Zang who stood up to speak. "I do not disagree with brother Kartikeya, but I have but one question to ask, do you know where the eight forbidden books of wisdom are hidden ?" Kartikeya was momentarily surprised by the question, he had no answer to it.
"Brother Zang, .. it is not simply about the books .."
"Then why should we the council of elders agree to your plan where success is uncertain and failure has already become a certainty ? Instead of agreeing to brother Theodoros who is showing himself to have a better grasp of the rise and fall of empires?"
Kartikey felt the words an insult to him, it stung his ego deeply. Without uttering another word, he sat down. Xuang Zang continued, "It is not that we disagree with the need to find every book of knowledge, but we are no closer to finding these hidden books than we were nearly a hundred years ago. It was brother Kartikeya who had produced the most recent of leads, but that too has been lost by his own hand. The truth, is that despite our endeavors, the East remains strong and stable. Chin is ruled by an enlightened emperor of the Han Dynasty, while Shen du is ruled by a hitherto undefeated empire. The Guixang have proven themselves not strong enough to overcome both the might of the Chin and Magad. We must wait till the sun of power reaches mid day for us to strike. I propose that we put brother Theodoros' motion to vote and decide on a line of action for the next five years."
And so one by one the elders vote, twenty six acceded to Theodoros' plan while one dissented. And that was the last that any would hear of kartikeya.... or so it was thought.
*( Note - While the minions have accepted destabilizing the Roman empire, this may be changed. CatterpillarKing will control the decisions of the minions of death, and roleplay as this force. Every 20 turns I will check for stability and the most unstable countries who are unstable or shaky will be targeted by him for collapsion. )
At this time of the year, the river notorious for its wildness was yet calm. Over a shallow patch, the horses could cross over. The cowled man stood on the North bank while the riders came from the South. The riders rode cautiously over the waters of the river till they came to the cowled man. They each dressed alike, wearing the same cowled robe as the man standing on the riverbank. The lead rider came forth to greet the man on the riverbank, he was a tall man whose stature was made all the taller on horseback.
"Sarve Nara Mriyantām" the rider greeted with his right hand raised, "Sarve Nara Mriyantām" the cowled man replied. The cowled man removed his hood revealing a short bald hindu brahmin with the ritual marks on his forehead and a pony tail from the back of his head, his fair skin suggested Kamboja ethnicity. The rider did likewise and removed his cowl, revealing himself to be a dark skinned man wearing a white turban in the style of the Dravidans of the South. He continued, "It has been very long since our last meeting Acharya Siddheshwar"
"Indeed arya Sigham, almost too long."
The other riders also revealed themselves after exchanging the customary greeting, "Sarve nara Mriyantām". One of the two riders spoke in a most feeble tone and stood out as the most elderly of the band, his wrinkled forehead and thin limbs betrayed his age, but it was the gaze of his eyes that gave away his identity. Beneath the frail loose skin, this elderly man was none other than the infamous renegade Amatya Kartikeya. "Sarve nara mriyantām." he greeted with folded hands.
"Acharya Siddheshwar, it is indeed good to finally meet with you here. Shall we proceed to the place of gathering ?"
"My brethren," Acharya Siddeshwar said, addressing the riders, "Follow me."
five years had passed since last when the elders of the minions of death had met, today this mysterious cult of death would meet again, to hatch their next grand scheme. There were twenty seven elders in the council of the minions of death, of these the three who joined were among the most recent entrants. The former mahamatya of Magadh Ponnumalai Kartikeya, the captain of the garrison of Takshashila, Surya Singham, and the richest Greek merchant in Syria Theodoros.
Over the two centuries that spanned their existence minions had spread themselves throughout the known world from the far East of Goguryeo to the far west of Gaul. There was no high office in all the seven great kingdoms of the world where the minions did not have one of their own in place.
Acharya Siddheshwar led on the three other minions to the site of the council's meeting. A ruined temple built from a cave on a hillock that faced the curve of the Oxus river. The minions had no permanent headquarters, every five years the council of elders would chose a place of meeting and there every leading figure of the minions would congregate to hatch a new grand scheme to plunge humanity into the abyss of doom. This meeting would be conducted in this forgotten temple on the banks of the Oxus. The ancient temple spoke of an ancient lost civilization, one which was neither vedic, nor hellenic, nor Chinese nor Tocharian, but a combination of all of them.
The inner sanctum of the temple was a round hall lit with a central fire upon a pedestal where an idol must have once stood. Around it seventeen men were seated around it wearing the same dark robes that Acharya Siddheshwar and the other elders had worn. "Sarve nara mriyantām" the elders greeted one another. Kartikeya noticed that there were only seventeen elders, together with him and the other three, there would be twenty one. "Where are the other elders?" Kartikeya asked.
Acharya Siddeshwar answered, "They are on their way. The elders from the Dravida lands and Persia are taking longer to arrive. Someone destroyed the road links between the Oxus and the empire of Magadh." He gave a knowing look with an unassuming smile. Kartikeya did not know whether to consider it a complement or an insult. He knew of the matter at hand before the council of elders, it would be his failure in his mission to demolish the vedic civilization and destroy the empire of Magadh.
One by one the elders from the Persian lands and the Dravida lands came to the temple. Acharya Siddheshwar rose to address this council. All the elders recited the gayatri mantra in unison before the Acharya's address would begin.
"Brethren!" he began, "After five years, we of the council of elders meet for the thirtieth time. Much and more of the world has changed in this time, with our intervention the empire of Rome has arisen a great devouring monster. The civilization of the Greeks have fallen, and that of the Phoenicians are perched on the edge of collapse. Hordes of murderous barbarians ride out from the plains of the North reaving the lands of the East. All of this was made possible by the discovery of only one of nine books of knowledge of the Nine unknown.
Every step of war and destruction brings our brotherhood closer to the final goal, when all of humanity shall embrace the eternal peace of death. Whilst we have succeeded by and large in our endeavors, there have been failures. The defenders of the nine unknown, have worked to foil our schemes over Persia and even now, we see failure in the empire of Magadh." Siddheshwar turned to Kartikeya, "Brother Kartikeya, who had risen to the rank of Mahamatya, who virtually ruled all of Bharatvarsh, failed before the armies of Lanka and Kanchipuram. Today he sits among us, an exile." Kartikeya frowned at those remarks, he felt he was being unfairly targeted. "But the burden of this failure cannot be cast upon one man, for it is the brotherhood that has incurred this failure. We learn from our mistakes."
Kartikeya was inching for an opportunity to explain his work and explain how it was he that has opened the road for the Kushans to conquer Bharatvarsh, but refrained. 'Let my turn come' he thought to himself. Siddheshwar continued, "Brethren, the affairs of the east have taken a turn for the worst for us, but in the west we remain strong. The bulk of the fertile crescent remains at war, and even now the Syrian army faces the walls of Jerusalem, soon the last free nation of the Western realms will fall to Phoenician spears. Brother Theodoros will tell us now of the plans he has etched out for that cursed region."
Theodoros rose to speak, "Brothers! We have brought the fall of Greece, we brought about the enslavement of Phoenicia, we brought about the enslavement of Egypt. Rome has expanded to become the greatest of imperial powers the world had ever seen. Its power has been stretched to its farthest limits. It was we who had once saved the great Caesar, now his son's son presides over the throne of Rome. Today, glorious Rome stands besieged from quarelling factions within and insurrectionary movements without. Phoenicia and Egypt are lying in wait for when to retrieve the independence taken from them. As it has been written in the book of the rise and fall of empires, the empire of Rome stares at the mid-day sun of its power, from here on, its sun can only set and it begins its descent in Phoenicia !"
The elders listened with rapt attention at the speech of Theodoros the merchant. The prospect of a Roman collapse intrigued all the elders, Kartikeya however sat frowning and felt under appreciated. Theodoros continued, "Through my wealth and influence I have guarded and funded the insurgents who base themselves around the Phoenician capital. The army is on the verge of mutiny, and soon, after the fall of Jerusalem, we shall strike! The mutineering army and navy shall break away from Rome and declare war. Soon after Phoenicia breaks, Egypt shall move. Rome shall once again be surrounded by enemies."
The elders were satisfied at this plan, all but Kartikeya. "Brother Siddheshwar ! I wish to be heard." he called out, "Speak brethren" Siddheshwar said, "I find it difficult to believe that our brotherhood would so easily give up on the affairs of the east. It was with my efforts that the gates of Bharata have been opened to invasion, it is with my efforts, and ye all know this to be true, that the Kushanas were bestirred into action. It is with my efforts that Persia has once again been opened for conquest and collapse. With my intrigues did the Parthian dynasty fall and it was with my efforts, that the empire of Magadh is perched on the edge of bankruptcy and finds itself surrounded by a nest of snakes to its west."
Kartikeya turned to Theodoros and then to Siddheshwar, "brethren, I ask you only this, do not turn away from the affairs of the East. Give to me one more chance to fulfill my mission. There is more than just the collapse of nations that we can achieve with the knowledge of the nine unknown. The secret of the location of the eight other books is still unknown to us. The key to finding that secret lay in the plains of the Ganga and Sindhu. In the hills of Dakshinapatha and the mountains of the himalayas. Allow one chance to rectify my errors."
None of the elders uttered a word, Theodoros gave Kartikeya no expression, but merely looked on the exiled minister as he spoke. Kartikeya's words had left an impression upon the other elders no doubt. After a long moment of silence, it was the elder of Chin, Xuang Zang who stood up to speak. "I do not disagree with brother Kartikeya, but I have but one question to ask, do you know where the eight forbidden books of wisdom are hidden ?" Kartikeya was momentarily surprised by the question, he had no answer to it.
"Brother Zang, .. it is not simply about the books .."
"Then why should we the council of elders agree to your plan where success is uncertain and failure has already become a certainty ? Instead of agreeing to brother Theodoros who is showing himself to have a better grasp of the rise and fall of empires?"
Kartikey felt the words an insult to him, it stung his ego deeply. Without uttering another word, he sat down. Xuang Zang continued, "It is not that we disagree with the need to find every book of knowledge, but we are no closer to finding these hidden books than we were nearly a hundred years ago. It was brother Kartikeya who had produced the most recent of leads, but that too has been lost by his own hand. The truth, is that despite our endeavors, the East remains strong and stable. Chin is ruled by an enlightened emperor of the Han Dynasty, while Shen du is ruled by a hitherto undefeated empire. The Guixang have proven themselves not strong enough to overcome both the might of the Chin and Magad. We must wait till the sun of power reaches mid day for us to strike. I propose that we put brother Theodoros' motion to vote and decide on a line of action for the next five years."
And so one by one the elders vote, twenty six acceded to Theodoros' plan while one dissented. And that was the last that any would hear of kartikeya.... or so it was thought.
*( Note - While the minions have accepted destabilizing the Roman empire, this may be changed. CatterpillarKing will control the decisions of the minions of death, and roleplay as this force. Every 20 turns I will check for stability and the most unstable countries who are unstable or shaky will be targeted by him for collapsion. )
. The question though, is who would be the 
. 
