stEspNES - Conflict of Interest

Just a quick note, you've probably all noticed but I have now made it so that cities have their size shown by their dot:

Small Square - Small Town
Small Square White Outline - Large Town
Circle - City
Circle with White Outline - Large City
Large Square - Very Big City

etc. I think you get the picture, its just I only just started this so thought I should say


Edit: My 281st post is also post 281 in this thread, coincidence?.....probably, free coke and chocolate cake for everyone!

New Nation, New Threats

A fleet of Lakeadek Galleys slowly sailed to the port of Dao'Xi. Who where these foriegners? What did they want? Slowly these galleys moved near port, with a man who looked to be their admiral, shouting things in a odd language.

The Xia officer, prefect of the Capitol, deemed them a threat, and ordered his Crossbowmen and Pikemen into position. Whoever these people were, it seemed like they were intent on taking over the Throne of Heaven itself!

Through the fog of early dawn, the soldiers crept along the port, the crossbowmen aligned into 4 ranks, once the first 2 ranks had fired off their first bolt, the last 2 ranks moved up to take their place whilst the others reloaded. The Pikemen served as a defensive screen.

"READY THE DRUMS, UNITS INTO POSITION!!" he yelled furiosly.

Then, out of the mist, a slow and steady beat came, steadily faster and faster, louder and louder, its sound echoing through the fog..

The Lakaedek soldiers began to feel worried, no reply came of their proclamation, besides a furious yell in some odd language. Then, out of the mist and along the port came dozens of what looked to be Phalangites, clad in black iron armor.

"FIRE THE CROSSBOWS!" the Prefect Ordered.

Whistling through the air, a huge mass of flaming crossbow bolts headed for the Admiral and his ship and set it alight. Dozens of sailors fell off their vessels and into the sea as second and third volleys came, until almost all the sailors were dead, including the odd admiral, who was one of the first to die. the ships paniced, and immediately sailed away, leaving their comrades in the sea to fend for themselves. Prisoners were immediately taken, and the prefect immediately took them to Daoming himself.

Led up the stairs of the temporary palace, the prisoner was awed at the mystifying culture. Dozens of ministers in black clothing crowded around a sole figure, presumably their ruler.

The Prefect tapped the wooden floor of the court twice, with his spear.
tap tap To His most honorable Majesty, the son of Heaven himself, we request an audience. tap tap

In a booming voice, all the ministers replied as one.
His Majesty is Busy, What does your Audience Concern!?

"Foriegners, off our ports, we humbled their fleet and killed their ruler, We have also brought prisoners."

Daoming ordered all his Ministers aside.
"Bring forth this prisoner." He commanded.

The Prisoner was brought forth before the emperor, and was forced to bow like all the others.
"interesting, does he speak our language? No? verywell."

The Babbling in the odd language went on for some time, these odd people talking amongts themselves, in the mind of the prisoner.

He looked around, odd architecture, everything seems dark.. He noticed that most of these buildings were made out of wood, and not stone. Although surelythey knew about stone working, as they used it in walls and roads. Seemed like they prefer wood to make their city buildings...

After the babbling had gone on for some time, the leader commanded, by signalling what he wanted silently, for the Prisoner to go to their leader, and demand what had caused this unprovoked assualt on our ports..

The Ministers shouted in their single, voice.
Go, You have been cast out of the Court! Be Gone and Do what the Emperor, Son of Heaven, commands of you!

The Prisoner ran, and was allowed a small dhow and a crew of several men. He was given a silk garment to protect him during the voyage, and went out, back to Lakaedekos...


ORDERS:

- Begin linking all cities with paved roads, a strong empire needs to be unified.
- Engineers have developed a marvelous new weapon, A large crossbow, capable of puncturing walls, but instead of being powered by a man, it is pulled back by a large lever, that is pulled back several times to wind up the bolt and fire it.
- Cultivate all new cities extensively, scouting the land for any resources that might be of use, and then if there are none, farm the land for rice, grain, or meat.
- Hold Military parades throughout the empire, celebrating a new era. A new calendar is proclaimed, today being 0 A.X (After Xia).
- Build 50 of these new, giant crossbows.
- Begin sanitation systems in all remaining cities that do not have them.
- Recruit 200 Xia Horsemen, (Horsemen clad in iron scale armor shirts with long lances)
- Recruit 100 Crossbowmen
- Recruit 300 Swordsmen
- Build Xi Academies in several new cities, and teach our equisite calligraphy to be written down on Parchment. Made from wood pulp that is proccessed and turned into good paper for our scholars and ministers.
- Issue proclamations that show the virtue of our great new government.
- Hold Statewide Exams in the coming year.
- Place emphasis on education, primarily the arts, literature, and mathematics.

ORDERS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Additional Orders:

-Expand settlements as shown on map, new black dots = new settlements.
- slowly fizzle out the silk trade with the Rahamadoens. We do not need their bronze much anymore..
- Send 800 Soldiers, 400 Pikemen, 200 Crossbowmen, 200 Xia Horsemen, and 20 giant crossbows to destroy the western barbarians, the ones seperating me from the Rahamadoens.

You killed some of my men? Hey...

Had no idea that language was an element in this game.

hehehe sorry... I just did that to stir up the pot a little bit, but after a few exchanges im pretty sure that we will be a tad familiar with each other's languages..

I'll send an even BIGGER fleet next time. And I'll bring a whole buncha shiny things, cuz I know Xia'll be impressed with shiny things, and I'm bringin' me pumpkins, too.

OOC: But we have shinier things, SILK.. oooo..aaaa. And we have iron aswell, so we wont be impressed by your shiny things.. . But we will glady accept pumpkins.

IC: if you notice, i sent a prisoner back to your nation, to ask why you attacked our ports, we were under the impression that you were trying to conquer us..

You have iron now? Hmm. Crap-ola. Well, we got non-tainted bronze. Oooh!

To Xia
From Lakaedekos

No no no no no! We only wished to ask you if we could set up some trade routes, and if you could allow our ships to repair and resupply in one of your ports! We brought the Phalangites because we didn't know what to expect.

However, we are interested in these strange bow-and-arrow mechanisms you have. What do you call it?

Haha! Thats right! you better stay away from us and our giant, iron shooting crossbows!

Thats why I recruited 2500 men! I had iron to go with them

Edit:

After our scholars had looked into the language, and asked prisoners to help, they have deschipered the letters, and noticed the mistake they had made.

To Laekedekos:

Hail, mysterious foriegners! We are terribly sorry for the attack. We shall allow you passage into our ports, but we cannot allow you the secrets of our weaponry. May your citizens be interested in Silk?

To Xia

Silk? Yes, it would be interesting. And I notice your bronzework is horribly discolored. Perhaps we can export our bronzeware to you?

To Laekedekos:

Well, Bronze has been outclassed as weaponry, but we always have use for it as practical day to day purposes.

Perhaps we can agree to a Silk to Bronze trade?

i was waiting for you to declare war amen

@Esp

Shush!

Rest assured, Insane, it doesn't involve you.

To Xia

Agreed! And I would be most interested in your maps... Got any?*

*-This has a double-meaning.

To Laekedekos:

We have maps, but we are unable to trade them as of now, perhaps later..

OOC: Sorry for the long delay for your maps.. been busy with summer ending and stuff, but I should have it very soon..

@Espirito

I cannot send the rest of my orders until a certain something is sent or posted.

O, and das, none of this involves you either. The last thing I need are rampant Taludrians breathing down my neck!

I thought I replied, didn't I?

No, you said something about a terrain map. I need that for...various reasons...

Filion Ilana - Sons of Ilana

This Tribe is descended from stock similar to that of the Taludrians, Ildarians and Riyanons, i.e. both were hunters on the glaciers and tundras of the North. The Filion Ilana migrated south at a similar time as the Ildarians and Riyanons (who were at that point one tribe - see later), however unlike the Ildarians and Riyanons who split and were prevented expanding, the FIlion Ilana settled on the Warm Grasslands of the Western Coast, these were ideal conditions and the Filion Ilana soon grew and expanded into several cities, as time passed, they spread further and further south into warmer climates, enveloping smaller tribes whose culture and traditions were eitherincorporated into local traditions or forgotten as the Filion Ilana's culture replaced theirs. The Filion Ilana spread to the mountains of the East where they met the Ildarians who, being warlike raided their fields, the Filion Ilana therefore spread ever south along the coast until they reached the Ibrahim Sea, although that wasn't the name in those times. The Filion Ilana are bonded by their religion, but also because there is no viable alternative.

Ildarians and Riyanon

The Ildarians and Riyanon were originally of one tribe, though the name of this tribe is no longer spoken by either peoples. At some point, after they had settled as the ice retreated, there was a confrontation and half the people followed one leader, the other half another. There was a large battle which was indecisive and created a decade-long famine in both nations and when that had ended, both sides began the bloodshed again. The full list of attrocities comitted by both sides can no longer be recalled nor fit here, needless to say, both tribes hate each other although neither has the upper side. This conflict prevented their expansion north into modern-day Taludria and South into Lakaedek and Dalekoda, fortuitous for those three nations, and possibly also the Qar, who emerged later and may not have been able to resist an invasion by a united Ildaria and Riyanon. Both nations are very warlike and netiher very prosperous.

The Dalekoda

The Dalekoda are related to the Lakaedek a few dozen generations back, but as the ice melted, the Lakaedek went East, the Dalekoda West and both developed differnt traditions although they are each more similar to the other than another nation. Recently they have met again and their royal lines have merged though the nations are still separate.

The Qar

The Qar roamed the plains which they have settled long before the ice retreated, and knowing no other way they continued to roam after the ice had disappeared. The plains are bountiful and as such the tribe expanded and divded into many groups all wandering, each returning to the same place every five years for marriages and reunions. So the city of Qar was formed - a meeting place for the nomadic tribes. During one of the 5 year interludes, a man gained control of the 'city' and established a large temple/palace and the Qarian Monotheism. When the tribes returned, they found large walls surroundign the city and the spires of a temple poked up from beyond, they were forced to swear allegiance to the man and God before they could enter, and many had friends and familly behind the walls. As more and more joined, there were more reasons for others to do so and soon all the bands had sworn allegiance. Life continued as normal, little was changed, and upon the death of the man - who remains nameless for religious reasons -, the leaders were gathered and they decided to appoint two rulers, the diarchs to rule the city and give laws for the tribes. Over the centuries, the land surrounding Qar City was farmed to support the large population who lived there, and the wandering bands had to move further and further from the city to find food. Eventually, they were wandering for two and a half years before returning and so it was decided that the bands would each travel for two and a half years and there found a city, this gave rise to the city locations as they are now. The bands each stayed five years at their cities before returning with the progress made, eventually, the bands stopped returning every 5 years and eac person went to the City themselves several times in a lifetime. Some of the cities were not located well and were abandoned, but now the Qar refer to the City as Qar City, the other places are small towns, barely 1/100th of the size of The City. The Qar are secretive about their religion and though not warlike will respond if provoked.

The Nosmen

Originally, many tribes inhabited the region now within the bounds of the Nos Empire, one of these, the Her were warlike and conquered a large Empire, but the other cultures survived and centuries later, when the Her were in decline a young man named Wero from the Combrian tribe rose to power and re-united the Empire through trade and culture, after his death, the Empire stayed together although each city is now ruled individually they will put aside their differences to fight an intruder who threatens them all. The Nosmen are formed from various tribes which have united nominally. In reality, they are a collection of city-states with little bond and often fight amongst themselves.

The Rahamadoen

The Rahamadoen were synonimous with the Mohadeen, however the Mohadeen had strayed from the teachings of God. Ebroham, a normal young man wandered into the hills and there, lost and half-starved he was given a revelation in the form of a dream, he believed that God had told him to recruit people and found a new tribe free of the corruption of the Mohadeen, and this he did. The Rahamadoen are warlike and also merchants.

The Dyzorial

To Come

Oh yeah, sorry, I'll get that done, completely slipped my mind

Update will be tomorrow probably unless the map is posted tomorrow. The map will be of Ildaria and Riyanon and the surrounding regions as this is where the action will probably happen I also want to finish those NPC Histories, which I put a link to on the front page too, and I finished doing the stats for NPC religions.

Neither GN or Tyrion has posted though, I PMed GN, and I may PM Tyrion tomorrow.