Divine Intervention V: Montezuma's Madness

I am shamed :x

OOC - Ended up with no time today to play, so expect round 3 tomorrow night!

OOC: @TheForestAuro:

... Montezuma was delighted. This was the first day in a long time where he had not been waked up by the sounds of brass bells and the cackle of Perpentach.

The delight lasted exactly that long. He heard someone outside the palace yell... A woman, if his ears did not fail him. He heard her voice from the street:

"Kids! Where are you? Couatl! Quirina! Where are you? Kiiids??"

Her voice was nervous. Evidently, all of her children (Montezuma counted five names) had gone missing the same day.

Before the set...
"Bring that mad poet to Montezuma," ordered Montezuma.

Reluctantly, the courier obeyed - he did not look forward to being anywhere near that insane Perpentach.

The mad rhymer jingled and clanged his way into Montezuma's throne room somewhat later, and the Aztec ruler looked at him with a wary gaze.

"Montezuma wishes to know what lies to the South of the Aztec empire, and what this god Nihil speaks of about the fate of a people who displeased him. What does Perpentach have to say to Montezuma about these matters?"

"The jester knows of the lands beyond,
of the people that Nihil scorn'd,
The Buntu people who once lived there,
now nevermore breathes southern air,
for their lungs and eyes are filled with sand,
and nobody longer treads their lands.

The land down there is varied in kind,
but fertile ground is hard to find,
you better look to the vultures of Gilgamesh,
instead of the birds that rip your flesh!"

Perpentach smiles while rocking his head violently from side to side, brass bells ringing, before climbing out the window and into the street, barking at the nearby people in the street.

=====================================


Montezuma stared at a map of this burned path to the lands of the Sumerians. He glanced out the window of the war room in his palace here at the army the god Nihil had provided with orders to assault Sumeria, then at the one known as Tree Shaman.

"Montezuma's Aztec warriors desire glory and blood, as does this god Nihil. Even now the forward scouts froth with the need for battle. Tree does not wish Montezuma to follow the orders of this god who defiles the forests, but blood must be spilled or the Aztecs will be proved weak and unworthy of destiny!"

Stabbing a bronze dagger into the map which showed the burned path, Montezuma declared "It is war, then, with this Gilgamesh and Sumeria! But the Aztecs shall not march down this accursed path, for Montezuma's generals say that a straight march will only be slightly more of a delay." (2 turns difference on the march)

"Send the word and dispatch the troops! Montezuma has spoken!"

The forward forces that had gathered near the path rushed forth and reached Sumeria's borders much more quickly than the Axeman army formed by Nihil. Though their lust for battle was great, they stopped at Sumeria's borders outside the great wall and waited for the remainder of the army.






Another leader was met, calling himself Roosevelt, and he seemed to like Montezuma very much. Montezuma was more than pleased to agree to his offer for now.




Finally the army had gathered, and the time for war had come.






But the Aztecs had been betrayed! This god Nihil had sent them on a fool's errand, for Gilgamesh had an endless force of well-trained archers lining every foot of Uruk's city walls. The Aztec offensive had no hope of scaling the hills, walls, and entering the city - enraged, they pillaged the lands surrounding and set off to the east towards England ... for the battle lust was still upon them.






To ensure that Gilgamesh would not interfere with the further plans, an agreement was reached, Montezuma 'explaining' that his troops had not been acting under Montezuma's orders and they would withdraw immediately.

In his palace, Montezuma looked at Tree Shaman and wondered if the god Tree had been responsible for this fiasco, but said nothing. Out loud, he cursed Nihil..."Montezuma is no fool errand boy, Nihil god! Aztec warriors are fierce and brave, not suicidal!"

But blood and war would still be had...









A daring offensive by the Aztec warriors captured two English cities, with more troops en-route to launch an assault on the well-defended capitol of London.

Meanwhile, the Aztecs at home had not been idle. Ways had been discovered to work the harder metal known as Iron, enabling the Aztecs to clear the vast jungles to the west of their lands. Many followers of Tree had taken to Meditation, and some followers of Tree Shaman had formed a sort of Priesthood. Libraries had been built to encourage learning and progress, and a Great Scientist was contracted to build an Academy for the capitol city of Tenochtitlan.




Great strides were made in a code of laws, strongly influenced by the religion of Tree.




...and a new city, Tlaxcala, had been founded to the west of the capitol, to begin the expansion into the jungles and their resources. The Aztecs had heard rumors from distant lands of great wonders being constructed, called the Pyramids, and the Oracle. Thus the world stands, and Montezuma worries that the gods will ruin his plans for the future should they not be pleased. Time would tell.

My changes will come later, story only now. Just so you know, I only added 1 archer to Gilgamesh... and nice job attacking vicky

"You have failed. I provided you with instructions, told you to wait for my blessing if you must, yet you attacked anyway. You gave that fool forewarning of your plans and now it will be much more difficult to crush him like the bug he is. But crush him you shall, my assistance or no. The one redeeming factor and the reason that you are not a smoldering pile of ash on the ground like those fools to the south is that you showed resourcefulness and cunning in attacking the unsuspecting English. For that the aztec warriors who took part in the sacking of the two great cities of England will be greatly rewarded. With more to come should the english ladies head be displayed on a pike soon. The fool and his wall are first priority though. My blessing awaits.

Changes to come!

Got the save.

Thanatos was briefly angry when he saw what the immortal had done while he was away. Instead of researching and building an economy, all efforts were directed to a war which wasn't even in the planning stage. He had to redirect research, training and building, but in the end the effort was not in vain.

He, however saw correctly that with his blessings, and the immortal falling more and more under his control, he had wrought himself a powerful empire... strong enough to not just be removed by a divine act. The time had come to broaden the scope of his actions... time to grow more audacious and seek out those who would support him in his quest. While his continent was nearly bereft of divine meddling save his own, another continent seemed to get much more attention from the gods. One immortal in particular - Montezuma - got a lot of attention.

Thanatos left his empire and flew towards the continent of Montezuma. His goal: to find out the mysterious god who had stirred up war on his continent, and to discuss the possibility of working together. Yes, the two probably had similar ideas...

What I did - NFTE:

@any god with access to WB, please tell me where the Oracle was built.

Story (and perhaps some changes?) will come after I know

@ Diamondeye (NFTE)

Story to follow.

Changes (NFTE):

...Perpentach entered the Palace of Montezuma. He smiled sneakily at the Chieftain before him, before beggining to speak...

"I bid you farewell, for now atleast,
I am needed, far to the east,
across the ocean, they plead for an oracle,
I bet they won't expect this spectacle!

As a present for your kindness here,
I have inspired a warrior who knows no fear,
and who knows who to take the fight to,
use him for what he is used to do.

Also, your people here seems to like my song,
I think I will have some of them come along,
I will return once Uruk is in your hands,
and Gilgamesh heeds your cruelest demands,
or better yet, has his slim throat slit,
but now I will go to spread my wit!"

The mad jester then ran out of the palace. Montezuma saw how a line of people formed behind the jester, who immidiately began to ran towards the sea. A small gasp escaped his advisors as the line of townspeople followed the jester into the deep, never to be seen again.

One bright afternoon, in the summer of 350bc, a small group of children left their homes in Tlaxcala to go out and play on a large hill, west of the city. All of them had risen extra-early that morning, to make sure they had time to finish their chores before heading off on this long-awaited adventure. As they marched up the hillside in military fashion, each of them bearing a home-made weapon of some kind, they chanted prayers to the Spirit of the Forest, asking for his protection in the battles to come.

Upon reaching the top, the children divided into teams, and set about building crude fortifications in the bushes. Taking turns to pose as the brave Aztecs, the puny English, and the cowardly Sumerians, they then re-enacted the famous exploits of Montezuma's armies, whilst mocking the obvious failings of their foreign opponents.

The children were so absorbed by their game, shouting battle cries whilst charging back and forth, that they completely failed to notice the large group of exceedingly swarthy men coming up the western side of the hill. By the time they did notice, the barbarian warband were standing within mere feet of them, looking every bit the type of men who would kidnap a bunch of kids just to sell them into slavery for a few silver pennies.

A couple of the older children affected defiance in the face of these ruffians, but most merely cowered, and couple of the younger ones began to whimper in a decidedly un-Aztec manner. However, as the barbarians approached, something quite miraculous occurred...

From the ground at the assailants' feet, there sprang small green shoots which quickly grew into sinewy vines. Winding their way around the men's legs, the vines surged upward to envelop their unwashed prey. Before even a minute had passed, the warband had disappeared altogether, to be replaced by a small copse of gnarled trees. The children, whose emotions had swiftly gone from glee to shock to fear to utter bewilderment, then turned tail and ran back down the hill to Tlaxcala, and the safety of their well-guarded homes.

--------------------

Though this particular tale was more outlandish than most, many stories of the kind were heard in Montezuma's lands. Organised worship of the Forest Spirit was now more-or-less ubiquitous amongst the Aztec people (though it had not yet spread to the newly captured cities, whose populations were still overwhelming English), and Tree's beneficence was clear for all to see, especially in the area around Tlaxcala.

Just as it had been with the earlier settlements, new forests grew up around the third Aztec city, and new sacred sites were discovered within those woods. The first of these holy places, to the south of Tlaxcala, was yet another fruit forest of the sort found on the hills of Tenochtitlan. At the second sacred site, food was less abundant. Instead, the forest floor was dotted with outcrops of metallic rock, making this an excellent place to seek out building materials for use in the city.

Once again, the followers of Tree knew that desecration of these sites would court the deity's displeasure. However, the Tree Shaman, whose connection with the forest grew ever more profound, informed Montezuma that the Spirit would be unlikely to frown upon the development of one of the six holy places. So long as the other sites lay undisturbed, and the Aztecs continued to pay proper respect to the forest, such a transgression would surely be tolerated.

What to do:

The moon had set only a few hours ago, and clouds rolled in shrouding the stars. Montezuma had only just climbed into bed and closed his eyes when a bright light illuminated the room.

From the skull resting nearby, a glow was projected over his bed. The glow solidified into the God of Aether.

"LYING, WARMONGERING, MURDER, SLAVERY!"Boomed Tracnar. "I God of Aether and watcher of this world am ashamed by your actions."

His golden eyes blazed white, then turning dark, and again to a blood red, returning to gold again.

"For sure you are the most damaging influence upon this world so far." Tracnar moved closer to Montezuma's face. "You must redeem yourself, or face my retribution, no...i will not strike down your men or your people...but i will make sure you pose no threat again...."

Tracnar glided to the door, "Return England's cities, and recall your armies. If not, well then, you have made an enemy out of me."

The light was extinguished from the room, leaving pitch blackness and the ruler of the Aztec's.

got it, for DiamondEye

I guess nobody knows, here's the save then with everything but that. Maybe someone who knows how can do it?

Hello Gods,

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but can I join in too?

OOC:

Feel free, Robert.

To the gods - I plan on playing this tomorrow night, so get your edits in if you've got one.