End of Empires - N3S III

End of Empires - Update One
Sunrise

Years ?


A golden banner of stars unfurls over a world where men live and die. Here lie the ruins of many a nation, great and small. Here will more glorious nations yet rise.

The most distant myths tell of a time when the Ancestors wandered the earth. They were ruled by the World Soul until its murder, and then they were free – free to populate the earth. Choosing a fertile and well watered river delta, the Seshweay rose to prominence.

An obscure and difficult people, the Seshweay got along with few, if any of their neighbors. Rivalry was compounded by their refusal to acknowledge others as men at all; their wars were all waged in the name of spreading humanity. Intense xenophobia fueled a rapid expansion; even though the cities were fairly disunited, they grew to contain the entirety of the Sesh River Delta, and even several hundred miles to the south of that as well.

Early in their history, another tribe, the Arkage took the development of agriculture for their own, and founded a minor city to the south of the delta’s civilization. It was none too powerful, but it would have a significant impact on events in the future.

The Arkage called the Seshweay the Graknids, and fought numerous wars against the southernmost members of that larger civilization. Fortunately, the disunion of the Seshweay meant the Arkage could keep them at bay, at least for the early years. Indeed, some Arkage took the opportunity to found several other cities, including the powerful Nestad.

Nestad itself was able to intermarry with some of the Graknid ruling class, and thus established dynastic ties with the largest delta city, called either Jara or Seis. However, this took it into direct conflict with the hybrid city of Fakr, which, although not technically Sesh in ancestry, was certainly Sesh in arrogance. Fakr took the opportunity of a Seisian king’s death to attempt the occupation of the city. This brought it into a tremendous conflict with the Nestadans, which expanded when the general Crakus, exiled from Seis, took a barbarian horde into the Delta.

A complicated conflict blew the Delta to pieces, with first Nestad, then Fakr, then Seis all being sacked in turn. This naturally allowed the Arkage to suddenly rise to prominence, with the result that there were three major powers left in the region: the Seshweay, the Arkage, and the barbarian Craknids, who were still a plague, and held a massive slave underclass as well. Strangely enough, the most populous, the Seshweay, were the weakest, due mostly to their utter disunity.

Fortunately for the Seshweay, twin cultural forces surfaced around this time period. The first was simply known as “Unity”; it was a religious movement in the ancestor worship of the area that preached the union of the cities of the Sesh, and reserved war for the nonhumans outside their borders. This was coupled with the movement of “Moralism”, which was a highly democratic set of ideals (at least for the Seshweay themselves), and further solidified their unitary nature.

These triggered political and military reforms towards more republican governments rather than the traditional oligarchies, plus the idea of the citizen soldier. The latter was sorely needed, as it turned out, for their neighbors had not remained static, either.

The Seshweay also launched several overseas expeditions at this time to relieve the population pressure in their heartland. Colonies were founded on the northern lands of Esay, however these failed due to hostile natives, combined with the perennial difficulties of trade through the contested delta.

Meanwhile, the Arkage had absorbed the Craknids through a series of clever diplomatic and military moves. The Craknid culture merged somewhat with the Arkage, leading to a large underclass of slaves watched over by a semi-professional army, equal in quality to the Seshweay.

Both sides were thus locked in a struggle to the death, with neither triumphing. Due to the nature of the Seshweay religion, this could only result in the utter destruction of one civilization or another; there would be no peace with subhumans. Large slave armies were raised on both sides, and city after city was razed. The wars continued on without end; peace was an abnormality. It was clear to both sides that this could not last forever, especially as they occupied the same river valley.

In the later end of the period, however, the balance of power began to shift.

New cultures began to rise, including the desert people of the Bahrai to the south, who had long been raided as a source of slaves by both of the larger nations. At some point, they switched to raiders themselves, taking slaves from other tribes to be sold to both the Seshweay and the Arkage. The great trading city of Magha was in fact an anchoring point for the end of a vast trade network that extended through the known world.

Another kingdom, that of Jania, rose quickly to the northeast of the greater Arkage nation; it was composed of refugees from the wars, and discontented splinter regions of the old kingdom. With their excellent position on the sea, they were much better able to take advantage of trade than their cousins, and were much better at negotiating for it than the aloof Seshweay. Profits rolled in, and a colony was established at the crucial Straits of Kargan.

The Kingdom of Mahid to the north was populated by the descendants of the old tribes that had thrown out the Seshweay colonists. On the end of the great Luska Road that led deep into the desert, the port city served as an important trading stop.

To the west, meanwhile, a large group of barbarians is on the move. The steppe people of the Satarai were the first to make a functional chariot, and this military innovation led their army to numerous victories over the neighboring tribes. A group of seven tribes originating on the Rath Tephas (Field Eternal), they have crushed all in their path, and burned their way to the northernmost branch of the River Sesh. They have yet to be tested in battle against either the Bahrai or the Seshweay, but they could prove a potent force in the future of the river valley.

The Arkage were able to establish trade with a southern people known as the Kingdom of Serat, which brought them much in the way of additional capital to continue waging their wars. In addition, it was thought that they could perhaps prove to be a valuable ally in the continuing wars, if they could be convinced of that fact...

The Serat were, in fact, the child of the ancient Salgaron culture, which had been established in the most ancient days. These people founded their civilization along the long, winding Had River, on the edge of the Senet Desert.

The Salgaron were a hardy desert people to begin with, but they found their lands ideal for growing grain; it was in these lands, perhaps, that people first settled into cities. In any case, the Salgaron were united fairly early by a despot who relied on the spears of his warriors to keep himself in power. While central control meant they avoided the bloody split that had plagued the northern delta, they were seriously hampered in their development; eventually offshoots secured their independence.

Thus, the kingdom of Serat grew to be a conduit of trade between the two cradles, and rapidly became almost as powerful, if not more so, than the nation of Salgaron itself.

This led the King of Salgaron to explore other avenues of expansion: sailing down the River Had, he found himself pulled into conflict with the Hu’ut people. A strange, babbling people, the Hu’ut had been locked in a civil war between two rival religious doctrines, with a monotheistic cult finally winning in the end. The vicious war was punctuated by a slave revolt that ended in the emigration of a large part of the labor base; thus trade was initiated with the west for slaves to man the farms.

In any case, Hu’ut quickly turned hostile at the attempts of the Salgaroni King to bring them into his fold, and bloody wars raged over the frontier. Eventually, the Hu’ut united themselves under a single ruler as well, Geupopultopu II, who met the Salgaroni in battle at the city of Jahip and drove them back.

The conquest of Jahip and the subsequent assimilation of the people there led to a longstanding rivalry between the Salgaron and the Hu’ut. Both nations are centralized monarchies, and both dream of the rule of the entirety of the Had River. There may come a time when one or the other is wiped out by war.

New contacts, however, were forged by both kings late in the period.

Palmyra was a tiny kingdom of little note on the shores of the Kainoan Sea before someone discovered the valuable metal tin in the mountains to the south. Vital for the making of bronze, the staple working metal of the entire known world, tin fetched an incredibly high price in most markets; this single discovery made Palmyra rich. However, at the same time, this discovery naturally made them a target in the eyes of the power hungry Hu’ut kings. Only skilled leadership by a line of Palmyran kings was able to maintain their independence by playing off the rivalry between Hu’ut and Salgaron.

The Farou, meanwhile, were a people devoted to the idea of freedom. They had, in fact, conquered the slaveholding kingdom of Salei centuries before, and their presence prevented their neighbors the Trilui from overtly trading slaves. This mentality set them directly at odds with the slaveholding society of Hu’ut. In fact, the Farou were later determined to be the descendants of the slave revolt in Hu’ut many centuries ago. Still, due to the fairly strong nature of both powers, an uneasy peace existed between them for the moment.

For their part, the Salgaroni were approached from the south by messengers from a distant kingdom: the Liealb people of Thearak.

Thearak was only the most powerful of the Liealban kingdoms, managing to conquer all the others; the ruler of this city titled himself Lord of the World in a somewhat grandiose fashion. However, at the time, King Ujjayad was quite justified in his delusion: there was no contact with the large nations of the north; his was the greatest power in the world. However, it just so happened that his emissaries, while looking for more nations to force the submission of, found something rather larger.

Still, Ujjayad was a pragmatist, and not one to throw away the chance. He signed a treaty of friendship with the Salgaroni king, and trade flowed back and forth between the two, with the Salt of Salgaron being exchanged for ivory from the far south.

Thearak got said ivory (and strange animals, to boot) from the twin cultures of the Uggor and the Duroc.

The Duroc were the more familiar of the two, mostly because of their proximity. At the mouth of the River Yensai, the fledgling nations of Urntor and Galcia were no great powers. However, in time, their northern offshoot, Asandar, rose to surpass them in wealth and power. Asandar was nearly as powerful as Thearak in some respects, but with the increasing greed of its kings, it overthrew the monarchy and became a republic instead: one of the few in the world.

The Uggor, for their part, were located on the very edge of civilization; their main kingdom of Krato was barely able to keep itself together. This fragility was exacerbated by the numerous squabbling families, whose goals were quite often at odds with one another. Regardless of this, they were able to secure a near monopoly on the production of ivory, which sold as a valuable trade product; they were also the sole nation in the world at the end of the period to have domesticated elephants.

These lands are isolated, of course, but they needn’t remain so forever. While there is but one mountain pass that leads to them, the entire sea is open, and there are many powers waiting to take advantage of this...

Storms rage among the four great peninsulas. Here several seafaring cultures collide: the Trilui, masters of the north, the golden Opulensi of the east, and the Hamakua, sailors of the south. Each has extended feelers into the others’ traditional spheres; this has naturally caused tensions, and more than one minor trade war.

The Trilui have a somewhat mystical basis for their sailing: myth tells that they must find their lost brothers across the sea. While this is mostly just a legend that is ignored by the vast majority of the populace, it still provides the Trilui with additional motivation to set sail. Not that they needed that; the vast majority of their populace find some sort of income off of the sea: either by directly participating in the voyages and the trade that comes with them, or by catering to the needs of sailors in the ports, or by producing goods for transport out of the nation.

In any case, with such close economic ties to the sea, they were able to hone their shipbuilding techniques from an early era, remaining at the forefront of development throughout the period. They adopted that which they did not develop from their rivals: by the end of the period, all three nations used the traditional square sails, which allowed ships to follow the trade winds quite rapidly.

For their part, the Trilui explored northwards, and charted the first route across the Lovi Sea to the nations of Mahid and Arkage. Their holds loaded with oils, tins, and even some salt, they were able to make huge profits by selling these and returning home with gold and incense. Eventually, they were able to discover a route to the north which netted them valuable tin from the Bosrttia and strange furs from the Ailuttorutto people, a slowly developing society. More exotic still were ambers from even further into the wild.

The Ailuttorutto were a curious people with a staccato way of speaking which confused the first explorers. However, the tongue proved easy enough to learn, and they found that the people were an industrious sort, with numerous small villages crowding the coasts. The primary trading center of Lutto itself had a bustling market full of the goods of the north, including slaves captured from raids into the interior. An expanding population was not quite supported by their own agriculture, stunted as it was by the shorter summers of these lands, and so the traders found it profitable to ship cheap grain up from the Sesh River in exchange for the valuable items sold there.

A few more curious devices were unicorn horns, strange tusks of ivory, and strange skins. The local merchants explained these particular goods came from the Ederru people, a tribe that was mostly savage, or so the stories went. More inquiries showed that even these people weren’t the source of the ivory, let alone the horns: these came from trade with even more northerly peoples, on what was supposedly a great Northern Ocean.

In any case, the traders also found the people of the nation of Ferman, a desperately poor group who was sadly lacking in foodstuffs. The leaders had encouraged the pasturing of cattle and like kine, but this was utterly inadequate to support their booming population. Trilui traders introduced grains, which took rapid hold in the local climate; it was reckoned by some sailors that these people would no longer have any demand for grain in but a few years. A more valuable crop were the grapes that provided the Fermani with a great deal of income.

Unfortunately for the Trilui, there was competition in this Kern Sea, as it was called by most. The nation of Jania, an offshoot of the Arkage, had begun to build small trading fleets, which connected them with the Mahid across the Gulf of Weay. These Mahid were themselves in contact with the Nahsjad.

A desert people, the Nahsjad were based entirely on the trade centered around their twin roads of Luska and Ushka. The export of incense and exotic animals to fill the menageries of corpulent despots were the main way they earned the money to buy essentials such as food, and luxuries such as wine. The Jadhai Desert to which they were natives was filled with the sandstone buildings of these people, lying temporarily unoccupied, waiting for the next tribe to move in and make them their homes.

The Opulensi, for their part, were the primary exporters of spices in the known world. Priced extremely highly for their use as preservatives and flavoring, they were in high demand; this native product enabled them to join the trade network of the larger world. This, coupled with an expanding population and efficient farming, enabled the founding of several large states, including most notably Epichirisi and Ormiskos.

Inadvertently, however, the Opulensi began to export something quite apart from material goods.

This was the religion they had picked up from the Arta Xorti. Not formally named at this time, the ancient Meditation cult focused around the achievement of Iehor, or enlightenment. While disorganized and extremely decentralized, it was still finding itself to be extremely popular as one of the first transnational religions in the world.

The Arta Xorti, for their part, had expanded to the nearby islands and even the twin mainlands, founding several minor states, though Baharr was still regarded as the center of the world, and the place where Iehor was most easily achieved.

Meanwhile, the Opulensi found themselves at odds with the far reaching Trilui, and even more bizarrely with the extremely young and tiny trading “power” of Treha, a state which melded some aspects of Trilui, Farou, the Arta Xorti, and the Opulensi themselves. Some said that these rivals could only be countered by the extension of the trading network into the east, where the Opulensi reigned supreme. However, voyages beyond the Kbrilma Sea remained a risky proposition at best, only for the most foolhardy – or, as it happened, those who had achieved Iehor and were ready to die.

To round off the three trading powers, we come to the Hamakua, a strange people with a strange system of government that had three major levels: the national, the civic, and the clan. Each of these was mostly democratic, a rather alien concept to the kings of the north, though somewhat familiar to the Farou (and it would have been so to the Seshweay if they had allowed contact).

The Hamakua found themselves sadly restrained by the lack of good trading prospects in their region: they themselves only had superb timber, which, while important, especially for this sea based region, was not necessarily of extremely high value. Furthermore, there were few nations to the south which had to conduct their trade through them. While rumor spoke of a group of nations to the southwest, by the end of the period, the Hamakua still had not consistently rounded the stormy and challenging waters around Cape Manakea.

In truth, this world is still quite a raw one, unchanged over much the larger portion of its lands by the hand of civilization. While it has seen blood flow unrestrained in many places, most of history has yet to be written.

How shall the world change?


City Map


Economic Map (gold indicates intensive agriculture; brown pastoral societies; gray hunter-gatherers; red are trade routes; commodities are main exports)


Finally, of course, the Political Map​

Story Bonuses

At this point, it is difficult to award tangible bonuses. However, nations whose leaders wrote stories did better than they otherwise would have done.

Neverwonagame: Increased territory and rapid union of the twin empires.
Vertinari118: Established the powerful Republic of Asandar.
Ninja_Dude: Created a viable kingdom on the edge of civilization.

OOC:

Let me know if you have questions or concerns.
 
Satarai
Starting Location: http://img443.imageshack.us/my.php?image=satarailocationtq2.png
Society: The people are divided into seven Houses, each led by a High Prince. Each House acts as an independent, self-governing entity within the greater Satarai people, and each represents one of the sacred Symbols of the land: Star, Arrow, Sword, Wheel, Spear, Shield, and Scroll. The Satarai are migratory but settling, and follow a strict hierarchy within the House, family, and culture.
Lineage: Inheritance rights are patrilineal, with the eldest adult male between twenty and fifty ruling the family. Extended families dwell together, and typically marry within their House; occassionally women marry outside of their House, forsaking the old for the new.
Values: Strength, duty, loyalty, and order.
Religion(s): While the heavens are home to spirits uncountable, a pantheon of noble warrior-gods rules the afterlife, which they justly conquered due to their greater strength. The Satarai give respect to foreign gods, to the degree to which their followers have power. In the beliefs of the Satarai, their gods would die if their people were defeated and destroyed, but this is inconcievable to them.
Language(s): The language of the Satarai is similar to OTL Ancient Persian. They use a runic alphabet, most likely derived from a simplified pictographic style. The Satarai give great importance to runes, and they carve them on weapons or personal possessions.
Mythos: The Satarai were given the first Chariot by Telpashir, the Warrior-King of the Heavens, which carried the chosen spirits of the first people to the world. They crossed the endless steppe seeking a land in which to forge their empire.
Economic Base: Livestock and horse herding, pseudo-migratory, and a significant tradition of metalworking. Chariot-making, woodworking, etc.
Nation Names: The Seven Houses (untranslatable)
Person Names: Karshi, Taleldir, Sephal, Ulani, Parien (female)
Place Names: Imraphil, Rath Minoc, Eltarion
 
I intend to put a story liater, but I want the Seshweay to be a fair fight- can I have it that I don't get a story bonus unless they do?

Also, what mix is Jania of Seshaway and Arkage?
 
The fight might end soon :)

My two reforms are just the first of many

Fatherland, Republic and Greater Seshweay!

Edit: Ditto to Neverwonagame3's question the second one (North King will keep the stories in check... if he doesnt... whats to stop Mushroom clouds appearing above your cities)
 
Aous Endelei Salei o Faeiao (Of the Fall of Faeiao of Salei)

Dofei silo, siria haru
Fael ses faro, so aoun farou
Dofei silo, sar bo raeilhera
Aous bora carera.

Recall my child, in elder days
Past the flight to freedom, to the land of the free
Recall my child, the king of harsh and mountain lands
Of how his kingship was broken.


Faeiao ho vaeilao sera lo
Sola haevouad sco
Per cueled saerab fa
Sepa laea ferna coula.

Faeiao brought his army to us
With countless bloody spears
They burned and plundered for a year
Until we turned to fight.


Sayfo o Rafin, savay cougo
Cheao lo fead ho
Laea Faroun foau les crai
Fo chiuai Faeiao menbaei.

Rafin of Sayfo, the courageous general
Rallied us before him
We free people then made our stand
As the storm of Faeiao descended.


Fouaraloa hafaei saba fao
Fouaraloa sco raesutao
Faeiao boara sufo
Harae laes aolufo.

A thousand arrows cut the sky
A thousand spears glistened red
The Invader's power was great
But our will was greater.


Sayfo o Rafin ceas raei
Toua Faeiao o daei
Fouaraloa sofa siaroa
Touova Faeiao bao noa.

Rafin of Sayfo led a charge
Into the heart of the Invader
A thousand men were cut down
The path to Faeiao was clear.


Saoub sein fair hoea sco
Faeiao poura vear to
To coaroua sonaou
Laofu tieo sara Farou.

There was a great hurled spear
Faeiao fell to the ground
His followers fled
And the land of Farou was victorious.


Translators Notes:

This translation from a tablet of early Faroun poetry has been carried out faithfully, with as much exactitude as I may possibly provide. Regrettably, the smooth, melodic sound of the poem is lost in this modern translation, but that is unavoidable.

You will note the repeated use of 'A thousand' in this translation. Early Faroun counting systems were base ten, but they had no use for numbers great than '1000'. Thus, one could interpret my literal translation to actually be colloquialism for 'many' or 'countless'.

The one major point of confusion is in my translation of the word 'Faeiao'. In the poem, it seems to refer to both the King of Ancient Salei, and his Invading Army. Thus, where in my translation it says either 'Faeiao' or 'The Invader', these can be interchanged. However, the verb tenses around 'Faeiao' are singular, while those around 'The Invader' are plural. In ancient Faroun, this may have been a double meaning, or perhaps just a limitation of the language.
 
Unity the invention of the Philosopher-Priest Ta’Val’Pa was first founded during the tempestuous days of the Old Oligarchs. While its origins are shrouded in relative obscurity, its humble message eventually came to dominate the religious life of Seshweay. The certain part of Unity’s early days was that the Oligarchs did not receive it well at least initially, eventually though with time came acceptance. Unity’s simple rethink of the scriptures eventually changed our ancestors view about the world…

The twin of Unity, Moralism had its origins not in religion but in philosophical thought; for our ancestors are and were the greatest philosophers of the age. For while our philosophers were founding schools of thought; the Arkage were busily encouraging their slaves to copulate faster to stem the inexorably tide of history which ultimately did not happen. Moralism was the philosophical engine that drove the religious fervour of Unity, allowing it inexorably to become the basis of all life in Seshweay

Unity towards the dawn of the Iron Age began to change; an astute student of history will notice that Seshweay centralized even further as the cries of Fatherland, Republic and Greater Seshweay grew in prominence in the speeches of the Republics. Moralism provided the impetuous for this change, it accepted the notion of the a Great Man of Seshweay who would unite the feuding factions and destroy the hated Arkage.

An astute student of history will note that then that Venerable Aya’se was not an unwelcome figure. What we know of Aya’se’s early life is scant; we do know that he was related to leading Senator in Sies. What is little understood is his relationship with the Satarai, what is known is that the Venerable One came to regard the Satarai as men a departure from the Ancient Sesh’s normal thoughts.

The argument was rationalized by the similarities of the gods of the Satarai to the Ancestors and their conquest of the heavens to the similar values and slightest of language similarities. Of course even before the Venerable One had made his departure from conventional thinking, there had been whisperings in the establishment of the similarities, half whispered stories of a lost colony of Seshweay or a whole city disappearing. The very name of the Satarai themselves was used as evidence of this kinship, with the word Satarai in Sesh sounding like the word Sei’Sh which was a legendary city of the Ancestors.

The Venerable One of course rose to become The First, Protector of All Seshweay, Capitan-General of the Seshweay Military and Unitarian Prime a few short years after his ascension to his fathers place in Sies. His forging of Greater Seshweay was not contrary to popular belief his most lasting achievement, his opening of Seshweay to trade and relations with other nations ended centuries of isolationism and led to the eventual placing of Seshweay at the gates to the world.

From a Guide to the History of Seshweay – Which is of course far superior to the infantile exploration of history in a Historical Guide to Seshweay.
 
EDIT: Have made revisions.

The Later Craknids:
The descendants of Craknus, despite the conquest, actually did suprisingly well under Arkage rule. They would ultimately become a dynasty which did many great deeds for Arkage's state and it's culture.

The story of the later Craknids begins at the fall of the early Craknids. Craknus IV was a corrupt man, whose son, the future Craknus V, hoped to repeat Craknus's achievements using barbarians to ultimately defeat the Arkage.

The internal corruption was what led to the defeat. The Arkage exploited a civil war between Craknus IV (and later on Craknus V's barbarian forces) and the army class. The ultimate result was not the sacking of the capital (learning from history, the two armies fought outside it) but still a weakened Craknid army (under Craknus V, however). The founder of the later Craknids, Ladli, was a barbarian who had married into the Craknid family.

The early Craknid army was formidable, despite being outnumbered 2.5 to 1. But it was defeated thanks to superior Arkage strategy through an outflankment(Craknus V believed that the valour of a warrior was the way to gain victory. Craknus I and II would have known better, but barbarian values had infected the Craknids to some degree).

Ladli was spared due to a snap descision in the middle of the battle. He had thought about the possibility beforehand due to an overly pessimistic view of the Craknid army. This, combined with an ability to be calm in danger, allowed him to sucessfully defect mid-battle. It was descisive.

Not willing to punish a man who had been helpful, the king of Arkage, who had already desired the creation of Craknid style military reforms, tasked Ladli with the job. The new army class were about 20% the remnants of the Arkage aristocracy, but mostly loyal Arkage soldiers rewarded for service.

In the war against the Seshweay, the later Craknids stood out. A Craknid by descent could still be of any family legally, but would always call themselves a Craknid as well as if were a title. The idea was that only those of Craknid descent would use it, and forgery was suprisingly rare.

The Craknids were involved in three great battles- the Seis Offensive, the Aysh Feint, and the Battle of Arkage.

The Seis Offensive:
In the first one, the Arkage had put a foothold in Seis. After the descisive victory at the Battle of the Delta (in which the Craknids were dignified but not notable), it was expected that Seis would fall. The enemy had been stubborn and arrogant, refusing to acknowledge that superior numbers meant they were in dire peril. However, a truely great Seshweay general, Pa had emerged. And he would turn the tide.

Ultimately, an overwhelmingly arrogant Arkage king would lead to a defeat equalling the previous victory. But Kongid of the Craknids held the rear with only a tenth of the forces persuing, and managed to hold them off and prevent things from getting yet worse. Some slipped through the cracks, but to compensate Kongid launched a counterattack, and killed Pa himself.

The Aysh Feint:
The Aysh feint was the crowning glory of Craknus XXV of the Craknids (those Craknids who believed, rightly or wrongly, they were destined for greatness called themselves Craknus, and respected each other's use of the name. The number was used because they originally claimed to be head of the Craknus family as a matter of course).

Getting back to the point, the Aysh feint was intended to be a diversion for another Seis campaign. But Craknus XXV, with only a minor force, managed to consistently win battles at three to one odds. He ultimately was defeated as the pressure closed in, but he managed to capture Aysh (this constrated with the second Seis offensive, fought at the same time, and ultimately was fought to a draw). Craknus XXV's delusion that his every failure (and they were rare) was caused by a lack of support from the King of Arkage (the truth was that Craknus XXV was good but not that good).

The Battle of Arkage:
The Battle of Arkage was a crowning glory for many Seshweay warriors of the age despite it's ultimate failure, but King Badrid II of Arkage (and a Craknid) did quite well for his own prestige. The Battle went in three phases.

In the first phase, Badrid, as heir, was in little posistion to prevent serious trouble as Craknus IV (not actually a Craknid nor claiming to be, but a man who favored the Craknids politically) was up against the crowning glory of "King" Shw (as the Arkage called him), who had put together a coalition of Seshweay states to defeat the Arkage once and for all. Even the Seshweay knew Craknus IV was a poor general, and Shw was a skilled diplomat.

Corrupted by barbarian ideas of valour, "Craknus" IV ordered an all-out charge. Most of the Seshaway notables won glory through the number they killed that day, and King Shw's superior strategy was applauded.

In the second phase, Badrid was outnumbered five to one in Arkage. King Shw was dead, but Arkage looked like it could actually fall. Percieving the value of the capital as purely psycological, Badrid withdrew. The Seshweay sacked the city, and believed the war with Arkage was won.

But Badrid knew better. Exploiting a forced march, he attacked the Seshweay in the ruins of Arkage and won a great victory. They still outnumbered him two to one, and Arkage had been sacked, but Badrid had prevented total defeat. The people of Arkage were still alive, after all.

In the third phase, a determined Badrid decided to sack the Seshweay capital in retaliation. Swallowing his pride, he hired barbarains to put the armies back to equal strength. The general who would face him was the young grandson of Pa, so the Arkage were nervous.

But Badrid, not intimidated by his lineage (he was after all, he reasoned, a descendant of Craknus), decided to wait. His foe had three choices- withdraw, attack, or stay. The trouble with staying was that the Seshweay forces were in the river, and could weaken over time. Wanting to prove that Pa's lineage was greater then that of Craknus, Pa's grandson (as the Arkage knew him) attacked.

Badrid countered by having a small squad of slaves, not formally in the army but who wanted revenge for the sack of Arkage, rush during the battle into a ship. This distracted the attention of his foe, and Badrid thus had the chance to implement an outfankment manouvre. The Pa forces were defeated descisively, and the loss on the river was avenged. Ultimately, Seis was sacked.

However, by that time Badrid was dead and both nations were exhausted by years of war. Fighting continued, but both sides were too weak to launch anything but the smallest of offensives for a few years...
 
"Hey. Hey. You -ah- looking for stuff to buy? Kem on, you er a...a treadder, yes thats it, er you not? I hev seen you looking around. Kem, kem, I hev many great things to show you." The trader, Ehicky, spoke to the man from the south. Ehicky didn't care from where, just as long as he bought something.

"Now look at this. You call it ivory, yes?" A nod from the southern man was all that was needed. "This is very special ivory. It cems from a unicorn. You want to know what is special about a unicorn? Many think they are magical. To that, we Ederru say, umm, I do not know what it is in your lenguage, but we say Gilblugg. It is the stuff that kems out of behind of bull. Anyway, the unicorn is very viscious creature. Let me tell you a story. Do not, eh, run away, it will not take long.

"So my brother, who is also trader, he say one day, 'Ehicky, I am going north to find own unicorn.' So he does. Months letter, he kems back and tells us what has happened.

"Apparently, you hev to catch own unicorn with the tribes further up inland. Rite of pessedge or something lek that. A week they wait before they find one. Guess what it had done? It had gerred (gored) a wolf that was hunting it, and was drinking it's blood! You see, although unicorns and horses look very similar, unicorns do not eat gress and blugg lek that. They put on this act, see. They pretend to eat gress. When something lek a wolf, or a bear tries to eat it, it gers it, and they drinks the blood. That's why they are very dangerous. The hunters poison their bows, which sends the unicorn to sleep. Then they cut off the horn. Of cource, the horn has a limit to which it can grow, then a new one grows. It is said that the most intelligent unicorns hev horns all over their body.

"Then the horn comes back to me, I powder it up, and when you sniff it, it makes you go all happy. Or you can take it home as a rememberance for your trip. So you would lek some? Good. Ah, you have grain to trade. People here like grain. Goes nice with the fish they catch." The southern man got up, unsure of what just happened. It was a shame he couldn't understand half of what they other had said.

Ehicky followed the man out of the shop. He saw the main fishman's daughter skip past. At 39, he was three times older than her, but he liked the young ones. "fefy Borrurem. Fruvi ivlej rurru yadd?" The girl nodded. "Yurro rorun", he said.

The girl's face changed from carefree to sombre. Her friend Ullayabe had the same thing happen to her last week, by the housemaker. Her dad would be proud of her. She didn't want to do it, but law, however unwritten, was still law. As she stepped inside, starting to unbuckle her dress...

OOC: Haseri in no way endorces underage sex. In fact, he wishes to be one of the people who helps put people who like it away for good when he is older.
 
You might have to.. i kind of based my next story on your original one :p

Perhaps we limit our mutual stories to draws :p

Note: There is no Seshweay Capital :) you would only be fighting one of the city states armies...

Hopefully that is shown in the stats given that the city states are not unified in a meaningful sense yet.

IC: With the death of his father, Pa, Aya’se was thrust into the centre of the politics of Seis. With the relative calm after the collapse of the enemy in the north Seis was quiet, simmering tensions between the two main factions the Sie’sist’e and the Sie’seiste erupted into violence. In the first two days retainers from the Sie’seiste Senatorial faction managed to whip up mobs large enough to disguise their foul actions, three senators of the Sie’sist’e were murdered, as were upwards of thirty loyalist Sie’sist’e. Aya’se who’s recently murdered father Pa was the leader of the Sie’sist’e profited greatly from the carnage.

Three Arbitrator of Inheritance died during the chaos, the first from a fall down a large flight of stairs far distant from his, the second from a suicide apparently caused by a self inflicted sword wound to the back, the third appeared to have died to have hanged himself while engaged in some proceedings of dubious repute. The pro- Sie’seiste Arbitrators were replaced with pro- Sie’sist’e Arbitrators, who with all legal precident promptly confiscated the lands and holdings of the majority of the Sie’seiste on the grounds of illegal adoption or invalid wills.

The homes of eleven opposition Senators were broken into during the chaos, ten later sided with Aya’se while the eleventh committed suicide after it became public knowledge of what company he availed of himself while at home. In practice the balance of power changed inside the Senate with the opposition shrinking to half its original strength and Aya’se’s faction (for that is what it was by this stage) gaining through its dominance of the courts and the senate an almost absolute control over the city.

With his opposition gutted Aya’se called together a convection of the leading Unity Priests who for reasons unknown to anyone immediately proclaimed him the Beloved of the Ancestors and lauded him with accolades. Aya’se for his own part refused three times to accept his calling and three times the people demanded he accept. On the third he accepted to the acclamations of the crowd, but with a condition that he only be known as the Humble One, of course the public could not accept this and instead took to calling him the Venerable One. The soldiers having served under his father and still mourning his death immediately sided with Aya’se and began to call for the death of the opposition. Aya’se refused, politely stating that the Republic was not at and end and that he was not a Rule of One.
 
You might have to.. i kind of based my next story on your original one :p

Perhaps we limit our mutual stories to draws :p

Note: There is no Seshweay Capital :) you would only be fighting one of the city states armies...

Hopefully that is shown in the stats given that the city states are not unified in a meaningful sense yet.

First, I think a victory is acceptable for either side as long as it is followed up and avenged. Second, I don't mind you winning one or two more battles in stories as long as it doesn't affect the stats or the update.

Second, my apologies (North King listed it as the capital). I will make some revisions.

Another story soon.
 
The rewritten story! Previous post replaced with a redirect link.

The Issitti
An excerpt from The Islands by Sizacces the Historian


Settlements during the "golden period" of the Old Issitti were small and unsophisticated.

To begin, I must remind you that the Issitti to be described here in this document are the so-called "New Issitti" or simply "Issitti," and not the "Old Issitti" of lore. Although most of us[1] call them "Ritti" or "the men of Ritti," they have adopted the name "Issitti" and find it highly insulting to be called "Ritti" or simply "the men of Ritti."

The Old Issitti were, as Iccos of Ritti has written in his Histories of Our Island[2], settlers from the deserts of the far south. They were a dark-skinned people, who brought strange plants and animals and even stranger ways to the locals of Ritti (whom Iccos simply called “our ancestors” or “our forefathers” in his discourse of history to his fellow Issitti). Their origins were lost to history, but Iccos had proposed three theories on their origins:

The first was that they were colonists from a foreign king who declared independence a few generations after their first settlement (which to be later called the “City of Gold,” the “Golden City,” or the “Golden County”) was established. This is one which he supports strongly.

The second was that the Old Issitti were a displaced people or kingdom from the south, probably through the conquests of the bloodthirsty warlords[3] there. Although a mass exodus is not unviable, Iccos states that the “lack of grimness in Issitti character discounts this theory, for such an exodus would have followed some great tragedy, and tragedies would have befallen their ships as they left for Ritti.”

The third theory that Iccos presented was that the Issitti were placed there by some god, to both test and teach the locals of the ways to civilization. Iccos did not find this a favorable theory to hold, given that none of the numerous gods’ doctrines spoke of placing the Issitti in the island of Ritti. I, however, have found religious texts pertaining to the placement of men in the island of Ritti in my rigorous studies for the writing of this book (though which will not be explained here, for this book is about the Issitti and not the Old Issitti) and therefore find this the most likely of the three theories.

As previously mentioned, the Old Issitti were eventually absorbed by the “New” or modern Issitti. The reasons for which an d the events that culminated prior the total absorption are described by Iccos in passing, but my research has led me to a detailed, highly objective, yet unnamed account by Erettes, a statesman-writer who lived long before Iccos’ time. It is also in my belief that Iccos based much of his histories on the work previously done by Erettes. Erettes’ account will be the basis of the following.

Within a few generations upon the arrival of the Old Issitti, the Golden City had grown in wealth and power. Using their superior knowledge in engineering and weapon-making, the Old Issitti were able to hold off and eventually subdue and enslave the locals of Ritti without much trouble. During this dark time for the inhabitants of Ritti, many of the old ways were lost through the deaths of the elders and the Issitti were becoming less and less foreign as the years went by.

In time, the surviving bands of Ritti locals adopted Issitti ways and established their own town-states, but none compared to the Golden City in wealth or sophistication. Fierce hostility grew between the Old Issitti and the imitators, as the historians and leaders of the Old Issittie believed that the “barbarians” of Ritti were fit for nothing but slavery.

Eventually, small wars broke out between the Golden City and the various Ritti town-states and between the town-states themselves. The Old Issitti had the advantage of their knowledge of building great ships, the secrets of which the locals of Ritti were not able to determine through observation alone.

However, Erettes writes that slaves employed in the building of the navy of the Golden City were exposed to the aforementioned secrets. An opportune moment for the Ritti locals later, a silent buildup of warships began. This marked the start of the fall of the Old Issitti, and the rise of the New..

Despite all the adversity, however, the oligarchy of the Golden City remained complacent. Convinced that their ships were still enough to retain their position of power in Ritti, the Old Issitti aristocracy went on with their lives as though they were still dealing with unsophisticated wretches. Within a generation or so after, the Ritti locals banded together and attacked the Old Issitti. Unprepared and shocked by the superiority in numbers and decency in quality of the Ritti warships, the Golden City fell to the ravaging warriors of the Ritti locals, who now called themselves the Issitti in recognition of the Old Issitti‘s power.

This ends the part from which I take much from Erettes. Although absolute accuracy cannot be established even with so aged a document, it can be agreed upon that complacency and the loss of real superiority led to the loss of authority the Old Issitti. In a moment of digression, let me say that this should be a lesson to all those who wish to build to power.

The New Issitti--or, rather, the Issitti--came to dominate the Ritti peninsula, establishing a clan-based oligarchy rooted on the ruling families that led the Ritti locals against the Old Issitti. This later developed a more democratic model, rooted on imported ideas from the far south and the fact that there were, in fact, hundreds of influential families that wanted a piece of power.

The Issitti were indeed very much like the Old Issitti. The mass rapes in the acquisition of the Golden City left an indelible mark in the heredity of the Issitti. As evidenced by our very eyes, the Issitti are darker-skinned than ourselves, with some almost as dark as the sailors of the merchant ships from the southern deserts.

The Issitti then came to influence us as well as our neighbors, after their victories,. The first generation of the New Issitti wished to project their newfound power across the region, establishing small trading settlements in Rutto, Vitti, and Arutto. Our ancestors adopted the Issitti ways and, eventually, the Issitti trading posts were abandoned in favor of directly dealing with the newly-civilized harbor-cities.

[1] The book was meant to be read by the people of Lutto, in particular the educated and/or wealthy elite.
[2] A book by the Issitti historian Iccos, or Iccos of Ritti to the inhabitants of Rutto. The book describes, in a very biased fashion, from the arrival of the Old Issitti to a romantic story about the Ritti locals defeating and absorbing a corpulent Issitti nation.
[3] The Ailuttorutto, though maintaining cordial relations with the rest of the world, viewed the south as a particularly dangerous place, probably because of the large empires that have formed there or exaggerated tales of bloodshed that were common among the sailors and traders who did business with them.
 
OOC: I think I can gain an advantage by taking a leaf out of the French Revolutionary's book.

Arkage Rank and File
Being an army of soldiers and not an army of aristocrats, the Arkage had a system of ranks. A major advantage of the Arkage was that their soldiers were promoted on merit, or as close as mortal men can percieve it.

The system began with the Ragrids. ("id" was a tense word in the Arkage language). A Ragrid was a cross between a soldier and a warrior. They were the slave soldiers, but were given more dignity in this time period. (They used to be described simply as slaves, even on the battlefield) They were less disciplined then their Seshweay counterparts.

Next were the Obrids (members of the army class). They formed an elite, far superior to Seshweay soldiers. They made up for the inferiority of the Ragrids, through their constant and harsh training in peace and in war.

But an Obrid was not a commander. The commanders were the Kakrids. A Kakrid would lead ten men into battle. A further advantage of the Arkage was the desire of Kakrids to compete for promotion.

The word Mobrid had by this time the connontation of being a good and noble man. A Mobrid was now a mere commander of 100 men, though they still formed in theory the Mobrid Council. In practice, it was defunct and was merely a briefing room for the Mobrids. Each Mobrid had a Mobridion (a Mobrid's Command, or 100 men), and ten Kakrids to command them (for total units of 11 men). A Mobrid's job, if they were not assigned to a task like outflankment, was to coordinate the Kakrids and attempt to defeat the enemy Mobridion (an abstraction of 100 men, not corresponding to the enemy command structure).

The Jobrid Council was originally the King's Inner Circle, back in Arkage days. They still formed in theory the Jobrid council, but in practice it was defunct except as a briefing room. A Jobrid had the connontations of being a clever and cunning man. Jobrids were commanders of 1000 men.

The Timorids were theoretically Jobrids, but in practice everybody knew the diffrence. They were the King's Inner Circle, and the heir to the throne would come from their ranks. They commanded 10,000 men each. It was seen as good form, however, to keep good relations with the ten Jobrids under their command.

The Obrid Commander was the King's right hand man, and leader of the Timorids only answerable to the King (though not a Timorid himself). His primary responsibilty, santicified by a sworn oath before the whole army, was to uphold the military strength of the Obrids no matter what got in his way, and this was their primary responsibility (except if one become King). But whenever a right hand man was actually needed, he could do the job.
 
Zero Sum Games are pointless both of use burning our respective cities only makes us both poorer :p

Honestly i would prefer that we try to keep it to small events and internal matters (with the occasional fight) but im happy to keep the two stories you have done now we might just need to ensure continuity between our stories.

EDIT: I doubt a truce would be called... given that if you raised that city you will just raised my peoples Holy City... more than likely they would unite solely to exterminate you all :) No Peace.
 
Lol, I couldn't help laughing when I saw my capital name being bigger than my nation :lol:
Abby, I'm sorry, I thought we had lesser territory the first turn. I thought we were supposed to expand to the borders which we agreed on; but I won't give away provinces I have in my property already. Although if our empires grow to a decent area, we can begin to make some diplomacy ;)

When are orders due?

'Story':

Drawing showing the battle of Jahip



The battle of Jahip was one of the most important events in early Hu'ut history. Although the picture here was quite dramatic, note the raging sides charging at each other, it is a very nationalistic drawing by the Hu'ut side. The Hu'ut warriors are standing with spears and shields (Note their hair – it was very fashionable for Hu'ut people to have long, windy hair at the time of the drawing) facing the Salgaron army coming from the city.

There is a couple of mistakes on the picture – the artist was obviously not there. Jahip was not placed on a mountain, but on floodplains. The Hu'ut were outnumbered, and the Salgaron were much more advanced than depicted.

Nevertheless, it is a good example of the art by the ancient Hu'ut.
 
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