End of Empires - N3S III

End of Empires - Update Five
Red Dawn

c. Fifty Years


The gods are terrible, it is true, but they do have their whims. Occasionally, they let humanity have their halcyon years. That is a rarity, of course, but it happens.

It seems that we may be entering one of those times. Few dare utter the words, for fear of bringing a curse upon us all, but the world is changing, and for once it seems to be for the better. Populations expand, and yet men are more wealthy by the day. Crops have grown well; summers are long, rains plentiful. New buildings have begun around the world, and perhaps some lands have started to enter a golden age.

But even in a golden age, men remain the same. And men will kill.

The story is an old one. Men drawn up in the long lines of battle, arrayed against each other, determined to fight to the death. Fighting for a king, a word, a city, a place. They march from faraway lands, facing men they would never have met but for bloody circumstance.

The setting is old, too. For this is the River Sesh, and war is not new here.

The history of this little waterway is ancient, and does not bear repeating here. Suffice it to say, the foes are old as well. Seshweay and Arkage, the two most ancient peoples on the Earth, longtime foes. And here they fight again.

But before that clash, there was another battle, and it is here that the blood began, seeping from the banks into the River, flowing far downstream, past Arkage, past Se’is itself, into the Gulf of Weay. Here, on the banks of this ancient river, the once enslaved, the once slavers, the once conquered, do their best to become the conquerors.

Mukalla was no ordinary Bahrai: a king of uncommon ability who had managed to unite the quarrelsome clans behind him, drag in numerous smaller tribes as allies, and bring war unto the Arkage. Unfortunately for him, they obliged, bringing a massive professional army, commanded by a brilliant leader by the name of Palnid. It was a magnificent host, fully armed with iron, their shields gleaming in the sun of dawn, larger and probably better than the Bahrai host in every conceivable measure.

With their swords drawn, the army of the Sesh advanced to the beat of a drum, row upon lockstep row. Before them, the Bahrai army melted away even as it tried to give battle. It was a ridiculously easy victory, hardly worthy of a triumph. Already, in his saddle, Palnid dreamed of conquering Magha, and perhaps ruling Bahra himself. Then the sands came.

As the Bahrai retreated into their native desert, a foul wind swept over the desert, stirring up the ancient dust, lifting it by the ton – into the face of the advancing army. The professionals raised their shields, coughed at the choking grit, and soldiered on, but before they could wipe it from their eyes, the enemy were upon them. Galloping like the wind, the desert peoples scored a massive victory.

The Bahrai king, Mukalla the Second, was crowned emperor of the south on the blood-soaked fields of Tisesh, and the entire Sesh army had been utterly annihilated.

It was but the beginning.

The Arkage had well expected a Seshweay attack, and were already planning to sabotage it. They hired a Trilui merchant ship to do their bidding, to slip their soldiers into the capital of the Seshweay and burn it to the ground by masquerading as simple traders. Fortune did not smile upon their clever tactics this time, however.

The Trilui soldiers must have thought the irony delicious, for they stormed the city of Cyre from the inside out. The greatest port in the Empire of the Sesh had been taken, and the greatest Empire in the known world had joined the war, its fleet easily sweeping away the tired and tiny remnants of their enemy’s ships. Its armies poured forth now, and their ships joined the Seshweay for a great attack on the Delta.

The Empire surely knew it was falling now, as they faced three times their numbers. The army in the south had been beaten, and Mukalla was advancing down the river far too swiftly; if they could not beat the allies as they landed, the last great soldiers of the Empire would be caught in a pincer.

They fell back, letting the Seshweay take the old city of Se’is, or appearing to, anyway. But the old customs of the first Sesh Empire had not passed only to its nominal descendant: military traditions ran deep among the exiles as well, and caution was able to detect the fire traps long before they became a serious threat to the allied army. In any case, with the city more or less a ruin of its former glory, there was little and less to burn.

So it fell to the city of Arkage to defend itself: the great center of a once-mighty empire, and the capital of another now. Old walls are not always an asset, however, and the great philosophers of the Seshweay were able to master the arts of siege-craft: the city fell to the ram, the ladder, and the mine. The old Empire was gone in all but name; only a few cowards had managed to escape to the east, where they hoped to find safety.

In the Hills of Parda, or the Peaks of Kings, depending on who was asked, the city of Banh lay, ancient as the ages. Carved deep into the stone, the citadel was said to be impregnable. That was nonsense, of course, but no one much cared. This land had been the capital of Jania for a hundred years, and remained a stronghold of the Arkage long after the Sesh fell the first time. This was hardly a place where invasion and conquest were regular fears.

Nor were these ordinary times. Even as the wars raged in north and south, while the beaten Arkage began to fall back upon their ancient fortress to regroup and plan a new conquest of the river, to recover their old glory, they were fallen upon.

They came in the night, overthrowing the gates easily, slipping into the city under cover of darkness. They had met only light resistance, for few guarded these mountains zealously, and they were well equipped for the terrain; their march had been swift. Banh fell all to easily to a force that had never been expected. The people of Neruss had their glory; the town once known only for salt had come into its own. A set of peaks known as the Golden Hills were theirs.

Indeed, the fall of an Empire did not lead to chaos, as it usually does. The allies quarreled, of course, especially Bahra with the other allies, but for the most part, it was only a minor aberration from years of peace and, indeed, prosperity. While territories have yet to integrate with their new owners, and therefore haven’t fully recovered, the process of healing is beginning. It is a sorely needed time of peace for the ancient river valley, as its exhausted soils begin to regenerate.

The Seshweay have regained their ancient capital at Se’is, but the center of the Republic has not moved there, yet. For the old ways have been blended with the new; the ocean is not such an unfit way of life anymore. The ships of the Seshweay have opened up new routes of trade: ways that had only been blazed by the Trilui in the ancient days, and even some that had never been tread before. The rising Bosrttian cities were an entirely new creation, really, for they followed the ancient creed of Ancestor worship.

In the north, change is afoot. The restoration of trade with the south, thanks to the timely conclusion of the war on the Sesh has boosted trade and production to the point where no one can remember a time more bountiful. Even war seems to have fairly ceased, barring the exceptional, spectacular fall of Rutto at the hands of the Prokym invaders. But even that seems to have spurred the creation of a new successor state, a hybrid of sorts between the very different cultures: Suthia. Crafted by the conqueror king Aretu, it will surely look to its borders for its future.

The fast expanding states of Acca and Ritti were well placed to take advantage of this new growth. Both have good connections with the south, and while neither really have the goods that traders want, they both act as excellent ports of call. This has fueled military conquest in both states, as Acca took hold of its southern neighbors, while Ritti seized the port of Mettio, saving it from the Prokym hordes, but ironically keeping it from the successors of Rutto. A more sinister strain has appeared in Ritti culture, where they claim the mantle of the only true Lutto state; only time can tell if Acca will accept that slight insult, and moreover, whether Suthia will, either.

Gallat had well read the winds, and the port of Sirasona was well timed to take advantage of new trading opportunities. With salt pans nearby, it grew into a major producer as well as a harbor – with the second role dominant, as it is the primary entry into Gallat for overseas trade, and an easy stopping point for a final leg through Adua, into the Yadyevu, to the ports of Lmehugu and Ditayukl.

Here, the Ederru are growing faster than ever, with civilization slowly spreading through the north. While baking summer suns may only dry the Senet Desert, here it brings life, as the ice comes later each year, and melts earlier. Crops grow thicker, and the people are warm. Here the world is in spring.

But spring on one side of the world can be autumn on the other...

Far, far to the south, a venture gone far too wrong has the kings of Hamakua brooding. They had planned a simple expedition, to strike and take the colony of Sivi for themselves. This rather failed spectacularly, as the colony resisted all attacks: well fortified, it was able to hold out against even the best of Hamakuan siege technology. Which was, of course, not the worst of it; the vast Trilui navy quickly pounced on the situation.

The arrival of a hundred vessels off the coast of Sivi was bad enough; worse still, they managed to trap the Hamakuan navy in the bay. Neither side knew these waters well; it had been years since Hamakua had owned it, and naturally the Trilui had barely seen it before. Yet it was already tilted in the northerners’ favor; with their impeccable positioning, they had the advantage of time. They could out-wait the natives, and that they did.

At long last, with supplies running low, the navy sailed out from the old, ruined harbor of Waipio, all oars dipped, charging with full speed for the straits. Directly into the Trilui fleet, which was able to catch them on three sides, boxing the enemy in, denying them maneuvering room, crushing ships up against each other. It was a crushing blow to a once proud navy: barely a third of the seventy or so ships caught in the gulf were able to escape. The Trilui lost barely half that amount.

By the end of the period, the Hamakua were forced to sign an unfavorable peace treaty, which gained them nothing for the effort, treasure, and lives expended.

The other once-great rival of the Trilui, the Opulensi, have fallen into a shadow of their former selves; lethargy and apathy have overtaken these nations for the moment. This has left the far east with something of a power vacuum; the various Arta Xorti states are far too weak and divided to take up the slack. All, that is, but for one.

Stad Men spent this period professionalizing a small section of its army, and putting on an aggressive posture on its northern border. Hardly an earthshattering move, it was still a clear sign to the northern barbarians, and a slightly less clear sign to the world: the old peoples of the East were not dead.

Palmyra, for its part, continued expansion to the south, but otherwise did not do much.

If one leaps across the continent, one will find that the ancient steppe has been seeing times of change lately. While the Satarai are continuing their long trek westwards, coincidentally riding off into the sunset, other tribes have begun to rise and take their place. Chief among these is the Katdhi, a tribe united around the ideal of a city in the steppe. While it is a nice idea, it is somewhat limited by the practical limits of a steppe: water alone is difficult to supply, food only barely less so. Some complain that the rulers of this land are leading them to a life where they will grow old, fat, and without glory, but others are seeing it as the start of something new, and maybe something better.

Thus, in conclusion, we must come to the greatest war the south has ever seen.

The opening moves were not at all unexpected. An army had been dispatched from Thearak proper to retake the northern cities, which rapidly pushed back the barbarians with few casualties; their disciplined lines were easily able to defeat the hordes from the north, for the moment, anyway. Their soldiers managed to push all the way to the pass through the Kotthorns, then set up a garrison to deal with further incursions.

Krato launched an expedition to Piatrata, and while the attack was fully anticipated by Thearak’s king, its size did somewhat surprise the local commander, who, while able to avoid any major defeats, was utterly unable to keep a hold on the country, as the lords in the countryside rebelled once again, and put the country under their own control. The Uggor abandoned the area as untenable – a wise move, for it would have turned out to be a waste of resources, as indeed it was for Thearak.

The ships of Krato made yet another attack: this time towards Thearak itself. This battle had been fought and refought in the minds of all since the first section of the war; now it began once again. The Uggor landed and quickly made for the walls, but they were halted on the beaches by the defenders, who were able to inflict heavy losses even as the chiefs disembarked. The battle was not quite as disastrous as might have been expected, simply due to the ability of the elephants to swim well: they were able to escape most danger, and the army retreated back to Krato.

As these campaigns finished up, another strike was launched: this time, the Liealb began to attack the city of Hala on the northern end of the front. This, too, was anticipated, and Thearak ran into heavy fortifications which managed to stall the attack for long enough that the other garrisons were able to come to the relief of the beleaguered city. In the end, the battle ended in a bloody defeat for Thearak.

Thus, the fighting stalemated for a few weeks at the same front, with both sides hesitating to make a move. However, fifty years is a long time, too long for the plans of a king to be followed too closely. Krato’s war chiefs decided to launch another advance, this one at the heart of their enemy. Twin forces set out: one from Hala, the other from the sea.

While Thearak had been well prepared for an attack through the hills, their own advance’s failure had thrown it into disarray; a rout ensued. The allied nations were able to make quick headway southwards. Even faster was their advance from the sea, and while the king had not necessarily learned from his previous mistakes, his chiefs were able to correct the mistakes of previous landings, and arrive in force some distance downriver from the capital itself, where defenses were less prepared.

In the final days of Thearak, the nation was forced to defend its capital against two attacks at once. Its defenses were scattered, and its soldiers panicked; the city fell without too much fanfare, and the holy priests of Opios surrendered the city to avoid further bloodshed.

The south was united.


Casualties, Miscellaneous Bonuses:

Thearak:
-nation

Krato:
-10,000 militia
-500 professionals
-150 elephants
+7,500 income
+35,000 manpower

Hamakua:
-1,000 militia
-300 professionals
-50 ships
-500 income

Trilui:
-1,500 militia
-450 professionals
-25 ships
+1,000 income
+1,000 manpower

Neruss:
-500 militia
-50 professionals
+500 income
+4,000 manpower

Bahra:
-1,000 militia
-100 nobles
-50 professionals
+1,000 income
+15,000 manpower

New Seshweay:
-2,000 militia
-300 professionals
+1,500 income
+15,000 manpower

Empire of the Sesh:
-existence

Story Bonuses:

Neverwonagame3 (3): Inflicted rather more casualties than he would have otherwise. In other words, the story bonuses were somewhat nullified by his destruction.
Kal’thzar (5): Spread the religion of Oporria to the point where the entire south believes in it: it is making inroads into Hamakua this update, though that has as yet escaped the notice of its rulers. Note that it also did not save his nation. Alas.
Ninja Dude (1): +500 income
mythmonster2 (1): +500 income
Abaddon (1): So far, the nation is successful, despite a suspect premise.
Azale (1): +250 income, +1,000 manpower
Luckymoose (2): Free recruitment of up to 500 professionals next turn (maintenance is not included), plus 500 income.
Masada (4): +1,500 income, plus easy successes (note the resettlement of Se’is).
Slavic Souix (2): +1,000 income
Cuivienen (2): +1,000 income
Lord Iggy (1): +500 income

Extremely standardized, and thus rather silly. I'll avoid that next turn.

OOC:

Luckymoose, apparently you misread. Each professional costs 3 to raise. Moreover, the 2 for maintenance is required if you want to use them for the first turn.

Neverwonagame, while your orders are certainly good as is, a precise spending list would be extremely helpful in the future. Same thing goes for skizzik. And for Lord_Iggy. And for Haseri. Birdjaguar, also, had rather ambiguous orders in this regard.

There is no new physical map, because not much new was named. No new city map, because I haven’t changed much there, either. The reason there is no economic map, despite its popularity, is because its going in for a makeover. Which reminds me...

I will be gone from July 11th to the 19th. This is absolute. No internet connections, period. So, you’ll have to go without an update for a while. I should have a lot of free time when I get back, though, so this NES will go into a rather faster paced, and more entertaining mode.
 
Well, another quiet update for the Farou. Well, no news is good news, I suppose.

No story bonuses though? Or can I just save them for a rainy day?
 
From: Republic of All Seshweay etc et al.
To: Friends and Brother Trilui and Neruss


Victory my good friends, now perhaps we should cement it.

To: Bahrai
From: Republic of Seshweay

The Seshweay in the lands you have recently occupied will be allowed i trust to leave free from molestation to resettle in the Republic with as many of thier goods as they wish to bring with them, and i hope they will be compensated for any fixed property they leave behind.
 
EDIT: Actually, I'll take Barharr.
 
OOC:Well that went well.

to: Republic of All Seshweay
from: Empire of the Trilui
Yes victory is sweet, we welcome your leaders to join us in Kargan for a feast in celebration of the destruction of the barbarian Arkage.

to: Hamakua
from: Empire of the Trilui
Your attack on Sivi will not go unpunished. We demand an explanation and a full apology as well as your abandonment of Waipio to assure this will not happen again.
 
Cherished be his name


And the cheer rung on through out the halls, “Hail Thrasten!”. Thrasten was a successful captain in the Nerussian Army, he had thought his way to the top of the ladder and was now an equal with the grand chief, and honoured with the high priest. Thrasten had truly won the hearts of the nation. After the victory , and capture of the former Janian territory, Thrasten had been promoted to grand general. His innovative and unorthodox methods of warfare had secured a Nerussian victory.

He had united the people’s thoughts and admiration, but what was a young leader to do with such prestige and power…?

As he sat in the grand hall of the Nerussian Palace he thought of his leaders and how pitiful they where. 500 years had past and the only thing the Nerussians had accomplished was desert and salt! It had taken 500 years for Thrasten to have made the leaders make an initiative to even consider conquest. He rose from the grand table from his high seat at the end of the hall, tall as he was, he spoke. “Conquest has brought Neruss great prosperity and who do you have to thank!!” a silence fell over the festive mob. “Who do you have to thank!” he repeated. The crowd where completely petrified. “These people!?”, Thrasten pointed to his left and right where the high priest, the generals and the grand chief sat. The generals and the grand chieftain gave a grunt of discontent. “What have they accomplished…!, for fifty years they have abused our people and have mislead them into submissiveness and fear! Too long have their greed consumed their judgement. Do not bow to these excuses for leaders! Let the people speak their mind! What say you!”.

A cheer went through the crowd, the nobles got up from their seats drew their swords and raised them in Thrasten’s honour.

This was the beginning of the second reform. As Thrasten had dismissed the Grand chief, and stripped the high doctrinal priest from his powers. He ventured on to form a leadership for the people by the people. Thrasten had formed the first Nerussian Senate. As he had complete support from the people he was named senate prefect. Senators from all of Neruss were elected many former noblemen still had influence in many regions, and many got a place in the senate based in the Nerussian capital. A few members where even elected from the newly captured territory of Jania. This was to ensure that some security was brought to the former Janian people. Thrasten had given the people a voice and a say. This was truly a major turning point in Nerussian history. Thrasten was from that moment destined to go down in history as First Prefect, and The Uniter of the people.
 
OOC: Liberty is a beautiful thing :)

From: Republic of all Seshweay
To: Empire of the Trilui


Certainly a member of the Senate will be dispatched, but much rebuilding needs to be done. We know not who these Skivi or the Hamakua are... but death to the Hamakua?
 
OOC: Excellent excellent update. Now for business.

From: The Autocracces and the Assembled Sufferacces of the Lawful Autocritate of Acca
To: The Kingdom of the Ritti

As per our orders in the celestial guidance of the Directive as issued by our wise philosophers and intellectuals in the School of Thought, we must ask of you several things.

First, we wish to exchange ambassadors between the City of Gold and Acca, a cementing of friendship between our peoples.

Second, a new alliance of for the sake of our culture. The Rutto have fallen rather quickly, there is no reason to think in this world that either of our countries are safe indefinitely.

Third, a new agreement on expansion policy. Perhaps a simple demarcation line would be most beneficial. Ritti takes north of a certain mountain while Acca takes south of it.

Thank you for your time.
 
Wow. That was unexpected. Good update. I'll have to think up a story for this situation.

Also, do I have contact with Bahra? Moti's border is touching them now. It would be kind of difficult for them not to have contacted each other by now.
 
To: New Seshweay
From: Bahrai Empire


May peace reign for a thousand years and may we become rich and our peoples fat.
 
question, do i have to pay something to recruit militia, or do i only have to pay the support costs?
 
Can anyone please tell me how cost/upkeep works in this NES.. its not in the OP as far as I can tell?
 
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