JalNES II: Quicker and Easier

OOC: Orders in half a hour....

LittleBoots said:

Location: Brideshead

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We're not going to revisit this, are we?

Evelyn Waugh =

This is your 1.5 hour warning.

I currently have 10/12 orders. I need orders from:

Akkadia/Jason The King
Guo/Vertinari118
Hadir Unicus/bestshot9
Karanu/Daftpanzer
Memphis/Abaddon
Neo-Kadria/Neverwonagame3
Sumbiti/Ninja Dude
Tyre/alex994
Tyros/germanicus12
Urkesh/Dachspmg
Yue/Azale
Zhou/Charles Li

I probably won't start the update until after 10, though. 70% chance it comes tonight, 25% chance tomorrow, 5% Sunday.

Kura/North King
Dark Blue
Kurukshetra
Government: Monarchy
Economy: Agriculture, less so Trade
Military: Medium/Archers and spears
Culture: Hinduism, for the most part, reigns supreme here. Thus, the caste system is fully in effect, which not only defines social status but also economic status; one's job is defined by one's place in life. Being relatively remote from the Harappan civilization, Kura shows more Aryan influences than the Indus river valley does.
Description: Founded in the distant past, Kura is near the source of the Ganges River. Key to their growth was harnessing the reversed growing seasons in the Ganges Valley as opposed to the Indus. They are a powerful state in their area, but this is only because all the others are so very weak.

Furthest northeast on your India map.

I'm wrong, he's right, so what?

OOC: It's actually 2000 BC. This update will be a hundred years.

Charles Li said:

Ahem... It is 2,500....

What the heck, you are propabably an early aryan in that respect: Hinduism is founding by conquering Aryans after 1,500 B.C.

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Two thousand BC, thank you, and moreover you're rather wrong on the whole idea of what exactly the "Aryan Invasion" was (at best, it was more of a migration than a "conquest"). So sure, I'm an "early" Aryan, but there's no real problem with that, especially as it's so far out of the way of the Indus, and furthermore since the Aryan transition was a gradual one anyway.

Commencing update. Jason and Germanicus can send orders until I edit this post to say otherwise.

EDIT: Starting the Middle East. Already finished India and China.

Update One:Look on my Works, ye Mighty​

The history of the 20th century BC can be told through monuments, those great works that men build that they may be remembered, and thus attain immortality. In Hadir and Karanu, great temples were built; in Yue, the first libraries. And throughout Mesopotamia, thousands of statues testified to the greatness of Te'irru, the One who Must be Feared.

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Though few trade goods are found on the site of ancient Shlobi prior to around 2000 BC, the strata for around the century after this date reveal a massive increase of trade goods. Several shipwrecks containing tablets written in Sumbiti corroborate this fact and suggest a massive expansion of the navy, especially on the increasingly lucrative Shlobi-Tarashna trade route.

Diplomatic correspondences are also found in abundance at this time. They reveal the de facto adoption of Sumbiti as the main trade tongue south of the Indus. The first known naval blockade occurred either in 1973 BC (long M-D chronology) or 1935 BC (short chronology), when Sumbiti vessels diverted trade and actively blocked merchant ships from the nearby city of Lothal, followed three years later by the surrender of the city and marriage of the royal family of Lothal into the Sumbiti line. Such maneuvers were presumably common, as records reveal an increase in Sumbiti territory around the Gulf of Kutch.


Excavations at Tarashna reveal two seemingly contradictory facets of the Karanu culture during the same period. First, it increasingly became a hub of culture and diplomacy--excavations are ongoing at the great temple of Tuva in Tarashna, and contemporary reports speak of the purportedly even larger temple of Dama, which purportedly (and clearly impossibly) rose high enough to be seen as far away as Sutkagen-Dor. These temples brought Karanu prestige, which led to diplomacy across the region--it is a historical fact that a delegation from Sutkagen-Dor visited the palace at Tarashna to discuss greater trade ties in 1947/1909 BC (long/short chronology), which presumably gave rise to the legend of Dama's temple. Recently and controversially, certain archeologists have linked mentions of "Karn" in Akkad to mentions of "Akt" in Karanu to claim that the two cultures were in frequent contact during this time. This theory remains extremely unlikely, though it is possible occasional traders passed from one city to the other.

The second facet, however, is seen in the no fewer than seven layers of ash in the Tarashna strata carbon-dated to the 20th century BC. Tarashna was frequently invaded and, seemingly, frequently sacked, though the Great Temples seem to have survived. Yet the strong Karanu culture seems to have assimilated invaders remarkably quickly, such that diplomatic correspondences name Tarashna as the capital of dozens of short-lived empires during the 2nd millennium BC.


The recent discovery of the ruins of 20th-century Kurukshetra, capital of the state of Kura, has pushed our knowledge of the Indo-Aryan migration back two centuries. Although it was not mentioned in any surviving tablets from the period, high-quality Sumbiti ivory found in the 20th-century stratum leaves no doubt that Kura was within the cultural sphere of the Indus Valley Civilization, though it was likely at the very edge of the sphere. Archeological finds indicate the presence of an early Vedic religion, including proto-lingams and a possible representation of a proto-Shiva figure. No evidence has been found to suggest deviation from a rigid caste structure. Frustratingly, it is not known at this time whether Kura was at this time the most advanced Indo-Aryan state or one of many, as no other surviving Indo-Aryan sites from this period have been found.




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Records of the Guo culture during the 20th century are remarkably uneventful. There is evidence of a continued but slow expansion caused by population growth inland along the Yellow River. At the same time, Guo seems to have developed a larger trade fleet and become more important in the trade of Northern China.


If Guo's history during this time is uneventful, the history of the Zhou culture is action-packed. Contemporary records indicate that at the peak of the Early Zhou Dynasty in 1922 BC, no fewer than nine cities sent tribute to Chang'ang. The ruins of a massive bronze mining and smelting complex several kilometers outside the city testify to the scale of the Zhou war machine at its height, a well-oiled machine consisting of elite officers, levies, and trained spearmen and archers employing tactics advanced for the time. The discovery of a large jade lode within their territory brought new prosperity to the Zhou, and seems to have brought as well massive public works projects such as paved roads. The large-scale exploitation of the jade lode, however, likely caused devastating inflation and economic collapse--it is clear that in 1902 BC, twenty years after its peak, the Zhou Dynasty controlled only four cities.


Though Yue remained a regional trade hub during the 20th century--one recently excavated shipwreck appears to have a bireme-like design, similar to equivalent Phoenician designs--it was more focused during this time on overland expansion. An early form of crop rotation and proto-irrigation appears to have created a population explosion that led to an enlargement of the army and incorporation of nearby cities into the Yue culture. One of the first bureaucracies in the world, known as "Yue law", in which the king delegated his supreme authority to a governing Inner council and regional Head Governors, was also created. Finally, libraries analogous to those of early Sumer seem to have appeared, most notably in the capital, Guiji.




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The sack of New Kadria in 1976 BC marks the beginning of forty years of Hurrian domination which forever changed the culture of the Middle East. The accounts of the tribute-house of New Kadria, preserved despite the burning of the city, show that the sack interrupted a period of ascendancy for the Neo-Kadrian state. Contemporary records praise the genius of Urshanabi, first Vizier of Neo-Kadria, appointed from among the nobles who had seized all but nominal power from the monarchy. Urshanabi's elaborate tomb, built upon his death in 1978, contains a much-exaggerated but nearly complete history of the period, during which Neo-Kadria expanded largely by stealth and deceit, capturing several nearby cities. The tomb inscriptions also speak of great reforms--both the too-late beginning of the reform of the army and the more-effective Urshanabi reforms, which established the Vizier system.

In the previous generation, Urkesh had created a loose federation of Hurrian nomadic tribes. By 1980, however, it had become clear that Urkesh was no longer the center of the federation--instead, the tribes were largely focused on gaining wealth though plunder and migration. Massive raiding was followed up by a crushing victory over Neo-Kadrian forces, exhaustively detailed by existing accounts, which proved too late what Urshanabi had in vain insisted--that adequately trained chariots were far superior to a force consisting of mostly spearmen. After the sacking of the city, Urkesh imposed a puppet government, which, subverted by the Neo-Kadrian aristocracy, rapidly became effectively independent, as can be seen by its wide-ranging diplomatic correspondences.

In the meantime, the Hurrian forces had moved further afield. They rampaged across Mesopotamia, not managing to take any of the larger cities but preventing the establishment of a Mesopotamian empire by cities such as Akkad. In the west, too, the Hurrians were active, seizing the important city of Carchemist to the northwest of New Kadria.

Another battle, important more for its consequences than its immediate effects, occurred in 1951, when the important trade center of Arvad was sacked. Besides in the long run increasing the importance of the nascent Phoenician League, the battle was notable for the emergence of the Hurrian warlord who led the amphibious assault on the city: Te'irru. Though the authoritative biography of Te'irru, penned by a now-anonymous scribe from Men-nefer, is lost, we know something about Te'irru's campaigns from quotations by later scholars.

Te'irru, who believed himself to be an incarnation of the legendary god-king Gilgamesh, became the personal leader of the entire Hurrian horde, winning their loyalty by his generous distribution of the plunder from Arvad. He first started his campaigns by sacking, again, New Kadria. Then he turned southwest to confront the Phoenician League.

In response to Arvad's dominance of trade and the Tyros-Hadir Unicus alliance, Hiram I of Tyre had convinced several nearby cities--Bêrut, Akko, Dor, but not Sidon or Gebal-- to loosely align with it, most importantly by the mutual lowering of taxes and the creation of a central grain storage facility, of which the ruins have recently been excavated, which served as a guarantee for metal ingots used as currency by the League. When Te'irru rose to power, the League quickly became more a unified state than a loose alliance--and managed to incorporate Sidon. Many League subjects took refuge on the island portion of Tyre, whose walls had recently been completed.

Te'irru, despite a four-year siege, was unable to breach the walls of Tyre--that would have to wait for a yet-more-famous conqueror. Eventually reaching an agreement to make the League a puppet state, Te'irru turned to campaigning throughout Mesopotamia, for ten years repeatedly sacking nearly every city on the Tigris and Euphrates and building monuments to himself on the site of each sacked city.

In 1936, however, Te'irru launched his last, greatest, campaign--an assault on eternal Egypt itself.

Hadir Unicus does not seem to have expanded significantly during the 20th century. Despite this, it seems to have prospered from its continued role as a trade hub (along with Tyros, which linked itself to Hadir by a royal marriage), as the construction of a great temple to the Unicus pantheon, as well as an elaborate city defense system, illustrate. Men-nefer, on the other hand, true to its nature as Old Kingdom capital, seems to have developed the beginnings of an empire, though it was one considerably less centralized, which generally expanded by bribing the heads of local cities to join the federation. In any case, it is known that a temple to Ptah was built in each city of the empire, enabling modern archeologists to determine its spread. By 1935, Men-nefer had divided Egypt in two, capturing the west part of the delta as well as expanding east towards Gaza. Diplomacy of the time reveals decidedly cool relations between Men-nefer and Hadir, though, this century at least, they did not descend into outright war.

In 1935, though, Hadir and Men-nefer agreed to put their differences aside to fight a greater threat--Te'irru. Seizing the cities of the Sinai on the way, Te'irru chose to attack not the logical choice, Hadir, but the city of pharaohs, Men-nefer. It was to prove a fatal mistake--while the Hurrians assaulted the walls of Memphis, the well-disciplined, professional, mixed army that Neo-Kadria had lacked forty years previous was able to catch them by surprise--and, much to their shock, the slave army of Hadir Unicus proved a match for the nomads of Hurria.

Te'irru's death (though no body was ever found, sparking a militaristic cult that waited for his return to bring about the End of Days) sparked the collapse of the Hurrian empire into a series of small successor states led by various petty warlords. These ultimately coalesced into several larger states--a syncretic Hurrian-Kadrian state in New Kadria that kept its previous territory, a more trade-oriented state in Carchimesh, a small state in Urkesh, claiming to be the legitimate ruler of all Hurrians, and a more barbaric state in Shekhna.



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OOC

Let me know what you think of this update style; it was certainly interesting to write.

The stats contain many things not mentioned in the update, including cultural influence, so you should probably look at the stats for your neighbors as well.

Jason and germanicus can still submit orders for next turn. If they don't, I'll stop keeping track of Akkad as anything other than an NPC city, and Hadir will inherit Tyros, at least nominally.

Story Bonuses
Zhou: increased military training
Hadir: not getting invaded, potential to inherit Tyros
Neo-Kadria: still being a state, despite being sacked twice

Best Orders: Dachspmg. Sorry I couldn't do them justice.


Next Deadline: Saturday, 7/5, 21:00 EST. I'm leaning towards one more 100-year update but will change this if there's opposition.

TENATIVE: I don't want any story bonuses. It's probably too late now, but I don't mind retconning around me never getting them in the first place.

OOC: That's not exactly your choice. Supposedly, your story was the reason Neo-Kadria is still around

@Jal, don't worry, I'll do my best to hold out until someone like Alexander the Great comes about. I must say, your style has definitely improved since the last time when I was Rome.

Neverwonagame3 said:

TENATIVE: I don't want any story bonuses. It's probably too late now, but I don't mind retconning around me never getting them in the first place.

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Well, the only bonus you've gotten thus far wasn't really much of a bonus at all.

I suppose that's fine--remind me of this fact in your orders, please.

I disagree with that claim, but it's not worth complaining. Anyway, a slight edit is that I would want a story bonus to counteract any penalty (e.g- somebody exploits the popular revolt in the story in this post to advantage).

NOTE: The names are Bablyonian. I would replace them with Hurrian names if I could find enough.

The Second 'Urshanabi' Reform Act and What Led Up to It
King Gudea was an ambitious man. He had not been broken by his raising, and had managed (a large part thanks to his mother) to stay strong-willed despite his father, and even cover it up. He wanted to seize power in Neo-Kadria, and restore a hereditary monarchy. He was convinced this was the way to led Kadria back to it's former glory...

Vizier Uti wanted to be more then a second Urshanabi- he wanted to restore the Empire. But he was convinced that doing this required reforms in Neo-Kadria itself- the creation of a merit-based army, improvement in the discipline of those not part of the Core while retaining the Core's power, and strengthening the power of the Vizier.

Dagon was a self-proclaimed prophet with a large amount of charisma. He claimed that Kadria was going to fall, and that it's end was inevitable. He argued based on claimed relevation, but others pointed out that the Hurrians still existed, that there were now two powers in the way of a restored Kadrian Empire, and that they didn't even have a strong King.

The fourth force in the story were the aristocrats, led by Rigiljo, but Rigiljo was more a follower then a leader. They consistently want power, priveldges, and money. Dagon would point to them as another cause of Neo-Kadrian downfall, both the King and Vizier would oppose them to some degree, but they still played a major part.

Few knew of Gudea's ambitions yet, so he decided to play the first card by hiring a bodyguard of peasants and friends loyal to him. Uti wanted to depose the King, but as he had been Vizier for the last five years of Gudea's childhood and his posistion was not that stable anyway, he decided to let the step go.

This was around the time Dagon began preaching on the streets. He on the one hand and Gudea on the other argued against the policies of the Vizier- the main diffrence was that Dagon preached doom, while Gudea claimed a strong king could solve the problem.

Uti used this opportunity to recommend what he called for political reasons the Second Urshanabi Reforms. These consisted of allowing those who proved themselves in battles prizes including promotion, compulsory training for peasants in the bow one day a week, and compulsory training for aristocrats three days a week. He argued that this was an alternative to royal power on the one hand and doom on the other.

But things began to spin out of control when the aristocrats backlashed greatly against it. Desiring to get a meaningful and beneficial reform package through, Uti proposed the raising of taxes greatly to aristocrat's pockets. He also added several bribes into the package, and combined with his eloquence got the bill through. He thought his posistion was saved.

This claim was refuted when a popular revolt emerged. Gudea went out to the people, and claimed that he was a mere puppet and that Vizier Uti had the real power. The people decided to aid Gudea, who promised to undo the reforms. Dagon claimed the empire was dying.

A few aristocrats had joined the kings's side, and Uti feared the very large army against him. He decided to buy off the people with his own counter-offer. He would have a Tribune be appointed, elected by 'the people'. (Given the size of the empire, this failed quite miserably to keep even to full adult male suffrage)

The reform package that resulted was the following:
-Aristocrats are obliged to train one day a week for war
-The people will elect a Tribune every year. The Tribune will have power of veto over any descision
-King Gudea will be replaced with a king elected by the people, confirmed in his current powers but given no more
-The Vizier will be elected by the votes of the people and the aristocrats (Uti thought he would be popular for the reform act, and this could save his job)
-The chariot will be emphasised in the army as the primary weapon of war
-The previous reform package will be annulled

In practice, 'popular' elections were quite inconsistent, with whole villages being missed completly, votes often being lost, hijacked, or destroyed by rival parties, and with people rarely having heard of either canidate. (Honest canidates for popular election would go about the countryside trying to rectify the situation, and have others do so as well, and hope in power that by proclaiming tax cuts or other popular acts as their descision they would gain popular support).

Wow. A very well written update indeed, jal. Props for being able to understand my meandering order style too. Of the various Hurrian successor states, I think I'll go with Carchemish.

I like the update style, feels like I'm reading out of a history text book or watching a short documentary or something.

EDIT: By the way, what would have happened had I not got that story bonus?

From Neo-Kadria
To Independent City-States (OOC: Of Syria region- and this doesn't count Carcimesh. I put this because I don't know their names)

I propose we form a Triple Alliance, with an agreement that we will aid each other in any war against Carcimesh, and that we will partition any gains from such wars equally. Finally, we will agree never to extract tribute from each other for the rest of eternity.

From Neo-Kadria
To to the state to our southeast

I propose an alliance on equal terms.

To Hadir Unicus
From Men-nefer

We should discuss expansion plans, as we would prefere to avoid war if at all possible.

To Men-nefer
From Hadir Unicus

Yes, we should. We have proven that we can work together in the past, let it not fail to happen again. Unicus between the two nations will only help both.

I really enjoyed the style you used, jal.

Also, will this upcoming turn see more NPC's? It does not matter to me either way, it's more to help matters of where I should spend and not spend

Wow! Although less detail than the likes of Jason the King or BirdJaguar (well, what used to be bird jaguar... something happened to her/his updates...)
You still manage to run it fast!

I'll write a story on how the Jade Trade sparked many states to pay assassins to kill the king and to try to win it after his death. What happened is they are paying more and more to assassins and also more minor tribute due to inflation that when the king is actually killed, only those that aren't connected by the more advanced roads escaped to fight over the lodes, and the new King Zhou Hin Shi retained it.

He learned his lesson for sure! And the lode is still there. Story soon.