JalNES II: Quicker and Easier

Uhm: good story here on the agricultural business in the hills. No bonus until writen please! I'll be a little busy this week so might be after update.

Charles, you're an idiot. Why not wait posting til you actually have something to say?

OOC: That was rude Lord Aiken. The Pot rather enjoys calling the kettle black doesn't it?

@Charles, as long as the story gets edited in, it's good

Update Four: The Blood-Dimmed Tide​

This century was the first true age of empires. In the Middle East, three great empires rose and began the process of falling again. In China, the introduction of chariots spurred the rapid consolidation of territory. And in India, a great migration set the seeds for future conflict.

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The late 18th and early 17th centuries BC marked the end of the Indus Valley Civilization. While some have argued that its fall is due to an invasion of the Indo-Aryan peoples which entirely supplanted the previous culture and population, such a position is quite simply unsustainable in light of the historical evidence available to the modern archaeologist. This author takes a more moderate position--to be sure, migrations of peoples did occur, but there was as much of a eastward migration from the Indus to the Ganges as a migration of Aryans to the Indus area. More important is a large-scale amalgamation of religion and culture. As previously seen in Kura, the proto-Vedic religion likely brought to India by the Aryans came into contact with, for example, the Karanu pantheon. An explosion of rituals ensued--for the first time, the people of the Indus began to cremate their dead, and fire altars used for Vedic sacrifices have been found as far south as Sumbiti.

It must be admitted, though, that chaos and cultural discontinuity did abound in the first half of the 17th century. The collapse of Kura, largely due to its loss of exclusive control over the trade route linking the Indus and Ganges, and the rise of hostile states in Panchala and Harappa led to a migration (one that, it must be stressed, was almost entirely peaceful) of Kurans to the west in large numbers, bringing their traditions with them.

Different states had different responses to this migration. Harappa, which began as a conqueror, almost entirely assimilated, leading to the formation of what is now known as the Cemetery H culture. Sumbiti was unusually welcoming of the Aryans, its merchants, seeing an opportunity for new trade, enthusiastically encouraging the newcomers to civilize and form states, the most important example being the newly re-formed state of Lothal, which again became an important trading center after several centuries of unimportance.

Karanu, meanwhile, seems to have taken an entirely different tack. Spurred on by the entrenched priesthood, which refused to allow new rituals to propagate, the monarchy refused to allow Aryan migration, indeed taking advantage of the disarray to absorb several nearby city-states. Throughout the rest of the 17th century, the entrenched state turned back repeated assaults by neighboring cities and became increasingly isolationist, glorifying the "pure" Karanu pantheon in yet more temples and focusing on agriculture to the detriment of trade (a focus which seems to have negated any long-term adverse events from the Thera eruption--see below). The lone exception to this was Karanu's increased trade with the west, especially Sutkagen-Dor--this proved lucrative, as the cities of the Tigris and Euphrates delta, unified under the rule of Babylon, developed a huge demand for Indian goods.

It still remains to add some words about the expanding civilization of the Ganges. After Kura, the first organized Ganges state to arise was Panchala, based in Chhatravati. Soon after, as civilization spread down the river, followed Kosala, based in Shravasti. Neither state was particularly powerful at this point, but later events would change this situation.





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Unlike the Aryan migration, it is hard to see how the massive changes in Egypt that the arrival of the Hyksos caused could have resulted from anything other than a violent invasion--and indeed, historical evidence of the period supports this theory. The conquest of the Canaanite cities of Ashdod, Gaza, and Jaffa by Hadir Unicus seems to have catalyzed a general migration of the peoples who became known as the Hyksos, as well as unifying them against foreign invaders. Over the course of the 17th century, the Hyksos gradually reclaimed the lands conquered by Hadir, despite Unican attempts to perpetuate their rule over the region, and began pressing westward into Egypt proper, until by the 1630s they were attacking the city of Hadir itself. The Hyksos had both a numerical and a technological advantage, making widespread use of composite bows and advanced chariots, while the Unicans had the advantage of superior training. A conclusive battle was never fought, however, as the Unican army, composed almost entirely of slaves, chose to overthrow the ruling class that they had no real ethnic connections to. A hybrid Hyksos/Unican state ensued, combining Kyksos numbers and technology with Unican discipline to make a formidable force.

With the Unican ruling class overthrown, the peace between Hadir and Men-nefer, which had endured for centuries, collapsed. Many of the cities of the delta, which still viewed themselves as equals in the federation with Memphis, simply chose to join voluntarily with the Hyksos instead. By the turn of the century, Men-nefer had been reduced to a much smaller number of cities, with Memphis at the northern extent of the realm, but it had become correspondingly more united as it had shrunk, and an elite corps of troops had developed that had thus far held back the rather half-hearted attempts of the Hyksos, who had no real interest in expanding south of the delta. Indeed, the rapid growth of Hyksos-controlled territory led to rapidly escalating decentralization and disunity outside of the historically Unican areas, which had the advantage of a common and institutionalized religion.


At the beginning of the century, Neo-Kadria, so recently resurgent under Kirp-atal, found itself in an unpleasant position between two rising empires it had bad relations with. The situation was clearly unstable, and Carchemish, under the tyrant Aplahanda, was the first to act. It induced (some say bribed) Hammurabi to lure the majority of Kadrian forces to the south. Hammurabi duly attacked Terqa, then, in response to the inevitable Kadrian counter-attack, he retreated, and retreated, and retreated, until the Kadrians were again at the gates of Babylon. He took the opportunity to induce the states of the Euphrates delta, notably Uruk and Ur, to join with Babylon and send troops. Then, in 1695, Hammurabi again crushed the overextended Kadrian army. He spent the last decade of his life incorporating the states of the southern Tigris into Babylon, and, at his death in 1686, left behind a stable dynasty that endured beyond the end of the century.

The instant the Kadrian army at Babylon was destroyed, meanwhile Aplahanda struck, seizing for himself the city of Emar. Though he died before more of Kadria was incorporated, he had managed to strike, or at least instigate, the decisive blow, for Kadria, lacking any resource base to mobilize and cut off from international trade (as Gebal-Qatna, too, refused to trade with them after their conquest of Emar), was from this point onwards doomed. Over the next sixty years, the Carchemish juggernaut digested all of Neo-Kadria, as well as expanding eastwards to Harran and holding the ambitions of their Hatti and Qatnan allies in check.

Perhaps, though, ally is not the best term to describe the relationship of Carchemish with Kanesh and Gebal-Qatna. Gebal's relationship with Carchemish never really recovered after Aplahanda's refusal to restore Emar to its formerly neutral status. Indeed, in 1637 Gebal-Qatna went to war with Carchemish after their final ultimatum was rejected, managing to seize Emar for themselves. This was all the excuse Talmi-Teshub, the exceedingly brilliant but from all accounts exceedingly cruel and vindictive ruler of Carchemish, needed. Over the next fifteen years Talmi-Teshub, leading the army personally, conquered the whole of Gebal-Qatna, ignoring its repeated pleas for peace, and annexed it into his empire in 1622.

After this, and after making the Babylonians regret their designs on former Kadria by winning a quick and brutal victory at Terqa, Talmi-Teshub decided to take care of the Phoenician League, a thorn in the side of Hurrians since the time of Te'irru and Hiram I. The League's latest provocation was, during the height of the war against Kadria, the founding of the trade city of Paphos on the western coast of Tyros. In preparation for his assault, Talmi-Teshub warned every other state in the region to withdraw its merchants from Paphos and the League. Hyksos, busy fighting Men-nefer, agreed, as did Babylon, just defeated. Only one major source of trade existed--Minoa, who the Phoenicians had assisted in civilizing and forming a small colonial empire. Only Minoa refused to withdraw its merchants from Paphos. Talmi-Teshub was outraged beyond words, and vowed to erase every vestige of Minoan civilization from history. For two years a great armada, its size inevitably hyperbolized in the great epics of Mycenean and Phoenician culture that tell the tale of Talmi-Teshub, was built, until in 1619 a great armada set forth from Alalakh. It proceeded along the southern coast of Anatolia, obliterating Minoan fleets and sacking Minoan cities, and into the Aegean. In 1618, the armada assaulted Thera, the second city of Minoan civilization, and the Minoans, assisted by a few Phoenician ships, sent their last remaining fleet against them, in what, if even skeptical readings of the numbers assembled are used, was probably the largest naval battle of the Bronze Age.

It was then, of course, that Thera erupted, possibly immediately proceeded by a massive earthquake. A tsunami a kilometer high leveled much of Minoan civilization on Crete, 110 km away, and of course the various navies, much closer to the event, were totally destroyed, along with Talmi-Teshub--a man so powerful, the Hurrians claimed, that the gods themselves, fearing for their divinitity, banded together to stop him.


At the turn of the century, then, the Middle East was home to three great empires: one, Babylon, stable; one, Hyksos, fragmenting; and one, Carchemish, disintegrating. Soon after the Thera eruption, former Tyros declared independence under the name of Zubria, grudgingly tolerating the continued presence of the Phoenician League at Paphos. Labarna I, ruler of Kanesh, who reigned before the turn of the century, conquered a swath of territory from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and eyed the rapidly weakening, but still fantastically rich, core of Carchemish. Finally, the territory of Gebal-Qatna, at the turn of the century, was in near-open revolt. The stage was set for collapse.



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In China, the 17th century marked the beginning of the Age of the Chariot. Chariots were first adopted in China around 1700 by the Zhou, who based them on copies from barbarian invaders (who, it is conjectured, may actually have overthrown the existing Zhou government and become the kings of the dynasty). This innovation, together with the development and advancement of terraced agriculture, allowed the Zhou for a time to dominate the Yellow River area. Through a combination of trickery and technological superiority, the Zhou seem to have for a period of time annexed the entirety of Guo. They were not sufficiently centralized to hold on to the region, especially once chariot technology became non-exclusive, but had nevertheless greatly expanded their area by 1600.

Koguryo during this period took advantage of Guo's difficulties to increase their share of regional trade, then used the increased income to train chariots and double the size of their territory. Almost every Chinese coastal city during this period shows signs of a small Koguryan settlement, identifiable by their distinctive shrines.


The ruler of Yue became the first monarch since the legendary Five Emperors to claim for himself the title of Divine Emperor. To back up this claim, Yue underwent another massive burst of expansion, starting with the establishment of a large standing army called the Divine Fist, which at first consisted of infantry wielding spears and a new weapon developed by the Yue--the dagger-axe. When chariots spread into the area, an elite chariot division known as the Emperor's Will was incorporated into the army, which acted as one of the major sources of the time for advancement from the lower to the upper classes. Though at this stage the military was completely loyal to the Emperor, it represented a significant alternate power base to the traditional ones of the monarchy and the guilds. The Divine Fist proceeded to outbox the surrounding areas in the Wars of Enlightenment, the official name for Yue's expansion northwards and along the river, together with the accompanying buildup of bureaucracy and infrastructure in the frontier regions.



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OOC

LittleBoots and Vertinari will be NPCed if they don't send orders next turn.

NK, you instructed me to continue the general trends in your orders. Your orders largely concerned your imminent downfall and destruction. Hope you're satisfied.

Bestshot9, sorry about that, but I couldn't see any way you could have survived. You're welcome to continue as the Hyksos, or take another NPC.

I freely admit that I stretched the bounds of probability a little (or a lot) with the whole Thera thing; in my defense, I invoke the Rule of Cool.

It occurs to me that dark red is clearly the color of empire in this world.

Story Bonuses
None this turn.

Best Orders: Daftpanzer, Alex994, Dachspmg.

Next Deadline: Thursday the 17th at 9 PM EST.

China will come, probably, right after 9--LittleBoots and Vertinari have 4 more hours to get orders in.

Eeexcellent. This disintegrating empire will make for a great collapse next update. at Thera and Talmi-Teshub - it doesn't get much cooler than having a volcano destroy all those navies.

Owtch I even spend on unity but things go wrong.. oh well.. guess it was external forces that brought my collapse.. I hope my economy fared ok

Lord Aiken said:

Owtch I even spend on unity but things go wrong.. oh well.. guess it was external forces that brought my collapse.. I hope my economy fared ok

Click to expand...

Well, you did get increased unity...

We will rise again!

Hey Jal, its all cool, Hadir was bound to fall anyways... but is the religion and stuff still there, do most of the people still follow it? I need to know cuz I had some ideas for it in the future, but need to know if I need to change them or anything. (And yes, I'll stay as Hyskos).

So can we have shorter turns yet? Or are we sticking with 100/200 year turns still?

OOC: Yep, interesting. *waves hand* I think Carchemish should have an economy a lot smaller. They have a massive army AND navy

And I support the continuation of the BT, I prefer 200 year turns from now.

bestshot9 said:

Hey Jal, its all cool, Hadir was bound to fall anyways... but is the religion and stuff still there, do most of the people still follow it? I need to know cuz I had some ideas for it in the future, but need to know if I need to change them or anything. (And yes, I'll stay as Hyskos).

Click to expand...

In the core Hadir area, probably 60-70% still follow the religion, and it's likely that the rest will gradually assimilate to it, much as has happened in India with the Aryan religion. There is, however, some change to the pantheon: Huyin has become at least as important as Yori, and whatever god was responsible for slaveholding has fallen out of favor.

Ninja Dude said:

So can we have shorter turns yet? Or are we sticking with 100/200 year turns still?

Click to expand...

I don't know. Discuss amongst yourselves.

alex994 said:

OOC: Yep, interesting. *waves hand* I think Carchemish should have an economy a lot smaller. They have a massive army AND navy

Click to expand...

They're going to collapse anyway; what does it matter? If this were an IT, you'd see that there's a lot of corruption at the moment...

jalapeno_dude said:

They're going to collapse anyway; what does it matter? If this were an IT, you'd see that there's a lot of corruption at the moment...

Click to expand...

OOC: It makes me feel better?

I think we should start the IT "proper" so to speak in the year 800 BC. Of course, there's no need to agree on that on the moment so I push for 200 year turns for now.

Commencing Chinese update....now!

Update Four, complete with title and intro blurb, is now finished. Blame Alex that it took so long.

Out of curiosity:

Do volcanos (and tsunamis) erupt/form quick enough to sink an entire navy? Not that I think what happened in the update was bad - I am just wondering.

Dreadnought said:

Out of curiosity:

Do volcanos (and tsunamis) erupt/form quick enough to sink an entire navy? Not that I think what happened in the update was bad - I am just wondering.

Click to expand...

Well, according to Wikipedia:

The Plinian eruption resulted in an estimated 30 kilometers (19 mi) to 35 kilometers (22 mi) high plume which extended into the stratosphere. In addition, the magma underlying the volcano came into contact with the shallow marine embayment, resulting in a violent steam eruption.

The event also generated a 35 meters (115 ft) to 150 meters (492 ft) high tsunami that devastated the north coast of Crete, 110 kilometers (68 mi) away.

The tsunami had an impact on coastal towns such as Amnisos, where building walls were knocked out of alignment. On the island of Anafi, 27 kilometers (17 mi) to the east, ash layers 3 meters (10 ft) deep have been found, as well as pumice layers on slopes 250 meters (820 ft) above sea level.

Click to expand...

Now, I don't know for sure that tsunamis can sink ships, but storm surges much less than that height certainly can, so it seems like tsunamis would as well.

Oh, ok. Thanks for the info.

That's one way to throw a curve ball in a NES!

Dreadnought said:

That's one way to throw a curve ball in a NES!

Click to expand...

Assuming that it wasn't desired by the major participant(s)...