Wubba, I'm sure Nubia will be in better condition next turn if you sign that peace treaty... 
AFSNES I The New Dawn
- Thread starter das
- Start date
Chandrasekhar
Determined
Wubba, I'm sure Nubia will be in better condition next turn if you sign that peace treaty...
Bah, who says that there will be a Nubia next turn if they don't decide to make peace?
flyingchicken
Deity
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2007
- Messages
- 3,783
"It is a beautiful thing to die for one's country. It is a brave thing to die for one's ideals. What, then, is both beautiful and brave? To embrace one's country, to embrace its ideals, and then to die in its name."
– Anonymous, paying respect to the Tibetans and the Guanglingese
"We are facing a great evil before us. We face the misguided masses of the dark men of the west, in their strange attire and misshapen faces. They come at us, frothing at the mouth, wishing us only harm. Your blades, your crossbows, your pikes and your shields... these are the only things between you and the brutality that awaits all those who fall into their hands."
– Anonymous drill officer with heavily conservative feelings
"No corruption of the human soul is as complete, as compelling, nor as irredeemable as the corruption caused by absolute power and absolute certainty in one's faith."
– Anonymous, on the Tibetan head of state
– Anonymous, paying respect to the Tibetans and the Guanglingese
"We are facing a great evil before us. We face the misguided masses of the dark men of the west, in their strange attire and misshapen faces. They come at us, frothing at the mouth, wishing us only harm. Your blades, your crossbows, your pikes and your shields... these are the only things between you and the brutality that awaits all those who fall into their hands."
– Anonymous drill officer with heavily conservative feelings
"No corruption of the human soul is as complete, as compelling, nor as irredeemable as the corruption caused by absolute power and absolute certainty in one's faith."
– Anonymous, on the Tibetan head of state
.SinClaire.
Terminally Cute ;)
*knits a sweater*
silver 2039
Deity
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- Jul 26, 2003
- Messages
- 16,208
Wait let me send orders...
Orders sent.
MjM
Deity
We can still send orders?
Thlayli
Le Pétit Prince
Encyclopedia Hellenica
The Ashaist Collapse: Part Two
"Pure reason dictates that the Greeks, having been repeatedly conquered by Kratonians, Watchurians, and Paphlagonians, would set to balances the conqueror's debt so accrued.
-Caelion of Leptis Magna, Polykratic Inquiries
---
Initially, the Ashaist onslaught was well-prepared.
Corcyra's rapid collapse was an oversight on the part of the merchant princes, who in embracing a limited war, and failing to realize that it would go total very fast, sowed the seeds of their decline as a political force. To replace the (partially Illyrianized) old guard, the centralizing efforts of Basil Romanos, along with the support of the more militaristic lords of Tyre and Heraklion, threatened to rip the League apart. And so it did.
Faced with Romanos' quick seizure of the League's treasury and records, and his alliance with the mercenary companies, the Illyrian and Tarantine representatives simply withdrew their lands, their wealth, and their influence. Initially this was a major loss, as the League's declining naval superiority allowed Tarekid strikes at Cyrene and Heraklion to gain significant ground, even forcing Romanos to withdraw to his formidable final bastion of Tyre.
But the successors to the ownership of the Corcyran League were a coalition of hard feudal lords and mercenary leaders, led by their pseudo-imperial militaristic commander, now styled Basil I Romanos. What was a League coalesced, at first unofficially, to a Hellenic military government with the pure aim of survival. Thanks to the previously successful diplomatic contacts, generous assistance from the Kratolian* states, Najjaria, even Akkad and later Odrysa, began to supplement Hellenic desperation.
Where the Ashaist forces had stormed into the Eastern Mediterranean, and achieved initial victories due to superior force and a militaristic morale, the will of their adversaries only hardened over time, and Ashaist occupiers faced a steadily increasing number of enemy soldiers and ships, along with no lack for potential targets.
The minutae of the campaigns, like the famous Ankhader force that self-destructed on the Gazan fortresses, Basil Romanos' ferocious but ill-timed naval counterattacks, the various abortive attacks on Ashaist strongholds in Attica, and the rising of the Peloponesse and Corinth in a final bid for Hellenic (or Romanid) control over the Delphic despotate, all had at their heart one Agade Dag goal: The eviction of both local Ashaist and foreign Ankhader elements from the Eastern Mediterranean, beginning with Hellas and extending to her cultural/ethnic dominions.
This unified strategy, and fairly unified cooperation among the disparate Agade Dag forces, Thracian, Hellenic, or Arabic, was met with fierce Ashaist opposition, but ultimately one without defined objectives, beyond a nebulous and total victory.
And despite their success in ramming attacks through a weakened Hellenic opposition, the combination of the destruction of Delphi, ravaging of Lower (Harbic) Karung, and successful attempts to contain the Hierophant in Kratopolis all began to blunt the Tarekid/allied attacks. They were beginning to lose an Ashaist support base, and the Ankhade was devolving from a war of liberation to one of costly occupation. Also, the Tarekid nobility began to openly question the prosecution of a seemingly endless Western Mediterranean Ankhade, while there were richer prospects, and more dangerous threats, to be found in the neighboring Teutonics.
As a result, the great and markedly temporary Peace of Heraklion was signed, in the very citadel that, as a symbol of control over Hellas, had changed hands at least three times. It's likely that the grim, opposing rows of Greek and Berber soldier-statesmen weighed with equal cynicism the other's willingness to hold to this bargain. Both sides privately regarded it as a temporary pause to gain breathing room, consolidate, and prepare for the next hammer blow.
The most epic confrontation was yet to occur: The Ashaist sword, while dented, was still the sharpest in the Sea.
To be continued.
---
*Anatolian
The Ashaist Collapse: Part Two
"Pure reason dictates that the Greeks, having been repeatedly conquered by Kratonians, Watchurians, and Paphlagonians, would set to balances the conqueror's debt so accrued.
-Caelion of Leptis Magna, Polykratic Inquiries
---
Initially, the Ashaist onslaught was well-prepared.
Corcyra's rapid collapse was an oversight on the part of the merchant princes, who in embracing a limited war, and failing to realize that it would go total very fast, sowed the seeds of their decline as a political force. To replace the (partially Illyrianized) old guard, the centralizing efforts of Basil Romanos, along with the support of the more militaristic lords of Tyre and Heraklion, threatened to rip the League apart. And so it did.
Faced with Romanos' quick seizure of the League's treasury and records, and his alliance with the mercenary companies, the Illyrian and Tarantine representatives simply withdrew their lands, their wealth, and their influence. Initially this was a major loss, as the League's declining naval superiority allowed Tarekid strikes at Cyrene and Heraklion to gain significant ground, even forcing Romanos to withdraw to his formidable final bastion of Tyre.
But the successors to the ownership of the Corcyran League were a coalition of hard feudal lords and mercenary leaders, led by their pseudo-imperial militaristic commander, now styled Basil I Romanos. What was a League coalesced, at first unofficially, to a Hellenic military government with the pure aim of survival. Thanks to the previously successful diplomatic contacts, generous assistance from the Kratolian* states, Najjaria, even Akkad and later Odrysa, began to supplement Hellenic desperation.
Where the Ashaist forces had stormed into the Eastern Mediterranean, and achieved initial victories due to superior force and a militaristic morale, the will of their adversaries only hardened over time, and Ashaist occupiers faced a steadily increasing number of enemy soldiers and ships, along with no lack for potential targets.
The minutae of the campaigns, like the famous Ankhader force that self-destructed on the Gazan fortresses, Basil Romanos' ferocious but ill-timed naval counterattacks, the various abortive attacks on Ashaist strongholds in Attica, and the rising of the Peloponesse and Corinth in a final bid for Hellenic (or Romanid) control over the Delphic despotate, all had at their heart one Agade Dag goal: The eviction of both local Ashaist and foreign Ankhader elements from the Eastern Mediterranean, beginning with Hellas and extending to her cultural/ethnic dominions.
This unified strategy, and fairly unified cooperation among the disparate Agade Dag forces, Thracian, Hellenic, or Arabic, was met with fierce Ashaist opposition, but ultimately one without defined objectives, beyond a nebulous and total victory.
And despite their success in ramming attacks through a weakened Hellenic opposition, the combination of the destruction of Delphi, ravaging of Lower (Harbic) Karung, and successful attempts to contain the Hierophant in Kratopolis all began to blunt the Tarekid/allied attacks. They were beginning to lose an Ashaist support base, and the Ankhade was devolving from a war of liberation to one of costly occupation. Also, the Tarekid nobility began to openly question the prosecution of a seemingly endless Western Mediterranean Ankhade, while there were richer prospects, and more dangerous threats, to be found in the neighboring Teutonics.
As a result, the great and markedly temporary Peace of Heraklion was signed, in the very citadel that, as a symbol of control over Hellas, had changed hands at least three times. It's likely that the grim, opposing rows of Greek and Berber soldier-statesmen weighed with equal cynicism the other's willingness to hold to this bargain. Both sides privately regarded it as a temporary pause to gain breathing room, consolidate, and prepare for the next hammer blow.
The most epic confrontation was yet to occur: The Ashaist sword, while dented, was still the sharpest in the Sea.
To be continued.
---
*Anatolian
das
Regeneration In Process
Update XIII - Years 761-765 AD
Domestic Events:
At the furthest reach of Asian civilisation, the Jomonese continued to gradually expand their holdings; the Izu Oshima colony/province was extended to all the islands in the chain but the largest, and on the mainland coastline in the east continued exploration led to the establishment of a basic trade contact with the outskirts of Chanaka’s Chalchitlani Empire. Trade sprung up and developed well enough, but sadly, the same diseases encountered in the south had evidently reached the Chalchitlani cities as well. The mounting death toll and associated panic had began to take its toll on the Chalchitlani populace (-1 Chalchitlani Confidence).
It was yet to spread into the more southerly territories, though the people there always had enough trouble of their own. The Tepehuani renewed their northwards expansion (see Military Events), the Dainzu-Cobans went through a brief and relatively bloodless but still vicious power struggle upon the death of Vucub I (ultimately, his nephew claimed the throne as Vucub II and had some temporary successes with his conciliatory policies (+1 Dainzu-Coban Confidence)) and in Antimaqta, the death of the Sun-Emperor Huayna allowed the Divined Priest Chaqauta (already the de facto ruler of the country) to claim power as Sun-Emperor Cuyochi, fully reuniting spiritual and political authority in the state.
Ever bolder, the Eldslanders began their expansion over the island anew, reclaiming old settlements and setting up new ones. With their resources still pretty thin, the Eldslanders were unable to assert control over the entire island as was hoped by the dyarchs, but respectable amounts of expansion still did occur.
The Ligurian Priest-Emperor, taking a leaf out off the late Amsur Ithar’s book, had endeavoured to organise an association of scholars, inventors and suchlike under state control and patronage; this association was named “Belenu’s Guild”. The Belenites, as they came to be known, for now mostly focused on replicating the achievements of the East, but in this way already did their country an appreciable service.
Another Slavic tribal confederacy – Bazhina – had coalesced south of Rzeka.
After a long and largely succesful reign, Dag’Uru Am-Shadad passed away without naming a heir in 763; by the consent of the military elite in Enlilba, the popular Toba general Agad-Wen succeeded to the throne (+1 Akkadian Confidence). Agad-Wen was quick to take an even stricter stance with regards to the Ashaists, introducing harsh policies to restrict them and hanging their priests and religious leaders wherever those are found (fortunately for Ashaists, very few of them actually lived in Akkad; that said, the policy quickly spred into the occupied parts of Arabia). This campaign was not yet taken up in other Agade Dag countries, although the Kipchak warriors still did exact harsh retribution at the Ashaist communities that supported the uprisings, while the Paphlagonians were mostly held up by fear of renewed social strife.
The Sitivasans had established an Agade Dag Huna vassal state of Makapura in the northwest of the High Kingdom.
International Events:
The war between Danelaw and Caerix and more specifically the triumphant Danish occupation of the city of Caerix had initiated a flurry of diplomatic intrigues, frenzied negotiations, agreements and proclamations that, over the course of the first five months of 761, redefined the history of Europe and the course of the war, not to mention doubtless influenced countless other developments.
Upon Telamondesos Suesus V’s refusal to accept the Danish peace terms, both sides quickly went back to preparing for a climatic clash to decide the fate of Northern Europe. While the Telamondesos called for all able-bodied men to assist the war effort, appealing both to their patriotism and (in spite of the disruption to the clerical hierarchy caused by the loss of Caerix) religious sentiment, the Danes decided to try and undermine his support amongst the nobility by elevating one of Suesus’ relatives, Rhodri, to the throne in Caerix itself. Rhodri gladly agreed to sign a treaty that recognised the loss of Atithrek in exchange for the end of the Danish invasion; he then signed another treaty that had the Danish army stay and help him fight Suesus. Although Rhodri failed to attain the hoped-for support from amongst the nobility, and remained quite unpopular in the countryside, he did manage to rally the support of the commonfolk in the city of Caerix itself, as well as the merchants there and in the coastal cities; he also succeeded in engineering a schism in the Neo-Tigranist Church, aligning himself with the reformists that had grown quite popular among the Caerixian commoners (-1 Caerixian Confidence). Although the more high-ranking hierarchs, having fled west to Suesus’ camp, had pledged their support for the old Telamondesos, this still did damage Suesus’ efforts to undermine Rhodri early on. This unpleasant domestic development had marred the previous success in ensuring Hibernian and Pictish support for the war effort; furthermore, as ominous uprisings spread in Ligania and began to spring up in parts of western Arecomicia (largely on the account of excessive methods used by some royal lieutenants in their recruitment and requisition drives), Suesus was forced to make some more concessions. While Celtic armies (including the ones that abandoned Gaul and Iberia, allowing bandits, warlords or Teutonrixians to take over) were being marshaled in Arecomicia and used to squash the uprisings there, the Germanic regions of Ligania were sold to the Thuringians and the Celtic (other than the capital of Nont itself) were granted to another of Telamondesos’ relatives, to be ruled with the consent of the local nobles. This seemed to mean an alignment of Thuringia with Caerix to some paranoid Danish nobles, but ultimately the Thuringians remained neutral in the struggle; instead, aggrandised in the west, they turned towards a different direction. The Caerixians, no longer distracted by any other matters, now focused on the decisive battles ahead; having done what they could to tilt the advantage in their favour before actual fighting (this included hiring a large Odrysan mercenary force), the Danes too readied to land the killing blow to Suesus’ reign (see Military Events).
The Odrysans withdrew from Iberia soon after as well, leaving it to Hellenes, Teutonrixians and a myriad Tarekid warlords.
For a considerable payment, the Ligurians sold Sardinia and southernmost Italy to the Empire of the Hellenes, judging them not worth the trouble after the last few rebellions and with a war still ongoing in the north.
A special Sitivasan trade caravan had traveled all the way to the city of Odrysa, attracting attention and encouraging diplomatic contact of nothing else.
The Samarkandians sold a northeastern district to the ever-expanding Kyrgys Confederacy, in exchange for normalised diplomatic and trade relations.
Military Events:
The Tepehuani, fighting to subjugate the Nahuan tribes to their north, had succeeded in making considerable – though costly and possibly untenable – progress.
(-4 Tepehuani regiments)
Up to and upon the death of Vucub I in 763, several Mayan uprisings against Coba and Dainzu occurred; in the early months of Vucub II’s reign things were much quieter, but occasional rebellion still happened.
(-2 Dainzu-Coban regiments)
The actual war between the allies of Suesus of Caerix and Gorm of Danelaw started out in the earnest as a complex war of maneuver on the sea, while both sides were not yet ready for the main fighting on the land as the allied forces still trickled in. While the Caerixian fleet avoided combat with the Danes and transported the continental armies to Cymru, the Danes and their Viklander allies were able to first terrorise the southern shore and in particular sack the important port of Aberplym [1] (+1 Danish banked eco. point), and then attack the Hibernian ports as well, catching parts of the Hibernian navy there by surprise and quickly sinking them. The greater part of the Hibernian fleet had already fled to the northeast, where it linked up with the Caerixian fleet and now moved north to join with the Picts. While the Tigranist fleet lost time searching for the Danes in the North Sea, the Scandics rampaged through Caerix’ western coast, sacking villages, damaging Suesus’ authority (-1 Caerixian Confidence) and encouraging his enemies to try and rebel. After 763, the Scandics split their fleet; the southern half attacked Ligania, sowing terror, ransacking Nont (+1 Danish banked eco. point) and the new royal capital (Pornic). Their activities there, aside from pushing the unstable young monarchy into complete collapse and disorder, were largely inconsequential for the main war. The northern fleet, meanwhile, was finally caught and attacked by the Celts, whose numerical superiority and (somewhat poor) use of Arganthine Fire allowed them to do considerable damage until the Danes simply retreated and commited themselves to hit-and-run tactics against the slower and thus, for the most part, ineffectual enemy fleet. Although the Scandics proved unable to destroy their enemies, the supply difficulties and bad weather took a considerable toll off them all the same.
The fate of the war, therefore, had to be decided on the land. From the start, both sides knew that the one key battle was to take place at the city of Caerix itself. Although the Picts had attacked from the north, relatively quickly seizing a large amount of land, the Danes gave this attack no heed, understanding it to be a diversion; nor did they try to confront Suesus’ army while it was still forming or when it set out on its eastwards march. Instead, understanding full well that Suesus needed to take Caerix if he were to avoid a bitter and drawn-out civil war, the Danes prepared for a defense. They confiscated food from the villages in the Thames Valley (this set the countryside against them, but after the first few uprisings the Danes simply increased their commitment to a scorched earth strategy), while also shoring up all the nearby forts under their control. The massive, oft-undisciplined Celtic army was constantly harassed and bled white on the way to Caerix. Although several Danish forts were successfully overran, the Danes, who were reinforced by newly-arrived Odrysan mercenaries, were able to utterly rout the Caerixian army, despite the regular units fighting steadfastly even after most of the levies were scattered by the Odrysan cavalry. In the end, even these had to pull back when threatened by encirclement, a threat that their inferior mobility kept them from escaping wholly. Suesus barely survived the battle, and had to retreat all the way back to Abona [2], where he regrouped his army, survived a coup attempt and went firmly on the defensive. Although uprisings in the countryside, Pictish strikes and Suesus’ own efforts at diversion had greatly hindered the Danish efforts, ultimately the invaders managed to push their way towards Abona. The Caerixians and the Hibernians were driven into the city, where they fought off several assault attempts; however, despite this perseverance, after 763 the failures of Suesus, economic ruination and general war-weariness finally turned the tide in Rhodri’s favour, with more and more Caerixian noblemen defecting to him, including the powerful royal House of Cymru (+10 Danish levy regiments). Ultimately, in 765, with the defection of the clerical leadership and the assassination of Suesus, Abona surrendered the Telamondesos’ loyalists and the Hibernians fighting to the last in the streets under the leadership of Suesus’ son Medrod who had decided to protest the decision. With this, the Danes and their allies were in (often somewhat loose) control over most of Caerix. The last loyalist strongholds remained in the north, under Pictish protection (and occupation); the resistors in the southwest were mostly crushed. Still, it remained to be seen if this was the end, as Rhodri’s power was far from secure.
(-Caerix as an independent power, temporarily, -Ligania as a cohesive polity, -15 Hibernian regiments, -9 Hibernian ships, -17 Hibernian Seoltoireacht ships, -5 Danish regiments, -3 Danish Torrsviking regiments, -9 Danish levy regiments, -32 Danish ships, -7 Danish levy ships, -2 Odrysan regiments, -1 Odrysan Red Wolf regiment, -4 Viklander regiments, -1 Viklander levy regiment, -13 Viklander ships)
In Iberia, with the collapse of the Amsurate and the subsequent removal of most forces involved, the Tigranist/Agade Dag conquest proceeded at a much slower pace, the Hellenes cautiously consolidating and the Teutonrixians stretching themselves thin (although they did ultimately triumph in the Tagus Valley, overthrowing the local warlords and Ashaist town coalitions alike; the drawn-out siege and hit-and-run warfare there kept them from achieving much of anything else, though). The foolhardy Hellenic naval expedition to the Horns of Tigranus resulted in the nearly-complete elimination of the fleet there by the far more numerous and better-positioned enemy navy.
(-7 Teutonrixian regiments, -3 Teutonrixian levy regiments, -2 Hellenic regiments, -1 Hellenic levy regiment, -25 Hellenic ships)
Meanwhile, death came upon the Langobards. Deodorich II, desperately hoping to stave off the rebel mobs, recruited as many troops as he could equip; sadly, the unpopular recruitment and the economic strain this put on the land had made things even worse. Even though he did manage to scatter the main rebel armies, Deodorich was soon overthrown by his nobles and used as a scapegoat while his brother and successor, Americh IV, attempted to reason with the assorted forces arrayed against him. He failed; even though the rebels had for now been scattered, the Ligurians had now entered the fray, pressing north towards Godavala. Langobard fortifications and Americh’s efforts managed to stall Ligurian progress considerably, but even if that were not ultimately futile, one last blow was swiftly landed: the Thuringian expeditionary force ostensibly sent to shore up Godavala’s defenses turned upon the Langobards and seized the city. While numerous Langobard nobles quickly submitted to Thuringians and resistant territories were being subdued by smaller armies, the main force led by Corwn Prince Aribo confronted the Ligurians. When the Ligurians refused to withdraw and demanded that a Belenist nobleman be made king of the Langobards, Aribo quickly seized the initiative and attacked, defeating the main Ligurian army at the gates of Godavala in 763. In 764, he followed this up by defeating another army at Ingolstadt, forcing the Ligurians to pull back to the southernmost parts of the country from where he had failed to evict them. Aside from that and some of the Slavic-held areas, Langobardia was in Thuringian hands, at which pointed King Conrad III crowned himself with the Iron Crown and proclaimed himself the first Emperor of Gallien.
(-Langobardia as an independent nation, -3 Thuringian regiments, -3 Thuringian Royal Archer regiments, -3 Thuringian levy regiments, -7 Ligurian regiments, -4 Ligurian Sons of Belenu regiments, -8 Ligurian levy regiments)
North of the Danube, the Odrysans pushed northwards to take over the Slavic city-states in the vicinity. In spite of those being populated by co-believers, the Odrysans still encountered fierce resistance, which (combined with somewhat insufficient numbers) prevented them from reaching all their objectives. Still, significant inroads had been made and the conquered cities were largely pacific.
(-4 Odrysan regiments)
Severely impaired by the loss of their capital and crippled by a rapidly decaying (blockaded) economy, the Nubians were further weakened by growing strife in the highest echelons of power, which (combined with the previous problems) practically paralysed the empire in the time of its greatest peril, as a noose was being tightened around it. In the Delta of the Nile, the Hellenic navy established full control over the coastline, allowing for raids into the enemy territory in preparation for the 763 campaign. In that and the following year, the local Nubian forces were assailed by one Akkado-Najjarian and two Hellenic armies. Although Archelus’ own initial attack towards Phashtar almost ended in disaster with the Archelian Guard having to fight its way back to the sea, the Nubians were suitably distracted and so pushed out of their positions on the western and eastern strategic flanks, allowing the multipronged 764 attempt to succeed in full, the battered Nubian army retreating southwards to contain any further advances. In the meantime, on the different side of Sinai, the Nubians were being harried and distracted. Although the massed Nubian navy managed to painfully repulse an eventual daring Bahulatvan attack towards the Red Sea, the Akkadians had succeeded in delivering another force to Bahulatvan territory in Africa and struck into the heart of Sumal; ultimately, however, the Sumali tribesmen, driven closer to the Nubian government by this incursion, had easily slaughtered the truly tiny Akkadian force. These successes, though purely defensive, were something of a consolation for the Nubians, but scarcely enough as the Hellenes threatened to advance further up the Nile in the north.
(-2 Hellenic regiments, -2 Hellenic Archelian Guards regiments, -3 Hellenic levy regiments, -4 Hellenic ships, -15 Nubian regiments, -1 Nubian Chisulo regiment, -8 Nubian levy regiments, -11 Nubian ships, -4 Akkadian regiments, -4 Najjarian regiments, -10 Bahulatvan ships)
The sheer weight of righteous Akkadian (and allied) might did not come down upon the Nubians, however; instead, the main Agade Dag forces were thrown into the greatest of Am-Shadad’s campaigns in Arabia. In spite of a desperately-resourceful Arabic resistance and the usual problems with desert warfare, the Akkadians utterly crushed the outnumbered and outmatched Khalidid army in a climatic battle at Hajar in 762 and seized Mecca in 763, soon after Am-Shadad’s death. Rais Salib III escaped and continued the war in the more obscure parts of the deserts, but all the key population centres and trade routes were put under control, just in time for Dag’Uru Agad-Wen’s innovative religious policies.
(-Khalidid Raisdom as an independent nation, -4 Akkadian regiments, -5 Akkadian Turk Cavalry regiments, -10 Akkadian levy regiments, -3 Paphlagonian regiments, -1 Paphlagonian levy regiment, -1 Najjarian regiment, -2 Najjarian levy regiments, -4 Samarkandian regiments)
Unrelenting as always, the Tibetans continued their all-out war, once more hoping to deliver a series of blows that would cripple their opposition. For now, though, they had shifted the focus of their attention towards the Dinghisic Xanate and especially Guangling (it being arguably the strongest and unarguably the most active of Tibet’s enemies). This did not mean complete negligence of the Turgulid theatre; nonetheless, as most troops were redeployed elsewhere, those that did remain were eventually pushed out, not before destroying everything of value in the occupied territory. As the Tibetans managed to hold the Turgulids at bay up until 763, the casualties and the growing political paralysis (due to Turgul Beg’s near-death) dissuaded the Turks from advancing any farther. In the meantime, the Tibetans crushed the newly-recruited Dinghisic army at Gopan after overwhelming the hastily-erected fortifications in the west, and eventually advanced to the gates of Dinghis-Sehir; although the Dinghisics managed to drive off the outnumbered Tibetans, all attempts at a further counteroffensive proved a miserable failure, and the Xan’s political positions became as precarious as ever (-1 Dinghisic Confidence). Farther Tibetan advance was partly prevented by renewed Guanglingese offensive operations. The Guanglingese had initially been willing to sit on the defensive, even ceding much ground in the Sichuan Basin when the Tibetans launched their 761 counter-attack. The bid partly paid off when the Tibetans were defeated in the 762 Battle of Daxian, despite launching an unexpected flank attack from the north (the Guanglingese had successfully conserved and unified their forces, while the Tibetans were tired and disorganised from their previous march); partly because the Guanglingese counter-offensive to the west failed just as badly thanks to the arrival of elite Banghan mercenaries, who subsequently came very close to taking Daxian as well. All plans for a serious counteroffensive had to be put on hold when a nearly-succesful encirclement maneuver came close to dooming the Guanglingese army (still, the Tibetans were ultimately intercepted and beaten off with major casualties). 764 saw the Guanglingese catch their enemies off balance with a northwards strike, the main Tibetan forces being to the southwest; this offensive succeeded in severing the supply route into Dinghisic territory, but the Tibetans subsequently restored it, successfully containing the Guanglingese forces even though all attempts to actually break beyond the present Guanglingese defense lines failed quite miserably. A bitter stalemate thus set in once more, but given occurances in other theatres time did not seem to be working for Guangling…
(-11 Tibetan regiments, -6 Tibetan Tenzin regiments, -8 Tibetan levy regiments, -13 Guanglingese regiments, -10 Guanglingese levy regiments, -1 Guanglingese Renmin Bing regiment, -6 Turgulid regiments, -2 Turgulid Sons of Enlil regiments, -27 Dinghisic regiments, -7 Dinghisic levy regiments, -8 Sitivasan regiments, -5 Banghan regiments)
Meanwhile, Ayutamradvipa deserved a special mention for its many troubles. While the ancient emperor Yaajikhan grew ever more ill and senile (-1 Ayutamradvipan Confidence), militarily several things went horribly wrong. First, in China, the Tibetan commander Mangporje had demonstrated his immense military skill by hunting down, encircling and eliminating the elusive rebel leader Gan Keng Xiao along with most of the pro-Ayutamradvipan rebel army. This left the road to the Ayutamradvipan-held port of Dinh wide open, and Mangporje naturally refused to let go of such an opportunity. Pressing on straight towards the city, he managed to cut off a part of the Ayutamradvipan army from it and then used the superior Golden Square formation to quickly eliminate this part. The city was assaulted and, with the help of traitors, taken soon after; over the course of 763, Mangporje’s Tibetans mostly concerned themselves with retaking control over the whole of Tibetan Vietnam and eliminating the scattered rebel and Ayutamradvipan forces that remained in the area.
The Ayutamradvipan admirals were more concerned with their campaign against the Prasannans, which, despite the assistance of the Sundanese, bore little or no results for mounting losses thanks to the flexible defense and hit-and-run tactics employed by the Prasannans. An overland invasion in Sumatra – once again, courtesy of the Sundanese – did gain much ground, but ultimately failed in taking any of the key Ayutamradvipan cities.
What made the war effort this much more difficult still was a less conventional tactic employed by one of Ayutamradvipa’s foes, as from 762 to 764 the Ayutamradvipan docks became subject to ruthless pirate raids. What damage the pirates themselves incurred upon the military naval infrastructure of the country was definitely outdone by the acts of sabotage that the pirates appeared to be a diversion for (-5 Ayutamradvipan Military Cap). Still, for their part, the pirate fleets did manage to take their toll on those parts of the Ayutamradvipan fleet that they could catch, while naturally trying to avoid clashes with the armada itself. Although some of the pirate fleets were eventually intercepted in their raiding and destroyed, most of them remained out of the Ayutamradvipan grasp, while still indirectly damaging Ayutamradvipan capacity for naval warfare or logistical support.
(-2 Prasannan regiment, -8 Prasannan ships, -2 Tibetan regiments, -1 Tibetan Tenzin regiment, -3 Tibetan levy regiments, -5 Ayutamradvipan regiments, -14 Ayutamradvipan ships, -5 Sundanese regiments, -7 Sundanese ships)
Random Events:
Patriotically-inclined noblemen help strengthen Prasanna’s war effort (+5 Military Cap, +10 Privateer Ships).
With a major refugee crisis and considerable damage to the trade network, the Tugrulid Empire’s population suffers from the Tibetan War indirectly (-1 Living Standards).
Special Bonuses:
Best Long-Term Plan: Thuringia (+1 Confidence).
Best Propaganda: Guangling (+10 levy regiments).
NPC Diplo:
OOC:
[1] Aberplym=OTL Plymouth.
[2] Abona=OMD Bristol.
Note how some plans didn't go off due to apparent miscommunication.
Domestic Events:
At the furthest reach of Asian civilisation, the Jomonese continued to gradually expand their holdings; the Izu Oshima colony/province was extended to all the islands in the chain but the largest, and on the mainland coastline in the east continued exploration led to the establishment of a basic trade contact with the outskirts of Chanaka’s Chalchitlani Empire. Trade sprung up and developed well enough, but sadly, the same diseases encountered in the south had evidently reached the Chalchitlani cities as well. The mounting death toll and associated panic had began to take its toll on the Chalchitlani populace (-1 Chalchitlani Confidence).
It was yet to spread into the more southerly territories, though the people there always had enough trouble of their own. The Tepehuani renewed their northwards expansion (see Military Events), the Dainzu-Cobans went through a brief and relatively bloodless but still vicious power struggle upon the death of Vucub I (ultimately, his nephew claimed the throne as Vucub II and had some temporary successes with his conciliatory policies (+1 Dainzu-Coban Confidence)) and in Antimaqta, the death of the Sun-Emperor Huayna allowed the Divined Priest Chaqauta (already the de facto ruler of the country) to claim power as Sun-Emperor Cuyochi, fully reuniting spiritual and political authority in the state.
Ever bolder, the Eldslanders began their expansion over the island anew, reclaiming old settlements and setting up new ones. With their resources still pretty thin, the Eldslanders were unable to assert control over the entire island as was hoped by the dyarchs, but respectable amounts of expansion still did occur.
The Ligurian Priest-Emperor, taking a leaf out off the late Amsur Ithar’s book, had endeavoured to organise an association of scholars, inventors and suchlike under state control and patronage; this association was named “Belenu’s Guild”. The Belenites, as they came to be known, for now mostly focused on replicating the achievements of the East, but in this way already did their country an appreciable service.
Another Slavic tribal confederacy – Bazhina – had coalesced south of Rzeka.
After a long and largely succesful reign, Dag’Uru Am-Shadad passed away without naming a heir in 763; by the consent of the military elite in Enlilba, the popular Toba general Agad-Wen succeeded to the throne (+1 Akkadian Confidence). Agad-Wen was quick to take an even stricter stance with regards to the Ashaists, introducing harsh policies to restrict them and hanging their priests and religious leaders wherever those are found (fortunately for Ashaists, very few of them actually lived in Akkad; that said, the policy quickly spred into the occupied parts of Arabia). This campaign was not yet taken up in other Agade Dag countries, although the Kipchak warriors still did exact harsh retribution at the Ashaist communities that supported the uprisings, while the Paphlagonians were mostly held up by fear of renewed social strife.
The Sitivasans had established an Agade Dag Huna vassal state of Makapura in the northwest of the High Kingdom.
International Events:
The war between Danelaw and Caerix and more specifically the triumphant Danish occupation of the city of Caerix had initiated a flurry of diplomatic intrigues, frenzied negotiations, agreements and proclamations that, over the course of the first five months of 761, redefined the history of Europe and the course of the war, not to mention doubtless influenced countless other developments.
Upon Telamondesos Suesus V’s refusal to accept the Danish peace terms, both sides quickly went back to preparing for a climatic clash to decide the fate of Northern Europe. While the Telamondesos called for all able-bodied men to assist the war effort, appealing both to their patriotism and (in spite of the disruption to the clerical hierarchy caused by the loss of Caerix) religious sentiment, the Danes decided to try and undermine his support amongst the nobility by elevating one of Suesus’ relatives, Rhodri, to the throne in Caerix itself. Rhodri gladly agreed to sign a treaty that recognised the loss of Atithrek in exchange for the end of the Danish invasion; he then signed another treaty that had the Danish army stay and help him fight Suesus. Although Rhodri failed to attain the hoped-for support from amongst the nobility, and remained quite unpopular in the countryside, he did manage to rally the support of the commonfolk in the city of Caerix itself, as well as the merchants there and in the coastal cities; he also succeeded in engineering a schism in the Neo-Tigranist Church, aligning himself with the reformists that had grown quite popular among the Caerixian commoners (-1 Caerixian Confidence). Although the more high-ranking hierarchs, having fled west to Suesus’ camp, had pledged their support for the old Telamondesos, this still did damage Suesus’ efforts to undermine Rhodri early on. This unpleasant domestic development had marred the previous success in ensuring Hibernian and Pictish support for the war effort; furthermore, as ominous uprisings spread in Ligania and began to spring up in parts of western Arecomicia (largely on the account of excessive methods used by some royal lieutenants in their recruitment and requisition drives), Suesus was forced to make some more concessions. While Celtic armies (including the ones that abandoned Gaul and Iberia, allowing bandits, warlords or Teutonrixians to take over) were being marshaled in Arecomicia and used to squash the uprisings there, the Germanic regions of Ligania were sold to the Thuringians and the Celtic (other than the capital of Nont itself) were granted to another of Telamondesos’ relatives, to be ruled with the consent of the local nobles. This seemed to mean an alignment of Thuringia with Caerix to some paranoid Danish nobles, but ultimately the Thuringians remained neutral in the struggle; instead, aggrandised in the west, they turned towards a different direction. The Caerixians, no longer distracted by any other matters, now focused on the decisive battles ahead; having done what they could to tilt the advantage in their favour before actual fighting (this included hiring a large Odrysan mercenary force), the Danes too readied to land the killing blow to Suesus’ reign (see Military Events).
The Odrysans withdrew from Iberia soon after as well, leaving it to Hellenes, Teutonrixians and a myriad Tarekid warlords.
For a considerable payment, the Ligurians sold Sardinia and southernmost Italy to the Empire of the Hellenes, judging them not worth the trouble after the last few rebellions and with a war still ongoing in the north.
A special Sitivasan trade caravan had traveled all the way to the city of Odrysa, attracting attention and encouraging diplomatic contact of nothing else.
The Samarkandians sold a northeastern district to the ever-expanding Kyrgys Confederacy, in exchange for normalised diplomatic and trade relations.
Military Events:
The Tepehuani, fighting to subjugate the Nahuan tribes to their north, had succeeded in making considerable – though costly and possibly untenable – progress.
(-4 Tepehuani regiments)
Up to and upon the death of Vucub I in 763, several Mayan uprisings against Coba and Dainzu occurred; in the early months of Vucub II’s reign things were much quieter, but occasional rebellion still happened.
(-2 Dainzu-Coban regiments)
The actual war between the allies of Suesus of Caerix and Gorm of Danelaw started out in the earnest as a complex war of maneuver on the sea, while both sides were not yet ready for the main fighting on the land as the allied forces still trickled in. While the Caerixian fleet avoided combat with the Danes and transported the continental armies to Cymru, the Danes and their Viklander allies were able to first terrorise the southern shore and in particular sack the important port of Aberplym [1] (+1 Danish banked eco. point), and then attack the Hibernian ports as well, catching parts of the Hibernian navy there by surprise and quickly sinking them. The greater part of the Hibernian fleet had already fled to the northeast, where it linked up with the Caerixian fleet and now moved north to join with the Picts. While the Tigranist fleet lost time searching for the Danes in the North Sea, the Scandics rampaged through Caerix’ western coast, sacking villages, damaging Suesus’ authority (-1 Caerixian Confidence) and encouraging his enemies to try and rebel. After 763, the Scandics split their fleet; the southern half attacked Ligania, sowing terror, ransacking Nont (+1 Danish banked eco. point) and the new royal capital (Pornic). Their activities there, aside from pushing the unstable young monarchy into complete collapse and disorder, were largely inconsequential for the main war. The northern fleet, meanwhile, was finally caught and attacked by the Celts, whose numerical superiority and (somewhat poor) use of Arganthine Fire allowed them to do considerable damage until the Danes simply retreated and commited themselves to hit-and-run tactics against the slower and thus, for the most part, ineffectual enemy fleet. Although the Scandics proved unable to destroy their enemies, the supply difficulties and bad weather took a considerable toll off them all the same.
The fate of the war, therefore, had to be decided on the land. From the start, both sides knew that the one key battle was to take place at the city of Caerix itself. Although the Picts had attacked from the north, relatively quickly seizing a large amount of land, the Danes gave this attack no heed, understanding it to be a diversion; nor did they try to confront Suesus’ army while it was still forming or when it set out on its eastwards march. Instead, understanding full well that Suesus needed to take Caerix if he were to avoid a bitter and drawn-out civil war, the Danes prepared for a defense. They confiscated food from the villages in the Thames Valley (this set the countryside against them, but after the first few uprisings the Danes simply increased their commitment to a scorched earth strategy), while also shoring up all the nearby forts under their control. The massive, oft-undisciplined Celtic army was constantly harassed and bled white on the way to Caerix. Although several Danish forts were successfully overran, the Danes, who were reinforced by newly-arrived Odrysan mercenaries, were able to utterly rout the Caerixian army, despite the regular units fighting steadfastly even after most of the levies were scattered by the Odrysan cavalry. In the end, even these had to pull back when threatened by encirclement, a threat that their inferior mobility kept them from escaping wholly. Suesus barely survived the battle, and had to retreat all the way back to Abona [2], where he regrouped his army, survived a coup attempt and went firmly on the defensive. Although uprisings in the countryside, Pictish strikes and Suesus’ own efforts at diversion had greatly hindered the Danish efforts, ultimately the invaders managed to push their way towards Abona. The Caerixians and the Hibernians were driven into the city, where they fought off several assault attempts; however, despite this perseverance, after 763 the failures of Suesus, economic ruination and general war-weariness finally turned the tide in Rhodri’s favour, with more and more Caerixian noblemen defecting to him, including the powerful royal House of Cymru (+10 Danish levy regiments). Ultimately, in 765, with the defection of the clerical leadership and the assassination of Suesus, Abona surrendered the Telamondesos’ loyalists and the Hibernians fighting to the last in the streets under the leadership of Suesus’ son Medrod who had decided to protest the decision. With this, the Danes and their allies were in (often somewhat loose) control over most of Caerix. The last loyalist strongholds remained in the north, under Pictish protection (and occupation); the resistors in the southwest were mostly crushed. Still, it remained to be seen if this was the end, as Rhodri’s power was far from secure.
(-Caerix as an independent power, temporarily, -Ligania as a cohesive polity, -15 Hibernian regiments, -9 Hibernian ships, -17 Hibernian Seoltoireacht ships, -5 Danish regiments, -3 Danish Torrsviking regiments, -9 Danish levy regiments, -32 Danish ships, -7 Danish levy ships, -2 Odrysan regiments, -1 Odrysan Red Wolf regiment, -4 Viklander regiments, -1 Viklander levy regiment, -13 Viklander ships)
In Iberia, with the collapse of the Amsurate and the subsequent removal of most forces involved, the Tigranist/Agade Dag conquest proceeded at a much slower pace, the Hellenes cautiously consolidating and the Teutonrixians stretching themselves thin (although they did ultimately triumph in the Tagus Valley, overthrowing the local warlords and Ashaist town coalitions alike; the drawn-out siege and hit-and-run warfare there kept them from achieving much of anything else, though). The foolhardy Hellenic naval expedition to the Horns of Tigranus resulted in the nearly-complete elimination of the fleet there by the far more numerous and better-positioned enemy navy.
(-7 Teutonrixian regiments, -3 Teutonrixian levy regiments, -2 Hellenic regiments, -1 Hellenic levy regiment, -25 Hellenic ships)
Meanwhile, death came upon the Langobards. Deodorich II, desperately hoping to stave off the rebel mobs, recruited as many troops as he could equip; sadly, the unpopular recruitment and the economic strain this put on the land had made things even worse. Even though he did manage to scatter the main rebel armies, Deodorich was soon overthrown by his nobles and used as a scapegoat while his brother and successor, Americh IV, attempted to reason with the assorted forces arrayed against him. He failed; even though the rebels had for now been scattered, the Ligurians had now entered the fray, pressing north towards Godavala. Langobard fortifications and Americh’s efforts managed to stall Ligurian progress considerably, but even if that were not ultimately futile, one last blow was swiftly landed: the Thuringian expeditionary force ostensibly sent to shore up Godavala’s defenses turned upon the Langobards and seized the city. While numerous Langobard nobles quickly submitted to Thuringians and resistant territories were being subdued by smaller armies, the main force led by Corwn Prince Aribo confronted the Ligurians. When the Ligurians refused to withdraw and demanded that a Belenist nobleman be made king of the Langobards, Aribo quickly seized the initiative and attacked, defeating the main Ligurian army at the gates of Godavala in 763. In 764, he followed this up by defeating another army at Ingolstadt, forcing the Ligurians to pull back to the southernmost parts of the country from where he had failed to evict them. Aside from that and some of the Slavic-held areas, Langobardia was in Thuringian hands, at which pointed King Conrad III crowned himself with the Iron Crown and proclaimed himself the first Emperor of Gallien.
(-Langobardia as an independent nation, -3 Thuringian regiments, -3 Thuringian Royal Archer regiments, -3 Thuringian levy regiments, -7 Ligurian regiments, -4 Ligurian Sons of Belenu regiments, -8 Ligurian levy regiments)
North of the Danube, the Odrysans pushed northwards to take over the Slavic city-states in the vicinity. In spite of those being populated by co-believers, the Odrysans still encountered fierce resistance, which (combined with somewhat insufficient numbers) prevented them from reaching all their objectives. Still, significant inroads had been made and the conquered cities were largely pacific.
(-4 Odrysan regiments)
Severely impaired by the loss of their capital and crippled by a rapidly decaying (blockaded) economy, the Nubians were further weakened by growing strife in the highest echelons of power, which (combined with the previous problems) practically paralysed the empire in the time of its greatest peril, as a noose was being tightened around it. In the Delta of the Nile, the Hellenic navy established full control over the coastline, allowing for raids into the enemy territory in preparation for the 763 campaign. In that and the following year, the local Nubian forces were assailed by one Akkado-Najjarian and two Hellenic armies. Although Archelus’ own initial attack towards Phashtar almost ended in disaster with the Archelian Guard having to fight its way back to the sea, the Nubians were suitably distracted and so pushed out of their positions on the western and eastern strategic flanks, allowing the multipronged 764 attempt to succeed in full, the battered Nubian army retreating southwards to contain any further advances. In the meantime, on the different side of Sinai, the Nubians were being harried and distracted. Although the massed Nubian navy managed to painfully repulse an eventual daring Bahulatvan attack towards the Red Sea, the Akkadians had succeeded in delivering another force to Bahulatvan territory in Africa and struck into the heart of Sumal; ultimately, however, the Sumali tribesmen, driven closer to the Nubian government by this incursion, had easily slaughtered the truly tiny Akkadian force. These successes, though purely defensive, were something of a consolation for the Nubians, but scarcely enough as the Hellenes threatened to advance further up the Nile in the north.
(-2 Hellenic regiments, -2 Hellenic Archelian Guards regiments, -3 Hellenic levy regiments, -4 Hellenic ships, -15 Nubian regiments, -1 Nubian Chisulo regiment, -8 Nubian levy regiments, -11 Nubian ships, -4 Akkadian regiments, -4 Najjarian regiments, -10 Bahulatvan ships)
The sheer weight of righteous Akkadian (and allied) might did not come down upon the Nubians, however; instead, the main Agade Dag forces were thrown into the greatest of Am-Shadad’s campaigns in Arabia. In spite of a desperately-resourceful Arabic resistance and the usual problems with desert warfare, the Akkadians utterly crushed the outnumbered and outmatched Khalidid army in a climatic battle at Hajar in 762 and seized Mecca in 763, soon after Am-Shadad’s death. Rais Salib III escaped and continued the war in the more obscure parts of the deserts, but all the key population centres and trade routes were put under control, just in time for Dag’Uru Agad-Wen’s innovative religious policies.
(-Khalidid Raisdom as an independent nation, -4 Akkadian regiments, -5 Akkadian Turk Cavalry regiments, -10 Akkadian levy regiments, -3 Paphlagonian regiments, -1 Paphlagonian levy regiment, -1 Najjarian regiment, -2 Najjarian levy regiments, -4 Samarkandian regiments)
Unrelenting as always, the Tibetans continued their all-out war, once more hoping to deliver a series of blows that would cripple their opposition. For now, though, they had shifted the focus of their attention towards the Dinghisic Xanate and especially Guangling (it being arguably the strongest and unarguably the most active of Tibet’s enemies). This did not mean complete negligence of the Turgulid theatre; nonetheless, as most troops were redeployed elsewhere, those that did remain were eventually pushed out, not before destroying everything of value in the occupied territory. As the Tibetans managed to hold the Turgulids at bay up until 763, the casualties and the growing political paralysis (due to Turgul Beg’s near-death) dissuaded the Turks from advancing any farther. In the meantime, the Tibetans crushed the newly-recruited Dinghisic army at Gopan after overwhelming the hastily-erected fortifications in the west, and eventually advanced to the gates of Dinghis-Sehir; although the Dinghisics managed to drive off the outnumbered Tibetans, all attempts at a further counteroffensive proved a miserable failure, and the Xan’s political positions became as precarious as ever (-1 Dinghisic Confidence). Farther Tibetan advance was partly prevented by renewed Guanglingese offensive operations. The Guanglingese had initially been willing to sit on the defensive, even ceding much ground in the Sichuan Basin when the Tibetans launched their 761 counter-attack. The bid partly paid off when the Tibetans were defeated in the 762 Battle of Daxian, despite launching an unexpected flank attack from the north (the Guanglingese had successfully conserved and unified their forces, while the Tibetans were tired and disorganised from their previous march); partly because the Guanglingese counter-offensive to the west failed just as badly thanks to the arrival of elite Banghan mercenaries, who subsequently came very close to taking Daxian as well. All plans for a serious counteroffensive had to be put on hold when a nearly-succesful encirclement maneuver came close to dooming the Guanglingese army (still, the Tibetans were ultimately intercepted and beaten off with major casualties). 764 saw the Guanglingese catch their enemies off balance with a northwards strike, the main Tibetan forces being to the southwest; this offensive succeeded in severing the supply route into Dinghisic territory, but the Tibetans subsequently restored it, successfully containing the Guanglingese forces even though all attempts to actually break beyond the present Guanglingese defense lines failed quite miserably. A bitter stalemate thus set in once more, but given occurances in other theatres time did not seem to be working for Guangling…
(-11 Tibetan regiments, -6 Tibetan Tenzin regiments, -8 Tibetan levy regiments, -13 Guanglingese regiments, -10 Guanglingese levy regiments, -1 Guanglingese Renmin Bing regiment, -6 Turgulid regiments, -2 Turgulid Sons of Enlil regiments, -27 Dinghisic regiments, -7 Dinghisic levy regiments, -8 Sitivasan regiments, -5 Banghan regiments)
Meanwhile, Ayutamradvipa deserved a special mention for its many troubles. While the ancient emperor Yaajikhan grew ever more ill and senile (-1 Ayutamradvipan Confidence), militarily several things went horribly wrong. First, in China, the Tibetan commander Mangporje had demonstrated his immense military skill by hunting down, encircling and eliminating the elusive rebel leader Gan Keng Xiao along with most of the pro-Ayutamradvipan rebel army. This left the road to the Ayutamradvipan-held port of Dinh wide open, and Mangporje naturally refused to let go of such an opportunity. Pressing on straight towards the city, he managed to cut off a part of the Ayutamradvipan army from it and then used the superior Golden Square formation to quickly eliminate this part. The city was assaulted and, with the help of traitors, taken soon after; over the course of 763, Mangporje’s Tibetans mostly concerned themselves with retaking control over the whole of Tibetan Vietnam and eliminating the scattered rebel and Ayutamradvipan forces that remained in the area.
The Ayutamradvipan admirals were more concerned with their campaign against the Prasannans, which, despite the assistance of the Sundanese, bore little or no results for mounting losses thanks to the flexible defense and hit-and-run tactics employed by the Prasannans. An overland invasion in Sumatra – once again, courtesy of the Sundanese – did gain much ground, but ultimately failed in taking any of the key Ayutamradvipan cities.
What made the war effort this much more difficult still was a less conventional tactic employed by one of Ayutamradvipa’s foes, as from 762 to 764 the Ayutamradvipan docks became subject to ruthless pirate raids. What damage the pirates themselves incurred upon the military naval infrastructure of the country was definitely outdone by the acts of sabotage that the pirates appeared to be a diversion for (-5 Ayutamradvipan Military Cap). Still, for their part, the pirate fleets did manage to take their toll on those parts of the Ayutamradvipan fleet that they could catch, while naturally trying to avoid clashes with the armada itself. Although some of the pirate fleets were eventually intercepted in their raiding and destroyed, most of them remained out of the Ayutamradvipan grasp, while still indirectly damaging Ayutamradvipan capacity for naval warfare or logistical support.
(-2 Prasannan regiment, -8 Prasannan ships, -2 Tibetan regiments, -1 Tibetan Tenzin regiment, -3 Tibetan levy regiments, -5 Ayutamradvipan regiments, -14 Ayutamradvipan ships, -5 Sundanese regiments, -7 Sundanese ships)
Random Events:
Patriotically-inclined noblemen help strengthen Prasanna’s war effort (+5 Military Cap, +10 Privateer Ships).
With a major refugee crisis and considerable damage to the trade network, the Tugrulid Empire’s population suffers from the Tibetan War indirectly (-1 Living Standards).
Special Bonuses:
Best Long-Term Plan: Thuringia (+1 Confidence).
Best Propaganda: Guangling (+10 levy regiments).
NPC Diplo:
OOC:
[1] Aberplym=OTL Plymouth.
[2] Abona=OMD Bristol.
Note how some plans didn't go off due to apparent miscommunication.
das
Regeneration In Process
Perfectionist
Angel of Verdun
OOC: Superb, simply superb. Should have talked, Panda. It would have saved us both so much trouble.
JosefStalinator
Я буду снова здесь
OOC: What the hell? Caerix completely collapsed? My namesake utterly destroyed? 
this is getting a bit rediculous.
this is getting a bit rediculous.
10 regiments is a truly tiny force? And the Sumali tribes easily slaughtered 10 regiments?? I don't see that listed under losses anywhere. Something tells me you misread my orders here...
(Granted, I was a bit rushed, and I see how it could have been easy to miss, the number was not where you should expect to find it... But still.)
Insane_Panda
Deity
OOC: Would've, Could've, Should've. Congratulations, Perfectionist.
I guess I learned the same lesson Napoleon did about Spain.
I guess I learned the same lesson Napoleon did about Spain.
Symphony D.
Deity
OOC: I'm confused as to why my miltiary cap is still only 15 despite doubling my population a few turns ago and having just doubled my area... (bringing in a lot more of the more mobile and therefore recruitable tribes) 
Particularly when I've got at least 35 to 40 potential Levy Regiments laying around.
Anyway, nice update.
Particularly when I've got at least 35 to 40 potential Levy Regiments laying around.Anyway, nice update.
Insane_Panda
Deity
Edit: nevermind.
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