AFSNES I – The New Dawn

Aw. Every time it has to be bumped and ruined. Nice story.

And I thought he was about to say that he was making peace.

Update IV - Years 716-720 AD

Foreword:

Two decades of persistent, large-scale warfare had already taken their toll on armies and nations alike, both physically and morally. And yet, even as some of the wars that dominated the 8th century’s beginning winded down, others commenced with even greater brutality. As the ripples spread from the early points of conflict, the entire post-Dark Age geopolitical order continued to unravel; balance of power collapsed, and empires were driven into a desperate struggle for survival.

Ofcourse, there was more to it than mere geopolitical and strategic considerations. Even those wars that started over purely temporal issues were quick to gain religious overtones. This was particularily, but not solely, true for the Mediterranean holy war. In the meantime, demographical factors as always had a lot to do with grand wars of colonial conquest, and, ofcourse, social tensions – aggravated by the war as well as other factors – led to some particularily infamous and explosive results during the second decade.

The world was being remade, but all too many hopes were being dashed in the process.

Domestic Events:

A “Nahuist” religious revival was initiated by the visionary High Chief Chanaka of Chalchitlan.

The Sun-Emperor Adajuph of Tiahuanaco abdicated in favour of his son Intiamru in the beginning of 716; in his final achievement, the elderly emperor managed to organise a flawless succession, minimising harm to the ongoing war effort. Intiamru proceeded to raise vast levies and forbid commerce with Pacatnamu on the pain of death; all this caused some economic troubles, but also gave the Sun-Emperor’s subjects a definite military edge for the ongoing war.

In the aftermath of the old Saxon king Richomer’s dubious abdication and apparent suicide in captivity, the Thuringians began to slowly work on integrating Sachsland. For now, however, other concerns predominated…

In his new capital of Viksborg, King Egil was faced with immense difficulties even after the war had ended (see International Events). Though Egil had survived the initial few attempts to depose him, that only made the matters worse as tensions between Egil’s Nord-Frisian retainers and the Viklander jarls continued to simmer, occasional discharges doing little to ease them (-1 Confidence). In spite of Egil’s royal authority, the jarls remained very powerful, and by 719 they felt confident enough to blatantly demand some major political reforms (see Diplomacy).

In 718, upon the death of Dag’Uru Ibradarham, the Arabic dynasty in Ecbatana died out; it had previously withered away, as more and more power was concentrated around Dag’Urusi Am-Shadad, the governor of the western half of the Akkadian Empire and the supreme commander of its forces in the western theatres. This and non-hereditary ancient Akkadian succession laws allowed Am-Shadad to easily take over, declare himself Dag’Uru and move the capital to his fortress-citadel of Enlilba[1], which was already the focus of his formal and informal power and now quickly grew into a real city.

Surat has been quick to recover as a trade centre under the restored Girnari rule.

Although the Zubhrabhanu rebels saw considerable diplomatic and military success in this decade, the continued ambiguity of the political situation couldn’t but complicate things especially as the rebel domains grew (-1 Zubhrabhanu Confidence, Bureaucracy).

As part of a grand propaganda campaign, the Kingdom of Nam was renamed into Nanyang, officially claiming succession to the ancient realms of Nanshan and Luoyang (+1 Confidence).

International Events:

High-Prince Coileain, the heir apparent to the Hibernian throne, married a Caerixian princess, bringing the two Tigranist realms closer together.

Of greater significance was the peace treaty between Telamondesos Suesus V of Caerix and King Egil of Nord-Frisia. The former’s hopes for an easy victory were dashed in the Battle on the Lagan River in 714, but the latter’s situation was perhaps all the more precarious, with the navy scattered and the realm unraveling. The terms were harsh on the Nord-Frisians, as almost the entire western coastal area (including the old Nord-Frisian capital of Bjorgvin) was fully and formally ceded to Caerix as the province of Atithrek. Needless to say, the loss of so much vital land – and after a resounding tactical victory, at that – had greatly embittered the Nord-Frisian population (-1 Confidence), although attempts on the behalf of certain factions to restart the war and/or overthrow the king had thus far failed, while King Ohtar I refused to seize the Nord-Frisian and Viklander thrones to carry on the war, instead simply retreating back to Vendel. In the meantime, the Caerixians had to crack down on raiders and rebels again, struggling to integrate Atithrek into their main realm.

As his realm disintegrated and his divine mission pushed him further, Gyat of Watchur made a parting shot of complicating the situation in northeastern Africa further by ceding a large part of his realm to the Kohaitan Empire..

With the onset of the Khitan Dagra (see Military Events), the Dinghisic Xanate had accepted a peace treaty with the Khitans restoring pre-war borders and now set about preparing to restore its wealth and power in the wake of the recent wars.

Several Jomonese naval exploration expeditions had been sent out in 717. While the embassy to the other East Asian ports went well, in spite of the ongoing war, the expeditions into the unknown ended predictably poorly. The southern expedition did establish a short-lived colony in Papua, but ultimately disease, lack of supplies and hostile natives caused in its demise. As for the eastern expedition, it simply was never heard from again (-6 Jomonese ships)…

Military Events:

In a long, drawn-out series of raids and attacks, Chalchitlani forces have successfully conquered and enslaved the coastal tribes to their west, though it is unclear if they are able – or even willing – to hold on to the ground gained.

The Tepehuani war against the Mayan-Zapotec alliance continued. Naval and land skirmishes dominated the war since 716, when the Mayan attempt to retake the focal city of Chinkultic was defeated with heavy losses, and to late 718. It was in that year that a series of vital developments occurred. Firstly, the seaborne Tepehuani attack on the Zapotec naval power of Zaachila ended in a second, even more conclusive naval defeat of the Nahuans, allowing for the Zaachilans to mount a series of sea raids. Secondly, Emperor Atlacatl led a new grand campaign against the Mayan city of Nebaj – for long a key forward base of the alliance. The Nebaj countryside and the Guatemalan Highlands saw several brutal pitched battles; ultimately, the Tepehuani numbers won the day and Nebaj was sacked. During 719 and early 720, the Tepehuani landed several additional defeats on the already-ramshackle Mayan coalition; a combination of vast numbers, sophisticated assault tactics and betrayal allowed Atlacatl’s troops to take and ransack Lubaantin, used by Aguabalam (king of Chinkultic and leader of the southern Mayan coalition) as a base. With the Mayans in disarray and Aguabalam escaping with his Zapotec allies to Dainzu, the next course of action was obvious; the Tepehuani invaded the Zapotec kingdom. However, this proved to be a most unfortunate miscalculation; the attackers scored a costly, pyrrhic victory at Choloma along the way to Dainzu, and by then the Zapotec king 8-Earthquake had already declared war on the Tepehuani, in spite of past clashes with Dainzu. The Battle of Dainzu Gates saw the Tepehuani show rare tenacity in spite of the failed early assault; despite being attacked by both the sallying defenders and a large united Zapotec army from the south, the invaders managed to pull back in good order, at first. However, Atlacatl died from his wounds soon after (-1 Tepehuani Confidence); this combined with continued harrying made the retreat into the Mayan lands rather more disorderly, although the Zapotecs were once again unable to exploit their victory due to internal disagreements. The Tepehuani succession went smoothly for its circumstances, but the military situation was now as precarious as ever, the empire’s past gains remaining in its hands only due to poor coordination on the behalf of its enemies.

(-11 Tepehuani regiments, -15 Tepehuani levy regiments, -7 Zapotec regiments, -5 Zapotec levy regiments)

In the Andes, intense, large-scale fighting continued as fresh forces were thrown into the furnace of war. The Pacatnamu won another resounding naval victory over the Tiahuanacans in 716, scattering the enemy fleet; a grand campaign then commenced in the coastlands from northwestern Huarpa to southeastern Ocucaje, with Pacatnamu forces and their rebel allies attacking both along the coast and from the sea. Made overconfident by the early victories, (particularily at Cajamarquila, where an entire Tiahuanacan army was massacred), the Pacatnamu were surprised by the vast numbers of newly-levied troops at Ocucaje, making their campaign bog down after 717. Though fresh reinforcements were being constantly brought in, they weren’t fast enough; the Tiahuanacans were able to separate and crush the southern Pacatnamu-rebel force at Cahuachi, and then to redeploy and thwart a desperate assault attempt. The Pacatnamu held what ground they gained quite efficiently well into 720, and tied down considerable Tiahuanacan resources; they themselves lost their offensive potential, however, as many warriors had to be recalled to defend Pacatnamu itself. Back in 716-717, the central front saw cunning Tiahuanacan mountain maneuvers bear fruit with the complete rout of several Pacatnamu detachments. Again, attempts to break through to the coast were ultimately repulsed, but the Tiahuanacans were not in the least discouraged. In 718, General Amryauje invaded the Pacatnamu heartland, causing great havoc and devastation in the countryside with deep raids; half-hearted attempts to capture the enemy capital were repulsed, but naturally grabbed the enemy attention, provoking a somewhat hasty counter-attack in 719. In the Battle of Pashash, outnumbered, but elite Tiahuanacan forces successfully held their ground and repulsed several enemy attacks, though the casualties taken and the general increase in hostile military presence subsequently led to stalemate on this theatre as well.

(-9 Tiahuanacan regiments, -2 Tiahuanacan Allillantaqmi regiments, -16 Tiahuanacan levy regiments, -7 Tiahuanacan ships, -14 Pacatnamu regiments, -11 Pacatnamu levy regiments, -2 Pacatnamu ships)

While the war in Scandinavia ended as soon as in early 716, the same year saw it briefly pick up again. Having returned their main forces (and, importantly, their fleet) from Scandinavia, the Picts initiated a final naval campaign against Nord-Frisian feudals in the Norwegian Sea. As by now many of the Nord-Frisian colonists in the Shetlands had fled east, the battle-hardened Pictish hordes had little trouble conquering the islands, force-converting or slaying the remaining population. Perhaps somewhat counter-intuitively, the Faroes proved a tougher nut to crack; the remaining Nord-Frisian forces in the region gathered there, and the locals prepared to fight to the last. For a short while it seemed as though help would come from the young Viking colony kingdom of Eldsland; but though the famed Magnus Halvorrson had personally arrived, he failed to either negate the enemy numerical advantage or to negotiate an acceptable peace treaty; the Picts were hell-bent on eradicating their old foes. Fighting both courageously and intelligently, taking advantage of the difficult terrain, the defenders – joined, a bit ill-advisedly, by Halvorrson and his retinue – managed to hold off the first attack. However, the second assault, reinforced by feudal levies, succeeded in conquering the islands and rooting out most of the resistance; Halvorrson ultimately managed to negotiate a safe withdrawal for him, his men and the surviving resistors to Eldsland, but this incident might have some grave implications for the young nation.

(-5 Pictish regiments, -3 Pictish levy regiments, -4 Pictish ships)

The Kratonian Empire, begotten in a bloody coup, proved surprisingly tenacious but nevertheless quite doomed in its attempts to survive and succeed the old Liganian kingdom. Tobias, the founder and de facto ruler of the nation, attempted to solidify his hold on power; however, his peasant background and lack of political finesse showed, as he failed to reconcile with the old aristocracy or the Celtic tribes, while also squaring off against the Telamondesos himself, ultimately denouncing his spiritual authority and apparently trying to claim it for himself. Whatever his actual intentions were, he was now also seen as a deranged heretic, causing additional religious uprisings and, perhaps even more direly, antagonising the mightiest sovereign within his reach, Suesus V. This, and the rumours of Caerixian military preparations, probably went a long way to embolden Tobias’ numerous enemies and discourage the previously-vacillating factions from siding with him. The Sund-Frisians, for instance, refused to withdraw from the lands they had occupied, while the Celtic rebels in the north rallied around local tribal warlords who made no secret of their intentions to swear allegiance to the Telamondesos. With the war against the Scandics coming to an unexpectedly quick end, Tobias’ fate was sealed; in 718, a large Caerixian army landed in northern Ligania, where it was joined by Celtic rebels; other malcontents joined it as it progressed south towards the Kratonian capital of Nont (+10 Caerixian levy regiments). In the meantime, many of Tobias’ surviving followers abandoned him, and control over the countryside collapsed. The old Kadjorix himself attempted to stage a coup d’etat, but Tobias managed to briefly reestablish control over the capital. He rallied his remaining followers and instituted a reign of terror in Nont, executing the conspirators and killing off would-be deserters as well. In the end, ofcourse, it just wasn’t enough; a rebellion within Nont itself allowed the Caerixians to break in and slaughter the remaining Kratonians, Tobias and his die-hard retainers going down in a defiant last stand. After that the Caerixians moved to restore order in the war-torn land, though no definite decision on the political status of the conquered territories was made yet.

(-Kratonian Empire as a faction, -4 Caerixian regiments, -1 Caerixian DeiwoKenget regiment, -6 Caerixian levy regiments)

Several revolts had to be put down in the Atithrek province before Caerixian authority was more or less solidified.

(-1 Caerixian regiment)

Frustrated with waiting for a Teutonic attack, Amsur Raet ordered an invasion of the southern borderlands, where a considerable Ashaist population rose up to support the Tarekids (+5 Tarekid levy regiments). While sheer numbers, shock effect and rebel assistance allowed the Tarekids to overwhelm the defenders in the south easily enough, the attempted amphibious attack on Gristain failed badly; while the Tarekid fleet, despite being badly battered by the storms, did manage to destroy a large part of the Teutonic fleet in its harbour (deploying the Arganthine Fire for the first time since the Tarekids procured it), it took unexpectedly high casualties, both to the enemy ships that the Tarekids sorely underestimated and to the local archers. Losing their surprise effect as well as many of their troops, the Tarekids still attempted a limited raid, but were completely slaughtered by the elite imperial retinue, forcing the fleet to limp back south. After beating off the raid, the Teutons rallied their forces in the north and hurried to reclaim their cities along the Tagus, and particularily to relieve the ongoing Siege of Alisib [2]. Adroit Tarekid maneuvering prevented any decisive theories in the central and eastern sections of the theatre, but in the west the Teutons were themselves able to outmaneuver the Tarekids and catch them in a difficult position outside of the city itself. A prompt assault succeeded in smashing the besiegers and reliving the city, though attacks south beyond the Tagus invariably failed to achieve much of anything, especially as more capable Tarekid troops arrived into the region. It was only in 719 that, with the help of some extensive levying, the Teutons were able to win the bloody battle at Ambroz, retaking another one of their cities. However, that was the extent of their successes; elsewhere the Tarekids still held sway, grinding away at their enemies in skirmishes and occasionally launching long-range raids.

(-7 Tarekid regiments, -8 Tarekid levy regiments, -3 Tarekid Ankhed regiments, -4 Tarekid ships, -11 Teutonic regiments, -11 Teutonic levy regiments, -12 Teutonic ships)

With the last organised resistors in Sachsland scattered, said country’s annexation formalised (see Domestic Events) and pacts of non-aggression signed with the rulers of Langobardia and Gothland, the Thuringians were free to focus on the war with Sund-Frisia from 717 on. Indecisiveness on the part of the Sund-Frisians deprived them of the early advantages that stemmed from their victories on the initial stage of the war, while the Thuringians, with their ambitious leadership, were quick to seize the initiative. Prince Radulf’s forces were quickly dispatched to reassert control over the borderlands; in a lightning campaign, the war hero eliminated several smaller Sund-Frisian detachments and garrisons before successfully outmaneuvering the Sund-Frisian siege army. To this point, the fighting there was rather slow in the terms of dramatic developments, as despite their new siege engines the Sund-Frisians were unable to capture any more significant strategic positions, with the royal army propping up the defenders while the Sund-Frisians ill-advisedly withdrew some of their force. After Prince Radulf’s march, the Sund-Frisians were both outmaneuvered strategically and outnumbered drastically. In the early 719 battles at Diwion [3] and Werden [4], the besieging Sund-Frisian forces were crushed with immense casualties as the Thuringians attacked from several directions as well as from within the besieged cities. The help that the local Sund-Frisian commanders had requested arrived way too late, and was turned back in the bloody Battle of Samorabriva. Fortunately for the Sund-Frisians, that battle was bloody for both sides, and the casualties sustained delayed the Thuringian advance into Sund-Frisia itself while giving King Raegenhere’s men to prepare more defenses and more troops. The new levies had a relieving success (no pun intended) in 720, when they broke the Thuringian siege of Dunfestig. This and renewed incursions from the west led to the Thuringians adapting a more defensive stance, for now; numerous Sund-Frisian counter-attacks were repulsed, so it all had degenerated into a stalemate again.

(-9 Sund-Frisian regiments, -11 Sund-Frisian levy regiments, -6 Thuringian regiments, -3 Thuringian Royal Archer regiments, -6 Thuringian levy regiments)

Despairing under the constant flurry of the Ligurian attacks, the remaining petty Latin city-states agreed to swear allegiance to King Numa III of Capua (+5 Capuan levy regiments). Having mobilised his available forces, Numa marched northwards to face the Ligurians. Greatly underestimating their numbers, he foolhardily attacked Volaterra; though he did take the city, a subsequent Ligurian counteroffensive in overwhelming numbers forced a hasty retreat to avoid complete encirclement. In the subsequent Second Battle of Urbs Vetus, the disciplined Capuan forces managed to withstand several Ligurian charges, stopping the new offensive in blood and ensuring a stalemate. Ofcourse, neither side was particularly satisfied with this; Ligurians launched never-ending raids south, and the Capuans once again tried their luck at retaking Volaterra; ultimately it all came to nothing, however. In 719, the Ligurians made one last attempt to seize the initiative with an amphibious invasion; however, their fleet was intercepted by the numerically-superior Capuans, who managed to turn it back with some loss.

(-4 Ligurian regiments, -5 Ligurian Sons of Belenu regiments, -12 Ligurian levy regiments, -4 Ligurian ships, -7 Capuan regiments, -4 Capuan levy regiments, -2 Capuan ships)

While the Latgallians skirmished with the Rzekans in the south (with variable success), a great Danish army landed just outside of the Latgallian capital, Jelgab. Seeking to expand their Baltic empire – and alarmed by the words of Latgallian designs on their old colonies – the Danes quickly stormed and sacked poorly-defended Jelgab (-1 Latgallian Confidence, Bureaucracy), leaving only a fort that was now to become a forward Danish stronghold. Though caught completely off-guard by the attack and the subsequent flurry of raiding, the Latgallians were quick to rally in the inlands under King Eduards (who was not in the capital at the time). Mobilising the tribal warriors and recalling forces from the south, the Latgallian warrior-monarch managed to land the now-divided Danish forces several defeats, and in 718 even retook the ruins of Jelgab. However, by this point the Danes had not only managed to plunder and ransack considerable sections of the Latgallian countryside (+1 banked eco. point), but also seized several additional important sites. In the meantime, a Rzekan counterattack in the south diverted some of the Latgallian forces; this was the last straw that ensured a Danish domination in most of the coastal regions (the Danes also managed to destroy parts of the Latgallian navy over the course of their raiding). Fortunately, all attempts to advance further inland were short-lived, whether by design or due to Eduards’ cunning ambushing tactics.

(-5 Latgallian regiments, -10 Latgallian levy regiments, -9 Latgallian ships, -7 Danish regiments, -4 Danish levy regiments, -3 Danish ships)

The developments of this decade’s earliest years had set the tone for the rest of the naval war between Ashaism and Agade Dag. With the Ashaists completely dominant in the naval war, the Najjarians and Akkadians mostly hid in their well-fortified harbours, while the Hellenes divided their fleet into small detachments and initiated a glorious, irritating, but not really effective war of raiding and piracy. The Ashaists did not dare to attack the harbours of the Levant, but instead focused on ensuring their continued supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean theatre, both on the seas and in coastal areas. Therefore, the entire armada soon made haste to the Bosporus, where the Miletean remnants were imperiled by the Odrysans. In the Battle of the Bosporus, the Odrysans and a Hellenic detachment all gathered at the straits; they were immensely outnumbered and outmatched, but even then, it turned out that the situation could turn for the worse as the Paphlagonian “reinforcements” suddenly betrayed their allies and enabled the nigh-complete elimination of the Agade Dag sea power in the Black and Aegean seas. Content with a work well done, the Ashaists then patrolled the eastern Mediterranean, hunting down the occasional Hellenic squadron. The cumbersome armada still suffered a minor embarrassment when the Akkadians were able to land forces in the Nile Delta and get away scot-free; also, most of its operations from now on were wild goose-chases. For the most part, however, the naval war was pretty much irrevocably won by the followers of the Prophet.

(-2 Tarekid ships, -2 Capuan ships, -3 Arecoman ships, -16 Odrysan ships, -2 Hellenic ships, -9 Hellenic Catadromii ships, -2 Paphlagonian ships)

Miletos was doomed, and remained doomed, standing on the brink of its demise, for the rest of this decade largely thanks to strong Arecoman and Tarekid support. Despite early breakthroughs in Greece itself, with the capture of Delphi, the Odrysans soon bogged down elsewhere; the Arecomans defeated the Odrysan army at Halaksidion in the south, while the siege of Kratopolis was ultimately thwarted by the arrival of the grand Ashaist fleet, which first destroyed the blockade and then delivered Arganthine Fire to the defenders, who used it to destroy the Odrysan siege engines and used the chaos that ensued to sally forth and push back the Agade Dag troops. Despite this, the Ashaist forces in the region were not strong enough to launch a counter-attack, and the Odrysans remained quite secure in their gains.

(-8 Odrysan regiments, -1 Miletean regiment, -1 Miletean Cataphract regiment, -4 Miletean levy regiments, -1 Tarekid levy regiment, -2 Arecoman regiments)

As Gyat’s Watchurian realm fell apart along the seams, the Ankhed received new orders; it was time to move on. Having ceded the southern regions to Kohaita, he simply left with his most trusted retainers. The rest of his forces then disintegrated altogether, and Watchur fell into disorder and warlordism once again. But not for long; the Akkadians and their Hellenic allies soon launched a three-pronged invasion, occupying northern Watchuria (but ignoring the Kohaitan-held lands for now). They encountered virtually no resistance outside of some warlord strongholds, the population being pleasantly surprised by a lenient occupation policy and a quick restoration of order.

(-21 Tarekid levy regiments, -1 Hellenic regiment, 1 Akkadian regiment)

Having, as already mentioned, received southern Watchuria from Gyat, the Kohaitans rushed to secure their new gains. They made the dubious choice of allying with the leftover Harbic warlords (+10 levy regiments); while this did grant them an experienced (and desperate) army, it also poisoned their relations with the local population to the point of a major rebellion. This might have resulted in the collapse of the takeover project had the Nubians intervened; however, the death of King Naja left them paralysed and uncertain; though outright civil war was prevented and a provisional household and military council was created to manage the state in the meantime, this allowed the Kohaitans to firmly seize initiative and quickly move troops to secure Watchuria and thus open a northern front. Taking the Nubians in the north by surprise, the Kohaitans and their Harbic allies won battle after battle and took city after city, ultimately forcing the Nubians to fall back to the Third Cataract where they managed to bring the Kohaitan offensive to a halt long enough for logistical troubles and fresh rebellions (ultimately crushed, ofcourse) to stop it completely. That front therefore stalemated after 718, just as the fighting to the south was heating up. Firstly, Prince Aksu’s forces at Kohaita made one last attempt to seize the capital; after its failure, an orderly westwards retreat commenced. The Kohaitan attempt to cut off the army in the Battle of Takkase failed, but the toll of that fight and previous harassment on Aksu’s forces was still great. As the remaining Nubian forces rallied in the west, Prince Maome once again took command of the defenses. In what was a frustrating setback for the Kohaitans and a glimmer of light in the midst of darkness for the Nubians, the Nubian river flotilla once more managed to fight off its Kohaitan counterpart, while Maome once again successfully defended Naqa from the Kohaitan attacks. The Nubians survived yet again, but while the military remained steadfast the economy and the public morale had been deteriorating (-1 Nubian Confidence). It will be hard to get even a pyrrhic victory out of this war, no matter how many victories Maome adds to his list…

(-4 Nubian regiments, -5 Nubian levy regiments, -3 Nubian ships, -9 Kohaitan regiments, -4 Kohaitan levy regiments, -6 Kohaitan ships)

The Mahapurans – now assisted by some of the Andanan city-states – continued to root out the bandit camps. This campaign was very time-consuming (and money-consuming, to the chagrin of many Mahapuran councilmen), but in the end the bandits were crushed or forced to go into hiding in the most remote parts of the island. This left the Mahapurans with a dilemma, however; what should be done with the useless inland regions?

(-2 Mahapuran regiments)

Open, conventional warfare and Ashaist initiative were brought back to Anatolia by the Ankhader campaign of 714-715. Needless to say, the Akkadians had no intentions of letting this stand. They and the Paphlagonians made plans for a grand counteroffensive to cleanse the eastern and central regions of Anatolia. However, before these plans could go ahead, the already infamous and now probably insane King Pharnaces II threw a wrench into the gears; seeking to build himself a great empire in the Middle East, he switched sides yet again and prepared to march south to backstab the Akkadians. Seeing as the country was already very much in ruins and most of the royal powerbase was either dead or entirely unappreciative of any plans that involved consorting with the Ashaists, Pharnaces’ doom was from now on inevitable; however, it came even earlier, as not even his closest military advisors appreciated his ambitions and instead launched a coup. Having already survived numerous coup attempts, Pharnaces fought them off with the help of his fanatically-devoted guards, but the country fell into a quick and vicious civil war; the troops marched to the capital to overthrow or support the king, the towns saw local factions duke it out for the same causes but with more petty reasons and the countryside simply collapsed along with agriculture. In Sinope itself, Pharnaces was ultimately slain, but the rebellious soldiers soon butchered a fair amount of the local population, as discipline collapsed completely. Northern Anatolia was now in a state of complete anarchy.

Be that as it may, the war had to go on, and the Akkadians – reinforced by a Nisan expeditionary corps – pressed towards the Ghatafanian capital of Nahitiya and the key port of Myriandrus. Despite having numerical superiority, the Ashaists fell back to more defensible positions in the west, allowing the Agade Dag forces to advance westwards. The spread of anarchy out of Paphlagonia – as bands of hakkaris and soldiers rampaged in all directions – further complicated the situation, but the Ashaists ceased their retreat in western Ghatafania, where they skirmished in hopes of wearing out the Akkadians in preparations for an eventual offensive. The Akkadians were able to shore up their defenses with fresh forces, but further advances failed.

In 718, as the war in Anatolia decidedly staled, Gyat finally persuaded Rais Salib I to restart the active Khalidid participation in the war effort. While his plans for a grand offensive into the soft underbelly of Akkad were dismissed completely, the Khalidids did allow his forces to join theirs (4 levy regiments from the Tarekid Amsurate to the Khalidid Raisdom) and to participate in a major campaign against Dag-al-Araba. Despite the valorous efforts of the Turk Cavalry in this region, Gyat’s tactical expertise, Ashaist rebellions within Dag-al-Araba itself (+5 Khalidid levy regiments) and sheer numbers carried the day, as the key Agade Dag cities in Arabia fell one after another, and the tribes were ultimately forced to fall back behind the Great Desert Wall. Persuaded by this victory, Salib finally allowed Gyat to try his luck at the wall’s new, weaker Najjarian sections with a large army. Despite the numerous advantages of the defenders, they were immensely outnumbered and ultimately Gyat’s troops were able to fight their way on the top of the wall – and beyond, moving quickly through the Syrian Desert to attack the Akkadian forces in Ghatafania in the back, delivering a grand victory in Anatolia and allowing warriors of the Ankh to once more ravage the Mesopotamian heartlands of Akkad.

But it was not to be. As soon as the news of Gyat’s breakthrough reached the nearby outposts, warbands of Turk Cavalry set out in pursuit, harassing the Ankhed’s army and controlling its movement. This won time, and allowed the Akkadians to send in their assorted reserves, ultimately intercepting, encircling and massacring the entire Ankhader force near Urfa in southeasternmost Anatolia. It was an exceptionally brutal fight, Gyat and his men fighting to the very end – which still came despite all, ending a chapter in the eternal war of two truths.

The Ankh held over the Mediterranean Sea; the Pentagram held over the Fertile Crescent.

(-Paphlagonia as a cohesive political entity, -1 Tarekid Ankhed regiment, -3 Tarekid levy regiments, -1 Capuan regiment, -8 Akkadian regiments, -6 Akkadian Turk Cavalry regiments, -7 Akkadian levy regiments, -2 Najjarian regiments, -12 Khalidid regiments, -14 Khalidid levy regiments, -3 Nisan regiments)

While the Akkadians waged a Dagra to the west, the Nisans – a small expeditionary corps sent to assist the Eternal Empire aside – initiated their own holy war in the east. It was very well-timed (or perhaps simply well-prepared), to say the least; upon the death of the Kara-Khasari Emperor Bushir III, a traditional civil war between various clans and factions commenced, and this time a major Agade Dag uprising occurred as well. The tribes and towns that joined that rebellion first formed a loose coalition and then invited King Tusuan of Nisa to be their ruler (+10 Nisan levy regiments). Tusuan wasted no time; with his armies already prepared to march, he set out east in 717, linking up with the rebels and crushing several hostile Kara-Khasari warlords. Samarkand, for now held by Bushir III’s younger son and his aristocratic supporters, was besieged and captured in a daring assault, after which Tusuan declared himself heir to the legendary Eskander of Samarkand, the first unifier of Central Asia. Problematically, while he was asserting power in Samarkand, Bushir’s older son (“Bushir IV&#8221 had asserted control over the rest of the country and established a functional court in Gissar [5]. There, he gathered a large army and launched a new northwestwards assault, conscripting people as he went. The attack on Samarkand did not take Tusuan by surprise, however; having learned of Bushir’s maneuvering, the Nisan prepared his own forces, particularily the elite cavalry which proved instrumental in routing the main, low-quality body of the enemy army in the ensuing Battle of the Zeravshan River. Bushir’s veteran force proved more resilient, but Tusuan managed to overcome it with sheer numbers. Bushir IV barely got back to Gissar, but was unable to truly revive his fortunes; he might have been able to restore his coalition and rebuild his army if he were given time, but the Nisans did not allow him that luxury, instead attacking Gissar as soon as was possible in middle 719. Bushir died fighting, but many of the urban nobles surrendered without a fight, some Tengrist aristocrats even converting to Agade Dag although the Nisans did not insist on conversion in the occupied territories (yet). While the Nisans had won a resounding victory and the rest of the Kara-Khasari Empire had disintegrated, actually establishing control over the vast and difficult territory – especially the northern and eastern regions that remained in the hands of local tribes and warlords after the fall of Gissar – might take quite some time.

(-Kara-Khasari Empire as a cohesive polity, -11 Nisan regiments, -6 Nisan levy regiments)

Having secured their northern border after helping bring about the end of the Purvayamyan High Kingdom, the Zubhrabhanu Rebels were free to focus on the Prasannan Empire. The Krishna Valley saw the Zubhrabhanu commit to increasingly unconventional tactics with constant raids, uprisings and skirmishes against the massed Prasannan armies. Despite the toll this took on the Prasannans, a major 718 Zubhrabhanu offensive was repulsed with considerable loss. Nonetheless, the Prasannans were unable to truly solidify their control over the region, while plans for a further offensive were abandoned as impractical, especially as considerable forces had to be redeployed eastwards when all hell broke loose in the colonies. A second Zubhrabhanu offensive in 720 was much more succesful; though the Prasannan garrison in Vidardhapuri held out, the rest of the weakened Prasannan army ultimately had to retreat southwards.

A far greater threat appeared to the east, however. The “tournament of shadows” – a great game of diplomacy, commerce and conquest that dominated Southeast Asian politics for centuries now – had heated up again; seeing the weakness of the Prasannan Empire, its old enemy, the Sunda Ascendancy, prepared to capitalise upon it and, given some luck, to take over the Prasannan colonial empire. Prince Chaphra’s rebellion in the Mekong Valley was but a part of the plan, as the Sundanese Ascendancy moved to gather its coalition. Madhumatapura’s traditional allies - the Sharmathai Empire and Ayutamradvipa – were not difficult to win over when the time was right. Over the first five months of 717, a series of coordinated attacks occurred. The Sharmathai armies flooded into the Mekong Valley, linking up with their prince and his followers (+10 Sharmathai levy regiments) and quickly landing several major defeats on the Prasannans. An attempt to regroup in the Mekong Delta could have succeeded, if not for the arrival of an Ayutamradvipan expeditionary corps, which forced the capitulation of the remaining garrisons. The Prasannan fleet in the region was ready for the Sharmathai attack and managed to score several grand victories over their navy; however, the arrival of the Ayutamradvipans turned the tide and in 719 a much weakened Prasannan fleet had just barely fled south. It was not safe there, though; another Ayutamradvipan detachment linked up with the great Sundanese armada, and the following campaign of naval skirmishes went decidedly in the allied favour. Its culmination was the Battle of Tumasek, in which the northern Prasannan remnants had participated; the allies likewise were able to bring in some reinforcements, and so, despite initial Prasannan successes, the battle ended in a crushing allied victory. The Prasannan navy, harassed by the constant Zubhrabhanu privateer raids, was forced to fall back into the Indian Ocean, where it had regrouped and more or less reasserted control. That came too late to save the city of Tumasek, which fell to the Ayutamradvipans after a few months of siege, or the northern parts of Old Malaya, which the Sharmathai overwhelmed in spite of the native resistance. Nonetheless, Prasannan reinforcements saved the western parts of the Malaya colony from falling. Likewise, the Sundanese invasion of Swarna Dwipa [6] was only partially succesful, the Prasannans holding their ground in the west even after several key eastern ports had fallen. Still, the Prasannans had lost much more than they had kept, and the age of Podhigai’s supremacy in the Eastern India [7] had come to an end. As a sidenote, after asserting the naval supremacy, the Sundanese wasted no time before invading the kingdom of Malaya, an incredibly annoying Prasannan vassal pirate state. Already shaken and unstable, the Malayans were unable to fight back the Sundanese mercenaries. The local lords soon agreed to renounce their king and swear allegiance to Sunda in exchange for retaining their power and privilege in their lands.

(-22 Prasannan regiments, -43 Prasannan ships, -Prasannan Confidence, Prasannan Economy to the Brink of Crisis, -Mekong Delta colony, -Malaya as an independent nation, -6 Zubhrabhanu regiments, -7 Zubhrabhanu levy regiments, -4 Zubhrabhanu ships, -3 Zubhrabhanu privateer ships, -3 Ayutamradvipan regiments, -17 Ayutamradvipan ships, -11 Sharmathai regiments, -3 Sharmathai levy regiments, -26 Sharmathai ships, -11 Sundanese regiments, -12 Sundanese ships)

Tugrul Beg, ruler of the Neo-Khitan Empire, surprised many by embracing the rapidly-spreading Agade Dag religion in his realm. Even more surprisingly, his authority combined with the efforts of skilled missionaries swayed a significant segment of the population in the core regions of the country, most notably the courtly aristocracy. Nevertheless, this move combined with vigorous proselytism and centralisation efforts soon led to grand tribal uprisings in the staunchly-Tengrist northern and western areas, as well as lesser pagan rebellions and conspiracies in the south as well (-1 Khitan Confidence). Tugrul was not at all unprepared for this, however; proclaiming that a Dagra (Cleansing) was in order to restore the Khitan fortunes, he organised his most fanatical followers into the Sons of Enlil, and sent them out to crush the rebels and root out the heathens. The latter part of the plan ultimately had to be moderated somewhat, as slaughtering most of Tugrul Beg’s subjects regardless of their loyalty was impractical; instead, the Tengrists were terrorised into submission and occasional local-scale massacres were conducted, with massed forced conversions only occurring in some key towns. Needless to say, those policies still did provoke great ire; control over the empire’s northern regions deteriorated altogether, and an actual civil war began in the southern parts when Prince Seljug launched a major Tengrist rebellion, rallying the local factions and attempting to seize power. In 718, however, Seljug was slain and his army was routed during the culminative Battle of Horqin. Subsequent campaigns reestablished control over the south, how ever shaky.

(-4 Neo-Khitan regiments, -3 Neo-Khitan Sons of Enlil regiments, -3 Neo-Khitan levy regiments)

As the Republic of Guangling joined into the war in former Ba on the Nanyangese (previously Namese) side (dragging the somewhat disappointed Neo-Sunfucianist rebels in along with them (+15 Guanglingese levy regiments)), the Great Tibetan War entered a new phase. Aware that the tides of war were likely to turn against them and quick, the Tibetans hurried to try and get a decisive victory. In 716, they and their Chinese allies started a series of diversionary offensives in Ba; after some early progress, this was overturned as the main Guanglingese-Nanyangese offensive had landed in the region; the Tibetan river flotilla was destroyed in a fierce battle by superior Chinese numbers, control over much of the Yangtze River was established and finally, Jiang was taken by an elite Nanyangese regiment. Despite some successes against the neo-Sunfucianists in the north, the Tibetans and General Kong Lifu were soon forced to fall back westwards, and never did manage to regain the initiative in this theatre. In the meantime, however, the main Tibetan forces used their diversion to once again advance into the central/northwestern regions of Nanyang. The new Tenzin formations managed to completely devastate the Nanyangese levies in the first several major engagements, and the new Tibetan rampage had succeeded in besieging Haijing. Nanyangese attempts to regroup in the southwest were foiled by a two-pronged Tibetan offensive from Laos and the Haijing area; those of the Nanyangese forces that survived were forced to move further south. Haijing held out for long, however; it was supplied by the seas, while the besieging army was constantly harassed by various militia uprisings. Ultimately, in 718, after the failure of a major assault, the Tibetans were forced to retreat as the main Nanyangese army in the north threatened to cut off their supply routes; the core of the Tibetan army managed to retreat into Laos once more, evading pursuit at the price of sacrificing a fairly large percentage of other forces. By this moment the Tibetan forces in Ba too were forced to retreat northwards, where however they managed to hold out well enough afterwards, defeating several Chinese attacks. Thus towards the end of 721 a stalemate remained, both sides being too strong to budge and too worn-out to advance further.

As something of a sidenote, the Tibetan attempt to invade southern Vietnam going through the Sharmathai Empire ended in a disaster, as the Nanyangese had somehow learned of Tibetan movements and so were able to prepare an ambush for them, with help from mercenaries and a Sundanese expeditionary corps. Long story cut short, the Tibetans were both outmaneuvered and outnumbered; the entire army sent on this expedition was caught and slaughtered with no remorse, after which the Nanyangese troops hurried north to intercept the Tibetan forces there; they were, however, too late.

(-16 Tibetan regiments, -21 Tibetan levy regiments, -3 Tibetan Tenzin regiments, -15 Tibetan ships, -6 Guanglingese regiments, -7 Guanglingese levy regiments, -3 Guanglingese ships, -9 Nanyangese regiments, -19 Nanyangese levy regiments, -3 Nanyangese ships)

Random Events:

A new popular religious revival began in Jomon (+1 Confidence).

Infrastructure deteriorated in the Mande Empire (-1 Infrastructure).

Special Bonuses:

Most In-Depth Military Orders: Tibet (military leadership bonus).

Best New Player: Odrysa (+1 Bureaucracy).

NPC Diplo:

From: Jarls of Vikland
To: King Egil

Nord-Frisian king, you have come to our land in victory but remained there in defeat. You had lost your old realm; you have been uprooted, but continue to cling on to your old roots, even though this brings suffering and divine disfavour to the realm, for it is against the natural order of things. We do not wish to be oath-breakers, but we wish to poison our beloved realm even less.

Heed wisdom, Nord-Frisian king, and grow new roots in Vikland; it is your only real realm now. Dismiss your old advisors, and elevate worthy men from the Viklander noble houses instead. Also, allow us to convene in a Ting, and publish no decree without consulting us first. Lastly, annex the remaining lands of old Nord-Frisia into the Kingdom of Vikland, and assert the Viklander royal title as your main one.

Do so, and we shall do all that we could to help your reign. Do so not, and we will find ourselves a wiser king.

From: Prasannan Empire
To: Zubhrabhanu Rebellion

We are now willing to negotiate a peace treaty.

OOC:

[1] Enlilba=OTL Baghdad.

[2] Alisib=OTL Lisbon.

[3] Diwion=OTL Dijon.

[4] Werden=OTL Verdun.

[5] Gissar=OTL Dushanbe.

[6] Swarna Dwipa=OTL Sumatra.

[7] The Eastern India=ironically enough, OTL East Indies, but for a different reason.

It is advised that you do not mention real life geographic locations that you haven’t discovered yet.

As to the update being this late – most of it is my fault, but I think I could’ve posted it much earlier today had I not lost internet access until Monday. Fortunately a cousin allowed me to post this (and other stuff) from his place, but the point is that I have a really good excuse this time. Also, if you have questions, hurry up.

Sorry, andis-1. This was timed rather well, though.

Finally, update! Those Latin must die...

Damn you. It was perfect plan!

Another promising nation that I managed to royally screw over.

Too bad perfect plans in the minds of crazy rulers aren't quite as perfect when put into action... or nah, not at all too bad.

Great update das!

Great update, though I hate what happened. (I said my neighbour, and specifically NOT Danelaw)

(the neighbour, not the original one I tried to do)

Click to expand...

Neighbour being the slavs to my south, danes being the original one.

Oh well.

Gives me something to do now.

EDIT: TO ALL NATIONS BORDERING (or who feel like they are a strong enough naval power) DANELAW
From Latgallia

We offer you a coalition against the nation which attacked us and ransacked our nation. They are overcommited if they are invading and defending, and would regardless lose large tracts of land if we cooperate against them. Danelaw's days of raiding the baltic must come to an end.

The Danes invaded of their own accord and after some prior preparations, so it had little to do with that.

OOC: Another blow for the Motherland! Death to the Heinous Enemy!

The cumbersome armada still suffered a minor embarrassment when the Akkadians were able to land forces in the Nile Delta and get away scot-free

Click to expand...

I view this with a bit of humour


anyway; according to my calculations I built 20 Ships, lost a total of 6, yet my fleet shrank to 25 ships. It should be 45 ships.

I stamp my symbol of approval on this here update. My project really should be fertig, tho.

To: Sund-Frisia
From: Thuringia

We are willing to discuss peace with you; we will agree to current borders, and we also ask that you pay 2 EP in tribute.

Wow, thanks a ton for the honors, das. I think Odrysa's advantageous position might've had the most to do with my (relative) success so far, but I'll take that +1 Bureaucracy, thankyouverymuch.

However, as a side note: Projects are supposed to automatically advance by one point per turn, right? If that is so, Teachings of Ek-Enlil should be at 2/3 this turn.

das, why is "Urfa" not "Edessa"? The Turks went East, not south.

Chandrasekhar said:

Wow, thanks a ton for the honors, das. I think Odrysa's advantageous position might've had the most to do with my (relative) success so far, but I'll take that +1 Bureaucracy, thankyouverymuch.

However, as a side note: Projects are supposed to automatically advance by one point per turn, right? If that is so, Teachings of Ek-Enlil should be at 2/3 this turn.

Click to expand...

You know you are going to die now right?

Das: Nice update but you still hate me.