TerraNES: The Civil Experiment

Egypt and the Levant
This region is dominated by the effects of Egypt’s deteriorating leadership and their final collapse. Although inbreeding have resulted in imbecile rulers in the past, a series of these kings led to nonsensical warfare, the collapse of the monarchy, and finally the fall of Egypt and the lower Levant into chaos while the dispossessed armies and navies formed mercenary and pirate bands and prayed on all who attempt to live near or sail through the Levantine Seas.

The Slow Plague arrived in Egypt, and begun wearing down the Royal Family. The God Kings no longer marched through the lands and gathered support from their people; now, they sit in their thrones surrounded by layers of their family, while Nomarches governed Egypt under their command. But as the royal blood became scarce due to the plague, non-Royal nomarches are increasingly becoming the norm. This, in combination with the Anorian God-King’s traditional apathy towards the strengthening south, is a recipe for disaster.

King Ah-Rais II Second-of-Ra is the first of the apathetic kings which lead to the decline of power. Ignoring the plague outside his walls, he ruled as if Egypt was still the strongest stallion. He appoints the first none-royal Nomarch, although he was probably oblivious of the fact. “Just appoint the next in line” was most common phrase found on court records, both due to his apathy and the plague. A tentative peace was held in the Levant-Ugarit retreated from Byblos due to this resurgence of the plague.

The next God King, Resus II Isis’-Boon, never left the throne room. He is forced to continue to appoint non-royal Nomarches, including the influential Pharsa of Thebes and keep his army home to keep their loyalty. He would much prefer peace, but to his shock (and that of other Levantine States) Damascus provoked a war against Byblos, when in the past such wars were all started by Egypt (as they convinced themselves with some evidence). Tyre declared neutrality while shooting dirty looks at Siria while Ugarit also joined in, with Cyrus just participating in a sea battle that destroyed the Byblon fleet.
(-9 Ships, remainder+experience; -1 Archer : Byblos)
(-2 Ships (0.5): Ugarit)
(-3 Ships (0.5): Cyrus)
(-1 Spearmen (1.5): Forman Siria)
This affront to the power of the God Kings cannot stand, even against a peaceful king such as Resus II. He digs up his father’s invasion plan and put it into play. Assembling his army at Raffa, he coerced the Canaanite cities to fund his logistical nightmare of an army, and sailed his fleets to the neutral but friendly port of Acre.
[A Zirilist Monk
Ah… The False Height of Egyptian power; although the Grand Army was nearly twice the size of Nahan II’s Royal Divisions he united before Damascus, the foundation is crumbling. The army itself is unwieldy and stumbling, based around a core of veteran companies and their elite descendents.]

Tyre permitted the Sirian army to fortify outside the Acran border just in case. The Cypriot fleet took time from the blockade to prepare itself for the Egyptian onslaught. Acre apparently made a fortune off of hungry Egyptian sailors and soldiers. Rumors are coming faster than ever; The army disappeared in the Sirian desert; The army has sailed to New Rhodes; The Egyptians have devastated Enkomi; a timely spell of plague forced them to retreat.

Concrete news came that the Egyptian army left Acre southward.

Then;
[A Zirilist Monk
Enkomi, the second homeland of the Phygrians on the fertile Cyrus, was built for a naval siege. Nearly a mile inland, the dredged channels are narrow and walled, perfect for trade but devastating for enemy attack. Other beaches are watched as well, if not as stringently.
What shocked them was the great size of the Egyptian military. For the Egyptians, they decided that they should attack as swiftly as possible to bypass the Cyrpiot defenses, so the naval commander, Admiral Dejef of Anor, agreed to launch an attack on five beaches simultaneously; codified as Spear, Kitab, Silver, Katan and Abbas.
The fight was heroic, and would be the only heroic battle of what is to come. The skilled Spearmen of the Second Levantine War rowed small craft onto the beaches, forming battle lines so skillfully that the enemy was still asleep when they captured the main roads inland. The captives were killed, and the chariots of the God King, for the first time in warfare, were placed onto the soil of Cyprus.
The Cypriot commanders, with the little forces they had, could not withstand this attack. Retreating troops found towns ahead of them burned and desecrated. Reinforcements arrived before a town’s gate only to be murdered by Egyptian Archers. In less than two days, Enkomi and its surroundings was captured in one of the most amazing feat of arms of all time.
What came after was child’s play compared to Valyria, but still brutal nonetheless. All men, children and aged men where killed in the city, and it was put to the flame. The army then spread out over the countryside and destroyed every Cypriot town and village, hunting and scattering the survivors, and resettling military colonies on the land.
In less than three years, Cyprus is completely Egyptian. All Phygrian influence was destroyed by fire and spear.]

After destroying Enkomi, this force smashed the Allied Navy outside of Byblos and landed their troops inside the city. Running out of room after disembarking half their forces, they opened the gates and charged the Sirian siege. It was then, after killing nearly five thousand enemies on the field of battle, that Pharsa’s rebellion was heard by the High Commander Vizier Tetrufis of Demietta. Nearly all of upper Egypt joined the rebellious Nomarch. The Egyptian army retreated behind the walls of Byblos, and redeployed.

Resus II, hearing of the brutality to the north and the south committed by Egyptians- be they rebels or his own, was said to have died of shock.

King Tafer Bringer-of-Wadjet's-Justice was the next king, and he distained his father’s love of peace. War he fought, if from all the way home in Anor. The Cypriot colonies and protectorates were burned one by one. In Egypt, he ruthlessly ended several rebellious northern Nomarches while his own armies were soaked by the rebels of Upper Egypt. Although Pharsa died, and the alliance he led fell apart, they always united to destroy the armies of the God King of only Lower Egypt. Annoyed, he wished to see his army in action one last time; on the fields of battle before Damascus he caught an arrow like so many before him, and died without a heir.

Remember, it was the freeing of forces from the collapse of Hyak and Egypt’s armies at nearly the same time which allowed for the rise of the Sirian Empire.

Queen Nebula Daughter-of-Isis ruined the last vestiges of Egyptian power. Spending ruinously, the mostly Loyal Royal Army slowly deserted. First Damietta and half the navy, then Avaris deserted her. She died in the palace during the last Egyptian Confederacy’s attempt to take Anor and capture the symbols of the Pharoh.

Child King Leozis was her only male child. Anor now controls even less land then Rezzemus once had at the start of his reign. His vizier managed to maintain Anor’s position as one of equals in a new era of Egyptian instability…

In Phoenicia, the capture of Byblos after the Egyptians left by Tyre sees a tired and wartorn land; frustrated with foreigners using them as puppets, the Sirian Empire’s arrogance exceeding that of the Egyptians, and finding common ground in their reject of outsiders, the two cities and the conquered Byblos formed the Phoenician Union, later joined by Acre. Byblos decayed into a supply depot, and although this union was clearly dominated by Tyre, it does not seek to expand its influence… yet.

For the other cities to the north, they sought protection in anther direction; Katan.

Finally, a massive number of ships- nearly 50, were disbanded over the years by various fleets as the plague and warfare took their toll. Cyprus became a pirate island, and the nautically inept Katan’s coastline became a center of Piracy. Ships now fear to travel on the Levantine seas, and for good reason.

More pirates in the Aegean.

np. I'm in no hurry. hmm.. might do something in the menatime.

Amazingly done. Still thinking what to do next... Elam jumps to mind........ But I'll await the finalization the update.

Guys. I'm working on the update ASAP, but I'm going to take this (long) weekend off. Orders will be due the week after.

Instead of updating this sunday, I'll work on fixing and adjusting several parts of the ruleset, saving your ordersets into my database, and writing up national descriptions for you guys.

I suggest you all to take that opportunity to write stories and talk about how your culture changed due to the plague and the turmoil it caused.

As for an update on the update. I finished redrawing all the Egypt-Nile-Levant section of the map. I still need to write an update (would be sketchy due to NPC: Axum would get some focus) on that part and then the stats.

As for the Italian update, I already resolved the main "Plot". Now I need to calculate stats and stuff and write the meaty part of the update. No skimping here... my PC to NPC ratio is almost 2-1 here.

After that, then I'll do a quick Paragraph-per-nation update on the Aegean with a spotlight on Atyria.

I sincerely apologize for the poor quality and timelyness of this late update. I can't promise it won't happen again, which is the worst part.

Terrance, may I be the first to say that you should take it easy; the update may have dragged, but we know that you are still diligently working on it, and not giving up yet, not ducking out and promising it for a later time and not working on it at all. I'm sure everyone else will understand you, and we can gladly wait for you to finish what needs to be done first and then posting the update. Take your time if need be, we'll be here.

Terrance888 said:

Guys. I'm working on the update ASAP, but I'm going to take this (long) weekend off. Orders will be due the week after.

Instead of updating this sunday, I'll work on fixing and adjusting several parts of the ruleset, saving your ordersets into my database, and writing up national descriptions for you guys.

I suggest you all to take that opportunity to write stories and talk about how your culture changed due to the plague and the turmoil it caused.

As for an update on the update. I finished redrawing all the Egypt-Nile-Levant section of the map. I still need to write an update (would be sketchy due to NPC: Axum would get some focus) on that part and then the stats.

As for the Italian update, I already resolved the main "Plot". Now I need to calculate stats and stuff and write the meaty part of the update. No skimping here... my PC to NPC ratio is almost 2-1 here.

After that, then I'll do a quick Paragraph-per-nation update on the Aegean with a spotlight on Atyria.

I sincerely apologize for the poor quality and timelyness of this late update. I can't promise it won't happen again, which is the worst part.

Click to expand...

You are a terrible person for taking this long!

I understand. Time is not an unlimited resource

The Nile
For the disorganized communities south of Egypt, the Plague offered a chance at banding together instead of falling apart. Tos-Getha conquered Abu-Simel with the wealth they gained from trading with Egypt as it fell apart and managed to unify an Lower Nubian kingdom. The upper Nubians unified under the Confederacy of Napata, which includes several Abu-Simelian nobles and soldiers who helped organize their loose alliance. The lower Kuhorsehockyes begun to grow from the increased trade routes while the Upper Kuhorsehockyes, flourishing with the trade with Axum, were united by Kartoros.

As for Axum, they managed to have one of the lowest death rate due to their almost ingrained habit of boiling nearly all grains and vegetables- eventually, the plague arrived on a camel. (OTL China for boiling things). Their knowledge of Herbology expanded in the attempt to find cures, medicines like Koffe, or rat poisons which are still human ingestable. After the plague, they expanded into the Nile Highlands among the local farmers. When the last King, Azaba Sofyason, died without a heir, the Port Authority (now Ports, as there are two main shipping locations) took over control of the nation and relaxed many of the rules the Monarchial era brought upon Axum.

Valyria
Valyria is now almost unrecognizable as a civilized land any more. Even during the chaotic wars of the past, there was still governments, laws, taxes, armies… With the Green Death (The Emissis Plague), the Red Death (The Red Faithful) and the Grey Death (The Faithful and The Sarkovian Hordes) and the ruination they caused, the land returned to a state of near-barbarianism. Lijuria was destroyed, as weas post of Cytria. Vallarvale is but a sea of salted ash forming large dunes on the lifeless landscape. Toras-noth was devastated as well, and as her power weakened, her grip loosens. Tradition was the only thing holding Valyrians, be they Samnites, Vallarians, Cytrians, Apulians, or Torasites, together in this time of upheaval.

{A Zirilist Monk
People plame the three deaths upon a so-called Kingdom of Valyria, which ruled from a fortress in the land of Vallarvale; Supposedly the Greed Death was their curse, the Red Death was their vengeance, and the Gray Death was their salvation. I saw Vallarvale- it is an endless desert of ash, shifting too rapidly for life of any kind to take root. The fertile ash and rain are despoiled by great towers of salt which curses the landscape. Perhaps Ziril herself damned them… and along the way damned all of us.}

Lark of Blackfyre was the last King of Sarkov. For nearly three decades after the burning of Kora-Torr, peace conferences are held at Genua, at Sarkov or Bellevetum, at Naverin or Toras-noth or even Ctesiphod. With the death of Torasetar X and Lark’s claim on the Sarkovian Throne, the deal fell apart when the impressionable Torasetar X was influenced by his more radical advisors to offer a second, stricter, and unacceptable deal to replace the nearly completed treaty while crying at his father’s death bed, the first to die from the Green Plague contacted while dealing with several Zirilists from Krete.

[Torasetar X –
"My friends, my allies! The Sarkovian beast has mercilessly butchered our families, our friends! They seek a truce with us – a truce that will once more enslave the righteous Samnite people, a truce which will purposely hinder our allies of Lijuria, a truce that will blame the war's atrocities on us! We will not accept this from those who laugh at the suffering of children, the mutiliation of our wives! We will fight and be victorious, or until Ziril takes all our souls to her blessed realm”

"This is the moment of our fate. If we beat back the beast, run a spear through it's deformed corpse, Ziril will forgive us, and our people, saved. If we fail in this task... I fear that the wave of death will consume us, Ziril unable to distinguish us, her ever-faithful, in her glorius frenzy. We therefore, have nothing to lose. We are all for the war."]

With the failing of this treaty, the countries once more prepare to march to war. Lark brings forth every ounce of his people to try to not only defend his power, but the homes and traditions of the Vallarian and Samnite peoples. Toras-Noth also saw their cause worthy, for they now see Sarkov as a test against demons of the Faith and of the False Gods. Lijuria participates on principle against the Despotism of Valyria while Ctesiphodite allies of Apulia and Epirus participate on the point of friendship and other, more secret deals.

When all sides see virtue in their actions, the result can only be ruin.

The news arrived with a column of wounded men from Verlinschva.

The Famed Conversation
[Camelius Tatius, Last Lord of Verlinschva
They come, as numerous in blades as grass upon the hills. ]
[The Reply from Lark of Blackfire, last King of Sarkov
The thicker the hay, the easier the mowing.]

When the Ctesiphodite army was seen marching through the Darenstall pass, however, the immensity of their actions fell upon him. In a crucial council, they made their move.

"You are insane.""It is our only option."
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=11173834&postcount=615

As the Lijurians pursue the Fishermen of the Valarian Coast inland, as recent settlers of Kora-Torr flee the Spartan Expeditionary Army, as Zirilist Forces march forward, the Horde Assembled.

The Flames spread. The hills are filled with the sound of burning as fires, driven by the stiff and dry summer winds, spread rapidly throughout Vallarvale. Behind (and sometimes within) these tempests are warriors of the Red Death, sowing salt upon the ashes, pouring oil onto the flames, breaking down stone walls weakened by the fire and killing all who try to intervene.

Under cover of chaos, the Sarkovite Horde Marches north.

At first, General Gronus Heretius Magnalorme tried to maneuver around the horde as per orders. However, he soon noticed from the hills that the plains behind the army was burning and realized, rightly, that they are going for an all-out invasion of the Rtasian valley. He retreated and dug into Darenstall, where his spearmen numbers the same as his counterparts and his archers can be put to use.

When the Horde reached the pass and realized it was blocked, they prepared for battle. There are other passes through the mountains, but they know the Cytrian army was more maneuverable and can cut off vulnerable migrants trailing behind them. Lark decided to start with a wave of migrants, living off a century of warfare, following up with a mixture of spearmen before a wedge of his Royal Guardsmen to punch through the defenses.

The battle was fought over a week. Smoke fainted many of the archers perched on the mountain and blood flowed freely down both sides of the pass. The massive first wave of desperate migrants were all killed, for none surrendered and none retreated. Right behind them were competent spearmen, and the two forces fought a deadly battle on the narrow pass, before the Ctesiphodite archers turned the tables.

The defenders barely got a breather to fix their wounds and warm themselves when the Royal Guard rushed up the mountain. Their long wide-bladed swords and long spears pierced the Ctesiphodite front line, and they were soon followed by a mass of Flaming Fanatics, who begun climbing up the mountain like goats and chased the archers above them. The pass may be narrow and the defenders valiant, but as their frontline dissolved into an orgy, the massive potential of the Guardsmen’s swords took its toll. Magnalorme saw this, and he sadly ordered the retreat from Darenstall.

This led to bloody battles across the southern valley of the Rtasian river. Magnalorme gave as well as he took, but every maneuver led to burnt farms and destroyed towns, every march led to more horror and more massacres. And every battle was started with a massive wave of desperate and Faithful peasants, wielding looted weapons and farming tools, followed by their wives and children, who wearied his men and shocked their conscience as they cut down the relentless people; old men, young women, children all. And every battle was inevitably ended when the Royal Guard pierces his front line again and again, running fearlessly under his hail of arrows in their armor and supported by their fanatical faithful warriors.

It isn’t that he wasn’t a skilled general- only the best could have held together his men through the horrors of this war. Over a hundred thousand migrants fell over the battles, and each side lost many thousands of trained fighters.

A permanent cloud of carrion birds begun following the horde.

The last battle was fought at Varence, the only site with enough bridges to cross the Horde fast enough. Although the bridges themselves were destroyed early on in the month-long fight, soon the bodies of the migrants formed new, horrible bridges on the collapsed foundations. Finally, King Lark himself led the remnants of his Royal Guard in an all out attack on every bridge at the same time, pushing Magnalorme from the Rtas and cutting off his supplies from Ctesiphod. It is now the endgame.

Magnalorme retreated to Mediolaun and managed to keep the Horde away long enough so that they left Cytria forever.

The land, cultivated for centuries in peace, near Ctesiphod were pillaged, raped, burnt and salted while the fearful militia defended their walls.

The Faelinkrisr led half of the horde and utterly defeated Lijuria, capturing their unwalled capital in a week-long combat which was followed by a month-long orgy of raping, burning, pillaging in almost unimaginable proportions, and those migrants who arrived last begun pillaging those who arrived first, and only the faith held them together in the brutal fighting it engendered.

And so, as the hordes left the burnt and submissive lands of Vallarvale and Cytria behind after two decades of war, they left not only destruction but the green plague.

It ravaged those who attempted to rebuild. Armies of rats swarmed and lived at the battlesites and often ate any who attempted to loot. Ctesiphod, already decimated twice; from the draft and from the defense, was thirded once more as the plague swept through the city.

Then came migration of the Longbeards, who were displaced by the Valyrians; slowly filtering through the mountains, they settled in the central Rtasian valley, separating the new Kingdom of Mediolaun from the Republic of Ctesiphod, which retained it’s far-off Rumen-holds of Epirus and Apulia with ships and gifts.

Even as Cytria was ravaged, the Red Faithful moved steadily south, burning all who fell into their paths and eating them alive and slighty roasted. Toras-Noth managed to pull back their forces in time to stop their rampage just north of Naffaven. The faithful warriors just shrugged, captured their fleet and sailed to Toras-Noth itself, burning every ship and every town in the way. There, they managed to destroy nearly half of the city and were defeated only by the timely arrival of Lijurian Zirilists fleeing from the Faithful Horde, who are glad to help the militia slowly push the Faithful up and into Ziril, where it was hoped her cleansing fire will destroy them.

Even Toras-Noth was pummeled by the Green Death, and as fewer and fewer traveled to help rebuild their city, Naffaven, now known as Naffas-noth, is becoming a new center of Zirilism. This schism divided the survivors, and a corrosive war was fought between the two. In the uneasy peace that follows, a series of non-denominational monastries were founded between the two Zirilist centers where they look through the ancient writings, hoping to reconcile the two warring Torasetars.

By the end of this era, nearly four centuries of civilization was destroyed, leaving the survivors grubbing in the ashes. Cytria is divided between the Kingdom of Mediolaun, the Protector of Cytria, desparate Cytrian tribes they protected, the Longbeard tribes and the Republic of Ctesiphod’s eponymous city, which still controlled the trade in the Cytrian sea. While Naffas-noth and its Samnite-majority Zirilists and the more traditional Toras-Noth Zirilists clashed, neutral “Monastatic” lands begun recording a history of the world, one of the few records which can verify the fact that Valyria was ever civilized before 2500 B.C.

The Sardinian Sea
Sardinia continues to dominate the politics as the major civilization in this area. After the fall of Lijuria, Korsi willingly joined the growing nation. In addition, trade is booming as Lijurian and Torasnothite trade routes waned, and they have successfully married into the Royal family of Utica, a growing north African power. However, their attempt to attach Nova Sarkov directly into their kingdom with diplomacy was an unexpected success. The city was told a biased account of the corruption and doom of Old Sarkov, and decided to join the newest growing power on the Seas.

The Iberians, on the other hand, rejected this. They rioted in New Sarkov until they were nearly all driven out, and even then, the countryside was perilous for non-natives. They felt the Sarkovians have taken advantage of their kindness and now rejected them.


The Aegean Sea
For Thloryn, their large army is capable enough to hold off the Makedonian horde… if only the Spartans didn’t choose this time to go into all out rebellion. A third of the Thloryn (the better trained) army deserted, and in the chaos the Makedonians forced their way into Boeotia. However, the loyalists were able to preserve Thloryn itself from the barbaric warriors.

Meanwhile, the Illians were rocked by civil war after Tory’s unscrupulous attempts at stopping the plague. Finally, Byzantinos hired a Makedonian horde to help it’s rebellion. One horde followed another, and started bringing their families with them. Soon, troy was burnt to the ground and a growing Makedonian region is forming on its borders. They were successful in fighting off the Koyunluns, for now.

As for the Kingdom of Katan and Keres, Gyrid was completely conquered. Katan also annexed a few city states in the Levantine Sea after Cypress fell apart, and is quickly becoming a new superpower in the region using the loot from the Lyratele. Meanwhile, Keres is capitalizing on the mines of Phygria to make them the merchants of Koyunlu.

The Koyunluns were successful in driving off and killing natives that the peninsula is now known as Koyulan.

Atyria rebounded quicker than the older nations of Thloryn and Illian. During the civil war in Illian the religious belief of Exntoism was spread along the trade routes. Byzantinos, if anything, relies even more on the Black Sea trade then Troy, as the older city also has predominance in Northern-Aegean trade routes as well. Soon, this energy was used in expansion against pirates, bandits, and other unsavory neighbors. It was surprisingly successful, something which should to attributed to both their increasingly competent spearmen as well as to their Terror Hound archers and their navy.

China
In China, Xilaroi recovered quite well, using simple machines to help them rebuild from the plague and make up for their lost manpower. Soon, their population regrew and begun expanding once more. In addition, a project of canals and dikes to control the river was begun, and these are made with both civilian and military uses in mind- against enemies, the flood gates can be stuck and a massive wave of water will strike them.

As for Huai, it found its position sadly temporary. It was soon divided by rival warlords and descended to the level of its Man neighbors.

To the south, the primitive Yueh people enter the history books for the first time, as they trade a foodstuff called Rice to the northern cultures.

nice..

plans are going well, Illian fragmentation unpredicted.. but workable. piriates.. just as planed. soem incivilized foes to fight..
need a map to check a few facts..

To Thloryn, Byzantinon
We are sadened by the disalution of Illian, but happy that this did not disrupt trade to dearly. still, this event has opened up an oppertunity for some Vile scum calling themselves "Piriates" to begin infesting your waters and potitialy disrupting the flow of wheat from our lands to yours. would you be agreeable to letting us move some expiditions through your waters, aimed at Crushing this vile scum befor it has an oppertunity to prosper and grow?

To Byzantinon Kingdom
we wish to confirm that you will be abbiding by the agreements your anscestors and mine made, concerning the flow of wheat. you have so far continued to follow them, but confermation as such would ease our minds. (CC: wealth of wheat project, still in stats, just checking)

@ZeletDude will send you a PM on Exnotism a little later.

From the Kingdom of Byzantinos
To Atyria

Definitely. The wheat must flow.

EDIT: As for the Pirates, we would eagerly allow you to send ships to fight this threat. We will also send a squadron as well. Who will command this expedition? I would suggest an Thloryn, but if non shows themselves I would allow my ships to be commanded by your most competent admiral.

Fantastic!

Oh my god wow what an amazing update. Literally everything in the western half of the known world is backwards and upside down. Kudos to Terrance and you too Boundless great job all around.

Shake fist Tycho, well well done sir.

Bad Day for Cytrians

Gurkas sighed. Again.

"Visri, stop kicking the skull, please."

Visri was a small, fair skinned girl. She had never worked a day in the fields. She had not even learned to sew from her mamá. Hers was a bleak future.

"But Papá, I have had it for so long. It is like my pet."

"You cannot keep a human skull as a pet. Put it to the side of the road, like I told you the yester day."

Dust and sand sprayed in Gurkas' face as he pulled his cart. Smoke rose from the path far ahead of them, beyond the farthest hill.

"I cannot watch the trail and you, Visri. Please, put it down."

Visri teared up. "Okay, Papá."

She stopped a moment and put the long-cherished toy on the dusty, hardened dirt beside the track, next to a big rock.

As Gurkas returned his attention to pulling the cart, he stopped short, almost tripping. Four large men, armed with spear and bow, blocked his path.

"Please, we have nothing of value. I am a widowed man, my wife taken by the plague."

"One man's trash is another man's treasure," the biggest man said. Before Gurkas could protest, a spear came sticking through his chest from behind.

"Eyy boss, did they say nothin about a girl? I remembered em mentioning a little girl with this trash."

"It don't matter. We got what we came for." With that, the fifth weasly man picked up a single bag of seed from the cart, and they all sauntered off.


Visri looked over the big rock she had buried her skull by. She had stayed hidden, down low, just like her father had told her to. She panicked when she heard the men's voices.

Her papá was sleeping on the ground. She would have to wake him up. She marched over to her father, wondering where the men had gone.

Her father would not wake.

My god, I just had to clap and laugh to myself as I read what befell Italy... nice to know that Sarkov went out with a bang, .

The victors are few, the losers are many. Much of the Mediterranean around Italy has been turned upside down and torn to pieces, and it's very interesting to see that. Congratulations to those that are left on the Valyrian Peninsula, you have yourself nice places to move into! , All of you put up a great fight, and Eltain I have to say put up the biggest one! Congratulations to all of the victors there in Italy, you earned your victories!

@Terrance
The royal family and it's offshoots in the horde are very much alive... they just need to be stitched together now. Wonderful update by the way, was hoping to see what was wrought by all of us in Italy, .

There is no winner in war, for even the victorious have losses.

Terrance888 said:

There is no winner in war, for even the victorious have losses.

Click to expand...

True, true. The winner loses some, and the loser loses all.

As Egypt plunges into its first intermediate era the chaos and destruction of the plague and the wars begin to fade away. The great cities of Egypt now again rise out of the Nile and begin again to make attempts to conquer and occupy the rest. Egypt begins its first intermediate era with a great work by an Anorian priest marking the end of the third dynasty in Anor and the beginning of the fourth dynasty at Anor. The fourth begins with the child king Leozis.
Fourth Dynasty of Egypt (Anor)
Leozis the Child 344-356 (350)
Saramerus 356-357
Remosus IV 357-362
Tafer II 362-398
Metushalem 398-407 (400)

Yet other works are now done all over Egypt and several more city states claim kingship over the Nile. New wars are but an obvious future. The first of the amazing literary works are made by Pharsa the fourth on the year 351 which depicts the line of the Pharsa's of Thebes as the fifth dynasty of Egypt. This work marks not only the removal of power from Anor as center of Egyot but also for the first time depicts a literary work that is not done by a priest, marking a change in Egyptian education capabilities and traditions as the kings and elites of the civilization begin to send their children to become highly educated at temples of Toth – goddess of education, that become schools first in Thebes and later all over the Nile. This tradition of education begins under Pharsa the fourth. Another mark this new kingship leaves on Egypt is several kings reigning for an exceptionally long time with the improvements in healthcare since the green plague. These new healthcare traditions spread slower than the education as the healer priests of Thebes only slowly are accepted in other city states to teach other priests and elites in the ways of Toth.
Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (Thebes)
Great Pharsa the first – 322-330
Pharsa the second – 330-333
Pharsa the third – 333-342
Pharsa the fourth – 342-357 (350)
Pharsa the fifth – 357-378
Pharsa the sixth – 378-392
Pharsa the seventh – 392-433 (400)

Other than the Fourth and Fifth dynasties depicting the royal families in Anor and Thebes, the sixth, seventh and eight dynasties are much later in time introduced as the royal families in Avarice, Damietta and Abydos respectively.

Let the first intermediate era commence!

ooc: Ah. Things are going well. I decided to remain in Egypt. This time I'll pick Thebes, but I will send suggestions about the rest of Egypt (and the world ) This btw depicts the kings of the next update.

From the journal of the Faithful, part 1

I still can not believe what has happened to our people, but happened it has... we managed our task that the Lark entrusted to us, the task that our people reviled and wished to go against. That task saved us though, saved us from utter destruction upon the peninsula on which our forebears and forefathers made their homes and lived their lives... it is all gone now, swept away by ash and fire, wind and fury as we leave nothing behind for the Zirilist scum. Nothing, not a stone in our cities or a wooden twig, has been left behind in the wake of our people, so that the demons and the dogs that come behind us to take our land will have only destruction and ruins from what they forced us to carve into the bloody land.

Even as we saw the columns of smoke and flame rising high into the skies behind us, towering into the heavens as it was swept southward and eastward, we marched forth, north against the Ctyrian peoples and the Ligurians. Damnable Ctyrians were always good at war despite their peaceful roots, and we lost nearly a hundred and twenty thousand martyrs that flung themselves against the wall of spears that the Ctyrians had against us. We cracked them though, the Royal Guard arriving to smash through them like so much wheat before a scythe. We mowed whichever ones we could down, and then had the others flee before us like scared rabbits...

My brother was a part of the expedition sent westward into Liguria... a full half of our strength went with him to crack open and destroy Liguria. By god, we destroyed the bastards all right. We burned their nation to the ground and smashed their bones into the dust and ash that we left behind. We took wealth and spoils, and slaves, many slaves with us. The decree of the first Sarklov was disbanded by the Lark, and we obey of course. We took slaves and we herd them with us now, great swathes of them. As far as most people are concerned, the Ligurians deserve it after they stabbed us in the back all those years ago when they joined the Coalition against our people. We had our revenge on them back then, but that was only a fraction of what we were capable of, what we truly wanted to do. It is my regret that I have not been able to stop the murders though of the slaves... we need them for labor after all when we finally reach out destination, and these murders of the Ligurians by the few Fanatics, Zealots and Martyrs that remain are not going to help out our situation at all.

We also have word from the south from scouts who have come back and told the tale. Operation Cinderbolt, the final design of the Lark meant as a scorched earth policy to deny the Faithless of any sort of foothold upon that nation, has left Valyria scarred. It is said that massive mountains of salt ascend to the sky, and the ashes of the fallen cities and forests drift every where in dunes and on the winds. There is no life in Valyria... we killed all of the farm animals and miscellaneous living beings that we could not take with us, and the fires burned out all the rest. We have burned our bridges behind us... our homeland is no more.

But we must look forward now, to Vaikrosihk, the Promised Home, where we can forge our new destiny and our new living places. Valyria was lost, aye, but Vaikrosihk waits before us now on the horizon...

We left so many behind though... the Faithful Zealots and Martyrs and Fanatics that stayed behind to continue the fight and burn our nation to ash so that none could take it. The good commanders who led the Red Faith southwards to pierce Toras-North and gut them like a fish by destroying their leadership, and so many other people. We burned our ships in the harbors, those that the Red Faith did not utilize on their suicidal expedition to the South, knowing full well that most of them would die and be forgotten forever... but the sweet taste of battle was too much for them, and it is too late to turn back at this point, too late now. We must move forward, and lay the past behind us, and remember what we have saved, what we have taken with us, and what we will do in the future. Gods willing, I will live long enough to see this new land before I slip from this world to the next.

The Faith managed to take just about every single document out of the fires and the destruction of our kingdom, and it is glorious that we managed that achievement. Those documents and papyrus scrolls of ours are holy, and we could not leave them behind for the fires or for the Zirilist dogs. No, we had to take them with us, no matter the price. There are some people, from old men and women hunched over to little children who carry these documents in bags and wagons as we tread northward with the horde to our new land. They have courage and determination aye, and they will not let anyone else take it off of their hands until they fall down and die.

I have also come to realize what good the Lark's mandate did for us as well when we left. The Great Plague from the east that descended upon Valyria in our wake has destroyed, with our help, more than four centuries of civilization and legacy that was left upon the hills and valleys, mountains and seas. Ctyria has been left bare and destitute, Toras-North has splintered in half, and Apulia is no more. Joy can be had amongst our people now for the death and the downfall of many of our foes, but it is bittersweet with the loss or our homeland. Maybe in time, we will learn to kind and peaceful once again... I do not doubt that that day will come.

I doubt that it will happen soon.

Vi Shaah Sallah, Long live the People. Let us hope that it lasts for a longer amount of time.

From the Notes of a Surviving Red Faith member in the ruins of Valyria;

Ash and fire, salt and blood. They have supplied what was once our nation with a fierce and bloody cleansing... a cleansing that was so beautiful...

There is very few of us left. Those that have not succumbed to plague or to the swords of migrants and military forces still living in Valyria are scattered and in small groups. We fish in the remaining rivers and waterways that are relatively clear, though everyday more of them are poisoned by the shifting salt and ash that is blown across the wastes and ruins of Valyria. I feel nothing though, no sadness for what is gone, no feeling of regret, nothing at all... except for the hunger, the hunger for flesh.

It has been so long since I last tasted some, and that was during the sack of Toras-North. The Zirilist dog called out with fear in his voice, but we fell upon him and tore his flesh off with our teeth, our sharpened teeth. The riusin drug that we consumed made the world a dance of spinning colors, so much that we could not see what we were doing. We merely fought, and fought and fought, until those Ligurians came down and trapped many of our fellows.

The ones that were free, including me, moved back to the ships, burning large swathes of the city as we did so. We had failed our mission, our mission to kill Toresater X. We failed that, and the ones that were outside of the Ligurian cordon fled as fast as we could. We cut down civilians, children... anyone who got in our way was killed.

For the ones inside of the cordon, the Toras men and the Ligurian refugees fleeing into the area surrounded them and started to cut them down slowly at first. At that point, the Red Faith Martyrs advanced as a wall of howling flesh going on all fours to dive and tear away at the rest of the soldiers that surrounded them. It was said that the streets ran red with blood and crimson tears, that the bodies choked the streets and alleyways. We inflicted heavy casualties, and they inflicted heavy casualties upon us. In the end, the Red Faith collapsed and fought in their last stand as they were torn apart by the men and the women of Toras and Liguria.

So, now here I sit in the ruins of what was once my home city. Sarkov's walls have been destroyed, the great citadel laid to ruin. The royal palace has been turned to ash, as well as most of the city. It is nothing but broken bones and ribs, the ruins of the once proud nation we were...

All the other cities are like that. Verlinschva, Belleventum, and all the others. The best looking one of the bunch? Kora-Torr. It's ruins are still there, spindly and broken from one hundred years in the elements, but they are there. Much of the surviving Red Faith have made their homes there as they plot the next moves against the southern nations that created this situation.

So many memories have been laid to ruin. I remember when the great cathedral of Sarkov rang as it's bells tolled for a new age of peace and understanding, and when they rang their mournful dirge on the day of Toresater IX's death. His death caused the downfall of Valyria, though I feel no regret over what I have done. I salted and had the Earth burned, just like the others, and I fought down in the South, till all seemed lost. I am still alive, though whether that is a gift or a curse remains to be seen.

More than four hundred years of civilization, building, learning, and the great projects that our ancestors created have been laid to destruction and oblivion with the death of our established nation. Everything we have worked for is for naught...

The plague is sweeping through this area as well. The Green Death they call it, one of the three plagues of Valyria. The Green Plague of Death, the Red Plague of Vengeance, and the Grey Plague of Salvation. I'll leave the reader to decide which is which.

Green it is, and it is sweeping through the Ashlands like a horrid reaper. The plague has no mercy upon anyone, though the members of the Red Faith have a higher survival rate than the standard people. I don't know why that is, but the wheels are already turning in the minds of the men still in command of the fanatical Red Faith legions. They plot something terrible...

They plan to deliberately infect themselves with the plague and then kill themselves while diving into the wells and aquifers of Valyria to poison the remaining nations and people that survive. The few rivers and lakes that have not been drained from the fires and the subsequent desertfication of the land will be swallowed up by either the ash, or dead bodies as the Red Faith carves it's bloody vengeance into these lands.

Hate has led only to more hate and destruction... all of this hate, all of this fury that started more than a hundred years ago sounded the death knell for everyone on this peninsula. I don't know what will come after, but I know only that it will be horrible and hideous.

Gods preserve us, all of them.

They will have no mercy on us though.

There is no hope for any of us...