Crowqueen
Token forum woman
Note - I have two saved games here, one from the Domination victory and another from when I conquered the Egyptians fully.
I was playing Korea, on Settler, going for a pure conquest victory (forgot to turn Domination off
) and on Epic speed. I didn't cheat much; my normal style of play is to improve everything equally and attain a modern civ with neighbours by about 1500 or 1600 and then start a number of small, isolated wars of conquest to squeeze out my rivals. This game was different; not only did we not have the landmass to spread out, but this meant it was possible to go for Domination/Conquest because I and my rivals only had so much land to work with. The map style was Tilted Axis, and this generated one single island the shape of Sri Lanka, though in reality it would probably have been the length of Europe or North Africa. It was heavily forested and with desert corners.
What was particularly poignant was, after I had wiped everyone else out, I generated the Great Scientist Andrei Sakharov in my capital city. There seemed no better coded message for - Don't try this at home, folks. (This is meant to be tongue-in-cheek rather than serious, so sorry if I offend any Koreans here...I'm afraid I've done too much reading of the DPRK Wiki to try and find placenames to rename all those conquered cities with. Also I am a student of dictatorships and given that I dislike authoritarianism of any shape or form - including dominance of one political opinion in the western mass media - it only reflects a hypothetical situation and not my own opinions.)
1915 AD
Dear Great Leader, Kim Il-Wol:
The mighty Korean Empire salutes your historic victory over the stubborn Hatshepsut and welcomes progress towards your new idea of "people-rule" (what the political scientists are beginning to call "democracy" despite your obvious wish that a Korean word be found for it so as not to detract from the current assimilation strategy you are pursuing in the former Egyptian lands). Let me offer you my History of the Korean People written by an eminent professor at Seoul Seokwon and distributed among those people
that are supporting your campaign to become our first President. I must say this upstart Barack Obama is quite unsuited to the task of ruling your mighty empire and that it is inevitable you will succeed in continuing your glorious stewardship under people-rule. It was galling however for Hatshepsut to consider standing and I am glad your persuasive talents made sure she came out in your favour before the preliminary elections had taken place. As she is somewhat younger than you perhaps in time she will make a great leader, but she will have to change her name to become acceptable to the Korean peoples.
A History of the Korean Empire from Foundation to the Establishment of People-Rule.
Andrei Sakharov, Professor of Contemporary History, Seokwon Seoul
"Long live our glorious Kim Il-Wol! For sixty centuries he has cast a benevolent and authoritative eye over our doings; we firmly believe that although he was only born sixty summers ago his spirit has watched over our mighty progress and the expansion of our dominions.
"Our capital Seoul was established in ancient, long forgotten times, and the great Gods blessed our tiny tribe with the art of war, science and a secluded and peaceful forest in which to dwell. Remnants of this great jungle remain today, because our people enjoy the shelter and protection of its magnificent canopy and live in harmony with nature, as they did in ancient times. The great ancient Wall still remains from this historic period in Korean civilisation; we were not great at that time but nevertheless the cities of Seoul, Pyongyang, Wosan and Pusan are all enclosed by this protector of the people, and thus we can speculate that there was little scattered tribes could do but decide to join our people, a diverse and friendly civilisation, indeed even then a protector of smaller nations such as the Ainu, Cimmeriani and a curious bunch of savages who gifted us their city of Uosh-Inch'on; archaeologists studying this city believe it belonged to a people known as the Americans, and that ancient writings have been discovered to show that its original name, Washington, was the name of its founder as well as its capital. In this spirit, might I humbly suggest that the city of Alexandria is renamed after yourself, Kim Il-Wol? There is no need to take it so far, of course, that your new wife Hatshepsut is allowed to have a city named after her, though I suppose there are plenty of small villages scattered in the forest that could bear her name with pride.
"This initial period of peaceful co-existence with the northern peoples did last a long time, mostly thanks to the generous nature of the Korean peoples. We did lack ships and knowledge of the full extent of the island we live on in those times, but of course that merely demonstrates that it did not directly impact our development and our sages did have an understanding of the sea's bounty; however because of the absorption of the barbarian towns into the great mass of our people it appears that there was no need until late on in our history to develop ships capable of exploration beyond our immediate shores. Instead, the road network through the jungles was adequate to move resources and our noble militias from one end of the civilisation to another,and although we believe these ancient sages had an understanding that they were surrounded on three sides by water, the perpetuation of the Tatar people in a tiny inlet until late on in the subsequent programme of assimilation suggests that the ancient Koreans were tolerant of minorities and imperial diversity. Of course we still are; the seokwon in the north are currently cataloguing and archiving the documents and histories of the German and Inca peoples in order to preserve these ancient cultures for future generations to inspect, but that of course is what people-rule depends on.
"The breakthrough in the north two thousand years ago can be called the first great movement in the establishment of the modern Empire. Our borders were threatened by German spies and militias purporting to be tradesmen offering very little that the Great Leaders needed for the perpetuation of the Imperial way of life. It is telling that the city of Cologne appears only to have 'got in the way' of the expansion of Hwangsan and the pre-emptive absorption of the township and colonisation was accompanied by proof of ancient Korean or proto-Korean fishing nets found in discoveries later analysed in Pyongyang. Although one might expect indignation from the imperial metropolises over the use of resources to feed barbarians while they refuse to work for the good of their own city, it is not surprising that under the magnificent golden age of the Empire the leaders, as you yourself do now, saw the value in establishing churches and shrines to Brahma and the other Gods of the mighty Hindu religion, even while tolerating the emergence of other petty cults. It is a marked contrast to the belligerence of the Egyptians who constantly demanded tribute to their heathen god Buddha; it is probably a good idea now they have joined us in heavenly unity that we accept the worship of Buddha alongside Brahma. It has always been a policy which Korea has been proud of, though of course all of us at the Seokwon speak as one when we pay homage to the blessings Brahma has placed upon us. The ceremony in which Hatshepsut herself adopted our religion in order to marry you was marvellous, and thanks to the establishment of Korean rule over the Egyptian provinces, viewers in Pi-Ramesses send their congratulations to you in hope and expectation that you will visit their cities during the forthcoming people-rule "choosings" (the new-fangled word "elections" is not of Korean origin so I will not use it again) in order to show them that you are the only choice they really have.
"The campaign of assimilation of the German people was accompanied however by an unfortunate turn of events when Huaya Capac sent his skirmishers out to ambush our peace-loving armies and extract tribute from them. We really did not have any grudge against the Inca people, but when roused the Korean Empire is quick to show its strength against an infidel army. It was surprising to study the city of Memphis to see how much the barbarians warred amongst themselves; the city is Egyptian in origin and marks the westernmost point at which they were established, but traces of tribal development - the corrosive anarchy which has rocked even our illustrious Empire at times seems to have held sway for several centuries or more, given Egyptian records now available for perusal at the Pyongsan (formerly Uosh-Inch'on; as you no doubt know your great-great-grandfather went through the catharsis of Koreanhood when he realised he had finally destroyed the Incas after a century of strife, and made sure all names of barbarian origin were expunged from the map; I use the pre-Koreanhood names only for historical convenience and to demonstrate that the Korean Empire is not just made up of one but many different cultures) Museum and Reading-Rooms. It then appears to have passed into Inca hands as something of a concession, though by the time it was captured it was little more than a barracks for militias roaming the nearby forests acting as threats to both Korean and German cities nearby. Subjugating the Inca was easy because our military technology outclassed theirs; but I do believe that the Germans proved somewhat defensive against Korean superiority and rather resistant to absorption later on; evidence of battles and guerrilla activity resulted perhaps in the era of "apartness" where Korean overlords governed cities of listless and apathetic mestizos rather than being able to directly assimilate the people into the glorious empire. However the fight against the Incas necessitated diversion of resources into naval equipment; although military technology was rapidly improving (the people of Cologne eventually had to be subdued by the deployment of the hwacha, a primitive mechanical device which appears to have been used to bombard the cities in an unfortunate diversion from peaceful absorption) to meet Inca resistance in the north, horsemen are rather powerless against strong fortifications and it appears to have been too easy to attack a man with a musket with a huge axe. In keeping with sound domestic policies the German cities were not forced to produce equipment to conquer their former protector, and divisions of swift horsemen, capable of penetrating the forest, were sent up towards the Inca from the city of Cheju, a powerful centre of military excellence but within the former limits of the ancient empire. Days, sometimes months of travel left forces in Inca territory vulnerable to roaming axemen, and it was a hard fight until the introduction of more powerful cannon capable of propelling explosive shells into cities rather than just heavy iron missiles. The breakthrough in both cases - German and Inca - came with the circumnavigation of the small continent and the development of more powerful ships to rout the swift triremes still employed by the Inca. Discovery of settlements on the east and south of existing powers was followed by admittedly merciless slaughter of innocents; your great-grandfather evidently decided that the tolerance of the Korean people extended only so far and put down formerly peaceful trading concessions within Korean boundaries and I suspect greatly alarmed Cleopatra - great-grandmother of our current Queen Hatshepsut - by taking the peninsula of Taeju.
"Surveys of the Empire at this time show an incredible dichotomy between the ethnic Korean parts and the diverse northern colonies. Work was begun on more peaceful projects after such a long and bitter war; the discovery of manned flight and other luxury establishments could possibly be attributed to your grandfather's desire to show that he was not the belligerent party and to homogenise and solidify the collection of small city-states which had grown up due to reluctance on the part of the German people to really accept their role as good citizens of the Korean Empire. Intermarriage was still fairly uncommon but establishing Korean predominance by renaming the cities to suit our tongue - it is also around this time of course that Uosh-Inch'on was rededicated Pyongsan, and that the Egyptian city of Byblos followed the "way of a thousand stars" and applied to join our empire as Inch'on. This seems to have had the desired effect, and it is now noticeable for the first time that more people speak Korean than either German - for a long time an accepted second tongue in the northern colonies - and Incan. Egyptian is obviously used in the border regions of what was their Empire, but the guttural sounds are inimicable to the Korean ear and plans must be made to bring this harmony to foreign ears and tongues. People-rule will not succeed unless the barbarian tongues are suppressed because of the necessity of sharing common goals and improved communication. Support for the "farseer" medium is growing in formerly technologically deprived areas of Egypt, and with your Kim Il-Wol Tower newly built and power supply delivered to Upper Korea, there is no reason why this new mechanism should not be used to disseminate Korean culture.
"To return to the military history I was in the process of discussing would now be appropriate, since it has not taken long to subjugate the Egyptians and planning for people-rule and powered farsight has not been greatly interrupted. The Korean way is always best in order to promote culture, direct military activity sparingly and decisively and control spending on necessities so we might keep our people happy, not just favour our regrettable path of war.
"After the taking of Taeju (its Incan name is lost to history, since the principality was burned along with all its manuscripts and no-one even among the Inca knew where it was) the Koreans settled into coexistence with the Egyptians for several generations. As you well know, the incident which sparked our war with Hatshepsut was believed to be an oversight on your part - the destroyer which strayed into territory no doubt believed it was a submarine and was invisible! - but perhaps after such a swift campaign it is inevitable that history will overlook this seeming act of aggression and conclude that it was going to happen sooner or later because of our understandable reluctance to trade or develop relations with Egypt. Essential reconnaissance took place during the period of cultural growth, and our restraint was tested when we encountered Egyptian soldiers scouting near Taeju and in the empty spaces between colonies. Our borders were never solid in northern areas, and for strategic reasons no mapbook of the continent has been published; as an aside prior to the Incan campaign and naval establishment our recent ancestors did not understand the concept of an island at all and also believed that the Earth was round! Sailing out in search of a passage around the plane, after academic discussions in Seoul that the globe was spherical and therefore it was possible to sail east from Uosh-Inch'on and arrive in Pusan a year or so later, were scotched when an expedition by a frigate ended in a merciless death on pack-ice a month or two out of port. Now we have flight and satellites it is indeed true that the Earth is flat.
"Not much remains to be said about the Egyptian campaign apart from the regrettable stalling of the campaign for Pi-Ramesses. In the intervening period of peace horsemen have somehow become a liability rather than an asset; in the Incan campaign they were mainly used, it is true, as scouts and occupying troops but although the Egyptians showed a shocking barbarity in their continued reliance on swords and axes perhaps sometimes conventional forces are easier to overcome either by tank and bomber, or simply by leaving the occupation of cities to artillery and eschewing the use of sheer manpower altogether. We do have ceremonial divisions in major cities that still parade with ancient clubs, as a patriotic reminder of how far we have come since the founding of Seoul, but these are restricted to parades and light civil control, rather than actual warfare as practiced in this modern age.
"In summary therefore your wise and benevolent rule has so far produced what the Korean people have always wished for - living-space, apartness and national establishment - and we look forward to people-rule with the same excitement that accompanies all your pronouncements and activities."
Please forward all correspondence relating to this matter to A. N. Sakharov, Seoul Seokwon, Avenue of the Northern Colonies, Wol Gu, Seoul. My apartment is not a suitable place to discuss matters as my neighbours are Germanic and are very curious as to what I am doing in my research.
Yours in everlasting sincerity
Andrei N. Sakharov
(not to be confused with A. D. Sakharov, who I understand is a person who doubts your magnificent rule in this Empire and which for me causes no end of embarrassment and discomfort when I am erroneously taken for him in official situations)
I was playing Korea, on Settler, going for a pure conquest victory (forgot to turn Domination off
) and on Epic speed. I didn't cheat much; my normal style of play is to improve everything equally and attain a modern civ with neighbours by about 1500 or 1600 and then start a number of small, isolated wars of conquest to squeeze out my rivals. This game was different; not only did we not have the landmass to spread out, but this meant it was possible to go for Domination/Conquest because I and my rivals only had so much land to work with. The map style was Tilted Axis, and this generated one single island the shape of Sri Lanka, though in reality it would probably have been the length of Europe or North Africa. It was heavily forested and with desert corners.What was particularly poignant was, after I had wiped everyone else out, I generated the Great Scientist Andrei Sakharov in my capital city. There seemed no better coded message for - Don't try this at home, folks. (This is meant to be tongue-in-cheek rather than serious, so sorry if I offend any Koreans here...I'm afraid I've done too much reading of the DPRK Wiki to try and find placenames to rename all those conquered cities with. Also I am a student of dictatorships and given that I dislike authoritarianism of any shape or form - including dominance of one political opinion in the western mass media
- it only reflects a hypothetical situation and not my own opinions.)1915 AD
Dear Great Leader, Kim Il-Wol:
The mighty Korean Empire salutes your historic victory over the stubborn Hatshepsut and welcomes progress towards your new idea of "people-rule" (what the political scientists are beginning to call "democracy" despite your obvious wish that a Korean word be found for it so as not to detract from the current assimilation strategy you are pursuing in the former Egyptian lands). Let me offer you my History of the Korean People written by an eminent professor at Seoul Seokwon and distributed among those people
that are supporting your campaign to become our first President. I must say this upstart Barack Obama is quite unsuited to the task of ruling your mighty empire and that it is inevitable you will succeed in continuing your glorious stewardship under people-rule. It was galling however for Hatshepsut to consider standing and I am glad your persuasive talents made sure she came out in your favour before the preliminary elections had taken place. As she is somewhat younger than you perhaps in time she will make a great leader, but she will have to change her name to become acceptable to the Korean peoples.
A History of the Korean Empire from Foundation to the Establishment of People-Rule.
Andrei Sakharov, Professor of Contemporary History, Seokwon Seoul
"Long live our glorious Kim Il-Wol! For sixty centuries he has cast a benevolent and authoritative eye over our doings; we firmly believe that although he was only born sixty summers ago his spirit has watched over our mighty progress and the expansion of our dominions.
"Our capital Seoul was established in ancient, long forgotten times, and the great Gods blessed our tiny tribe with the art of war, science and a secluded and peaceful forest in which to dwell. Remnants of this great jungle remain today, because our people enjoy the shelter and protection of its magnificent canopy and live in harmony with nature, as they did in ancient times. The great ancient Wall still remains from this historic period in Korean civilisation; we were not great at that time but nevertheless the cities of Seoul, Pyongyang, Wosan and Pusan are all enclosed by this protector of the people, and thus we can speculate that there was little scattered tribes could do but decide to join our people, a diverse and friendly civilisation, indeed even then a protector of smaller nations such as the Ainu, Cimmeriani and a curious bunch of savages who gifted us their city of Uosh-Inch'on; archaeologists studying this city believe it belonged to a people known as the Americans, and that ancient writings have been discovered to show that its original name, Washington, was the name of its founder as well as its capital. In this spirit, might I humbly suggest that the city of Alexandria is renamed after yourself, Kim Il-Wol? There is no need to take it so far, of course, that your new wife Hatshepsut is allowed to have a city named after her, though I suppose there are plenty of small villages scattered in the forest that could bear her name with pride.
"This initial period of peaceful co-existence with the northern peoples did last a long time, mostly thanks to the generous nature of the Korean peoples. We did lack ships and knowledge of the full extent of the island we live on in those times, but of course that merely demonstrates that it did not directly impact our development and our sages did have an understanding of the sea's bounty; however because of the absorption of the barbarian towns into the great mass of our people it appears that there was no need until late on in our history to develop ships capable of exploration beyond our immediate shores. Instead, the road network through the jungles was adequate to move resources and our noble militias from one end of the civilisation to another,and although we believe these ancient sages had an understanding that they were surrounded on three sides by water, the perpetuation of the Tatar people in a tiny inlet until late on in the subsequent programme of assimilation suggests that the ancient Koreans were tolerant of minorities and imperial diversity. Of course we still are; the seokwon in the north are currently cataloguing and archiving the documents and histories of the German and Inca peoples in order to preserve these ancient cultures for future generations to inspect, but that of course is what people-rule depends on.
"The breakthrough in the north two thousand years ago can be called the first great movement in the establishment of the modern Empire. Our borders were threatened by German spies and militias purporting to be tradesmen offering very little that the Great Leaders needed for the perpetuation of the Imperial way of life. It is telling that the city of Cologne appears only to have 'got in the way' of the expansion of Hwangsan and the pre-emptive absorption of the township and colonisation was accompanied by proof of ancient Korean or proto-Korean fishing nets found in discoveries later analysed in Pyongyang. Although one might expect indignation from the imperial metropolises over the use of resources to feed barbarians while they refuse to work for the good of their own city, it is not surprising that under the magnificent golden age of the Empire the leaders, as you yourself do now, saw the value in establishing churches and shrines to Brahma and the other Gods of the mighty Hindu religion, even while tolerating the emergence of other petty cults. It is a marked contrast to the belligerence of the Egyptians who constantly demanded tribute to their heathen god Buddha; it is probably a good idea now they have joined us in heavenly unity that we accept the worship of Buddha alongside Brahma. It has always been a policy which Korea has been proud of, though of course all of us at the Seokwon speak as one when we pay homage to the blessings Brahma has placed upon us. The ceremony in which Hatshepsut herself adopted our religion in order to marry you was marvellous, and thanks to the establishment of Korean rule over the Egyptian provinces, viewers in Pi-Ramesses send their congratulations to you in hope and expectation that you will visit their cities during the forthcoming people-rule "choosings" (the new-fangled word "elections" is not of Korean origin so I will not use it again) in order to show them that you are the only choice they really have.
"The campaign of assimilation of the German people was accompanied however by an unfortunate turn of events when Huaya Capac sent his skirmishers out to ambush our peace-loving armies and extract tribute from them. We really did not have any grudge against the Inca people, but when roused the Korean Empire is quick to show its strength against an infidel army. It was surprising to study the city of Memphis to see how much the barbarians warred amongst themselves; the city is Egyptian in origin and marks the westernmost point at which they were established, but traces of tribal development - the corrosive anarchy which has rocked even our illustrious Empire at times seems to have held sway for several centuries or more, given Egyptian records now available for perusal at the Pyongsan (formerly Uosh-Inch'on; as you no doubt know your great-great-grandfather went through the catharsis of Koreanhood when he realised he had finally destroyed the Incas after a century of strife, and made sure all names of barbarian origin were expunged from the map; I use the pre-Koreanhood names only for historical convenience and to demonstrate that the Korean Empire is not just made up of one but many different cultures) Museum and Reading-Rooms. It then appears to have passed into Inca hands as something of a concession, though by the time it was captured it was little more than a barracks for militias roaming the nearby forests acting as threats to both Korean and German cities nearby. Subjugating the Inca was easy because our military technology outclassed theirs; but I do believe that the Germans proved somewhat defensive against Korean superiority and rather resistant to absorption later on; evidence of battles and guerrilla activity resulted perhaps in the era of "apartness" where Korean overlords governed cities of listless and apathetic mestizos rather than being able to directly assimilate the people into the glorious empire. However the fight against the Incas necessitated diversion of resources into naval equipment; although military technology was rapidly improving (the people of Cologne eventually had to be subdued by the deployment of the hwacha, a primitive mechanical device which appears to have been used to bombard the cities in an unfortunate diversion from peaceful absorption) to meet Inca resistance in the north, horsemen are rather powerless against strong fortifications and it appears to have been too easy to attack a man with a musket with a huge axe. In keeping with sound domestic policies the German cities were not forced to produce equipment to conquer their former protector, and divisions of swift horsemen, capable of penetrating the forest, were sent up towards the Inca from the city of Cheju, a powerful centre of military excellence but within the former limits of the ancient empire. Days, sometimes months of travel left forces in Inca territory vulnerable to roaming axemen, and it was a hard fight until the introduction of more powerful cannon capable of propelling explosive shells into cities rather than just heavy iron missiles. The breakthrough in both cases - German and Inca - came with the circumnavigation of the small continent and the development of more powerful ships to rout the swift triremes still employed by the Inca. Discovery of settlements on the east and south of existing powers was followed by admittedly merciless slaughter of innocents; your great-grandfather evidently decided that the tolerance of the Korean people extended only so far and put down formerly peaceful trading concessions within Korean boundaries and I suspect greatly alarmed Cleopatra - great-grandmother of our current Queen Hatshepsut - by taking the peninsula of Taeju.
"Surveys of the Empire at this time show an incredible dichotomy between the ethnic Korean parts and the diverse northern colonies. Work was begun on more peaceful projects after such a long and bitter war; the discovery of manned flight and other luxury establishments could possibly be attributed to your grandfather's desire to show that he was not the belligerent party and to homogenise and solidify the collection of small city-states which had grown up due to reluctance on the part of the German people to really accept their role as good citizens of the Korean Empire. Intermarriage was still fairly uncommon but establishing Korean predominance by renaming the cities to suit our tongue - it is also around this time of course that Uosh-Inch'on was rededicated Pyongsan, and that the Egyptian city of Byblos followed the "way of a thousand stars" and applied to join our empire as Inch'on. This seems to have had the desired effect, and it is now noticeable for the first time that more people speak Korean than either German - for a long time an accepted second tongue in the northern colonies - and Incan. Egyptian is obviously used in the border regions of what was their Empire, but the guttural sounds are inimicable to the Korean ear and plans must be made to bring this harmony to foreign ears and tongues. People-rule will not succeed unless the barbarian tongues are suppressed because of the necessity of sharing common goals and improved communication. Support for the "farseer" medium is growing in formerly technologically deprived areas of Egypt, and with your Kim Il-Wol Tower newly built and power supply delivered to Upper Korea, there is no reason why this new mechanism should not be used to disseminate Korean culture.
"To return to the military history I was in the process of discussing would now be appropriate, since it has not taken long to subjugate the Egyptians and planning for people-rule and powered farsight has not been greatly interrupted. The Korean way is always best in order to promote culture, direct military activity sparingly and decisively and control spending on necessities so we might keep our people happy, not just favour our regrettable path of war.
"After the taking of Taeju (its Incan name is lost to history, since the principality was burned along with all its manuscripts and no-one even among the Inca knew where it was) the Koreans settled into coexistence with the Egyptians for several generations. As you well know, the incident which sparked our war with Hatshepsut was believed to be an oversight on your part - the destroyer which strayed into territory no doubt believed it was a submarine and was invisible! - but perhaps after such a swift campaign it is inevitable that history will overlook this seeming act of aggression and conclude that it was going to happen sooner or later because of our understandable reluctance to trade or develop relations with Egypt. Essential reconnaissance took place during the period of cultural growth, and our restraint was tested when we encountered Egyptian soldiers scouting near Taeju and in the empty spaces between colonies. Our borders were never solid in northern areas, and for strategic reasons no mapbook of the continent has been published; as an aside prior to the Incan campaign and naval establishment our recent ancestors did not understand the concept of an island at all and also believed that the Earth was round! Sailing out in search of a passage around the plane, after academic discussions in Seoul that the globe was spherical and therefore it was possible to sail east from Uosh-Inch'on and arrive in Pusan a year or so later, were scotched when an expedition by a frigate ended in a merciless death on pack-ice a month or two out of port. Now we have flight and satellites it is indeed true that the Earth is flat.
"Not much remains to be said about the Egyptian campaign apart from the regrettable stalling of the campaign for Pi-Ramesses. In the intervening period of peace horsemen have somehow become a liability rather than an asset; in the Incan campaign they were mainly used, it is true, as scouts and occupying troops but although the Egyptians showed a shocking barbarity in their continued reliance on swords and axes perhaps sometimes conventional forces are easier to overcome either by tank and bomber, or simply by leaving the occupation of cities to artillery and eschewing the use of sheer manpower altogether. We do have ceremonial divisions in major cities that still parade with ancient clubs, as a patriotic reminder of how far we have come since the founding of Seoul, but these are restricted to parades and light civil control, rather than actual warfare as practiced in this modern age.
"In summary therefore your wise and benevolent rule has so far produced what the Korean people have always wished for - living-space, apartness and national establishment - and we look forward to people-rule with the same excitement that accompanies all your pronouncements and activities."
Please forward all correspondence relating to this matter to A. N. Sakharov, Seoul Seokwon, Avenue of the Northern Colonies, Wol Gu, Seoul. My apartment is not a suitable place to discuss matters as my neighbours are Germanic and are very curious as to what I am doing in my research.
Yours in everlasting sincerity
Andrei N. Sakharov
(not to be confused with A. D. Sakharov, who I understand is a person who doubts your magnificent rule in this Empire and which for me causes no end of embarrassment and discomfort when I am erroneously taken for him in official situations)
