Update 8: 1200 BCE
It was ironic, in a way. The two world leaders were thousands of miles apart. Separated by cultural differences such that they could not fathom each other if they came into contact. One on a great steppe and the other in a palace. Yet within the same month, within the same day, within the same hour, or so some said, they were doing the exact same thing. They were getting married. Both were leaders of mighty empires. Both were marrying the heir to another great empire.
These two people were, of course, Tejimun of the Turks and Taizu of the Shang Empire. They were to unite the Turks and Golden Horde, and the Shang and Chu, respectively, and it succeeded magnificently. Two massive empires stretched across the steppes of Asia and the plains of China, but they were both plagued by mishaps at the start. For the first thing, they were simply so massive that communications took several days to travel across the empire with the fastest horse. For a second, they were both plagued by rebellious nobles who refused to acknowledge the unions.
In the Golden Horde, the new Khan had to deal with Turks who refused to acknowledge their bond with the Golden Horde on the Western edge of his empire, who now raided those they once called their comrades.
In Shang, they had to deal with the rebellious noble, who called himself Shi Huangdi, or First Emperor, who believed that the Shang were unfit to rule the whole of China, and who proclaimed that he would resist their rule for as long as he could, to conquer the empire from the south and to install a new empire over the somewhat corrupt and immoral despotism. He had the support of many of the Chinese people, but his territory was limited purely to Southern China.
On a happier note, the new Yangtze Empire has much reinforced their city of Qingdao, and its economic robustness has fully repaid the economy invested.
China has, meanwhile, sent several people through Tibet in order to reach the lands called India on the other side. They find a land with strange people, customs, religion, and at war.
It seems that the Aryan state of Delhi has invaded the Dravidian States of Central India, and attacked their armies wholesale. The Chinese Emperor hears these men swear on their honor that they have seen massive beasts as big as a house with tremendous horns plow through enemy troop formations with relative ease. They speak with awe of men gored, trampled, and even tossed into the air. In addition to these new philosophies come new legendary methods of war, it seems.
Aryan nomads manage to bring down a Dravidian War Elephant, but lose dozens in the process
South of this war leads us to Kush*te trading colonies in India, who are busily preparing for their expeditions to the east, and some of the traders worry that the war might raise their prices for the diamonds coming out of Calicut and gold out of Arya. But regardless, they send their ships on long and perilous journeys to the East, across the Bay of Bengal, as the locals call it, past the coast of the Cholas, who they have recently established trade with, past the coast of Sinhala, onward, to the East. Onward, to Sirivajaya.
Sirivajaya is a massive trading empire with colonies stretching across many more islands than those the Kush*tes have colonized. Thousands, the emissaries are told. They stretch from the isle the natives call Sumatra, to Borneo, to Java, to the Malay Peninsula. The loose empire is based on trade and tribute, with the capital taking yearly tribute from its colonies in exchange for protection.
Some of their ships, blown off course, discover an island chain which becomes a major stop for cross oceanic trade.
Across the ocean, in Kush proper, expeditions into the Ethiopian Highlands are met with discoveries of an advanced civilization of the people who have been civilizing from the contacts with Arabs, Kush*tes, and even some people from the land they know as Judea.
Meanwhile, their Somalian lands and island colonies make contact on some of their expeditions to the south with a nation called Zanzibar. This island has colonies on the coast, and thriving ivory trade is started by unofficial merchants.
Their neighbors, the Exiled Arabs, enter a new time of prosperity. The cosmopolitan city of Djibouti is now the largest city in the world, a bustling, sprawling metropolis of traders, sailors, and artisans. Their economy skyrockets and it looks like it will continue to do so.
The Arabs expand a bit into Somalia and also into Arabia, they share some islands with the Kush*tes in the Indian Ocean.
Up north, in the desert sands of the Egyptian Empire, the system of government has reached the height of achievement in laws and structure around the world, its highways good enough to carry vast amounts of troops across empires in mere days. It has developed the infrastructure to create a true empire. It has reached the Classical Age.
However, is this enough? It would seem not, because...
Spotlight: Tartessian Agression
The Tartessians, in a massively coordinated effort across several nations, has been spurred to invade the Empire of Egypt, and has done so brilliantly, quickly, and effectively, from all sides the giant of the East is under siege by the Tartessian alliance of the Hittites, Athenians, Tartessians, and the Union of the Sea Peoples. Philistines, the Egyptian people call them.
The first noticeable move that the Tartessians make is through the north, down into Syria and Judea. The Egyptians were woefully unprepared, and some strategists surmise that Jerusalem itself might have been reached if not for two small problems. The first was that the invasion force, an effort led by Athens and Hittia, is much under strength from the predicted several thousand. The Athenians were able to provide the whole host of hoplites necessary, but on the eve of the invasion, the Hittites had to withdraw about half their force to fight a Trojan invasion which was suddenly inflicted upon their nation.
The second problem was that of a small Egyptian force, led by a daring and brave commander, whose name lies erased due to the sands of time, but who was leading a minor force through a stretch of desert that was supposedly safe, on his way to fighting in Assyria. Alas, his force was ambushed, but through bravery, he rallied his troops and drove into the Allied formation. They were quite prepared for this, though, and drew the Egyptian troops into a trap with the scythed chariots that the Hittites used.
Hittite chariots with Tartessian technology clash with Egypt
The Hittite Light Cavalry attacked the War Chariot formation, using superior mobility to strike the force again and again, wrecking great havoc but losing many in the process to the heavily armed weapon platforms. Then the infantry advanced, destroying the rest of the war chariot formation, and continuing onward to slaughter the mere 100 spears left in garrison for the area.
In Mesopotamia, the Assyrian battle went very well, and the Egyptians, luring the Assyrians over the Euphrates, crush them in pitched battle. However, the killing stroke to the Empire of the Assyrians was not Egyptian, but Persian. The desert nomads came out of nowhere, or so it seemed, smashing all the armies that stood in their way and taking Nineveh before the startled Assyrians eyes. The empire that had terrorized Babylon for so long was ground into the dust, by a strange people from a strange land.
On the other end of the Empire of Egypt, war raged as well, and while the Berber strikes into Lybia were shattered by the Egyptian defenses, they were not the only foe. The major strike force of Tartessos cleaved right into the heart of the empire, their fleet engaging the Egyptian fleet near Alexandria and hurting it badly before it withdrew, their army landing on the shore to besiege Alexandria itself.
Nothing could stop them, the Philistines marched straight to the city walls, and then assaulted it with their men. Though their force was fearsome and brave, the Egyptians managed to resist it by sheer stubbornness, their civilians even taking to the walls to defend them. Despite all this, the Tartessian forces lay siege, and soon, it seems, ever so soon, it will fall.
Tartessian allies assaulting Alexandria (unfortunately for them unsuccessful)
In Tartessos proper, news of the mostly successful invasion is dampened slightly by news of fierce Carthaginian rebellion and a new threat to the north. It seems the Allemange Empire, by dynastic oddities, has split in three, and not all of the three are neutral. One, Burgundy, has an arrogant and stuck up king, Charles the Bold, who has the insanity to invade not only Tyhrennia, but Tartessian colonies in Genua itself!
And in faraway Khazaria, all goes well, the city of Itil is fortified further, inspiring faithful to compose the song A mighty fortress is our God, and Judaism spreads far and wide. They establish contacts with the besieged Hittites, the arrogant and powerful Trojans, and the fearsome Goths.
DIPLO:
From: Arya, Chola
To: Kush
We agree to the trade.
From: Persia
To: Egypt
Pay us an economy and agree to peace at current borders. Or die. We really dont care either way.
PRICES:
For each economy:
300 Iron Age spearmen
300 Iron Age swordsmen
300 Iron Age archers
300 Iron Age Light Horse
300 Iron Age Horse Archers
150 Iron Age Cataphracts
300 Iron Age UUs
30 Iron Age Chariots
30 Iron Age Triremes
15 catapults
30 War Elephants (available only to nations with direct land connections from their capital to North African or Indian Territory)
150 Camel Riders (available only to nations with North African or Arabian Territory)
150 Steppe Cavalry (available only to nations with steppe ancestry or territory on the steppes)
400 Classical Age spearmen
400 Classical Age swordsmen
400 Classical Age archers
400 Classical Age Light Horse
400 Classical Age Horse Archers
200 Classical Age Cataphracts
400 Classical Age UUs
40 Classical Age Chariots
40 Classical Age Quinqiremes
Any other stat growth: 1
OOC:
