[RFC RAND] Rhye's of the Ethiopians

[JiimBV]

Part I: The Beginnings of an Empire

Spoiler :

Please click on the images to see them full-sized. I cannot figure out how to make them larger on the post itself.

Note that any leaders or tribes or Ethiopian words are not historic or accurate. I cannot spend my whole day translating words into English and looking up historic leaders and terms.

295 BC: Garu Aksum, 16-year-old son of a farmer, starts to bring together the Abyssinian peoples under one banner. Their collective polytheistic beliefs and the spreading of Aksum's words of wealth and power unites many different tribes and states. The Um'Mula, or "Chariot-People", the "Um'Aksuma", or "Farm-People", and the various other tribes, all believe that Garu Aksum's way is one that led to glory. Thousands of axe-wielding and chariot-riding warriors come to join Aksum's army, and thousands of people hold Aksum's banner above their heads and call themselves Ethiopians.



280 BC: Aksum, capital of Ethiopia, is founded by the Ethiopians. It is named after Garu Aksum and his tribe of farmers. Garu Aksum meets with a group of exploring Egyptian axemen. Aksum sends one of his men to meet with the Jewish Ramesses II, current Pharaoh of Egypt. They agree on peace, for the time being, but make no further treaties or trades. Aksum was said to have not trusted the monotheistic people, for the reason that they followed only one God.



265 BC: Greece, a nation to the north of Egypt, converts to Judaism. The Egyptians willingly become vassals to their Jewish brothers, and thus Greece also comes in contact with Ethiopia. Pericles, king of the Greeks, takes peace from Aksum as well. Garu Aksum starts to amass soldiers on the western border of Israel, a small state to the east of Ethiopia. Soldiers also gather on the southern border of Egypt. Aksum wants to conquer his monotheistic neighbour to the north before he passes away so that his name will surely be remembered forever.



235-220 BC: Garu Aksum passes away, and Immet Yetu, who had until then acted as an advisor, comes to power. He declares war on Egypt, Greece and Israel. Yerushalem falls to Ethiopia.



205 BC: A Abyssinian village on the coast while has practiced an advanced form of metal working, while using only copper at the moment, Ethiopian scientists believe that it could be used with much stronger metals. Another tribe has spoken of a metal called iron, which fits the bill exactly.



190 BC: Niwt-Rst, capital of Egypt, falls to Ethiopian axemen. Cleopatra IV is captured and killed. Soon afterward Per-Wadjet is razed to the ground by the Ethiopians, and the entire populous is enslaved and forced to build a road back to Aksum. Immet Yetu claims himself Emperor of Africa, which is what the Greeks called their land.



Egypt finally destroyed, will the Ethiopians continue to push north and fight the Greeks as well? Will a Jewish king come to the Ethiopian throne? Find out next time... on Rhye's of the Ethiopians!

Spoiler :

How do you enlarge images, so they are full-sized? These ones are lame...

Also, any feedback or suggestions are hugely appreciated! I'm a sucker for attention.

 

[MrBanana]

Good stuff so far. BTW, it looks like you have very nice land to the southwest, grab that asap.

 

[BuckyRea]

Rhye's of the Ethiopians: Part I

Spoiler :

Please click on the images to see them full-sized. I cannot figure out how to make them larger on the post itself.

Instead of uploading them on CivFan using the , upload them to an image storing site like Photobucket or TinyURL.

Then post the images in your repliles using the button.

 

[Danger Bird]

Will be following this - another RAND story!

I concur with MrBanana on settling southwest. I know you can't settle on jungle, but there seems to be some forested grassland there and dyes, so it may be a good city spot.

Spoiler :

Note that any leaders or tribes or Ethiopian words are not historic or accurate. I cannot spend my whole day translating words into English and looking up historic leaders and terms.

Ah, yes, that is time-consuming. In my story, I am learning a lot about, and liberally adapting, Persian history. But it sometimes turns into a bit of work.

 

[JiimBV]

Hey Danger Bird! You were the inspiration for this story, and it sort of borrows from your story quite a bit, if that's all right.

And everyone, I will be fixing the pictures tomorrow, and then sometime from tomorrow to Saturday I will be adding in Part 2!

 

[JiimBV]

Hey Bucky, I did as you said, uploading my images onto Photobucket, and in my "Preview Changes" thing it doesn't show any image. The and the web address didn't show up either, so it couldn't have been a problem with the code. I don't understand why it isn't working.

Anyone, anyone at all who knows how to get images from Photobucket onto here, PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong.

 

[micbic]

And yet another RFCRand story, keep it up.

 

[JiimBV]

Part II: Build and Conquer



186-140BC: The rule of Immet Yetu comes to an end and the rule of Ramus Yetu, who will go down in history as a much more influential and important leader, comes to be. He adopts the Egyptian customs of monarchy and slavery, but due to the way history is recorded, he would be considered the father of these two things, at least the African versions. Technological advancements are limited under his rule, as infrastructure and industry are his main concerns.

24BC: The Greek hereditary dynasty dies out and heretics in the population, having heard of and converted to Ethiopian polytheism, cause a period of instability in Greece. The plans for a campaign into Greece are started.



25BC: The ending year of the rule of Immet Yetu II, the "Jewhunter", infamous for enslaving thousands of Egyptian Jews and either drafting them or working them to death for his Greek war campaign. He dies before anything really happens, and the campaign somewhat falls apart. All that becomes of it is the pillaging of farms and quarries outside of Athens. However, his attempt and plans set the foundation for a much later campaign into Greece.



160AD: Western mathematics are invented, and this discovery is used to advance and improve Ethiopian engineering. Taytu Betul, great-great-great-granddaughter of Garu Aksum himself, puts forward and to action a plan to build the Hanging Gardens, to be used as a public place of collective thinking and simple leisure in the great capital of Aksum.

185AD: Complete collapse of the Greek campaign. Even the steady flow of troops into Greece could not deal with their famous phalanxes. Work is started on a massive army to crush the Greeks with.



200AD: The Hanging Gardens are complete, and even though Taytu Betul is on her deathbed, she walks through her masterpiece once before she dies. Her name is to be remembered forever as one of the greatest Ethiopian architects and engineers.



206AD: A more advanced system of construction is invented, involving bridge construction and strengthened walls. Plans are started by Taytu Betul's pupil, whose only known name is Zauditu, to build a great wall surrounding the borders of Ethiopia. The construction of this wall is paid for the government and actually done by the slaves, as the King see the barbarians as a growing threat.

275AD: Ethiopian King Yared Yetu II meets with the Indians, and opens borders with them. Their polytheistic Hinduism is fine with the Ethiopians. While Hinduism is a very different religion than the Ethiopian one, King Yared II is willing the befriend anyone that does not follow Judaism.



350AD: The Ethiopian calendar is invented. Simply the number 0, or according to the Greek Judeo-Christian calendar 350AD, marks the beginning. Years previous are referred to as -Y(#), years after referred to as Y(#).

440AD: Archers upon humped horses, or "camels", are seen riding the deserts around Ethiopia. Some try to pillage Ethiopian land, but their attempts are cut short by the power of war elephants.



454AD: The Great Wall, the longest continuous construction project in the history of mankind, is finally complete. Zauditu, though obviously long dead, would be proud. No barbarian would dare set foot into Ethiopia again. Technological advancements in Ethiopia are at an all-time high.



458AD: A monumental event occurs. Judaism, the most hated religion in Ethiopia's society, is spread to Aksum, the capital. It is embraced by not only the lower classes, but also some of the higher ones too. There is an outbreak of violence in the capital. A war within a city is waged. Many people are killed, but finally the government is able to calm the people down. A tolerance towards the Jews comes over the pagan peoples of the city, and Judaism becomes more and more popular.



460AD: A Greek scholar, Akretos, along with the help of spies in Ethiopia and India, charts the military power of the three nations. He also compares the power of Greece and Ethiopia a hundred years ago to today. He alarmingly discovers that Ethiopia's power outweighs their own. An Ethiopian spy finds this out, and a military campaign is launched.

 

[JiimBV]

470AD: The Ethiopian army enters Greece. War elephants, axemen, spearmen and catapults swarm the Greek landscape. Current queen, Mesalie Anlaw, praises Immet Yetu II in an extremely racist speech outlining the plans to conquer Greece, and is killed by a Jewish member of the audience. Judaism is banned in Aksum, and the murderer executed.



515AD: Athens is surrounded by boulder-flinging catapults and thousands of eager warriors. Prince Immet Anlaw, named after Immet Yetu II, leads the men into battle. A giant struggle for the most cultured, populated and famous city in the world ends in an Ethiopian victory. The Stonehenge, the Great Library and the Moai Statues all belong to Ethiopia now.



That concludes the second part of the Rhye's of the Ethiopians. All that bloodshed, all that construction and all that excitement, and it's just begun!

 

[BurnEmDown]

Looks like the Ethiopians will be a very warlike people .

 

[JiimBV]

@BurmEmDown

Yes, yes they are. The next part is filled with even more warfare... In fact, it's the most exciting one yet.

 

[JiimBV]

Part III: The Great Struggle for Athens

544AD: King Harum Anlaw meets with Gaius Marius, a Roman general who lost himself at sea. Completely disoriented, he hasn't had contact with Rome for many years, so King Harum simply must trust his word on the grandeur of Rome. Inspired by Ethiopian tales of conquest, he settles himself down in Niwt-Rst just to instruct soldiers of Roman warfare and strategies.



546AD: Mushfa Aksum, a noble leading a secret life as a Jew, makes elaborate plans to assassinate each and every member of the royal family at the same time. All the ones in the palace at Aksum are to be killed by poison in their supper. The others are to be killed by hired blades. His family, entirely Jewish, is the next most powerful in Ethiopia, and would naturally come to the throne should the hereditary dynasty die out. So, the assassins set off. By midnight, each and every Anlaw is killed. Mushfa Aksum is named king the next morning.

547AD: King Mushfa Aksum proclaims that Judaism is the new official religion of Ethiopia. All hell breaks loose. The pagans start murdering the Jews, the military starts murdering the pagans. For once, the official religion is the religion of the little people, whereas the pagans are mostly the merchant and noble classes. This period of anarchy takes place for ten years (547-557AD). Afterwards, the two religions have a cold tolerance towards one another.



560AD: King Mushfa gives orders to settle two new ports, hoping to bring in money from other countries via trade, especially India.



571AD: The government gives orders to build a Jewish monastery to convert the pagan peoples of Aksum. In retaliation, the merchant class starts to build a temple to their goddess Artemis.

Spoiler :

I know that this image is actually many years later. Deal with it. I made a mistake while editing the screenshot.. >_>

599AD: Greece collapses in a civil war. Korinthos, now an independent city-state, becomes the next target of the powerful Ethiopian army.



620-633AD: Saladin, of the Bedouin peoples, meets current Ethiopian King Mehek "the Coward". The Coward cedes to Saladin's demands of Niwt-Rst and Athens, as well as his demands to end trade with India and start trabe with Arabia. The people demand King Mehek steps down from the throne, and, as is in his nature, he listens. 13-year-old princess G'jere Aksum becomes Queen G'jere Aksum.



658AD: Queen G'jere declares war on Saladin of Arabia. Athens, or as the Arabs call it, Atina, is reclaimed by the Ethiopians. Some of the Ethiopian soldiers join with the Arabs, weakening Athens' defense.

 

[JiimBV]

661AD: Tomas Edese (toe-mass ay-day-say), a great Ethiopian engineer, later to be known by non-Ethiopians as Thomas Edison, takes up the pagan cause and helps the merchants of Aksum finish the Temple of Artemis.



670AD: The Temple of Artemis is complete. People from around Ethiopia (and some Indians), come to marvel at the temple. The increase in tourism leads to increases in trade in Aksum, so the temple has a dual purpose for the pagan merchants.



750AD: Korinthos is taken by the Arabs. A giant army of camel archers gathers to the north-west of Athens, and this strikes fear in the hearts of Ethiopian soldiers posted in Athens.



759-780AD: Athens is under almost constant siege! Thousands of Arab soldiers march into the heart of Athens and the defenders fight to the death. Wave upon wave of camel archers, axemen, swordsmen and catapults beat down the defenders until... the waves stop coming. The remaining soldiers prepare again, and the citizens of Athens rush to their farms to gather food for the next siege.



797AD: Indian merchants, against the orders of their government, come to Adulis to trade. While in Adulis they discover the Ethiopian currency. In return for some of it to show to their king, they teach the merchants in Adulis the Indian alphabet. These two technologies are spread around the two countries, and become commonplace.



800AD: The Mausoleum of Garu (first leader of Ethiopia) in Yeha is complete. The descendants of the Greeks call it the Mausoleum of Maussollos (Greek name for “The Uniter”), and that name sticks. The bodies of all the most famous kings and queens of Ethiopia are moved there and buried, leaving room for many more to come.



That’s all for now(folks)! The Ethiopian war against Arabia has just begun, and Niwt-Rst and Makkah are next on the list. Will Ethiopia be able to hold on to Athens and retake the Holy Land? Or will Ethiopia be forced back into its homeland?

 

[JiimBV]

Sorry for the delay guys, and it may continue a while more... there are a bunch of family issues going on and schoolwork isn't easing up in the least.

Please be patient and PLEASE comment away! I live for comments!

I hope to get in another update before Spring Break.

 

[Danger Bird]

Just caught up on this.

Great work on reconquering Athens and holding it. It seems that you were losing defenders to the Arabs even though you agreed to the flip initially and then declared war later. (I didn't know that would happen.)

In my experience fighting the RFC RAND Arabians, they are not that hard after their waves of camel archers die out. I would press the attack before they have a chance to rebuild an army.