Alternative History Experiment
- Thread starter Masada
- Start date
El Naranja
Chieftain
hey, can i still submit a culture?
Culture name: Narjana
Starting point: The Amazon River, near the mouth
Description: The Narjana are a jungle people, expanding along the many rivers of south america
Priorities: expand along the amazon and other rivers
Culture name: Narjana
Starting point: The Amazon River, near the mouth
Description: The Narjana are a jungle people, expanding along the many rivers of south america
Priorities: expand along the amazon and other rivers
Stefan4Spain
Chieftain
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2009
- Messages
- 2
ill like to join as spain
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
Read the rules please.
El Naranja said:
I did ask that players not start in the New World, but if I get more interest by next turn I'll allow it.
Stefan4Spain said:
I'll refer you to the front page.
Neverwonagame3
Self-Styled Intellectual
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2006
- Messages
- 3,549
BTW, how long until the update is posted?
Moderator Action: I doubt asking regularly speeds up the process. I suggest cutting back on such questions. Thanks
Moderator Action: I doubt asking regularly speeds up the process. I suggest cutting back on such questions. Thanks
Neverwonagame3
Self-Styled Intellectual
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2006
- Messages
- 3,549
Quitting.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
I see you Masada!
Neverwonagame3 said:
If it isn't inane and repetitive questions about updates, when you should know better, after being told a thousand times that it wasn't on. It's quitting after you've ridden a nation on the out-of-character fast train to oblivion, usually on the first turn. So with that in mind, don't bother joining any of my NESes in the future, not only will I not accept you, I'll openly deride you as the worst NESer, and not necessarily for your skills but for those two unfortunate characteristics.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
I think I'm in love with you *dreamy eyes*
It is always darkest before false dawns
[China]:
Rumours on the wind make for poor motivation, and the War Chiefs of the Engardis were no exception; they would not prepare for war, or unite in common cause on the idle whispers of malcontents. Didn’t they realize that the stability of the system, and their own lives, rested upon the maintenance of a delicate game of politics and the careful cultivation of the balance of power? It didn’t help that the war-chiefs themselves owed their positions (and lives) to the great game but that was merely one countervailing factor in a broader climate of inaction. In-fact the whole system had come inexorably to favour the decentralized status quo – marriages arranged between chiefs or war-chiefs, could not, for instance, end up by a process of inheritance uniting groups, it simply was not done!
This was of course unfortunate, but then the history of the world is littered with unfortunate attitudes and acts, the better (or indeed worse) parts of which never reach our ears, so great are the consequences of their collective folly. It was into this communal inaction that the Baildughciarad appeared on the horizon, fresh from sacking some settlement to the north, which had the temerity to claim kinship with the horde, no less. The Engardis found themselves hopelessly outmatched; they had vague memories of wars averted, but little or no memory of war itself. Quite how they intended to resist was not known, the Baildughciarad certainly never knew, as the elegantly arrayed ‘armies’ of the Engardis broke at the first charge of the horseman, again and again. There was never any hope of victory for the Engardis, and yet despite the odds they kept fighting, until their fields were bare for want of labour, homes empty for want of safety and seed-crop eaten in desperation.
The Baildughciarad played the part of barbarian’s well, all the excuse they required to burn a settlement to the ground was the death of a horse – and in these desperate days that was common enough. Eventually any pretence of proportionality ended, as the world as the Engardis knew, burnt to the ground. The Baildughciarad stayed, but the civilization they had overtaken was exhausted, bereft of the necessary implements for farming and with much of the population dead, the Engardis ceased to be.
[India] & [Persia]
The Khamba began to try and assert control over the Nedanta [Indus River], something they were ill-prepared for, not only do nomadic traders make for poor soldiers, but the loss of much needed grain exports caused great hardship in the homeland. The campaign ended, well short of its goals, well above cost, and with little to show for it.
The war only served to fuel the demographic imbalance in the Khamba society. This was due to the large scale castration of male babies, which when taken in isolation should not have posed much of a problem, excess females would in most societies would be soaked up in polygamous marriages. This however proved unviable in Khamba society, where much of the male population was devoted to a life of nomadic trading, a solitary profession by nature, and by the increasing demands of war which further drained the stock of marriageable males.
The value of female infants correspondingly collapsed, as the scope and scale of dowries fell in the face of oversupply. This of course led to two predictable responses by parents, widespread infanticide of females, and a corresponding collapse in the population in the long run as parents lost male children to the castration, and females to infanticide. The long term demographic effects of this kind of shift are as yet unknown, but the decline has at least in the short term caused a noticeable decrease in population sufficient for most of the population to again subsist on fish.
The Anicistor for their part didn’t all leave the region, some stayed, and it was these combined pressures, along with the immigration of the Agba, which ultimately bought about the collapse of the now weakened upper Nedanta, who found themselves unable to fight off the newcomers. The destruction wrought wasn’t on the same scale as that wrought on the distant Engardis but for the moment, at least, it would seem that the now subject peoples of the upper Nedanta will be labouring under the nomads whip.
How the Agba got to the Nedanta is itself interesting. In the immutable rules of the steppe the Agba have been driven west by the hunger induced forced-march of the Il-Baildughciarad, a distinct group of the wider Baildughciarad culture. It seems that the Ur-Anicistor now in [Persia] were also driven by the same process, as the Agba began to push against them. It seems that the Nedanta will be facing another threat sooner, rather than later as the destroyers of Engardis keep moving west.
[Fertile Crescent] & [The Levant]
It was certainly this same pressure which led the Southern-Gintanai to careen into the newly-expanded and increasingly powerful Ranna, who would stave of this swift horse-riding enemy by constructing crude mud-brick walls in their settlements. Only indifferent soldiers the Southern-Gintanai horde has proven unable and unwilling to attack them in force, content merely to raid for women. This would appear to be having the unintended consequence of domesticating the Southern-Gintanai themselves, who appear to be spending some of the year in temporary villages, perhaps at the instigation of their new brides, who it seems are enamoured of the freedoms granted to them by their newly adopted culture.
The Ranna themselves are under little threat from the Southern-Gintanai, but have decided that the river [Tigris] on the eastern flank and the [Shatt al-Arab] where the [Euphrates] meets the [Tigris] with their finite number of crossings are just as useful a shield as the walls that ring their settlements. They expanded north, keeping the [Tigris] to their right at all times, as cities to their north began to fall under their cultural orbit en-masse. This process was slowed by the formation of the Kingdom of Gettea: an amalgamation of two city-states, Gettea, and Get, under the command of one King Gettai.
For the most part relations between the two have been beneficial, with trade being particularly lucrative for both parties, with Ranna merchants quickly becoming dominant in their northern neighbour. None of the individual Ranna city-states have been willing to fight the strong armies of the Gettea as yet. The Northern-Gintanai horde however was not so wise, fighting a series of battles against Gettea before eventually being driven north for their troubles.
Some of the Dalycana had begun to migrate north, quite where they were headed wasn’t certain, but in the fashion typical of zealots, they believed they would know when they got there. Interestingly they appear to have found their own land of milk and honey, in the highlands of Terrunaea [Anatolia], safe from the depredations of the Waldigo. They sent back to their kin still in Daluron [Isreal] only to find that the Waldigo had already moved, defeating the Dalycana host in battle before burning and devouring their way across Daluron. Those who survived, a small terrified minority have either assimilated in Waldigo society or fled north Terrunaea or south into Ik. The Dalycana that survived have managed to retain knowledge of their limited metal working faculties, but have had little time to use them as they subdue the area surrounding their new homeland including the lands of the Kautian nomads who have been content merely to watch and trade with the newcomers.
The Waldigo for their part have been left with a large, rich colony which required a year round presence, something which was relatively new to them. It was settled quite rapidly by those looking to escape from the periodic bloodbaths of the Galgulon [Crete]. They did not of course cease eating people, they merely changed the subject of their attentions from their own kind, to other kinds – the Dalycana, for instance, were considered a great delicacy. This earliest colonial venture, compared to their earlier raiding camps, was quite successful with a steady flow of goods making its way back to Galgulon. This model was eventually adopted for Elret-Galgulon [Greece], a similar attempt on the coasts of Kalastura [Sicily] failed for wont of any reason to do so. Things otherwise continued in the much the same vein as they always had, although the rising strength of Ik, and the loss of Dalycana as a target, stalled any cultural development for the rest of the period.
Ik [Egypt]
The Ik have unified under a Great King and have managed for the moment to sue their southern kin. These conquests have been cemented rather effectively by a policy of leniency, a move which been largely successful, few were willing to resist after the first example was made. The Ik have continued to grow in power and influence, far surpassing all other states in the world, even if their cities still remain small by Ranna standards. Even the Waldigo have proven unable to dent this period of prosperity.
The Rest
The tribes of Fravaria have managed to settle down into sedentary life.
The Kraenn haven’t managed to achieve all that much, agriculture is still unviable.
The Materan managed to spread out over the south of the [Arabian Peninsula]. Efforts were made to settle down but this proved impossible, with the lack of resources on the south-western side and no trade forthcoming.
The Akhlain of [Algeria] were content merely to traipse around the desert.
The Serkot settled the Irrawady delta and haven’t yet graduated to agriculture.
Some of the Waarsazian haven’t been listening to their elders, and have again attempted to poke the ground, this time with fire hardened sharp sticks before missing their harvests and starving to death again (albeit later in the season).
[China]:
Rumours on the wind make for poor motivation, and the War Chiefs of the Engardis were no exception; they would not prepare for war, or unite in common cause on the idle whispers of malcontents. Didn’t they realize that the stability of the system, and their own lives, rested upon the maintenance of a delicate game of politics and the careful cultivation of the balance of power? It didn’t help that the war-chiefs themselves owed their positions (and lives) to the great game but that was merely one countervailing factor in a broader climate of inaction. In-fact the whole system had come inexorably to favour the decentralized status quo – marriages arranged between chiefs or war-chiefs, could not, for instance, end up by a process of inheritance uniting groups, it simply was not done!
This was of course unfortunate, but then the history of the world is littered with unfortunate attitudes and acts, the better (or indeed worse) parts of which never reach our ears, so great are the consequences of their collective folly. It was into this communal inaction that the Baildughciarad appeared on the horizon, fresh from sacking some settlement to the north, which had the temerity to claim kinship with the horde, no less. The Engardis found themselves hopelessly outmatched; they had vague memories of wars averted, but little or no memory of war itself. Quite how they intended to resist was not known, the Baildughciarad certainly never knew, as the elegantly arrayed ‘armies’ of the Engardis broke at the first charge of the horseman, again and again. There was never any hope of victory for the Engardis, and yet despite the odds they kept fighting, until their fields were bare for want of labour, homes empty for want of safety and seed-crop eaten in desperation.
The Baildughciarad played the part of barbarian’s well, all the excuse they required to burn a settlement to the ground was the death of a horse – and in these desperate days that was common enough. Eventually any pretence of proportionality ended, as the world as the Engardis knew, burnt to the ground. The Baildughciarad stayed, but the civilization they had overtaken was exhausted, bereft of the necessary implements for farming and with much of the population dead, the Engardis ceased to be.
[India] & [Persia]
The Khamba began to try and assert control over the Nedanta [Indus River], something they were ill-prepared for, not only do nomadic traders make for poor soldiers, but the loss of much needed grain exports caused great hardship in the homeland. The campaign ended, well short of its goals, well above cost, and with little to show for it.
The war only served to fuel the demographic imbalance in the Khamba society. This was due to the large scale castration of male babies, which when taken in isolation should not have posed much of a problem, excess females would in most societies would be soaked up in polygamous marriages. This however proved unviable in Khamba society, where much of the male population was devoted to a life of nomadic trading, a solitary profession by nature, and by the increasing demands of war which further drained the stock of marriageable males.
The value of female infants correspondingly collapsed, as the scope and scale of dowries fell in the face of oversupply. This of course led to two predictable responses by parents, widespread infanticide of females, and a corresponding collapse in the population in the long run as parents lost male children to the castration, and females to infanticide. The long term demographic effects of this kind of shift are as yet unknown, but the decline has at least in the short term caused a noticeable decrease in population sufficient for most of the population to again subsist on fish.
The Anicistor for their part didn’t all leave the region, some stayed, and it was these combined pressures, along with the immigration of the Agba, which ultimately bought about the collapse of the now weakened upper Nedanta, who found themselves unable to fight off the newcomers. The destruction wrought wasn’t on the same scale as that wrought on the distant Engardis but for the moment, at least, it would seem that the now subject peoples of the upper Nedanta will be labouring under the nomads whip.
How the Agba got to the Nedanta is itself interesting. In the immutable rules of the steppe the Agba have been driven west by the hunger induced forced-march of the Il-Baildughciarad, a distinct group of the wider Baildughciarad culture. It seems that the Ur-Anicistor now in [Persia] were also driven by the same process, as the Agba began to push against them. It seems that the Nedanta will be facing another threat sooner, rather than later as the destroyers of Engardis keep moving west.
[Fertile Crescent] & [The Levant]
It was certainly this same pressure which led the Southern-Gintanai to careen into the newly-expanded and increasingly powerful Ranna, who would stave of this swift horse-riding enemy by constructing crude mud-brick walls in their settlements. Only indifferent soldiers the Southern-Gintanai horde has proven unable and unwilling to attack them in force, content merely to raid for women. This would appear to be having the unintended consequence of domesticating the Southern-Gintanai themselves, who appear to be spending some of the year in temporary villages, perhaps at the instigation of their new brides, who it seems are enamoured of the freedoms granted to them by their newly adopted culture.
The Ranna themselves are under little threat from the Southern-Gintanai, but have decided that the river [Tigris] on the eastern flank and the [Shatt al-Arab] where the [Euphrates] meets the [Tigris] with their finite number of crossings are just as useful a shield as the walls that ring their settlements. They expanded north, keeping the [Tigris] to their right at all times, as cities to their north began to fall under their cultural orbit en-masse. This process was slowed by the formation of the Kingdom of Gettea: an amalgamation of two city-states, Gettea, and Get, under the command of one King Gettai.
For the most part relations between the two have been beneficial, with trade being particularly lucrative for both parties, with Ranna merchants quickly becoming dominant in their northern neighbour. None of the individual Ranna city-states have been willing to fight the strong armies of the Gettea as yet. The Northern-Gintanai horde however was not so wise, fighting a series of battles against Gettea before eventually being driven north for their troubles.
Some of the Dalycana had begun to migrate north, quite where they were headed wasn’t certain, but in the fashion typical of zealots, they believed they would know when they got there. Interestingly they appear to have found their own land of milk and honey, in the highlands of Terrunaea [Anatolia], safe from the depredations of the Waldigo. They sent back to their kin still in Daluron [Isreal] only to find that the Waldigo had already moved, defeating the Dalycana host in battle before burning and devouring their way across Daluron. Those who survived, a small terrified minority have either assimilated in Waldigo society or fled north Terrunaea or south into Ik. The Dalycana that survived have managed to retain knowledge of their limited metal working faculties, but have had little time to use them as they subdue the area surrounding their new homeland including the lands of the Kautian nomads who have been content merely to watch and trade with the newcomers.
The Waldigo for their part have been left with a large, rich colony which required a year round presence, something which was relatively new to them. It was settled quite rapidly by those looking to escape from the periodic bloodbaths of the Galgulon [Crete]. They did not of course cease eating people, they merely changed the subject of their attentions from their own kind, to other kinds – the Dalycana, for instance, were considered a great delicacy. This earliest colonial venture, compared to their earlier raiding camps, was quite successful with a steady flow of goods making its way back to Galgulon. This model was eventually adopted for Elret-Galgulon [Greece], a similar attempt on the coasts of Kalastura [Sicily] failed for wont of any reason to do so. Things otherwise continued in the much the same vein as they always had, although the rising strength of Ik, and the loss of Dalycana as a target, stalled any cultural development for the rest of the period.
Ik [Egypt]
The Ik have unified under a Great King and have managed for the moment to sue their southern kin. These conquests have been cemented rather effectively by a policy of leniency, a move which been largely successful, few were willing to resist after the first example was made. The Ik have continued to grow in power and influence, far surpassing all other states in the world, even if their cities still remain small by Ranna standards. Even the Waldigo have proven unable to dent this period of prosperity.
The Rest
The tribes of Fravaria have managed to settle down into sedentary life.
The Kraenn haven’t managed to achieve all that much, agriculture is still unviable.
The Materan managed to spread out over the south of the [Arabian Peninsula]. Efforts were made to settle down but this proved impossible, with the lack of resources on the south-western side and no trade forthcoming.
The Akhlain of [Algeria] were content merely to traipse around the desert.
The Serkot settled the Irrawady delta and haven’t yet graduated to agriculture.
Some of the Waarsazian haven’t been listening to their elders, and have again attempted to poke the ground, this time with fire hardened sharp sticks before missing their harvests and starving to death again (albeit later in the season).
Spoiler :
Now, before anyone asks NWAG was dead before he quit. Why? Simply because he created a disaster of a culture which eschewed warfare, avoided conflict, was highly decentralized, and fought to the death as a matter of course. In the pre-modern world, the first alone would have gotten you killed, the rest, well they got you exterminated. It's that simple.
Exactly the same can happen to you, remember you are competing for finite, almost fixed resources, you have two main sources of growth open to you - a gold strike or conquest. You can aim for economic growth, but I work on the assumption that the closer it is to zero the better, and frankly more historically accurate - remember that.
I'll be revising the points system and rules in the coming days, nevertheless feel free to post orders, just keep in mind you may have to make slight alterations to them when I'm finished.
As ever, feel free to criticize long and loud, I expect no less, and demand significantly more. I would appreciate if people chipped in with their own suggestions, additions or what-have-you for the rules.
@Abbadon, I tried for some pictures, but I couldn't be bothered messing around with making the otherwise superfluous backgrounds transparent at this hour.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
Awesome update, very much worth the little wait.
Kentharu
Zebra Commander
This is a double post but whatever I just wanted to give some feed back. One thing I'd really like to see is a technology update with each nation (or atleast mine screw the rest!). Something to base the next set of orders on so I know what to shoot for and what not to bother with. For instance right now I'm not sure if my "nation" has developed a form of writing, whether it be stolen from some other culture or whatever. Also I'm not sure as to whether I have domesticated horses or not, but I will assume I have.
For the technology I would suggest perhaps a separate part of the update (non-story wise), simply listing off the technological advances or whatever for each nation. My main reason for asking for this would be for story purposes. I like specifics in mine and for the next one I have in mind it would require a decent few.
Will there be any stats or nation-culture list of any kind in the near future? I think a simple nation-culture list would be very helpful, for me at least.
For the technology I would suggest perhaps a separate part of the update (non-story wise), simply listing off the technological advances or whatever for each nation. My main reason for asking for this would be for story purposes. I like specifics in mine and for the next one I have in mind it would require a decent few.
Will there be any stats or nation-culture list of any kind in the near future? I think a simple nation-culture list would be very helpful, for me at least.
