Chronicles of Celtia

Sebastian2203

Chieftain
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
35
Location
Slovakia
Music (and/or Sound Effects) by Eric Matyas

www.soundimage.org



Game settings
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Leader: Boudicca
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Settings:
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*There are two continents and I have manually moved all AI settlers to one continent, leaving the other for late game competition.
*I am playing with Next War mod which adds a few futuristic technologies into the vanilla tech tree.

***EDIT: Embarrassing error, I took the pictures few days ago and I renamed my civilization often so it Celtia is displayed as "Xodia". I will fix that later.


MAP:
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1718 A.D.

An old man in traditional Buddhist suit, walks upon the city walls of Bibracte.
A whole land stretches in front of him.

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So he draws the land of Celtia into his book.
These lands saw war, fortune, poverty but only now peace.

Now that the raging conflict with the Muslims has ended, the citizens gather to talk about life and it´s true meaning. Some find despair, some find relief as the burden of war reduces and some find inspiration to write a book.

So began the first entry in Chronicles of Celtia


History of Xodia

The ancient times have preserved one legend.

Very long ago, there was a lion behind a river, he watched over the antique Prague on the other side.
Many feared him, as his roar kept the people of Prague up through the night.
But nobody was foolish enough to cross the river.
The lion was.
The screams of panic in the village woke up Peter.
But it was too late to run.
Lion was already in his hut.

End is coming soon, he thought to himself.
Lion´s eyes watched Peter, who froze in fear.

The majestic lion approached Peter at slow pace, realizing its superiority over the situation, it did not hurry.
The dry smell of lion´s fur filled the room, the breath of lion was warm as it swept over Peter´s skin.

Suddenly the hut collapsed, with the roof made of dry grass falling on top of the lion and Peter, confusing them both.
The lion baffled, started clawing its way out of the thick dry meadows.

Rae quickly dragged his brother Peter out of the collapsed roof, Peter much confused, stood up and started sprinting with his brother Rae into the forest.
“How did you do that?” Questioned Peter his brother.
“I´ve built the hut with our father, I know how to break it.”
“What now?” Peter asked.
“What do you mean?
“Uh... we can´t stay here forever.”
“Brother, so you don´t want to kill the lion?”
“What?” Peter seemed confused by his brother´s way of thought. “I-I am going to kill the lion?”
“So you don´t want my help?” said Rae with firm voice.
“No! Sure! But how are we going to kill it?”
“This lion knows us, our smell. Hears our footsteps, follow me into a nearby village, we need more men.”


Peter was surprised by Rae´s thinking, does he not respect the power of nature? Is he underestimating lion´s strength?

“Stop brother of mine.” said Peter, “Only spirits of nature claim the power to kill, who do you think YOU are?” continued Peter with sharp questions.
“Before I answer, do you have the strength to kill a lion with your bare hands?”
“I didn´t understand you for once in this entire day, brother.”
“Do I have the power to kill a lion with my bare hands?”
“Nobody has.” reassured Peter.
“Does this rock have the power to kill?”
“The nature has the right to give birth, to end life. Stop fooling around.”
“I do not disrespect my fathers, I do not claim the might of nature, brother, I AM NOT nature. I only know this rock holds the power of such. So come with me or don´t but your help will be needed for sure.”

Peter still hesitant joins Rae on his journey, travelling trough wilds they go, days pass and miles stretch across, distance etching it´s mark onto their weary foot.
Eventually they reach a village, people of the same kind. Peter, Rae unite with the villagers in one circle around fire.

“Days are cold” the villager says, “Lions put fear into our souls too.”
“Maybe we could find a way with your help.”
“Nature must be off balance.” villager says, denying the Rae´s request for help, “Maybe your village did not comfort to the nature.”
Rae shakes his head.

“You´ve started this campfire, igniting the bones of forest. Every day, you fish out a dozen souls out of the river, who is living at discomfort here?”
Peter and Rae were exiled from the village the same night.

“You are a fool Rae, if father was still alive, he would already punish you for leaving and now you insult him by angering our neighbors.”
“I ask for a help, I get denied, who has the right to be angry?”
“Maybe we just need to move on, maybe we need to settle a new village.”
“And if the lion comes again, will we run away again? Like a scared rats? I deny such life I am going to kill the lion.”

That morning, Rae left Peter to his own as he walked towards the village of abandoned Prague.

It is believed, that lighting struck deer and killed it across the field.
Rae found the carcass of the deer across his journey back to village, from the exposed bones and stretched sinews he made a slingshot.

If nature does not want him to kill the lion, it would not give him this gift, Rae thought to himself as he reasoned his decisions.

There it was, sitting dominantly, chewing bones of whoever was unlucky to leave.
There it stood, saw Rae approach, startled, it released a roar worthy of true king of nature.

Your eyes are greedy I see it in you.
Come and take a look into my own eyes, you will see no hate.


Lion enraged, started sprinting towards Rae, it opened its mouth wide exposing as if trying to eat Rae in one bite.

With a swift touch of a hand, Rae released the sling. The rock boulder landed directly inside the neck of lion who tumbled and rolled on the ground, choking.

And so shall perish every one who crosses the river with the eyes of hatred.
 

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Nice writing! I'm curious to see where this will go
 
Nice writing! I'm curious to see where this will go

Thanks, I hope I will be at least little entertaining!

February, 1718

Prague, Celtic Empire

The warm heat of the jungle followed Conrad as he traveled north, even thought it was winter it could be barely felt in this region.
As he approached the bustling town of Prague, the heat of two million people living together in cramped space only gave the air sweaty moisture.
And the smell, even the river was soaked with it.

I really wish to get back home, he thought to himself, Germany was positioned near jungles yet it was in better conditions that this junk city.
That makes him think, the whole Celtian nobility has moved to Bibracte, a much more pleasant city, so why is the king still at Prague?

As he traveled the streets of the city, he could see workers stumbling around, carrying construction materials.
Then he noticed that this city has no grocery, how backward, even the frontier cities like Mecca or Delhi in middle of scorching desert have grocer but the capital of the Celtia itself has none.

The guard stopped him as he approached the palace, Conrad took of his hood and the guard quickly recognized him, with a nod he has let him pass.
Conrad is a long time friend of Celtic King Pavol III, he serves as a vassal liaison with the Celtia.

As he was walking across the large halls of the palace, attentive servant of the king noticed him. “The king is there, he is waiting for you sir.”
Conrad then entered a dining room.

Sir, I thought we were going to be in your auditory room.”
“Take a seat Conrad.”
Pavol smiled upon him, “I had a busy day and I do not even have the time to enjoy my favorite cornbread. Take a seat my friend.”
“Cook! Bring us the guest menu!”
barked Pavol.
Conrad was then flooded with options of food; pig meat, fish and every sea food imaginable and the Celtic corn, oh how they like those, he thought.
He took a modest bite of pig meat and then continued: “Sir, what does the Celtic Empire demand of your loyal vassal Germany?”
Pavol continued over-eating himself and did not appear to make a pause to respond, of course Conrad was of no status to complain, he just had to wait for his response, which came after a minute.

The Mayan empire is starting to threaten our continental superiority; the empire of Celtia must therefore ensure that Germany is at the best capability to defend itself. Your technology is obsolete, your units meek from the years of peace.”
Gautama!” Pavol yelled and a heavily armed guard entered the room, carrying two books and few papers.
Take your men and protect this person as he travels back to his country, the books you are going to carry are of uppermost importance, do not lose them and if you think you are going to be ambushed, burn them.”
“As you wish sir!”
replied Gautama loyally.

Thank you dear sir.” Conrad replied gratefully.
“That is not all.” Pavol continued “You will receive dozens of caravans every month, inform Frederick, we will give you iron.”


Conrad gave Pavol a grateful nod and set off with his guard escort directly for Berlin.
 
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Music

April, 1718
Muslim lands of Malinese

Jambha travelled the windy mountains, he has been trough it´s snowy peaks.
His spirit did not wither away from the distance and his mind was quenched by the beautiful view of the mountains.

Yet the aesthetics still didn´t stop him from questioning himself.
Divine right, but what makes right, a might?

As he began to feel more doubt he only encumbered himself with more manual tasks rather than trying to regret.
He was ordered a special task, he would work in favor of Dharma, saving the people ignorant, blind from the truth.

The stars in the night were beautiful, they were exposed as there was barely any cloud to obstruct this spectacle.
Jambha could even feel the sky turning blue, that´s how crystal clear the sky was.

The flowers of this land were new, unknown, never seen before by him.
And as the morning sun raised, the sunflowers in nearby field all woke up in one huge stretch.

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As he descended from the mountains into flat lands, a river spew out in front of him.
The currents were mild though and what he met on the other side was a friendly local population of people faithful to Islam.

As they all followed their five pillars of Islam, they offered Jambha food and water.
He approached.

But the next day, Jambha had to leave to continue in his journey…


June, 1720
Celtic Empire

The old man finally finished writing his book, as he was satisfied with his work he set on a journey to Prague.
He also promised himself that he would at visit Delhi the next year, every Buddhist should search for enlightenment in that city.

The summer was hot this year for sure, the river near Prague was shallow as most of it evaporated.

As he finally arrived to Prague, he gave his old knees proper break. His mind now travelled his memories, his family, his friends, he outlived them all.
At the age of eighty years he might as well die any second, but fear was none of his traits, he was ready to embrace it, knowing that every Buddhist not reaching enlightenment would be forced to repeat the cycle of life and death.

He wonders if those warriors who he fought against in the holy war;
Did they reach enlightenment? With no access to Buddha´s words, is one eternally stuck to suffer?
It can´t be that unfair, maybe they reached enlightenment in their last moments.

The old man sat in middle of a busy road, he closed his eyes, as if unaware of his surroundings.
With the innocent naivety of a child, he fell asleep undisturbed by the world around him.

And when the next day came, his dreams disappeared like the shine of a stars in the morning sun.

October, 1726
Muslim lands, subjugated city of Tartar, Celtic Empire

Bren as usually, patrolling the perimeter, watched carefully over the area.
The scorching heat of the desert was at least bearable when the sea was nearby.

Bren missed his home so much, having been stationed here for many years he never grew close to the city of Tartar, the Muslim people having no grasp of Buddhism.
With their annoying traditions and outright wrong ways, the city still didn´t manage to recover itself from the war hundred years ago, there still were ruined mines that only recently, have been ordered to be rebuilt.

With all this foreign influence around him, Bren was more than glad that navy shipped cornbread every month from the homeland.

The uneventful routine was then broken by the sound of horses approaching from the west. Bren gave a careful look in their direction, flags of the Muslims, Malinese!
He quickly sounded the alarm, whole squads of crossbowmen emerged out of the city garrison.


This is going to be tough, no walls. He thought to himself as he noticed that the crossbowmen were just standing in the open, barely covered by the city buildings, a receipt for carnage.

He then focused on his crossbow-sights and aimed for the Malinese troops.
He was ready to let go the arrow on them when someone interrupted him;

“DO NOT SHOOT!” – yelled the squad chief.

Only now did Bren notice, the convoy was completely unarmed and with no armor. It would be foolish to attack unarmed men.

The convoy, slowed down, noticing the military reaction to its presence but it did not stop and continued at cautious pace.

“HALT!” screamed the squad chief, “What brings thou to the lands of enlightened?”

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Palace, Prague, Celtic Empire

Pavol III slammed his palms on the table, spilling all the food over as all the servants stood in silence.
“WHAT AN INSULT!” yelled he, as he started to breath fast due to anger.

“Sss-sir does that mean we deny?” asked the Tartar liaison messenger cautiously, trying to not enrage his lord any further.
“OF COURSE WE DENY!” Reassured Pavol with infuriated voice.
First they oppose our ways, cause trouble in Tartar and NOW they offer to trade with us? WHAT AN INSULT TO OUR FATHERS!
I swear, Dharma on my side, our ancestors did not spill their guts over their lands in the holy war ONLY so we will trade with them.”


Gautama stood silently and when it was appropriate, he nod saying: “I will deliver the message sir.”


December 25th, 1726
Auditory Room, Palace, Prague, Celtic Empire

The room was full of priced military experts from all across the empire. The doors were guarded, as always, tightly.
Everyone was standing except for the king who was comfortably seated on his throne.

“The French do not have any decent force in their city of Rheims, a formidable amount of knights supported by the border patrol of horse archers could break trough.”
“I agree with Janus and on top of that French were always hostile towards us, even though they are our trade partners, they still grow hate towards us.”
said Bambhu the overseer of Bibracte mounted forces.
Janus added: “I do not consider myself a madman if I say that Frenchies will attack, we can defend ourselves if we attack first.”

“The Buddhists would hate war against brothers in faith, we can´t go against the will of Apostolic Palace. And if French choose to attack us, they choose to ignore Dharma.” Pavol said denying the suggestions.

The small crowd of advisors and military experts has remained silent, scratching their heads in the truth of king´s words, eventually this quick meeting was disbanded.

Most people later thought Pavol III was just following the intents of Apostolic Palace but Pavol III knew that the intentions of Celtia are the only thing that matters.
But knowing that disunity with other Buddhist nations was the last thing the Celtia wants, he decided to not risk a war when there is a real enemy behind the horizon…


January 8th, 1727
Caravel Indus of the Celtic Navy
South of Barbarian city of Kushans

The winter was unimaginably harsh and even inside, the captain of the ship was trembling.

“Did we run out of the wood again?” asked captain his lieutenant, “No sir, the furnace operator is sea-sick.”
“Damn land rats, they can´t stand a little shake and they already throw up.”

“What day is it?” asked the captain.
“January 8th of 1727, sir.”
“Already year 1727?”
“Aye.”

“Grab the magnifying glasses.”

Captain and lieutenant now observed the land of Kushans and what they saw was not unexpected.
“Look a Mayan boat.”
“A fishing boat, sir.”
“That means the Mayans have already set foot on this island.”

Captain then coughed up heavily and ordered: “Set course to north-east, we will scout out how the Mayan colonies are doing.”

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