DaftNES 3: Alternate-World Fresh Start

@BananaLee its highland cow chariots! Or actually Oxen War Carts I guess.

Pah. Man-drawn chariots are just that much more awesome.

From: Shahanar
To: Hurrians, Sa'ad Danåb


You are welcome to trade with us! Please do not harm our traders, we wish only peace

We will be glad to trade whatever we have (water I guess). Come join us during are great Þina Festival some time. Where peace is to be had with love. Lots of love.
 
To: Those guys in colorless cloth west of us (albeit still in Qan'ma)
From: Iksander Antar'ah


We'd like you guys to form defensive alliance with us and fight with our warriors. Those warmongers south of here in the hills are kind of creepy!
 
Vethmenari is all lonely and trade-less :(

From: Highking Alquendith of Vethmenari and Ministers
To: Kaerlan
In a gesture of good will to your people, we suggest a trade-route between our two realms, and a treaty defining the shape of our lands and a mutual respect and alliance between our two societies. We await your response eagerly, and look forward to many years of prosperity and friendship between our two nations.

Signed, Highking Alquendith and Ministers
 
So, with that discussion complete, I'm going to write a story. :D

---

Arana, yes, Arana the Pleasant. This is our city. Not our only city, of course. Cities form where castes gather. Even so, each caste inhabits a separate area, marked by a caste color and other characteristics. Certain castes, such as the water-carriers, are dispersed throughout the whole of the city. But this is rare, and even the water-carriers have gathering places like the others.

Caste is a wall, of sorts. One would think upon visiting the lands of the Shahanar that we are a chaotic land of many peoples. This is truly not so. Since ancient days, we have traded, and married one another. It is clear to us who is Caste and who is Outcaste. We live, work, and rest with our castes. It provides a sense of belonging, and of wholeness. Within caste, everything is determined by arrangement: Your seniority is based on your age, and to a lesser degree, your skill at craft. Each caste has close business relationships with related castes. For example, the potters and the water-carriers are very close indeed. The same is true for stone-workers and builders, and similar relationships such as this exist.

In time, castes merge and split, as I have mentioned before. But never is a member of the Shahanar truly alone. If caste-blood is spilled, that individual becomes Outcaste, and is forced to leave our lands. So the converse is true, you see. One who is alone is not Shahanar.

But, I am becoming distracted! Let us return to Arana. In isolated villages, there might only be one or two castes: Perhaps a farming caste to procure the food, and a smaller caste of tool-makers and repairers. The two castes will be highly interrelated. But Arana formed where, at first, there would be great gatherings of many Shahanar, and even some Tharnites, to trade and celebrate festivals. In time, however, these castes gained more from living close to each other.

Arana is a pleasant city, and a variated one, for each caste maintains their own portion. Each quarter of the city can be noted by a different characteristic denoting the nature of the owner. For example, the warrior caste, small as it is, inhabits an area near the city walls built with red bricks. This denotes the Outcaste blood that they are destined to spill in defense of our home. The food-seller castes, however, have planted lemon trees down the center of the road, and one can find their homes simply by following the smell.

We trader castes set up pavilions of many-colored cloth, a different color representing all the castes of the Shahanar, and even Outcastes from foreign lands, whose wares we have purchased and brought south. Carvings of horn and amber, incenses and spices, silks and woods, all of these can be found in our quarter. We also facilitate the transportation of goods from more distant castes, though sometimes this brings us into conflict with more distant trader castes living in those regions.

Arana, it is not a great place, only inhabited by some few thousands. But it is an elegant city, and perhaps as our numbers grow, the city too shall become something greater than the bazaar which it is today.
 
Update Threat Level: ELEVATED

Player order implementation: almost done
NPC actions: almost done
Random events and side-effects: hardly started
Update text: not started

How have I overspent?

City=2
Unit=1..

Does moving a worker cost?

@Abaddon oh I thought you were making a worker. You only have a slave right now, doing some domestic chores. It can go to those beans but you'd really need a unit to guard it. I'll assume you try to set up more banana farming instead?

Whether the mod chooses to acknowledge the stories with a bonus or otherwise is a matter of personal preference. Most mods tend to let the stories influence the 'flavor' of the player's culture in subtle ways, however.

I approve the above statement :)

Faction Name: Kaerlan
Start location: Cradle 1 - Mriz
Colour: Dark Blue

@TaylorFlame hi there, hopes theres no hard feelings from the Geskani-Satellian wars...

To maintain relevance, I asked about the elephants already, but would they hold advantages if I were to exploit them, Daft?

@Anonymoose I guess you could use them as a resource (Ivory), but it would be unreliable and likely to dissapear eventually.

Vethmenari is all lonely and trade-less :(

Dont worry about that, trade will happen automatically unless there are specific blockades and wars and plagues and things. Units can be assigned trading or merchant-escort duty though.
 
To: Those guys in colorless cloth west of us (albeit still in Qan'ma)
From: Iksander Antar'ah


We'd like you guys to form defensive alliance with us and fight with our warriors. Those warmongers south of here in the hills are kind of creepy!

To: Iksander Antar'ah
From: The great white tribe of Qan'ma


We agree to combine our strength for common good. May our herds of cattle frolic in peace forever more.
 
Since it's been confirmed that stories are allowed, writing one now.

EDIT: Modified my statement slightly.
 
If my slave can go an work bananas without causing problems, and riasing my economy.. do eet :D
 
Good... Good... My trade empire has begun to rise! :p
 
If only I could.

birdchariot.png
 
OOC: Is that a chocobo war-chariot!? We bow before your awesome might. :D
 
OOC: Requesting advice- this seems to me to be a very poor-quality story even by my standards. Especially want to know any plot holes.

The Last Grape Wars

i: Background
The days when the Grape Tribes could trade a few rotten grapes for all they needed were over- Bronze Age agriculture had taken afoot, and the population was so large that even if all of Cria was willing to trade on the old terms there was no way they could all be supported.

This left the problem of the large amounts of grapes covering Napodi (or Grape Tribe) territory. Despite their religion, the only pragmatic descision was to set people to work on gathering them for sale. Idealism was still stronger then pragmatism, however, and any tribe which made the decision would be met with popular outrage.

For a time, tribes simply blurred the lines of what were "good" and "evil" ancestors, allowing them to sell more of their grape produce. Eventually, however, one influential elder created what would later be deemed by it's opponents "The Murderer's Consensus" (a name which stuck for years). The rationalisation was that eating a grape did not in fact kill the ancestor as had previously been believed, but allowed him to escape and be reincarnated as one of the person's offspring. The flaw in this (what if they had none?) was ignored, and a new law was proposed against eating bad grapes (which had to be destroyed to 'kill' the ancestor).

The Podi tribe ('Podi' translating literally as 'The Tribe' in their language, giving an insight into their self-percpetion), in which this theory was proposed, was diplomatically influential and proud of it's military traditions (It was also used by inter-Podi figures, thus being as Latin to medieval Europe amongst the Napodi). At first, fanatics were quelled from interfering for fear that they would turn the whole tribe to the Murderer's Consensus. This turned out to be a mistake- over the course of seven years, the tribe became swayed and went into the buisness of commercial grape production.

ii: The Anti-Podi Coalition
This was too much- a coalition consistent of 80% of the Napodi tribes (who designated themselves Defenders of the Ancestors) attacked the now greatly outnumbered Podi, outnumbering them eight to one. Rejecting a plan to hold their grape farms hostage (even the Podi were not willing to go that far), Consensus forces withdrew to the shores and attempted to secure mercenary aid.

Militarily, this was a serious blunder (although admittedly an act of conscience). At the Battle of Mapodi (or Shoretribe, translated literally- it was an area of the Podi beaches), the Podi were attacked from the high ground and many actually driven into the sea. Despite valor on the part of a few, the effort was futile- Podi casualties were double those of the Coalition. The war appeared over.

Unfortunately for the Coalition, Rengome (a commander from northern Napodi and a fanatic) was in charge of the prisoners. According to tradition, this included Napodi women and children. Seeing many of them as either complicit in "ancestor murder" or actively part of it, Rengome decided to kill them all as murderers.

iii: The South v.s North Wars
The North had traditionally been significantly more religious then the South- the Southern Napodi accepted intellectually that eating grapes was murder, but found it hard to accept on an emotional level- as did some Northerners. The combined stigmas of killing women and children (looting was common against the Napodi, but most of those who didn't have to do it for pragmatic reasons considered it morally wrong) and killing prisoners (if prisoners were taken at all, it was simply not done) combined to turn the tide.

The first Coalition disbanded in the illusion of victory, but many Southern tribes were beginning to change their mind. Demand for grapes was increasing, and it was much easier to rationalise their actions after the Massacre of Mapodi. A coalition (90% of Southern tribes) emerged to defend The Consensus (as they called it), and began organised grape production.

The two Coalitions were now equal in size- large numbers of tribes were beginning to declare neutrality thanks to Southern propaganda. At first, peace reigned despite notional war- the North sought to hold for time until they could assemble a large enough coalition to gain numerical superiority, whilst the South tried to provoke an offensive by increased grape production and use the funds to hire mercenaries.

Eventually, Southern strategists realised the North was winning the numerical race, and (rejecting calls by their own extremists to throw grapes at the enemy to infuriate them) and launched a suprise assault against the city of Nap (which translates in it's local tongue as City, but in most other languages as Wall), a Northern bastion.

iii: Battles of Nap
The initial Southern commander had friends fighting for the Nap forces, and didn't want a battle if he could avoid it. As a result, he delayed on the pretext of starving the defenders to surrender. After a month of such siege, Nap was reinforced by the combined Northern armies. The Northern army outside the walls was only 1.2 times larger, but the need to contain the defenders (a fifth of the Southern army, but one they encircled) put the South at a significant disadvantage.

Attempting to ensure the battle would be decisive, the Northern commanders agreed to besiege the Southern army. It was assumed that, the southern Consensus army not being prepared for it, the defenders inside the city would hold out longer then they could. The South, realising that this was in fact true, decided to launch an all-out assault against the city and replace the commander which had got them into this debacle.

The First Battle of Nap quickly turned into a series of house ambushes, with Southern troops rushing from house to kill any soldiers inside. In response, orders were given to burn Nap and salvage the food supplies only. Inciting his men with the atrocity, the Northern commander ordered an assault to crush the "Southern upstarts". With no defensive advantage (the houses were burning), the Southern troops attempted to move around the still-surviving garrison, regroup and hold the enemy until nightfall. This too was a blunder- the anger of the Northern tribes increased as they saw the suffering of the civilians in the city, and the assault continued with increased fanaticism. The problem for the North was that the Nap commander was given seniority- traumatised by having lost loved ones during the siege, he ordered a halt to give the men a rest. Both sides would later admit that if not for this, the South would have been crushed.

Between the First and Second Battles, however, significant amounts changed. Their previous commander dead, a new Southern leader (Gardeavaron, as he would be called in myth- his real name is lost) took control of the Southern forces and managed to rally them behind the idea that the South was somehow fighting on principle- ancestors could not be reincarnated unless their grapes were eaten, and so the eating of grapes was a sacred duty (the massive flaws in this were ignored). The neutral Gardevinok tribe, worried for the balance of power in their region (they were technically Northerners and against the Murderer's Consensus, but they had several allies for it and had highly pragmatic leaders), unknown to both parties, would march for the battlefield hoping to achieve the advantage of suprise. Finally, the "True Avaron" tribe (long story) and a few others decided they had taken too many casualties and withdrew.
 
I am greatly honoured by such stories being posted :)

As for the update, I'm going to call it a night. There are more and more things to sort out as I work through it, same old story. At least this update should be a little more interesting, a couple of big wars, and some factions being exiled already. Your update warning for this time tommorrow is raised to HIGH.

Customising the unit graphics for so many factions is also a pain, so I'm going to have to give up on that. Apologies that people will have historical-looking units with some minor cuts and pastings.

I'm assuming anyone who meant to send orders has done so now!
 
OOC: First story attempt since trying a final frontier one well here we go.
The Great Sundering and Rise of the Kings

With the death of the heir less Arthendel. His great nation fell into chaos and imploded basically. The tribes split into three groups the north the coastal and the south. As the north waned in power and the south grew a coastal heir to their alliance of tribes was kidnapped by a southern Nomad Chief. In return for northern support one of their chiefs could "marry" the heir. From that bond came Arthoc (Leader power)(Lord of War). Arthoc was a star child so he succeeded his northern father as chief.

He banned the old beliefs in religion alienating all the other tribes and then he created a new system of trials that a child at 5 would take to decide their fate instead of some birth system. He also introduced the first men and women army. Such alienation inspired the liberal coast to flock to him while the north declared war.

His army of 200 met their 75 in the game lands. It was a short battle to say simply. Arthoc had his army used javelins and stones to destroy the enemy army from nearby hills. The survivors of the northern army became game hunters for Arthoc in the north.
As Arthoc prepared his army to invade the south he once more was inventive. He made them march. He made them fire on command and had them practice every day. His army was no longer a rabble but a fighting force.

The south had gathered a rabble of 400 to meet Arthoc's army of 186. The army of the south went through a pass between ridges in hope of hitting the families unprotected in the north on the other side. Arthoc's army hid on the ridges. As the south ran through Arthoc's army rained down their full force of arms on them. Finally when only 20 warriors of the south remained they surrendered. Arthoc now stood as the great Warrior King of all En Corthan. He would have a heir it would be his line to lead the next generation and beyond for now at least.

OOC:What ya think?
 
OOC: First story attempt since trying a final frontier one well here we go.
The Great Sundering and Rise of the Kings

With the death of the heir less Arthendel. His great nation fell into chaos and imploded basically. The tribes split into three groups the north the coastal and the south. As the north waned in power and the south grew a coastal heir to their alliance of tribes was kidnapped by a southern Nomad Chief. In return for northern support one of their chiefs could "marry" the heir. From that bond came Arthoc (Leader power)(Lord of War). Arthoc was a star child so he succeeded his northern father as chief.

He banned the old beliefs in religion alienating all the other tribes and then he created a new system of trials that a child at 5 would take to decide their fate instead of some birth system. He also introduced the first men and women army. Such alienation inspired the liberal coast to flock to him while the north declared war.

His army of 200 met their 75 in the game lands. It was a short battle to say simply. Arthoc had his army used javelins and stones to destroy the enemy army from nearby hills. The survivors of the northern army became game hunters for Arthoc in the north.
As Arthoc prepared his army to invade the south he once more was inventive. He made them march. He made them fire on command and had them practice every day. His army was no longer a rabble but a fighting force.

The south had gathered a rabble of 400 to meet Arthoc's army of 186. The army of the south went through a pass between ridges in hope of hitting the families unprotected in the north on the other side. Arthoc's army hid on the ridges. As the south ran through Arthoc's army rained down their full force of arms on them. Finally when only 20 warriors of the south remained they surrendered. Arthoc now stood as the great Warrior King of all En Corthan. He would have a heir it would be his line to lead the next generation and beyond for now at least.

OOC:What ya think?

OOC: Seems a bit imitative of my style, so I'm probably a bit biased.

None at all, none at all. The stories you write more then make up for it :)

What was happening in that war anyway?
 
Who even knows these days? The war is being fought because the war is being fought. So far, first contact ended bloodily, Sneed was occupied, Sneed was freed (these 3 words sound awesome together), the Geskani rebels attempted to broker peace with the Satellians but never got a chance and were almost wiped out due to a horrendous misunderstanding, the Satellians have started pushing into Geskani space, while the Geskani get ready to strike back, and a rebel fleet is sulking around the first contact system at less then one tenth the strength it was once at.
 
Iksander Antar'ah: Kraznaya

Turn0: emerges into the light of history. Invent THE WHEEL.

Available Funds: 3e
Unspent from last turn: N/A
Income: 1e tax, 2e resource, 0.5e religion
Upkeep: 1e (2 units)

Civilization Level: 1
Culture: 2
Enlightenment: 2
Power: 2
Military: 1
Organisation: 2
Infrastructure: 1
Economics: 1
Engineering: 1

Inventions: THE WHEEL

Spoiler ORDERS :

Spending:
2e on a city
1e on a missionary unit (guys who can talk well and bring gifts :p)

Domestic Orders
Build City: al-Antar'ah in the grasslands of eastern Qan'ma

Foreign Orders
Send the missionary westward to Chari, and try to convert them.
 
So quiet :(
 
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