EkoNES II: The King of the Doreans

[thomas.berubeg]

Hi, I've got computer problems, so, If I'm slow with Diplo and the like, that's why.

 

[Diamondeye]

The vote of Duchess Alleluia Nymphadora Promesky is cast in favour of Duke Gerold of Pvatailles for the Regency. May he rule well and prove that our trust is well placed.

 

[Immaculate]

Duke Evrez Boryeal of Noble House White Iron has nominated and continues to support Duke Gerome of the Pvatailles for Emperor

 

[nutranurse]

Duchess Cassille of House Lyonod deems Duke Gerome (Gerold?) of the Pvatailles worthy of the Imperial Throne. May his worth be recognized by all others!

 

[badunoff]

The Dinzini vote is up for sale.

 

[Northen Wolf]

Why are we holding a vote? Should the empire not already have an emperor?
Nevermind.

 

[qoou]

While I still mourn the death of the brave Emperor, a new one must indeed be elected to keep the borders of our great lands safe. I, Heowth of Mirsara, cast my humble two votes for the pious Gerold of the house of Pvatailles. I have no doubt he will live up to, and beyond, the name of his predecessor.

 

[Shadowbound]

OOC: Eko, it's Gerold.

 

[Ekolite]

Fixed

 

[Ekolite]

By the way, for those who don't have it already you can add me on msn at the_ekolite@hotmail.com if you have any questions.

Moezha (NPC) announces that it will also contend the Throne.

 

[Ekolite]

For balancing reasons (I took on more players then I first planned for), the Emperor will receive only half of the money taken through taxation.

 

[Shadowbound]

...so where does the other half go? It's not like I intend to keep it, I'm going to be rerouting most of it towards the Pareya, new fortifications, or new institutions like the border marshals that I intend to set up.

 

[Ekolite]

The sum of the taxation from all players is more then 300 gold. Half of that is still more then enough to redistribute, 300 is an insane amount. Make no mistake that this is a decision based on balance alone, if you want an IG explanation then its maybe the cost of corruption, maintenance of civilian structures like schools and hospitals etc and all that boring background stuff that would be going on behind the scenes.

I admit it's kind of cheap, but it has to be done unfortunately.

 

[Ekolite]

In other news, update 0 will be posted tomorrow, or later tonight if you're lucky.

 

[Northen Wolf]

In other news, update 0 will be posted tomorrow, or later tonight if you're lucky.

Something about PM'ing military statistics? Also, Awesome that update 0 will be out so soon!

 

[Ekolite]

They'll come with the update, along with a few minor additions to the rules, primarily to the military section. And once that's all out of the way, the game can begin!

 

[qoou]

Orders for update 0:

Ride over to whatever city Duke Gerold is being coronated in to personally receive my shiny new title.

 

[Diamondeye]

Duchess Alleluia Nymphadora Promesky, by her people often called the Lady of Flowers, and referred to by the dark tongues of her rivals as the Whore Duchess, was happy. She was sitting, silky linens rustled around her to cover her bare, sweaty skin, looking out the window at the sun melting the golden fields below the large manse.

Rolled away from her on the other side of the bed, also sitting and in the process of re-dressing, was the Lord Bolvar the Proud, one of the finer of the lesser nobles of the Promesky lands. He put on his surcoat, his family arms emblazoned on it in a dark, orange colour. It was a bull's horn; His forefather who had founded the family had been a fearsome warrior know as Bolvar the Bullhorned. Alleluia looked at Bolvar as he rose to fasten his belt with its scabbard. His frame was most impressive; she loved the sight of a beautiful man, and Bolvar was stunning. He had every right to be proud.

And many would agree with her on that assesment; Lord Bolvar was the father of three of Duchess Alleluia's children, one of them her oldest daughter Narcissa, who would one day rule the Duchy of Paradise Shore, and he had agreed to foster one of her other children whose father was known only to her; whether he was dead, a coward or something entirely else was not something the public would know for certain.

The Lord walked to her bedside and kissed her gently on the hand before leaving the room to attend his duties towards his children, his lands and his serfs. Alleluia slowly got up and threw on the light and silky crimson clothes she had so recently eeled out of. She also threw a cloth-of-gold cape around her shoulders, bordered in dark red thread. Thus dressed, she walked out the manse, her personal guards joining her at the door. They were three riders of prowess; two old and experienced guardsmen and a young and energetic one who had looked more than once when he thought she didn't notice and who didn't fail to blush when he realized that she did. They mounted up and headed back towards the City of Thara, Seat of the Promesky Lineage. The banners of her family, a golden heart encircled by red roses, were sprawled across the golden-bordered white; the same crest was emblazoned on the cloth barding of their horses. She rode in a thoughtful and dozy mood, her glad and lazy gaze rolling across the golden fields and the rustic plantations, the bare-chested peasants working in the summer heat, children running around, playing near a small well... This was her land, and she loved it. She knew she would do whatever she could to protect it.

 

[Ekolite]

Update 0 - Years 1131-1138 AD​

It is the year 1138 AD, and the Empire is in turmoil.

For generations, the Empire has been for the most part stable and peaceful. A succession of wise Trinistean Kings have gently guided the vast lands and peoples of Dorea, balancing the demands of the Dukes, the Church, and the Minor Nobility with a rarely seen talent. At the expense of their own lands, they had sought to further the Empire as a whole, pouring money into projects in every major city. The Trinistean Kings believed very strongly in secular education, the study of medicine, literature, and the sciences, and even funded a prestigious university, the Royal Albor College, in the city of Jonaevim. The merchants and tradesmen also have a lot to thank the Trinistean Kings for, as the expansion1 of international trade was another major focus of theirs, despite its highly controversial nature. There is a high level of xenophobia within the Emprie, and many treat even the Empire’s long-standing allies of Estor and Zolrieke with suspicion. There are many amongst the nobility who dream of an Empire entirely self-sufficient and enclosed from the outer world of pagans and heathens. Emperor Johan III’s willingness to do business with even the Isandrians of Yure and Roslorn was rather too much to bare, and the Holy Church itself had begun to speak out against this policy. The Pareya spoke publicly in front of the people of Cynnedor and Aethedor, it’s religious and secular capitals, condemning what he perceived as an increasing level of toleration in society for the followers of Isan, who after all carry the seed of the Devil. In one of his speeches, he even went as far as to call for their expulsion from the Empire. In the following elections, the new City Council of Aethedor cast out their governor, a distant relative and sponsor of the Emperor, and replaced him with an independent candidate. Many more cities followed suit including the Emperor’s traditional strongholds of Veireyna and Jonaevim. The Emperor was purported to be livid at the Pareya’s blatant interference in secular matters, and what seemed like a personal campaign for his removal. However, enough of the Dukes remained faithful in the Empire for him to retain leadership, for now. A few months later the Emperor’s brother was put under investigation for heresy and executed as a Volastiak. Relations between the Church and State had never been more tense.

And in the East, trouble was also brewing. The old King of the Mosovids had in his youth swept through Dannavia and into the eastern Isthmus, but now he was at last passing on the torch to his successor. The new King, by the name of Arouw Wistih I, was a young and rather boisterous man now looking to prove himself to his rather sceptical generals. The Doreans feared that he would press further into the Isandrian cities, upsetting the balance of power on the Isthmus, and possibly becoming a threat to the Empire itself. In anticipation, the Imperial Armies were brought to the eastern border and fortifications were established. There they waited.


Every winter, much of the Angolorn becomes utterly uninhabitable as harsh blizzards and biting frost cover the land in a thick, gleaming coat of ice. This sparks an annual migration south and east, into Loshmir, Jarenek, and the Dorean Empire itself and it was against the background of rising dissent, Church condemnation, and uncertainty in the East that the Naavikae arrived.


The borders between Dorea and the Angolorn are entirely arbitrary, and the Doreans are well used to the nomadic tribes that cross it. Usually the tribes stay away from the sparse population centres of the Dorean Angolorn, and although minor raids will occasionally be attempted, these are usually seen off with relative ease. In the Angolorn, the winters had become progressively worse of late, and food was becoming scarce. The soil of the plains is not fit for farming, and so the people there had always relied on the domestic animals and the game they could hunt. But these were becoming fewer by the year, and the migrations and raids were becoming more and more noticeable. This would had been fine, had a great warlord by the name of Thola Vigstreig not united many of the disparate tribes of the southern Angolorn, pledging to find them new pastures in which to graze their sheep, a land where the winters and the wolf packs didn’t bite quite so hard. Thola was a remarkable man, a wizened old warrior from the Urpata Tribe, who had done what many amongst the Empire had hoped was impossible, uniting the various clans under a single banner, that of the Naavikae Confederacy, and largely through peaceful, diplomatic means. Life had become so hard for the Angolorn peoples that his message fell on receptive ears, and spread like wild fire across the plains. They quickly amassed themselves on the shores of Kvitmid Lake, and hungrily, they looked to the east. Trinistea is a beautiful land of rolling plains and green pastures, a relatively new Imperial territory beyond the ancient ‘’Wall of the Ironhorn’’, a chain of castles once built to subdue the land, and protect it from attack from the west, but now largely symbolic and in a state of disrepair. At the best of times it would be hard to defend from an organised assault, but against the so-called ‘’Lightning Cavalry’’ of the Angolorn, it was utterly indefensible. The Emperor and the majority of his Army was in the south east, and when the Naavikae struck by surprise in mid June with more than 10,000 riders, defeat with inevitable. However the Naavikae were not savages, and although they slew those who opposed them, they would always ask for surrender before engagement, and those who accepted their rule were left unharmed. The local peasantry was quick to accept their fate, and continued with their lives largely indifferently, some opposed the idea of being ruled by pagans, but ultimately there was little they could do, and the Naavikae allowed them to continue their own religious practises which was appreciated. The Trinistean nobility attempted to rally a defence, but their attempts were in vain, and they were slaughtered in a bloody battle outside the town of Oan.

Upon hearing the news of invasion, Emperor Johan III began to lead some of his men back towards the north, across the very length of the Empire. They marched quickly, but still it was a journey that would take many months. However, upon stopping briefly in the city of Aethedor to resupply and to allow his men to rest, he fell victim to an assassination attempt. His assailant escaped, and although still grasping onto life when he was found, the poisoned Emperor could not be saved.


In the north, Vigstreig continued his conquest of Trinistea, besieging and eventually taking the ruinous Harrow Castle which he rebuilt with local expertise. Some feared that he would continue on south or east into the heartlands of the Empire, but now a year had passed and still they had not progressed any further. With the Imperial Army still slowly progressing towards them, the Warlord sent word to the Electoral Court in Aethedor. It told them that the Naavikae had found their new homeland. They would not continue any further unprovoked and request to be left in peace. They suggested that they were willing to continue to pay the Trinistean taxation to the Emperor should they be accepted as the new leaders of the province. No less than one hundred years ago, much of the area had been dominated by the Angolorn tribes, until they were pushed back by the Trinisteans, and now it seemed they had finally taken it back.


The army of the Doreans, comprised of men from all over the Empire, awaited just south of the River Joune, awaiting the election of a new Emperor before continuing any further. With no legitimate Trinistean heir to succeed Johan III, the Electoral Court was called to convene in the capital to nominate one of their number to take up the throne of the Doreans. It was a slow process, although Duke Gerold or Pvatailles seemed to be favourite. Indeed the Pvatailles have become very prominent in the Empire lately with the signing of an alliance with the House of Phinte, and Duke Evrez Boryeal of White Iron requesting the role of General should the Empire war with the Naavikae. Regardless of who was to be chosen, the new Emperor would no doubt face many challenges. Thola Vigstreig looked on with stoic resolution, unlikely to leave Trinistea of his own accord, and it still awaited to be seen whether the Mosovids would seek further expansion into the Isthmus. People were demanding answers as to who was behind the Johan III’s demise, and meanwhile, the Church seemed ever more hostile towards the Isanic minority of Dorea. It seemed that religious and ethnic conflict along these lines could be just around the corner.


And all the while, would the Dukes of the Empire seize this opportunity to expand their own interests while the Empire struggled against the many dangers they now faced.

 

[Ekolite]

Military stats and the Electoral Court social group to come tomorrow.