End of Empires - N3S III

[Lord_Iggy]

 

[Angst]

O that is sexy.

 

[Lord_Iggy]

To be Aramsayafa is to know war. From childhood, growing up in Aramaia, the city of my family, I understood this to be my duty. No other Faeoria fields an army that is a match to ours. When the Farubaida wars, it is my Faeoria that bleeds. This is our role, as the arsenal of the Federation. My kindred warriors die so that the second long peace can be maintained. Such is our sacred task.

To be Aramsayafa is to know power. From Aramaia, the Empire of Helsia is governed. From Helsia, the hand of the Farubaida is guided. No family, not even the great Maeriouhau of old, have ruled as we do. Yet never must mastery beget tyranny.

To be Aramsayafa is to uphold maelin. To be maelinun is uphold duty. To be maelinum is to maintain the free havens. To be maelinun is to honour oaths, and to commit to light's truth. Let not a lie be uttered.

I am Maerano, the Red Moon. These are the precepts for which I live, and shall strive to preserve so long as my kin draw breath.

 

[North King]

End of Empires - Update Twenty-eight (Part Two)
Prince of Cinders
Three Years
634 - 637 SR by the Seshweay Calendar
523 - 526 RM by the Satar Calendar​

Spoiler :

“Do you know what they say in the Had about an Accan bargain?”
“Count your children.” ~ Redeemer Veshkalon and Axilias-ta-Alma

“The Treda killed men, and men alone.” ~ Doru o Haiao

* * * * * * * * *​

Night lay thick on the ground, a cloak for every man and none. Even the stars and moon could not been seen except in glimpses: a thousand campfires had guttered out but slowly, their smoke drifting into heaven to mingle with the clouds. It was the assembled host of a dozen peoples – Elikas with the Evyni and northern Satar, Ien with his Xieni, and beyond them, the Taudo, the Ming, the Vithana, and Spear and Arrow besides. Above them, like a puff of mist over broken ground, was pitched the white tent of Arteras, High Prince.

There was no Redeemer.

The Prince of the Scroll lay sedately, watching the fire crackling nearby with keen eyes. His mask lay to one side, covering a pile of maps and letters; only a servant lingered in the tent, tending to the fire every now and then, and otherwise pretending to straighten things.

“I gave up an empire to gain a city.”

She stiffened at his voice, but only momentarily. A hesitation, then she continued to tidy.

“It is strange, what we men will give up so that we can see our grandfather's house. Don't you agree?”

The girl looked at him, her eyes nervous. He'd had the last one removed from his service, and he hadn't told her why. She seemed to mull whether to reply to him, so he saved her the trouble by continuing.

“Caroha. Kargan. A century ago we would have yearned for Magha, Sapphire City. Now, that is within our grasp, and barely a man comments on it. We fixate on a glorified dinner table instead.” He paused, and looked away from the fire, at his mask. “I doubt a single building remains from my grandfather's city.”

Voices sounded from outside. The Princes had arrived. He made to put on his silver mask once more.

“Send them in.”

He had no way of knowing if the girl was even a spy, but it was best to treat all the slaves as though they were. Perhaps she would relay his inane ramblings about legacy and birthright to the other princes. They would, of course, see through the lie immediately, and most of them would probably know he'd intended them to hear the lie as well. But perhaps a few would be caught in it, and a few would be so caught up in congratulating themselves for seeing through it...

It did not matter, really. The slave would be with another man before morning.

They regarded him impassively. Even Elikas did not show his wariness. The young ones played the game well. This was good. The better they were, the more overconfident they would get.

“We have assembled the first army,” he said.

They nodded. Ien had objected that the plan had been overly complicated before, but by now he was silent. Deference? That was unlikely. More probably, he'd thought he'd seen an opening in the works. Arteras didn't care, as long as he played his part for long enough.

“I will leave in the morning. Elikas, you will have the command here. The Sesh is your priority now.” Elikas had offered strenuous objections to the plans at every turn. That worried the High Prince. Undoubtedly that meant the lad liked his role. Elikas was the wild card. None of the others had strength enough to challenge him on their own.

“Seis will not fall easily, but it will fall.”

The deceptions within deceptions amused him, clearly. Arteras smiled beneath his mask. Then he turned. “Slave,” he said to the servant, who started. “Leave us now.”

She was gone in the blink of an eye.

A long moment passed, with only the sound of a soft breeze stirring at the tent ropes, and a quiet growl of the fire, slowly dying. Then, as one, they unclasped their masks.

The first army departed under the light of the morning star.

* * * * * * * * *​

They crossed the river at Tisatar, by slow-rolling hills that had been tilled flat. It was not the largest army the Satar had ever raised, and it was indeed immediately obvious that much if not most of their host had remained at Tisatar. Nevertheless, the war had begun – the Carohan ships at Seis had ranged up the river with their garrison, and disrupted the crossing at many points before having been driven off. In the end, only some thirty-five thousand soldiers had made it to the other side, under the wolf banner and led by the silver-masked Arteras.

It was a small army, but supported by the threat of the larger army that still lurked behind it – and more to the point, the Farubaidans did not have an army in the field to oppose it. Certainly, it couldn't crack Seis, but this army had no intention of attacking it at all. Instead, it menaced Pa, burning the outer towns and besieging the core for some time before it finally feel in an orgy of destruction. Luckily, many of the inhabitants had fled before the siege, but for many this was but a temporary reprieve, as the army continued down the coast towards Jania, with the ultimate goal obvious: Caroha itself.

Still, the Farubaidans did not arouse themselves to destroy it, and though it seemed curious at the time, the Farubaidan leaders were quite aware: The man leading this vanguard of apocalypse was not Arteras at all, only a man who wore his mask: Zalkephis, High Oracle of the Exatai.

And the Satar found it slower going than they might have expected. Pa was an old city, its walls quite poorly maintained – a glorified port for the Sesh. Past here, the going got tougher, and slower. The Carohans had burned the fields before the Satar even arrived, forcing them to advance over scorched earth. Though the Sesh itself remained quite fertile, the supply lines proved difficult to maintain at best, especially in light of the Carohan control over the Delta, and the continual probes of their riverboats.

More than once, the Karepeshai at Tisatar mulled attacking Seis, but the city had been so thoroughly fortified over the preceding centuries that that seemed like a suicide option – not only walls, but an endless series of dykes, levees, hedges, and fortresses scattered through the region. Even starving it out seemed like a tough challenge, for the fortifications themselves enclosed much farmland. In the end, they contented themselves with raids, attempting to burn what they couldn't hold.

In time, Zalkephis' army pitched the siege lines around Jania, and waited for the city to fall. Yet in the night, they were fallen upon by a relief force from Seis – a great risk, but so far from their own bases, and demoralized as they had been by the march, Zalkephis' army couldn't match the Farubaidans. The High Oracle made little attempt to retreat, however, and threw himself in a glorious attack headlong against the enemy, slaying many before finally falling to an anonymous spear-blow.

The army melted into the morning, but it was soon followed by another.

Ien, Prince of the Wind, was clearly the most junior member of the great Princes, and not least for his youth. Sianai had whittled away much of the wealth of the Wind Princedom in his futile rebellion, and though they could bring many thousands of soldiers to the war, they were only one among many. Some whispers said that Ien had held back part of his force, in anticipation of the civil war to come, but he had protested these accusations – his realm had been much scoured by the last round of warfare – and in fact the Tepecci notaries had trouble finding the supposedly missing men.

Whatever the truth of it was, the Wind Prince crossed the river Sesh in the black of the night, he himself disguised as Arteras as well, and set across the plain to attack the Parda Hills in sudden force.

Like a massive tide, washing about the high points and submerging the valleys of a child's half-built empire, the Wind troops swarmed about the gaps of the Hills, and before anyone could much react, had battered the locals into a beleaguered position in Banh. Only a month into his march, he had taken the city, and soon its gold poured into his coffers. Proclaiming himself Arteras, he attracted much attention with a threat to descend on Kargan – but no army.

Another small force probed to the south, perhaps concerned over the lack of a Farubaidan response up until now, and raced across the desert to attack the upper Had. They had anticipated either meeting the enemy's main host, or easy pickings, but found neither. Instead, they were caught up in a brutal war of skirmishes with a force of Uggor soldiers based out of Kirost. Perhaps the Ayasi had not been quite as preoccupied as they had anticipated.

At last, apparently fed up with the slow progress of his armies, yet another Arteras raised the banner of war with his assembled armies at Tisatar, and crossed the river in force, marching northeast once more.

* * * * * * * * *​

This time, the advance went rather more smoothly, for the Accan fleet had arrived.

The battle in the north had been more confused than that on land, despite all Arteras' deceptions there. The Accan fleet had assembled in force in their homeland, preparing to set sail for the Sesh Delta, but had found itself fending off attacks from several quarters – before the war had begun, the Carohans had reshuffled many of their ships to Aldina. Here, they cut through the Kern Sea in a dozen different directions, and ironically had far more success than they ever had in the last war – their raiding parties catching shipping throughout the sea.

The most striking success, indeed, came off the coast of the Airani lands. A fleet of Cyvekt and Gallatenes sailing south had been blown somewhat off course, and suddenly found themselves caught in an ambush by the Carohans. Though the Gallatenes outnumbered the force, they had little time to react as the Carohan ships darted in between them and set many afire, escaping before the northerners could do much against them.

In reprisal, the Maninists conspired to help an Airani force that aimed to take Aldina by assault. But here, too, the allies ran into troubles. The island of Aldina had been well fortified, and well garrisoned, and they found no landing spot uncontested. As soon as they landed an army, they were taken from the side by the Carohan fleet, and though they could drive them off, by that point, the defenders on land had rallied.

Indeed, only when another, larger fleet of Accans had crossed the Kern, did they finally manage to inflict a defeat on the Carohans at the Battle of the Coves of Fire. Suitably chastened, the Carohans withdrew to the inner harbor of Aldina, and ceased their raids on the rest of the Sea. This much was quite enough to satisfy the allies, who sailed south to support Arteras, leaving only a minor force to watch the Aldinan raiders.

But much more pressing was the battle on the mainland.

Though they had been stymied in the north, in truth the Airani had never prioritized the capture of Aldina. Far more of their resources were directed south, in a campaign against the Peko, and an assault against Mahid.

Assembled by the Airani and the Gallatenes, a Maninist army arrived in the northern Peko with designs on Reppaba. The Carohan army that had been left in the valley seemed far too small to contend with their army, but the calculations swung wildly the other way with the arrival of a large Daharai expedition. Noting the aid that the Farubaida had lent the Orders in their many wars, the Daharai had vowed to repay the debt by defending the sixth federate from the Maninist assault.

The Maninists had not received word of this until far too late – they were already en route to the lower Peko Valley by the time they heard the rumors, and only on the field of battle was it confirmed when their scouts reported the first Daharai banners, bearing the initialism of that far-off state. Under the homegrown general Arai Vanara, the southern army advanced in ranks against their attackers, and the desert army broke upon the Daharai phalanx as the Aitahist lancers charged from either side to complete the triumph at Puri, and the Maninist host was subsequently cast backwards. Only a toehold at Lumeyat could be maintained in the face of the attack.

As it transpired, however, by far the majority of the Airani forces had been directed against Mahid. An army of well over twenty thousand emerged out of the desert, but found the city heavily fortified and defended by several thousand men.

Their resolve undampened, the Airani arranged for a blockade by a detachment of the fleet under the Princess Tarecci Rutarri. The city thus surrounded, the Airani prepared a massive – almost absurdly massive – siege train outside the city, and prepared to invest it. This could not help but draw out the main Carohan fleet, but in this case swelled by the ships of the Daharai expedition. As it sailed forth from the Straits of Kargan – careful, of course, to keep an eye on the Straits in case the Satar tried to sail through it – it attracted the notice of the main Accan fleet.

While the forces on land observed, and did their best to slaughter anyone who swam ashore from the wrong side, the fleets met in spectacular fashion under the walls of Mahid.

The Satar had constructed new, enormous, high-decked warships, fitted with bizarre siege weapons, designed to rain missiles down on their foes. These had a mixed effect on the battle, for though they could effect much destruction around them, they proved far too slow and cumbersome to chase down anyone who fled from them. Relying, then, on their maneuverability, the Seshweay and Faronun darted around their foes, and fought them to a standstill. The carnage that followed produced no clear victor, but after the day ended, the allies had to withdraw from the harbor, and storms later in the week drove them to shelter further afield.

At the same time, though the naval blockade had been broken, the assault on the city went forth anyway. With only a few thousand soldiers in defense, Mahid could not withstand the furious Airani attack: the Roshate lost well over a third of its force, many more than they had killed, but took possession of the city.

With the Carohan fleet falling back to the capital, and the army of Arteras advancing on Jania, the critical point of the war seemed to be at hand.

* * * * * * * * *​

A thousand miles away, the men who had started the war waited uneasily. Triad had fallen in the dead of winter, but the Accans here seemed stranded, thirty thousand pikes without any support, enemies on every side. The Kothari ranged all about to the north and west, with Carohan allies, and to the south, the armies of Kilar and the Church gathered in the Kiyaj Valley. To try and return home was folly – they would have to fight through a mountain pass against tens of thousands of foes, with two armies bearing down on them.

Perhaps seeing some sort of far-distant glory, the general Tarecco declared to his soldiers that they would not wait for the enemies to come to them – instead, they would march. And with the bulk of their enemies to the north, they would imitate the battle aspect-masters of old: they would attack weakness.

Thus, the Accans struck their camp, and marched, thirty thousand strong, directly south, intent on sacking the heathen city of Opios.

In their way stood the army of Kilar, the southern kingdom which had taken the valley under their protection, with a small detachment from the Grandpatriarch's own forces. At the village of Saba, a few dozen miles northwest of Khead, they made their stand against the full force of the Satar army.

It was a battle worthy of a song. The Accans boiled forth, their spears resembling nothing so much as an angry porcupine; the Kilari stood firm, their shield-wall arranged to take the brunt of the shock, with a small detachment of cavalry to try and harass the Karapeshai flanks. Immediately, the Accans plowed through the first two ranks of the Iralliamite army, slaying many with their long spears. But even as the line buckled, the King of Kilar rallied his soldiers with a great shout, and they plunged forward, surging between the spears and striking the Accans at close range, only for those further back in the formation to carve at them with their speartips.

Twice more they rallied, and twice more the Accans drove them back. It was in this last counter-charge that the King himself fell, and Tarecco led a fresh force of spears wheeling about the flank. The Kilari army disintegrated, and though many escaped to aid the garrisons of Khead and Opios, their field army had been knocked out of the war.

Still, as the Satar bore down on the holy city, they had to contend with pursuit. The Farubaidans had little love for Etraxes, and barely sped up their pace as they crossed the Kothai, but the Kothari remained quite loyal to the orthodox Grandpatriarch. With their army already repositioning northwards at the end of the year before, it was a simple matter to rally them and wheel about into the river valley. While the Satar moved to put up siege lines around the holy city, they soon found themselves contending with well over fifty thousand Kothari.

Outnumbered, hungry, and faced with what had already been a seemingly insurmountable task, many of the Accans simply gave up and deserted (indeed, some would find employ in the region's armies before the year ended). But a core of twenty-five thousand stayed true to Tarecco, and marched with him against the Kothari.

Of the Battle of Opios, little can be said. The Accans fought bravely, but hugely outnumbered and in foreign ground, cut off in a distant corner of the world, they were simply overwhelmed by the forces brought to bear against them – particularly as their entirely pike force had no counter for the cavalry or skirmishers that now swarmed about them. The force was annihilated, and those who did surrender became prisoners of the southern Exatai. Within a few days, the Kothari departed northwards in force, linking up with Maerano Aramsayafa, marching to the defense of Caroha.

Tarecco could only have hoped that his action had delayed them enough to win the war.

* * * * * * * * *​

The allied armies had wasted little time assembling, or, indeed, attacking the Karapeshai around Triad. Nevertheless, it would take them months to march back to the north. While the Faronun intelligence network had proven its worth through the war, the communication times meant that they simply did not know the situation in the north yet – when Maerano had departed south, there had only been one Arteras in the field, and his army had seemed too small to make much of an impact. But they knew more men lay in reserve, and surely the Satar would issue forth in great numbers while the Farubaidan armies lay in the south.

Emboldened by initial successes, and now supported by a fleet, Arteras made good progress along the coast, besieging Jania and taking it in swift assault, before finally bearing down on Cyre. The city lay at the end of a series of coves, and in stark contrast to Pa and Jania, had been one of the fastest growing and most prosperous cities in the Farubaida before the war. Much of the outer limits of the city would be difficult, if not impossible to defend, and the inhabitants stubbornly set their homes afire to withdraw behind the walls. The huge homeless population, many of them Oscadian refugees, lined up eagerly for the defense of the city, and reducing it would have taken months for the Satar.

Even with their poor intelligence, Arteras knew he didn't have that kind of time.

He sent for reinforcements from Ien (himself also masquerading as Arteras), who simply refused to acknowledge the call, and instead launched probes against Neruss. Their leadership grown increasingly fractious, the Satar seemed paralyzed at a key moment of the campaign.

It was now that the armies of Maerano and Metexares emerged from the south, issuing forth from the pass at Gaci, and arriving in Het. The furthest forward Satar raiders carried the word with haste back to their northern bases – and even Arteras must have paused at the news. The Kothari had emerged in force, as had the Carohans. Altogether, well over one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers readied to attack the southern flank of the Karapeshai, with a cavalry complement that, ironically, dwarfed that which the Accans had been able to put in the field.

Even so, the coalition of Satar Princes had been falling further into infighting. The murder of Talephas – regardless of who had actually perpetrated it – looked an awful lot like a power play, and the Accans had just barely kept their alliance together through thinly veiled threats and bribery. Even so, well over a year into the conflict and without a major victory to their name, Arteras had to act.

And thus, emerging from Tisatar at long last, Arteras raised his banner, revealing the Prince at Cyre to have been Elikas, Prince of the Shield – though in truth, Faronun spies had figured this out as well. Arteras had an army of a hundred thousand at his back, with men from as far afield as the Telha Exatai, the Airani Roshate, and the Halyrate of Gallat. At its heart stood two veteran Accan pike kelecktai, with auxiliaries on either side in rough groupings, and further out, cavalry in a flying column – most of them from the Karapeshai allies. He sent for support from his two generals already in the field, but these reinforcements were slow to arrive.

The southern allies advanced to Kirost, and from here it would only be a short march to Tisatar.

Confident in his ability to defeat the enemy in detail, Arteras moved east, linking with even the slow-moving forces of the Wind Prince. Now almost equal in number with the southerners, they marched forth and offered battle in the region just south of the Sesh.

The southerns drew up to parallel the Satar, one wing of the Kothari and one wing of the Carohans, though both of the generals had agreed to stay behind the main host with a detail of bodyguards. Arranged in a classic formation with the infantry in the center, flanked by the extensive cavalry corps, they marched forth to meet the Satar, who advanced en masse with their heavy pike formations.

Immediately, the Accans' quality began to tell in the middle, and the center of the southern line bowed under the pressure. Nevertheless, their success there threatened to push them into the middle of a double envelopment. Determined to stave off that eventuality, the Satar cavalry advanced in force, charging straight for the Carohan troops on one wing, perhaps expecting them to break.

They did not break.

Shouting their battle cry of “Houa Pahouaia!”, the Carohan cavalry charged forth as well. With the shouting and warhorns intermingling, the west side of the battle descended into a chaotic melee, none of the combatants gaining the upper hand at first. On the other side, the Kothari sallied forth, and their own superior cavalry began to tell; Kothai cataphracts crashed through the ranks of the Karapeshai horse that had been left there. As the Kothari gave another great shout, and Metexares plunged forth into the melee himself, much of the cavalry and infantry wheeled, and drove the auxiliaries from the field, taking the pike formation in the flank.

What might have been an unmitigated disaster was quickly mitigated. Arteras rallied his pikes, and using the classic wheeling maneuver that they had drilled so many times, the bulk of his reserves and the remaining soldiers in the center turned to face the Kothari, holding them at bay, if only for a few minutes while the Karapeshai reassessed the situation.

But this maneuver had freed up the Faronun infantry on the other side. Shouting that they would avenge the Treda, they streamed forth in great numbers, and utterly routed the cavalry that remained there. With Ien scrambling to hold his army together in the wake of this, they had little interest in rejoining the battlefield, and the Faronun turned to fall upon the Accans in the center.

The fighting here grew utterly savage, and it could have become a total slaughter had Arteras not seen the futility of it all. At the last, he ordered his soldiers to begin the retreat, saving the bulk of the Accans on the field, though indeed, many had already fallen, and many more would in the pursuit that followed.

Even with the main Karapeshai army broken, there were still enough soldiers in the field to make a solid attempt to rally and fight once more.

But the other Princes had taken note of Arteras' vulnerability, and while the lesser Princes may have been held in check by the bribery at the heart of his strategy, the greater ones had no such leash. Ien was the first to leave, using his position near the field of battle to quickly cross the Sesh and return north before he could be hindered. Elikas followed hot on his heels, his army almost completely intact, as he had held it back from the fighting. Then the Vithana, and while Arteras clung to the Taudo as allies, the Accan remnant seemed far too small to deal any serious damage to the allied forces. Even the Prince-Chief of Magha, Erphelion, had abandoned him, returning to Satara to defend against increasingly fierce attacks from the Moti – Sixth-Frei's generals had reportedly taken Magha.

Arteras' Armageddon had ended.

* * * * * * * * *​

Maps:

Spoiler :

Cities

Political

* * * * * * * * *​

OOC:

A single post update!

I am leaning towards a slightly shorter ET, as it currently stands... probably more like three hundred years. But this will be pretty flexible, so keep your plans flexible.

And, to reiterate: the number one rule of the ET is that your country is going to change, one way or another. The best path is probably to make it by your own agency, rather than by mine.

I might experiment with some different ideas this ET, so there's a possibility I'll be requesting further input from certain players over its course.

 

[Jehoshua]

ooc: Excellent update North King, as always it's of exceptional quality.

Anyways as to thoughts on the events. Its good to see Thlayli did the unexpected with his the "many Arteras' strategy", although I'm pleased that the plans that were hashed out on the allied side of the fence managed to fend him off with a reasonable degree of success. That said the strike towards Opios I'm sorry to admit I actually discounted as a possibility thinking it was so obvious a ploy he wouldn't even bother trying it... I still kept a garrison in place out of pure paranoia ofc, but the Kothari and the Kilari have well and truly got the Church's gratitude, and the hamsters in the heads of the Ecclesiarchs of Iralliam are certainly spinning in light of the Holy City's close call.

 

[m.t.cicero]

Just as planned.

 

[Jehoshua]

Its always a good day when one feels the need to let loose an evil laugh

 

[SouthernKing]

Taking the Reokhar for the ET.

 

[Thlayli]

In light of his remarkable stewardship in battle and his glorious victories over the heathens, I, Arteras, High Prince of the Scroll, relinquish the title of High Prince willingly to Elikas-ta-Alusille, Prince of the Shield.

I endorse him as Redeemer and High Prince of the Karapeshai Exatai, and I pledge my men to his will as tribute. In the waning days of my life, I seek nothing more than for his reign, in taking up the fallen mask of his father Talephas, to be secure.

 

[Lord of Elves]

Just as planned.

I know where you got that GIF.

 

[spryllino]

Metexares is delighted that his reign has been crowned by such a great triumph through the Light of Opporia. Victory for civilisation was long in coming, but sweet in its realisation, and the Star may look forward with a happy prospect on the centuries ahead.

 

[m.t.cicero]

I know where you got that GIF.

Desert culture? Evil plan coming to fruition? It was too relevant not to adopt.

 

[spryllino]

Sixth-Frei's generals had reportedly taken Magha.

NK: The map doesn't seem to suggest any Moti gains in Satara; is the map correct, or are the Moti further advanced than it would suggest?

 

[North King]

I think I meant to write Yashidim. Oh well.

 

[Thlayli]

Also, that was a wonderful update, NK.

Given the way everyone had played their strategy, it really seemed quite fair and accurate that that's the way it turned out. Of course, now we can add "Perfectionist actually sending his orders and Caron Nuvor attempting the backdoor invasion into Helsia" to the list of potential EoE PoD's.

I'm also left to deal with the irony that Talephas *not* dying probably would have made that go a lot better. But such is the turn of of the cockatrice's strut, as they say. ...it sounds better in Vedai.

 

[Jehoshua]

@NorthKing

With regards to the ET and the orders you want sent in. I have of course read your guidelines dictating what should be present, but I was wondering how much detail do you want/expect to be present?

The draft I have written goes for two pages, and it fairly succinctly outlines the political intentions (domestic and with regards to relations with states) and programmes of the Church, and the expected economic, religious ( including theological developments and developments in terms of practice) and military developments over the ET with regards to the Church. I have also notated a list of grand-patriarchs over a span of three hundred years, and the names of notable individuals and extant Patriarchs (and certain important exarchs) as of the point 300 years from 637SR. What it does not include though is any historical timeline of events (save for one "year of three grand-patriarchs" which is obvious from the list of Grand-Patriarchs) seeing as the Church (or more precisely the Grand-Patriarchate) is not currently in the position of ruling a fully fledged state (and seeing as how its interposed on the state paradigm anyway, and so actual events as compared to programmes and policies run by the Church and its intentions, are fairly reactive at least at this point). I have of course noted my willingness to collaborate with regards to plotting out events with certain players as you are already aware on the presumption that such things are expected.

If you aren't certain of what level of detail is necessary in the context of Iralliam stuff, or are uncertain as to what clarifications to give with regards to the above query, I can send you the draft ET orders if you desire it and you can comment, or ask for clarifications, as you see fit.

 

[spryllino]

OOC:

So I've never actually written BT/ET orders before, and I'm maybe even slightly dubious about the entire concept in a sense. My thoughts on the thing are that I really can't know how my state ought to develop, because so much of that is contingent on outside events; it's hard enough over a five-year period, let alone a three-hundred-year one. And in a sense I don't really mind all that much anyway what happens, just as long as what happens seems congruous and realistic so that I can continue to enjoy myself after the ET. What I intend to do, then, is to write orders enshrining in detail a range of possibilities and long-term contingencies.

I'm therefore not going to commit myself to rigid courses of policy in religious, constitutional, and economic spheres. It's a rare thing that a country - short of being an church or something - ever goes 300 years while maintaining a single policy about anything. (Besides, I know from experience that some of my suggestions will be impractical or uninteresting, and if I have several possibilities NK can weed out the ones that don't fit in with the development of the world.)

In the short term I'll fight the Karapeshai until they've been pushed out of the south, and in the long term I would say that it's very unlikely that war will emerge with the Farubaida while the Karapeshai are there, but apart from that there will be a range of possibilities in my orders as far as most things long-term are concerned. Another likely policy is that I think it likely that the Kothari Exatai, being secure as things stand, will continue to defend the HME against all comers, but will tend to require recompense for doing so, and thus will, with every war we have to defend the Moti in, gain not insignificant fiefdoms and influence therein - hopefully leading to interesting politics for the resumption of the IT. I'd be surprised if we didn't try to properly swallow up Jipha, Palmyra, and probably Kilar at some point, too.

Once I've worked out the mutations of courses of change I will, from as OOC and unbiased a perspective as possible, relate them to any relevant people (like the HME and the Church), and it will be up to them to judge their ET actions against mine and determine how to act towards us. I don't really wish to collude or do semi-IC negotiations on things (Jehoshua) because it seems un-OOC to me. I will present to you, Jehoshua - for instance - how I think Kothari policy towards the Church is realistically likely to develop, and you will be able to act in such a fashion as to influence that through the variables that I will have stated in my plans if you like.

I hope that seems a reasonable methodology; I think it is, anyway, and I plan to follow it, looking on the ET as, in some areas, a range of objective possibilities rather than as a thing for me to plan out by my agency as a player. I'm not sure if this post is useful for any significant purpose other than clearing up my thoughts for my own benefit, but I suppose it can't do any harm to state this as I am doing.

 

[Jehoshua]

OOC:... I don't really wish to collude or do semi-IC negotiations on things (Jehoshua) because it seems un-OOC to me. I will present to you, Jehoshua - for instance - how I think Kothari policy towards the Church is realistically likely to develop, and you will be able to act in such a fashion as to influence that through the variables that I will have stated in my plans if you like.

OOC:

Spoiler :

Oh I don't want to collude or negotiate on things.

I want rather to know what you are doing (on things which are pertinent to me at any rate) so I can note a set of appropriate ecclesiastical response (with reference to possibilities and potential circumstances). In addition to this, since the Church is an autonomous agent I would in turn inform you of the religious developments that will occur, and the likely diplomatic pushes from the Church during the period (the broad gist of them anyway) as pertinent to the Kothari Exatai so you can take account of them. Thus doing so, any egregious idiosyncrasies between the narratives can be wrinkled out, and a schema set in place, with everything being that much easier for our moderator once the time to harmonise the cacophony of voices comes round. Since this cross-referencing process to take into account key inter-jurisdictional interactions is precisely what you described I think we are of one mind.

EDIT: I'm happy to do the same as the above, in order to allow appropriate notation of responses to secular and religious initiatives from both Church and secular authorities, with regards to any manager of lands who feels the need. I say manager of lands of course, because I am sceptical of the proposition that everyone's states will all still be present after three hundred years, and am fairly certain at least that not every empire will have a golden age and expand to new heights of glory and territorial magnificence. (the fate of all large empires, and indeed every Kingdom and realm, is to fall after all )

IC:

The Abharavastra

-

Canticle I: Beginnings​

In the beginning, there was the One, eternal and unchanging, the origin of all things. In Him rested all that would be, and all that was possible. The One spoke, the first word, and creation came into being, and there was light. The One spoke again and decreeing balance in all things brought into being darkness, and dividing the darkness from the light the One fashioned Iralliam, the Kingdom of Light and Brightness, the first creation and the Kingdom of Darkness, the utter void, the second creation.

From the darkness and the light he had brought into being the One then fashioned the Material World, the third creation, placing it between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness, and decreed by his will sublime harmony, order and balance, beauty and majesty, life and death, with all created things dancing to unheard music, unearthly threnodies in lamentation to the passing of time, from the very instant from which they were made. Thus was the third creation the bridge between the two Kingdoms, where stasis and change, spiritual darkness and spiritual light, death and life comingled together in perfection. Hidden in its fabric, in worldly light and worldly darkness, in the orbit of the stars and spheres, was the secret wisdom of the One and portents speaking to His truth and being. Here in the firmament and the order the eternal One had made was written truth, the truth that is, and that which was, is and will yet be. The One seeing his work completed was pleased and filled with gladness. Graciously in His joy and great compassion desiring to share his creation with others, the One then fashioned Man, crafting for him a body of matter and placing in him a shard of living spiritual light from his own being, and so the race of man was given a spiritual soul that upon his material death would return to its origin in divinity, to become one with the eternal in eternal beatitude. So it was that man, spirit and matter, was brought into peace and balance. Pleased at what he had made, the One breathed life into his creations, The One awoke them into being, the first humans, the original nation, the first family, living in bliss in paradise.

Seeing his world completed and at peace, the One cast his countenance upon his creation and from himself brought forth light and darkness, life and death, Opporia and Istria, emanations of the One that the balance of his work might be maintained, that through the interaction of Light and Shade ever greater glories might flower into being, with all possibilities being granted to unfold. Seeing this done, the One saying "thus shall it be that I shall enter into my creation" incarnated his very divinity and being into his emanations Opporia and Istria, the One became two. His living spirit from which all creation came forth made eternal with a seed of divine substance, awakened into being in Opporia burning with radiance and light. His substance, unchanging and immutable, made living with a shard of divine spirit, awakened into being in Istria. Opporia and Istria, received thus their mandates, and departing to their allotted dwelling places in the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness, descending from eternity into that which the One had made, they resolved that they might joyfully steward the third creation from beyond space and time, that the children of men might in paradise might make wonders, fashion works from endless possibility.

Yet in time Istria would rise in pride and envy, and growing jealous at the beauty of light and life and at the wonders of creation, which flourished in bliss unending, Istria decreed that all should rest in darkness, proclaiming that in the emptiness of shadow and death was the immutable end to which all creation should return. Istria spoke in the darkness saying "To the unchanging eternity of the One shall all return, to the silence of the inky blackness of death, all shall find their rest". Casting down therefore its mandate and in hubris proclaiming lordship of all that is, Istria became the enemy of Man and of light. Creating from the blackest darkness the demons of the Void, and filling them with all its malice and hatred and sending them abroad, Istria made war against Opporia and the spirits of light, the souls of men, that had returned from the third creation to their origin at the end of their earthly sojourn. Yet to his rage the darkness could not destroy the light, nor the third creation unmade. For within light was to be found the seed of darkness, and within darkness was to be found the seed of light.

In wrath and malice born of frustrated fury, turning completely in will and purpose from the plan of the One, the first treachery and homicide came to pass, as Istria walked in spirit amongst the first nation, the first family,saying unto them "With each step you take marvel at perfection, for it is fleeting.". Thus it was that Istria corrupted their souls of light with the taint darkness and sin with the iniquitous design that they and all their descendants might be consigned to oblivion never to return to their origin in the divine and living light. Thus was paradise, the third creation, marred: and disorder brought into the universe and all of nature, with suffering, evil and fear of death entering into the world and coming to rest in the souls of men. The First nation thus turned against each-other in horror and scattered to the four winds, dividing into many peoples, many nation of diverse tongue and varied form. The primeval family was sundered, brother turned against brother, father turned against son, all lamented saying 'Hearken the paradise of the beginning is ended, sin has been brought into the world and our ruin is at hand!".

Divided from each other, and despairing in the marring of the world, many amongst the race of man fell to ignorance and turned in desolation to false gods, fabrications and deceptions, lies and outrages against truth, crying out for their salvation where none exists and hearing silence in return. Istria in its rebellion against its mandate laughed in the void as countless souls fell into its ravenous maw, their light snuffed out never to shine again. Man fell prey to his softly spoken whispers fed into the souls of those who turned their spirits to the enemy's service, deceived and accursed. Yet some remembered Opporia, and with careful practice and humility stood fast against darkness’ lies, finding peace in Iralliam and returning through the turmoil and the strife to the source of their life, to Opporia, to Iralliam. And Opporia spoke in rebuke of wayward Istria saying "in Light is the balance of darkness, in living is to be found joy in that which is and serenity born of understanding and righteousness, in reason, mind, intelligence, thought and purity. Unto the day when all returns to the One, who eternal foresaw all that was and would be and decreed in his divine plan balance in all things, there shall there be war between Us, and all my will shall be cast into the salvation of the children of men, who were fashioned by the decree of the One".

Thus was set in motion the war of heaven against the consuming darkness. For the light of the One could not be permitted to be consumed by the wayward darkness. In stern resolve Opporia sent his messengers amongst man, that they might turn their souls to the font of light and life and be free from the snares of the fowler that they might together with the living Lord wage battle against the darkness. For Opporia knew as did the dark enemy, for being of the One they know all that knowledge can comprehend, that in the end all will become as One, and there would be decided whether light would banish darkness, or darkness consume light. For it is decreed that the war in heaven shall end either in new creation and apotheosis or in final and ultimate oblivion, thus is it decreed that to man is given the choice of light in holiness, or true and final death in the deep and uttermost darkness.

-

notes:

Spoiler :

The Abharavastra constitutes one of two bodies of scripture in Iralliam, containing the cosmological and historiographical narrative of the faith in addition to expressing certain theological truths. The second body of scripture is the Sayings of the Prophet (Shanra Kumaratyir) which contains the teachings proclaimed by the Prophet Kleo. There exist other "official" writings such as the Book of Rites which describes religious rites and how they are to be conducted but they are not of the same status in terms of holiness.

As to why I decided to clearly establish the Abharavastra. I did it firstly because there has always been an implied cosmological and historiographical narrative in Iralliam. Secondly I did it because it is clear in my mind that the Sayings of the Prophet, which as its name suggests would be a primarily theological (including of course the tenets) ecclesiological, and moral work, ergo a transcription of what the prophets sermons, maxims and utterances that wouldn't sufficiently deal with the "higher mysteries" (although it would reference them), nor would it reasonably provide an organised narrative (although I conceive of the Sayings of the Prophet as being divided into sections based on topic, with sayings and sermons being categorised according to what they were about for ease of reference).

 

[Perfectionist]

Spoiler :

OOC:
So I've never actually written BT/ET orders before, and I'm maybe even slightly dubious about the entire concept in a sense. My thoughts on the thing are that I really can't know how my state ought to develop, because so much of that is contingent on outside events; it's hard enough over a five-year period, let alone a three-hundred-year one. And in a sense I don't really mind all that much anyway what happens, just as long as what happens seems congruous and realistic so that I can continue to enjoy myself after the ET.

Well said and precisely echoing my own thoughts on the matter. I sort of thought I'd send in more-or-less vague thoughts on likely development directions and things I think would be cool or interesting, rather than a set of orders, per se; I'd look at it as sort of more like providing input on an alt-hist installment than orders for a NES turn. Would that be all right?

 

[North King]

I hope that seems a reasonable methodology; I think it is, anyway, and I plan to follow it, looking on the ET as, in some areas, a range of objective possibilities rather than as a thing for me to plan out by my agency as a player. I'm not sure if this post is useful for any significant purpose other than clearing up my thoughts for my own benefit, but I suppose it can't do any harm to state this as I am doing.

Well said and precisely echoing my own thoughts on the matter. I sort of thought I'd send in more-or-less vague thoughts on likely development directions and things I think would be cool or interesting, rather than a set of orders, per se; I'd look at it as sort of more like providing input on an alt-hist installment than orders for a NES turn. Would that be all right?

These are both fine ways of doing things, as are more traditional orders.

This would be a good set of orders from the last ET:

Spoiler :

Ardavai

Lineage of the Redeemers:

Arastephas the Redeemer
Atraxes, the Silver Prince, Second Redeemer
Xetares the Proud, Third Redeemer

Northern (Accan/Ardavai) Line:

Macrinus the Golden, Fourth Redeemer
Vetamos the Unquenchable, Fifth Redeemer
Tarelilus the Young, Sixth Redeemer
Petraxes the Wind-Lord, Seventh Redeemer
Regalius Tephas, the Scythe, Eighth Redeemer
Vespelian, Ninth Redeemer

Southern (Kothari) Line:

Vetaxares the Wise, Fourth Redeemer
Metrax the Iron-Willed, Fifth Redeemer
Tavha the White, Sixth Redeemer
Abral-ha the Swift, Seventh Redeemer
Ephaion the Old, Eighth Redeemer

---

Macrinus the Golden will forever be known as the iron-willed general who claimed the Exatai when it was faltering. Truly, he is a worthy successor to Xetares the Proud...unless you ask in the mountain fastnesses of Athas and Triad, where the false Prince of the Sun will be cursed forevermore. How few knew that the real Macrinus had been killed and impersonated by one near-immortal High Oracle before he even began his campaign of reforging the great Exatai to heights never before seen? Exactly none.

Demographic/Cultural/Religious Development:

Regardless, Macrinus created the Ardavai Exatai, and his reign and the reign of those to follow him saw two major trends. The first was the migration of the Accan people southwards to cover the coastline from Old Acca all the way to the Seis Delta and even Kargan. The second was the final ascension of the Satar to become the lords of the Sesh Valley, renaming the old land of Bahra to Satara, and assimilating most of the old Bahran and Tisesh people that remained there after the waves of war. Much of the river valley will belong to the Six Princes, vast fields and mill-works worked by slaves. By comparison, the powerful fortress monasteries and fortress-cities, ruled respectively by a ruthless class of Sephalites and Censorattai.

(In terms of hierarchy, the Censoratta is the supreme authority of the province, but in the Satara areas the Six Princes and the Sephalites represent semi-independent forces that the Censorattas and the Redeemer can occasionally call upon, and also patronize. The Six Princes also participate theoretically in the succession for the Exatai, but they usually submit to the Prince of the Sun, with the exception of Seventh Redeemer Petraxes, who was a Prince of the .)

Yashidim, Magha, Tisatar, and Nikros will be the main urban centers of Satara. Within the urban centers a sophisticated Satar culture will emerge, with the idealized figure of the wandering horseman immortalized in epic ballads of Atraxes' adventures, and exquisite jewelry, porcelain, woodworking, and other forms of high craftsmanship, often centered around the Redeemers and Taleldil. A more sophisticated form of mask-culture will arise, with the quality of one's mask indicating both profession and social status. The sophisticated tile-game of Kalis, or Balance, will spread outwards from this region as well.

Aitahism, what remains of it, will be ruthlessly persecuted in Satara, though in Parda it will be only intermittently persecuted. The worship of Taleldil in Ardavan will be dogmatized and codified more than ever before, and the fortress monestary will be a core unit of local defense. They will also continue to supply a small stream of elite Ardai (Aspect Warriors) to the Redeemer, ensuring his personal safety in battle.

Military/Defense/Administrative:

Macrinus will spend the rest of his reign on the defensive, after a massive campaign to wipe the Oscadians off the face of the earth with new slave-conscripts levied from the population of the Parda Hills. He will reorganize the Exatai into five Censoriates, directly appointing Censorattas from the local nobility of the area, mostly Accans for the Accano, Seisi, and Karganon Censoriates, and Satar for the Satara and Kotiri.

To combat the rise of the Vithai, Macrinus will build a massive fortress-city in the gateway to the Rathali (Land of Plains), named Arastephaion. The Satar are too cunning to allow any Vithai to use the old Katdhi-route that Atraxes once used to bypass the great desert of the Kotir. Successors of Macrinus, recognizing the danger of the horse-lords, will wage the occasional punitive campaign out from Arastephaion, and new units of light cavalry and heavy pikemen will be employed to ensure that the Vithana can never cross the blinding desert to pillage the garden cities of Satara.

Magha, Arastephaion, Old Acca, Karganon, and Seis will be the main fortified points of the empire. These five cities coincidentally, are/will be the capitals for the Five Censoriates. The Redeemer himself will split his time between them. It was Macrinus' view that no Redeemer should ever be stationary. He must constantly be on the move in order to ensure that no corner of his empire goes to ruin. This mode of aggressive governance will ensure that future Redeemers will not sink into decadence, or at least, will not sink very quickly. One Redeemer may favor one capital over another, of course, depending on where his campaigns happen to be.

Major campaigns will probably include the occasional invasion of the Moti mountain strongholds. Continue to cultivate strong ties with Sira and with the Dulama, and continue to exploit the possibility of an alliance with the Dulama against the traitorous Gaci clan. The new fortress monestaries of Satara will continue to defend against Moti depredations. Later in the BT, Redeemers will turn their focus to Bisria and the Had, attempting to divert Moti's strength and manpower. The Moti, if they continue to be belligerent, will become a sort of hated "barbarian" archrival, similar to Tibet vs. the T'ang Dynasty.

Essentially, over the course of the BT the Ardavai Exatai will become somewhat defensive due to the variety of frontiers, but will recruit a massive military from across the lands of the Exatai, large enough to challenge (if not rival) the Dulama itself. I forsee a massive southern campaign occurring during the reign of Regalius Tephas, and a massive northern campaign occurring whenever the Vithana begin to threaten too greatly. Besides those two major military actions over the course of the BT, the Exatai should focus on internal development.

---

The Kothari Exatai will, essentially, be tolerant of Iralliam, but seek to spread Ardavan throughout the mountain chain. They will ally loosely with Moti, not expanding further into Uggor territory, but they will prey heavily on the Hu'ut, and their ultimate goal is to conque the Had. Their development as an NPC is more in your hands.

Personally, I'd like rather more detail than this, but this is great otherwise in terms of scope and details covered (though do note I have slightly stricter guidelines for this ET).

I'm considering asking for further input from some people after I get all orders so that there's some chance to react to any BIG things that happen.