Update 2, An Eastern Drug
Long before the civilizations of the west, the people of Xian already lived and farmed great rice fields. It did not take long for those farmers to build settlements of growing size and power until the first seeds of civilization appeared.
Along the Yellow River, not far from the coast, the leader of a single city surrounded mostly by farmlands, went to great lengths to care for his people. His method was wisdom and war. He conquered vast farmlands and created a strict unforgiving society around himself. The society was eventually named after that legendary ruler Xian.
Today the kingdom continue to expand, but as it expands, the other farmers also tend to gather in larger groups, and other cities chose other leaders to lead them into greatness. One such city lays westwards to Xian, and pose a great threat to the city. Other such city states choose a more peaceful coexistence and trade with each other.
Yet the lands of Xian and its neighbors is not a heaven. Great northern tribes constantly attack and pillage the city states, leading to great worry. These tribes are becoming more and more courageous in their attacks, and some forces have even lately reached all the way to the capital of Xian itself.
As trade flows from the Nassiric lands the tribes that once lived small lives find themselves richer and richer. One such tribe, the Cittabacco, found out it has goods the Nassirics enjoy so much, that Nassiric people begun to come and live inside its own territories. While the town is small, it has been sending forces to enslave Cittabacci folks and selling them away, and most of all, taking away trade from the Cittabacco! Those town dwellers learned the secrets of wine making, and sell a cheaper but more numerous wine. The Cittabacco way of life and trade is under a great threat.
This rude awakening was answered by a union of the tribes behind their religious leaders and begun a war that will not end until one side is annihilated or enslaved. For now the small city-state has the upper hand, but as the tribes continue to unite their attacks become stronger and more numerous.
Far away from the other cradles lay one that is of high interest. Many future scholarships will have a hard time explaining how farming was invented in these areas, yet it was not the first civilized land. Before the area of Mesopotamia had true civilizations, the people of Armass already begun their unification.
It was a different appearance from other civilizations. The Armass did not arrive here by war, and did not kill other tribes to become the most powerful. Two tribes, the Fas and the Armas were fishing communities on the two sides of the Armassian straight. The meeting between the two tribes was confusing, but they chose to trade and coexist very early on, leading to very peaceful lives.
The Armass were not alone. Their united small union found other communities of farmers and fishermen around it. Currently trade and peace move across the borders, but there are rumors terrible rumors, of a war tribe from the north, threatening to burst the peaceful bubble of Armass
Will the rumors prove right?
On the island of Nogaia strange things were happening. City states evolved as trade flourished, but in this part of the world the experiment went horribly wrong. In the city state of Yakot, a powerful king went to war to conquer the entire Nogaia culture. In this short but deadly war many have died, and many escaped the small island to the lands not far. The unnamed king failed, but in his attempt he enslaved many thousands of farmers under his iron fist, his Tahe police force keeping them all silent and weak. With the war over, the kings of the other city states also chose to keep the farmers enslaved and the three large city states prospered.
But many farmers faced death when they escaped from the farmlands and city states. The formation of the Fisofi Union, a tribal union of sorts among the farmers, was the threat to the city states. A war is brewing as we speak.
It was said before that the lack of a civilization in Mesopotamia was a strange occurrence, it was after all the place where agriculture was first invented, and some scholars say there may have been a first writing system in this area.
Yet that was not to be. As the first proto states appeared in the Sumerian lands, outsiders of great power appeared and broke into pieced the dreams of civilization. The Gutian migration, a migration of several powerful hordes, broke down the city states and enslaved the population. All signs of civilization were lost.
Yet eventually, as time continued to flow, as it always does, the Gutian people settled down as well on the same place they once destroyed and learned the art of agriculture. The Gutian formed a sort of confederation among the many tribes, keeping unity, at the price of stability and growth. The Gutia have not settled into large cities yet, but a small trickle of outsiders influence is coming.
In the north quiet people called by the predecessors of the Gutia Akkadians, are settling and farming just like their southern neighbors. Few skirmished happen at the borders. From the sea comes the strangely peaceful words of an unknown culture. But with the peaceful come also rumors a great horde, not unlike what the Gutians were in the past, is moving across vast lands in search for a better life, or good loot. Is this threat coming here?
In the lands of the Tricarum all seems beautifully peaceful. At least until the tribal council decided to send a force eastwards to settle new lands. While the job was done, many died fighting the existing tribes of the area. The tribes that once lived there are by now mostly extinct, making other tribes around the Tricarum a little more suspicious.
While that is troubling, the construction of government farms went exceptionally well. The large surplus of food helps population growth and trade, quickly replenishing those lost in the expansionist wars. But government farms tend to centralize the government, causing a little of instability as to who is in full control of the farms.
The growing trade in the city of Romange was simply too good to be true. As soon as trade cogs from the Nassiric areas arrived, they were taxed to their underwear, causing many to wish for another trade port. Yet none existed yet. And so Romange became richer on the backs of merchants. When the king begun to tax the population heavily as well, the mark for rebellion was set.
But rebellion did not come. Many chose to take their possession and escape the tax-hole that Romange had become. The small Nassiric town and the Cittabacco were slowly gaining importance among merchants. Talon's trade was actually hurt, as less merchants chose to pass through Romange twice, on the way to Talon and on the way back,
But the escaping citizens chose another location. They left to large natural harbor south of Romange and set up a new city. A new merchant republic was formed and that city grew quickly from the merchants that quickly flocked to it instead of Romange. Sadly, the new city also raised their trade taxes on outsiders, but did not raise taxes on the population, not causing an exodus. Now the two city remain in animosity, will Romange accept the new city existence? Or choose to fight to become central again?
Feeling the fall of trade, Talon begun to search for a better way to gain momentum for their growth, the search was over when a militaristic king came to power. He quickly took 2000 men and made them into his army, and then marched south into other tribal lands. At first he was successful, conquering lands around the growing capital city of Talon. Yet this conquest made several tribal movements around Talon, causing the formation of a tribal confederation south of Talon. This confederation quickly stopped the Talonian march and sent the king back to his capital, with his new gains.
A few years later the king again picked up his army and marched north. Several fishing villages and town were captured, and rather than uniting, most tribes there chose to flee. But as they fled, they quickly returned and begged to return to their homes, as part of Talon. By the time of their return the cruel king died, and another, more peaceful one had risen. He allowed them to join under his rule. Why did they return? They speak of a horrid migratory horde, coming and killing everything in its way. Will Talon see its demise?
And finally we come to the Narcissistic, I mean, Nassiric, lands. Most of the city states prospered for most of the time. Trade was flourishing, and Troja was gaining in power and influence as its higher abundance of products allowed them to quickly become the dominant trading power in the area. Having one of the largest ports also helped. As well as opening new trade routes further north-east. With Troja the entire Nassiric civilization grew, as more towns and communities were built deeper inland. Many of the larger city states expanded slowly, mostly caring about trade.
The times of peaceful coexistence ended when Nassiros looked for a method to become top dogs again. Settlers were sent across the sea, on a trade barge, to settle a faraway island. Many died on the way, but eventually the settlers reached the island and created a small colony, drawing ships to the area, as it was a more central port then others. At first, the trick seemed to have worked, ships begun to come to the new port, and to Nassiros, and slowly they gained the upper hand. But problems soon came, problems that exploded in Nassiros face.
When the colonisers came to the island, it seemed empty enough to settle without any problems from the aboriginal tribes. But those were not tribes. The small colony drew more interesting than just the other Nassiric merchants. Small fishing boats slowly appeared, at first trading their ships, but later an army appeared. Following a king named Minos, the army quickly flooded the small town and slaughtered most of the population, few escaped and returned home, telling of the horrid end of the port town.
With his introduction into the world, Minos, from his capital at Cnossus, declared he will eliminate any who will try to settle on his island. He was the master of the island, which was quickly nicknamed by many Minoa. For now the reaction of Nassiros has not come, but many believe it will not be an easy one. Already the other city states show fear from the new king, and his kingdom is already one of the biggest in the area. Trade has barely begun to flow to Cnossus, many afraid for their lives if they come near any of its ports.
And if that is not enough a shadow looms from east. Rumors of another rising kingdom, far bigger than even Minoa, have arrived in the markets of both Troja and Nassiros. Will the Nassiric world unite in front of this rising threats?
Map:
Direct Link
OOC:
Ok. Sorry for taking so long. And sorry for being a bit mean, but this is the era of migratory waves.
Everyone rename new tribes and cities around them (that means Xian, Romarge, Talon you got naming to do!). Once I get names, I'll post those NPC stats that are of importance, and the rest will wait for next update. Talon that Indo-European migratory wave is going to crush into Italy. You are welcome to name it and take a pick at trying to fight it out in an attempt for your aboriginal tribes to survive (which is very possible) or to merge into that movement and have your people's "Race" change somewhat, with new cultural pieces coming from the new migration. All is for you to choose.
Please tell me if I forgot anything! (Unique units etc
)
No new unique units yet.
From next update I will probably reorganize stats and update according to area.
Light grey is populated by others, but they aren't moving. Dark grey is migratory wave/barbarian horde moving across the lands. It can go anywhere...
Third Wave
Things are becoming more complicated. I'll accept up to 6 players, some of you only need to quote their own joining post to get into this one. As usuall red means highly civilized, green means on the way there, grey means less civilized.
This will be the last chance of joining in North America.
Direct Link
