Welcome to a fairly unconventional game report!
I've been playing a pretty colossal game of Civilization IV lately. It's Kalevala's Whole Europa - Reduced Version map, and I have removed the time limit and every victory condition except for Conquest. In short this of course means that the game keeps going until someone is the sole ruler of all of Europe. To make things even more interesting I limited the scientific progress to the Industrial Age, because World War One was fun all around, wasn't it?
It is now the year 2178, and the world is beyond dystopic.
This is the most I've ever had with the game. I've spent nearly 70 hours playing the scenario, and I'm far from finished.
Anyway. In order to immerse myself further into the Europe I've created I wrote some short facts about the different Empires. Then I made pictures of how I envisioned the soldiers from the Empire with HeroMachine 3. And then I figured, "Hey, what the hell", and decided to post everything to the forum.
So, with no further ado, I give you Weilyn's Europa AD 2178.
Europa
The Viking Empire
The Viking Empire has exanded extremely rapidly for the last three centuries, from including only Sweden, Denmark and Norway to stretching over more than half of the European mainland, with colonies as far south as Cyprus and Morocco. They were the first civilization to discover internal combusting engines in 1857, and soon afterwards they secured the only known reservoirs of petroleum in the world in central Ukraine. From there they have conquered most of the known world, attacking swiftly with their unique landships, crushing the defenders before they've had a chance to react, and then securing the areas with ferocious and superbly trained infantry. While the Empire is the world's largest, all is not well in the Viking realms. Local rebellions of disgruntled natives spring up daily, the economy is crumbling from the cost of the massive army needed to keep the Empire together, the infrastructure of the newly conquered cities declines as almost all resources are used to arm ever more soldiers for the seemingly never ending war and all the while the countrysides are irrepairably destroyed by pollution, raiders and enemy saboteurs. Not to mention the fact that the Viking warmongering has gained them far more mortal enemies beyond their borders than friends. Despite this the fascist government shows no signs of halting the war effort, seemingly not content until all of Europa is under its boot heel. Whatever will be left of it, anyway.
Algoth Björnsson: Berserker. Died in action during the Second Siege of Rome in 2148.
Even though tanks form the backbone of the Norse armies the half-crazed berserkers are often used as shock troops during trench warfare where they attack as a vanguard, clearing the way for the rest of the Viking infantry. While life as a berserker is prestigious it is rarely long. If the enemy doesn't kill you outright, then the combat-enhancing drugs most certainly will.
The Ottoman State of the Turkish People and the Glorious Sultan
This socialist dictatorship has been locked in war with their Arabian neighbours since the dawn of time, having recently only recently managed to force a capitulation out of the Arabian Caliph, practically turning them into a vassal state. Since then they have turned their eyes to Europe, whose politics and wars they have been largely unaffected by. In 2134 all of the Greek mainland fell under Ottoman rule, providing the sultan with a platform for further invasions of the European nations, and several sorely needed harbours. Since then the Turkish armies have attacked the weak Russian, Viking, Spanish and Austrian cities along the coast of the Black sea, more or less unhindered. In 2155 they razed the city of Aachen to the ground, destroying the final remaining piece of the state of Austria. A retaliatory force has been sent towards the Turkish territories by the Germanic Federation, but whether this will be enough to halt the Turkish expansion is hard to predict.
Iriz Demir: Royal janissary guard of the Istanbul (not Constantinople) regiment.
The janissaries have guarded the Ottoman sultans for over eight hundred years. Trained from childhood to be expert marksmen and fanatically loyal to their lord, these elite soldiers are a force to be reckoned with.
The Arabian Caliphate
Despite being one of the smaller states on the world map, and having fought a two front war since the beginning of its existance in defence against Ottoman invasions and European settlers in North Africa, the Arabian Caliphate is one of the more prosperous states in the world. Being in control of two major holy cities (Mecca and Jerusalem) and several important trade routes has ensured that the Arabian coffers have stayed full. Granted, after their recent defeat to the Ottomans the Arabian glory has declined somewhat, but peace on their eastern front has enabled them to more effectively protect thier North African homelands from French and Spanish invaders.
Karim ibn Saidi ibn Abdul al-Suriyah: Syrian mercenary, employed by the caliph.
The immense wealth of the Arabian nation allows its generals to hire highly skilled mercenaries. These are often members of Bedouin or Berber tribes; expert desert warriors, who have held off invading armies for over six thousand years.
The State of Russia
Once the world's mightiest Empire, the Russian nation stretched over almost a third of the European mainland and controlled another third through puppet rulers throughout most of history. In 1869 she reacted swiftly to the Viking colonizations in Ukraine, annihilating the southern Viking army through vastly superior numbers, forcing the Vikings to accept defeat. They are so far the only people to ever have managed such a feat. But retaliation came quickly from the north. Newly invented Viking landships easily overpowered the Russian musketmen, tearing half of the Russian territories from the Tzarina, and essentialy sending turning the Viking nation into a proper Empire. Russia of today is a shadow of its former self, but its vulnerable position, being surrounded by Viking lands, the enemy Turks and inhabitable mountain ranges, forces the Russian armies to be the second most powerful in the world. The militaristic government produces soldiers at a never before seen pace in order to battle the new threat found in the Ottomans, and to repel a potential second Viking invasion.
Oleg Sergeyevich Yozhin: Hussar of the fourteenth Novgorod detachment, veteran from the Battle for Donau 2174. Dismounted.
While cavalry may seem like an outdated concept in an age where the battlefields are dominated by landships, machineguns and rocket launchers, one would be wise not to underestimate the ferocity of a cavalry charge by the slavic hussars. Their skills have been passed down and perfected through the generations for thousands of years, and they can ruin any generals day with their razor sharp sabres and colossal steeds.
The Germanic Federation
When a few Germanic tribes joined together to repel Roman invaders in ancient times, they hardly imagined that they had laid the foundation to the second most powerful nation of the 22nd century. In the 16th century the Germans were attacked again, this time by a coalition of Austrian and Polish troops. The invaders were massacred, and both the Asutrian and the Polish regents capitulated, offering themselves as vassals to the Germanic high king. The Germans had now secured themselves as one of the European superpowers. While the Austrian and Polish kingdoms have since been destroyed (by the Ottomans and the Vikings, respectively) Germania has found now vassals in what remains of the Spanish and, amusingly, the Roman nations. The German army consists mostly of enormous numbers of rocket launchers and artillery pieces, which have proven effective in keeping the Viking armies and their armoured vehicles at bay. With the lion's part of the German army off fighting the Ottomans, however, veteran Viking units from the Iberian Invasion have been gathering around their borders. The Germanic people seem to be about face an invasion for the third time.
Haimo Amsel: ANSIGAR gunner of the Saarbrücken trench.
The ANSIGAR heavy machine gun is a wonder of Germanic engineering, capable of eradicating an enemy platoon in a few bursts, or punch holes straight through a landship. It is common in the trenches around the German-Viking borders.
The Holy Nation of Hispanic North Africa
The fundamentalist Hispanic Nation, on account of it having been in a highly defensible position, had spent its history more or less unmolested by the European empires, letting the Hispanics concentrate on launching invasions of their own on the Arabs of North Africa and establishing colonies by the Black Sea. When the French attempted an invasion in 2055 it led to nothing but a war of attiration that lasted for over a hundred years. During this period the Franco-Hispanic border didn't move an inch. When the Viking armies arrived in 2161, fresh from their conquer of Rome, the Spanish resources were all but spent, and the Vikings manage to invade all of the Hispanic Iberian territories within two years. The Spanish government fled to their lands in Africa, setting up a new administrative capitol in Algeria. Soon after the defeat Hispania agreed to fall under the protection of the Germanic Federation.
Hernando Velez Guerra: Cardinal inquisitor of the Order of the Holy Blood.
Religion has always been a touchy subject to the Hispanic people, and having to live next to the islamic Arabs has not alleviated this. Luckily they can comfort themselves with their inquisitors, who deal with heretics using fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Faith.
The Republican City State of Roman Damascus
To say that the glory of Rome has lessened is to greatly understate the position of the once mighty republic. From ancient through medival times the Roman legions conquered great parts of southern Europe, and made vassal states of Greece and France. These vassals were lost when the legionnaires proved ineffective against the French musketeers in the 17th century, and Greece outgrew its need for protection a few decades later. But Rome still had vast stretches of land, every island in the Mediterranian sea - apart from Crete - was under roman control and the Roman navy was the largest in the world. The death blow came almost five hundred years later, when the Viking Empire launched a surprise attack in 2102. Viking paratroopers and marines took the four most important roman harbours, and destroyed the warships therein before they had even touched water. The Roman armies fought the invaders viciously, littering the countryside with the burned out husks of thousands of tanks, but without a fleet to stop them the Viking battleships were free to roam the Italian coast, blowing up any and all fortifications. In 2109 every formerly Roman island was in Viking hands, and in 2114 the Eternal City itself fell to the hordes. The only safe harbour the senate could find was the ancient city of Damaskus, which the Romans had counquered a thousand years before, and which was too far into Arabian territory for the Vikings to reach. Now the republic is confined within the walls of Damascus, under Germanic protection, but with syrian rebels attacking relentlessly.
Gnaeus Pescenius: Praetorian captain of the Jasmine Guard.
The Roman legions may be all but dead and gone but the few soldiers that remain are concentrated to a tiny area. Consequently; Damascus is udoubtedly the most well guarded city in the World. The praetorians stationed outside of the senate would gladly give their lives rather than let the last vestige of the Roman Empire get destroyed.
The United Kingdoms of England, Scotia and Northern Iceland
In the 13th century AD the pacifist kingdom of England was attacked by the Celtic tribes of Scotia and Éire. England cried out for help, which they - rather unexpectedly - recieved from the Vikings, in exchange for the knowledge of how to craft longbows. With the combined efforts of Viking and English armies, the celts were conquered, and England agreed to fall under permanent Viking protection in exchange for the Norse settlements in Northern Iceland. The English have remained vassals to the Vikings ever since, and are the only people who don't hate them, and therefore also the only nation willing to trade with them.
Prescot Radley: Marksman of the Queen's Guard.
The English armies are - although well trained and equipped - very small. Not many standing troops are needed when you've got the defensible position of an island, and an Empire the size of half of Europe backing you up. English marksmen, however, are famed for their skills and finely crafted rifles.
Hyperborea/The Coalition of Greek Cities
While the Greek mainland was conquered by the Ottomans, leaving Knossos on Crete as the only remaining Greek Mediterranian settlement, the Greek colonies in the very north of the continent, beyond the realms of the Norsemen and the Slavs, flourished. Naming their new land Hyperborea, the formerly independant Greek city states joined together and formed an entirely new nation. Some individualists still refuse to use the new name, however, but those are only a vocal minority.
Janis Michaelides: Armoured hoplite of the second Knossos phalanx.
After the Ottoman invasion the Greeks realized that they had a great need for defensive troops in their cities. Thus the ancient hoplites were reinstated. Though their equippment has been greatly updated the tactical use of the phalanx remains practically the same. It's unwieldy, but very few soldiers would even attempt to attack it head on.
French Morocco
The earlier history of France is quite uneventful. After a short war with the Roman Empire the French agreed to become a Roman protectorate. They broke free again in the 17th century, when the French military forces surpassed the Romans'. In 1988 France successfully invaded The Netherlands, forcing Dutch officials to flee to Southern Iceland. In 2055 the French nationalist government attacked the unsuspecting Hispanic nation, counting on gaining as easy a victory as they got against the Dutch, but instead they got bogged down in a war of attirition in the Pyrenees. Over a hundred years later the war was still ongoing, and the border between the two nations hadn't moved a single foot in any direction, but the French had slowly gained an upper hand, and breakthrough was close when the Hispanics were attacked by the huge Southern Army of the Viking Empire. Before the French had had a chance to thank their unlikely brothers-in-arms, the Viking Western Army laid siege to Paris, which fell in six months. Within a year the exhausted French troops were all but annihilated, and the entire country fell to the Norsemen. The French colonies in Morocco remained, however, and that is where the French government resides at the moment, ever plotting for a way to reclaim their homeland.
Paschal Deschampes: Franc-tireur of the Parisian Musketeers. Killed during the Siege of Paris AD 2162.
The French musketeers were erradicated in the fall of Paris, and have yet to be reinstated, as they are considered too old fashioned by the French army brass. The fact remains though, that they forced the Viking invaders to reconstruct four thousand tanks, as the French snipers made a habit out of shooting their pilots through vision slits and open hatches.
The People's Communist State of New Portugal
The Portuguese nation used to be highly pacifistic. They made great efforts to stay friends with every other European nation, helped by the fact that they stayed in their corner of the continent, not getting in the way of anyone. In 1876 the Portuguese founded their first colony, New Portugal, north of the Russian Empire. Theses colonies never really got off the ground, though. The lands were not considered very fertile or profitable, so not much resources were spent on them. In 2163 the nation was unprovokedly invaded by the Viking Southern Army. When Portuguese diplomats asked the Viking commander, Thorwald Skallagrimsson, for the reason for the attack he answered: "We had just finished off the Hispanics, and were on a roll". He then added, "Nothing personal, though," and left the meeting. The untrained, poorly equipped and heavily outnumbered Portuguese armies surrendered within six months. As Portugal fell under Viking control the Portuguese Communist Party took control over New Portugal, installing a totalitarian government and declaring their independancy. Nobody outside of New Portugal's borders were reported to give a crap. Since then the Party has been conscripting a large amount of new troops, gathering a quite sizeable army, adamant that when the Vikings arrive they will succede where the Motherland failed.
Alexandrina Araújo: Inspetor #14, New Faro.
The concept of the inspetores is a fairly new invention, instated in 2168. They fill a number of purposes, including but not limited to, intelligence gatherers, secret police officers, military officers, body guards, interrogators and detectors of enemy spies. The training for an inspetor takes ten years, meaning that the first graduates are only now being released upon the New Portuguese population.
The Dutch Freestate
After the French invasion of The Netherlands, the Dutch fled to their colonies on the Faroe Islands and Southern Iceland. Distraught by the violence inflicted upon them by France, the Dutch decided to become a new form of nation, one of freedom, liberty and justice, the likes of which the world has never seen, and that can be a shining example to all. The Dutch were the first to ever emancipate their population, to adopt universal suffrage and to install religious freedom. Despite having been shoved of the continent, the Freestate has turned out to be quite a prosperous nation, trading ore and coal to Germania and the Ottomans. Their desolate location has also allowed them to stay away from war for the last two hundred years. Minor conflicts have begun to spark, though, between the Icelandic Dutch and the Icelandic English, over newly found resources in the central mountains of the island. In what is presumed to be a response to this Viking warships have been spotted just outside of the Dutch oceanic territory, which should be a cause for alarm.
Jeroen Houtman: Border patrol near Vattnajökull, wearing winter gear.
The Dutch don't have many soldiers, but they are expertly trained for the Icelandic environment. Many consider the Dutch alpine troops to be the best in the world.
Well, that's all I've got so far. Thanks for watching
I've been playing a pretty colossal game of Civilization IV lately. It's Kalevala's Whole Europa - Reduced Version map, and I have removed the time limit and every victory condition except for Conquest. In short this of course means that the game keeps going until someone is the sole ruler of all of Europe. To make things even more interesting I limited the scientific progress to the Industrial Age, because World War One was fun all around, wasn't it?
It is now the year 2178, and the world is beyond dystopic.
This is the most I've ever had with the game. I've spent nearly 70 hours playing the scenario, and I'm far from finished.
Anyway. In order to immerse myself further into the Europe I've created I wrote some short facts about the different Empires. Then I made pictures of how I envisioned the soldiers from the Empire with HeroMachine 3. And then I figured, "Hey, what the hell", and decided to post everything to the forum.
So, with no further ado, I give you Weilyn's Europa AD 2178.
Europa
The Viking Empire
The Viking Empire has exanded extremely rapidly for the last three centuries, from including only Sweden, Denmark and Norway to stretching over more than half of the European mainland, with colonies as far south as Cyprus and Morocco. They were the first civilization to discover internal combusting engines in 1857, and soon afterwards they secured the only known reservoirs of petroleum in the world in central Ukraine. From there they have conquered most of the known world, attacking swiftly with their unique landships, crushing the defenders before they've had a chance to react, and then securing the areas with ferocious and superbly trained infantry. While the Empire is the world's largest, all is not well in the Viking realms. Local rebellions of disgruntled natives spring up daily, the economy is crumbling from the cost of the massive army needed to keep the Empire together, the infrastructure of the newly conquered cities declines as almost all resources are used to arm ever more soldiers for the seemingly never ending war and all the while the countrysides are irrepairably destroyed by pollution, raiders and enemy saboteurs. Not to mention the fact that the Viking warmongering has gained them far more mortal enemies beyond their borders than friends. Despite this the fascist government shows no signs of halting the war effort, seemingly not content until all of Europa is under its boot heel. Whatever will be left of it, anyway.
Algoth Björnsson: Berserker. Died in action during the Second Siege of Rome in 2148.
Even though tanks form the backbone of the Norse armies the half-crazed berserkers are often used as shock troops during trench warfare where they attack as a vanguard, clearing the way for the rest of the Viking infantry. While life as a berserker is prestigious it is rarely long. If the enemy doesn't kill you outright, then the combat-enhancing drugs most certainly will.
The Ottoman State of the Turkish People and the Glorious Sultan
This socialist dictatorship has been locked in war with their Arabian neighbours since the dawn of time, having recently only recently managed to force a capitulation out of the Arabian Caliph, practically turning them into a vassal state. Since then they have turned their eyes to Europe, whose politics and wars they have been largely unaffected by. In 2134 all of the Greek mainland fell under Ottoman rule, providing the sultan with a platform for further invasions of the European nations, and several sorely needed harbours. Since then the Turkish armies have attacked the weak Russian, Viking, Spanish and Austrian cities along the coast of the Black sea, more or less unhindered. In 2155 they razed the city of Aachen to the ground, destroying the final remaining piece of the state of Austria. A retaliatory force has been sent towards the Turkish territories by the Germanic Federation, but whether this will be enough to halt the Turkish expansion is hard to predict.
Iriz Demir: Royal janissary guard of the Istanbul (not Constantinople) regiment.
The janissaries have guarded the Ottoman sultans for over eight hundred years. Trained from childhood to be expert marksmen and fanatically loyal to their lord, these elite soldiers are a force to be reckoned with.
The Arabian Caliphate
Despite being one of the smaller states on the world map, and having fought a two front war since the beginning of its existance in defence against Ottoman invasions and European settlers in North Africa, the Arabian Caliphate is one of the more prosperous states in the world. Being in control of two major holy cities (Mecca and Jerusalem) and several important trade routes has ensured that the Arabian coffers have stayed full. Granted, after their recent defeat to the Ottomans the Arabian glory has declined somewhat, but peace on their eastern front has enabled them to more effectively protect thier North African homelands from French and Spanish invaders.
Karim ibn Saidi ibn Abdul al-Suriyah: Syrian mercenary, employed by the caliph.
The immense wealth of the Arabian nation allows its generals to hire highly skilled mercenaries. These are often members of Bedouin or Berber tribes; expert desert warriors, who have held off invading armies for over six thousand years.
The State of Russia
Once the world's mightiest Empire, the Russian nation stretched over almost a third of the European mainland and controlled another third through puppet rulers throughout most of history. In 1869 she reacted swiftly to the Viking colonizations in Ukraine, annihilating the southern Viking army through vastly superior numbers, forcing the Vikings to accept defeat. They are so far the only people to ever have managed such a feat. But retaliation came quickly from the north. Newly invented Viking landships easily overpowered the Russian musketmen, tearing half of the Russian territories from the Tzarina, and essentialy sending turning the Viking nation into a proper Empire. Russia of today is a shadow of its former self, but its vulnerable position, being surrounded by Viking lands, the enemy Turks and inhabitable mountain ranges, forces the Russian armies to be the second most powerful in the world. The militaristic government produces soldiers at a never before seen pace in order to battle the new threat found in the Ottomans, and to repel a potential second Viking invasion.
Oleg Sergeyevich Yozhin: Hussar of the fourteenth Novgorod detachment, veteran from the Battle for Donau 2174. Dismounted.
While cavalry may seem like an outdated concept in an age where the battlefields are dominated by landships, machineguns and rocket launchers, one would be wise not to underestimate the ferocity of a cavalry charge by the slavic hussars. Their skills have been passed down and perfected through the generations for thousands of years, and they can ruin any generals day with their razor sharp sabres and colossal steeds.
The Germanic Federation
When a few Germanic tribes joined together to repel Roman invaders in ancient times, they hardly imagined that they had laid the foundation to the second most powerful nation of the 22nd century. In the 16th century the Germans were attacked again, this time by a coalition of Austrian and Polish troops. The invaders were massacred, and both the Asutrian and the Polish regents capitulated, offering themselves as vassals to the Germanic high king. The Germans had now secured themselves as one of the European superpowers. While the Austrian and Polish kingdoms have since been destroyed (by the Ottomans and the Vikings, respectively) Germania has found now vassals in what remains of the Spanish and, amusingly, the Roman nations. The German army consists mostly of enormous numbers of rocket launchers and artillery pieces, which have proven effective in keeping the Viking armies and their armoured vehicles at bay. With the lion's part of the German army off fighting the Ottomans, however, veteran Viking units from the Iberian Invasion have been gathering around their borders. The Germanic people seem to be about face an invasion for the third time.
Haimo Amsel: ANSIGAR gunner of the Saarbrücken trench.
The ANSIGAR heavy machine gun is a wonder of Germanic engineering, capable of eradicating an enemy platoon in a few bursts, or punch holes straight through a landship. It is common in the trenches around the German-Viking borders.
The Holy Nation of Hispanic North Africa
The fundamentalist Hispanic Nation, on account of it having been in a highly defensible position, had spent its history more or less unmolested by the European empires, letting the Hispanics concentrate on launching invasions of their own on the Arabs of North Africa and establishing colonies by the Black Sea. When the French attempted an invasion in 2055 it led to nothing but a war of attiration that lasted for over a hundred years. During this period the Franco-Hispanic border didn't move an inch. When the Viking armies arrived in 2161, fresh from their conquer of Rome, the Spanish resources were all but spent, and the Vikings manage to invade all of the Hispanic Iberian territories within two years. The Spanish government fled to their lands in Africa, setting up a new administrative capitol in Algeria. Soon after the defeat Hispania agreed to fall under the protection of the Germanic Federation.
Hernando Velez Guerra: Cardinal inquisitor of the Order of the Holy Blood.
Religion has always been a touchy subject to the Hispanic people, and having to live next to the islamic Arabs has not alleviated this. Luckily they can comfort themselves with their inquisitors, who deal with heretics using fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the Faith.
The Republican City State of Roman Damascus
To say that the glory of Rome has lessened is to greatly understate the position of the once mighty republic. From ancient through medival times the Roman legions conquered great parts of southern Europe, and made vassal states of Greece and France. These vassals were lost when the legionnaires proved ineffective against the French musketeers in the 17th century, and Greece outgrew its need for protection a few decades later. But Rome still had vast stretches of land, every island in the Mediterranian sea - apart from Crete - was under roman control and the Roman navy was the largest in the world. The death blow came almost five hundred years later, when the Viking Empire launched a surprise attack in 2102. Viking paratroopers and marines took the four most important roman harbours, and destroyed the warships therein before they had even touched water. The Roman armies fought the invaders viciously, littering the countryside with the burned out husks of thousands of tanks, but without a fleet to stop them the Viking battleships were free to roam the Italian coast, blowing up any and all fortifications. In 2109 every formerly Roman island was in Viking hands, and in 2114 the Eternal City itself fell to the hordes. The only safe harbour the senate could find was the ancient city of Damaskus, which the Romans had counquered a thousand years before, and which was too far into Arabian territory for the Vikings to reach. Now the republic is confined within the walls of Damascus, under Germanic protection, but with syrian rebels attacking relentlessly.
Gnaeus Pescenius: Praetorian captain of the Jasmine Guard.
The Roman legions may be all but dead and gone but the few soldiers that remain are concentrated to a tiny area. Consequently; Damascus is udoubtedly the most well guarded city in the World. The praetorians stationed outside of the senate would gladly give their lives rather than let the last vestige of the Roman Empire get destroyed.
The United Kingdoms of England, Scotia and Northern Iceland
In the 13th century AD the pacifist kingdom of England was attacked by the Celtic tribes of Scotia and Éire. England cried out for help, which they - rather unexpectedly - recieved from the Vikings, in exchange for the knowledge of how to craft longbows. With the combined efforts of Viking and English armies, the celts were conquered, and England agreed to fall under permanent Viking protection in exchange for the Norse settlements in Northern Iceland. The English have remained vassals to the Vikings ever since, and are the only people who don't hate them, and therefore also the only nation willing to trade with them.
Prescot Radley: Marksman of the Queen's Guard.
The English armies are - although well trained and equipped - very small. Not many standing troops are needed when you've got the defensible position of an island, and an Empire the size of half of Europe backing you up. English marksmen, however, are famed for their skills and finely crafted rifles.
Hyperborea/The Coalition of Greek Cities
While the Greek mainland was conquered by the Ottomans, leaving Knossos on Crete as the only remaining Greek Mediterranian settlement, the Greek colonies in the very north of the continent, beyond the realms of the Norsemen and the Slavs, flourished. Naming their new land Hyperborea, the formerly independant Greek city states joined together and formed an entirely new nation. Some individualists still refuse to use the new name, however, but those are only a vocal minority.
Janis Michaelides: Armoured hoplite of the second Knossos phalanx.
After the Ottoman invasion the Greeks realized that they had a great need for defensive troops in their cities. Thus the ancient hoplites were reinstated. Though their equippment has been greatly updated the tactical use of the phalanx remains practically the same. It's unwieldy, but very few soldiers would even attempt to attack it head on.
French Morocco
The earlier history of France is quite uneventful. After a short war with the Roman Empire the French agreed to become a Roman protectorate. They broke free again in the 17th century, when the French military forces surpassed the Romans'. In 1988 France successfully invaded The Netherlands, forcing Dutch officials to flee to Southern Iceland. In 2055 the French nationalist government attacked the unsuspecting Hispanic nation, counting on gaining as easy a victory as they got against the Dutch, but instead they got bogged down in a war of attirition in the Pyrenees. Over a hundred years later the war was still ongoing, and the border between the two nations hadn't moved a single foot in any direction, but the French had slowly gained an upper hand, and breakthrough was close when the Hispanics were attacked by the huge Southern Army of the Viking Empire. Before the French had had a chance to thank their unlikely brothers-in-arms, the Viking Western Army laid siege to Paris, which fell in six months. Within a year the exhausted French troops were all but annihilated, and the entire country fell to the Norsemen. The French colonies in Morocco remained, however, and that is where the French government resides at the moment, ever plotting for a way to reclaim their homeland.
Paschal Deschampes: Franc-tireur of the Parisian Musketeers. Killed during the Siege of Paris AD 2162.
The French musketeers were erradicated in the fall of Paris, and have yet to be reinstated, as they are considered too old fashioned by the French army brass. The fact remains though, that they forced the Viking invaders to reconstruct four thousand tanks, as the French snipers made a habit out of shooting their pilots through vision slits and open hatches.
The People's Communist State of New Portugal
The Portuguese nation used to be highly pacifistic. They made great efforts to stay friends with every other European nation, helped by the fact that they stayed in their corner of the continent, not getting in the way of anyone. In 1876 the Portuguese founded their first colony, New Portugal, north of the Russian Empire. Theses colonies never really got off the ground, though. The lands were not considered very fertile or profitable, so not much resources were spent on them. In 2163 the nation was unprovokedly invaded by the Viking Southern Army. When Portuguese diplomats asked the Viking commander, Thorwald Skallagrimsson, for the reason for the attack he answered: "We had just finished off the Hispanics, and were on a roll". He then added, "Nothing personal, though," and left the meeting. The untrained, poorly equipped and heavily outnumbered Portuguese armies surrendered within six months. As Portugal fell under Viking control the Portuguese Communist Party took control over New Portugal, installing a totalitarian government and declaring their independancy. Nobody outside of New Portugal's borders were reported to give a crap. Since then the Party has been conscripting a large amount of new troops, gathering a quite sizeable army, adamant that when the Vikings arrive they will succede where the Motherland failed.
Alexandrina Araújo: Inspetor #14, New Faro.
The concept of the inspetores is a fairly new invention, instated in 2168. They fill a number of purposes, including but not limited to, intelligence gatherers, secret police officers, military officers, body guards, interrogators and detectors of enemy spies. The training for an inspetor takes ten years, meaning that the first graduates are only now being released upon the New Portuguese population.
The Dutch Freestate
After the French invasion of The Netherlands, the Dutch fled to their colonies on the Faroe Islands and Southern Iceland. Distraught by the violence inflicted upon them by France, the Dutch decided to become a new form of nation, one of freedom, liberty and justice, the likes of which the world has never seen, and that can be a shining example to all. The Dutch were the first to ever emancipate their population, to adopt universal suffrage and to install religious freedom. Despite having been shoved of the continent, the Freestate has turned out to be quite a prosperous nation, trading ore and coal to Germania and the Ottomans. Their desolate location has also allowed them to stay away from war for the last two hundred years. Minor conflicts have begun to spark, though, between the Icelandic Dutch and the Icelandic English, over newly found resources in the central mountains of the island. In what is presumed to be a response to this Viking warships have been spotted just outside of the Dutch oceanic territory, which should be a cause for alarm.
Jeroen Houtman: Border patrol near Vattnajökull, wearing winter gear.
The Dutch don't have many soldiers, but they are expertly trained for the Icelandic environment. Many consider the Dutch alpine troops to be the best in the world.
Well, that's all I've got so far. Thanks for watching
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
