IT IV Update 9 - Years 440-445 AD
Non-Military Events:
Refugees from the war in Hibernia and from religious persecution in Gaul move into the Nortuguese colonies in the New World, allowing for faster colonisation of the southern gains.
The Great Law of Peace, Prosperity and Unity goes into effect and the League of Three Circles is created; an alliance of the "Keezonosenican"[1] states of Wabanaki, Algonquia and United Adena.
The Wabanaki exploit their new modernised port in Sebayik to set up trade routes with northern Europe; despite difficulties caused by the war, trade with Wenedia and Nordrike (chiefly in furs and fruit) has already begun to pay dividends.
United Adena had again succesfully avoided a conflict thought inevitable by signing a simple treaty with the Algonquians, letting them keep a strategic location at the juncture of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and buying the Algonquian-controlled Adenan cities instead. At the aforesaid juncture, a new (Algonquian) city soon emerged, around a local trade outpost that soon gained greatly in importance. Both Algonquia, Adena and the Miami tribes had benefited from this upsurge in riverine commerce.
The Nortuguese had sold a large amount of their Olmec territories to Hong Kong.
The Huanc had finally begun a concentrated effort at integrating and developing their isthmian gains (in the northwest). This (in particular the plan for a ship crossing at a certain point of the Isthmus, that will allow easier trade and communication between the Carib Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean) is likely to pay off greatly in a few more years.
The Wenedians had abandoned their trade outpost in the Amazon's delta.
Advancing by the rivers and otherwise using local terrain, the Dukunnugeyans in Nirritihariya had taken over more territory, despite occasional clashes with the natives; their diplomatic efforts had paid off, however, and further integration of native tribes was made possible by employment of native volunteers in the newer economic operations in the continent.
Administrative and military reforms - as well as a limited technological jump (progress to Early Iron Age) - occurs in Tiwanaku with Dukunnugeyan help. Nevasanghism also spreads increasingly, though not all of the population are happy over the influence Dukunnugeyan advisors seem to have over their Emperor (-1 Confidence). The essentially unsuccesful war with Huancac (peace was signed on the conditions of the restoration of the status quo) does not help much.
King Erezius expired unexpectedly; some say he died from stress, others (including his family) say he was assassinated by the Solists. Either way, King Dorius took over; however, due to his keen interest in technological innovation, he often enough delegated power to his mother Queen Amadara and First General Zoita.
A massive levy is ordered in Caledonia, to the detriment of both the economy and the stability of the realm (+60 Caledonian levy thousands, -1 Economy, Confidence).
A Huanc voyage to western Europe has been made, and despite some problems due to the ongoing war and the paranoia on both sides it was mostly a success. It coincided with a similar Nihonese voyage.
Gaul has shared some of the captured Nortuguese ships with its allies, allowing a certain improvement in naval technology (+1 Naval Quality for Gaul, Rome, Cymru).
The Lapps of the Kola peninsula agreed to join the Mordvin Empire peacefully in exchange for political autonomy.
With the assassination of Leo Diocomes, the Burebista dynasty comes to an end; though the monarch was not very popular in his later days, the shock from the dynasty's collapse was quite great, and Zalmic, the high priest and the assassin at the same time, has begun his reign in a most dubious spirit (-1 Confidence), as crisis after crisis struck the realm. To make things worse, a new wave of assassinations of important officials commenced, though this time the Dacoillyrians were generally more prepared and managed to thwart some of the attempts. Still, perhaps the new Imperator will do better if given some time to adapt.
Inflation plagues the Mediterranean Trade League, as a result of the all-too-quick trade boom and the currency policies (-1 Economy, Confidence for each member).
With the help of Greek emigre engineers and other specialists (both Bulghar, Greek and other foreign), the Onoghurians had achieved a technological leap (progress to Middle Medieval Age), especially in the realm of naval technology.
Ugria's Irnik I died in a hunting accident during a great hunt held by Bulghars and Ugrians; nevertheless, his son Irnik II easily took over the country and blamed the accident on the autonomous northern nobility, using the moment to strip it of its autonomy, provoking a short-lived rebellion (see military events).
The Nevasanghist Bemgeya Confederacy is created with Dukunnugeyan help.
Parhaen contacts with Bulgharia, Sri Dukunnugeya and Khmeria allow it to more or less catch up with them technologically (progress to Middle Medieval Age).
Despite winning the Battle of Nanded, the Sindhese were bled white by the ongoing Indian War, and even Anjva realised this. Although he planned to fight on, a bloodless coup attempt carried out by his brother Parantaka convinced him to step down peacefully, first moving to his palace and later disappearing without apparent trace (some say Khmers killed or kidnapped him, others say he became a wandering ascetic, and there were also the various bizzare versions that I won't bring up here and now). Anyway, Parantaka immediately agreed to surrender unconditionally to the triumphant coalition; he prepared himself for the worst, yet still was quite shocked at the Treaty of Chattagam, which not only ceded vast areas in the Himalayas to Tieh China, in Arabia and Central Asia to Parhae and in Africa to Dukunnugeya, but also had the entirety of India, plus the Khmer maritime gains, annexed into the Khmer Empire. Still, Parantaka had no choice but to sign the treaty and to move with his family to a small palace in Funankor, under Khmer guard. Not all of the Sindhese troops agreed to surrender, for all the good that had done them (see military events), but for all the purposes the Indian War was over. Meanwhile, Tieh China confirmed its past treaty with Khmeria and signed a new one with Parhae (selling lands south of the Oxus to it), adding a final touch to the new map of Asia. Oh, and in Africa, the Dukkunugeyans created the vassal states of Cush and the Tigrada League in some of their newly-gained territories.
Military Events:
After some failed attempts, the Wabanaki, who had launched a new serious invasion of the Cree heartlands, finally managed to trick the Cree into attacking a comparatively small Wabanki force, which ofcourse was the bait. The Brothers of the Blessed Cross soon joined the battle in full force and routed the Cree; chieftain Wawatte, who had rallied the resistance to the Wabanki in the first place, was amongst those who died that day. Though demoralised and disorganised, the Cree did not completely surrender; and although many of the tribes, impressed and intimidated by the Trinitarian devotion (and probably also aware that the Wabanaki victory was now a matter of time solely, and thus unwilling to go against them), agreed to convert to Trinitarianism, even more continued to resist stubbornly for some more, the Wabanaki having to crush tribe after tribe. Although the Wabanaki took some casualties, the campaign was ultimately succesful.
(-2 Wabanaki Brothers of the Blessed Cross thousands)
The Adenans had succesfully finished off the already-weakened Apalachian rebels.
(-1 Adenan thousand)
The Nortuguese have been fighting native rebels (in their southern Keezonosenican colonies) as well; though these took some more time due to their numbers and raiding tactics, eventually those rebels have also been subdued.
(-2 Nortuguese thousands)
And the Wenedians had in the meantime used a break in the Nihonese expansion to grab some more land in Olmetoltecia while they could.
(-1 Wenedian thousand)
Undeterred by the failure to extract any real concessions from Tiwanaku, the Huanc continued to expand in the north, claiming more ground to the northeast from Guangala with present, but rather inefficient resistance by the Caribs. However, the attempted Amazonian expedition had to turn back due to tropical diseases and other such difficulties, making only a few minor gains.
(-6 Huanc thousands)
Meanwhile, slightly to the east, the Wenedians too had been fighting nearby Caribs, seeking to secure more territory for the local Wenedian colony, although the Huanc make it impossible to link the two colonies as planned.
(-2 Wenedian thousands)
The newly-formed League of Three Circles had, both in the name of the previous friendship and cooperation between its members and Nortugal and thanks to the generous Nortuguese promises of lands and technologies, pledged its support for Nortugal in the Second Atlantic War, gathering up a huge fleet (which linked up with the Nortuguese New World fleet) and set sail east, destroying a small Cymrese force along the way for a good start. Along the way across the Atlantic, various problems were encountered, such as the technological inferiority of the Adenan ships, which was made worse by another problem - the ongoing Atlantic storms. Nevertheless, the Nortuguese and Tricircular fleets eventually reached the southern Hibernian coast. Their Solist enemies were uncertain as to what should be done, but ultimately they decided to give battle, seeing that the Nortuguese were having some problems with their experimental iron-plated ships, and that their enemies were indeed tired and storm-wrecked (note that the two fleets, surprising enough, were nearly equal in number). The battle threatened to become drawn out as both sides succesfully intercepted and/or evaded each other's attempts at outflanking. The Solists did some succesful boarding actions early on; however, the situation changed drastically when the Nortuguese deployed their Byblos Fire and other elements of their Floating Fortress' (a huge iron-plated ship, said to be the size of a city) vast arsenal (including the ship itself, which threatened to ram its way through the Solist lines). And just as the Solists, panicking, attempted a retreat, a new fleet appeared in the north. The Nordrikians quickly engaged the Solists, further disordering their retreat. Long story short, the Solist fleet, now outnumbered and outmaneuvered, was utterly crushed. True, while some of the ships were holding the enemy at bay and covering the retreat, a fairly large amount of ships did manage to escape and hide in the well-guarded Gaelic harbours, but that was it. Though the casualties were larger than expected, the Nortuguese had now restored their naval supremacy; they and the Nordrikians had also managed to capture several enemy ships despite the ferocious resistance (2 Iceni ships, 1 Gaelic ship, 3 Roman ships to Nortugal, 3 Iceni ships, 4 Gaelic ships, 1 Cymrese ship to Nordrike); and now, more reinforcements could arrive to Hibernia.
(-2 Wabanaki Brothers of the Blessed Cross thousands, -13 Wabanaki ships, -1 Algonquian thousand, -8 Algonquian ships, -3 Adenan Riverine thousands, -12 Adenan ships, -29 Nortuguese ships, -35 Iceni ships, -36 Gaelic ships, -24 Roman ships, -4 Nordrikian Berserkir thousands, -8 Nordrikian ships, -10 Cymrese ships)
And not a moment too soon, for in spite of all the fortifications and previous reinforcements, the Solists plowed on in Hibernia. Mostly advancing along the coasts, they made noticeable progress, though also taking noticeable casualties, and seemed to be on the brink of overruning the island when Nortuguese and allied armies suddenly appeared way behind their lines. The Nortuguese themselves and the Algonquians had attacked Nord-Lisbon, where they were helped by the local population; the Solist garrison was eliminated, and the supplies gathered there were confiscated. This alone was a serious blow, but in the meantime the Nortuguese in the north had rallied as well, repulsing a hasty attack; and at the same time the other Dawn Landers disembarked elsewhere on the island: the Wabanaki, on a Crusade in opposition to the Gaelic Soliade, had landed to the southeast from the city and rallied the resistors there to finish liberating the southern coast, whilst the Adenans invaded along the Shannon. Tragedy struck soon, though; the Adenans, though supplied with more-or-less modern weapons by the Nortuguese, had no experience of European warfare. Thus, for instance, they were completely taken by surprise when attacked by a huge force of heavily-armoured cavalry near the tributary river Brosna; surprised, outumbered and overwhelmed, Adena's Riverines suffered huge casualties, with a much-reduced force barely fighting its way back to its ships. Nevertheless, valuable experience was gained through this (+1 Adenan Army Quality); and also, the southwards Solist crossing of Shannon was delayed and ultimately defeated by the larger Algonquian army that reinforced the Adenans and efficiently used various traps against the enemy cavalry. With both the northern and southern armies of the Nortuguese still in fighting order, and the supply situation detiriorating, the Solists were basically doomed; their own disagreements after the assassination of the Gaelic commander only made things worse. Although the Wabanaki too had made the mistake of exposing themselves to cavalry attack at Corrib, that was the last victory the Solists had scored in this campaign, and even then it was not a decisive one, the Wabanaki managing to fall back under the cover of the arrowfire coming from their specially deployed ships. The Solists, having to fight back against various insurgents and enemy armies coming from two directions were gradually bled white, though not before inflicting lots of damage upon the Nortuguese cities and countryside under their control. Towards the end a few were smuggled back to Alba (well, that was actually mostly done before the naval battle at the Nord Lisbon harbour, but still), a few surrendered to what awaited them, and the remnants perished in the final heroic charges. Thus Hibernia was reclaimed, although large parts of it were in ruin and the allies had suffered major casualties.
(-17 Wabanaki Brothers of the Blessed Cross, -12 Algonquian thousands, -14 United Adenan Riverine thousands, -18 Nortuguese thousands, -32 Nortuguese levy thousands, -15 Iceni thousands, -10 Gaelic thousands, -6 Gaelic Equites Invictii thousands, -8 Roman thousands, -4 Roman levy thousands, -29 Roman Royal Guard thousands, -4 Cymrese thousands)
Things had begun to go awray for the Caledonians from the start of 440 AD, when some of the newly-levied troops mutinied (-10 levy thousands) and had to be defeated. By the time they and other rebels were dealt with, the Nordrikians had already begun their operations and the High King was forced to fall back towards the comparatively-loyal Brigantea, where he was joined by the Iceni; although this was a wise move, it was not a very popular one amongst his advisors. The Nordrikians ignored the capital and its small garrison, and advanced straight forward into Brigantea, where Crinan was finally persuaded by his advisors and commanders to try and give battle near Caerstrean (the old Brigantean capital). The Caledonians were immediately surprised when the Nordrikians begun the battle by sending forth a large amount of horse archers and horse javeliners, who harassed the Caledonian army, running circles around it and peppering it with missiles. The Iceni Sons of Sol tried to chase after those horse archers, but were lured towards the Nordrikian pikemen. Realising that they needed support, they called for the Caledonians - whose soldiers too were restless and rash that day - to join them. And so they did. A very close-ran battle ensued, but the Caledonians hesitated all too often, and their attempt to avoid commiting their reserves cost them the battle, as the Nordrikians, through sheer numbers, had managed to decimate the Sons of Sol and forced the Caledonians to retreat in disarray towards their old position. Krinan decided that at present resistance was futile, so he and what was left of his army started to fall back even further south; the Nordrikians pursued, keeping constant pressure and harassment; and there were also more desertions amongst the levies (-10 Caledonian levy thousands); still, in the end Krinan and the survivors managed to take refuge in and near the new Iceni capital, Caer Deva. Meanwhile, the Nordrikians, themselves quite weakened, decided to concentrate on consolidating gains, slaughtering Briganteans and besieging the last Caledonian stronghold back in the country itself. It is unclear what will Crinan do next, but so far he seems to be powerless.
(-22 Caledonian thousands, -3 Caledonian Galloglaigh thousands, -20 Caledonian levy thousands, -9 Iceni Sons of Sol, -19 Nordrikian thousands, -5 Nordrikian Berserkir thousands)
A National Solist Frankish revolt in northeast Gaul had occured; despite making some early gains, the rebels failed to secure any important population centres, and with the help of the more orthodox Solist Franks were eventually defeated by the Gaelic army.
(-2 Gaelic thousands, -1 Gaelic Equite Invictii thousand)
As for the Frankish revolt in Wenedian lands, the Wenedians had dealt with it in a manner that had the minimal quantity of ruth, although plenty enough of the rebels seem to have simply went into the hiding when the Wenedians begun their punitive operations.
(-2 Wenedian thousands)
The Punic-Iberian rebellions seemed to have melted away like snow... Until a few years later, a large rebel army emerged in the south, at least partially due to the following events.
After considerable preparations (more like after lenghty construction and transportation), five Floating Fortresses (see above) and middle-sized fleet of more conventional ships had amassed on the Atlantic side of the Pillars of Hercules, and prepared to try and force them through. On the other side stood one of the strongest single fleets in the world, complete with twenty-nine Juggernauts. Juggernauts were no match for Floating Fortresses, but there was, as said, far more of them, and the conventional Dacoillyrian fleet was twice as large as the Nortuguese one. Still, the Nortuguese had already made up their mind and slowly begun to advance through the narrow strait. Immediately the first Floating Fortress came under heavy attack from the Juggernauts, which bombarded it from their catapults. The Fortress replied in kind; also, human kites similar to the Khmer ones were used by some of the men onboard to bombard the Juggernauts with Byblos Fire from above. Numerous Juggernauts were destroyed, but ultimately the stones broke through the ship's armour and it begun to sink - yet by then it was on the other side of the Pillars. The rest of the Nortuguese fleet continued to attack to the best of its ability, but as it became apparent that it won't be the walkover the attackers expected (especially as the Dacoillyrians too turned out to have Byblos Fire), they decided to get to the second stage of operation, falling back and suddenly returning several weeks later. Under the cover of their bombardment, Nortuguese troops assaulted the small, yet strategically-important town of Kalpa[2]; confused and outnumbered, the Dacoillyrian garrison was slaughtered in a brutally fast melee. It is unclear how things will develop from this, as the Dacoillyrians are still recovering from the shock, while the Nortuguese commander is unwilling to lose more of the VERY expensive ships.
(-1 Nortuguese thousand, -7 Nortuguese ships, -1 Nortuguese Floating Fortress, -2 Dacoillyrian thousands, -5 Dacoillyrian ships, -4 Dacoillyrian Juggernauts)
Dacoillyria and Luca are increasingly embattled elsewhere as well...
(see spotlight)
(+140 Lucan levy thousands, -1 Lucan Economy, 10 ships from Menesite Egypt to Tigrada League, +20 Cernorusian levy thousands, +30 Dacoillyrian levy thousands)
(-Menesite Egypt as an independent nation, -100 Dacoillyrian thousands, -11 Dacoillyrian levy thousands, -10 Dacoillyrian ships, -5 Dacoillyrian Juggernauts, -22 Onoghurian thousands, -7 Onoghurian Onoghurets thousands, -23 Onoghurian ships, -11 Lucan thousands, -22 Lucan Companion Cavalry thousands, -27 Lucan levy thousands, -6 Lucan ships, -1 Phoenician thousand, -44 Parhaen thousands, -19 Parhaen Eternal Legions, -33 Cernorusian thousands, -20 Cernorusian Ljuta Druzhina thousands, -15 Cernorusian ships, -14 Alan thousands, -5 Alan ships, -17 Nubian thousands, -6 Nubian levy thousands)
Irnik II intentionally provoked a hasty, ill-planned north Ugrian rebellion and easily crushed it, consolidating his power.
(-1 Ugrian thousand)
The Dukunnugeyan and Parhaen anti-piracy efforts pay off, as several of the larger pirate fleets that rose to prominence during the Indian War have been weakened or dispersed.
(-7 Dukunnugeyan ships, -2 Parhaen ships)
The Parhaen counter-insurgency efforts in Arabia don't go too well; though some of the Israeli rebel tribes were indeed tracked down and defeated, some of them managed to evade pursuit whilst executing annoying hit-and-run attacks and grinding away at the local Parhaen forces (the whole rebellion is such a nuisance...); and to make things worse, some more tribes rose up recently. Thus far no end seems to be in sight here, although the Parhaens are yet to be seriously affected by this little insurrection. Incidentally, as of late 445 it expanded dramatically, possibly because of the loss of Ur.
(-1 Parhaen Eternal Legion)
The Tieh Chinese generally have better luck finishing off the last Turanese rebels, although far from everyone is reconciled with the idea of Chinese rule over former Turan.
(-1 Tieh Chinese thousand)
The Khmer troops in India had crushed most of the recalcitrant Sindhese units; other, regional resistance continued elsewhere, but were mostly thwarted over the years.
In an endeavour considered long since due by some, the Khmer Empire's Ivory Crane Division sweeped to occupy most of Tinhtunam's (as New Khmeria was renamed recently) interlands in a large-scale operation; some isolated incidents with the somewhat frightened natives aside everything went quite well. It would appear that Tinhtunam will most probably become all Khmer fairly quickly.
I simply want my most convenient trade access point reopened and the stranglehold on trade imposed by Dacoillyria and Luca gone. Same story as the Sile War. Guess nobody learns from history. The rest of you, I could care less about.
I figured it'd be an insult to only send 15.
