ITNES I - Interesting Times

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arghen sein!

well I'll be lurking about - waiting to shapeshift into a position or create a new nation possible

very much good fortune to this NES ;)
 
Darn... Parts of India and China left to do.
 
Well, will soon post it. Phew.
 
omg zicky banaias
 
BT I - Years 2000-700 BC

Civilizations rose throughout the world, evolving into kingdoms. Far from all of them made it to 700 BC - the stronger neighbhors, whether civilized or barbaric, often destroyed the smaller, weaker kingdoms. Thus, into 700 BC, only these strong enough to do so survived. After a few centuries of comparative peace - i.e. the barbarian raids became less spread out and the riverine civilizations were thriving from agriculture and, well, occasional plundering - the world has now entered a new era of warfare.

For large parts of the civilized world, 700 BC was the time when the iron age already begun, when the first great military fleets were built and when barbarian raids intensified again. Generally, the world is still largely unsettled and even uncharted by civilized people; but there are certain acknowledged centers of civilization in the world, and in much of those, war is coming for the dominance over the fertile lands and/or prosperous trade routes.

Americas:

Isolated and backwards, these two continents DO contain some primitive civilizations, the most developped of which is the Olmec one. Ofcourse, it is far from the level of the greater civilizaitons of the Eastern Hemisphere, but nonetheless, it developped a jaguarocentric religious system, complete with a pantheon of gods, a calendar, a system of kingship (eventually unifying around the city-state of Laventa [1] after its king defeated the Sanlorenzians [1], heretofore the strongest Olmec city) and long-distance trade. One might note, meanwhile, that the barbarians with whom they trade across Mesoamerica are increasingly infringing on Olmec copyrights and otherwise coming under Olmec cultural influence; also, an Olmec-style civilization is BEGINNING to develop amongst one of those tribes, the Zapotecs...

But for now, Olmecs are the only true civilization in their region. They are also notable, by the way, for their sculpture.

Europe:

Europe was not, for the most part, a home to the early civilizations, but by 700 BC, due to the rise of Mediterranean trade and the foundation of several colonies, the continent's southern coast became a home to a few states, mostly of "native" origin. Much of those states could be considered insignificant backwaters... so far. Also, in most of Europe, no MAJOR wars between CIVILIZED peoples happened thus far; soon, however, they are likely to begin in Italy and Greece.

From west to east:

Tartessos, a south Iberian civilization under later Greek and Phoenicean influence owing to trade, is mostly famed for its mineral wealth (silver mines); it is an envy to all other Iberians, some of whom are quite pro-Tartessian and assimilated (in fact, some of them recently joined with Tartessos), while some others hold the proud city and its growing coastal realm in scorn. Tartessos is currently rather "backwater" when compared to the rest of the Mediterranean world, but, then again, as trade with the tin-rich northern island of Alba [2] slowly picks up for Carthage, there are large opportunities abound. It also has a small colony near the southern Pillar of Hercules, Tingis.

Etruscans have filled northern Italy, eventually creating an urban civilization of their own there. As time went by, it was divided into various small city-states; an unique one is Rome, which is populated not only by the Etruscans, but also by apparent Trojan colonists, supposedly descendants of an exiled Trojan prince, Aeneas. By 700 BC, the Etruscan realms were divided between two dominant cities that subjugated the others by a mix of war and diplomacy. It is Clusium, ruled by the Porsens dynasty, and Rome, ruled by the Tarquin dynasty; Clusian League, as it is called, is a much looser and more... Etruscan of the two, and less warlike; Roman League is under greater Greek (Trojan, to be more precise) influence and has developed a system of civilian colonies; it is very Rome-centric, without much power for the other cities within it. Rome is the more prosperous of the two, and its military training is superior, but Clusium could raise more forces if need be. So far, peaceful expansion coincided with border skirmishes, but soon, a war might begin between the two.

The early history of Greece - one of the first European civilizations, in fact, the only one that came before it is Crete - is not well-known, though recorded in folklore. Apparently, first came Myceneans, who fought many great wars against Troy and Minoa; ultimately, though defeating the two in a great naval battle at Thera (later recorded in the Achilliad), the Mycenean victory was a "Menelaic" one, i.e. it was a victory where the victor suffered even more then the defeated. That mostly seems to depict the truth that the wars between these three proved indecisive. By circa 1100, all three were exhausted, especially Mycenae. This allowed the Dorians and some others to overrun Mycenae, beginning the Dark Age there. However, by 800 BC several Greek city states already emerged; the leading amongst them were Sparta, Corinth and Athens. Greeks (beginning as early as 1000 BC) also founded numerous colonies on the southeastern Italian and eastern Sicilian coasts; one of these colonies, Syracuse, succesfully gained and defended its independance till 700 BC, but most others are in various degrees of dependance on Athens or Corinth, or Syracuse. In the recent century, a series of wars and treaties divided Greece between Sparta and Athens, apart from the buffer state of Corinth; but for how often will this arrangement last, especially taking into account the dissent within Athenian territories? Athens is a great naval power, but Spartan soldiers are already best-trained in the world. Strange as it might seem, by the way, Sparta is more-or-less succesfully competing in trade with Athens and Corinth thus far, even if Corinth's current superiority here is hard to deny. Also, in circa 770 BC or so, petty Macedonnian kings and tribal chieftains gathered in Pella to create a Macedonnian federation, out of fear of Athens. It is rather backwards, but has great potential, especially in alliance with, say, Sparta.

Minoa too suffered from the Dorian raids, but persisted, if battered. After 900 BC, the Minoans used their opportunate geographic situation to build a great fleet; they came into conflict with Phoeniceans and Trojans, but after the First Minoan War (738-719 BC), Minoa, though not recognized in all of its claims, managed to build a great maritime empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, prospering from the local trade. It also has two important mainland colonies: Cyrene in Africa and Cnidus in Anatolia.

Africa:

Carthage, a faraway and the greatest Phoenicean colony, gradually gained its independance from the mainstream Phoeniceans, only claiming full independance during the First Minoan War. By then, it was largely an independant city-state, which also had control over its extended surroundings, Sardinia, Malta and roughly half of Sicily; and recently, the Balearic Islands plus the outpost of Cartagena Nova were gained as well. Carthage is a great trade center of the Western Mediterranean.

Further east from Carthage, there is Egypt of the New Kingdom. Ever since its founding by al-Akamen, Egypt (with the capital in Akam) went through over 20 dynasties, and sruvived the deadly onslaught of the Sea Peoples. It expanded south and west greatly, crushing the Nubians and envelopping the Minoan colony of Cyrene. Despite a recent civil war, Egypt is a powerful state, though it is beginning to stagnate...

Middle East:

Troy was constantly raided and besieged, and even turned into a tributary, by the fearsome Hittites (apparently it was only circa 900 BC that the Hittites were defeated by the legendary Trojan hero, Hector, or so the legends say). But eventually, as the Hittites were crushed by the Lucans, the Trojans also built an empire of their own in West Anatolia, and even extended it across the Marmara to the city of Byzantium. They are still on the ascendant, despite not faring well in the First Minoan War, but now, they are faced with this problem - they don't have any real expansion room left, at least for peaceful expansion. So, war would be their only way out.

For long has the great empire of Luca, in the north of Anatolia, been peaceful and semi-isolated. But in circa 860, circumstances forced it to go to war with the Hittites, a war that was won and that extended the Lucan realm further south, all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. This outlet greatly helped Lucan trade. All this signified something of an awakening call for Luca. The Grand Vizier and the Magi decided to build a navy, a small yet well-trained one, and with this tool they succeeded in their conquest of Bosporan [3] and some nearby lands. But this brought them into conflict with the horse-riding Scythians, whilst to the west, Troy threatens. This is a dangerous situation, yet a wise Vizier would surely find a way out...

The rise of the Phoeniceans in Levant was a slow and steady process, but ever since the legendary Philistine War (c. 1000) the coast was most definitely theirs. The rest was actually joined partially thanks to the cultural links between Canaanites and Phoeniceans. Phoenicea, however, was only barely saved from the Ayssiran invaders in 948 BC, in the battle at Kadesh, where the Egyptian expeditionary corps saved the day and their trading partner. As for maritime expansion, it went well at first, but the First Minoan War cost Phoenicea half of Cyprus and, indirectly, Carthage with all other Western Mediterranean colonies. Still, at least eastern Cyprus and Cilicia are still Phoenicean, and besides, Tyre still is an important trade center.

The Akkadian Empire was replaced by the Assyrian one, and after the fall of Assyria in 763, it was (the second) Babylonia that ruled over much of Mesopatamia and Syria. The Babylonian Empire is still dominant there, and its current ruler, Nebuchadnazzer II, whose father cemented Babylonian power despite the Assyrian nobility's resistance, is likely to use the great armies placed at his disposal after the first emperor's death in not extremelly nice goals. Further south, Ur, which was only briefly conquered by Assyria in 785, is once more independant and thriving, but it is almost-literally surrounded with lethal threats...

The first civilized country in the world to use actual horsemen and the home of Zoroastrianism, Shahdom of Parhae has come to be rather recently, yet it already is quite a power. If only a good opportunity comes, Parhae will probably become a true empire.

India:

Ancient India, or rather, ancient Indus Valley was a battleground of the invading Aryan tribes and the defenders of Mohenjo-Daro; many great cities there were burned down in the greatest invasion of all thus far, in 866 BC, and before, too, a lot of violence took place; all this is remembered in the Dravidian epic poem, Vishnuvatra. So it was that Aryans were eventually pushed back even then. By 700 BC, there are four major states in India: Mohenjo-daro (and the other realms that united with it into a league), Magadha, Deccania and Kalinga. Numerous barbaric chiefdoms persist in the middle and the south of the subcontinent. Of these, Mohenjo-daro and Magadha are the strongest, and are often in conflict; Deccania is a rising power; Kalinga, for its part, is more of a maritime power.

India is still threatened by the Aryans, but as Mohenjo-daro is taking the brunt of the attacks, the others don't really give a damn by now.

China:

China was somewhat lagging behind technology-wise during this period, as it was still in Late Bronze Age. But other then that, the urban civilization in China developed quite well, and lots of pointless slaughter took place before the meaningful slaughter begun. The meaningful slaughter begun when the various Zhou states begun tearing each other apart in 1027 BC; ultimately by 829 BC, it will be divided into the Three Kingdoms: Yan, Qin and Wu. In a way, though, there was also a fourth kingdom: Hong Kong, created by a mix of the natives and the refugees fleeing the devastation of northern China. Now, while the Three Kingdoms of the North continued kicking each other around occasionally stopping to fight the various nomads, the banana-yellow-bannered Hong Kong expanded along the coastline in the south, and prospered. Hong Kong also became quite advanced, though not to the point of reaching the Iron Age... yet. Also, they discovered Taiwan, though an expedition there is yet to be undertaken.

OOC:

[1] La Venta, actually, but that's rather too Spanish. I know it was probably in OTL called something more... Olmecesque, but I failed to find any other names, so... Same with Sanlorenzo/San Lorenzo.

[2] Alba=Great Britain.

[3] Bosporan=Crimea.

Sorry, near the end I was really tired and hard-pressed for time, so...

Note: you can still join as new nations (on the borders of the current nations) during the IT. Better, however, to wait.

Pace for now is 1 turn=20 years, unless there are strong objections.

Azale, the area with the thin border is your personal realm, there you can do virtually anything you want, but in the other territories the local rulers might disagree with some of your politics, basically like a Senate.

BananaLee, is that "banana" enough for you? Also... who's your ruler again?

Everybody, if you need any sort of details on your history and/or the present state of affairs, tell me, tomorrow I will be able to reply. I realize that India and China sections in particular are very very general; largely thats because I did not (as already said) have a lot of time to finish them.

Rules editted, embarassing mistakes fixed.
 
...Map...

...700 BC!

Quite a lot of (mostly unpleasant) surprises, as you noticed.
 

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Cool update.
 
La Venta, actually, but that's rather too Spanish. I know it was probably in OTL called something more... Olmecesque, but I failed to find any other names, so... Same with Sanlorenzo/San Lorenzo.
I'm cool with that I still don't know much about them though, so i should probably do some reading.
 
To Macedon :
From Sparta :

You can easily see that Sparta, not Athens, is willingly more friendly to your people and nation. We ask that you brake whatever trade you have with athens and trade with us instead.
We also wish for a 3 turn defensive allience.

To Athens:
From Sparta:

Give us a 2 turn NAP, so we can get our diplomatic ties some real time to be built without any worry of war.
 
To Sparta
We agree.
 
To Minoan Crete:
From Sparta:

We will agree only if you stop trading with Athens and transfer that trade to Sparta. We have closer ports to your beutiful island, and this will mean more profits for both of us.
 
To Troy:
From Sparta:

Sparta Offers you the chance to trade while remaining free of the Athenian Junk, allow us to stablish trading posts to replace the expensive athenian ones and we will not only grow richer togheter, but we will also help you out in case of invasion by sigining a defensive allience
 
Communisto, we need to talk.
 
Phoenicican Questions:

What were those legendary Philistine Wars?

What lands are influenced by Phoenician culture and stuff? (ex-colonies)

edit: the stats say that I AM Troy ;) daaaaas!
 
i think he was talking about the Biblical ones about the early israelites.


.....dont forget my diplo :) ......wait, i tought u were troy
 
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