das
Regeneration In Process
IT II Update 3 - Years 250-240 BC
Non-Military Events:
Just as polar bears considered destroying all civilization in Mesoamerica due to nothing interesting happening there, suddenly, as if aware of this threat, the Olmecs, who were given a rough awakening by the Mayan attacks, now undergone a noticeable transformation. The Crown Prince, determined that the "merchant aristocracy" is doing Olmecia no good, rudely grabs the power from them (-1 Civilian Leadership) and gives it, instead, to the nascent military aristocracy (+1 Military Leadership). Albiet this caused some economic troubles (-1 Economy), the Crown Prince soon compensated that by encouraging the increasingly-popular Cult of the Jaguar (+1 Culture, Confidence), making himself its leader and thus a head of religion as well as state (+1 Confidence). Generally, Olmecia is swiftly turned into a great military power, and this invites more volunteers still (+5 UU), though the growth of feudalism damages centralization efforts, neutralizing the Crown Prince's actions to this avail.
Portugal prepares for one final battle, raising a large army (-1 Army Training)...
Further north, Arvernii Gauls are disappointed to find that there are not many people fit to fight left outside of their or Parisii rebel armies. Still, they manage to find a few volunteers (+1 levy thousand). Efforts to find Germannic volunteers fail badly, needless to say - nobody there cares much for the Arvernii, the rebels hate them as much as the Allemagnii. Speaking of whom, they recently ceased to exist, amidst tribal strife (-Allemagnia as a nation)...
As if inspired by the Guzites, the Romans introduce a (much less radical) republic of their own. A vast fleet is also built, but the training problems are numerous there, the Romans being a predominantly-land based people (-2 Naval Training).
And another republic rises - of Free Illyria. The soldiers of the OTHER Illyria begin to desert en masse (-5 Illyrian thousands), and generally this destabilizes what remains (-1 Confidence). Also, the Dacians annex Salonae and rename it to "Burebistatuza", gaining access to the sea - something surely useful in the days to come, albeit Burebistatuza is yet to become a significant trade center. A vast fortress complex in the middle of Free Illyria and around Burebistatuza is erected as well.
As Carthaginian shipping survived the recent pirate activity much much better then Roman one, the Roman port of Rhegium loses much of its trade (-Rhegium trade center) to the Carthaginian port of Syracuse (+Syracuse trade center).
As Aramid Luca faces collapse, Bekhu, the commander of the northern garrisons, declared independance of Bosporan, with a government almost a carbon copy of the Lucan one. Also, Iranian tribes overrun a part of Lucan Caucasus, badly undergarrisoned. In the ongoing chaos, the Lucans are powerless to do anything about it.
Pharaoh Ramses declared that, albeit he does intend to restore monarchy in Egypt, changes will come. To make sure the people believe it, he assembled the Council of Twenty-Two (twenty nobles, a general and a priest), the purpose of which is practically just giving some advice to the Pharaoh. Maybe he'll need it...
With a bit of outside help one might suppose, the Phoenicean rebels form something of an united kingdom, worshiping the new Messiahist religion primarily. Signifying this is their construction of a new capital at the medium-size town where Messiah was born, according to some acounts - Urusalim [1] (the need for a new capital has appeared because the two greatest cities, Sidon and Tyre, as well as Lucan-held Byblos one might expect, refused to join the kingdom if the capital is placed in the other - as such, Urusalim is a good compromise).
Lower Ur comes under Mohenjo-daran protection. The Bactrashan razh couldn't care less, not to mention that he died recently (his empire lived on, but suffered from some strife (-1 Culture, Confidence) especially after the new ruler, bowing down to the pressure of the military aristocracy and possibly by his own decision as well declared that Mithraism is now the state religion of Bactrasha). Most Mohenjo-daran attempts to establish trade posts in South Arabia failed - the Mosesite fanatics just swarmed any "infidel" trade posts they came across and pillaged them. Still, contact was established with Cush, albeit the sailors were on the verge of mutiny when it was suggested that they should sail south, which as everybody knows is filled with sea monsters and polar bear submarines. Not to mention that the ships might fall off the edge of the Earth, and that's a silly thing to do.
The Kalingans assemble a great army (-1 Army Training) - they seem to seriously want to just finish the Deccanians off, fast. Oddly, the Deccanians seem to want to avoid that and assemble a great army of their own (-1 Army Training).
A most sudden, though not completely unanticipated, change took place in Southeast Asia. Fearful of Hong Kong and Kalinga alike, Funan and Champa, already allies, overcame their cultural differences (for now, anyway) to create an united state. Empress Fan Chan of Funan married King Ke Nam of Champa, creating an united empire, ready to face the challenges thrown to it by Hong Kong, Kalinga or whoever else.
The lack of Hong Kee activity, combined with decrease of piracy and Tumasek League's growing trade ties with Funan, leads to the decline of Kuching (-Kuching trade center) and resurgence of Tumasek (+Tumasek trade center) as a trade center. Also, Kalingan trade posts spread during this time.
Something happens in the Steppes (see spotlight)!
Albeit the Han anti-corruption campaign is generally a good thing (+1 Confidence), it, combined with the traditional policy of overtaxing the nobility, has caused a mini-exodus of the said nobility (parts of it anyway) into Hong Kong - and as nobles are traditionally the military commanders, not to mention are the more educated part of the population, this isn't good for Han (1 Military Leadership, 1 Education from Han to Hong Kong). Generally, aside from that, the Han steadily build up their fleet and develop their nation, assemble county and city councils to advise governors, whilst the emperor evidently went mad (-1 Confidence), dreaming up some odd inventions. First, just for the sake of it, he offered a great reward to anyone who can fly for ten minutes - at least he didn't ask them to fly by flapping their hands, but rather on KITES. Yes, kites. Well, finally, the reward he offered inspired Fan Chai, an inventor from Chengdu, to invent some sort of a huge man-kite which allowed just that, and it was immediately employed for military reconaissance. The Emperor didn't stop there - he herded hordes of potters into a cramped workshop and didn't let them out until they produced impeccable blue porcelain (or so they say) (+1 Culture). Also, he insisted that his scribes begin smashing silk and wood together in a huge vat. They didn't get that one. He insisted very firmly, but so far no concise results came - the scribes are unsure whether to run away now or wait for the physician to examine the emperor very carefully, the scepticism of the said scribes is probably the cause of the lack of progress in that direction. A visiting polar bear suggested that the emperor really shouldn't steal future technology beyond his mortal comprehension. He could have ASKED at least, but noooo... Speaking of stealing technology, the Han Chinese bribed a number of officials in Hong Kong (causing a scandal there (-1 Confidence)), and thusly asquired steel, which by then incidentally propelled the two Chinese nations into a new technologic era, provisionally called the Steel Age albeit perhaps the Early Empire Age is a better name. And finally, commanderies are set up in the northern conquered lands, establishing stronger control over parts of it, but its rather hard and most people don't want to go there ofcourse - the Xiong-nu are still very much alive.
The king of Choson dies. Anybody noticed that yet? The next king of Choson died as well the same day, oddly, leading a very pro-Han heir into power. Hmm. Blue pottery lead poisoning is believed to have been the cause of the deaths by some. In another world, a Syrian Maluk ordered a ban on all blue pottery in Syria for the sake of the stability of the state.
Military Events:
Olmecia starts a war with the Mayan tribes that attacked them. The levies are not numerous and don't hold the Mayans back for as long, but they do hold them long enough for the main army, which received confusing orders but carried them out to the best of their limited ability nonetheless, to attack the Mayans themselves. Admittedly, often enough they attacked the Mayans that didn't play any part in the invasions, but that hardly mattered to them. The new Jaguar Warriors meanwhile quickly moved deep into the Mayan lands, outflanked whatever forces came to face the older army, and enslaved many Mayans (+1 Economy, Confidence).
(-3 Olmec thousands, -1 Olmec Jaguard thousand)
Portuguese forces in Iberia and Africa begin one last desperate offensive. Twenty five thousands of men in Iberia and some eleven thousands in Africa charged forth to confront the Carthaginians in battle. In Iberia, Carthaginian armies are outnumbered, and their supplies are slightly harassed by Roman privateers, and the Phoeniceans are their equals in martial skill - not to mention that they are fighting for their own lands. Still, the Carthaginians do win. They are only marginally outnumbered, they have high morale and finally... their leadership is far superior. The Emperor actually shows interest in military affairs, whilst the Portuguese king seems to just sit around doing nothing in Lisbon, giving rather vague instructions. And the military leadership of Carthage has a competent officer corps, whilst the Portuguese... for all of their civilization, still are like barbarians their ancient ancestors were in regards to the matters of tactics and strategy. The Portuguese inflict many casualties due to their ferocity, but lose eventually. Needless to say, in Carthage, where all of their Iberian advantages are reversed, they fair even worse. In two battles, the Portuguese regular army is decimated - at Baecula and at Saldae. The Portuguese Mauri, with the fleet still nowhere to be seen and with the Carthaginian navy ruling supreme in the Western Mediterranean, surrendered without a fight after the decimation of the army, not to mention that many people in East Mauri are Carthaginians anyway. The local governor retains his position under Carthaginian rule, but as for some reason no forces were sent to take control of the province, the Berbers occupied many parts of it. Back in Iberia, the levy resistance continues even after the king's suicide, but the Carthaginians spare all towns that don't resist - whilst those that do resist face a horrible fate, pillaged, its men slaughtered, children enslaved and women raped. After a while, the resistance quiets down, and Carthage has won a great victory (+1 Confidence). Controlling so many minorities might be hard, though - the Celtiberians already have rebelled in the north (-1 Culture). And, needless to say, the war effort is compensated (-1 Economy, 1 Economy from Portugal to Carthage). Carthage is now one of the world's greatest empires, holding the keys to much of the Transpoenic Sea trade.
(-Portugal as a nation, -12 Carthaginian thousands, -1 Carthaginian levy thousands)
Notably, the fate of the Portuguese fleet remains unknown. Where did it go? Some say it went far to the south, to be eaten by resident sea monsters. Others still say that it went west, and was destroyed by the storms. Third people yet say that it sailed far to the north, to Hibernia, where the sailors took up native wives and lived happily ever after. Much more likely, ofcourse, is the version that says that they became pirates. Arrgh.
And in the meantime, the Gauls use the defeat of Portugal to get back on their other enemies. There are many problems involved, ofcourse, but the Germannics were safely pushed beyond the Rhine, using their disorganization. No orders were given about the Parisii, but the army present in the region pushed the rebels back, restless as it was with what essentially was garrison duty. The Parisii still are fighting, though... Needless to say, the Grand Gallic Army is marching south, to defeat the hated Kartyrians and Romans. Now, it is rather likely that the army would have been routed for the same reason the Portuguese lost to Carthage, if not for the utter lack of coordination between Kartyr and Rome. Kartyrian forces, expecting Roman help, charged north to Alesia. Romans, surprised by Kartyrian absence, shrugged and continued to sit in Gergovia, occasionally raiding the Gaelic countryside. The Kartyrian army, outnumbered and surrounded, would have nonetheless been well-suited against partisan action - but the Gauls gave open battle this time. Frankly they were just as unprepared for it as the Kartyrians, but as they were fighting in native soil they managed to envelop the Kartyrian army and utterly crush it, though taking many casualties themselves. Only less then a thousand of Kartyrians escaped due to the nature of terrain near Alesia (they were hemmed in between rivers Brenne and Ozerain), and the Gauls, much-encouraged, struck for Gergovia. They encircled the fortress and assembled simple catapults and battering rams, and used archers as well to wreck havoc on the city with incendiary missiles. Romans sallied out, but the Gauls were waiting for just that. Nonetheless, the brilliant Roman leadership and the nearly-equal numbers saw a large part of the Roman army escape efficiently, and albeit the Gauls did eventually take Gergovia, it was not without casualties. For now, the Gaelic hopes for a further offensive seem futile. Nonetheless, numerous Kartyrian-held lands in Gaul defect back, with the Ligurian levies dragged away for Kartyria and the loss of an administrative center in the occupied territories. The war effort continues to strain economy (-1 Arvernii, Kartyrian, Roman Economy)...
(-9 Arvernii thousands, -19 Arvernii Champion thousands, -1 Arvernii mercenary thousand, -7 Arvernii levy thousands, -14 Kartyrian thousands, -9 Roman thousands)
Meanwhile, most surprisingly, the Carthaginian army in Kartyria withdraws, all the way into Pyrenees. Dumbfounded, the Kartyrians follow, and both sides build forts within the passes. Everybody is confused. The Kartyrians, who assumed that this means peace, were even more surprised by the minor Carthaginian naval raids on their harbor - the Carthaginians flee as soon as Kartyrian ships appear, Kartyrians return to the harbor, Carthaginians return and so forth. Finally, annoyed, a Kartyrian admiral led a part of the fleet, combined with a nearby Roman fleet, to pursue the Carthaginians, but was eventually led into a trap. Part of the Roman fleet escaped, but most of the pursuers were caught between the Balearic Islands and sunk in a ferocious but brief battle, though five ships surrendered (+5 Carthaginian ships).
(-15 Kartyrian ships, -11 Roman ships, -4 Carthaginian ships)
Dacians try to do some diplomacy with Germannic tribes, promising them money if they were to attack Illyria but not giving any, but the Germannics don't care and continue like usual, attacking everybody they see.
(-1 Illyrian thousand, -1 Free Illyrian thousand, -1 Dacian levy thousand)
The Dacian army continues to attack north, using a "blocking strategy" that is highly effective and results in the devastation of the remaining "unfree" Illyrian forces. Unable to bear the strain of war, Illyria collapses as its king jumps on his sword, and a few Illyrian survivors defect to Rome (+2 Roman thousands). The campaign is over so fast that the Dacians aren't really strained by it financially. Free Illyrian power is now imposed over all of Illyria.
(-Illyria as a nation, -4 Dacian thousands)
Non-Military Events:
Just as polar bears considered destroying all civilization in Mesoamerica due to nothing interesting happening there, suddenly, as if aware of this threat, the Olmecs, who were given a rough awakening by the Mayan attacks, now undergone a noticeable transformation. The Crown Prince, determined that the "merchant aristocracy" is doing Olmecia no good, rudely grabs the power from them (-1 Civilian Leadership) and gives it, instead, to the nascent military aristocracy (+1 Military Leadership). Albiet this caused some economic troubles (-1 Economy), the Crown Prince soon compensated that by encouraging the increasingly-popular Cult of the Jaguar (+1 Culture, Confidence), making himself its leader and thus a head of religion as well as state (+1 Confidence). Generally, Olmecia is swiftly turned into a great military power, and this invites more volunteers still (+5 UU), though the growth of feudalism damages centralization efforts, neutralizing the Crown Prince's actions to this avail.
Portugal prepares for one final battle, raising a large army (-1 Army Training)...
Further north, Arvernii Gauls are disappointed to find that there are not many people fit to fight left outside of their or Parisii rebel armies. Still, they manage to find a few volunteers (+1 levy thousand). Efforts to find Germannic volunteers fail badly, needless to say - nobody there cares much for the Arvernii, the rebels hate them as much as the Allemagnii. Speaking of whom, they recently ceased to exist, amidst tribal strife (-Allemagnia as a nation)...
As if inspired by the Guzites, the Romans introduce a (much less radical) republic of their own. A vast fleet is also built, but the training problems are numerous there, the Romans being a predominantly-land based people (-2 Naval Training).
And another republic rises - of Free Illyria. The soldiers of the OTHER Illyria begin to desert en masse (-5 Illyrian thousands), and generally this destabilizes what remains (-1 Confidence). Also, the Dacians annex Salonae and rename it to "Burebistatuza", gaining access to the sea - something surely useful in the days to come, albeit Burebistatuza is yet to become a significant trade center. A vast fortress complex in the middle of Free Illyria and around Burebistatuza is erected as well.
As Carthaginian shipping survived the recent pirate activity much much better then Roman one, the Roman port of Rhegium loses much of its trade (-Rhegium trade center) to the Carthaginian port of Syracuse (+Syracuse trade center).
As Aramid Luca faces collapse, Bekhu, the commander of the northern garrisons, declared independance of Bosporan, with a government almost a carbon copy of the Lucan one. Also, Iranian tribes overrun a part of Lucan Caucasus, badly undergarrisoned. In the ongoing chaos, the Lucans are powerless to do anything about it.
Pharaoh Ramses declared that, albeit he does intend to restore monarchy in Egypt, changes will come. To make sure the people believe it, he assembled the Council of Twenty-Two (twenty nobles, a general and a priest), the purpose of which is practically just giving some advice to the Pharaoh. Maybe he'll need it...
With a bit of outside help one might suppose, the Phoenicean rebels form something of an united kingdom, worshiping the new Messiahist religion primarily. Signifying this is their construction of a new capital at the medium-size town where Messiah was born, according to some acounts - Urusalim [1] (the need for a new capital has appeared because the two greatest cities, Sidon and Tyre, as well as Lucan-held Byblos one might expect, refused to join the kingdom if the capital is placed in the other - as such, Urusalim is a good compromise).
Lower Ur comes under Mohenjo-daran protection. The Bactrashan razh couldn't care less, not to mention that he died recently (his empire lived on, but suffered from some strife (-1 Culture, Confidence) especially after the new ruler, bowing down to the pressure of the military aristocracy and possibly by his own decision as well declared that Mithraism is now the state religion of Bactrasha). Most Mohenjo-daran attempts to establish trade posts in South Arabia failed - the Mosesite fanatics just swarmed any "infidel" trade posts they came across and pillaged them. Still, contact was established with Cush, albeit the sailors were on the verge of mutiny when it was suggested that they should sail south, which as everybody knows is filled with sea monsters and polar bear submarines. Not to mention that the ships might fall off the edge of the Earth, and that's a silly thing to do.
The Kalingans assemble a great army (-1 Army Training) - they seem to seriously want to just finish the Deccanians off, fast. Oddly, the Deccanians seem to want to avoid that and assemble a great army of their own (-1 Army Training).
A most sudden, though not completely unanticipated, change took place in Southeast Asia. Fearful of Hong Kong and Kalinga alike, Funan and Champa, already allies, overcame their cultural differences (for now, anyway) to create an united state. Empress Fan Chan of Funan married King Ke Nam of Champa, creating an united empire, ready to face the challenges thrown to it by Hong Kong, Kalinga or whoever else.
The lack of Hong Kee activity, combined with decrease of piracy and Tumasek League's growing trade ties with Funan, leads to the decline of Kuching (-Kuching trade center) and resurgence of Tumasek (+Tumasek trade center) as a trade center. Also, Kalingan trade posts spread during this time.
Something happens in the Steppes (see spotlight)!
Albeit the Han anti-corruption campaign is generally a good thing (+1 Confidence), it, combined with the traditional policy of overtaxing the nobility, has caused a mini-exodus of the said nobility (parts of it anyway) into Hong Kong - and as nobles are traditionally the military commanders, not to mention are the more educated part of the population, this isn't good for Han (1 Military Leadership, 1 Education from Han to Hong Kong). Generally, aside from that, the Han steadily build up their fleet and develop their nation, assemble county and city councils to advise governors, whilst the emperor evidently went mad (-1 Confidence), dreaming up some odd inventions. First, just for the sake of it, he offered a great reward to anyone who can fly for ten minutes - at least he didn't ask them to fly by flapping their hands, but rather on KITES. Yes, kites. Well, finally, the reward he offered inspired Fan Chai, an inventor from Chengdu, to invent some sort of a huge man-kite which allowed just that, and it was immediately employed for military reconaissance. The Emperor didn't stop there - he herded hordes of potters into a cramped workshop and didn't let them out until they produced impeccable blue porcelain (or so they say) (+1 Culture). Also, he insisted that his scribes begin smashing silk and wood together in a huge vat. They didn't get that one. He insisted very firmly, but so far no concise results came - the scribes are unsure whether to run away now or wait for the physician to examine the emperor very carefully, the scepticism of the said scribes is probably the cause of the lack of progress in that direction. A visiting polar bear suggested that the emperor really shouldn't steal future technology beyond his mortal comprehension. He could have ASKED at least, but noooo... Speaking of stealing technology, the Han Chinese bribed a number of officials in Hong Kong (causing a scandal there (-1 Confidence)), and thusly asquired steel, which by then incidentally propelled the two Chinese nations into a new technologic era, provisionally called the Steel Age albeit perhaps the Early Empire Age is a better name. And finally, commanderies are set up in the northern conquered lands, establishing stronger control over parts of it, but its rather hard and most people don't want to go there ofcourse - the Xiong-nu are still very much alive.
The king of Choson dies. Anybody noticed that yet? The next king of Choson died as well the same day, oddly, leading a very pro-Han heir into power. Hmm. Blue pottery lead poisoning is believed to have been the cause of the deaths by some. In another world, a Syrian Maluk ordered a ban on all blue pottery in Syria for the sake of the stability of the state.
Military Events:
Olmecia starts a war with the Mayan tribes that attacked them. The levies are not numerous and don't hold the Mayans back for as long, but they do hold them long enough for the main army, which received confusing orders but carried them out to the best of their limited ability nonetheless, to attack the Mayans themselves. Admittedly, often enough they attacked the Mayans that didn't play any part in the invasions, but that hardly mattered to them. The new Jaguar Warriors meanwhile quickly moved deep into the Mayan lands, outflanked whatever forces came to face the older army, and enslaved many Mayans (+1 Economy, Confidence).
(-3 Olmec thousands, -1 Olmec Jaguard thousand)
Portuguese forces in Iberia and Africa begin one last desperate offensive. Twenty five thousands of men in Iberia and some eleven thousands in Africa charged forth to confront the Carthaginians in battle. In Iberia, Carthaginian armies are outnumbered, and their supplies are slightly harassed by Roman privateers, and the Phoeniceans are their equals in martial skill - not to mention that they are fighting for their own lands. Still, the Carthaginians do win. They are only marginally outnumbered, they have high morale and finally... their leadership is far superior. The Emperor actually shows interest in military affairs, whilst the Portuguese king seems to just sit around doing nothing in Lisbon, giving rather vague instructions. And the military leadership of Carthage has a competent officer corps, whilst the Portuguese... for all of their civilization, still are like barbarians their ancient ancestors were in regards to the matters of tactics and strategy. The Portuguese inflict many casualties due to their ferocity, but lose eventually. Needless to say, in Carthage, where all of their Iberian advantages are reversed, they fair even worse. In two battles, the Portuguese regular army is decimated - at Baecula and at Saldae. The Portuguese Mauri, with the fleet still nowhere to be seen and with the Carthaginian navy ruling supreme in the Western Mediterranean, surrendered without a fight after the decimation of the army, not to mention that many people in East Mauri are Carthaginians anyway. The local governor retains his position under Carthaginian rule, but as for some reason no forces were sent to take control of the province, the Berbers occupied many parts of it. Back in Iberia, the levy resistance continues even after the king's suicide, but the Carthaginians spare all towns that don't resist - whilst those that do resist face a horrible fate, pillaged, its men slaughtered, children enslaved and women raped. After a while, the resistance quiets down, and Carthage has won a great victory (+1 Confidence). Controlling so many minorities might be hard, though - the Celtiberians already have rebelled in the north (-1 Culture). And, needless to say, the war effort is compensated (-1 Economy, 1 Economy from Portugal to Carthage). Carthage is now one of the world's greatest empires, holding the keys to much of the Transpoenic Sea trade.
(-Portugal as a nation, -12 Carthaginian thousands, -1 Carthaginian levy thousands)
Notably, the fate of the Portuguese fleet remains unknown. Where did it go? Some say it went far to the south, to be eaten by resident sea monsters. Others still say that it went west, and was destroyed by the storms. Third people yet say that it sailed far to the north, to Hibernia, where the sailors took up native wives and lived happily ever after. Much more likely, ofcourse, is the version that says that they became pirates. Arrgh.
And in the meantime, the Gauls use the defeat of Portugal to get back on their other enemies. There are many problems involved, ofcourse, but the Germannics were safely pushed beyond the Rhine, using their disorganization. No orders were given about the Parisii, but the army present in the region pushed the rebels back, restless as it was with what essentially was garrison duty. The Parisii still are fighting, though... Needless to say, the Grand Gallic Army is marching south, to defeat the hated Kartyrians and Romans. Now, it is rather likely that the army would have been routed for the same reason the Portuguese lost to Carthage, if not for the utter lack of coordination between Kartyr and Rome. Kartyrian forces, expecting Roman help, charged north to Alesia. Romans, surprised by Kartyrian absence, shrugged and continued to sit in Gergovia, occasionally raiding the Gaelic countryside. The Kartyrian army, outnumbered and surrounded, would have nonetheless been well-suited against partisan action - but the Gauls gave open battle this time. Frankly they were just as unprepared for it as the Kartyrians, but as they were fighting in native soil they managed to envelop the Kartyrian army and utterly crush it, though taking many casualties themselves. Only less then a thousand of Kartyrians escaped due to the nature of terrain near Alesia (they were hemmed in between rivers Brenne and Ozerain), and the Gauls, much-encouraged, struck for Gergovia. They encircled the fortress and assembled simple catapults and battering rams, and used archers as well to wreck havoc on the city with incendiary missiles. Romans sallied out, but the Gauls were waiting for just that. Nonetheless, the brilliant Roman leadership and the nearly-equal numbers saw a large part of the Roman army escape efficiently, and albeit the Gauls did eventually take Gergovia, it was not without casualties. For now, the Gaelic hopes for a further offensive seem futile. Nonetheless, numerous Kartyrian-held lands in Gaul defect back, with the Ligurian levies dragged away for Kartyria and the loss of an administrative center in the occupied territories. The war effort continues to strain economy (-1 Arvernii, Kartyrian, Roman Economy)...
(-9 Arvernii thousands, -19 Arvernii Champion thousands, -1 Arvernii mercenary thousand, -7 Arvernii levy thousands, -14 Kartyrian thousands, -9 Roman thousands)
Meanwhile, most surprisingly, the Carthaginian army in Kartyria withdraws, all the way into Pyrenees. Dumbfounded, the Kartyrians follow, and both sides build forts within the passes. Everybody is confused. The Kartyrians, who assumed that this means peace, were even more surprised by the minor Carthaginian naval raids on their harbor - the Carthaginians flee as soon as Kartyrian ships appear, Kartyrians return to the harbor, Carthaginians return and so forth. Finally, annoyed, a Kartyrian admiral led a part of the fleet, combined with a nearby Roman fleet, to pursue the Carthaginians, but was eventually led into a trap. Part of the Roman fleet escaped, but most of the pursuers were caught between the Balearic Islands and sunk in a ferocious but brief battle, though five ships surrendered (+5 Carthaginian ships).
(-15 Kartyrian ships, -11 Roman ships, -4 Carthaginian ships)
Dacians try to do some diplomacy with Germannic tribes, promising them money if they were to attack Illyria but not giving any, but the Germannics don't care and continue like usual, attacking everybody they see.
(-1 Illyrian thousand, -1 Free Illyrian thousand, -1 Dacian levy thousand)
The Dacian army continues to attack north, using a "blocking strategy" that is highly effective and results in the devastation of the remaining "unfree" Illyrian forces. Unable to bear the strain of war, Illyria collapses as its king jumps on his sword, and a few Illyrian survivors defect to Rome (+2 Roman thousands). The campaign is over so fast that the Dacians aren't really strained by it financially. Free Illyrian power is now imposed over all of Illyria.
(-Illyria as a nation, -4 Dacian thousands)
