jalapeno_dude
AKA Panda Judo Eel
Update 0: The Beginning
13,700,000,000 BC-2000 BC
In the beginning...well, we don't really know what happened in the first 5.39121*10^-44 seconds. But after that, there was a bang. A big one, you might say. Though of course no one we know was around to see it...
Ages passed. The universe expanded and cooled. Great black holes formed, and attracted stars around them, thus forming galaxies.
We'll pick one of these galaxies at random. Let's pick a star on the outer spiral and zoom in, shall we?
Eventually, the random matter orbiting around the star, which we shall call the Sun, formed into lumps. One of these lumps was at the right place at the right time. As it cooled, it happened to be in the narrow belt of space in which it could have an atmosphere and liquid water.
And eventually, from the compounds colliding with each other in the ocean, life emerged, a rare event.
Still later, some of the organisms grouped together in social structures for safety. And then they began to kill each other. Let's call these strange creatures humans.
Roughly 13.699998 billion years after the universe was formed, humans and their civilizations had come to dominate the globe. Let's examine some of them.
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One of the major areas of civilization was the Mediterranean, in the middle of three continents. On the rivers and plains in its east, civilization first formed, and gradually moved west.
The new nation of Byzantium has just formed, led by a leader whose name has been lost to history. But instead of slaughtering the tribal council in his rise to power, like most of his kind, he had the novel idea of keeping them and letting them direct his decisions, or so they thought. This strange form of government, used by the nation that straddles a strait in its middle, is called a republic.
But it will not be easy for Byzantium. Others have risen before it. To its southeast, the nation of Troy is building a empire of its own. To its west, the ever-present barbarians loom. In Greece, naval Athens and warlike Sparta struggle for control. And Minoa in the south is ever-present, dominating trade in the Aegean. The Minoans speak of far off countries like "Aegypt" and "Karthag"...
Will Byzantium be destroyed? Or, by taking advantage of its amazing location, and through clever diplomacy and warfare, can it control the Aegean?
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Although thought by some to be a myth, the nations the Minoans tell of are largely real.
For centuries, Egypt was in chaos, gripped in petty civil wars in the First Intermediate Period. The period is nearly over, as two states have risen from the chaos...
Egyptia is one of those states, far down the Nile River. Having united the petty lords of Upper Egypt, they now challenge Lower Egypt.
Will one of these nations unite Egypt for the first time in many years, then beat back the Nubians or conquer the crumbling Syrians? Or will something entirely different happen?
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Far to the west, still in the great Mediterranean but beyond the knowledge of any nations yet mentioned, lies the city-state of Rome. The people there hold a distant memory of descendence from a once-great but now fallen Troy far to the east, a city far greater than the one that is there now.
The Romans are one of two leagues of cities that dominate their part of the world. The other league is that of the Etruscans. Composed of twelve ancient cities, they have watched in dismay as Rome grows to rival them, rather than joining them.
Can the two nations join together peacefully, or will there be war? And what will the ever-present barbarians in the mountains that run down the spine of Italy do?
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If we move south in Italy, we gradually move far from the influence of these leagues. Passing over a large island known vaguely by the Minoans, we move south to Africa and Carthage. Recently founded by a group of Syrians expelled from their lands in a quarrel, they are trying to start a new life here. But they are only slightly stronger than the Berbers, who eye their lands hungrily...
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Far to the north, the nation of Prussia rises in the forests, distinguishable from the barbarians surrounding it only in that its rulers have established a clear line of succession, and that its warriors prefer pointy sticks instead of axes.
A bloodthirsty people of warriors, the Prussians itch for war. But they are hopelessly outnumbered by the many tribes surrounding them. Unless, of course, they can be turned against each other...
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NPC Diplo
From: SpartaTo: Byzantium
Help us destroy Athens, and you may have the islands they control.
From: Minoa
To: Byzantium
Let our ships trade through the Bosporus, or we will open it by force.
From: tribe just south of Prussia
To: Prussia
We know we will be invaded and destroyed, as we are weak. Promise not to kill us or take our women and we will join you peacefully.
From: tribe directly southwest of Prussia
To: Prussia
Pay us 1 EP tribute a turn, or die! Your pointy sticks cannot meet our bronze axes!
From: Etruscan League
To: Rome
Will you join with us, or must blood be shed?
OOC: There are more countries, obviously, but you don't know about them yet. Orders due Wednesday at 6 EST--remember, they must be PMed.
BTW, I've dropped the training stat. It wasn't fitting in with what I had in mind.
Others should feel free to join.
Map and stats up momentarily...
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