JalNES II: Quicker and Easier

[jalapeno_dude]

Should I send orders? Just got back.

Yeah, that would be good. I'm not going to get to India until late tonight or tomorrow at this rate.

 

[North King]

Funny that I'm assumed to still be in India.

How late? Can I send it at midnight or so?

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Funny that I'm assumed to still be in India.

How late? Can I send it at midnight or so?

Yes, though if you're in Mesopotamia earlier would be appreciated.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

So, NK, where are my orders?

Essentially finished with Mesopotamia. I'm breaking until tomorrow.

It's quite possible the update won't be up until Monday. Apologies for my slowness.

 

[Dachs]

It's quite possible the update won't be up until Monday. Apologies for my slowness.

Nah, it's okay. We almost all got orders in late, after all.

 

[North King]

So, NK, where are my orders?

In your inbox, obviously.

 

[alex994]

Essentially finished with Mesopotamia. I'm breaking until tomorrow.

It's quite possible the update won't be up until Monday. Apologies for my slowness.

OOC: It's no problem, your updates are so speedy that I have little to no time for any serious mind-searching aside from thinking about the next orders

For the record, my orders were in on time.

 

[Abaddon]

I am excited for this update

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Really? I thought you weren't in this NES anymore...

 

[Abaddon]

Well I had a change of heart (and LA got permabanned )

 

[bestshot9]

Going to leave tomorrow for a week of camping.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Update Five: מנא ,מנא, תקל, ופרסין​

1600-1400 BC​

Wherein the empires of the past are cast down, so that others may rise up...

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Ultimately, archaeological records reveal Hyksos domination over Lower Egypt to be a brief intermission between periods of native Egyptian control. While the Hyksos excelled at looting and sacking cities, they proved unable to create a unified or centralized state, and for the most part control of territory devolved to the local tribe or warlord (or, in the case of Dor, back to the Phoenicians). The resulting weak proto-states were easily integrated by Men-Nefer as part of their drive to the Mediterranean, which met no significant opposition with the exception of the core Unican cities. Here, progress was slower, but successive Pharaohs over the course of the 16th century rallied public support by leading campaigns against the northern infidels; under the reign of Thutmose I in 1498 BC, Hadir itself was finally sacked, and, in a cruel twist of fate, its inhabitants enslaved. Although the Unican pantheon was adopted by the Canaanite tribes of the Southern Levant, it was purged from Egypt itself.

The resulting complete control of the delta brought great wealth to the pharaohs of Memphis, but it also led the southern cities to dwindle in importance and influence, to the degree that several of them were allowed to leave the federation more or less without a fight. Indeed, Memphis itself became mainly a religious center; though the formal seat of the Pharaoh was there, in practice government was based out of Tamiat on the Delta, making the name of the state somewhat of an anachronism.

Other cities, meanwhile, took advantage of Men-nefer's indifference to build coalitions of their own--most durable and important were states centered around Thebes, which also controlled much of the Red Sea through Quseir, and around Asyut, cult center of Anubis.


Carchemish's rise to hegemony and its catastrophic fall were both encompassed within the 17th century, but its independence was maintained until well into the 16th century. Indeed, there was sufficient time for a revival, under the leader Parshatatar, grandson of Talmi-Teshub, who was convinced that he could surpass his grandfather's glory if only Zubria would once again become part of the empire. As recorded in correspondence of the time, though, he made not secret of this ambition, while at the same time spending nearly a decade before launching an actual attack. This left plenty of time for Zubria to raid the various ship-construction sites on the Syrian coast, as well as for it to forge alliances. In exchange for formally recognizing and accepting perpetual Phoenician dominion over Paphos, the Zubrians won their full support, as well as, crucially, their naval expertise. Two centuries before, Carchemish had succeeding in landing troops in northern Tyros, marking the transfer of power from the League; but in 1583, the combined Phoenician and Zubrian fleet crushed the Hurrians, the superior Phoenician ships outmaneuvering the enemy and sinking most of their army. When, shortly afterward, a freakish storm destroyed the remnants of Carchemish's navy as it limped into port, the aristocrats and oligarchs of Carchemish lost whatever faith they still had in the line of Aplahanda, deposing Parshatatar and installing a series of weak kings.

Abandoning any hope of further expansion, from this point onwards the rulers of Carchemish focused simply on not losing any further territory, leading to larger and larger conscription of troops to staff the many border fortresses built during this time period to guard against incursions from Phoenicia, and, especially, Babylon. Early rulers refused to acknowledge the threat of the Hatti, who continually raided and campaigned in the western frontier of the empire. The situation continued to deteriorate, as the loss of naval trade and continued warring led to popular uprisings, which in turn required a larger military and loss of troops on the borders. The vicious cycle continued until the 1530s, when the Hittites, under Mursili I, succeeded in conquering Ugarit, the major port of the empire. This allowed the Babylonians to invade from the southeast, and, finally, the revolt of the Phoenician coast to succeed, leading to the reincorporation of Berut into the League and a loose alliance between the League and Gebal. In the last years of his life, Mursili I finally succeeded in capturing the city of Carchemish itself and demanding the surrender of the empire. Though he had planned a further campaign towards Babylon itself, using the treasury of the conquered city, Mursili I died before he could make it a reality, either from exhaustion or an attempt by his heirs to preserve the wealth of the conquered territories for the Hittites.

Regardless of Mursili's intentions, his successors elected to conserve their resources and establish a stable border with Babylon. This, incidentally, allowed the Babylonians to crush a major Kassite attack on the city, but the ensuing chaos allowed the formation of another empire. As Urkesh five hundred years earlier had joined with the Hurrian hordes to birth an empire, so too did the merchants of Arrapha join with the hordes of Shekhna to strike against the Hittites and Babylonians, conquering an area stretching from the ruins of Urkesh to the territories once held by the Kadrian nation. Of course, the nascent empire was as stillborn as that conquered by the Hyksos, collapsing into dozens of petty successor states.

One state, Mitanni, whose kings, ruling from Washukanni, claimed descent from Kirta, a prince of Shekhna, grew steadily throughout the 15th century, incorporating other Shekhnan successor states. Near the end of the century, the great king Shaushtatar made Mitanni a world power--first by conquering Assyria and plundering Assur, then by, in 1408, seizing Carchemish from the Hittites and seizing the Mediterranean coast.


Upon the conquest of Carchemish, the Phoenician League promptly became a vassal of Mitanni, as it had become a vassal of the Hittites when Mursili conquered the city. In exchange for the tribute, the merchants of the League, which had developed into a loose defensive alliance between all of the cities of the Phoenician coast, were generally left alone and free to pursue their own policy. In addition to the previously discussed support of Zubria, League merchants had offered their support to Minoa even as it began to founder after the eruption of Thera. Two centuries later, the Minoans had, despite maintaining independence, essentially Phoenicianized, adopting the pantheon, customs, and culture of their League supporters. This seems to have been at its most extreme in Rhodos--diplomatic records from Tamiat indicate that all official business on the island was conducted in Phoenician, using the recently developed alphabet.


The Phoenicians and their Minoan client state, though, were not the only developed civilization in the Aegean--indeed, the Minoans by 1400 had been largely eclipsed by the growing power of Mykenai. Mykenai was a very loose federation, or a tight and ritualized alliance system, of kingdoms subservient to the high kings at Mykenai. It had a significant warrior aristocracy and a complex pantheon centered around the worship of Poseidon, as well as advanced textiles and metallurgy. Since the formalization of the high kingship and the corresponding end to petty wars, the Mykenai had expanded their dominion from their base in the Peloponnesos to cover Boiotia, the western Hellenic islands, and parts of the Aegean and Aitolia. Their conquest of the Aegean, though, was looked on unfavorably by the League, whose navy was instrumental in repelling an invasion of the holy island of Kythira at the turn of the century.

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The 16th century saw the fall of the last two non-Aryan strongholds, remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization. Sumbiti, which came to see itself as defender of the Aryan peoples (and, more pragmatically, the major trading power of the Arabian Sea), spearheaded a coalition of city-states in the conquest of Karanu and its ally, Sutakagen-Dor. In the case of the former, Shlobi used its navy to enforce a blockade of Karanan trade while inciting less civilized tribes to attack Karanu itself. The Aryan warlord Gupdah, hailing from the city of Lohri on the border with Karanu, used the opportunity to conquer the nation and install himself as king. Tarashna itself underwent a famous twenty-year siege before Gupdah succeeded in brokering a compromise, whereas Tarashna could remain a ceremonial center for the pure Karanu religion and culture, in exchange for the promise of the high priests not to intervene outside the city. Thus the capital of Gupdah's new Karanu was in Lohri, but he adopted most other respects of Karanu governance, including the aristocracy (which rapidly became a hybrid of Aryan and Karanan) and hierarchical culture. Always carefully remaining friendly with Sumbiti, by the mid-15th century Karanu had again become a regional power, extending its territory up the Indus to form a border with the southward-expanding Harrapans and along the coast to come close to Shlobi itself.

Sumbiti conducted the latter case, the attack on Sutkagen-Dor, mostly on its own, as it was hard to find local city-states to assist, and in any case the merchants of Shlobi desired the key trading ports of the nation for themselves. After a naval battle ended in the complete destruction of the Sutkagen-Dor, the three cities were annexed into Sumbiti more or less peacefully, and though by 1450 control over the inland area had passed to a local client state, Sumbiti maintained direct control over the city itself, in a similar arrangement to Phoenician dominion over Paphos. With the additional trade from Sutkagen-Dor, and having eliminated all of its overt enemies, Sumbiti during this period was arguably the most powerful nation in the world, a crossroads between East and West that by 1400 had an established embassy in Babylon and whose traders, though still scarce, were becoming less of a rarity even on the Phoenician coast.


Catalyzed by the growing volume of trade from the Indus and the growing demand for worked goods from the slowly civilizing states to their east and south, the states of the Ganges underwent slow but steady expansion during this period. The first archaeological evidence for a multi-city state near the Ganges delta, Vanga, with its capital at Campa, appears around 1500; Vanga was near the eastern limit of the Aryan migration to this point, and thus does not show signs of a caste hierarchy, though it does seem to have followed a proto-Vedic religion, as funerary urns attest. Founding epics suggest that Vanga was founded by a member of the Kosalan ruling dynasty, and indeed the nation seems to have enjoyed good relations with the more established state, though it perhaps for a period of time after its founding paid tribute to it.

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Records of the Yue during this period are surprisingly scarce, perhaps the result of deliberate destruction by later periods. In any case, the succession of Divine Emperors appears to have continued without significant interruption. Though expansion slowed significantly, the Yue for the most part avoided the tumultuous events that occurred further to the north, though its traders used the opportunity to seize influence from Koguryo along the Yellow Sea coast, continuing to establish trade outposts and embassies. An expansion of the Emperor's Will chariot force, though, seems to indicate that the Yue did indeed have to fend off a number of invasions. In general, Yue by this time was powerful enough to survive a series of mediocre rulers unscathed; it would take a great ruler--or a terrible one--to significantly change its geopolitical situation.


As the westernmost Chinese state, Zhou continued to act as a magnet for barbarian invasions. Around 1550, finally, the Zhou were overthrown by the Wei peoples, who promptly fragmented, in the grand tradition of barbarian invasions, into a multitude of warlords ruling petty states. Shortly after the turn of the century, however, the core Zhou territories were again united in a Wei-ruled empire claiming the mandate of the Yellow Emperor, which, following its predecessors, began to advance along the Yellow River towards the sea. They were met, however, by a radically different Guo state, which in response to the series of defeats it had suffered had become radically militarized (as had its pantheon, now primarily centered around Xoluc, the moon and war god). Thus it was the Wei who were defeated this time, and who had to retreat back to their core territories, though they were not followed by Guo, content with its gains thus far.

The defeat of Wei opened up the ruling class to charges by the mostly-Zhou underclass that they had lost the mandate of the Yellow Emperor. A series of uprisings, especially in the southern territories, rapidly grew out of control and led to the formation of the splinter state of New Zhou towards the end of the 15th century. Wei continued its seemingly-irrecoverable pattern of decay, surrounded in the south and east by hostile states, and with the western barbarians again posing a major threat.

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OOC

Dreadnought will be NPCed if he doesn't send orders.

For someone who has yet to send orders, Littleboots caused me no end of confusion by naming himself Arrapha but then having his capital at Ararat, which is not at all near the city of Arrapha itself. Grrr.

NK, I believe I placed Campa according to your instructions, but I'm not sure, especially as according to this map it seems like it should be southeast of there. If you'd like me to move it further towards the delta, I'll do so.

Again, apologies for the slowness, and quality, of the update. Blah blah blah family excuses, work, laziness; you know the drill. I'm not sure I really like the two-hundred year updates; if I do it again, I'm going to require more long-term direction from you guys. Perhaps a new order format is in order. Suggestions?

I've reduced China's total income to better balance it with the other cradles, reflecting the fact that it currently has the smallest number of major states and cultures.


Story Bonuses
None, again.

Random Bonus
Earliest orders: Sumbiti. Reward: actually maintaining direct control over Sutkagen-Dor.

Best Orders: Daftpanzer, Alex994, Vertinari118.

Next Deadline: Saturday 7/26 at 9 PM EST.

 

[alex994]

OOC: So... Where's Troy?

Nice going on the map too, I'm so excited!

 

[North King]

I wasn't aware it was 200 years. That might have helped. Campa should indeed be further over, but you had a big black thing there for some reason. If you want to move it to make it historically accurate, that's cool with me.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

OOC: So... Where's Troy?

Nice going on the map too, I'm so excited!

Troy is clearly marked on the map. Why do people persist in thinking that just because something doesn't have stats, it doesn't exist?

@NK: It was said in-thread, but in the future I'll put it on the front page. I also can't seem to find a map with Campa's exact position marked--only the approximate location of Vanga. Help?

 

[Dachs]

OOC: So... Where's Troy?

Our Wilusan enemies trading partners don't get a color yet. Besides, Wilusa ain't supposed to have a large empire, or anything beyond a city-state plus allies. Many, many allies.

 

[North King]

Hmm, I doublechecked the location, and now I'm not sure at all where it's supposed to be in relation to where it's on the map. Might as well just let it stay put; Vanga's ahistorically early anyway.

 

[Ninja Dude]

Senbari the Seeker​

Senbari was explorer, plain and simple. His childhood involved him exploring jungles and sailing with his father. He was taught the most popular trade routes. He was even told of a far of kingdom to the west that was large beyond compare. With a childhood filled with adventure and legends it is not surprising that he became the leader of an expedition at the age of 23.

His navigational skills were remarkable, even at Sumbiti standards. He kept the moral of his crews up with promises of riches and land. He was good at relating to the common merchant or sailor, making many of his men very loyal to him.

Senbari’s voyages at first seemed like nothing out of the ordinary. Trips to Lothal and Karanu were frequent, trading goods here and there. However, stories from his childhood echoed in his mind. The great kingdoms to the west surely contained unimaginable and glory to go along with it.

And so Senbari was given an expedition fleet by King Mashnati to go west in search of riches. The fleet is estimated to have been made of 30 ships, many of which were loaded with ivory and other goods.

The trips proved very successful. Senbari made maps to help him plan more efficient trade routes and to help others know the location of the western kingdoms better. Soon, trade to the west increased, Babylon was becoming less of a far off land and more of and good trade partner.

What happened to Senbari is very much a mystery. Some say he kept on sailing until one day he sailed off into the sunset, never to return. Others think that he went to either Babylon or Lothal, where he made maps until dieing of old age. It is much more likely that he was brought to Shlobi after many successful missions and retired, dieing of old age or disease after years of advising new commanders of fleets.

 

[Daftpanzer]

Excellent update

@Ninja Dude, too bad you had to break your ancient oaths and attack innocent Karanu, as well as our friends Sutkagen-Dor. Fortunately, your evil betrayal played right into my overal master plan. Now we will avenge your great crimes.

If you are nice to us from now on, Sumbiti might eventually survive as our vassal state, but no promises

 

[Ninja Dude]

Excellent update

@Ninja Dude, too bad you had to break your ancient oaths and attack innocent Karanu, as well as our friends Sutkagen-Dor. Fortunately, your evil betrayal played right into my overal master plan. Now we will avenge your great crimes.

If you are nice to us from now on, Sumbiti might eventually survive as our vassal state, but no promises

I did think about the ancient oath for a little bit. But then I realised that it was hundreds of years old and no one would remember it. Also, you were pushing around the poor Aryans, so I had to step in.

Also, I kind of figured that you had some plan when I saw that your nation hadn't disappeared or atleast shrunk. Oh well. You planning was pretty good I guess.