LINESII- Into the Darkness- Part II

alex994 said:
OOC: Do you know what it means by the "eyes across the ocean?" :confused:

Well I'd assume the Citadel, the Valins, and probably Sintonia too, though they don't have a navy.


From: The Valin Republic of Veritas (which I assume can contact you)
To: Gerougia


Greetings. Accept our apologies for the ragged state of our embassy, but we are currently engaged in a brutal war with an enemy that has pillaged our lands, and slaughtered our people. They call themselves the "Bladeists," after the weapons of death that they prize above all things. We are the people of Veritas, the Children of the One. You seem like in stature and skin tone to one of our race, called Valin. Valins have light skin, and worship the supreme ruler of all Tellus, named the One. Perhaps you are forgotten cousins of our people, who fled Paradise into an Exile, as did we.

We wish only for three things from your good people: Peace, trade, and friendship. To cement the bonds of goodwill between our people, we offer you a strong and durable metal, called iron. It can be bent to your will with proper knowledge, and forged into whatever your people require.

We only request that you do not heed the lies of any who call themselves Bladeist...they have done enough damage to our world.
 
FROM: The Men of the Land of the Ancients
TO: Fellow Disciples of Autogenes


No apologies are necessary for you embassy. If you will permit us, we will outfit in our finest clothings and our craftsmen will have a hand at repairing your magnificent ships. We know of barbaroi and it is our fondest wish that our enlightened cousins succeed in bringing the Fire of Autogenes to light the dark places of the world.

As for the relationship of Valin and Gerougioikoi, we admit that our legends do indeed tell of an ancient exile. Our hieroi (priests) would love nothing more than to consult with yours on the nature of the First Journey and the possibility of our relationship. We are greatly encouraged by the similarity of our languages. While certainly not the same, Valin was not a difficult language to learn. From these signs, among others presented by the King of the World Himself, we believe we are brother races. We embrace the gifts you have given us and assure that our harbours are open to our friends when they are in need.

Our final proof is in our shared love of the One Creator of the Universe and we praise Him and thank Him for delivering to us fellow followers of His ways.
 
From: The Valin Republic of Veritas
To: The Disciples of the Autogenes


Your kind treatment of our emissaries is truly good. Let it be written that a great brother race to the Valins has been found in the wise and kind people of the Gerougioikoi. And in the days of our friendship and alliance, we will bring the Light of the One, whom you call Autogenes, to shine upon all your lands. And the Truth of His reign will be known, and His Order shall be upheld.

For truly, you too are His children. And that we should be the first to meet you, especially in these difficult times, is surely the One's doing. Let us prosper in friendship.
 
Theres not really any specific name for an Ardan (thats the correct adj, anyways ;) ) general anymore. The Davian neil system (Moneil mostly) was abadoned after the Lengel invasion, there has never been a "Stratikor" despite the influences of Valins, and there isn't really anythin else. Its just General. ;].
 
OOC: Wait, is Buguan kind of Guangfei's vassal or something? That's what the borders on the map imply :confused:
 
A Dash of Crimson

“Fire to Redemption. Long Reign the Emperors” –Rumored last words of Count-General Fei Shala

Peace, prosperity, and stability, they were the traditional tasks of all Guangfei Emperors since the beginning of time. The Valfei War had ended and Qingdao remained Han. The Valfei were no more, either loyal subjects of the Emperor or exiles in faraway lands, besieged by enemies. What exiles they were, fighting and dying on foreign soil, following a faith, not a people, or culture. They were beyond shame.

That was the ideal Guangfei was founded, One People, One Culture, One Land, and One Empire under One Emperor. One religion if possible, but that wasn’t necessary. Culture and people above religion had been, and always will be, the Guangfei creed, witnessed at the Battles in Qingdao and the Dadong Pass where loyal Oneists fought against treacherous ones. The Birth of the Great Prophet Lao Tzu, the Han Pacian, as some of his followers called him.

And indeed, the ancient maxim was right. What does not kill, will strengthen. And how right it was, Guangfei was stronger and more unified then ever. Before the Valfei War had swept across the lands from Qingdao to Shangei, the people were divided with rebellion never far from mind. Yet how it had all changed in one single war as the national identity was strengthened, bonds of fellowship were made, and an Empire was forged to last for many millennia.

“Qian qiu wan dai” A thousand autumns, 10,000 generations, that was the length that Emperors and Kings dreamed for their dynasty and nations. Yet what nation had truly come to see that? If the first, then never the second. Empires rise, and Empires fall and the people do not always stay the same. Veritas, no longer truly Veritas, Khemri, no longer truly Khemri, and neither was Gorin. All other states have long been vanquished and only rebuilt.

Undoubtedly, one man, and one man alone was responsible for changing Guangfei and setting her into the new stone she had found for herself. He had no name of his own, just the name of his fathers. “Jiang” his name was the first of the infamous Hanfei, or traitors of Guangfei. Even after death, he was given no mercy or rest. Death, was only the beginning for him. His corpse was mutilated beyond imagination, then chopped up into small pieces, deep fried, and cast in all directions of the Fei River.

Fed to fishes, dispersed, all images and remnants of him gone, that was the penalty for treason of the highest order. And so it was to be, that the name Jiang became very unpopular in Guangfei. So unpopular that even "insignificant" peasants changed their surnames, not out of fear of the Imperial Government, but out of sheer shame. That one of their blood could do such a thing. It was beyond shame, it was complete disgrace to the family name.

A disgrace so terrible, that their name must cease to exist for the greater good so no further shame could be added. And so it was done, in less then a decade the name “Jiang” had ceased to appear on the Imperial Rolls throughout the Empire. The People, as always, was and is the Center of any True Empire. Without them, an Empire can never be an Empire.

A dash of crimson.
 
Thlayli said:
And I the second. Or...the third, or whatever! ;)

Imago, great work with the Order, too.

Cleric, sorry I had to do that to Exilsium, but you're welcome to join me and Imago as joint rulers of the VROV if you want.

So my broadband connection dies forcing me to use a 33.6 modem and this is what happens....splendid. You have diverted me from my peacful intention to feed on tropical fruit and trade stuff....guess I will have to turn to some good old fashioned ultraviolence. I will join you and Imago is this weird joint rulership system. Governorship of Exilsium would be nice. Are we at war with someone currently?

Iggy I still dont see Zion on the map.
 
Cleric said:
So my broadband connection dies forcing me to use a 33.6 modem and this is what happens....splendid. You have diverted me from my peacful intention to feed on tropical fruit and trade stuff....guess I will have to turn to some good old fashioned ultraviolence. I will join you and Imago is this weird joint rulership system. Governorship of Exilsium would be nice. Are we at war with someone currently?

Iggy I still dont see Zion on the map.

Sure, Governorship of Exilsium is yours. Actually, you still control the remainder of Exilsium's fleets and armies, so telling them to join the Republic will help a lot.

The Valin Republic of Veritas and the Order of the White Rose are at war with Swade, Khemri and Myocaca as of the last update.
 
Iggy, could I get a reply as to what nations I have contact with so I don't have to assume? Thanks!
 
To: Syracia
From: Kelios


We would like to ask your permission to spread word of the Holy Path into your nation, great king. It would be of great benefit to the people of Syracia to learn of the road to destiny.
 
Hamaniar was the first to speak before the Council for the Cenotaph. The Guides and councilors, and indeed the entire population, who had survived the sack of Aldisir relied on her speech to move the assembled. Her brow was damp with the sweat of concentration and nervousness. A young Councillor from Faransir stood to make his speech. Hamaniar admired his eloquence and charm, though the speech he made was merely a formality. The Council would overwhelmingly approve the second northern expedition. Faransir, crowded and overpopulated, was pushing hardest for expanding the borders, but no one truly opposed the Progressive agenda.

The young man droned onward, and Hamaniar saw rather than heard a tsk of disgust from an elderly Conservative councilor from Keliosir. Lasian, she was, the only councilor to oppose war with Tsaya. She was the oldest councilor, the most irritable, and the only one who (vocally, at least), opposed the civic fervor that had swept through Kelios during the war.

As the youth (Hamaniar could not remember for the life of her what his name was; it hardly mattered) wrapped up his speech, there was a lull of contented silence in the Hall. Everyone had heard what they wanted to hear. Everyone, that is, except Lasian. She stood now, and, waving a hand at the Most Revered in what could only be described as a flagrant breach of a custom Lasian clearly felt did not apply to the aged, tottered to the front of the Council. Most Revered Jarsindin, a rather ineffective man of middling age, another compromise choice, did nothing to stop her; she would speak no matter what he did. Hamaniar was a tad bit relieved. It would be that much longer before her own time to take the stand came.

Along with the rest of the assembled, Hamaniar turned a deaf ear to Lasian’s haranguing. Lasian was fervent in her own ideas but was hardly convincing to everyone else. Kelios embraced progress, and Lasian was simply too quaint for most of the populace. Hamaniar half-wondered what the people of Lasian’s walk[1] thought of her; he she simply been their councilor for so long that they had forgotten or forgiven her oddities? Lasian was stalking the aisles now, still speaking in a voice that boomed throughout the Hall. Hamaniar had seen this behavior a few times before; it meant that Lasian was looking for a target who had not been paying enough attention to her speech to make an example of. Hamaniar put on a smile and looked attentively over at Lasian, now trudging past the row in front of her.

Apparently, Lasian did not find any miscreants, so she stumbled back to the center of the Hall to give her final pronouncement of Kelios’s impending doom. Hamaniar’s fellow councilors were yawning around her, and many of the Guides had congregated in the rear and were engaged in what Hamaniar supposed must be a delightful philosophical discussion. Lasian’s voice trembled with conviction at her final pronouncement of the need to leave Tsaya (not particularly relevant) and to abandon the expedition (more so), and she took her seat. The silence this time was conspicuous for the occasional snores (mostly faked). Most Revered Jarsindin himself seemed to have nodded off a bit, but rubbed his eyes and shook off the sleepiness before calling for a vote.

The vote, just like the speeches proceeding it, was merely a formality.

“All in favor of the measure to fund a settling expedition to the northern lands?”

416 hands rose in the air. Hamaniar did not need to count; she knew 12 of the 429 councilors were either ill or at home. Jarsindin’s scribe looked suspiciously as if he, also, was not counting.

“And all opposed?”

Lasian stood all alone. There were a few snickers. Standing during a vote was an abandoned custom.

“Well, then, it is decided. By a vote of… hmmm… 416 in favor to 1 opposed, with 12 abstaining, an expedition will be sent to settle the northern frontier. And now, we will here from Councilor Hamaniar, formerly of Aldisir, who heads a coalition to construct a grand Cenotaph at the site of her former home city. Hamaniar, please rise and come to the front.”

Hamaniar’s hands were trembling again, and her brow was wet. She picked up her papers and wandered to the front. After a moment, she began to speak.

[1]A “walk” is more or less a constituency from the idea that districts within a city are supposed to be no longer than an hour walk all the way across.
 
Rebirth

“Thantos!”

The little boy pretended to be asleep. He knew it was his mother calling him, knew that if she realized he was awake, he would be forced to do some chore or another.

“Thantos!”

She was tugging at him, now, and it was ever harder to be still. And yet, Thantos had had a lot of practice foiling his mother. He knew just how to pretend to be asleep.

“There’s a visitor, Thantos. I know you’re not sleeping. Get up!”

Intrigued by the possibility of a visitor, as rarely did anyone come to his mother’s humble apartment in the city of Veritas, Thantos bolted upright. He blinked, and looked around, but saw no one out of the ordinary.

“You tricked me,” he said, pointing an accusing finger.

“That I did,” said his mother, with a self-satisfied smile. “Now, go run down to the market at the end of the street. We need… Well, you know what we need, you’ve done this enough times.”

Committed to getting his assignment done as quickly as possible, Thantos hopped out of the loft, flung open the door, and walked out into the crowded streets, barely remembering to take the coins from his mother.

The streets looked different, that day, to the little boy, as he hurried along, minding his own business. He wasn’t sure exactly why, but he felt something in the air. Thantos shrugged his shoulders.

Reaching the market, Thantos past by a display of apples, and grabbed one, almost without thinking.

Instantly, strong hands grabbed him from behind, and lifted him off the ground. Thantos flailed, for a moment, but was quickly dropped back down to his feet. He tried to scamper away, but the man who had stopped him was joined by a pair of friends, who surrounded Thantos, pinning him against the wall of a stall.

“What do ya’ want?” the boy asked, trying to regain a bit of dignity. He no longer held the apple; out of the corner of his eye, he had seen it had been returned to its place on the display.

“Nothing,” said the central speaker of the three.

“And yet everything,” said the one to his right.

The three were all large Veritasian men, and Thantos saw a glimmer of steel under their coats. They were soldiers.

“I…I didn’t mean to,” said Thantos. “You took it before I could eat it. No…no harm done.”

“Let’s go, Eukrates,” said the leftmost man. “We don’t have time for a mere boy. There are more important things today than your sense of wrong and right.”

The center man looked at the one who had spoke, and then shook his head no. “You are wrong,” he said. “How can we uphold our ideals, if we do not always uphold our ideals?”

The center man, Eukrates, knelt, lowering himself to Thantos’ level.

“Do you understand what you did?” he asked.

“I stole something,” said Thantos. “Stealing is bad.” He wondered when he would get to leave.

“Indeed,” said Eukrates. He paused. “There is a question I would like to ask you, young one.”

“What is it?”

“What could one steal that would be worse than stealing an apple?”

“A melon?” Thantos guessed, confused.

However, it seemed Eukrates had his own words to speak, and did not need to be prompted. “An island,” he said. “A nation.”

Eukrates got to his feet, and fire filled his eyes. “One can find the passion to do ones duty in all things,” he said. “Even in a little boy stealing an apple.”

He glanced from side to side, and his two partners, then waved his hand, and hailed down a Khmeri officer in the road, guarding the street from horseback.

“What can I do for you, gentlemen?” he asked.

“Can you give back what your people stole?” Eukrates responded.

The looked on the Khmeri officer’s face went from complacent, to shocked. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

Eukrates gave a firm look to Thantos. “Run along now, little boy,” he said. “Tell the world that a new dawn is rising.”

Thantos didn’t need much encouragement to leave to strange gathering. He ran off, but doubled back, remembering that he still needed to buy things at the market. He glanced over at where Eukrates was talking to the Khmeri officer, just in time to see that officer fall to the ground, covering it with blood.

Eukrates’ sword was out, and so were the swords of his companions.

As chaos began to fill the market, Thantos turned tail and ran. Something was being taken back, he knew.

What that was, he could not even begin to comprehend.
 
Iggy, isn't part of the founding of Littleboots state Bladeists? Or are they just near him? Because if so, shouldn't he like Bladism a lot more than Oneism?
 
Iggy I still dont see Zion on the map.
I assumed that the project made your capital a religious center, rather than creating a new city altogether.

If Thlayli will accept your slightly different views on religion, its religious center status will be restored (at a confidence hit to the other republics, however.

Iggy, could I get a reply as to what nations I have contact with so I don't have to assume? Thanks!
Sintonia, Khemri (by logical extensionn, as it's in Sintonia) Veritas and the Citadel.

To: Syracia
From: Kelios

We would like to ask your permission to spread word of the Holy Path into your nation, great king. It would be of great benefit to the people of Syracia to learn of the road to destiny.
You are welcome to teach your faith to our people.

Shouldn't the Order's economy be 2/3?
It only has 1 region, so 1/3 actually.

Iggy, isn't part of the founding of Littleboots state Bladeists? Or are they just near him? Because if so, shouldn't he like Bladism a lot more than Oneism?
Let me answer that with this:
Update said:
South of Sintonia, the city-states of Gerougia have been united at last into one nation. They find themselves suddenly powerful- but also suddenly under the attention of eyes from across the water…
Give that some thought.
 
It only has 1 region, so 1/3 actually.

Well then the stats are very wrong, because right now, it says 2/0.

EDIT: And before I can check, you fix it. :p
 
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