LINESII- Into the Darkness

[andis-1]

OOC: Thayli, the Race is called the Swade. There is no Swadeists, or Swadeians, or Swadese. Thoush Swadese would be acceptable, but The Swade is the perferred version.

...and plural is swades. (sweden, swedes)

 

[alex994]

OOC: You know, it doesn't make sense for a heavily land orientated military power to concentrate on her navy all of a sudden swiss Kaiser Wilhelm II doesn't count

 

[Swissempire]

OOC: Aye, but We are religion oriented more than Land-Oriented. We have secured our home turf and are going to spread overseas. Think of it in terms of Organized Crime, we need to Globalize to increase Profits and creidtablity. But its mostly about our inferiority complex towards Oneists spreading all over the world before we did, so we have to do it better.

 

[Wubba360]

OOC: Not to mention you have one port that is miles away from any other city.

 

[alex994]

OOC: *Notes to self again* All Priests, monks, holy men of any other religion, philosophy, or belief which is not similar to Guangfei way of thought will not be allowed in and if contested will be executed.

On another note, I don't think New Veritas, Swade, and everyone else for that matter aside from Nurmafer knows about Guangfei

 

[alex994]

The Storm Rages 2​

“The best men to deal with a problem, are men that are not part of the problem.” –Emperor Wu, Fourth Emperor of Guangfei

Emperor Wu’s reign was shocking in all aspects in that it was discovered, that Guangfei was not the only civilization in the world. Contact was made with Nurmafer and they were recognized as another people, another civilized people, who developed independently from Guangfei. Though it was true that many officials at court openly denied their existence they were mostly ignored.

The bomb was dropped so to speak, when one of these “barbarians” asked for an audience with the Emperor desiring a position within his munificent court. The officials were shocked beyond belief and normally if anyone just walked up to an official asking for a Court Position they would usually be laughed at. He however was a “barbarian” who spoke quite fluent Guoyu and was well versed in history as well as the theories of notable writers.

It was the first time that a foreigner of non-Azhou stock was allowed before the Emperor in an official audience. To top it off it was in a time of relative crisis, in which the Convention of Chibi had just declared their infamous message of revolt against the Empire. Men of skill was needed, the Empire urgently required them to command the vast forces they were building up for a multi-pronged strike against the revolting Princes.

And if a barbarian had the necessary skill and knowledge to command soldiers, so be it. He would be accepted into Guangfei society with open arms and if he prove to be strong, courageous, bold and brilliant, he may even be awarded with Imperial Favor. And that would not be something difficult for him to accomplish. He was after all, unique among everyone else by the sole difference that he had different skin color.

Diversity can be an obstacle to overcome, or an advantage one can use. And in this man’s case, it was an advantage. Since he was related to no one, beholden to no one, and practically knew no one in the Empire, he was someone the Emperor soon came to trust.

He said he hailed from the Lands of a Great King whose land in wealth and splendor was equal to Guangfei and had come victorious in a War against another land. He had chosen to left his native land as his entire family had been killed in the War of Resistance as his family had been nobility and was targeted by the enemy. Needing a way to sustain himself, he traveled throughout the lands learning languages and ways of life until he traveled through Nurmafer to find the Land of Gold and Silver which Guangfei was rumored to be. And that was how he got here.

His name was Ar Man Ri Che Liu.

 

[Kal'thzar]

Alex, are you stealing my mans?

 

[Wubba360]

are there orders this week

 

[Kal'thzar]

I'm gonna send orders then NPC, general guideline stuff :/

 

[alex994]

Alex, are you stealing my mans?

He's of the minor nobility and yes, Khemri.

You know, I'm surprised no one recognized his name yet... *shrug* None of you are francophiles though...

 

[das]

DAMN! I thought it was supposed to be Persian, the beginning was quite similar as well but the end confused me. Should've known that you would find a way to put a Frenchman in ancient China or the equivalent...

 

[alex994]

The Eye of the Storm​

“When the cats are away, the mice will play” –Ancient Guangfei proverb

As the respective Emperors, or Emperor and hopeful Emperor marshaled their forces, greater things were at work such as human nature. For this would not be a war fought between small professional forces, but the massive armies. Admittedly here Emperor Wu had an advantage over his brother Prince Hong in Shangei. The people LIKED Emperor Wu and so many of them volunteered that the officials in charge had to turn away not quite a small number.

In the territories of Prince Hong it was a different matter altogether. As a general rule, very few people volunteered at all. Even with massive offers of cash bounties up front in addition to land after the war there were nearly nil volunteers. Though there were many beggars and people short of cash who volunteered, took the money, went home and was never seen again. In fact, some of them repeated this somewhere else and collected the bounties over and over again.

The massive armies, while in comparison to later armies were actually quite small, they none the less baffled the finest officials of Guangfei in how do arm them. There simply wasn’t enough time to make them all melee weapons to arm all of them, and even if they could it would simply be TOO expensive. Trying to arm around 7 thousand men into the army isn’t something that can be done really.

And really, how many of these volunteers knew how to use a spear or a sword or an axe? Nearly none of them, and those that did could hardly be called proficient at it. Bows were discarded as well for many of them lacked the muscles one needed to be a proficient bowmen. The solution was a simple one, build a weapon that anyone could use which was mildly effective and simple to learn.

The finest makers of wood and metal met under the Emperor’s son (a bastard son of the Emperor in fact, as he had no Empress) met to design a weapon that could be used by all peoples. It was decided in the first hour that it would be a projectile weapon. After that no one else could agree on what type of projectile weapon would allow an untrained peasant to strike down armored swordsmen.

As their deliberations went nowhere, the Emperor himself decided to begin training half of these volunteers into swordsmen and having swords form the backbone of his army. While this half trained in fighting with a sword in the harshness of hand to hand combat, the other half merely watched on not sure of their place here at war. And still waiting for their fate…

An important step happened when a small bow was given to them and they were asked to hit a certain target to test their sight and vision. The ones that had terrible sight and vision were sent to become swordsmen while the ones who passed remained. The rumors by now were vicious in all directions on what weapon would be assigned to them and why using this weapon required good vision.

As it so happens, the group of craftsmen had designed a weapon that would fit the criteria from the Emperor. They called it the Shi Jian and tested its capacity in hunting and other uses so that its use would not be limited to just war. The weapon was Heaven sent indeed as Prince Hong’s army composed of much more nobles and was in fact centered on them with the spearmen and other soldiers as auxiliary. Meanwhile the nobles that remained loyal to Emperor Wu, using loyal loosely, mostly remained on the sides.

These nobles under Prince Hong brought with them excellent bronze armor that proved quite difficult for bows to penetrate through in the opening skirmishes between the two forces. At an engagement south of Jianking, a small portion of Guangfei’s standing army clashed with the full army under Prince Hong. The results of the battle proved the fears of the officers and other well connected people loyal to Emperor Wu. The nobles with their swords and armor cleaved through the spearmen.

Though the Shi Jian was still undergoing testing, the Emperor ordered that since the weapon had prove adequate and filled his criteria, he ordered the said weapons to be built at a massive number to supply the volunteers that still awaited. The Emperor at that time assumed that the Shi Jian would be nothing more but a stronger bow, but oh how he was wrong…

The Crossbow had appeared on the Battlefield…

 

[alex994]

OOC: Since I've been reading all the stories of the past, what did happen between the Assemblum and Strategius in the 7th day, 7th month of the 777th year after the Diaspora?

Will the records ever be reopened thlayli? I WANT TO KNOW

 

[alex994]

The Storm Rages 3​

“A wise person once said the character of a man is his destiny. And I agree.” –Prince Hong, at the beginning of the Battle of Shi Shan

So it was to be the Battle of Shi Shan which decided Guangfei’s future. It was a battle which should not have been fought. It was a misnomer, an accident, a collusion of fate. This decisive battle was fought over a small hill of no importance one mile south of Jianking. One could say that the Battle began between the scouting forces of the opposing armies. Prince Hong’s scout force was forced to retreat and Wu’s force took the hill and began signaling back to the main force with the new banner system.

Alas, fate and Heaven intervened here. As a massive downfall of rain fell from the skies and covered the battlefield. The signals were interpreted incorrectly by their opposites in the main army. Instead of saying “Enemy defeated, small force” it was thought to said “Enemy coming, large force.” As this hill was in front of the left flank of Wu’s army guarded by a small detachment of crossbowmen and spearmen, the commanding officer panicked and advanced to occupy the hill.

While that happened, the scouts of Prince Hong, while battered, saw the advance of Wu’s left flank and immediately assumed that a full fledged assault was beginning to take place. Hurrying back to command, they informed the Prince of the impending hammer aimed towards his right flank and overestimated the size of the enemy force.. Prince Hong, canny from years of warfare was shocked. His instinct had told him that his brother would try to hold a defensive position and not an offensive one.

Losing trust in his instinct, he commanded the Duke of Shangei to march with the right flank as well as half of the center and seize the hill, Shi, and drive back the enemy. As his right flank advanced, signals were being quickly relayed back to Emperor Wu about the assault into his left flank. Unaware of the fact that his left flank had begun fortified the hill and assuming that they were still on the plains, he ordered them to hold their position until reinforcements could arrive.

Emperor Wu then prepared his forces on the right and center and ordered a march against their opposites in the field. This is perhaps a good time to examine the forces arrayed against each other. Prince Hong’s army composed of the standard troops in the Guangfei Army for decades, spearmen, axemen, and archers supporting his powerful swordsmen. Emperor Wu’s forces on the other hand were different, much different. He had a well balanced army with around equal numbers of melee soldiers with around 3000 crossbowmen along with 5 catapults.

It would be crucial, the crossbowmen and catapults as the armies clashed. As the news of the advance of Wu’s forces towards the left and center reached Prince Hong, he was taken back. Either his brother had a lot more forces at his disposal then assumed, or he had pulled off a brilliant feint. There, his character doomed his destiny. At that instant, as the odds turned against him and as two armies continued to advance towards each other, he was doomed. A different man would have retreated to preserve his forces for another battle, another day.

Because his character would not let him as after all, he had grown up hearing about fearless heroes. Told by courtiers in his pampered childhood, who spoke of great and brave heroes who stood against all odds and won, and he believed them. He grew to hate men who would retreat, and saw them as cowards. He hated even more, underhanded tactics such as the ones that took Shangei. In his eyes, great men fought each another on the field of battle, not stabbing a man in the back.

That was the reason Emperor Wu triumphed at Shi Shan. While Prince Hong was a skilled tactician, he simply could not see the big picture for he had forgotten about his own ancestor. Liu Bang did not become great by being a great and brave man, but by being a coward. Breaking a truce and striking his enemy when his back was turned, that was how he won. His opponent, the great and honorable Xiang Yu, had the traits which Hong did, and ended up dying on the banks of the Xi opposite Guanzhong.

Prince Hong ordered the rest of his army to advance and clash with the enemy playing into Wu’s hands. Seeing his brother’s forces advance, he ordered a stop and began preparing his weapons of war. The weapons which had never been used in battle, untested but believed upon. The catapults unleashed their loads of small rocks and with a twang began shredding the densely packed enemy formations. There were few fatalities in truth, but you don’t need to kill a man to stop him from fighting. Shredding off his arms, legs, as well as blinding him works as well.
As Prince Hong’s army was 250 meters from the well dressed lines of Emperor Wu’s army his archers began firing on his forces. Well armored and ready for the barrage, the arrows did little damage. What did do damage was the counter barrage from Emperor Wu’s crossbowmen. Firing 2 shots a minute, they decimated the enemy forces. The finest armors of the wealthiest nobles stood no chance as the bolts sliced them through.

No one can stand against a barrage of crossbow bolts that came twice every minute knowing that your armor couldn’t protect you. An impromptu charge began, as some soldiers just began charging against the enemy melee desperate to get out of the rain of death. The rest with the exception of a few began charging too as they assumed it was an order they had missed. And discipline from there on ended as Prince Hong’s troops became nothing more then barbarians with no cohesion. No soldier who charged survived.

And on the hill? Hong’s forces were decimated again and again as the crossbowmen fired from their height upon the enemy forces marching up despite the heavy downpour of rain. Charging from all directions, they were driven back not once or twice, but three times. By now the rest of Wu’s army had finished off Prince Hong’s army and fell upon the forces surrounding the hill. Caught between the forces on their outside, and the forces on the hill between the hammer and the anvil in essence, they were shattered. Here, they surrendered and gained mercy.

The main supporters were all captured, each surrendering themselves to the Emperor. The Dukes of Shangei and Shysang, and other more minor nobility were sent back to Guanzhong.

Prince Hong, with his family, was no where to be seen...

 

[Silvara Thirrol]

Yay! New nation.

Climate description:
Constant shifting winds and dense covers of fog often sweep through the thick, green forests in the heart of the nation. Located on a peninsula and connected to the mainland on its east border, it contains a small mountain range on the border, fairly isolating it from the mainland. Most of the lands are rough and hard to traverse, due to the complexity of the terrain. The Shadowlands possess much coastline, being a peninsula. A massive rain shadow falls on the mountain range’s west side, creating a dry, chaparral barrier where water is extremely scarce.

Yes, I like describing stuff and writing stories.


Nation Template
Aithean Shadowlands
Cities: Capital - Iolar Geimhread. Cities: Feileacan Liath, Ean Samhradh
Leader: Lehandra Sunwing, Council of Kronos/Silvara Thirrol
Religion: The Winding Path
Government: Limited Monarchy
Economy: 2- 2/0
Population: To be determined by me
Army: To be determined by me
Navy: None
Education: None
Technology: Copper Age
Confidence: Tolerating
Culture: None
Wonders:
Description: The peoples are scattered throughout the nation, adapting to the different extremes of environments. Although different and separated, the various clans meet on a regular basis in different locations of the country. They stay close to nature, building few cities and also lead a semi-nomadic life. Attracted to the arts, supernatural, and the occult, they love music and have learned to respect the forces of nature in order to live peaceably. Although preferring to live in harmony, they can be vicious when provoked in the wrong manner. Shadowlands natives can be distinguished by silver streaks in their hair, however, this is not reliable as not all natives have this trait. As a result of their close connection with the flora and fauna around in their world, they are master trackers, healers – and superb at poisons. In years past, this nation was often overlooked, due to their elusiveness and low profile. Though close to nature, they still manage to keep up with new technologies, while trying not to lose sight of the old ways and traditions.

Quirky, no? More on the religion and stuff later.

 

[Swissempire]

Where are you on the map?

 

[alex994]

OOC: I believe her location will be determined by Lord Iggy. I say "she" due to her account name. It's not like I introduced her to nesing or anything...

 

[Kentharu]

what have you done alex!!!

another soul is now lost to the hellish world of NESing

 

[das]

Yes, good job. Although, account name isn't really any indication - remember "JessicaKathrinn".

 

[Wubba360]

hey welcome to nesing