Out of the Rubble I – The Byzantine Empire

BTW, looking at the map, I have reason to believe that the "island" the Carthaginians are on may be part of the mainland. Of course, so far the part of the map where they might be linked is unexplored, so it's up in the air whether or not that's two landmasses or one.
 
Yom said:
Oops, I meant Ceasara, not Nicea (that's what you get for glancing at the map). It is built on a floodplain wheat. I would move it and make the city a settler factory.
Darnit. So you are saying that I should not have built my city on wheat? :(

Yom said:
Edit:mad:elementgoo: 404 Item not found.
Use the link on his sig.
 
@MSTK, you dont get the full bonus when building on resources, I think that you get any additional shields but the food is always 2, 3 if agricultural. correct me if Im wrong. It also means you cant improve them (mine/irrigate).
 
Bonus resources are better avoided. Luxuries and strategic resources (iron, coal, oil etc.) are fine to build on.

Try to not build on bonus grasslands, instead go for Floodplains, normal grassland and if you have to; on plains.

But don't worry if you have no alternative; from city 3 onwards it looses importance as the strategic location and distance to your other cities are then more and more important.
 
MSTK said:
Darnit.
Oh well...so what resources should I not build on?

Strategic resources for ow. Worry about trading bonus resources when you are more stable
 
CHAPTER FIVE: The First Melian Wars
Recorded from the Security Cameras in Coullon Elsar Junior High.

November 17th – 11:45

The fourth period class of Mrs. Mallory filed in with a monotonous charm, awaiting the next lesson in this Byzantine Lesson.

“Okay, turn your books to page 143,” Mrs. Mallory spoke, awaking the class. Their books turned to a large map of the Byzantine Empire at 825 BC.

“Now, as we covered yesterday,” the teacher started, “The Byzantine Empire had just discovered writing. As well, they had just started on the pyramids, re-arranging their building structure.”


“This action was made in an effort to contribute to the growth in the Byzantine Empire. Currently, they would complete this project first, according to spies and embassies they had established in other countries. Scott, would you read on?”

Scott was caught by surprise, but he read in the books to where the teacher had stopped summarizing. “The Triangle of Melian The three advanced civilizations who occupied the Melian Continent and overshadowed Carthagia were the Koreans, the Indians, and the Byzantines. All of them had very sturdy relationships as friends.”


“Okay, class, look at this next picture,” Mrs. Mallory said, opening the discussion up.

“Now, if you were faced with this previously inferior country who was expanding towards your borders, and you had the free chance to take away their expansion, what would you do?”
A hand went up.
“Yes?”
“I would attack them!”
A murmur of approval rang throughout the classroom.
“But that would ruin the friendship. And, Korea has a superior military. So one city may cost us our own – and we wouldn’t even gain a city – the city would be destroyed because it was too small to keep.”
“But didn’t the same thing happen with India?” a boy asked. “And they did the same to the Byzantines?”
“Yeah, but that time they had the advantage,” someone else replied. “It’s like how you only hold a poker hand when you think you’ll win.”
“Yes,” another started, “but in Poker, you don’t gain progressively. One turn does not affect the next.”
“Not if you count your chips or money.”
“But is world history counted on money?”
“World history is counted on respect.”
“No it isn’t! It’s all money!”
“It’s like dinner!”
At the comment of the last, the entire class fell into a silence.
“What the heck do you mean?”
“You know, how like you only eat something when you feel like you have an advantage over it.”
“That didn’t make any sense. The food isn’t competitive!”
“Unless you count the restaurant business.”

“Class!” Mrs. Mallory interrupted. “I know that this debate is a very relevant discussion, but don’t you guys have any more meaningful analogies?”

“Well, think about an operation,” one started after everyone had a moment of thinking. “You only let it done to you in the hospital of you feel that you are up to it.”
“Yeah, but if you aren’t they’ll just put you to sleep.”
“That was exactly my point with the dinner analogy!”
“Hold on…what about my operation analogy?”
“Yeah, you don’t want to get circumcised if you don’t feel like it.”
“What is circumcision?”
“It’s when they c–“

“It’s a Christian thing,” the teacher quickly added, to keep the topic from going out of hand. “Let’s not delve into tha–“

“Do Jews get circumcised?”
“They’re the same as Christians.”
“No we’re not!” the class Jew objected.
“But you all believe in God and Jesus.”
“Not Jews.”
“Oh. Then who believes in that then?”
“Christians. Get it? CHRIST-ians?”
“What’s a Christ?”
“It’s when they hang you on a cross.”
“No, that’s Christ-fixation.”
“So then Christ is the cross?”
“So Christians are the people who want to get hanged on the cross?”
“I’m confused.”
“So am I.”

The teacher realized that this conversation was getting out of hand. “Okay! Enough discussion! So what have we learned about the Byzantine’s choice to attack the Koreans?”
“They did it as an easy way to stunt Korean expansion.”
“How did you conclude to that?” the teacher asked, curiously.
“Well, I think that the classroom debate told us all.”
“I sure hope they haven’t installed security cameras here,” the teacher chuckled nervously. “So, back to the books.
“The Byzantines successfully razed the Korean city of Chijou or however you say it. They quickly helped India to join them. This therefore sparked the First Melian Wars – a war between the three main powers on the continent of Melian. But meanwhile, on the other side of Melian and off the eastern coast of Sweorcan, the Voyage of Christophe Elsar had found themselves another civilization.


“What the Byzantines had discovered was an island, completely off the coast of Melian, that they dubbed Myein. The island was inhabited by the Chinese, as we all know.”


“They should have attacked the Chinese! They were at a definite advantage!”
“Quiet, Scott. Inter-island warfare had not yet been discovered,” the teacher reminded him. “The Koreans were technologically far behind, and their treasury was shallow. Their expansion had gone pretty quick because of the little space to settle and the small need for a military. Therefore, they rivaled the Byzantines in city number, but not empire area. Theodora felt as if there was nothing to gain worthwhile from the Chinese, so she left them alone.”
“I still think they should have gone to war.”
“Quiet.”


“Around this time, the citizens gratefully accepted the chance to improve the palace, adding an extra story and some better lighting. But you should all remember the graffiti poster that was put up on the first palace improvement. It was “Kill the Indians!” The Byzantines had a knack of building improvements at the time of war, and now ‘Kill the Koreans’ had come up.
“And speaking of improvements during war, it was about this time that the breakthrough to Mapmaking finally came. The Byzantines decided to refocus all the labor that had been put into the Pyramids and double-time them into creating the Great Lighthouse, which could let them sail over the Blue Divide.”
“What would that help? Inter-island war had not yet been discovered.”
The teacher answered this quickly. “These new ships that were made from mapmaking allowed cargo to be carried. This meant that they could carry entire towns on their backs, and establish colonies on other landmasses.
“Plus, the Byzantines had a special secret. Has anyone ever heard of ‘Greek Fire’?”
“I’m guessing that it’s fire. And it’s Greek,” a smart-alec student replied.
“Actually, Greek Fire was invented by the Byzantines. It is a secret so well guarded that when it was lost to one man alone – a science advisor known as Alexander Nerdian III – the entire world lost its secrets and still cannot find them today.”
“What a nerd,” someone called out.
“Actually, the term ‘nerd’ was invented when the Military Advisor used Alex Nerdian I’s last name as a vulgar adjective,” the teacher pointed out. “Anyways, Greek Fire was one of the most powerful weapons in the Ancient Age. It had the effect on psychological fear that nuclear weapons had today. Stored on these new Byzantium ships known as Dromons, Greek Fire was shot out of cannons as a ‘liquid fire’. Upon contact with anything tangible, it would stick to it and ignite on fire. This included human bodies, wood, and even water. One of the most devastating things about the Dromons were that they had a lethal bombardment to throw this liquid fire and, with one shot, burn down an entire armada, because it burns even on water.”
“So you’re saying that now they should declare war.”
“It’s not about declaring war! It’s about cool pyrotechnics. Today we have something called Naphtha that is almost the same quality as Greek Fire. But at that time, they were still creating these Dromons to deploy. The first Dromon would be timed at the same time as the Great Lighthouse, so they would deploy fast into lands overseas.”

“Now, back onto the Melian War. It was about this time that Korea came begging towards the Byzantines to stop the war. But this next picture from the Battle Plans showed the arrogance of the Byzantines. As well, it also shows that the Korean Attack force came from the south instead of the north. Go figure.”


“So they decided to declare war?”
“At this same time, the Byzantines completed their first road to a source of Iron. They quickly utilized this source to create the first Swordsmen on the face of Melian.”


“So the Byzantines are winning!” a student declared.

“Not exactly,” Mrs. Mallory replied. Three things happened that settled the tragedy that was the completely pointless First Melian Wars.
“The first was the loss of the Second Battalion, who had survived after many centuries. You can read about them in The Great Unknwon, by Coullon Elsar, whom this school is named after. The Second Battalion had just achieved veterency, when they fell into a barbarian camp, which was built upon a hill structure. This was known as the First Fall of the Elsars.

“The battle was fought, but the barbarians had an advantage. They were a warlike tribe, who were actually quite advanced. In their hills was a complex defense system, which successfully held off the entire First Battalion, who had lost half of their number already.
“And then, in what was known as the Last Stand of the Elsars, the Voyage of Christophe Elsar fell to another barbarian – a galleon. It had fought off at least three, but this last one took down the Voyage of Christophe Elsar for the last time. The Elsars’s glory days went into the ocean after successfully circumnavigation Melian.”

“The last and most devastating was the Varna Ambush. After successfully amassing an enormous attack force that dispatched from Varna, two divisions of the Korean Military blocked there way. In what was a cruel twist of fate, the Korean Ambush completely eliminated the stack of Swordsmen, Horsemen, Archers, and Warriors alike – a single force that could have wiped out most of the Indian Empire. As well, this left Varna itself undefended.”


“Naturally, this devastating chain of events knocked the Byzantines into reality. There was no way they were going to gain anything from this war. The war actually cost them more than it gained. But they were forced to negotiate.”

“This time, the Koreans weren’t so humble.”

The class observed the deal made, and then the classroom bell rang.

“Okay, that’s it, class. Homework is to look up on the internet and find 10 facts about the First Melian Wars, Greek Fire, or advanced military tactics.”

“I still think they should attack, because now they have a Right of Passage AND the Greek Fire,” Scott said as he got up.

As the last of the class filed out, Mrs. Mallory prepared to repeat the lesson all over again.
 
Good story, interesting writing. Loved the class idea.

Anywho onto the story, damn the tricky koreans! But you should make up for you stall in plans against taking out Korea.

Good Jon :goodjob:
 
I already played out the next turns. I'm just trying to decide what t\style of writing to do with them. The Classroom idea was a lucky spark, but I thinkk I'll have to re-use the "textbook", the "novel" or the "diary" styles.

ROP rape sounds nice...especially with Korea. But at the end of the turns I just played, reputation just got a lot more important...

BTW...it's called "The Breath before the Plunge". I'm still thinking about the style to write it, so don't expect it too soon, especially with me having no internet connections to upload it from.
 
Very nice story - keep it going!

V
 
EDIT: Wow. This definitely isn't one of the better chapters.

CHAPTER SIX: The Breath before the Plunge
Quoted from The Seeds of the Byzantine Empire; Published by Doughton Muffin.

Soon after the First Melian Wars, troops that had survived the bloodshed included a battalion of Horsemen from Varna. Old times took over Theodora, to try and reclaim the Glory Days of her empire – the age of Exploration. The story of the Four Battalions still were ingrained into her heart, and without hesitation and heed to the cries of the Military Advisor, the Fifth Battalion was formed from the horsemen, who could move twice as fast. Risk analyzers established the chance of success to be high. The Fifth Battalion was established to explore the unknown depths of Sweorcan which the Voyage of Christophe Elsar had missed before its fall.



Though, the choice was not of a dire importance. In these years of peace, the line of despots faced no more decision than what cities deserved more attention and what to build. The Dromon as under construction – the Greek Fire was almost ready. But the Great Lighthouse was not. However, again the risk analyzers do not see any problems. The building would commence as planned.

About this time, Gandhi learned strange Spanish, although how he knew the language was unknown. The only civilizations he knew were the low Carthagians and Chinese. But, upon demanding tribute to Theodora, Gandhi replied



“No Problemo” soon became common slang around Byzantines, and they looked into this strange language. But weather these Spanish were really out there on Earth still remained unknown. That was the purpose of these Dromons and the Great Lighthouse. The Spanish were suspected not to exist, though, because their names were not on the Great Historical Books – although many of Byzantine’s friends were not in there, too.

Soon after this integration of the Spanish language, the deadly Greek Fire was prepared, and fitted onto a Curaugh. Plans were taken from the Barbarian Galleys, which were much more advanced than the Curaugh, but were no match for the Dromon.


In a stunning display of pyrotechnics, the Dromon destroyed fleets of previously formidable Galleys as if they were paper. No ships could escape the mighty Dromons. At this new age, the Byzantines ruled the seas with a stone fist. All that was needed was the Great Lighthouse to be completed, and they will see what oceans lie beyond this Blue Divide.

Everything was once again good, until bad news came. As it always did.



The Byzantines quickly grew a burning hatred towards these Portuguese! They had heard of them before – the Great Portuguese who had completed many wonders before this. They were the “Glorious Portuguese” in Machiavelli’s book of wealth. Though they were the “Forgotten Portuguese” in Toynbee’s book of land area, they triumphed over the Indians, Carthagians, and Koreans all.

But they did not have the Greek Fire.



The killers of the Fourth Battalion received a great beating in revenge. They did not stand a chance at all. They had no hope, for the Dromon was just too great for them. One by one it picked them off. Soon, it was ready for the journey.

At the same time, the labor invested in the Great Lighthouse paid off, though in a different form.


And then, the Golden Age rolled in. It was unusually placed, but it started the ADs. The Golden Age occured in "0 years Before Collection", and therefore, all dates from that point on were after the "collection".




In this Golden Age, nobody dared to deface the newly expanded palace.

Soon enough, a second Dromon Fleet was created.
Diaries of Theodora said:
These Portuguese who have the knowledge to create the Great Lighthouse just a few generations before us must too be on this great water – the Blue Divide. But they are not on Melian! They must be on an island like the Chinese. But this island must be far away.
These Dromons are formidable, and I have confidence that they can traverse these waters even without the Great Lighthouse. From the docks of Smyrna, we will set out.



It was said that the voyage was in reminiscence to the great author Daftpanzer. Soon, all payed off. The Southern Dromon Fleet had found a new landmass. It seemed to be populated by barbarians. But out of these barbarians, at least one civilization must have risen out.



Unfortunately, the North Dromon had not survive these desperate conditions.



Then the dreams and nightmares of the Byzantines had come true. They had found the “Glorious” and “Forgotten” Portugese at last. And they wanted revenge.



Unfortunately, their “nemesis” were not perturbed by the “Great Byzantines”. Theodora had found a civilization so great that it dwarfed the Byzantines in technology and military. But at least they did not have much gold.

But upon further exploration, a new enemy appeared.


The Persians were almost unheard of earlier, but their names were on the Great Books. The Persians out-teched the Byzantines almost the extent of the Portuguese. Theodora’s heart sank. What turned out to be a glorious expedition turned into a calling to monsters.
And, their treasury was almost twice as large as the Byzantine’s.



And then the Trio was complete. The Egyptians were inferior compared to the other two of the Trinity. But compared to the Byzantines, they were the last straw that soon drove the population into insanity.
The Unholy Trinity. Now all that was needed was a LUEnarhawk99.

The historians quickly compiled a histograph which showed the Byzantines in relation to these new empires.

 
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