200 A.G. - Civilized Contacts
The Valuan tribe, having limited success with the taming of the wildcats attempted a breeding program that would breed a fierce cat who could be trained by humans. Thanks to the success of the new education system being implemented, the new generation of upper class is knowledgeable and enables this breeding program to work, the cats thus bred are approximatley twice the size of the domestic cats and can be controlled to a limited extent, unfortunately, if the cat manages to mate in the wild he refuses to return to the owner which leads to all the cats used for hunting being 'neutered'. This means a small stock of breeding cats is kept and every generation a few wild cats must be captured to bring new alleles into the gen pool, although the scientificness isn't known to the Valuans.
The successful education system is taken up by a large proportion of the upper and lower classes, but few of the middle class. This has led to more wise-men but less peasants in the fields as those with education seek less menial tasks, this created a food shortage in the middle of the century. However, seeing the need, the Monarch ordered the houses on the banks of the river to be demolished, and farming the land immediately to both sides of the river Esperanza has seen an increase in yields and this famine was averted in the years to follow. Attempts to mine in the mountains failed, small depositis of gold were found in the river beds, but the metal proved too weak for weapons.
To the north, the Valuan tribe has surrounded the small tribe, the attempts at converting the tribe were moderately successful and approximately 3 in 4 people of the tribe adopted Starisanism as their form of worship, but there is as yet no union between the two tribes. The police troops maintain law and order in the city and the populace is glad to see them there, rather than have them out where they aren't seen. To the west, the fishers tribe agree to teach the ways of fishing in exchange for becoming absorbed into the growing empire as a separately governed province, they recognise that the Valuans are the most advanced in the area and wish to share in their prosperity while retaining independence, missionaries were treated well, but there were no converts as all waited to see what the answer from Madlonde would be.
In Taludria, the government was changed to a Clan-SYstem, this reduced the confidence felt towards the government and why the change was necessary was unknown, however, the new government allows greater trade and education, but less patriotism as the people are loyal to the clan-chief rather than Opri. The Druids, with elss influence upon the government began to teach the brightest children regardless of background and although there is confusion as to the change, some progress is made, with more expected in the years to come.
More warriors were trained in the ways of Rami, and the military forces expanded, the southern tribe bordering Taludrian lands joined Taludria without a fight, but the western tribe refused to join, without orders to accoutn for this possibility, the warriors on the border looked menacing, but so did those of the tribe. The heroic hunters travelled west into the mountains, but made little progress along the moutnainous trails and encountered no other peoples.
More endurable crops were cultivated, but these produced less yields, though with a greater consistency than previously. With their time taken up educating the children, the druids made no advances into food storage.
The Hrarklon priests educate the peasantry in agriculture and mining, unfortunately there are so many peasants and no opportunity for further learning that this is mainly a waste, however food yields do increase over this period although whether this is due to new methods of farming or simply to warmer weather and more farmers it is unknown. Meanwhile, the peasantry become happier as it becomes clear they wont be sacrificed, and high crime is reduced due to this penalty.
Other priests are sent to try and convert local tribes, while this is successful in one case, without warriors to back them up (the few warriors are stretched over a large area), the priests are met with cold steel - Jergism isn't particualarly tempting for these other peoples. Shortly after the priests leve, barbarians raid the village killing the leaders, the tribe begs the Hrarklon warriors to protect them and they are absorbed into the tribe. From a distance, a small town is spotted tothe west, although nothing is known of who lives there.
The Lakaedeki army was mostly equipped with bronze weapons during this period, however the equipment of the new elite fighting force took precedence and so not all the warriors had their weapons upgraded. These Lakaedeki Hoplites were pulled from families at random and trained from the age of 10 to 20, while this was a fair way to choose the candidates for training, not all were suitable, some having poor eyesight, others partially deaf or weakened physically, this meant that only 1 in 2 of those chosen to become Lakaedeki Hoplites actually made it, the remainder became normal warriors.
An approach was made to two tribes on the other side of the river ot the Lakaedeki capital, and although one tribe was persuaded to join simply through presentation of bronze gifts, the other refused and killed the diplomat through greed, rightly so, the newly formed Lakaedeki Hoplites marched on the village and killed everyone in sight, only 5 men were lost, 2 dieing from injuries after the battle, and 35 warriors of the village were kileld and although these included young boys and old men, the effectiveness of the elite force was proven. Expansion north and southwest was made with outposts established in the southwest at the border of the Dalekoda. Although the offer to unify kingdoms was rejected (see below), a royal marriage was made with the younger daughter of the Dalekoda king marrying a prince of the Lakaedeki and goodwill between the two nations was fermented, and patriotism on the part of the people was increased by this royal wedding. Contact was also made with the ildarians in the North.
With warriors enforcing the building of the sanitation, much progress was made, and although the building could only occur in the sumemr while the ground was dry, almost half the total system was completed. The project seems to be proving its worth with a greater life expectancy in the city due to the elimination of much disease. There were also orders to try domesticating horses but except the king, none knew what these 'horses' might be.
OOC: Note, you dont all have horses, explore a bit to find them if you really want them.
IC:
The Mohadeen too developed an elite force known as Riders of Vajradhatu, light cavalry with javelins and bows they are used for raiding and skirmishing. The Mohadeen horses are smaller than those elsewhere in the world, but have been domesticated for a long time, unfortunately efforts at breeding these horses large ended in failure. More blacksmiths and bronze workers are now available to the Mohadeen, and their entire army has been equipped with bronze, attempts to purify the bronze have had varied effects, yet it is still an ongoing process although with so many bronze workers it cannot be long yet.
A new mosque was built in Jadipuur, and it is now a centre of learning. Attempts to irrigate the lands around the river succeeded and plants can now be cultivated through the dry season, an irrigation canal was started towards Jadipuur but there were too few workers and much demand on their time to be farming and working bronze and building the new mosque and praying that this was only half completed.
Expeditions to the tribe who had previously rejected the Imams met with the same results, this time however, the warriors were armed with bronze weapons and were not impressed with the jewels and bronze, they suffered losses against the Riders of Vajradhatu, but retreated into forests where the effectiveness of these riders was limited, when the riders tried to sweep past, they were struck by javelins or darts and there is still an impasse. The Imams were completely confused about where the tribe got these bronze weapons and decided that the situation must be approached most carefully. 30 Tribesmen were killed and 15 Riders of Vajradhatu were lost.
The Toku, having lost their leader the Sadi revolted and were taken over by a radical general believing in his own supremacy. The general founded his dynasty there and the people are now in a traditional Monarchy, the focus on war is still there and the army expanded to a large size, this made people unhappy, but the coup had been too recent for any to complain. Two neighbouring tribes were conquered and their villages razed, the few captives became slaves and all the plunder was taken back to the General, although there was a loss of nearly 50 warriors.
Diplomacy
From King Aldalons of the Dalekoda
To King Aegesaulus of the Lakaedoki
Salutations! We too are grateful to find another people who know one end of a sword from the other, we hope that peace between our peoples may continue for many generations, as a simble of unity we offer our daughter to you, although we feel that unity of our two kingdoms is not appropriate at this juncture.
OOC:
As erez has gone I will take over the Toku as an NPC, someone else can take control of them later or erez can.
Not everyone has horses or access to horses, if you want them you must explore, same for other animals, later on they can be traded and will inevitably come to all civilizations.
I haven't added names of places this time, will do next time, I will also draw up a list of cities/villages that everyone has so they can be distinguished from one another. Amen's sewers are a project so they may take a turn or two to complete but will be worth it. Panda, think about where the tribe may have got bronze from - they are small and have no metalsmiths + the bronze is pure, if you find the source, you may learn to purify.
Think thats all. Update in 2/3 days again. Friday if possible.
Maybe you should PM those who did not send in orders?
I will do later or tomorrow morning, maybe they'll see and posty again before.
I'll get my orders and stuff up later.
