stgnNESI: Colonization 2150

[North King]

Jacob Martellus was none too happy with the world as it was. Firstly, there was the strange lack
of trees. Second, the irritating lake barbarians. Last, but not least, it was not a world he would
have wished to be stranded on.

Insects. He hated insects. Ever since he was a kid, swatting mosquitos (which also seemed to be
here on Aphrodite, though it was probably a different kind of insect. Insects that were to do the
same thing were inevitably similar looking), crushing small bugs, he detested insects, reveling in
every one he killed. And yet, it looked inevitable that he would have to interact with insects on
this world, for they were the closest thing to horses here. Speaking of which, he would have to
send some people to begin trying to train them...

The city of Sirius finally had an adequate waste disposal system, so it didn’t smell as bad as it
had, and the new grain was slowly turning into the staple crop. So the air was filled with the
smell of baking bread (Bread! How much he had missed it over these years), and the acrid smoke
from the Great Smelter, a project barely started on, yet still large.

His window (another convenience he was surprised to have; he’d assumed all the glass was
broken or reused, but someone managed to salvage a whole pane, a rare thing that he was lucky
to have) showed an interesting vista: that of the barracks of the city, training a new unit of men, a
unit armed with iron pikes and in the style of a Greek phalanx. Lucky that he was well versed
with ancient and medieval weaponry, for his people were hopefully going to come ahead in this
world. The Helantian pikemen were to be hopefully the best fighters in the world. Until they
could find some saltpeter to make gunpowder, that was. Until then, though, the Helantian
Phalanx would dominate this world, and then they could set about to industrializing this place.


Orders:

Try to domesticate the insect/horse things. If it succeeds, increase the army with whatever
number of horse/insect riders you feel is reasonable. If it doesn’t, don’t expand the army at all.

If it doesn’t succeed (the domestication of the insect/horses) then increase Intelligence instead of
the military.

Create Unique Unit: Helatian Phalanx: (great attack, good defense, slow).

Keep 75 men as a guard to the Northern Lake Barbarians. Advance with the other 75 men and the
UU against the southern lake barbarians, and try to at least drive them out of the lakes region,
preferably destroy them.

Continue Wonder.

 

[Global Nexus]

Beginning update. No more orders will be taken.

 

[Global Nexus]

Individual Nation News:

New arrivals appeared on Aphrodite – one from the Neo USSR colony ship, which, like all ships before it, met the same fate of destruction. Upon landing, they found themselves to be near one of the worst environments on the planet to be living in at this era…the Great Ruby Desert. The red sands of this Sahara-like desert, which stretched across much of the interior of the Eastern Continent, had no known uses and couldn’t be irrigated [yet]. On the bright side, lush hills lied to the south, along with a river. The leader of this new colonist group, known only by the enigmatic name “stalin006”, quickly set about expansion towards this lush area. Not only that, but he began work on an academy, the first academy on Aphrodite, almost immediately. A few scattered trees and forests were near them, and some tiny iron ore deposits could be found here and there, but nothing worth jumping for joy about. With the construction of their first city, New Hope, the newly-formed nation of Sovietika had started on the road to survival.

Another group of colonists, formerly scattered and disorganized, came under the rule of Rando Kvistblad. Under his great leadership abilities, a large group of colonists formed a new nation – the Star Pioneers. From the city of Camp Victoria, they expanded themselves inland, unaware that they were located on a fairly large island. Their island was a most interesting on, covered mostly by thick pink-leaf forests. They seemed no different from Earth trees, except for the color of their leaves, and some of the plants grew edible berries. In the meantime, most of the coast they could see was clear of trees and lush with grasses. On the other hand, not a single mineral resource was to be found.

First Island Nation was growing well. With its campaign in the jungles to the north, many of the “fallcrazies” were dead and much of the jungle controlled. There were few casualties, all of them from surprise ambushes. The assault was not complete, for a primitive fortification had slowed the soldiers down. After a tangle with a seemingly-intelligent [at least, intelligent for the fallcrazies] being, it fled behind this fortification. It was possible to break through, but would take a while to do so. In other news, the party sent to the western island met with a deep casualty of ten soldiers when more fallcrazies attacked them on the coast. One rowboat was lost, but the rest managed to escape. They got swept out to sea and ended up to the south of the First Island Nation’s island. Considering its locale was pretty good, a small port city was built. It had yet to be named. Atop the best source of copper in the area, the city of Shahtoholmsk was built. Here, copper-tipped spears were produced and sold, along with other primitive copper-based products. Finally, an astounding event came to the Nation – a group of humans, INTELLIGENT and SANE humans, set up a city to the north. Apparently, they came from a nation called Arashia, which lied on an island to the north. However, it seemed that Arashia was being assaulted by large numbers of fallcrazies, and that they were crippling the colonists little by little…

[Total Casualties: 15 soldiers and 1 rowboat]

Helantia’s military effort against the fallcrazies to their south proved incredibly fruitful. They were weak and toppled easily to their might. A few intelligent colonists were found within the primitive encampments of the fallcrazies, and were very thankful to the Helantian military. One of the encampments was on an incredibly good spot, atop a large hill with large rocks and boulders leading up to it – excellent for defense. The land near the site was less-than-great for farming, and the grain-like plant they had cultivated grew poorly in the soil, but a new crop – a bush that grew large, blue, juicy, citrus-flavored fruit – was starting to be raised in this area. With a new city and much more territory, Helantia sought to find a way to defend it effectively and thus formed the Helantian Phalanx corps, based off the ancient Greek phalanx formation. Armed with the iron spears and pikes, armored with the best shields and armor in all of Helantia, these troops were very powerful on both attack and defense. [on the flipside, Helantia was using basically its entire iron supply to produce the Phalanx] They could hold a position very effectively. The problem was…they were slow. Very slow. One man commented, “If the (Helantian) Phalanx were any slower, they’d go backwards when they marched.” And success was made in the domestication of the “insect horses”, allowing for faster movement and quick troops. Just in time, as well, for the fallcrazies to the north were gaining power, and would need to be dealt with soon before they became strong…

[Total Casualties: 4 soldiers]

In The Greylord’s Land, the five years passed mostly with a calm. Expansion was good, development was good. The army was expanded, to meet growing protection needs [after all, rumors were that some crazy humans were living around the southern areas]. And a Great Project was undertaken – certainly unlike any single building or device, it was a technique that was being developed. The technique needed to make super-thin-but-durable clay lamps. Thin enough to allow light through, but not allow air through to crumble the glowstone they were mining. With such lamps, they could make excellent trade deals with their neighbors.

Finally, the Haven Rescue Force continued to grow, though at something of a slower rate than wanted. The “horseants” in their territory proved to be a tad more aggressive than those in most other areas, which made domestication much harder. And, to their north, apparent Haven survivors who had gone insane were massing for an attack on their nation. If nothing was done, there would be a major crisis on their hands.

World News and Events:

Nothing special happening to the world at the moment.

NPC Diplomacy:

To: First Island Nation
From: Arashia

Greetings, fellow humans! We are so relieved to see other humans in the world…our efforts to survive are going downhill. Please, help us. We’ve built catapults and can help you build your own. Please…any help whatsoever is appreciated.

 

[Global Nexus]

Map of Aphrodite, 15 A.L. -

 

[North King]

Originally posted by Global Nexus
“If the (Helantian) Phalanx were any slower, they’d go backwards when they marched.”

Beautifully Said.

 

[das]

IC:

Story:

Day 102 - Forget what I said about this being a war. It's a slaughter. We slaughter them like food animals, or at least like hunters kill their prey.

Day 103 - DAMN THESE BASTARDS! They killed John and Alan, and wounded Andrei in an ambush. I don't think I will regret slaughtering them any more now.

Day 105 - Andrei died. We decided to bury him just outside of the jungle. We have half the jungle free from fallcrazies.

Day 106 - More ambushes. I barely survived, though I wasn't injured. Poor Tarin didn't make it.

Day 107 - We reached some weird fort of theirs. Dunno how they build ANYTHING like that. Maybe they aren't insane?

Day 108 - Wait, yes they are. Five fallcrazies just ambushes our whole group, which is still 45 men. None of us dead. Saw a bunch of eagle sized mosquitos - barely scared them off with my trusty spear.

Day 111 - Finally we attack! We made two crude rams, but these should be enough to take down this fort. This is for John!

Diplomacy:

From: First Island Nation
To: Arashna

We are very glad to see that there are some sane colonists left -we were afraid that the rest are too as the fallcrazies. You gave us hope. I understand you want us to help you battle the fallcrazies. We too have a problem with them on our island (by the way, if we fail to solve it soon, we might need your catapults), but it's much more smaller and we should soon crush them. Our "navy", meanwhile, is far to the south. If we can bring our four rafts back, we will send you our elite defense forces - the Islander Militia now. If not, then we shall build a new navy, and will bring them alittle later, and then we shall probably bring soldiers after them. For how long do you estimate you could still fight them back?

P.S. In case we manage to defeat the fallcrazies, will you give us your territory on our island, if it is your attempt to escape their rampage? If not, ofcourse, that would be out of question, but still.

Orders:
- Start the Irrigation Project (Random population boom, ++economy) (1/?)
- Try to retrieve the rafts from the south (by the way, the city would be Dalniy Port).
- If succeeded, load it with as much of our Islander Militia as possible and send it to help the Arishna.
- Grow navy.
- Fashion rams in the jungle and attack the fallcrazy fort with these rams and 45 soldiers.
- 60 men to expand north towards the Arishna colony and the jungle.
- 30 men on the landmass are to expand along the coast and keep on watch for fallcrazies and horseants.

 

[stalin006]

so i am at the bottom right on the map?

 

[IceEye]

Do I have the insect horses, too?





orders:
-start irrigation along the river(+economy, +population due to more food) with a large part of the work force
-send out patrols to collect berries, patrols should be protected by SECF1 or military personell(+economy, +population due to more food)
Both of the 2 projects I mentioned above work together but do not give too much population or economy and are projects that will be continued as the nation grows. Basically they are there to guarantee there is enough food.
-start a great project: The Log-Book House, a large house where a log is kept. The log is about from the date when the people landed on Aphrodite and it will include the history of primely the Star Pioneers for generations to come. Build it in Camp Victoria.
(+education, perhaps +some army due to pride of nation or something)
-send 80 soldiers up along the river to claim more territory and make the rowboats follow.

 

[North King]

The nation was content. The southern Barbarians were conquered, and the whole nation was
prospering. Agriculture was allowing a growing population, and Sirius was a boom town, with
thousands of people. Yet storm clouds loomed over the horizon. The northern barbarians were
getting far too powerful. And so Jacob Martellus planned the attack that would hopefully rid
Helantia of this pestilence. On a happier note, the economy was projected to rise, and the nation
itself was growing much better at its job. They only needed one thing.

The mountains to the north. These behemoths would stock the metals that the Great Smelter
would need. And with the Great Smelter complete, the Phalanx could be increased, and all the
other troops could be armed with iron. And so, the first curls of smoke rose out of its stack, and
iron ore could be smelted into steel...


Orders:

Increase economy (incorporation of new lands).

FINISH WONDER!!


Military Orders *SECRET* :

10 of the horse things will spearhead a thrust into the barbarian’s land, skirmishing and fighting
only if their enemies are weak enough, while the regular army follows to grind up all the tougher resistance and occupy the land, with the Phalanx at its front and
the sides guarded by the rest of the horse things. 100 of the regular army follows behind them, 30
regulars guard Sirius, and the rest load up onto the rowboats, sail over the lake, and try to harass
the enemy’s rear.

 

[Global Nexus]

@stalin006: You're the lowest nation on the eastern continent, yes.

@IceEye: Considering your location, no. The...ah..."horseants" aren't found on your island. On the upside, there's something else that'll be special for your nation.

@das: By the way, I need to thank you for the term "fallcrazies". It's an excellent fit. ^^

- - - - -
NPC Diplomacy:

To: First Island Nation
From: Arashia

We can old for a little while longer, but we don't know how long. Our Catapulteers can only hold off until the enemy is very close. Also, what are these insect creatures that we have seen some of your people riding? We have no such things on our island. Could you lend us some of them? Domesticated, I mean. They may help us hold out a little longer.

And yes, if the fallcrazies are defeated, our colony you may have. We have been sending out boats to search for lands where there are no crazies, and this place was the second we found. If we don't...I don't even want to think about what happens if they're not defeated. Good luck to you in defeating those you have encountered...

 

[das]

OOC: Any time.

IC:

From: First Island Nation
To: Arashia

We will hurry up with the help as fast as we can. As for the horseants, as we call them, we have only recently begun to domesticate them, but we will lend you some of our domesticated ones as well as some of the trainers - once we build more rafts to transport them as well. So I am afraid you will have to wait. And if we do fail in fighting them off in your land, then we will try to rescue all of you we could and bring them to your colony. But I certainly do hope that it doesn't come to it as well. Try to hold out for now, and remember - help is on the way.

 

[stalin006]

SOVIETIKA

So.....where are we?

we are in pft509n, comonly known as planet Aphrodite.

Well at least theres some oxigen and water readings, but still, it does not look good....we seem to have landed in a desert.

sir, scouts have discovered hills and rivers to the south, so is not as bad as it seems.

well thats good, lets start looking for food, i guess we still have survival rations, but those will not last long, is there anything we can eat?

well.......there are.......those........things...... pretty hard to describe, they seem like flat lizards or fish and seem to live in water, but they have been seen laying somthing like eggs in the dessert, perhaps they can provide.

very well, the red academy is been contructed not to develop weapons, but ways for us to survive, sent the new graduates to invastigate and learn everything they can about these pig size creatures.... lets call them "Niglys".

ORDERS:
Increase economy
expand to river area
investigate everything about the native "Nigly" creatures, mainly if they can serve as food. (read story)
continue wonder

 

[human-slaughter]

To: Insanes
From: HRF

We must work together to get off this crazy planet you are not helping. We can work together.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

OOC: This is the story of the "elder days" which later form the mythical basis for my country.

Raynold sighed heavily as he dismounted from the bright green Neonite. Was this what he was coming to? Was he getting old already? Ten years had, of course, extracted a heavy toll from the man who had led the colony so well the past few years, but was he doomed to die so soon? Was there no natural remedy or miracle cure to be found? He supposed not.
"Hey! Lord!" shouted someone. Raynold sighed again. For some reason the colonists had begun to refer to him as Lord, and he despised it. Well, they were a preindustrial society at the moment, but what for? He did not wish to rule, only to lead. He had the expertise from an army. He could administrate, but not command in truth.
"Lord, the report from the potters is ready. Nothing's happening. Here's their- What's happened to you?"
"What? What?"
"You've faded!"
"What do you mean?" asked Raynold. I haven't faded! he thought to himself. Well, maybe it's not so bad. They do say that old soldiers never die, they just fade away. Should he go off on some mission and just disappear from memory before dying?
Luckily the fuss died down quickly, and no more comments of 'fading' were made.
Raynold went over to the smelter to help carry wood, but recoiled from the heat. It burned! What was happening to him? Suddenly he felt tired. He quickly strode off to his hut and went to bed.
That night he dreamed...
Inside the cave. Eight days after the landing. Three days away from the crash site.
Piles of glowstone lying on the floor. People carrying them out. Ethereal-seeming miners with basket after basket.
A sudden blackness.
"Lord, is it you?"
"Stop calling me Lord! Who are you? Where am I?"
"HE has marked you. HE has called you."
"Who?" Raynold was panicking now. He tried to reason himself out of it. This must be a dream. I didn't walk in here. I'll wake up and I won't be here. Wait a moment- I'm reasoning! Dreams don't have reasoning! "You're going to say "he comes" and disappear leaving a horrid sound behind, right?" asked Raynold.
"No. I'm going to tell your future" came the hiss from the dark.
Raynold fled out of the cave as the words rebounded within his skull: You will die and live forever. You are doomed to walk in shadows and blessed to wander in light.

He was sweating heavily when some night-shift miners found him. Through the still heavy but no longer oppressive darkness, of night rather than a cave, he managed to find the way to his bed again.

When he woke up the next morning, there was no doubt. He had faded further. All color seemed to be drained of him, and he felt insubstantial.
Then the memory of the prophet in the cavern hit him like a hammer blow, and he collapsed.

He first ventured out of the crude dwelling three days later. By that time the rumors had spread among the whole camp. All were still shocked to see him as a near-ghost, though.



ORDERS:
Continue Clay Lamps Great Project
Increase intelligence
increase CUlture
Expand southwest
Establish a new base/city on the shore of the lake.

 

[das]

Human, the fallcrazies are insane, they are degrading to animal status and are kinda like neanderthals, from what I understand. I don't think negotiation with such fellows are possible, but it's for Nexus to decide.

 

[IceEye]

It was now 15 years since Rando Kvistblad and all other humans on this planet landed. A long 15 years. Rando had only been 23 as he took of from earth along with his family and many friends. His father and mother had died in the crash and he had lost contact with most of his friends and other relatives.
During his first months after planetfall Rando had been alone. He had survived only because he had previous knowledge from the military and had been a boy scout long ago. During the first time the people he met along the way were mostly kind and had helped him and many had also joined him as he was what many would call a natural leader.
Year 3 A.L. he had gathered over 400 men, woman and children under his "rule". All where of course free to leave the party if they wanted to but only a few had done so. The group moved across the land and hunted animals and took fruits and berries of the trees and bushes they found. One day however his group was assaulted by fellow humans. They where madmen and counted over 200. All men in the party took up what weapons they had and tried to form a ring around the woman and children. But it was to no awail as the group was split and slaughtered. During the battle Rando got hit by a club in the head and passed out. He survived only because he was mistaken for dead by the madmen.
He started a search for the survivors but found only 68 still alive. Rando promised to his God that he would rather die than let such a thing happen to "his" people again.
The group decided to move on together and they built canoes out of trees and set out in a nearby river. Eventually the group reached the ocean. They decided to build even larger canoes and even put sails on them and sailed to see. After 1 month the group reached another island. They moved along the island for a couple of years. Again however they saw the madmen, or fallcrazies as they where now called because they lived in the trees, and could barely escape the island alive. They set sail again and this time came upon another island. The group decided it was best to build themselves a settlement to protect against the threat that humans and animals alike could pose to the group. They founded Camp Victoria and named themselves the Star Pioneers. They immediately began their search for more people to join their community and after 10 years the Star Pioneers numbered 10,000 people. Camp Victoria was no more a settlement but a city and the river on which Camp Victoria was founded was beeing extensively irrigated to support the population. Food was also found as berries on bushes and these bushes where planted in their hundreds by the Pioneers.
To make sure his people was never again to be threathened by any human or animal Rando had created SECF1 and a small army along with building defenses around Camp Victoria. Rando had also decided that the community should claim more land to support the ever growing population!
A great future lay in wait for the Star Pioneers.

 

[Global Nexus]

NPC Diplomacy:

To: First Island Nation
From: Arashia

We will do what we can to hold out. A mere thank you cannot display our gratitude for even a pledge of help.

- - - - -

@human-slaughter: das is correct -- dealing with the fallcrazies is asking to have your head bashed in. Get your orders in, too.

@all: Update tonight, sometime around seven or eight PM Central US time.

 

[human-slaughter]

Orders:
Expand in southern Directions
increase army if i can
and defend our borders from the fallcrazies

 

[Global Nexus]

Beginning Update now.

 

[Global Nexus]

Individual Nation News:

Jungle Crazies Defeated in Final Showdown

In the First Island Nation, the notorious Jungle Fallcrazies were at last defeated in combat. With but a single casualty, and that from disease rather than wounds in battle. The leaders of the beastly humans WERE intelligent – but they, too, had suffered a severe mental habilitation. They continually muttered something about a god commanding them to destroy the “advanced ones”. In the end, rather than die by the hands of the First Island Nation’s soldiers, the fallcrazy leaders impaled themselves on apparently-sacrificial poles. After this experience, a number of First Island Nation’s soldiers had seen enough combat to be considered “trained”, to some extent.

The site of the former fallcrazy encampment was within a clearing around a small pond was turned into a base camp of sorts for study of resources and such within the jungle.

Meanwhile, in Arashia

Luckily, the currents were with the rowboats of First Island Nation. They were swept quickly and managed to pick up Islander Militia and a few Horseants and trainers. They made quickly for the land of Arashia, and arrived just in time – the Fallcrazies launched a massive assault that took much land from Arashia. However, with the help of the forces from First Island Nation, the Catapulteers held out. Primitive barricades were set up around Arashia, which stopped the advance of the enemy, which was utterly incapable of scaling the barricade and surviving the barrage of rocks and boulders that the skilled Arashian Catapulteers dealt out.

Arashia was safe, but weakened immensely. There is talk amongst some in the dying nation of a rebellion…

Helantia Completes the Great Smelter! Victory looms against the Northern Fallcrazies.

The first Great Project on Aphrodite was completed in Sirius. The Great Smelter was the most advanced metalworking construct on the planet at the time, and was a major boost to the nation’s economy and helped it improve the education of its citizens with displays of metalworking available for free to all ages. It wouldn’t be long before steel [how much the people had scoffed at the metal back when it was obsolete!] was produced in meager quantaties.

To top THIS achievement off, the northern fallcrazies were pushed back and nearly destroyed. The only reason they weren’t finished off is because of poor weather – a major rain poured down halfway through the campaign and slowed down the assault.

Helantia was growing to be THE most prosperous land on Aphrodite…but a dark shadow was drawing near the growing nation. Rain was getting less plentiful…

First National Borders established!

The borders of Star Legionary territory and The Greylord’s Land were established as the two grew right next to one another. This is a historic achievement, for it says that the nations of Aphrodite are SURVIVING enough to grow so much.

Sovietika Discovers Reptilian Water Chicken!

Nigly. It was an odd name, and certainly an unscientific one. Not that many scientific liberties were being taken yet on Aphrodite, with the focus entirely on survival. But Sovietika ran across a very interesting species of reptilian, fish-like creatures. Their meat was edible, if tough and leathery, but the EGGS were what showed their true usefulness. The eggs were delicious, though the yoke was a somewhat-disturbing blue instead of yellow. Not a single bad side effect was seen from the eggs, which were cooked thoroughly. Several people within the nation have begun to domesticate them and use their egg-laying abilities to provide food. They laid eggs as much as chickens if properly fertilized, though they were less convenient than chickens, for certain.

World News and Events:

Any nations involved with fallcrazies have begun to notice that there’s almost always a [or a group of] semi-intelligent or intelligent being leading them. And almost always, there is talk of some kind of god ordering them to do this. Though connections won’t be found until contact is made with future nations, it is something that points towards the disturbance on the third moon of Aphrodite as something