As the dust settles from the spreading of human populations across the world, civilization begins to grow. Across Earth people are seeing plants, making crude tools, and domesticating animals. Mankind has entered a new era of development, perhaps the most stunning yet. For on the shores of what would be called the eastern Mediterranean, the first civilization is truly founded. The Phoenicians, people of the sea, bond together in a loose nation, unifying their governments and cultures. From their homes on the Levant, the people spread across the Mediterranean, bringing their writing and civilization with them.
It has been centuries since the last Phoenician could claim a nation. Their marks across the Mediterranean have all but disappeared, their cities reduced to dirt. But what remains within that dirt, fertilizing and enriching it, are the nutrients of civilization. For that crude alphabet, the poorly crafted stone tools, and the sense of nationhood sprouted to form a multitude of different identities, of different peoples and states. Centuries after the last Phoenician left the shores of sea, civilization has finally taken hold.
We start with one of the few places in the Mediterranean hardly affected by Phoenicians at all. The island of Kypris, while lying literally only hundreds of miles from the Phoenician homeland, was never actually settled by the seafarers. Instead, the natives (Mycenaean explorers who predate even the Phoenicians) resisted bitterly, until the Phoenicians decided to stop trying. Now, centuries later, the island has unified under a single government situated in the small village of Salamis on the southern coast. The people mostly being fishermen or wheat farmers, life on Kypris is easy and slow, with little threat from the outside and internal strife at a minimum, militarism is almost non-existent. That is, until the Kyprisians are to be challenged, of course.
One of the more populated areas of the world lies between two swift rivers running down from the northern highlands. This land, known by outsiders as Mesopotamia, is home to dozens of different peoples, some coming from lands far north, others from the deserts of the east and west. The most powerful people, though, are the unified Babaylonians, heralding a kingdom that stretches to both rivers, and can field nearly five thousand soldiers. Babaylon, though almost completely ran by beautiful women, is ironically very militaristic, expanding its borders from the city walls across miles of farmland through wars of conquest and subjugation. Already the nation consists of only 70% Babaylonians, the rest were subjugated in various wars.
The Mauryan Empire is perhaps the cultural capital of the world, while also possessing enormous riches. This, for being in such a primitive time, is something worth mentioning. Already the capital, Pataliputra sits between the most successful early trade route yet, with precious gems and minerals leaving the highlands in the north and the luxurious spices and dyes traveling north from the Indian coast.
Among the cold yet fertile rolling hills of middle Europe, a powerful God-King rules over his subjects with an iron fist. The Kingdom of Naaria is a very ordered, very religious realm whose ruler is thought to be god on earth. His subjects are destined to abide by his every word. The kingdom currently is situated between two large rivers, though it is destined to expand with the might of the Golden Words.
The most powerful empire on earth in terms of army and navy is actually situated near the birthplace of civilization. Yamkhad, made up of non-Phoenicians north of the Levantine states, dominates the rolling hills and forests of the region. Trade with the divided Levantine states in the south drives the economy of the powerful Charioteer Monarchy, so much so that a new city was founded just to handle the immense amount of trade flowing in from the sea. Though the Yamkhadi have not ventured far from their coasts, advanced sailing techniques and financial ability make exploration a very good possibility. In terms of defense, Yamkhad is constantly threatened by northern barbarians who raid and pillage border villages constantly.
Across the sea and past Kypris lies the mountainous land of Greece. From the capital at Athens the Greeks have conquered quite an empire, boasting of the most populated nation on earth, though most are isolated farmers within the sporadic mountain valleys that shape the land. Earlier peoples, having been pressed north from when the Greeks mysteriously showed up, still threaten the Greeks with various raids and invasions.
Way up north, in the corner of the world, a small kingdom struggles to remain intact. The Irish are perhaps the most resistant to unifying of any peoples in the world. Fiercely independent and loyal to individual families, the Irish have a long way to go to being fully unified. Though the unifiers do have one thing going for them being so far away from any other substantial population of people grants the Irish both safety and opportunity.
The fertile lands of the Nile give birth to the worlds best architects, and most technologically advanced, the Egyptians. Being isolated from any military attacks, but actually in contact with much of the Levantine, the Egyptians have it good. Slowly, as the Egyptians spread and solidify their hold on the Nile, trade routes have begun to set up between Nubia and even with the Levantine states in the north, competing with the Yamkhad.
North, past the Mersinian badlands, one gets a glimpse of the huge columns of Racedonia. The Racedonians are ahead of the rest of the world in terms of art, having beautiful obelisks dotting the small town of Ranopolis, covered in beautiful colors and jewels. Though life isnt all about art in Racedonia. Constant threats from the Mersinians in the south, and attempt after attempt failed in crossing the Bosporous have left the Racedonians trapped between two barbaric hordes.
The Royal Kingdom of Spain, a very centralist and formal kingdom, sits at the edge of Europe, clinging to the southern sea. Northwards are the worlds most threatening barbarians, the Tartessians, who are ruthless and murdering brutes. Raids into Spain dont only loot, but they also murder, rape and burn anything in site, including babies, children and women. South, across the sea, is very promising, with friendly natives and promises of bountiful land. The question is if Spain can even hold off the Tartessians long enough to build up an empire to oppose them?
In the far east, China is home to the worlds first organized and wide-spread religion. Taoism has taken hold within the capital of Xianyang, and from there has spread throughout the land and even into the un-incorporated natives of surrounding tribes. The religion has had a unifying effect, and has allowed the Chinese to expand quickly and maintain a very harmonic and passive empire.
The sea-faring people south of China are the only civilized neighbors of the religious empire, though across the land people are unifying and conquering. In Gai Nal, trade and fishing are important. Most of the people cling to the narrow strip of fertile, non-jungle land on the coast and fish for a living. Others are traders, making the city of Jo Nang the largest in the world, where almost all the merchants live. From here, the merchants set out on adventurous trading quests to the various islands of the east, and some have even made it far enough north to sail down the Yellow river and make contact with China, though most of this is told in legend form.
OOC:
I realize the map is somewhat empty, but do expect there to be more NPCs as you expand.
Next update is scheduled for next Thursday, as orders shouldnt be too hard to come up with. Ill have the exact time on the front page soon, but it will most likely be like todays was.
Most updates will not have even this much writing, and with more random events, just so you know
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And please state your leader and religion in your next orders (preferably a post in the thread with your religion and what it entails).
