OOC: Oh bugger that, I'm tired of waiting.
Calicut Orders: **SECRET**
Upgrades
Upgrade Army to Iron Age (-1 economy)
Increase Swordsmen (-1 economy)
Expansion
Map
I. Five Hundred Swordsmen and 500 Archers to expand considerably in Somalia and Damot... They are to offer all local chieftains the opportunity to join our nation. They will either disband their military forces, make them swear an oath of loyalty to the Empire and serve as policemen, or join our military outright. Conquer the tribes that resist by securing crucial mountain passes and such in their territory (the area being rather mountainous), blocking travel and thus forcing them to engage. When they come down the pass to fight us, rain arrows down on them and then engage with the swordsmen. Their stone weapons should be no match for our iron weapons. Keep the offer open at any time.
Call the new Province Damot, and give it semi Autonomy, able to make its own laws so long as they do not conflict with the laws of the Empire, its foreign policy and military under our control. Upon the creation of the new province, rapidly import our culture to the area, but make sure that the modern technologies do not fall into the natives hands. Except for the military forces, iron tools, but no iron weapons.
The military forces that join willingly from there should be stationed in Calicut proper, though under their own officers to avoid language barriers, to prevent revolt.
II. Forge an alliance with one of the lesser Berber tribes, and give them iron weapons, but not the technology of smelting iron. We will send a small expeditionary force of perhaps 100 swordsmen and 100 archers to train them in tactics, strategy, and weapons use. The other end of this agreement is for them to establish a loyal ally and a Berber Kingdom. Its capital should be at Sana, which is the current Yemeni capital. We should gain a loyal ally out of this who isn't strong enough to challenge us due to powerful other local clans.
III. Set up a colony at Muscat. This will be another trading post. Also continue explorations into the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and along the coast of Africa with our navy.
IV. The rest of our military will maintain a vigilant watch on all borders for any invading force. Note that if anyone invades us the strategy is to draw them into our nation deep, cut their supply lines with guerillas, and smash them by outflanking through local knowledge of the terrain.
Domestics
Work further on improving our trade routes with paved roads. Build a road with any military forces who are not busy patrolling or on our Western Expeditions, one from Calicut Proper to the Bombay area.
Work in the mathematics field to broaden our understandings of the world of numbers. Firstly, work on a good number system, hopefully leading to a decimal system with the number 0, also work on how to solve equations with unknowns in them (algebra).
Begin a wonder:
Great Temple of Calicut:
A massive stone complex, it is both a temple and an academy. The central part of the building is a massive circular, domed temple, with three massive pillars evenly spaced around it. The first of the three shall have images of creation carved upon it, this is the Pillar of Brahma. The Second shall have the images of continuation and preservation and defense upon it, this shall be Vishnu. The third shall be carved with images of destruction upon it, this shall be for Shiva.
The interior will have many rooms, one for each of the gods. Essentially a temple to them all.
Adjacent to the main area is a series of complexes. One of them shall be a vaulted, long building, a library filled with copies of every book on the arts or sciences we know of. Another will be a room for the practical arts and sciences, filled with alchemists and metallurgists and other such peoples. The third shall be a place where authors and philosophers come to write.
These three shall be arranged around a central great theater type building, used as a lecture hall and a debating place. This hall shall be connected to the main temple by a long corridor open to the air on both sides and roofed over by a vaulted ceiling, pillars holding this up.
Around the building shall be various pools, statues, and monuments, and other such things, along with vast gardens.
Now, its practical effects? It will give a boost to education and culture, and also debut the technologies of the arch, dome, and vault in this world.
Continue to sell spices like nutmeg, pepper and cloves to the Western tribes, especially Egypt. Note also that these spices are extremely hard to transplant (the Portugese tried transplanting Indian spices to West Africa and it failed miserably).
Send scholars on trading ships to Egypt to explore the west and report back to us on the status of it, the great civilizations, wars, technologies... The people who explore here are obviously to be the more adventurous prolific writers among us.
Story later, if I have the time.