stJNES5.2: From the Beginning
Update 15, 1100 B.C.E.
In a land, long isolated in the north, a people experience the worse winter they have ever encountered based on written and oral tradition. Many believed that it was because of the division between the people. Others thought it was because of the cold forces from the north that has invaded their homeland. Whatever the reason was, the winter did more to help then hurt. The Finlandic army, though much accustomed to possibly even harsher winters in their homeland, was not prepared for a winter so severe and so early. Thousands died when their legs froze, or their mouths frozen shut. In this year, the Finlanders were forced to retreat from the Muscovites and back into familiar territory where they try to recoup. Finland: -5,000 Spearmen, 5,000 swordsmen, 500 horsemen
With their victory in the north, the Muscovites sweep south once more and dislodge any and all of the rebelling peasantry with a vicious sweep of superior Rurik riders. Moscow is reinstated as the capital, the victorious prince crowns himself Tsar once more. With a new and mighty army at his hands, the Tsar looks south at the rebelling Scythians. Only one word needs to be spoken and the land can be cleared for loyal Muscovite settlers.
Meanwhile, back in Finland the government is in trouble. With the defeat in the south, many of the King’s political foes have risen up, backed by the people, in a revolution to oust the king and install a republic to lead the people. The King is caught of guard by this revolution, and immediately sends for his army to protect him, but finds only a few thousand reports to duty. Most of his army deserted him when he left them to freeze in Muscovy. The people cry for bread, water, and freedom.
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If you travel west, across the barren Baltic Sea and through the unpredictable North Sea, you reach the British Isles, where the United Kingdom prospers. The rivaling Picts, who have caused the Kingdom troubles for over three centuries, are finally routed out of Ireland and expelled to the icy north. But the United Kingdom does not stop there. No, instead of allowing the Picts their homeland upon an island named rightly named Iceland, the United Kingdom sends an army here too, landing in the remote northeast, and then making their way to the southern most populated area.
The United Kingdom is also proud to boast of a trade route that connects the port of London to a distinguished port in Sweden. This route, knows as the North Sea Route, is responsible for the constant exchange of goods between the two countries and has helped to establish a larger mercantile class within the United Kingdoms.
Another huge project is being started in the UK as intellectuals throughout the United Kingdoms have protested for the King to build institutions where they can learn and develop new ideas instead of the temples where they worship. In response, the King has ordered the construction of ten new Universities where the intellectuals can study, learn, and teach others of their discoveries. Of the ten cities who have been marked to receive a brand new institution, the largest ones are to be built in Cambridge, Oxford, and Glascow. Other large universities are planned in Dublin, Copenhagen, and Aalborg.
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The Battle of Malta, a huge naval confrontation between the combined fleets of Lydia and Sparta against the gathering of Antigotican ships, is by far the largest battle on sea ever to take place on this planet. Nearly three hundred Antigotican ships gathered here at the important naval base on Malta, while the opposing navy had one hundred and fifty ships, half Spartan and half Lydian. Catapult Triremes, the newest invention of the Antigotians, helped tremendously when the fleets ultimately clashed.
Quickly the Antigotians separated the fleet, with only a small part left in the middle, as the Aegean fleet was drawn in, they were surrounded. Even more dramatic is the fact that this is all occurring at night, where the fire arrows lit the sky and the constant sounds of war filled the air. Smoke soon joined the sounds, making the battle on the water even more deadly then any terrestrial battle.
It was five hours before the Aegean fleet finally retreated, the Antigotians allowing their escape so they could recoup their own losses. Unfortunately, though, while the battle was taking place a Lydian army on a separate fleet made its way north of Malta and landed on the shores of Sicily, easily defeating the citizen garrison there and taking the complete island for themselves. Sparta: -50 Galleys, Lydia: -55 Galleys, Antigot: -85 Galleys
Also meanwhile, Spartan troops make the disaster move of invading the island fortress of Cyprus. Long preparing for an invasion, we’re talking centuries here, the defenders long know their role in the case of the invasion. And even though they are outnumbered against most odds, the Antigotians hold off the army that numbered thousands, while having less then a hundred themselves. Eventually Cyprus did fall, but all the fortresses and defenses were destroyed before it happened, and every last Antigotian fought until they were killed. Antigot: -50 Swordsmen, Sparta: -1,200 Phalanxes
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If you sail south from the city of Antigot, across the rugged Mediterranean, you will soon come across a warm, sandy shore. These are the lands of Carthage, long a rival to the Antigotian Empire. A war has been raging here for centuries on end, with no conclusive winner in sight. Since the Antigotians are forced to split their army between this front and the war with the Sionists, they have had little success. There simply are not enough Antigotian soldiers to fight these wars. On the western Carthaginian front, the front where most of Carthage’s soldiers are sent, the renown Faalim are forced to retreat again, and eventually give up Algiers to the Carthaginians. Antigot: -2,000 Faalim, -500 Archers; Carthage: -2,000 Swordsmen, -500 Spearmen
In the east, among the Carthaginian lands of Libya, the battle for Tripoli is being fought for the second time this war. The Faalim are intent on capturing this very vital and important Mediterranean port, but the Carthaginians are reluctant to give it up a second time. The battle eventually turns into a siege, but it seems the Carthaginians are not even close to giving it up, especially since the port remains open and supplies drift in from the Aegean League. The Faalim are going to have to assault the city and throw away thousands of lives in the process. Antigot: -2,000 Faalim, -25 Horsemen; Carthage: -2,500 Swordsmen
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Leaving the port of Algiers and traveling back to where you came from, you end up in the lush, fertile grasslands of Antigot, the land which fuels the most powerful empire in the west. The lands have never been contested or even threatened by another force since the existence of the Rujarat. That is all to change.
The Helveticans, once a great ally of Antigot, have shown their true colors. Throwing away whatever allegiance they once had with the King of Antigot, the Helveticans invade the fertile homelands of Antigot, pillaging the villages they come to, and finally reaching the holy city of Antigot itself. The religious fever of liberating the holy land is what fuels the soldiers of Helvetia. The Antigotian King flees to somewhere else in his Kingdom, where he proceeds to raise a volunteer army of ten thousand in Iberia, and marches against the Helvetians. Unfortunately, that is not enough. The capital city of Antigot is captured and occupied by the Helvetian army. Helvetia: -2,000 Swordsmen, -2,000 Archers, -2,000 UU
Victorious and pompous, the Helvetian generals give the order to continue marching north, into Gaul, while the volunteer army of Antigot is in the Pyrenees. Without Gaul, it could mean the destruction of Antigot. But Antigot is not without its own allies. A Malagan fleet soon arrives into a western Gaulic port, where thousands of soldiers disembark and race towards the defense of their ally. The Helvetians, taken by surprise, halt their invasion and await the Malagan force.
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The last war that Antigot is a part of is the war from which this all began. The Assyrians are still fighting for their right to exist as a Sionist nation, and while the Antigotians have been soundly defeated and pushed from Judea, the Assyrians are not yet finished. A large army follows on the heels of the Antigotians that flee through Jerusalem and Sinai and into the Egyptian deserts. Where the Sinai region ends and the Egyptian desert begins is where the Antigotians turn around, fully reinforced by almost half of the Antigotian army, to meet the Sionist threat.
Here numerous small battles take place between the Assyrians and Antigotians. Neither take any land, and neither are soundly defeated. Both draw up reinforcements from the countryside to fill the spots of fallen soldiers, and a stalemate soon grows between the two sides here.
The Assyrians also have another enemy in the north. The Hittites who have withdrawn from launching an offensive for a hundred years, finally launch one to rid the countryside of the Assyrian scorn. Surprise, the Sionist army retreats south, into Assyria proper, and the Hittites remain on their side of the border. For now. Assyria: -2,000 Swordsmen, ---3,000 Holy Warriors; Hittites: -2,000 Spearmen, -1,500 Swordsmen
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Leaving the west, you travel along the ancient trade routes of Persia and Assyria and you enter a war zone soon enough. The mighty Magadhan army confronts the Persians, who are fighting for their independence, which is most unlike any other foe they have encountered. With the east remote frontier destroyed by Magadhan forces, the Persians are forced to fight in their homeland, amongst their citizens and beautiful desert cities.
But the Persian King, Darius II, is not willing to allow his nation to fall to the feet of the Magadhans. Equipped with a larger-then-normal army, by the standards of the east, Darius is well able to repel the Magadhan invasion. And he begins to do that here. While the Magadhans prepare to continue their invasion, the Persians strike a counterattack, puncturing a hole straight through the center of the conquered territory, and then striking north and taking the land here, while cutting off the terrestrial supply routes for the Magadhans in the south.
But what the Persians did not anticipate was a sea-born Magadhan invasion. Well aware of the mighty army that Darius possessed, the Magadhans proceed to choke the finances of Persepolis first, but taking the undefended regions of Socotra and Oman. Once those colonies are secured, the Magadhans land an army at the tip of the Persian gulf, west of Persepolis, and finally march and conquer the great capital of the Persian empire. Luckily for the Persians Darius escaped before the Palace was taken, but with the heart of Persia in enemy hands, it is a mystery as to how the soldiers will react. Persia: -3,000 Immortals, -2,000 Peasant Army; Magadha: -1,000 Magadhavatrapalas, -3,000 Swordsmen
The Magadhans are not finished with warring, however. In the south, the Eastern Army is battling the hardened and determined Hindus of Dravidia. The Magadhans here are outnumbered as well, but the Dravidians are demoralized by the capture of their royal family, and by the capture of their capital. Nevertheless, the fight on, and win important key battles that keep the Magadhans from taking anymore lands in the south, but fail to defend against the invaders from occupying most of the northern lands. Dravidia: -3,000 Swordsmen, -2,000 Spearmen; Magadha: -1,000 Kaliyashans, -2,000 Swordsmen, -1,000 Magadhavatrapalas