Songhai
Ruler/Player: King Sunni Ali / Grandmaster)
Government: Monarchy
Age: Bronze Age
Treasury/Economy: 0/1
Army: 500 Militia Spearmen
Navy:
Education: 0
Infrastructure: 0
Trade: 0
Industry: 0
Defense: 0
Religion: West African Animism
Trade Partners:
Wonders:
Start Location: Timbuktu, on the western bank of the curve in the Niger River.
Story:
The Book of the Creation (Book 1 of the Old Testament)
In the beginning, the Spirits ruled the Earth. They lived in a lush paradise, where streams of sweet, cold water flowed across the land. Green trees provided shade from the sun that shined brightly during the day, and provided a place to sleep in the cool nights. Food was plentiful, and every day the Spirits feasted.
One day, the Spirit of Order, king of the Spirits, wished to be entertained. He ordered the Spirit of the Clay, who lived in the riverbank, to create a creature out of clay that would perform for him. The Spirit of the Clay molded from the brown clay of the riverbed a Man, and a Woman to be his companion. The Spirit of Order breathed life into these creatures, and Mankind was born.
The Spirit of Order enjoyed watching the Man and the Woman live their lives. They lived as the Spirits themselves, enjoying the bounty of paradise. When the Spirit of Order commanded them to dance, they danced, and he was greatly humored.
But one day, the Spirit of Chaos came upon the Man and Woman as the Spirit of Order slept. The Spirit of Chaos was the least popular of the Spirits, in every way the opposite of the Spirit of Order. Whatever the Spirit of Order created, the Spirit of Chaos was charged with destroying, to maintain the balance of the world. As such, the evil Spirit was to destroy the Man and Woman, because they could not be allowed to attain the perfection of the Spirits. "Man," said the Spirit of Chaos. "Ist thou aware of the herd of goats the Spirit of Order keeps as his own?" he asked. "Yes, it is known to me, for the Spirit of Order has made it so," replied the Man. "The Spirit of Order wishes for you to take a goat from the herd as thine own, to keep and raise, as a test of your abilities as a goatherd." This was of course untrue; the Spirit of Order never gave orders through intermediaries, but always with his own voice. But true or untrue, the Man could not deny the word of the Spirit of Chaos; Man's one fatal flaw was his ambition, and Man could not turn down the challenge of being a goatherd. "If the Spirit of Order wills it so, so it shall be!" replied the Man, and he and his wife, Woman, set off for the Spirit's herd.
The Man took the goat from the herd, and brought it back to his shelter beneith the trees. The Man kept the goat for several days, and tried to raise and feed it. However, the Spirit of Order had not revealed some knowledge to the Man; the goat's would only accept food from the hand of the Spirit of Order, or his personal herder, the Spirit of Agriculture. After some days of refusing to eat, the goat died of starvation.
Only when the goat died did the Spirit of Chaos make the Spirit of Order aware that the Man had taken a goat from the herd. The Spirit of Order went to the home of the Man, where he found the goat, and the Man standing over it, confused at such an unknown phenomenon as death, and equally confused as to what to do. The Spirit of Order commanded his brother, the Spirit of Death, to bury the goat and to perform a ritual over the grave. After the ritual was completed, the goat rose again, resurrected, and rejoined the herd.
The Spirit of Order was furious at the Man for stealing the goat. The Man tried to explain that it was the work of the Spirit of Chaos, but the argument only made the Spirit of Order angrier. In a rage, the Spirit of Order created clouds in the sky, and commanded all the Spirits to ascend and set up a new court there. Once this had been done, the Spirit of Order stabbed his great golden spear into the ground and ordered the rivers to stop flowing, the ground to dry up and turn to dust, the birds to stop singing, and the sun to stop shining. The Spirit of Order ascended to is cloud-top court, and left Man and Woman alone in the barren desert, with dark skies overhead.
For 40 years Man and Woman wandered through the desert, toiling to survive, as they never had in paradise. Man and Woman begot two sons and two daughters, who wandered with them.
After 40 years, the Spirit of Order looked upon his world, and was repentent. He looked upon his creations, the Man and Woman, and their children, and felt pity for them. Took his spear and, with the point, cut a line through the desert sand, and ordered that a great river would run here. He ordered the sun to shine again, and trees to grow along the river. By this time Man and Woman had died, as the goat had, and their children had grown. The Spirit of Order guided the 4 children of Man and Woman to the new river. When they came upon it, they fell to their knees, as they had found the Paradise spoken of by their parents.
As they lay on their knees, crying, on the banks of the river, the Spirit of the Cities, cousin of the Spirit of Order, spoke to them. "Build here a new city, a new paradise along the banks of the River Niger, to which the Spirits may one day return. Call this city Timbuktu, and call the sons who inhabit it Songhai. Never forget these names, and never forget who gave them to you. This is the city of the Spirits, and it shall always be such. You must never forget."
The Spirit of Death spoke next. A beam of sunlight shone down upon a patch of land on the river, and he said unto the Men and Women, "Build here a temple, in which to worship those who have given you the new Paradise of Timbuktu. In this temple house an Ark, made of Gold, Silver, Copper, and Mahogany. In this Ark, house 6 tablets of gold-laid stone; and on these tablets, inscribe these word:
1. Thou shalt not defy the will of the Spirits.
2. Thou shalt not defile the City of the Spirits.
3. Thou shalt keep the Festivals, and on these days do homage to the Spirits through the dances of your ancestors.
4. Thou shalt bury thine dead with the rituals of your ancestors.
5. Thou shalt be moral, compassionate, brave, and true of heart and deed.
6. Thou shalt always keep these Commandments.
With this his words completed, the clouds closed, and the beam of sunlight ceased to shine, but the site of the future Temple continued to glow with the light of the Spirits. The Sons and Daughters of Man and Woman set about building their new city of Timbuktu. As time wore on, they begot new sons and daughters, and all these new generations of Songhai worked to build the city. When the Temple and the City were completed, the Patriarch of the City took a hammer and laid in the final stone. Timbuktu, the New Paradise on Earth, was built. The white stone of the city glistened in the desert sun, as the waters of the Niger ran swift, bringing life to the otherwise barren land. The trees grew green, and the gold of the Temple was like the very light of the Spirits. Timbuktu was an oasis in the wasteland of the world.
