Grandmaster
Deity
The Spirits were surely smiling on Timbuktu, Sonni Ali thought. Their faith in the Spirits had sustained his people through the tough times of draught and famine; no matter how bad things got, the Songhai people never lost faith in the plan of the Spirit of Order.
And now their faith had been rewarded. The Spirit of Agriculture had inspired Kanubi with the idea to build an irrigation canal, and with this act of divine inspiration, had ensured the survival of the Songhai people.
Sonni Ali had seen Kanubi's irrigated fields, had seen the waters of the Niger make the crops grow tall. He realized that in order for his people to thrive, more such canals needed to be built. He ordered that all fields be irrigated with similar canals, to ensure that a draught never wiped out the crops.
Construction began immediately. Every man and strong lad worked on the prokect days out of every week, and after many months the canals were completed. The water of the Niger was now channeled to every Songhai field, so that the land around Timbuktu flowered with lush trees and grasses, and grew thick with wheat and other crops. The High Priest of the Temple, possessed of the word of the Spirits, declared the day of the completion of the final canal to be a Festival, and for three days and nights the people danced to venerate the Spirits and celebrate the completion of the works that would provide them with a steady food supply.
The city itself was growing, too. As they no longer needed to worry about whether they would have food to eat that day, the Songhai could concentrate their efforts on other pursuits. An artisan class sprang up in Timbuktu; people skilled in the making of pottery, or the carving of wood, or the weaving of tapestries, or the sculpting of gold set down their farm implements and started creating art. Throughout Timbuktu, statues and sculptures of copper, gold, wood, and clay were erected to venerate the Spirits and the King. The Temple, too, was oberhauled; the plain, stone structure built by the original settlers of the city -- its only decoration a single gold statue of the Spirit of Order -- was demolished, and replaced with a great stone structure. The new Temple, built of granite covered by sparkling white limestone, and decorated with gold, silver, and woven tapestries, was the pride of the city. The new artisan class also caused the rituals of the Temple to evolve; throughout the Temple, there now stood statues of the Spiritis, clutching in their outstretched hands bowls of mahagony. In these bowls, the Priests burned a new plant called Cannabis, which would play an important role in the secret rituals of the Inner Temple.
Orders:
-Increase infrastructure by building canals to irrigate all the fields in and around Timbuktu. (2c)
-Expand east and west with even amounts of troops (none in Timbuktu) along the Niger.
-Settle the city of Gao, on the eastern curve of the Niger River. (see a RL map)
And now their faith had been rewarded. The Spirit of Agriculture had inspired Kanubi with the idea to build an irrigation canal, and with this act of divine inspiration, had ensured the survival of the Songhai people.
Sonni Ali had seen Kanubi's irrigated fields, had seen the waters of the Niger make the crops grow tall. He realized that in order for his people to thrive, more such canals needed to be built. He ordered that all fields be irrigated with similar canals, to ensure that a draught never wiped out the crops.
Construction began immediately. Every man and strong lad worked on the prokect days out of every week, and after many months the canals were completed. The water of the Niger was now channeled to every Songhai field, so that the land around Timbuktu flowered with lush trees and grasses, and grew thick with wheat and other crops. The High Priest of the Temple, possessed of the word of the Spirits, declared the day of the completion of the final canal to be a Festival, and for three days and nights the people danced to venerate the Spirits and celebrate the completion of the works that would provide them with a steady food supply.
The city itself was growing, too. As they no longer needed to worry about whether they would have food to eat that day, the Songhai could concentrate their efforts on other pursuits. An artisan class sprang up in Timbuktu; people skilled in the making of pottery, or the carving of wood, or the weaving of tapestries, or the sculpting of gold set down their farm implements and started creating art. Throughout Timbuktu, statues and sculptures of copper, gold, wood, and clay were erected to venerate the Spirits and the King. The Temple, too, was oberhauled; the plain, stone structure built by the original settlers of the city -- its only decoration a single gold statue of the Spirit of Order -- was demolished, and replaced with a great stone structure. The new Temple, built of granite covered by sparkling white limestone, and decorated with gold, silver, and woven tapestries, was the pride of the city. The new artisan class also caused the rituals of the Temple to evolve; throughout the Temple, there now stood statues of the Spiritis, clutching in their outstretched hands bowls of mahagony. In these bowls, the Priests burned a new plant called Cannabis, which would play an important role in the secret rituals of the Inner Temple.
Orders:
-Increase infrastructure by building canals to irrigate all the fields in and around Timbuktu. (2c)
-Expand east and west with even amounts of troops (none in Timbuktu) along the Niger.
-Settle the city of Gao, on the eastern curve of the Niger River. (see a RL map)
They are soo good I dont even wanna try and write one. 
