stNNES7: Worlds and Empires

[WarlordMatt]

Babylon
Ruler/Player: Nebuchadnezzer/WarlordMatt
Age: Bronze Age
Government: Monarchy
Category: p: 1, e: 3, s: 2
Religion: Polytheism
Economy: Stable
Army: 1,000 spearmen, 2,000 archers
Navy:
Education: Lost Cause
Culture: Barbaric
UU:
Wonders:

Babylon is mine.

The Beautification of Babylon

It was called Bab-Illu, the Gate of God. The sprawling city of Babylon was one of no rival, the greatest city in the world. Or so thought Nebuchadnezzar II, as he stood on the Processional Way gazing fondly at the newly completed masterpiece that stood before him. The immense structure before him would one day be known as the Ishtar Gate, a great wonder of a city full of them. Dazzlingly glazed blue with detailed bas-reliefs of dragons and bulls, it filled Nebuchadnezzar with pride to see it finally completed. Far beyond the walls the newly-restored Etemenanki ziggurat towered above the city, a testament to Babylon's dedication to the mighty Marduk.

But the ruler's appetite for great wonder had only begun to be whet.

In the heart of Babylon, an artificial mountain of stone, water, and dense vegetation would soon rise.

Orders: Start a new wonder, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It is a huge stone terraced structure covered in trees, flowers, grasses, etc. fed by an ingenious water transportation system. It should increase my culture by at least one level, and attract many people to the city, increasing its size even more.
Spend one economy point on building scripture schools throughout Babylonia to teach the people the cuneiform script, increasing education.
Spend the other point on recruiting new men into the army to help defend Babylon from its potentially dangerous neighbors.

 

[BananaLee]

hmm ya well, i never mentioned the word rice in the story though!.... ya ok i see how ignorant i am of ancient chinese agriculture now -__- Can we let this one slip for now? (Or would my story still make sense with wheat/millet?)

Btw, i thought china started along the yellow river, around 5000 yrs ago, which is also when they started cultivating...

Don't worry. LoL
Just wanting to clear some misconceptions and all.

The Chinese that most people know as CHinese are actually more Vietnamese than anything else. Until very recently (like 1200s AD - alex correct me on this), anyone south of the Yangzi were considered barbarians.

Rice was cultivated in the Yangzi people by the Yue peoples - barbarians in the eyes of those who considered themselve 'true' Chinese.

China did start along Huang He (Wei He to be exact), but their first plant was millet, followed by wheat as they went downriver.

 

[alex994]

The Chinese that most people know as CHinese are actually more Vietnamese than anything else. Until very recently (like 1200s AD - alex correct me on this), anyone south of the Yangzi were considered barbarians.

Early Song Dynasty, we southerners (aka Cantonese and etc) were actually considered "better" then Northern Chinese due to our better then average business management skills as well as seafaring which played a large part in the Song Dynasty.

 

[ThomAnder]

Isn't it also because they were the Han/native to china proper? the north were from manchuria and mongolia and what not, right? uh oh, this is turning away from topic... better stop now

 

[alex994]

That's also true, the north is a lot more suspectible to the frequent barbaric incursions and conquests. another reason i stay as south as possible.... and since most of the southerners fled south trying to escape the mongols and manchus, they were considered the lowest of the low to the mongols cuz they were what i assume to be the closest to the original han chinese ethnicity.

 

[BananaLee]

A Basic Guide to the Tong Trading Cabal – Part 1 – The Introduction

Many, many years ago, two villages along the Xiang River decided that exchanging rice for fish was a good idea – instead of beating each other up for it. They didn’t know it, but that very action released an economic vehicle commanding society in many cities.

Money makes the world go round.

As time passed, members of each of those villages (Guangzhou and Shenzhen) appointed representatives to carry fish and sacks of rice to each other’s village to establish trade. Needless to say, most of these representatives stopped fishing and farming and became full time traders between the two villages. They essentially provided the only means of communication and as such became important village members – only second to the elders.

The traders certainly did not intend to let their superiority be infringed upon – and so began spreading scary tales of travel, proclaiming that only selected families by the heavens had the right and the capability to travel. As a result, the traders had a lot of control over the village populace, eventually making the traders de facto rulers of the village – which grew in to complete cities.

Strangely, this situation repeated itself in several other cities around the area and the traders decided to form a federation – ruled in name by the various elders or kings, but in essence, under the Tong trading cabal.

As of this current writing, the Tong has influence over four main cities and acts as a major hub of trade between the islands in the south and east and the Warring States to the north.

Currently, seven clans are represented in the cabal, the ruling and executive body for the Tong territories. The clans are under the general leadership of Lei Siu Pang, a charismatic trader who started from humble beginnings before establishing his own strengths as a clan leader.

The Lei, Liu, Tan and Chow clans each run one city while the Guan, Teo and Chen clans conduct trade with the rest of the world. In the last two years, the cabal agreed upon making literacy a prerequisite in order to gain membership into any of the trading clans. This plan is expected to improve productivity as traders would know how to do accounting and other things as well, cutting on manpower costs.

In the next instalment, I shall talk about Tong society in general.

 

[Insane_Panda]

Whoa bananarrr...your government is somewhat like how I envisioned mine.

 

[Insane_Panda]

The Chinese that most people know as CHinese are actually more Vietnamese than anything else. Until very recently (like 1200s AD - alex correct me on this), anyone south of the Yangzi were considered barbarians.

Vietnam Uber Alles!

 

[alex994]

Vietnam Uber Alles!

OOC: Ask any of my relatives and chinese friends if they're part vietnamese ethnically and traditionally and they'll look at you like you're crazy. Chinese Pride!

 

[BananaLee]

What alex said.

 

[Insane_Panda]

Nein! You all lie! VIETNAM UBER ALLES.

 

[alex994]

The Cult of the Yellow Emperor​

The Yellow Emperor in his later years ruled an Empire consisting of all the territory composing Song, Chu, and Shu as well as all the lands in between reigning for 600 years. He was the one that introduced Agriculture, the canal and irrigation systems, as well as the herbal medicine used by the Han Chinese States. He was the ideal ruler, perfect in every way imaginable so pure in virtue that he had the respect of the weather and controlled it to his desire.

A danger rose early on in his reign, in the form of the Demon Chi Lou who despite a minor set back, used his demonic powers to wage war against the Heavenly Lords lead by the Yellow Emperor. Usurping the mantle of the Lord of the Earth, he raised from the Earth great armies of Earth Demons and waged war. The Heavenly Lords summoned to their command Guardians from Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The Blue Dragons, the Red Phoenixes, the Yellow Dragons, the White Tigers, and the Black Tortoise-Serpents respectively rose to combat the Earth Demons under Chi Lou.

At the battle of Zhulou, the dice was set in motion. Chi Lou used his demonic powers to cover the battle field in a thick fog and the Yellow Emperor’s forces could only fight back when his daughter, Nu Ba Goddess of the Sky summoned great winds to blow the fog away. For 10 nights and 10 days, on the mountains of Lianti, a fabled mountain, far west of the now Song Capitol, the Yellow Emperor fought the Self Proclaimed Ever Victorious Demon Chi Lou. On the tenth night, the Yellow Emperor’s Spear was broken, and Chi Lou prepared to strike the final blow but the Brave Blue Dragon Ying Long slew Chi Lou and his Earth Demons were vanquished when Nu Ba summoned a great storm of rain and turned the demons to slush.

The Yellow Emperor with his great host then surged west into the present day Song and south into present day Chu and Shu and annexed all of it under the Dragon Banner. Then as he prepared to march against Yue, a messenger arrived from his capitol in present day Gobi Desert that Chi Lou’s Brother Hang Xi had come to besiege his capitol.

So great was the later battle between the Yellow Emperor and Hang Xi that the ancient Capitol was desecrated and the entire province was destroyed and reduced into a desert. The Dragons laid waste with their fire, the serpents destroyed forests, the Tigers slain all who stood in their ways yet in the end Hang Xi perished not at the hands of the Emperor, but by a lowly wench.

Never less, the Yellow Emperor’s Citizens spread throughout his ancient Empire filling it all with their families and farms. And after his death, some turned to the ancient shamanistic ways, others to heretical thinkers that had not yet come to birth, others to parathion of Gods not paying their due and rightful respects to the Yellow Emperor, the ancestor of the Han People!

 

[erez87]

Portugala
Ruler/Player: Luthern Dynesty
Age: Bronze Age
Government: Monarchy
Category: p. 4, e. 6, s. 6
Religion: Iberian Polytheism
Economy: Stable
Army: 1,000 spearmen, 1,000 archers
Navy: 10 galleys
Education: Lost Cause
Culture: Barbaric
UU:
Wonders:


May I have a extra eco for starting a turn later ? Story soon

 

[Xen]

Also, just for my own sanity, I’m going to put a player cap of 24 players. We have 19 already... You do the math.

screw 24; cap this beast at 19 or 20- 24 is far to many people IMO to make an NES fair to update. Its just too many people, too many nations demanding stories written about them.

 

[erez87]

screw 24; cap this beast at 19 or 20- 24 is far to many people IMO to make an NES fair to update. Its just too many people, too many nations demanding stories written about them.

I second this. And you already push to far with writing too much!

 

[North King]

May I have a extra eco for starting a turn later ? Story soon

More eco does little... so sure.


Xen: I like the number 24... but oh well.

I'll say the cap is in effect NOW. With 21 players. erez, if I capped it at 20, you couldn't play.

 

[erez87]

Do I need to send my first turn orders ? After all I don't have a country yet....

 

[North King]

Heh. Go ahead if you wish, but no, it's not quite necessary.

 

[das]

Nordkaiser, see the end of post 7.

 

[North King]

Oh, and NK - remember my story. I DID conquer the Phoeniceans, that's an important part of our history and culture. And remember the description of Greenland, btw. So I think I should have at least one of their cities, otherwise how the hell will I be supposed to be assimilated?

Consider the second to northernmost city yours, then.