The Rolling Green Hills of Celtia
- Thread starter Sonereal
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2008
- Messages
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The Continental War
Parting Blows and Later Years
No screenshots this time around
In 520 CE, Gaius Marius, a famed Celtic commander who served long in Babylon, returned to Bibracte to train troops. While Gaius Marius trained troops that would not reach the end of the continental supply line in Amsterdam before the war is over, the Army of Bibracte pushed north onto Akkad. Back in Celtia, tax rates hover around 50% globally with the Royal Celtic government reporting a deficient of $900,000 ($14,400,000 adjusted for inflation). The situation hasn't approached a level of crisis, but belts are tightening across Celtia.
Akkad is the last city separating the bulging Army of Bibracte, now totaling 21,000 soldiers, from Babylon. Knowingly, the Army of Bibracte has entered the homeland of Babylonia. Akkad, unlike conquered Amsterdam or the frontier Dur-Kurigalzu, had a large garrison guarding the valuable city along with walls to keep invaders out. Celtic catapults calculated the mettle of the Akkadian walls and unfortunately for the Celts, the walls can take a pounding. The Siege of Akkad lasted until 580 CE. The fierce titanic assault on the walls followed by the quarterless battles in the streets of Akkad resulted in the destruction of the city.
The Celts won the battle, dealing another fierce blow to Babylonian military resistance. The government deficient had grew to $1,500,000 a year in 580. A slave revolt in 595 right in the heart of the Kingdom of Celtia would snag much of the King's attention. Officially, the deficient had decreased to only $200,000. Unofficially, the government maintained a surplus for the past fifteen years. Akkad resulted in heavy casualties and after fighting in a state close to total war for the past seven and quarter centuries, both the King and the military had no drive to send the army after the broken Babylonians. Instead, they relied on war elephants and horse archers to tear up the undefended countryside of Babylon, including farms, the iron mine, and cattle ranches.
Another slave revolt occurred in Vienne a decade later, resulting in a heavy military crackdown killing thousands in the region.
In the year 625, 755 years after a Babylonian despot triggered the war, the Babylonian and Celtic King, along with diplomats and military advisers, met in Tolosa to negotiate a treaty. The treaty was dictated by the Celts. The two main articles of the treaty included Babylon taking responsibility for the deaths of the tens of thousands of soldiers who died since 130 BCE and the destruction of Akkad and Dur-Kurigalzu. Included in that article is Babylon's "responsibility" for the enslavement of thousands of Babylonians and the famine that lasted from 600 to 620 within Babylon.
In other words, the government was forced to say that every death, including the disproportionate number of Babylonian civilian deaths to Celtic civilian deaths (hundreds of thousands over seven and a half centuries versus only a few hundred), of the war was its fault entirely. The second article signed away Amsterdam to the Celts. Zoroaster, one of the military advisers present on the Celtic side of the table in 625, would later retire and become a great and influential Buddhist prophet.
With the war over, troops returning home, and demand for swords, chariots, manpower, food, and other equipment plummeted. Government surplus in 630, with a 50% tax rate, was only $100,000. Supplying Amsterdam, a city across the continent with roads often infested with bandits, became expensive. In 635, Queen Boudica I, Ruler of Amsterdam, created a hierarchical system in which she granted parcels of land to high-ranking military persons who then divided the parcels up to give out to mid-rank soldiers known as knights. It was hoped that this would decrease Bibracte's need to supply Amsterdam as the feudal system did most of the work of defending the city while Dutch serfs worked the land.
Over the next forty years, an idea arose to use cloth currency backed by Celtic diamonds and gold in everyday transaction. This system decreased the need to lug around heavy coins and the need to barter for every other transaction of a good or service. Despite the increase in trade, the government is reported a $1,600,000 a year deficient. The Royal Government considers this a victory, for tax rates have been lowered to a mere 20%.
In 695, the Lord of Amsterdam received a petition from the Dutch of Amsterdam asking for nothing less than independence. He immediately denied their peaceful request. Ten years later, another petition arrived asking to peacefully return to the Babylonian Kingdom. Again, rejected. Finally, in 730, the Dutch rebelled. The Amsterdam Uprising of 730 lasted ten years of fighting in the countryside. In the northern territory of Amsterdam, rebels and bandit pillaged the countryside to support their fledgling revolution. Celtia built the Mausoleum of Maussollos in 755 to commemorate the Celtic soldiers who died in the Uprising. The Amsterdam Uprising revealed a flaw in the feudal system. The knights couldn't keep all their serfs down and when some stepped out of line, thousands stepped out with them. The Amsterdam of Uprising of 795 confirmed this belief.
In 815, the Chinese bought Celtic compasses for $12,600,000. The same year, Christianity is founded in Vienne and the government declares Buddhism to be the one true faith and all other faiths illegal.
In 835, the Pyramids are completed using the descendents of Babylonian slaves. Five years later, the Third Amsterdam Uprising occurs while the great general Vercingetorix is in Bibracte combining his current knowledge of war with doctrine and training of old.
In 895, the Celtic Inquisition purges Hinduism from Tolosa and wiped out the Christians in Vienne.
Parting Blows and Later Years
No screenshots this time around
In 520 CE, Gaius Marius, a famed Celtic commander who served long in Babylon, returned to Bibracte to train troops. While Gaius Marius trained troops that would not reach the end of the continental supply line in Amsterdam before the war is over, the Army of Bibracte pushed north onto Akkad. Back in Celtia, tax rates hover around 50% globally with the Royal Celtic government reporting a deficient of $900,000 ($14,400,000 adjusted for inflation). The situation hasn't approached a level of crisis, but belts are tightening across Celtia.
Akkad is the last city separating the bulging Army of Bibracte, now totaling 21,000 soldiers, from Babylon. Knowingly, the Army of Bibracte has entered the homeland of Babylonia. Akkad, unlike conquered Amsterdam or the frontier Dur-Kurigalzu, had a large garrison guarding the valuable city along with walls to keep invaders out. Celtic catapults calculated the mettle of the Akkadian walls and unfortunately for the Celts, the walls can take a pounding. The Siege of Akkad lasted until 580 CE. The fierce titanic assault on the walls followed by the quarterless battles in the streets of Akkad resulted in the destruction of the city.
The Celts won the battle, dealing another fierce blow to Babylonian military resistance. The government deficient had grew to $1,500,000 a year in 580. A slave revolt in 595 right in the heart of the Kingdom of Celtia would snag much of the King's attention. Officially, the deficient had decreased to only $200,000. Unofficially, the government maintained a surplus for the past fifteen years. Akkad resulted in heavy casualties and after fighting in a state close to total war for the past seven and quarter centuries, both the King and the military had no drive to send the army after the broken Babylonians. Instead, they relied on war elephants and horse archers to tear up the undefended countryside of Babylon, including farms, the iron mine, and cattle ranches.
Another slave revolt occurred in Vienne a decade later, resulting in a heavy military crackdown killing thousands in the region.
In the year 625, 755 years after a Babylonian despot triggered the war, the Babylonian and Celtic King, along with diplomats and military advisers, met in Tolosa to negotiate a treaty. The treaty was dictated by the Celts. The two main articles of the treaty included Babylon taking responsibility for the deaths of the tens of thousands of soldiers who died since 130 BCE and the destruction of Akkad and Dur-Kurigalzu. Included in that article is Babylon's "responsibility" for the enslavement of thousands of Babylonians and the famine that lasted from 600 to 620 within Babylon.
In other words, the government was forced to say that every death, including the disproportionate number of Babylonian civilian deaths to Celtic civilian deaths (hundreds of thousands over seven and a half centuries versus only a few hundred), of the war was its fault entirely. The second article signed away Amsterdam to the Celts. Zoroaster, one of the military advisers present on the Celtic side of the table in 625, would later retire and become a great and influential Buddhist prophet.
With the war over, troops returning home, and demand for swords, chariots, manpower, food, and other equipment plummeted. Government surplus in 630, with a 50% tax rate, was only $100,000. Supplying Amsterdam, a city across the continent with roads often infested with bandits, became expensive. In 635, Queen Boudica I, Ruler of Amsterdam, created a hierarchical system in which she granted parcels of land to high-ranking military persons who then divided the parcels up to give out to mid-rank soldiers known as knights. It was hoped that this would decrease Bibracte's need to supply Amsterdam as the feudal system did most of the work of defending the city while Dutch serfs worked the land.
Over the next forty years, an idea arose to use cloth currency backed by Celtic diamonds and gold in everyday transaction. This system decreased the need to lug around heavy coins and the need to barter for every other transaction of a good or service. Despite the increase in trade, the government is reported a $1,600,000 a year deficient. The Royal Government considers this a victory, for tax rates have been lowered to a mere 20%.
In 695, the Lord of Amsterdam received a petition from the Dutch of Amsterdam asking for nothing less than independence. He immediately denied their peaceful request. Ten years later, another petition arrived asking to peacefully return to the Babylonian Kingdom. Again, rejected. Finally, in 730, the Dutch rebelled. The Amsterdam Uprising of 730 lasted ten years of fighting in the countryside. In the northern territory of Amsterdam, rebels and bandit pillaged the countryside to support their fledgling revolution. Celtia built the Mausoleum of Maussollos in 755 to commemorate the Celtic soldiers who died in the Uprising. The Amsterdam Uprising revealed a flaw in the feudal system. The knights couldn't keep all their serfs down and when some stepped out of line, thousands stepped out with them. The Amsterdam of Uprising of 795 confirmed this belief.
In 815, the Chinese bought Celtic compasses for $12,600,000. The same year, Christianity is founded in Vienne and the government declares Buddhism to be the one true faith and all other faiths illegal.
In 835, the Pyramids are completed using the descendents of Babylonian slaves. Five years later, the Third Amsterdam Uprising occurs while the great general Vercingetorix is in Bibracte combining his current knowledge of war with doctrine and training of old.
In 895, the Celtic Inquisition purges Hinduism from Tolosa and wiped out the Christians in Vienne.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2008
- Messages
- 14,927
Long story short: I finished this story. Do not have the screenshots right now. Expect a deluge of them....someday. It's poorly formatted because I finished the story a long time and was just too lazy to update.
So, divided into two parts, is the glorious bloody history of Celtia. From 910 to 2040.
Spanning genocides, war, famine, and a "happy" ending.
****
The year 910 is an explosive one. The Royal Government of Celtia recognizes Dutch Independence after over a century of denial. At the same time, a group known as the Koreans wise up against China. It is for the first time that Celtia, blinded by years of economic prosperity and rebellion in Amsterdam notice that the Chinese had achieved military parity with Celtia. As a matter of fact, they had surpassed Celtia in economic power as well. Meanwhile, who would be the last King of Celtia is pushing through more and more unpopular measures in Celtia which, by 920, would result in his overthrow and the establishment of the first democratic system in the world.
In 940, the Chinese traded Code of Laws to the Celts in exchange for Feudalism. Thirty years later, the Chinese requested the secrets to the Civil Service for free, which Celtia refused. In 1130, the Celts sell the secrets to Machinery to the Dutch for $3,950,000. By now, the Chinese military is considered more powerful than that of Celtia's. Knowing this, the Parliament of Bibracte adopts a system in which trade is tightly controlled and only internal. Amsterdam falls to China in 1160 but the Dutch fight on despite the lost.
By 1215, the Korean Rebellion is declared over. The news flies over the head of Celts and especially the government, who by 1386 is bringing in $36,000,000 a year in a surplus. The Celts belief of heavy theocratic influence, combined with their belief that science and technology is key to spreading and securing the Teachings of Buddha, make leaps and bounds over the centuries including the discovery of gunpowder in 1386. A major technology exchange with the Chinese in 1392 nets the Celts $610 million for teaching the Chinese how to make paper. The fact the Celts had a large economy to spend that much money and the fall of a Babylonian city to China in 1398 put the Celts on high alert.
Babylon fell to the Chinese Kingdom in 1398, leaving only Celtia and China the only two powers on the continent. Babylonian rebels continue to fight against China. The rebels manage to retake Babylon in 1452. The Chinese Inquisition purges Amsterdam of all non-state religions (at this time, Confucianism). Six years later, the Holy Chinese Kingdom, the most powerful economic, military, and political force on the continent, declares war on the last power on the continent capable of subverting their rule. With heated fighting in rebellious Babylon and with the Koreans grumbling in the Chinese Northern Territories, this is considered a risky move.
The declaration of war cuts off supply lines between Southern China and Northern China as the only other route is through Babylon. The Celtic Congress nominates a Dictator in Emergency.
New technologies had allowed for the building of printing presses and theaters across Celtia already. The Celts selected a Halfling, a human who lives for long periods of time. Vercingetorix become the first Halfling to lead Celtia and is the first to hold absolute power in Celtia in centuries.
Sixteen units, 16,000 soldiers, crossed the northern border near Tolosa. The Chinese studied the Babylonian-Celtic War and realized that to defeat the Celts, their source of iron must be destroyed and Tolosa must fall. The army that crossed the border was far more formidable than the Babylonian Army of before. Axemen and swordsmen had been replaced with heavy infantry wielding maces. The Chinese had three units of spearmen designed specifically to ruin the elephant charges that devastated the Babylonians. They brought a unit of catapults to whittle down Tolosa's defenses. Finally, they fielded large numbers of Cho Ko-Nus, a type of soldier that uses a repeating crossbow. Cho Ko-Nus, with their high rate of fire, were what broke the Babylonian military (though not the rebels though Babylon fell again in 1456).
A Chinese catapult unit, not alerted to the declaration of war sooner, attempted to reinforce the Chinese army that was invading Celtia at the very moment by going along the route running near Tolosa. Celtic pikemen took care of the crews quickly.
But the Chinese didn't take into account the Celts weren't fools. The Army of Bibracte was garrisoned in Tolosa. The Chinese military may have been larger and more powerful, but the Celts knew how to focus their power and no else was this proven than the sheer amount of force the Celts brought to bear on the Chinese as they crossed a small valley near Tolosa. With 40,000 soldiers, including four units of knights, one of muskets, five elephant, eleven heavy infantry, three crossbow, two pikes, six catapult, and eight trebuchets. The Army of Bibracte laid in wait for the Chinese to pass through before unleashing a hailstorm of heavy projectiles. The Chinese, disoriented, pulled back as did the Army of Bibracte which didn't want to take heavy casualties from the Cho Ko-Nus.
In 1464, the Chinese arrive to Tolosa and begin a siege from the hills to the northwest of Tolosa. A battle that year and another two years resulted in heavy casualties on both sides but the Chinese are all but wiped out, making the five units coming to reinforce from the north useless. El Cid, a half-Immortal, shows his mettle in the battles and becomes a close military advisor to Vecingetorix. From the Buddhist Church comes Ananda, an extremist, rises to advisory position in Vecingtorix's cabinet.
On the heels of such extreme defeats, the Chinese also suffer another blow when the Dutch chose to rise up again in 1474. Feeling the pinch of simmering unrest in half it's empire, China is seeking a way out of the war but still wanting a victory. Thus, the Chinese try something that the Babylonians tried. They marched on Bibracte through the valley.
And successfully began to lay siege to Bibracte with only 6,000 troops. By "siege", the small force mainly just started to pillage nearby towns and farms. In the west, the Chinese Great General, Suburai, is killed near Tolosa in another probing attack.
With the Siege of Bibracte lagging and rebellion across the continent, the Chinese are ready for a peace treaty in 1488. The Celts had other plans.
In 520, the Celts ran a 50% tax rate fighting the Babylonians and were losing $900,000 a year ($14,400,000 a year adjusted for inflation). In 1488, the Celts were running a 20% tax rate and reporting a surplus of $35,000,000 a year ($280,000,000 a year adjusted for inflation).
***
The Siege of Bibracte gradually collapsed as Celtia, having troops to spare from Tolosa, sent the 6th Gergovia Maces to deal with the besieging force. Combined with the constant probing attacks from a unit of muskets in the city, the 6th, a veteran unit, smashed into the flanks of the siege force in 1492. In 1498, the Chinese border city of Xian fell to the Army of Bibracte, now known as the Celtic First Army. This came as a great alarm to the Holy Chinese Kingdom. If the Celtic Empire reached Beijing, they would cut China in half. The Hero of Xian, Timur, becomes a direct advisor to Vecingetorix.
China received some good news in 1508 when the Babylonian and Dutch Rebellions were finally crushed, freeing up troops to fight on the front. During this time, the effect Ananda was having on military policy became apparent when the Celitc Inquisition rounded up, tortured, and killed thousands of Confucians in Xian. Fighting on the southern border through the narrow mountain passes of Tolosa was bloody but the Celts took a Chinese fort in 1534. The Celts continue to build up a force in Xian to force a breakout and march of Beijing. Their efforts are aided by the Babylonians, who rise up against in 1556, taking a long occupied city. The rebels manage to scrap together $320 million for a technology deal with the Celts, who gladly give them Engineering secrets.
By 1576, the Celts had achieved military superiority but the Chinese military is still fit for the fight. In a brokered agreement with Korean nationalists, the Chinese government grants their Northern Territory independence. In a fatal move, the Chinese sends the force through Babylon to the Xian Front instead of marching directly south on Tolosa. The Celts sell the Buddhist Koreans Celtic Philosophy for $100 million.
In 1592, the Celts force a breakthrough on the Xian Front. No solid resistance forms against the Celtic First Army on their march on Beijing. After a brief fight against a small garrison, the walls fell and Celtic troops marched through the Chinese capital a little over a century after the war began. The Temple of Artemis and the Beijing Academy now served the purposes of the Celtic Empire. Chinese Amsterdam was cut off from the core of China and Chinese Babylon was cut off from Chinese Amsterdam by the Babylonians. The Chinese largest concentration of troops are stationed in Babylon, incapable of reaching Amsterdam before it fell to the Celtic First Army in 1622. Mahavira, a student of Ananda's, joins Vecingetorix's cabinet along with Christopher Columbus, a wealthy and influential merchant.
In the year 1642, the Celtic government is running the largest deficient in Celtic history at $122 million a year ($976 million adjusted for inflation). With Amsterdam's northern flank secured by Babylon, the Celtic First Army prepares a push on the Chinese core territory to the south of Babylon, starting with Shanghai, the holy city of Confucianism. As news reached back to Beijing that Shanghai was under siege, people flooded the streets in peaceful demonstrations demanding an end to the war and their return to the now Chinese Kingdom. Regardless, Shanghai fell that year to Celtia.
Since the beginning of the war, China has lost half its territory, half its military capability, and Beijing. Breaking out of Shanghai to take on the rest of the core would be the bloodiest fighting in history and Vecingetorix knew this. Looking back at the last years of the Babylonian war, he decided that economic warfare to crush China is in order and thus, knights were sent on to pillage the Chinese countryside. This policy failed as only the border territories were pillaged before heavy Chinese resistance turned back the knights or required musketmen, who are slower than knights, to escort them. It is during this period that the war elephant fell out of vogue in the military once and for all as the Chinese Pikemen became an effective counter to the elephant.
In 1652, the Empire of Celtia gives Babylonian Kingdom of Borsippa the city of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam garrison is used to reinforce the garrison at Beijing. Finally, in 1654, the Celts sent in terms of a peace treaty to the Chinese government. The demands were light but demanded a conversion to Buddhism. The Chinese accept and after 210 years, the war between the powers was over but with the Babylonians still revolting in Babylon, war hasn't reached an end on the continent. Vecingetorix ends the dictatorship and Empire of Celtia returns to democracy.
Celtia clearly won the war though the damage to China directly, in retrospect, was pretty light compared to the thrashing Babylon received a thousand or so years ago. Neither Xian, Beijing, or Shanghai reached death tolls and military casualties matching that of the Siege of Akkad. Core Chinese territory remained solvent and fruitful. The only true issue is China's insisting control of the Babylonian territories, despite only really controlling less than 20% of the territory they claim.
Back in Celtia, Christopher Columbus is selected as Prime Minister of Celtia. He comes into power at a time where, even in peace and with the boom of free market trade, Celtia runs a deficient of $15 million a year. The good news is that the Celts, through war loot, tech deals, and earlier surpluses, has a treasury containing $2,617,000,000 ($20,936,000,000 adjusted). Low taxes combined with free markets leads Archimedes becoming an influential figure in government engineering projects.
In 1672, the First Beijing Uprising begins with Michiel de Ruyter becoming a famed general for the handling and crushing of the Uprising. Another Uprising occurs in 1694, a few years after China adopts the idea of freedom of religion which is idealistic compared to the brutal Celtic Buddhist theocracy. After the Uprising is crushed, the Celtic Inquisition purges the city of Judaism and Confucianism.
From 1694 to 1736, Celtia becomes a center of scientific achievement when the scientific method is created. At the same time, the Celtic Inquisition destroys Confucianism in Shanghai. The holy city is relocated to Amsterdam.
Charlotte Corday, a great spy, enters Celtic politics in 1812.
In 1820, the Celts make contact with the minor nation of Mongolia in the new world. The Celts, with their frigates, ships of the lines, and rifles want little to do with the pagan Mongolians whose technology dates them as being 200 years behind Celtia on the technology curve. Mani, a influential Buddhist, enters Celtic politics with his unique ideas of spreading Buddhism to the New World. After decades of constant revolts, Celtia gives Beijing...to the Babylonians. Unable to do anything, the Chinese are left to stew.
In 1830, Chaung-Tsu enters Celtic politics. He ends all his speeches by calling for a "Grand Crusade" against the Chinese. Celtia and Babylon are the only two countries with state religions. No one in China could believe that this message could become strong enough in the Socialist Republic of Celtia that the Celts would launch their first aggressive war on June 3rd, 1844.
The Chinese War of Extermination had begun.
***
So, divided into two parts, is the glorious bloody history of Celtia. From 910 to 2040.
Spanning genocides, war, famine, and a "happy" ending.
****
The year 910 is an explosive one. The Royal Government of Celtia recognizes Dutch Independence after over a century of denial. At the same time, a group known as the Koreans wise up against China. It is for the first time that Celtia, blinded by years of economic prosperity and rebellion in Amsterdam notice that the Chinese had achieved military parity with Celtia. As a matter of fact, they had surpassed Celtia in economic power as well. Meanwhile, who would be the last King of Celtia is pushing through more and more unpopular measures in Celtia which, by 920, would result in his overthrow and the establishment of the first democratic system in the world.
In 940, the Chinese traded Code of Laws to the Celts in exchange for Feudalism. Thirty years later, the Chinese requested the secrets to the Civil Service for free, which Celtia refused. In 1130, the Celts sell the secrets to Machinery to the Dutch for $3,950,000. By now, the Chinese military is considered more powerful than that of Celtia's. Knowing this, the Parliament of Bibracte adopts a system in which trade is tightly controlled and only internal. Amsterdam falls to China in 1160 but the Dutch fight on despite the lost.
By 1215, the Korean Rebellion is declared over. The news flies over the head of Celts and especially the government, who by 1386 is bringing in $36,000,000 a year in a surplus. The Celts belief of heavy theocratic influence, combined with their belief that science and technology is key to spreading and securing the Teachings of Buddha, make leaps and bounds over the centuries including the discovery of gunpowder in 1386. A major technology exchange with the Chinese in 1392 nets the Celts $610 million for teaching the Chinese how to make paper. The fact the Celts had a large economy to spend that much money and the fall of a Babylonian city to China in 1398 put the Celts on high alert.
Babylon fell to the Chinese Kingdom in 1398, leaving only Celtia and China the only two powers on the continent. Babylonian rebels continue to fight against China. The rebels manage to retake Babylon in 1452. The Chinese Inquisition purges Amsterdam of all non-state religions (at this time, Confucianism). Six years later, the Holy Chinese Kingdom, the most powerful economic, military, and political force on the continent, declares war on the last power on the continent capable of subverting their rule. With heated fighting in rebellious Babylon and with the Koreans grumbling in the Chinese Northern Territories, this is considered a risky move.
The declaration of war cuts off supply lines between Southern China and Northern China as the only other route is through Babylon. The Celtic Congress nominates a Dictator in Emergency.
New technologies had allowed for the building of printing presses and theaters across Celtia already. The Celts selected a Halfling, a human who lives for long periods of time. Vercingetorix become the first Halfling to lead Celtia and is the first to hold absolute power in Celtia in centuries.
Sixteen units, 16,000 soldiers, crossed the northern border near Tolosa. The Chinese studied the Babylonian-Celtic War and realized that to defeat the Celts, their source of iron must be destroyed and Tolosa must fall. The army that crossed the border was far more formidable than the Babylonian Army of before. Axemen and swordsmen had been replaced with heavy infantry wielding maces. The Chinese had three units of spearmen designed specifically to ruin the elephant charges that devastated the Babylonians. They brought a unit of catapults to whittle down Tolosa's defenses. Finally, they fielded large numbers of Cho Ko-Nus, a type of soldier that uses a repeating crossbow. Cho Ko-Nus, with their high rate of fire, were what broke the Babylonian military (though not the rebels though Babylon fell again in 1456).
A Chinese catapult unit, not alerted to the declaration of war sooner, attempted to reinforce the Chinese army that was invading Celtia at the very moment by going along the route running near Tolosa. Celtic pikemen took care of the crews quickly.
But the Chinese didn't take into account the Celts weren't fools. The Army of Bibracte was garrisoned in Tolosa. The Chinese military may have been larger and more powerful, but the Celts knew how to focus their power and no else was this proven than the sheer amount of force the Celts brought to bear on the Chinese as they crossed a small valley near Tolosa. With 40,000 soldiers, including four units of knights, one of muskets, five elephant, eleven heavy infantry, three crossbow, two pikes, six catapult, and eight trebuchets. The Army of Bibracte laid in wait for the Chinese to pass through before unleashing a hailstorm of heavy projectiles. The Chinese, disoriented, pulled back as did the Army of Bibracte which didn't want to take heavy casualties from the Cho Ko-Nus.
In 1464, the Chinese arrive to Tolosa and begin a siege from the hills to the northwest of Tolosa. A battle that year and another two years resulted in heavy casualties on both sides but the Chinese are all but wiped out, making the five units coming to reinforce from the north useless. El Cid, a half-Immortal, shows his mettle in the battles and becomes a close military advisor to Vecingetorix. From the Buddhist Church comes Ananda, an extremist, rises to advisory position in Vecingtorix's cabinet.
On the heels of such extreme defeats, the Chinese also suffer another blow when the Dutch chose to rise up again in 1474. Feeling the pinch of simmering unrest in half it's empire, China is seeking a way out of the war but still wanting a victory. Thus, the Chinese try something that the Babylonians tried. They marched on Bibracte through the valley.
And successfully began to lay siege to Bibracte with only 6,000 troops. By "siege", the small force mainly just started to pillage nearby towns and farms. In the west, the Chinese Great General, Suburai, is killed near Tolosa in another probing attack.
With the Siege of Bibracte lagging and rebellion across the continent, the Chinese are ready for a peace treaty in 1488. The Celts had other plans.
In 520, the Celts ran a 50% tax rate fighting the Babylonians and were losing $900,000 a year ($14,400,000 a year adjusted for inflation). In 1488, the Celts were running a 20% tax rate and reporting a surplus of $35,000,000 a year ($280,000,000 a year adjusted for inflation).
***
The Siege of Bibracte gradually collapsed as Celtia, having troops to spare from Tolosa, sent the 6th Gergovia Maces to deal with the besieging force. Combined with the constant probing attacks from a unit of muskets in the city, the 6th, a veteran unit, smashed into the flanks of the siege force in 1492. In 1498, the Chinese border city of Xian fell to the Army of Bibracte, now known as the Celtic First Army. This came as a great alarm to the Holy Chinese Kingdom. If the Celtic Empire reached Beijing, they would cut China in half. The Hero of Xian, Timur, becomes a direct advisor to Vecingetorix.
China received some good news in 1508 when the Babylonian and Dutch Rebellions were finally crushed, freeing up troops to fight on the front. During this time, the effect Ananda was having on military policy became apparent when the Celitc Inquisition rounded up, tortured, and killed thousands of Confucians in Xian. Fighting on the southern border through the narrow mountain passes of Tolosa was bloody but the Celts took a Chinese fort in 1534. The Celts continue to build up a force in Xian to force a breakout and march of Beijing. Their efforts are aided by the Babylonians, who rise up against in 1556, taking a long occupied city. The rebels manage to scrap together $320 million for a technology deal with the Celts, who gladly give them Engineering secrets.
By 1576, the Celts had achieved military superiority but the Chinese military is still fit for the fight. In a brokered agreement with Korean nationalists, the Chinese government grants their Northern Territory independence. In a fatal move, the Chinese sends the force through Babylon to the Xian Front instead of marching directly south on Tolosa. The Celts sell the Buddhist Koreans Celtic Philosophy for $100 million.
In 1592, the Celts force a breakthrough on the Xian Front. No solid resistance forms against the Celtic First Army on their march on Beijing. After a brief fight against a small garrison, the walls fell and Celtic troops marched through the Chinese capital a little over a century after the war began. The Temple of Artemis and the Beijing Academy now served the purposes of the Celtic Empire. Chinese Amsterdam was cut off from the core of China and Chinese Babylon was cut off from Chinese Amsterdam by the Babylonians. The Chinese largest concentration of troops are stationed in Babylon, incapable of reaching Amsterdam before it fell to the Celtic First Army in 1622. Mahavira, a student of Ananda's, joins Vecingetorix's cabinet along with Christopher Columbus, a wealthy and influential merchant.
In the year 1642, the Celtic government is running the largest deficient in Celtic history at $122 million a year ($976 million adjusted for inflation). With Amsterdam's northern flank secured by Babylon, the Celtic First Army prepares a push on the Chinese core territory to the south of Babylon, starting with Shanghai, the holy city of Confucianism. As news reached back to Beijing that Shanghai was under siege, people flooded the streets in peaceful demonstrations demanding an end to the war and their return to the now Chinese Kingdom. Regardless, Shanghai fell that year to Celtia.
Since the beginning of the war, China has lost half its territory, half its military capability, and Beijing. Breaking out of Shanghai to take on the rest of the core would be the bloodiest fighting in history and Vecingetorix knew this. Looking back at the last years of the Babylonian war, he decided that economic warfare to crush China is in order and thus, knights were sent on to pillage the Chinese countryside. This policy failed as only the border territories were pillaged before heavy Chinese resistance turned back the knights or required musketmen, who are slower than knights, to escort them. It is during this period that the war elephant fell out of vogue in the military once and for all as the Chinese Pikemen became an effective counter to the elephant.
In 1652, the Empire of Celtia gives Babylonian Kingdom of Borsippa the city of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam garrison is used to reinforce the garrison at Beijing. Finally, in 1654, the Celts sent in terms of a peace treaty to the Chinese government. The demands were light but demanded a conversion to Buddhism. The Chinese accept and after 210 years, the war between the powers was over but with the Babylonians still revolting in Babylon, war hasn't reached an end on the continent. Vecingetorix ends the dictatorship and Empire of Celtia returns to democracy.
Celtia clearly won the war though the damage to China directly, in retrospect, was pretty light compared to the thrashing Babylon received a thousand or so years ago. Neither Xian, Beijing, or Shanghai reached death tolls and military casualties matching that of the Siege of Akkad. Core Chinese territory remained solvent and fruitful. The only true issue is China's insisting control of the Babylonian territories, despite only really controlling less than 20% of the territory they claim.
Back in Celtia, Christopher Columbus is selected as Prime Minister of Celtia. He comes into power at a time where, even in peace and with the boom of free market trade, Celtia runs a deficient of $15 million a year. The good news is that the Celts, through war loot, tech deals, and earlier surpluses, has a treasury containing $2,617,000,000 ($20,936,000,000 adjusted). Low taxes combined with free markets leads Archimedes becoming an influential figure in government engineering projects.
In 1672, the First Beijing Uprising begins with Michiel de Ruyter becoming a famed general for the handling and crushing of the Uprising. Another Uprising occurs in 1694, a few years after China adopts the idea of freedom of religion which is idealistic compared to the brutal Celtic Buddhist theocracy. After the Uprising is crushed, the Celtic Inquisition purges the city of Judaism and Confucianism.
From 1694 to 1736, Celtia becomes a center of scientific achievement when the scientific method is created. At the same time, the Celtic Inquisition destroys Confucianism in Shanghai. The holy city is relocated to Amsterdam.
Charlotte Corday, a great spy, enters Celtic politics in 1812.
In 1820, the Celts make contact with the minor nation of Mongolia in the new world. The Celts, with their frigates, ships of the lines, and rifles want little to do with the pagan Mongolians whose technology dates them as being 200 years behind Celtia on the technology curve. Mani, a influential Buddhist, enters Celtic politics with his unique ideas of spreading Buddhism to the New World. After decades of constant revolts, Celtia gives Beijing...to the Babylonians. Unable to do anything, the Chinese are left to stew.
In 1830, Chaung-Tsu enters Celtic politics. He ends all his speeches by calling for a "Grand Crusade" against the Chinese. Celtia and Babylon are the only two countries with state religions. No one in China could believe that this message could become strong enough in the Socialist Republic of Celtia that the Celts would launch their first aggressive war on June 3rd, 1844.
The Chinese War of Extermination had begun.
***
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April 9th, 1844
War, Death, Pestilence, and Famine sat around a pleasant table in one of Bibracte's most upscale restaurants. The meal was pleasant but the topic for discussion, the reason Death gathered all of them, was no.
"Brothers. Do any of you think of what would you do if the humans, namely the Celts, no longer need us to trigger events?" She asked in between bites.
Pestilence, constantly grinning, shook his head, "Nope. Have you seen the last two Continental Wars?"
Death nodded, "That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not saying that famine, disease, war, and death would stop happening. I'm saying that we no longer need to cause wars for all these things to happen."
War chuckled, "We're eating in the heart of Celtia. Celtia doesn't go to war without being forced to and it is the most powerful country in the world now. The only way they'll fight is if we can pull string to get some idiot to go at them."
"Then what about this, brothers." She placed a manila folder on the table. Like vultures, they delved into the paperwork and read. Then, they paled as a collective.
Famine asked, "What does this mean?"
Death looked around. As always, no one paid direct attention to them. She leaned forward and whispered all the same. "The Celtic government is planning this. All of this. And they're planning on starting some time in early June."
Pestilence stopped smiling. "This...this can't be right. This is like Akkad and Du-"
"No. Those were cities....not entire civilizations. Those were a few ten thousand people. One was a village almost! This is something we did not foresee."
War gulped, "How many are expected to be killed?"
"Hundreds of thousands just in the cities. Tens of millions in the starvation, government collapse, and Exodus. The plans say they won't bother will chasing ships since there isn't nearly enough to evacuate a city. Unless the estimates have changed, they expect that the Former Chinese Core will only be able to support fifty thousand people and they admit that's a "rosy" estimate for the Chinese. Read on. The plans talk about how they can easily shut down the Mountain Passes. The Shanghai Authority will be able to prevent any refugees from fleeing into Tolosa or towards Beijing. The Northern Pass is nothing but desert so the amount of refugees that will make it through that gauntlet. The final route of escape by land is through the Northeastern Pass which is heavily forested along the border. That's the best be to escape the fighting but the Celts will have ships patrolling the coast, searching for refugees and sending in marines to break up camps.
The only other way to escape the fighting by land is by fleeing south into the tundra and ice and praying that it is over quickly."
Famine flicked the paper back toward Death with disgust. "Why? What's the point of this? They broke China's back in the Second Continental War. The plans don't even mention resettlement."
"Either they didn't think that far or they don't care."
***
The first thing to go when the Celtic First Army crossed the border was the iron mine. Celts wasted no time killing the miners and causing the mine to collapse with gunpowder barrels. Immediately, a counterattack is launched by the Chinese which is repulsed with heavy casualties when the Chinese charge met Celtic canister. Instead of a solid ball, canister is like a large shotgun of shrapnel and that shrapnel does nasty things to flesh at close range. Not even Chinese heavy mace infantry could stand up to such a nasty weapon and tactics were devised to avoid it.
The Celtic First Army, technologically, still outgunned the Chinese literally. Despite not upgrading their musket units to use more accurate, powerful, and longer ranged rifles, the muskets were still capable of taking out anything the Chinese sent against them except the repeating crossbows used by the elite troops of China. Problems versus the repeating crossbow were mitigated by the sheer number of muskets Celtia fielded in battle.
Each battle between Shanghai and the new Chinese capital at Guangzhou became a battle to the death as the Celts no longer took prisoner and shot, bashed, and impaled to kill. The most dangerous unit in the field of battle was the unit of cavalry armed with no armor but fast horses and a repeating rifle.
Aryan, east of Guangzhou, did not escape the war, even at the beginning. Celtic frigates and ships of the line bombarded the city daily and unopposed by the small caravels of the Chinese Navy. By 1849, Celtic cannons started bombarding Guangzhou, the holy city of an obscure religion known as Taoism. In tow with the Celtic First Army were dozens of the outdated but useful trebuchets.
News reached Guangzhou of the atrocities carried out by the Celts on their march on Guangzhou and knew that losing Guangzhou meant the destruction of thousands of years of culture and development and the deaths of many. The Chinese leadership stayed in the city to coordinate the battle which would be fought house-by-house for each block. Such a tactic, if used in the last war, would've bled the Celts dry. Cannons could be brought into the city and used as a nasty weapon of destruction. The Battle for Guangzhou lasted one full month before the Chinese government fled.
The Celts began the process of dismantling Guangzhou block by block. Over three hundred thousand Chinese were evicted from the city or murdered. The famed Guangzhou Hanging Gardens, Pantheon, Hagia Sophia, and Dai Miao were razed.
Aristotle's work back in Celtia results in the discovery of physics.
Nanjing fell to Celtia in 1863. The Temporary Dictator of Celtia and his cabinet begins planning an attack on Beijing and Amsterdam, both which fell back to the Chinese at some point in the inter-war period. Amsterdam and Beijing are being struck from the skies by Celtia's newest weapon of war, the airship. The damage to the cities are light but the panic created is unrivaled. The Celtic Second Army, the highest tech force on the planet, is preparing to strike at Amsterdam. Beijing, which is garrisoned with only a unit of longbowmen is conquered by a single unit of cavalry. The city surrenders, sparing it the destruction Guangzhou and Nanjing have suffered. With the fall of Beijing comes the scuttling of four Chinese caravels.
The Chinese in Amsterdam have nine ships docked in her harbor when it falls to the Celtic Second Army and is promptly razed. The fighting is nothing like the fighting in the east as the Celtic Second Army makes heavy use of cannons and riflemen instead of muskets. The final Chinese stronghold in Aryan falls to Celtia in 1868, marking an end of the war and the beginning of the Chinese Diaspora to the New World.
***
Following the war, the Celts made contact with the pagan Spanish Kingdom of Madrid and the Kingdom of Rome. Trade was established and some tech deals were made. In 1876, the Celts invade Babylonian to secure the only source of oil on the continent. The war lasts to 1885 with the capture of Babylon by the Celtic First Army, which has since absorbed the Second Army. Hinduism, like every other non-Buddhist religion in Celtia, is purged from Borsippa, the Hindu holy city while the Celts send Buddhist missionaries to the pagan New World. Buddhism catches on like wildfire within Rome and Spain, who quickly become some of Celtia's most loyal allies.
In 1898, the Caste System is dismantled.
Overall, Celtia's desire for land in the New World is low but Korea, long blocked in by the Babylonians (and now Celts) to the west and Celts to the south established overseas colonies which, in January 1906, declare their independence to form Khmer. Khmer takes two out of three of the colonial cities leading to declarations of war from Spain. Celtia begins supplying Spain with iron to feed their war machine.
January 24th, 1917, a Celtic frigate is sunk in the waters of Khmer Seoul. A declaration of war by the Celtic government follows despite Khmer decrying the sinking as a fabrication. When the Celtic Expeditionary Force ships out in July of 1920, tax ratese back home are still 20%. Thanks to an anti-inflationary measure taken by the government, the surplus for the year of 1920 is $1 billion. ($4,040,000,000 adjusted).
The Celtic Expeditionary Force landed in the jungles south of Pyongyang on July 10th, 1920. Pyongyang was the holy city of Islam until the Celtic Inquisition arrived years later, along with the rest of the rebelling territories Celtia conquered during the Khmer Revolution. The city is defended by four Khmer units of longbowmen. Ships of the Line and frigates provided fire support along with the three cannon units as Celtic riflemen stormed the city, quickly overthrowing the local Khmer local government.
Wonsan falls to Khmer rebels in July of 1921. The Free Celtic Republic lands forces on Wonsan Island in January 1923 and takes the city. Wonsan will remain in Celtic possession. The last battle occurs in January of 1928. Khmer rebels started using muskets in Wonsan on a small scale and a unit of muskets defend Seoul along with several units of macemen and longbows. Seoul is hard fought and holds out until 1929. The Celts and Khmer agree to a peace treaty in 1934. Pyongyang, purged of Islam which is replaced with Buddhism, is peacefully turned over to Khmer in 1946. The same year, the Chinese Diaspora ends when Rome, under pressure from rebel groups, grants the Chinese in Neopolis independence. For the first time in eighty years, the Chinese government exists in the Old World.
Seoul rejoins Korea in 1959. The Celts declare war on Pyongyang in 1964 and swiftly overthrow the Khmer government, again. The city falls back under Korean control in 1966.
Throughout the 60s and 70s, the world is relatively peaceful with much of it united through Buddhism. Darkly, the Jewish people have been chased out of their homeland into Korea, Taoism eradicated along with Hinduism and Christianity, and Islam located only in Mongolia. As the Koreans launched a war against China in 1972, the Celts continued to advance. Discoveries such as refrigeration and fission help boost productivity in Celtic factories. The average standard of living far exceeds that of other nations like Spain, which at this time has yet to develop consumer electricity (which the Celts aided Spain in developing in their country in 1973). In 1974, Celtia sent the first artificial satellite into space.
Sumeria is conquered by Mongolia in 1985. In 1989, the Republic of Spain and Free Celtic Republic declares war on the Roman Republic. Spain declares war to install a Buddhist theocracy in Rome, which has recently instituted freedom of religions. Celtia declares war in support of Spain but will do more of the heavy lifting.
***
The End Game
The Celtic Expeditionary Forces disembark in Barcelona in the winter of 1990. Barcelona, like Bibracte, is humid throughout the year. The disembarking soldiers are among the best in the world supported by the latest in field artillery. Semi-automatic rifles replace the rifles of old meaning the cavalry units are now the ones at a disadvantage. Back on the mainland, the Celts send forces to the Southern Border with Korea to keep roaming bands of Chinese rebels and bandits from crossing the bordering and pillaging farms. The Chinese are also armed with the widespread semi-automatic rifle.
Like previous wars like Khmer, the Celts expected an easy, quick war. The Romans defending Rome wouldn't give them one. For the first time, the Celts are repelled by defenders. Roman machine guns, trenches, and infantry are tough to crack and even as the Celts pushed trench by trench to the outskirts of the city where the fighting intensified. Machine guns could be set up in store windows, apartment buildings, nearly anywhere. Celtic artillery doesn't pack enough explosive power to crack the back of the military defenses of the city and the front stabilizes for a year.
In the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean between Celtia's eastern coast and the New World, is a submarine. This submarine has been roaming the Atlantic for years, avoiding ships. The submarines holds two missiles in its missile bays. A weapon was developed in 1974 that the scientists and physicists said could change war as they knew it. Celtia has kept this weapon secret for fifteen years. Off in the waters of Rome the submarine surfaces and a missile is launched.
The device detonates over Rome with a megaton yield, more explosive power packed in the single weapon than all the explosives used in all wars in human history. The Celtic Expeditionary Force is ravaged by the unexpected power of the blast. Soldiers are blinded, burned, bones broken, and some close to the detonation will die in less than a week of radiation poisoning.
The situation in Rome is worst. Government authority collapsed immediately in the face of the nuclear war. Military resistance along the front collapses and the remaining troops defending Rome surrender. Politically decapitated, Rome is cut in two with the lost of its capital. News of the explosion spread across the airwaves to every radio. Sight of the mushroom cloud rising to the stratosphere spreads to every television set on every channel from Tolosa to Seoul.
Desertion among the warlord Chinese armies and within the Roman Army skyrockets in the weeks following the news. Especially among the Chinese rebelling against the Koreans as Celtic fighter and bomber squadrons punish the rebels from the skies to which the Chinese can do nothing.
Another tactical nuclear device is detonated in 1992 over Cumae. With a Roman general running Rome from Antium, a city in the frigid southern part of the continent, the Celts shift focus of the war from the ground to the air. Five Celtic aircraft carriers in the Atlantic destroy the lone defending airship unit with fifteen units of fighters. Bombers based in Madrid, Rome, and Cumae begin laying waste to Antium from the air. A very controversial bombing raid resulted in the destruction of the Antium Courthouse and Theater, killing hundreds. The countrywide bombing campaign lasts until 1997. Antium is in ruins but still heavily contested and brimming with underpaid, underfed, but highly motivated Roman troops). Celtia does not want to send troops and Spain can not seem to force a breakthrough. The Romans agree to peace and pay $10 billion in reparations.
In 2002, Korean grants China independence. A year later, war rekindles between Celtia and Rome on behalf of Korea, who declared war on Rome on behalf of Spain who were still at war with Rome. Same air war as before but a tactical nuclear device was used in 2003 over Antium. Despite the bombing, the Spanish are incapable of taking the city. By now, Celtia's alliances with Korea and Spain are resulting in Celtia entering war after war, especially in regard to New China. Korea retakes China in 2006. By 2010, a Mongolian-Spanish Coalition is gathered around Antium. With some economic concessions from the two nations, Celtia agrees to their plan and three tactical nuclear weapons are deployed against Antium. Antium is destroyed.
The final nation outside the Triple Pact is Mongolia. A decade of planning leads to the quickest and second most devastating war in history.
***
"If you feel the need to excuse yourself from this mission, report to your commander. It will not be counted against you on your record."
The Celtic soldiers in the Spanish military base preparing to cross the border into Mongolia were an army without artillery. They moved faster, thought faster, and were armed with light submachine guns. The message being played on the PA system was also being played in the military base in Northern Spain near a mountain range marking the border between Spain and Mongolia. The war against Mongolia started two days ago. However, the paratroopers were ordered to wait two days before going ahead. The message alarmed some soldiers. All have heard the news by now that Mongolia had been hit with more tactical devices than used ever before. Some of the men were veterans of that war and had seen the effects of radiation on people.
Hence the wait and message.
Two paratroopers backed out but the rest moved rapidly with commandeered trucks when the go-ahead was given. The drive from the border fort to Uruk lasted several hours. Crossing the border increased tensions. To the left of the highway was the Atlantic and to the right was a gem mine. Some miners and their families had hidden in the mine and came out when the trucks passed. A soldier asked them did they have food and water. The families nodded and the convoy moved ahead once more to Uruk.
Soon, the trucks were passing the charred, deserted, or destroyed remnants of sugar plantations. The busted windows combined with destruction of the power plants made each estate house look like a ghost damning the paratroopers as they passed. Occassionaly, the trucks had to take side roads when Geiger counters reported heavy radiation. The trucks reached and secured Uruk's population of one thousand people on October 17th, 2016.
The scene in Karakorum, the capital of Mongolia, is stark. Public utilities are out of the picture after being struck with several tactical devices. The lone surviving hospital is overrun and the military presence is all but non-existent. The Mayor of Karakorum, who doesn't know it yet but is the highest ranking survivor in the long chain of Mongolian political succession, looks out of a hospital window. He is helping as a nurse, he figures, doing whatever he can to help the wounded. He can see planes flying overhead, disgorging paratroopers by the thousands. If the same scene is playing out here, it must be in Turfan he figures. What's the point in resisting? If they came searching for him, he would gladly surrender the city.
For now, he would help those he can and pray for those who would die. By the number of teeth collecting on the floor, he guessed he would be doing a lot of prayer.
***
The first strategic nuclear device is detonated over the road running from Karakorum to Turfan. A small force of Mongolian troops aiming to force out the much smaller force of paratroopers in Turfan had been spotted by satellites which promptly guided the intercontinental weapon launched from a field near Gergovia to the moving force. Mongolia has lost three out of five cities. The last coherent military unit in Mongolia now is the 12th Anti-Tank in Ning-hsia. Beshbalik falls on October 20th, 2016.
The unit surrenders when paratroopers are spotted dropping from the skies near the city. By now, the last Mongolian holdouts are at sea and being searched for by military aircraft and thus, the war ends in 2017 when the last resisting Mongolian frigate is sunk.
Mongolia is an irradiated piece of work which will require decades to repair and clean.
On April 1st, 2019, Geiger counters in Korea report radiation on their western border with Celtia. No seismic activity marked by the testing of nuclear weapon is reported leaving world scientists baffled.
Four years later, the most terrible conflict in human history begins. Thousands of years of political, religious, economic, and cultural conspiracy culmulates in the declaration of war against Spain in the year 2023. It is called the War to End All Wars.
The war begins with a full strategic nuclear assault against Spain. Twenty ICBMs strike seven cities in Spain. Tolosa, Barcelona, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Salamanca, and Santiago. Two days following the bombings, paratroopers land across Spain to take Madrid, Cordoba, and Seville immediately. Salamanca was destroyed in the bombings and Santiago will later be destroyed by Spanish rebels fighting against the paratrooper unit that took the city. Toledo falls soon after the fall of Seville.
Barcelona is the last city and has gathered together a force large enough to deter paratroopers. The city is destroyed by several tactical nuclear devices and the war is declared on April 2nd, 2024.
Celtia has achieved her goal of world domination.
***
Epilogue
Celtia releases Cumae and Rome back to Rome and occupied Spain back to Spain during the late-2020s. Their militaries are neutered and the nuclear option that Celtia holds allows them to dictate world trade and policy.
Fallout caused by the widespread bombings in Spain and the growing number of incidents of fallout across the globe, even in the Old World, is resulting in a global decline of life expectancy. The highest in the world is Korea at 63, followed by Celtia at 59. The average life expectancy for those in the New World outside of Mongolia is 30. Birth defects are rapidly rising in Xian, where fallout falling to earth is high.
Korea grants Khmer independence in 2024.
As for the war to end all wars...not exactly. Rome and Celtia go to war in the early-2030s but the war drags on with only a few naval battles and peace is made in 2035. Korea goes to war against Spain three years later and takes Madrid but is forced to hold their positions. Annnd the Celts go to war with Khmer when it's discovered a Khmer spy was operating in a high level of government in Celtia. The war is the first use of mobile artillery, gunships, stealth bombers, and modern armor. Celtia is highly reluctant to use nuclear weapons anymore. When the Celts took Pyongyang and Seoul, they decided to keep it for themselves this time.
Atmospheric fallout is becoming a serious problem across the world.
By the year 2040, Spain has yet to rebuild and recover from the Great War. Fallout in the lower parts of Spain, south of Cordoba, is minimum however. The railroads running from Lower Spain to Toledo paint a different story. Many areas are still radiated, forming a radiation belt, especially in the area near Barcelona. The mountain range marking the Celtic Mongolia-Spanish border is brimming with radiation that is impossible scrub, though after nearly twenty years, Mongolia proper is fallout free.
Average life expectancy is now 47 years old across the globe. Still 59 in Celtia and 63 in Korea.
The first signs of Atmospheric fallout is detected near Bibracte. Radiation is growing dangerously high on the western portions of the Old World and within Korean proper.
In 2040, the GNP of Celtia is $1 trillion.
War, Death, Pestilence, and Famine sat around a pleasant table in one of Bibracte's most upscale restaurants. The meal was pleasant but the topic for discussion, the reason Death gathered all of them, was no.
"Brothers. Do any of you think of what would you do if the humans, namely the Celts, no longer need us to trigger events?" She asked in between bites.
Pestilence, constantly grinning, shook his head, "Nope. Have you seen the last two Continental Wars?"
Death nodded, "That's not what I'm talking about. I'm not saying that famine, disease, war, and death would stop happening. I'm saying that we no longer need to cause wars for all these things to happen."
War chuckled, "We're eating in the heart of Celtia. Celtia doesn't go to war without being forced to and it is the most powerful country in the world now. The only way they'll fight is if we can pull string to get some idiot to go at them."
"Then what about this, brothers." She placed a manila folder on the table. Like vultures, they delved into the paperwork and read. Then, they paled as a collective.
Famine asked, "What does this mean?"
Death looked around. As always, no one paid direct attention to them. She leaned forward and whispered all the same. "The Celtic government is planning this. All of this. And they're planning on starting some time in early June."
Pestilence stopped smiling. "This...this can't be right. This is like Akkad and Du-"
"No. Those were cities....not entire civilizations. Those were a few ten thousand people. One was a village almost! This is something we did not foresee."
War gulped, "How many are expected to be killed?"
"Hundreds of thousands just in the cities. Tens of millions in the starvation, government collapse, and Exodus. The plans say they won't bother will chasing ships since there isn't nearly enough to evacuate a city. Unless the estimates have changed, they expect that the Former Chinese Core will only be able to support fifty thousand people and they admit that's a "rosy" estimate for the Chinese. Read on. The plans talk about how they can easily shut down the Mountain Passes. The Shanghai Authority will be able to prevent any refugees from fleeing into Tolosa or towards Beijing. The Northern Pass is nothing but desert so the amount of refugees that will make it through that gauntlet. The final route of escape by land is through the Northeastern Pass which is heavily forested along the border. That's the best be to escape the fighting but the Celts will have ships patrolling the coast, searching for refugees and sending in marines to break up camps.
The only other way to escape the fighting by land is by fleeing south into the tundra and ice and praying that it is over quickly."
Famine flicked the paper back toward Death with disgust. "Why? What's the point of this? They broke China's back in the Second Continental War. The plans don't even mention resettlement."
"Either they didn't think that far or they don't care."
***
The first thing to go when the Celtic First Army crossed the border was the iron mine. Celts wasted no time killing the miners and causing the mine to collapse with gunpowder barrels. Immediately, a counterattack is launched by the Chinese which is repulsed with heavy casualties when the Chinese charge met Celtic canister. Instead of a solid ball, canister is like a large shotgun of shrapnel and that shrapnel does nasty things to flesh at close range. Not even Chinese heavy mace infantry could stand up to such a nasty weapon and tactics were devised to avoid it.
The Celtic First Army, technologically, still outgunned the Chinese literally. Despite not upgrading their musket units to use more accurate, powerful, and longer ranged rifles, the muskets were still capable of taking out anything the Chinese sent against them except the repeating crossbows used by the elite troops of China. Problems versus the repeating crossbow were mitigated by the sheer number of muskets Celtia fielded in battle.
Each battle between Shanghai and the new Chinese capital at Guangzhou became a battle to the death as the Celts no longer took prisoner and shot, bashed, and impaled to kill. The most dangerous unit in the field of battle was the unit of cavalry armed with no armor but fast horses and a repeating rifle.
Aryan, east of Guangzhou, did not escape the war, even at the beginning. Celtic frigates and ships of the line bombarded the city daily and unopposed by the small caravels of the Chinese Navy. By 1849, Celtic cannons started bombarding Guangzhou, the holy city of an obscure religion known as Taoism. In tow with the Celtic First Army were dozens of the outdated but useful trebuchets.
News reached Guangzhou of the atrocities carried out by the Celts on their march on Guangzhou and knew that losing Guangzhou meant the destruction of thousands of years of culture and development and the deaths of many. The Chinese leadership stayed in the city to coordinate the battle which would be fought house-by-house for each block. Such a tactic, if used in the last war, would've bled the Celts dry. Cannons could be brought into the city and used as a nasty weapon of destruction. The Battle for Guangzhou lasted one full month before the Chinese government fled.
The Celts began the process of dismantling Guangzhou block by block. Over three hundred thousand Chinese were evicted from the city or murdered. The famed Guangzhou Hanging Gardens, Pantheon, Hagia Sophia, and Dai Miao were razed.
Aristotle's work back in Celtia results in the discovery of physics.
Nanjing fell to Celtia in 1863. The Temporary Dictator of Celtia and his cabinet begins planning an attack on Beijing and Amsterdam, both which fell back to the Chinese at some point in the inter-war period. Amsterdam and Beijing are being struck from the skies by Celtia's newest weapon of war, the airship. The damage to the cities are light but the panic created is unrivaled. The Celtic Second Army, the highest tech force on the planet, is preparing to strike at Amsterdam. Beijing, which is garrisoned with only a unit of longbowmen is conquered by a single unit of cavalry. The city surrenders, sparing it the destruction Guangzhou and Nanjing have suffered. With the fall of Beijing comes the scuttling of four Chinese caravels.
The Chinese in Amsterdam have nine ships docked in her harbor when it falls to the Celtic Second Army and is promptly razed. The fighting is nothing like the fighting in the east as the Celtic Second Army makes heavy use of cannons and riflemen instead of muskets. The final Chinese stronghold in Aryan falls to Celtia in 1868, marking an end of the war and the beginning of the Chinese Diaspora to the New World.
***
Following the war, the Celts made contact with the pagan Spanish Kingdom of Madrid and the Kingdom of Rome. Trade was established and some tech deals were made. In 1876, the Celts invade Babylonian to secure the only source of oil on the continent. The war lasts to 1885 with the capture of Babylon by the Celtic First Army, which has since absorbed the Second Army. Hinduism, like every other non-Buddhist religion in Celtia, is purged from Borsippa, the Hindu holy city while the Celts send Buddhist missionaries to the pagan New World. Buddhism catches on like wildfire within Rome and Spain, who quickly become some of Celtia's most loyal allies.
In 1898, the Caste System is dismantled.
Overall, Celtia's desire for land in the New World is low but Korea, long blocked in by the Babylonians (and now Celts) to the west and Celts to the south established overseas colonies which, in January 1906, declare their independence to form Khmer. Khmer takes two out of three of the colonial cities leading to declarations of war from Spain. Celtia begins supplying Spain with iron to feed their war machine.
January 24th, 1917, a Celtic frigate is sunk in the waters of Khmer Seoul. A declaration of war by the Celtic government follows despite Khmer decrying the sinking as a fabrication. When the Celtic Expeditionary Force ships out in July of 1920, tax ratese back home are still 20%. Thanks to an anti-inflationary measure taken by the government, the surplus for the year of 1920 is $1 billion. ($4,040,000,000 adjusted).
The Celtic Expeditionary Force landed in the jungles south of Pyongyang on July 10th, 1920. Pyongyang was the holy city of Islam until the Celtic Inquisition arrived years later, along with the rest of the rebelling territories Celtia conquered during the Khmer Revolution. The city is defended by four Khmer units of longbowmen. Ships of the Line and frigates provided fire support along with the three cannon units as Celtic riflemen stormed the city, quickly overthrowing the local Khmer local government.
Wonsan falls to Khmer rebels in July of 1921. The Free Celtic Republic lands forces on Wonsan Island in January 1923 and takes the city. Wonsan will remain in Celtic possession. The last battle occurs in January of 1928. Khmer rebels started using muskets in Wonsan on a small scale and a unit of muskets defend Seoul along with several units of macemen and longbows. Seoul is hard fought and holds out until 1929. The Celts and Khmer agree to a peace treaty in 1934. Pyongyang, purged of Islam which is replaced with Buddhism, is peacefully turned over to Khmer in 1946. The same year, the Chinese Diaspora ends when Rome, under pressure from rebel groups, grants the Chinese in Neopolis independence. For the first time in eighty years, the Chinese government exists in the Old World.
Seoul rejoins Korea in 1959. The Celts declare war on Pyongyang in 1964 and swiftly overthrow the Khmer government, again. The city falls back under Korean control in 1966.
Throughout the 60s and 70s, the world is relatively peaceful with much of it united through Buddhism. Darkly, the Jewish people have been chased out of their homeland into Korea, Taoism eradicated along with Hinduism and Christianity, and Islam located only in Mongolia. As the Koreans launched a war against China in 1972, the Celts continued to advance. Discoveries such as refrigeration and fission help boost productivity in Celtic factories. The average standard of living far exceeds that of other nations like Spain, which at this time has yet to develop consumer electricity (which the Celts aided Spain in developing in their country in 1973). In 1974, Celtia sent the first artificial satellite into space.
Sumeria is conquered by Mongolia in 1985. In 1989, the Republic of Spain and Free Celtic Republic declares war on the Roman Republic. Spain declares war to install a Buddhist theocracy in Rome, which has recently instituted freedom of religions. Celtia declares war in support of Spain but will do more of the heavy lifting.
***
The End Game
The Celtic Expeditionary Forces disembark in Barcelona in the winter of 1990. Barcelona, like Bibracte, is humid throughout the year. The disembarking soldiers are among the best in the world supported by the latest in field artillery. Semi-automatic rifles replace the rifles of old meaning the cavalry units are now the ones at a disadvantage. Back on the mainland, the Celts send forces to the Southern Border with Korea to keep roaming bands of Chinese rebels and bandits from crossing the bordering and pillaging farms. The Chinese are also armed with the widespread semi-automatic rifle.
Like previous wars like Khmer, the Celts expected an easy, quick war. The Romans defending Rome wouldn't give them one. For the first time, the Celts are repelled by defenders. Roman machine guns, trenches, and infantry are tough to crack and even as the Celts pushed trench by trench to the outskirts of the city where the fighting intensified. Machine guns could be set up in store windows, apartment buildings, nearly anywhere. Celtic artillery doesn't pack enough explosive power to crack the back of the military defenses of the city and the front stabilizes for a year.
In the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean between Celtia's eastern coast and the New World, is a submarine. This submarine has been roaming the Atlantic for years, avoiding ships. The submarines holds two missiles in its missile bays. A weapon was developed in 1974 that the scientists and physicists said could change war as they knew it. Celtia has kept this weapon secret for fifteen years. Off in the waters of Rome the submarine surfaces and a missile is launched.
The device detonates over Rome with a megaton yield, more explosive power packed in the single weapon than all the explosives used in all wars in human history. The Celtic Expeditionary Force is ravaged by the unexpected power of the blast. Soldiers are blinded, burned, bones broken, and some close to the detonation will die in less than a week of radiation poisoning.
The situation in Rome is worst. Government authority collapsed immediately in the face of the nuclear war. Military resistance along the front collapses and the remaining troops defending Rome surrender. Politically decapitated, Rome is cut in two with the lost of its capital. News of the explosion spread across the airwaves to every radio. Sight of the mushroom cloud rising to the stratosphere spreads to every television set on every channel from Tolosa to Seoul.
Desertion among the warlord Chinese armies and within the Roman Army skyrockets in the weeks following the news. Especially among the Chinese rebelling against the Koreans as Celtic fighter and bomber squadrons punish the rebels from the skies to which the Chinese can do nothing.
Another tactical nuclear device is detonated in 1992 over Cumae. With a Roman general running Rome from Antium, a city in the frigid southern part of the continent, the Celts shift focus of the war from the ground to the air. Five Celtic aircraft carriers in the Atlantic destroy the lone defending airship unit with fifteen units of fighters. Bombers based in Madrid, Rome, and Cumae begin laying waste to Antium from the air. A very controversial bombing raid resulted in the destruction of the Antium Courthouse and Theater, killing hundreds. The countrywide bombing campaign lasts until 1997. Antium is in ruins but still heavily contested and brimming with underpaid, underfed, but highly motivated Roman troops). Celtia does not want to send troops and Spain can not seem to force a breakthrough. The Romans agree to peace and pay $10 billion in reparations.
In 2002, Korean grants China independence. A year later, war rekindles between Celtia and Rome on behalf of Korea, who declared war on Rome on behalf of Spain who were still at war with Rome. Same air war as before but a tactical nuclear device was used in 2003 over Antium. Despite the bombing, the Spanish are incapable of taking the city. By now, Celtia's alliances with Korea and Spain are resulting in Celtia entering war after war, especially in regard to New China. Korea retakes China in 2006. By 2010, a Mongolian-Spanish Coalition is gathered around Antium. With some economic concessions from the two nations, Celtia agrees to their plan and three tactical nuclear weapons are deployed against Antium. Antium is destroyed.
The final nation outside the Triple Pact is Mongolia. A decade of planning leads to the quickest and second most devastating war in history.
***
"If you feel the need to excuse yourself from this mission, report to your commander. It will not be counted against you on your record."
The Celtic soldiers in the Spanish military base preparing to cross the border into Mongolia were an army without artillery. They moved faster, thought faster, and were armed with light submachine guns. The message being played on the PA system was also being played in the military base in Northern Spain near a mountain range marking the border between Spain and Mongolia. The war against Mongolia started two days ago. However, the paratroopers were ordered to wait two days before going ahead. The message alarmed some soldiers. All have heard the news by now that Mongolia had been hit with more tactical devices than used ever before. Some of the men were veterans of that war and had seen the effects of radiation on people.
Hence the wait and message.
Two paratroopers backed out but the rest moved rapidly with commandeered trucks when the go-ahead was given. The drive from the border fort to Uruk lasted several hours. Crossing the border increased tensions. To the left of the highway was the Atlantic and to the right was a gem mine. Some miners and their families had hidden in the mine and came out when the trucks passed. A soldier asked them did they have food and water. The families nodded and the convoy moved ahead once more to Uruk.
Soon, the trucks were passing the charred, deserted, or destroyed remnants of sugar plantations. The busted windows combined with destruction of the power plants made each estate house look like a ghost damning the paratroopers as they passed. Occassionaly, the trucks had to take side roads when Geiger counters reported heavy radiation. The trucks reached and secured Uruk's population of one thousand people on October 17th, 2016.
The scene in Karakorum, the capital of Mongolia, is stark. Public utilities are out of the picture after being struck with several tactical devices. The lone surviving hospital is overrun and the military presence is all but non-existent. The Mayor of Karakorum, who doesn't know it yet but is the highest ranking survivor in the long chain of Mongolian political succession, looks out of a hospital window. He is helping as a nurse, he figures, doing whatever he can to help the wounded. He can see planes flying overhead, disgorging paratroopers by the thousands. If the same scene is playing out here, it must be in Turfan he figures. What's the point in resisting? If they came searching for him, he would gladly surrender the city.
For now, he would help those he can and pray for those who would die. By the number of teeth collecting on the floor, he guessed he would be doing a lot of prayer.
***
The first strategic nuclear device is detonated over the road running from Karakorum to Turfan. A small force of Mongolian troops aiming to force out the much smaller force of paratroopers in Turfan had been spotted by satellites which promptly guided the intercontinental weapon launched from a field near Gergovia to the moving force. Mongolia has lost three out of five cities. The last coherent military unit in Mongolia now is the 12th Anti-Tank in Ning-hsia. Beshbalik falls on October 20th, 2016.
The unit surrenders when paratroopers are spotted dropping from the skies near the city. By now, the last Mongolian holdouts are at sea and being searched for by military aircraft and thus, the war ends in 2017 when the last resisting Mongolian frigate is sunk.
Mongolia is an irradiated piece of work which will require decades to repair and clean.
On April 1st, 2019, Geiger counters in Korea report radiation on their western border with Celtia. No seismic activity marked by the testing of nuclear weapon is reported leaving world scientists baffled.
Four years later, the most terrible conflict in human history begins. Thousands of years of political, religious, economic, and cultural conspiracy culmulates in the declaration of war against Spain in the year 2023. It is called the War to End All Wars.
The war begins with a full strategic nuclear assault against Spain. Twenty ICBMs strike seven cities in Spain. Tolosa, Barcelona, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Salamanca, and Santiago. Two days following the bombings, paratroopers land across Spain to take Madrid, Cordoba, and Seville immediately. Salamanca was destroyed in the bombings and Santiago will later be destroyed by Spanish rebels fighting against the paratrooper unit that took the city. Toledo falls soon after the fall of Seville.
Barcelona is the last city and has gathered together a force large enough to deter paratroopers. The city is destroyed by several tactical nuclear devices and the war is declared on April 2nd, 2024.
Celtia has achieved her goal of world domination.
***
Epilogue
Celtia releases Cumae and Rome back to Rome and occupied Spain back to Spain during the late-2020s. Their militaries are neutered and the nuclear option that Celtia holds allows them to dictate world trade and policy.
Fallout caused by the widespread bombings in Spain and the growing number of incidents of fallout across the globe, even in the Old World, is resulting in a global decline of life expectancy. The highest in the world is Korea at 63, followed by Celtia at 59. The average life expectancy for those in the New World outside of Mongolia is 30. Birth defects are rapidly rising in Xian, where fallout falling to earth is high.
Korea grants Khmer independence in 2024.
As for the war to end all wars...not exactly. Rome and Celtia go to war in the early-2030s but the war drags on with only a few naval battles and peace is made in 2035. Korea goes to war against Spain three years later and takes Madrid but is forced to hold their positions. Annnd the Celts go to war with Khmer when it's discovered a Khmer spy was operating in a high level of government in Celtia. The war is the first use of mobile artillery, gunships, stealth bombers, and modern armor. Celtia is highly reluctant to use nuclear weapons anymore. When the Celts took Pyongyang and Seoul, they decided to keep it for themselves this time.
Atmospheric fallout is becoming a serious problem across the world.
By the year 2040, Spain has yet to rebuild and recover from the Great War. Fallout in the lower parts of Spain, south of Cordoba, is minimum however. The railroads running from Lower Spain to Toledo paint a different story. Many areas are still radiated, forming a radiation belt, especially in the area near Barcelona. The mountain range marking the Celtic Mongolia-Spanish border is brimming with radiation that is impossible scrub, though after nearly twenty years, Mongolia proper is fallout free.
Average life expectancy is now 47 years old across the globe. Still 59 in Celtia and 63 in Korea.
The first signs of Atmospheric fallout is detected near Bibracte. Radiation is growing dangerously high on the western portions of the Old World and within Korean proper.
In 2040, the GNP of Celtia is $1 trillion.
hoplitejoe
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It's not dead 
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