The Age of Exploration
The Iroquois people now had a temple, a Religion. It was based upon the stars, their movements, and their constellations and clusters. They also felt a mandate to one day travel to these points of light, with the hope of ascending into a higher order of the Universe.
With this new Religion, the king's power seemed slightly disturbed by a new order: The Priests. They were currently without power, but nonetheless tensions were started. Eventually there would be a collision.
But for now the Iroquois were lead by their current king, Fine Star, to begin the process of exploring the wilderness around them. Their first outreaches to a nearby settlement called "Xatclao", in 2590 BC, resulted in immediate hostilities.
The King was not discouraged, however, and continued to command his scouts to examine their area, despite his first unit taking heavy losses from an offensive on the Guerilla Fighters from Xatclao. Nonetheless, the hostiles were quelled after a relatively long campaign. By 2110 BC, another village was found. It was decided by King "Great Lake" to enter it, despite the results of the first outreach, with the newly created Iroquois Council backing the move.
The Iroquois Council was a body that resembled a Republic; residents of Iroquoim, the only current population center of the Iroquois Kingdom, were chosen to be the most favored persons in the now bustling city of 112,000 by the population through shows of approval on pieces of tree bark. Only the men were allowed to "vote". The Men then threw their barks at the feet of the man who wished to be part of the council. If he stood tall amidst any collisions, and had a larger pile than at least one of the existing councilmen, he replaced the councilmen with the least biggest pile.
In any case, the Scouting Party of the King soon entered the village. To their surprise, the locals were friendly, and moreover were so impressed by the Scouting Party that they taught them their own "Code of Warriors", or "Warrior Code". In return, the Scouting Party sent a small group of their warriors to bring the eager villagers to Iroquoim, which they would join. To honor them, and this occasion, the Iroquois no longer called themselves "The Iroquoim Kingdom"; now, they were "The Iroquoim Confederation".
Beyond this point, Iroquois expansion took a predictable path. In 1950 BC the population of Iroquoim reached over 150,000, and the Council system was disbanded due to some very nasty splinters suffered by successful Councilmen. In 1910 BC, the first fleet was built, and began to explore the waters of the world. And by 1675 BC the world looked like this:
The second city of the Iroquois Confederation was established very near the site of the Apache Tribe's former village. Many of their descendants ventured as part of the First Establishment Party of the King, to return to their ancient homeland.
The city was officially established in 1550 BC. Work quickly began on a Temple of the Stars. Through their supervising of the effort, the Religious leaders of Iroqouim grew stronger.
On a side note, in 1525 the people of Iroquoim surprised their current King, King Trinztzoal, with a flight of new stairs to his cave dwelling as a birthday present.
Two other cities were established from 1550-1225 BC:
Eearth Mouti - 1375 BC
Great River - 1300 BC
A third, Colored Stream, was planned to be established along the banks of a River called, what else, Colored Stream for it's dyes that occasionally leaked into the river, causing spectacular, and non-toxic, colors to blossom in it's waters.
These expansionist policies lead to a certain independence amongst the various cities, as in truth the King could not himself rule all the cities. Thus he appointed Governors to the cities. Because of this, the King's power weakened, and scholars began to ponder how a world without a king might be ruled. Thus the idea of a Republic took it's roots.
This time was also ripe with hostilities. In 1300 BC the Iroquois Confederation discovered a hostile tribe in the North. They soon began to rally together forces to destroy this threat to expansion.
The Iroquois Archery Order (IAO) was created in 1250 BC. Their primary task was to eliminate the Barbarian Threat that existed in the North, and their first operation was to venture north to defeat the direct threat of the Barbarian Camp.
But the Barbarians did not wait. The Scouts that discovered the camp were attacked by Horsemen and Warriors viciously. However, they were driven back with only moderate losses on the part of the scouts.
The word of the victory spread, and efforts were spirited as the Confederacy began to train the IAO. But other news was to eclipse this minor victory in battle.
I'll try and make up for it in the storytelling)
![[party]](/images/smilies/partytime.gif "Party [party]")
I'm really sorry I let this story fall asleep, so to speak.
