Clown2TheLeft
Prince
My people came from the shores of lake Firaxis, in the shadow of Hook Mountain and its hills. Once, the surrounding countryside, now farmland and strip-mines, was covered with forest. The River Jartes trickled down from The Hook, running into the uncharted north and west when my people settled down and formed the city now known as Persepolis. In honor of the tribal leader, Xerxes, that unified the tribe and founded the city, it was decreed that ALL leaders of our people pay him homage, and take Xerxes as their name.
After the city grew, Xerxes IX heard the cry of the people: "It's way too crowded," they said. "Go forth," said Xerxes, "and seek out the metal the alchemists call 'iron,' because for it I have a plan. With this metal, this great land of Persia will be immortal, and we shall looked upon as the greatest people in the world." So it was done, and half of the city departed, to seek iron in the hills we had explored to the north. After some searching, they found the metal, and brought it to Xerxes.
He said, "A strong metal, one that might be useful somehow. See that it is given to all the warriors that require it."
The generals dispensed it to the warriors. They fashioned it into sharp blades that would cut through the leather of the barbarians, and even wreck the bronze of our spearmen. Xerxes IX was right, despite what the scholars said. This metal WOULD make Persia immortal. And so the warriors with this new metal were called, in honor of Xerxes IX, The Immortals.
But Xerxes IX was mocked by the scholars that compiled the history of the world. They called our people "The Forgotten," "The Pathetic," "The Hopless." The people they lauded were the Babylonians, our neighbors to the north.
Only a short distance from where the Persian Penninsula meets the mainland was the heart of the awesome and advanced Babylon. Their tribe called their king "Hammurabi." The Babylonian people practiced a strange religion, and formed what they called "The Oracle." Their scholars were writing just as we bought the concept of an alphabet from the Zulu, led by Chief Shaka. But the Babylonian workers were lazy and slow, lacksadaisical and sloppy.
Our workers were effecient, and reported directly to Xerxes himself. For the honor of constant consultation with the emporer, they built roads, cleared the forest, tamed the land with a speed no one--not even the Babylonians--could match.
Meanwhile our cities grew in number. One group of people wanted to settle a single hill on the shores of Lake Laymon, on a pencil-thin strip of land seperating the lake from the sea, near where the River Jartes emptied. The generals were undecided. They sought Xerxes' consultation.
At that time, mighty Babylon stretched across the continent, threatened to confine my people to the Peninnsula. Xerxes looked at his maps of the world, saw the cities of Hammurabi expanding both west and south. There was another penninsula across the sea, connected to the Persian penninsula by the land bridge at the shores of Lake Laymon. Xerxes ordered a city built on the hill, fortified with spearmen and walls. The generals made sure it was impenitrable, and developed catapults to bombard and wound any advancing enemies before they got a chance to reach the gates. Bronze-shielded spearmen and iron-bladed Immortals were garrisoned there in number. They called the city Tarsus--from the ancient Persian word for "key," tarsi, because Tarsus was our key to the rest of the continent. It would be defended until the last man, if necessary.
With Tarsus built, Xerxes XII studied the maps his father and grandfather had left him. Again, he saw the Babylonian empire expanding at a phenominal rate. They sere settling at the edge of the desert to the north of Lake Laymon. They were setting further north, to the reaches of a penninsula that was many lifetimes of walking away from Persepolis. Xerxes XII's eyes glazed, and saw into the future--the furthest reaches of the continent filled with cities, all flying the Persian flag of green.
"We will stand on those hills to the frozen north as Persians, and fish in the north sea," he said. The generals stared at each other blankly. Was Xerxes speaking from within a hashish dream? Had the twelfth grandson of our tribe's unifier spent time in the floodplains, and contracted some sort of reality-severing disease? Mighty Babylon had effectively blocaded the continent and prevented any northward expansion. The only unclaimed lands were to the west, on the lower portion of the penninsula across from where Hook Mountain loomed, and the River Jartes flowed.
"Go there," Xerxes XII (whom scholars of the day called "Xerxes The Mad" behind his back) commanded. "Settle the grasslands. Settle the floodplains, damn the disease--make our cities there as large as they can be. Ferry over workers from here with our galleys, and complete the great lighthouse. And--above all--comission more Immortals, for soon, we will need them."
After the city grew, Xerxes IX heard the cry of the people: "It's way too crowded," they said. "Go forth," said Xerxes, "and seek out the metal the alchemists call 'iron,' because for it I have a plan. With this metal, this great land of Persia will be immortal, and we shall looked upon as the greatest people in the world." So it was done, and half of the city departed, to seek iron in the hills we had explored to the north. After some searching, they found the metal, and brought it to Xerxes.
He said, "A strong metal, one that might be useful somehow. See that it is given to all the warriors that require it."
The generals dispensed it to the warriors. They fashioned it into sharp blades that would cut through the leather of the barbarians, and even wreck the bronze of our spearmen. Xerxes IX was right, despite what the scholars said. This metal WOULD make Persia immortal. And so the warriors with this new metal were called, in honor of Xerxes IX, The Immortals.
But Xerxes IX was mocked by the scholars that compiled the history of the world. They called our people "The Forgotten," "The Pathetic," "The Hopless." The people they lauded were the Babylonians, our neighbors to the north.
Only a short distance from where the Persian Penninsula meets the mainland was the heart of the awesome and advanced Babylon. Their tribe called their king "Hammurabi." The Babylonian people practiced a strange religion, and formed what they called "The Oracle." Their scholars were writing just as we bought the concept of an alphabet from the Zulu, led by Chief Shaka. But the Babylonian workers were lazy and slow, lacksadaisical and sloppy.
Our workers were effecient, and reported directly to Xerxes himself. For the honor of constant consultation with the emporer, they built roads, cleared the forest, tamed the land with a speed no one--not even the Babylonians--could match.
Meanwhile our cities grew in number. One group of people wanted to settle a single hill on the shores of Lake Laymon, on a pencil-thin strip of land seperating the lake from the sea, near where the River Jartes emptied. The generals were undecided. They sought Xerxes' consultation.
At that time, mighty Babylon stretched across the continent, threatened to confine my people to the Peninnsula. Xerxes looked at his maps of the world, saw the cities of Hammurabi expanding both west and south. There was another penninsula across the sea, connected to the Persian penninsula by the land bridge at the shores of Lake Laymon. Xerxes ordered a city built on the hill, fortified with spearmen and walls. The generals made sure it was impenitrable, and developed catapults to bombard and wound any advancing enemies before they got a chance to reach the gates. Bronze-shielded spearmen and iron-bladed Immortals were garrisoned there in number. They called the city Tarsus--from the ancient Persian word for "key," tarsi, because Tarsus was our key to the rest of the continent. It would be defended until the last man, if necessary.
With Tarsus built, Xerxes XII studied the maps his father and grandfather had left him. Again, he saw the Babylonian empire expanding at a phenominal rate. They sere settling at the edge of the desert to the north of Lake Laymon. They were setting further north, to the reaches of a penninsula that was many lifetimes of walking away from Persepolis. Xerxes XII's eyes glazed, and saw into the future--the furthest reaches of the continent filled with cities, all flying the Persian flag of green.
"We will stand on those hills to the frozen north as Persians, and fish in the north sea," he said. The generals stared at each other blankly. Was Xerxes speaking from within a hashish dream? Had the twelfth grandson of our tribe's unifier spent time in the floodplains, and contracted some sort of reality-severing disease? Mighty Babylon had effectively blocaded the continent and prevented any northward expansion. The only unclaimed lands were to the west, on the lower portion of the penninsula across from where Hook Mountain loomed, and the River Jartes flowed.
"Go there," Xerxes XII (whom scholars of the day called "Xerxes The Mad" behind his back) commanded. "Settle the grasslands. Settle the floodplains, damn the disease--make our cities there as large as they can be. Ferry over workers from here with our galleys, and complete the great lighthouse. And--above all--comission more Immortals, for soon, we will need them."
