Creation of Centuries: A civilization RP. (Chronic backstabbing disorder prevalent) - Games

Creation of Centuries: A civilization RP. (Chronic backstabbing disorder prevalent)

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lol ireland is united under an islamic government what have i done

Fuck, I missed the turn.

Here's a treat for yall: [IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img209/9526/qe8m.jpg[/IMG] An image of what might be (If we actually get to the modern era)

[QUOTE=Mallow234;42334288]Here's a treat for yall: [IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img209/9526/qe8m.jpg[/IMG] An image of what might be (If we actually get to the modern era)[/QUOTE] And then the Caliphate plane flies by: [QUOTE][IMG]http://www.blastr.com/sites/blastr/files/styles/media_gallery_image/public/images/29-independence-day-mothership.jpg?itok=V-UZEf6O[/IMG][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=KingArcher;42338256]And then the Caliphate plane flies by; [t]http://www.blastr.com/sites/blastr/files/styles/media_gallery_image/public/images/29-independence-day-mothership.jpg?itok=V-UZEf6O[/t][/QUOTE] [IMG]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/109107273/reactions/Hello_boys.png[/IMG] [I]'Hello boys, [B]I'm Baaack!'[/B][/I]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78HFLgIoku4[/media]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;42346235][media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78HFLgIoku4[/media][/QUOTE] [video=youtube;78HFLgIoku4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78HFLgIoku4[/video] Remove the s at the end of https.

Your guns will be no match against my short stabbing spears.

[QUOTE=Satansick;42346722]Your guns will be no match against my short stabbing spears.[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raBNUUj1-fY[/media]

[video=youtube;DSjPoUtlkyk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSjPoUtlkyk[/video]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;42346768][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raBNUUj1-fY[/media][/QUOTE][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zm0H9L1BJE[/media]

still disappointed in the lack of polandball

Here's the latest update on the goings on in Damians Slavic Empire. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMiAWu2cQvE[/media]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;42373736]Here's the latest update on the goings on in Damians Slavic Empire.[/QUOTE] It has been 2 days and I'm still confused. Not about the reason why Sobot posted this, but the video itself. Is the guy trying to convince the Nazis to let him go by giving him his food?

Cyrus invented something that sucks.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;42412860]Cyrus invented something that sucks.[/QUOTE] Cyrus researched his mother?!

Sobo got Pbanned for being a massive jew, just like i warned him not to be

Emergency Council Perhaps?

[QUOTE=Salricci;42449274]Emergency Council Perhaps?[/QUOTE] i call being the dictator

[QUOTE=KingArcher;42449314]i call being the dictator[/QUOTE]I call being the power behind the throne.

I was afraid this would happen, and have to say that without Sobotnik this game just wouldn't be as good. Guy had commitment like no other. What do we do now?

We wait for a new member to appear who acts and runs rps like Sobotnik, but it isn't him.

Oh dear.

I was going to offer being the medium for posting turns, but Sobo told me last night he had something arranged already.

Sobo's has a plan, he vaguely told me [editline]8th October 2013[/editline] Dammit kami

Prepare for it [img]http://i.imgur.com/5fJEhuP.png[/img]

You put a Zoroastrian logo on your flag. Are you implying an alliance with the Persians?

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkBMAHUkibY[/media] [sp]Sooner if Kami doesn't send in his turn[/sp]

There will be a turn under this post, I swear to god.

READ ME, SEND IN TURNS AS TURN 16. [i]Socialist Workers Party holds meeting on “Laubergian Reich: First crisis in capitalism?” Party members get a curry and see a Julia Roberts movie instead.[/i] [img_thumb]http://i.cubeupload.com/3AztId.png[/img_thumb] Cultural map: [url]http://i.cubeupload.com/BLlyVT.png[/url] Religious map: [url]http://i.cubeupload.com/jMXo6x.png[/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNGILc0r4ok[/media] Events of the years 750 to 875: Europe: -Classical Latin and Greek languages have fallen completely out of use among the common people, save for conservative phrases and words. -Increasing silver deficits is a constant problem. People are always buying and selling goods; with one result being that trade imbalances are becoming pretty noticeable. The first theorists of economic thought have begun to speculate that changes in the value of currency may be related to positive or negative inflows of silver. Thus, they suggest that if a country wishes to have enough hard currency to pay for their armies and needed goods, a silver surplus is necessary. A silver deficit means that stocks of silver are in decline, and may cause problems when a King needs to raise an army and suddenly finds he’s out of pocket. -During this period, the Franks engage in long wars with the people settling Lesser Mann and the Aquitanians, and eventually convert to Christianity. They also manage to grab a great deal of land from the Aquitanians and eventually form an alliance with the Kingdom of Lombardy. They successively reduce the Aquitanians down into a Duchy and force it to convert to their “correct” form of Christianity. -Spain and Portugal (along with the Iberian Phoenicians) have begun to explore down the African coastline. The Iberian Phoenicians are also under increasing strain from neighbouring Christians to convert, but remain generally steadfast. Cracks are appearing however, and churches have begun to be raised inside the country. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=306346&dateline=1371857910[/img][img]http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/yy221/Goji-man/LauFlag2_zps3c1fbab7.png[/img] [b]Zillamaster55 – Laubergian Reich Capital: Viikuru Culture: Laubergian (Germanic) State Religion: Christianity (Aquinism) [/b] -Adopting old ballista and bow technology, the Laubergians have managed to make the ballista smaller, yet still retain a powerful punch. Called a “crossbow”, it requires the user to pull on the string with both hands whilst holding down the other end with your foot in order to cock it. With a bolt in place, it is a formidable weapon. Not only is it powerful and accurate, but it requires very little training, and may be loaded in advance before a battle. It is rapidly adopted by people of all classes, although the church declares a ban on them (one which is ignored). Much later, some professional crossbowmen wear a large shield on their back to protect them whilst reloading, and many cities and fortifications have racks full of crossbows. Peasants can be trained to use them en masse, and the Laubergian military can take advantage of this to experiment with new tactics and much needed reforms. -Taxes are slashed for people willing to be professional soldiers. These men prepare for war and initially make a living by protecting trade caravans, finding employment as watchmen and thief-takers, plus much later, mercenary service. Many young sons without ties to the land in the increasingly capitalist Kingdom are travelling out to make a living from professional warfare. Money is important, and they fight for all rulers, including opposing sides! Some of this money is sent back home to support their families, aiding in the establishment of a trade surplus in the Kingdom. -The new Queen of Laubergia however, decides that reforms are necessary and that the old ways must be abandoned. She renames her lands “Lauberreich” and the Kingdom itself is known as “Laubergian Reich”. Inheritance laws have also been reformed so as to allow women to inherit on equal grounds with men, much to the annoyance of the slowly impoverished nobility. She also introduces more isolationist policies by cutting links with Romania and Italy, and only really engaging in the affairs of the Kingdom and that of trade and various philosophers and merchants who come to the Reich seeking a new life or money. Many of these merchants are from Phoenicia, and some become very influential, even intermarrying into the nobility and setting up banks. -The Queen seeks to root out these usurers and money grubbers by breaking up the large banking institutions and removing the merchants from the Reich, embezzling their funds for herself. Unfortunately, she is still unable to prevent the decay of Feudalism and many old institutions in her lands. People are increasingly bewildered by these changes, seemingly unstoppable ones. The population continues to grow. To cover the shortage of silver, many new mines continue to be opened and the coinage is debased, although this starts to lead to modest inflation, forcing up prices. Understandably, people begin to spend their money more quickly, and to adopt money ever more as it becomes increasingly important. -With agriculture becoming more competitive and a money maker, many old aristocratic families are falling into poverty as they are unable to maintain their expensive lifestyles with declining profits. They begin to borrow from the Queen, both parties fully knowing that they are unable to pay the other back. This does help prevent money falling into the merchants’ hands, but it is not possible to continue forever. The states revenues are slowly becoming unable to cover subsidizing the nobility. Eventually, they begin selling off their land to the lucky few nobles who figured out how to turn farming into a business, or their tenants. By this stage, all of the old feudal obligations have collapsed, and merchants are using their cash reserves to heavily intermarry with the nobility and to buy positions in government. Becoming bold enough, a petition is sent to the Queen of Laubergia, demanding the creation of a parliament. If she refuses, it is feared that the mercenaries will rise up, paid well by the merchants. The nobility meanwhile, are completely powerless to do anything, for their feudal levies have decayed away to nothing, and possess little wealth. -A building boom is underway in Laubergia, and even aesthetics are changing. It is no longer the size of a house that is important, but the style of it, and what it contains. Banquets are no longer about the food, but how it is presented, how the table is laid. Books on table manners gradually shift from saying that spitting ones food out is acceptable, to gradually restricting the ways in which one could do that, until the practice is considered rude altogether. Money acquires a power in itself, and marriage begins to be done for money instead of land. Some merchants even begin dividing up tasks between unskilled workers, usually in order to take advantage of all the cheap labour. In this strange world borne in cosmopolitan centres, one can scarcely believe that these eccentric behaviours will result in the creation of a new world order. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=555043&dateline=1377123689[/img][img]http://i.cubeupload.com/gvrkE1.png[/img] [b]KingArcher – Misiryaban Caliphate Capital: Misiryaban Culture: Turkish (Altaic) State Religion: Islam (Sunni)[/b] -During this time, a scholar is left deeply disappointed with the work of Aristotle, who claimed that vacuums in nature are impossible. Water pumps consistently fail at the height of 10.3 metres, which leads the man on to study if different materials can only go up so far. He makes a thin glass tube and fills it with mercury, before upending it in a bowl of mercury and letting it drain. It creates the first man made vacuum. Working further, he uses the principle to develop a metal cylinder which uses the pressure of steam to force water out a pipe. It is installed for a fountain in the palace of the Caliph, where it keeps the fountain running smoothly. -With the success in the wars of the last century and the expansion of the Caliphate, especially in Ireland, the Caliph declares war on the last of the old Celtic kingdoms in the rest of England. The last Kingdom to fall is that of Strathclyde, and with that, the Mannish isles are now dominated by several large political entities instead of petty kingdoms. To help assist the Emir with his troubles on the border with Arhonia, the Caliph sends engineers and soldiers to the border, where they construct a huge dyke with thorns planted in the sides. Several forts are built as well, with toll roads set up and traffic funnelled so as to help control the movement of Irish-Arhonians. -The Caliph introduces a most curious set of new laws, seeking to change several noteworthy institutions. He starts by enacting a law for primogeniture inheritance, which means only the eldest son inherits. As a result of this, land consolidation is slowly happening among middle and large landowners, able to take advantage of the new laws by reinvesting into the land as it is assured to be kept within the family over generations. Laws tying people to the land are also practically eliminated, much to the annoyance of the nobility. Many ironmasters and merchants supported the laws, for it allowed workers to migrate to the towns and foundries where labour is always needed. To retain people to work the fields, landowners are forced to treat their tenants more nicely, before eventually being forced to pay them in money, and then increase their wages. The money economy roots itself permanently, and much of the same changes happening in Laubergia are now underway here. To complete the process, tenancy rights are more or less ignored, allowing for the landowners to throw the troublesome peasants demanding higher wages off their land and replacing them with animals such as sheep or cattle. -With increasing volumes of trade and masses of unemployed people scattered around the country, uprooted by clearances and seeking opportunities, canal digging seems an attractive choice. This period sees canals dug all over the Caliphate, connecting rivers, lakes, seas, and even isolated areas. Water is supplied with wind or water powered machinery and diverted or dammed streams, and to make moving goods over short distances where canals cannot be used easier, more plateway roads are built. Friction is a problem, which is mitigated by the introduction of cast iron rails, whilst the wheels are made of iron as well. Some canals and plateways are built in poor places however, and whilst they make little to no profit, they do help stimulate tiny amounts of trade and travel in those parts, even if only by a little. -With new agricultural ideas coming in, the spread of canals and plateways, the adoption of money, and devotion to the will of god, local schools and parents are increasingly unable to cover basic educational needs in an ever changing world. To solve this problem, the Caliph introduces a law which says that all private institutions and religious ones seeking to educate children had 5 years to build schools and enrol children before the state was to step at. At the end of this period, slightly under half of the country was under such a system, requiring the state to cover the other half and provide a bare minimum to those unable to attend school. Subjects taught include the alphabet, religious and moral conduct in accordance with Islamic principles, basic mathematics, reading and writing, plus trades. Many of these schools fund themselves by arranging for children to be apprenticed to craftsmen in the cities and foundries. -With a semi-literate populace now growing, the printing press is finally starting to come into its own. Large posters are usually placed in villages to tell people of the news and achievements throughout the nation, including the latest in agricultural techniques and foreign or religious affairs. Imans often control the press in each village, and are often the only people allowed to operate one. They are required by the state to print out favourable news and to ensure the people of the country remain contented. As literacy rises, most people can identify and write their own names (to identify on legal documents) and tend to read the posters put up around. Eventually, cheap knockoff copies are made for sale to people, sometimes on a weekly basis. People become more educated about the world at large, and begin to make better choices. Most fields in the country are carefully tended to achieve maximum output, and the barges on canals become more frequent as more must be moved along them. -Several imams travel into Asia along the Silk Road, eventually meeting the Mongol Khan himself. He is pleased by the arrival of these well-mannered foreigners, granting them access to copies of Chinese alchemical texts and astronomical instruments and charts as a visiting gift. They spent some time translating the texts into Arabic and Greek, two of the main languages of the western world. They return home, and mix a powder described in the book as “An explosive finding”. The Imans also travel many times over throughout the world, collecting information on the goings on of the Indus and in Greece. They try to preach the word of Allah to many, and meet little success save in India and in the court of the Khan. When they meet the Greeks, several textbooks are swapped and a deal is signed, in which the Misiryabanis will sell iron at below market prices to the Greeks in return for the importation of professional mathematicians and geographers. These academics would later help form the basis for the network of canals, plateways, and roads throughout the Mannish isles, using exact surveys to find the best routes and doing much for the economic wellbeing of the country. -An alliance and personal union of the royal families between Ireland and Misiryaban is signed, both hoping for many fruitful years of prosperity and cooperation. The Irish population is still somewhat unruly, many of them hiding old religious practices or paying extra taxes and then hiding their money. Nonetheless, they are a dying breed. The Irish later send some troublemakers to Misiryaban to help with their colonial efforts abroad. Colonies are established or expanded throughout Iceland and the Faroes, whilst plantations in West Africa are expanded to meet the demand for sugar. It is noticed that some African Kings and merchants sense a good business opportunity, and have begun to set up sugar plantations in their own kingdoms for the production of sugar to sell to the Arabs. Existing plantations offshore are still profitable, but prices are dropping slowly. Increased contact with Greek whisky also encourages them to expand markets, and soon enough a lot of cheap staples are being processed and sold back home. -With better education, transport, a slightly higher wage, and cheaper food, people can now finally afford to buy nice things. Alcohol is one problem, in that not only is it looked down on religiously, but it also acts as a chemical depressant. When cones of sugar and bags of coffee (a new delicacy from the Baltic) arrive, they are readily taken up. Stimulating and giving a high, these commodities are enjoyed by the wealthy and growing middle class, seeing it as a suitable alternative for alcohol. One Iman denounces the drink until he is given a cup himself to try, at which point he declares it absolutely delicious and blesses it. In memory of him, a type of coffee is named “Qahwa” in which the beans are finely roasted, ground, mixed with sugar, boiled, and then served in a cup where they are allowed to settle. Of course, people can’t get enough of the stuff, demanding ever more sugar and coffee. To try and satisfy demand, the Misiryabanis set up more trading posts in West Africa, where they set up plantations and subcontract labour from the local rulers. These rulers also set up their own plantations to cover increasing demand. -Imans also travel to Lesser Mann, where after having success converting some people, they assist the motherland in the vassalizing of some of the more cooperative kings. Close trade links make the job easier, and rebellious types are quickly isolated and forced to submit or flee. The Franks eventually begin blackmailing the remaining ones there as the independence of the peoples there gradually evaporates, and within a century the peninsula has been divided up and thoroughly converted to the culture or religion of their new rulers. Meanwhile, the islands lying off Normandy are taken over as well, causing an eyesore to the French who resent the fact they are incompetent at naval warfare. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=462795&dateline=1358155119[/img][img]http://i.cubeupload.com/URH5rj.png[/img] [b]Damian0358 – Kingdom of Bohemia Capital: Praha Culture: Bohemian (Slavic) State Religion: Christianity (Aquinism) [/b] -With the spread of discoveries from the far corners of the earth through the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Kingdom, quite a few alchemists have been able to capitalize on these discoveries. Soaps can be easily made by boiling wood ash and animal fats together, but such kitchen experiments have diversified in scope. Seeking to break everything down to the simplest possible form, a method of producing soaps from vegetable oils is made possible. Quite soon, rapeseed is incorporated into three field rotation, usually for the second crop. The advantage of it is that not only can it be used to make vegetable oil, but the meal of the plant is good for feeding animals with and limits nitrogen loss in the soil. Soap factories are appearing in the cities and the populace can now afford a great deal more soap. Most people keep their hands and face clean, and even men who use “their scent” in order to attract women are forced to begin using soap. -A new basilica is built in the city of Velehrad and the basilicas in Titshin and Aquincum are rebuilt as cathedrals. The new buildings are built in a most impressive Gothic style, a recent innovation among architects. Utilizing high, pointed arches and making use of spacious interiors, the cathedrals and the basilica are among the tallest buildings in the world. Elated at this success, the King sends missionaries to the Franks to assist in their conversion to Aquinism. In the year 867, the King of the Franks was baptized and became a Christian, before then renaming his Kingdom “The Kingdom of France”. -The king, one day, looked at his neighbours, seeing the Delian League with its extensive lands, as well as owning Mrvian territory. Whilst the King still holds bad feelings towards the Delians, due to ruining Velkij Donaljea, he knew he couldn't afford another war with them. He started to converse with their leader, in order to improve relations between the two nations. The king does, however, promises the Mrvian territories will come back under control of the Bohemian kingdom eventually through peaceful means. One such acquisition is that of a claypit on the border, more due to a cartographical error than anything else. Technologies are also swapped, where the Greeks are given medical textbooks and city administrators who know how to control the spread of disease and eventually eliminate them, whilst they receive coking ovens in return. The iron industry begins to quickly grow, although heavy competition from overseas limits most iron production for domestic use. -News reaches the king as the Lugii say they have found the corpse of the last Velkij Donaljea Emperor, identified by his Imperial clothing. The corpse is brought to Bohemia and put in a mausoleum in Velehrad. However, his feet went missing, although it was later rediscovered by a monk who had been to Germany and claimed he had been given the feet by god. Another foot is found within the same time span, with one foot going to Titshin and two to Aquincum. The fact that he has four feet is claimed to be a miracle and evidence of the Emperors divine nature. Much later, pilgrims begin buying his toe bones, and several centuries later a researcher managed to catalogue all of the existing toe bones, discovering that about 2,958 such bones were accounted for in total. -A large shipyard is built on the coast of Lugii and the village that grows around it is named “Lugiick” and later grows into a busy port that trades with the merchants of the Baltic Entente and the increasingly ambitious Norse. Expansion is also conducted by the Bohemians into the Vistula basin, where by setting up monasteries, blackmailing the Polish, using the army to put down rebellions, and promoting internal colonization, growth northwards is successfully conducted. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=193052&dateline=1296445519[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/zMZfxl1.png[/img] [b]Mackalda2k6 – The Delian Empire Capital: Lygos Culture: Greek (Hellenic) State Religion: Christianity (Iberian) [/b] -With increased contact from the Far East over the Silk Road, the Greeks have managed to get their hands on a most odd weapon. Called the “fire spear”, it consists of a metal tube attached to a spear, spitting fire and a small lead or stone shot. The purpose of such a device is to fire them in volleys shortly before a charge. The Greeks are most impressed, and decide to scale it up. This is achieved by wrapping pieces of wrought iron into a barrel shape, then hammering it together and using loops to keep the iron barrel intact. Stuffed with powder and an iron dart, it is a horrifically inaccurate and crude weapon, often the barrel becoming damaged when the dart becomes stuck and the gases escape out of a split in the barrel. Tiny improvements compound over the years to see the dart replaced with a stone or lead shot, the barrel made stronger and smaller, plus crude carriages built for them at the tail end of this period. They are still much too bulky to be used effectively on ships however, and are mostly relegated to being half buried in a fort or the ground and used to batter a section of wall with. These weak and crude weapons are the forerunners of the next generation of guns that would revolutionize the world. -New military reforms are being introduced now that new ideas from the east are being brought over and gradual change in military tactics has resulted in the pressing need for a modern army. A new elite unit is formed, dubbed the Spartans; they are trained from a young age in all aspects of war. Half of them serve as the Republican Guard in Lygos, and the other half are separate units within the individual armies, acting as shock units (leading charges for instance). Another gradual change is the widespread adoption of heavy chainmail hauberks, which horses have also begun to wear. -The Greeks decide that an invasion of Italy would be in their best interests, mostly in order to grab more land. They arrange for the armies of the league to be brought to Palermo and Syracuse in Sicily after prolonged bombardments of the cities is done using a large number of traditional siege weaponry (bombarbs damage the ships hulls). After securing Sicily, another army invades Naples and waits for reinforcements to assist in the campaign for the rest of the peninsula. They are aided and replenished by Turkish armies and continue pressing into Northern Italy, going for Rome, Florence, and Milan. Eventually after several lengthy campaigns, the Greeks add all of Italy to their Empire, although religious and cultural differences cause extensive tensions, and rebellions are common. Many clergymen refuse to submit to the pope, and when a new prayer book is introduced by the Greeks, an Italian woman screams that it is foreign filth. She picks up a stool and throws it at the priest, before being joined by a mob which later rampages through the city of Ravenna, smashing icons and other rich decoration, before grabbing the bishop and nailing his fancy hat to his head. The rebellion is brutally put down. -All of Italy is conquered, save for a tiny rump state holding onto Corsica and Sardinia that formed when a Duke went rogue and declared independence from Italy. It declares itself the Kingdom of Corscia. -In an effort to rebuild the once strong friendship with Spain, the Delians offer to marry the son of a prominent Greek statesman to the Kings daughter. The son is sent to live in Spain and is given lots of money and resources to spread his Republican views to the middle classes. Unsurprisingly this backfires when the King hears about this. -The Delian congress decides to adopt a new flag and name for the state, renaming itself the Delian Empire. The old days of the Greek cities are long gone by now, as more power is being decentralized and the Empire has to take the whole hordes of foreigners they now rule over into account. To appease the Mrvians, Bulgarians, and Italians, separate administrative states are formed, with these areas sending representatives to the congress. Many delegates are angry at the Greeks taking land from nobles and peasants alike, and turning it over to the usurers and businessmen who take the grain and turn it into unwholesome things such as whiskey. This whiskey is claimed to be causing moral and social decay within their societies. The building of iron foundries staffed by rough men who spend much of their wages on whiskey does not help matters either. Many nobles are also starting to become increasingly unable to fund their rich lifestyles and manage their estate, with them falling into the hands of usurers and merchants as they are unable to pay back debts. They demand pensions and loans from the government. -Many farms and industries are being taken control of either by the state, or by Greek run companies. These set up increasingly larger mines, foundries, distilleries, and consolidated farmlands, seeking to produce more goods for export. In return, they sell the workers whiskey and manufactured goods, caring little about the complaints of the former rulers of those countries. To counteract the influence of Aquinist church schools, the Delians set up their own schools with the goal of mass education, teaching the children in the Greek tongue and about Greek history and geography. Some schools even punish the use of native languages, and this does little to help calm tensions between the conquered and conquerors. -In the search for ever more iron, the Delians send a team of their best surveyors to Misiryaban, assisting them in the development of infrastructure. In return, the Misiryabanis will sell them iron at reduced rates. Similar activities happen with the Arhonians, although the Arhonians sell the Greeks the bulk of the iron required. This is mostly because of closer ties and somewhat higher political and diplomatic dependence on the Eastern alliance, which they eventually join (much to the reluctance of their own subjects). -The Delians also make contact with the Mongolians, and besides exchanging ideas and innovations such as gunpowder and other Chinese innovations, ideas, and writings, they agree to positive relations between the two Empires, sending regular embassies (although the last one had the unfortunate problem of catching the plague). They manage to inform the Mongolians about European shipbuilding techniques, whilst the Mongolians manage to educate the Greeks about military strategy. “The Art of War” is one book that is translated and sent back to Greece at this time, with the contents of the book being analysed and the lessons from it taught widely. -Settlers continue to set up large farming estates in the Pontic steppes, although they seem to be rather annoyed. The land they were promise was of poor quality, and they usually must work for a company or nobleman in their spare time. In a kind of neo-feudalism, they suffer very poor prospects. The only thing attracting settlers is the cheap availability of land, a welcome tonic to those who lost their land to encroaching noblemen, merchants, and clergymen. -The Kingdom of Romania is asked to join the Delian Empire in return for protection from Italy. The King of Romania then clearly points out that not only has Italy ceased to exist, but that it was in fact the Greeks who conquered Italy, leading the Romanian King to ask why the Greeks would do such a thing. He then quietly begins to order the construction of a ring of forts throughout his Kingdom and quietly makes arrangements to meet the Mongolians. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=507230&dateline=1376613839[/img][img]http://i.cubeupload.com/ijCHd9.png[/img] [b]StaleRye – The Baltic Entente Capital: Riga Culture: Livonian (Baltic) State Religion: Deism[/b] -A most terrifying weapon has been developed in the Baltic, mostly from the insights of modern engineers, ancient textbooks and diagrams, plus the need for effective siege artillery. Mostly modelled on the ancient polybolos, it can fire many shots per minute with a high degree of accuracy. Of course, due to the complexity of the device, it must usually be kept stationary and well protected during sieges and occasional battles. It is very effective at denying ground to one part of the enemy forces, and can quickly drive defending forces from the walls. Unfortunately, due to the bulky nature of the design and lack of metalworking techniques, it is difficult to shrink down. Talks with the merchants of Misiryaban however, shows that they are willing to sell standardized iron parts for the machinery, allowing for it to become mobile and much easier to use, for a good price of course. -Norse iron begins to be increasingly adopted by blacksmiths for production of specialized weaponry. The high iron purity is particularly advantageous, although in order to produce steel, one must take the metal when hot and work carbon into it through a lengthy process. It does give a most excellent steel weapon however, and with the adoption of Danish warriors into their ranks, a group of shock infantry armed with heavy armour and swords comes into being. -Windmills continue to develop during this time, often with their funding paid for by the combination of the sovereign, local noble, merchants, and from the peasantry as well. This is mostly to take advantage of two recent developments. Firstly, with growing populations and intensified use of the land, people are farming in areas further from existing watermills and mills are not only grinding more grain than before, but also powering all other sorts of machinery. Secondly, is the development of the “tower mill” This is a small wooden box on a rotating pole which houses the machinery of the mill. Whenever the wind changes, one can simply rotate the building to face the wind. As a result, hundreds of these little buildings have begun to dominate the countryside, helping to provide cheap and sustainable energy. -In the Wake of the Saxon Expulsion, The current Queen of the Entente seeks to give the people of the lands more freedom, and decides to reform the monarchy a bit. She achieves this by first splitting up the current lands of the crown into the four administrative divisions of Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, and combines the Baltic Islands into a single region. Every five years, each of these areas sends two representatives (usually a noble’s son or a lawyer of some kind, often both) to the court of the monarch, where they advise them on matters of state and engage in political intrigue. Laws and acts applying to one specific region are voted on by the people in that region, and laws and acts applying to the entire country are voted on by the representatives, with the ruling monarch having the final say in a tie. The fact that the number of essentials (eight) is rather small means that the monarch more often than not, lavishes gifts on these representatives in order to ensure their loyalty. In turn, the nobles which they represent usually use these gifts (land, money, political offices) to buy loyalty from the landholders who vote for them. Despite the tiny and easily corruptible legislative of 8, they do manage to at least pass a few sensible laws during this time (even if diluted them or otherwise delayed and lost in bureaucratic red tape). These reforms mostly involve land, tenancy, and protecting the rights of the nobility. Very slowly over time, this legislative (under a long period of peace and economic prosperity) gradually grows as the requirements for land ownership drop with inflation, and some marginal lands begin to accrue value from the discovery of resources (like coal) on them, and also due to acquisition of new land and population growth. The number of representatives eventually grows to seventeen. They also have begun to shift increasing control of the budget to themselves and the growing civil service. -The roasted acorn coffee (cepta dzēriens) begins to spread gradually outside of the Kingdom, although the popularity of it is somewhat limited. Its main disadvantage is the lack of caffeine, which gives Ethiopian coffee the kick that people are looking for. Nonetheless, the ease of making it means that it remains popular in areas where coffee merchants have yet to penetrate or where prices are favourable for the acorn coffee. The Germans despairingly name it “Ersatz”, viewing it as a cheap substitute to Ethiopian coffee. -Homesteading acts are introduced, although mostly neutered by the nobility. One of the problems is that most land is already owned by someone already, and the local nobleman generally tends to be that person. Since the nobility also tends to be in power in government, most people really just end up settling marginal lands that nobody wants. Farming is quite poor, so these people turn to activities such as fishing and crafts, although they pay smaller dues due to the fact they own that plot of land. Much later, these peoples would end up becoming servants and groundskeepers for people in country homes, and tended to be slightly wealthier and slightly more socially respectable than ordinary freemen who rented land from their lords. This is due in part to their trade contacts, allowing them to get in luxuries such as sugar and whiskey from abroad and using it to buy social influence in their local communities. One new invention introduced from abroad is to burn coal in an oven to produce coke, and some peasants have discovered their coal deposits are now quite valuable. The hapless owners are mostly thrown off the land by local nobles who collude with the village to gain some share of the profits for themselves, although some do relatively well. Other times, a village or nobleman buys the land instead of using nastier methods, and the former owner is able to comfortably retire on the cash. -With the Danes now being roughly half the total population of the Entente, the crown in Riga seeks to please the once tribal Danes with protection, wealth, and a good deal of autonomy within the Entente. The Danes "liberated" during the Saxon expulsion seem happy enough, so the Entente pushed to peacefully annex the northern tip of the Jutland peninsula to bring the Danish into a united homeland, and secure the Ententes control of the Baltic. The rising power of the Swedes and Norwegians has put a bit of a damper on this plan though, as they see the Entente as trying to push the Norse out and eventually subdue them. The Entente itself expands into Latvia and Estonia some more, often engaging in bloody wars of attrition and raids with the tribes living there. The Latts and Ests are resilient, but even they one day must give in. Many nobles begin to join peacefully in return for securing “safe” seats in the legislative assembly. -In chemical advance, trade links have spread outwards to cover a great deal of land. The Entente manages to sneak out the recipe for gunpowder from the Silk Road trading routes, whilst also heavily stepping up the importation of Swedish iron. This iron is refined into steel weaponry and armour, and is perhaps that of the highest quality in the world. Only those with superior techniques to work the metal can do better, for their iron is of poorer quality. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=405122&dateline=1362455815[/img][img]http://i.cubeupload.com/zAG825.gif[/img] [b]Salricci – Kingdom of Arhonia Capital: Kraskai Culture: Arhonic (Germanic) State Religion: Hutonism[/b] -With increasing technical sophistication, more useful ways to work iron has come about. It is perhaps the last in the chain of developments, starting with increasing pig iron production, casting it, and now finally working it. Iron can be drawn out by putting it through rollers to flatten and stretch the metal, whilst at the same time improving the strength and reducing the brittleness. These rollers of course need to be rather large and heavy in order to work the iron, and so require driving by waterwheels as well. Unfortunately, there is a growing lack of sites suitable for waterwheels, meaning that windmills have begun to pop up in increasing numbers, dams built to make lakes and artificial rivers, plus the use of animal power. Large hammers are also being built to stamp iron ingots, where a giant press is lifted by a system of gears and pulleys. The rollers however are the most curious invention, as one can now manufacture long and thin but strong iron bars. Produced in that form, they can be transported with little difficulty and due to already being wrought, are often ready for use as soon as they arrive. -Noticing the problems in the Irish part of Arhonia, the King decides to decentralize the area partially. He grants much of the border lands to nobles who are to spend most of their time training or otherwise ready for war. They are to support themselves with the land grants and kit themselves out in heavy armour, weaponry, and ride horses. They form an order and pledge allegiance to the king of Arhonia, promising to protect his Irish assets. No wars actually happen though, so most combat takes the form of small scale raids over the borders, nothing too serious although in one incident, a nobleman took refuge in his manor and refused to come out to fight. The knights do the sensible option of cutting off the hands and feet of his peasants. The noble remarks “I will have to get some new peasants, for these ones are broken”. The next raid sees his house set on fire, and strangely nobody in the village comes to help put out the fire. -The navy undergoes reform, expanding during this time and introducing new ship types, mostly to deter piracy (although piracy is starting to die out anyways). Some expansion is made to the east along the rivers and wetlands of the Low Countries, mostly in order to acquire more land for coal, iron, and valuable land needed for agriculture and foundries. Unfortunately, all this drainage and land reclamation has led to the peaty soil shrinking as water is lost from it, causing the land to gradually depress over time. This process has only begun to accelerate as the demand for water has increased, with many areas now either lying close to sea level or even below it. -The state also begins to heavily invest into the iron industry after nationalisation of it. It was not regarded to be in Greek national interests to own the foundries, so all of them were sold to the Arhonian government, in return for guaranteed low rates on iron and iron products. This investment, in combination with heavy demand from abroad (the Greeks and their allies tend to prefer buying from them, and due to economies of scale and pre-existing trade links, buy from them even if the Misiryabani merchants temporarily have lower prices). [img]http://imageshack.us/a/img832/6236/ko5b.png[/img] [b]Mallow234 – Phoenician Federation Capital: Malta Culture: Phoenician (Semitic) State Religion: Canaanite[/b] -A new type of sailing vessel has been introduced. Utilizing the longship prevalent in Northern Europe and closer to home designs, a new type of ship has come into common usage. Utilizing the same flat bottom, and light design, a cargo carrying version is developed. Shaped like a bowl and having small towers at each end, it is a large vessel that is not also incredibly economic, but versatile and simple to build and use, some requiring only 5 men to crew it. Named a cog, later models introduce decking and several “decks” built on top of one another, and as it grows larger, later developing into the “Holk”. Whilst useful for carrying large numbers of goods, it is restricted by the fact that it is squarely built and handles poorly in long distance sailing. -In order to prevent semaphore messages being easily read by spies and people with unusually good eyesight, at pre-agreed times during the message, the meanings of the flags are to be swapped by an amount (Such as A becomes C). The message can shift meaning multiple times during the transmission, making the message much harder to decrypt. Of course, it makes it difficult to read as well, with some commands being difficult to interpret or make out. It takes a long time to teach the semaphore operators the new codes, and even longer to work out the bugs of the system and to change decryption codes. Many of these codes eventually end up leaking given enough years, requiring continual change. -The Phoenician Coast Guard is founded as an extension of the navy. The service is funded by merchants who don't want to be cheated by smugglers. The mission of the coast guard is officially to conduct search and rescue operations, but it's mostly to capture smugglers. One of these ships is captured by the Turks during their war with the Romans, causing a great deal of annoyance and causing a diplomatic faux pas between the two states. The confiscated cargo on board is realized to be from a Turkish smuggler, and is given back to him, causing more problems. -To continue with scientific endeavours, the Republican Scientific Society is founded, a place where scientists and philosophers can gather to discuss and publish their ideas. The place is to be as prestigious as possible, with scientists from initially within Phoenicia discussing and showing off their ideas, theories and experiments. Many new oddities such as thermometers, glasses, acids, phosphorous, calculus, theories of matter and motion, classifications of biological life, the establishment of botany and geology, plus many other fields of inquiry all have roots in the society. They also publish a scientific journal, although one of the early patrons blew all of the society’s money on a book about the history of trilobites. This in turn delayed the publishing of astronomers’ new theories, in which he claimed that the world went around the sun, and that all objects accelerate the same no matter the difference in mass. -Funding the society heavily, the state commissions a geological and ordnance survey of all the lands owned by the Phoenicians. They travel around making detailed and careful measurements and records of the land and deposits of many interesting minerals. One oddity they find is several tar pits with a thick black fluid deposited in them. They find some tiny deposits of lead, gold, copper, coal, iron ore, and silver. There are plentiful amounts of limestone that can be utilized for cement production, and salt that can be used for food preservation and for use by alchemists. There is also some clay and sites suitable for quarrying as well. -A famous explorer by the name of Paolo Cromstein goes on many travels throughout the world to the east, reaching Ethiopia and even visiting the Empire of the Mongolian Khans. He returns from his adventures with many new oddities, such as ice cream, pasta, gunpowder, and Ethiopian coffee. He is particularly fond of ice cream, but regrets that it can only be enjoyed if one has suitable access to an ice house. Gunpowder and coffee are both instant hits, with coffee plants being grown and the beans used to make a thick paste that is boiled into a type of soup. Gunpowder meanwhile is stuffed into tiny paper bags and put inside mines and cliffsides, where upon lighting it can fracture the rock and assist with excavation. Of course, gunpowder is highly dangerous to work with, and injuries are common, sometimes causing tunnels to cave in. Production is difficult as well, for saltpetre must be obtained by leaching the crystals from stale urine, a process which is lengthy, expensive, and smelly. Some people also weaponize it by using ballistas to throw pots full of the powder at enemy fortifications and lines, although the fuses used on them means they explode randomly and are unreliable. -The Phoenician state sets up the Phoenician West India Company to utterly resemble the Greek’s eastern trading company in all but name, copying the surface details and business organization, then usually guessing or working out the rest. For all intents and purposes however, they are a business owned by the state in order to conduct trade and to produce goods for export. They begin with investment into mining, slavery, sugar, and shipbuilding, given that these give the highest returns. The introduction of cogs and holks has also meant that merchants can begin heavily competing with the Greeks again, taking advantage of lowered transport costs to begin undercutting competitors once more. They fail to dominate the sugar market however, as most European production is still handled in a limited number of places (typically islands) with the right climate and soil to permit sugar cane growing. Slaves are bought in some small numbers to provide labour, but due to the shortage of land, supplying demand is becoming more difficult. -Finally, in order to acquire more land, the West India Company sends the Phoenician army to Morocco, where they conquer the country and quell the restless tribes and petty kings there. They begin to set up sugar plantations and much later, coffee plantations. Due to the presence of a lot of local people already, there is little need to buy many slaves in order to operate them, although the Christian Berbers are a troublesome lot and constantly demanding things like wages, land, bread, and for the recruits who went into service of the Phoenician army, to not be given 200 lashes for passing wind in presence of a superior. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=382337&dateline=1369791204[/img] [b]cis. joshb – Polochans Capital: Polotsk Culture: Polochan (Slavic) State Religion: Slavic[/b] -Praising the breeding of horses to achieve a whole manner of new breeds, the King himself sets up a royal stable for his own collection of horses. He also collects some various animal breeders to discuss the best ways of improving other animals as well. Together they come up with a crude idea of how animals acquire traits, and that by breeding animals with favourable traits, they will increase the chances of creating offspring with those same traits. Spreading such information takes time, and experimentation is difficult, but the first trials are now underway with pigs, cattle, and sheep. Over roughly a century, the size of these animals gradually increases, and they become much more profitable to keep. Many farmers are converting their lands to feed and care for these animals, and can salt the meat for the winter or otherwise export wool. The animals of the Polochans are famed throughout Europe for their immense size. -Villages are encouraged to send a few of their best horses and men in return for favour from the Chief; these are used to form a personal guard for him. They participate in battles as the rear-guard, using to prevent enemy penetration of the main battle line. Some enemy charges are particularly hard to resist, and once a defence is broken, they easily force apart the flanks. Horses are encouraged to be used extensively, and the Chief promises a large gift in the form of grain to any village which is most capable on horseback. Ranged weapons are preferred, but feeding and training such a number of men is difficult. Most soldiers tend to be young males without land or dependents, who can devote most of their time to war. These men eventually become a professional force and take the place of most of the levies, leaving those unsuited for a life of war to stay at home to farm. -A man from the Chief's personal court is sent to most settlements (usually a relative or close friend of the Chief), to act as the local magistrate. If the subordinate chief is found to be corrupt or intimidating nearby smaller settlements, a trial is to be held in Polotsk. If found guilty, the subordinate chief is deposed and replaced with a man elected by the people of his village, and land on the borders of that tribe will be given to other tribes, ensuring their loyalty (especially if a tried Chief attempts a revolt). In practice, this results in many villages blackmailing the magistrate and making him almost powerless, by threatening him with a list of crimes (some invented). This in turn results in many villages and towns becoming almost self-ruling, and they end up electing their own assemblies to run matters, forcing the chief to accept propositions they pass. They still pay taxes and provide levies, but this period sees decentralization and most people running their own affairs. Trade and agricultural production is improving, if at the cost of some of the monarchs’ power, who is more or less left to tending his personal estates and managing wars. Gradually over time, the position of subordinate chief becomes one that represents the landowners throughout the country, with him expected to work on behalf of the landowners to press for favourable legal changes. However, this position brings power and money, for many chiefs are given money and land for pressing their issues with the King, whilst voters usually tend to blackmail each other during the “elections” when a chief is replaced. Most chiefs tend to be the sons of powerful landowners, often providing free beer from the local tavern and promising to do the diametric opposite of their contender. -The Polochans spread slowly, preferring to stay put instead of settling new lands. Much like the Laubergians, this results in higher population densities and increased focus on land development. [img]http://i.imgur.com/5fJEhuP.png[/img] [b] Eastern Trading Company Capital: Lygos/Istanbul Culture: NaN (Broadly Greek and Turkish) State Religion: NaN (Money)[/b] -The company begins to operate independently of their parent countries. It begins by commissioning a large number of ships and putting bombards on them, although this experiment goes awry when many of these bombards require maintenance and are horribly unreliable and generally are summed up with an admirals famous one last words before one exploded and killed him. “These are shit”. -Knowing that the nobility is starting to fall into debt due to the nascent industrialization on-going in Europe, the company hires a great deal of these hapless people and sends them on ships to explore the African coast. One group of them sails to the Maldives via Egypt, where they quickly take control of the island and set to work growing sugar, cotton, and coffee. To provide the necessary labour, a lot of Indians are brought from overseas and paid some very low wages to assist in the cultivation of these goods. The trading posts on the African mainland, oddly enough, are handed over to the Phoenicians, possibly to apologize for the loss of the coastguard ship. -A central bank is established in Lygos/Instanbul to cover the finances of the company, along with a stock exchange for people to invest into it. Secondary branches are established throughout most of Europe, with the western base in Cape Verde to handle West African trade and an eastern one to cover Asian trade. With their surplus of money, the ETC then begins to invest in the infrastructure of other countries, establishing projects to build roads, ports, factories, and other important structures. Primary recipients of this investment are the Misirybans, Ahronians, Laubergians, and Zulus. Of course, many merchants in these countries claim that the company is an intrusive foreign force and damaging to domestic trade, but only in Laubergia does the company have significant difficulty. -Contact with the Zulu is established, and whilst trading goes well (the herbal merchant is a popular commodity), missionaries are ill received. The merchants stick to trade and don’t try to convert the population. Nonetheless, with trade routes well established over the world, the Zulu (and many other people) finally have access to the first cases of whiskey, bolts of silk, iron bars, steel goods, and cotton cloth. In the far east, the company is buying wootz steel, spices, porcelain, more silk, and lacquer to be sold back home in Europe. It’s a considerably profitable enterprise, especially as they are being supported by 3 rather large empires and therefore do not pay any tolls on shipping for much of their journey. -During a routine expedition to Ghana, a fleet is blown off course and sights land to the west. They land and notice the presence of Brazilwood, a most interesting tree. The wood from it can be used to make dyes with. Some samples are brought back home, and the noble theorizes that the scientific mainstream got it all wrong. The earth isn’t around 25,000 miles, but a mere 20,000. He establishes this by sailing around in the North Sea with an astrolabe and incorrectly using it. He returns home and claims that the Earth is actually shaped like a pear. He is sent back to Brazil to gather more wood and he discovers a very friendly people who have no concept of land ownership, eat a lot of fresh fruit, hunt peccaries (they are in the process of domesticating them), and otherwise engage in petty wars over matters of honour. The nobleman repays their gifts and hospitality by killing half of them, enslaving the rest, and setting up a Brazilwood plantation. Many years later, he still hasn’t left, and has to contend with frequent raids. Some of these raiders are growing slowly more sophisticated, and they have even begun to wield bronze and iron weapons. One of these weapons is stamped with (later translated to be) “I have made the merchants happy”. Eventually though, the toehold begins to spread, and some explorers chart the coastlines, noting that more primitive peoples lived to the south, whilst farmers and traders tended to be settled to the north. [b]Afro-Asia:[/b] -In Tang China, a Chinese general is given command of practically half of the country to administer and rule over. Being given so much power and responsibility, he does what any sane general would do: declare himself Emperor. His failure to successfully wrest power from the existing Emperor and his own mental instability results in a civil war lasting years, killing millions of people and being the most destructive war in human history to date, along with disintegration of the Tang state and its conquest by the Mongols. Thanks An Lushan. -Southeast Asia and Indonesia continue on a steady path of development. With Buddhist and Waifuist influences passing through the area along with traders, a weird myriad mix of cultures and religions is now underway. Growing populations, increasing volumes of trade, and improving agricultural technologies, and the ability to build and maintain larger armies allows for empire building to take place as well. Ceylon converts to Waifuism, which has now spread beyond Asia and is starting to make inroads in Africa. -The Ghana Empire forms in West Africa. The development of trade with the Mediterranean is most interesting, with the coastal ports receiving the bulk of trade. The fact that one can levy tolls on traders is too tempting for Emperors to ignore, and the Ghanaian Emperors become exceedingly wealthy, using their money on various wars of conquest throughout West Africa and ultimately making them truly deserving of the title “Emperor”. The Kola nut is popularized by this empire, and consumption of it spreads outside of West Africa, reaching into Iberia and the Mediterranean. The Misiryabanis also have begun to buy sacks of kola nuts, even though they stain the teeth. -A breakaway branch of Islam comes to the fore in Arabia, where the Shia sects have managed to take control and have reformed the religion to suit their own needs. The Muslims of Mann are in little position to complain, due to their extreme geographic displacement. In Arabia itself, the Shia conquers Yemen and converts it by the sword. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=492439&dateline=1377307782[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/JoaTBOP.png[/img] [b]Gishatako – Ptolemaic Empire Capital: Alexandria Culture: Egyptian (Coptic) State Religion: Christianity (Iberian)[/b] -Seeking to irrigate the fields of Egypt, new machinery for the pumping of water has been introduced. The only problem is that water can be pumped to a maximum height of 31 feet, and seemingly no further. This is mitigated by the introduction of many mechanical helpers, such as Archimedes screws, chain pumps, the giant waterwheel, canals, and aqueducts for the movement of water. Some are automated by wind and water power, plus the first tidal mills are constructed to take advantage of the untapped potential of the sea. All in all, many areas of desert have begun to be slowly reclaimed via careful land management. It eats up a lot of water though, requiring these networks to be extensively well maintained. Some oases are connected up to each other with canals as well, and the increases acreage of land allows for massive increases in agricultural production. Not only food, but cotton, silk, sugar, and even the first coffee plants outside of Ethiopia are grown. -The Egyptian army is again reformed, adopting the new techniques of its allies, incorporating extremely heavy shock cavalry (mostly by armouring men and horses in chainmail armour and giving them heavy lances), and a more flexible heavy infantry (able to use spears and swords in equal measure). The Egyptians try to introduce the bombard onto their ships, but the primitive design of them means that they cause massive shock to the timber. Their tendency to burst and their abysmal range and accuracy means they are hardly used anyways. Existing siege weaponry can not only fire faster, but further, with more accuracy, and often with heavier shot. -The Egyptians are little deterred however, and decide to add Axum to their Empire. This is achieved by extensive naval warfare, blockades, raids on shipping, and finally battering of the coastal defences using siege artillery onboard ships. The cities are taken through a long and bloody combination of sieges and brutal assaults. The interior takes a little more time, but eventually the Egyptians manage to conquer much of Aethiopia and put a governor in place to administer the land. This acquisition is particularly important, as it gives the Egyptians further control over much of the trade passing by Arabia, meaning extra opportunities to either tax it or get rid of the competition. -A company is chartered to produce gunpowder for the Eastern Alliance. It sets itself up in villages and cities, collecting pots of urine, carts of dung, and other plant refuse. Put into giant pits to ferment into saltpetre, or the urine being poured into sand and then leached of the required minerals, the company has begun to mass produce nitrates on a large scale. Unfortunately, since gunpowder is hardly ever used, prices of the nitrate collapses, and it is mostly sold as a fertilizer. Near the end of this period, some early bombards have managed to shrink and become slightly stronger, allowing their increased deployment. -Mills are being setup along the rivers and canals of Egypt to weave cotton into cloth. One of the big problems of course is that the demand for water is at an all-time high, restricting the areas where water powered mills can be built. Windmills are often used in lieu, but these are less reliable and not an adequate source of power either. To resolve this problem, most producers have set up large buildings where all the workers work together, trying to divide up tasks between workers and using a division of labour to achieve increased production. Whilst massively improving output, it unfortunately results in the workers becoming annoyed as it allows for the unskilled to be recruited en masse and trained to easily do the same jobs that a skilled worker could do. Some go on strikes but these are put down by the local police forces. -Damascus smiths learn how to make steel weapons from wootz steel now being imported from India. These swords are produced solely in Damascus and then are exported, with their quality being among the best in the world. These swords are highly prized by noblemen, although barely any of them even make their way into the ownership of the common soldiery. -The culture of the Egyptian Empire begins to take on a much more Hellenic character, and more Christian as well, although many minorities (especially Jews and Zoroastrians) are not too keen on assimilating as their rulers hope. Some missionaries are sent out to see if the good word of Brian can be spread further, and thus they travel on the ships of merchants into the Orient, trying to conduct missionary work in the Zulu and Indian kingdoms. They are met with some hostility in India, although a few groups of people do convert (mainly due to their earlier contact with Christians some centuries before). In the Zulu Kingdom, it is even worse. Most missionaries are crucified or even have Waifuist missionaries try to convert them. This backfires so much that a group of Waifuist scholars end up travelling to Egypt and set up a mission there, representing the first toehold of the Oriental religion in the western world. -A survey is conducted to find the shortest distance between the Red and Mediterranean seas. The surveyors manage to not only chart this, but also the positions of the various lakes and low lying lands as well, along with existing ports and irrigation systems plus the availability of labour and resources. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=244833&dateline=1377284627[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/ZtLDPyI.png[/img] [b]Burinn – United Turkish Kingdom Capital: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) Culture: Turkish (Altaic) State Religion: Christianity (Iberian)[/b] -With wrought iron being heavily imported from overseas, the Turks now have many bars of wrought iron to mass produce into steel. Existing methods of production are slow however, but eventually they develop a new process to work it into steel. Called cementation, it works by stacking iron and charcoal in layers inside a giant brick oven, where it is heated and the iron gains carbon atoms, turning it into a form of steel. This steel would then be worked by hand to make weapons and armour of consistently high quality. They are among the best such weapons and armour in the world, famed as much as the products from India, China, and the Baltic. -The army begins to rebuild forts along the eastern borders of the Empire, taking in the new invention of “bombards” introduced by the Greeks. These forts are among the first built to hold gunloops and slots for bombards, with heavy wooden and straw blocks built to prevent the bombard from flying backwards or shattering the floor. They are horribly crude devices, built in the same way that barrels are, and having a tendency to split along weak points. Their main advantage is the fact that they can shoot a kind of shrapnel out of the walls to deter people from scaling them. The army has also introduced logistical reforms, mostly out of necessity as managing large armies over such a vast and wealthy empire is difficult. They assist the Delians in the famed war with the Kingdom of Italy, although mostly in a reinforcing role. The only Turkish commanders to fight of their own accord are those in the navy, raiding Italian shipping vessels. However, they do capture a Phoenician anti-smuggling coastguard ship during this time after being unable to recognize the design, and release the captives after the Phoenicians complain (but not before they embezzle the goods and give them to a known Turkish smuggler after he arranges for their transit). -With improving agricultural production and transport, some areas have begun to specialize even further into their respective industries. The Turkish have funded the widespread digging and expansion of canals throughout their country, allowing for cargoes of Arhonian wrought iron to be quickly and efficiently brought to the foundries and smithies where they are needed. The first “gunsmith” appears as a small workshop alongside a canal, where the smith was a former cooper. He slowly makes bombards in the same way as he did barrels, after having been introduced to some from the Greeks. He also possesses a Mongolian fire spear, but has yet to successfully reproduce it.

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