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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This was the lore I had planned for this turn. I didn't finish it, as I lacked the motivation to do so. [quote]Matthäus Nadim Herberto Seneca Rojo, 25, a former sergeant in the armies of Charpentier. Little is known about his life before the revolt, aside from how he was a notable strategist during his time in the army and afterwards a prominent leader in the Libyan movement for independence. Growing up, he came to hate the Phoenicans for dastardly handling over his Libyan homeland to the dirty Tozholleronesi, and despised the Tozholleronesi even more for suppressing his people. Herberto rose in open rebellion against the Imperial crown in 782. For seven years from his stronghold in Ghadamis, he launched offensives into neighbouring provinces and scored various victories against Imperial banners. The Herbtian juggernaut cracked however, after the pyrrhic victory at Maradah in 790, the prospects of defeat seemed like a plausible outcome among many. Herberto himself was becoming disoriented with reality, and became increasingly depressed. His decision to cede more authority to his less-effective subordinates because of his mental deterioration is widely regarded as being the main causes for his downfall. As evidenced in the Battle of Terium in the Spring of 792, where the largest army the Hibertists ever fielded was virtually wiped out by a smaller Imperial army under General Stefan. And the second battle of Zillah in Summer 792, where most of his seasoned veterans, including his one and only beloved son, Turgay, were annihilated in a heroic last stand. The battle is also well known for the use of the Tozholleronesi long bow by the Imperial army. According to contemporary documents, they were fielded in record numbers. Imperial victory is credited to the use of the longbow, since the famous Hibertian cavalry charge ended in catastrophic disaster largely due in part because of them. These events and the death of his son traumatized Herberto so much he essentially went mute, and rarely ate or met with anyone. His colleagues deemed he was incapable of leading the rebellion, causing him to quietly fall into the sidelines as a figurehead. -With Herberto more or less out of the picture, popular generals like Ariel De Santigo were thrown into the difficult spot of attempting to turn the tide of war once again, choosing to resort to attrition warfare instead of offering pitched battles to the Empire. For a while, his strategy was successful until he suffered reeling defeats at the battle of Wadden (794), and at Hofra (796). The year following Hofra, Ariel's army defeated Stefan in the third battle of Zillah, but did not follow through with chasing down the routed troops, instead falling back to recuperate his losses. This proved to be a costly mistake, since Stefan ended up getting sacked because of his incompetence, to be replaced by the feared "Red Terror", Manolo Fabian, a veteran commander whom was tasked with [brutally] crushing the then-concurrent revolts in Witzerbien proper. Together with the wildly ailing Charpentier II, many revolted provinces were pacified until all the gains the Herbertist rebels held were practically lost. General Ariel tried desperately to drive them off at Mizdah (February 799) then Nalut (early August 799), both ending up as tactically indecisive victories. Even the death of Charpentier in the autumn of 802 did not change much. Al-Cido Monts ordered for Manolo to be on standby, but he ignored their orders, setting out instead to conquer the last two pro-Herbertist provinces, Sinawin & Daraj. The thrust took many by surprise, and both provinces fell with only mild resistance. Ghadamis, however, staunchly held out for three years, it's fall marking the end of the Libyan Revolt. Later, at the request of Charpentier III, a memorial was erected near the ruins of Ghadamis, honouring those who had fallen during the war regardless of their allegiance. -During the mid-latter years of the Libyan Revolt, an disgruntled noble by the name of Teódulo Corin Jafet Achim Lorenz grew weary of the war in Libya. Corin came to criticize the policies of the then-emperor Charpentier II. Whom at the time, was running the Empire's coffers dry ever so deterministic to put down the Libyan revolt. In a letter to a friend in 790, Corin distraughtly expressed how he felt about the situation in Libya and the actions that the Emperor took pertaining to it; "...Within the dunes of Libya... the sons of Witzerbien march off humping their gear, praying under breath to the various deities for protection.. not tragically knowing that they themselves would not return home safely. Alas, only the bitter news of [yet more defeat] returns... against a aliens foe we cannot fight, whom in the eyes of the lazy free man were merely a rabble bunch of ragtag heathens with unbelievable luck... shedding the sacred blood as though it was but only plain water against such primitive barbarians who don't even speak or emulate our ways of living. One twisted man, that being the hated Kunkel, refuses ever to give up. This unspeakable monster, the exterminator of many a sons, shrugs off defeat one after another. He finds the idea of negotiating with the rebels a extreme insult, instead merely draining more resources to raise more armies, the cycle repeating tirelessly." By the middle of 792 he had enough, acclaiming himself Urbenijer Corin I of Jafet which caused many to abandon Charpentier II and flock to the banners of Corin instead. Naturally, this put Charpentier II in a dangerous situation. Not only did he have to deal with pesky rebels in Libya, he also had to deal with an pretender on the home front as well. [/quote]

[QUOTE=Emperorconor;42503574]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.[/quote] [img]http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Verizon-It-Begins.png[/img]

I am musing about a bonus. For groups/alliances sharing tech, if the number of members in the group sharing tech is 4 or 5 (that is, they all share tech), then an extra technology is granted to the whole alliance.

[QUOTE=Emperorconor;42516080]I am musing about a bonus. For groups/alliances sharing tech, if the number of members in the group sharing tech is 4 or 5 (that is, they all share tech), then an extra technology is granted to the whole alliance.[/QUOTE] sobo stop trying to add fuel to the already cold war

It is not a cold war. There is no threat to mighty Eastern Alliance.

[QUOTE=Mackalda2k6;42516230]It is not a cold war. There is no threat to mighty Eastern Alliance.[/QUOTE] be quiet yee fascist the smoke from our muskets shall blot out the sun

[QUOTE=Mackalda2k6;42516230]It is not a cold war. There is no threat to mighty Eastern Alliance.[/QUOTE] Chill my nigga.

don't die damn you thread i blame the eastern alliance for this

Any Rpers feel like a game or something sometime? Me, Cyrus, and Mackalda all went on a Brony server and had some laughs.

What game?

[QUOTE=Mallow234;42542799]What game?[/QUOTE] Gmod or Minecraft or anything really.

[img]http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/1047377790915441646/F2238C800C5D4289B0ED480114EFAE1A2F730458/[/img] [editline]17th October 2013[/editline] Man that brony server

Get your turns in and I will try to get this ready for sunday.

turn soon?

sup?

Not yet, the Greeks and their cronies have still yet to send in turns (apparently they are splitting up the Americas between themselves).

To clarify, Europe is splitting up the Americas between themselves.

The following turns are done: Zillamaster55 – Kingdom of Laubergia KingArcher – Misiryaban Caliphate Damian0358 – Kingdom of Bohemia Crossu88 – Xerxes Satansick – Zulu Kingdom Ruskie – Valittu kauppias mailla StaleRye – The Baltic Entente Sincleric – Mongol Khanate The following are to be completed: Mallow234 – Phoenician Federation YogiTheWise - The Weeaboo Empire Mackalda2k6 – The Delian League Burinn – Unitied Turkish Kingdom Gishatako – Ptolemaic Empire The following must be sent in: Salricci – Kingdom of Arhonia [editline]26th October 2013[/editline] From next turn onwards I'm banning conditional responses in turns. I.e things like Player A saying "Player B says they will do X, and if they do, do Y". It's making diplomacy all the more complicated to deal with because I have to wait on doing some peoples turns since they may be dependent on another players turn. Send it all in and hope your partner will do it. Also don't send in shit like "Join into the Alliance with A, B, C, and D." What do you need me to proclaim that for? Just say it privately or in the thread, and if you are doing military decisions or technology, just say you are outright doing it, and not "only do it if they do it".

The following to be done: Gishatako – Ptolemaic Empire Mallow234 – Phoenician Federation Mackalda2k6 – The Delian League Salricci – Kingdom of Arhonia 12.5k words now

15k words Meanwhile in Laubergia [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt2gHpqfZNA[/media]

TURN SOON

READ ME, SEND IN TURNS AS TURN 17. [i]Plague, and fire: Religious zealots look smug.[/i] [img_thumb]http://i.cubeupload.com/5YGNie.png[/img_thumb] Cultural map: [url]http://i.cubeupload.com/c2hi6O.png[/url] Religious map: [url]http://i.cubeupload.com/lcgsMW.png[/url] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tro_gaczCxw[/media] Events of the years 875 to 950: Europe: -A new and horrible disease spreads throughout the whole world, afflicting all of the great civilizations, culling roughly 30% of the total population and overall causing a great deal of pain, suffering, and misery. Out of the bodies would rise a new world full of uncertainty, as many old institutions have either died or been shocked thoroughly by this calamity. Named the Black Death, many historians have argued that the aftermath of this pandemic can be seen as the birth of the modern world. However, nobody at the time realized it, and an Italian diarist summed it up much like this: [i]“There appeared certain swellings in the groin and under the armpit, the victims spat blood, and in three days they were dead. The Lombards attribute this to the Mrvians, the Italians to the Phoenicians, the Germans to the Greeks, and everybody blames the Jews.”[/i] -The Spanish and Portuguese begin to get involved with overseas trade and exploration much more, even exploring the coasts of the New World and setting up trading posts in Africa. This is exceedingly annoying to the Greeks, wishing to possess a monopoly on this sort of trade. -Waifuism spreads into Europe via Egypt, and while it makes few inroads, it does most successfully in Bohemia, due to the state not actively seeking to supress foreign religions. -Finland forms in Scandinavia as an independent country, having good relations with the Baltic Entente through trade and being one of the few places to survive the plague. [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] -A biologist has a tough old time in Laubergia. He attends university where the bodies of criminals are cut up to learn about anatomy initially, but he finds it disgusting and leaves later. He dropped out and decided to join the merchant marine, becoming the botanist for the Greek survey ship “Seagull” which sails to South Hanajia to survey the coastline. He catalogues many different plants and animals, and had a great deal of fun riding the llamas when he was in the Andes. However, the most important discovery was that made when he travelled to Misiryaban. He noticed that the moths there were a distinctive black colour, whereas in other countries, they tended to be white. He postulated that these black moths stood a better chance of surviving natural predation. He went throughout books and then discovered that in the past, Misiryaban moths used to be white until quite recently. Somehow, they changed colour. Over time, he gradually develops a theory in his book “Entstehung der Arten”, which theorized that these moths, once on a black surface, stuck out and were easily eaten by predators. The moths which were of a darker colour were more likely to survive, and thus the number of dark moths would increase over time relative to lighter moths. He then began to extrapolate this theory to all life on earth, a rather dangerous contention, as some religious and political leaders hate the theory for it implies that humans could have gradually evolved from other forms of life. -Unfortunately, just as the theory begins to spread out of Laubergia, the excited discussion on it is interrupted by the plague, scything through the land and killing many in its path. The army (which by this point is backwards, underfunded, and decrepit) is told to go home. Practically the entire army deserts and were it not for the plague, the country would be utterly defenceless. Even after the plague clears, it’s hardly competent, for most drills have been banned by nearby towns due to the noise it makes. Horse races are common between noblemen in the army along with gamblers betting in the barracks and parade grounds. Meanwhile, homeless people sleep in the prisons, and one prison guard says “anybody who doesn’t escape from the prison is lazy”, as he lies back before smoking a pipe and playing chess with one of the prisoners. -A most curious doctor set himself up in Viikuru, and soon developed a burgeoning business. He promises that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines). His treatment is wholly different. The treatment is take a red hot poker and burst the buboes in the armpits, before cutting a pigeon in half and tying it to the wound. -To cover the severe depopulation and to boost agricultural production, the Queen borrows a lot of money to try and pay workers to farm the land. Unfortunately, this does not prevent land being abandoned, so the state is now legally entitled to seize land from plague victims and to join up the plots. These plots are then worked on by state paid farmers. Normally, this would produce a lot of problems but for now agricultural production does not decline too much. A lot of plots are joined together and large ploughs are used to work the land, whilst vast fields and pastures are used for crop rotation. Unfortunately, the treasurer reports a large deficit, and so they are forced to convert a lot of former cropland to pasture (such as sheep and cattle) to reduce labour costs. The experiment is a success, but transporting live animals is costly (along with their meat). Wool is popular though, and part of the economic revival is marked by the growth of villages spinning and weaving wool. -The Laubergians open up their ports to trade indefinitely (save for plague), and abolish tariffs on trade. This has the impact of boosting coastal trade, albeit at the cost of massively reducing income for the state. Whilst in the long run this massively improves trade and industry in the Reich, initially it’s a great way for the Greeks and other foreigners to buy goods at low prices and sell their own goods here. Many manufactured goods flow into Laubergia and many farmers can be seen with fancy new steel tools, new animal breeds, and a lot of money in their pockets. They spend much of this cash on the improvement and construction of toll roads along with some of the first canals in Laubergia (built by Misiryabani engineers). [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] -Engineers are still intrigued by the steam pump and the ability of steam to do work. One engineer is given a model to repair, and realizes that in actual fact, it’s pretty shit. He decides to create a separate chamber for steam to condense in and then scales up the model. Continual improvements along with patents eventually result in a large beam engine powered by low pressure steam. Initially, very few people are interested in it, save for mine owners. To try and make it more popular, he spends a great deal of time and money inventing a crankshaft mechanism in order to turn a wheel, so as to drive various machines. This enterprise fails as well, until an unexpected visitor arrives. The plague kills so many labourers that many factories and mines are desperate for an automated source of energy which only requires two men and a lad (there’s always a lad). The inventor did not live to reap his rewards however, as he died due to complications arising from taking a plague cure. His steam engines however, are the first spark in a revolution that will sweep away the old order and introduce the age of machine. For now however, very few of his engines see widespread use until the mid-10th century, at which point increasing labour costs brings about their advent. -On a plateway, one mad engineer comes up with a brilliantly strange idea. He suggests that by laying iron pipes sealed with leather, then using steam pumps to create vacuums in the tubes, one could cause wagons to move under their own power along them. The idea is excitingly funded by the Misiryabani state, despite high costs and a large number of initial setbacks. Firstly, the pipes crack under the pressure, so new casting methods and leather must be used to seal the gap. Several engines explode or are too weak or ill placed, resulting in more modification. The rats tend to enjoy eating the leather, but eventually, an 800 metre stretch of track is completed to move goods from a foundry to a port. It continues with such problems throughout its life, leading the company to operate at a near loss. However, a ship from the far west brings back a new material that could be the answer to the solution. Called “rubber”, if heated with sulphur, it can produce a strong and durable material for the atmospheric railway that is not only suitable to replace leather with, but is not very tasty for rats to eat. Rubber imports grow, and soon the company manages to reduce operating costs. Some other people are interested in the enterprise, building atmospheric railways in low numbers over the country, usually upgrading the most heavily used plateways. The Misiryaban state however, regulates that barring geographic considerations, that 7 foot wide railways are to be used in all cases. This allows for large wheels to be fixed to the sides of wagons, reducing the height, air friction, and exploiting the square cube law in order to hold more cargo. By the mid-10th century, several of these railways exist, but changing the rolling stock and upgrading, building, and maintaining lines is difficult due to the inherent problems with using pressurized pipes. Some collieries and individual industrial areas adopt these on a smaller scale, or even use stationary engines to pulls wagons with chains instead. On a test run, the land speed record is set at 46kmph. -The plague arrives in Misiryaban, and unfortunately, it hits just as hard as everywhere else. Whilst they did have some information from the Bohemians about the incoming disease, little could prepare them for the actual thing. Arriving via shipborne trade, it initially spreads throughout the urban areas before spreading out into the countryside. The authorities are terrified and have little idea of how to react to something so devastatingly awful, attempting punitive attempts at quarantine that took several years to isolate the disease in its entirety. For the already infected there is hope with the doctors prowling the streets and preaching their cures, for a most curious doctor set himself up in Misiryaban, and soon developed a burgeoning business. He promised that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines). His treatment is wholly different. The treatment is take sulphur powder and grain flour, before mixing it with goat droppings and rosemary before applying the mixture to the wound. Three million people die. -An attempt was also made to utilize steam power for ships, firstly with the construction of the smallest yet most powerful steam engine made to date. It is fitted into a rather weird wooden ship, which is not only incredibly unstable and must be heavily reinforced with thick wood, but is slow and unwieldy. Large modified waterwheel paddles are fixed to the sides of the ship, and most curiously, can be operated independently of each other, meaning it is possible for the ship to spin in place. The first launch goes horrifically wrong when the ship capsizes at launch. It requires salvaging the costly engine and improvement of the ship body to make it stable, if difficult to steer. The first test run goes well in the North Sea, and the ship makes its way to Arhonia to dock at their main port. Unfortunately, due to an inability to steer it, the ship crashed into the main pier and completely shattered it, along with destroying several warehouses. The ship is so utterly beset by failure that it takes up new life as a mobile artillery platform for siege engines, and even then, requires towing by smaller sailing boats or to use masts most of the time. -The Misiryabanis (with assistance from their Irish allies) invade Wales, subjugating the area considerably quickly. Cross cultural influence was already pretty strong, with many Imans operating in the country. Politically however, it wished to retain independence, and when the Misiryabanis tried to buy land for mining, it became a problem when the local nobility tried to oust the foreigners due to their influence. War is declared, and the new steamship is towed to the Welsh coast to act as an artillery battery for the polybolos. Many of them fire multiple (and cheaply mass produced) iron bolts at the Welsh capital, until eventually they surrendered after an extensive bombardment. Guerrilla actions continue for much longer, requiring the building of smaller forts throughout the countryside to pacify the Welsh. The general in charge is pleased with his success, and asks the Caliph permission to invade the troublesome Scots, who have been raiding their Irish allies. He agrees. This war was the first in which the polybolos was used, a siege weapon with a high rate of fire. In order to make it smaller and easier to mass produce, most of the components were replaced with iron so that could be manufactured in foundries. The additional fact that they fire iron bolts means that these weapons can fire a bolt every 3 seconds. -In the war with Scotland, the steamship is moored outside the port of Leith, where unfortunately, despite being a good artillery platform, is captured and when brought towards Stirling as a prize of war, gets stuck in the shallow river after a paddle wheel snaps off and it veers into the bank. The Scots suddenly realize this is a problem because they just blocked the river to the city of Stirling. They try to shift it out of the way first, but the heavy engine and wood helps it to sink into the mud. Next they try burning it, but the sheer bulk of the wet timber burns poorly. They attempt to have an army of workers try to rip it apart, but much of the debris (including the heavy engine) sinks into the mud and causes sediment and other river rubbish (including that which the city throws out) to build up there. Eventually, it completely blocks the river and floods much of the lower parts of the town and docks. Most historians believe this is the point where Stirling began to decline in favour of deepwater ports further out. -Scotland and Wales are eventually conquered, but much of the countryside remains only loosely under their control. In fact, north of Stirling, the Caliph has practically no power over the petty tribes. So, the Caliph comes with a brilliant new policy. The laws on land inheritance are changed so that non-Muslims must split up land equally upon death. This has the effect of breaking up the larger estates and making many Clan leaders up north convert if only to escape taxes and losing their land. Of course, with the plague causing a labour shortage and the Scottish lowlands and Wales starting to industrialize (along with heavy demand for wool), wages are going up and sheep look profitable. With this, many landlords throw tenants off the land and force them to go to the growing cities to work in foundries, mines, early factories, canals, and sometimes on the railways. Ethnic and religious tension are at an all-time high, with many groups fighting between one another in the cities, crime being rife, and many cultures, ideas, languages, and fists being exchanged. Some members of the intellectual class begin to paint and write poetry or novels on this new system, selling it to concerned rich and middle class people despairing at the lot of the poor. One Scottish Chieftain, after publishing his new book satirizing rich people who cleared the peasantry off their lands, decides to use the royalties to fund the removal of a nearby village to make way for sheep pasture. -Farm labourers make higher wages nearer to cities and industrial areas, so even farmers have to begin moving of their own accord, and now all sorts of classes and peoples are rubbing shoulders and starting to cause problems. The Misiryabani state, realizing that growing industrialization is going to cause civil unrest, decides to implement a base minimum wage to. Of course, these wages are quickly put into jeopardy when a third of the country decided to drop dead, so for the first seventy years it’s a practically meaningless law. The Misiryabani state then decided to introduce a national health service, where each administrative region is responsible for the health of their inhabitants. The state uses taxes to fund it, and most services are usually public sanitation projects. The rich, seeing the potential gains, decide to clear their conscience and find a good investment opportunity by building sewers, which the NHS is more or less responsible for. It is thought that bad smells cause disease, so by clearing the streets of debris, and providing access to fresh water in the booming cities, one can reduce disease. It doesn’t stop plague, but many middle and upper class people are happy to invest into the sewers and pay for the extension of them to their own private houses, whilst the municipal companies managing them charge fees for their usage. The poor meanwhile still have to visit the street pipe and street shit pit. Hospitals meanwhile, whilst they used to be managed by religious institutions, have been supplemented by state run ones, where at the very least; people can die in a well-ventilated and clean environment. Most notable, is the improvement in childbirth, for women are given maternity leave (paid for by the state). Unfortunately, all of this costs quite a lot of money, and Misiryaban is rather short on cash now, especially given the collapse of trade with the plague and the Greeks having an economic crisis. -Some ships sail west from Iceland to a large uninhabited island called Greenland, which they named because it was full of green pastures. It is a good place to fish, whale, and rear sheep, so a colony is established to do exactly just that. Sometime later, cod fishermen began to slowly inch down the coast southwards, eventually wintering over there and trading with the natives. Eventually, after about thirty years of this, they meet traders from a vast empire to the south, apparently packed full of commodities and being rich beyond their wildest dreams. A fisherman gets backing from a wealthy merchant to sail here, where they stock up on furs, jewellery, rubber, rice seeds, maize, other seeds, plus bring back live turkeys and peccaries as curiosities. The musk ox is meanwhile discovered by fishermen who explored north and met the Dorset culture, and it is thought these can be potentially utilized on the pastures of Greenland and Iceland. Of the goods flowing across the sea, rubber and iron are the most prized. Near the end of this period, the first barrels of coca and tobacco arrive in Misiryaban and the wealthy go wild over it. It seems as though the little trade that exists over the north Atlantic is just about to grow explosively. -An alliance is formed with Spain, mostly after tariffs for weapons, armour, and iron were slashed and the new polybolos was exported. Other dignitaries travelled to Mongolia to share information about the west in great detail. When the Khan asked for a new alphabet for the Mongolian language, the Misiryabanis delegates suggest the Arabic script. He is so pleased that he orders everyone in his vast empire to begin the long and arduous task of translating everything into this new script, assisted heavily by the Misiryabanis. They end up eventually introducing a few new words into Mongolian, and also take many copies back home where they are easily translated into Turkish (given the script is the same). The Art of War by Sun Tzu becomes a bestseller in Misiryaban. As for the Silk Road, many surveyors from Misiryaban begin to survey the route between Mongolia and Europe, discovering new places that roads can be built in to facilitate trade, bridges to be built for crossing certain areas, along with milestones and watchposts. Unfortunately, a lot of labourers die during construction, but given that they are conscripted Chinese workers, nobody really cares. One Misiryaban surveyor (at great expense) even builds a model atmospheric railway to show the Mongolian Khan, much to his amusement. -A trading company is established to conduct trade with India and along the Silk Road. They are mostly responsible for the surveying and improvement of the Silk Road, and also to conduct trade with the Indies. For some reason, they even manage to establish an embassy in Korea before it was invaded. Unfortunately, many of their ships are raided by privateers, some of them using terrifying new weapons that emit fire and smoke that throw stone balls with great force at them. Patrol ships are later set up using the polybolos, which can clear enemy decks quite quickly. In response, the privateers move their cannons below decks or raid isolated and unarmed merchant vessels. These privateers are blamed for the rising price of iron outside Arhonia and Misiryaban, especially in Greece where rising iron prices are causing shortages in armaments factories. [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] -A delegation from Misiryaban visits Bohemia, bringing back a most curious invention the Bohemians are excited to see. It is a metal cylinder with tubes and pipes coming out of it, and when heated and given a good supply of water, it can be used to pump water. Several are installed in the Palace to pump water in the fountains, later spreading into the homes of the nobility and much later (after the plague hit), to pump water out of mines due to rising labour costs. Of course, one chap goes in an entirely different direction when reading over translated Misiryabani texts, where it explains that the machine operates on the principle that air has weight. If air has weight, surely items lighter than air should be able to float within the air? He conducts experiments by holding pieces of paper over an open flame and watching the paper float upwards, concluding that if he heated the air directly underneath the paper, the air would become light and push the paper upwards. Experimenting with larger and larger models, he eventually becomes confident enough to build a full scale version of what we may now call a parachute. He jumps off a bell tower and aims for a bonfire lit below, and whilst he does float upwards in his parachute, an ember sets his trousers on fire. He lost his grip and flew into the side of a building, setting it on fire. The resulting fire causes much of Medieval Aquincum to burn down, for most of the city was abandoned during the plague and little could be done with a tiny fire fighting force. Very few people actually died in the fire since most of the city was already heavily depopulated. At least it’s an excuse to rebuild it. -The Kingdom of Bavaria is asked to give up Lusatia to the Kingdom of Bohemia. They refuse. This somewhat embarrasses the Bohemians, who quietly decide to expand into the Vistula basin instead. The many tribes here (one of which is led by a man rumoured to be the son of a wheelwright) continue to gradually submit to the rule of the Bohemians, although wars are more frequent. These people actively resist the arrival of the Bohemians and their missionaries, often crucifying them and saying that the gods will strike down the Bohemians eventually. They are eventually struck down, but then so are the Pagans. It is a most horrible disease, causing the lymph nodes to swell and the victim to spit blood. Arriving with foreign ambassadors from the Mongolian Empire, it spreads along trade routes and is initially mistaken for flu. Despite the fact that many people wash themselves often with soap and have a quarantine system in place; this is little protection from fleas biting people. The large populations crammed into cities with dogs, rats, cats, and mice make it a perfect area for fleas to spread rapidly. By the time the authorities have realized the extent of the pandemic, it is too late to protect the major cities. People flee to the countryside and the monasteries, often overwhelming existing infrastructure in the panic. Many towns, manors, and smaller settlements do successfully set up quarantines, but without knowledge of how to treat the disease, there is little to alleviate it. 20% of the population of Praha dies, and many more are lost due to emigration, hunger, and succumbing to other diseases due to weakened immune systems. Whilst the Kingdom overall does better than their neighbours, it is still hit extremely badly, losing at least a quarter of the population. -A most curious doctor sets himself up in Praha, and soon has a burgeoning business. He promises that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines). His treatment is wholly different. The treatment is to swallow the semen of a horse and/or an ox, the fresher the better. Some doctors merely invite clients to a shadowy place to meet the animal, whilst others simply keep vials of the stuff slightly warm for sale, promising their costumers that it is indeed fresh. Municipal regulations later force doctors found to be selling old semen to have the product dried and burned under their nose. -The Kievan Rus convert to Aquinism, with Vladimir I's baptism in 988. A military agreement is signed between Bohemians and Rus, giving the king of Bohemia six thousand Varangian warriors, whilst shipping over large numbers of cheap weaponry (most of which had been bought from abroad) and promising to subsidize the regimes military. Knowing the loyalty of the Varangians, the King of Bohemia decided to form the Varangian Guard, employing the Varangian warriors as his personal retinue. -The Aquinist Church is reorganized, with the churches split up into two categories, Autocephalous Churches and Autonomous churches. Autocephalous churches are further divided into 3 categories, Pentarchal Patriarchates, Junior Patriarchates and Autocephalous Archbishoprics. The Pentarchal Patriarchates are the patriarchs of Velehrad, Salza, Lygos, Jerusalem and Antioch (Bohemia, Laubergia, Delia, Ptolemaic and Turks). The Junior Patriarchates are the patriarchs of France, Lombardy, Burgundy, Bavaria and Kievan Rus'. The Autocephalous Archbishoprics are those of Lugii and Romania. The Autonomous Aquinist churches are currently: the archbishop of Rome (under Lygos) and the metropolitan bishop of Aquitania (under the French patriarch). -After the reform of the church to incorporate the Greeks, facing a severe budget crisis, the Greeks sell much of the old Mrvian Empire back to the Bohemians, and many citizens cheer from within their houses at the news (they are reluctant to go into the streets due to plague). [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 (Aquinism) [/b] -Seeking to improve on the crude and rather crap bombard, Delian engineers have begun experimenting with alloys and metal casting techniques. By casting the artillery piece as a single entity, one reduces production costs and the time taken for manufacture, whilst also making them of a more uniform standard. Unfortunately, the process makes it difficult to make breech loading mechanisms (which are quickly abandoned), in favour of smoothbore muzzle loading cannon. These pieces tend to be cast from bronze or iron alloys, and gradually there is a reduction in the overall weight and cumbersome nature of these pieces. They are light enough to be mounted onto heavy wooden carriages with two wheels, and are often dragged to battle by a team of horses and then set up. More mobile and flexible (and therefore practical) than before, these new cannons can be used to devastating effect in battle, and when arranged in a battery, will annihilate anything. Unfortunately, their reloading speed, accuracy, and poor mobility limit their effectiveness. -Using their deep pockets with money from questionable sources, money is spent on the navy with the goal of making it the largest force in the world. Practically all old ship designs are made obsolete with the introduction of cannon and caravels. Caravels are being mass produced in shipyards with crude assembly lines along with galleys for both military and trade uses, being outfitted with several heavy guns and thick hulls that can withstand the shock of firing. The naval academy in Crete inevitably has to be expanded and reformed to take these new advances into account, with many instructors telling their students to be wary of broadsides, as these can cause a ship to capsize. -The Delians pledge support to Lombardy in a war with France, which they gratefully accept and receive large numbers of naval vessels, soldiers, and cannon to assist in the war. The war goes rather quickly on the coasts, with the French ports being shelled heavily into submission and the castles throughout the countryside being gradually reduced in sieges (aided by cannon). The extensive subsidies are a drain on Delian finances however as they are funding the conquest of a powerful kingdom whilst the plague ravishes their Empire. After several campaigns, France is finally conquered, and to celebrate, the King of Lombardy moves his capital to Ile-de-France, and declares himself Emperor of Francia. He then begins the task of suppressing regional dialects and promoting the use of the Lombard language, which forms the basis of the modern French language. He also suppresses the Basque, Breton, and German minorities, and pisses off the northern French. The word for “yes” gradually evolves from “oui” to “si”. -Understandably, the Pope is rather annoyed by the fact that the Delian Greeks have supported a Kingdom which frequently wars with Spain and also kicked out Iberian bishops. The Delians ignore the pope, who then excommunicates the Congress. The Delians respond by telling bishops to defy the pope and encouraging churches to teach in Greek, allowing priests to marry, and many other views opposing the Iberian church. Following the excommunication, they talk with the Bohemians and the Congress establishes a Patriarchate in Lygos and officially changes the state religion to Aquinism. -Italy still deeply resents rule by the Greeks, whom gradually introduce Hellenizing influences. Their adoption of Aquinism did please the Italians, if only at the extreme anger of the Greeks, who claim to follow the original church for Brian, whilst Muslim and Jewish minorities are as unhappy as ever. To add more problems, a new religion called Waifuism has appeared, although the numbers of worshippers are tiny. Industrialization in Italy is underway with mines and factories being established, whilst land clearances gradually take place under landlords, mirroring similar activities in the homeland. To try and mitigate this, the Greeks finally cave in and allow wealthy Italians to attend the Delian congress, which has begun to bloat and has ancient electoral districts. Seeing the sewer systems of the old Romans, massive efforts are made to improve sanitation in the cities of the Empire, which degraded in more recent centuries. A garbage collection system is set up with poor people to clean the streets, along with a fine for dumping trash in the street. Dumps are established outside of the town where carts take collected trash and throw it out. Sewer systems are retiled and strengthened, and given additional water flow to help prevent blockages. The cities pay people to find and kill homeless cats and dogs’ as well as rats and other rodents. Regular bathing is actively encouraged, although costly. To do this, public baths are subsidized and rebuilt. Unfortunately, this would all be of little help when the plague arrived. -The plague arrives in these clean, well-drained, cities free of pests. That is, excepting for horses, which shit everywhere and are in massive numbers along with farm animals brought in from the countryside to be slaughtered and eaten by city people. The plague instead spread from farms into the cities, infecting farmers markets and spreading outwards, made worse by the fact that butchers work in unsanitary conditions with live and dead animals. People die in heaps, and soon there are few left to repair most sanitation and infrastructure, especially given that grave diggers have high death rates. After the disease clears, matters get even worse. Heavy investment into the MTC is ruined by the surprise attack on the colonies in Hanajia, and the collapse in share prices starts a financial panic that results in the meltdown of the Greek financial system. The plague was of course largely to blame for this, but the colony raid destroyed what confidence remained. Credit dries up and merchants are unable to borrow money along with the state. There is no feasible way to find money, so the Greeks debase their currency and seize gold and silver assets from plague victims to try and maintain essential infrastructure. Agriculture also effectively collapses, and many people migrate elsewhere, and by the end of this period, the Greeks have a trade deficit with Laubergia due to the Reich’s well developed export-based agricultural economy. -Economy calamity continues when iron imports from Arhonia and Misiryaban sharply rise, despite those metals being still rather cheap there. Many factories choose to shut down or lay off workers in face of rising prices, and industrial action by workers is becoming increasingly common. Speculation, hoarding, tariffs, and Jews are all blamed for economic woe and plague, and some people listen to the vitriolic words of one most curious doctor, who lives in Lygos. He promises that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines). His treatment is wholly different, and involves simply killing Jewish people and foreigners. This is readily taken up by the rural population (especially those who lost their lands after being thrown off it by landlords), who murder or chase away all Hebrews they can find, despite protestations of the authorities to control the riots. -Facing a severe deficit, the Greek Empire sells vast areas of former Bohemian land to the Bohemians, much of it rich agricultural or industrial land, and using the money to maintain the bloated infrastructure left behind after the plague killed off most taxpayers supporting it. The Greeks have been severely weakened by the long wars, collapse of their colonies, trade deficits, industrial action, plague, and constant money shortages. A large debt has been built up over time, and there are fears of default at this rate if the Greeks are unable to bring their finances under control. For the time being however, they still have allies in Francia and much of Europe, and have managed to settle more land in Ruthenia (as it is becoming known). [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] -With increasing knowledge of optics, the properties of light are being better understood. For instance, certain mediums can influence the bending of light beams, and one glassblower decides to test this out for himself. Using a darkened room with a slit in the window, he has a straight beam of light come in above a table, on which he can put glass shapes. Most interesting is when he puts down a glass triangle, which splits the light into different colours (like that of a rainbow) and the fact that beyond the red beam, it feels warm despite the absence of light (later to be called infrared). He also begins to look through glass shapes themselves to see how they influence sight, noticing that his vision can become blurred or oddly further away or closer objects become sharper and easier to see. He makes one for each eye and gives them to a man with poor sight, who remarks “my eyesight is shite, but tis less shite than before”. He spent the rest of his days grinding these “lenses” for people with poor sight, putting them into metal frames to be worn on the nose. Some scholars are worried about these “eyeglasses” however, saying that wearers are often shunned or teased. -With some assistance from their friends in Misiryaban, the new polybolos is reduced in size and modified with replaceable parts made from iron. Given the ability of Misiryaban to mass produce cheap iron, these machines are not only easily replaceable, but cheap to manufacture, small enough to be mounted on a wheeled carriage to be moved quickly around a battlefield by horse, and can be mounted on walls and operated by a one or two man team with ease. The ammunition (iron bolts) are also easy to mass produce, another bonus for such a weapon. Horses are used to drag them to the field, although some time later a 6 horse team used to pull ones with lighter carriages are introduced, allowing for greater flexibility on the field. Polybolos machines are also mounted on ships, and are particularly effective at clearing the decks of ships before boarding. The Baltic entente sends several ships and such machines to Misiryaban in order to assist in the conquest of Scotland and Wales. Closer to home, they conquer Skane and continue to consolidate their lands in the Baltic, expanding rapidly into Estonia and Latvia. Finally, in order to improve siege artillery, academies and engineers workshops are established in Tallinn for artillery crews to train with the polybolos and to learn how to maintain and repair the machines, along with knowing how to quickly replace broken parts during battle. A good knowledge of mathematics is required as well in order to work out where projectiles will land. -Deism is further defined as the belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of Gods, accompanied with the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge, although elements of Slavic and Norse pagan religions have clearly leaked in. Of course, quite a few people have begun to look for evidence of the goods in the natural world and in mathematics, with one mathematician who (after inventing a numerical system which uses only two values) says that if one assumes the gods exist, you will profit in the afterlife. However, if you assume they don’t, you do badly in the afterlife. If the afterlife did not exist however, then as an atheist will have spent their life well (with the religious having wasted time during their life), the atheist would be clearly the better off. However, as being an atheist gives either little gain or infinite misery, whilst being religious gives either a little problem or infinite gain, it is rational to be religious. The man later writes a manifesto detailing several characteristics of a "Deist" lifestyle. Despite the "rejection of religious authority" the followers of the religion often find they like to practice together in groups. The religion takes a shift towards greater organization, with churches appearing in some villages, and the Baltic double cross as their symbol. -Serfdom is finally outlawed, with peasants now finally freed from the land to work in subsistence agriculture. In reality, serfdom was never really practiced that much in the entente, and is mostly a political signal more than anything else. The monarchy continues to reform politically however, with a parliament gradually growing and taking control of the budget. The monarch then appoints several MPs to sit in the executive to carry out policy for him, although the most senior title is nicknamed “Kings pet”. As to be expected, most people in parliament are either members of the aristocracy or wealthy friends and relatives of powerful merchants. Electoral districts are skewed and ancient, whilst many people literally buy votes or hold large parties and give everybody in town a free beer on the day of the elections. Of course, all votes are done in public. -In science and education, there have also been significant improvements and changes. Shipyards are being built throughout the entente (such as in Copenhagen and in western Jutland) to permit expansion of the fleets, whilst public schools are being set up (usually by the state where religious and charitable organizations have failed) to assist in the education of the growing numbers of workers. Till now, such skills were not very useful, but as reading, writing, managing money, travel, trade, and working as minor clerks along with being potential army recruits is now important, giving them a modicum of education is now considered prudent, something once left to the nobility and wealthy. The famous Guild and Apprenticeship system for children and adolescents is also established within these schools. Their task is to take orphans and the poor into the care of the state, and set them towards learning productive and useful jobs such as in carpentry, baking, weaving, shipbuilding, construction, masonry, pottery, ironworking, roadbuilding, engineering, etc. Whilst initially costly, it pays itself back over the long run as many of these people go to work and pay much needed taxes needed by the state, or if they emigrate, they do usually send money back home to their families (which again, can be taxed!). For the people who cannot find work or do not enter the apprenticeship system, the government sets them to work on building dams, sewers, wells, aqueducts, and other publics works projects, mostly in order to clean refuse from the streets. It is thought that the old “shit brook”, which was where everything the residents of Tallinn didn’t want went (including unpopular politicians) may have been to blame for this, so by building a vast sewer network one can keep the air and streets clean. -The plague hits the Baltic just as hard as any other country. Hundreds of thousands die, villages are abandoned, agricultural land is converted into pasture or forestry, and of course, quack doctors are aplenty. A most curious doctor however sets up in Tallinn, and eventually has a burgeoning business. He promises that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines). His treatment is wholly different and has also been adopted by religious sects calling themselves flagellants. The patient must walk around, having another person whip them whilst wearing very little clothing that is also very uncomfortable, a bizarre practice which can be still seen today on certain specialist websites. -Seeking to finally domesticate the moose for domestic and military purposes, several of them are captured and brought to an experimental milk farm in the entente. It is largely inspired by (and based on) existing methods used by the Lapps with reindeer and pastoralists on the plains and tundras. Moose go through the forest during the year freely, but always return to the farm because it has food available and is a safe place to give birth. (Plus the fact that the ones which return have a greater likelihood of their offspring becoming more common in the population). By separating the moose and their calf and feeding them, both animals become attached to people, so when released into the wild, they return often for milking or training with their carergivers. Over a period of 70 years, the domesticated form of moose becomes gradually more prevalent around the farm, and their spread allows for several such farms to be set up in chains throughout the managed forests. Unfortunately, it has led to the wild moose being gradually driven out of their old habitats as the domestic one out-competes the wild moose. Famously, research here would contribute towards the theory of evolution. -Finally, the Ethiopian (and Egyptian) coffee begins to be imported, gradually replacing the old acorn coffee. It is incredibly popular, and with good reason, given that acorn coffee is fucking terrible. [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] -A new method of navigation has come about. Whilst the compass has been in use for some time, determining latitude and longitude at sea is still quite difficult. However, the mariners’ astrolabe and portolan charts have come into common usage by sailors in Arhonia. The portolan chart, is simply a map with lines drawn on them (based on compass directions), and the distances estimated by navigators at sea. Their name comes from the fact that many points of reference were ports. The astrolabe meanwhile, is an instrument used for measuring angles with relation to the stars and planets. By holding it at the top and aligning the plane of the astrolabe to the object of interest (such as a star), one can easily measure the angle. It is also designed to permit looking at the sun safely. Unfortunately, the lunar distance method has yet to be developed, and the instrument is still limited in the accuracy of the readings it can give. Astronomers are as busy as ever, trying to find out how to pinpoint your exact location on earth with the utmost accuracy. People designing satellites centuries later would be doing the same thing in order to allow people to create a satellite map of the world so they could look at naked people in their back gardens, or see that all your neighbours have swimming pools and you don’t and so you feel a bit pathetic. -With trade expanding and the Greeks wanting to buy a lot of things and store these things in warehouses for long periods of time, several merchants go to a large farmland and begin coughing awkwardly about the people who happen to be in the way. After the plague kills all of the farmers, they begin making plans to establish giant warehouses and a port there complete with massive cranes, canals, and crude plateways to move wagons of goods along to the port. Iron mines continue to sink deeper into the earth, although draining them is considerably problematic now. Foundries and new prospectors appear as well to assist with the mining industry, but of course the inevitable economic recessions brought on by plague dampened things a bit. A lot of iron is left lying around in warehouses and development ceased for a while, that is, until they found new buyers by lowering prices and selling it overseas to glad merchants, willing to take iron products and process them for export elsewhere. -Like many other places in the world, the plague is pretty fucking hard hitting, killing so many people that not enough are left to maintain dykes that prevent flooding. Whilst these are not a type of lesbian and are actually large earth embankments, they are certainly similarly sized and shaped. Unfortunately, these floods happen at the world possible times, flooding great areas of farmland and depositing a lot of seawater that ruins crops. The survivors cram into the cities or try to salvage remaining farmland, and due to the complete collapse of the peat bogs, there are fears that whole areas of Arhonia could be lost to the sea at this rate. In the cities, disease is made all the more common due to the fact that floods allow for dead dogs and sewage to flow through the streets, which is considered unhygienic. A most curious doctor set himself up in Kraskai, and soon has a burgeoning business. He promises that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines). His treatment is wholly different. The treatment is to take a small toad and dry it out before stuffing grain seeds inside it and putting it in a bag to wear around the neck. This later becomes the basis for a folk tale where a goddess is put out of a job by a new type of agricultural machine, but she must stay near some special grains at all times. To keep them safe, she stores them inside a toad and wears them in a bag around her neck. She is later burned at the stake because she had animal ears. -A letter is sent to the King of Bavaria asking him if he would like to join Arhonia in a confederation with him. He receives a letter back explaining to him that they are from completely different religions and that the only reason they haven’t invaded him yet is because of implied military support from Greece and extensive trade routes that would make invasion costly for Bavaria. [img]http://imageshack.us/a/img832/6236/ko5b.png[/img] [b]Mallow234 – Phoenician Federation Capital: Malta Culture: Phoenician (Semitic) State Religion: Canaanite[/b] -Seeking to improve the use of gunpowder (which in its current form, burns too slowly or quickly and often fouls the barrels of guns), the Phoenicians have come up with a clever way to make different types of powder for different uses. By manufacturing powder and pressing it into small cakes before sifting it through sieves of different sizes, you can make different “corns” of gunpowder. Generally speaking, finer powders burn quicker whilst coarse powders burn slower. The coarse ones are sold to the Greeks for their cannon, whilst fine powders are used for the ignition of the cannon, and also in crude and early versions of the firearm. Some engineers think that gunpowder could be potentially used to power an engine, based on the idea that an explosion in a piston can drive the piston up, and by using a sparking mechanism and a pump to blow in tiny amounts of fine powder, one can power an engine with it. Gunpowder is also being extensively used in mining and quarrying now, with safe ways of handling it being finally in common practice. Of course, one man had the misfortune to have an iron spike fly through his skull after a charge went off early. Amazingly he survived, but his behaviour was permanently altered, and his story becomes a case study in early psychology and biology, especially with regards to research into the brain and human behaviour. -The army takes gunpowder and extends the military applications of it further. By stuffing it into a tube and lighting it, it can fly into the air and explode. The first military use is not as a weapon however, but for use in communication. A logistics corps eventually develops as the need to move and prepare gunpowder is essentially to many weapons used by the army, whilst academies are set up for naval officers, and for those involved in communications. Ballista’s that fire bolts or bombs are also being improved by the addition of fuses (although they do not explode on contact), allowing those with some mathematics knowledge to calculate roughly how long the shot is in the air for and therefore when it will land and explode. Early grenades are also being phased in, with them being used by shock troops as the prelude to a massed charge. A popular game with POWs originates from this time, where the prisoner has a grenade hooked onto their trousers and is let free. If they can discover the grenade and throw it away before it goes off, they go free. Unfortunately, quite a few end up not being lucky enough to manage this in time. -With economic and social change being quite fast, political change is naturally slow to adapt. There are some attempts to alleviate the growing numbers of malcontent on the streets by introducing policing forces, whilst the government adopts more of the trappings of democratic rule in order to make sure that wealthy middle class people and their concerns are being heard. Many of them have brilliant ideas about how to help the poor whilst being patronizing towards them in the most efficient manner, gladly voting for tax increases that get funnelled elsewhere. This money ends up funding the expansion of canals, the opening of new mines, roads, and even to help prop up agriculture after a third of the country suddenly relocated underground. Some is even used for a rather glamorous contest, where it asks for people to invent a device which can tell latitude accurately. Nobody really has an idea, but one chap manages to build a large metal box with a pivot and gears inside and weights along with a rope wound around a drum. He says that his machine can be used in bell towers and astronomies for assisting in tracking time, and thus with determining latitude. It’s a step forwards, and he is assisted by the Phoenicians, eventually resulting in the development of the first generation of mechanical clocks. Unfortunately, they do not possess pendulums (and so lose time often), are rather big, bulky and cannot be used on ships. Still, he is well funded and eventually sees the widespread deployment and adoption of these new “clocks”. Some towers even begin to be purpose built for the task, and are called “clock towers”. All models created thus far have the hands remain stationary, whilst the machine rotates the face. -The Phoenician trading company merges with the Greek trading company, although in actual practice very little changes save for a financial crisis. During the attempts at establishing colonies in Hanajia, the feared Xerxes raided and annihilated the colony, causing a lot of unhappy merchants to lose their investments into the company. The Phoenician merchants knew it was a bad idea from the start, and practically all of them leave the MTC, leaving it on an uneven footing. Competition from smaller merchants and lobbying also undermines the company in Phoenicia and their overseas possessions, and when the financial crisis wreaks havoc on the Greek state and results in economic collapse, many in the country are demanding the Phoenician government pulls out of the agreement. One positive change during this time period however was the gradual increase in the trade of coffee, with it being grown throughout several places in Africa and exports being handled by Phoenician merchants. And of course, it’s not complete without ice cream. Even though most street vendors sell ice cream adulterated with things like chalk, ice cream houses become popular and many chambers are dug underground to store ice in. Curiously, it is discovered that by dissolving saltpetre in water, it cools the water down, and can be used to cool ice cream. Whilst it does dissolve into nitric acid and potassium hydroxide (both of which are unpleasant to touch), careful washing normally prevents children being burned, usually. One popular flavour is coffee flavour, where one mixes in ground up coffee beans with the ice cream. -The plague is exceedingly deadly in Phoenicia, given their strong like of ice cream and the large number of fleas that often fell into ice cream from the vendors clothing. Doctors ply the streets with the vendors, chastising the ice cream vendors for selling disgusting things whilst they carefully put leeches on an eager patient. One such doctor sets himself up in Malta, and soon has a burgeoning business. He promises that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines). His treatment is wholly different. The treatment is simply to apply leeches to the swollen buboes and hope that they suck out the disease. Instead it kills the little bastards. Bad for the leech, good for the doctor, who can always harvest more leeches (by paying a poor person to put their legs in the pond and picking them off) and sell them. It is no surprise that in this country, the name for a doctor is the same for that as a leech. [img]http://facepunch.com/image.php?u=382337&dateline=1369791204[/img] [b]cis. joshb – Chiefdom of Polotsk Capital: Polotsk Culture: Polochan (Slavic) State Religion: Slavic[/b] -Rather than any distinctive improvements in technology, science, or mathematical or philosophy thought being made, there are largely importations of foreign ideas, inventions, and discoveries. Of these, includes the adoption of modern horse saddles, crossbows, bows, chainmail hauberk armour (already starting to fall out of fashion in more advanced civilizations), and general improvement in terms of equipment and military strategy. Forces of armoured lancers, horse archers, and crossbowmen are being fielded, with large numbers of high quality weapons and armour bought for the Chiefs personal retinue. War resumes with the enemies of the Polochans, with the name of this area gradually shifting towards “The Chiefdom of Polotsk” as neighbours recognize this geopolitical entity. The chiefdom continues to grow, although grow begins to significantly slow down once they start meeting people with well-developed fortifications and allies to call on in the west, so expansion to the east is preferred. -A council is called at Polotsk. Out of the sixty or so chiefs that ruled over the villages that did not fall under the High Chief's demesne, one tenth was selected to be stripped of titles in punishment for treatment of the High Chief's emissaries to the Chiefs. This is not as a punishment to scare the chiefs, however, because the High Chief holds a council with the surrounding chiefs of each man who is stripped of his land, and lets them know that they will be allowed to divide his land among them. The High Chief then informs the people who have not been called into private council (the Chiefs who are being stripped of their titles) that they have been convicted of treason and that their lives have been gracefully spared and they have been merely stripped of their titles to the land. He hoped this would build loyalty among the Chiefs, and in return for the land of the deposed Chiefs, he had them swear oaths to him as High Chief of Polotsk, requiring that they give him a tithe of one tenth of what they tax from the citizens and nobles of their domains, as well as a small force of soldiers each. He officially calls his realm the Chiefdom of Polotsk, gradually bringing into existence an organized and strong feudal system at a time when most countries have begun to dismantle feudalism. -Emissaries were sent to encourage the Kievan Rus not to convert to Christianity. Men versed in Slavic religion travelled into the towns to continue preaching and prevent Slavs from turning to the Mrvian religion. Any Mrvians passing through Polochan land who are missionaries were turned away and barred entry, causing a diplomatic faux paus. Many who return or try to sneak through are imprisoned. Slavic tribes around the Polochans are offered the option of swearing the same oath as the subchiefs to the High Chief of Polotsk, in return for peace and the ability to enforce their own laws, provided they provide tribute and soldiers and do not undermine the government. While their attempts to prevent the Rus from converting to Christianity failed, they have succeeded in encouraging neighbouring tribes to consolidate and form alliances with Polotsk. One problem however, is that these chiefs demand equal power in a confederation instead of submitting under the Chief of Polotsk. --A most curious doctor sets himself up in Polotsk, yet found little business. He promised that his own special treatment for the plague is better than the treatments used by people elsewhere (disparaging foreign doctors who go into the streets of the capital city, trying to sell ineffective and often dangerous medicines), yet still finds no interest. He travels around and discovers that no outbreaks have occurred, mostly due to the rural backwardness of the country and its isolation preventing the plague from reaching here. (Whilst some isolated outbreaks do occur, it is difficult for it to spread due to the low population density and lack of urban centres). Bitter and angry, the doctor leaves for Germany, where he dies of the plague after selling magic onions that promised to cure the plague. [img]http://i.imgur.com/5fJEhuP.png[/img] [b] Mediterranean Trading Company Capital: Lygos/Istanbul/Malta Culture: NaN (Broadly Mediterranean) State Religion: NaN (Money)[/b] -The Mediterranean Trading Company undergoes perhaps its worst crisis in their history. The successful colony in Hanajia was destroyed in a space of several months by the Xerxes people and local natives. Many plantations were burned, houses pulled down, land flooded or otherwise made useless, and colonists executed or dead from disease brought by introduced malaria and plague. Whilst new ships with cannon were developed during this time, they are wholly unable to help the colonies, which all but collapse during this time. A financial panic develops which results in the collapse of the Greek economy as it is realized that valuable returns would never arrive, and that many investments are now worthless. The company loses a great deal of support, especially in Phoenicia as many merchants undermine the company after being bitterly angry at it. Bailouts from the Greeks are unable to convince many to return, but it does survive on existing trade with Africa. However, for exploration, this is a golden age. Many explorers chart the southern coasts of Hanajia (discovering peoples who are too primitive and few in number to pose a threat), the rest of Africa (discovering the Kongo and the new Zulu port near Cape Agulhas), and much of Asia. -The Eastern and Western trading companies merged to form the Mediterranean Trading Company, with the former houses and much infrastructure and regulations remaining in place. However, it is made clear that Greek is the official language spoken, and the main headquarters remains in the Greek capital of Lygos where they can easily keep an eye on their activities and breathe down their necks. The Phoenicians generally relegate themselves to Africa, while the Greeks handle Asian and Hanajian trade (until the colonies were burned), with Phoenicians pushing deep inland to shift trade towards the trading posts of the company, whilst Greeks in India sold the princes there manufactured weaponry and armour in return for luxuries such as sugar, spice, and everything nice (including silks and faux-Chinese and Wapanese goods). The financial panic, plus the inability of the Greek state to support the company however due to financial problems, has led to the Phoenicians being displeased with the promises made during the merger. Rising iron prices are another as well, blamed on the Arhonians and Misiryabanis speculating on iron. [b]Afro-Asia:[/b] -In much of Asia, this period sees devastation brought by the plague, killing tens of millions of people and causing many states to either collapse or undergo significant reform and change. The Mongolian Empire meanwhile expands, conquering much of central Asia and accidentally helping assist the spread of the plague. The African Empires in West Africa undergo severe disruption from the crisis, and many are unable to recover as increasing coastal trade and the decline of inland trade results in these places declining in favour of coastal Kingdoms and Chiefdoms. [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 (Aquinism)[/b] -A new type of sailing ship comes into use, mostly as a hybrid of shipbuilding techniques from Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Asian world. Called a caravel, it is a wooden ship that looks somewhat similar to contemporary Wapanese whaling ships. It is relatively small, but can sail vast distances overseas and is sturdy enough to make transoceanic voyages

[img]http://i.imgur.com/qkMvq2A.png[/img] the fucking pinnacle of diplomatic negotiation [img]http://i.imgur.com/thd5XSw.png[/img] new pinnacle of diplomacy because 4 provinces so important

Meanwhile in Misiryaban: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF_U4VGl1Jk[/media]

[QUOTE][IMG]http://i.cubeupload.com/wiFn0W.png[/IMG][/QUOTE] ah the benefits of being a faction leader [sp]if anyone wants to invade Polochan I wouldn't say no[/sp]

[QUOTE=KingArcher;42682502]ah the benefits of being a faction leader [sp]if anyone wants to invade Polochan I wouldn't say no[/sp][/QUOTE] wow good cropping on that image

quick which one is better [QUOTE][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/5XxYDXz.png[/IMG][/QUOTE] -Hammer and sickle is placeholder, Vote Agree for this one [QUOTE][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/1G4ZVLG.png[/IMG][/QUOTE] -Vote Disagree for this one.

[QUOTE=KingArcher;42683166]quick which one is better -Hammer and sickle is placeholder, Vote Agree for this one -Vote Disagree for this one.[/QUOTE] YOU DISGUST ME WE DONT FUCKING KNOW THE EXACT SHAPE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD

[QUOTE=cis.joshb;42685742]YOU DISGUST ME WE DONT FUCKING KNOW THE EXACT SHAPE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD[/QUOTE] Not quite. Australia isn't on the map, and nobody knows about Australia yet. In fact New Zealand is devoid of human life at the moment and is full of loads of weird bird species. The dodo is also alive and kicking well, along with the Pinta island Tortoise and the Giant fossa, although the Aepyornis is about to die out unless the Zulu do something (the biggest ever bird). However, the mammoth went extinct during the course of the rp. RIP

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;42689294] However, the mammoth went extinct during the course of the rp. RIP[/QUOTE] Are there still lions in England?

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