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King of Men

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Anno Domini 1399: Europe lies prostrate, recovering from the scourge of the bioweapon.

The exiled Pope, from his refuge in Salzburg, has proclaimed a Year of Jubilee. Few pay attention. Within living memory half the population of Europe has died. The continent is in no mood for celebration. And besides, a Pope who does not control Rome is only another bishop.

Real power, spiritual and secular - power to bind and to loose, power of the high and low justice, power of war and of peace - lies with the nine Electors of the Roman Commonwealth, and with the Hegemon selected from their number. But there is no danger of their growing arrogant; not in this generation. All the powers of men are humbled before the Plague, and the survivors will bear the scars to their graves.

For fifty years the continent has known peace, of sorts. This much, at least, the lords Elector have managed: They have not added human strife to the burden of fighting the Devil's own legions. But now the disease is burning itself out, and a tentative rebirth stirs. Nations that have lost half their men find that there is land enough for everyone, and much work to do. New-built ships carry a wakening commerce. And in the councils of the mighty, ambition dares once again show its face.

The mountains of Norway are poor places for farming; but pride and ambition have always borne a fine harvest there. The Ynglings at Bergenhus are chastened. They have broken the men of Dovre from their positions of power, and give no more heed to their advice - or so they believe. Nevertheless, it is one thing to reject the teachings of one's youth, and another to find a new guiding star. And the world does not cease to be dangerous, the lion does not lie down with the lamb, merely because one small nation turns away from uptime evil. Brittany is still vast and powerful, its German lapdog hardly less so. These are not cirumstances in which a meek pacifism gains much favour.

One thing at least has changed lastingly: At Ting, peasants and merchants are both able to make their voice felt. The days are done when anyone would defer to the Yngling caste out of simple respect, and they dare not press their advantage in military power too hard. In the end, all power rises out of the land, and the farms from which the Hird is recruited.

In these unsettled times, anyone may come to power and wealth - landless younger sons from the uplands as much as courtiers with a lineage stretching to Geir Jonsson. Norway roils with faction, cult, and coterie. Priests rail against the decadence and wealth of the capital - all the while looking nervously over their shoulders, for in the uplands a revival of the old gods, never completely suppressed, gathers strength. In the cities flagellants march in the streets, demanding that all join them in preparation for the apocalypse that is surely on the way. Has not God prepared the world with mighty signs and warnings?

And in the background, the uptime agents still work. They are named slaves of the state, and forbidden to own property. But they are too useful to kill, and such men are not rendered powerless by any official decree. The time is lost, perhaps, when they might have steered Norway into its uptime course. All governance rests ultimately on consent, and there is no longer anyone in Norway who will consent to the fascist-libertarian state. But there is still the will to power, and the search for dominion; and the Secret Hird is patient.

The dance begins anew.
 
The State of the Breton Empire, 1399.

The year is 1399. In three hundred years, Brittany has expanded beyond the wildest dreams of Höel de Cornouaille. Once a political pawn to be bandied back and forth in the games between the Normans, lately invaders of England and the Capets, lately consolidating their power in France, Brittany has established an Empire in her own right.

The Breton Empire extends from the Marches of Wales and England in the North to lands in African further south than even Mauretania Tingitana, the furthest extent of the Roman Empire.

The Breton Governors, carrying their scepters topped with the Breton Triskelion, send tribute and men wherever the Breton Court dictates (of late, the Court has found it expedient to remain stationary in La Mancha, as opposed to the peripatetic centuries prior). The Counts have, in the main, accepted that their petty feuds may continue as long as they stay petty, and jockey for favor over this minor forest here or that appointment there. The Hents Brezhoneg (or Voies Breton, or sometimes the Breton Roads, depending on your location in the Empire) have been extended. All roads lead to La Mancha…or, at least, all roads lead to a designated port that has a continuous courier / messenger service to La Mancha.

The de Cornouailles rule dozens of Counties and Duchies across Europe, from Ireland to Georgia and scattered provinces in between. They have married into all of the grand houses of the Electors, and produced scions by the score.

Christianity has been returned to the Iberian Peninsula and even to North Africa. Whatever the peasants may think, they still go to the Masses in droves and they still make confessions. And they still donate. The Muslims have been driven back into the unknown regions of the world, areas only heard of as rumors from traders making their ways through Georgian and Novgorod trade. Some say on the other side of the Muslim Sultanates lie Christian Kingdoms that never fell in the onslaught that Charles the Hammer - may he forever rest in peace with our savior - beat back at Tours those many years gone now. Others say those Christian Kingdoms never existed. Still others say that the speaker must be referring to Ethiopia, never conquered by the Fatimids but retaining sovereignty just South of what is now Christian Egypt. And there are other confused reports about the Muslim lands. Some talk of countries ruled by merchants; one report in particular claims that the descendants of the Great Khan Genghis - whose repeated incursions into Europe before the Great Mortality were rebuffed time and again by hardened Russians and Georgians eager to prove their horsemanship at least the equal of the vaunted Mongols – now ply the trade routes to and fro east of Georgia, controlling the Silk Road much of its extent from far Cathay to Alexandria and Beirut.

The Breton people maintain their customs. Brittany continues to maintain a layer of custom that our timeline would recognize as French-Arabic-Celtic. The Frankish nobility of Brittany has maintained the chivalric pretences. The Arabic nobility of Al-Andalus, co-opted by the de Cornouailles many long years ago, has layered the chivalric pretences with geometric designs and an aversion to depictions of people in art. The remnants of the Celts in Iberia, Wales, and the receding-in-memory Vieux Brittany herself have expanded upon the geometric designs. Bretons are known for the intricate knotwork of their silver and gold jewelry.

But all is not well in Brittany.

Not all Counts have accepted the Empire. In a number of areas Breton subjects only pay lip service to the Empire, and avoid the Governors where they may. Of particular concern is England and Wales; both areas are functionally autonomous, and border the historically dangerous and rapacious Norway. Unless these areas can be integrated into the Empire, Brittany will be at a disadvantage in dealing with renewed Norwegian aggression. Of course, anything might happen.

The Empire is in religious turmoil. Years spent as loyal Catholics, followed by years spent learning the ways of Orthodoxy, followed by even more years spent as disloyal Catholics, and the whole overlaid on top of the Muslim sub-strate in Iberia and North Africa, has left the average subject confused at best as to their religious affiliation. And the peasants are also confused as to why the Vicar of Christ, if he is so powerful and is so to be obeyed, has been overrun by Christian Kings approximately once every 50 years. As their confusion deepens, they turn to heresies; some banal, some esoteric.

The minorities of the Empire demand to be treated as equals. How the English, having been overrun only slightly less often than the Pope, can display equality is unclear. And the Greeks are worse. Only the French and the Maghrebs seem happy, for now.

The Canaries, just off the shore of Breton Ifni and Safi, are held by the Italian von Zähringens.

But there is opportunity ahead. New lands are known to exist near Brittany; a push and the South should open up. And who knows what is present across the water?

The only thing certain now is the rumors. Rumors of New Worlds…And Rumors of War.
 
Rise of the Temporal Dragon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the 14th century ends and the 15th begins Europe has thus finally exited the era of the Middle Ages, history has seen the passing of an era, great historical events have transpired. The Eastern Roman Empire “Byzantium” successfully withstood the Seljuk juggernaut, the Russian Principalities United behind the banner of the Muscovite Nobles who with the financial support of the Novgordian Merchant Princes withstood the Mongol invasions, but also Prussian expansion at the expense of the Slavs. The small backwater Principality of Abkhazia had pulled off the impossible the complete conquest of the Middle East former environs and domains of the Seljuk Turks ending the Muslem threat to Christendom.
Norway startlingly so united Scandinavia under its banner defeating the superior numbers of Sweden and successfully established themselves in Scotland and furthermore displayed a great martial aptitude constantly and consistently displaying themselves to be the best trained, best led, and best equipped warriors of Northern Europe or all of the European mainland period, historians continue to scratch their heads in dismay at the sudden and startling advancements in military theory, training and leadership that took place in the region starting in the early 11th century. The history of post middle ages Europe will be defined by the two most significant events 1) the ratification of the Charter of the Roman Commonwealth and 2) the subsequent abdication of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. These two events will undeniably continue to effect the transpiring of European politics decades if not centuries to come. The collapse of the HRE allowed for the extension and encompassing of the Roman Commonwealth to all and the entirety of the continent sea to sea but led to its own weakening to encompass many new realms, within the Roman Commonwealth the Samoyeds Pact was formed by the founding members of the Roman Commonwealth Byzantium, Novgorod, and Abkhazia as a full military alliance to maintain the safety and security of their nations and the Orthodox peoples of Europe.
The De Cornwall Dukes of Brittany transformed themselves from tributary part of France to its own mighty empire encompassing France, Spain and Lusitania and for many large sections of the era showed every willingness to use its newly acquired strength to fight for its own Imperial interests. In the wake of the collapse of the HRE the early stirrings of Germanic nationalism appeared with the formation of the Kingdom of Germany outside and unrelated to the now defunct Holy Roman Empire. The Baltic peoples led by the Prussians established the Kingdom of Prussia and dismembered the Kingdom of Hungary, there attempt to expand southwards met with the resurgent strength of the Byzantines, and expansion east met would have met the full fury of the Roman Commonwealth, and expansion westwards would have isolated them. At this time for over 300 years the British Isles had known something akin to a curse, no monarch could ever fully establish or keep the islands unified again and again the English defied expectations, only the Isles partitioning between the Bretons and the Ynglings ended this curse and replaced it with occupation, these Anglo-Saxons were an interesting lot and one wonders what would have been like if given the chance to act with their own self interest and self determination but now the enevitable tide of history as we know is very cold and very harsh you only get one chance and now we will never know would would have become of the English.

Startlingly but not unstatisfyingly so the Italian city states reacting to the external threats east, west, north and south by also uniting into a unified Italian state.
At the dawn of the 15th century the major players in Europe were obviously Brittany, Germany, Prussia, Norway, Novgorod, Georgia, Italy and Byzantium with Egypt trailing behind. In Asia China stood strong a behemoth among nations surrounded by many intermediate powers, Malacca, Dai vet, Japan, Timmurids, and a coalition of Southern Indian states. Europe and by extension the world is our stage and the many nations merely actors upon that stage, but which actor is better than all the others? The analysis of a nations strength is clouded by the inherent truth that there strengths are relative to the strength and weaknesses of their neighbors. Of the European nations Brittany stands strong, encompassing nearly a third of the former Western Roman Empire, possesses a massive manpower and a large tax base, possessing amble coastlines and a direct route across the atlantic to North America. But it is not without its weaknesses, it neighbors no less than 3 countries Norway in England, Italy over the Alps and Germany across the Rhine. Not only this but the fact that it is strong will cause others to see Brittany with greedy eyes. That it will have to maintain a strong army AND a navy nearly simultaneously will undoubtedly stretch its resources, whether the future and present administrations of Brittany can efficiently and wisely use its resources we will have to see.
Italy as mentioned is perhaps in the most troubled position potential wise of all of the European states, it is in the center of the mediteranium and can potentially expand in all directions, but the reverse holds true it can equally easily be besieged from all directions as there is no doubt that the Byzantines harbor ambitions to refounding the Roman Empire, the Georgians are ever watchful of the West, the Germans and Prussians ever hungry for the Austrian alps and the Danube trade hubs, and obviously Brittany ever watchful of its borders to maintain both land and sea security. Italy thanks to its somewhat smaller land borders can potentially afford a relatively larger navy but whether Italy can use the ample resources and income to fund a navy capable of enforcing its will in the Mediteranium and of forcing the straits of Gibraltar (which will undoubtably be a herculean task to keep open) remains to be seen if Italy can utilize its potential Merchantile expertise to its fullest, but undoubtable with the highest per capita and purchasing power of Europe Italy has a very formidable strength.
Byzantium is next on our list, while Italy has the possibility of colonial expansion Byzantium has nearly no chance of any colonial endeavors, it is squished between Italy, Georgia and Prussia virtually no possibility of expansion its only advantage is that once its tributary vassals are consolidated under Imperial administration Byzantium will be a significant eastern European power but unfortunately will probably never amount to more than that.
Germany: They are in an equally good position as Norway and Brittany in their ability to colonize the Americas but lack Brittany’s positioning or manpower strength and lack both they’re relative isolation. Norway can afford a larger navy since it has no true land border against anyone except the Russians making diplomacy blithingly simple. They have the cramped Prussians to their east. The potentially paranoid Bretons to their West, militaristic Prussians to their north, and nervous Italians to their south, not a good or comforting foreign situation. But the Germanic peoples are extremely productive and what they lack in trade they can make up for in diligent innovation.

Novgorod Rus: Novgorod has many advantages, large manpower, huge swaths of territory so space can almost always be traded for time in a pinch, and nearly unlimited potential of expansion towards the pacific ocean gives Novgorod nearly limitless possibilities, this when coupled with narrow and inhospitable front in finland makes conflict with the Ynglings unlikely while the front is large and wide towards Prussia the Prussians being squeezed on all sides can hardly afford to make a mortal enemy of Novgorod Novgorod only needs one or two defencive alliances to secure its western border against Germanic and Prussian invasions, if anything its biggest strategic fear would be its long time ally the Bagrutuni led Georgian Empire.

Speaking of the devil the Seljuk-Georgian Empire is perhaps the single most powerful force to shake off the middle ages entering the Renaissance without further ado ahead of most of Europe by decades having preserved the cities worth of knowledge and protecting them from Mongol incursions, Georgia of all of the European powers has the largest empire, the largest manpower pool and greatest potential wealth of them all with virtually no natural enemies to keep them contained except for the ever fearful Timmurids to their East. In short the Georgians as they were for the latter 100 years of the Middle Ages will it will seem continue to be the arbitrators of European destiny for quite some time to come.

Norway: The Yngling Hird as noted above have one of the fiercest most well trained and disciplined armies of all Europe but they have inversely one of the smallest militaries and manpower pools of all of Europe, Norway is in an excellent and isolated position in which to colonize the New World and with the establishment of Iceland and Greenland as jumping off points there is little to stop them but they’re income is one of the lowest of Europe’s Great Powers so money will potentially be extremely tight and as Yngling ambitions take root they may find themselves dependent on far wealthier nations for support of those ambitions. As stated they’re territorial isolation (Baltic seaboard forcing only one suitable land route into Finland-Sweden) thus as stated above Norway only requires either friendly détente with Novgorod or they’re servitude to secure their border essentially securing Norway a broad naval predominant national strategy, where this falls apart is Yngling’s seemingly fixation on controlling and occupying the Baltic coastline and the North German states may very well compromise a simple strategy for a more delicate complex national goals.
Egypt: Not a Great Power by any means but are in a similar size and position as the Ynglings without the same military prowess, as such their relationship with Georgia is even more important to be stressed as for as long as they enjoy a combination of Georgian tolerance and Italian protection Egypt’s interests and safety remain secure, allowing the Egyptians to expand south into the dark unexplored continent of Africa.

China: The Middle Kingdom, China enters the new century rather dreamily rubbing her eyes wondering who all these crazy foreign devils are and where they come from. While it is true that China enjoyed important and lucrative trade with Europe via the Silk Road very little information was available in either civilization about the other, what absolutely perplexes historical analysis is that within the historical recorded Confucian bureaucratic and state missives there in the highest echelons of the Imperial Court appeared to be a huge understanding and comprehension of the potential rivalry to the Middle Kingdom from the Europeans should they ever develop ocean worthy vessels, as such China’s Imperial policy from the early 1400’s onwards seem to be entirely designed as preparatory in nature. China among its Asian neighbours is a behemoth, pure and simple while it is true that the more free trade oriented mercantile states of Japan, Malacca. And IndoChina provide a substaniative threat to Chinese economic predominance it is also true that the sheer productive and military Might of the Ming makes this for the near term moot, no single tributary state in the East could alone engage in a head on military struggle with the Ming and it is doubtful that even a skillfully led and prepared coalition of neighbouring states could potentially win either. But China has many weaknesses well known to historical scrutiny, the Confucian bureaucracy was starting to become notoriously rigid in its application of Confucian thought making any serious attempt of reform by leading statesmen of the time difficult to the point that the Emperor impatient with the foolishness of his civil servants called for Hindu advisors from India to take their positions! Not only that but the Chinese people themselves are highly restless even with benign Dynasties and could with any loss of prestige or natural disaster of any scope leading to the complete overthrow of the ruling Dynasty and its replacement by another. More troubling is the potential for the Europeans as we see, being far more innovative in the absence of a unified hostile bureaucracy and dead weight came up with many innovations and would without further ado exploit the resources of inferior peoples to speed up their own development at home in ways the Chinese even with their massive population could not hope to easily match in pitch. As such China’s stratagem would have to take in account the usefulness of its neighbours as part of a larger security plan to limit and restrict European influence in Asia.
Professor Isaac Pavel Rozhdestvensk of the University of St. Petersburg


Professor Yang walked down the quiet corridors of Zheng He’s Dream the Comintern Science And Chronology Station in orbit around Earth. What year was it now? He wondered. Ah, yes, 1399… It was easy to be absent minded recently, after all everyone had so much work to do, they had to maintain a ship for a purpose it was never originally meant to do, travel in space in time to any point in time in orbit around Earth. It seems like only yesterday to Professor Yang, Chairman of the Chronological Survey Committee and the leading Scientist (in both knowledge and administrative duties) of the Project they successfully conducted experiments in folding of space-time when in that instant the entirety of modern history was changed, for the Ynglings it seemed were not content to let the Chinese led Comintern colonize the known galaxy sitting down, they broke every single international treaty in a last ditch attempt to save victory. But they shall fail thought Yang. After all, by the most amazing accident ever contemplated the emissions from the experiment while harmless inside the station protected their perspective and frame of reference to the rest of the universe when the time line changed allowing them once they could abrest themselves of the information to reengineer their station (in under 3 hours) to make nearly blind hops through space in time to follow the Yngling time agents wherever they may be found. Finally, Professor Yang entered what constituted the “bridge” of the station, a large doomed room of concentric rings of control terminals, here the primary researchers of the project were waiting. “Comrade Chairman, we have successfully jumped from the year 1066 to 1399, we are getting better at this.” Doctor Zhou beamed, she was instrumental in getting all of this to work in application.
“Da! Good job girl! A few more jumps and a few more agents of our own and we can sleep soundly!” Exclaimed Yuri Federovich, or Yuri “Aleksandr” Rurikovich as he for the bulk of his life called himself. Dr. Yuri had volunteered to spend the majority of his life working among the Russian people of the Middle Ages to attempt to provide an adequate counter to perceived Yngling influence during the Middle Ages, his job was successful, a strong Russian state was in the works and while it is unfortunate that Poland will be forever disposed in the ash heap of history, Norway’s ambitions were effectively countered for the period. At the age of 70, a unheard of lifetime for the time he lived in, Yuri was scooped up and brough back aboard in preparation for the jump to the next available time frame. The station maintained a time dilation field to slowdown the passage of time onboard the station while it was speed up outside their reference, for while no more then a few years had gone by some 350 had gone by in the rest of the universe with Yuri of course being scooped up roughly in the early 1200’s. With Yrui aboard they made the successful jump to 1399.

Yang leaned against the chair infront of him pondering their next move. “Comrades, it is apparent that to maintain a consistent timeframe leading to a Comintern victory in the Great Wars of the 20th century, of all the nations China must survive and be strong, it is apparent that the Yngling’s and many other nations are growing much stronger then they did originally and as such we must send agents to China to steer them to prepare for the eventual coming of the Europeans, does anyone know what we should do here?” Everyone at their terminals were silent for many moments considering the situation, Yuri broke the silence. “Well Comrades, in my experience I think things would have been much better had I had someone watching my back, the agents we send to Europe and China should probably be paired up 2 people per team minimum.” Zhou immediately nodded her approval. “Alright” said Yang. “We must send at least 2 agents, my plan is that with our better understanding of physics it may be possible to reverse the aging process undergone by our “agents” allowing us to send the same agents multiple times, allowing a more fine modification to history. I am going to need volunteers…

2 days later … The team was assembled at the docking bay, a shuttle was prepped for use to bring the agent team to 1399 China, the team was made up of Dr. Zhou Ying ma, and Dr. Wei Mu. They were to travel as conspicuously as possible as husband and wife, their mission was to infiltrate the Imperial Court and reach the ear of the Emperor and give sound council. Both memorized traditional customs of the times to minimalize alienating the natives and have refreshed their knowledge of traditional Chinese calligraphy and regional pronunciations of Mandarin and Cantonese dialect. Both were well trained in hand to hand and martial combat and could handle themselves in a fight, and were well schooled in traditional Chinese classics, they both possessed everything required to pass themselves off as learned and wise Confucian scholars.

Professor Yang stood by as Zhou and Wei boarded the shuttle, and stated: “It was what? 19 months ago I was put in charge of this top secret project, 19 months of living and working together, yes Comrades the situation is shockingly grim for us, the Ynglings had succeeded in altering history, to what extant this holds for us we cannot even begin to fathom but we know this, if we stand by and do nothing then the Yngling’s will not rest nor stop until their dominate this planet! We know well their plans for us, as a lesson undoubtably they would commit genocide of our and any other “inferior” peoples that are too hard to control. We must not let this happen! The balance of this Time War is being tilted in our favour as we speak! We will succeed Comrades! For you see… Time… Is on our side!”.
 
United Creek Federation

It is the year 1399 and the Creek unification wars have ended. For decades the natives had fought over the lands of near the South Great Sea, who ever would conquer the lands would be considered as the High Elder. It had been over hundred years since there was an High Elder. The legend told that an Sky Marshall in shape of an Eagle had unified the lands and given the lands to an Creek High Elder Akone. The lands were torn apart in the separation war where the Cherokees and Shawnees claimed that the Sky Marshall had appeared to them too but in shape of Snake and Rabbit.

Map of Akone's United Creek Federation
Creekmap-1.jpg


Now over hunderd years later the United Creek Federation was returned but not to it's former glory where it stretched over the forrest to the north and over the plains to the west. New High Elder was called Brim, a great general that had beaten the Cherokees and Shawnees. United Creek Federation created by Brim streched from the city of Phid in the coast of the Great Sea, to east to city of Thunderdome, to south to the city of Efrawa, to north in city of Cebola and city of Watership far north.

Map of United Creek Federation under High Elder Brim
CreekEU-1.jpg


High Elder Akone first established the traditional council known as Oslaw, a council of noble men. This council is responsible for electing the new High Elder.

Oslaw council chambers in Akone
Oslaw.jpg



Akone also established Oslawfa, an group of warriors, storytellers and historians. Oslawfa works directly under the Oslaw council. High Elder Brim restablished Oslaw and also allow females of noble birth to enter the council.

Oslawfa storyteller telling the story of Akone
story.gif



Holy song of the Eagle:

We n' de ya ho, We n' de ya ho,
We n' de ya, We n' de ya Ho ho ho ho,
He ya ho, He ya ho, Ya ya ya
Ah-uh nayah oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day can-non non noha

Ah-uh nayah oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day yeha-noha

Ah-uh nayay tor-shina nena-nay-yayah
nena-nay-yay yeha-noha
Ah-uh nayay tor-shina nena-nay-yayah
Yeha-noha

nee-yoh-wah nee-yo
nee-yoh-wah nee-yo

Ah-uh nayah oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day can-non non noha

Ah-uh nayah oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day oh-wa oh-wa
shon-day can-non non noha

Ah-uh nayay tor-shina nena-nay-yayah
nena-nay-yay yeha-noha
Ah-uh nayay tor-shina nena-nay-yayah
Yeha-noha
 
Japan?!

Gokomatsu sat hunched in front of his laptop in a bare room save for his computer, a pillow being sat upon and a large cardboard box. His given name Go meant great of powerful, but the thin boy of average height and pallid skin looked anything but. Go was rushing to complete his gift to his class on his day of leaving - he was going to live with his grandmother so that he could attend a new school which his mother said would help him to achieve better grades on his college entrance examns. The gift was a movie he created with his one friend tanaka - an real life Dragon Ball Z action video. Sounds of explosions emanated from his laptop as he struggled to find the one most fitting to his blue energy ball attack. As the explosions stopped Go noticed a strange crackling noise - which was coming from behind him... Turning he felt a wave of nausea over come him, but saw nothing besides his box of stuff... Clutching his head as a spike of pain assaulted him, Go looked inside the box to see his Sailor Moon figurine glowing? Did it just wink at him? Go closed his eyes and ...

He must have fainted because he was lying on his back staring at the light, his hand still gripping his box. Shocked Go leapt to his feet and clutched his head. He was no longer in his room. The small room he was in was empty, and everything - walls, floor, door - were metallic. There were also voices coming through the door. As well as the sounds of shuffling feet and coughing. There was a group of people on the other side of the door. Listening Go realized it was not Japanese - it was Chinese. Which thankfully Go had studied because well - Chinese women were a bit "bigger" than Japanese women, so there were certain cultural imports that made it into Japan. With the knowledge of language given to him by his study he realized that the speaker was talking about a big plan. A plan to penetrate deeply into China, in order to do something. Well multiple somethings, and it would be hard... Were they talking about stopping something.. or was that not stopping until it was done right? Shortly the speaker stopped talking and Go heard the sounds of people getting up and murmuring when a female voice came through. Leaning closer to the door to hear, Go stumbled when the door silently slid open...

Everyone had their back turned, as some were walking out and a few were listening to the girl. Go bumped into a man and thinking quickly murmured a complement about the size of the plan. Smiling the man nodded as he passed by. Luckily Go's red pajamas looked similar to the simple clothes these people were wearing. Most people were ignoring the girl and walking out, so Go approached her and she appreciated his listening with a smile...

Slowly Go learned what was going on. Thank god he had enjoyed the videos "The Chinese 'Space' Station" and "The Seven Emperors Wives" ... Apparently he was in space, and below him was 14th century Earth. 2 men were about to be sent down to Earth, and grabbing his box Go was determined to sneak his way onboard...

A short while later Go found himself wedged into a nook inside the shuttle. Looking through his box a plan began to formulate in his head. Lying on top of his box now was a series of manga about feudal Japanese highschool students, and a school girl outfit...
 
Well, you've made it to EU 3 (I'm assuming In Nomine 3.1?). So who is playing what, and how did the conversion work out? Also, I recall it being mentioned as a possibility (to encourage conflict) that players would be allowed a number of "core" territories that could not be taken in conflict no matter what. Have you all decided to do that?

Anyways, very much looking forward to the continuation of the saga.
 
lwarmonger said:
Well, you've made it to EU 3 (I'm assuming In Nomine 3.1?). So who is playing what, and how did the conversion work out? Also, I recall it being mentioned as a possibility (to encourage conflict) that players would be allowed a number of "core" territories that could not be taken in conflict no matter what. Have you all decided to do that?

Anyways, very much looking forward to the continuation of the saga.


Please make game discussion in this thread as this is dedicated to AARs and comments to them. There you can find all the info you need.
 
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Grashopa, do you have MSN? Not that I have anything in particular against your AAR (as it fits in with mine fine enough) but I'ld like it if you added me to MSN so we could better collaborate for future AAR's.

Now a few things: Its not two men but 1 female and 1 male, Zhou is female. My msn is blayne DOT bradley AT gmail DOT com
 
It came solid...rigid thing for one to lay hand upon...the dream, now forming in its shape to so explicit like a painted image in front of sleepers eyes seconds before waking up.
And even after it, it remained...

Gollevainen could let his sight to take moment of rest and he laid down himself from the keep, back to the warm interiors. He had been watching the plains, the plenitude of land now laying peacefully under his eyes. ...his eyes. The dream had held. The land was one and only one hand now laid upon it...his hand...
...Emperors hand if one wanted precision, but who did support that hand when it trembled?
...Who did make that hand to tremble?
He couldn't help letting little grin appear in to his face. After all, what had he searched all these years? These dark days in this frustrating strange land that seemed to be concentrated on building up obstacles to the path of peoples lives. Even front of those whit strong will and divine family tree...
There were moments when Gollevainen felt the home sickness overwhelm himself, moments when everything seemed to make him totter and fall...moments when he felt himself nothing but low mortal taking that same short walk in the passing of the seasons, only to wither away in blink of an eye...
But this new strange world was so full of opportunities...fortunes to claim and strong sense of that unfair and burdensome habit of strongest survival...Such force was so overwhelming that it practically laughed at things like destiny or power of the mystery...things from Gollevainen had build his life and past success.

But such feelings were generally an evening's dark glance to the depths of his mind...but that mind had depth that protected him from complete surrenderer to its hopeless glare.

When Gollevainen returned to the balcony, he had regained his contentment and light-heartiness. Novgorod still amazed him among the nations of the known world. Such splendor was its tale, a mere prince of no hopes of power beyond the lakes and forest of Chudian heartland, then by merely opening its castle doors for ramshackle old git, weary of travel and worn out by horror, frustration and agony.
He had no clear recollection of those days but he had run like none had ever run and that path had brought him to those regions, most close to his home back beyond the time and heavens.
A small concentration of local power that suited for his purposes better than anything else. He had followed that path to exploit this strange lands cruel laws of strongest survival to the point where he would be the strongest and poses the ultimate scepter of all power...the weapon...the war-axe

...He had held it, back where he came and even in that timeless place's reality that was long way in the ancient past. He had thus witness it to be taken away, first from himself, then from the whole world, broken and tattered to pieces...but he had collected them all, placed together to reforge the axe...still he had lost it and by that lost the change for his birth right...complete rule over all...

He had still sought it, when his journey had took him here...first mids of some rotten vineyards of weak willed and soft peasants...that land had smelled with over-riped fruits and moisture was unbearable...it was no place for man of conifer and twig.
His departure had taken him to rocky island with wind as strong as its people's will to kill each other, make wows only to brake them, acknowledge lieges to plot behind them...it was the land of war and torture, miserable as was the air hung upon it.
And the poor bastard that he was had tried to grab it all, under one gauntlet.
....a toad!
Novgorod...Novgorod was the place where his fortunes rested.
It didn't last long before the old tsar of Rus and Khazaria was fooled away from the throne in gamble that Gollevainen held between the Tsar and the King of Bretton.
And it was the reign of Novgorodian tsar, under his hand that forged the Roman Commonwealth a power that made the sick and tainted German-Italian realm to tremble and finally fall...
It was the hand of that old Chudian who had made the Russia realm to prosper under Novgorod reign and it was the troops of his own command that had destroyed the Mongol menace over the eastern plains.

It was his child, and he was the worm infested inside the child's interiors to...
...it was sometimes good to check your metaphors...

But Novgorod laid now under his gentle guidance, sleeping like a princess after her wedding night and the content Gollevainen felt was no less than the fiancés.
And that princess will wake up one day, more beautiful than ever, more dangerous than any other. And riding whit that princess trough the long journey, Gollevainen saw his ultimate goal heading fast.
The weapon of all weapons.
The one taken away from him by injustice, the one that was mere centuries away, waiting the winner of this worlds mad game to claim it...and by that, claim the whole known world.
...And that claim had its grounds in the unknown world too, where he eventually sought to withdrawn after his quest was complete.

Such thoughts always warmed his mind...even here on this cold October evening, in the upmost Balcony in the Krelm's strongest keep. The autumn was in full speed. It had brought the cold from the north but to Gollevainen, those winds would have to remain as they were...mere winds. Despite he knew that in the west, a storm was gathering and long time injustices were about to be taken on trial...but those were western affairs...in the end, the west-wind had lost its most potent power when it reached the forests of Russia...the true climate lied in the east, beyond the Urals, beyond the gelded bunch of Mongols that once held the whole world in their toes...beyond the Mongols, Khazaks and other savages...Siberia, Siberia that was the path to Gollevainen's personal Destiny, the goal of his presence over this dying land...Siberia! There it waited, vast and uncharted, And Gollevainen's heart took an extra beat by mere thougth of it.



For reward, gold...
 
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Some images from the first session. Norway's starting sliders:

Norway_sliders_1399.jpg


Note the very high Free Subjects; towards the end of CK I gave the peasants all power in my demesne for this, at the price of full Quantity. This Norway is a genuine republic.

The world in 1399:

AROW_map_1399.jpg


And then in 1426:

AROW_map_1426.jpg


Reblobbing is occurring. Notice the Norwegian-Breton border moving towards the Channel; no war was fought, ulmont made concessions in the face of roughly half of Europe threatening him. Notice the Timurids disappearing completely. I am not clear on the details, but von Bock (playing the Tims) apparently had a slightly disastrous war with fasquardon (Georgia). To the extent of several bankruptcies. Some mis-communication may have been involved; von Bock thought he was asking for terms, and fasq was expecting terms to be offered, so the war dragged on for a bit. Also von Bock was apparently expecting the West to rescue him. Me, I'm not about to campaign in the ass-end of the Med; as for the actual Med powers, they'll have to make their own excuses.

Note also that the Azores are an Italian colony, though you have to zoom in quite a bit to see it. Quick work!
 
King of Men said:
Indeed. Someone stop those Russians! And Georgians! And Bretons!

While I respect your propaganda reflex, I note that Norway appears to have eliminated 4 AI nations to Brittany's 1.

The Asians weren't messing around either, especially Vijayanagar.
 
ulmont said:
While I respect your propaganda reflex, I note that Norway appears to have eliminated 4 AI nations to Brittany's 1.

Ok, eliminating I grant you, but you can't tell me that France, Wales, Navarra, or Granada are at the height of their powers right now. Not to mention your colonial expansion south along the African coast. Norway hasn't a single colony yet. In any case, I weight expansion by inverse distance. Brittany hasn't expanded as much as Russia - halfway to the Pacific, ye gods - but it's right next to me and competing for England and perhaps America. Georgia is far away but has crushed a player and faces only weak Asian kingdoms.

I wonder if we should have had some sort of protect-the-AI rule, as we did in CK for Moslems? Not that that was wildly successful.
 
King of Men said:
I wonder if we should have had some sort of protect-the-AI rule, as we did in CK for Moslems? Not that that was wildly successful.
Seems like a rule to that effect would just end up privileging the colonizers over the conquerors. A rule barring raping converted vassals might have been a good idea, though.
 
I dislike any new rules at this point. You wiser ones should have thougth them before the EuIII, not when you find out that someone else than youselves are making progress...
 
Please notice the subjunctive tense, "should have had". It implies that I am not considering the idea for implementation now. In any case, ulmont's colonisers vs conquerors point is a good one.
 
King of Men said:
weak Asian kingdoms.
Considering the progress of Vijayanagar (winner of this session's Conquest award I think), and the fact that China has established contact with a latin nation (Russia), I think that label is somewhat misplaced.