The Eternal Exile: A Nation Hopping AAR

[morningSIDEr]

This Lucille seems very intriguing, I look forward to her future meeting with Talena. A very interesting country check, thankfully it seems as if most of the nations you've played as are continuing to prosper (or are at least mantain the status quo), and you created a real monster with the Ottomans! Europe looks nicely poised, there should be alot of warfare there at some point in the future. Anyway it will be good to see what kind of legacy Talena can leave Pegu!

[blsteen]

Lucille...
Nice country check, too bad about Persia but...thems the breaks
I'm also surprised with Castille's/Spain lack of momentum. They definitely have to move to keep the French off their back\

[adamclason]

Must say I'm incredibly impressed with this AAR. Not only is it unique (country-hopping as often) but it's also very well written with an actual story.

Also, congratulations for making me coming out from my little lurking spot! I just had to praise you for this AAR...

/me goes back to lurk mode

[Beowulf1990]

Nice world, a few interesting developments. Very glad to see an AI Russia.

[Ashantai]

Boris: I thought so! And the de Foix dynasty is still going strong for now too. I modded the game to allow some queens of France in. Queen Isabelle did especially well.
morningSIDEr: Yes indeed. I hope you like Lucille when we finally get to her. The Ottomans are going well for sure. I have to give the AI props for that. They'll make a cool enemy in the future I reckon!
blsteen: Yes, but nations collapse in real life as well...like the historical Persia actually. My making Granada a vassal of Castille means they don't often get to fight Morocco...as you can see North Africa is and remains free of Christian invasion.
adamclason: Hey thanks! Always glad to welcome people who post. Please feel welcome to comment about anything you see. Thanks heaps for posting!
Beowulf: It's weird. AI Russia pops up in half my games. In the other half they get eaten by Golden Horde/Lithuania.

There will be an update later today or tomorrow morning. I'm still 12 ahead with my updates, which is cool.

[Dewirix]

A few interesting blobs on the map, notably the Ottomans, France, Austria and Russia.

Is that England beginning to colonise Newfoundland? Khmer also seem to be doing quite well, but I guess we'll hear more about that soon.

[Ashantai]

Dewirix: Yes, England are the first colonisers. One interesting thing about bumping up the date for QFTNW is that Britain tends to get it first. I may change it to Gov 10 so that nations can select it at Gov 11. I have historical lucky nations on, but I turn it off later on.

I never saw the 101 year old advisor before just then. Shame, I should have worked that into the story! Ah well.

---------

MAWDAW I PART 1

Pegu was a small and isolated South-East Asian state of Burmese and Thai origin sitting on the Bay of Bengal, and comprising mainly of jungles, swamps and hills. The Kingdom had not been especially famous or renowned, and their rulers had tended towards conservative policy. For some generations the P’an-Lo dynasty had been ruling, and during the previous 50 years had expanded a little from their traditional lands, but not in any comprehensive way.
This all changed with the accession of Mawdaw in June of 1500. A 19 year old man whose main trait was an almost supernatural ruthlessness that was probably made worse by mental illness. As a child he had seen his mother executed as part of dynastic wrangling, and when he finally ascended on the death of his father he was determined to have an impact.

As a man he was average looking, but had an unpleasant manner and a tendency to become violent when flustered. All of this made him a poor diplomat in the extreme, and disliked by senior nobles. However, his monetary policy of paying the soldiers double what they had before, and his almost suicidal bravery contributed to him staying on the throne.

Although by no means a good ruler, Mawdaw did have one important and unintended result, though this only became apparent after his death in the greater regional turmoil to come.





XXX

19/8/1500

The rain smashed down relentlessly. The monsoon had come in India every year she had been there, but it was nothing like this. Weeks upon weeks of endless downpour, as the rivers swelled and the roads became impassable seas of mud. Talena had never seen anything quite like it in all her years.
The only dry place was the Bao-Thran Monestary, a picturesque stone building in the mountains near the capital. There Talena had found a welcoming group of monks who prayed and meditated, helped the local villagers and were on the whole kind and generous. They had accepted her after a few false starts, and Talena mainly stayed with Quan and talked with him.



One day, while the summer rains swamped the valleys, she talked with Quan. They were sitting in the shade of a cloister and watching the natural beauty of a deep valley.
“So how well do you know Lucille?” Talena asked after a moment.
“Not very well. She comes to see us now and then. Very strange sometimes, she can be gone for months or years and still look the same! She helped us out, to save the monastery from bandits, and in return we carry some messages for her.”
Talena frowned. “Saved from bandits? How? We are talking about a thin, gold haired woman, yes?”
“Yes, that is her. It was incredible! She made great noises come out of the ground and brought down rocks onto the bandits, and they ran away!”
There was silence for a few moments. “So...what do you think of the new King?”
He looked at her shrewdly. “Such a question is dangerous, Talena. I know little of the King, as I know little of his fathers before him. Never has one come here, but we are generally left in peace.”
“Do you mind if I stay here for a while longer?” she asked, changing the subject to something safer.
“I will ask the Lama, but I believe he will not object. Though we normally forbid women to live here...I think you are somewhat different.”
“Thank you,” Talena said with a smile. “Maybe a stint of relaxation and meditation is just what I need.”

Unfortunately peace was the last thing Talena would get in Pegu....

[Dewirix]

The king's called Mawdaw?! Does that make Pegu the Land of Mawdaw?

[adamclason]

Ooh, I hope that Lucille will contact Talena in person soon and I really hope she's not an antagonist. It would be cool if the reason why they got sent back in time is because they had to prevent something for happening that will have a great impact in the future, like preventing the nuclear research or something. I dunno... :3

[Range]

Great idea doing the world check (a few posts back). And, I'm looking forward for the time when Lucille meets Talena to find out what she knows.

[blsteen]

Bah, sent back in time with a pistol and one mag is not my idea of a superbly concieved and utterly important mission.
Let alone everybody with a half a brain and a blind in one eye spy couldn't miss the immortal hotty traipsing across the globe. And even if they did for awhile I'm sure the dimwit, no good for nothing in Vij could fill them in. If the price was right.
Perhaps, Lucille's appearance will create more questions than it answers...

[Ashantai]

Dewirix: Yeah, that got me at first too. Too bad he can't conquer Gonder or be overthrown by Aragon and Saruhan no longer exists (All sic)! A cut scene from this story would be having the King running around shouting "Mawdaw P'an-Lo!" repeatedly.
AdamClason: We'll see...! I've got some ideas for the future, both in the story and for the alternate history.
Range: Yes, it'll be an interesting meeting.
blsteen: Hey, you try being sent back to Justinian's time and then not dying and see how you cope with it. She thinks she's important...I never said she was humble, did I?

Part flashback time!

-------

MAWDAW I PART 2

War was very much at the forefront of the King’s mind. Indeed, he spent all his efforts creating a great army capable of asserting his power on his neighbours. It was no surprise that he increased taxation and recruited more and more soldiers into his army with the intent of conquering.
By 1501 he was ready, and in February the King declared war and moved his armies into the state of Ayutthaya, and which became a generalised war across all of South East Asia. Into this breach the King unhesitatingly stepped. His armies followed him, and he was a great leader in the field, though cold and cruel to many. He also showed a singular disregard for the safety and welfare of his subjects, often letting the enemy wear themselves down pacifying a province so that he could swoop in and finish the weakened enemy when the time came.
Still, it was a remarkable campaign, and by August of 1502 he occupied and annexed the entire state of Ayutthaya. It was a remarkable victory, though the King’s lack of administrative ability and general manner now became something of a problem as his nation grew in power.







The Pegu armies had shown that they were very effective in the jungles of their home, and the King could move with great speed and strike with great ruthlessness when the need called for it. Against this the armies of Ayutthaya, Champa and La Xang could not stand.







Meanwhile in far away Europe in March 1503 an event happened which would change so much in the religious life of the continent and the world...the Reformation. The city of Köln converted to Protestantism, and nothing would ever be quite the same again.

XXX

19/8/1502

The meditation and relaxation were helping, Talena knew this. As she lay on her staw mattress and looked at the ceiling she felt oddly calm and light. Gone for just a little while were the nagging thoughts. She took another sip of the strange tea that the monks drunk. She found it harder to sleep these days, but on the other hand, she didn’t really seem to need it. A lot of the time she was merely laying there with her eyes closed and waiting for night to pass.
Tonight though, in the warm and humid night, she found sleep. More than that, she found an old memory rising to the surface. She did of course dream frequently, mainly about her adventures of the last century, but also rarely about her life before this whole time travelling mess had begun.
This particular dream was something that she hadn’t thought about for years. It hadn’t been important...but for some reason it came to her in the monastery in the wilds of Burma.

Captain Talena Mazari straightened her uniform and made sure her hair was all in place. There was one strand which kept falling over her eyes, and she made a note to have it cut. In her formal dark blue outfit, the Marine officer looked very much the part as she walked through the stark white corridors of the space station.
She approached the door to an office and acknowledged the salute of the soldier on guard outside.
“The Colonel is waiting, sir,” he told her.
Talena nodded and opened the sliding door, entering a room furnished with some antiques of old Earth. Behind a desk was a tall, grey haired man wearing the uniform of a marine Colonel.
He rose and acknowledged her salute. “Captain, nice to meet you at last. Colonel Henry Hauritz. I am the new commanding officer of the First Battalion.”
“Nice to meet you as well, sir,” Talena replied, standing at ease.
“I hear that you’ve got a mission assigned to you. An anomaly space station orbiting Titan, yes?”
“Yes, sir. I was just about to get my crew packed up and moving.”
“I am going to be coming with you, Captain.”
“Sorry, sir?” Talena asked in surprise.
“Strictly as an observational position. As commander I always want to witness things first hand, get to know how things work.”
“Sir, it’s likely that this station will be dangerous. We’re expecting some sort of hostile resistance.”
Hauritz smiled slightly. “Perfect, Captain.”

By the time Talena left the office she was annoyed. Senior officers should stay in their offices, not want to actually come and witness things. It was agitating because no matter how hard she tried, Talena would always be looking out for the wretched man to make sure he wasn’t getting himself shot, or he was giving her bad marks of course.
In the company’s recreation room she found that her chosen squad was assembled. Although she had over one hundred troops under her command this mission required a small number of well equipped soldiers to go in and investigate. Thus, she was taking a squad of ten marines with her, specially picked for their talents.
“At ease,” she said as she entered and some of them had stood. “We’re shipping out now. Make sure everything’s set. And be on your best behaviour, the Colonel himself is coming with us, God knows why. Get moving. Departure in one hour.”
Nine of the ten marines, seven men and two women, headed to their quarters to get ready. Only one remained, her second in command Sergeant Selena Byrne.
Talena raised an eyebrow. “You got something to say, Selena?” she asked, stepping forward and placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder.
Selena shrugged. “Nothing much. Just I got a bad feeling about this one.”
“It’ll be fine,” Talena said, with more confidence then she actually felt. “Look, we take this place out and come back here, easy. In two days we’ll be laughing about this and having a drink in the bar.”
“Sure, but you’re paying. You officers are rolling in it.”
“The only thing we roll in is the shit dumped on us from command,” Talena replied. They shared a look before Talena looked away. “Look after yourself, Sel,” she said.
“You too.”
They parted with a shared glance.

When Talena woke it was dawn, and another day in her seemingly eternal life had begun. She was back with her reality, no longer back in the comforting past.

[BootOnFace]

I've got a bad feeling about this.

[Beowulf1990]

"Special tea"?
That sounds.....off.

[Razgriz 2K9]

Why do I get the feeling something bad is going to happen here...

[Range]

The plot thickens...good read...it allows anticipation to grow.

[adamclason]

Ooh, it's getting interesting. I wonder what REALLY happened during that mission...

Also, who needs an administrative and/or diplomatic king? Expand until implosion is my motto

[blsteen]

blsteen: Hey, you try being sent back to Justinian's time and then not dying and see how you cope with it. She thinks she's important...I never said she was humble, did I?

Oooooh,
Justinian's time...so 535 or so
and Talena show's up in 1399. Selena show's up in a similar timeframe only to die most fouly...
Which leaves 9 marines and one supernumerary colonel unaccounted for from Talena's side and who know's who (looking at Ashantai here) from the anomaly...tum te dum

[Ashantai]

BootOnFace: Very perceptive. It's no accident that this dream comes back to her.
Beowulf: Heh, yeah. I only meant in this case that it was that green tea they drink a lot of in Asia. I don't think it'd be possible to poison Talena even if they wanted.
Razgriz: Something bad will happen soon....
Range: Thanks!
AdamClason: Expand until implosion will be quite apt in this case. What really happened...we'll see. It all becomes important in time, as it were.
blsteen: Yes, but not all the marines survive the battle or are in the one place when it happens. So the number will be less, but who knows who else might have come through? *Looks innocent*

For this one I just went on a suicide mission, wanting to blood China as much as possible. I reckon I did pretty damn well, as you'll see.

--------

MAWDAW I PART 3

XXX

24/7/1504

Talena awoke in the pale glow of dawn, and got up and headed onto the walls of the monastery. There she found Quan sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat, and staring out over the jungle.
“Awake early?” he asked, giving her a side-long glance.
“Yeah. I was just...remembering.” She sat near him and looked out over the same vista. “What would you do if could live forever?”
Quan was silent for a long moment. “Why do you ask? Do you feel as though you will?”
“It certainly feels like it.”
He did not question on that subject further, just nodded. “A man, be he peasant or king, has only a small time to make his mark, to be remembered and to achieve. Someone who never dies...would it be a curse or a gift, I wonder? A person who need not fear death has longer to make their mark, but even if it takes a hundred years what will they do next? And it would be dangerous if such a thing was used for tyranny.”
Talena closed her eyes and nodded. “I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything. I come from a land so far away that you cannot imagine, I have been everything. A prisoner, a warrior, an advisor, a wife, a criminal. But what now?”
Quan again was silent for a moment. “What is it that you would like to achieve?”
“World peace, cosmic harmony and a god-damned time machine home,” Talena said and laughed.
“Somewhat unobtainable items,” Quan commented. “If those are your goals then I can see why it is you would be unfulfilled in your life.”
“You don’t seem particularly surprised about what I am saying. Do you not believe me?”
“I may be a monk, and my personal world of travel has never extended more than fifty miles, but I am not a fool. I have known Lucille for many years now – and that is the curious thing. Sometimes she comes here weeks after she last arrived, and acts like it was only a day, and other times appears and does not remember the last time she was here. I know that something strange is with her...and you.”
Talena nodded. “I see. I suppose she is the only blonde woman on this continent for five thousand miles.”
“There is that also,” Quan conceded graciously. “But to return to our previous discussion; what does anyone do in life? You still have to choose a path for yourself, whatever it might be.”
“Yes, but that choice is not easy,” Talena said with a sigh.
“It is not meant to be easy. You can use such a power in three ways; to help only yourself, to help others, or to control them. Only you can choose which is the right path for you.”



It was as they were talking that a rider approached up the steep path to the monastery. He was dressed in full military outfit and approached the doors with a certain swagger. He even approached the doors and banged upon them with his scabbarded sword.
“Open in the name of the King!”
Talena followed Quan and some of the other monks down to the large entrance. A wicket gate was opened, and the man stepped through.
“I am here to proclaim that the King has most righteously declared war to reclaim lands that belong to us. He demands from you a tax of two hundred taels of silver as payment for the use of his land.” He flourished an official looking document.
There was silence. Talena wasn’t sure how much it was, but she could guess it was a lot. She also wondered just who it was that the King would declare war on, and how long it’d be before the warmongering attracted dangerous attention from others.
“We are mere monks, we do not have this type of money lying around! The King has always been most generous in insisting we are exempt from all taxation!” the Lama said.
“The times have changed. The Kingdom is in a battle for its very existence, and there is no time for you to skulk here. If you will not give me the money, then I will take it by force.”
As he spoke a column of soldiers appeared at the bottom of the slope and begun to approach. They were well armed and seemed in no mood to give in to niceties.
“Such sacrilege is-“ the Lama begun.
He was interrupted by the cavalryman’s sword, which swept out of its scabbard and was held pointed at the monk.
“The King has commanded it, and any who oppose are traitors whose only punishment is death.”
Talena eyed the soldiers, at least fifty of them, and then looked at the monks. She knew instantly that they would not try to fight. If she attempted to intervene then it’d do no good. They might well come back with an army and raze the place. This powerlessness made her feel angry, and as she was about to push her way forward no matter the consequences she felt a hand gently holding her arm. It was Quan, and she subsided.
“You must understand that we do not have that much cash,” the Lama was saying.
“How much can you provide?” the cavalryman asked.
“Perhaps one hundred, but you may look over this place for yourself. We have nothing more without melting down the bells, and that is an act of impiety and a stain on the soul.”
“Very well. Collect your money. You are wise to follow the King’s orders.”



An hour later the soldiers were gone, and the temple was much poorer.
Talena herself was standing looking out at the jungle below, not entirely sure what to do. She’d heard nothing from this mysterious Lucille, a war had begun, and she had a feeling that it’d be a very good idea not to become involved. And yet...she wasn’t sure what to do. Was it her job to try and help people or merely to observe?
Quan joined her at the rampart. “You are troubled, yes?”
“Yes. I’m not sure what to do. I could have fought them.”
“At what cost? Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.”
“True, I guess.”
Talena sighed. She’d been having such a good time here too!

XXX

There are many possible reasons for Mawdaw’s declaration of war on Khmer over the disputed region of Udong. His mental health, his desire for glory, his belief that Khmer’s allies wouldn’t aid them. Whatever the reasons, but also out of complete stupidity the King started the war. The problem was not Khmer, a smaller nation than Pegu, but rather the massive, looming threat of Ming China.
The Chinese had expanded their power mightily in the last decades, and now controlled as far south as the Malay peninsula, as far west as Tibet and as far north as Siberia. They had guaranteed Khmer’s independence a decade before, and when word reached them of the war the Emperor ordered his armies to join in.

Thus over 130,000 Chinese soldiers would shortly be involved against an enemy a tenth of the size of them. However, if they expected a quick war they would be quickly disabused of the notion.
What followed was a bloody, horrific war in which the minnow of Pegu fought against the giant predator of China. The King, driven by his mad desire to confirm the loyalty of his subjects, and a need to fight against all reason, was in the forefront of every battle. He ordered the systematic torching and slighting of all villages in the path of the advancing enemy, he ordered his people to deny the Chinese anything.
And into the often impassable jungles of Burma the Chinese found a ravaged countryside and suffered from terrible losses. These soldiers, often peasants and nobles from the plains of central China had no experience with the horrific conditions. The war dragged on with thousands of soldiers dying every week to suppress an enemy that appeared from the jungles to raid and destroy before retreating once more.



It was a war that promised to be long and bloody.

[Beowulf1990]

You went to war with Ming?!!! You absolute nutter you!
Are you sure you haven't been drinking too much of that 'special tea'?