The Third Odyssey - An Elysian Tale [Redux]

[Midnite Duke]

In spite of what Charlie Daniels led us to believe, the devil always win. He will lie and cheat for that is his nature. With the Emperor suffering a stroke, the devil and the serpent are preparing to strike in the heart of Elysium. I would imagine that Elysium is very class-driven. Thanks

 

[HistoryDude]

How long can Vinland last? The (apparently) impending feudalization of Elysia should buy them some time, I guess. Or did you mean something else when you said we're about to transition from EU4 to CK3?

Congrats on defeating Osheaga. How harsh was the Haudenosaunee revenge on their enemies? How harsh was the Elysian retribution for the destruction of a patriarchate?

 

[Crimson Lionheart]

Elysian (Modern Elysian: Ilýsia, romanised: Elysian, pronounced Greek: Ηλύσια) is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family, native to Elysia, Phoinike, Arkadia, Tessarchoron, Argyrini and Antipodia and other regions of the Eirenic and Atlantic Oceans. It is the youngest of any Indo-European language, spanning five centuries of written records as the Elysian language separated from Medieval Greek. Its writing system is the Latin alphabet, which was adapted during the late sixteenth century as West European influences within Elysian culture helped diverge it further from its Hellenistic roots. The language has retained its linguistic roots within the Greek language while embracing the Latin alphabet as a cultural synthesis between the Greco-Roman heritage of the Elysians.

The Elysian language would develop over centuries and would hold a very important place in the history of the Western World. Elysian is the most spoken language in the world, primarily due to the global influence of the Elysian Empire, followed by Chinese and Hindi. It is also the most widely learned second language in the world, with more second-language speakers than native speakers. Through the expansion of the Elysian Empire, it became the dominant language in Elysium and subsequently throughout the Western Hemisphere. Elysian colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of overseas locations.

Despite coming from the Hellenic language family, the Elysian language would share far more in common with Romance languages. Elysian would borrow some grammar and core vocabulary from native cultures that would be Hellenised into the Empire, while also borrowing vocabulary from Varangian and Lakonian dialects. The cosmopolitan nature of the Elysian heartlands would play a huge nature in the development of Elysian, where the great influence from Western Europe and the evolving language and identity of the Elysians would contribute to a changing shift that had occurred for generations. Generations of Western influence and further cultural divergence from their Hellenic ancestry would see the Elysians formally adopting the Latin alphabet in 1574 by Demetrios I of Elysia in an attempt to increase literacy. Popular theories about the adoption of the Latin alphabet were theorised about its adoption to aid in the ease of Western European immigrants and merchants in learning the language due to a familiar writing system, along with theories of Demertios’s admiration of the Romans and sought to emulate himself as a great ruler.

While Greek would still be used as a co-official language, it would be phased out of use during the next few generations. Both Modern Greek and Modern Elysian would trace their roots from Romaic, until Elysia’s isolation and generations of linguistic evolution would give it a ‘different yet familiar’ resemblance to Greek. Communication issues between the Elysians and Greeks would exist during the Invasion of Hellas until the normalisation of relations between the two distant realms.

Elysian is the official language of Elysia and one of the official languages in over seventy sovereign states. It is the co-official language of many international and regional organisations across the globe. It has become the de facto lingua franca language of diplomacy, science, technology, international trade, logistics, tourism, aviation, entertainment and the internet. Excluding regional dialects, Elysian accounts for sixty per cent of the total speakers of the Elysian language branch. As of 2000, it was estimated that there were over two billion speakers worldwide.
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Examples of languages using John 3:16

English: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life

Koine Greek: Hoútōs gàr ēgápēsen ho theòs ton kósmon, hṓste tòn huiòn tòn monogenê édōken, hína pâs ho pisteúōn eis autòn mḕ apólētai all᾽ ékhēi zōḕn aiṓnion/ Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ᾽ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

Elysian: Dióti tóso agápise o Theós ton kósmo, óste édose ton monogení Tou Yió, gia na mi chatheí ópoios pistévei se aftón, allá na échei aiónia zoí

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I hope everyone can enjoy this small index post. I'm certainly no linguist and I apologise for the butchering of languages in advance! If I knew how to make wikibox articles, I would have done this perfectly. Just felt like writing a small thing about the evolution of the Elysian language as its culture continued to diverge from its Hellenic roots into a far more Romanised version of itself. You could arguably say that the Third Rome is living up to its moniker and that the cultural divergence, which began under Alexios VI, is near completion. How will this affect the world at large? I guess we shall see!

In spite of what Charlie Daniels led us to believe, the devil always win. He will lie and cheat for that is his nature. With the Emperor suffering a stroke, the devil and the serpent are preparing to strike in the heart of Elysium. I would imagine that Elysium is very class-driven. Thanks

Demetrios is going to be a bastard, but he is a very competent one. This will have ramifications in future chapters

How long can Vinland last? The (apparently) impending feudalization of Elysia should buy them some time, I guess. Or did you mean something else when you said we're about to transition from EU4 to CK3?

Congrats on defeating Osheaga. How harsh was the Haudenosaunee revenge on their enemies? How harsh was the Elysian retribution for the destruction of a patriarchate?

The Dynatoi are very powerful in Elysia, since their evolution into a powerful warrior-elite class on Elysium was supported during the earliest days after the Odyssey. They are probably the closest thing to a Greco-Roman Junker in this timeline. As for the Eu4 and CK3 thing? It's less about gameplay stuff and more about the degeneracy that CK is known for.

The Haudenosaunee reclaimed their homeland, but I can't imagine that the retribution would be too serious since the Elysians got everything they wanted. The Osheaga on the other hand have been dealt a death blow that they will likely never recover from. It's only a matter of time before Vinland decides to absorb them.

 

[Midnite Duke]

How many letters make up the Elysian and Greek alphabets? Thanks

 

[HistoryDude]

I liked this post about the language.

How did the Latin influence creep into Elysian? Elysium didn't adopt the Latin language in 1574, right? Only their alphabet?

 

[Crimson Lionheart]

Chapter 24: The Borealian Lakes (1557-1561)​

Through sacrificial means to secure a future of their own, the Haudenosaunee would only seal their fate through the submission of a new master. While their Elysian masters proved to be far kinder than the oppressors that had once wiped them out, the independence that had once been sought after would permanently cease. But it would be solely because of their submission that the Confederacy would survive and continue to persist, and soon, reclaim their homeland from the heathens that had brought it to the edge of collapse. With the introduction of Elysian laws and the bounty of wealth that would flow into their lands through Elysian merchants, the boundaries that had never existed only a few years ago were blown apart. The Haudenosaunee were among some of the most privileged of the Symmachoi, but someday, the last vestiges of their independence would inevitably disappear.

The Empire would achieve complete victory against the Osheaga and Vinland through diplomacy and military might, further cementing itself as the undisputed hegemon among the continent and the rest of the New World. Flushed from its victory, Elysian ambition began to grow as its Legions turned elsewhere, aided by the inner halls of power during a period of change. Left incapacitated and unfit to rule, the Emperor could do nothing but watch as his son assumed to rule as his Regent. With complete power, Demetrios would step into the light in an Empire that was all but his in name…

Standing among each other in an alliance, the People of the Three Fires would unify into a singular entity. The unification of the Anishinaabe alliance of the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi would quickly alter the balance of power in the region with its formation around the Borealian Lakes. Through emerging with peaceful beginnings, the Three Fires were surrounded by hostile neighbours. Elysia would be no exception, long having held aspirations around the Borealian Lakes and seeking to control it.

Shortly following its victory against Vinland, the Elysian Armies would march in formation for a new campaign to force the Three Fires into submission. Demetrios and his Generals held the belief that the Three Fires would serve the Empire better as another native subject rather than allowing its existence to be spoiled by the aggressive expansion by either Vinland or Cahokia. Some senators had opted for an outright conquest of the region under Elysian control but lacked the support they needed.

War would quickly be declared by Elysia while the Three Fires still remained diplomatically isolated. A smaller campaign would begin against the neighbouring Meskwaki and Huron before even the last Elysian solider had left Vinlandic territory This would bring almost all of the barbaroi tribes around the Borealian Lakes into open conflict with the Elysians, aided by Haudenosaunee auxiliaries.

Equipped with modern equipment and tactics, along with outnumbering the Meskwaki by several thousand more men, the region would be pacified within little over a month and a half. Led under the command of Michael Rhodocanakis, the Meskwaki would be slaughtered at the Battle of Bodewadmik, where Elysian calvary completely shattered the barbarori before the infantry would follow in pursuit and destroy the barbaroi outright.

With the Meskwaki under occupation, Rhodocanakis’s forces moved northward to secure the peninsular while the main Elysian forces concentrated on subduing the Huron. The Three Fires would be forced to act on the defensive against the Elysians, unable to match the sheer numbers and military might of the Empire to their southeast. With the Elysians preoccupied with laying siege to their fortified settlements, the Three Fires would be granted a window of opportunity to maneuver away from the fighting to strike at the unprotected underbelly of the Empire far from their homeland.

Concentrating the ferocity of cannonry with the tactical might of the Elysian strategists, the generals would capture the fortified settlement of Tahontaenrat within just over eighty days. Starving the Huron defenders within their walls after cutting off their supply and connection to the outside world, along with the sheer devastation of cannon artillery and the devastating roar of Greek Fire incinerating their crumbling defences, the morale among the barbaroi would snap

Distracted by their ongoing occupation, the Three Fires and Huron would take their brief window of opportunity to evade the Elysians and march straight into their own lands to bring the fight against them. Realising how exposed they had become, the generals quickly ordered the return of their armies back to Elysia to combat the mistake of allowing their guard to be lowered. While fortunately finding the chance to strike the Empire, it wasn’t an unexpected tactic. The Empire had kept two of its veteran armies around the Vinlandic border and the northeastern themes in the event of a Vinlandic raid or attack, quickly springing into action to tie down the barbaroi warriors while two more armies marched back from the occupied native lands and went into pursuit.

Domestically, the mere incursion of a barbaroi army upon Elysian territory was enough to spring public opinion against the Emperor. The Senate was outraged at the lack of care taken to defend the region as Senators bickered among themselves. Regent Demetrios quickly soothed tensions over with a convincing argument and placed his trust in the imperial army, as now that the barbaroi were fighting on unfamiliar terrain and were far from their home, they could be decisively destroyed.

Such a thing would occur at Ptolemais, where the Three Fires would find themselves stranded within enemy territory. Elysian scouts and vanguards would sever enemy supply lines, while occasionally conducting skirmish battles under careful reluctance by the generals to prod and poke at the barbaroi. The native armies would fight to the point of exhaustion, constantly being worn down by the enemy that would rapidly turn the tables on them, while being left to starve and fight with weaker resistance. Once the main imperial army arrived to sweep up the Three Fires, the exhausted Three Fires would never stand a chance in open combat.

Morale would collapse almost instantly upon the sight of the Elysians in the distance, and the battle quickly turned into a rout. Using their knowledge of their terrain to their advantage, Elysian units under Artavasdos Phrangopoulos would outmaneuver and crush the enemy with a devastating pincer movement conducted by the heavily armoured catapract riders while the infantry core pushed and swept through the enemy. The Ojibwe leader of the Three Fires, Ogemanukeketo Mundua, would be captured and executed alongside the rest of his men following the battle. His death would ignite a power struggle back in his homeland, exacerbated by Elysian occupation of their lands, which the Empire would use to its own advantage.

Another battle would occur at Hyni, where Elysia would fight on a relatively equal level with the Huron. The Huron would quickly secure an advantage early into the battle, forcing the Elysians to act on the defensive as the Huron inflicted damage with their ferocity. It would be a shortlived victory as overconfidence among the Barbaroi and a trap would be placed for the Huron to be led into during the battle. Retreating into a forest, the Huron would chase and pursue the Elysians behind them. Theodoros Phouskarnaki would order his archers and riflemen to remain hidden inside of the forest, remaining out of sight as the eager Huron continued to chase the seemingly defeated Elysians. Once the trap was sprung, the Huron would find themselves with nowhere else to go as panic spread among their ranks.

Arrows and bullets would scream towards them and strike the barbarous with terrifying ferocity, while the main forces would make use of the trap to encircle the Barbaroi within the forest and squeeze down upon them. Within an hour of fighting, ten thousand of the Huron would lay dead on the bottom of the forest floor. Completely annihilated, the total destruction of the Huron and Three Fires would allow the Elysians to march into their homelands completely unopposed.

With the tide of the war rapidly turning against the barbaroi, the Elysians were left to do as they pleased as its armies crossed into the enemy territory with relative ease. Villages and tribes were occupied and dealt with from varying degrees, ranging from submission from the wise and most passive who saw the futility of resisting the Elysians to outright destruction and annihilation of the most stubborn and hostile who dared to resist. Elysian commanders held a tight grip on their own forces, preventing them from allowing their anger to boil over and conduct atrocities against an already defeated foe. Rapists and thieves within the Elysian ranks were quickly found and executed, setting a strong example to those who would dare defy the Empire.

The Meskwaki would be conquered once the peace had settled within their region, seeing their lands annexed into the growing empire. Many among them would be enslaved, but the majority of the Meskwaki were left to their own devices as new subjects. Like all of the tribes that the Elysians would absorb or conquer, the Meskwaki would be no different. Elysification efforts would begin from the top down as missionary and reorganisation efforts sought to Hellenise the natives over the span of a few generations.

Victory would follow shortly after the conquest of the Meskwaki, where the tribes among them would surrender to the Elysians. The Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi would come together before the generals that had brought them to submission, flanked by a sizable amount of diplomats and Symmachoi translators who would communicate between Elysian and Ojibwe dialects. The atmosphere remained grim as a sense of doom loomed over the heads of the leaders of the Three Fires, who were struggling among themselves over leadership disputes, ready to lament the destruction of their tribal identity.

To their surprise, the Elysians would present far more generous terms to the Three Fires. The Elysians sought to establish the Three Fires to the Empire but would be granted preferential treatment like the Haudenosaunee, to serve as a native buffer state between Elysia and Vinland around the Borealian Lakes. All of the positives and negatives of Elysian influence and law would come into their lands, such as the monolithic wealth of the Elysians pouring into their lands in the form of investments by the dynatoi and the merchants. They would lose their independence, but retain their leadership and would be exempt from certain taxes and enslavement by the Elysians. The main primary condition of these terms would be for their conversion to Christianity.

Submission to serve the Elysians would be an unexpected offer, and many within their position felt that this was the best course of action to be taken. Whispers of rejection of such a peace would only invoke the wrath of the Elysians to conquer their homeland instead, which would only grow quieter and quieter as negotiations continued. With little bargaining power, and with the terms of the peace being far more generous than expected, the Three Fires would agree in becoming the newest subject of the Elysian Empire.

With the submission of the Three Fires, a separate peace would be signed with the Huron, seeing their lands being conquered by the Elysians before seeing their ownership transferred to the Three Fires as per agreement. The Huron were to be led under barbaroi rule, only subservient to the Elysians themselves as a means to ease tension among the newly conquered lands. The Three Fires would become appreciative of the Elysians and this gesture of goodwill, cooperating more with their new overlords as the first permanent relations between one another would begin.

Taking upon the latest innovations by the Europeans, the Elysians would develop an early form of cannon artillery to be used for both sieges and defence. Long having started to invest in gunpowder weaponry and modernising its equipment, an Elysian bombard would become more widespread as it replaced older cannon weaponry. Elysian Bombards would be noticeably smaller than the European counterparts, yet were still heavy and difficult to move quickly during battle. Despite this, its use would be limited to use against infantry and calvary formations against barbaroi armies with remarkable efficiency.

Looming to the western frontier was the Cahokian Confederation, dominating much of the interior of the continent and much of the Andronikan rivers that coursed through its arteries. Cahokia would begin expanding outward in recent decades, conquering smaller tribes while establishing colonies of their own that spread across Elysium. Suffering from a rivalry almost upon the inception of its discovery, Elysia and Cahokia would suffer from a frigid relationship at the best of times to outright hostility at worst.

Elysian merchants who ventured to establish a trade presence within the native metropolis of Cahokia would find their presence unwelcome and found many difficulties earning the trust of its inhabitants. Diplomacy between the two nations would often fail, and murmurs of the mistreatment of Elysians who had ventured into their borders would slowly creap back towards the cities of the Empire. For the Empire to venture beyond the interior of the continent and control all of Andronika, the Cahokians were to be dealt with either through diplomacy or through the blade.

For generations, the Varangian Guard would serve the Empire as a military order and also as the bodyguards of the Emperor of Elysia, much like what had occurred during the era of the old empire. Recent years would see a shift in this trend, as garrison troops within the imperial capital were being replaced by the best troops from garrisons all over the Empire. Veteran soldiers would come to serve within the capital itself rather than on a distant frontier, and while some would believe that it would be to the detriment of the frontier defences, these soldiers would be rewarded with increased compensation and prestige for serving within the capital.

In 1559, Regent Demetrios would launch a proclamation on behalf of his father Andronikos V onto a reorganisation of a growing trend. Demetrios would officially rename the imperial guard of Nea Konstantinopolis to the ‘Epilektoi’ (The Chosen Ones) and select the elite of the elite as bodyguards of the royal family and its household. The Epilektoi were financed and paid from the imperial treasury and would be granted special privileges, where a lifetime of discipline and experience would see them loyal to the throne above all else. They were the greatest warriors in all of Elysium, existing separately from the Elysian Knights and the Imperial Military as an order of their own.

The Varangian Guard would be relieved of their duties as the bodyguards fo the Emperor, instead seeing their purposes alteing to serve as an elite military order made up among the faithful of the northmen. Taking more of a military role as their order evolved, the Varangians would become elite shock troops who would fight for the Empire and Christendom. Conservatives within the Order would lament this change of purpose, while the militarists and idealists would thrive at seeing themselves become among the pinnacle of serving as the guardians of Elysium.

Almost simultaneously, Regent Demetrios would issue another direct decree from the Imperial Palace. Vinlandic culture and customs were to be respected and accepted within the Empire to the same degree as Elysian and its subcultures. Both Christian and Pagan Vinlanders would welcome the benevolence of the regent for this welcome change, seeing their culture promoted among the growing melting pot of Elysia.

Loyalties among the Vinlanders to the Empire would be greatly increased as they were brought into the fold. This would see a greater success in christisation efforts among Norse converts to the true faith, while unrest plummeted among the Vinlandic territories on the Empires perephery.

Within a few years following their submission to the Empire to serve as vassals to the throne, along with developing their relationship to become amicable and welcoming to the Elysians that they now served, the Three Fires would convert to Elysian Orthodoxy through both willing converts and strict enforcement as per conditions of the peace that had been made. The Ojibwe were noticeably willing to convert, where mass baptisms in the rigid waters of the Borealian Lakes took place with the aid of Symmachoi missionaries under the authority of the Church.

Securing their victory in the southern lands of Andronika decades earlier and pacifying many of the weaker tribes of the region, Colonia began spreading further around the coastline with no resistance as droves of settlers sought to establish a presence along the Gulf. Within a matter of years, the frontiers between Spartania and Elysia would meet with one another, to the celebration of local settlers upon meeting one another. By establishing a territorial border with one another, the waters of Kykladia and the Atlantic would be blocked off from the European colonial powers from establishing a presence within Elysium itself.

Once a fear among the early leaders of the Empire and its governments, these fears would dissipate as Elysia was now granted free reign to expand across the breadth of the continent with almost no interference from the old world. With the Europeans preoccupied elsewhere and noticeably weaker than the mighty realms of the New World, Elysia would be free to create its Third Rome in relative peace.

With these new colonia being settled by waves of colonists, the Empire turned towards the tribes of Andronika once more. Decades after the campaign into the settled territories, the tribes of the region would never fully recover from the Elysian decimation and occupation of their tribal lands. Learning what had happened to the defeated tribes, Andronikos V would become obsessed with the Andronikan lands. With his health declining and never recovering from the stroke that had paralysed him, the Emperor hoped for the Empire to conquer the region before his demise. It would not be a matter of where he would die, but when, and god willing he had the strength to see it through.

With a string of victories and with increasing ambition that was no longer being held back, Regent Demetrios looked towards completing what his father had envisioned to be among one of the most important campaigns of the Empire’s history, the Conquest of Andronika.

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I have lost a few pictures for this chapter, noticeably the peace with the Three Fires. I have attempted to piece together whatever I had into a suitable chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

How many letters make up the Elysian and Greek alphabets? Thanks

Difficult question since I'm not familiar with linguistics. But I would guess 24, the same as the Greek and Latin alphabet. Hope this helps

I liked this post about the language.

How did the Latin influence creep into Elysian? Elysium didn't adopt the Latin language in 1574, right? Only their alphabet?

Elysia only adapted the Latin script, not the language itself. The Empire always had a huge Latin influence since the beginning in the form of the Latinikoi, along with both Portuguese and Western Europe influence over the next few generations. With Elysian culture evolving, it would diverge more from Greek while still remaining true to its Hellenistic roots. It is far more Roman then it is Hellenic in both culture and politics.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Thank you for the update. How does the tech stand between Elysia, barbaroi, Vinlandia, Spartania and Europeans? I think that Cahokia is around three behind Elysia in each technology.

 

[HistoryDude]

Elysia is doing well. If they're mightier than the European realms, how long will it take for them to harbor ambitions of restoring their lost glory? Or have all Elysians abandoned all ideas of reclaiming the lost lands in Europe?

If Elysia wanted it, could they avenge their ancestors by defeating the Ottomans yet?