"God's Playground" - Polish AAR

[McGregg]

Hi Everybody!

Welcome to my first and probably last AAR called "God's Playground"*
This is my tribute to the Old Times and our Forgotten Past.

I want this AAR (based on MEIOU-Tokugawa's Destiny mod v5.2) to be a little different, more images (rarely screenshots), maybe few riddles for the readers… will see

Standard rules, no reloading unless game-breaking issue pops up.

Let's Begin:

INTRO

It's year 1356.
Casimir III the Piast continued the work of his father (Władysław I the Short (or Elbow-High [polish: Łokietek]) who had succeeded in reuniting Great Poland and Little Poland into the long-forgotten kingship.

By a series of treaties Casimir managed to secure the right to the Polish Crown along with its western and northern frontier (at least for some time). That opened the possibility to expand to the East (Red Russia). Finally as a result of this carefully planned policy, the Masovian princes, long anxious to preserve their independence, declared themselves Casimir’s vassals (1351–53).

Cracow, Wawel Royal Castle
Jan of Melsztyn, king's adviser approached without invitation.

- I see you skipped all the formalities so it needs to be important. What is it?
- My King. We've found it!
- Found what?
- Secret chamber in the Lokietek's Tower, answered quickly Jan
- So, father was telling the truth after all… Did you find anything… out of place... there?
- I think that may interest your highness.

It was a small chest with a seal.

- Do you recognize the seal?
- Yes. Has anyone seen it?
- No.
- Good. I don't wanna bishop's men sniffing around. Let's open it.

Inside they found a piece what appear to be…

- What does it mean?
- It means that we need to find the other pieces… and probably get the access to the Sea - King smiled. Also inform the Veles that we have a track and see if they can decipher those numbers...
- As you wish.
Casimir looked at the map and smiled again.

End of the intro

* "God's Playground" is one of the best English-language book written by Norman Davies, covering the history of Poland. Davies was inspired to the title by one of Jan Kochanowski's (Polish Renaissance poet) epigrams.

 

[Deus Eversor]

lets consider me subbing, but just consider

 

[morningSIDEr]

maybe few riddles for the readers…

Well you've certainly started with quite a riddle! I have to wonder what message the piece of paper contains. Very intriguing, consider me subscribed.

 

[Ashantai]

I'm intrigued! Consider me interested!

 

[Memento Mori]

Is the answer to the first riddle: "Treasure of the knights templar"?

Looking forward to the next one/proper answer of the first

 

[unmerged(90806)]

The piece of paper in no doubt a map. Will Poland discover America and colonise the world?

"God's Playground" is one of the best English-language book written by Norman Davies, covering the history of Poland. Davies was inspired to the title by one of Jan Kochanowski's (Polish Renaissance poet) epigrams.

I've read it. And I have to say it reads very well, an asset imo as this is not true for many books on history.

 

[McGregg]

Thanks Guys!

Is the answer to the first riddle: "Treasure of the knights templar"?
Looking forward to the next one/proper answer of the first

You've just became an agent of the Brotherhood of the Veles Next post will explain more

The piece of paper in no doubt a map. Will Poland discover America and colonise the world?
I've read it. And I have to say it reads very well, an asset imo as this is not true for many books on history.

Agreed (about the book). You've also been hired as an agent

 

[McGregg]

Chapter I: Silence before the Storm actually before Little Storm

Cracow, Wawel Royal Castle
1 week later, informal meeting

King Casimir looked at the map of the Kingdom...

- So what's the situation? - he finally broke the silence.
- Good news. King of Hungary and King of Bohemia both agreed to our alliance proposals. Beside that we arranged few marriages (including the latter two) to strengthen our influence. - replied Jan of Melsztyn
- Good news indeed. What about Lithuania?
- Quiet for now. But I don't think that's gonna last for long.
- Continue the support of the faction friendly towards us there and lets see the results.
- As you wish.
- Let's now review internal matters…

- I want the University to be founded as soon as possible. Knowledge is the Power. Make all necessary steps. And last thing, no provoking any of our neighbors. We are not ready for war at all.
- And what about the Papacy?
- We have enough problems with our nobles, I don't need another party to meddle in our affairs… lets slowly reduce Clergy's influence.
- Understood.

Casimir III put away papers and smiled.
- Now while waiting for our guest we can relax a little. Let's play.
He placed a deck of cards* on the table. Jan peeked at one of them.

Ther wer playing a "War" game for a while now.
- Looks like our guest will be lat… -started the sentence Jan.
Before he could finish, a hooded man "flew" through the window and landed on the empty chair.

- I thought you were going to use the door this time… - said Casimir.
- Too many witnesses and this way is much much faster - replied hooded man.
- Glad that you found time to drop by - nodded Jan of Melsztyn.
- So, do you have any answers Veles? - asked King

Hooded man sat comfortably in the chair and placed a familiar piece on the table.
- What was lost, has been found... - started Veles
- Please no more riddles… I have huge headache already - interrupted Casimir.

Veles smiled.
- Fair enough. First, that symbol told us that this piece was already in our possession.

- Wait, wait… That doesn't make sense - Jan interrupted. - That was a chest with Templar's Seal I thought that was theirs…
And what you mean by "your possession"…

Veles turned his eyes to the King, who nodded as a sign of the approval. Then he continued.
- This symbol was used by our second… let say division.
- Wait. So you are…? - Jan was confused.
- I'm member of the Brotherhood of the Veles. And my name is Veles… just like all other members… We are… We were lets say the scientific division… Our task was to gather any important info about tactics, technologies, weapons etc. Our second wing or if you prefer division, was the military one. Special agents, skilled warriors, they were all using this symbol… I'm pretty sure you can figure out their name…
During the Fragmentation of the Polish realm, we struggled as well, we merged under the Veles name… however many of our archives were stolen by Templars or just lost in the chaos.
- Anyway, - he continued, some of our agents knew the map's location of other piece. I managed to recover it.
- Where was it? - asked Jan
- Warsaw, Mazowieckie province.

Veles placed the second piece on the table.

- As you can see, we have two strings of numbers:
256 2535 43 and 2535 43 262
One piece was found here in Krakowskie province and the other one was recovered from Mazowieckie.
So it seems like Krakowskie is associated somehow with number 262 and Mazowieckie with 256. We just need to find… a master list… and we will know the location of two other pieces… 43 and 2535. We should have an answer within one month.
- Good. Proceed without any delays - said Casimir.
- As you wish my lord. - replied Veles and he left the chamber the same way as he entered.

King seemed to be lost in thought, after few minutes he cleared the throat gave few last instructions.
- Increase our spy and merchant activity, collect any useful data, search for… artifacts and let do our best to strengthen our military. Also I need the HRE emperor to think that we are on his side. Let join HRE, that allows us to put more spies within the Empire and should benefit us in the long run.

The meeting was over.

Calendarium:

Feb 1356 - Superintendence has been built
Jul 1356 - Poland becomes a member of HRE
Mar 1357 - Commission Tapestry
Nov 1358 - Poland guaranteed by Austria
May 1359 - Call to Crusade. Poland has sent troops.

Cracow, Wawel Royal Castle
July 16th, 1359

- My King! We've been attacked by Lithuanian forces! - shouted Jan of Melsztyn
Casimir was calm.
- It was inevitable. I'd rather avoid this conflict but it's too late.
Inform our Allies that we in war and request their assistance if necessary.
- It shall be done.

End of the part I

*Of course cards like didn't exist at that time. But I always wanted to have one

Secret Report of Veles' Council:

Spoiler

We determined that numbers are not related to any historical date, or mathematical formula. Looks like the answer can be find deep within the game. >> M E I O U C S V << The rest of the message has been coded.

 

[morningSIDEr]

256 2535 43 and 2535 43 262

Province numbers, perhaps?

I'm getting a distinct Assassin's Creed vibe from this update. As ever, it remains intriguing, looking forward to seeing where you go with this.

 

[Memento Mori]

Casimir the Great is about to set up a university in Krakow? What a coincidence, I... ummm... will be a student there. So as the member of the brotherhood I have to protect him and ensure the relative prosperity of the realm or else I... erm... won't study? What's worse, my grandfather met... will meet... my grandmother in the same university. So if I don't suceed... (plays dramatic music)

Time paradoxes aside, 2535 and 43 most probably are not the "numbers" of the provinces with aditional map fragments. Otherwise, each fragment would mention "256 2535 43 262", and it mentions 2535, 43 and the "number" of the correct province. If the next will be located in the province 345, it will probably mention "345 2535 43". Now what these two numbers each piece has in common could mean?

 

[McGregg]

Province numbers, perhaps?
I'm getting a distinct Assassin's Creed vibe from this update. As ever, it remains intriguing, looking forward to seeing where you go with this.

The path is unclear. Too many variables You've been just recruited to the Brotherhood.

Special Message: For morningSIDEr eyes only:

Spoiler

Yes, those are the province IDs based on the MEIOU province list. But it looks like I didn't foresee all the outcomes See the post below.

 

[McGregg]

Casimir the Great is about to set up a university in Krakow? What a coincidence, I... ummm... will be a student there. So as the member of the brotherhood I have to protect him and ensure the relative prosperity of the realm or else I... erm... won't study? What's worse, my grandfather met... will meet... my grandmother in the same university. So if I don't suceed... (plays dramatic music)

Time paradoxes aside, 2535 and 43 most probably are not the "numbers" of the provinces with aditional map fragments. Otherwise, each fragment would mention "256 2535 43 262", and it mentions 2535, 43 and the "number" of the correct province. If the next will be located in the province 345, it will probably mention "345 2535 43". Now what these two numbers each piece has in common could mean?

To the agent Memento Mori from Veles' Council.
"We found your deduction very intriguing to the point that we even considered that the map itself is fake. However we searched our archives again hoping to find any additional clue. And looks like we found a very important piece of information. Hidden pieces were never meant to be moved, it was a safe-protocol. Once moved or stolen, finding remaining pieces was not possible. But the key is the "master list" anyway. So maybe these are "numbers" of the provinces after all..."
Council of the Veles.

There is also an informal note from the King himself. He said you would understand it.

The note says:
"This time I'll try to finish construction of the University first and then die.
Also I would like to offer you a faculty position at the future University.
The first task will be to develop a working Einstein-Rosen Bridge for our military troops."

PS. About Time travels:
We've tried that, however we completely messed up Polish history in the end. Some coding error, and instead of getting provinces in Prussia, Russia and Austria, we erased ourselves from the map. Good thing that Entropy didn't allowed to fully erase organic matter. After this accident we abandoned this project.
signed King Casimir

 

[Memento Mori]

Preparing to assume the law faculty in the future university, I could not help to travel to Ravenna to retrieve one of the few surviving copies of Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis, in order to base the future Polish law on this great compilation of Roman legal practice. I managed to find a complete collection of Codex, Digesta, Institutiones and Novellae in an obscure monastery, and imagine my surprise when a letter written on an ancient parchement fell out of one of the books. It turned out that it was written by a scribe of Justinian himself! On it was written

"In Nomine Justinian I, Imperator Romanorum (I shall translate the rest) I declare that all the following lands will be considered provinces of the Roman Empire once our victorius armies will drive away the barbarians which dwell in them...

Next came a list of provinces, I quickly looked on the apropriate section, and indeed I found

"CCLXII (262): Terra Cracoviensis"

Unfortunately, the other one did not match exactly

"CCLVII (257): Terra Masoviensis"

Now, there was a slight mistake in the list, but it was too close for it to be a complete coincidence. With my hopes up, I looked for 43

"VIIL (43) :Terra Danzigia - Thus, I can predict the next map fragment is in the city of Gdańsk, near the Baltic sea.

Unfortunately, the list was not complete, as the monks cut off and scraped half of the parchment, before using it for a shopping list about half a century ago.

Nontheless, I can consider my trip to be a complete success, as apart from retrieving rare and valuble works, I have found proof that the master list was indeed made and if errors were not present on the copy that I found, the next piece can be obtained, after establishing our presence on the Baltic Coast again.

Spoiler

If you didn't get the allusion, these are from the "In Nomine" province list. Masovia is on "257" instead on "256", and the list ends on 2047, but just mabie Gdańsk is accurate. Besides, in another timeline, Justinian's Codex was rediscovered around 3 centuries before, but would not be known outside Italy for a long time, and in most cases local laws were inferior to it.

 

[McGregg]

...
"In Nomine Justinian I, Imperator Romanorum (I shall translate the rest) I declare that all the following lands will be considered provinces of the Roman Empire once our victorius armies will drive away the barbarians which dwell in them...

Next came a list of provinces, I quickly looked on the apropriate section, and indeed I found

"CCLXII (262): Terra Cracoviensis"

Unfortunately, the other one did not match exactly

"CCLVII (257): Terra Masoviensis"

Now, there was a slight mistake in the list, but it was too close for it to be a complete coincidence. With my hopes up, I looked for 43

"VIIL (43) :Terra Danzigia - Thus, I can predict the next map fragment is in the city of Gdańsk, near the Baltic sea.

Unfortunately, the list was not complete, as the monks cut off and scraped half of the parchment, before using it for a shopping list about half a century ago.

Nontheless, I can consider my trip to be a complete success, as apart from retrieving rare and valuble works, I have found proof that the master list was indeed made and if errors were not present on the copy that I found, the next piece can be obtained, after establishing our presence on the Baltic Coast again.

To agent Memento Mori from Veles Council.
We found your report very disturbing. However we determined that our info originates from:
Parchment marked as MEIOU - Code Name: Tokugawa's Destiny v5.2

PS. Shopping lists? We've just discovered that our monks use scraps of parchments to create silly ships models.
Then they organize "racing ships" competition. That also solved the mystery of missing blacksmith's bellows. They use it as wind source for those ships. No wonder that copying books takes so long….