Chapter 30: Dead Man’s Valley (1592-1595)
There is, but I haven't gotten there juuuust yet!
Chapter 30: Dead Man’s Valley (1592-1595)
With growing anger and resentment towards the Elysian Empire following their incredibly successful invasion of two major European powers, a growing sense of unity was among the Old World out of fears that they could become the next target. As one simple league of alliances were signed in Europe to contain Elysian expansion, another was formed by Elysia to counteract the growing distrust. Emperor Alexios, feeling satisfied with current expansion in Europe, withdrew all matters back onto Elysium proper and worked to calm the growing anger towards the Empire.
After years of construction under Kykladian and Elysian led construction, the Panama Canal was close to completion with the last few miles still being constructed. Despite the enormous toll on the economy, resources and the lives of the workers themselves, the Senate officially seized the territory of Panama from Kykladia. Not wishing for the canal to be operated by what the Elysians perceived as a third-party interest, especially as it was an Elysian financed project, the territory of Panama and the Canal itself were to be incorporated under Imperial authority.
The royalty and the nobility of Kykladia were infuriated at the Elysians for having ‘stolen’ the canal. In compensation, the Empire would grant monetary concessions to Kykladia as well as giving them extraordinary privileges in using the canal after it is completed.
As tensions rose along Europe, an offer of friendship was extended to one of Elysia’s oldest allies, Great Britain. While having lost its colonial possessions, the British had maintained a period of isolation and focusing on domestic policies. When accepted the offer for an alliance, the British immediately accepted the friendly invitation and the alliance was grew to further discourage a growing coalition among Europe.
Apart of the coalition was Vinland, who had lost an enormous amount of territory in their first and most disastrous war against the Elysians. Acting incredibly hostile to the Empire, the Norsemen were now openly persecuting Christians within its borders. Although discouraged by Vinlandic law, this was still encouraged by many more elements in their society. The Konugur, infuriated by the Elysians aggressive attitude in Europe, issued a trade embargo on Elysian goods entering the north.
After over ten years of construction and the loss of countless lives and resources, the impossible was achieved. The idea of connecting two entire oceans, despite being separated by such little land, was seen as a distant dream. Nethertheless, Elysia achieved this dream through resilience and ingenuity. Like the great Appalachian Pathways before them, the Panama Canal would become a gateway and a monument to the fact that nothing is impossible for the Elysian Empire. With the completion of the canal, it would allow ships safe passage without the need to round Cape Horn and sail thousands of miles across the ocean. Seen and considered centuries ahead of its time, Elysia had changed the course of ships and history!
Such a monumental achievement did not come without controversy. Kykladian and Elysian project overseers were especially ruthless in the constitution of the canal and exploiting the lives of slaves and workers. When sections of the canal locks would break under pressure, crushing and drowning hundreds of slaves under the immense pressure of the water, overseers would immediately continue construction despite the tragic human costs. The poor soil and a consistent rainflow in Panama has made the ground foundations of the canal extremely poor to build upon, and in some points, terrain was incredibly mountainous and proved to be a consistent problem with construction. The rainy seasons turned the river into a raging torrent, and with dense jungle alive with venomous spiders, insects, and snakes, workers were cautious about traveling across the terrain with every step they took.
Tropical diseases would strike down thousands, and many would perish to yellow fever or malaria. Elysian health measures to contain diseases were ineffective due to the role of the mosquito. Conditions would be downplayed across Elysia and Kykladia to avoid recruitment problems, but a high mortality rate made it difficult to maintain an experienced workforce without the use of slave labor.
During the time of its construction, workers of the canal had seen abhorrent fatality rates. Over a hundred lives were reportedly lost every weak from diseases, accidents during construction or were simply caused by suicide due to conditions. During the time of construction of the Panama Canal, close to fifty thousand workers had perished during its construction. Many of these workers would be slaves, most of whom were prisoners of war captured after battles in Europe and the Old World, where they would be stripped of their belongings and travel in captivity on boat to Panama, where a majority of them would be worked to death should they survive the journey. The surviving slaves after the construction of the canal, would be set free. Iberian and Turkish slaves, a vast majority of these slaves, would call the Panama Canal as ‘Dead Man’s Valley’. Poor worker conditions, lack of medicine to combat the harsh terrain and tropical diseases and ruthlessly brutal overseers started to give the Panama Canal a new reputation. It was an achievement of human ingenuity built upon a river of blood.
It marked a new phase in the Elysian Empire’s life, a phase of maturity. The Empire was known for being surprisingly progressive in terms of civil liberties and rights among its citizens, but possessed a strong authoritarian government focused on expansion and domination. Elysia was much more ruthless to its enemies, and much kinder to its friends. Gone were the days of a more childlike Imperium, the Empire was changing and becoming more mature. Harmony would be replaced with Order, and the world will both praise and tremble under the great eagle of the Empire. The Empire, at long last, had lost its childish innocence.
The efforts conducted by Kykladian workers, project overseers and the many thousands who perished from tropical diseases were never forgotten. In commemoration for the successful completion of the Panama Canal, Emperor Alexios would travel to Panama in person and would officially open the Canal in person. To honour the lives of the workers and Kykladia, the Emperor humbly granted Kykladia to achieve history and allow them to sail through the completed canal for the first time.
Along the stalwart vassals of the Empire, Emperor Alexios would strengthen the Balkan Shield and grant the Slavic nations under March status, strengthening their defences. Bulgaria, the largest of the Balkan Shield and perhaps one of the most loyal, would be the first nation to follow suit.
Prior to being sighted by the Elysians decades later, European explorers had discovered the great eastern sea of the New World. Spanish explorers would coin the name of the ocean, as favourable winds helped the explorers sail across the southern tip of Retoria. The Ocean would be named ‘Mar Pacífico’, which would translate to ‘Peaceful Sea’ in Spanish and Portuguese. This name would be used by the Elysian Empire once they had made their way to the West.
With the decline of Portugal and Spain, exploration efforts conducted across the Pacific were of low importance to the Iberians. The Elysian Empire, upon arriving on the western sea, would spend decades extensively exploring the Pacific Ocean and the great ocean sea. Elysian explorers would, by 1592, make first sighting an archipelago in the centre of the vast ocean. In an area known as Hawaii, upon which the indigenous peoples would name after a legendary figure in their ancient legend. Due to its central location on the island, the Empire immediately jumped on the opportunity to settle in the central island of the region, keenly interested in exploring what appeared to be an extremely vast ocean.
In retaliation for the trade embargo by the Althing of Vinland, the Empire would officially implement their own embargo in retaliation for a ‘punitive offence’. Emperor Alexios, in a fiery speech to the Senate, accused the Konugur of wanting to sacrifice the wellbeing of his own people simply because he wished to pick a fight against a superior enemy. Alexios would declare the current Konugur as ‘Criminally insane as their Mad King”.
In the summer season of the early 1590’s, an unexpectedly warmer season had caused food shortages in parts of the nation due to a lack of viable crops. Some Elysians had questioned trade policies that prevented the imports of more vital goods, and people called for barriers to be relaxed. Emperor Alexios, despite trying his hardest to ensure that the Empire was completely self-sufficient with basic resources, found that the regions that produced the most food in the Empire was some of the regions that were most affected by famine. The Imperial Family would speak upon the capital to calm down the commoners, speaking in that in times of need, lives were more important than politics. The Empire would then receive aid from their exarchs and allies in the Old World, and Elysia would be forever faithful.
With the northern frontiers being established, the remaining barbaroi territories of the great plains were quickly being conquered by the growing Empire. The Pawnee would be one of the tribes that would fall to Elysia, where they would be conquered and integrated.
Across centuries, coffee had been a product grown and exported from Yemen and Ethiopia. But just as silk had once traveled west along the trade routes, the coffee plant came to be in possession by French merchants where it would thrive under the tropical conditions of French Columbia. Yemen’s strong grip over the coffee trade, which the distant people of the land had gone to great lengths to prevent anyone from taking the plant across their borders, had now lost one of their major monopolies.
In 1594, cartographers and explorers in the Old World would present interesting information about the state of the world. In the lands of the Islamic World, the previously thought declining Mamluk Sultanate had seen a great resurgence and was hard in trying to unite Arabia under their rule in Cairo, which had flourished and became one of the world's largest cities. Persia had never truly reunited in the power vacuum caused the collapse of the Timurid Empire, and Ethiopia had been experiencing an golden age where their powerful rule had safeguarded Christianity in Africa.
To the incredibly wealthy lands of India, a majority of the subcontinent was united by the two large superpowers of the region, the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic Bengal Sultanate. While many minor independent kingdoms existed, the fate of India largely rested between the clash of the two Indian giants.
In 1594, Elysian explorers would sail far towards the east in an attempt to discover and locate a sea-route to China. Instead of finding China, Elysian explorers would sail towards the lands of Japan. Fractured yet strong, Elysian explorers were driven away by the fiercely isolationist Ashikaga Japanese Shogunate and its manys subjects.
Improvements in artillery maneuverability took place during a military reform, with the Military Council working on standardizing the size and weight of artillery pieces for more effective bombardment.
As the Elysian army had demonstrated itself well against the armies of Europe, recent advancements in military technology in the areas of guns and cannons had put the Empire at a disadvantage. Embracing the arts of European warfare and gunpowder, the Empire was working hard on adopting the flintlock musket and perfecting it. In the end, a unique Elysian design was created while using European templates.
Muskets used by the rank and file of the Elysian army had been modified to fire a smaller-calibre yet longer-ranged shot. Due to the nature of the firearms themselves, the equipment used to produce the firearms is locally produced and is much cheaper than importing weapons from Europe. With the entire army under a period of reform, Elysian Style Muskets would be embraced by the Empire, and would prove to be lethal in future conflicts.
With cooperative colonization of the lands of Hawaii, the area would become the most important Elysian territory in the entire Pacific Ocean due to its central geographic location. Hawaii would become strategically significant in time simply because of its location, and would become the center administrative region for the vast island territories of the Pacific.
With the Panama Canal completed, the world was changing rapidly. With a large portion of the world revealed to the Empire, many wondered where the destiny of the Empire would take them. Some argued that Europe was a priority, while some were entranced by the distant riches of Asia. In time, as Europe was cooling down from Elysian aggression, Elysia would take the fight to the north once more...
