The Ashes of Rome (Map Game)

The year is 500 C.E., and the mighty Roman Empire has finally crumbled. Lying in its wake is its legacy state, the Byzantine Empire, occupying The Balkan Peninsula, Anatolia and Northeast Africa. It remains the most powerful European state, though its barbarian neighbors continue to threaten its prosperity. To the East is the mighty Sassanian Empire, centered in Persia, although its forces seem to be steadily encroaching on southeastern Europe. In the former Western Roman Empire, several Gothic Kingdoms have formed and continue to grow in size and power. The Visigoths are situated mostly in Hispania, the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Franks and the Burgundians in Gaul, the Gepids in Dacia, and the Vandals in Northern Africa. Additionally, the Celtic people, long divided and hostile, have formed the Celtic League, modeled after the long-dead Roman Republic. In addition to the centralized Kingdoms, tribal groups of Germanic peoples are beginning to gain strength, though they are not quite yet unified. These groups include the Suebi, the Anglo-Saxons, the Jutes, the Danes, the Alemanni, the Lombards, and the Saxons. To the Northeast lie the Baltic and Slavic nomads, far from unification, and still living in territory untouched by any true nation-states. In this tumultuous time, change is inevitable, but yet to be known is who will be lost to the sands of time, and who will emerge triumphant and mighty. (The chief difference in this ATL is that, as opposed to the OTL in which the Gothic kingdoms quickly fell, they have been effectively run, and are now actual, unified nations. They still suffer from countless internal problems, but less so.) '''The game has officially begun. New players can still sign up.''' == Rules: == # New turns will begin every other day at 03:00 UTC. We will begin each turn in bold, sometimes including pertinent details from the previous turn. # Each turn signifies five years. This will most likely change as the game approaches the current year. # The map will be updated every turn (five years). # Inactivity for over six turns will cause your name to be removed from the nation you are playing. You may return whenever. However, you do not get priority, and if your country is taken, it’s taken. # You may join the game whenever by putting your name on the nations list. You are allowed to join the turn immediately after signing up. # Keep all actions plausible. Repeated infractions will cause you to be kicked from your nation, and possibly banned, depending on severity. # Remember, your actions have consequences, invading territories, whether they were previously inhabited or not, will cause unrest. Keep in mind that when you invade another territory, its people will not immediately be converted to your language, culture and religion. # Be as specific as possible, especially when describing the invasion of another territory. If you are not specific as to location, the mapmaker will most likely not understand exactly what you intend to do. # Metagaming is strictly prohibited, and several offenses will result in a permanent ban. # Keep the game and the talk page kind and mature. No major arguments, OOC. # Do not edit the map unless you are a mapmaker. If you see any issues with the map, write about it on the talk page. # You may randomly switch nations only once, after which you must wait until your nation is defeated to switch. # New nations will be added periodically to both the map and the nations list, whether by historical emergence, or by secession. You, of course, may sign up for these whenever they become available. # You are encouraged to make pages within this category for nations, coalitions, treaties, or whatever else you believe merits a separate page. # In each turn, in addition to whatever actions you choose to perform, you may do one of the following: * Improve military. * Improve economy. * Improve infrastructure * Expand the nation into unsettled land. (It is imperative that you are plausible with this). 16. Nations that players have signed on, but have failed to make a turn, will continue to be mod controlled and essentially act as this games "AI". (Just a reminder. Do not, under any circumstances, edit the map and replace official images with your modified images. It typically results in grainier images, which are saved at different resolutions, and mess up the uniformity of the page. More importantly, it can violate the wiki's code regarding duplication images, and I do not want any action to be taken against players or me. If you have any comments or concerns with the image, post them in your turn or on the talk page. I read both, and appreciate you pointing out mistakes I have made, because, unfortunately, I do mess up.) == Mods == # Knoxmoor # Afunnymouth # Genesaria # Zamarak500 # Hddenevil == The Map == * Lighter shades of a nation's color represent occupied territory, and lines of separation represent clients, vassals, or satellite states. * The map will, of course, be changed as more of the world becomes explored. * Lined separations can also represent separate regions within a nation, autonomy or even simply cultural rifts. * Keep in mind there is a limit to the number of distinct colors. == Nations (Signup) == Example Proper Format: Empire Name/ Leader title/ leader name/ signature === Europe: === Byzantine Empire/ Emperor/ Empress Clelia I (Κλῆλια)/Pesco27  - King Lord Commander Alexander Salvioli  Constantinus Byzantinus MaximusTalk At Me Afunnymouth  - King Karlmann II Long Dong Johnson  - Spar * Kingdom of Essex - * * Kingdom of York - * Duchy of Saxony -  - Kingdom of Burgundy - Kingdom of Burgundy/King/King Theuderic III/ Constantinus Byzantinus Maximus Talk At Me  - ~DicklessWonder (MrFixx) * Coalition of Picts -  -  - Genesaria 23:18, September 2, 2015 (EST)  - Grand Coalition of Roman States/ Pope Vitalian II / TheSaviour ((Please make sure that you research your nations role in this ATL before commenting.))  - There is a god... And his name is FIRES(I will take this nation because the current player has not yet posted)  - –Alexander 17:26, August 2, 2015 (UTC)  - Zamarak500 *Principality of Benevento/Prince Leornado II Di Fillipis - *Principality of Abkhazaria/Prince Barjik I Arjikid -  - Thisismacedon * Autonomous Karluk Tribes - Principality of Åland === Asia: ===  - AH28 * Persia - Bozistanball  - TheGreatHistorian500  -The Epic Dragon  - Indian Empire/ Emperor/ Maharaja Mahipala II/ ---Adamgerd (Talk) * Sri Lanka -  -  -  - Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl - Seiga  - Laoboy343  -  -  - User: Tao64  - ~Empress Chu Hee Seo - User: Candiesrgood * Korean Autonomous Honshu (collection of many regions) - * Korean Autonomous Shikoku and Kyushu -  -  - Revolution 9  - Erizium (talk) === Africa: ===  -  -  - Great showing. B23 (talk) 14:37, October 3, 2015 (UTC)  - Sef - Hddenevil (talk) 00:15, October 16, 2015 (UTC)Hddenevil  - snoopdigdogg11  - Kruntchie == Supranational Organizations == The High Council of the Mediterranean The High Council of Eurasia  Alliance of Sovereign East Asian Nations == Archives == 500-600 600-700 == 700 C.E. ==  '''The 7th century came and went with people living and dying just as they would have regardless of what number you had put before the word. Would the 8th century prove to be any different? It's difficult to say... Sef, Emperor of Kanem, orders for a great expansion into the surrounding territories. In turn, his people acclimate themselves with the Ghanians and spread to adjacent lands. Sef hopes for friendly relations with Ghana. Many refugees from the various African wars flee to central Africa, where the Empire of Kanem experiences mass immigration. The Kanem populations bolsters and grows rapidly. The Caliphate forces more of their terrified subjects to sail across the Red Sea to settle far into unexplored Africa. The colonists make landings and spread into the land, but their numbers drop rapidly and many of them succumb to the unforgiving terrain. The originally founded African territories begin to grow a sense of disconnect with the new migrants and in turn they begin work on a declaration of secession. The Muslim Free-State begins expansion southeast along the Caliphate's borders. They continue to preach of Muslim freedoms and their sentiment is felt throughout Africa. Gothic controlled former South-Egyptian territory becomes far more united and begins to reject Gothic rule. With the Goth’s devoting their attentions entirely elsewhere, the small budding nation declares their independence under the new name Vermundia. Much of the population follows the new ideas of a peaceful Islam and completely rejects the notion of Christianity. The new nation forms an alliance with the Muslim Free-State Thabo Khananda forms an alliance with Geberic Illdephon and the two plan to split Morocco in half amongst themselves; The Illdephons start the invasion by marching further south and conquering a Moroccan port, further strengthening their navy. Their borders expands quickly as many more Moroccan people subjugate themselves to the new growing African power. The Vandalic Kingdom, galvanized and united by a return to the old ways, are eager to take back their lands from the Moroccans. The Vandals swarm into Morocco and capture a large portion of land, meeting up with the Illdephons on the north coast. The Illdephons use their new naval ships to spread south to the former Gothic territories in the Verdinian Isles. The Illdephons build several forts and establish a presence in the abandoned area. The Upper-Egyptians continue their westward sprawl and the people become ever more disconnected, but whether it's good for Upper-Egypt to live in the 8th century could be most likely. The clash between Euric Vermundo’s Gothic walking dead men and the Caliphate’s doomed Muslim army is especially bloody. After a month long struggle, the Muslims finally overwhelm the Goths and stamp out their main military force. By the end of the battle, the Caliphate is weakened and dying. The Mbalians capitalize on this and launch an attack on western Sinai. The Mbalians make great ground and kill of much of the main Muslim fighting force, but soon lose momentum as the men continue cutting down the endless Muslim hordes without ever seeing any sign of them stopping. The Gothic presence in Arabia dies off, leaving behind a long ugly scar in the Caliphate’s territory. Gothic naval support in Alaricia manages to drive out the rebels and restore the island into one solid and loyal Gothic region. The Khazars swarm Croatia, surprising the Russian people and making great headway. This victory is short lived however, as nearly two-hundred thousand Rus’ soldiers and sixty warships heed the counteroffensive and reclaim the coasts of the Black Sea. The Caliphate sends droves of men into the Khazars territory and quickly overwhelms them, engulfing about a third of their total land. However, thanks to the Khazars naval supremacy in the Caspian, the Caliphate neglects to get a coastal foothold. The Avars makes light gains out of the Khazar’s newly colonized Adrian territory, but are repeled quickly and experience great casualties at the hands of the Khazars monstrous navy. Chenla continues their expanse after dealing with the marine threat of barbarians, and in turn manage to spread throughout the entirety of the Sumatran mainland. Followers of Buddhism continue to feel increasingly oppressed by the Ganga and their cries are heard throughout India and Asia. The spread of plague in Mbali is at an all time low, the people, however, feeling galvanized by their years of suffering and call for King Bjorn to end the fruitless war against Islam. Control over Scotland falls back to the Pictish coalition who have subordinated themselves under the Celts in exchange for giving the Celts nearly half of their gross-income on tax. Ghanian death rampages through Hispania and Iberia, and the deaths are innumerable. It is predicted that over 40% of the population is infected, whilst another 25% have already perished. This relentlessness is in part thanks to the Lombardians infecting Gothic water supplies, and in turn many new Gothic militias form and begin making counter attacks against the Lombards. The Lombards break the Frankish line and push into Burgundy, casualties on both sides are high, but the Lombards appear to have the advantage at the moment thanks to the Wyrdu’s rapid offensive. The population of Byzantium continue to dwindle as the plague ravages the countryside. Lombardian people are increasingly dis-unified and war-fatigued. Many of them simply throw down their arms and call for peace under new rule, without caring who their new overlords are to be. The Rus’ surge into the relatively unprotected capital of Warsaw and attempt to capture it with minimal destruction and loss of life. This proves difficult, however, as the Lombardians feverish volatility is a force all of its own. After three years of back and forth warfare, the Rus’ capture the ruins of Warsaw and expand their rule of a territory inhabited mostly by corpses. The Rus’ Principalities armies acquire a land connection to the Baltic Sea. The Germanic people of Albion take an offensive against their ethnically equal invaders and prove to be surprisingly loyal to Duchess Branwen. Anglo-Saxons and Germans fight side by side and their co-operation leads to a total victory in the war for Albion. The Franks continue their push into classical Lombardy and slaughter the Saxon’s military defensive. Call for troops to support the Saxon offensive proves to be an utter failure for the Celts. Only one-hundred men agree to join in the offensive and close the distance. The Celts are only successful in making amphibious landings thanks to the Franks presence, but the well trained Celtish soldiers prove instrumental in furthering Frankish pushes into Lombardy. The Jutish army meets up with the Frankish and Celtic armies and the three armies begin falling under the command of a high ranking Frankish general. This unified entente proves to be a near unstoppable force. Lombardian colonists are either captured and killed or get lost and wind up heading north. The majority of them end up in Scandinavia and settle just north of their brothers and sisters. Not all is a loss for the Lombardians, as their Scandinavian territories grow in strength and repel the Jutes, conquering much of their land. The Gothic economy flips on its head and begins hemorrhaging money. The Gothic treasuries are drained and the job market is nearly non-existent. Gothic focus on warfare gives way to a great deal of increase in general poverty throughout the empire. Tensions continue to rise between the Gothic nobles in the east and the impoverished west. Votes in Vivianis prove a majority of the populace to be in support of continued Gothic rule. The rebels are then quickly driven out of the area and their leaders executed. The Gupta continue their expanse and fill the gap between themselves and the Liang. Loss of the Tibetan king due to an unknown illness causes the kingdom to split into eleven dynasties ruled by each of his eleven sons. Ghanaian death arrives in Silla thanks to the Caliphate smuggling infected peoples into their land. The plague quickly grabs hold in the new humid environment and rapidly spreads throughout China. Japan makes great gains against the Ainu and even captures the militia leader Shakushoa. Without the militia, the continued survival of the Ainu is entirely dependent on Sillian intervention. More land is gained for the Persian-Free State as they close the land gap between themselves and the Ainu (I know the PFS is a player now, but until they make their first move they will act as an AI.) The Danes declare war on the Balts and invade them, capturing a moderate swath of lands. The Danes request the Rus’ assistance in the war. The Balts also request the Rus’ assistance in the war.  '''

Autonomous Albion:  Osryn enters into ASF training, taking after his mother in his stature he is one of the largest among his peers.

Cadfael takes to going into battle along with his troops, bolstering their nerve and their loyalty, witnessing him let slip havoc with his own blade. Cadfael marches into Lombardian territory, raiding villages and sending the spoils back to Branwen to distribute throughout the country. All troops are offered 10% of the swag that they find.

Shades are scattered out among the Lombardian people, and given the mission to incite rebellion by causing ruckus and spouting disloyalty to the public, regardless of any actual issues.

Branwen orders continuation of a wall along the border of Albion and Lombardy.

Cadfael is trusting of the Frankish troops, as he knows firsthand of their prowess in battle.

 Japan: We are launching a massive offensive against Sillian forces in Hokkaido, we are also invading Korea.

Khazar Khaganate: We are losing this war but our resolve shall never wave. Our leader has figured the reason why so many people are dying by the cruelty of this plague. It is because so many do not believe the word of Christ anymore. The only way to cure this plague is to make holy war against the pagans and the non-believers and to join in our new found war to convert this people. We send ravens and spread rumours that there is a crusade happening to all nations with a sizable Christian population to join us in our troubles. We send our ships in the Black Sea against the Russian and Caliphate held coastline and to raid coastal settlements. We will also send envoys to the Byzantine empire and the Gepids to join us in war. We also will give Abkhazian people, the Alan horde and the Oghuz tribes more independence if they help us in our war. We will also send an envoy to the tribes to the Afrighids, Kangars, Kimaeks, Kipchacks, Turgesh and the other tribes in return for money and all the fertile land they can desire. We will continue to attack and raid the borders of our enemies. We will send envoys to Tabaristan and Gilan in the Caliphate to help us. * The Gothic Empire sends a letter entailing that if the Khazars were truly Christian, they would cease their aliance with the heathenish Lombardians and join the High Council of the Mediterranean. Silla/Korean Empire: Our export-oriented economy has made our economy vulnerable to changing external demand, but luckily, we did not trade with the Caliphate that much. We still compensate for this miniscule loss by drastically increasing trade with the Chenla Queendom. Regent Wonjang wouldn't take any chances, and he starts Silla's transition from an export-oriented economy to a consumer-oriented one. We continue to harvest Northern Silla's vast mineral wealth, estimated by mathematicians to be worth $6 trillion in value. We acquire new technologies to help us mine the precious minerals. We continue "dumping" excess agricultural produce to Chenla to avoid inflation, we see this as a two-way beneficial relationship, since it'll help Chenla's people avoid starvation. Regent Wonjang sees a lot of potential in the Chenla Queendom, citing its fairly large population, an abundance of raw materials, and a large room for area expansion. He knows that the Chenla Queendom will make a good ally in the upcoming years. Due to some structural problems becoming increasingly prominent, some advisors (the second highest power) ask for the abolition of the strict, hereditary bone rank system, which only allows people with an aristocratic background to obtain high positions. King Wonjang considers this idea, but he thinks that the elite minority will rebel and the Sillan state will collapse. The advisors finally convince him to abolish the rigid bone rank system, getting rid of the increasingly powerful aristocratic families. Due to the Ghanan plague, population growth almost halts. Most of the government, including the Royal Family and the Regent's family, is sent into palaces located in the hillsides where they are isolated from the rest of the population. Potentially infected individuals are killed and their bodies are smuggled into Japan. Our population is estimated to be 17.8 million people, a 0.56% increase from the last estimate from five years ago, though there are less people from the younger cohorts, the labor force is still rapidly growing and prevents negative population growth. We launch a massive sanitation campaign to avoid the spread of the plague and population decline, and to combat decline in the labor force, we dramatically reduce unemployment and increase worker productivity. Public bathrooms are installed in its main cities. After discovering the source of the smuggled bodies, we ban all trade and travel with the Caliphate (and its allies) and any Western nation. We suggest the Chenla Queendom to also impose the trade and travel ban. We start increasing taxes to create more revenue for the government, and use the money to fund our sanitation campaign. Due to our advance technology, high troop morale, and the fact our population outnumbers Japan's by more than five times, we are confident that we will win. We begin to focus our energy on one front and focus on defending the Korean peninsula from the lesser Japanese navy. Our surprise counterattack somewhere in Southern Honshu ends in victory, and we gain large tracts of coastal land. We incorporate these areas into the Saeloun-do, meaning the "New Province". We begin to attack in all directions, from the north with 20,000 troops (less because it is less populated), and from the South and West, with a total of 170,000 troops. We withdraw most of our troops from Hokkaido and order the massive evacuation of the Ainu population to the Sakhalin province, this will probably result in the temporary loss of Hokkaido, but it is worth it. We use this surge of extra labor to manufacture supplies needed in our war. We increase our military presence on the Sakhalin, with 30,000 troops patrolling the borders. *'''(Chenla) If the Silla are open to a "Special Relationship" (like the one the US and the UK enjoy) where scientific advances are shared, joint military operations take place, the prospect of making each other's economy better, etc. This will cause a free flow of scientific advances and technologies between the two nations and bring their friendship much closer.  *OOC (Chenla) Also not quite sure if you accepted the offer of building embassies in our two capitols.  *Silla: I, King Wonjang agree to open a "Special Relationship" between the two countries. We will begin building a Chenlan embassy in the Jeju province (the southernmost point of Silla).  The Kingdom of Mbali: King Bjorn is faced with a difficult decision: He could assist The Republic of Morocco and gain one rather unorganized ally; or he could promise The Vandals and The Illdephons''' to keep his nose out and avoid gaining two, more organized enemies. He discusses his choices with his advisors and they unanimously agree that Mbali is in too deep -with the Caliphate’s persistence and the plague that still ravages the land- to start another war. Diplomats are sent to The Vandals and Illdephons explaining that their attack on The Republic of Morocco poses a bit of a hindrance on Mbali. However, the threat could be avoided if they were to ally with Mbali instead. The navy continues to grow in the Red Sea. King Bjorn hears the cries of his people to end the war with the Caliphate. Though complete control over Sinai is important, Bjorn is content with the claimed area. King Bjorn writes up a treaty: The Caliphate can keep claimed lands in Sinai, and Mbali keeping its claimed lands in Sinai - as well as a 50-year non-aggression pact. If The Caliphate deny the treaty a palisade is set up along the claimed territories in Sinai reinforcing defensive procedures used in the past, and the Mbalian navy is to attack Caliphate Sinai full force, focusing its western coast. King Bjorn cannot express enough thanks to Prince Salavarman for his gracious gift of elephants. Bjorn had read stories of these savage war beasts but never thought he’d get to see one first hand. King Bjorn makes it against Mbalian law to kill elephants, claiming they have royal blood and that they should be treated as such. Elephants are bred and incorporated into the army, and some are even acclimated and released to the wild. The Frankish Kingdom, with the Lombard offensive into Burgundy still ongoing, sees King Joseph raise an army of both cavalry and infantry, which has the goal of crushing the Lombardy threat in our borders. King Gerald appoints his brother, Prince Joseph, as the overall commander of the entente forces pushing into Lombardy, and with many calling for peace, the King feels that this may be the perfect time to begin establishing Frankish control over Saxony. Thus, a new Holy Saxon Duchy is established in the conquered lands, with the capital being centered in an area soon to known as Lipsia, which is set to become a major city and trading post for the Franks, with the blessing of the Pope. Christian missionaries are sent around the conquered areas,  spreading the faith, and helping to stamp out the pagan ways. The continued expansion of the navy sees it growing to over 150 ships. These ships are used to guard against pirates, and help to protect the shipping and trade of the Franks. King Gerald's son, Prince William, is still searching for a bride, and should any of our allies wish, they may propose a bride for him. The treasury begins to grow from the massive amount of conquered gold and land taken from the Lombards, and taxes are imposed on the conquered areas. As the plague continues to ravage the land, quarantine is put in place in the south, and massive amounts of resources are put together to help stop the spread of the plague. As Frankish ships patrol the seas, the King decides to send his ships into the Baltic, where he hopes to help cut off the Lombards from their colonies, and starve them out. Another plan is also made to land Frankish troops in Northern Lombardy, with the goal of completely surrounding the Lombards. 20,000 men are being used in this operation. A review of Frankish military might shows that, with a grand total of 300,000 men, the Franks are committed to these fronts as follows. 150,000 Frankish troops invading Lombardy, combined with 50,000 Anglo-Saxons beings the force to 200,000 men. 50,000 men and cavalry are defending Burgundy. 20,000 are taking part in the attack on the Lombard coast, and 50,000 Franks, aided by 40,000 Anglo-Saxons, are helping to defend Albion. That leaves only 30,000 men left, and these men are still kept as reserves, being allowed to remain home. The establishment of several Christian Churches concedes with the destruction of several Pagan temples. York and Essex both experience relative growth, with both areas becoming major trade routes for the Franks. The conquered Pictish land is made into the Pictish Duchy, and several forts are built to help guard trade in the Duchy. Chenla Queendom/Kingdom: Thanks to the warnings provided by the Supreme Elegance of the Silla, Queen Jayavedi shuts down all trade with the Caliphate and other disease riddled nations of the West. Trade will reopen when signs of the plague have died down. Trade is increased with the Silla, Ganga and the Gupta. Like the Silla, Queen Jayavedi also begins government funded sanitation programs to dramatically decrease the chances of the plague coming to the Chenla Queendom. She also has the Royal Scouts with their vast network of acquiring information check all ships coming to the Queendom or simply passing through the Strait of Malaka. This is done off the mainland with the Royal Scouts wearing masks with herbs in them that are thought to fend of disease. The people who are not ethnic Chenlan citizens are told to turn back from whence the came from or are immediately eliminated. Any Chenlan citizen showing signs of the plague is immediately sent to quarantine on the small island near the Northwest coast of the mainland. Also to ensure that the plague doesn't get anywhere near the Queendom, Queen Jayavedi has the Royal Navy occupy all the small uninhabited islands Northwest and West to the Island of Sumatra and establish checkpoints there. '''To thank the Silla for their friendly advise a 30 foot, solid gold Buddha statue is sent to the Sillan capitol with a regiment of 30 Royal Chenlan Elephants (the elephants are also a gift). Since only the Royal Navy ships are large enough to transport the elephants they are sent to deliver them. A quarter of the Royal Navy is sent with High Admiralty Chan Leung to deliver the gifts and assist the Silla in the war against the Japanese if the want it because the Chenla will always honor its alliance with the Silla. A declaration of war against Japan is also sent with the High Admiralty Chan Leung if the great leadership of the Silla does call upon Chenlan assistance and askance if Chenla could build an embassy in the Sillan capitol, and in turn a Sillan embassy would be built in Luang Prabang. If the Silla don't require Chenlan assistance then the delivery force will return home. ''' The start of the new century goes very well for the Chenlan people, in the year 700 the wedding of Prince Thepaman and Princess Chamekamba of the Ganga, commences in the capitol. The city of Luang Prabang is bustling with excitement as thousands of spectators come to watch the wedding and the War Games celebrating this special occasion. Also the return of the beloved Prince Salavarman raises more excitement as many people gather to hear the stories of his journey to the Westerlands. With him he brought over many new technologies in which the Royal Engineers take complete advantage of and begin to study them. The naval technologies from the Gothic Empire is immediately implemented, as their designs on war ships are far more superior. In the year 702 an even bigger wedding is thrown for the Queen as she marries Lord Jun Pheng, a nobleman in which she attended the Royal Academy of Luang Prabang with and was always closely associated with. She still retains all her power as the sole leader of the Chenla as dictated by Chenlan law. With the great political and economic prosperity of the beginning of the new century, a 56 foot statue begins its construction in honor of the late King Jayavarman,  in the now bustling port city of Kong Sad in Sumatra, for planning out this great prosperous time. Another statue begins its construction in the capitol in honor of Queen Jayavedi for continuing her father's great work. All the positive morale flowing through the Queendom has Queen Jayavedi end slavery of all ethnic Chenlan peoples. The barbarians from the southern islands are still subject to enslavement. She also declares Buddhism as the official religion of Chenla and has a massive Wat begin construction in Luang Prabang; all other religions are still legal to practice as long as they don't cause strife within the Queendom. Within a few years of its full colonization, the island of Sumatra produces more than 60 percent of Chenlan goods. More farms are built and natural resources are mined. This causes the Chenlan economy to swell. To deter pirates from kidnapping Chenlan citizens from Sumatra and raiding; Queen Jayavedi hashes out a deal with the largest pirate gang in the waters around Sumatra, the Black Vipers is what they call themselves. The deal says that if they no longer raid Chenlan trade ships, leave Chenlan citizens alone, and deter other pirate gangs they would get paid and not be hunted by the Royal Navy. The deal to everyone's surprise drastically reduces the abduction of Chenlan citizens and the raiding of trade ships. The Royal Engineers continue to make advances in technology, especially with the material brought back by Prince Salavarman. They begin plans of improving infrastructure throughout the Queendom with funding from the Royal Crown. They also begin to formulate new plans of sending more Engineers West in ten years to gather technologies and information because Prince Salavarman's trip did prove to be successful. With all the new information the Royal Engineers begin the construction of the Royal Library in Luang Prabang to further the city's reputation as being the central hub of knowledge and culture in the Queendom. The Royal Scouts continue to survey land throughout the Queendom for deposits of natural resources and areas for potential mining. They also send out to the island of Bornéo for future plans of colonization. Queen Jayavedi doesn't plan to colonize the island until the year 720 when the Royal Navy and the Royal Standard Army are significantly stronger. Also the decree from Queen Jayavedi that states no ethnic Chenlan can be enslaved, causes many former slaves to join the RSA, the Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant Corps. Greatly strengthening the armed forces. *'''Regent Wonjang would like to thank Queen Jayavedi for sending the gifts; a 56 foot tall statue of Buddha, and some elephants, to the Sillan capital. He sends the elephants to Jeju instead of Seorabeol, due to Jeju's warmer climate. He also appreciates the military aid in our war with Japan. He would also appreciate if Chenla shares their new knowledge (obtained from the west) with Silla, stating that it'll help them in their war with Japan and help them defend the Korean peninsula from the Japanese navy.  Coalition of Picts:''' We turn our entire population into Pictish Paganism. We also fund our economy, by turning most of our country side into towns. We close down on immigration and whoever wants to immigrate must not have the plague. We destroy all monasteries and churches using their gold to create Pagan Ritual Places and also the help the economy and military. We also shoot down anything, which comes from the mainland to prevent the plague. We send Legion I to explore the Northern Sea and conquer any uninhabited land they see. Along with the Legion, as extras we send astrologers and cartographers to map the place. Coalition of Picts (Secret, Exception: Celts): We also reorganise our troops into two parts. The Allied Legion and The Pictish Legion, with the Celtic troops under The Allied Legion and The Pictish Troops under The Pictish Legion. The Allied Legion is under the control of the Celts. The Pictish Legions is under the control of the Picts. The Pictish Legion is 50/50 with army and navy. The Pictish Navy has 30% Light, 60% Heavy, 10% Transportation. The Pictish army has 60% Infantry, 20% Missile Infantry, 10% Missile Cavalry, 8% Heavy Cavalry, 2% Light Cavalry. We take out of The Pictish Legion 50% of troops, but also improve it. We retrain the infantry to fight as a phalanx with pikes, like Alexander The Great's army. We also improve their armour from leather armour into iron armour. We drill them daily as a phalanx and also alone, in case the phalanx broke. We create compound bows, so our missiles can effectively shoot in the cold, damp conditions of the North. We train our missile cavalry to shoot accurately at high speeds, by using straw dummies, as well as training our missile infantry at stationary into straw dummies. We breed and buy our cavalry, so that our light cavalry is the fastest cavalry we can afford and the heavy cavalry is the strongest cavalry we can afford. For our navy, we create light, but fragile for our light and strong, but slow for our heavy. Our Transportation navy is in between. The Army and Navy are combined into a Legion, which has in total 5000 troops. 75% is our typical army composition and 20% is our typical navy composition and 3% are support (cook, water, engineer, etc) and 2% are extra. The extras depend based on the mission. '''We let the Celts decide how to choose the composition of their Allied Legion, but ask them if we can assimilate the allied legion into the Pictish legions and so ban the division between the two legions and so improve their relations. We will train their legion under the same composition as ours and in return the Celts will pay 50% of the costs. Celtic Secret Response:''' We accept to allow them to train together, and we shall pay the expense of the additional troops being trained. Ganga Dynasty: The marriage between Princess Camekamba and Prince Thepatan of the Chenla Kingdom took place in the Chenla capitol. Both the Raja Khadaga II and his brother Mahakala were present, even if the Raja later said he regretted to go in a Buddhist realm. Many chenlan nobles complained about the arrogance of disrespect of the Raja. His younger brother, although only 17, impressed many noble in his attempt to continue diplomatic relationship between the two kingdoms in the name of his brother (even if many suspect the later was never informed of it). Mahakala also used this time in Chenla to meet his bastard brother Indravarman, who was six at the time. In the mainland, it was again the uncle of the Raja, Jagadeva and Chandrajara. Jagadevra is living in opulence and Chandrajara is making life a living hell for northern Buddhist. With the return of Khadaga II from Chenla, things just get worst. In 701, a new special tax is made for Buddhists, and temples must now pay enormous money in order to remain open. The nobles of the capital, who receive most of the money, are living like kings. In 703, Buddhists are not allowed in Bhubaneswar anymore, and those willing to enter must pay enormous brides in corruption. However, the arrival in 702 of Mahakala in the power structure made many hope he would stop the future bloodshed. As part of the tradition, the Raja gave his brother an important position in the administration, promoting him treasurer of the Ganga Dynasty, an office which was occupied by their uncle Jagadevra until now. Many nobles who opposed Jagadevra and Chandrajara (should it be because of their policies or the among of power they and their allied own) began to see in Mahakala a chance to  make their voice heard to the Raja. Within the following years, the nobility began to divide itself into two factions: the Grina (green) Faction, led by the uncles of the Raja (although it was evident that Chandrajara was the real leader of the two), and the Nila (blue) Faction, led by Mahakala and seconded by Kahamala Dandavaran, his brother in law. Both faction fight on the politic scene to allow their leader to influence the Raja. However, the Grina easily own the power structure and the Raja's thrust. In 704, Khadaga II passes a law making Buddhism an illegal faith in the kingdom. Even worst, his uncle Chandrajara is publicly encouraging persecution against them. This led to many Buddhists manifestations. In those years of turmoil, Buddhists of the Bengal turn to a Guru named Susarman Visayapati to be their leader. Guru Susarman call the Buddhists to revolt, saying that negotiations have failed. '''Many Buddhists in the Bengal fallow him in his revolt to force the bring down Khadaga II and his followers. He also explain he does not desire independance, but a better place for Buddhists in the Ganga Dynasty.''' The local nobility fearing for their life, escaped and went hidding in Bhubaneswar, asking the Raja to act. And there is worse. Living in the far north of the kingdom, a Jainist nobleman named Hirapal Yadava heard of the revolt. Seeing it as an opportunity to gain power and influence in the kingdom after a Buddhist victory, he converts to Buddhism and claims his loyalty to Guru Susarman. Hypocrite as he is, he claims to the people he always wanted to stop the evil Raja, but never had a chance to act on his own. And now, as he claims, the Guru opened the path to courage and salvation for all Buddhists. With his great lies, Hirapal is able to gather many locals in his army, and join force with the Guru. And thus, in 704, the Ganga Buddhist Crisis began. India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. In response to the Ganga Buddhist Crisis, India broke its alliance with Ganga Dynasty and begin mobilized its military and sent to Ganga-Indian border. * OOC (Ganga): OK, I'm curious, because it doesn't make sense in my head. Why are you mobilizing against me? I mean, you are pro-Hinduism (you passed so many turns converting your nation), so why doing this for Buddhists? Also, don't we have a 50 years non-agression since 682? I kust want it to be clear for me so I know how to answer next turn. '''Lombardy: The Lombard ambassador in the Caliphate informs his majesty, the Caliph that, due to the Caliphate's continued aggression toward Khazaria, a Lombard ally, and a nation THAT WAS ALLIED WITH THE CALIPHATE IN A WAR, the presence of Lombardy in the High Council of the Middle East will be terminated, and the alliance with the Caliphate will be broken off. The members of the Lombard embassy, founded by the first King of Lombardy, pack their things and leave for Khazaria, muttering about Arab stupidity.''' The Army of Wyrdu continues its push toward Provence. By now, its focus is more on doing as much damage to the Goths as possible. To this end, every village encountered has its inhabitants slaughtered to a man, and is torched. Caravans or traders found on the road are killed and their corpses looted, and any domesticated animals found by the army are killed and cooked. Soldiers begin stuffing infected corpses into sources of water, obstructing wells, and choking streams and rivers with corpses. Downstream, in some of the largest rivers of the area, a blackish, oily, infected film, permeated by an unholy stench, drifts on top of the water. The armies of Freir and Freija band together and focus on defending the Slavic coast, sacrificing the inland territories to the individual chieftains. The king orders two diplomatic messages sent, one to the Jutes, and one to the Goths. ((These are contained below in two separate diplomatic posts due to their length)). All tribal armies along the Saxon border retreat toward Lombardy, while the large, state-owned armies in Lombardy move toward the capital, which has its walls strengthened with a mixture of tree-trunks, mortar, and gravel. The cisterns of the capital are expanded, and massive amounts of non-perishable food are brought in and stored away, often in the houses of those families that were wiped out by the plague. The entire population of the capital begins drilling to withstand a siege. Lombardy (Diplomatic): The Jutes are requested to stop their war against Lombardy in exchange for several concessions. These are: *     The Jutes will be payed a hefty annual fee for the next ten years. * Jutish traders will receive an 85% customs and tax reduction rate at Lombard ports indefinitely. * Jutland will receive all land they currently occupy in Scandinavia (Scandinavia, not territory in Germany/Poland, or the Hailuoto island off the coast of Finland). * The Lombards will promise to halt future expansion along the Jutish border, and will sign a non-agression pact with the Jutes for however long they feel necessary. * ((Mod Response)) The Jutes will accept peace on the condition that they be allowed to maintain their currently held territories. Lombardy (Diplomatic): The Goths are requested a discussion of peace terms. They are also requested to keep in mind during the talks, though, that they are currently experiencing a major insurrection in their south-west, another one in their south-east, they have just lost a massive army to the Caliphate, they have lost occupation of the Sinai peninsula, their prosperous heartland is being decimated by the plague, internal trans-Mediterranean trade is completely nonexistent, their government is likely running under a massive deficit, and their entire Empire seems on the verge of total socio-political collapse. * The Gothic Empire agrees to discuss peace with the Lombardian leader, but will only accept on the condition that all of its allies do the same. The Franks note the fact that the Lombards have completely ignored the might of the Frankish Kingdom, and find it most annoying that they would be so arrogant as to think that they would be able to withstand the Frankish powerhouse. Thus, we tell them that they will not be given peace of any form, and will be made subservient to the Frankish Kings. Now and forever, all Lombards will be the slaves of the Franks. Celtic League: So far the lands have been fine under the rule of King Jon Eversnow. Five years have come and gone without a hitch. The Pictish have gotten their land back even with how thin their military is. We will have to assign more soldiers to help the Pictish secure their borders. (let's say we send 1000 Celtic civilians and 200 soldiers) We begin trading with the Pictish the silver from our mine. Both raw silver and handcrafted jewelry (This should count as Improved economy). The celebration of Quin Everstorm's 60th birthday took place today (The year 703) very few Celts have lived to this age in the past 50 years, but also most Celts lived in the harsh conditions of Greenland. (Celtic Secret): We send three different ships filled with three different groups of spies. We send one group to the Goths to try to learn more about their armor. Our Leather Celtic armor isn’t as good as the present day Iron Suits. We also need to learn about their weaponry, to see if Celtic Iron is still the best We send some spies south to the Terrorist south of the Goths. We want to find out how they are still able to succeed in their rebellion against the very powerful Goths. And finally we send a group to the east to spy and steal any technology we can use. (Sorry for the lackluster Writing this turn. Just not feeling it today.) Avar: With Khazars busy fighting the Rus' and Caliphate regroup our armies, build back up and attack again, this time in Caucasus with all our forces. We improve economy and expand far eastward. The Gothic Empire: Beloved and charming leader of the Ostrogoths, Theudis Harents, dies in his sleep and leaves a power rift in the rich eastern Gothic regions. His superior, chairman for the Visigoths, Roderic Lousean, holds a meeting of the senate where a new Ostrogothic leader will be elected. After much deliberation, the heir to the Chindaswintha estate and grandnephew of a once fearsome arena champion, Harric Chindaswintha III is elected as the acting chairman for the Ostrogothic people. Roderic congratulates Chindaswintha III and welcomes him into office; taking time to show his respect and admiration for great uncle Audo Chindaswintha, as Roderic personally was at the arena on the day that he died. Following the loss of the Gothic military in Africa, the efforts to gain African religious supremacy are hopeless and an order is put out to call all remaining units out of Mbali and surrounding territories back home. With the Sinian portage completely cut off from the empire, the naval presence in the Red Sea will surely become discontented. To battle this, Roderic begins to commend and accept non-expansive peaceful Islamic sects such as, but not limited to the newly formed sovereign nations of Vermundia and the Muslim Free-State. Gothic diplomats going under the name of  “The African Peace Committee” (APC), travel to these areas bringing gifts of foreign foods and tradition. An alliance under the APC name is offered with the newly established Muslim states in exchange for the allowance of establishing land trade routes through their territories with Gothic portages in along the coast of the Red Sea. Seeing the expanse of the Gothic breakaway state, the Illdephons, the Goths offer peace with the rebels and ensure they maintain their independence. In exchange the Goths demand that the Illdephons and their allies cease their raids against Gothic ships and return 25% of their confiscated naval goods. The Goths will also help establish governmental control for the Vandalic Kingdom and the Illdephosians over the Moroccan anarchy on the condition that they join the APC and discontinue their rapid aggressive expansion. Considering the fact that the Illdephons lack the proper equipment to mine gold from the area, the Goths agree to send teams of workers to assist in ore mining, in exchange for a 40/60 split of the profit, the majority funding going to the new independent African nations. The spread of plague becomes widely associated with falcons, and as a result, the falcon is seen as a symbol of death. All falconry towers and aviaries are reduced to smoke and cinder, leaving the east and west in their state of discontinued communications, but also ensuring that the spread of the plague calm down while the nation recovers. The Goths formally commend the duchy of Sieghberts for their decision to ban falconry, and soon follow in suit making it a nationwide policy. If communications were to continue, there would have to be some newly devised means. Several scouting teams are sent to the abandoned canary islands in search of new birds that weren’t carriers for the disease. The black raven is discovered and brought back to Spain. New aviaries are built in place of the old and new jobs are created in raven breeding. Dried condensed seed is sold in bulk throughout rural western ships and in turn many westerners adopt personal falcons to fill the rift in their hearts left by the loss of their former avian companions. Plans are in the works to begin opening up messenger stations throughout the east and west, using papyrus parchments to deliver information throughout the empire. For now, information about the potential noble uprisings is suppressed and the impoverished westerners are to remain ignorant.  A reward system is put in place to encourage citizens to beat back the Lombardian hordes. A bounty office is set up in Madrid, Rome, Vivianis and Vasconia where any Gothic citizen can bring Lombardian heads and be paid accordingly. Made obvious by the macabre title, “The Headsman’s Payday” is a reward policy devised that entails a a payout to Lombardian head hunters; For every man’s head, citizens can expect a payout of two Euros, the heads of high ranking officers earn five Euros and women and children earn only about 50 Eurettes. For heads of the infected, the reward is completely void. Watching troops be cut down by the fearsome Lombardian archers encourages the Goths increase production on tower shields and decrease use of the newly invented Targo. The excess targos are repurposed by sending them to the nearby subordinate Albionites and Anglo-Saxons who can use them in their push against the Lombardian flank and help in cutting off the occupied Lombard territory from classical Lombardy. Covert weapon engineers perform espionage against the Lombards and take note of their bow and arrow designs, planning to incorporate them into the Goths own military. In hopes of galvanizing Gothic troops against their common enemy, the truth about Lombards tainting Gothic waters is exposed. Clean-up crews are dispatched to clear the waterways and burn the corpses piling up from the years of warfare. The clothes of the Gothic cleanup crews are to burned once a day as well, and as a result, the production of fabrics such as cottons, wools and silks becomes instrumental. New jobs are created in mass clothing factories and business owners are encouraged to capitalize on the opportunity by buying in bulk and selling for a profit. Shepards grow in importance and in turn the sheep population begins to grow rapidly. It is hoped that the excess fabrics will prove useful for trade opportunities in the future. The Lupexcercito, making great gains against Lombardy, becomes viewed as the Goth’s main fighting force. Many Gothic traditionalists are offended by the increased reliance on woman soldiers and begin to call out for better male representation on the fronts. Chariman Roderic’s response is the redirect the Gothic conscripts from Albion to the Croatian front line and begins relieving members of the Lupexcercito from the heavy battles of the at the war’s head. The mysterious leader of the the Lupexcercito,  Victoriana Hairuwulf,  breaks it into three main battalions, consisting of ten legions each. Each battalion is led by a female Gothic general; the easternmost being led by Aura Austraguta, the west led by the daughter of General Lazarus III, Egica Lazarus, and the middle is brought up by the unpredictable and potentially volatile, Amoret Beremud. The legions in turn are led by legates, there being thirty in total. One of the legates stands above the rest and is recognized by Victoriana for her valor and ferocity in battle. Legate Ricca is elected head legate and acts as a pivotal agent in the ladder of communication between troops and their commanding officers. Beneath Ricca, she has three advisors who stay clear of the fighting but help plot strategy and maintain communications with the troops; Narcissa, Nyx and Opaline are renowned far and wide for their strategical prowess. Narcissa is particularly famous for neglecting the needs of ethnic non-equals and preaching her bigoted views toward believers of the Germanic and Islamic faiths - in turn, the term “narcissist” is adopted by the Goth’s to denote someone who holds themselves and their own beliefs high above that of others. Opaline, however, is on the polar opposite end of the spectrum and boasts equality and acceptance, whilst Nyx simply acts as the mediator between the two. The Vangothic port is reopened as a naval epicenter for the mediterranean world. It is hoped that the Vandals and Illdephons will accept the Gothic alliance and in turn meet and convene with the Gothic seamen. A conference is planned to be held every six months where the three nations will share what new discoveries or inventions they have come up with in efforts to improve marine power and secure the Gothic stance of supremacy. A marble statue of Franz Vagneriano and Euric Vermundo shaking hands is erected in Gocithica to represent the unity of the Gothic military and to mourn the loss of those battling in the Sack of Mecca. It is hoped that the memory of these brave soldiers will live on through the art of others and they are recorded in history as heroes. The Gothic navy, led by Avagis Eunamus, tightens its blockade of the Lombards and begins closing in on coastal territory. Several detachments of soldiers attempt to make amphibious landings in the area, intent on destroying Lombardian ports and reducing their navy to nothing. All trade ships and colonists are captured, raided, and promptly reincorporated into the ever-growing Gothic navy. The isle of Alaricia undergoes mass political reformation. A census is taken in the area to get a better idea of population vs density in order to determine the proper number of representative delegates to sit on the Roman senate. Ports are constructed to better connect trade between Alaricia and Sabador to help them become codependent on each other and less dependent on the empire as a whole. The two islands are considered a “middle-state” in that they don’t fall under the jurisdiction of the west or the east. This loose jurisdiction leads political identities to become less diverse and for tensions to calm as disagreements fade out of relevancy. Chairman Roderic Lousean travels to the northeasternmost territories to give a speech to the local militias and military leaders. An hour into the filibustrous speech and the crowd begins to heckle and boo. Roderic is surprised, having always been renowned for his charm and ability to get the people on his side. His tricks don’t work this time however, as too often have his lies have carried no weight. The crowd becomes irate and are barely held back by the royal Lousean guard. The crowd separates allowing a walkway for someone from the back of the crowd. The leader of the Lupexcercito, Victoriana Hairuwulf, reveals herself publically for the first time as she stands before the high chairman. The resemblance between the two is uncanny, and Roderic is left speechless with his mouth agape. He begins to mutter a few words but is cut off by Victoriana as she steps forward, the Lousean guard, recognizing her authority and allowing it. Victoriana draws her finely crafted Celtic dagger and holds it out against Roderic’s throat. “Stop. Pray now, for the old and infirm.”   (“Prohibere. Ora senior iam et infirmior .”) “I will speak to you, you are my daughter; my ally by virtue of flesh and blood!” (“Loquar filiame! Propinqui secundum carnem et sanguinem”) “I am not a friend. (“Non sum amicus . I am the people .                                                 Sum populum . I am your reckoning . “                        Ero mors tua .”) ''' ''' With those final resounding words, Roderic realizes his people have forsaken him. He looks into the eyes of his daughter and sees nothing but hatred. Defeated, Roderic turns and makes a mad dash for his podium where Alaric II’s memoirs are located. His daugher, leader of the Lupexcercito, Victoriana Hairuwulf, or, Sventhila Lousean, unshoulders her bow and pulls an arrow back against the string. Roderic clasps the memoirs against his chest and attempts to make his escape, but is stopped short as an arrow hits its mark directly between his shoulder blades. The chairman collapses to the ground and rolls over to face his daughter one last time. His final breaths escape his lips as his eyes glaze over and the world fades from his sight. He smiles at the girl as she kneels over him and mutters his dying words: ''“Catalus usurpus ursum ... Quam pulchra es et matre amet; Te amo, filia mea. ”''  “And so the cub dethrones the bear ... You are just as beautiful as your mother. I love you, my daughter” Sventhilla rises from her father’s body a new woman, and is accepted as the new leader of the united Goths. She renounces her old fake name and exposes her true identity as heir to the throne. She pledges to lead the nation back to the state of its glory days, with peace and prosperity not being an unreachable goal, but instead an immediate reality. She declares the meeting to be adjourned and allows the people to continue about their business. The Lousean guards are ordered to take Roderic to the Lousean mausoleum where his funeral proceedings are to be prepared. She climbs down off the stage to attend to her duties once more. This time, however, with Alaric II’s memoirs clutched underneath her arm. Caliphate: We begin our invasion of Sinai. We blockade the barbarian part of Saudi Arabia. We move 200 infected people into China and Chelna, with this working well in the past. We continue to expand in Africa, expanding 3800 pixels. We offer the Treaty of Asmara to the Muslim Free State. We wish for the Persian Client State and the Persian Free State to reunite as 'Greater Persia'. This won't be a client state of the Caliphate but would allow Caliphate troops pass through it. We continue to invade the Kazakh and say to the Lombards 'fine' if they want to leave. We aid the rebels in the Goths. We would like the Celtic League and the Franks to join the High Council of Eurasia and in return they'll have to cut all ties with the Goths but won't have to declare war on them. We build our navy And huge ships so we can be the king of the sea. We build our army and military. We blockade Sinai. == 705 C.E. == ((The color of the Khazars has been changed to a dark brown/blood red to avoid confusion.)) ''' Five more grueling years would pass of war, famine, and plague in the western world. Thousands die out and the streets are figuratively paved with blood. Those left alive by the year 705 have either developed immunities to the plague, or have miraculously managed to avoid the infected. One thing is for certain, and that is that the only way to beat this plague is through versatility; adaptation to the unconquerable, a familiar motif witnessed throughout history. Human cruelty would prove to be a leading ally to the spread of Ghanaian Death, as biological warfare becomes used nearly universally. The normally untouchable asian nations, being especially susceptible to the new, virulent, disease, are quick to become sick and spread illness throughout the dense population.  Silla and the northernmost half of the Liang are hit especially hard by the plague and many empirical trade routes are abandoned. By consolidating loose power and settling into abandoned villages, the newly formed Uyghur Khaganate carves out a personal haven from the carcass of the East Turkic Khanate. The Uyghurs form loose alliances with a nearby group of nomadic tribals by the name of the Karluks, prompting them to settle in and adopt a nation capital, naming it Suyab. The Karluks hear the Khazars cries for help and begin to raid Rus’ and Avar caravans. Japanese begin to flood Hokkaido and capture much of the Ainu mainland. The Japanese offensive leads them to make amphibious landings in Korea at great cost to Japanese life. The response from allied Asian nations is a violent and quick one, as the Silla and Chenla ally to push the Japanese menace out of Ainu territory. The anti-Buddhist sentiments of the Ganga are spoken of far and wide. Though Buddhism, being a strict religion of peace, seems incapable of doing anything to stop it. Many Buddhist revolutionaries refuse to give in to violence and instead give peaceful protests and begin preaching and hoping to convert locals to their cause. India lines its troops along the Gangan border and plans for liberation of the Buddhist people. Much of the Indian population is confused, as they are a nation of Hindus, and wonders why they would fight and die for a theology separate from that of their own. The Tibetan dynasties group up into clans consisting of two or three dynasties each. These clans are named after the ancient Tibetan inhabitants, the Se, Rmu, Stong and Ldong. These clans are then subdivided into the Dbra, Vgru, Ldongza, Lga, Dbas and Brdav. A royal marriage between a Tibetan prince and a Guptan princess takes place, solidifying an alliance between the two nations. A child is born by the name of Rabgyal Ngawang Jigme and is considered to be the heir to the Ldong dynasty as well as having stakes in some northwestern Guptan territories. Gupta begins to offer a safe haven for Buddhists who would seek to escape the oppressive religious regime of the Ganga. The Queendom of Chenla continues to consolidate power and admiration from the eastern world. Their rapid development and presence in the Gulf of Thailand and Java Sea causes many wandering maritime clans to settle in along island coasts and begin to consolidate counter forces to the Chenlan policy of expansionism. The Black Vipers settle in on the island of Borneo and begin to build ports for their navy. Increased traffic on the island causes the locals to unify and the Bruneian Sultanate soon forms under the control of Sultan Alak Brunei. Chenlan scouts on the island are seen as a threat and promptly butchered by the natives. Suggestions from the Caliphate for a re-unification of Free Persia and Subordinate Persia are considered by a large majority of the populace. The end decision still pivots on the choices made by the leaders of the two nations. With the focus of the Caliphate lying entirely on military efforts, the people of Saudi Arabia become discontented and begin crying out for more attention from the government. Overwhelming Muslim force cuts the Khazar Khaganate in half, many of the people converting to Islam and subjugating themselves under new rule. It would seem the Khazar Khaganate is on the unfortunate verge of collapse. Although the nation shows great potential in naval combat and manages to assert their supremacy in the Caspian and the Adrian, the overwhelming number of enemies is simply too much to bear. Crimea is reclaimed by the Rus’ Principality, and with their lands returned the assault against the Khazars becomes that much easier. With such a large number of Dromons in the Caspian and the Adrian, the Khazars become a sort of naval superpower for the Middle East. The Avar controlled territories are reclaimed and the Khazars find it immensely easy to make landings in Avar territory. Seeing an opportunity to consolidate power, the Avars invade the Khazars and capture a moderate chunk of land. The royal couple formed from marriage between Avar and Khazar stands strong, and the two run away to start a family of their own away from their oppressive and warlike overlords. The Caliphate crushes the Mbalian counter-offensive in Sinai and smashes through their palisade seeing it as nothing more than a child’s toy. The Mbalian front line is slaughtered and the Muslims begin pouring into north Egypt. The Muslim offensive arrives outside of Cairo and the inhabitants begin to either flee, or prepare for battle. The Caliphate is reminded that they are now in control of the Gothic portage, and with the help of slaves could potentially transfer their navy into the Mediterranean. In Africa, Sef continues his strict policy of expansionism and continues to enclave several Ghanian provinces. With refugees and nomadic tribals flooding in from all over to settle in central Africa, the Kanem Empire becomes among the most populated nations in Africa in less than a decade. The Muslim Free-State neglects to sign the Treaty of Asmara as it would require the peaceful Muslim people to once again go to war and die for the Caliph, a fate the people are not ready to once again face. The Caliphate’s expansion into Africa is surprisingly successful, noting previous attempts. However, due to the presence of the Gothic blockade, the people of Africa become increasingly independent, and many begin calling for the growth of a separatist movement. Vermundia expands west into Africa and begins to consolidate a loyal religious following. The people follow a strange and unlikely mix of Arian christianity and radical Islam. Vermundia and the Muslim Free-State join the Africa Peace Committee and agree to the Goth’s terms and conditions. Upper-Egypt continues their westward sprawl and their borders grow exponentially. Their nation size however, is not proportional to their power, as the nation is incredibly disunified and cultural tensions have nearly ripped it in half. The Illdephonic/Vandalic alliance proves wildly succesful as they are able to conquer and divide up all of the Moroccan anarchy in a matter of five years. The Illdephons military prowess only continues to grow following funding from the Lombardians and the Caliphate. The Illdephons and the Vandals accept the Gothic treaty and alliance. The three nations convene in the Vangothic port and share their knowledge on naval expertise. The Illdephons and the Vandals both join the “APC”, though their continued aggressive actions do not accurately reflect the intended purpose of the organisation. Gothic presence in the Red Sea continues to dwindle, and any external pressure would surely result in the Gothic naval supremacy being fractured. The Rus’ Principality crushes the Warsaw resistance and floods into classical Lombardy. Civil war prisons are captured, and in turn, many Western Slavic revolutionaries escape. The pressures built up by slavs fighting their ethnic equals reaches its zenith and the Western Slavs declare independence and neutrality in the war. Lombardy now retains complete control of Scandinavia and their power in the north only grows. The separation from classical Lombardy as a result of the Gothic blockade, however, encourages many Scandinavians to think about the possibilities of independence. Led by the new Gothic leader, Sventhila Lousean, the Lupexcercito rips a hole through the center of the Lombardian line and unites with Cadfael and his shades who have been making much headway against the Lombardian hordes on their own. Frankish and Gothic forces meet up and work together to solidify the split of the two Lombardian fronts. Offensive measures against the Goths prove successful and the Lombards push deeper into Gothic territory, but soon find that they have a different enemy nation on each side of them. The Great Siege of Classical Lombardy begins. The native Lombardians are fearsome warriors, and thanks to their defensive measure, no nation is able to push into their capital. The Main Lombardian fighting force, the Wyrdu, make significant gains against the Franks, but soon find themselves spread too thin and surrounded by the enemy. The Battle for Provence begins with a bang as the Lombards storm the capitol and begin an open slaughter. The Franks arrive to give aid finally, but are only able to reclaim a small portion of their land. The Gothic blockade in the Baltic is successful and they are even able to secure a presence in the Lombardian ports, cutting them off from the sea completely. Celtic soldiers, though few and far between, are seen as effigies of the apex warrior and many foreigners become influenced by their techniques and lavish style. Danish occupation of the Balts continues and they gain a great deal of land. The lands are looted and prove to be extremely resource rich. The Danes make a great deal of profit from this war. The Rus’ secure their connection to the Baltic Sea and ascertain the ability to deploy ships. Alaracia, Vivianis and Sabador are all re-united as Gothic middle states. The population of Byzantine continues its downward spiral. Rus' Principality:''' The nation celebrates the victories in the war against the Lombards and the Khazars. Army Group Yaroslav, the 1st and 2nd armies, remain in recently liberated Warsaw and other Western Slav territories to defend them and to mop up any remaining pockets of resistance. Army Group Mstislav, the 3rd and 4th armies, are sent to the north for an offensive toward the West Slavic coast, to liberate the remains of Western Slav lands and to eliminate a potential threat in the form of the Lombard Armies of Freir and Freija. Meanwhile in the Khazar lands, the offensive continues, with the goal of conquering as much land as possible before the Caliphate. Troops are ordered to kill any Khazar who resists. The war at sea also continues, with the fleet prowling for the Khazar navy. We respond to the Balts and the Danes that since we are already fighting a war on two fronts, we will remain neutral. Meanwhile, on the home front, measures continue to be in place against the plague, to prevent its spread, and some trade continues. In the northeast, expansion resumes as the population in the northern lands increases, with colonists moving into the eastern portions of Khanty Mansi lands. Ganga Dynasty: Because of the roads built by Khanchana I 30 years ago, the troops of Chandrajara are able to charge to access the northern part of the Kingdom easily. He charge in the Bengal, killing hundreds of men, women and children on his way, since they are all seen as “Rebels” in the eyes of the state. The violence push Mahakala to talk with his brother in order to stop this, but Khadaga II doesn't want to hear anything. But he at least agree to his brother proposal of letting Buddhist flee to India, and send Mahakala to negotiate with the Indian troops on the frontier. The poor Buddhists who hoped to preach their cause to the population where ether slaughtered, escaped the country or converted to Jainism (like many did to protect themselves from the persecution). Guru Susarman wasn't able to convince the bengalis of the danger that Khadaga II and his uncle Chandrajara represented, and it led to a bloodshed. With the few followers he have, he renforce his positions in the region, and try to calim more persons to his cause. During that time, Hirapal Yadava was somehow left alone by the Ganga forces. He used this time to re-enforce his positions and to recruit mercenaries from the Tibet to fight for him and Guru Susarman. Khadaga II send a message to the Raja of the Gupta Dynasty, and inform him that supporting rebels by allowing them on his lands would be breaching the Treaty of Pataliputra, which included at the demand of Gupta (which Khadaga II remind) a 50 years non-agression treaty, which will end in 732. Thus, helping the rebels in their fight could be considered as an agression. However, Khadaga II claim that if the Gupta refuse entrance to the Ganga Buddhists, he will forget the fact that the Gupta Dynasty breah the treaty. The reforms put in place by Mahakala and the Nila Faction are finally showing results, and even with the violence up north and the terrible corruption of Jagadevra, Mahakala was still able to made the economy better, and to restore trade with some nations, which was an extremely difficult task. Members of the Nila Faction even help some Buddhist to escape the persecution. During this time, the Grina Faction  is still gaining more influence in the capital. * OOC (Ganga): For the mod information, through history Buddhists had a tendency of fighting for their faith, even if it goes against the peaceful spirit of the faith. The most recent example being the Buddhist Uprising of 1966. * I understand this, and there are Buddhists fighting, I was merely trying to point out that due to their pacifistic sentiment, their numbers would be a fare smaller than that of the invaders. - Funny * OOC (Ganga): Oh, OK! Sorry, the way I read it it seems like the Buddhists were like "Nan, we're not fighting. Peace and love man." It was already clear in my head that not every Buddhist was fighting, just didn't explain it well. I change my post a little bit. Khazar Khaganate: We are losing this war but our resolve shall never waver. We send ravens and spread rumours that there is a crusade happening to all nations with a sizable Christian population to join us in our troubles. We will also send envoys to the Byzantine Empire and the Gepids to join us in war and we will send offers to all the governors to help us as well. We will send our ships to the Byzantine and Gepid coastline to recruit people to join our crusade. We also will raid into the Dnieper, Don and Kuban rivers. We also send spies into the the Byzantine Empire to find the key to the “fire that always burns”. We will send peace offers to the Avars for the sake of our family. We will either continue to hold the territory we conquered or both sides will continue our pre war borders. Middle-Egypt: Our leader Alecksander XIV dies due to his old age and his oldest son, Alecksander XV takes the throne. He is known to our people as the "pharaoh", but the title has no religious connotations attached to it. It is merely seen as an homage to ancestral Egyptian beliefs. Under the new rule, our empire seeks to strengthen its borders and unify the people. Alecksander XV makes a five-year plan in which he hopes to expand naval presence into both the Mediterranean, as well as the Red SWea. A policy of religious freedom is adopted, though many of the people are thought to have abandoned the idea of theology. A messenger is sent to Upper-Egypt ​requesting a formal alliance and trade once the plague has receded. We will also send some of our medics to support the sick Upper-Egyptians and teach them our methods of sanitation. Seeing our homeland of Cairo under attack, we mount an offensive and send our armies north. Alecksander XV leads the charge with his cavalry and is followed by three by six rows of infantry. We begin using sneak tactics, flanking and surprise attacks, never engaging in direct warfare and retreating when confronted. Our empire is renamed True-Egypt to reflect our governmental origins and we hope that all other Egypts will see us as a beacon of influence. Chenla Queendom: The news of a ravenous plague raging through northern Asia makes many people in Chenla worry that it may spread to the Queendom. To combat this Queen Jayavedi amps up the sanitation programs by building sewers to keep waste away from densely populated areas, and constructing public bathhouses making it mandatory that all populated areas must at least have one,  even if they are a small village. Street sweepers are hired to maintain the cleanliness of towns and cities. Special masks holding herbs within them that are thought to keep disease away become a common sight as they are provided for free by the Royal Crown. The Royal Engineers immediately begin working on a possible cure using many herbs found in the Chenlan jungles. This causes a new school to open up in the Royal Academy of Luang Prabang known as alchemy. All trade slows down significantly as the Royal Scouts monitor everything at checkpoints located on the mainland and at sea. The Royal Engineers begin devising a way to deliver messages in a clean manner so that the transfer of scientific breakthroughs can be sent back and forth between the Chenla Queendom and the Silla Empire without there having to be human interaction, increasing the chances of spreading the plague. Any ethnic Chenlan showing a kind of sickness whether it be the plague or not are sent off to designated quarantine zones off the mainland and the island of Sumatra. In the West the strip of islands under the Gangan strip of islands is converted into into a naval stronghold so that it may act as a checkpoint even farther off the mainland to check any ships coming in. Nonethnic peoples with any sign of sickness are told to go away or are immediately eliminated and burned so as to not spread sickness. Many Royal Advisers tell Queen Jayavedi that these measures may be too drastic, but within months the Chenlan people are more healthy than can be and public morale is at an all time high. The murder of the unarmed Royal Scouts scouting the island of Bornéo causes a public outrage in the Chenla Queendom. To answer the cries of the people, Queen Jayavedi declares war upon the Bruneian Sultanate so that they may face justice. Also all relationships with the pirate gang the Black Vipers are all severed. New and improved ships based on Gothic designs are sent with a tenth of the RSA, a fifth of the Ahan Phi, and two regiments of elephants from the Royal Chenlan Elephant Corps, 60 elephants in total, are sent to the island of Bornéo. In no time the measly army of the Bruneian Sultanate is crushed. Queen Jayavedi forces the Sultanate to sign a treaty saying that they will become a subordinate of the Chenla Queendom and not be able to have a standing army consisting of more than 20 thousand troops. They are told that they can keep their sovereignty but they must keep friendly relations with Chenla, a Chenlan embassy must be in the Bruneian capitol, and Chenlan troops can pass through the island of Bornéo at any time. Also they are limited to be able to expand to only the main Bruneian island, if they go any further drastic consequences will sure to ensue. In the year 709 the Chenlan Queendom rejoices as a new Royal baby is born, Crowned Prince Jayavarman ll. Festivals are thrown all around the Queendom for the event and many people travel to the capitol to congratulate the Queen on her new born son. The people can only hope for good things for the boy as he shares the namesake of his grandfather, a king considered to be the best king in Chenlan history. The Royal Engineers continue to study the sciences in hope of bettering the Chenla Queendom. They improve infrastructure and the general welfare of the people. The Royal Scouts find new economic ventures on the island of Sumatra, where now the island produces more than 80 percent of the Queendom's food supply. This allows the mainland to focus on the production of more refined goods such as farming equipment, weapons, clothing, etc. The Royal Navy begin to decommission old war ships replacing them with the new and improved ships that have catapults on them, based on Gothic designs. Also the introduction of the Royal Marines comes about as the prospect that combat over seas may become a thing in the future. The RSA, the Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant Corps instead of increasing in numbers has their equipment improved as more refined methods of smithing begins producing much stronger products. Silla/Korean Empire: Due to the Ghanan plague, population stands at a near standstill after decades of constant high growth. Travel to infected areas is banned and those areas are heavily fortified to prevent the escape of the infected individuals. Potentially infected individuals that are caught outside are killed and their bodies are smuggled into Japan’s main population centres, hoping that their people also catch the plague. The capital is changed from Seorabeol (Gyeongju), to Hanseong (Seoul), a small city where the palaces containing the royal family and most of the government are located in order to isolate them from the rest of the population. It is later discovered King Hyoso has contracted the highly contagious disease and died during his sleep, causing much grief across the kingdom. His body is cremated and his ashes are buried in a cemetery in Pyongyang, the royal capital. Wu Zetian (the emperor of the Liang), and Queen Salavarman (the queen of the Chenla Queendom) are invited in King Hyoso’s funeral. Wonjang, the former regent, is declared king and starts focusing on the sanitation campaign to avoid further deaths. '''Sewages and plumbing systems are built in all major human settlements, channeling human wastes away from living space. We dramatically increase income taxes to create more revenue for the government, and use the money to fund this sanitation campaign and our war with Japan.''' We begin to focus our military might on one front. Most advisors propose to '''withdraw all Sillan troops from Hokkaido and abandon the Hokkaido/North Honshu campaign, stating that Hokkaido will be only a temporary loss. Regent Wonjang agrees to this as long as the Ainu people still residing in Hokkaido are moved to the Sakhalin province. Our troops, which total to more than 300,000 people, are all mobilised. 30,000 troops are stationed at the Hokkaido—Sakhalin borders while the rest (190,000 troops) are stationed in Southeast Korea. We launch a counter-offensive in Southeast Korea with 80,000 troops. '''Due to our advance technology, our larger population, and other factors, we are confident we will emerge triumphant. We also begin to use our newest weapon; a cannon that fires weaponised fireworks. * ((Mod Response)): I'm gonna have to veto the weaponization of fireworks. I think for a nation to develop it should be mod's choice of where and when. Sorry, but keep up the research and you will be more likely to be the one! The Frankish Kingdom begins mounting an offensive to retake our land from the Lombards and begins pushing them back with reserves who have been called up to help fight, meaning that the whole army is now mobilised. 80,000 men are fighting to drive out the Lombards, and with the Lombardian armies cut in two, our troops currently fighting them are closing in for the kill. However, as the Lombardian capital proves to very well suited to a siege, siege weapons are deployed, and the capital surrounded. Catapults are used as well as siege towers and ladders, and various siege tactics are tried to defeat the Lombards and take their city. Supply lines are maintained throughout the conquered land, and the recently made Duchy of Saxony begins to solidify its hold over the conquered lands. As Christianity spreads across through the Saxons, pagan beliefs are slowly crushed, and plans are laid to ensure the word of Christ remains. With our forces having retaken a small amount of land, a general offensive begins to retake it all from the Lombards. King Gerald is beginning to grow old, and his son, Prince William, marries a Frankish noblewoman of the House of Neville. Essex and York continue to develop in both infrastructure, and in agriculture. As trade begins to flourish with the Celts, both serve as major trading posts for the Franks, and the Pictish Duchy is now serving as an important route for trade with the Celts. India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants and catapults. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. India continues mobilized its military on the Ganga-Indian border, in hopes to conquer Ganga Dynasty into Indian heartland. Caliphate: We expand 3900 pixels into Africa. We build our navy. We begin the starvation of the Goth presence in the Red Sea, blockading Goth ships and destroying them one by one, this means that the Caliphate can freely rule the Red Sea. We begin the Siege of Cairo, demanding that all the people convert to Islam or they die. We push into Northern Egypt, we continue our invasion of the Kazakhs. We build our military. We begin building houses and the cities in the Caliphate, so the people would be happier. We spread pro-Caliphate proper gander in our African Caliphate, this hopefully will slow down independence movements. We aid India in their war. We begin to spread our military influence over the Mediterranean shooting down ships. We send aid to Lombard. We would like to buy Syria and Isreal from the Bytxan Empire. We want Persia to be reunited! Japan: We continue our advance into Hokkaido and Korea, while also invading Sillian Sakhalin and what remains of the Ainu. The Gothic Empire: It takes a while, but the Roman senate finally grows to accept Sventhila Lousean as a competent ruler and soon grow to admire not only her intelligence and beauty, but astounding valor in battle. She leads not only the Lupexcercito, but is the main acting military strategist and leader in the entire Gothic military. She takes breaks once every eight months and her second in command, Egica Lazarus ,leads during the periods of her absence. The War of the Children still wages on, but Sventhila puts a stop to the use of child soldiers and sends them all home. It is expected for Gothic military to take a hit, but a minor one at that. The Goths led their military force after the Wyrdu and join in the Battle for Provence. The blockade of classical Lombardy continues. The blockade will be open to the Western Slavs if they join in the war and attack the Lombards. Lombardy: The Army of Wyrdu moves toward the Ligurian coast, continuing to massacre the local population.   The rest of the Lombard armies either pull back to the capital region, or attack Gothic-occupied Eastern Slavia.   Abandoned buildings in the capital are pulled down, and their materials used to reinforce the walls. The places where they used to stand are plowed over and sowed with seeds, hopefully giving the capital a permanent internal food source. The cisterns are dug out to absolutely massive proportions, and a few small, natural springs are tapped into (by having an iron pipe hammered into them) giving the city a permanent, safe source of water.   Small quantities of supplies are sent to the Saxon underground, to aid them in their resistance.   Excerpt from “The Ballad of Euric,” composed c. A.D. 708 we can hope. Hopefully by then, we’ll have invented wormhole travel, and colonized the Centauri system.   I’m in too much of a hurry to be bothered with grammar, so I’ll just have some vocab (modified to fit the alliterative pattern), and some random Germanic-sounding words that sound cool.   Wulfar travelled to the hall of the Gold-Germans, large and great-beamed, filled with kinsmen of Rutgar, Yeoric was their ring-giver, a mighty warrior, beloved by Thorr, he met Wulfar before that great building, He brought him in, gave him hospitality, his bard regaled him with stories of great warriors, told him of Feomar and Beowulf. After twelve moons had passed, marauders descended from the western forest. Large Jutish-men, Wild and cruel, wielding iron pikes and bronze axes. Wulfar fought with the warriors of the Gold-Germans. Wodin frowned on Yeoric, angry for a previous transgression, and sent up a great storm to obscure the Jutes. Many Gold-Germans became carrion, food for the ravens that descended in flocks from the heavens.   Wulfar gewát oþ de béagsel sylfum de Notmeres-Gelde   |   gréatian aet béam-strio, ellen dei sibgedryht a Ruotgaer, Yeoric wæs hiera hringe-ælmesgiefa, un beornwiga   |   be freá'wine Thorr, at agénarn Wulfar aer þrýþærn. Gut enne wiluoman, ælmesland cumlíðnesse   |   cun scópes segaþ tiamen ælmgivé a, tala emme frat Féomare Buowulf. Yanné þwelfe monna het sylfon, grennes cánne westvalde. |   Wælfen gréaþana Yutfolke, Wolfe en Welle, ferre-gara egsáþ dunna   |   Ye dot Wulfar ecgtheow en vatfulké dan Notmeraes-Geldes. Wodin dritnhe gelaedad Yeoric, hi féond cenned gyldenne   |   a gearwe ricge þeart þannyon sturme béarna Yutenes. Feo aldor-léas scyldas, monten Wodflukés aet sunu   |   Dydon man-cynne minné cwomon deussa. (( Quick side-note: if the writers behind the Gepids (The Bearded Bastard), Byzantines (SwankyJ) and Liang (Tao) do not respond by the end of next turn they will be kicked.)) Turn will be late. Not very late. But late. maybe like 30 minutes tops. == 710 C.E. == '''Rus’ troops advance practically to the old Slavic-Lombard border. While the Slavic populace is dubious of their new overlords, there are, at least for the moment, no open revolts. Kanem expands its borders to the south, and conquers several regional kingdoms, eventually giving it a strip of coast along the Bay of Bonny. The Sayf dynasty, ruling from their court at Njimi, become respected, and feared, in the area, and begin to command respect from eastern tribal warlords. Lombard armies, fighting for the survival of their nation, destroy several small Gothic armies. Legate Ricca has her arm broken and is taken out of battle. Their armies remain weakened and overextended, though; basically surviving on nothing but the equivalent of a two-decade-long adrenaline rush.  Combined enemy armies surround the Lombard capital. The decades of wall-improvements, cistern construction, farm creation, and food stockpiling pay off, however, as the rather large city shows no signs of weakening at the initial assault, and the inhabitants fairly effortlessly repel the first couple exploratory waves of attackers. In time however, the people of Lombardy begin to grow hungry and and close quarters leads to an increase in common disease. A Frankish victory is the finality in the Battle for Provence, but at great cost. The Lombards destroyed the once bustling city and torch several roads. The nation is in shambles and many warriors begins throwing down their arms to instead aid in restoration efforts. The Duchy of Saxony, loyal to their Germanic comrades in the east, promptly revolts against Frankish rule and massacres the missionaries sent into the territory. As the entire Frankish field army is either in Provence, Upper Burgundy or Lombardy, the Frankish garrisons are shirked off rather easily, leaving a reinvigorated populace in control of the forts and some cities. The puppet Pope established in Saxony by the Franks bars the doors of his church in the Frankish regional capital. A mob descends on the church. When they are unable, after a few hours of trying, to break in, they simply stand back and burn the entire structure to the ground with the Pope and his entourage inside. The Pope is dead. The Army of Wyrdu reaches the Ligurian coast. The years of fighting in enemy territory have taken their toll, however, and it largely scatters at the first sight of a full Gothic army. The various groups spend the next year devastating the countryside before they are hunted down and destroyed. Though the army is gone, they have left a legacy of complete destruction in Upper Burgundy, Provence, and Liguria. The Plague expands along trade routes into Eastern India. The first few cases are reported in Tibet, while Baluchistan, hit by another wave, begins seeing massive waves of emigration to the east. Chenla, through its prudent plague-control tactics, is able to keep South-East Asia completely sterile. Trade with India starts to slip, however. Chenla enters a new period of economic prosperity, and quickly becomes, objectively speaking, filthy rich. The downside of this, of course, is that class distinctions become more prominent, as it seems like the only people benefiting from the wealth are the nobles. Unrest begins to bubble among the commoners. The Sultanate of Brunei is initially shocked by the size of the invasion, and several port cities fall to the invaders. In time, though, the armies of Brunei rally around their Sultan and, through a combination of guerrilla-fighting through the jungle, and shock tactics, are able to regain their lost territory and push Chenla offensives back. Casualties are much higher than expected on both sides, and over a fifth of the war elephants are killed by talented spearmen. Khazaria is almost completely obliterated by the strangest impromptu coalition ever seen, the Rus’ and the Caliphate, neither technically at war with the other, but one at war with the other’s ally. The last remnants of the Khazars exist on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, and the rugged terrain combined with the density of fortifications and their naval supremacy in the Caspian and Adrian means that they might hold out for a while. The Karluks expand their territory, and increase the frequency of their raids on Rus’ caravans. The tribes completely overwhelm some of the underdeveloped Avar territory and claims it as their own. The Swahili city of Sofala begins to gain prominence in south-eastern Africa along the Buzi River. Muslim soldiers swarm into the Nile Delta, completely overwhelming the few Mbali garrisons in the area, and capturing Cairo and Alexandria. The Vandalic Kingdom and the Illdelphons split up and annex the Kingdom of Morocco. With this newfound power and wealth they expand their borders. Arian Egypt, unified for a few brief, glorious years, suffers another civil war, and splits in half. Citizens across the two nations now live again in constant fear. The Muslim Free-State pushes its borders to the west, and improves its border fortifications. Radical Islam becomes more and more influential in Vermundia. The Muslims in Africa become better associated with their rulers as the Gothic blockade is crushed and Gothic territory is captured. The Caliphate is the master of the Red Sea. The Jutes capture more of the Lombardian isles. The Japanese are driven out of Hokkaido and Korea. Due to Japans powerful coast guard no nation is able to make amphibious landings against them. The people of the Caliphate begin refusing to travel to Africa as it is seen as a vile war torn land full of heathens and their pestilence. The Persian people feel continued pressure to re-unify. The Jutes surrender Scandinavia to the Lombards and instead focus on annexing and controlling their captured territory in the south. The Balts are conquered by the Danes. Danish power in the Baltic Sea is at its apex.   One of the Se clans in Tibet is invaded by the Uyghur Khaganate and laid to waste by the barbaric people'''. '''The Celtic soldiers settle down in Saxony and take Jutish women as wives. The small village of Celtico is established. The Frankish Kingdom '''moves to put down the revolt in Saxony, and the troops that have crushed the invaders, along with some that have been diverted from the front, and sent into Saxony. However, the need to rebuild Upper Burgundy results in several thousands arriving from across the Kingdom, as well as York, Essex and the Pictish Duchy. The Siege of the Lombard capital continues. With the rebuilding of the land ruined by the Lombards underway, roads are build in sevral places to connect the kingdom to Paris, and new, more powerful forts are built to protect the land. The Saxon revolt is met by an army of 30,000, led by Sire Mortimer se Naverra, and naval expansion begins anew, with several ports being constructed. We request aid from the Celts in putting down the rebellion. King Gerald dies, and Prince William is now King. His uncle, Joseph, is now the Grand Duke. Chenla Queendom: Queen Jayavedi is astonished at the fighting resolve the Bruneans have. The amount of military force on the island of Bornéo is dramatically increased with a third of the Royal Navy sent to blockade all ports as to cut off the Sultanate from any economic ties. The newly appointed High General of the Army, Prince Salavarman known for being a brilliant tactician, is sent to lead the troops. There is now a quarter of the RSA in Bornéo, a third of the Ahan Phi (the elite of the elite of the Chenlan armed forces specifically trained to fight with guerrilla tactics), and three more regiments of 30 elephants each from the Royal Chenlan Elephant Corps. Prince Salavarman has the orders to continue marching south until the Sultanate sues for peace. All peoples that show no resistance are left alone as the war was only declared so that the Sultanate could face the duly needed justice for having unarmed Royal Scouts slaughtered. Until then any armed resistance is to be but down or captured. Also the forces aiding the Silla in the war against Japan returns home as the High Admiralty Chan Leung has died at the ripe age 67. At the moment there are no plans of returning to the Sillan/Japanese war front. Seeing the disparity between the rich and the poor, Queen Jayavedi passes a series of new social reforms. From now on there will be a set minimum wage one makes a day at 5.4 nickel Kip. (Denominations of the Chenlan Kip: 10 coppers = 1 nickel, 10 nickels = 1 silver, and 10 silvers = 1 gold). Before the reforms, nobles and very wealthy merchants could practically pay their employees nearly nothing. Also another reform is passed that the Commons may now come to positions of power whether it be in government or in the military. This is based off the merit system. There are now two houses in government below the Queen: the House of Nobles and the House of the Commons. They are tasked with maintaining the military, regulating trade, and ensuring the well being of the Chenlan people. The Queen though still has the power to veto anything and that it cannot be overridden. A new tax reform is passed that states that everyone within the Queendom no matter they be of noble birth or a Common must pay the same proportional value of one-tenth of their annual income. Also no one within the Queendom may have a large militia for personal use. Wealthy citizens can now only have a maximum of 20 guards in their retinue. Queen Jayavedi hopes that these new reforms will decrease the discrepancies between the rich and the poor. The Royal Engineers continue to improve the Queendom's infrastructure. The RE begins to research with ways to tell time better throughout the day as the new wage system is based on an employee being paid at high noon and at when the work day is over. The realization of this being an inefficient way to determine time, the RE experiment with telling time by the positioning of the sun, levels of the tides, etc. They begin research in metallurgy as to provide Chenlan smith's new and better techniques of providing better equipment for farming and the armed forces. The Royal Scouts begin searching for better ways to relay information across far distances. They begin to experiment with many things from smoke signals, flags, and many bird species. At the moment the white-winged magpie seems to be the best choice for the delivery of messages, but more test continue to ensure that it is. In Chenlan folklore the white-winged magpie is considered a sign of health and vitality. With the idea of being able to transfer information across far distances the Chenla would be able to collaborate with the Silla without the need of direct human interaction because they are dealing with a plague. Due to plague spreading in northern Asia, Queen Jayavedi amps up the sanitation programs even more. The checkpoints become more rigorous, causing there to be nearly a complete halt with all trade. Sumatra is tasked with producing enough agricultural products so that the Chenla Queendom could be self-reliant with food until the plague dies out. More public bathhouse and sewers are constructed and the wearing of the masks that are thought to keep away sickness is encouraged. The Royal Navy continues to decommission old ships and replaces them with the new ones. The RSA, Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps is increased. An additional branch is added to the Royal Chenlan Elephant Corps as the horse cavalry seems to fit in it more than in the RSA. Khazar Khaganate: We will send our ships to the Byzantine and Gepid coastline to recruit people to join our crusade. We also will raid into the Dnieper, Don and Kuban rivers. We also send spies into the the Byzantine Empire to find the key to the “fire that always burns”. We will send marriage offers to the Karluks for my heir to marry their daughter to secure an alliance. We will request that they also convert to christianity. We build up fortifications and our navy to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will also promote anyone in Khazar lands to begin Guerrilla warfare. Silla/Korean Empire: Due to the Ghanan plague, population stands at a near standstill, though there is a slight recovery due to the effects of our sanitation program. Travel to infected areas are banned and anyone caught entering or exiting these restricted areas are killed immediately. Most of their bodies are dumped in the South China Sea (the sea which borders maritime Southeast Asia) while some are smuggled into Japanese population centers. '''We spread East into the steepes of Mongolia (invading the East parts of the Ughyur Khaganate with a small 20,000 troops, since they are weak) and into more of Pacific Russia. Due to the Chenla not participating in the war anymore, we cede the parts of Hokkaido militarily occupied by Sillan and Chenlan forces to the Ainu.''' The abolishment of the bone rank system has caused wealth disparities between its socio-economic groups to narrow significantly, cause of this, despite the plague and the recent occupation of the South Korean coast, the population is happy in general. Due to the previous invasion of the South Korean coast by the Japanese, people living in coastal cities in the area (including people in its former capital Seorabeol) are evacuated and sent to cities located farther north or west, such as Sabi or Pyongyang. Hanseong is still off-limits to normal people because it is where the palaces that are housing the royal family are located, and we are trying to isolate the royal family from the rest of the population to avoid infection. '''Sewages and plumbing systems are built in all major human settlements, channeling human wastes away from living space. We dramatically increase income taxes to create more revenue for the government, and use the money to fund this sanitation campaign.''' Masks are encouraged to prevent the spread of the disease. We stop exporting agricultural produce to Chenla, stating that they are nearly self-sufficient and no longer need the help of the Sillans. '''With most Japanese forces in Southern Honshu, we invade Northern Honshu with 50,000 troops. We also invade Southern Honshu with 120,000 troops. Meanwhile, scientists in Pyongyang create prototypes for a new concept: a cannon that fires weaponised fireworks. So far, all the tests we have conducted for the new weapon had failed or had been partially (but not entirely) successful. We hope that in the next five years or so that we successfully develop the weapon and use it to expand into more land. Ganga Dynasty:''' The news of the massive Indian army on the frontier finally arrived tothe capital, but nobody seems to care about it. Khadaga II still believed that the Indians are his allies, and that they are here to help him. Chandrajara is still up north, killing Buddhists. The only one realizing the danger is Mahakala, who try to warn everyone possible. Finally, he find someone willing to listen to him: the Yuvraj Palaka, now 17 years of age. The young boy is more open to Mahakala's suggestions than his father. But the young boy, instead of heading to the capital and talk of it with his father, take his own men and charge the Indian troops on the frontier, hoping to end this before it start with his small forces. Mahakala, shocked by this, finally decide to do something he would never have done if the situation wasn't so terrible: he asked Chandrajara for help. Sadly, the message is lost in way, and his uncle never heard it. In the end, the army is up north, and only Palaka and his few men can try to stop the Indians in what Mahakala call a suicide attempt. * OOC (Ganga) to the mod: Hey, I have a question about something. India is more powerful than I am, it's clear to everyone. Ganga is divided, corrupted and disorganized. I probably only have 15 years to live at best. So if I changed, would it count as the one random switch? It's because I'm doomed. (I accidentally doomed myself with the Buddhist thing but well, I had fun with it) and next turn three awesome nations are gonna be available. * ((Mod Response)): Personally, I don't mind if someone jumps nations, just as long as they don't abuse that privilege. I, myself, thoroughly enjoy reading your turns for Ganga and seeing the pages you create, so If Ganga is dying, It would make me happy to see you at least stay on the ship until it sinks; then feel free to choose a new nation. * OOC (Ganga): Well, it's not that I want to abandon because it's gonna sink. It's just that the Gepid Republic really interested me and I fear I will die too slow and someone would already have pick them up (Because let's be honest, the guy playing them will not come). I wouldn't even be talking about changing of nation if Gepid wouldn't become available next turn. But yeah, If I am lucky I'll sink Ganga with style (and maybe causing a new war in the process since Inida broke the Treaty of Pataliputra). But could I reserve the Gepid? ( ಥـْـِـِـِـْಥ) Nan, kidding, that wouldn't be fair for the others. Japan: We launch an all-out attack on Hokkaido and Korea (AGAIN, Dang it, I keep getting driven out of Korea, -_-). * (OOC): Albert Eenstein's definition of insanity anyone? India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants and catapults. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. '''India closes its borders with Tibet and Gupta Dynasty to protect the Indian people from spreading Ghanaian death to becoming sick. Finally after finishing its mobilization, India declares war on Ganga dynasty and simply invades it. Pictish Coalition:''' Legion I discovers a new peninsula/Coast (i.e., modern Greenland) and explores it and after looking far inside. They discover it's freezing, so they establish a city on the coast of Greenland named "Greel". Then they send a small fleet back home to report back and ask for civilians to populate the colony. This will take five years. The legion names the land "Greel Land" and claims it in the name of the Pictish Coalition. We later find the Celts, close to us and so cancel our name of "Greel Land", but still claim our souther coast as Pictish land. We rebuild the ancient Hadrian Wall, which was destroyed over the centuries and improve it. We position a small guard of a demi-legion (half a legion) every one km along the wall. We also improve the defense of the wall and have an early warning system, that if a part gets attacked, it gets lit and then the part which sees it also lights and so on as an early warning system. We also improve the wall in parts and militarize it highly against the Frankish threat. We ask the Celts if we can ally with the Eurasian supernational alliance. (Celtic League): I see no problem with you becoming an Ally with them. Just know that any wars that you go into in order to keep your alliance will not be with the assistance of the Celtic League without ulterior motives. (Pictish Coalition}: OK. Pictish Coalition (secret, exception: Celts): We also incorporate all the Celts into the Pictish army. We ask the Celts if we can pay only 10% of our taxes to them and in return they don't have to fund their portion of the army. (Celtic Secret Response): You make it 15% and you have a deal! (Pictish Secret Response): Deal Pictish Coalition (secret): We create a division of spies, which we send to Byzantine under the presumption of being diplomats to investigate rumours of "fire which never dies" and that they use fire in war to find out if it's true and if it is to find how to use it in warfare, so we can use it in warfare.  Rus' Principality: We continue our advances into Khazar lands, where we kill any partisans and institute a policy of executing twenty Khazar civilians for every Rus' soldier wounded by a Khazar warrior, and forty for every Rus' soldier killed. We hope this retaliations will get people to surrender, and enemy warriors captured are sent back to the principality for slave labor. Meanwhile in the Lombard lands, we work with Western Slavic leaders to establish bureaucracies in the liberated land and to fully integrate the territories into the principality under their Western Slav princes. We are now on the defensive, having liberated most of Western Slavic land, to prevent any Lombard counteroffensive. In the homeland, measures to keep the plague from spreading continue, and expansion also continues into Khanty-Mansi lands, further into the eastern forests. Liang: Not much happens inside the nation. Taking advantage of Tibet's weakness, we invade (again).Autonomous Albion: As Cadfael is growing out of his prime years, he requests that his nephew, Osryn, accompany him on his campaigns against the Lombards. Once Osryn arrives at the siege of the Lombard Capital, he proposes that plague-ridden corpses should be flung over the walls of the city, as to spread disease and force the Lombards out. Branwen’s husband passes, she grieves quietly, not taking time from her duties to mourn. She orders all citizens over 20 years old to take six months of basic training in the military. She proposes an income tax on all citizens, which scales steeply based on their annual income, attempting to reassure that the wealth of the kingdom is spread evenly. Farmers are advised to grow more cash crops in addition to their own food. Celtic League: Ten years after the turn of the century and the Celtic League has been as prosperous as ever. With our militaristic autonomous state, Coalition of Picts, are strength as a nation has more than doubled, our population even more so. Since I, King Jon Eversnow became leader things have never been so prosperous, and all the people are rallied behind me, and hope for a long kingship from me. The father of the King died just two years ago and there was a funeral for him in his homeland of Greenland. '''I have decided to revisit the marriage of a Frankish Prince to my sister Kassidy. I send the Franks a letter to ask them to join our countries closer together.''' I walked up to my chambers prepared to write the letter. I took off my weapons and laid them on the table. At long last I had made my Handcrafted weapons that all of us are supposed to do when we take the throne. I made a Dagger and a Broadsword. I was even able to engrave the dagger. And then began to write the letter. “I, King Jon Eversnow, contact you on behalf of my sister Kassidy. A couple years ago you brought up the idea of bringing our people together with a joint marriage with two of our royal family members. My sister has come of age and seems to like the Frankish culture along with the fair way you rule your people. I will have her sent along with her guardsmen  (About 45 Armed Soldiers) to accompany her to see if she like your Prince. I will expect to find out if she likes your Prince only a couple of weeks after she arrives. Only once you accept this of course shall she be sent over to your land. ~King Jon Eversnow” Lord Keaghan has been given rule of the two islands just off the Pictish Mainlands. He has seemed to rule them fairly and the lands are happy under his lordship. Although this could also be contributed to the I, The King, who’s been ruling the entirety of the kingdom. Ankou my youngest sibling: he is an outcast amongst the family. It's as if he is an outcast just for being the cause of death, for simply just being born. I feel as though I probably resent him too subconsciously, even though I try not to. It is difficult with the whole family acting the same way toward him to not act and feel the same way toward him. He has been learning how to fight with a one handed blade by a very skilled teacher. And in his off time he is reading books about the old kingdom before my mother ruled and we held most of the British Isles in our power. When I asked why he says, “Knowledge is the most important luxury that many seem to squander. I don’t want to be one of those people.” Maybe it's his attitude I don’t like… I am not really sure. I have been talking with some of my counselors, which does include my youngest brother. We have been talking about the Idea of giving the Pictish their land back, and letting them become a full nation with its own rights. I am all for it but my whole group of counselors seem to be against it, especially my brother. He says that if we would give them their land back that they would simply attack us at first chance, and the shock from the lack of income may ruin the country. But I don’t think they would do such a thing. (Secret that is just for story purposes): I have decided to act on my decision to free the Pictish and allow them to be their own Nation. I am planning on sending them a letter and telling my group of counselors about my decision. But before I do I decided I would invite my brother to my chambers and talk to him. I start off by making some small talk to lead to my decision. I told him that Father gave me a book that I wanted him to read. It's the only book of its kind, because it was written by our mother. The story of how she took the throne from the old king. I handed him the book and then led into my next subject. I told him that I was going to make the Pictish free anyway, without the consent of the group counsel. My brother was angry and started yelling talking about how bad of a decision it was. He walked over to my letter writing table and said, “Are you sure you want to do this?” I reassured him that I was and that my mind was made up. He walked up to me and grabbed my forearm and gave it a firm shake, then he changed his mind leaned in and gave me a hug. He whispered in my ear, “For the Celts ...” as he stabbed me in the gut with the very dagger I made and engraved. Those were the very last words I heard before I fell to my knees and fell unconscious from lack of blood and shortly afterward I died. (Back to Public information): I send a letter to all the nations of importance (Gothic, Frankish, and the Pictish). “I, acting King Ankou Eversnow, regret to inform you that our loyal and fair ruler Jon Eversnow has passed away. He was murdered in his chambers by an unknown assailant. I have vouched to track down whoever may have had motive to kill him. If any of you would like to assist us in the task to find the murderer please do. ~Acting King Ankou Eversnow” Pictish Response: We shall send our best trackers to track down the assassin of our beloved kind ruler "Jon Eversnow". We also pledge the oath of loyalty to the new Celtic King. Pictish Coalition (OOC): I am confused, does having the Picts free still exist or what? Remember this is an OOC question to help me react as the Pictish Coalition. Celtic League (OOC): No. It was something Jon Eversnow was going to announce, but was murdered before he could relay to anyone else besides Ankou. I began to improve how our mines work to create a more efficient workplace. (I Improve Economy) This should mean we have more silver to trade in our already established trade routes. The Kingdom of Mbali: King Bjorn falls into a deep depression. He tried to save his country from the persistence of the Caliphate and their tyrannical religion, but in doing so he left his own life empty and joyless. No wife, no kids, no one to talk out his personal problems to. His life had become his kingdom and everything about it, and yet he had still failed. King Bjorn dies in his sleep (713 CE) leaving no heir to his throne and the people of Mbali to fend for themselves. The Kingdom of Mbali sits in shambles awaiting its inevitable end, many take to looting and killing, others flee to nearby nations that will accept them. Large areas become completely abandoned, more significantly the far west newly inhabited regions. However, many Mbalians surge into Cyrene in efforts to protect their homeland’s capital and the historically religious ruins in the area. Small adobe walls and deadly traps are placed, as more of a detour to slow down and delay Caliphate troops. Defenses are set up all around Cyrene and its surrounding cities and anyone who stays is well informed that this is their last ditch effort. Japan: We begin using biological warfare against the Sillians by launching heads infected with the plague into Sillian cities. We launch an all-out offensive into Hokkaido. The Gothic Empire: The state of the nation is, for lack of a better word, chaotic. More than half of the nation's population is engaged in open warfare, the other half is dying of the plague, and all the while rebellions are breaking out across the empire. But amongst the chaos, some would find it facile to find order out of entropius circumstance. A diplomat by the name of Eriks Ermingeld travels to Illdephosisian Morocco to meet with king Geberic and discuss the prospect of an alliance and protection from the Goths in exchange for their subordinacy and a protection tax. The head of state could maintain their power, and a patriarchy based on their royal blood line would be formed. The same offer is extended to the Vandals though an additional term is offered in that they must mount a counter-offensive against the Caliphate front line while the Goths devise a plan to end their encroach. The Gothic troops are galvanized behind their final push for Lombardy and a charge is led by General Beremud hoping to crush the Lombardian offensive, driving them back behind their walls and into their extra spacious and cozy cisterns. The push to reclaim eastern Gothic land becomes viewed as a symbolic “final-battle” by the people and as such it should gain much support. The few remaining noble families are expected to help fund the war effort in an attempt to stifle the macabre atmosphere and hopefully win back their wealth - an investment, so to speak. The commoners, impoverished and slaves, men, women, young and old, all fight together in the most astounding united militia history has possibly ever seen. With the Battle for Provence won, the Umbra-Gotha garrison units in the scorched Frankish lands, orders are given to kill any surviving Lombard sympathizers and hopefully clean out any pockets of resistance from the area. Jobs are created, setting up hospitals and medical caravans in the conquered territories and charging a small tax to nations or locals to allow their injured soldiers or citizens free medical care. These citizens, while under Gothic care, benefit from the privileges and rights appointed to a Gothic citizen and as such are treated with the utmost care and respect. The money gained from this stunt is then sent to fund the expansion and remodelling of hospitals, providing the most modern care methods available. Despite her maimed limb, Legate Ricca drags herself bag out onto the battlefield and continues to lead her legion. The people see her carrying her sword in her off hand and recognize it as a symbol of Gothic resilience. The people in turn switch the weapons to their own off-hands and raise them high above their heads, this gesture becoming a Gothic war taunt that continues to be used throughout the history of the United Goths. The two legendary Gothic generals, Egica Lazarus and Lazarus III meet on the battlefield and combine their forces, operating smoothly as a joint battalion. The Lazarites are revered as extremely competent warriors and set the example by leading the Gothic charge under the command of General Beremud. They continue Blockade of Lombards, promise to seed coasts to Western Slavs. if they help them finish and win the war. The elegant Chairwoman, Sventhila Lousean, whilst on leave from the battlefield, becomes drunken and lays with a young charming bard by the name of Harrion Dondarrion. She is extremely embarrassed the following day and has Dondarrion banished to Africa. Unfortunately, this is not enough to hide the truth, as Sventhila is with child and gives birth in 712 C.E to a boy. She names him Roderic II, after her father. As much as she hated his choices, she still admired and respected him as her father. Lombardy: Þórbjörn Hróaldr packs up his entire family and flees to Gotland. Not being a very surreptitious man, constitutionally, he accomplishes this by ordering a massive sally from the Lombard capital, followed by one of the largest cavalry charges in history. It does its work though, and he makes it to the coast, boards a ship to Gotland, and soon arrives at the island, which is controlled by his relatives, and is one of the most fortified localities on the planet. His first order upon arrival is to improve the defenses further. The coastal walls are strengthened with rubble quarried from the center of the island, and the classic mix of plaster and mortar is applied to the outside of the walls and painted. Observers note a difference, however, between the painted walls of 715 and the painted walls of 690. Though they were only made 25 years apart, the walls of 715 are covered with depictions of skeletons and the undead, malignant spirits, depictions of war, of sieges and of death. Þórbjörn orders the creation of a massive body of literature chronicling the story of the Hróaldr family and of Lombardy in general. ((I’m in sort of a hurry as I’m writing right now, but tomorrow I’d like to expand upon this idea more)). The Lombard field army (now composing the remains of the Army of Freia, several fragments of the Saxon armies, and a massive body of militia) attempts to march out toward the south to gather food and other provisions from the countryside. The various tribal armies in Scandinavia decide to take advantage of the inevitable chaos brought on by the Danish invasion, and strike into Jutish territory. '''((Turn will be late again. Shoot me.)) == 715 C.E. == The Pictish Legion I discovers, after returning to Pictish territory, that their “discovery of Greenland” was actually a hallucination brought on by the freezing temperatures of the North Sea, and that they’ve spent the last few months gnawing seaweed on a frozen islet off the coast of Norway. The African Gothic territories all die out after being cut off from the Empire. Mbali is devastated by the Caliphates invasion; their military is immensely outnumbered and less advanced than Caliphate infantry and as a result are quickly cut down. The nation's war elephants rack up a good amount of casualties for the Mbalians, but the animals are soon killed and stripped of their tusks.  Mbali manages to gather its main force in its capital of Cyrene where they prepare to repel the Muslim hordes. The Caliphate soldiers surround the small Mbalian capital and prepare to push in. Cyrene is under siege. A man by the name of Recimi Avagis appears in the Vandalic kingdom claiming to be the grandson of the child of Alaric III and Sabina Mbali. He gains a following most largely in the capital of Carthage, but the breadth of his influence is vast; from Mbali to Morocco, many see him as a savior come to rescue the people. Sef, Emperor of Kanem, orders an attack on the enclaved Ghanan province and conquers it with an overwhelming victory. Zanzibar begins trading activities with the Caliphate, causing its population to swell with thousands of hopefuls, ready to get rich through trade. Danish forces sweep into Jutish coastal territory, while simultaneously attacking Lombard holdings in the Baltic. The Aland islands surrender immediately, but when a Danish fleet arrives at Gotland, it is turned back violently. The Danes attempt to starve the island out, but quickly discover that it’s producing food for itself, plus a surplus. The next month, the fleet withdraws from the blockade, and moves to support its fellows in attacking the Jutes. Danish ships are sighted skirting the range of Gothic shipborne archers. After years of desperate prodding and picking away at enemy forces, the Japanese finally mount a large offensive and push the Chenla out of Hokkaido and drive into the Sillan territory. The Japanese troops prove to be remarkably relentless and as a result they wear down the spirits of their enemies. The Lombard's ally into the south proves moderately successful initially, but is chased back to the capital before many supplies are gathered, leaving the city in more-or-less the same desperate straits as it was before.  Enemy armies push closer to the Lombard capital, while the Lombard Slavic attack is isolated. The Lombard attack into Jutish territory proves devastatingly successful, but halts when local Chieftains become timid of attacking into the territory of the fierce Danes (which is compounded by fears that their army, which is composed mainly of Danish immigrants will mutiny if they were to attempt it). The Japanese biological warfare proves to be moderately effective in occupied Hokkaido, but doesn’t spread much beyond the island. The 30,000 Frankish troops step right into a revolutionary hell. While they are able to destroy a few patchwork rebel armies, they largely make it worse, as the locals see the militarization as an affront to their freedoms. Soon after the intervention, a coalition of towns declares independence as the Duchy of Saxony, while several other towns, particularly in the east, seize control of nearby military installations and proclaim that they’re reverting to Lombard control (although central administration of them is obviously impossible by the Lombard government). Local militias step up guerrilla tactics, and increase their reliance on biological warfare, hoping to devastate the Picardy region through infection. The Chenla manage to retain their control over the south Ainu islands as their coastal military strength is unmatched. The troop morale is at all time low however, as many troops continue to wonder why they are even fighting. Most soldiers openly proclaim that they would rather be fighting in Borneo where there was at least a tangible justification.  Khazar spies find the recipe for Greek fire and return home triumphant.  The Karluks agree to the Khazar offer, and begin skirmishing into Avar territory.  The Khazars lose a small amount of territory, but mostly the front stays static.  The Liang emperor orders a full-scale invasion of Tibet. The governors of Sichuan, Gansu and Longzhou martial their local armies, and join with an imperial invasion force that sweeps into the north of the country. The troops are ordered not to engage the Uyghurs, and so make swift progress across the north of the country. However, they soon become mired in fierce guerrilla warfare when they attempt to march into the Himalayas, and the attrition caused by both the raids, high altitudes, and the freezing temperatures forces them to withhold any further attacks.  Cases of the plague begin to be reported in Brunei, spread in by the trade routes. The government manages to take quick action, however, to prevent the spread of the plague, meaning that the only affected on Borneo is that which is occupied by Chenla.  Chenlan armies make some progress in Borneo, but are slowed by the defensive advantage that the combination of high mountains and dense jungle gives the defenders.  Indian troops make headway in the center of Ganga territory due to the Gangese government’s apathy, but are turned back in the swampy north and the densely-populated south.  The Indian economy suffers due to the closing of its land-borders. We need mod events for the Caliphate invasion of Cyprus OOC (Chenla):''' This doesn't make sense. How are my forces still on the Ainu Islands when they pulled out last turn when my High Admiralty Chan Leung died of old age? OOC (Silla): This doesn't make sense. I've launched an invasion of South and North Honshu at the same time (most Japanese troops were in South Honshu), and I've amassed a gigantic army to invade it, there is no mention of this invasion in this turn. I also invade the Eastern part of the Ughyur Khaganate, and there's no mention of it. * ((Mod Response)): Sorry guys! There were quite a few mix ups with the last turn due to a shift in control over much of the writing and mapping. Just make up some justification for it and we will roll with it. We will try to not let any mistakes past next time! Silla/Korean Empire: Our sanitation campaign has had a drastic effect on mortality, the plague is largely contained despite biological warfare with the inferior Japanese peoples. Travel to infected areas are banned and anyone (except the proper authorities) caught entering or exiting these restricted areas are killed immediately. The bodies are burned and are buried in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. '''Due to the Chenla Queendom not participating in our war against Japan anymore, we pressure Queen Jayavedi into participating again, threatening to cut diplomatic and economic ties (such as ceasing to export excess agricultural produce which feeds a majority of its population) with the Queendom. We will also declare support the Bruneian empire if the Queen refuses to. ''' The abolishment of the bone rank system has caused the once wide income disparities between its socio-economic classes, racial groups, and its different provinces to narrow. The successful containment of the plague causes support around the empire to surge. People living in its maritime borders with Japan are evacuated and relocated to the northern, more safer cities such as Sabi or Pyongyang. Hanseong (Seoul) is still off-limits to normal people because it is where the palaces that are housing the royal family are located, and we are trying to isolate the royal family from the rest of the population to avoid infection. '''Sewages and plumbing systems are built in all major human settlements, channeling human wastes away from living space. Hygiene is taught to many people. We dramatically increase income taxes to create more revenue for the government, and use the money to fund this sanitation campaign.''' Masks are encouraged to prevent the further spread of the disease, which has been dying out. The population (which now stands at 18.2 million) grows at 0.5%, a recovery from near-zero growth rates during the worst of the plague. '''We focus on defending Silla from Japanese attacks, withdrawing all troops from the Sakhalin and Hokkaido provinces. The local people are relocated to Southern Manchuria. We amass an enormous army of around 550,000 active troops (nearly 3.06% of the total population). This ginormous military force is used to protect the Korean peninsula and Manchuria, which forms the core of the Sillan Kingdom, from the Japanese barbarians, trading space for time. We invest a large number of time on the research of weaponised fireworks (MOD RESPONSE, WHETHER IT IS SUCCESSFUL OR NOT), hoping for it to be complete by 720 CE. We will use this weaponised fireworks to invade Japan and defend it from potential threats. * Mod:''' Hey, I just wanna personally apologize for last turn's mix ups. I'm glad you just kinda rolled with it. For the record the first version of the map included your invasion, but there was a switch and some things were left out. All of your posts have been read and re-read to ensure the prereqs next turn will accurately reflect your intentions as a player. -Afunnymouth * I accept your apology. I understand that you were busy, so I just rolled with it. Is there any mod response regarding the success of the weaponised fireworks (whether it was successful or not)? Khazar Khaganate: We will send our ships to the Byzantine and Gepid coastline to recruit people to join our crusade. We also will raid into the Dnieper, Don and Kuban rivers. We build up fortifications and our navy to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will also promote anyone in Khazar lands to begin Guerrilla warfare. Driven by what is left by our Black sea navy and the chemicals used to make “fire that always burns” ,we will raid the coast to rally up our people to join our cause and rebel against their oppressors. We also begin raiding in the Caspian Sea and the Caliphate territories to rally our people too. Ganga Dynasty: The attack of the Yuvraj Palaka, which somehow helped to slow the Indians, also caused his violent death, which resulted in much more turmoil in the realm. With the Yuvraj death, Mahakala is the heir to the throne -but Khadaga II refuses to allow his brother to rule over Sri Lanka, accusing him of failing the negotiations with India and to have sent his son to his death. Khadaga II began organizing his forces from the capital, and sent a letter to his uncle Chandrajara, ordering him to strike against the invading forces. It seems that Khadaga II is finally taking things in hands. But the following years send the Ganga Dynasty to downright chaos. In 716, Mahakala is forced to go in exile in the Adaman and Nicobar Islands by his brother, on the order of commanding the navy forces staying there (Just remember that Palaka I turned the islands into military fortress and in his main military harbor). However, Khadaga forbid his brother of helping. And so, Mahakala and many other members of the Nila Faction leave the Ganga Dynasty. In 717, Jagadevra believe everything is doomed, and that his nephew will cause his death if he doesn't act. With a few members of the Grina Faction, he murder his nephew during a meeting, then flee the capital before anyone could catch him. The traitor go hiding into the Gupta Dynasty, hoping he would be able to stay away from the war there. With the death of the Raja and the escape of the administrators, Bhubaneswar soon burn under the chaos of popular revolts. Both Chandrajara and Mahakala are enraged by Jagadevra actions, his brother even sending a letter to the Gupta Raja asking for his head. During those times, Hirapal Yadava once again convert, but this time to Hinduism. Seing in the Indian Empire a better opportunity of gain than in the Buddhist rebels, he galddy claim his loyalty to the India Muharaja, and send his men as reinforcement. As for now, Mahakala as been inform that he should b the Raja of the Ganga Dynasty. But he soon realize that he will never be able to reign over the Ganga Dynasty, as he lack the support and troops. But he doesn't want the traitorous Indians to win this. His choice of action surprised everyone. He officially announce he would renounce his pretensions over his throne in favor for his brother-in-law, Prince Thepaman of the Chenla Queendom. This surprise come with a request to the Queen of Chenla. He tell her that as the ruler of the Adaman and Nicobar Islands, '''he pledge loyalty to her crown and ask to become her vassal. He also encourage her to push Thepaman new claim over the Ganga Dynasty''', telling her that the Indians are not to be trusted to protect the local population. The news of Mahakala stepping down reach the ears of Jagadevra, who is living an easy life in the Gupta Dynasty. In a succession way, he is now technically the Raja. Through his habitual political tactics, he propose to the Gupta Raja two things. First of all, he propose him to marry his only daughter, thus making him the Yuvraj of the Ganga Dynasty. With this, the Gupta Raja can take his revenge for the First Great War of India, and claim the entire Ganga Dynasty as his own. He also remind the Raja that by attacking, the Indian Empire broke the Treaty of Pataliputra, which included a 50 years non-aggression close between the three nations. Since the close was suppose to end in 732, the Indian Empire is breaking the agreement, giving the Gupta Dynasty every right to replicate. (Will need mod answer for Gupta) And then there is Chandrajara. He became enraged over what his nephew and brother are doing, abandoning their heritage to foreigners Buddhists. He simply cannot tolerate this. With what's left of the Grina Faction, Chandrajara claim the city of Dhanbad and proclaim it the new capital of the Gupta Dynasty, and auto-proclaim himself the new Raja of the Ganga Dynasty. Guru Susarman and his rebels are in a difficult position. The Ganga Dynasty is falling, and the only men left that fight for its independence is the same men that murdered many of them in the last decade, the one many even fear to pronounce the name, fearing he would hear it and come to kill them. The Indian Empire is clearly not an option, as they heard of the massive conversion happening there. Now come the hard choice. They can ether support the Gupta Dynasty, which was once their homeland, or the Chenla Kingdom, which is Buddhist and shall treat them well. In the end, Guru Susarman choose to follow the first one to act against the Indian Empire and Chandrajara. Until then, Guru Susarman proclaim the Provisional Theocracy of Bengal. * OOC (Ganga): Just to be clear, the murder of Khadaga II was planned for a long time (I was playing Palaka I when I first thought of it). It just didn't happen exactly the way I planned it since India invaded. Since Chandrajara is the only guy fighting for independence and the Raja, I'm gonna play this arrogant bastard for the few years the Ganga Dynasty have left. Oh and in my post I assumed that the actual Raja of the Gupta Dynasty is a young man, I hope it isn't a problem. Also, I'll make a page for the war and for Jagadevra, Chandrajara, Mahakala, Guru Susarman and Hirapal Yadava when I have time. Those guys lived (and caused for most of them) the end of this nation and deserve more than being just a name on a list. Rus' Principality: The troops in Lombardy hold their positions as the Western Slavic lands are integrated into the principality. Meanwhile, in the south, the third army group continues its assault against the Khazars, invading their territory and heading to their capital, killing anyone who attempts to get in the way. A new army group, consisting of two 50,000-man armies, the 7th and 8th Armies, is sent down south to aid them against the Khazars after being mobilized. Expansion continues further east into Khanty-Mansi lands. Wounded war veterans are given pieces of land in the new territories as a reward for their service. India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants and catapults. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. '''India continues invading Ganga dynasty. After the economy becomes to suffers, India opens its borders with Persia and the Caliphate, but Indian Border Force will check the what goods are OK or not. Infected traders are killed while trying to spread the plague on us. Japan:''' We continue our attack on Hokkaido. The Kingdom of Mbali: Civilians watch as their families and loved ones; parents and children are slaughtered before their eyes. Cities fall in groups and anyone who can retreats to Cyrene. The capital is surrounded by the Caliphate and many Mbalians prepare to die for the history of their nation. Word manages to work its way to Cyrene and soon everyone has heard of Recimi Avagis. Rumors circulate that he has emerged to rise up and defend Mbali from the Caliphate force. However, many are pessimistic and assume it’s much too late to save not only the capital but the nation as a whole. On the other hand the west regions of Mbali are quite optimistic, Recimi Avagis could be everything they’d hoped for. A savior to their people, an heir to their throne and even the strategist that could overpower a much bigger, more powerful army. Liang: Some traders make their way across the Indian lands, through the Caliphate, and into Europe, and bring back many riches, spices, and most importantly, ideals. The traders say they brought silk and fireworks to Europe and were looking for other lands to trade to. They also bring news of a plague. However, none of them seems to have caught it. The ideas and theories spread rather quickly. However, the native Chinese philosophies are still dominant. The invasion of Tibet continues. The idea of using fireworks as weapons is experimented with, and the emperor declares war against Japan for attacking Silla, although this is viewed as late. The navy mobilizes against Japan. *(Chenla Diplomat) Proposal to join ASEAN. True-Egypt: Hoping to form a lasting allegiance with our neighbors, we reopen all of our borders and continue to spread our culture. A famous harp player by the name of Nerfetiti begins touring nearby nations and demonstrating the eloquent beauty of Egyptian culture. Diplomats are sent to the tlilldephons and the vandals in hopes of forming an African alliance. The Gothic Empire: While turmoil and despair has become commonplace in the Gothic way of life, the people need not fret, as this has always been their way. Speeches are given and rallys are held to further convey the idea that the Gothic Empire’s strength comes from the unity of its people, and despite how desperate things may seem, through team-work and perseverance, things can, and hopefully will, change for the better. With her newborn child necessitating constant care, Sventhila Lousean is forced to retire from the front line and instead led from her throne in the Lucien Castle of Toulouse; General Beremud is elected the head of the Gothic military and in her steed, Legate Ricca, after miraculously surviving her injuries but being left with a permanently disabled arm,ascends to the role of leader of the third Gothic battalion. The troops led one last assault to clean up Lombardian opposition groups and hopes to join forces with the Mediterranean Entente for one last sweep over the area to wipe Lombard invaders off the map. To dispel ideas of gender inequality and sexist behaviors, the derogatory title “Lupexcercito” is dropped completely. The female troops are assimilated with the males; the change is gradual at first, but it is expected to soon culminate to the point where men and women share the same barracks. Coquetry between the troops is forbidden and highly frowned upon by military officials, any soldiers caught engaging in romantic relations are suspended, separated into different legions and put on probation for a period not exceeding six months. Complete control over the female representative seat in Senate falls to Sventhila, and as a result there are only four chairs (sans the head Chairman spot) left; The Abelone chair - belonging to the Jutes, The Suebian chair- belonging to the Suebians, The Roman chair - belonging to the Ostrogoths, and the Toulouse chair - belonging to the Visigoths. Considering the vacancy of the Abelone chair, Sventhila seeks to discover who the proper heir should be. The Ostrogothic leader, Harric Chindaswintha III, travels to Jutland to parlay with the leading body. It is aimed to gain a better understanding of what has transpired in the Jutish nation whilst they remained largely quiet and isolationist.A wooden effigy of Bodil Abelone is carved out by professional artisans and is brought with Harric on his journeys to offer to the Jutes as a symbol of the lasting bond between the two nations, even in the most desperate of times.. The siege of classical Lombardy is tightened around the nation's throat in hopes of forcing their submission. A diplomat by the name of Recared travels into Lombardy accompanied by his guard of professional Umbra-Gotha and hired mercenaries, carrying a treaty for peace drawn up by none other than Sventhila Lousean herself. The treaty dictates an end to the Gothic participation in the war and a promise to allow the Lombards continued survival in their capital.   The Treaty of Milan # The fighting between the Goths and the Lombards will cease, and the Goths will insist their allies follow in suit. # The Lombards will sue for peace with the Franks. # The Goths will pull out of the Baltic Sea completely and allow the Lombardian isles as well as Scandinavia their sovereignty. # Lombardy will be allowed to keep their holdings in Milan # Lombardy may hope to remain unconquered as a protected state, assuming they agree to pay a measly tax of 5% of annual income once their nation is back on its feet. # The Goths will provide the Lombards with marble and silver as immediate war reparations. # Lombardian prisoners of war will be released unharmed to the Lombardy proper. # The Goths aspire to reconnect the Amber road through Milan and would like the Lombardians compliance. # The Hroaldr family will be provided amnesty and offered a fief in Ostrogothic territory. # The Goths will command that Albion cease their slaughter of Lombardians and instead act as a partner in the reformation process. # The Goths will denounce the Danes intrusions and in turn hope for their allies to take action. # Lombardy will not be allowed to aggressively build military or expand for at least 50 years. # Ties between Lombardy, Scandinavia and Gotland must be cut. # A proposal will be made to the High Council of the Mediterranean for all other allied nations to seek a similar peace with Lombardy. # The Lombards will be allowed to build ships for trade purposes only, in Gothic ports. The ships must have two Gothic officers on board at all times and are forbidden from transporting weaponry. # An agreement of mutual peace shall be made to last upward of at least 50 years and until such time as “a new generation comes to power”. Signatures:'''  The Gothic Empire - Sventhila Lousean Constantinus Byzantinus Maximus Talk At Me Afunnymouth Constantinus Byzantinus MaximusTalk At Me Lombardy - Þórbjörn Hróaldr  Constantinus Byzantinus MaximusTalk At Me 22:59, November 13, 2015 (UTC)Genesaria Constantinus Byzantinus MaximusTalk At Me 22:59, November 13, 2015 (UTC) Albion - Branwen Seigberht 22:59, November 13, 2015 (UTC)Long Dong Johnson22:59, November 13, 2015 (UTC) Comments:  ______________________''' If agreements of peace are reached the Goths hope to begin a massive clean-up of the war-torn countryside. “The First Wave”, consisting largely of the Gothic lower class, are to traverse through the devastated lands, looting corpses and bringing home objects and resources of value - in return the people are not only paid a minimum wage in Euros, but are also offered a 30% share of all the loot that they come across. “The Second Wave”, a team of architects are sent in to survey the territory and record ideas. The third, and “Final Wave” is sent in last to begin complete reclamation and reconstruction efforts, focusing mainly on rebuilding group homes and general stores to allow some of the people to return to their normal lives. A post wave of colonists and job-seekers, going by the name “The Anastase”, are sent into the area to operate markets and establish a presence. In a surprising turn of Gothic character, Sventhila Lousean orders the Lombardian people will be allowed to maintain their culture, customs and theology, so long as they pay a 10% tax on all imported goods and services. It is propagated that this excise is to be used for the sole purpose of maintaining churches, but in reality, only 10% of that 10% (1% net-tax on total goods) actually goes to churches. Church monetization is banned as protocol and big churches are disbanded into multiple smaller ones. Sventhila is not much for the limelight, resigning much of the speech giving processes to her subordinates. It is not that Sventhila cannot give rallying speeches, as she has demonstrated this genetic capability on the battlefield numerous times, but when in the infuriating silence of acourtroom, it becomes difficult for her to not become nervous and make poor decisions. Instead, the rich and charismatic Harric Chindaswintha III acts as figurehead for the people, and as such, the expected outcry against a female ruler is stifled. Pardon my shorter-than-usual turn, but I had to go back and change it at the last minute. Lombardy: Þórbjörn Hróaldr views the Gothic offer of peace as too harsh for the Lombards to accept, especially as they are the defenders in this war. A messenger is immediately sent to the Goths, informing them of Lombardy's immediate refusal of the offer and all of its terms. The king and his family orders that the defenses on Gotland be strengthened even more, and all Gothic prisoners in the kingdom are executed. The citizens of the capital prepare themselves to fight to the death. Gotland begins minor food-rationing. While the island is currently producing an abundance, the local leaders want to be ready for an individual siege of the various settlements scattered across the island. Across the kingdom, military conscription becomes mandatory. The priests daily sacrifice people, mostly enemy prisoners, to the gods. Lombardy (SECRET): A detachment of volunteer Lombard-Gutish cavalry is snuck to Holstein, which is in chaos due to the Danish invasion, and gallops most of the way to a close-by Saxon town that's proclaimed its reversion to Lombardy. The horses are hidden in a collection of abandoned farm buildings in the thick Saxon forest, and the cavalry-members trade their uniforms for civilian garb. It is hoped that if the Franks refuse Lombardy's call for peace, that these soldiers will be able to train locals, and possibly perform hit-and-run attacks on Frankish supply chains. Lombardy (Diplomacy): A messenger is sent to the Franks, requesting peace in exchange for massive cuts on duties for Frankish traders in Lombard ports, and a yearly reparation for a period of 50 years. If this offer is accepted, all Frankish prisoners will be released, and messengers will be sent to the revolutionary cells in Frankish-occupied Saxony, requesting that they halt their attacks while Frankish troops are withdrawing. Frankish military ships will also be given free berthing in all Lombard ports, up to the harbor's maximum capacity. Uyghur Khaganate: The Uyghur Khaganate continues the invasion of Tibet and attacks the two far western clans that border the Uyghurs. Meanwhile, Buddhism sees a rise in popularity and followers. Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl also offers a peace treaty with Silla and proposes the following terms: #The fighting between Silla and the Uyghur Khaganate will end, and peace will be established. #Silla will get to keep its conquered lands. #Uyghur Khaganate will ally with Silla. #The Uyghur Khaganate will also send 50,000 military personnel to help Silla's war against Japan. Signatures: *Uyghur Khaganate -- Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl ~Seiga~ *Silla -- King Wonjang (Chu Changjun) ~ Candiesrgood *Chenla (Diplomat) Proposal to join ASEAN. ______________________ Chenla Queendom: Queen Jayavedi fearing loss of an ally, remobilizes a force to return to the Silla/Japanese war front. A quarter of the Royal Navy is sent, mostly composed of the stronger and technologically advanced warships. Also on each ship is a regiment of the newly formed Royal Marines, a branch that has just been formed and is seeing its first combat missions. They are heavily armored and armed soldiers that make up the elite fighting force of the Navy. A new High Admiralty is chosen, Haviland Ipo, a Common born citizen that quickly rose through  the ranks at the Royal Military Academy. He is sent to lead the task force aiding the Silla in their war against the Japanese. Back on the war front against the Bruneian Sultanate the troops immediately pull out and return to the mainland, but before they can set foot on it they must first go to a special military quarantine zoned island where everyone and everything is thoroughly washed thoroughly the prevent the spread of plague. Also to take the possibility of more troops for the Sultan of Borneo, any Bruneian citizen is offered the ability to escape plague by moving to the Chenla mainland. They must of course be subject to the thorough cleaning that the Chenlan troops are going through. Before departure from the island, Queen Jayavedi has messages sent to the chieftains of the many tribes that make up the Bruneian Sultanate, that says if the Sultan is handed over the war would end and the Chenla Queendom would leave Borneo alone. The war did only start because it was the Sultan who ordered the murder of the Royal Scouts instead of sending a peaceful envoy to greet them. So it is only justified that the Sultan should face not the Bruneian peoples. Until then the blockade around the continues and all armed forces on the beaches are bombarded with the catapults on the ships. '''Queen Jayavedi seeing that there are four nations with moderate friendly ties to one another, are at war with Japan proposes the idea of ASEAN (The Alliance of Sovereign East Asian Nations). A proposal is sent to the Silla, Liang, the Ainu peoples and the Ughyurs Khaganate. In the proposal it says: Promises of Alliance''' 1. All members within ASEAN shall be recognized as a Sovereign nation. 2. When in the event that a member nation goes to war and asks for the aid of the other members; then it is the duty of the other members to send aid in the said war. 3. In times of peace each member will dedicate tariff free trade between the other members, the sharing of scientific and technological breakthroughs, and the assurance that each member will try to better the economies of the other members. 4. In times of "misfortune"  such as plague, it is the duty of the member with the "misfortune" to try to prevent the plague from spreading; while the other members will send whatever aid is needed. If any nation that the proposal was sent to would like to add anything to the proposal so that it benefits all parties, then they may do so. By signing that party agrees to the conditions of the proposal. Signatures: Chenla Queendom - Queen Jayavedi ~ Laoboy343 Silla Kingdom - King Wonjang ~ Candiesrgood * Perhaps the Ughyur Khaganate, and Tibet could join to, but if they do, the Liang and the Ughyurs shall cease war with Tibet. Liang Dynasty -  Ainu Peoples (mod) - ~King Yaihlu Katama'ana Ughyurs  Khaganate- Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl - Seiga Tibet (only if the Liang and Ughyurs cease war)-  ________________________  Crowned Prince Jayavarman ll is enrolled into the Royal Academy of Luang Prabang to begin his studies. Queen Jayavedi warns Prince Thepaman that trying to be the Raja of the Ganga would be futile and it would get the Queendom into unwanted situations, so instead she gives Prince Thepaman the title of Prince Thepaman Duke of Sumatra where he would have governance of the island. The offer that Mahakala of the Ganga is accepted that Queen Jayavedi  will accept him as a vassal as long that he brings with him the Adaman and Nicobar islands, where he will rule over them as its lord. Queen Jayavedi also approves that if the Ganga should fall the assumption of its territory should go to the Gupta as they would have greater jurisdiction over it. The Royal Engineers in the School of Alchemy, have found an elixir, made by rare herbs found in the remote Chenlan Highlands, that help remedy the effect of the plague. The elixir doesn't cure the plague but weakens it allowing the body a greater chance of fighting the plague naturally. Also the RE have found a more efficient method of telling time by using the sun. The contraption used to tell time is called a sun dial where the shadow the sun produces when it hits it tells what time it is. The RE also increase the infrastructure and invest more into the sciences. They also begin research of improving the design of warships. After many different experiments the Royal Scouts have proven that the white-winged magpie is the best avian to carry messages. Roosteries are immediately built in major towns and cities so that the transfer of messages is more efficient. The RS continue to survey potential economic hot spot and expand their network of information gathering. The Royal Navy expands its production of modernized ships and continues to decommission the old ones. The RSA, Ahan Phi and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps strengthens as new recruits join the armed forces. Queen Jayavedi amps up the sanitation programs even more with the construction of more sewers, public bathhouses and introduction of public plumbing. More street sweepers are hired and the encouragement of wearing masks continues. It even gets to the point where anyone caught not wearing a mask is fined 500 silver Kip and the possibility of imprisonment for multiple offenses of not wearing the masks. The Coalition of Picts: The Pictish Coalition embarrassed at Legion I, disbands Legion I and executing all of the Legion I men. So we only keep Legion II-Legion? (Mod, How much troops do I exactly have). I is also an unlucky numbers and no number can be one. We create a new numerical system, which starts with a two and no one. We launch Legion II to the North Sea with more food supplies (to prevent starvation) to discover some islands in the north. We finished building the Hadrian Wall. We now create molten oil pots on the door. We disband all our shrines to get economy. We ask the byzantines to open their gates to let our diplomats into Byzantium to discuss a treaty. We put all of our army, except for the one legion on the walls. After months of being somewhat isolated, to better connect with the world, we open up selective immigration (everyone who doesn't have the plague can immigrate. The Coalition of Picts (Secret): After looking at how our artillery is weak, we try to create missile artillery. We call our best chemists to start researching explosive combinations involving explosions. Meanwhile, our spies under the disguise of diplomats arrive at the gates of Byzantium. We are on high defensive alert and prepare for a war against the Franks as the tensions between our countries are on the rise. The Coalition of Picts (Secret, Exception Celts): Can we wage a war against the Franks. We await a response. Japan: We attempt to use the blitzkrieg tactic against the Sillans with the cavalry being the "tanks" of the strategy. This is where (for those who don't know) the cavalry breaches the front lines, then they turn around and attack from behind with the infantry advancing from the front and causing a pincer effect. We also advance our forces into the recently withdrawn-from territories of Hokkaido and Sakhalin (though we will be ready if they return). Another thing is that we are denouncing the Sillans for calling us "barbarians", for I should tell all of you, we are not barbarians. We are the Empire of Japan, dedicated to unifying the homeland into one single entity, and we are VERY civilized. And you people won't be able to deny THAT. * We refuse to believe the claims of the war-mongering, bloodthirsty Japanese barbarians, since Hokkaido and Northern Honshu had been historically inhabited by Ainu peoples. Caliphate: We expand 4000 pixels into Africa. We continue to invade and blockade Cyprus, hoping that it would be a valuable base in any war against the Goths. We continue to invade Mbali. We invade Northern-Egypt, seeing as how they are in civil war. We build our navy. We continue the battle in the Mediterranean against the Goths and take valuable sea of them. We blockade the Byzantine Empire, saying that they MUST surrender to the Caliphate before it's too late. We besiege Byzantine Empire cities. We would like the Persian Empire to join the Caliphate freely (mod response). We continue to fight against the Muslim Free State. We wish to trade with China and East Asia. We trade with India. Lombardy: In light of some new information that's come to my attention about the exact nature of the Goths' peace deal, I've changed my turn. If you're in Europe, you'll probably want to go back and re-read it. '''((MOD RESPONSE)) Late turn again? REBEL! REBEL! == 720 C.E. == Lombard Scandinavia declares independence, then immediately gets invaded by Danish longships. Being mostly ethnically Danish,the Scandinavians are apathetic toward fighting and the nation quickly falls to the Danish invaders.  The Jutes mount a massive armed force and push the Danes back to the coasts where their massive navy lays in wait. Casualties are immense for both sides, and neither country has a clear upper hand. Ankous is accepted resoundingly as the true leader of the Celtic people. Though many still believe that the Picts should remain subordinate to the nation, there is an overwhelming sentiment of hatred toward the simple murder of a king whom had altruistic desires for an ally nation. Recimi Avagis, self proclaimed descendant of Sabina Mbali and Alaric II, quickly rises to power in Morocco. Geberic Illdephon views him as a threat and rides out one night to confront him. After a brief altercation, Avagis and his party overthrow the Illdephons and consolidate control over Morocco. Seeing his ally quickly overthrown, Thabo Khananda orders the execution of the would-be king, Recimi Avagis. Several covert missions are conducted, all resulting in miserable failure and loss of life. The people, seeing Avagis to be their savior come when they needed him most, quickly reject the idea of war with the Avagisian. The Avagisians march on the Vandalic Kingdom, and are met with minimal resistance. The kingdom quickly assimilates with the Avagisians and their power grows. The Avagisians march peacefully into Mbali, preaching the name of Recimi Avagis, and proclaiming him to be the savior of Africa. The Mbalian people eagerly accept their savior and soon are assimilated into the growing unification beneath Recimi. With the unification of three nations complete, the Carthaginian Empire is re-established, taking inspiration from their ancient heritage and seeing an opportunity to repel the Muslim invaders. The Caliphate invades east and west Egypt, completely overwhelming the native people and claiming control within less than three years. Seeing the encroach of the Caliphate as a threat to their continued existence,Carthage mounts a massive unified offensive and attacks the Caliphate, pushing back the front line and killing a great deal of Muslims. Sailendra establishes itself as a significant regional power on the island of Java. Trading starts up with Chenlan settlements on southern Sumatra. Kanemi troops push further into Ghanan territory, detachments make it as far as Benin.  Bhubaneswar is laid to waste by the overwhelming internal and external pressures.  A group of Chinese and Korean scientists get together and collaborate on the prospect of using fireworks as weaponry. A device allowing for proper measurements to be made whilst positioning the rocket, is invented, and is put to the test in open warfare. It proves wildly successful and the militaries of both nations are expected to benefit greatly from this development. The Khazars continue to boast their superiority over the Caspian and in turn capture some coastal territory from the Caliphate. Pictish emissaries arrive in Byzantium only to find a graveyard ravaged by plague and uprisings. It is hard to find clear semblance of leadership, but after making their presence known, Anastasius II reveals himself and welcomes the Picts to his “lavish empire”. Massive rioting sweeps across the Pictish kingdom, as the people, angry at the senseless massacre of an entire legion, begin spontaneously attacking government buildings. The Pictish capital is thrown into chaos, as thousands stand chanting outside of the palace, calling for the heads of the ruling family. Meanwhile, large segments of the Pictish army either mutiny or refuse to obey orders originating from the king. The Himyar people begin grumbling in Yemen, angry along with the Arabs at the level of conscription, and the damage war is doing to the countryside. Sofala begins trading with the natives of Madagascar. Khazar spies ambush a Byzantine courtier, and force him to retrieve the book on Greek fire from the Constantinople Palace library, finding Greek fire to be a mixture of naphtha, saltpeter, and calcium phosphide. Once the Khazars have secured those ingredients, production can begin. Note: for everyone else, keep in mind that only the Byzantines and the Khazars currently know the recipe for Greek fire, so if you’re not the Khazars, just ignore this. Enemy troops surround the Lombard capital completely, enclosing it, and preventing any sort of aid from reaching the walls. The city starts to starve and falls to overwhelming invasion. Lombardy has fallen and the Gothic Empire and its allies are left to lick their many, many wounds. The people of Brunei are reluctant to give up their beloved founder and sultan, Alak Brunei, but he, being the altruistic leader he was proclaimed to be, agrees to submit to the Chenla on the condition that they let his people be free. The plague starts to recede in northern Africa and southern Europe, as most people have either developed an immunity, or died. It is far from over, though. The Picts discover the Shetland islands. Construction begins on a massive Kanemi palace in their capital of Njimi.  Gothic presence along the Red Sea coasts quickly fades into oblivion, territories being reclaimed by barbarian tribes. The Japanese smash through resistance in the Ainu mainland and devastate the Sillian counter-offensive. Without any established government or military support, the south Ainu islands quickly fall. The Silla swarm into Japan and make successful amphibious landings in both the north and south. The northern conquests are surprisingly more successful than the south as the South Japanese border is largely militarized and prepared for an assault by sea. Nonetheless, the Sillians are able to completely maintain their footholds in Japan. The Vermundians take a page from the Caliphates book and adopt of policy of mass expansionism. The economy is entirely funded by expansion and the people begin to regard mass holdings of land to translate to mass holdings of power. Guru Susarman consolidates control over Bengal and declares himself the new nation “The Theocracy of Bengal”. Mass recruitment begins to prepare to defend the new country against potential enemies. Rus’ territory is successfully assimilated into the empire and the slavic people find it easy to blend in with their new overlords. Sef orders the continued conquest of Ghana, and as a result of a massive lack of Ghanaian intervention, the Kanemi make tremendous gains. Angered by the Gothic blockade, the Western Slavs rise up and push the Goths out of their ports. The Goths are taken by surprise and are quickly overwhelmed, giving way to Slavic supremacy over the coastal territory. Liang continues its invasion of Tibet, securing more northern land, but again not deigning to cross the Himalayas Ganga Dynasty: Chandrajara I''' may be a brutal and short tempered leader, but at least he know military tactics. Being during more than 30 years one of the main generals of the Ganga Dynasty help building some military skills. From 719 to 723, he made numerous guerrilla-style assault on the Inidan Empire, pressuring the enemies where they were at their weakest (Result of the tactic to be determined by the mod). In 722, he take a large contingent of troops and strike at the north of the Ganga/India border, and try to push as much as he can in Indian territory, knowing most of the indan troops left the kingdom to fight in Ganga (Again, mod answer of the result). With this, the reign of Chandrajara is mainly marked by war against the Indian Empire. Some conflicts also appear from time to time with the Gupta Dynasty, but those end rapidly. However, Chandrajara I die in 723 at the age of 66, leaving his son Khadaga to succeed him. The new Raja, Khadaga III, start a program to build new infrastructures in his kingdom, and to help the villages destroyed by the war. He also start the renovation of the royal palace in Dhanbad. He even try to put garrison on the unstable frontier between his lands and the Indian Empire. But after a year, he realize the Indian will end up winning the war, resulting in the death of many citizens of his nation. To protect the land against this, he send a letter to Raja Ravivarma II of the Gupta Dynasty. In the letter, Khadaga III express he doesn't have the capacities to properly rule his lands anymore, and thus would like to surrender them (same for his crown) to the Gupta Dynasty, expressing the profound belief they would protect the Ganga citizens. He also claim that he was able to convince his supporters to follow his surrender, and that by 725, the lands of the Ganga Dynasty will be under Gupta's control. His only request, an easy one, is that Raja Ravivarma II recognize the reigns of both Cahndrajara I and Khadaga III as legitimate Raja, instead of a bunch of usurper, so that history will remember that some tried to save the Ganga Dynasty. Should he agree, the Ganga's lands will be his. * OOC (Ganga): OK, I think this is my last post as the Ganga Dynasty. I had a really fun ride (although short) with this nation, living its highs and lows. And hey, I was able to turn my doom (or what I saw as my doom) into a cool scenario and an awesome war, just like I wanted, so ... SHOTGUN GEPID REPUBLIC! PS: Wasn't clear if Gupta was entering the thing, but with all the reason they had to do so and the support of Chenla (and Gur Susarman), I'm gonna suppose they did. Theocracy of Bengal: Guru Susarman, realizing that the Gupta Dynasty is supported by the Chenla Kingdom and will soon be the new master of the Ganga Dynasty, support the young Raja Ravivarma II of the Gupta Dynasty over his claim on the Ganga Dynasty. They recruit more troops for the upcoming war. * OOC (Ganga): I did the post just so you knew what they did, but I'll also stop laying them from now on. Your choice is if they fuse with the Gupta Dynasty or stay independent as a small nation free to play. Uyghur Khaganate: The Uyghur Khaganate decides to end their invasion of Tibet, and offers them a peace treaty. Meanwhile, Buddhism sees a rise in popularity and followers; and several Buddhist Temples are being built in parts of the nation. Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl sends 50,000 military personnel to support Silla's war against Japan. A new palace in Ordu-Baliq begins construction and when completed, will be where the Khagan's will rule from. Chu Dynasty (former Silla): King Wonjang dies due to old age, and is succeeded by his eldest son, Jaewon, who is around twenty years old. He ends the Silla kingdom and establishes the Chu Dynasty, modelled after the dynasties of China. With the Ghanan death declared over, the dynasty resumes human contact with the Chenla Queendom and lift travel restrictions to formerly infected areas. He continues the sanitation program to prevent the future re-emergence of the disease, funding it with tax money. Sewage systems are built in all human settlements, removing human waste from living spaces. Basic hygiene is taught to most people. Masks are commonly worn in public spaces. The population grows at a relatively fast rate of .7% annually, due to a high birth rate, a low death rate, and immigration of Ainu people into Russian Manchuria. Due to the recent success of military campaigns in Japan, troop morale grows, reaching unprecedented levels. '''We attempt to blockade troops in Hokkaido by trying to take over all of Northern Honshu, therefore disrupting supply lines with the rest of Japan. Once the Japanese troops in Hokkaido are starved of supplies, we will invade Hokkaido and if successful, we will continue our rapid advance south into Japan. Around half of our army (225,000 troops) are sent to Japan to fight while the rest are used to protect Korea and Manchuria''' (when I say Manchuria, it includes "Inner" and "Outer", or Chinese and Russian Manchuria, not only the three Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning, and Jilin). Due to the recent success in our military campaigns, we also re-establish our presence on Hokkaido and the Sakhalin. We continue researching the concept of using fireworks as weapons with the Chinese, in the condition that they will not use the newly developed weapons against us. King Jaewon also begins discussing plans to divide Japan into different spheres of influence with his advisors; Taiwan will be given to Liang China, while Japan (excluding Hokkaido) will be divided into five Korean satellite states, North and South Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and the Ryukyu. Also we will try to prevent the five states from ever unifying into a single state, and will also keep the Japanese states fairly primitive in terms of technology. *Chenla (OOC): Could you by chance create a page for ASEAN because I don't have the ability to do so right now? *Chu Dynasty (OOC): I already did. By the way, I'm sending membership proposals to the Gupta dynasty and India. And if you are okay with it, the Bruneian Empire as well. *Chenla (OOC): I'm okay if you send a membership proposal to the Bruneian Sultanate because I'm planning on trying to secure friendly relations with them. I just don't know about India because they are still allied to the Caliphate, do you think they will break that alliance or no? Chenla Queendom: Hearing no news of plague, Queen Jayavedi reopens its borders and sea trade routes to help once again boost the economy. The sanitation programs continue to be in effect, but it is not as extreme as it once was. The street sweepers are kept because it does help with employment. Attending bathhouses becomes the social normality in the Queendom with over 90 percent of people going to them daily. Wearing masks becomes optional now and there will be no penalty for not wearing one, but many people still choose to wear them. Trade with the people of Sailendra is increased and an envoy is sent to see if the leader of the Sailendra would like to begin friendly relations. With the acquisition of Sultan Alak Brunei,  all Chenlan military presence on the island of Bornéo ceases and occupied lands are given back to the peoples of Brunei. The blockade ends and trade is opened. The people of Brunei are prompted to allow the construction of a Chenlan embassy in their capitol, which in turn would allow the Brunei Sultanate to build one in Luang Prabang. With the war now over between the two nations Queen Jayavedi hopes friendly relations would soon ensue. For the Sultan on the other hand, Alak Brunei is sent to attend the Royal Academy of Krung Thep to learn Chenlan culture so that he would understand that when the Royal Scouts landed on his shores those long years ago; they did so because of the intellectual curiosity that the Queendom's culture possesses for exploration. (Chenla edit) Heeding the warnings provided by the High Elegance of the Chu Dynasty, the colonization program that was purposed for the Philippine islands is scrapped. Instead a friendly envoy is sent to the barangays of southern Luzon to see if they would be interested in trade and in return the Chenla Queendom would provide them weapons so that they may centralize the entirety of the island of Luzon. The fleet of 30 ships no longer have the order to build a naval stronghold on the island, but three Royal Navy ships are sent to escort the friendly envoy because the last time an unarmed task force from the Queendom went to foreign lands they were slaughtered. <strike style="font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;">The Royal Scouts report of great riches from the islands that make up the modern day Phillipines. A fleet of 30 ships from the Royal Navy is sent to the northern most of the islands to build a naval stronghold. The plan is to have all the islands industrialized with mines by the year 730 with Chenlan colonization slowly spreading south during the 15 year period. The Royal family grows with the birth of Princess Sahvan Leung, the daughter of Prince Thepaman Duke of Sumatra and Princess Chamekamba. Crowned Prince Jayavarman ll continues his studies in the Royal Academy of Luang Prabang where h excels over his classmates just like is mother. He is given a name similar to if mother's nickname, but he is called Seu Fi (the Fiery Tiger) for his physical and intellectual prowess. The military force aiding the Chu Dynasty helps them continue to capture territory in hopes that the war with the Japanese will end soon. The RE begin researching how to produce stronger metal alloys as iron materials have become to common and there is now a need for stronger equipment. The Royal Navy continues to build more ships and the RSA, Ahan Phi and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps continue to recruit more people. The proposal for the Supreme Majesty of the Liang to join ASEAN still stands. *Liang: Accepted. * Chu Dynasty: Jaewon warns Chenla to stay out of the Philippines, since the archipelago is prone to natural disasters and it'll be expensive to colonise it. Despite its great wealth in terms of natural resources, it is inhabited by many people (ranging from the wealthy, advance barangays of Southern Luzon to the animist, primitive tribes of Cordillera) and the island's natural treasures are theirs. Zanzibar Sultanate: We extend the territory of 20 px southwest. The economy and infrastructure has began to build its extent to our nation, with the tribes to expect to explore the land. (Short turn but it's OK.) Liang: Starts using rockets against the Tibetans. Rockets are mounted on ships and used against Taiwan, and landings start. Ships start to go east. The idea of democracy spreads. Trading with the Europeans continues. Caliphate: We decide to stop our expansion into Africa for five years due to many wars being fought against the Caliphate. We establish our power in our current Aftican lands. In Yemen we spread pro-Caliphate proper gander so protests can be put down. We offer the Treaty of Tripoli to Carthage empire to end the Carthage-Caliphate War. We fight against the Muslim Free State, demanding that they surrender to the Calipate. We invade Middle Egypt in our conquest to reunify Egypt under Caliphate rule. We build our militar. We build our navy. We continue to fight the Goths in the Mediterranean Naval Battles. '''We invade Kriti, blockading it from the outside world. We also plan to invade Southern Italy in the next ten years. We try to find a cure to the Plague, we encourage all people to keep clean and this should Limey the plague. We demand that the Bytzantine Empire gives us Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon. '''We invade the red country on the map. We would like Persia to be reunited our the Persian Empire to join the Calipate. (OOC) You should clarify what you mean by "red" country on the map. India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants and catapults. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. India continues to invade Ganga dynasty. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We also begin raiding in the Caspian Sea and the Caliphate territories to rally our people too. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. With Calcium phosphide found by boiling bones in urine and saltpeter commonly found in preserving food, we must find where to get naphtha. The only source that we know of currently is in Rus territory, we will send mercenaries to get our source back. We will also send miners to mine any place that might have '''naptha. (There is one in Baku, Grosni Petrovik and Tiflis). (Mod). We will propose a union of the Karluks and the Khazars''' to better both of our nations. http://www.antiquaprintgallery.com/caucasus-georgia-hot-springs-naphtha-sketch-mapc1885-42311-p.asp Japan: We launch counterattacks against the Korean invasion by attempting to cut off supplies and attack the Koreans from the back. Rus' Principality: We continue to occupy Khazar lands and begin negotiating with local chiefs for them to integrate into the principality. With the campaign in Lombardy over, only the 2nd and 3rd armies are left in the Western Slavic lands, a total of 140,000 men, many of which are Western Slavs. Our other forces are sent to the south to aid the 5th and 6th armies in occupying Khazar lands and continuing our war against the Khazars. Our navy continues to attack the Khazar positions along the coast and along the rivers, while the army has taken up the policy of capturing major cities and settlements, along with roads, to cut off resisting Khazars from each other. We also continue our expansion into Khanty-Mansi lands. The Gothic Empire: After years of constant warfare, it would seem the Goths had found a small semblance of peace. The war for Lombardy is over and the people rejoice. The gains are enormous and with access to new trade routes, there is hope for the Gothic economy to rejuvenate. Sventhila Lousean does a fantastic job of steering her nation from the back seat while allowing Chindaswintha III most of the credit. Jobs are created cleaning up wartorn lands and spreading culture and religion to the Lombardians. The tax of intolerance is raised and the treatment of Germanic peoples by the Goths is worsened. Sventhila orders that all Anglo-Saxons who fought in the war be given to Duchess Branwen as indentured servants. Albion is given the lands adjacent and southward and are encouraged to form The Independent Duchy of Albion. Laws are passed forcing complete and total gender equality. Discrimination is made illegal. It is hoped to have women fully integrated into the empire and all of its affairs by the end of the next five years. Artists are commissioned to create propaganda posters depicting Gothic traditionalists as vile and bigoted. The young Roderic II begins practicing sword fighting. His mother discourages it but he rebels against her word and often sneaks out to practice with his friends. Roderic II is only ever lightly disciplined by his mother as she can't help but to see so much of her own father in him. The Frankish Kingdom is still putting down the Saxon rebellion, and many feel that peace is needed. Kingdom of Gotland (formerly Kingdom of Lombardy): Lombardy is gone, but the Hróaldr dynasty is not. Þórbjörn Hróaldr still rules from the self-sufficient, impenetrable, and fairly wealthy fortress that Gotland has become, surrounded by chiefs related to, or of, his dynasty, and citizens willing to risk everything to defend their beloved nobles, their land, and their gods. Gutish ships, while not as numerous as those of the Goths, are much more maneuverable, and make several runs to the mainland, carrying messages back and forth. The island's fortifications continue to be built up, and they have now reached almost absurd proportions. The local population, which has never seen the plague, is now booming, and local trade reaches incredible proportions. The local cisterns become legendary among the people and one day, during a particularly dry summer, Þórbjörn has a pair of small warships lowered down into the largest one, and a naval battle is staged for the local nobles and a few commoners. Plans are drawn up for a massive palace-temple complex in the north of the island. The main feature would be a massive throne room, surrounded with bedrooms and storage closets. To the east, another hall, almost as large, would be dedicated to Woden, and it too would be surrounded by rooms, some to house offerings and sacrifices, and some to give worshipers places to venerate statues of Freya, Thor, and Loki. The complex would be high-walled, and fairly self-sufficient, with massive underground storage places for food, and the largest cistern on the island, connected to several fortunately-placed springs. There would also be a library in the back housing all 40 books that were rescued from the mainland, a massive amount, to be sure. The throne room would be 30 feet high, and there would be two storeys of rooms directly abutting it. The entire complex would constitute the largest architectural program undertaken in the north to this point, but the many Greek architects in the king's personal entourage, and the industriousness of Gotland's inhabitants, should make it possible. Þórbjörn continues work on his monumental History of the Royal Lombards, hoping to complete it before his death. Work begins on a highway between the north of Gotland and the south. In the event of an invasion, it should allow troops to quickly traverse the length of the island to repel the invaders. Gotland (Diplomacy): The Danes are requested a military alliance. == 725 C.E. == '''Sometimes the calm comes before the storm, and sometimes it comes after. But most of the time, the storm never ends. Carthage makes more gains against the Caliphate - acreage is negligible, the real focus being the massive amount of Muslim deaths proportionally to the Carthaginians. The rapid expansion of Vermundia becomes increasingly worrisome. Many neighboring African nations fear that the expansion will soon become violent. Nefertiti continues to spread Egyptian culture throughout Egypt. It is expected that much of Africa will soon view True-Egypt as the cultural epicenter of the world. Sef continues his large scale invasion of Ghana, making great gains for his people and reaping in a rich sea of benefits. Gains along the coasts are negligible as the Ghanaian navy is far superior. The Caliphate troops attempt to locate the red country on the map, but become confused and disoriented by the lack of specificity, and decide to remain in the African barracks. Overwhelmed by their invaders, the peace-like people of the Muslim Free-State quickly surrender to the Caliphate and are wiped off the map. The Liang slaughter the Tibetans with their superior and otherworldly technology. Though, despite the Liang having without question the superior military, conquering the Himalayas, is still a rare feat, and as such, no gains are made. Tibet sues for peace with Liang, requesting that it be allowed to keep at least some of its territory north of the Himalayas. The Se and Rmu clans of Tibet accept the Uyghurs peace offer, and sends them 20 pounds of fine gold as a token of their appreciation. The easterly Stong and Ldong, however, continue to make raids against Uyghurian caravans. Acceleration rates for the growth of the Chu population reach a new height. The populations begins to grow by approximately 0.5% annually and the need for new housing becomes prevalent. Taxation across the Chu dynasty leads to a vast social divide between economic classes. Northern Honsho is completely occupied by the Chu dynasty and as a result the Japanese military there is cut off from the capital. Japanese supremacy over Hokkaido quickly begins to fade. Brunei has all of its territory ceded back and is vehemently grateful to Chenla. They hear news that their leader has not been harmed and are eager to hear from him again. Gangan tactics work fairly well, but not enough to reverse the course of the war. The Ganga dynasty is conquered by the Indians. The Theocracy of Bengal proves widely successful and is able to repel invaders from their borders. The Gupta refuse to take control of the failing Ganga kingdom, and instead close their borders and build defenses along the western border. The local Filipinos (so called for lack of a better term), are divided over the Chenlan offer, but eventually choose to accept it. With no word of new cases of plague, trade reopens between the Chenla and Chu Dynasty.  The Japanese counterattack against the ASEAN forces prove to be moderately successful, with the Japanese forces cutting off significant supply routes between the allied forces.  Having very little experience at sea, much of the Uyghurs forces are slaughtered by the greatly adept seafarers of the Japanese Navy.  With all of the ingredients assembled, the Khazars now have access to “The Fire That Never Dies.” The Karluks announce that they will accept the offer of union if the Karluk Khagan is established as equal to that of the Khazars. Due to the high rates of military conscription, the Ghanaian Death, and an incredibly unlucky year in regards to flooding, famine begins to sweep across Mesopotamia. Khazar chiefs prove resistance to Rus’ immigration, due to their massive cultural differences and independent streak. The Rus’ are unable to make any coastal gains against the Khazars across the Caspian as they lack any naval force in the sea. Despite the high amount of Caliphate proper gander, unrest still bubbles in Yemen. The strength of Albion as an independent continues to flourish. The people are rallied together and bound behind common goals and beliefs. At least this bloody war appears to have some benefactors. The Anglo-Saxons eagerly accept their new master and show fervent loyalty to the Sieghberts. The Pictish people find themselves easily confused without something to represent a quantity of one. Most ignore the new numerical system, and see it as just another idiosyncrasy of a failing government. The Danish army pushes into Jutland but quickly finds itself surrounded and cut off as the Jutes recapture their coastal territory. Time would prove however, that the Goths winning this war would not bring resolve, but only instead, exponentially boost conflicts. Many of the Gothic nobles feel that they have right to large portions of land due to their funding of the war once the treasuries ran dry. Peasants, however, still reeling from the loss of Morocco, cry out for more farmland, and Lombardy is ripe and ready for farmers to move in and work. Gothic nobles begin to amass private armies. The captured Gothic lands aren’t divided up fairly enough, many people believe they reserve rights to the valuable territories captured by the Franks and Jutes. People faithful to the Germanic belief systems begin rioting as a result of their taxation. The Germanic Rebellions cripple the social structure of northeastern Gothic territory. The Pictish riots continue, and the government becomes increasingly shaky. The Gothic people believe that by allowing their heathenish neighbors to keep their barbaric religion that the empire is effectively weakened. The thick religious glue that holds the Goths together seems to be losing its adhesion. Word spreads about the new female leader, Sventhila Lousean and the Traditionalists are in an uproar. Ethnicities begin to feel strong divides from each other and a sense of nationalism begins to fade for the Gothic people. The Gothic navy gets slammed by Caliphate pirates on its way back to the Mediterranean. However, the Caliphate has little no naval presence in the Mediterranean and this makes things difficult if not impossible. The Umbra-Gotha, seeing its home nation fall apart, begins to convene in Toulouse guilds and plan a government reformation. Word spreads to Gothic leaders, but evidence is nonexistent and many dismiss the idea of the Umbra-Gotha questioning their loyalty as absurd. The Italian city of Alaric grows unruly and a group of enraged citizens marches on the Gothic treasury and manages to drain it completely. Anastasios II develops the plague and perishes quickly. The Byzantine empire falls into turmoil. A Byzantine general by the name of Leo III quickly gathers support and soon conoslidates power of Byzantium. He uses his newfound power to invade the weakened Goths, seeking to reclaim the ashes of Rome. The battles are quick and concise, as the only opposition is that of nobility-hired militiamen and mercenaries who quickly surrender to the overwhelming enemy. The plague starts to fade in northern Europe. It is still increasing in Britain, though, albeit slowly. The Caliphate successfully captures Crete, and the sparsely-populated countryside gives practically no resistance. Revolt continues in Saxony, and starts to spread across Lombardy, most of which is practically a wasteland. Western Slavia remains comparatively stable, with only a few minor uprisings. Seeing the disarray brought on by the Danish invasion, a group of Norwegian nobles declare themselves independent and form the Princedom of Nordvjald. Raids immediately begin into Pictish territory. The Caliphate is unable to invade that "red-nation" due to a clear lack of communication as to where troops needed to attack.  Chu Dynasty (former Silla): Emperor Jaewon decides lower tax rates significantly (for the lower classes) to narrow the growing income disparities of the socio-economic classes, '''and fortunately the disparity had not reach the "pre-abolishment of the bone rank system" levels. '''The less fortunate peoples are given benefits such as free healthcare, free education, and free housing. New settlements are built in Southern Manchuria. Jaewon finally ends the sanitation program but its effects prevents the future re-emergence of the disease.''' People begin to migrate back into formerly infected areas such as Seorabeol and its surrounding satellite cities. The population grows at a relatively fast rate of 0.5% per annum, due to massive immigration, a high natural increase (due to a high birth rate and low death rate), and growing life expectancy. The fertility rate declines as the population continues to urbanise, with Sabi and Pyongyang having a population of more than 600,000 people each. The population of the Chu dynasty proper (all of the Chu dynasty apart from its occupied territories in Japan) reaches 19.3 million. Troop morale continue to grow, reaching unprecedented levels. '''We use our new weapon (cannon firing weaponised fireworks) against the Japanese. We begin the mass production of the weapon. We continue our rapid advance southward into Honshu. With most Japanese troops concentrated in either Southern or Northern Honshu, we do a sneak attack in Middle Honshu. '''We tell Liang China to invade Taiwan. We keep our forces well supplied by sending a hundred armed ships carrying food, ammo, and other things every week. More than half of our army (330,000 troops) are sent to Japan to fight while the rest are used to protect Korea and Manchuria (when I say Manchuria, it includes "Inner" and "Outer", or Chinese and Russian Manchuria, not only the three Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin, it also includes the Sakhalin). Emperor Jaewon also begins discussing plans to divide Japan into different spheres of influence with his advisors; Taiwan will be given to Liang China or will become independent, while the Japan will be divided into four Korean satellite states, South Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and the Ryukyu. Jaewon proposes to make North Honshu a vassal instead of an independent state so that the Koreans can maintain a substantial military presence on the Japanese archipelago. Chu Dynasty (diplomacy): We ask India, the Gupta dynasty, Brunei, to join ASEAN. Liang China and Tibet still haven't responded to the membership proposals. *(Chenla) OOC: The Liang accepted last turn to join ASEAN when I reproposed it to them, sorry I forgot to tell you. Uyghur Khaganate: Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl accepts the 20 pounds of fine gold from the Se and Rmu clans, and is glad to achieve some peace. Meanwhile, he orders a few military to stand guard of the Uyghur caravans that travel close to the borders with the Stong and Ldong. Meanwhile, Buddhism sees a rise in popularity and followers; and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. A new palace in Ordu-Baliq continues construction and when completed, will be where the Khagan's will rule from. Despite suffering heavy losses by the Japanese navy, some of the Uyghurs forces still continue to try to fight, though the Khagan begins to have them withdraw; though he still supports Silla in the war effort. Zanzibar Sultanate: After expansion, the economy still builds and also as military. Meanwhile, with our aim to High Council of Eurasia, some mining began underground to hunt for golds and steels. The Frankish Kingdom commits 50,000 men to end the Saxon revolt. King William dies with no heir, and Prince Peter becomes king. His father, Grand Duke Joseph, has died of plague. Noting the war between the Goths and the Byzantines,war is declared on the Goths, citing their unchristian behavior, from using children as soldiers, to using the plague as a weapon, a result of which has been the death of the Grand Duke. Thus, King Peter decides that the Goths have lost their christian ways, and 100,000 men are marching into the Gothic Empire, while 10,000 march into Vivianis, claiming it for the Franks. We send a message to Albion, hoping for an alliance. The Pictish Duchy is made part of York, and both Essex and York begin invasions of the Gothic land in the British Isle. Furthermore, we send a peace offer to the Saxons, detailing the if they wish for peace, they must accept the Franks as their rulers, and they must leave all Christian missionaries alone. Christians are to be protected in Saxony, and a military occupation will be put in place until such a time as it is deemed safe for the Christians. In return, Saxony will be granted autonomy, and Saxon citizens will have their rights respected. The Frankish Navy sets sail, and massive wartime production begins, with the goal of ensuring the Frankish military can stand against the Goths. Meeting the private armies of the Gothic nobles in battle, several Frankish generals begin to distinguish themselves, inflicting many defeats upon the Goths. As we are ensuring the return of real Christianity to the Goths, we request that various christian bishops meet in Paris to elect a pope, who will be free of all influence of outside powers. This Pope will take his rightful place in Rome, with a new Papal states established as well. With the Siege of Rome underway, The Frankish Kingdom declares war upon the Caliphate, and a force of 100,000 men quickly move south to save the city of Rome, led by King Peter himself. This means that now 200,000 men are fighting in the Gothic Empire. The navy sets sail, numbering 150 ships of war, with the goal of entering the Mediterranean, and an alliance is requested with the Carthaginian Empire. * Gepid Diplomacy: Consul Galindus Aric would like to invite Peter I to a meeting in the Gepid capital on neutral grounds to talk about the future of the war and the formation of a Papal State, and hope he will attend. * '''King Peter I agrees, and advises that the Gepids aid in driving off the Caliphate.  * The Celtic League:''' Would like to know if you would like our assistance in this war. All we would like in return is a portion of the coastal mainlands as displayed. If you would like to discuss more terms we would be happy to hear them. Pictish Coalition: The people overthrow the old government and install the army general as the new elective kIng, later we discover the royal family planned to attack the Celts, and apologize to the Celts for the crimes of the old family. The New ursuper recreates legion I, retakes the old numerical system, increases the people in the military from 25% of the population to 50%. The government is also changed to an elective monarchy, with a senate, who is created soley to represent the people and elect a new monarch if the old one dies. No one can support the royal family and say their last name again. Also the Legion II in Falklands is renamed Legion I and reports back their findings to the Pictish people. We also rename the Pictish Coalition into the Pictish Kingdom as it's no longer a coalition, but a nation. Our happiness goes up due to the actions and the rebellion is over as it suceeded. The new leader title isn't king, it's General. Pictish Coaliton (Secret, except Byzantium): We enter the city of Byzantium and ask for the book of Fire. In return we accept the new leader of Byzantium. We also ask them for a mutual military defensive alliance. Pictish Coaliton (Secret, Except Celts): Can we attack the Franks? Celtic League (Secret): You may not. The Franks are an ally of our nation and by extension an ally of yours. If you are unaware you do not attack allies, that has a tendency to destroy the alliance. Although if you wish to aid in their war you may, as we have intentions too. ~Your King, Ankou Eversnow" Pictish Coaliton (Secret): We churn out tested soldiers and command all troops, except for Legion I to be on the wall, as the tensions are rising between us and the Franks. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We also begin raiding in the Caspian Sea and the Caliphate territories to rally our people too. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We accept the terms of the Karluks by creating their chieftain equal to ours in return for continued support in the war and support in our new offensive. We will launch an offensive to surpass them all by launching all of our troops including our navy in the Caspian Sea to destroy the Caliphate’s Khazar territories. We tell the Karluks to protect our borders and to attack the Avars while you can. We will use the “fire that never dies” against the opposing forces through ships and catapults to launch fear into our enemies and boost morale for our own troops. Liang: Accepts the Tibetan peace proposal, however, on the condition that the Liang forces get free access to Tibet and the Tibetans pay tribute to the Liang empire. We order the Stong and Ldong to cease attacking the Uyghurs.''' We continue researching Rockets and invade Taiwan. We hear of "the fire that never dies" and take interest and traders try to find the secret ingredients. We start trading with the Europeans and the Arabs on a great scale and declare that anyone who attacks the caravans will be attacked. Gepid Republic: Galindus Aric is elected as the new Consul, and Frigeridus Bessas is relected as Justicar''' for a second mandate. The militarization of the Gepid Republic under the precedent Consul, Recimer Valomer, is beginning to diminish, just like Galindus promised to the Senate. However, he still reenforce the troops on the frontier with the Gothic (Byzantine occupied) lands. The war that began in Europe alarm the new Consul, as he saw in it what could be the doom of his Consulate. The Gepid Republic stand in a difficult position right now. He was elected on the promise of remaining in peace, and was opposed to the militarist Recimer Valomer (although only to win his Consulate). But the Gepids are Christian, just like the Byzantines and the Franks. Even if the Gepid Republic had his problems with the Papacy (the elective archbishop caused many conflicts), and a Bessas (the religious family) is Justicar. Galindus must plan his next move with caution. First of all, he sent a letter to the Pope, congratulating him for his return to Rome in a close future, and expresses a desire to support the Papacy with commercial agreements when the Pope will finally reclaim the Holy See. With this, he know the Bessas Family will support him, and that the Justicar will not try to stop him in his next plans. He then sent a letter to both the Frankish King Peter I and the Byzantine Basileus (Emperor) Leo III, inviting his Christian brothers to the Gepid Capital of Buteridava, which is actually a neutral territory for the war. He hope this Christian Meeting will succeed to bring Christianity into a massive agreement (and to win himself a new mandate in five years). Waiting for the leaders arrival to the capital, he order massive renovation of the city in order to make it more presentable for the foreign rulers. * OOC (Gepid): Will need mod answer for both if Leo III agrees to the terms Galindus propose and if Leo III attempt to the meeting at all. Will also need Frankish answer. Also, I would like to rapidly remind that the schism between East-West never happened in our timeline (and in OTL it only happened in the 11th century, even if signs of it started in the second half of the 8th century with Charlemagne and shit), so we are all Christians under the Pope. Page for the meeting here. Caliphate: For the first two years of this turn, the Battle of the Mediterranean continues. For many years know the Caliph, major generals and his advisers planned a new invasion of the Goth Empire. After years of planning on the year 727 the Caliph says these famous words 'lets do this thing'. A naval force never seen in the history of the world left Alexandria for the most daring battles the world will ever see. The force sail majestically through the Medieranian, shooting down any emeny ships they see. However, they don't invade at the most obvious place, they sail around Scilly and into the Tyrrhenian Sea. The ships then split up and began the invasion of Southern West Italy. More ships are navigated to the north to once the most powerful city in the world ... Rome. The Siege of Rome happens where 'None will be spared'. If people don't convert to Islam, they get killed, if they convert to Islam then they'll be deported back to Arabia to become slaves. Any important person are sent to Arabia to get executed in front of the Caliph. Every building in Rome will be burnt. Rome will never be rebuilt after this. The Caliphate will do this to every Goth city they capture. When the Southern West coast of Italy is conquered we invade the rest of Southern Italy, and Scilly. We then push northward. '''In other news the Caliphate asks for peace with the Carthage Empire. We begin the blockade of the Byzantine Empire. If they want to be free again they have to: give Cyprus, OTL Israel, Syria and Lebanon to the Caliphate and the Bytzantine Empire will become a client state of the Caliphate. We also siege Instanbul saying that everone should know convert to Muslim, or they get killed. If they convert to Muslim then they may live their lives in peace.''' We expand 4100 pixels into East Africa. We would like the Persian Empire to join the Caliphate (mod response). We build our military. We build our navy, by now it's the best in the world. We engorge everyone in the Caliphate to keep clean. We invade all of Egypt (all of the countries). This is called the reunification of Egypt. We aid rebels in the Goth Empire. We buy gold from Zanzibar. Rus Principality: The current Grand Prince, Sviatoslav, orders statues to be built for the past grand princes: Kyi, Yaropolk I, Yaropolk II, and Vladimir, in Kiev. Meanwhile, the generals decide to try a different approach in the Khazar lands. Most of the forces in the former Western Slav lands are recalled, leaving behind garrisons in major settlements and on the border. Many of these forces, all professional troops, are sent to bolster the forces facing the Khazars. The total number of troops in the war against the Khazars is 400,000. A new tactic is used: getting Khazar warriors to strike seemingly undefended convoys, which are followed by large armies. Once they take the bait, the armies surround and eliminate all enemies. Another tactic, against larger Khazar formations, is to feign a retreat and allow the enemy to catch up, surrounding and destroying them. To take care of insurgents, we start wiping out populations of entire villages where partisan activity is known. Khazar residents are encouraged to give away the locations of Khazar hideouts and camps. Our army attacks and occupies major settlements and roads, cutting off all trade for the Khazars to bring down their economy. The navy blockades their ports on the Black Sea, and attacks any vessels in the area. The Prince Council is expecting that these measures well end the fighting in the region within the next decade. Meanwhile, with population growth resuming, expansion of our territories is also continuing. With the whole of the Khanty-Mansi region occupied, we began advancing into Sverdlovsk Oblast and Tyumen Oblast. With more resources being brought in from the new lands, we begin a project to upgrade the infrastructure in major cities across the principality, as well as in the smaller settlements. A new road network will also be established for faster transport. India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants and catapults. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. '''India, after end of Second Great War of India, fully occupied Ganga dynasty and becomes part of the unified Indian Empire, as well two new kingdoms, Orissa and Sri Lanka, are created based of former Ganga lands. Begins to place its soldiers on Indian-Gupta border to defend its border. The Celtic League:''' After a decade the people seem to be forgetting about the murder of my brother… Good. The faster it gets out of their heads the more I will be accepted as king. Keaghan does not seem to want the throne. He says it’s a curse and who ever sits on it is bound to die. Silly superstition in my opinion. One of three things decides if someone dies. Power, iron and luck, or rather being unlucky. Power can influence someone to kill if it suits their best interests. Iron means someone's sword, their wrath or vengeance. Or luck, catching an illness, choking on food, even dying in childbirth. Out of all the ways to die the third seems the worst. No one to blame, no way to get rid of the rage that boils inside of you. It just sits there and festers until you get rid of it on to someone who probably doesn’t deserve it. Anyway, I have more political matters to attend to. I send word to my sister in the Frankish Kingdom whom I assume is married at this point. “Hello sister, I, King Ankou Eversnow, send this letter to ask how your assumed marriage is going. To see if you require anything or if you have any nieces or nephews for me to visit. Please reply as I am eager to hear. ~King Ankou Eversnow” (The Franks or the Mods can reply as Kassidy if they would like to.) Kassidy's response  "I am doing well, brother, and as you know, have become Queen of the Franks. They are most welcoming, and I have adapted well to their customs. I have recently given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The boy is named Peter, after his father, a fine strong man, who reminds me of the dashing rogue Joseph Burgundy, and my daughter is named Ygritte, after our mother. However, I worry over the outbreak of war with the Goths. My husband, Peter I, had informed me that the Caliphate has landed in Italy, and intends to burn Rome to the ground. Before he left me, he spent a night with me, telling me how much he cared for me since the first time we met. I worry for him dearly." I work on my navy, upgrade the soldiers and the fleet. I prepare my men with crossbows to replace the longbows we originally used. I use techniques learned from the Gothic empire to make my ships as fireproof as possible (The whaler that was sent decades ago to prepare their ships with whale bone supplied me with information, or at least his son did). I begin teaching some of my guard and some field generals about my technique of fighting which with enough time I hope to be mimicked throughout the nation. I assume it will take half a decade or so before it becomes commonly used. It is a mixture between water dancing, Asian sword fighting and good old Celtic barbaric fighting style. It uses the stance of the water dancer, the concentration of Asian sword fighting but incorporates the dirty and brutal tricks the Celts use to win fights. (AKA:I improve the military) It's been fifteen years since his death but I still haven’t brought myself to read the book that was his final gift to me. Maybe some other time I will finally work up the courage to read it. I don’t even remember what he said it was about… I send word to the Picts about their lands and how we might be able to further improve them. “I, King Ankou Eversnow, send word to you on behalf of your land. Before we had time to properly scan your area for valuable natural resources we gave your land back to you. My plan is to send some men over into your land and scan the areas for anything valuable. If something is found we can work out a deal where we split the profits 50/50 and have a new resource to trade with our allies. If you are interested, please reply. ~ Your king, Ankou Eversnow” Chenla Queendom: The islands of Pulau Lingga, Singkip, Bangka, and Belitung are claimed and naval bases are built on them. Women are given equal rights, and anyone opposed to the new law is thought to have disgraced the Queen and is shunned by society. School is made free to the public as more educated people are needed. This is paid for by the taxes that are in the Royal purse. Trade increases to the other ASEAN members and the southern islands. The RSA, Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps continue to recruit more people building up their forces. The forces aiding the Chu Dynasty continue to do so and a small force is sent to aid the Liang capture the island of Taiwan. The Gothic Empire: Every nation has its time to crumble; this is not new information, it is the way things have always been. But what if it didn’t have to be? What if one nation truly could stay standing against the relentlessly crashing waves of time, only to come out bettered by the chaos on the other side? These are the questions Gothic forefathers would ask themselves - these were the questions once easily thought to be answered with a simple patriotic, “Yes!”. But now, reality is knocking on the door, letting the ravages of time wait just on her shoulders. Long gone are the days of fishing for sport and worrying about familial quarrels. Enter stage right the root of all evil, the unmissable horrors wrought through the greed of living a carefree life.Perhaps, the days of the optimist are over too, leaving now only realists - those who see the world for what it is and nothing more, potential being only an unreachable dream, while survival being the single necessitate goal. The empire no longer resembles itself in the days of its infancy: with hopes of prosperity and unity, eager to impress and quick to go to war in defense of its allies or beliefs. The strength of the Goths as staunch defenders has wavered for far too long, and now, a gaze out across the skyline of Hispania shows nothing but the wretched workings of the twin world wreckers, Bedlam and Ataxia.   '''The words of her father resound in her ears like the roaring ebb and bay of the Mediterranean. He had warned her that a day would come; a day when being a just and amiable ruler could not coincide with being an actual effective one. He had told her, “Sometimes good leaders have to do bad things.”, it wasn’t true to her then - how could it be? Being faced by the adversities of leading a nation, especially in the darkest days of its existence, something had changed inside Sventhila Lousean. ''' The chairwoman of the once great nation sits down at her desk with a parchment and quill, her thoughts and creativity flowing through her hands and expressing the desires of a young girl, long since deceased.  Imperium a Spe    by Sventhila Lousean ''' ' “Ne desperes, a mea, sed spei. Spes cingitur opprimit hostis Faciesque subsannabit eos et corde diligamus alterutrum . Nos pascit manum momordit, Sed cibus est luxary. Deos relinquere , fraternitatem non faciunt. Successus advenit et recedit fide in aeternum,et spes nunquam moritu Nomen mihi Imperium , nomen a regibus rex regum, populus populi.  vide tropaea mea, o fortes , et spem deponite in posterum”         ' ''' “Do not despair ,my dear, only hope. For when you protect your hope, it suppresses the foe. And thou shalt make ridicule them, and spare a heart not, to not love one another. We have bitten the hand that feeds, and now food is our luxury. The gods may abandon you, but your brothers do not. Success is fleeting, but loyalty will always survive. For, My name is the empire, a name for the king of all kings, the people of the people, When the brave see our trophies, all of their hope for the future is ours.” ''' ''' This work doesn’t accurately reflect Sventhila’s beliefs, but it does however, act as symbol to rally a nationality behind. The brilliant queen realizes the difficulty of controlling a dying nation this large, and officially announces the west’s independance from the east. The Visigoths consolidate a their holdings in Spain, hoping to maintain control from Vangoth to the westerly border of Unigothica, excluding Portugaul and Brittany. The Roman Senate is disbanded and Sventhinla officially assumes full control. Traditionalist backlash is to be expected, and as such,protests are put down with full overwhelming Gothic force, both when necessary and often times when not. The Ostrogothic figurehead, Chindaswintha III, assumes an actual position of political power and begins working for an independant reformation of the once great Roman Empire. Many of the people are ecstatic about the idea, while many others view it as just another idealistic goal of unity that would end in more blood being spilt than it is even worth. The New Roman Empire is birthed through Chindaswinthas insistence and soon the infant nation realizes what it means to be sovereign. The Christian coalition of Byzantine and the Franks swarms into Italy and the people are left confused and helpless. Some of the Arian people question why their christian brothers would cut them down, but most accept this as simply another barbaric atrocity committed by foreign theists. Vangoth is held on to with the full might of the Visigothic military, as the navy is hoped to remain loyal to Lousean family. Each Visigothic ship is appointed a loyal court officer as to prevent mutiny, and substantial benefits are provided to sailors who choose to support the westerly Gothic kingdom. In an eager attempt at gaining funds for the new and reformed Visigothic Kingdom, a deal is proposed to Carthage called the “Islands Purchase of 726” in which the Gothic empire will cede control of Alaricia, Sabador and the Sicilian and Palm Isles to Carthage in exchange for a moderate lump sum of Euros, (Carthage is on the Euro gold standard as well). This money is to put to use ensuring that the Visigothic national guard maintain their excessive rates of pay, while also bailing out small business owners and providing tax reliefs to the impoverished. Fourteen thousand acres of wheat are planted along Hispanic shores, requiring a new need for a strong workforce along the coasts. Orphanages are allowed to bring orphans to plantations and allow them to work for a profit. The children will get 60% of the pay while 30% goes to the orphanages themselves and 10% is taxed by the empire. An indentured servant program is created in which men are promised land, power, good seed, and a barrel of fine ale (all a medieval farmer really needs) in exchange for them working five years as a farm hand in rural territory. Hearing rumors of Umbra-Gothic covert rendezvous, Sventhila marches to the head Umbra-Gothic guild and demands to speak with the lord commander. Alexander Salvioli denies the claims of Umbra-Gothic rebellion and insists his loyalty to the Lousean bloodline. This prompts Sventhila to spit on the floor at his feet and condemn the very statement. She replies with her famed cold words, ''“Non credo nomen. Credo populi”''  “I do not believe in that name. I believe in the people.” ''' ''' The hulking beast of a man, Lord Commander Salvioli, smiles down at the short but powerful Gothic woman and offers his hand and a nod of approval. It comes to light that the Umbra-Gotha is planning revolution, and Sventhila in turn, supports this. She makes the Umbra-Gotha the official Gothic military and gives Salvioli the title of “Hand of the Queen”.   '''Madrid is collapsed into a mere intersection territory and Toulouse is made the official Visigothic capital. Sventhila plans to continue living in Castle Lucien as it is her ancestral home, and her forefathers were in a mausoleum not far from where she slept. It brings her a solemn comfort, being so near to her deceased ancestors, a sort of reassurance that everyone winds up in the same place eventually.' On the morning of October 04, 723, Sventhila comes across a block of text in Alaric II’s memoirs that speaks of the importance of Rome; “The Roman Empire is the single most important asset in the western world, as it acts as a cultural epicenter - the going-ons of which are publicized worldwide, and the traditions of which are emulated across various separate ethnicities. He who controls Rome, might as well control the world, as it is to control the very glue that keeps a nation strong.”'' She runs over the line in her head over and over; “He who controls Rome controls the world.”. It makes a whole lot of sense to her, and she can’t put aside the burning need to follow the advice of her Great Great Great grandfather. As a result, Sventhila convinces Salvioli to lead a counter-offensive in Rome to help prevent the monetization of churches and the inevitable development of religious corruption. Salvioli leaves the following night and hopes to capture and control Rome under guise of the shadows. Large palisades are to be set up surrounding the area as well as an emulation of Alaric II’s anti-cavalry tactic, in placing angles spears spread about in the dirt to impale fast riding horsemen by surprise. Pit-fall traps are set up throughout just outside the borders; eight and half foot falls into a bed of spikes coated with fecal matter and human remains, as to infect the wounds and lower chances of survival. Areas surrounding Rome are torched to the ground, and the Umbra-Gothic stands behind the flames at the ready to face off against the onslaught of Peter I and his troops. A detachment of Umbra-Gothic troops are sent to do what they do best, and capture an enemy. This time however, the target is not a political leader, but instead a religious one - the Frankish Pope. As soon as word gets out of a Pope consolidating power, the detachment is to sneak into Frankish territory and track him down, and then bring him before the queen to face judgement. The need for support in the war leads Sventhila to write two letters, one to the Celts and one to the Picts:  "Dearest Ankou,  It is with great disdain that I am privy to sultry this fine parchment with such vile conspiration. As your benevolence has surely come to know, the Frankish Kingdom has declared war on The United Gothic Regions and would seek to establish a papacy in Rome. Such a government would surely led to an influx of corruption and monetization which would no doubt reflect poorly on the religious freedoms your people enjoy. Seeing as how the Franks have betrayed us, their ally, for slight disparities in ideological preference, it would be foolish to assume your people would be exceptions to their rule of autocratical religious rule. I hold a great deal of respect for the late Queen Ygritte and would also finally like to thank your people for their lavish culture, as well as the influence you have had on not only my people, but myself as well. I pray the dagger gifted to me by your people as a sign of allegiance not be used against your people on the field of battle. With much admiration, Sventhila Lousean" Celtic League Response: "It is with dispair in my heart that I must inform you that I will not be able to aid or assist you in your war with the Franks. In fact, I will be fighting against you. If only someone proposed to my sister from your family this might be different. But alas, with the loss of my brother I can not very well allow for the loss of my beloved sister. If we collect enough of your land we promise to make you into an autonomous nation under our control. ~sincerest regrets, King Ankou Eversnow" "To whom it may concern,  The growing tensions between yours and the Frankish people has not gone unnoticed. It is because of this, that I, Sventhila Lousean, offer an opportunity of mutual benefit; should the Celts agree, the Goths will support the Picts in reclaiming the British Isles and forcing the Franks back, away from lands they hold no covet over. With hope for future peace and brotherhood, Sventhila Lousean"   ((Turns have been pushed to 03:00 UTC until further notice.)) == 730 C.E == Power, like water, flows in and out of different nations, wreaking havoc as it cuts its path through society and into the soul of man. This Shakespearean sonnet, Ozymandias, by Horace Smith expresses the general atmosphere of these next five years pretty well: ' In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws The only shadow that the Desert knows:— "I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone, "The King of Kings; this mighty City shows "The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,— Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose The site of this forgotten Babylon. We wonder,—and some Hunter may express Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace, He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess What powerful but unrecorded race Once dwelt in that annihilated place.''

Walls put up by the Caliphate are torn down and many Muslim protesters begin flooding into Mecca in search of lost Islamic artifacts. Persia loses significant coastal territory to the Khazars. Caliphate “proper-gander” is viewed as an illiterate joke by the locals. With the End of the Second Great War of India, the Indian Empire is now fully in control of the region, forming for the first time the one true India. At first opposed to the Indian Empire occupation of the lands, the ancient citizens of Ganga saw in the new Kingdoms of Orissa and Sri Lanka a mark of respect and recognition from the Indian ruler, and many noblemen of the ancient ganga now acclaim their new Indian overlord.  Conversion in India continued, but met some oppositions in the old Ganga territories, where years of religious persecution for non-Hinds is still fresh in many memories. Many Buddhists and Jainists escaped India to join the Theocracy of Bengal. Bengal, led by the forces of Guru Susarman, makes slight gains against the Indian invaders. The Chenla meet little native resistance in the colonization of satellite islands and in turn set up a well constructed scheme of naval bases. Coastal territory along the Caspian belonging to Caliphate quickly falls victim to the Khazar invaders whose naval supremacy grows stronger every day. With the Khazars leading the war and making significant independent gains, the Karluks resign to spend their resources expanding their borders and improving fortifications. The new palace in Ordu-Baliq is finally completed, and it majesty and artistic beauty make many rulers in Asia jealous. The center of the Uyghur Khaganate is ready to welcome its ruler. Many uyghur forces have retreated in the eastern part of the Khaganate, but the moral is low among the troops, and anger begin to rise among them as they begin searching a responsible for their humiliating naval defeat.  The Chu dynasty’s clear technological advantage makes gains against the Japanese simple. The southern Japanese front finally starts making as much traction as the northern front, and the two hope to meet in the middle in the next ten years. Japanese military presence in Hokkaido becomes practically non-existent and the Chu are able to quickly claim the island. Things are not looking good for the Japanese, if they do not switch up their tactics quick, they could easily fall. The Rus’ make significant gains against the Khazars and begin completely crushing their resistance. However, the loss of life on both sides is tremendous, with over 50,000 Rus’ soldiers perishing in the first five years alone. A divide between the northeast and southwest Rus’ Principality becomes visible. Though the people are all ethnic equals, they still disagree on a cacaphony of hot-button topics. The Meeting of both Frankish King and Byzantine Emperor in the Gepid Republic was a success, and now both armies will work under the command of King Peter I in order to reclaim Rome from the Gothic Empire. As for the Gepid Republic, they send troops as mercenary forces to the Frankish Kingdom and Byzantine Empire to support their war.  Reports of the Caliphate capturing Crete prove to be falsified, as the Gothic navy has its heaviest presence on the Island. All of the Caliphate’s attacks in the Mediterranean are unsuccessful as they have absolutely zero ships in the Mediterranean, meaning the only way to attack would be by going all the way around south Africa, which is not possible with modern technology. The Caliphate’s siege of Rome proves to be impossible, and the Caliph quickly realizes that their presence in the Mediterranean is negligible at best. The government officials are keen to remind him that they do have access to the Gothic portage, but they have yet to employ workers to operate it, and it would take a good amount of time and patience to have it back up and running. The Blockade of Byzantine fails for this same reason - the Caliphates naval presence in the Mediterranean is greatly lacking. In a last ditch effort to save their dying ally, the Jutes sacrifice  the safety of their nation and declare war on the Franks. Byzantium easily conquers Crete as much of the Gothic navy has been diverted to either defend Rome or port in Vangoth. The Danes accept a military alliance with the Kingdom of Gutland. Danish assaults of Jutland prove wildly successful and the people of Scandinavia prove to be a valuable resource in the push southward. Germanic revolts in Gothic-Lombardy quickly culminate to full scale rebellion. The Germanic people gain great traction and manage to re-secure the abandoned lands as their own. Though no government exists yet, the nation has all the characteristics of a budding European power. The Albionites, led by Osyrn Sieghbert, agree to attack the Germanic peoples and consolidate their lands. The newly formed “New Roman Republic” is seen as a joke by many of the Italian locals. Stable government like that of ancient Rome is no longer viewed as a possibility, and instead is seen as some kind of idealistic goal gone awry.  Portugaul, Brittany and easterly Cataluña unite and succeed as the independent nation of Portugal. Frankish borders are extended southward as a large scale conquest of the United Gothic Regions begins. Vivianis, being notoriously weak and unfaithful, is easily conquered by the Franks. Publication of the “ Imperium a Spe ” leads to a widespread identify of Hispanic nationality. The Visigoths manage to consolidate their power over Hispania, but their influence over the world’s affairs is completely crippled. The Umbra-Gotha quickly mobilize in defense of Rome, burning the surrounding area, fortifying borders with barricades and traps, and creating a military fortress.  The Battle for the Ashes of Rome proves to be one of the bloodiest conquests in history. Thousands are killed daily all across Europe, and yet the people still feel a great fervency in their need to fight. A pope, John Francis II,  is elected in Paris. The morning following his inauguration however, he is kidnapped by Umbra-Gothic forces who deliver him to the queen of the Visigoths. Emperor Leo III, known for his lone-wolf escapades, leads several independant naval missions onto the easterly shores of Italia, proving to be an extremely competent military leader and strategist. The Franks make gains in westerly Unigothicia, cutting off the Visigoths from the Ostrogoths. Carthage agrees to the “Land Purchase of 726” and purchases all of the Gothic controlled Islands in the Mediterranean. This deal results in the Carthaginian navy growing significantly, as well as the Visigothic economy making a full 360 turnaround. Byzantium makes amphibious landings in Sicily but are soon repelled by the locals who have decided to unite as Southern Italy. Frankish and Byzantine invaders fall victim to the Goths many traps and in turn are unable to push into Rome. The offensive finally regroups, however, and a full frontal assault on Rome is thought to be successful in the next five years. War becoming so commonplace and easy for the Frankish Kingdom, the people lose their vigor and sense of urgency, tending to slack whilst on the battlefield. The empire of Kanem, led by the relentless Sef, continues picking away at Ghana, acclimating much Ghanaian territory into the empire. The fervency previously found in the Ghanaians seems to be fading into obscurity and the offensive is met with little opposition. Vermundia’s rapid expansion is unparamounted as the scouts seem to understand the land far better than foreign colonists.  After being severely underestimated by the Caliphate, Carthage continues its push, slaughtering Muslims and making great gains along the south Mediterranean coastline. The Celtic soldiers grow more ferocious due to increased training and as a result many of the Celtic people begin to view them ‘demi-gods’ of sorts.  Fear of religious persecution from the Franks becomes widespread in the Celtic kingdom.  The Jutes launch a counter-offensive in Anglo-Gothany, hoping to reclaim the lands of their allies and prevent the Franks' frightening conquest.  Anglo-Gothany is completely conquered by Frankish invaders from York and Essex. Considering much of the locals have no ethnic relation to the Goths, they are easily assimilated into the Frankish Kingdom. Gepid Republic:''' The success of the Christian Meeting backfired on Galindus Aric. In an attempt to assure some kind of neutrality for the Gepid Republic, he instead spark the desire of many Gepids to fight for against the Gothics (or what is left of it), especially after the Gothic Queen dissolved the Roman Senate and kidnapped Pope John Francis II. Thus, Hermenigild Valomer, who was originally supposed to lead the mercenary forces with the Franks, is elected Consul in 730 instead of Galindus,a as House Valomer is known for their talent in war time. The new Consul doesn't lose anymore time. He nominate Sigeric Bessas, son of the actual Justicar, to replace him as leader of the Second Gepid Mercenary Force. He then call the generals to assemble their garrison and follow him to Rome. Many volunteers join the army, hoping to defend Christianity against the Goths. As requested by his office, Hermenigild Valomer will lead his forces to battle. He also send letter to both Peter I and Leo III, assuring them he will send them their mercenary forces, and that he will not seek new lands for his Republic. Knowing the mercenary forces will join the Frankish and Byzantine armies in time, he walk toward Rome with a slow pace, putting down any revolt or opposition in occupied territories on his way there. The First Gepid Mercenary Force, led by Vithimiris Aric, has already joined with the Byzantines, and decided to stay in their southern Italian territories in order to keep them from falling to enemies. On their side, the Second Gepid Mercenary Force, led by Sigeric Bessas, finally join the Franks. Their high spirit and their desire to fight may be what the frankish troops needed. In the capital of Buteridava, masses of people go to the Saint Iakonos Cathedral, praying for the victory of their Consul in the war. Many see in this war the final test for the Gepid Republic, which claimed since his founding to be the heir of the Roman Republic. Now that the Roman Senate is over, it is finally time to see if Elemund Aric war right when he said “I, heir of Rome, son of Gepid “. * Khazar: We request help against the Rus'. * Gepid: The War against the Gothic Empire takes too many resources to stretch our army on two sides. At the very best, if you could secure us a path, we could send a mercenary force (just like we did with the Byzantines and Franks). However, we will not send another mercenary force if no secure path can be find to your lands. And the mercenary force will be smaller than the ones fighting in Europe. This is the best offer we have right now. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We also begin raiding in the Caspian sea and the Caliphate territories to rally our people too. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We tell the Karluks to launch an offensive against the Rus with the help of our army to knock out the Rus. We will send people all across our former lands and Karluk lands by stating "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” We will use the “fire that never dies” against the opposing forces through ships and catapults to launch fear into our enemies and boost morale for our own troops. With the Rus inside the Karakum desert and in foreign land, we take advantage of that fact by laying ambushes and scorched earth policy. This is demoralized to Rus forces. With footholds across the Caspian, we begin supplying and rallying support in our former territories, slowly but steadily advancing into their lands. We also send envoys to the Byzantine empire to help us out in our fight for christendom. Lombardy-Gotland: The aging Þórbjörn watches these events with interest from his detached position on Gotland. Just five years ago, it seemed as if the dream of a Lombard Kingdom had been reduced to ashes. Now, however, ... Now, backstabbings and invasions have thrown mainland Europe into turmoil. Þórbjörn has command of a large, fervently loyal army untouched by the plague. He has the resources of Gotland, and the vast Lombard treasury at his command. He has people on the mainland still dreaming of an ascendant Lombardy. At this moment, he has the resources for Empire layed out before him. The question is whether to act. If he stays on the island, his kingdom is guaranteed to survive for centuries. The walls of Gotland are unbreachable, even by the mighty Danes, and he had=s friends and family in the area. To embark for Pomerania would be to risk everything. To embark would restore Lombardy. He reaches for a pen... The icy waters of the Baltic swirled around of the prow of the lead ship, Edstaðelinged; "the Restorer". Behind it sailed five separate groups of narrow-beamed Gutish ships, crowded from prow to stern with warriors, and lined with shields; normally brightly-painted, these were covered with sackcloth to preserve the secrecy of their mission. The air aboard the ships was pervaded with a palpable tenseness, which was only increased by the hoarse cry of the lead navigator as he sighted land. The warriors prepared themselves, shouldering their shields, donning their helmets, and unhooking their axes. Edstaðelinged bumped against the shore, and its warriors leapt out of the boat, splashing through the shallow water and vanishing into the dense fog. They were followed immediately by the next two boats, and six minutes later, all the warriors were ashore, engulfed in an eerie, muted silence. Wuldann, the king's oldest son and leader of the expedition, signaled to his two lieutenants, and began jogging south, followed by his small army of around two-thousand. His father had given him specific orders to ignore the Slavic traitors and, while he didn't like them, he knew that he had to obey them. A few days later he had crossed over the border into Frankish-occupied territory. His army melted away into a thick forest, to be led to the outskirts of the ruined Lombard capital by some local guides. Wuldann himself took his finest warrior with him to the walls of the local Frankish garrison. The two camped in a nearby stand of trees until nightfall, then slung their equipment over their back and scaled the outer, rough-hewn fortress walls. Once inside, they made their way to the backdoor of the main administrative center, which Wuldann opened with some deft maneuvering of his knife. They crept through the short hallway to the room of the base commander. While the warrior stood watch at the doorway, Wuldann approached his bed, hauled him up by his nightshirt, and hissed into his ear "Take me to the king! Take me to him or your life is forfeit!" A week later, Wuldann was inside Paris, and had his requested audience with King Peter. With little regard for pleasantries, he thrust a document at the monarch: Lombardy-Gotland (Diplomacy, Secret to all but the Franks ):' To the esteemed King Peter of the Franks, may you live in happiness and wealth for the rest of your days. While I recognize that our two nations have had our differences, namely those involving your invasion of Saxony at the prompting of the Goths, I recognize that those times are over, and that you answer to the Goths no more. As one monarch to another, I implore you to put aside your unreasonable hatred for the Lombards, and make peace with our nation. With my son I have sent a force of 2000 of our finest warriors, and alongside them are several thousand Waepanbora, fine mounted warriors that have been hidden among the population of Saxony. All that I require is for you to return Lombardy and free all of the Lombards who have been living in oppression since the beginning of the great war in my grandfather's time. In exchange for that concession, the warriors stationed within your territory will march on Gothic territory. Each one has sworn a beaducáþ, a death-oath, and will not return home outside of a coffin until the war is won. In addition to this, I will allow your navy free basing rights in all Lombard ports to aid them in prosecuting their war against the demonic Goths. I feel obligated to warn you, however, what will happen if you do not accept my offer. The warriors will stay undercover, raiding Frankish supply caravans, and assassinating your leaders. If this message has reached you, then my son has already proved what a trained Lombard can do if he's desperate. First, then, your conquered territories would lose their infrastructure, logistical network and leadership, and quickly collapse into a starving turmoil. Meanwhile, those very same troops would be at work training the hundreds of thousands of loyalist Lombards still living in the territory. Within a year, the province would be in open revolt, and you wouldn't be able to stop it. Any attempt to put down the revolt would involve you pulling troops away from the Gothic front, meaning that you'd lose the territorial integrity of the entire south of your kingdom. My men know the land like the back of their hands, as do any potential recruits. Meanwhile, Lombard pirates would make sure that maritime trade became a wistful memory for your traders, as every ship that ventured out from a harbor would be destroyed by the vastly superior Gutish navy. As you are an educated man, I trust that you have heard the story of Spartacus. The consequences of your refusal would be very much like Spartacus' war on Rome, except that the Franks aren't Rome, my army is no gladiatorial rabble, and you, I trust, are no Pompey. I am giving you a way out of the anarchy and invasion your entire kingdom could fall into if you refuse. I am ready, however, to retake Lombardy by force, and in the process destabilize all of Francia. Give me Lombardy, Peter, or your children's children's children will curse your name. Give me my land back. -Lord Þórbjörn the Great of the Thorrblessed Hróaldr clan, first of the name, and, hopefully, your friend. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ A detachment of royal cavalry, wrapped in bright red cloaks, and carrying gold-encrusted lances, gallops into the Gepid capital. When they arrive at the consul's court, the lead one drops to his knee and delivers this message:: Lombardy-Gotland (Diplomacy, Secret to all but the Gepids ):' To my friend and brother ruler Hermenigild Valomer, greetings. To preface this, I would like to remind you of the decades in which our two nations enjoyed each-other's solidarity as ally nations, and the massive amount of money made by Gepid traders and the Gepid government in the trade Lombardy allowed to pass between the Baltic and the Gepid border. We have been companions in the world scene for over a century, and I hope that this message will not spell the end of those good relations. I would like to call to your attention the stretch of land to your north which is now owned by the Rus' Principality. If you were to invade that land, not only would you be attacking an ally of the accursed Goths, but it would give you a chance to expand your own territory. The land there is freshly-conquered and, while it integrated with the Rus' fairly well, we still control several resistance cells in the area that can be called upon to drastically destabilize the region in the event of a Gepid invasion, opening up the territory to easy occupation. Furthermore, it would give you an opportunity to capture the fantastically rich trading ports in the Ukraine and the Crimea, quite possibly making your nation one of the richest in the world. A combined attack between you and the Franks would catch the Rus' unprepared. Your armies are likely equal in side as, despite they are vastly larger than you, most of their territory is populated largely by reindeer. If you were to go through with the invasion, I will pledge my support in the north. Lombard longships would sweep out from Gotland and blockade the Rus' ports. I am sending a request for cooperation with the Danes, and together we would attack into northern Rus' territory and conquer Novgorod itself. Such a three-pronged invasion undertaken by four immensely powerful nations could not fail to be victorious, and every nation involved would reap riches beyond their wildest dreams. All I ask is that you remember this letter in your coming meetings with the rulers of the European nations. -King Þórbjörn of the Hróaldr clan, first of the name. Gepid Diplomacy (Secret except for Gotland): Like we answered to the Khazar Khaganate, we are in no state to launch a new war against the Rus, especially since our troops are now walking toward Italy. The Senate chose me to lead forces against the Gothic, not the Rus'. More than that, House Bessas and their bunch of religious fanatics have control of the Senate right now, and will never let me help pagans in those times of religious fanaticism. We plan of talking of the Rus to the rest of the Christianity during the Council planed after the return of Pope John Francis II in Rome, as they are pagans. I will try to preach a holy war to support our christian brothers of the Khazar Khaganate there, but it will not be doable until th end of the war against the Goths. It would make things easier for me if you would allow christian missionaries into your lands, as a sign of good will to the Pope. I won't push it to the point of asking you to convert however, but should you be interest I would gladly be your godfather. However, should you declare war without us, we would gladly send you supplies and weapons through the Frankish Realm. We may also use the occasion to send missionaries into rus territory. But whatever is your answer, I am not in any position to make any direct military move against them. -Hermenigild Valomer, 14th Consul of the Gepid Republic ______________________________________________________________________________________________ A Gutish ship leaves the north of Gotland. it is covered in pitch and black felt, and travels only during the night. Landing at the Danish capital, a messenger disembarks and carries a messenger to the Danish king. Lombardy-Gotland (Diplomacy, Secret to all but the Danes ): Dear Wallfrad, legendary king of the Danes, and brother-ruler: I would like to propose a treaty of sorts to you. While hostilities have occurred between our people in the past, I believe that it is time for them to cease. It is clear that you cannot conquer Gotland, and my navy isn't powerful enough to reconquer any of the islands you... obtained from us, so there is no point in more lives being lost for a pointless cause. Instead, if it would please you to direct your attention to the east of your kingdom, you will notice the vast swathes of Rus' territory lying almost completely undefended. If you agree to aid us in this, we can work together to invade and conquer those heathen demon-worshippers. I have already approached the Gepids about an invasion of Rus' territory, and I have reason to believe that Francia might join us in this. An invasion that large would be almost guaranteed to succeed, and put an end to the hegemony of the evil Rus'. Every participatory nation would gain tremendously from it; for instance you would be able to annex Novgorod, and supplant every other nation to become the trade capital of the north. -King Þórbjörn of the Hróaldr clan, first of the name. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Þórbjörn contacts the resistance in Saxony, and informs them and the Waepanbora training them to prepare for a potential Frankish refusal. On Gotland, he calls up some of his old wartime comrades, all members of the once-great Royal Archer Corp, and has them begin training a new generation in the art of the warbow. The Royal palace is extended to the north, with its own windmill and extended stables. Construction begins for a massive pewter statue of Þórbjörn to be placed behind his throne, and moved into its own alcove in the main hall once he dies. A paid, professional militia begins patrolling the north-south highway, doing their best to keep it clear of brigands. Each militia division has several riders with them, which can inform nearby cities of a potential full-scale invasion, and each group is trained to work as a cog in the trans-Gotland logistics network, with their own stashes of extra saddles, spurs, carts, dried rations, wine barrels, and weapons. In the invent of enemy securing any part of Gotland, the local militia would go undercover, and work to relay communications back-and-forth between the resistance and the central government, while also supplying any allies that would need it. The first stones are laid for a massive fortress overlooking the south of the island. By this point, Gotland is likely the most densely developed area of its size on the planet, as waves of immigration, and a government money-chest swelled from the long-dried-up Amber Road, have prompted a wave of construction of unbelievable proportions across the island. Hearing about the chaos in Byzantium, Þórbjörn, remembering the great services Greek architects and wise-men have brought him, announces that he will give shelter to any Greek who requests it. To further this, he has those very-same Greek architects begin work on the λευήπoληkόn (Leuipolikon/Lefipolikon), or "White city", so called because of the large amount of limestone used in the construction of it. While it is less a city, and more a few small apartment buildings clustered in the middle of some fallow fields, the name catches-on among the local Greek population, and it is hoped that it will entice refugees from the Balkans. The king also makes a declaration that he will provide aid and living space for any Jew who needs it. While he knows little of the Jews, he has heard of their mercantile prowess, and their willingness to follow laws. The deciding factor in accepting them in, of course, is that they seem to be looked-down upon by the Gothic Aryans. They are given a district near the λευήπoληkόn, since, he assumes, a higher percentage of them would speak Greek than the local Germanic dialect. Extract from Fér Ande Andetnes, a Gutish folk poem written around 950: They came upon the mainland, the greatest warriors of the country. They travelled in secrecy, guided by the raven of the hallowed Odin. In brightly-colored cloths they marched, death-bound to reclaim lost glory. Módnessa síþfæt de Esangel | Ieldest waeþannes en ell land, Ness don díegol | deteág swatz-vedenfa Wodennes, En híwennes vaste þessa voten | hærdéaþa e edstat ande andetnes. Egypt: Seeing no real need to call ourselves "True" we are simply now Egypt. Alexander XV sees his chance to reclaim Cairo and launches an assault with the Egyptian infantry. The wings of the assault are brought up by the rapid Egyptian chariot archers who are trained to hit among targets from a moving vehicle. Neferiti continues to sing her music in Vermundia hoping to gain sympathy from the locals. Uyghur Khaganate: Some of the military continues to stand guard of the Uyghur caravans that travel close to the borders with the Stong and Ldong. Meanwhile, Buddhism sees a rise in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. In light of anger and low morale amongst those who suffered a naval defeat, Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl decides to have the remaining forces withdraw from the war against Japan; and apologises to the Chu Dynasty for not being able to stay in the war and hopes that he can repay the Chu Dynasty some other way. The Frankish Kingdom: Launches counterattacks upon the Jutes, with the goal of driving them out of the British Isle, and several troops move to defeat the Jutes invading the Frankish kingdom. As the push on Rome continues, King Peter I instructs his most trusted minister, Louis Allard, to work on improving relations with the Celts, stating that while they are pagans, they are pagans who have fought with valour, and thus, deserve the respect of the Franks. The Queen is herself a Celt. Thus, a proposal is made that Christian Missionaries be allowed in the Celtic lands, to spread the word of Christ, but they will have to respect the ways of the Celts. The war with the Goths goes well, but the king stills feels sadness over his father, and how he should have be able to seen his grand children more. As the navy and army prove capable of fighting on even ground with the Goths, Frankish influence begins to spread. However, King Peter I plans to begin an age of peace once the war ends, as he has grown tried of it. With the emergence of new neighbours, but feel forced go to war with Portugal, and continue the assault on Italy, to bring the Pope to Rome. Fearful of what a new Lombard nation could do, we send 50,000 men into Gothic Lombardy to prevent its rise to power. As the military is over 300,000 men strong, the king reviews how many men are committed to each front. 70,000 men are fighting in Portugal, 100,000 men are pushing into Italy, 90,000 Anglo-Saxons are fighting in Britain, 50,000 men are pushing into Jutland and 50,000 are attacking Lombardy. King Peter I declares this war to be the '''Gothic War. '''The navy, which is now 200 ships strong, sets sail for Jutland and the Mediterranean, with the goal of cutting the Jutes off from Britain, and taking several Gothic islands. We ask for an alliance with the Danes, if they agree to accept christian missionaries. Having been given a letter from the Lombards, the King decides that action shall now be taken against them, to put a stop to their silly ambitions, and restore peace to Europe. Thus, a massive resistance action begins to find the key members of the Lombards, and to prevent an uprising. With the kidnapping of the Pope by the Umbra-Goths, and reports that he is a captive of the Queen, Sire Alein de Par of the Order of the Grail is assigned his rescue, and is given permission to lead the Order of the Grail's knights on a crusade to save him. Chu Dynasty (former Silla): '''Emperor Jaewon decides to build new settlements in Southern Manchuria, with some new settlements having more than 50,000 people each. '''They connect trade routes from Northern Manchuria to the Korean peninsula. The Seorabeol Capital Region reaches a population of above a million people, as well as Sabi and Pyongyang. The rapidly urbanising population causes the population growth rate to drop to 0.4% annually, but increases in life expectancy balance the effects of lower fertility rate. The population of the Chu dynasty proper (all of the Chu dynasty apart from its occupied territories in Japan) reaches 19.7 million, and with the introduction of more advance agricultural technology in occupied Japan, its population grows rapidly, reaching pre-war levels with nearly three million. '''We continue to our mass production of the weaponised firework-firing cannons and use them against the Japanese. '''We begin to shift our tactics to ensure quick, guaranteed victory against the Japanese. First, we starve the Japanese navy by taking the coastal areas, then we attack from all directions (from North and South Honshu via land, from Mideast Honshu, crossing the Sea of Japan, and Midwest Honshu via the island of Shikoku across the West Pacific ocean). We colonise more of the islands leading up to Taiwan and plan its future invasion, which is expected to be quick due to its low population density, and the lack of supplies from mainland Japan. We keep our forces well supplied by securing supply routes to Korean troops in Japan. With the lack of Japanese presence in Hokkaido and areas near to Manchuria, we deploy a total of 300,000 troops (60% of the total troops) into Japan. We expect a quick victory due to our carefully thought tactics and large troop nuber. We begin to force the mandatory teaching of the Korean language as the lingua franca in occupied areas, though since we promote multiculturalism, we still allow the Japanese language to be spoken. We destroy the belief of Japanese racial superiority, instead teaching them that they are equal to other races. The statue of the woman representing Japan in the “Unification Statues” is rebuilt. '''The captured members of the Japanese government are executed and are referred to as “the demonic beings that had planned the destruction of the known world”. '''The Japanese commoners are being slowly accepted by other peoples, and most of the warcrimes that country had done is now blamed on the government and its elite. '''Many Japanese able-bodied men are enlisted in the “Japan Liberation Army”, which aims to “free” Japan from the former government. A group of soldiers attempt to assassinate the Emperor of Japan. '''We propose the renaming of Japan (natively known as Nihon) to “Wa”, the oldest known name to refer to Japan. Emperor Jaewon scraps all previous plans to divide Japan. Instead, they will control Japan as an Autonomous Province, while Taiwan will be either ceded partially to Liang China or will be under Korean rule as a directly-controlled province. Jaewon prefers the second option due to Taiwan's strategic location in the middle of East Asia and its nearer location to Southeast Asia. Zanzibar Sultanate: We think the Caliphate can buy some gold from our territory, which means the miners found some of it and still continuing to mine again. Meanwhile, we develop some basic weapons like spears, shields, etc. - in order to give troops more defence during the war. Also based on economy, it turns out that it went pretty well. Lombard (Diplomacy, Secret to all except the Gepids ): We thank you for your cooperation, and wish you luck in your invasion of Italy. We will consider opening Gotland to Christian missionaries, but our people would understandably be wary of this, as they have not had good experiences with missionaries, or indeed any Christians, in the past. For the moment, we will allow priests into the Greek district to minister to the immigrant population, but their visitation rights will be cancelled the moment one of them leaves the borders of the district without explicit governmental permission, at least partially for their safety (a lynch mob forming up to kill stray missionaries wouldn't be that unlikely in this day and age). Please tell your priests not to abuse their privilege. We will contact you if we do enter into a war against the Rus'. At the moment, that is undecided. Hálette Heirmoningald der géarcyning! -King Þórbjörn of the Hróaldr clan, first of the name. ((Turn has been delayed until Tuesday due to site maintenance.)) Chu dynasty (OOC): What site maintenance? Is it why there isn't as many people as usual, or is it just because it's Monday? By the way, it's already Tuesday in UTC time. The Celtic League: So much happening in such little time I haven’t been this excited since I became king. I am so enticed to join the battle that it almost physically hurt to know that I can’t at this moment. First I must attend to the Pictish and make them an Offer they can’t refuse. “Hello Pictish Coalition, I King Ankou Eversnow, would like to address you for an invitation to assist us in a war. If you fight alongside us and aid us in our plans it should fare well for you. I have plans to take a poll in your nation. If the majority is for it you will become an independent nation. This will of course take place after the war is over. I understand the tension between you and the Frankish are growing. And to resolve any confrontation before this happens I conclude the only way to keep you two from going to war, is to go to war with someone else. You are a small nation but you have well trained men, because of this I have planned tactics for you accordingly. Your main focus will be on protection the British Isles, but you will also be assisting us in the invasion of the Jutish mainland. Send us word if you accept, because I will only allow you to be freed if you aid me in this war. If you refuse to enter this war no harm will come to you. If you do, however, attack the Franks expect my forces to be redirected to your nation. ~Your King Ankou Eversnow” * The Government unanimosly agrees to this offer My spies return from the Goths just in time to avoid being attacked or killed in the war. So do all the other spies I sent out. Using their combined knowledge we managed to create an armor that impersonates a lizard or a fish. Its called scale armor, and offers more protection that our current leather armor. It's made from leather but for whatever reason works better than the tradition leather pads. (Military improve) I send word to the Frankish about our attack plans on the Goths (I believe that would mean its a secret unless they have spies) “Hello Frankish Officials. I, King Ankou Eversnow, send you this letter on behalf of the war with the Goths. I have some tactics that should lead to the quick downfall of the Goths. My ships with raid and capture the outer coast. This would mean that they would have to send their soldiers from the inner lands to reinforce their fallen towns. This is where you come in. If you attack them in a front along the inner lands we should be able to cut off reinforcements from arriving ever. And once we have fully secured the coast we the Celts can move inland and we will have them caught in the middle fighting a war on two fronts. If you or some of your allies want to help us secure the coast you can send some of your men along the shores to reinforce towns that we have captured. Be sure they fly the Frankish flag alongside theirs or my men will see them as an enemy. This is our battle strategy and if you care to aid our plan please send word. ~King Ankou Eversnow” After that I know I have to address my people about the Frankish and the whispers that after the Goths fall that they will turn their weapons on us. I send this letter to each of my officials who are on separate islands or different landmasses. “Hello my all Celts. I, your King Ankou Eversnow, send this letter to ease your minds about the Frankish and their war with the Goths. Even though this war between them started from a religious dispute, I can assure you that this will not happen to us. Our Princess Kassidy Eversnow is there as we speak, my very own sister! She has practiced our religion for years, and still does. Plus we do not force our people to be any religion. The Celts are proud to be a place where religion may be practiced freely. If anything happens between us and the Frankish it will be them asking to make a few Churches to spread their religion. I hope this has eased all your minds. ~ King Ankou Eversnow” Religion has never been something that I have been able to believe. In the end it always turns into whose god is better, and then bloodshed. But the very gods they were fighting for never lifted a finger to help. It was the soldiers who fought and died that won that battle. But of course I could never let my people know of this. For as soon as they found out I am an ungodly man they would start speculating. I can imagine the things they would say, “Satan worshiper, Witch…” They would even ask, “Where is his moral Barometer? If he has no god how does he think righteously?” heathens... Every last one of them. As I pondered certain things about the war I figured before I went off that I should find a wife to marry. To make sure my blood line stays on the throne even if I die. I send word to the Goths, the Pictish and the Franks. “I wish to marry, as all of you have proven to be my allies at one time or another I figure this will help concrete one of our relationships. If you would send one of each of your finest noble women for me to chose whom I want to marry. ~Thank you, King Ankou Eversnow” * The General sends a beloved noblewoman from the north of the Pictish Coalition called Olivia Arkentosh to the Celts as a gift escorted by 100 men to make sure no one attacks her. With all the political issues underway I decided that I am going to lead the defense in Wales. This should be a huge morale booster for my men. And this way i may be able to persuade the Picts personally. (Secret Celtic Battle Strategy: Exception Pictish)To start my attack in the war I send my coastal raiders to the coast of the remaining Gothic lands. They strike quick, raid, capture, set up a perimeter, leave, rinse and repeat. After each place is captured and Secured I make sure to command my troops to leave at least 75 soldiers in each town to await reinforcements and leave at least two fishing boat afloat in order that they have an escape in case of Gothic reinforcements.  I send the entire fleet from The Cornwall and The Erie, leaving only the ships and soldiers in Wales (in case the Jutes manage to completely break though the Frankish line), to do this until we have captured as much of the coast as possible. I order the soldiers to take note of who they capture. If a nobleman or high lady is captured she is to be sent straight to the Erie, and no harm is to come to them.  As for the Problematic Jutes I send all my ships from Iceland to the Jutes mainland in order to distract from the Main conflict in Europe. I leave five ships each of the traveling fleet (that means the fleet traveling from Iceland) on each of the islands above the Pictish. (this should leave about 15 warships on each island because of the ten that were already stationed there) This is in case the Jutes do a full attack on the Frankish in the British Isles that I can attack them on three different fronts. I will be able to use my men in Wales to attack the Jutes from the West, my ships I have left on my two Islands to attack from the East, and The Pictish to attack from the north. This also opens up an opportunity if they leave themselves so vulnerable as to do a full attack on the British Isles. That my men I have sent from Iceland can then fully invade the Jutish mainlands. King Peter I agrees with the Celtic plan of attack. He also send a fair Frankish noblewoman, Aceline of the House of Lorraine, as a bride for king Ankou. The Visigoths: It would seem that peace is in truth the minority, while wartime is what the perceptions of the real world are based upon; Nations do not “go to war”, they “go to peace”, for peace is but a bitter-sweet break to the fighting that clouts daily life. And now as it would seem, one of the last few choices left for the Visigothic people is to take this road less traveled and instead of searching for a way to ‘win the war’,  they would start their search for a way to make peace. To prevent the entanglement of alliances, Sventhila orders that the Visigoths leave the High Council of the Mediterranean, claiming it be run by “a bunch of uncivilized traitors”. Despite Celtic declaration of war, Sventhila Lousean still holds the nation in high regard, often times reading and re-reading Queen Ygritte’s letters to her father, even attempting to emulate her handwriting and vocabulary. She watches from the ports, expecting the Celtic invaders to land any day now, her broad Celtic dagger clenched tightly in her hands. She would fulfill on her promise. She would destroy them with the very weapon they had provided to her. The Vangothic navy is ordered to hold the strait of Gibraltar at all costs. Led by the newly dubbed Admiral, Amoret Beremud, the Gothic navy arms its ballistas and readies boarding teams atop their quickest boats the Jack-Rabbits and the Peregrines. It is planned to fire harpoons into the sides of enemy ships and to reel them in closer for boarding parties to take quick advantage of the struggling vessel. Amidst the battle, several teams have been assumed to simple survey the waters and attempt to rescue anyone injured or thrown overboard, be them Frankish or Gothic alike. The Franks are hoped to be mostly taken prisoner, and as such, teams are ordered to coerce surrender if at all possible. Captured religious icon, Pope John Francis II, is placed in a renovated cell within the dungeon of Castle Lucien, but rumors are spread that he is really being kept with Gothic ‘allies’ in Portugal. He is to be treated like royalty, having his every desire satisfied and his every need fulfilled. Sventhila visits with him nightly to debate religion and other controversial topics, hoping to learn more about Franko-Christian culture and their values. Of course, the Franks do not know of Pope John’s fair and equitable treatment, and as such, are expected to assume the worst. A raven is sent into France with a message for the king and a pamphlet translated into Franconian expressing this messages necessity to reach King Peter I in a timely manner. The message requests a so called “meeting of the minds”, in which the many great leaders may parlay in Gothic territory on peaceful in terms in order to discuss the turmoil that Europe has been thrust into as well as other frightful matters of immediate importance. The Goths promise to return Pope John Francis II to Paris completely unharmed on the condition that this council is agreed to. If this is denied however, the Visigoths will not hesitate to humanely execute Pope John Francis on the spot. This Council of Legends would require an immense amount of co-operation and as such, the Goths urge each nation involved to inform their allies should they not already have received word.  A similar message to the one above is sent to the five Gepid senators, Jarl Bodil Abelone II of Jutland, Ankou Eversnow of the Celts, Byzantium’s Emperor Leo III, and Harric Chindaswintha III of the Novus Romans.  Confirmation of Attendance:  * Gepids - * Celts - Keaghan Eversnow will attend if the Franks agree to attend as well. * Byzantium - Pesco 27 * Novus Romans - * Jutes - * Franks - * Visigoths - Sventhila Lousean * Persian Free State - The Epic Dragon (sorry, I haven't posted yet) ''' '''To prevent invaders having ease of access, all roads leading into Gothic territory from the outside are blocked off and littered with large pitfall traps. National guardsmen receive extra monetary incentives to patrol border roads as they are clearly at more risk than those deep within the security of Hispania. Hoping for a more self sufficient kingdom, a road system is planned for construction, going under the name of the “Trade-City Road Complex” (TCRC). This road complex is planned to connect Valladolid, Toulouse, Murcia, Suebia, Vasconia and Andalusia at a common intersection in the site of former regional kingpen Madrid. Being the first region to become downgraded to the title of city, Madrid is an inspiration for several other large regions with strong spatial density differentiations. Toulouse, being the capital of the empire, becomes its own “city-region” in which it has all the privileges of both a city and a region as well as being able to operate outside of the regional laws of Catalonia. Attention shifts to the Roman front, Lord Commander of the Umbra-Gotha, Alexander Salvioli, devises a plan to defeat the outnumbering Christian crusaders and as such, requires all of his soldiers to swear a blood oath of silence and secrecy, binding them tighter than even the strict rules of the Umbra-Gothan guilds. Under the guise of shadows, the Umbra-Gotha creep out into the night, vacating Rome and allowing scouts to spread rumors of a Gothic retreat. The Umbra-Gotha however, have not in actually retreated, but instead are hiding in the ashen ruins of the territory surrounding Rome. Entire legions of soldiers coats themselves in ash and soot and lay in wait in the burned out buildings, weapons held at the ready to jump out in the open and ambush the flank of any military force expecting to reach Rome. An additional ten legions of soldiers are led by General Beremud and the Lazarites across the Mediterranean and hope to make amphibious landings in Rome. Once in Rome, the troops are to garrison themselves in guard towers, laying out in completely silent secrecy, waiting for Commander Salvioli’s messager to give the signal that the ambush has begun. Once the offensive of Christian crusaders is distracted, the Lazarites will begin setting up an encirclement of Frankish forces, allowing just their silhouettes to be seen on the horizon, making them appear as a much bigger and ferocious military force, as to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy, discouraging resistance and promoting surrender. Word is received of the Khazars using “The fire that never dies” against the Rus’ and the Goths see the name as a fitting symbol of the state of Goths. Their fire ever burning, never to be stamped out by the treacherous betrayals that plague their entire history .Although the general recipe is already understood due to Gothic occupation of Rome, spies are sent to infiltrate constantinople and bring back extra information, perhaps to refine their technique and allow a honing of their alchemical skills. This devastatingly effective agent of war is to be employed along the waters on the coasts of Vasconia and Galicia, with archers standing at the ready to fire a volley of flaming arrows into the invading ships, igniting them and hopefully defeating an invasion before it can even begin. A letter finally arrives from Salvioli on the Roman front line to Sventhila. He professes his love for her and likens it to a war. "Vivamus, mea Sventhila, atque amemus, Militat omnis amans, et habet sua castra Cupido:  Sventhila, crede mihi, militat omnis amans. sic erit; haeserunt tenues in corde sagittae, et possessa ferus pectora versat Amor. Cedimus, an subitum luctando accendimus ignem? no cedamus! leve fit, quod bene fertur, onus.  Amo, Alexander" "You let us live, my Sventhila, and we shall love, Every lover wages a war, even Cupid has his own campaign Believe me this, Sventhila, every lover wages a war. Thus it will be; slender arrows are lodged in my heart, and Love vexes the chest that it has seized Shall I surrender or stir up the sudden flame by fighting it? I will not surrender! - a burden becomes lessened when it is carried with intention. Love, Alexander" The rumors of Novus Carthage being run by a descendant of Lucien prompts great intrigue with Sventhila Lousean, being also of direct descendance from the once great leader. In turn, Sventhila travels to meet with Recimi Avagis and hopes to reunite with family long ago separated. * King Peter I is interested in such a meeting, but states that as long as the Umbra-Goths and other Gothic forces are in Rome, it will not happen. Killing the Pope will also result in his clear martyrdom, and this will not be taken will. The Visgoths must reconsider the threat. * The Visigoths send Pope John Francis II to the Roman front line under the guise of a Visigothic soldier, word of the Pope being forced to fight on the front light is rapidly spread to the Franks. Other front line soldiers are taught to speak Franconian and impersonate the Pope, making impossible to recognize him on the battlefield. He will be pulled out ONLY if the Franks agree to the Council of Legends. * Visigoth OOC: The Franks are supposed to be under the impression that the Goths have retreated. As I feigned retreat. * Celtic League: I, King Ankou Eversnow, have taken notice to one of your finest female warriors. Legate Ricca is one of the names I keep hearing from my men on the field. They tell of her beauty, her passion, and her ferocity. I would very much like to meet this woman, and if it comes to it I would like to take her hand in marriage. Of course this would be her decision to accept it or decline. But I figured it would be better that she live on now, than to die in a lost war. ~King Ankou Eversnow * The Visigoths are sure that Legate Ricca will accept, and gives her charter for visitation of Celtic territory during ceasefire. The Pictish Republic: We close down monasteries and direct all our money to the military. We officially declare war on the Jutes and so by extension on the goths. Gepid Diplomacy: Consul Hermenigild Valomer is in favor of continuing the war, and both the Justicar and the Senate want Rome in the hands of the Pope, and believe that the Visigoths are bluffing. The Consul also point out that killing the pope would only spark christian rebellions in gothic kingdoms. Herminigild was elected to reclaim Rome for the Pope, and this is exactly what is gonna happen. The Byzantine Empire: The Byzantine Empire would like to be at peace with all the European countries. The Byzantine Empire is improving its economy by opening new train routes to the Red Sea and it is improving the cargo-ships. The new cargo-ships of Byzantium are faster, more resistant to storms and pirates attacks. The Byzantine Empire forces every woman and man that are in the 18-50 age boundary to join the army for 12 months, the best 40% will be forced to stay in the army after the one-year training. OOC: Hello I am new here, this is my first map game and I am not sure of a few things. Is there an algorithm for war, army, economy... if yes where can I find them? Am I at war against anyone now? thanks ((MOD RESPONSE)): Okay, so, I would seriously recommend at-least skimming 500 -730, maybe even just Ctrl+F and type Byzant (or Bytzan as the Persians call it) to see every-time it was mentioned. I'll give you some basic info first to help you get acclimated; There is no algorithms, it is more of an oligarchical structure with some use of RNG in order to determine results. Things are much more free form here, ie; less of a game, more of a story. Some info on the Byzanintes right now: They are recovering from a devastating plague and numerous conquests and rebellions. The empire finds stability under Emperor Leo III (Real guy, different circumstances) who then led the nation to war of the Gothic Empire (The unified Gothic nation made up of the Ostrogoths,Visigoths,Vasconia,Suebia, and Alemannia) effectively prompting a Christian crusade against the Arian Goths that would lead to the ultimate downfall of the Gothic empire. So now, Byzantium is in a war allied with the Franks against the Visigoths and the Novus Romans (The Ostrogothic republic modeled after ancient Rome and largely under the control of Harric Chindaswintha III). Oh, and the Caliphate is threatening you to give them lands. That's pretty much it. The Pictish Republic (secret, exception: Franks, Celts. Basically, everyone who's in a war against the Goths):We train our troops to the hardest and do an emergency enlistment for war with mandatory recruitment for all fit men in the armies. We manufacture the best military equipment and defend the British Isles. We ask for military access through the Franks and Celts to position our troops across all of the British Isles. We also call for a meeting between us, the Franks and the Celts about the British Isles and if we can get them and so help be more directly in the conflict called "The Meeting of The British Isles". We also call "The Meexxting Of Gothic War" between all the members to discuss battle plans. We divert five entire legions to attack the Jutes and escort them by fleet. Japan: We are officially surrendering to the Koreans on the condition that they may annex Japanese Hokkaido, but give back the rest of taken Japanese land. Lombardy: Following the Frankish refusal of terms, the beaducáþes turn from the Gothic border and occupy the depopulated Lombard capital. They stay only a day though, gaining recruits among the local population, spreading the word of the Lombard return after 16 years, and resupplying. Afterwards they melt back into the dense Germanic forest, followed by 3,000 more recruits. Attacks on Frankish supply lines in the area begin soon after. Meanwhile, the Waepanboras collect the small, professional army that they've trained in Saxony, and march east towards northern Lombardy. Northern Lombardy was always more independent than the rest of the nation, as evinced by Alfarr's revolt, and they find thousands of willing recruits, and several Lombard and Anglo-Saxon warlords who have gone into hiding and are willing to finally strike back against their hated occupiers. They start by attacking Frankish supply depots. Most are defended only by a skeleton crew of untrained militia and fall easily. Their supplies are carted off into the forest and the buildings themselves are burned. Meanwhile, along the main roads, traps are laid. Caravans passing along them are ambushed, villages have their populations conscripted, and are densely trapped. The Western Pomerania and Brandenburg regions are filled with shallow oil deposits, and, while oil itself is mostly used as a folk remedy, its flammability has been known for centuries. Oil is mixed with animal dung to form a disgusting slurry. Buckets of this are attached to springy saplings, and green-wood planks under high tension that are hidden near roads. When Frankish patrols are sighted travelling along major roads, local Waepanbora-trained militia rush to their places. When the soldiers begin passing by their positions, they light the mixture with torches, and cut the ropes holding the makeshift catapults under tension. The flaming, oily dung is slung through the air and coats the Frankish soldiers. Those unarmored are burned alive, while those in armor are boiled in their suits, sometimes figuratively melting, depending on the heat of the flame. Any survivors who attempt to flee are hit in the flanks by a full-on heavy cavalry charge, courtesy of the Waepanbora. The charred corpses of the massacres are tied to stakes and posted at night outside of Frankish corpses, while their equipment is cleaned and used to outfit local resistance fighters. In relatively loyalist towns (which are few, as every Lombard harbors some level of resentment towards the Franks for taking their freedom in a violent and unprovoked attack), the local blacksmiths are kidnapped and forced to work resistance workshops. These focus on turning out thick copper and iron wires, which are coiled to form springs. These springs are buried underneath the roads of major townships, which are abandoned. Heavy spikes are attached to the top of these springs, and are surrounded in a few cubic feet of dust. This entire assembly is blocked by wooden plank that's placed at an angle, prevented from sliding out of the way by an L-shaped wooden construction at its base, which is itself placed on a spring. To finish the trap off, the L-shaped piece of wood is topped with a paving stone, and the wooden plank covering the spike is itself covered in a conglomerate mixture of weak mortar and small pebbles. When a Frankish patrol to arrives to investigate the disappearance (or if information is fed to them that the village is rebelling), and one of them steps on the trapped paving stones, the L-shaped piece of wood drops out of the way, causing the wooden plank to slide out of the way, allowing the metal spike to shoot up, scattering pebbles and massive amounts of dust throughout the patrol. At this point, archers (usually hunters recruited by the resistance) begin firing at the soldiers from concealed positions. At this point the Frankish soldiers, unable to see where they are being fired from, and losing soldiers rapidly, either to bleeding from spike-inflicted wounds, or being shot with arrows, turn to flee, and run right into a massive cluster of caltrops scattered by the resistance. With their horses crippled, anyone who escapes the town can easily be hunted down by the mounted Waepanbora. Again, the corpses are stripped and their equipment sent to armed resistance cells. The Gutish first fleet departs Gotland for the Straits of Jutland. It is hoped that the Jutes will be too preoccupied with the Danish naval struggle (which is fairly massive) and that they'll be able to get into the North Sea. If they do, they immediately start raiding Frankish shipping. Lombard ships have been developed and tested in the tempestuous waters of the Baltic and North Seas, and many Jutish and Danish shipbuilders live in Lombard territory, meaning that their ships, with the overlapping plank design are some of the best in the world, and most have a scorpion-style giant crossbow mounted on the raised stern deck, designed by a Greek engineer. Any bolts fired are wrapped in pitch and oil-soaked cloths and set alight, and a trained team of firers, mostly Greek, can fire roughly three bolts per minute. ((That last plan is actually less complicated than it seems.)) Lombardy (Diplomacy): The Lombards request entrance into the Meeting of the Gothic War, noting that they have been at war with the Goths much longer than the other nations involved, and may be able to provide quite a bit of info on their tactics, military organization, supply locations, and equipment. Rus Principality: Prince Sviatoslav, the ruler, has spoken with members of the Prince Council this year and decided on several reforms. First off, it should be noted that the number of Rus' troops in Khazar territory is being lowered to 120,000 men for the time being, since the general staff has a new plan to completely pacify the Khazar lands on the western bank of the Caspian Sea (the Caucasus region). In waging our campaign, '''we settle down in the northern Khazar lands that we already control and begin to fortify them, as well as mop up any remaining resistance there. This is to force the disorganized Khazar guerrillas to attack our forces in conventional warfare in order to destroy them.''' The northern Khazar lands, closest to the principality that have been cleared out of any potential threats, are being colonized by Rus' settlers as part of our Russification campaign of the conquered territory. Local Khazars are taught East Slavic language and are Russified. Meanwhile, those of our forces that are retreating back into the conquered lands that we will fortify burn everything as they leave and set fires to forests, in order to use scorched earth against the Khazars themselves. It is hoped we can starve them out and make them much weaker. Fortifications are being constructed in the northern Khazar lands that we occupy in preparation for their attacks. '''The first of the reforms is the military command is organized into six military regions. The goal is to form a more efficient way of organizing the forces in the homeland and for administering logistics.''' They are as follows: Central Military District (180,000 men total), which covers the central regions of Russia, including Moscow, Novgorod, Tver, and others. There is the Southern Military District (220,000 men), which includes southern Russia and most of Ukraine. Then there is the Western Military District (200,000 men), which covers parts of Poland (liberated West Slav lands) and far western Ukraine. Then there is the Northern Military District (30,000 men), covering the northernmost Russian lands along the Arctic Coast, and the Eastern Military District (25,000 men), which includes the expanding Rus’ lands to the east of the Avar territories. Those numbers include both professionals and male conscripts currently serving their mandatory two-years. The navy is divided into the Baltic Fleet (50 ships), Northern Fleet (50 ships), and Black Sea Fleet (150 ships). Trade continues throughout the principality. Using some of the revenue, we begin upgrading the fortresses on our borders, expanding and fixing them. Meanwhile, expansion continues in the eastern territories of our settling, which include which include the lands of Khanty-Mansi, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen Oblasts. At the same time, infrastructure projects also continue across the country. Persian Free State: We declare war on The Caliphate, hoping to reunite Persia under our rule. We offer an alliance to any other enemies of The Caliphate. We offer non-aggression pacts to anyone who wants them. We change our name to the Persian Republic. We attempt to upgrade our navy. We would like to request an alliance with the Byzantine Empire, offering them some of the land. * Khazar: We are at war with the Caliphate so we accept the alliance. Chenla Queendom: Deeming that the Sultan Alak Brunei had learned enough of Chenlan culture and no longer seems to have a hostile attitude towards the Queendom is finally returned to his people. He is urged to join ASEAN as it would be beneficial for everyone in the region. Queen Jayavedi having had enough with the persecution of Buddhists, sends monetary aid to the Theocracy of Bengal. The Royal Navy also stations 60 percent of its forces on the west coasts of the mainland and Sumatra. Trade i also increased with all the members of ASEAN. The Royal SScout expand their intelligence networks and create a new sect in its Order called the Shadow Striders, a group of highly skilled spies. The RE continue the research for techniques of producing stronger metal alloys for the use in the military as pure iron is no longer sufficient. They also continue to improve the infrastructure of th Queendom. Crowned Prince Jayavarman ll, now at th age of 21,and no longer in Academy, begins to become a renowned master swordsman, as he wins melee after melee in the greatly esteemed War Games. The Royal Navy continues to build more ships and the RSA, the Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps continue to recruit more men into the armed forces. The forces aiding the Chu Dynasty continue to do so hoping that the war will end soon. '''((MOD: The turn will (again) be slightly delayed. It should only be a few minutes though, so don't bother picking up your pitchforks.)) == 735 C.E. == Can love truly sprout from hate? Can peace truly be birthed from war? Can smoke and ash coalesce to rebuild an empire? All questions without answers. All questions man wants to be answered. The Persian Free-State invades Caliphate Persia and manages to capture land. Japan and its territories falls to Chu rule as the Koreans’ technology is simply overwhelming to the Japanese people. The Japanese are surprisingly accepting of Chu rule, and the only real resistance comes from the Shoguns and Emishi of northern Japan, though the resistance is considerable, and the Emishi are well-versed in guerrilla warfare. The Ainu people spread north farther. The Bruneians are grateful towards Chenla, and agree to participate in ASEAN. Tibet and the Gupta, however, are still skeptical. The Rus’ use of scorched earth against the Khazars proves devastating and the Rus’s able to repel any attempts at invasion by Khazar soldiers. The Rus’ fortification proves moderately effective, and their navy is badly damaged by the Khazars’ use of Greek fire. The Fire that Never Dies once again helped the Khazars gaining lands. However, Rus finally begin to create countertactics against this new weapon. The acceptance of the Buddhist faith by the Uyghur Khagan and his nation pushed many displaced Buddhists from the south to immigrate, leading to an influx of population growth. Frankish gains in Portugal are moderate, but the casualties for the unmilitarized Gothic people is astounding. Ambush. A word every Frankish soldier loaths to hear, let alone folly his lips to speak it. But as these five years would prove, it would become one of the most spoken words in the Franconian lexicon. The Lombardians successfully massacre the Franks with their clever traps and are able to secure a few villages, as well as the support of the people in them, to help them in them in their thrust for reclamation. The Gepid detachment makes small gains in Southern Italy. The Gothic Navalli-Ballista-Excusus are pushed back in Gibraltar initially, as their Captains find that it takes several sailors to reel in captured ships, and once the enemy’s light ships draw alongside the Gothic Excusus, they’re likely just to cut the rope, shoot the harpoon firing crew, and sail away. The Goths begin fighting back properly, though, when the Captains order the ropes removed from the harpoon ends, and fire them as proper ballistae. The Peregrines are withdrawn as the Celtic ships prove that they can almost match them in maneuverability, but otherwise the battle goes fairly well for the Goths. The Frankish navy, still mostly intact, soon withdraws to the Portuguese Coast. Rome is a dying city. As the Frankish force approaches the city, the Umbra-Gotha spring their trap, obliterating almost a third of the Frankish army in five hours of the bloodiest fighting Italy has ever seen. As the Umbra-Gotha pull back, the Lazarites arrive. The Franks turn to face them, exposing their back to the Umbra-Gotha, who attack alongside a mob of Roman men who have turned out to join them. Ironically, however, these extra soldiers prove the Umbra-Gotha’s doom, as they disrupt their formation, and allow their encirclement by the north and south wings of the Frankish army. The Umbra-Gotha is forced to retreat again, this time for good. The Frankish commanders order their army to wheel toward the Lazarites who put up a brave fight, but are forced into retreat from the sheer numbers of Frankish troops, and the demoralization they suffered when their psychological tactics failed. The Franks and Gepids put up a perimeter within the depopulated Roman suburbs, and fierce street-fighting ensues, which is put to a stop when the Franks decide to torch a government building, causing a fire that spreads among the buildings of outer Rome. Both Franks and Goths perish in agony. By the time the Franks are joined by the Gepids and begin the real siege of Rome, their army numbers less than half of its original strength, and morale is atrocious. The Frankish soldiers begin lobbing debris into the walls of Rome, and soon catapults arrive to assist them. Roman citizens begin to live in fear of having their brains figuratively bashed out with a brick, or possibly a half-rotted human head, and most choose to stay inside, and many begin getting their food through the Roman catacombs. Most would flee the city, but they are worried of being massacred once they do. Zanzibarian prospectors discover a massive deposit of silver in the unclaimed lands to the west of the nation. Ghana continues to incrementally lose its territory to Kanem. The empire of Ghana appears to be on its last leg. With the help of Middle-Egypt, Carthage manages to recapture Cairo and push Muslim forces nearly back to their highly fortified base in Sinai. Egypts’ culture influences much of the population of the newly colonized Vermundian territory, and for the first time in history, mass conversions to atheism are seen in Islamic nations. Egypt suffered tremendous casualties in their war against the Caliphate, but the population still support the cause of reclaiming Cairo and acclimating its people. Peace offers from Byzantium have yet to be responded to by the Visiogothic or Roman people. Celtic fear of religious persecution dies down at first, but is re-galvanized at the prompt of Pictish religious freedoms being stripped. The Pictish Republic explodes into massive violent protests nationwide. The people are incredulous at the fact that their government had decided to close down their beloved monasteries in order to fund a foreign religious war in an alliance with their enemy. The nation is completely toppled by chaos and political officials are hunted down like animals.  Celtic naval ships dot the horizon and temporarily cast black shadows across the shores of Vasconia. The Visigothic queen lays in wait with her authentic Celtic dagger in hand, ready to give order to her team of archers to set the Celtic fleet ablaze with “the fire that never dies”. But when the ships finally arrive, the force is far larger than expected. The vast majority of the ships still fall victim to flames however, and as the day fades into night the brilliant spectacle lights up the Bay of Biscay with brilliant dancing lights, accompanied with the music of Celtic screams as their skin and armor fuse to become one. The only ships to survive are the ones smart enough to retreat from the heavily fortified Gothic coastline. The following morning several units of displaced and injured Celtic soldiers drag themselves ashore and find themselves face to face with Sventhila Lousean, Celtic dagger in hand and surrounded by her national guardsmen. Two hundred Celtic soldiers are captured by the Visigoths.  The Frankish troops have pushed the Jutes back to their coastal cities, but the Jutish naval supply lines are well-thought-out, and well defended. Even the brave Anglo-Saxons begin to grow tired of the constant city assaults. As their commanders exhort them to fight for patriotism and in the defense of their country, they only reflect on the fact that they are already living in an occupied country, and at least the Jutes speak a language that can be understood. Legate Ricca, swooned by the unexpected romantic attentions from Ankou Eversnow, agrees to travel to Iceland to meet with the Celtic king, on the sole condition that they cease their invasion of Gothic coasts for the moment. She travels to iceland from a repurposed Vasconian war-vessel.  The Celtic force sent to Jutland is doomed to face defeat. Slight landings are made, and many Jutes lose the their lives, but in the end, the Celtic confidence proves to be far too high. This is not surprising, considering the prowess of Jutish sailors and shipbuilders as the most ferocious warriors of the sea. Many Celtic mariners begin crying out to be allowed to retreat to Celtico.  Bengal is pushed into and Guru Susarman is captured by the Indian invaders. Word has still not gotten back on Pope John Francis II's condition in the war. Many Frankish soldiers are disturbed by the possibility of fighting against their own Pope. Uyghur Khaganate:''' Some of the military continues to stand guard of the Uyghur caravans that travel close to the borders with the Stong and Ldong. Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl orders the nation to expand northwards, with some new towns established along the way. Chenla Queendom: With the war seemingly over 90 percent of the forces helping the Chu Dynasty return home for a much earned rest. A week long festival is thrown to celebrate the end of the greatest war the Queendom has been in before and the construction of the Gong of Peace is built in front of the Royal Palace to commemorate the event. Havika Ipo, the common born High Admiralty, is especially praised by the Queen making him the example that all common born citizens could raise to such great renown if they worked for it. Crowned Prince Jayavarman ll, now 26 and a renowned swordsman, catches the fancy of the beautiful daughter of the High Admiralty. They soon wed in the year 736 with the approval of Havika because through the marriage he is raised to the title of Duke of the Malay Peninsula. Within a few years a new baby boy is born in the year 738, named Crowned Prince Salavarman ll, taking after his uncle with which Crowned Prince Jayavarman ll had always looked up to. The Royal Engineers having plannes for decades now,  send a small group of engineers west, one Royal Engineer Master named Malum Tai, and 11 other Royal Engineer Adept to acquire new technologies. Instead of going by ship they decide to traverse the journey on land. The RE continue their research on stronger metal alloys as they belive they are nearing something stronger than iron. They plan out new layouts for cities near the borders near the Gupta and the Liang so trade can be better regulated before it goes to the rest of the Queendom. The Royal Scouts continue to expand their network of intelligence gathering and '''begin to send more Scouts south to explore what other islands and people may be there. ''' The Royal Navy continues to build more ships and start to conduct their own studies to improve the ships. The RSA, the Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and  Cavalry Corps continue to recruit more people into the armed forces. India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants and catapults. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. All people in southern OTL India are fully converted to Hinduism. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. '''Continues invading Theocracy of Bengal and will soon be fully occupied in next turn. The occupied lands of former Ganga dynasty are completely annexed into Indian rightful hands. *Chenla (Diplomacy):''' Queen Jayavedi will offer 45 thousand gold for the purchase of the Adaman Islands. Kingdom of France finds itself fighting a war on multiple fronts, but King Peter I is unwilling to make peace with the Goths until Rome has been captured. New recruits are sent to help take Rome, and the knights of the Order of the Grail become the elite of the Frankish troops, and take part in the fight to take Rome. As Lombardy has again risen up, 50,000 men currently in Lombardy are assigned to crushing the rebellion. To prevent the Celts have aligning with the Goths, spies are sent to capture Legate Reccai, to prevent her marriage to King Ankou. A decision is made, that once Rome falls, the war with the Goths will end, and only Portugal and the Jutes will remain to oppose us. With the amount of ambushes in Lombardy, Frankish troops are assigned to be on a constant alert for enemy activity. Thus, more and more French warriors are deployed in Lombardy, with the overall goal of slowly breaking the will of the Lombards by utterly crushing the. For good. Chu Dynasty (former Silla): Emperor Jaewon decides to eradicate racial and cultural intolerance in occupied Japan by destroying the belief of Japanese racial superiority. The members of the former government (including the Emperor) are executed for warcrimes. Japan’s population is rapidly deurbanised and its major economic activities are halted, and they have to start from scratch. Honshu is given independence, but is under the Korean sphere of influence as a satellite state. Occupied Japanese Hokkaido are given to the Ainu. We annex Taiwan (and incorporate it into the Tamra or Jeju-do province), Shikoku and Kyushu (into the Wa province). The Japanese population residing in those islands migrate to Honshu. The Japanese people are being accepted by other peoples, and are recognised for helping the Koreans to destroy the warmongering, barbaric, former government of Japan. Any person that has sympathy for Japanese imperialism are fined and are jailed for a year. The population growth (of Chu proper) regains momentum, at 0.5% (due to the sudden arrival of troops participating in the conflicts in Japan), and the population is recorded at 20.2 million. Jaewon decides to re-start the sanitation program to prevent the spread of common diseases. We re-open trade with the Western nations apart from the Caliphate (who introduced the Ghanan plague to us in the first place), but human contact is almost non-existent and merchants are heavily monitored for any symptoms of the Ghanan plague. We offer to trade with India, and Free Persia, trading porcelain products and excess agricultural produce for spices, which are on high demand. Zanzibar Sultanate: Discovery of those lands saw some of our Zanzibirian prospectors founded in some unknown lands. We still continue mining as miners mining some gold and deliver it to the markets. Some explorers plan to explore to the east, and hopefully our land for the expansion will be 50 px east. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We tell the Karluks to launch an offensive against the Rus with the help of our army to knock out the Rus.(Mod) We will send people all across our former lands and Karluk lands by stating "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” We will use the “fire that never dies” against the opposing forces through ships and catapults to launch fear into our enemies and boost morale for our own troops. With the Rus inside the Karakum desert and in foreign land, we take advantage of that fact by laying ambushes and scorched earth policy. This is demoralized that Rus forces. Instead we will focus most of our forces into seizing back our former lands from the Caliphate since they are stretched thin from the three front war and co-ordinate an offensive with the Persian free state. Gepid Republic: Hermenigild is reeletected as Consul, and Ansiric Bessas is elected Justicar to replace his father, who became too ill for the job. In the year 736, the Senate, who heard that their Consul is finally arriving in Rome, drink to the return of Rome after its fall, 250 years ago. “Today, Rome will rise from its Ashes under Pope John Francis II, may he be blessed!” say the Leader of the Assembly. In Rome, the siege is going as well as it could be, with the Franks loosing morale and motivation, even with the goal of Rome in front of them. The Consul is extremely frustrated of what he see in the betrayal of the Byzantines, remembering them that they started the war, and that they should keep their end of the bargain made at the Christian Meeting of Buteridava. He also encouraged him to continue the campaign in Italy, remembering him all the lands he would get after the war. The Consul also send a letter to all Romans in the city, presenting himself as a “member of a Roman Senate”. In the letters, he encouraged them to surrender unconditionally, as he fear his men could not be stopped when Rome fall completely. His also express with joy the liberation of Rome fro the traitorous gothic influence. He send a captured prisoner to them with the letter, hoping it would have some influence. Hermenigild isn't stupid, he know that they wion't probably just accept to surrender. But at least some of them will want to, and this is the division his forces need to win this siege. Rus' Principality: We continue our policy of using fortifications and scorched earth tactics against the Khazars. We will annihilate the Khazar forces by allowing them to continue to attempt offensives against us and bleed them dry. As they abandon areas, we gradually advance and take them over, building fortresses there and creating strongpoints. Russification continues in the northern-most occupied Khazar territories to turn the inhabitants into suitable citizens of the Rus’ Principality. We allow freedom of religion, however, so that this would work. New roads are also constructed so they are closer to those of the principality for better transportation. Meanwhile, the shipyards along the Dnepr and Volga rivers are used to construct more ships to replace the ones lost to the Khazar naval forces. Our scorched earth policy and the constant fighting should keep them from constructing any more in the Black Sea and bleed their navy dry. We interrogate captured prisoners and look over captured Khazar ships to figure out how to make Greek fire. In the homeland, trade continues. Expansion in the east also continues in to Khanty-Mansi, Sverlovsk, and Tyumen lands. The population continues to grow due to the abundance of resources and improving infrastructure. The new military organization system proves to be useful and allows for more efficient operating and administration. Fortifications on the borders are continuing to be refurbished on Grand Prince Sviatoslav's orders, especially those on the western borders with the European states, in case they became aggressive like the Lombards. Lombardy-Gotland: ''Áwuldre þon cyningé! Áfieht fér seon Hrýoaldres!'' The shouts ring out over the battlefield, as the squad of Waepanbora charge into battle against the panicked Franks. A few minutes later, their opponents are all dead. This is an example of what now seems to be happening all over Lombardy, as the Lombard troops have been winning victory after victory, either through training, guile, or sheer numbers. Moreover, their morale is considerably better than that of the Franks, as the Lombards are, by now, convinced that the Franks (and Goths) are figuratively demons, and most are wondering why Thor hasn't smitten any of them yet. In response to the success of the traps in the original bout of fighting, Þórbjörn sets his engineers to work on more traps ((I'm having fun with these)), the blueprints for which are sent to the resistance leaders in Lombardy. These include: A rather entertaining trap in which the attics of houses are filled with trained, starving wolfhounds. When the door of the house is opened, a rope slides attached to it slides open the trapdoor for the attic, dumping several hungry wolves on the unfortunate Frankish soldiers' heads. Local members of the resistance cut trees almost completely down near popular Frankish campsites, but fills the cut area with a combination of mud covered with bark. When the Franks encamp for the night, the resistance members sneak up close to the camp, and are able to collapse the trees on the Frankish tents simply by pushing the mud out of the gap with a long stick. Logs that are tied to tree-branches at eye-level for a mounted soldier, then pulled up to the tops of trees. When the attaching ropes are cut, they swing down towards the road, sometimes actually knocking off the heads of the Frankish soldiers (think Endor). The ports in the south of Gotland are opened for limited access, to allow boatloads of goods from Lombardy to reach the new capital on the island. All of the money looted by the resistance is left with them to aid in the prosecution of the Lombard war effort, but things like semi-historical relics taken from the old capital are not. The main tower of the new southern Gutish fortress is heightened a staggering 70 feet at great expense by a team of Greek architects. When it is done, the top is fitted with five ballistae, and a large copper mirror on a pivot. This mirror can be used to communicate with the nearby townships in the event of an attack, using a system developed by Þórbjörn's top military commander. Work begins on a massive catapult that will be brought up and placed on the top of the tower, allowing the fort a range of several miles. The borders are opened for Christian missionaries, but they are told to stay within the walls of the λευήπoληkόn. If even one steps beyond the boundaries set for him, they will all be banished from the country. Several groups of Gutish warriors set sail for Pomerania, swearing to liberate Lombardy from foreign oppression. The ships in the North Sea continue their raids on Frankish shipping. Again, as the Lombard/Gutish ships are much, much faster and more maneuverable than even the lightest Frankish ships, these raids are expected to go well, and possibly even bankrupt the Frankish monarchy. Gutish coastal defenses are improved, in both breadth and thickness. Lombardy-Gotland (Diplomacy): The Jutes are requested to put an end to the fighting with the Lombards, and to send a delegation to Gotland to peacefully resolve their differences. The Visigoths: It would seem for the moment, that luck may be a two headed mistress; just as eager to grant economic bailout and provide fertile soil, as to prompt senseless rebellion and foreign betrayals. For centuries now, the Visigoths have been a nation run on pure luck - rising and falling as quick as the tides that would soon wash them away - but this, by no means, should be counted as a bad thing. For was it not luck, that did make existence possible; that chose to govern daily lives with a sense of exciting unpredictability; that allowed for the very circumstances catalysing the birth?   Having tried their hand at peace, the Visigoths are once again taught the harsh lesson that diplomacy is the far more difficult option in the modern world. Sventhila Lousean, likening the lies and backstabbing of world affairs to her father Roderic and his influence on her early life, is now willing to fall back on the simplistic old ways of Alaric II, fighting not for glory or power, but for the very continued existence of the nation and unification of the people. A dark defender shel, a leader willing to do bad, to bring forth better good.   It is true, Gothic success was birthed by Roman failure. The Roman empire, however, never completely fell - like the melting snow after a harsh winter, or a caterpillar escaping his cocoon as a newly formed butterfly, it had merely changed forms. The Goths had not wrought the fall of Rome. No. The Goth’s had prevented the fall of Rome. When the Roman people were in need, the Gothic people saved them; welcoming them in with open arms and allowing their society to stand as it was. The Gothic ways had been modeled around that of Rome, and many of its citizens had hardly even noticed the change. In truth, - Non alias missi cecidere Romam, Romae facientes non peccabitis aliquando - Rome never fell, and has yet to fall. This makes the Goths the hero of the tale as it were, at least that’s what they all allow to tell themselves; the last best hope for humanity. Visigothic soldiers are conditioned for this sort of chaotic playground of warfare, fully expecting to take advantage of the overconfident Franks. Confidence breeds with nothing but Failure when in the face of true skill and technique. Word reaches the ear of Sventhila Lousean of the French commandeering one of our vessels and capturing a high ranking officer in our military. Being in close relations with Legate Ricca, she becomes highly defensive; she rallies up the captured French soldiers and pulls Pope John Francis II out of Rome back to his posh quarters in the Toulouse dungeon. A Loyalist representative by the name of Gunthis Irnfried  travels to France to speak of a possible prisoner exchange. # The exchange would have to take place in neutral Byzantine territory. (Unless they re-declare war, in which it will take place in Gothic territory.) # Every Frankish soldier is assured to be unharmed and sent home with some water and food. # The Visigothic Legate, Ricca, is to remain completely unharmed and be released to Vasconia. The Franks may keep the transport vessel as their just dues. # Pope John Francis II will be returned to Paris, unharmed and well-fed and pampered. If by the end of all this, the French still refuse, Gunthis Irnfried is to travel straight to the Rus’ Principality and seek their allegiance and assistance in war against France. While Sventhila is dearly against entangled alliances, she views the Rus’ to be one of the last nations left that has yet to betray the Gothic empire. The Rus’ Principality is encouraged to march on Provence as the area is weakened from a recent war with the Lombards and poorly founded by Frankish presence. The son of Sventhila, Roderic Lousean II, has reached adulthood, and as such, has earned right to decide what to do with his life. He eagerly insists on sailing to Rome to join the Umbra-Gotha and fight under the command of Lord Commander Alexander Salviolis. Sventhila is hesitant at first, as she already has much emotional investment in the Roman front as it is, but finally agrees and allows for Roderic II to make the journey.''' ''' Two more months would pass before Sventhila would receive another letter from the Roman front, signed by Alexander Salviolis himself. It reads; “Your son was received well. He had proved a very competent warrior for sure and allowed for sense of self to inflate; his overzealous disposition proved to best of him however, as he was recently killed in battle. We buried him behind the Roman church. I have ordered those under my command to march north in troops of twenty-five, much like Umbra-Gothic parties of old when we were nothing more than a task force. These parties are on orders to regroup in neutral Byzantine Croatia where they will attempt to purchase a fleet of ships on credit (please send gold on a ship to Croatia). Once together as a unified force, we will march on the weakly guarded Provence in hopes of causing fall to France.” Caliphate: We continue to expand 4400 pixels in Africa. '''We would like to annex Caliphate Persia (mod response). We rename the High Council of Eurasia the Allied League.''' We buy gold from Zanzibar. We aid Zanzibar's growth and in return Zanzibar becomes Muslim. We put more fortifications in Sinai. We continue our naval presence in the Red Sea. We Bulgur military and infrastructure. We build our navy. We invade the Kazakhs and the Persian Free State. We offer peace to the Carthage Empire and Middle-Egypt under these turms: 1. The three countries don't attacks each other for 75 years. 2. The Caliphate has to pay major reparations to the Carthage Empire and Middle-Egypt. 3. The Caliphate is allowed to keep Sinai. Signatures Caliphate - AH28 Carthage Empire-((Mod Response)) Recimi Avagis Middle Egypt - snoopdigdogg11 '''((Turns are going to be every other day. I think it's something we'll all like.)) The Celtic League:''' I can’t believe the devastating defeat that was taken from the wars against the Jutes and the Goths. The Pictish fell apart before the war even opened up. Brilliant fucking idea to shut down the one thing that keeps simpletons happy: Their monasteries… I immediately send myself over to their lands and declare martial law. (all moves made by the Pictish Leaders this turn are invalid until their land is restored to order). The True King will rule over these lands until they are content again. (When the people fall back into line the Pictish Leaders may regain control.) The first order of business is to get the monasteries up and functioning again. I additionally create two Worshiping Temples of the Celtic religion, to see if it takes off in the Pictish land. I spend the vast wealth of the Celtic League. Although the wealth is dwindling it should be fine unless something drastic happens. Granted the Pictish Leaders will be upset but their people should embrace me as I am the restorer of order and religion to their land. I prepare a letter to send to the Franks. “After the utter defeat of our Navy by The Goths and The Jutes, we are going to have to resign from the war until our military is rebuilt. There are an estimated 50 ships left to fight and we will need to bring them back for repairs and upgrades. We apologize but the ultimate downfall of the attack was the Pictish’s collapse of government. For whatever reason we hadn’t noticed their absence until it was too late. But speaking of the Goths they are sending me who might also be my future bride. I must apologize for the inconvenience of you sending your Princess for I am expecting someone from the Head of The Gothic Nation’s army. She seems to be more my type than I assume your fairest princess would be. I will keep her to accompany me until my other future option arrives. Thank you. ~ King Ankou Eversnow” I send my fastest ship to go into Jutland and give word to retreat to either the Picts land or the Islands above them. I begin improving my infantry and creating new ship designs. I begin with making a ship that will greatly improve my naval tactics. The ship is called Odlid and its design is quite simple. It has a hooked spear on the front of the ship. The ship rams into a different ship and then hooks onto it so it can’t move away. This allows for the men on the Odlid to board the ship kill the men on board the enemy ship and then detach the spear keeping the ship damaged, but useable. The ship design keeps it so as few as ten men can keep it sailing fast and smoothly. Nine to zero men will work as well but it will more than likely cause problems that ensue catastrophic failures such as completely missing the enemy target due to the reduced agility or the complete lack thereof. The entire ship can hold 35 sailors at a time. This gives me an edge if my ships manage to hit its target because my army is vastly better at hand to hand combat than most of the nations close to me. The ships are relatively easy to build but it suffers from this because they are also easily destroyed. It is possible to build at least twenty a year if you fireproof them as I intend to. But if you would skip that it would probably be more like 40 a year. I improve infantry by adding chainmail to the arms of the scale armor further improving protection with almost no side effect to limb agility. I further research the attack method that the Goths used in destroying my fleet. Using a form of something called “Gunpowder”. Apparently it explodes when exposed to flame or something hot enough to cause a flame. It is said that it comes from a place in the Asian lands. I send my spies to the east to chart the lands and to discover what this “Gun powder” is, and how it is made. Thinking about the flames brings to mind something the Celts have an abundance of: Whale oil. A small trusted group and I will take the time to research the way to weaponize this common luxury. After an additional year of waiting I send word to the Goths to find out what happened to Legate Ricca, and if she still plans on attending. “Hello amiable Gothic friends. I, King Ankou Eversnow, send word to you on behalf of Legate Ricca. I believe she was supposed to be sent to visit me here in the Erie. She has yet to arrive and I was curious if she has changed her mind. Please respond and let me know what has happened. ~ King Eversnow” Today is the day I read the book my brother gave me all those years ago. It is titled “The taking of the Throne From a Blood Thirsty Man” ... I just noticed that it was written by my mother, Ygritte Snow. It's a decent sized book but I’ll tell you some of the highlights. The first highlight talks about the King and what went wrong. “The King who held the throne was always thirsty for more and more power, more and more lands. He only built up the military and didn’t care about his people. He eventually took it too far. He pissed off the wrong people, mostly the Goths and Lombards. They had every right to do what they did to us as a people. The king made us deserve what happened. That is why I am so willing to forgive and forget what happened to us.” The next part where it picks up is when they form a rebellion and start planning attacks on the king's army. “Eventually the people slowly began to rise up against the king. It started with the youth who were tired of the ruler’s stupidity and hostility in every situation. We had at least 75 to a hundred people when we did are first hit-and-run tactics. Since most of us couldn’t afford iron swords and armor we settled for wood splitting axes and pickaxes, with no armor. We would pick the bodies clean of everything but the armor. The armor would take to long to pick off the bodies, and if we would wear them we may get confused in the heat of battle. The training to use an ax as a weapon is different than the traditional weapon. You see with the ax you have faster attacks but less defence. You can’t block with them as they have a tendency to break. So in order to use them you need to dodge incoming attacks. The next tactics we used were fire raids. We would set fire to some building or important structure. While people were distracted with taking care of the fire we would come in from behind and take out the soldiers. Eventually we managed to get half of the country to back us. Celtic soldiers who deserted their posts to avoid going back to war for no reason. With each passing day more and more people joined us until eventually we had more people fighting for us than they had in the entire Celtic army.“ After a few more battles it gets to where she takes the castle. “Many were lost on both sides until we as the rebellion took the castle. The people wanted to just keep him jailed until he died of old age. I even went along with it so that we could finally attack the castle. But once we were inside and it was me and him… I zoned out. I forgot everything that we had agreed on, everything that was planned for him. I walked up to the throne, brought my axe above my head, and with all my force brought it down into the side of that bastard's neck. It didn’t fully decapitate him, though. It went half way through his neck until it stopped. Watching him squirm while bleeding out was one of the most bizarre feelings I have ever had. A moment of both disgust and ecstasy. To know that after the three year war between the throne and the rebellion that it was finally over and that I never had to worry again. It was also partly because I knew that I was now queen, and I had even more power than I did before. But I will not repeat the same habits of the old king. I will not wipe out complete nations just for the lands or for more power. It will be for the lands I lost and that is it.” After reading all this it will take me some time to ponder it and decide what I will do with this new info. I think that I will publish my mother’s book. Let everyone see what she has written and see if it influences them like it has me. * The Visigoths have come to learn that Legate Ricca's vessel was intercepted by Frankish sailors. Liang: The Liang forces invade Taiwan.''' More trade occurs. Not much else happens. Middle-Egypt:. '''we halt our invasion of the caliphate and declare victory in pushing them out of North Africa. We request that cartilage cede us control on Cairo. '''((Turns WILL proceed as normal today. After today, we will be following the every-other-day schedule.)) == 740 C.E. == Trade flourish in the Chenla Queendom, and the new ships are built to support the Chenla dominion of the sea.  The Chu Dynasty successfully continue their plans of occupation in Japan, dividing the lands the way they wanted. The Ainu undergo several governmental reformations and come out a more unified and militarily sound nation. The Ainu navy continues to grow and their land empire does also as they journey northward claiming more lands. Honshu becomes a subordinate state under rule of the Chu dynasty. The people do not welcome their new oppressive rulers.  War is declared on the Chu dynasty by the Liang as they easily conquer Chu occupied Taiwan. The Liang have thus broken their side of the agreement in the ASEAN alliance, effectively declaring war on much of Eastern Asia. Trade between nations of the ASEAN breaks down as the Liang declare war on an ally. The Theocracy of Bengal is finally overwhelmed by the Indian Empire, who expand his lands once again by destroying another nation.  In the old Ganga Dynasty, many begin to fear that the annexation of their lands will end up the few autonomy they had left. Many riots began to spark in the region.  Gupta would like to purchase Bengal from India for a generous surplus of gold and silver. The use of similar tactics keep the war between Khazars and Rus to a stalemate on the front, and the offensive of the Karluks only help loosening the pressure on the Khazar lands.  An official integration of the Karluks into the Khazar khaganate takes place, with the Karluk Khagan accepting subordinancy.  The Stong and Ldong make peace with the Uyghurs. The Khazar and Rus’ soldiers on the front line begin to lose their animosities, and many troops begin interacting with the enemy. While the Khazars celebrate their native customs, some of the Rus’ soldiers are interests and join in the celebration with them. The fighting all but stops as both sides are apathetic toward the war. The Uyghur new tactics to protect their caravans, which cause the failures of Stong and Ldong attacks, making roads much safer. Karluk forces, being fresh and well-trained, do inflict some damage against the Rus’, but otherwise are not able to advance far. The Caliphate annexes subordinate Persia and is able to repel the Persian Republicans. Most citizens hardly notice a shift in control. ((Bozinstaball can try to resist, but if he doesn’t, then Persia is gone and he’ll have to choose a new nation)).  New eastern lands are settled under Rus’ control going by the names of Khanty-Mansi, Sverdlovsk, and Tyumen. Walls come crumbling down as Muslim protesters flood back into the prohibited areas destroyed by the Goths decades ago. Mecca is repopulated and the people’s faith is reinvigorated. The Avar people in Rus’ occupied territory grow discontent and begin protesting the Russian reign. Cultural and political rifts between the southwestern and northeastern Rus’ people continue to grow at exponential rates. Many people begin questioning their government's authority over them; Northerners in sparsely populated lands even more so. Seeing the inter-breeding between Celts and Jutes as an abomination, The Jutes seek to destroy the Celtic colonies. Landing in Celtico, the Jutes burn the small colony to ashes and slaughter the meager resistance. Albionites led by the usurper Osryn Sieghbert join forces with the Frankish to make a push into Lombardian Germany. The Danish king, after much consideration, decides to accept the Lombard offer of an alliance, agrees to stop raiding their shipping, and sends a token force of ships to aid their maritime war against Francia. Accordingly, they also begin raiding the Rus’ coast. Portugaul easily falls to Frankish invasion as much of the military retreated with the Visigoths. Pope John Francis II dies of natural causes on the way to Toulouse, throwing his escort into a panic. In 739, the Gepid and Frankish combined forces are finally able to enter into Rome, killing most of the defenders, However, news of the Pope’s death rapidly comes to the shocked armies, which leave everyone with the following question: “What will become of Rome?” Frankish King, Peter I, while valiantly leading his armies in the assault on Rome, spots a high priority target amongst the carnage of the battlefield: Chairman Harric Chindaswintha III. Taking the opportunity to cripple Novus-Roman resistance, King Peter I, mounting his steed charges toward the Ostrogothic leader, sword held high ready to strike down upon his unmounted victim. Harric turns round rapidly, spear erect, and impales the charging horse. The two leaders collapse atop one another;a long violent bout of fighting ensues, ending with King Peter I rising from the mangled corpse of his opponent and declaring victory over Rome. The injured King collapses shortly after and succumbs to his injuries, dying where he lay. After Rome falls to Frankish control, The Gepid’s skilled mercenaries take the opportunity to replace the Byzantine fronts and quickly squash the puny Novus-Roman defenses. The Chindaswintha Estate, vast in numbers an economic stature, manage to gain enough support to fortify their borders and repel Gepid and French invaders.  The Slavic Confederation begins to fall into a state of civil war between the partisans of a Lombard return and those who want the region to remain free of their old rulers.   The Jutes refuse the peace offer sent by Lombardy, saying that they cannot accept while Lombardy is allied with their Danish enemies, even in light of Lombardy’s struggle against the Franks. It would seem however, that the Jutish loyalty to the Gothic empire is wavering, as the Visigothic queen had dissolved the Roman Senate, thus removing the Abelone Chair. Danish warriors finally break the Jutish frontline and turn the tides of the war. The Jutish people begin retreating in fear. Umbra-Gothic raids into Provence are largely successful as the area is weak, unguarded, and recovering from a recent war with the Lombards. The war between Lombards and Franks continue, and the naval fights are dominated by the Lombards, who destroy what is win a resounding victory in the Baltic. On land, however, the arrival of new troops help pushing a little bit in Lombard territories (exept in the disorganized, coastal Slavic lands), but moral is low among the Franks, and locals feel more oppressed than ever.  The Germanic rebellions get worse day by day and the Frankish seem helpless to stop them due to their outstanding Guerrilla warfare and use of superior war tactics. Martial law is declared in Pictish territory and the Celts heed to much of the people’s wishes. The Celtic spies turn back after traveling for a year, convinced that there’s nothing to the Far East but tundra, deserts, and war.  The Pictish people happily accept the Celtic restoration of order, and elect a representative to go speak with the Celtic general. He says that the Pictish population will not resist their occupation as long as they withdraw from the country after order is restored. A few Celtic ships return from Jutland, but most were destroyed by the dreaded northmen. Recimi Avagis of Carthage accepts the Caliphates proposal of peace and pulls out of Sinai. Middle-Egypt accepts peace with the Caliphate and annexes its captured lands.   Alecksander XV of Egypt requests that Carthage cede them control of Cairo - Recimi rejects this request, claiming an attempt to unify north Africa as one people.  Carthage colonizes the Canary islands and dominates the market on ravens and other messenger birds.  The Empire of Ghana is completely absorbed by Kanem and Sef dubs himself the new grand emperor of the African people. He starts a greedy campaign claiming control over the whole of the continent.  Sofala begins experimenting with new ship building techniques and manages to establish several new ports along the Eastern coasts.  Vermundia’s unrelenting expanse continues, motivated by a need to spread the word of Allah. Chu Dynasty (former Silla):''' We give Honshu considerably more autonomy and sends Jaewon's oldest daughter, Hee Seo to Japan as one of the "advisors" for the new Emperor. Hee Seo can speak Japanese fluently and abolishes the mandatory teaching of the Korean language in schools. She also convinces the Emperor to reverse some of her father's policies and starts to slowly urbanise the population once again. She improves living standards and improve the stagnant agricultural sectors of its economy. Hee Seo still does not allow Japanese imperialism and people who do such things are heavily fined and jailed.. All of Korean Hokkaido is given to the Ainu, as it is their historical homeland. The population growth slows down rapidly, it now stands at 0.3%. The population is recorded at 21.5 million, while Honshu's population is recorded at 2.2 million. Jaewon decides to re-start the sanitation program to prevent the spread of common diseases. Infrastructure is improved and we begin to focus on science and technology. We wish to continue trade with the Caliphate, but they would have to apologise for bringing the Ghanan death to Korea and for spreading rumours about the royal family. They would also have to stop trying to convert the population to islam. Most people are enraged at Liang China for (without warning) invading Taiwan (part of Jejudo province). Jaewon believes that this may be a miscommunication and still had thought it was part of Japan. He lets go of Taiwan since he believes Liang China had the right to get it (due to its proximity) but his daughter (and most of the population) believes that this was an act of aggression and betrayal. Hee Seo overthrows Jaewon and is placed as the new monarch of Korea, deciding to annex Japan as an autonomous region. She builds up the military and ends economic and diplomatic ties with the Chinese. She begins to sketch a plan for the future invasion of Taiwan and the territories forcefully ceded to Liang China. *Liang dip: We thought Taiwan was still under the control of Japan, and would have retreated if the Chu had not decided to retaliate, instead negotiating, and we would have done so. However, as you have decided to retaliate we will start a large-scale invasion. Uyghur Khaganate: Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl accepts the peace from the Stong and Ldong. Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. Hearing about the Liang's declaration of war against the Chu Dynasty; Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl declares support for the Chu Dynasty and is ready to help the Chu out when they request it. The military is built up in preparation. *Liang dip:Informs the Uyghurs that there was a miscommunication, and requests that the khaganate not interfere. Gepid Republic: Hermenigild Valomer is reelected Consul and Ansiric Bessas is reelected Justicar. With the news of their victory in Rome, the Senate is fueled with joy, but it doesn't last forever. News of the death of Pope John Francis II come to them, as well as the news of Peter I decease in Rome. Many began to see an opportunity there. The Franks will need to reorganize with the death of their actual king, and the Byzantines only remain in their positions without ever taking initiative. Since the Gepid will gain nothing from this war (as Italy will be divided between Franks and Byzantines), both Leader of the Assembly and Justicar send the Archbishop of Buteridava, Witiric Hunigild, in order to push the Romans to elect him Pope. They believe that the Consul has enough charisma to convince them (or at least the intimidation skills needed). And so, if things go well, the Coalition forces will indeed have a Pope in Rome, a Gepid Pope. At the same time, the Senate forge new Ardars in the Republic, and new laws are passed to make the economy stronger. Those reforms are only possible because of the money gathered from the Franks and Byzantines, who paided for the Gepid Mercenary Forces during the entire war. When the actions of the Senate came to Hermenigild, he was preparing the corpse of Peter I in order to be returned to Paris. He also gave a speech on the Frankish King, praising his bravery and religious zeal against the heretics. When he finally understand a Gepid Pope will be “elected”, he understand what he need to do, and began assembling the cardinals on the behalf of preparing the election of John Francis II's successor, and use this time to ether intimidate or corrupt (using the money gathered during the sack) in order to have them on the good side. He also send a letter to both Franks and Byzantines, only saying “''Don't worry. Our Holy War wasn't in vain. A pope will seat in Rome, I'll make sure of it.''” Rus' Principality: The government of Grand Prince Sviatoslav continues to make reforms to settle any internal problems in the principality. To settle the tensions between the northern and southern territories, he reminds the people that alone they would be easy pickings for the aggressors from the west, while together they are one of the powerhouses of Europe. They speak the same language and are ethnically the same, and regional princes that were chosen by them are largely left to manage their lands as they want, so there is no reason for any sorts of separation. They are reminded that their standard of living will go down if they fragment into small, poor states. At the same time, a new national education system is created, which includes history of the motherland as a course and teaches all children in the principality nationalism and the glory of the Rus'. Rus' nationalism is increased and encouraged, while anyone who promotes separatism quietly disappears. At the same time, a military oath of loyalty to the Grand Prince is introduced to the Rus’ army and navy. Those men who serve well and perform the bravest in battle are given large pieces of land for their service and are made members of the nobility, making it a meritocracy. Anyone is able to reach the status of a noble if they try hard enough, a piece of knowledge that is spread throughout the population. Work on fortifications on and near the border continues, as does the general improvement of infrastructure. Expansion in the east continues into Khanty-Mansi, Sverdlovsk, and Tyumen. Rus' naval vessels pursue and attack any raiding vessels aggressively, making it clear that it will not be tolerated. Our agents secretly enter the Baltic lands and begin spreading pro-Rus' propaganda into the population, advocating for unification with the principality so that the Balts can have the wealth and success the Rus' have. Meanwhile, with the war on the Khazar front becoming a stalemate, the government figures that the Khazars must have exhausted themselves and taken heavy casualties and would be willing to compromise as a result. So they offer the Khazars a treaty: Treaty of Tsaritsyn 1. The Khazars will cede their northern provinces that are already under Rus' control to the principality. 2. The Khazars and the Rus' Principality will sign a non-aggression agreement lasting for the next 20 years. 3. Rus' ships will stop raiding Khazar ports and stopping ships, and the blockade of trade into Khazar lands from the north and west will be stopped, allowing the Khazars to rebuild their economy. * Khazar Khagnate: We will accept these terms. (By the way, you only own Avar occupied land) The Kingdom of France mourns the loss of King Peter I, and his son is crowned King Peter II. With Rome captured, King Peter II moves to make peace with the Goths, stating he is willing to free all prisoners taken by the Franks, and will only accept Northern Italy and Portugal as French. As the rebellions in Lombardy get worse, more and more troops move to defeat them, with the new amount of troops being around 100,000. However, the guerrilla warfare is still very hard to overcome. More and more ships are now built. As Lombardy attempts to land on our shores, a defense force is deployed of our finest warriors, and they will not budge, all of them natives of the northern shores. King Peter II also moves to create the Papal States. Zanzibar Sultanate: We expand our land even more with 20 px southwest. Meanwhile, more miners mine some gold to get them back so The Caliphate buy some more if they want. The economy rises, and some buildings about to be builded and also some explorers also explore east. India: Economy, infrastructure and military improve. Population continues to grow fast. Continues building a series of war elephants and catapults. Fewer Hindu mandirs and more houses, shops, Hindu temples and mining plants are built. Continues to plan new reforms and continues investing heavily in technology and science. Roads and farms are improved and cities continue to grow. Missionaries continue to convert the non-Hindu peoples of India to Hinduism. '''India accepts the offer from Chenla Dynasty, solding the Adaman Islands for 45 thousand gold. India declines this offer from Gupta Dynasty and annexes the Bengal region into rightful Indian hands.''' Sends troops to these areas where rebels spawned, to defeat the rebels. Lombardy-Gotland: Weapons are forged. Armor is beaten. The thousands of tools and implements that make military life possible are cast. An invasion is being prepared. With complete naval mastery in the North Sea, the aged Þórbjörn Hróaldr decides to press his advantage. New ships depart the Gutish shipyards to join their brothers in the complete pillaging of the Lombard coast. Now that their navy is destroyed, and all chance of seaborne trade extinguished, warchiefs are given free reign to land troops on the Frankish shore and make off with whatever they can find. It is now hoped to starve the Franks out, to exact revenge for their plundering of Lombardy, to drain their coffers dry, and to destabilize and ruin the richest parts of the kingdom, namely Normandy and Picardy. The royal court sends out a standing order to wipe any "demon" monastery off the face of the earth, and that anyone who lets a monk escape will be severely punished. This is in stark contrast to the monarchy's treatment of Christians in Gotland, which focuses on protecting them from the possible ravages of a vengeful populace (though this is because the Christians in Gotland, Greeks to a man, are very useful to the Hróaldr monarchy, while the monks are not). Supplies are sent to the resistance in Lombardy in ever-increasing quantities, this time including a few ballistae and a couple-hundred bolts to go along with them. A large squadron of Gutish ships join up with their Danish allies. Their goal is an ambitious one; they plan to sail up the Daugava, then portage over to the Dnieper and follow it to the Black Sea. From there they will raid the Gepid coastline, and attempt to force them to give up their neutrality in the war by cutting off their trade. Their orders are to not fire upon any Rus' citizens or property, but to defend themselves if attacked. They will focus on using the incredible speed of the Lombard and Danish ships to outrun any potential Rus' army. Meanwhile, the Rus' are told that their raiding in the Baltic will not be tolerated, and the Danish are asked to contribute more ships to the defense of the Baltic coast. The ambassadors to the Danish court point out that roughly three-quarters of the Baltic coastline is Danish-owned, and that it would be very important. A join Lombard-Danish task force begins massive attacks on the Rus' Baltic coast, to attempt to deny their ships a place to land. The Rus' are told that the attacks will cease as soon as they stop their raiding in the Baltic, and that if they wait long, their raiding will likely be stopped for them. A small Lombard force, preliminary to the major invasion, lands north-west of Oskywie and begins occupying nearby Slavic villages, and training volunteers to overthrow the shaky Slavic Federation government when the time comes. Since the natives are Baltic Germanics (mostly of the Rugii group), it is hoped that their loyalties will trend more towards their cultural Lombard brothers than their foreign, Slavic overlords. A few months later, the entire Gutish army lands on the coast, and strikes inland, intent on overthrowing the foreign armies in traditional Lombardy. In 742, following the discovery of the Franks attempting to build up their navy again, Þórbjörn orders that a whole third of the royal Lombard treasury be dedicated to ship construction, and some of this is budgeted as grants to give out to chieftains who build ships and raid the Franks on their own accord. Warnings are sent out to every nation in Europe, to be disseminated to the trade guilds and captains living within, warning them that to attempt to trade with northern France is to risk your ship and your crew. Each ship is built using thick oak ribs reinforced with iron bars, that are covered with layered slats of sturdy wood. They are waterproofed with a mix of resin and gypsum dust, making them gleam a light grey, which is painted with images of the major Germanic deities, and the patron gods of the captain's house (the gypsum-resin coating has the side effect of making the sides almost completely fireproof). The top is surmounted by a mast, from which hangs a black tar-paper sail (in this case, a sheet of felt impregnated with tar). In the stern, there's a raised section where the steering oar and ballista is located. Below the raised section is the storage for ammunition, extra oars, food, and water, and a roll of wax-coated waterproof fabric which is raised to cover sections of the ship when groups of people sleep. Belowdecks is more storage, a few cots on top of the iron bars (which are used as sleeping quarters for those who need to during the day), and stacks of oars which are used to row the boat when there's no wind, and when it's close to shore (as having a massive black sail raised isn't particularly propitious for secrecy. In return for the Danish aid against the Franks (and anticipating their acceptance in raiding the Rus', mostly because the Rus' started by raiding them), a small squadron of royal ships begins attacking Jutish targets in the Danish straits. *Rus' Diplomacy: The Rus' ambassador demands clarification, and says, "The Danes started raiding our coastline, and we responded by destroying their attacking ships. It was an act of aggression against the Principality, and we responded appropriately. Our police has also noted the presence of foreign agents on our territory, with operations currently underway to remove them. If you had anything to do with them, we highly suggest that you cease." *Lombardy Diplomacy: The Lombardian ambassador responds by saying that the various Danish chiefs were only conducting light raids into your territory, before you attacked them and involved their monarchy. He also tells the Russian Prince that his chance to make either demands or suggestions was lost the moment Russia invaded West Slavia. Byzantium: We improve our military greatly and we send 300,000 of our best troops to conquer Sicily. We attack Sicily in Syracuse, Palermo and Messina, we use Greek fire and our best seize equipment to conquer these main cities. We isolate these cites and block all food and water sources, we also catapult dead bodies of humans with the Ghanaian Death to spread the disease in these cities. We decline Persia's alliance. Secret to all: We send "Diplomats" to the Germanic tribes and they kill some tribe leaders, then everything is blamed on other tribes to create a civil war. Secret to all except Khazars: We would like to end these conflicts between us and we would like to be allied. * Khazars: We were never at war but sure an alliance shall be fine. OOC: Sorry what is the name of the country next to me in the Balkans? And what is the name of the country in souther Italy? And what is the name of the Northern African country? Sorry for so many questions Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. Since we are still at war with both the Avars and the Caliphate, we will use our beachheads, “fire that never dies” and our battle hardened troops to begin invading both of their nations. We  will use the new Karluk troops to help us in our war against them. We will  tell our troops to conquer the mountain passes of the Caucasus to block any reinforcements. We will also begin re-establishing colonies west of our nations to expand. The Visigoths: Realizing that they have pushed themselves beyond their limit, The Umbra-Gotha begin to pull out of Provence, France, and travel home to Iberia. The soldiers only travel at night, and in the day they wait in forests or will overtake a small farm to sleep in until nightfall. The Umbra-Gotha soldier's trade out their traditional black leather garb for civilian outfits and travel under the guise of Frankish missionaries traveling to spread the word of Christ. When Lord Commander Alexander Salvioli finally arrives at Castle Lucien, still covered in blood, dirt, and soot, the Visigothic queen,  Sventhila Lousean immediately rushes to his aid. After a few weeks Sventhila has nursed Alexander back to health and the two enter into a romantic relationship. The two lovers promptly marry, having their modest wedding in Toulouse open to all of the people of Hispania. Formal invitations are sent to Ankou Eversnow, Bodil Abelone II, Recimi Avagis, and far eastern Visigothic allies in the Chenla Queendom. In the winter of 742 CE, Sventhila Lousean gives birth to a healthy baby boy. The baby boy is named Alaric IV, for the beloved ancestral bloodline of the people. Many of the Loyalists are comforted merely by having another Alaric in the royal family, and as such, his birth is celebrated nationwide. An unofficial holiday takes place in the third week of winter each year in which the people sing patriotic songs and express their nationalistic ideals. With the empire no longer resembling itself in its youth, Sventhila feels she has gave rise to the birth of a brand new nation. The idea of a united Gothic empire becomes nothing more than a distant dream, as the motherhood of the queen is felt strongest in Iberia. The strong adaptation of Roman social structure leads the Iberian peninsula to being referred to by its Latin name “Hispania”. This title is viewed as appropriate and is incorporated into Visigothic lexicon;  thus the nation of Hispania is formed. The old “Gothic Empire” flags are torn down from the walls and burned. A new flag is designed by Hispanic patriots and is adopted as the official flag of Hispania. Graffiti representative of Visigothic and Ostrogothic “brotherhood” is scrubbed clean and pro-unification propaganda is torn down. In its wake, Hispanic propaganda is hung proudly, artists are commissioned to make all of the paintings pro-Hispanic and writers are encouraged to express the beauty of Iberian unity through songs and poems. Sventhila herself uses her literary knowledge to promote the new nation.  A Gentem Unam   by Sventhila Lousean ''' “'Our land now together - and our moon will greet the sun; as we discuss our path to glory let all thou falsehoods gone. Brothers and sisters,  they dane forget our grand story of pride the Gold color that I love; for such holy red that blessed our tide with illuminating blue light. When the enemy comes by way of our unseen side, we cry not; such holy serenities only bring respite, we duel with the moon and sun; as they sing for the valiant unite - A sole nation, not two, not three. Just one.” ' '''The overwhelming joy felt from this national reformation leads to much ‘celebration’ between the royal couple, Sventhila and Alexander. By late 743 CE, Sventhila is once again with child, and nine months later mothers a young girl, taking the name of her great grandmother and being called, Marcella Lousean II. This child does not mark the end of Sventhila’s fertility, as soon after giving birth to her third child, she is impregnated again, this time it becoming known to her in December of 744. With the absence of a unified front, the Franks and Gepids quickly swarm Italy, acting as a symbol representative of the true fall of a unified Roman empire. The people are expected to be thrown into turmoil, but it is far beyond the control of the Visigoths for now. With the nation being  barely spared from the brunt of the warfare, the Visigoths eagerly accept peace with the Franks, releasing Frankish war prisoners and formally apologizing for the death of Pope John Francis II. However, the Visigoths do good to remind the Franks that they are currently in position of an esteemed military commander, Legate Ricca, whom shall be returned to the Visigoths as soon as possible. Now that some semblance of peace has been found in Europe, Sventhila Lousean once again plays with the idea of holding congress between the brilliant minds of the western world in an attempt to better forge out a lasting peace between the squabbling nations. This so called “Congress of Legends” would act as a week long meeting of world leaders where any and all representatives could have their voices heard and their opinions and needs considered. The meetings will take place in the Toulouse Courthouse  for twelve hours during the day, and each foreign delegate is provided with food and drink as well as a deluxe room in Castle Lousean to sleep in during the nights. The aforementioned “Legends” that are to be invited to this congregation are to be representatives assigned by the nation they are representing. The meetings will start on January 1st, 745 and will last until January 8th, 745. An invitation is extended personally to King Peter II of France, Emperor Leo III of Byzantium, Recimi Avagis of Carthage, Ankou Eversnow of the Celts, Jarl Bodil Abelone II of Jutland, The Hróaldr family of Gotland, and the five Gepid senators, as-well as Witiric Hunigild, the Pope-to-be. Each nation may send whomever they wish as a representative, so long as that individual holds a place of power in the nation they represent. Every nation is ensured the continued protection and positive treatment of their assigned delegate until such time as the congress is adjourned and every individual returns to their home. * Gepid Diplomacy: Both General Sigeris Bessas of the Second Gepid Mercenary Force (acting as reprensentative of both Senate and Consul)and archbishop (and futur pope) Witiric Hunigild will be present. * Celtic League: I accept your invitation, I will send Keaghan Eversnow in my place. * Byzantium: Our Emperor's daughter Clelia will attend this. Lombardy: The Lombard king and his ministers originally consider refusing to attend the congress, but they recognize its worth as a forum for the rulers of Europe (of which Þórbjörn is by far the oldest). However, the king himself cannot attend due to his failing health, and no members of his family can be sent as the meeting is being held in the territory of the despised Goths. Instead, in a twist of mild sadism, Þórbjörn orders one of his nobles, Tryggvi Úlfr to attend. Tryggvi was the eldest son of the lord of Zlín, a sizable and populous Lombard territory on the southern border. When the war broke out, Zlín was invaded by the Goths, and Tryggvi was forced to watch while Gothic soldiers murdered his entire family in front of him, before gouging out one of his eyes, and breaking his legs. He was found lying on the ground by a servant of his family, who took him to the capital where he fled with the king to Gotland. Since then, he's spent his entire life mourning his family and his people, and swearing revenge against the Goths. Whether he occupies a position of power or not depends on whether the Goths see Zlín as still existing as Lombard territory. If they turn him away, then they spite the Lombard monarchy, and send a very clear message to the Lombards still living in their homeland. If they allow him in, then they acknowledge that Lombardy still exists and has a right to their old territory. Even Þórbjörn recognizes that this may be a little overboard though, and has one of his diplomats accompany Tryggvi, to take over negotiations in the event of Tryggvi becoming either two depressed, or too murderously vengeful to complete the negotiations. * Hispania accepts Tryggvi as a Lombardian representative on the condition that he be escorted by Umbra-Gotha guardsmen at all times during his stay. Caliphate: We expand 4600 pixels into Africa. We continue our war against the Persian Free State, marching thousands of troops over he border. We must reunify Persia under one ruler, the Caliphate. We invade the Kazarchs. We build our military. We begin reconstruction of Mecca, making it bigger and better than it was before. We build our military prescence in the Red Sea. We continue to trade gold with Zanzibar. We invite more nations to join the Allied League. We celebrate the Goth Empire falling. We build our infrastructure. Celtic League: (Not feeling in a very writing mood today) After reading my mother's book I figure out interesting fighting tactics. I immediately implement these strategies which should further improve Land Battles. I began to teach some of my soldiers how to use an ax, and to carry around an extra ax on their back. It's light, strong and makes for an excellent weapon. I further production on ships, including some Odlid ships. (Improve Military) I begin copying my mothers book but excluding details about military tactics and how to use an Ax. I expect that next five years the book will be done and being distributed throughout my land. I hire some researchers from my land to figure out how we could use whale oil as a weapon. I am hoping for them to have some results within a decade. In addition to this I begin stockpiling whale oil in anticipation of it being a useful weapon. The after the ships from both battles return they amount to a total of 30 ships (I sent a total of 80 so I think this is reasonable). The sailors from all the ships begin to converse and call themselves “The Surviving Battalion”. I create proper medals and uniforms so these experienced men can be distinguished from the rest. From now on that group will be sent together and never split apart. I have found out that Legate Ricca was Captured by Portugal who were later captured by the Franks. I send a small note to the Franks requesting they send her to me and in return I send them their princess back. Chenla Kingdom: Another from the Royal Family has gone to the afterlife with the death of Prince Salavarman, the hero of the Chenla, on January 9th 740. The Queendom is left in mourning with the passing of the Prince and with this the House of Commons commissions the construction of a statue to honour the Prince. His body is laid in a beautifully decorated casket a a  his body is solemnly walked through the streets of Luang Prabang as he is guided to the ancient House of Royals, where all the members of the Royal Family is laid to rest. The death of the High General of the Army could not come at a better time when another war seems to be on the verge once more. A new High General is chosen from the ranks of the armed forces and the one chosen is Lao Luntia, a brilliant and aspiring strategist born from the Commons and who quickly rose through the military ranks. With the prospect of another war, Queen Jayavedi steps down from the throne at the impressive age of 73, as she deems that she would not be able to endure another war. She is now referred to as the Queen Mother as she continues to advise her son the now King Jayavarman ll. King Jayavarman ll to honour his mother has a large Capitol ship called the H.M.S Soa Seu built. It had two catapults built into it, one on the bow and one on the stern. There are also 42 large hull piercing crossbows (essentially ballitae), with 21 on starboard side and 21 on port side. Eventually the implementation of the Soa Seu becomes the Royal Standard for the construction of naval ships, but since not all ships are Capitol class they have only three-quarters to one-half of the weaponry housed on the Soa Seu. These ships are still based off the Gothic designs but with slight improvements made by the Royal Engineers so that they may traverse the seas better. To honour the Chenlan saying "Keep the Peace" delegates are sent to all members of ASEAN, specifically the Chu Dynasty and the Liang Dynasty so that peaceful talks can be had. If peace talks fail the Chenla Kingdom will enter war on the Chu Dynasty side as the Liang were the first aggressors violating the terms of an alliance. Also the Liang committed great dishonour by going against their word which is a massive crime as much of Asia obliges to the Honour System. The Paracel Islands are claimed and naval bases are built on them. 60 percent of the Royal Navy is stationed in the South China Sea occupying the Paracel Islands and other ports off the Chenlan mainland. 75 percent of the RSA, Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps are situated near the borders shared with the Liang. If war is to be had, the Chu Dynasty is asked if they could provide the Chenla with the weaponized fireworks so, greater pressure could be applied to the Liang's southern borders. No actual military offensives will be launched until the Chu Dynasty has requested for aid as specified in the "Promises of Alliance." Until then the Kingdom rejoices as King Jayavarman ll impregnates his Queen, Lanai Ipo, in the year 742 and in 743 two beautiful twins are conceived, a girl named, Crowned Princess Jalunee, and a boy named, Crowned Prince Sambhuvarman. A wedding is also thrown for Princess Sahvan Leung, the granddaughter of Prince Salavarman, as she weds a noble from the great House of Vaman. The man she marries is a highly esteemed warrior known for his military prowess. He is raised to the title of Prince and is put in line for Duke of Sumatra with Princess Sahvan Leung, who would be Dutchess. Also Crowned Prince Salavarman ll is enrolled into the Royal Academy of Luang Prabang. '''To answer the Hispanic invitation, seven Royal Chenlan Elephants are sent as a gift with Malum Tai and his group of Royal Engineers. '''They arrive in Hispania in late 744. The King apologizes for not being able to attend in person, but other national needs had gotten in the way. Malum Tai has the instructions to remain in Hispania to learn the histories and technologies of the westerlands. He is to return in the year 755 with all he has learned to the Chenla Kingdom. The Royal Engineers continue scientific and technological research and the improving of the Kingdom's infrastructure. The Royal Scouts send a few Shadow Striders into the southern regions of the Liang to scout out the best areas to defend and attack if war is to occur. They are dressed in the clothing of the common citizenry of the Liang as to avoid be noticed. The Royal Scouts regulars continue to survey Chenlan territory for potential economic sites and further the exploration of the southern islands, exploring the islands below Sailendra. To ensure Chenlan strength of the seas, more ships are built following the design of the new Royal Standard. And the RSA, Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps continue to recruit more citizens into the armed forces. == 745 C.E. == The Bruneian Sultanate continues its coastal exploration and some scholars begin contemplating the idea of being able to completely encircle the islands coastline. Missionaries from Brunei travel on Black Viper ships into and Sailendra and Malaysia to spread the ideologies of Islam. '''Islam slowly begins to leak into Sailendra, but most of the Chenla people are fervent in their Buddhist beliefs. This doesn’t mean, however, that Islam fails to reach Malaysia, because Muslim presence in the area does have an increased foothold, weak as it may be. The Paracel islands are settled by Chenlan colonials. Many Uyghur citizens begin protesting their government's eagerness to participate in foreign wars across the sea. However, there is an even bigger following of individuals who believe that a war with China would be the best possible way for the Khanate to consolidate their power in the eastern world. The Chu dynasty strips Honshu’s title of satellite state and instead grants them the privileges of an autonomous nation under their control. Hokkaido is ceded by the Chu dynasty to their ally the Ainu.  The Ainu people are galvanised by the restoration of their homeland and begin to eagerly swallow up more northern lands. The Rus’ Principality continues to expand ,Khanty-Mansi, Sverdlovsk, and Tyumen, allowing their northern territories to link with the south, completely enclaving the Avars. The Khagan of the Karluks sees it necessary to expand its holdings to create ease of access to workers who would seek to construct roads between theirs and the Khazar’s cities. Tensions between the Rus’ southwest and northeast subside and the people begin to accept the idea of patriotic nationalism. The glue that binds the nation, being that of political and not religious, appears to act as a much thicker mortar than that of the more westerly nations. Recimi Avagis of Carthage attends the wedding between Sventhila Lousean and Alexander Salvioli, meeting his distant cousin for the first time. The two remark at their similarities, though Sventhila Lousean notes Recimi’s skins is far darker than her own. The Caliphate gains land in Khazaria, as the Khazar troops are stationed on the northern border. The Khazar use of Greek fire extends their influence along the south-west coast of the Caspian Sea. Khazar colonists reach the west and reestablish small settlements, but they are expected to be obliterated the instant the Caliphate turns its attention towards them. Possibly one of the largest wars, in terms of sheer numbers,the Caliphate gains lands against the Persian Republic, though due to their huge population densities, casualties are equally massive on both sides. The annexation of Bengal by the Indian Empire and the massive presence of troops up north only angered the local population, which began more and more to see India as an oppressive tyrant. Many people in the North also see in the South the center of India, which with time created a sentiment of envy, especially since the actual Indian Empire started in the north as the Hephthalite Empire.  For all those reasons, the Indian people assemble, protest, and eventually take arms in a massive uprising against their rulers. Should it be for religion, freedom or only cultural differences, the number of rebels only rise with the years, sending the country into turmoil. Those who oppose India rally under a man named Vindashna Pala, and under his zealous followers, he officially turn the movement into a new nation, the Pala Dynasty.  Revolts break out in Albion as there is still a large Gothic Loyalist population in the territory. Osryn Sieghbert begins putting down revolts with overwhelming force and the people begin to view him as a tyrant. Cadfael takes the initiative to kill his nephew and take full control over Albion. He annexes captured Germanic lands and pulls troops out of Lombardy, claiming to support their fight against France, in a purely political sense. Militarily, Albion wishes to remain neutral in the conflict, as Cadfael realizes the inevitability of the nation being overwhelmed. An uneasy peace is found between France and Hispania as the Frankish troops assimilate the Italian peninsula. It is a pain for the Hispaniards (Visigoths) to lose their cultural epicenter in Rome, but with new found Spanish and French nationalism, things seem to be looking better for all parties involved. Byzantine troops swarm southern Italy, annihilating any resistance with overwhelming numbers. Sicily is quickly conquered with minimal casualties. The Frankish navy continues to lose ships to the Lombard raiders. The Umbra-Gotha arrive safely home and begin once again filling up the guilds. Many unemployed Umbra-Goths, struggling with the memory of war, fall into bad drinking habits; Alcoholism becomes a serious problem for the Hispanic people.  As the massive wars continue to chip away at the French pocket, the French are forced to turn inward and find their treasuries drained. The job market is swelled and with the ever growing Frankish population, from mostly immigrants and conquered peoples, it would seem the nation is falling into a depression. The quick reaction of the Gepid Republic made it possible for Witiric Hunigild to be elected Pope in 744 (at the time aged of 64) under the name of Pope Felix V. After his election, the new Pope promised to organize a new Council in the following years, following the agreement made at the Christian Meeting of Buteridava. Lombard ships make it down the Daugava, but lose quite a few on the portage to the Dneiper. Only about half make it to the Black Sea, but those that do immediately begin inflicting heavy damage on Gepid shipping. Large cities are avoided by the captains, though, as they don’t want to start a war, and would be incapable of assaulting them anyway. The Lombards small force in Slavic territories just plunged the region into more chaos, and partisant of Lombards return are growing in number in the region. The Slavs ask for help to the Rus, hoping the powerful nation could protect them. On the Frankish front, the death of Peter I gave time for the Lombards to gain lands over the disorganized Franks. However, with the War for the Ashes of Rome over, the Franks are now fully focussed on fighting the Lombards, and a powerful counterattack is to be expected in the following years. A Jutish general leads a massive assault on Essex, pushing back the Frankish line and capturing several small villages. Celtic Engineers successfully create several prototypes of fire bombs, consisting of urns filled with refined whale oil that break open upon collision. A large version for use with catapults is created, and a smaller version for personal use to be carried on the hips of experienced soldiers. Celtic ship production is ramped up and the steadily growing population seems to have developed a remarkable work force. Arian Egyptians struggle to adapt to the godless lifestyle of the average Egyptian citizen. The societies renouncement of piety seems to have wrought an age of enlightenment and scientific advancements that only fair to contribute to the culture shock of the liberated northerners. Vermundia continues to expand westward to spread the sacred word of Allah. The Vermudian missionaries and colonists find themselves meeting with the settlers of Kanem and animosity between the two nations grows. Sofala continues to expand across nearby waters, building port cities all along the east African coastline. Sofalian sailors begin to view travelling large distances by sea to be a highly competitive pastime. The Empire of Kanem continues its conquest of the nearby tribes and squabbling kingdoms in an attempt to unify Africa under the rule of Emperor Sef. Sef declares that the culture of all conquered peoples will be maintained, even allowing freedom of religion and language. Learning of a Lingua-Franca of Greek or Latin is mandatory for all educators or foreigners wishing to become an official citizen of Kanem. Kaya Dyabe Cisse' III is made Sef’s royal advisor, and the former king’s governmental structure is maintained. _______________________________________________________________________________________________  If a black raven bears a child of blue feather, is it truly a new bird, or merely an alteration of the raven that came before? Does a nation truly ever reach a state of complete collapse, or does it simply undergo complete change? The people, the customs, the legends and the stories; none of it ever truly goes away - as it is, within the very fiber of the descendant. Each person alive today is merely a resultant of what came before, and by virtue of birth, carry on the colors of the fallen as their relic. The colors of the flag, should in truth too, connote nothing at all, if the colors on the hands that wave shall be void of all difference. OOC (Chenla):''' Could you guys put the Adaman Islands under my color by this turn or the next one because the Indian Empire did sell it to me on the last turn? MOD: Sorry about that. The map should be fixed now. OOC: Awesome, thanks. OOC (Byzantium): You said that Byzantine troops took over Sicily with minimal casualties, but why is Sicily pink not of my color? MOD: Pink is the color of your occupation. If you were to annex the land completely, it would become your color. - Genesaria   'MOD: 'No, actually he's right Gen. You gave Sicily the Gepid occupation color. I'll fix it. - Afunnymouth EDIT: Fixed it. thanks   Khazar OOC: What northern front? I'm at peace with the Ru's. MOD: We were assuming that your troops were still where they were when the war was going on, though our wording was regrettable; I've changed it to say "border" instead of "front." The Kingdom of France,noting the loss of economic standing, decides it would be wise to begin investing in a rebuilding effort to rebuild the economy, and begins heavily moving to establish trade with powers such as Carthage and the Visigoths. King Peter II begins building a Mediterranean flight to help expand Frankish trade overseas. However, the continued raids by the Lombards results in King Peter II realising that a change is needed. Thus, new anti-raiding tactics are introduced in the navy, and the result is that a convoy system is created, with boarding parties being deployed for protection on the several naval vessels, and long ranged weapons are place aboard these ships as well. With Essex under attack, 50,000 men are sent to help drive back the Jutes, and attack into Lombardy begins, using over 100,000 men. Chu Dynasty (former Silla): Empress Hee Seo ends economic and diplomatic ties with Liang China. We blame the invasion of Taiwan entirely on Liang China’s government, discouraging any form of anti-Chinese sentiment. We begin to plan the invasion of Liang China; instructing the Ughyur people to attack the Gobi desert, several months later, we instruct the Chenla to attack its Southern Coast to worsen its naval situation and destroy regional influence in Southeast Asia. After that, we attack Taiwan via the Ryukyu islands. We then stage an event, with several Koreans bundled together, seemingly killed by the “Chinese” (actually a group of Korean soldiers fluent in Chinese), though in reality none of them are harmed. We use this as a casus belli and invade the Liaodong peninsula. We start fortifying and militarising our borders in Southern Manchuria. If the Liaodong peninsula campaign is successful, we will proceed and invade Northeast China, regaining territories that had been ceded during the reign of Sinmun Wang. With three nations fighting China both at once, Chinese forces would have to be scattered and distributed over millions of miles of territory. We fund Taiwanese aborigines and resistance to also worsen the already bad naval situation of China in East Asia. Lastly, we send diplomatic talks to the Philippine people located in city-states (situated in Metro Manila) and help them centralise their power and unite their peoples, trying to get another ally to stop Chinese expansion in Southeast Asia. With China fighting us, we continue the massive production of weaponised fireworks and distribute them to our allies. We begin investing vast amounts of money on weapons of higher technology and ability, as well as education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We reinforce equality by abolishing male chauvinism. The population growth slows down rapidly as our people reach higher literacy rates and are now concentrated mostly in large settlements, it now stands at 0.25%. Population is recorded at 23.97 million. Zanzibar Sultanate: Some Zanzibar explorers continue to explore down south to expand about 20 px yet again, to look more Zanzibar even good, but not possibly to be an empire. So far the gold from one of the minders deliver in the market for The Caliphate, as we continue to make them more funding possibly to make an even bigger income. We continue to recruit some troops and build some caravans. Liang:"The people call for war". Those are the words recorded in Emperor Jing's diary. Although Jing still hopes that peace can be done, the people are convinced that war is inevitable. A "people's militia" strikes against the Chu, and sets fire to several villages on the border. The Taiwanese become split between those who support a greater China, and those who support the Chu. Chinese traders independent from the government arrive in the Phillipines, and start trading with the natives. The navy is built up, and starts to repel Chu assaults. The population is in steep growth. Rus' Principality: Grand Prince Sviatoslav, in response to the Western Slavic princes, orders the Western Military District and the local police forces to begin acting against partisans. Locals are encouraged to infiltrate the organization and give away its positions and leaders. 'Army and police units sweep the countryside, giving a summary execution to any partisan or partisan sympathizer. All resistance on part from them is quickly crushed, anyone working for the partisans is arrested and interrogated, and then executed. The partisans themselves are immediately killed, and all pro-Lombard propaganda is made illegal. Due to the Lombard aggression, the Grand Prince establishes a 25,000-man Frontier Guard, which is placed on the borders and coasts of Western Slavic lands with other nations, the border with the Baltics, and the border with the Avars and Khazars. They are specifically trained for stopping anyone attempting to enter the country that is suspected of being a Lombard to prevent any further sabotage. Meanwhile, in the principality, infrastructure projects and works on border fortifications continue. Roads and buildings are improved around the nation. Trade continues as well. Raw goods coming in from the northeastern and southern territories still. The nationalistic education program is deemed to be a success. On the far fringes of Rus land, all expansion southwards for now is halted as the infrastructure construction begins in those new lands. Instead, we are expanding now to the forests and tundras east, including along the Arctic Sea coast, entering eastern Yamalo Nenets and Tomsk regions. Byzantium: Our Emperor Leo III dies of old age, before dying he changes a law and permits his daughter to be Empress. On July 5th 746 AD Empress Clelia I (Κλῆλια) was made Empress of Byzantium. The recruitment age is decreased 20-50, the new Empress allows women between the age of 20-35 to join the army. The equipment of soldiers is greatly improved. We attack The Caliphate, we send there 700,000 soldiers. We attack the Caliphate along our borders, we focus in Sinai and in eastern Syria. We attack its main cities, we use our best seize equipment, Greek fire and we starve the cities (We block food and water sources). The walls that protect the cities of: Byzantium, Jerusalem, Athens, Iraklion and Salamis are improved. The ancient purpura color is rediscovered. The expensive pupura color is used for the most expensive clothes and it is sold all over the Mediterranean sea. We also annex our southern Italian Land. With the money from the pupura clothes we greatly improve our navy: we increase it by 30% and we increase the quality of our ''rostrum. '' Secret to all except to the Khazars: Would the Great Khazars like to attack a country and split the land with Byzantium? Khazar: We would ask which nation? Byzantium: The Northern African state. Khazar: We should attack the Caliphate since they are getting too powerful Byzantium: I accept, when will the war start? Khazar: Hopefully now but definitely by the next turn. OOC: Could you please change the color of my nation? I have trouble understanding which is my land and which is Carthage's. Thanks   MOD: We'll see. The difference is relatively noticeable, and both nations are quite large. It could throw off a lot of things, but we will consider it. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have.Since we are still at war with both the Caliphate, we will use our beachheads, “fire that never dies” and our battle hardened troops to begin invading both of their nations. We will use the new Karluk troops to help us in our war against them and send most of our army to raid the Caliphate people and using our foothold to destroy the Caliphate. We will  tell our troops to conquer the mountain passes of the Caucasus to block any reinforcements. We will also begin re-establishing colonies east and north of our nations to expand into the waste. Gepid Republic: Vidimir Hunigild is elected as Justicar. With the war over, time is to negotiation, even if a hatred against the Lombards had begin to appear among the population. In order to make Vithimiric Aric a more legitimate emissary, he is elected Consul by the Senate during the Conference of Toulouse. With the money gained from the war because of their mercenary forces, the Gepid Republic come out of it as the most stable nation when it come to economy. This led to the fortification of the coast, with many garrison being re-affected there in order to protect against the Lombard raiders. New troops are recruited, and better equipment is bought for the garrisons. The Leader of the Assembly, Arimir Umund, proudly claim ''“Our navy may be weak, but our garrisons protected us since the founding of our glorious republic. No more will raiders be tolerated!”'' A letter is sent to the King of Gotland, saying that should one of his ship even be seen along the Gepid coasts, it will be a declaration of war (an idea defended by the Consul Vithimiric Aric at the Conference of Toulouse). The Senate also offer the Franks to send them a new mercenary force, should they be interested. Lombardy (Diplomacy): The Lombards agree to pull back their ships to inlets on the uninhabited bits of the Russian coast, but tell the Gepids that they're only a few hours sail away from the Gepid coastline, and that they can return at any time. Danish Empire: With the Jutes launching an attack on France, we decide to attack their nation, in order to take advantage of the situation. We send around 25,000 troops to fight the nation, as well as several ships for naval support. We expect this attack to be successful, but we prepare for the worst, and set up a defensive line along the current border to prevent any possible counter attack. We begin to invest significantly in trade, and offer free trade to any nation willing to accept. While our people still live in a largely arguing culture, the government actively encourages people to move to large cities, instead of farm life. Because of this, we begin to become a more urbanized population, and are able to take full advantage of our population. We begin to produce weapons, tools, and other manufacturing goods in large amounts, in order to prepare for any possible trading. Infrastructure is built up, though it is estimated it will take 50 years to achieve what is planned in This category. Lombardy (Diplomacy): The Lombard ambassador to the Council of Toulouse calls for the nations of Europe to support Lombardy's righteous war against the Franks, claiming that they have become tyrannical in their newfound power, and will soon turn on their former allies if their ambitions aren't curtailed. The ambassador also claims that the Danish invasion of Jutland should be sustained by the attending nations because at this point they are fighting Jutland in defense of their ally Lombardy. Caliphate: We continue our expansion in Africa, expanding 4600 pixels in these five years. We continue to fight the Kazakhs. We continue to fight the Persian Free State. We build our military. We hack secret messages from the Kazakhs and find shocked to know that the Bytintine Empire is planning to start a war against us. We put more troops on the Bytintine Empire-Caliphate border to prepare for an invasion. We buy gold from Zanzibar. We place pro-independent proper gander in the Southern Russian Prinicipily. We build our navy. '''An Alternative Historian called 'Muhammad Mehed publishes his first book, Persia Survives, in 746. The Calph loves the idea of Alternative Histiry and ordered him to make a new book. The second book, made in 749, is called 'Bytintine Defeat' is when the Caliphate completely conquered the Bytintine Empire in the Bytintine-Caliphate war. He also made law that Alternative Histiry will be taught all over the Caliphate. Alternative History is born. Chenla Kingdom:''' War is raging through the lands once more as the nations of East Asia mobilize their armies for combat. With the weaponized fireworks provided by the Chu Dynasty, samples are immediately sent to the Royal Engineers to see if they could improve upon the designs of it. The RE seeing the potential of the new weapon, has them installed into the bolts of the large hull piercing crossbows on the Royal Navy ships. '''Bombardments on the Liang's southern shores begins and the Royal Marines flood into the island of Hainan. 70 percent of each of the three branches of the land forces trample into the Liang's southern borders shared with us led by Lao Luntia with the information provided by the RS before the start of the campaign into Liang territory. '''The war raises a sense of nationalism which leads to the Royal Marine Anthem written by an unknown Marine, as they are seeing most of the action.  Royal Marine Anthem   ໃນທະເວຂອງພວກເຮົາເເມນ ສໍາລັບກຮດສັກວີເເລະໄຂຂະປະ ພວກເຮົາຈະເອົາຂະນະທະລ ໃນພຮະນາມຂອາກະສ້ັດແລາຊິນີຂອງພວກເຮົາ ດັ່ງນັັັ້ນບະເທດຂອງພວກເຮົາຈະວກອງສູງສຸດ ພວກເຮົາມີກອງທັບເຮືອ ພວກເຮົາມີຄວາມທະການ ພວກເຮົາຂັບເຮືອໄດ້ທະເລສງ ມັກເອີັນໃຫ້ຕໍສູ້ຂອງພວກເຮົາຢິ່ງໃຫຢ່ ທີ່່ເຂັ້ມແຂງພວກເຮົາຢືນ ສໍາສັບທິ່ດິນທິ່ງໃຫຢ່ຂອງພວກເຮົາ ພວກເຮົາມີກອງທັບເຮືອ ພວກເຮົາມີຄວາມທະການ (In the seas are we,  For honour and victory.  We will conquer the seas,  In the name of our King and Queen,  so that our great nation may reign supreme.  We are the Navy!  We are the Marines!  We sail the seas high  yelling our mighty battle cry.  Strong we stand For our great homeland.  We are the Navy!  We are the Marines!)  Seeing this new anthem King Jayavarman ll has the Royal Navy heavily funded so that Chenlan naval supremacy can be made complete. With the rise of Islam not much is thought of it as all religions can be practiced within the Kingdom. There will only be problems if the followers of Islam become hostile to the other faiths. Unfortunately on December 31st 749, the Queen Mother Jayavedi breaths her last breath and with it she whispers into King Jayavarman ll ear "Keep the Peace." She then lays silent leaving the King distraught and conflicted about the upcoming events.  The Empire of Kanem:  Now has come the fall of the westmen, their fall has on this day has marked in the calendar of his majesty and divine lord Sef the Extraneous, as the lands of the sub-Sahara are now of his righteous dominion. By this mark of the royal historian Augustine di' Alexandria I here by his request begin the recording of the establishment of this state, his most righteous rise to prevellance, and the downfall of the begotten and downtrodden masses of a long dead and collapsed state. These in this text shall be marked by "Il Cronace" in three sections. Cronaca uno: Little is spoken of his majesty's early rise to power, it being believed that he had come from foreigners much like many who now make up the empire's population, and probably rose to power in the region due to clever politica over the locals, and the other foreigners escaping the horrors of conflict. To this end, he and his familgia used their early arrival to the region, and a large extent of wealth that they brought with them, bringing aid to those fleeing the neighboring states, and using the rising population of foreigners to extort the natives, and establish a state from which to administrate, ruled by a collective of nobilita'. As a result the reigon became united under a sense of seeking peace, and the beginnings of a cosmopolitan culture that became accepting of all that fled the near-neighbor horrors. While society was ruled at this point by the nobilita', Sef's familigia held a majority of the power due to the extensive influence over the other refugees, and through this slowly weakened what was an already weak council of nobilita', leading to Sef to use his familigia's riches to build an army of loyal refugees, trained by foreign mercenaries, allowing him to control the council, and declare himself the Cesare of the region, forging the state of Kanem. Poscritto: As to make a clarification in this document, Sef himself was an extensively capable individual, being trained in the art of warfare by veterans fighting in the wars that surrounded his new homeland sponsored by his familigia, seeing the refugees that fled such wars gave him a sense of humanitarianism and a need to aid those whom wished to seek a greater existence (also to note that the majority of his political supporters were of such refugees)., and the belief that it was his duty to establish a worldly state that would go beyond the pitfalls of so many other kingdoms of the time. Cronaca due: The glorious conquest of Ghana di Impero, the neighboring state that had long abused its extensive grand scale to treat Kanem like a hovel in the ground, and an easy buffer state to keep out all of the foul  refugees that fled the wars that they has't started. It was in this climate, that Sef in his rise to power, directed his new citizenry's hatred of nearby wars towards the Ghanan's, using the constant conflicts of the time for the aristocracies greed, and the fact that they were so detached from the world and its political affairs, meant that they had no right to exist as a state. With such a pointed argument, his majesty poised himself to invade and crush the weakened Ghana, obliterate the nobility whom would oppose his foreign rule, and assume control over their most valuable trade. Prior to his divine invasion, out from the east came what would this historian considers paramount to his extensive victory, the arrival of Ghana's old king. Retiring from the conflict in Egypt, old, disheveled, and leading what had become an elite fighting force against the caliphate, what the people in my tongue referred to as the Angeli Cremisi, or crimson angels. For whom their divine purpose assured their place with god, and the crimson for their armaments, which by this point had been stained red with the blood of God's enemies. Seeing the collapse of his homeland, and in his eyes saw someone with the strength lead, swore allegiance to the Cesare, and led with his majesty in the conquest of Ghana. While at first the conflict was brutal along the borders, Ghana and its minor national guard could not withstand the Kanem army, which itself comprised of veterans from foreign wars, refugees whom having experienced how dire war is, saw this as childs play, and the Angeli Cremisi who's very appearance in any conflict caused the Ghanans to flee in terror, or beg for absolution. With the old king by Sef's side, the majority of Ghanans rose up on the side of Kanem, aiding in their conquest of the region, and the mass execution of the aristrocracy that ruled. With the last holdouts of the Aristrocrats fleeing to the western shores, seeking naval passage to foreign lands, the Kanem people drove them into the sea, and mocked them as the foul "upper crust", drowned beneath the sea. With all opposition obliterated, and the old monarch in support of Il Cesare di Kanem, the land was united once more under one lord. Poscritto: While it was certain that Sef would win, it was the aid from Ghana's old despot, that led to its complete and fortuitous conquest. When inquired why he betrayed his land, the unsurly man replied,"It was not my land when I left, but in fact the land of my dear son, and in this I put the trust in the of the aristocracy that he would be raised proper, and rightful to rule what should have been his land. For I knew when I left that I would be forsaking any opportunity to see him again, and the land I loved so. For even out in the frontier, cold, tired of fighting after decades of blood and guts, the wheels of war become routine, and even I, the most jubilant of the Christian defenders, grew complacent of god's mission. Even then still, I had eyes and ears in many places, and when I learned of my son's journey to foreign lands, I feared that something horrible had been conceived." He looked solemnly at the lands surrounding the old Royal Palace," I feared that his land had betrayed him for what I believe to be no greater a purpose, then the greed of man, and as such the worst of it all to be considered, is the fact that my son is gone, and that I will never see where he rests for all eternity, and that he will never see me once more, for I had dreamed an honorable burial to console his soul to peace and to the duties of a king." With that he gulped from what must have been a quite intoxicating beverage, and chuckled darkly. Cronaca Tre: With all united, and the land brought under his divine rule, Cesare Sef di Kanem, reorganized the region, displacing the multitudes of cultures that had been brought under his command throughout the territory that he now ruled. Hoping to extinguish the fire of old cultural ties, and establish a new one that would be referred to as Kanem, and the Kanens. Under a massive strain to establish a more permanent state, his majesty combined a number of ideas from Ghana, Europe, and the near east, which in this age shall be referred to by his most royal historian, as the gifts of Sef. First in his gifts, was his bringing of Roman law, which hitherto was unheard of in these lands, in hopes to better organize society, and establish a set of rules for which all of Kanem would abide by, no matter your family ties. Second, was his belief in acceptance of all who seek to become greater in the world, and prove themselves to all that lie before them. In this belief, Sef absconded the traditions of prejudice and passive hatred towards those of other cultures and religions, and as such divined that all are equal, that all are capable, and all are willing to prove. Through this his majesty promoted an air of toleration, and moderation through a society of many different cultures. Third and final, was his gift of the people, the ideal that the people were the makers of great deeds, not the few who hold the land, or the one who holds many beneath an iron fist. Indeed in his eyes, it was the many refugees from neighboring countries that establish the realm he now saw as home, and that it was the people of Ghana who rose up to become greater than the fat and overbloated aristocracy. In this, the people became in his eyes as the basis of political excellence, and as such, with a little aid from his most entrusted historian, established a quazi-Democrazia or rule by the people, as I had in my studies in Alexandria, been inspired by the Athenians of long ago. Laws would be established by the people, as by representatives voted into a polizia, whom would make up the body of law makers, as they would know best where the state should go. With a minor despota, whom would be elected by all of the people able of body and mind, who would carry out the laws of the land, uphold all that made the state function with excellence, and carry himself as a representative of the state as a whole. This government in this document, shall be dubbed by his majesties historian as, Demidium virtutis, or half power, as he saw the needs of the state divided into halves by which the land may be balanced, and sustained, with himself upstanding the first position of despota, whom rules for life until death. Thus began the Democrazia of Kanem, led by Il Despota Sef di Kanem, in the year of our lord 750 C.E. Uyghur Khaganate: Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl declares war on Liang China, however, announces to avoid all naval battles. The Uygurs begin attacking via the Gobi Desert. Kingdom of Hispania (Formerly the Visigoths):  The congress of legends is being held on the first of the year, and the western world holds its breath. Sventhila Lousean attends the conference, still pregnant, which is surprising for her age considering most women lose fertility long before their fifties. The middle-aged queen is as spry as ever and ready to lead her people to greatness, but the slight hindrance of her pregnancy cannot be overlooked. She is provided the utmost of care and is carried by servants to and from her destinations. She complains about her desire to do things herself, but it becomes clear that she is well aware that such a trek could be detrimental not only to her health, but to the health of her child as well. It is disappointing that the French and Byzantine could not attend this congress, for there are pressing matters that require the expertise of their individual heads of state. Should any invited guests wish to arrive late, it would be acceptable, as the meeting is a seven day affair! Despite the minimal presence, Sventhila wishes to have her point heard by the influential people in attendance. The first issue on the agenda for the Hispanic role in the meeting is of course, the matter of Rome; Should Rome become an independent papacy, European leaders would notice an immediate drop in nationalism. As individuals begin to view the Pope as a religious authority sent directly from god, such as the Caliphate viewed Muhammad and their other Caliphs, they would view that nation, under that leader, to be the undisputed dictator holding all authority, both religious and political. The gothic people, since the days of Alaric II, have long been against the idea of their god being represented through a mere man, as all holy scripts prescribe, there shall be one god, and one god alone, and the Goths merely had hoped to honor this to the letter. Jesus Christ, our nation’s lord and savior, was indeed the son of god, but he himself is not part of some “holy trinity” of gods; a belief nearly as barbaric as the worship of a pantheon of gods! It is hoped, first of all, that the Gepid senators, as well as even the pope himself, should appreciate and understand the Arian religion as a truly valuable ally in the spreading of god’s word, that only seeks to the continued prosperity of religiously upstanding nations. It is because of these beliefs that Hispania would like to see to it that Rome fall under the control of an established empire, and not be allowed to exist as an independent. In addition to this, it is hoped to see the pope not in a position of authority, merely a respected figurehead, honored for his or her knowledge and faith. The belief system of the Arians in no way but one, has to be at conflict with Catholicism, as our belief is of a brotherly love; man as god's creations one and all. This one conflict in ideologies will, as it would seems, led to the next topic of discussion; the religious conflict of Europe. Certain religious beliefs led to an unwavering set of morals, that when placed into the head of the right person, can be misconstrued and used to gain a following of ignorant individuals who have been indoctrinated to believe that conquest is the cure to all ailments. You needn’t go far to find a number of examples of some religious despot duping his nation into believing a false reality, all for the end goal of increasing personal wealth, spreading personal ideas, or securing personal political position. Not long ago, tensions reached a boiling point when Muslim extremists began warping Africa to fit the needs of the Caliph. The only thing that prevented the Caliphate from spreading throughout Africa and to the European world was the vehement resistance that the Goths showed in pushing these islamic invaders back and abolishing their beliefs in nearby territories. If it weren’t for the Goths, we would all be speaking Arabic by now. It is true, yes, that the Gothic leaders have not always been the most morally amiable, such as provided examples for by Roderic’s use of plague and famine as weapons of war. But it was for these horrific decisions that Sventhila herself had chosen to take up arms against her father and usurp his throne. Under her rule, the Visigothic people have managed total governmental reformation, including the implementation of the nearly unreachable concept of equality and the unification of an entire peoples as the kingdom of Hispania. Now, it is pleaded that the nations of the European would turn their heads south, and look toward the true demons of reality; as warned to roam the depths of hell’s fires, the Muslim horde is an inhuman force - they do not fear, they do not love, but one thing we all have in common is that we both bleed. If the world’s legendary forces would only put aside petty difference, there could be real hope for beating back the inevitability of Islam's supreme domination. It is hoped that the Lombardian representative, seeing the reasonable and well organized nature of these newly reformed European nations, possibly bringing back words that would better the reputation of the Visigoths in the eyes of the Germanic people. Though the French King did not arrive at the ceremony,  word is sent of Sventhilas speeches and how she also wishes for France and Lombardy to reach some sort of peace, as an alliance between nations would be much more profitable. Perhaps France could assist Lombardy in recapturing Western Slavia, thus providing better access to the Amber route and secure a stronger fighting force for when the inevitable Muslim invaders march on Europe. Sventhinla Lousean requests that the Franks return Legate Ricca at once, or face retaliation. The Kingdom of Hispania would like to rest its case, only last noting the necessity of the future cooperation of European nations. Months after the meeting, Queen Sventhila Lousean dies giving birth to a baby girl. The girl is named after her, and is taken into care by the new acting Hispanic leader, King Lord Commander Alexander Salvioli. Sventhila is buried with her Celtic dagger, officially burying the past and bringing in the new. The new acting leader quickly reads through Alaric II's memoirs and prepares to take on his new role. Celtic League: Due to the recent advancements in using whale oil as a weapon we being equipping our sailors with flammable arrows and throwable whale oil. And we being development of a Celtic Catapult that will sling larger versions of the throwable whale oil containers. (Should not count as Military Improvement) It should help on land sieges. The next thing in development will be Ships large enough to carry two catapults or three small ships (Or one medium Ship) Which will be known as the Renforcer. I have finished editing the book Mother made. I will hire multiple people to copy the book and have it sent in trade, and throughout my land. My hopes are to draw other nations under my cultural control. If this will work or not remains to be seen. I begin construction on multiple bathhouses throughout my land, including Pictish territory. The hopes are to increase population throughout the land as everyone will be cleaner and hopefully more active in “night activities” (Increase in Population). After having Martial law declared in the Pictish Colonisation I decide once I finish the bath houses that I will remove my dominant presence from their land. But before I leave I will be doing the vote that I promised the Pictish. There will be three options in the vote. Option one is for the current political system to stay as it was. Option two will be for the current Pictish leaders to be declared sole rulers of the land and removing any and all Celtic aid. Option three will be the annexing of their territory into ours and becoming under our Celtic rule. (Mods you decide how the vote ends) I have fathered a bastard son, although I will keep the mother’s name anonymous (News has also reached me that Keaghan has a wife and two kids on the islands that he rules.). He will be my next in line for the throne unless my betrothed comes back from the Franks. Which reminds me to tell my brother Keaghan to ask on her behalf. I send Keaghan a secret letter telling him to address the Congress of Legends about Legate Ricca. Saying we would like to send a small group of people to raid the castle she is in and get her out before the Franks organize an attack to get her back. If they refuse this announce to them that the only other outcome will be the Celts going to war with the Franks if need be. Lombardy: The Lombard forces in West Slavia push on. The people in the occupied territory are folded back into the Lombard administration, and the partisan leaders are rewarded, but the Slavic leaders are executed to a man for treason against the state. Recruitment begins in earnest along the coast, and everyone who fights is offered land and a bag full of copper coins.

Meanwhile, the Lombard-controlled continental lands are divided into three zones, two which are essentially military districts, and the third is a de jure possession of the monarchy. The first zone, Benorþæg, consists of the Slavic coast, and is separate from the second to allow for easier administration of logistics and coastal supply. The second, Rusia, includes the rest of occupied Slavia while the third, the Wiðælfolcum, is owned directly by the king and consists of territory in Lombardy-Saxony controlled by the patriots.

"The Lombard army continues to use the old guerrilla tactics against the Franks, raiding their supplies, and destroying their command structure. The piratical tactics on the Frankish coast increase in intensity, with the goal of preventing even fishermen from venturing out from land.

The Lombard ambassador to the Council of Legends stands up to give a speech:

''In 686, dating from the birth of your "Christ," the Gothic people launched a gratuitous war against the Lombard people, who, in the past, had offered them nothing but friendship. Our people have been at war for 59 years, in a war that seems to have no end. Thousands have died on both sides, and in the process, the once-great nation of Lombardy was raped and completely destroyed. When the war began, the Lombard capital Alorandred stood as a second Rome, its shining walls a beacon for miles in every direction. Now, those same walls lie crumbled and moss-covered, a haven for traitors and skulking warriors of a once-glorious nation, still fighting for their king. My master, Þórbjörn, still remembers the days when he was a child, when peace ruled in Lombardy, and he longs as you do for those days to return again. However, he cannot accept a peace that leaves Lombardy still broken and bloody; it would be a complete antithesis to the pledges he took upon his ascension. Until an acceptable peace is had, we will keep fighting for as long as it takes to regain our lost kingdom. You will try to turn to the south, only to find your north ravaged by constant raiding. Gepid commerce will collapse into nothingness. Meanwhile, the Lombard people will be sinking further into oppression and oblivion. Therefore, we implore you, give us back our kingdom. Until then, there will be no peace, no pact between our people, and you will be responsible for your own damnation. == 750 C.E. == '  Explosions ring out from the deserts to the coasts as the Asian world launches a war on itself. After the Betrayal of Liang, the nations of ASEAN are pressured to declare Liang an enemy, mobilizing military even when detrimental to a nation's own successes. The independent Germanic tribes try to reorganize themselves into a unified kingdom, but quickly fall to infighting and local feuds. Legate Ricca has still yet to be returned to Hispania. The French anti-raiding system proves mostly ineffective, as it is hard to even form a convoy, though the initiative proves to further inspire French admirals to continue taking up arms and repelling violent naval conquests.  Cadfael Sieghbert of the Albionites begins to demand that the Franks cede them some adjacent territory as to solidify their shaky borders and hopefully establish Albion as a lasting state in fighting condition ready to support the French.  The Chindaswintha family is completely wiped off the map by the Catholic invaders. The Danes win an overwhelming victory against the Jutes, more-or-less destroying the country. The Byzantine attack penetrates deep into the Muslim lands, overwhelming the comparatively pitiful border defenses. Naval landings in the Sinai don’t prove to be as successful, owing to the peninsula’s stiff fortifications, and large garrison. It doesn’t take close to five years for Western Slavia to once again fall to the Lombards. The entire nation is conquered and the revolting people finally surrender by 747 CE. Following Carthage having consolidated control over many of the richest gold mines in the civilized world, mining camps begin to sprout up everywhere and miner culture begins to dominate societies. Recimi Avagis of the Caliphate offers to purchase access to the old Gothic portage in Silla in exchange for a large gold lump sum, enough to buy all the bread in Lombardy. Kanem further proves to be a growing physical manifestation of all of the hardship that man has inflicted upon Africa. As the refugees unite and grow stronger, from all different races and creeds, the world’s first ever sense of complete devout nationalism is established. With Kanem’s power stabilizing, the surrounding nations begin to see them as the central target of their aggressions. Vermundia, seeing the new nation as an abomination of tainted cultures, begins raiding Kanem caravans and robbing traveling merchants. Zanzibar continues its growth; both physical and economical. Zanzibarian gold mines become a highly desirable operation. Sofala establishes a number of new ports along the East African coastlines. Sofalan explorers begin mapping Madagascar and a port is planned in the future. All of Essex and Anglo-Gothany are completely recaptured by the Frankish military force. The plebiscite held within the Pictish Coalition comes back in favor of complete Celtic control, as many of the Pictish leaders are shunned and hold little political sway as it is, and the Picts are tired of the rioting and civil war that would inevitably come from attempting to reestablish the Pictish government. The Pictish people living in the east of their country offer to establish independent trading contracts with the Danes, seeing their brief moment of independence from the Celts as an opportunity to make the necessary deals before full annexation occurs. The Uyghur attacks generally end in success, but as attrition casualties from the crossing of the Gobi desert begin to mount up, the strikes are blunted by the Chinese army, and soon become ineffective. Death-Count for the Uyghurs is massive and deter further guerrilla warriors seeking to invade the highly advanced civilization. “Alternative History” proves wildly popular within the Caliphate, and soon historians, taking cues from the old war-games used to plan military campaigns, begin to have competitions with each other wherein several of them control countries, while another plays out events taking place in the rest of the world. These come to be known as “Map Games,” for the use of a map in their playing, and the controller is called the “Mod” (a contraction of ”ملك” (malid), meaning controller, leader, or ruler). Significant gains are made against the Persian Republic, giving access to a flanking position against the Khazars. Muslim troops take quick advantage of this and manage to capture several Khazar ports along the coastline. The Liang raids, due to their small size, all prove successful, though the damage they cause is minimal. Taiwan breaks out into civil war, though the war itself is tame compared to those in the west. Many on the island are closely related, so the cost in human lives is small, and the conflict consists mostly of property raids, and the burning of a few minor villages. The Ainu announce that they’re siding with the Chu in the Chu-Liang war. The Liaodong Peninsula falls to the Chu invaders thanks to superior tactics and preparation. The use of explosive weaponry on both sides makes this perhaps the loudest war in history. Chenla’s unmatched engineering prowess allows for the excellent invention of explosive ballistas. These new death machines are put to use and annihilate Liang coastlines and naval vessels. The Chenla sailors, however, are not able to make nay amphibious landings due to Liang’s fortification and own usage of explosive weaponry. Colonists from Brunei, riding on Black Viper ships travel to, and colonize, many of the adjacent islands that dot nearby waters. A new Sultan is elected and he promises to assist against the Liang in the following five years, depending on how things pan out. A large majority of Chenla’s population has become exceedingly wealthy; as a result, money used to fund the government is becoming ever more scarce. Though Chenlan culture and tradition is strong, many of the more neglected colonial islands surrounding Malaysia begin to grow discontented, feeling a growing disconnect from the empire. Sailendra too, takes up arms in this imperialistic colonization raise to snatch up as many south Asian islands as possible. Not being akin to the culture of their new overlords, the people of the Andaman Islands begin to protest the necessity of being under Chenlan rule. The tides of warfare once again shift their course and head east, throwing Asia into turmoil and leaving western peace in its wake. Uneasy alliances and honor bound defensive treaties prove only to easily launch the economic epicenter of the world into a new dark age. The unpredictable waters may change their course at any time, but for the moment it would seem that seem that some westerners are safe in their boats. Uyghur Khaganate:''' Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. The war against the Liang continues. However, seeing as how attacking via the Gobi desert is mostly ineffective, Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl orders to find other ways to attack the Liang, and begins invading China from other places along the borders that aren't desert. The Kingdom of France mounts an invasion of Jutish land in the British Isles, and the rebuilding of the navy continues. Missionaries are sent far and wide, spreading the word of Christ, and exploring new lands. With Rome captured, King Peter II orders the return of Legate Ricca to Hispania, hoping to improve relations with the Hispanians. Taking into account the Albion demand, King Peter II agrees, noting that such borders would most likely cause problems in the future. However, he only has the south of their demands ceded, and instead offers them Southern Lombardy in exchange. King Peter II begins focusing more on peace and economic recovery, hoping to rebuild the lands of the Franks, and prevent it from sinking into unrest and poverty. Fighting in Lombardy continues, with 100,000 men now fighting to keep the peace, and prevent the rise of Germanic tribes once more. Most of the occupied lands are annexed, however, in an area that is more or less the same as OTL, a new Papal States is created, headed by the Pope, and free from outside influence. King Peter II begins seeking a bride to become his queen. To help prevent the the continued raiding, 300 ships are built in the new region of Portugal. These ships are then loaded up with weapons, such as Greek fire, and are sent to help fend off the raiders. An invasion is mounted, with over 100,000 men, to take Denmark, and help the Franks secure a route to the Baltic. Another assault begins into the Lowlands. We request to purchase Corsica from Carthage. A new plan is implemented to deal with the Lombardy raiders. The coast becomes heavily guarded, and trade is switched to both the Celts and Hispania, along with other nations that border us. The fleet being made is increased in size, and plans are laid to have it ready to secure the North Sea soon. *Gepid Diplomacy: Consul Vithimiric Aric would like to remind King Peter II that Italy is suppose to be divided according to the Christian Meeting of Buteridava, and would like him to do so. Should he agree, the Gepid Republic will give him all lands that should, according to the meeting, be under his control. *King Peter II: Agrees. *Celtic League: King Peter, I King Ankou bring up a matter of importance. You seem to have come into possession of a possible bride to be of mine. I request you send her to either me or the Hispanics (Goths?) in order to keep the peace between all of us. ~King Ankou Eversnow *Fine, dearest uncle........ Byzantium: We greatly increase the cultivation of the "Bolinus Bradaris" also known as "Murex Brandaris", before this mollusk was cultivated only in the territories of the Ancient Phoenicia but now Byzantium starts to cultivate this mollusk in every coastal area. This mollusk is used to create the "purpura" pigment. All of the purpura colored clothes are sold all around the Mediterranean for a high cost. The money is then spent on the military. The age requirement to enter the military has decreased greatly and the age to exit the military has increased too. For males it starts when they are 15 and finishes when they are 55, for females it starts at 18 and finishes at 40. Byzantium starts to sell Greek fire for a very high price, also known as "The fire that never dies". It is sold to many nations but the recipe is held strictly in secret and nobody can know. We send fresh new troops all around our border with the Caliphate, we focus our attack in Eastern Palestine (Nowadays Jordan and Northern Saudi Arabia) and Sinai, we attack Sinai both navally and through land. We send our best General called <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Optima,Segoe,'SegoeUI',Candara,Calibri,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19.6px;">‘ <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Optima,Segoe,'SegoeUI',Candara,Calibri,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19.6px;">Αγαθων to command the war in Sinai. We use Greek fire to burn the Caliphate's navy and we burn their ports in Sinai. Greek fire and our best seize equipment is used in all of ours war. 500,000 new troops are sent to attack Sinai through land. Most of the Byzantine navy is sent to attack Sinai, more than 2000 ships. We send 400,000 troops in Eastern Palestine to attack. With the money from the Greek fire and the purpura clothes we make the best equipment for our troops and ships. We also buy 350,000 mercenaries from different nations, 150,000 mercenaries are sent to help the attack in Sinai and 100,000 mercenaries are send to help the attack in Palestine and the rest are sent to preserve the other borders with the Caliphate. Secret to all except to France: Would France like to help Byzantium in the war against the Caliphate. If France will help it will be rewarded with many territories in the Middle East. France is more inclined towards peace as of this moment. So France thinks that Byzantium should be at peace with the Caliphate? France actually wishes to enter an era of peace and calm. However, should we be attacked or threatened, war will come. After the war against the Caliphate, Byzantium will also enter a moment of peace. Byzantium will respect France's desire of peace. Secret to all except for Persian Free State: Would the Persian Free State like to ally Byzantium against the Caliphate? *Gepid Diplomacy: Consul Vithimiric Aric would like to remind the Byzantines that Italy is suppose to be divided according to the Christian Meeting of Buteridava, and would like him to do so. Should they agree, the Gepid Republic will give them all lands that should, according to the meeting, be under their control. *Byzantine Diplomacy: According to the Christian Meeting of Buteridava Byzantium would get neither Sicily or Sardinia. Bysantium thinks that the meeting should be changed  *Gepid Diplomacy: The Consul, as well as the Senate, believe that not only the Byzantine Empire ask too much, but is surprise of the lack of honor from the Byzantine Emperess (although many senators believe it is normal, coming from a woman in power). The Consul insist that should they continue to support their insulting proposition, the Gepid Republic shall only keep his end of the bargain with the honorable Franks, and keep its lands in Southern Italy. Also, they would like to remind that Sardinia is under Carthaginian control, so the Byzantines would not get it anyway. *Byzantine: The Empress apologizes about the Sardinian mistake. The Empress thinks that the Gepid Idea is good. The Gepid Republic should keep its land. The Empress also thinks that Byzantium should keep Sicily. Chu Dynasty (former Silla): Knowing that occupying the whole of Liang China is impossible, we focus on isolating the Chinese dragon; with the Chenla and Taiwan in the South China Sea, the Tibetans to the west, Ughyurs to the north, and the Chu ruling Manchuria, Japan, and northeast Asia. With the success of the Liaodong peninsula (the thing on the map isn’t the Liaodong peninsula, the Liaodong peninsula is this [Issue Resolved]) campaign, we cross the Yellow Sea, invading the Shandong peninsula. We militarise our borders in Southern Manchuria, not allowing our front line to falter. We blockade Chinese colonists on Taiwan and after a year invade them. We use our navy to surround China’s coastline to weaken its influence and naval strength. We help a barangay centred on the province of Cavite (in the Philippines) to invade neighbouring barangay’s, eventually uniting the whole of Luzon (thus, the Kingdom of Luzon is born). We introduce proper farming techniques and import vital resources crucial to our war effort and economy. With China fighting us we continue the massive production of weaponised fireworks and distribute them to our allies. We would like to obtain the new designs (of the fireworks) from the Chenla Queendom. We invest vast amounts of money to education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We reinforce equality by abolishing male chauvinism. The population growth slows down rapidly as our people reach higher literacy rates and is now recorded at 24.2 million, growing at a slow 0.2% per annum due to increasing Chinese emigration and now large numbers of men are enlisting in the military.

Danish Empire: With most of the Jutes land conquered, we decide to finish what we've started, and begin to mop up the last resistance. However, most from country remains at peace and separated from the conflict. We continue to urbanize our population, with many people moving to port cities to take advantage of our booming trade industry. We begin to expand northward, trying to control all of Scandinavia, as well as the baltic sea. We continue to encourage manufacturing, with many tools and weapons being built. We ask for an alliance and free trade with the Rus, as well as Lombardy. *Rus' Diplomacy: We agree to the trade. *Lombard (Diplomacy): The Lombards gently remind the Danes that they are at war with the Rus', and suggest a free-trade agreement with the Celts instead. The Lombards also remind the Danes that they are already in an alliance. Gepid Republic: Vithimiric Aric is reelected Consul.''' By now, the Valomer and Bessas lost the position of powers to the three other houses, althought many agree with the Bessas desire to declare war over the Lombards, who are seen as a bunch of barbarian raiders without any culture among the Gepids. But with Vithimiric at the head of the Gepid Republic, peace seems to be the plan for the future years, although agressive actions from the Lombards could lead to war. ''' The Justicar, Vidimir Hunigild (who is the son of Pope Felix V ), publish "The Six Laws of God" with the help of the Archbishop. Those laws are mainly restricting the actions of Arian Christians, and adding more powers to the fonction of Archbishop. However, those laws are mostly symbolics, as no Arian Christians live into the Gepid Republic (or not enough for them to be even considered as a minority), and because the power given to the archbishop are only honorifics. The only law with real power is the one referring to the trade of religious icons and figures, which became punishable by death. The laws are approved by the Senate. With House Umund once again imposition of power, the Senate goes for economic policies, and recover from the raids of the Lombards with an economy stronger than ever after the war. The Consul goes on a tour of Italy, promoting the Christian Meeting of Buteridava and his promises of a council among the Italian population, hoping to make the transition under both Byzantines and Franks easier for them. However, many members of the Senate, especially the partisans of House Umund and Valomer, begin to believe that the lands conquered by the Republic should remain under their control instead of being given away, claiming that the Gepid should have their part of the gain. Secret to all except for the Gepid Republic: Byzantium would like the Gepid as allies against the Caliphate. If the Gepid Republic wants to help it can do two things:  I. Sell troops to Byzantium, they would be mercenaries. II. The Gepid Republic could send troops for free and at the end of the war the Gepid would get new territories in the Middle East. So the payment of the help could be in gold or land. *Gepid Diplomacy (secret except for Byzantine): Consul Vithimiric, is indeed interested in the islamic lands, especially the ones around the Black Sea (in order to establish commercial points). The Gepid Republic will help the Byzantine Empire with direct intervention. However, they will need to travel through the Byzantine Empire, unless you could offer us ships to travel (our navy was destroyed by Lombard's raiding). *Byzantium:''' Currently most of Byzantium war ships are in Sinai, there are not enough to bring many troops on the other side of the back sea. Byzantium trusts the Gepid and they will be allowed to cross the Byzantine land. Some cargo ships will be given to the Gepid in order to bring reinforcements to the war.  Zanzibar Sultanate:''' Miners still mine gold, amounts of gold will provide great opportunity for gold to buy from these markets, offering The Caliphate. We decide that our expansion is about to be still expanding south for about 20 px. They think Zanzibar might provide a good amount to explore there first before expanding starts. Meanwhile, the docks could be built very soon. Indeed, some plans could be explained in next five years. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We will reel all of our forces to face the new flank and destroy them using our army and navy in co-ordinated assaults. We will begin establishing colonies to the east of our nation. Democrazia di Kanem: Rise and fall, constantly seems to Sef, as the pattern of the world around him, and the affairs of which the intermingly states do comply, and that it is in his ideal disgraceful to conform to such oblique and abominable traditions,(Chronicle di Sef, quattro). Elections for the representatives of the state will occur every ten years, as the amount of time necessary to conduct policy and make effective decisions based on the peoples wants and needs requires such extensive times, and began in the year of our lord 750 C.E. The voting, based primarily on the revised construction of Ghana's old regionalized system, has allowed for an interesting intermingling of individuals, boasting primarily a number of influential merchantmen rich from trade across the Sahara, a minor collective of old families that came from amongst the refugees from the rest of Africa, and a number of war veterans whos barebones policy of governance proves attractive to many individuals. With the land split up into 20 regions now referred to as principalities, now boasts a polizia of six veteranmen now referred to as the conservatori party, four noblemen from old families now consisting of the regali party, and ten merchantmen who consolidated the ''liberta party. ''These early political coalitions reflect the divide that now exists within the state, as many wish to seek economic prosperity and a disclosure from warfare, whilst hoping to weaken the power of old families whom many still blame for the war that plagues their now longlost homes and livelihoods. State of affairs of the Democrazia of Kanem is as follows, trade and the improvement of relations with their neighbors shall be paramount, while the national guard will be reformed and reestablished to reflect new military techniques with the angeli cremisi becoming the honor guard of the state, and only the finest of those amongst the army are indited into these forces. New recruits of the angeli cremisi will be forced to perform a ritual, where the next battle or conflict that they fight in, must be done so without any form of armor or armaments, to reflect the brutality which the now established honor guard fought in Lower Egypt, with their acceptance being based on how crimson their bodies shone by the end of the days fighting. Kanem specfically sends envoys to the Vermundia, in hopes that they may prove a considerable islamic ally with which to be a buffer state between Kanem and the Caliphate, with Sef hoping that they themselves will prove either a considerable ally in time, or long lost brothers whom were also bastards of the religious conflict, and thus be welcomed into the Democrazia di Kanem. Sef himself welcomes any and all other "African" States to the Polizia, so that they may discuss and confer on proper modes of interaction between them, and show a sense of cooperation and enlightenment to the rest of the known world. While for now the settling and redistribution of different peoples throughout Kanem has proven hectic, overall things seem to be calming down, as the sense of an overiding belief in this new state has brought a semblence of the unity to the realm, along with the careful leadership of Il Despota Sef di Kanem, things seem to be on the uprise. For the most part all old Ghanan and Kanem policies are blended into the state. However, it is expected that over the next decade or so that these laws shall be reviewed and reworked to reflect the new state at hand, with one example so far being the reworked regionalize system, which was of great importance for the first elections. The new dawn of this arisen state saw also the setting of an old fellow, as the old Ghanan despot left the new capital of Katsina, stating that his duty he felt was complete, and left only some treasures of the old Ghanan royal family, and the angeli cremisi, disappearing with the setting of the westerly sun. Chenla Kingdom: The war against the Liang goes on, but military operations are mainly focused on capturing Liang occupied Indochina. The High General of the Army, Lao Luntia, sends 70 percent of the RSA, Ahan Phi, and the Royal Chenlan Elephant and Cavalry Corps to capture it. The High Admiralty, Haviland Ipo, has a large force of Royal Marines (about 30 percent) land behind enemy troops in Indochina they are to march south and meet up with the main battle group that is marching north. By doing this it will allow for the encircling of Liang troops in the Indochina Peninsula. The plan is to have forced the Chinese out of Indochina by 755. While the land forces are campaigning in Indochina the Royal Navy has orders to go along the Liang's coast to bombard and destroy military installations and ports; the island of Hainan is especially bombarded to weaken its defenses. '''To honour the "Special Relationship" shared with the Chu Dynasty, the new designs of the weaponized fireworks is gladly given to them. King Jayavarman ll would love the assistance of the Gupta Dynasty against the Liang and says that whatever land they capture from them would be rightfully theirs. The King would also like to align the two nations by Royal marriage with Crowned Prince Jalunee marrying a Gupta Prince. If they do agree to a marriage, King Jayavarman ll wants to have it when C.P Jalunee turns 17, she is 12 now. (Need Mod response for this.) ''' King Jayavarman ll grants more powers to the House of Commons and the House of Nobles and eventually just refers to them as the ສະພາແຫ່ງທົ່ວໄປ, the​ General Assembly. This by no means has them to have power above the monarch as he can override any legislation passed by the General Assembly that he deems too immoral. The GA now have the task of regulating the economy and have to make sure money continues to flow into the Royal coffers so that the Kingdom would have money to fund governmental programs. In the General Assembly all new bills must originate in the House of Commons where it is then passed to the House of Nobles which then goes to the monarch for approval. The first act the GA passes is the Proportional Tax Act, a tax that states all citizens withing the Kingdom must pay 15 percent of their annual income to taxes no matter what social class they belong to, unless they are the Royal Family. Tax collectors are appointed to ensure that taxes are paid and collected into tth Royal funds. King Jayavarman ll also continues the enforcement of the law of 710 that limits personal militias to 20 troops. The House of Commons highly approve of this action as they believe in a strong national army than have the much wealthier and established nobles with their own armies. The Royal courtroom is expanded as to accommodate the entirety of the General Assembly. The colonial islands are encouraged to participate in the General Assembly by sending their Nobles and elected representatives from the Commonwealth to represent them in government. They are given the right to retain their own culture and do not have to convert to Chenlan customs. They are also given the ability to appoint their own governors so that local affairs may be handled efficiently by someone the locals know and trust. The governors though must swear fealty to the Crown everytime a new one is elected. Malum Tai, prepares to return home in late 753, with the hundreds and maybe thousands of volumes of books he and his team have collected on the histories of the Westerlands. He also acquires new technologies, such as "Greek fire" since the Byzantines are selling it. He buys many samples of it in hopes that when he returns home that the Engineers in the School of Alchemy can replicate the substance. Before leaving though he teaches the Hispanics how to care for and breed Royal Chenlan Elephants, and leaves behind many training manuals that have been translated to the best that can be. He thanks the Hispanics for their hospitality and on April 15th 754 he and his team begin their trek home. Liang: Traders acquire "Greek fire". Liang forces push back enemy forces to 750 front lines. Forces are marshaled and push into Manchuria. An anonymous person makes gunpowder. However, this discovery is unknown to the government. Iron weapons and armor are mass-produced, as they are better than bronze and copper weapons and armor. The former Tibetan lands are "liberated" from the Uyghurs. Lombardy: The Lombard forces continue to push on, utilizing a sort of semi-conventional warfare relying heavily on ambushes and the Lombards' superior maneuverability and knowledge of the land. While the entire Lombard army obviously cannot keep completely hidden, they do use knowledge gained from the former period of guerrilla warfare to partially camouflage the location of their forces, and continue using and improving upon the Greek traps still in regular use by the resistance cells. The final members of the beaducáþes, cornered on a hill, and surrounded by Franks, prepare to make their last stand. Their work has trained over 10,000 resistance fighters, many of whom later took on their own pupils, and sowed enough chaos in Frankish-occupied territory to allow the king to launch a full invasion. As the morning mists part, they cluster around a banner bearing the image of a ragged flag surmounted by a broken spear, and retake the beaducáþ to a man. Then, mounting their horses, they couch their lances, loosen their swords, and pull down their helms. The final war-bugle is sounded, and the lead men clap down their masks and charge forward into history, followed by 600 of their companions. The initial charge catches their enemy by surprise, and breaks through the Frankish line, albeit at the cost of two-thirds of the beaducáþes. However, instead of continuing, they wheel around and reenter the fray, knowing that the only way to give the Lombard field army time to do any good is to severely deplete the Frankish army. The final soldiers go down in a shower of javelins, spilling their blood for the cause of Lombard independence. Stanza 21 in the beaducáthall, a mid -8th century saga chronicling the exploits of the beaducáþes in Lombardy, written by Barjall, shieldbearer to Eiffer Anscyld, and future bard to the Lombard royal court. Together they swore the death oath, brothers in arms, Ewyn the gilded, son of Ormarr mountainchief, Anbjorn the branded, son of the great Laefrad spear holder, Aeþelfrith, son of Ludojwic of Åland, Scyldinge the bull, foster of Hennig son of Þórbjörn, The greatest men on earth, who had devoted their lives to the realm, They died too soon, their blood spilt by the black spears of the Frankish enemy. Together they took the oath, and together they died. When the word reaches Þórbjörn, he suffers a heart-attack. While he superficially recovers, inside something never does, and he dies on November 2, 751 A.D. After his funeral, and following his last wishes, his body is borne out to a warship and sailed to the Slavic coast, where it is given to a group of local resistance fighters and Lombard warriors, who carry it into the border of Frankish-controlled Lombardy and bury it secretly in a stand of trees, marking the location on a map, and returning home. His massive pewter statue is engraved with the story of his life, and covered in gold leaf. A large group of warriors then take it down and transport it to the western wall of the throne room, where niches have been constructed for exactly this purpose. The statue is then set up, bolted to the floor of the alcove, and draped in oversized versions of the monarchical regalia. He is succeeded by his eldest son, Wuldann. Wuldann barely lasts seven months, though, before succumbing to smallpox, and so the throne falls to his 35-year-old brother, Hennig. Hennig, having lost his foster-son in the charge of the beaducáþes, swears eternal vengeance upon the Franks, and sends yet another, smaller, wave of troops to Slavia, who land and immediately march to the southwest. Hennig, meanwhile, takes up the pen and continues to work on the History of Lombardy begun by his father. Raids continue to slowly intensify against the Frankish coast, and the Greek scholars in the kingdom are asked to calculate how long it will be before the Franks are completely bankrupted. Rus' Principality: The Frontier Guard has the borders secure, while the fleet patrols the coastline to prevent any more Lombard agents from arriving, while Oprichniks work to identify and execute any possible Lombard infiltrators. Meanwhile, expansion continues to the east, into the forests of Siberia. Infrastructure projects and fortifications are almost complete. The education program is deemed to be a success and continues. The economy continues improving and the population keeps growing. Lombardy (Diplomacy): The Rus' are informed that the Gutish monarchy would be amenable to a white ceasefire (where neither side gains anything, but both agree to stop warring against the other for the time being). They are also told that they will lose all hope of ever trading in the Baltic if they were to refuse. Rus' Diplomacy: We agree to the ceasefire, although we point out that Baltic Sea trade is only a minor part of our economy and something we wouldn't mind sacrificing even if you had the ability to take it from us. We also assume that this means that Lombardy will no longer attempt to send any agents into Rus' lands. Celtic League: The catapult is still in the development stages. We have had increasing trouble with it breaking after it has been pulled to full tension and released. The wood on the catapult head snaps or the frame that is supposed to stop it does. Although the bigger ship development has been successfully made it takes up many resources and lots of time. Although there is definitely a pay off the time it takes to make them is rather ineffective. Even so I have five made as we work on a newer cheaper versions (I send spies to the Jutes and to the Hispaniard to learn from their ships). I also reform the old Pictish Army. But instead of having two separate groups I combine them. Making higher ranked Pictish Army Generals into trainers and War strategists. They will be useful in training the Celtic army about their tactics about actual war battles instead of hit and run tactics that they have been recently trained to do (fire raids). Within one year the whole army is in place and the training begins (Military Improves). With the increased Ship production and the predicted outcome of a population boom after installing the Bath houses. I decided that it's time to send colonization ships to just north of the Jutish lands. Not only are we now at peace with the Jutes, but even if they wanted to fight us they are too preoccupied with the Danes to do anything. With the current ships we have developed it should be easier to increase the amount of food and supplies sent with the Pioneers to the new land. I continue to work on the Development of my mother’s book entitled “The Taking of a Throne from a Blood Thirsty Man” Sending it to as many lands as possibly on trade ships. The book has been purchased throughout my land, although if the common folk enjoy this book remains to be seen. (Mods please tell me if this helps spread my cultural influence over my people and other Nations) I send the Franks a letter. “Dearest Nephew, I King Ankou Eversnow send this letter on my own behalf. I request you let me visit your fine land while I am still able to. In my older age it is getting increasingly difficult to go around on voyages that take weeks long. So this would be my last chance to visit the Frankish land before I am no longer able to. And in return for this kindness, I will return your sister and bring along enough whale bones to decorate one hundred of your ships. Please respond soon. ~Uncle Ankou” '''After waiting an appropriate amount of time for Ricca to be reaquainted with her family after being held as a prisoner. I decide to send her a letter.''' “Hello, my dearest Ricca, I, Ankou, send this letter to you so we could pick up where we left off before your unfortunate incident. I am most likely making a voyage to the Frankish lands to visit my nephew Peter II. If you were to accept my offer of picking up where we left off I could visit you in your homelands before we left for The Erie. I also decided to write you a brief piece of poetry to maybe help sway your decision.  For thee I shall not die, Woman high of fame and name, Foolish men thou mayest slay, I and they are not the same.  Why should I expire For the fire of any eye, Slender waist or swan, like limb, Is’t for them that I should die? The round breasts, the fresh skin, Cheeks crimson, hair like silk to touch, Indeed, indeed, I shall not die, Please God, not I, for any such! Woman, graceful as the swan, A wise man did rear me, too, Little palm, white neck, bright eye I shall not die, for you. ~King Ankou” * Legate Ricca is enthralled with King Ankou and eagerly accepts to meet with him and hopes to marry soon while she is still fertile. Thinking the Celts main source of income is trade brings to mind the idea of a giant port on the east side of the Erie. Blueprints and sketches are drawn up but no real building will begin yet. There are too many other projects that take priority and doing this would dip well into the Celtic income. Hispania: The death of Sventhila Lousean sends shockwaves across the nation. Still bereaving the loss of their revolutionary leader, the people rally together to ensure that her vision for the nations comes to fruition; Men and women both hard at work to repair war damages and fortify tense borders. The national guard maintains weekly training regimen, but for the most that specific occupation receives a pay cut of  € 2; leaving the new salary at €6 per week - still a very generous pay grade, but a public displeasure is expected. Whenever something as simple as public displeasure becomes a nation's priority hindrance, the simplest of solutions can be used in turn; distraction. A program is started in Valladolid called “Missionum Vitæ” - the program recruits young men and women from all across the kingdom, in a mission to improve the general standard of living for all the Hispanic peoples. Roads are improved, new bathhouses are constructed, coliseums undergo massive repairs and the hungry are provided meals. This project receives massive funding; a total of 14% of the total budget for the next five years - much of the money coming from what was saved by cutting the minumum wages of national guardsmen. Due to the new King being a native speaker of Latin and not Gothic, an increasing number of Latin schools begin to pop up throughout the empire. The Latin taught in Hispania, however, is widely different from classical Latin in that it takes much influence from the Gothic language, and as such, this new language love child is dubbed, “Hispañol”, and its usage begins to spread rapidly throughout the kingdom. Acting leader, King Lord Commander Alexander Salvioli begins reading King Alaric II’s memoirs to his daughters. The girls are both enthralled at first, but Marcella Lousean II-Salvioli, already in her adolescent years and eager to meet a husband, quickly loses all interest in the nightly ritual and soon begins going to sleep earlier to avoid it. The youngest girl, however, Sventhila Lousean II-Salvioli, is still highly engaged by the reading and seems to comprehend its meaning and true purpose with ease. Caliphate: We expand 5000 pixels into East Africa, especially over OTL Victoria Lake. We name the lake 'Muhammed Lake' in honour of Muhammed. We could matinee to build our military. We build heavy fortifications along the Byzantine-Caliphate border. '''We say to the Byzantine Empire that we also want an era of peace with them and that if we work together we could be great. We say that you can peacefully buy the land that you want from us without losing so many lives.''' We build our infastucture by building houses and roads across the vast empire. We continue to buy gold from Zanzibar. We continue to seize Kazakh ports along the Caspian See border. We continue our war against the Persian Free State. We wish a trade pact with the Carthages. The new Alternative history books made by Muhammed Mehmed is 'Rome collapses differently' and 'No Muhammed'. Map games are popular family games. Alternative History is now taught in Caliphate schools. ((MOD: The next installment of the map game, "755 CE", will be released this Saturday, October 17th, at 23:00 UTC)) == 755 C.E. == '''Finally, Italy is divided according to the Christian Meeting of Buteridava, and the dream of a Papale State finally come true. Not all nations involved hold up their end of the bargain however, as Byzantium believes that considering Emperor Leo III did most of the work in capturing Sicily, it should stay under their control. In response, the Gepids declare that they are keeping their lands in Southern Italy as well. Mainland Jutland in Norway and Scandinavia completely falls to the Danish. The Abalone family is dethroned and the nation is thrown into turmoil. Hispania experiences economic and political stability, concerns of the nation becoming mundane and more likely to be domestic than foreign. Elephant breederies spring up across Hispania and a new workforce opens up encouraging breeders from all across the Kingdom to participate in turning the few elephants into an unstoppable force never before seen in western Europe. Albion is ceded lands from France, further solidifying borders and allowing Albion to show its full might as an independant nation. Cadfael orders his shades to march into south Lombardy to work with the Franks in crushing the rebellions. After taking a divide and conquer approach, south Lombardy is divided into geographic halves and the northernmost territory is quickly cleared of rebels. Women in Byzantium are outraged at the new policy of a mandatory twenty-two years of military service, and many fathers begin refusing to make their daughters go to war. This small act leads to much protest and riot across the empire. People of Byzantine begin to fear that their traditions are threatened by the new matriarch. Byzantium remarkably makes a hefty profit off of the color purple. “Sigfred’s Resistance” takes place in southern Denmark and Norway territory as a leader by the name of Sigred, son of Ongendus, rises up from the crumbling Jutish Kingdom and consolidates power over the people, re-unifying the nation as “Denmark”. Knowledge of “Greek fire” and how to make it becomes less of a secret and more general military knowledge throughout the western world. This is further supported by the publishing of a book titled “Ignem et Armis Traditionum”, which depicts the many uses of combustible materials as weaponry . Lombardian scholars come to the conclusion that the Frankish empire will be completely bankrupt in: 2 years ago. These predictions prove correct as the Frankish empire continues to hemorrhage money. The nation without a well planned out economy quickly falls into a dark age - the opposite of the peaceful prosperity that had been hoped for. The people begin to give up on French currency and revert back to primitive barter systems that work much more efficiently. While the Frankish population is bustling, the workforce is completely dominated by foreigns who work for low wages, leaving over 10% of the population homeless and 25% living in poverty. A large migration occurs and thousands of French citizens begin fleeing to neighboring countries with prospering economies such as Hispania, Albion, Byzantium or even Carthage. The French come to realize that their population is over 70% female, as many of the males have fled to other countries in order to make money for their families back home. The Persian Republic is on the verge of collapse and the people and soldiers begin to either retreat or surrender. More Khazar ports fall to Muslim raids, as the Caliphate seems to have the inability to be in all places at once. The Khazars attempt to support their flank only leads to them being further surrounded as the Persian Republic continues to fall to Caliphate invasion. Thanks to constant guard, the Rus’ coastline remains secure. Resistance fighters for the cause of Lombardy manage to devastate Frankish forces, crippling their armies and killing more than three times their own numbers before finally meeting their defeat at the hands of combined Albion and Frankish forces. Trade opens up between Carthage and the Caliphate. Thanks to the trade between the Caliphate and Zanzibar, this three nation trade system leads to the amassing of huge treasuries of gold. Zanzibar explores the nearby lands south and finds more mineral rich soil and a number of new possible mining locations. The people are prepared and eager to expand. Atheists are executed all throughout Vermundia and radical Islam takes over the nation. Vermundia believes in the Islamic belief of single rule and would like to join the Caliphate.  Muslim extremists capture and execute the Kanem envoy of peace and the nation continues its raids against the empire of Kanem. The Caliphate spreads rapidly throughout South Africa - their people having adapted after years of insistence. The experienced jungle faring people quickly spread along nearby lakes, naming them for their past Caliphs.  A charter is drop up and Sofalan colonists travel to Madagascar. Sofala successfully makes colonial landings in Madagascar and begins to form a governmental system on the island. King Ankou stops breathing in his sleep one night, leaving the Celtic people without a leader, and Legate Ricca without a husband. Frankish flags fly in the British Isles as the last of the Jutish resistance crumbles to their overwhelming force. The Khazar lands in the western part of the Caspian Sea were definitely lost to their enemies, but the Khazars were still able to stop any intrusion into the mainland Logically, the entering of Byzantine in the war  helps to loosen the Khazar front. The Ainu people begin to reclaim their lost island territories to the south and are totally successful. Rabgyal Ngawang Jigme II, as acting heir to both control over several Tibetan clans and next in line to control the Guptan throne, gains much support following the death of his father. The new leader's first action as Head of the Gupta Dynasty is to launch a full scale invasion of Tibet in an attempt to unify the warring clans under one ruler. The attack is wildly successful and many Tibetan clansman swear their allegiance to Jigme II. In exchange, Jigme II grants chieftain continued control over their territory in exchange for swearing an oath of loyalty to the Gupta dynasty. Uyghur barbarians make light gains out of the Liang as they decide to attack from areas nearer to their allies the Chu. Liang manages to recapture its land in the Gobi desert, but is quickly overwhelmed by the number of full-scale surprise attacks on their borders. Amphibious landings in the Shandong peninsula are successfully made, but the Chu forces are unable to make significant gains against the Liang to make up for the massive loss of life. Taiwan once again falls to foreign invasion as it is conquered by the Chu dynasty. Any attempts at forming a blockade against China quickly fail as the Chinese coastline is far too large and fortified for any realistic blockade to be successful. Thanks to assistance from the Chu, the Kingdom of Luzon is born in the Philippines. The Chenlan General Assembly is seen as a godsend to the people to have their voices heard and the tensions developed between foreign culture and centralized government begins to fade. The “Proportional Tax Act” proves widely popular with the Chenlan lower class, and the nobles find it simple to accommodate to the change with time. Extremely favorable gains are made by the Chenla in Indo-China, especially along the weakened coastlines. As the troops march farther north they begin to notice an increased presence of support from the Gupta who have entered the war on the side of ASEAN. Taking advantage of the rise of the Pala Dynasty and the lack of response from India against them, the Pala Dynasty began to occupy the Bengal, hoping the people will be more favorable to them than to the Indians. The people comply and the area is easily annexed. Uyghur Khaganate:''' Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. The war against the Liang continues, and continues invading from other places along the borders that aren't desert. Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl orders to continue invading the Liang near Chu as its seen as being easier as they are closer to their ally and have a better chance of invading the Chinese that way. Other areas along the Liang-Uyghur border, however, continue to be guarded and fighting there continues as well against the Chinese. Rus' Principality: Sviatoslav dies and is succeeded by his son, Mstislav, as the Grand Prince of Kiev. Infrastructure has been vastly improved around the country, and the border fortifications have been upgraded, especially in the western frontiers. The military acquires Greek fire recipe from its intelligence assets in the Khazar regions, and begins putting it to use in training so that the troops are capable of wielding it. The education program adopted during Sviatoslav’s reign is in use. Expansion continues further east into the Siberian forest lands of Yamalo-Nenets and Tomsk. The Frontier Guard, which has a force of thirty ships, some new, some transferred from the navy, keeps watch on the Rus' frontier. The police force and the secret police, the Oprichniks, keep crime rates low and further improve the standard of living. Resources are aplenty and the population continues to grow. Grand Prince Mstislav declares that the Rus' Principality is the defender of Slavic peoples, and begins to secretly send representatives to ascertain the situation of South Slavs in southeastern Europe under foreign rule. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We will begin to create ships known as the longships to begin invading and harassing Caliphate territories and their supply lines. We will send our navy down the Uzboy river to cut off Caliphate supply routes and launch a massive offensive to surround and destroy these troops taking the Ust-Yurt Plateau. With our generals realizing that we can't defeat the Caliphate if the Persians fall, we will send our Karluk troops to help the Persians. We will reel all of our forces to face the new flank and destroy them using our army and navy in co-ordinated assaults. We will also sail down the Amu Durya river to provide additional help to the Persians. This will gain Persian people support so we can better control this war. Byzantium: We expand our trading routes to the Gibraltar Strait, we improve our cargo ships, we make them more resistant, faster and we increase the capacity. We also want to increase our trading routes with Asia. After the many protests about the strict trainings for female soldiers we decrease the amount of women in the army, now only the 35% of the female population between the age of 25 and 40 needs to join the army, and only the 75% of the male population between the age of 20 and 40 has to join the army. We increase even more the cost of the Greek fire, Byzantium does its best to preserve the recipe to create it. It is discovered that the Empress Clelia I is sterile, so she cannot have a heir. We also invest our money on agriculture, we improve our harvesting and crop-growing methods and we start to use natural fertilizers. The Empress organizes the Olympic games of Olympia (South-Western Greece) we call them ''Ὀλυμπιακοί αγώνες, "Olympiakoi agones". ''Everyone in Europe, Asia and Africa is invited to go to Olympia to watch the games, bets about who will win each game are set and people from all nations will be betting. Personal invitations to the richest and most influential people of Europe, Asia and Africa are sent. Small Olympic games are organizes in all of the main Byzantine cities, but the main games will be held in Olympia. With the money from the games, trades and the Greek fire we increase our military equipment, we increase the number of troops we have and we buy mercenaries. We send 300,000 troops to attack Southern Palestine (nowadays the area of southern Jordan). We send our best general ‘Αγαθων to accomplish a dangerous operation. He will attack with 1000 war ships, 300,000 soldiers and 200,000 mercenaries the coastal area on the Red Sea of central Arabian Peninsula (nowadays the area of Jeddah), the troops and reinforcements will be brought by the cargo ships and they will travel away from the Caliphate's coast like this the attack will be a surprise. Our Empress Clelia will guide a massive attack in Eastern Anatolia with 600,000 soldiers and 300,000 mercenaries. In all of these attacks we use our best seize equipment and Greek fire. We use the Greek fire to burn their ships, defenses, walls and soldiers. When we use the Greek fire we do not use horses and we use Greek fire to scare the enemies' cavalry. ((MOD RESPONSE: This whole turn by the Roman Papacy has been retconned due to it being ASB)). Roman Papacy: The pope, St Pontian ll sees it necessary to quickly expand and become a dominant driving force in Europe, but there is little support for the new nation outside of its borders. The pope trees to make it seem as if the church is not ruling the the country itself and let the religion spread past borders. He points a Grand Lord to lead the new confederation of Roman states. The grand Lord, however, is merely a puppet, largely controlled by the church. The pope hopes to undermine the governments of the surrounding nations by imaging the confederation of Roman states as the centre of the catholic religion, so that when the great armies of Rome invade, they are invited in by the population, so that they can easily conquer and integrate new states into the confederation. Seeing a possible threat on the southern border, The Grand Lord Tiberius asks the Carthaginian empire to agree to a non-aggression treaty. Now the confederation focuses on Wales. The most support for the confederation lies there, and St Pontian ll needs to prove to the people of the new Roman state that we will rise to power again. He quickly mobilises a large part of the army and takes the south-east of Wales, where the majority of the population wanted to join the Roman confederation anyway. Before the welsh can retaliate, he takes key forts close to his position. '''The confederation proposes a treaty to the Celtic League, receding the forts back to Celtic ownership if they get to keep the three cities of Dungaree, Ednar and Corsnan all located close to the border of the confederation in the south-western part of Wales, and move the front between the two states to a continuous line between these three cities. and the sea.''' The pope then brings back the majority of the army to defend the borders of the Roman confederation, leaving only a small yet highly effective force in the occupied territory, as a gesture showing that the papacy has no interest in the rest of Wales. However, the newly raised 7th corps is stationed in Britain, ready to move to the border at a moment's notice. Chu Dynasty: We import more modern military equipment concepts from Europe. We improve on current weaponised firework designs. We try to further advance into the Shandong peninsula, at the same time we invade China via Southern Manchuria. We expect the troops to meet within a decade or even earlier. We devote most of our economy to the war-effort, increasing the already high agricultural output so that it can handle the demands of hungry soldiers and civilians in occupied areas. We try to secure supply routes to China. We invest vast amounts of money to education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We try to find trade routes with European countries and substantially increase trade with the countries we already trade with. We introduce more advance technology to our allies in an effort to destroy Chinese influence and technological superiority. We reinforce equality by banning male chauvinism, racial discrimination (even against the Chinese), and age discrimination. Rape, abuse and other crimes are banned and those who break the law will be fined and jailed. The population growth reaches 0%, and the population stabilises at 24.2 million people excluding all occupied areas. Byzantine Diplomacy: Empress Clelia I would like to strengthen the Byzantine-Chu trading routes, the Chu dynasty could sell silk to Byzantium and Byzantium could sell the expensive and ancient "purpura" color to the Chu dynasty. The Kingdom of France: Will finally have peace after years of war. Thus, it is decided to not just ensure the military might of the France, but also its economic might. Investments are made into the construction of roads in several areas, to connect the land, and the continued building of a merchant navy is still underway, with hopes it will help to expand Frankish investments overseas. Fighting ends with Denmark, and massive investments are made in the region, with a large number of Frankish nobles investing in other lands, in order to help rebuild the economy. With so many men now aboard, and the foreigners taking jobs from the Franks, King Peter II orders all the foreign workers are captured and sent back to their homelands. Those that have married into Frankish households are allowed to stay, and provided with a substantial amount of income, but are not allowed to work in areas that take from good Franks. The Frankish men overseas are brought back when they are told of the new job openings, and the plan for economic renewal is outlined by King Peter II as such:  # Frankish trade will be increased with overseas powers, but the North Sea area will be left alone. If possible, trade will be opened with the Danes. Trade will be opened with African nations. # Frankish workforce shall be largely be made of actual Franks, and foreigners kept to a minimum. The removal of such a large amount of workers is expected to have consequences, but it is hoped they can be controlled, as this process will be very slow. # Gold, silver and coal mining will increase, and any natural resources in the Kingdom of France will be traded with both overseas, and at home. # A new currency shall be introduced, the Crown. It will steadily replace the previous currency, and is hoped to be able to help stabilise the economy. The new currency is steadily introduced. # Agriculture is to be increased, and the natural foodstuffs sold as well. The plan to is ensure profitable trade between both Franks and the other nations overall. As the Celtic League no longer has a king, King Peter II decides to try his luck, and pushes his own claim to the throne, as the son of Kassidy Eversnow, the daughter of Queen Ygritte. He does not resort to military means. However, instead, pushing for a peaceful approach. King Peter II is also on the look out for a bride, and finds one in the form of a Saxon noblewomen from Essex, Julia, and the two are married in Paris. She soon bears him his first child, a daughter, who is named Kassidy. A son comes next, who is named Louis. * The Celtic Queen Ricca Eversnow Replies: While I understand your thought process I still have right to the throne due to the fact that I hold the King's child in my belly. And even if I were not to have claim, Keaghan's children would be heir to the throne before you. Zanzibar Sultanate: Our tribes still explore the lands to find more possible mining locations. Also, some miners began to mine gold still and deliver it to market. We thank The Caliphate for buying many gold as possible, and we'll sure make a fantastic relations with The Caliphate. Meanwhile, the caravans are built, we invest money and recruit troops in military bases. Danish Empire: With most of Jutland, we begin to demobilize our troops, trying to ease the expense of maintaining such a large army. However, 1700 troops go into Jutland, trying to instal Cnut ii as the king of Jutland. We hope to complete this mission within 5 years. Meanwhile, we continue urbanization of our empire, with many people moving to coastal cities and towns. This leads to an subsequent increase in agricultural production, with many farmers taking advantage of the larger markets, and moving away from substance farming. We begin to assimilate our captured territory into the empire with hopes of eventual annexation of the territory. We increase production of weapons and tools, with their creation increasingly regulated for quality, as well as quantity. These leads to a surplus of high quality goods, and we begin to trade them to other nations. A new religion begins to form in our Swedish provinces. This religion involves the worship of multiple gods and is called "Reg'roc tcorra." It quickly gains popularity, and spreads throughout the Swedish provinces of the empire. In order to gain more territory, we expand north, 500 pixels, and We ask the franks to sell us their land on the British isles. King Peter II says no. You may purchase some other land, say, a small piece of land we have captured recently. Hispania: Being in a state of economic prosperity, a determination for self-sufficiency overtakes the nation. The Hispanic King draws up a document by the name of the “Decree of Net-Exportation”, which entails the necessity of the nations overall exports substantially exceeding that of imports from foreign trade. In addition to this decree, an excise on imported goods proportionate to the amount necessitated to force foreign good prices higher than that of domestic produce (Which is approximately 8 - 15%) As our  barbaric neighbors settle in to our former lands and begin claiming it as their home, the Hispanic people can’t help but feel a strong bond with the nation as a whole - not necessarily a sense of nationalism as an idea that safety only exists within Hispanic borders, while the outside world is near unlivable. In an attempt to keep the economy of the Franks in its crippled state, Hispania officially declares its trade embargo against France. All mercantile intercourse with the nation is ceased, trade routes are closed off and smugglers are threatened with death or lifelong imprisonment. A series of letters are sent out to those Hispania considers allies in hopes of convincing them to follow in suit and join in the embargo. The letters are addressed to; The Celtic League, The Rus’ Principality, The Danish Empire, Lombardia, Byzantium and Denmark. The letter dictates a list of reasons for the embargo, as well as a plea for support in this bold financial decisions; “''It has come to the attention of us Hispanic officials that the French empire is spreading their power aggressively and rapidly - perhaps over extending their reach and putting not only the furthered survival of our fine nations and cultures at risk,  but also possibly crumbling civilized society as we know it - forcing us, Gothic, Slavic, and Germanic peoples to revert to the ancient days; when clans warred upon one another and a man wouldn’t blink to kill his own brother for personal gain. As such, the Frankish overexpansion has left us, the true great powers of Europe, in a particularly advantageous position. The Frankish economy appears to be undergoing a state of complete and utter collapse - as exemplified by the surplus of French immigrants into us - the neighboring nations. While us Hispanic people will gladly accept this immigration, it would be far easier to do so should we ascertain more land - and the quickest way to do just that is to force newly conquered territory back into ruin - a state of which fairs far easier to be claimed. Proposals from Hispania to quell these issues are to place a trade embargo on the Franks until such time as they receive the message that us European nations are not to be walked all over by some warmonger. A list pertaining to the benefits and purposes of this embargo are as follows; # A nation reliant on foreigners is no nation at all - as such self reliance can only be obtained through truly relying on one’s self. # The recent wars and plagues have largely been a resultant of Frankish foreign wars and betrayals; such as the sudden and unprompted invasion of the British Isles as well as the backstabbing of the Gothic Empire. # Migrants often have tremendous work ethic - forcing French citizens to look elsewhere for work allows our job markets to bulge with many much empty positions finally being filled. # Should the Frankish empire’s economy collapse, they will lose control of their bordering lands, and as such, many of the nations who were victimized by the French in past will have an opportunity to reclaim lost lands. # By keeping power evenly distributed throughout Europe - and not monopolized by one nation - the European states can hope for the peace and safety that is so frequently sought after by us as humans. # Forming an impromptu economic alliance against such a massive nation would ensure that that nation think twice before causing trouble in Europe. '''  It is hoped for all these reasons and more (as there are quite a few more) that your great nations will accept this plea and follow the Hispanic example of self sufficiency. Sincerely, King Lord Commander Alexander Salvioli of Hispania” The eldest princess, Marcella Lousean II-Salvioli, is spoken of to be the fairest women in all of Hispania - even if she is only in her twelfth year of life. Men throughout the empire write her poetry and practically throw themselves at her feet, but she is not easily impressed. It is expected to always find her in the castle courtyard, flirting with the local suitors and using her charm to get whatever she wants. What she wants most however, is for the boy of her desires,Custodio Bardulfus, to finally admit his love for her, as bashful as he is. Shocking news comes however, that Custodio is to be married to his distant cousin as per a family tradition - Marcella attempts to proclaim her love for him, and he tells her that he reciprocates the feelings, but is honorbound to go through with the marriage to his cousin. The eldest son of a rich court noble, Dario De’ Aureo-Vada, seizes the opportunity to propose to Marcella while she is emotionally distraught. Despite him having eight more years than she, Marcella reluctantly accepts in a vain attempt to incite a jealous response in Custodio Bardulfus. * The Celtic Queen Ricca Eversnow Responds: I accept to your ideas of the embargo. However, it would be a tremendous loss of income at once. So instead we will slowly begin to lower the amount we trade with them over the next few years until it trickles down to nothing. While this is happening we will try to increase trade with you, the Danes, and the Dens (Denmark). Lombardy (Diplomacy): From  Hennig Hróaldr, first son of Þórbjörn, and rightful king of all Lombardy, To his majesty, Alexander Salvioli, husband to the last queen' of the United Goths: It has come to my attention that you are gathering nations for an alliance to stunt the growth of Frankish tyranny. While I have not forgotten the Gothic invasion of Lombardy, I am willing to overlook that, as my father never was, in the interest of regaining my kingdom. Because of this, and despite your relatives' transgressions, I will reach out my hand to you, out of necessity if not friendship, and I am open to the signing of a pact. Our navy, perfected over decades in the Baltic, has annihilated the Frankish trade, and will continue to do so. If we were to enter into an agreement, I would be welcome for suggestions from your military commanders as to where to send my captains, trusting superior Gothic logistics to do the maximum amount of damage to the Franks. Moreover, I have several highly-trained warrior groups in Eastern Francia, which will work to destabilize that frontier and prevent them from turning their full attention elsewhere. However, if this coalition were, as a group, to go to war with the Franks, I ask that any land occupied by a member state within the traditional borders of Lombardy, Saxony, or West Slavia be given over to my jurisdiction at once. While we have had our differences in the past, I hope that we can go forward in a more neutral stance, and realize where our true enemies lie. - Caliphate: We continue our expansion into Africa, expanding 5300 pixels this turn. We expand so Zanzibar gets space to expand. We name lakes that we find in Africa after our former Caliphs. We begin building a city called 'Muhammed City' where OTL Kampala is. We build our military and infrastructure. With the Kazarchs finally gone we deploy most troopsthat use to be fighting them to the Byzantine front. We say that the Byzantine Empire is our prime target. We withdraw troops from the Persian Front and place it on the Byzantine Empire. We build our navy rapidly. We build our army. We build our cities. We continue to rebuild Mecca, amazing it bigger and better than it was before. We continue to trade gold with Zanzibar and the Carthage Empire, making us all extreamly rich. We continue our war with Persia but with many less people fighting against them. '''We offer the Sunai Treaty to the Carthage Empire. In return for declaring war on the Byzantine Empire, when the Byzantines are defeetd they'll get Jerulum, Sunai and West Syria. They will have to send thousands of troops to the front in Byzantine Asia. They also invade Sunai and Cyprus. We send ships to help them fight in the Mediternaina. We offer the Treaty of Mashhad (The Ashes of Rome Map Game) to the Persian Free State.''' We aid rebellions in the Byzantine Empire. We welcome French immigrants to our country. Chenla Kingdom: Military operations on mainland Asia cease as King Jayavarman ll sees no need to expand further into mainland Asia. The territories already under Chenlan occupation begins to be fortified with a hasty palisade built on the border between the Liang and the newly captured areas. Fortifications are built up in case the Liang decide to launch a counter offensive against the newly aacquire land. The people in the area are given two options: accept Chenlan rule and send representatives to the General Assembly so that they may participate in government or face the consequence of deportation. Land operations may have ceased but the Royal Navy continues to fight as the 70 percent of the Royal Navy dedicated to the war effort is ordered to create a full blockade around the island of Hainan, where for five years, for everyday, it will be under constant bombardment from dawn to dusk. And everyday after after dusk the people of the island will be asked to surrender and accept Chenlan occupation of the island; if they refuse the needless bombardments will persist until the fighting will of the people is crushed to fine grains of ash the size of a quark. Alynnear (once Japan): I would like to request that Japan be released from occupation by the Koreans as a nation with all of the Japanese islands EXCEPT Hokkaido. Celtic League: After the passing of my dear love Ankou we had a one month mourning from him. During this mourning period we erect a statue in his honor for freeing the Pictish and uniting our league. It is erected in the Northern part of the Erie, where our capital is. It is shortly after this that I discovered that I am pregnant with Ankou’s child. I should have him within six months. I Queen Ricca Eversnow. will reign as queen until I die or my son or daughter becomes the age of nineteen. My Husband Ankou told me he hadn't heard from the settlers he sent north of Old Jutland. I believe it was because he didn’t send a military escort so I will not make the same mistake. I send another of our four largest ships accompanied by two war ships that are filled with 80 men each to head North of the lands where the Danes are settled. half of the men on each ship is equipped for land battle (Swords, axes, hand jars of Wale Fire) and the other for sea battle (Sling shots for Wale Fire, Crossbows, arrows dipped in Wale fire). This is to ensure that each ship is equally prepared. I send food, and materials for fortification once they arrive to ensure their safety. I also send a small quick ship that will leave the convoy to inform me if my settlers are attacked or not, and by whom. Soon after the preparations were made and the ships were sent I went into labor, a two weeks earlier than expected. I give birth to a beautiful set of twins, one male the other female. I name the male Ankou II in memory of my beloved, and the female I name Sventhila in memory of the old queen of the goths, the visigoths, and the Hispanards. Lord Keaghan was able to attend with his two kids. Unfortunately on the day he and the kids were supposed to leave he died of a heart attack. His kids are twenty and seventeen, so they will be able to take care of themselves. I even elect the eldest as Lord of the Islands surrounding the Pictish lands just like his father(This is all story no map changes necessary). The Pictish lands are scoured for any valuable resources. The reports come in that they find Gold and a malleable material called lead. Gold mines are set up immediately (Improve Economy) and sent to goldsmith for more Celtic jewelry and raw gold. Before lead mines are sent up we must do further research on it. We send spies to every nation within a reasonable distance to see what they know while conduct our own research. Before my husband died he made mention that he had hidden away a book that detailed his life. He mentioned that this book is for my eyes only, I wonder why ... China(former Liang): A general named Guoji (making up names) takes over and establishes China, to signify a China that will be free of foreign powers. He starts forced conscription, and doubles his army strength. The general leads the counter offensive against the Gupta and Chenla in the south, then forces back the Chu and Uyghurs. The navy launches a counter offensive into Taiwan. Greek Fire is first used to blockade Taiwan and the Shangdong peninsula. We advance 500 pixels into Northern Manchuria. Lombardy: Hennig, realizing that the Frankish war will likely carry on for quite a bit longer, begins focusing on building up infrastructure on Gotland. The main, central highway system is expanded to include hundreds of regional roads, some no larger than a dirt track, and all are paved in the old Roman style, still recalled in books brought to the island by Greek immigrants. On the topic of immigration, Hennig, even in the midst of his program to turn Gotland into something like a massive city, begins cutting back on immigration, and publicly proclaims that he is an ardent worshipper of the Germanic pantheon, and believe that too many foreigners will pollute German cultural integrity. Great pains are made to refine and perfect the already masterful Lombard ship design, centralizing production of the masts, sails, and ballistae into government industries (to ensure quality), and making them a bit wider at the expense of the depth of their beam, which should allow them to carry slightly more warriors, and to sail closer to the coasts than ever before. To accomodate the increase in ship production, tribal shipyards on the north of the island are ordered expanded at the expense of the monarchy, whose treasury is swelled by wealth streaming in from northern France. Walls in both the north and the south are shored up and repaired when need-be, and balconies and fairings are constructed along the tops of some of the larger towers which are lined with small scorpions ballistae (early crossbows). The early-warning militia system is improved, and greater incentives are offered for those conscientious citizens who join their local national watch. Hennig worries that this is undermining traditional Lombard values, but decides that he will tolerate it until peace is had. His ancestors' laws, the Lex Hroaldii, are improved and updated to reflect the changing language of the times, as well as several considerations involving service in the militia and the changing role of the nobility. Executions are scaled-back on, simply to increase the number of people living within Lombard territory. Accompanying all of these reforms are bonuses given out to the island chiefs to placate them as they endure never-before-seen levels of government control and centralization. Lombardy (Diplomacy): The Celts are asked if they would be open to a peace-treaty and a trade agreement. The Lombard ambassador claims that they have no reason to fight any more, and that a lot of money could be made on both sides from allowing the free flow of trade. ((OOC: For roleplaying purposes, Hennig is a fan of Celtic culture, and is disappointed by the fact that the two sides are at war)). * The Celtic Queen Ricca Eversnow Replies: To be honest my husband had forgotten that our nations were even at war. Let a peace by made and a trade agreement constructed. (OOC: I honestly forgot we were even at war.) == 760 C.E. == (( The Abbasid color was changed to prevent confusion.)) The Caliphate floods into Sinai and retakes the land again, their sheer numbers completely obliterating whatever fortifications the territory was once famed for. With the decreased presence of Muslim troops in Khazaria, the Khazar Dromons are able to retake their ports along the coastline and orchestrate the first fully successful military movement in decades. '''Land is reclaimed for the Persian Republic as fighters are motivated by seeing the Muslim hordes thinned down to a manageable level. The tides of the war have turned and the Caliphate appear to be losing. The Chu invasion of the Liang peninsula proves to be a massive military success and is highly regarded by war tacticians all throughout Asia. A surprise attack by the newly unified Chinese into Indo-China proves devastatingly successfully as Chinese forces crush and slaughter the Chenlan defenses. The Celtic colonial escort arrives in Scandinavia to find that the last colonists were over taken by freelance pirates. After a brief scuffle the pirates are defeated and the Celts begin to settle in, plainning to set up civilization in the next five years. After the massacre of Chenlan forces in Indochina, the Chinese infantry is on commands to push back the Chu and Uyghurs. The efforts against the Uyghur khaganate is a success, but the Chu quickly overwhelm the Chinese and prevent them from making any more progress. An ancient prophet makes his way to the Chinese court in Taiping. He shuffles up to the emperor after being granted an audience and whispers quietly in his ear “stop metagaming,” then leaves the room. When the emperor sends guards to catch him and ask him to elaborate, he is gone, and no one knows where. *(OOC China) WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?'''Seriously, I don't get what this means. '''People in Arabia are becoming increasingly discontented with the current Caliphs focus on Africa and neglect of north Arabians. Descendants of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib,one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, calling themselves the Abbasids, claim to have more right to control over the Caliphate than the current Caliph and as such break out into full scale revolt. The moral character of the current ruling body is attacked viciously and the Abbasids gain an astounding amount of support. Seeing as how much of the Byzantine fighting force in the middle-east is composed of mercenaries, the Abbasids, using their surplus wealth from years of trade with Zanzibar, easily outbid Byzantium and arrange for the mercenaries to overthrow the Byzantine officers and capture castles and land for themselves. Vermundia finally invades Kanem, claiming to be on a religious crusade to bring the word of Islam to the people of Africa. Slavic unity becomes disturbingly unbreakable as the Rus’ continue to act as an extremely beneficial source of nationalism. The Alynnear begin calling for an autonomous Honshu. The Frankish economy seems to make slight recoveries at the introduction of a new currency, but the people appear to be losing faith in the power of the governmental system altogether. Frankish harbormasters begin to see their king as insane, and a group of them get together and write a letter, informing him that no matter how many unarmed trade ships he sends out to conduct overseas mercantile activities in hostile waters, the Lombards won’t go away. They also tell him that it’s probably a bad idea to send trade ships to trade with a notorious sea power (the Danes) that is currently at war with France. These actions only make the Frankish monarchy lose money faster, though internal trade is stabilized greatly by the new infrastructure and currency systems, almost offsetting the trade-ship kamikaze tactics. Zanzibar continues to grow in wealth, power, and land, now being seen as the economic powerhouse of Africa. Sofala continues to spread ports throughout east Africa and westerly Madagascar, the sudden arrival of Caliphate colonists does prove to put a damper on Sofalan prosperity however, as merchants and explores are constantly meeting in conflict. The Lombards continue their slow but steady push into France, as the local militias prove helpless against the organized and war-hardened Germanic peoples. Brunei enters into a trade-pact with Luzon, and islam begins to rapidly spread among the local population. The Chinese make amphibious landings in Taiwan but are not able to push in by land. Cadfael, King of the Albionites, is discovered to have been dead for the past seventy years, several imposters having had stood in his place for far too long and now that it had finally come to light, the people of Albion rise up and sit who they view as a rightful king on the throne. King Karlmann II, the son of an esteemed noble, he rose to the public spotlight through his immense activity in the politics of the nation; even taking credit for helping write up the demand of border expansions that was sent to the Franks. Once finished mopping up the Lombardi rebels in Slavia, Albionian troops begin marching to their northern border, and Albion issues an ultimatum to King Hennig of Lombardy: withdraw, odie. OOC Byzantium:''' Sorry, what happened with the massive attack in Eastern Anatolia? I did not read anything about it. If you did sorry, thank you for the consideration. '''((MOD RESPONSE: I apologize for not ensuring that the pre-reqs were included for everything involving all nations, but the map is still accurate and reflects the occurrences of the current turn. The attack was largely a failure, but it did prove to prevent the Caliphate from pushing into Turkey.) thank you Rus' Principality:''' Grand Prince Mstislav has ruled for five years, which have generally been years of tranquility. The world's only Slavic nation has become a beacon of hope and guidance for those Slavs not yet under its care. A sort of nationalist enlightenment occurs within the principality. Mstislav, while keeping in tradition of maintaining a strong military, gendarmerie and secret police, spends a larger sum of money on encouraging cultural projects. Those include the development of architecture, engineering, painting, writing, and other hallmarks of a glorious nation. All of the military and police forces in the country are around 650,000 men strong at any given time, with the number fluctuating as conscripts finishing their mandatory two years leave and younger men take their place. The recently-improved infrastructure and fortifications help greatly in logistics and communication, resulting in more effective policing and defense. The Frontier Guard maintains watch over the borders with constant vigilance, while the navy protects the sea-lanes used frequently by merchantmen. Education continues with the nationalistic fervor added in. Meanwhile, representatives of the Grand Prince are secretly dispatched to meet with leaders of Slavic minorities living in other nations and make contact with them. Some funding is given to Slavic cultural organizations in other countries. Mstislav mentions in a speech in Kiev that the Rus' Principality stands for all Slavs in the world and will unite them all, eventually. Rus' Diplomacy to Hispania: To King Lord Commander Alexander Salvioli of Hispania, ''As you may know, my nation has remained neutral in regards to European wars and has largely remained out of the politics of Western Europe for the past couple of centuries, finding it most beneficial to remain neutral. I prefer to keep it that way. Trade between the Rus' and the Franks is already very limited as it is, and the Principality joining an embargo with you will not make much of a difference. –Mstislav, Grand Prince of Kiev, Moscow, Vladimir, Tver, Galicia-Volhynia, Ryazan, Smolensk, and so forth and so forth'' Uyghur Khaganate: Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. The war against China continues, and continues invading from other places along the borders that aren't desert. After having been pushed back again, Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl orders a counter-attack and gathers more troops to do so, and tries to re-invade the Chinese lands near Chu. Meanwhile, an invasion of China via the southern border with China is launched. Other areas along the Chinese-Uyghur border continue to be guarded and fighting there continues as well against the Chinese. Chu Dynasty: We import more modern military equipment concepts from the Western world. We also improve on current weaponised firework designs, and naval technology. We try to further advance Westwards into the Liang mainland, trying to secure supply routes so that no nation can blockade Korean troops. We militarise our borders in all occupied territories and build massive fortifications in the Shandong peninsula. Although most of our troops are concentrated in Liang China, we begin to attempt a decently sized counter-offensive on Taiwan. We introduce Buddhism to the Filipinos and try to contain growing Islamic influence. We devote most of our economy to the war-effort, increasing the already high agricultural output so that it can handle the demands of hungry soldiers and civilians in occupied areas. We give the people in Occupied China the benefits of Korean rule, trying to gain support for the monarchy. We invest vast amounts of money to education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We try to find trade routes with European countries and substantially increase trade with the countries we already trade with. We introduce more advance technology to our allies in an effort to destroy Chinese influence. We reinforce equality. Rape, abuse, and other crimes are banned and those who break the law will be fined and jailed. The population growth rebounds to 0.1%, and the population grows slightly to 24.3 million people. This figure is excluding occupied regions. Japan is given more autonomy, but it is not an Autonomous Region. We send pro-Korean Japanese intellectuals to Japan to crush potentially dangerous “Alynnear” movement, they say that it is because of the Chu that the Japanese were more well-fed and had achieved prosperity. *China OOC: I find it very implausible for you to get trade from the west, as most trade routes are through our territory. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We will begin to create ships known as the longships to sailing down the Kura, Aras and the Sefid-Rud river.. We will send our navy down the Atrek river to cut off Caliphate supply routes and launch a massive offensive to surround and destroy these troops taking the Quara-qum Desert. With our generals realizing that we can't defeat the Caliphate if the Persians fall, we will send our Karluk troops to help the Persians. We will reel all of our forces to face the new flank and destroy them using our army and navy in co-ordinated assaults. France immediately increases the size of its military to 500,000 men, and 100,000 are sent to stop the Lombards. The king is most puzzled that trade ships have been going into the North Sea area, and also that the Danes are attacking. Thus, he orders the navy, which now stands at 300 ships, to move into the North Sea, and drive out the Danes. As people are losing faith in the government, King Peter II is forced to start considering what he must do to rebuild the economy. He elects to continue the introduction of the new currency, and to seek out profitable trade deals aboard. However, the whole thing proves a strain, and he dies in his sleep, seemingly from overwork. His sister, Ygritte, is crowned Queen Ygritte, passing over his son, and she quickly takes action. She orders a naval invasion of the land held by the Danes, and 200,000 men are sent to complete this task. Essex and York both send troops to take part, and naval bases and ports are used to help launch the navy. Meanwhile, noting the Lombards continued advance, Queen Ygritte elects that the Lombards must be slaughtered, unless they make peace, and accept the current borders. This offer is sent to them, and with more troops being deployed in the occupied lands of the Germans, forts are built everywhere, to help defend. Christianity continues to spread, and Queen Ygritte moves to establish trade with both the Hispanics and Byzantium. She sells Pictish land to the Celts, and also has numerous roads built to connect the empire. Indeed, Queen Ygritte is quick to name this an Empire of France, and she begins moving to restore faith in the monarchy, by speeches, tax cuts of Franks, and the improvement of living areas. However, taxes are increased over Milan and Saxony, with both areas being forced to pay tribute in the form of 100,000 crowns a year. The expulsion of workers who are not Frankish begins, and many Frankish men are returning for work. Meanwhile, Queen Ygritte is now seeking a husband, and requests that any who wish to may now come and court her. The economic reforms and infrastructural improvements becomes a sign of strength for the Frankish people. Danish Empire: With the Franks now trying to attack me ur great nation, we send out our massive fleet to destroy as many of their ships as possible. To fend of the attack, we try to hold the Franks at the coast, with as many soldiers as possible sent to fight them off. However, feeling that we need an even greater advantage, we ask the Gothic empire to attack France, in order to take pressure off our nation, pointing out we ave an opportunity to get rid of a great mutual enemy. we continue urbanization of our empire, with many people moving to coastal cities and towns. This leads to an subsequent increase in agricultural production, with many farmers taking advantage of the larger markets, and moving away from substance farming. We begin to assimilate our captured territory into the empire with hopes of eventual annexation of the territory. We increase production of weapons and tools, with their creation increasingly regulated for quality, as well as quantity. These leads to a surplus of high quality goods, and we begin to trade them to other nations. A new religion begins to form in our Swedish provinces. This religion involves the worship of multiple gods and is called "Reg'roc tcorra." It quickly gains popularity, and spreads throughout the Swedish provinces of the empire. In order to gain more territory, we expand north, 500 pixels, and We ask the franks to sell us their land on the British isles, saying if they do, we will agree to peace with them. Zanzibar Sultanate: With our growing wealth and power we show that it continues to grow even more. We will expand down to the south but indeed the Caliphate has given a space for us to expand. We continue to grow more confidence in our military recruiting troops. Tribes explore still but should they now go to Madagascar to explore the unknown land and mines. Zanzibar could plainly expand to Madagascar, but don't want too much. Gepid Republic: Because of his failure in the Italian question and his lack of actions to help the Byzantines, to whom he promised help, Vithimiric Aric failed to gain a fourth mandate as Consul, and was instead replaced by Sigeric Bessas, who fought during the War for the Ashes of Rome. Finally, he led a massive force through the Byzantine territories and attack the Caucasus in hope of expelling them from the region (and in hope of gaining some lands there). Instead of using their fleet to support their troops on land, however, they use it to build strong trade routes between Buteridava and the Byzantines towns in the Black Sea, as well as with their lands in Italy. Talking of Italy, question as been raised about what to do with the region. After all, it was never planned to keep it in the first place. However, giving it now would mean giving up a great commercial asset in the region, an asset that could make the Gepid Republic a commercial power. However, the Republic won't have enough troops to force their ways on the population, which would lead to a revolt similar to what's happening between the Franks and Lombards. But the Justicar, Vidimir Hunigild, had an idea. Instead of turning it into an outright colony, they could turn it into a client state for them, a vassal. Then come Leonardo Di Fillipis. Italian, member of the local nobility and an ardent partisan of the Gepids (to the point he adopted their religious views and speak Gepid), he appeared as the perfect man to rule the region for the Gepid. The Senate thus crowned him “Prince of Benevento”, establishing the first Gepid Principality. The prince, whose authority comes from the Senate (as only the Senate can crown him), is under the Gepid Republic, remaining under their control (as the Senate can crown another Prince if the actual one become problematic). He must also respect a number of restrictions on trade, army and religion, which force diminish his control over the region, but still leave him enough power to be the local ruler. Byzantium: Byzantium improves its agriculture even more. We need to feed a strong and powerful army. We continue to sell purpura and Greek oil. We greatly increase our military and we sell any left other mercenaries that we have. We want to ally the Northern Arabian State, we will ally together against the Caliphate. We promise to give to the Arabian state lots of land in the Northern Arabian Peninsula, such as the Regions of Jaf, Ha'il, Tabuk, Qasim and Madinah. We also offer land to Persia and the Khanganate, Persia will have the chance of rising to power again and the Khanganate will become very powerful, we ask them to attack the Caliphate. We offer India a strong trading route between us. Gold, spices and diamonds from India will be sold to Byzantium for purpura, parian and patelic marble and copper. Byzantium and India could become rich together. We increase mining of the expensive Greek marbles even more, such as the Parian marble from Paros and the South Aegean Islands and the Pentelic marble from Mount Pentelicus. We also increase the mining of Copper in Cyprus. We sell these things to all Mediterranean and European nations. With the money from the trades we become rich and we quickly increase our military greatly. We increase the number of our ships and our troops, we send two massive attacks. One massive attack with most of our ships and many troops to Sinai and the other massive attack in Eastern Anatolia. We use NO mercenaries and the two massive attacks are very powerful. Democrazia di Kanem: Once more what one man's dreams envisioned an era of peace, a chance for enlightenment to find purchase amonst the soil of blood and hate, now comes the warmakers once more to bloody and enfeeble those whom they see as weak by no virtue lesser than that of the election of peace, and the hope of an enlightened age. With the onset of this invasion from the east, Sef and his collective of levied warriors, veteran arms-men whom now serve the majority of their military officers, and the angeli cremisi, marches to oppose this newly wrought enemy. Due to the regionalized and levy system implemented by the Ghanans nearly a century ago, the Kanem army rises up immediately in the surrounding areas that are being invaded, and those from further inland already march to reinforce the front line as the standing army takes it positions at certain choke points around the Bornu Lake. The plan is to hold their position at the fortifications that had been built up by Ghana prior to its conquest, which exists further inland then the existing border, as the defensive line to oppose these invaders, then with the full force of the Kanem levies push them back into Vermundia. Envoys of peace and the prospects of valuable trade a considerable mark-up in terms natural resources), is sent to The Carthaginian Empire in hopes that Kanem may find a friend in these troubled times. Due to the functions of the old Ghanan government, the old Explorers Guild was never officially disbanded, and thus has been performing its duties over the past few decades, and with their extensive knowledge now being reigned in for the states purpose. With more and more refugees migrating to Kanem to flee the chaos and conflict that continues to embroil the east, the polizia has passed the "terra libera prospect", where in which any citizen not already landed may be granted free territory to the south, and have their passage to this new land facilitated by the Kanem national guard and members of the Explorers Guild who have already layed out regions far to the south. Little is left to defend these vagabond colonists, but few take this as an insult due to many finding the concept of owning their own property liberating and exciting, something that only such a gracious and enlightened state could provide. Sef remains resolute in his stance over the war, and hopes that these foul invaders can be easily repulsed, and for this excruciating act of foolish idiocy, be taught a lesson in the reality of how their relationship shall function, a very cold, and cruel lesson. Chenla Kingdom: The military massacre in Indochina becomes an embarrassment for the High General for being ignorant of the Chinese surprise attack. To help lick the High General's wounds the King steps down from the throne, gives his son Crown Prince Salavarman ll the crown, and rides out to meet with the High General. With him he brings reinforcements, to better protect the territory that is still occupied by Chenlan forces. There is about 80 percent of the land forces now dedicated to the war front. Fortifications are heavily increased so that if the Chinese do attack again it would contribute to them losing much more troops than when they attacked the hastily built palisades. The Ahan Phi is ordered to guard the forested areas in Indochina and create traps so that if the Chinese tried to flank through the forest they would have to go through the "gates of hell". The traps would consists of different waves. The first wave being 15 feet deep holes that would have spikes at the bottom of them killing anyone that fell into them. The second being tripwires attached to regular stationary crossbows that are fired when the trap has been activated. The last wave would be the Ahan Phi themselves drawing the Chinese forces into choke points where they would release giant balls of flaming kindle down upon them and widdling them down with crossbows as the giant fire balls cause great commotion and confusion among the Chinese ranks. If the Chinese decide to attack the heavily fortified areas then they would have to face the main battle group which is now rallied behind the King himself. ('''I'm planning on killing my king, so if you mods could write about him dying in the next turn in an epic way, like charging headstrong into the enemy alongside his troops with a mighty battle cry, then that would be awesome.) Wanting to progress with technology the Royal Engineers begin research on creating stronger and more elastic sinews so that the giant crossbows with the weaponized firework bolts could be made smaller but still be able to shoot as far or even farther that the current model. The purpose of this research is to allow the mounting of the smaller large crossbows on elephants so that then they would be highly mobile and be able to be moved around during a battle to areas that need pressure from the enemy to be lessened. '''The High Admiralty decides that amphibious landing should now be attempted because the island has been under blockade and constant bombardement for a continuous 5 years, so logically the defenses on the island should be mostly destroyed or tremendously hampered by now. To launch the attack the High Admiralty has 70 percent of the Royal Marines with him to try to capture the island. Trade is increased with the Indian Empire as they have now joined ASEAN. And supply routes are in the process of being secured with the Chu Dynasty as the war with China has made it dramatically harder to get supplies back and forth between the two nations. Also it should be reminded that the Chinese are practically in a state of self-reliance because on land they are at war with all their surrounding neighbors keeping them closed out from outside trade across land and the established sea routes the go through Chenlan waters will seize all assets going in to or coming out of China. *(OOC china) If you could get resources from the west before, I can too. Lombardy: Hennig and his court are fairly shocked by the unexpected victories against the Franks, but decide to proceed cautiously, Hennig's thirst for vengeance tempered slightly by his level-headed Greek advisors. Thus, the Lombard troops continue to use their slow but time-tested guerrilla tactics, working further to undermine the Frank's local chain-of-command and supply lines. The government decides, however, not to hold back when it comes to sea battles. The remaining Lombard ships in the Black Sea request safe passage through the Danube straits. ((If the Byzantines don't do it, the ships try to force their way through)). Afterwards they begin raiding Frankish shipping in the Mediterranean, hoping to stall their trade everywhere at once. In the North Sea and English Channel, the raids continue to increase in intensity, and a full quarter of the Lombard treasury is now invested in producing and outfitting warships. ((Sorry for the short turn)) Caliphate: We continue our expansion into Africa, expanding 5600 pixels this turn. We begin expanding into Cenral Africa. We build our military and infrastructure. We build our navy. We build roads to connect the huge empire.'''We fiercely put down the rebels in Northern Arabia with mighty speed. When we manage to capture the leader we execute him.''' We continue the war against the Byzantine Empire with all our forces going on to that. We recruit more sodiers to join the army and fight the Byzantine Empire. We build fortifications along the Kazakh-Caliphate border, this will make the Kazachs stop attacking the Caliphate. We continue the war against Persia. '''We decide to improve the deal in the Treaty of Mashhad to offer the Persian Free State. Can a mod please say what's wrong with the Treaty in the discussion box.''' We buy gold from Zanzibar and we continue to trade with the Carthage Empire. We would like to merge ASEAN with the Allied League. '''We offer to Vermudia that they can be annexed into the Caliphate but there has to be a buffer state between Ghana and U.S. And you have to stop the war against them. We offer this to Sofala: become Muslim and join the Allied League and then we won't invade you.''' Muhammad Megmed publishes two more alternative history books: 'Collpase of the Caliphate' and 'No Goth Empire'. China: We use gunpowder in fireworks, and concepts of using it to propel projectiles are born. We launch offensives into all of the bordering lands, as we trust no one due to being surrounded. Trade continues as traders slip in through the territories. Our skilled technicians are able to advance firework development. As spies hear about the Caliphate offer to ASEAN, we ask the Kazachs, Persian Free State, and Byzantium for an alliance against the common foe, the Caliphate, as many are outraged that the Caliphate would ask to ally with ASEAN. *OOC: There's already gunpowder in fireworks, gunpowder is literally how they are made. Celtic League: The twins Ankou II and Sventhila have reached the age of six. Ankou II has brilliant red hair that resembles what the first queens once was. And Sventhila has bold black hair. i wonder how they will decide who becomes ruler when I die. Which may be soon considering I have fallen ill with an unknown sickness that seems to have me bedridden. I don’t know how long I have but I have lived a good long life of 70 some years. '''The schematics for the world's biggest port were finished five years ago and have started to be built. It is projected to be finished in the next ten years'''. Once it has been completely built the country’s trade and economy in my nation should take off. It would also give me a place to store up a much larger naval force. The port might even cause mass tourism to visit a wonder such as the one it will be. Supply ships are sent to the colonies above the Danish empire (mostly building materiel such as screws and hinges. But also raw steel and some food in case the farming hasn’t taken place yet).. They should bring back valuable resources that us Celts have a very limited supply on such as trees and livestock animals. Granted it won’t be much for the first exchange but within the coming years it should escalate drastically. And once the colonies have cities built the trade between us should improve even more. '''I have decided that once I die Keaghan’s eldest son Brendanus. He is to rule until my son or daughter comes of age'''. The Eversnows tend to have some sort of honor code when it comes to who rules the throne, so I doubt Brendanus will take the throne. Although I’ll never know what truly happens. I know that people tend to lose their honor when power becomes involved. (Celtic Secret: The lead research has turned out splendidly. As it turns out lead seems to be poisonous once it is ingested or once it pierces the skin. As soon as this was found out lead mines were set up immediately. Now we have managed to create two types of lead arrows. One that is made of two parts lead and one part iron and it tends to shatter once pierced through the skin (Not very effective through armor). And the second is a barbed arrow that once pierced through the skin is extremely painful and difficult to pull back out through the wound, it is made of two parts iron one part lead. (Military improve) == 765 C.E. == The Rus’ secret campaigning manages to cement their control of West Slavia further, and convinces members of Slavic minorities in Livonia and Moldova to begin agitating for social reform and autonomy concessions. '''The Uyghur northern attack is fairly successful, due to the presence of Chu allies in the area, and a good amount of territory is either occupied or reoccupied. The advance on the southern front is not quite as successful, but does manage to push the Chinese out of Uyghur lands. The Chu “decently sized counter-offensive” on Taiwan fails in a spectacular fashion due to a breakdown in leadership, and the Chinese troops, invigorated by their victories, and with the absence of any sizable enemy force nearby, capture the entire island. Most Chinese peasants are fairly apathetic towards the identity of their ruling nation, and Chu’s occupied territory is thus fairly stable. Their troops capture a lot of land in the north-east of China, and are fairly successful in pitched battles. Due to the legal and social reforms, Chu society becomes one of the most egalitarian and ordered in the world, and its people reach a level of happiness never-before thought possible during wartime, as they believe that their cause for invading China is a glorious and patriotic one. Korean silk-road trade begins booming due to their alliance with the Uyghurs who control the closest leg of the journey. The Chu intellectuals sent to Japan seem to have no effect whatsoever, and nothing changes in the islands. Khazar troops have little to no effect in Persia, but their innovative longship tactics take the Muslim troops by surprise, and the Caliphate’s infrastructure begins to collapse in the Caucasus. The Frankish tax cuts are able to restore some of the people’s lost faith in the government, but are the final blow to its drained treasury and its army units (offset, but not nearly enough, by the tax increases in the wealthy Milan region), now with spotty and often nonexistent paychecks and equipment shipments, begin deserting in droves. The raise of new taxes in Saxony and Milan saw the spark of opposition to the Frankish rule in the region, especially after the news of desertions in the Frankish army. But the Frankish forces in the region were able to stop any rebellions in the regions. For now.  The Frankish capital may be finally recovering, but news travel fast. Many northern noblemen saw in Ygritte’s coronation the usurpation of the throne from its rightful ruler, the son of Peter II. At the head of this revolt is Adalbert II, King of Essex, using the excuse of restoring the rightful monarch as a way to feed his growing ambition.  The Lombard attempt to reach the Mediterranean was a total failure, most of the ships never seeing the mediterranean coast, being destroyed by the Byzantine fleet, and the few that passed Constantinople found another fleet in southern Italy, ending the Lombard expedition in a total failure.  The Danish navy and the Frankish navy fight each-other to a standstill off the coast of Norway, but the local Danish and Norwegian chieftains begin naval raids during the night, and the Frankish commander decides to withdraw rather than lose his entire navy to attrition. Danish assimilation is slow, but steady due to the cultural similarities between the Danes and the native Jutes. The Danish settlers to the north find the land mostly inhospitable, but at the order of their king they begin reoccupying the long-abandoned northernmost Lombard farmsteads set up in the seventh century. The Gepid Duchy of Benevento proves wildly popular with the southern Italians, and migrant numbers swell, most coming from the devastated and war-torn regions of Frankish Cisalpina.  The Byzantine Sinaian attack is fairly successful, owing to the devastation of the local fortifications during the many recent conflicts waged in the area. The invasion of Eastern Anatolia is slow due to the terrain, but picks up once it reaches the regions destabilized by the Khazars. However, shrewd outside observers note that this leaves the center of Anatolia almost completely undefended, and Greece with a skeleton crew of local militias. The Vermundian armies reach the fortified Kanemi fortifications and fold almost immediately, their soldiers running in terror from the massive storm of projectiles launched by the massively superior army of Kanem. The Kanemi troops then push into Vermundia successfully capturing large swathes of territory through the nation’s center. In conquered territory there’s a little bit of religion-derived unrest, but generally the entirety of Vermundia is in shock from the size of Kanem’s army, as their strategists had severely underestimated the population and tenacity of the locals. The Chenlan traps prove brutally effective against the Chinese army, and it’s alternately stabbed and cut to pieces as it advances. The center of Chenla’s line is led by King Jayavarman II, who rides into battle bestriding a gleaming white horse clad in gold-leafed wooden barding. The king himself wears similarly adorned iron armor, and wields a leaf-shaped broadsword. As he charges into battle, accompanied by the blasts of both trumpets and elephants alike, he lays about him with his sword, killing over 60 Chinese soldiers before an arrow hits his right shoulder, knocking him off his horse and wounding him badly. He goes down under the massive foot of a rampaging Chinese elephant, and his crushed body is never recovered. The Chinese manage to trade, though at a reduced rate, through the Gupta. His ministers inform the Caliph that there is no unoccupied territory in Central Asia contiguous to their borders, and the settlers are instead routed to Africa. Chenlan troops march into Hainan to find a shrunken and demoralized populace. The island is taken possession of easily, and the people give little resistance. The Gepid expedition into the Caucasus arrives and finds the territory under siege by both the Khazars and the Caliphate. The commanders order them to seize a portion of the coast, and work their way inland until they encounter an allied army, which they do. The quick actions of the Caliphate against the rebels made it possible to imprison most of the rebels leaders, who were put to death soon after, helping the Caliph to affirm his authority in the region for the next years. However, the constant attacks from the Khazars ruined any possibility of new defensive fortifications in the region.  Due to the lack of concrete response from Persia, the Caliph pushes once again against them, and pression began to rise in the Persian court. However, the desire to survive from the Persian army help them to defend themselves against the Arabian invaders, but many believe it will not last forever. Uyghur Khaganate:''' Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. The war against China continues, and continues invading from other places along the borders that aren't desert. After having been pushed back again, Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl continues to attack with full force into Chinese lands near Chu. Other areas along the Chinese-Uyghur border continue to be guarded and fighting there continues as well against the Chinese. While at least being successful of pushing the Chinese out via the southern border; the troops are to continue holding the line to try to prevent the Chinese from attempting another breakthrough for now. In secret, new plans are in the making to try to cut a part of Chinese land off by launching an invasion from the Se Province (i.e., the part of Tibet that the Uyghurs conquered back in year 710); and this plan won't be launched yet until further notice. The Empire of France sees Queen Ygritte decide to address the current crisis by cementing her authority over the Frankish noble's in rebellion. However, Prince Louis is growing in popularity, as he proves a charismatic leader, promising wealth, food, and a roof for his followers. He also seeks a return to peace, and offers it to both the Lombards and the Danes. Queen Ygritte tries to stop him, but his growing popularity means that killing him would have dire consequences. Thus, Queen Ygritte finds herself with a problem and decides to begin building a loyal army of followers to confront it. She begins issuing orders declaring that Prince Louis is just as mad as his father, and that those nobles are all nothing but power hungry monsters. Support for her grows in the south, but with Prince Louis now marching on Paris, and having been even crowned king, civil war breaks out. Troops are still occupying Saxony, but are forced to begin living off the land, and some even intermarry. As these troops become more like settlers, the fear that the Lombards may try to attack in force is met when Prince Louis sends a small delegation to the Lombards, requesting peace with France on the condition that they accept their current land. Any who wish to may even move to Lombardia. Fighting breaks out between North and South France. The newly crowned King Louis requests the Pope's blessing. King Adalbert II becomes one of the young prince's most loyal followers, but the prince is keeping a close eye on him. As the Lombards have refused peace, Prince Louis orders the navy increased to over 500 ships, and wants them ready to end the threat of the Lombard raiders. He also pushes for peace with the Danes. The navy is outfitted and trained in anti-raider tactics, with boarding parties on each of the ships. These parties both attack and defend the ships from the Lombards. To further this goal, King Louis has ships sent north, and makes it his goal that, should the Danes reject peace, then they will be crushed. As fighting breaks out continually, King Louis decides that the army should be made at 700,00 men in total, and that these men be taken form all across the empire. It is a bold plan, but one King Louis hopes will work. Rebellions break out in Milan and Saxony, however, the Saxon rebellions are crushed by King Louis's forces. The Milan rebellion has several Frankish soldiers among it's ranks. Queen Ygritte finds herself struggling against this rebellion, and has made her headquarters in Portugal. However, the civil war shows signs of going in King Louis's favour. Lombardy (Diplomacy): We refuse, and will not accept until we are given all of Lombardy, Saxony and the Frisian coast. Until then, the blockades will continue. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We will begin to create ships known as the longships to sailing down the Kura, Aras and the Sefid-Rud river. We will reel all of our forces to face the new flank and destroy them using our army and navy in co-ordinated assaults. We press our advantage by going south and west until we reach allied land. We will bypass Caliphate fortification and to surround them and cut them off from reinforcements. Kingdom of Luzon (Hell yes. I'm back): Datu Aymara assumes control of the Kingdom, taking the place of his ailing father who has abdicated. His first act is establishing the main capital at Maynila (OTL Manila), and the second is federalizing the Kingdom, with the basic unit being the Barangay. He also guarantees freedom of religion, but sponsors the folk pantheon across the populace. With the agricultural techniques received from the Chu dynasty, our population grows to three million, with 10% of that in the capital and surrounding areas. A small navy is built. We extend an offer to Brunei of uniting our two kingdoms, creating the United Kingdom of Malaya (MOD RESPONSE) *Sultanate of Brunei (MOD): The Sultan responds that Brunei will only accept if the Luzon government announces Islam as its state religion, and begins taking pains to spread the religion ((To clarify, freedom of religion will still be in place, but Luzon will have to sponsor Islam)). Zanzibar Sultanate: We now turn our focus to expand to an island for about 20 px southeast. We still think Caliphate is buying some gold, our religion is of course Muslim. Some explorers are exploring more lands, surely the expansion we think looks possible to expand - unless Caliphate blocks the way. We build more bunkers and fortresses to make a slight defense over the enemies in the course of attention. Gepid Republic: The Senate reelects Sigeric Bessas as Consul, and elects Roderic Umund as the new Justicar, who is the first Umund to occupy the office since Vidimir Umund (his great-great-great-grandfather), who exited the office 90 years before. The Senate is pleased with their new assets in Italy, and hope the Principality will keep the Papacy in check in order to keep in on the Gepid side. In the Caucasus, the expedition led by Sigeric Bessas fortified their positions. The Gepid forces try to make the most gain possible, striking north and east in order to conquer lands. Separating his forces into two groups, then joining together after their separate conquests. However, a problem came for the Gepid expedition. Sigeric Bessas was captured by troops of the Caliphate during a battle in 768, and subsequently executed. This led the Leader of the Assembly, Amaric Valomer (son of the Consul Hermenigild Valomer, who fought during the War for the Ashes of Rome) to be elected Consul. With the ships presents in Buteridava, he rapidly goes to the front line with reinforcement in order of keeping the conquered lands. A good strategist who learned from the bests, he know how to handle classic war and how to make use of the geography, and his arrival boost the moral of his soldiers. He also send a letter to the Lombard King, expressing his clear anger for his enter of the Black Sea and raiding of some Gepid commercial ships. He remember him that there is still a lot of troops in the Gepid Republic, and that 15 years ago they were warned of what would happen if a Lombard ship was even seen. An army with the Consul's son at his head take the road for the Frankish lands, and a blockade of the Danub is organised by the Gepid fleet, led by Lidoric Hunigild. A letter is sent by the Senate to the Queen of the Franks. ''“To her majesty Queen Ygritte, Empress of the Franks, member of the Merovingian Dynasty, daughter of the Great Peter I. We will officially support the Frankish Empire in its war against the barbarians who threaten your rightful land. Lombardy no longer exist, and it time for them to understand it.”'' *Lombardy: An amused Lombard diplomat points out that the Gepids own the mouth of the Danube, and suggests that blockading their own coast would not be the most ideal military strategy. *Gepid Diplomacy: If the barbarians are too stupid to believe that we will keep it close for our allies and not only for them, than the intellectual situation of the Lombards is worst than the Senate thought. Missionaries will be sent with the expedition to help them learn at least something. *Lombardy: The Lombard diplomat says that the Gepid equivalent of the Germanic word "blockade" may mean something different, but in Lombardic, as in English, "to blockade" means to completely seal off a location. You could close the area to enemies, or send out patrols, but blockading implies a complete closure. The Lombard diplomat also says that from the position that the Lombard ships were in, they would definitely not have been visible from the Gepid coast during their transit of the Black Sea, and that the ships were specifically ordered not to attack any Gepid ships, and that any such claim is likely a ploy by a militarist Gepid government. *King Louis points out that Ygritte's rule is not legal, and that he himself is the rightful ruler. However, he does appreciate the aid of Gepids. Rus' Principality: Our nationalistic Slavic enlightenment continues, with painting, writing, architecture, and other fields receiving support from the government to continue making advancements contributing to Rus' culture. Meanwhile, in the east, settlers continue to bring civilization to the Siberian forests. We expand into central and eastern Khanty-Mansi lands, those that remain uncolonized right now, so that our borders reach the edges of Krasnoyarsk Krai, which we plan to expand into. The military and police continue defending the nation and conscripts serve their required time. We continue funding Slavic organizations abroad and secretly send our agents to train them in the workings of propaganda and guerrilla warfare for when the time comes. We encourage pro-Slavic unification sentiment, especially in Livonia. Grand Prince Mstislav also continues to keep the Principality neutral in regards to the conflicts of Western Europe. Chenla Kingdom: The death of King Jayavarman ll reaches the people, but they do not mourn for him but celebrate him because of his heroic actions while in battle. Crowned Prince Salavarman ll takes to the thrown and honours his father by building a statue of him in the Royal Garden. Since his father's body couldn't be recovered from the battlefield a golden statue is put in place where his body would be in the House of Royals. He soon marries a nobleman's daughter impregnating her right after consummating their marriage. In the year 768 C.P. Pushkaraksha 's born. The twins also get married with C.P. Sambhuvarman marrying a common women with whom he fell madly in love with after hearing her sing at a festival commemorating the New Year. Crowned Princess Jalunee gets married to a nobleman from the House of Tai, a descendant of the Royal Engineer Master that traveled to the Westernlands. She soon gives birth to Crowned Prince Rajendravarman in 769. Back on the war front the occupied territories are further fortified and the traps reset. Military operations begin again to recapture the land lost to the Chinese after their counterattack. But this time the Ahan Phi are ordered to go ahead of the main battle group with wild pigs and boars which they will release when the encounter Chinese forces. The loud squealing of the pigs should frighten the Chinese war elephants causing them to go berserk and cause many casualties in the Chinese ranks. While the whole commotion is happening the Ahan Phi will fire down upon them trying to eliminate as many of the Chinese forces and the released pigs as possible; a white-winged magpie will be sent to tell the main battle group when the majority of the wild pigs had been put down so that when Royal Chenlan forces came in they would not be frightened by them also. The main battle group would then clean up the mess from there on. The main battle group consist of three quarters of the 80 percent of the army in Indochina dedicated to the war. The other part of the army would be strengthening the fortifications being built in case we would have to fall back. On the island of Hainan to show to the already distraught people that the Chenla are a merciful people,  food surpluses from Chenlan supplies is handed out and the Royal Marines begin to help the people rebuild. They also start to rebuild the fortifications in case the Chinese try to retake the island. The 70 percent of the Royal Navy dedicated to the war is ordered to defend the island at all cost. The people of Hainan are asked to elect representatives from the Commons and send their Nobles to Luang Prabang so that they may be represented in the General Assembly. Research on finding stronger sinews for ranged weapons continues as having smaller large crossbows with the same firing range of the current model would expect very beneficial as they could then be mounted on elephants. This would allow for extremely mobile artillery to be used on the battlefield. New training techniques for newly born Royal Chenlan Elephants is installed where the baby elephants will be raised around pigs and rams so that they will be acclimated to such creatures as they mature. It is expected for the next generation of Royal Chenlan Elephants to be accustomed to pigs and rams allowing them to not be frightened by those creatures when on the battlefield. We also continue to try and secure our trade routes with the Chu Dynasty across the sea and any Chinese trade that attempts to go by sea and enters Chenlan waters will be seized. Seeing that Islamic influence begins to grow more Buddhist temples are built to help combat the growing influence. Native ancestral religions throughout the Kingdom are also sponsored for those who aren't Buddhist. To slow down Islamic growth around the civilized nations around the Kingdom Buddhist monks are sent out to Sailendra and the Kingdom of Luzon to spread Buddhist beliefs. Chu Dynasty: We import more modern military equipment concepts from the Western world. We would accept an alliance with the Caliphate but the merging of ASEAN and the Eurasian Council is currently not feasible. We also improve on current weaponised firework designs, and naval technology. We try to secure supply routes so that no nation can blockade Korean troops. We militarise our borders in all occupied territories and build massive fortifications. We decide to end all military campaigns in northeastern Liang China. We invade Taiwan once again from the north via the Ryukyu islands, and from the south via Batanes (northern islands off the coast of Luzon). Right before the invasion, we send a few Chinese Koreans to intentionally sabotage (ruining supplies, killing soldiers) China's control over Taiwan. If we have Gupta’s permission, we will travel to the Chinese border and sever trade to effectively isolate China with the rest of the world. We introduce Buddhism to the Filipinos and try to contain growing Islamic influence. We devote most of our economy to the war effort, increasing the already high agricultural output so that it can handle the demands of hungry soldiers and civilians in occupied areas. We give the people in Occupied China the benefits of Korean rule, trying to gain support for the monarchy. We invest vast amounts of money to education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We try to find trade routes with European countries and substantially increase trade with the countries we already trade with. We introduce more advance technology to our allies in an effort to destroy Chinese influence. We reinforce equality. The population growth rebounds to 0.2%, and the population grows to 24.5 million people. This figure is excluding occupied regions. Japan is split into ten autonomous regions, each with a different cultural identity. We erase the concept of Japanese, Tunguisic (including Manchu), Korean and Ainu racial concepts and replace them with the idea that they are a single culturally and linguistically diverse ethnicity. Thousands of pro-Korean Japanese intellectuals travel to Japan to crush the Japanese Independence movement. They point out that Japan has achieved prosperity because of the Koreans. Byzantine Diplomacy: We offer to the Chinese a strong trading root. We could sell gold, marble and coper to each other and become rich. We also offer to sell some "Bolinus Bradaris" in exchange for silk worms. The "Bolinus Brandaris" mollusks used to produce the expensive color of "purpura". Byzantine and the Chu Dynasty could become rich together.       China: The first cannons are made, but are large, bulky and extremely bad at aiming. It may provide as a counter to elephants, but we aren't sure. Speaking of elephants, war elephants are used in the north as the spearhead of a counteroffensive. Kingdom of Burgundy: Theuderic III, backed by several thousand Burgundians, declares himself King of Upper and Lower Burgundy, placing his capital at Dijon and declaring his support, beyond any doubt, for King Louis against Queen Ygritte, and he begins recruiting and training of a large, professional army to see Louis on the throne. Theuderic also orders more castles to be built, mostly on the regional border with the rest of the French Empire, he further orders many new weapons and armors to be forged in order to improve the military, and improved roads and other infrastructure are being planned. The Burgundian Navy is being built at Marseille, Toulon, Fraxinet and Nice, with Provençal soldiers guarding it. Fortifications on the Northern border are proceeding well, as is the advancement and introduction of technology, and King Theuderic sends a letter to Louis asking how the Burgundians can help him press his rightful claim to the throne. King Louis: Explains that the Burgundians must remember that King Louis is the rightful king, and also points out that as Burgundy is the home of the House of Burgundy, it must accept its place in the empire. Byzantium: We annex our new territories in the Middle East. We increase the mining of copper in Cyprus and marble all around our nation and we sell it in Asia and in the Mediterranean. We also increase the trades with India and we become the main sellers of spices in Europe. We also offer the Chu Dynasty a strong trading root. We also sponsor the study of war medicine, so first aid to our soldiers that got badly injured. With the trades we quickly increase our soldiers' number. We send many soldiers into Greece and Central Anatolia to defend and we send two attacks, one between Eastern Anatolia and Eastern Syria and the other attack between Jordan and Sinai. Byzantine Diplomacy to the Lombards: If Lombardy wanted to have access to the Mediterranean they should have sent a diplomat telling the Empress about it. We saw Lombard ships near our capital and we did not know what they wanted. If you want access to the Mediterranean send a diplomat, thank you. '''(( A message from the moderators - Hello again, great and noble leaders of the modern world! We as mods would like to first of all apologize for the lackluster and often times inaccurate past few turns as they have been relatively rushed or didn't get the amount of focus that they required. Several of your turns were either not read or forgotten and as a result the map and turn prereqs do not accurately reflect the actions of many involved. To combat this, we have invited another veteran mod onto our team (Hdenevil the player for the Empire of Kanem) as well as welcoming the return of this map game's creator and head-mod, Knoxmoor. Until such time as our team can get reacquainted, there will be no prereqs posted and the map will not be updated (feel free to edit your turn or add more until such time!). '' The map game is expected to resume next Sunday (Monday UTC) at 01:00 UTC. ''Thanks for your patience everyone, and we can't wait to see what you have in store for 770!  Celtic League: Queen Ricca passes away due to mysterious circumstances.''' There was slight bruising around her neck the morning they found her. Some think foul play is involved, but with the queen dying at such an old age no one can be sure of anything. With her passing come the new King, King Brendanus Eversnow. But with Queen Ricca’s death came a set of rules that are to be followed by Brendanus. As King I intend to rule with the veracity of Queen Ygritte, with the strict and vital rules of King Ankou, and with the smarts of my father, Lord Keaghan Eversnow. With my election the dead Queen has decided to assign me a squire. His name is Arthur, he turned out to be King Ankou’s squire, so she must have deemed it necessary that I take over where he left off. The letter that the queen left to me and the various diplomats around our kingdom details that I must provide proper weapons training to her kids, whether it's me or a trained teacher. I also must have a teacher sent to the kids to teach them reading, writing, history, and basic mathematics. More supplies are sent to my developing colony. This time it is steel supplies that are set up to the colonies in order to make fortification and make the settlements more permanent. I also send another thousand people to help aid with the colonies - most of them skilled carpenters and some skilled blacksmiths. (Celtic Secret):''' With research further developing on how to use lead with weapons we figure out how to coat the edges of our swords with lead that flakes off after penetrating the skin. This does, however, mean that if the sword collides with another sword the lead edges would break off leaving only the iron sword. Along with the shipment of civilians and fortification supplies I also sent trained soldiers to patrol the borders of the colonial land. The trained soldiers should help make the fortifications a little more strategic. (Military Improve)   Caliphate:''' We continue our expansion into Central Africa, expanding 5900 pixels in the five years. We countinue the war against Persia. We countinue to concentrate on the Byzantine Empire. We decide to abandon the Caucasus seeing as how there is no point in keeping it, we decide to place huge defences along the Persian-Caucus boxer which the finest army in the world could not go through. We continue to trade gold with Zanzibar and the Carthage Empire. We would like the Carthage Empire to help us in our war against the Byzantine Empire. We would like the Allied League and ASEAN to merge. Muhammad Mehmed, the creator of alternative history, dies, he published his final book called 'A guide to atheist writing'. Alternative history and map games still prove to be hugely popular in the Caliphate. We build our economy, military and infrastructure. We build houses. We continue to rebuild Mecca. We build roads to connect the huge empire. *Chenla Dip: At the moment the Chenla Kingdom would have to vote no against combining ASEAN and the Allied League because a super alliance of such magnitude would be nigh to impossible to function cohesively. There would be problems communicating with one another and members may accidentally do dishonourable things due to the miscommunication. Look at the war right now that is ravaging through Asia; it most likely began because of a miscommunication. Even though we are voting no against the merge we would like to strengthen trade with the Caliphate as they are a wealthy and high cultured peoples. And if there is a majority vote in ASEAN to merge with the Allied League,  then the Chenla would comply with the organization's decision to honour our words. Democrazia di Kanem: as was expected, the wheel once more turned in the favor of the Kanemi people, as those who would dare to violate there most auspicious land have been driven before their armies, and the endless of foes upon them have been accosted. and yet, as Sef looks upon these people, he sees not the cold machines of hate and evil, but once more people like his own, confused and twisted by the lies of those who would peer down upon them, and wonders as to how they might be different. With the army pushed deeply into Vermundian territory, the people of the democrazia strongly urge for there enemy to be exterminated, driven in a blind rush of new found fervor for the state, and the defense of there new and united homeland. However as Sef stood before the tattered armies of Vermundia, gallantly in the whispering winds of the dry and scorching sun that is the Sahara. He offered there people for one last time, a chance to be brothers, he speaks deeply on that they too were harmed greatly by the conflicts of old, and that they are lost in these dark times, but that he and the state of Kanem can offer them a new found salvation. A salvation of acceptance, and understanding, one where Islam is welcome, and all ideals of greatness and honor that exist may come together under one. That they are the masters of there own destiny, and with the aid of Kanem, they could throw off the shackles of there foreign oppressors and once more join there fellow African brothers. In this moment, Sef appeared mighty and as holy as any a prophet of old might have been, and as such appeared in a sense, to have the glory of god flow throughout his words, and warmth in the feelings he expresses, a soft warmth unknown to those having lived among the hostile terrain that exist in that region of the world. The army of Kanem surrounds the capital of Vermundia, whilst refraining from the pillaging of the nearby lands, and harming of any of Vermundia's populace that can be helped. with the primary goal of topplling the ruling elite. The Kanemi Explorers Guild, having taken much of its resources from the old Ghanan Explorers Guild, and using its previously laid out procedure(plz read previous turn for the info), continues to expand southward, laying out easy land to settle, and expanding there mapped knowledge to Kanems fervent expansion effort southward. This overall, is an attempt to handle the influx of people into Kanem, as it is expected to remain steadly until much of the conflict to the east has died down. Kanem's general policies and stately affairs continue as normal, with very little changed besides a number of the populace conscripted into the conflict, the country is in fact driven in a swell of pride of there state, as there crushing victory against the Vermundians proves to help solidify the people, and strengthen the sense of unity throughout Kanem. In its swell of pride and unity, the people cry of for some unbridled justice, as they seek to obliterate those who would dare oppose them, and yet Sef has faced this fury before, back when Kanem first combated the Ghanans, and knows the best course to hold back the reigns. Lombardy: ((Short turn again, eventually I'll get around to doing some more writing)) King Hennig reminds the Byzantine Empress that a diplomat was sent to Constantinople, but it was ignored by her majesty, prompting the attempt to force the Danube. Lombard troops continue their slow march west. The navy also continues its blockades. As they're swelled by newly-constructed ships and sailors, they extend their blockades into the Bay of Biscay, and around most of Frankish Britain. The fortifications around Gotland are strengthened, and cellars under the walls are filled with dried food and wine casks. == 770 C.E. == (Hey everyone, Knoxmoor here. If you weren't aware, I've been gone for quite a while now, and in my absence, a very dedicated team of mods picked up the slack, and continued on with the game, making it, dare I say, better than when I left it. I'm happy to say that I'm back to stay this time, though I will be keeping the mod team with me, and we will be co-writing the majority of turns from now on. I hope you all appreciate their help as much as I do, and I'm so happy that so many of you have stuck with the game through thick and thin. Thank you guys so much for bearing with this delayed turn, and I hope you all enjoy it. Anyways, without further ado, the turn...) It would seem religious glues don’t bind as thick when under the pressures of oppression... '''As the subjects of the Indian Empire grow increasingly disgruntled with their incompetent rulers, the Pala Dynasty seizes the opportunity seizes the opportunity once again, and invades Indian-controlled Orissa. Many of the territory’s inhabitants welcome their new rulers with open arms, and the occupied land is immediately annexed. Following the successful campaign, Vindashna Pala is stricken ill with a mysterious disease that prevents him from articulating his thoughts. He slowly grows increasingly delirious, to the point that he no longer remembers his own name. Seeing the empire’s situation as precarious at best, Pala’s nephew, Ajit Pala, visits his insane uncle in an effort to gain his blessing as the next rightful ruler of the Pala Dynasty. In a brief moment of clarity, Vindashna recognizes his nephew, and abdicates the throne, declaring his nephew the new Palan emperor. Ajit sees the need to federalize the empire, lest it face the same fate as the Indian Empire before it, and allows the entirety of the empire to be divided and controlled by individual tribal groups. The policy is seen to be successful almost immediately. Brunei will accept the offer of a national merge with Luzon, on the condition that the nation formed be a new Islamic Caliphate, seeking to unite the world under one Caliph, Alek Brunei II. The Black Vipers, being historically irreligious, reject the idea of a Caliphate, seeing it as a possible hindrance to their power and continued economic stability as the Bruneian naval force. The Chinese cannon, though successful at striking fear into the hearts of its enemies, proves rather unsuccessful at causing any real damage. It is simply too bulky and inaccurate to be considered remotely effective. A famous chinese scholar is noted for stating “Gunpowder and explosives will never replace swords and bows. No man will ever be willing to put down his blade in exchange for some...firework launcher.” Joint actions by the Chu and Uyghurs allow the two nations to continue their push into China. However, as China begins to redirect its troops, particularly its war elephants, northward, the advance is significantly slowed, and casualties on both sides climb. Following the Chinese decision to focus their efforts northward, the Chenla were successful at regaining lost territory to their north. Swine warfare, though limited in its use due to China’s decision to route its elephants northward, proved quite successful. Hopes are high that Chenlan elephant breeding techniques will soon reach fruition, and swine warfare can be further streamlined. The Island of Hainan assimilates quickly into the Chenla Kingdom. They are grateful for the degree of representation they receive, as well as Chenlan aid in reconstruction. The majority of the opposition begins to fade away. The Chu and Uyghurs continue to profit from Silk Road trade, and the wealth is particularly useful in the war against China. The conflict in the region, however, has begun to cause a sizable portion of the merchants traveling along the road to cease their operations, out of fear for their own well being. The Chu decision to partition Japan actually has the effect of increasing animosity, as many view the decision as one meant to spite the Japanese people. Many refuse to acknowledge the superficial boundaries, and continue their lives as usual. The reformed Taiwanese campaign proves moderately successful, and the Chu are able to secure the northern and southern tips of the island. Chinese opposition, however, is fierce. The son of Recimi Avagis, Recimi Avagis II, seizes control over control of Carthage and immediately begins a conquest to the south. Carthage invades Vermundia in support of Kanem, hoping to snatch up as much available land as possible. Though the troops claim to be coming in defense of African customs, they hardly show respect to the Kanem troops and often show hostility if their control over lands are threatened. Carthage declines the Caliphate’s request to go war with the Byzantines. Animosity towards Recimi Avagis II begins to spring up in the western reaches of the Carthaginian Empire. Many see his actions as wanton aggression, and completely unnecessary for the wellbeing of the empire as a whole. The Vermundian radicals are crushed by the well trained and organized army of Kanem and the nation soon has troops surround the Vermundian capitol. Leaders of Vermundia come forward and submit to their invaders, declaring their subordinancy and swearing an undying loyalty the Empire of Kanem. The Kanemi explorers guild expands southward, securing a large net of territory that will be expanded into as time progresses, in an effort to alleviate the population shifts within the empire. Sofala feels incredulously threatened by the Caliphate impeding on their lands. The strong Sofalan navy begins kicking the Caliphate off of the coastlines and securing a strong system of port cities along the easterly coast of Africa. Madagascar colonials begin spreading out in search of more opportunity in unexplored lands. The dodo bird begins to be viewed as a highly prized target for hunters and the species soon becomes locally threatened by over hunting. Due to overdependence on mercenaries, much of the main Byzantine fighting force begins to revolt, claiming fiefs for themselves and refusing to obey orders given from Byzantine officers. Mercenaries begin claiming a significant amount of territory in the Sinai Peninsula, securing control of the former Gothic portage system.''' OOC: I did not use mercenaries, two turns ago i said that I only used my troops. Thanks '''The Byzantines make moderate gains in the Middle East, though the mercenary rebellions prove detrimental to progress. Military desertions become commonplace, and the Byzantine foothold in Arabia weakens. The Caliphate completely withdraws from the Caucasus region, leaving a war-torn and chaotic situation in their wake. Seizing the opportunity, Gepid and Khazar forces push deep into the region, effectively cutting the former Caliphate territory off from its original empire. The denizens of the regions, the majority of whom are ethnically Khazar, welcome their Eastern invaders, but are skeptical and, at times, hostile towards their Gepid conquerors. The tie of Christianity helps alleviate this, but the relationship is not warm in the slightest. The Abassids are back — with a vengeance. It turns out the best way to incite more rebellion is by mercilessly crushing a rebellion. Though their Caliph has been killed, his followers are only galvanized by the death and begin take up arms, leading revolts and convincing more and more Arabians to join their cause. The Abassids manage to secure a large portion of Northern Arabia, concentrating them into the arid and inhospitable reaches of the empire. Much of the Caliphate is faced with a decision at this point: capitulate, or starve. Many begin fleeing into Caliphate controlled Africa. After the Caliphate’s defeat in northern Arabia, the advances into the Persian Republic were completely obliterated. The entirety of the region was thrown into chaos, and the delicate Persian Republic all-but-collapsed. Much of its western territory was thrown into utter turmoil, and only small sliver of eastern Republic territory remained loyal. Guerrilla warfare between bands of Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims permeate the entirety of the region. Caliphate expansion into Africa proves impossible, due to the incredible turmoil the entirety of the empire is currently experiencing. Upon witnessing the Caliphate’s withdrawal from the Caucasus region, the Avars decide to invade the chaotic region, hoping to gain a foothold in the area. Hispania continues to prosper in its somber isolationism, neglecting to engage in diplomacy with the warring nations of Europe. Alexander Salvioli passes away and the young and inexperienced Marcell Lousean II-Salvioli has the role of leadership thrust upon her. Messages to Hispania go unread and the nation appears to be experiencing an extreme inward centralism, in which the outside world is seen to be uncivilized and inhospitable. As the French Civil War rages on, Louis’ initial advantage begins to fade, and Ygritte’s control of strategic ports in Portugal begin to lend her the upper hand. Just as she is planning a full frontal assault on Louis’ territory, with hopes of pushing all the way to Paris, news rings out across the war torn empire: Burgundy has declared independence, led by King Theuderic III. The new king pledges his support for Louis’ rightful command of the Empire of France, though many begin to doubt this claim, following Theuderic’s decision fortify its borders. The surprising emergence of this young nation has resulted in an uneasy stasis throughout the Empire, as all three sides attempt to rework their plans, in the face of such abrupt change. Following the establishment of the Burgundian Kingdom, Frankish Cisalpina has been effectively cut off from the remainder of the French Empire. Without regular contact with the Empire, local provinces begin setting up provisional governments to help mitigate the chaos that has begun to appear. The four Frankish-Italian territories seem to be becoming almost balkanized, turning their attention inward, and growing almost hostile towards one-another. Rus’ expansion into Asia continues, although many of Mstislav’s advisors, hearing of the detrimental effects of overexpansion in India and Arabia, begin to implore the Grand Prince to consider putting a cap on expansion. Seeing no recognition from their governments, Moldovan and Livonian people begin to grow increasingly disgruntled, though not yet to the point of violent rebellion. Many begin immigrating into Rus’ territory, feeling as though their ties with their cultural brethren are far greater than those with their geopolitical governments. Due to the domestic turmoil plaguing the French Empire, the Lombards are able to make minor gains. As the Lombards reclaim more of their original land, however, their progress begins to increase, albeit slowly. Denmark offers to sell Zealand, the historical home of the Danish people, to the Danish Kingdom, in exchange for a swathe of territory along Norway’s southern coast. The French ultimatum to the Danes still stands, and a large amount of French ships sit the Baltic and North Seas, awaiting the Danish decision. British territory held by the French Empire proves sporadic in stability, as the region begins to tear itself between loyalists of French rule, or the landed elite appointed to govern region for their lord, and the local peoples and lower nobility wishing to take advantage of the chaos, and establish a name for themselves, many of the peasantry inspired by revolts spoken of in the far off corners of the Empire, and other groups seeking to regain their claim of the now fracturing Empire. Celtic lands held in the region of Britannia continue to be handled with little problems occurring, however the recently acquired territories of the pictish prove a minor inconvenience, but as a whole the region finds itself comfortable under celtic rulership. The Celtic construction that has been ongoing for the past decade has reached its completion, and the project has now become known as “The Grand Harbor”, and with its completion has become a centralized point for trade throughout the west coast of Europe, while its full potential has not been reached, this magnificent structure might be a sign in the shift of power in Europe, but for now it is only a beginning. Celtic colonials in Scandinavia declare themselves to be a sovereign nation, separate from the rest of the Celtic kingdom, and for a very brief six months, are completely independant. That is until the arrival of Celtic workers, as they inspire Celtic loyalists to rise up and force the separatists out after a year long, bloody conflict, known to historians as “The Scandinavian War for Independance” but more commonly referred to as “The Worker’s War”. The Celtic lead swords prove to be a failure. The lead flakes off during sharpening and drill, and the swords themselves are uncommonly heavy. Lead poisoning might ensue, except that in testing no lead-coated weapon ever manages to break the skin, and soldiers in drill tend to either melt the lead off or wield their weapons as clubs. Celtic military advisors inform their new king that continued use of lead weapons would not be a good idea. Sometimes, things fall apart and no matter how hard we try, the pieces will never fit back together... Uyghur Khaganate:''' Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. The war against China continues, and continues invading from other places along the borders that aren't desert. Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl continues to attack with full force into Chinese lands near Chu. Other areas along the Chinese-Uyghur border continue to be guarded and fighting there continues as well against the Chinese. In secret, the plan to try to cut a part of Chinese land off by launching an invasion from the Se Province (i.e., the part of Tibet that the Uyghurs conquered back in year 710) is finalised; but is still held off until further notice. '''Chu Dynasty: We import more modern military equipment concepts from the Western world. We are against the merging of the Eurasian Alliance and ASEAN, saying that their culture and interests are different. We also improve on current weaponised firework designs, and naval technology. We decide to end all expansion in Liang China, heavily fortifying our current borders. We continue our Taiwan campaign, sending more supplies to troops stationed there. We attempt amphibious landings in middle Taiwan from the Ryukyu islands. We devote most of our economy to the war effort, increasing the already high agricultural output so that it can handle the demands of hungry soldiers and civilians in occupied areas. We give the people in Occupied China the benefits of Korean rule,''' trying to gain support for the monarchy. We invest vast amounts of money to education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We try to find trade routes with European countries and substantially increase trade with the countries we already trade with. We introduce more advance technology to our allies in an effort to destroy Chinese influence. We reinforce equality. The population grows to 24.7 million people. This figure is excluding occupied regions. '''We erase the concept of Japanese, Tunguisic (including Manchu), Korean and Ainu racial concepts and replace them with the idea that they are a single culturally and linguistically diverse ethnicity, the “Altaic people”. Tens of thousands of pro-Korean Japanese intellectuals travel to Japan to crush the Japanese Independence movement.  Chenla Kingdom:''' With the lost territory recovered once more its northern borders are heavily fortified to prevent from being lost again. The large crossbows that fire the weaponized fireworks bolts are massed produced so that they may be installed upon the fortifications. Research in trying to find stronger sinews to be used on ranged weapons continues. The General Assembly, with the approval of the King, passes the Hainan Act annexing the island into the Kingdom. The occupied territories in the Indochina Peninsula will not be annexed as of yet as it is still under danger of being lossed, but the people are urged to send representation to the General Assembly so that when they do enter the Kingdom they would understand the schematics of governance within of the kingdom. King Salavarman ll takes to sponsoring Buddhism himself to combat the growing influence of Islam. More Buddhist temples are built throughout the kingdom and are the local customs that have been practiced by many people for centuries. A diplomat is sent to China to see if they are willing to begin talks of peace. *China accepts, but doubts anything will come of this venture. *'''The Chenla would like to elaborate that the Peace would only be with the Chenla and not the whole organization of ASEAN. And to try to mend offenses the Chenla will reopen trade with China and allow free passage of Chinese trade ships through the trade sea routes that go through Chenlan waters. The Chenla will also pay some war reparations of 175 thousand gold as long as we get to keep the territories under our occupation.  *China Dip:''' Seeing as how the people under your occupation are happy under your rule, this proposal is agreed to. The Empire of France sees King Louis use the support of the Burgundians to send a force of 50,000 men into Italia. Their goal is to restore Frankish control. King Louis mounts an assault into Portugal, with 150,000 men attacking. Meanwhile, King Louis comes to regret having the support of Burgundy, as much of the rest of the empire is now becoming restless. Thus, he plans to reform the whole empire into a federal sort, with s clear amount of autonomy for all. He also increaes the size of his army, and sends over 100,000 of his best and most loyal troops in a counter attack against the damned Lombards. However, the civil war ends when King Louis is able to lead his men into a succesful assault on Quenn Ygritte's capital, and Queen Ygritte is executed. The attempt by Burgundy to be an independent kingdom ends when Frankish troops occupy the region. Instead, it shall remain a duchy and vassal of the French Empire. With the civil war over, King Louis sets about restoring Frankish control in both York and Essex, and has several of the leading rebels killed. He attempts to have the navy set at 400 ships, and begins economic reforms to restore the empire. This reforms include an increase in taxes, but these are set by the local barons. The crown is still the new currency, but King Louis will have to see if he can keep the empire together. Rus Principality: Grand Prince Mstislav tells his advisers that his ultimate goal is to double the size of the principality, but accedes to their requests to stop for now and consolidate their gains. Infrastructure in the new lands is being built and put together, new settlements and forts are constructed. The population continues expanding. Meanwhile, the nationalist education and propaganda continues. '''We continue to fund pro-Slavic nationalist Livonian and Moldovan groups, and continue training them in preparation for an uprising. All of it is done quietly. Immigrants that are of military age are encouraged to join the Rus' armed forces.''' Trade continues. *Gepid Dip: The Consul of the Gepid Republic, Amaric Valomer, and the Senate ask kindly for naval support to protect the Danube from any other Lombard ships. Amaric insist on the fact that he doesn't ask the Byzantines to actively participate in the war against Lombardy, just to help the Gepid in keeping the Black Sea and its coasts safe. *Rus' Diplomacy: We agree, outraged by the unauthorized movement of Lombard vessels through Rus rivers, to try to stop this. The Rus' navy devotes a flotilla of ships to patrolling waterways to prevent any further attempts by the Lombards to get to the Black Sea through the principality. Zanzibar Sultanate: We decide some miners to still explore for some mines down to the south of africa. We decide to expand 30px, while miners gather gold for The Caliphate in markets. The wealth meanwhile, is continuing to grow up very easily. The economical chances looks to be high. The infrastructure meanwhile built and more fortress and bunker also plans as well. Byzantium: We offer the Abbasid a peace treaty. The Treaty of Sinai. We increase even more our agricultural production and we research even more on War Medicine, we train very good war doctors who heal our injures soldiers during our battles. We send an attack to crush the rebels in Sinai and in the middle East. We also annex our land in the Middle East and we sponsor Christianity in our Islamic land. We do not force people to become Christian but we build Churches and we try to make our Islamic and our Christian population live well with the Islamic population but we still sponsor Christianity. We send a massive surprise attack in the city of Jeddah (near the Mecca). We send a massive attack and we do not have mercenaries. We attack via the Red Sea. We bring our troops and our seize equipment and food on Cargo ships and we also have many war ships, we attack in Jeddah as a surprise, we use our best seize equipment and we use Greek fire. We also put extra war ships near our capital and near the Marmara Sea not to let the Lombards pass through the Marmara sea. We also fortify our defenses in the Aegean Sea. We are prepared and ready if the Lombards attack *Gepid Dip: The Consul of the Gepid Republic, Amaric Valomer, and the Senate ask kindly for naval support to protect the Danube from any other Lombard ships. Amaric insist on the fact he doesn't ask the Byzantines to actively participate in the war against Lombardy, just to help the Gepid in keeping the Black Sea and its coasts safe. *Byzantine Dip: Before helping we will try to fix this problem with no war. * Lombardy (Diplomacy): The Lombard king offers to give the Byzantine empress 40 pounds of gold in exchange for passage through the Sea of Marmara. * Byzantine Diplo: We ask the Lombards to be in peace with the Gepid. We give the Lombards to choices: to pay a small tax each year for the access to the Marmara Sea, or they could give Southern Crimea to Byzantium and they would pass through the Marmara Sea for ever for free. Byzantium would like the Crimean idea more. *OOC (Gepid): OK, I think you misunderstood something. First of all, the Lombards don't have Crimea, it's to the Rus. Also, you do know I'm the one who started the conflict (to help the Franks and stuffs), right? *Lombardy (Diplomacy): We never occupied the Crimea, have no intention of doing so, and would be happy to make peace with the Gepids. *OOC Byzantium: I am sorry I got really confused, ignore everything that I wrote before. *Byzantine Diplo: We deny the Lombards a passage through the Marmara ea. And we send ships to the Gepid coasts on the Black Sea to help them. *Secret to all except for the Gepid: What do you precisely want to do? Do you want to attack the Lombards? *Secret except to Byzantines (Gepid): We want to protect our lands and  help our Frankish allies by expelling the Lombards out of the Mainland. If we don't act now, they will became a danger for the fragile balance of power Europe has, and this could lead to chaos. The Franks are in right there, and we will make sure that the Lombards understant their place. *OOC (Gepid): I'm gonna say it OOC, I'm mainly using the fact that the Lombards passed in the Black Sea to help the Franks and maybe gain some lands up north (as part of my secret agenda). But I said that Out of Character, so you don't know that! Hope that answer everyone questions to "Why I declared war?". Gepid Republic: Amaric Valomer is elected as Consul, his actions in the Middle East and his fight against the Lombards, who are hated since the end of the War for the Ashes of Rome by the Gepids, making him popular. The Senate and the army have his back, hoping he will bring success to the Gepid Republic against barbarians and unbelievers. First of all, Amaric pass a year to solidify his conquests, also using that time to explain to the Locals what he plan to do with the occupy region, a Gepid Principality, just like Benevento. This would mean religious autonomy, and the control of the region by a local Prince, not a Gepid foreigner. He begin searching among the population and nobility for a suitable Prince, hoping to find a good Christian to rule the land. He also emphasize on the fact that that returning under the Caliphate would be must worst than this. After securing his possessions (and the population loyalty, or at least support), he led his forces north, following the frontier with the Rus, hoping he could obtain the Sea of Azov and then call for peace, although he doesn't believe that the new Caliphate will accept any of his possible conditions. On the Lombard front, the troops led by Gaiseric Valomer finally arrive in the lands occupied by the Lombards. Gaiseric, instead of jumping right on, wait for a year or so, hoping to find a front less protected (and were there is less war going on), hoping to use the Frankish troops as bait in order to conquer the lands occupied by the barbarians. As soon as they'll gain some lands, they will fortify the region in hope of making it their headquarters in the war. In the Republic, the Senate is voting for the construction of more ships to protect the entrance of the Danube, hoping to keep the barbarians of Gotland out of their lands. Churchs and priests began to spread an anti-Lombard feeling among the population, remembering them how much the raids done by those barbarians. Kingdom of Burgundy: King Theuderic has noted the presence of Frankish troops within Burgundy's borders and the unrest of the provinces in Italia, and does what he can to make it clear to everyone, especially King Louis and the other leading Franks, that he was not attempting to become independent of the Frankish Kingdom, but of Queen Ygritte, and that he was fortifying the Burgundian lands in order to stop her from retaking them, and he will thus accept being a part of the Frankish Kingdom once again now that she is dead. He also pens a letter to King Louis stating, among other things, his support for dividing the Empire into semi-autonomous regions, if only to decrease unrest. Theuderic decides to keep the title of King, because in his own words, "Archduke and Grand Duke sound stupid". Theuderic also dispatches 25,000 additional troops to Italia to restore Frankish control, and the Burgundian Fleet of 80 Ships is finished at Provence, and is sent to patrol near there. Infrastructure is improved, and the introduction of new technologies is proceeding well. King Theuderic has begun recruiting the best and brightest of his people, from the men-at-arms to the knights, from the peasants to the lords, into a new elite called the Chevaliers du Lion, or Knights of the Lion in English. The Burgundian and Provençal people are still very supportive of Theuderic, and a large portion of them are gladly joining the army, though some might prefer to remain at home where it is warm and they always have food and water, and don't have to fight to the death with other people. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We will begin to create ships known as the longships to sailing down the Kura, Aras and the Sefid-Rud river. We begin supplying the Khazar the people weapons to join our army and rise up to join our nation. We take advantage of the fact the the entirety of Persia has thrown into chaos and send in our troops to secure and conquer them. We tell the Gepids that we will buy the land of our people since they will not be able to control and we can fund their efforts. We will tell the Avars that they should also back off from Khazar-populated lands. We will use a “Blitzkrieg” tactic in both areas as the cavalry will quickly destroy small forces, supply lines and seize strategic locations quickly and then the infantry secures everything else. We do the typical forced conversions or take your women, children and destroy your homes. *Gepid Dip: Unless the Khazars could help us against the Lombards (which they clearly can't), we don't see any reason to exchange lands with them, especially since the Byzantine Empire promised us lands in exchange of help.Celtic Secret: Production of lead swords is set to an immediate halt since they prove to be an utter failure. Although research for weaponized lead is not set to halt as I see further use for it in the future. Celtic Secret: Production of lead swords is set to an immediate halt since they prove to be an utter failure. Although research for weaponized lead is not set to halt as I see further use for it in the future. Further excavation of the Pictish lands give proof to a very minor amount of Copper and Tin. Maybe enough for one hundred full Bronze swords. Further research is being done on what to do with this small amount for maximum effectiveness. Worst case scenario we instead use the bronze for arrow heads instead. I send even more supplies and about one thousand people to the colonization just above the Danes. The people are instructed to further extend their borders as far as they can until they reach the Danish borders. And once the borders are reached to build fortifications to properly highlight the border between our lands. I send skilled masonries to help build stone walls and roads. (Infrastructure improve) Ankou seems to be a model child for the next person to take the throne. He has excellent grades and his fighting skills may even surpass mine. While his sister Sventhia is the exact opposite. She seems to be a rebel that doesn’t listen to anything anyone tells her. My young squire Aurthur is even better suited for the job than Ankou. Not only does he have the book smarts, the fighting skills, and the charm, he also seems to be a natural born leader. I have decided to make him leader of the Celtic Patrol (Like the U.S. coast guard). China: With peace agreed to with the Chenla, we divert all forces to Taiwan and Manchuria, as well as the border with the Ugyhurs.''' Scientists continue to try and improve to cannon, and attempts go as far as mounting them on elephants, and making aiming systems(that do not work). As Traders are now able to go through Chenla, and trade resumes to normal, although traders still are not trading as much. A group of people, believing that China is doomed, set sail to the east to find "The Next Lands". They never return, or are heard from again. The navy continues to improve. Lombardy:' ((Sorry, this has to be the shortest turn yet (events in my actual'' life have conspired to rob me of precious map-gaming time). The first chance I get, I promise to release another absurdly long turn to make up for all previous missed opportunities)). Lombard forces continue to slow their advance into Frankish territory, and work on undermining existing Frankish supply lines further. Several thousand more Gutes (henceforth to be reffered to as "Geats") are sent to the Slavic coast and make south post-haste, setting up positions along the old east-west trade route between Saxony and Russia, and repairing the local long-abandoned forts to repel the Gepid invasion. The Lombard commanders are banking on several things to assure victory: #The Lombards are in a well-fortified position. #The Lombards control a territory much more friendly to them than to the Gepids. The Lombards are a known and positive quantity, while the Gepids are not (and they're allied with the demon Franks). #The Lombards know the land, and, in the past guerrilla fighting, have entrapped hectares of the countryside for defensive purposes. #The Lombards have a much easier supply line than the Gepids; the Lombards need only move troops across from Gotland to Slavia and then march them south, while the Gepids have to go considerably farther, travel completely on foot, and cross through several other nations' territories on the way. #The Lombards have more experience than the Gepids. While the Gepids have fought a war, it was one in which they had comparatively little involvement, whereas the Lombards have been fighting for over a century. King Hennig sends a small force of royal guard to accompany some Greek architects who, experienced from long years of testing out fortification-construction strategies in Gotland, immediately begin to build up the old Lombard and Slavic walls. Meanwhile, a group of Lombard ships from the Bay of Biscay break off, travel into the Mediterranean, cross to the Aegean, and anchor off Gallipoli (which a scouting squadron based at Lesbos).  King Hennig orders scribes and scholars to travel around Gotland, Slavia, and northern Lombardy to record the oral traditions of the local people for instatement into the royal library in Gotland. Lombardy (Diplomacy): A message is sent to the Byzantine Empress: Allow us passage through the Bosphorus, or we'll burn your Aegean islands (all populace and rich) and then force our passage. Our only quarrel is with the warmongering Gepids, who invaded us with no cause (our ships had been anchored in the Black Sea for several years, he only declared war on us when the tried to leave. Surely you must see the righteousness of our cause, and, if not help us, at least not seek to actively hinder our efforts to defend our homeland. Rus' Diplomacy: We send a message to the Lombards telling them that if any of their military forces attempt to go through western Rus' lands they will be taken into custody or killed. Caliphate: The situation in the Caliphate is rubbish at best. We build our military. We decide to temporarily stop the expansion into Africa, so we can concentrate on the situation in Arabia. We build massive fortifications around Mecca, so if the Northern Arabians ace to invade Mecca it will be extremely hard. We begin a fight against Northern Arabia. We would like to have any help from any nation in the fight against Northern Arabia. A worried Caliph moves to Africa. We build our army. FOR A SHORT WHILE, TURNS WILL BE POSTED EVERY OTHER DAY, AT 01:00 UTC. (For an unknown amount of time the turns will be postponed until further notice). Caliphate OOC: Seriously when are turns starting again? I fear that this game is going to die out if a new turn is not posted soon. I was thinking maybe Afunnymouth could do turns until Knoxmoor can do it again? MOD: For the moment, we will be waiting for word from Knoxmoor. If we cannot contact him, we may choose to go ahead anyway. == 775 C.E. ==<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">'''((MAP NOTES: As part of this turn, a few long-overdue tweaks to the map have been implemented. These include:'''
 * Changing the ungodly pinkish color of most of the Uyghurs' border to black (the west will have to wait for someone with more patience) *The Khazars' color has been completely changed, as the color of their occupied territory was identical to that of the Gepids. *The Gepids' color, and that of their principality, has been lightened slightly to make it more distinctive. *Burgundy's color is now actually Burgundy (Hex no. 900020, for anyone who cares). *Lombardy's color is a little bit redder, and a little bit darker (this was a personal choice).<p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">If anyone dislikes their new color, I'd be happy to revert it. I'm also offering a limited-time only color change upon request. This turn, post it in your turn, and we can change your nation's color (within limits).

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<p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"> For not by numbers of men, nor by measure of body, but by valor of soul is war to be decided. -Flavius Belisarius Former Byzantine mercenaries realize that they never existed, and promptly vanish into thin air, leaving their occupied territories to be regained by the local Imperial garrisons '''Queen Ygritte’s death, instead of ending the revolt, is viewed as an act of martyrdom by her followers, who choose a Brittanian noble, Elouan Maël, as their new leader. With their troops rallied, Elouan personally leads an attack that destroys over 30,000 Frankish troops in a series of ambushes across the entire frontier, then pushes into Anjou and Calais. for the purpose of assisting king Louis against the usurper. Instead, they declare that they will support the Portugalian rebels, no matter what any king says, be he French or Lombardian. External advisors note that King Louis would have been better served either resolving the Burgundy issue diplomatically, or waiting until his western war was over before moving. Gepid troops capture a chunk of mostly abandoned West Slavia, and are able to get several considerable fortifications up before the Lombards realize anything. The Gepid propaganda campaign generally fails, as the only raids by the Lombards were minor and occurred over 30 years ago, before most of the potential audience for it was even born.< The Burgundian fleet is completed just before Frankish troops march into Provence, and is able to get to safety before they’re caught. Further inland, public opinion swings dramatically against the traitorous Franks, and locals begin demanding a switch of sides, or deposition of the current Burgundian king. With winters in the north getting colder, Celtic colonists begin to abandon the northern part of the colony, and local leaders force the arriving masons into agriculture, to prevent starvation of everyone involved. The Lombard front begins to see-saw; the Lombards gaining some land in the north, the Franks in the south due to sheer numbers. However, those 100,000 start meeting the same fate as the previous group, and being deserting to return home to provide for their families (they would loot the territory, but over a century of warfare has ensured that there’s not much left for them to take). Traders from the east bring rice to the Kanemi empire, and locals begin to experiment with its cultivation. Zanzibarian territory expands southwards. The Byzantine attack is devastatingly successful, and captures land almost to Mecca, though it is stopped by the Caliphate’s new defenses around the area. The Abbasids ask that more information be provided as to the condition of southern territory, but until the treaty is resolved, a cease-fire would be acceptable, wherein each nation would hold their armies at where they currently stand, and advance no further. The Abbasids warn that any breach of this cease-fire would lead to unending war between their two nations, and hope that the Byzantines are trustworthy enough to uphold their end until a permanent treaty can be decided on. (Your Jeddah attack will not be counted against you, since it was launched before our response was sent, but we do request that you return that land once a treaty is signed). The new Byzantine doctors request several shipments of leeches. The Abbasids take small amounts of land against the Caliphate, but their war is taking too long, and support for their cause diminishes slightly (as most that supported them wanted quick wealth and power, not a decades-long attritional war). With the Caliphate troops now in the north, Khazar attacks in the Caucasus begin to peter-out into failure, while those in Persia are devastatingly successful. The Gupta begin building up their military, using tactics developed both in the Indian-Palan war, and in the ASEAN-Chinese war, turning its army into a massive and fearsome striking force in just a few years. They immediately declare war on Pala. They know that they can’t compete navally, so they keep their navy docked, and instead focus on striking into Palan territory on land, making massive gains. Uyghur troops make small gains in the east, but with Chinese troops no longer needed on the Chu front, the Chinese are able to push further into Uyghur territory than ever before (ironically aided by the Uyghur adoption of Buddhism, as many natives see the powerful China as the greatest champion of Buddhism, and refuse to fight their religious allies. (while many Chinese are either Confucianist or Dao, Buddhism has proved popular in the nation, and is supported by many local northern governments, eager to bring their populations out of their Tengri tribal beliefs). Eastern Chinese generally respond positively to the Chu welfare projects, bringing them further in line with the interests of the Korean government. Korean intellectuals are fairly successful in quelling unrest across southern Honshu, but in the north and parts of Hainan, it only causes the local warlords to seek further isolation to protect their people from the “deadly foreign ideals.” Chinese forces recapture all of Taiwan, but are prevented from doing much of anything on the Chu border, and instead choose to move west towards the Uyghurs instead. The Chinese colonists sent east are never heard from again, though there is speculation over whether they starved to death in the Pacific, settled on one of the many archipelagoes known to exist to the east, or found some large landmass, but were not able to send a report back home. Chinese in the occupied Chenlan territory have mixed feelings over the annexation, but are in general happy, and thankful towards their former government for allowing a peaceful turnover (as none of them want any more war). A group of coastal cities, however, send a delegation to the Chenlan royal court, requesting that they keep their traditional privileges regarding autonomy and trade. Chenlan researchers, experimenting with new techniques, stumble upon the torsion spring, and recommend that the government replace old ballistae with new ones equipped with this innovation. Palan troops, meeting no resistance, and finding an accepting populace, capture Vengi. The Åland islands declare independence as a Lombardo-Danish principality. The final rebel leaders in Frankish Britain are executed, and the entire region settles into a grumbling stability Byzantium:''' Why are the Abbasids against the Byzantine attack on Jeddah? MOD (OOC): It's one of their holy cities, and very close to Mecca (though admittedly my wording was not the best). '''And therefore, a prince who does not understand the art of war, over and above the other misfortunes already mentioned, cannot be respected by his soldiers, nor can he rely on them. He ought never, therefore, to have out of his thoughts this subject of war, and in peace he should addict himself more to its exercise than in war; this he can do in two ways, the one by action, the other by study. -Niccolò Machiavelli Sure, just make this shit up. You could have retconned my turn, or Burgundy's even, but noooo, you just had to go out of your way to be an asshole. MOD (OOC):''' You're responsible for your own turn. If someone else posts something that makes you want to change your turn, you're welcome to do that, as long as the next one hasn't come out yet (and you had days to do so). I am not responsible for your turn. Uyghur Khaganate: Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl, seeing the war as more of a lost cost, decides to sue for peace with China. Chu Dynasty: We import more modern military equipment concepts from the Western world. We are against the merging of the Eurasian Alliance and ASEAN, saying that their culture and interests are different. We also improve on current weaponised firework designs, and naval technology. We decide to end all expansion in Liang China, heavily fortifying our current borders. We continue our Taiwan campaign, sending more supplies to troops stationed there. We attempt amphibious landings in all directions Taiwan from the Ryukyu islands and Batanes (northern Philippines). We capture several elephants so we can breed them and eventually send them to fight for us in Taiwan. We see that the elephants used in Northern China isn’t that effective due to the colder weather and inedible plants. We devote most of our economy to the war effort, increasing the already high agricultural output so that it can handle the demands of hungry soldiers and civilians in occupied areas. We give the people in Occupied China the benefits of Korean rule, trying to gain support for the monarchy. We invest vast amounts of money to education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We try to find trade routes with European countries and substantially increase trade with the countries we already trade with. We introduce more advance technology to our allies in an effort to destroy Chinese influence. We reinforce equality. The population stabilises at 24.7 million people. This figure is excluding occupied regions. We erase the concept of Japanese, Tunguisic (including Manchu), Korean and Ainu racial concepts and replace them with the idea that they are a single culturally and linguistically diverse ethnicity, the “Altaic people”. Tens of thousands of pro-Korean Japanese intellectuals travel to Japan to crush the Japanese independence movement. We propose to China that we can have peace, as long as you cede our occupied areas and Taiwan, as well as ending your aggressive actions against us. We also pressure China to cede Tibet to the Gupta, Yunnan and Guangxi to Chenla, and get your troops out of the Ughyurs. Zanzibar Sultanate: We build more fortresses and bunkers. Our wealth continues to improve even more and we seek for another expansion southward for about 30 px. Miners still mine the caves to gather gold to send to the Caliphate. We expect them good relations and luck. Our troops continue to train as they gain more recruitment in the military. Lombardy: King Hennig dies of syphilis ((https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis; "Pre-Colombian Theory")), and his youngest (and last surviving) son, þróndr Hróaldr takes the throne. Many see him as illegitimate, and instead support Ralfred Nerman, a member of an old Germano-Roman family who won fame leading armies on the continent. However, Gotland's early-warning system and extreme militarization prove to work to work to the new king's advantage, as the rebel leaders are quickly rounded up and either executed or ransomed, according to their station. The Lombard ships in the Aegean move back to their positions in northern France, the Byzantines having called their bluff. Meanwhile, every ship involved in the French blockade moves away from Ygritte's territory, and focuses on blockading only Louis. Small raiding parties begin attacking the coasts of Britain, and propaganda is sent out to the natives exhorting them to stay true to their Germanic heritage, and throw off their tyrannical, effeminate, pseudo-Roman occupiers. Lombard recruiters seek out local resistance cells, and provide them with weapons, money and training. An offer is sent out to every city in Britain; surrender, and the blockade will be lifted. Continue to resist, and the raids will become more intense, until the entire city's either strangled or burned to death. Once enough territory is gained, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of old will be recreated; every city with its ancestral rights, every man woman and child free to worship as they please, and free-trade will be instated between Britain and Lombardy. Furthermore, the British won't be alone in their quest for glorious independence. As soon as enough of a beachhead is established, Gutish troops will begin pouring in to liberate the island, meaning that there's little risk involved. Any potential Frankish reinforcements will be sunk in the English Channel (which has the blockade on it intensified as well). Lombard troops are ordered to fall back to West Slavia, and focus entirely on reclaiming the southern part from the Gepids. Thousands of the most experienced troops on the planet, accompanied by supply-lines decades in the making, assault the virgin Gepid positions, hoping to throw them out with a combination of skill, tactics and attrition (the Gepid supply-line stretches across two to three countries and is much longer than Lombard one). Gotland's fortifications are expanded somewhat, more troops are recruited, and several of the Greek immigrants are hired as scribes to record the deeds of the mighty king þróndr. Lombardy (Diplomacy): King Elouan's France is asked for a truce. In exchange for the Lombard cessation of the blockade, Ygritte will agree to give Lombardy its old lands in Slavia, Lombardy and Saxony, as well as portions of the Frisian Coast. The Lombards point out that this will mean that this will mean that king Elouan will finally have money and an ability to move their ships, and will be fighting a completely broke enemy with no naval projection ability whatsoever. Lombardy (Diplomacy): A similar offer is sent to Louis' France; give us Slavia, Lombardy, Saxony, Frisia, and release Britain as independent, and we will stop making war on you. It may be a big price to pay, but you're likely to lose it all anyway, and it may be the only way to save your kingdom. King Elouan leads a small territory, that's true, but he also has money (though he's rapidly losing it), meaning that he's currently holding a massive upper hand. (Naturally, the two separate diplomatic messages are kept secret from everyone but their intended receivers). Burgundy (OOC): I apologize if this sounds very rude, inconsiderate or some such, but I would like to make it known that I'm completely serious when I say I'm not trying to be independent of Louis, and I'm beginning to wonder if anyone actually cares. If people keep acting like I'm trying to be independent of Francia, then I will likely actually try to do so, and with all this insanity going on, I doubt Francia could stop it. So please, don't assume I'm lying because if you do, then I will end up doing so. Lombardy(OOC): Tell that to the Franks. They seem to be fans of multiple-front wars. Lombardy (OOC): I believe that the Franks were occupying your territory with the intention of turning it into a vassal. (Read their previous turn). '' MOD:  I think that we'll have to delay the next turn for a day, both to give more mods time to get on board, and to allow people who haven't yet realized that the Map Game's running again to do so. '' Rus' Principality: Prince Mstislav oversees a continued campaign of aiding Slavic minorities in Livonia and other locations in order to get them to rise up against their rulers and demand unification with our principality. Funds and advisers are provided to these pro-Rus' groups. Kingdom of Luzon: Seeing as Brunei does not wish to unite with our country in equal circumstances, we withdraw our offer of Union. Instead, we now send settlers into OTL Cebu Island, trying to coax the local populace into joining the country, which will by called the Kingdom of Malaya if they join. The Datu orders the construction of more farms in the countryside. We wish to offer Brunei a trade agreement, and send 5000 soldiers to the north of the country to battle the Chu invasion Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We will begin to create ships known as the longships to sailing down the Kura, Aras and the Sefid-Rud river. We begin supplying the Khazar people weapons to join our army and rise up to join our nation. We take advantage of the fact the the entirety of Persia has thrown into chaos and send in our troops to secure and conquer them. We will use a “Blitzkrieg” tactic in Peiisa while we will while using more traditional tactics in the Caucaus. Chenla (OOC): Why are the territories in Indochina and the Island of Hainan that were under my occupation now suddenly under Gupta control? Hopefully this was just a mistake that can be fixed. MOD (OOC): I have no clue how that happened. If you don't mind waiting a day, I can put up the corrected map (for the records) along with the map for the next turn. My apologies for the mistake. Chenla Kingdom: The torsion spring is immediately implemented into military equipment. The Royal Navy ships quickly take advantage of the new invention and replace the old sinew-based large crossbows with new ones that have the torsion spring installed within them. The Royal Chenla Elephant and Cavalry Corps models a smaller version of the large crossbow with the spring in it so that they can be mounted on elephants. The territories of Indochina under our occupation are annexed into the kingdom and are allowed to maintain their local traditions. The island of Hainan is further fortified. '''A message is sent to the Kingdom of Luzon,  by carrier bird,  that attacking the Chu would be a grave mistake.  Caliphate:''' We countinue to fight against the Northern Arbians, hoping to conquer then after many years of hard war. We countinue to fortify our defences around Mecca so that the Northern Arabians can't conquer it. The Caliph continues to live in Africa peacfully. We still don't expand in Africa with the Northern Arbain problem being too big We decide to invade chaotic Persia, we conquer lands which border Northern Arabia so we can have another front in the war. We build our military and economy. We build our army. We countinue to trade with Zanzibar. However, we don't trade as mush due to lost connection with the Carthage Empire. We would like the Kingdom of Luzon and the Indian Empire to help us in our war against North Arabia. Kingdom of Burgundy: King Theuderic is most displeased with the actions of the Franks, and demands that Louis remove his troops immediately, threatening to switch sides. The Burgundians expect that King Louis will not accept this, and Burgundian troops have been withdrawn back to Burgundy, particularly around Dijon, the capital. More troops are being recruited and armed, King Theuderic seeks to improve the military, and the Chevaliers du Lion have assembled at Dijon as well. King Theuderic has also begun construction of more castles and defenses around Dijon, which are expected to be finished by 780, and Burgundy currently has an army of about 100,000, many of which have only joined recently due to the apparent betrayal of the Franks. The introduction of new technologies is proceeding at a normal pace, and one of the Chevaliers du Lion, Jean de Lyon, has begun construction of a large castle at Neuchâtel with the assistance of his fellow Chevaliers. Gepid Republic: Amaric Valomer is reelected as consul, as well as Roderic Umund for the office of Justicar. The Consul doesn't lose much time and decide to follow the Rus' borders and gain what he can in the Caucasus region, focussing on driving the Muslims out of the region in order to restore it under Christianity (and the Gepid Republic, while they're on it). He tries to reclaim the most lands possible from the disorganized Muslims. The help of the Rus' and Byzantine to block the Danube entrance against the Lombards was well appreciated, and the Senate decide to send a delegation to each nation in order to thank them and give them some gifts in order to keep them “on the right track”. In Lombardy, the fortifications are well, but new. Realizing expanding more would only stretch his forces and weaken his forces, Gaiseric Valomer decide that he must assemble his forces into his fortification and fortified his positions in order for the battle to come. One of the reasons that motivated his decision was a letter from the Senate, which told him new forces were sent to reenforce him, led by Frigivern Aric, second son of the ancient Consul Vithimiric Aric. With this, Gaiseric plan on holding position until the arrival of Frigivern, who could help his break most of the sieges. ' A combination of many, many technical issues is interfering with today's turn. Please be patient, it should be out shortly (barring anything else unfortunate occurring). ' ==780 C.E.== '' Apologies for the late turn. Blame the althistory.wikia.com servers for the first days' delay, and the wiki's markup language for the second.   -The mods.  'War is when your government tells you who your enemy is. Revolution is when you figure it out for yourself.''' -Anonymous. Frankish Italy begins to revolt; several municipalities elect to go over to the Burgundians, deciding that at the very least the greater autonomy would benefit them, some decide to join the revolt in western Francia (hoping to curry favor with any new ruler), while large swathes of the coast declare independence, and split into around 30 new city-states. '''The art of ship-building begins to disappear in Francia, as the coastal cities have been cut-off from the coast for decades. Scavengers begin dismantling the dilapidated docks for scrap-wood, and most merchants in the country have signs on their buildings announcing a blanket refusal of any offer of marine transport. The Gepid reinforcements fight valiantly, but, after a few weeks of battling the entire Lombard field army, are forced back into the forests of northern Albion, and sent fleeing. A month later, the Gepid soldiers garrisoning their new forts follow on their heels. The Lombard commanders decide to leave a small force of cavalry to take over their abandoned positions send warning in the event of a Gepid return, then go back to fighting the Franks. Desertions continue in the incredibly demoralized Frankish Army in Saxony, as casualties from both battle and an angry populace mount rapidly. Its total strength is now estimated at only 60,000, all badly-equipped, hungry, and resentful of their commanders and government. The Livonian Slavs express some interest in an arrangement with the Rus’. The Moldavians and Southern Slavs (those in the Balkans) also seem swayed by their offer. Lombard emissaries are told by King Elouan that he cannot, in good conscience, give away Frankish territory to the Lombards, no matter what the cost. However, several generals, dissatisfied by Elouan’s handling of the war effort, contact the Lombard emissaries. Money changes hands, and a few days later, the rise up in a sort of counter-revolt (counter to the revolt, but not for the Frankish monarchy). The islands of Mallora, Minorca, Ibiza, Formentera, and Caballera start requesting more autonomy from the Carthaginian Empire. Celtic colonists expand their territory somewhat, due to a succession of mild winter, and request greater autonomy from their government. The same colonists strike up friendly relations with the local Sami natives, and start using their traditional fur cloaks, and also begin incorporating peat into the designs of their houses. A number of cities on the coast of Britain hesitantly accept the Lombards’ offer, but most decide to, at least for the moment, take their chances with the Franks. A few Egyptians in Vermundia begin agitating for greater autonomy. Zimbabwean settlers begin to conflict with colonists of the Caliphate. The Khazars capture some more land in the Caucasus, as well as massive amounts in Persia. The Gepids expands north in the region, taking advantage of the Caliphate weakness, even gaining the Azovian coast. The Byzantines are pushed out of Arabia due to the inaction of their commanders. Chinese troops advance a few miles more into Southern Uyghur territory. Gupta ships are sighted off the coast of Sri Lanka. Chu landings in Ryuku and the Batanes meet with no resistance, and the islands are quickly occupied and incorporated into the Korean Empire. Their attempts to land in Taiwan, though, are repelled by China’s large army on the island. Popular support for Chu rule in occupied China continues to grow. The Japanese people start putting up even stiffer resistance against their impending “Chosenization,” and raids begin on Korean travellers by the organized northern military leaders and groups of patriotic highwaymen. The Sailendra Kingdom of Java begins construction on the Borobudur temple. Cebuan tribesmen refuse to join Luzon and turn away their settlers. Brunei accepts Cebu’s trade agreement. Gupta invasion of Pala continue, with Gupta finally reconquering the Bengal as well as northern part of the eastern Pala, bringing back in the Kingdom regions that were lost a hundred years ago during the First Great War of India. Although Pala begin to organize defences, the Gupta Dynasty seems at its peak. The presence of Gupta on the border of the Indian Empire make many nervous, as the supremacy of the Empire is challenged by its old enemy. Some even spoke of the end of India, and many believe a conflict between the two powerful nations is inevitable. Uyghur Khaganate:''' Buddhism continues growing in popularity and followers and several Buddhist temples are being built in parts of the nation. Fighting against China continues, though Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl continues to sue for peace with China. *China accepts the peace, on the terms that it be a white peace. *Uyghur Diplomacy: Khagan Qutlugh Bilge Köl agrees and accepts a white peace. Chu Dynasty: We import more modern military equipment concepts from the Western world. We also improve on current weaponised firework designs, and naval technology. We offer peace to China in exchange for the strategically important Taiwan. We attempt amphibious landings in all directions Taiwan from the Ryukyu islands and Batanes (northern Philippines). We capture several elephants so we can breed them and eventually send them to fight for us in Taiwan. We see that the elephants used in Northern China isn’t that effective due to the colder weather and inedible plants. We send 25,000 troops to Batanes, and warn them if Luzon invades our territories in Batanes, we will end the trade (the exporting of excess agricultural produce and porcelain products) that your people heavily depend on for incomes. We will also not be hesitant at using force. We devote most of our economy to the war effort, increasing the already high agricultural output so that it can handle the demands of a larger population. We annex our Chinese territories and several unincorporated territories near Japan. We give the people in our Chinese territories the benefits of Korean rule, trying to gain support for the monarchy. We invest vast amounts of money to education to produce a well-disciplined, innovative populace. We try to find trade routes with European countries and substantially increase trade with the countries we already trade with. We introduce more advance technology to our allies in an effort to destroy Chinese influence. We reinforce equality. The population (with Chinese territories) is measured at 35.7 million people. This figure is excluding occupied regions. We erase the concept of Japanese, Tunguisic (including Manchu), Korean and Ainu racial concepts and replace them with the idea that they are a single culturally and linguistically diverse ethnicity, the “Altaic people”. Tens of thousands of pro-Korean Japanese intellectuals travel to Japan to crush the Japanese independence movement. *Luzon Dip: Our apologies, I thought that Batanes was included into my territory. We will withdraw all of our troops from the area. Zanzibar Sultanate: We still continue to expand 50 px south for more mining locations that miners can explore. Wealth continues to maximize but slowly. The tribes are looking to explore to the south first. The expansion of 50 px that we expand will not affect The Caliphate's borders. We continue to recruit several military troops. Gepid Republic: Amaric Valomer is reelected Consul. With the failure of the expedition in Lombardy come the success of the Expedition in Caucasus. The Consul push as much as he can, but die of old age in 782 while in Sigerica, the city founded by the previous Consul. To succeed him in urgence is elected as Interim Consul Goderic Hunigild. His first actions are to clear up the loose ends of the last Consul. He send a letter to the Lombard King, saying the expedition (or what's left of it) is officially over and that no incursions in Lombard territories shall be done as long as he is Consul. He also proclame the Principality of Abkhazaria in the Caucasus, naming Barjik Arjikid the Prince of the Principality.  With this done, he focus on restoring a fleet for the Republic, and send engineers to the Byzantine Empire and other Christian nations in order to learn new naval technologies. Goderic express his desire to built the Gepid Republic as a naval power for now on, especially with the new principality only accessible by sea. *Lombardy (Diplomacy): His majesty, King þróndr Hróaldr thanks the Gepids for their stay, and politely asks them to leave a positive review of the country on Yelp. '''Caliphate would like to end the Northern Arabian war of independence with the Treaty of Mecca. we begin expanding into Central Africa again, only at 2500 pixels due to main efforts going elsewhere. We decide to begin an invasion of Persia from the Emirates.''' We build our military, infrastructure and economy. We build our army and navy. We continue to trade with Zanzibar and the Carthage Empire, trading them gold. We build straight roads throughout the huge empire. We begin to see what people of the Caliphate want and we do it to make sure that a Northern Arabia doesn't happen again. The Caliph remains in Africa till the Treaty of Mecca is signed. We would like to sign an alliance with Northern Arabia, the Indian Empire, Chu dynasty, Byzantine Empire, Kingdom of Luzon, Gepid Republic and the Korean Empire. We build many houses and new cities. We continue to defend Mecca. *Lombardy (OOC): The Chu Dynasty is the Korean Empire. Khazar Khaganate: We build up fortifications to stop any threats against our de facto borders. We will continue to dish out dromons to keep control of the Caspian Sea and to destroy ports our enemies may have. We will begin to create ships known as the longships to sailing down the Kura, Aras and the Sefid-Rud river. We begin supplying the Khazar people weapons to join our army and rise up to join our nation. We take advantage of the fact the the entirety of Persia has thrown into chaos and send in our troops to secure and conquer them. We will use a “Blitzkrieg” tactic in Persia while we will while using more traditional tactics in the Caucausus. Kingdom of Burgundy: King Theuderic decides, after due consideration, that neither of the Frankish rulers will treat the Burgundian people well, and declares himself independent, with 150,000 Burgundian soldiers backing him. Jean de Lyon's massive castle near Neuchâtel, named Château des Lions in honor of the Chevaliers du Lion, has been completed and could likely hold against a siege of 50,000 for several years. In order to support the military developments going on, King Theuderic seeks to improve the economy, and the various defenses across the country have been constructed. King Theuderic offers the Saxon people protection, food and, perhaps best of all, lower taxes if they will join Burgundy, stating that "I see the Saxons and Burgundians have something in common. We have both been betrayed by the Franks." He offers this to the Italians as well, but doubts they will accept it. King Theuderic cuts off Frankish supplies through Burgundy, and again demands they withdraw their troops, telling them that he will not ask again. New technologies are being introduced as fast as anywhere else in Europe, and the Provençal people are doing what they can to keep the art of shipbuilding alive, constructing some merchant and fishing vessels, and other small, unarmed ships that the Franks occupying Provence are unlikely to object to, and more defenses are being built across Burgundy, as well as more troops being recruited.

Kingdom of Burgundy (OOC): Burgundy is rated very highly on Yelp due to it's low taxes (at least compared to some countries) and friendly people. Seriously, if the Franks weren't involved in all this madness, I'd totally bet on my son Alistair becoming involved with a Frankish woman. Also, King Theuderic leaves a like on King þróndr Hróaldr's Facetome™ Page (Hope people get that joke) and, from experience some time ago, posts a positive review of Lombardy on Yelp. Prince Alistair also steps into the room for a moment, and recommends to the Mods that they archive some more turns, as the page is getting rather long.