Lords of the Earth

Campaign One

An Age of Air and Steam

Turn 213

Anno Domini 1755 - 1756

“Hussites are never leaderless! God is with them. And they were Iranians for Christ’s sake. If anyone asks, wer’e saying the city was so squalid and rank it was not worth the powder to fire our guns. I still think God would have smited down the ‘ranians even with all their bonuses.” Quote from artillery Sergeant Haspurn, Knights Royal Ceremonial heavy artillery 4th battery, “Walls? We don't need no stinking walls! You think I'm going to lug that thing to the top of some wall on what I get paid? This ain't the Swedish army you know.”

Turn 213 Orders Due By Friday, October 11^th, 2002.

Announcements

All Notes, Clarifications and Announcements have been moved into their own Notes document. There is also a new Modern Era rules supplement.

You must read them both! Do so now!

http://www.throneworld.com/lords/lote01/l1_notes.html

http://www.throneworld.com/lords/lote01/lote_rs_3_1_1.html

North Asia

Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
Condotierri	5i, 2a [1gp each]
Captains	Saigo Tsugumichi (M968) [5gp] Bantag Yen (MB77) [10gp]
To hire, please contact…	Pacific Mercenary and Trust Corporation
Quality Ratings	i15 w15 s18 c12 a12 z3

Tokugawa Japan (Shinto, Tokushima on Shikoku)

Kii Yoshimune, Shogun of All Nippon, Daimyo of Manila, King of the Philippines, The Sea-Spear, Monster-Slayer.

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

Pacific Mercenary & Trust (Shinto, Kryztn on Luzon)

Juchen Agoi, President and Executive officer

Diplomacy Hafez (^mf), Saigon (^mf), Angkor Wat (^mf), Monorom (^mf), Mundripara (^mf), Krungthep (^mf), Iruka (^ma)

Still attempting to dig out of the public relations hole created by his youthful indiscretions, Agoi sent large sums to the Aztecs, Thai and Ming. Some of the payments were ill-disguised bribes, but what was an honest merchant to do in these troubled times? Still, his workers were very busy, particularly in the Ming city of Kwangchou, where they were building a huge complex of workshops, foundries, rolling mills and other infrastructure of modern industry.

The efforts in Kwangchou also occupied a fair portion of the Company fleet, but even more ships (previously deployed to India in an effort to evacuate phantom refugees from the trouble subcontinent) were sent east to the Amerikas. There was some trouble down in Iruka, where Captain Keiryaku was shot dead by hostile Afriqan merchants.

The Pure Realm (Buddhist, Fusan in Silla)

Great Master Wan Ho, Abbot of the Wing Kung Temple of the Greater Vehicle of the Message of the Bodhisattva

Diplomacy Hanoi in Annam (^ch), Fujian (^ch), Kwangsi (^ca), Kienchou/Henyang (^ch)

Master Ho moved his offices to the far end of Fusan, where the only noise was the banging of stonemasons repairing the city wall. He sighed with relief! Ah, no more quarrelling students, outraged old men or foreigners with strange ideas traipsing into his office at all hours of the day and night. Letters were dispatched to the Chinese temples, urging the local bonzes to support the construction of a royal road from Lingtung to Kienchou.

With a heavy heart, Wan Ho also released many of his clerks, countingmen and tea-girls to the direct employ of the Thai and the Ming. Stunned by this turn of events, many of the former employees sought other work. Particularly the tea-girls.

Finding the squealing of cranes and the shouts of workmen almost as distracting as the debaters, Wan Ho packed up his office and moved to the city of Akone on Okinawa. From there he hoped to improve communications with the priests and temples in distant Burma (who had lately stopped replying to his missives).

This helped immensely, though some projects were already suffering, as did the completion of the great temple in Kwangsi. Now some kind of order was restored to the Realm. Tithes could be collected!

The Manchu Mongol Empire (Buddhist, Harbin in Shangtu)

The Dread Lord Manchu Zao Ma, King of Kings, the God-Personified, The Eternally Victorious and Divine Emperor of the Middle Kingdom, the Celestial Emperor, Smiter of the Barbarians, The Bulwark of Civilization, The Son of Heaven, Most Favored of Bodisvatta, The Supreme Master of the Universe Before Whose Feet the Craven Ming Grovel, The Son of Heaven, the Divine Light of Wisdom, Gurkhan of Khitai, Lord of the Tribes, Beloved of his People, The Manchu, Merciless Destroyer of all those who talk Too Much

Diplomacy

The city of Shenyang in Liaotung expanded, while the government made a great effort to clean up the slums and sewers of Tungur in Bandao.

The interest of the Manchu in the northlands continued to be intense. Jade priest missionaries spread through Khrebet and Kajar, reminding the locals of the Buddha and restoring old temples and shrines. The edifices of the Lord of the Winds were cast down wherever they were found. General Wai also led his army into Khrebet, looked around, questioned the locals and then withdrew after the city fathers of Altar threw rotten cabbage at him.

The Kingdom of Prester John (Maclan in Tuhnwhang)

Megan Corrigan, Khagan of Karakocho, The White Goddess, Wolf-Sister of the Altai

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

The Divine Kingdom of Judah (Pienching in Honan)

Wahu Chahi, The Hand of God, Champion of the Hosts of Christ, Celestial Emperor, huey tlaotani

Diplomacy No effect

“These divisions of faith which afflict other realms,” the Hand of God declared in an encyclical which was distributed to every single church, stupa, temple and monastery throughout the Empire, “will not afflict Our own. From this day forward, the weight of law will weigh against any man, woman or child who assaults, denies or inflicts harm upon another by basis of religious preference.”

Though he maintained his Catholic titles, Jiang-zhi was declaring nothing less than the end of religious preference in his realm, and placing the government and the law courts above matters of faith. The Catholic priests at the court screamed bloody murder, while the Pure Realm monks chortled in glee – for a little time. Next on the books was a complete revision of land use law which would tax all religious properties, regardless of their faith.

This day had been long in coming, coupled with a long-standing practice of fostering community self-rule at the village and township level. The Imperial Army stood ready, in case there was a violent reaction…

Down in the south (while the Court was waiting to see who wanted some smacking), another program started to encourage settlements in the Devastation. Unfortunately, those who went into the wasteland found the land still poisoned, the water foul and their homesteads were constantly attacked by tormented beasts and things like men who desired only flesh to eat. The border-watch was forced to step up patrols.

Enormous investments were also made to repair the last of the damage from the Blow in Shantung, Tsainan and Piencheng itself. In fact, the makeover for the capital was truly stunning, including a monumental expansion of the University district – every single building was replaced, and huge quadrangles of dorms were built to house a projected student population of nearly 50,000. Whatever faults he might own as a man, Jiang-zhi dreamed on a scale no one had ever seen. Only an attempt to start widespread yam cultivation in Langshan failed.

Wisely, the missionary work in the north-east stopped. A large number of troublesome priests were packed off to Gaxun Nur, where – after generating a suitable number of martyrs – some headway was made among the Moslem nomads. Many of the priests, however, threw down their Bibles in disgust. Why try to spread the faith among the heathen when the Emperor himself was reducing Catholicism to the same level as the Buddhists, the Nestorians or – for that matter – the damnable Hussites?

The same reaction of discontent rippled across the Empire, but old Yui-Yen and his father before him had laid their plans well – the people did not revolt or rise up – but instead the landed nobility educated in the Catholic schools for the elite saw their privileged way of life now in danger. Unlike the mass of Buddhist and Catholic Chinese who toiled to keep the Empire running, the great Yaqui and Tarahumara lords were wedded to the Church. Jiang’zhi’s plans to create a representational government at the provincial level, plus rumors of a land reform program, hurled a spear right at the heart of their power.

Into this simmering discontent rode a cabal of generals – including some Jiang’zhi had banished to the steppe frontier – who plotted to seize power for themselves, restore the Church to it’s rightful place and reduce the foolish Emperor to a puppet. Foremost among them were Waylo and Vicana. In disguise, the Six Traitors gathered in Piencheng, where they planned to take command of certain regiments favorable to their cause and storm the Palace.

Despite a ceaselessly vigilant Secret Police on the watch for just these kind of conspirators, Waylo managed to deceive Jiang’zhi into attending a gala party aboard a pleasure barge in one of the ornamental lakes around the Capital. While the young man was making merry, four rifle regiments commanded by the Traitor Vicana seized the palace and the apparatus of government.

On the barge, as midnight approached, fireworks filled the sky with a crackle of explosions. Waylo departed the barge, surrounded by his bodyguards (a vicious lot of Tibetians). Once he was safely ashore, a signal was given. The barge blew apart in a massive explosion, scattering debris for nearly a mile in every direction. Troops loyal to the Traitors rushed the stunned Imperial Guardsmen still ashore and hewed them down. Those party-goers struggling in the water were systematically butchered.

Waylo made sure to look upon the bloated, mangled corpse of the Emperor for himself before he rode into the city.

General Hao, one of the few Imperial generals who had not conspired in the plot, was also taken unawares and murdered before he could rally his men against the coup. The only other commanders who remained loyal to the ancien regime were Han in El’Khudz, and Tsuku and Thandu in distant India.

While the stunned populace wondered what would happen next, the Traitors were engaged in their own brutal little struggle to see who would ascend the Celestial Throne. Shockingly, a month of murders, arrests, alliances made and broken and sheer treachery did not see Waylo (the mastermind of the plot) raised to the Throne, but instead the unremarkable Hai-Yen, a native Chinese from Ningsia province. Put to the test, the “rat” proved more vicious and sneakier than the rest.

Hai-Yen celebrated his ascension by ordering a purge of the remaining generals, outlawing Han, Tsuku and Thandu for their failure to render him proper fealty and repealing the hated “Balance” Law. Catholicism was declared the one true religion of the people and the state.

Still baffled by the swift reversal of fortune, the people remained quiescent. There were no leaders to call upon them to defend these barely-understood rights. The Laws, barely a year old, were stricken from the books and the rights of the nobility reinforced. With an enormous army at his command, no one was willing to raise their hand against Hai-Yen. Even General Han, who commanded a small cavalry force in El’Khudz, simply disappeared. General Thandu, down in Tharbad, was arrested by his own men upon the arrival of a letter from the Capital declaring him a Hussite traitor. Like Han, Tsuku disappeared, fearful for his own life.

Hai-Yen, mindful of the political forces which had brought him to power, took a Yaqui reign-name: Wahu Chahi and made sure the new generals he raised to power, and the minsters, and others who now ascended, were fervent Catholics.

Ming Chinese Empire (Wuhan in Hupei)

Ming-ta Nimma, Empress of China, Hammer of the Barbarians, the Redeemer, Divine Daughter of Heaven

Diplomacy Wuliang (^nt), Ghangde (^ea)

To the surprise of certain factions in the court, Empress Nimma undertook to expand the army and ordered the Ministry of Land Reclamation to begin aggressive patrols into the Wasteland to see where fortresses could be raised to protect an extensive effort to bring the devastation back under cultivation. The ‘old beards’ at court were also rather put off by the Empress’ forgiveness in matters of national honor...

Flunky – Empress, you have a response from Duchess Frieda of Poland. Shall I refresh your memory?

Nimma – No need. I recall the matter of the Duchess quite clearly.

Flunky – (reads letter…)

N – Your comments?

Flunky – Empress, the original reports are quite clear. The Duchess did utter these slanders. The deed took place at a function involving the ambassadors of a great many nations. Great fun was had at the expense of the Ming Empire. The Duchess was foremost in the merriment. It is most insulting for her to lie to you so shamelessly. It would be wise to be strong in the face of this insult and order some Polish shipping-

N – Enough. The Duchess is no doubt a woman of great virtue. You will note her appeal to past familial friendships and her heroic efforts in the present crisis. Your incisive reasoning is of course flawless, but who are you to question the honorable word of such as this Duchess? If she chooses to repudiate her own utterances by pretending that they never were – it would be politic to respect her wish. You may issue an apology to the Polish Court expressing our most sincere regrets at the misunderstanding and inviting the Duchess or her representative to visit the Imperial Court and enjoy our hospitality. As well you may rescind the declaration of hostilities.

Everyone in Kwangtung (Jewel of the South) was very excited by the busy industry of the PM&T crews building a maze of new factories on the outside of town. Something was in the offing! But what? A similar level of activity was making the sprawling metropolis of Wuhan even larger as the Imperial airship yards there expanded by leaps and bounds. The Ming! would not be made fools of by the Europeons!

Though the Ming would seem to have no business meddling in Indian affairs, somehow the Office of Barbarians managed to entangle itself quite thoroughly in the Iran-Arnor war and the (hopeful) settlement thereof. Two fleets were dispatched to India, and the East India Company received a huge payment from the Ming Exchequer. The Empress was also minded to see her widowed sister-in-law Ye Geema out of the house…

Nimma – Did I not tell you I would find you a good husband?

Ye Geema – But, Nimma! He’s a Hussite. You can’t expect me to marry a Hussite. They smell! And he’s merely a boy!

N – The better to train him, dear. And what is wrong with marrying a Hussite? He may one day lead a great nation. It could be worse. He could be one of those Hussites, eh? At least this kind bathes! Think of the adventure! You will have all of Europe begging at your feet for a scrap of attention.

Y – Hmmph. And what if I don’t want to leave China?

N – Well, my husband’s fat uncle from the mountains of Szechwan finds you most attractive. He has a large estate and ten children under the age of twelve who need a strong mother…

Y – You’re right. Europe will be a most excellent adventure. When do I leave?

N – Tonight! You must catch the fleet before it departs Kwangsi so you can join the King of Carthage. You haven’t a moment to lose.

After dispensing with these matters, Nimma moved the court to Wudan Mountain, where she consulted with the masters about a wide variety of topics. They, unfortunately, were not able to help her as much as she had hoped. She was impatient.

The ‘old beards’ were also urging her to get busy and secure the succession which annoyed the Empress to no end. In late summer of ’55 however, the answer to her muttered prayers arrived… Prince Wili (III) of Java appeared with a massive fleet filled with presents, and began paying her vigorous, constant court. Apparently the ships in harbor were filled not only with poets, but musicians, jugglers, doll-makers, Balinese pipe players, dance instructors and every kind of amusement.

“Perhaps I will marry this one too,” Nimma proclaimed, lounging on a silken divan, watching the latest shadow-play performed by Wili’s entertainers. The ‘old bears’ goggled with horror and could barely speak. The prince smiled up at her, entirely smitten. Nimma’s husband (what was his name?) sat in the corner, glowering at the handsome Javan boy.

Rumors of the Empress’ pregnancy proved groundless.

South Asia

Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
Condotierri	30c 30i 10a 5s [1gp each]
Captains	Gemish Huorn (M956) [5gp]
To hire, please contact…	None
Quality Ratings	i15 w17 s20 c11 a12 z5

The Thai Empire (Angkor Wat in Khemer)

Ayutthaya Blajakay “Red Hand”, Emperor of the Thai, Lord of Khemer

Diplomacy Mon (^a)

The Red Hand’s determination to secure his dynasty as the rulers of the old Khemer took a blow when his younger wife Deisana perished in childbirth in ’55. Efforts to break down the casted, slave-holding rural classes slowed appreciably once the news of events in Judea circulated. The fighting in India did not die down, however, as the Emperor dispatched general Nai-thim to take command of the army encamped at Samatata.

At home, the ships of the Pacific Mercenary and Trust continued to throng Thai ports, making a handsome profit from the thriving rice and yam trade. Despite the putative outbreak of peace in India, the Thai maintained their state of war with the remnants of the Yasarid state.

Meanwhile, general Moldyaja (commander of part of the Thai forces in Samatata) had learned of Nai-thim’s reassignment and immediately tried to seize the opportunity to murder Lord Tak-sim and take control of the army. Unfortunately, his skill at skullduggery was quite poor, and he was still trying to get his plot together when Nai-thim arrived, learned of the incipient mutiny and had Moldyaja arrested and executed. Tak-sim breathed a sigh of relief – he was not implicated.

With the army unified at last, the Thai swept into Palas…

Hosogawa Borneo (Kozoronden in Sabah)

Hosogawa Suenaga, Daimyo of Kozoronden

Diplomacy None

Tired of watching independent prospectors stumble down out of the mountains of Linau with bags of gold on their backs, the Hosogawa government moved into highland Borneo will full force, establishing a direct settlement and making Linau a (0bh7) province. Back in the capital there was also a huge effort to expand the system of fabricating shops and craftsmen supporting the airship yards.

The daimyo also dispatched a squadron of ships and merchantmen to support the intervention of the Ming in Indian affairs. The citizens of Leyte were warned a new city would be constructed in their province, and lo! A whole crew of Borang workmen eventually showed up to build a new town.

Java (Sunda in Pajajaran)

Wili III, Great Kahuna of Java, Emperor of the Maori, the Sea Spear

Diplomacy Singapore (^t)

While Pedregon presided over the yearly Monster Island Pageant at the fairegrounds, his son Wili (III) absconded with a sizable fleet (nearly a hundred ships!) and sailed off north to plague the Empress of the Ming with love poems, flowers and mournful wailing under her window at night.

Closer to home, the Javans descended upon Singapore with a winning smile, quite a bit of money and a persuasive tongue. After the Albanian chief of station in Sunda complained about Javan piracy against AEIC shipping in Indian waters, the Kahuna declared his warships would cease searching the merchants for Ice-related goods – even though many such items had been found. This caused a great outcry in the Javan papers: “Albanians Insolent!” they proclaimed irefully.

A great deal of rice, millet and fortune cookies came from Ming along with letters from prince Wili to his father, praising the beauty, kindly nature, keen martial skills and general wonderfulness of the Empress Nimma.

Little did the boy know that he was already Great Kahuna. Pedregon died in the fall of ’56, quietly abed.

The Supreme Primacy of Oro (Fukuzawa in Irith)

Horoku ne Muuta, High Priest of the Shark

Diplomacy Sunda in Pajajaran (^ab), Kokenau in Dolak (^ab), Pocara in Iriadh (^mn)

Despite the presence of the High Priest himself, efforts to secure control of the Oro priests in Singhasari (Kediri) failed. The clergy there were very independent-minded and had no intention of following orders from Fukuzawa.

The Borang Bakufu (Sakuma in Borang)

Izuryama Jemmu, Daimyo of Borang, Lord of the North, Emperor of Austral

Diplomacy No effect

The Japanese continued to clear land in the south, opening up Iriadh for more settlement – which improved the province to 2 GPv. A fleet filled with yet more settlers, merchants and workmen was dispatched to the north, where they made landfall on Leyte island and built the port town of Asaki. The Emperor turned his attention to various trade imbalances and took strenuous steps to remedy them. His son Kunisada took over the immediate reins of government during this time, and really did very poorly, embarrassing his father.

Jemmu received word of a perported Javan agent trying to stir up a revolt in support of the old monarchy. “This is preposterous,” he declared to his ministers. “The Javans helped us overthrow the old monarchy. Still, since he claims to be Javan, we will send him home to Java where he can plead his case.”

The Ming ambassador arrived, requesting assistance in stabilizing the situation in India. Many Borang advisors spoke against this. “Sire, we have enough security concerns in our homeland already. Is it wise to be sending off troops into foreign lands on dubious peace missions?”

“The Ming sent us food when our grain was gone. It is a small thing to respond positively to their request. Besides, it is in our own interests that the situation in India calm down. We will do our part to see that that happens.” The advisors were not so sure Jemmu was correct, but they followed orders none the less.

The Emperor visited the airship factory at Sakuma and inquired why further progress had not been made in production. The factory manager spluttered about lack of resources, unreliable labor, difficulties working with the alloys, problems handling the hydrogen, etc etc etc. “Enough!” Jemmu replied. “I will release more resources to you but I want results!” Then, in an icy voice he said “Is that perfectly clear?” The manager realized more than his annual shark festival bonus was on the line...

Part of Kunisada’s mishandling of public funds led to riots in Fukuzawa at the University where the student stipends for food and housing had been ‘lost’. When troops were dispatched to return everyone to class, a full-scale brawl erupted. The militia opened fire and killed hundreds. The students, dragging the bodies of the dead, seized the university buildings, threw up barricades and discovered – to everyone’s horror – that one of the dead was Princess Maiemo, who had been attending a pre-College algebra class.

The city erupted. Most of the militia fled and the mayor was dragged from his house and chopped to bits in the streets. Black-clad students marched on the armory and seized the weapons there. “Stop the corruption! Justice for the princess!” They chanted, raising a red-and-white Zengakuren flag over the Chancellery tower. The Oro priests, horrified, huddled in the pyramid complex, wondering if they would be attacked.

Lord Shiguro was nearly killed when bandits in Resperache ambushed his caravan. Luckily, he could run really, really fast. Plus, Sir Yoziumi fell down and the bandits stopped to cut his throat and plunder his body. The Oro priests convinced the Emperor to send some troops to India to “secure the peace there”, and so seven thousand-odd Borang were shipped off with the Hosogawa to fight alongside the Ming.

Nanhai Wang’guo (Rabaul on Bismarck)

Sugawara Te Anu, Daimyo of the Southern Seas

Diplomacy None

Enormous fires broke out in the province of Warrego after a very pretty meteor-fall scattered burning debris all over the countryside. Since most of that country is cattle ranches and timbering operations, no one was particularly hurt. Rumors did circulate of odd lights in the sky for several weeks afterwards, but investigations by the local mounted police found nothing.

The Maori Imperium (Joetsura on Te Ika A Maui)

Graustarkana, Regent for…

Takotokino, Lord of the Fleet, Emperor of the Maori, Blessed of Oro, The Big Kahuna

Diplomacy Ostroma (^t)

The cities of Waipukaru in Akaroa and Timaru in Te Wai Ponamu expanded again as the lumbering industry started to kick into high gear. Missionary efforts began in Chotan on Attu, where the Buddhists were no longer welcome.

Central Asia and India

Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
Condotierri	5c, 5i [1gp each]
Captains	Rajah of Vijashuram (M836) [5gp] Eon of Axum (MB45) [10gp]
To hire, please contact…	None
Quality Ratings	i16 w20 s17 c11 a13

Hussite Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
The Hussite Legion	5hea, 3i [2.0 gp each], based at Bhuj on Kutch Island.
Captains	Robert Clive (M757) [5gp]
To hire, please contact…	Albanian East India Company
Quality Ratings	c12 i15 a14 w17 s20

Shi’a Imamat (Yathrib in Kosala)

Rhemini, Ayatollah of the Shi’a, Voice of Allah

Diplomacy None

Continued to cower in a basement in Yathrib.

Yasarid India^N

Faced with a renewed Thai invasion from the east (and there were no tricks left to stall their advance), the Yasarid partisans in Ahvaz abandoned the city. Though they attempted to convince emir ben-Amir-Adin to join them in flight, that worthy elected to remain behind and defend his city against the pustule-ridden Buddhists.

Lord Dhenuka, therefore, took a small force of men and rode northwest in haste, his banners furled, his men’s signs and signets hidden. They crept through Maghada, keeping to the foothills of the Himalayas, seeking to break through into Arnor lands and hurl themselves upon the demon-infested Hussites one last time…

The Bengalese coast was rocked by a powerful earthquake centered in the province of Kalinga. The small city of Khalil was essentially flattened by the shockwave, and a fire swept through the remains, sending thousands of citizens fleeing into the countryside.

Abandoned by the last of the Yasarids, the shahen of Palas and Gaur rallied their countrymen to resist the Thai invasion. Some of the lesser lords held out hope the Lion of Bundelkhand would succor them, but the shah of Palas already knew a deal had been cut, leaving his domain in Thai hands if he could not hold it himself. Thus, an Islamic army of some ten thousand men were raised and sallied forth to hold the crossings of the lower Ganges against the Thai invaders (who, sadly, had come well equipped with warships and river-boats).

At Khulna the Moslem princes gave battle against more than twice their number of Buddhists and were soundly defeated. Under the more-than-able command of Nai-Thim, the Thais crossed the river in a lightning stroke, crushed the Moslem flank and scattered the rest. Palas fell under their sway, again, and Ahvaz was besieged by General Tak-Sim while Nai-Thim secured Gaur.

Hammered by the guns of the Thai fleet, as well as a large siege train on land, Ahvaz capitulated by the end of ’56. All Bengal was now under the Thai flag.

The Southern League (Amon Hen in Karnata)

Robert of Kakatiya, King of the South

Diplomacy All failed miserably…

After intensive diplomatic maneuvering (most of which occurred far from India, in the council rooms and throne rooms of Europe) a tentative peace was struck between the northern Hussites and the Iranian (dare I say Aryan invaders?). This concerned the lords of the League for part of the settlement between the Von Hessens and their enemies was the declaration of a Treaty of Union between the remnants of Arnor and the League.

This stuck in the craw of many of the southern Lords, who knew too well they had been abandoned to the mercies of the Moslem Yasarids in living memory, and now the Von Hessen came crawling to them for refuge. Both Maximillian of the Carnatic and Joseph of Satava argued fiercely against any kind of alliance with the ‘thrice-damned northerners’ and their cursed royalty.

Still, King Robert had been made more than a few reassurances by foreign powers and he put his X to the declaration as the ambassadors from Ming, Carthage and Persia looked on:

From this day forth, the lands of the Southern League and Arnor will be as one. Under the banner of the Southern League this Diplomatic Union will work to seek peace in the war-torn lands of India. The Union shall be one of equals between the Von Hessen family and the King and Lords of the South. Any and all aid passed between the lands of the Union will be freely given in order to provide for a more perfect Union and will only be given in times of absolute need. May God bless this Union.

Meantime, a second arrangement had been struck between the League and the Chandellans. Under these terms (mostly secret) the newly rebuilt League army moved north and invaded the ex-Yasarid province of Dahala. The rajah of Tripuri – having just received a letter from Bundelkhand informing him he was now a vassal of the Chandellas – hurried to gather his men into the city and dispatched messengers to Kuhman Singh, pleading for assistance.

King Robert laid siege to the city, but found himself lacking the troops to do justice to the envelopment. He could not keep the locals from slipping in and out of Tripuri, though he did make their lives very difficult by constantly shelling the town. Without Tripuri under his control, Dahala was also still in dispute.

Farther south, a proposed expedition to capture Chola (also now a Chandellan possession) was scuttled by the necessity of Baron Stephen’s army to remain in Pandya and Mozul as a garrison.

A great deal of construction underway at Fornost by the Albanians saw fruit when the enormous zeppelin Fellowship made landfall at the new airship mooring there in late ’56. Nearly two hundred passengers debarked, having made the trip from Macedonia in less than a month.

Emirate of the Chandellas (Bundelkand in Chandela)

Kuhman Singh, prince of Bundelkhand, Lion of the North

Diplomacy Princess Jinma’s patrimony (^f), Maghada (^f)

Buddhist missionary work continued to plague the eastern Moslems, though with the troubles afflicting the Pure Realm hierarchy, their effort was rather weak. The Buddhists made some gains in Gaur and the city of Leakai, but lost ground in Palas, Samatata and Assam.

Singh was riding in the hills of Maghada when he came upon a ragged troop of sirdars sitting beside the road. With a single glance he realized who they were and waved his guardsmen back. Alone, he rode up to the head of the column, where a dejected-looking Bengali in a turban was picking stones out of his horses’ hoof.

“Good day, sir.” Singh said politely. “You and your men look like you’ve come a long way.”

“We have,” growled the Bengali, looking up. With the Indian sun blazing behind the rider, he could not really see his face. “This wretched hill country is hard on the horses and worse on the men… we’ve not eaten in two days.”

“My estate is not far, hajji. I would be greatly honored if you and your followers would join me for dinner. There are many of you, I grant, but my house has ever been hospitable to travelers.”

The Bengali stared at the man on the horse suspiciously. He should continue on – he had resolved upon a plan… but the road was long, he was exhausted, his men were becoming restless, and there was something about this backwoods nobleman that implied grace and trust alike. “Very well, sir. We will be your guests for a day.”

“For as long as you would care to stay.” The man on the horse turned, pointing back down the road. “Only two miles on there is a junction. I will have servants waiting to direct you, with water for your men and horses.”

The Bengali swallowed, suddenly abashed. He recognized, at last, the man’s profile. Kuhman Singh, the Lion of Bundelkhand!

Lord Dhenuka’s heart eased and for the first time in months he felt as if he could sleep easy when night came.

General Ahnam marched off into the south, making his way down the Bengali coast. The province of Chela was granted to the Southern League (and for a wonder, did not immediately revolt). Ahnam took custody of Madurai and Zefara for his king before entering Chola to a tumultuous and ecstatic welcome by the citizens. News had sped before the Lion’s general, bringing word the Princess Jinma had been adopted by the Chandellan rajah. Muslim India was once more united.

Much to the surprise of most pundits in South India, the long-independent rajah of Polonarva (keeping very quiet indeed on Ceylon) agreed to accept the protection and overlordship of the Republic of Sud Afriqa. The presence of a strong RSA fleet and a very sizable army in his lands probably helped, plus the prospect of being shielded from the insanity on the mainland.

The Realm of Arnor (Schwarzkastel in Edrosia)

Peregrin von Hessen, Rajah of India, Duke of Delhi, Grand-Duke of Aballach, Prince of the Black Tower

Diplomacy None

His realm overrun by the hated Iranians, Peregrin (already in exile) fled south and disappeared, Moslem assassins dogging his every move. Despite their fanatical pursuit, the Duke managed to escape their clutches and vanish. His son Saul, left behind with a token force in Bhuj, was forced by the Realm’s erstwhile allies to sign a humiliating peace treaty. “This curst paper is the doom of every Hussite in India,” the boy declared as he signed the declaration of peace.

Iran-Arnor Treaty

1. TERRITORY

The Realm of Arnor will cede all territory currently occupied by Iran to Iran with the following modifications:

To Iran:

Rights to Bauluch

Rights to Ajmer

Jats, ceded from Arnor

Chitor, ceded from Arnor

Cities of Multan and Peshawar, ceded from Arnor

To Arnor:

Uttar Pradesh, ceded from Iran

Rights to Avanti

To Afghanistan:

Carmania/Al-harkam - The transfer of this province will proceed as follows:

The turn after Iran is able to move its capital out of Al-Harkam, Afghanistan will be allowed to take control of Carmania and half of Al-harkam.

After sharing control of Al-harkam for five turns, Iran will relinquish total control of the city to Afghanistan.

2. POLITICAL

Arnor conditionally surrenders to Iran.

Arnor and Iran immediately exchange agreed upon territories and cities. Failure to meet this basic part of the treaty will invalidate all subsequent agreements and the war will continue.

Borders are declared open, various populations are free to move of their own accord.

Hussite, Ming monitoring force lands in Edrosia, and other locales yet to be determined.

Red Kross humanitarian force lands and sets up in various border locales to oversee refugees.

Arnori leader arrives in Schwartzkastel and escorts the remains of the Arnori government to Rajput.

Iran will cooperate with the IRK concerning the relocation of Hussites under its rule, contingent on the active assistance of the IRK in effecting those relocations.

Peregrin Von Hessen pledges allegiance to the King of the Southern League, who gains control over his foreign policy. Arnor becomes a duchy within that nation.

Iran and Southern League sign a peace agreement. This agreement will last for twenty years, and prohibits any overt or covert action against the other nation.

Iran pledges neutrality in Southern League-Yasarid War.

3. ECONOMIC

Iran, or its representative, delivers 500gp to the AEIC on the first turn, and delivers 100gp on each subsequent turn for 10 years.

AEIC distributes these monies to the various concerned parties. [Arnor / Southern League, Knights of Tabor]

Any flagrant damage to Iranian holdings during the transfer will be compensated by the Hussite circle of nations. This would include City Point/PWB/Airship Yard/Merchant Industrial Site destruction, not incidental damage caused by fleeing refugees.

4. HUMANITARIAN

Neither side interferes with the desires of various populations to move where they wish.

Mechanisms to downplay effects of famine and internecine strife to be determined.

No populations are to be moved in the first two years of the treaty

The treaty was humiliating – the Arnor gave up all rights to the provinces the Iranians had overrun, even though those regions were very strongly Hussite. Only Uttar Pradesh was recovered from the Moslems in exchange. Word spread on the streets of Schwarzcastel, Lahore and Multan for the Christians to flee – but most did not. Unlike the Hindu underclasses, the Hussite settlers were well armed and entirely invested in remaining where they were… There was minor rioting in Edrosia and Schwarzcastel itself, where nearly the entire population was Danish / Greek Hussite.

The presence of a strong International Red Kross army (Carthaginian and Frankish in the main, with a large squadron of Albanians and some Danish ships in support – a total of 26 airships, 70 men-of-war, 48 troop transports, 12,000 men and 32 guns) quelled most of the violence for the time being. The presence of such personages as Emir Hamilcar of Carthage, Princess Margaret of the Commonwealth and Colonel Albrekt of the IRK lent gravity to the situation, though did little to reduce the overall potential for violence.

The provinces of Chitor and Jats, assigned to the Iranians by the treaty, simply revolted and refused to join anyone, even the Southern League. The unexpected arrival of a Ming fleet, accompanied by Hosogawan and Borangi ships, startled nearly everyone – the common people had no idea of the level of negotiation which had managed to forge the treaty. The shops of Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese merchants were burned and looted throughout the lower Indus. Word passed in the night, hand to hand, ear to ear, of the pressures brought to bear on the Duke by foreign powers. The darkness was filled with whispers.

We were betrayed. The Persians and the Chinese murdered us. Where is noble Denmark in our hour of need?

The Shahdom of Iran (Al-Harkam in Carmania)

Bukharm Al’Qadir, Shah of Iran, Overlord of India, Light of the Aryans

Diplomacy

Though the threat of Ming intervention had secured Al’Qadir his new conquests and a little time to make good on them, he still faced a restive and thoroughly hostile population. What tiny portion of Persia he still controlled would soon have to be abandoned, due to the terms of the other treaty he labored under. Faced with such troubles, he scattered his army into garrison and labored mightily to build dozens of new fortified encampments to police the Hussites.

Still, while the various foreign representatives were still gathering the ‘Stalwart One’ fell ill – poison? – and died before the spring of ’55 had arrived. His son Bukharm hurried from Al’Harkam to Schwarzcastel and buried his father in a simple tomb. So was that the son of Al’Qadir signed the treaty, while the son of Peregrin Von Hessen stood, face black with fury, on the other side of the table.

The Iranian subadars standing outside the treaty room were fond of singing while on guard:

Mohammad's Fusiliers

Down through the pass of verdant grass their shovels slung behind them,

came beloved sons with long range guns, in Arnor you will find them.

Like new cadets out on parade they marched through morning clear,

so up kits boys, we're on the road with Mohammad's Fusiliers.

To the north the dusty toil of Subir's deadly ride,

and on the snare Ali prepared, young Jafar by his side.

It's up and at 'em, raise the flag, when the enemy is near,

they're on the run before the guns of Mohammad's Fusiliers.

A thousand miles in our brother's boots, no coffee, rest or tack,

and though we pray five times a day, our boots they found his back.

Into the bloody field they flew, the pale skinned foe appeared,

the Shah did send the mighty men of Mohammad's Fusiliers.

The dust, the sand, the final stand, we fought them man to man,

we laid to rest the very best of our proud and valiant band.

So if you walk the road of Sind and that fateful hill draws near,

doff your cap and praise the men of Mohammad's Fusiliers.

Efforts to establish a reliable census count in the newly conquered territories failed. Worried by this, Bukharm initiated a lengthy series of meetings in Schwarzcastel (now apparently the Iranian capital of convenience, particularly since Al’Harkam was now promised to the Afghans in an attempt to keep the Pashtuns from sweeping down from the Khyber and slaughtering everyone) with the leaders of the Hussite community. What he learned did nothing for the young prince’s sleep at night. He did lavish them with gifts, however.

In the north, the settlement saw the withdrawal of Iranian garrisons from Lahore, Multan and Peshawar and the establishment of Hussite city administration, though still under the threat of Moslem military might. Mand and the city of Cem were yielded to the Persians. In the south, Bukharm issued an edict restricting the activities of ‘mercantile concerns’ in Schwarzcastel (and thus, truly, all of Iran) to the Noble House of Tewfik. Those workshops and facatories which had been built in the city by the Albanians were granted to Tewfik as well.

Very early in ’56, a Ming Chinese squadron arrived at Schwarzcastel and disembarked a lightly armed ‘peacekeeping’ force to secure the city during the peace negotiations. The arrival of the Chinese precipitated a great deal of grumbling among the Hussite citizens of the city – along with rock-throwing, arson and near-riots. The Viet general commanding the expedition managed to keep his men on a tight rein, however, and there were not too many unfortunate incidents.

Late in ’56, another Chinese fleet arrived at Al-Harkam and unloaded a fairly powerful army of Ming and Borang regulars. The massive Chinese junks were escorted by a squadron of Hosogawan trimarans.

Shahdom of Afghanistan (Kabul in Afghanistan)

Ahmad Durani, Shah of the Afghans, Lord of Kabul

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

Kingdom of the Kushans (Astakana in Kush)

Bujayapendra, Blessed of Vishnu, prince of Astakana

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

The Noble House of Tewfik (Al’Harkam in Carmania)

Tewfik Saul, Purveyor of pickled bat heads in aspic

Diplomacy Antioch in Aleppo (^ma), Tikal (^ma), Schwarzcastel in Edrosia (^ma)

Saul rubbed his hands together in glee – the cursed Albanians had been ejected from India and now, thanks to the graces of the Iranian shah, the Noble House had secured possession of all their investments in Schwarzcastel. Tewfiki craftsmen were immediately dispatched to examine the machines, tools and plans therein.

Despite this victory (and the welcome birth of a daughter who could help with the sewing), Saul was disturbed to learn Malik ibn-Dawud had been murdered in the Ethiopian port of Gozer, while Zayn bin-Khaleed had met a messy end in a ‘carting accident’ in Kuwait city.

The Safavid Persian Empire (Semnan in Khurasan)

Safi Bahram, Khan of Khans, Shahanshah of Persia, Prince of Bukhara, Caliph of the East

Diplomacy Bokhara (^nt – but then conquered anyway), Mand/Cem (^ea from Iran), Singapore (^nt)

Despite efforts to procure grain on the international market, and aid rendered by the Islamic Union, many Persian cities were plagued by constant shortages. Thousand of the very young and the old died as the ‘winnower’ crept through every household. The cities of Abas, Ufra, Merv, Kuwait City and Colchis were particularly hard-hit. At the end of ’56, a large shipment of Chinese relief supplies did arrive, but too late.

The civil order of Hahmar province was broken by vicious rioting amongst the various peasant villages. Apparently one village, which had recently built a zenball field, attempted to organize a tournament of teams, charged admission against a prize, and then cheated to win the event. The zenball stadium was burned down and hundreds killed as the teams set upon one another with spiked bats and the violence spilled out of control.

The Vizier, disturbed by the prospect that Kara-Khitai and Otarsh would revolt due to their isolation, took an army of 32,000 men into Bokhara – received the nominal loyalty of the locals – then decided to crush them as an example to the other rebellious provinces. As the Bokharans had barely begun to muster their own milita, the campaign was swift and sharp. Dzambul was occupied and Abbas settled in see to ‘proper administration’ of the region.

Not too far away from the Vizier the Swedish Army of the East (under the command of the notable Dame Maksutov) continued to wander about, getting into trouble. The Bactrians were attacked, the town of Iskander captured, and everything placed under putative Persian rule. Later, in ’56, the same Swedes plagued the villages and shepherds of Tabaristan with bombing raids from zeppelins, stealing the sheep and posting up Persian tax notices everywhere.

Further south, diplomatic efforts in Persia itself failed miserably, but not for want of trying… Al’Maqdisi (the ambassador) was disgusted, particularly when he learned the Persians were busy using the lavish gifts from the Shah to buy guns and build stronger walls around Tehran. Even more critical efforts in the far east fell a little short of the desired goal.

The ARF airfleet operating in Basra returned north, eventually reaching Ufra in Gurgan and loading the mercenary garrison there aboard before flying away across the Caspian.

Despite a tacit agreement between the Vizier and the Shah, young Bahram began to chafe under the power sharing arrangement. Persia is my kingdom, the boy thought, not surprisingly. As a result of these plaguing thoughts, the Shah marched his very small army north to Dzambul, where he entered the city in disguise, accompanied only by a few thousand of his most loyal followers. The Vizier was seized, the Shah took direct command of Abbas’ army, donatives were made to the troops (who acclaimed the popular young king wildly) and the Bactrian general was packed off to live a hermit’s life in a windy hill-fort in Tadzik.

“There! That’s done.” Bahram was quite pleased.

The Karidjite Imamat (Baghdad in Mesopotamia)

Ali bin Abi Talib, kalifa of the Pure and the Faithful

Diplomacy Mesopotamia (^ch), Mosul /Ar-Raqqah (^ch), Syria (^ch)

Sponsored by the Union government, a group of leading Kardijite scholars agreed to form a network of religious schools, a coherent version of the Holy Quran and to revive the ancient waqf which had fallen into great disrepair during the struggles against the Europeans and the Daemon Sultan. After some discussion they elected to base the new kalifate not in Damascus (as tradition would hold), but in Baghdad … as ancient Damascus was mostly a ruin. The Karidjite faith spread through the provinces of Hahmar, Media, Urmia, Armenia and Cappadocia.

The Islamic Union (Ar-Raqqah in Mosul)

Ali Adin, Sultan of Ar-Raqqah, Prince of Mosul

Diplomacy Petra (^a) / Aqaba (^ea)

Despite the generally paltry state of the Union, the factories and yards captured from the Georgian regime were working at full speed, adding another six modern airships to the Union Air Corps. Too, an arrangement was struck with the Norsktrad merchant house to purchase a pair of modern, Lisbon-built steam cruisers – the Salem and the Hurriya. Soon after the arrival of these ships at Antioch, hand-picked Union crews went aboard and were soon laboring under the tutelage of Norsk Teknologi officers in maintaining, operating and handling these advanced fighting machines.

Figure 1. The IU Steam Cruiser Salam off the Lebanese Coast

Deftly nipping an incipient revolt in the bud, young Ali named his father-in-law Abdullah of Jordan as his heir, as princess Katia had yet to bear a son. The Sultan also granted the provinces of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan their freedom, as the effort of administering them was taxing his small and overworked government. A variety of generals and their regiments also drifted quietly towards Aleppo provinces, for some odd news had been received from Cilicia.

Somewhere in Baghdad

“All goes well, my master.” A figure cloaked in desert robes knelt before a grotesque black idol set into a small niche. The cavity was disguised by a folding section of wall, surrounded by gorgeous blue and white and green painted files. The man constantly fondled a spherical black object in his left hand.

“No one suspects… soon you will rise again. Your empire will be reborne! All will bow down before you, as I do now…”

The obscene face of the Messenger in Darkness looked back upon his servant and was pleased.

The Hermit Kingdom of Khirgiz^N

The Khirgiz tried be quiet and peaceful, without bothering anyone and well! Those nasty, impolite, rude, boorish, foul-smelling Swedes and their Frostwolf lackeys just had to barge in and spoil the party!

Europe

Catholic Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
Condotierri	1xea,1hea [2gp each]
Captains	Baron Von Hausen (M783) [ missing! ]
To hire, please contact	Norsktrad
Quality Ratings	c12 i16 a13 w18 s18 z6

Hussite Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
The Hussite Legion	5ec, 8i, 5c, 5hea, 1z [1.5 gp each], based at Constantinople.
Captains	Sit Thomas Musgrave (M977)
To hire, please contact…	Albanian East India Company
Quality Ratings	c12 i15 a14 w17 s20 z8

Figure 2. Albanian Submariners

Aeronautical Research & Fabrication (Rostov in Levedia)

Jessica Orozco, Captain of the West
Solyom Pasternak, Captain of the East

Diplomacy Cerkes in Abasigia (^bo), Kherson in Polovotsy (^mf), Ghuzz (^nt)

Swedish missionaries began extensive work in the old Khirgiz lands now administered by the Company, and for once found considerable success. The war-weary populations, long used to being terrified by the nascent presence of their horrific gods, clutched eagerly at the vision of a god with a human face.

While the Captain of the West was touring the Anatolian ports, Captain Arpada returned from his foray into Persia and set down with an airfleet of size not seen since the Ice War in Ghuzz. There, while bickering with the natives for supplies, he waited for the Swedes, Knights Templar and more Company troops to join him. In very early ’56 Captain Antran, the Swedish general Sir Juhani Lasila and the Templar Bishop Angelo Cardenas joined him, marching up out of the dusty west, their own airfleet hovering overhead.

This massed force then launched themselves into the trackless wastes of the Urst-Urt, following directions painstakingly assembled by Company scouts, airship overflights and certain notes acquired from a certain Colonel Mason, whose disappearance in this inhospitable region had first aroused Company suspicions…

After nearly a month of slogging through ever-deepening sand, the army crested a long, sprawling lava-rock ridge and looked down upon a fantastic sight: a great bowl-shaped valley holding a thousand-foot high spire of black volcanic rock at its heart. All around the pinnacle, enormous signs and sigils were carved from the desert floor, and everywhere there were signs of busy industry… though none of it seemed of human origin.

Enraged, the Sunlanders stormed down into the valley and within the hour were engaged in a ferocious struggle with the defenders of the Halls of Saffron. The eons-old volcanic plug was honeycombed with tunnels and caverns, and filled with Khirgizite warriors. Their cannon lit off even as the first troop of Swedish hussars galloped down the slope into the Vale of Night.

Some six thousand Khirgiz defended the Halls against 25,000 Company soldiers, Templars and a handful of Swedish ‘advisors’. The ARF aerofleet – numbering at least fifty of the latest-model airships – poured down a rain of destruction from above, bombarding the spire with bombs and flame. Papal guns dug into the ridges hammered ceaselessly at the defenses. Companymen and Templar knights battled the monstrously-deformed Khirgiz in the tunnels and battlements…

And despite the elaborate fortifications (constructed a great expense over many, many years) the Khirgiz citadel was reduced to ruins, it’s defenders slain, Swedish and ARF technicians crawling through the remains, digging out it’s secrets, within two months. Old Malank was killed, his body dragged out onto the sand, as was his son Gogor and many of the Khirgiz captains.

Surprising the other Sunlander commanders, once the city had fallen and the mopping up was underway, one of Cardena’s aides revealed himself as no less a personage than the Pope Clement himself! The pontiff then busied himself with leading the masses for the dead and seeing every inch of the malefic city was cleansed by fire, Holy Water and the sword (where necessary).

Lasila and Hallestrom, long veterans of this kind of cruel work, descended into the depths beneath the citadel where they found – first to this astonishment, an entire city built underground – and then to their horror – the malformed and tortured denizens thereof…

Gripped with overwhelming emotion, Juhani Lasila lifted the glass jar, hands tangling in the silvery tubes and wires attached to the back. A queasy amber fluid sloshed inside, first revealing, then obscuring the stunning contents.

“H-e-l-l-o… C-a-p-t-a-i-n…” The voice echoed with an unfathomable humming, seeming to come from the very air itself.

“Gasp! Choke! Colonel Mason… oh my god, you’re still alive!”

“A-f-t-e-r a f-a-s-h-i-o-n, S-w-e-d-e…” Buzzing laughter filled the shadow-shrouded hall. “A-f-t-e-r a f-a-s-h-i-o-n…”

Principate of Kiev (Kiev²)

Anna Kournos, Queen-Regent for…

Boris, Prince of Kiev, Master of the Holy Rivers

Diplomacy None

The exiled Wallachian prince Dobryio, held captive by the regional authorities in Banat, managed to crawl out the window of an outhouse and escape into the woods. He was not recaptured.

Peoples Republic of Baklovakia (Komarno in Slovakia)

Wysowski, First Citizen, Protector of the Workers and Peasants

Diplomacy Alfold (^fa)

Despite constant whining the Senate about the inordinate amount of money, manpower and vodka ration being spent on the utterly impossible railroad the First Citizen wanted built from Komarno north through the very rugged mountains to Krakow in Poland, work proceeded apace.

“The energy, skill, determination and unflagging willingness to forgoe happy hour for laying another mile of track shown by the workers on the dangerously-fast iron road is a grave disappointment to me,” Senator Wells proclaimed, clinging unsteadily to the speakers rostrum in the Senate. “And to all Baklovakians with an ounce of vodka in their bloodstream!”

The banging and clattering and shouting behind Mrs. Toporosky’s shed also continued, with the vague shape of a giant wooden framework now rising above the trees.

A first boatload of funny copper-skinned people wearing gleaming coats of feathers arrived, eager to sell the pastry chefs of Komarno a wide variety of excellent chocolates.

Colonel Sluj continued to march swiftly about the countryside with most of the army, launching surprise investigations of unsuspecting Girl’s Schools and cemeteries. Unfortunately, besides incurring a number of paternity suits lodged by Madame Blatavsky and her wards, the Colonel found nothing of an actual suspicious character.

His investigations, however, were curtailed by news the First Citizen had gone out to examine the homestead bear trap (there being a bad spate of bear attacks in Komarno of late) to see if it was adjusted correctly. Unforunately it was; for the sharp log fell and imprisoned the unfortunate First Citizen, and several hours elapsed before any one came to his release. He was taken out, called for a drink of water, which was brought him in a hat from the stream near by, when he drank it he immediately expired.

First Citizen Sluj has announced that hats will be immediately banned within Baklovakian lands.

Albanian East India Company (Thessaloniki in Macedon)

Nikolas Argir, Senior Partner in the AEIC

Diplomacy Bern in Switzerland (^ma), Brooklyn on Pachogue Island (^ma)

Despite the attention paid to these new-fangled steamships, the Company continued to pay close attention to the development of it’s mercantile fleet. For purposes of trade, a steamship was wasteful and inefficient, but the wind… the wind is free, and needs no coaler. Following the lead of their Norsk rivals, therefore, the Albanians christened six enormous sailing ships – clipperships in common parlance – at Thessalonika: the Titus, the Andronicus, the Grand Design, Clive Falken III, Mercury and Athena.

While the Titus and the Andronicus were actually built for export to the Emirate of Mauritania (nee Lybia), the other four – with Albanian crews through and through – were destined for the China and Amerikan sea-lanes. Two more passenger liner airships were also put into service on the India route, the Fellowship and the Great Game. Unlike the other airships plying the Red Sea Race, these were of staggering size – nearly twice the lift capacity of the older Bithnia-class models.

Figure 3. The AEIC Works at Thessalonika

The grain broker side of the house also saw a huge improvement in business as the factors laboring in Nikolas’ counting-houses shipped thousands of tons of wheat, rye, corn and barley the length and breadth of the Hussite world. Mauritania, Denmark, the Commonwealth, the Knights of Tabor, Arnor and the Southern League all became stitched together by Albanian shipping.

An old man sitting near the docks in Thessalonika to a young man: “Albanians?” pauses to light his pipe: “Well they think deep, deep in their souls , that this world is their oyster. Must be a Hussite thing. Bold in many ways, timid in others. Their view of the world is almost semi-fantastical, think good thoughts do good deeds and all will be well, that sort of thing. This populace is well educated and likes the good life. Looky here at these new ships, these Clipper Ships. Very fast they say, take a big cargo too, they say old Nicolas wants to race them cross the Atlantic or even round the world, imagine that. Then there's airships, it's said that you can take an Albanian airship from near London to Inja and back. Fantastical, what whimsy, and now there is talk of rockets, rockets that can go into space, why? Why would anyone want to do that?”

The young man said nothing in response, his mind's eye filled with visions of vast horizons, and how he then better do good in school to be a part of it.

While Franklin was making a pest of himself on Naxos, chasing the local women, writing a yellow rag called the “Poor Naxos’ Brief” and bothering the astronomers trying to calculate the radius of the sun; another Englishman in service with the Company – young George Washington – was dispatched to make the inaugural clippership run to the Danish port of Brooklyn on the coast of North Amerika.

Washington reached the west safely, but the same could not be said for hoary old Constantin Argir, who fell off his skis while vacationing in Switzerland and ran into a tree.

The Swedish Empire of Russia (Riga in Latvia)

Solomon, King of Sweden, Tsar of the All the Russias
Dame Ilyena Lydia Mironoff, Crown Regent and Altkansler

Diplomacy Kirivitch (^nt), Smolensk (ˇnt), Halland (^ea)

Konya Clarion - Sherriff Calls Posse; Bandit Queen Selena Remains Elusive

Riga Chronicle – Party Prince Perplexes Pater

Malmo Star - City Konselor Arvid Convicted in Gherkin Affair

Kherson Plain Speaker - Army of the East Marches on Rebel Stronghold; Troops to Return Soon, Says Altkansler

Business as usual proceeded in Swedish lands – Riga continued to expand as refugees flowed back into the city from Afrika and the south. The City Planning Board was working overtime, taking the opportunity to build a new ‘model’ city in the ruins of the old. The new steamship fleet continued to expand, though not quite with the splashy rate of construction the Albanians were maintaining. The abandoned city of St. Charles in Livonia was reopened for settlement, with a small community moving into the core of the old city (which was now almost entirely reclaimed by the forest).

The Russian frontier – long a desolate Ice-shrouded wilderness – slowly grew more active. Settlers, bandits, sherrifs to chase the bandits and tax the settlers, logging operations, newly built Red Kross clinics, bands of ‘gravediggers’ picking through the ruins of the abandoned cities for gold, silver and anything else they could sell, stray groups of Ice tribesmen attacking the settlements and skirmishing with the ‘gravediggers’. The Royal Forestry Service soon found its rangers armed to the teeth and often engaged with open warfare with the very scum of the earth.

A contract was let with the Norsktrad marine construction division to build a ‘great harbor’ at St. George-the-Defender in Morroco, much as the Company was also expanding the port facilities of Lisbon. Dame Mironoff also announced a ‘settlement treaty’ with the Emirate of Mauritania, wherein the area around Bir El Khazaim (which was being evacuated by the Swedish settlers there) would be granted to the Emirate.

A minor spat between the Emperor and his son Kjell left a sour taste in Solomon’s mouth (and gave the tabloid press vast amusement) when the prince refused to take his wife Fatima to live in the chill frostbox of St. Genevive on Gronland. The prince preferred to stay in Riga, where it was relatively warm, and carouse with his ‘hunting companions.’

Kjell’s brother Dagmar, however, was a hot-blooded young man with revenge on his mind. The death of his brother David had left a scar on his psyche and he intended to see the murderers – some ruffianly Cappadocian brigands – brought to justice. So, commanding a fleet of fourteen steam cruisers, a coaling and support fleet and an airship squadron he set off for the ‘free port’ of Tarsus in Cilicia.

Arriving off the Cilician shore, however, he found the province in the hands of an Ethiopian army which had ousted the local emir, conquered the region and raised the Coptic flag. Needless to say, the Swedes were not allowed to land. While Dagmar steamed about off shore, cursing the ‘bloody Afriqans’, several Swedish airships flew inland, disappearing over the snowy peaks of the Taurus mountains. Several weeks later, they returned and the entire fleet steamed back north again.

The Grand Duchy of Poland (Warsaw in Poland)

Frieda Leczinski, Duchess of Poland

Diplomacy

The Duchess gathered her ministers together and disclosed to them a very dangerous course of action. Though bound to secrecy, several of them - Marian Spychalski, the Foreign Minister and Jozef Cyrankiewicz, the Minister of Internal Affairs – abandoned the government, making dark hints about the impending destruction of the Duchy. Amid all the hubbub, Warsaw expanded a level and a government-sponsored field reclamation project made central Poland bloom with fields of grain and orchards of fruit.

Figure 4. Prince Vladislav Leczinski

Work continued apace on the railway line, with the Albanian East India Company lending a hand. Reichman, the superintendent, searched vigilantly for ‘wreckers’ aiming to destroy the railway, but aside from kids throwing rocks at passing trains, found nothing. The engineers, however, completed the railways from Berlin to Pomern and Kassel. For the first time, a passenger could ride from Kassel in Germany to Warsaw in moderate comfort, in only two days (the existence of only a single track made two-way traffic difficult, even with sidings.).

A division of Carthaginian troops commanded by the dashing General Eshmunazar arrived in Warsaw for training exercises with the Ducal army. The Polish regiments were soon charging about in the woods, attempting to outmaneuver and outmarch the Afriqans, who had (with great humor) accepted the role of ‘Eastern Aggressor’. The Carthaginian troops protested, however, that they had to put lampblack on their faces to reflect the implied enemie’s tendency to sunburn.

Several hundred Baklovakian Cossacks descended upon the town of Katowice in southern Bochnia, much to the alarm of the locals, rampaged about, knocked over dozens of cows, stole an icon from the church there and then galloped away over the mountains. A deputation was sent off to Warsaw to protest this reprehensible behavior and demand justice from the Duchess.

As requested by the Ducal government, a team of linguists from the Swedish University of Lubeck Faculty in Ancient Manuscripts and Epigraphy arrived to join a Polish expedition to visit the mysterious obelisk recently discovered in Baklovakia. Immanuel Kant, the principal investigator, told reporters he would be surprised if the artifact were in fact genuine, and not the result of ‘too much vodka and too little sleep.’

The religious trouble in Sopot did not die down as everyone had expected. Ducal troops sealed the town off and began searching every house, hayrick, barn, workshop, bordello and warehouse… apparently some “Catholic troublemakers” had escaped arrest at the Academy.

Despite this, however, the Duchess issued a carefully worded Edict of Toleration at the end of ’56, banning religious discrimination and missionary efforts directed against the Catholic minority in the Duchy.

The Knights of Tabor (Mount Tabor in Bohemia)

Otto von Metz, Voice of Huss, Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of Mount Tabor

Diplomacy Thessaloniki in Macedon (^ch), Silesia (^ch), Kauyavia (^ch), Berlin in Lausatia (^ch), Stralsund in Pomern (^ch), Burgundy (^ca), Innsbruck in Tyrol (^ch), Provence (^ch), Sopot in Danzig (^ab)

A large number of Taborite monks packed up and moved south, eventually making their way to Thessaloniki in Macedon, where their immigration (to aid and assist the Danish government) wound up expanding the city appreciably, making the ‘Priest’s Quarter’. At home, the holy city on Mount Tabor received its first walls, ramparts and guns. Aid was sent to succor the Danish, Frankish , Polish and Albanian governments.

Von Metz also decided to put on a full-scale push to expand the influence, position and (frankly) economic base of the Order. To this end, his agents were very, very busy in central Europe, reining in local clergy, enforcing a consistent set of doctrinal rules, rousing the faithful and – in the case of the notorious Von Junzt – taking the word to the masses in Marseilles.

United Kingdoms of Great Britain (Kingston in Northumbria)

Oliver V Cromwell, King of England, Scotland and Wales

Diplomacy No Effect

Much to the disgust of his clerical advisors, the King showed public relief at the revolt of the common people against the excesses of both the Catholic and Hussite clergy in their zeal to save souls. Indeed, the Prince of Wales let it be known the Crown would appreciate all parties refraining from further activities of a proselytizing nature on English soil. Kingston, meantime, expanded. The Royal Builders took great care to see the labyrinthine defenses of the city were kept in shape. Yarmouth also expanded.

Royal Proclamation: (issued on the steps of Yarmouth Cathedral)

Be it known that we view the recent outbreaks of violence from all sides of the various religious viewpoints with extreme displeasure.

We had hoped that the people of this great kingdom would be capable of reasoned discourse and would be able to reach accommodation with those of differing viewpoints. This has not proven to be the case.

The behavior evidenced in recent months will not be tolerated. be it known that the following punishments will be imposed upon those who will are, seemingly, unable to restrain their baser instincts, be they clergy or laity:

1. Those found guilty of incitement to riot will be shot.

2. Those found guilty of causing serious injury or death to another during a riot will be shot.

3. Those who attack a member of the Royal constabulary or armed forces will be shot.

4. Those found guilty of arson will be shot.

5. Those found guilty of destruction of church or private property will be fined treble the cost of repair. Those unable to pay required damages will have land holdings, places of business, and personal property seized and liquidated with the proceeds put towards payment of damages. Should this amount be insufficient to repay the damages the individual will be indentured until the debt is paid.

Signed

Oliver Cromwell

Rex Britannica

All of this made the religious situation even more tense, but the Catholics (inspired by a very fierce encyclical handed down from Rome, where Clement was getting a little fed up with the efforts of the Franciscans and Jesuits in the British isles) responded admirably, getting their clergy under tight control and adhering to the letter of the law. In this they were helped by being in the majority in most provinces. Indeed, they essentially reclaimed all the lost souls in Wessex by the end of ’56.

An alternative tack was taken by a group of Iroquois priests who showed up in late ’55 and opened four soup kitchens in the poorest, hungriest parts of London. Though the Amerikan ‘friars’ displayed their religious affiliation proudly, they made no attempt to preach to or convert those they succored. They were very popular. The Knights of Tabor also adopted a similar strategy in rural Anglia, where they made good progress in converting the locals, as the Catholics were focusing on the cities.

An English fleet sent to the Shetlands found those islands inhabited by violently anti-social Japanese fishermen and settlers. The southerners were met with gunfire and withdrew to Stormgard to request orders from the Crown as to how to proceed.

The Society of Jesus (London in Sussex)

Gustavus Grayhame, Vicar-General of the Society of Jesus

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

The Frankish Commonwealth (Paris in Ilé De France)

Louis du Maine, Archon of the Commonwealth

Diplomacy Holland (^nt)

Freed from the immediate specter of famine, Frankish industry chugged happily along: Brest in Normandy expanded, the region of Brittany improved to 2 GPv, and of course construction of the road from Paris to Metz continued.

All the capital was abuzz with news of the mysterious “Witch of Paris”, who had lately caused so much carnage in the factory district. Though initial reports indicated she had slain three men who tried to apprehend her while sneaking about in an airship factory, later government reports indicated she had murdered and ritually disemboweled no less than thirty individuals. Prince Alphonse declared he would hunt her down himself, but failed to produce her after a year of knocking in people’s doors in the dead of night and blockading the streets with security roadblocks.

Princess Margaret and the Armee du Orient sailed from Cherbourg in Sinai, passed through the Egyptian Canal and thence to India, where they served with the ‘peacekeeping’ force assembled to mediate the Arnor Settlement.

The Polytechnic League (Athens in Attica)

Harold Hasselhoff, Chief Technologist

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

The Danish Empire (Thessalonika in Macedon)

Gregor “Black Georg” Dushan, Prince of Serbia, King of the Greeks, Emperor of the Danes, Protector of Italy, Mjolnir-na-Midgaard, Rex Germanicus, Pendragon of the Isles

Diplomacy Swabia (^nt)

A creeping sense of panic began to infect the Danish Capital. More bombs exploded in the government district, killing many workers. The police arrested anyone they could lay their hands on, including three entirely innocent Baklovakian medical students. ‘Catholic elements’ attacked a carriage carrying Gregor Dushan to his private steamer – the Emperor was preparing to depart for Germany, where another crisis was looming – nearly killing the Black Prince. Indeed, his wounds were severe enough to lay him up, under strict guard in Thessaloniki for the rest of ’55.

News came from the various provinces of other attacks, nearly all on government offices. Tax collectors were waylaid in rural areas, and postmasters gunned down in their offices. Publicly, the Emperor’s spokesmen declared the attacks were the work not of the cursed Catholics, but of “secret cabals and demonic agents.”

In the taverns, cafes and grog shops of the Empire, however, everyone nodded knowingly and cursed the name of the Pope and his Swedish henchmen. Yet, despite all of this, work went on: Thessaloniki expanded and was duly fortified, the town of Zagreb in Croatia swelled with railroad workers into a city, and from Macedon to Denmark, the iron roads were cutting their way across field, mountain and forest. New sections of railroad were also started between Croatia and Bosnia, Bavaria and Austria and Serbia to Bosnia.

In ’56, after pronouncing himself hale and hearty and recovered from the carriage attack, Dushan resumed his interrupted journey to the north, sailing to Provence and then riding north, eventually reaching Swabia. Along the way, he learned the troublesome Duke of Hannover had been murdered while on his way to attend Parliament in Thessaloniki. Widespread rumors followed, indicating the popular German had been ‘bumped off’ by the same cultic elements responsible for the Post Office attacks. Though the Imperial Police investigated, there were no arrests.

Meantime, the endless siege of Marseilles continued.

On the frontier of the wasteland, Commander Showalter and his “Dust Rangers” continued to battle the deformed, monstrous things which often lurched out of the desolation to prey upon the farms and towns of Croatia. Incurring heavy casualties among his veteran troops, Showalter also undertook several ‘clearing’ operations into Slovenia with an eye to eventual resettlement there.

After the Emperor had viewed the siege lines at Marseilles and expressed his severe displeasure at the progress of capturing the city, Sir Carl Schlechter arrived with a veteran army from Italy. Supported by Provencal, Swiss and Champagnois levies a vigorous siege was prosecuted, including constant bombardment from the Danish fleet off-shore.

This time, with sufficient force applied, the city defenders were at last overwhelmed and put down. Danish troops poured in, burning and looting all the Catholic churches they could find. Schlechter let his men have their fun, for the lengthy siege had tried his patience.

The arrival of the Emperor in Ulm (and the death of the Duke of Hannover) substantially cooled the ardor of the various German nationalist factions.

Nörsktrad (St. George-the-Defender in Morroco)

Jorge Delgado, Mäklarevälde of the Nordic Trading Company

Diplomacy Tijuana in Baja (^ma), Tuxpan in Totonac (^mf), St. Genevive on Gronland (^ma)

Jorge addressed the Board of Directors: “Gentlemen, Ladies, after the catastrophe at Lisbon, the Company continues the effort to rebuild. More money is being sent to alleviate the suffering of the survivors and aid in the reconstruction. Let us not forget that although capital powers the furnace of our endeavors, it is our people who are the true engine of progress. With this in mind, and with the emergence of a new rival, one that espouses a sectarian creed, I have determined the formation of a new division: Nörsk Teknologi, or Nörsk Tek for short. Another battalion of engineers have been recruited, and they will be presented shortly with their new colors. The Nörskvarden may have known combat, but our true battlefield is that of progress, of the understanding and harnessing of the natural laws declared by God Almighty.”

He sipped from his cup of atei benna‘na, having developed a taste for the local mint tea. “Other than the letter and warning from the detestable so-called Black Watch, there is no sign of our sometime employee, the Baron von Hausen. Other sources indicate the blackguards also claim to have kidnapped prince Eon of Axum. You no doubt share my concern at the emergence, so suddenly, of an organization apparently capable of committing the same crime, in Spain and in India. There can be no doubt that these people are simply an old foe operating under a new name. A very old foe.

“All Company offices are to be on guard for another strike by this detestable Secret Extra-governmental agency. Furthermore, I forbid any trade with the Polytechnic League. Their attitudes contrast with the free trade stance of the Nörsktrad. And their antecedents are questionable at best. You have all seen the confidential reports.

“I have recalled the Expeditionary Force from Olathoë. Now that there appears no immediate threat, I deem it best not to risk the lives of our men in a trek across the frozen glaciers of the north.”

The new battalion of engineers was presented with their colors. Work proceeded on the rebuilding of the yards, including a new submarine yard to replace that lost at Lisbon. In his spare time the Maklarevalde pored over the weather station data with an obsessed fascination.

Hilka Anders, conducting certain negotiations in Corunna on the northern coast of Spain, was found dead in his room at the ‘Herring Boat’, throat cut. No suspects were apprehended by the local police, despite a vigorous search. Foul play was suspected.

The Tzompanctlin Prince Kehuehuel, a guest of the Company in St. Georges, was provided with pleasant accommodation whilst he awaited the completing of the airship yards, to allow the construction of the airship to carry him home in style and comfort. Orders were dispatched to the Company office in Elmerland to arrange with the local authorities to see to the return of the deceased Carthaginian ambassador to Augustina in Tunisia, with proper respect and dignity. Unfortunately, this careful action was ignored by the Emirate, which had dispatched a squadron to ‘punish the natives’ on those distant, windy islands.

A newly built steam cruiser was sent to the Islamic Union in thanks for their efforts against the Dæmon Sultan. Delgado also hoped the gift would serve to show the Kharidjites that not all unbelievers are their enemy. Also, being sailed to the newly restored port of Antioch, it further shows the resilience of the Sunlanders against the ravages of the Ice. The two ships are named Salam and Hurriya.

Bernard-Laurent de Marigny, a gentleman of New Orleans who had recently entered the service of the Company was dispatched to the Spanish fishing village of Belem to investigate the reputed ‘mechanical man’ found there in recent years. Several months later, he returned to Lisbon – where the local reporters, particularly those ruffians from the Feudal Press, pestered him with questions. Digusted and a little inebriated, de Marigny revealed the ‘mechanical man’ was in fact an elaborate hoax, nothing more than a brass casting filled with industrial debris and dumped off the coast. Some of the more astute reporters on hand remembered a similar scandal over the matter of the ‘green guns’ nearly a hundred years ago.

Another new hire, Leonhard Euler (a Swedish-Russian mathematician who had impressed Delgado with a well-reasoned treatise on the application of mathematical models to the design of ship hulls, rigging and sail alignments) was dispatched to the new world to serve as ‘scientist-on-the-spot’ in New Orleans.

To Otto Bongwater, Esq.

Ankh House

23 Karlstrasse

Krak de Chevaliers, Mansura District

Danish Empire

Sir,

It is our understanding that you are the legal representative of “The Black Watch”. Should this be the case, please accept notice that the Norsktrad is commencing a legal suite for damages, for the unlawful kidnapping and false imprisonment of our freelancer, Baron von Hausen, in the Danish courts.

In particular, our claim for damages is against one Constable Rangar Belfort, who declares himself to work for the Criminal Investigative Division of The Black Watch, and against his superiors.

As this organization has no international standing or recognition whatsoever, and appears unassociated with the Arnori body of the same name, the legality of its operations across a national frontier must bring into question the authority and standing of this ‘Black Watch.’ So far as we are able to determine, it is an extra-governmental body with no charter or license from any official body.

We already have in our possession letters from Mr. Belfort, admitting his guilt in ordering his agents to waylay and carry off the Baron, and declaring that this act was ‘in error.’

Therefore, in addition to requiring the safe return of the Baron, on his behalf we are claiming damages for loss of earnings, inconvenience and miscellaneous injuries. Furthermore, the Company is pursuing payment of damages due to the inconvenience and operational difficulties resulting from the said kidnapping.

We trust we will see you in court.

Yr Servant,

Erik Vedushchy

Norsktrad Legal Department

St. Georges

Exarchate of North Afriqa

The Republic of Spain (Lisbon in Portugal)

Largo Cabellero, Commandant of the Imperial Guard

Diplomacy Salamanca (ˇc)

Foreign aid continued to flow into the coffers of the Lisbon government, which let Cabellero see to rebuilding more of Lisbon and Tharsis. Some of the damage to coastal Andalusia was also repaired. An entire shipload of Republican ‘black hats’ (policia municipal) were dispatched to Elmerland in the Faeroes to investigate the murder of the Carthaginian ambassador. Unfortunately, it was very likely the man had simply fallen afoul of the native hatred for Hussites – much as Commandante Largo found his diplomatic efforts in Royalist Salamanca meeting with worse and worse results…

The Sisters of the Rose opened a large hospital and public school in the most seriously damaged district of Lisbon. As ever, they offered their services without stint, fee or demand.

A fleet of Swedish warships (the old-fashioned kind) engaged in sailing maneuvers off the Spanish coast for most of ’55, beating up and down the shore near the now-notorious town of Belem. Soon after the visit of De Marigny, however, the ‘mechanical man’ was broken up. A number of universities had expressed interest in the artifact, so the Spanish governor met all of their requests by sending everyone a single crate of material. He was pleased to have done with all the foolery, but the townspeople of Belem were very sad – all the customers were gone! Then Pedro the shepherd boy suggested that they build another mechanical man…

The Black Hand (Gibraltar)

Rhys Deverill, Master of the Order

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

The Duchy of the Isles (Valetia on Malta)

Neya al’Raschid, Empress of the Isles, Emir of Archimedea, Duchess of Sicily and Sardinia

Diplomacy Catanzaro in Calabria (^f)

A little surprised no war had broken out around them, the Islanders went about their business quietly. Catanzaro in Calabria expanded a level and major improvements were made to the sanitation systems of Skarfaste and Calagari. A number of representatives from Norsk Teknologi arrived and immediately disappeared into a collection of newly built workshops near the great harbor of Valetia.

Princess Tarya, while traveling with only a few companions in the mountains of Epirus, was beset by Albanian bandits and murdered, her disfigured body later found decorating the base of a steep cliff. Despite this reversal, missionary work among the Old Believers was going well.

The Church of Rome (Vatican City in Rome, Latium)

Clement XII, Pater Patrias, Pope of the Roman Church, The Vicar of Christ, The Successor To Peter, The Keeper of the Keys, The Servant of the Servants of God, Patriarch of Azteca, Soldier of Light

Diplomacy Hopei (ˇmn), Shensi (ˇab), Shentung (ˇch), Sherente (ˇch), Yun (ˇch)

Disturbed by recent failures of faith and will at all levels of the Church, Clement launched a strict audit of every see, parish and bishophric. At the same time, he himself left Rome and, carried by an Islander fleet, sailed to southern Russia to join the campaign against the daemoniacal Khirgiz. “We march to the sound of the guns,” he told his worried subordinates (the pontiff was sixty years old), “for there true faith is being forged.”

Before departing, however, a public letter was released from Clement to the Sisters of the Rose:

“With sadness, we hear of your close relations with the Shinto Religion. Regrettably, you continue down your chosen path of grave errors of faith. By your close association with pagans who do not recognize the Saving Grace of Our Lord, you drive the Holy, Apostolic Church farther and farther from you. Until you admit the error of your ways, and apply corrective actions, the doors of Holy Mother Church are closed to those who follow the Lencolar path.”

Trouble was brewing in China, where the attempt by the Judean monarchy to erase the division between the Catholic nobility and the Buddhist / Daoist citizenry had led to a coup and the fall of the government. Many of the Catholic clergy there saw their influence stripped away and then only partially restored.

At home, a contract was signed between the Holy See and the Honorable Afriqa Company to have the Afriqans completely rebuild the ancient edifice of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Some plans were displayed, promising a building of exemplary glory and size.

Afriqa

Non-Catholic Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
Condotierri	30i, 15a, 10c, 6hc, 3xc [1gp each]
Captains	Bey Senghor (MB96) [10gp]
To hire, please contact…	None
Quality Ratings	i16 w16 s18 c11 a12

Catholic Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
Condotierri	23xea [1gp each]
Captains	None
To hire, please contact…	Norsktrad
Quality Ratings	I15 w18 s21 c11 a12

The International Red Kross (Alexandria in Egypt)

Taharqa the Elder, Dean the School of Alexandria, Governor-General of the Society

Diplomacy No effect

No sooner than the Society had been founded, than it was called into action in India. Colonel Albrekt was dispatched with a small fleet (filled with medical supplies, tents, and so forth) to Schwarzkastel in Hussite India. Upon his arrival however, he found the city in a tense state of stasis. The Iranians had clamped down with their garrison, the civilians were just waiting for a spark to ignite their hatred into open rebellion and thousands of Hussite and Buddhist troops were trying to keep the peace in the streets.

After meeting with local church and town leaders, Albrekt realized his charge to lead the ‘refugees’ out of the city to their new homes further east was only going to happen if the citizens (some of whose families had been living in Schwarzcastel for over a hundred years) were rousted out of their homes at gunpoint.

Revival Tent, Augostino Road, Carthage 1752

Presbyter Udad was a lean and predatory looking man. In times of zeal or anxiety a single eye wandered slightly away from its orbit.

“Queen to A7,” croaked the Presbyter.

Moments passed.

Quite a crowd had gathered to watch the event. Many were still grasping the playbill which attracted them here in the first place. The mood about the tent was neither that of a revival meeting, nor that of a traveling circus, but a little bit of both. Playbills, bearing pictures of apple trees, littered the floor.

Suddenly a whirring of gears announced that Udad’s opponent, the Tripolitanian, was ready to make its move. The Tripolitanian, a clever facsimile of a human, looked resplendent wearing garments of cloth of gold. A neatly knotted kurziyya sat atop its high and inexpressive brow.

The automaton grasped its queen and moved it forward across the board, a single sweeping gesture. The device froze and then stared forward in a fixed rictus of steel. The automaton’s keeper was the first to acknowledge the significance of the move.

Von Kempelen, a hydraulic engineer of minor repute, smiled paternally. He opened his hands wide, as if in benediction, and then announced:

“Queen takes F7.”

Udad was unable to restrain himself. He burst out shouting: “God grants intelligence!”

One eye tracked left while staring at the crowd.

“God!” cried the Hussite, shaking a gnarled finger at the crowd, “Not man!”

Deflated Udad then fled from the tent, scattering both chess pieces and pillows. Von Kempelen stepped forward with finality, concluding the spectacle.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are continuing our tour -- onwards to Augostino!”

The crowd roared with glee and pushed forward.

Later, a few of the crowd hung about the tent to learn more about the device. These admirers were, to a person, recent engineering graduates from the University of Augostino. One of the more daring students got down upon the floor to stare under the chassis of the Tripolitanian. She seemed to be calculating to herself whether a person of small stature could fit easily inside the machine. Von Kempelen noticed her and nudged her away harshly with his cane.

Yet another of the students worried a joint on the Tripolitanian with his finger. “What do you use to oil this thing?” He then tasted his finger and added: “Tastes like olives.”

The Emirate of Carthage (Augostina in Tunisia)

Hamilcar Barca, Emir of Augostina, Sultan of Tunisia

Diplomacy None

Though the Emir’s attention was focused on events in the East, his ministers (and the Parliament) continued to keep their eyes on matters closer to home. Missionary work resumed in the highlands of Al’Hauts, where the native tribes still held to Catholicism.

Hamilcar, after mustering his guardsmen and several ships, departed for India, gathering more forces as he went, before meeting up with a Frankish force at Alexandria and several Carthaginian squadrons in the Red Sea. His journey to Schwarzcastel was uneventful (in the main) and though the situation in India remained explosive, it had not yet erupted into the Asia-wide war everyone had been fearing.

Work continued on the railroad, but it was still not done.

Christian Sharifate of Mauritania (Sayyida Ifni in Idjil)

Ameur bin Skikda, Governor of the Azores, Scion of Lybia, Protector of Denmark, Sharif of Mauretania

Diplomacy Adwaghost tribes (^a)

Lybian (Mauritanian) scouts watched with interest from the dune ridges as a long column of sun-burned Swedes marched away north from Bir-el-Khazaim and the town of Neymoskva. Soon, the desert riders hoped, all the lands there around would be their domain. Jafir the Goat arrived soon after, at the head of a mighty force of six hundred men, to take control of the area in the name of “Berber self-determination.”

Rumors reached Ameur of an outbreak of the plague in the pest-ridden fortress maintained by the French at Leutetia in Herero province. Scouts sent to check on the town found everyone dead – and did not enter! – later, enormous flocks of carrion birds were observed fluttering over the town.

Early in ’55 a Danish squadron arrived off Sayyida Ifni and set ashore a grim old priest named Father Karl Mohaim, who was taken to see the boy Ameur immediately. Sitting in a room high in the citadel, looking out over the azure brilliance of the bay, the old man studied the slim young man very carefully.

An oval face like Claudia’s, but strong bones… he thought, trying to empty his mind of preconceptions. Hair, blue-black like Skikda – but with the brow-line of the maternal grand-father who cannot be named, and that same thin disdainful nose; those direct, staring green eyes: so like those of the old Emir, the paternal grandfather who is dead. Mohaim became troubled. Very like… very like…

“See this?” he asked. From the folds of his habit, the old priest lifted a green metal cube about fifteen centimeters on a side. He turned the cube and the boy drew back – very slightly – at the sight of one side black and empty as the void of night.

“Put your hand within the box,” Mohaim said…

The next day, the Danish fleet departed. Ameur did not relate what had transpired between him and the old priest.

When not putting up with nosy Danish priests, the sharif traveled to the Azores to welcome the arrival of a pair of Albanian clipper-ships to the beautiful islands and make nice with the merchants. Thereafter he took quite some time returning home, but did improve his tan.

The prince had asked the sheikhs of the Arguin and the Wadan to go south and talk peaceably with the sheikh of the Adawarans while he was away in the Azores. Unfortunately, none of their men wished to remain behind (“We’ll get lonely,” they wailed, “all the women here look at us funny!”) so everyone rode south in a huge mob. The arrival of nearly 90,000 Berber warriors caused a very great deal of excitement among the Adawarans, who could only muster 46,000 of their own riders.

After several weeks of maneuvering about in the desert, a parley was struck and all three men – grizzled old bandits each of them – met at an oasis near Aoun-el-Atros to settle matters. After lengthy discussion of their respective parentage, families and martial skills, the sheikh of the Adwaghost put down a cup of very bitter coffee, stared the two northerners straight in the eye and said: “What about this boy? Does he know the ways of the desert?”

“Like one born to the sand,” the Wadanite chief answered.

The Arguin lord nodded. “Rides like a thrown lance.”

“Hmmm… well, perhaps he can lead us to glory, then.”

All three chieftains smiled, thinking of the riches of Vastmark or Carthage or even Mixteca.

“Aye! To glory!”

A day later, a scout galloped into camp, djellaba flapping behind him like a dusty white tail. He swung down before the tents of the three chieftains and bent his head to the sand in a proper saalam. “My lords! I have seen the Catholic dogs marching up from the south with a strong force… including ships of the air!”

The Principate of Vastmark (Chihuahua City in Takrur)

William Casimir, Stadholder of Takrur, Prince of Vastmark

Diplomacy No effect

A rainy day finally having come, the Prince opened his purse and spent wildly. Thanks to the generous assistance of the Norsktrad, Vastmark now possessed the technical skills to build ships of the air, so enormous sheds and workshops sprang up at Chihuahua City and Eichstatt. A postal road was built between Galam and Susu.

From the Vastmark Times.

“…and we thank the leaders of Carthage for providing us with these prototype airships. Soon we shall be able to build them for ourselves and no longer depend on the gifts of others for these products of advanced technology. It is with these words that I, William Casimir inaugurate the Vastmark Air Corps.”

Figure 5. Flight Ensign of the Vastmark Air Corps

Still desiring amicable relations with the Senegalese, the Stadholder (still traveling about that region) granted them partial autonomy and their own government. His gloomy son Jason marched through a bit later with most of the Vastmark army, including their precious four airships, on his way north-east to bring the tribes of the Adwaghost to heel.

Prince Jason’s army entered the desolate plains with high hopes and jaunty banners. After a month of hiking, however, everyone was growing bored and tired. There was nothing in these lands but sand, scratchy bushes, long barren ridges and the tracks of an inordinate number of nomads… but not a single Berber could be found.

After two months of marching about, one of the zeppelins flashed an alert to the prince – leading his army from the van, as ever -- tribesmen sighted. Many tribesmen! A party of Seguan scouts were sent forward and soon they returned in haste to report a vast army of Berbers – more desert-rats than anyone had ever seen – were sweeping around the Vastmarki army in a huge crescent…

Forewarned, Prince Jason immediately retired to the south. Guided by his airship scouts, he was able to deftly extract his army from the trap and the Europeans marched back home as fast as humanly possible… the Berber crescent closed on nothing … only dusty ground and muddled footprints.

The three sheikhs considered the signs, listened to the reports of their scouts and thought long and hard about the matter of the flying sausages and how far a man could see in this land of rock and sand if he stood on a high place. The Berber armies faded away into the sand, vanishing to the north.

An embassy from the Sisters of the Rose arrived in Minden by way of Senegal, looked around, consulted their maps and then gave up and had tea. Apparently someone had told them the province was Lencolar – which was very far from the truth.

Elsewhere, Prince Daniel – using publicly-available charts and maps provided by the local office of the Norsktrad Company – took a squadron of ten galleons across the Atlantic to Pennacook, where the sailors were glad to visit with the natives and sample the fruits of their breweries.

The Mali Ax Empire (Ax Mixtlan in Mixe)

Tenoch, ne-Axamaloa na-Tochul, King of the Mixtecs, Lord of the Niger, Captain of the Firestorm Banner, True Emperor of the Aztecs, Emperor of Mali, DarkLord of Africa

Diplomacy Onogui in Teke (^a), Douala (ˇaw), Burkina (ˇaw)

Having slept for a time, the Mixtecs bounded back into the fray with a vengeance – the cities of Ax Mixtlan, Ax Calibar, Brass, Timbuktu, Ax Idah and Zugero all expanded. A massive forest-clearing operation was started in Togo, with an eye to putting several hundred thousand acres under cultivation. The trade embargo on goods from the Republic of Sud Afriqa came to an end, which promised to revive a semi-moribund economy.

The local Sisters continued to practice their winning ways upon the citizens of Xuicaxl in Zerma, with steadily increasing success. Lord Four-Tortoise, however, did not have good luck among the Moslem tribesmen of Douala. He was seized on the road, dragged to a nearby tree and hung out to dry, throat cut. A similar fate met the charming Kikili the Ikeo, who was captured by Burkinan headhunters and roasted alive while a Catholic shaman watched, chanting the Ave Maria.

The Sisters of the Rose opened a large school in Gao, Sudan. Bad news came from Kebbe, where Sister Betsy had been attempting to establish a cathedral. Apparently the very elderly woman had succumbed to a heart attack.

All of the trouble in the west drew a response as well. General Six-Leopard – simply by means of gathering up idle garrisons – arrived in Songhai with an army of 13,000 men to reinforce the border defenses. Who knew which way the winds of war would blow?

Late in ’56, the old Emperor Nine-Jaguar fell ill and finally passed away, his son Tenoch perched by his bed like a particularly mangy vulture. Even after the nauallis had declared the patriarch dead and closed his eyes with chips of jade, the prince did not believe. When, at last, Jaguar was ash and billowing up into the sky from the highest pyramid in Ax Mixtlan, then Tenoch believed he was Emperor and his hated father was dead.

Shockingly (and despite Tenoch’s generally poor showing at anything resembling work) the generals and clerks accepted his accession to the throne and there was no civil war. Breathing a sigh of relief, the nation went back to work.

The Republic of Ethiopia (Soba in Funj)

Fredik Draume, President-For-Life of Ethiopia

Diplomacy None

Relief supplies of grain, clothing and seed came from Denmark in an effort to offset the continuing famines in rural Ethiopia. The Ethiopian army that had made landfall at Tarsus in Cilicia last turn now exercised its muscled, seized the town and then conquered the province. Later in the year, a Swedish fleet was turned away.

A beach in East Africa:

Several men recline around a roaring fire.

“Prince, my mon, I and I have di secret to life. Irie! And I and I have been ordered not to be given dis information to anyone but di king... I and I have not been told these words, I am meant to have said when praise-singing the king!”

Prince Bhamela, gently blowing a plume of heavy smoke that joined the smoke of the fire in drifting out to sea, passed the sweetly vile weed back to his friend, “I been hearing you, Victor Zulu. The king, he is a hard, hard man to be seeing. I feel the truth of your Righteous Dub and I been trying to get you his ear. But, mon, it is hard.”

Victor pushed his locks back over his shoulder, "I and I have a lot of information about the End Days, mon. There be a lot of things happening which are leading into the disaster of Babylon, and I and I need to bring these dread dreams before the king.”

An older man, who no longer needed the smoke to dream, stirred from the far side of the fire, "Victor, child, don't go getting so excited. Ride the dream, mon. Ride the dream. Talk to the drums and they tell you how to talk to this king man so he will hear." With that said, the old man set aside the bottle of rum and reached for his drum. Soon the mellow sounds of the steel drum could be heard and men could be seen circling the fire in joyous dance. Listening to the drum...

The Maasai Kingdom (Mbeya in Kimbu)

Sogobu the Cripple, King of the Maasai, Emperor of Ethiopia

Diplomacy None

Ah, such a quiet, peaceful land! The Masai continued to toil industriously away under the eagle eye of the Cripple King. Brava increased in value to 2 GPv. Huge new agricultural districts were opened up for cultivation in Berbera, Masai and Luba. Work began on a railroad between Danakil and Djibuti. The cities of M’beya, Boma and Pebane expanded. Yea, a veritable golden age had come to East Africa!

Ignoring all the trouble religion had caused in Kongo before, a cavalcade of Masai leaders arrived in the port of Boma and set about preaching up a storm… a few people converted, but not many. One of the Masai leaders, traveling down the Kongo, was quite surprised to see a haggard party of Europeans waving at his boat from a sand-bar. He picked them up and they proved to be a set of lost Bavarian priests. They were very happy to see the hostels and tavernas of Boma at the end of the journey.

Lord Zeb – even though he was far better suited to hosting diplomatic receptions with lots of drinks and little sandwiches on silver plates – was dispatched to the north to crawl around in the spinebushes of Walaga, trying to investigate the Cave of the Vision. He did not manage to get into the cave, but neither did he get spitted on the lances of the religious fanatics guarding the site. He even managed to escape back south again.

Republic of South Afriqa (Great Zimbabwe in Rozwi)

Izinduna, Protector of the Senate and the Republic

Diplomacy Seylan /Polonarva (^t)

Much like the Masai, the Sud Afriqans were reveling in sunny weather, clear skies and an almost suffocating sense of peaceful prosperity[1]. The great iron-framed shapes of airship hangars were blooming in the woods outside of Great Zimbabwe, the Great Northeastern Railway chugged from Hwange through Lozi and work began on clearing right-of-way into Lunda. At the same time, a spur line from Mbundu was surveyed over the mountains into Etosha. Karanga became cultivated. The city of Nguno expanded.

Missionary continued in the forests beyond the northern frontier, with good success found in Kasai, Kananga and Salonga. In Bandundu, unfortunately, one of the Catholic tribes outraged several neighboring pagan villages, provoking an uprising and a terrible massacre, which left thousands of Catholic converts dead and rotting in the forest. Rumors circulated afterwards about a party of ‘other cross-men’ who had inspired the violence.

The fleet, under admiral Mbeki, and the Army of Madagascar, under general G’mar, was dispatched to the island of Seylan off the southern coast of India. A host of diplomats accompanied them, armed with detailed dossiers about the rajah of Polonarva and a great deal of gold as gifts.

The Honorable Afriqa Company (Iusalem in Karanga)

Numeke Tikumbay, President, Master of the Great Southern House

Diplomacy Mtwara in Mombassa (^ma), Kimbu (^ma), Chamonix in Charrua (^mf), Brehmen in Gambia (^bo), Aqaba in Petra (^ma)

Pressing into new markets, the Honorable Company tried to match the Republican government in a race to build the first seaworthy steamships in southern Afriqa. They also undertook commercial land-clearing operations in Xhosa and an innovative managed settlement policy in the steppelands of Orange (Tikumbay himself took charge of this effort). Work also began on a massive complex of airship yards, factories and workshops at Goana in Vaal. Grain, cloth and other goods were purchased from the French, Spanish and the Maasai as well.

The company factor in Brehmen, Kurupanga, suffered some kind of seizure while reviewing plans for expanding warehouse holdings and died. A similar fate befell Christopher Mpumelele in Karrratha, Austral, save he was shot sixteen times by the angry lover of a Japanese geisha he was spending far too much time with. The president’s wife, Gracaiela Donato-Villareal, remained home in Iusalem – fearing the toll the wilderness of Orange might exact on her daughter – but the girl died anyway of a summer cough.

North Amerika

Non-Denominational Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
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Captains	Axayacatl the Wolf (M925) [5gp]
To hire, please contact…	Pacific Mercenary and Trust
Quality Ratings	i15 w17 s18 c12 a12

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Quality Ratings	c12 i16 a13 w18 s18 z6

Beyond the Wall of Winds

Someone began to scream – a high, hopeless sound – and the ARF captain Pasternak bolted out of his dugout, loaded pistols in either hand. In the same instant, he heard the alarm bar clanging wildly and the sound of airship engines coughing to life.

Outside, the sun was a pale flat disc in the western sky, barely able to burn through the constantly-moving barrier of dark grey clouds circulating around the shattered wasteland of Olathoë. The broken city spread away from Pasternak in all directions, dotted here and there with wooden frames standing above the excavations shafts the Shawnee soldiers had dug into the ruins.

The ARF officer spun around slowly – the screaming had abruptly stopped – searching for some sign of… “Lord of the Heavens!”

To the south, between the Shawnee/ARF encampment and looming shape of the massive Ranger airship, something ebon-dark spilled up out of the ground like squid ink. Soldiers were scrambling away from the apparition, but Pasternak could see there were hundreds of shining lights inside the cloud, and the vague shapes of men writhing in horrific pain.

“Guns!” He screamed, bounding up a wooden walkway to the nearest observation town. His voice was almost drowned out by the roar of airship engines racing to life. Several ARF airships were already aloft, landing lines spooling back into their gondolas, men crowded at the windows. He waved wildly for a signal-man. “Soldier, signal the Peregrine to load napathene shot and… fire!”

Flags fluttered, raised, lowered. The black ink continued to boil up from whatever hidden chamber the diggers had broken into. Now Pasternak could see the burning lights were eyes.

The Peregrine swung ponderously over the ebon cloud and armored doors on the underside of the gondola racheted open. A gun boomed, flinging a fat napathene shell downwards. The shell plunged into the oily cloud and vanished.

“Fire!”

Other guns began to stutter, puffing white smoke, and explosions began to burst around the thing oozing out of the pit. Pasternak felt sweat bead on his forehead, despite the nearly-freezing air. The cloud continued to expand.

Kingdom of Tzompanctli (Tzompantlan in Tutchone)

Tizoc, Baron of Hûkar-on-the-Plain-of-Bones

Diplomacy Kayak (^f)

While practicing their skiing, the ‘ice wardens’ also saw to increasing the size of their capital at Tzompantlan. Prodded by the Baron, the civil militia in the port of Azaton investigated the death of a Lencolar Sister two years previous. After about four weeks they abruptly ceased their investigation and refused to mention the matter again. Unfortunately for the militia chief, about four months after shutting down the case, Sister Margaret Mary O’Rourke – another Lencolar agent who had been traveling among the villages along the coast – was killed while swimming by a pod of orcas.

From the Journal of Natasha Tukachevsky

My first engagement for the Nörsktrad has proven both a challenge and a disappointment. The apparent threat posed by Olathoë appears to have been eradicated by the asteroid summoned by the Dæmon Sultan. No significant word has come, however, from any of the parties that dared the threat of the ice sheet and the boreal winds, and it must be supposed that whatever, if anything, was found there, remains the property of the winners of the race. Indeed, in one regard I am happy not to have led the expeditionary force into the far north, for as the Nörsk are wont to say: Trust no ice until it is crossed.

A letter has arrived indicating that Sebastian has successfully passed his officer exams, and has been awarded the rank of Lieutenant in the Nörskvarden. Whilst this is not the future I would have chosen for him, it offers opportunities for advancement. He uses the word kismet in his letter, an Arabian term for fate. It is perhaps kismet that poor Joseshka failed in his bid for the Spanish throne, for if he had succeeded, then we all might have died in the wreck of Lisbon.

The latest newspapers from Europe report that the Danish Empress is to be canonized by the Pope as Svyatoy Oniko; I would have liked to have met her in happier days…

The Nisei Republic (Usonomiya in Yokuts)

Kiyotaka Kuroda, Commander of the Armies of the Republic, Protector of the Emperor of All Japan, daitoryo of the Diet

Diplomacy None

Resuming their lucrative grain export business, the Nisei shipped an inordinate amount of oats, wheat, barley, rye and corn south to the Aztec Empire. The airship industry in Usonomiya and Nanhuaco remained very busy, though the zeppelins under production were not for government use, but rather for the private sector. Usonomiya also expanded as workers migrated to the pleasant city from all over the Republic.

Work continued apace to cut a broad highway through the mountains of Pomo, connecting Usunomiya and Toyama by road.

The Nisei Port town of Tijuana

The Norsk captain Trygvasson, having learned that gaining face and use of the Nisei language might help in his business dealings on the Amerikan coast, strives to use this information as best he may.

Trygvasson bowed to the Nisei town leaders present for the meeting, in order of seniority, and confidently musters his Kokugo. “Hajimemashite. Nörsktrad no. Watashi no namae wa Tryggvasson Henri dess. Dōzo yoroshku onegai-shi-mass.”

Then he waited to be seated, following the guide of the go-between. If o-cha is offered he accepts it, and is careful to avoid direct eye contact: The Nisei are unlikely to accept him as an equal at this juncture and will undoubtedly consider him a clumsy gaijin, but perhaps he can at least gain their respect. Henri keeps his posture tense and makes few gestures. If his host offers a gift he accepts it with both hands, raising it slightly, but does not open it after putting it down. “Arigato gozalmasu. Enryo naku chōdal itashimasu,” he replies, bowing slightly.

For much of the conversation he is liable to have to depend on an interpreter. Hopefully his Nahuatl is good enough to converse with the interpreter, but in deference to the Nisei sensibilities, he does not address them directly in this language. Henri is careful to mask any frustration.

Towards the end of the meeting he presents a small model steam engine as a gift, carefully wrapped by a local professional. “Noruuējin Bōeki Kaisha kara no o-miyage desu. Tsumaranai mono desu ga.”

And finally at the conclusion of affairs: “Kyōwa gochisō sama deshita. Kongo tomo yoroshiku onegal itashimasu.”

The High Kingdom of Colorado (Three Crosses in Navajo)

Fredrik Grosse, King of the Ute, High King of Colorado

Diplomacy Hohokam (^f)

Disgusted by the boasting of other nations, the High Kingdom launched a program to build the largest military draken ever. Plus, of course, where was a popular hot-air balloon festival every year in Three Crosses. In an effort to control costs, King Fredrik also began a reserve militia program to provide reserves for the active army. Prince Gunthar, meantime, was packed off to try and settle the restive Catholic of Comanche down (a few wags in the court said he was riding east so fast because his father was arranging a Hohokam wife for him in the east).

The citizens of Corpus Christi turned out in substantial numbers to watch a gloriously attired troop of Aztec Flowering Sun nights enter the town, escorting the vicar Nabaah on his rounds.

Princess Yesobelle, now popularly termed “Iron Skirt” for her tendency to wear half-plate mail all the time, toured the countryside with an ever-swelling retinue of knights, which certainly impressed the yokels.

The Ghostdancers (Fushige in Missouri)

Geshin Azurama, Prince of Fushige, War-Captain of the Ghost People

Diplomacy None

Minded their own business.

Arapaho Texas [Shawnee Protectorate](Ayoel in Atakapa)

Kegemai Arroweye, Chieftain of the Arapaho, Liegeman of the Stormdragon

Diplomacy Caddo (^t)

The Arapaho were also very quiet, their attention focused on rebuilding the shattered economy of their handful of provinces. Shawnee missionaries arrived to begin saving the souls of the Lencolar heretics in Caddo and Natchez.

The Shawnee Empire (Cahokia in Michigamea)

Valeria Stormdragon, Queen of the Shawnee, Empress of the Iroquois

Diplomacy Elmerland on the Faeroes (^ea)

Disgusted by the slowness of her people’s recovery from the ravages of the Ice and the civil war, the Stormdragon elected to better their fortunes by sending a fleet into the far northeast in support of the Jesuit Order.

Valeria pronounces this: “The Carthaginians see fit to try and steal land from the Holy Jesuits. Land settled by Shawnee and Iriqious in fact. At the request of the Master of the Society of Jesus I am dispatching a peace keeping force to Elmerland. We will keep the peace until this matter is settled.”

She also expressed her displeasure with reports of certain heretical faiths running amuck in the southlands: “Send the Iron Hand against these Yigites. Let him employ his special touch to these cultists.”

After a long absence, the ARF airfleet carrying Squanto and his veteran riflemen returned out of the north, their airships battered and ice-stained. Every man aboard was nearly giddy with relief to see a warm hearth and a pint of mulled wine. What they had done in the Ice, they did not say, and after looking upon their scarred, frost-bitten faces, no one dared ask.

General Farspear, commanding the 4^th Hussars and the 5^th Marines, loaded his men up onto Satewaya’s fleet and then made the rough, vomit-inducing voyage up past Gronland to the windy isles of the Faeroes. There – much to the disgust of the Shawnee commanders – they found only the locals going about their business, undisturbed by Hussite invasions. On the other hand, the Mohawk-derived citizens of the town and surrounding islands were happy to greet familiar faces.

Back in the tidewater country, Nakos Iron-Hand (commanding the 3^rd Infantry, soon to be known as the “Damascenes”) swept through Catawba, Hebron and Monacan, purging the towns and cities of Yigite cultists. The Empress’ watchers had already identified many of the loathsome, devil-worshippers, providing Iron-Hand with extensive lists of names and addresses.

Missionaries were dispatched into Arapho lands, as well as the mountains of Apallach and among the Ghostdancers in Quapaw. The Jesuits and Benedictines in Quapaw found themselves instantly embroiled in a theological tussle with the Lencolar Sisters, who had also moved into the area – and converted ninety-percent of the population within a single year.

Kingdom of the Iroquois [Shawnee Protectorate] (New Canarsie in Mohawk)

Canassatego, King of the Iroquois Nation, Regent for…

Lucas II Stormdragon, Lord of the East.

Diplomacy Poctumtuc (^nt)

While the boy-prince Lucas remained home in New Canarsie, the Regent betook himself up to treat with the natives of Poctumtuc. Though that land had still not fully recovered from the Ice, there was great promise.

On the eastern seaboard, quite a few Iroquois nobles turned out in their local coasters to ooh and aah over the Albanian clipperships arriving at Brooklyn on Pachogue island. Acres of white sail gleamed in the sun as the graceful, sleek ships made landfall after a swift crossing of the Atlantic.

Some time later, the citizens of Pennacook entertained a squadron of Vastmark galleons under the command of the well-spoken Daniel Casimir. Quite a number of Iroquois priests went the other direction as well, traveling to England to tend to the needy.

The Order of The Flowering Sun (Tenochtitlán)

Chikietl, Master of the Order, Shield of the Sun against the Ten Thousand Enemies

Diplomacy Otomi (^op), Corpus Christi in Karankawa (^oh), New Jerusalem in Quiche (^oe). Macahuil in Tipai (^oh), Popol Vuh in Ipai (^oh)

After a great deal of pestering, the Emperor Trákonel agreed to pay a suitable tithe to the Order, though the resulting amount was smaller than Chikietl desired and more than the Emperor wished. So it is above, so it is below.

A previously unheard of event occurred when several of his staff saw the Grandmaster Chukietl embrace one of his most junior officers. The officer being Malinal, subaltern of cavalry, and the Grandmaster's own daughter, no one was too shocked.

She had been released from her oaths, and was leaving for Caquetio, where the young King Pardane, whom she had met when they both were aspirant-students of the Order, had asked her to come, to be his bride and his Queen, as soon as his heavy duties could permit.

Viceroyalty of Zacateca [Aztec Protectorate] (Gorea in Zacatec)

Ilhuicaimina, Viceroy of the North

Diplomacy None

The Zacatecans continued to toil (much like ants on an enormous hill) at their silos, granaries and other stone buildings of obscure use.

The Aztec Empire of Mexico (Sion in Huave)

Trákonel “The Victorious”, Emperor of Mexico, Warrior of Christ, Protector of the Faith, Smiter of the Infidel, Conqueror of the Incans, Rex Britannicus

Diplomacy Boruca (^a)

As ever, the Empire continued to import truly vast quantities of grain, by which they inadvertently made the economies of New Granada, Caquetio, Bolivia and Tzompanctli dependent on their export market. Down Inca-way, the Imperial Corps of Engineers was very busy, surveying roadbeds for a proposed Nan Chao to Cuzco highway – a project on a scale not lately seen in these lands. All of the Incan towns along the way became very excited, imagining the influx of workers and travelers would make them all rich! (no one mentioned the planned bypasses…)

A huge fleet of Pacific Mercenary and Trust ships limped into Mexicalli at the end of 1756, sails in tatters, many merchantmen lost in dreadful storms or their crews succumbed to disease.

The capital was amused by a mild scandal – rumors had circulated concerning the prevalence of a snake-worshipping cult gaining strength among the idlers and nuveau riche in Tenochtitlan. Ever wary for otherworldly influences corrupting the youth, agents of the Mirror which Reveals the Truth rounded up quite a lot of whist and backgammon players and questioned them very severely.

Despite persistent (even desperate ) efforts to get his wife alone, Prince Nimulana failed to begat any heirs. Were it not for the fierce reputation of his father, there would have been open derision in the Court and the streets.

As part and parcel of the ‘improvements’ planned for the Incan provinces (generally regarded as a barbarous backwater of the Empire), the Red God Legion was reinforced with a huge influx of troops from the Imperial City and then invaded the principality of Wairajikira. Against the massive firepower (and numbers) the Empire could bring to bear, the highlanders could fight bravely, but they could not prevail.

The Sisters of the Rose (New Jerusalem in Quiche)

Kelly Davias, Holy Mother of the Lencolar Christian Order

Diplomacy Popoluca (^ch) / Tlacotalpan (^mn), Guahibo (^ch), St. Pauls in the Canary Islands (^ch), Three Crosses in Navajo (^ab)

A sea-wall was built along the harbor-front of New Jerusalem, and a number of dikes constructed to prevent future tidal waves from damaging the town. A medical school was opened in the secular part of the city, which soon became known as ‘Healton’. The faithful also turned out in Lenca to gather up the dead fish thrown onto shore – these eventually made their way a new fertilizer plant the Sisterhood had built downwind of Pachamaxl.

An Albanian cutter arrived in New Jerusalem to deliver a very large crate bound with cables. Curious, the Sisters opened the shipping container and found a fabulous machine inside… A great globe composed of fly-wheels, gears, numeric displays (on enameled racheted wheels), pistons and other sundry enigmatic devices. A brass plate on the side of the device declared it to be the “Ars Generalis Ultima”. There was an associated religious tract.

As part of efforts by the Knights of the Flowering Sun to improve their facilities in the Holy City, a park for the use of all was dedicated near the Order site. Some of the Sisters, though they know the faith and loyalty of the Order, had been less than comfortable with the martial nature of this new construction. The artistic use of colored stone and carvings could not disguise the fact that all of the ground floor windows looked very much like the apertures for weapons, nor does the presence of water flowers confuse anyone as to the nature of a moat. Also, the Sisters are not divorced from the realities of this world, and harbored no illusions as to why the Order had chosen the highest point in the city for the ornamental gardens.

The park was in two parts, each dedicated to a Sister who had given her life for the Light, while serving with the Order. The first to be opened was that dedicated to Sister Chaltique. The opening speech more closely resembled a teaching story than oratory.

In the aftermath of the first disastrous battle against the evil that was Georgia, the commanders of the shattered army of the Sunlands had met in a temporary camp during the bloody efforts to retreat to rally again. The highest commanders had spoken of their inability to break contact from the pursuing darkness, and of the desperate need for just a few hours, a half-day, of time to break free. A quiet but carrying voice spoke from the rear of the assembled generals: “Let the army leave in the hours before dawn. The Host of the Flowering Sun will remain here, to test the enemy stars in the ballcourt of fate, thereby purchasing the time needed.”

The generals turned to the small helmeted figure standing behind most of them. “Sister Chaltique, the airships of the Enemy control the sky. Half of your force is infantry. If you remain here, you will never be able be able to break free.”

A quiet reply came. “All of the Order will fight as infantry. You will take our cavalry's mounts to carry your wounded as you leave. As for breaking free, each member of the Order did that when they swore service to the Faith. Our souls are free now and evermore, and even the darkest and most powerful of the Damned cannot chain them. There is no other way. Waste no further time with words, but go to make your preparations, as the Order is already making its. Go with God, as shall we who stay.”

The necessity being inescapable, the commanders of the other contingents of the army simply bowed to or saluted the small calm figure, each according to their own custom. In the first hours of the morning, with the dust of the retreating army fading on the far orizon, the cloud raised by the advancing Enemy appearing from the opposite direction, and no airships as yet in view, Sister Chaltique briefly called the few thousands of her command from their entrenching. Her voice rang clearly to all.

“Behind us, the armies who serve the Light march to a place where they may fight again. Their journey through this bleak land will be longer and harder than ours. Let us all do our duty, and in only hours we shall all meet again, at our journey's end.

“Companions! Today this Host of the Flowering Sun marches to God!”

Sister Chaltique died near the end, killed by an airship's bomb. While the rest who still survived fought against the Enemy's last infuriated assault, carried out over the bodies the Order had strewn in front of its trenches from previous attempts the overconfident servants of the Dark had launched to clear this handful from their way, a few of the Order worked with desperate haste to wrap the body of the commander they had come to love as well as obey in the Host's banners, to place it on a makeshift pyre made from the wood of the bomb-shattered trees of the small copse that had been the only trace of green in this arid land. When the Enemy swept over the last of the Order, the sun was nearing the Western hills. The Order had spent their lives, but the Enemy had wasted time they would not be able to recover. Nothing but ashes remained in the center of what had been trees. There was nothing for the Enemy to defile.

What happened and was said after the main army had left is known because four Knights were permitted by the Lord of All to live. Wounded, unconscious, buried in a collapsed bunker, the four emerged two days later. Eventually, two would reach the advancing and now victorious armies of the Light, carrying with them a small jar, filled only with ashes.

This first park is shaped as a glen, with a clear, cool stream falling in a small cascade into a shaded pool. A single life-sized statue is in the glen, a figure shaped as if it were sitting, leaning back against mossy rocks, one bronze hand trailing in the water. A part of the ashes that the Four of legend brought back were mixed into the metal of the statue, the remainder buried beneath it. Sister Chaltique, who loved the sound of moving water, and the green of life, and who died in a desert, will, so long as metal and the Flowering Sun endures, always have what she loved. The park is a place of rest and peace for all. Order Knights often come to meditate, and to touch the statue.

South Amerika

Mercenaries	Minimum bid listed in [x].
Condotierri	25i, 16c, 11a, 1ea, 1hei [1gp each]
Captains	Joseph d’Sackville (M977) [5gp]
To hire, please contact…	None
Quality Ratings	i15 w17 s18 c12 a12

The Kingdom of Caquetio (New Hiquito in Caquetio)

Malinal, Queen of Caquetio, Subaltern of the Order of the Flowering Sun

Diplomacy None

During his schooling at the Order of the Flowering Sun, the then-prince Pardane had formed a connection with a female aspirant going through the same kinds of military training. Unfortunately for his youthful infatuation, she was the daughter of Grandmaster Chukietl, and Pardane was a spoiled nobleman’s son. Many factors prevented him from pursuing his interests. Now that he was King, and looking for a suitable bride, Pardane returned to Tenochtitlan to seek permission from the Grandmaster to propose to his daughter Malinal, who was now an officer in one of the Order’s elite cavalry divisions.

Pardane took the air route to Tenochtitlan accompanied by his squads of “Aeroknights” – a polite request to the Emperor had yielded overflight permission. Once in Tenochtitlan, Pardane was careful to visit both the Sisters of the Rose and the Order, bestowing lavish gifts upon each religious group in hopes of receiving their blessing. By these means he secured the Grandmaster’s permission and proposed to Malinal.

The young woman considered the king, finding him as brash and willful as ever, though the weight of his new responsibilities had tempered him slightly. “Very well.”

An engagement celebration was held in Tenochtitlan before the couple returned to New Hiquito for a relatively quiet ceremony.

The wedding is presided over by a Lencolan Minister, however a Catholic Bishop was invited as well, in respect of the dual religious nature of Caquetio as a whole. Pardane’s Sister, Nima, was given a perfunctory role in the Ceremony, but does not oversee it, despite being a recognized Lencolan Sister.

Afterwards, there was a bit of food and drink for the six thousand guests. Moving the wedding presents required sixty dray-wagons and a barge. For the elephant and the Aztec gift.

Pardane and Mailinal were pleased to receive a grandiose gilded granite sun-disk sculpture from the Emperor Trakonel as a wedding gift. “Now…” Pardane wondered, squinting at the massive object, “I guess we’ll have to build a new palace just to house this thing…”

While Malinal had expected a reasonably long life (at least, as such terms applied for a cavalry officer), she did not expect her brash young husband to get himself killed while hunting in the forest only sixteen days after their wedding. This left a rather surprised Subaltern Malinal the sole ruler of an entire nation.

The first issue on her mind – which had weighed heavily ever since she had first set foot on Caquetian soil – was the matter of the slaves.

“Things are going to change,” she declared, fingering the hilt of her saber.

The Principate of Bolivia (Trischka in Karanga)

Ramon Mascate, Prince of Bolivia, Duke of Trishka

Diplomacy None

Signatories of the Treaty of Tikal, the Bolivian field army in Omaguaca withdrew back into their national territory. Prince Ramon was glad to eat hot food again, but he grieved for lord Fernando de Vasquez, who had fallen ill during the march up into the Andes and had died before they could return him to his wife in Trishka.

The Knights of Saint John (New Granada in Acroa)

Humphrey of Toron, Regent for…

Eluterio Gafard de Masa, Grand-Master of the Knights of Saint John

Diplomacy None

Humphrey of Toron breathed a truly enormous sigh of relief – the intervention of the Sud Afriqans and the Papacy had rescued his realm from destruction and his own kiester from the fire. Wagonloads of gold and grain rolled up from the south and the French returned the provinces (Cari, Tupinamba and Shokleng) they were supposed to return. Trade resumed. There was a possibility of life and growth!

Now he just had to make sure Prince Eleuterio didn’t screw things up…

Great France (Versailles in Calchaqui)

Francois de'Saone, Emperor of France, Prince of Varres, Lord of the South, Smiter of the Heretic

Diplomacy

Pressured by the Papacy, and threatened by the Republic of Sud Afriqa, Emperor Francois was forced to accept a peace settlement in his war with the Knights of Saint John – all despite a continuous string of French victories on the field of battle. With a sense of outraged bitterness almost matching that of Peregrin of Arnor, the Emperor agreed to the following treaty (signed at the Sud Afriqan city of Tikal):

1. New France issues a formal apology for past aggressions against the Knights of Saint John.

2. All French troops withdraw from KOST (Granadan) territory.

3. New France pays reparations in the sum of 200gp and 50 agro to New Granada for sacking the city of New Granada. (This amount may be changed based on further French/Granadan negotiations)

4. A new standing South American peace advisory board to the Pope is created that consists of a Papal representative, a Knights representative, and a Bolivian representative. This board would have the "power" to censure the New French and recommend actions to the Pope (such as excommunication) to deal with any hostilities over the next 20 years (i.e. 10 turns---all decisions would be by majority vote. Location of said commission to be determined later.

5. All hostile actions and infiltrations between Bolivia, New Granada, and New France come to an end immediately.

The French abided by the treaty – withdrawing from the territories they’d captured in the east, sending large sums in reparations to the New Granadans (even though they’d started the war in the first place!) and trying restore regular trade relations. The Knights of Saint John, however, refused to do so and that border remained closed to trade.

As the armies moved west, the provinces of Arana, Tupi, Tupinamba, Shokleng and Cari were abandoned. While the more southernly provinces elected to return to New Granadan rule, Arana and Tupi did not.

The civil authorities of Chamonix, a quiet port town on the French coast, were puzzled and a little disgusted to find the mutilated body of a Sister of the Rose (along with several Caquetian servants) scattered around a tawdry room in a harborside dive. The condition of the bodies were of such horrific aspect several of the gendarmes were forced to exit the building and spend an hour or so heaving their guts out in the street.

In the Outer Darkness

A tumbling shape moved through the void, craggy black surface swarming with glittering, insectile shapes. Plumes of venting gas illuminated the surface of the asteroid fragment as the miners cored into the mile-long fragment of ancient Minerva. Almost imperceptibly, the rock shifted, nudged into line with a distant blue speck shining amid so many jewel-like stars studding the ebon firmament.

A cluster of the mi-go swarmed at the northern pole of the asteroid, moving in their own imperceptible dance of communion and communication. Another plume of gas vented, shining red on their carapaces.

< ready | proper | angled | with sure form! > they chorused.

One of the masters hopped with delight, turning about, febrile cobweb-like wings spreading to catch the starlight. Compound optical nerves – a forest of trembling crystalline worms – focused suddenly on a dark section of sky.

< puzzled | Fomalhaut | absent | void | nothingness >

The others turned to observe the mystery as well.

Three hundred seconds later, they shrieked in fear and the entire colony burst away from the surface of the fragment, ethereal wings humming.

Something rushed out of the greater darkness, vast and smooth, unstoppable. Several hundred of the mi-go were still crawling out of the mining tunnels when the two objects collided. There was a monstrous explosion; the asteroid fragment, already bored and chewed, shattered into thousands of pieces. The device crumpled, front-end smashed in, and voided atmosphere explosively. Secondary explosions rippled along the smooth skin, and then everything was engulfed in a brief blast of flame.

The void swallowed the remains, flames snuffed by a lack of atmosphere to sustain them. All was silent.

Bank List

Bank			GP	Rate
	Aztec Empire of Mexico	Tenochtitlan Teocali	2103	40%
	Chan Mongol Empire	Uncle Wu's	760	40%
	Emirate of the Chandellas	Mutaib Mercantile Lending	241	40%
	Free Republic of Ethiopia	Funj Gold Reserves	802	40%
	Principate of Kiev	Royal Bank of Khitai	142	35%
	Coptic Kingdom of Maasai	M'Beya House of Credit	1334	20%
	Mali Ax Empire	Mixtec International Fund	1398	34%
	The Nisei Republic	Yedo Matsuma Bank	825	40%
	Empire of Swedish-Russia	BUX	1004	40%
	The Kingdom of Java	Sunny Sunda Savings	913	40%

(end of l1_t213.doc)

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[1] And nothing gets a GM madder than that!