Main | Newsfaxes

GM NOTES TURN 9

If something happens you do not understand email me I keep very good turn-by-turn notes and I can probably tell you why something happened. 

Turn Sheets to you:  Please check your stat sheets when you get them rather than at the last minute.  Yes I realize they should be perfect but sometimes it doesn’t happen that way.   If you check ahead of time it give time for things to get fixed rather than being in a rush.

SE’s and Hordes:   Be warned …… They can start popping now.   I will say this about both, I do not expect that I will have an overly active Horde world, things seem to be active without there being one Horde active at all times.  I am not inclined to have freaky SE’s but historical ones yes.  I will set SE goals be warned. 

Don’t Forget  (I know this is hard to get used to) You can contact NPN’s and they just might be helpful.  NPN’s like making deals especially when it nets them money.    

Islands & Colonization and Building Cities:  You must colonize an island to zero before building a city on it.  This represents the very basic regional infrastructure necessary to assist the city in functioning.

1040 - 1044:  Death of the Great Empires

Mercenary Pool: 

If a leader is listed you must hire the leader and his troops, leaders minimum is 5GP plus the minimum of .5gp for regular and 1gp for elite troops unit. 

Africa: 

The lands of the Taureg got embroiled in a bloody civil war and the horde numbers there were reduced dramatically.  The current horde hot spot is the Tomba region currently.

Shia:  Jerusalem +1 CL

Holy City continues to grow and urban developments coincided with increased city size.

Egypt:  City of Luxor in Thebes, +1CL Al’Aqaba

The Egyptians, like everyone else, were concerned about possible strife throughout the world.  The young Fasil was adept at all aspects of running a nation and he was not about to be the next victim of the worldwide destruction of the major powers.  Armies were moved into position to react to intrusion.  General Omar, defender of Egypt, died in his sleep in 1042 and The Prince of Petra, nobility by marriage to Desereta during the previous cycle, took command of the huge Fatimid army.

Fasil looked kindly on his sister, Nadra, in the South and built the city of Luxor, she and her husband were very happy well until Nadra found out her sister Desereta got the size of her city increased, apparently size does matter.   Justinian did not have the jealously bug like his wife though and sent his thanks to Fasil as well as the assurance the lands of Thebes would exceed the standard relations between Coptics and Shia as long as Fasil should reign. 

In an attempt to regain control over Sicily the silver-tongued Ahmet journeyed to Sicily.  Palermo was very happy to see an emissary of the Fatimid regime they were getting very anxious about the going ons in the Middle Med.  The Mercenary League and the Napoli were both a concern the arrival of Ahmet meant that the Emperor had not forgotten about the Island.  Ahmet also journeyed into the countryside and spent some time trying to persuade them that the Fatimids were interested in their needs.  He was surprisingly ineffective in this action and so he returned home to Egypt.

Ghana:  City of Gao (F)

King Mombega was the father of two more daughters this cycle he was starting to have difficulty remembering all his children’s names.   Mombega continued to rule his lands wisely and this cycle he prepared his defenses, as all wise rulers will do from time to time.   The formations were reviewed; at least 2000 young men were brought into the ranks because of the rumblings on the Steppe and desert regions.  Good news came this cycle as the rumbling from the Tauregs had actually waned substantially.  Seems there was some infighting among the Taureg clans over rights to certain Oasis’s and there was a great blood letting somewhere in the Sahara.  Diplomacy with the city of Gao was finally concluded which would probably solidify the Eastern reaches of the Ghanan Kingdom. 

Morocco:  

The Sultan began construction of a road that would connect the Capital to the Mediterranean.   This would also connect the Atlantic to the Med. by land and circumvent a possible blockage of the Straits of Gibraltar.  On the military front the Sultan conducted a very large military build up, large for his country at least.  The nearly 5000 men were added to the duty roles.  The Sultan realized the strategic importance of his lands and was not about to allow any ill befall them.

Sunni Church:  CA in Merekesh and Algeria

Continuing to build up rather than out the Sunni church though small in area of coverage continues to grow strong.

Algeria:  

Economic Development and improved defenses.

Tunisia:  CL Mahida

The Tunisians had long neglected urban improvements choosing to devote themselves to assisting the farmers and the herdsmen of their realm instead.   This had led to a bit of dissention among city dwellers so the Bey decided to address this issue by vastly improving the welfare of his citizens in the capital city of Mahida.  Balance was essential to any strong government and the Tunisian government was no different, many a defensive facilities were constructed in the Canary Is. to assure that this island chain was secure.  The Bey’s two sons were promoted this cycle and they were an impressive pair.  Tunis continues to produce highly educated and well-spoken leaders.

Hausa: 

The Hausa lands were VERY quiet.  Many men were recruited for military service and all leaders were prepared for military duty though there was no apparent conflict about to begin.

Kanem: 

While the leader was sleeping the Gods came down and invested a bunch of the kings treasury into improving the region of Soro.        

Kilwa:    Comoros colonized

The king watched over his country as his son Nikkwendo was sent with the fleet to colonize the Comoros Is. chain.  Ajuma also ordered his pagan missionaries into the streets of the capital to convert the Sunni, who dominated the capital of Kilwa.  This was a complete fiasco, as the Sunni locals wanted nothing to do with paganism.  Rock hurling Sunnis chased the pagans into the waiting arms of the military, which cooled things down after some anxious moments.

Zagwe:  Kassala (T), Fortress in Funj

Pretty quiet turn in the lands of the Zagwe.  Everyone throughout the world seems to be gripping just waiting for some ill to befall them.  Zagwe was no different though no ill befell them.  The missionaries sent to Kordafan return empty handed.  The Kordafan’s seem intent on having nothing to do with the Zagwe or the Coptic Church.  Due to the great rush to return to the capital and some bad luck, Kassala was only nominally upgraded by the diplomatic efforts of the king.

Ethiopia: 

Wooded Lalibela was enhanced with a great many infrastructure improvements and the people were happy.

Coptics:  City New Alexandria in Gezira

Bishop Marcus worked feverishly overseeing the construction of what one-day might be the Holy Seat of the Coptic religion, New Alexandria in Gezira.  Marcus also busied himself with the administrative duties of the religion while the Patriarch was enjoying the high altitude air of the Ethiopian Plateau.  Apparently the air was quite a revitalizer as the Patriarch kept at his duties now well into his 70’s. 

Zimbabwe:  Bassa (A), Matopos (T)

The Great Lord Kimbu speaks to his people before his untimely demise in 1040.

A hush descends in the meeting hut as the Spirit Walkers slowly entered the room; followed by the King.

He strode slowly, reflective and the silence deepened, not a cough or a stir was heard in the room. The assembled chiefs and warriors sensed a great change upon their King. He stood at his place in the inner circle looking at the smoke slowly spiraling up and out through the roof. He started to speak in low voice…

“My loyal subjects last night during the purification for the upcoming celebration: I had a vision. Mgwengo (God of Cattle, Strength & Prosperity for Infidels) came to me and showed me a herd of cattle on a plain of grass. This herd was being circled by a great bull, which kept at bay jackals and hyenas. In the distance was the cough of the Lions. While the bull circled the Jackals and Hyenas stayed in the shadows; but the grass began to grow thin under the feet of the cattle, and young bulls unable to stretch their muscles began to challenge the great bull, while calves waited until the great bull had passed and then frisked and played outside of his protection and some were taken. I have thought of nothing else since. I realise that I have been like the great bull for my people, I have protected them and we have made safe where we stand; but there are still those who must test their strength and try to understand our place before the Gods. We must supply future generations with the wisdom we have learned.” 

Mutterings arise from the gathered chiefs and warriors.

“Quiet; I now commit myself to the task given to me. My sons shall test themselves in the world beyond their and my control, my sons shall travel to Bassa and convince them of the benefits of joining the Kingdom, their they shall take a measure of cattle to show the wealth of Zimbabwe, and my youngest will marry and show the virility of Zimbabwe. If only they were all Maidens then we would be sure of their acquiescence before Kimbuson.” (Muted laughter and embarrassed faces amongst the Chiefs.) “Let us see if my silver-tongued eldest son can also win the Matopos and a bride in the following seasons. Too long have the calves not been put to work, let the lettered ones now work for the Kingdom, and the rest shall make safe the grasslands that are now Zimbabwe. Should I be called by the Sky Mother before my tasks are finished then bury me and acknowledge Kimbuson, for he will return to claim the throne. With the beginnings of his own herd.” (Many muted cries of  hear hear, and I blo**dy well hope so; he’ll stop sniffing around my Kraal.)

The illustrious King Kimbu died at the very early stages of 1040 but fortunately for the kingdom ascension happened in the proper fashion.  Kimbuson who was about as well spoken as a man can be persuaded Bassa to join with the nation as an ally, his brother, Kimjala had to marry the chiefs daughter but that seems to have gone alright as the marriage bore a son at the end of the cycle.  Kimbuson then traveled to Matopos.  The people of Matopos were a little more difficult to get along with.  Some of their customs were reflective of their close proximity to the Zulus and this caused Kimbuson some minor problems.  In the end a tributary agreement was ironed out.  The newly appointed King secured a wife among the people of Matapos and there is some hope he might actually be able to sleep in the king’s bed with his new wife soon.

Zulu Nation:  Phalaborwa (NT), Sharik CL +1

The Zulus were a little nervous to learn that their neighbor to the north had moved in next door.  They placed numerous warriors on the mountain passes to make sure nothing bad happened. 

Europe: Wars of Roman Ascension, War for Wales and War of Unification in Italy. 

Bolgars:

Waited patiently for the Horde to go away.

Kiev:  Cuman (NT), Sudzal (EA)

Death pays a visit to the lands of the Rus.  Six leaders died this turn but the King and one of his sons survived and so the government remained stable.

While conducting some diplomacy with some clan chiefs in Murom the Prince of Smolensk Pyotr died of alcohol poisoning after a hard night of drinking.  The King will now have to assign another Prince of Smolensk to take Pyotr place.

Many a young princesses to be’s hearts were broken when news came down the Prince Valo died doing God’s work in Lithuania.   The immensely charismatic Valo was accosted and killed by some clansmen who had been offered the opportunity to form their own nation.   The investigation, limited as it was, did not show that the Polish directed this.  Lithuania continues to be a hotbed of strife between Poland and Kiev

Vlad II was wildly successful in converting the heathens in Kostroma.   Prior to his departure from the land of the living Gregori II was able to upgrade Kiev’s status in the region.  Ingmar before he died of the cough managed to get the Cumans a little closer to Kiev.  The Bishop of Smolensk managed to effectively follow up Bishop Alexander in the conversion of Estonia.  

When General Suvertosk was sent into duty in Belarus he expected a pretty easy time of things.  The province was Orthodox, they had for many years had ties with the Kievian Kingdom everything was to be pretty cut and dried.  Well you know what that means…..Apparently the General was not well versed in the customs of the Belarus and he greatly insulted the Belarus Boyar.  Swordplay ensued and in the end the General was no match for the boyar of Belarus.  The Belarus severed the generals head and sent it in a wicker basket back to the Czar of Kiev along with 1 gold talent in wergild to pass on to the widow and children of the now dead general.

Novgorod:   City of Revel in Estonia

Novgorod continues to expand their web of control over the Northlands by adding yet another City to the bitter lands of the North.

Galica: 

The Volhynia wilderness was subdued a bit in order to draw more value from the province.

Celtic Church:  

The Celtic Church continued its work assisting its flock; a good amount of money was spent in all Celtic nations to support their growth.  They even tried to mend the fences with the Welsh and English but it was to no avail as the English and the Welsh now hate each other.

The Welsh Issue:

Glen Barney journeyed to war torn Wales to erect a church in the Welsh capital while the war was going on he was not permitted to enter the city because it was far to risky.   The Gold for improvements to the city were refused outright as well.

Lord Thweatt                Who is here?

Aide                        The Celtic Patriarch sire

Lord Thweatt                What!? What in the name of God is he doing here when we are under siege?

Aide                        He wants to build a church sire

Murmur murmur murmur

Glen Barney                Let me in I demand it! 

People shuffling quickly out of the way

Lord Thweatt                Let him in

Aide                        Right away sire

Moments later

Lord Thweatt                 bows and pays appropriate respect

Glen Barney                What’s this not letting me into the city business

Lord Thweatt                Well we are a little bit in the thick of things right now

Glen Barney                Bother what has this got to do with the church

Lord Thweatt                 When a big rock drops on your head you will be dead

Glen Barney                If God means for me to go that way then so be it

Lord Thweatt                What are you hear for?

Glen Barney                To build a church of course

Lord Thweatt                Splendid and you will get the building materials from where?

Glen Barney                I will buy them…..oh and I brought a bunch of gold for urban improvements too

Lord Thweatt          Buy building materials for construction of a church when those materials are needed for shoring up defenses along the walls?  Somehow I do not think this would be a wise action to take.

Glen Barney            I insist you allow me to help the people of this city.

Lord Thweatt          You can make demands all day long but if you were truly concerned about the health and well being of the people of the city and the Welsh people you would take to the streets and help the wounded and the needy.  Go preach to the men and lift their spirits. 

Glen Barney            I agree to aid the injured and service to the needs of the people.  I will not openly support your military, as it is not appropriate for me to choose sides in such a conflict.

Lord Thweatt          Excellent we will talk about my penitence on other such things when there is no war inflicting grievous wounds on my people.

Aide enters the room and whispers something in Lord Thweatt’s ear.  Thweatt motions in agreement.

Patrick Ryn                 Lord Thweatt what a blessed occasion

Lord Thweatt                Yes very happy to see you as well, as is our Patriarch

Patrick Ryn                What a terribly pleasant surprise to see you here hopefully you are negotiating a truce

Glen Barney                No, the earthly affairs between Celtic Lords I will not interfere in.

Patrick Ryn             That is terribly unfortunate, what if England attacks some one else?   What if Scotland attacks England or England attack Ireland?  What do we do then?

Glen Barney            A fine question but one I will address with my subjects at a later time

Lord Thweatt          I am sure that God will give you the guidance you need.  It appears God has already leveled punishment on both Wales and England with a small outbreak recently.

Glen Barney            Yes he has and I will be reviewing this matter very close in the near future.

Patrick Ryn             That would be a relief for all of us connected to the Celtic faith I assure you.

Glen Barney                What brings you here Patrick?

Patrick Ryn                Lord Ryn felt establishment of trade with Wales would be a good thing. 

Glen Barney            Well it seems even in wartime people have enough interest in Wales to risk their lives in Caernervon

The Celtic Patriarch, Glen Barney last of the Glen leadership, attempted to gain greater influence in Norway and Scotland the attempts met with minimal success probably due to the strife between the Welsh and the English that couldn’t be resolved by the church. 

England: 

Most of the efforts of the nations were devoted to the war effort.  The Welsh King had truly drawn Athelstan’s ire and he must pay.  

Wales:    War with the foul English

Plague!  A plague swept through the city and the lands of Gwynned the disease wrecked havoc on the infantry forces of both sides.  Apparently all the dead and wounded on both sides during the previous cycles engagements had apparently not been taken care of properly and now disease is an issue.  Fortunately for both sides the first year saw both sides sitting idle so there was some recovery time before violence broke out again.  

Ireland:  Limerick +1 CL

In an attempt to curry a little favor with the Patriarch of the Celtic Church Sean Ryn was sent to the Faeroes to do God’s work, he was reasonably successful.  There was a great deal of bustling around the court as some young visitors from afar arrived.  The Patriarch also arrived and there was quite a lot of commotion about that as preparations had to be made for such events. 

ENGLISH WELSH WAR:  Second Cycle

1040:  Nothing substantial to note here aside from the shuffling of troops.  Food flowed into Caernervon from the sea and was stockpiled to make the siege much more difficult for the English.    The City also had a couple of visitors….see Celtic Church section.  Some assassins tried making it over the walls of the besieged city.  Their target was unknown as they were both killed before they talked.

April 1041: The English arrive off the coast and chase off the fishermen.

May 1041:  Athelstan issues a decree of amnesty to the soldiers of Caernervon it has a minimal success actually even though the city has not been under siege since the sea-lanes have been open.

The small amount of defections did occur.  Apparently city life was not all it was cracked up to be.

June 1041:  Lord Thweatt dies at the ripe old age of 70.  It was a long and mostly happy life.  His son assumes the throne, but Farfallen handles duties in the capital.

July 1041:  The Passive Siege actually begins.

Dec 1041: Food rations are holding out very well

July 1042: Food rations still are very good

Dec 1042: Standard food supply is running low city on half rations

April 1043:  Standard Rations run out.

July 1043: People in the city are getting a little nervous about living in the shadow of the English army and navy.  The 

   new king does an excellent job of quelling peoples fears though. (9)

Oct 1043:                   People are still holding strong as the King spurs confidence  (8)

Jan 1044: Populace still hold out hope, News reaches Athelstan that Harold was slain in Cornwall Ambushed by

                  turncoats lead by the rebel Hastings.  No one is sure how he got into the region and there are no reports of

                  of the size of the forces he encountered but apparently there were Englishmen as well as Welsh soldiers.  (7)

April 1044:  Though Athelstan once again offers amnesty the city holds out.  The King though not exceptional is

persuasive and the people honestly believe that the Patriarch or the Scots or the Irish will save them. (6)

July 1044:  On their last legs needing to survive only one more die roll (5) Word finally made it into the city

                    that there  ad been a great military victory in Cornwall.  It was by no means great but anything to spur the

                    the boys on.

Oct. 1044:  Damn they just couldn’t quite last.  After almost 4 full years under siege the gates are opened.  The Welsh

                   Army is decimated, as is the population of their capital.  The Eldest Thweatt child was captured but

                   According to rumor there are still two alive and well somewhere.

Norway:  Iceland (NT), Adger (FA)

The Queen continued to rule over her nation.  Her son Elric was put in charge of the military and sent on a diplomatic mission to Adger.  The diplomatic action was a nominal success as the agreed to a minimal alliance.  Apparently the extremely old Adger Lord held some grudge against the Swedes, The Queen of Norway is the daughter of the former Swedish King.

Jaga Halsen was sent exploring.  Jaga while certainly not exceptional at things like exploring he was smart enough to do a little research before departing.  He was aware that the Danes, one of the predecessors of the Norwiegn nation, actually owned Iceland meaning that there should be rough maps in Norway somewhere.  He found some maps and followed them to Iceland successfully.  Once in Iceland Jaga managed to secure a minimal understanding with the leadership there.

Orkney/Scotland:  Edinburg +1CL

A Scotsman named Walter was named as heir to the throne of the Norse/Scot Kingdom.  This signaled the end of the Orkney domination of the relationship and the rise of the Scottish noblemen who had all the wealth in the country.  Walter killed off two wives while ruling the nation but did manage to break the drought on sons for the “royal” family, becoming a proud father in 1041 with a daughter and 1045 with a son.  Walter oversaw many improvements in the Scottish lands the people were very happy.

Harwulf and a couple of drinking buddies decided to set off to discover the whereabouts of the lost expedition to the north.  The ancient Harwulf, age 69, was ready for one last ride.   Sven and Olav who traveled with the King were completely worthless but they could tell great stories maybe that would come in handy during the long trip.  Harwulf made the trip to Kolisky Zauv.  Most of the trip was made skirting the coast.  When the King reaches Kolisky Zauv Harwulf noted a small village on the shoreline and decided to investigate.  It was getting to be late September and Harwulf was concerned about the coming of winter.  The six long boats put ashore, the small village came to life, as spear bearing Laps did not appear happy to see the strangers.  Harwulf had some faint knowledge of the Laps and opened negotiations with the offer of some fish and furs, gold had no value here.  Harwulf and his men stayed for the winter bringing the boats completely out of the water and assisting the Laps in the daily duties.  The Laps settle on the shores in the winter because the waters do not freeze for some reason unknown (well you and I know why but the Laps and Orkney don’t).  Spring rolled around and Harwulf continued east as he had yet to find in lost fleet.  He entered the White Sea region and sailed around it.  The White Sea had many great bays.  Reaching far to the south Harwulf finally found what he was looking for in Onezhskaya Guba.  He found the wreckage of several ships and some makeshift shelters now abandon.  He strongly suspected these had been his ships.  The expedition wintered in Onega and then returned home the following year.  Harwulf had survived the expedition.

Poland:   Little Poland – Cultivated, Pomerainia (T) and Silesia (NT)

The military was drilled day in and day out in order to reach a higher level of skill, this was successful.  The people of Little Poland rejoiced when their lands were finally were cleared enough for plowing.  Cultivation is a great thing. 

The heir to the Polish throne was married off to the daughter of one of a Pomeranian nobles, the marriage was brief though as the heirs wife died in childbirth along with the baby a few days later.  The relations with Pomerainia suffered because of this setback.  The King ordered state sponsored missionaries to go to Danzig to convert the pagans as a partial payment to the church for help they had received.

The King of Poland also came up with a brilliant idea he decided to create a SFA out of his pagan lands.  This would make them more loyal to the Polish throne and give him a buffer state with the Rus.  Both of these things were good things. 

Pagan Kingdom of Lithuania:  Courland, Prussia, Mansuria, Lithuania and Obodoza

The Pagan Kingdom of Lithuania was founded by Poland in 1040.  The lands incorporated into this kingdom were actually very happy to become part of Lithuania as they felt this was there best hope to preserve their Pagan beliefs.

Baltic Trade Coalition: Visby +1CL

With a military capable of defending their lands from any interloper the BTC devoted themselves to economic development.

HRE:  Frankfurt +1CL, Viborg (F)

As always in the Empire there was a great deal of activity.  First and foremost three, Henrietta, Matilda and Otto III, of Elizabeth’s children were elevated to princes and princesses of the Empire.  The girls seemed to have few redeeming qualities and are on the expressway to royal marriages it would appear.  Otto III does show some promise on elevation and appears to be ready to rule should something happen to Elizabeth and Matilda; Henrietta is Otto’s twin.

Elizabeth busied herself with gathering up defensive forces in Frankfurt in case something bad happened.

Fredrik spent some more time in Poland.  Von Ryan and his sons showed up to check out the Polish capital province and make sure there were no problems.  Von Ryan was certain that there was absolutely no trace of occult influences so he and his sons returned to Germany with Fredrik. Fredrik was happy to return to Germany in time to see his children elevated to prominent status even if the girls lacked the skills involved to be exceptional rulers.  The children were happy to see great uncle Von Ryan too.  Von Ryan liked to tell the children scary stories of monsters and devils.  Elizabeth didn’t like it too much because it caused her children to have nightmares but this did not seem a concern of Von Ryan’s.  After some discussions with Fredrik and Elizabeth about their children and some other things of importance Von Ryan and his sons then departed for Bohemia.  There had been some recent brutal murders in the region that seemed to be attacks by bears.  This was highly unusual and so it was thought to be a good thing to investigate.

Von Ryan’s journal 1043:

Arrived in Bohemia there is still snow on the ground, in my next life I will live in Southern Italy.

Met with the Baron and his council and decided there is no chance that any of these gentlemen would be able to find a cultic cell if it was in the town square and labeled.  I swear I thought all the barbarians had been displaced from the kingdom but these Bohemians might give gypsies a bad name.

My sons investigated some of the locations of the attacks on peasants.   Nothing really left to investigate so we wait patiently for the next peasant to be killed and we will go from there.

That didn’t take too long.  The weather is finally starting to warm thankfully.  I stayed in most of the day doing research, at 75 the kids need to be handling the fieldwork.  Read up on the local customs and gypsy curses since it seemed appropriate.

Very interesting findings.  The people do appear to be maimed and killed by a bear or something else with very long claws.  Really somewhat difficult to tell what happened as the body was partially eaten too, very messy.  The nobility really didn’t like it when we brought the body back into the city.  They acted like they had some jurisdiction over me so I straightened them out.  Several of them are going to be spending time assisting the local bishop in some of his duties, nobles really hate that.

Since it appears after further investigation that the attacks may be the result of a gypsy curse causing someone to go mad we are being very cautious.  Lycanthropy or some such nonsense is said to be the culprit and this is said to be a direct result of a gypsy curse.  I do not doubt it possible but turning men into wolves is really a stretch.  We did go to the silver smith though and have our weapons coated as a safety precaution.

The thrill of one last adventure is almost unbearable.  After some thorough investigation my eldest son, William, discovered a disturbing pattern.  It seems that the attacks are all in the vicinity of the Baron of Bohemia’s home.  I am a little concerned where this might lead so I moved my contingent to a friends estate just incase bad things happened.

Tonight is the night of the full moon and so all of us will be on the prowl searching for the culprit. 

Things took a very horrible turn of events but the matter has been resolved I can thankfully say.  My youngest son was slain while fighting some large vicious beast that was covered with fur and was a full head higher than a normal man.  My eldest son and I managed to inflict numerous grievous wounds on the beast and drove it off but not in time to save, Gregory .  The day after my devastating loss news came down that the Baron of Bohemia had died mysteriously, his bed was covered in blood, assassins were thought to have killed him but there was no sign of them or a forced entry.  I examined the body, as it is my duty to take care of affairs of state wherever I might happen to be, and the Baron did seem the victim of numerous sword wounds.   I have my suspicions but will refrain from voicing them.  It would be appropriate to consider this issue resolved.  I would also recommend giving gypsies a wide birth in the future unless one is particularly devout.

In 1074 in Tyrolia Von Ryan died passing the torch on to his eldest son, William.

In other areas of the Empire the Queen sent troops to clear out the Orthodox forces in southern Italy.  The Carinthians also participated, as did the Tuscans.  “See Italian Unification War”

Carinthia: 

The Carinthian Lord passed this cycle and his very capable son, Fredrik, assumed the throne.  Fredrik was capable of carrying out not just some task but all tasks within the government.   While it is questionable whether Carinthia will ever amount to anything, least they will not succumb to inept leadership.   “Italian Unification War”  

Bohemia:

Improved the infrastructure of Prague 

Bavaria:  Tyrol Colonized

The Bavarian had put off their plans for 5 years in order to assist their liege against the Venetians.  Now that the Venetian menace had removed it’s self it was time to get back to the important things.  Nordgau got a great deal of attention this cycle as many regional infrastructure projects were carried out.  The Lord of Bavaria passed this cycle and his able son took the throne unopposed.  He also promoted his son, Leopold II, to Heir.  Once again the Bavarians were blessed with a leader with a sound military mind.

Tuscany:  War of Italian Unification nothing else mattered

Mercenary League: 

Fighting Naples  -  Buliceli & Horgan both sign on for the campaign

France:  +1CL  Paris and Riems, Provincial Fortress Burgundy and Vermandois, Postal Road Paris to Reims

                Provence (F)

Anne of Aquitaine, King Henri’s wife of many years, died in a carriage accident along with their oldest daughter Catherine.  Henri considered remarriage and an attempt to have a male heir but in his 50’s this would probably be frowned on especially with the able bodied Robert sitting as heir to the throne.  Henri ruled his realm and drew solstice from the fact that his two daughters were very beautiful like their mother once was.

In 1041 Robert of Normandy died shortly after his 60^th birthday.  It was a sad day indeed and all of France mourned his passing.  Robert had been instrumental in saving the Kingdom of France from a dynastic failure ten years prior and all Frenchmen including Henri were thankful to have him as part of the French royal family.  Robert had also been instrumental in bring awareness of the transgressions of Leon against Portugal and the Frenchmen had taken some pride in this, feeling of being better than the average kingdom in regard to their stance on slavery.  Robert had also assisted in the integration of the Burgundians into France, which helped in establishing France as a major power.

With the Branist Religious Order controlling the streets of Marseilles the city became friendly to the French.  The Branist had not only a large contingent of troops in Marseilles but also had increased the size of the city with pilgrims that had been arriving from Swabia, Tyrol and Switzerland.   The power of the Branist was of some concern to the King but they seemed to be helping in the region and they now had the Popes blessing so how could this be bad?

Diplomatic efforts in Languedoc continue to be unpleasant as the arrogant French Diplomats still have not bothered to learn the language and they have that nasty French arrogance only another Frenchman can appreciate.  Lord Vincent was killed mysteriously one night on his way back from a wine tasting, his body was hacked to bit by swords and his head put next to the body on a pike.  The Archbishop of Paris got a variety of threatening messages and decided to withdraw from the region for safety purposes, he still died at the end of the cycle in his sleep at a facility in Paris.

Gascony:  Barcelona Fortified

The Gascon’s were not about to risk losing their prized lands so the continued to improve their defenses.  The brilliant Gerard passed in the waning days of the cycle.   His capable son Gerard II took the throne peacefully.  Gerard II also promoted his son Philip of Gascony.  Philip was from a different mold than Grandfather Gerard and his father Gerard II, while not overly adept militarily he was splendidly handsome and a pretty fair diplomat as well.    

Aquitaine: 

Three thousand men were inducted into military service this cycle as the military continued to expand.  No overtures from France made John III very nervous, he died in 1040 stressing of the future of his lands.  His son John IV took over the Grand Duchy of Aquitaine and brought his sons with him.  

Leon:  Santiago +1 CL

The first part of the religious debt was paid.   The King had raised the city of Santiago to size two.  Though the King was not initially excited about this punishment he was beginning to understand the wisdom of it as the trade with other nations began to flow.  More efforts were put into getting Portugal on a more favorable footing the efforts seemed to be paying off somewhat.  Aside from that everything was nice and quiet.

Cordoba:  Esbelya, Palina & Valencia +1 CL

Cordoba reorganizes their military some and puts a large number of men under arms as the army progresses toward being totally rebuilt.  The business as a whole in Cordoba was pretty quiet just like the Caliph likes it.  The Eastern and Western armies went on maneuvers and were very ready incase someone tried something, nothing bad happened.  Slavery also became an active pursuit as the fleet ran a surprise raid against Senegal.  The Cordobans grabbed some slaves and returned home.  The overall revitalization of the economy and the military has caused a population explosion throughout the land.  

Hungary: 

Ever watchful the Hungarians patrol their borders year around watching for trouble.  None came to this vibrant land this cycle.  Stephan II’s wife died during the harsh winter of 1040.  A little over a year later Stephen married, Margrethe of Banat, and the happy couple had two children before the end of the cycle.  With tensions escalating on a worldwide basis Andrew decided to create the Imperial Guard.  He gathered the best horsemen throughout the realm and created 5 detachments fully armed and armored for defending the homeland from any would be intruders.

Serbia:  War against the Greeks & Port city of Zagreb in Croatia     

During the initial excavation of Zagreb the ancient city of Gomblova was discovered.  This created quite a positive stir across the country.  That was until the King declared he had vassalized the nation to the Romans.  The Serb people had no love of the Eastern Romans who had long treated the people of the Balkans as bad stepchildren and now that they were weakened it did not make a lot of sense to acknowledge any kind of loyalty to the Romans.  Since the current ruler of Serbia and his predecessors had done such a good job of helping the kingdom blossom the people of Serbia did not revolt in anger over this declaration.

The Army marched off to war against Greece along with and army of 4000 Soldiers and an equal amount of Siege Engineers.

Montenegro:   War on the Greeks, Captured Rhodes in 1044.

R.C. Pope:  City of Kliece in Little Poland a ton of Churches were also built, Rome grows 

Polish Prince, Karl, arrives and is brought into the priesthood, he has a very sharp mind and the Pope is certain he will pick up the nuances of religion very quickly.   The Pope has a very single minded goal, make all his followers more powerful and he pursued that goal with zeal this turn building MANY public works for his flock.   A religious commune was established in Little Poland it is hoped this will pave the way for greater influence in this region.  The Pope wisely avoided the conflict in Italy since such actions might lead to a widening of relations with Orthodox and Catholic faiths.  Of course when the Pope got the message that the Orthodox captured his facility in Spoleto faithful he was none to pleased. 

Branist:   

At the request of the Gascons the Branist expanded into Gascony this turn.

Greece:   

REE Attacks!  This was not a huge surprise and the Greeks chose to defend the Islands rather than hold on to the Greek mainland against seemingly insurmountable odds.  Very Large Naval build up.

“See War of Reunification”

E. Roman:  Dying a painfully horrible death as they are struck with yet another DF after Valentin is assassinated in Aleppo.

Anatolia: 

Jovian built lots of defenses and consolidated his armies.  Since Valentin had the navy no coastal area would be safe but fixed defenses would help.

“See War of Reunification”

Kingdom of Naples: 

A great effort was made to reconstruct the fleet; it was a national effort truly.  Lord Roger was still seething over the abandonment of the REE at Malta that had cost him his fleet.   Roger realized his precarious position as he had a lions share of his army out of the country so he rushed south to bring them back home incase the war like Catholics might jump at the opportunity to strike at his nation.  He scribbled out a quick note to Valentin swearing allegiance to him.

Patriarch:  Seized Site Spoleto, Estonia & Benevito Converted

The Archbishops were sent out to convert the heathens.  The church was trying to give the allusion of noninterference in the Civil War.  This would have been well received after all the apprehension created over the Churches efforts against the Venetians.   Sadly this was merely smoke and mirrors.  A huge sum of gold was given to Emperor Valentin to support his war effort.  Then the Patriarch ordered some leaders to go assist Valentin they were immediately given troops to aid in the war effort.  There was also the heated discussion between the Archbishop of Constantinople and Prince Michael. 

Michael went into the priesthood in 1030 and the request of his father Baris III.  Michael is an average bishop but a brilliant tactician so the Archbishop attempted to persuade Michael to lead troops for his brother Valentin against his uncle Baras and his brother Jovian.  The debate raged back and forth for several months but in the end Michael refused to relinquish the ways of God to fight his Brother and his Uncle.  This was an outrage to the Archbishop but Michael was steadfast in his reluctance to take up arms against any of his family members.  Michael did choose to speak out against the Churches involvement in activities regarding Orthodox fighting Orthodox.  He accused the new Archbishop of being no more than a puppet for the Emperor and condemned him for misuse of church funds suggesting that the actions should be grounds for banishment from the church.  He further commented that while it was unfortunate that the family was in dispute but it should be noted the only instigator of conflict was Valentin in this cycle thus lending credibility to his noninvolvement in the War for Reunification on Valentin’s side.  Michael was shaking the church to its core and gaining support among the lower clergy.  

The Patriarch of course defended the actions taken by the church in a most eloquent manner.  Espousing the virtues of a unified Roman state and the disharmony that having three separate kingdoms would cause.  The Patriarch was well spoken and had the respect of the old guard but no one was certain if that would be enough to fill the cracks being created in the Orthodox armor.

The Patriarch chose to not declare anyone as Emperor after the death of Valentin.  No one questioned this decision waiting was a logical choice.  An issue of concern did arise though.  It seems that the calamities of the Romans and the troubles with in the church have caused an Orthodox heretical movement in the Crimea.  This was very disturbing to the Patriarch when he finally got the news very late in the cycle.

WAR FOR ITALIAN UNIFICATION:

PRE-CONFLICT:

Naples had a serious problem.  Over half the army was stranded on the island of Malta with no way home.  The King being no fool realized he was in a precarious position so he immediately allocated all the resources of the kingdom to rebuilding the fleet so his men could be pulled off Malta. 

Meanwhile in the north the Tuscans ordered the construction of a bunch more troops.  The wars for Italy would seemingly never end.  It was a fortunate thing that Pietro II had resolved the conflict with Venice and was currently very popular among the people of Northern Italy especially since the Venetians had packed up and moved away.  A large number of mercenaries were hired by Pietro, Buliceli and Horgan’s contracts were both secured.  Horgan was assigned to defending Tuscany while Pietro was in the south.  Buliceli and the Corsican immediately headed south.

April 1040:  Napoli fleet heads south toward Malta and the Tuscan fleet moves south toward Naples.   

May  1040:  Naples Fleet enters the Ionian.  The Tuscans launch a surprise raid on Naples.  The fortress city that was heavily garrisoned and led by the very adept Raymond, the raiders were easily repulsed.  The fleet was smarting a bit but it was only a raid and so they settled in and began the blockading of the port.

Troop movements were occurring in the north but nothing of note was on the horizon yet, troops were gathering in Latium apparently.

April 1041:  The fleet of Roger arrived in the Tyrrhenian and disaster strikes.  The fleet of Buliceli and the Corsican respond immediately to the arrival of the Naples Fleet.  When Roger saw roughly 80 warships bearing down on his 10 Heavy Warships and 30 Heavy transports loaded with troops panic spread throughout Roger’s fleet.  Guillaume who was in charge of the Heavy transports ordered all the light troops up on deck and they strung their bows preparing to defend when needed.  The heavy transports high decks made good firing platforms even though the ships themselves were tubs.   The heavy transports made a beeline for the coast, the hulls of the Heavy transports could take a lot of damage but against such superior numbers it was far better to get them ashore with the troops intact.  Roger really had no choice he had to fight and try to protect his heavy transports run to the shore. 

The Tuscan force thinking that Rogers Quadremes would be loaded with troops chose not to initially pursue the transports.  The Tuscan forces closed on the Napoli fleet very quickly Buliceli seeing that Roger’s warships where not loaded with troops began pursuing the transports immediately.  The Corsican hung back and fully engaged the forces of Roger since the Corsican also had Quadremes to match up with Roger’s.   Roger’s forces were surrounded and Roger went down fighting succumbing to the sheer numbers.   

Buliceli closed on the Heavy Transports before they could reach an acceptable spot on the coast to beach.   Guillaume turned five of his heavy transports loaded with missile troops to “face” the on rush of the Buliceli’s lead forces.   Buliceli had no good options so he engaged the transports deploying excellent ramming techniques he was able to dispatch three of the five ships outright and the other two were blazing as his ships pulled away from them and watched them run aground not long afterwards.  The rest of the transports ran aground and the troops were off loaded before Buliceli and the Corsican could catch up to them.  There was some attrition on the side of Naples but at least not everyone died.  Guillaume successfully survived the combat as well.

June 1041:  The German, Tuscan and Carinthian armies’ mass in Latium.   Twelve thousand horse over half are heavies, twenty thousand infantry and vast majority of those are heavies as well and lastly nine thousand engineers.  The leadership overall is very good for this army.  The army under the primary direction of Pietro II advances into Campania.  

July and August see the HRE army settling in for the winter.  Battle for Campania will begin in earnest in April of next year.

Raymond and Guillaume are both very adept generals the Roman leader Badikus is not.  One night while drinking Badikus has a terrible accident, he slipped some how and fell from the fourth floor apartment that he occupied in Naples.  It was truly a tragedy.  Raymond seized the opportunity to take control of the Roman troops, Raymond is a vassal of Valentin AND a very skilled and adept leader so the soldiers because of those factors and the fact that a battle was forthcoming joined the Napoli ranks.  Though hugely outnumbered Raymond on his home turf decides to put up a field fight near one of the mountain passes between Spoleto and Campania.  He wants of course to have a path of retreat and he knows all to well that his capital is under blockade so a passive siege would eventually break even his great city.   The Calabrian Lord is put in charge of the cities defenses.

April 1042:  Pescara River was running a bit out of it’s banks as the rains of April had been somewhat heavy.   This helped narrow the battlefield a little bit which might have benefited Naples if the enemy did not have such a huge amount of Heavy Infantry and Siege engineers to quickly reduce the defensive positions.   The HRE forces came in droves Raymond who was now the King had his Heavy Elite Infantry in the center of his formation all 2000 of them and on his flanks evenly distributed was 5400 mixed heavy lancers and mounted missile troops.  He held 1000 Royal Lancers in reserve in case he might catch a lucky break. 

Pietro and F. Mathias and Fredrik of Carinthia formulated a pretty simple battle plan.  The went with the slow approach, drive the infantry up the middle and tie the enemy down and then smash the enemy on the flanks with the heavy lancers.  This plan went forward like clock work.  Fredrik of Carinthia insisted on leading the Infantry into the middle against the Royal Guard Infantry, as he was the most expendable.  Pietro and F.Mathais felt he might just be a glory hound but that is another story. 

A wall of heavily armored, breastplate and shield, men advanced slowly.  The light cavalry units of both sides sallied forth and canceled each other out pretty effectively.  Light missile troops were pretty ineffective against armored opponents anyway.   The armies engaged across a broad front, the battlefield was wall to wall with HRE heavies and they were taking their toll.  The Napoli heavy cavalry launched into the masses of men and while doing some damage certainly was not overly effective especially when the result was a counter charge led by F. Mathias.  Pietro was the overall commander so he would not commit unless absolutely necessary.    On this day it would not be necessary.

The heavy infantry under Fredrick of Carinthia overwhelmed Raymond’s royal guard on this day and drove them from the field after wounding Raymond.  Guillaume rushed the Royal Guard Cavalry into the fray in order to save Raymond and was successful in pulling him out before he was killed.  The army retired to Spoleto.  F. Mathais was also wounded in the battle.

May & June 1042:  Campania is pacified.

July & August 1042:       Passive Siege begins against Naples.  F. Mathias and Fredrik of Carinthia head into Spoleto.  Pietro sends for Horgan to reinforce the besiegers.  Pietro and Conrad head south into Calabria.

Over the winter both F. Mathias and King Raymond die.  Naples collapses into anarchy with no heir. 

April 1043:  The Carinthian arrives in the now independent Duchy of Spoleto.   Naples capitulates.  Calabria and Regillio surrender without a fight. 

May 1043:  Fredrik of Carinthia met the remnants of the Napoli army, now the army of Spoleto on the battlefield.  Fredrik now commanded about six thousand swordsmen, two thousand heavy lance and two thousand light lancers.  Guillaume commanded the Royal Guards Heavy Lancers numbering around eight hundred now and about one thousand regular heavy lancers and one thousand or so mounted missile troops. 

Guillaume sent his mounted light units out to skirmish but Fredrik largely ignored them, he ordered his horse to pin down some of Guillaume’s units so he could bring his infantry to bear.   Both sides danced around a bit as the two generals tactically were an even match.  Finally Guillaume was caught a bit off balance and his heavy lancers got tied up with Fredrik’s.  Fredrik immediately committed his infantry in full force.  Guillaume felt his hand was forced so he sent his Royal Guard units crashing into Fredrik’s swordsmen.  The swordsmen buckled under the initial blow but Fredrik was not only very adept tactically but also exceptionally popular with his men.  He rallied the swordsmen and they counter attacked.  Fredrik also signaled for his light lancers.  Before Guillaume knew what was happening everything was going straight to hell.  The Royal Guard were holding steady even though the numbers of the opposition were great.  The heavy lancers were not faring well, the light lancers of Fredrik had smacked them from the side and they were wilting under the pressure.  Guilluame rushed to the scene and ordered his light troops into the fray.   It was too late though, unlike Fredrik Guilluame was not well liked by his men and so when the heavy lancers broke the completely crumbled as did the battle. 

Prisoners were taken; nearly 1000 REE prisoners were now in Fredrik’s possession.  Guilluame surrendered, as did the rest of his army over the next couple of months Benevito was Fredrik’s by the end of the year and Apulia was captured in 1044.

Malta declared it’s self independent! 

ROMAN WARS OF UNIFICATION:

Armies Organize and move south.  The Bulgars and the Serbs both follow suit.

Everyone gathers in Thessaly with a bunch of mercenaries including Karakus and D’Kohlner.  April 1041

May 1041:  Armies on the move, minor harassment by the Greek cavalry force prohibits a road move.

                                Greek leader

June 1041:  Massive allied army arrives in Attica

Battle for the Aegean:  The Greeks ever aware of the possibility that the Romans would come down from the North had the fleeting waiting to roll out of Faistos when news came the Romans were on the move.  In the summer of 41 the Greeks got the expected news and the fleet moved into the Aegean to try to assist Athens and stop the Roman fleet from blockading the port.  Admiral Sixtus had been hunting the Greek fleet and it didn’t take him long to find them once they showed up in the Aegean.  Sixtus had 130 of the finest vessels on any ocean (assuming the Venetian’s are dead) and some exceptional marines in support.  Baras’s navy was quite good in it’s own right as it had balance and exceptional quality but there just wasn’t the numbers.  Baras knew his only chance against Sixtus was to lure him into some shallows were his deeper draft ships would be at risk. They did some dancing around and finally Baras got in about as good of a position as he figured he would get and the two sides engaged in a major conflict.  The lighter Greek ships danced around the lumbering Roman juggernauts for a while occasionally and angle would be secured and one of the light galleys would ram one of the Quinremes and back away very quickly.  It was all very fast and furious.  Baras did manage to ground Roman ship or two but it was in no way near enough.  The massive Roman ships could sluff off the damage the lighter ships were inflicting on them or at least absorb it better.  Baras’s flagship “Atlas” was engaged along with his other Quinremes of the Greeks.  Very fierce fighting ensued and lasted several hours to boot and the Romans poured all over the Greek heavy ships. 

Once the Greek big ships were locked in there was no escape for the poor Greeks.   Baras did somehow manage to escape, as did most of his galleys but none of the heavy ships and few of the triremes made it away from the battle.  The Romans fared pretty well though the battle was costly the nearly complete destruction of the Greek fleet was well worth it.  Not like the Romans couldn’t just rebuild their losses in no time, or so Sixtus believed.

July & August 1041:  Province Liberated

The Army settles in for the winter.

April, May & June 1042:                The leaders of this large allied army make preparations for an active siege then launch their attacks.   The Romans with overwhelming odds throw themselves against the walls of Athens and are remarkably repulsed by the unled city (King had never actually moved to what was to be his new capital).  Damage was very light on the attackers side hardly worth noting actually.  The defenders had thrown everything they had into stopping the first assault and it was very crippling to their efforts and after the Romans regrouped the city surrendered rather than face another assault.

With the City of Athens secure and some petty bureaucrats back in the fold Sergius came and picked up Valentin, Karakus and Artabasdos.  Sergius left for the north and the rest escorted by Admiral Sixtus traveled to Aleppo. 

The king and all of his troops unloaded in the province, as did Karakus and Artabasdos.  The Anatolian Leader and his troops made preparations to defend and sent messengers to Jovian immediately to inform him that his brother had arrived.  It was not terribly unexpected it was just a matter of when.

June 1043:  Encampment was set up as Valentin made plans.   

The disadvantage of brothers fighting over a country is that everyone looks a like and speaks the same language.   A small group of assassins infiltrated the camp and while the religious acolytes in charge of the Emperors security went to gather the evening meal the assassins struck.  The tore into the Emperors tent and killed everyone inside including the surprised Emperor.  They then set the tent on fire just to make sure everyone was dead.  Soldiers and Acolytes rushed to the tent and tried to put the fire out but it was to no avail all was lost.  The army entrenched and waited.

July 1043:  Word came the Jovian was in route.  The Bishop was unsure what to do as the rightful ruler was now Jovian and the Patriarch failed to recognize anyone as rightful ruler.  Karakus was unconcerned now as he felt his contract was complete since the paymaster was dead and the Bishop was uncertain what to do.  So the army waited. 

September 1043:  Jovian arrives and after some discussions with the Army and the Bishop.  Jovian persuades them he is the rightful ruler and the only way to save the empire is for them to accept him.  Jovian also inherits a huge number of Heavy Transports.

Constantinople September 1043:  Prince Michael was contemplating his future, he had the news his brother was dead and he knew Jovian by right was the successor but Prince Michael owned Constantinople he had many field fortifications, high walls and Horgan’s army to defend him.   Prince Michael met with Bishop Michael (confused yet) and conferred with him on proclaiming himself Emperor.  Bishop Michael was the non-official leader of the “pacifist” movement in the Orthodox Church.  He had been espousing non-interference in the war on Venice late in that conflict, he refused to assist Valentin in the field and he had pushed for the church to stay out of the conflict with his brother and uncle.

Prince M                 I think I should grab the throne but I want the churches blessing

Bishop M                               What makes you believe you are worthy

Prince M                 I control Constantinople

Bishop M                               That you do but can you make a house with only one stone?

Prince M                 If it is a really big stone.

Bishop M                               You know what I mean do not be coy

Prince M                 Well if Constantine sides with me then I will own all of Greece

Bishop M                               If you acknowledge Jovian the war ends here.

Prince M                 But then I will never hold any power.

Bishop M                               Are you not much younger the Jovian

Prince M                 Yes but how do I know he will not kill both Constantine and I the first chance he gets?

Bishop M                               You don’t of course but if you acknowledge Jovian I will strongly advise against such an action.

Prince M                 I will think on it.

Bishop M               Michael remember this, the empire has been at war too long already more bloodshed will only weaken the Empire more. 

Prince Michael contemplated things long and hard.    He decided to abandon his brother and declare his loyalty for

Jovian.  

Constantine sitting in Morea got wind of Michael’s defection and was quite upset.  Constantine who was 2 years Michaels senior had held out some hope that he could hold Greece from Morea to Constantinople and confine Jovian to Anatolia.  His brother had betrayed him; guess this was Byzantine politics at its best or worst.  Later Constantine got even worse news.  Admiral Sixtus had joined Jovian as well this was almost as bitter of pill to swallow as the defection of his brother Michael.   Was there not a trustworthy soul in the entire empire?  Pontus and the Crimea also revolt against Roman rule but they create the Kingdom of Trebizond.  Thessaly and Attica also revolt however in Attica the Bulgars and the Serbs immediately put down the revolt…..kind of.

The Bulgars when the revolt occurs decide that they should be the rightful owners of all of Greece.  It appears that though loyal to Valentin the Bulgars feel no such allegiance to Constantine.  The Serbs take exception to this behavior and the Bulgars and the Serbs fight it out.

Battle of Kifisia May 7^th 1044:   Serbia -vs- Bulgaria

The Bulgar Army Led by Czar Gabriel with 1600 Light lancers and 3000 horse bowmen and the Bulgar lord Simeon leading 600 Heavy Foot, 1000 Swordsmen and 1000 bowmen.

Serb forces are lead by King (probably should be Czar) Mikhail and his contingent of 2600 Heavy Foot and 1000 missile troops.  Capt. Sker with his 3600 horse bowmen.  The Serbs also had a 4000 man Siege Train too.

Not to far from Athens the armies met.  The Serb siege engineers had been sent off to Athens.  Simeon was in the Bulgar center backed by the archer contingent.  Czar Gabriel was handling the cavalry.  Sker issued forth from the Serb side looking to take advantage of his numbers over the Bulgar light cavalry.  Mikhail marched forward with his large contingent of heavy foot.   The horse bowmen sparred but Gabriel managed to get his light lancers into the Serb horse archer ranks and this had devastating effects.  Mikhail seeing that there might be problems with his cavalry order his heavy foot to double time.  He knew his time would be limited if the cavalry battle was lost.   

Gabriel was a fine commander, as really were all the commanders in this battle, and he pressed his advantage against Capt. Sker.   Sker managed to keep his troops from braking under the strain.  The archers were harassing Mikhail’s heavy foot as his troops approached but losses were minimal and they hit Simeon’s swordsmen and heavy foot head on.   Simeon unlike the rest of the commanders in this battle had one thing going for him; his troops actually liked him so when the heavies hit his smaller contingent of swordsmen did not immediately buckle under the pressure.  Simeon urged his light troops into the fray as well and they pulled their short swords and entered the fray. 

The battle continues Sker’s forces are doing everything they can to disengage now; they have had enough of the close in fighting.   They are successful though they are pretty disorganized.  Mikhail’s heavy foot is dealing out a great deal of damage to Simeon’s forces but they are surprising resilient and do not break under the strain.  Mikhail who has been keeping an eye on the cavalry battle sees that it has deteriorated into a mess and he sounds the retreat for his heavy foot.  They withdraw in good order as Czar Gabriel is harassing the retreating cavalry of Sker.

Gabriel had been hoping that Mikhail would grab his destiny and ally with him to take out Greece but apparently some people in this region are actually loyal.  Gabriel was pretty sure he would not be able to hold Attica so he headed north.  The Serb forces resecured Attica and Constantine arrived to help out. 

Jovian arrives in Constantinople and immediately he declares himself Emperor.  The remaining Roman provinces make decisions on allegiances.   Galatia revolts against Roman rule; a bishop still loyal to the Romans puts down the Anatolian uprising fairly quickly with his 3000 Man garrisoning army.  Macedonia stays with the Romans as well.  Thessaly aligns with the Anatolians however the Bulgar army currently occupies the region though they have not subdued it.  Attica thinks about revolting but with the size of the local army and the amount of blood that has been shed they decline.  Morea stays friendly.  Constantine declares the ever-popular city of Athens as his capital and Attica as his home province while Jovian is keeping his throne warm for him. 

Mikhail is ill so he and Sker stay in Athens with the army and assure Constantine they will protect the region from further harm while he moves on to Thessaly.  Mikhail dies not long after Constantine’s departure.  Unlike the Romans who like to DF though the Serbs honor Mikhail’s wishes and Gortan takes the throne.  Prince Dragomir III takes over the Serbian army in Greece.

July 1044:  Constantine & D’Kohlner arrive in Thessaly.  The province has to be subdued which happens by the end of the year.  The Bulgars attack Macedonia and subdue it by the end of the cycle.  Thessalonica remains Roman.  The Montenegrins land in Rhodes and capture it.

Middle East:  War against the Seljuk Horde

The Seljuk’s travel south into the lands of the Armenians, 60K strong.  They initiate diplomacy with the Coptic tribes and the Coptics who find the Islamics annoying decide to fight and get wiped out, least they stuck to their principles.

Assassins attempted to kill the Horde leader Toghrid but failed as one of Toghrid’s followers was actually capable and inclined to defend the horde leader.  

Meeting in Georgia July 1041, the Buhwayid E’Saan “the Boar”, Fas Akim of the Ghazi and the Seljuk leader the Ghuzz Lord.  The Ghuzz lord gets quite agitated with the Buhwayid when he finds out that he didn’t bring any money as tribute.  The Ghazi Lord tries to calm the Ghuzz lord down and pulls him aside for a private discussion.

Ghuzz L.                 At least you brought your gold, we will not have to crush you

Fas                          The gold is for you

Ghuzz L                  For the Seljuks is what you mean

Fas                          No for you, join us and you can become a great leader in my nation

Ghuzz L                  You insult me, you are trying to get me to betray the khan?

Fas                          Yes, he is a despicable man, he would attack his Islamic brothers

Ghuzz L                  He is no diplomat, maybe if his brothers supported him openly he would not have to resort to such tactics.

Fas                          He attack a good Islamic kingdom of Samarkhand why should we believe he won’t do like wise to us even if we did support him

Ghuzz L                  You are a swine the Samarkhand have long been are enemies getting the tribes to fight each other so they would remain weak.  They got what was coming to them.

Fas                          please consider my offer, the Islamic nation are united you could almost certainly have a castle and a military commission in any of our nations.

Ghuzz L                  I am no Roman.  I will not betray my brother to attain minimal material gains.   quickly draws his sword and kills Fas…

The Ghuzz Lord eyes E’Saan, E’Saan smirks he is certain he could take the Ghuzz Lord pretty easily but that is not that

Is not the plan so he lets the Ghuzz lord leave with the Ghazi money.

The Seljuks entered Georgia in July and as they were entering the mountains Toghrid got news of a huge host coming from the southeast.  His scouts informed him that it appeared to be an allied army of close to 40000 horse.  With a bunch of Lancers and apparently the Buhwayid kings Royal Guard.  Toghrid pondered his options and decided to decline the combat.  Though he had some definite advantages over the civilized men wilderness regions were no place to fight a cavalry battle and without hard information on what opposed him he did not want to jump into a battle that might not be favorable.  The Horde returned to the Steppe after an overall unproductive cycle.  Soon the Horde would have to settle but not quite yet.

Buhwayids: 

Horde busting near miss.  HUGE amount of troops were mobilized by the Buhwayids.      

Persia: 

Assisted the Buhwayids

Azerbaijan: Georgia (P)

Assisted the Buhwayids

Yemen:  +1 CL Zabid, Himyar (EA)

The Sultan Sa’id died shortly after his arrival in his homeland and was given a nice state funeral.  His Son Ahmad assumed the throne unopposed…. his brother Akbar was shipped off to become a local mullah which aided in the smooth transition.  In the province of Himyar the diplomacy was a little rough fortunately the king had assigned the entertainment committee to assist in the operation so relations grew closer regardless if the poor efforts of Akem.  The “Desert Falcon” Babar vigilantly patrolled the borders with the Ethiopians fearful of incursions but none was forthcoming, always good to be prepared.

Ghazi:  Hazarajat Cultivated

The King perished and his brother took over the country.   King Wadi gained the throne unopposed.  Three Thousand men were added to the armies of the Ghazi in preparation for the potential invasion by a horde.  It wasn’t a ton but Ghazi heavy horse is not fun for anyone to face down.  Money was sent to the Seljuk’s see the Seljuk Report.    All leaders were pretty much sitting around in react mode waiting for something bad to happen.

Edrosia:  Road to Multan

Some parcels were exchanged with the Ghazi but nothing substantial came of the negotiations, the Endrosian’s do not seem inclined to give up their freedom just yet.  The Endrosians continued to develop their lands.

Chorasmia:  Urgench +1CL

Opened up sea trade with the Bolgars and the Rus, improved the economy a bit.

Samarkhand:  Tashkent rebuilt and Fortified, Uzbek (F), Frunze (A)

The Khitai Lords put their house back in order and prepared for the possibility of another assault by the Horde.  It was a potentially precarious time but the right steps were being taken to make sure more badness did not visit the region.  

India: 

The Patriarch of the Brahmins church devised and elaborate plan, a plan to link the Lamanist church to the Brahmins church.  The plan called for the releasing of a great story that Buddha was an incarnation of Brahama as his spiritual successor, the Lama.  Monks would be sent through out the Tibetan realm flooding the cities with images of Brahama portrayed as Buddha and the Lama.  It was a clever plan and he moved forward with swiftness.  Money and resources were allocated to this action and interestingly enough a temple of worship was built in the Holy City of Bihar. 

In the Year of 1041 AD there arose a great disturbance in the lands of Bengal and Tibet.  In Tibet the disturbance did not last long at all as the monks of the Brahmins religion rolled into the lands of Assam, Samatata, Bhutan and Sikkim.  A little spreading of the Brahmins tale was allowed actually before monks were rounded up in droves and killed before spreading the heresy.  It seems that the Tibetans and the Lamanist were aware of this ploy and had made vast preparations of their own. 

In the lands of the Bengal things were just getting started.  The story the people in the Bengal provinces received was slightly altered.  It told a tale of the Patriarch of the church consorting with Buddhist, preparing the faithful for conversion to Buddhism and things of the like there was even proof in the way of a temple being built in the Holy City for Brahmins sake!  Well this did not play well at all with the faithful.  The Buddhist where still prevalent in the region (Bengal lands historically were actually still Buddhist at this time or at least some of them were) and they grabbed this ball and ran with it.  They were actually espousing that Brahama was actually Buddha in another form and that the Brahamin religion had actually evolved out of the worship of Buddha and that the religious figures with in the Brahamin faith had warped the truth in order to have more control over the people.

This ignited a firestorm of violence in Bengal lands.  In the expanding Holy City of Bihar the violence and riots got bad enough that two sections of town got destroyed.  The Bengal military came in and quelled the religious unrest before too much more damage could be done.  In the countryside there was violence and mass conversions as the Buddhist and misguided Hindu adopted the new faith, Lamdu’s as they were somewhat comically referred too.  The Bengal army would have crushed this movement in the countryside but the military was being difficult as well as there were some divisions within the Bengal Government and military over this issue as well.

The Hindu Patriarch Timurati was martyred when Hindu extremist caught up with him on his way to Gujarat.

Tibet:   Assam Colonized

In a very strategic move the Tibetans sank a huge amount of effort into relocating the Hindu’s of this region and putting the good people of Tibet in charge.   This was successful in large part do to the strong military presence in the province.

Lamanist Tibet:  Ceylon Converts, Many churches built

The Lamanist continue to strongly support their Southern Brothers.  They did send some support to the north as well.

Punjab: 

Continued concern over the possible intrusions of Hordes has caused closer relations with Kashmir and the Shiva church.  This air of mutual cooperation has revitalized the region. 

Shiva Church of Kashmir: 

More conversions in Punjab as the local government begins to openly support the Shiva movement.  This along with the mutual defense pact with between Punjab and Kashmir in regard to Hordes seems to have caused a serious warming of relations through out the region.

Kucha:  Kucha Cultivated, Tien Shan (T)

The Steppe Lord Akai hired a bunch more administrators for so that expansion would not be harmful.  This action paid off.  The Turfan Lord who was in charge of the nations defenses died so the King took over these responsibilities.    His son took up the rulership duties.  The Kuchans like everyone else was prepared for the possibility of an attack by the horde but it did not come. 

Manichaeans:   Wusu Converted

The Manichaeans continued to devote all efforts toward strengthening the Kuchans; such is the life of a small religion.  Leaders were sent into the Wusu region which was mostly Manichaean and they finished the task of conversion.  Though it was not requested by the Kuchans the Manichaeans paid the nominal amount of money that the Seljuks requested.

Brahmin Hindu Church: CA in Gujarat, MN in Anhivarta & Baroda

The Brahmins built many facilities throughout India while the Northern lands burst into flames.

Paramara Princes:  Avanti and Jihjhoti REVOLT!

In a series of diplomatic blunders and missteps (ie: very bad die rolls) the provinces of Avanti and Jihjhoti burst into flames.  Avanti came first in early 1043 when the regional leaders who were still seething from the past wars had decided General Farookh was about as annoying as any one man could be.   The locals lead by the able bodied Raj Kasha ambushed the incompetent Farookh and he and all his men died.  Several months later someone in the capital realized that they had not received any word how the diplomatic activity was going in Avanti and Prince Mridul was sent with a large contingent of Cavalry to check things out. 

In early 1044 the Army began to enter the province of Avanti when they ran across the highly agitated Prince Trigya and General Pushkar on their way back to the capital.  All three joined together and headed back into Avanti.  Mridul was informed that Jihjhoti had revolted as well and that the prince and the general had barely made it back in one piece.   Mridul and his army pushed into Avanti.  Defenses in Avanti were sparse and after several months of running battles with rebels the province was cleared, Prince Trigya was killed in the fighting.  Word came that the armies of Avanti decided to withdraw and assist their brothers in Jihjhoti rather than fight independently.  It seems Raj Kasha is crafty.

Bengal:  Jaunpor (EA), City Level Tamaralipti

Things were pretty quiet in the lands of the Bengal.  A very large investment was made in fortifications throughout the realm as the Bengal government made a serious effort to shore up defenses incase there is further escalation with the Tibetans.  In an effort to secure a greater peace in the region and possibly put an end to the antagonistic feelings for the Tibetans the Bengals actually relinquished their claim to Assam which should go a long way to bring Lamanist and Brahmin tensions down……well that was until the Brahmanist tried some shenanigans.

Kashmir:  Parapavaur +1CL

Cooperating with Punjab on the anti-horde policy and continuing to develop a bit.

W. Chalukya:  Berbera (EA), City of Raas Zaafuun

The political environment in the Chalukya’s changed dramatically as the King and the Heir both died in an apparent plague that was illnesses that were sweeping southern India.  The very capable Prince of the realm took over and promptly promoted his son to heir.  Just as importantly two of the realms most capable leaders were also promoted and embraced their duties fully as they helped complete the diplomatic efforts in Berbera.  As part of the agreement with Berbera a port city was built in the province.   

Chola:   Vindon Fortified and grows

The Cholans continued to rule peacefully and develop their nation.  Wisely they leave all the conflict to the other nations of India.  Raj Andra passed and his son Tamahala took over.  Tamahala barely had time to take control of the nations, as his wife seems to rarely allow him out of the bedroom.  The Kingdom did not suffer fortunately and Tamahala was the father of two boys and two girls by 1044.

Sri Lanka:    Polonarva +1 CL

The King in the waning years of his life decided to address some concerns about the size of his military.  Twenty-five ships were put in the water as well as 500 hundred men to man them.   A lot of internal investing was done as the King looked toward the future.    That was the last actions of the King.  The heir also died this turn in a small outbreak of some sort.  Fortunately the king’s youngest son, Siberut, survived.  The Kingdom adopted the Lamanist faith and this was widely embraced.  The population was largely Lamanist anyway so this was not dramatic by any means.

Kalachuri: Kalinga & Chela (EA)         

The many postal road projects continue to be worked on slowly but surely.  On the Home front Vishnar is the proud father of 3 daughters and a son, he and his wife were very happy.  The diplomatic efforts of Telugh and Harshard were only marginally beneficial, for no apparent reason.  The kingdom seems to be functioning well after the movement of the capital to a much better location.  One other note of interest the Raj named his unnamed daughter as a princess.  Some in the court felt a woman in any authority was a bit questionable but they kept it to themselves.

Uttar Pradesh: 

Vashpal dies and his heir, Suva, takes the throne.  Mehdi, on hearing of his fathers death rushes back from Rajput.  Mehdi sees his brother is distraught over his fathers’ death and so in this time of family crisis, which sees Mehdi become heir.  This causes some problems because Mehdi begins to think about things.  He wonders if that crown isn’t just a little to heavy of a burden for his brother.  After much thought he decides it probably is so he attempts to poison the unsuspecting Suva.  Sadly Mehdi is caught in the act of trying to spike the wine and was forced to drink his strange brew.  He died of really nasty convulsions shortly there after. 

Aside from the difficulties with internal politics which seem common in Uttar Pradesh over the past 20 or so years things seem to be going reasonably well.  Peace for the last 10 years is a bit of an accomplishment.

S.E.Asia:  Outbreak of Peace

Burma:  +1 CL  Rangoon, Akyab, Songkhla  -1 CL Thon Buri

Thon Buri was completely devastated but a major earthquake this cycle.  The Burmese were undaunted by this event however and they expanded many cities and the people flocked to the cities, there was come concern over the large size of Rangoon and the lack of fresh water and other services, rats were becoming a real problem.  The provinces of Ava and Mon were rurally improved. 

Khmer:  Angkor Wat +1 CL, Port City of Kacheh in Surin

The cycle was spent reorganizing the military now that new lands have been secured.  Because of the efforts of the Vishnu the war went well against Champa and to pay back the debt owed to the Vishnu the Khmer began work on expanding the Holy City.  A very large amount of defensive facilities are built in Champa.

Vishnu of SE Asia:  Abbeys in Java

The Vishnu Primacy devoted it’s self to improving the economies of Java and the Khemer this turn.  Though not the richest of religious institutions they limited number of followers allow them to spread the wealth a bit.  The living conditions for the Buddhist in Cochin were improved a little bit as well.

Malay Confederation:   Melaka Grows

Many trade routes established and a little rural development..

Java: Palemberg (F)

With the help of the Vishnu Primacy Palemberg was brought fully into the Javan realm after many years of hard work.

Asia:  Prelude to Peace

Bandit Kingdoms of Hunan: 

Waiting for an attack fro the North doing some things to keep themselves occupied.

Shanan – Zhou: 

Szechwan was upgraded and the Zhou Imperial Compound was absorbed into the City.  Two thousand men were drafted into military service this cycle and immediately sent off to fight the Jaingnan with the Heir to the throne and Generals Wa and Kia. 

Prince Zhouxo Mission: 

Year 1:

The Prince received orders from his father to take out the Jaingnan.  Word had come that the Grand Buddha was going to declare China free of war very soon so quick action was necessary.    General Wa arrived with his troops and the newly trained forces at the end of May.  In June the Yangtze was crossed and the army in July was moving across Hwai.   August saw them in Jaingxi where they stopped for the winter.  Zhouxo was not going to have his army caught in the mountains for the winter.

Year 2:

Zhouxo gathered the reports from his spies and neither the Bandits nor the Jaingnan had taken any actions so he moved out.  Over the mountains into Kaingu, this was a tedious trek as it took three months all told.  It was now June 1^st.  Zhouxo was very frustrated that he had to drag along all of the siege engineers they moved far too slow for his liking.  General Kia joined the army at this time; he was waiting in the province.

Zhuoxo reorganized his forces and moved into Chekiang which took another couple of months as the whole army had to trek through the wilderness of Kiangu and into the open lands of the Jaingnan.  Zhouxo was very relieved to see all that open terrain.   He quickly deployed his cavalry.

August & September 1041:

Zhouxo was not a happy man, after some scouting and recon by the mercenary light cavalry units it was discovered the homeland of the Jaingnan was heavily fortified.  Apparently the Jaingnan had spent the last 10 years doing nothing but building defensive structures in their homeland.  Zhouxo had no infantry, just lots of cavalry and 5000 Siege Engineers.  The Jaingnan Army was defending the province as well.

Army Breakdowns as the Initial Battle for Chekiang begins.

Zhouxo, General Wa and General Kia with 1000 Royal Guardsmen Horse, 1500 Royal Guardsmen Lancers, 1500 Elite horse bowman, 3000 Heavy Lancers, 1500 Regular Lancers and 6000 Horse Archers plus 5000 or so Engineers.

VS

General Kagsi and General Chin with 800 Armored Foot of the Kings Guard, 1000 Armored Footmen with long spear and sword, 2000 light missile troops, 1000 Heavy Lancers, 1500 Light lancers and 800 Horse bowmen and 60 Field Forts.

ASSASSIN!  The night before the initial battle assassins snuck into camp and killed General Kia!   Kia had spent many years guarding Taiping against a possible intrusion by the Jaingnan.  Now he was dead.

The forces engaged near the city of Hangchou.  Kagsi wanted to make sure the vastly more mobile Zhouxo couldn’t cut of the line of retreat and he wanted the Zhou to get worn down a bit on the provincial defensive structures before engaging them.  This appeared to be working to Kagsi’s advantage but when the forces finally met on the battlefield it was a different story.  Some how Zhouxo had secured the deployment plans for the Jaingnan and he had in turn deployed his troops perfectly to counter the defensive posturing of the Jaingnan. 

The battle was met initially as the hordes of Light cavalry sallied forth and peppered Kagsi’s troops.  Kaigsi tried to counter with his cavalry but most of it was much to slow and ineffective.  Kagsi decided to got to a more spread formation to reduce losses and he also assigned his light missile troops to forward positions to help fend off the raids by the horse bowmen.    This was a pretty effective strategy and so Zhou decided it was time to launch and assault with his heavier troops.   Because the formations were spread out it was more difficult for the to react in unison and the elite troops of Zhouxo launched into their midst.   Bad thing for the Light Missile troops good thing for Kagsi the light missile troops got overrun but they slowed the onslaught just enough for some key formations to form up. 

Full engagement:  Since the defenders were split pretty evenly between ground troops and cavalry the Zhou attacked across a broad front.  Zhouxo was not fond of engaging his light horse in direct conflict but it was necessary to get the job done.   Swarms and swarms of horsemen engaged in a bloody conflict.  Zhou was very happy he had a strong contingent of elite troops because there were times during the battle were things became very precarious. Zhouxo was running around the field rallying his troops and spurring them on like a crazed mad man (not to be confused with the deranged Cao).  Near sunset the Jaingnan army was broken and forced to withdraw into the city there was little to now pursuit by the Zhou as both sides were pretty exhausted. 

Zhouxo camped for the winter and assessed the damage.  About 25% of his force was now dead and a full 50% of his Siege Engineers had perished. Having no infantry support for the Siege Engineers made the provincial clean up costly.  Zhouxo looked at the high walls of Hangchou and Pondered whether he would be able to take them out especially with a good amount of the heavy infantry successfully withdrawing into the city.  Zhou calculated things out and figured he could take one shot.

March 1042, had arrived and it was time to try once to break the city.  All the Light Cavalry and the Siege Engineers approached the city.  The archers drew close enough that they could fire up onto the walls while the Engineers tried to do their job.  It was a stalemate still, 1000 Siege Engineers had sacrificed themselves but the horse archers had exacted a pretty heavy toll of their own while the defenders on the walls concentrated on the Engineers.

April 1042: 

Zhouxo realized that the losses had been heavy but he had been close to getting a wall breech  and his losses were not radically worse than the Jaingnan so he tried again using the same tactic because it made sense and because his spies had told him that Kagsi was just heard talking about not being able to stop such actions.  Apparently Kagsi had fed the spies some misinformation this time.   Kagsi had placed his catapults on the wall he knew the Siege Engineers were going to attack.  He also got boiling pots of pitch and tar ready.  The assault came again.  1600 Siege Engineers backed up by 5-6K worth of Horse archers.  The Catapult men waited patiently for the Engineers and the Horse Archers to get close.   Then the Jaingnan let the Zhou have it full bore.  The catapults launched rocks and combustibles at the light cavalry who at the time were in fairly tight formation.  This wreaked great havoc on their ranks and all kinds of nastiness was dropped from the walls onto the Siege Engineers who essentially were engulfed in flames and blanketed in a hail of arrows as the fled the walls, few survived the mayhem the carnage was really pretty horrible for the Zhou.

May 1042:  The campaign is over.  Zhouxo knows he is incapable of busting open the walls now but he still has a large enough force that the Jaingnan will not leave the city and challenge him. 

The Jaingnan run some raids up the Yangtze and do cause the Zhou some problems but nothing major as the all the provinces hit had some kinds of defense.

Jaingnan: 

Waiting patiently for the attack.  It did come.

Sung Imperial Domains:  NEW RELIGIOUS ORDER

Chaingling Fortress, OE in Honan, OH in Hupei, Hubei and Szechwan

The Sung reclaimed some old estates and homes that were once theirs and set up training facilities and the like at those locations.  Chou Tiberum was not about to allow the Sung to be weak ever again.  Thus the process was started and the people of Anhui and many other places at the core of China were happy.

Clan Iiachi:  Ganzhou (NT), Kwangtung (P)

Admiral Torhunga was sent inland along the postal road to Ganzhou.  The general made nice offers but the provincials did not like his sailor mouth and so relations degraded with the province.

“Emperor” Ho Fu (no relation to To Fu) decided it was time for his nation to take action, he was not about to see the Shana Zhou gobble up all the good lands of the Jaingnan and so he ordered Prince Sui Fu into action right after he raised an additional 2000 Heavy Horse for the army.    Fu took the new recruits along with 5000 or so men into the province of Kwangtung.  The local garrison was caught napping and the army under the brilliant leadership of Fu the province was secured.

Buddhist Primacy: Monastery – Anhui, Cathedral in Tang-Shen and Szechwan

Typically out of the sewers climb the rats.  In Kaifeng the defenders of the Holy City emerged after the Red Monkey fled.  Commander Hu Fang was considered a traitor for a short time till reports came from some of the people who had escaped Cao’s reign  of terror on the city because the quick thinking Fang had set up the means to get people through the sewers and out of the city under the cover of darkness.

The Buddhist were very active as usual.  Many low level facilities were established throughout China.  There was some bad luck involved in the building efforts as 4 out of the 5 Monasteries that the faithful attempted to build failed.  The disillusionment of the people in China was blamed as so much unrest has caused people to become apathetic toward their faith.  Many good works and aid packages were sent off to those loyal to the church. 

On the Steppe there was much activity as the many monks were sent to spread the word of Buddha.  The Hsuing Nu listened to the word and some adopted the practices.  Mantap with the help of the Koreans converted completely.  In Manchou they did not like the message at all.  The tribals became quite upset when monks from two different Buddhist expeditions showed up and tried to tell them their pagan gods were foul and should be abandon.  The Manchou killed the whole lot of them and staked them out on the Liao border as a warning.   

Nanchao: Magna Tribes (NE) HA!, Laos (C),  Zukhan (NE)

It was a busy time for the newly revitalized Nanchao.  Many trade routes were established out of the new port of Tonkin but not with Javans, as there seems to be some kind of impasse.   Relations with the Khmer have become closer and some treaties were signed but the terms were undisclosed.    The Nanchao tried many diplomatic overtures Gu Ku and Son Wu both were ineffective in the actions as the found negotiations with Laos and the Zukhan mountain tribesmen very difficult indeed.  Both areas contained people who were fiercely independent and the leaders did not do a good job of selling themselves.  The King did send one leader off to the lands of the Magna tribes as well.  Mista Ones while not effective in securing any arrangements did get to share a meal or two with the locals who decided since he brought his own food they wouldn’t kill him.  King Han had 2 wives and 2 sets of twins this cycle.  Break out your numerology book and figure that one out 222.

Hsi Hsia:

Ah a quiet time of feasting and celebrating great victories have been won against the Red Monkey and much of the hated Sung lands were now under the control of the Hsia.  The Hsia were at their historical height is it possible it could get any better than this?  There was a great demobilization of fixed defenses in the lands, as it was well known that only the weak hide behind walls.  Aside from that only a consolidation and an assessment of lands occurred.  The Lamanist leadership sent some aid to assist the Hsia in maintaining influences over their lands.

Liao:  Shansi & City of Taiyuan (F), Khuzbuang in Hopei

The great Liao Emperor, Khuzuk, “Conqueror of the Red Monkey” decided to take a bride from the Shansi province.  His prestige was insurmountable so it was not a problem finding any number of bride candidates.  Once he secured a bride from the province he returned home while his diplomats finished securing the region for the greater glory of Khuzuk.  The King was feeling especially giddy about his powerful position in Northern China now that the Red Monkey had been thwarted so he decided to build a city in Hopei and name it after himself in the tradition of all great conquerors.  Thus the city of Khuzbuang was constructed on the great river as a sister city to Kaifeng.  Rural development was a must, as the people must have jobs so they can pay more taxes and so many regions were enhanced as rural roads and small market places were added throughout the lands.

Korea:   City Level Xing-Tao, Shangtung (F)

The illustrious diplomat Ming So II along with Princess Soo and General Lautung traveled to Shangtung.  The instructions given by the King was Shentung but Ming So II knew that couldn’t have been right since not enough food and water was provided to make that long of a trip by sea.  The people of Shangtung were actually happy to see the Koreans.  They looked as a matter of fact as the Koreans were saviors for they were very fearful that the barbarians (Liao) would come and take their lands.  This caused the diplomacy to move along at a very swift rate and once the marriage with the Shangtung Lord and the Princess was concluded friendly relations were established. 

On Other fronts some good progress was made as well.  With the assistance of the Buddhist Mantap was finally fully converted.  Mokchong oversaw the completion of the Cheju’Do project and the people celebrated.   There was much to be happy about in Korea.

Japan:  Kwanto (A), Okinawa – Colonized to 0, CL Kobe

Queen Ishi did another cycle worth of excellent ruling over Japan.  The administrative nightmare that was the failed attempt to colonize Okinawa last cycle was taken care of in an effective manner.  The Japanese Royal Road system was expanded to reach the province of Yamaguchi and continued work on the postal road to the north also occurred.   Ishi’s cousin Mashita, younger brother Chia and General Kato were all dispatched to Kwanto to bring this province closer.

Japan was having some difficulty with a fundamentalist religious movement that was stirring up trouble in the urban areas of the country.  Apparently the Shinto masters were not paying enough attention to the little people and that was a problem.  Japan being the totalitarian regime it is sent in the troops and rounded up dissenters.  Since there was no were really to put these folks the Shinto primate made a very good suggestion.  Master Hasagawa purposed that all the dissenters be made into the colonist on Okinawa and so it was done they were all carted off to the nearest port and off they went.  The fundamentalist were actually pretty happy about this and so there was no trouble once they arrived on the island.

TRIP TO KWATO:  Kwanto was not far removed from the reconquest by the Japanese Imperial government so they were resistive to most diplomatic overtures.  The three amigos however didn’t believe that the word no was part of the Japanese vocabulary so they persisted for 4 agonizing years.  During this time Prince Chia found a woman to love and arrangements were made for marriage.  The Prince sadly was not a patient man and he began to initiate some intimate relations with her Ladyship Aki.  Young Aki’s father got wind of the activity and was very upset so he laid a trap for the dishonorable Chia.  One night while making a visit to Aki guard burst in the room and Chia barely escaped into the night.  The Party of three was approached in regard to this foul indiscretion by Aki’s father who was livid.  Mashita seeing that all the hard work in the region was about to go down the drain stepped forward and halted the banter of Aki’s father. 

“It was I who paid a visit to your daughter”

Aki’s father gasped

“The queen asked me to pay her a visit and ask her some questions”

“But, but”    Aki’s father sputtered

“These questions were not for any one but Aki to hear and that is why I snuck on to your estate”

“But why did you flee”

“ You were not to know I was even there”  “ I however could not let you discredit Chia so I had to step forward and say something”

“You risked dishonoring my daughter, before the soldiers and servants on a fools errand of the Queen?”

“It was no fools errand but I did regrettably risk soiling your daughters reputation and I apologize.  Since this act was in many ways unforgivable I will do what is right to mend the relations between Kwanto and the Emperor. 

The next day Mashita was found dead in his regional home.  Sometime shortly after the families were tied together in marriage and the province of Kwanto closed relations with the Imperial Court.  Aki’s father Ocha also joined the ranks of the generals on the date of the wedding.

Shinto: 

Building up instead of out the Shinto continued to work quietly and not bother anyone.

Australia:  Eha-Rana Colonized to 2GPV

The Brother of Rasko died after a peaceful reign that saw the completion of the Eha-Rana project and the full colonization of the province as well.  The transition was peaceful as the tribal witch doctor chose to back the heir to the throne as the rightful ruler.

New Zealand:  Port City of Temple del Sol built in Akaroa, Otago (A)

High Chief Akuhata too his whole family on vacation to the province of Otago.  Otago was home to the Southern Islands main and most fierce tribe.  Akuhata had decided it was time for peace between the tribes after many years of fueding and he thought a marriage might mend the broken fences.  On arrival in the Otago province the Chief and his clan were welcomed but not warmly.   The group traveled inland.  King Akuhata noticed his son Piakea getting along very well with the escorts.  At night Piakea, who had just come of age, would stay up night drinking with the Otago tribals and trading stories.  Now Piakea who was only 15 could weave a fascinating tale even though he was still very inexperienced in the ways of the world, and everyone loved a good story especially the Otago tribals.  By the time the little group had arrived in the Otago Chief’s village the escorts were practically Piakea’s brothers.  So when it came time to discuss the relations between the Northern Island and the Southern Island the King let his son do all the talking and he merely supported his efforts.   Pania, Akuhata’s daughter and eldest child was married off to the Otago Chiefs eldest son and the diplomatic efforts were completed by 1043 and everyone returned home but Pania.   On the way home the King stopped but the newly established village of Temple del Sol and made sure that settlement was doing well.