The long and difficult work done in Chianging by Prince Lo Pain, Prince Lo Chan, Minister Li Gong and Minister Ma Hu finally paid off. The cities finally become fully reintegrated into the might Liang Dynasty.

While busy with ruling his growing dynasty Lo Zhuang did not forsake his elegant wife, the result was the birth of two daughters. Rumors among the court is that the king is having daughters to marry off to expand the might empire later. The royal court denies this of course.

The crowned heir Lo Shuen was sent to the uncivilized regions of the steppes of Ordos with 10,000 of Liangs best cavalry, and hefty chests of gold to offer to the horsemen as "encouragement" to look elsewhere for their pleasures. Some wonder if by giving these bandits a taste of wealth if that might not lead them to want more of the goods that China has to offer.

On the eastern front Lo Zhuang finally realized that Yun rebelled back around 1000AD and had not yet been recaptured. Outraged the king ordered General Hung Biao and his troops (9,400 mixed Infantry, 12,400 mixed Cavalry, and 4,400 siege troops) to ‘rectify’ this oversight. In July of 1032 Yun was pacified after a brief, but uninteresting slaughter of local troops, and in August after short siege Ta’Tung surrendered to the General as well.

Some peasants in Honan claim they found a heretic and burned him at the steak. The story they gave to the local authorities was that he recruiting people to turn way from eating meat and eating only fruits and grains. Well that and virgin sacrifices to a idol he called Bhaal, which of course no one can find now.

Mashi ordered the continued expansion of his cities; Xi-Pung became a level 5, Weichou a level 5, Gou-pan a level 4, and Koueichou a level 8. A new army was raised with rumors of the horde heading east.

Farm improvements were built in Hunan, as well as some parks and other niceties that improve public morale.

A small elite group of samurai were trained for one singular mission, armed with "shining armor", silver tipped pole arms, which were blessed by Shinto priests at every stage of their creation. They were to protect the heir on his not so secret mission to hunt down and slay the monster that was 'found' 5 years ago.

The night before the heir went below, every man was blessed with holy water, and Oda Shotoku gave his son the blessed Katana of Jimmu, every advantage that could be thought of was used.

Slowly the men lowered the heir down (being that he would not allow anyone to go down before him). As his feet touched the ground all of a sudden the ground lurched and the beast crawled out from a sudden crack that formed. The creature was a huge white worm, which Yagato suddenly laughed at, until the worm spit a smoldering ball of spit at him. He sprang to the side while drawing forth the Katana, it was a good thing too, because the rope that was touched burst into flame upon contact with the spit. As Yagato swung his blade a faint glow begun to spread upon the blade, starting at the hilt and spreading to the tip. As Yagato circled the beast, he continued diving and jumping to stay away from the beast's spit. When the blade touched the monster's skin the huge worm roared in pain, and was engulfed in a white fire which gave forth no heat. By the time the Samurai found more rope and descended into the cavern below, all that was left was a smoldering pile of ashes, a sweat soaked Yagato, who was examining a heavy tome.

Lord Suenago died in his sleep, damn old age.

The effort continued to go from a slave-based economy to something more humane. Some small outbreaks of civil disobedience broke out around Agnor in 1033 by disenfranchised slave owners, some rice storage sheds were burned and a few of those who confronted them with lines like "Slaves are humans too, ya know" were roughed up. The city guards arrived and most of the thugs took off.

The city of Kei was expanded, and many statues of King Sophal were erected around the country side of Khemer.

The king himself bravely entered the region of Korat with his son Pein and Hanzum to make peace. He was greeted with grim faces and men sharpening their swords, after offering a royal marriage, some bags of gold, and many years of discussion he managed to get them to actually embrace the Champan Empire with open arms. While in the middle of negotiations a noble from the northern lands of Korat struck down Prince Pein.

While at sea on his way to Fujian Prince Phoaton became sick, and by the time they landed the prince was at death’s door. A local doctor was called to come to see he could cure the prince. By the time he was found and brought the prince died, to the surprise of many there was a strange empty vile found in the prince’s cabin on the boat. Despite this setback lord Dubaj of Annam continued the mission and begun discussing the idea of idea of Fujian joining the Empire. A royal marriage was offered but none of the high ranking families had any daughter of marriageable age.

Again cities were expanded this time it was Jambion, Singhasari and Sirivjaya who grew in size.

King Rakor meets and falls in love with a maiden from the out laying district of Acem. A huge wedding is planned and much ribald action ensues. The king and his new bride retire to the wedding suite after three days of celebrating with his subjects. Rakor fathered two sons while spending his days on the docks hiding from his slave driving wife.

Every single city in the empire was expanded in size, a total of seventeen city levels, the merchants are all drooling over the increased port’s around the empire.

Troops coming home from the war in the west were demobilized in Uttar Preadesh and Vatsa building many fine parks and statues in Mitdeep’s name.

Mitdeep’s wife died in child birth in 1031, and his twin son’s died with her. For months the king was unapproachable, given to shouting at the smallest interruption. By 1035 he was almost back to his normal self.

Purujit fathered another son and was on his way to having another son when tragic struck, his wife and their baby died in child birth.

Kalavas was sent into Gange to find Navas a wife. The people of Gange had herd stories of the man and while impressive they would not let any daughter go to him to get wed. However in good faith they pledged themselves to the Sultanate, without any gold , until Navas comes to get married there.

The chirps of crickets are being heard in the temples.

Yusuf spent his time wonder his gardens, it was a quite, peaceful turn.

Silence suddenly rocked the nation, for the first time in years no building or expanding had happened.

Daud ibn Ahmed demanded revenge for the Buryat's attack, so he went out and got some, by sacking and burning of Baghdad! First thing was to hire all the merc's he could find, and then raised up a small fast moving army, then Daud himself led the attack. Despite a brilliant plan to capture and kill every member of the Buryat's government, with their prior attack on Baghdad, no one would admit to having anything to do with the government. While he did have the pleasure of killing some known government workers, in all likelihood some may have escaped.

Despite an offer of land the Merc captain Amir Al-Fahl did not join with Buyid's, however he did take there money and came along with the attack on Mesopotamia and Baghdad.

Torarudun was sent to liberate the regions those damn squatters claimed as the Duchy of Aleppo. Unfortunately the damn nosey Norse and their lackeys ended up camping out there in 1035AD.

Shambles, that’s what is left of the Crusader nation

Things just went from bad to worse all along the Eastern Mediterranean…

April 1031

They came from near and far, peasants, minor nobility, merchant’s, veterans alike massed at the rebuilt city of Constantinople. They came at the call for a holy war against the heretics from the north. When they learned that the Byzantines did not supply any of there own troops to attack the Norse a priest from Dubruja by the name of Arcadius whipped the mob into a religious frenzy, and pointed (GM: The rule book indicated that they would head towards the nearest NATION of the offending type so…) towards the Rus Vikings! Theodosius attempted to take control of the troops to get them to stay and wait to see if the Norse attacked, but the charismatic priest had managed to whip up the passions of the mob, so they followed him, all 6,000 infantry and 1,200 cavalry.

In Rome the Idrisid Princess Hayat Zahra abu Anour is discovered to have sneak on to King Edmund’s ship. There they were wed, afterwards she gave a small speech:

The Allied forces are unloading into the region of Isauria when Demetius attack on a moonless night from sea, expecting some help from land, which never shows up. Demetius uses 30 fire ships sending them into the heart of the allied moored boats, while using his 150 warships to engaged the ships that fled. The plan was brilliant, with so many different troops together, as soon as the fire ships were spotted each separate nation’s troops reverted to training and all cohesiveness was lost, for a short time. When all was said and done Demetius and his navy was sunk, most of the land troops who were aboard ships that sunk were able to be rescued but damage was done. The allies wintered for the year, recovering from sting of the attack. The allies lost 105 ships, 3,000 cavalry, and additional 800 horses (damn beasts swam OUT to sea) and 600 infantry, the Byzantines lost 65 warships this month.

Where is Demetius’s support? The messenger that was sent to inform Marozia on where they were unloading was captured by the crafty devil Ole Jarlsson, who was on his way to begin raiding the region of Cilicia. The poor messenger was made to walk the plank, arr! Soon after that Jarlsson, who has become something of a feared man in these parts begun raiding Cilicia, where they found Marozia, waiting to move.

Theodosius heard late in the month of the Norse sightings, he sent messengers north to try to catch the religious mob and persuade them to turn south and aid in defense, and then took to the streets. He begged any man or child to take up arms and come with him, he had some success.

Prince Abdel Rachmann of the Idrisids begins raiding Lydia

The Allies had managed to get themselves put back in order while Demetius continues to try to hamstring the Allies, trying to buy time for Marozia to move in and put the hurt down on these heathen dogs. With neither surprise, nor fire ship Demetius was lucky to escape with his hide. Allies lost 30 ships, the Byzantines lost there remaining 85 warships.

Arcadius and his men enter Dubuja, where they wintered.

In Cilicia Ole Jarlsson was unable to break away from his raids when Marozia engaged him. The Byzantines had 600 elite Infantry, 4,000 Infantry, 1,400 siege, 3,600 heavy cavalry, 3,200 elite cavalry, 2,600 light Cavalry, and 3,800 heavy infantry, where as Jarlsson had his 215 ships, and the pirates who sailed those boats. The massacre that ensued would have been complete, but Ole managed to escape with 4 boats, while leaving earshot he yelled to the Queen of Byzantine "Better luck next time, sweetie!"

Theodosius entered Paphlagonia and called upon all loyal and true Romans to take up arms and join him in the defense of the Empire.

"What in Christ’s blessed name are they doing here" mutter the disgusted Toradun looking at the Meccan army heading north into the recently procured region of Lebanon.

"Well who am I to look a gift from the almighty? Tell the men to get ready for a little warm up practice, besides we owe these faithless dog a kick in the rear" (GM: Both nations had some other plans for these troops, but being they happen to be crossing the same border at the same time, they saw each other and since there is bad blood here…)

Torardun fielded 800 Elite Light Cavalry, 2,800 elite Cavalry, 3,600 heavy cavalry 22,400 cavalry, 10,000 light infantry, and 12,000 light inexperienced infantry, Abdell Rachman ibn Yussin fielded 8,800 infantry, 8.600 light infantry, 3,800 siege, and 3,200 light Cavalry. The only reason the Buryat’s managed to win was due the sheer numbers of their forces. In the middle of the batter Torardun and Abdell found themselves face to face, the ensuing personal battle ended with them both killing one another. The defeated Meccans retreated back to outside Jerusalem where they licked their wounds and wintered for the season. The death toll for this unexpected battle was 7,000 dead for the Buryat, 18,2000 for the Meccan’s

"I knew this was a bad idea. In no way should this be happening, not here and not now. Please Edmund, I beg you send your wife and new born child home!" Pleaded the army surgeon after assisting in the birth of the future king of the Norse.

"You think this spirited women would listen to me? I will ask her if she would be willing to head to Harvik without her husband, but I am sure my request will fall upon deaf ears"

The Allies had just finished unloading into Isuria as Marozia stormed into the region, bound and determined to make these heathens pay for the destruction of the holy city. While the Byzantines had Marozia (who is widely regarded as the world’s best tactician), home field advantage, and better supply lines, the allied forces were prepared for them, despite having a mixed army and long support lines. The allies armies consisted of 200 light Infantry, 9,200 Infantry, 6,600 heavy infantry, 5,000 light cavalry, 16,800 cavalry, 665 warships and 4.000 siege troops. The Byzantines brought had 600 elite Infantry, 4,000 Infantry, 1,400 siege, 3,600 heavy cavalry, 3,200 elite cavalry, 2,600 light Cavalry, and 3,200 heavy infantry. As soon as the saw each other the assassins came out to player! Marozia survived three attempts, none ever came close, whereas the Heir to the Idrisids Kebier Kacem, throne was almost killed by an assassin. The results of the first month of fighting were fierce, and Marozia was forced to withdraw, too many of her forces were wounded to continue fighting. All said and done the Byzantines saw 23,000 troops dead or wounded, while the allies had 14,400 troops in the same condition, the King of the Lombards, Guglilmo Xiovani, was wounded in the battle as well, again. In fact Guglilmo has earned the respect of many, since in the past fifteen years he has been injured three times, but never killed.

Theodosius enters Bithnia continuing on in his attempt to drum up troops

Marozia regrouped in Tharsis, and begun to prepare for the possibility of an attack

Theodosius cuts into Phrygia looking high and low for any body who could hold a sword.

Abdel Rachmann and his 44 warships begin raiding Bithnia

The Meccan’s leave Levant and head into Jordon

Theodosius and his men enter Pamphayla

The Buryat army, now under the command of Juchin enters Levant and begins to pacify the region

The Norse and their allies rested and healed up storms into Cilicia and begin to pacify it, while Marozia is forced to watch from the city walls

The religious zealots under Arcadius begin to cross over into Kiev, bound and determined to make the Norse Christians pay for their sins!

With Levant under his control Juchin begins to siege the last holdings of the Duchy of Aleppo, the rebuilt city of Jerusalem.

The Alan’s, lead by King Daud begins to enter Mesopotamia, yes they still have a military force, and here it is.

Abdel Rachmann raids the region of Constantinople

The siege of Jerusalem begins, Aleppo managed to hang on. Buryat looses 3,200 men, Duchy of Aleppo looses 4,200.

King Guzudun, who had been securing the loyalty of Ahvaz received news of the Alan’s treachery, and set sail up the river, looking to join up with Bishop James.

Jerusalem falls to the Buryat, the leaders of the Duchy manage to slip away.

Daud begins to pacify the homeland of the Buryat, Daud has 600 Elite light cavalry, 2,000 light cavalry, and mercenaries with 5,400 light cavalry, 8,800 cavalry, and 8,200 light infantry, the region held 18 forts that without leaders.

King Guzudun finds the Bishop and his men entrenched guarding the region of Carhae. "You idiot! The scoundrel Daud has moved into Mesopotamia! Get you men, we move, NOW! I will kill that son of a dirty pig molester myself for this!"

Arcadius and his zealots begin to try to pacify the region of Kiev, the local nobility masses a small force of 1,000 infantry to aid the 200 national infantry, and 2 forts, to try to fend off the rabid fanatics. The Eastern Orthodox overwhelms the defense in a matter of weeks.

Guzudun, Bishop James, 2,000 siege, 7,200 Heavy Infantry, 5,200 light Infantry enter Mosul

The Seige for Taursus begins! As the allies set up the equipment Theodosius attacks with 4,600 infantry, mostly inexperienced. While this kind of army would normally become shredded in a matter of moments with the allies setting up shop, and focused on the city they proved to be able to actually be useful. Within a week Theodosius’s men were killed, and in the chaos he managed to sneak into the city. The allies lost another 3,200 men. Then the real fun begun. The casualties from the first month of sieges amounted to 6,000 Byzantines to 2,200 of the allies.

As Daud finishes pacifying Mesopotamia, in came the cavalry (No pun intended). As soon as Guzudun entered Mesopotamia an assassin tried to kill him, the assassin was foiled and he was captured. Before he could be tortured to find out who sent him he was killed in the battle with the Alan's. Daud had far better command of the military, whereas Guzudun had the terrain. Alan’s lost 5,800 men while the Buryat lost 8,200 men, but the Buryat’s were able to retreat into Baghdad, which had no walls!

Krako and his troops enter Thebes to liberate the region from JubJub. A total of 7,000 Heavy Cavalry, 10,200 Infantry, 2,200 siege and 7,600 light infantry made quick work of freeing Thebes

Abdel Rachmann continues his raiding and hits Pamphligonia

The siege of Taursus continued, by mid month it became obvious that the city was going to fall, and it did. King Kebier Kacem (as his father had died late in 1032) from the Idrisids was wounded again, unfortunately he was unable to recover form this wound and dies later in the month. Mulay Ishmael ibn Yusef was killed while taking the city. Mustaphe Othello of the Sunni church was likewise killed in the battle. Theodsius was captured, the Queen managed to escape unnoticed however. Then to add insult to injury every government official that was found was killed. In fact anything that might have been official was burnt or killed. Taursus was sacked and left in ruins. Muhammad Ahmed al-Manqush decided to honor Kebier’s dying request to finish this war, to follow it the end.

With Kiev under his control Arcadius begins to siege the city of Kiev. The Ancient city walls built up over time actually happen to be the best in Europe, even with no troops inside, there was no way for the zealots to break into the city

Juchin enters Mansura to reclaim the lost region, however he finds Jubjub waiting for him Juchin has 6,600 light Infantry, 6,000 Inexperienced light infantry, 17,000 Infantry, 600 Elite light Cavalry, 2,800 Heavy Cavalry, 2,800 Elite Cavalry to Jubjub’s 6,400 Infantry, 1,400 Light Cavalry, 5,000 Cavalry. Unlike the majority of the other combats as of late, Juchin managed to pull off a decisive win, killing or wounding all of Jubjub’s troops, while loosing 8,200 of his own. Mansura is liberated, and ‘King’ Jubjub is killed

Daud saw that there are no walls around the city and scratches the planed siege and attacks (GM: If a city has no walls, then any attack on a city is treated as a normal combat battle). The battle in Baghdad was a bloody mess, with as many civilians getting killed then the actual military units. 6,000 Buryats and 4,200 Alan's troops died in the city. Guzudun escapes, again, as does the Bishop. They sulk off to Mosul to regroup.

As Juchin is crossing the Nile word reaches him that the Alan’s have attacked, after a night of thinking, he decides to follow his orders and liberate Egypt.

Abdel Rochmann hears that his brother has fallen, he begins moving towards Fez to claim the throne for himself

Juchin enter Egypt and liberates it from the hands of Jubjub’s minions

Krako begins to liberate Erivan

The Meccan army arrives in Cilicia.

Baghdad is under the Alan's control, and then the fun begins, the sacking of the city is begun

Empress Marozia arrives in Isauria and regroups the wounded and deserters of her military, over the winter she bolsters her troops morale.

Arcadius and his troops entering Pechneg heard the news that Empress Marozia was attacked. While Arcadius urged the men to follow him to Odessa, the roman men did not listen. Their Queen needed them, their nation needed them, and the very devils who they wanted to kill were near Tarsus. The local horde in Pechneg, while not Roman, was Eastern Orthodox and not only joined the religious mob heading back to Asia Minor, but their leader, Pereyaslavl managed to take control of the troops to follow his excellent combat skills.

Alexandria falls to Jurchin, word is received that Baghdad is being attacked. No thought this time, Juchin and his troops head for Baghdad.

Krako enters Faiyum and liberates it

Pamphyla is raided by the Meccan’s.

With the sacking of Baghdad complete, his men, and horses loaded down with riches, Daud decides he really doesn't like the smell of the city, and orders it burnt to the ground.

The remains of Baghdad are smoldering ashes. Feeling rather proud of himself, Daud begins to cross the river into Diyala.

Krako moves in and liberates Ezurum

The Norse, Idrisids, Lombards, and the few remaining members of the Aleppo military liberate Aleppo.

Guzudun enters Mesopotamia and surveys the damage, swears revenge upon the Arab cowards.

The Meccan’s hit Phrygia

Junghara is recaptured and handed back over to the Dutchy of Aleppo

Juchin arrives in Mesopotamia

Pereyaslavl and Arcadius arrive in Isuria, the combined troops numbered 5,600 Infantry, 7,800 light Cavalry, 6,000 Cavalry, 3,000 heavy Cavalry, there they join with Empress Marozia, a plan is hatched.

Guzudun, along with Juchin crosses into Diyala, and catches Daud and the Buyid’s getting ready to cross the mountains into Kurdistan. Daud and his remaining troops quickly turned and faced the Buryat. The Daud commanded 1,200 light elite cavalry, 600 light cavalry, Amir Al-Fhal commanded 800 light cavalry, 2,200 Cavalry, 1,200 light infantry, and the Ally from Vasi 600 cavalry. Guzudun had 1,000 heavy elite infantry, 2,200 heavy infantry 600, elite light infantry and Juchin commanded 600 elite light cavalry, 2,400 elite cavalry, 2,600 heavy cavalry, 9,000 light infantry, 4,000 light inexperienced infantry, and 17,800 infantry.

The battle begun on a rainy overcast day, being outnumbered by more then 6 to 1 Daud knew that he was in trouble. Deciding the discretion was the better part of valor he sent his cavalry out in front to screen while he tried to get as many men out of there as possible. (GM: Believe it or not Daud had the initiative and did not want battle, but those pesky mountains slowed him down). The result was rather predictable massacre of the Buyid troops, however Daud did manage to retreat with about 400 men uninjured. The Mercenary Amir Al-Fhal’s hatred of the Buryat was so strong that he disobeyed Daud’s order to retreat, and as a result he was killed in the battle.

The Norse and their allies head into Lebenon

Cilicia is recaptured by the Byzantines

Meccan’s return into the desert of Pamphyla

Lebanon is recaptured for Aleppo, the garrison of Buryat troops (which were not expected) was easily killed off

Aleppo is (again) attacked by the Byzantines

Theodsius, a prisoner of the Norse dies from poor treatment.

The Norse and their allies enter Aleppo. There Empress Marozia and her crusader army were waiting for them. The Byzantines had 5,600 Infantry, 7,800 light Cavalry, 6,000 Cavalry, 3,000 heavy Cavalry, the stretched thin allied army held 33 Infantry, 22 heave infantry, 16 light Cavalry, 59 Cavalry, 87 warships and 14 siege troops. The combat was even more intense then the last two encounters, but this time the result was different. The Byzantines troops were fighting almost at twice their numbers, things were looking badly for the Western Alliance, until the last remaining Idrisid commander, Muhammad Ahmed al-Manqush came within visual range of the Empress Marozia. Suddenly he was engulfed in a faintly glowing blue nimbus, while a faintly yellow nimbus engulfed her. Troops on both side paused in confusion, but neither leader did, they both rode their horses hard, charging towards one another. As they grew closer the sky began to grow dark, the ominous clouds that had been lurking in the west seemed to gather speed and raced for the region of Aleppo. When the two leaders engaged in combat the storm that had been gathering, erupted with a rolling thunder that shock the very ground under the bewildered troops. As the two leaders began their nearly mindless battle lightening begun to rain down around them, tossing men and horses around like rag dolls. Troops from both sides begun to flee from the growing carnage. A few hours into the storm, no one was left around the struggling leaders. A few reports say they saw a sudden yellowish glow from where the leaders were that lasted for no more then an hour, but soon after the glow was sighted the storm subsided. The Norse, outright beaten by the Byzantines fell back, the Byzantines, who suffered more from the storm then the Norse, licked their wounds. The Norse and their allies had 27,200 dead or wounded, the Byantines lost 15,600 from the battle, the storm took another 6,000 Norse, 11,200 Byzantines. The Norse leader Sigurd was wounded, King Edmund was killed.

With the Marozia dead or at least missing Pereyaslavl decided that he had enough of these civilized fruitcakes and decided it was time to form his own crusader nation, where as priest Arcadius was tired of the stinky horsemen telling him what to do. Despite being very different the leaders were evenly matched, as far as trying to get the upper hand, at the end of the month they were still bickering as to who would take the lead

A dazed, wounded and scared Marozia was found, crawling and half out of her mind. By the time she was brought to camp she had made great strides in recovering. Her hands were scared from her sword meting in her hands, her hair now had what looked to be a blood red streak from the above her right temple to the end of the hair, and her whole demeanor seemed more, well intense. Quickly she put her house in order, Pereyaslavl was promoted to a lieutenant for his valor, which after some thought he agreed to the position. On the other hand, Arcadius was locked up and sent to the Eastern Orthodox Church to deal with/

Muhammad Ahmed al-Manqush has not been seen since the battle, and presumed to be dead

The Meccians winter in the nice hot region of Pamphyla

Hungry for gold Ibrahim sent Abdell Rachman ibn Yussif into the chaos in the north thinking that it would be the ideal place to rump and raid for gold.

When Jerusalem fell to the Coptic’s, a call for yet another holy war was issued forth from the church. The peasants and minor nobility however did not respond to the calls. You see the fields needed to be plowed, and the fishnets needed to be hauled in.

Gold was ‘loaned’ out to the Franks and the Norse, while the Norse send men to the church to do manual labor.

Father Hrolfgar passed away in his sleep in 1035AD, leading to the promotion of Arch Bishop Einar.

King Edmund Rodrigson married Princess Hayat Zahra abu Anour of the Idrisids at sea, a fitting marriage for the Viking king. When he died Queen Hayat took over for him while at war in the Hella’s, with their young son nearby at all times. While there was some concern when she proclaimed herself the regent for her son, so far no one has taken any action against her.

While the King was playing with the Queen of the Byzantines Thorvald was allowed to have some fun of his hope raiding the Eastern Orthodox regions of Hainaut and Champange, keeping them off guard for the Franks and the Druids.

Otto II moved to Ile De France to pick up more troops and then to move into Nivernais to take issue with Louis calling his new bride a tart. Too bad the Druids had managed to secure the regions first.

The majority of the standing army deserted due to not being paid. <GM: Guess the Blue dice didn’t want to be accused of going soft>

Okara awoke from his dream, drenched with sweat, but with a renewed sense of porpoise.

As Okara was entering Ob his horse slipped, and tossed the king into a sword a guard was sharpening. Two days later the king died, without an heir, quickly his brother Merkid tried to take the lead of the horde. While General Sagatai was content to play second fiddle to Merkid, General Subedai was not, and killed him as he told him he would not follow him. The ensuing melee quickly became nothing more then a barroom brawl, without the barroom. Princess Arslan was killed when an arrow flew off target and flew into her tent.

When the dust settled General Subedai was the only remaining leader, so the wounded and smaller horde headed to their homeland shores.

Lothario Borromeo was sent into Rome to preach the wonders of the Norse Christian faith. After ducking numerous rocks, outrunning a few mobs, and avoiding an assassin’s knife, he managed to make some progress.

The Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Lombardy, Liguria and Genoa were looted and destroyed. All Eastern Orthodox church holdings in regions that still followed the Orthodox faith were closed but not touched. Guglilmo issued orders that should these regions remain loyal these sites would be reopened and left alone.

Peasant uprisings in Spoleto and Savoy were put down.

A chest of gold was sent to the Druids to secure a peaceful boarder.

The battle with the Norse continued.

In a strange turn of events some janitors attempted to steal money from the royal coffers. They would have managed to get away with a small bundle, it wasn’t for some kids and a puppy that happened to wonder into the government office, attracting the guards who the janitors ran into on their way out.

As if things weren’t bad enough, a growing anti-Anatolia in the Hella’s (originating in Attica, of course) reached a boiling point in June of 1035AD.

The city of Constantinople was handed over to the Byzantines. Other then that not much was going on.

Tired of being over looked by Marozia and her family the region of Attica saw the birth of a pro-Hellas nation, originating from near the ruins of the city Sparta.

A Norse Christian Bishop was caught sneaking around Attica and was tossed into prison. While Polyxeinus wasn’t a fan of the Byzantines, his hatred for the blasphemers from the north was more intense. Currently the Bishop Arn Ketilsson is spending time with the rats in prison

Thessaly was ‘liberated’ from the clutches of the Byzantines.

Ivan managed to really upset the lords of Pechneg, so much so that there is a price on his head, all over some sort of incident of being caught in bed with a local lords wife. Shesh! A simple misunderstanding that could happen to anyone. In Atelzuko he faired much better securing another ally for the Empire.

Igor ran into some problems in Pereaslavl where when the locals heard of the religious troops attacking Kiev they decided to only pay a partial tribute to the Rus Empire. The Eastern Orthodox natives of Smolensk were a bit less feisty then other regions and have agreed to bow towards Novgorod, but will not send any sort of tribute there.

Krakow and Bochina were added to the small Polish Empire

The village of Stonecircle in Leon became a city. Druids were sent to the region of Aquitaine and the city of Cortez

Prince Conner was sent out and recaptured Burgundy, after that was done he attacked Nivernais.

20 Gold from Italy & 50 from NE.

Adbelkrim was in his family’s private mosque offering up prayers when a feeling of wrong permeated the holy place. Slowly he unfocused his eye. There, a blemish in the air, a shadow of evil had entered. Quickly the king pulled forth his saber, and stood to face this creature that would defile this holy place. Instead of attack, a cold sound came forth from the shadow. The sound was almost as hard and foreign as the sound from a mine coming from a bird.

Abdelkrim sprung towards this shadow bringing forth his saber when he fell to the ground. As he twisted and squirmed in intense pain the final thing he heard was the voice saying ‘Hope your race has lost, know that in your passing is he beginning of your end’

The new King, Kebier Kacem was attack the Byzantines, was acknowledged as the king of the Idrisids, until he die without any heir, and then the trouble began. After word of Kebier’s death reached Fez the Bishop Moulay Rachid, unhappy about the willingness of the Adbelkrim’s family to work with the unenlightened barbarians from the north attempted to proclaim himself reagent for Quadrhhys, Adbelkrim’s eldest unprompted son. However Khlifa bun Salmon and Muhammad and Abdelaziz Yacin knew better, they heard rumors that the entire royal family were going to ‘victims’ of a terrible fire. Acting fast they secured the royal family, seized the Bishop, and defended the capital.

In August 1034, the rebel prince Abdel Rachmann attacks Fez, claiming to be the true king of the Idrisid Empire. In the ensuing battle both Khalifa bin Salmon and Abdel Rachmann die, ending the whole mess of revolting leaders.

The following regions revolted from the Empire; Agades, Aragon, Ghadames, Ghat-Al-Barkat, Idjil, Murcia, New Castile, Al’Hauts, Bilma, Canary Islands, Cheliff,

Large amounts of gold was sent to the Idrisids, also a fairly large cavalry army was raised to defend the holy city, just in case those warmongering Coptic’s brought this war to the peaceful shores of north Africa.

An attempt to call for another holy war when Jerusalem fell to the Buryat was rebuked. It seems no one wanted to make the trip across the desert again just yet.

Monastary built in Brandy! Thousands of slaves are discovered within the city and are set free by Krako and company. The great General / Bishop Krako moves north to liberate lost lands. The spear of Destiny is returned to the Coptic Church. Cahli marries a young girl named Soja from Soba.

Massive city walls were built around Faxum. Agents were sent north looking for JubJub, who they could not find.

General Krako took his troops, and the troops from the mighty Buryat and freed Danakil and Adulis, then they moved to the Nile to remove the scum JubJub and his men.

The Maldives, along with the city of Falcon was brought back to the nation as well.

Phill went to hold the Spear of Destiny, however there in the box where it was kept was only a note that read;

Torra saw the writing on the wall, and opposed to fighting to the death, he accepted exile in Aden. After moving to Aden, Torra took a noble’s daughter as wife, on the wedding night a daughter was conceived.

Torra recognize his father Cahli as King of all Ethiopian lands west of Aden and Patriarch of the Coptic church.

"Nobel and righteous men and women of Ethiopia. Rejoice, for the Insane King Phil is dead, and that Cahli and I are united as one mind and one will to unite the Copts and reclaim lands lost during the civil war. This will be an era of prosperity. Cahli has offered Toora and his followers the kingdom of Aden (a rich land in the mystical East, flowing with milk and honey). Any who stay on and march with Toora will become honored heroes and noble citizens in the new land."

In Soba, in a private ceremony with only the military commanders and high ranking priests present, a repentant Toora knelt before Pope Cahli. There he presenting him with a token of their new peace – the Spear of Destiny, on loan only, so that Cahli may carry it to recapture the lands on the Nile.

Some of the people of Soba, and Zeila in an unexpected move, packed up and followed Toora to Aden

The drive to convert all the heathens continued, slowly but surely towards the day when all of Africa prays to Allah.

July of 1034 was a black day in Ghana, the noble and wise Chaka was killed by posion, as was his wife. So far the guilty party has not been found, but the search continues. Many blame the Catholics in Mali, but so far that’s just rumors. Abul-‘Abbas was crowned king, and Silih became the heir, who luck would have it had managed to find a wife.

 A new city was founded along the royal road in Boure, named Koala-Lumpur

Royal roads were built from Gorouol to Hausa and Oyo to Yoruba, enabling Nahla to have a much better control of the nation, as well as a way for troops to get from one side of the nation to the other.

Constantine was wed to Queen Nahla’s sister Anana and was sent to research the items found in the chest that was found at the founding of Accra, some progress was made on some of the items. Rumors have surfaced that the chest might have belonged to an old Pirate who once claimed to have plundered the riches of Atlantis.

All’s quite on the Eastern Shores.

John opened up the churches coffers, expanding the cities of Nigeria and New Rome, as well as building up the churches holdings.

Monks were dispatched to examine the chest that was found. The book yielded some hints to the wise men. 

The national craze, the Octet poetry has reported some major advancement’s over the past few years. The Elderly King Fred is celebrating the Birth of his son, Mezzrow, and the adaptation of Fred’s Roadmap to Peace though joining his Lieutenant Hellpop in an ‘East Africa Friendship tour’. The local natives are delighted to meet Fred and Hellpop, and in fact, several have insisted on visiting this wonderland of an island that the King has created.

Mahabo was converted to the one true faith, Coptic of course. King Fred went to Zanzibar, and succeeded in securing a tribute from the local lords.

The self proclaimed Pirate that he is, Hellpop slave raided Nyasa & Makura, after that he hungered for gold, and went raiding the poor in Phalab Orwa, Karanga, Shona and Gorongo. Arrr! More plunder from down under!

A letter was sent to Mary Kate, informing her that while they are not interested in having them come talk to his people, but he would be very interested in trading.

King Fred’s ‘Roadmap to Peace’ was the key reason a peace was established around the Nile, well that is the story Fred tells, and he is sticking by it.

All is quite down here. Zorho took the time to secure his royal blood line spending most of his time in his bedroom with his wife.

Strange lights in the sky have been reported to the south of Cape, many of the refugees from the old world are fearful that something may have followed them across the sea.

After a massive growth spurt last turn, Mary Kate took some time to relax and enjoy life. Saddened by King Fred shooting down her request she did open trade with Madagascar. Every extra revenue source was needed to grow the church.