Lords of the Earth
Campaign
Nineteen
Anno Domini 1101 - 1105
Turn 41 Orders Due By Friday,
April 2nd, 2004
Hello again, I hope everyone had a good Holiday Season.
As I am now running two campaigns, I am going to have to change how I process them. To this end, Lords Two campaign processing will now alternate with Lords 19 processing every other month. Thus Lords two turns will be processed in January, March, May, etc; while Lords 19 will be processed in February, April, June, etc.
Program stuff: nothing yet.
NEW:
Beginning next
turn (t42), I will no longer be taking money directly for turns. Instead, players sending funds by mail
should make all checks payable to Thomas Harlan and send them either to the 2nd
Street address or to Thomas’ address, which is:
Thomas Harlan
3210 E. 23rd Street
Tucson, AZ 85713-2261
Below are my Email
and Regular mail addresses:
4858 East 2nd Street
Tucson, AZ 85711
Email: ancaric@throneworld.com
Payment: When paying via Paypal, please send all funds to this account:
Warning: if your account falls into arrears for any amount your position will be declared open unless you make concrete arrangements with me to pay your balance. (By “concrete” I mean, I’ll have x amount to you on or before y date). Please don’t fall behind, I really don’t like being the heavy and I daresay you won’t like it either. What follows is…
If you run up a negative account balance it can be difficult to determine the level of emotion the referee may have towards you. What follow is a convenient guide to let you know exactly where you stand.
-$5.00 or Less: hey, it happens. Please pay your balance as soon as possible.
-$5.00 -- -$10.00: c’mon, it’s not like this game is really expensive. Please pay your balance. Your kids will thank you for it someday.
-$15.00 or More: Urge to kill rising!
Modifiers: people who try to make arrangements with me regarding payment (or partial payment) will generally get a favorable hearing. Generally, players who exceed two turns of debt without keeping me apprised of their situation will be dropped and word will be sent out to the other campaigns warning the refs of the offending player’s deadbeat proclivities. Players who run up a negative balance and then drop w/o repayment, will have their names sent out to other referees as mentioned above and will have massive karmic debt for being a scoundrel and lout.
As many of you know, I am also running Lords 2. To this end, processing this campaign will be affected. Although the date listed above is the due date for next turn’s orders, it may not automatically lead to processing the turn starting that weekend, especially if I am hip-deep in processing the other game.
As mentioned above, I’m going to try to keep alterations to the rules to a minimum (a double “yeah, sure” regarding my chances). Here are some things to keep in mind:
Hands Off Trade and the
IMA action (clarification): here’s what you can and can’t do regarding moving MSps
around. This applies to all
merchant fleets, regardless of type.
ú
Inter-nation Trade Fleet: May be freely initiated, starting
MSPs determined by computer. To add
or move MSPs requires an IMA action.
ú
Internal Trade/Fishing Fleets: May be freely
initiated, starting
MSPs are added by the player.
Additional new MSPs may be added to an existing fleet. To move MSPs between existing fleets
requires an IMA action.
Allied Leaders: looking over some of the player-less countries, I’ve noticed a large percentage of troops under allied leaders, doubtless in an attempt to reduce support costs. While I don’t want to disallow this practice, I will be making loyalty checks for any such “augmented” forces from here on out. Failure indicates that feckless ally decides to carve a kingdom out of your Empire. The chances of this increase if there are few non-allied troops about. So don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
Female Leaders: while I don’t want to disallow them totally, the Dark Ages were a pretty male dominated time. Consequently, a female Royalty member may only become Queen, Empress, Regent or Heir if they have a Charisma of AT LEAST 10. A Princess will only become an active leader if her Charisma is at least 8 (eight) or greater. Any Charisma statute less than this will result in no generation (although you can still marry them off). Any existing Female Rulers, Heirs, Princesses may remain. The only exception to this is if the sole available heir is a princess, in which case she becomes ruler regardless of Charisma (and the subsequent DF check gets an big bad negative modifier as the local nobility resents the presence of a female giving orders and intruding on their bailiwick).
The Homeland Income Multiple: has decreased to one.
Gold, NFP and Agro transfers: beginning immediately (well okay, next turn [41]), any inter-player transfers will only become available to the recipients the turn after they are sent. So if someone sent you stuff on turn 41, you have to wait until turn 42 before you can use it. Gold and NFP will be placed in their respective saved sections. Agro will be placed in the reserves. Note: players sending agro must spend gold to preserve it in transit. Keep this in mind when deciding how much to charge for your surpluses.
Entrophy, or Viagra hasn’t been invented yet: any male Royal personages attempting to begat kiddies after the age of 50 has a severely reduced chance of siring any new bundles of joy. Just so you know.
AP reminder: please remember that it is the slowest unit of a given force that determines which unit modifiers apply to determining APs/year. So if your army of light, elite cavalry includes even one heavy infantry unit, the footsloggers are slowing everyone down. Also if a leader has a combat rating of four or less, he has a –1 AP per year modifier regardless of what he’s doing.
Shooting oneself in the foot: Just so you all know, if your king continues to produces heirs after he has an established heir in place (i.e. one who has generated stats, it always goes to the eldest male by the way.) you are desperately begging for some sort of dynastic trouble when your monarch dies.
INTEL STUFF: When performing Infiltration and Counter Infiltration Intel Operations, it is always best to specify which sector of your nation you are trying to protect or subvert. The sectors are listed in rule 8.3.11 in the basic rulebook but I will repeat them here: Espionage Service, Government, Royal Family, Military, Populace, University and Religion. Players who order an op against an unspecified target will have a SEVERELY reduced chance of success.
WARNING: According to the upcoming revised (yet again) Rulebook, several Government, Societal and Economic changes will be dependent on a nation’s Tech Level. If you have a government, economic or society belonging to one of these types, you will be compensated for the gps and or nfp spent. I strongly urge people to stop investing in these projects until more information becomes available.
YARD CAPACITY: Starting next
turn (t93), I will be assessing Yard Capacity costs for all heavy units as well
as all ship units. Below are the
appropriate sections from the Modern rules supplement.
The construction of all ship units as well as all
heavy-prefix land units requires the use of (in addition to GP and NFP
expenditures) Yard Capacity of the appropriate kind. Each ship or heavy
prefix land unit type has a Yard Capacity (YrdC) cost listed below. This is the Yard Capacity cost when
constructing the unit. For most
types of nations Yard Capacity can only be used at a Friendly City within your
Homeland Build Zone. Each point
of Yard Capacity provides one Yard Capacity point per turn. YrdC may not be
saved from turn to turn.
While Pre-Modern nations (nomads, barbarians, civilized, renaissance, etc.) cannot build the dedicated Yards that are prevalent in the Modern Era; pre-modern cities and trade centers have an intrinsic Yard capacity for the production of ship and heavy land units.
Cities,
Trade Centers and Port Cities have “generic” Yard Capacities, as noted in the
following table.
Table 3‑9. Intrinsic Yard Capacity
|
Source |
Capacity |
Notes |
|
|
Trade Center |
5 |
Usable only by Nomads or Barbarians for the construction of Heavy
units (including ships, if in a coastal region). |
|
|
City |
GPv × 5 |
Usable for the construction of Heavy land units. |
|
|
Port City |
GPv × 5 |
Usable for the construction of ships and heavy land units. |
|
Note: Port City capacity is not separated for ground unit and ship
unit construction. There is only one Capacity, reflecting the specialization of
port cities for ship construction.
The
city-based Intrinsic Yard capacity is listed on your stat sheet as part of the
City description, between the city PWB and the City Type like so:
Avalon [3+30i15p4]
This city has a GPv of 3, 30 public works an intrinsic Yard capacity of 15, is a port city and has 4 wall points.
The
only way that intrinsic Yard Capacity may be increased is through city
expansion. Additional capacity
gained through such expansion may not be used on the same turn that the city
expansion occurs.
Important: HBZ and primate construction restrictions are still in
force, so just because you have the capacity to build something at a given
site, doesn’t mean that you will be able to if the city is out of your HBZ.
|
Unit Type |
YrdC Cost |
|
HI |
1 |
|
HEI |
1 |
|
HC |
1 |
|
HEC |
1 |
|
XT |
1p |
|
T |
2p |
|
HT |
3p |
|
XW |
1p |
|
XEW |
1p |
|
W |
2p |
|
EW |
2p |
|
HW |
3p |
|
HEW |
3p |
P = may only be built at a port.
Some discrepancies between the maps and the Stats program have cropped up:
None this turn (as far as I know).
As a general rule, in discrepancies of this kind, the stats take precedence over the map.
Kondo Nobunaga, Daimyo of Yamato.
Diplomacy No effect
Taira Matsuoka, Daimyo of Kwanto.
Diplomacy None
THE
KWANTO-YAMATO WAR
Initial knife-work and stuff: Assassins wound Matsuoka, taking the wind out of his sails. Short of funds, the Taira ruler pays his troops with rice to tide them over, along with promises of loot. This manages to prevent unrest...for now.
1101
January-February: Nothing to tell really...
March: the Imperial Heir, Torohito, puts to sea with 40+ ships and 2,000 troops. [>DozenWan]
April: Torohito enters Tsugaru Strait. In Saga, general Nagumo picks up the garrison (800 strong) in Saga and marches off into Kunamoto. Saga promptly went independent. In Kunamoto, Nagumo runs into Taira general Ishi’s 1400 man force and is obliterated. This delays the latter’s departure for a month. In Yamato, Kondo Nobunaga and general Kurosawa sit on the defense, waiting for the Taira to attack. In Aichi, his friskiness reduced by an assassin’s wound, Mitsuoke begins withdrawing back into Kwanto. Nobunaga misses this move (the BA roll failed).
May: In the south, general Ishi finally puts to sea with 30 ships and his 1400 marines, entering Tsushima Strait. At sea, Torohito heaves to off of Nigata and begins disembarking troops.
June-July: Torohito raids Nigata, garnering 7gps (after giving 50% to the troops). Ishi disembarks in Yamaguchi and begins running amok himself.
August: Ishi’s finishes his raid in Yamaguchi, garnering 32gps (after paying the troops. That’s the difference between raiding a wilderness region with no PWB and a garrison and raiding a cultivated region with PWB and no garrison). In the north, Torohito moves into Toyama.
September: Torohito raids Toyama, scarfing up a whopping 2.5 gps. These peasants are dirt poor, the Heir opines. In the south, Ishi marches into Shimane.
October-December: Wow! Nothing happens. (Anyone besides me think that the AP system is loopy?).
1102
January – February: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
March: Torohito starts crossing into Kwanto and almost immediately doubles back when his scouts report that almost the entire Taira army is sitting there. (Torohito’s BA roll was successful).
April: Wow, everyone’s moving at once. Nobunaga and Kurosawa finally enter Aichi, where he runs smack into Matsuoke (now reinforced by general Hagakure) entering the province from Kwanto. There’s a scrum! 20,000 Taira smash head-on with 18,000 Imperialists and Nobunaga wins! Just barely. The Taira withdraw in good order. In Toyama, Torohito re-embarks on his ships and enters Yamato. In the south, Ishi begins roughing up the locals in Shimane. His raids hit the jackpot, plundering 44gps from the hapless locals (again that’s after deducting 50% to pay his lads).
May: both Nobunaga and Matsuoke spend the month re-organizing their troops. Ishi enters Yamato and immediately embarks on his ships and withdraws when he finds Torohito organizing the locals into a defense.
June: Torohito exchanges his boats for more troops and marches north to reinforce his father and that’s about it actually. Ishi eventually returns to Edo and the stalemate resumes.
Gatumao II, Lord of the Spice Islands
Diplomacy Manado, in Sulawesi, (f)
Did some local diplomacy and that was about it.
Tuki, Prince of Maree
Diplomacy
The Maree continued to peaceably spread throughout the Great Southern land. Paramata was colonized to a (2/5). Nardu passed on and was succeeded by his son Tuki.
Kamut, King of the Southern Islands
Diplomacy Fiji (f)
Another wave of colonists was sent to the South Island, settling Te Wa Ponamu to a (2/8) region.
Kim On Rhee, Prince of Koguryo
Diplomacy Silla (t following allied
leader death)
No
orders.
Tsu Ma Chen, King of Shan’si, Watcher of the Northern Marches
Diplomacy None
Sat
on his duff!
Cao Jian, King of Huipei
Diplomacy Fujian (c), Kansu (nt),
Taiwan (fa), Chiangning, in Anhui (f), Kaifeng, in Hopei (f)
In an unusual move, Cao Jian decided to officially declare his nephew, Cao Han, heir to the throne. In an even more unusual move, the king decided to sire a male heir of his own. Observers at court shuddered and worried what would happen when Cao Jian died. Then shrugged their shoulders, what will be, will be...
In other news, Jian ordered several cities to be expanded and it was done! Chiangning to a size 9, Chengdu to a size 4, and Hangzhou to a size 5.
Chu Lai, Prince of Kwangsi
Diplomacy Kwangtung (f)
Chu Lai marched his troops into Lingnan to keep an eye out on the Annamese. Other then some diplomacy, things were otherwise pretty quiet.
Bao Dai II, King of Champa, Lord of Vijaya
Diplomacy None
Bao Dai decided to spend his autumn years conducting a census of the inhabitants of his realm. In other events, a royal road link was built between Annam and Dai Viet and work started on another one between Champa and Cochin. In additionTonkin grew to a size 4 city. Finally, Bao Dai passed on and was succeeded with little fanfare.
Chulalongkorn, Deveraja of the Kambuja
Diplomacy None
To celebrate the coming of age of the new Deveraja, a new port, Samut, was built in Nakhon.
Shambramaba II,
King of Ava
Diplomacy No
effect
The prince of Samatata was in the proverbial catbird seat. Here were representatives of his two immediate neighbors Ava and Maghada, both angling for a diplomatic advantage in his little realm. Even better, they were both extending offers of marriage from their respective monarchs (well okay, the Maghadan offer was for the heir) to the prince’s daughter, a not unattractive young lady interested in poetry and flower arranging. Even better yet, representing the Avans was none other than their king, Shambramaba himself, gracing the prince’s humble abode.
The prince was initially tilting towards Shambramaba, after all, he did come all the way here on his own initiative, and the fact that he was a Buddhist could be overlooked to some degree. But then Shambramaba died a year into the negotiations and that kinda took the wind out of the Avans sails, diplomatically speaking. Although the late king’s factotum, Muanga did his beat, he was out-maneuvered by the Maghadan diplomat (Muanga had a 3 diplomacy rating, his silver-tongued rival was a 9).
Kassar, Raja of
Bengal
Diplomacy Tamralipti,
in Palas (a), Nadavaria (fa), Samatata (t)
A new
port, Parganas, was raised in Nadavaria.
Prashant died and was succeeded without incident.
Rhama, King of
Chola, Lord of Tanjore
Diplomacy Kochi,
in Chera (f)
Rhama minded his own business.
Mustafa, Sultan of
Punjab, Lord of Afghanistan
Diplomacy None
Taking advantage of the Undite revolt
(see below), Mustafa managed to gather more recruits to man the defenses of
Mandvi against the Rajput horde.
Terrified by the news coming from the north, Mustafa resolved to sell
his life and house dearly.
Sachetan, Emperor of
India
Diplomacy Avanti (ea), Surashtra (f)
Attempts
to build a royal road between Sahis and Sukkur came to naught when the latter
region exploded in revolt (see below).
A half-link in Juanpur to the border with Maghada was built however.
Deciding to rid himself of the nuisance
on his western frontier, Sachetan summoned his generals and marshaled his
armies. By early 1101 over 72,000
troops were marching into Sahis where word reached the Emperor that his latest
attempt to bring the word of Vishnu to the monotheists in Sukkur had
precipitated a revolt throughout the entire area of Pratihara occupation. Everywhere, the local garrisons had been
slaughtered. To say that the
Emperor blew his top was an understatement: If they will not change their ways
they will DIE! He screamed.
Consequently what was to be a glorified mopping-up operation became a war of extermination. Changing the route of march into Und, the orders were clear, No Quarter. For their part, the Muslims, under no illusions by this point, fought like mad. It did not save them. The entire northwest frontier became one vast slaughterhouse. Children were impaled on pikes, mosques and midrashas were torched (along with their occupants) and all matter of atrocity was given free reign. By the end of 1105, Und, Punjab and Sukkur (the original center of the revolt) had been denuded of human life, save for the terrifying armies of the Empire.
Hamid, Emir of
Samarkhnad
Diplomacy Otrarsh
(nt), Tashkent, in Otrarsh (nt), Bactria (fa)
Hamid contented himself with using diplomacy to undo some of the atrocious territorial losses suffered by the Emirate recently.
Bulan II, Kagan
of Khazar and Saksiny
Diplomacy No effect
Bulan’s attempts to woo the Nogai and Levedites came to naught when his entire leader pool died within a year of one another.
Omar Ibn Batutta, Emir of Damascus.
Diplomacy Petra (f), Carhae (a)
In order to facilitate trade with the south, Omar ordered the construction of a new port, Aqaba, in Petra. New routes were opened up with Rajput and Punjab as a result.
Ibriham ibn Ali, Emir of Emirs, Protector of the Caliph.
Diplomacy None
Two new cities sprung up within the Emirate, Persepolis, on the silk route in Persia; and Farselos, in Fars on the Persian Gulf. In other events, the Emir, incensed at the hostility of Zagros ordered his generals, Cambysis and Mustafa, to subjugate the region with great harshness. This they did.
Constantine Pophryogenitus, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Great Reformer
Diplomacy Cyprus (fa), Thessaly (a),
Volos, in Thessaly (f), Sinope, in Galatia (f)
Constantine, deciding that the walls of Theodosius just weren’t sufficient, spent a great deal of money on a Great Wall section on the border of Constantinople and Thrace. Additional funds were spent an elaborate network of walls, booms and chains to augment the seaward defenses of the great city as well. No one was going to catch Constantine flat-footed! In the city expansion department, Smyrna grew to size 4 and Troy to size 8. Finally, the Emperor completed the breaking down of the old feudal social structures that had hitherto prevailed in the countryside. Now the peasantry could come and go as the pleased, no longer tied to the noble estates. This happy state of affairs will doubtless last until the next great invasion of the Empire opined the cynical referee.
Igor II, Boyar of Muscovy
Diplomacy Seversk (nt,
following fa leader death), Polotsk (a)
Igor’s son, Igor (nice continuity there, don’t you think) came of age and took up his duties as Boyar. The only major event was the construction of a postal road from Chernigov to Kiev.
Lore III, King of
Poland
Diplomacy Lithuania (ea), Meissen (c)
Things
were pretty quiet in Hellreiger. A
royal road link was built between Poland and Danzig. Lore II died and was succeeded without
incident.
Verityn Viikberg, Duke of Estonia
Diplomacy Yaroslavl (f), Daugavia (f), Musa (c)
Aside for work beginning on a royal road between Latvia and Livonia, things here were pretty darn bucolic. Well, okay, Villem also died, but it’s not as if that was big news or anything....
Sabastian Govner I, Duke of Bohemia
Diplomacy Vienna, in Austria (f), Freiburg, in Swabia (a), Holstein (t), Friesland (a)
An attempt to build a new city in Carinthia failed due to underestimation of the costs involved. A royla road between Thuringia and Alsace was built however.
Julius Caesar Germanicus, Emperor of Italy
Diplomacy No effect
A Veronan emissary sent to Lybia was sent back in boxes, as were the missionaries the Germanicus sent. Seems the local Emir wants nothing to do with Verona or Roman Catholicism. In other events, Genoa and Torino both increased in size (to sizes 4 and 5 respectively).
Phillip Capet, King of the Franks
Diplomacy: Normandy (f), Wessex (nt)
Aside from the usual frenetic rounds of diplomacy, Phillip ordered the construction of two additional Royal Road links: one from Lyonnais to Languedoc; the other from Ile de France to Maine, where a new city, Le Mans was raised as well. An additional city, Bordeaux was built in Gascony.
Sancho, King of Navarre
Diplomacy No effect
A pair of cities increased in size: Tortosa to size 8, Seville to size 4. A great deal of grain and other foodstuffs arrived from north of the Pyrenees, to the relief of the Navarrese court. In more violent affairs, Sancho ordered general Diego to attack and pacify Granada (and it’s accompanying city, Madiera). This the general did, although it was a messy business. Diego then followed the conquest up by bringing in waves of Catholic colonists into both the region and city, pushing the surviving Moors into second-class status.
Drevs, King of the Swedes
Diplomacy Zealand (nt)
Desiring more equitable trade with his southern neighbors (or at least some of them anyway) Olav raised a new city, Krisitansand, in Adger, on the Viking Bank and the Skaggerak. Svear diplomacy was largely ineffective in various places in the south, the Christian inhabitants viewing the pagan northerners with some distaste. Finally, Olav died in late 1104, being succeeded by his son, Drevs.
Bjorn Haraldson, King of the Norse
Diplomacy No effect
Deciding to be closer to where the action is, Bjorn packed up the all the accoutrements of government (two scribes and some parchment) and moved the whole lot down to Haraldswick, the better to run the show. The Jarl Rjikson was granted the Orkney as his own fife, where he promptly endeared himself to the local population by converting the local Churches to temples of Odin and Thor. Rjikson then died and the lands reverted to the crown.
Mohammad ibn Umar, Emir of Morroco
Diplomacy Arguin
(ea), Cincart, in Arguin (f), Baelerics (a)
Work on the Emirate’s infrastructure continued with a new road link being built between Idjil and Arguin. In addition, Rusicade in Awlil grew to a level 5 port and a new port, Abyad, was built on the Balearic Islands. An attempt by Tunisian navigators to fathom a route to the Cape Verdes was a failure, however.
Malik ibn Mohammad, Fatamid Caliph of Egypt
Diplomacy None
Caliph Mohammad died in early 1101 and was succeeded by his son, Malik, who was a damn sight more energetic than his father. The new Caliph quickly built up the Fatamid military, in order to protect the realm. In addition, an imperial highway system was built linking Alexandria in the delta to Al-Kadir in the south. All of the cities in the realm, (save Cairo) were expanded a level and fortified. (Alexandria to an 11, Memphis to a 7, Al-Kadit to a 6 and Valetta to a 2.) Finally, a large contingent of colonists was sent to Suakin, where they quickly settled the place to a (1/4) region and put it under cultivation.
Maracatu, King of Songhai and Hausa
Diplomacy None
See
the Ifen results for the sad denouement.
Ajayi, True King of the
Songhai
Diplomacy None
Ayaji, having repulsed the
attack from the south (see last turn), now returned to the task of subduing the
Nupe. Unfortunately...
Mugabwe, Lord of Kumi-Saleh
Diplomacy None
...Mugabwe, fearing that
he would be next if Nupe fell before the spears of Ajayi’s troops, decided to
go straight for the jugular.
Meanwhile...
Surinama, King of Nupe and
Oyo
Diplomacy None
...Surinama,
raised new levies and prepared to counter-attack. What follows is:
THE WEST AFRICAN WAR
Timbuctu vs.
Ghana and Nupe
Initial Knife Work: not much, except for a failed assassination
attempt on general M’tesa in Nupe.
Operations:
April-May: in the west, the Ghanese Crown Prince, Wetelimba,
marches west, gathering up various units scattered in Khalem and Senegal. Further east, Ajayi and general Wapa’a set out eastward with over 26,000
troops. In Nupe itself, general M’tesa marches into Hausa and picks up the cavalry
left there last turn.
June-July: Wetelimba returns to Ghana, adding more troops to
his force. In the east, Ajayi goes
on react in Gorouol, while Wapa’a plunges into Nupe. Unfortunately, M’tesa isn’t in Nupe and
pours out of Hausa into Gorouol, forcing Ajayi to fight then and there. The resulting battle of Taleta Mafara
involves over 20,000 Nupese going at it hammer and tongs with Ajayi’s
12,000 warriors. M’tesa’s superior
numbers decide the issue and Ajayi falls back into Sudan.
Wapa’a, hearing news of
his’ monarch’s defeat, backpedals out of Nupe and marches back into Gorouol,
where his 15,000 infantry smashes head-on into M’tesa’s 17,000 infantry and
horse at Kontagora. The
ensuing battle is far bloodier as Wapa’a desperately tries to win through
against superior numbers in order to reunite with Ajayi in Sudan. In the end, M’tesa’s over-caution allows
the Timbuctu army to escape, but they leave 9,000 dead on the field, including
Wapa’a himself. The Nupites do not
pursue, contenting themselves with restoring the situation to the status quo
ante bellum. This is the only
good fortune that Ajayi is likely to have...
August-September: for the Ghanese have crossed the border! Wetelimba’ s
host, over 27,000 strong, debouch into Segu and quickly invest Joliba. Further west, Ajayi is contemplating
marching back into Gorouol when word of the Ghanese invasion reaches him. Cursing mightily, the King of Timbuctu
does an about face and marches back the way he came. Marching into Segu from
the east, Ajayi quickly falls back into Songhai, when he sees how badly
outnumbered he is (the Timbuctu host has been reduced to 15,000 strong by this
point).
At this point, nothing
happens for the next sixteen months.
Save that Joliba is starved out and occupied.
Only in the spring of
1103 is Wetelimba prepared to march into Songhai itself. This quickly proves to be easier said
than done, or rather, marching in is easy enough, trying to reduce the
multitudes of forts and castles in the region is another matter entirely. After a year of frustrating fighting
against a well-entrenched opponent, Wetelimba disengages and retreats, leaving
6,000 of his own dead behind.
Timbuctu was saved.
Chitambo II, Lord of Ife
and Yoruba
Diplomacy None
Deciding to take advantage
of the situation to the west, Chitambo gathered up his troops (roughly 7,000 of
them), and marched into the Songhai occupied regions of Togo and Akan. The locals, having suffered under the
tyrannical Maracatu, welcomed the Ifens as saviors and quickly joined the Kingdom. The few remaining Songhai troops,
quickly deserted and Maracatu was handed over to the Chitambo for
judgment. The evil, half-mad
Songhai king was smeared with honey and tied to an anthill, where he perished
horribly.
Susiseko, King of Kanem and
Bornu
Diplomacy None
No orders.
Abrija, King of Benin
Diplomacy None
Abrija continued to mind his own affairs. Wydah expanded to a level two port.
Akencheres, King of Nubia
Diplomacy Dongola (c)
Work continued on the Adulis to Kassala postal road, upgrading it to a royal road. The city of Erkico grew to a size 6 and Akencheres ordered a census conducted of the inhabitants of his realm. Elsewhere, Nubian diplomacy was less than stellar, with most of the neighboring tribes contacted evincing little enthusiasm.
Namodu II, King of Bakongo
Diplomacy Douala
(t)
Namodu kept his people very busy, building, paving, slashing, burning, etc. A new royal road link was built between Vili and Teke. In addition, hundreds were put to work burning off the jungles of Bandundu to clear the region for cultivation. Similar clearing projects were also begun in N’gao and among the wilderness of Doula.
Asserate, Chief of the Nyasa
Diplomacy None
Asserate celebrated his rule by building a port, Nacala, on the coast of Nyasa. The new city was promptly turned into a trading entrepot with the Rozwi to the south. In addition, thousands were put to work preparing both Nyasa and Kilwa for cultivation.
Shaka II, King of Rozwi, Lord of Zimbabwe
Diplomacy Matopos
(t)
Shaka ordered the construction of a new port city, Maputo, in Shona. In addition trade was opened up with the Vaal to the south and the Nyasa to the north.
M’tesa, King of Vaal and Mapungubwe
Diplomacy None
M’tesa also spent most of his time and energies putting his realm under the plough. [NOTE: Nyasa, Vaal and Xhosa are burning off their proto-Empire allotments of GPs and NFP, future expansion will be MUCH slower].
Majwara, Chief of the Transkei
Diplomacy None
This proto-state is now divided between Xhosa and Vaal, with N’guni going to the former and Transkei going to the latter.
Kreli-Sarhili, Chief of the Xhosa.
Diplomacy None
Same deal as in Vaal.
Blackhair, Chief of the Tlingit, Lord of the Far North.
Diplomacy None
Blue
Hair died and was succeeded by his son, Blackhair, who presided over the death
of all of his father’s old lieutenants within two years of one another. Aside from that, things were pretty
quiet in the Great White North, eh?
Obsidian Coyote, Ruler of California
Diplomacy None
Having been discovered by his neighbors to the south, Obsidian Coyote decided to put the kingdom’s defenses in order. Wall points sprung up around the various cities of the realm, along with a sprinkling of field forts in the surrounding countryside. In more peaceful pursuits, colonists continued to settle in Pomo, raising it to a (1/9) region and admiral Tohono returned from his most recent expedition into northern waters, chilled and missing several toes due to frostbite, but all in all rather pleased with the results. What were the results, that’s for Obsidian Coyote to know and y’all to speculate about.
Manchuk, Chief of the Anasazi, Lord of the Chaco
Diplomacy None
Desiring trade with a great Empire rumored to lie to the east, Manchuk sent waves of colonists east under the ubiquitous Porkins. Leoti, Wakita and Chanute were all colonized, to (0/1), (0/3) and (0/3) respectively. At sea, attempts to plumb the depths of the Bahia Bandera and Gulf of Tehuantepec were successful, Puget Sound remains a mystery however.
Leaping Crane, The Great Beaver of the Snake
Diplomacy No
effect
The Great Beaver decreed that a new port city be built! And it was done! Ken-tah-ten, a fine new port on the confluence of the Great Snake and the Ohio, in Kaskinapo. On the minus side of the ledger, Grey Deer was ordered to conduct a census of the realm and promptly duffed it.
In foreign affairs, diplomatic contacts were made with the Yamasee in the southeast and a big wedding and clambake was held to celebrate the nuptials between the Great Beaver’s niece, Silver Moon and Flying Knife, Great Sun of the Natchez. The wedding was interrupted by a party of Khemer priests in the service of Nyarlathotep, who kidnapped Silver Moon and dragged her off to be sacrificed to Yog-Sothoth in a dank chamber below the ruins of Angkor Wat. The Great Old Ones returned and humanity was cleared from the Earth and you should know by now that I’m pulling your leg if you believe any of the preceding two sentences.
Flying Knife, Great Sun of the Natchez
Diplomacy None
In a effort to convince his northern neighbor (the Michigamea) that he wasn’t just an uncouth thug, Flying Knife proposed a diplomatic marriage between himself and Silver Moon, daughter of the great Mississippian Chief, Swimming Beaver. A lavish wedding was conducted and a fine time was had by all. Flying Knife had no sooner tied the knot then he set off south and re-established his credentials as an uncouth thug by attacking and enslaving the locals of Tamaulipec, who were only dragged off n chains after fierce struggle.
In other events, Gull’s low tide embarked again on another adventure into the northern waters AND WAS NEVER SEEN BY ANYONE EVER AGAIN. Finally a census was conducted and Tonkawa was colonized to a (2/6) region.
White Feather, Chief of the Yamasee
Diplomacy None
White Feather ordered his people to begin putting the region of Creek under cultivation and pretty much kept to himself. A delegation from the Mississippian Empire was cordially entertained, but left with no offers of alliance, although White Feather opined that trade would be nice at some point.
Itzamna, Grand Hegemon of the Maya
Diplomacy Totonac
(f), Lenca (a)
Itzamma continued to combine the carrot and the stick with his immediate neighbors: Diplomatic inducements were bandied about with the Lencans and Totonacs while further south, general Dzuuy was marching into Nahuatl at the head of 7,000 warriors and (after a VERY vicious struggle, which resulted in the invaders losing 50% of their force) enslaving the locals and frog-marching them back into Zapotec where the unfortunate general expired of exhaustion.
Awcom, Lord of the Islands
Diplomacy Ciboney (f)
Awcom continued to consolidate control of the Caribbean basin, bringing the natives of Cibony closer into the Arawak alliance. In addition, Guantanamo increased to a five level port.
Cilan, King of the Chibchan
Diplomacy No
effect
Chibchan development of the northern littoral of the Kingdom continued with Timote being further colonized to a (2/4) region. Trade was opened with the Incan Empire via river traffic between the god-forsaken outpost of Yanamo and the Incan’s god-forsaken outpost of Huexotla. Finally, control over Yaruro was relinquished.
Panib II, King of Paraiba
Diplomacy None
[Huh, seems I forgot to remove the old king when he died earlier.] In any event, the new king, also named Panib (as you can tell) raised a new city, Iguaca, in Shoco and ordered the construction of another royal road link, this one between Paraiba and Caete.
Ozcoco, Emperor of the Incas
Diplomacy Ica,
in Nazca (a)
The Emperor continued to push forward his projects in the upper Amazon; Huanco was colonized to a (2/6) region and work began putting Cuilino under cultivation. Elsewhere, Cuzco was augmented to a level five city. In foreign affairs, Incan diplomacy actually did quite well considering all of Ozcoco’s diplomats died within months of one another in 1101. Finally, the Emperor cut subsidies to the Priesthood of the Sun, to the latter organization’s chagrin.
Nati, King of Shokleng
Diplomacy None
Nati contented himself by building a new royal road link between Shokleng and Cari and beginning the cultivation of Bauru.
Obsidian IV, King of the Mapuche
Diplomacy None
Slightly embarrassed by the failure of his intelligence apparatus, Obsidian decided to look to the defenses of the nation in the event that old Nati got pissed enough to actually, like, well, attack. To this end, two citadels were built at Bahia and Santiago along with walls for the two cities. Both cities were also augmented to size five as well. Puelche was colonized to a (2/7) region. An attempt to build a new royal road between Guenakan and Puelche was scothched when it was discovered that such a raod already existed.
All concerns about possible foreign aggression were quickly set aside near the end of 1105 when Obsidian III died of old age. The king’s demise set off a nasty little fight among the royal family as two of the heir’s (also named Obsidian) uncles tried to seize the throne and rule as a diarchy. These two individuals sadly underestimated the young heir who, despite being only sixteen, deftly outmaneuvered them by securing the backing of the army and having his traitorous uncles stoned to death for their perfidy.