Lords of the Earth
Campaign Nineteen
Anno Domini 1146 - 1150
Turn 51 Orders Due By Monday, December 20th, 2004. Orders will not be accepted after Midnight MST on Thursday, December 23rd. Happy Holidays.
A |
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:
Please do NOT send payments to my Paypal account, use the one listed above.
Players at zero or negative credit at the time of deadline or determined to have a negative balance at the conclusion of processing will not have their orders processed, plain and simple. So get your orders and payment in before processing starts or life will become very unfair very quickly. Finally, players with a negative balance are liable to get their country reassigned without notice. You have been warned.
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.
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.
Moving a fleet to a new port requires an IMA action, regardless of type.
Route Type: LTR and LTO routes always take precedence over any Sea Trade Route between nations. Keep this in mind when initiating routes. Once an LTO/R route exists between two nations it may not be converted to sea trade (barring events that force the route to close).
HBZ and Transports: please note that transports are mobile units for purposes of building within the HBZ, so if you want to build them in a port outside HBZ you’re out of luck most of the time.
ADDITION: Transports are assigned to or taken off a route at the start of the turn. Consequently, units assigned to a route may not be used for transporting stuff and MSPs converted to transports may not be re-converted back to MSPs in the same turn.
Allied Leaders Revisited: the following are changes to the rules concerning allied leaders. Any troops attached to an allied leader may not be detached for any purpose. They stay with the allied leader at all times. Allied leader units may not be demobilized, although they will go away if the player decides to reduce the control level of the allied region or if the allied leader dies and is not replaced. Players may build or assign additional units to the allied army but such units become part of the allied army and may not be taken back.
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).
Demobilizing Units: some of you are trying to demob units and rebuild them elsewhere on the same turn. This is a no-no, as rule 5.4.6 indicates. However, unlike the rules, I will allow demobilized units to be rebuilt elsewhere on the turn following their demobilization or later. The NFP simply go into your saved NFP slot.
The Homeland Income Multiple: has decreased to one.
Gold, NFP and Agro transfers: beginning immediately, 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; unless he’s alone, in which case neither the positive nor negative Combat Rating applies. Thanks to the player who pointed out this error on my part.
WARNING!!! Players who insist on not keeping track of AP expenditure in their orders run an excellent chance that their leaders will do nothing the entire turn, so grit your teeth and do the math!
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.) the possibility of something bad happening upon the death of the monarch is increased.
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.
MORE INTEL STUFF (Leaders acting as an Ops or Bonus Point): Leaders conducting an Espionage action may need to be where the action is in order to conduct certain actions. For example, a Veronan leader attempting to act as an OP for a CM in Slovakia can’t be sitting comfortably in Venice.
Tech Level and Projects (NEW): certain Megalithic, Societal, Economic and Government Types are now dependent on a nations tech level. A nation must meet the minimum Tech Level requirements in order to engage in the following projects.
Megalithic Projects: the building nation’s tech level must equal or exceed the modified level of the project. (This is a change from the rules).
Government Type Tech Level
Tribal 1
Feudal Monarchy 2
Centralized Monarchy 3
Oligarchy 3
Imperial 3
Democracy 3
Dictatorship 8
Constitutional Monarchy 8
Federal Democracy 9
Slave 1
Agrarian 2
Guild 3
Free 8
Feudal 1
Caste 2
Clan 3
Open 8
A QUESTION OF TIMING: Certain builds take an entire turn to perform (although for clerical reasons are usually done at the same time as the rest of the builds). These are:
ú City Construction (both new and additional levels)
ú All Megalithic Construction Projects
ú Colonies
What this means is that you may not take advantage of a given build of this type on the turn that it is constructed. For example: you may not base MSPs or build PWBs at the increased city capacities until the turn after the construction is done. Similarly, PWBs may not be built in excess of a region’s old terrain type the turn it becomes cultivated or colonized to a higher GPv. So plan accordingly.
YARD CAPACITY: Yard Capacity costs are now assessed 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 at present.
As a general rule, in discrepancies of this kind, the stats take precedence over the map.
Taira Shun, Daimyo of Kwanto, Shogun of Japan.
Diplomacy Kumamoto, in Saga (a), Hagi, in Yamaguchi (ea)
Desiring to wrap things up in the south, Shun resorted to mixture of force and diplomacy. While a series of diplomatic marriages helped to tie the cities of Kumamoto and Hagi closer to the Bakufu; the natives of Kagoshima were less fortunate, being smacked upside the head, by Shun at the head of over 30,000 troops and supported by over 60 ships. In other news, Admiral Kenichi managed to chart a route to the island of Okinawa and a census was conducted.
Rokaku the Cruel, Lord of the Spice Islands
Diplomacy Sarawak (a)
Rokaku set about re-conquering his Empire. While diplomats were sent to Sarawak to use persuasion, 8,000 troops and over 100 ships were dispatched to Taiwan to forcibly bring the island back into the Seahold. This was done after a brief campaign.
Sukarno the Just, Beloved of Ganesha
Diplomacy None
Continued to sit quietly.
Taree, Prince of Maree
Diplomacy None
Aside from the usual city expansions (Yarram, Kurrara and Nambour, all to size 4). Taree dispatched a small group of ships under chief Akama to explore the local seas. And this he did gaining knowledge of the dangerous waters of the Reef Sea -- where chief Koorong was stung to death by a bunch of Portugese Man o’ War – and the pleasant waters of the Coral Sea, before returning safely to Nambour.
Conan, King of the Southern Islands
Diplomacy None
Conan prepared to recapture his lost overseas realm!
Sendau, King of Samoa
Diplomacy None
Sendau prepared to fight to defend his new overseas kingdom! And the result was rather anticlimactic as over 30 Maori ships (packed to the gunnels with troops) under Prince Sikrat ran smack into over 50 Samoan warships (with but few marines) under Sendau himself in the waters off the Tonga Islands. The Samoan navy was smashed but the Maori panicked after Sikrat got his head pulped by a falling mast and beat feet back to Manukau. And there the situation sat.
Chao the Grim, King of Shan’si, Watcher of the Northern Marches
Diplomacy None
Things were pretty quiet in the north. Golden Moon and Jin’xi both grew a level (to 2 and 4 respectively) and a postal road was built between Liao-Tung and Bandao. Another postal road link between Bandao and Anshan was begun as well.
Cao Shen Han, King of Hupei
Diplomacy Jiangxi (f), Kweichou (ea), Cheinnan (ea), Kaifeng, in Hopei (c)
Chaing’ling continued to grow like a weed, expanding to size 11. An additional network of fortresses was built in Shentung, Honan, Szechwan and Funiu. Cao Tse Tung started breaking out in hives, which means he had to build more projects. These included royal roads between Hwai and Jiangxi; Tsainan and Shangtung; and Funiu and Chinling. In addition, the road/bridge between Honan and Houma was completed as were the Great Wall sections in Shensi, Houma and Hopei. Finally, work was begun on another road/bridge between Hupei and Hunan; a Great Wall segment in Chinling and a Great Canal linking the Yangtze and Huang Ho Riviers.
Sadly, all of these projects couldn’t save Cao Tse Tung, whose hives proved fatal, killing him in early 1148. His son, Cao Shen Han continued his father’s projects as well as dispatching a 42,000 man army against the recalcitrant rebel cities of Yen Ching and Hefei. The imperialists starved both cities into submission and then sacked them utterly.
Chu Shun, Prince of Kwangsi
Diplomacy Hainan (ea), Nanling (a)
Gouangxi was put under cultivation and that was about it.
Bao Dai III, King of Champa, Lord of Vijaya
Diplomacy No effect.
Built some walls and public works. Oh, and was rebuffed by the Taiwanese (who were then subsequently re-conquered by the Moluccas (see above)).
Chandarith, Deveraja of the Kambuja
Diplomacy No effect
Chandarith completed the destruction of the Avan state by rounding up the inhabitants of Pakira and carting them off to slavery. No sooner had the Khemer army passed into Nakhon, then the prince of Thaton, suspecting that he was next on Chandarith’s “Enslavement and Lumbago Cure Road Show” agenda, renounced his allegiance. Apart from all of this, Preikuk was put under the plough and work was begun on a road between that place and Surin.
Vikram, Raja of Bengal
Diplomacy Arakan (a)
The new Maghadan king, Vikram, inaugurated his regime by sweeping into Burma and Ava and brutally enslaving the populace. The Indians also systematically plundered the countryside before carting the inhabitants off to dig sewers in Samatata. In other news, a new port, Chittigong, was raised in Samatata, and a Maghadan leader made some miniscule progress in converting the Buddhists of Bhutan.
Gagan, King of Chola, Lord of Tanjore
Diplomacy Sri Lanka (t), Kayal, in Anhivarta (f)
Gagan did some diplomacy, sired a few more brats and otherwise minded his own business.
Mogli, Emperor of India
Diplomacy Kashmir (ea), Parapavura, in Kashmir (a), Indore, in Avanti (f)
Mogli contented himself with more diplomacy in the north and in city expansion. Vishakhaptnam, Kaunaj, Somantha and Benares all increased in size (to 3, 11, 10, and 11, respectively).
Kilij Arslen, Lord of Karakocho.
Diplomacy Beshbalik (nt)
Kilij oversaw some diplomatic activity and that was it.
Al-Haji, Emir of Samarkhnad
Diplomacy Ferghana (f), Kuldja (f), Kush (ea)
Old Emir Selim died while on a diplomatic trip to Ferghana, silver-tongued to the end. His son and successor, Al Haji, continued his father’s policies of road building and expansion. A new road link was built between Trans-oxania and Tadzik while a second one was begun from Turkman into the desolation of Gurgan.
Bashtu, Kagan of Khazar and Saksiny
Diplomacy Alan (f), Kama Bolgar (at war!)
Sarigh-Shin continued to grow like a weed, reaching size 7. And then it was nearly destroyed. For, you see, Bashtu decided to send a particularly inept emissary to the Khan of the Kama Bolgars in the hopes that the unfortunate would so offend that ruler that ambassador would be killed outright. This occurred as the Kagan planned. What the Kagan did not plan was for this act to mobilize the Khans of Kama, Uze and Ghuzz to sally forth from their steppe lands to avenge the insult. Soon, Bashtu had his hands full dealing with 24,000 screaming nomads descending on Saksiny with intent to ravage the land. Fortunately, the Kagan’s rebuilt army of some 12,000 cavalry and infantry was of better quality and the invaders were (just barely) beaten back. Will the nomads return? Stay tuned...
Hassan Ibn Yusuf, Emir of Damascus.
Diplomacy None
No Orders.
Ibriham ibn Ali, Emir of Emirs, Protector of the Caliph.
Diplomacy Diyala (f)
Attempts to send grain to the Byzantines was frustrated by the fact that the Anatolians controlled the entrepot at Theodosiopolis (and the yogurt-headed ref forgot to delete the old trade route last turn, mea culpa). Ibriham had the flunky in charge of the proceedings flogged. In happier news, trade was opened up with the Muscovites. In addition, a new city, Salihar, was built in Neyriz; El’burz was put under cultivation; and a new road was started between Tabara and the Samarkhand city of Hajj.
Ali Hajj ibn Muktair, Emir of Aden and S’ana.
Diplomacy Hadramuht (f)
Asir was put under cultivation and that was about it.
Constantine Flavius, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Diplomacy
Demetrius Monomachus, Despot of Anatolia.
Diplomacy None
Unlike his late predecessors, Demetrius’ wasn’t particularly keen on continuing the war against the Flavians, but he wasn’t particularly keen on just capitulating either. So when Constantine’s lieutenant, Callisthenes showed up at his tent at the end of 1145 (see last turn’s results) the Despot was prepared to be reasonable, while simultaneously knowing what he wanted. For his own part, the Emperor had his plate rather full and was also prepared to compromise. On the other hand, there were still the details to hash out and Callisthenes spent the next two years hammering out the details (which included, at one point, braining a Khazar assassin sent against Demetrius with a wine krater (which is a really big mixing bowl for mixing water and wine, in case you didn’t know, who says you don’t learn anything playing Lords)). In any event, what was worked out was this:
1) Demetrius would remain in Asia with the troops and the Asian regions would be incorporated back into the Empire status quo ante.
2) Demitrius’s son, Paulos, would travel to the court in Constantinople, be married to the Imperial princess Helene and be adopted as Constantine Flavius’ heir and successor.
And on that note, one of the Emperor’s headaches resolved itself.
Pausanias, Lord of Rhodes
Diplomacy None
See below...
Igor III, Boyar of Muscovy
Diplomacy Cuman (ea), Atelzuko (c), Pereaslavl (c)
Igor rebuilt his shattered army, sent more grain to Constantinople and continued his diplomatic work along the Dnepr. Trade was also opened up with the Buwayids.
THE BALKAN WAR
Macedonia vs Byzantium (the latter with some Polish help).
An attempted mutiny in Alexander’s army was only thwarted when the Macedonian King pointed to the breached walls of Athens and said it’s yours! The Army then pronounced the King a fine fellow and not a tightwad at all. Despite this, Alexander disbanded a quarter of his navy to reduce costs as well as his siege train. An attempt on the Macedonian King’s life also failed.
Basically, the war in Greece panned out thusly. Constantine dispatched the Strategos Petrius to hold Sparta against the usurper while waiting for Lech’s Poles to arrive in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, Alexander felt that flight was probably the best option all around and began systematically plundering Attica to scrape up some ready cash. By mid1147, Alexander had arrived in Thessaly, which was also plundered whilst Constantine and the Poles finally joined forces in Thrace (which they subsequently liberated).
1148 found the Macedonians holed up in Volos while Constantine was marching into Macedonia itself. Alexander sacked this city as well and then began loading up his ships. To the north Macedonia was liberated and the Greco-Polish armies marched into Thessaly only to find that the rebel had flown the coop. Disappointed, the Allies then marched into Attica and completed liberating the western Themes of the Empire.
Alexander then sailed to Rhodes and after securing the region, led an assault on the walls of the city itself. He quickly got impaled by a balista bolt for his trouble. After regrouping, the rebels selected one Pausanis to lead them. He promptly led them into the breach again and successfully stormed the city. The new King then spent the rest of the turn dismounting his cavalry to further reduce his costs.
Stanislaw I, King of Poland
Diplomacy Lithuania (t), Lausatia (ea)
Stanislaw dispatched 13,000 troops under his son Lech to assist Constantine in his difficulties. See results above.
Verityn Viikberg, Duke of Estonia
Diplomacy Prussia (ea)
Tallinn and Riga both increased in size (9 and 6).
Stephan Govner, Duke of Bohemia
Diplomacy No effect.
Stephan shuffled some MSPs about (but not as many as he would have liked). Gotha and Lubeck grew to sizes 3 and 4 respectively.
Valdemar Germanicus, Emperor of Italy
Diplomacy No effect
Things were pretty quiet here. Pescara grew to a size 7 city and General Raffaello’s Army of the Alps marched about Provence in quasi-support of the French before returning to Genoa at the end of the turn (where Raffaelo bit the dust).
Emperor Nero died in late 1150 as well and was succeeded by his son Valdemar.
Phillip Capet, King of the Franks
Diplomacy: No effect
Raising vast new armies, Phillip dispatched the Dauphan, Prince Gerard, at the head of a combined force of over 74,000 troops south into the Provencal with orders to drive the Spanish dogs back over the Pyrenees. French Assassins were also busy, cutting into the Navarrese government’s infrastructure. See below for the remainder of the fun...
Miguel II, King of Navarre
Diplomacy None
For his own part, Miguel’s Admiral, Prince Jose, continued the stranglehold on French Mediterranean trade. On land things were less rosy. When General Ricardo’s 64,000-man army crossed into Lyonnais, French assassins struck, wounding the general just as his army ran smack into the French forts within the region. Almost simultaneously, Gerard’s army came roaring in from the north. The resulting battle of Vienne was a disaster for the Spanish who left over 45,000 dead on the field. French losses were a fraction of this number. The shoe was now decisively on the other foot.
As Riccardo, pulled back into Catalonia, Gerard contented himself with liberating Languedoc and Narbone. Both side now glare at one another across the Pyrenees.
Ehtelred Harethson, King of the Angles and Saxons
Diplomacy: None
No payment, orders not processed.
Drevs, King of the Swedes
Diplomacy Trondheim (c)
Things were pretty quiet in Drev’s neck of the woods. Vettermark continued to grow like a weed, reaching size 8, while Nordmaling, in Kopparborg, grew to size 3.
Jorn Bjornson, King of the Norse
Diplomacy None
Well the Norse continued to make themselves loved by their immediate neighbors when a great Viking fleet (80+ ships) under Jarl Erland descended upon the Isle of Man and exterminated the inhabitants. Far away from these bloody events, the Norse sailor Beck, set sail into the setting sun, plumbing the depths of the Greenland – Iceland inter-island arrows and the Groenland Sea before returning to Haraldswick over two years later. Finally, Haraldswick itself continued to expand (to size 6) as did Rackwick (to size 2).
Djahel ibn Umar, Emir of Morroco
Diplomacy No effect
Well the political shennanigans at Djahel’s court continued at a merry pace. When Crown Prince Mohammad heard that the Emir, the Old Goat as he described him, was attempting to sire yet more children, his paranoia over his position got the better of him and he attempted to have Djahel assassinated. Fortunately, the Emir’s agents got wind of the plot and Mohammad died screaming, being crucified for his treachery. At sea, yet another expedition to fathom the Cape Verde Current WAS NEVER SEEN BY ANYONE EVER AGAIN (that’s a hint by the way). While further south, Muslim missionaries made no headway among the pagans of Gambia and Senegal. Closer to home, a new port, Zuwarah, was built in the desolate wastes of Gefara and Malaca, Utica, and Mahidia all grew to size 5.
Malik ibn Mohammad, Fatamid Caliph of Egypt
Diplomacy None
Egyptian colonization of Coptic lands in the south continued under the watchful eyes of the army. Sennar and its accompanying city, Shaat Sai were taken over by thousands of Fatamid settlers, pushing the locals into second-class citizen status. Elsewhere, Memphis grew to size 8 and Kerma (in Alwa) to size 4.
Komla, Lord of Kumi-Saleh
Diplomacy Gambia (t), Garou (ea)
Additional Ghanian colonists flowed eastward, settling in Songhai and pushing the locals into penury.
Ta’ziyah, King of Nupe and Oyo
Diplomacy Dogamba (f)
Having become bored with all this “peace” stuff, Ta’ziyah decided to smack around his southern neighbor. See below for the results...
Simbusi II, Lord of Ife and Benin
Diplomacy No effect.
Got attacked. See below for results.
Susiseko II, King of Kanem and Bornu
Diplomacy None
For his own part, Susiseko decided to jump on the “let’s beat up Ife” bandwagon, and marched into Kafin at the head of some 12,000 troops. Unfortunately, he did not co-ordinate with Ta’ziyah, who was still busily upgrading troops while the Kanem were on the march. This enabled Simbusi to deal with his enemies piecemeal, reacting into Kafin at the head of 15,000 troops of his own. At the resulting battle, at Onitsha, the Kanem army was completely destroyed and Susiseko barely escaped with his life. Though victorious, the Ifen King, Simbusi fell in the battle and command now fell to his son and namesake. The new king then marched back into Ife, just in time to have to deal with the Nupan attack, 34,000 troops under Ta’ziyah himself. The Ifens fell back into Lagos, which had few walls and the Nupans began reducing the place. After a breach had been made the city fell quickly, although Simbusi managed to escape by sea, fleeing to Wydah in Benin. After securing Lagos, Ta’ziyah then marched west into Yoruba and secured that place (as well as the city of Lome).
Ugo Wambolea, King of Bakongo
Diplomacy None
Namodu died in early 1148 and was succeeded by his son, Ugo. The Kingdom was quiet for the most part, with a Royal road being built from Teke to Douala and another link being started between Douala and the Ifen lands in Benin. Finally, Ugo entertained an emissary from Simbusi, who was now holed up in Wydah, asking for help. The King and the emissary talked for sometime but Ugo remained noncommittal...for now.
Asserate II, Chief of the Nyasa
Diplomacy Makura (f)
Did some diplomacy and was otherwise quiet.
Ntombhela, King of Rozwi, Lord of Zimbabwe
Diplomacy None
A new city, Goba, was built on the coast of Karanga. The Rozwi also slave-raided into Banhine, taking a few hundred unfortunates off to toil in durance vile.
M’tesa II, King of Vaal and Mapungubwe
Diplomacy Swazi (f)
M’tesa died shortly after completing his diplomatic work in Swazi. He was followed into the grave the following year by his assistant, General Tanto. After some hemming and hawing, a council of elders selected the former King’s bodyguard to replace him. The newly appointed king took his late master’s name and took up the reins of power with little incident.
Bambali, Chief of the Xhosa.
Diplomacy None
Kreli-Sarhili died and was succeeded without incident.
NOTE: As I’ve just remembered that the Precolumbian trade range is two, I’ll be correcting any routes that are over this in range. Sorry about the error.
Grey Owl, Chief of the Tlingit, Lord of the Far North.
Diplomacy None
Redhair died after a brief illness and was succeeded without fuss. The new chief sent settlers south into Chemakum, colonizing the place to a (1/1) region.
Dark Coyote, Ruler of California
Diplomacy Tipai (f)
Yokuts colonization of the northwest continued with Chehalis being settled to a (1/10) and Yakima to a (1/8). Urbanization also continued at its usual frantic pace, with Kettenpom, Tula’ree, San Francisco, and Koos Bay all increasing in size (to 8, 6, 6 and 2 respectively). Finally the royal road link between Yokuts and Salinan was completed, as was a new link between Salinan and Ipai. All in all, life wasn’t bad.
Desert Wind, Chief of the Anasazi, Lord of the Chaco
Diplomacy None
In the interests of improving trade with his Toltec neighbors, the Chief ordered a road link built into Tahue for Culiacan. In additon, the region (Tahue) was put under cultivation, and a new port city, Eagle’s Bluff, was built facing the Bahia Bandera. A great parade and celebration was had to commemorate the occasion. Desert Wind’s surveyors and builders were busy in the north as well, building a road from Moache to Yampa. Finally, Navolato and Guaymas grew to size 6.
Patamon, The Great Beaver of the Snake
Diplomacy None
A great slew of diplomatic marriages were arranged between the three Eastern Nations. Emperor Patamon and his lieutenant, Honiahaka married princesses from their Natchez and Yamasee neighbors. In addition, Patamon’s sister was married off to the Yamasee prince, Croaking Bullfrog (and if you guys think I’m going to keep track of all this you’ve got another thing coming). In other events, Mississippian settlers swarmed into Kansa, colonizing it to a (-/5). Both Chippewa and Chickasaw were put under cultivation. Finally, more gold was sent to the Yamasee.
Red Beaver, Great Sun of the Natchez
Diplomacy Taposa (f)
Red Beaver’s son and heir, Buffalo Fog, took part in the mass wedding ceremony, marrying the Yamasee princess, Sharp-Tailed Sparrow. His sister, Dancing Cloud, married Emperor Patamon himself. A fine time was had by all.
In more domestic pursuits, a new road link was built between Atakapa and Chitimacha. In addition, Fort Bluff increased a level. Finally, money and grain were sent to the Yamasee.
Eagle’s Feather, Chief of the Yamasee
Diplomacy Muskogee (a)
Okay, if I read everyone’s orders right, not only is Patamon marrying a Natchez princess, he’s also marrying a Yamasee one as well, Singing Wood Quail. In addition, Prince Crow Dog married the Mississippian Princess Mitena. Let’s not do this again soon guys.
In other news, Muskogee was colonized to a (1/6) and Creek to a (2/4).
Alzur, Grand Hegemon of the Maya
Diplomacy Ulva (ea)
Alzur took a break from enslaving his immediate neighbors for a veritable orgy of road construction. A great new highway was built from Popoluca running south into Huave and then northwest into Nahuatl, Tepuztec, Cuyutec and ending in Cora. In addition, Huave was put under the plow and Chichen Itza expanded to a size 8 city.
Awcom II, Lord of the Islands
Diplomacy None
Timuca was put under cultivation.
Esteban, King of the Chibchan
Diplomacy None
Aburra was colonized to a (2/5) region and Chibcha was recultivated.
Panib III, King of Paraiba
Diplomacy None
Panib died and was succeeded by his son, Panib. The new king oversaw the construction of two new cities, Ibicarai, a new port in Itacare and Nanuque in Camacan. In addition, Iguaca grew to a size three city.
Viracocha, Emperor of the Incas
Diplomacy Guayami (ea)
Attempts to cultivate Cuna and Boruca failed when the former was discovered to be impossible to cultivate (too damn wet and disease ridden) and the latter was discovered to be...already cultivated. The jungles of Mura were put under the plow however. Incan colonization continued with Catawishi being settled to a (2/3) and Choco to a (2/7). Elsewhere, the cities of Pusharo, Ica, Maranga, Chanchan and Arequipa grew in size (to 3, 7, 7, 6, and 7 respectively).
To the north, Incna diplomats succeeded and bringing Guayami into the Empire, while Viracocha’s generals ensured that the people of Nicarao had no choice in the matter! With that, land trade was opened up with the Toltecs to the north.
Amaru, Lord of the South
Diplomacy None
Guanacane was colonized to a (1/7) region.
Urcon, King of Shokleng
Diplomacy None
Urcon remained very busy. Raising two new cities: Macae, a port in Patasho; and Inimutaba, inland in Tupi. Chapeco and Tikal also expanded (to sizes 2 and 5 respectively).
Obsidian V, Emperor of the Mapuche
Diplomacy None
Obsidian’s people continued to hum with activity. Scholars at the University in Quiroci spent much time studying the movement of the stars and other celestial objects. A group of them also went north to Nazca to study the great images en-scribed on the Earth itself. Back at home, Mapuche colonists continued to move north and south, settling in Atuel (-/4), Millcayac (-/9) and Neuquen (2/10). The Great Mountain Road between Mapuche and Huilliche was also completed, although thousands of laborers died in the process from falling rocks, altitude sickness, frostbite and the occasional rabid llama. Finally, Esquel and Quen grew to sizes 4 and 2 respectively.