Lords of the Earth
Campaign
Nineteen
Anno Domini 1281 - 1285
Turn 78 Orders Due By:
Unknown
Hey gang!
I’m very sorry but I really can’t do this anymore. Though I am currently unemployed, I am trying to study for some coding exams which I really need to focus on. In addition; after a quarter century of doing this (not continuous, to be sure, but still); I am suffering from major, MAJOR Lords burnout.
I am not certain what will happen to this campaign. Thomas may try to find a new GM, but he’s pretty busy too. I am of the opinion that players should have their credit refunded and the campaign put into abeyance pending the finding of a new ref. I have no idea about the feasibility of this however. Regardless, Thomas will refund players their balance if that’s what they want.
Good luck to you all.
CD
To liven up the wars, players from other campaigns wrote orders for the unplayed positions that were fighting.
Not much to report.
Rulebook Version… In [ Wiki | PDF ]
Your turn costs… $7.00.
Recommended
Order Form… [ Excel
]
Players sending funds by mail should make all paper style checks payable to Thomas Harlan and send them to his address, which is:
Thomas Harlan
Below is Colin’s email address:
Payment: When paying via Paypal, please send all funds to this account:
If you haven’t paid for your turn, you don’t get your stat sheet.
Main Differences
with the V6 Rules
§ Cities cost more to build and to expand. See Table 5-7.
§ Units have different GP and NFP costs and some now require Industrial Capacity in addition. Please review your new build chart carefully.
§ Projects (almost always) cost 50gp/25nfp per level – and this now covers regional settlement/colonization as well.
§ Optional Units are in play. Including Elephants for Civilized nations.
Regarding Optional Units: Elephants and Chariots: The evil referee has made some annoying rulings on these unit
types:
Chariots: You can build
them but they are virtually useless as a weapons system at this point. They will give a minimum combat value
(say .25 per point) and will be the first units destroyed in combat. They will also not regroup. The cost will remain the same, so if you
really must have these white elephants in your arsenal then you’re making a lot
of money, which means you’ve gotten really big, which means I may have to blow
you up.
Elephants: Speaking of
white elephants. Only Empires
located on the
Yes, I know, I’m a sunofabitch.
Interactions
between the Hemispheres: at this point only the Seafaring cultures may sail
between the Hemispheres. Once
people hit Renaissance, then they may attempt to do so as well. So the New World players should stop
trying to get to
The Adepts of the Free
Spirit
The Adepts of the Free Spirit, were active in
1) Regions/Cities experiencing Adept activity will be marked
on the map with a red cross. Papal
holdings in those regions and cities will garner income at one level less than
their normal one. Cathedrals will
generate income as if they were Monasteries; Monasteries as Abbeys; Abbeys as
Churches; and Churches won’t give squat.
The control web will be intact and the actual holding will not be
affected (see below for an important
exception to this) they will just generate income at the lower level. The Holy City of Rome will never have
Adept activity and therefore, will be unaffected.
2) Papal actions (and secular actions in support of the
Papacy) in areas or cities affected by heresy will have a sharply decreased
chance of success. It’s hard to
raise money to build that new monastery when some gits
are screaming that you’re the Whore of Babylon and the new structure is just
another sign of the Mark of the Beast.
3) The heresy will spread on its own accord at an irregular
rate. Some turns it will spread one
region/city in all directions, some turns it won’t spread at all. All-non RC regions will be unaffected by
any of this.
4) Each city or region where the adepts are active will have
a secret Charisma value that will be determined anew every time a leader
attempts to suppress it. To attempt
to suppress the Adepts in a given region or city a Papal leader must attempt an opposed CHA check (using the Preach
action) against the CHA value of the Adept infested region or city. If the leader gets a higher success
effect than the region/city, the heresy in that place is successfully suppressed
(N.B. it can return however). If
the leader gains a critical success against the Adepts, the heresy has been
decisively crushed in that region or city and it will not recur there except
under very rare circumstances. Regions / cities where the Adepts have been suppressed will be marked with a
white cross. Regions / cities where
they have been decisively crushed will be marked with a black cross. In
the event of a tie, there is no effect.
If the Adept gains a higher success effect than the leader, the heresy
either spreads or gains a bonus against all subsequent attempts to suppress it,
(depending on where it is). If the
Adepts get a critical success, the heresy spreads two regions instead of one
(and in this case a region or city that was decisively suppressed can be
re-infested).
5) In most cases, secular leaders can also attempt to rid a
given area of the adepts in the same way as Papal leaders. However (and read this well), if the
Adepts get a critical success in the CHA check, the local heresy then explodes
into a revolt against the secular and Papal authority, all church holdings in
the region or city are destroyed, the ref generates a player position for the
rebels and you all have a major headache on your hands as new religion is
born.
This Turn in Lords Zero was not quite as exciting.
Taira Fujita, Daimyo of Kwanto, Shogun of
Diplomacy No
effect
Life was sweet on the Islands of Nippon
and much green tea and sake was drunk in celebration of this fact. Despite the halcyon atmosphere, however,
some activities were afoot. Public
Works were built in several cities of the Empire and Admiral Nakahashi continued to explore the waters of the icy
north. A sad note was the death of
Prince Anjie, whilst in command of the Imperial
fleet, after slipping on deck and cracking his head open on a marlinspike. The unfortunate Prince’s funeral was
appropriately lavish however, with more of the abovementioned beverages being
drunk.
Khameamea, Lord of the
Diplomacy None
Attempts
to build some hei units outside of the capital city failed. [HBZs are not traced across sea areas; and, with the capital
on an island, options for where mobile troops can be built go right out the
window. The hei were built in the
capital]. In other more exciting
events, Tekalameme dispatched Admiral Samrawi with over 300 ships and some 9,000 troops to bring
the atolls to the northwest to heel.
This proved easier said than done; the inhabitants of the Marianas
islands fought like mad and inflicted heavy casualties on the invaders before
being overwhelmed. Whilst Truk proved an easier conquest, the inhabitants of Ponape (and its city of
The expedition returned home to changed times. Tekalameme had died in late 1281 without heir and the remaining troops in the capital had acclaimed General Khameamea as King. Miraculously, the Seahold didn’t splinter into a welter of Civil War and life went on pretty much as it had done hitherto.
Burnu, Prince of Maree
Diplomacy None
The
Ausural remained industrious (which as we all know is
its own reward). Work began on a
royal road link between Maree and across the
mountains into Paramata. A raod was
also built from Cooma to Wallaroo
via
Li Dimeng, Khan of Under-Sky
Diplomacy None
No
orders.
Xoing Feng,
King of Shan’si, Watcher of the
Diplomacy None
Shaking
off the slough of recent defeats and becoming alarmed at the growing power of
the Xi-Xia to the north; Feng roused himself into
action! First the army was rebuilt, great numbers of new levies were raised throughout
the Kingdom. Second, every city (no
matter how small) was given a full complement of wall points. Finally, missionary activity among the
border tribes resumed; the better to influence them.
Cao Dao Wang, King of
Diplomacy None
Having
rested his troops from their previous exertions, the King ordered another workout! Whilst General Egg and the main army
provided cover, General Fat marched with over 46,000 troops into Taiping and put
Cao Man Li, King of
Diplomacy Lanchou
(ea)
Beset
on all sides and still recovering from the debacles of a decade past; Man Li
took drastic measures! The fleet
was decommissioned and every available sailor was pressed into the army. Then the King hunkered down with his new
troops and waited to see what transpired...
Wu Juan III, Prince of Kwangsi
Diplomacy None
See
below for results.
Khavirhan III, Maharaja of the Khemer People, Prince of Champa, Lord Protector of Java
Diplomacy Perak
(t)
But the real fun was the war (of course). Khavirhan lead a great host (60,000 troops and his Elephant Corps of 80 tuskers) north into Kwangsi. Upon crossing the border, assassins barely missed offing the King and managed to wound General Nguvarman. Undaunted, the Khemer pressed on and clashed with the 71,000 strong Kwangsi army, commanded by Wu Juan’s champion, Lin Yao. The resulting battle was a disaster for the Khemer with over 36,000 killed (including the King himself, speared when trying to rally soldiers to his banner. The Khemer fell back into Lingnan.
To
the northwest, Khemer fortunes were also mixed as
another Kwangsi host (20,000 strong, under an expatriate Viet, Giap) debouched into
Gunaratna,
Rajah of
Diplomacy Mansura, in Edrosia (nt)
Deciding to rid himself of the troublesome Harshavardhana; Gunaratna dispatched his son Mehul and General Sahen with over 59,000 troops to deal with the rebellious Rajah. Kaunaj was quickly invested; and, after a rather tedious siege (which included a fun typhus outbreak among the besiegers which carried off Sahen and over 7000 troops); taken. Mehul than ordered the city sacked and burned to the ground.
Further east, Panat, in Kedah became Hindu.
Kalan Pallava, King of the Cholas and Pandyas,
Lord of Thanjavur
Kopperunchinga II,
Lord of Kadava, Regent-Minister
Diplomacy Pawar (fa)
Kalan Pallava came into his
maturity and the regent-Minister stepped down. The new Monarch continued to repair the
damage of the late (and unlamented) civil war.
Ushbegs,
Lord of Karakocho.
Diplomacy Chuguchak (nt)
Al Harrat died in early 1281 and was succeeded by his son, Ushbegs. The new Khan also put the defenses of his Kingdom in order, raising new troops and building more walls. Some diplomacy among the Chuguchak also gained some results.
Al Abdi ibn Abdi,
Emir of Samarkand
Diplomacy Kophat-Dagh
(t), Shustar, in
Feeling
he could do more good back in the capital than in Bandar; Al Abdi rode north (through uncontrolled lands) with a small
retinue, arriving in
Diplomacy None
Things were pretty darn quiet down in Sarigh-Shin.
Al-Hakim (Boulos), The Sword of the Faith (Sayf al-Din), Caliph al Ummah.
Diplomacy
Built some troops and PWBs and that was it.
Iskander ibn
Faruq, Sultan of
Diplomacy Selucia (a)
Faruq died in 1282, leaving his kingdom to his brother Abdul, who died the following year. This left Faruq’s son, Iskander, to pick up the reins.
Throughout the Sultanate, new troops were raised for the common defense. Selucia was put under cultivation and Abu Ghraib increased to size 2.
Usayd ibn Ishaq,
Emir of
Diplomacy
A royal road was built
between
Basil I, Proconsul of the East.
Diplomacy None
Basil died in 1284 and the Trebizondi cause died with him.
Maria Alexa, Empress of the
Diplomacy None
Turn
not paid for. Orders not processed. This however, did not prevent events
from occurring as Emperor Theophanes croaked at the
end of last turn. (Seems my predecessor didn’t keep track
of these things). Spying her
chance, Princess Alexa seized the throne, had Theophanes’ bastard son garroted, and declared herself
Empress. The Generals, sitting for
the most part in
Mikhail I, Boyar of Muscovy,
Tsar of
Diplomacy None
Giacomo changed his name to a form which would be more
pleasing to his subjects. He then
threw himself into a welter of activities: Atelzuko
and Cuman were both put under cultivation;
Dansk I, King of
Diplomacy None
Attempts to convert the
Schismatic Orthodox in
Juku Enellson,
Duke of
Diplomacy None
The
road between Kymia and
Michael Govner, Emperor of the Germans, King of
Diplomacy Thuringia (ea),
Emperor
Michael’s response to the chaos of the previous turn was twofold: First, a diplomatic offensive was
undertaken in central
The Duchy of
Arnim XI, Duke of
Diplomacy No
effect
Several
roads and both Great Wall segments were allowed to fall into disrepair in order
to reduce costs. Other than this, Goldbull stood on the defensive and waited for the Govners to take their best shot (see above). No sooner had the Czech host returned
that news arrived of the Italian invasion of
Honorius III, Bishop of
Diplomacy None
Papal engineers were quite busy dredging
up the silt that had built up in
Abroad,
Honorius and his lieutenants were busy combating the pernicious heresy of the
Adepts. The horrid little belief
was successfully suppressed in
Domitian I, Emperor of
Diplomacy None
Despite
the threat from the south, the New Emperor devoted some resources to expanding
cities (
Such
idylls didn’t last long however, as Goldbull (fresh
from his Swabian campaign) had marched south with his
great host and liberated Carinthia and Hydrothia;
then pressed into
Antoinne I, King of the Franks
Diplomacy None
A
series of river fortresses were built along the Rhine in
Filipe Aroca, King of
Diplomacy None
Additional ships were built, in order to put paid to the Muslim threat! In other events, King Marco died in 1254 and was followed by his son scant months later. The Succession then fell to Prince Felipe, who had just returned from his Eastern Mediterranean Diplomatic Junket in time to pick up the reins of power.
Okay, I’m going to keep this as succinct as possible:
Preliminary
stuff (Religious and Espionage): Both
the Christians and the Marghreb sent missionaries
into each others lands. The Muslims
were more successful in this as they allocated resources to counter the
Christians in this area while the latter did not. Muslim communities sprung up in both
Andalusia and
Among
the various dirty tricks, AO ops conducted by both sides were pretty much
mutually negated; with the exception of a successful
French attack on the Tunisian Assassin Bonus attribute and the Tunisian
wounding of a French Admiral when the latter arrived in the seas off
Initial
Maneuvering: Basically, the Christians are trying to drive the Muslims from
the seas in the
The
Iberian Admiral de Nunez gathers up the new warships built in the northern
ports of
The
French, with the longest to travel, naturally take the longest to arrive in the
Gates of Hercules. Eventually over
700 sail arrive. The
combined Christian fleet (nearly 1400 ships) than floods into the Straits of
And
how did the Christians exploit this great victory do you ask? Did they sweep the
N.B. If you guys want to attempt to clear a sea zone (as you did with Gades), you need to actively send your fleets into the SZ, simply sitting on react won’t do (it would if hostile forces entered the SZ your fleet was sitting in).
Sebbi Cearlson, King of the Angles and Saxons
Diplomacy: None
No orders.
Svenstorn Eriksson, King of the Swedes
Diplomacy None
Royal
roads were built between Livo-Joki and Karelia and
between Hordaland and
Sven Erikson, King of the Norse, Dragon King of the Isles
Diplomacy None
Malecite and Micmac were colonized to (2/#) and that was about it in the far north.
Umhad ibn Aslar, Emir of Morroco
Diplomacy: None
Umhad ordered additional ships built and fortifications
placed. See
Fayed ibn Mutadi, Fatamid Caliph of Egypt
Diplomacy Kassala (fa)
The
Fatamids continued to dig in on
Kwazi III, Lord of Kumbi-Saleh
Diplomacy Arauane Oasis (nt)
Kwazi
continued to oversee his ever burgeoning Empire, so huge it is! Banju, Goundam, Shenge, and Coanakry all grew to size 9; Dendi
to size 10; and
Tseke, King of
Diplomacy None
No orders.
Ju II, King of Kanem and
Diplomacy Sokoro (f)
King Ju died in late 1284 and was succeeded by his
son, Ju.
In other events, some urbanization continued with two new cities; Tenak being built in Jos; and Dosaru in Sokoro. The city of
Dingiswayo, Chief of the Nyasa
Diplomacy Mombassa
(c), Luba (a)
Shaka died in
early 1285 and was succeeded without incident. Slave raids into Lulua
and
Malendela I, King of Rozwi, Lord of
Diplomacy None
No orders. Shaka died in late 1284 and was duly succeeded.
Keseke I, King of
Diplomacy No
effect
Like
just about everyone else; Ngorongoro died (this time
at the start of the turn), and was succeeded by the late King Shaka’s brother, Prince Keseke
(who’s not exactly living his Salad Days himself). Despite this, the new King set about
restoring authority in the lands lost to the tricky Rozwi
and their nefarious schemes. While
General Catswayo re-conquered the Merintha
on
Aak'wtaatseen, Chief of the Tlingit, Lord of the Far North.
Diplomacy None
Dead. Regions set back to 1000 AD values.
Obsidian Coyote V, Ruler of
Diplomacy None
A
Desert Fox, Chief of the Anasazi, Lord of the
Diplomacy None
Apache
was re-colonized to a (-/3) while Guaymas, Navolato, Egle’s Bluff, and
Kahailo, the Great Beaver of the Snake
Diplomacy None
Oto was re-settled to a (1/1).
Red Bird, Great Sun of the
Diplomacy None
The
Yahatul, Grand Hegemon of the Maya
Diplomacy None
Expansion
into the Carribean continued. Taino,
Coya-Inca, The Sun Queen, Regent for...
Tupac, Emperor of the Incas
Diplomacy Atuara (t), Nazca (hostile!)
The
cultivation of the howling jungles (filled with howler monkeys no less) of Mascho was completed.
Cultivation of Tacana continued; cultivation
of
Incan diplomatic efforts were mixed. In Nazca, the Incan emissary so offended the local potentate that he was run out of town on a rail (metaphorically speaking). Efforts in Chimu were scotched by the death of the Incan diplomat. Only in Atauara was Coya’s diplomat given a fair hearing (and then he died at the end of the turn).
Chalez the Wise, King of Shokleng
Diplomacy None
Heta was resettled to a (2/10) region.
Peltuish, Emperor of the Mapuche
Diplomacy Errandi (t)
Did some diplomacy; built some PWBs; and that was it.
(end)
[1] Those who wish to read up on the Adepts
can start with Norman Cohn’s The Pursuit
of the Millennium which was the first major work to examine the group in
any detail.