Lords of the Earth 

CAMPAIGN TWENTY-FOUR

Turn 58

1286 ~ 1290 Anno Domini
648 ~ 652 in the year of the Hegira

New for T57

Non-player rules update: I’ve updated the NPN rules to fit better with the Lord’s system. Please check them out.

New for T56

New movement and action rules: I know that they didn’t meet with overall approval last time around but I will be implementing the proposed movement/action rules for T57 (see here). Any current player that takes them up will be given a 2 turn bonus to their credits but they can continue to use the current method for the time being. All new players will have to use them. I’d rather stick to the standard rules but there is no way Lords is sustainable as a long-term game (and I want 24 to be long-term) unless there is some simplification for the GM.

The areas that cause me the most processing grief are movement, AP calculation and garrison changes.

New for T53

Restrictions on Royal Marriages: Due to the complications arising from these rules only K, H or P leaders can benefit from a Royal Marriage. Members of the Royal Family that have not come into play are not considered eligible. Also, Primate, Order and Secret Empire positions are not eligible for marriage bonuses. These are meant to be diplomatic arrangements between sovereign states.

New for T52

East – West Split: I’m going to try to split the East and the West parts of the game so that I can process the orders quicker – don’t know if or how it will work yet but lets see if it’ll happen

New for T51

No Orders: If I don’t get any orders in for a position and the player doesn’t answer my emails then I’ll put the position back to a NPN and put aside the players cash (if any) until they pick it or another nation up again.

New for T50

Request Royal Marriage: Used to ask a NPN nation for a bride for one of your Princes or a suitor for one of your little Princesses. Cost is 6AP, Charisma based. The leader doesn’t have to be in the NPNs capital but if he isn’t then he needs to be in your homeland/capital.

New for T49

Naval Reaction and Blockade: Naval Reactions can only occur when there is action in a Sea Zone that the fleet is based at. The fleet has to be based from a port and not the Sea Zone. Also, the Reaction can only occur when your own lands or those of an ally benefiting from a Defensive Pact marriage bonus are attacked. It also applies to any merchant fleets you operate through the Sea Zone in the case of piracy.  Naval Blockade’s only work if your fleet is based in the same Sea Zone as the target port and you spend all (every single one) of your APs in the blockade. The fleet must be based from a port and not a Sea Zone.

New for T48

The use of fleets for Reaction and mitigating the effects of Pirates: My understanding has now changed since we GMs have had some discussion on the list. The use of Reaction has been explained on the Wiki and Patrol is no longer used in the Base Rules.

Reaction

 

Trade Route Escorts

 

  • This is specific to Lords 24. Units can be assigned to a trade route to act as static convoy escort using the G type leader. Note this is not as good as patrol as the warships assigned will only reduce the effects of piracy, not capture or destroy the pirates themselves.

 

Updated NPN and Primacy rules: Yep, been tinkering again but I feel a almost serene sense of satisfaction with my latest offering. See what you think.

 

Added the ability to hire mercenary captain when there is no mercenary company available: See the mercenary tables

New for T47

Improved cultivation at TL5: If a nation has reached the dizzy heights of TL5 than it can benefit from improved cultivation. You can Improve a cultivated homeland region from 2GPv to 3GPv, or any other controlled cultivated region from 1GPv to 2GPv. This is a level one megalithic construction.

New for T46

NPNS: I’ve tweaked the NPN and Primacy/Order rules a little to make them fit better with the 24 game. I’ve also reduced their overall RRV to make diplomacy easier.

Second Positions in the East: As I’ve not got a lot of players in the East, I would be willing to allow a second position from existing players. Let me know if you’re interested.

New for T45

New Rivers: I’ve added in some new possible rivers onto the map. These are rivers that were once passable by light traffic (remember Cogs cannot travel on rivers) and have now become silted up. You can dredge a stretch of the river (along one region border edge) as a 0.5 level project.

Gripes:

Agro as conversion – this has restrictions (see 2.11.5.3) which I will be enforcing from now on.

Rivers can only support light ships – as far as I know Cogs cannot travel on rivers. This also includes Cogs built for trade.

New Primates: We have two new Primate positions this turn. Jumal Skyfather, which is an Estonian god and the Coptic Church based out of Axum.

New for T44

Minor islands and City States: I’ll be allowing minor islands (Corfu, Jerba, Wight etc) and city states to be used as locations from T44. Just let me know the rationale behind why you want it separate and if reasonable I’ll add it in. Once they are created as locations, they obey all the rules of islands etc. However, their Gpv cannot go above 0.

Flooding: The last few turns have seen a massive increase in the amount of flooding that has occurred. It appears that the years are getting warmer and wetter. As a result of this some of the minor rivers on the map are once again becoming passable to river traffic.

Denmark: Following on from the Minor Islands stuff, you can see that Denmark is now separated out to Jutland and Syaland (Zeeland).

Announcements and items of note

General Stuff: Please use my Paypal account (stephenbrunt@yahoo.co.uk) for all Lords’ 24 payments. If you cannot use this facility then please let me know and I will see what I can do about filtering US funds to my account. I may also stop using the throneworld email address due to the mass of spam I’m getting!

 

Order Form: Please use the standard excel order form from now on. I’ll update the site with a link to it next week when I get some time. This is important as it helps me process the turn more quickly. THIS IS NOW MANDATORY.

 

Non-Payment: some of you still owe me some cash. Although it may come as surprise that this is not my main source of income, I see it only polite that you pay for the occasionally night out. So, if you’re under zero next turn I’ll not process you orders.

 

Version 6: Lords 24 uses version 6 of the basic rules

 

The Map: The map now includes India as well as Europe, Central Asia and Africa. I’ve greyed out repeated areas on the maps to make my life easier. However, this means some player nations are split across more than one map. I may increase the size of the main map but I’ll have to think on this.

 

Tithes and Tribute: I think these are automatically updated by the stats program, so no need to declare them in your orders.

Control of the Papacy and Religious Orders: In Lords 24 we will not always have a player Pope (or Caliph etc for that matter) and the following rules are used to determine which player faction controls the Pope’s actions, Papacy Rules. I’ve also added some stuff about gaining support from their armies

How to make your GM happy (PLEASE READ! REALLY!):

Please send any and all Lords24 correspondence to lords24gm@ymail.com or stephenbrunt@yahoo.co.uk .

LORDS 24 WEB RESOURCES 

The Lords Twenty-Four homepage is at: 
http://lords.throneworld.com/lote24/index.html

All of the on-line resources, including order forms, mailing lists and web-sites for Lords of the Earth are summarized on this page: 
http://lords.throneworld.com/?page_id=2

You can subscribe to the Lords 24 mailing list by pointing your web-browser at: 
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/lote24

…and following the instructions on that page.

VARIOUS FEES AND LEVIES 

At the moment the turns cost $5 – please pay up of you owe

We are using the latest v6.3.5 of the basic rule book that can be found here

http://lords.throneworld.com/players/loterule/rules.html

 

 


 

The East

Without further ado, the news for these years in Lords 24 history...


 

India

Pratihara Kingdom of Kaunaj

(Hindu Civilised Open Empire)
Rajiv, Raja of Kaunaj

The cities of Kalanjara, Kaunaj, Mandvi and Calcutta grew in size during these years of peace with the Buddhists. Ravendra was married to Pajama III of the Dhara to facilitate a greater trade agreement between the two Hindu nations. The peace with Thaton also saw the trade route from Benares reopened. After the defeat of the Dharan forces in Kakatiya, the Tripuri forces turned to face the new threat from the Brahmin Nath. It was during these months that Kaunaj assassins sorely wounded the King of Tripuri and hindered their attempts to defend Chela.  The Brahmin was assisted by Prince Ram and Sindal and led an army of over thirty thousand men. The Tripuri army was a mere six thousand men and stood no chance against the might of Kaunaj. As the Brahmin moved to Dahala, the King of Tripuri surrendered and awaited his fate from the victors. Great strides were made in converting the Buddhists of Kalinga and Orissa and with most of the population now Hindu. Rajiv took for his bride an extremely beautiful young girl from Kaunaj and was blessed with a healthy son. Sadly, Prince Om died in Kalinga after many years of service to the Kingdom. Kundeep was also to die from a fever in 1289. With the help of Prince Om and Kundeep before their death, Rajiv managed to gain more support from the Raja of Kalinga. He also gained new wives for Prince Ram and Prince Janda.

The Western Dhara

(Hindu Civilised Open Empire)
Pajama III, King of the Dhara

Old Fallija and Palcama finally succumbed to old age and both died in 1286. Prince Karali was summoned to the Dharan court and was soon put to use tending the nation’s affairs.  Pajama III led his force of sixteen thousand men into Kakatiya to finally defeat the Tripuri. He was faced by ten thousand defenders, desperate to retain their independence. Pajama’s side should have taken the day except for the fierce resistance put up by the defenders. At first Pajama ordered his men to regroup and attack again but news had come, falsely as it was later discovered, of his death when he disappeared in the thick of the battle. His men routed and fled back to Pawar. Those that were not quick enough were cut down by the Tripuri cavalry and many a Dharan was killed. After his attack on Kakatiya, Pajama III returned to Satava to claim his new bride, Princess Ravendra from Kaunaj. The marriage sealed a great trade pact between the two nations. .

The Palas of Bengal

(Hindu Civilised NPN Empire, Friendly to Kaunaj)
Sanjiv, Palas of Bengal

Bihar grew in size and the cities of Bengal much improved. Missionaries were active in Gtsang and Assam, although the troubled region of Assam saw few converts. Sanjay moved to Gaur where he married a beautiful princess from Shillong and was blessed with a young son. Bindu collected the stray garrisons of Akyab and Bandarban by ship and ferried them over to Palas. As a final act of the peace terms with Thaton, these cities were returned to the Buddhists control. The Brahmin Gandhi was assisted by Shivaji during a diplomatic tour of Shillong. Young brides were found for Sanjay and Prince Gyan and much gold was spent in greasing a few palms.

The Order of the Dagger

The great city of Kirtipur is build in Nepal by the Dagger in order to protect the shrines of Shree Pashuptinath.

 

South East Asia and the Islands

Kambujadesa

(Hindu Civilised Open Empire)
Vireakboth, Emperor of the Khmer

The long and slow process of converting Siam to Hinduism was continued without much success. However, the efforts of Jao the Zealot before his death in 1288 saw most of the Siamese nobility converted to Hinduism. Vireakboth’s beautiful wife died during these years leaving him a broken man; a pale shadow of his former greatness. Heng Huynh spent these years ferrying colonists to the claimed lands of Tengah. After all the colonists had been transported from Angor, the “Sea Dragon” laid claimed to the wilderness of Selatan. No sooner than the ink on the Khmer maps was dry did new colonists start to arrive in Selatan. Although there was rumbles of dissent amongst the “untouchables”, nothing came of it and the nation settled once again into its peaceful rhythm.

The Kingdom of Thaton

(Buddhist Civilised Open Empire)
Ratana Nai-Thim, King of the Thaton

Ratana Nai-Thim’s wife Chanthou Din dies in childbirth, ending the trade pact with Khemer. Ratama transfers control of the Thatonese army to Achara and names the young prince his heir. Young Prince Kaeo starts his career at the Thatonese court. Otherwise the Thatonese begin to repair the damage wrought by the years of fighting the Hindus.

 

Manchu’ko and Nihon

The Minamoto Shogunate

(Shinto Civilised Open Empire)
Daiei Yasumori, Shogun of the East

Daiei Yasumori took control of a large part of the Shogunate’s army from Yoshi and a new bride from the nobility of Heian. A new road was built from Yamato to Aichi. Shinto missionaries were active in Aomori, Shikoku and Shimane but the Buddhist doctrine seemed too imbedded and they had little success. Some success was gained in converting the population of Shikoku and Shimane to Shintoism but the Shogunate’s missionaries had no success in Aomori. The rice harvest was affected by blight in 1286 due to constant rain throughout the harvest season but some dry summers in the following years prevented too much loss and starvation. A road was started over the mountains to Aichi from Yamato.

The Goryeo Kingdom

(Buddhist Civilised Open Empire)
Wang Insu, King of Goryeo

Extensive meddling was carried out in the affairs of the nation’s merchants as Wang Insu tried to maximise his profits. Wang then meddled with his own affairs and was blessed with a young son by his new wife. Goryean missionaries helped O Min to persuade the Great Khan of Khitan to worship the great Buddha. They were hoping that Buddha’s word would spread throughout the Khanate. Hokkaido as abandoned and the garrison of some four thousand men moved to Po Yang by Ho Ui-Bang. These were later added to Bok Min’s five thousand men as he moved to Suifenhe. The death of the King of Manchou saw the alliance renewed by his son.

The Land under Heaven

The Kingdom of Koueichou

(Buddhist Civilised Open Empire)
Dai Ling, Queen of Koueichou

The rice fields of Szechuan were devastated by a blight during these years with many a peasant family starving. Despite this, the city of Tai’De in Ghand’De grew in size. Attempts to infiltrate the Chang’Ling army backfired when Dai Ling’s agents were captured and executed in Wuhan. Pei Tai succumbed to a fever in 1289 and died shortly afterwards.

The Empire of the Western Song

(Buddhist Civilised Open Empire)
Zhi Zhen, Emperor of the Western Song

Plague, the Black Death, struck the Song lands. Ts-in-i was greatly affected with Ch’ang-te, Zaoyang, Houma, Kansu and Ta’Ting also suffering. Although the suffering was felt throughout the nation, it was the massed ranks of the Song army that succumbed to the greatest losses. Nearly half the Song forces died of the plague during these years. The merchant fleets were also badly affected with many of the sailors catching the plague and greatly affecting the trade revenues of the Song. No sign of the plague was seen in the Song’s neighbours and there was great hope that it had run its course.

The Kingdom of Chiangning

(Buddhist Civilised Open Empire)
Song Wei, King of Chiangning

Song Wei improved the roads and bridges throughout his kingdom, linking Nanjing and Tai Pei with the capital. His efforts were focussed on improving relations with the important city of Tai Pei; requesting a bride for his son Song Tao.

The Kingdom of Chiangling

Song Wei is blessed with a young son during these years as he ruled his growing empire from Chiang’Ning. Prince Song Fai took control of the Chiang’Ning garrison to defend the city against any possible attack. Honan was garrisoned by Yue Ho to ensure that the valuable Pienching lands were protected. Wen Lee continued his work in the city of Tai-Pei, attempting to persuade the city elders to give up their past grievances.

News from the Steppe

The massed horsemen of the Khitan, over fifty thousand warriors, swept over the Great Wall at Lu’An and into the lands of Zen’Zun. The small Zen’Zun army could do little to stem the tide of the feared Khitan and were totally destroyed. Lu’An was lost to the horde and so was the great city of Cheng’De. The Khitan settled in these rich lands. The Tsaidam take and settle the lands of Kashmir. The Mongols move south to take the lands of Hsia-Hsia from the Buryats. The Buryats themselves shake of the yoke of Mongol oppression and roam the steppe during these years. They gain the support of the Altai, the Merkits, the Ghurids, the Lang Zao and the Suzhou; ending their migration in Lob Nor

 

 


The West

Without further ado, the news for these years in Lords 24 history...


Eastern Europe

The Varangian Rus of Kiev

(Orthodox Civilized Open Empire)
Peter, King of the Rus

Over three thousand cavalry were raised in Kiev and the regions fortifications further improved. Trade was instigated to Hungary from Kiev to Vidin in Wallachia. To gain favour with the Vladimirans, Peter paid for an Order fortress in Muscovy and settled down to rule his Kingdom. Prince Josef was in negotiations with the Vladimirans to gain some of there resources for Kievian use. The Cossacks move again bit this time they avoid Kiev and move out onto the far steppe. The Kazans offer their support but other tribes remain independent.

The Ests

(European Pagan Barbarian Open Empire)
Konrad, Kings of the Ests

Both Prince Artomas and old  Wintrop die Veposkaya during a hunting trip in 1286.

The Grand Duchy of Poland

(Roman Catholic Civilised Open Empire)
Ziemowit Poznan III, Grand Duke of Poland

The Polish cavalry was augmented by nearly two thousand men under the command of Ziemowit. A road was built from Polotsk to the Kievan border. Zeimowit ruled from Poland whilst his son Prince Mieszko gained an alliance from Volhynia. His other son Prince Plast had little success in Galich.

 

The Kingdom of Hungary

(Eastern Orthodox Civilised Open Empire)
Vajk Hunyadi, King of Hungary

Alford was fortified against any possible Bulgari or Magyar attack. Vajk Hunyadi ruled from Budapest while Prince Janos gathered his forces of over twelve thousand men and moved to crush the Bulgari. The main force of the Bulgari had already left for the eastern steppe but his forces managed to gain control of the few tribesmen that remained. Stefan of Vidin offered the hand in marriage of Prince Vajk II to the daughter of the Magyar Khan; an offer that saw some grudging allegiance gained from the nomads. Six thousand Uighur infantry, their cavalry having been destroyed by the crusaders in previous years, attack Bosnia. Athough Celil of Serbia wounded, the region falls t the invaders for the loss of only a few men. The Bulgari tire of their lands and move east to the steppe. Passing through the land of the Neogoths the tribes there ally with the Bulgari. Levedia was sacked before the Bulgari gain allies from the Ghuzz and Khazans. Following in the steps of the Bulgari, the Magyar tribes move east through the lands of the Romanii and the Eflaks to the old Bulgari lands where they force an alliance out of the few remaining Bulgari tribesmen. Moving onto Levedia the Magyars also force an alliance out of the remaining Neogoths.

 

 

Scandia and the Out Isles

Jarldom of Orkeneyjar

(Roman Catholic Seafaring Open Empire)
Joutn Nicolson, Jarl of Orkney

Over fifty light warships were added to Orkney’s already mighty fleet in Kirkval. A fortress was built just outside of Oslo while the walls of the Irish holding were expanded. More money was spent on sites for the Hammer of God but none were built during these years. King Eric Nicholson travelled to the Highlands to build a Preceptory for the Hammer after sorting out the nation’s merchant fleets. He was accompanied by his wife and the Princess Friga. The Orkneyjar royalty had no luck in the Highlands nor in Strathclyde in later years. Fate also turned against the King when he died of food poisoning in 1289. Jotun became King despite the arguments of Eric’s widow Princess Inga that it should be her son Balder who should be King. Feric and Harald travelled back from the disastrous Crusade by way of Oslo, where they picked up the old Norwegian fleet. They later returned home to Kirkval and entrusted the fleet into the hands of the new King Jotun. Old Harald was to die shortly after his return to the Orkneys. Hildegard and Tordal led a diplomatic mission to the city of Hordavil in Hordaland where they were to see an increased alliance with the city’s nobility. Also, Orkneyjar missionaries were successful in converting the city to Roman Catholicism. Brother Louis of the Hammer and Brother Francois of the St Denis managed to create maps of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Any further exploration was hampered by the constant arguments between the two Brother’s who hated working together and the distance to the new lands from their base in Kirkval.

Saxon Kingdom of England

(Roman Catholic Civilized Open Empire)
Arthwin I, King of England

A road was built from London to Wells in Anglia. Missionaries were again unsuccessful in converting the few remaining heretics in Caer Myrddin.  The death of King Arthwin in 1286 came as a shock to the nation but his son Prince Harry was able to quickly take control from London. The Lord Barney, Garroway and Neumann remained in the east awaiting further orders for the Crusade. Garroway and Neumann were to die in these far away lands without even the chance to fight the infidel.

 

Western Europe

Heiliges Romisches Reich

(Roman Catholic Civilized Open Empire)
Leopold, Holy Roman Emperor
.

The volunteers for the Crusade were pulled into the German army and provided with new equipment and extensive training. More gold was sent to the Knights in Malta along with Prince Arnulf to serve in their ranks. Many of the old postal roads were upgraded to support heavier traffic. The Emperor Leopold spent some time with his son and heir Hubbert trying to teach him the art of war. Some progress was made but Leopold realised he had a long way to go. While Prince Raimond and the Bishop Valentino Di Ventia spent time chasing shadows in Saxony, the Duke Arnaulf aus Bavaria moved to Provence with the newly improved cavalry and the Dukes Gunnard and Francois. The dukes had an unpleasant time in the south as there were many complaints and accusations around Germany’s failure to support the Crusade. The Duke Marcus aus Jutland was sent to Bavaria but died of a fever in 1286.

Norman Kingdom of France

(Roman Catholic Civilized Open Empire)
Jean, King of France

Six thousand elite knights were raised in Paris to offset the losses from the Crusade.  King Jean ruled from Paris while Prince Philippe continued to patrol the nation’s borders from Aquitaine; he was aided by Oliver who took control of the newly raised cavalry. Robert returned home from the Crusade by way of the Balkan coast.

Principality of Salerno

(Roman Catholic Civilized Open Empire)
Ricardo IV, Prince of Salerno

The defeat of the Crusade saw shock turn to resentment and finally rebellion when Prince Hector challenged Ricardo for the throne. Deciding against an attack on Naples, the errant Prince fled to Genoa with his supporters, including the general Vincenzo and the majority of the Salernese fleet. Simion also joined Hector but died facing a loyal mob before he could escape to Liguria. Malta, Slovenia, Epirus, Corfu and Petropolis all rebel. Naples and Vincencia rebel; as does Lombardy and Verona.  Hector takes the lands around Liguria while Ricardo managed to keep hold of the southern and eastern territories. The Duke of Sicily attacks Palermo and the city is taken from Liguria. A new Bishop arrives from Rome after the death of the last incumbent.

The Papal States

(Roman Catholic Civilised Religious Order)
Pope, God’s Voice on Earth

A time of great building with Abbeys raised in Verona and Savoy and Churches in Gascony and Navarre. A great number of conversions were made on the island of Sicily where the new duke actively welcomed Papal envoys. Old Pope Urban finally passed away but not before a Monastery was built in Cavalleri. Cardinal Monticelli moved to Pescara where he oversaw the construction of a Church in the city before his death in 1289. It was left to Cardinal Bianchi to improve the site in Vincencia to an Abbey. He was to be the new Pope Elect after the death of so many of his contemporaries. The death of Cardinal Schacht in Burgone was blamed for the failure to build a Cathedral in the city.

The Akramid Caliphate

(Sunni Islam Civilized Open Empire)
Tiroman, Caliph of the Akramids

The garrison of Seville was augmented by five thousand elite horsemen and a third of that in lightly armed lancers. Tiroman II mustered the newly raised cavalry into his large army and patrolled the Caliphate’s borders from Andalusia. He was accompanied by Prince Mehehkmed who sadly passed away in 1289 of old age. Prince Marishmed accompanied Arriman to Santiago and was successful in gaining an alliance out of the now fully Sunni city. Mehmed was put in charge of the defence of harbour of Seville. Luckily, no attack came as the admiral died in 1288 of a fever. The Caliph was also supported by the Imam Astroman who was present on Mehehkmed’s departure to Allah. Seventeen thousand Adjou sweep into Tunisia and easily destroy the regions scattered forts. The walled city of Mahidia could not withstand the assault by the Adjou and fell to the invaders who ran riot within its walls. No new rutters were found past the Bight of Benin as Derth had to turn back when disease struck his small fleet.

The Order of St Denis

(Roman Catholic Civilised Religious Order)
Aric the Bold, Grandmaster of the Order of St Denis, Scourge of Islam

The new Grandmaster of the Anacletan order was too young to remember the schism between Paris and Rome and saw the future to be under the guidance of the Pope. To that end the Order was to be renamed, the Grand Order of St Denis and no longer would anti-Papal edicts be posted in the Order’s sites. It was a reflection on the charisma of Aric the Bold that only a few sites abandoned the Order. Only Taranto, Burgundy and Corfu felt that they could not follow Rome. Maybe because of this change in direction, the Order’s status grew in Salerno. New Oratories were built by Aric in Nivernais and Orleans as he travelled around France. Brother Ramone embarked on Holy Quest from Thrace to atone for his retreat from the field of battle when so many great and brave knights died at the hand of the infidel.

The Kingdom of Aragon

(Roman Catholic Civilised Open Empire)
Pedro III , King of Aragon and Castile

Abandoning Catalonia to the Order of St Denis, Pedro was pleased when a new city was raised in Aragon. The postal road in Old Castille was completed during these years. Pedro took a new wife from the Aragon nobility and was blessed with a young son. Diplomacy in Asturias saw the region finally become integrated with Aragon

 

The Middle East and Africa

The Buwayid Sultanate

(Sunni Islam Civilized Open Empire)
Zarife II, Sultan of the Buwayids

Eight thousand elite horse were raised for Zarrife in Baghdad as well as some more elephants imported from India. The cities of Al-Kuwait, Qom, Baghdad and Susa grew in size. Throughout Anatolia and Aleppo a large number of field forts were constructed. The fleet was augmented with over thirty triremes in the dckyards of Antioch. The wilderness in Edessa and in Paphlagonia  were started to be cleared to make way for new settlers. While Zarife watched the Sultanate’s border for any invaders, Prince Azhar sought out a new wife and settled to affairs of state. Faris brought the Buwayid might to Heraclea to forcibly persuade the Uighurs to rescind there pledge of fealty to Salerno. There was no need to threaten the Uighurs as the events in Naples had already secured their independence. Abdul Haq was successful in gaining some support from Rasania in Abadan.  He was to be accompanied by Khoury of Fars but the old ally died quickly of a fever in 1286. His son continued to pledge support to Zarife.

The Empire of Egypt

(Sunni Islam Civilized Open Empire)
Mahmud, Sultan of Egypt

The Sultan Mahmud sought to move beyond the insular years of Ayyubid rule and spent vast sums from his treasury on his nation. Al’Qadi, El’Gitar, Memphis, Akasha and Al’Qairah all grew in size. In Alexandria Fort Rashid was built within the growing city whilst in Thebes the Fort of Four Lions, named due to the huge Lion statues worked into the walls at both Fortress gates, was built on one side of a bridge across to Nubia. The city of Shallal was built in Nubia around the fortress there. Roads were constructed from Thebes to Nubia and onto Kassala. At the Nile delta work began in reclaiming land for agriculture and in Alexandria the plans for a new staff college were drawn up. Egyptian missionaries were active throughout Mahmud’s lands and beyond. Converts were made in Adulis and far Crimea and the region of Funj became fully Moslem. The following statement was posted to the doors of every mosque throughout the Sultanate.

 

"Shaking off the lethargy of the past, Mahmud (one of the most educated Sultans seen by Egypt), has set a new course for the future of our great land.  "Today, Egypt is more than one clan.  We are the sum of Kingdoms past (like Damascus, and the Coptics to the south) each now a part of our strong foundation.  I say, let this Empire ring forth and bring to bear all that she can to extend the light of knowledge and let the greatness of Allah's merciful wisdom to shine forth across the wide of the world"

 

Mahmud then settled to sort out the affairs of his scattered merchant fleets and to secure his dynasty. Prince Badr IV was tasked with improving the quality of the Sultanate’s ageing fleet of triremes to newer dhows. Reaching out from Alexandria, Prince Faruq Dahrr explored west to the Gates of Hercules while Jel Laddin set of south to explore the Somalia Sea and the Zanzibar Sea. Syria became an important ally after a bride was found there for the Sultan by Kahzid El Qatar and the efforts of Hamuyn saw Alwa become friendly.

The Al’Bahri

(Sunni Islam Civilized Religious Order)
Umar, Sultan of the Ayyubids

The Sea Lords remained at their estates in Carsk.

Ar Rassid Imamat as Sa'Na    

(Sunni Islam Civilized Open Empire)
Sheik Umar

The alliance with the mountainous lands of Sheba was rescinded and Mogadishu was no longer expected to provide a levy for the Sheikh Umar. The cultivation of Hadramuht continued and began to near completion. Sheikh Umar saw to the protection of his lands and news came to him of the Ogaden massing on his frontiers. Prince Khlaid assisted the Sheikh’s merchants in their affairs before moving to Zeila to keep an eye on the Ogaden. The Imam Zahir worked tirelessly in Kilwe Kivenje and converted the majority of the nobility there to the Sunni faith.

Usama-Yoruba Onium of Ibo

(African Pagan Civilised Open Empire)
Mahabharata, King of the Ibo

 Although MaBhanada died with no heir, the Onium continued to prosper. Plaida and Ibana also passed away during these years.

 

 

 

 

The Mwene-Mutapa Empire

(African Unkulkulun Civilised Open Empire)
Nyambo II, Emperor of Mapungubwe

The city of Solosi was built in Kafue and a road constructed to link it with Ctesha in Rozwi. Work began on the Royal Nyambo Animal Reserve in the Vaal and a Mercantile Exchange in Rozwi. The roads between Great Zimbabwe and Cteshwa and Arkur to Ithembala were also completed during these years. Nyambo meddled with the affairs of the nation’s merchants before his death in 1288. Control of the kingdom passed without issue to his son Nyambo II. Before his coronation, Nyambo II travelled to Gorongo to attempt to persuade the nobility of Gorongo to convert to the glory of Unkulukulu. Uffu and Elewah gained a new bride for Nyambo II from the tribes of Herero. The fierce tribesmen pledged only the smallest of tribute to the Mapungubweans.