History of the World XI - 11 o'clock, one hour before doomsday! [Story Thread]

[Robert]

Player Activity Table
Green = active
Red = inactive

Story Thread:
---- Session 8 - Friday October 19th ----
October 19th - CyberShy
October 16th - Frank Johnson
---- Session 7 - Friday October 12th ----
October 12th - LzPrst
October 11th - Deity
October 8th - The_Aussie_Lurker
October 8th - arvcran
October 6th - Nolan
---- Session 6 - Friday October 5th ----
---- Session 5 - Friday September 28th ----
September 18th - Toni
September 24th - Asmodeous
---- Session 4 - Friday September 21th ----
September 21th - dacole
---- Session 3 - Friday September 14th ----
---- Session 2 - Friday September 7th -----
September 6th - Beta
---- Session 1 - Friday August 31th ---------

Organization Thread:
---- Session 8 - Friday October 19th ----
October 19th - LzPrst
October 19th - Deity
October 18th - Nolan
October 18th - CyberShy
October 18th - Toni
October 18th - Dacole
October 16th - Mr.Lincoln
---- Session 7 - Friday October 12th ----
October 12th - Frank Johnson
October 12th - arvcran
October 8th - Asmodeous
---- Session 6 - Friday October 5th ----
October 6th - Beta
---- Session 5 - Friday September 28th ----
---- Session 4 - Friday September 21th ----
---- Session 3 - Friday September 14th ----
---- Session 2 - Friday September 7th -----
---- Session 1 - Friday August 31th ---------
August 11th - The_Aussie_Lurker

[deity]

My posts are behind the scenes at the moment.

[deity]

For João, the nephew, leaned towards America; but João, the mother's brother's wife's sister's husband of João the nephew leaned towards Ethiopia and the Confucionist religion.

[deity]

With a massive Russian troop build up on the southern border and a growing power in Germany, this was't a time for Portugal to be rudderless, and rudderless she is no longer.

[Robert]

Session 1: 96 turns
Session 2: 90 turns
Session 3: 63 turns
Session 4: 57 turns
Session 5: 58 turns
Session 6: 14 turns
Session 7: 36 turns
Session 8: 30 turns

[Robert]

People: at the end of the game: just leave it!
Don't vote 'quit' and stay there....!

Now I couldn't make a good save because Asmo didn't leave the game. Asmo, next session be in time, because we can't start without you now.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

Death of a Religious Leader

It was the reign of Queen Darambulla I, & the Ethiop empire was largely at peace with all its neighbours. The Queen chose to invest the 'Dividend of Peace' in a mighty work to benefit the entire empire. She consulted with the aging High Priestess-Oringetta III-about charging the monks, nuns, priests & priestesses with the task of collecting all of the greatest books on science, art, history & philosophy-across all their parishes- for use in a Great University at Aksum. A place where Faithful people of all backgrounds could come to both learn & teach.
Oringetta agreed that this was a task worthy of the followers of the All-Mother, & set about the arduous task of collecting these works. Meanwhile, Queen Darambulla I charged her finest builders & engineers to design & construct a facility worthy of housing this Great Collection.
Over the Decades, everything seemed to be going to plan. The works were being collected & the construction was going ahead of schedule. Then, something unexpected happened-The High Priestess died. All work on the University was temorarily halted & representatives of the Faith-from across the world-were summoned to Gondar to farewell the Priestess & elect her sucessor.

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

The Long Drumbeat to War.

For months the entire empire seemed to have ground to a halt & the entire population was on tenterhooks. With the High Priestess buried with Full Honours, the leaders of Totus-Matraism cloistered themselves away in the Apostolic Palace to choose her successor. For months, the deliberations continued. Then well over a year had passed. Finally, after two full years of consultation & voting, a successor was annointed as the Voice of The All Mother on Earth. His title was High Priest M'lecki III, & he had spent much of his younger years preaching to the faithful in the foreign cities of Nottingham & Warwick. The message he had for the Queen was very different to that of his predecessor. He told the queen of the persecution endured by the large Ethnic Ethiop populations of these two cities-the forced conversions, the random imprisonment & beatings the constant loss of homes & possessions. This litany of cruelty horrified the queen.
He also reminded her of the many past wrongs of the Anglais Empire-the false declarations of war, the Anglais spies caught within Ethiop borders, the settlements encroaching on Ethiop territory, the attempt to blackmail her ancestors into abandoning the True Faith for their Heathen 'Resubmerged' religion, the closing of their shared borders-which cut families off from one another for decades. The Queen was enraged. M'lecki was right-for too long she & her ancestors had ignored these crimes in order to 'maintain the peace', but no longer. She willingly agreed to The High Priests exhortation to make war with the Infidel & liberate the Ethiop people of Nottingham & Warwick. The University of Aksum was abandoned, & the building converted into a new barracks & training facility. The collected works were returned to their former owners or else sold off to wealthy collectors. The money earned from these endeavours was used to recruit, equip & train a massive army. Riders were taught how to fight, in full armour, on armour plated mounts. Soldiers were equipped with the best repeater muskets available & trained how to use them with amazing speed & accuracy. The best of these were formed into the Elite Oromo Warrior Squad-trained to fight or die in the name of the All-Mother, this crack squad were as cutthroat as they were skilled with the use of both blade & gun.
The lesser skilled soldiers were given less advanced muskets, & largely taught how to fight with Mace, Lance & Sword-they would form the backbone of the new Ethiop army. In the meantime, the best engineers were designing & building the best siege equipment ever known. Siege Towers, Trebuchets & Catapults were built & users were trained to fire them with a deadly accuracy.
It took over 5 years but-eventually-the army was ready. This massive fighting force gathered in the city of Gondar-in the massive Piazza before the Apostolic Palace-& listened to a firebrand speech from both their Sacred & Secular leaders. After all the speeches were finished, the priests & priestesses bestowed the blessings of the All-Mother upon the army, & then sent out the banners bearing the Standard of the Ethiop Empire & The All-Mother to be borne in the Vanguard of the Mighty Army. Queen & High-Priest mounted their steeds & went to the head of the army &-together-they took the Ethiop Empire to war for the first time in over 3000 years-and the Earth trembled at their approach.....

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

The Battle of Nottingham & Warwick

Major Umbarto of the 3rd Elite Oromo Battalion looked down from the hills upon the Plains surrounding the City of Nottingham. He felt victory in his bones & knew the All-Mother was with him on this day. He looked behind him & saw the twin banners of their Queen & the All-Mother herself. He then looked beyond the banner-bearers to the long line of mounted & unmounted soldiers beyond-all interspersed with Siege Weaponry.
That the All-Mother desired their victory could not be doubted. Prior to the declaration of war, the Apostolic Council obtained a unanimous vote from the Dutch & Byzantine representatives giving in-principle support for the war, & agreeing to cut all economic ties with the Anglais Empire. Just prior to their marching out from Addis Ababa, the Queen had given a stirring speech in which she said "I may have the Body of a Weak & Feeble Woman, but I have the Heart & Stomach of a King. Yea, & a King of Ethiop too!" No man or woman amidst the crowd was unmoved by that speech, & were heartened by the knowledge that their leaders would march at the front of battle.
The day of battle had dawned clear & bright, & the Major picked up & primed his repeater musket & loosened his sword in its scabbard. First, skirmishers were sent down upon the plain to clear away the enemy forces which had gathered to meet their advance, then the siege engines went to work. For hour upon hour they unleashed a hail of stones, leaden balls & massive arrows upon the city & its walls-wearing down its defenses. Then, the Queen & High Priest both yelled "ATTACK!" & a mighty roar erupted from the host as it charged down from the hilltop. The knights were the frontmost, & the ground thundered under their charge. They cleared the plain before the city before the Anglais Longbowmen could unleash more than a few hundred arrows, then laid waste to infantryman & bowman alike. With the knights now engaged primarily with the antiquated Horse Archers, the infantrymen & Oromo charged forward in their turn, only stopping occasionally to let off a volley of musketshot before continuing on again. Once within firing range of the city, the Major's Oromo Battalion halted, raised their muskets, & began skillfully picking off the enemy soldiers. First their leaders, then their archers & then their horsemen & infantry. The effect on the enemy was devastating, with no way to counter the onslaught of gunfire, & facing a determined melee from the Ethiop knights & infantry, their will started to break. Many tried to retreat into the city itself, whilst the others were cut down with the bullets & wickedly shaped swords wielded by the Oromo Squads. The infantry, meanwhile, had already scaled the walls of the city & were slaughtering the longbowmen upon the battlements. In time, they had overcome the defenders near the gates, & threw opn the gates for the awaiting army. With the bulk of the Anglais army now in route upon the plains, the bulk of the Ethiop army stormed into the city & slaughtered all of the remaining defenders within the city. Many non-Ethiop civilians were killed, & many civilian buildings were destroyed, but soon the Civic Leaders came forward to offer their surrender. The Queen, still outfitted in fighting gear, accepted the official surrender, & went to the City Hall to raise the Ethiop Flag above the vanquished city-a moment which filled Major Umbarto with great pride, in spite of his injuries.

Within a few short months, a contingent of mounted soldiers-now equipped & trained with repeater muskets-pushed off into the Jungles of Warwick with a contingent of Infantry & Oromo. After the pitched battle of Nottingham, the battle for Warwick was almost anti-climactic, with more soldiers claimed by disease in the jungles than were killed by the enemy. The city of Warwick quickly surrendered to the might of the Ethiop army, & was quickly annexed into the might Ethiop Empire.

[condor223]

Theodosius recieved the messenger. Apparently the missionary he requested from the Americans was not allowed to progress through the borders of Ethiopia.

Will a way be found to bring him here? Do we have an extra Caravelle to carry him round the continent or will the Ethiopians allow the passage of the missionary? Perhaps the Americans themselves have a Caravelle to transport him to his destination?

M'Lord, we could meet him with a gallely near Warrick, if he can be allowed land passage? Let us see what can be arranged. We want to see what this fellow has to offer. The original information was quite interesting. I wish to preview what he has to say!

Get the Ethiopian and Dutch ambassadors here and see what we can arrange!

[Asmodeous]

Originally posted by CyberShy
People: at the end of the game: just leave it!
Don't vote 'quit' and stay there....!

Now I couldn't make a good save because Asmo didn't leave the game. Asmo, next session be in time, because we can't start without you now.

Sorry, I got distracted by my cat puking in my shoe after I set it to vote out of habit of pre-1.3 shenaniganistic requirements. . .

...and I'm always the second or third one logged in, and always mentioning that I can stay longer. Do you really think I wouldn't be there?

Me.

[Robert]

I know you are in time
Just mentioning it
(and as a lesson for the others)

no worries! it's no problem.

[Frank Johnson]

The Russian Peril

After centuries of friendly relations with the Russian state, the Russians under their new leader, who withholds their true identity from us, stationed what is rumored to be the largest and most powerful army in the world only a scant few miles from the German border.

The few border senties were astounded by the size of the force the Russians had assembled in such an aggressive manner. Riders went out to Berlin to inform the Council of the aggressive posture the Russians had been taking. When word arrived they immediately voted to move the bulk of the existing army on to the Russian border and to build Germany's armies and navy at the quickest pace possible.

This show of force and determination may have held the Russians back, for now. With each passing year the gap between the Russian's army and the German's in terms of numbers decreases. In terms of capablities the German's fighting power maybe already greater due to their superior training and equipment. The bulk of Russia's army consists of siege weapons, supported by heavy infantry and war elephants. Germany's superior forces includes a core of musket men supported by macemen, pikemen, and older garrisons of longbows. Their heavy cavalry is still swift and is prepared to flank the enemy at any time. What siege machines they do have are held in reserve for the key momment when the final strike is to be made. America has sent a force to bloster the defenses of Germany, for the greater good of Islam. As things stand, conflict in the region seems to be given. It is only a matter of time.

[Asmodeous]

The world was growing smaller as the centuries passed, and the Native American tribes were forced into the world stage and no longer had the ability to stay isolated from the other empires, much to their dismay.

The Sioux still controlled the Kingship of the tribal council, and aggressively pursued a policy of open trading and peaceful relations with their partners, and they continued to go well, save for the English and Russian intentions to regularly put them in the middle of their disagreements, forcing them to "choose" which partner is allowed trade on a regular basis. As time continued to move on, the distance between the Natives and the English began to grow, as the Russians were less adament about dictating with whom the Natives could trade.

In the coming years relations between the Natives and the Americans were slowly beginning to degrade due to Martin van Buren's continued insistance, oft with threats, to abandoned the philosophical path that the Natives had set themselves upon since early in their founding, to join him in his misguided prophet Muhammed's view. Letters were often passed back and forth between the leaders of the two nations, and the tension that was beginning to be caused was nearly palpable whenever audiences were made.

The Sioux's council recognized the real threat at the hands of the American villages, being the stronger power, as well as being nearly violently theocratic, but held strong to their intentions to hold their path and their views. Through all this, they remained very close friends with the Dutch,Byzantines, and Romans, hoping to leverage the combined unity of the three empires to hold off the Islamic threat, were it to come to such an unwanted end.

[Robert]

Muhammed ascents into heaven
Martin van Buren and Muhammed walked together through the woods between Jefferson and the Great Sea. Muhammed teached and Martin listened. Many things that were revealed to Muhammed were told to Martin, Martin would tell us later.

According to Martin's later transcription of these forrest-teachings (many of these happened during the last months of Muhammeds present on earth) Muhammed left nothing behind for Martin that was revealed to him by Allah, the allmighty.

Martin was assigned as Allahs prophet, in the line of Muhammed. He got all authority on all aspects of Islam. The world should listen to his words, for Martin was the one who would lead the world from the dark to the light, after Muhammed had gone.

"Don't go, Muhammed", martin begged.
"I have to go, for there's a future for me beyond this life that's brighter and better then anything I can accomplish here on earth"
"Then let me come with you!"
"You can't, you have a task to fullfill here on earth before you can ascent into heaven"
"I don't want to linger here, the people don't listen to me, they ignore your words when I teach them."
"They will listen, Allah will do great works to you"

Then suddenly from heaven a flaming horse came down, Muhammed besieged it, and together they ascented into heaven.

Thus say the transcriptions Martin made of this event.
Martin van Buren, Great Prophet of Islam, Chief of the United Islamitic Villages of America.

Hear his message to all: "All obey Allah and walk according to the words of Muhammed, so you will find peace. Allah will bring wrath and dead upon those who will not listen to my words and ignore the prophecies of Muhammed. The end is coming, and the world needs to be cleaned from all heretic views. There is only one God, his name is Allah, and Muhammed and Martin van Buren are his prophets"

Martin continued to live an unatural long life, not aging at all, still in his youth, carrying the authority of Allah.