Diplogame HOTW XII Ragnarok - Story Thread

[Diplo Mali]

OOC: To the player behind Carpathia. I find it odd indeed that someone who clearly already has 10 cities to their name would seek to expand even further at the expense of a civ/player who-through no fault of his own-is now down to only 4 cities. From a game perspective, you must be aware that construction of many national wonders is dependant on having a minimum of 7 cities, yet you would seek to deprive me of that opportunity out of greed. To say that I am disappointed by this development would be an understatement, especially on top of the fact that you have already cheated me out of 2 techs which you would otherwise have to have researched yourself.

[Diplo Carpathia]

Mali

To: Mansa Sari I, king of Mali
From: Count Vlad Tepes II

We claim the area in the name of Carpathia through pure military dominance, which is in accordance with The Code.

If you wish to test our claim, please, bring troops. Carpathia has entered a military renaissance lately, and is eager to test it's new toys out. Be warned however, Carpathia is hungry for more territory and may not stop at Goa if war ensues.

The improvments will remain as they stand today. Any attempt to destroy or sabotage them will be considered an act of war.

We are not a fair minded nation of Terra.

- Vlad

[Diplo Carpathia]

OOC: To the player behind Mali. Perhaps our views on how the game should be played differ. With Holy Romes traits, UB, and UU, it makes sense to spam citys, catch yourself economicly with your UB and Holy Building, then use protective/imperialistic to defend your sprawl. I don't really feel any obligation to ensure any other civilizations survival but my own. And yes, I will backstab, but not all the time. In fact, machinery was probably more beakers then both techs you traded me, so don't push the "stole your techs" thing too hard. You were compensated. The days of playing nice are over however.

[Diplo Mali]

If Goa cannot be resettled by The Mali, then America cannot meet one of the chief conditions required for peace. Therefore, Atlanta's fate would appear sealed. Unless America can provide a settler to the Mali & a reasonable location for that settler to found a city, then no deal can be reached & Atlanta shall be utterly destroyed. I would ask America's Carapthian allies to consider this before they so arrogantly seek to claim land which is so far from their home-clearly Mongolia did not go far enough in killing Carpathia's story-teller. They perhaps should also have sought retribution by taking some of Carpathia's cities as well.

[Diplo Mongolia]

The Consequences of the Mongol-Dutch conflict.

Hello again students, a quick summary of the fallout of the Mongol-Dutch conflict will now follow.
Following the defeat in Dutch lands, the Mongols entered a time of isolation. They broke off diplomatic ties, most notably with the French whom they had previously had a close relationship, but also the Inca and especially Holland and Ottoman. Messengers were not allowed entry to Mongolia. The Tribesmoot had decided that foreign ways had corrupted the Mongol spirit and as such, the people needed a cleansing, a return to the ways of the past. A great resurgence in the pagan shamanist religion occurred, settling of new lands and a grand overhaul of Mongolian economy were done.

Mongolia would be markedly different, a new path taken, unlike most others in the eastern world. A fiercely militaristic society would result, where fighting, riding and smithing would be the only skills valued. The great culture of former times diminished or was integrated into a warrior-poet ideal.

[Diplo Carpathia]

Carpathian Strength

At last Vlad Tepes the Second had perfected his army. The newly developed Lanzknechte units were a dominating force for hundreds of years. The lanzknechte carried The Code with them on the battlefield, and exacted it's message upon those who opposed them. Armed with halberdiers in the 10 foot, 14 foot, and 18 foot varietys, lanzknechte were effective against both armed and mounted enemys.

The impalings were awesome. Imagine a 400 lb. horse with a 200 lb. rider moving 30 mph then hitting an 18 ft razor sharp ground secured halberdier. "Ground securing" was kicking a divit into the ground, then placeing the butt end of the halberd in it. This often caused both horse and rider to be lofted 15 feet into the air, sharing an impalment stake. It was truely The Code being brought to the enemy.

Zweihander shock troops always lead the charges, and retreated into the saftey of the spears when needed. Unmatched in hand to hand range combat, their 7 ft. zweihander swords had an effective range of 10 ft. and one connect was all it took.

The effective range of a 18 ft. Carpathian halberd was well over 20 ft. and if used like a pendulum axe, could generate forces on points (2) and (3) strong enough to penetrate all known armor of the day including knight armor.

In addition, all Carpathian troops carried a custom issue Katzbalger. This short sword was a backup weapon designed to penetrate armor as well, but with a stabbing motion. It was seldom needed.


The Carpathian trebuchet was yet another halmark of Vlads military dominance. This advanced version of the catapult could hurl a heaver missle further and more accurately. It's downfall was its speed to reload, and for this reason catapults were still produced for anti infantry purposes.

[Diplo Holland]

Open Borders arrangements 660AD

[Diplo France]

High School History Textbook (1784)

Chapter 11: The Early Middle Ages, an overview
By Marie Bernot

Early Middle Ages (400AD-700AD)

At the eleventh hour it became clear that Holland and Mongolia were headed for war. Such circumstances were most unfavorable for France. I contacted Rene the spymaster and the Liberal Builder lodges in Mongolia and Holland in the hopes of averting this. Truly, if only we had more time! We would have made completely different choices…
-Marc the III.

The early middle ages lasting from the year 400AD when Marc the III. resigned and lasting until the early eight century, was a time of instability, this is quite ironic considering that the Age of Barbarians ended just a few centuries earlier.




The great Dutch-Mongolian war between Frances neighbors was a very traumatic period. Details of the war itself can be clearly discerned from Ottoman, Mongol and Dutch sources, and are covered in chapter 13. Armies of one side and the other marched over the western French provinces. The locals were terrified since it was unheard of that a foreign armies of such sizes could travel without pillaging the local land for support. Despite tensions no looting occurred.
This came as a surprise to the young Queen Nols the IV., she had expecting trouble and realizing how indefensible those provinces were, moved most of her troops to Paris. Some time into the war an agreement was reached with Holland, so that their troops would not use French soil as a staging ground to attack the Mongols. It was feared that such actions would be considere provocation by France.

A major political faux pas soured the relations between the Mongols and French. Future rulers of France would try to mend relationships, but perceived injustice were not something the Mongols could forgive. In any case they became very isolationist at this time…


The settling of the northern jungle proceeded as did the development of infrastructure. The French court did not have a capable CM for some time after the resignation of Marc the III. so little diplomatic activity occurred. This period also saw a decline in literacy rates, and as a consequence written accounts and stories, compared to late Antiquity.



This in tandem with the new social stratification, stifled ingenuity despite the adoption of a new calendar and the first recorded complex machines being built, little else was achieved in this Dark Age.


It is by mandate of the heavens that we can clearly say that some people are made of gold, others of silver and some of bronze. As of this day we…
-Declaration of purity, Queen Nols the V.

France in this time diverted from the path of employing a true civil service system. The monarchs once again ruled with full authority, albeit sharing it with the privileged priest class. This power stemmed from the many temples that were built across the land as it did from the frailty of Marc the III. in his final years. There was speculation that he was being slowly poisoned in the weeks before and during the “Pilgrim crisis” that lead to the great war. In his weakened state he soon became unfit to serve the realm, some members of the court even ensured, that his written advice was no longer delivered to the Queen. After reading one last diplomatic correspondence, he is said to have been so distressed by its contence that he demanded he be given the proper documentation to sign a letter of resignation immediately. Upon signing it he is reported to have died in a matter of hours. It is unclear if this was suicide or merely the natural progression of his malaise.



The preserved genealogical record allow for an unparalleled insight into the structure of society.

In any case the new CM Valorum was little more than a foreign minister, and ceded much of his power to the priestly class. They lobbied, with the aid of some of the slave owning clans, to change the current legal system. In the year 605 AD queen Nols the V. obliged. A cast system was adopted. No marriages among classes was allowed, and all the avenues for social advancement that the old slave owning system possessed were removed. Once born into society your fate was sealed. The priestly class with their genealogical records held the key to determining who belonged to which caste, as long as the Queen held their favor, the state could get as many men of a certain occupation as it needed. The former slaves, now the “unclean” worked in forges and workshops in appalling conditions, increasing the production of weapons and goods. The only positive change for this lowly class was the fact that killing slaves or working them to death was now considered to bring down ”the anger of the heavens”, and it was no longer practiced by the state.

Despite these gains, the priestly class did not manage to enact a Theocracy, and Christianity despite its (now) opposing views was left unmolested for the most part.

[Diplo Inca]

Religions

Inca is impressed by Holland’s open borders arrangement intelligence. This shows us that Holland wasn’t as isolated as it was believed before. We appreciate their work into showing all nations on terra these latest border arrangements. What we see and others will notice is that Inca have open borders with the majority of nations except only Holland which up till very recently was seen as not so friendly. We invite Holland to open borders with us, which will promote trade between our two great nations. Having closed borders just builds suspicion and as the Hollanders say competition. Both nations can learn much from each other if our people are allowed to travel freely across our two nations. As Terra may have notice Inca has become a center of religions. All religions except the mystical Confucianism are currently present in Inca lands. That is why we invite Holland to open borders and send us their missionaries. Others will find that Inca is free of religion conflicts and all representatives leave peacefully with each other. Inca have benefited much from these religions and we would like to offer all who are interested to visit us.



In order to make it easier for those who aren’t familiar with these religions the following description should be helpful.


Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural & spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity


Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its followers, known as Christians, believe Jesus to be the Son of God and the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, the part of their scriptures they have in common with Judaism.


Hinduism differs from Christianity and other Terra religions in that it does not have a single founder, a specific theological system, a single system of morality, or a central religious organization. It consists of "thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in Inca since 1450BC.


Islam is a monotheistic religion characterized by the acceptance of the doctrine of submission to The Code. The word Islam means "submission", or the total surrender of oneself to The Code. An adherent of Islam is known as a Muslim, meaning "one who submits to The Code.


Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people, based on principles and ethics embodied in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, the history of Judaism begins with the Covenant between God and Abraham, the patriarch and progenitor of the Jewish people. Judaism is among the oldest religious traditions still in practice today. Jewish history and doctrines have influenced other religions such as Christianity and Islam.


Malinese people see Ozzy as a being totally seperate from the world. It is his spirits, or Loa, with whom the Malinese people interact. Mali belief system is therefore based on surrender to individual Loa. For instance, they seek the assistance of Samedi in matters of Life & Death, & Legba in matters of sexuality & politics

[Diplo Carpathia]

re: Religions

OOC: Nice post, but Islam is being represented differently in this "world" on Terra. Mohammed does not exist. Carpathians and Americans follow The Code as was written by Vlad Tepes the First, and later amended by Tepes II and Tepes III.

[Diplo Inca]

OOC Thanks Carpathia it has been fixed now!

[Diplo France]

OCC: I think the Mali have a modified religion as well, also the Judaism could be improved, with its Ozzy worship and all.



The priests did not keep records as to the size of the warrior class, but after recovering demographic data from the courthouses, we are confident that it is safe to make projections.

The Cast system of the early seventh century was not as absolute as some of its later incarnations where. We shall for the purposes of clarity simplify the complex system… also in the first decades it was common for peasants and workers to sometime compliment their income with the other casts tasks. Also many miners were convicted workers, that fully retained their old cast despite their job. Since there is no precise way to know their number we have decided to lump them together with the "miner" cast.


-Eudcated class [from eastern Germanic meaning wise] (priests, scholars, a few nobles and the royal family)

-Warrior Class (soldiers, constables, most of the upper and lower nobility)

-Town Folk (lower nobility, landowners, wealthy farmers, city dwellers, “free Christian villages”)

-Peasants (farmers, fishermen)

-Workers* (almost all workers, sometimes including those who work on plantations, this class is divided into two categories, workers who work in workshops are considered as impure as miners)

-Miner (the former slave class essentially the blacksmiths and after the proclamation of purity the miners)


*do not confuse this cast with the government paid workers who built roads, cleared forests, or built new buildings in villages and towns. The few government employees and experts would travel the empire, but all the laborers hired only for one or perhaps two projects. I mean what kind of government would actually move tens of thousands of workers around their empire for decades, instead of always re-commissioning them from the nearest population center, with only the administrators and key experts actually moving from project to project.

OCC: At first I wanted to give each cast a special name, using the Indian ones seemed silly. But except the quasi-brahman ("the Eudcated") I decided to give them more descriptive names.

[Diplo Mali]

Too true. Though we appreciate the Incan attempt to understand our faith, it does need major correction. Vodun, or Vodoo as it is known in Carpathia & America, is a belief centred on the Indirect Worship of Ozzy the Dual Natured. However, the Malinese people see Ozzy as a being totally seperate from the world. It is his spirits, or Loa, with whom the Malinese people interact.

Our belief system is therefore based on surrender to individual Loa, whom we allow to "ride" us like mounts, & beseeching those Loa for assistance directly related to their Baliwick. For instance, we seek the assistance of Samedi in matters of Life & Death, & Legba in matters of sexuality & politics.

Hope this clarified the faith. Contrary to American propaganda, it has NOTHING at all to do with Zombies .

Mansa Sari.

[Diplo France]

OCC: No one likes the pie chart? Its based on in-game dat.a I actualy went to every one of my cities doing a cencus on which plots were worked then used the demographics screen to get the number of soliders.

[Diplo France]

[status: not classified, coppies sent to all nations of Terra]



TO: The Incan Foreign ministry
FROM: Finis Valorum Chief Minister of France


It has come to my attention that shipments of Ivory have stopped. Shipments of Fur may have never even begun for all I know. We wish to inquire as to why this has occurred. Are your people being blockaded? Have key bridges collapsed? Is your nation undergoing revolution? A full scale invasion?

I can not think of any other reasons that might warrant this. If you remember our ancestors traded the rights to printing Alphabetized Bibles for a few Incan sculptors to teach us the secrets of Incan Aesthetics. Even if we had managed to construct a wonder allowed by said aesthetics, the trade would have been very unbalanced.


So we leveled it off with permanent access to Ivory, Ivory that you were late on delivering. We also agreed that Incas would export Fur to France, I after consulting my foreign advisor, have seen that this resource is also not being delivered.


The magnificent buildings of Cuzco made our building efforts little more than yard sales; as such It was a very very good deal for you. What is transpiring was not part of the agreement. Considering how many friends and arrangements the Incas have, more than any nation on terra, we are surprised you would not live up to our deal. Do you think they will not take note of such unreliability?


-Valorum Chief Minister of France
In the name of Queen Nols the V. of France