Diplogame HOTW XII Ragnarok - Story Thread

[Diplo France]

A response to the Mali



Remi the Second, King of France

To: Mansa Sosso, Spymaster to Chief Koboku.
From: King Remi II of France

We are pleased by your rapid and polite response. We do apologies for lingual mistakes made by our person, we menat no offence to the great Vodun faith. We welcome your initiative of “Interfaith Dialogue”. We will at the earliest possible time send a Confucian master to the territory of the Mali. Once he or his the Mali Vodun counterpart arrive at our or your borders we shall sigh a “open borders” treaty and instruct the master to follow your orders on where to begin a Confucian school, his Mali counterpart would follow our instructions to ensure the success of his mission. Would the Mali agree to such arrangements?


We are grateful for Mali advice, but we must remind them that the same principals that make us coordinal neighbors, respectful negotiators and reasonable men, bar us from submitting to brute force. We stand on principle in our international affairs, even if America is a sleeping giant, a giant has no more right to do injustice than any other man. But let us also remind you that France is no midget especially compared to America.

We would also ask the Mali make their positon know, since without an active community of Kings relations may grow sour and their minds closed and limited, not interested in the wider world around them. We desire a world where reason and justice would prevail in affaris among great cultures.

-King Remi II of France

[Diplo France]

Remi the Second, King of France

To: All
From: King Remi II of France

We do enquire are there any nations willing to trade stone? We wish to wall our cities to strengthen our defence against barbarians and ease the evetual construciton of Castles.

-King Remi II of France


OCC: @America: Perhaps we should keep a list in the first post of the organisation thread? Tech limit isn't realy part of the story other than us having to justify the tech trades in story. BTW France has thus far traded (given) three techs.

[Diplo Holland]

Willem seemed relaxed.

Verkerk furtively pulled aside the woven fabric as he slinked into the king's chamber.

"Ah Verkerk! Get up man!"

"America?"

"Yes, do nothing, say nothing... leave them in suspense."

"Sire?"

"I'm not sure if you did good or ill and I will judge you on de finalities."

Verkerk was not sure what this meant.

"Now, Verkerk, you said you had a mole in Richmond?"

"Yes, yes sire!"

"Well, just keep me informed. Gather knowledge. You know what I mean..."

"Sire!!"

Never was so much said with so few words by so few people.

Willem was indeed relaxed...

[Diplo Mali]

The Mali Chronicles Pt 4: The Barbarian Wars & the Death of Soumaoro

Everything was going well & Chief Soumaoro was very happy. With the rising importance of the Vodun faith, the Houngun had decided that it was necessary to properly convey the beliefs & rites of the faith to the general community. This they achieved by adopting & expanding the pictograms used by potters & farmers into a fully fledged hieroglyphic system consisting of thousands of words.

He was then amazed how, in the course of less than 10 years, this system evolved into a fully-fledged alphabet which formed the centre piece of the Malinese language.

In order to celebrate this grand achievement, Soumaoro ordered the construction of a large temple dedicated to the Chief Loa-Legba. This temple quickly became a hub of spiritual & Mercantile activity:





So, all in all, the Chief had every reason to be pleased with the Malinese Empire, which had quickly laid the groundwork for a great civilization. There were problems, of course: several families from Djenne-practitioners of both Vodun & Judaism-were unhappy with the strict version of Vodun being practiced in the city. They thus chose to leave & instead founded their own city of Kumbi Saleh. Yet these religious schisms aside, all seemed well in Soumaoro's eyes. He was soon to discover, though, that a burgeoning civilization came at a cost....

Manding Bory once again stood before the throne of Chief Soumaoro &-as before-he had some bad news to report.

"So," said the Chief, musing "what is this you tell me about nomadic tribes on the move-are they friendly?"

"No your lordship, they are most certainly not" said Bory "Indeed, our diplomats in the Turkish & Incan Empires tell us that these two civilizations have already borne the brunt of the attacks of these various tribes, & now large groups are headed this way!"

"Is this the only group we need to concern ourselves with?" said Soumaoro-even though he already guessed the answer.

"No, our forward scouts speak of another, even larger, group of nomads heading our way-burning & destroying as they go!"

"But why do they hate us so, what wrongs have we done them?" said the Chief, feeling bemused.

"Well, it is really hard to tell," said Bory "some just seem to be killing & destroying for sheer pleasure, but our Incan & Turkish allies tell us that some of the nomads they captured speak of us 'taking their ancestral lands'"

"But we did no such thing," said the Chief "indeed, I was borne not 100kms from this spot & so have as much claim to it as anyone else."

"Maybe so, my Lord, but the rest of the Malinese people are foreign to these lands, & the mutton upon which we feast was once wild about these flood-plains, & was hunted by these same nomadic tribes. Now they want it back."

Chief Soumaoro sat, deep in thought, before finally saying "well, may Legba, Samedi, Ozzy & the rest of the Loa protect us in these dark times."

"So what are your orders, my Lordship?" asked Manding Bory, respectfully.

"The only thing we can do: we gird our loins & Fight!

In the coming weeks, Chief Soumaoro, Lord Koboku & Manding Bory oversaw the outfitting of various military regiments. Many mock battles were staged in order to drill the soldiers in defense against various types of attacks.

The Barbarian Wars Begin

Over the coming months, the Malinese soldiers were very busy, with barbarian hordes crossing the frontier at numerous points.



The wars were bloody & merciless-with no quarter asked & no quarter given.



The regiment which accoutered itself best was the one known as "Samedi's Chosen". With their vicious, two-handed axes & their full bronze plate armour-painted to make them look like the skeletal form of Samedi himself-these soldiers would usually scare the bejeezus out of most of the barbarian warriors-before battle had even begun-causing them to turn tail & flee. This was especially true after they started their grim chant to Samedi in the sonorous Malinese language. The results of all these battles were therefore usually beyond doubt before battle had even begun:









After them, it was Lord Koboku's regiment which performed best. With their ability to hurl spears over several hundred metres, the bulk of the barbarians were usually dead before close combat could even begin.



The greatest revelation, however, was Soumaoro himself. In spite of his advancing years, he chose to lead many battles himself-both north & south-often with either Lord Koboku or Samedi's Chosen, but just as often with nothing more than his personal guard.

Standing at over 6'6", & with his deep ebony skin, he made a very imposing & fearsome figure-especially when bedecked in his bearskin crown/cloak & wielding his almost 8 foot bronze cudgel. Like with Samedi's chosen, his bravado & fearsome visage was enough to decide the battle.

Unfortunately, though, Soumaoro fought one battle too many. Alone on the northern fringes of the Malinese Empire, he fought a pitched battle in the Jungles of Despair against an advancing horde. Though many fell beneath the weapons of Soumaoro & his personal guard, they were slain almost to the last man (1 escaped to spread the terrible news).

Lord Koboku, who was quickly appointed as Chief by the Hounguns, was furious at what happened, & his first act was to send his skirmishers north to take out these villians. They were killed to the very last man, woman & child, & Koboku ordered their heads be removed & placed on large wooden spikes placed at the jungle's fringes-as a warning to any further nomadic tribes that sought trouble with the Malinese people. Strangely enough, further attacks stopped almost immediately.

In spite of the lull in fighting, the death of Soumaoro convinced the new chief that better & stronger weapons were now needed. This came in the form of a metal called iron, which proved many times stronger, yet lighter, than bronze. All his soldiers had their weapons upgraded to this new metal, & several regiments were created that made use of a new, iron-forged weapon-the sword. These new swordmen performed exceptionally well, destroying a band of archers holed up in a barbarian encampment to the north of Mali territory.

Meanwhile, though, the bodies of Soumaoro & his retinue were recovered & returned to Timbuktu. Here, they were buried with full honours according to Vodun custom.

Now it was up to Koboku, as new Chief, to reorganize the Malinese empire after all the death & destruction that had occured.

[Diplo Holland]

Princess Juliana sat quietly at her window over looking the beautuful and classic features of the nobles courtyard.

She missed home deeply and the love of her father and dearly departed mother. A single tear rolled across her left cheek and splashed gently onto her writing book.

A smudge in history for she was chronicling the rise of the Confucionists.

She looked over her notes. "De intimate friendship between her father and her landlord was legendary. Many communiques between de two growing kingdoms exposed deals of many kinds. De French Alphabet finally arrived in Amsterdam in this period and Theology and Monotheism were traded...."

Such matters bored her so much she fell asleep as though she were an American reading the writings of Manning.

---

[She loved French and spoke it fluently now. She loved France and was not prepared for her future journeys to Beshbalik. How different would they be there she wondered]]

[Diplo Mali]

Mali Chronicles Pt 5. Crime & Punishment

Chief Koboku had a problem. Having dispatched the menace of the barbarian hordes, it seemed like his own people were now becoming the barbarians in turns.

According to his chief domestic advisor, many farmers were complaining of being ripped off by traders in the cities of Djenne & Timbuktu, whilst the traders complained of similar acts by the farmers & miners who regularly came to town.

What was worse was how the miners & farmers would often get drunk during their overnight stays in the city, then run amok throughout the streets. Traders & artisans would often follow suit. Things were just getting beyond control.

Chief Koboku was now discussing this problem with the chief Houngun, Djati.

"I don't understand it, Djati, I thought this was a spiritual people, aren't they fearful of divine retribution?"

"Apparently not, my lordship. Though they fear our Loa, it appears they see them as being disinterested in so-called 'trivial matters', such as theft & vandalism."

"Well, Djati, do you have any ideas on how to stop this?" asked the Chief, in a desperate tone.

"As a matter of fact I do, My Lord. The Chief of the Turkish Empire, Suileman, has learned of our religion & wishes to know more about it."

"So, Djati, what does this have to do with us?" asked Koboku, trying to hide his impatience.

"Well, My Lord, it is rumoured that crime rates in their cities are incredibly low, perhaps I could find out how they have achieved this whilst I am there."

"Very well, Djati, I wish you luck on your journey."

In a few days time, Djati headed out on his journey to Turkish territory. He took just a few essentials, not to mention the Book of Ozzy (which he helped to write) & some material on the newly discovered practice of iron-working (he had a smithy which he ran in his spare time). Koboku, fearing more barbarians in the region, insisted that a detachment of his Skirmisher regiment accompany Djati on his trip.

When Djati arrived at Ankara, he was immediately summonsed to the throne room of Suileman. Here, the two men engaged in a great deal of deep theological discussion, about the Nature of Oz, the role of the Loa & how it pertained to everyday Malinese society. Before Djati handed over the Book for Suileman to read, however, he got in the question he had been meaning to ask all along.

"My lord," he asked respectfully "I notice that whilst Ankara is a large city, it is remarkably free of crime, how have you achieved this?"

"Well," said Suileman "myself & my advisors devised a code of ethical & legal behaviour by which all Turks must live, as well as a series of punishments for a variety of transgressions. We call it the Code of Suileman."

"Would I possibly be able to take back a copy of this code, in return for the Book of Ozzy, for My Lord to read? We are having a lot of trouble with criminal behaviour of late."

"Hmmm," said Suileman "first tell me, what are those other two books you have with you? You haven't mentioned them to me yet."

"Oh, these?" said Djati "why they are just some books on the mining, extraction & working of iron. I work as an ironsmith in my spare-time."

"We have heard of this metal, iron" said Suileman "indeed we have found the minerals in our hills & plains. Unfortunately we have not yet unlocked the mystery of how to work this extremely solid metal. Would you consider leaving those books with me? I will happily give you Our Code in return."

So it was done, the various books were exchanged & Djati was soon heading back to Mali with a copy of Suileman's code in hand. Upon his arrival back at Timbuktu, Koboku studied the code &-with a small amount of modification-applied it to his own people.

Codes of behaviour were laid out, as were punishments for transgressions. The worst crimes (Treason, Murder, Rape or serious bodily harm) were punished with death or dismemberment. All the other crimes were punished with community service, several days in the stocks or in a cage or repayment to the 'victim' in kind. Best of all, new buildings were erected where personal grievances could be heard by an impartial panel of wise-men, who would then determine guilt or innocence accordingly.

The effect was almost immediate. Though crime still existed, rampant misbehaviour soon became a thing of the past. Koboku new that his predecessor, Soumaoro, would have been well pleased with the outcome.

[Diplo Mongolia]

Sorry for being late, but it seems a bunch of students are sieging my office to be allowed into this course. So, where was I? Ah! Yes. Mongolian political development in the Iron Age.

The Mongols dealt mainly with their close neighbours, even though we do know of contact between them and the Americans and Carpathians at this age, contact stayed minimal. However, with regard to their neighbours, the Inca became the focus of Mongolian tribal leaders as a prophecy foretold the coming of some form of Messiah or similar in the city of Cuzco. The Mongols believed this great man to be some destined prophet or in some other way vital to Mongolian development, and so three of the tribal leaders travelled to the outskirts of Cuzco to request that he be handed over, or war be declared. You all know the outcome of this particular situation if you've read todays curriculum, and I will return to this matter in detail in my next lecture.

As for the Ottoman and Dutch, the Mongol had little interaction in this time period. An agreement with the latter was made for a lady of noble birth to travel to the Mongol city of Beshbalik.

With France however, the Mongols continued their mingling of cultures and increased their interaction. Timurs Horse Road was finished in the early Iron Age leading to vastly increased trade between the two nations. Horse Traders Road, or Timurs Road as it was often called was a grand effort, led by Timur the Tradesman to connect the Pastures of Runan'Gee to the Horseplains of Orleans. In addition to establishing this road, Timur gained great prominence in patrolling it, destroying barbarians and brigands. Had he not died in the 5 Swords Army Battle, Mongolia may well have expanded their trade network to other nations.



A song was created by Timur as a guide for traders and travellers who would traverse the great plain by this road. It describes landmarks, waterholes, weather, and other issues of interest. An interesting way of making trade not only a means of gaining wealth, but also tying it to the culture. Examples such as these show the vibrancy and strength of Mongolian culture, anything out of the most ordinary was worthy of a song or a poem.

[Diplo America]

Commander in Chief Christopher the Yankee, Lord of Virginia.

TO: The Nations of Terra, including Remi II of "France."
FROM: Foreign Minister Jonathan Jefferson


It is more and more apparent that the fork-toungue "French" honor "laws" and bonds with the one hand and foment aggression with the other. Is it not ridiculous that a country can believe it can simply take the heritage of another people simply because some King said it could? Is it not ridiculous that America protect its lands and borders, its capital?

Is this activity not ridiculous?

How on Terra could such an idea be considered virtuous? How on Terra could a country simply claim the lands of another, with no respect or defference to said people, and then say once it finds out that the lands are inhabited "Oh, well I'm sorry, your land is mine now, the king of France (I laught as I write this) said I could have it." Preposterous!

Remi, you claim America is being aggressive and threatening, well you are right. This is how we react when some foreigner who never gave us the time of day for centuries decides they want our land, we get aggressive, and we threaten because this is our land and we will not let it go.

And oh yes, I assure you what I tell you is no threat, we will hapily SLAUGHTER any dutchman who comes to our coasts with the intent of settlement.

There is a difference, my dear boy Remi, between politics and the laws of Kings and respectful diplomacy. You should learn the difference. When we settled New York we worked a compromise with Carpathia, we had diplomatic discussion. The Dutch, despite numerous efforts have yet to respond to any of our missives, which shows us signs of their ill-designs against us. You are some far away unknown King to us, frankly you matter not to America, and as such will be ignored from this point hence. Your willingness to blindly support a warmonger such as Holland, your pathetic begging for Mongolian arms to defend your cities, and your inability to understand true justice means you are of no value as an ally or neighbor to our people, and perhaps even your own people should rethink your position Remi. Please do not attempt to contact us anymore as you are only making the matter worse.

As for the Dutch; you refuse to speak with us. We have told you we can work something out, and you still refuse. Regardless of this fact the American position remains, anyone coming here to settle will be met with extreme hostility, anyone!

Yes we are being stubborn, because our heritage is at stake.

Good day sirs,

-J. Jefferson

[Diplo America]

Attatchment to Official Message



These Maps To Be Sent With Official Message

In order to put the minds of the world at ease, and to truly show them the situation at hand and the true imperial intent of the dutch here are some maps created by American cartographers which clearly show that the Dutch have claimed land accross a body of water, in the American sphere of influence (and rightfully so) and to show how far this land truly is from the dutch by land.

Here is a close map, showing the location of carpathian settlements and American settlements, I have remitted the location of Carpathian cities as I have not had permission from Tepes:



As you can see, America has little room for expansion especially considering the mountain range. The French and Dutch excuse is that the Dutch want a trading post. If this were truly the case why do the Dutch ignore our diplomatic emissaries? Why have the Dutch refused Open borders with us? Why can't the Dutch trade accross the sea, our ships can make it?

Do those seem like the actions of a peaceful merchant? Or a fork-tongued snake in the grass?

Here is a wider shot, while we are unsure of the exact geography of the east, we are quite sure this is a generally good depiction of the situation. But the main point of this map is to show in a greater context that America NEEDS this land for expansion as other tribes have already settled, even to the south that small city we have is surrounded by Mali, Turks and Inca, and the Mongols are nearby:



The shaded area indicates American land claims dating back to the reign of Samuel the Yankee (session one) who made the deal with the Carpathians. We hope the nations of Terra do not fall for the false rhetoric of trade and understanding that the French and Dutch espouse, they are after nothing more than land and power. If America allowed them to expand into these lands we would be doing a disservice to our people and our allies.

We again ask, nay plead, with the dutch not to persue this goal. It will only lead to bloodshed.

-J. Jefferson

EDIT: Obviously the maps aren't exact, but my save file wasn't letting me zoom in and out, so I had to draw them myself, sorry if its sloppy.

[Diplo France]

Remi the Second, King of France

TO: To America and to all civilized lands
FROM: King Remi II of France

Our person is quite shocked by this. In most other circumstances such insults would be grounds for war!

But our person wonders, are there perhaps cultural differences among the French and the Americans that may have caused a grievous misunderstanding? Did we say our decision was final? Did we not open the door for American arguments by asking very politely twice for them to make their case? Did we not make it clear the Americans could ignore our views? Since they are simply our views and we are Ozzy-dammed entitled to them!! Did I not explain it to you that we where merely voicing our support for the Dutch, that their claim is in no way dependant upon our interpretation? Did we not call for calm? For reason?

Oh and now it isn’t even disputed eh? Its just your land ehh? Its your Ozzy given right and all that Jazz?!

The more I think about it the more I feel, that I have been reasonable, I have been civil, I have been candid and the more I see this the more I see the Americans aren’t willing to argument their point.


And you may not believe this but I understand politics well, sir well enough that you can count it a big mistake sullying France or making an enemy of me. On your fair suggestion, may I say the only fair one I’ve heard; I won’t comment the situation further.
I'll leave it to the nations of terra to decide who was the better man here.


I still hope good relations can eventually be established, but I can tell you right now: Not in my lifetime!


-Remi II

OCC: Hasn’t it occurred to you Holland might be busy and not just ignoring you? EDIT: Well their post does seem to indicate that, you are probably right America. Sorry I just read it.
Great fun HOTW12 isn’t it?

[Diplo France]

We see you have calmed down and sent a map... Well its grossly innacurate the east is quite a bit smaller as is the Dutch claim. And the Mali are a bit more south relative to the "mediteranean".

And once again you take what I state as possiblity and spin it into fact or even policy!

Anyhow I'll but out of this now, but my policy stays.


EDIT: OCC: Mongolia great pic! How did you make it?

[Diplo Mongolia]

ooc.

first thy taketh thy pic that ye wish to paint thus.
then thy open thy holy photoshop
and apply the Craquelure filter

and ye shall have it. there's lots of other things you can do as well. different textures, strokes etc etc. but I'm a total photoshop noob, so I just do the easy stuff. (and next time I'll make sure there are no grid lines on)

[Diplo Inca]

Declaration of Support

We have been following closely the developments in the north. We feel strongly that Holland has no rights to claim what isn’t there to have. We recognize the American claims to the areas east of Richmond and Boston and the entire eastern coastline. We offer our support diplomatically and militarily if needed to protect those ancient American lands from foreign claims. For many centuries those lands have been economically vital to the people of America and Carpathia. Traders have been traveling forward and backwards to the coastal cities to sell their produce and travel down to coast to seek profitable deals with the Ottomans and Inca people.

We hope this dispute is resolved peacefully!

The Inca

[Diplo Inca]

Darkness comes!

The Mongols!

What messages do you bring?
Our scouts have seen it! Mongols armies are gathering in the Eastern Forests, they come they come for the child. They demand we turn him to them or they will attack. How can they, Cuzco is a sacred city full of scholars, priest, women and children.

We should send the child to safety at once. Pick two brave Incan warriors and tell them to head for the Western Forests, there in the city of Machu Picchu they will find safety and help. As the boy King takes one final glimpse at his home town of Cuzco! the two brave soles rush to excort him far from the coming darkness!

What about Cuzco? Well we have to send for help, ask others to assist us.

The Mongols are a threat to everyone. They have been threatening other tribes, killing scouts, declaring wars. This has to be stopped. Send the following message to all who care.

[Diplo Inca]

An Inca Sentry!