Destiny of Empires [Diplo Game] [Story Thread]

[Robert]

This is the Story and Diplomacy Thread for the Diplo Game "Destiny of Empires" (DoE)

The purpose of this thread is to post in-character story posts and diplomacy for this game. Please discuss all organizational aspects of this game the Organization Thread.
Use your Anonymous Apolyton Game Account to put posts in this thread.

The Dance of Civilizations is a diplomacy game.
The players try to rule their empires like they are real. Role playing and story telling is an important way to achieve this.
Fore more information visit the Diplogame FAQ by OzzyKP



For more information visit the Organization Thread.

[Native America (DoE)]

The People Are Planted

Coyote had always wanted friends. Unlike his close kin, Wolf, Coyote tended to be alone a lot. This made him sad; he howeled his sadness nightly, especially when the Moon goddess rose into the sky. So Coyote, who is more cunning than many give credit for, thought long on his need. And it came to him that, if all the things in nature had been made, if the plants and trees, the beasts and the insects, then why could not he add another created thing, one that could converse with him.

And so, he worked a hard and strange magic, and he used the dust and the clay of the soil and fashioned a companion. He gave the companion arms that it might carry things for him, long legs that it might try to run with him, and a brain that it would understand Coyote's thoughts. And when he was done, he had the animal called Man.

But Man was not happy, for, while Coyote could talk to Man, and Man to Coyote, Man had no companion of his own. And Man, thinking on his own, realized that, if Coyote could make Man, he could make Man's companion. And so Man schemed, and he worked to convince Coyote that he needed help. And he fashioned for Coyote the helper he wanted, and he was secretively working to make the helper be both helpmate and friend, and to provide a way to make even more of man, for Man knew that he was mortal, and did not want to pass from the earth. And Coyote fell for Man's schemes, and created Woman for Man, and when Man had Woman, he began to wander the earth.

But this satisfied neither Man nor Coyote. Man was not satisfied, because each day brought uncertainty: would there be water, or food, or shelter? Coyote was not satisfied because Man and Woman often wandered far away from Coyote. And it was Woman who thought up the solution. "Put us somewhere safe, where we can grow our own roots," she told Coyote. For once our roots are down, then we will not move, but rather spread, like the ivy. And Coyote and Man both realized this was a good idea. And Coyote searched for an excellent spot to put Man and Woman, and he brought them to that spot. It had water in abundance, and some grain to harvest, and some deer to hunt, and shiny metal to make into rich jewelry, and many other benefits. And Coyote said to Man, "Here you shall dwell, and I shall be near to thee forever." And Man said, "Here I shall dwell, and I shall call it Cahokia, to remind me of the wild geese which forever fly to places I can only dream of. But we shall be rooted here."

And Man settled down, and grew, and sent out men to look around the area, and Woman settled down with Man, and she also grew, and from her came more men. But Coyote was never content, for men soon forgot who had made them, save a few. And so Coyote still sings his ancient lament to Moon. But Man, Man begins his time on Earth thus.

[Inca (DoE)]

OOC: I’m not really going to follow the historical Incan template here, or even real-Earth geography, but rather approach this as though it was a different world built at random in the game. I will take a few names/ideas/places from Inca civilization, but mostly I will be creating a new world and civilization, as I find that more enjoyable.

*****


We come from the tribes of Cuzco, uphill from this temporary home, back towards the rising sun. We have entered the low hilllands finally, the rough ridges of our homeland are smoothing out into an immense plain, and beyond that the blue frontier. Behind us are the walls of our world, the great rocks we call Chupat. The low hills are warm, we need not worry about cold at night anymore, and so we sleep easily under the clear dark skies, the gold dust sparking brightly above. These hills are empty of our kind, so we travel freely. Nine days ago we met a small band of gatherers and hunters, but otherwise we have been alone with the world for a long time. Our leader says there are more of our kind near the frontier, but for now we have only the animachua for company.

We stop at times to sift through the spring waters that flow through these rocks. They are full of the universe-essence, the “gold”. Our leader says we must collect as much as we can, it is our people’s purpose. He says one day when we number in the tens of tens of tens of tens we will be strong enough to tear through the rocks themselves to find the divine veins beneath. For now, we may not though, since we have not proven ourselves great enough through our actions to touch the true blood of divinity. We may only prove so by showing the universe we are capable of divine acts ourselves: "divinity is power". So we slowly go along, our packs slowly filling with heavy purity.

We left our people behind for we had, in our fertile valley, overgrown the land. The animachua had become scarce, and the plants themselves were beginning to disappear. We are too many, so now we leave for someplace new and more fertile still. So far, we have seen nothing but gold and rock, but our people know of a few very fertile lands near the frontier for us to settle into, and so we travel down.

Ahead of us travels another group. I am not sure they care to settle so much as explore. When we left they were headed by a man named Tupac, although who knows who leads them now. The hills can be dangerous.

Here we stand, the tallest ridge for many patchas, from here we can see the frontier and perhaps our new home, our leader blesses Fate for our existence and having a place in the Plan. It is all downhill from here.

[Aztecs (DoE)]

An Entry in the Journal of Montezuma I, 4000BC
Translated to English by Alexander Cabot from the Florentine Codex

I have lead my people to a ripe and fertile land. We call it Tenochtitlan. Maize is abundant for which
we are thankful. Too long have we walked and roamed the land. It is time to settle down and prosper.
It was not an easy road, however. Yesterday, on the day of Tecpatl, we found land we thought would be
sufficient for Tenochtitlan however my closest advisor and confidant, Citlali, informed me that there
was some kind of pervasive ancient magic preventing us from doing so. Though he is my advisor, he is
also a bumbling idiot, and I was sorely tempted to have him executed on the spot. I did relent,
however, and agreed to an extra day of travel to where we find ourselves now.

Crisp clear water to our east, strong grey mountains to our west, and as I have already written, Maize
as far as the eye can see. Tonight we pray to Centeotl that our crops grow high and plentiful. We have
walked long and far out of Aztlan and have arrived here in Tenochtitlan. Our future is bright. Except
for maybe Citlali. He should sleep with one eye open.

[Arabia (DoE)]

The Wandering Tribes Settle - 4000 BC

For thousands and thousands of years their ancestors wandered the desert in nomadic tribes.

Warfare, hunger, thirst, and reflection were a way of life for the wanderers. In-fighting amongst the tribes went back for millennia, and rumors of far away tribes with drastically different customs circulated Arab lore.

Arab lore also contained prophecy that the tribes would one day unite under one god. Many within the Arabian culture felt this change was soon to come. Some of the tribes at the time already had foresaken their nomadic wanderings in exchange for a sedentary farming lifestyle between two massive rivers.

[India (DoE)]

“I, Mehrgarh, have now been living many long years Chieftaining the greatest tribe in all Indus Valley, my most beloved Soani people. Our land is most abundant in all good things for us to hunt and pluck from the many most lovely plants. Why I changing this most wonderful life we living?

Vision is coming to me and is saying that all things is changing most fastly now. Never can Soani life always the same being and still prospering most greatly. Vision is saying to Mehrgarh that land not always be abundant and food is needing most urgently to be farmed. Settle in one good place says Vision and use most well for Soani people.”

That, my friends, is the earliest tale we have of our great nation’s past. As only a verbal account exists we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy but we do know for certain that this brave and humble man, Mehrgarh, did exist and it is from his great deeds that Bhārat Ganarājya itself now exists as a beacon of ‘Civilization, in its’ fourth incarnation’ amidst a sea of barbarian horrors.

‘History of the Jats’ by Ram Swarup Joon

[America (DoE)]

[Hercules]

[Mongolia (DoE)]

The arguments were aplenty in the chieftains hut. Why are we here many screamed, there are no resources worthwhile. Not enough food, our babies will starve. Fur coats and woollen singlets are no good if our bellies are empty. But the Kublai stood firm and said 'Here is where we stay'. Yes it is not good but our people have never had it good. It is cold up north and no food of any sort, desert down south, mountains elsewhere, God has given us an absurdly poor land, but we must settle and grow our people.
After much grumbling the people aquiesced and set down their tents for the long haul. But they sincerely feared for their future in a land that could barely grow their city, that could provide very limited trading opportunities and income for the milleniums ahead.

[China (DoE)]

They couldn't explain why, but all of a sudden, they were here.

Living, breathing, thinking.

Tung took his club out and smashed the ground beneath him. "We live!", he said, while looking out as far as he could see. "Mountains, herds grazing, fish dancing in the ocean, we have been put here for a reason, though I have no idea what".

Tang immediately grasped control of the situation and formulated a plan. "We will build our homes here, one for myself and my wife, and one for you and yours. This will be where we sleep at night and plan our next move."

"You must go North and determine where exactly we are. I will stay here with the women and see if we can catch the fish jumping in the water. We must eat and be strong if we have any hope of staying alive in this strange place".

Tung grunted his approval and set out, with his club gripped tightly...

[Hercules]

drat

[St Jon]

drat

?????

[Germany (DoE)]

4000 BC - neandor time

[Japan (DoE)]

It was said long ago two kami,Izanagi-no-mikotoa and Izanami-no-Mikoto,
stole the Ame-no-nuhoko from the heavens and escaped to the earth. They
dipped the tip of the spear into the water and as they pulled the spear back
drops of salt fell from the blade and into the water creating the island of
Japan. The Elder kami where enraged by this so they erased the memories of
the two kami, took their powers turning them human, and banned them to the
land they created. When the two awoke they found themselves surrounded by
others who praised who made then their leaders.


Hundreds of years later the tribe created long ago had grown too large to
continue moving from place to place looking for food. so they placed there
fate in the hands of a young man known as Izu. He lead his people through the
passes of Mt. Fuji and lead them the the western coast where the settled the
city of Kyoto.

[Zulu (DoE)]

The Chronicles of Shaka the Immortal

It is said that, before Shaka, the Zulu people were dumb like animals. Where Shaka came from, no-one truly knows, though legend says He was born of a Union between Mother Moon & Father Mountain-certainly it was from the mountains that he came & walked amongst the small tribe of apes that would one day become the Zulu race.

Over the course of Generations, the Immortal Shaka taught this tribe the rudimentary skills of speech, co-operation, hunting & farming. The Zulu tribe were quick to master the skills taught under Shaka's expert tutelage.

However, even with these new skills, the local environment became too harsh to support our people, & the tribe's numbers became dangerously low. The Immortal Shaka, however, told our people to follow him to a land where game was plentiful, & where our numbers could swell unchecked.

So our tribe followed Shaka from the increasingly harsh desert that was our home, & led us over the hills & down into a lush river valley. It was even as he had told us, with lush grasses feeding the great herds of wild cattle & elephants, & a swift river where man & beast alike could slake their thirst. "Here" he told us, in his great booming voice, "we shall build the great Zulu capital, from whence our people shall rise to greatness. It was done as he had asked, & the great city on the river-Ulundi-was contructed. & a Palace worthy of the Immortal Shaka was erected....