Destiny of Empires [Diplo Game] [Story Thread 7 - April 2011]

[China (DoE)]

To: India
CC: World

My friend, I must present the facts so there is no confusion.

Mongolia, unprovoked, attacked and killed Chinese troops many, many, many years ago. In retaliation, China struck back and killed a similar number of Mongolian soldiers.

After that, there were no hostilities between the 2 nations for many years. During this time, China tried on 2 separate occasions to offer peace to Mongolia, with no response from the Mongols.

Since then, Mongolia built a massive army and marched back into Chinese lands, temporarily taking 2 border cities. China has since reclaimed its cities and has defeated about half of the Mongol army. As a means of increasing the pressure on Mongolia, we have JUST (1 turn) sent a very small, but potent, strike force to disrupt the Mongolian war effort.

China has no wish for war, we wish to build our economic and scientific capabilities. The offer for peace still stands for Mongolia to accept at any moment, why don't they accept? China has no idea what Mongol seeks by fighting, although it would appear they do not want more land, as they have granted the Russians Mongolian land to settle a coastal city (which China has no problem with by the way).

Let me repeat and be utterly clear, China wants peace with all nations and offers an unconditional peace with Mongolia.

However, should Mongolia continue its efforts, it will continue to be an enemy of China, and China is not kind or sympathetic with it's enemies.

As an aside, we would be happy to display to any foreign ambassador the capabilities of our new weapon, the cannon. It is most effective at destroying invading enemy forces.

Finally, if any of the facts I've presented are contested, please consult with Russia, who has seen all events first hand.

[Inca (DoE)]

We were meaning to get around to that someday...

The Emperor's assistant burst into the throne room, sweating and heaving great breaths. In between pants, he managed to exclaim, "sir, sir! We have just learned a great new technology!"

The Emperor, already quite shocked, rose up and eagerly asked, "oh, do tell me more... what have our scientists from our most advanced universities and academies discovered? Something earth-shattering? A cure for syphillis? What it is that makes the stars and planets to follow their courses? How to mix the elemental substances of nature into new concoctions? A way to build better roads and siege engines? Perhaps that whole 'gunpowder' thing we've been hearing so much about? Well, tell me, what is it!" Indeed, this would be the technological discovery that would carry his name and reign into the history books!

"Sir, we have learned... how to raise animals for food!" the assistant responded, a great grin across his face.

"Do what now?!"

"Yes, raise animals as crops, then eat them later!" he responded again, still grinning wildly.

"You mean like fishing?" the Emperor's enthusiasm slightly dropped as confusion took its place.

"Yes, well, something like that. But instead of just catching them in the wild, we keep them on farms!" the assistant responded again, still quite enthusiastic, but with some doubt now creeping into the seams of his grin.

"Farms AND animals, you say? That sounds preposterous... Who would do a thing like that, the animals would eat all the food!" enthusiasm turned devastatingly into rage and historical embarrassment.

"Yes, sir, but, well, then we eat them!" insistently now, the grin quite forced at this point, as the assistant nodded, trying to get the Emperor to at least mime him.

"Yes, but they would eat all the food still... This must be why those Europeans always look so skinny and sick, they let their animals eat all their food..." In his thoughts, 'Emperor Putabo of the llamas' started to enter into his mind.

"Perhaps... sir, I do not feel you appreciate such a fundamental discovery..." the assistant's grin finally fell into utter disappointment.

"No, well, we already knew the Europeans were doing it, but that's no reason to do it ourselves. They also like killing each other relentlessly, should we do the same now?" Rage, silent, quite loud rage.

"Well, there are those pesky Mancha that keep -" abstractly opined the assistant.

"No, they don't deserve the 'European treatment', I'm afraid, and there will be no more such talk!" Rage of rages, the Emperor would have no such barbaric talk.

"Yes, sir. Anyway, should we begin converting our farms now?"

"No, of course not! What animals are we to raise anyway, pumas and bears? We have none here of note, save llamas, and their meat is quite disgusting..." 'I should have been the one to discover gunpowder and engineering, and now I'm the jackass that finally got around to raising animals for meat. I'm a damned vegetarian, what sense does this make?' he thought to himself.

"Yes, sir..."

"Anyway, might as well learn how to ride the damned things now that we can keep them on farms. Might come in handy some day, being able to ride the llamas into battle." Well, hopefully something will come of this. Yes, visions of triumphant spearmen atop glorious, bearmored llamas crept into his mind, an unshakable visions that preoccupied the Emperor for the remainder of his day.

But what color to paint them?

[Ottoman Empire (DoE)]

Public Relations Notice:

To all concerned Nations:

After considerable deliberation, the Sultan has determined that the vessels of Neandor will no longer be permitted in the Eastern mediterranean, particularly in Ottoman Turk waters. This is a measured response to the continued state of closed borders which has frustrated our attempts to pursue fleeing French forces, coupled with the Neandor building warships for the French, which have been used against us, compounded by the recent arming of French forces in Africa by Neandor. Our nations do not have an Open Borders agreement, and therefore the presence of Neandor vessels in our waters is inappropriate.

Therefore, and in the interests of maintaining a state of peace between Neandor and the Ottoman Turks, the Sultan extends a 2 turn period of safe passge to the Neandor Caravels that are currently in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Sultan pledges that during the grace period, these vessels will not be attacked by our warships as they return to Neandor waters in peace, with our blessings and friendship.

However, if these vessels remain after the 2 turn grace period, they will be regarded as French spies and destroyed, at the pleasure of the Sultan. It makes no difference whether the vessels are in Ottoman Turk waters or Israeli waters... the vessels will be considered hostiles and be subject to sinking without further notice.

Aysecan, Public Relations Dept

[Israel (DoE)]

The Israelian army was mobilizing.
Too many foreign soldiers were moving over or close to Israelian holy ground.
This time not to buy merchandise in Bethlehem or pray to the christian idols.
This time they came for war. Christians waging war against Christians.
But who knows what the outcome would be? Would they turn against Israel again?
Would Israel experience another Jerusalem Holocaust?
Would the winners of the war turn on the jewish women? Would they kill the Jewish children, just to entertain themselves?

Revenge! The youngsters yelled in he streets! This time the goiim will not have it their way again!
Some experienced the horrors of the past again.
But things were different this time. Enemies had become friends and friends had become enemies.
The goiim are the goiim and the peoples are the peoples. For Satanael every people are a tool in his hand.
Samael may use one nation one day to march against the Jews, and use another nation on another day.
Revenge would be for the Messiach anyhow! The Shalom of Israel would be the true Shalom of Jerusalem.

Some would translate Shalom into the peace of the goiim.
But all in Israel were waiting for the true Shalom.
"Tomorrow we will meet in Shalom!" they told each other!
And next year in Jerusalem! When the goiims have been expelled!

And that's what Amram Goan was working on.
Expelling the Goiim! From the sacret and most holy lands.
Too long they had camped there.

"But not today" Rabbi Amram Goan said.
"Today are armies aren't ready yet. Today we just are tools in the hands of the peoples.
But maybe tomorrow we will be strong enough. Or the day after. When the Messiach comes to bring the true Shalom"

Israel as a tool in the hands of the goiim..... Goan shaked his head.

[France (DoE)]

Guardaia



Guardaia was a small town in the desert. Built as a defensive line for the coastal cites of Tangiers and Agadir, there was not much there other than half built walls, a signal tower, and barracks for the troops. The infrastructure of civilization was slowly taking hold, but it was still more of a military outpost.

And if tensions had been high in Tangiers, they were quite frenzied in Guardaia. It was, after all, the first line of defense against the Turks and Russians. And reports had come in from various sources and scouts. Enemy troops on the move. The navy had spied that large stack of Turkish and Ottoman troops several weeks earlier in Israel. Where was it now?

The Mali were also hovering. And building roads. And expanding their borders. The horse archers and catapults seen two months ago were now absent.

And the Israelis. Ever enigmatic. Actually quite frustrating, thought General Jugan as he surveyed the defensive preparations. If the Mali and Israelis were going to join the enemy, why don't they just declare war and get it over with. Nicolas Jugan had no time for politics. So he concentrated on what he knew best, military matters.

He first visited the backbone of his defenses - the garrison longbows. They had been training non-stop, finding the exact ranges from the city walls.



They took their trade seriously, consistently hitting targets set more than 100 meters from the walls. The longbowmen also laughed at the new-fangled grenadier units, joking that they could fire an arrow twenty times further than the grenadiers could hurl one of those strange explosive devices.

Jugan next inspected the parade grounds, where newly trained cuirassier units were going through their manoeuvres and formations.



They were formidable units. But General Jugan was still contemplating how best to use these advanced units under his command.

For now, they trained. He knew, and his soldiers knew, it would be needed in the weeks ahead.

[India (DoE)]

Response to China

It is strange that China insists on its innocence in this as it seems Mongolia is in the situation it is in due to China's earlier aggressive policies. It is nothing other than obscene that China and Russia cooperated to seize vast territory at the expense of many smaller nations and then with great resolve and cruel action make horrible war when such a nation try to change its situation. Mongolia has 4 cities in the frozen north because of China's actions, yet you can not see any fault of yours in this current war? If the situations were reversed, what options would China have? As India sees this, you have aggressively forced the Mongolians into a barren waste. How can you expect them to do anything else than try to break out? It is as if a man stands on the neck of another, and when the downtrodden try to liberate himself the oppressor slams down all the harder shouting: Look! He is attacking me.

China's actions show nothing other than blind ambition and greed as you have shown no will to negotiate or any will to make sacrifices for the future peace. Though the Mongols may be the aggressor here, they have had no other opportunities as your actions have literally and figuratively forced them into a corner. China's actions in the north are nothing short of shameful.

No, it is clear to any who would see that China is the trespasser in this issue and as a result, India must denounce such cruelty and terror. We can not in good conscience continue to trade with China. We will also expel the Chinese ambassador from Delhi. We hope other nations also react against this horrid injustice.

[Inca (DoE)]

The Chinese have lost two cities recently, and the Indians would claim they were the aggressors! Now yet another falls victim to India's constant misdirection, lying, and aggressive diplomacy.

Again, Inca holds out its hand to China in its difficult times. Should the Chinese need any Inca assistance, what can be given will, be it military, financial, or otherwise. The loss of two cities is a great loss indeed, and we wish the best for our Chinese brothers in faith and trade.

[Russia (DoE)]

From the Russian court to all interested parties:

Although we can understand that the medal has two faces and because of the highest acuteness of the conflict, there can be positions and oppinions who can differ fundamentaly about the Mongolia-China issue.

I want to inform you that in the moment Russia is trying to negotiate a reasonable and acceptable to both the involved nations peace.

To avoid unduly bad feelings who can be an obstacle to the peace process, I am humbly asking you all to restrain from further comment on the causes for this terible conflict for the moment.

Catherine of Rus

[Inca (DoE)]

Death of an Emperor

In 1454 AD, the famous and respected Putabo Tupancho died in his sleep. There was much talk about assassination in the court, but little escaped the palace walls. Putabo had reigned for an impressive 74 years, from the young age of 16 until after his 90th birthday. His death was suspect not only due to foreign actors, on account of the intense international position he had placed the empire into, but also due to domestic actors who resented his religious fanaticism for the "Southeastern cult", and for his various foreign affairs as well.

Much of his reign had been a relative golden age for the Empire, which grew astoundingly, yet most historians now remember him as "that llama guy."

He was replaced by the second middle New Coast emperor, Chan Y'Cacz. Chan's reign would similarly be long, but his ruling style would be a radical shift from Putabo's. Chan started his own "golden age", one based primarily on the pursuit of gold over actual development. Such a strong shift it was that the major universities and academies effectively shut down for the duration of his rule.

Chan grew up during the exceptional boom times of the Caczcoynan financiers. Near his birth, the "great starvation" was occuring, wherein the financialization and speculation of the urban bankers and economists were actually causing large numbers of people to die and go hungry, and as a result the city's population was actually reduced by over 10% during his upbringing. Yet, there is no record of Chan ever resenting such events, and in fact what little he is known to have said about it has put such misery and death squarely on the shoulders of the "idiot farmers who forgot how to grow corn and eat it."

He was an armorer, but not particularly militaristic, preferring armaments solely for the revenues they could generate for domestic manufacturers. He was completely non-expansive, caring little for the development of the Empire. His aggression was fairly mild, lacking Putabo's hot streak, as he was a very cerebral and pecuniarily-interested man, more at home with coinage and charts than diplomatic affairs.

Still, he was quite internationally-focused, if not solely to enrich his estate and those of his close friends and associates. His interest in proper international affairs was certainly far more lacking than Putabo "the Great Peace-maker" Tupancho.

His domestic politics revolved around gold production and corporate favoritism.

What can one say about him but the famous quote, "It would have been a dark age if all that gold hadn't lit the place up so much..."

[Ottoman Empire (DoE)]

... Aysecan was called out of one of her frequent formal galas to attend to the Sultan's business...

"Yes Taner, what is it?" she said... obviously annoyed at the messenger for the interruption

"Madame..." he replied, "The Sultan Commands you to issue an immediate statement regarding India's complaints concerning the Mongolian-Chinese War. The Sultan is concerned that the matter will distract the world's and particularly Catherine's focus from our affairs in Africa."

"Very well" she murmured through gritted teeth... "Fetch me something to write upon so that I may issue a brief response... The Sultan is very demanding..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To All Concerned Nations:

The Ottoman Turks see nothing wrong with China's defensive war against the relentlessly invading Mongols, and we will take no actions against our friends, the Chinese.

Furthermore, the Ottoman Turks have led by example in the area of unfair and unjust War. If India feels that the Chinese War against the Mongols is unfair, then they must follow the example of the Ottoman Turks, rather than appealing for others to intervene.

This is the official position of the Ottoman Turk Government.

Aysecan, Public Relations

[Mongolia (DoE)]

Mongolia, unprovoked, attacked and killed Chinese troops many, many, many years ago. In retaliation, China struck back and killed a similar number of Mongolian soldiers.

Let me repeat and be utterly clear, China wants peace with all nations and offers an unconditional peace with Mongolia.

What is the truth? The truth is this. The Mongolian army while in the process of capturing and destroying a city of barbarians located within our region found that there was a chariot in the barbarian ruins with humans of chinese appearance. Why the Chinese aggressively interfered in our battle and region is unknown, but their stupidity led to the war. This was followed by more than half a dozen further incursions into Mongolian territory by Chinese armies and their allies, commiting genocide on our citizens on two occasions, razing cities to the ground.
In return we have once and once only entered Chinese territory and briefly occupied two cities, but kindly allowed the citizens to live, not slaughter them like the Chinesse and their allies did to our citizens.
Now they say they want an unconditional peace. Yet correspondence we have received through intermediaries state that the Mongols must apologise for their actions in the war when we have done no wrong. The wrong has all been done by the Chinese and their allies. We will not apologise. We insist that the Chinese and all other participants in the genocides publicly apologise before we accept peace and offer substantial reparations.

[Russia (DoE)]

Russia is ready to apology, as we did not wanted to raze the city as an end in itself.

[Germany (DoE)]

If these vessels remain after the 2 turn grace period, they will be regarded as French spies and destroyed, at the pleasure of the Sultan. It makes no difference whether the vessels are in Ottoman Turk waters or Israeli waters... the vessels will be considered hostiles and be subject to sinking without further notice.
Aysecan, Public Relations Dept

I am in much haste Aysecan but to inform you that the Caravels are now in Neander waters.

King Veneta.

[Israel (DoE)]

ooc: I'm sorry for complicating things a lot more. And I'm ooc also sorry for destroying dreams of some player in such a brutal way. I know that it hurts to get a knife stabbed in your back. But well... that's life! And it'll teach you to understand the role your "allies" are playing a bit more
/ooc

-----------

Ever since the fall of Jerusalem the jews had this burning hate for the Turks.
The Ottomans who had signed this peace deal with the Israelians! And then turned against Jerusalem before the contract was even stored in the Israelian archives.
All man, children and women in Jerusalem had been murdered. The city was burned. The tabernacle was destroyed.
The most Holy Arc of the Convenant..... it was ruined and never found again.

Then the Turks went even further!
They claimed to be the children of G'd themselves, the chosen people.
Claimed to build the Holy Shrine of Judaism and converted to Judaism!
Despicable!
The Most High had chosen the Israelians, not the Turks.

The hate of the Israelians was huge.
It had never died nor did it shrink.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The Holy City of our parents!
How could this holocaust be forgotten?

Always the desire was in the heart of the Jews to revenge the fall of Jerusalem!
It was in all their songs, in their poems, in their stories and in their hearts.

And then the Turks had the terrible idea to fight a war side to side with the Jews!
Did they knew nothing at all about the hate of the Jews towards the Turks?
Did they not know anything at all?
Why would any Jew fight with any Turk? Why would we stand together on the battle field?
Of course, the christian were a shame and their religion blasphemious!
But compared to the Turks the christians were holy angels!

For years Rabbi Amram Goan had played this game with the Turks!
As a game of final revenge! FOR JERUSALEM!
And now all of the Israelian army was ready to strike against the Turks!
And now the time had come!

War on the Turks!
For Jerusalem!


Rabbi Amram Goan: "For Jerusalem! For the True Shalom of the Messiach!"

[France (DoE)]

The Battle of Ekron Oasis - the First Day

General Jugan

The situation in North Africa changes rapidly with each movement of the enemy. Neither Marshal Maray or myself can guide you on military matters from this distance and we know we will create confusion if we tried to. You have the full confidence of the Marshal and myself.

Therefore, you are free to conduct the campaign in North Africa as you see fit.

Strength and Honor, Nicolas Jugan

Signed: King Phillipe

Jugan thought of that letter as he watched the engineers and workers labor in the early dawn. They were very experienced in construction in the desert, and had been working non-stop for the last week. The road was almost complete. Jugan rode down it, and in the distance he could see the hill overlooking the Ekron Oasis.



The enemy was there. It was time.

He gave the orders to his aides, and within the hour, the Army of North Africa was on the move. They would not be waiting for the enemy to come to them, but they would have to move quickly to engage the Turks and Russians now camped on the hill.

By late morning, the catapult artillery was in range, and started its bombardment of the enemy position. If they had achieved an element of surprise, it was all for naught now. The enemy had the advantage of the defensive position, and were ready to fight.

The bombardment lasted two hours, with many of defenders taking serious casualties. As the last catapult was firing, Jugan gave the signal and the cuirassiers which had arrived before the foot troops, now advanced in long lines over the desert.



Charging up the hill, they slammed into the defenders, destroying regiment after regiment of Turks and Russians. And following the lead of the most daring of the cavalry commanders, Colonel Murat, the riders pushed through the reeling defenders to attack the Russian catapults. They were not yet deployed for action, and were quickly destroyed by the French.



The first stages of the battle had gone very well for the French. General Jugan was pleased. Even more so, as the grenadiers who had quick marched down the desert road, were now formed up and ready to advance. As the cuirassiers withdrew and reformed, the elite French infantry marched up the hill. The Turkish and Russian generals were over their initial shock and starting to react. Fresh units were brought up to face the French. But they were no match for discipline and weaponry of the grenadiers and more units died.



The remainder of the French troops had now formed on the plains below the hills. But the delay in getting the rest of the army down the road and into formation had given the hill-top defenders time to catch their breath and regroup. It was late afternoon when French war elephants and maces took up the attack, and although their attack made some headway, they took horrendous losses. It was clear that the impact of the initial charges had worn off and that Turkish and Russian resolve was stiffening.

It was early evening and French reinforcements continued to stream down the road. But the initiative was lost. General Jugan issued the recall order. He would see what tomorrow would bring.

As light faded, he surveyed the battlefield. The hillside and hilltop were covered with dead Turkish, Russian and French troops. The carnage had been unbelievable.



The desert ran red with blood.