Domination of Barbarians [Diplo Game] [Story Thread 4 - July 2012]

[Sommerswerd]

Domination of Barbarians [Diplo Game] [Story Thread 4 - July 2012]

This is the Story and Diplomacy Thread for the Diplo Game "Domination of Barbarians" (DoB)



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.

Domination of Barbarians 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.

[Sommerswerd]

Some of the villages remain small, while some are developing into more complex communities with different structures, Monuments, Barracks, even a Great Wonder in France. Hunting and gathering is no longer the only way to get food. Some tribes have learned to farm and are harvesting wheat by the bushel.



New advances in seafaring are discovered. Multiple tribes, like the Portugese, Dutch and Japanese put massive vessels to sea, capable of transporting people over large distances. These tribes are the first to settle new settlements overseas.



A new religion is founded by Portugal. The Wars in Europe continue to rage as a new nation, Rome, enters the fray. The new religion spreads to nearby tribes, increasing the numbers of the faithful.



Governments are overthrown and new leaders emerge. The Dutch sacrifice thousands of citizens in Wars and thousands more are forced into slavery. Slaves are made and leaders are executed in a constant battle between master and slave... tyrant and subjugated...



The barbarians arrive in hordes. They march relentlessly towards the 18 tribes, slaughtering every man woman and child in their path. They are a motley assortment of vagabonds and miscreants, but their stone knives are sharp and their wooden clubs are heavy.



It is doubtful that some tribes can stand against them, especially the hordes coming out of Africa. Still the tribes send their strongest and swiftest Warriors out to meet the barbarians or they hunker down in cities, hopeful that they can survive the rising tide of destruction.



Headship / Royal Lineages of the World

Barbarians
The Children of Barbarous the Expelled

France
Torino Workers, survivors of the Stonehenge Defenders, Successors of the Elder Mystics, Keepers of Benoit the Immortal, appointed successor of Tribal Chief Andre, traverser of the Alps, appointed successor of Pierre, First Despot of France, slayer of Jean-Guy, former co-ruler w/ his wife Patrica & brother Jean-Paul, son of Jean

Spain
Himilce, Princess of Spain, Mother of Astor

Portugal
Porto & Portu, husband and wife

Netherlands
The Three fations, slayers of Hanz the Dutchman, named successor of Trotseer the Brave, named successor to Chieftain Aantaleen the Primersteleider and his wife Angeline

Ottomans
Head Chieftain Bedri Ayhan

Byzantines
Tribal Chieftains, successors to Leader Justinian, son of Leader Constantine

China
Qin Shi Huang, successor of the Mother of Qin Shi Huang, successor to the Father of Qin Shi Huang

Viking
Chief Ragnar

England
Leader Elizabeth

Celts
Lord Chieftain Brennus & Aithe

Japan
Tokugawa, defender of Kyoto, Leader of Japan

Russia
Ivan Grozni, succesor of Ivan Dragonoff, succesor of Leader Peter

Arabia
The Tribal Leaders, successors to The Prophet & his wife, Khadijah bint Khuwaylid

Rome
Marcus, leader of the Slave rebellion, beheader of Baron Von the tyrant

Persia
Helu of Awan, successor to Peli of Awan, Rightful Chief of the Persian Tribes

Greece - ???
Germany - ???
Holy Rome - ???

[France (DoB)]

FRENCH VICTORIOUS!!!

The Oracle wars, a series of 8 wars pitting France against an alliance of Islamic Spirit Snatchers, Western Slavers and the Christ Crucifiers, were primarily fought over whether Paris or Mecca would be chosen by the spirits as the site of the Oracle.

The Spirits were impressed with French resolve in the face of incredible adversity, in which the enemies of France used the magic of copper to destroy the French army and infrastructure while the Romans used their ancient tactics of trying to starve their opponents to death by occupying French lands and beseiging Paris. The French adapted by changing from an agricultural society to developing fishing and hunting techniques that could be done on the move while avoiding Roman patrols. Anyone caught by the Romans were nailed to crucifixes and left for all to see so as to break the spirit of the French!

One notable victim of the Roman crucifixion was the wandering Portuguese mystic Jesus Christ. Jesus performed many miracles but in France he was always known mainly for his ability to turn water into wine! Wine was very scarce in Paris with the Romans preventing any agriculture from happening so the tale of being able to turn water into wine brought many converts. The starving people of Paris also frequently requested the tale of the Five Loaves and Two Fishes feeding 5000 people. It is also said that Jesus rose from the dead three days after the Romans crucified him.

The rise of the number of Christ followers in France motivated the Stonehenge Priests to hasten the construction of the Oracle, a monument which was prophesized by Arabian mystics to be built by the French and give them the ability to know the future by communing with the spirits of the dead. The Stonehenge Priests wished to demonstrate their power to bolster their waning influence since they had been unable to stop the Roman siege of Paris.

The Oracle was built and a Priestess chosen by the spirits to act as their medium. The Stonehenge Priests held a public augury in which they asked the Oracle, "How can the French defeat our enemies who are immortal and seek to break the spirit of the French and conquer Paris?"



The Oracle's response was "A great leader will arise in France, who's blood shall be bound to the land. Paris shall never be conquered as long as a member of this king's blood sits upon the throne, for a blood bond can never be broken."

The Stonehenge Priests were very pleased with the augury until the Oracle continued, "The ancient spirits that guarded the land of France have retired from this world and seven new Powers shall arise greater then even Mother Earth and the Fire Father. Two of these Powers have already entered this world, one has come to France to be our saviour."

There was disbelief in the Stonehenge Priests for the Oracle, which they had fought so hard and sacrificed so much to create, had prophesized their doom. For an entire decade the streets of Paris were in anarchy as die-hard supporters of the Great Spirits fought futilely against the new Christian converts while Romans beseiged the lands outside of Paris. The outcome was never in doubt though since even the Great Spirit supporters believed the Oracle's prophesy and the French officially converted to Christianity.

[Byzantium (DoB)]

Justin I, the new chief of the Byzantine tribe, silently cursed his predecessors as he listened to the grim news coming in from all his advisors.

The first ruler of Byzantium, Constantine, had ignored the warnings of his seers and advisors that a strategy of rapid expansion would result in being overrun by barbarians and had not even invested in any military research to defend his expanding empire.

The second ruler of Byzantium, Justinian, had continued his father's strategy of expansion with no military technology research instead relying on simple club wielding warriors for defense while the Persians and others were training archers. Defenseless Justinian was forced into signing the Mecca Peace Accord when the powerful Persians had invaded Byzantium. The Accord had left Byzantium with a heavy burden of building two cities for Persia or surrendering Adrianople to Persia. Justinian did not learn from his defeat and continued his policy of not investing in better military technology instead he decided to build a Great Wall of folly around Byzantium.

As a final legacy, the still defenseless Justinian had declared war on France as part of a Nether-Islamic alliance plan to prevent France from building the Oracle as predicted by Arabian seers. Fortunately the French were overwhelmed by the Nethers and reportedly another tribe called Rome and invoked some magic ritual which caused all wars to end for a hundred years. The Romans reportedly continued the war on France when the magic wore off but the Nethers did not continue the fight allowing the French to build the Oracle!

The death of Justinian by barbarians, allowed local chieftains to take over the city states as none of the tribesmen trusted the decision-making abilities of the central government. The Great Wall project was abandoned by the local chieftains. One of the local chieftains took it upon himself to redirect the second group of settlers, intended to pay off the Persian debt, to found the city of Nicaea near the choke point to Africa. The local chieftains exact plans were lost as he and most of his advisors were killed by barbarians but it is believed that the chieftain wanted to gift Nicaea to Arabia presumably to secure a position for himself in the more secure Arabian tribe.

The founding of Nicaea was a major strategic mistake for all of Byzantium for several reasons. Nicaea drew a constant stream of African barbarians who killed thousands of Byzantine warriors that came to its defense from all parts of Byzantium. All cities were constantly producing warriors in an attempt to prevent Nicaea from falling to the barbarians. The Byzantine economy was in shambles due to the expense of having so many cities, none of which had grown because all of their efforts were into production, and due to expense of supporting so many warrior units. As a result even though the local chieftains had re-directed their research into hunting and eventually archery, it would take well over a thousand years before any archers could be made! Meanwhile there was no way to hand over Nicaea to the Arabs, who reportedly did not have enough military units of their own to defend it anyway, and the people of Nicaea overwhelmingly wanted to join the Greeks and were actively preparing to revolt! Finally because of the demands to constantly create warriors to replace losses to the African hordes, Byzantium would not be able to create a second settler in time to pay the Persians and thus have to forfeit Adrianople!

Justin could not think of a curse strong enough to vent his frustration at his predecessors, now that he had managed to reunite what remained of the Byzantium empire. Nicaea was lost either to barbarians or a Greek revolt while Adrianople would be lost to the Persians and if the African barbarians broke through Nicaea then all of Byzantium was probably lost. Justin felt that there was a strong possibility that he might be the last ruler of Byzantium...

Justin's contemplation is interrupted as a messenger arrives from Nicaea. "There have been heavy losses in Nicaea and a second wave of fresh barbarians that outnumber the defenders three to one have moved into place to attack. The few remaining warrior units are heavily damaged and cannot withstand the next attack. There are no other warriors that can reach Nicaea in time. Nicaea is about to fall!"

Justin cursed again. He had just sent a messenger to Greece to hopefully arrange a peaceful transfer of Nicaea to the Greeks in the hopes that they could hold back the African horde. There was nothing to do but to order the abandonment of Nicaea and pull back the wounded to Thessalonica. The African hordes have broken through to the Middle East!

Justin ordered the newly trained Adrianople workers back to the capital and sent a messenger to Persia giving them Adrianople as final payment for the Mecca Peace Accord. Byzantium could not defend Adrianople but perhaps the Persians could. May Allah have mercy on us all, the barbarians are coming!

[Netherlands (DoB)]

Nothing but the bad news is what is heard in River Village. Nether messengers from all the factions reports aloud what is happening.

Fire Mystics say The Oracle War is lost, and the Torino Romans are still not free. Our lands will soon be overun by the evil influence of France's new powerful religion, along with the influence of their Great spriritual Wonders. One by one, our poor people will give way to Franch influence.

Ocean Faction has resume again enslaving people, this time forcing them to work with no end in the frozen lands of Nation of Water. They reports that they need urgently fishers but the work was going too slow. So the leaders of Ocean faction orders the people to prepare the nets and boats night and day, in blistering winter wind and frozen rains and snow. Whoever refuse is tied to a stake and forced to stay and work. Many have died from the cold. Hands frozen to the nets they were making.



Even worse is that Ocean Faction land will soon be cut off from River Village by the Celtia men to the South. Ocean faction say they saw a group of women children and some men carrying sricks and bundles to make a settlement. When this is made the narrow channel of calm water will be within Celtialand and Our ships cant sail through the rough seas in the east. We must sail near the shore or we will sink. So now Ocean Faction is on they own with no help coming from River Village.

Now this latest worse news that poor battle tactics by our Byzantines allies have cause them to lose their entire army to barbarians. "If only we could send some help to their incompetent military leaders" is what Fire Mystics are saying.

Today are sad days in the hearts of Nether. All three factions report nothing but troubles and failures.

[France (DoB)]

The anarchy in Paris has continued for nearly 30 years, as various would-be kings battle it out for who will become King of France. Meanwhile Roman soldiers continue the siege of Paris and the crucifixions of the innocent.

One fervent Christian priest, Ignatius, has become known throughout Paris for his sermons emphasizing the Christian teaching of

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

and leading massive prayer services for the spirits of the Romans! Spurred on by his belief that even the ruthless Romans can be swayed by Christian values, Father Ignatius left the safety of Paris to approach one of the Roman legions with the simple Christian message of

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Many of the French are inspired by Father Ignatius faith and willingness to become a Christian martyr however most believe that the Romans are too heartless to heed Christian teachings and that Father Ignatius will simply become another Roman crucifixion victim. All of France waits to see if Christian values can truly bring about peace where diplomacy and pagan magics have failed...

[Byzantium (DoB)]

The retreating Byzantium army loses another unit of warriors and the city of Nicaea is razed by the barbarians however the barbarians seem content to simply drive the Byzantines from Africa and are not at this time preparing for a massive invasion of the Holy Lands. The Byzantine army is cautiously optimistic that they will hold Thessalonica as they build up its defenses. The Byzantine economy is back in order and their research into new military technology is proceeding at a much more rapid pace now that Nicaea is gone. The future looks bright however our Islamic brothers are warned that Byzantium is no longer attempting to contain the barbarians in Africa and some may reach their lands so they should prepare their defenses accordingly.

[Netherlands (DoB)]

The leaders of the Nether listen close to the messenger tell of the more crushing defeat of Byzantine Militry. "How can these incompetent leaders think they can lead or protect a people?" Fire Mystics are angered at the news and want to rush to help Byzantines but Nether faction is not agree. "We can not cross through Holly Roamers land to rescue Byzantines, the Holly Roamers people would never allow it even if the leaders did"

"We must ask the thinkers of Ocean faction and Nether to make some way to let all the people of other lands know that we mean them no harm. It must be some way that dont need any messenger to say. It must be some way that it will last even after the messenger is gone so everyone can knows about it."

"We must find a way to make our words last as long as stone"

"At least the slave revolts have ended and people are getting back to work in River Village."

[Byzantium (DoB)]

Messengers to Netherlands return with tales of repeated insults by the Nether leaders of Byzantium's leaders and military. The Nethers offer copper to assist in the defense against the barbarians on one hand while privately councilling war with Arabia and Persia on the other hand.

Suspicious of the Nether's motives, Justin orders a thorough interrogation of the few remaining elders familiar with the plan to settle Nicaea, which reveals that the plan to settle Nicaea was masterminded by the Nether leaders as part of a complicated and shady scheme to trade the city to the Arabs. This explains why they have such an interest in the outcome. The question remains whether the Nether's purposefully convinced the local leaders to overextend themselves to sabotage Byzantium or were the Nether advisors so incompetent that they did not realize the foolishness of their proposed scheme.

Either way Justin's advice to other leaders is the same, "Beware of Nether's bearing gifts or advice".

[China (DoB)]

Qin has returned from his travels abroad. Qin thanks his cousin Wil Hung for looking after his dominion so well. He will name the new settlement in his honour. Upon his travels he found new tools and learned new techniques in the art of war and love. He has also (after many years) taken in interest in the daughter of the Japanese leader. He gazed upon her in wonder, across the table as a truce was worked out between the two great Asian nations. His council men hopes a marriage will eventually wed both man and wife, and nations. Meanwhile hordes of Barbs have gathered to the east accompanied by packs of lions and bears who appear to be working in concert. Defences are being readied for the assault of the 1000's.

[Netherlands (DoB)]

Nether recieve word of the lies that advisors to Justin I are telling. Justin should behead such faulty advisors at once as the Nether have always been a true friend to Byzantium. Since ancient time Nether offered to send help against France when they invaded the land of Justin forefathers. Nether struggle mighty, hand in hand with Islamic allies to stop France from making the Death Oracle. Though we fail, we are one of Byzantium oldest most loyal friends and also a friend to all of Islamic alliance. Surely Byzantium can know this from asking any old man on the street.

"Send a messenger to Justin. Tell him to ask Arabia has the Nether been true and loyal to our word to Islamic allies? Maybe Justin because he is new leader does not yet know of what happened during his father and immortal grandfather's reign. Ask him what cause Nether could have to offer him the hardest stone ever known, the Caw-purr stone to protect his people? What reason other than true loyalty and friendship?"

[Byzantium (DoB)]

Justin listened to the Nether messenger and mused. The Nether and Arabs had never officially met and all communication between the two tribes was supposed to flow through Byzantium messengers but the Nether message implied that Arabia and the Nether had other communications that the Byzantines were not aware of. This may be why no Byzantines knew the details of why Nicaea was settled where it was and why it was supposed to be given to the Arabs. It could also have been discussions to do with the Nether's strange advice to go to war with Arabia and Persia to allow them to move through Byzantine lands. That could be a trick to allow the Arabs or Persians to attack Byzantine cities and military units to weaken them enough to allow the barbarians to take the cities. With the Byzantines eliminated then the Persians or the Arabs would be free to take the cities from the barbarians. None of the messengers to Arabia had returned since Justin assumed control of Byzantium so something unusual was going on.

The Nether track record was poor. They had convinced the Arabians to build the Oracle by promising to attack the French to slow down his production. They had even convinced the Romans to join the war against France. They had then reneged on their promise to attack once the French DMW magic wore off thus allowing the French to build the Oracle which meant the Arabs had wasted a lot of time building a useless pile of rocks. They had even left the Romans to fight the war against France alone.

The Nethers had then convinced the local Byzantine chiefs to build Nicaea which wasted many centuries of Byzantine time and resources. The Arabs, Byzantines and probably the Romans had all fallen well behind the rest of the tribes in terms of infrastructure and technologies due to the Nether's assistance. Perhaps that was the Nether objective, to slow down potential rivals...

Based upon past Nether actions, they seemed to have a pattern of agreeing to do something and then pulling out at an inconvenient point which meant the ally was left in a precarious position. If that pattern held true then the Nether could be offering the Copper with the intention of cancelling the deal while the Byzantines were in the middle of building a spearman thus wasting even more production. The Nethers were either incompetent or saboteurs.

A strange idea then occurred to Justin, perhaps the Nethers were secretly working with the French and the extremely vocal rivalry between the two tribes was merely to cover up their secret alliance. Everything the Nethers had accomplished seemed to help the French. Arabia and Byzantines, two strong French opponents, were weaker as a result of the Nether's advice while the French had managed to build two world wonders despite their "wars" with the Nethers. It would be an overly complex plan but not beyond the realm of possibility given the twisted mind of the evil French.
There were too many possibilities and Justin did not like the risks associated with dealing with the Nethers. Coming out of his deep thought Justin told the Nether messenger, "Thank your Nether leaders for their offer of copper however the walls of Thessalonica shall be built before we could make use of the copper and with those walls the city of Thessalonica will be safe from barbarians."

[Rome (DoB)]

Marcus, being informed by messengers from his friends in the lands of the Nether about what the new leader of the far away nation of Byzantium had said, hastily sent several men to the lands of the Nether. He told them to tell this to the Nether:

My friends in the Nether. I have been told that your people have been accused of being dealbreakers or incompentent, and I would like you to know that I will personally vouch for your honour. When Rome needed the Caw-Purr, you sent it to us, and we have trained many axemen using the Caw-Purr you sent us. Your assistance has been invaluable to us in the French wars. Please let the Byzantine leader know that Rome defends your honour and stands with you as we know you will not break a deal once made!

[Netherlands (DoB)]

The messenger told of Justin still being greatly suspicious of Nether words. Nether leaders cant believe the wild mixed up lies that fill Justins mind! He must be a very paranoid person to come up with all these. Nether have no knowledge of any deals of Arabia with Byzantines. Nether only talk with Arabia through Byzantine messengers. Byzantines told Nether that Arabia wanted Nether to attack France to help them build Oracle. Then Arabia betrayed Nether by delaying the project, but still Nether keeps their word and fights to stop France. Nether forgave Arabia for their treacherous delays and fought to help them as a friend would. Now Arabia sells the so-call "useless" rocks for a pile of failure gold that is deep enough to swim in, while the loyal and true Nether are left with nothing. Nothing but an even more powerful more oppressive neighbor, the evil France. Arabia promised Nether rich rewards for our help but no message has come from them since the Oracle has build by France. It is madness incompetence for a leader under siege from barbarian hordes to refuse an offer for weapons to defend his people, to instead cower behind walls, but if the foolish obvious imcompetent to lose their cities new leaders of Byzantines are too ignorant to except help when offer is given in friendship then we cant make them.Even more foolish is to turn your back on a loyal friend. As wise Trotseer once said "Good friends are worth more than shiny rocks"

[Netherlands (DoB)]

Fire Mystics are furious that France builds Oracle against all our resonable request. We demand that France promise not to build anymore Wonders in Paris and return the Torino's to Rome. Fire Mystics lead a battle group back into france to free the Torinos.