Domination of Barbarians [Diplo Game] [Story Thread 12 - March 2013]

[France (DoB)]

"Has the Nether King sent me any note or message with thanks for the golden sword I had made and presented to him?"

"No, Majesty."

"Then I have this response to that final question to the nations of the world."

A messenger is sent to the King of Nether with this reply:

Yes.

[Rome (DoB)]

"Aemillius!"

The Imam was studying an Islamic holy text when he heard the Emperor calling his name. He quickly rose up, and went out into the throne room. "Yes, my lord?"

The Emperor sat at his desk writing something, and as the Imam entered the room he put his quill away into the inkhouse. "Make sure this letter is sent directly to the court of the King of the Netherlands with all speed, and also make sure copies are made and sent to each of the other royal courts of the world."

Imam Aemillius bowed, and responded "Your will be done, my lord."

King Christofoor,

You and your advisors are spending a lot of energy on something that happened ages ago. The Imperatrix has been dead for more than a thousand years now. I have previously released parts of the ancient documents that were written between the Imperatrix and the French Kings who lived at the time, but I am afraid Rome lost much of the historic documents when we left the city of Rome behind, so I have none of the documents that were written between the Imperatrix and the Citizens of Greece, or I would release these as well.

You are the only one who have stated that you believe Minerva did lie and deceive you, and we have yet to see any leader supporting your claims. If any leaders do support the claims of the Netherlands, I ask that they please tell us in public, as I would like to know if any of Rome's other relationships has been soured by this. As for you, King Christofoor, I will ask you this crucial question: What do you wish to achieve from all this? A casus belli to attack Rome "honourably" when your military is prepared for it? A public apology for an interpretation of Roman actions that only you are able to interpret?

If an apology is what you are after, my interpretation of the documents are that Minerva traded the Great Spy to Greece in good faith, and that she was not aware of any deal between Greece and France. She was obviously aware that she had broken a deal, and that her actions were dishonourable. I doubt she would dishonour herself further, considering that she did state even privately to the French King that the Nether were age old friends of Rome. Nevertheless, this is all personal interpretations, as neither you nor I have no way of reading the mind of a woman who has been dead for more than a thousand years. I will regardless of my personal interpretation of the documents offer you Rome's sincere apologies for the fact that you believe otherwise. If you wish, you can ask King Louis for permission to visit the Wall of Louis and visit her grave so you can continue this debate with her skeleton. I will not mind, and no insult will be done toward Rome.

I consider this digging in the past pointless, but I will say this: Modern day Rome is ruled by me, Augustus. Not Minerva. Whatever actions Minerva did was her responsibility, not mine. You, and the other leaders of the world, are not dealing with Minerva, but me. Now, as I don't understand what you wish to achieve by all this, and I would much prefer to deal in present time and not the actions of a long dead woman, I would prefer that we could put this matter to rest, together with the ancient skeleton of Minerva in the Wall of Louis. If your intentions are to defame Rome, or if you wish a Casus Belli, I do not know. So, please enlighten us Great King of the Netherlands. As the absolute leader of a strong and manly nation, you surely have the balls to tell me and the world in plain words: What are your intentions with this exercise in archaeology? What do you want from me?

Augustus of Rome

[France (DoB)]

Another messenger is dispatched to Nether:

King Christiansen of Nether Kingdom,

You asked before about the possible delivery of copies of correspondence between Louis and other select leaders of the past, stating that you were willing to pay me for this.

The price for recieving copies of internal Royal correspondance, due to wear and tear on parchment, proper procedures followed by the librarians, cost of quills, ink and the code of conduct to be followed by the scribes, consulting of the Oracle upon those parts unintelligble by the passing of time, payment of food, wine and precious gems for the Oracle, cost of lodgings for servants awaiting the Oracle's answer, voluntary donation for services rendered to the priests, brings the total to a modest fee of 500 gold. Each.

Payment is expected in advance.

-King Louis XXXV

[Greece (DoB)]

Reports have arrived from Greek merchants vessels near the Persian coast that pirates have attacked local fishing villages and plunders all the fishing nets.

[Netherlands (DoB)]

A messenger arrives at the Palace of Louis with a Letter:

Great King Louis,

I thank you for the golden sword, as well as the kind treatment my messengers have received in your lands. I also wish to thank you for the recent publication of your historical documents which you certainly had no obligation to do. I have been searching for the proper gift to send as a statement of gratitude, but in the meantime, please accept my thanks.

King Christiansen

[Netherlands (DoB)]

Letter to Rome:

Augustus of Rome,

King Christofoor has been gone for centuries. It is quite laughable that you mock us for "arguing with a skeleton" make a stink about "who the current ruler of Rome is" and then address your letter to ancient King Christofoor.

[France (DoB)]

The messenger delivering the latest thank-you letter to Louis XXXV, is sent back with a beautiful female slave for the personal use of Christiansen the fair. With a visible facial tattoo, true marking of any slave in the Kingdom of Louis, none will confuse this personal and most lavish gift to the Nether King.



All slaves are now permanently visible by facial tattoos and the binding of their hair, marking them as property to whomever they serve. Slaves are baptized and tattoed in the temples at an early age and compelled to bind their hair in the manner of barbarians. Driven hard and used for menial labour, unless beauty makes them better served for personal house duties, mostly for the lords and ladies among the great merchant families in the Kingdom.

Since the order creating this cast of slaves was sent out, the King has been absent from public appearances.

[Netherlands (DoB)]

In response to the beautiful gifts sent by King Louis XXXV to King Christiansen, the "Ocean Mother" the finest Galley in the Netherlands fleet is dispatched to perform a naval display for the amusement of the people of Paris and their King.



Aboard the vessel is the personal royal gift to King Louis, a symbol of all the wonderful things Netherlands has to offer. A young female of the servant caste.



She is adorned with fine jewels from the Ice Island mines as well as fine furs from the New world. Upon seeing her, there are gasps in the crowd at her splendor. Surely the French King will find some amusement at this token of esteem from King Christiansen.

The navy of Netherlands has been very busy. Besides performing in exercises to amuse the French people and their King, the Captain of the Netherlands vessel "Thor's Blessing" reports being the first in the world to reach the southern end of the world. He reports,

Captain's Letter 750 AD

My King,

We have reached the southern pole of the world and found it to be a frozen wasteland inhabited by the children of Barbarous the damned. There is a large frozen continent that we have named "Antarctica." Sailing along the coast of Antarctica we have seen many roming bands of barbarian warriors, as well as the Galleys that they must have used to sail there. The Galleys are hostile and we have had to defeat them in combat, suffering many casualties and much damage to the ship.

We sent this letter by a passing Portuguese Carrack headed in the other direction as I am doubtful that we will survive this mission. The ship is leaking in several places, and my crew is starving, those that have survived the battles with the barbarian Galleys. Thor's Blessing is a fine ship, she has proven herself to be sturdy and seaworthy despite all the modifications done to her hull and sails, but I fear she is too damaged to survive another battle with the barbarians. I have a plan to sail into deep water to escape, but we must land somewhere to make repairs, find food, and recruit some natives to join the crew.

The last piece of good news I have for you is that by sailing west and then south, around the tip of South America to reach Antarctica and then West again to escape the barbarians we have found that the world is indeed round as predicted by our seers. Using two Portuguese devices aboard this ship called a Compass and a telescope, we can plot our location and we believe that we have traveled so far west that we are now closer to home than the Great Captain when his brigade was in Japan. The only explanation for this is that we have sailed all the way around the world.

With this new knowledge, I am hopeful that our Navy has a sense of pride that will instill in generations to come and inspire us to Naval excellence. Already my crew seems to perform at a higher level, making our ship faster than I thought was possible. This may be our only thing that saves us from the barbarians. But even if it does not, we have not died in vain.

In your service, and in the service of Netherlands, always,

Captain Eriksen, Royal Netherlands Navy

[China (DoB)]

OOC .. nice pic of what Netherlands have to offer.

[England (DoB)]

the following message is left on the Celtic coast:

We understand you have new leadership, we have temporarily closed borders as we await to hear from you. We hope to continue our peoples' close relations but after the madness that appears to have overcome the Celtic Celtic Colonies settlement we fear you people may have been bewitched by the barbarian horde. Hence this written message, as we know only the truly civilized have such knowledge so as to respond.

[Japan (DoB)]

"..of the Empire." said the messenger, clad as he was in the finery of his station. Realizing that her concern had momentarily clouded the information recieved, an advisor was called for, and the message repeated -for his benefit, of course- and then discussed with him. Seeing that the long awaited answer was in conflict with the current events, the reply was sent out in secret.

From the northern border came yet again news of great movement from the barbarians. Setting up ambushes in the forests, removing the trail of dirt roads leading to the south from beyond the mountain range, and hoping that the ritual of cleansing would be uninterrupted, Aiko dictated to a messenger the following public announcement for the tribes across the world:

"Soon you will hear about a war. It may already be spoken of by your traders and the unofficial shadow-agents of information. The war I speak of is that between Arabia and Japan. I make this public to you, to avoid any confusion on this matter.

This war is not as other wars. It is far from the aggression of barbarous against us all. It is far from the french aggression against England. Indeed, if anything it is a ritual of passing, a moment of clarity, the time for silent contemplation in honour of God. In his name a village that belonged to the barbarians of old, taken over and left by it's villagers, will be put to the torch and cleansed by my faithful fighters. To be witnessed by an Imam of Arabia, who oversee this ritual and gives the blessing of Allah to those who fell in the capture of the village. After this ritual cleansing, peace will be reclaimed and borders opened once more.

I also give praise to Persia, and especially to the company of Kavadh, an elite force of Immortals travelling through the lands. Without them, this ritual could never have taken place. I hear the accomodations of Qin are superb, and the service and joy of Persian folk a wonder to behold.

At last, the leader of france is now expected to admit the ignorance of his forebears, and take it upon himself to apologize to all of us who use slaves as a part of our custom. For after all the hatred, rage and insufferable outcry of slavers as a diminutive people, now france has irrevocably joined hands with us all, and through action delivered himself to be just another slaver. No different than any other, not greater or purer or less self-important. Just a man, like any other. Like the King of Nether who appears to be a more bosom friend of france than previously thought.

May peace and prosperity fill your hearts and minds with wonders of the world.

Sending the messenger on his way, she thinks to herself that a long time has passed without word from the Chasers of Sunset. After they joined the English navy, nothing has been heard from them for an age. Only the trade relation of Greece had news, coming with good contracts that were immidiately profitable.

The First Advisor comes with another report on the horse traders, and the day passes as new schedules are drawn up to better accomodate the increase in visitors from foreign lands. First the Persians, then the Byzantines, and now a Roman galley was sighted in the south. Truly, the world appeared to be smaller with every year.

[England (DoB)]

The rumors from the far east were fiercely debated amongst the crew of Tokugawa's Sunchasers - for they had little else to pass the time. War between some of the crew's ancestors in distant Japan and Arabia--both old friends of the English people--brought out long repressed frustrations at their current state.

For decades now they had plied the tepid waters around Victoria Island. The occasional trip north hauling bulk freight to NewFoundLand provided diversion at times, but it was not the adventure...the thrill of discovery... the ship was built for. Additional rumors that Nether explores had sailed so far west so as to have returned to the east - only added insult to injury.

But alas they remained stuck. With borders closed to the north and south they remained unable to explore more of the New World's coastline and fulfill their destiny of chasing the sunset across the sea.

Most frustrating was talk of a great western sea waiting to be explored. Some of the crew reported having glimpsed it while exploring the hills outside Wu others speculated it could be more easily reached across the strip of land between the Greek and Portuguese settlements. None, however, knew how to get there. An overland portage might be feasible, but not until the barbarian presence in the area could first be suppressed.

[France (DoB)]

The oh-so-Holy Rome has set up a training camp for their useless warriors just outside the Wall of Louis. No doubt filled with criminals and low-lives put upon by the indifferent courthouses in HRE, these men have been seen outside the noble city of Louis, with intent to not only prey upon those untarnished by criminal thought, but also with malice aforethought.



For the purpose of their placement is clear. Holy Rome intends to make war upon Louis. Self-doubt being so clearly evident in the spineless Caroli Magni, their so-called leader. Seeking some twisted form of justice after his own men and women sought to embrace the Kingdom of Louis, he is even now preparing to entertain his lower classes by letting them be true to their barbaric nature; by the rape of women, children and men, torturing them with cruel blades and the holy roman folksong named 'polka', slaughtering livestock before finally burning down the Wall of Louis in a selfish act of revenge.

I expect that no good will come of this. Not a single soul would dare go against the holy roman barbarians. Islamic jihad bil saif was a big empty nothing that had no effect. Leopold apparently prostrated himself personally on his knees before Caroli Magni, kissing the hem of his robe. Begging for mercy to let his people go home without further bloodshed. Princess Boran was at the time secluded with some foreign vassal in the otherwise empty summer cabin below a mountain, and the only solution for the russian czar appeared to be peace after the abandonment of his former islamic allies. So much for their vain belief in a character of flesh and blood. He must be turning in his grave knowing that not even a Jihad makes an enemy beware.

For nothing has been said after the Jihad was declared. Only a few years of stalemate followed by a swift peace offering. So much for the big words and boasts of the muslim brotherhood.

Messengers go out with these letters:

Nether King Christiansen, I thank you for your splendid gift. The majesty of your sailing vessels are a marvel to behold. May I ask for your aid my brother of the faith, in case the erratic and unstable Caroli Magni goes through with his folly and choose to attack the anointed Christian Kingdom of Louis?

Pedro, leader of Porto, if you still draw breath can you see through the fog and bring your forces to bear with me against the increased agitation of Caroli Magni? No Christian leader is less worthy of alliance than the Holy Rome at this time. He needs a word of caution and with your gifted bearing and countenance, your words could very well be what makes him see the light once more and stops him from chasing after imaginary enemies.

Duchess Himilce, from your lands could a swift retaliation come with but a word. Will you stand with me as a stalwart defender of the faith, in case the fool Caroli Magni chooses to unleash his criminal scum against the innocent faithful men, women and children in the Wall of Louis?

[Holy Roma (DoB)]

The time has come for payback. Holy Roman Empire was treacherously attacked from behind by the French, and now is the time to get what they deserve. There will be no mercy for the French renegades who abandoning their brothers to Christian teachings embraced the false prophet Mohammed. The war began and the Holy Roman Empire calls on to all Christian nations of the holy war against France.

[Holy Roma (DoB)]

War began, Holy Rome was again in Christian hands. In St. Peter was celebrated Mass at which Pope urged the Lord to support the just cause of Caroli Magni.