Domination of Barbarians [Diplo Game] [Story Thread 18 - September 2013]

[Greece (DoB)]

To the Ignorant Ottomans

We have cancelled all our trade deals with you, due to not answering our two official requests to stop investing in your spy networks against Greece.

Our next action if you continue to ignore our request is to close borders. After that all options are on the table if you continue to not reduce and stop your aggressive intel gathering.

Greece

[Greece (DoB)]

Reports have started to arrive to the capital that Muslim armies have been spotted marching through Greece lands in the south and camped outside Greek borders in the north.

[Holy Roma (DoB)]

Lord Godfried officially sewed the red cross on the mantle, his soldiers were already crusaders cried loudly: God wants it
Lord Godfried stood proudly in front of them and said:
Brothers Christians we all see countless Islamic hordes that surround our sacred empire.

They howl like mad dogs in front of our gate, but we know how to deal with the frenzied dogs.

You've probably heard that other Christian nations have left us, but nothing to share the glory anyone.

Soldiers brothers many of us will die, but to fall in defense of Christ is the most direct way to heaven. I received my orders from the viceroy of God and King Carl will perform while I'm alive.

[Persia (DoB)]

A story of belief, part 3

In the flicker of torchlight, among the crowd now less obtrusive than earlier in the day, Mughni walked along with his friend to the place where he was meant to go. Before they parted, he eyed his friend with concern. "How does your grandfather fare these days?" and noting that none were too close to see or hear them, Mughni replied; "He has the strength of an ox still, but Allah knows he has too much to concern himself about. My mother is not involved like she should be, for all that she is his daughter and only child. Sometimes I wonder if he wanted me to follow his way, and not my current path. I trust in Allah as does he, yet we have not spoken for many years." His friend smiled sadly. "You always walked your own way, and I hear that ruling an empire is not what the stories make of it. Rather too much paperwork and details to manage, never being alone and enjoying a good cup of wine. I know my way with the wares, but an empire? I leave that to those who have to deal with it." A hand-cart passed by, an old man walking it down the street to some unknown location. The squeak of the old barrelwheels making conversation difficult.

Mughni was lost in contemplation for a moment before making his farewells, and they parted before the entrance to a fine taverna, splendid in form and colour, known by the sign The Laughing Boar. He entered the building still thumbing the token given to him by Shah Jahan.



As his friend passed by the tavern on his way home later that night, he happened to see something in the dark behind it. Curiosity getting the better of him, some cups of wine bolstering his spirit as well as his purse getting fatter from deals made with men of repute, he moved slowly into the shadows, giggling silently to himself. Perhaps here was a wench getting frisked by one of the richer clients of the tavern? Would be a merry moment to scare them and run, was the thought before his face went pale. In the shadows were two men holding onto a third, and the third man was white from loss of blood, the fine red running through shirt and to the ground where more blood and mud was mixed. Holding his mouth, barely keeping from throwing up and going away from this horrible scene he caught a glance at the dead man's face. It was Mughni! Shocked to his core, frozen in place, he was not noticed as the two men dumped his friend on the selfsame cart that was dragged by them earlier that evening. The old man complained about the weight before moving on. Leaving the two men alone, with the hidden shadow listening to their words.

"Will he not be missed?"
"Our master has power far beyond the likes of us. According to him, this man has not been seen with his family for a long time. All that remains is to take out his mother. Then, the muslim filth will be thrown into chaos and the glory of lord Christ and King Carl will break them in a crusade to end all crusades. God wills it."
"But his mother-"
"She's a woman. Weak. When he joined the priesthood, he foreswore all rights to his family heritage. Even his younger brother lost affection."
"You know much of these things, friend."
"Hah! You would too if you were as close as me to the likes of Shah Ja-Hhhhgggg!"

A quick thrust, and the knife plunged again into the body, silencing it.

"You should not speak too boldly, my friend, nor too soon. You never know when a King hears what the commoner whispers in the night. Are you listening to me? No? I would love to tell you more about our payment, but I fear I will take your share for myself. All you do is inconvenience me, really. I must now call for another turn of the coldcart, another payment just for you. I should leave you to rot but that would not work out for my contacts in this prize establishment. May you rest among the fishes."

As the killer closed the door, Jamaal went to his knees and retched, trying his best to stay silent. Soon after he was running away, not daring to stop for anything short of Ameera Shamara herself.

[Persia (DoB)]

Holy Roma, Aachen, Moscow, Kirienko, Balikpapan, Makassar, Papua, Braganza.

These Muslim cities are the claim of Persia. The crimes of HRE are too long to adress, but keeping it simple the claim is thus:

Your horrid behaviour and persecution of Muslims must stop. No longer will any city where Muslims live be under the control of HRE. Your people have risen against the slavery you have forced upon them, and a caste system has been created to improve the daily life of Romani citizens. Through this, through the cruel devise that the Romani King has subjected his people to experience, Persia can no longer stand in silence, unaffected. War is declared as a last resort, and the surrender of cities already named is the price to pay for the crimes committed by HRE.

The year is 1528 AD.
The name of this war is Jihad.

~Sayyadina Shamara of the Persian Empire~

[China (DoB)]

The Final Barb War

Qin had not written in his journals for some time. Ever since the brief but bitter war with Japan. With the help of Persia, the treatment of Aiko and her eviction as Empress of Japan was avenged. A distant cousin arose to quell the barbarian hordes and peace was made with Japan over 200 yrs.’ ago and still lasted. A new agreement guaranteed it would last for longer. Qin and Aiko hoped war would never occur again with her brothers and sisters again. A number of Japanese xpats had even returned to their homeland and reports of a good life had encouraged more emigration.

Fortunately life in China was now blooming. Qin and Aiko had been proclaimed eternal Emperor and Empress of China. For over two months all citizens set on a pilgrimage to celebrate the proclaiming. Religious buildings of temples and monasteries were being constructed in all his cities. Their ally Persia has spread the one true religion to his peoples and he had agreed to join the Muslim brotherhood. His peoples were better educated and their research into new technologies, that had previously been slow in coming, were advancing and all benefiting.

Qin personally had little time for religion and its belief in the afterlife, as he and his wife were immortal. His people had accepted his strange habits of preferring the dark to conduct official business. It wasn't that he couldn't venture into the light, it was just uncomfortable – like an annoying itch on the skin when the sun shone. Qin normally hunted with Aiko in the predawn hours, no longer consuming human blood but preferring that of bears, foxes and wolves. The giant panda was the best and when captured could be trained as an adorable pet, for both enjoyment and sustenance. The city of Beijing had founded a zoo near the Royal Palace for everyday people to see the bears and other animals but a few of the zoo keepers knew the real reason for the animals proximity to the palace.

Qin today traveled with a large army through the Japanese countryside. Well-wisher’s lined the streets cheering and showering his men with flowers and little bits of raw fish in seaweed called Sookie. He didn’t understand but all his men enjoyed eating the Sookie. He travelled north to the barbarian city that his scouts had reported housed the ancestors that defiled Aiko. They had fled there and started a new barbarian civilization in the wild lands. He would not rest until all that shamed his wife were punished. This was the final war of the barbarians. It seemed as much as things had changed, they remained the same for Qin – his rage at the Barbarians was everlasting.

[Persia (DoB)]

War is the true hell on earth. No army walked to the fore without anticipation or fear. A swift move to establish a Persian presence in the North was pummeled to the earth by the Romani army and their siege engines. After moving into the city of Moscow with the main army of Persia behind him, Gaius Marius was shocked to find the gates being barred from the outside by partisan forces belonging to the enemy. A move never heard of before in the history of battle. Sacrificing the inhabitants to annihilate the enemy army. Even with the great number of catapults brought inside the walls, it was extremely difficult to direct fire above the walls made to keep the assault out. But assault they did. Knowing the terrain, knowing how the city was set up, having abandoned it as a ruse the Romani unleashed hell upon the entrapped forces of Persia within. A song was later made about this gruesome massacre, titled The Rains Of Moscow, popular among all Romani and a sure way to bring unease to any Persian. When the gates were forced open from within, enabling Gaius Marius to rush out with his elite Knights, it all ended on the field of battle surrounded by the mainstay of Romani macemen.



When word of this reached Sayyadina Shamara, it is said she did not sleep for several days after. The taking of Aachen, Kirienko and Moscow was as ashes to taste with the enormous loss of life in the north along with her most trusted and able General. The borders being shut by Greece in a misunderstanding caused a griefstricken Shamara to solitude where she dwelt for weeks alone, suffering from great paranoia and fear of losing all that she held dear. For a long time she moved, hidden, staying far away from official dealings.



The delay created by her insistence to stay alone without outside intervention made progression against the Romani slow and confusing. Reports came from the experts in covert movement, stating that the Romani army in the north was largely unscathed apart from the near extermination of their siege engines. Gaius Marius had made one certainty, that the siege engines burned for what they did to his army before he died.

A balance was long delayed but the sun shone upon her eyes one day, with the aid of Allah she came back to life and discovered that Greece did not intend harm upon Persia after all. A suggestion was made and sent out, then a letter to the Romani King, making the terms known yet again for peace to be known to him and his people. All cities of Muslim faith to be given to Persia. Forces moved in the world, and many were affected by the markings of Persian and Romani alike. Now the silence fell once more, waiting for what the king would decide in his pride.

[Holy Roma (DoB)]

excerpt from letter to Lord Gotfrid to his brother,
Win, Win ..... tens of thousands were slaughtered by Hagarens to Christian swords... Neither Islamic leg stain already northern part of the empire .... now we come ..... ..... Aachen.... where Emperor ..... come soon.

[Netherlands (DoB)]

A messenger from Netherlands to Persia carries an unsealed letter in a splendid leatherbound binder on the road from River Village. Obviously the letter was sent out in great haste, the seal having been forgotten. The messenger can not resist peeking as he has never been given a letter where the King's scribe forgot to seal it.

As he reads it taking care not to damage or smudge the pages he sees the letter to Persia begins...

Ameera Shamara,

We express our regret at the passing of the wise and powerful Sultan Astrakan. He truly presided over what can only be called a Golden Age in Persia. I write to you now concerning the second planned expedition of the famed Cardinal Sean Jean and his trusted and equally famous, if not infamous companion Sir Eron Aaron "the Relentless". Their voyage will take them once again through Persian lands and we ask again that you safeguard their passage

"Ho there! A royal messenger! Stop sir I have need of news from the Capital!"



The messenger was broken from his thoughts by a voice. A strange sight. Approaching him clad in full chainmail was a squad of fully armored Macemen! Wearing Netherlands colors. The messenger quickly put away the letter he was illegally reading and was instantly amazed as he was unaware that Netherlands had any macemen in their ranks but the helms they wore had the unmistakable orange-green swirl in the metal of Nether forges, from a mix of Copper from the River village hills and Iron from the Sandanavian ranges, both tarnished by seawater, making a beautiful swirl of green and orange. This tell-tale sign of metal forged in Netherlands was called "Fathersfire" after the great Father Mountain range across the Norsesea.

These macemen were armed with equipment forged in Netherlands, not purchased from abroad. The famous mission of Cardinal Sean Jean was already bearing fruit.

Recognizing the look in his eyes the captain of the squad smiled and said to the messenger, "We are still backwards, but we are making progress. Now what news?"

[Holy Roma (DoB)]

Official release of Lord Godfried, commanding the troops of Sacred Roman Empire: To all friends and enemies.

King Charles the Bald had disappeared in the treacherous capture of Aachen on Islamic dogs. Currently Sacred Roman Empire no political leader.

After two days lords and bishops of the empire will gather to elect a new emperor.

We got some peace proposals by the Islamists, but they were obviously written by a man possessed by madness, while our hands have the power to hold swords such conditions are unacceptable.

May God help us.

[Persia (DoB)]

Public message to all nations:

A Romani counter-offer, demanding the cities of Susa and Pasargadae along with Aachen and Kirienko has been denied.

Know that King Charles the Bald was found attempting to set fire to his own city, rather than let any muslim take control over it. The dreadful loss of life carved in history by Ricardo the Butcher is something Persia will do anything to avoid. No matter the scale. First my father's death, then the massacre of the Persian northern army, now the news that the King himself sought to burn his own people to ash. It has hardened me beyond what I would think possible.

The people rose up against the King after he attempted to burn his national cradle in spite. There is no more slavery in Romani lands. Instead they have taken heed from the Greek way of life, establishing an impromptu caste system. It is not perfect, but it shows that they are a people not idle, not to be disrespected. It falls too many times on their leader. History has the french condition named for the ultimate horror that a leader can put a people through. I pray that this condition does not have a grip on the entire Romani nation.

Peace be upon you.

~Sayyadina Shamara of the Persian Empire~

[Holy Roma (DoB)]

Official statement by Lord Godfrey:

We realized that our grief king has found his death in the flames of Aachen. We understand that he fought to the last of the barbarian hordes overran his city. We will never forget the sacrifice of our leader.

Grand Assembly of Lords and bishops chose as our ruler my humble self.

I humbly accepted this honor and will now be run under the name of Gottfried I Defender of the Faith. I pray to God to give me the strength to protect its children.

[Greece (DoB)]

The Greek golden age, which has lasted for five decades is coming to and end. We invite all foreign nations to come to Greece and celebrate with us.