History of the World 4.0

[Berzerker]

Little is known however of the mysterious land rumored to be occupied by a savage race of "Aboridgineies". These sinister barbarians' daft use of spelling has set upon the great kingdoms of the world like a plague.

Not so fast, the Indian people under the guidance of Berzerker the Explorer has already established a foothold in Australia and New Zealand and the Aborigine stronghold is about to fall to Indian archers and horsemen. Our mapmakers have charted half the land of these Barbarians and see them as a mere nuisance. But captives taken from this race have informed us of lands to the distant east and our explorers are readying themselves to set out for these lands of gold and fire...

Having established contact, peace, and in one case, an allegiance with the Tartars, Serbs, Egyptians, and Chinese and borders along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the Hindu Kush, and the swamplands of Burma, the Indian people are secure in their new homeland and look forward to trading with the peoples of the known world (but not those barbarians who unsuccessfully attacked us in "the land down under".

The ocean off our southern coast has been given the title of "Indian Ocean" after our people and the late summer storms we see each year that give life to our semi-arid lands - known to some as "monsoons" - have been given the nickname "the Berzerkers" after legendary warriors from the Aryan race whose decendents founded our homeland.

Hey you guys, I was stuck hotjoining when y'all decided to quit so I couldn't manage my civ in between turns and lost connection on my turn before I could move all my units. So when we resume, don't advance to me so I have a chance to change production.

[Rasputin]

and with a wave of hand the Great Raz did change things for ever......

More tribes of nomads suddenly appeared in the hot sandy desert.....

[deity]

Here's the 1100BC pg for you Raz.

You might want to edit it a bit and add a pic to it.

[deity]

Here!

1100BC pg...

[winzity]

As I already told deity

I can't play this weekend, but I will play all the following weekends. So please note the player that will play trators now is only a one session sub. I am the regular player! Please keep that in mind, and don't break treaties and such stuff...

See you all next week!
I am sorry for that I can't play this week.

[OzzyKP]

The embers from the funeral pyre have cooled, and the burial mound has been built high with fresh dirt. Two commoners from the London countryside come to pay their respects to their late king:

"Hurry up now, we ain't got all day"
"Well if ya didn't insist on bringing all these damn flowers it wouldn't take so long."
"Well he twas our king, tis only fitting to honor him proper."
"Tweren't my king."
"Pssh, why twasn't he?"
"Ya know, I heard he tweren't even English?"
"Says who?"
"Aoefin told me he was Scandinavian, a bloody Viking."
"Aoefin wouldn't know his arse from a pile of Scottish dung."
"I don't see why ye honor King Beowulf, he has lead us to the sewer. The nations of the world laugh at the puny, backwards English, and by right they doth."
"Twere it not for King Beowulf we'd be even worse off. If Captain Grendel had his way we'd be even worse off than the pathetic Egyptians. You should bless the King for his diplomatic victory over the hostile Grendel."
"Tis a fable my dear. A mere fantasy to boost the old King's ego. Aoefin tells me Captain Grendel was a ***** cat, and the one who truly held all the cards that caused 'the great King Beowulf' all the trouble was in truth Grendel's mother! Our great and noble King Beowulf's greatest fight of his life was against an old bag of a woman."
"Lies you say, you and that fraud, Aoefin should be flogged for the disrespect you pay. I'll not hear another word from you."
"Just lay the flowers so we can go, woman. The sooner we leave this dreary place the better."
"We live in England, all places are dreary."
"Just move woman."
"That’s it, you're sleeping with the pigs tonight."

[OzzyKP]

The next morning.

"So how'd you like sleeping in the barn?"
"The hayloft was fairly comfortable. A ***** cat came and curled up next to me."
"A what cat?"
"A ***** cat."
"I can't understand you, you are muffled."
"Can you hear me now?"
"Yea."
"Good."
"But its just when you say that blank cat."
"Oh you mean ***** cat?"
"Yea, thats it. Why do you keep muffling that word?"
"I'm not, I'm just saying it normal."
"Egads, the gods have placed a curse upon ye!"
"A curse?"
"Yes, for the disrespect you paid King Beowulf, his spirit has come back from the grave and cursed you. I told you to respect our king."
"Oh ****, I'm ****ed. **** you Beowulf you ****head!"
"It is worse! You are cursed!"
"****!"

[OzzyKP]

OCC-

I can say ****head but not ***** cat?

Thats pretty stupid.

[OzzyKP]

Later that week at the market.

"Aoefin, so you're the one feeding my husband all these ideas about our late king."
"All true ma lady."
"Because he repeated your foul lies my poor husband has been cursed from beyond the grave. He can't talk at all now."
"Impossible."
"Show him dear."
"**** ** ***** * ****** ******."
"My thats pretty bad. I tell you what, cause I like your husband, and since he seems to be in a rather dire situation I'll let you in on a few secrets."
"No more secrets, you've caused enough trouble."
"Wait ma lady, this is pretty good. Its about the Egyptian King."
"Hmm, go on..."
"I'm not sure if you've seen a picture of him, but that hat he wears is rumored to compensate for...other areas."
"No!"
"Yes that is the word. Apparently he has 24 concubines and is unable to...perform adaquately with any of them."
"No wonder he wears such a big hat. That also explains all the obelisks in Thebes. That poor man. I guess he doesn't measure up to the other world kings in more ways than one."

[OzzyKP]

OCC-
Sorry Raz, I just had to respond to that picture. hehehe.

[Ljube]

The early Serb history

In the beginning, there were three Serb tribes in the mountains north of Danube. The land was barren and the climate harsh; unfitting for permanent settlement there. So the tribes decided to move. Being to numerous to settle all in the same spot and also having different leaders and agendas, these three tribes went in different directions in search for good, fertile land on which they could settle.
One of the tribes went east and they were since known as the Eastern Serbs or the Russians. This was a tribe of skilled mounted warriors and they were able to cover large distances fast. Soon they found themselves in a land of plains already settled by another tribe. This local people called themselves Varyags and offered the Russians to settle in the same valley. The Russians accepted the Varyag offer to stay there and to live together in a multicultural community which soon became homogeneous and unique in Serb world because of the mixture of Russian and Varyag culture.
Another tribe went west and they became known as the Western Serbs or the Poles. They were sometimes referred to as Czechs in writings of later time. This tribe decided to settle on the coast of the Northern See, near the lush forest full of game, which only added to their prosperity. Living in the land of plenty, freed from all problems of human existence, they soon entered an era of science and advance unprecedented in the Serb world. They discovered alphabet and they wrote their texts on the bark of a special type of tree called “Bukva” in Serbian (also called beech in English) and this discovery aided in spreading the knowledge among all Serb tribes.
The third tribe went south and settled in the fertile valley along the river Danube and near the Black See. They were known as South Serbs or simply Serbs, for they stood the test of time and eventually united the scattered Serbs in one mighty nation.

But this unification did not come without a struggle. The local lords were powerful and didn’t want to waive their ranks and local titles. They resisted any attempt at forming a centralised government. The three Serb tribes were often involved in wars among themselves. The perfidious Serb neighbours, the English understood the Serb internal struggle all to well and seized the opportunity to grab as much of Serb land as possible. Faced with possible extinction of Serbs at the hands of the merciless English, Captain Grendel, leader of Poles decided to strike a deal (the treaty of Belgrade) with Great Chieftain Vukan, leader of Serbs and recognise him as the supreme leader of all Serbs. This was only the beginning of the struggle since worse was still to come because the Russians refused to accept the terms of the Belgrade treaty and were in the state of war with the united Serbs for more than 100 years. It was not until the Supreme Chieftain Stefan Nemanja, the founder of Nemanjic dynasty that Serbia stood united for the first time in history.
In his negotiations with the fearsome English, Captain Grendel, conscious of Serb utter weakness, employed a combination of bullying and stick and carrot tactics in a feeble attempt to conceal the terrible truth – Serbs were unprepared for war and could have been destroyed by the English if only they had chosen to do so. Luckily for the Serbs, the English leader Beowulf proved pacifistic and hadn’t used the weapon of horror that had been at his disposal – the Elephant hordes. Unknown to peace loving, openhearted Serbs, this weapon of mass destruction targeted the Serb capital throughout the negotiations. Serbs have never seen the large animals and would have surely run in fear at the very sight of them, had the English deployed them on the battlefield, but king Beowulf was pleased with the deal the Serbs had offered since they had effectively surrendered entire Europe to the infidel, barbarian, filthy, stinking English dogs.

Relish in our land – said captain Grendel to king Beowulf and went east never to return again, for he had been branded traitor of the Serb cause by Great Chieftain Vukan for his failure to secure a better deal with the English and executed a week after that.

Serbia was still not ready to face the English, so wise Vukan attempted to appease the mighty but ruthless neighbours with continuous gifts. Since the English were a backward nation, savages really the gifts they needed the most to enhance their society were the social sciences. The Serbs helped the English compile their first code of laws and instructed the English in the benefits of central government and taxation showing them how to coin their currency. This has elevated the English above the barbarian state they were in before and reduced the danger they posed to the evolving Serb nation.

And 100 years after the death of the Great Chieftain Vukan, Stefan Nemanja came to power and united all Serb tribes in a bloody campaign that lasted 20 years. During the absence of Nemanja from Belgrade, his eldest son and successor Vukan performed the duty of Regent of Serbia. He had previously been appointed Duke of Zeta, the area south of Belgrade with Budva as its seat, so he had had some experience in government. Nemanja was absent for a very long time and Vukan started to call himself the Supreme Chieftain of Serbs planning to overthrow his father. His younger brother Stefan opposed this move and was soon forced to flee because Vukan planned his assassination. The youngest brother Rastko was committed to a new philosophy that was brought to Serbia by a man called Peter and was called Christianity after the name of a dead Jewish carpenter the followers of this teaching worshiped. He was no threat to Vukan and soon he went to the Monastery in the city of Ras and became a monk. He was known under the name Sava ever since.

But Vukan was still unable to oppose the victorious troops of his father, so he pledged allegiance to Nemanja and returned to Zeta where he continued to rule. At that time, Christianity became the official religion of the Serbs and all members of ruling family were baptised and professed the faith in one and only God. Idol worshippers were prosecuted and the statues of Bogun (the former supreme God of Serbs) and Vesna (the Goddess of spring and agriculture) were destroyed and temples turned to churches.

At the age of 60 Stefan Nemanja decided to abdicate, but he did so in favour of his second son Stefan. Nemanja went to the Ras Monastery, where he joined his youngest son and became a monk changing his name to Simeon. Vukan accepted the deal at first because of the support the Egyptian pharaoh Art of War was offering to Stefan. But after the death of Simeon and the fall of pharaoh Art of War engineered by the evil Azandes, Vukan raised an army and headed for Belgrade to take what he felt was rightfully his. The big civil war was avoided because of the intervention of Sava, who managed to make peace between the older brothers. It was only a year before that, that the bishop of Rome (also called the Pope) elevated the church of Ras to the lever of archdiocese and Sava was elected first Serbian archbishop, so he used his God given position to seal a concord that would last for another 100 years. Vukan would remain hereditary Grand Duke of Zeta and Stefan would be crowned King of all Serbs. Stefan was since known under the name Stefan the First Crowned.

This could have been the time of great prosperity for the Serbs had the insidious Pope jealous of Serb successes not elevated the diocese of Bar to the level of archdiocese at the same time. The Duke of Duklja (the area around Bar) felt he had the same right as Stefan and, finding an accomplice in Archbishop Peter, arranged to be crowned in Bar the next year as King of Duklja.
The developments in Duklja were largely ignored by the central government of Serbs since according to the feudal code introduced in Serbia during the reign of Stefan the First Crowned, all vassals regardless their titles were obliged to swear their loyalty to the King of Serbs. So did the King of Duklja, Balsa I Stratimirovic Balsic swear his allegiance to King of Serbia Stefan.

Near the end of Stefan’s rule Serbia stood as the world’s foremost power, but the lack of space for further expansion set the stage for the sad events that were about to come.

[atawa]

Proposed border.

:

[OzzyKP]

King Arthur has ordered Ebraucus to once again create a world map for all the civilized peoples of the earth. The land down under has been finally charted and is now included.

[atawa]

Why doesnt this map show all city's and teritory's?

EDIT:

[OzzyKP]

I make the maps with an intention to pretty up the information we already know rather than to try and expose new information. I know that colonization of new worlds is something players often wish to keep underwraps, at least initially. This is why I didn't include Australlia on the map from last week. After seeing Berz had traded maps around and didn't mind the info getting out, I included it this week.

I think standard ethics of playing apply to diplogames as far as no map peaking between sessions. I feel I push the envelope when I make these maps, but I do so with the utmost discretion. Before revealing the full map I expand the corner map full screen so I do not see actual cities, unit positions, and other information on the regular screen.

Even so I am wary of how much information people want to get out and I would be perfectly fine with waiting on maps until a few sessions into the game and then doing a retrogressive collection to better preserve geographical secrets. But everyone seems to enjoy them, and wanted me to start doing them at the beginning so I obliged.

Those are my thoughts regarding the maps.