A Tale of Two Nations

[EQandCivfanatic]

-Outskirts of Rome-

The ground rumbles as the American catapults unleash their loads of fire. Flaming rock after rock crashes into the marble buildings of Rome, sending great towers and arches collapsing into fire and ruin. Roman soldiers are sent flying as catapult boulders strike among them. American archers fire volley after volley from the outskirts into the city and Romans return their fire just as steadily. American swordsmen and Greek hoplites march down the streets of the outskirts, driving all before them.

Two kilometers outside the city to the northwest, on top of a hill, the Americans have set up a base camp for the campaign against Rome. Tents have been set up and the remains of old fires can be seen scattered among them. Spread in makeshift walls around the camp is a company of well prepared pikemen ready for anything. In the center of the camp is General Scott with three aides, waiting quietly for word of the ongoing battle. Suddenly, a courier rides in frantically.

"General! The Romans have destroyed the Greek army north of the city, numerous archers are said to be reinforcing positions within the city." Soon after yet another courier arrives.

"General! A legion of Roman archers has massed within Ceaser's palace and have beaten back everything we've thrown at them. Our forces are regrouping on the old city walls."

With this, General Scott stands up and yells,"Pikes assemble, aides grab your swords, we've got a job to do!"

-Rome-

Admist the flame and ruin of the burning great city, Roman militia and American macemen battled frantically in individual battles for survival. However, through the midst of it the Americans were being slowly driven back, out of the city. Then when all hope seems lost for the American attack, the General and his regiment of pikemen come out of nowhere, pushing all before them. Roman archers, speared 2 or 3 at a time on the heads of he pikes and militia fleeing the well organized American force. The Romans are driven back to the great Palace of Emporers, head of the Roman government.

From a balcony, Ceaser himself watches the progress of the battle, seeing his military's pride defeated and destroyed by what he had said to his aides was a "puny barbarian force", all the time with a smile growing on his face.

The palace shakes as the Americans move up a battering ram against the main gates. One, two, three and the gates collapse under the pressure of a giant wooden log being rammed against it. A catapult ball destroys one of the Palace's great towers, sending it falling into the city below, and the archers who had been in it flying in all directions. With the collapse of the final gate to victory, the Americans swarm into the Palace stabbing, slicing, clubbing, and shooting everyone who stands in the way.

With the sounds of victory in battle around him and the dimming noise of battle, General Scott runs up the great stairway to Ceaser's chambers. Two of his aides proceed to knock down the door into the chambers and one of them is promptly stabbed by a legionary sword, one of the fifteen ever to have been forged by the Roman Empire. The other aide falls back down the stairs and out of sight as an arrow plunges into his shoulder.

Pushing aside the body of the dead aide, the general pushes his way through the door where he is confronted by a wounded and dying Ceaser. Ceaser, the man who had ordered the burning of St. Louis and the deaths of thousands of Americans in his own territory, now lay before the general. In the Roman's own language, General Scott says, "Thus always to tryants, Ceaser." With one swift blow, the general proceeds to slay the man who had cause such grief upon his nation.

-Lutetia, north of Rome-

The Roman line collapses as American troops swarm through the breach caused by the longbowmen. The Romans begin fleeing, dying in masses as American knights pour down on the retreating force. Another city falls to America.

-Hispalis, far east province of Rome-

Another sandstorm arises, covering the wreckage of the front gate of the city in a layer of sand. On top of the Imperial governor's mansion, the American white star on blue flag flutters in the growing wind. In the south, one can see American horsemen pursuing a retreating Roman army.

-San Francisco-

A great table was set up underneath the towering structure of the newly completed Statue of Zues. At the head of the table is Prime Minister Jefferson of the American Republic. To his left is the Greek ambassador to America, Ptolemy. To his right is the Byzantine Empress and "close friend" of Jefferson, Theodora. At the other end of the great table is a weary looking Roman in legionary armor, the new emporer of a reduced Rome, Marcus Antony. With the signing of the paper on the table, the Romans cede Vicoronium, Byzantanium (built on ruins of St. Louis, and for some odd reason named for the empire to the south), and Pisae to American control and the surrender of Rome to the Allied powers.

At long last the Great Roman War was over.

[Prince Jason]

Chapter Six – The Carthaginian Assault

A revolution took place in Greece following the American style. A republic was wanted, and Philip was soon to give up his throne in hopes for a better nation. The Republic was founded in Greece on 0 ad/bc. This marks the age change, and on 1 n.g. (New Greece) the new consul, Darius II (son to the former-emperor), was elected into office. He started a line of Consuls that were continuously elected into office for hundreds of years.

The first thing that the new Republic did was funding the massive project of a new palace in Chichen Itza, a palace to rival that of the Imperial Palace in Athens. This would serve as the seat of power to govern the conquered province of Mayaland and restore law to the area. Darius’ son would be the governor of this province, and would reside at this new palace. Also, a fairly good amount of self-governing was granted to the Mayans, they were able to elect their own senators to be represented in the Senate at Athens.

Meanwhile, Darius was beginning the rearmament of Greece and the future campaign against the Carthaginians who had always served as a rival to the Greek empire. He sent squires all across the country that recruited men to join the knight cavalry force, and certainly did not neglect the infantry corp. of medieval weaponry.

A military parade was soon held in Athens itself. Newly invented confetti were thrown from the rooftops of all the homes and buildings as the knights were marched through Athena way, the central street of the sprawling metropolis. People crowded the sides of the streets yelling and throwing flowers out into the walkway. They yelled words of encouragement and nationalistic remarks of Greece. They slandered against the Carthaginians who had for too long inhabited rightful Greek lands. Following the gallant knights came the infantry who were tightly organized into clusters of squadrons and marched completely in unison, with a drum major supporting the rhythm. The parade ended after three hours of marching and the army was then sent to Sparta to do the same thing.

The army then met outside the borders of the city of Theveste. The land surrounding Theveste was undeveloped and unprofitable. The marshes were among the largest marshes in the world, and provided little to no support to the small city that the Carthaginians used to claim the surrounding land. Sentries from Carthage had already spotted the large Greek army and the defenses were already dispatched. Greek intelligence reports large military movement within Carthage. They have sensed their doom.

The Greek general, Pericles, ordered for his army to remain clustered in case of sporadic guerrilla attacks. Among the marshes the men were resting, the general had had a tent set up for himself, and he remain inside with his corporals and the maps of the surrounding territory spread out upon a table. Examining the position, he began to lightly speak to one of the corporals when the horses outside began to neigh loudly and jump up kicking. One soldier was kicked, the others coming to his aid as he lay on the ground moaning. Then out of nowhere arrows caught on fire began to shoot through the camp, landing on flammable material and sometimes piercing a body. Soldiers began to shout and assemble. They were ambushed.

General Pericles whipped open his tent to see a scattered army being attacked from all sides be inferior forces – yet being unprepared, the Greeks were being slaughtered left and right. One man was running for his horse when he fill down with an ax halfway lodged into his back. Another was able to make it to his horse, only to find an arrow in it’s leg, making it useless. Pericles made his way to his armor and put it on, grabbed his sword, and began to cut his way to his horse. One Carthaginian stood in his way, and turned to find Pericles charging at him. Having little time to react, the sword easily sliced through his neck and the Carthaginian was soon looking at the ground. Flipping up onto his horse, Pericles searched for a pocket of soldiers to join and aid, but was unable to find one. Reaching down to the horn, he brought it to his lips and blew the sound of retreat. The knights began to make their way back to Greece, to safety.

Returning to Corinth, Pericles was briefed by his superior that all throughout the attack armies were ambushed similar to how he was. He explained that Darius was already ordering a regroup and the army should be ready to assault and take the city within the year. And so it was successful, and Theveste, along with the useless marshes and sister city to the east, fell to the Greek army.

Similar victories took place throughout Greece as the Carthaginians launched several small counterattacks that were suppose to topple the border Greek cities. Unfortunately they were unprepared for the newest weapon of the Greek army – gunpowder. Musketmen now lined the city walls and filled the city barracks all throughout Greece, as well as all knights were equipped with guns and muskets capable to firing at a high rate. The new cavalry ripped through anything the backwards Carthaginians had, and city after city fell. Soon only three Carthaginian cities were left after the capture of Leptis Minor; Utica, Carthage, and Sabratha.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Prince Jason]

Chapter Seven - The Greek Renaissance and Destruction of Carthage

The discovery of gunpowder was followed by many other discoveries, mostly made by a Roman immigrant to Greece named Leonardo. All throughout Greece people were celebrating a newfound meaning of life and how to live it. The founding of the Republic was really the beginning of the renaissance for Greece, a new form of government was needed for the newfound way of life. The government was of the people and for the people. Most of it was designed by Leonardo himself, but was taken from the American ideas of course.

Within Thermopylae a military redevelopment and shrine was under construction. General Pericles (who later lead the assault on Theveste), with permission from Consul Darius, was beginning a templar of the Knights of Greece. When it was finished it was magnificent; dwarfing anything else the Greeks had ever built. The building was made of mostly marble, giving off an incredible vibe of power and magnificence. The front consisted of four huge columns, which by themselves were double the height that anything else was in the whole empire, even the Palace of Athens. The columns rose to meet with two sides of a tilting roof, which intersected at the top of the structure. The door was made out of thick Macedonian wood that required four men and a intricate system of pulleys to open it. Inside, it only consisted of the main hallway. Marble columns, mimicking those outside, rose to support the roof lining the walls on all sides. At the very end was the shrine dedicated to Athena, goddess of war, and guardian of all knights. The shrine consisted of the coffin of Philip, the first to conjure up the idea of a medieval infantry upon a horse, and the famous emperor who died for his empire in the Great War in the North against the Maya. Along the coffin the walls were dedicated with flowers from all over the world, but mostly from Byzantine which was renown for it’s exotic flowers. The floor itself in this area was made of special metals from the Inca, and the Americans were the ones who supplied the burning incense that would burn for the existence of the structure and the Greek nation. The rest of the hallway was empty, a vast open space, with only murals depicting great battle scenes across the walls, and huge windows that were open fifty feet on the wall. A single step made an echo that seemed like an army was present.

It wasn’t long after the renaissance started when the first caravel was completed in Bonampak – the largest harbor in Greece. Admiral Circes was recruited by the Consul and was granted the funding for an adventure that would circumnavigate the globe – the first human to do it. Taking five ships with him and a crew of nearly two hundred and fifty soldiers (fifty per ship), he set sail west where a people called the Hittites were expected to dwell on a singular island. Upon departing from the last coast of the Incan city Vilcabamba, it took only a week for the ships to reach the Hittite port city of Hattusha. Trade began almost immediately, the new nation was eager for the technologies of the Greek and paid well for some simple technology that was already outdated by Greek scholars. Thus began to inconsistent relationship between the two nations of the Hittites and Greece. Circes continued his adventure, spending only a week on the island nation. Departing into the empty sea, he and his sailors were out in the sea for nearly a month. Mutiny soon swept the ships – men were claiming that they would fall of the face of the Earth, or that they would never reach another coast. A whole ship decided to turn back, and another was lost in a huge storm. Still other people on the remaining three ships died from disease. The admiral himself came down with a serious illness unknown to the ship medics. Luckily the ships reached the American city of Chicago in time, before the Admiral died. He soon recovered, and the treacherous journey came to an end three months later, after coast sailing, at the city where they left – Bonampek. Retelling their journeys, the sailors soon became legends of their time. The one ship that turned back to come home was never heard of.

Back to the man who made all this possible, Leonardo. He was a lonely boy in his child hood, growing up in the Roman capital of Rome before it was annexed to America. Following the battle that finally brought the city underneath America, he soon departed to Greece where he began his research in the library in Athens. Traveling throughout the world, but mostly in the cities of Greece and America, his life became one of a vagrant, a wondrous man in search of answers. He finally found his place in the Greek city of Thermopylae, where his work began to show. First by explaining how iron armor for a horse, and equipped with a man on top was a deadly fighting machine. This attracted the Science Development of the Greek Nation, who soon met with Leonardo and hired him to be the chief researcher of Greece. They funded him to build a magnificent workshop in Thermopylae where he was given enough money to thoroughly test his inventions. He soon led the military development of the Greek army, and discovered gunpowder and how to use it. He died at a miraculous age of ninety three, a very long life. He had started the great Greek Renaissance, which helped propel Greece into the modern age.

Of course during this time of enlightenment a war was still being waged in the south. Carthage was easily being crushed under the heals of the Greek cavalry and was soon reduced to three cities, none of which were Carthage itself, which was taken easily a couple years back. The first assault on “The Big Three” was against Utica where a temporary capital was in place. In the front of these gates, Pericles led an army that was the largest assembly in Greece. Outside the gates of the city, the two armies clashed. With the huge moral and will to survive, the remaining Carthaginians were quite a match. The battle lasted weeks, and soon it was shifted to inside the city, where door-to-door fighting continued. The town soon fell, but not without he largest Greek losses every sustained. All the losses of the war combined was still not as much as the losses in this battle. It would forever be known as “The Slaughter of Utica”.

After Utica fell the other two cities were no match. But what alarmed Darius was the small attack upon captured Carthage. The attack was easily repulsed, but it was an attack of Carthaginian cavalry. Earlier estimates and espionage reported that Carthage was still ages behind the technology needed for the cavalry, and still an even worse economy could not support much research, especially in time of war. Furthermore, the nation failed to posses any horses. This led many questions. The only other nations with the technology for cavalry that could have given it to Carthage were the Incans, Byzantines, and Americans. The Incans were known to not have any spare horses, and the Byzantines were importing their horses from Greece. There was no question, America was supplying horses to Carthage, and probably the technology for the cavalry. Darius soon dispatched the message to the Greek ambassador in Washington, who reported that all the leader of America had to say was that it was not America, and that they would help to find the real culprit. Realizing that a war with America was impossible, Darius ignored the cavalry and sent all armies to invade. Carthage toppled the next year.

Word soon reached to Darius that throughout the war the American populace was in outrage that Greece was invading Carthage. Protests throughout the country against the war was taking place. While Consul Darius still had full support from the government, he knew full well that if the same people wanted to get reelected into power, they had to follow their people’s attitudes. And so the creation of a Carthaginians refugee town was completed in southern America. This was by far the most traitorous thing Darius could ever think of short from war. The refugee camp allowed most of the Carthaginian government to escape and continue power from there. Darius knew that it was time to find knew allies.

Alliances were soon confirmed with the Byzantines, Hittites, and Romans, whom the Greek government allowed a settlement in the conquered territories, New Rome. Likewise, the American government secured alliances with the Incans. Peace was made with Carthage and the populace began to mourn the huge losses inflected from the war. And now a defensive war was being prepared for incase of an American attack. The once great ally of Greece had turned its back.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chapter Eight – The Great Depression

After the war many soldiers were decommissioned to come home and find little or no jobs, a run-down town, and a failing economy. With war looming over the horizon with America, many were afraid to invest, and even more were afraid to buy. And with the latest scare – a declaration of war by America, but then repealed and noted as a miscommunication with a diplomat – it even deepened the hole. Border troops were now showing up on the ancient unfortified border of Greece and America. The times were dark, and it kept getting darker.

Now referring to the first consul as his ancestor, Darius assumed command over the nation with a reelection into office. The inflation in Greece had reached four hundred percent, the largest in the world. There were many people who didn’t have homes, and even more veterans who were starving on the streets. In Athens alone the streets were crowded with those who could not find work. Looking for ways out of this, and finding sympathy even from a starch ally, Darius was looking for loans. The repayment of a fifty gold loan to America earlier was generously repaid, and the Incans, sympathetic to the Greek depression, bought dyes at a very high price to help the economy. The depression hit full swing at around 490 n.g. The unemployment rate was at a high of 30%.

This was in the midst of a new age, the Industrial Revolution, which made it worse. The Depression lasted years, if not decades, before the projects begun by the government and the loans taken from other nations finally began to even out the economy. One such project was the intercontinental railroad which began in Thermopylae and was planned to his Athens. Thousands of men were employed at put to work. Banks were also being built throughout the nation, including the Great International Bank of Athens, the main bank of the Greek government, and of the Roman treasury. Many other countries, including many of the largest companies in the world which are American, invested in this new bank. However, the most useful thing to end the depression, and which ultimately did, was the discovery of the huge coal deposits in Greece. With the need growing to supply trains world wide, the government began funding huge projects to unearth the unusually large coal deposits – largest in the world – and to sell the surplus to other nations. One such buyer was the Byzantines, who readily paid a hefty sum each year for the coal shipped to their country.

Meanwhile in America, they were going through a time of prosperity. With the new democracy installed, America was at full capacity. Many America goods began showing up in Greek homes, and even their army inventions were common in Greece. The new government promised that it was loyal to its ancient ally, and that the past government was not representing the people. Mends were made, and friendship began to be healed. News of an American expedition reaching the north pole motivated most Greeks to begin to rebuild their nation.

With trading on the rise, tensions lowering, and infrastructure rising, Greece was slowing pulling itself out of the hardest task it has ever faced. The depression was history, and Greece was in the future.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks for reading. (not done…lol).

[Paddy]

Savage...

Bring it on

[EQandCivfanatic]

Once in a while, one must take a look at what has happened to decide the future. America had grown beyond anyone's wildest dreams. No where else in the world can you find such a modernized nation. Not even the Greeks, the inventors of Steam Power and the heralds of the Industrial Age could even come close to matching American production. In great cities like Chicago, Atlanta, or Seattle, factories worked day and night to produce things faster and cheaper than anywhere else, in many ways thanks to the still only American invention of Replaceable Parts.

All across the newly founded American Union, formed after the democratic reform after the Renassiance, rails cross the nation in ways that no other railways could ever dream of. Unlike the filmsy connections between Greek cities, massive raillines connect to goods, services, mines, and farms, plus the cities themselves. The old journey from Washington to the provincial capitol of Rome, once taking four years to travel through the great deserts of San Francisco andhe mountians of Antium, now takes six days to travel the same distance by train.

Not only has the American Union thrived economically and productively it has progressed culturally as well. During the American Renassaince great writers like Sun Tzu or Shakespheare flocked to major American cities. Great population booms and immigration from third world countries like Rome and Carthage swelled the city of Philadelphia, location of Shakeshpeare's theater. Numerous immigrants from Greece and the Byzantine Empire also arrived in a constant flow across the borders. Philosophers also swelled the ranks of American great thinkers, like Adam Smith or Newton. American inventions slowly took their place on the markets as highest quality goods, surpassing the Greeks who managed to gain a scientific lead, despite even the reforms after the Renassaince which halted scienitific advancement for quite some time.

Not everything was peaceful and productive however. In the days of turmoil and reform of the Republic Government and the Second Roman War, President Monroe attempted to halt Greek expansion and conquest by providing the dwindling Carthaginian nation with horses and technology to build modern cavalry forces, as well as massive monetary support. Despite all this, the Greek advance was slowed, and breifly before his assassination and the installation of the Electoral Colledge and the one man, one vote policy, President Monroe attempted to install a new Carthaginian government in the recently captured Roman city of Neapolis, infuriating the Greek government. For a breif time as Americans allied with Incans, Greeks allied with Romans, Byzantines, and Hittites, and massive military forces were deployed to borders, the world seemed on the brink of the greatest war anyone had ever imagined. Fortunately however for all of the world, the American government managed its reform and formally apologized to the Greek government and removed the Carthaginian government from its final resting place. The Neapolis Incident, the greatest crises ever known, potential devastator of the world, had ended.

As the world advanced forward into an age of peace and prosperity, the Americans leaded the way through the Industrial Age. Despite the Greeks being the first to actually enter the new Age and to discover the secrets of Steam Power and the ideals of Nationalism while the Americans were still in the Late Middle Ages, the newly formed American Union quickly developed the backward conquered Roman provinces and developed new ideas such as Electricity, demonstrated with the new American Ironclads at the World Fair in Athens, and Replaceable Parts for machinery and weapons. American science skyrocketed with Darwin's publishing of the Theory of Evolution in Chinook, quickly followed with new ideas on the composition of matter and other deep scientific thoughts.

Now we reach today. The American Union leads the world in technology, and as new factories, hostpitals, and stock exchanges are built in American cities, production continues to climb to unimagined heights. New American weapons make America invulnerable to invasion or assualt, as no other army in the world can stand to the power of veteran forces, armed with machine guns, flamethrowers, and automatic rifles. The American culture continues to thrive as the universal sufferage movement gains strength in Washington and a great dam is nearing completion in Rome. Cathedrals, temples, and stadiums continue to be built in the developing Far East and Roman provinces.

We look around at the rest of the world. Greece, America's second place competitor, and the other major world power. They led the world into the Industrial Age and no doubt look to do such again if possible. The Incan Republic, the third place world power and possessor of a fairly modern and developed military. The Incans have never been involved in war before, but we cannot see the future. Then the Byzantine Empire, brethren to the Romans and one time allies of America, now allies of Greece. The Byzantines have been sending patrols along the American border and massing relatively large forces in positions to threaten American Union cities. Should these southern Romans want war we will give it to them. Finally there is the Hittites and Romans, the latter a two-city third world nation lagging behind in the Early Middle Ages as the rest of the world advances. The Hittites however are a mysterious nation, who had long ago been involved in a breif naval war with Greece and are isolated from the rest of the nations by the Hittite channel which separates the continent and the Hittite Empire. Only time will tell what effect these reclusive people will have on the world.

There you have it, the world rests at peace. For now at least the nations of the world have stopped fighting and started building. One day though, the peace may break, the question is, who will break it.

[Footballgod128]

very nice story, im loving it, i cant wait to hear the rest, by the way, what kind of victory settings are on, just wanna know what ways you can win, if you have to duke it out in the end, and can i see some more pics of your guys cities and land, thanks, keep up the good work

[EQandCivfanatic]

more pictures will come, also all victory conditions are enabled except for the new Wonder victory included in Conquests.

[EQandCivfanatic]

Sorry for some lousy quality but i had trouble cutting it down to size so i could upload it.

Here is the provincial key to the American Union as shown with the numbers on the map.

1- America, capitol is Washington.
2- Virginia, Capitol is San Francisco
3- Junglar, Capitol is Viroconium
4- Georgia, Capitol is Atlanta
5- Maine, Capitol is Detroit
6- Arizona, Capitol is Orlando
7- Sardinia, Capitol is Sardica
8- Rome, Capitol is Rome
9- Neapolis
10- Cumae
11- Ohio, Capitol is Pisae

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Interesting stuff please keep it coming

[Paddy]

Hi Guys, we are a hungry audience...

Could we have some more please...

[EQandCivfanatic]

waiting on jason

[Kaos XIII]

Originally posted by EQandCivfanatic
waiting on jason

JASON!!!

[Paddy]

will he be back soon?

[EQandCivfanatic]

he's on but doesnt want to write it seems, i'll write the next section soon on my own i guess.

[Paddy]

Originally posted by EQandCivfanatic
he's on but doesnt want to write it seems, i'll write the next section soon on my own i guess.

That is a shame that he may not want to write.

Hopefully he will come back to it later.

Good luck with the next section.