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By the Rivers of Babylon
The city of Babylon rose from the chaos and formless void and from it sprang the civilization of Babylon, with the fair, just, but vengeful Hammurabi leading it into the bright future.
The Babylon civilization began quickly, the people willing to strike out and establish new settlements as their king commanded, and soon the valleys and hills of Bablyon showed the signs of civilisation. All too soon, to their north, the Babylonians met the Zulus who showed an interest in exchanging technological know-how and the Babylonians were more than happy to oblige, sure that in the long-run they would benefit more than would the Zulus, especially considering what the Babylonians held in store for their neighbours in the form of armies of bowmen.
Around this time, however, the Babylonians met the barbarian tribe of the Germans to their west, and started a very tentative friendship with them. Hammurabi ordered that the time as nigh for removing the Zulus as any sort of territorial threat and the bowmen began to be trained and sent north to the mountains just south of the Zulu city of Isandawahl. The discovery of iron and the ability to work the metal into swords also led the production of a few mighty swordsmen who would put the final nails in the coffin of the Zulus.
However, just as the attack was about to begin, the armies of bowmen and swordmen swarming over the mountains south of the Zulu empire, the German leader, Bismarck made a tragic mistake. He built two cities in territory that Hammurabi had decreed was Babylonian territory. With an army in the field, Hammurabi ordered it turned toward the west and quickly assualted and secured the new German cities of Munich and Frankfurt. The attack so stunned the German that he was willing to not only ask for peace before the Babylonian armies could do more damage, but he was willing to pay in gold to secure the deal.
With momentum on his side, Hammurabi decided that the Zulus would be granted a reprieve, as long as they remained on their side of the border. This they would not do, and so they signed their death warrant, though it would be many years before that debt was finally called due.
Hammurabi quickly build up a new army of bowmen and swordmen, a veritable swarm of them, and when he felt the time was right he swept down on the Germans again, taking their capital and cutting their empire in half, rendering them impotent. Hammurabi was, as stated previously, a just ruler and once again he allowed peace to exist between the Babylonians and the Germans, knowing that sooner rather than later the remaining cities would choose to join the flourishing Babylonian civilization.
Meanwhile, Shaka of the Zulus was foolishing sending out settlers to settle the fringes of the Babylonian empire in some vain attempt to expand his pathetic civilization into something to rival the greatness of his southern neighbour. Needless to say, once the residents of these piddling cities saw the greatness that was Babylon, they overthrew their sad leaders and not only joined the Babylonians, but drew up their roots and migrated to the great cities of Bablyon.
Soon the great Babylon thinkers discovered that by mixing three components in the correct proportion, they were able to make an explosive compound and weapons that could fire metal balls across long distances. Unfortunately, there was not a single bit of one of the necessary compounds within the bounds of the Babylonian empire. Despite attempts to use numerous other compounds, it became clear that nothing but what the thinkers called ‘salt-peter’ would do for making these new weapons.
To Hammurabi’s credit, he first attempted to find another source of salt-peter, seeking out communication with all the known civilizations in the world, in the hope that one of them could provide him with what he needed. The Persians who were north of both the Zulus and the Germans (who turned out to be on either side of a large lake), had no obvious salt-peter, and Hammurabi was reluctant to give the secret of gunpowder to them without any guarentee of getting what he needed in the near future. On the other continent, there was an abundance of salt-peter, all the nations on that continent, the Americans, the Aztecs, the Iroquois and the Russians all seemed to have some within the bounds of their empire. Unfortunately, a deep and uncharted ocean lay between the two continents and no ship could reliably sail that wild and dangerous sea.
And so, the Babylonians reluctantly realised they had to go to war with the Zulus who had a beautiful patch of salt-peter, a patch they were unaware had any value whatsoever. But if they were to take control of that valuable resource, the Babylonians would have to move quickly, before the Zulus discovered the salt-peter and were able to produce the musketmen themselves.
In 860 AD therefore, an army of 16 regiments of knights swept down from the mountains, burning an pillaging the Zulu cities, but always with one goal in mind, the patch of salt-peter just south of Hlobane. Isandawhala fell and was burned, as was Swazi. The capital of Zimbabwe was overrun and just as the torch was to be put to it, Hammurabi ordered that it be spared, his love of beauty forbade the destruction of the Pyramids. Onward swept the army of knights and just as Hlobane fell, the thinker of Babylon approached the king with a bold new idea. Not only could they now build the musketmen to defend their cities, but they could arm their experience knights with the weapons as well, forming them into Cavalry. The king was very taken with the idea and ordered that the refit of the knights begin at once, and also that a defensive line be built along the no-man’s land between Persia and the new Babylonian frontier.
While the Babylonians had been engaged in freeing the Zulu people from the tyranny of Shaka, the Persians had swept south on the other side of the Great Freshwater Lake and annhilated the Germans. With a great deal of prescience, Hammurabi predicted that the Persians would find the salt-peter at Hlobane too much of a treasure to let it sit in Babylonians hands. If only he could gain some time, he could build up his army and face off the Persian threat.
Hammurabi quickily sought peace with the Zulus, requesting all the remaining cities with the exception of their capital. This was granted of course, but Hammurabi had no interest in the cities themselves. Looking to the future, he turned and in turn granted them to Americans. The cities themselves were on an arm of the Persian empire that extended south and was due west of the former German homeland. Lincoln gratefully accepted this gift and Hammurabi set about sending pikemen and musketment to the front to establish the Hammurabi Line, the name that had been given to the line of fortifications.
Without warning, Xerxes the Coward chose now to attack the Babylonians. His knights and immortals descended on the disorganized pikemen and the battle was joined. Weakened by the war with the Zulu, Hammurabi knew that he could not last long by himself, but, if he was given enough time, he would be able to strike back effectively with his cavalry. Lacking gunpowder, the Persians would be defeatable, given time. Hammurabi’s goals were simple, protect Hlobane and its precious supply of salt-peter, build up cavalry and push Xerxes back across the frontier and hold him off long enough to build the Hammurabi line.
The war began badly and went downhill from there. The waves of immortals hammered on the pikemen who were forced to fortify themselves where they were and hold off the attacker as best they could. Hammurabi vowed that once this war was over, a great monument would be erected to this brave defenders, provided Babylon survived this war. The cavalry sallied forth at every opportunity to do damage to the attackers, but far too many of them were caught in the open fields as they attempted to retreat to Hlobane to rest and recover. Slowly but surely, the immortals were forcing Babylon back, and in the process taking the slaves which had been required to build the fortifications. And then the Persian cavalry rode into view! Lacking an internal source of salt-peter, the Persians must be trading for the commodity. A war that was already going so badly for Hammurabi would quickly turn into a rout if the Persians continued to train cavalry.
Hammurabi quickly sent emissaries to the nations of the world to establish embassies and determine who it was that was trading with the Persians. It was quickly revealed that the Aztecs were shipping salt-peter by the boatload to the Persians. A quick payment in cash and the secrets of the mighty cannon secured not only an end of this trade, but also a military Alliance against Persia. The Americans were likewise taken with the idea of taking a bite out of the might Persian empire and in exchange for a trade in furs and the secrets of Chemistry, a second military alliance was made.
Almost immediately, the Persian troops with their captured slaves turned tail and began pouring back across the border into Persia. Filled with thoughts of vengeance, Hammurabi ordered the retreating troops ridden down and slaughtered before they could reach the safety of the Persian cities. Hundreds of the Persians fell in the next few weeks, and their blood soaked the no-man’s land between Babylon and Persia. One Persian city fell and was burned to the ground without the troops even pausing to discover the name of their target.
And just within the border of Persia, the Cavalry paused as Hammurabi called together his closest advisors to assess the war. It would be dishonourable to seek an actual peace with the Persians, after their cowardly attack, and after the Americans and Aztecs had been brought into the war, but at the same time, it was now many hundreds of miles from the nearest Babylonian cities to Persia, and the long distance would make the recuperation of the Cavalry much more difficult in an extended campaign. And as it stood now, the Persians appeared to be at least momentrarily on the run.
And so Hammurabi decided. The Cavalry Regiments would stop where they were and musketmen would be sent northward as quickly as possible to set up fortifications on the frontier. As quickly as possible, workers would be sent forward once the initial line had been drawn by the musketmen, and fortresses would be built. The Cavalry Regiments would act to prevent any incursions or any more theft of workers by the Persians, while newly raised Regiments would capture the two Persian (former German) cities which would now be behind the Hammurabi line….
The Babylon civilization began quickly, the people willing to strike out and establish new settlements as their king commanded, and soon the valleys and hills of Bablyon showed the signs of civilisation. All too soon, to their north, the Babylonians met the Zulus who showed an interest in exchanging technological know-how and the Babylonians were more than happy to oblige, sure that in the long-run they would benefit more than would the Zulus, especially considering what the Babylonians held in store for their neighbours in the form of armies of bowmen.
Around this time, however, the Babylonians met the barbarian tribe of the Germans to their west, and started a very tentative friendship with them. Hammurabi ordered that the time as nigh for removing the Zulus as any sort of territorial threat and the bowmen began to be trained and sent north to the mountains just south of the Zulu city of Isandawahl. The discovery of iron and the ability to work the metal into swords also led the production of a few mighty swordsmen who would put the final nails in the coffin of the Zulus.
However, just as the attack was about to begin, the armies of bowmen and swordmen swarming over the mountains south of the Zulu empire, the German leader, Bismarck made a tragic mistake. He built two cities in territory that Hammurabi had decreed was Babylonian territory. With an army in the field, Hammurabi ordered it turned toward the west and quickly assualted and secured the new German cities of Munich and Frankfurt. The attack so stunned the German that he was willing to not only ask for peace before the Babylonian armies could do more damage, but he was willing to pay in gold to secure the deal.
With momentum on his side, Hammurabi decided that the Zulus would be granted a reprieve, as long as they remained on their side of the border. This they would not do, and so they signed their death warrant, though it would be many years before that debt was finally called due.
Hammurabi quickly build up a new army of bowmen and swordmen, a veritable swarm of them, and when he felt the time was right he swept down on the Germans again, taking their capital and cutting their empire in half, rendering them impotent. Hammurabi was, as stated previously, a just ruler and once again he allowed peace to exist between the Babylonians and the Germans, knowing that sooner rather than later the remaining cities would choose to join the flourishing Babylonian civilization.
Meanwhile, Shaka of the Zulus was foolishing sending out settlers to settle the fringes of the Babylonian empire in some vain attempt to expand his pathetic civilization into something to rival the greatness of his southern neighbour. Needless to say, once the residents of these piddling cities saw the greatness that was Babylon, they overthrew their sad leaders and not only joined the Babylonians, but drew up their roots and migrated to the great cities of Bablyon.
Soon the great Babylon thinkers discovered that by mixing three components in the correct proportion, they were able to make an explosive compound and weapons that could fire metal balls across long distances. Unfortunately, there was not a single bit of one of the necessary compounds within the bounds of the Babylonian empire. Despite attempts to use numerous other compounds, it became clear that nothing but what the thinkers called ‘salt-peter’ would do for making these new weapons.
To Hammurabi’s credit, he first attempted to find another source of salt-peter, seeking out communication with all the known civilizations in the world, in the hope that one of them could provide him with what he needed. The Persians who were north of both the Zulus and the Germans (who turned out to be on either side of a large lake), had no obvious salt-peter, and Hammurabi was reluctant to give the secret of gunpowder to them without any guarentee of getting what he needed in the near future. On the other continent, there was an abundance of salt-peter, all the nations on that continent, the Americans, the Aztecs, the Iroquois and the Russians all seemed to have some within the bounds of their empire. Unfortunately, a deep and uncharted ocean lay between the two continents and no ship could reliably sail that wild and dangerous sea.
And so, the Babylonians reluctantly realised they had to go to war with the Zulus who had a beautiful patch of salt-peter, a patch they were unaware had any value whatsoever. But if they were to take control of that valuable resource, the Babylonians would have to move quickly, before the Zulus discovered the salt-peter and were able to produce the musketmen themselves.
In 860 AD therefore, an army of 16 regiments of knights swept down from the mountains, burning an pillaging the Zulu cities, but always with one goal in mind, the patch of salt-peter just south of Hlobane. Isandawhala fell and was burned, as was Swazi. The capital of Zimbabwe was overrun and just as the torch was to be put to it, Hammurabi ordered that it be spared, his love of beauty forbade the destruction of the Pyramids. Onward swept the army of knights and just as Hlobane fell, the thinker of Babylon approached the king with a bold new idea. Not only could they now build the musketmen to defend their cities, but they could arm their experience knights with the weapons as well, forming them into Cavalry. The king was very taken with the idea and ordered that the refit of the knights begin at once, and also that a defensive line be built along the no-man’s land between Persia and the new Babylonian frontier.
While the Babylonians had been engaged in freeing the Zulu people from the tyranny of Shaka, the Persians had swept south on the other side of the Great Freshwater Lake and annhilated the Germans. With a great deal of prescience, Hammurabi predicted that the Persians would find the salt-peter at Hlobane too much of a treasure to let it sit in Babylonians hands. If only he could gain some time, he could build up his army and face off the Persian threat.
Hammurabi quickily sought peace with the Zulus, requesting all the remaining cities with the exception of their capital. This was granted of course, but Hammurabi had no interest in the cities themselves. Looking to the future, he turned and in turn granted them to Americans. The cities themselves were on an arm of the Persian empire that extended south and was due west of the former German homeland. Lincoln gratefully accepted this gift and Hammurabi set about sending pikemen and musketment to the front to establish the Hammurabi Line, the name that had been given to the line of fortifications.
Without warning, Xerxes the Coward chose now to attack the Babylonians. His knights and immortals descended on the disorganized pikemen and the battle was joined. Weakened by the war with the Zulu, Hammurabi knew that he could not last long by himself, but, if he was given enough time, he would be able to strike back effectively with his cavalry. Lacking gunpowder, the Persians would be defeatable, given time. Hammurabi’s goals were simple, protect Hlobane and its precious supply of salt-peter, build up cavalry and push Xerxes back across the frontier and hold him off long enough to build the Hammurabi line.
The war began badly and went downhill from there. The waves of immortals hammered on the pikemen who were forced to fortify themselves where they were and hold off the attacker as best they could. Hammurabi vowed that once this war was over, a great monument would be erected to this brave defenders, provided Babylon survived this war. The cavalry sallied forth at every opportunity to do damage to the attackers, but far too many of them were caught in the open fields as they attempted to retreat to Hlobane to rest and recover. Slowly but surely, the immortals were forcing Babylon back, and in the process taking the slaves which had been required to build the fortifications. And then the Persian cavalry rode into view! Lacking an internal source of salt-peter, the Persians must be trading for the commodity. A war that was already going so badly for Hammurabi would quickly turn into a rout if the Persians continued to train cavalry.
Hammurabi quickly sent emissaries to the nations of the world to establish embassies and determine who it was that was trading with the Persians. It was quickly revealed that the Aztecs were shipping salt-peter by the boatload to the Persians. A quick payment in cash and the secrets of the mighty cannon secured not only an end of this trade, but also a military Alliance against Persia. The Americans were likewise taken with the idea of taking a bite out of the might Persian empire and in exchange for a trade in furs and the secrets of Chemistry, a second military alliance was made.
Almost immediately, the Persian troops with their captured slaves turned tail and began pouring back across the border into Persia. Filled with thoughts of vengeance, Hammurabi ordered the retreating troops ridden down and slaughtered before they could reach the safety of the Persian cities. Hundreds of the Persians fell in the next few weeks, and their blood soaked the no-man’s land between Babylon and Persia. One Persian city fell and was burned to the ground without the troops even pausing to discover the name of their target.
And just within the border of Persia, the Cavalry paused as Hammurabi called together his closest advisors to assess the war. It would be dishonourable to seek an actual peace with the Persians, after their cowardly attack, and after the Americans and Aztecs had been brought into the war, but at the same time, it was now many hundreds of miles from the nearest Babylonian cities to Persia, and the long distance would make the recuperation of the Cavalry much more difficult in an extended campaign. And as it stood now, the Persians appeared to be at least momentrarily on the run.
And so Hammurabi decided. The Cavalry Regiments would stop where they were and musketmen would be sent northward as quickly as possible to set up fortifications on the frontier. As quickly as possible, workers would be sent forward once the initial line had been drawn by the musketmen, and fortresses would be built. The Cavalry Regiments would act to prevent any incursions or any more theft of workers by the Persians, while newly raised Regiments would capture the two Persian (former German) cities which would now be behind the Hammurabi line….
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