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She hears the voice of God.
That is what she says and I believe her. How could I not? We both have lived for thousands of years, through war and peace, plagues, floods and fires, our destinies tied with that of our land.
We are rulers of France.
She is Jeanne: Empress, saint, virgin - yes, still!- and I, I am Richelieu, her councelor, her companion.
**********************************
I still remember meeting her. A girl her age - she must have been about 16 - walking by herself in the open country, you just did not see that back then. You just never see that.
"There are wolves and thieves out there," I thought " And if she knows of them, she will pray for the wolves to find her first."
She walked past me, not even noticing I was there sitting on my rock and eating berries. I could hear her whispering to herself.
I thought it was to herself.
She went maybe ten paces, and then stopped. She pivoted and stared at me, with those grey eyes of her - I know them well now, but back then I was struck with their ... I cannot say what. I never could.
She tilted her head to the side, still whispering, but I could not make out what she was saying.
Then she looked up at the sky for a moment, and back down at me and then she laughed. The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard; a shower of crystal in my ear.
I've been her's ever since.
And soon there were others with us, and then there was a village, and it's name was Paris.
***********************************
"We will root them out" she said.
"We will isolate them and deny them any growth. We will build beautiful cities to surround them and win them over. And if they do not come to us that way, we will burn their villages and pillage their fields and their mines."
I love it when she gets that way: so focused, so determined...
Our people needed that drive to come together. We see so many barbarian tribes around us, roaming the land without a purpose,
without a leader. Some are friendly and bring us gifts, some destroy all that we hold dear; none of them will see the sun rise much longer.
As soon as our village was settled, Jeanne told me that I should run it in her name. I sent warriors to discover the lands that surround us. And they found grassland and plains and even some strange gigantic beasts with long sharp teeth at twelve days march to the north. They also found something else, that I kept to myself.
Paris is at the east end of this, our continent, surrounded by oceans on all parts but the north and north west.It is a narrow band of land that would not permit for more than two cities to be built side by side. It will help to protect us at first. I must not let it stop our growth later on.
With Paris protected by our troops and two other regiments of warriors exploring the land, I decided to assemble the citizens and ask them to decide amongst themselves who would be sent away to create our second city. They did not take to this with joy; Paris is a beautiful city and it's surroundings are pleasant. So I asked Jeanne to talk to them. They know that the gods speak to her. Or "God", as she says it. And she told them that it is God's will that we should build cities and farm the land, explore and conquer our surroundings. Our people love Jeanne and fear our gods. But they also fear the unknown and were not keen on leaving our village.
So I told Jeanne about the Germans. That our warriors had found a city of these people to the north west, 15 days away.
"Pour Dieu et pour notre peuple!" she shouted to the peasants.
"We have to go forth and stop them! We have to build cities where they would build cities, build roads where they would put them. We have to thrive or we shall all die! As God is my witness, we shall all die!"
So we build two cities, Rheims and Orleans, cutting the Germans access to the eastern part of our continent and still we produced more settlers, leaving but one warrior regiment to protect our towns. No improvements were added to our cities ; as soon as we had settlers we sent them forth, filling all lands to the north and the east.
The Germans seemed content to grow their cities bigger, and so I sent our warriors to the north west of them, cutting their access to any further development there. I also sent settlers to establish a city. I knew they would face hard times, be cut out from us by distance and time, but I had to stop any German expansion.
"We will root them out" she had said.
When Marseilles was founded, I knew it was only a matter of time.
*************************************
But we had to fight, for the Germans were industrious and would not easily be overwhelmed. It took generations for us to destroy Berlin, their capital. And even when we burned Berlin, even with their spirits down, they still fought us for every hill, every field... but by then they only had three cities to our ten. We could build more Archers, more Spearmen and more Horsemen... and we had to.
You see, our people are industrious, they build fast and what they build will stand the test of time. They are also full of courage and dedication to Jeanne. They go into battle with rage in their hearts and they fight without mercy... But - and it hurts me to say this - what they show in enthusiasm, they unfortunately lack in skill. Every now and then you will get a true warrior who will stand out from the crowd, but mostly we need three men for every two our foes put before us.
Fortunately, we had Jeanne to lead us into battle. There, she forgets about God. She is fury and death to our enemies and they weep and cry before her.
And so we paid death it's bloody dues, and she rewarded us with victory. Leipzig eventually fell before our armies, but I decided to wait for the last two cities to willingly come to us. I know it was an act of mercy. And it is my testament to the valor of the German fighters that this mercy was for my own people, not them.
We now controlled the southern end of our continent. And we started to build long overdue improvements in our cities.
- end of part one -
That is what she says and I believe her. How could I not? We both have lived for thousands of years, through war and peace, plagues, floods and fires, our destinies tied with that of our land.
We are rulers of France.
She is Jeanne: Empress, saint, virgin - yes, still!- and I, I am Richelieu, her councelor, her companion.
**********************************
I still remember meeting her. A girl her age - she must have been about 16 - walking by herself in the open country, you just did not see that back then. You just never see that.
"There are wolves and thieves out there," I thought " And if she knows of them, she will pray for the wolves to find her first."
She walked past me, not even noticing I was there sitting on my rock and eating berries. I could hear her whispering to herself.
I thought it was to herself.
She went maybe ten paces, and then stopped. She pivoted and stared at me, with those grey eyes of her - I know them well now, but back then I was struck with their ... I cannot say what. I never could.
She tilted her head to the side, still whispering, but I could not make out what she was saying.
Then she looked up at the sky for a moment, and back down at me and then she laughed. The most beautiful sound I'd ever heard; a shower of crystal in my ear.
I've been her's ever since.
And soon there were others with us, and then there was a village, and it's name was Paris.
***********************************
"We will root them out" she said.
"We will isolate them and deny them any growth. We will build beautiful cities to surround them and win them over. And if they do not come to us that way, we will burn their villages and pillage their fields and their mines."
I love it when she gets that way: so focused, so determined...
Our people needed that drive to come together. We see so many barbarian tribes around us, roaming the land without a purpose,
without a leader. Some are friendly and bring us gifts, some destroy all that we hold dear; none of them will see the sun rise much longer.
As soon as our village was settled, Jeanne told me that I should run it in her name. I sent warriors to discover the lands that surround us. And they found grassland and plains and even some strange gigantic beasts with long sharp teeth at twelve days march to the north. They also found something else, that I kept to myself.
Paris is at the east end of this, our continent, surrounded by oceans on all parts but the north and north west.It is a narrow band of land that would not permit for more than two cities to be built side by side. It will help to protect us at first. I must not let it stop our growth later on.
With Paris protected by our troops and two other regiments of warriors exploring the land, I decided to assemble the citizens and ask them to decide amongst themselves who would be sent away to create our second city. They did not take to this with joy; Paris is a beautiful city and it's surroundings are pleasant. So I asked Jeanne to talk to them. They know that the gods speak to her. Or "God", as she says it. And she told them that it is God's will that we should build cities and farm the land, explore and conquer our surroundings. Our people love Jeanne and fear our gods. But they also fear the unknown and were not keen on leaving our village.
So I told Jeanne about the Germans. That our warriors had found a city of these people to the north west, 15 days away.
"Pour Dieu et pour notre peuple!" she shouted to the peasants.
"We have to go forth and stop them! We have to build cities where they would build cities, build roads where they would put them. We have to thrive or we shall all die! As God is my witness, we shall all die!"
So we build two cities, Rheims and Orleans, cutting the Germans access to the eastern part of our continent and still we produced more settlers, leaving but one warrior regiment to protect our towns. No improvements were added to our cities ; as soon as we had settlers we sent them forth, filling all lands to the north and the east.
The Germans seemed content to grow their cities bigger, and so I sent our warriors to the north west of them, cutting their access to any further development there. I also sent settlers to establish a city. I knew they would face hard times, be cut out from us by distance and time, but I had to stop any German expansion.
"We will root them out" she had said.
When Marseilles was founded, I knew it was only a matter of time.
*************************************
But we had to fight, for the Germans were industrious and would not easily be overwhelmed. It took generations for us to destroy Berlin, their capital. And even when we burned Berlin, even with their spirits down, they still fought us for every hill, every field... but by then they only had three cities to our ten. We could build more Archers, more Spearmen and more Horsemen... and we had to.
You see, our people are industrious, they build fast and what they build will stand the test of time. They are also full of courage and dedication to Jeanne. They go into battle with rage in their hearts and they fight without mercy... But - and it hurts me to say this - what they show in enthusiasm, they unfortunately lack in skill. Every now and then you will get a true warrior who will stand out from the crowd, but mostly we need three men for every two our foes put before us.
Fortunately, we had Jeanne to lead us into battle. There, she forgets about God. She is fury and death to our enemies and they weep and cry before her.
And so we paid death it's bloody dues, and she rewarded us with victory. Leipzig eventually fell before our armies, but I decided to wait for the last two cities to willingly come to us. I know it was an act of mercy. And it is my testament to the valor of the German fighters that this mercy was for my own people, not them.
We now controlled the southern end of our continent. And we started to build long overdue improvements in our cities.
- end of part one -