Forging an Empire

[Metaliturtle]

Conclusion and Counterattack Preparation

Battles are never as simple as they appear on the outside. This was a fact Caesar knew well, and was having to deal with presently. A messenger had arrived from the roman port city of Veii with some disturbing news for Caesar.

"I'm sorry for interrupting our soon to be glorious victory o Caesar, but pressing news comes from Veii."

"What is it?"

"The English have made a successful attack upon the city."

"You mean those savages who always wore the ugly clothing colored like a blood stain?"

"Yes sir."

"Well sack their towns! Do I have to lead every Roman army?"

"It's not that simple, Caesar."

"Not that simple!? What's so hard about sending an overwhelming amount of soldiers to take the remnants of a once mediocre state?"

The servant had a grave look on his face.
"They have Augustus"

"MY SON?!"

It should be noted that, although Caesar cared naught for the lives of his men, and very little for the lives of his wives, Augustus was his eldest son, and thus, rightful heir to Rome, and, like any worried parent, Caesar would do anything to save the life of his child.

"Yes sir, your son, which is why we are afraid to sack the towns, for he'll be killed, or worse, eaten! Even cultured savages, like the English don't do well when they cannot grow food."

"How DARE you think such a thing?!"

"Sir, it is the message I was told to bring to you."

"Do the English have a ransom request?"

"Yes Sir, they want their old cities back under their control, with the addition of Veii, realize, sir, that as long as our army is here, they don't need our permission and will be able to take these cities."

Just then the Engineers returned.
"Caesar, the catapults have been constructed, shall we begin the submission bombardment?"

"No, come, let's withdrawl."

"But sir-"

"DO IT OR DIE!!"

News of the retreat had reached Alexander back in Athens. The defenses thought up by the Egyptian and himself were apparently effective, but since Alexander did not know of the existence of the English, he could not be sure why his defenses were effective.

Still, by not needing the knights to defend the city, the Greeks were left with options, some of which were very lucrative. Plans were laid out for an amphibious assault upon the city of Rome itself.

"With the Romans fearful of our army, victory should be swift."

"Alexander, I would not underestimate the Roman war machine, their withdrawl was rather mysterious."

"EVERYTHING is mysterious with you isn't it, EGYPTIAN? Did it ever occur to you that the Romans would rather poo in their togas than be engaged in combat with a Greek?"

Alexander proceeded to lay out a rather impressive small scale mock battlefield of Rome based mainly upon maps stolen from the now called 'floating folly' of Rome. The culmination of this plan was the use of the Roman ship as the lead ship of the Greek assault. This twist of irony was the best part in Alexander's opinion, and he was going to make sure it was seen through to the end.

Upon Caesar's arrival back in Rome, the palace was in chaos. Questions buzzed in every mind, including ones like, 'do the Greeks know the English exist?' and more importantly, 'will they do a multi faceted attack upon mighty Rome?'

"Any word on my son?"

"None sir."

"Does anybody know where he is being held?"

"I don't think so, sir."

"Does anybody know anything?"

Meanwhile, the English were enjoying the power they now held over the head of their opressor.

More with feedback ((hehe, Dad needs on the computer))

[Metaliturtle]

Anyway, back to England. As stated before, they were enjoying the power they held over their opressors, and, although they wouldn't kill Caesar's son, Caesar didn't know that, and thus the English began making demands of the Romans.

The English didn't know that they had so much pull thanks in part, to the Greeks. Elizabeth just came to the conclusion that the Romans did something stupid and were now paying the price.

Thus, Caesar seriously considered giving up the former English cities, but fate dealt him a different hand.

"Caesar, our ports are under attack!"

"No Duh! The English have had Veii blocaded since they kidnapped my son!"

"No sir, not Veii."

"Then WHERE?!"

"Rome, sir."

Caesar went to the window to see the harbor, sure enough, there were 5 Greek ships firing arrows at anything and everything that moved.

"*&%$!!! Why did everything turn on me all of a sudden?!"

"It was your naval attack sir.."

"YOU'RE TICKING ME OFF!! GUARDS! KILL HIM!!"

Meanwhile, the Greek boats weren't faring as well as could be desired, their transport ships were lagging behind, and, they were running short on arrows. Finally, the order was given to go further offshore and anchor until the transports arrived.

Caesar saw this, and when the ships pulled back, he thought the greeks were withdrawing.

"They're out of Ammo, get out there NOW!! I want them FINISHED!!!"

"Yes sir"

Because of the previously unsuccessful naval assault, the Romans made a few modifications to their boats, and now piloted craft that looked more like longboats than the standard Galleys of the day.

The big mistake Caesar made was that he thought the Grecian boats were unarmed now that they couldn't fire arrows. Almost anybody who has heard of the Greeks has heard of Greek fire, but Caesar hadn't, so when his boats suddenly came across a sea of fire, they were extremely surprised, and they soon turned back.

"Captain!!! I see the transports!!"

"Send the signal for the knights to begin their siege."

"Aye Aye"

The largest ship had lots of activity on it all of a sudden, and a decently sized catapult was being assembled upon it's deck.

Upon completion, a large vat was placed upon it, which was puzzling to the Romans.

Suddenly, the men on the ship lit the vat and sent it flying. It was Greek Fire, and it was hurtling towards Caesar's Palace!!

The knights saw this, and ran out of their cover, charging a city that was, somewhat preoccupied at the moment.

The palace was in chaos, nobody could find Caesar, and the heavy gold floors wouldn't be held up for long by the weakened structural material. A bucket brigade was set up from Caesar's bath house, and brave Roman citizens risked almost certain death to save their emperor.

"Why are you burning down my palace?!!! I'm surrounded by fricken Idiots for Jupiter's sake!!"

"Caesar, you're alive!!!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT!! Doesn't anybody realize we're at WAR!!!?"

It was then that the knights charged into Rome.

[Metaliturtle]

I'm going to be gone for a while (until saturday), so it may be some time until this story gets added to, but, if you all would be so kind as to post what you would like to see next, if I like an idea I'll try to work it in.

[johncmcleod]

How about Caesar gets away from the attack but a couple days later Alexander sends an elite force of knights behind enemy lines to capture him. He gets captured, and Alexander tells Rome Caesar's life would be spared if they became one with Greece. And they do, so Greece becomes a big empire. Then they discover a couple other civs, and there's a large war with 2 or 3 civs against Greece and her ally or allies, in the medievil age. And if you put the Zulus in the game, please make them on Greece's side. They're my favorite civ, and in almost all of the stories they're savages, technologically backwards, and bad guys.

[Metaliturtle]

good idea, give me a little time to put it into the works though, and remember to vote everyone please.

[Metaliturtle]

A Daring Escape

I liked the escape idea, but I had some other plans for Caesar and the Romans, but thanks John, also, if you want to read a good zulu story, read Zulu Rules by Samuel Johnson, that's one of my personal Favorites.
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Rome was in a state of total chaos. The Romans could see the heads of Greeks preparing to assault the beaches, which had been peaceful up until this battle, and now there were reports coming in of strange armor-clad men on horseback thundering rapidly towards the gate and creating a horrifying noise indeed.

"Caesar, we must get you out, Rome will not be safe much longer."

"Good Idea, my house sucks now anyway."

And the plan was put into motion. They saw that the ships would arrive well before the thundering beasts, which meant that they would be escaping through the front wall, not by a roman vessel.

Caesar's security corps was definitely very ingenius in their design on their emperor's escape. They quickly raided a Greek merchant's cart, and built a false floor which Caesar could hide under. Although Caesar was somewhat reluctant to get in when he saw that the floor was not made of gold, he was soon in place and ready to be smuggled to safety.

The Merchant's Greek flag was hoisted proudly above the cart, and the "merchant" was on his way.

"Alexander, I am pleased to report that we have taken Rome! Although they held on valiantly until the end, our signal fire was lucky enough to torch Caesar's very own palace."

"Have you found the body yet?"

"Who's body?"

"CAESAR'S you simple-minded turd toad!!"

"No sir, not yet, we're assuming that it has been lost in the fire."

"Don't assume anything, he assumed about us, and it came to bite him in the arse, I sure don't want him biting back harder!!"

"Of course sir, is there any other information you would like at this time sir?"

"What Roman cities are left?"

"We have Veii in a stalemate, and some mountainous villiages still claim loyalty to Rome, it is likely that a new capitol has been set up in Veii, although if the northern town of Byzantium has not had any agression upon it, it would be the most likely choice, as it is surrounded by mountains, and those villiagers aren't swayed by a few shiny metal discs."

"Thank you for that lecture, did anything leave Rome in that direction, because if Caesar's still breathing, I'd bet hundreds of thousands that he was on it."

"The only thing we didn't stop was a merchant cart."

"WHY NOT?!"

"It had your royal seal of free passage."

The peasant's cart turned regal way of passage was picking up speed, it was a good thing that they had found the seal of Alexander, or else all would be lost.

"How much longer must I remain in this un-gilded fester hole?"

"Shh Caesar, until we are safely within the walls of Byzantium."

"BYZANTIUM!!? That's a tourist trap if I'd ever seen one!"

"But you haven't been there before Caesar."

"Oh, well then what AM I thinking of?"

"Probably the old Hispalis"

"Yeah, wait, How did I get Hispalis out of Byzantium?"

"I don't know, but just shut up for a while now Caesar, before the Greeks realize you're gone."

Caesar wasn't in any danger, but, truth be told, Caesar was a worse passenger than 4 kids in the backseat of a car with no air conditioning, so telling him that speaking put his life on the line, made their jobs much easier.

Now they were coming upon Byzantium, the gigantic wall loomed overhead, casting a 60 foot shadow this late in the day. The soldiers felt those walls a welcome sight, until they heard the thundering of the misery of earlier that day.

"GRECIANS COMING!!!"

Suddenly they watched the wall close up in less time than it takes to get a merchant's cart inside the walls of Byzantium. Caesar was in a tough spot.

"Dangit!! Why is everything but hot women orgy style screwing me today???!" Caesar was infuriated.

Getting no help at Byzantium, they headed west towards the largest mountain town, Alpium.

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Keep reading, there's more to come!!

[Metaliturtle]

The Destruction of Rome and a New Enemy for Greece

Alpium was more or less a quiet villiage. Like most small villiages, they were very suspicious of strangers, especially foreign strangers. You can imagine their surprise then, when they saw a cart bearing the flag of thier hated enemy, the Greeks, speedily coming upon their villiage.

"Man the palisades!!! Those lousy Grecians won't get Alpium without a good fight!!"

Arrows were lit shortly after, and the men climbed up onto the wooden defenses, and let the arrows fly. The arrows lit the brush and other foliage nearby, as well as the wooden cart, Caesar was mortified. He really didn't want this to be his last moment, so he climbed out of his hiding spot, and began to run towards Alpium with all of his might.

"we've foiled an ambush!! kill that man!"

It took 8 arrows to fell the body of the only emperor they had ever had, an emperor they had never known. Caesar's body lay facedown in the muddy path leading to the foot of Alpium's mountain pass. It took some time before anyone from the town could muster up enough courage to go down and check the body.

Finally, Regis, an ex-soldier of Rome, was sent out. When he arrived at Caesar's body he was shocked.

"What is it Regis?"

No response

"WHAT is it Regis?"

Still, no response, a few men went out and stood by him.

"What is it Regis?"

"It's the.. the... "

"The what Regis?"

"THE EMPEROR YOU IDIOT!!!"

All the men but Regis gasped.

"You.. you must be mistaken, the emperor would have gone to Byzantium."

"Not if he couldn't get in."

"You mean he came here for refuge and we killed him?"

"Apparently so..."

The men grew speechless, they had committed Regicide, the punishment according to the law was they had to kill a tenth of their family, and then themselves.

None of the men wanted to kill their families, but they knew that they couldn't remain Roman if they didn't. Seeing as how any of the men of the villiage could be guilty of the crime, they had a different plan.

"Explain this to me again Regis."

"We hoist the Greek flag from that cart, and swear loyalty to Greece, now we're heroes for slaying the leader of our enemy."

"Will the women agree to this?"

"If they don't, we can always kill them and say Caesar did it"

"Fair enough, let's go."

Alexander was in one of the best moods of his entire life. Caesar was dead, the heir was missing, and all of Rome was now under his control. Surely, he had forged an empire, but what was next? He couldn't just sit here and do nothing, could he?

"Alexander, there are some strange looking people here to see you."

"Probably the dominated Romans, send them in."

"Are You the new ruler of Rome?"

"Yes, I guess you could say that."

"WE ARE AT WAR!!"

--------
Hmm, it seems that Alexander inherited some enemies from Caesar, who is this new mystery enemy? Read the next installment of Forging an Empire.

And REMEMBER TO VOTE!!

[dnassman]

[Verto]

This isn't my prefered style of writing, that type of humor but...Can't see a lot of speilng erurs. You've got my 4 star rating!

And again, make sure you vote in the preliminaries: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=55070

and check out my post, Reader's Response!

[Metaliturtle]

Originally posted by Verto
This isn't my prefered style of writing, that type of humor and all but...Can't see a lot of speilng erurs.

And again, make sure you vote in the preliminaries: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=55070

and check out my post, Reader's Response!

That's fine, you don't have to vote for me, Verto

[Metaliturtle]

"What do you mean!? The Greeks don't give a poo about the heir to ROME!?"

"They killed Caesar, and took all of Rome, Elizabeth."

"Dangit!! Why hadn't I thought of that?"

"What do you propose we do?"

"Well we'll just have to-"

"Pardon the interruption your majesty, but the Greeks are here."

"Hold on a minute, I haven't powdered my face thricely yet. Ok, they may enter now."

It was Alexander's son who entered. He had a very powerful aire about him, he carried himself in a manner befitting the son of the most powerful man in the world.

"Good Morning Elizabeth, I am Alexander the Younger."

"Son of Alexander the Great I presume?"

"Precisely."

"Tell me, what Brings you here?"

"Some common neighbors of ours are becoming a threat to the Grecian way of life."

"Oh, and who might these neighbors be?"

"They call themselves Germans"

"I thought the Romans killed the Germans."

"They are still thriving in the north."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"We would like you to use your military might to crush the Germans, this should give you enough of an economic base to be a good trading partner with us."

He stopped talking for a moment, pulled a short iron tube out of his belt, and touched fire to it. The noise was deafening, and there was a decent sized hole put into the stone wall.

He continued, "As you can see, there is much you can gain when trading with the Greeks that is all."

He left the throne room confident that he had made an impression upon Elizabeth, exactly what he wanted to do. Indeed the Germans had threatened Greece, but once made aware of Greece's behemoth like stature on the world, they quickly took back their hateful words and went back to Berlin like cowards.

Alexander had put his son in charge of taking the Northlands, what better way than letting them take themselves and then mopping up afterwards? Surely this strategy will become widely known as the greatest strategy since the flag principle.

"Father, all we have to do now is wait for one to come back to us with news of victory."

"And then what?"

"That will be when we strike, we'll have better technology, more men, and they will be overconfident in their abilities, the battle shouldn't be too difficult. I fired a gun in Elizabeth's throne room, it shattered one of the stones in the wall, but the mortar was more or less unharmed, i suggest we build all new fortifications from manmade bricks instead of stone and mortar from now on."

"Agreed" Alexander's eyes began to water

"What's the matter father?"

"I'm so glad my son isn't an idiot."

"Me too, Dad, me too."

Elizabeth no longer had need for young Augustus, so she sent him into Germany in the hopes that she would never hear Caesar spoken in any type of living sense ever again.

The German language was very different from the others that Augustus had heard, although it had some links with English. He was able to learn enough to get a job at an inne in Liepzig, however, and his hatred of the English became contagious among the patrons. Soon, the whole villiage of Liepzig was at arms, awaiting the now certain English invasion.

" You are sure they're coming Augustus? "

"Yes, Elizabeth is a power hungry wh*re, who will shun people she can no longer use, partly the reason I'm here actually."

"Yeah, had we captured you, we would've killed you as soon as Rome fell."

"You're a real confidence builder Hans"

"Thank you Augustus."

In Greece, efforts were being made to make the destruction of a brick wall by projectile easy, just in case the English caught on. The solution to this was not found right away, although they thought that they could do it with cannons, all the cannon did was make a dent in the wall. Discoveries made on the way to the development of the Cannon did not go unnoticed however, one man even found a new way to shape the land, explosives! soon the unproductive hills of Greece were becoming fertile grasslands.

The discovery was also made that if you boiled water under pressure, releasing small amounts of steam could produce rapid motion, the first steam engines had been born, and with them, a boat that could stand up to the well-crafted English fleet.

-------To Be Continued---------
The next installment will show the new techs in effect, and possibly the Anglo-Germanic war.

Remember to vote!!

[Metaliturtle]

GRRR TOO MANY POSSIBILITIES!!

[Metaliturtle]

Augustus was settling in for some rest before the major english battles commenced. He began to think to himself, "why are the leaders always asleep in Metaliturtle's stories when bad things happen? And why do they always shout the leader's name with no regard to the leader's personal comfort?" That was when Hans came into the room.


"Augustus! There's been a big boomy thing!"

"What are you jabbering about Hans?"

"I heard a big boom to the south, it went BLAMMMO!!"

"Sounds big, we better go check it out."

They rode southward in the direction of the "big boomy thing," but suddenly their topographic map had become extremely errant.

"Ok, there's the stream, there should be a large hill right about here"

Nothing, only a few boulders and a lot of mud. What had happened here? They soon came upon some footprints, only they were different, they had all sorts of lines in them.

Boots had been the new rage in Greece for a few weeks now, and everybody wore them, but the group most noted for wearing them were the worksmen who got to blow up the hillsides.

Anyway, Hans and Augustus followed these tracks until they saw the Greek city Apolyton ((I SWEAR THAT'S WHAT THEY NAMED IT)).

"Excuse me sir."

They really wanted to know what happened to the hill.

"Yes?"

"What happened to the hill?"

"Oh, we blew it up."

"Blew it up? I certainly haven't seen any hills levitating today."

"No, it's an expression, we use dynamite to make the hill explode and leave us with flat, fertile, land."

"Oh, cool, where could we get some of this 'dynamite'?"

"Only people employed by the Greek Government are allowed to use it right now, wouldn't want it falling into the wrong hands."

"What's wrong with our hands?"

Augustus was messing with him now.

"Uhhm uh nothing, uh I gotta go."

The man hurriedly walked away.

Elizabeth was having suspicions about Greece's intentions, and wasn't about to go to war until she got a better idea about these Greeks.

She ordered her two finest sailing vessles, Juggernaut and Boom Boom Timmy, to go down to Athens and figure out what was going on.

The Ships set sail from Merry old England, and soon found themselves in a spot of trouble. The commander of the Grecian Ironclads was itching to put his fleet to the test, so he declared that the English were attacking Athens.

Soon the ironclads were presenting a very formidable blocade against the Wooden English ships, but the English sailors were not impressed.

"They'll sink before they'll attack I'll bet"

"Not if they rust out first"

"And only one gun, they're gonna have troubles."

BOOOM! The first ship fired but didn't have to turn to do so, now the Brits respected the Ironclad.

"Did you see that then? They don't have to turn to engage in combat, bloody ingenious."

"Knock off you dolt and help me get the rudder!!"

Soon the English had turned, and the largest Naval Battle in the history of the two countries was about to commence.

--to be continued--

[Jaybe]

Metaliturtle, you'se a funny guy!
Some time ago, I got too busy playing Civ3 to read the stories forum. I am glad I ran across this one of yours!

I DO remember reading one of yours several weeks ago that didn't appeal to me, but I was probably in the doldrums at the time.

Problem is, when I vote, yours will be the only one I have read.