[spoilers]Commodore is Tokugawa of Zulu, or, playing for second place.

[Commodore]

So I open the turn to see Krill giving me an offer I can't refuse. I like how this shot shows the unhappy In-the-Wabe in the background there.



Meanwhile, I launch the Cyneheard campaign not with a bang, nor even with a war-horn, but with a peaceful settler.



Okay, let's dance...oh HAI Mr. Cyneheard. What big stacks you have. I'd be worried if I didn't have several Protective CG2 archers coming in. Need the Great Wall post-haste for making the borders much more clear.



In the meanwhile, welcome, Mome Raths. Let's chop you some nice cheap Pro walls too, while we're at this. Enjoy your massive garrison, I hope you can avoid all dying horrible, horrible deaths. With the settlement of this cramped little city, I am now officially, 100%, out of room.



Pink dot waaaaaar!

[Commodore]

[Commodore]

My insomnia is your entertainment, dear lurker. So what's been happening? Well, things were a might bit tense about a certain scouting impi, for one.



Also, thanks to a barb-kill, Cyneheard's southern garrison was somewhat split. Thus opportunism and the impi attack above.



In for the penny....



I took a look at one of the real prizes. Wow, that's a lot of dudes.



Oh. Why again did I attack someone with this much power?



Out. Of. Room. Also, great general. Also, war was going to happen one way or another.



Gaspar logged in to avenge the northern impi, and marked a fair swarm of axes striking towards me.



Near Xenia, meanwhile, more of the usual skirmishes.



I probably should have tried to get Cyneheard to hit me, because I'm getting 3x GG points now. Also, woohoo Great Spy points!



This also frees a strong city (given the crappy standards of Zululand) to make more army. A courthouse sure would help the Great Spy cause, but as can be seen horse archers are the priority. Also, I am so totally screwed.



Cyneheard constrained my galley with one of his own, so I unloaded botherers the long away, I think I'm going to be losing them.



Xenia is well defended, but there is an outside shot of generating something interesting around Lafayette. We'll see.



So that, my friends, is what is up in Zululand.

[Commodore]

What's up? Notta much. Cyneheard's hamlets and cottages have been enabling me to run a high slider, so HBR came in this turn. I am the Spice Lord of the world, trading for Dutch gems and Indian ivory. Not a bad economy, for a terrible economy.



I am, at least, paying 20% less for all nine cities than anyone else would be. How likely is that stables quest to pop up each turn? That would be an awesome quest.

[oledavy]

I am the Spice Lord of the world

<Insert Dune Joke>

[Commodore]

<Insert Dune Joke>

<inserts sand worm deep into Dave's Dune Joke>

Seriously, I did consider renaming the empire to Arrakis for a moment, as the spice trade is a ridiculous percentage of my economy right now, and is also why my happy cap is so high (ivory and gems, man!). But a ridiculous percentage of my land is permafrost, so that would clash.

Plus, I still love the Jabberwocky inspiration.

[Commodore]

Hopefully, this makes up for the update-dearth.

The year 275AD dawned grey and grim for the Zulu Empire. The long winter was brutal on both crops and herds, and only the strong fishing yields from the Wabian Bay and the Brilig cod banks stopped the central cities from starving. In the semi-permanant camps around the Byzantine city of Columbus, the thin remnants of the besieging force were bolstered by a fresh pair of battalion, who found the conditions so grim in the old silver mines that the new commanders pushed for attacking the city almost the instant they arrived, despite the poor odds.

The Jabberwock Clan's preferred method of war, the venerable axe battalion, had been gradually falling away as the long low-grade Byzantine Wars ground ever onward. The embarassing loss by the great general Geronimo had stopped the main push toward the critical city of Lafayette, and now the war was one of manuver and speed, with the fast impis of the Mimsy Province and the chariotry of the Upper Grabe River pillaging and harrying the Byzantine countryside and retreating back to the protection of the solid axe battalions' fortifications.

In this new warfare, a new generation of herder-background leaders from the Mimsy Province came to the fore.
Deep strikes were almost semi-indepentent, disapearing for years to live off the land. One in particular was from the Xenia Split, ordered to move down and threaten the Byzantine south. Chief Elbe Jahay lead his force for years of painful fighting in the rough country north of the Great Jungle.

The economic center of the Zulu Empire was more and more the Upper Grabe. The two great cities of Gyre and Gimble dominated the river as it gently coursed past countless spice plantations, farms, and hamlets. After the river bends westward the solid fortress town of Mome Raths laid a solid claim to the north banks, and exerted considerable influence on the war-torn southern region too. The incense trade was never as lucrative as the spices, but Mome Raths does claim to have exported the first commercial shipments of incense in history.

The spice trade led to tremendous wealth in the cities, as foreign luxuries like gems, gold, wine, and ivory were traded along with the spice and silver from within the empire. The new wealth produced a considerable equestrian class, who were also well-trained as archers for city garrison service. The recent invention of the stirrup would lead to a new warrior appearing, the horse archer. It would however be a while before organized stables, along with the ubiquitous ikkanda system, produced disciplined military units out of the emerging talent pool.

After a long history of paganism, some of the world religions were finally appearing in the empire. Among the shepherds and miners of the Mimsy Province, the Aztec wine trade came with Buddhism, offering a contemplative path of meditation embraced by the inhabitants of the tundra. In the brutal conditions of Jaws Bite, Indian Judaism caught on, the combination of strict Law and hope in the afterlife a Godsend to the hard people. Finally, in Mome Raths the cultural transfusion worked both ways, as Christians of Xenia migrated and proselytized.

The late, cool spring did little for the hopes and dreams of the Zulu Empire and its dominant Jabberwock Clan. However, small signs of growth were stirring, promising an eventual break from the nation's stagnation.

[Commodore]

Definitely prefer your stories; I assumed they were more work, though, so we'd only get them on special occasions.

Congrats, it's a special day! [SIZE="1"](of me being bored)[/SIZE]

[Merovech]

Congrats, it's a special day! [SIZE="1"](of me being bored)[/SIZE]

That story post was awesome.

[Commodore]

Well, bad news and good news:




So I lost a massive battle without being able to retaliate, but I won a wet corn!