[spoilers] Commodore: Worse than Toku, it's Giggles of Siam!

[TheHumanHydra]

Nice composite.

[thestick]

Still chuckling over calling the Zulu 'tasty.'

[Commodore]

So, as might be noted above, Azza's been crushed on his primary colony of East Westland. A couple bad blows, but a little later, we're cheerfully marching into Interpol...


So, here's the new territory. Worth the exposure? Probably not, but darn it, it's fun and poor Azza deserves the release from this torment. Northwest Generica:


Someone wants in here, too...

Turn: 197
Status:

[Commodore]

Okay, this will catch us up to the current turn. I'm not looking domestically a lot, but that's because nothing of interest is happening. I'm building up knights, muskets, and galleons to possibly pile onto the Zulu; polishing off the last universities, and growing onto cottages like some sort of madman (Emancipation, I [i]will[//i] get you). I might need to redirect forces a bit to the west; Slowcheetah is looking ornery.


Still, might as well keep building up. Also, let's be friendly to the Zulu until its time to not be friendly. I turned down a loan offer but I gifted them a caravel; it'll save them some net wear and tear, and be moved east to Slow probably (given those whips must be in response to a Slow-move).


Finally, Azza. He built a silly longbow, so I landed my forces next to Voyager, stealing a worker. Unless reinforcements come again, he should bite it next turn and I can stop suffering annoying war weariness in the capital.

Turn: 123
Status:

[teleh]

Nice updates.

*Pfft* that Maceman is overkill at those odds.

[Commodore]

The Western Roman Empire

In 1301 with the fall of the Isle of Wombats, all the main regions of historical Rome were fallen. The Azzar Gaius Musias surrenderred to the Generic general Min Viszugothing, handing over the banners of the nineteen legions and ancient Laurels of the Azza. To the newly Dutch citizens of ancient Rome, this was the end of the empire.

However, in the west the colonies still stood independent. In Interpol during the winter of 1302, the governor Severus Indus declared himself Azzar, and the Citizens of the colonies, for a century already largely autonomus from the rest of the empire, embraced their central identity as Western Roman.

The rich colonies had grown largely untouched by war, and were impressive centers of trade, exporting dyes, ivory, elephants, and sugar all over the known world. The core of the Roman Fleet, battle-hardened over years of conflict in the cold northern seas against the Dutch, guarded the trade routes north of the colonies, sailing from the great port of Twelvefoot Ninja. The military of the Western Roman Empire was never as impressive as the legions of Old Rome; the lush and vast islands of the colonies lacked large deposits of iron, so most metal had to be traded for. The backbone of the army was the strong archer corps; it was said that the boys of the colonies were born with a bow in hand.

The reign of Azzar Indus was marked by peace and a relative prosperity boom as the remnant empire's economy rebounded and public works projects sprouted all over the inner territories. The willy ex-governor focused much of his energies on diplomacy with the Dutch, offering a defacto peace settlment with a small yearly tribute. He neglected to build up the army of the Western Empire, trusting his subtle arrangements with the Dutch to protect his lands.

Upon his death in 1321, Severus Indus left a strong, confident realm, experiencing growth and a real revival of Roman culture. His son, Tavi Indus, succeeded his father without serious rivals. Then, in the spring of 1322, the blue sails of the Generics showed in the south. The city of British India, so far from the Dutch fronts, was taken in a single day of surprise and blood by mercenaries of the Grand Duke Cher Nobog. The city and the lands to the south and west of it fell under the Grand Duke's sway, although the capital of Interpol was still a bulwark against any moves north overland.

The sudden invasion caught the West Romans by surprise; the Generican Kingdom had seemed largely peaceful despite the official state of war after the King's men had taken Wombats and the straights controlling the vast Inward Sea. However, the Grand Dukes of Morning Glens were growing increasingly powerful, Cher Nobog eventually funding the invasion of West Rome himself. After the capture of British India, however, the Grand Duke seemed sated and the two powers reached a detente, with practically no conflict in the years of 1323 through 1337 as the able Tavi led his armies.

However, in the 1338 following the death of his first son, the aging Grand Duke again mobilized a fleet with the crown's passive acceptance. This time, the rich port of Twelvefoot Ninja was his aim; he would completely bypass the formidable defenses of Interpol and send his fleets north. The galleys and triremes of the West Roman navy met the Duke's galleons in a vast conflict, and were utterly destroyed by the larger seagoing vessels. Unopposed by any littoral guardians, the Genericans promptly landed and assaulted the city. The initial waves were wiped out to a man, however, and the fleets retreated to winter in a bay a little south of the city. Azzar Tavi led a regiment in relief of the beleaguered city himself, as another fleet of Genericans shipped out from the Isle of Wombats. In early 1339, the Genericans assaulted the city once more. The first knights of the invaders were butchered on the beach by longbow fire, but several thousand more followed, and the city fell. Tavi Indus fell as well, pierced by a ballista bolt.

Although two of the four main cities of the empire had fallen, the majority of Western Rome remained under the laurels of the Azzar, Tavi's young nephew Remolus Interpolos. He was merely twelve when he took the throne in Interpol, but such was his force of personality that he ruled as well as reigned from the beginning.

While the peninsular regions north of old Twelvefoot and south of British were clearly under Generic control, the vast majority of Ivorria still stood with Interpol, and in north Dyem Voyager still took taxes and levies from the growing provinces. The Azzar Remolus was energetic, and saw to the security of the borders for decades with only minor skirmishing disrupting the peace of his citizens. Even as late as the census of 1365, the empire's population remained stable.

Then, in 1367, the grandson of the old Grand Duke, Cher Ramching the Jagged Lion, took his grandfather's seat in Morning Glens. A corpulent but strong young man, the new Grand Duke Ramching made it his first priority to send the fleets against Interpol. A sizable army for the colonies was also commissioned and sent north from Black Sand Hill, formerly British India. The noose was slowly tightening. The Azzar Remolus, strong and unbowed still, mustered the whole army into the capital. Lacking siege weapons, the Generics besieged the city. For three years, the garrison held out. By the time the forces of the Grand Duke assaulted, only some four thousand of the seven thousand soldiers of the garrison could swing a sword or draw a bow. Still they extracted a horrific toll, with Generican casualties in the thousands. However, in the end, Interpol fell and the Azzar was taken captive. The Grand Duke personally saw to the disfigurement, torture, and execution of Remolus and his entire family.

The smaller rural territory upon Dyem, Voyager, stood still. Once the siege of Interpol had begun in earnest, a charismatic man known only as The Bull proclaimed himself Azzar. His claim of being a bastard of Azzar Tavi was suspect, but he had the backing of the garrison, so the city and the last remnant of the empire accepted his claim. The Bull led the city well, and his longbowmen turned back a few adventurous barbarians and Generics. For almost thirty years, Voyager remained in peace and the city even grew, until in late 1395 Genericans landed and took the woodland provinces to the west of the city. The Bull, seventy-three by then but still strong, saw to the fortification of Voyager and waited.

On the misty morning of May 10, 1396 AD, the silence was broken by shouts of alarm and the clank and pound of charging men-at-arms. Mercenaries in the employ of the elderly Grand Duke Ramching rushed the unwalled city without support, lured by the promise of rape and pillage. The Bull and his men turned to face them, and in the First Battle of Voyager, they utterly crushed the battalion assaulting the city. It was a small and pitiful battle compared to those in the old Roman-Dutch wars, where hundreds of thousands met in the clash of iron. Even so, the desperate press of two thousand outside of Voyager seemed like the last hope of Rome.

But in the end, there was no hope at all. Ballistae, war mammoths, and knights of a six-thousand-strong invasion force followed a week after the initial attacking force, and utterly overwhelmed the last thousand defenders of the Roman Empire. Voyager was taken and sacked, and on May 27, 1396, the last bastion of Western Rome fell.


The new Grand Duchy of Morning Glens, Ivorria, and Dyem was a mighty realm within the Great Kingdom of Generica. The formerly Roman colonies were massive centers of trade and commerce, with fleets of merchantmen hailing in them from the uttermost ends of the world. The formerly Roman inhabitants of the land were loyal subjects of the King, although they hated the Grand Duke who was their more immediate lord. In time, the fertile lands prospered again, and Rome was only a memory.

Turn: 139
Status:

[Rowain]

Great Story Thanks alot

[Merovech]

Very nice! "Azzar" was an especially nice touch

[Commodore]

Well, dudes and gentlemen, it's been an thoroughly awesome two hundred turns here in PB8. We are nowhere even slightly close to finishing this puppy, either, although there is a possibility that things might end soon for some players. The RNG gave me eyes on a distant Mayan conquest, Serdoa another Great Engineer, and Slowcheetah a settled Great Person. Slowcheetah, in turn, gave the rapidly mobilizing Zulu a taste of vinegar and a whiff of gunsmoke; it's clobberin' time.


Guns are all the rage in the Year of Our Lord 1400 AD, and I am not at all late to the party. Muskets: Online. I'm a little sad about the lack of rice hats among the kingdom's musketry, but I'll try to make do, and at least they're all excellent at defending cities.


I shall refrain from the exhaustive, and exhausting, trip through all two dozen of my cities, but here's the first among them: Lakeside Garden. A new grocer is boosting its gold output very nicely, to say nothing of the health boost...bananas and sugar, we must be making my favorite bread. I chuckle to work a citizen, but shaving an entire turn off the Oxford University is nothing to sniff at. This place needs: Universal Sufferage, Levee, Replaceable Parts, and a factory. Still, it's a great capital.


Here's the main empire:
Core (and Grand Duchy). Rocky, mountainous, and lush. The tiles are all very feast or famine; lots of rivers, lovely resources, decent production...but full of deserts and peaks and very tight spaces.


Old Zululand. Everything the core isn't...wide, green, spacious, and dry. It's taken a lot of work, and the cottages are still slowly growing, but this is an excellent patch of land overall.

Turn: 200
Status:

[Commodore]

So while the Zulu and French are technically at war, I'm not actually seeing much of a power dip from either side. My own galleons will keep massing, I guess, but I am at least slightly worried by the fleet in the Pacific. Maybe Slow, not Scoopin, will be where I head...certainly not touching the Zulu-of-the-million-whipped-galleons unless I see some fighting happen.


I turned on tech to Drama->Chemistry because Cre theaters with dye and frigates, and I'm gratified to be second in GNP still, that's to OH HOLY SHIT PLAKO.

Turn: 201
Status: