It is with some trepidation that I begin this enterprise, Truthfully although it has been in the grand scheme of things it seems like an eternity has passed, and so I shall start at the beginning, or at least from when I last put pen to paper over such things. It all started when the Dread Pirate Iron Chin invaded the Ascendancy, taking the southern districts and the District Capitol Chichen Itza, quite what he was hoping to achieve I don’t think anybody know, it all happened so quickly, almost at the same time as we heard what had happened we heard that the Dread Bloodbeard was dead. The Guild Congress was as ever sluggish to reply, bogged down in procedure and protocol, however to be fair to them our system needed them, we operated so much in the unknown none of us wanting to admit that that situation would be permanent.
Now some of you may be wondering what I mean by this small diversion, I shall be brief in my explanation, our Huey Tlatoani, or Great Speaker, Nochehuatl Texcoyo had vanished without a trace he had no heirs and there was little appetite to replace him due to at the time we were in the process of reforming the system. The man was beloved by all, he was a man of the people and when he vanished the nation had lost something great, it also left the body politic in a state of limbo, the great thrust of the reforms had been of our political structure, the first phase had already been completed. The creation of The Maxitia, in our native tongue it means to get closer, in this context it means tight knit closeness, some would also call them Commune’s, and they wouldn’t be wrong, local communities or Syndicates where co-operation is the ideal. These groups were local communities who would work together economically and in other aspects and in doing so they would grow stronger together, it was an ideal given airing by out of our noted luminaries of political thought, Pilne Ilan'zō.
Like Karl Marx of France he forwarded the idea of power flowing from the people to the people, while Marxism espoused what others were touting as Communism, those of Ilan’zōnist thought were dubbed as espousing Syndicalism. To be fair both ideals have their benefits and both flow from the societies in which they were formulated, and in truth both are more fitting for their locales, Now I know it may seem we have wandered from the point of the original detour, however our Huey Tlatoani was a great admirer of Pilne Ilan'zō. Therefore he had a great deal of zeal in seeing those ideals realised, and in truth it wasn’t overly hard Aztek Society has ever been meritocratic with a small nobility with limited powers, however this small elite ended up forming the core of the guilds, and held as a result great sway over the Guild Congress. As a result we had a system where in fact very few representatives of the actual people became delegates, and in a shocking show of cynicism the small few were made ministers and the like with me myself being made Chairman of the Guild Congress.
I have digressed enough, now back to Iron Chin, the Guild Congress dragged their feet in response, however they did agree to declare a state of emergency, in doing so however they enabled me to empower the military to act accordingly, something of a poisoned chalice as we were to discover later. Back to the point I swiftly met with Jade Eagle, the military commander of our southern front, and thus the bulk of the fighting fell to him, the man is a paragon of Aztek Ideals, his past is known to precious few, he had shorn his family ties upon entering the military again this time by choice, for you see all serve in the military as part of their youth, however some elect to return. He was one such man and he had always proven himself to be adept at the ways of war, he even took up a new identity and a new face, and he had earned the rank of General, however we simply referred to him by the new name he had forged for himself, Jade Eagle. He had summoned his commanders to him and lain his plans well, and less than a fortnight later the Southern Districts were once more under our control, at the price of a scant handful of casualties, I later found out that this was the result the Panther Prides. A Militant order like the more famous Jaguar Warriors they specialised in stealth and subterfuge and had been at the tip of our spears in the liberation and in doing so had netted us an at the time unknown boon, the great lady, Bloody Mary.
Bloody Mary, quite the character I can tell you, the daughter of Bloodbeard and the inheritor of his legacy, of course we didn’t quite find out that particular detail for a few weeks yet, she had been blackmailed by Iron Chin to lead an occupation force, her family having been held hostage. However she was able to extricate herself when the Pride’s stormed the command post in which she was reposing, she was quick to offer a deal, her help in aid and in return we would free her family, the deal was swiftly made and fulfilled. In the aftermath of this she swore that she would return before leaving for destinations unknown, we later found out that she had gone to a meeting of the pirates and stared down Iron Chin, who had sought to rally more pirates to his banner.
While she was absent we begun preparations for the next step in our war, the isles of the Sea of Aztlan, we knew that we would need to take the war to Iron Chin and these pirates, and so we began rallying our forces, without Bloody Mary this would have been much harder a task. For we have until this point made little effort in regards to Naval Warfare however we did have a token force in both bodies of water to our sides. Fortunate that this now was, for when Bloody Mary returned Jade Eagle was ready to begin, the lady swiftly outlines with Jade Eagle a plan of attack to make the Sea ours, a plan that was swiftly enacted, and while we began to sweep the seas of pirates, we also began landings on several of the isles, one of which would come to be known as Jamaica. The Cambrians had also taken to the seas and their aid proved most useful, as did our French friends, and in less than a month the seas were ours, it was at this point that Bloody Mary declared her intent to leave the fleet.
Her reasons were her own but she did say that it would ultimately be to our advantage, and it turned out to be true, as it was at this time that the numerous heirs to Bloodbeards Legacy began to make their appearances. Captain Lemon Coat had set out to make a name for himself under the banner of the French, however he had proved monumentally inept and was dead less than a month later, his Witchdoctor backer having vanished back into the shadows, while another Teary Eye, also began to emerge. Bloody Mary returned and in private adjusted our strategy slightly with Jade Eagle, although this didn’t become immediately apparent until after affairs were in motion, and fortunate we are that it was so, I digress once again, and what would end up going down in history as an incredible feat of military strategy we made landfall on what the pirates referred to as Cuba.
Their home fleet was still a threat however we had outwitted them and landed on their shores, even now putting pen to paper I can scarcely believe the pace we set in this campaign, it was at this point that we began to see the first signs of a much later tragedy. General Tzopilotl, commander of our Northern Forces and a political appointee began to voice his displeasure at Jade Eagle’s unconventional tactics, and sought to discredit him, however although we were forced to appoint him by the Guild Congress. We were not compelled to pay him much heed at this point in time, and so we dismissed it, and scarcely had we finished dealing with that unpleasant man when news came, victory and an unexpected prize.
I can scarcely begin to do justice to the feelings going through me when he came through the door to my office, our Huey Tlatoani returned to us, and with Bloody Mary and Teary Eye in tow, the latter of which explained that he had been held under Iron Chin’s hospitality, however he had not suffered any indignity. And alas the man had not as of yet been brought to justice, however at the beginning of this stage of the campaign a great fleet of ships had fled the isle, all of them of similar design to his flagship, something of great concern to us all, the response of the Guild Congress to the return was incredible. The first thing he declared was that the era of uncertainty was over that what we had started together before we shall finish now, and to thunderous applause that rapidly petered out when realising as they did what this would mean, however news had begun to leak out and with reluctance the Guild Congress voted to disband itself.
Now I shall detour once again, this war had awoken the nation and inspired the people, our economy was not exactly small or sluggish but comparatively now three years later it was, our people with this war hurled themselves into every task, the Obsidian Way, our railway network was expanded radically. This expansion allowed for expansion in every other aspect and truly we became closer together, some mind you say this made our nation smaller, and I do see their point, but not in such a bad light, and certainly it would make our other endeavours much, much simpler. I admit I was also quick to take advantage of the change in political circumstances, the Military was cleared out of Guild Cronies, with the good general and his supporters being the first to go, and I was quick to appoint a student of Jade Eagle a man calling himself Iron Jaguar.
He had taken the moniker during his efforts on Cuba and had proven himself as adept as his teacher which was to prove fortuitous when a plan set in motion several years ago by the former came to fruition. A short detour is again in order, it seems I am unable to stay on topic, but then again my head feels like it’s spinning so much has happened, so much, anyway, to the north there was one a nation calling itself the Confederation of California, we referred to them as outsiders thieves and usurpers.
We had long and slowly been expanding to the north when a great army of armed settlers overtook what was unofficially out territory heavily settled by our people and friends, what would ensue would be fifty years of oppression, however we were patient and cautious, we sent in the Panther Pride to stymie every attempt at control these settlers would attempt to exert and migration northwards would continue. Now it might sound strange that we continue sending settlers into the arms of oppression, no instead it had been done to ensure that when we achieved our objectives we would be the natural inheritors due to facts on the ground.
Although the finger of blame was frequently pointed at us, proof was elusive and as such we were able to simply shrug off the spectre of responsibility, though truthfully it would have bothered us little, the rupture we had waited would come during our conflict with the pirates. I was swift in ordering Iron Jaguar to take his forces north to occupy what he could, a task he carries out to this day with a corps of engineers, even now we rapidly expand the Jade Highway and Obsidian Way to bind these new acquisitions in. We do this even beyond what some consider our current borders, I even hear reports that in less than a month we shall have a rail link to the Cambrian North, it is perhaps no coincidence then we have recently received a communique from them, and something I personally look forward to.
Then consolidation period after Cuba’s fall took four months, during which we took the remaining isles the Pirates controlled in the Sea of Aztlan however we made one exception, Bloody Mary made great pains to show me and some of my colleagues to an isle that it’s inhabitants called Plunder Isle. When I arrived I was somewhat surprised to meet a colleague of Bloody Mary, a man referred to as Lucian Goldknuckle, the Father of Bloodbeard and the Grandfather of Bloody Mary, and with the vanishment of his son the heir to his pirate group, he declared that the age of Piracy had came to an end and that he and his would become Aztek, just like his granddaughter.
While the military began preparing for the final stage of it’s operations our economic boom began to build up at a frantic pace, new factories opened and several new cities were laid down, and many a new Ironclads were put to sea. Never before had our forces been so well equipped as the final showdown with Iron Chin began, the war at sea would be savage, and we in time sent much of his fleet to the bottom of the sea, however much of our original fleet also joined it, an acceptable loss given it’s obsolescence but a heavy price to pay. However it was a price well paid as we made landfall and began swiftly laying siege to Iron Chin’s empire, we faced half crazed pirates who did not die easily, their eyes were nigh completely white and when slain would cough and gag white foam.
This stage of the war would be bloody to the extreme however ultimately we triumphed, however as to the fate of Iron Chin I must leave the record incomplete, as I do not believe he met his end as Bloody Mary and Chi’al claimed, they did however return in the company of the Witchdoctor. It would later emerge that her apprentice had been responsible for the unstoppable murderous pirates we had had to overcome something our doctors were very keen to learn of and when presented with the Apprentice’s notes they were overcome with enthusiasm.
However our victory was to be tainted as in the aftermath of all of this the craven French Caribbean Governor Matthias Delaplace proclaimed the former lands of Iron Chin to be under French Control, and we would have reacted immediately however tragedy was to strike and drive our focus inwards for a time once more. We had recently held elections to solidify the new changes in our system and now instead of actively being the stymied puppets of the Guild Congress we were returned to service by the Congress of Trade Unions, a true body of representatives of the people. What would complicate matters is that the people had become in the space of a year decidedly more hawkish and this would reflect in the Congress, and the body disagreed vehemently with itself as the reality would take time to settle.
Our great leader, the Huey Tlatoani, sought to make one final speech, he had discharged his final duty the reforms were complete and he wished to now bow out of the public view and live out the rest of his days in peace, prophetic words as it would turn out. He had alighted the platform in the centre of the great central plaza in Tenochtitlan and looked out across the assembled throngs, the streets were so tightly packed that if anything were to happen a response would be very unlikely to be forthcoming. Alas this was to be unfortunate especially when before he could utter his first words he was assailed by a group of masked individuals in the front row, they were swiftly detained by the Jaguar Warrior guard, however the damage was done as our great guiding light lay breathing heavily in a growing pool of his own lifeblood.
We were able to get him to a hospital soon enough and at first he responded well to treatment, and he was full of hope for the future and the people, he even joked that he had not meant to be so literal about bowing out so literally. I couldn’t help myself laughing before taking my leave, I did not want to impinge on him any further when he has a guest, I however wish I had perhaps stayed as I would next hear he had died in his sleep that night. Seeing him lie on the slap his ashen waxen complexion, I immediately ordered for his body to be made ready for cremation as was custom, and when I returned to my chambers here I was greeted with news. The conspirators had been tracked down, General Tzopilotl and his cabal of backers had foolishly thought they could turn back time with their acts, they didn’t see out the day as they were subsequently publically executed sending out a message with drove the people into a towering rage.
This sent us into yet another economic surge even as the people mourned the death of our leader, the next three years would see us grapple with this legacy, yet we have begun to heal, we have emerged through the depths of despair and now stand on the other side far stronger and united again. We are a changed people reforged anew, and quite what will happen now I cannot say for sure, but I do know this, between then and now it has been quiet but it is merely the calm before the storm.
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Aztek AscendancyCommissary of External Relations
Greetings and Kind Regards,
I would be delightful on behalf of the Chairman and the Speaker to accede to this request for a conference in our radiant city of Tenochtitlan, it being no small amount of relief to conclude a subject that has been of both great concern and interest to both our nations and peoples.
We eagerly await the arrival of Legatus Doyle and shall ensure that he is treated with Honour, Care and Consideration during his stay.
In service to the Aztek people and state,
Caa'ci Icnoyotl,
Commissariat of External Relations of the Aztek Ascendancy.
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Chi’al slammed his hands together three times the sound echoing out across the dunes from which rose from the grains what had appeared to be a variety of rocks sparse fauna or simple sand a group of soldiers who slowly began to softly pad their way over. He eyed up each of them approvingly, this was but the latest batch of recruits into the Panther Prides, in the last few years he had travelled the world learning from natives of other climes and studying the best way to become one with the terrains of the world, he had returned and set to training new generations for war and peace.
Further north several of his compatriots had finished sweeping away the last of the Confederation and now given way to regular soldiers who were keeping the snaking advance of the Jade Highway and the Obsidian Way northwards and west, the advance may only have been maybe two or three miles a day. Given time they would reach the Canadian border to the north and the Louisianan border to the east, he sighed as he surveyed this new pack as he looked out beyond the dry dunes, he knew where he and his pride would in time be deployed, as already groundwork was being lain, however the future was as ever uncertain, and who was he to judge…
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Full wholesome laughter of the sort that shook from the belly filled the bar, though to the informed observer it was more akin to a court, a tall and lean yet full chested lady sat at the high table at the side of an older man, both smiling and laughing with the rest. She as ever dressed in a manner that left little to the imagination and around her neck was a layer doubloons, Bloody Mary had changed little in the past three years, well perhaps in style of garb, before a nigh bulging bodice now instead was a scantily trimmed version of an Aztek dress much in fashion at present. Indeed all around the chamber the fashion from three years ago had subtly shifted small touches here and there showed just how much time had changed affairs.
Another round to my granddaughter, to the queen of all pirates!” called out Lucian as he knocked back the remaining contents of his tankard in one gulp, ignoring the slight elbowing and narrowed eyes of his granddaughter, “Ok, Ok Queen of the Mitotiqui!” he relented, the word still a little difficult for him. To be fair what it meant was very much appropriate, if there was anything that Bloody Mary and her crews were good at it was causing an uproar, and in truth they had been lucky, the Aztek’s had allowed for those who lived on Plunder Isle to be Aztek’s and to preserve some of what they were by virtue of being somewhat independent.
Of course the more things stayed the same the more they changed, the Isle now looked more respectable than it had a few years earlier and certainly scurvy was far less common, lost in his reverie as he was, he was not so completely out of it that while waiting for her own tankard to be refilled that Bloody Mary was staring out the window wistfully. She had been named an Admiral to the Aztek fleet but that still not prevent her thinking of what might have been, and she spoke highly of her rescuers, specifically one, of course she knew that it was ultimately unlikely to be. Lucian elbowed her in the ribs with a great smile, she was here on leave and it behoved him to make sure she enjoyed her time here, in what was in essence a Training grounds of sorts for the rapidly growing Aztek Fleets.