New Civilizations ( OOC, Always Open, Reboot )

[Kelmet]

Is the map being edited?

I hope so.

[Alaroma]

Is the map being edited?

I hope so.

What year is the map supposed to represent? The timeskip?

[Cainesland]

I hope so.

What year is the map supposed to represent? The timeskip?

I think it represents the current year, 2985.

[Alaroma]

What year is the map supposed to represent? The timeskip?

I think it represents the current year, 2985.

After the edits are made?

[G-Tech Corporation]

I think it represents the current year, 2985.

After the edits are made?

Edits?

The map as it stands represents the world at the start of 2985 BCE.

[Cainesland]

I think it represents the current year, 2985.

After the edits are made?

I think the current map in the opening post represents the territory of authors that are under their control, not their allies or sphere of influence. I don’t think it has any authors added since August 10th when the map was last updated.

This is what Joohan said about the last update when asking for territory claims.

EVERYONE

Send me TG's of your territory by the year 2985.

Only territory which is directly under the control of your civilization - not merely influenced.

Gonna try and update the map.

[Alaroma]

After the edits are made?

I think the current map in the opening post represents the territory of authors that are under their control, not their allies or sphere of influence. I don’t think it has any authors added since August 10th when the map was last updated.

This is what Joohan said about the last update when asking for territory claims.

EVERYONE

Send me TG's of your territory by the year 2985.

Only territory which is directly under the control of your civilization - not merely influenced.

Gonna try and update the map.

Well, as much as id appreciate being added, I suppose it’s not really necessary for right now considering our size.

[Bortslovakia]

Also, Borts, I await your response.

Roskilde,
Year 13, 7th Summer Monday, astronomical dusk,
Clara Axinite Rose af Toronto

The hour was late. The long and exciting nights of my student days were behind me, but today I found myself wandering the streets again well after the sun has disappeared beyond the horizon and as the sky straddled the boundary between dark blue and jet black. I figured that the time was close to midnight. Although the summer solstice was a while ago, Roskilde was far enough north that the sky would never get truly black at night at this time of summer.

I suppose I should count myself lucky that there was still enough light to see by, if only barely.

The imposing portal, my destination, stood before me. A small light flickering from the interior of the house let me know that our guest - how odd it was to call her that when it was me standing in front of where she was staying - was still awake. Perhaps the work was keeping her up late, or perhaps she was still working off the adrenaline of her Chamber speech. Not everyone was cut out for public speaking, after all - I'd know, 'cause I wasn't.

Even now, I found myself hesitating. Fear - stupid, irrational, nonsensical fear, for what have I to fear from her? - pushed me back. Curiosity drove me on.

"Representative Sabia Iníon Chiaráin?"

There was some light shuffling inside. Of paper, feet, or something else, I couldn't quite tell. After what I imagine was a short pause, for short it certainly did not feel to me, eventually a clear and self-assured voice rang softly through the building. Even nervous and broken, as it was in her speech earlier, I thought it the voice of a sharp and inquisitive mind.

"Yes?"

"Clara Axinite Rose," I introduced myself, "aðalþingmaður Stórþingsins. I wish to speak with you."

"I see," she responded, her face emerging from the darkness inside. "Do come on in."

Sabia led me into her small quarters - small, because of the strong overcrowding of the town during a Regular Session, even though perhaps it was not so small by the standards of fifteen years ago. The soft glow of the candle failed to properly illuminate more than just the centre of the table it sat on. After years of living without electricity, though, I was quite accustomed to navigating on lean light. She sat down herself on the floor - despite her linen on straw bed being right nearby, and I appreciated the gesture of not having me look up to her - and gestured for me to do the same across the table from her.

"What it is you wished to talk about?"

"I..."

I couldn't directly start with the reason I actually came here. I just couldn't. Something in my mind, an emotion I didn't know existed, compelled me to beat around the bush a bit first. How embarrassing.

"I have no voice in the Stórþing," I therefore began instead, "but I wanted to express my gratitude for your speech. It was very interesting."

I hesitated.

"In more ways than one," I finished.

She looked exhausted and, although she was struggling to hide it in the interest of politeness, irritated. Fair enough, I supposed. I was disrupting her from her sleep or whatever work was important enough to keep her awake at this late hour.

"I... I have many questions," I continued, slowly getting to the point, "about that final statement your speech concluded on."

Now she looked far more interested. I could see her eyes widening. I suddenly felt much more self-conscious about having come here alone. She wasn't authorised to ambush me or something... surely... right? My mind abruptly reminded of all the ways in which it was important that I stay alive and healthy, more than some of which were selfish and all of them hypocritical.

"I believe it was meant for me, for I speak... used to speak the language it was written in," I forced myself to continue. To my relief she just looked interested, not afraid, no longer surprised, and certainly not aggressive. "There are a great many things I wish to ask you. Why you believed that someone here might understand it. Who wrote that line for you, and how many back in your homeland speak this language. How this author came to speak the language that I myself believed to be long-dead, a relic of the past. But I will not force you to answer it at this moment. There is a reason why you decided to drop that line, to fish around for someone who might understand it. Well, I understand it, and here I stand. What is it that you want from me?"

Not my best speech. Certainly not my most coherent one. But whatever lines I had prepared, whatever carefully calculated angle I was going for an hour ago, I could no longer remember in the face of the moment.

I awaited the representative's response.

Right, I've been unsure of how Sabia would reply for some time now. Any instructions she's received on the matter are secondary to the mission itself (establishing a treaty to end the raids on Ireland). Ultimately I've rewritten this twice now, and I'm still not particularly happy. There's very little actual content, but I hope I've conveyed the sense of excitement and confusion equally. I also didn't want to take too many liberties with Clara's responses, seeing as she's another Author.

Sabia continued to stare at the woman for what very well could have been an eternity, processing her words. Accent aside, she had an impeccable knowledge of the Irish language. Some might call it unnatural even, seeing as Sabia knew for a fact that the good Lady Seanad did not converse with Hibernians often. Yet it was familiar as well, beneath the intricate Roskilde accent. She reminded Sabia of uncle.

"Ahem-Yes. Please sit down. That's a lot of questions, so let's take them all one at a time. First, I'm supposed to tell you that uncle-err the High King is named Patrick Kolman, and he comes from Long Island in a place called New York. He was sent here by -something- around fifteen years ago, and he's been doing his best to unite Ireland under a single banner since. He's very interested in learning about who you are...emm 'you' until now being the abstract hope that there'd be someone here like him, and wants to talk about the way you created, assuming you did create it, this Stórþing that governs your state."

Realizing both the volume, and speed of her words had increased to an unacceptable degree, Sabia took a long, slow breath, calming down. "Right... sorry. He's the only one that speaks English in Éire, but there's another man like him ruling Icedonia in Sasana. The High King is hoping to find "answers"... if that makes any sense. He claims that with more information on people like him, maybe some kind of correlation can be made. Or at least maybe you all might be able to talk things over?"

Watching nervously, Sabia couldn't help but feel foolish. Her only saving grace being the look of utter shock seemingly plastered onto the face of Clara.

"I-"

"Hmm?"

"Nothing"

Waiting for another moment, Sabia continued

"I-I'm sorry if I've upset you. It's all a little much I imagine, and my own... informality probably isn't making this any easier. I've been worried about some hired thug cutting my throat all day. Some people may prefer to remain a secret."

Clearing her thankfully undamaged throat, Sabia idly felt at the dagger she had hidden in her sleeve. A protective measure, not that she expected Clara to try anything. "I wasn't given any specific instructions beyond what's already been said" she slowly continued, idly fidgeting with the cuff of her tunic "but I think uncle wants to return home. And any contact with his old world, no matter how little, is a potential opportunity to make that happen."

Looking down, Sabia closed her eyes, growing somber at the thought of her father's longtime friend desperately trying to think through his inexplicable presence in the world. No doubt an unhealthy habit. Just as suddenly through she shot back up, looking at Clara with a mix of recognition and embarrassment.

"Oh! I almost forgot" she exclaimed, her face reddening in annoyance "I am to find out as much as there is to know about yourself. To see if there are any similarities. That is, if you consent to giving away such information?"

[Joohan]

It is a perfect storm for Viktor's ambitions. People are now acclimatized or being acclimatized to a social hierarchy and rule from above, but he comes too early for these social institutions to have deep roots or have expanded beyond kinship groups into polities capable of resisting his ambitions militarily. Warrior cultures have led to the creation of particular segments of a society that can be recruited for martial pursuits, but it will be another eight hundred years before the first archaeologically significant skirmishing is evident, betraying a continued state of senescence and plenty for the populace. An excellent entry point for a person willing to mobilize this warrior class with the knowledge of how to use them. And, most importantly for matters such as artisan specialization and the creation of material culture, urbanization is still in its infancy, but exists, in some form. Cities are not valued by individual bands, and so easy prey for integration, but also form logical points for local agglomeration as political ties reach throughout the region.

As I said, a perfect storm. A shallow but relatively unified culture, a near-universal language, but little in the way of entrenched social, military, or religious institutions, and so clay for the shaping of an Author.[/spoiler]

In summary, there are very valid reasons I drop Viktor where he was

This hasn't really explained how Viktor has managed to annex huge chunks of Europe without much of a fight, and how it's supposedly a cohesive unit. There's no indication of a universal culture or language - there are indications that cultural elements have been brought over with migrants from the steppes - such as social stratification - but it would be fool hardy to say anything about universal language or culture. Every clan in every other valley has their own little language, with their own local gods and histories. There's been no overarching social institutions or movements to implement anything akin to what we might consider language or cultural uniformity. Similarity, perhaps, but no more.

As for warfighting, I doubt that they still fight in the old manner of jumping each other in the forest. You understand that, an Author's mere presence will change the world around them. You've been in charge of your civ for, what, fourteen years now? In that time, you've been leading military forces, based around the conventional tactics and organization of our own world's antiquity. The moment other tribes began seeing you move formations in organized mass against an enemy, was the moment that they dropped the old way of fighting and have adapted new, more sophisticated methods of combat. Designed either to fight like you, or designed specifically to fight against you. Never mind that fighting against imperial forces would be fool hardy, it would be done quite often - and the constant combat would be a drag on expansion.

Xenophobic and prideful tribal leaders falling over each other to bend the knee to a foreigner so that they can have foreigners judge over their internal affairs is just unrealistic. You've done fine so far, but for the future, the Imperium is going to have to actual show signs of struggle against internal and external forces.

[Plzen]

I'd rather settle this peacefully just for OOC's sake.

If settling this means just letting you have the territories, no. I really do want those rocks.

We’d honestly be pressing for the Southern Isles too, if we can somehow seize them in war.

[Joohan]

I'd rather settle this peacefully just for OOC's sake.

If settling this means just letting you have the territories, no. I really do want those rocks.

We’d honestly be pressing for the Southern Isles too, if we can somehow seize them in war.

That's right Plzn, put the Scandinavian foot down. Patty want's the Orkney's, let him have it - every inch of dirt six feet below the surface is his.

[G-Tech Corporation]

This hasn't really explained how Viktor has managed to annex huge chunks of Europe without much of a fight, and how it's supposedly a cohesive unit. There's no indication of a universal culture or language - there are indications that cultural elements have been brought over with migrants from the steppes - such as social stratification - but it would be fool hardy to say anything about universal language or culture. Every clan in every other valley has their own little language, with their own local gods and histories. There's been no overarching social institutions or movements to implement anything akin to what we might consider language or cultural uniformity. Similarity, perhaps, but no more.

I did just explain exactly why there are near universal cultural similarities and linguistic groups in this era - that was more or less the entire thrust of my post. I can summarize again, if you missed it, but you seem to have missed a large chunk of the post regardless in your quote - are you sure you read the whole thing?

As for warfighting, I doubt that they still fight in the old manner of jumping each other in the forest. You understand that, an Author's mere presence will change the world around them. You've been in charge of your civ for, what, fourteen years now? In that time, you've been leading military forces, based around the conventional tactics and organization of our own world's antiquity. The moment other tribes began seeing you move formations in organized mass against an enemy, was the moment that they dropped the old way of fighting and have adapted new, more sophisticated methods of combat. Designed either to fight like you, or designed specifically to fight against you. Never mind that fighting against imperial forces would be fool hardy, it would be done quite often - and the constant combat would be a drag on expansion.

That's another point altogether, but worth noting - fighting massed combat with weapons equality relies on massed combat equally, until such a time as the lethality of the individual warrior allows him to pose a personal threat in a very short timeframe to another individual warrior. And that's an axiom we don't really see until the invention of gunpowder or, in some schools of thought, the crossbow.

So sure, local tribes are fully capable of adopting formation fighting to counter Imperial formation fighting. I absolutely agree with you on that.

Xenophobic and prideful tribal leaders falling over each other to bend the knee to a foreigner so that they can have foreigners judge over their internal affairs is just unrealistic. You've done fine so far, but for the future, the Imperium is going to have to actual show signs of struggle against internal and external forces.

I would hardly go so far as to say 'falling over each other'. The Imperium relied on judicial and legal authority for her initial expansion in the settlements surrounding Mara herself where parasocial or allosocial relationships existed. Beyond that, it relies on implied threat, offered prosperity, and social pressure at an individual level for integration.

Of course, I should note that, contrary to what might be your impression, integrating settlements beyond the Imperium's borders is far and away a minority of how the Imperium expands. Central Europe is still a land of hunter gatherer bands that work nomadic rounds - the perfect sort of people to voluntarily integrate, and a sort of people that is nearly impossible to integrate if they aren't interested in the process. As I've noted, most of the Imperium's 'borders' are space-filling and largely empty between riparian settlements. That's because the nomadic bands who aren't interested in bowing the knee - which will be a decent amount of them, have fucked off elsewhere.

[Ralnis]

Going to have Luther commit suicides in two posts and take my leave. Can't have him causing anymore mass destruction in Mesopotamia.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Going to have Luther commit suicides in two posts and take my leave. Can't have him causing anymore mass destruction in Mesopotamia.

I mean, I think mass destruction in Mesopotamia is pretty cool. Luther has already altered the course of worldwide demographics significantly.

[Bortslovakia]

I'd rather settle this peacefully just for OOC's sake.

If settling this means just letting you have the territories, no. I really do want those rocks.

We’d honestly be pressing for the Southern Isles too, if we can somehow seize them in war.

I've said multiple times that Pat would be perfectly happy with a joint ownership deal. He's afraid of Orkney and the surrounding isles being used as a base of operations to raid, and potentially launch an invasion of Britain. He doesn't particularly care if they're just used for trade ports. It's a matter of having control over the situation.

If it's all or nothing though, the war is still on!

That's right Plzn, put the Scandinavian foot down. Patty want's the Orkney's, let him have it - every inch of dirt six feet below the surface is his.

So it's OP favoritism then!? I see how it is! I get it!

I'll take that deal, and Clara can have the bottom of the sea in exchange! YARR HARR

[Ralnis]

Going to have Luther commit suicides in two posts and take my leave. Can't have him causing anymore mass destruction in Mesopotamia.

I mean, I think mass destruction in Mesopotamia is pretty cool. Luther has already altered the course of worldwide demographics significantly.

Going to ask in what form? Because all Luther have done is literally nothing but become a mass murdering greedy psychopath whose done worse shit than even Issac.

[G-Tech Corporation]

I mean, I think mass destruction in Mesopotamia is pretty cool. Luther has already altered the course of worldwide demographics significantly.

Going to ask in what form? Because all Luther have done is literally nothing but become a mass murdering greedy psychopath whose done worse shit than even Issac.

Well, I don't think he has done anything worse than Isaac. War casualties and the like are more morally justifiable than sex slavery. I was more speaking to the casualties from his wars though - tens of thousands dead, with likely hundreds of thousands perishing as casualties of disease and famine brought on by the wars.

[G-Tech Corporation]

I'll take that deal, and Clara can have the bottom of the sea in exchange! YARR HARR

I'd still say Scotland is more worth colonizing, really.

[Ralnis]

Going to ask in what form? Because all Luther have done is literally nothing but become a mass murdering greedy psychopath whose done worse shit than even Issac.

Well, I don't think he has done anything worse than Isaac. War casualties and the like are more morally justifiable than sex slavery. I was more speaking to the casualties from his wars though - tens of thousands dead, with likely hundreds of thousands perishing as casualties of disease and famine brought on by the wars.

Welp then he commits suicide, he has already fucked up Sumer and Mesopotamia so he dies and I leave.

[Plzen]

I'd still say Scotland is more worth colonizing, really.

Actual practical value has very little to do with why I, OOC, and the Northlands, IC, want those islands so badly. I’m fairly confident that this is also true for Borts’ side.

[G-Tech Corporation]

Well, I don't think he has done anything worse than Isaac. War casualties and the like are more morally justifiable than sex slavery. I was more speaking to the casualties from his wars though - tens of thousands dead, with likely hundreds of thousands perishing as casualties of disease and famine brought on by the wars.

Welp then he commits suicide, he has already fucked up Sumer and Mesopotamia so he dies and I leave.

But such a cool impact on our world. The Fertile Crescent's impact on history will be much different. Advanced but smaller, they might end up our world's Europe instead of actual Europe.

[Ralnis]

Welp then he commits suicide, he has already fucked up Sumer and Mesopotamia so he dies and I leave.

But such a cool impact on our world. The Fertile Crescent's impact on history will be much different. Advanced but smaller, they might end up our world's Europe instead of actual Europe.

No it's not, I'm killing Luther and leaving before I cause more destruction and deaths because of my shit story and character.

[Cainesland]

But such a cool impact on our world. The Fertile Crescent's impact on history will be much different. Advanced but smaller, they might end up our world's Europe instead of actual Europe.

No it's not, I'm killing Luther and leaving before I cause more destruction and deaths because of my shit story and character.

Would you prefer to make a different character?

[Plzen]

No it's not, I'm killing Luther and leaving before I cause more destruction and deaths because of my shit story and character.

There’s no necessity for you to convince G-Tech of the necessity of you leaving. If you want to go, go. Let nobody stop you.

It was a pleasure to have you RP with us while it lasted, and I wish you the best of fortunes on your future ventures.

[G-Tech Corporation]

No it's not, I'm killing Luther and leaving before I cause more destruction and deaths because of my shit story and character.

Would you prefer to make a different character?

That's actually not a bad idea, Ralnis. Perhaps you could make a new character, and do that news reporter/writer idea you originally had for Luther?