New Civilizations ( IC, Open )

[Orostan]

Aaron Dawson - Month 6

Strike the Earth

The area around Luoyang was poor in iron. Almost all of Aaron’s iron had come from rocks washed down the yellow river or eroded by it. Such an unreliable source of the metal wasn’t going to be enough to arm almost a hundred men or satisfy the new demand for iron tools that had sprung up. So, Aaron looked to the ground.

The hills near Luoyang were not rich in iron ore, but the occasional rock with a red streak running through it was there. What Aaron wanted was a clear site for China’s first iron mine.

While he and Tan worked on setting up a new government, men on horseback were sent out to look for large rock formations with iron present. In the early morning of their third day of searching, a tip from a local farmer lead Aaron’s scouts to a large rock face protruding from a mountain decorated with red streaks. This was it. The site was a fair distance from Luoyang and required passing over rocky hills. Reaching there wasn’t easy by foot or by horse. The horses had an especially rough time, as their unprotected hooves didn’t have a good time on the rocks.

Because of the distance people pushing carts there was out of the question. The only real option would be horse drawn carts - but the horses hated the rocks. To fix this, Aaron took a craftsman and asked him to make leather protection for the horses. Aaron described what he wanted and drew a diagram on a bit of parchment with some charcoal. At the end of the day he had sixteen horse ‘boots’. Their bottoms were made of thick layers of leather and they were held onto the horse with a tied band of plant fiber or leather just above the horse’s hooves. The risk of damaging the animals through cart pulling was now greatly reduced. Aaron didn’t have the time to build a road, so this would have to do.

Over the course of a month horse pulled carts brought men and equipment to the rock face where Aaron began to supervise the beginnings of a mine. The forty or so volunteers Aaron had gathered for the work were taken up to the top of the rock face and asked to begin digging an open pit mine. Aaron had the process overseen by a worker who said they’d dug for copper in a similar way before. Horse pulled carts, the wheels of the carts reinforced with iron to minimize wear, took the men to the mine every morning with tools and pots of rice for the day. The horses would leave their cart at the mine to be picked up later when it was full of iron ore. At the end of the day the men would be shuttled back to the town just in time for dinner.

Coal was much easier to find in the area surrounding Luoyang. Another open pit mine was opened in a particularly rich spot and was serviced in a way similar to the iron mine. The spare coal that didn't go into the blast furnaces was used for the kilns. With a hundred workers putting out iron at a steady rate Aaron could now focus on other things. The northern cities were likely to dispatch their troops right after harvest, which meant that they were likely to arrive about a week after harvest actually occurred. Aaron began putting together a plan for training and for equipping his men. Right now there was no standardization and one man might be armed with full iron armor and an iron weapon while another lacked any iron at all and was armed with only a copper spear. So, with the help of Lu, Aaron began to draw up a standard armament. Halberd soldiers were to be armored with iron lamellar armor, which the craftsman at Aaron's metal working compound had improved greatly since the initial production batch, and armed with a standard iron halberd. The armor would only cover their torso and shoulders, less than Aaron would have liked unfortunately. The men would also get a helmet made from iron with some flexible plates providing neck and side protection. The armor didn't cover everything but it was miles ahead of anything anyone else Aaron knew of had. Merchants from other cities had already tried to buy the armor and weapons off of some of Aaron's men, Lu told him. Lu had also grown more trusting of Aaron over the days. Tan probably had played a large part in encouraging that. Lu had also taken to drilling the men outside the city walls. Aaron hadn't approved it but appreciated it anyways.

The standard swordsman from Luoyang would be given a shield, which were now painted red. Instead of an emblem, Aaron chose to make three white stripes going down vertically on the shield the standard. The swordsmen would be armed with similar armor as the halberd men, though would also be given arm protection as well as greaves and upper leg protection made from iron lamellar plates much like the shoulder and arm guards. The swords they held would be at a length Aaron estimated to be around ninety centimeters with the blade taking up about 70 of those centimeters. Aaron had also instituted a measurement system for the manufacture of these blades by drawing a mark on a block of wood and then using that mark to draw a row of equidistant marks on another bit of wood. Aaron tried to be as close to a centimeter as he could get. Once satisfied with his work, he paid a city wood worker to make a hundred of the rulers based on the original. The rulers would be about a hundred centimeters long, making them meter sticks. The meter sticks would also feature larger marks every ten centimeters for ease of use. Lu was put in charge of overseeing these changes.

After the basics of a military and stable metal supply chain were set up, Aaron would begin the work of setting up a real government with Tan.

[Guuj Xaat Kil]

Johann Sebastiano, Day 182/Month 6 AA (After Arrival)

He'd made a mental count of how many days it had been since he arrived naked on that cold mountain glen, and upon getting a redwood (or was it a red cedar?) and dicing it up into twelve sections for the months, he found out it had been give or take 180 days since he had arrived, or about 6 months. "Which exact month though..." Was the unsaid question, and until he learned a way to discern that, he would have to stick with a skewed year based on when he arrived. Although that was the least of his concerns/needs/etc.

He had been carving up things out of the various woods in Haida Gwaii, and he'd been carving out a lot. As well as assisting Jaahguhl in his logging. So much that he'd learned a thing or two about woodcarving, which he put into good use by carving out something that somewhat represented a raven about four months ago, which in turn he used to denote some bird spirit these proto-Haida were quite fond of, "The predecessor of Yáahl most likely." Sebastiano mused to himself as he entered a workshop just across Jaahguhl's place, a humble shack of wood built with the help of a few people that owed him a favor. "Helping people out earns one favors," he thought amusedly, "who would've thought?. Upon entering and lifting the workshop's wooden windows off a hook that fastened it to the wall, the entering light would reveal his work these past two months, which were bunch of rough animal wood carvings that were passable as some sort of spiritual product- he was improving in the quality of said carvings, however- said products he sold around the village and others nearby.

Speaking of said villages... "There's a lot of villages popping up nowadays," he murmured to himself as his hands gripped tightly on a coarse stone chisel, "But why?" Before, from Tlat'a'áaw T'áay to Cumshewa by the K̲andaliig̲wii, there had only been one village in between, Cl'kaw, which was closer to Cumshewa and on the south coast of ; now there were five villages besides Cl'kaw of around five to eight families, with the aforementioned village holding around 200 souls already. He roughly estimated about 1,500 souls living on Haida Gwaii alone by now, and who knows what was going on and how many people were living out there in the mainland Pacific Northwest. "This growth of fish being caught must be one of the reasons," the displaced man noted as he lopped off a chunk of wood from a carving, "And now that I think about it, maybe I should give Vancouver and the Columbia a visit someday, perhaps I'll find some strange proto-Salish or proto-Chinook peoples there." Slapping a sail on his canoe would do wonders, but what could he use for a sail?

He mulled it over, moving about on his wooden chair subconsciously, and as he turned around on the chair out of sheer boredom, his line of sight would come face to face with one of his completed wooden projects, a map made out of red cedar planks. Nailed to the wall via wooden nails. It was a map of the archipelago that he was on, and contributed much to the success of his fish and spiritual iconography trade. "Hmm, wooden nails..." a thought came into mind, "Wasn't there bog iron in the Sound just south?" Appears that Sebastiano seeks- oh no never mind. "How does one work that crap anyway, puta..." Occasionally slipping some words of his native tongue helped him in not losing it, and so far it was an effective strategy. Mind wondering once more, he thought of the Pacific Northwest, then it strayed to whatever was occurring beyond that. "Pre-Dorset folks up north? Aleuts in... Ooh! Maybe Eyaks just north of us, and proto-Tlingits too," his mind raced at the exciting possibilities, if he could just jot down all the languages of the Pacific Northwest, and even beyond, in some grand linguistic record that could last the ages, he would die a happy man, "Hmm, perhaps California might have a few things, highly populated, I think..."

He thought of a grand journey to spend the rest of his 50s (and if he was lucky, 60s) after he finished the sentence that the chieftain gave him, something that would bring him throughout much of Alaska, the Canadian Northwest, all of the Pacific Northwest, and California. "And to think that was merely my plan for a first journey!" he giggled like a child, and honestly, he couldn't help it, "Pristine, untouched landscapes, with pristine, untouched peoples ready to be categorized and documented properly!" The mind was going full NASCAR until a sobering fact came to mind. "Where the hell would I get the paper though? And the ink too!" And so he was thrown back to the mental drawing board, documenting all these languages would need copious amounts of paper, and a lot of ink. Not to be deterred, he would find all these just so he could make the record. "I'll fucking go to China if I have to..." His strokes at the wood grow more jagged and rough.

He'd mentioned just a moment ago the chief, and soon that particular thought bubbled to the forefront of his mind. "This sudden influx of trade seems to be forcing the village to open up to its neighbors," and much to the consternation of the more isolationist folks around, "Things are probably going to a head, maybe I'll be able to get out earlier if it does."

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

It had been 2 weeks since they began training to face Yari wielding soldiers in the field. His home had been built some days before but it stood empty as he still hadn't gotten around to furnishing it, not even to mention the fact that it would be a long while before he was confident in his abilities in things like cooking with these primitive methods. Marcio went among other interested parties to trade with the neighboring people.

Trade got quite a bit more exciting as the villagers of Onomichi began offering body care products to the other tribe. The other villagers come to trade inquired about this "Shomei-ki" as they called him. They were told the story about how Marcio had come to their village weeks before, when pressed it was reveled that the villagers may have gotten overexcited about the true story and origins of "Shomei-ki" (meaning "illuminator") and may have embellished the original story to the point where Marcio's origins were a confused mess that sounded a lot like rudimentary mythology.

But certain details were consistent. This oddly colored humanoid figure showed up in the forest performing magics and had seemingly performed blessings on the village among other good deeds. Whether he was a Yokai, or a witch or a god, it was no longer clear. What WAS clear was that for good or ill, the villagers thought it wise to be his allies as opposed to enemies for fear of some sort of metaphysical retribution. The trade meeting become something of a missionary effort even without him having to direct it or speak a single word. The villagers began to tell the other tribal traders about their newfound enlightenment into spiritual and physical purity. They began to sell the other tribe on more than just their usual products. They began to glorify their newfound experience in cleanliness.



Marcio watched with interest as the other tribe stared wide eyes at the supposed tales and stories weaved about how their newfound cultural and religious uplifting. They listened to the Onomichi traders tell the story of the very first lady baptized and reborn under the many gods, old and new. It was with great pleasure that Marcio watched the villagers tell with zealousness about how the waves picked up during the baptism and the wind similarly showed its approval. They were enticed with stories about how healthy everybody was and how they drove out the demons of corruption (rats and the like seeming to have taken on a religious association akin to demonhood). They spoke about the improved health and beauty of the villagers, the way the village was now awash with pleasant smells.

There was much debate and no one seemed to notice that talk of all other merchandise ground to a halt as the subject of religion and hygiene completely consumed the place of trading. There were some who were skeptical of all these tales of course, thinking the villagers had described some sort of paradise when they mentioned how the village now smelled like fresh spring flowers and all that. The Onomichi people told them that the village had never lied to theirs before so how would it make sense for them to do so now was a question to be had. It was then decided that samples of body care products were to be given to the neighboring tribe to demonstrate the truth of their words and some Onomichi would check in later to see them look like fools for doubting them.

After that slight hiccup Marcio decided to break his silence and speak to someone from the other tribe about a military alliance....

[Europa Undivided]

Nikolai Sasha Sapohznik
Sixth Month
July 30, 2930 BC
Yauzagrod

---

"Two more tribes wish to join our Union?", Yaroslav said with pleasure written all over his face as messengers from the said tribes kneeled before him in respect. "Good! Who are you, again?"

"We are the Kaluga Tribe, from the south.", the first messenger said. "Our entire tribe has been moving eastward for two weeks now, and we have been harrassed by nomadic raiders. We ask that your Union take us under your protection, so that our families may be safe from the depredations of those terrible, terrible slavers!"

The other looked up to answer. "We are the Voskresenk. We live along the banks of the river, just like you, the Kolochin. However, four days ago, one of us visited the settlement you call Viygrad to trade some bronze tools in exchange for fabrics, and he noted how clean your streets and people are compared to ours. We have also heard of the recent Union that your tribe had created along with Smolenski, Venetski, Antiosk, Skalev, Tveri, and the other one whose name I cannot remember, and we wish to join, for the sake of the mutual prosperity of our peoples as well as to keep ourselves safe from the attacks of raiders, who have been seen prowling our borders at night."

Yaroslav rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The Kaluga may build their new settlement along the banks of the river while the Voskresenk are welcome to join us, though both would have to be deliberated amongst the seven chiefs, who are all still here thanks to our four day long celebration. Tell your chief that your people are welcome in the Union. Oh, and be prepared to meet a a man clad in black bearskin. He will guide you in your construction so that your new homes will be as clean and safe as ours are now."

"Man… in black bearskin?", the messenger wondered. "I see. I shall inform the chieftains of our acceptance. May the gods bless you, Chief Yaroslav of the Kolochin."

"Bless you as well.", Yaroslav answered as the messenger rushed outside to mount his horse.

---

"No, Artyom, that is not how you write the Д. It's Д, not Л. That is an entirely different letter, understood?"

"O-okay.", the young boy answered awkwardly as he discarded the leaf where he had written the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet as instructed by the mysterious Nikolai Sasha, the man known as the one clad in black bearskin. This whole writing shabang was a messy affair; they were using the paint normally used by the Warriors to color their faces when they went to war, but now, Nikolai had appropriated an entire campaign's worth of facepaint to use it for his literacy project. The warriors were puzzled at first, but when told that the paint was going to be used for "drawing symbols that would be needed to tell our stories to generations to come", they gladly parted with it. Of course, they were soon out foraging for the plants whose juices were used in making the paint.

Only two children were already present. Artyom and Oltja, the ones who represented the Kolochin Tribe, were the only ones that were already here, as the chiefs were still in the hall in their four day celebration and ritual. They were aged 7 and 6 respectively, and they learned fast, just as expected of young children. Nikolai taught in Sunday School every weekend, and to say that he liked children was an understatement. He had also tutored kids when he needed extra money, and nothing was more satisfying than seeing them learn under his guidance.

"You done?", he said suddenly as he hunched over Oltja, who looked like she was finished.

"Yes, Master Sasha.", the girl replied, brandishing her own leaf. She had successfully completed writing the entire Cyrillic alphabet. Modern Russian was still quite similar to the Proto-Slavic that these people spoke, and though they had their differences, it was but a slight challenge to adopt the alphabet for the old tongue.

"А, Б, Т, Щ, В, Р, О… yes you did well. Now, can you name them?"

"Yes.", she replied. With some effort, she named each letter correctly, if not with some difficulty. However, Nikolai clapped as she finished the last letter. "Good, good. We got a lot more ahead of us, but at least you can now write them, given a lot of time, of course. How about you, Artyom?"

"I'm done…", the boy answered as he raised his leaf.

"Good… now you didn't confuse the Д and Л. Now, can you name each?"

"I think, I'll try.", he answered as he looked intently at each written figure and began naming them. After an excruciating 20 minutes, he finally named the last letter of the alphabet.

"All things considered, you are doing well.", Nikolai said as he collected the work of the two. "In a few weeks time, more will come, and I expect that you behave with the other children that will arrive here, yes?"

"We will, Master Sasha.", the two children answered together.

"Come on here, heh.", Nikolai said, motioning for both to get nearer. As they did, he gave both a hug, just like he would to the kids back in his native time. "You're great!", he whispered. As he released them, both bowed their heads in thanks as they quickly rushed outside.

"So long.", Nikolai sighed. He then turned to something else he has been writing: a map. He had quite a lot of fun with maps back home, and he had spent quite an amount of time making countryballs.

He looked at something else; the window. Outside, smoke belched from the chimney of the nearby house; spring was at full swing and the rains were making the whole place cold and humid. It was, as the people of the future would call it, the Rasputitsa.

Still, at least the people were making more and more use of the bronze tools that the southern members of the Slavic Union had been supplying through their trade. While the horsemen bearing trade goods came in sparingly, they brought enough to allow every farmer a bronze tipped plow and a how. It was apparent that the Skalev and Antiosk were gaining these tools from the tribes even further down south: the Volga and the Saratov. The Skalev and Antiosk, however, were quickly gaining the lifestyle of the Kolochin, and in their settlements, people taking baths regularly and cleaning their water has become a common sight. They had even begun making their own sewer system modeled after the one in Yauzagrod.

Then there was the constant talk of foreign enemies and powers. Russia was a land all too familiar with invasion, though most attacks against her were destroyed by the fierce winter. But why would he even bother with it? This was the Bronze Age, after all. The French, Mongols, and Germans won't be invading in a few thousand years… right?

The days were soon blazing by, and Nikolai was soon focused on two things: training the first scribes of the Slavic Union and advising Yaroslav and the other chieftains. The latter part was, ironically, much easier to do, as Yaroslav pretty much listened to everything he said and suggested to great results. The first one, however, was far more difficult. He could only imagine the hardship that preschool teachers back in the modern day face. Now he was teaching totally illiterate kids to write Cyrillic that he had roughly appropriated for their language, which he thankfully knew, for some reason. At this rate, he'll have to ask the warriors for more of their face paint, and he isn't sure if they'll relent like last time...

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

The other peoples had seen that the people had indeed seemed to have marvelously transformed. When they first came to the meeting place to trade, the others had thought that some of the Onomichi were akin to aliens, entirely unrecognizable from the people they had met before. Their skin was smooth and shiny, and all their hair had seemed for the most part to have been lobbed off. They even walked differently.


Marcio was of course proof that at least part of the Onomichi's story was true. He was the oddest man the tribe had ever seen and they were almost too scared to approach. Even so, they were not all that convinced that military action was necessary at all. The north was a vague threat to them and they did not trust Marcio enough to heed his words. They found it suspicious that some suspected supernatural being just showed up in a forest near a random village and seemingly begins agitating for war. They admitted that even if his supposed miracles of purity were real, their village would still have no incentive to begin arming themselves for a no-win war that may not even come to be.

Marcio asked if there would be any way of convincing the village to be military allies and was told they had no power nor place to tell him what the village leaders would say. He was told that they could set up a meeting and he could ask them himself. The only thing he was told was their best guess. Which was that the leaders would probably ask for something in return for an alliance. Raw materials, tools, crafts, etc. He told them to do so, at least get the conversation to be a casual hypothesis. After that, he decided to drop the subject and return to the village.

[3rdBritan]

The imperial flag marched towards the boat, perched directly outside the Eblan source of water navigable, a medium sized river. The river had been dwindling in size over the last current years and was at risk of drying out within the next ten. Assyria direly needed more sea room to be able to supply the town up north the opposite of Constantinople. The Natives had called it Lycria and that suited it, for now. The Frequent contacts with Nestos and some Pre Keven-Russ superstate up in black sea agitated him. He had sent this up north with the sole intent of securing relations with Imperium and if that failed Nestos. The Boats now were the smallest they could get for a possible navigation of the eastern Mediterranean sea board. Just able to get as far as Tunisia is today. These would be more than enough for now. But Assyria as a trading power was dwindling and it needed more coastal ports and towns to keep up with the free market, let alone Nestos.

The medium ship just barely navigate the shallow rocks a few hundred meters downstream, but the empires diplomatic ship managed to pass these hard waters into the ocean, This is were the troubles started, for there was a stormy sea welling up in the east and now this ship was caught n the crossfire, it was tossed around like the oceans plaything and discarded among the tidal waters, however once the storm died down, the ship managed to crawl out of the grueling elements of the tidal zone and continue North...
To be continued....

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Marcio had been speaking with local influential people and the subject of his empty house was one topic that came up. They spoke on his reasons and it was a little awkward. It brought up the question of what he was and just how important food was to a supposedly supernatural entity. It wasn't even established in anybody's mind or mythology if Yokai and the like needed food for survival. Marcio spun as charismatic a web of deception as he could to such volatile a question.

He simply said that a house without the smell of food cooking, a life, even in the spiritual realm was dull without food. He dodged such volatile insinuations by saying that certain supernatural entities needed food or else their spiritual energy becomes dark/corrupted and their psyche begins to deteriorate. This half lie immediately brought fear to everybody in earshot. If a supernatural entity went mad, heck, maybe even just got too grumpy, they might purposefully or accidentally curse the village.

Soon it became insinuated that a wife of sorts is just what he needed if he was worried about not having the skill to cook. Marcio told them with sadness in his being that he already had a wife back in "spirit world" or wherever they thought he came from. This drew sad faces all around as it dawned on all of them that even Marcio had limits to his powers and seemed incapable of returning to his home world. They knew little of metaphysics so they could not truthfully give reassurances that he would see her again. He turned his body and face away lest they see him cry and think him a weakling.



He was fooling no one and they, to their credit did not think too poorly of him for it. They said little more after that....

[Alaroma]

Salt (Nestos League) 2975 March

An Alaroma and Universal Collaboration

A young boy with flaming red hair chased a puppy around in the front of the orphanage. It was the first time he had experienced joy and forgotten hiding behind stone walls while the marauding Kraken burned and pillaged. He looked up at a tall man dressed in leathers with a brown beard, then to a lady in a straw hat with a flower in the brim. He held the puppy and said, “Can I keep him, please can I keep him.”

"I Don't see why not." The woman said, turning her brown eyes to the man. "What about you, Johnathan?" She asked. Johnathan was currently carrying a bundle of wood, preparing to hand it off to the Kitchens. "I, ugh, well…….there's already tons of animals here aren't they? I don't see what's one more, Sarah. That is, Assuming he takes care of it. The small thing is a living creature too with needs….."

The middle aged Aksumite woman turned to the small boy with a smile. "I think that's a big responsibility. Do you think you'll take care of him?" She asked the young boy. A gust of wind blew by, and Sarah held on to her hat, lest it get blown away. It was a sunny day, and blessedly windy in a comfortable breeze.

The boy was breathless. “Thank you, oh thank you. I’ll take care of him. I promise.” He held the dog closely. It reminded him of his father’s dog Leo who would guard the sheep in the meadow. Then he let it go and it jumped up and down. His father, Dion would tell him, the dog was as big as a lion.

Now, he was somewhere else. He had crossed the ocean in a big ship and been taken in by a matronly woman at Oak for a time. But, more children kept on coming in from the isle of Santorini to Oak, and the woman in the Temple of the Body Parts could not keep all of them. When the offer from Aksum to open an orphanage in Salt came, she had let him and a few others go.

His life had been like a storm tossed sea, traveling from one place to the next. First Santorini, then Oak, then Salt. Because of this, he was a bit unanchored and wild, but full of life.
Life in the Orphanage was one in flux, as the Orphanage dealt with it's children in the most compassionate ways it could manage. Dealing with children that had dealt with such real trauma was no easy task truth be told, but if nothing else, the children were loved. Chores and play during the day, and lessons in the evening.

The children told all sorts of stories. Some told horrifying tales of loss. Some told no stories at all, and no one could blame them for that. This in mind, the Aksumites tried their best to form the children into adults. They taught trades, worked the farm with them, taught scripture, and more. Then, of course, they had one another to contend with. In the end, and by design, the children lead generally busy lives.

The boy had been Jason when he was growing up, but as he grew older and was baptized he took the name David. He liked to spend time tending the sheep with his dog Leo. He would help shear them for their wool. Some of the other boys laughed at him when he learned to nalbind socks and spin thread for this was considered women’s work. His hands were dextrous and he learned to carve wood and paint designs on the carpentry he was working on. He was also a swift runner and hid in the woods better than many of the other children.

He was in a group lead by Sister Sarah. All the children had groups, of usually 8 children. These were the closest groups there were in the Orphanage. A boy who tended to follow David around was Peter. Before being named Peter, his name was…….well, no one knows. The boy is mute, and they've yet to get a word out of him. That doesn't mean he isn't lively though. He laughs, plays hide and go seek, and has a sense of humor which expresses the most with his face. The boy, for his part, worked with the glass blowers. He had sizable, steady hands, and found the work fulfilling.

Although Peter could not speak, he did learn to read and eventually to write. He would draw pictures to express himself. Peter would help some of the children draw pictures to express themselves. This gave an outlet for some of the children to express what they had experienced without speaking.

Peter and David would sometimes play hide and seek near the village with the other children. They would not stray far because of their closeness to the sea. Sometimes they would climb the tall Oak tree near the orphanage to spot who was coming down the road before they got there. If it was a messenger, or a bureaucrat scholar seeking to conscript young men at the age of 18 for labor on the roads or to offer trade as builders, they would go tell Sister Sarah that the scholar was coming to visit them.

And today seemed to be one of those days. Or was it. A man from the town could be seen coming on the road leading to the Orphanage. Seeing this while in the trees, Peter would give David a look. He didn't say anything, but what he meant was perfectly clear. 'We should go tell Sarah.' You could almost hear him saying it. Almost.

Back on the Orphanage, Sarah was busy talking to one of the other custodians. "No, no, I don't think the children liked the soup. Try something else. Ask some of the older girls to help if you need to. And for the love of the almighty, don't let Noah near whatever you're cooking up."
David went running. He tried to slow down a bit, but came bursting into the kitchen. He bumped the table and almost knocked over a chair. “There’s a man on the road. He has brown robes on and is carrying a staff. I saw him from the tree. He has a donkey with him.”
Sarah, “David don’t rush. Slow down.”

David, “But, it could be an important visitor”

Leah, “I’ll go check and see who it is. It is probably just a visiting scholar.”
Leah walks outside.

The man stops at a post outside and ties the donkey’s leash to the post. Leah opens the door before he can reach the knocker for the orphanage door.The man takes a heavy sack off the donkey’s back.

Hello, “I am Sister Leah, who are you?”

“I am Scholar Hunkhabek. I have a delivery of books for you from Abdera, bibles, hymn, and prayer books. I am a little early. There were some things to discuss about the books.”
Sister Leah, “We weren’t expecting you for several days.”

Hunkhabek, “I sailed on one of the new ships with the strange sails, it got here quicker than I expected.”

"I see……...about the books? Uhh, frankly, I'm not the one you should be talking to then. I should probably get brother Johnathan." Leah was about to go get someone, and fortunately enough Sarah came out to check what was going on.

"What's the fuss about?" She asked, to which Leah replied "We've got ourselves a delivery, but the good man here wants to talk over the books. You should go get your husband." Sarah stared at her, then the man. "Alrighty then, I'll go get him."

Going to go retrieve her husband, the scholar was left with Leah for now. Johnathan, for his part was helping some of the teenagers in cabinet crafting. Being drawn away from his task, after being explained to why, he was more than happy to attend to the Scholar who was visiting.
When arriving, he would give the courteous nod. "Name is Johnathan, one of the local Elders. Ugh, how can I help you here today?"

Scholar Hunkhabek, “Blessings upon you Jonathan. May you have health and happiness. It is a fine day to meet you. I brought some herbal tea, you boil herbs in hot water for a drink.”
Scholar Hunkhabek, “I came here to deliver some books for you. I had some questions about translation. We found a lot of words that are untranslatable. There are some ideas that we have never heard of before. Your bible, there are things in it that seem to be from another place. I would like to stay a few days to go over the meanings so we can make better translations in the next editions. Also, the music, I have never seen anything like it. I had to leave some of it out of the book until we could figure out how to translate it and make notes. I have some notes on the donkey outside. Many are from my colleagues. There are so many, many things to discuss.”
Nodding, he said "Well, ugh, sure. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Follow me, and we can give the people of our Kitchen that fine tea you've brought us. Also that's great to hear about the books, we've been waiting to get those with much anticipation. Let's head to sit at the eating area? It's nearby, and no one is there this time of day."

To Sarah meanwhile, he told her "Alright, tell the Brothers the shipment is in. We'll want to begin storing that soon, before we do anything further. Oh, and we got some tea. Wonder, ain't it?" Sarah nodded, saying "Alright, I'll go tell Noah and the others. You go on now."

Scholar Hunkhabek went to sit at the table in the kitchen eating area. He could hear someone chopping some vegetables, but that was it. Johnathan sat down across from him.

Hunkhabek removed some papers from the sack and shuffled them a bit. He took out a silver pencil which was string wrapped around a rod of silver. Then he took out a notebook. He also took out a pencil for Brother Johnathan and a notebook.

David peaked in for a moment to look at the bearded man in the robe then went back to following around the dog in the yard. The books were taken from the donkey. It shook its head and lay down.

Scholar Hunkhabek, “Can you tell me what a missionary is? We wish to understand it from the viewpoint of the Bible?”

Johnathan scratched the back of his head, before saying "You know what? Let's start with a scripture." Knowing the conversation would involve belief, he had a Bible with him. "It says in Matthew 28:19, 'Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.' This is a good example of what Christians are called upon to do. Missionaries are just a word for Christians who preach, which in the Aksumite Church is essentially everyone. While the term can be applied to anyone, it usually refers to Christians who go off from their home settlement, or in our case Kingdom, to bring the word of God, among other things. We saw it most productive to do this by taking care of the Orphans, and spreading the word."

Scholar Hunkhabek, “Yes, this is helpful. Are all missions the same. I have heard that there is another bible at Oak, a bible from the Imperium of Man. We wish to understand how the mission works between nations as well as individuals.”

"Well, while I am aware of the Christians in this Imperium, we are not in any real contact with them. As for Church Organization, missions tend to have one common denominator. That would be preaching. Differences tend to be location, or what other quirks are involved with the Mission. There's the overall church, and local branches are established in new lands to overlook the local work, while maintaining directions and theological uniformity with the Head Branch in Aksum. As far as individuals, it goes without saying that it's on a volunteer basis if you decide to go abroad and become a missionary in that sense. However all active Christians engage in some form of preaching." Johnathan explained. He wasn't entirely sure if that's what he was wanting, but he explained the best he could.

Scholar Hunkhabek, “No, this is more than helpful. Helping the orphans has been a great benefit to our society. So, it is not just the priest who preaches, but all who are part of the church. I have even heard that in the Imperium that there are no priests. I have learned a great deal which may help us. Thank you brother Johnathan. May your days be fulfilling and your dreams sweet.”
Hunkhabek sits quietly for a few minutes.

"I, ugh, yes. And thank you as well for your delivery, it helps us more than you know. We hope you enjoy your visit here. Anywho, I must get back to a group of children I was monitoring." Giving a nod of respect and friendliness, Johnathan made his way back to his apprentices.

Scholar Hunkhabek, “Thank you so much. I should be getting back to the House of Scholars.” Hunkhabek takes the empty sacks with him. He waves goodbye to the children and Sister Sarah who are in the front yard. Then he unhitches his donkey and walks down the road to Salt where he will stay at the House of Scholars.

[UniversalCommons]

Public Works (April 2975)

While roads and couriers had been built consistently throughout the Nestos League, wells, pools, cisterns, and granaries were not built as consistently.

Victor Spear was meeting with the Council of the Wise at the House of Wisdom. He had called together some of the Sons of Scorylo to attend the meeting. The house was packed with people.

Victor Spear, “We have come together to discuss the needs of our people. While we have time, we need to build our infrastructure. While we have built roads and messengers, libraries and reading rooms, we need to do more. While Scholar Charnobog was in Harappa, he brought back new methods of building pools and wells. We have been in the lands of the Imperium of Man and seen sewers and aqueducts. These things help their people. We must help our people as well. I have invited the Sons of Scorylo to present a plan for all of our people to insure that we will not starve, that water will be made available and our cities can grow.”

Scholar Ishtar raises her hand. She takes the Hand of Benevolence, “How will we pay for these things. Infrastructure as you call it is expensive. We need to build more libraries, towers of learning, and reading rooms. What are our priorities.”

Scholar Hypatia, “I have come from Abdera to discuss the new presses, I also agree we need more funds for literacy, not new roads. As she points out things are expensive.” She hands the Hand of Benevolence back to Victor Spear.

Victor Spear, “We have been expanding our trade. We have found a new route into the Imperium and are working with new peoples, the People of Aksum. Our trade networks are expanding. This brings in more wealth.”

Scholar Naxos takes the Hand of Benevolence. “I came to seek additional funds to go down the river. We wish to borrow funds for two more ships to go down the river as well as to pay for more men. This will be paid for. You see it is bringing in wealth.”

Victor Spear, “Is not four ships enough. You still have funds left. Please go to the Oak Merchants Association to fund more ships. They can form a trading pool. Yes, they will take a share. We cannot simply hand out silver, gold, and copper. I would put some silver into such a pool. Many here would.” Victor Spear looks around the room, “Infrastructure is our discussion now.” Victor Spear hands the Hand of Benevolence to Scholar Charnobog.

Scholar Charnobog is tall with jowls and speaks with deep bass voice, “I have been to Mohenjo Daro in India as well as Harappa, far away places. I have seen new forms of wells, pools, and cisterns. Their streets are more orderly than ours. We could use better water systems, town layout and infrastructure. We lag behind others like the Imperium of Man. The Nestos League needs to be better, better than the Imperium of Man, the best in the world.”

Victor Spear, “We welcome Vallast, a Son of Scorylo to speak.”

Vallast takes the Hand of Benevolence, “I am Vallast, a Son of Scorylo, a builder. I am here to talk about the needs of the people. To have clean water, sanitation, food stored away for the future. We must be prepared for drought, famine, and other calamities. Each town should have its own granaries, cisterns, and wells. There should be proper sanitation to prevent disease for all. This should be a given right for all our people. We seek to plan for the future in case disaster strikes and encourage the benefit of our people. We would go to build to secure what is needed. Farmers need water, sewers to take manure where it is not near masses of people and can be processed safely, granaries to store food, pools for bathing or growing fish. We need better infrastructure. We have seen the earlier census and realize there is much needed for our people. Support us in building infrastructure.”

Afterwards, the scholars and representatives met in closed session. Some trade metal was moved from the building of towers and the propaganda budget to the infrastructure budget. Also, a one time charge was taken out of the reserve fund to help build additional granaries. It was half of what Victor Spear had originally asked, there were no huge projects.

The Sons of Scorylo used what they had learned from examining the cities of the Imperium of Man, visiting the Minoans, looking over the Mesopotamians, and the latest information from the Harappans. Scholar Charnobog would travel with the Sons of Scorylo from city to city looking over each site.

They used pipes made of clay hardened with coats of paint and lined with bitumen. The cisterns were made from stone and brick with mortar. The wells were made with bricks. Some places even had heated baths copied from the Imperium of Man. It was a cobbled together affair, not quite perfect. Scholar Charnobog would sit with the Sons of Scorylo and piece together the different observations into a coherent system for the Nestos League.

Scholar Naxos went to the merchants. The trading pool had been met with enthusiasm. Two ships were easily funded, but Scholar Naxos had only 1/3 ownership of the ships. The other 1/3 went to the Oak Merchants Association or a variety of public owners who kept their sealed, stamped contracts of ownership.

[Endem]

Some Answers

Konrad

2795 BCE

Market Town

"Thank you" I said to him then tossed her the follicle, which was full of coin, I used before and then I had the merchants stop the wagon and turn around, we now at least had a direction, continue on down the river, unless the traders were talking of a different river than Vistula, at the end of it, I'm sure I will find some answers, or directions, also I needed to summarize what I knew of the Nestos League.

Once we arrived back at the ship I have made a plan as to what we will do onwards, first, continue up the Vistula, we are bound to encounter another settlement eventually, there find directions towards the Dniester river, after that go to the Dniester and get a ship to Varna, let us pray we don't encounter sea monsters on the Black Sea, and in Varna we find directions to this Oak, in there we fulfill our mission...

The Spark

a Czart

2795 BCE

Somewhere in Mazury

Tonight, we attacked, a small force of common infantryman stormed frontally, they were supposed to draw the attention away from 4 rowboats that would transport us, they fought bravely, in the fire lighting the whole scene I saw a couple of men and women who, even though being sent on suicide, thought bravely and viciously, taking many, yet taking still too little.

I saw a women that clothes were set on fire, yet she still fought with a fury that many men could be jealous of, and before succumbing to the flames she took with her three others, the last one of she tore the throat of as her weapon failed her, I saw a young man who fought with his hatchet swifter then a dancer could move, eventually though a spear masterfully thrown tore through his gut, with a large trail of blood and intestines following it the spear stuck itself in the ground behind the man, they're sacrifice was no in vain, as we, a group of 30 Czarts landed from the lake.

[UniversalCommons]

Gdansk

After a day and a half you reach the end of the Vistula. You find a pair of traders looking at the river. They are dressed in leather, wool, and furs. One of them has a hunting bow and a long curved knife, and another has a spear. They have two goats with packs on their backs. They have just returned from following the river where they have traded for amber and hides. You can smell the fish that one of them has caught and boiled with forest mushrooms, wild garlic, a pinch of salt and tubers. There is a pair of rough hewn log cabins next to them.

They tell you that you would need to cross the mountains to get to the Dniester. It would not be an easy thing to do. There are roads through the mountains, if you are willing to hire them as guides, they would take you there. These roads are mainly known by the Season Traders.

[Nuxipal]

Javin Torrez
Peshawar, Kabul River, Late Summer 5 YK (2975 BCE)

A week had passed since the attempt to rescue the old Raja from prison and the city was clearly on edge. Javin had to bring in more guards from outside the city to protect the palace and increase the number of patrols in the city itself. Dozens of people were arrested attempting to damage infrastructure or to break into the palace. Two would be assassins were slain by Javin's personal bodyguards when they were caught trying to climb up to the rooms where Javin and Banhi were staying. It had become quite stressful as even during the day attempts to get into the palace were commonplace. However, Javin needed to get to the bottom of this. Most of the people being caught would have no reason to do any of these actions, being of the lower class and without the means to even have a decent bronze dagger to kill with. Someone else had to be behind it all. To help flush them out, Javin planted an idea in Kairov's head on afternoon when the two of them were having a discussion.

"Raj Kairov, there has been some unrest. I'm sure you have noticed the increase in criminal trials and executions recently." Nodding, the young ruler said, "I have noticed. I just figured you were busy cleaning up the city's criminals."

Shaking his head, Javin responded, "Not entirely. There seems to be a concerted effort to either kill or capture you and myself. We do need to draw out the true threat here. The criminals we've captured say they don't know who, but there is a noble who is funding these attempts. If there are multiple, there is only one way to find them. We hold a grand feast to celebrate the changing of the seasons. It will draw dozens of nobles to the palace and there will be talk. My guards will be stationed in the rooms and protecting our guests. They will also listen. They will be able to point out any nobles which speak against you. I will be needing to leave for home at the end of Autumn. By then, you need to be secure and your own guard capable of keeping you safe."

Understanding suddenly the danger, Kairov agrees. "Very well. I'll propose it at the next council meeting." Javin was happy with this and went off to prepare his guards for the occasion. He would need his most trusted, the highest ranked that could be spared for the duty. He would also wear his armor to the party. He was the chief adviser, but he was also the conquering general as well. Might as well dress the part for this occasion.

[Holy Tedalonia]

On the Field
Edward “Ted” Tomlinson
June 27th, 20 AG
Fourth Company, March to Holtsee

I didn’t think the rations would be that bad, Edward thought to himself. In a sense, they were not, however to my modern tastes buds they tasted terrible. Someone should send the chef to the firing line, I thought jokingly grumbling over the meal. The meat was fine rather undercooked and Edward never cared for biscuits. He was not familiar enough with beer to enjoy it. It was the stew, however that was the worst offender. The texture was all wrong! Seriously who thought to assign this pseudo chef to cook our food? A neanderthal could probably cook better than he could.

The chef is a lucky man today. If it was winter I’d be in a bad enough mood to shout his ear off. Regardless it's not like we have professional chefs, even if it was amateurs you’d think there’d be some level of competence. As I continue to lament over the amatuer cooking, I continue to chew on my poorly cooked pork and guzzle my beer. At least it's not cold, I loathe the cold, I thought to myself, I hope we don’t get stuck in Denmark when winter hits, that’d be miserable. Being next to the fire helped too, especially during the night.

“Hey, names Edir right?” Asked a voice in front of me coming from across the fire.

I glance upwards, he was a familiar looking soldier. Probably one of the 11 recruits that got through the training process also. I didn’t really focus on my fellow soldiers, to me I wasn’t going to see them for long as I intended to rise through the ranks. Regardless it is good to maintain good PR among your coworkers, your not going to get far if people despise you.

“Edir Tomli, How about you?” I asked back.

“Jal- Jal Lindwurm,” he states as he sits next to me, “I heard you served- served in the Icemen-Imperial Skirmishes, before you joined the Guard. You’ve done battle…”

Apparently someone has been quite vocal about my accomplishments as an auxiliary. Was it one of the trainers, or perhaps someone overheard someone talking about achievements, I thought to myself, What a pain, I rather not be seen as some coldhearted mercenary who is only in it for the money.

“Yeah, I served in the skirmishes, what of it?” I stated sternly.

“We’ll… what was it like to kill another man?” Jal asked curiously.

Ah, so that's what he wants. Even with all his training and discipline, he is unsure whether he could end the life of another. In other words he has yet to be ‘blooded’, I thought, he’s looking for reassurance in killing another man.

“It is the commitment of a great terrible deed, however if you grip your blade true, and think only of your devotion to your family, your friends, and the Hegemon,” I told the young man, “Only then can you brave the fear of killing your fellow man. Through devotion alone.”

His eyes glistened with that of respect, adhering to the knowledge that I had imparted to him, “I will, but…” he pauses with a thought, “why do you serve the Imperium, Edir? Its not your homeland, couldnt you have stayed in your village, or gone to Icedonia?”

“I was helped by an imperial missionary in my later years as an orphan boy. Was told of the great Imperium and of god. I felt it necessary to fight what I believe in, the Imperium and its Hegemon. To devote my service to him is the best thing I can do.”

“I didn’t know you felt that strongly about the Imperium…” Jal stated impressed.

I shot back, “why did you choose to serve?”

“Good pay really, and to be someone that my family can be proud of,” he said scratching the back of his head slightly embarrassed.

“Good convictions nonetheless, nice meeting you, Jal Lindwurm,” I stated to confidence.

“Nice meeting you too, Edir,” stated Jal.

As he got up and left, I looked at the flame thinking about the first time I slayed a man. To kill someone- even in one's imagination had some weight to it. It felt easy for me however, all I had to do is remind myself of this imaginary world that my coma has made. I however tried to give the advice some normal person might say to aid Jal, but for me the advice is unneeded. I mean its just a figment of my imagination, right?... right?

[Orostan]

Aaron Dawson - Month 6, Day 20

The First Campaign

Aaron had argued philosophy and politics with Tan over the dinner table many times in the past month. Tan would argue for a more legalistic approach to governing while Aaron would argue for a more democratic approach. Tan agreed with Aaron's economic aims for the most part however he did not believe that democracy was workable due to the "inherent corruption" in man, as he said it. However Aaron and Tan were able to agree on a progressive set of laws. Su also took part in creating these laws and made several suggestions to Aaron that he agreed to implement. The new economic model of Luoyang would be based on public stocks of goods. A rice warehouse and granary with an entrance right in the town square would be turned into a public rice warehouse and granary where farmers would be able to drop their goods off. Farmers would also have access to a public tool warehouse also next to the town square where they could pick up iron tools free of charge. The principle of this plan was to reduce the amount of time that farmers needed to spend in the town selling their rice, especially once harvest began. Government traders would instead do the trading the farmers once did and oversee all imports or exports of goods from the public stock. State merchants were also to participate in normal markets and to buy up products that seemed to be in high demand in the city to place in the public stock. If, for example, farmers were withdrawing rice to pay for jade in the market, state merchants would observe this and buy up jade for the public. At first for this system abuse would be prevented by having guards at the public warehouses prevent excessive withdrawals of resources. If the system functioned, the guards would have to moderate what people took less and less. In order to get farmers to contribute to the public stock it would be advertised as a time saving device and a way for people to place orders with merchants without having to spend time in the market trading. A large board of smooth slate and some chalk at the end of the warehouse would facilitate this. With most of the population illiterate, citizens would either have to tell the merchants at the warehouse what they wanted or draw a picture of what they wanted on the board. Aaron would have to invent real written language later, as right now all they really had was simple symbols used to tally resources.

The new system was announced in the town square and read out loud by the loudest person Aaron could find. Most of the population didn't really understand it at first, but he hoped that they'd soon see its benefits. Over the course of a few days the initial reports were very encouraging. Attempted abuse was largely limited to the merchants, who would sometimes take rice or other goods for their own purposes and trading from the public stock. Farmers or workers had very little reason to abuse the system and would for the most part leave their products in the public stock under the expectation that trade goods they wanted would be traded for by career traders instead of them.

The new legal code incorporated two separate codes. A moral list created by Tan for the most part with suggestions by Aaron which were more guidelines than any real set of laws, and a set of enforced legal codes regarding the regulation of the public stock and crimes. The moral code's first rule was the golden rule, "Treat others as you would want to be treated.", which Tan had taken a very large liking to after being introduced to it by Aaron. The rest of the moral code consisted of guidelines on how to treat family members and general lifestyle guidelines. Aaron saw the moral code as a useful tool to build a better culture, while Tan saw it as an ideal life style. The standard and actually enforced legal code was slightly shorter and was mostly about punishments for crimes such as stealing and murder. The legal code also set down cooperative labor as the basis of civilized society as opposed to a class system. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was the principle at work. As opposed to the moral system which advised people how to live in their private lives, the legal system was made to be a set of rules for public life. There was no mention of religion and there were no 'victimless crimes' listed in it. Women were also given political and economic equality in the system, something that Su very much approved of. A guarantee of housing and food to all citizens was encoded in the law as well. Because there was no real Chinese written language yet, Aaron wrote down the system with some chalk on a board he had some men erect in the former imperial palace. The former imperial palace now had red banners and was stripped of most of its other ornamentation which had been looted during the revolt. The imperial palace, more of a large log cabin really, had been turned into a center for the government. The armory and barracks still served their functions and there were no significant changes to them other than a red flag over the barracks.

When Aaron wasn't trying to set up a government with Tan and Su, he was drilling the men with Lu. Lu had grown to respect Aaron to a certain degree over the course of the drilling and mock battles they would stage outside the city, sometimes to an audience of townspeople and farmers. The roughly six hundred men Aaron had under him were divided into two groups of three hundred, one lead by Aaron and the other by Lu. Aaron's group used a blue flag and blue arm bands during exercises, while Lu's group flew a green flag and wore green arm bands. They would fight with training weapons made from wood and cotton padded sticks to avoid injury. It was a little amusing, seeing the men march with what was basically a pillow on a stick. The roughly one hundred archers of the army would be trained to fire at targets in their line of sight and beyond through target practice on the fields. The horsemen were also trained while Aaron tried to learn how to ride a horse of his own with the guidance of Tan. Aaron had commissioned horse boots, saddles, and stirrups for the horsemen about midway into the week. As a result, their performance and the speed of their horses had increased. The horses were no longer afraid of putting so much pressure on their hooves and the men were more stable on their mounts, not to mention better in control of them. The horsemen trained against straw dummies and practiced cavalry charges and other maneuvers. The way Aaron and Lu would command their armies in combat was through a series of horns. All of them were fashioned from the horns of oxen and were of varying size. There were three horns for infantry and two for cavalry. The infantry horns would signal when to attack, when to stop, and when to retreat. The cavalry horns would be used to order a charge or a retreat. The horsemen had already been trained to never stop their horse's during battle and were given halberds to pick off enemy troops as they charged. The horses themselves wore armor, but only on their fronts. The llamelar armor of the horses was slightly thinner than that of the soldiers riding them who were themselves only wearing a cuirass, but covered the front of their heads and their lower bodies. In a normal battle Aaron would lead the entire army and the archers while Lu commanded the cavalry and Xian Cai, who helped lead the revolt in Luoyang, lead the infantry. Aaron expected to have about forty horseman and six hundred of his infantry with the hundred archers he had on top of that trained up to an acceptable level by harvest season. The forty horsemen were trained especially hard, as there were only about eighty horses in the whole of Luoyang. One horse was valuable, one horse with a good and well equipped rider was extra valuable. The permanent garrison at Luoyang would consist of around two hundred militiamen who'd received basic training and armaments. They were to be the last line of defense during the fight with the north.

One day during training a merchant from a foreign city was escorted up to Aaron. Aaron was on a horse doing his best to keep steady when a soldier introduced the merchant.

"General! We have important news from the Zhengzhou!" said the soldier, almost yelling.

Aaron looked over at him and began to maneuver himself off of the horse. Aaron was wearing iron lamellar armor at the time. Very standard except for the red stripes painted across each shoulder guard and around his cuirass.

"What important news? Are they invading us with the northern states?" asked Aaron, studying the face of the merchant. He looked very much like someone from Luoyang, though he was wearing a jade necklace and finer silks then would usually be found in the city.

"No, no. The slaves and workers of Zhengzhou..." The soldier spoke in a much more normal volume, looking at the merchant as if to goad him on.

"They're in revolt, uh, General." said the merchant. He probably didn't know how to address Aaron. In fact, Aaron didn't know how to address Aaron.

Aaron looked carefully at the merchant. The sound of the men training filled the space in between their exchanges.

"Is this true?" he asked.

"It is, my General. The other merchants said similar things when I asked." said the soldier.

"Thank you, soldier. Reward this merchant with some iron and return to your post." said Aaron, trying to put his hands in nonexistent pants pockets.

The merchant smiled and bowed. Aaron returned the gesture and looked at his men drilling in the field as the merchant was escorted away. It seemed the men would get some practical experience.

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Marcio began to plan the next stages of training drills and thought about what weapons they should be learning to counter. Marcio thought perhaps archers were the next best thing to drill them on. Samurai were iconic for their swords but the true power of the samurai was actually in their bows. They needed a way to keep safe from their arrows and also how to perhaps close the distance to where they were less effective.

Marcio thought about all the ways to protect against arrow fire and came up with taking cover, armor and shields. Marcio decided to start with shields and thought about all the different types that were possible and weighed them. Marcio decided to try them all out to keep their options open, even if some were better than others and the villagers tended to gravitate towards one. Wooden shields were the easiest in his mind to make, not to mention the strongest kind. Marcio being the witch that he was however, wanted to make sure they had other options so that they did not abuse the local supply of timber.

There was also the option of animals hides and leather. Less strong and harder to make but lighter than wood. Of course he didn't want them to deplete the forest of its critters but they had the advantage of being able to be harvested at the same time as other things on the animal such as the meat. Then there were wicker shields. By far the hardest to make and the least strong, (yet still serviceable). Marcio had noted that pictures of them he had seen reminded him remarkably of other crafts such as baskets and table mats. In essence wicker working would be a path they could take that would do more than just make shields, plant fiber working could create all sorts of other things like artful crafts.



And so Marcio gathered the villagers to tell them of his plans, many at first confused as to why they had been summoned as it seemed they had no business where war was concerned. He explained all his thoughts and things became clear. People began gathering wood and the craftsmen began trying to create round wooden shields by his directions as best they could. Marcio later began to check in on the craftsmen who experimented with animal hides, reassuring everybody that it had worked where he had come from and required no "magic".

Some people had tried to just use one layer of animal hide for the shield and Marcio thanked them for their works, though suggesting perhaps they should think about multiple layers of hide just to be safe and perhaps be stronger. Then came the craftsmen working on the wicker. It was by far the hardest version to attempt and he knew he would not be getting result out of a single day.

Marcio followed them to gather reeds and plant fiber materials. Marcio could tell them little except that the wicker he had seen used in shields were like very rough, untreated lines of string or rope. He described what he thought he saw and told them it was likely achieved by working the plant fibers less than one would with string or rope. He told them it was drier, stronger and less stretchy. It was less bendy, stronger, with the quality of snapping back into place quite well once bent and released (which was why it made for such good material against arrow fire).

[Europa Undivided]

Nikolai Sasha Sapohznik
The Seventh Month
June 7, 2930 BC
Yauzagrod
The Slavic Union

---

Nikolai stood before a group of 20 children, all seated on desks that he himself had made (somehow). The young man, wearing a thick bearskin coat, paced before them, unsure of how to begin. But he began anyway.

"You are the future scribes of the Union.", he said to the group of 10-12 year olds as they looked at him intently. "For two hours every day, I will teach you how to read and write. This may seem to be frivolous activity at first, but you will soon see how important this knowledge will be to you and future generations that will be born into the Slavic Union."

He looked at his first students, Artyom and Oltja. They had learned pretty well over the last two weeks, and were already capable of writing down words that have been dictated to them in the adopted Cyrillic script. "Artyom and Oltja have been learning for a little longer than the rest of you.", he said to them as he walked over and hunched over the boy that was sent by the Skalev Tribe. "They'll help you, just as I will help you. What's your name, child of the Skalev?"

The Skalev boy answered. "Tugalev, Master Sasha."

"Tugalev, your tribe likes to trade, right?"

Tugalev replied heartily. "Yes, we trade with the Volga the most."

At this, Nikolai inched his upper body down to bring his face at Tugalev's level. "It would be nice if we had a way of keeping track of all the trade transactions, yes?"

"Yes.", came the reply.

"Good. Because what we are doing now will do exactly that."

Two hours soon passed by, and the children were soon ushered out into the streets of Yauzagrod, where some began to practice what they had learned by forming letters with stones and sticks, while the rest ate their lunch. "Well, that's three weeks of classes done.", he said to himself as he took out another of his sketches.

The map.

He had been a knack for maps and flags ever since this early high school days, and he had once won a geography contest in his sophomore year for naming every single country on the planet. However, flags were not his primary concern right now. He knew that the Moscow Basin had huge coal deposits locked underneath it, and it would be good if the Slavic Union gained access to this fuel source. However, as long as they were still locked in such a primitive state, they would have to rely on firewood cut from the nearby forests to fuel their fires, which would be bad in the long run. He estimated that some good years would pass by before they could really use all that coal, which was sad, given that he'd be a dithering old man by that time. Or will he?

Nikolai looked intently at the map, and tried his best to remember the areas in which mineral deposits could be found. There was certainly oil down in the Caucasus Region, but the Volga tribe and their neighbours were yet to be members of the Slavic Union and they would certainly not have the technology to process it. However, if only an iron deposit could be found somewhere… their harvests would increase four fold should they gain Iron tools.

Still, people were not very numerous these days. The Union was growing, yes, but it didn't have any more than 3,000 people under its banner. However, with sanitation and cleanliness on the rage in the member tribes of the Union, Nikolai expected that death rates would fall massively while the birth rate remains high for a long time.. In an agricultural society like this, having more children is an asset for help in the field, and it's not like anyone except the twenty kids he was currently mentoring two hours every day were in any way educated. The near absence of child and infant mortality in Yauzagrod and the other Kolochin settlements proved this notion, and reports were filtering in that the Skalev and Antiosk were experiencing similar wonders.

"Master Sasha.", a small boy suddenly said as he was deep in thought. "Lord Yaroslav has called you."

"What is it?", Nikolai asked, adjusting the map on his desk.

"He is asking if you have… uh, something to suggest for improvement."

"Lots, actually.", he replied as he stood up to meet Lord Yaroslav.

---

"Nikolai, how's your day?"

"It's fine.", Nikolai answered as the Lord of Yauzagrod rose up to meet him with an embrace. "So… what is it that you wanted from me?"

"Well, you see… one of the traders from the Skalev has brought something called… iron. It's much stronger than the bronze we currently use in our tools. I wonder if we can get more of that…?"

"If our Skalev brothers can get more for us, yes, I think we can.", Nikolai answered. "However, I believe that they are getting this Iron from the Volga tribe, whose territory sits on top of a large Iron deposit. If only we can get the Volga to join the Union…"

"They're an independent kind of folk.", Yaroslav said, shaking his head. "If we are to convince them, that would take some time. However, I'd like to hear what you would want us to do."

"I think the word there is 'suggest', but anyways… I think that in order to obtain these Iron tools, we would have to trade something equally worthy in exchange. And of course, we will have to find our own source of iron in the future. Somewhere near this place."

"That reminds me…", Yaroslav said suddenly. "The Kaluga have been building their new settlement using tools that look like grey metal…"

"Now that is iron.", Nikolai said, shaking his head. "We should ask them where they got the metal? If it turns out to be a significant deposit, we wouldn't need to rely so much on the long trade routes from the south."

One hour later

"There was this great cave where this hard metal occurred in natural formations.", the Kaluga chief, Dolobov, said as the noise of construction of the new Kaluga settlement resounded through the air. "However, we have since fled the area as raiders have been harassing our village for a whole year. Why are you asking?"

"This metal that you are using is called iron, and it's far stronger than bronze.", Nikolai said to the chief as children shrieked whilst frolicking on the waters of the river. "We need a significant deposit of the metal in order to increase our productivity."

"The cave is a two weeks ride from here.", chief Dolobov said. "I will have two of my men accompany you if you wish to visit it, though I must warn you that the area is dangerous. We would have never fled it if it wasn't."

"That's good enough…", Yaroslav nodded. "So, Nikolai, should we lead a party to the cave?"

"I think you should stay and govern the Union, lord Yaroslav.", Nikolai replied, rubbing his snakeskin gloves together. "I can lead the party myself. However, I would prefer to go there armed and ready, which is not something we have really thought about for a long time."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Some of the Kaluga know how to forge a sword, yes?"

"Yes.", the Kaluga chief replied. "In fact, some of our warriors are armed with bronze sickles, and three have Iron blades. Most of the rest have either bows or round stone clubs."

"Kaluga warriors are to accompany you, then.", Yaroslav said, tapping Nikolai on the shoulder. "Chief Dolobov, we will compensate the labour by having some of the Kolochin and Voskresenk help you in building."

"Please make sure that the water system is done when I get back, Lord Yaroslav?", Nikolai said with concern.

"Yes. Yes it will be. I'll make sure it is."

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

Marcio was asked by a curious villager if there were any other kinds that could be made, different materials. Interestingly enough there were two he could think of right off the top of his head. He had explained to the others that even among one kind of shield there was much variation in material. There were different inds of wood and some were better than others, some easier to work with and other things to consider. Different animals had different skins, different hides that one could use for armament. Marcio noted that bigger, meaner, tougher animal tended to have the better skins for making shields.

Of course that also meant it was harder to kill and the hide was harder to work with. He had advised them not to be foolhardy about and make the mistake of going for the more "exotic" or more formidable animals. Besides the danger and effort involved in taking them down, they likely didn't even have the skill in working with hides to use the tough skins for much of anything.

Different plants had different strength and consistency when it came to wicker works, they should experiment with many different kinds, he advised. Bamboo was of course one of the things that had first come to his mind when thinking about other materials they could use for shields. Bamboo was plentiful in this area and he had seen photos of how Japanese used to use bamboo for shields even against gunfire.


That's why Marcio gathered some people and went to chop bamboo. He explained that they wanted it for many different things and that they needed different kinds. It was at this moment that Marcio realized that this went beyond just shields. He recalled that bamboo could be used for MANY different things and HAD in Asia for quite some time. They could use them for building housing and other structures for instance. Marcio and others used axes to hack down stalks of bamboo both long and short, thin and thick.

Marcio and them eventually hauled large bundles of the stuff as well as ludicrously long poles of them back to the village. They made quite a sight to the rest of the village who wondered why some of them seemed to have long stalks of plant growing out of their backs. Setting them down in clear area, Marcio began (with some assistance) bending short and thin bamboo stalks and fetching string to tie them against others.

Marcio asked for advice just to be sure he did the best method on this, weaving stalks of bamboo with chords of plant fiber while villagers watched. Using help he eventually tied the last few knots and tightened the last few chords. He showed off to them the finished product of a couple feet wide or so square of bamboo stalks held together by chords, a couple or so feet tall. A bamboo shield.

[UniversalCommons]

Reclamation (Cyclades) April 2975 (Interlude)

A drum beat could be heard between the three outrigger canoes of the followers of the celestial goddess and the great bull. The followers called the beat, The Trodding of the Great Bull.

They were coming back to the burnt out villages to reclaim them. It was their duty to reclaim and rebuild the islands. First they came to the shores and said a prayer to bless the land, then they reentered the village.

The first group that came in gathered the remnants of the Kraken statuary and tossed it into the sea. They then began to clear the land, breaking down the old burnt structures. All would be cleansed and tossed into the deep to start anew.

They found remains and buried them saying a special prayer to make sure they did not rise again. There were rumors that the dead walked where the Kraken once were.

The warriors of the bull had been retrained by Hand Enyo and were better warriors. They found a few stragglers on the island who quickly professed to be be followers of the sun god. The people took their canoes and headed away as quickly as possible.

The followers of the Great Bull assumed they were speaking the truth. Walls went up made of stone and structures made of stone. They would not build structures that could burn and they would be ready for any invaders from the sea. The celestial goddess had blessed them.

To celebrate, one of the temple guardians wrestled a bull to the ground and they danced around it. Then they sacrificed it, slitting its throat. The aromatic smoke of the cooking bull went up to the gods and they put choice pieces of the bull on a stone altar. This would later be taken by the priests at night.

They feasted in honor of their home, singing and playing the drums. Later that night, they whipped the sea with chains and wailed to drive away the spirit of the Kraken.

The next day more people came, immigrants from Santorini and Abdera. There were also a few people from the Levant, who curious had come to the temple on Santorini and taken vows. They claimed that they were retaking their homes, but many of the people there were from other places.

Victor Spear had heard that the Followers of the Great Bull and the Celestial Goddess were reclaiming their lands. He had sent a letter to the priestess of the Great Goddess on Santorini requesting them not to take more than they had previously held.

[Orostan]

Aaron Dawson - Month 6, day 24

The Battle of Zhengzhou 1/2

Aaron's troops had marched for three days, eight hours a day, towards the city of Zhengzhou. A merchant served as their guide as the men marched through the forest in the days and camped in clearings for the nights. Sometimes they'd have to make clearings themselves with axes. While the halberds swayed like trees in the wind as the men marched Lu lead the forces in song. Aaron didn't understand the songs very well, but they were good for preventing boredom. Aaron also suspected that Lu had changed the lyrics to some of them because of the rather profane language they used to describe the former Emperor of Luoyang. On the fourth day of travel the steady swaying of the halberds above their heads stopped as the army entered sight of the city in the early morning. The city had apparently been warned of their approach, and figures with weapons could be made out on the walls of the settlement. The army was positioned on a hillside looking down at the settlement and the area was devoid of trees apart from the occasional stump or small sapling. The ground was instead covered in grass which continued almost uninterrupted to the walls of the city. Some of the trees that probably once grew here were now making up the walls and buildings of Zhengzhou. Aaron estimated Zhengzhou to be a good deal smaller than Luoyang, maybe only three quarters the size. The walls of the settlement were very similar to those of Luoyang and were composed of mostly rammed earth with a wood backing. The gates, however, were made from wood and closed tightly. Above the city there were isolated columns of smoke. Whatever the status of the revolt in the city, the defenders were still holding the walls. Horsemen were sent around the city to view the other gates. By midday Aaron knew the status of all the gates, and none of them were under rebel control. The gate nearest to them on the side was as good an entrance point as any, so the army proceeded slowly down the hillside. As they came closer to the city, the number of enemy soldiers on the walls began to grow. Many of them were holding bows and arrows too. Aaron wished he had a telescope or something.

While the sky darkened at sunset, Aaron ordered the attack. The troops lined up in their neat rows and began moving forwards. Infantry in front, archers behind. The horsemen would stay where they were however, and only advance once the gate had been breached. In order to break down the gate, Aaron had a very special trick. He had ordered the archers to tie small wads of grass just behind the heads of their arrows very tightly. Then, just before they fired the arrows they were to set the straw on fire. The grass would catch the light, and then before it had the chance to spread fire to the Archer's bow they'd fire their projectiles. The glow of the flaming arrows illuminated the sky and was an amazing sight. Only one volley of the flaming Arrows was ordered and the archers had been ordered to target the gate of the city. Many of the arrows found the rammed earth walls, but many also found the wooden gates and began to spread their fire. Aaron's infantry watched the city's gate begin to burn as they moved back out of range of the enemy. Aaron slowed his horse down to allow for the infantry to catch up with him. He was still unsteady riding it and his hips hurt, but the stirrups and saddle helped a lot. His friend Xian was by his side now.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Xian, looking up at Aaron and then back at the burning gates. By now the fire had spread to the walls, and the enemy was throwing water onto it with buckets. The burning gates were crooked on their hinges now as the wood pegs holding them in place were burned away.

"Yeah. It is." Said Aaron, thinking of the dead Captain Zhu. He wondered if Zhu had a family.

[Endem]

Gdansk

After a day and a half you reach the end of the Vistula. You find a pair of traders looking at the river. They are dressed in leather, wool, and furs. One of them has a hunting bow and a long curved knife, and another has a spear. They have two goats with packs on their backs. They have just returned from following the river where they have traded for amber and hides. You can smell the fish that one of them has caught and boiled with forest mushrooms, wild garlic, a pinch of salt and tubers. There is a pair of rough hewn log cabins next to them.

They tell you that you would need to cross the mountains to get to the Dniester. It would not be an easy thing to do. There are roads through the mountains, if you are willing to hire them as guides, they would take you there. These roads are mainly known by the Season Traders.

Guides

Konrad

2795 BCE

Market Town

Thus we gained guides for our mission, for whatever reason these two decided to stray from their home and come with us, showing us where to go, and we have followed, for days, weeks, perhaps more, we definitely spent at least a month or two waiting out the winter in the mountains, not a very pleasant experience.

But eventually in spring we managed to arrive on the shore of a large river which our guides told us was the Dniester, we then parted ways with then, and begun looking for a ship or perhaps a raft, anything to transport our wagons, we have moved southward along the river in hopes of finding a forest rather than more grasslands, for a forest could provide wood for rafts, if not there was also a slim chance we may encounter a village of some kind.

[Nuxipal]

Javin Torrez
Grand Feast of Peshawar, Peshawar, Early Autumn 2975 BCE

The Feast was prepared. Nobles from Peshawar and Mardan had arrived in the Palace and festivities would begin soon. Javin had briefed his guards to keep an ear out for troubled words or acts that may lead to some kind of plot being hatched to murder the Raja or Javin himself. Just over one hundred guests and another two hundred who had been brought by the guests as either guards, companions, or to be shown off. Javin himself brought his new wife, Banhi, with him as his personal guest. She was the eldest sister of the new Raja, so it was also to show that he had ties to the land for all the nobles to see. Banhi, and indeed most people at the party, had no idea that Javin was fully expecting trouble and that his sword and armor wasn't just to make a show.

Keeping his eye out for anything suspicious was preventing Javin from truly celebrating the coming of the Autumn season and the start of the Fall Harvest. While speaking with a minor noble from the city, Javin was called aside by Ekanga. Feeling as if it were important, Javin excused himself and went aside with the captain.

"Javin, I've gotten several reports that the nobles we are looking for are here. There will be a point when a group of two or three will approach you and Raja Kairov. While distracted, another small group will go and let in a group of their loyal guards which will cut their way in. I suggest that you stay close to Kairov so that this even takes place sooner rather than later. My men are prepared for this and I have already sent a runner to the barracks to collect the 'second shift' as it were."

The captain had executed the plan to perfection so far, now it'd be Javin's turn to spring the trap. "Good work Captain. I'll go to meet with the Raja next. Thank you for the security update." He said it loud enough that someone trying to hear them would be able to signal to their co-conspirators. Javin found his way to Raja Kairov, who was already talking with a group of local nobles who had done a good job keeping the young ruler entertained. Javin suspected that at least one of these nobles were involved with the conspiracy.

Joining the conversation, at the behest of one of the nobles and Kairov himself, Javin spoke to them of his plans to return to Harappa in the coming months and how the young Kairov had been a quick learner of the job that he was going to be doing alone at the end of the year. The discussion turned several times including one of the nobles angling for an administrative position while another tried to set Kairov up with his daughter for a marriage alliance. Javin said they'd visit that situation in the near future and that he wasn't going to be leaving the city before helping Kairov line up a marriage pact with one of the noble families within the city.

It was nearly an hour of standing next to Kairov that Javin heard the first of the commotions in a nearby room. A crashing sound as the door was kicked in by one of the attackers led to lots of panic. Javin spotted two nobles who didn't seem too surprised. One he had been talking to with Kairov, the other was talking with some other nobles which included his wife Banhi. As two guards of Javin's appear from the opposite side of the room and then another is seen stabbing one of the attackers, the nobles in the room who are part of the conspiracy seem to leap into action. Five of them in total drew weapons of various types. The one near Kairov lunged for the boy with a bronze spearhead. The boy was unarmed and fell backwards. Javin only had time to tackle the smaller man. "Kairov, grab anything you can use to fight with!"

Javin ripped the spearpoint from the man's hand and within a few seconds one of his guards came and helped him with the man. The guard brought some rope to tie his arms together as Javin got up and drew his weapon, a small fight in the room was taking place as nobles fled in every direction. As he asked those in attendance not to bring weapons, it was fairly simple to find the conspirators in the open. He found that Kairov had picked up the spear point. "Kairov, to me. We are going to help the guard and arrest or kill the conspirators as we planned."

The boy nodded and followed Javin closely. Not really expecting him to help in a fight, more of being a hindrance than anything, Javin couldn't leave the young ruler to stand anywhere away from him. Javin's size made him easy to see by the others in the room and he drew the attention of several hired killers and conspirators at once and was holding them off fairly well, killing two while two others were still advancing on him when two of Javin's guards broke into the fight and speared the legs and shoulders of the rebels. The fighting lasted less than fifteen minutes, but in total there were nearly twenty dead and several dozen more wounded. Five conspirators were captured, two noble and three hired for the task. Going through the dead was difficult. Several of his own guards and innocent nobles were among the dead. However, no conspirators escaped the palace. Over the next two hours, several stragglers were arrested and one other noble confessed to being in on the plot, but did not act when the time came.

To Javin's surprise, the man who had propositioned Kairov was in the group who had been wounded as he had wrestled one of the captured conspirators to the ground despite taking a sword to the arm. The long lacerations would be difficult to heal, but if he survived Javin knew who he wanted in Kairov's company after he left. Finding Banhi and Kairov talking quietly together near the throne, Javin joined them and sat on the steps. "This is just the first one. Being Raja means people will covet your position. The noble, Mihirkiran, the one who propositioned you regarding his daughter. I think that he'd be an excellent choice to join your court and if you wish to wed his daughter, you'd have a completely loyal man and family behind him."

Nodding to this Kairov knew it would need to be done soon, if the man's health turned. That would be the end of potential relations between their families. He responded, "Thank you for your advice Javin. I think that once the harvest starts and the town guard is fully replenished would be an excellent time for you and my sister to go to Harappa. I have the unfortunate news to give you that I may have poached a few officers off of your army in the past few days. The only one that I really wanted and couldn't convince with triple pay was a man named Ekanga, over there." He pointed out the officer which Javin was very familiar with. At which Banhi blushed a bit before she said, "Ah, he is Javin's Captain of the Guard for his household. Not just the army. That's why." She smiled sweetly, knowing the real reason was significantly more intimate.

Kairov nodded and understood, or thought he did. "That's fair. Your city's captains are one thing. Your personal guard is another. You have treated me like a brother and I will respect that." In the following weeks Javin and most of the army departed from Peshawar heading back for Harappa. News that the war with Katra was also ended with a cease-fire and a trade agreement between Katra and several of the cities near it. Javin was hoping this would be the ending of fighting for some time. He had work to do in Harappa and two young sons he wished to raise as well.

[UniversalCommons]

The River Dniester (The Czart Travelers)

As you traveled down the Dniester, you saw rafts and eventually reached some very large towns. The rafts had sails on them made of hempen cloth and were supported by animal skin bladders. Some of them had small huts on them. They were transporting goods between the different Cucuteni settlements and towns along the river. You could see lashed together wooden towers behind stone walls. Occasionally a patrol moved along the river with men in leather and bronze armor carrying large hammers, spears, or double bows. Some of the patrol had dogs with them. As you approached the towns you saw a string of ox drawn carts near the river painted in bright colors.

The town itself had the gates barred and would not let foreigners inside except at the invitation of the locals. It was for the Cucuteni and those they knew well.

However, outside the town there was a rest area, a place to pitch tents and wagons, and several long wooden cabins with bathing amenities and a place to buy food which included bread, cheese, venison, fish, beer, and vegetables. There was also a small trading area with a variety of textiles in bright colors, jewelry, rope, chord, pottery, needles, and hemp. A bunch of travelers were sitting around a large fire singing and drinking beer and throwing hemp into the fire.

There were many towns like this along the river. It was easy to catch rafts along the river. The Cucuteni were quiet and listened more than they talked.

[Saxony-Brandenburg]

Sriranga Pavali
Village of Yanbu, Arabian Peninsula, Summer 5 YK (2975 BCE)

A collaberation between Saxony-Brandenburg and Nuxpal

Sriranga pulled the ship up onto the shore. His last visit to this village he learned a few things. First, they had date palms and salt. Second, there was someone asking for soap, and lots of it. So, he’d written back to his business partners to send several containers with soap to the Trade Outpost. For the last fifteen or twenty years, an increase in a soap that came in a square ‘bar’ had become popular along the Ganges and eventually the Indus as well. Javin in particular seemed to enjoy having this soap around and kept large quantities of Lemon scented bars. There is a rumor that he is a major producer of the soap itself, which Sriranga was suspecting to be true based on the smell of the container of soap he received for this leg of the expedition.
As he approached the village, he was followed by a dozen or so men and women who carried the various trade goods which they would be attempting to sell or barter here in Yanbu. Upon reaching the village’s marketplace he waited for his contact, a woman named Olivia, to turn up. He was fairly certain she’d have been notified of the flag of Harappa which accompanied the expedition approaching the village.

Olivia was busy at work when a young boy ran through her door. In the front room of her modest home, she sat at a short table on the floor, mortar and pestle in her hands, grinding fennel seeds into a powder, just as Salihah had instructed her. She looked up as the sounds of feet beating against the dirt outside drew nearer, and her door swung open. “Umm Yanbu Olivia - Sumerians are back again in the market - mother asked me to tell you.” I looked up from my work, raising an eyebrow. “Is that so… I would have thought we’d have less with the ongoing war. Ah, oh well, nevermind that.” I say, pushing myself off the dirt floor, brushing the dust which clinged to my skirt. “Thank you child, remind me to bring something to your mother in thanks.” Stepping out of the modest dwelling, the thin wooden door slapping the frame on the way out, I quickly made my way to the market, where a small gathering of people stared at the foreigners, unable to speak to them, waiting for their polyglot sage olivia to ask what they have brought.

“Greetings.” I said in sumerian, though as soon as I did I began to notice these people were different in many ways to those I was used to meeting.
Sriranga heard the greeting, while he wasn’t fluent in Sumerian, he knew a few words and responded in kind, “Greetings, I am Sriranga from the city of Harappa. I have been told from expeditions past that this village was interested in trade with our merchants.We have brought with us Lapis Lazuli, Ivory, Dragon’s Blood for dyes, Cotton, and…” he trails off as he doesn’t know the Sumerian word for ‘soap’ and just says it in his native Indus language “..soap” before switching to the word his friend Javin used for it once, “Soap” which he unknowingly said in english, though with a heavy accent.

Seamlessly, Olivia’s brain seemed to understand his first phrasing, switching to a language yet known to her lips of the Indian variety. “Is that so?” She said with a relative poker face, looking around at the relatively dirty faces of her people. “Would you wish to come to my home and discuss this further? Harappa is a long ways away across the sea and mountains, is it not?”

Nodding, Sriranga said, this time in his native tongue feeling more at ease that this stranger would be able to speak it with him, “Yes I would like to discuss it further at your home.” He then explains while following Olivia, “Harappa is indeed far away, but a close friend and Guru named Javin helped to fund this expedition to establish trade with the lands of the Red Sea. We have an outpost built on an island he called Socotra. I’d be happy to share my knowledge of these locations with you as well as discuss our trade arrangements.”

“Is that so?” She spoke casually, pushing past the door of her home, holding it open as she ducks inside the low room. Inside he would find a modest front room, with the two other rooms, the bedroom and the kitchen, plainly visible, modest, and undecorated - with but a few herbs in clay pots, rugs, etc. as ornamentation. After he steps in, she walks to the bedroom in the back, returning with a rolled-up rug, and with a quick motion, lays it out across the dirt floor, moving a short table ontop of it, and walking off into the kitchen, speaking from inside: “Make yourself at home! I will be right there.”

Finding himself a comfortable place to sit on the rug. He thought the patterning of the rug would be quite novel in the markets of Harappa, but for practical use almost everyone had a similar, though not as intricate, rug for sitting. He mentally reviews what his ship contained and what he could trade and still have enough to acquire provisions. He looks around to see what other luxury goods these people may be able to produce or what level of sophistication their builders work with.

The front room’s most intricate decorations seemed to be that of woven fabrics - the windows of the room were able to be covered with woolen curtains of a variety of muddled colors, stripes and zig-zags and other patterns covering them, now pulled apart to allow a crossbreeze through. Six pots of a variety of well-kept for tiny houseplants sat along the side of the room, each one slightly different - all in rather well-made clay pottery, having been glazed primitively, and dyed muddled shades of red, turquoise, and yellow. Woven baskets of reeds, too, sat in the corner - holding a few blankets, perhaps simply used for carrying however. If he would look through the open doorways into the other rooms, first he would encounter the bedroom in the back-right, where a low bed of well-carved wooden frame sat, a small mattress of some sort of stuffing he knew not covered in another woolen blanket. A bronze bowl incredibly well polished hung on the wall, while a large chest sat at the foot of the bed, thrown open, a variety of dyed woolen clothes spilling out from it. From his view into the kitchen, a hole in the wall seemed to be where a fire sat crackling, the same embers burning for years perhaps. Around her, stone work surfaces and boundless simple clay vessels of a variety of sizes were stacked, although their contents he was not sure. Olivia herself, wore a long, loose dress that seemed to wrap around her - a shawl which covered her shoulders and head, which had been pulled down to allow her incredibly long hair to spill out, and some primitive sandals with a wooden sole. Coming out from this room, she brought in her hands a bowl and a plate, returning to the kitchen for only a moment, bringing out a large clay pitcher and cups, before settling herself by the table on the floor.

“I hope you do not mind chickpeas - and if your people drink please enjoy. I made the datewine a few weeks ago, it should surely be alcoholic enough to serve to a guest and call it such.”
With a smile, she happily rips off a piece of one of many flatbreads on the plate, liberally smearing it across the beige paste in the bowl, and shoving it in her mouth, nodding and pouring herself a drink.

Followed suit and poured himself a cup of the datewine and took a piece of the flat bread and followed Olivia’s example and coated it with the chickpeas as she called it. He ate the bread and drank the wine as a guest of Olivia’s household. As he cleared his mouth he spoke, “Thank you. My partners and I were tipped off that your village in particular was looking for soap. Which was a curious thing for one of our partners. I mentioned him previously, Javin. He pretty much holds a small monopoly over the soap production in the Upper Indus and Ganges Valley. He sent his favorite scent with me for this trip. As he said, ‘just in case’ it was a favorite of the ruler here.”

She grins eagerly, pausing for a moment, before speaking. “I don’t suppose by chance he is a tall, prophetic person from far away who has not aged in twenty-five years and has brought practices and technologies from a far off land -- is he?”

Thought on the matter, Sriranga wasn’t twenty-five years old himself, but he’d been told by his father that it didn’t seem as if Javin was ever touched by age. And sure enough, he seemed to know exactly where the island of Socotra was and even the best route to reach Harappa from Patna. Though, he wasn’t sure prophetic was the right word, but it did fit the description of Javin he had in his head.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t believe he has grown older as I have. I mean, he has always been around my family for as long as I have been alive.” He then thought on it further, “And he is at least a head taller than anyone else I know of back home, though you are also taller than most people I’ve met as well. He also doesn’t really speak of where he came from, just that he is here now.”

She nods, smiling at the floor. “Its good to know there are more of us. I don’t know if you ever speak to him, but if you ever do, tell him Olivia sends her regards and thanks for the personal concern. But then, you said you bring goods to trade - so I’d love to take a look of a sample of them in time, I’m sure we can broker something out that will make your journey well worth it.”

Nods, “I do have my goods nearby. Because of our last trip up here, I made sure to have the soap with me.” He pulls out a small 10 cm square, 5 cm tall bar wrapped in a cotton cloth. “An example of one of the bars that we carry with us. Please, feel free to smell it, the scent is something I never thought we’d be able to carry around with us.” He extends his hand with the bar of soap in it towards Olivia.

She takes the bar, putting it up to her nose and takes a long sniff, nodding. “You know the Aksumites scent their bars with flowers and herbs from their region - may I know what you put in your own? Besides lemon of course.”

Smiled, knowing the competition was closer than he thought for this product, “Ah, Javin specifically didn’t want us to give too much away, but we use animal oils and soap nuts, Lychee nuts, during the process.”

“Ah… I see. Fair. Would you mind if I tried it on my skin? I am aware some soaps can burn and others, more fine, do not.”

Agreeing Sriranga replied, “Yes, feel free to. Consider this bar a gift then.”

“The whole bar? Truly, you are kind.” She stands up, leaving the bar on the table, returning with a bowl of water and a rag, wetting it, and rubbing the bar onto it until sufficient amount has made its way onto it, before scrubbing her face, relieved to have truly clean skin for the first time in years. Rinsing herself off, she places the soap back on the table, drying her face off with her shawl. “How much were you looking to sell it for?” She stands up once more, returning with a small leather bag and a short, shallow bowl, pouring out it’s contents revealing it to be a pile of sea salt, it’s large crystals piled in perhaps enough to fill both your hands cupped together. “Perhaps you’d be interested in this amount of salt per bar.”

Looking over the pile, and estimating its value both to the trading post in Socotra and back in Harappa he nodded. “I believe that would be suitable. How many bars were you looking to acquire?”


“How many did you bring?” She responded, thanking all that was holy in this world he did not charge that much in gold dust.

He smiled and responded with, “We have four packages. Each package has thirty-nine bars.” He thought really quickly and came up with, “156? I have more packages at the Trading outpost. We weren’t sure why Javin sent so many bars with us last voyage, so we didn’t bring all that we had on this trip.”

She thinks on this a moment. “I’ll take a quarter a package - I’m sure the market will be /very/ interested in this however.” She says, standing up oncemore, going into the kitchen, and returning with a clay vessel of some kind, opening the lid to reveal it to be full of salt. “I hope this will suffice.”

Sriranga looked it over and agreed, “That will be sufficient. I sure hope that this price is competitive to that of the Axumites. Otherwise, we will have to figure out a way to get the soap back to Harappa without wasting cargo space. Though, that’s not your concern. Also, there are some cotton cloths which come with the soap, but we also have bales of cotton for sale as well. Those unfortunately do have a gold price that Javin was very specific we had to trade for gold.”

“Is that so? May I ask how much gold you were looking for the cloth? Or if you’d prefer to sell the cotton in bales for cheaper, since you can purchase it for far less, if you’d be so kind as to teach me how you spin it as opposed to wool, I’d be happy to buy that off you aswell.”

Having both bales and finished clothes, Sriranga explained, “Well, the cloth that is prespun is a little more expensive. They come out to about 20 lbs of spun cloth for 1/10th a pound of gold. Alternatively, a bale of cotton is 2.5 pounds of gold. A bale is somewhere between 400 and 500 pounds depending on the quality, though Javin said there isn’t much in the way of cotton outside of the Indus Valley right now.”

“Well if Javin will not trade in gold, do you perhaps have a scale we could use? Also - do you know how to spin the cotton? I know myself only wool, and I do not wish to waste that much gold.”

Shaking his head, Sriranga replied, “Unfortunately, I do not. I think we could find somebody who does and see if they will make a trip here, probably will have to pay them to come all this way though. I doubt they’ll leave if they make the trip, unless they are a merchant themselves. I’ll ask around the trade outpost when I get back just in case I don’t know everyone who is there right now.”

“Ah… I see. I will just buy cloth then, twenty pounds, and if you find a weaver send her this way and we can buy it in bales - I am sure we can give them a comfortable life and good pay. Do you have scales?”
He indeed did, “I do of course. What kind of merchant would I be without them?” He had them with his wares and seemed almost eager to close the deal. However, the fact that there was salt here and the intricate rugs made him ask one more question. “Before we measure out gold and prices, I have to ask. Do the people here all make rugs this intricate? Their patterns are not like what I see in Harappa or any other city along the Indus. I believe that we could start a trade network to sell these rugs and bring you back some of the profits from them. It would give me a good excuse to continue coming to this particular village as well.”

“We do indeed. Weaving wool is among our people’s biggest assets. Perhaps I could interest you in some?... I know a few weavers who would certainly love to talk to you. Aswell, our spices - and with so many sumerian craftsmen coming, fleeing the war, we have a small bronze forge which you may fancy.”

Bronze was something that Harappa lacked a great deal of. Copper they could mine easily enough in the mountains nearby, but finding a good source of tin and then a smith capable of working the two of them into bronze was even more difficult. “Bronze you say? I’m not sure your tin situation here, but if you could sell us bronze bars we would be willing to pay for those in gold directly. Our hills may be filled with copper and what Javin calls Iron, we lack tin or the means to work the Iron. As for the weavers, I’ll gladly meet with them too. These rugs could provide a source of income to your village for a time. Foreign goods always do better in markets where the average person cannot simply go to the source location anyway.”

“There are indeed streams of tin within the hills of this land I know as hejaz, though the people here may simply call ‘the mountains’. Tin and copper and iron are plentiful, if one can find it of course. Much of it is buried too low to be accessible, I should think. Though a rock or two may rise to the surface a few thousand years ago, and sit ready to be taken with the right opportunity. Indeed, we can surely provide a modest amount of bronze from extensive trade between the tribes of the region, though I dare say it would not be enough to furnish an army, but it may net you a good deal back home on the Indus.” Olivia trails off, leaving again and returning again with a pitcher of a much stranger smelling drink. “I feel a need for something stronger… would you care for some stronger spirits? I have come to flavor this one with fennel and other aromatic herbs, though I could surely use cardamom and anise, pepper and cinnamon, should you ever have the chance to bring such spices over, I would surely make you aged spirits of them as thanks for the trip.”

Nodding to the offer Sriranga says, “Of course, I would not refuse a drink when offered. I will try and remember cardamom, anise, pepper and cinnamon. If we can get ahold of it, I’ll bring it on the next expedition up this way. As for the bronze, whatever can be spared, you just name your price. Javin will be very happy to have any quantity of the metal for his personal use.”

“Splendid- and- one more thing if you will? One more favor. Are you potentially headed for Aksum anytime soon?”

Nodding to his host he responded, “Yes, I plan on stopping by their ports on the way back to Socotra. I’ll also be meeting up with one of my partners there who will be going back to Harappa before me.”

She nods. “Good, good. If you could, the people there chew, suck on, and often roast a type of green berry, which ripens into red, about the size of a nut. It is hard, but when ingested in some way, is said to have medicinal properties. If you could bring me back a bowl of these, and a living specimen of the bush, I would gladly pay you in gold.”

Thinking about the task, he hadn’t seen these berries before, but he would oblige. “Of course, if they are valuable in any way, I’d like to be able to help transport them for you. As for a living specimen, if they guard it as well as we are trying to guard our resources then it may be difficult. I will try though.”

She shook her head. “Nay, they do not seem to know it’s value. For only my people know how to properly prepare it. It should grow wild, goats should eat it and begin to dance, so I am told. Find it, and I will eternally be in your favor.”

Smiling and fully agreeing, Sriranga said, “Okay, okay! I’ll make sure to find it then. I’m sure Javin would be interested in it if its valuable. I’m sure he’ll know what it is when I show it to him. He seems to know things like that.”

“Good. It is called ‘co-fi’. Many from where we’re from use it to self medicate. Either way - is there anything else I can do for you while you’re here? Perhaps you’d wish to stay in our guesthouse while you make some sales.”

“That sounds lovely.” Sriranga said to the offer, “We won’t be in town too long. Perhaps two more days before we head back down the coast. We’ll be back of course, but if we find something that the people here will buy regularly, we might be able to have expeditions up this way every moon or every other moon depending.”

“Surely! That sounds wonderful. Would you like me to escort you out to the guesthouse? I know your men way wish to rest - and I may come later this evening to deliver some food and water for bathing, should you wish.”

“That sounds fantastic.” Sriranga follows Olivia out to the guest house and eventually round up the other men of his expedition to do the same later in the day after they have done their share of selling to locals and those who are traveling through the area.

[UniversalCommons]

Reactions (The Tower of Learning) April 2975

Scholar Tuvarek pondered the clay jars with different ingredients on the walls. He liked to arrange them, make sure they were perfectly neat then count them repeatedly. He had very neatly labeled them with their contents.

The first edition of the codex Ingredients lay open on the table. Scholar Tuvarek felt proud at having completed a book. He liked to look at the numbers on the bottom pages.

Scholar Tuvarek was with Scholar Bassaba and Victor Spear. Victor Spear found Tuvarek obsessive. The room was spotlessly clean. There was a young scholar who assisted Tuvarek as well as a bondsman who helped with the more dangerous mixtures. The bondsman, Chiron had agreed to serve in the Tower of Learning to pay off his gambling debts. He was sitting in a corner reading a broadsheet.

Scolar Tuvarek, Scholar Bassaba and Victor Spear stood around a round table.

Victor Spear, "Now begins the next stage of the project. We need to mix the different ingredients together systematically one by one and record what happens. This will be both a dangerous and interesting project."

Scholar Tuvarek,"Some of these ingredients are poisonous or give off fumes. They should not be touched and mixed without great caution. Great caution."

Scholar Bassaba,"We will take precautions, gloves, tongs, and face masks."

Scholar Tuvarek, "That is not enough, I want a smith's apron, some sand, and a neck guard. You can never be too careful. We may need to put out fires."

Victor Spear, "If you are worried about poisons we can try what you think will be the safer mixtures first. After all there is always risk in natural philosophy, but it is for the greater good of Oak."

Scholar Tuvarek,"Can you tell us why we are doing this again. Is there a point in taking these risks with the different substances from the ingredients guide."

Victor Spear, "When you mix two substances together you often get a reaction and the contents change becoming a new thing. I only remember part of the reason for this. But, it is worth the risk to record the changes so we can make advances to help the people."

Scholar Tuvarek, "Reactions, another one of your strange words. I hope it is not like atoms, your imaginary small things. Where do you come up with these things. Don't tell me please, it will make no sense. I hope it is not to create some elixir to extend your life or turn lead into gold or some such other rubbish. Make sure you are not wasting my time."

Scholar Bassaba, puts several glass bottles on the tables, "We got these from the village of Salt. They were made at the Aksumite orphanage. Aren't they amazing you can see inside of them. They are made from blown glass."

Scholar Tuvarek, "Why I could tell what was in my jars without even having to look at the label. You can see right through them. Amazing, first lenses, now this. I have seen the miraculous here." Tuvarek picks up a bottle and looks at it from several different angles.

Victor Spear, "We should start soon. We need to write the process down. It will be pure trial and error."

Scholar Bassaba, "No, it will not be. We will plan careful and be cautious in our processes. We will write down everything, make sure the equipment is organized, the workspace is clean and neat, and we know step by step about what we are going to do. We mix each ingredient first one with another, then three together, then two pairs of ingredients. It will be a long slow process. We should try and mix each ingredient four times to make sure it is consistent in how the mixture happens. "

Scholar Tuvarek, "I will be careful and methodical. You know the first step is always the hardest step. It might take me some time to describe exactly what happens when things are mixed together. I like to be very detailed."

[Ah-eh-ioh-uh]

The possibilities excited them all. It excited Marcio as well actually. There had been one thing that had been bothering him for a but though. When asked if there was any other kind of shield they could make, he did indeed know one more. However it had reminded him how concerned he was about hurting the environment and depleting the local resources.

Yes, this was a far off concern considering this was just the Stone Age really. But he worried that if he did not set a precedent for respecting the environment early on, it would be a lesson falling on deaf ears later. As he told the craftsman that he had heard of people making shields out of turtle shells, he began thinking up a way to tell the people to take from nature in moderation. Putting those thoughts on the back burner he reminded the excited villager that they probably shouldn't take anybody else to do this with them if that's what they planned, save maybe just someone to keep them safe on the way.

Marcio informed them that turtles were not very abundant a resource and that it was more akin to an artful luxury item as opposed to a numerous commodity. Marcio reminded them that life was sacred and to always remember to give thanks to the animal, not taking pain or death with too light a heart.



Marcio then began working with wood and a knife. Marcio knew he did not have the expertise to craft bows and arrows for the village and even they would take too long trying to figure it out. So he recalled that Spears were the throwing weapon of choice before archery came along. They had already been throwing their long melee spears on occasion but to at least attempt to mimick archers he would need to have them crafting spears specifically made for throwing.

When it was done it was a shoddy poor thing but he hoped he got the idea to them as he threw as best he could to the distance, his strength and trained body coordination helping him throw it well enough not to cause too great of laughter. Marcio began explain his plans. Marcio noted that they should attempt experimentation with different lengths and thicknesses, recalling all he could remember about how different spear points as they set to work making mock throwing spears.