[LP CYOA] Epic

[Baltika9]

treave, say, can we afford to send out a couple of boats to scout out the coastline to China? Two or three is what I'm asking.

 

[treave]

Uh... you don't have ocean going boats. They won't be invented in your region for many many many years to come unless you make it a priority.

 

[Baltika9]

treave, may I request a map of our domain, including the seceded and revolting states ? I am primarily interested in the northeastern expanse (Anatolia, the exit to future Persia and the closest point to the Azov Black and Caspian seas specifically), although a complete one would be welcome. As of right now I have no understanding what is where.

And naval expansion should be our priority right after Sekhenun finishes her research. we might want to start without her for now, even. Think about it: Egyptian Babylonian and Greek soldiers are the best trained and most experienced in the world. There is not much left for them to do here except jerk off waiting for something to come out of Olympus and curbstomping the occasional revolt.

Ergo, we'd be better served sending them to farther and farther off lands (hopefully getting to China in the nick of time, but not necessarily. Italy, Spain, Barbary coast, Normandy, the British Isles and off to the coasts of future Prussia, into the Baltic Sea and, finally, Russia) and strengthening our naval trade routes (in the end, wealth always wins). Besides, if the Northern Empire is really composed of Vikings, then we'd better have something to fight them off with. Having a weak navy against those guys is a really, really bad idea.

Edit: also, we and our emissaries have no understanding of China's language. How are we going to warn them? With stick figures?
Also, this is some good shit, the search for the shortest path to China without going through India has taught me more about ancient history and trade routes than school ever did. Thank you for this LP, treave.


You could say that it makes me... Intellectually Engaged.


Edit 2:

Edit: this doesn't mean that there's a massive Scandinavian navy up north. They aren't Vikings.

Potatoland Ascendancy confirmed.

Alternatively, Shulgi started on Rome ahead of schedule. Which could make sense, since they're human controlled.

Seriously, though, it's probably centered around the Black Sea and formed from the Moldovan and west Slavic tribes.
Or it is indeed Russia.

 

[Tigranes]

Yeah.... ships that can go to China are going to take a long, long time without some extraordinary boosts. Going West makes sense, of course.

Language shouldn't be a big deal, historically Spanish conquistadors and others had no insurmountable issues.

 

[Kipeci]

A3.

Besides, if the Northern Empire is really composed of Vikings, then we'd better have something to fight them off with. Having a weak navy against those guys is a really, really bad idea.

The northern empire has been stated to be Assyrians, not vikings! Those viking guys are ass-backwards tribes nowhere near civilization if their areas are anywhere near historical, which would sort of prevent them from launching awesome boat technology they wouldn't develop in our time for still a couple thousand years in the future. It would be even more ridiculous if they were actually able to pilot even those ships all the way around Europe from Scandinavia to the eastern reaches of the Mediterranean and launch raids with enough regularity to present an actual threat.

 

[treave]

Ah, sorry, the Assyrians are part of Ean's empire as implied in the previous update. The northern kingdom is clearly ahistorical, just like this new empire in the Middle East. They've had a head start since about a hundred years back, that's all. Edem will tell you more when he returns.

Edit: this doesn't mean that there's a massive Scandinavian navy up north. They aren't Vikings.

 

[newcomer]

Egil is a Scandinavian name... so these people in the north should at least be norse / vikings (although it seems that there'll be no vikings for now...)

and where's the update....

For you who voted 2:
Think about it, Sekhenum is Ean's WAIFU. Do you send your wife to battle?
If it's me I would leave her home, pat her head & give a good luck kiss / a good luck tumble

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

A3

edit: you know what, A3 - a gieloth being there will only piss them off more and if they ended up killing Sek, I'd be sad.

 

[Kipeci]

Why does everyone seem to want the folks setting up shack in Anatolia/the Caucasus/wherever our northern borders are to be vikings? What sense does that make?

 

[Bloodshifter]

A3 we need an imortal for our harem 2 would be nice also can we tell Sek to get one of her cronies to help getting our government supporting more trade into eygpt to hasten the unifaction of our Empire.

Also I still wish for us to talk to our sword to force it to gain a "soul" so to speak *even if it did Roofle at us*

I don't suppose Ean is all that opposed to using body map. Constantly now that he is a god-emperor and is willing to use it in public?

 

[Storyfag]

treave, I know you're already peppered by annoying questions, but could you perhaps tell me what year (BCE) is it?

@ppl guessing the nature of the Northern Empire - nothing Slavic, not even Russia. The Slavs arrived in their present lands sometime in the early centuries AD, and currently reside somewhere around the Caucassus. I'm guessing something Germanic or, indeed, Norse (to avoid the word "viking").

 

[Smashing Axe]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egils_saga

Millennium off, but given the shapeshifter info, it's perhaps Naram?

 

[Kipeci]

What in the world would any Germanic group be doing around the Caucasus-ish/Anatolian region at this time? The closest thing I can think of to that would be the Crimean Goths, but the earliest record of their presence is around 850 AD or so, which is I think a couple thousand years from this point.

 

[Azira]

We're in an alternate timeline now. Anything is possible.

 

[Baltika9]

We're in an alternate timeline now. Anything is possible.

In before the Terrasophagos shapeshifted into humans and founded their own empire. Or the Terrasophagos are mutated humans, from the future after the Earth was wiped.

 

[treave]

What in the world would any Germanic group be doing around the Caucasus-ish/Anatolian region at this time? The closest thing I can think of to that would be the Crimean Goths, but the earliest record of their presence is around 850 AD or so, which is I think a couple thousand years from this point.

Well... there's a big misunderstanding here. They aren't in Anatolia.

The North:
Far in the cold north, there appears to be a rising power that has united the squabbling tribes. More and more Gieloth are starting to venture there, attracted to the growing civilization.

Chapter 3.12.

edit: We're probably still at about 1900 B.C

 

[Kattze]

I'm betting that the northern empire would be either Scythians or Cimmerians.

 

[TOME]

And naval expansion should be our priority right after Sekhenun finishes her research. we might want to start without her for now, even. Think about it: Egyptian Babylonian and Greek soldiers are the best trained and most experienced in the world.

This I oppose. It always goes well when one tiny empire starts sending soldiers out and conquering nearby nations. Marduk did it, and look what happened when he died. Everything fell apart, city-states rebelled, raiders appeared etc. Instead of soldiers, start sending out merchants and poets and scientists, boost trade and spread our culture, slowly assimilate and absorb other nations to ours. That's how you create empire that lasts even if Ean were to kick the bucket for a few centuries.

 

[oscar]

The plan is that we don't die. But I also think soft power will also be important to our success with our meritocracy, open-mindedness to beneficial new ideas and high culture making sure people actually want to and benefit from being a part of our empire. Let's just hope this doesn't send us down a decadence and decline path, but I can see the strong outside threats of things like the Terasphagos combined with a beloved (well let's hope we find a cure to this getting evil from feeding thing) and undying emperor keeping us on the straight and narrow.

Napoleonic France and Imperial Rome are good examples. We don't give a fig about your national or social background so long as you are competent and give us your full undivided loyalty.

 

[treave]

A2 – 4
A3 – 10

***

Chapter 6.3: Rendezvous in Athens

The chariot was a bumpy ride through the paved streets of Athens. The once beautiful city was still a wreck, the land salted with toxins by the Sumerians under Marduk. Of all the Greeks, the former inhabitants of Athens detested your rule the most, though they grudgingly – and pragmatically – obliged their fellow city-states in inviting your protection. The residents had elected not to rebuild, but instead to establish a new Athens two days north of where the old lay in rubble. Still, it was the old Athens, in the temple of Athena, where Athena and Artemis had agreed to meet with you. The Greek goddess of wisdom, unlike Ares, favoured reason over mindless force, and was willing to give diplomacy a try before resorting to bloodshed. Most of the Greeks had seen enough bloodshed for seven generations anyway.

Halting your chariot, you order your retinue to wait just outside the temple. If it devolved into a fight, you could let loose better if you did not have to worry about injuring your own men.

You had heard that the temple itself was torn down personally by Marduk and his winds, but apparently Athena had devoted some time to rebuilding it. The finery was no more, but the structure had been restored. You hoped that there were chairs. Striding up the marbled steps, you enter the temple of Athena.

The first people to meet you inside were, to your surprise, Phobos and Deimos.

“Ah, the terror twins.” You smile at them. They do not smile back, and as one, they put a hand on their swords.

“Phobos. Deimos.” A clear voice rang out through the hall, and the two shrink back. Athena and Artemis walk towards you, as different as night and day. The warrior goddess was tall and raven haired, with striking looks and piercing eyes that showed a keen intelligence. The huntress, on the other hand, was a short but lithe girl that could almost pass for a Gutian with her straw-coloured hair and cold blue eyes. She had a look of disinterest in her eyes, seemingly bored to be here.

“The goddesses Athena and Artemis. I am pleased to meet you both.” You incline your head slightly. They do not return the acknowledgement.

Athena begins to speak, “Emperor of Babylon, I – “

“And Egypt.”

As she looks at you with slight frustration, you smile an innocent smile at her. Taunting Ares had taught you how effective words could be. Between the meditation that had showed you how a lighter spirit could better control your hunger, and the practice in verbal sparring with Sekhenun over the years, you had begun to learn to frustrate and wheedle people with words. You still had a long way to go, of course.

“Emperor of Babylon and Egypt, I trust you know why you are here?”

“I am here because I choose to be here, on lands that I protect.”

“These lands are under my protection. We do not need Sumerian boots trampling all over Greek soil again.”

“These lands did not seem to be under your protection when the Terasphagos were running wild all over the place.”

“There were… complications. We thank you for protecting the Greeks in our absence, but now that we have returned, you no longer need take upon that duty. If you would kindly withdraw your troops and return to Sumeria, we would appreciate it.” She pauses for a while, taking a deep breath. “Do that, and I will forgive you for the murder of our father.”

You ponder her words for a while, looking at her straight in the eye. She keeps a steady gaze back at you. “This is interesting. I had thought you were a pragmatic person, Athena.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you agree with Zeus’s plot to start a war with Marduk?”

She has no words to offer you in response, but she looks away.

“Zeus was just as responsible for Greece’s suffering as Marduk was. You claim to be the goddess of justice. Tell me, would it be just to condemn one but not the other?”

“… no. No, it would not be just.”

“Why, then, bring Zeus’s defeat into this matter? He and Marduk were given the same punishment for their misdeeds. That is just. Do you not agree?”

Again, Athena remains silent. Though duty would compel her to defend Zeus, her sense of justice would not allow it. You change the subject to give her some space. You were, after all, much older than she was, as an immortal. Bullying was bad.

“Furthermore, I am sure you know that Greece does not have enough resources to defend itself from anything at the moment. Why are you in such a hurry to push us out?”

Athena manages to regain her composure with that question. “We… We can handle ourselves. The Terasphagos incursions have decreased in the past few years.”

“You haven’t heard of the recent attack on one of my forts, then?”

It was something that had happened mere moments after your arrival in Greece – the Terasphagos, who had been relatively meek for four years, suddenly swarmed out from Olympus in massive numbers. Nobody knew why they did so, but for a day or so there had been thousands of Terasphagos assailing the fortifications around Olympus. Your brave soldiers managed to hold the line, and just as suddenly as they had come, the Terasphagos retreated. Of course, she knew.

“The Terasphagos are unpredictable,” you continue. “Their motive and behavior is not like anything we have ever seen. Greece needs the blood of my men to defend it, and I would gladly spill my own to protect this land.”

Athena puts a hand on her helmet as she thinks of something to say. You decide to take a gamble.

“What do the voices tell you to do?” you ask, pointing to your head.

Her eyes fix on you, startled, unsure whether she should say anything, looking every bit like a young woman and not the goddess that she was.

“This…”

“We haven’t heard the voices since the mountain crumbled.” Artemis spoke up, her tone as indifferent as her face. “Our powers are still here, of course, and we sense that they are still within us… but for some reason they do not speak to us anymore.”

“Artemis!” Athena exclaimed, aghast at her willingness to leak information to you. On your part, you were surprised. This was not an answer that you had thought possible – you had only thought the voices were guiding her down a path of rebellion, not that they were no longer guiding her at all. You suppose some part of her famed wisdom was thanks to her voices, but you do not say it out loud. At least her equally famous sense of justice appeared to remain somewhat intact.

“There’s nothing wrong with telling him that, Athena. Aphrodite said he used to be one of us after all.”

Ah, Aphrodite – there was a name you hadn’t heard in ages. “Speaking of her,” you speak up, “where is she? Where is Ares, for that matter?”

Artemis is the one that replies you. “Aphrodite fled Olympus shortly before its fall. We’re not sure where she is right now. As for Ares… well, Ares was being Ares. We met up with him at the foot of Olympus soon after the battle ended and that happened. He was very angry about a letter you sent him, and then he ran into the miasma shouting bloody murder. We never saw him after that.”

“Ah.” You resisted the urge to look guilty. Still, although you had gained some interesting information, you were not here to swap stories.

“Thank you for answering me, Artemis. Now, let’s get back to why we are here.” Athena glares at you – after all, you were the one that brought the conversation off track.

As Emperor, you could offer several resolutions to this matter, but what proposal would lead to the best outcome? Although your conversation with Athena had given you confidence that you could convince her to see things your way, you had to be careful with what you said next, lest you offend her pride.

***

A. Offer Athena queenship of Greece, giving her status on par with Akilhotep and Nabuchasar. She would rule Greece under the aegis of your protection. This is the best offer you can give her short of just letting her have things her way.

B. Retain control of Greece via the city states, but task Athena with leading the defences against the Terasphagos. Giving her any more responsibility than that would be risky, if she was not yet used to having voices to advise her.

C. Allow Athena to have things her way, and withdraw your troops. If she will not appreciate the sacrifices of your men, she can see how it is like to battle the Terasphagos herself. You can always return later, once the mortal leaders of the cities inevitably beg you to.

D. Something different? ("Would you like to join my breeding programme?")

 

[TOME]

A - Big no no. That would mean Greece joining our empire and the greeks are not ready for that.

B - Sounds good, but we know Athena only by reputation, not deeds. Giving her command of our men, which she probably sees as invading army, is not wise. But if we get to know her and she is just and brilliant strategist, maybe then.

C - I like this. It shows that we are reasonable to deal with and we are not here to invade Greece, but to defend it and at the same time it shows that we will not go where we are not wanted. But on the other hand, it seems stupid to withdraw from the wall when we have contained the Terasphagos inside.

No vote yet.

 

[treave]

Rough map, not very accurate, but you get the idea.

 

[Storyfag]

Kinda reminds me of Cassidy's Empire of Jerusalem

 

[Smashing Axe]

Tentatively voting B for the moment although I may change it to A. Also if we get the chance treave I'd like learn more about their backstories and awakenings if they're willing to trade information. I'd like Ean to take almost a mentor role if he can somehow manage it. Athena's sense of justice may make her a perfect underling if we can somehow get her to swear fealty to us.

B

A

treave's last sentence about pride has me thinking that we would inadvertently insult her if we say we don't think she's competent enough to rule as queen without the voices. I think A is the best option, as I can see us earning her complete loyalty with time, so giving her this level of authority won't come back to bite us. The only question is what will she do when the voices return? She may have developed enough loyalty to us by then to fight against their commands, so if we do give her power, we should commit here and now to choices to increase her loyalty towards us.

I think the best thing we could do, once/if she jumps on board with us, is honestly tell her our plans and hopes for humanity, I think she'd have similar aspirations if she could be convinced the Masters' designs are malevolent.

Just to be clear treave, option A means that we still retain authority over Greece, she just becomes our vassal queen, correct?

 

[Storyfag]

treave, what do Terasphagos look like? I guess we've seen some by now?

I formulated a

D option: Offer the surviving Olympians supremacy over Greece and a pro tempores junior position in a formal alliance between our Empire and an independant Greece, with an understanding that the area around the Olympus Rift is exteritorrial and jointly defended.

for which I obviously vote.

Edit: So, the Olympians' voices are silent. Interresting. I wonder whether the voices of the Chinese Immortals went silent too. If it is so, we must redouble our efforts to help them thwart Los Tentaculos Mexicanos