Choice 1:
B - 10
Choice 2:
C - 14
Choice 3:
B - 14
***
Chapter 6.6: Ten Years to the Founding
Now that you knew the Hittites were the ones encouraging the Gutians, your raid and subsequent ultimatum had a predictable effect: they began pestering the Hittites for help. By all accounts the Hittites were reluctant to actually engage your empire in direct military action, preferring to have the Gutians bleed you dry before swooping in for the prize.
As the seasons changed and the Gutians grew desperate, you unleashed a ploy of your own: you had your own Gutians disguise themselves in the colours and markings of the other tribes, and they attacked the Hittites. Meanwhile, Dapimsin's eyes and ears in your administration discovered - or rather, were allowed to discover, your diplomatic meetings with several prominent Gutian chieftains known to support the Hittites - not exactly the truth, but not lies either; you did meet with them, albeit under circumstances that were less than diplomatic and entirely unfavourable to them.
Soon the Hittites were threatening the Gutians on their end, demanding that the Gutians stop their double-crossing. The confused Gutians denied their knowledge of any raids, but that only enraged the Hittites further and caused relations to deteriorate. In the end, the perplexed Gutian tribes, trapped between both sides, decided in favour of the one that was currently being very active in their home mountains, and yielded to you.
The hapless Hittites gave up their shadowy attempts at undermining your empire. Unfortunately, they began expressing overt desires to undermine your empire, preferably by marching their army through your lands. The Hittite Empire began to build up its troops. It appears that sooner or later a military clash was inevitable.
In the meantime, good progress was being made with your decree that every citizen of the empire should be literate. There is still some dissent, particularly in the rural areas, with the farmers and miners complaining that they had no need for such nonsense. Most of the Greeks took to it like a fish to water, and for the first time you saw Athena smile as she watched a class of children in session. Even so, it would take a generation or two of sustained development for the idea to catch on throughout your domains.
The first fruits of Sekhenun's project to teach scholars how to investigate natural phenomena were also ripening; already several proposals have been submitted to you regarding how the empire could better utilize some of the knowhow it already has to improve the lot of its people.
Ten years after the empire was established, it was in a pretty good position. It was then, though, that you learnt that the Gieloth had begun landing in the east, attempting to infiltrate power structures of the powerful reigning Xia dynasty while simultaneously building up their own base south of the Xia. Artemis informed you that the immortals there currently numbered about twenty, with dozens of demigods at their beck and call, while you had no concrete figure about the Gieloth number, though they were estimated to be in the hundreds. It looks like the Gieloth had a new plan, to attempt to topple the immortals by trickery first. Still, as the immortals had been warned and were expecting their arrival, the Gieloth would probably find their efforts frustrated, and as they grew desperate, launch an attack outright.
***
A. You begin preparing an expedition to the east. The scouts have managed to track a path from the Indus to the Xia, which will lead you through the southern lands, where the Gieloth were building up their own power base.
B. Your expedition to the east will take you through the northern plains, which would arguably be faster and lead you directly to the northern lands of the immortals. The path is unscouted, however, as most of the scouts you have sent into the area did not return.
C. You do not organize an expedition, but travel there yourself with a small band of your own choosing. You are not confident that you would be able to solve the logistics of sending an entire army across the world on foot.
D. You do nothing for now. The immortals have been warned, and they can probably take care of themselves. Your attentions are needed here.
***
A. You embark on an ambitious project to construct roads to every part of your empire, and pave the main throughways by which most of the trade travels. The scholars have written a proposal about how this would improve the economic condition of the empire significantly, and planned out the best paths for the roads to take.
B. Another group of scholars have come up with the idea of establishing towers for signalling along the paths of the empire. You recall that Astarth once threatened you with such an idea. With a tower, an oil lamp, a mirror and a book of codes, it is possible for messages to be transmitted long distances at a speed faster than land travel.
***
A. The incident with the Hittites have convinced you that you need an extensive information network so that you do not get caught unawares again. You organize a group of extremely loyal, skilled personnel that are to be given the most stringent training in the arts of deception, organization and assassination, and sent into the world to serve as your eyes and ears.
B. You have realized, as time goes on, that you cannot fight alone or be everywhere at once. You need your personal guard to be stronger, faster, smarter, and more skilled than any man. You organize the training for a group of soldiers that are to be loyal to you and you alone, and personally instruct them in the ways of battle. These are to be your elite, who can both fight and command in battle, and serve as your emissaries where needed.
