Lords of the Earth

Campaign Twenty-Four
Age of the Crusades

Turn 25

Anno Domini 1126 – 1130

Turn 26 Orders Due By

Announcements

The Papacy In Dispute:

Each Catholic Nation may declare their support for either Papacy (Rome or Paris), or neither at the beginning of each turn. If a Nation supports a given Papacy, then that Primate's activities in their domains are conducted normally (regular movement, site establishment, etc.) The disfavored Primate, however, must pay extra (for moving through hostile or non-controlled areas), gets a minus on establishing sites or conducting activities. If a nation is neutral, then both sides get free rein. A Nation is free to vacillate back and forth between the two Papacies on a turn-by-turn basis. A Nation may be Influenced by both Papacies (though they will operate on a sliding scale of 0 to 10, summing to 10).

While there are two Papacies, the chances of the Catholic nations successfully calling for a Holy War are greatly reduced.

While there are two Papacies, all Roman Catholic nations may occupy RC regions normally. There are NOT two religions.

While there are two Papacies, a Nation may seize properties (i.e. loot Religious Sites) of a Papacy it has declared against, without providing the offended Papacy with the usual grist for Excommunication.

While one of the Papacies can attempt to call Excommunication / Interdict against supporters of the opposing Papacy, the chances of success are very low. If, however, they succeed, then the chance of an actual split between the two Churches increases.

After a period of 50 years (10 turns), the GM will begin making a check to see if the religious divisions have grown so great as to cause an actual split between the two Papacies, and the creation of actually different religions.

Catholic nations may attempt to resolve the matter of the “True Church” by calling a Synod of <Your Town Here> (or Church Council) in attempt to resolve doctrinal issues and anoint a “true” Pope. In this case, a vote is taken at the END of the turn in which the Synod is called, wherein votes are allocated as follows:

¨Each Pope: 1 vote

¨Each Catholic Nation: 1 vote

¨Each Catholic Religious Order: 1 vote

¨Whoever controls the city of Rome: 3 votes

¨Whoever controls the city of Constantinople: 1 vote (since the patriarchate of Const. is now part of the Roman Church)

¨Whoever controls the city of Thessaloniki (since the patriarchate of Thessaly is now part of the Roman Church)

¨For each Primacy, each Cathedral status: 1/2 (one-half) a vote

¨Whoever is crowned Holy Roman Emperor: 1 vote (in addition to the national vote)

¨If the Pope's Charisma is > 7: 1 vote

Each turn, each Nation must include on their orders how they will cast their vote if there is a successful Synod.

Nations or Orders may abstain from voting (and will, if they do not indicate their vote).

Either Pope may call a Synod, or any group of three Catholic nations.

If more than one Synod is called in a given turn, none of them have any effect.

A majority of 2/3rds the total vote is required to anoint a “true Pope.”

The first time this occurs, the opposing Primacy is demoted to a Religious Order, but retains all of their religious sites (and all above conditions continue to apply). The second time this occurs (at least one turn later), the opposing Religious Order is forced to acknowledge the "true" Papacy, and one Church remains (though the Religious Order is still around, but is now under the authority of the victorious Papacy).

Seize Site

Code SS[1]

Cost 5 or more Primacy leader actions.

Results This action can be directed against a Religious Site (either one controlled by a Primacy or a Religious Order) of the same religion as the Primacy attempting the seizure. It is generally used as a weapon during a schismatic conflict, or in reining in an out-of-control religious order. If successful, the site is transferred to control of the seizing Primacy, while possibly being reduced one or more levels of control.

The chances of success are improved by spending more time, or gold, in support of the seizure, and are resisted by the level of the site (a Cathedral would be very hard to seize, for example) and the presence of any ‘defending’ leader.

¨Mistakes on your stat sheets: They will be there. I have tried my hardest, but I am sure that they will still creep in. I am only human.[2] Let me know when you find one, most likely what'll happen is I'll apologize sheepishly, and correct it immediately. I apologize in advance for any egregious errors.

¨Lessons Learned (by me): One of the (many) reasons this turn took longer to get out than I anticipated was that I got a bit carried away with the writing of it. Running Lords is fun for me, at least partially, because it is an outlet for creative writing. And so I might have gone on a bit too much in some cases. Because I am going to try to get out subsequent turns on a regular and schedule, I may cut back on the "creative writing" aspect of the 'fax. Also, as I learn better how to do turns and become more familiar with the situations and players I will also become faster with turnaround. Please bear with me!

¨Primacy Leaders acting as Cathedrals: A Primacy Lieutenant or Primate conducting an Administrate action (not a Rule), acts as a Cathedral for the sole purpose of tracing the Primacy control web.

¨Leaders & Espionage: Please note: a leader is able to only perform one espionage action (ES) each turn. Sorry if this was unclear.

¨The Moon Cult: The Moon Cult is a pagan religion hostile to Southern Amerind, but otherwise identical to it. See New World: Quito entry for more details.

¨Intel and Religious Ops: A number of players this turn didn't use their intel or religious operations – if you've got 'em, you might as well use them!

¨Support Costs: Remember, each turn you must pay the support costs of your empire – if the troop support cost is not paid, your troops may (will) mutiny. If your other support costs are not paid (government, espionage, religious, etc...) then similarly bad things will happen.

¨Orders in general: This turn, since I had just taken things over, I had on a few occasions to send out emails as I was processing the turn to clarify people's orders. Nothing was added to people's orders, so don't anyone get upset. But, it did delay processing to some extent so, in the future I won't do this. Therefore, please, if there is something you want to do, don't forget to put it in your orders or make it unclear. Assume I'm stupid and write your orders with that in mind (and, hey, you may now be too far from the truth).

¨Mapping Sea Zones: According to the rules, "Each Open Ocean Arrow, Hostile Sea Zone, Inter-Island Arrow, and Sea Zone that is not adjacent to a controlled port or region is unknown." This means that they must be explored (mapped) in order to be traversed. However, in Lords24 there are some exceptions and clairifications:

oThe New World and the Old World are not connected in any way in Lords 24 – yet. The world is flat. Sorry. You need higher tech levels than any of you have to get to the New World. Don't try sending fleets to the New World. You'll just lose them. That would stink, eh?

oAll Islamic nations automatically have knowledge of the shortest sea route to Mecca from their capital provided it is shorter than the land route to Mecca. Ie: If the land route to Mecca is shorter than the sea route, an Islamic nation doesn't get any automatic knowledge of the sea path to Mecca. However, if the sea route is shorter (in AP cost to get to Mecca) then the sea route will automatically be mapped. For example, the Emirate of Sa'na automatically has maps of the Red Sea even though they don't have a city or region adjacent to it.

oAll nations in Europe and those bordering on the Mediterranean have maps to all the European sea zones that border the Atlantic (ie: from the Norwegian Sea to the Gates of Hercules) as well as to all Med sea zones. Otherwise, normal strictures apply (see above).

¨Conducting a Census: To conduct a census, you need to use a national leader. (see the basic Rules, p. 73 for details). A few people this turn did it without using a leader – since I wasn't sure how Steve was handling this I let it go this time. But since I would like to use the standard rules, please have a leader conduct a CC action in the future. Note also that this action, like all other leader actions, may not work. In that case, the GP and NFP spent on the census will still be expended. Sorry.

¨Upgrading and Re-Equipping Troops: We are using the following Base Rulebook optional rules – [6.2.4.36] Re-equip Troops and [6.2.4.37] Up-grade Troops.

¨Leader Numbers/Units: Use the Leader Numbers printed on your stat sheet (and in that order!). And please make your transfers of units between leaders clear. Doing otherwise caused GM confusion and annoyance. This is not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. Oh no. No. Not even a little bit. I need all the help I can get!

¨Build Charts: At the bottom of your stat sheet is a build chart – this is the correct, up-to-date chart for this campaign and replaces the Build Chart in the rulebook.

¨Non-Played Nation Changes: We’re going to be keeping the NPN system, with two main changes: First, there will be four levels of control: Influenced (no tribute provided), Tributary (25% tribute provided), Allied (50% tribute), Free State (75% tribute) and Incorporated (100% tribute, and the NPN is folded into your realm). Second, when an NPN king dies, a roll will be made to see if the level of control degrades.

Control	Tribute	You get…	You can…
Influenced	0%	--	--
Tributary	25%	Gold	--
Allied	50%	Gold, stat sheet	Issue orders to their leaders.
Free State	75%	Gold, stat sheet	Build and invest with their GP and NFP, issue orders to their leaders.
Incorporated	100%	Regions and armies are added to your stat sheet.	NPN becomes part of your nation.

¨King Auto Admin: This feature has been TURNED OFF. Your King and/or Heir must now explicitly Rule / Administer to govern your realm.

¨Flags and Royal Portraits: Any nation submitting a GIF or JPG picture of their national flag or banner (no more than 80 pixels wide) and their ruling monarch (100 pixels wide), will get them posted on the web-site and the leader pictures in the newsfax.

¨Leader Names: Unnamed leaders are boring, and you risk the GM giving them a name you don't like. So name your leaders, eh?

¨Tithes: Any GP that you receive from a tithe (either because you are a primate, or because you have a tributary ally), is automatically included in your Saved Gold each turn. So don’t be adding it in again…

¨Order Formats: Please use one of the standard forms if at all possible. If plain text (or email) is used, please summarize all expenditures in the builds and investments sections.

¨Intel Operations: Please specify the target clearly on intelligence operations: for example, CI can be used to defend vs. a specific area of your nation (Government, Intel, Religious, Army, etc.) Many operations failed this turn for lack of specific targets. If you place a “floating” CR operation to cover “any possible leader revolt”, there’s a moderate negative modifier for non-specific target, if he’s then outside your CCR, there’s more negative modifier.

¨Diplomacy on Pacified regions: A number of players this turn did diplomacy on pacified regions. If successful, the effect of such diplomacy is not to elevate the status of the region but to increase the "years from conquest" of that region more than would occur normally.

¨Operating Bases: Action range is traced in Action points from a “controlled region”. For open nation purposes, a “controlled region” has a status of pt, p, or t or higher. For Primacies, this is a region with an Abbey religious site or higher.

¨Holy Wars: In the recent update to the GM’s Handbook, we changed how religious troops (Crusaders) are generated. Basically, if a Holy War is successfully called, then a target number of Crusaders is calculated (based on your nations’ religious strength and city/regional GP production). The nation afflicted with supporting a Crusade then has to produce that number of national troop points to go on the crusade. If the nation does produce that number of troops, then some additional “religious” troops join them from the common population. If the nation does not send that number of troops to fight, then the religious army appears anyway, but its strength is ripped right out of national NFP production, which (frankly) will put it into negatives for 2-3 turns.

¨MSP Basing: The MSP Basing Formula has been changed a little:

MSP Capacity = City GPv × 20 × TaxMultiple

This is the big change. Please note that this means that T and PT cities only give you half of their capacity, and NT not at all.

¨New Religious Primacy status: The new first status that a Primate gains in an area or city is a Church (ch), acquired through the Establish Church (ec) action.

Table 0-1. Religious Authority Control Statuses

Control Status	Control Code	Taxation Multiple	Count Control?	NFP?
Church	ch	0.10	No	No
Abbey	ab	0.25	No	No
Monastery	mn	0.50	Yes	No
Cathedral	ca	0.75	Yes	Yes
Holy City	hc	1.00	Yes	Yes

¨Merchant Shipping Conversions: When bringing MSP out of a route into ships, you must convert it in groups of 4 MSP, which become 1 HT, while paying 4 GP.

¨Hiring Mercenaries: Note that mercenaries must be hired at a City within the Regional area that they form the mercenary pool of. If a group of mercenaries move out of their Regional area into another, they may be hired at the location they ended the previous turn.

¨Warships as MSP: If you allocate Warship units to be MSP on a trade route (as opposed to their being anti-piracy patrols), they become MSP in number equal to the warships Cargo and can only be withdrawn from the route as Heavy Transports (see above).

¨Opening Trade Routes: If you do not provide me with all of the trade route information (your base port, the other nation’s name and base port, the distance, the MSP assigned) I will not open the route.

¨Official Map Changes: The region of Carmania (southern Iran) is Hostile Desert, not Wilderness. The southern edge of the Celtic Sea is moved up to the tip of Cornwall, making the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay adjacent. The Asiatic province of Kur, on the Amur river, is Kurshin instead. The Burmese-area province of Shan is now Wuliang, instead. The sea zone border between the Tyrhennian Sea and Gulf of Lyons should not line up with the mountains between Liguria and Provence, instead it should be in Liguria province, which makes Genoa on both the Tyrhennian Sea and the Gulf of Lyons. The sea zone border between Aegean Sea and Mare Negri should be at Constantinople, which is on both zones.

¨Misc map notes: Tuscany and Lombardy do not border each other.

¨Regional Mercenaries: Each region will have a maximum number of units that can be hired from each main type, all mercenaries are regular (no elite or inexperienced). Each region will have a QR for each main troop type. It will be possible to hire the Mercenaries from turn to turn. It is possible to counter-bid the Mercenaries to leave their employ and join another employer or even sit idle. The total number of regional mercenaries that can be hired are below each regional header.

¨Credit where credit is due: Portions of the text of this newsfax were adapted from the Medieval Sourcebook of Fordham University. A number of images in here are the property of Associated Press and are used solely to add colour to the newsfax. Other images are public domain.

¨Thanks: To all the players, for putting up with me as a new GM. Sorry the turn wasn't out sooner. Thanks also to Lorne and Dan for all their help with the Website, Maps, and other stuff!

Nomenclature

Turns are currently five (5) years long. Base tax rate is 100%

Infantry (200 men = 1 point), Cavalry (200 men = 1 point), Siege Engineers (200 men = 1 point), Warships (2 ships = 1 point), Transports (2 ships = 1 point).

Lords 24 Web Resources!

The Lords Twenty-Four homepage is at:

www.throneworld.com/lords/lote24/index.html

All of the on-line resources, including mailing lists and web-sites, for Lords of the Earth are summarized on this page:

www.throneworld.com/lords/players/resources.html

You can subscribe to the Lords 24 mailing list by pointing your web-browser at:

http://www.egroups.com/group/Lords24

…and following the instructions on that page.

Contacting the GM Team

Thomas Harlan

4858 East Second Street

Tucson AZ 85711-1207

lords24@throneworld.com

Various Fees and Levies

Turns	$3.00 per turn.
Maps	Available on-line at the Lords 24 website.
LOTE 5.7.2 Rulebook	Printed ~ $10.00 (Local) or $15.00 (Mailed in US), $18.00 (mailed overseas). Emailed as PDF ~ $5.00

Manchu’ko and Nihon

Mercenaries: 30c, 15xc, 14i, 5s, 5w, 5t

The Mongol Khanate

Qutula, Khan of the Mongols, Future Lord of All Asia

Diplomacy Buryat-Yenisey Block(nt), Tatar-Angarland block(a)

His people were lean, and anxious. He counted their heads and inquired of their hearts. The signs were right, and the stars were in their proper positions. Qutula bade his fellow tribesmen: Move!

And move they did...exploding out of the frozen tundra, with yurts and yogurt. Seeing the strength of their arms, the warmth of their yurts, and the pungency of their yogurt, the Tatar-Angarland (from a sparse and desolate land) tribes joined them, while others were content to merely let them pass through.

The Ju-Chen Khanate

Wa-Yen A-kut-ta, Khan of the Ju-Chen, Favored of the Thunderbolt

Diplomacy Kin(t)

Ju-chen raiders, taking advantage of the chaos in the middle kingdom, raided the Northern Sung provinces of Lu'an and Bao Ding and then, just to make sure, continued on into Yun where they took their liberties with that land. Ha! Nothing could stand in the way of the tribes! All of the frozen north shuddered under their hooves. Middle Kingdom, schmiddle kingdom, these southern folk need a lesson in what it means to be warriors!

Flush with booty and loot, the tribes poured into the lands of the Kin. The Kin, mightily impressed with the martial prowess of the Ju-Chen, agreed to pay tribute to them.

The Goryeo Kingdom

Go Yun Zun, King of the Chaosen

Diplomacy Mudan (a)

Go Yun Zun took a wife – a comely princess from the barely civilized land of Mudan. Relations between the Kingdom and the Mudan people prospered because of this.

Little else occurred in this quiet, albeit cold realm. The king ruled fairly and efficiently, and the people were happy. News from the frozen north was disturbing, as were events in China. The people were, in fact, beginning to regard the Chinese less with the traditional reverence and submissiveness they had in the past, and more with disdain as the Middle Kingdom continued to be wracked by war and strife.

Tennosei Ishin

The Imperial Restoration ~ Daiji Gannen

Outside the city walls of Heian, even crows were silent. Across the plains, littered with dead, Fujiwara Torashima could see the fires of the Kiyowara camp. His realm asunder, his honor nearly gone, there was only one thing left to do. It was a good day to die, he thought, as he placed his father's sword on the table. He had plotted and planned his way to the Shogunate. He had used the Emperor and the clans to unite the country. Just a few years ago, the people had been wealthy and the daimyo content. Now? Buddhism spread south, alarming the common people and the shrine-masters. Rice was once plentiful, but now tales of starvation reached the Shogun's ears. And what was worse, the Emperor, doddering old fool that he was, was said to be stirring up trouble. It had come to this. It was time to die, and Clan Fujiwara would die with him. He summoned his bushi. They took one last cup of sake, and prepared for their final battle.

What Fujiwara, as well as most of the nobility in Japan didn't realize was that the sudden influx of heretical Buddhism in Kyushu was more than just alarming. Over the centuries, the daimyo had become more and more cut off from the peasants and the shrines, and they had little appreciation for the faith of the commoners. What was more, when Fujiwara Torashima attended the incredibly boring Shinto rites of the Emperor at Ise and Izuma-Taisha, he saw them purely as rituals with no real meaning. He performed his duty, as a loyal Shogun must, in order to obtain the Emperor's acquiesence to his plans, but little more. To Fujiwara, duty was everything. He owed the Emperor his loyalty, and he took this very seriously. But the rituals? Bah! They were for peasants, empty forms that it was the Emperor's duty to perform. If Buddhism was encroaching, so what?

Kiyowara, across the plain from once-beautiful Heian, was not such a man. Raised in the far north, where life was a constant struggle against the hairy Ainu, Kiyowara took the rites and forms seriously. His loyalty to the Gods and the Emperor had never been questioned. But that hardly mattered now. It was not the Gods that concerned Kiyowara, but men. One man, and one clan, in particular. Word of the ongoing events in Kyushu had yet to reach Kiyowara's ears. He too, like Fujiwara in the city walls, was readying himself for the final battle. He performed the rituals he had since he was a small child, with an additional prayer he had said every day for the past ten years "Kami-sama, anata-samatachi no tame watakushi dou itashitara yoi de gozaimasu ka?" Every day he had believed the Gods answered by telling him to revenge his clan on the Fujiwara. Today, though, he thought he heard...silence. Or, something different?

Further south, the Emperor watched the signs and listened to the priests. For many months prior, he was troubled by the news from Kyushu. Commoners, their faith shaken by the ravages of war, disease, famine, had turned from the path of the Gods to some Chinese Buddhist heresy. True, the Buddhist rituals had been followed by the shrines for hundreds of years, but they were part of the way of the Gods, nothing more. But, what could the Emperor do? He knew he was but a figurehead, ruling at the behest of the shogun. True, a shogun who now was besieged in his own capital like a rabbit hunted down its hole. But, shoguns came and went. The Emperor's duty was to serve the Gods and...obey the Shoguns. A whisper of an idea came into Toba's head, but he put it away quickly. He knew what had happened to the last Emperor that attempted to restore power to the Chrysanthemum Throne. He must concentrate on more practical matters – how to deal with the problems in the south?

Three months later, a priest was brought into the imperial hall. Obviously beaten and traumatized, he told tales from the south that amazed all in the Court. Shrines had been burnt, the offerings discarded, and Buddhists preaching that the Gods were nothing more than idols! The common people were adrift, mobs ran in the streets while the farmers – the backbone of the country – cowered in their huts, praying for the Emperor to deliver them from the terror. A glimmer went on in the old Emperor's eye.

Clan Kiyowara

Kiyowara Motosuke, Lord of the North, the “victorious”

Diplomacy

Outside Heian, the banners flew as the Kiyowara samurai moved towards the city to end the Fujiwara once and for all. Fujiwara Torashima looked down from the walls, and he motioned for the city gate to be opened. He strode out at the head of his troops, knowing that today was his last.

But a new banner appeared, over a the hills to the south. Both Kiyowara and Fujiwara immediately recognized it: the Chrsyanthenum. To fight in the presence of the Emperor was unthinkable. Perhaps I will live another day thought Fujiwara.

Both men and their best samurai were summoned to the Imperial tent. Inside, not the emperor, but his royal scribe bore some interesting news and an offer...

Leaving the tent Kiyowara returned to his camp. "The Emperor has spoken. A samurai's first duty is loyalty, loyalty to his family and his clan. Loyalty to his people and his friends. And loyalty to the Emperor and the Gods. Today, the Emperor has spoken with the voice of the Gods and told of a peril to the land of the rising sun. We are samurai, truly we are the greatest in Nihon. But never let us forget that the Gods and the Emperor are what we serve as strongly and as loyally as we serve our clans. The Emperor comes to us today and tells us of a peril to the the Gods and the very kokutai which we serve as much as we serve our clans. Heretical Buddhism ravages the heartland. Shrines to the Gods are being torn down and replaced with grotesque statues of Buddhist idols! While we fight, the Gods weep. The Emperor can command us, but he has not. He has asked us to be loyal to our clans and our Gods. Clan Kiyowara has never been lacking in loyalty. Let the Fujiwara whelp live for today – we shall give the Emperor what he requests – we shall serve him to eradicate this Buddhist menace!"

By pledging himself to the Emperor in such a way, Clan Kiyowara not only lost it's chance at claiming the shogunate for itself, but inadvertently gave the Emperor much more power than he had previously. By pledging themselves to the Emperor directly, while at the same time essentially refuting the legitimacy of the Fujiwara Shogun, the Emperor had, for the first time in hundreds of years actual recourse against the Fujiwara. No longer need he be a figurehead with troops to back him up. Of course, it depended on the loyalty of the Kiyowara, and it was a lucky thing for the Emperor that Kiyowara Motosuke was such a pious man – no ordinary samurai would have given up a chance at the Shogunate. And. since the Fujiwara had so obviously been bested by the Kiyowara, it was unlikely that the Shogun would try to reassert direct control over the Emperor anytime soon.

Fujiwara Japan

Fujiwara Torashima, Shogun of the Isles, Protector of the Emperor

Diplomacy

Fujiwara Torashima was in a bind. He knew that the Kiyowara could beat him on the field. And he knew all too well that the loyalty of his troops was suspect – who would follow a Shogun that allowed his enemies to live and that was, truly, saved from the brink of death by none other than a 63 year old Emperor? And it certainly didn't help that Kiyowara came out of all this looking like roses. Kuso! Honor had to be regained.

Torashima's son, Naetarou, would lead the Fujiwara forces. In this way, they would serve the emperor to regain some honor lost at Heian, and get to see some fighting if they were lucky. In fact, thought Torashima, if I was really lucky some of the more vocal ones might stop a Buddhist spear or two. That would eliminate another problem. Then there is the problem of Kiyowara's piety. "Piety never won anybody anything except a martyrdom...scribe? How much gold do we have in the treasury? They want piety, I'll show them piety!" And so it was that clan Kiyowara was surprised to be the very public recipient of large amounts of Fujiwara gold. "To better enable you to build some shrines and altars, Kiyowara-kun." Torashima knew full well that the more landed and pious the Kiyowara became, the less likely they would be to turn on him again. Things were beginning to look up after all. A great number of lordless samurai and adventurous young men also joined the Kiyowara cause.

The daimyo of Toyama, Kwanto, and Niigata provinces returned to their clan holdings to wait and see what would transpire. Clan Kiyowara moved into Heian-jo in the center of Heian city, rebuilt it to house their clan and servants, and declared it the center of their Order.

With Kiyowara Takanori leading his clan's forces and Lords Naetarou and Kido leading the Fujiwara forces, the province of Saga was the site of brutal suppression of Buddhist practices and temples. A ragtag army of Buddhist peasants and priests was smashed, although Lord Kido was wounded during the particularly fierce fighting at the main temple. Similar scenes of battle occurred in Kagoshima, and both provinces were expunged of the Buddhist infestation. Fujiwara troops, fighting side by side, held contests to see who could cut off the most Buddhist heads in one katana stroke.

Tsushima strait once again proved how deadly it was as many merchants plying the trade with Goreyo got caught in storms, never to see their families again.

Tenno-no-Nihon

Tenno Toba, Emperor of Nippon, Blessed of Ameratsu

Diplomacy Yamato (ab), Kwanto(ch), Harima(ch)

When news of the extermination of Buddhist influence in the south reached the Emperor's ears, he was mightily pleased. He had, in one fell swoop, regained true power in his throne and now had exterminated any threat to his realm from abroad – or so it seemed. Life was good as the new and improved Emperor. To commemorate his renewed rule, the Emperor name a new era: Daiji. ("Great Rule" or "Grand Peace")

And the Kiyowara, it was good to see, were taking to their new role with a vengeance: in addition to the Kiyowara fortress in Heian, other sites were raised elsewhere in Kwanto (oe), Yamato (oo), Aichi (oo), and Niigata (op).

The Land Under Heaven –

Tianxia Zhongguo

Mercenaries: 57i, 39c

The War of the Three Emperors (1115-AD)

Dragon Sung vs. Imperial (Southern) Sung, Western Sung, and the Northern Expedition of Annam

The Dragon Lord Xing Yan raged when he heard of the alliance of Po Hai and Imperial against him. Fools! Despite news from the North of raiders, and the troubling reports of tax collectors being tarred and feathered by peasants throughout the realm, he would show them. He would show them all!

But things rapidly got out of his control – in April of 1126 word of a vast horde of Ju-Chen raiders in Lu'an reached Xing Yan. But there was nothing he could do, as he knew the worst was yet to come. He fumed at the thought of his people's towns and villages burning. The small Dragon garrison in that land was overrun by the raiders, and Lu'an reverted from Dragon to Imperial control. By July the raiders had moved onto Bao Ding, where they had a slightly harder time of it, but not by much. As soon as the raiders had left Bao'Ding, the main Western Sung (Po Hai) army crossed over the hills into the same region, and made life even more miserable for the inhabitants. They looted the already barren villages and towns, and even the great city of Zen Zun, even as the inhabitants were rebuilding and burying their dead killed by the nomads last month. No able bodied men remained to resist. Years later, many songs and tragedies written by the inhabitants of this region would memorialize the dead and slain.

At the head of this Po Hai host was Lu Tzin Wai, a man made cruel and bitter by years of war. After taking out his anger on the locals in Bao'Ding, he moved on to the province of Yen where he did the same. Then he went south to Hopei – the heart of the Dragon. He would end this all there, once and for all. Only after he had turned south did he hear word that the Ju-Chen raiders had continued their raids into the Po Hai province of Yun! These nomads must be dealt with...but, first things first he thought, as his host moved within view of Kaifeng.

Outside the Dragon capital, the two massive hosts met. From the West Lu Tzin Wai led 10,000 armored horse of the Wei and Zhou clans, over 12,000 footmen from Zhou, Sun, Cun, and Li clans, and an equal number of peasants, sappers, and archers. The heart of the Dragon army, led by Lu Pei Wei and assisted by Wu Wang was smaller at under 10,000 horse and foot of a variety of clans and townships. However, Wei and Wang were both well known as the greatest generals of their age.

A bloody five day brawl ensued after both armies got drawn into a swampy region north of the city. Each kept pouring troops into the breach to secure their flanks, despite the mounting death toll. As the days wore on it was clear that few would be able to claim victory, although it was unknown how many had died. When an arrow caught Lu Tzin Wai in the side, he took the prudent course and withdrew temporarily to assess his losses. A few months later, when his scouts had informed him that the Dragon army had been badly shaken, he returned. In Kaifeng he found a city full of dead and dying. Lu Pei Wei himself had committed suicide, reportedly after he had seen the numbers of dead. The inhabitants of Kaifeng could not put up any defense – indeed there were few left alive in the city, most having succumbed to disease brought on by the rotting corpses littering every street. Kaifeng, once proud, was a ghost-city, fallen to the enemy, home to bandits and rogues.

Striking from the South came the Imperial Sung armies, led by Old Man Gaozong himself and his First Lord of Scribes, Lo Pan. His army, bolstered by a host of mercenaries from all over the Middle Kingdom, moved into Honan to liberate the old homeland from the depredations of the Dragon. The agents of Smoke and Shadow had pinpointed the traitor Zhao Xing Yun in Pienching – Gaozong set out to kill two birds with one stone.

In Honan, Yun was no fool. He knew he could not match the prowess of the Southerners on the battlefield. Holing up in the Grand Capital he prepared his defenses and barely avoided an attempt on his life as well as rooting out sympathizers to the Southerners. When word reached the two armies of the fall of Kaifeng, the assault by the southerners began in earnest. The first wave was repulsed by Yun, and, unluckily for the Imperials both Gaozong and Lo Pan took arrows in the sides. Wounded, both leaders retired to their tents to wait out the defenders in the city. The year dragged on as the defenders resorted to eating whatever they could get from river pirates.

Meanwhile, the Northern Expedition finally arrived. Driving into Funiu, Tangchou, and Shentung, they liberated those provinces and then turned West into Houma and the East again into Hopei. Intending to take the city by force the Annamese were surprised to learn that it had already fallen to Lu Tzin Wai. All that remained of the Dragon, they learned, was holed up in Pienching. So, south they went!

Pienching fell easily to the fresh Annamese troops. But, having come all this way, they expected a goodly share of loot. Thus, when Gaozong Song forbade them to sack Pienching they returned north to Kaifeng and took out their frustrations on the hapless inhabitants there. Princess Wa was rooted out of her hiding place, and delivered to the Western Sung. Crazed by rapine and looting, the Annamese again turned south, to Honan. There they continued their barbaric depredations looting the region for everything that wasn't nailed down. The Imperials were repulsed by the uncivilized nature of the Annamese, but realized that this is indeed another example of the enlightenment and civilization of the Middle Kingdom as compared to the barbarians.

Northern Sung (Dragon)

Xing Yan, True Emperor of the Sung

Diplomacy

With the collapse of Kaifeng and Pienching, the Dragon was buried. Funiu, Tangchou, Shentung, were occupied by the Imperials, and Hopei by the Western Sung. Lu'an threw off the yoke of the Dragon, and also returned to Imperial rule.

Western Sung (Po Hai)

Song Chou Lin, “The Grim”, Lord of the Middle Lands

Diplomacy Shan'si(t), Kansu(f), Chiennan(nt)

Song Chou Lin put the stake into the heart of the Dragon...

Southern Sung (previously Imperial)

Song Gaozong, Prince of Kang, Celestial Emperor of the Middle Kingdom

Diplomacy

With the collapse of the Dragon, peace was once again restored to the realm. Now if only those smelly southern barbarians would go home and stop fouling up the garden with their tents.

The Greater Vehicle (formerly Tibet)

Chandragumra, Dalai Lama of Lhasa, Light of the World

Diplomacy

The Dalai Lama was most displeased when he was told that the wild tribes of Gtsang remained skeptical of the True Path. Perhaps the time had come for a little secular convincing...

South East Asia and the Islands

Mercenaries: 10i, 10w, 10t

The Dai Kingdom of Annam

T'an Minh, Da-Wang ti Annam

Diplomacy Korat(a), Kwangtung(t)

The entire nation, enlightened as it was, geared itself up for war!It was time for the dashing prince T'An Lung to drag himself out of the Grand Palace and prove himself on the field of battle. In Annam itself a massive host gathered – it made T'an Minh's heart swell with pride to see not only the manliness of his son but also the fruit of years of diplomatic effort. For there, in the courtyard, were also assembled Hindu troops from Kambujadesa, as well as more from far-off Thaton, all lined up in nice shiny rows. Truly, this was a momentous day he thought, as the Great Northern Expedition departed the city to a glorious fanfare of drums, gongs, horns, and pennants. To succor the Southern Sung, rulers of the Known Universe, they went. After many misadventures, primarily involving uncouth mercenaries, comely farm girls, and bad rice wine, the Northern Expedition, under Prince T'An Lung entered Kweichou and Sung proper...

A path was hewn from the mountains separating Korat from Annam, and the beginnings of a postal road were begun. Many hill people were quite surprised by the activity – they hoped the government had forgotten about them. But, there was to be none of that, as Kai-sheng urged the Korat to come closer, closer, closer to the Empire. Kai-sheng's guiles worked, but only to a slight extent. Disgusted with the mountain people, he returned to his estate in NanChao to await word of the Northern Expedition. It was here that he discovered just why he disliked Korat so much – the damn food had given him some sort of intestinal disorder. The next three months were spent painfully, as he underwent a variety of herbal cures. One finally worked, but it was too late – the loss of fluids was too much and Kai-sheng expired in his bed attended by his wives.

The courtier Ngyuen Ngyuen (also known as "the sniveler" but only behind his back) was dispatched to the recalcitrant Kwangtung to again ply with with offers. They agreed to pay tribute, but no more.

With L'ung gone, his younger brother Bao – a more scholarly and monkish sort – easily learned the ways of state. In short order he learned both how to manipulate the Royal Eunuchs and listen to the rumours of the serving girls.

The Kambujadesa Empire

Javyara, Boy-king of the Khmer

CyoCyin, Regent

Diplomacy Siam (a), City of Vijaya in Champa(ea)

A massive road was built linking the cities of Grand Angor and Feranga – a fitting tribute to the glory and power of the realm. Indeed, merchants and travelers swelled up along this road, and a thriving trade in seafood and stonework grew.

A host was raised to support the Buddhist allies to the North, and sent to join in the Great Northern Expedition in Annam.

The king himself, at the head of the royal army, paid state visits to Siam and their grand city of Chi (and a few of his men poked around the lost city, too). The city nobles remained wary of the Khmer King, however. There was, in fact, a great hullabaloo when a particular delicacy of the northerners, raw squid in a brownish sauce, caused the King much displeasure ...down there. Rumours of war flew like snakes surprised in their holes when Suryavaman later turned blue and died in his bed. Two months later word reached the palace in Angor of the death of Lord Sisowat in far-off Vijaya. Details were scarce, but initial reports suggested foul-play.

Immediately the young son of Suryavaman was placed upon the throne – but he was scarcely an infant. As word reached Lord Samon while he was traveling north with the army, the court held its breath and waited for the Rite of Loyalty to the boy-king to be obeyed. Indeed, there was nothing stopping Samon from marching on the capital should he choose to do so, as the rest of the army remained in Siam attending the funeral of Suryavaman. The boy-king, who had taken the name Javyara, however, had a crafty attendant in CyoCyin. He immediately positioned himself to act in the boy's stead until he was of age, and, through his command of the very convoluted legal system of Khmer, ensured his regency was safe. He was greatly aided in this by a rather dashing new general, Thurypatri. Samon, meanwhile, continued north, and pledged fealty without overt hesitation.

It later turned out that Lord Sisowat's death may have merely been an accident – a slip off a river barge. But who knows?

In this time of troubles, Buddhist activists took the opportunity to demonstrate against the state religion all throughout the nation. This worried the new regent – had the alliance-building of Suryavaman brought trouble to the realm?

The God-Empire of Sirivijaya

Ginandjar the magnificent, Blessed of the Bohdisattva, The Builder

Diplomacy

Gozomonye, at the head of fleet of sleek warships, raided the barbaric lands of Sulawest, Sabah, and Sarawak. Despite fierce and active resistance in Sabah (where a number of Gozomonye's men met their fate at the hands of the cannibals there), the hapless slaves were returned to the homeland to toil for the greater glory of Ginandjar.

Lord Pranipatmanpha, succumbing to a spot of the plague, was replaced by the next in line according to the Grand Register, Lord Thiu. Thiu spent the next few years exploring the distant seas to the west. He made landfall in the backwards land of Mon, and then continued on North. He was never heard from again, although rumours did fly that he had met a "nice little Bengali girl" and settled down.

The Kingdom of Thaton

Anawratha, Lord of the Mon

Diplomacy Manipur(t)

The hot and humid city of Rangoon grew as more and more traders from the highlands settled there to peddle their wares.

A great host was assembled in Thaton to go north and succor the Middle Kingdom. Mercenaries swelled the ranks of the Royal Army, and Anawratha'a heart was filled with pride to see it arrayed before his palace. So excited was he that his heart gave out. Bedridden, he died a few days after the expedition was to set off. His son, Souphan, assumed the Mon Throne, even as he was already working diligently to keep the empire together. The demands on a young sovereign are indeed great and tiring. The expedition was not, however, called off. Lord Aung San took command of the vast host and traveled to the strange Hindu lands of Khmer, then up over the highlands through the poppy fields to Annam.

Lan Xang, tiring of the lowlanders resistance to the Path, embarked on a campaign of destruction – Hindu shrines and temples all throughout Johor were burnt, and in their place Buddhist Stupas raised. The natives who resisted were routed, but the Hindu faith has not been entirely extinguished in that land.

Lan Xang, flush with victory over the Johori, then moved north to the hilly jungles of Arakan. Sending runners ahead, he warned the tribal leaders: "You have resisted us for the last time – However, in the interests of peace in the region, all Hindus, and others who wish to leave for the safe haven of the Bengali, may leave now. You have three months." Exactly three months later, Lan Xang crossed over the mountains to teach the remaining Arakani a lesson. They too were easily routed, but also were able to conceal enough Hindu shrines that the faith was not entirely extinguished.

India

Mercenaries: 10i, 5c, 5s, 5w, 5t

The Pala of Bengal

Rubapala II, Lord of the Pala, prince of Tamralipti

Diplomacy

The Pala sat, and became rich. Rich, do you hear me? Wealthy beyond your wildest dreams! Well, maybe not that wealthy. But awful close.

Pratihara Kingdom of Kaunaj

Kavali, Emperor of the North

Diplomacy Jats(t)

The Kingdom consolidated under the wise rule of Kavali. Everywhere wealth increased, the people were happy, and the nobles prosperous. Fortifications continued to be built in Rajput – just in case. Trade expanded greatly, and grain was sent west as per certain treaty arrangements. But the most impressive was the construction of roads from the cities of Charkhari to Dhara and on to Somantha.

The strategic location of Patna in Chandela, astride the Ganges, contributed to a growth of trade and population in that city.

The sparse island of Kutch was colonized by exiles, prisoners, and lower-castes who were promised land and money in exchange for their help in opening up the island to habitation. As people swarmed in, the small town of Mandvi grew up around an outpost fort. Soon, with the rapid influx of colonists, both fort and city grew respectably large and became local centers of commerce and farming.

Kalachuri Kingdom of Tripuri

Ajayapala the Weak, King of Kings, Lord of Ramagiri

Diplomacy

Ajayapala repudiated his large tribute to the Kaunaj, being content instead to pay them a much smaller amount. But he did lay awake at night on occasion, fearing news of invasion from the Kaunaj warriors...none came. Yet.

Western Chalukya Kingdom

Mularaja, Lord of Anahillapura

Diplomacy karnata(f)

Settlers poured back into the wasted lands of Nasik. Those lands were again brought under the plow, bandits driven off, and the area restored to general use.

A boy was borne to the wife of Prince Munja, ensuring the continuance of the line.

Trade with the Muslims to the west expanded and as it did more and more traders and entrepreneurs became active in it. The Persian seas once again bustled with ships plying their wares back and forth.

Sad Drivida Kingdom of Ceylon

Vijayabahu, Lord of the Tamil and the Nadu

Diplomacy Chera(f), Sangas(nt)

Truly, the Drivida Kingdom was mighty. All efforts of the people, high and low caste alike, were brought together as one as Vijayyabahu raised up to the sky a great monument to the Gods. It stands in Polonarva, towering over the seas, a testament to the might and piety of the King and the subjects. For five long years hundreds of thousands labored to build it, and in the end all were over-awed by it. They're still not sure exactly what it is, but it is extremely impressive.

As more priests and shaman came to the kingdom to see the Grand Monument, the city of Sigirya swelled in size to accompany them.

Central Asia and Persia

Mercenaries: 15i, 15c, 5s

The Ghaznavid Sultanat

Mahmud (II) al Dala, Lord of the Punjab

Diplomacy Ghazni (down to fa)

Lord Ahmat, was struck down by a rock hurled by a young Hindu boy in Sukkur early in 1126. He died soon after, as did the boy when he was finally tracked down and flayed alive. So ended the life of the Glorious Ahmat, one of the best generals the Ghaznavids had known. But, there is time enough for reflection after death! Mahmud wasn't standing still – not even for the funeral of his friend.

Thus, Mahmud went first to the barren wastelands of Registan – he knew well the tales of fierce Bedouin who lived there, in the sand, somewhere. Those were the warriors he needed for his crusade against the infidels! With men such as them by his side, none could resist the might of the Ghaznavids, surely.

But the Bedouin were a proud and private folk, who wanted nothing to do with the mountain dwellers. Mahmud returned home empty-handed, with not even a new wife to show for it. Damn them!

He needed some outlet. Well, hah! He knew the perfect thing – if Ahmat was dead, well, he would complete his work. Maybe that would cheer him up. He thus traveled to the farmlands of Sukkur and from there, at the head of 5500 of his best horsemen, he charged into the desert of Ajmer. The Hindu infidel there would feel his wrath.

But it was not to be. Oh, the ignominy of it all. The Ajmeri pigs, masters of their land, ambushed the Ghaznavids in the many ravines and valleys there. After a half a year of campaigning, Mahmud returned home, without any slaves, and with barely 2000 horse to his name.

The Saffarids of Baluchistan

Rasul ibn Leys, Shah of Baluchistan, Governor of Khorasania, Lord of the Hunt

Diplomacy Fars(nt)

The new Shah Rasul, having just taken over the reins of command from his late father, was aghast at what he discovered. The empire's finances were a mess! Well, surely, he thought, something can be done...after all, are we not the Saffarids? The immediate food problem was solved by the tribute of grain paid by the Kaunaj infidels. But what of cold hard cash?

He summoned Ali ibn Leys to his chambers to discuss his daring plan...

Mahmoud al'Alawi and Younis Kazerooni both died early in 1126, much to the consternation of the Shah.

The Karakhanate of Ilig

Jasmine, Bughra-Khan, Queen of the Ilig

Diplomacy Kophat Dagh(c), Otrarsh(f)

"As we finally passed through the wilderness of the Western tribes, we descended from the snow-capped and bandit infested hills into the glorious land below. Later we learned that this was Otarsh – an outer province of the Ilig Khan's. Where days before we had feared for our life, and depended on our hired guards and night patrols for safety, now we were in a land of peace and plentitude. When we left Gansu, Zhongguo had been in chaos. It had been a long time indeed since we had seen a civilized country. At first, we didn't even know that we had entered some sort of kingdom- what was that building ahead we saw, in the middle of nowhere? It had hardly occurred to us that there might be some realm civilized enough to have border guards! Hah! And as we ventured further into this realm, wonders kept occurring. Roads, packed with travelers, and kept up as well as the ancient one in Zhongguo had been. The absence of bandits, thieves, and all the other sorts we had escaped was astounding. And then there was Samarkand – truly a jewel of a city. Bustling at all hours of the night, under the benevolent rule of the Khan. We even heard it said that this "Khan" was a woman! Well, sometimes even the most civilized barbarians can exaggerate. But they paid us well for our silks and we were sad to leave that peaceful land of olive gardens and spices." Journeys West, Li Zangzhe, 1129

Indeed the kingdom was at peace, and Jasmine was a wise ruler. At the crossroads of civilizations, Samarkand was a focal point of a vast amount of trade. It's Mosques were glorious, and its bazaars unequaled. The growth of trade in these years led to a significant increase in size of the city. An additional set of rooms was added on to the royal palace to celebrate the birth of Jasmine's second daughter.

Shahdom of Khwarzim

Mustapha, Khazarim-shah

Diplomacy

The Shahdom was also a land of peace and tranquility. Trade prospered and the people thrived. Despite repeated entreaties from emissaries of Jasmine, the Khwarzm were more than content with the status quo.

The Turki

Jebe, Great Khan of the Turki and the Polovotsy, Lord of the Steppe

Diplomacy Nogai(a), Uze(down to fa)

Jebe, known more for his martial prowess than for his tact, managed to peeve off the Uze tribes enough so that, instead of tribute they would, in the future, be feudal allies and nothing more of the Khan.

Dastan, the Khan's right-hand man, led the tribesmen on daring raids into the distant and cold lands of Tabolsk, Tarhain, Balkash, and Turgay. In search of slaves and gold, he found only a little of both (Dastan, unlike Jebe, was more known for his tact than his martial prowess). But he did enjoy riding with the wind in his hair and the thundering of hooves by his side. Ah, to be back in the steppes, like in the old days of his youth...

With Jebe busy discussing matters of state with the Kama Bulgar, the Otrari tribes found the perfect opportunity to quietly slip away from the empire.

The Yasi

Tzoemir Khan, Destroyer of the Khazars, Stormblade

Diplomacy

Stormblade had had enough of the mealy-mouthed lowlanders. He had taken their lands and their women, and he had seen their stone-houses. He wanted none of it. "men! Take what you want. We ride, out of this burning land of the Angry God and his robed slaves!"

Abandoning Zagros and Persia (but not before lifting everything that wasn't nailed down) the rampaged through Rawadid lands.

About three years later, the tribal elders of chilly Mordva were surprised as heck to see over 22,000 horsemen appear in their camps. Long had they feared this day – the Yasi were well known for their cruelty and prowess and the elders knew that they could not stand long against them if it came to war. Thus, when Tzoemir demanded a parley, they were quite a bit relieved. Perhaps they could arrange for at least the women and children to be spared? In the end, the Mordva were even more shocked: Tzoemir had come to see if they wanted to join the Great Yasi empire! Well, they said, in shaky voices, we've just been entertaining our neighbors the Rus from Kiev....when all was said and done the Mordvans agreed to repudiate their new found agreement with the Kievan, but continued to pay them tribute. They prayed that Tzoemir wouldn't chop them all into little bits because of it. And they shivered when they saw Tzoemir turn his greedy eye towards the city of Saratov.

Ar Rawwadid Emirat at Tabriz

Mikai’l Alueddin, yabghu of the Rawadid

Diplomacy

Mikai'l, being moderately smart, avoided facing the more than 15,000 riders, simply by staying holed up in Tabriz as they rode by. As he watched them go past he gave a long, deep sigh of relief. Perhaps his regime would survive another year...

Middle East

Mercenaries: 10i, 5c, 10xc, 5w, 5t

The ‘Abasi Kalifate

Mustarshid, Judge of Judges, the True Kalif

Diplomacy City of Damascus(ab), Mansura(ab), City of Memphis(ab),Egypt(ch), City of Alexandria(ab), City of El'Gitar(ch)

As the holdings of the Kalifate grew, the economic underpinnings of it came under strain. Assistants to the Mullahs had to be extremely well-trained, and able to recite much of the Holy Qu'ran from memory. Thus, there were always a limited number of such servants and it was traditional to keep them as slaves. The institution of slavery, while the most applicable for holdings based in one or two cities – since travel between them could be rapid - was not as well suited for the burgeoning expansion that the Kalifate continued to experience under the energetic Mutarshid. Furthermore, with the increase in Islamic influence throughout the area, more and more Christian slaves were finding the teachings of Mohhamed to be enlightening and appealing (or so they said). A number of Christian captives brought back in the earlier wars against the infidels were accepting Allah faithfully now that the Papacy and the Crusaders had obviously abandoned them to the Muslims. When they accepted Allah, it gave the Kalif a headache. Of course, one cannot enslave a fellow Muslim, for to do so is against the Will of Allah. In the end, these two strains – economic and social – brought Mutarshid to issue the Decree of The Broken Chain in 1128. This Holy Decree made it clear that the Kalif would hold slavery to be against Islamic law within the Kalifate's holdings. It purposely made no mention of the issue of slavery in the Islamic states nearby. In the end, a number of slaves were freed and a system of guilds was established for the Mosques in which their servants were bonded and, to a limited extent, free to do as they pleased.

A tithe from the Fatamids was established.

The Buwayid Emirates

Jord’na ibn Buyid, Emir of Baghdad

Diplomacy

The Buwayids were content to count their shekels and keep a very watchful eye on the Kalif.

The Hatamid Emirat

Rukh al-Din, Sultan of Damascus

Diplomacy Palmyra(t)

Ever fearful of invasion – be it by army or by stealth – the Hatamids were alert to any possibility of misfortune. The events in Europe, while humorous, were also of concern. "Wars have a way of getting out of hand – watch the borders well" the Sultan was heard to have said, time and again.

When the Emir of Palmyra died, seemingly of old age, the Sultan feared something afoot. And then, when Ahmad ibn Jamal also died, also of old age, his paranoia reached a feverish pitch. He began to see Buwayid spies in every corner, and Rum assassins behind every door. Eventually, when nothing came3 of it, he settled down. But just a bit.

The Palmyran tribes, for their part, wanted little to do with the Hatamids after the death of their Emir.

Otherwise, the only trends of note were a moderate increase in traders plying Hatamid wares across the Mediterranean, and a steady growth of the economies of Aleppo and Syria due to the increased olive, fig, and grain trade. The fighting in Europe meant better markets for Hatamid peddlers.

The Grand Marriage

And so it was, in December of 1129, there did arrive in Aleppo a magnificent ship, laden with treasure and nobles dressed in finery. A long procession emerged from the ship, and traveled to the palace antechambers set apart specifically for the ceremony. A week later, as is the custom, the Princess Mahia, just turned 13 years of age was wed to the Prince Suleiman in a ceremony that was marked by both Islamic and Catholic rites. The Princess of Oran, sealing an alliance with her hand in marriage, had never met this man she was to wed. he was noisy, crude, and smelly – like all Christians. And, worse yet, his Arabic was truly atrocious. Sadly, she resigned herself to her fate. Such is the life of a Princess – to be forever searching for a Prince. But not this barbarian, that's for sure! Mahia cried for two days before the wedding, and trembled the whole ceremony through.

To Suleiman, however, his plans were working out just right. And this girl! Well, she was a bit younger than him, what was she, only 13? But she was quite beautiful, even for her youth. Something about the chador she wore made her all the more alluring.

The wedding was political in the extreme – as the families of both great houses of Oran and Bolgar united themselves in marriage, political machinations flew behind the scenes. Courtiers whispering and plots taking shape. Surpassingly, for a marriage of Catholic and Muslim there were only fifteen known brawls and only two deaths (when the pit-roasted boar opened prematurely and spilled boiling innards on two serving boys).

The morning after the traditional wedding night (if you know what I mean) spies of Malikshah couldn't help noticing that quite a lot of makeup had to be applied to Suleiman's right eye to hide a certain black swelling there. And, come to think of it, they had heard quite a commotion in the bedchambers last night. And Suleiman did look particularly displeased in the morning...

Hayrenik’un Armeniam

Hayrenik Mecatun Hieriea, Queen of the First Men

Diplomacy Galatia(a), Lazica(f)

The Hayrenik had her hands full just keeping the empire together. Working overtime the Hayrenik kept things going until...

The lands rang with wedding bells as the Naxarar Sahrbaraz of Lazica married the Hayrenik (who, you may not have realized, was actually Queen, not Lord, of the First Men, and sorely in need of a husband). About a year after the wedding ceremony (which was a magnificent affair, and involved a lot of drinking, broken glasses, and some strange customs having to do with bull's horns) the Queen gave birth to a fine young daughter. Not known for resting on his laurels, Sahrbaraz found himself, about another year later the father of another daughter. Needless to say, with the Hayrenik busy with affairs of state once again, Sahrbaraz became a full-time house husband. He longed for the days when he had to fight off assassins and mediate tribal blood-feuds - raising two Armenian daughters was no picnic!

The Rum Khanate of Turkiye

Malikshah, Khan of the Seljuq Turks

Diplomacy

The Rum Khanate fairly broke at the hinges as the bureaucrats and commissars worked double and triple overtime to keep records and shuffle papers around the empire. Revenues suffered, and the Khan demanded more, more, ever more money! But, recognizing the serious strain the Khanate was under, Bursar Belar was dispatched to Pamphyla to give them their freedom. A drain on the Khanate anyways, what use were the Orthodox heretics, anyways? Glad to be free of the yoke of the Khanate, the Pamphylans returned to hunting, fishing, and eating stuffed grape leaves.

The Khan remained childless, as the only pregnancy of his wife resulted in a miscarriage.

There was much consternation in the Empire as the inhabitants of Lydia and Hastor turned increasingly to the Muslim faith.

Perhaps this was part of the reason why the heir to the throne, Suleiman, studied diligently and earnestly the religions of both the East and West. His father, a stern man, thought that he should know the world well – but not too well. "Ah...when the Old Man kicks the bucket, then I'll be able to chose my own path..." the young man thought. Suleiman was a handsome youth, an an excellent catch for any number of vying Princesses. But, such freedom was not his. He was destined for a political marriage. Malikshah had plans, big plans for his son and the future of his empire. But, unbeknownst to him, Suleiman also had plans. So, when the marriage proposal reached the ears of them both, a number of courtiers thought it curious that neither Malikshah nor Suleiman was perturbed. An alliance with the concerned power would serve both men's interests. And so, in great fanfare Suleiman set off, late in 1129, to meet his future bride.

Oriental Roman Empire

Basil III Bolgarophilos, Avtokrator of the Romans

Diplomacy Pamphlagonia(f)

Lord Georgios The Faithful, having served the Empire for almost his entire life, retired to his villa to spend his remaining days fishing and writing poetry.

The Prince of Abvasigia in Taman, hoping to bring a little civilization to his part of the world traveled to the barbaric lands of Polovotsy. In a vain attempt to bring the Word to the pagans there, the Prince barely escaped with his life.

Otherwise, events were somewhat unexciting. Which suited the Emperor just fine, considering what was going on over in Europe.

The Red Sea and Environs

Mercenaries: 10i, 5c, 5s, 5w, 5t

Al Fatimid Caliphat al Qaira

Omar hajj-Samadhi, Sultan of Egypt, Calif of the West

Diplomacy Ghebel-garib(t)

The Sultan continued to show his might in mobilizing the masses as he raised grand roads from Memphis to Thebes and from Alexandria to Mansura. Unfortunately, the hot sun was too much for the Sultan, and he died early in 1126 from heat stroke. His son Omar, dutifully and without incident took over he reins of power.

Much to the Chagrin of the Spider, the Abasi Mullahs finally convinced the local mosques to provide a portion of their income to the Kalif. However, the Sultan's men did show their faith by actively spreading the word of Allah in Lydia and the city of Hastor, across the Mediterranean.

Crete, site of virulent anti-Muslim riots in the last few years, was descended upon by the Caliphates troops. The Cretan revolt was utterly crushed by over 10,000 of the Sultan's troops.

Rich and powerful, the Egyptians watched the Catholics slaughter themselves while the Sultan reined over a kingdom that was surely the envy of all rulers far and wide.

The Yemeni Rassid Imamat

Yarik ur’Adal, Emir of Yemen, Guardian of the Holy Places

Diplomacy

Continuing the tradition of watching over the Most Holy Ka'Ba, the Emir failed to notice certain signs in Mecca. A brief episode of the plague had come to the Holy City, and laid waste to many of the beggars and poorer members of society. Although it could have been much worse, still, seeing the dead in Mecca was troublesome. After purifying the city, pilgrims resumed the Hajj. The only remaining fear was where the plague might have spread to, perhaps carried by merchants to far off lands...

Ar Rassid Imamat as Sa'na

Abu Jahal, “the Jackal”, Imam of the Beni Makhzum

Diplomacy

The Jackal was content to sit and count his loot from earlier years. As he grew older his interests turned from conquest to more leisurely pursuits – such as lounging in his tent eating falafel and studying the Holy Qu'ran.

The Adal Emirat of Ifat - N Deceased

Achmed ibn Uba'id, Emir of Emporyion Ifat

Diplomacy

Uba'id continued to concern himself with matters of relations with the black African tribes in Harar and observing the comings and goings of pirates in the Red Sea. He was ignorant of the troubles stirring in the west until August of 1130 when the Almohad hordes came screaming out of the highlands straight into the homeland Zeila itself...

The Almohad Kaliphat

Mohammed ibn Tumart, Imam of Imams, The Revealed

Diplomacy Darounga horde block (absorbed)

Earlier, the Caliph, returned from Holy Mecca, saw before him what he must do. Although his people were desperate, and food was scarce, it was not yet time to stop the hunt. Gathering his tribes to him, Mohammed bade his people drive back west, once again through the farmers of Dongola and back to the desert where they felt more at home...

The Makuria Kingdom of Dongola

Eonus, Negusa-Negast of the Makuria

Diplomacy Kassala(a), Gezira(c)

Eonus was in a panic. The last few years had been tough with the crazed Muslim nomads trampling across his realm hither and yon. Well, at least they hadn't done much damage, and now they were in Suakin, far from the heart of the Coptic highlands. It was a healthy ransom of food and gold he paid the nomads, but, if it kept his people safe it was worth it. Feeling a bit more secure the King set out with 800 of his spearmen to raid the Muslim lands of Aswan for slaves for the grand projects he was considering. Met by nearly three times his number of screaming, angry nomads, Eonus barely made it back over the mountains with his life...just as the Almohad nomads were coming up into Aswan from Suakin.

The Almoravids turned west into Thebes (where they turned over the Songhay Prince Son Baru to the Fatamids[3]), and then back into Dongolan land into Dongola itself! What was his realm coming to, thought Eonus, when nomad armies run over his land without so much as a by-your-leave. Sigh.

Frumentius and the prince of Adulis led 3200 horse and spearmen into the jungles of Ilubabor to bring back slaves. But, unaccustomed to the depredations of the TseTse fly and the fierceness of the tribes there, they were forced to retreat ignominiously from the jungle back to Sennar, their horses dead and their morale low.

Then, as if it weren't enough, the nomadic Almoravids re-appeared, plunging out of gezira and into Sennar. Then, as quickly as they had appeared, they were gone, up into the mountains of Adowa and onto the Adal homeland of Zeila. Was Eonus's nation becoming a major highway for these nomadic types?

Then, out of the sea they came in June 1126: piratical raiders bent on rapine and pillaging. Landing in Adulis, the pirates set about looting and pillaging the place. They came in ships of eastern designs, and spoke a strange tongue. Carrying no banners and giving no quarter - but their identities were soon known. A dropped map, a few alert traders who had heard their speech before and made it out alive, made it clear that the raiders were not Arabs, but Persians! Their disguises were not as good as they hoped...The Prince of Adulis reacted as soon as he heard the news, and reached his homeland nine months later. Catching the pirates in the midst of enslaving his loyal subjects, he immediately attempted to drive them off. The Persians, despite being caught by surprise, were much better led than the Adulis were, and smashed the Prince's troops. The Persians took to their ships, while the Prince of Adulis, returned to Kurman, to find his family slaughtered and his farms laid waste. He repudiated his alliance with the Dongola, vowing never again to become entangled in foreign affairs.

Meanwhile (and you thought it was all over) the Almoravids came screaming down into Zeila, looking for loot! The Adal didn't stand a chance. Still, the 600 Adali tribesmen, loyal to their Emir, stood up against more than 40,000 screaming Bedouin and hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and settlers. The Emir of Adal, Achmed ibn Uba'id, knew his time had come. The city surrendered, and the land and city both were raided of anything worth taking. The Adal empire, it's capital captured and its King strung up, disintegrated.

Eastern Europe

Mercenaries: 15i, 9c, 10xc, 5w, 5t

The Western Roman Empire

Christophoros Augustus, Rex Bulgaris, Duke of Illyricum, Emperor of the Romans

Diplomacy Slovenia(t), Bosnia(ea)

In early 1126, Christophoros mourned the death of his lovely wife Mariana, who died in childbirth. A son was borne, but the Duke's grief was not abated by this. He shunned the child, for each time he looked at him he saw the eyes of his dead wife. The Holy Virgin and Child Ikon he kept above the birth-chamber now hung in his study, and he brooded night and day. Indeed, after this had gone on for a year or so, the nobles began to mutter that perhaps the king had gone mad with grief. He was sighted, on occasion late at night, striding through the palace halls, mumbling to himself and shouting out at random moments. All in all, he frightened the heck out of the guards, as well as his son. The kingdom prayed that the young boy had not inherited the madness of his father...

The continuance of fighting by the Ummayids against the Christians led the Duke to shut down, once and for all, all trade with the Muslims in Oran. That would show them!

The Varangian Rus of Kiev

Alexsandr II, Prince of Kiev, Lord of the Rus and the Varig

Diplomacy Mordva(ea then t)

Prince Dmitri and others traveled to Mordva where they talked the inhabitants there into an economic alliance that might better benefit both their nations. All was going along swimmingly until, in 1129, the feared Yasi thundered into the region and demanded tribute. Immediately the Mordvans repudiated their alliance with the Kiev and the Yasi talked them into only providing the "low-lander barbarian Rus whelps" with tribute only. The city of Saratov, ignored by both sides, shut up its gates and hoped that no one had noticed them.

When news reached Kiev that the Yasi had finally arrived the city was sent into a panic. All knew the strength and reputation of those fierce nomads – numbering into the hundreds of thousands, millions even, the smart money in Kiev was packing their bags and heading West. At least in western Europe Christians kill Christians and one could avoid the depravities of the steppe nomads.

The work of the Lord continued in Seversk where many of the tribesmen there finally accepted the word of the Orthodox church. In light of the abysmal news from the East this, at least, was good news.

The Ests

Valthan Christoslayer, King of the Estonians and Sons of Rurik

Diplomacy

Only through the herculean efforts of the King and his loyal aides was the empire able to remain not only aloof from the carnage in Europe, but in one piece. It was a vast, lonely, and cold realm, but the farmers, fishers and hunters of the Ests were happy in their huts. The granaries overflowed, and the people, strong in their faith, held the proper rituals to the Gods.

The king ruled well and wisely from Reval on the frigid Baltic. In the height of winter, he and his entourage would invigorate themselves with brief swims in the frozen water and soothing saunas afterwards wherein much mead and wine was drunk. All in all, the Est realm, though cold and somewhat poor, was not too bad a place to be. Better there than in Western Europe!

The Kingdom of Lithuania and Poland

Mikuil Pialowik, King of the Lithuanians and the Poles, Defensor Christianum

Diplomacy Silesia(a)

Mikuoil announced his support for Urban II.

Scandia and the Out Isles

Mercenaries: 15i, 5s, 11w

Kingdom of Svear

Erik Lughassen, Christian King of Scandia

Diplomacy Skanet(a)

Hah! Now it was time for the Norsemen to have some real fun. With a real war brewing and chaos all throughout Europe, there were a number of opportunities awaiting for the ardent Christians to show the strength of their faith. With strong words and even stronger wine and prayers, Torulf and Bjorn set off south in their longboats while Erik Lughassen continued to rule over his cold realm.

The inhabitants of Halland, toiling under the yoke of the Svear, rebuffed any attempts at diplomacy.

The Norwegians

Bjarne Hejarsson, “The Red”, King of the Norwegians

Diplomacy

The Pagan Norwgians, disgusted with the events to the south of them, turned away from most matters religious and concentrated instead on the here an now – their fishing, farms, and families. Svear priests, attempting to bring the word of God and Rome to Bjarne were mocked – "Hah! We are Vikings! We are men, not slaves! Even to the Gods a man must stand tall, you weakling easterners! I, Bjarne, pay due tribute to the Gods but as a Man, not slave – I make my own life, I take what I want from the Gods! Now, begone. I want to hear no more talk of your religion of this dead man. Dead men and invisible Gods do not concern me."

Jarldom of Orkeneyjar

Bjorn Youngblood, vikingrik na orkneyjar

Diplomacy City of Perth(c), Strathclyde(t), Ulster(f)

Bjorn secured a diplomatic marriage to the daughter of the headman of Strathclyde. This still didn't impress them enough to give anything but a modest amount of tribute to the Vikings. Such tactics did, however, work better in Ulster where the native lasses were quite friendly to Prince Leif, and anxious to help him find a new bride.

And, of course, taking advantage of the situation in the South the Vikings set off once again loaded with mercenaries eager for loot. Although Bjorn was generally sympathetic to the cause of Urban II, a proper Viking never let such things get in the way of a good bunch of loot, eh?

The Commonwealth of Iceland

Olaf Longnose, Jarl of the New Islands

Diplomacy

The Icelanders also stayed out of the incessant strife of Europe. King Olaf, growing fat and happy, was content to bounce babies on his knees and teach his son to use a practice-sword. A daughter was borne to the King's Irish wife, and there was much rejoicing. She had the red eyes and hair of her mother, but the strength of her father.

Erik Ragnarsson returned from the West after having tried, to only little effect, to bring the word of God to the pagans in that cold and barren land of Thule.

The Tuath Kingdom of Thomond

Dermond ard-Brien, High King of Eire

Diplomacy

The Eire stayed out of the mess that was Europe. They were content to stay home and farm, and remained aloof from all religious entanglements. This sentiment was reinforced by the death of Lord O'Shaugnessy by choking on some imported fruits.

Saxon Kingdom of England

Robert Godwin, King of the Britons

Diplomacy Cornwall(t)

It was time to put a stop to the madness! Two popes? Heresies rampant? Sir Aethelsten set off at the head of the fleet to put paid to the Satanic Anti-pope's heresy...

Western Europe

Mercenaries: 25i, 15c, 5s, 5w, 5t

Somewhere in Europe...

Interlude one:

The hall was dark, as if the man at the table hoped the gloom might shield him from any judgment. The man who spoke with strange accent pushed a small package across the table.

"In here are our plans. Unless you have anything further to add, we should be ready to move forward according to schedule...?"

"Yes. They will see how those who they mistreat can take their revenge! Hah! I would give much gold to see the look on his face when he finds out! I wonder if they'll ever understand fully..."

Interlude two:

...In this same year of which I write [1126] certain noble men of knightly rank, religious men, devoted to God and fearing him, and fearing as well their enemies whom themselves were greatly afeared of God, bound themselves to Christ's service in the hands of the Lord Patriarch. They promised to live in perpetuity as regular canons, without possessions, under vows of chastity and obedience. Their foremost leaders were the venerable Robert Guiscard and Charles of St. Omer. Since they had no church nor any fixed abode, the Norman king gave them for a time a dwelling place in the south wing of the palace, near the Lord's Temple and the former site of the destroyed Cathedral of Notre Dame. The canons of the Lord's Temple gave them, under certain conditions, a square near the palace which the canons possessed. This the knights used as a drill field. The Lord King and his noblemen, the Nobles of Poitou, La Rochelle, and Gascony and their servants, and also the Lord Patriarch and the prelates of the church gave them benefices from their domains, some for a limited time and some in perpetuity. These were to provide the knights with food and clothing. Their primary duty, one which was enjoined upon them by the Lord Patriarch and the other Anacletan bishops for the remission of sins, was that of following the dictates of Christ. This consisted, in part, of protecting the roads and routes against the attacks of robbers, brigands, and the agents and knights of the Paris Papacy. This they did especially in order to safeguard pilgrims.

For many years after their founding, the knights wore secular clothing. They used such garments as the people, for their soul's salvation, gave them. There was later held in Norman France, at Paris in 1129, a council at which the King Henry of Normandy, The Anacletan Archbishop of Paris and their suffragans as well were present, as well as the Anacletan Bishops and Abbots of Normandy, with many others. This council established a rule for the knights and assigned them a white habit.

From this time onward their numbers began to grow and their possessions began to multiply. Later, it is said that both the knights and their humbler servants, called sergeants, began to affix crosses made of red cloth to their mantles, so as to distinguish themselves from others. Because they had a headquarters in the royal palace next to the Temple of the Lord, as we have said before, they are called the Brothers of the Militia of the Temple.

William of Tyre, Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum, XII, 7, Patrologia Latina[4]

Interlude Three:[5]

The method of beginning an examination by torture is as follows: First, the jailers prepare the implements of torture, then they strip the prisoner (if it be a woman, she has already been stripped by other women, upright and of good report). This stripping is lest some means of witchcraft may have been sewed into the clothing-such as often, taught by the Devil, they prepare from the bodies of unbaptized infants, [murdered] that they may forfeit salvation. And when the implements of torture have been prepared, the judge, both in person and through other good men zealous in the faith, tries to persuade the prisoner to confess the truth freely; but, if he will not confess, he bid attendants make the prisoner fast to the strappado or some other implement of torture. The attendants obey forthwith, yet with feigned agitation. Then, at the prayer of some of those present, the prisoner is loosed again and is taken aside and once more persuaded to sign the paper presented to them, being led to believe that he will in that case not be put to death.

Here it may be asked whether the judge, in the case of a prisoner much defamed, convicted both by witnesses and by proofs, nothing being lacking but his own signature on the required treaty, can properly lead him to hope that his life will be spared when, even if he confess his crime, he will be punished with death.

It must be answered that opinions vary. Some hold that even a witch of ill repute, against whom the evidence justifies violent suspicion, and who, as a ringleader of the witches, is accounted very dangerous, may be assured her life, and condemned instead to perpetual imprisonment on bread and water, in case she gives sure and convincing testimony against other witches; yet this penalty of perpetual imprisonment must not be announced to her, but only that her life will be spared, and that she will be punished in some other fashion, perhaps by exile. And doubtless such notorious witches, especially those who prepare witch-potions or who by magical methods cure those bewitched, would be peculiarly suited to be thus preserved, in order to aid the bewitched or to accuse other witches, were it not that their accusations cannot be trusted, since the Devil is a liar, unless confirmed by proofs and witnesses.

Others hold, as to this point, that for a time the promise made to the witch sentenced to imprisonment is to be kept, but that after a time she should be burned.

A third view is, that the judge may safely promise witches to spare their lives, if only he will later excuse himself from pronouncing the sentence and will let another do this in his place....

But if, neither by threats nor by promises such as these, the witch can be induced to speak the truth, or the prisoner be induced to sign the required documents, then thejailers must carry out the sentence, and torture the prisoner according to the accepted methods, with more or less of severity as the delinquent's crime or treason may demand. And, while he is being tortured, he must be pressed on the articles of the necessary papers, and this frequently and persistently, beginning with the lighter items-for he will more readily sign agreement to the lighter than the heavier. And, while this is being done, the notary must write down everything in his record of the trial - how the prisoner is tortured, on what points he is questioned and how he answers.

And note that, if he sings the papers under the torture, he must afterward be conducted to another place, that he may confirm it and certify that it was not due alone to the force of the torture.

But, if the prisoner will not admit the truth satisfactorily, other sorts of tortures must be placed before him, with the statement that unless he will confess the truth, he must endure these also. But, if not even thus he can be brought into terror and to the truth, then the next day or the next but one is to be set for a continuation of the tortures.

The judge must then address to the prisoners the following sentence: We, the judge, etc., do assign to you, such and such a day for the continuation of the tortures, that from your own mouth the truth may be heard, the required papers may be signed, and that the whole may be recorded by the notary.

And during the interval, before the day assigned, the judge, in person or through approved men, must in the manner above described try to persuade the prisoner to sign, promising him that her life shall be spared.

The judge shall see to it, moreover, that throughout this interval guards are constantly with the prisoner, so that he may not be alone; because he will be visited by the Devil and tempted into suicide.

Account of Angelo Clareno on an inquisitorial torture session in the year 1126 of which he was reluctant witness, may the Lord have mercy on his soul [6]

Das Deutches Konigsreich

Alexander the Grumpy, King of the Germans, Emperor of the West

Diplomacy

Alexander, King of the Germans, had had enough! Damn these Vikings and all the havoc they had wrecked on his people. Their looting and pillaging had beggared the Danish Nobles, and they pressed Alexander for a solution. If he wasn't willing to settle the matter – preferably through a few thousand dead Vikings – then they would, By God!

When the Danish barons presented Alexander with their demands he was apopletic. "God Forsaken Viking Heathens! My fellow noblemen - If I had it my way I'd remove them from the face of this earth! Do you doubt this? But I have decided to wait out the slaughter of the Norwegians Warriors and their wives and children for a few more years. It is not...Christian. But what's more, I have received correspondence from the Svears. They have given their word that they will be able to restrain the foul Vikings from further attack. And there is hope that they will convert to the cross and abandon their blasphemous and barbaric ways. However, I am not stupid. I do not rest upon promises – for they might be empty, no? And anyone who trusts in the likes of those Vikings is a foolish fellow, indeed. Thus, I ask you to restrain yourself and your men. Now, especially with Europe aflame, is not the time to go seeking war when peace may be attainable. But, heed my words: if the Northmen come again, our men and ships are ready – we will burn their homes to the ground and do to them what they have done to us. But, let us first see if the Svear can keep their promise."

And so all of North Germany waited, and armed men incessantly watched the seas for sign of the Vikings, ready to retailiate at a moment's notice. Duke Ferdinand, with the shiny new German fleet, kept a close patrol of the northern waters, almost daring the Vikings to come.

Much to the surprise of the Germans, Lord Walenski of Lithuania moved into Silesia at the head of a large Lithuanian army in order to secure the transfer of that realm to Lithuanian control. Funds were sent to Germany to handle the switch of Silesia to Lithuanian rule.The Lithuanians move on, however, into Burgundy in their support of the efforts of the Pope to enforce the Peace of God.

At court, Alexander continued in his efforts to stay out of what the nobility referred to "The Big Papal Mess." In an effort to remain neutral, A writ of passage was proclaimed for the Burgundians. At the same time, the King loudly proclaimed that for Catholics to figt Catholics was not only a crime against God but also foolhardy. Might does not make right, but that all nations, large and small, have the right to air thteir grievances in a goodly, Christian way. Furthermore, faced with the twin threats of encroaching Islam and the Northmen, the last thing Europe needed was to be fighting amongst itself. He went so far as to propose a court of recourse, to which nobles and kings could turn to plead their cases. Not surprisingly, his words fell largely on deaf ears, as most of the Europeans were actively engaged in trying to skewer each other.

Duchy of Bohemia

Sviatoplus, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of Prague

Diplomacy

Sviatoplus was no fool – he would not get suckered into sending the flower of Bohemian nobility to their deaths again. Thus, in response to the pressure of the larger noble families who refused to heed his war plans, the knights were cautious in their defense of the realm and did not venture beyond Bohemian territory. The Duke doubled the size of his personal Pomeranian guard lest some anti-Pope asassins try and stick him.

The Duke also gave the men and nobles of the Lithuanians, Burgundians, Urban II, and Salerno the right to cross his lands peacefully.

The Anacletan (Paris) Papacy

Anacletus, bishop of Paris, vicar of Jesus Christ

Diplomacy City of Tours(ec), Normandy(ec), City of Calais(ec), City of Nerdone(ec)

Anacletus called for a Synod to be held in Paris while, at the same time bending heaven and earth to set up some fledgling infrastructure of a church. He had a surprising amount of success in this, despite local hostilities.

Le Duche de Normandie

Henry, Duke of Normandy, King of the Western Franks

Diplomacy

Baron Fulk issued one order: "bring the former King and his Son to me, as well as the papers. It is time to apply...pressure." The screaming from the dungeon was said to have gone on for weeks.

The Duke supported the call for a Cherbourg Synod. Henry took over the reins of government from Fulk.

La Milice Du Christ (Formerly Le Comte de Poitou)

Robert de Guiscard, Count of Gascony and Orleans, Master Brother of the Militia of the Temple

Diplomacy

And so it came to pass in 1126 that Robert, having seen years of battle, war, and death – and for what? He was a warrior for the Lord and yet his enemies assailed him on all sides. Summoning the pious and noble to his court he related to them his doubts and concerns about the Urban Papacy. Unto him came a vision, he told them, of a group of men, servants of God, not bound to the earth and the land like others. Men who fight for Christ, Knights of Christ, Guardians of the Temple.

"The Urban Papacy spreads like the words of the Devil, and only men who are of pure heart and soul can resist such an Evil. I pray you will follow me as I renounce this world of sorrows to embark on a journey of righteousness and service to Christ."

And Robert, a well loved and pious man gathered to him the faithful of his flock. From the lands of Poitou and Gascony, and the city of La Rochelle they came. At first, only the nobles. And then, drawn by the call, by the thousands and tens of thousands. Servants and henchmen of noblemen who now gave their service to God. All gathered under Robert and his piety (as well as his protection from the Urban Papacy). The lands of Poitou and Gascony, the nobles gone and the farms abandoned (and everyone else pretty much pressed into service at swordpoint) became unto overgrown wastelands, where men survived by their wits and law disappeared. La Rochelle was abandoned and everything of value was stripped from it before it was torched.

This parade of the flower of French nobility, under Robert's care, vowed first to create for their new order of the Knights of Christ a temple wherein they could both defend themselves against the Urban Papacy as well as pursue the pious warrior lives they sought. Thus they traveled to the center of piety and worship in their land: Paris. Aquitane and Limousin ceased paying tribute to this new order of Knights.

Robert, in 1126, also issued the Knightly Canonical Demand in which, among other things, he declared "Vows strong and true do not blind me to the needs of the secular. The matter of the Papacy must be resolved in a manner befitting our Christian virtues. To this end, I hereby call for a Synod in Cherbourg to resolve our doctrinal differences."

In less troubling news, Normandy and surrounding areas were witness to a new and rather earthy form of music. Troubadour and trouvere music began to dazzle the commoners as well as, to a lesser extent, the nobility that actually had time for such pleasures (admittedly, most French nobility nowadays were more concerned with fighting for their lives or their cause and not music).

Le Royaume de Bourgogne

Hugh the Second, Duke of Burgundy, The Prisoner King

Diplomacy

Gilbert de Rossillion and the Bishop of Burgundy (Lothar) summoned the remains of the nobility. With the country reeling from the battles of the past years, Good King Hugh and the Heir still imprisoned by the Devil's Anacletan servants, straits were dire indeed. Still Gilbert ordered to him the rest of his knights, the wounded who could make it, and the youth of the noble families. The nobility had been drained, and good men were hard to find. It crushed him to see boys of thirteen, even twelve years of age marching off to war. But, the heretic must be brought to heel and the King rescuedelse all their eternal souls were in danger. He consoled himself that they were doing God's work. Gathering with the Papal forces outside Burgone, they set off.

Lombard Kingdom of Italy

Geowolf of Vinicenza, King of the Lombards

Diplomacy

Throwing his weight fully behind the True Pope Anacletus II, Geowulf declared Urban II outlaw in his realm and "a tool of Satan." To fund the war effort to save his realm from the assault of the Roman conservatives, taxes were increased dramatically. A new army was raised and, like most of Italy now, the backbone of it was the young men of the realm whose fathers had already died in the fighting in the last few years. Again, the scene of mother's crying as their sons were dragged off to the army was common throughout the Kingdom. It is tough to do God's work, but the Romans had to be stopped!

The Papal States

Urban II, bishop of Rome, vicar of Jesus Christ, successor of the prince of the apostles, supreme pontiff of the universal Church, primate of Italy, archbishop and metropolitan of the Roman province, sovereign of the Papal States, servant of the servants of God

Diplomacy

Rumours flew that the Pope had abandoned the field and returned to Rome and while this had a deleterious effect on morale in the Army of God, plans continued apace.

Back in Rome, the Pope issued the Holy Proclamation of 1126 which included, in part, the conscription of every able bodied man to fight for God against the Satanic Anti-Pope. Young men, still suckling youths really, were dragged from their mother's arms by the agents of Holy Mother Church. They wept as their sons went off to perhaps their death at the hands of witches and heretics. Afterwards, the streets and fairs were empty, and the markets quiet. This, added to the already massive burden of supporting the war effort, fairly brought the Papal realm to bankruptcy.

The priests and nuns of the Mother Church were active in bringing the word to the pagan tribes in nearby Slovenia. Money continued to flow out of St. Peter's to the Byzantines and the Leon to give succor to that beleaguered realm. At the same time, papal forces were given to the Prince of Salerno in an effort to help him "get his realm in order." Finally, the priests and scribes of St. Peter's set about to rationalize Church teachings in light of recent events. This mainly consisted of a lot of bad mouthing of heretics and infidels, how one would burn in hell for opposing the Pope, and how terrible life would be if the anti-pope lived another day.

Norman Principality of Salerno

Dominic de Cagnano, Duke of Naples, King of the Italians

Diplomacy Sicily(nt), Spoleto(nt)

In what came to be known in later years as "Mother's Uprisings" a number of demonstrations by the parents of boys serving in the Dukes army caused the Duke to, surprisingly, send a couple thousand of his younger pikemen back to their homes. His confidence in doing so soon became clear as the young men he sent away were soon replaced with even younger boys from the Pope to bolster the battle-hardened veterans of Naples.

Prince Bohemond, sent by his father to far-off Sicily to keep him safe (on his mother's insistence, and accompanied by his amusing sidekick and boyhood friend Campini) was told to see how the Sicilians felt about joining his father's crusade to unite Italy. Bah! They (as well as the Spoletans) knew enough to wait and see which side came out ahead in this brutal little war.

El Reino de Leon y Navarre

Sancho V, King of Leon, King of Navarra, Prince of Romagna

Diplomacy

Sancho remained in Bologna, while a small army was raised to fight with the Duke of Salerno against the Lombards...

Norman Spain

Tancred, Baron of Castellon

Diplomacy

Enriched by foreign gold, Tancred began the long process of rebuilding a Christian power base in Iberia by arriving at Burgos in Old Castille. His men laboured day and night to put stone upon stone. In the end Tancred declared that "this is but the first step in the founding of a strong Christian kingdom in Spain, a power to be respected, and a bulwark of Christ against further heathen expansion! Old Castille shall know glories far beyond the borders of Iberia!"

The Royal Family, in an apparent abandonment of their ancient homeland in Valencia to those same heathens, set up shop in Nuevo Burgos. The commoners, however, remained wary, poor, and generally miserable (as is the lot of peasants pretty much everywhere).

Tancred joined in the cry for a Synod in Cherbourg, and proclaimed Cletus the True and Rightful Pope of All Christendom. At the same time as he was making this proclamation, his men were looting and rampaging through all the church properties of the Roman Papacy of Urban. Deeds to church lands were forcibly taken, plots that had been handed down to the church over hundreds of years were seized, and monasteries invaded and looted. Much of these lands were given over to the poor in the localities and the lay-people employed in the churches given a share in the loot to "help them better determine their loyalties." In some areas the looting took on a populist tone, with peasant uprisings contributing to the soldiers' actions. A number of clergy were imprisoned and held in confinement until their "loyalties" could be determined. King Tancred hoped and prayed that Catholicism would remain strong in Iberia under the rightful guidance of Cletus.

Berenger snuck around occupied Valencia in an attempt to get the remaining free nobles and hearty peasant stock to make the crossing to New Valencia in Old Castille. A few even did!

The Akramid Sultanat

Achmed, Sultan of Granada

Diplomacy

Achmed was the recipient of a number of evil tidings and bad omens early in 1126. Although the Qu'Ran forbade it, the Sultan still went to The Old Woman of the Barge – she had been correct in her readings every time in the past. And she was correct again: "death close to you, and far away." For in 1126 General Mustafa died on campaign in Catalonia. A spooked horse, the reports said. And within two weeks, Imam Salifa al'Nehud had also died. A plate of bad grape leaves, the Royal Viziers said. Coincidence? The Sultan didn't believe in coincidences.

But when his wife died in childbirth, he knew that he shouldn't have gone to the fortune tellers. Either Allah is punishing me, or...

In any case, although he was a thoughtful man, the Sultan wasn't about to let his plans go awry. He would just have to find new generals (and a new wife). He sent his son, Mohamar, to lead his armies. Ha! Surely Allah would not take his only son from him too? Not when he was performing Jihad. Mohamar traveled north, to lead the final assault on the Leonese in Navarre.

Ummayad Sultanat al Oran

Muawiya, Sultan of the West, Emir of Oran and Mahidia

Diplomacy

"Bring the thief to me!" bellowed the Sultan, and the swordsmen obeyed, trembling. A few months later in Morocco, the troops of the Sultan burst in on Al'Abbas, Royal Counselor to the Sultan. He was enjoying afternoon tea with his family and suddenly, with barely having a chance to utter a word in his defense, he was dragged from his garden and through the streets of Fez. Protesting his innocence, the Sultan would hear none of it. In the evenings near the palace, terrible screams were heard, and finally the lying thief was brought into the public square. He saw, to his horror, that his family was there as well: chained, beaten, and tortured. He managed to get out a few words through cracked and bloody lips before the executioners ax came down: "Why? Why oh Sultan? I have always been loyal to you!" Al'Abbas' family was similarly murdered, and the bodies of all were left in the sun to rot, denied even a decent Islamic burial. Their name was forever stricken from the registers. They would be a lesson for all: This is the penalty for betraying the people of Oran. And the people of Oran learned it well. They're not sure what the lesson was, but they learned very well: don't cross the Sultan.

Prince Valenzia, a young boy of 10, was taken aside one day by his father the Sultan: "Son, now it is time for you to become a man. And that means... war! If one day you are to govern all of Oran, you must know, first and foremost, the practice and execution of war. You will go now, with General Al'Karras. There is a great war in the heathen lands. This is perhaps your first lesson: any and all war is not danger, it is opportunity. Go with Al'Karras. He will show you opportunities to prove yourself in war. Obey him, but always remember: you are the Son of the Sultan. And when Allah calls me one day, you will be the Sultan yourself. So learn your lessons well, and come back not only as a man but as a warrior." And so Valenzia set off with Al'Karras.[7] At the head of a great host of horsemen, they take the Word of Allah across the Pyrenees.

Back at home the dockworkers once again chafed under the demands of the bearded Vikings. The blonde men sat there, in their leaky boats, smug grins on their faces and alcohol in their bellies. Fornicating manner-less heathen pigs! Not only was this entire affair an insult to their Sultan, but also to Allah as well. Surely there was some mistake – how could Muslims be giving gold to foul unwashed barbarians?

But, in other news, all Oran rejoiced at news of the glorious and bountiful wedding of Mahia, the favored one.

The Peace of God (1115-AD)

The Duchy of Normandy, Lombard Italy, The Paris Papacy, Lithuania-Poland (with The Akramid Caliphate and Ummayad Sultanate of Oran)

vs.

The Kingdom of Svear, Saxon England, The Orkneyjar Vikings (maybe), Duchy of Burgundy, The Papal States, Duchy of Bohemia, Norman Salerno, Leon Y Navarre

Above: Funeral Barge for a forgotten family,

outside of the ruins of La Rochelle

And so, with the Holy Church split and the issues unresolved by the year 1125, the Peace of God had yet to come to pass fully. The Kings and Lords of Europe, growing more strident in their positions, more desperate in their situations, and more fearful of their Eternal Souls lest they fall to the other side, came increasingly to rely upon more...enthusiastic methods (as well as outright treachery) for ensuring the continuance of their rule and the destruction of their enemies...

January ~ March, 1126: Barely had the frost cleared from the trees when Anacletus had called for a Synod to resolve the differences in the two factions of the Holy Church. While men on both sides increasinglky viewed the other with revulsion, learned and moderate monks, priests, bishops and scholars still existed who recognized that the doctrinal differences between Anacletus and Urban were yet resolvable. These were the men who eagerly packed their bags for the long journey to Paris. Many were heartened indeed when word reached them that Pope Urban (still in seclusion in Rome) actively agreed to the Synod of Paris. It was even rumoured that he himself might attend. But in any case, a number of Italian bishops did begin the dangerous trek across the war-torn and, by now, bandit infested Alpine valleys. When the first Bishops began to arrive in Paris, they were subject to an extremely confusing situation: not only was there a Synod of Cherbourg, but the Norman Kings and the Comte de Poitou were calling for an opposing Synod at Cherbourg! Were they breaking with Anacletus?

Anacletus himself was furious – he was certain he had enough support among the people and the church hierarchy to enact his reforms at the Paris Synod. How could the Normans do this to him? With two Synods, neither would be effective. This might be his final chance to present his case to the Church before the fighting embittered all to much for compromise. Damn the Normans! But it was too late to recall their cry for a Cherbourg Synod.

Both Synods met, but there was intense confusion as to whether either, both, or neither was authoritative. The Roman emmissaries had little respect for either, of course, since in their eyes they had been called by heretics.

Confusion was increased at the Synod of Paris by one particularly spectacular episode in the third session of the assembly.[8] During earlier meetings, the members of all attending and voting parties had been decided upon. There were, of course, a number of notorious absences. But there was an eleventh hour surprise in which the Norman representativesstood up in the middle of the assembly and declared that the Burgundian representatives were in acting outside of Catholic Law by debating certain points regarding Anacletus. Guy Berengar, who made the accusations, continued: "I have in my hand a document written, signed, and sealed by the King Hugh of Burgundy which states, in no uncertain terms, that the Burgundian vote in this august body must be in favour of the One True Pope Anacletus. All discussion by the Burgundian delegation regarding potential support for the representatives from St. Peter's must be stopped forthwith. They are representatives of their King and must obey him!"

"You're mad! King Hugh remains a prisoner in your dungeons you heretic and barbarian! Any document you might have is a fake and a fraud and Burgundy will never support your Anacletus!"

The document produced was examined in great detail by the Burgundians. What they decided to do about it was moot as the Synod of Paris closed its session soon after, as the armies of Rome marched closer.

Caught between the waves of fleeing refugees moving west out of the city and the followers of the Comte du Poitou moving from the east into the city, Paris was a madhouse of mud, crowds, fear, and panic. Witchcraft and faith healing made a visible comeback, and crime briefly skyrocketed in the few short months where armies were not marching on the city.

In Cherbourg, meanwhile, the Synod there was also a confused ramble of accusations and counter-accusations. Discussions on the matter of lay investiture of the clergy had reached a fever pitch. During most of the proceedings Baron Fulk sat in on the meetings, every now and then grinning slightly. Later, in March, the Baron had enough of the stalemate, and made a grand announcement: "We are pleased to announce that the King of Burgundy, Hugh, has renounced his kingdom and declared that the Duke of Normandy is the true and rightful ruler of all Burgundy and associated lands. Furthermore, the former King Hugh (now Sir Hugh) has announced his support for Anacletus the Second and denounced Urban as Usurper of the Papal Throne. And, lastly, Sir Hugh herewith commands all Brugundian nobles, armies, and lands to cease cooperation with the Usurper Pope and to return to their lands."

Needless to say everyone thought this was a real hoot. Obviously, the Baron (who was never really thought to have his head screwed on all that tight to begin with) had truly flipped his lid. After the laughing subsided, the Burgundian representatives present politely enquired of the Baron under what measure of proof he made these claims. The Baron then showed them certain documents that had been signed by Hugh and sealed with the Royal Mark of Burgundy. And far off in the distance, coming from some dungeon, the representatives could hear some guttural, animal screams... The Burgundians left soon after, essentially bringing an end to the Synod.

And then, in June Vikings descended upon the city. They burnt much of the town before being driven off by Baron Fulk and the city gaurds. The remaining representatives at the Synod fled, but their purpose in coming was clearly lost a long time ago.

After the collapse of the Synods, armies of all sides swung into action. Roman plans were straightforward: The Duke of Naples would drive the Lombards from Italy while papal soldiers and Burgundians would march on Paris and reclaim it for Rome, bringing the Anti-pope to Inquisitorial Justice. The Britons and the Scandians, true allies of Urban and the Holy Writ, could be counted on to harass the coast of Normandy and – God Willing – perhaps even the fearsome Vikings, too. All the best efforts of the Pope, however, had not yet convinced the Alexander of the Germans to get involved – all of Christendom was threatened, and the Germans stood by and watched. And the Bohemians, true allies, but now battle-weary. Perhaps the Lithuanians would come through in the end, as they promised. But it would surely be at Paris that Anacletus would be brought to Justice to answer for his sins.

The Normans and the the Count of Poitou knew also that it would all be decided at Paris – or would it? The Muslims in Iberia, terrifying in their ways of war and always hungry for slaves and conquest – perhaps they might threaten the Burgundians enough to draw their attention away? And, if the Lombards could only hold out for a few years, perhaps the Roman Pope would have to concede at Paris – surely he would not sacrifice Rome for Paris? And yet, in all this, Fulk still had a card or two left to play... when he heard news of the advance of Burgundian troops, he motioned to his guards: "Are they conscious? Good. Bring them and the papers to me." And an evil grin flashed across his face...

In these months also Robert de Guiscard, Count of Gascony, proclaims himself the "Master of the Temple" of La Milice Du Christ and summons his followers to La Rochelle.

(N.b.: The last page of this fax has a map showing the "opening moves" of the armies involved)

April, 1126: The Norman noble Guy Berenger and his knights in Hainaut set fire to the city of Aachen and take most everything of value from it in an orgy of looting and destruction. Supporters of the Roman Pope are rooted out, hung to death, and their homes singled out for destruction as are all the Roman churches in the city. Most of the city is destroyed by this act of wanton violence, but when word of the Papal army reaches Guy he has to cut the slaughter short and move to Paris. Taking his remaining men from the area, he leaves Hainaut to its fate – independent but with its back broken, it's people lying dead in the streets, and disease and death rampant. The English fleet is sighted in the Channel, heading for the Low Countries. There are rumours of the dread Vikings in the North Sea. The Papal Army of God and the Burgundians under the command of Gilbert de Rossillion and Bishop Lothar are reported to be crossing into the occuppied Burgundian land of Nivernais. Robert de Guiscard arrives in Anjou along with his train of followers and his "Army of the Militia of the Temple of Christ." The Duke of Salerno arrives in Rome at the head of a large army of footmen (of a young age) and mercenaries. The Roman people lock up their daughters very quickly. David of Lombardy arrives in Verona at the head of the Lombard army, and immediately seizes the Cathedral of Venice and other Church sites.

May, 1126: Guy Berengar arrives in Nivernais fromt he north, while the Burgundians and the Roman Army of God arrive from the south. Berengar gathers the knights and footmen in the area, and escapes north, avoiding the Roman forces. Nivernais is liberated by the Burgundians! The inhabitants begin the long process of rebuilding their shattered lives and trying to track down their loved ones.[9] The English army lands at Brabant. Svear longboats are sighted in Viking Bank, while Orkney Vikings (you can usually tell the difference by the colour of the hair) are sighted in the Channel. Rober de Guiscard, Charles of Poitou, and a long train of followers and knights arrive in Ile De France. The Dukes of Salerno and Leon arrive in Tuscany and make haste northward. David of Lombardy sets fire to and loots the Grand Cathedral of Venice and hundreds of years of learning and art go up in flames as the ancients buildings (many of which dated as far back as the time of Augustus) are destroyed. The Lithuanian Lord Walenski arrives in Silesia at the head of many knight. There is much rejoicing in that land as the Duke of Silesia pledges himself to Lithuania. A big party is held, much beer is drunk, and the Dukes talk politics and religion.

June, 1126: The English Army in Brabant mysteriously loads back onto their ships and heaves off again, leaving behind a bunch of scared Norman fishermen and farmgirls who were sure their end was nigh. Vikings descend like a horrible nightmare on the hapless inhabitants of the bustling port of Cherbourg, wreaking havoc with the Synod there. A viscious battle in the harbor ensues, and the city guards led by baron Fulk barely (and I mean barely) manage to drive off the barbarians. The Bohemian Lord Vitislav, and his retainer of 3200 knights arrive in Swabia just as they hear word that David of Lombardy (at the head of 8,000 men) has begun to cross the Alps into Tyrol in a bid to bring the Bohemians to heel once and for all. The Roman Army of God and the Burgundians liberate abandoned Nivernais – families of Burgundian soldiers are reunited with their families for a brief moment as the army marches on towards Paris. There is an unusual infestation of cats in Nerdone after they leave. Guy Berenger arrives in Paris just days ahead of the Roman forces. There, he greets his old friend (and sometimes duelling partner) Robert de Guiscard[10]. Together they prepare the defenses of the city and fortify the banks of the Seine. The soldiers of both armies, as well as the Poitou refugees, loot the Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris, destroying one of the greatest works of art the western world has known up to this time. The ruins and the extensive catacombs and tombs beneath the Cathedral become the site for the new Temple of Christ. Robert de Guiscard houses La Milice Du Christ in this stronghold. Duke Dominic of Salerno and Juan of Leon arrive with their men in Liguria. There is some confusion as to what to do with the province (whihc is Lombardi and is chafing under the Salerno heel), and in the end Juan of Leon stays behind to garrison it and it is handed over to the Kingdom of Leon.

July, 1126: The English reappear, this time in Brittany. The vikings, retreating from their bruising at Cherbourg, move into the farmlands sorrounding the city and proceed to raid the land. Farmgirls are carried off to fates worse than death, many gallant peasants, trying to protect their land, are skewered and left hangingfrom trees with their innards scattered, and farms are burnt. The dread Vikings dissappear once again with hearty laughs. Lord Vitislav, having just arrived in Swabia but hearing of the Lombard crossing of the Alps, makes a right turn and heads into Tyrol to cut them off. Pope Anacletus continues his work in Paris to raise a church devoted to his reformed ideas of Catholicism...while outside the city gates, the Army of God and the knights of Burgundy have crossed into Ile De France. Conflicting reports have reached the ears of Berenger and Buiscard as to the size and even the generals commanding the Army of God, but one thing is clear: they intend to try Anacletus for heresy if they catch him. Oblivious to the danger, Anacletus continues to preach his reform ideas to the people of Paris in the effort to found a church. In Italy, the Duke of Salerno begins the passage to Lombardy.

August, 1126: August was an unusally hot month in Europe. This, combined with the piles of rotting corpses and coincident growth in the rat and vermin population in a variety of places led to small outbreaks of plague throughout Europe, but nothing too serious. The English completed thier landings in Brittany, while the Svear, much like the Vikings made their appearance: they streamed onto the shores of Brabant (where the locals had begun to hope that the war had perhaps passed them by after they scared off the British) and raided the countryside. Unfortunately for the Svear, the Brabant nobility (before it had left for the war) had built a small number of castles facing the sea. The farmers who were left were emboldened by their resistance to the British and thus got up the gumption to occupy these castles and use them to harass and eventually drive off the Svear – barely. The Vikings, however, did kick some Normans around in their raid on Calais – setting fire to a large portion of the city they were able to make off with wine, women, and gold before the inhabitants knew what hit them. However, all this was peripheral. The center of the whirlwind was, of course, Paris. Berengar and Guiscard were recieving conflicting reports of the size of the Roman and Burgundian armies. Their counsels were split: should they wait inside the city walls, or attack the Papal forces as they approached? In the end, they decided to wait until they could get better information on the Papal forces. In a few days time, the four armies looked out across the walls of Paris at each other, just as a nasty frost was setting in:

The Anacletan forces in Paris: Guy Berengar, in command of the remaining nobles and knights of Normandy (to the tune of about 400 men), 2400 pikemen of assorted gentry, 9600 footmen drawn from the local countryside, and the local city militia numbering about 800 gendarme and sappers.

La Milice Du Christ forces: Robert Guiscard, Duke Charles, and Duke Phillipe commanded the Knights of the Temple – a group of 4800 veteran mounted knights, 1600 lesser landless knights from la Rochelle and Gascony, and 2800 spearmen and squires. In addition, every square inch of Paris was packed with Poitou refugees.

In addition, Anacletus, still in Paris was dragged from his church works to contribute his quick mind and, more importantly, his knowledge of the enemy to the battle.

Outside the tall city walls, the Army of God and the Burgundian knights came into view: To their surprise, unfurling in the wind was the banner of the Roman Pope himself! He was not in Rome after all, but here to see Anacletus for himself. Arrayed on the Roman side were 800 ceremonial knights, 400 Italian veteran knights who had pledged themselves to the Pope's cause, 5000 pikemen (primarily from Italy, but there were a large number of Leonese refugees), 1000 Catholic peasants recruited from the Norman countryside as the army had passed through, about 3000 Italian footmen, and a variety of sappers and miners who had been pressed into service to breach the walls of Paris.

The Burgundian army was led by Bishop Lothar and Gilbert de Rossillion, and was composed of the flower of Burgundian knighthood (3600 mounted and armoured horsemen), 3200 veteran squires and retainers of same, 2000 footmen from Provence, Marseille and other regions, 400 free knights of Champagne, and a small scattering of men able to make ballista and catapults from the sorrounding forests.

In December, under a Christmas Peace, Guy Berengar approached the Brugundian camp under truce flag. He parlayed with the Burgundian commanders, insisting that their King Hugh had allied himself with Normandy and Anacletus, and renouncing Urban. Hearing this, the Burgundians were highly dubious, for they had heard the rumours coming out of the Cherbourg Synod... They refused to leave the field, and vowed, instead, to save King Hugh from the clutches of the Norman madmen who disregard the laws of war and use the inquisition for their own ends.

Then, before either side could really begin to fight, a cold snap settled in, the like of which had not been seen for at least a decade. The bone numbing cold froze the rivers and ended all thoughts of battle on both sides. Inside and outside of Paris, the four armies settled in to a nasty winter of plotting, and planning. The Siege of Paris began in earnest next year, in April 1127

Jumping ahead: The Siege of Paris 1127-1128

As soon as the cold had thawed enough for the Roman forces to move, they began to siege Paris. Although for miles around the forests had been chopped down to provide heating wood for the deadly winter, still some catapults were constructed.

The Siege, April to June 1127: Roman forces did well, suceeding in scaling certain parts of the east fortifications, and takingh part of the city proper. They inflicted many thousands of losses on the Anacletan forces, and held the eastern market for an entire three weeks. The battle of the eastern market, in which Anacletan forces led by one Sir Daoud, became a whirlpool of death for both sides. By June the Roman forces had abandoned their hold in Paris but not before inflicting grievous losses on the enemy. Burgundian forces, incensed by rumours regarding their proud King, fought with a particular ferocity.

The Siege, July 1127 – April 1128: Determined to take Paris at all costs, and unable to stand the constant berating from the Norman heretics[11], Urban ordered a renewed assault. Seeing the concentrations of Anacletan forces in the eastern parts of the city, Urtban ordered a feint to that area while the bulk of Burgundian and Italian foot and horse wheeled around to the southern walls. By this he figured that he could figured he could penetrate into the center of Paris itself, and perhaps even capture that warlock Berengar and burn that devilish temple of these Knights. This sounded like a dubious idea to the Italians at first (who were mainly in the habit of just running at their enemies in a big mob) , but Urban sold the idea in the end. He was known, after all, as a master strategist. Unfortunately though Anacletus knew him too well, and suspected something of this sort. So when the bulk of the Army of God approached the southern walls, they were met by hot oil, stones, and an awful lot of Normans. The Romans were mauled. Continuing throughout July and August three more similar attempts were made until both sides settled down into a long cold winter. As soon as the frost had lifted though the Roman army was back on the offensive, but again took the worst of it. By the end of April, Urban could not ignore the facts: his army was badly bruised and could not likely bring the heretics to justice. With a heavy heart he ordered the Army of God to fall back and try and draw out the heretics into a field battle where they would have the advantage.[12]

And so the Siege of Paris ended.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

September, 1126: While the Romans and the Anacletan forces were hunkering down for the winter, hardier men were having none of that. An old Svear saying goes: a little cold never hurt anyone...and so those blonde raiders descended upon the Norman province of Flanders. Again, farms were burnt, houses ransacked, and witches and heretics burned in the name of Rome. The Vikings also descended upon the Normans, this time in the countryside sorrounding Calais. Being Vikings, they did all the Svear did and also carried off farm girls and livestock. They retired to their boats to settle down for the winter and enjoy roasted boar. In Bohemia, Lord Vitislav arrived in Tyrol and began to scout for the Lombards coming over the Alps.

March 1127: The rapacious Vikings descend upon flanders – but find the countryside already devasted by the recent visit of the Svear. They leave in disgust after carrying off the remaining pig (owned by a rather large farmed named Pierre.)

April, 1127: The Vikings descend upon Brabant to show the Svear how its done. Unfortunately for them, the Brabanti still have their act together and drive them off. Harumph. The Svear, for their part, sail up the port of Brest, and attempt to raid it. They do manage to catch a few Norman ships in harbor, set fire to a large trasnsport full of whiskey, and get away with a load of gold from the local town hall. The Duke of Salerno arrive in Lombardy, and the Lithuanians beging to cross into Moravia to pay their respects to the Bohemians in Praha.

May 1127: The Svear look greedily upon Brittany, but the presence of a whole lot of English prevents them from doing anything there. The British occupy Brittany and set up siege works around Brest. David of Lombardy crosses the Alps into Tyrol where Lord Vitislav of Bohemia pounces upon him with 3200 knights. David has 2000 heavy veteran pike, 1800 Italian knights, 3000 assorted footmen, and a variety of siege trappings. David's men took a bloody beating, giving as good as they got. However, the Bohemian knights were able to pull their fat out of the fire, and beat the Lombards back across the Alps and into Verona. Vitislav was wounded by a errant spear.

June 1127: The British occupy Brest without much of a fight. The Vikings sail up the Rhine and raid Hainaut. The Lithunains begin to move into Bohemia, and the Duke of Salerno begins to occupy Lombardy itself. Opening up the southern front, the Muslims become involved as a mass of screaming scimitar wielding Akramid horse begin to move into Navarre.

July, 1127: The Svear longboats appear at Calais, and then depart since anything worth taking has been taken already. The Vikings move from tha countryside of Hainaut to Aachen, hoping to make off with some nice German crystal, but Aachen is just a smoldering collection of peasants now. They move on. Rabble-rousers in Tuscany incite the populace there to ris eup against the Salerno garrison. The 1200 heavy pikemen of Salerno stationed in the region suddenly find themselves up to their codpieces in angry Tuscans led by a certain Carlo of Lombardy. The Salerno are slaughtered in an old courtyard, and Tuscany is liberated. Flush with victory, Carlo moves north intending to liberate Liguria. The Akramids under Sultan Mustafa occupy Navarre after a short fight.

August, 1127: The Svear raid Ponthieu, but discover that they're late to the party – again. How droll. The Lithiuanians arrive outside of Praha, announcing that they would like to pay their respects to the Bohemian king before moving east to crush Anacletan forces. Prince Lothair of course agrees, but, in these times of trouble, the Lithuanian soldiers and Silesian knights are unable to enter the city ("not enough rooms at the inn, sorry – but there's a nice hilly park over there you can camp in."). Lord Walenski and the Duke of Silesia visit the Bohemian palace, and hold pleasant conversation. As soon as they return to their camp however, their forces are roused and they declare undying loyalty to the Paris Pope and disdain for the "corrupt pustule that the Roman church has become!" It is treachery! Finally, to the south, the Muslim attack extends again as Akramid forces under Al Karras and Prince Valenzia begin to cross the Pyrennes into Languedoc. It is a long and tense winter, around Paris, Praha, Italy and Burgundy...

March, 1128: First out of the starting gate are the Svear, who attempt to raid Cherbourg and capture Baron Fulk. Once again he drives off the raiders. All of Normandy awaits the arrival of the Vikings, but things are quiet...too quiet. Anacletus sneaks out of Paris and moves west.

April, 1128: Putched battles rage across the plains of Bohemia – the Silesians and Lithuanias hold a distinct advantage in numbers, men, and horse. However, the Bohemians, knwledgeable of the land and aided by a number of castles in the area are able to give as good as they get. Apparently initally intending to simply take Praha and put an end to the Bohemian royalty, the presence of troops and fortifications in the Bohemian countryside traps Walenski in a doughnut situation. He sorrounds Praha, but the Bohemians sorround him. Having not been exposed in his youth to The Gallic Wars (or else he would've been able to know how a certain ancient Roman general dealt with a similar situation) he is drawn into a series of pitched battles in the Bohemian countryside.

The Siege of Paris ends.

May 1128: Battles continue in the areas around Praha. Prince Lothair, seeing how he is unable to directly face the veteran cavalry and overwhelming numbers of the Lithuanians, switches to stalling and hit and run tactics. The 4400 men of Bohemia wage a series of cunning actions against the over 16,000 Lithuanian and Polish traitors. Prince Lothair's goals? If he can just hold out long enough, Lord Vitislav can get to Bohemia and save the homeland from these traitors...

June, 1128: Prince Lothair finally uses his last card and commits his men to a bid to capture the arch-traitor himself, Walenski. Using tips from local peasants, he descends upon Walenski's camp in the middle of the night and, after a confused melee, conks him over the head and makes off with him to Praha. Stories are conflicting but the most reliable accounts tell how the Bohemian knights beat Walenski along the way. Then, during a stop, Walenski slays his gaurds and escapes into the night. However, when he rejoins with his men in the forest, he's had enough of this. Declaring that "he cares not for Pope or Anti-Pope, Bohemians or Lithuanians and that he's done with all this running around in the forests dodging arrows." He gathers his men, tells the Duke of Silesia and the Duke of Volhynia to go to heck, and splits for the east. The two Dukes bar the way, and loyal Lithuanian troops conk Walensaki on the head and string him up. A few days later, words reaches the two dukes that the Bohemian Lord Vitislav is due to arrive in Bohemia in a few weeks, and they decide to retire from the field. They move back through Moravia and into Silesia with their remaining 12,000 men (the remaining Bohemians, on the other hand, consisted of two peasants with paring knives, the king's personal chicken farmer and his famous attack chicken Hugo, and the notorious knife-weilding Maazel sisters of Prague's butcher district). In Normandy, Pope Urban decides that if he can't have Paris at least he can have Anacletus. So, when his agents hear that he has left Paris, he sets out for Maine. The Muslim forces in Languedoc begin to take control of the major roads and villages. Oh, and the Vikings made an appearance in Casablanca to once again pick up extortion money from the Cordobans.

July, 1128:Lord Vitislav arrives in Bohmeia and stabilized things a little bit, settled the king down, and tracked down the royal china (which had been shiped to Passau the night before). The Roman Army of God turns Maine upside down looking for Anacletus, raiding the region, torching villages, and stringing up suspicious suspects. Still smarting from the siege of Paris, Le Mans is left alone, but only after the Pope is satisfied that Anacletus is not hiding there. The Duke of Salerno, in an effort to destroy the retreating Lombards, moves into Verona. A few weeks later, Carlo of Lombardy, at the head of his peasant's army moves into Liguria in an attempt to liberate the province and capture Juan of Leon. In Verona, the Duke of Salerno (at the head of 13,000 assorted foot and horse and 6000 mercenaries) brings the 6200 veteran Lombards to battle about ten miles from Venice. The Lombards had a great deal of help from locals and scouts, and were able to manuever the Duke into a ravine from which a number of skirmishes favourable to the Lombards could be fought. In the end, the Duke withdrew back to Lombardy badly mauled, but still confident that his superior numbers will carry the day next year. Behind the Duke's lines, however, another battle was raging: as Carlo of Lombardy (with 2600 angy Tuscans) moved north with his peasant army into Liguria, he ran smack dab into Juan of Leon (with 1200 Leonese knights and footmen). Both sides smacked each other around quite a bit, and Carlo eventually withdrew back to Tuscany to await developments. Meanwhile, in Iberia, Akramid Muslims begin rounding up men and women as slaves to be sold in the bazaars back in Seville. A number of young men lead a revolt, and are crushed brutally by the 11,000 man plus Muslims.

August, 1128: Anacletus, hearing of the depredations of the people of Le Mans, leaves Anjou to go there. Within the same week, Pope Urban gets word that Anacletus is in Anjou and sets off for there from Maine to capture him. There is an awful close call as scouts from the Army of God actually stop Anacletus' wagons. He slips by dressed as a rich merchant from Venice. The Cordobans in Languedoc, having secured the countryside, storm the walls of Marseilles, sustaing some minor casualties to their army. The Duke of Salerno, having regrouped, begins to move into Verona once again. The Lombards there, under David, prepare defenses agains them and a possible coutner-invasion from Lord Vitislav in Tyrol (not having heard that he had problems of his own tracking down stolen Bohemian china and keeping the Maazel sisters away from his three young sons).

March, 1129: After another harsh winter, Anacletus leaves Le Mans for his work is now elsewhere.

April, 1129: The Vikings reappear – in an unexpected place: Sicily. Surely the Pope and the Italians won't mind a little smash and grab, eh? And, anyways, these Sicilians have never even heard of Vikings, so they're gonna be an easy target thinks Ivar Bjornnson. Well, yes..but...it just so happens that, as Ivar leads his longboats into view of Palermo (52 longboats, 16 of which are clearly pirates, and a couple hundred assorted ax and spear-men) he runs smack dab into Lord Bohemond of Salerno. Boehmond just happened to be parleying with the Sicilians about the political situation. They are, however, a notoriuosly independent lot. But when these Vikings start to muck things up, Bohemond leaps into action. "This is the perfect opportunity to show the Sicilians who what Salerno can protect them from, and put an end to these obviously traitorous northern barbarians once and for all. I knew we couldn't trust them anyway..." A pitched naval battle ensued, and Bohemond with his 36 large warships. Much of the Viking fleet was smashed to kindling, but Bohemond also lost a number of prize vessels. The Vikings faded back into the misty Mediterranean to lick their wounds, and the Sicilians were impressed enough by Bohemond's manliness to pledge a minor amount of fealty to Salerno.

May, 1129: The Roman Army of God moves into Anjou, and proceeds to tear the place apart looking for Anacletus. Much of the province is looted by "over-zealous" soldiers in the Papal army. The Duke of Salerno and his troops enter southern Verona once again.

June, 1129: Not ones to simply give up, the Vikings (who are, now, really peeved) descend upon another Salerno land: Campania. Campania, is a rich, lush land, full of plump Italian housewives and good wine. Although it is a bit hot, it is still the perfect place to entertain a few rampaging norsemen. And rampage they do. With all the Salerno troops off fighting Lombards, Campania is easy pickings. Even in their diminshed state, the Vikings are able to carry off a whole mess o' wine and many of those well-fed Italian housewives (these were the same housewives who bade tearful farewells to their only sons and husbands just a few years ago). Upon hearing the news, the Duke of Salerno has a fit over these "so-called allies." In Normandy, the Army of God abandons their raid in Anjou and withdraws into Orleans. In Verona, the Duke of Salerno attempts once again to come to grips with the Lombard army outside of Venice. Both sides begin to prepare for another bloody battle.

July, 1129: The Vikings, with their relations with the Italians and Papacy really gone down the toilet, decide to go for the whole enchilada and descend upon Latium itself to see how well the Pope really lives.[13] Ivar Bjornnson, however, beats a hasty path out of the area when he sees the immense number of castles and forts all up and down the coast. At about this time, across the seas in Navarre, the Akramid Muslims loot the area for all it's worth. In Italy, the Duke of Salerno's soldiers engage in fierce raids on the Lombard forces in Verona, but the defenses of Venice are too strong for a significant battle.

August, 1129: Ivar Bjornnson, figuring if the Papal lands are too fiercely defended, decides to move north to Tuscany. There he is suprised to discover Carlo of Lombardy at the head of a small but effective peasant army. With much of his fleet at the bottom of the Med, Ivar decides he's had enough of this. Escaping Carlo's forces, he heads back home... The Duke of Salerno (with 8600 assorted footmen and the last of his knights [numbering 1600 or so]) finally pins down David of Lombardy in Verona. However, David's 3000 foot and 1200 knights, aided by a network of agents throughout the land and a keen knowledge of the area (most of his soldiers are from there) again beats of the Duke. Both sides continue to be badly bruised, and the dead and wounded pile up in the villages and towns. Desertion increases as the skirmishes become even more brutal. Then the campaigns pause for the winter.

April ~ August 1130: The Army of God moves into Lyonnais. In Iberia, the Akramids, having taken out all their wrath on Navarre, leave a garrison and return south. The Duke of Salerno, in the final act of this play, once again moves into Verona to destroy David's army. At this point, only 6600 foot and 1200 horse remain under the Duke, while David of Lombardy commands only 2600 foot and 1000 horse. Verona is utterly decimated from three years of constant warfare all across it. Once again, the Duke's army slowly grinds down the Lombards, but the advantage of being in familiar territory with a network of informers proves invaluable to the Lombards. The Duke, for the third time, is forced to withdraw from Verona with his bruised forces. Behind him, he leaves a decimated but definat Lombard army.

And that's where things stood at the end of 1130, the Fifteenth year of the Papal Schism and the Peace of God.

West Africa

Mercenaries: 10i, 5c, 5s, 5w, 5t

The Soninke Kingdom of Koumbi

Kaya Maghau, gh?na of Koumbi, Chief of the Mandé

Diplomacy Boure(f)

In the heart of Segu, at the head of a great marsh which, downstream, flowed into the Upper Niger river, workmen assembled pontoons and rafts. These set out, with hardy crews, to ply the trade between Koumbi and the far off lands of Ibo and Usama. Strange goods were brought back, and the markets of Koumbi were abuzz.

Kaya's wife Wagadu gave birth to a daughter, but died in the process. Kaya mourned for a year and a day before looking around for a new wife.

The Dia Kingdom of Songhay

Pakezu, dia Songhay

Diplomacy Goroul(f)

The Songhay waking from their lethargy, sprang into action. Pakezu quickly rejuvenated the royal spearmen and plainsriders of his realm, and looking around, noticed that only one thing was missing: a wife. Gathering his men to him, he set off for the wet and muggy lands of Goroul. After much deliberation with the chiefs there, they agreed to an alliance of the two lands and sealed the deal with a new wife for Pakezu. Pakezu expanded the realm and came home with a comely lass – not bad for a old man of 57 years! To top it all off, a number of intensive projects were undertaken in Songhai – cleaning the streets of muck, carving stone walkways, and other general improvements to the city made it much more livable.

The Bedouin tribes of Kurfei wanted nothing to do with the lowland Songhay farmers who probably couldn't find a Zakam bush in the desert if it came up and bit them in the nose. The Adawara felt similar, and refused, at sword point, to consider abandoning their faith in Allah.

The Yoruban Onium of Ibo

Abwanze, High King of the Yoruba, Lord of the Land, Master of Spears, He Who Must Be Obeyed

Diplomacy City of Zaria (t)

Abwanze continued to rule with an iron fist but a warm heart. To show his wisdom, he undertook massive projects, clearing roads and paths across the land to allow for the common people to travel far and wide in safety. It didn't hurt either that his henchmen and spearmen could extend Abwanze's rule far and wide with the new roads. And Abwanze was nothing if not cunning. So, perhaps it was this, more than concern for the common people that led to the construction of postal roads from Ibo to Ijebo, and on to Bekwai and Akan. Abwanze's rule grew ever stronger.

Indeed, the realm prospered greatly – the people were rich, the merchants fat, and the army ready. Things were going peachy.

Until one day, a merchant by the name of Mohammed (who had recently made the acquaintance of a trader from Mecca) got a bit too drunk on honey mead one night in the huts of a certain Madame, and passed out face first in a pile of muck near the port in Ibo. Normally not an unusual occurrence, nor cause for alarm, but the next day Mohammed felt decidedly cruddy. The next day his wife found him, bloated and putrescent in the courtyard and knew the concerns of the local hedge-shamans all too well. The plague had come. The sudden surge in rat population affected not just those near the ports, but spread inland too, carried on those very same roads that kept the kingdom together. Ibo and Zaria were hit worst, both of them becoming veritable ghost-towns before the disease had run its course. Of all the enemies that Abwanze had vanquished, this was the only one he was powerless against. The plague laid waste to all in its path. Entire tribes were destroyed, and even the old sage H'bwan'tu who had seen this before was amazed at its virulence. Not even the royal family was safe, and Abwanze's second daughter and the eldest daughter of Imbudu were buried on the same day. It must have been their souls that the Gods were seeking for on the day of their death the plague peaked, and eventually subsided. Abwanze looked out on his land and was crushed – where once he ruled a powerful nation of gold and swords, he now ruled a land of skeletons and graveyards. Before him, the task of rebuilding, lay upon his heavy heart. The only joy he could find was in the birth of a boy to one of his wives, sure to inherit a land cursed by the Gods.

The Bini Kingdom of Usama

M’blane, chief of the Bini, prince of Usama, The Throttler

Diplomacy

M'Blane, at the venerable age of 77...still kicked. Everyone in the royal household continued to be amazed at the longevity of this stubborn old man. Bini was rife with plotting and scheming, with all manners of factions just waiting for the old man to kick the bucket. But, despite his old age, he still had enough strength to throttle any man half his age, and didn't hesitate to do so when needed. His rule, therefore, continued without many outward disturbances, but a lot of throttling of troublemakers.

Those who complained that too much was being given to the Ibo were silenced with a stern glance from M'blane. Surely they did not know better than he how to run the realm, and safeguard it's people? The Ibo were truly a friend to Usama, were they not?

South Africa

Mercenaries: 10i

The Bakongo Kingdom

Niken Joi, King of the Kongo, Lord of Great Kongo

Diplomacy Matadi (f), Mbundu (a)

A great feast marked the marriage of Niken Joi to the princess of Matadi, and the alliance between the nations was sealed in blood and goat's milk. Even the forestdwellers of Mbundu accepted the sage words of the Kongo lords.

The Luba Empire of Malawi

The Big Man, King of Luba, Lord of the Bone Chair, Master of all that he can see (as long as he doesn't stand on too high a hill)

Diplomacy Kimbu (ea) Makura (fa)

The steppe dwellers of Kimbu found the slick words of The Big Man convincing.

The efforts of the big man to have an heir came to naught.

The Mwene-Mutapa Empire

Chakama, Lord of Great Mutapa

Diplomacy City of Rozwi(ea), City of Chumnumngwa(nt), City of Great Zimbabwe (f)

Upon command of the Lord Chakama, a bevy of spearmen and new recruits were used to expand the environs of the grand bazaars of Mwene-mutapha. As the bazaars and shops grew, more and more traders were attracted to the city and it's goods spread far and wide. The city, as a result, grew larger, and it's caravanserai labyrinthine. Indeed, the Lord rules over a vast and mighty kingdom, and slave and free trembled when he was angry, and rejoiced when he was joyful.

He was so joyful in fact in these years that he ordered the renovation and uplifting of many of the realms' shrines and idol. No longer would the people merely glance at the roadside shrines, they would pay deference to the spirits of earth and air, and the voices of the rocks and trees would heed their call.

Indeed, the fertility rites of Chakama were powerful indeed. So powerful that when his wife bore him a daughter, she came out kicking and screaming. This led, inevitably, to the death of the woman. Trifling with the gods can be dangerous!

North and Central America

Where spring is in the air, and the fancies of kings young and old turn to...

TzinTzunTzan

Opochtli, Huey Tlaotani

Diplomacy

The Tzintzuntzan listened intently to the words of the Mitla, finding wisdom in them.

Zapotec Kingdom of Mitla

Ahuazhantzin, Sky-Wheel-Speaker

Diplomacy Tzintzuntzan (a)

Huehueotlzin, son of Ahuazhantzin, having learnt the ways of the Northerners in TzinTzunTzan over these years, made a smashing debut in his diplomatic efforts with them. After learning of their customs, he arranged for a shipment of rare animals to be brought in from his homeland which were a smashing success. But not quite in the way he intended - the small dogs came by salve-train into the city and were immediately greeted with shouts of joy by the Tzintzuntzan nobility seated in the royal huts. Huehueotlzin, assuming that all the dogs running around were pets, was a bit taken aback to see the Tzin nobles arrange for their slaves to skewer and spit-roast the dogs in rapid succession.[14] A great feast was had by all, although afterwards Huehueotlzin was not sure how he could ever go back to his beloved pets – since he had enjoyed the strange meat greatly. An alliance with the Tzin was sealed.

The Triple Alliance (Méxica)

Eight Deer, King of the Tiacopan, Lord of Texcoco and Tula

Diplomacy Otomi(ea), Huexotla (f)

The realm was at peace, and much work was done to extend the rule of the Stone Throne to the rest of the realm. Eight Deer was tired of having to spend all his waking moments dealing with matters of state and boring atendants. He was enamoured of his new bride, and wished to be with her! Finally he was able to sneak away later in the fifth cylce of Low Rain and he and Jade Eyes spent a month hunting in the highlands. No heir was borne, but the King was noticeably more relaxed afterwards.

Lord Tepetl was ble to convince the Huexotla of the usefullness of being more fully a part of the Stone Throne.

In the north, the forest dwellers in Jonaz Pame were raided by the Lord of Tlapocoya, with slaves being brought back in ropes to the Valley to work in the mines and fields.

Chichen Itze

Chumatzl, Priest King of the Maya

Diplomacy Uazactum in Chontal (c)

Lord Kukal, in his attempts to convince the town of Uazactum to follow the true Mayan path met with only marginal success. "There is peace, the land was rich, why do we need to bow down to Maya? We care not for your ways, they are different to ours."

And it was true, there was peace in the land. The only troubling news came from the south, where only barbarians and cannibals lived. News of a Moon Cult was intriguing, but of no great concern. For had not Maya stood on its own path for a thousand cycles? And it would stand for a thousand more, surely.

In the Year of the Star-Eye, the priests came forth from the Altar and proclaimed the birth of Tzal and Tzin, twin children of Chumtazl. One girl and one boy, the children were of strong grip and both immediately grabbed the rod of the Eye during the birth rites. All the priests agreed this was a good sign.

The Inca Coast

Land of the Moon-Cult

The Kingdom of Quito

Pocomoc II, Moon Prince of Valdivia, Lord of the Moon Cult, Listener to the Great Eye, Eater of the Moon-Pie

Diplomacy Guayami (ea)

The vigor of the Moon Cult did not abate. No, in fact it grew and spread like wildfire across the mountains and sees, just as the Mad Priests had foretold. Slaves in the dozens were sacrificed to the new and powerful Moon Gods, and the Old Gods were consumed in an orgy of blood and destruction. In the fourth year did come the mighty battle between the Elder Snake and the Lightning Moon. The priests foretold the blood that spilled onto the Earth, and lo, it spread to the sky. The Lightning Moon triumphed, and consumed the Snake, giving birth to the Snake Moon. All across the lands saw this great battle as the priests relayed it, and from Valdivia did spread the word of the Great Moon Cult.

First, to Chimu, were some newly freed once again found themselves under threat of slavery and sacrifice. Then, across to Guayami, the Moon Priests brought by the Quito boats, spread the word of the great battle between the Snake and the Moon. The people, in awe, bowed down to the might of the Moon. The jungle dwellers of Cuna remained isolated enough, and the word of the Moon has not reached their ears.

The priests of the Moon Temple (formerly the Snake Temple) in Quito reveled in their new power as they cautiously told Pocomoc that the fertility rites of the Snake were no longer potent. However, hedging his bets, Pocomoc gave sacrifice to both the Snake and The Moon. To no one's surprise, the Moon is a fickle God and Pocomoc's child died in birth.

Guayami accepted closer political ties with Quito, as well as the powerful Moon Cult as their new gods.

The Boruca tribes, however, knew Lord Nomozon. Strong and determined in their faith they found his Moon Cult and his offers of alliance repulsive. They did not even listen to his words, for they had heard and seen enough from the South of what it meant to be worshippers of the Moon. They wanted none of the Quito. Cutting off his eyelids and stringing him up, Nomozon was left to rot in the jungle as his eyes dried up. After his demise, not even the flies would land on him for fear of the retribution of the Moon.

The Chimu Kingdom of Chanchan

Viracocha, The Young Sun

Diplomacy Nazca (c)

Continuing to brood over the troubling peoples around him, Viracocha remained at home, spending most of his time in "consultation" with his wife. This led not only to an expansion of the Chimu priest-scholars to rule the kingdom, but also the untimely death of his wife to whom the birthing process was not kind. What started as a regular bleeding never stopped. Viracocha brooded in his grief for over a year, refusing to see any, even the head of the Snake Cult (a man with no small influence in Chimu affairs).

Things took a turn for the worse, when, not even six months after this, the beautiful Ana, daughter of Teewa, also died. Contracting some strange fever brought back from the south by traders, the realm mourned for her spirit and wondered what they had done to anger the Gods so.

And then things really went to pot. The heretical Moon-Cult, which so worried Viracocha a few years ago, spread like wildfire through the lands. Strange ragged priests, bearing sigils and signs and bone-axes descended upon the north of the land. In Chimu, they found many adherents to their new brand of Gods. Disgusting though many found this Moon Cult, many more were intrigued. Verily, the region of Chimu was overrun by moon-priests with moon-knives, and moon-peddlers selling moon-pies. Their forms of sacrifice were abhorrent to the newly freed in the kingdom, for they were in large part based upon slavery. All that Viracocha had laboured to achieve- in bringing at least some semblance of freedom to all within his realm – seemed threatened by this strange cult of sacrifice.

Seeing how Viracocha was preoccupied with other matters, the farming people of Wairajikira quietly stopped paying any form of deference at all to the Chimu kingdom, instead, returning to their ancient ways far from the strange customs of the city dwellers. They didn't really hear much from them anyways, as the mountains were high and the ChanChan were never ones to put out much effort to come to them.

The Nazca, so far from ChanChan, and hearing rumours of Viracocha's weakness for his wife, refused to entertain much thought of joining the kingdom.

The one bright spot in all this was the ascension of the daughter of Viracocha in her 15^th year. Viracocha, as is the custom, is to preside over her Naming Ceremony when she takes the royal mark next year.

Tiwanaku

Dehol Capac the Fambly, Lord of the City of Seven Walls

Diplomacy: Moquequa (a)

Dehol rejoiced as the fair-skinned Moquequa joined his burgeoning realm as allies. Together, surely the Lords of the Sky and Moon looked favorably upon the Tiwanaku. An it must have been true, as many of the students who partook in the Great Temple riots of last year pursued their studies with renewed vigor and enthusiasm.

As the peoples of Moquequa and Caranga increased their interaction, trade with the strange ChanChan people to the north also grew. This, combined with an influx of students to study at the Moquequa temple to the Snake-Lord (which lay at the conjunction of three great rivers always known for their strange silty run-offs) grew into a large trading post, and then a small city in the far north of that land. Thus, after many years, was the city of Pachacamac founded, blessed by the priests and certain to lead to greater prosperity in the land. The new city strode the harbors to both the Chinca sea and the Angamos sea.

Presiding over the first offering to the Gods in Pachamac was the son of Dehol – Amehu. As is the custom, Amehu ascended to the heirship in a grand ceremony. A huge party ensued, giving a boost to the newborne city economy, and giving everyone a terrible hangover that lasted a week – Blessed moon water can be powerful stuff, Amehu learned, as he became a man and heir to the throne.

The end of the year of the ascension, however, was marked by tragedy as the mother of Amehu – known as Starfish and the First Empress to his father, the King, died in childbirth due to complications over a slave's error in mixing certain salves and the extreme rigors of the birth. All birthing-attendants were confused (and in fear for their life), and might have missed the signs, had it not been for the same slave who noticed (in a vain attempt to save his life) that Starfish was pregnant with not one but two. The divine indications were unclear as to what this meant – for to the Priests in the Great Temple twins was a subject on which they needed to consult the Gods. What was clear however was that the children – one male, one female – were of great beauty and intelligence. This fact alone gave Dehol solace as he presided over the ceremony of his dead wife and most beloved. Later that year Amehu returned to meet his new siblings. He was nonplussed.

The Peace of God,1126 A.D. – Opening Moves

Red: Anacletan forces, and Muslims

Green: Forces of the Roman Pope
ISI Listing for Lords of the Earth, Campaign 24, Turn REF TurnNumber \h

#	Nation Name	MSI	ESI	Player Name	Phone Number	TV	EMail Address

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[1]Not like anyone here is doing anything other than burning religious sites to the ground. But, hey, it is an option.

[2]Despite what my ex-girlfriend might say.

[3]I haven't a clue what this is all about. Presumably you players do...

[4]Adaptation thereof.

[5]Just so you know, this little interlude is applicable to at least three different events and empires in this turn. You guys fight dirty!

[6]Adaptation thereof.

[7]Al Karras, for his part, was scared out of his wits by this whole affair. Not only was he a pretty mild-mannered guy to begin with, but he was Al'Abbas' replacement. And all Oran knew what had happened to that poor sap.

[8]The first two sessions dealt primarily with procedures and membership, rather than actual debate.

[9]Good luck.

[10]who has now taken to calling himself a Servant of God a bit too often for the likes of Guy – makes him a bit uncomfortable it does. But, time enough for that later.

[11]"We fart in your general direction!"

[12]One thing he did not know was that Robert Guiscard had taken an arrow in the side and lay in the Temple fighting for his life. He would recover, but only much later. At this point, the Anacletan forces numbered close to 17500 men, while the Roman forces were around 13000 in total.

[13]They've heard tales of the richness of St. Peter's, and who can blame them for wanting to take a look themselves?

[14]This is apparerently not at all far from the truth. In "Chihuahuas – A Complete Pet Owners Manual" (Barrons, 1995) one can read the following: The Olmecs did, however, have two sources of domesticated meat: turkeys and dogs." The dogs they ate were, apparently, Chihuahuas. Wow. And yes, I do own one. And, yes, it's embarrassing.