MP: Fame and Riches - game ended, Numahr - Agartha won!

[Anaconda]

The following letter was delivered to a loyal bannerman of the Bandar Log nation, to be delivered forward again, all the way to the seat of power of their leader, assumingly a weird hearless monkey.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN


Very well, dear apes.

If you stay to that side of the the greek, we shall let you take Namor. Please note this arrangement reserves province 78 to us, and all what lies to the West from it also.

Trusting on your friendship,

signed by

Johannes Kurkunkastaja
he who walks between the spiders

And, at the end of the parchment paper one could find a fine-print note:

POST SCRIPTUM;
Do you, mi lord, have any idea what might have happened to that two headed sea serpent, the one whos heads had mocking names for true believers written all over them?

[earcaraxe]

To the black-skinned lords of the evil forests and misty mountains!

Your proposal now bears the signature of the bandarian leaders (and stains of banana shake).

Concerning the two-headed giant serpent: I have heard about it, voices of awe and fear, tales of destruction and mayhem, but no monkey saw it (and lived to tell).

may the stars sprinkle your people with luck!

The Dictatoress of Fashion

[Deadnature]

*notice posted to all Tien Chi guardhouses*

ALERT:

Be on the lookout for questing Ulmish Knights. Their bravery knows no bounds, as scouts of the bureaucracy have recently confirmed that one such group of adventurers slew the mighty Wyrm of R'lyeh. Scouts noted that the knights continued attack the seemingly unkillable Wrym, even after suffering many losses. Fearing for its life the Wyrm finally tried to flee, at which point the Ulmish warriors rode down the horrible beast and finished it off.

Any guardhouses of the bureaucracy are to report sightings of such black-clad Knights IMMEDIATELY and are instructed to NOT ENGAGE them until reinforcements arrive.

By bureaucratic decree of Du Qiunniang, the prophet of the true god Li Xue

[Numahr]

Mermer captains, thanks for this audience.

My Lord Jörmungandr asked me to speak with the captains of the monkey folk, and here I see only strange hybrids between men and fishes. I will trust you to deliver my message to the Szivi nonetheless - assuming you know someone in your Nation who at least knows how to find the Hidden One.

Your race has always been a subject of interest for the Oracles who worship our Lord. They have noted how small and large creatures live in harmony in our forests, from the tiny markatas to the huge tropical beasts dwarfing even our oldest Ancient Ones. But we know that your true strength lies somewhere else, as your wisest monkeys read in the stars as easily as our Ancient Oracles read in the Earth. We note however from this hill fort's design that our engineers could teach you one or two things on architecture. What a nice site for a really great Cave City these mountains could have provided! Anyway, we understand that you may underestimate the holy strength of the Mountains.

Putting aside these considerations on cultural and spiritual relativism, I must come now to the heart of my message. I, by the Holy power entrusted to me by the Councilor of Gods, invite an esteemed representative of the Bandari nation to participate to a Bridge Ceremony. You may know the modalities: exchange of cultural and commercial embassies, and engraving in the middle of the bridge of a peace oath [NAP3] with signatures of both parties. I will participate personally in the ceremony, if you accept it, even if my counterpart has to be one of these lowly fish-men.

Now speak, O Bandari, for Agartha is listening to you...

Words of Nur-i Tagh, Prophet of the Councilor of Gods
to the Bandari mermer captains of Dragon Pointe Hill Fort

[earcaraxe]

To Nur-i Tagh, Prophet of the Councilor of Gods!

In the name of Szivi I - the chosen markata - gladly and happly accept your kind invitation to the Bridge Caremony, and welcome you, your people and the teachings your ancestors bequeathed you and who is willing to listen.

Aruna of the high command will rush to our "fort" immediately, to represent the bandari kingdom and welcome the time of friendship between our people.



the prophet of the Hairless Buddha

[Numahr]

O mindless Aguadillas!

We admire your foolish bravery. Surely it is thrilling to contemplate sneak attacking anyone without prior notice, right to the capital. How exciting to slaughter unprepared provincial defense.

Now beside the excitement we can imagine in your other otherwordly mind, your last move raises a couple of questions even the wisest Oracles could not find a beginning of answer for.

- Why being so cruel with innocent slaves, butchered for a price much higher than the unsupported PD they could barely vanquish?

- How do a couple of Illithids with their bare hands plan to besiege a Cave City, not to mention conquer it?

- Why attack the one Nation well-known for her mindless soldiers (the whole Golem arsenal, available at research level 0) when your main strength is mind attacks? All your Astral and Mind magic will be pointless against marble soldiers until you research Arcane Bolt, which is not exactly for tomorrow...

- Why attack the only nation in this world whose field armies are almost entirely amphibian and can easily attack your underwater holdings without special magic equipment / mercenaries / independant tribes?


Let us be honest, your attack took us by surprise but failed. We give you a chance to retire your poor Illithids before they meet the cold of Granite Swords held by mindless Attentive Statues, and sign an immediate and clear Non Aggression Pact of 5 turns. This is all we ask although we will have to repay for provincial defense and we loose a precious turn of capital recruitment. If you insist for war, be aware that it will force us to start amphibian operations to ensure safety for our lands.

To all other nations: we have no intention to develop an underwater empire bordering all your lands and threatening you of sneak attacks like R'lyeh practices. The only problem is that if we cannot sign a strong peace treaty with R'lyeh, we now have to predict random invasions from the seas in the future. So, in case we need to invade R'lyeh under the waves, we invite you to to grab and keep any water province next to you. Contrarily to usual practice in holy wars, we will be happy with any "unfair" land grabbing by other nations. Our only goal, if this war degenerates, will be to get rid of the R'lyeh threat.


Nur-i Tagh, the Mountain Light
on behalf of Jörmungandr, Patron of Soldiers
*** Ancient Oracles of the Deep Council unanimously align themselves with this declaration ***

[pakoito]

Kingdom of R'lyeh, under New Direction after the death of our god.

Why attack the kingdom of Agartha? Because you didn't expect so and grew careless. It'll teach you something about our ambition that we can spare one month of lobo guards to get someone into trouble. Two turns without production in exchange of one of mines is enough satisfaction for the watery nation. Now if you excuse me, we have some undefended provinces to raid.

To all other nations:
To all leaders, we can bite our biggest threat out of the game if we act together this two turns. A three-way attack to their island (31, 40, 64) will finish the game of ascension for one of our veteran enemy players.

[Numahr]

Mind Lords, your message of animosity is clear.

I only wonder who is the threat: a nation who behaves in a predictable and friendly way, stops at agreed and natural borders, or one who decides every two turns to turn against someone else, one turn the weak... one turn the strong... next who?

Nur-i Tagh, the Mountain Light
on behalf of Jörmungandr, Patron of Soldiers

[pakoito]

Kingdom of R'lyeh, under New Direction after the death of our god.

There's only 9 water provinces in the map I conquered in 4 turns. You have around 18 undefended provinces with 2 neighbors on chokespots, where I have 8 who can access me from anywhere. I'm sorry if you don't understand my peoples needs but I want someone out of the map now, and your nation is a giant with feet of clay. ("HAHA DOUBLE ENTENDRE" "Shut up, Centophoros, you have no voice now the Pretender's dead")

Your last message is one of weakness and doubt about whether you can stand a defense against several armies. It's not in my hands to crush you, but it doesn't take much to understand that the wild card of a bold newbie can turn a game's fate.

[Anaconda]

It had been the sunny month of Shahrivar when Commander Mganga came down to South riding a spider. He had been an infantry man, and he had always fought on his feet. So, on his feet he died. Now he was going back North carried on his hide-shield.

Maybe, if Johannes the prophet would have been a man of higher moral, he would have blamed him self for ignoring the walking dead. But his visions considering these abominations had been weak, and on the other hand, he was not a man who would bother him self with a guilt.

The undead had sneaked on the host with the cover of falling night. They had shared some mead and meat with the monkey envoys, and men were bringing out the fires to hold the cold of night at bay. The surprise was complete, and the results were the same. No matter it must have been days now, they had not seen the sun since the defeat.

While Machaka infantry held their ground, the few spiders they got with 'em broke surprisingly fast. The enemy was able to flank the hide-shield wall and it did not take long when there were only archers releasing their volleys on the approaching enemy. Volley after volley, it made no difference. The enemy wore steel, and the arrows lacked the penetration. Commander Mganga, a hero of mighty strenght, fell protecting the last of the archers.

”Note to self; next time bring the riddle of magic fire along” Johannes Kurkunkastaja was thinking. ”We will see how them monsters boil in their armors. The funeral march was slow and the atmosphere depressed as never before. Even the Tartarians are crying, some thought wiping the rain off their faces. All missed the commander, a man who had their respect. The same could not be said of the prophet, who led with the fear rather than with example.

The prophet knew it, but it did not matter to him.

Better to be feared and alive, he was thinking when the attendants of the ceremony passed him. Johannes did not attend the march North. He had other business to take care of. Indeed, the peijainen for Mganga would be held without any notable figures. Witch doctors and sorceress', they'd all fallen side by side with Mganga.

But new heroes will rise, and the day shall come again. The prophet had seen it in his fevered dreams.