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[Iituem]

Pretty straightforward for anyone who's done this before.  Sid Meier's Civilisation 4 is the penultimate in the hugely successful Civilisation series pioneered by Sid Meier (hence the name).  I don't have the latest version, and I honestly quite like the inclusion of religion in version 4, as it really does shape the level of history one experiences.  The goal of Civilisation is to guide a chosen civilisation from its very birth in the age of city-states (4000BC) to the modern age (~2050).  In Civilisation 4, there are several ways to win:

• Conquest - Eliminate every other rival on the planet.
• Domination - Control most of the surface of the world and most of its people.  This doesn't necessarily obviate conquest, as an early conquest victory may mean your empire doesn't stretch as far as domination requires.
• Diplomacy - Build the United Nations, and then get yourself elected leader of the world (peacefully uniting all states beneath you).
• Cultural - Construct three awesomely impressive cities that are never taken.  I think the implication here is that your cultural impact (television, fashions, belief systems) become so overbearingly powerful that the world comes under your sway just because they want more of your soaps and cheap beauty products.
• Technological - Build the first interstellar spacecraft, or at least get it to Alpha Centauri first.  Hopefully the captain won't be assassinated and its crew split into seven idealogical factions fighting for the future of mankind.  But you never know.

Some of these are vastly easier ways to win (Tech, Conquest), and some are flat out insane (Cultural).  I probably won't be going for a cultural victory here.

The game is set on a Huge map with randomly distributed continents.   Whilst may not be masochistic enough to try for a Cultural victory, I am masochistic enough to set the game speed to Marathon (4x Normal speed), purely because of the difference it makes to maneuvering about with units - in Marathon, making units is hard and time consuming.  Moving them is easy.  In Maraton, you need a good standing army.  Also, you need a lot of patience.

I picked the English in part because they are close to my heart, but primarily because Elizabeth gives you massive bonuses to Great Person Production (more on that later) and commerce.  Let's begin, shall we?

[Iituem]

Welcome, welcome.  Feel free to help yourselves to some of the canapes the catering staff have been so good as to provide us with.  We're just getting the projector set up.

Is that working?  Good, good.  Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  My name is Professor Aldous Buxington, and today we'll be taking a look at the latest finds from the dig site near London.  It is my hope that our research will provide a crucial insight into the beginnings of our glorious people.



As you can see from this satellite image, the original Britons that founded what would eventually become London originated from a series of tribes on the eastern slopes of London Hill.  It is believed that they migrated to northeastern face of the hill and set up a primitive fortress in defence sometime around 4200-3800BC.  With easy access to the river Thames and ample supplies of lumber and small game in the surrounding forest more and more tribes gathered at the site.  It is during this time that we can say that the proto-London truly became a city.  Examination of the initial site shows signs of fishing, basic wheels used for flint sharpening, and even early surface mining for precious metal deposits (all exhausted by the next millenium.



Early English huntsmen travelled or trading down the whole length of the Thames, stretching to the wastes of Scotland and beyond.  Evidence in the Edinburgh desert suggests that a flourishing relationship with the early Scots nomads existed as early as two centuries after the founding of London, leading to extensive knowledge of the Scottish region.  Evidence suggests that early crop domestication was provided by the Scottish, but large-scale agriculture would not come into its own for hundreds of years.



It would be a lie to say that relations with the Scottish were anything resembling idyllic.  Many tribes, particularly the predecessors of the McPhearson clan, fought violently against what they viewed as interlopers and would-be oppressors.  The level of resistance presented would cut off relations with southern Scotland for centuries before further expeditions could be mounted.



Where Scotland was hot and inhospitable, Wales proved to be cold and inhospitable.  Yet as utterly miserable and depressing as early Wales must have been, people lived there.  Straddling the river Taff was the progenitor of modern day Cardiff, considered by many then (and now) to be a miserable hole in the ground.  Access to a struggling deer population provided enough food to scrape by, and over time the tribes that lived in the frozen valley formed a concrete relationship with the London clans.

It's worth noting at this point that I founded Cardiff almost entirely by accident.  I hit a village which gave me a free Settler, hit the b button and it founded a city on the spot.  Cardiff will probably remain both an eyesore and a drain on resources for the rest of the game.

It was around this time that oral histories put first contact with the Aztec people:

"Know ye the folk of the Sun?
Know ye the bright lands they live in?
When Welsh are English were as one,
Those days the Sun folk were first seen."
 - (Old Welsh, Trad.)

Their own traders having strayed far from the southern homelands, initial contact was fortunately not characterised by violence on either side.  Once contact was first established, full centuries would pass before the early English would become aware of their homelands.  Aside from some conflicts in Taffland that put an end to trade and exploration in that region, the next five hundred years were ones of semi-isolation.  Agriculture truly entered into its own between 3500-3300 BC with local strains of barley being domesticated on a large scale.



Based on artwork and jewellery deposits from the era, we can predict that as of around 3300 BC, the known world consisted primarily of the British Peninsula.  From here, the English were poised to investigate (and in time, influence) the rest of the world.



Artwork from Tenochtitlan indicates the arrival of English hunters and scouts in the Nahuatl Jungle sometime around the turn of the third millenium BC.  Panther skins found preserved in early Scottish burial sites corroborate the story.  The early folk tale of 'Bran the Blessed' tells of him fighting giant beasts on Gordon's Causeway, now believed to be the extinct Irish Brown Bear.  In it he is depicted as wearing "the head of a great cat, a gift from the men of the Sun".  Although Bran himself valiantly slew the beasts, many of his men were wounded or permanently lamed far from home.  Thus began the tale of 'The Blessed Journey', an epic revolving around the travels of Bran's band across the entirety of Britain in an effort to return home to sacred England.  Beset by beasts of the wildest and most ferocious character, Bran's Band traversed the foothills of Ireland and the endless wastes of Scotland with skill and cunning to avoid them.

I had three scouts sent to investigate the Aztec homeland.  On their way back, one of them fought off an attack by a unit of bears on the spot I'd marked as Gordon's Causeway.  Not willing to spend the turns it would take to heal him, I promoted him up to regain some health and spend several turns maneuvering him carefully so as not to get him killed.

It is also around this time that copper was first dug out of the hills south of London and, regrettably, the first indications of slavery amongst the English.  Early slaves were probably Tafflanders or Scots captured in battle and traded up the Taff or Thames to work in the mines.  In the next millenium Scottish slaves would contribute significantly towards the foundation of the city of York, but that lecture will follow after the mid-afternoon break.  I imagine several of you will want to head to the cafeteria already for some of Ms Daisy's trifle.  I know I do.  We'll reconvene shortly.

[PenguinOverlord]

The English fighting the Aztecs.
Awesome.

[Heron TSG]

Awesome.

[sonerohi]

Amazing gentleman is amazing.

[Iituem]

The ruins of Godwin Castle, at Godwin's Point, home of the medieval Spotter Order of St Godwin.

The Spotter Orders and the Second Millenium by Dr John Bonne - Excerpt

During the second millenium BC, inter-clan relations across the north of Britain developed to the point that semi-permanent lookout posts began to be kept on the outliers of English and Welsh society.  These posts allowed the clans to keep watch over many miles of the 'wilderness', spotting any rival tribal armies that might be gathered for war.  Places such as Bronwyck's Hill, Godwin's Point and Bran's Bluff all served as scouting sites in this manner.

About halfway through the century the earliest known object of writing was created, committing to stone the now legendary Epic of Bran the Blessed, already a centuries-old tale at the time of writing.  It is believed that the style of semi-pictographic writing used may have evolved from a system used by clan leaders in London to keep track of numbers of flocks.  From accounting, a system of writing evolved to pass on the knowledge of generations.

It may well have been the Epic that inspired the later formalisation of the Spotter Orders, as the final tablet tells of Bran's triumphant return to London only to find that his people were now so different that he and his men could no longer live amongst them.  Some of Bran's men took wives and moved with him to found the settlement on Bran's Bluff, for a long time one of the most well-known Spotter towns.  Close to the end of the second millenium, the tiny settlement fouinded by Bran the Blessed would eventually grow into Bran's Town, or Branston.




Deep Pennine Caves.  Pitch dark without modern lighting, original devotees would have had to crawl blind through a space no taller than an infant to reach this sacred point.

Early English Mysticism by John Lemon, Esq - Excerpt

By the turn of the second millenium, there was a flourishing of artwork in deep caves and other hidden places.  Many murals and depictions can be found in these caverns; the Pennine Deep Caves hold some of England's most valuable historical art and artefacts.  It is not known what produced this sudden interest in mysticism, but it may have been responsible for the advent of true religion in Britain, an evolution notably separate from that of the rest of the world.

Travelling mystics went on pilgrimages all across Britain, going to and coming from as far away as Greypeak in Taffland.  In London, still the greatest city of its day and boasting a total population of nearly 150,000 across the length and breadth of its provinces, many of these mystics came to meet and dicuss both their spirital experiences and the more practical skills and traditions they had learned in their travels.  Some of these mystics rose to positions of great prominence and, in the early first millenium, devoted their wealth and influence to the construction of the Library of London, possibly the first of its kind.

Construction of the library shell and outbuildings continued for nearly a hundred years as tablets of stone and clay were collected.  The completion of the library is attributed to 'Bronwyck the Bloody', 'the falsest and truest scholar of London'.  If Bronwyck actually existed, he was almost certainly Welsh and probably not a scholar but an influential chief who saw profit to be made of the mystics.  He rounded up several of the clans and engaged in a war of violent subjugation amongst the people of London, enslaving thousands and putting them to work finishing the library within his lifetime rather than having to wait another three hundred years. 

Perhaps ten or more thousand people were enslaved over the course of the library's construction, but with that ten thousand comprising many of the youngest and strongest, nearly a hundred thousand men in total either died from famine or abandoned London for the safer 'wilds'.  Recovery would take decades, but the library was completed.  An unnamed sculpture of an early Briton stood until the 6th Century AD, when it was destroyed in a fire.  It was hypothesised to be that of Bronwyck himself, but like so much that has been lost in history we shall never know.



Tablets reconstructing the Epic of Bran the Blessed, or the Blessed Journey.  Estimated date ~12-1500BC

The London Tablets by Kendrick Wales - Excerpt

Although much of the original Library of London was destroyed, a recently excavated antechamber has revealed some of the oldest tablets from the centuries after its founding.  There was evidence also of papyrus and vellum being used to store knowledge, but both forms have crumbled with age.  Only the clay tablets remain.


Slaves to the [count] of two hundred per month.  Turnover higher than expected.  One hundred cubits gravel, one [hundred] cubits stone flags ...[missing text]... segment of the road expected to be complete by the spring, though [losses] amongst the slaves are high.

This tablet records the construction of an extensive series of roads between the major provinces of England and Wales; London, Cardiff, Branston and York.  Carbon dating places it at around 1500BC, but some of the later tablets record much later events, proving the Library's use as a long-term store of knowledge.  A hundred years later, we see the following tablet.

50 heads sheep to Daffyn by Althred, 400 logs.
20 heads sheep to Runden of Branston by Mark of London, 10 slaves.
200 bushels wheat to Dannet of York by Grund, 1 sheep.

Though the tablet is fragmentary, it is clear evidence of accounting for a sheep market in York.  Though it is estimated that pigs were tamed in London some five hundred years previous, sheep trades are not common before this period.  It is also around this time that we find another tablet fragment:

"I am the Lord thy G-d.  Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."

It is unlikely that this is the fabled Covenant text spoken of in the Torah, but certainly around this time the Judaic faith had become prominent enough for its written records to find their way into the Library.  A note of explanation is required here on the history of Judaism, taken from one of Lemon's essays on the subject:

English mysticism found its way out of the caves and into the streets, and some mystics were more popular in their views than others.  They gathered followings around them, and in time began to attribute to the forces of nature specific and named guiding forces - gods.  For five hundred years these scattered faiths remained separate and at times embattled, recognising though perhaps not tolerating one another.  It is around the turn of the 14th Century BC that we see a mystic of otherwise little importance begin to speak of a force that guides all other forces.  That mystic's name was Abraham.




Analysis and Excerpts from the Hebrew Monastery at London - An essay by Langston Hughes

The wealth of collected knowledge in clay and later papyrus provides a relatively detailed look into the early days of the Jewish faith.  Records exist as early as the very beginning:

Abraham taught to us all we know, and with his passing there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth.  His mantle and staff fell to his son, David, to lead our flock.  David took up his father's mantle, but not his staff.

"I shall hold not the staff of a shepherd, for that is not G-d's will for me.  I shall wield the axe of a warrior, and so shall G-d's will be known to all."

We know little of Abraham's early life in detail.  We know that he was a shepherd from Yorkshire and that he often made trips north to London along the Thames to sell large flocks of sheep.  Despite the humility associated with the profession, it is likely that Abraham owned a very large herd and was served by multiple hireling shepherds.  At some point in his later years, Abraham claimed the visitation by God that served as the foundation of the faith.  For reasons only he could understand, he travelled north to Wales and spent the remainder of his life preaching a message of a single deity that would unify the people.  The message held a strong attraction for many, particularly the oppressed segments of the populace.

If Abraham was the first prophet, David was the first 'armed prophet'.  Upon inheriting his father's position as leader of the faith, David 'impressed' the leadership of Cardiff's clans and formed a band through which to spread his faith to England.  He crossed the Pass of Wales to London and spent the next fifteen years crusading down the Thames, spreading his message with the fire of his spirit and the bronze of his axe.

"For long years the Shires were in turmoil, for they would not accept the way of G-d.  Long David protested with sword and tongue, and in London and Branston they eventually heard, but in his father's home of York they would not.  When at last his people heeded his call and the chiefs of the clans bowed to their true master, G-d, David began the holy mission of organising the scattered fragments of the faith."

The anarchy brought about by David's wars of conversion lasted for a full forty-five years.  By the time the Church in its first recognisable form came into existence (more than half a century after Abraham first spoke of his vision of God), David was an old man.  He lived to see peace, but not for long, dying soon after the formal unification of the Jewish faith.  His heirs would continue the faith for centuries to come.

"Let a temple be built to the glory of the Lord.  Let it rise high with stone, and wood shall flank its sides and roof.  Through the top and the sides the sun shall shine and all the stars show resplendent in His glory."

The original wood of the first temple having long since rotted away or been stolen, now only the ring of stone supports known as Stonehenge exists.  Geological analysis of the rocks shows that stones were dragged from all corners of England and Wales in its construction.  The wealth and organisation required to do this was immense for the time, and such actions earned the envy and ire of many of the wilder Scottish and Welsh clans.

[Heron TSG]

Fantastic! I like how the update can remain interesting even with no pictures of the game itself.

[Iituem]

Placeholder post.  Rest of this up later tonight, but the bit about early Jewish history fitted better in the second post, so edited to allow.  (Or rather, it fitted worse in the next segment.)

[Iituem]

King and Country


Harold the Strong (850-800BC approx)

IN 850BC, in response to the chaos assailing the English cities, a chief of a minor Branshire clan went to war.  Believing that as there was one God in heaven there should be one ruler on earth, this chief set about unifying all the remaining clans under his banner.  Widespread violence continued for nearly forty years as he subjugated any who opposed him, but when he was done he was crowned by the Jewish Church as Harold, first king of England and ruler by divine right.

Some of Harold's first acts were to shore up the old Spotter Posts with heavily armed guards.  This sort of military presence was not and could not be a permanent measure against the Welsh and Scots, but they could hold the lands long enough for Harold's heirs to pacify the lands by settlement instead.  Most of Harold's remaining years passed in setting up these demands before succombing to 'an ailment of the liver', probably brought about by excessive drinking.


Gordon the Fleet (800-760BC approx)

Harold's son Gordon is mostly known for continuing his father's policies, and the ingenuity with which he did so.  Realising that English forces alone would not be sufficient to maintain pacification of Scotland and Taffland, Gordon instituted an arrangement with Scottish and Tafflander forces that would persist for centuries to come.  In exchange for silver, food and other luxuries, clans would defend the extended borders of the English and Welsh kingdom, usually from their very rivals.

To help institute this, Gordon travelled across the entire continent of Great Britain with his retinue, making these proposals in person.  Although the full scope of his thirty-year journey may seem horrifically long by modern standards, this was considered a feat of inhuman speed at the time (bearing in mind that so much of Britain was not civilised and lacked the transport infrastructure that we enjoy today).  Gordon died three years after returning to London to a hero's welcome, assassinated by a band of Scots mercenaries.  If these Scots were not employed by him, they certainly aided the rise of Gordon's nephew and heir.


Alfred the White (760-738BC)

Alfred, whilst reputably a womaniser and drunkard, fortunately did little to harm his country during his reign.  He also did little to benefit it, beyond setting up incentives to emigrate beyond the established borders of the empire such as reduced or eliminated taxation and the use of Scottish or Tafflander slaves.  Died of gout.


Rodney the Grey (738-690BC)

Rodney continued his father's policies of rampant debauchery, responding to pressures from the populace for increased military presence beyond the borders by providing smiths and weapons to the mercenary clans.  It is around this time that Clan McPhearson is beginning to achieve something of a reputation as a warrior clan.  Towards the end of his life became immensely charitable and gave away much of his personal fortune to the Jewish Synod and the poor.  Died of age.


Harold the Game (690-642BC)

Harold achieved his title through a hunting accident in his early teens when he was gored by a wild boar and permanently lamed in one leg.  Harold increased taxation heavily during his reign to try and cope with the bankruptcy his father's charity had brought on the kingdom as well as the costs he would establish in his later, greatest achievement.  The increased taxation in London strongly penalised the environment of free learning enjoyed in the capital's Library, likely retarding development throughout England by many years.  On the other hand, it both enabled concessions to build and provided a strong incentive to emigrate towards the new town of Bronwyck's Field, built from the old settlement on Bronwyck's Hill.  In modern times, this town is the more famous city of Brickfield following contractions over the centuries (Br'wyck's Field, Brick's Field, Brickfield). 

Brickfield's increased population reduced and eventually eliminated the need for local mercenaries to suppress the natives as they were soon brought under the control and influence of the city.  Why loot and pillage when you have a stock in the town?  The original mercenary families were incorporated as local chiefs and town protectors and given positions of wealth and influence within the town.  After fifty-two years of service on the throne, Harold had both managed to regain something of the treasury and his line's honour by pacifying a part of Wales and Taffland for good.  Satisfied, he peacefully died in his sleep.



The foundation of Brickfield.


Fenwick the Spendthrift (642-608BC)

Admiring the ability with which the new citizens of Brickfield had been able to pacify the Welsh-Taffland border but failing to understand the sacrifices necessary to support it, Fenwick sought both the excesses and luxuries of his grandfather and the glory of his father.  He spent wildly during his reign, particularly in arms when it became necessary to put down revolts in response to his heavy taxation.  Perhaps worse, he tried to extend his father's policies by putting in place the infrastructure needed to eventually found Nottingham and later Taffland.  One of the many revolts that rose against him eventually succeeded and displaced him from the throne.  The leader of the victors, a cousin of his, exiled Fenwick to Godwin's Point to live amongst the Spotters for the remainder of his years.


Godwin the Pious (606-580BC)

Following a two-year interregnum whilst Godwin secured his claim to the throne, Godwin sought to enable his legitimacy by plying the Jewish Synod.  Unable to fully prevent the flow of population towards Taffland and Scotland, Godwin withdrew resources to fund the foundation of a dedicated Jewish Monastery in London.  With the groundswell of support from the Synod, Godwin's legitimacy was assured.  Sadly, the blessing of God with regard to the throne did not extend to his life, and Godwin died from what was probably cancer a year before the monastery was complete.


The site of the monastery near London, an isolated valley away from civilisation.


During the reign of Godwin's brother and nephews, Britain experienced something of an 'age of heroism'.  With the Tafflanders and Scots providing an almost continuous stream of raids and hassle, the Line out past England and Wales' borders made the difference between the comfort and security of the core shires and death.  One of the mercenary groups belonging to the Line, the McPhearson clan, would play a major part in the following century.


Erik the Frail (580-572BC)

Erik inherited the throne from his brother, already approaching old age at the time.  Whilst the line was secure in his sons, he continued to keep the country going until they were of age.  It is during his short reign that both Nottingham and Edinburgh were recognised as cities in their own right, much less citizens of the kingdom of England and Wales.  During this time, Erik's three sons were given control over the 'principalities' (through truthfully, countries in their own right) of Wales, Taffland and Scotland.  They established themselves officially in Cardiff, Nottingham and Edinburgh respectively, but the latter two brothers ruled their principalities from London.  Erik died merely eight years after inheriting the throne after being lost in the Welsh tundra during a hunting trip.  He and his entourage were found more than two thousand years later in one of the most successful and infamous archaeological digs in history.


Bright the Unruly (572-555BC)

Bright, former Prince of Taffland and heir to the throne, accorded rule over the country to a Regent during his reign as he had not yet a son to surrender his title to.  Much of Bright's rule was dedicated to maintaining the unstable situation at home - the sheer expense of maintaining Nottingham and Edinburgh had pushed taxation higher than ever before.  Even though it would extend expenses even further, Bright saw the need both for more colonial control over Taffland and for a more dedicated port than Cardiff and began funnelling colonists towards the would-be capital of Taffland; Taffeta.  Bright met his end during a trip through southern Scotland on the border of Ireland when his party was ambushed and killed by Irish raiders.  Their remains were eventually found by McPhearson scouts and the crown was bestowed upon his brother.



Roger the Red (555BC-540BC)

Roger, Crown Prince of Scotland, granted Princeships of Scotland and Taffland to his infant sons with the instruction for them to be managed by Regencies until they were of age.  Roger had little interest in the 'civilisation' of the wild regions of the world, though he did allow the formation of Taffeta despite its greater drain on resources.  Roger loved hunting and he loved war.  He sponsored his favoured Scottish clan, the McPhearsons, in their search for conquest and victory over the handful of unpacified Scottish lowlanders.  The McPhearson clan had defended the region south of Edinburgh for two hundred years on behalf of the English, and over the course of that time they had fought hundreds of battles.  The near-constant warfare gave rise to a strong military tradition and McPhearson men were trained from a young age in use of the axe and broadshield.

Beyond his sponsorship of military campaigns, all that is worth noting about Roger's reign is his death.  Like his brother and father before him, Roger died violently, probably at the hand of Irish skirmishers during one of his many adventures south with the McPhearson clan.


The MacPhearson Clan

At the time, broadshields were less common amongst the Scottish clans, and certainly they were less adept in their use.  One major McPhearson ability lay in their experience with cover tactics, using local terrain and formation shield use to protect against attack by Irish archers.  They also had a tradition of shock techniques, using sprints and sheer force to break lines of melee fighters - an ability that gave them a crucial edge against other similarly-equipped clans.  The McPhearsons had become a legend amongst the core shires, particularly in London where they embodied the myth of the 'fierce Scottish desert warrior'.  This was a technical inaccuracy as the McPhearsons were a lowland, not desert clan but the reputation held dividends on the occasion a McPhearson went abroad - he would be automatically welcome in any tavern or brothel on reputation alone.  Sadly, the growing pacification of the continent pushed these noble warriors further and further into Ireland where the natives could use territorial advantages against them.


Egbert the Cunning (540BC-496BC)

The youngest of Erik the Frail's sons, Egbert initially inherited the throne as Regent for his brother Roger's sons.  Whilst the elder was of an age to be ruler himself, both boys went missing around the same time as their father died.  They were never found, and seven years later they were declared dead and Egbert inherited the throne.  Although well into his fifties by this stage, Egbert kept his grip on the throne until he was ninety-six when he choked to death on a fishbone.  Egbert ruled the kingdom unlike his brothers from his fortified position in Cardiff, granting his sons Principality over the other three member countries of the kingdom.  During his reign, a formalised and codified alphabet was developed to replace the often regionally-dependent writing systems of the kingdom.  A small port village called Hastings began to attract attention before the end of Egbert's reign, but Egbert himself would never live to see it.


The British Divide (496-379BC)

Egbert outlived some of his sons, and those he did not were already old men by his death.  A vicious war of succession broke out at first, but by the time three years had passed Britain had settled into a much colder war.  The kingdoms of England, Scotland, Taffland and Wales all declared independence under the various claims to the true throne and, being closely matched in military and economic power, were unwilling to face further open war.

Impressively burdensome taxation took perhaps 60% of an average man's income for much of this terrifying century, and oppression and brutality was rife to try and keep the various kingdoms intact.  Little real progress was made in this time, and were it not for the eventual unification of the kingdoms this dark age might have progressed.  Relatively little information exists about this time.  Our summary resumes with the next true king of England, Scotland, Taffland and Wales.



One of the few surviving representations of Brant the Braggard.

Brant the Braggard (379-319BC)

Brant is reviled as one of the most ruthless, vile and unscrupulous kings of all time.  He raised an army from the various chiefs of the continent, banded them together with promises and alliances and then turned on them repeatedly when it suited him most.  He maintained the disastrous taxation policies of the Divide for almost the entirety of his long reign and kept the population in check through fear and violence.  It is during his reign that we see the greatest buildup of troops in London for centuries, not as a force of invasion but of suppression.  By the end of his reign a standing army of 450 'defensive' archers and 200 cudgel-wielding 'police' kept London intact despite the heavy demands of their king.  Brant was eventually murdered (probably by his son) and his body dragged through the streets of London by a wild horse.

Towards the end of his life, Brant is said to have attempted to make a plea bargain with God to absolve him of his sins, building the monastery of York to placate both Him and the Synod.  If God truly did forgive his life of violence and debauchery, his people most certainly did not.  It is said that on the day of his death great festivities spontaneously formed and mobs of children chased his broken carcass through the city in hopes of stealing a grisly trophy to remember the day.



A map of Britain at the end of the reign of Brant the Braggard.

[USEC_OFFICER]

How do you place the signs/markers in Civ 4? (Also, really, really good so far.)

[Heron TSG]

I just noticed, looking at that last picture, that you're in Marathon mode. Kudos to you if you actually complete this Let's Play, though it may take months.

[Iituem]

Alt-S will put you into landmark mode.  It's not a very obvious feature, but it's cool for personalisation.  I don't do it for normal games, but for a LP it adds something.  Also, clicking the unit name (e.g. 'Warrior', 'Rifleman') in the left hand corner when you have the unit selected allows you to rename it something else.  This hasn't been obvious yet (and won't be until we go to war) but I've been naming a lot of my units to avoid confusion and for the sake of making them unique.

Marathon really does change the game, as I'm finding out.  Unit movement and healing remains the same, but unit production slows right the **** down.  Preparation is everything in Marathon - you can't just field an army of five units and send them against the enemy city, find out they're insufficient and pop a bunch more in the next turn (well, without Drafting) to go finish the job.  By the time you've popped more units, they've already replenished theirs.  Medic units become extremely valuable, and Sun Tzu's ghost will beat you around the head if you don't observe one of the most fundamental principles of warfare:

I.26. "Now the general who wins a battle makes many
    calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.
    The general who loses a battle makes but few
    calculations beforehand.  Thus do many calculations
    lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat:
    how much more no calculation at all!  It is by attention
    to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose."

IV.15. "Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist
    only seeks battle after the victory has been won,
    whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights
    and afterwards looks for victory."


It is actually worth noting at this point that the English are flagrantly ignoring Sun Tzu for the most part, and will almost certainly suffer for it if they don't get their act together sharpish.  Time will come, one way or another, for war (almost certainly with the Aztecs, but let us not discount the thought that other foes might arrive first and seize upon our weakness!) and if the English aren't prepared ahead they're screwed.

Case in point: When the major barbarian attacks began in earnest, the English really just weren't prepared.  It is by sheet luck that they didn't go for the weakest position, Cardiff, immediately, allowing a reserve from London to wend their way into position to defend it just before the barbarian axeman arrived and totalled them.  Since the English actually don't have horseback riding and probably won't develop it for a long while (until later, no horses available), this leaves them with only the Rock and the Scissors of formations - Melee and Ranged.  And axemen can **** over both.  Hopefully they'll get their act together and start really militarising up soon.

[Iituem]

Trade, Commerce and Religion in Britain between the third and first centuries BC.

"A ship is different from anyplace on earth. it's dangerous at sea, as you've surely grasped by now. Dangerous, and separate. A captain has absolute power out there, extending -- and it still does -- to death." - C. Poyer, 5th Century Welsh Sailor & Diarist

The turn of the third century BC saw sailing as an artform come into its own.  Though primarily a land-based empire, British merchants saw the advantage of being able to travel quickly from port to port for trade; importantly, this also opened up trade with Tenochtitlan to the far south.  Within a generation, a flourishing Jewish community had established itself in the Aztec homeland, sending wealth, pilgrims and most importantly information about the Aztec nation.

The Aztec influence on Judaism grew over the remainder of the century, culminating with the birth of a Judaic prophet, Motec, on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan sometime around 270BC.  He was brought up in a Jewish household and, like others of his trive, hunted in the Nahuatl Jungle.  Late in his life he became stranded in the jungle and, threatened by panthers, prayed to God to save him.  For reasons he could only explain as divine intervention, the panthers let him be.  Motec returned to Tenochtitlan and changed his name to the more Judaic 'Moses'.

From 210BC to 195BC Moses embarked for Cardiff with a band of loyal followers, intent on crossing the untamed wilderness of the jungle and Ireland despite his extreme age.  Upon reaching the city the story of his journey attracted much acclaim and he and his acolytes built in two short years a temple to serve both as the seat of the Judaic Synod and a holy site for pilgrims that might follow in his footsteps.  Moses died not long after having led his people to their holy land and his chief acolyte Solomon completed the temple, taking control of the Synod through his popularity.

Moses actually spawned in London, but that's not nearly as entertaining a story to be telling.  He reached the holy city of Cardiff (yes, that's right - the worthless hole in the ice is now our holy city) and constructed the Temple of Solomon.  The temple's primary use is that it gets tithes, or else makes money from pilgrims.  This money goes straight into our pockets, of course.  With 7 Judaic cities in existence, that's an extra 7 gold, which isn't to be sniffed at given England's current financial state.

Cottage industry developing near Branston.

"And Lorham king of England was a sheepmaster, and rendered unto the king of Tenochtitlan a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand rams, with the wool." - Torah, Trad.

Religious devotion was not the only thing brought about by the newly established trade links with the Aztec territories.  Whilst heavy taxation had crippled the nation's economy for an extended period, new markets provided a breath of fresh air.  English wool travelled first along the coast to Tenochtitlan, boosting business in Yorkshire, but at the same time reminding the population that there was also great potential for sale of manufactured textiles.  Cottage industry began to flourish, especially around Branshire where large expanses of land were available for the settling and the Thames provided ready support for transport of goods.  Wool flowed along the Thames from Yorkshire to Branshire (and to a lesser extent London), where it became fabric.  Textiles flowed back to York and up and down the Thames to London and Edinburgh, as well and along the Taff to Cardiff, Nottingham and Taffeta.  From Taffeta, Cardiff and Hastings, English textiles sailed to the jewel of the jungle, Tenochtitlan and furs and raw copper sailed back.

For the next two hundred years economic expansion followed a steady increase, primarily focused on exploiting the textiles and pork markets but with the strongest focus on manufacturing.  Aztec and English trade remained fairly evenly matched for the Aztec limitations on land, but thinly stretched as the kingdom was it was unable to pursue technological growth as efficiently.  It is around this time, twenty years before the birth of a fairly unimportant prophet for his time, that the intermingling of two cultures produced a boom of English literature.

“Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or anything else, is always a portrait of himself, and the more he tries to conceal himself the more clearly will his character appear in spite of him.” - Samuel Butler, English novelist, essayist and critic.

Coinciding with better conditions and more wealth flowing into the kingdom after nearly two centuries of poverty, literacy boomed amongst the upper echelons of the population and the sons of local chiefs (usually the second sons) were able to retreat from the service of the body and attend to the freedom and culture of the mind.  The libraries of Branston, York, London and even Cardiff serve as a store to this day of some of the oldest and most valuable bodies of literature from the period.

The advantage you get no matter which leader you choose (Elisabeth or Victoria) is that the English are a Financial people.  Every square worked with 2 Commerce is immediately upped to 3 Commerce.  This doesn't sound like much, except that building cottages on riverbanks pretty much triples your wealth instead of doubling it.  This gets over the fairly limited return issue most people have with setting cottages up in the first place, and encourages you as an Englishman to have as big an urban base as possible to take advantage of it!

Close borders with Xochicalco.

Colonial Tensions, Currency and Confucianism

"These Aztec men, these brown men, make most excellent slaves - in their homeland.  Bring them to England or Scotland and their strength wanes and is extinguished, and all of it because of this leaf that they must chew or else lose all spirit from their life." - Stanley Robins, 2nd Century Slavemaster (attrib.) on the subject of coca.

The English proved happy enough to be friends with the Aztecs from a distance; their neighbours made excellent customers.  The establishment of Xochicalco right next to English borders prepared to spark tensions, even though at the time it was lauded as bringing the two cultures together.  On the other hand, the very presence of the Aztecs in western Ireland quietened the rebellious nature of the Irish and forced them to weather the assaults of the few independent Irish raiders instead.

The increasing variety of goods flooding English and Aztec markets began to produce problems in determining a rate of exchange.  Bartering was simply not efficient enough for large numbers of transactions to take place quickly.  Rare metals such as gold and silver were relatively stable in wealth and could be traded for most items and eventually back to a metalsmith.  The problem was that the purity of such metals had to be tested for transactions in case of fraud, a process that itself took much time.  The English monarchy provided a solution by establishing the Royal Mint of London, a foundry designed to mint coins marked with official symbols and guaranteed by the Mint to be of a certain composition.  It was not long before the first English pounds found themselves as far abroad as Tenochtitlan being traded for livestock, textiles and services.


Saxony, circa 160BC.

At the southernmost point of Scotland, those Scottish and Irish clans that had not desired subjugation by the English and Aztecs had formed their own city-state of Saxony.  Saxony itself was discovered in 146 AD by a handful of hunters trying their luck at the deeper jungles.  The Clan McPhearson was alerted to their existence and set upon the archers defending the host; although the McPhearson killed one Saxon for every man present, half their forces were wounded or killed in the battle.  The clan swore to finish what they had started and returned to their ancestral lands to lick their wounds.  Angry as they may have been, later attacks would prove equally futile until a century later.

"He who exercises government by means of his virtue will be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it." - Confucius

More than eighty years after the inconclusive battle at Saxon, a scholar of mixed Welsh and Aztec descent became a strong favourite of the current king, King Roland.  Elevated to an advisory status, Confucius advocated a clear and well-established body of laws by which to rule the kingdom, cutting down on the crime and barbarism that not only oppressed the people but severely hampered the treasury.  Although his reforms paint King Roland in a heroic light, revisionists point to the lavish feasting, the constant hunting trips away from the throne and his many mistresses to underscore their implication that Roland's motivations were less than philanthropic.  Indeed, Roland's absenteeism was what gave Confucius the clout and freedom he needed to bring the court into line and lay down the new laws.

More than mere laws, Confucius espoused a philosophy of order, morality and responsibility in all aspects of life, of moderation and the pursuit of his Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  It is worth noting that Confucius also espoused its corrolary, the Silver Rule: "Do not do undo others as you would not want done to you."  Confucius succeeded well throughout Roland's reign, but upon his death the new king was suspicious of Confucius' power and influence and had him banished from the court. 

Confucius returned to his home city of Nottingham and taught his philosophy as well as many other subjects he was learned in until his death.  Judaism had never strongly impacted upon Nottingham - or at least, the organised form of the faith.  As a result, Nottingham was ripe to receive and accept the wisdom of Confucius and many took Confucianism to the level of a religion.  When the Judaic Synod preached of the wrath of God as a threat to good behaviour and paradise as its reward, the men and women of Nottingham found it easier to believe in a philosophy that held one's punishment and reward came in this life - not as the result of a wrathful or benign master but of one's own actions and life.

Upon Confucius' death, some of his best students travelled to London, the centre of the world, to teach his philosophy there.  The Synod might not have received it well, but the new king had died putting down a rebellion in Yorkshire and his heir was much more receptive to the Confucian way.

"Fire blazed orange, blood ran red, and 'Phearson and Saxon alike lay silent in the mud.  'Draw back, draw back!' the Saxon archers cried, and then they cried for mercy, but the 'Phearson would not stop for any men." - 'The Sacking of Saxon', J.S. Henries, 16th Century Novelist

In the same year, very nearly a hundred years to the day of the McPhearson defeat at Saxon, their descendants returned to finish the job.  The battle was close, but the McPhearson managed to defeat the Saxons in a Pyrrhic victory that cost them well over four fifths of their men.  Unwilling and unable to hold the city, they burned Saxon to the ground and looted it for what it was worth.  While the McPhearsons remained undefeated, the battle had proved conclusively that tactics suited to interception of raiders fared poorly when taking cities.  New tactics would need to be developed, or else new weapons, but somewhere deep down the McPhearson knew that it would not be they who developed them.


The ruins of Saxon.

[Heron TSG]

Ooh, foreshadowing!

On the other hand, the very presence of the Aztecs in western Ireland quietened the rebellious nature of the Irish and forced them to weather the assaults of Irish raiders instead.

Wut.

[Sheb]

You sire, are awesome. Like a lot. Like I'm worshipping you right now. This is the finest LP I've seen in those fora.