Update 3: 575

## Western Europe

The sweeping migrations and ebbing empires of the last several centuries
 had brought no shortage of great change to Europe. But Continental
Europe soon found itself at the mercy of an even greater change, one its
 peoples could not foresee, which would likely rewrite the continent’s
histories for centuries to come.

It began in Authigar, an Alemanni border town. For years after his
flight from Meduseld before the Latin sack of the Allfather’s holy city,
 one young disciple had been wandering the lands of Western Europe,
helping the people, preaching, telling them of the inevitable end times,
 and how they would be saved by the Allfather’s grace. He would become
known far and wide as the Gudrekkr. But the nobles who ran Authigar had
little time for this – this preacher was merely a disturber of the
peace, and he was swiftly arrested. But with the help of a Gaulish freed
 slave by the name of Lydia, the Gudrekkr’s followers protested, and as
soon as he was taken out to be hanged, they gathered, and revolted.

So was born the state forever marked in history as the Guthlid. Authigar
 was renamed Thrythern, and transformed into the Guthlid’s capital.

Or so the stories are told. In any case, in 559, some kind of coup was
initiated in the area of that town, and the proverbial snowball only
accelerated from there. The Guthlid’s amassed forces, men and women of
arms gathered from far and wide across Europe, plunged deep into the
hearts of their neighbors, states already badly damaged by years of war
and political instability, with relative ease; the Guthild was
particularly adept at creating rebellious atmospheres in their target
states, which helped them immensely. So it was that the Guthild expanded
 with remarkable, scary efficiency and speed.

Alemannia was the first to fall. Already beleaguered by war with the
Christians, the Alemanni state had little chance of holding back this
newborn threat; and their armies scattered relatively easily.
Frisobatavia was next – the country was already beleaguered by
Allfatherist revolts in the early 560s, and after the Guthlid’s armies
turned north to face the Frisobatavians in 565, all was relatively
simple; the Frisobatavian army was very quickly emasculated, and much of
 the western half of the country was subdued and brought under the
Guthild’s control before their armies turned south.

(Guthlid: -2 Infantry Companies, -2 Cavalry Companies)

(Allemannia: -5 Infantry Companies, -3 Cavalry Companies, -Existence)
(Frisobatavia: -5 Infantry Companies, -4 Cavalry Companies, -Existence)

The Gothic kingdoms were next to fall – the far superior Guthild
military was able to defeat the Goths in combat, and rebellions led by
groups of dissident aristocrats and general rural rabble were enough. It
 helped immensely that much of the Gothic military aristocracy were able
 to keep their lands – by the end, incorporation into the Guthild was
the best option in the face of conquest and less-than-friendly
neighbors, such as the Aplandic Solars. But one kingdom, Boimark, in the
 east, resisted incorporation, and by that time the Guthild’s armies
were too distracted elsewhere to put the Boimark Goths down – so Boimark
 remains independent.

(Guthild: -2 Infantry Companies)

(Rheinmark: -2 Infantry Companies, -4 Cavalry Companies, -Existence)
(Donau: -1 Infantry Company, -4 Cavalry Companies, -Existence)
(Boimark: -2 Infantry Companies, +Stability)

The Guthlid’s hungry eye next turned to nearby Aquitaine, but that is a story for later.

The Frisobatavian court, however, lived on across the channel, in
Britannia. A prince of the Frisobatavian ruling line, Gonar, migrated
with some scattered men of his company there, and what was born thus in
562 was the petty kingdom of Cantia. The country faced an immediate
threat – the Vandals, who came swooping down from the north like
vultures to prey on the weak rump of a state. But Gonar was unfazed, and
 assembled his own army to face them near the town of Vestborg, in 563.
How much of a chance Gonar had was uncertain. On the eve of battle, a
dream came to him, reputedly in an epileptic fit, as Gonar claimed to
witness one of the Drowned Queen’s servants rise from the river and
anoint the king, who then proceeded to annihilate the Vandals in a fit
of strategic brilliance that, according to Gonar’s companions, came
quite literally out of nowhere – divine inspiration, perhaps? Gonar has
since devoted himself and his realm to the Drowned Goddess, building
temples in cities across his country. In more temporal affairs, many of
the soldiers of Gonar’s army settled down and were granted land, forming
 a new nobility.

(Cantia: -2 Infantry Brigades)

(Vandalaw: -4 Infantry Brigades)

The Vandals themselves were, for their own part, turned inwards by their
 defeat. Still, raids continued after 563; these were not sporadic, but
funded directly from the Vandal king’s pocket. Christian monasteries
along the Brythonic and Irish coasts were favored targets, for the
stores of riches they housed; but coastal villages and temples of other
gods and cults, as far south as Brittany, were not spared either. Not
even the seemingly impregnable Guthlid was immune, as the Frisobatavian
coast suffered a number of such attacks in the late 560s and early 570s.

(Vandalaw: +Navy Development, +Loot)

Another group of Vandals, these ones from the Vandal homeland in the
peninsula south of Eldrachaa, found their own opportunity amidst the
chaos. Out of the former eastern Frisobatavia, now cast aside with the
rise of the Guthild and the collapse of that country, one Vandal
chieftain from their eastern homelands plunged in. Together with a
sizable warband, this Vandal chief, recorded by the name Hilderic, was
able to swiftly overpower the local Frisobatavian nobles who had
attempted to take power for themselves in the wake of the war, and
established a kingdom for himself and his men there – West Vandalia –
Vestivandalia. Hilderic has taken to peace instead of war, and focused
on binding his kingdom through a unified code of laws and a unified
proto-administration, to Vestivandalia’s benefit.

(Vestivandalia: -1 Infantry Company)

Though Connacht proved itself the most powerful Irish petty state, both
politically and militarily, Connacht – or anyone else – was unable to
establish any sort of permanent authority over the entirety of the
island. Nonetheless, further contacts, especially between Ireland and
Ishfania, not only meant that trade in Ireland blossomed, but with
Ireland coming into possession of increasing numbers of Latin and Greek
texts through Christian monastic contacts, an intellectual community of
sorts has begun to form, making strides especially in recording
mathematics and history. Vandal raids are a constant nuisance, but they
have been rather limited in scope thus far.

(Irish states: -Stability, +Economy Development, +Culture Development)

North of Ireland, Dal Riata was largely quiet – at the fringe of the
oikumene and politically rather isolated due to its relative
worthlessness and its paganism, there was little to do. Its soldiers
fended off a few inconsequential Vandal raids, and Christian
missionaries continued to make strides into its territory. Neither of
these things are especially healthy for the unity of this state.

(Dal Riata: -Stability)

Brython also mostly concerned itself with fending off Vandal raids,
which were a consistent pestilence along its coast. The Brythonic
aristocracy wet itself over fears that the Vandals might attempt to turn
 to them next; but this feared invasion never quite occurred, and in
575, Brython still exists just as strong as it always has.

(Brython: -2 Infantry Companies, -Stability)

All of the British isles underwent extensive Christian missionary
activity in the mid-to-late sixth century, as monasteries and churches
blossomed throughout parts of the island where Christianity had been
fading with the Vandal invasions and Allfatherists’ influences. The
Vandalaw saw the brunt of this blossoming, and the Vandals lacked the
political will to expel the Christian missionaries, and through the 560s
 the religion spread through the inner countryside. Nonetheless, the
Christians have brought with them a great wealth of classical texts to
their new structures. Christianity is growing here, and it may be a
matter of time before Vandalaw is entirely Christian.

(Vandalaw: -Stability, +Culture Development)

Though some of Brittany’s eastern frontier was lost to the Guthlid in
the 560s, and the strength of the new power meant that the Bretons were
unable to retake it, the core of the state – its burgeoning coastal
cities and ports – continued to prosper, and the wealth found its way to
 every strata of society, even the rural peasantry. In fact, the
unification and stability brought to the east by the Guthlid has brought
 forward a potential blessing in disguise, in the form of further trade
connections via land to the east. Drowned Goddess adherents under
Guthlid rule have been remarkably left alone, with the exception of the
aforementioned Guthafrath, and despite some word of “incorporating” the
faith into that of the Allfather, this has been brushed off as harmless
talk.

## The Elephantine War – or, the Third Carthaginian War

Not as soon as the flames from the burning of Meduseld had settled was
the Mediterranean at war again – this time, for the third war in barely
half a century. Fighting had been dormant for a decade after the Latins
surprised the Carthaginians at sea, but by the late 550s, they had
flared up again, and hostilities resumed.

Much of the war between 559 and 564 was fought at sea, between
Carthaginian-Ishfanian and Latin fleets. At first, it appeared that the
Latins had the upper hand, with a recently greatly expanded fleet which
was able to repulse a number of Carthaginians. But after 560, when the
Carthaginian and Ishfanian fleets were able to link up, and the
Carthaginians’ superiority in naval tactics was able to prove crushing –
 as was the Carthaginians’ effective use of the Nording powder against
the enemy, such as tying jars of the stuff to ballistae and firing them
at enemy warships.

(Carthage: -5 Squadrons, +Navy Development)
(Ishfania: -3 Squadrons, +Navy Development)

(Latiniki: -11 Squadrons)
(Latin Tributaries: -3 Squadrons)

The Ishfanians crossed into Alemannia in 560, and immediately laid siege
 to the fortified port city of Arburg from both land and sea; after
several months of this, the city surrendered to Ishfania – it has since
been incorporated as a poleis into the Ishfanian state. The Ishfanians
were aided in this attack by the Aquitanians, who launched their own,
successful, campaign into central Alemannia.

(Ishfania: -2 Infantry Companies)
(Aquitania: -2 Infantry Companies, -2 Cavalry Companies, +Army Development)

(Alemannia: -6 Infantry Companies, -3 Cavalry Companies)

The Carthaginians landed on Sicily in 560, aided by Thuring soldiers of
Kyrenmark, and not long after the Ishfanians plunged into northern
Latiniki, marauding much of the landscape. The Latins fought valiantly,
but forced to fight in both north and south, they were outnumbered; and
despite some early victories, including a major defeat of the
Carthaginians outside Syracuse by the combined armies of Latiniki and
her tributaries, the Carthaginians by 562 had achieved the upper hand
and defeated the Latins on Sicily, before proceeding northwards onto the
 mainland. The dozen elephants of the Carthaginians, imported from India
 supposedly at the whim of one general, rampaged into Latin lines,
spreading some degree of fear and panic.

The master stroke came in 564, when the Carthaginians defeated the
collective army of the Latins and their tributaries on a field southeast
 of Neapolis, and proceeded to march as far as Rome, laying the city
under siege for the winter of 564-565 – a long, arduous siege which is
reputed to have killed as much as a third of Rome’s people, as both
sides attempted to use the Nording powder against each other, largely in
 vain. But, Rome held firm – until the spring of 565, when the
Ishfanians brought their own army from the north. This was enough to
force the gates open, and Rome was sacked.

Not long after Rome was brought under Carthaginian administration, the
old Roman Senate chamber went up in a mysterious fire, or explosion, the
 specifics depending on the author – the cause of this has long been
lost to history, and a hundred thousand possible explanations, from
Allfatherists to Christians to Arabs to even time travelers (at least
two known sources record sightings of a mysterious lone man dressed in
Latin armor near the Senate building) have been blamed for the incident,
 which, despite its supposed impressiveness, has overall done little but
 mildly shake Carthage’s authority over Latium.

(Carthage: -3 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company, -3 Mercenary Companies, +Army Development, -Stability, +Loot)
(Kyrenmark: -2 Infantry Companies, +Loot)
(Ishfania: -2 Infantry Companies, -3 Cavalry Companies, +Loot)

(Latiniki: -7 Infantry Companies, -2 Cavalry Company, -Stability)
(Latin Tributaries: -4 Infantry Companies, -3 Cavalry Companies)

A peace has settled over Italia again, but the Carthaginians rule over
what is little more than a devastated and broken land, where bandits and
 brigands and pirates have done what armies could not. Christian
missionaries have been remarkably active in this destroyed land,
bringing hope where others can not and will not. What remains of
Latiniki lives on, ironically, in the north, ruled from the city built
upon what had once been Meduseld – neither the Latins nor the Ishfanians
 came around to incorporating the area. Many of the Nordings had been
cleared in the 550s and 560s, forced out into Alemannia or elsewhere –
which conveniently enough was incorporated into the Guthlid not long
after – and replaced by Latin settlers, which enabled the Senate to
retain some degree of control. The Senate made a point of desecrating
every Allfather temple and holy site it could get its hands on. To the
west, Arburg was incorporated into Ishfania as a poleis, and the lands
directly to the east, as far as Massalia, were also brought under
Ishfanian control.

By 565, Aquitania seemed to be on top of its corner of the oikumene.
Under the reign of King Syragius IV, who had been crowned in 559 on the
eve of war, a large swathe of central Gaul had been reconquered from the
 heathen Alemanni. Aquitanian soldiers prepared to celebrate in the
fields of their newly conqured lands. It was all too soon – 566, in fact
 – that the Guthlid came, and shattered the Aquitanian armies, and
sweeping through eastern Aquitania. The city of Burdigala remained safe
and untouched, but most of its eastern lands and all gains in the recent
 war are lost in the humiliating peace treaty of 568, and Aquitania is
reduced to a de facto glorified buffer state.

(Guthlid: -2 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company)

(Aquitania: -6 Infantry Companies, -2 Cavalry Companies)

The Guthlid would have invaded Italia next, to liberate the kingdom of
Nornidr and the ruined sacred sites of Meduseld. Alas, when the Guthlid
did arrive in 571, they came across an Ishfanian army, and in a somewhat
 pitched battle north of Arburg, the Guthlid’s forward army was repulsed
 handily. While the Guthlid’s losses were not too severe, the result
prevented the Gudrekkr’s dreams of reclaiming Meduseld from ever coming
to pass. And, alas, the Gudrekkr would sadly live the rest of his life
without ever being able to see his home again.

(Guthlid: -1 Infantry Company, -1 Cavalry Companies)

(Ishfania: -1 Infantry Company)

In any case, the Guthlid proceeded to tie its diverse, large, and newly
conquered realm together. One of the first reforms was the establishment
 of the Guthafrath, a special tax levied on non-Allfatherists within the
 realm, in exchange for state protections. People who refused to comply
were forced into working on public works projects or forcibly resettled,
 a process labeled the Gewyrht; the same was applied to other outlaws,
rebels, and traitors. Inspired by the Latin Solar Orders, a number of
Allfatherist military orders, named the Harthis, were formed; the most
notorious and famous of these were the semi-mythical Sith, who by 575
supposedly had contacts as far away as India. And a number of ecumenical
 councils, Guthings, were convened to determine the future of the
Allfather and other faiths; the ones in Thrythern in 565 and 573 were
the major ones, but neither accomplished much permanent change.

(Guthlid: +Stability)

The fall of Rome provided for other opportunities as well. The former
Latin tributary state of Dalmatia attempted to set itself up as an
independent republic, but it found that it had little leverage against
the Aplandic behemoth to its east, which had just spent most of the 560s
 waging open war against its Allfatherist population, to a degree of
success; by 570, most of the Allfatherists had either converted or fled,
 with some laying fallow in remote parts of the country. Dalmatia did
not survive long before its almost bloodless incorporation into Apland
in 570. Aplandic soldiers started marching into Dalmatian territory, but
 war was unnecessary; an immediate agreement ensured that senate of
Dalmatia retained local authority in exchange for immediate surrender.
The Ionian Islands were cast adrift, and established as the Republic of
Cephallenia; they continue to exist because no one has yet taken care of
 them.

(Apland: +Stability, -4 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company)

(Latin Tributary States: -Existence)

And, lastly in the region, Kyrenmark was evolving. It could no longer
survive as an Allfatherist state in a Greco-Latin and largely Solar
world. Instead, King, who ascended to power, agreed to a
forward-thinking and unique arrangement – some power and authority was
devolved to a senate, consisting of local, largely Solar faithful from
the kingdom’s major cities. It helped somewhat that Kyrenic court
culture became more and more Hellenized throughout the period, though
retaining its Allfatherist trappings. Despite some grumbling by the
Thurings, the arrangement has been remarkably successful, helping to
unify the realm. Perhaps Allfatherists and Solar Faithful can cooperate
in this world?

(Kyrenmark: +Culture Development, +Stability)

And, lastly, as if in perfect tandem with the victory in war, the Grand
Temple of Juno was completed, becoming the centerpiece of the grand city
 of Carthage.

(Carthage: +Culture Development)

## Eastern Europe

After a generation in exile, the Samojards returned with a ferocious
anger in 551 to claim their lands. The ferocity of the Samojard assault
was simply too much for the Eldrachaa defenders to bear; they were
outmatched on the battlefield and outnumbered, and they retreated back
to their homes rather than attempting to defend the cities of the coast.
 The Samojards’ exile only hardened their devotion in Fatar, and the
twenty years saw a cultural flowering from the homesick people, who
penned a good number of poems and ballads in their sadness. Now that
they have returned, victorious, they must still remember all that has
been lost. The local settlers have already been incorporated into the
Samojard caste system.

(Samojards: -2 Infantry Companies, -1 Mercenary Company, +Stability, +Culture Development)

(Eldrachaa: -3 Infantry Companies)

Little of this was heard in the courts of the Eldrachaa nobles and
queens, however, as there were far grander shifts afoot. Eldrachaa
wanted all but nothing to do with the rising Guthlid, which claimed
authority in the name of the Allfather. So the priests of the
confederacy gathered and stuck upon a bold decision – instead of
following the lead of Thrythern, they would uphold their own
priestess-queen as the head of the faith, and establish themselves as an
 organized structure independent of the Guthlid. Many texts of the time
refer to this sect as the “Allmother,” often in a derogatory manner,
that the Eldrachaa queen wishes to take the Allfather’s place in the
heavens. Though most of the country’s priests have accepted this new
order, a few remain who do not.

(Eldrachaa: -Stability)

In Dacia, a centuries-long age came to a screeching halt in 555 – the
Zalmoxian era was over. A state cult, crafting together Zalmoxianism and
 the burgeoning Christiainity, was born – Dacian Christianity. Initially
 confined solely to politicians and intellectuals, the new religion
actually managed a degree of popularity in the Dacian cities, but the
Christians and Zalmoxians in the countryside were nothing short of
furious over the move, and revolted; the mass of the revolts meant that,
 at their height, over half the country was in arms – led by a
mysterious Slavic holy woman by the name “Vladimira the Anointed.” But
with the might of the Dacian army under state control, the tide soon
turned, and control was restored. With that, the worst of the revolts
were put down, the bulk of the Zalmoxian priesthood has been
emasculated, and perhaps Dacian Christianity can take hold for the
future – but it will be a long and uphill battle. To this end, a great
number of religious schools, and some of Europe’s finest churches to
date, were constructed, and missionaries were dispatched to the
countryside – albeit to little success.

(Dacia: -4 Infantry Companies, -3 Cavalry Companies, -Stability)
(Dacian March: -3 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company, -Stability)

The Bulgar khans converted much of their people to Christianity by the
swordpoint, and a harsh swordpoint at that; Solar and religious figures
were often savagely executed, to be made examples of. Nonetheless, the
spread of Christianity through Bulgaria has proven to be a useful
unifying factor in the khanate, which stands at the brink between the
two greater powers in Hellas and Dacia, neither of whom are especially
fond of the “barbarians” roaming around at their borders – though with
Christian missionaries now bringing foreign books and learning into
Bulgaria, that perception is beginning to change.

(Bulgars: -2 Cavalry Companies, +Stability, +Culture Development)

The historians would write Zeno’s four-decade-long tenure as tyrant of
Hellas as great and illustrious, as for the first time since possibly
the Hellenistic era, a Greek-centric state was able to expand its
influence well beyond its own borders. In this case, Zeno oversaw the
declaration of Hellenic protection over the Anatolian kingdoms, securing
 them from Babylonian expansionism. All this would culminate in a
564-566 military campaign which saw upper Macedonia and the coast of
Illyria swiftly taken from the Svears. Though the Svear cavalry proved
fearsome, the superiority of the Hellenic soldiers combined with their
usage of siege weapons meant that the Hellenes had the distinct,
especially when it came to entering the Illyrian coastal cities. After
566, the conquered lands were reconstituted as a pair of tributary
states, partly settled by veterans of the campaign, and each governed by
 a council of local Solar and Christian citizens in tandem with a
handpicked Greek king. Allowing both Illyria and Macedonia considerable
local autonomy, system has functioned remarkably well in the
almost-decade since then, though with Solars vastly outnumbering
Christians, the latter are complaining of being underrepresented.

Zeno would die in 568, replaced as tyrant by Pythagoras of Ephesus, an
Academy-affiliated mathematician-philosopher (better known for his
description of the string construction of an ellipse). Zeno’s actions
would further legitimize the power and position of tyrant in Hellas.
Closer to home, as knowledge and samples of the “Nording powder” spread
through the Academies and other institutions, Hellenic philosophers
closely studied it, and realized it would prove effective as a weapon at
 sea.

(Hellas: -5 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company, +Navy Development, +Stability)

(Svearia: -4 Infantry Companies, -3 Cavalry Companies, -Stability)

The Anatolian states did indeed come under some degree of Hellenic
influence, but the Christian states look south to the rising power of
Arabia, as an opportunity to secure their own power from their infidel
neighbors. In contrast, Solar Avaria became a hub of Solar missionaries,
 some of whom were fleeing Carthage, who saw the opportunities to save
people in the East, Solar Faithful have started spreading eastwards,
into northern Mesopotamia, and even as far east as Persia.

## Arab-Babylonian Wars, Continued

With their state beginning to crumble around them, the Babylonians
launched a campaign into Egypt, in an attempt to eliminate their one
western enemy. The Ghassanid armies sallied forth to defend their land,
but they were outnumbered and swiftly defeated by the far greater in
number Babylonians, those who stayed pressured by Aksumite incursions
along Egypt’s southern frontier. Meanwhile, the Babylonians pressed
directly for Alexandria, which fell in 554. From there, the Babylonians
pushed up the Nile River, and by 556 most of Egypt had fallen under
Babylonian subjugation with relative ease.

(Babylon: -9 Mercenary Companies, -1 Cavalry Company)

(Ghassanids: -5 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company, -10 Mercenary Companies, -Existence)

But it would be this invasion that proved costly, for just as the
Babylonians had finished placing Egypt under their rule, the Arabians
invaded the Levant, and were able to make quick progress – the
Babylonian defenders were thin in number, and an attempted counterattack
 of the Babylonian forces from Egypt was driven off, despite taking a
number of casualties. In 557 a triumphant King Ali entered Jerusalem,
where he made a grand show of visiting Christ’s holy places, gaining
sanction from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and thus gaining a great deal
of legitimacy as a centralizing figure across the Christian world. The
Temple Mount was converted into an all-Christian church, the Cathedral
of the All-Holy Trinity, with Jews forbidden from entrance.

(Babylon: -2 Mercenary Companies)

(Arabia: -1 Cavalry Company, -2 Mercenary Companies)

With the remaining Babylonian garrison in Egypt now cut off from the
rest of Babylon, and very confused, the largely mercenary-composed
army’s leader, a man named Gondophares of Arachosia, decided to make a
daring move. In 566, to secure his realm’s stability and prosperity, he
converted to Christianity, and – as the ultimate coup, had himself
crowned pharaoh, the first since the incestuous and ineffectual
Ptolemaic line had been ousted centuries earlier. Though he certainly
does not claim to be divine in himself, Pharaoh Gondophares does claim
to have been chosen by God as his lieutenant to rule Egypt. Gondophares
distributed administrative power and land to those members of his army
who joined him in converting to Christianity, and through some basic
reforms such as guaranteeing Arabs equal treatment in law and civil
service, peace has been restored – if she can survive, this new Egypt
may have a bright future ahead of her.

(Babylon: -10 Mercenary Companies)

(Egypt: +10 Infantry Companies)

Northern Mesopotamia, taking advantage of the chaos, broke off as well,
centralizing through the late 560s and 570s into what is now a pair of
states independent of Arabs and Babylonians both. First, from the
ancient city of Nineveh arose a new Assyrian state, which established
its control as a local power along the Tigris as far south as Ashur and
Hatra, managing to evade Arabian control. The second is the nascent
kingdom of Armenia – the Armenians once again have a state after several
 centuries of domination from various local powers. Though it is still
rather small and weak, of course, so was Macedon before Philip, and the
new Armenian king Tigranes II, who ascended the throne in 574 after the
death of his father Tigranes I, looks north, to the Caucasus, and dreams
 – of empire. With the visibly rotating political tides, all two states
have accepted Christianity as their official state religions, though,
especially in Assyria, others are quite well tolerated.

The Uar Persians, having recently fended off a tribe of invading Kushans
 from the north (detailed under Central Asia) launched their own
invasion of eastern Babylon, starting in Medea, entering Ecbatana – the
old Albanian capital – in 560, and proceeding southwards into Elam and
Susa, and from there, west into Babylonia in 562. At the same time, the
Arabs from the Levant marched down the Euphrates from Dura-Europos, and
up the Persian Gulf coast. But through sheer numerical advantage, the
Babylonians managed to fend off the Arab invaders from the south at the
Battle of Charax, as the Arabs fell upon a Babylonian fortification.
From there, this same, massive Babylonian army marched north to repulse
the Arabs north of the City, and when the invading Uar attempted to lay
siege to Babylon, they too were driven off. The exhausted Arabs
retreated, and the Uar returned back to Persia proper, content with
having gained Elam and Medea.

(Babylon: -1 Infantry Company, -1 Cavalry Company, -15 Mercenary Companies)

(Arabia: -2 Cavalry Companies, -6 Mercenary Companies)
(Uar Empire: -4 Infantry Companies, -6 Cavalry Companies, +Army Development, +Culture Development)

While the bulk of the Arabs’ army was off in the north, the Aksumites
launched a renewed campaign into the Hedjaz itself. They were supported
by the strange men of far-off Yibram, who in the 550s had established a
trade post on the island of Socotra, which they named Haafi, sent a
contingent of soldiers in support of their fellow Jews. Though the Arabs
 had the advantage of terrain, they were outnumbered and the Aksumites
were able to provide their armies ample supplies from the sea, and in
561, Mecca fell to the Aksumites. As did Medina, around the same time.
Nonetheless, the Aksumites and their Yibri companions who help defend
the newly gained territory must face constant harassment from the Arab
tribes of the interior, who despite being outnumbered, are relentless in
 their aim of retaking the Hedjaz. Still, for the Aksumites, who
solidified their own control of Alodia through the construction of a
road network there, it is a time of great victory and triumph, as the
state reaches unpreceded heights of power and influence. Yibram, with
ever-greater influence in Arabia, is also at a high point, since 571
under the rule of Tolum Jeyte, the first Yibri king to win a unanimous
election.

(Aksum: -1 Cavalry Company, -8 Mercenary Companies)
(Yibram: -4 Infantry Companies, +Stability)

(Arabia: -Stability, -3 Cavalry Brigades)

Though the Arabians have thus inherited the Levant, and have done a
fairly good job of allowing local traditions to be retained and
reestablishing a bureaucracy, they inherit a rather devastated land,
that continues to be plagued by Cilician corsairs raiding its coast,
nomadic bandits in an effective hold over the interior, and the cities
largely depopulated with no one to support them – just as the
Babylonians had begun building what might have been a successful
administration to stabilize and rebuild them, the Arabs came along and
destabilized it, again. The loss of Mecca has meant that the Arab
imperial seat has been relocated to Jerusalem; and the center of Arab
power has shifted to the north, its amorphous tribal-based structure
allowing this to be done fairly easily. At the same time, the addition
of numerous libraries’ worth of texts to the Arabs’ hands has brought
the state into contact with some of the great works of Roman,
Hellenistic, and Persian civilizations for the first time.

(Arabia: +Army Development, +Culture Development)

And Babylon stews, reduced to a rump state in lower Mesopotamia by the
invasion, much of its local wealth carried away by the Arabs. Yet,
Babylon lives on. Its navy remains superior in its region, and perhaps
Babylon will live to see the next age – but its future looks ever more
bleak.

(Babylon: +Navy Development, +Stability)

We should also mention Oman here. Striding the edge of the peninsula
untouched by war, Oman acquiesced and became an Arabian vassal – but it
is clear that this status is in name only, and especially with the shift
 of Arabia’s armies northwards, Oman is ever far from the Quraysh’s
control. Nothing changed in Oman, which had little interest in foreign
conquests to begin with. Oman’s rulers displaced a remarkable amount of
tolerance for its Buddhist and Hindu trader-based communities, and
rather curiously, traders from India erected a somewhat impressive Hindu
 temple in Muscat’s port town, a development which has drawn more
curiosity than criticism from the country’s Christians.

## West Africa

In Pel Ma ‘ir, the Sao high king awoke one morning to find he had
received a rather unique delegation – an Aksumite envoy had arrived. The
 high king did not trust these foreigners very much; they were of that
foreign cult whose rabbis had been making the rounds in his city
streets, stirring up nothing but trouble. But the deal they offered –
halting the persecution of the Jews in exchange for promises of wealth –
 that deal interested the high king very much. And the emissaries did
not hesitate to display their wealth. Yes, the high king could do this.
Of course, the same protections did not hold for the followers of the
“nail god,” and the high king’s ire soon turned on them after Pel Ma ‘ir
 authorities discovered a supposed coup plot by the city’s small
Christian community against the king. On order of the High King, the Sao
 Kingdom’s Christians were swiftly rounded up sometime after 560, forced
 to renounce their faith, or face execution.

Meanwhile, the sparse records from this time show that the rising Ghana
Empire turned its armies on Gao sometime in the early 570s, and entirely
 subjugated the small state, supposedly torching the city of Gao to the
ground and salting its remains – a new city of Gao was established as a
Ghanaian military outpost on the outskirts of the old one, using
building material from the old city. Much of the city’s wealth was
returned to the Ghanaian upper class – and especially the emperor, who
used it to make his already wildly luxurious palace even more
extravagant. Tales of this “land of red and gold” have spread into the
Mediterranean world, enticing traders, travelers, and adventurers all.

(Ghana: -3 Infantry Companies, -2 Cavalry Companies, +Army Development, -Stability)

(Gao: -8 Infantry Companies, -6 Cavalry Companies, -Existence)

## Central Asia

Kabul, in its own corner of the globe, remained peaceful and prosperous.
 Here, Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and Manichaeans continue to meet
 and mingle with each other in peace. Little of note happened here, and
considering what Kabul faces outside its borders, perhaps it is better
off for them all this way.

For the Kushans, some of whom hoped to continue pushing west, they would
 be only met and defeated by a swift Scythian counterattack starting in
553, when the Scythian army regrouped and pushed back, managing to break
 the Kushans with their ferocity, and causing their nascent
confederation to scatter in all directions. The Scythians instead of
directly attacking from there assembled a group of friendly tribes and
chieftains, under a singular high king, which went on the offensive and
proceeded to seize much of the Kushans’ land. The new *Kèhánat* of
Sikesh was thus born, as a Scythian client state. It incorporated a
number of tribes to the east, thanks to the Rouran Khanate suffering an
internal collapse of sorts, in response to an invasion from the east –
we will come to this later.

(Scythia: -1 Cavalry Company)
(Sikesh: -5 Cavalry Companies)

(Kushans: -8 Cavalry Companies, -Stability)
(Rouran Khanate: -5 Infantry Companies)

Another group of Kushans was scattered southwards, and combined with
Babylonian money, attempted to migrate into Persia. But, thanks to their
 old state having fallen. The Uar Persians have not conquered Margiana
from them yet, simply because the Uar have been distracted elsewhere.
And, so, technically, the Kushan Khaganate continues to live on.

(Kushans: -10 Cavalry Companies, -Stability)

(Uar Empire: -3 Cavalry Companies)

Scythia itself attempted expansion to the east and to the north,
incorporating friendly tribes into its state. In this, they were
somewhat successful, and the expansion was accomplished fairly
bloodlessly, through the land itself has little of note. Then, the
Scythians attempted to cross the Baltic, to the land called Suomi, to
establish their rule here, and when Scythian soldiers entered this land
attempting peaceful integration, they met harsh resistance from tribes
who had heard tales of slavery and other supposed dark facets of life
under Scythia – so much so, in fact, that the Scythians were repulsed
and prevented from settling the region. In fact, the Scythian expansion
marked the impetus for something else, for the local Finns to altogether
 unite under one chief, and in the 560s a unified Suomi is born for the
first time.

While all this was ongoing, Scythian arts and culture were blossoming –
and so were its politics. The centerpiece of this was a grand ceremony
in 555, held in the Scythian capital of Chersone. There, the satraps and
 xuyltai met at the behest of Karlitava, Kèhán (king) of Scythia who had
 led his armies to victory over the Yotvings and Samojards, to bear
witness to Karlitava, clutching a peryton with nine arrows for nine
gods, being crowned Xšaya – Emperor of Scythia, giving rise to the
so-called “Peryton Empire.” The long peace of Karlitava’s reign has also
 brought stability to the country – but how long can this last, with an
empire so big? Inevitably, it must fall, the other peoples of the world
tell themselves – the question now is when?

(Scythia: -2 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company, +Stability, +Culture Development)

(Suomi: -1 Infantry Company)

Still another group was released by the subjugation of the Kushans: a
group of seven tribes, collectively known to the Scythians and Greeks as
 the Tarjans, after their supposedly leading tribe; but they were also
known, especially to the Persians and Indians, by the name of another
major tribe within them: *Megyers*.

In any case, the Tarjans, who were strikingly, firmly Buddhist, and
completely undesiring to partake in the whole Sikesh mess, fanned out to
 the southeast in the 560s, establishing control over most of the lower
Oxus river valley and the number of trading posts that had been
established there, before they fell upon the northwestern frontier of
Bactria in 563. Perhaps Bactria would have stood, and by all rights, it
should have; but it just so happened that the death of the Bactrian king
 in 561 triggered a succession war, allowing the Tarjans to sweep in and
 capture parts of western Bactria, though at some cost. Proceeding from
here, the Tarjans proceeded to subjugate the Ferghana Valley in 570. The
 trade city of Marakanda, though somewhat ravaged by the ongoing war,
has become the Tarjan capital.

(Tarjans: -3 Cavalry Companies)

(Bactria: -5 Infantry Companies, -2 Cavalry Companies)

Nevertheless, the Tarjan khagan’s hold over the region is slippery. To
make matters more complicated, many Tarjans hear of greener pastures,
and more importantly, wealth in abundance almost unheard of on the
western steppes, just across a mountain pass to the south, and perhaps
Marakanda just isn’t good enough; perhaps they should go there...

## India

Not for the first time, Hindustan found itself divided between two
immensely powerful states, one in the north and one in the south. It
appeared that the two would inevitably go to war.

Such a conflict never actually came.

There is a tale of the Emperor Gopala Sundara. When he was a boy, he
went swimming in the Yamuna River near Indraprastha, and witnessed a
pair of his father’s soldiers attempting to slay a tiger, and being both
 killed in their militarist arrogance, turning the boy off warfare
forever. Whether this tale is true or not, from the gates of the Hindu
Kush to the wide fan the Ganga makes where it enters the sea, if Ram
Sundara’s reign was a time of war, his successor Gopala Sundara’s was a
time of peace. And what a peace it was! Letting the military be to
defend the empire’s frontiers, Gopala turned to art and culture.

Influenced by the Yona aesthetic common in the northwest extension of
the Sundara Empire, Gopala Sundara patronized the construction of a
great many Buddhist centers in that style – and not just Buddhist, but
Hindu temples as well. Infratstructure improvements on the scale of
those of the great Ashoka were conducted, namely the construction of a
new and greatly modernized road network swiftly tying one end of the
empire to the other and a courier system to go along with it, was
completed. To top it all off, in the 560s, Gopala Sundara relocated his
capital from Pataliputra to the more central location of Indraprastha –
which was spectacularly built in a very Hellenistic-influenced style. In
 575, the eminent Gopala Sundara still reigns, in full health, with no
signs of stopping the great golden age his rule has brought to North
India.

(Sundara Empire: +Economy Development, +Culture Development, +Stability)

The far eastern kingdom of Kamarupa took an unprecedented step – instead
 of bothering to care about the affairs to the west, of Sundaras and
Chalukyas and the other great nations of a divided India, Kamarupa
turned its little eye east, across the perilous mountains, to China. In a
 hitherto unprecedented step, Chinese envoys were able to firmly
establish a trade route between the two countries, and secure it from
outside threats – meaning that the harrowing land route can now be
traveled. The kings and nobles of Kamarupa now feel ever safer, knowing
that the Emperor of All Under Heaven has their back – maybe.

(Kamarupa: +Stability)

Records show little of Kalinga in this period; there is some mention of
its kings establishing closer diplomatic relations with the Sundara
Empire, as Gopala Sundara made it clear he had little interest in
conquering Kalinga, or anyone else, for that matter. It is also
mentioned that it continued stewarding trade missions to the eastern
lands, and that the Kalingan kings are reputed to have built up an
impressive collection of Nusantaran tortoise shells.

In the western realm of Vallabhi, continuing to exchange trade contacts
with Oman, the state’s rulers sought to attain enlightenment through the
 gathering of knowledge, and established a royal library in Dvaraka,
where Hellenistic, Persian, and Indian texts were gathered in what by
575 was India’s largest outside Karnataka and the Sundara Empire. But,
far more interesting, was the development of a full-fledged Nasrani
community in Dvaraka, in tandem with Omani missionaries who, despite the
 vast doctrinal differences, saw much common ground in these
communities, and even much that they could learn for their own faith at
home.

(Vallabhi: +Economy Development, +Culture Development)

In Chalukya-ruled Karnataka, it was a similar time of peace and
prosperity; but despite this, all was not entirely well. The newly
incorporated Malayalam- and Tamil-speaking areas in the south have
proven somewhat difficult to administer thanks to a language gap that
has not been resolved with Telugu- or Kannada-speaking nobility managing
 the affair, resulting in bureaucratic conflict. To the north, being a
Chalukya feudatory has helped the state of Malwa in more ways than one;
its generals have decided to emulate the Chalukyas’ methods of warfare
and army organization, though there has not yet been a war in which they
 can show their skills.

(Karnataka: -Stability)
(Malwa: +Army Development)

The Tamil states, even in the watchful shadow of the Chalukya Empire,
squabbled amongst each other, often exchanging alliances. After a couple
 of inconclusive wars in the 550s after which everyone involved realized
 the pointlessness of them all, it was too late. In the 560s, the
Kingdom of Gokanna on Lanka crossed onto the Indian mainland. It is
reputed that just like Rama, the Lankans crossed by building a bridge of
 rocks; but in reality, they probably merely crossed the narrow strait
on boats. The southern Tamil state, that of the Cholas, was swiftly
conquered; but for whatever reason, the Lankans did not proceed any
further northwards. Travelers of Lanka in this day report of how the
island might as well be some Paradise, with its bountiful wealth and
prosperity.

(Tamil states: -1 Cavalry Companies, -3 Infantry Companies, +Stability)

(Gokanna: -1 Infantry Company, -1 Cavalry Company, +Army Development)

## Southeast Asia

Tarumangara retained its hold of all Nusantara. But, lately, even with
Taruman naval dominance, holding onto all that land seems more and more
difficult for the country’s complex administration. Case in point:
Malaya, which was invaded by Langkasuka in the 560s, and as the
periphery of the Taruman domain, quickly taken by Langkasuka. The high
king of Langkasuka at the time of the invasion, a man named Bhagadatta
the Great, used the conquest to consolidate his power further, to the
point where Langkasuka can hardly be called a confederacy anymore.
Still, for most of the country, including the great country of Rondan,
the peace continued. Some of the Rondanese natives have established a
further for their variant of Buddhism based on cultural fusions between
the Nusantaran migrants and those of the Rondanese – the so-called
Altjira Buddhism.

(Langkasuka: -2 Infantry Companies, +Stability)

(Tarumangara: -Stability, -3 Infantry Companies)

The north saw the further rise to power of Dvaravati to prominence. Some
 wars were fought between the Mon Dvaravati and the Khmer Kambojans over
 the upper Mekong region in the 560s and 570s, leading to Dvaravati
victory and establishment supremacy there, and travellers’ records show
that in Kamboja, the time was one of malaise and general decline. Little
 of note passed in neighboring Champa, except a general flowering of
wealth. Buddhism continued its spread through the still largely
Hindu-dominated region.

(Dvaravati: -2 Infantry Companies, -1 Cavalry Company, +Stability, +Army Development)

(Kamboja: -5 Infantry Companies, -2 Cavalry Companies, -Stability)

The Pyu world was badly shaken by the conversion of the king of
Beikthano to Vajrayana Buddhism – a date marked as 557 in Kalingan
sources, but differing in some others. Nonetheless, it was this event,
and the succeeding wars, that caused a great flowering of Buddhism
amongst the Pyu – not to mention a further centralizing of power into
Beikthano.

(Pyu city-states: -2 Infantry Companies, -Stability, +Army Development)

The Theravada and Vajrayana flowerings that swept through Southeast Asia
 roughly between 550 and 570 left behind a rather impressive legacy, in
the great number of stupas and other such buildings which survive from
the period, and the literature it produced; though largely oral, the
spread of Brahmi-descended scripts in the sixth century with Buddhism
has marked an outburst of written literature.

(Pyu city-states, Dvaravati, Kamboja, Champa, Langkasuka: +Culture Development)

## East Asia

The increasingly powerful position of Imperial Chancellor of Great Sung
fell to one Xiang Yaoshi, a remarkably young man for the post. Xiang’s
main concern lay at sea – he proposed a new doctrine: “the dragon rides
the waves,” he famously declared to the Qianlong Emperor. To this end,
the size of the imperial fleet was greatly expanded. Ports and harbors
were constructed at grand scales in dozens of coastal towns and cities.
The newly expanded Sung fleet made a grand tour of sorts amongst a few
of its neighboring countries – ports in Champa, Baekje, and Hirajima all
 saw visits by Chinese “dragon ships,” instilling fear and wonder both
in observers. In any case, all these countries were shaken by this.

(Great Sung: +Navy Development)
(Champa, Baekje, Hirajima: -Stability)

From the cold lands of the northeast, where not even the hardiest of
Chinese or Mongols venture, came the Kamchachans. A most strange and
alien “bone people,” having mastered the arts of horseback warfare and
dogsled warfare both, the Kamchachans had by the mid-550s brutally
subjugated most of those Jurchen tribes ruling the lands to the
northeast of China. The Kamchachan invasion of the Rouran Khanate that
followed, through the course of the 560s, would bring much of the
eastern third of the Khanate under Kamchachan control, after the Rouran
army was decisively defeated in 562. A simultaneous invasion of the Jin
Kingdom in 567 succeeded where previous Rouran invasions had repeatedly
failed, for the Jin could not outfight the dogs who came tearing upon
them. Jin called for aid, but Baekje did not respond; Jin was quickly
overrun, and though its cities held out, it was only a matter of time
before they fell. The Kamchachans by 570 had reached the banks of the
Yellow River.

(Kamchachan Khaldom: -2 Infantry Companies, -5 Cavalry Companies)

(Rouran Khanate: -15 Cavalry Companies)
(Jin Kingdom: -10 Infantry Companies, -4 Cavalry Companies, -Existence)

Though large parts of the Rouran Khanate were lost, either to the
Kamchachan incursions, or to events to the west, the Khanate itself
miraculously held together. Perhaps it was because the deadweight of the
 least loyal elements of the Khanate was cut away by the incursions. Or
perhaps it was the extension of the Yassa Decrees over the entirety of
the country, standardizing the rule of law everywhere. Or perhaps it was
 the completion of the irrigation projects brought continued prosperity
to the countryside unaffected by the war. Or perhaps it was merely that
the Khaan’s authority, built up over the years, was able to weather the
storm. A grand marriage was held in Karakorum between Princess Roxana of
 Kashgar and Gur Khaan II. The Rouran Khanate may yet survive, but it
will take a great deal of effort to keep the edifice stable and safe
from invasions.

(Rouran Khanate: +Stability)

The political boost that arrived from the consummation of Kashgar’s ties
 with the Rouran Khanate cannot be underestimated. As the swords clanked
 at the Battle of Yarkand in 571, the armies of Khotan were resoundingly
 defeated by those of Kashgar, the king of Khotan killed on the
battlefield, and Khotan’s age of hegemony amongst the region’s states
was ended. Yarkand fell under Kashgar’s direct rule, and Kashgar has
replaced Khotan as the prominent state of the Tarim Basin. Kashgar in
particular, placed nicely along the Silk Road, has become a nexus where
Hellenistic and Persian cultures of the west met Chinese cultures of the
 east.

(Tarim Basin: -4 Infantry Companies, -3 Cavalry Companies, -Stability, +Culture Development)

Baekje in the south of Korea was spared the ravages of war, and managed
to dodge the Kamchachan arrow when the Kamchachans, instead of driving
straight for the southern coast as many expected, simply turned back
north after subjugating Pyongyang. The kings of Baekje paid for the
construction of a series of fortresses along the frontier with the
Kamchachans – these also served to solidify the state’s administrative
control over the frontier. The ever-wealthier Baekje court was a major
patron of poetry and visual arts, and in Baekje’s cities, a number of
schools of mathematics and philosophy flourished in the 550s and 560s.
The entire period was remembered as a glorious golden age for Korean
arts, who displayed a growing cultural influence with nearby Japan as
the two lands grew ever closer through trade, and all this continued
even as the north suffered subjugation, not for the first time in recent
 memory.

(Baekje: +Stability, +Culture Development)

Japan remained quietly prosperous; records and art from this phase of
the Hirajima era all demonstrate a curious fixation on boats.

(Hirajima: +Navy Development)

## Story Bonuses

Despite the politicking in Dacia, its variant of Christianity has spread
 and taken root. But the opposition is quite great, and this may not at
all be in any way permanent, before another force enters the equation to
 overturn it completely.

The story of the Peryton Emperor of Scythia is told far and wide in
these days and those yet to come, and it is told to visitors in the
increasingly lush and wealthy streets of Cherson.

The tales of the Arab King Ali, who “liberated” Jerusalem, have spread
through the newly conquered lands quick and wide, and the king’s divine
eminence, but more likely the Arab military force in the Levant and
upper Mesopotamia, have spurred widespread baptisms in cities and
villages from the Erythraean to Cilicia.

The port construction efforts in Great Sung were overseen by a eunuch
mathematician named Jia Xian, best known for his work on the so-called
“Jia Xian triangle,” a mathematical tool in which each number in a
growing pyramid is the sum of the two numbers above it. His work was
able to increase the efficiency of Chinese ports significantly.