NationStates Jolt Archive

Early morning mist crept through and around the tall dark trees, night slowly faded to the early light of day, the lakes were still as glass, the tall green grass still wet from the rain the night before. The sun was barely visible over the horizion when nature started to come alive once more at the beginning of a new day, then suddenly a sound, not one of an animal echoed through the air, the sound of chanting and drums.....

There was a large village located afew kilometers from the coast, birch bark homes scattered around and people emerging from them to carry out their daily buisness. The drumming and chanting was comming from a morning sunrise ceromony where a handful of the tribes elders stood around a center fire in the middle of the village, one held an eagle feather up towards the sky, another held a sea shell full of sacred medicines that were burining, it had a powerful, sweet, soothing, smell.

These people were the Unida Nation who lived in this undiscovered territoy, it was un-touched by modern civilization of the time. The Unida are a powerful people, the natives of this land had been fighting for hundreds of years on and off for power and influance, the Unida have been on top for quite some time and have the over all power and influance over the other tribes they have conqured or agreed to peace terms.

The Chief of the Unida Nation is named "Black Cloud", he is old aswell as wise. He has a grand counsil made up of 24 Elder members, also many strong, young, brave, experianced warriors who only wish to impress their great chief when they are called upon.

The Unida are generally peacefull but do not take well to intruders, but this does not mean they will fight with anyone who they encounter, they will attempt to learn from them unless they feel threatened then their enemys can only expect the worst.

IC:

After the sunrise ceromony a group of young hunters rushed into the village without any catch, they ran right past the birchbark homes, people tanning hides, making baskets, cooking food to the long house at the rear of the village where two muscular warriors stood with war clubs,

One spoke nearly out of breath,

"The clouds..they float on the water! then....men..come ashore..white men..."
(The ships sails)

One of the warriors rushed into the long house and returned shortly after with three others,

"Gather some others, we will see these intruders!" Said the warrior then rushed off...

The young hunters ran around the village hooting and hollaring, signaling for more to come. All of the responders quickly had the women put war paint on them in an orderly fashion, this process took about an hour and 45 minutes, by this time 120 warriors with bows, spears, war clubs, knives took to the woods headed in the direction of the sightings to investigate....

A group of Unida warriors watched from the dark forests edge at the people who came onto the shores, the majority of the force had spread out so to conceal themselves better, the natives knew this land and knew how to fight in it being experts at ambushes, hand to hand, and striking fear into the enemys hearts,

"They are people..who come from the sea?..white people?"

One said to the other, they simply shrugged watching curiously for they had never experianced somthing like this before,

"We hit them now brothers, before they come closer! hit them now!"

The lead warrior replied to the younger one,

"No, we watch..."

The Natives watched the whites cut down the trees near the shore line and start to build a strange structure, while this went on for hours another hundred warriors had joined up with the main force hiding in forest....

http://www.agecommunity.com/images/Iroquois_Warrior_sm.jpg

OOC: There i edited, :-) ... Shakal, we are not hostile as you have shown none to us yet..my forward group only consists of 4-5 guys watching..while the rest are farther back, waiting incase somthing does happen.

Pandemonium was the usual rule of the day, but today...well, let's just say that today was a banner day for it. Above and beyond anything seen thus far in this otherwise fair land.

The reason was war.

Soldiers, sailors, civilians and bondsman were all scurrying about making ready for what the politicos were calling a "distasteful but necessary involvement in ye areas of trouble". Meaning that plenty of money was to be made by sticking our noses in where they probably didn't belong.

Already a score of merchant ships were disgorging the contents of their collective holds, mostly stuff needed by the military. Muskets, shot, powder, and the like. And the warships out in the harbor were impatiently waiting to get their hands on it.

Joel McShea was absently patting his fat stomach, as if he had just finished a large meal. He looked back and forth at the activity on the docks and chuckled to himself. "A tidy sum today. Yes indeed, a tidy sum", he said to no one in particular.

"Pardon me, sir. Were you speaking to me?" This from a one-eyed fruit vendor who was passing by with his cart.

McShea glared at the man. "Why in blazes would I be talking to you, you scruffy man? Get on with you." As the man hurried away, McShea thought to himself that he'd best watch his tongue. Too many ne'er-do-wells about.

He chanced to see far off to his right a familiar face. Cupping his hands about his mouth, he cried, "Ho! Captain Jones! Over here!" He waved his hands frantically and finally got the Captain's attention. Jones, looking a bit chagrined, pushed his way through the crowd until he stood face to face with McShea. Or, rather, chest to face. Jones stood 6'6" tall. McShea usually got a crick in his neck just talking to the man.

"G'day Mr. McShea. What might you be bellowing about now?"

"Bellowing, indeed, sir", he replied. "I was simply of a thought to buy you one last whiskey over to the Rusty Scupper before you and your bloodthirsty bunch sailed off."

Jones squinted at him. "Aye, and I'm sure you didn't have it in mind to try one more time to make a better deal for the delivery of your goods to the New World, eh?"

"Well, what of it? The more I make, the more you make. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that I take all the risk, and receive but a pittance in return. If I'd been shrewder, you'd be a mite poorer."

McShea grinned. "Aye, and that's a fact, Captain. All right, let's go have that drink, no strings attached."

"Now your'e talkin'", said the Captain. Taking one last glance at the hustle and bustle of the dockside, he thought to himself, 'Might be the last time I see the inside of a tavern...........'

The Shakal Flagship Gallahand slid forward through the water. The massive sails of the Ship Of The Line stood far into the sky. In the crowsnest above the mist the spotter was jumping for joy. He had finally spotted land. He had already called the crew and informed them of the development. The signal was being sent by flag to the rest of the fleet saying that land had been spotted. The vessel was moving into a steady position before sending the smaller landing boats ashore. General Manstein would be the first Shakal citizen to set foot on the land.

Twenty minutes later...

The Shakal landing boats had reached shore. General Manstein already had the troops scouting ahead in small groups. There orders were to advance until shore was no longer visible then report back. The Shakal flag had been planted and the normal 500 citizens that had come on the ships were slowly approaching with some equipment. If any people were encountered they would be shown that no harm was meant to them. As the citizens arrived on land they were forced to cut down some trees to be used as a form of stockade until a source of mortar and stone could be found. The Shakal would tame this land, and it would be done with the brutal efficiency that the Shakal were reknowned for.

Standing on the foredeck of the Osprey, Captain Joachim Jones periodically held the telescope to his eye to see what there was to see. Which was usually nothing. He really didn't expect to see anything for about a fort-night, but you never knew. That blasted New World everyone was a-blabbin' about could be anywhere out here. No one had ventured much past the small island that traditionally marked the extent of the so-called safety zone. Beyond it was the unknown. Pirates, sea-monsters, and the like. Jones privately held to the notion that there wasn't a hell of a lot out there, but urged on by the good Mr. McShea and his liquor, he had agreed to tag behind the royal navy in their quest for new territory.

He thought back to the day he read about the chest that had been dragged up out of the depths that had had nothing in it but some old papers wrapped in oilskin. What the papers had to say changed everything.

There had been a map. A map that showed a new land, far off. It was determined that it had been drawn by an ancient scribe of the people of the far north.

OOC: Edited post so you can reply Shakal....**

Manstein knew that if this place was anything like the lands of the east* there would be people, and they would be watching. The stockade was slowly coming together. He had his men all back and they sat talking with the people. A group of 10 was still on the outsides as the people sung and danced as it grew dark, they played there music to help with the atmosphere.

In the woods outside the stockade...

"Well, this place isnt all that bad." A soldier said. "Its almost like home, without the roads or women of course." His escort partner laughed. They stood and walked out with there muskets slung by shoulder straps more worried about bears and other wildlife than people.

*in refrence to orient like area

the ships of the ouhAngermanland went many places. already, they had sent explorers to sail the great oceans, proving to those who did not believe the astronomers that the earth was indeed round, with no place completely impassable.

however, those explorers had not been tasked or equipped with the mapping of the interior of continents and landmasses, only the sea-ways and what merchant harbors might already exists. for it was trade that brought profit, resources, and, most precious of all, espionage and technological innovation.

now, however, the pressures of a rapidly growing population, expanding empires around the world, and an ever higher demand for resources of all kinds, the ouhAngermanland were forced to adopt new thoughts. they took to them as well as they did any other, which truthfully was quite well, for they were nothing if not flexible in thought.

they had fought wars on land and sea all through out the grand ocean, it's islands, and several of it's continental coast lines, but this would be the first concentrated effort to colonize a land mass on a large scale. most previous 'colonies' had in fact grown up around fleet bases or conquered cities.

so it was that the Charraven was built. even for the typically ...odd... ships to come out of the slips of Angermanland, she was a little unusual.

first, she had an unusually shallow draft, and thus had outrigger hulls like the behemoths of the navy. second, while she had two rows of masts and a variable centerboard to provide stability, all her sails were rigged on the outer sides of the masts, never impinging on the space between the rows. they were neither square rigged nor schooner, (those being the typical rigging of an ouhAngerman ship) nor the large, triangular sails of the tall mastered cargo ships and couriers. instead, they formed triangles from mast to the ship's sides, and their outer corners were fixed to an outer railing.

the reason for this oddity was quite simple. the Charraven was the first ship built to allow hawk troops to land upon it's decks. these aerial scouts provided a significant advantage in almost any situation, but landing in the water was almost suicidal. no one wanted to risk such a loss.

this affected almost every aspect of the ship. as well as the unusual rigging, the weaponry was all mounted bellow deck, though mostly still facing forward and aft as was the norm in ouhAngermanland designs. noticeably absent from the design were the anti-shipping 'boomtubes' their ammunition took up a lot of space, and the deck launchers took up open deck space that simply wasn't available on the Charraven.

also noticeable was the fact that the ship had not one, but two wheels, one to either side, again leaving a clear space down the ship's center. not so much because it would be needed for landing hawks, as so that any that had any... accidents... didn't land on whoever was manning the wheel at the time.

from there, things only got weirder. the ship was built for scouts, astronomers and cartographers. the result of this was telescopes mounted upon mast tops, small domes projecting up from the deck and out from the sides of the ship [in places where they would not interfere with other things, of course]. the hold sacrificed cargo space for a full bowen stable. which when one's mounts are over four meters tall, is no small thing. the hawk's landing area also gave room for the scouts to exercise their moa during the trip.

a disproportionately large amount of the ship's carrying capacity was, as a result of all this, dedicated to food, papers, documents, instruments, and the like. so much so that the ship did not even carry marines, and many of the scouts and academics had found themselves having to do double duty as seamen-apprentice's. all this meant that the ship had, eventually, been assigned the ouhAngermanland equivalent of a frigate as escort.

'and now' thought Meshal Amachi, as the ship dropped anchor, 'now we get to see if it's all worth it.' strapping himself into his harness, he grinned, then signaled to the launch crew, before gripping the handles tight and bracing against the force of the launcher as it sent him flying into the air. apparently, in the early days when the hawks had just been invented, centuries before now, several pilots had died when they blacked out during this phase. eventually, the hows and whys of it had been figured out, to a point, and now it was very rare for someone to make it to that stage if they weren't able to handle it. however, every pilot was well aware of the possibility.

with this thought in mind, Meshal breathed a sigh of relief, and a prayer for continued good fortune, as he rolled his body so his stomach was towards the ground and spread his arms, slamming the wings into their locks as he arced over and began to glide.

a moment to adjust course and check for faults then

dive!

the glider swooped down, gaining speed, before catching a thermal off hot beach sands of the coastline and spiraling up into the air once more. the young man whooped with exhilaration as he arced over into a turning loop and was briefly upside down, the sun playing on his skin, useually the pale brown typical of the ouhAngermanland people, now slightly darker from time in the equatorial regions on the way here.

he leveled out again, and continued on... behind him, four more hawks leaped into the air and followed his path up the thermal, before spreading off in different directions. they had countryside to scout and memorize, so the cartographers could map it, then the ground scouts would go fill in details, and make preliminary surveys regarding the location's suitability for a port town for what would, it was hoped, become a significant colonial venture.

OCC: Could you put a link to the map on the 1st post of this thread? Thanks.

Frozopia had seen better times. Kings had ruled the country for too long, and though for every bad leader there was a good one, all were arrogant enough to believe they were absolutely right in any situation.

For the last 100 years the royal family had refused to upgrade their ships to meet the new standards required to remain a naval power. Worse they had upped taxes so that individual lords could barely afford to upgrade their own ships. Frozopia, a country who built its wealth on raiding enemy coastlines and capturing lands oversea's could now barely look after its own shoreline and merchant ships.

High taxes also had its affect on the people, nor was it the only problem. Corruption and poverty ran rampant. Many could barely feed themselves, never mind survive the harsh winters that struck Frozopia yearly. Meanwhile the Kings and Queens of the land pigged on their wealth, wasting it dreadfully. Instead of listening to the lords of the land, they listened to their cunning advisors who exploited the situation to amass great wealth.

Three civil wars had not changed this. The Frozopian Royal Guard, ever loyal to their masters, had viciously destroyed every attempt to escape the vice like grip of the Royal family. With each civil war more and more land was lost overseas as garrison troops were stripped away and sent back home.

But with the crowning of a new King, there was hope for the country to reclaim its former glory. Taxes had been reduced dramatically, lords even encouraged to build more and more ships. Foreign ship builders were hired to construct Ships-of-the-line for the Royal navy. It would take a long time, but in the meanwhile Frozopian privateers were encouraged to lay war on the foreign shipping lines. Several other ships were sent to the new landmasses that were being discovered. Each ship carried arms and goods to trade with the natives. In return Frozopia hoped to covertly convert the natives so as to serve the Frozopian crown.........


"Land.....Land ahead."
Julia plunged onwards. She had taken punishment in the long journey, much of it still waiting to be repaired. The crew were too numbed by lack of food and water to be kicked into action, and Blackthorne had been reluctant to punish them for their inactivity. He wouldnt be the first man to have made that mistake, driving his crew into a rage that would kill him.

Blackthorne was the pilot of Julia and The Condor, a veteran of many successful journies charted and uncharted. He had been cautious, planning ahead with regular stops, stocking the two ships with as much food and water they could carry. Once the Frozopians departed their final supply port and into the unknown, Blackthorne had enforced the strictest rationing. A couple of men had to be shot for stealing food by their merciless crew, furious at the two mens betrayal. Now his efforts were paying off. Only 25 men including the 2 men who got shot died during the journey. Scurvy was only beginning to take hold in the crew. Sighting land had awoke the men from their stupor, as they stood on the deck whooping and slapping Blackthorne on the back. On the horizon a green line beckoned........

(OOC: Tag, can't think of a response yet)

ooc: ok, so i signed up on the ooc area and checked out the map. im going to that far bottom left landish area ;). is anyone there? natives?

IC: The Bellerophon floated into the strange harbor. Its sails carried it on the cool air. The soldiers and sailors on deck were shocked at what they had found. A new world. The Captain quickly organized an armed scouting party to make their way to shore and search for anything worth taking. The large longboats lowered into the soft flowing water and began the long trek to shore.

Ooc2: ive decided to go like the Dutch. not big on major colonization or a major empire, but big in naval power/technology and trade :)