The following period, known as the Age of Colonization, saw the pacification of the Greek cities, expansion of public projects, and the construction of colonies on the Buhallin sub-continent, the Plains of Ill-Omen, southeast Hallas, and in the Strana Corridor west of the Bombay Province.
The Strana Corridor was the main avenue for Jade Falcon colonization. A swath of land connecting the Buhallin sub-continent with the world to the West, it also separated the Sea of Khans from the Ocean of the South. On its far western end, the colony of Mow was established as a gateway to the unknown and was a lock for Jade Falcon ships to travel between the two seas. For another hundred years it stood as the guardian of the Jade Falcon's western holdings, and even after that, as a capitol of the region beyond. It produced the Jade Falcon's best sailors and serves as a cultural center of the western world in The Time of Peace.
Amidst this growth, Baghdad continued to be an untamed center of rebellion, where the people occasionally quit rioting against the government, the Jade Falcon and Greek minorities, and even each other to build accommodations to support their oddly-growing, but chaotic population.
The aftermath of the absorption of the Greek civilization included a great deal of unrest stemming from uncertainly over the growing military bent of the Jade Falcon peoples and the influx of new Greek ideas. The unrest spread quickly, especially when newpapers began printing a story about the exploitation of Baghdad refugees in the city of Spenser.
When order had returned, the Jade Falcons had replaced one Khan with another, one dedicated to the principle, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need." The new government possessed a multi-tiered series of indirectly-elected houses. Each citizen found themselves taken care of, from medical treatment to mandatory higher education consummate, all consummate with the promise they showed for providing and supporting the Jade Falcon civilization.
Theft and hoarding were reported by neighbors, discontent and disruptive citizens warranted a military presence that could either add those elements to their ranks or integrate them as menial labor support, and the very best scientists and economics analysts were managing one of the most efficient and loyal nations in the world.
The Jade Falcons had developed Communism.
There were two great results of this unrest. The first was the exodus of citizens of Greek, Jade Falcon, and Indian ancestry to the untamed western parts of Hellas, far away from the Jade Falcon civilization proper. Upset by the growing militarism, the previous social instability, and the subsequent new order, they created new societies not beholden to their parent government.
Initially, the new Khan sent troops to stop them, but eventually halted, instead sending census-takers to give the new settlements the same voting rights as any other Jade Falcon peoples. The result was a combination of a vassal state and a highly autonomous region. While the Irror Region still pays taxes (or tribute, depending on the politician speaking) to the Jade Falcons proper, they are immune to drafts, conscription, martial law, and martial requisitions. This arrangement, combined with their limited latitude to negotiate with foreign powers, allowed them in subsequent years to build an idyllic, sprawling, refined society, leaving the chaos and violence which would characterize the rest of the world behind...for a while.
The colonization, upheaval, and post-war recovery drove the Jade Falcon expenses into the red. Originally intended to be supported by a dedicated corps of engineers, the Jade Falcon exploratory expeditions found their progress impeded by the slow follow-up of Jade Falcon settlement. These engineers instead spent most of their time connecting the loosely-joined, three-district holdings of the Jade Falcons. Politicians and regional military directorates debated who had the right to determine the priorities of the new Jade Falcon collective while exploratory expeditions left the Jade Falcon colonization front behind, and pressed deeper into the unknown, leaving the economic and social troubles of home far behind.
The Strana Corridor, c. 1956, present day. To the south you can see the 'Irror' Autonomous Region of Near-West Hallas, with cities twice the size of their contemporaries across the Southern Ocean.
About the city of John: The 'Go' function and the ability of the AI to plot a course is not that great; a fact I sometimes forget. A group of settlers in Athens was supposed to go to Mow, but instead the AI piloted them over to a western arm of Hallas. Given the time necessary to get them back to the rest of my civilization--especially after the number of turns it took for them to get out there--I just said 'fuck it,' made a village, bought a boat, some engineers, shipped those engineers to Mow, disbanded the boat, called it 'squarsies,' and promptly forgot about John until Persia conquered it for no good reason during the opening salvos of The Total War.
No comments:
Post a Comment