; Civilopedia.txt ; Notes: for Middle Ages ; Keys: ; to add a game concept one must first add a Key for it. these are of the form: ; GCON_Name ; where Name contains only alpha-numerical symbols. ; these Keys are used to look up the game concept Name and Text. ; Keys are NOT translated. ; Keys for other items (units, techs, etc.) are set by Civ3Edit. ; ; Game concepts follow the form: ; #Key ; Name ; Text ; Links in game concepts follow the form: ; $LINK ; the Text -- everything between the '<' and the '=' must be translated. ; the Key -- everything between the '=' and the '>' must be a valid key ; for the link to work ; ; Descriptions follow the form: ; #Header ; Text ; the Header for descriptions must be in the form DESC_Key ; so, for the game concept: "Territory" that has the key "GCON_Territory", ; the Header should be "DESC_GCON_Territory" ; A complete list of all Civilopedia Keys is coming soon. ; ; -Javier Sobrado, 5/21/01 #GAME_CONCEPTS_KEYS GCON_Age_of_Science GCON_Agreements GCON_Assimilation GCON_Barbarians GCON_Barricades GCON_Bombardment_in_Ports GCON_Colony GCON_Combat GCON_Commerce GCON_Conversion GCON_Collateral_Damage GCON_Corruption GCON_Culture GCON_Disease GCON_Disorder GCON_Draft GCON_Embassies GCON_Espionage GCON_Espionage_Missions GCON_Experience GCON_Food GCON_Fortresses GCON_Golden_Age GCON_Governments GCON_Happy_Faces GCON_Hotkeys_Controls GCON_Hotkeys_Units GCON_Hurry_Production GCON_Keypad GCON_Landmark_Terrain GCON_Leaders GCON_Locked_Alliances GCON_Maintenance GCON_Maps GCON_Moods GCON_Nationality GCON_Outposts GCON_Overpopulation GCON_Plague GCON_Pollution GCON_Radius GCON_Research GCON_Resistance GCON_ResourcesB GCON_ResourcesL GCON_ResourcesN GCON_ResourcesS GCON_Revolution GCON_Ruins GCON_Shields GCON_Short_Game_Modes GCON_Specialists GCON_Stealth_Attack GCON_Strengths GCON_Terrain_Combat GCON_Territory GCON_Trade GCON_Transport GCON_Treasury GCON_Unit_Support GCON_Victory GCON_Volcanic_Eruptions GCON_War_Weariness GCON_We_Love_The_King_Day GCON_Worker_Jobs GCON_Worker_Jobs_Advanced GCON_ZOC #GAME_CONCEPTS #GCON_Plague Plague ^ ^ ^The sudden appearance of The Plague can be a devastating event. Plague, if and when it occurs, can wipe out city population and land units (except Kings). The effect of plague is exacerbated in larger cities, walled cities and cities with $LINK and a $LINK. #GCON_ZOC Zone of Control ^ ^ ^Some military units have a [zone of control] that influences the eight squares surrounding the unit. This represents the unit's ability to project its combat power into surrounding areas. Such units attack enemies that enter the zone of control without initiating a full battle. ^ ^Only the $LINK (a barbarian unit) has a zone of control in this scenario. #GCON_Unit_Support Supporting Military Units ^ ^ ^Generally, each military unit must be supported with one gold per turn from its $LINK. However, each form of $LINK defers these costs for a certain number of units, depending upon how many towns, cities, or metros the civilization controls. ^ ^{Government Town City Metro} ^Anarchy 0 0 0 ^Despotism 4 4 4 ^Monarchy 2 4 8 #GCON_Governments Governments ^ ^ ^There are three forms of government that you can use to control your civilization. Each has advantages and disadvantages. The type of government you use determines: ^ ^How efficient your $LINK are (how quickly they get their jobs done). ^How much $LINK affects your civilization. ^The number of citizens you can $LINK per turn. ^The number of military units that can be used as $LINK. ^The number of military units you can have before you must $LINK them from your $LINK. ^ ^The possible government types are: ^* $LINK ^* $LINK ^* $LINK ^ ^To change your form of government, you must have a $LINK. #GCON_Draft Draft ^ ^ ^When a civilization develops $LINK its citizens can be drafted into military service. Each city can draft some of its population each turn, depending upon the government currently in effect. ^* A civilization in $LINK may not use the draft. ^* A city in a country under $LINK, or $LINK can draft [two] citizens per turn. ^ ^To utilize the draft, press the "Draft" button on the City Display. You may only draft citizens from a city with ^a population of 7 or higher. ^ ^The draft produces the following $LINK units, depending upon your level of scientific development: ^ ^$LINK ^$LINK ^$LINK ^ ^However, drafting citizens will cause unhappiness in the city. #GCON_Maintenance Maintenance ^ ^ ^Some city improvements must be maintained after they are built. This [maintenance] cost is paid from your $LINK once every turn. ^ ^ ^{These buildings require one gold per turn.} ^$LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, and $LINK. ^ ^ ^{These require two gold per turn} ^$LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK. #GCON_Combat Combat ^ ^ ^There are two types of combat: ground/naval combat and bombardment. ^[Ground/Naval combat] occurs when units of different civilizations try to occupy the same square. The two units trade blows until one of them loses its health bar and is destroyed. The winner may be damaged (its health bar is reduced). ^[Bombardment] occurs when a ranged unit or air unit attacks without entering the defender's square. Bombardment inflicts losses to the defender's health bar but never completely destroys them. Air bombardment is the same except the planes fly to the target and may be shot down on the way. ^ ^{Repairing Damage} ^A unit that takes damage in combat but survives can heal, adding one $LINK per turn back to its health bar. To do so, it ^* must be in friendly or neutral territory. ^* must not move for a complete turn. ^ ^{Repairing Faster} ^A city with a $LINK heals ground units completely in one turn. ^A city with a $LINK heals sea units completely in one turn. ^A civilization with $LINK or $LINK heals in enemy territory. #GCON_Transport Transport ^ ^ ^Some naval units can carry or [transport] other units. ^ ^{Ships} ^Ships can be boarded from any shoreline by simply moving the rider onto the ship. They may also be boarded from inside a coastal city by right-clicking the unit in the garrison box and selecting from the menu, or using the Load command button when on the main map. #GCON_Espionage Espionage ^ ^ ^Once a civilization learns $LINK and builds an $LINK, it can conduct [espionage missions] to find out classified information about other civilizations, friend and foe. Espionage can also be used to harm a rival or sabotage his $LINK. Remember though, failed missions can seriously damage your reputation. ^ ^{Espionage Screen:} ^ ^The Espionage screen is comprised of: current opponents, available missions, your current asset information, city selection, and operational cost options. This screen is available for use once a player has discovered $LINK. ^ ^Your opponents are displayed followed by icons that indicate your Espionage status within that civilization. If the Embassy Icon is displayed, you currently have an embassy within that civilization's capitol city. If the Spy icon is present, you have a spy planted within that civilization. ^ ^The mission area displays the various diplomatic and clandestine espionage options which you may currently engage in. When an espionage mission button has been selected. The following is a list of espionage and diplomatic missions that may be performed: ^ ^The assets section provides a summary of your current monetary and technological assets, including the amount of gold in your treasury, your technological achievements (those that apply to espionage), and your level of spy experience ^ ^The operational cost options allow you to set the level of risk you are willing to undertake with regard to the current mission. The controls for executing and canceling missions are also located in this area. ^ ^ ^(continued) ^ #DESC_GCON_Espionage ^ ^ ^ ^The following is a list of espionage missions that may be performed (note that most missions become available after you have researched $LINK): ^ ^{Establish Embassy -} Attempts to establish an embassy with the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^{Plant Spy -} This option attempts to plant a spy with the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^{Steal Technology -} This option attempts to Steal a Technology from the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^{Steal Military Plans -} Use a spy to steal military plans of a rival, which reveals the locations of all their military units. ^ ^{Initiate Propaganda -} Initiate propaganda against the city where the spy resides. If successful, the people will revolt and $LINK to your side. ^ ^{Expose Enemy Spy -} If you suspect a rival has planted a spy in one of your cities you can attempt to expose the intruder. ^ ^{Investigate City -} This option attempts to Investigate a City belonging to the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^{Steal World Map -} Use a spy to steal a $LINK from a rival. ^ ^{Sabotage Production -} Use a spy to destroy all the $LINK in the production box of a rival city. #GCON_Espionage_Missions Espionage Missions ^ ^ ^ ^{Launching a Diplomatic or Spy Mission:} ^ ^You can launch certain diplomatic missions at any time after the discovery of $LINK. Other missions become available as your level of technology increases. Spy missions become available after you have discovered $LINK. ^ ^To launch a diplomatic or spy mission: ^ ^{1 -} Select the target civilization in the Opponents area. ^ ^{2 -} Select a mission type (Diplomatic or Spy). ^ ^{3 -} Select a mission. ^ ^{4 -} Select the target city for the mission (if appropriate). ^ ^{5 -} Select an option in the Operational Costs area. ^ ^{6 -} Click Execute to launch the mission. ^ ^Note that if you decide to NOT execute the mission, you can click Cancel or exit the Espionage screen to cancel it. ^ ^The following is a list of diplomatic and espionage missions that may be performed (note that most missions become available after you have researched $LINK): ^ ^{Establish Embassy -} Attempts to establish an embassy with the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^{Plant Spy -} This option attempts to plant a spy with the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^(continued) ^ #DESC_GCON_Espionage_Missions ^ ^ ^(continued) ^ ^{Steal Technology -} This option attempts to Steal a Technology from the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^{Steal Military Plans -} Use a spy to steal military plans of a rival, which reveals the locations of all their military units. ^ ^{Initiate Propaganda -} Initiate propaganda against the city where the spy resides. If successful, the people will revolt and $LINK to your side. ^ ^{Expose Enemy Spy -} If you suspect a rival has planted a spy in one of your cities you can attempt to expose the intruder. ^ ^{Investigate City -} This option attempts to Investigate a City belonging to the currently selected Civilization. ^ ^{Steal World Map -} Use a spy to steal a $LINK from a rival. ^ ^{Sabotage Production -} Use a spy to destroy all the $LINK in the production box of a rival city. ^ #GCON_Victory Victory Conditions ^ ^ ^To check your current level of victory at any time during play, press the {F8} key to open the Victory Status Screen, or press the {V} button located in the lower right corner of the screen. ^ ^There are three ways to win: ^ ^{Domination} ^Have 25% of the world's land surface within your $LINK as well as 25% of the world's population within your cities. This can be accomplished either by military measures or by $LINK development (or, more likely, a combination of the two). ^ ^{Conquest} ^A purely military solution: conquer the world, civilization by civilization. If you eliminate [all] civilizations from the game, you win. ^ ^{Victory Point Win} ^If you can amass 30,000 victory points, you win immediately. ^ ^{Tie-Breaker at Game End} ^This scenario runs until the year 1455. If the game ends and no one has reached 30,000 victory points, then the winner is given to the civilization that has amassed the most victory points. ^ ^The Mass Regicide condition is on for this scenario. Any civilization that loses all of its King units will fall into chaos and be eliminated from the game. ^ ^ #DESC_GCON_Victory ^ ^ #GCON_Disease Disease ^ ^ ^[Disease] kills citizens and units that spend too much time in unhealthy areas like $LINK, $LINK and $LINK. Military units that fortify in these terrains are susceptible to [disease]. ^ ^Your workers can $LINK and eliminate that risk. #GCON_Trade Trade and Trade routes ^ ^ ^{Domestic Trade} ^Domestic trade occurs automatically between cities of the same civilization that are [connected] to each other. Any tradable $LINK within your territory that is connected to any city is shared by [all] connected cities. Every city that is connected to a resource has that resource in the appropriate box of the City Display. ^ ^ ^{Foreign Trade} ^A single resource icon is enough to supply the needs of an entire civilization. Excess resources may be traded to other civilizations if the capital cities of both civilizations are connected. You trade strategic and luxury resources with other civilizations during diplomatic negotiations. ^ ^ ^{Trade Route Connections} Two cities are connected if any one of the following are true: ^* there is a $LINK running between them, ^* or there are $LINK in both cities and a visible water route between them. ^ ^ ^[Water Routes]: In order to use a water trade route, your civilization must be able to safely traverse ^every square of the route and this depends upon having $LINK. ^ ^ ^The only exception involves enemy territory: two cities are not connected if the only road/rail that connects them passes through enemy territory, or if a harbor is blockaded by enemy naval forces. #GCON_ResourcesN Natural Resources ^ ^ ^There are {22} [natural resources] represented by various icons scattered around the world. These fall into three categories, [Bonus, Luxury,] and [Strategic]. ^ ^ ^[$LINK] give city production bonuses in worked squares within a city radius. Bonus resources cannot be traded to other cities or civilizations. Bonus resources are always visible in $LINK areas of the map. ^ ^ ^[$LINK] also give city production bonuses in squares worked by citizens. But they may also be traded along trade routes, and make content people happy in cities that receive them. Luxury resources are always visible on the map in explored areas. ^ ^ ^[$LINK], like both the others, give bonuses to city production, but, like luxuries they can also be traded. Strategic resources are required for a city to build various military units and city improvements. Strategic resources appear on the map when a Civilization Advance exposes their usefulness. ^ ^ ^Luxury and Strategic Resources are referred to as {Tradable Resources.} #GCON_ResourcesB Bonus Resources ^ ^ ^[Bonus resources] are one of the types of $LINK. These cannot be traded like $LINK or $LINK, but do provide bonuses to worked squares within a $LINK. ^ ^ ^{City Production Bonuses} ^A citizen laborer working a bonus resource square gains extra $LINK, $LINK, and/or $LINK. ^ ^{Types Food Shields Commerce} ^$LINK +2 +1 +0 ^$LINK +2 +0 +1 ^$LINK +2 +0 +0 ^$LINK +0 +0 +4 ^$LINK +1 +1 +2 ^$LINK +2 +0 +0 #GCON_ResourcesL Luxury Resources ^ ^ ^[Luxury resources] are one of the types of $LINK. When available to a city from foreign or domestic $LINK, luxury resources produce [$LINK], making content citizens happy. The number of happy faces produced by luxuries depends upon the presence or lack of a $LINK. ^ ^When a city "has" a luxury resource, it appears in the city's {Luxuries box}. ^ ^ ^{City Production Bonuses} ^Like all resources, luxuries resources also provide city production bonuses to worked squares within a $LINK. ^ ^{Types Food Shields Commerce} ^$LINK +0 +0 +1 ^$LINK +0 +1 +1 ^$LINK +0 +0 +1 ^$LINK +0 +0 +2 ^$LINK +0 +0 +3 ^$LINK +0 +0 +2 ^$LINK +1 +0 +1 ^$LINK +0 +0 +4 #GCON_ResourcesS Strategic Resources ^ ^ ^[Strategic Resources] are one of the types of $LINK. When available to a city from foreign or domestic $LINK, strategic resources enable the construction of some units and city improvements. ^ ^When a city "has" a strategic resource, it appears in the city's {Strategic Resource box}. ^ ^ ^{City Production Bonuses} ^Like all resources, strategic resources also provide city production bonuses to worked squares within a $LINK. ^ ^{Types Food Shields Commerce} ^$LINK +0 +2 +1 ^$LINK +0 +0 +1 ^$LINK +0 +1 +0 ^$LINK +0 +2 +0 ^$LINK +0 +1 +2 #GCON_Hurry_Production Hurry Production ^ ^ ^City construction projects (improvements or units) can be hurried to completion if necessary. Use the "Hurry" button on the [City Display]. ^ ^ ^Under $LINK you hurry production in your cities by forced labor. Disillusioned by your harsh rule, citizens will leave your city if you institute this type of rushed production. ^ ^ ^Under $LINK you can pay overtime and hire temporary workers to complete a project. This costs gold from your treasury; the amount depends upon how much work remains to be done. ^ ^ ^$LINK can also be used to hurry production. ^ ^ ^You have [no] production if your civilization is in $LINK. #GCON_Corruption Corruption and Waste ^ ^ ^[Corruption] is income lost to theft, embezzlement, and other illegal practices. [Waste] is shield production lost to inefficiency. If left unchecked, corruption and waste will significantly slow the development of your civilization. You can track the status of corruption and waste in your empire on the [City Display] and [Domestic Advisor]. ^ ^ ^{Causes} ^In general, the farther a city is from its capital city, the more corruption and waste it experiences. Also the more cities in your empire, the higher rates of both, overall. Finally, the extent of corruption and waste is also affected by the system of $LINK you are currently using. ^ ^ ^{Solutions} ^A $LINK or $LINK in the city or a nearby $LINK or $LINK reduce corruption. ^ ^Another solution, is to change your system of $LINK. The more liberal the government, the less corruption and waste you experience. ^ ^Being attached to your capital via road, harbor, or airport also reduces corruption and waste. ^ ^$LINK also reduces waste. #GCON_Pollution Pollution ^ ^ ^In this scenario, Pollution is a problem associated with volcanic activity only. If a volcano erupts, the spaces around it may become polluted. ^ ^ ^Polluted areas can be cleaned up by $LINK. #GCON_Embassies Embassies ^ ^ ^When a civilization learns $LINK, it can begin to build its intelligence network. The first step is to build [embassies] in rival capital cities. That done, you can sign Right of Passage $LINK and trade communication ties (that you have acquired) with other nations. ^ ^ ^Embassies cost gold from your treasury to build, and diplomatic missions cost gold to execute. ^ ^Build an embassy by double-clicking the capital city icon after you have learned Writing. #GCON_Moods Citizen moods ^ ^ ^Each citizen is either [happy, content], or [unhappy]. ^ ^{What Makes 'em Sad?} ^* $LINK. ^* $LINK. ^* $LINK. ^* $LINK. ^ ^{What Makes 'em Glad?} ^To combat unhappiness in your cities you can build improvements or take actions that produce happy or content $LINK. Each happy face changes the mood of one citizen from content to happy; each content face alters a citizen from unhappy to content. ^ ^* Build a $LINK, $LINK, $LINK or $LINK. ^* Bring assorted $LINK into the city. ^* Convert some citizens to $LINK. ^* Increase funding for entertainment using the Entertainment slider on the Domestic Advisor. ^* Garrison military units in the city (Military Police). ^* Build any of the following Great Wonders: ^ * $LINK ^ * $LINK ^ ^A city in which more people are unhappy than happy falls into $LINK. Content citizens and specialists are ignored. #GCON_War_Weariness War Weariness ^ ^There is no War Weariness in the Middle Ages. #GCON_Research Scientific Research ^ ^ ^Your civilization is constantly striving to learn about the world, science, invention, and creativity. Its ability to succeed at these pursuits depends in large measure upon your allocation of revenue to science. You set the allocation on the [Domestic Advisor] by sliding the science slider left or right to decrease or increase (respectively) the amount of your tax revenue that you divert into research. By doing this, you determine the percentage of each city's income that will be poured into research. ^ ^At the start of each turn, the science output of each city is added to the research project currently in progress, eventually resulting in the discovery of a new $LINK. ^ ^To increase the science production in only one city, you can convert a citizen or two to a $LINK. ^ ^Finally, the science output of individual cities -- and the empire overall, in some cases -- can be dramatically increased by building some improvements and wonders in those cities, such as: ^ $LINK ^ $LINK ^ $LINK #GCON_Food Food ^ ^ ^[Every citizen must eat two food per turn or die.] Luckily, most citizens labor in the areas around their city, yielding some combination of food, $LINK, and $LINK, and feeding themselves in the process. ^ In some cases, a citizen produces more food than he needs and the excess is put into his city's food storage box each turn. When it is full, the storage is emptied and the city grows, adding one citizen to its population. ^ In other cases, a city does not grow enough food to sustain its population, so food is drawn out of the storage box to make up the shortfall. If a city cannot feed its population either from new production or stored food, one of its citizens {starves} and disappears. ^ Food production fundamentally depends upon the terrain within the city radius, because citizens laboring there produce food. When the [City Display] is open, you can see what the citizens are producing. ^ ^{A citizen working Produces this much food} ^Floodplains 3 4 if irrigated. ^Grasslands 2 3 if irrigated. ^Plains 1 2 if irrigated. ^Hills 1 cannot be irrigated. ^Forests 2 cannot be irrigated. ^Marsh 1 cannot be irrigated. ^Coastal 1 cannot be irrigated. ^Sea 1 cannot be irrigated. ^Jungle 1 cannot be irrigated. ^Tundra impassable in this scenario ^Fresh Water Lake 2 cannot be irrigated. ^Desert 0 1 if irrigated. ^Mountain 0 cannot be irrigated ^Volcano 0 cannot be irrigated. ^Note that some $LINK provide bonus food as well. #GCON_Shields Production and Shields ^ ^ ^[Shields] represent [common] raw materials in the countryside [and] the labor required to make useful materials from them. In essence they are a measure of [production]. ^ The shields a city produces are used to complete its current project, which may be to build a military unit, city improvement, or wonder. When the production box is full of shields, the project is finished, the box is emptied, and a new project must be started. ^ Some cities lose shields to $LINK. ^ Shield production depends upon the terrain within the city's radius, because citizens laboring there produce shields. When the [City Display] is open, you can see what the citizens are producing. ^ ^{A citizen working Produces this many shields} ^Grasslands 0 1 if mined. ^Plains 1 2 if mined. ^Hills 1 3 if mined. ^Mountains 1 3 if mined. ^Tundra impassable in this scenario ^Desert 1 2 if mined. ^Forest 2 cannot be mined. ^Marsh 0 cannot be mined. ^Volcano 3 cannot be mined. ^ ^Note that some $LINK provide bonus shields as well. #GCON_Fortresses Fortresses ^ ^ ^When a civilization has learned $LINK, its workers know how to construct stone and masonry [fortresses]. Military units inside these bastions have a few advantages. ^* They get a 50% defensive bonus if attacked. ^* They have a $LINK and fire at passing enemy units without receiving return fire. ^ ^ ^{Upgrade} A fortress can be upgraded to a $LINK once the technology $LINK has been learned. #GCON_Specialists Specialists ^ ^ ^It is sometimes necessary to fine-tune a city's production. To do so, you'll want specialists. Specialists do not work in the city radius so they don't contribute to city production of food or commerce. Instead, they produce extra happy faces, enhance scientific research, tax revenue, or shield production, or help control corruption. ^ ^ ^{Entertainers} ^An entertainer produces one $LINK. ^ ^{Scientists} ^A scientist produces extra $LINK. ^ ^{Tax Collector} ^A tax collector produces extra $LINK. ^ ^ ^To create one of these specialists, on the [City Display], click any square currently being worked; the production icons disappear and an Entertainer appears among the population. If you wanted an entertainer, you're done. If you wanted a different specialist, click on the entertainer to cycle through all the specialists. #GCON_Barricades Barricades ^ ^ ^When a civilization has learned $LINK, its workers know how to construct stone and masonry [barricades], which are even more formidable than $LINK. ^ ^A Barricades can only be built on a square already containing a Fortress. Even if unoccupied, barricades automatically stops movement of a ground unit entering its square (unless that unit belongs to the same civilization currently controlling the barricade's square, or if that unit has a $LINK agreement through that land. Barricades become a fortress if their square is pillaged. ^ ^Military units inside barricades have a few advantages. ^* They get a 100% defensive bonus if attacked (i.e., twice the defensive bonus being in a Fortress). ^* The $LINK exerted by the fortress still applies to a barricades. ; End Game Concepts_______________________________________________________________________________End Game Concepts ; Units__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Units #PRTO_Rider ^ ^ ^A [Cataphract] is an armored cavalry unit armed with bow and lance. Cataphracts are only available to the Byzantines and the Kievan Rus. ^ #DESC_PRTO_Rider ^ ^ ^The Byzantine Empire, as the continuation of the Roman Empire, maintained the legions, however, while they found that the legions were remarkably adept as they were in dealing with the barbarians of the west, they were unable to compete with the mounted archers of the east. After an extended period of dependence on Teutonic and Hunnish mercenary cavalry, the reforms of emperors Maurice and Heraclius in the 6th and 7th centuries developed a provincial militia based on the institution of [pronoia], the award of nonhereditary grants of land capable of supporting an armored horse archer called a cataphract. The Byzantine cataphract was armed with a bow, lance, sword and dagger, and wore a shirt of mail or scale armor (the cataphract, from which the warriors took their name). This armor was so heavy that even halberds, pikes, and other counter-cavalry polearms had trouble penetrating it. In addition to their suit of armor, cataphracts also wore an iron helm and carried a small, round, ironbound shield of wood that could be strapped to the forearm or slung from the waist. The cataphracts’ horses were carefully bred over the centuries to be the perfect warhorse, and were heavily armored as well, creating tremendous mass for the initial impact of the charge. Cataphracts used both missile tactics and shock tactics, and became the mainstay of the Byzantine army. This elite cavalry was employed for over 600 years. ^ ^ #PRTO_Gaelic_Swordsman ^ ^ ^The [Gaelic Swordsman] is the unique unit for the Celts and replaces the Medieval Infantry. It treats all terrain as roads, and can be drafted...though I would be surprised if you manage that! ^ ^ #PRTO_Knight ^ ^ ^[Knights] are fast [and] powerful. They are the first armored unit, and good at attack and defense. Knights will [withdraw] from combat if they are losing (unless fighting another fast unit). Knights are the unique units for the Western Chistian civilizations of Burgundy, England, France, Germany, Castile and Poland. ^ ^A city must have both $LINK and $LINK in its $LINK box to build knights. ; _______________________________________________NAVAL UNITS_____________________________________________ #PRTO_Privateer ^ ^ ^Privateers do not appear in the Middle Ages scenario. ^ #PRTO_Galley ^ ^ ^The [galley] is an upgrade to the $LINK. These ships must end each turn in a $LINK square -- they are in danger of sinking if they end their turn in a $LINK or $LINK square. #PRTO_Dromon ^ ^ ^[Byzantine Dromons] are a type of galley with an enhanced offensive capability, as it can let loose a hot stream of "Greek Fire". ^ ^ ^The Dromon has Lethal Sea Bombardment. #PRTO_Army ^ An [Army] is a group of ordinary units that move and fight together. To form an army, you must build the Army unit and then 'load' other units into it. You can load up to three units, though the $LINK increases this limit to four, if you have built it. ^ ^{Building an Army} - Armies can be built in cities that have a $LINK in them. But you must have at least four cities for every army you create. ^ ^{In Battle} - An army uses one, some, or all its internal units to fight a battle, depending upon the course of the fight. ^ ^{Spotting} - An army can "see" up to two squares away, due to its intrinsic scouts. #PRTO_Berserk ^ ^ ^The Berserk is the unique unit for the Viking civilizations and is a very strong offensive unit. In addition to being formidable foot soldiers, berserkers are one of the first available Amphibious units in the game, which allows them to attack enemy units or structures directly from within sea-based transport vessels. They may cause collateral damage (through looting and pillaging) when attacking a unit in a city. #PRTO_Sipahi ^ ^ ^A Turkish city must have $LINK in its $LINK to build a Sipahi. It is the Turkish unique unit and is a very strong offensive unit. #PRTO_Ansar_Warrior ^ ^ ^An Arab city must have $LINK and $LINK in its $LINK to build a Ansar Warrior. They are a speedy unit that is the unique unit for the Abbasids, the Emirate of Cordova, and the Fatimid Caliphate. #PRTO_Curragh ^ ^ ^The [Curragh] is the first naval unit you can build in this scenario. These tiny, primitive boats must end each turn in a $LINK square -- they are in danger of sinking if they end their turn in a $LINK or $LINK square. Unlike a $LINK, a curragh has no offensive weaponry with which to initiate an attack, although it can defend itself if attacked. #PRTO_Longship ^ ^ ^The Viking longship is a speedy version of the galley available to Viking civilizations. #DESC_PRTO_Longship ^ ^ ^Heavy reliance on waterborne travel and transport naturally led to the Vikings becoming skillful shipwrights and excellent sailors. The most fearsome warship the Vikings had was the longship, their standard vessel. The longship was the most advanced warship of its time, and the craftsmanship employed in constructing one is a source of wonderment even today. It was clinker built; that is its hull was made of overlapping planks (called strakes), joined together with iron rivets and made watertight by caulking, usually with animal hair. The hull was built about a long and deep keel that formed the backbone of this ship, and bore a mast that could be shipped and unshipped (put up and taken down) while at sea. The stems and sterns were elegantly curved, and on the most important vessels the prows ended in fearsome dragonheads. While the keel was deep, the ships had a very shallow draft, which allowed these seagoing vessels the option of raiding up rivers, allowing the Vikings to strike deep inland from the sea. Longships used both sails and oars for propulsion, relying on sails for most open-sea sailing and using their oars only when extra speed or maneuverability was needed. When preparing for battle or landing, the mast was unshipped and propulsion came only from the oars, freeing the crew from the capricious whims of the wind. #PRTO_Crusader ^ ^ ^A crusader was one of the knights on foot that fought for the Christian nations in the Holy Land. Crusaders are combat units with a special ability that allows them to also build forts. #DESC_PRTO_Crusader ^ ^ ^Years of fighting in the Holy Land led to the development of a new class of Christian knight -- one accustomed to harsh conditions and constant battle against opponents using unfamiliar and "un-Christian" tactics. Crusader knights fought both mounted and on foot, and brought their experience and learned ruthlessness and aggression back to Europe when the Crusades ended -- as in the case of the Teutonic Knights, who offered to defend Poland from invaders and ended up taking charge of a big chunk of the kingdom they promised to defend. Often originating in apparently benign orders (such as the Hospitallers, who, true to their name, ran hospitals all over Europe), crusaders were often motivated by ambition and the desire to rule their own kingdoms in the Near East. #PRTO_Assassin ^ ^ ^Has $LINK capability. ^ ^ ^[Assassin] unit is "Invisible" and can only be detected by units with "Detect Invisible" capability, such as the $LINK, the $LINK and other assassins. #DESC_PRTO_Assassin ^ ^ ^While there are as many different types of assassins as there are ways to kill people -- assassination being murder for hire -- the term ‘assassin’ comes from a secret Muslim sect, founded by Hassan ben Sabbah in the 11th century. This sect was a militant group of the Nizari branch of Ismaeli Muslims, which believed in the murder of its enemies as a religious duty. These militants were called hashshashin, an Arabic word meaning ‘hashish-eaters,’ because the members were thought to be under the influence of that drug when they went on their missions. The sect flourished in Syria and Persia, and eventually spread over much of the Middle East, until the Mongols and Mamelukes subdued it during the 13th century. Other famous assassin groups were the ninjas of Japan and the Thuggee cult of India. #PRTO_Spy ^ ^ ^The [Spy] can detect "Invisible" units, such as the $LINK. This unit treats all terrain as if it were a road. #DESC_PRTO_Spy ^ ^ ^Related to scouts and explorers, a spy is an intelligence gatherer. Unlike military scouts, a spy usually works alone, and has very few contacts with his government or agency, to better contain damage to the spy network if uncovered. Unlike explorers, spies are not interested in knowledge for academia or profit, but very specifically for military intelligence. The duty of the spy is to record troop movements and root out other spies and assassins. The $LINK is the primary target of the spy, and he will do his utmost to see them tracked and eliminated. #PRTO_Inquisitor ^ ^ ^The [Inquisitor] can detect "Invisible" units, such as the $LINK. This unit treats all terrain as if it were a road. #DESC_PRTO_Inquisitor ^ ^ ^An Inquisitor is a representative of the Holy Inquisition, the papal office charged with ferreting out and eliminating heresy and doctrinal errors. Contrary to popular impression, medieval inquisitors had fairly limited powers, although in practice there were few checks on their authority. However, one major difference between inquisitors and other ecclesiastical (and secular) enforcement officers was that inquisitors had very broad discretion about what lines of inquiry to pursue. Inquisitors were permitted to use torture in interrogation in 1251 C.E., about thirty years after the initial Inquisition was created. #PRTO_Splinter_Of_True_Cross ^ ^ ^The Splinter of the True Cross is a Holy Relic that starts the game in the hands of the Germans. If brought to Jerusalem by any player, that player scores 10,000 VP and gains 500 gold. #DESC_PRTO_Splinter_Of_True_Cross The True Cross holy relic was a wooden cross encased in gold and studded with gems. It was considered to be the cross used to crucify Jesus Christ at Golgotha. This cross changed hands repeatedly throughout the Middle Ages. It was captured by the Sassanid Persians in 614 AD. Thirteen years later, the Roman Emperor Heraclius captured it and returned it to Constantinople. It was hidden until the First Crusade when it was unveiled again in Jerusalem. The Christian crusaders took it into battle with them, only to have it captured by a Moslem army under Salah ad Din at the battle of Karnei-Hattin in 1187. It then disappeared from history, but hundreds of fragments (or splinters) of the cross then reappeared in Europe throughout the remainder of the Middle Ages, most of them probably fakes. #PRTO_Crown_Of_Thorns ^ ^ ^The Crown of Thorns is a Holy Relic that starts the game in the hands of the French. If brought to Jerusalem by any player, that player scores 10,000 VP and gains 500 gold. #DESC_PRTO_Crown_Of_Thorns The Crown of Thorns holy relic is a ring of twisted relics, adorned with thorns. It is considered to be the wreath placed on Jesus Christ's head to mock him as the King of the Jews. The crown was preserved in Jerusalem until the 4th Century AD, when it was moved to Constantinople. In 1238, Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople, offered it to Saint Louis, King of France in return for support for his tottering Byzantine state. Louis built the Saint-Chapelle church to house the relic. It remains there to this day and is venerated regularly by Christians in Paris. Before the crown was sent to Louis, various Byzantine leaders had gifted individual thorns to Charlesmagne and other medieval European kings. This caused a number of fake thorns to appear throughout the Middle Ages; one scholar cataloged 700 different relics purporting to be thorns from the True Crown. #PRTO_Shroud_Of_Turin ^ ^ ^The Shroud of Turin is a Holy Relic that starts the game in the hands of the Burgundians. If brought to Jerusalem by any player, that player scores 10,000 VP and gains 500 gold. #DESC_PRTO_Shroud_Of_Turin The Shroud of Turin holy relic is a fourteen-foot long linen cloth. It is considered to be the burial shroud for Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. The cloth contains an image of a human that has been scourged, crucified, and wounded with a crown of thorns. It was removed from Jerusalem to the city of Edessa in Eastern Turkey, where it was discovered in the city walls in 544 and placed in a church. In 944, the Byzantine Emperor Romanus sent an army to capture the cloth and return it to Constantinople. It disappeared when Constantinople was sacked by Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It reappeared in France in the mid-fourteenth century. The shroud has been kept in Turin, Italy since 1578. #PRTO_Holy_Grail ^ ^ ^The Holy Grail is a Holy Relic that starts the game in the hands of the English. If brought to Jerusalem by any player, that player scores 10,000 VP and gains 500 gold. #DESC_PRTO_Holy_Grail The Holy Grail relic is considered to be the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper when he instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. Some stories have this cup also being used by Mary Magdalene to collect the blood of Christ in his tomb. According to Catholic tradition, St. Peter brought the grail to Rome; the first Popes used it to celebrate mass. Other legends hold that it was Constantine the Great's mother (the empress Helena) that had the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem excavated. A cup found during those excavations was brought to Rome. ^ Either way, the sacred chalice was lost during the sacking of Rome in 410 AD, though legends claim that the grail was smuggled out to safety in England. This storyline then ties the grail in with the famous legends of King Arthur and his knights', who searched far and wide across England for this holy artifact. #PRTO_Abu ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Brennus ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Charles_V ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Elizabeth ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Isabella ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Joan ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Osman ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Ragnar ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Temujin ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_William ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. #PRTO_Theodora ^ ^ ^This unit is one of the kings used by various civilizations in this Mass Regicide game. If all kings for a civilization are killed, that civilization collapses. In general, civs that can be selected to be played by a human player have 3 kings; other civs have just 2. ; End Units______________________________________________________________________________End Units ; City Improvements______________________________________________________________________________City Improvements #BLDG_Palace ^ ^ ^[The Palace] marks the capital city and center of your empire. ^It eliminates $LINK in the capital, and decreases it in nearby cities. Each civilization can have only one palace at a time. But civilizations can also build the $LINK great wonder or $LINK small wonder to reduce corruption. #BLDG_Courthouse ^ ^ ^The [Town Hall] decreases $LINK in its city and makes the city more resistant to propaganda. #DESC_BLDG_Courthouse ^ ^ ^The Middle Ages saw the rise of a new class of people and a new political entity, the town. The middle class were not noble, yet they were not peasants either. Most were free men of some skill. As towns began to swell with population, they sought some measures of freedom from the nobles that controlled the land around the towns. The middle class and townspeople formed two new groups: the guilds, merchants and craftsmen bound together by rules, and the town council, usually led by mayors or burghers. The Town Hall is a large hall or building belonging to a town, in which the meetings of the town council are held, and which contains the public offices of the town. The Town Hall is to the citizens of a town what a manor is to a lord, a central government meeting place, sometimes fortified, and the nerve center of the community. This new sense of identity, of belonging to a town, and not just a lord or kingdom, yielded a more intense industry and also made the people more resistant to foreign influences. #BLDG_Walls ^ ^ ^[Walls] can be built only in town-size settlements and provide a land bombardment defense of eight, and a 50% defensive bonus to units defending in the town. When a town becomes a city, the walls no longer provide a defensive bonus. ^ ^A city must have a $LINK in its $LINK to build Walls. #BLDG_Aqueduct ^ ^ ^A city with an [Aqueduct] can grow beyond population six. ^Note that a city adjacent to fresh water never requires an aqueduct. ^ ^A city must have a $LINK in its $LINK to build an aqueduct. #BLDG_Great_Ironworks ^ ^ ^A [Blacksmith] increases $LINK in its city by 50%. Blacksmiths do not produce pollution. ^ ^A city must have $LINK in its $LINK to build a blacksmith. #DESC_BLDG_Great_Ironworks ^ ^ ^Blacksmiths are people who work, repair and shape iron with a forge, anvil, hammer, and other specialized tools. The term can apply specifically to one who prepares and fits horseshoes, but the more general term is used for this scenario. The work is difficult, and the physical demands upon the smith are extreme. In western culture, smiths were highly regarded members of their community, but in eastern culture, most notably India (where metalworkers belong to the Untouchable caste), the smiths were looked upon as a necessary evil. #BLDG_Cathedral ^ ^ ^[The Cathedral] produces three $LINK, making three unhappy citizens content. You must have a Temple in the city in order to build a Cathedral. ^ ^A city must have a $LINK in its $LINK to build a cathedral. #BLDG_Colosseum ^ ^ ^The [Colosseum] produces two $LINK that make two unhappy citizens content. ^ ^A city must have a $LINK in its $LINK to build a colosseum. #BLDG_University ^ ^ ^[The University] increases the scientific $LINK in its city by 50%. This is in addition to any $LINK or $LINK benefits already in place. #BLDG_Mill ^ ^ ^A [Mill] increases $LINK in its city by 25%. Mills do not produce pollution. #DESC_BLDG_Mill ^ ^ ^Originally a mill was a building with machinery, powered by water or wind, for the grinding of grain into flour or meal, and this mechanized process of flour milling was one of the major steps toward civilization as we know it. The Romans invented the first water mills in the 1st Century BC, and the first windmills were developed in the 11th century in Europe. Once mills were being used to grind flour, it was a short step to connect other machinery to the shafts that powered the grindstones and soon mills were turning out all kinds of products, most notably lumber, textiles and iron. Since the millers did not want to contaminate their flour, most industrial mills were soon built separately from the mills producing foodstuffs, and the terms sawmill, paper mill and textile mill come from these specialized buildings. The term mill in general has survived to this day to describe almost any industrial plant, since this water and wind power was what fueled the Industrial Revolution in Europe and America. #BLDG_Police_Station ^ ^ ^A [Sheriff's Office] decreases $LINK in its city. It also increases $LINK produced in its city by 50% and $LINK by 25%. The [Sheriff's Office] produces one $LINK that makes one content citizen unhappy. #DESC_BLDG_Police_Station ^ ^ ^Perhaps the most famous sheriff from the Middle Ages who exists in popular culture is the Sheriff of Nottingham. He is the principal villain in the Robin Hood story, but he is also a fictional character. The office of sheriff existed in England prior to the Norman Conquest (1066 CE). He held supreme power in the county (shire), though his duties and jurisdiction were restricted by the crown over time. The sheriff combated crime and unrest, but at some points in history he also judged offenses and enforced tax collection. In fact, during some periods the sheriff paid the crown to keep his office and then collected revenues from the shire’s residents. This could obviously lead to abuse of power and corruption through bribery, extortion, and false arrests. But villainy among sheriffs was probably the exception, not the rule, and the common folk benefited from having just administrators who could uphold the laws. #BLDG_Hospital ^ ^ ^A city with a [Hospital] can grow beyond population 6. #BLDG_Wealth ^ ^ ^[Wealth] causes shields to be converted to gold at a ratio of four to one. ^When your civilization learns $LINK the ratio is reduced to two to one. #DESC_BLDG_Wealth ^ ^ ^Manufactured goods can provide an excellent source of income. Cities throughout time have become manufacturing centers of one sort or another, trading the goods and services generated within by its artisans and craftsmen. Modern manufacturing operations currently employ all sorts of workers, from laborers to managers to executives, and are the primary driving forces of many cities' and nations' economies. #BLDG_Commercial_Dock ^ ^ ^A city with a [Port] can grow beyond population 12. You must have a population of 7 or higher to build a port. It can only be built in a coastal city that has a harbor. ^ ^A port causes the city it is in to produce one extra Commerce in every water square that already produces one. ^ #DESC_BLDG_Commercial_Dock ^ ^ ^Civilization has always followed water, and the greatest cities of antiquity and the Middle Ages were those with ready access to a major river or sea. A port is a large harbor, where intense trading takes place, and the availability of imported food allows these cities to grow much further beyond their normal ability to support. The port at Constantinople allowed that great city to withstand sieges that would have normally reduced a city that size in short order; the ports of the Italian city-states produced trading empires that funded the rise of Europe from the backwater of the collapsed Roman Empire into a major force in the world; and the ports of England allowed that nation to build an empire that spanned the face of the planet. #BLDG_Joust_Arena ^ ^ ^A [Joust Arena] produces two $LINK that make two unhappy citizens content. #DESC_BLDG_Joust_Arena ^ ^ ^Jousting is mock-combat between men on horseback with lances. The Middle Ages were a brutal time, where war was common, and warriors plentiful. Of the warriors of any land, the knights were the most professional and the most ruthless. Knights were minor nobility and very often held no lands, so war was their method of income. On those rare occasions where there was not a war currently occupying the knights of the realm, the knights would often take to brigandage, seeking to survive by pillaging their own people. The kings and clergy of Europe developed the concept of the Tournament to combat this unacceptable condition. A Tournament was a large spectacle of mock-combat using blunted weapons, and was much less lethal than real combat, although accidents did happen. The knights of Europe would travel from town to town as each held its own festival or market days, and each event had a Tournament set up by the local lord. The knights would then compete in these Tourneys for glory, but more importantly for money. While all kinds of fighting and skill competitions took place at these events, jousting was the most breathtaking, as the thunder of the massive warhorses was followed by the horrifying yet thrilling crash of the lances and clatter of one or both combatants falling from their snorting mount. The advent of Tournaments saw a marked decrease in rogue knights plundering the local peasantry, which made the peasants happy, the money and chance to display their skills made the knights happy, and the lessening of brigandage and the extra people the Tournaments brought to their markets made the nobles happy. The Tournaments also had the beneficial side-effect of keeping the knights ready for combat at a moment’s notice. #BLDG_Manor ^ ^ ^A [Manor] provides a 50% tax output for the city it is constructed in. #DESC_BLDG_Manor ^ ^ ^The Manor is the large, often fortified building from which a local lord presided over his fiefdom, and where he held his court. As the local administrator for the king (or lesser noble), the lord was granted lands on which to farm, and peasants to do it with. The lord would divide up his estate among his peasants, and each would farm a specific plot, for the use of which the peasant would owe rent. The majority of the peasants’ rents would be collected in the form of crops from their tracts, or (rarely in the early Middle Ages, but more common in the High Middle Ages) in the form of coinage earned by the selling of surplus crops. The next major portion of rent was paid by the working of the manor lands (the demesne), a section of farmland the lord reserved for his own use, and any remaining rents would be paid in the form of labor or services in the manor house itself or in various and sundry menial labors. The lord then, in the chain of feudal fealty, would yield a portion of the total yield of the manor lands to the local higher noble, whether that be a count or duke, or even the king himself. As with the peasantry, this took the form of payment in foodstuffs or goods in the Early Middle Ages or coinage in the later eras. #BLDG_Monastery ^ ^ ^A [Monastery] increases $LINK by 50%. This is in addition to any $LINK or $LINK benefits already in place. #DESC_BLDG_Monastery ^ ^ ^The Christian faith generated a group of priests and laymen that felt that the only way to live according to God’s will and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ was to withdraw from the world. To do so, they developed monasteries, self-contained and self-sufficient retreats, usually in remote locations. While it was a community, a monastery was made up of individuals so dedicated to absence of contact that they spent much time on their own, congregating only for worship services, meals, and tasks such as farming that were necessary to keep the monastery running. The rest of the time they spent performing penance for their sins and contemplating God. The monks lived in solitary, spartan rooms that were called cells, from which the modern term for prison cell comes, and the modern term for prisons, "penitentiary", comes from the monastic tradition of penance. One of the tasks of monks was to transcribe the Word of God and any other sacred or necessary texts, laboriously, by hand, and it was due to this practice that most of the texts of antiquity that still exist today survived at all through the Dark Ages. Because of this side effect of their duties, monasteries soon became centers of learning and literature, and many universities were originally founded near major monasteries or cathedrals. ; GREAT WONDERS ____________________________________________________________________________________ GREAT WONDERS #BLDG_Robin_Hood ^ ^ ^ ^Recruiting [Robin Hood] to your cause makes three $LINK content in its city and one unhappy citizen content in all other friendly cities on the same continent. It can only be built in a city that has a Sheriff's Office. ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Commercial and Agricultural civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Robin_Hood ^ ^ ^Robin Hood, or Robin of Locksley, was a legendary outlaw lord who resisted the efforts of Prince John Plantagenet to usurp the throne of his brother Richard (the Lionheart). Robin Hood shows up throughout English literature, and plays a significant part in Sir Walter Scott's famous novel "Ivanhoe". The origin of the Robin Hood legend is in 14th century ballads and poems from Yorkshire (not Nottingham!), and Robin Hood is depicted as a noble outlaw who treats commoners with dignity, and who targets not just the corrupt Sheriff but evil bishops, monks, and secular authorities. #BLDG_Great_Wall ^ ^ ^The [Krak des Chevaliers] doubles the effects of $LINK in cities that have them. Doubles unit combat values versus $LINK. It also gives the benefits of Walls to the city that builds this wonder. ^ ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Militaristic or Religious civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Great_Wall ^ ^ ^The Krak des Chevaliers was the largest and strongest of the crusader castles built in the early Middle Ages. Built by the Knights Hospitaller, it sat atop a broad ridge in western Syria, and commanded the countryside for miles around. Its ability to supply a huge garrison allowed the crusaders to hold the castle for over 100 years, until a massive Muslim assault in 1271 brought it permanently under Islamic control. #BLDG_Bayeux_Tapestry ^ ^ ^Puts a $LINK in every city on the same continent. ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Militaristic or Seafaring civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Bayeux_Tapestry ^ ^ ^The Bayeux Tapestry is a giant linen wall hanging with embroidered scenes of medieval combat. It depicts the political and military events leading up to the Norman Conquest. It was used to decorate the Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, William the Conqueror's homeland, hence its name. #BLDG_Sistine_Chapel ^ ^ ^Having your civilization named as the [Holy Roman Empire] (by the Pope) grants you two Civilization Advances. It also increases the chances of the appearance of $LINK from victorious combat. Finally, the unit capacity of all the civilization's armies increases from three to four. ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Militaristic or Religious civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Sistine_Chapel ^ ^ ^A major objective of European rulers during and after the Dark Ages was claiming the legitimacy of Rome. Popular memory of Rome was fond, given how well the average person lived in Roman times compared to the medieval era. Charlemagne assumed the title of "Emperor of the Romans" in 800 A.D. when he was crowned. Ideally the Holy Roman Emperor was master of all Christendom; whether he was then directly answerable to God or the pope was the subject of much debate (and, on occasion, bloodshed). Regardless, the Roman identity was important, since Rome embodied greatness, power, and civilization. Maintaining its legacy was, some argued, the legitimate purpose of every monarch. #BLDG_Great_Playhouse ^ ^ ^The [Hanseatic League] causes its city to produce one extra $LINK in every square that already produces at least one. Also pays $LINK costs for all trade-based city improvements ($LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, and $LINK). ^ ^ ^It can only be built in a coastal city. ^May trigger $LINK for Commercial or Seafaring civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Great_Playhouse ^ ^ ^The Hanseatic League was an agreement among the independent trading cities of the Baltic seaboard (and some inland too). The center of the League was Luebeck, a north German town sitting on a crossroads between Swedish trading lanes and the more southern economic regions. The purpose of the confederation was to protect shipping and caravans from bandits, and to build economic infrastructure such as lighthouses and waystations. It also sponsored the training of merchant ship captains. The league could be quite ruthless when defending its interests; it engaged in blockades, embargoes, bribery, patronage, and all manner of political tactics to ensure favorable treatment for its members. It even financed and organized its own fleet, when the king of Denmark tried to shut down its access to the waters around his country (the League fleet won a decisive naval victory). But it could not cope with more powerful kingdoms that began to form around the 15th century C.E., and slowly its members were wooed or intimidated into other spheres of influence. #BLDG_Knights_Templar ^ ^ ^Obsolete military units can be upgraded at half price. ^ ^This wonder produces a $LINK every 8 turns. ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Militaristic or Religious civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Knights_Templar ^ ^ ^The Knights Templar was a holy order devoted to defending the fledgling crusader states founded during the First Crusade against Muslim reconquest. The king of Jerusalem allowed them to make their headquarters in the main temple of Jerusalem, from which they took their name. In exchange for this hospitality they swore allegiance to the throne of Jerusalem. They participated in several major battles and did very well; this increased their numbers substantially. Eventually their power grew so much -- to the point where they could field an army of almost 10,000 knights and still uphold their promises to garrison individual towns -- that the Pope decided to place them under his direct control. ^ Templar valor in the Holy Land resulted in many rewards back in Europe; knights who fought under the red cross and white field of the Templars often found themselves with new estates and castles in their native countries. As a result the order became fantastically wealthy, as the Grandmasters shrewdly invested the order's wealth, using plunder to buy goods and sell them throughout the Mediterranean. ^ Kings, however, often become jealous of wealthy organizations over which they have little or no control. The French king Philip IV, his treasury emptied and his debts monstrous from constant warfare, accused the Templars of heresy and blasphemy, and confiscated almost all of their wealth in France. Other monarchs followed suit, embarking on a program of persecution and repression whose goal was mostly to secure the Templars' money for themselves. Hundreds of Templars gave false confessions of heresy under torture, and others were burned at the stake. The order died out completely in the early 14th century when the entire Templar leadership had been murdered. #BLDG_Grand_Cathedral ^ ^ ^Decreases the number of $LINK on the continent by two per city . ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Religious civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Grand_Cathedral ^ ^ ^Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is one of the early examples of Gothic architecture. A mammoth project, Notre Dame took almost a century to complete; the only reason it succeeded in the end was the consistent support of French monarchs. It was nearly destroyed on several occasions, most notably the French Revolution when the revolutionaries narrowly decided to rededicate the cathedral (to "reason") rather than destroy it. Notre Dame still stands today, and is still used as the center of Catholic administration in Paris, not to mention being a major tourist attraction. #BLDG_Wall_Street ^ ^ ^The [Magna Carta] puts a $LINK in every city. Gives the benefits of a second $LINK located in the city that builds it. ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Commercial civilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Wall_Street ^ ^ ^The Magna Carta, or Great Charter, is one of the most important documents in the history of Western civilization. In 1215, King John of England demanded more money from his vassal lords. The royal treasury was depleted from crusading in the Holy Land and from defending royal claims in France, and thus John levied taxes not just on secular barons but on the church. This caused the barons and bishops to unite, and they insisted that John accept limits on his power in exchange for such heavy demands. John saw that he had no choice and signed the document, binding himself and all future English kings to respect certain freedoms and liberties of his subjects. The concept of "due process", whereby a royal or other government official could not imprison or fine a defendant without first going through a previously approved procedure, first appeared in the Magna Carta, and it is now a fundamental element of Anglo-American law and considered essential to any free society's justice system. It also forbade the king from employing foreign mercenaries -- a rule that was perhaps respected more in the breach than the observance in later times -- and, perhaps most shockingly, it articulated the right of a king's vassals to overthrow him if he violated the promises made in the Magna Carta. These ideas influenced legal and political thinkers for centuries after the original Magna Carta was signed. #BLDG_Epic ^ ^ The $LINK begins earning 5% interest every turn with a maximum cap of 50 gold per turn. ^{Requires:} The civilization must have at least four Town Halls in cities it controls. ^ ^ ^May trigger $LINK for Commercial and Agriculturalcivilizations. #DESC_BLDG_Epic ^ ^ ^The Domesday Book was the voluminous record kept by William the Conqueror of all his subjects' lands, possessions, and incomes. He expended a huge amount of effort to keep it up to date and accurate. With it, he always knew the state of his kingdom and the political stability of the lords who supported and opposed him. The name is derived from "doomsday", since, like the Biblical doomsday, there was no appealing or disagreeing with the records contained in the Book. The Book still exists today, and is kept in London. ; END GREAT WONDERS _________________________________________________________________________ END GREAT WONDERS ; SMALL WONDERS______________________________________________________________________________SMALL WONDERS #BLDG_Circumnavigation ^ ^ ^After the [Norse Saga] is complete, the movement rate of all naval units is increased by two. It also increases the chances of the appearance of $LINK from victorious combat. ^ ^The Norse Saga must be built in a coastal city. #DESC_BLDG_Circumnavigation ^ ^ ^Sagas, or epic poems, are the primary means by which Viking history was recorded. The first such epic in Sweden, the "Epic of Beowulf", describes in fantastic terms the political events by which Sweden first united. The Norwegian colonies in Iceland also produced a huge number of such sagas, from which many details of Viking society and history can be gleaned. The Viking sagas were mostly written in the 13th century C.E. but describe the beginning of unified Viking society. Uncommonly for ancient literature, Viking sagas often tell the stories of ordinary people, rather than the larger-than-life heroes of French or English lore. ^ The most commonly read sagas today are Egil's Saga, the story of a farmer and warrior whose blood feud with his neighbors leads him to outlawry and eventual poverty and death, and Njal's Saga, the story of two brothers whose family obligations lead them into a cycle of vengeance spanning generations and dozens of lives. Both sagas describe the Icelandic legal system in some detail, and provide historical insight as well as compelling stories. #BLDG_The_Inquisition ^ ^ ^[The Inquisition] gives the benefits of a second $LINK located in the city that builds it. It also prevents Stealth Attack attempts against targets in the city in which it is built and reduces the effect of propaganda on citizens of that city. ^ ^[The Inquisition] produces two $LINK that make two content citizens unhappy. #DESC_BLDG_The_Inquisition ^ ^ ^The Catholic Church has had to deal with heresies during most of its existence. However, dissent termed "heresy" often had as much to do with political factors as with religious differences. In France, the Albigensian heresy attacked the impurity of the Church and the clergy. The Cathars, another heretical sect, went much further, claiming that the forces of evil were just as powerful as God and hence that the outcome of the final battle in the Book of Revelation was not certain. They also denied the humanity of Jesus, since they considered humanity to be an inherently evil and fallen state, and this was incompatible with Jesus' moral perfection. ^ Elements of these messages resonated with the common people in France and northern Spain and Italy, and when peaceful attempts to reconcile these divergent beliefs with Church orthodoxy failed, Pope Gregory IX created the Holy Inquisition. The Inquisition's mission was to root out heresy and save the heretics' souls, by inducing confession and penance. Relapsed or unrepentant heretics could, however, be executed. Torture was not used by the Inquisition until 1251, when Pope Innocent IV deemed it acceptable. ^ After extinguishing the Albigensian and Catharist heresies, the Inquisition lay quiet, but when the Muslims were ejected from Spain, at the conclusion of the Reconquista, the Spanish crown requested special authority from the Pope to create a new, independent Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition lasted until well after the Napoleonic era; it provided some organized resistance to Napoleon's rule. The medieval Inquisition still technically exists today, under a different name (the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith") and with a more circumscribed mission. #BLDG_Intelligence_Center ^ ^ ^The [Intelligence Agency] allows the player to undertake $LINK. It also prevents Stealth Attack attempts against targets in the city in which it is built. #DESC_BLDG_Intelligence_Center ^ ^ ^The benefits of using spies and espionage in military matters were identified early in mankind’s history. Both the pharaohs of Egypt and Caesars of Rome setup embassies in neighboring nations in order to monitor the expansion and movement of military forces. As technology increased the potential scale of warfare, it became critical to know from where and when threats would emerge. This can be seen in the plethora of methods used in acquiring information on a not-so-friendly nation. These include high altitude reconnaissance photography, actual battlefield observation, and covert missions. All this information usually focuses at the Intelligence Center, which collates and analyzes this valuable data from their diverse and remote sources. #BLDG_Battlefield_Medicine ^ ^ Allows military units to heal in enemy territory. #DESC_BLDG_Battlefield_Medicine ^ ^ ^While fundamentally in conflict with the destructive goals of war, physicians must still proffer aid to those in need. The practice of repairing the personal damage of war, sometimes actually during the fight itself, has a number of benefits beyond the obvious. A paramount one is that of morale, since the soldiers of an army that contains surgeons are assured care if they fall in battle. #BLDG_Arab_Medicine ^ ^ Allows military units to heal in enemy territory. #DESC_BLDG_Arab_Medicine ^ ^ ^While fundamentally in conflict with the destructive goals of war, physicians must still proffer aid to those in need. The practice of repairing the personal damage of war, sometimes actually during the fight itself, has a number of benefits beyond the obvious. A paramount one is that of morale, since the soldiers of an army that contains surgeons are assured care if they fall in battle. ; END WONDERS ____________________________________________________________________________________ END WONDERS ; ADVANCES_______________________________________________________________________________________ ADVANCES #TECH_Arab_Learning ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Arab_Learning ^ ^ ^The first major written Arabic work was the Qur’an, the holy book of the Islamic faith. With the spread of Islam, Arabic became the written language of the conquered lands, and Arabic became a major world language. During and after this period, people of many different ethnic origins used Arabic as their literary language. The first major literature to be written in this language was in the form of poetry, specifically qasidas, epic poems originally performed orally and akin to sagas of the Norse lands. These began to be written down during the Umayyad dynasty (661-750 AD). With the rise of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258), the qasidas were joined by general writings known as adab, a word that now means literature, but then meant refinement. Adab referred to prose writing that educated and refined readers by providing information about the world around them and included essays and book-length works on such topics as language and style, the history of other peoples and nations, scientific subjects, intellectual and philosophical questions and human nature. While the Dark Ages held Europe in its grip of fear, superstition and ignorance, the lands of the Muslim World continued on, having translated the most important works of Western science, and added to this stockpile their continuing pursuit of knowledge. These Arabic texts, some from Cordovan Spain, but many more from plunder during the Crusades, allowed Europe to regain many secrets that they had previously lost. #TECH_Assassination ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Assassination ^ ^ ^Sometimes military force is not the answer. Sometimes the removal of key leaders, whether political, religious, military or scientific, will cause such disruption to the enemy that their removal would be more profitable than the deaths of thousands of enemy soldiers. Or maybe a nation simply does not want to be associated with unfortunate accidents suffered by unfriendly leaders. When this is the case, the assassin is the primary weapon of choice. Assassins are experts in stealth and killing. The method of killing may be silent: poison, a dagger in a darkened bedroom, a garrote in a quiet alley, bare hands, or a bow from a distance. The killing may also be noisy: a gunshot (or several), a bomb, or an engineered accident. The key point is, the target is killed. Professional assassins will then flee the scene, whereas most political assassins don’t care what happens to them afterward. The term assassin comes from a secret Muslim sect, founded by Hassan ben Sabbah in the 11th century. This sect was a militant group of the Nizari branch of Ismaeli Muslims, which believed in the murder of its enemies as a religious duty. These militants were called hashshashin, an Arabic word meaning ‘hashish-eaters,’ because the members were thought to be under the influence of that drug when they went on their missions. The sect flourished in Syria and Persia, and it spread over much of the Middle East until the Mongols and Mamelukes subdued it during the 13th century. The efficient study of anatomy and herbalism, to better kill their enemies, led many assassins to be quite proficient at medicine as well. #TECH_Byzantine_Ingenuity ^ ^ ^Byzantine Ingenuity is the entry technology to the Byzantine path of the tech tree. It can not be traded. #DESC_TECH_Byzantine_Ingenuity ^ ^ ^Callinicus of Heliopolis, a Syrian refugee, is the Byzantine citizen given credit with the invention of Greek Fire. Although the exact chemical composition of this substance is still unknown, we do know that it was heated over a cauldron and then pumped out through a siphon and exposed to flame. The effect was to allow the Byzantines to project flaming liquid (that would still burn when exposed to water) over long distances. This ancient flamethrower was mounted on the Dromon and forced opposing navies to steer clear of the Byzantine fleet at all costs. Constantinople was saved from Arab siege for centuries by this ingenious invention. #TECH_Castle_Building ^ ^ ^{New Ability} Roads now bridge rivers. #DESC_TECH_Castle_Building ^ ^ ^Castles served many functions in medieval Europe; not only were they formidable defensive positions, but they served as administrative and judicial centers and as the seat of a lord's power. Since food and supplies could be stockpiled at castles, castles exerted strong influence over very large surrounding territories. Secular lords were not the only ones to build castles; religious officials often did so as well, to provide themselves with stronger power bases. Early castles were usually little more than wooden stockades constructed on dirt mounds and perhaps surrounded by a shallow trench; by the time of the reign of Edward the Confessor in 13th century England, castle-building had become a much more elaborate affair, with hundreds of laborers and specialists constructing huge stone fortresses with intricate defenses in carefully selected geographic locations. #TECH_Defender_Of_Europe ^ ^{New Ability} Can $LINK citizens. #DESC_TECH_Defender_Of_Europe ^ ^ ^The Byzantine Empire came to think of itself as the Defender of Europe after the rise of Islam; with Constantinople astride the Straits of Marmara, separating the European continent from the Islamic world, Byzantium considered itself the last bulwark against the infidel Muslim hordes. To this end the Byzantines tried to exert their naval influence all over the eastern Mediterranean, to disrupt Islamic trade and forestall any seaborne invasion, and extended their agents and mercenaries throughout the Arabian peninsula. They were moderately successful for centuries, although they suffered a huge setback in 1071 when the Emperor Romanus Diogenes was decisively defeated by a Seljuk Turk army at Manzikert in 1071. This led to Turkish conquest of almost all of modern Turkey, and the wane of Byzantine power in the east. #TECH_Divine_Right ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Divine_Right ^ ^ ^The divine right theory of royal legitimacy holds that monarchs rule by direct sanction from God; accordingly, they are not accountable to any authority other than God. Legislatures, courts, judges, and the governed have no right to restrain the king's exercise of his authority, on this theory. When kings who proclaimed their divine right to rule disagreed with the Church on political or religious matters, the results were often interesting (and violent). Ironically, the theory of divine right was partly responsible for the rise of the idea of separation between church and state, since divine-right rulers claimed that their godly sanction entitled them to impose rules on the ecclesiastical authorities in their kingdoms (regardless of what the Church thought), and to ignore those authorities' instructions on how they ought to govern. The divine right doctrine began during the late Dark Ages, when rulers sought to rein in feudal lords whose support came with a few too many strings attached. It had begun to lose its luster around the 17th century, although Napoleon Bonaparte drove what was perhaps the final nail into its coffin when, at his imperial coronation ceremony, he seized the crown from the Pope's hands and placed it on his own head -- thereby denying God's prerogative to name rulers, and seizing that power for himself. #TECH_Early_Siegecraft ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Early_Siegecraft ^ ^ ^With the advent of complex fortifications, methods were required to breach them. The earliest fortification, made of wood, yielded to axe and battering ram, but as stone began to be commonly used in fortifications, especially in castle building, stronger instruments were needed. The Greeks were the first to develop catapults in 399 BC, but the Romans took this early design and perfected it by 350 BC. The Romans also developed the ballista, basically a giant crossbow that could hurl stones or bolts. These torsion-powered siege engines allowed the Romans to add direct assault against city walls and buildings and defenders inside the towns to the main weapon of a siege: starvation. Sometimes dead or infected livestock or bodies were hurled into cities to help spread disease and plague. This practice helped bring the Black Death to Europe. A khan of the Golden Horde named Yanibeg besieged a Genoese trading colony named Kaffa, now called Theodosia, on the Black Sea in 1345 AD. As part of his strategy, he catapulted bodies of plague victims into Kaffa. The Genoese disposed of these bodies as fast as they could, but the plague caught, and then spread across the Genoese trading network. #TECH_Banking ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Banking ^ ^ ^The word "exchequer" comes from the Latin word for "chessboard", since official Exchequer documents adding up medieval governments' revenues and debts was checkered in a similar pattern. The first Exchequer was created by Henry I in England, and served to organize and administer the royal treasury. It also had its own high court, which dealt exclusively with high-level financial disputes. #TECH_Heavy_Cavalry ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Heavy_Cavalry ^ ^ ^The Byzantine Empire faced a problem the Western Empire had not had to contend with: mounted enemies in great numbers. The speed of the eastern horse-archers was such that no infantry could keep up with them, and any that tried were quickly surrounded and massacred. The legions had always had some cavalry support in the form of auxiliaries that acted as scouts and screening troops, but something better was needed if they were to be an effective counter to the hordes of mounted warriors that Byzantine commanders faced. The development of the $LINK was the answer to this problem. The cataphract was a heavily armored horseman equipped with shock weapons and also a bow. The heavy armor of both man and horse protected the cataphract from arrow fire from the eastern enemies, the bow allowed them to return fire, and the lance and sword allowed them to charge and decimate the enemy at close range. This heavy armor also protected the horsemen from enemy infantry. The cataphract was the inspiration for the heavily armored knights that flourished later in the Middle Ages in western Europe. #TECH_Improved_Siegecraft ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Improved_Siegecraft ^ ^ ^As castles grew ever more intricate, and engineering added specialized building processes and architectural improvements, the siege engines of the Romans became inadequate, and more impressive and powerful siege engines were needed. The ultimate siege weapon not powered by gunpowder was the trebuchet, a counterweighted cousin to the catapult able to hurl a 30-pound stone nearly 200 yards. Some were built so massively that they could hurl missiles weighing up to 660 pounds. Beyond the development of trebuchets, new siegecraft methods also included specialized tools such as giant drills and screws to bore through walls and levers to chip out mortar and pry stones apart. The final, and most dramatic method of breaching walls was mining. This involved digging shafts under walls and towers, then burning the timbers supporting the shafts so that the walls would collapse into the hole. The only method to counter this attack was a counter-mine, and when the two shafts met, opposing troops would sometimes fight in cramped, nearly lightless tunnels. #TECH_Intelligence_Operations ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Intelligence_Operations ^ ^ ^The Byzantine Empire, beset on all sides by enemies that coveted their wealth, was not always able to field armies everywhere that there might be an attack. To aid them in the task of defending their far-flung empire, the Byzantines developed an extensive spy network. These early intelligence officers allowed the Byzantines to discover troop strengths and locations, keep track of what was going on in the capitals and most important cities of their enemies, bribe tribes and empires not to attack them and make small attacks on vital installations and infrastructure far from the main armed forces of the Empire. #TECH_Jihad ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Jihad ^ ^ ^The word "jihad" means "struggle", although it is often translated as "holy war"; many interpretations have been applied to it throughout the history of Islam. In medieval times, it was taken to refer to the divine imperative to wage holy war against infidel states and lords, and convert their subjects to Islam (at the point of a sword if necessary). Even in medieval Islam, though, jihad was also understood as a personal struggle within each individual, to overcome temptation, sin, and resistance to the word of Allah. Military campaigns have often been labeled jihads; the Berber invasion of Spain was so characterized, as was the earlier Saracen campaign in France; even modern wars, such as the Afghan guerrilla war against the occupying Soviet Union in 1979, have been named jihad. More recently, Islamic terrorists have termed their campaigns against both Muslims and non-Muslims jihads, to assume a mantle of divine legitimacy. #TECH_Lost_Roman_Secrets ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Lost_Roman_Secrets ^ ^ ^During the transition to first a divided Empire, and then the collapse of the Western Empire, many architectural secrets of the Romans were lost to the Byzantines, and Europe in general. In order to provide the populace the conditions it was accustomed to, the Byzantines frequently had to relearn techniques, such as building aqueducts, that had once been commonplace. Despite these efforts, though, it would not be until the eighteenth century C.E. that the average European regained the standard of living enjoyed by the average Roman citizen. #TECH_Map_Making ^ ^ ^{New Ability} Enables World Map trading ^{New Ability} Enables communications trading #DESC_TECH_Map_Making ^ ^ ^Maps provide a diagrammatic representation of an area, showing terrain features, cities, and other landmarks. The earliest maps were etched clay tablets charting Babylonian lands for the purposes of taxation. Around the same time, the Chinese produced regional maps drawn on silk cloth. In between 600 and 200 BC, the Greeks produced several maps of the known world, including the first map showing a primitive system of latitude and longitude. Traders and merchants primarily used these early maps. Seamen, who often set their courses based only on the tales brought back by previous voyagers, benefited most from the science of map making. #TECH_Medieval_Combat ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Medieval_Combat ^ ^ ^After the collapse of the Roman Empire in Europe and the subsequent loss of the Legions, local nobles realized that the ordered tactics of the Romans were something better than the disorganized style of warfare of the Celts and other tribes that had preceded them and set about ways of emulating them. Since the bonds of kinship and local loyalty were more important to the average European than the bonds of nation-state, most medieval combat units were made up of people from one locality, under the command of a local noble. These local units were important to the areas they came from in that they could keep the incessant bandit raids that accompanied the collapse of the Empire, but could also be called up by a more powerful noble to operate in an army if one was needed. These units were trained in various combat maneuvers and operated with discipline that, while not up to Legionary standards, was still a far cry from the wild screaming charge that was the hallmark of ancient warfare in Europe, and the addition of heavy armor to common infantry troops, until this period unthinkable in Europe, was a dramatic leap forward for unit survivability. This step in military organization led to a non-noble warrior culture in Europe and paved the way for standing professional armies. #TECH_Mercantilism ^ ^ ^Wealth causes shields to be converted to gold at a ratio of eight to one. When your civilization learns Mercantilism the ratio is reduced to four to one. #DESC_TECH_Mercantilism ^ ^ ^Mercantilism came into being shortly after the medieval states of Europe became true nation-states. It is an economic worldview holding that all economic exchange is zero-sum (meaning that in any trade, there is a winner and a loser). According to mercantilism national governments needed to tightly control foreign trade and employment, and aggressively pursue colonies and foreign markets to profitably sell manufactured goods. Finally, mercantilism was associated with the idea that wealth was identical with stocks of gold and silver, or whatever was used as currency in a given economy. Mercantilism endured until the 18th century, when Adam Smith and the classical liberals of England and France set forth a series of devastating criticisms. #TECH_Milling ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Milling ^ ^ ^Mills are the oldest industrial machines. They are the most basic means by which human workers can use wind, water, or other natural energies instead of muscle power to do work, particularly repetitive and physically demanding tasks such as grinding grain or felting cloth. The basic idea behind a mill is to use a gear arrangement; one gear is turned by the natural force (a river's flow or the wind), and its motion is transferred to a final gear, to which the tools (such as felting clubs) are attached. ^ Mills were generally easy to construct once plans were obtained, and feudal lords often exercised tight control over the building of mills in their lands (often, lords would require their serfs and peasants to use only mills owned by the lord). Mill technology is still used today, and forms the fundamentals of industrial engineering. #TECH_Monasticism ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Monasticism ^ ^ ^During the Dark Ages, many Christian clergy came to the view that withdrawal from the fallen world was the only way to maintain spiritual purity and to properly atone for one's sins. Some monastic orders depended entirely on charity to support their works; others tried to be self-sufficient. ^ Another element of monasticism was to offer particular honor to a saint whose values deserved special veneration. Two of the most influential monastic orders were the Dominicans, who emphasized learning and theological research (the great Catholic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican) and the Franciscans, whose vows of poverty were perhaps the most demanding of any order's. #TECH_Norse_Tradition ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Norse_Tradition ^ ^ ^The Viking way of life and society differed greatly from other European civilizations'. Much like the Germanic and Gallic tribes of Roman times, the Viking nations were not really coherent states. Local warlords and chieftains would often name themselves kings, but in practice their power extended only to their local subjects. Primogeniture, the practice of passing on land holdings and other family wealth to the eldest son, was virtually unknown, and almost all political titles and offices were elective rather than hereditary. This often entailed shifting power blocs and fierce civil wars, as disputed elections and successions were commonplace. ^ Viking countries did not adopt Christianity until the 10th century C.E.; before that, their religion consisted of a rich and warlike pagan mythology. In that mythology gods and giants often interfered with mortal affairs, and mortal warriors could enjoy a perpetual afterlife of feasting and fighting in the halls of Valhalla. The Norse mythology, like Christianity, was also apocalyptic, foretelling a great battle at the end of the world. The battle would be followed by the resurrection of Baldur, a benevolent and peaceful god, who would forgive sins and accept all the souls of the good and virtuous to sit at his side. The similarities between this mythology and Christian ideas in the Book of Revelation may explain why Christianity caught on so easily in the Norse lands. #TECH_Parliament ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Parliament ^ ^ ^The English parliament first arose in an attempt by the barons and other lords in England to enforce the Magna Carta. King John's son Henry decided to test the Charter's backbone, and declared his power to tax without consulting his lords. The lords promptly overthrew Henry, as was their right under the Charter. ^ Instead of crowning a new King, however, the barons expanded the council of lords outlined in the Charter, including representatives from other classes of English nobility and society (but not, of course, peasants or other commoners). The lords, who spoke Norman French as their court language, called their new council "parliament", using the French word "parler" ("to talk"). The new parliament lasted only a year, when Henry's son Edward raised an army and overthrew the barons. However, after the climactic battle restoring royal power to England, Edward's position was still precarious, and he had no choice but to cede the power of taxation to Parliament, and to agree that only Parliament could repeal laws that it enacted. This was obviously a watershed in political history. The Magna Carta had established the theory of limiting kings' power and protecting the rights of the governed; the barons' brief rebellion a few decades later established the mechanism by which the theory in the Magna Carta was to be implemented. #TECH_Polearms ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Polearms ^ ^ ^Long bladed weapons mounted on poles have been used by soldiers since the time of Alexander the Great; the innovation in medieval polearms was primarily versatility. Macedonian pikes used by hoplites to keep enemy formations at bay were effective but narrow of purpose; once a Greek hoplite was able to unhorse an enemy mounted warrior, he had to move in closer and switch to his sword or javelin to finish off the enemy. Medieval polearms, conversely, permitted soldiers to use different parts of the weapon's blade to unhorse or unshield an armored opponent and then slay him. Many exotic forms proliferated throughout Europe; a common one was the bill hook, which put a vicious curved hook on the blunt edge of a single-edged axe blade and mounted the whole arrangement at the end of a pole. Soldiers using this weapon could thus unhorse an enemy knight using the hook, without the blade getting in the way, and then quickly reverse the weapon and use the blade to kill the fallen enemy. #TECH_Professional_Armies ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Professional_Armies ^ ^ ^Professional armies are armies made up of people who know how to do nothing but fight. Thus, for them to be maintained, they had to be constantly paid. The only person in most medieval kingdoms able to afford this was the king, and aristocrats were understandably uncomfortable about the prospect of the king having a large, experienced, well-armed military force answerable only to himself at his constant disposal. ^ In many ways, though, the rise of professional armies was the nobles' own fault. Classic feudalism typically extended to a lord the right to levy his vassals' citizens to man his armies; this obligation was unconditional and had no time limit. Vassal lords did not like this, and worked to promote a much more limited arrangement in which serfs could only be obliged to serve in the army for forty days. But forty days was hardly enough time to train unschooled peasants into soldiers, and therefore rulers opted not to bother, instead taxing their vassals for money to pay full-time soldiers. The result was an overall increase in royal power throughout Europe, as the idea caught on and kings saw armies made up of professional soldiers defeat civilian armies many times larger in size. #TECH_Religious_Persecution ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Religious_Persecution ^ ^ ^Religious persecution is as old as religion itself; in Europe it was especially common from the 6th century C.E. onwards, as the Church struggled to find and then enforce some orthodox teachings. When the Church began to dominate secular as well as ecclesiastical affairs, religious persecution became a political tool, since church law provided for the confiscation of property belonging to heretics or the excommunicated. Catholic monarchs were obliged to support crusades against both Muslims and Christian dissenting sects, and they were often permitted to send money to the pope rather than actual troops. Many monarchs did just that, and the Church realized it had discovered an excellent way to extract money above and beyond the usual tithes from the secular rulers of Europe. #TECH_Seafaring ^ ^ ^{New Ability} $LINK can be $LINK by $LINK squares. #DESC_TECH_Seafaring ^ ^ ^Viking longships plied the Atlantic looking for trade, colonization, and plunder opportunities for almost two centuries. The longship itself was a marvel of engineering, a simple yet effective design able to survive the violent storms of the north, and to range far and wide without returning home for months at a time. #TECH_Seamanship ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Seamanship ^ ^ ^Mediterranean and Atlantic trade required European and Islamic civilizations to build on the seafaring advances achieved by their forefathers. Still, most improvements over the Roman galley were incremental, not revolutionary. Major advances in seamanship would not occur until the Renaissance, when the great trading cities of Venice and Genoa would devise new galley designs and look beyond the Mediterranean. Conversely, the Middle Ages saw a thriving seaborne trade between the Islamic dynasties and India; this contributed vastly to the sultans' wealth, as nations both Christian and Muslim devoured the spices, perfumes, and minerals found in the East. Islamic trade would dominate until the Age of Discovery in Europe. #TECH_Smithing ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Smithing ^ ^ ^Smithing is the craft of shaping heated metal, typically with hammer and anvil. The greatest demand during the Middle Ages was for blacksmiths, who worked iron into everyday tools. But there were also others such as silver smiths who could create exquisite jewelry with that fine metal. The Vikings were considered master metalworkers. Anglo commoners often took for a surname their occupation title, so it is not surprising that Smith is one of the most popular names. #TECH_The_Middle_Class ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_The_Middle_Class ^ ^ ^One of the most important results of the Middle Ages was the beginning of the middle class -- a sector of society made up of commoners who were not tied to any particular land and who made their living independently of a lord's sanction. As their numbers grew, nobles saw a potential threat to their power, but nothing they did could inhibit the growth of this new social force. The middle class would not play a dominant role in politics until the Renaissance, when artisans and craftsmen were too numerous to ignore. But its medieval origins, particularly in England where the yeoman tradition already provided for certain peasants' partial independence from their lords, laid the groundwork for this foundation of modern society. #TECH_Viking_Sagas ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Viking_Sagas ^ ^ ^Sagas, or epic poems, are the primary means by which Viking history was recorded. The first such epic in Sweden, the "Epic of Beowulf", describes in fantastic terms the political events by which Sweden first united. The Norwegian colonies in Iceland also produced a huge number of such sagas, from which many details of Viking society and history can be gleaned. The Viking sagas were mostly written in the 13th century C.E. but describe the beginning of unified Viking society. Uncommonly for ancient literature, Viking sagas often tell the stories of ordinary people, rather than the larger-than-life heroes of French or English lore. ^ The most commonly read sagas today are Egil's Saga, the story of a farmer and warrior whose blood feud with his neighbors leads him to outlawry and eventual poverty and death, and Njal's Saga, the story of two brothers whose family obligations lead them into a cycle of vengeance spanning generations and dozens of lives. Both sagas describe the Icelandic legal system in some detail, and provide historical insight as well as compelling stories. #TECH_Western_Church ^ ^ #DESC_TECH_Western_Church ^ ^ ^Early in the 11th century C.E., tensions between the Eastern church headquartered in Constantinople and the Roman (Western) church finally came to a head. Increasing doctrinal disputes, particularly over the nature of Christ's divine origin, mirrored political disputes stemming from the fundamental differences inherent in the Eastern church's emphasis on Greek tradition and the Western reliance on the legacy of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the Eastern church was much more involved with the struggle against Islam, and thought that this burden entitled it to greater say in how the church was run. ^ Finally, in 1054 C.E., the patriarch of Constantinople and the Roman pope excommunicated one another, formalizing the split of the two churches. The schism was deepened a few decades later, when Catholic crusaders sent to the Holy Land by the Roman pope sacked Constantinople on the way. The two churches remain separate today. ; END ADVANCES____________________________________________________________________________________ END ADVANCES ; RESOURCES_______________________________________________________________________________________________RESOURCES ; _____________________________________________Strategic Resources___________________________________________ #GOOD_Quarry ^ ^ ^A [Quarry] is a $LINK required to build several city improvements and wonders. ^ ^Quarries are always visible and can be found in $LINK and $LINK. #DESC_GOOD_Quarry ^ ^ ^Quarrying was the most common means of extracting stone from hills during the Middle Ages. The oldest surface-mining technique in history, it consists essentially of digging a hole at the base of a hill known to have quality stone deposits and using masons and quarriers to dig out the biggest pieces (to be shaped later). Quarrying is an incredibly inefficient process, with a huge degree of waste in both material and labor (since all the useless rock around the good bits has to be carried out of the quarry). Nonetheless, until the development of underground mining techniques, most stone buildings were constructed from quarried stone, and quarries were highly coveted features of a lord's lands. A lord could often extract considerable prices for quarrying rights in his domain, when he had no need or desire to build a new castle. #GOOD_Tar ^ ^ ^[Tar] is a $LINK required to build several city improvements and wonders. ^ ^Tar is always visible and can be found in $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #DESC_GOOD_Tar ^ ^ ^When coal or other high-carbon deposits are heated in a vacuum, such as in underground pockets, tar is the result. Tar has many construction and military applications, from use as a tough glue to a primitive liquid fuel to one of the alleged ingredients of Greek fire. ; ___________________________________________Luxury Resources____________________________________________ #GOOD_Wool ^ ^ ^[Wool] is a $LINK that makes content people happy in cities that are $LINK to it by domestic or foreign $LINK. ^ ^Wool is always visible on the map and can be found in $LINK, $LINK, $LINK and $LINK. #DESC_GOOD_Wool ^ ^ ^Wool, the hair shorn from sheep, was a fundamental economic good during the Middle Ages. It produced warm clothing and stayed warm even in the rain. It is also a strong, easily repaired, easily dyed, and perhaps most importantly, relatively cheap fabric. #GOOD_Coal ^ ^ ^[Coal] is a $LINK not used in this scenario. It is listed here as a "dummy resource" only to hide unnecessary worker functions. #DESC_GOOD_Coal ^ ^ ^[No further description.] ; _______________________________________________Bonus Resources_______________________________________________ ; END RESOURCES ______________________________________________________________________________END RESOURCES ; TERRAIN ____________________________________________________________________________________TERRAIN #TERR_Desert ^[Deserts] are arid stretches of land characterized by annual rainfall of less than ten inches. Cities may not be built in the desert in this scenario. #TERR_Plains ^[Plains] are vast, open tracts of land, usually with very few trees and covered with vegetation such as sagebrush and various grasses. ^ ^Plains may contain $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #TERR_Grassland_with_Shield ^The areas of land between desert regions and forests in temperate and tropical climates usually consist of [grassland]. Some grasslands contain mineral deposits and other useful materials. These have a rock outcropping to symbolize this and produce a $LINK if worked in a $LINK. ^ ^Grassland may contain $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #TERR_Grassland ^The areas of land between desert regions and forests in temperate and tropical climates usually consist of [grassland]. ^ ^Grassland may contain $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #TERR_Tundra ^Cold, barren permafrost found in polar regions, [tundra] is impassable in this scenario. #TERR_Hills ^Rolling areas of the countryside often found between plains and more mountainous regions are known as [hills] or [foothills.] ^ ^Hills may contain $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #TERR_Mountains ^[Mountains] are areas of high elevation, usually consisting of a chain of rugged peaks and valleys. ^ ^Mountains may contain $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #TERR_Forest ^Extensive areas of land covered by thick growths of trees and related ground vegetation are classified as [forests]. ^ ^Forests may contain $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #TERR_Jungle ^[Jungles] cover a significant portion of the equatorial areas of the world. Supplies of resources can be found there, but also $LINK. ^ ^Jungles may contain $LINK, $LINK, $LINK, or $LINK. #TERR_Coast ^Shallow by comparison with sea or ocean squares, [coastal] waters appear along the shorelines of land masses. Initially, naval units that leave the comfort of coastal areas risk loss in treacherous seas. But after the discovery of $LINK, this danger vanishes. ^ ^Coastal squares can contain $LINK. #TERR_Sea ^[Sea] squares are significant barriers to $LINK and ship movement until the discovery of $LINK. ^ ^Seas may contain $LINK or $LINK. #TERR_Ocean ^$LINK and ship movement cannot be conducted over [Ocean] squares during this scenario. #TERR_River ^[Rivers] do not run [in] squares: instead they run along the edges of squares. Any square with a river along its edge produces one extra $LINK if worked by citizen laborers within a $LINK. Also, rivers are sources of fresh water, allowing $LINK of adjacent squares. #TERR_Fresh_Water_Lake ^[Lakes] are bodies of water completely surrounded by land. They contain fresh water, allowing $LINK of adjacent squares. #TERR_Marsh ^An extensive area of soft, low-lying terrain is known as a [Marsh]. The fetid conditions of a marsh can sometimes cause $LINK. ^ ^Marsh may contain $LINK or $LINK, or $LINK. ; END TERRAIN______________________________________________________________________________________END TERRAIN ; Government Types________________________________________________________ Government Types ; END GOVTS______________________________________________________________________END GOVTS ; Terrain Improvements___________________________________________________________Terrain Improvements #TFRM_Irrigation ^ ^ ^Irrigation increases $LINK. Only squares adjacent to fresh water (river or lake) or to another irrigated square may be irrigated. ^ ^{Terrain Produces} ^Floodplains 3 food, 4 if irrigated. ^Grasslands 2 food, 3 if irrigated. ^Plains 1 food, 2 if irrigated. ^ ^Workers are ordered to irrigate by pressing [I] or the "Irrigate" button. #TFRM_Barricades ^ ^ ^A barricade hinders movement of "enemy" ground units, forcing them to stop on the barricade's square, even if the barricade is unoccupied. However, if occupied, a unit in a barricade enjoy a defensive bonus which is double the bonus awarded by a $LINK. A barricade can only be built on a square already containing a fortress. If pillaged, a barricade is "reduced" to a fortress. ^ ^Workers can build barricades after the discovery of $LINK. #TFRM_Railroad ^ ^ ^Workers cannot build railroads in this scenario. #TFRM_Plant_Forest ^ ^ ^Workers cannot plant forests in this scenario. #TFRM_Airfield ^ ^ ^Workers cannot build airfields in this scenario. #TFRM_Radar_Tower ^ ^ ^Workers cannot build Radar Towers in this scenario. #TFRM_Outpost ^ ^Outposts cannot be built until $LINK has been researched. ^ ^Outposts are ancient watchtowers and help to eliminate fog of war. To construct an Outpost, move a worker to any land tile in neutral or owned territory and select the Build Outpost unit action. Construction of the Outpost consumes the worker. The range of vision for the Outpost is 2 tiles on flat terrain, 3 on hills and 4 on mountains. Outposts can only be used by the player who created them. If an Outpost falls within the territory of any other civilization, it will be destroyed. Outposts can only be built in tiles that are empty or have a mine, irrigation, and/or road. ; END Improvements____________________________________________________________________________END Improvements ; Civilizations____________________________________________________________________________Civilizations #RACE_MAGYARS ^The Magyars are a non-playable civilization in the Middle Ages. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^The Magyars were nomads related to the Huns and Avars and came originally from near Finland and Estonia. They settled north of the Black Sea and entered into service with the Byzantine Empire, making war on the Bulgars at Byzantine request. They then migrated from the Ukraine to escape the Pechenegs, who were attacking them at the behest of the Bulgars, and settled in the Danube River basin in 896 AD, under the rule of their Great Chief, Arpad. They were expert horsemen and terrifying warriors and conducted Viking-like raids on all the lands around them, but on horse, instead of by ship. They soon dominated the entire region, even laying siege to German cities and Constantinople itself. ^ In 997, Duke Geza, the Magyar leader, died and his son Istvan promptly and forcefully asserted his supremacy over the nation and several discontented elder relatives who disputed his right to the succession. Until this point, Magyar leadership had been elected by seniority in the ruling family, not passed on by primogeniture. In 1000 AD, Istvan asked Pope Sylvester II for a royal crown, which the Pope sent, thus recognizing him as the first Christian king of Hungary, King Stephen. During his 38-year reign, Stephen I consolidated the Magyar state under a group of powerful nobles using modified Carolingian administrative practices, completed conversion of the Magyars to Christianity, and allied the kingdom more closely with the West, most notably by marrying Otto the Great’s niece. Stephen was canonized in 1083, and the Crown of Saint Stephen became a symbol of Hungarian nationhood. ^ The thrones of Hungary and Croatia were united in 1091, and during the reign of Bela III (1173-1196) Hungary became the strongest state in east central Europe. The power of the monarchy declined under the weak rule of Andrew II, who was forced to grant a charter, called the Golded Bull, to the nobles, allowing them greater privileges. In 1241, the Mongols invaded and devastated the land, further weakening the Magyar monarchy. The last of the Arpad dynasty died in 1301, and most of Hungary’s rulers after that were foreigners. #RACE_BULGARS ^The Bulgars are a non-playable civilization in the Middle Ages. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times. They prefer to research from the Byzantine optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^The Bulgars originally came from Central Asia, ‘somewhere east of the Black Sea,’ near modern day Kazakhstan and were occasional allies of the Huns. They began sporadic service with the Byzantines as mercenaries in the late Fifth Century, and by the time of Emperor Justinian I were actually administering some towns in the Empire, defending them against other Bulgars and nomadic tribes from the east. The Bulgars had a falling out with the Empire, retreated to the steppes, and were next heard from when they joined the Gepids and Lombards in invading Italy. Around 600 AD, the Bulgars had returned and conquered the Slavic area of the Balkans controlled by the Byzantines. The Byzantine Empire recognized the first Bulgarian Empire in 681 AD, and this nation lasted until 1081 AD. ^ Even though the Bulgars ruled this area with an iron fist, they ended up assimilating much of the Slavic language and culture and eventually would mingle so much with their subjects that eventually it was impossible to determine who was Bulgar and who was Slav. This interbreeding with their Slavic subjects did not dull their ferocity however, and during the Middle Ages Bulgaria was a great military power. The Bulgars fought many wars against the Byzantine Empire, their other neighbors, and nomadic invaders (similar to what they had once been themselves). By 865 AD, Czar Boris I had converted to Christianity and established an independent Bulgarian branch of the Eastern Orthodox church and adopted the Cyrillic alphabet as the official state language, and this alphabet and church spread from Bulgaria to the rest of eastern Europe and then into Russia. Boris’ son, Czar Simeon I (893-927 AD) was one of Bulgaria’s greatest rulers and during his reign, Bulgaria flourished as a center of Slavic culture and learning. As befitted his warrior heritage, Simeon also conquered many new territories and at his death, Bulgaria stretched from the Black Sea to the Adriatic. After Simeon’s death, Bulgaria waned in power, eventually being conquered by the Byzantines. After almost two hundred years of rule by the Byzantines, there followed a two hundred year second Bulgarian Empire that was, in turn, conquered by the Ottoman Empire. #RACE_BURGUNDIANS ^The Burgundians are are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^Burgundy, a region of France, takes its name from a tribe of Germanic people called the Burgundians. It also refers to the part of Charlemagne's empire that was ruled by his grandson Lothair. After the death of Charlemagne in 814, the Carolingian empire was passed on to his son, Louis the Pious, who had three sons: Lothair, Pepin, and Louis. In 817, Lothair was made co-Emperor with his father and King of Italy, Pepin was made King of Aquitaine, and the younger Louis made King of Bavaria. In 823, the older Louis had another son, Charles (later known as ‘the Bald’), this one by a new wife. Louis tried desperately to work Charles in as a successor, but the three brothers objected each time he tried to alter his Will. After bitter arguments, Emperor Louis dropped Lothair's imperial title in 829 and exiled him to Italy. The next year the three brothers united, attacked Louis, and reinstated Lothair’s imperial title. By 831, Louis had regained his power, and again dropped Lothair's titles, this time all of them, and barred him from his court. That year Pepin revolted and was joined by his brother Louis the German the next year, and the Emperor Louis declared Pepin stripped of all royal titles but had no power to enforce this declaration. In 833, the three brothers again attacked with support from Louis's own generals and from Pope Gregory IV himself. They imprisoned their father and their brother Charles the Bald, and Louis and Pepin gained territory for their kingdoms. The next year, however, Louis and Pepin released their father and brother Charles and sued for peace. In 835, Louis was re-crowned Emperor, and after the death of Pepin in 838, tried to have Charles the Bald crowned king in Aquitaine, and failed. In 840, Louis the Pious died, and the three surviving brothers, Louis the German, Lothair and Charles the Bald, began a civil war for the division of the Empire. ^ In 841, Charles and Louis the German allied against Lothair, who was trying to reunite the empire under his sole control, and defeated him. Two years later, the brothers signed the Treaty of Verdun, which established division of the empire into three portions. The Western Frankish Empire (France) was given to Charles the Bald, Louis the #DESC_RACE_BURGUNDIANS ^ ^ ^German was given rule over the Eastern Frankish Kingdom (Germany), and Lothair would rule the Middle Frankish Kingdom (Italy, Provence, and Lorraine -- the territories making up medieval Burgundy) with the imperial title. These three new realms would form the basis for what became the major powers of the Middle Ages, and eventually the modern European states. ^ After Lothair’s death, Louis the German and Charles the Bald divided their brother’s lands, heirs notwithstanding, and a long pattern of wars and divisions of land among heirs fractured the once united empire into hundreds of smaller entities. This process continued until gavelkind, the process of dividing lands among all sons was replaced by primogeniture, or inheritance of the firstborn. This practice of primogeniture stabilized Europe and allowed nobles to form an interlocking web of alliances and allegiances and set the pattern for feudalism. #RACE_CASTILIANS ^The Castilians are a non-playable civilization in the Middle Ages. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^Castile originated, as most medieval kingdoms did, from a series of individual districts and fiefdoms. In 970 C.E. Fernando Gonzalez effected this unification but did not crown himself king; instead he called his new domain the county of Castile, with himself as Count. Shortly after Gonzalez' death, the king of Navarre decided to make official the political reality of the preceding generation, and split off Castile as its own kingdom, distinct from Leon, with his son Ferdinand as monarch (but both Castile and Leon still owed fealty to the Navarro crown). It was at this time that the fighting spirit of Castile became apparent, as it took center stage in the Reconquista, the crusade to Christianize Spain and eject the Moors entirely. ^ A central figure during this time was Rodrigo Diaz. Diaz, a local landowner and soldier of Castile, accompanied Ferdinand's son Sancho -- a friend since childhood -- on several campaigns against the Moors, distinguishing himself as a warrior, tactician, and leader of men. Unfortunately, Sancho was killed in one of those campaigns, and Diaz returned to court. Sancho's death reunited the thrones of Castile and Leon (under his brother Alfonso VI), which had been separate entities since old Ferdinand's death. The Castilian nobility was not pleased at the prospect of returning to what they perceived as outside rule. Diaz hated court intrigue, and when the opportunity came to go on campaign again, he seized it. After a successful campaign, in which he further distinguished himself and raised his reputation in the eyes of both his enemies and friends, the increasingly rash Diaz led a raid into the kingdom of Toledo, which Alfonse VI had promised not to attack. For this, Diaz was exiled. However, his reputation was so high among the Muslims -- they referred to him as "al-sayid", meaning "lord". This nickname caught on, and his countrymen pronounced the sobriquet as "El Cid". ^ El Cid decided to offer his loyalty to the Muslims he had fought against for so long. A condition of his exile was that he could not lead troops in battle against Leon or Castile, but that did not stop him from leading the Muslim armies of Saragossa against other Muslim states. #DESC_RACE_CASTILIANS ^ ^ ^Eventually he was (grudgingly) recalled by Alfonso, and served his rightful lord once again, but his goals lay elsewhere. At the end of his life, he ruled Valencia, a wealthy and powerful city-state in southeastern Spain. ^ The campaigns of El Cid hastened the end of Muslim power in Spain, which finally came about (except for a tiny foothold in Granada) towards the end of the 12th century C.E. Castile continued to prosper, and in 1479 the Princess Isabella confounded a plot against her family by secretly arranging her own marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon. The resulting dynastic union created a great power, which quickly annexed old Navarre and proceeded to dominate world affairs for over a century. #RACE_DANES ^The Danes are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Norse optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^After the Iron Age revolutionized warfare and craft in northern Europe (thousands of years after it had swept the Near East), trade began to flourish there. One center of this new trade was at Hedeby, in northern Germany, and it was the beginning of the distinctly Danish nation. Tribe leaders united and supported a single king to defend the area against incursions from the Franks and the Germanic tribes. The first acknowledged King of Denmark, Harald I Bluetooth, was a superb politician and military leader, playing his opponents off against one another and successfully protecting his new domain from invasion and economic domination. His equally aggressive and dynamic sons, Sweyn Forkbeard and Canute the Great, mercilessly invaded England and indeed they were able to win the English crown for themselves. ^ The Danish relationship with Norway, their northern neighbor, alternated between violent clashes and national unification. Sometimes Norway had a Danish king; other times, vice versa. The Anglo-Dutch kingdom forged by Sweyn dissolved when Sweyn had to return to Denmark to defend against Norwegian intrusion (Norway was understandably concerned about the level of military and political success Sweyn was having across the North Sea). ^ Denmark was Christianized in word very early in its development, around 970 C.E., but two hundred years later it was almost entirely Christian. Cathedrals had sprung up and power struggles between the Church and the king were common. One such struggle erupted into civil war in 1131, when the Danish king had a powerful and popular duke assassinated. Twenty-five years later, with many dead on both sides, the duke's son Valdemar was crowned king of Denmark, and his rivals acquiesced. Valdemar's line proved successful, as the Danes invaded and annexed many small German principalities, substantially influencing their power and prestige. This violent and turbulent history continued for two centuries, as Denmark survived several dynastic struggles, civil wars, and other internal and external conflicts. This came mostly to an end in 1397, when the Union of Kalmar united the crowns of all three Viking powers; this would last until well past the Enlightenment in Europe. #RACE_TURKS ^The Turks are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Arab optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^Although modern-day Turks are associated with Istanbul and Anatolia, their ancestors originated in the steppes of Central Asia. These nomadic peoples were the intermediaries for trade between China and the Mediterranean, and they were considered superior soldiers by the Muslim world. One group of Turkmen belonging to the Seljuk clan grew in power to dominate the region and to have a major impact on European history. ^ The Seljuks took over lands in Iran in 1040 CE and began moving west. Seljuk’s grandson, Togrul, conquered Baghdad in 1055 and was made Sultan by the Abbasid caliph, thus emphasizing the Turk’s secular authority. Mesopotamia was the main trade thoroughfare between the Mediterranean and Asia, so the Seljuks now controlled a very prosperous region. However, Egypt was an economic rival because she, too, had a sea route to India. Egypt was then under the rule of the Fatimid Caliphate, Shi’i Muslims who believed the Abbasid Caliphate (Sunni Muslims) were usurpers of the Prophet Muhammad’s legacy. Because of this economic and religious tension, and because the Fatimids supported anti-Seljuk dissidents, open warfare developed between the Seljuks and Fatimids. Then the Christian Byzantines intervened. ^ Emperor Romanos IV came to the Byzantine throne in 1068 CE, and he was eager to invade Armenia, a strategically important area noted for its warrior bands who raided both the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate. Possession of Armenia by either power would directly threaten the other, so in 1071 the second Seljuk sultan, Alp Arslan, felt compelled to intervene. ^ The resultant Battle of Manzikert, where Romanos was captured, is considered one of history’s most decisive battles because of its profound repercussions. Turkish clans were able to occupy Anatolia during the next decade, bringing it within the Seljuk Sultanate. The loss of Byzantine Asia to the Muslims alarmed Christian Europe at a time when Christian pilgrims and holy sites in Jerusalem were also being abused. These and other factors led to the First Crusade, which #DESC_RACE_TURKS ^ ^ ^consisted of a Christian army that fought its way through Asia Minor to capture Antioch and Jerusalem just before the start of the 12th century. ^ The Crusades were very troublesome to the Seljuk Turks, but the greatest threat came in the 13th century from the Mongols. The Seljuks were squeezed into Anatolia between the Mongols and the Byzantines. Their domain consisted of many small emirates, one of which came under the leadership of Osman I. In the early 14th century, Osman won several successes against the Byzantines, and his son Orhan continued these victories, gaining a foothold in Europe. Their descendants would turn these gains into the Ottoman Empire, and in 1453 CE Turkish cannons breached the walls of Constantinople -- walls that had stood unbroken for a thousand years. Sultan Mehmet II captured this key city on the Bosporus Strait, and the Turks transformed it into Istanbul. #RACE_CORDOVANS ^The Cordovans are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Arab optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^In 711 CE, thousands of Muslim Arabs and Berbers landed at Gibraltar to begin a rapid conquest of Spain. The Arabs called the region al-Andalus (from which the modern name "Andalusia" is derived) and brought it under the control of the Umayyad Caliphate. This Arabian dynasty had been the civil and spiritual leaders of Islam for the previous fifty years, but their nepotistic rule caused much unrest in the Muslim world. After the ousting of the Umayyads in Damascus by the Abbasids in 750, Abd ar-Rahman, a grandson of a former caliph and one of the few surviving Umayyad clan, fled to al-Andalus and took over this Muslim salient in Europe. His emirate, centered around Cordoba, was the only one that remained independent from the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasids did not have the manpower to re-conquer such a far-flung province and under the rule of the ar-Rahman dynasty, Cordovan Spain became a powerful, centralized state, expanding its territory northward at the expense of Christian kingdoms that had resisted the Muslim invaders. Abd ar-Rahman had Cordoba’s Great Mosque built in 785, which survives to this day. ^ In 929 CE Abd ar-Rahman III declared himself the Caliph of Cordoba. The title Caliph is reserved for the leader of Islam, but there were already two caliphs in the Muslim world. The Abbasid (or Baghdad) caliph, who was Sunni, traced his descent from Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. The Fatimid caliph, who was Shi’i, traced his descent from Fatima, a daughter of the Prophet. The Umayyads were also Arabs of the Sunni sect, but their lineage traced to Uthman, the third caliph who succeeded Muhammad. #DESC_RACE_CORDOVANS ^ ^ ^ The Cordovan Umayyads reached their height in the late 10th century, consolidating their hold on the provinces in Spain and expanding into North Africa against the Fatimids. However, following the familiar pattern seen throughout the history of the Muslim Crescent, regional rulers grew discontented with the leadership at Cordoba and undermined the authority of the Umayyads, and between 1009-1031 a bitter civil war ripped apart the Cordovan Caliphate. Afterward, al-Andalus was split into small kingdoms called taifas, ruled by local warlords. ^ These local warlords could not stand up to the Christian kingdoms in the north that started the reconquest of Spain. To lend urgency to this push, Pope Alexander II declared it a Crusade, forgiving the sins of those on the way to fight the Muslims. By 1212, the Christian kingdoms of Leon, Castile, Aragon and Catalonia had pushed the Muslims halfway down the peninsula, and a major defeat of the Muslim rulers at Las Navas de Tolosa heralded the beginning of the end for al-Andalus. Cordoba itself fell in 1236. The rest of the history of al-Andalus is a series of defeats, retreats and the shrinking of the Muslim presence in Spain until all that remained of the once mighty al-Andalus was a narrow strip of land near Granada. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile launched a last war against the Muslims and conquered Granada at last in 1492. #RACE_NORWEGIANS ^The Norwegians are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Norse optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^The Norwegians were perhaps the most prolific explorers and raiders of the Viking era. Their longships ranged far and wide, birthing settlements as far as Newfoundland and Morocco. Like the other Viking nations Norway elected its kings until it adopted Christianity in the late 10th century C.E., although in Norway the church's efforts to extend its reach into secular spheres of influence was much more strongly resisted. More than one Norwegian king was excommunicated by the Church due to intransigence or open conflict against church authorities and lands. The Norwegian king Harald Hardrada played a significant role in the Norman Conquest in 1066 C.E., forcing the Saxon king Harold Godwinsson to force-march south after confronting Harald's army (Harald was killed in the battle) to fight William the Conqueror. Many historians speculate that this force march led to the Saxon defeat at Hastings and the ascension of William to the English throne. ^ After that, the conflict between the church and the monarch continued, deepening into a ruinous civil war that would last for decades. The civil war finally ended in 1217 with the crowning of Haakon IV as king of Norway; he formally established the hereditary succession of the crown along with ending traditional Viking blood feuds. He also formalized Norwegian authority over the various Viking colonies, creating a very early and primitive colonial empire. He also created a court system that was unprecedented in its subtlety and cleverness; the modern Anglo-American system involving different "levels of appeal", in which one court's decision can be appealed to a higher one and so on to the highest court in the land, owes its basic structure to Haakon's brainchild. Haakon's sons maintained the stability and prosperity their father had brought to their country, until the regency of Margaret I and her brilliant campaigns to unify the three Viking crowns. Margaret's plan came to fruition in 1397 C.E., when the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian thrones were occupied by a single man (Margaret's great-nephew Erik). #RACE_FATIMIDS ^The Fatimids are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Arab optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^The Fatimids were Arabs who claimed descent from Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and Ali, his son-in-law. They promoted the Shi’i sect of Islam and considered themselves the Prophet’s rightful heirs. After establishing a base of power in Tunisia among the Berbers, Ubayd Allah proclaimed himself the first Fatimid caliph in 909 CE. He was theologically opposed to the Abbasid caliph (then in Baghdad), who represented the Sunni sect and most of the Islamic world. ^ The Fatimids needed a commercial base stronger than what Tunisia offered if they were to achieve political success against the Baghdad caliph. They invaded Egypt several times, but it was not until 969 CE that the Fatimids conquered Egypt under their fourth caliph, al-Muiz. To celebrate this victory and to make Egypt their center of power, al-Muiz began the construction of a new capital city close by the Nile. The planet al-Qahir (Mars) was governing the sky at the time, so they named the new city al-Qahirah (Cairo). Cairo was built to a plan made by al-Muiz and it grew to become a literary center featuring the great al-Azhar mosque, university and libraries. ^ With Egypt under their control, the Fatimids could compete commercially with Baghdad. They developed the Red Sea route as an alternative to the Persian Gulf route for trade with Asia. They also expanded their territory north into Palestine and southeast to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and they sent missionaries farther abroad to help spread Shi’i Islam. However, they neglected their original base of power in Tunisia and lost control of it to independent dynasties. ^ Cairo prospered but the Fatimid Caliphate weakened, and most of the Egyptian population remained Sunni Muslim. After the Second Crusade in the middle of the 12th century, Christians and Muslims fought for control of Egypt’s wealth. The Kurdish general Salah ad Din (Saladin), fighting under Syrian rule, took the position of vizier in Egypt around this time in defense of Egypt. He was widely praised by Muslims and Christians. Salah ad Din replaced the Fatimid Caliphate with his own Ayyubid Sultanate after the death of Caliph al-Adid in 1171, putting fellow Kurds in positions of power and allying Egypt once again with the Abbasid Caliphate. #RACE_ABBASIDS ^The Abbasids are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Arab optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^The Arab descendants of Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, began a rebellion against the unpopular Umayyad Caliphate in 747 CE. Within a few years they had massacred most of the Umayyad dynasty and established the Abbasid Caliphate, which would last for the next five hundred years. At its greatest extent in the late 8th century, the Caliphate controlled Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean to central Asia as far as the borders of India. They also contributed much toward scientific progress at a time when European culture was stagnant and backwards. ^ One of the first things the Abbasids did was to move the administrative center away from Damascus to Mesopotamia. In 762 CE the second Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, began the construction of a new capital city. The site he chose was on the banks of the Tigris at a small village called Baghdad. The new city was originally built with three concentric round walls. The caliphate palace and parks occupied the center and were surrounded by a ring of military barracks and offices, which in turn were surrounded by housing. Suburbs quickly appeared beyond the outer wall, and by 800 CE the city had half a million residents, and would continue to grow over the next several centuries. Because it was the principal trade center to the silks of China and the spices of India, Baghdad became the wealthiest city in the world at its height. It was filled with marble palaces of several stories, gardens, beautiful mosques, immense main avenues, and aqueducts. ^ Such wealth attracted invaders. By the early 10th century Buyid mercenaries from Iran gained temporal power, sacking parts of Baghdad in 945 CE, and subordinating the caliph to a puppet with spiritual authority at best. The Buyids in turn were pushed out by nomadic Seljuk Turks from Central Asia. The Muslim Seljuks also retained the caliph, respecting his symbolic role, but they were not averse to replacing him with another as desired. ^ After the Crusades eroded the Seljuk Empire in the 12th century, the Abbasid Caliphate regained secular power over southern #DESC_RACE_ABBASIDS ^ ^ ^Mesopotamia. However, within a hundred years, a new and merciless invader from the Asian steppes appeared. In 1258, the Mongols conquered Baghdad. They massacred hundreds of thousands of its citizens, razed the city, destroyed its irrigation system, and trampled Caliph al-Musta’sim to death with horses, thus bringing the Abbasid dynasty to a violent conclusion. #RACE_POLES ^The Poles are a non-playable civilization in the Middle Ages that is $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^There can be little doubt that, had they been able to overcome their internal divisions, the Poles would have been a dominant power in the Middle Ages. The first institution that can be called a Polish kingdom or nation arose in around 980 A.D., when a tribal leader named Mieszko united three major tribes in eastern Europe and converted to Catholicism. The concept of a dynasty had not yet caught on in that part of Europe, though, so successions were often extremely violent and chaotic. After Miezsko's rule, the fortunes of the Polish nation-state depended entirely on the ruthlessness and strength of will of its leader. Some of Mieszko's successors were strong and able to impose their wills on the fractious principalities and tribes of Poland and Pomerania, and thereby defend effectively against foreign, usually German or Bohemian, invasion. Others were not. ^ In 1226 C.E., just over two hundred years after Boleslaw II successfully reunited the Polish kingdom, Poland was deeply divided once again. Baltic tribes menaced the north and the German state of Brandenburg sought greater land and influence in the west. The Polish king, Conrad of Mazovia, decided to import an army to fight off both of these threats in exchange for an indefinite homeland in Poland. The army was the Teutonic Knights. They accepted Conrad's offer and, after arriving in northern Poland, waged several bloody campaigns of conquest against the German and Baltic occupiers. To Conrad's surprise, though, the Knights then decided that they would rather have their own country rather than a dependent homeland inside someone else's kingdom. Conrad had saved the Polish kingdom from outside invasion, only to be invaded from within. ^ Future Polish kings then had to deal not just with Germans, Bohemians and Lithuanians, but the restless and aggressive Teutonic Knights. As if that were not enough, in 1241 a major Mongol invasion force arrived in Silesia (southeastern Poland). The Poles were able to defeat the Mongols, but at huge cost. Vast lands were laid waste and thousands of soldiers perished. In 1330 tensions between #DESC_RACE_POLES ^ ^ ^the Teutonic Knights and Poland erupted into open war, and after many political and military stalemates, the Polish king Casimir III was able to expand and recover from the Mongol attack and the endless conflicts with Poland's neighbors. But despite holding firm, Casimir had to settle for survival rather than prosperity. ^ The golden age of Poland came at the end of the Middle Ages, when alliance with Lithuania led to a combined assault on the Teutonic Knights that culminated in the fated battle of Grunwald in 1410. The Knights were able to fight off one contingent of the allied force, but were crushed by the other. The Knights were not totally defeated, but they would never again exert their will upon Poland as forcefully as they had in the preceding two centuries. Casimir IV, perhaps the greatest Polish king, was able to capitalize on this success to unite the Polish succession lines with those of Hungary and Bohemia, creating, albeit briefly, an eastern European super-state that dominated the region culturally and militarily for two generations. #RACE_SWEDES ^The Swedes are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Norse optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^Medieval Sweden was much more a motley collection of Viking provinces and personal domains than a coherent nation. Individual Swedish chiefs were often extremely opportunistic, expanding deep into Russia and dominating trade along the great Russian rivers (particularly with the Muslims, whose own expansion enabled them to control the southern ends of these rivers). Swedish warships preyed constantly on coastal territories along the Baltic and in England, and occasionally came to fight with the other Viking nations. In the 12th century C.E., they even fought a war against the Hanseatic League towns in northern Germany (which, surprisingly, they lost). Around this time Sweden became Christianized through the efforts of Frankish missionaries and monks, abandoning the traditional Norse pantheon they had worshipped for centuries before. ^ Sweden became feudal around 1245, when religious reforms led to the creation of a formal taxation authority and the church's right to crown the Swedish king. After a civil war, in which both Denmark and Norway intervened, the balance of power swung once again away from the church and back to the nobles, who favored the old tradition of electing their kings rather than having them named by divine authorities. The nobles enshrined this in a new legal code that would bind all Swedish provinces, and also made the first attempt at forming a national trade policy (so as to improve and enrich the commercial relationship Sweden had with the Hanseatic League). ^ Around 1362 C.E. the Swedish nobles, disgusted with the Swedish king Magnus' military setbacks and attempts to rein in their influence, persuaded an exiled duke named Albert to rally his support and attack Sweden. Their plan was to back Albert and then dominate him from behind the throne. Albert had other ideas, and once Magnus was overthrown, he ruthlessly exerted his will on the nobles who had supported him. They tried to resist, but eventually had to appeal to Norway and Denmark, ruled by the amazing Queen Regent Margaret. She saw an opportunity to forge an empire for her son, in whose stead she already ruled two Viking nations, and defeated Albert in battle in #DESC_RACE_SWEDES ^ ^ ^1389. Grinding guerrilla warfare persisted for almost a decade, until Margaret's forces were finally victorious and her nephew, Erik, was crowned king of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. This dynastic union created a Viking empire that would last two hundred years. #RACE_BYZANTINES ^The Byzantines are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Byzantine optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^The Byzantine Empire was first known as the eastern Roman empire, when Constantine I relocated the Roman capital from Rome to Constantinople and his successor Valentinian I made the division between Western and Eastern Empire official. When barbarians sacked Rome and defeated the western armies a century later, the Byzantine Empire was the final bulwark of Roman civilization to stand against the increasing pressure from European barbarians to the north and Persia in the east. Byzantine government was based largely on that of Rome, although unlike Roman emperors a Byzantine emperor was elected by a threefold vote of the senate, the people, and the army. To govern the empire, Byzantine emperors relied on a labyrinthine system of advisors, ministries, and offices -- hence the pejorative "Byzantine" today, used to describe overly hierarchical and intrigue-prone systems. ^ The golden age of Byzantium began when Justinian I and his brilliant wife {Theodora} became emperor and empress. Under their rule, the Byzantine general Belisarius undertook a series of dramatic and successful campaigns against the barbarian kingdoms that had risen in the ruins of Rome. After earning imperial favor by ruthlessly quashing a popular revolt, Belisarius successfully fought the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Persians, and various tribes in North Africa. His enormous popularity eventually caused Justinian to fear him, and he was eventually stripped of his command. ^ Byzantine military reform came mostly during the reign of Heraclius, the son of Africa's imperial governor. Arriving in Constantinople to restore order after a disastrous interregnum (marred by assassination, intrigue, and civil disorder), Heraclius placed tremendous power in the hands of the army. It was also during the reign of Heraclius that Greek fire, the medieval precursor to napalm, was invented, and used extensively by Byzantine ships called {dromons} in battle against Persian and barbarian ships. Heraclius also ordered the army to emulate the barbarian horse archers previously employed as mercenaries; the result was the cataphract, a heavily armored #DESC_RACE_BYZANTINES ^cavalryman who could fight with bow, sword, or lance. ^ ^ After two hundred years of defeats and erosion, during which Byzantium lost virtually all of its possessions south of Asia Minor, the ascension of Basil I to the imperial throne in 867 marked a turnaround in Byzantine military fortunes. Byzantine armies beat back the Arabs in the east and south, and despite several humiliating defeats at the hands of the Muslims, reasserted dominance over the eastern Mediterranean. Syria, along with the key city of Antioch, also came back to Byzantine control, along with Armenia and large parts of the Balkans. For 150 years, Byzantium enjoyed civil prosperity and military victory. ^ But new adversaries appeared where the old ones had fallen. In 1071, Byzantium suffered two catastrophic defeats -- they lost their last toehold in Italy to the Normans, who had earlier sacked Constantinople during a crusade gone awry. In the east, the Ottomans broke Byzantine power in Asia Minor forever at Manzikert, and the once dominant empire was reduced to a rump state comprising Constantinople, parts of the Balkans, and a few remaining provinces in western Turkey. The heart of it, though, was now ruled by the Turks. Nonetheless, during this time, art, religion, and philosophy flourished within the walls of Constantinople. It was as if the learned men of Byzantium were unaware of the threats lurking outside. Another fateful event, the Schism of 1054, finalized the separation between the Byzantine (Eastern) and Catholic (western) churches. This would lead to deep suspicion between the two churches, and western reluctance to assist Byzantium against the Turks years later. ^ Eventually Byzantium was forced to resort to bribery and compromise with the Turks and the new western powers that coveted its territory and former influence. In 1421, after a hundred years of co-existence with the Turks, the new sultan Murad II revoked all of the arrangements that had existed between the two empires. As a last resort, the Byzantine emperor begged Rome for help, but the Christian army sent to fight the Turks was utterly defeated. In 1453, the Turks assaulted Constantinople itself, and the walls that had stood for over a thousand years finally fell, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire. #RACE_GERMANS ^The Germans are are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars brought the Germanic tribes into the spotlight of history. Although Roman efforts to establish hegemony across the Rhine continued for decades, the frontier eventually stabilized along the Rhine and Danube rivers. At that time, Germanic culture extended from Scandinavia as far south as the Carpathians. Although it was heavily fortified, the frontier was never a barrier to trade or culture. Germanic fear of the Huns meant that the Roman Empire could, in moments of crisis, mobilize at least the Goths, Burgundians, and Franks for mutual defense. Soon after Attila's death in 453, however, the Hun empire collapsed, and Rome lost this hold over the Germans. ^ The Merovingian kings and their Carolingian successors eventually brought much of what would later constitute Germany under Frankish control, but the ceaseless blows from Danes, Saracens and Magyars in the later 9th and 10th centuries weakened the kingdom's cohesion. Because the Carolingians themselves were unable to provide effective defense for the empire, there arose in nearly all the German lands powerful lines of margraves, counts and hereditary rulers, their intrigues and wars against each other interrupted only briefly by the rise of strong electors such as Frederick Barbarossa (1155-1190). The subsequent history of Germany is, despite the role of the central rule of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the rise and fall of feuding principalities. ^ It would be a thousand years before Germany was again unified under a single ruler. Troubled by the mass insurrections and diplomatic defeats that had followed the Napoleonic Wars, William I of Prussia (1861-1888) considered abdicating in favor of his son, who was believed to have political views close to those of the liberal opposition. He was persuaded, however, to consider forming a new government led by {Otto von Bismarck}, the Prussian ambassador to Paris. ^ In September 1862, Europe was startled by the news that a statesman with a reputation for conservatism, nationalism and #DESC_RACE_GERMANS ^ ^ [realpolitik] had become the prime minister of Prussia. The new German Empire was proclaimed in January 1871, in the aftermath of three short and decisive wars against Denmark, Austria and France by coalitions of German states. Bismarck had unified Germany. ^ The same nationalism that brought unity would bring disaster. Already staggering under a vengeful peace imposed by the Western Allies following World War I, the worldwide economic collapse that began in 1929 proved the catalyst for political extremism. Although bitterly opposed to each other, the Nazis and Communists during the next decade succeeded in mobilizing the political and economic resentments generated by defeat and depression. When Hitler finally became chancellor in January 1933, it was not on the crest of a wave of popular support but as the result of ruthless political intrigue. ^ World War II is appropriately called "Hitler's War." Spearheaded by {Panzer} formations using revolutionary new tactics, Hitler came close to realizing his aim of establishing German hegemony in Europe. But the turning point of the war came with his decision to send his Panzers into Soviet Russia. Though at the end of 1942 an ultimate German victory still seemed possible, by spring 1945 the Third Reich was prostrate. As a legacy of surrender and the ensuing Cold War, a truncated Germany was divided into two zones of military occupation. While under Soviet rule East Germany suffered and stagnated, West Germany's recovery from total economic and political prostration at the end of World War II was of such dramatic proportions as to become a modern legend. ^ The swift and unexpected downfall of the Soviet order in Europe led to a unification treaty, ratified by the West German Bundestag and the East German People's Chamber in September 1990. After 45 years of division, Germany was once again a united nation. #RACE_KIEVAN ^The Kievan Rus are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build the $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Byzantine optional path of the tech tree (despite their early Viking roots). ^ ^Indo-European, Ural-Altaic, and other races have occupied what is now the territory of Russia since 2000 BC, but little is known about their institutions and activities. Modern Russia dates from about 770, when Viking explorers began an intensive penetration of the Volga region. From bases in estuaries along the eastern Baltic, Scandinavian bands, probably in search of new trade routes to the east, began to penetrate territory populated by Finnish and Slavic tribes, where they found unlimited natural resources. ^ Within a few decades the Rus, as the Viking settlers were known, together with other Scandinavians operating farther west, extended their raiding activities down the main river routes toward Baghdad and Constantinople, reaching the Black Sea in 860. In the period from 930 to 1000, the region came under complete control by the Rus from their capital at Novgorod. ^ The lifeblood of this sprawling Kievan empire was the commerce organized by these Viking princes. Novgorod's burghers even forged an accommodation with the invading Mongols during the 13th century, but its absorption by the growing Slavic principality of Muscovy in 1478 ended its political independence. ^ Ivan III (1462-1505) consolidated the gains his father, Vasily II, had won in the saddle. This "gathering of the Russian lands" became a conscious and irresistible five-century drive by Moscow to annex all Slavic lands, both the Russian territories and the Belorussian and Ukrainian regions. The ascension of Peter I (the Great; 1694-1725) ushered in and established the social, political and intellectual trends that were to dominate Russia for the next two centuries. The location of his capital, St. Petersburg, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland symbolized this shift toward a European involvement. ^ {Catherine the Great} (1762-1796) would prove to be Peter's true intellectual and political heir. Catherine's reign was notable for imperial expansion. Most important were the securing of the northern shore of the Black Sea, the annexation of the Crimea, and the expansion into #DESC_RACE_KIEVAN ^ ^the steppes beyond the Urals. This permitted the protection of Russian agricultural settlements in the south and the establishment of trade routes through the Black Sea. In the process, the military democracies of the {Cossack} hosts along the Dnieper, Don and Volga rivers lost their autonomy and special privileges; the wealthier officers became Russian nobles, receiving the right to own and settle serfs on their own lands, while the fierce horsemen sank to the level of peasants with special military obligations. ^ Despite the heritage of Peter and Catherine, by the time of Nicholas II (1894-1917) Russia was in disarray, fighting an onerous war and plagued by internal misery and oppression. The Kerensky provisional government, a moderate attempt to resolve the problems, collapsed in the face of the Bolshevik revolution. Given the Bolshevik desire to dominate the whole of Russia and the rest of the former tsarist empire, civil war was inevitable. Stalin would complete the consolidation of Communist power begun by Lenin. And he would lead Soviet Russia through the greatest threat to its existence, and help it emerge as one of the world's superpowers following the Second World War. ^ But in the ensuing Cold War, Russia's economy tottered towards collapse. The people turned to Boris Yeltsin, a liberal Party functionary. Elections to the Congress of People's Deputies in March 1989 saw him score a stunning victory. He used his newfound legitimacy to promote Russian sovereignty, to advocate and adopt radical economic reform, to demand Gorbachev's resignation, and to negotiate treaties with the Baltic republics, in which he acknowledged their right to secede from the union. An ill-conceived, ill-planned, and poorly executed coup attempt to unseat Yeltsin occurred August 1991, bringing an end to the Communist Party and accelerating the movement to disband the Soviet Union. Yeltsin dissolved the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December 1991, banned the Communist Party in Russia and seized all of its property. #RACE_FRENCH ^The French are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^Modern France has its roots in ancient Gaul. In the 2nd century BC Rome intervened on the side of Massilia (Marseilles), a Greek colony founded in 600 BC, in its struggle against the barbarian tribes of the hinterland. The result was the formation, in 121 BC, of the Roman Provincia; between 58 to 50 BC Caesar seized the remainder. From 395 the internal problems of the Empire encouraged barbarian penetration of Transalpine Gaul. By 418, the Franks and Burgundians were established west of the Rhine, and the Visigoths had settled in Aquitaine. The period of the Merovingian and Carolingian Frankish dynasties (476-887) frames the Early Middle Ages. ^ Following his ascension, the first Merovingian, Clovis (481-511), consolidated the position of the Franks in northern Gaul. Clovis came to believe that his victories were due to the Christian God. Clovis' subsequent conversion assured the Frankish rulers of the support not only of the Catholic Church but of the majority of their own subjects. By the rise of the house of Valois in 1328, France was the most powerful kingdom in Europe. Its ruler could muster larger armies than rivals; he could tap enormous fiscal resources; and the king's courts maintained royal supremacy. The history of France in the Late Middle Ages is dominated by efforts of its kings to maintain their suzerainty, efforts that, despite French advantages, were long frustrated. ^ The Hundred Years War was an intermittent struggle between England and France in the 14th-15th centuries over a series of dynastic disputes, including the legitimate succession to the French crown. The war's turning point was reached in 1429, when an English army was forced to raise its siege of Orléans by a relief force organized by {Joan of Arc}. Her insistence that only consecration at Reims could make a true king, chosen by God, led to further victories. Charles III was anointed in Reims in July 1429. By 1453, England retained only Calais, which it finally relinquished in 1558. ^ With the ascension of the infant Louis XIII (1610-1643), the security of the country was again threatened as factions disputed the throne. Crown and country, however, were rescued by the most controversial #RACE_ENGLISH ^The British are $LINK. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times plus $LINK and can build $LINK as their unique unit. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^In Roman times Britain lay on the periphery of the civilized world, and it emerged into the light of history only after the Saxon settlements in the 5th century AD. Tribal migrations into Britain began about the middle of the 5th century. The first arrivals were invited by a British chieftain to defend his kingdom against the Picts and Scots. The first mercenaries were from three tribes - the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes - which located on the coastlands of northwestern Germany. Eventually, these peoples would themselves topple the native kingdoms. But unity was fleeting; the subsequent Norman Conquest (1066) resulted in the subordination of England to a Frankish aristocracy, and the introduction of feudalism to the Isles. ^ The English Normans would eventually give rise to a purely British line of kings, the Plantagenets. Three centuries later, the Wars of the Roses was the final struggle between the Yorkist and Lancastrian descendants of the Plantagenets for control of the throne. When Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, seized the crown in 1485, leaving the Yorkist Richard III dead upon the field of battle, few Englishmen would have predicted that 118 years of Tudor rule had begun. {Elizabeth} I (1558-1603) proved to be the most able Tudor monarch. No observer in 1558, any more than in 1485, would have predicted that despite the social discord, political floundering, and international humiliation of the past decades, the kingdom again stood on the threshold of an extraordinary age. Her reign ushered in two centuries of British exploration, colonization, artistic and intellectual advances. When Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen," died childless, Parliament offered the crown to the closest blood kin, James VI of Scotland (1603-1625) and the United Kingdom was born, defended by the "wooden wall" of the Royal Navy’s {Men-o-War}. ^ Every major war Britain engaged in during this period increased its colonial power. The Seven Years' War was particularly notable in this respect, and so were the Napoleonic Wars. By 1820 the total population of the British Empire was 200 million, 26% of the world's total population. However acquired, all these acquisitions added to #DESC_RACE_ENGLISH ^ ^ ^the crown’s and the country's power and reputation. For the privileged and the rich, the Victorian era was pre-eminently one of confidenceand arrogance, under the able guidance of Britain’s two Prime Ministers, Gladstone and Disraeli. But the "long summer of peace" came to an end in the bloodbath of Flanders. Although Britain suffered far less physical damage than France and underwent no political revolution, World War I may have affected it more fundamentally than any other European power. The war was a catalyst for social and economic change. The mainstays of the Industrial Revolution, such as coal mining, textile production, and shipbuilding, upon which British prosperity had been built, were now impoverished or redundant. British foreign policy for much of the postwar period aimed at rehabilitating Germany, while domestic policy focused on institutionalizing socialism to counter public concerns. In general, these movements were opposed by France and resulted in a rupture between Britain and its wartime ally, forcing France into a position of isolation that would have prodigious consequences for Europe with the rise of Hitler in the 1930s. Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990) set out to end socialism in Britain. Her most dramatic acts consisted of a continuing series of statutes to denationalize nearly every industry that Labour had brought into public ownership during the previous 40 years. Promising that "we shall govern as New Labour," the Blair government installed in general elections in 1997 accepted some of Thatcher's foreign policies but also carried out the economic reforms it promised in its manifesto. In retrospect, the 1990s were a period of transition, controversy and continuity in the United Kingdom, and for the royal family... Europe’s oldest surviving monarchy. #RACE_Celts ^The Celts are a non-playable civilization in the Middle Ages. They start the game with all twelve technologies from Ancient Times. They prefer to research from the Roman Catholic optional path of the tech tree. ^ ^ In the 1st century BC, Strabo wrote of the Celts: 'The whole race...is madly fond of war, high-spirited and quick to battle...and on whatever pretext you stir them up, you will have them ready to face danger, even if they have nothing on their side but their own strength and courage'. Much of what we know about Celtic culture today has been derived from the insights of the various writers and geographers of the time; coupled with finds from Celtic burial sights located in Bavaria, Bohemia, and Upper Austria. The Celts once formed a loose-knit 'empire', inhabiting territory that stretched in a chaotic band across central Europe. The writings and findings of modern archeologists place Celtic civilization as ranging from the Atlantic Coast of the British Isles and northern Spain, to as far east as Transylvania and the Black Sea. ^ The Celts lived as extended families, or clans, which banded together, in order to form larger tribes that would occupy territory together. A Knight and a High Chieftain typically governed these tribes, while a third privileged class known as 'men of art', who are better known today as the Druids and Bards, extolled the feats of Celtic warriors in song and craft. Celtic society was held together by a complex web of family ties and other obligations, within which, the warrior nobles would strive to attain wealth and prestige through agriculture, trade, and success in war; which they often used to create and fund their own family or tribe. ^ At the age of fourteen, Celtic boys attained manhood and were permitted to bear arms, while girls became eligible for marriage. Young nobles and sons of freemen who reached their fourteenth birthday became clients of a famous lord or well-reputed Celtic Knight. Such warrior retinues were called 'Fianna'. These junior warriors sought out and followed experienced warriors whose success could provide them with greater chances at their own wealth and glory. ^ While the bulk of a Celtic army would typically consist of poorly armored spearmen, it was the warrior nobles who wielded swords that were the most feared. These {Gallic Swordsmen} were wealthier than their peers, and could afford to equip themselves not only #RACE_Mongols ^The Mongols are present in this scenario only as one of the barbarian tribes (with a lot of starting Barbarian camps on the eastern edge of the map). However they swept over much of Europe late in the time period of the game; their civilization was kept in the game rules in case a player wanted to add them in as a variant. #DESC_RACE_Mongols ^ #EOF