《Reports to the Pharaoh》


 On the Economic Schools of Thought

    On the Economic Schools of Thought


    Report by the Royal Treasurer Intefiqer Rehusa


    While for most of the known history there had been no standardized economic systems, with every ruler deciding how to manage the economy on an individual basis, according to the needs of the given situation, over the millennia two dominant models emerged, of which one or the compromise between the two is used by most of the civilized countries. Of course, I can only confirm this to be true to civilizations in our relative vicinity, I cannot comment on what exact economic models are being used in India and China, or whatever the recently discovered civilizations of the distant continents of North and South Khonsmia are doing. Yet I am rather sure of the economic systems in the tri-continental area, from Elam to Mycenae and from Hatti to Punt, which is what I will focus on in this report.


    The two dominant schools of economic thought are the Phoenician school and the Ur school. They stand in direct opposition to one another, as in their pure form they profess completely different ideas, which means both of them cannot be adopted simultaneously, but a mix of both can be taken ¨C though usually with one of them still dominant the other. I will now proceed to shortly describe both schools and their modern definitions before describing how each country applies them to their economic systems


    <u>Phoenician School of Economics</u><u></u>


    The Phoenician school, its followers often referred to as Phoenicianists, naturally takes its name from the region of Phoenicia and the cities there, which were the first to formulate this practice and spread it throughout the civilized world. In essence, the Phoenician school advocates for very limited, if any, government intervention in the economy. This means that it is highly opposed to high taxes, tariffs, trade restrictions, protectionist policies, and other economic interventionist measures. Phoenicians have always been a highly individualistic people and always opposed to any sort of government overreach ¨C even their own ¨C and so it is not difficult to imagine why such a system emerged there. While there is no exact date when such a system was formulated, it seems to have been in effect in Byblos and the other Phoenician cities from the first time we have met the Phoenicians and started trading with them, that being over a millennium ago. Of course, over the centuries the system was standardized and improved, which allowed it to spread much further than just the initial collection of cities.


    Now, one might say that this system was not an invention of the Phoenicians and is just the original state of human civilizations, and while this may seem intuitive, I would highly disagree with such an assessment. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this is the exact opposite of the economic systems used in the first settlements. In the primitive communities there is a lot of ¡°government¡± overreach ¨C that government being some tribe leader or an assembly of the elders in most cases. In such communities, everything is communal. Everything is taken by the leader or leaders and only then redistributed according to how the leadership feels it should be distributed. The crops are taken and redistributed, as are the gathered fruits, and the hunted game, and the caught fish, and so on. In effect, this makes for a 100% income tax. There is little opportunity for self-gain and only possibilities for improving the community¡¯s welfare as a whole, and that¡¯s already with the assumption that the tribe leaders know what they are doing, which is far from given. This is the complete opposite of the Phoenician system, which prioritizes the individual and gives everyone ¨C in the pure form of the model ¨C what they earned, nothing more, nothing less. Everyone makes their own bread, so to speak.


    Some may say that this is a very selfish system, and it indeed is, but I do not see an issue with it. Being selfish is the natural state of humans, as everyone is inherently selfish to some degree, and so this system acknowledges this design given to us by the gods, instead of trying to unnaturally change it and bend the universe to one¡¯s will, which rarely works out as intended. In the bygone era of priest-kings and strongmen army-leading warlords, this system could not have emerged, as the rulers obviously did not want to relinquish the income they could gain by taxing their subjects as much as possible, and so continued the course of the hunter-gatherer or farmer villages. However, the Phoenician civilization had and still has a massive portion of its population in the crafting and trading sectors ¨C due to a combination of factors, such as wide access to the sea, plenty of wood for their ships, and other highly valuable materials at their disposal ¨C which are inherently more fluid and individualistic than hunting or farming, and so the old method of taxing everyone and then redistributing the resources simply would not work. A new system emerged and took hold, and the results of that speak for themselves ¨C while Phoenicians never had an empire for themselves, really nothing more than city states which were eventually integrated into our Commonwealth, the per capita Gross Domestic Product and the standards of living are always the highest there from all known civilizations, which was further confirmed during Phoenicia¡¯s brief period of neutrality and factual independence during the OFK-EC War.


    Of course, the pure form of the Phoenician system is very difficult to achieve, as a government still needs at least some revenue, and so some taxes are still needed. However, those taxes are rather low, and sometimes even negligible to the taxpayer. The current local government in Retjenu has lower local taxes than its counterparts in Kemet or Kush (the federal taxes going towards our capital are the same in all three regions still, of course), continuing the Phoenician tradition and even extending it to the Canaanite and Amorite lands. For comparison, Retjenu currently has a local tax rate of 5%, while Kemet and Kush have 10% and 13% respectively, in addition to the 10% federal income tax. Retjenu also has many tax exemptions, mostly applied to attract skilled foreigners and have them establish businesses there.


    Some followers of the Phoenician school advocate for some other taxes as well, but only ones which do not inconvenience the citizens too much. This includes some low tariffs ¨C though still much lower than the average in other countries, so that trade with the given country would be preferable ¨C various fees and tolls to be collected when appropriate, and taxes on land. The last one is especially important in Phoenicia and other regions, mostly city states, where space is limited and people are plentiful. This works, because the landowners are incentivized to build on their land ¨C be it housing, industry, or shops ¨C to make the land as profitable as possible in order to offset the tax. In the end it leads to more immigration, more jobs, more consumption, and so more revenue for the government. However, this method would not work in larger states in most cases, as they still have a very prominent landowner class composed of nobles, as is very much the case here in Kemet, who would be vehemently opposed to such a tax. This would, after all, force them to build something more on their land than just personal villas and unproductive farms converted from slave plantations.


    Other than taxes, government revenue can also come in the form of profits from government owned resources ¨C forests, copper, tin, silver, or gold mines, fisheries, hunting grounds ¨C or industries, such as weapons manufacturing. Ironically enough, this can sometimes result in these states selling weapons to countries which would eventually conquer them. However, government industries in the Phoenician based countries are often more profitable, as the citizens are more interested in starting and running their own businesses, while the government hires immigrants for whom a lower wage is often acceptable. Finally, there can be some more unique revenues, such as tourism or the sale of new inventions to other countries.


    All of this, however, can still often not make up for the loss of lowering income taxes, which means that the government spending must be limited. This means healthcare, firefighting, and policing being mostly or exclusively provided by companies, with the exception of palatial quarters, wealthy neighborhoods, and government owned lands and industries. In effect this leads to higher mortality and more crime, though in reality even the most hardline Phoenicianist governments usually provide full city coverage in regards to firefighting and policing, as the additional expense is deemed worthwhile due to the possibility of the entire city burning down or crime making it an unattractive destination for foreigners. Any sort of welfare measures, however, are usually sacrificed, as everyone is expected to make enough by themselves, no matter the situation. Old, young, unemployed, or disabled, that does not matter. Either you earn enough yourself, or you pray to the gods. The Phoenicianists do not believe in any sorts of payments to the people, unless they are directly working for it.


    As for foreign policy ¨C that can depend. While an expansion campaign would most certainly require some sort of temporary increase in taxes, it is technically possible to maintain a Phoenician approach to economics even in a large empire, provided it is peacetime. The First Assyrian Kingdom and the Babylonian Empire are examples of this approach working. This does require fortunate geographic positioning, so that there would be few enemies around and few entrance points which would need to be garrisoned, as the Phoenician school does not allow for large military spending, other than temporarily hiring some mercenaries. The internal population is usually not a problem, as the Phoenician model goes hand in hand with a liberal approach to governing subjects, so the chance of a revolt is low, but external forces can crush an unprepared state very easily. We saw what happened with the Kassite Kingdom ¨C it had probably the most Phoenicianist economic system at the time, even if an inefficient one ¨C and it crumbled with little resistance to the Elamite and Assyrian invasion, due to the fact that the Kassites had a comparatively tiny army and few garrisons on the borders (of course, the Kassites¡¯ ethnic policies on who could join the army made this situation even worse). There is also the fact that the citizens of a Phoenicianist state tend to not be very loyal to anything other than money, and so while they wouldn¡¯t revolt for the right to secede, they also wouldn¡¯t defend the country from foreign invaders. Again, this was demonstrated very well in Karduniash, with the Elamites marching almost uncontested and the Assyrians were only resisted due to the fact that they were violating all the points in the Knossos Conventions simultaneously and openly committing a genocide.


    Overall, as you can see, the system has its positives and its negatives. It suits city states rather well, as well as countries which are situated in a secure position, and it prioritizes the individual. There is also the debate on how the gods approve of this system, but that is not for me to say, I will leave that to the priests. Yet in any event, it does limit how much the government can earn, and in turn how much it can actually do. There is a reason why Egypt conquered the Levant and not the other way around, and the pyramids couldn¡¯t have been built while fully adhering to the Phoenician model. This leads me to the second economic school of thought, one to which I¡¯ve alluded already when explaining the origin of the Phoenician system.


    <u>Ur School of Economics</u>


    The Ur school is, as I mentioned, the complete opposite of the Phoenician school. It prioritizes the government and focuses on making it as powerful as possible, as the core belief of this school is that the ruler knows best and can optimize the economy much better than the free market can. While for political actions few doubt that there can be a better governing system than a single absolute ruler (possibly with the addition of an advisory council), few apply this to be the case for economics as well, which makes the Ur school a distinct and even fringe possibility, rather than the default option. Economics requires much more participation from the public and so the Phoenicianists leave it up to the people and the market to figure out, but the advocates of Ur reject this and place much more importance on the government in this matter.


    I did mention how the primitive societies in effect were very government dominated, but there is a reason why this system is called the Ur school. In the primitive societies the government dominates mostly out of necessity, but, as time goes on and the society evolves, the community grows, more resources become available, and eventually people are able to start providing for themselves, rather than fully serving someone else. Cities expand and start trading, more jobs become available, and so more opportunities for individualistic work appear, which transforms the economic system into at least a mixed system, if not a mostly Phoenicianist one. Full government control is, as I said, not natural at all. It is not stable and eventually returns to the equilibrium of a freer market-based system. Some, however, reject this notion and choose to try to bend the universe to their will in order to control the market themselves, with everything that entails.


    One such man was king Ur-Nammu of the Third Dynasty of Ur, also known as the Neo-Sumerian Empire. He ruled about a thousand years ago, taking the throne in Mesopotamia after the fall of Akkad and the following Gutian invasions, managing to reunite Mesopotamia rather quickly and expand it nearly as much as Sargon of Akkad did. He was succeeded by his son Shulgi, who continued his father¡¯s work, and the two in total ruled for about seventy years. However, after them followed a succession of short-lived kings, each seeing the empire contract and suffer both foreign invasions and internal rebellions, until eventually there was no empire anymore, barely a century after Ur-Nammu took the throne. This would seem like a rather unremarkable dynasty and a footnote in Mesopotamian history, if not for those first two kings. Ur-Nammu did something unprecedented ¨C he completely rejected Phoenicianist thought (what could have been called Uruk thought back then, due to Uruk following a similar system to the Phoenician one and having been the first prominent kingdom in Mesopotamia) and centralized the economy. Such a reversal of economic trajectory and such a scale of centralization had been never seen before, which makes Ur-Nammu the pioneer of this system, named specifically after this dynasty and its capital. Followers of this school are also often called Ur-Nammuists or Ur-Nammu-Shulgiists, to also account for Ur-Nammu¡¯s son. Most people don¡¯t go searching for inspiration further in the dynasty though, seeing how rather irrelevant and unsuccessful the later rulers were.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Now, for the specifics of what Ur-Nammu actually did. Some records have been lost to time, naturally, and some more are kept secret in Assyrian and Babylonian archives, thus not giving us a full picture of the situation, but we still know enough to make a conclusion. Ur-Nammu¡¯s regime taxed its population quite heavily, and often would seize the entirety of the produce. The residents thus had little or possible even no income and so had to rely on the government for redistribution of resources. And the government did do exactly that, both on a regional and personal scale. Resources were redistributed from the capital to other cities, and in each city distributed to the population from the city center or some central storage. This included bread, beer, oil, some meat, and cheese, but that seems to be the extent of it. Thus, the citizens could survive, but actually thriving would be much more difficult. It¡¯s difficult to estimate how efficient this system was, but I would say that it had to be at least semi-working during the reign of the first two kings, as they actually managed to reunite Mesopotamia and hold it together for some decades, though even in its most ¡°perfect¡± state the system would fail some classes of people, who would not be happy with this redistributionism in any case. One reason why this system held for as long as it did might be due to the prior Gutian invasions of Babylonia, which ravaged the lands and left most people destitute. Thus the Ur regime was acceptable to most peasants as they were guaranteed to have their most basic needs, while there remained few nobles and other large landowners to protest this change. However, once the region recovered and the people grew richer, as well as new wealthy regions were added to the empire, people weren¡¯t satisfied with this system, eventually leading to its collapse.


    Of course, this is only my theory, I am not a historian and so cannot be absolutely certain of what caused the Ur regime to collapse. Military men, for example, often say that it collapsed because of its weak army foundations and so the state was conquered by barbarians and foreign states ¨C we do after all know that the state was fighting Elam in its last days. However, I would still say that the economic system was an important factor in the collapse, as a strong united Mesopotamia simply cannot be bested by any other civilization, except our own, and so there had to be internal issues for the Ur Dynasty to succumb to the Elamites and the barbarians.


    Yet despite this dynasty¡¯s failure, and no other major kingdom attempting to truly replicate this model emerging in the following millennium, some people still cling to this system, and it saw a resurgence in popular thought in the last couple centuries. In essence, what these Ur-Nammuists believe is almost always the complete opposite of what the Phoenicianists believe ¨C they want high income taxes, if 100% ones, high tariffs, little if no trade, as the system doesn¡¯t really function on a monetary basis, protectionism, isolationism, no migration, as that would disrupt the redistributionism, all industries being fully controlled by the government, all people working directly for the government, and no companies being permitted. Some modern advocates for the system also propose higher measures of welfare, such as benefits for the unemployed and the old, as well as government provided healthcare. Others, however, want all this spending towards creating a massive army and strong bureaucracy so that the kingdom could expand and conquer neighboring states, while also making sure the population is subdued and doesn¡¯t revolt.


    In any event, the individual in this system is sacrificed for the supposed welfare of the community and the state. It would probably look more impressive on the map than a state following the pure Phoenician model, but there is the question of how efficient such a system actually is. If it can¡¯t hold for longer than the reign of two rulers, then it might just be running off the initial momentum of the founding of the kingdom, and not have any stable foundations. And, of course, there is also the question of whether the gods would approve of people being used in such a way, with any agency stripped away from them and being forced to rely on the government for even the simplest matters. Again, I will leave that up to the priests to decide. I will admit, the system can have its uses, such as in the case of war, or recovery after war, in states where the standard of living is so low that the people are starving, isolated states which do not wish to participate in the global community, and in times when some great projects need to be done, which couldn¡¯t be achieved under the Phoenicianist system.


    One might even argue that the economic system used by some of our first rulers, such as those of the Third and Fourth dynasties, resembled the Ur system and that allowed the great pyramids to be built. And while the Old Kingdom might indeed have had some more interventionist measures than we do now, I disagree with the assessment that it was an Ur-Nammuist system. These building projects affected only a small portion of the population, as most continued with their usual work as before, and even those who did work on the pyramids did it only for a season, got paid for their labor, and returned back home. The great pharaohs did not force them to work on these projects, and they compensated everyone for the work they put in. It was just like hiring a mercenary unit, except for construction rather than war. The argument that the pyramid building was extremely exploitative, in the way of Ur-Nammu¡¯s projects, is false, as it is mostly the twisting of historical facts by either Ur-Nammuists who want an example of a functioning state following their school of thought, or even hardline Phoenicianists who believe that any government-led project must be inherently exploitative. The fact is, that we simply adopted a healthy mixture of both systems, which allowed us to achieve what we did, without having to resort to either complete lawlessness or totalitarianism. I will not go in detail about the mixed model, because it is just that ¨C taking some aspects of the Phoenicianist school, and some of the Ur school, in varying proportions, and so can result in many slightly different systems. In fact, most current civilizations utilize some sort of a mixed system, which is what I will discuss now.


    <u>Economic systems of current civilizations</u>


    The current known civilizations utilize some form of mixed economics, though usually leaning towards the Phoenicianist model, especially now that we are at peace and a new major war seems rather unlikely. Of course, there are a few civilizations which use a pure Phoenicianist system or something close to it.


    This includes the aforementioned region of Retjenu within our Commonwealth, with the Canaanites and Amorites rather happily adopting the proposals of the Phoenicians, though our federal taxes and regulations imposed on the region push it somewhat closer to a balanced model. I believe that to be the right course of action, as Retjenu, occupying most of the Levant, is in a position too strategically important for us to be left completely to its own devices and so they must heed our guidance here to make sure our borders remain secure and we have enough funding for an adequate army and fully staffed garrisons along the way to Kemet.


    Alashiya also utilizes a system rather close to a true Phoenician one, with low taxes and a massive focus on immigration and business creation. This makes sense, since the island doesn¡¯t really need an army, navy, or any fortifications, being completely surrounded by allied nations, and so can afford to have this system. The king Huzaru also wants to increase the population of his realm so that it would be more competitive with the fellow OFK countries, and in the short term this can only be done through immigration. Yet the island is pretty small and eventually there will literally be no space left there, so the growth is limited, which may force the leadership to change the system to something more sustainable in the future.


    The Kingdom of Punt, being a coastal country, leans towards the Phoenician school as well, but that may just be due to necessity, as the country has a rather poor agricultural potential and instead relies almost solely on trade and manufacturing ¨C similarly to Phoenicia itself. The country is also quite decentralized and not as advanced to have extensive tax collection methods, so the Ur approach may not be possible at all. After all, the state doesn¡¯t even have clearly defined borders, with most of it being a border with various barbarian tribes, while the rest borders our eastern desert. However, as time goes on and the state centralizes and expands towards inner Afrika, it may adopt a more Ur-Nammuist model.


    The Mycenaean Confederation has a mixed system, though that is only the average, as it is composed of over a dozen small kingdoms, each of them being autonomous in internal matters. This makes it hard to determine the economic system of the whole country, as kingdom can adopt anything from a pure Phoenicianist to a pure Ur-Nammuist model, though usually there is moderation in either case. Kingdoms like Crete and The Isles put more trust in the free market, while those including Laconia and Achaea have economies which are more government led. Overall, this averages to a slightly more Phoenicianist system, and the wanax Tirynthius (as opposed to his now defeated and crippled brother Hecataeus, a true Ur-Nammuist, even if he wouldn¡¯t admit it) himself is a follower of the school, even if he cannot make all his subordinate kings follow this model.


    The Kingdom of Hatti is much more centralized and so could be considered a state following the Ur school more closely, especially with its focus on always maintaining a massive army and lots of fortifications all around. However, similarly to the case of Punt, Hatti is not so technologically advanced to collect all these revenues efficiently and has a low population density. This would ironically enough make it one of the best states to avoid authorities in, with plenty of forests and mountainous areas to hide in.


    Finally for the OFK, the Mandate of Amurru uses a mixed system imposed by us, as we need enough taxes from there to reconstruct the region and prepare it for potential independence. This is the same mixed system that we use here in Kemet, a healthy balance of freedoms and necessary restrictions, trade and self-sufficiency, and taxes and benefits. This makes for one of the best standards of living while also not stifling innovation, which I believe will lead us to winning the cold war against the Eastern Coalition. The region of Kush also uses a similar system to Kemet, though Harsiotef imposes higher taxes there and continues the policy of redistributing some former slave plantations in order to make the region recover from the war quicker.


    As for the EC, the countries there are leaning much closer towards the true Phoenicianist system on average. Babylonia, Dilmun, and Magan are almost fully Phoenicianist, even more so than Alashiya or Retjenu, as the actual governments there barely have any control over economics. Dilmun and Magan are literally controlled by the companies, the results of their recent civil wars during the OFK-EC War, and while Babylonia does have a traditional king, he is now often considered barely more than a puppet to the dozen or so of the largest companies in the country. These three countries are currently the richest per capita, but we will have to see whether this will hold for long. Already, we can see a lot of dissatisfaction from the populace, which feels too exploited by the recently emergent megacorporations. The Mesopotamian Freedom Front and its worryingly rapid growth is just one result of this. The MFF is also a hardline Ur-Nammuist organization, and not just an anti-slavery one, probably not coincidentally. While the situation may look fine on papyrus, in reality these states may be much more fragile than they appear and could crumble at the start of the smallest conflict.


    Assyria is an interesting case, since it utilizes both systems to a pretty high degree. It has high taxes and some serious restrictions and labor protections, as well as welfare measures, while also applying massive tax breaks for certain groups and having a rather business friendly environment, as one would expect for an EC country. This may be due to the Assyrian Revolution being led by two groups with almost completely different economic views: the illusive Hanodeen Mahiru of the merchant guild, a true Phoenicianist, and the current queen Ninsina Ishtarhisnu, who led the underground women¡¯s resistance group known as the Disciples of Ishtar ¨C a group known for its radical Ur-Nammuist-Shulgiist views. Ninsina is after all the leader now though, and so the latter approach dominates more, though one can also easily imagine see the alternative scenario where Hanodeen took the throne instead and instituted a system very similar to one in Babylonia. This may still very well happen, depending on who the future leaders of Assyria are.


    The Kingdom of Elam also has a mixed system, one reminiscent of our own, though leaning towards the Phoenicianist school just a bit more it seems. Elam and Egypt are very different societies, but I suppose being the leading great power of the respective alliance makes a country take on such a system, as both the necessary economic growth and military power could not be achieved in any other way.


    And lastly, of course, there is the case of the Lullubum, which I would still hardly call a civilization, much less one with any idea of what an economy is. Despite Zubani¡¯s claims that the country is modernizing, I find that hard to believe, and it still seems to be a backwards barbarian realm, even though we are not allowed to say that officially anymore. There isn¡¯t much of a coherent economic system to be found, other than what the warlord wants to do at the given moment. One could say that his inner circle and allies get the full Phoenicianist treatment, while the conquered tribes are subjected to full Ur-Nammuist exploitation, that meaning the full seizure of all their wealth, and the people themselves as well, as they are then sold as slaves to the Babylonian megacorporations.


    This concludes my report, as I cannot comment on any other regions, due to them either being fully populated by barbarians or being too far away for certain analysis. But overall, from what we can currently observe, the Phoenician school and its free-market approach seems to be the dominant system in the civilized world, with the Ur school only influencing a rather small portion of the economic system in some countries, while being followed only by fringe movements in others.

 On the Military Capabilities of the Two Alliances

    On the Military Capabilities of the Two Alliances


    Report by the Supreme Commander of the OFK Forces Nechtarhebi Anhurwaw


    Some say that war never changes, which is true in many ways, but the scale of war has certainly changed over the last decade. Long gone are the days of battles involving only hundreds of warriors and armies containing ten thousand soldiers being considered large and able to conquer the entire region with ease. Now we are dealing with much bigger numbers, unimaginable even in the days of Ramesses II. A major power must have close to a hundred thousand soldiers if it is to be considered a credible threat these days, and that¡¯s not even counting the navy or the garrisons at home. Indeed, wars are now thought on a much larger scale, with the recent OFK-EC War involving close to a million soldiers in total at one point during the conflict¡¯s peak. And going forward, the numbers are only going to increase, naturally, as the populations increase and more and more kingdoms become affiliated with us or our enemies.


    However, for now our forces seem to be a good match for the Eastern Coalition, at least numerically. We have quickly managed to close the post-war army gap and have enough units to defend our borders against the invaders if it came to that. This was helped by the Hittite Civil War coming to an end and the subsequent reconstruction of Hatti, the accession of Tirynthius to the Mycenaean throne, in turn leading to their higher commitment to the OFK, and the inclusion of new lands in the coalition, those being Kush and Punt, with their fresh new pools of young and eager recruits. Yet our armies still have ways to go, and I would not recommend starting an offensive war against the EC, as we are still far from prepared for that and don¡¯t have enough resources for such an operation. Luckily, they do not have that either, and so I find it highly unlikely that an EC invasion is coming anytime in the next decade. Thus the peace may last for a while still, but we should always continue preparing for another confrontation with the easterners. I will now present my findings on the current state of military capabilities of every OFK and EC country and my suggestions of what could be improved so that our chances of winning the next potential conflict would be even higher.


    <u>Overview of the OFK forces</u>


    I am going to be honest and say this upfront ¨C the OFK army has one inherent issue, which drags it down quite a lot when compared with the EC army. That is, simply, that there is no united OFK army and only smaller armies belonging to member kingdoms. The integration of the armed forces is going quite slowly and I do not see this aspect improving very much at least in the short or medium term. The EC army always had the benefit of having a unified army, all the way back from Shilhak-Inshushinak¡¯s first campaigns in Babylonia a decade ago, and this remains the case now with his wife and son in charge. The OFK, however, is not a singular empire, it was founded by the voluntary agreement of different kings, and so uniting the armies is not as simple, as every ruler wants control over his own forces.


    This presents a variety of problems. Non-standardized equipment, different army structures, different tactics, separate supply routes, just to name a few. Not to mention that in some cases the army is even further subdivided, such as the Mycenaean Confederation, whose armed forces basically consist of close to twenty tiny armies and navies, under the control of the regional kings. There is also of course the issue of language ¨C the easterners have easy way out by using Akkadian, as everyone speaks it there, but we don¡¯t have such a simple solution. Akkadian could be used for our armies as well, but that presents the problems of few soldiers below the rank of captain speaking it, as well as the loss in optics as we would essentially be speaking the language of our enemies. So instead we have close to a dozen different languages being spoken even inside my own main camp, which includes Egyptian, Hittite, Mycenaean, Kushite, Alashiyan, Phoenician, a few more Canaanite dialects, Amorite, Luwian, and now even Libyan and Puntite tongues. As you can imagine, this makes communication quite difficult. We rely on thousands of translators already, and while this can work temporarily during peacetime, there won¡¯t be any time for translation in the heat of the battle, especially in an unexpected attack. This is frustrating and needs to be addressed, though I am afraid I have no simple solution yet. Enforcing Egyptian as the official army language would surely be seen as a sign of egregious imperialism by our allies, and possibly even our own subjects in Kush and Retjenu. Meanwhile any other OFK language is not spoken widely enough to be considered viable. Promoting the learning of second and third languages for the common people would certainly help, but I realize how much of a tough ask that is and how it would take many decades for the goal to be reached. Thus for the time being I believe the best course of action to be dividing soldiers into companies along ethnic lines, unless one is proficient in some other language and explicitly states their desire to join another company, while their captains and the higher-ranking commanding officers continue communicating in Akkadian (or Egyptian, if possible). The battalions and, of course, armies should be made up of companies of different ethnicities though, in order to further promote cooperation between all these groups.


    There is also another issue, concerning women¡¯s integration in the armed forces. The EC seems to be dealing with that rather well, but for us, the presence of some rather conservative states in the coalition makes it more difficult. Our Commonwealth is still the only country in the OFK to allow female soldiers. Hatti seems vehemently opposed to such practice, as do most Mycenaean kings, thus leaving only a couple Mycenaean sub-armies with a female presence, and even then women usually are only in support roles. Alashiya technically has no restrictions on women joining the army or navy, but then again, even Alashiyan men scarcely enlist, so it makes little difference. This again results in problems, from the fact that the other countries cannot truly pull their weight in terms of troop numbers, to our female soldiers being harassed by foreign soldiers, mostly Hittite, I might add. Even our own armies have some issues on this front. This conflict can be seen both on the personal between individual soldiers, all the way up to the high command, with some hardliner traditionalist generals and admirals still opposing the inclusion of women in the armed forces. The navy still mostly doesn¡¯t allow any women in, after all, even if unofficially. There is not much we can do except push on and not yield to popular pressure, as the rewards of having a potential recruit pool be twice as large are too good to pass up. Still, there is progress, as, for example, we have commander Nedjmet, who might very well become the first female general in the next few years, and would lead a mixed army of both men and women and of many ethnicities, which could help integrate everyone better.


    The widespread adoption of guns would also most likely help in this regard. Women currently serve mostly in support roles, such as field medics and in supply and logistics companies, though there are some female archer and explosives companies too, which can result in them being discriminated by the infantrymen and charioteers. However, the guns seem to be equally usable by everyone, regardless of gender, age, or physical strength, and so might very well equalize the situation on the ground. The age of warriors may soon be over, if it isn¡¯t over already, and the age of technologies is about to kick in fully, sooner than one would expect.


    Speaking of guns, these are indeed very useful inventions. I would say we might soon need to start depicting Anhur and Montu with one in hand rather than a spear or a sword. After all, it feels like for millennia we have been using weapons of mere animals and now we finally have the powers of the gods right at our fingertips. Yet our enemies were not slow to catch onto this development and they seem to have some as well, which makes guns not so much an advantage and more of a necessity when fighting the EC. I can only strongly urge the building of more gun manufactures so that we would outproduce the easterners and so hopefully have more of these god given armaments at our side for when another war comes. We wouldn¡¯t even need to sacrifice any production of regular weapons ¨C the lead for the ammo isn¡¯t being used anywhere else anyways, and the quantities of wood and iron used for the guns themselves are so small that the changes in stockpiles would barely be noticed. With guns we might also be able to establish the first OFK armament standards, which would simplify things quite a lot down the road. Just need to make sure the Hittites or Mycenaeans don¡¯t begin producing any of their own designs and only buy them from us, which I don¡¯t think would be a problem since both societies are slow in terms of innovation.


    Some are skeptical of these new weapons, especially among the charioteer class, but they would benefit from this development just as well. A gun may very well be wielded by the occupant of the chariot, or it may be mounted on the chariot itself for more stability. This would still retain chariots as the core of the army, while also making them even more powerful and as terrifying as the elephants that Elamites brought to the Levant to those who have never seen one.


    But I digress, those are future developments, better left to the engineers and inventors than us generals. However, like I mentioned, even now our forces are decently well prepared, and are the most powerful they have relatively been in over a century. Considering the fact that historically our main military adversary has been Hatti, we are now fortunate to have joined forces with them and have their soldiers fight for and not against us. In fact, the OFK army might as well be called the Commonwealth-Hittite army, as together the two forces have about three hundred thousand soldiers right now (ours surpassing theirs by forty thousand or so, though they have a higher ratio of soldiers to support personnel), which is about 80% of the total OFK army size. The Mycenaean Confederation has a sizeable force of sometimes up to seventy thousand men, but it is constantly shifting in size, as the different kings keep raising and disbanding their forces whenever they feel like it. Mycenae is also far to the west and has to constantly fight off barbarians around the Danube and in Italy, which might make their army not that useful on the Levantine-Mesopotamian frontier. The remaining states of Alashiya, Punt, and Amurru have and will have only token forces, due to their small size. I believe it would be a rather foolish idea to try to force the Alashiyans to raise a fifty thousand strong army or something of the sort, and instead I think having those states specialize in something else than infantry would be preferable. They are all coastal countries and so naturally specializing in naval developments and shipbuilding is the obvious course for them. Granted, no country would choose to have no army and only a navy, or the opposite, but we can still give them a push towards one side or another in order to improve efficiency. The best scenario right now seems to have Amurru, Punt, and Alashiya focus on ships and perhaps specialist companies, Mycenae on ships and colonial troops (with some kings building the ships and others commanding the land forces), Hatti fully on land armies and mass infantry, and ourselves on a mix of regular and elite troops, as well as large ships, since we have enough resources to have both an extremely powerful army and navy.


    Also, a small note on the navy ¨C while I am no admiral, I can rather confidently state that one sphere where we have the EC completely outmatched is the navy, and I think grand admiral Khaemtir would confirm this. Even if no one else produced ships except the Commonwealth, we would still be able to match the EC at sea. Of course, the hundreds of ships of Hatti, Mycenae, Alashiya, and Punt add up with ours and so now we have a navy almost twice as large as the one our enemies have. Our two thousand warships to their one thousand. Not to mention that we along with the Mycenaeans and Alashiyans had centuries of shipbuilding and sailing experience, whereas the EC built the whole navy from scratch in recent times and so has to start from the fundamentals. Thus the actual ratio of combat power at sea might be closer to three to one. This was well demonstrated during the OFK-EC War, where we absolutely destroyed their newly built fleets in almost every battle in the Mediterranean. Of course, if a war was to be fought in the future, it would mostly take place on land: Levant, Mesopotamia, and eastern Hatti, which would limit how useful our navies would be. Yet there are still applications, such as the plan to blockade Elamite Gulf completely and so leave the entire EC essentially landlocked. This would require immense naval superiority, but could be doable. That scares the empress and all the other EC rulers, which is why they are desperately searching for allies overseas, who could provide them with more ships and access to other naval routes. This is also reflected in their tactics, prioritizing quick strikes to cripple the enemy and take out the opponents by surprise, rather than our method of attrition warfare and incremental advancements. With that said, I will turn to the EC forces now and discuss how they compare.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    <u>Overview of the EC forces</u>


    Now, for the EC, they have one massive advantage over us, that being the fact that is very unified militarily, as I mentioned before. It does make sense, since the entire coalition is well connected economically, has the same currency, the rulers are all subservient to the Elamite empress to some degree, and so the fact that it has a unified military is completely in line with such a model. During the war, Shilhak-Inshushinak basically created the EC army from scratch, by assembling new units from conquered territories and placing them under the command of his loyalist generals, so it was one large army from the very start. And after the war, his wife, quite smartly, retained that model and did not devolve the management of the armies. This means a few things: the soldiers use the same types of weapons, the army structure is the same everywhere, and the officers share the same tactics. Everyone can also easily communicate in Akkadian, though that would have been the case in any event, even if the armies were independent. Of course, Akkadian isn¡¯t the native language of Elam, but the people there have been connected to Mesopotamia for millennia through trade and war, and so by now most Elamites know the language. The Lullubi might be the only exception, since their king Zubani always had control over his forces, but even then, his army emerged from the mercenaries who served Shilhak during the war, and so they are quite integrated into the EC system as well.


    Another thing helping the EC forces is the specialization of different countries and regions, rather than every one of them having to provide the same troops. We already saw that during the war, and it worked quite well during the Levantine campaign. The Elamites make up barely a fifth of the coalition¡¯s population, so they mostly serve in elite positions ¨C heavy infantry and chariotry ¨C to not waste men and women on simple infantry duty. They also provide almost half of the coalition¡¯s ships. And, of course, Elamites disproportionately make up the highest percentage of officers in the armed forces, though in recent years more Assyrians and Babylonians rose in the ranks as well. The Babylonians, meanwhile, serve mostly in the infantry and in siege battalions, as well as various specialist forces (such as explosives¡¯ experts). That is due to Babylonia having many engineers and other such experts ¨C stemming from a very urban and rather literate population. Assyrians also provide infantry, but mostly focus on medics and archers, who are now an almost equal mix of men and women. This idea was initially established by Shilhak and Ninsina right as Ashur was taken, so that Assyria could provide the EC with adequate numbers of troops while only having a female recruitment pool. That in turn was caused by Assyria having few men available after the invasion and change of government, since most military men had been killed or wounded by then or fled with Tiglath-Pileser over the Euphrates to seek refuge with us. Meanwhile the remaining men were not trusted enough at that point to be recruited into the army, for fear of betrayal or defection back to Tiglath¡¯s old regime. Now, as a new generation of men are coming to age in Assyria, and the old regime has been put to rest with the disestablishment of the Assyrian Liberation Army, more men are joining the army, though still not nearly as many as in other countries.


    As for Dilmun and Magan, they don¡¯t provide any land forces, except garrisons for their own territories, but they provide the coalition with more than two hundred ships each, thus making them crucial for the EC navy. Finally, the Lullubi serve almost exclusively as mounted soldiers, something that is unique in the region, as no other country has mounted non-chariot units. But again, this makes sense if we remember that the Lullubi were nothing more than just another barbarian band a few years ago, and so for them riding the horses themselves, rather than using chariots, is the natural way, just like it is for any filthy barbarian vermin. There is also the matter of elephants, which were used in a limited capacity during the Levantine campaign, mostly by hired Indian mercenaries. I do not know whether they are still in use, but since the EC is trying to establish a foothold in India and make some new allies there, these beasts may very well come into play once again. We did make some traps and defenses against them during the war, and I don¡¯t think we should abandon these developments, as we do not want to be caught unprepared and lose an entire army like the last time. If the expansion into India does take place, and now that seems more like a question of when, the EC would have more elephant units, but also many more infantry divisions, since India has a massive population which is not to be underestimated.


    So, yes, the easterner army is a massive, well organized, well specialized, and terrifying force of well over three hundred thousand soldiers. I will admit this, and I will not discount its potential for destruction, unlike some other generals who refuse to acknowledge the reality. However, I also see a few flaws within it. One is the aforementioned navy. It is still two times smaller than ours, and is somewhat trapped within the Elamite Gulf. That means that even in the event of a war we shouldn¡¯t be worried too much about naval battles, naval invasions, or being cut off from trading routes. The Red Sea is still fully ours, and so is our access to the Arabian Sea and from there to India and further east. That¡¯s not even mentioning the Mediterranean, which is now pretty much the OFK¡¯s internal lake, considering all the Mycenaean colonization and our westward expansion. The canal between the two seas also helps immensely, as we can now easily transfer fleets between them and so don¡¯t need to build a separate Red Sea fleet to defend from the EC. In naval matters, our opponents would always have to be on the defense now and we would still likely be able to cut them off from global trade, making them rely only on the internal market and on land-based trade routes. This is one advantage that we have, and it would help us immensely in a protracted conflict.


    Another thing ¨C and this is more of a personal observation and a theory rather than proven fact, though I would still like to make it known ¨C is that the EC soldiers don¡¯t really know what or who they are fighting for. We saw that quite clearly when Shilhak was killed and the whole army disintegrated into chaos and the entire Levantine front collapsed. The one man around whom the entire coalition was built around is gone, and now the faction has a bit of an identity crisis. Here in the west, the kingship still remains as important as ever, and the people can proudly join the army knowing that the king they serve will lead them to victory. But in the east, that¡¯s no longer the case. The monarchs there are either non-existent, subservient to the companies, or ones never leaving the palace, such the so-called shadow empress Lim herself, named so after the fact that she rarely if ever leaves here palace and so barely anyone, except the highest-ranking officials and nobles, ever see her. Lullubum is again the sole exception, though once Zubani¡¯s reign comes to an end, I believe that a civil war between the dozens of tribes within that region may very well occur, so this case is far from perfect either. The generals themselves are also mostly sent directly from Susa to command soldiers of other ethnicities, who have no relation and inherent loyalty to their superior officers. Now, don¡¯t get me wrong, they would still defend their homes as seriously as anyone if it came to that, and guerrilla warfare would still occur most likely, but right now most scenarios include the EC attacking us, not the other way around. They don¡¯t have anything that we particularly need, but we do have something that they need ¨C the Levant. Having it would allow the EC to split the OFK into the northern and southern portions, while also granting them access to the Mediterranean. The EC also had the Levant under Shilhak, and so naturally wants to reclaim it. However, this doesn¡¯t seem to be something the people are very concerned about, and so I doubt they would be very enthusiastic about marching west and crossing the Euphrates once again for such a campaign.


    The lack of morale on our enemy¡¯s side may very well be their greatest undoing, and that is what gives me great hope that we would be able to defend against them. Really, while the EC keeps saber-rattling all the time, I doubt there are many across the border who would care much for another great conflict, other than maybe a couple extremely jingoist generals. The commoners live well and are fine with what they have, and even if they have more wants, that would be lower taxes and better worker protections, and not the possibility to gain some western lands they have no connection to. The merchant class obviously despises war, as it limits their opportunities and, in turn, profits. Same for the megacorporations and the industrialists they belong to, as war might cut into their profits. In fact, I believe they would be the first to switch sides the moment the OFK starts to win and our first soldiers cross the Euphrates. Even if we did end up occupying Mesopotamia, we would just establish an OFK mandate there and have the new leader follow our foreign policy, nothing more. The people there aren¡¯t threatened by genocide or anything of the sort, and so for most, I imagine, it would not matter too much which faction they are in. After all, Mesopotamia has been under dozens of different dynasties from cities within and outside the region and the people are not the rebellious kind, unless the new government does something terribly wrong. We should reinforce this sentiment, and make sure the people there know that we don¡¯t have any intention of conquering Mesopotamia, but even if we did, not much would change for most people, except the highest-ranking officials. Elam is, of course, a different deal, but it would scarcely be a threat if we snatched Mesopotamia from them, as it simply wouldn¡¯t have the population and resources to sustain itself as a great power, at least one rivaling us.


    Those easterners aren¡¯t oblivious though, and they are trying to improve the situation in this regard. Organically or not, there is a new so called ¡°Easterner¡± or ¡°Elamo-Mesopotamian¡± identity emerging. The proponents of it claim that civilization itself emerged first in the common Mesopotamian-Elamite region and so the EC is the true successor to the civilizational line, as opposed to the OFK, which they claim consists of mostly barbarian states. The higher levels of urbanization, literacy, industrialization, and wealth of the eastern states are also often used to reinforce their arguments. Of course, some states don¡¯t fit into this theory at all, such as the Lullubi being on the EC or the Commonwealth leading the OFK, but they usually claim that the Lullubi are only useful idiots for their cause and nothing more, while also inventing some convoluted excuses for why the Commonwealth is supposedly barbarian as well, those including the mention of Kushites, Canaanites, the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, the monotheist revolt in Jerusalem during the Great Powers¡¯ War, and the Hyksos invasion, among others reasons. It is all nonsense, but according to my sources it is taking off, at least among the youth, and so may forge a new EC identity in the future, one for which more people might be willing to fight and die for. Ironically enough, this movement worships Shilhak-Inshushinak and claims he was one of them, even though the late emperor clearly didn¡¯t think of Mesopotamia any higher than of the Levant or Egypt, and his main goal was the conquest of the known world, not any sort of Mesopotamian supremacy. Only now that the EC has receded back to Mesopotamia and Elam is this new thought being formulated, and we will have to see how it fares in the long run.


    Of course, there is also the issue of the young Shilhak-Humban, who is now almost of age and may take the Elamite throne, and in turn become the EC¡¯s leader, sooner than expected. We will see whether he will continue the legacy of his father. He will probably try, and this may cause trouble for us. The EC would once again have a figure to rally around and a monarch who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and march along with the soldiers to battle. Yet at the same time he is still just a teenager, all that fervor would not overcome cold hard economic facts and many might soon be longing for the shadow empress bringing stability and wealth rather than the rash boy who wants to recover his father¡¯s empire, no matter the cost. A few months of stagnating frontlines and increasing prices of consumer goods might lower his approval by quite a lot, and he would have to try even harder than his father to win them over. His military victories would not come as quickly, since we are now much better prepared than we were upon seeing that first Elamite charge descend on us in Qatna all those years ago. And so while Humban¡¯s rise might be remarkable, his fall would be even more spectacular.


    At the end of the day, I am confident in our abilities. There are issues to be fixed, resources to be acquired, and much to be done in general, but we are very much on the right track. We have solid foundations, and we know what we are fighting for us. We are a strong alliance, the most powerful one to have ever existed, and we are growing by the day. Our enemies are formidable, yes, but they have their flaws which could be exploited. And, after all, we fought with worse odds many times over the millennia and still came out on top. With the guidance of Horus, Amun-Ra, and Anhur, we will be victorious.

 On the Major Schools of Philosophy (Part 1)

    On the Major Schools of Philosophy


    Report by the Court Philosopher Sephoris Mered


    Philosophy is not a new concept here in Egypt or anywhere else in the known civilized world. The first philosophers wrote down their ideas and gained their first followers thousands of years ago. Our kind is as old as civilization itself, if not even older, as one can be a philosopher even with no means to write down his thoughts. Early agricultural communities probably had philosophers, and even the migrating hunter-gatherer tribes before them might have had some too. So this field is far from a novelty. However, what has changed in recent decades is the fact that it has grown immensely and gained thousands, if not millions already, new followers, adhering to one school or another. The number of schools has also increased, and they are all competing with each other, rather than one being the dominant thought in the world or even a single kingdom.


    This is indeed an interesting phenomenon, and I would be hard-pressed to properly explain why it happened. However, there are some factors which most certainly contributed to it to some extent. Literacy is increasing all over the known world, which allows people to read the works of previous and current philosophers and so join that school of thought, or even create their own. Urbanization is also rapidly growing, which means people are as close to each other as they ever were, and they can share their ideas with more like-minded people. Increased political and economic integration between the countries also gives one even more reach and allows philosophies to spread outside their home and become international. There is also the fact that wealth is increasing and, on average, a citizen has a much higher standard of living than an equivalent one had even a century ago. People do not need to worry about food, shelter, and other basic necessities most of the time, mortality from the various diseases is reduced due to medical advancements, and even warfare is not as feared anymore, as everyone is now protected by a massive professional army, a dozen fortresses, and a bunch of international treaties. Thus, the people can now focus more on the mind, and on deeper subjects rather than just the matter of surviving.


    Of course, this does not apply to everyone. The remaining slaves, in countries where slavery is still legal, still suffer as they always did, while the rural peasants are isolated from the international intellectual community and so have little interest in philosophy. Those who adhere to, or have even heard of these philosophical schools, mostly reside in the cities, and are at least in the middle class in terms of income and wealth. Still, this is the fastest growing class and so is not to be underestimated. On the other hand, most people probably adhere to one of the schools in any event, even if they haven¡¯t heard of them, since these aren¡¯t some mystical institutions providing some sacred undiscovered knowledge. They are mostly just communities founded by regular people who adhere to a certain way of life. Other philosophers may not be as humble, but I will nonetheless admit that there is nothing too special about being a philosopher, anyone can be one if there is enough will. Indeed, I¡¯ve seen many kinds of philosophers, including priests, nobles, merchants, soldiers, landowners, peasants, homeless urban folk, men and women, fifteen-year-olds and seventy-five-year-olds, Egyptians and Libyans, and others.


    Being a philosopher myself, and an adherent of one of the major schools, I may have some bias against the others, I admit. But I bear no ill will towards most of them, and I believe they have some truth and useful ideas as well. I will do my best to present them in a neutral light here, but also if needed expose them for their logical flaws or commend them for their consistency and other positive aspects. I will also only discuss the major schools, as while there are dozens of other ones too, they are either too small to be worthy of consideration or very similar to the major ones, often being their close branches or splinters resulting from disagreements between some leading philosophers.


    <u>Thotherites</u>


    The Thotherites are one of our own homegrown philosophy schools. I should preface by saying that while some simply call them followers of Thoth, this may be a bit misleading. All Thotherites are certainly followers of Thoth, but that¡¯s not the case the other way around. Some followers of Thoth have nothing to do with this philosophy and only worship the god due to their geographical location or some other factor. Thoth is the patron god of Khemenu, and so is worshipped by most there, but most don¡¯t necessarily adhere to the philosophy and would probably worship another god if they were born in some other place. The Thotherites are thus a more specific portion of Thoth¡¯s followers, and many of them live outside of Khemenu and sometimes even outside the Commonwealth.


    So what do they actually believe in? Well, it is pretty simple ¨C for this school the single most important aspect of life is gaining as much knowledge as possible. Knowledge is the ultimate god to the followers of this school, and since Thoth is the god of knowledge, so does this school worship Thoth the most. And what do these people want to know? Everything. Whatever they can. Of course, one person simply cannot know everything, we are not gods, but the Thotherites will surely try to reach such a status, as the more one knows, the more they are respected in this community. Usually though, they specialize in some sphere, be it the knowledge of biology, history, mathematics, astrology, economics, or anything else, and then share their discoveries with their colleagues during their meetings. Gaining this knowledge is done in variety of ways, including travelling around the world and seeing something for yourself, reading scientific papyri, experimenting, and, of course, discussing with fellow Thotherites.


    Knowledge isn¡¯t only to be hoarded by them, and Thotherites usually actually do something with it. Some spread it to others, by becoming travelling philosophers or establishing schools and teaching children and sometimes even adults, others become scientists and inventors and try to create some new technologies to use the universe to people¡¯s benefit even more. The results vary and there are certainly many failed inventions, but the Thotherites always encourage trying and failing rather than not trying at all. Some also become scribes and properly write down and categorize all these discoveries so that others could read it for themselves. These works are then collected in the Thotherites¡¯ private libraries, only accessible to members of the community, or sold to public libraries in the Commonwealth and abroad. The largest private library in the world, as far as I know, is currently located in their center in Khemenu, and I was told it contains over fifty thousand papyrus scrolls, and the collection is constantly expanding.


    The founding of this school is also quite interesting. The members claim to be the successors to the initial keepers of the Book of Thoth, from all the way back when Thoth himself wrote the book and left it to us humans, and so the school could be considered to be thousands of years old. The priests in Khemenu have always been somewhat more intellectually inclined and even now many priests in the city belong to this school, some being among the leading members, and so the connection may not be totally unfounded. Still, this is likely just an attempt at gaining more legitimacy, as the original priests and their ideas would have had little to do with the current iteration of the Thotherite organization. The Book of Thoth itself also causes possibly the biggest rift in the organization, and has been doing so for a long time. Some, mostly the priests, want the Book of Thoth to only be accessible to the highest ranking members of the community, while others, known as the reformers, want the Book to be accessible to everyone, or at least every Thotherite. There is even a fringe group known as the Post-Thotherites, who believe that the Book of Thoth is no longer necessary since we have learned everything from it already and there is nothing more that Thoth could teach. They are considered as heretics by most, even outside the philosophy school, and are not taken too seriously. There are also many forgeries of the Book of Thoth, fake copies, and other works pretending to be the words of the god Thoth floating around, though the priests continue to claim that only they have the true Book and that these supposed copies are illegitimate. But the priests aren¡¯t trusted that much on this matter anymore either, as some believe that they also only have a forgery and that the true version has been lost centuries if not millennia ago. In any event, the Book is now more of a symbol to the organization, rather than any concrete work. To the Thotherites it is the highest ideal, and everyone strives to read or even write something as close as possible to this godly, and so the quest for knowledge never ends for the followers of the school. It is thus probably for the better that the Book remains unseen by the people, and continues staying as an unreachable ideal, rather than the alternative of the priests admitting that they lost or never even had the Book in the first place, or the even worse option of the Book being opened and everyone possibly realizing that it is not as impressive as one might have expected.


    As for the school¡¯s most recent incarnation, it actually has to do with the Great Powers¡¯ War. During the war, about ten years ago now, the city of Khemenu suffered a devastating insurrection, funded by Shilhak-Inshushinak, of course, as he wanted to probe us and test our weaknesses. The city at that point was still only of medium size and the insurrection saw thousands of deaths and emigrants, which left it rather depopulated. So, in order to restore the population, the mayor and the priests collaborated to promote immigration, specifically targeting scribes, scientists, and other such logically minded people, wanting the city to have an intelligent and rich population and so remain relevant even when compared to the capital. This paid off, and thousands of similarly minded people from all around the Commonwealth converged on Khemenu. Everyone brought their own knowledge and ideas and shared them with the others, which made for a very conducive environment for research and the pursuit of further knowledge. Many influential works were written by the Thotherites during this period relating to their philosophy, which were added with the works written by the locals before them. Before long, this school of philosophy was systematized and officially established, quickly spreading by way of merchants, and travelling scientists and philosophers, who knew that they needed contacts everywhere to gain as many perspectives as possible and be able to properly understand the universe.


    Currently, the adherents to the philosophy are mostly educated urban inhabitants. Scribes, merchants, independent businessmen, medics ¨C they make up the core of the group. Priests, other than those of Thoth in Khemenu, usually remain ambivalent about the group, as while they see the need for keepers and spreaders of knowledge, they naturally don¡¯t want people focusing on worshipping another god or concept rather than the god they serve, that is the god of the city they are in. There are also many women within the community, as the school is among the most liberal and open to everyone, and so women who want to join some community of like-minded fellows often gravitate to the Thotherites, or, as the female sub-school is often called, the Seshatites, named after the goddess Seshat, Thoth¡¯s female equivalent and consort. Granted, even then the pool of potential candidates is rather small, but most who are in it tend to join the Thotherites or at least associate with them in some way, which makes the organization a powerful force, which is also helped by the fact that most members are moderately, if not very, wealthy and contribute to funding the libraries and other locations belonging to the school.


    Thotherites are now active all across the Commonwealth and abroad, and they have some regional branches, which better reflect the local culture and god worship. In Retjenu, they are called Melqartites, after the god Melqart, who had now been established as the god of knowledge in the region. Since Melqart is the official god of the city of Tyre, the Melqartites naturally have their center in Tyre. The Mycenaeans, interestingly enough, also have a significant presence of people adhering to this philosophy. They are called Athenaites, after the Greek goddess of knowledge Athena, and are mostly concentrated in, as one would expect, Athens, which is the main intellectual center in the Confederation. Finally, the last major branch is located in the Eastern Coalition. The followers there are called Nabuites, since Nabu is the primary god of scribes and wisdom in Mesopotamian, and now the entire EC. Their center seems to be in Borsippa, the abode of Nabu, though the city is relatively small and so one is probably more likely to find Nabuites in places like Babylon or Susa. Of course, this has some political problems, as the branches share their discoveries, which eventually spill out to the greater public and the government, meaning that secrets of one faction are often discovered sooner by the other than expected. I would guess that this Thotherite-Nabuite connection may be one reason for why we learn of Mesopotamian technologies so quickly, but so does the EC learn of ours.


    Overall, I think the Thotherites are a fine school, and their goal of the pursuit and sharing of knowledge is indeed noble. And I cannot argue that they bring results, as most of our inventors and scientists are probably adherents of the school, and without them we would be very much behind in many areas. On the other hand, the school certainly also has some flaws. Some discoveries may be better left secret, and the Thotherites¡¯ obsession with sharing knowledge may be dangerous in some cases, especially when concerning dealings with people on the other side of the Euphrates. Their obsession with various trinkets and objects of perceived significance is also hindering them somewhat, as could be the case for their lack of a common goal, with everyone busy trying to discover or invent something new themselves, only for the end result to often be the literal reinvention of the wheel. But they seem to be a positive influence, and while their methods are not for me, gods bless them still.


    <u>Djedists</u>


    The Djedists are another school originating here in Egypt, although a much more recent one. Their origins can be traced by going only a few decades back, as their main tenets all relate to going back to the old ways, and since the country started changing some decades ago, so the Djedist school emerged. The name comes from the Djed pillar, representing stability, and so they are focused on stability the most. Or so they claim, at least, as their true intentions and goals are hard to decipher as the school has some rather convoluted ideas and is composed of many seemingly different groups.


    The premise of their thought is rather simple ¨C they believe that any sort of progress, be that technological, economical, cultural, or what have you, is inherently bad and that the gods oppose it. They believe that the Egyptian civilization, and others around it, survived for millennia quite well, while having no major advancements and staying in a stagnant place, and because of that progress is to be rejected. They believe that sticking to what works is the best course of action and that changing anything would only lead to the wrath of gods and unending troubles for everyone. Already one can see some flaws in this thinking, as while progress wasn¡¯t as rapid before as it is now, it nonetheless took place over the previous millennia as well, and so the idea that Egypt or any other realm remained unchanged for all this time is just plainly wrong. Also there is the fact that stagnant civilizations tend to be defeated by their more advanced neighbors more often than not, as we have seen precisely this in action during the Great Powers¡¯ War and the OFK-EC War, as the old realms of Karduniash and Assyria crumbled to the numerically inferior Elam, simply due to its leader¡¯s new methods. But I digress, I just wanted to illustrated how even the whole premise of this school is already quite flawed, and it seems to only get worse from here.


    As you can see, I don¡¯t care much for this school, but I imagine you wouldn¡¯t either. The early Djedist works are cited as an influence for the traitor general Binebtat, the founder of the Sons of Montu, who have terrorized our country for decades before being put out of their miserable lives. Indeed, the Djedists and the Sons of Montu seemed to have a sort of symbiotic relationship, with the school influencing these terrorists, and the Sons in turn promoting this philosophy even more. Now, at first the connection may not be obvious, as the Sons of Montu claimed to have the reversal of the peace treaty with the Hittites after the Second Hittite-Egyptian War as their main goal, but Djedist ideas coincided here pretty well actually. The whole idea of a peace treaty is a relatively new concept, which entered Egypt only about two centuries ago, when Ramesses II signed a treaty with the Hittites following the First Hittite-Egyptian War. So, of course, the Djedists are fundamentally against any sort of peace treaties, instead preferring warring to the very end, until one side wins or is completely annihilated. They oppose the second treaty, and at that retroactively began opposing the first treaty, and now, of course, they also oppose the Treaty of Euphrates. So the Sons of Montu simply adopted these positions, and one could even say that during their existence they acted as the armed wing of the Djedist school, even if sometimes unknowingly.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Granted, there still are some differences between the two groups. Djedists are first and foremost still scholars, mostly priests or scribes, whereas the Sons of Montu were all ex-military, or soldiers trained by them. An average Sons of Montu member could hardly read, led alone comprehend a philosophy text, whereas an average Djedist can barely get up from his bed unassisted, and I was told that there were some serious disagreements between the two groups, even while being on the same side. Still, one would probably not be wrong in assuming that if the Sons of Montu succeeded in their coup, they would have placed some prominent Djedists in government positions, as they would still need the support of the priestly and scribal classes to have a functioning state. Yet that did not happen, and the Sons of Montu are now nothing more than some scattered ashes and bones decaying in the desert.


    Without their armed protectors, the Djedists were left in quite a precarious position. They immediately started dissociating from the Sons of Montu and claimed that they had never allied with them, if only to not have the same fate befall them. These days they are once again becoming cockier and praise the Sons of Montu more openly, though never going as far as physical violence, now knowing the consequences of such actions. Their numbers dropped during the war, but have now recovered somewhat, and it seems that this school isn¡¯t going anywhere. I suppose that is an inevitability, as there will always exist some reactionaries, wanting to go back to the old ways, and getting rid of them completely is hardly possible. Still, keeping an eye on their antics might be wise, who knows what they might be preparing for now.


    As I mentioned, the Djedists are composed of a few sub-schools, but they all share some common ideas. All of them relating to going back to the old ways, or, rather, the perceived old ways, as sometimes even the reality of history is not enough for the Djedists and they want to make society even more rigid than it previously was. They oppose basically everything that is happening right now and most laws that are in place today. They oppose women serving in the army or even working, and want them to remain at home solely to give birth to children and take care of them. They oppose the professional army and the hiring of mercenaries and want something along the lines of mass conscription of males during war time. As I mentioned, they also want wars to only end in a complete victory for one side, and no compromises to be made. They oppose alliances. They oppose trade. They oppose specialization in production. They oppose money. They oppose worker¡¯s rights and want to reinstate slavery. They oppose the creation of the Commonwealth and want Kush and Retjenu to go back to being regions exploited by Egypt, with no agency for themselves. They oppose any sort of education except for the very few. They oppose large cities and their culture. In essence, a perfect society for them would be a barbarian one, ironically enough, since they hate barbarians as much as anyone and probably even more. Even Djoser, of two millennia ago, would probably be appalled by such ideas and would consider this group to be made up of lunatics, in my opinion. Djedists don¡¯t even seem to care about Egypt winning in any sphere, they only want their enemies to lose, and their enemies include almost everyone. Of course, I am exaggerating somewhat, I mostly heard accounts of this group from other philosophers and interacted with the Djedists themselves only a few times, so I am biased in a way. Not all Djedists are so extreme, and I imagine as time goes on their positions might moderate.


    The major split in the school seems to be the foreign policy approach. Some want Egypt to go out and conquer everything around it, while others want it to become isolationist and interact little with the outside world. Of course, peaceful and diplomatic positions aren¡¯t options for the Djedists, it¡¯s either just defense from the outside world or a full attack on it, as their whole worldview seems predicated on everyone constantly trying to destroy them. The old Djedist guard seems to prefer the isolationist approach, but the new followers, as well as those who had connections with the Sons of Montu, prefer conquest, and it seems that the school as a whole is shifting towards that position. Or, seeming how everyone there is so aggressive, it might just split in two and they might begin fighting each other. That would not surprise me at all.


    Other than this split, the school is mostly homogenous. It consists almost exclusively of male priests and some scribes, continuing to write revisionist works on the history of Egypt and the world, and how the only way to please the gods and save ourselves is to drop all our advancements, as well as some disillusioned soldiers, sailors, and peasants, who join for one reason or another, but seem to have little involvement other than an occasional gathering at a bar to complain how their life was better when they could still rape women in captured cities and beat their Kushite slaves. I don¡¯t know if they have any center, but if they do, it¡¯s probably in some irrelevant town or village, considering their disdain for major cities. They also don¡¯t have any branched in Kush, Retjenu, or abroad, as they believe in Egyptian supremacy and feel like they don¡¯t need any allies, even if they did happily take delivery of Kushite and Elamite supplies during the war to undermine the government. Every country probably has a similar school, but they would all be unrelated, due to the nature of such lines of thinking. Tiglath-Pileser¡¯s exiles and the Assyrian Liberation Army are the closest example I can think of for the Djedists, but they are long gone now, exterminated even more thoroughly than the Sons of Montu. The followers of Hecataeus in the Mycenaean Confederation also seemed to have some similar ideas to the Djedists, but, again, Hecataeus is now nothing more than a cripple, always to remain in the shadow of his wanax brother, and I don¡¯t believe anyone will be congregating around the failed successor now. The Hittite society may be the most conducive to this philosophy currently, but the Nile would dry up before the Djedists would even consider working with the Hittites.


    I think I said everything that needs to be said about this school. I will admit, there is value in stability, and sometimes old ideas can be superior to new inventions, elders can often be good teachers to the youngsters. But the way these Djedists go about it is not only unproductive, but extremely destructive. For them it¡¯s all about the race to the bottom, and I doubt any god would be satisfied by that. If the Djedists truly cared about stability, they would shut up and let you do your work, instead of trying to undermine every single thing that you or anyone in your government does. Ironically enough, the Djedists are a much bigger threat to the stability of this country than any new invention or law could ever be.


    <u>Hammurabites</u>


    The Hammurabite philosophy may at first seem very similar to the Djedist one, but in reality the two are as different as they come. While the Thotherites want to push humanity forward, and the Djedists backward, the Hammurabites simply say ¨C why not leave that up to the rulers? And that¡¯s what the essence of the Hammurabite school is, following the government¡¯s laws and not causing any unnecessary trouble. Of course, it is a bit more complicated than that, otherwise it would be just common sense and not a distinct philosophical school, so I will explain what the Hammurabite thought is in detail.


    As one would assume, the school takes its name from the Babylonian king Hammurabi, the most well-known ruler of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning around seven centuries ago. While some may focus on his military conquests, his more important accomplishment was the creation of the Code of Hammurabi, one of the first extensive law codes, and the first one to be applied on such a large scale and endure. Others had written law codes before him in the region, but those were either individual city states, and so their law codes stopped being relevant once they were conquered, or short-lived empires, such as the Third Dynasty of Ur, which collapsed before the codes could even really take effect. Hammurabi was influenced by them to some extent, but also added his own ideas, and so the most comprehensive code was compiled and spread all over his realm. This set of laws remained in place not only during the existence of the Old Babylonian Empire, about two hundred more years after Hammurabi, but also persisted even after its collapse. Its slightly altered version is now in effect in Nebuchadnezzar¡¯s Babylonia, and both Ninsina¡¯s Assyrian and Shilhak¡¯s Elamite codes were highly influenced by it. Thus Hammurabi¡¯s code could be said to be the foundation of Mesopotamian and Elamite law, and so the king is still a highly studied and revered figure.


    One could then say that the Hammurabite school existed ever since the writing of the code, and that would be partially correct, but, as with most schools, the current iteration has its origins much closer to today. Some say that it emerged during the Kassite reign over Babylonia, possibly around three or two centuries ago, once the Kassites had conformably settled in already, others claim that it emerged during the Assyrian-Kassite War a few decades ago, and some even say that it was purposefully and secretly started by Shilhak-Inshushinak himself during his invasion of Mesopotamia so that the new subjects would be more willing to follow him. There may be truth in all these theories, as the region was always highly unstable and in the hands of different dynasties and rulers, so the school might have reinvented itself many times over the last few centuries. In any event, it is now a rather prominent philosophy not only in Babylonia, but in the entire Eastern Coalition. Its center seems to be in the city of Babylon, but the followers are well spread throughout the lands of the whole faction, and so the importance of a central location is not that high as for, say, the Thotherites.


    The Hammurabite thought may appear to be just a slave mentality, but that¡¯s not exactly the case, as it has a few important notions which differentiate it from simple subservience. The first is adherence to the laws, rather than just to any authority. That means that the Hammurabites would follow their leader if one ruled by the law code, but if one was to just issue orders on a whim, with no written law to back it up, the Hammurabites would abandon them. The Hammurabites would always resist and would never truly serve barbarians, as they are an inherently lawless people, and so are always to be resisted according to this philosophy. The same goes for any foreigner ruler who comes in but doesn¡¯t follow the set laws. In Karduniash, during the Great Powers¡¯ War, most people did not mind the Elamite advance too much, but dreaded and fought the Assyrians the best they could. One might find this strange, but for the Hammurabites this made perfect sense. Shilhak was a man of the laws, who wrote laws for his own kingdom and understood the ones in place in Babylonia, and so the Babylonians could trust him and were ready to exchange their current ruler for the Elamite invader. Meanwhile Tiglath ruled however he wanted, with a might makes right mentality, and so the Babylonians often considered him as a barbarian or even worse, something akin to a wild beast, which made them resist him much more.


    And just like how the Hammurabites advocate resisting an illegitimate and lawless regime, so they also, quite consistently, advocate overthrowing their own regime if it stops following the laws or does something similarly drastic. However, they are nowhere as drastic as the Djedists, and don¡¯t mind change, as long as it doesn¡¯t threaten the country and the people within. For example, the Hammurabites would be fine with a small increase in taxes or some change in the army structure, but if the ruler suddenly decided to confiscate half of everyone¡¯s income or conscript every able person into the army, then revolt would be justified. The rulers have to follow the laws as well and have to do everything by the book, otherwise they would be no better than barbarians and so would have to be replaced by a more competent and just ruler. The laws themselves also have to make sense and be made in service of the people and the country and not just the reigning monarch. So the Hammurabites do hold their rulers and governments accountable, but as long as nothing too drastic is changed, they would most likely remain satisfied.


    This is also not to say that we could just invade Mesopotamia and the Hammurabites would be happy with an Egyptian ruler. For them a ruler being a Mesopotamian or at least an Elamite ¨C that is, from a civilization which has for many centuries now been ruled according to some law code ¨C is still an important factor, and they would still fight very much to defend their lands. Only if the situation got really dire, and the ruler became truly insane, would they consider helping the Egyptian invaders, though even then they would prefer that a Mesopotamian would be placed on the throne after the conflict was over. And same would go for any of their branches in other countries, which makes sense, since it is only natural that people have a preference for rulers from their own group rather than being ruled by a foreigner who might not understand their culture.


    So this school of thought is rather complicated, as while its adherents understand that they must put their trust into the ruler, who knows better than them in most cases and so can lead the country and its people to prosperity, they also have a set of specific criteria which must be fulfilled by the ruler. These specifics vary from member to member, as some are more lenient and other want to hold their rulers accountable for every little mistake, and over the years philosophers of this school have had many debates discussing what the ruler should be permitted to do and what warrants criticism or even a revolt. Some argue that if a ruler pushes reforms too fast, the country is being endangered, while followers on the other aisle of this issue say that if a ruler is not modernizing the country enough then that warrants intervention, and same goes for many other issues. Thus the school often has no concrete answers and judges actions on a case by case basis, which allows it to reach many potential followers and grow in numbers, but they all agree on the central tenet of the school ¨C that one must remain loyal to the ruler and the government by default, unless there is a very good reason not to do that, usually relating to the lack of laws or the passing of unjust ones.


    And as one would expect, the Hammurabites value hierarchies very much. For them, everyone has a place in the universe and should not try to change it, unless, again, there is a very good reason to do that. They support hierarchies in governments, in companies, in armies, often in families too. Some support other, less official hierarchies, such as ones between ethnicities, religions, different countries, and the like, and this is often discussed in their circles as well. In pure Hammurabite thought everyone and everything has its place in the universe, as allocated by the gods, and this placement should not be questioned in most cases, though if there is an inefficiency at the moment, it should still be fixed, as it is considered to be helping the gods restore order rather than going against their will. Of course, there is the matter of slaves, and the Hammurabites did indeed use to support slavery very much, now it is more of a contested issue, as some in the school claim that gods never intended for there to be slaves and so they must be freed to correct this inefficiency. Or, rather, the rulers should pass some laws to reduce or abolish slavery.


    As for the group¡¯s composition, it is rather diverse, due to the philosophy being pretty moderate and open to most people. There are men and women, old and young, rural peasants and urban merchants alike, though naturally the wealthy and powerful gravitate towards this philosophy more, since they are content in their position more often than the lower-class people. The Hammurabites also have some branches abroad, though these are unofficial branches and they rarely interact, unlike the Thotherites and their brother schools. Here in the Commonwealth we have the Maatists, a subset of the followers of our goddess of order and justice Maat, which is relatively new as it was formed partially as a reaction to the Djedist movement, and it is focused mostly on defending our institutions against radicals. Hatti also actually has an unofficial branch, that being the Pallannaites, named after the Pallanna Valley, where the resistance to dethrone the usurper Hakkarpili and restore Muwatalli first emerged, and where the recent Hittite Civil War began. They are a more militant organization, more focused on actual plans on what to do if a usurper needs to be overthrown again rather than philosophizing, which is understandable given what took place in the country just a few years ago. Though now that the situation has stabilized, they are also adopting a more scholarly approach and discussing when a ruler needs to be replaced.


    Overall, I think this is a fine philosophy to adhere to. I¡¯d even say we would benefit if more people followed it, though it is not for everyone. It is certainly not a very ambitious one, and is more similar to just accepting things as they are and going with the flow rather than actively seeking anything. Only in the worst case scenario do the followers advocate for taking action, and by then it may actually be too late in some cases. Still, trust in the rulers and the government is important for any country¡¯s wellbeing, and while, again, this school of thought is not for me, I can certainly see its use.

 On the Major Schools of Philosophy (Part 2)

    <u>Ishtareans</u>


    The Ishtarean school is another one of Mesopotamian origin, although this time originating in Assyria rather than Babylonia. Just like the case with the Thotherites, not all followers of the goddess Ishtar belong to this school, only a dedicated subsection of them, as some worship her due to her being the patron goddess of their settlement ¨C which includes cities like Uruk, Lagash, Nineveh, and others ¨C or some similar reason. However, the functions of Ishtar, or Inanna, as she was called by the Sumerians, do certainly relate well to the beliefs of the school. She is the goddess of beauty, love, sex, and warfare, and so it should not be surprising that the Ishtareans seek one thing only ¨C pleasure, and as much of it as they can gain.


    Of course, such hedonistic cults have existed for a very long time, many millennia by now, and often under the banner of Ishtar in Mesopotamia. It is said that the first ones originated in Uruk as far back as three millennia ago, and quickly spread throughout the region, as Uruk settled colonies everywhere from the Levant to Elam and so Uruk¡¯s inhabitants brought their ideas there. However, while Uruk stayed strong for many centuries, it eventually declined and its colonial empire fell, and so the Ishtarean cult did as well. It probably retained some followers, but in far fewer numbers. At the same time, Mesopotamia entered a much more tumultuous and destructive period, which saw the rise and fall of empires led from Akkad, Ur, and Babylon, as well as incursions from Gutian, Kassite, and Lullubi barbarians, and so other philosophies such as the Hammurabite one became most prominent, as the people now could hardly afford pleasure oftentimes and started focusing more on stability.


    However, the Ishtarean cult had a resurgence quite recently, a sort of revival of the movement which put it back into popular thought and made it into a competitive philosophy once again. This happened in Assyria, very much as a reaction to the totalitarian regime of the Adaside Dynasty, as the people were tired of all the restrictions and wanted Assyria to liberalize. This, of course, was suppressed at first, all the way up to the fall of Ashur itself a decade ago, when the city was taken by the Daughters of Ishtar, in collaboration with the Assyrian merchant coalition and invading Elamite forces. We all know what happened next ¨C Ninsina, the leader of the Daughters, entered into an agreement with Shilhak and was enthroned as the queen of Assyria, with Assyria itself becoming a relatively autonomous puppet state of Shilhak¡¯s ever growing Elamite empire. The old Assyrian government was purged completely and the vacant positions were divided between the Daughters and their affiliates, as well as the merchants who had helped them. This was probably the most radical change in government in any country in recorded history, but then again, Tiglath¡¯s and his predecessors¡¯ regime was the most brutal and totalitarian one I know of, so peaceful and gradual change was hardly possible. And while I wouldn¡¯t say that the Ishtarean philosophy is the state philosophy of Assyria, it certainly became much more accepted, and something that even prominent officials followed, as opposed to only underground rebels. Thus the thought spread through all of Assyria, and back into Babylonia as well, as there the new Babylonian regime led by Nebuchadnezzar was also more liberal than the Kassite rule preceding it.


    The main tenet of Ishtarean thought is the seeking of pleasure, and so it is a pretty simply understood philosophy and has many followers among all classes, even the lowest ones. There certainly are Ishtarean scholars, though the works often deal with such subjects as which drugs are the most potent and how to avoid impregnating women so that intercourse with them could be enjoyed as often as possible. And, believe me, if there is a school which practices what it preaches, the Ishtarean is certainly one. They have clubs dedicated to their¡­ teachings, in many cities in Assyria and Babylonia, and now Elam as well, probably even Dilmun and Magan too, where the Ishtareans gather to gain as much pleasure in as many ways as possible. I had the pleasure of visiting the largest one in Nineveh during my travels a couple years ago, and it certainly was a unique experience. However, it¡¯s not for everyone, it may certainly be too intense for many people not used to such a lifestyle.


    Now, one may say that these are nothing but a bunch of sex and drug addicts masquerading as philosophers to gain more legitimacy, and while there may be some truth to this, pleasure is not actually only about such acts. Pleasure is usually divided into two groups ¨C lower pleasures, most often relating to the body, and higher pleasures, relating more to the mind. And so some Ishtareans try to gain more of the former, while others prefer the latter. The former group focuses on expensive food, alcoholic drinks, potent drugs, gambling games, and wild orgies, while caring little for the higher matters. The latter group, however, while still often partaking in the mentioned activities, focuses more on reading, watching plays, listening to music, and the like, often themselves creating such works of art. In fact, just like how most scientists associate with the Thotherites, so do most artists affiliate themselves in some way with the Ishtareans. Other than direct funding from the monarch, this is often the best way for them to receive revenue from their work, as the Ishtareans are always hungry for more works of art. This also allows artists to experiment in their works and create something new, rather than just doing the same as has been done for millennia so as not to anger the monarch who commissioned some new piece.


    The two Ishtarean groups do not conflict and seem to get along very well. The goal, after all, is pleasure, and not the promotion of some specific activity, and so they accept whatever brings you pleasure, as long as it doesn¡¯t hurt anyone else ¨C that is, does not take away pleasure from another. Murder, thievery, and other such harmful acts are obviously still denounced by the Ishtareans, even if it brings one pleasure to murder another. However, to relieve the tension for such individuals, the Ishtareans also often organize various sports competitions and fight rings, where consenting members can beat each other up while the others in the club gamble on the outcome and enjoy the show. Really, the Ishtareans just want everyone to have fun. They understand that they do not know anything about politics, warfare, or economics (unless it¡¯s the rise in opium price), and delegate that to the government, while themselves just enjoying life the best they can. For the governments it¡¯s also a pretty good deal, since the Ishtareans do their own thing and do not interfere with the rulers at all, which makes it easier to govern.


    The school has a rather diverse follower pool, since it does not discriminate against anyone. There are men and women, and individuals who do not identify as either, identify as both, or something in between. There are also many homosexuals and bisexuals, as the Ishtarean school is the most accepting of them, as well as being the best place for them to safely find other such people. The philosophy is followed almost exclusively by urban inhabitants and has the youngest average age of all the major schools, which often results in bitter rural elders with Djedist characteristics citing the school as a sign of society¡¯s decadence, urban degeneracy, and the sign that the end times are coming. The followers of the school have a branch here in Kemet and Kush, where they are known as the Hathorites, whereas in Retjenu they are known as the Astarteites. There is also a smaller branch in the Mycenaean Confederation, where the followers are known as the Aphroditeans. All these goddesses ¨C Ishtar, Hathor, Astarte, and Aphrodite ¨C are basically equivalent, as they all focus on beauty, love, sex, war, and the like, and so all the branches function very similarly. Supposedly, a follower of any one of them can access the clubs in any other¡¯s territory, which is certainly a useful benefit.


    Accepting such a life of low risks and still relatively high rewards is certainly not the worst deal, if I do say so myself. It may not have much to offer to the ambitious person, whether that be in the political, scientific, or any other sphere, but then again, not everyone can be successful in such endeavors and certainly not everyone needs to be. This philosophy could be seen as one hindering growth, but would any of these Ishtareans contribute anything else if they were denied this life of pure pleasure? I don¡¯t really believe so. Maybe the commoners really have nothing to contribute, and it would be best to just let them enjoy life while we do what needs to be done for the countries to prosper.


    <u>Siwans</u>


    If you asked a random person on the street what they thought a philosopher was, they would probably describe someone similar to an adherent of the Siwan school. To put it simply, the Siwan school is probably the default position where everyone who wants to get into the field begins, before drifting to some more interesting option. Of course, some don¡¯t drift anywhere and stay right there. In the very same place, just aging and withering away without doing much of use anytime in their lives. This may sound loaded already, but you remember my debate with one of the travelling Siwan philosophers, and from that discussion it was probably made clear that I do not care much for the school. It¡¯s certainly not the worst, but its unimaginably boring values do sometimes irritate me and I think followers of this philosophy give all of us a bad reputation.


    The Siwan school places the highest value on virtue. Their goal is to live a virtuous life, free of sin. Doing good things is good, and bad things is bad. Certainly revolutionary ideas. I know I am being harsh on them, but I just don¡¯t really see much value in their philosophy and don¡¯t see who it would appeal to. Sure, if we were living in a world ruled by Apep, a world where everyone was killing each other and eating their corpses on a daily basis, then such a philosophy might be useful. But we aren¡¯t living in such a world. We live under Ra and Horus and other good gods, and so by default we are already adhere to the moral laws as soon as we are born, I would say, unless something very drastic and unexpected happens. I just don¡¯t see who this school could serve. Criminals, maybe? Teaching them to stop killing people and choose a virtuous path instead? Well, I doubt that would work, considering even written laws didn¡¯t stop them, so it¡¯s probably impossible to change their ways if they go so far. Or, if someone was about to rob a store because they needed more money, I doubt a Siwan philosopher could stop them.


    But then again, a mind-numbingly boring philosophy goes along with a mind-numbingly boring region. The Siwan Oasis, also known as the Amun-Ra Oasis, is home to probably one of the most isolated settlements in the whole world. You may have visited it on your way to Libya, though it would still be quite far away from the main path. It is one of the oases in the western desert, but one located the furthest away from civilization, and it would take days of travelling to reach it, for little gain, I might add, as I¡¯ve seen it and found little to be impressed by. Now, I don¡¯t have anything against the people living there, I can understand wanting to live in a simple and quiet place, away from the chaotic nature of civilized states. I am just poking fun at the philosophers from there, who act as if they have discovered the wheel. Maybe it really is just the case of information travelling to there slowly and so the Siwans have little idea of what developments happened in the previous few thousand years. Or maybe life in the oasis there is just so unimaginably boring that they must constantly remind themselves not to commit mass murder to finally feel something, and so invented a whole philosophy as a form of coping. I would probably go insane too if I lived there for sixty years.


    The average age of a Siwan adherent is probably sixty, if not more, as I doubt many youngsters would be interested in it, considering the other available options. I would be hard pressed to find a follower of this school who is not an aging rural peasant or priest, though even priests often make for more interesting company. And this lack of appeal makes perfect sense ¨C the school seems to just take the worst aspects of other philosophies and combine it into one amalgamation. They have the sluggishness and lack of involvement in anything of the Ishtareans, that is, the Siwans argue against trying to pursue any sort of important career or really trying to change anything substantial, instead saying that the government, or whoever is in charge, is always to be listened to, and that the gods have already placed everyone where they need to be, similar to the Hammurabite thought. At the same time, they have those Djedist ¡°virtues¡± of poverty actually being a good thing, and in their minds any sort of advancement, any sort of luxury, any sort of pleasure, any sort of fun is actually bad. I guess the difference between the two is that in the Djedists¡¯ perfect world each of them would have ten slaves and would have be happy at the expense of others, whereas the Siwans just want everyone to be equally miserable. Is this the philosophical equivalent to the Ur-Nammuist school of economics? Maybe, but at least the resources the Ur-Nammuists want to distribute are limited, so there is some logic to their ideas, but things like fun and pleasure are unlimited, so the Siwan idea to just cut all of that down to a minimum is really them just hating life. I understand, the Ishtareans sometimes go too far with their antics, sure, but that doesn¡¯t mean one has to live the entire life in a shoddy hut eating only moldy bread and drinking from infested waters.


    How does that help anyone? How does that make it a virtuous life? You can write book upon book about how not doing anything and living worse than a Kushite slave is virtuous, but that does not improve anyone¡¯s life. That does not help the country, as you are not adding anything to it, that does not help your fellow man or woman, as how can you help them if you have nothing yourself? You have to help yourself and fix your own life first if you want to help anyone else, but I will go more in depth on this once I talk about another philosophy. And you certainly don¡¯t help yourself by following such a philosophy, unless your starting point is somehow even worse. What about the gods? Many Siwans claim that they do this for the gods, starving for days and going on long treks in the scorching desert with no intention other than to suffer as much as possible. I can¡¯t see any gods who would be pleased by such acts. There are gods of war, who are pleased by us winning battles, there are gods of wisdom, pleased by us understanding the universe better, gods of crafts, pleased by us building and inventing new things. Who do these Siwans please? If I didn¡¯t know better, I would say only Seth, god of the deserts. He might enjoy seeing people of Kemet suffer. And no matter the god, offerings would be appreciated, but with such a mentality the Siwans have nothing to offer to them. Truly a shameful display. At least such ideas haven¡¯t spread beyond our borders, as far as I know, definitely not to this extent. Maybe the lack of deserts brings other philosophers closer to civilization and so closer to sanity.


    In the end, I can¡¯t see anyone getting much use out of this philosophy, other than maybe a convict or a recovering Ishtarean, as it is a rather growth stunting mentality. Having few needs and living a simple life can be good in some cases, sure, but we are living in the best times man has ever seen, not in a collapsed society, a land ravaged by barbarians, famines, or natural disasters. So let¡¯s enjoy what we earned over the millennia of hard work at once, for gods¡¯ sakes! But at least the Siwans aren¡¯t hurting anyone, unlike the Djedists, and so I at least can appreciate them not trying to enforce their backwards views on everyone else. They¡¯re not bad people, just really confused ones. I can only humbly ask you, my lord, to build some roads connecting Kemet to those oases, so that the Siwans and others living there would finally see what real civilization has to offer. These people are genuinely unwell, I think our humanitarian intervention is quite warranted at this point.


    <u>Technomancers</u>


    Let¡¯s now return to Mesopotamia, and specifically the most recent major philosophical school to have emerged. The Technomancers are actually a faction which split off from the Nabuites, the eastern branch of the Thotherite school. These disagreements had started a while ago, but a year or so ago they reached a boiling point and the split officially happened. It took place for a few reasons, one being that the Technomancers did not appreciate the Nabuites sharing their discoveries with the Thotherites and so inadvertently helping the OFK. They felt that the OFK¡¯s discoveries don¡¯t compensate well enough for this trade of sorts to be viable and so insisted on keeping their knowledge to themselves, in order to better strengthen the EC, but the Nabuites disagreed with such an assessment or just didn¡¯t care about factional lines. However, this wasn¡¯t the only controversial issue, maybe not even the biggest one. Indeed, the main difference between the two groups is that the Nabuites/Thotherites value knowledge the most and look both to the past and the future, while the Technomancers value advancement the most and look only to the future, often to the very far one. In other words, the Thotherites want to understand the universe, whereas the Technomancers want to conquer it.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The Technomancers don¡¯t care much for history and other social sciences, they are purely focused on the material world and on ways to improve it. At least for their own benefit. Technological progress is the most important to them, and the school is dedicated to pursuing it relentlessly and supporting others working on it. For most of history such a school couldn¡¯t have existed, as technological progress was rather slow, and so the Technomancers would have had little to discuss, yet in these unusual times, when there are seemingly a dozen new important inventions every year, the Technomancers really could thrive. They are much more focused on very specific spheres of advancement, rather than everyone reading and writing about completely random and unrelated topics, and for them the only holy book is the newest version of the engineer¡¯s manual. Of course, not everyone in the school is an engineer, but those who aren¡¯t still often at least fund or promote those who are to make sure the group¡¯s ideas are better realized.


    Now, one might ask what these Technomancers are seeking, what¡¯s their end goal, and those would be good questions. And the answer is that they are seeking everything. They want to become gods. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but their ambitions truly are never ending. For example, they want to colonize the entire world. After that¡¯s done, they want to find a way to fly to other planets and colonize them. And then after that go even further, taking over any planet, moon, and star along their way before they reach the abode of the gods and take that as well. They want to improve their bodies by way of technology in order to become stronger than the largest beast and still more intelligent than the smartest man. Some are even thinking about immortality. And why would they want all of this? Well, the Technomancers have a variety of reasons. Some want as much power as they can gain, so that they could perhaps carve out a realm for themselves from the barbarian lands on this or any other planet and so reign unchallenged. Others want the profits from all these potential technologies so that they could become unimaginably rich and afford anything that can exist. Others yet want it from a sense of human destiny and ultimate supremacy, believing that humans are meant to rule over the universe and become gods themselves, possibly then creating their own universes and being actual gods in them. There have been a few works by the Technomancers, where a theory is laid out that the gods themselves used to be just a regular species before ascending by way of some technology and so gaining the ability to create humans and other life. In any event, the followers are indeed quite ambitious people and have some rather unattainable goals, though they are always willing to continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This differentiates them from the Hammurabites and the Ishtareans, and the Technomancers often outright are disgusted by these groups as they believe that members of those schools are wasting time at best, and holding humanity back at worst. The Hammurabites are seen as useful fools, who would become eventual slaves for their intergalactic realm, and the Ishtareans are even worse in their eyes, seen as mere animals, with their sole focus on, often bodily, pleasures. Meanwhile the Nabuites, as I mentioned, are more respected, but seen as misguided and sometimes even traitorous.


    The Technomancer school is indeed an esoteric one, and their policy ideas often are too. For example, they are more or less against slavery, but not because of some morality, some virtue, oh no, those words don¡¯t exist in the Technomancer dictionary. No, they want to get rid of slavery because they believe it is too inefficient and instead slaves should be replaced by machines, which would work longer hours and would need less resources to be maintained. Meaning, they don¡¯t like the fact that human slaves need to sleep and get some food. They are against conscription as well, but, again, not because they are against war, but because they need more workers to build their machines who could fight instead of them. And they are definitely pro-war, even if not directly against us, as they are constantly designing some new war machines which could potentially tear thousands of barbarians to shreds with little effort to make way for more EC colonies. In a way, there is a little similarity with the Hammurabites, concerning hierarchies. Technomancers also believe in hierarchies very much: humans are above animals, civilized peoples are above barbarians, and so on. And those who are below must be subjugated, while those above must become gods.


    As one may then imagine, this is also a school which appeals more to the elites, rather than the commoners. After all, it was even founded by Boktnassar Nepeshu ¨C literally Boktnassar the Machinist ¨C who is the founder and current head of the Boktnassar Construction Conglomerate, one of the largest megacorporations in Babylonia. There are many stories about him circulating around, including how he was possibly planning to overthrow the Kassites with his private army before the war, and how he lost a leg ¨C now replaced by a mechanical one ¨C to an explosion he set up which also took out an entire Assyrian squad during their invasion of the city. Certainly, an interesting person, and he has managed to attract many other big businessmen and fellow industrialists to his cause. Some landowners follow him now as well, as colonizing more of the world for their benefit and replacing slaves with more efficient machines is enticing to them. However, some middle-class people follow this philosophy as well, various scientists, engineers, or just Mesopotamians fascinated by their ideas, often ex-Nabuites. It is even said that a Technomancer is now the court philosopher of the Elamite queen Lim-Kiririsha herself. This would not be surprising, knowing how she is constantly trying to get an edge over the OFK and is very invested in seeing her faction industrialize and outproduce us. Though the school is still for now almost entirely made up of men, since women usually don¡¯t receive an education in such spheres and aren¡¯t that interested in them in the first place, but that may still change in the future. The Technomancers have many very religious people, which may be surprising, but the gods in these circles are often worshipped a bit differently, that is, not as some unreachable divine beings, but as some highly advanced ones, the ranks of whom the Technomancers often wish to join. There are also no branches of the school, at least as of now, as it is still a very unique and esoteric philosophy and there simply aren¡¯t enough people elsewhere to congregate around it. Hatti and Mycenae are much less technology advanced, while our Commonwealth has more advances in social sciences and spheres like medicine, rather than mechanics and engineering, where Babylonia is currently leading. Ease of travel and trade in the EC means that Assyria, Elam, Dilmun, and Magan also probably have some Technomancers, but the definitive center right now is Babylonia, the city of Babylon to be exact.


    Now that I¡¯ve talked about the Siwans and how their philosophy is holding them back, I certainly shouldn¡¯t complain about the Technomancers, who are seemingly more ambitious than everyone else put together. And, after all, they have fixed all the issues which I had with the Thotherites, namely the decentralization, lack of national security, and the clinging to old and possibly non-existent books. Yet the Technomancers¡¯ apparent disregard for human life, insatiable lust for conquest, and, possibly heretical, according to some, thoughts about overtaking the gods and becoming gods ourselves, is sometimes unsettling. We are only starting to enter the age of technology, and who knows what the effects of over reliance on it might be. But their cause seems to only be growing, and I suppose in this case it is best to fight fire with fire and get ourselves some Technomancers of our own to make sure we do not end up as one of the peoples subjugated by their new machinery.


    <u>Selfians</u>


    And so we come to the last major school of philosophy, one to which I happen to belong. As the name implies, it is a philosophy all about oneself, and no one else. It is the thought which values individual the most. We Selfians know that one is born alone and dies alone, but, unlike others, we do not pretend that the period in between these two events is any different. Everyone is looking out only for themselves, or at least they should, according to our school. We embrace living for oneself and not meddling in the affairs of others. And by doing that, everyone can thrive. That¡¯s what this philosophy is about, at its core.


    Of course, such ideas must have been prominent to some degree ever since humans first emerged, so one might not even consider this a philosophical school, which is fair, since it is probably the most decentralized of all the major ones. However, we still do have writings about our ideas, and the start of this more scholarly and philosophical Selfism can be attributed to a Phoenician writer by the name of Azmelqart (who lived before the age of last names). He started writing his works about eighty years ago and continued writing and expanding this philosophy for the rest of his life, up until about thirty years ago when he died after living quite a long life. The fact that a Phoenician wrote this philosophy down is hardly surprising, as we are a highly individualistic people, and this can be seen in our economy, politics, and culture. We never cared much for communities and instead focused each on ourselves, so this philosophy is, in essence, us exporting our individualistic culture to others abroad. We have our center right there in Byblos, but talking about branches might be quite pointless, as due to this being a highly individualistic philosophy, unofficial branches could be founded anywhere with as few people as one, so even I don¡¯t know where we have expanded to by now. I imagine Babylonia and Assyria might be fertile grounds for us and have quite a few Selfians, also due to their individualistic nature, but, again, our greatest value is helping oneself and not anyone else, so we don¡¯t have a large need of contacting them, unlike the Thotherites and the like.


    So, are we all just selfish pricks who never help anyone else in our lives? Maybe. But the idea of this school is that interference with others often results in worse outcomes than not doing that. No one knows what a person wants, except that person themselves, and that goes for every one of us. We believe it is just better to leave everyone alone and let everyone deal with their own stuff without unnecessarily interfering. Thus, the philosophy could also be called just ¡°minding your own business¡±, which would also describe it quite well. After all, haven¡¯t most terrible things happened only due to the interference of someone else? If everyone minded their own business, we wouldn¡¯t have wars, killings, rapes, Djedists, and other such man-made plagues which ravage our lands time and again. Everyone is different and has different ideas, and trying to force something on those who disagree with it only leads to conflict, so it is better to just keep everything to yourself. Now, some may say that we are hypocritical, because our philosophy is about forcing individualism, and some may not want that either, and instead may want to be living a more community-oriented life. And that¡¯s fine. We are, in fact, not forcing this individualism on anyone, we are only offering it as a choice. Authoritarian regimes don¡¯t give you this choice. If you want to organize a commune, share all the resources, and do everything together with other people, be our guests. Go ahead and do that, after all, that¡¯s none of our business. Just don¡¯t force it on us. Our philosophy is about not caring what others do, which means it is compatible with many other philosophies, as we Selfians only care that we are working only for ourselves, but others can do whatever they want. You want to be a Thotherite? A Hammurabite? An Ishtarean? That¡¯s completely fine. Go ahead and join one of those schools, their existence does not interfere with our own. We only take issue with such schools as the Djedist or Siwan ones, which want to enforce their very rigid views on the entire society. They are completely incompatible with individualism, the Djedists especially, and so we do not approve of them. If the Djedists just lived according to their beliefs but didn¡¯t try to force them on anyone else, it would be fine by us. If, say, the Thotherites tried forcing everyone to become a scientist or something of that sort, we would also take as much issue with them, so it¡¯s not about what ideas the philosophy professes, it¡¯s about whether it minds its own business.


    So, we believe that meddling with others¡¯ lives only leads to bad outcomes. But, on the other hand, we also believe that focusing on yourself only leads to good outcomes. We Phoenicians never had any imperial ambitions, or any thoughts of subjugating others. Yet we had and still have the highest standard of living in the known world, don¡¯t we? If anything, there seems to be quite some correlation between peoples who mostly mind their own business and ones who always try interfering somewhere else. Phoenicia, Alashiya, Dilmun, Magan, even Egypt. What do these places have in common? They aren¡¯t very expansionist and instead focus on internal development. And they have the highest per capita wealth as well as provide the best lives for the majority of the population. Meanwhile such regimes as Hatti, Assyria under the previous dynasty, Babylonia oftentimes, and all the countless barbarian groups ¨C they always get involved in some conflict, started by their own accord, and no matter whether they win or not, they end up in a place which is not better than the starting position, if it is not outright much worse. And so this applies on the individual level as well. Why bother thinking about what your neighbor is doing? All that causes is unnecessary stress. That energy is better spent improving oneself, be it physically or mentally.


    And that improvement could come in many ways, such as even the invention of new technologies. Now, some argue with this idea and say that new inventions come only from competition, but the Selfian school does not take that stance. Sure, minor improvements over some technology do often come because of competition, though I would say that they would have been done in any case, but it seems like the most important inventions came from individuals who only wanted to make their own life better and did not care much for what others were doing. The wheel was probably invented just by some merchant who wanted an easier way of transporting his goods. Writing similarly was probably thought of by some administrator who wanted his job of counting grain to be easier. All the agricultural and medicinal inventions also would seem to have come only from a personal need to get more food and not die as easily to some force of nature. The only inventions which came truly from competition and not personal need seem to be all the armaments, and other instruments of war. And do we really need them? Well, now we obviously do, but we didn¡¯t need to need them. If everyone focused on themselves from the very start, no one would have needed armies, and, in turn, any of these weapons.


    So this is the Selfian school. Due to its nature, it has followers from all kind and classes of people, and I welcome that. And I will admit, this is still not a perfect philosophy, it still has some flaws, and we discuss it with fellow Selfians about what is in line with our thought and what isn¡¯t. There are some criticisms, such as the aforementioned supposed enforcement of individualism ¨C which I have refuted ¨C or how competition can actually be healthy sometimes, which is a more valid point. There is also the fact that cooperation can also sometimes result in more positive outcomes, however, for us that just means two individualists trying to gain something for themselves from each other and inadvertently also helping the other person, but this still comes from focusing on oneself rathe than cooperating just for cooperation¡¯s sake. And some also claim that our school is too similar to the Ishtarean one, which is not quite true. We focus on personal improvement and personal benefit, whereas the Ishtareans focus only on pleasure, which often doesn¡¯t result in any improvement or even gain, and so the argument that their actions in the end only lead to positive outcomes would be false. We do not reject pleasure, of course, but I would say that we diversify our activities a bit more, which result in more benefits to everyone, but, again, the Ishtareans are free to continue doing as they please.


    Thus I think I covered all the major schools of philosophy which currently exist in the civilized known world and all their branches and splinters. It is certainly an interesting selection, but I believe it will only continue to grow, as more and more people start following one or another or create their own new one. Some of them may do more harm than good, of course, but it seems that most will result in a more positive outcome, and I welcome this change. In these last few years, it appears we have entered not only into the age of technology, but the age of enlightenment as well.

 On the Doctrines of International Relations

    On the Doctrines of International Relations


    Report by the Royal Envoy Amenemheb Nemtyhotep


    Despite that the fact that every ruler has a somewhat different approach to international relations, I believe that most of them could be grouped into one of the main doctrines. This includes most of the current civilized states, as well as those of the previous few centuries, when the age of globalism truly began. To add to that, I believe these doctrines are also not going away anytime soon and would remain in place for decades and probably centuries to come, only expanding in scope and being adopted by more new civilizations.


    Of these main doctrines, there are four distinct ones, in my opinion, and I will quickly go over each of them, explaining what they are and what the countries using them seek to achieve. Now, I didn¡¯t make these classifications arbitrarily. I believe that there are three major questions which must be asked when deciding on foreign policy, and the answers to these questions place the country into the appropriate doctrine. First, does the country even wish to interact much with the global community? If no, then it is isolationist. If yes, then we go to the second question ¨C does it wish to interact much with equals, that is, other civilized states? If no, then it is colonialist. If yes, that leads to the final question ¨C when dealing with other civilized states, does the country wish to cooperate with them or subjugate them? If the former, then it is multilateralist, and if no, then it is realist. Those are the four major doctrines in my model, and I believe together they cover almost every country with the capacity to conduct independent foreign policy.


    <u>Isolationism</u>


    Starting with the first question of whether the country wants to engage much in globalism at all, we are led to the first doctrine, isolationism, whose proponents reject the idea of high international engagement. Isolationists simply wish to focus on their own country and do not care much for what goes outside their own borders. Isolationist political regimes often go hand in hand with isolationist economic systems, but that does not always correlate. For example, more often that not countries will not engage much in international affairs but will still trade extensively with other countries, rather than being completely isolated. Still, isolationist regimes do tend to try to build a larger internal market so that decline of other countries, or even their complete collapse, would not affect the economy of the home country too much.


    That means that isolationist regimes would rarely help other countries and would try to avoid getting entangled in any alliances and so dragged into some foreign war. They would also rather try defending themselves on their own if invaded, and would only ask for help from others in the worst-case scenario, such as the existence of the state itself being threatened. On the other hand, offensive warfare would also be limited, and would mostly be used either to secure the country¡¯s borders, set up some buffer puppet states, or cut their opponents down to size so that they wouldn¡¯t be as threatening anymore. Campaigns would be conducted close by and would be rather short, as opposed to overseas campaigns potentially lasting many years. Such an approach means that the focus is mostly on building a small or mid-sized kingdom which could defend itself well against even bigger foes, rather than a large empire or federation of states, the creation of which would inevitably require more international involvement and constant interaction with the other major players.


    Such an approach also prescribes a certain way of military organization. In this case that would be a small standing army and large-scale conscription in times of war. Conscription would be often required, as the isolationist regime would not be able to rely on any allies and would need to defend its territories fully by itself, which means that every man is needed to compensate for the, most likely larger, invader¡¯s army. Having a standing army meanwhile, doesn¡¯t matter if its alongside conscription or not, would not make much sense, since for most of the time the state would not be engaged in any warfare and so would only waste resources on feeding and equipping the army which couldn¡¯t do anything. More internationally minded regimes can send their soldiers to allies in need or simply conquer more lands for themselves, but the isolationists rarely have a need for either of these activities and so an actual army is rarely needed. And when it is needed, it is assembled by means of conscription, even if it means a temporary decrease in production, since the other option is often destruction of the state. So the army would fluctuate in its size, but would almost in any case be focused purely on defense ¨C or limited offense which is done to guarantee defense ¨C and would be of rather low quality. However, fighting at or close to home makes supplying and reinforcing it much easier and so it can still be a formidable force. The navy, if it even exists, would also be rather small and focused on defending the coasts, rather than any kind of naval power projection across the seas. Having a more conservative population is also a possible side effect from isolationism, as the people don¡¯t interact with other cultures as much, only focus on established traditions in their own country, and have inventions from abroad spread at a much slower pace.


    There is a very obvious example of a currently existing major country with a mostly isolationist foreign policy. That is, of course, the Kingdom of Hatti. Most of what I described applies to them perfectly. After all, they have a very well defended mountainous peninsula to themselves, and their military is mostly focused on building fortifications and raising hundreds of thousands of conscript troops in time of war. Yes, Hatti is in the OFK right now, but let¡¯s not pretend they joined because of some change in their values. Muwatalli had literally lost his entire country and was on the run with his remaining troops when he signed the treaty, it was a means to an end for him. Without our help he would not have been able to even get back to Hatti, let alone retake it. In the years during and after the Hittite Civil War Muwatalli did appear to have changed his mind somewhat, and he is now more appreciative of the benefits of being in an international league with us, but isolationism has been entrenched in Hatti for centuries, so it will take time for the changes to become fully accepted. Even now, some Hittite Pankus members and other high-level officials argue for leaving the OFK and returning to a more self-sufficient state. The Hittite army is still mostly made up of conscripts and is hardly integrated with our own.


    And Hatti has little appetite for much foreign involvement unless absolutely needed. I am confident that they would honor their OFK obligations and help us if the EC troops crossed the Euphrates, but the Hittites do not seem to care much for crossing it themselves for offensive purposes. We saw that in their reluctance to get involved in our effort to take Assyria, be that at the end of the war or in the years following it. Of course, there is the matter of Hatti conquering Cimmeria, but for me that¡¯s not a valid argument against them being isolationists. Like I said, limited offensive campaigns could be conducted if they are for defensive purposes, and the campaign in Cimmeria was just that in most ways. By conquering Cimmeria the Hittites achieved three things: they punished the barbarians who fought against them in the Hittite Civil War, and so intimidated other tribes to leave Hatti alone for the foreseeable future, they secured their northern coast, as now the Euxine Sea is basically Hatti¡¯s internal lake, and, most importantly, they gained some extremely fertile grounds, which could provide more than enough food for the Hittites. This is very useful for them, since now they won¡¯t need to rely on our or Mesopotamian grain imports to feed their population, and so could detach more easily if needed.


    There are a few other examples of isolationist countries. The Kingdom of Lullubum is one, of course, and it interacts even less with the international community. The fact that Lullubum is the only country, other than Elam, which has truly independent foreign policy and army in the EC makes quite a good case for assigning this doctrine to them. And just like we have fears about Hatti leaving us in the future, so do the Elamites have the same fears about the Lullubi leaving them. However, the Lullubi were nothing but a literal barbarian warband just a few years ago, so they may still join the international community and become more involved once they become more civilized. The Kingdom of Karduniash is another example of a, now conquered, country following the isolationist doctrine. Same could be said for the previous regime in charge of the Kingdom of Assyria. Both countries had little international involvement, at least in their last decades, and tried to be self sufficient in order to defeat each other. However, they both met the same fate as the Elamite army marched into both capitals within a year. Of course, both of them had international allies ¨C Assyria being aligned with us, and Karduniash with Hatti ¨C but they cared little for them, with Assyria constantly breaking treaties with us and following their own doctrine, while the Hattusa-Babylon Axis was built on similarly shaky grounds. Both countries had many other faults, of course, but it would still probably not be a wrong assumption to say that building an isolationist regime in the most contested region in the world did not help them.


    While for now isolationism still seems to dominate much of the world ¨C all the way from Olmecs in the west to China in the east ¨C it may not stay so prominent for long, especially as globalization only intensifies and the conflict between our two major factions reaches them as well. There will always remain isolationist regimes here and there, but it will not be the default choice anymore, I imagine, as only those rulers who really want it and can afford it would take it up.


    <u>Colonialism</u>


    We now move on to the second question ¨C whether the country wants to focus on and compete with its fellow civilized states, or with the barbarians around it. The colonialists choose to focus on the barbarians. This may seem like an odd choice to some. After all, what is a barbarian wildland as compared to even a single Mesopotamian city? Indeed, the entirety of Europe probably has a lower population and total wealth than even a mid-sized country such as Assyria. However, the colonialists view it from a different lens. While isolationists view everyone else as a potential enemy who might be out to bring them down, the colonialists are the opposite, in the sense that they view all civilized countries as possible allies, who should be working together to bring civilizational values to the rest of the world and defeat the barbarian menace for good. The colonialists see no need to fight for centuries for the same few cities and plots of land while there is still an entire planet to be explored, conquered, and exploited for their benefit. They are not wrong in their argument about size ¨C after all, the entire area from Mycenae to Elam and from Hatti to Kush only takes up probably about 10% of the world, if not much less, considering we still haven¡¯t discovered everything. So the colonialists want to focus on this remaining part of the world, dividing it between the civilized states, rather than fighting and destroying each other.


    This is a much newer doctrine, as in previous times it was simply impossible to accomplish on a large scale. However, now that we have made advancements in naval technologies and travel times are much shorter, colonization is more feasible. Not to mention that the populations of our civilized states are exploding, and so we would often have not only a technological, but even a numerical advantage over the barbarians. This doctrine is often adopted by smaller states, which cannot compete with the major civilizations, but can still very easily overwhelm barbarian lands and so expand in those directions.


    This, again, changes how the armed forces are organized. For one, the navy is now the most important asset by far, as many ships are needed to reach the colonies and keep contact with them, while also keeping the routes clear from any pirates. Regional or even global naval power projection becomes much more important than it is for the isolationists. The army, meanwhile, is downsized, since it is not as useful. Subjugating barbarians doesn¡¯t take many well-trained troops, and having more is just wasteful. As for resisting the stronger states closer to home ¨C that is often downright impossible, with the major civilizations having armies dozens of times larger, so the colonialists deem trying to resist them pointless, and instead focus mostly or purely on colonial affairs. This can still mean having some conscripts, but they aren¡¯t the only part of the equation anymore. Professional full time colonial troops are the focus, and they can be made up of both citizens of the home country, mercenaries, or even some loyal barbarians from the conquered territories. Their focus is on rapid offense, capturing one settlement after another, and population control of the colonized regions. Thus they are something between a regular army and a garrison force. This makes them a great cost-effective option for fighting barbarians, but they would fare rather poorly against other advanced civilizations. Thus, if a colonialist country is engaged in warfare at home, it would most likely be using similar strategies as the isolationists, that is, focusing on defense and conscripts.


    We have a few examples right now of the countries adopting a colonialist doctrine. The Mycenaean Confederation is the most obvious one, with their conquests of Illyria, Thracia, Sicily, and southern Italy. The wanax Tirynthius seems really intent on acquiring as many colonies as possible, and so Mycenaean colonization efforts will probably not stop anytime soon. They do have most of Europe right before them, ripe for the taking, and they could even go further, as they have a large and capable navy for the job. Before this, the Mycenaeans mostly followed a mixed doctrine of isolationism and multilateralism, focused on working with us to contain the Hittites, but now that the Hittites have joined forces with us, the Mycenaeans can focus on other regions. The Mycenaeans are always hungry for more lands and resources, and while Hecataeus wanted to continue the old doctrine of fighting the Hittites for that, Tirynthius is looking west rather than east and is ready to find riches for his followers and himself there. The colonialist doctrine makes sense for the Mycenaeans for another reason as well ¨C other than the Hittites, they never had any real enemies, and so they are not that invested in fighting the EC. They have little against Assyria, Babylonia, or Elam, and while they would help us in the event that we were attacked from the east, they are not as enthusiastic about going on the offensive against them, just like the Hittites. The Mycenaeans have always been somewhat distanced from the great powers and found our fights rather pointless. They would much rather have the world divided between the civilizations in the region, so that every country would have more than enough for themselves, than have another OFK-EC War resulting in losses for everyone in the end.


    The minor powers also seem to be adopting this approach. This includes Alashiya and Punt from our side and Dilmun and Magan from the EC. The minor states dislike these power plays between the great powers, as they gain little from such conflicts while feeling as if they are being used as puppets by the more powerful allies. Thus, just like the Mycenaeans, they are starting to look outwards for more opportunities, and potentially even options to escape this conflict. Alashiya is planning their first colonies in Europe and discussing this with the Mycenaeans, the Puntites are looking to expand further into Afrika, while Dilmun and Magan want to set up trading colonies in India, east Afrika, and anywhere else where they can. These minor countries are mostly focused on trade, so having colonies along the major trade routes would help them gain even higher profits while at the same time becoming more powerful and respected in their respective factions.


    The colonialist doctrine seems to be only growing in prominence, and, as more of the world is explored, it will become even more important in the future. In fact, it seems that these days even other, non-colonialist, countries have some limited colonies for one reason or another. The Hittites and the Lullubi are expanding north for border security, while Elam is expanding east and we are expanding west, to further increase the sizes of our countries and gain more resources to remain competitive against each other. Of course, this slow and limited expansion is different from the entire doctrine being based on colonies, but still, it looks like everyone is now interested in securing at least some barbarian lands for themselves. Thus colonialism will probably play a part in every civilized country¡¯s policy, to a higher or lesser degree, and we must be ready to deal with its consequences.


    <u>Multilateralism</u>


    This leaves us only with the last question, about how a country wishes to interact with its fellow civilizations. There are two possible and almost equally prominent answers, and for the multilateralists it is cooperation. The multilateralist doctrine is built upon treaties, defensive pacts, and multilateral alliances, which seek to bring various small and large countries together for a common cause. Of course, this does not mean that all countries in such an alliance would be equal or even be treated equally, but there is still at least the respect for their sovereignty, independent foreign policy, and other such things allow the participating countries to still remain fully independent and have at least some input into how the alliance should function.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    In essence, multilateralist doctrine is the only one which places some value on the well-being of other states, and not only its own. The isolationists, colonialists, and realists for the most part just decide on how best to serve their home country and nothing else, whereas the multilateralists focus on the larger picture and believe that having prosperous, stable, and friendly regimes in neighboring countries is a much more sustainable strategy rather than continuously trying to bring them down. This strategy has a moral element to it, of course, but that¡¯s not the entirety of it, as, ironically enough, multilateralism is considered to be better for the home country as well, even than the strategy of focusing purely on it would be. This comes from the fact that if some calamity came to the home country, be it a famine, natural disaster, revolution, civil war, invasion, or anything else, the state would have some reliable allies to call upon, which would most likely answer and help, as they had been helped in the past and want to continue maintaining the established alliance. If instead those allies the home country only had conquered regions or puppet states, they might very well break off and abandon the empire when there is trouble in the capital. Yet this is only one possibility and, on the other hand, the supposed allies may not be so trustworthy and abandon the home country just as well, or even take advantage of its troubles by invading it or doing something similar, so all that investment into those allies would have been wasted at best or even extremely harmful. It all depends on the probabilities, and so a doctrine has to be chosen according to what one thinks they are, whether the other states are seen as trustworthy or not.


    Truly multilateralist countries have to be quite large ones, as they must have enough power not only to protect their own state, but their allies as well, possibly simultaneously. Smaller countries can have multilateralism in their doctrine, but the commitment to a multilateral alliance would be done for survival for the most part. That is, those smaller countries would still be focused more on their own region and its defense, now done by multiple countries, rather than the expansion of the alliance in other directions and its increasing global reach. The leader, or leaders, if there are other sizeable countries in the faction, of the alliance would still have to be the one to spearhead expansion and bring in new members. Thus, one could say that the smaller countries in the alliance would be a drain on resources, but in this doctrine that is an acceptable tradeoff, as the loss of some resources is seen as better than letting those countries fall to chaos or be invaded by the enemy, which would bring it closer to the home country. The difference from the realist doctrine and the setting up of buffer puppet states is that these states would remain independent and so would have a larger stake in defending the alliance, while also being able to prepare themselves better and so buy the home country some more time, whereas puppet states might either defect to the enemy, be overrun immediately, or have to be constantly maintained and defended by the home country, which means an even higher investment in that state.


    This means that the multilateralist states must have a rather powerful army and navy as well. The large and mid-sized states must have them to project their power, and bring in and defend new allies, whereas the smaller states still must have a reasonably sized army to defend themselves until larger allies can come to their aid. The only exception would be small states away from any contended border, as they wouldn¡¯t need to defend themselves and wouldn¡¯t be expected to expand the faction¡¯s reach either. Of course, such a state would still be expected to provide at least something militarily to the alliance, as otherwise it would be rather useless. If it has no serious army or navy, it would have to have another very good reason to be included into the alliance, such as its financial support or even just preventing the enemy from gaining them as an ally. In any case, the multilateralist countries for the most part need professional armies, as there would always be a use for soldiers and so conscription wouldn¡¯t work. Not to mention that the soldiers would have to be more experienced and trained to project the faction¡¯s power even better and dissuade anyone from acting against it. The army, or part of it, would always be busy with something, be it fighting barbarians, suppressing revolts, helping allied countries, fighting proxy wars, or toppling foreign regimes to bring in a more friendly government to the faction, and during these activities the army would gain experience, test out new weapons and strategies, and prepare for a confrontation with other great powers. The navy is similarly important, as it has to connect all the allied countries and maintain control of the seas or even oceans, just like the armies maintain control of the land. Smaller countries also need professional armies, as they still need to be ready to help their allies, not to mention that they wouldn¡¯t have enough time, due to their small size, to assemble a conscript army if they were invaded.


    The most notable example of a multilateralist country is, of course, our own great Commonwealth of Kemet, Kush, and Retjenu. Even in previous centuries the Kingdom of Egypt was quite multilateralist, establishing alliances with the Mycenaeans and Assyrians to combat Hatti, and now with the OFK we are doing it on an even bigger scale, as we are facing a much bigger enemy now. We are also doing it somewhat internally too, actually, now that we have Kush and Retjenu autonomy and so made them countries within a country, rather than continuing to trample on them. Unlike Elam, which is trying to maintain a tight grip on the entire EC, we are giving our allies more freedom. I believe that to be the correct approach, allowing those countries to grow and be able to pull their weight, as well as having allies to call on if we had trouble at home. Just like we helped Muwatalli win the Hittite Civil War, I believe he would help us if such an event occurred here, for example. Hatti itself also seemed to be heading in the direction of multilateralism before the Great Powers¡¯ War, as it was interested in establishing its own faction with many other members (other than just the lackluster deal with Karduniash), but that was, of course, cut short with the war and the change in leadership. Still, Muwatalli now seems to be more appreciative of multilateralism and may be returning to his father¡¯s ways. If this continues, Hatti may become the second truly multilateral state in the alliance in the coming decade, which would greatly help us. The Mycenaean Confederation could also join this club, as its colonial ventures could help us bring in new allies and project our power further, thus serving the OFK¡¯s interests as well and not just those of the Confederation. The remaining OFK states, and, I imagine, most of those which we will bring aboard in the future, are and will remain those small states I talked about. But again, I believe they are worth having, as we still gain some value from them and, if nothing else, prevent the EC from subjugating them.


    Multilateralism is a complicated ordeal, I will admit that, and many often say that it is not worth pursuing. I, however, believe the costs are worth the end results, and that the Commonwealth should not abandon its pursuit of freedom for other states. After all, the world is only large enough for a few major factions, and each of them for only a few sizeable states, which means that we are the only ones, at least for now, who are powerful enough to defend the freedom of the smaller states and prevent the EC from subjugating the world. Multilateralism might remain a doctrine adopted by relatively few, as it doesn¡¯t sound as sure and exciting as the others, but I believe we can change it in time and prove its critics, constantly decrying it as a philosophy of weakness, as completely wrong.


    <u>Realism</u>


    The alternative for great powers to multilateralism, to cooperation, is realism, that is, subjugation. While multilateralists see the world full of potential allies, realists see it as full of enemies, except unlike the isolationists, they do not choose to entrench themselves at home and remain in defensive mode. They choose going on the offensive. For the realists, territories are not to be liberated, they are to be conquered. Allies are not to be trusted and their sovereignty is to be diminished. Small states are to be made into puppets and serve as extensions of the home country. It is, ultimately, a doctrine of ¡°might makes right¡±, and if a country isn¡¯t strong enough to defend itself, it must fall or serve a stronger state. No value is placed on any other realm and utility is only to be gained from the strengthening of the home country.


    Realism has technically existed since the dawn of civilizations, as the first kingdoms to emerge rarely allied and instead mostly fought each other, each trying to establish its own empire. However, that could still be seen as isolationism and the attempt to secure one¡¯s borders. Realism goes much further. It is about global power, about never leaving any other states powerful enough to be able to compete with you ¨C after all, all of them could turn on you and become enemies. This doesn¡¯t mean that a country only has to conquer everything around it all the time, far from it. The realist doctrine is more extensive and power is to be gained and maintained by whatever means are available. Alliances may be established temporarily, but not due to any ideological compatibility or long term gain, mostly for the realist country to gain a temporary advantage, maybe defeat a larger enemy, and then turned on the former ally. For the realists treaties and other such agreements don¡¯t hold nearly as much importance as for the multilateralists, though that also doesn¡¯t mean that the realists always break treaties either. They must still adhere to them often enough to gain the trust of other parties and not find themselves surrounded from all sides at the most inopportune moment.


    The realist doctrine means that there can only be one such supremely dominant country in any faction, with all the other being puppets to some degree. A few truly independent and powerful countries can exist in such a system for only a short time, but in the end one would still make a move to subjugate the others, as the realists cannot allow for any competition, especially from the inside. For this to be done, a large army and navy must be maintained, and they must be professional rather than conscript forces, as there is always a territory to be conquered or a rebellion to be suppressed. Many of the same tenets apply as in the multilateralist doctrine, that is, naval power projection, army gaining experience during small conflicts in peace time to prepare for the confrontation with the great powers, and the army having to be the most advanced and well trained to frighten potential enemies and have them back down. However, it is all focused on the home country. Defending border states is not about defending the freedom of such states, it is about defending the empire and its sphere. ¡°Helping¡± its ¡°allies¡± is not about actually helping them or anything to do with allies at all, it is about making sure that country remains part of the imperial sphere and doesn¡¯t secede to become independent or join the opposing faction. Having some limited allies and puppet states is still useful to the realists, rather than having a massive consolidated empire, as it makes it easier to control the population and integrate the regions over time, while also giving the subjects a false sense of freedom. It also makes it easier to abandon some border puppet states to be occupied by the enemy, rather than having to suffer a reputation loss of losing core territory.


    Elam, is, of course, the quintessential realist country, and this course was started by Shilhak-Inshushinak. He had one goal ¨C conquer the whole known world, and he used every possible realist strategy to accomplish this. He essentially wrote the whole modern realist doctrine. He established contacts with corrupt officials in Ugarit to assassinate our kings, which caused the Great Powers¡¯ War between everyone, while also allowing him to be the only one to enter it prepared. He joined forces with us and the Assyrians to gain our trust, while in reality always seeking to betray us. He used the fear of the Assyrian army and his relative leniency to get the Babylonians to flock to him and so give him most of Karduniash for occupation. He placed Nebuchadnezzar as his first puppet to rule Babylonia supposedly independently, while it was right from the start a massive supply depot and recruitment center for his further campaigns. He assured the Assyrians and had them go north to fight Hatti, while leaving the way to Assyria mostly undefended, while also funding Kushite armies and revolts inside Egypt to weaken us and split our forces. He invaded Assyria, helped by local rebels with whom he had established contact years ago, and before anyone knew of his betrayal, he was already at the gates of Ashur. He established a second puppet state there, one as different from the old regime as possible, so as to prevent it from welcoming the exiled Assyrian army back. He attacked us in the Levant, defeating both our and Hittite armies with a single blow. He had Hakkarpili coup the Hittite government and join forces with him, while also trying the same here in Egypt, though here it failed as we defeated the Sons of Montu. He established a puppet state in the Levant and managed to have the Phoenicians break away from us while promising full control of the Levant both to his man in Ugarit and the Phoenician kings. He had Zubani subjugating other Lullubi tribes while his wife was purging opposition at home and also brought Dilmun and Magan into the fold after funding the pro-Elamite corporatist factions there. He gave token positions to Babylonians and Assyrians to keep them happy, while still having the most important posts be held by Elamites only. This was realism at its core. Funding anyone who will help your cause, betraying all your allies, expanding in all directions and securing your frontiers so that the capital would be safe.


    He claimed he was doing it all for progress, and to unite all the civilization and make that war the last one that would ever be fought between major states. Yet I don¡¯t believe his propaganda one bit. His empire at the end was as unstable as one could be, with every region being promised to at least a dozen individuals or groups simultaneously, in order to gain all of their support. After the war, there would have been civil wars, rebellions, and even if he did win, it would have been only the start of a new age of wars. As for progress ¨C that was never the goal, and when it was, it was only accidental. Shilhak supported and allied with regimes and groups of all possible ideologies, with nothing shared between them, except, of course, the fact that they were willing to help Shilhak win against his enemies. Sure, he supported progressive liberal regimes in Assyria and Babylonia. But what about Hatti, where Hakkarpili was even more of a hardliner reactionary than Muwatalli? Zubani, and his literal barbarian empire? Dilmun and Magan, where monarchies similar to Elam were dethroned for loyal company rule? A backwards agrarian anti-slavery Kushite regime? Random nomarchs and mayors in Egypt who had nothing in common, except, again, were just ready to cause turmoil if bribed enough? Harharran in the Levant, who stood for nothing and was given his position only for helping assassinate the kings and start the whole war? While also promising the whole region to the Phoenicians as long as they left us early enough in the war? And, of course, the most reactionary, anti-Kushite, anti-Hittite, anti-Levantine, anti-women¡¯s rights, pro-conscription, pro-slavery, rural, ex-military terrorist Sons of Montu, who, to top it all off, were also extremely anti-Elamite? Is this a list of allies of a man who values progress? Are these allies of a man who values anything except his own gain? Of course not. This is a list of groups to support for a realist, who cares for nothing but chaos and turmoil in every other country and massive benefit for his own empire.


    However, this did not last for long. Soon enough Shilhak tasted his own medicine, as he was betrayed by what he probably hoped would become another one of his puppets, our very own general Horminuter. He underestimated us. He learned a lesson that every realist will eventually be forced to learn ¨C not everyone is willing to betray their country and their values for some temporary benefit. After tricking and betraying his way through Mesopotamia and Levant, Shilhak became overconfident and fell to one of his very own tricks ¨C a poisonous drink being served by a supposed ally. And it all tumbled down from there, with the only saving grace for the Elamites being Shilhak¡¯s wife Lim-Kiririsha, who managed to salvage the eastern portion of the empire which she was in charge of during the war, while Shilhak was on campaign. Her regime is more cautious now, focusing on slower expansion and on the solidification of the existing borders, but the idea remains the same ¨C Elam is to be the dominant force, the other EC states are to serve its interests, and the OFK is to be crushed. Like I said, the other EC states do not really have an independent foreign policy, or an independent army or navy for that matter, except the Lullubi, who I also would not be surprised to see have a change of leadership in the coming years in order to bring it closer to Elam, before the Lullubi grow too powerful. Elam has the same goal as it had for these last fifteen years or so ¨C total domination. And we are the only ones standing in its way.


    Of course, I cannot predict the future. I will not claim that we will certainly succeed, and that the EC will fall. But I believe it is more likely than not. Realist doctrine has some uses, of course, and it is often the most appealing one to leaders of major countries. And the start can often indeed be a much smoother one than that of a multilateralist country. But, as time goes on, the situation become more and more unstable, cracks begin to form, the promises cannot be fulfilled, and it all comes crashing down. How many times have rulers from the east tried to conquer the whole known world and failed? Sargon of Akkad, Ur-Nammu and his son, Hammurabi, Tiglath-Pileser and his predecessors, and now Shilhak-Inshushinak. They all went far, that¡¯s true, but their empires collapsed in just a mere century, a few decades, or even a few years. We in the west have always done things a bit differently. Egypt itself was unified through cooperation, rather than pure conquest. I don¡¯t believe we should take up such dreams of quick imperial conquest, even if we are capable of achieving them for the short term. I believe our destiny is of multilateralism. If I didn¡¯t, we wouldn¡¯t have the OFK now, and would still probably have defeated the EC, just now with our own troops in Hattusa, rather than Muwatalli¡¯s. But we both know how that would have ended.

 On the Great Architectural Wonders of the World

    On the Great Architectural Wonders of the World


    Report by the Overseer of the Works Ankhhapi Iqedew


    The idea to create an official list of international architectural wonders has been around for quite a long time, and while it was never finalized, it seems that now it may finally come into existence. It has been discussed since the times of the Great Powers¡¯ Club and especially during the Great Powers¡¯ Club Conferences of the last half-century, as the rulers of the major kingdoms wanted to make such a list of internationally recognized wonders so that international travel, trade, and general respect and admiration for each other would increase and so profit all the participating countries. Of course, the Great Powers¡¯ War put an end to such dreams, at least temporarily. The emergence of the Eastern Coalition didn¡¯t help this matter at first either, but now, that the relations between our two factions are warming up, at least in some areas, the idea is being revived. In fact, we are now the closest we have ever been to achieving this. The Thotherites here in the OFK ¨C and I must admit that I am a follower of this school of philosophy ¨C and the Nabuites in the EC cooperated on this matter greatly and managed to convince the other rulers to agree to make such a list.


    There were a few caveats, of course. One was that the OFK and EC would have the same number of these wonders to choose from their own countries, so that the list would be balanced and both sides equally represented, which is fair. The total number of the wonders was also debated, with potential counts ranging from four to twelve, but eventually everyone settled on eight, as it was felt that having fewer would not be enough to represent all the great works, while having more would confuse people and diminish the value of each individual wonder. So there will be eight architectural wonders selected, with four of them from the OFK, and four from the EC. Of course, such an arrangement can result in the wonders being picked not because of their actual greatness, but because of political reasons, in order to satisfy the participating rulers. However, the search for these great works was conducted by independent Thotherites and other branches of this school, and so I believe that we arrived at findings which are great in and off themselves. The fact that they are almost equally spread out between the major countries is partly a coincidence and partly the fact that all of the great powers have large enough areas and populations so that some great works are bound to be built. Not to mention that we did place importance on the uniqueness of each building, which also allowed other countries to shine, rather than every entry in the list only being Egyptian or Babylonian. This also satisfies the rulers and most are likely to sign onto this list and so make it official, but we need your approval as well, of course. Thus, hereby I present to you the eight selected great architectural wonders of the world.


    <u>Khufu¡¯s Horizon Pyramid</u>


    Pyramids are a staple of great Egyptian (and Kushite, I might add) architectural works, and so we could hardly have not added a pyramid to the list. Of course, the selection of pyramids in this land is also huge, so we had to decide which one of them to pick. Ultimately, we decided on Khufu¡¯s pyramid, which had been the favorite of many previous rulers and we could not find many reasons to disagree with such an assessment.


    As you know, Khufu¡¯s Horizon stands in the Giza necropolis, right next to our capital. It was built in the Old Kingdom era, in the golden age of pyramids, under our great pharaoh Khufu, for whom this pyramid continues to serve as the eternal resting place. Previous pharaohs, including Djoser and Sneferu, did build many pyramids as well, but during their reigns the art of building pyramids was not yet perfected. Sneferu¡¯s Shining Pyramid came rather close, but his successor Khufu built an even more impressive one, which has not been surpassed afterwards. The succeeding fourth dynasty pharaohs continued building pyramids, but they were smaller and stand in the shadow of Khufu¡¯s Horizon. Pyramids built under the following dynasties are either also not nearly as large and impressive or have been destroyed or swallowed by the sands of time. As time went on, fewer and fewer pyramids were being built and over the last seven hundred years or so we have for the most part stopped the practice, instead shifting focus to other kinds of structures. Thus, Khufu¡¯s Horizon remains the favorite of the architects, as it has been for millennia.


    The pyramid was built about fifteen centuries ago, making it the oldest of all these wonders. It is also the tallest, not only of these wonders, but of any building that I know of, and it has been so ever since the construction of the pyramid. It is standing at 280 royal cubits in height, while its square base has a length of 440 royal cubits. Certainly an impressive size, though it took a lot of work to build, as one might expect. Dozens of thousands of Egyptians worked on it, and the construction process lasted well over two decades, from the sources that I have. A project of such a scale is rarely seen, and even these days, with a much larger population and better technologies, we don¡¯t engage in such massive works. Maybe that is for the better, as we can allocate resources more efficiently and so build many smaller and more practical works, rather than one huge pyramid which takes up the majority of the resources. Still, we should be grateful to Khufu for his contribution and for bringing such a great wonder to life in our land. Ptah is very proud of this pyramid, I am certain of it.


    And now, that the capital is once again in Men-nefer, just as it was in the Old Kingdom, we are able to appreciate this wonder even more. Same applies to foreigners, as many merchants and diplomatic visitors already often go to see Khufu¡¯s Horizon during their trip to the capital, so with the inclusion of it on the official list of architectural wonders, even more people would want to see its greatness, and they would be able to do so with ease. In recent decades we have done some restoration work on the pyramid complex, including the restoration of the wall around it and the reconstruction of Khufu¡¯s ship near the pyramid itself, as well as some light touches to Khufu¡¯s Horizon and the surrounding pyramids to undo the effects of looters and other such miscreants. The whole complex is now well guarded and is in the best shape it has been since the reign of Khufu, thus making the pyramid even worthier of inclusion in this list, and I believe no one would disagree upon visiting it and seeing it in person. It is indeed the truest testament to Egyptian ancientness, power, wealth, and engineering prowess.


    <u>Hanging Gardens of Susa</u>


    On the other side of the civilized world, in the Kingdom of Elam, the most prominent architectural works are often ziggurats, and the ones in Elam are often no worse than the ones in Babylonia, where the tradition originated. However, in recent times, the Elamites have built something more impressive than a regular ziggurat. They have the Hanging Gardens, located in their capital Susa, right on and around their royal palace. This massive project began almost eighty years ago, under the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte, who is known to have been a monarch greatly interested in architecture. Among other projects, over his forty-six-year reign he greatly expanded the royal palace in Susa, while also fortifying it and adding the first of these gardens on top of it and around the building. The expansion of the gardens was stopped during the reign of his son Kutir-Nahhunte II, as there was a succession crisis, but Shilhak-Inshushinak, Shutruk¡¯s younger son, continued the project upon assuming the throne. During Shilhak¡¯s reign, another layer of the gardens was added, and they began to be built not only on the palace, but in the whole palatial complex. He also expanded the gardens even into the interior, adding many pools and little indoor gardens into the palace itself, with the largest one being right behind the throne room. Even now, after his death, his wife Lim-Kiririsha continues the expansion of the gardens, though it looks like the process is being finalized, as there is simply almost no space left for them at this point. Yet even though the gardens are still technically not fully complete, we have agreed to include it in the list, as it is simply too great to not be given a place among the other monumental works.


    Now, one who hasn¡¯t witnessed this architectural achievement might wonder what it actually is. The Hanging Gardens of Susa have now become another name for the Royal Palace of Susa, due to the abundance of these tiered gardens all around it. The palace is quite tall when compared to other royal palaces, currently measuring at about 115 royal cubits, with many floors and every level having terraces extending outside into the open. This makes the palace somewhat like a pyramid or a ziggurat, although a very unconventional one even in shape, as some levels extend further than the ones below them, for example, or how it looks completely different from every side due to unique elements added everywhere. As for these terraces, they, as well as small paths along the stairs and the main walkways, all contain small gardens containing trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, and all other kinds of plants. The indoor gardens are similar, except they are larger and contain pools within, while the recently finished garden on the roof ¨C measuring 60 by 96 royal cubits ¨C of the palace is by far the largest continuous one, containing three pools, hundreds of different species of plants, and is now often a place for meeting foreign rulers and envoys.


    Recent developments have now also expanded these gardens to be on the walls of the palatial complex, other smaller buildings within it, and the ground level in the center of the complex, behind the main royal palace. The Elamite palatial complex is not nearly as large as ours, but it is much denser, with every little nook serving some purpose and being incorporated into this grand scheme. The whole complex is essentially one massive building, with some open areas in between its parts, connected by walkways, stairs, and bridges. Though with so much greenery there, it¡¯s a good question whether it would be more accurately describes as a palace with gardens, or a garden with a palace inside it.


    The complex now indeed has quite a selection of plants within it, both local and foreign. In the gardens, one could find trees such as cedar, birch, cypress, fir, oak, pine, ash, palm, and willow, among others. There is also a variety of fruits and nuts grown in the gardens, including olives, figs, dates, grapes, pears, plums, pomegranates, walnuts, and almonds. Water plays an important part in the gardens too, of course, with there being a few waterfalls, fountains, a series of artificial rivers, pools, and ponds, as well as an irrigation system to maintain all the plants. Some ponds are also used for the growing of exotic fish, from what I have been told. It is even said that there is simply so much of everything in these gardens, that even if the palatial complex was cut off from the city, during a siege or other such event, it could easily feed itself for months, with all the fruit, fish, and massive quantities of water available inside, not to mention other stocked supplies.


    While the Elamites might be our greatest enemies right now, I would say that one must still give them some credit for this architectural wonder. The Hanging Gardens certainly stand out from anything else in the city, and the palace is highly distinct from any other one anywhere in the known world. It did take a long time to build and many architectural and horticultural challenges had to be overcome, but the result is a delightful sight to behold.


    <u>Hattusa¡¯s Hill Fortress</u>


    While the Royal Palace of Susa may win in terms of aesthetics, the palace which is the most well defended of them all is in Hattusa, the capital of Hatti. Hattusa itself is already a well defended city, being located on rather rough terrain and having thick walls surrounding it, the palace is another deal entirely. As you know, the Royal Palace of Hattusa is situated right in the middle of Hattusa, between its Lower and Upper cities, on a high hill which is further surrounded by a second layer of walls, while the palace on top of the hill has yet another layer of walls, thus making it so that one would have to pass through three layers of walls to get to the palace if one was outside the city. This defensive arrangement has earned the palace the name of Hattusa¡¯s Hill Fortress, as it might just be the most protected place on the planet.


    Hattusa had been the capital of the Hittite state ever since the kingdom¡¯s establishment about five centuries ago, however, it was partially or even completely razed by barbarians a few times in the early years of Hatti. Thus, growth was limited and Hattusa could not become a massive center of power for quite a while. However, with the accession of Tudhaliya I to the throne, about three hundred years ago, the Hittites entered their golden age, as the state expanded and soon became a great power. The barbarians were beaten back and so Hattusa became safe once again, but to further entrench it, the Hittite kings began the building of its extensive walls and the new palace, which was to be located on top of a hill, which at that point had not yet been within city limits. It was decided that the hill ¨C now known as the Tarhunt Hill, or simply the Royal Hill ¨C needed to be the place where the palace would be located so that even if the city fell, the palace would continue standing, thus giving the people hope that the fight was not yet lost and more time for the court to wait for reinforcements to arrive. The Hittites are a very warlike people and ones who would not surrender as long as even one man is left standing, so this design is very much in line with their values. And so the palace was built on Tarhunt Hill, and over the centuries expanded, renovated, and surrounded by two more layers of walls. All the while, as the area was now deemed safe, the city expanded below, with both the Lower and Upper cities becoming densely populated and the capital transforming into a site worthy of representing the Kingdom of Hatti and projecting its power.


    While over the centuries after the construction of the fortress many barbarians and rebels attempted to take it, none came even close to succeeding. Of course, the closest call was during the Hittite Civil War, as the barbarian coalition, hired by Hakkarpili, turned on the usurper and occupied most of Hattusa, ransacking it in the process. However, that was mostly due to Hakkarpili¡¯s mismanagement and overreliance on barbarians, and not any structural failures. And even then, the barbarians could not breach the second layer of walls and start ascending the hill, which made it a place of refuge for many Hittite nobles and other wealthy people who managed to get up there, allowing them to escape the carnage taking place below. Muwatalli later entered the city and cleared the barbarians out, and by then almost every Hittite had recognized him as the true king and so the guards allowed him to bypass the remaining layers of the walls and go right up to the palace. So this means that the Hill Fortress has still never been taken by force and continues to be worthy of its reputation.


    Hattusa¡¯s Hill Fortress stands at about 630 royal cubits in height for the hill and an additional 48 royal cubits for the fortress itself. Combined, this would make it the tallest structure in the known world, but when talking about such accomplishments we only include the man-made portions, so the palace itself is overtaken by other buildings, such as the aforementioned two wonders. Still, even by itself it¡¯s still very impressive, having thick reinforced walls, towers stretching into the sky, many statues on the outside and inside, and hundreds of rooms within, both above ground level and even some below the ground, inside the actual hill, for additional protection. Supposedly, the Fortress is so well stocked that it is said that it could survive a siege lasting years, if needed, and that it also has secret tunnels leading out of the city through the hill, though I somewhat doubt whether this claim is truly accurate. It is also the oldest continuously inhabited royal palace from the known civilizations, which makes it even more impressive, as every Hittite king added his own touch, and commissioned reliefs and statues, to it and so one can in a way see the entire history of Hatti from its reemergence three centuries ago to now while being in the palace. Hattusa¡¯s Hill Fortress is certainly an impressive structure, and one which perfectly represents the Hittite civilization, and so I believe it certainly warrants being placed on this list.


    <u>Ziggurat of Ur</u>


    While certainly a controversial choice, the Ziggurat of Ur ultimately was decided to be given a place on the list, due to its sheer size, age, and importance to Mesopotamian history. It is a massive temple in the Babylonian city of Ur, constructed about nine centuries ago during the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur. Specifically, its construction was started by the dynasty¡¯s founder Ur-Nammu, and finished decades later by his son Shulgi. The dynasty¡¯s reign is currently quite controversial in Babylonian circles and abroad, mostly due to its economic policies, but one thing that most people can give the Ur dynasty credit for is the architecture of the period. Under Ur-Nammu, Mesopotamia was once again reunited, and this meant that massive building projects were now on the table once more. And one benefit of the centralization of the country¡¯s economy was that the capital had massive quantities of resources at its disposal, both materials and people, and so could afford to build something truly great, such as this ziggurat.


    The Ziggurat of Ur measures at about 124 by 86 royal cubits at the base, while its height is about 75 royal cubits. The height may not seem to impressive, but one must remember that this is still just a temple and not a palace or some tower, built specifically for height, and so among the temples it may very well be the tallest. It is dedicated to the Mesopotamian god of the moon Sin, back in the days of the Ur dynasty known as Nannar, as Ur-Nammu and his successors were still Sumerians. The ziggurat stood tall and proud through the remaining part of the dynasty¡¯s rule, witnessing many events, such as the king Shulgi proclaiming himself a god on top of the ziggurat, in what his detractors often cite as his final act of madness before plunging the country into destruction, though it did temporarily fall into disrepair after the collapse of the empire.


    The following Babylonian dynasty did not care much for it, as they wanted to establish Babylon as the new center of Mesopotamia and make it more powerful than Ur (while also discrediting the previous dynasty in order to make the new regime look better), but the Kassites did actually invest in some repairs and so brought the ziggurat back into shape, probably in an effort to sway the local nobles and so retain higher government legitimacy among the often disloyal southern cities. Ur did not see much combat during the wars of the previous few decades and so the ziggurat remained undamaged, unlike many other temples in the north of the country, ravaged by the Assyrians. The current ruler Nebuchadnezzar also seems to have an interest in making sure it is maintained, though not for any admiration of the Ur dynasty ¨C he hates it very much, in fact ¨C but because he believes it is a great Mesopotamian structure which should be associated with the land and the people there, rather than any actual ruler who commissioned it. This seems to be a working compromise between the government, the locals of Ur, and the critics of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and so the ziggurat is now looking as great as ever.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The Ziggurat of Ur was built with mud bricks, with burnt brick facing, giving it that signature orange-brown look which is often seen in Mesopotamia. It has slightly sloping walls and three massive stairways at the front, leading to the roof of the temple. The roof itself has two more levels of such design on top of it, right in the center, thus making it look somewhat like a step pyramid, though with completely different proportions between the levels. Finally, on top of the highest level of this structure, stands a sort of crown like dome, under which the priests still perform the most important ceremonies. Most priests work inside the ziggurat, but they come out onto the roof and the top levels for occasions which warrant it. The ziggurat is also so massive that it even used to house the administration of the city and the country during the reign of the Third Dynasty of Ur in some cases, though for the time being it seems to be mostly a religious building, with the civilian administration having relegated somewhere else. Still, it is busy, and many people from the region congregate around it during important occasions, such as the New Year¡¯s celebrations or some other date of religious importance, to witness the priests perform the rites on top of the historic building.


    Again, I am no treasurer and so cannot judge Ur-Nammu on his economic policies, all I care about are the great works that were built. And the Ur dynasty definitely accomplished a lot in this field. I am glad for the decision to leave the ziggurat standing and continue maintaining it, rather than abandoning it or even destroying it for some ideological reasons, as it would be a shame to let such a monumental wonder go to waste. It is an exceptionally important example of Mesopotamian history and architecture, and their god Sin must certainly be more than satisfied with it.


    <u>Ramesseum at Waset</u>


    The next wonder that we decided to include in the list is another one of our own here in Kemet. The Ramesseum if, as you know of course, the mortuary temple of the great pharaoh Ramesses II, located in the Waset necropolis, which also includes the mortuary temples of most other notable pharaohs of the last few centuries, such as Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III, and Ramesses III. So we already had quite a selection of architectural wonders to choose from there, but ultimately we decided on the mortuary temple dedicated to Ramesses II, though it was a close call between that of his and Ramesses III¡¯s temples. Ramesses III¡¯s is almost equally impressive, but it suffered in a few places due to being built in a period of relative turmoil, and there is also the fact that it came decades after Ramesses II¡¯s mortuary temple, thus making it rather derivate, so thus we gave the spot to the Ramesseum.


    Its construction began during the reign of Ramesses II, about two centuries ago. It was finished after about two decades, though small additions were included over time. Later, once Ramesses II died and was buried there, his successors added even more to the Ramesseum and renovated it to make it look the part for the great pharaoh. Ramesses III contributed the most to this matter, and he had people working on it while his own mortuary temple was being built nearby. So, for the most part, the Ramesseum was finished about hundred sixty years ago, with the latest improvements being made about eighty years ago. But to this day, we have people overseeing its condition and making sure it is pristine, and same goes for every other temple in the complex, of course, but the Ramesseum holds special importance. And I can confirm that it still definitely looks as good as it did more than a century ago and complements the necropolis very well.


    It is not particularly tall, measuring at about 45 royal cubits in height in most places, a bit more at the entrance, but its impressiveness comes not from its height but from its other dimensions, as it is a massive temple of 285 royal cubits in length and 95 royal cubits in width. This makes it the building with the largest floor surface area of any in this list, other than Khufu¡¯s Horizon, but unlike Khufu¡¯s Horizon, which is for the most part doesn¡¯t have much inside, the Ramesseum is as impressive inside as it is on the outside. It has both open courtyards and more closed off rooms, which makes it seem like an actual palace being used, as is fit for the great pharaoh, of course. The temple has two pylon gates, each leading into a massive courtyard, and after the second courtyard comes the inner sanctuary, where the pharaoh himself is buried alongside all the grave goods. Inside the courtyards, one can see dozens of massive statues of Ramesses II and gods such as Osiris, Horus, Amun, and Ra, which are all impressive by themselves. The inner space, meanwhile, is full of weapons, chariots, small boats, royal garments, and treasures to help the pharaoh navigate the underworld. All pharaohs take some grave goods with them, but the collection left with Ramesses II surpasses even some of the largest museums in terms of how much value and how many items of historical importance are there. This does, of course, make it an attractive target for grave robbers, but worry not, as the Ramesseum is also surrounded by a massive wall, guarding it as well as some smaller shrines dedicated to the temple, and is constantly patrolled by guards.


    And one must not forget the artwork on the inner and outer walls as well. Some of Egypt¡¯s greatest artists worked on painting these scenes and they certainly succeeded in portraying the epic events of Ramesses II¡¯s reign in full glorious detail. Ramesses reigned for over seventy years, and so there was lots to paint, as he was a busy ruler indeed. The artwork depicts scenes of him fighting and defeating the Sherden and the Libyan barbarians, as well as the Kushites and the Canaanites, which he fought during his many campaigns in the Levant. The scenes concerning the fights with the Kushites and the Canaanites are now controversial in some circles, as some say that we shouldn¡¯t glorify violence against these peoples, seeing as we are now the Commonwealth, but I believe these scenes are an important part of our history and have every right of being shown on this temple. It would help no one if we just erased it all and tried to forget our history. But, of course, the most impressive art pieces are those in the very center, depicting Ramesses¡¯ campaign against the Hittites during the First Hittite-Egyptian War, specifically his monumental victory at the First Battle of Kadesh, which was the largest battle we had been involved in by that point, and one which resulted in the first treaty we signed with Hatti. We certainly spared no expense for the Ramesseum, and it puts to shame most other mortuary temples in the known world, but I believe it was certainly worth it. Ramesses II protected us for seven decades and so he deserves nothing less than this exceptional monument.


    Marduk Gate of Babylon


    Just like we have two entries located in our country, so we also have two in Babylonia, but, again, it should not be surprising. The Commonwealth and Babylonia both have massive populations which are more than double of any other country, and so it is only natural that more wonders will be found in these places. And so we turn to the Marduk Gate of Babylon, which is, in fact, the most recent of these wonders. Much of Babylon was destroyed just a decade ago, including its walls and gates, of course, but after the change in leadership the city was quickly rebuilt. And one of the things which was rebuilt and much improved was the main gate to the city, situated in its eastern part. The city now has eleven gates ¨C due to being the largest city on the planet and so needing so many of them to accommodate all the traffic ¨C and while all of them are quite fine indeed, the eastern Marduk Gate is the most notable one and is made by intent to be that way, since most of the important visitors (that is, ones from Elam and the rest of Babylonia) would come from the east. First impressions are often crucial, and the Marduk Gate makes sure to give visitors a great first look of what the city is all about.


    The gate¡¯s construction began about eight years ago and was finished six years ago, while the final elements were added four years ago, but when we visited it, the gate was already fully finished. What¡¯s also interesting is that this is the only one of these wonders to be constructed not by architects and builders working directly for the royal court, but by ones working for a private company. Babylon needed a lot of work after the war with Assyria and Elam, and so the new leadership in the city contracted various companies to help rebuild it. Of these, the one responsible for the Marduk Gate was the Boktnassar Construction Conglomerate, which is now the largest construction company and one of the megacorporations having massive influence in Babylonia, and I imagine getting the contract to build the most prominent gate in the most prominent city in the country certainly helped. There is certainly a lot to be said about Boktnassar Nepeshu, the head of the company and the founder of the Technomancer school of philosophy, but he is a native of Babylon and a man who certainly knows a thing or two about technologies and construction matters, and so he was a good choice for leading this project. And he certainly did not disappoint in this matter.


    The Marduk Gate stands at an impressive 32 royal cubits in height, and that is only the actual gate portion. The gate¡¯s walls are made of glazed bricks in blue, what is now often considered the color representing Babylonia. The walls have a repeating relief design, which shows many lions, bulls, and mushkhushshus ¨C mythological Mesopotamian dragons, representing the god Marduk ¨C along with other smaller beasts. However, it¡¯s not all animals, as there are at least as many reliefs of man-made creations alongside, including siege towers, war chariots, and massive boats, all showing the technological achievements of Babylonia, most probably added due to Boktnassar¡¯s Technomancer association. In total, there are over two hundred of these beasts and war machines on this gate, and they are all rather sizeable too. The gate also has inscriptions commemorating the achievements of Shilhak-Inshushinak, who took the city and put an end to the Kassite dynasty, and Nebuchadnezzar, the first and current ruler of Babylonia. The are also smaller inscriptions on the inner side of the gate, facing the city, praising the current mayor of Babylon and Boktnassar himself, who were responsible for the commissioning and designing of the gate, respectively.


    But that¡¯s still not all. The gate would already be impressive enough, but what elevates it further ¨C literally ¨C is a massive statue of Marduk on top of it. Marduk is the god of the city of Babylon and is also a god of creation, which probably resonates with Boktnassar. The statue is 38 royal cubits in height, thus bringing the total height of the whole construction from the ground up to 70 royal cubits. The statue is made of bronze, and it is Marduk standing with his traditional garments on, a royal crown, and, surprisingly, a gun. Initially that was a sword, but it was replaced by a gun four years ago ¨C it was certainly an unexpected decision, considering how at that point only probably fewer than a hundred people even had a single gun. It was also highly controversial, but Boktnassar is never one to pass up on new technologies and so he did not relent and added the gun despite many protests. The sword also did not go to waste, it was instead shifted to the left, lowered, hand, while the gun is now in the raised right hand, and this symbolized Babylonia¡¯s long history (the sword) as well as the coming future (the gun), and also its achievements in warfare and the technological sphere. Thus the Marduk Gate of Babylon is certainly a massive, breathtaking, and unconventional construction, but I, for one, welcome it, as there would be no architectural wonders if everyone only followed the established conventions.


    <u>Labyrinth of Knossos</u>


    While all the previous entries so far have been more conventional structures, such as palaces, temples, and gates, this is nothing of the sort. This labyrinth, located next to the palace of Knossos in Crete, is an elaborate maze, made for the purpose of confusing the people who enter it and preventing them from leaving. It is indeed a very unusual structure with an unusual purpose, but that¡¯s what makes it a wonder, as it has to be by far the most unique building of any here, and anywhere in the world as well, at least one of such a scale.


    Now, why would anyone even build something like this? That¡¯s a good question, and one which is still being debated even now. The traditional story goes that about a millennium ago, king Minos of Crete, back when the island was still independent, had his architect Daedalus construct this labyrinth in order to contain the monster known as the Minotaur ¨C an unnatural offspring of a human woman and a bull, and so he could not be satisfied by anything else other than eating humans. The Minotaur could not be killed or contained by a simple prison and thus the labyrinth was created so it would serve as the more elaborate place of captivity for the simple-minded Minotaur, who could never find an escape. Meanwhile, some people, such as prisoners, would be sent down to the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur, and so two problems would be taken care of at once, as the beast would be satiated for a while and undesirables discreetly removed from the world of the living.


    Is this true? Probably not, at least not the Minotaur part. But there is still reason to believe the labyrinth was constructed a long time ago, back in the age of the Minoan civilization, and it could indeed have served as some sort of prison. The island suffered many calamities over the centuries, but parts of Knossos miraculously survived most of them, and the labyrinth seems to be one of the structures which remained relatively untouched. The new, now Mycenaean, rulers of Crete have possibly used this labyrinth for one reason or another as well ¨C some say it was used for rituals and sacrifices, others that it still remained as a prison, though one for political opponents. But one thing is for certain ¨C in the last century it was renovated, and one notable addition was that the walls can now be shifted. Not by humans inside the labyrinth, but by cranes from the outside. This allows the ruler, or whoever is in charge of overseeing the labyrinth, to change the layout of the maze at any point with relative ease, and so have potentially infinitely many versions of it, so that even if someone did figure a way out, the labyrinth could be changed, and the escape attempts would have to be restarted from scratch.


    The labyrinth is a square of about 150 royal cubits in length, which makes for quite a massive area, while its height is about 10 royal cubits. It is entirely covered by a roof, consisting of many smaller tiles, which can be taken off in order to reconfigure the maze. The roof itself is also impressive, as it features Minoan and Mycenaean artwork, focusing on various historical and mythological events, but most notably, of course, the Minotaur, which is featured prominently on the central roof tile. As for the inside of the labyrinth ¨C it¡¯s difficult to say, because, like I mentioned, it can now change at any point. This is a pretty fluid architectural work, and that certainly further elevates it to this list. The walls inside are rather thick and also actually feature artwork made throughout the centuries, even if one can only see it by torchlight while inside. The walls are divided into portions which can be as small as only 10 cubits in length, and these segments are moved around to create new designs of the maze. There are other things in the labyrinth too, but that changes with every iteration of the design. I have been told that the king sometimes puts in statues, pottery, chariots, furniture, and other things, and even releases some small animals in there, to further change up every experience.


    This has a practical purpose too ¨C in the last few decades, the Cretans have begun organizing games, where a number of volunteering participants are released into the labyrinth and have to find a way out. The roof tiles are then lifted off, so that the viewers could see the action from above and bet on who would win (but the walls are still tall enough so that the participants could not see over them). I was told this event attracts thousands of observers who are eager to see such a unique challenge take place. The rewards for the winners are some treasure from the king of Crete himself, plus whatever they find in the labyrinth, which further encourages exploration. Those who are lost and can¡¯t find the exit are lifted out after the end of the game, but they don¡¯t get any reward. The whole event seems to be quite costly, but I suppose it is a worthwhile undertaking, as it brings thousands of additional tourists to the island and further promotes the region abroad. While in terms of pure architecture the Labyrinth of Knossos may not seem too impressive, its distinctiveness from anything else and its variability certainly make up for that and show how construction doesn¡¯t have to be done in the traditional way, for that I certainly believe it is a great wonder.


    <u>Library of Nineveh</u>


    Just like here in Egypt we have the city of Khemenu as our center of knowledge, the Mycenaeans have Athens, and the Babylonians have Babylon, so do the Assyrians have their own, in the city of Nineveh. And what would a center of knowledge be without a respectable library? Not much. All of these cities have massive libraries with thousands of scrolls or tablets, but the Library of Nineveh takes the crown, as right now it is simply unsurpassed in terms of size and how many written works it contains.


    Its construction first began about thirty years ago, under the Assyrian king Mutakkil-Nusku, who was a man more interested in science and in understanding the universe, rather than warfare. A rare trait in the Adaside Dynasty, but a welcome one for sure, as it gave us this great work. Well, at least set the foundations for it. The king did not live long and died at the age of only 29, which put a stop to the construction, as the following couple kings were more of a return to traditional Assyrian ways. The library was still functional, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as impressive as it is now. This changed a decade ago, when Ninsina assumed the throne during the Great Powers¡¯ War and overthrew the old government, with Elamite help, of course. Unlike her predecessors, she was very interested in the library and spent a lot to expand it and acquire more literary works for the library. Thus the library became much more than a regional attraction and reached international fame in just a couple years after its expansion.


    The library has a base of 120 by 170 royal cubits, a respectable surface area already. However, that is just one floor and the library has a whopping seven floors in total, all full of shelves containing written works. The building is thus about 90 royal cubits in height, but further expansion is still supposedly considered to add even more floors. On the outside, the library is surrounded by statues of Nabu, the Mesopotamian god of knowledge, as well as smaller statues of prominent Mesopotamian writers, scientists, inventors, and other relevant persons. The largest of these are right at the grand entrance at the front, which is reached by climbing up some stairs. There are also massive decorated windows, to let in enough light into the library, and a pyramidal roof, which could be raised to make space for a new floor and then added back on top of the building again. On the inside, there are seven floors, and each is separated into a few sections. There are small administrative sections, where visitors can ask for information on where to find a specific tablet or ask to borrow it, reading spaces, where people can read and study the selected works, meeting rooms, often used by the Nabuites and Technomancers for their gatherings, and, of course, the main areas where one can find all the shelves with the works in them.


    These works include not only clay tablets, but also papyrus scrolls, wax boards, wooden boards, leather scrolls, and even texts written on animal bones and turtle shells, supposedly from China in the far east. Basically, the Assyrians are interested in acquiring as many written works as they can, no matter where they are from and what they are written on, which makes the collection certainly impressive. Most works are from Mesopotamia, but there is a considerable Elamite collection, as well as an Egyptian one, a Phoenician one, and some Hittite and Mycenean texts too, and there is probably at least one text from every civilization which has invented writing. The texts themselves vary greatly in content too ¨C the library has plenty of non-fiction works, including histories, scientific treatises, medicinal texts, manuals, and much more, but there is a massive fiction collection as well, which includes everything from comedies and romance tablets to horror and fantasy stories. In total, there are about a hundred thousand works in the library right now. It¡¯s difficult to compare this count to the ones in other libraries, since the works vary in format, size, and length, but most scholars agree that the Library of Nineveh currently wins in terms of having the most literary works and in terms of total content length.


    Thus, while the library is already very impressive from the outside, its inside is the main attraction, serving as the most important center of knowledge east of the Euphrates. Building magnificent looking structures is great, but if one has a practical purpose as well, that makes it even better. And the Library of Nineveh sure has a very well-defined purpose, making it nothing short of an architectural wonder.


    <u>Final notes</u>


    Thus, here are the eight structures which we deemed to be worthy enough to be considered the great architectural wonders of the world. Some of these you have already visited, but the others you may still visit in the future, I imagine, as they are rather hard to miss. For now however, I am attaching the artists¡¯ renditions of these wonders so that you could see how they look more or less. If you have any criticisms or notes about this list, I will be glad to hear them. Otherwise, if you are content with it, I will bring to you the document for your official royal signature, so that the decree would come into effect, and these works would internationally be considered the official architectural wonders.

 On the Western Continents of Khonsmia

    On the Western Continents of Khonsmia


    Report by captain Khonsmes Kanefer


    For many millennia had people wondered whether there is anything west of Europe and Afrika, but now we know the answer to that question for certain ¨C there certainly is. Over the last decade I, along with other explorers, have travelled there three times already, and so I believe I now know a thing or two about this mysterious land, this long hidden continent. Or, rather, continents. While during my first expedition only a small landmass and many islands around it were discovered, later expeditions, travelling more to the north and south, discovered that there is much more. Indeed, it appears that our first landing site, the land of the Olmecs, was part of a region which connects two massive continents ¨C North and South Khonsmia.


    And with every new expedition, they appear to become larger and larger. The entirety of Khonsmia may very well be even larger than all of Europe and Afrika combined, though we will not know that for sure until we explore the continents more. Still, this makes Khonsmia a crucial part of the world, one which should not be ignored, as it may become as important as any other discovered continent. I will now proceed to describe each continent making up Khonsmia ¨C North Khonsmia, South Khonsmia, and Central Khonsmia, which I separated since it appears to be quite distinct from the North, even if there is no clear geographical boundary ¨C thus giving a general overview of all these discoveries and noting what stood out to us the most.


    <u>North Khonsmia</u>


    Of the three regions, we probably know the least about North Khonsmia. This is in part due to it being the hardest to reach ¨C as our sea routes take us along the coast of western Afrika, and from there to South Khonsmia ¨C and having the harshest climate, for which an expedition needs more preparation. Thus, for now we are mostly focusing on exploring the more southern regions, but the north will also be properly explored in time, I assure you. For now, however, what we explored of North Khonsmia consists of its southern coast, parts of the eastern coast, as well as a peninsula, stretching into the archipelago of Central Khonsmia.


    This peninsula is an interesting one, and we decided to name it Sobekida ¨C because, well, it is full of crocodiles, if nothing else. It was a rather surprising sight, seeing our beloved green river beasts in these western lands, considering how other animals seemed to be different, so Khonsmia may not be as alien as one might have thought. In fact, we found plenty of crocodiles everywhere we went ¨C the islands, Central Khonsmia, South Khonsmia, and even the North, including this peninsula. However, there is a difference between these crocodiles. The ones in Central and South Khonsmia seem more like the ones we have here in Afrika, yet the Northern ones are much darker, often almost black, and have wider snouts. Some say that they are the cursed and exiled sons of Sobek, sent to be far away from civilization, but I¡¯m not an expert on animals so I can¡¯t comment on this too much.


    Yet they seem to be the most interesting thing in this peninsula, as there¡¯s not too much else there. It¡¯s full of marshes, making it hard to traverse, much less live in. It appears to be somewhat similar to the more tropical regions, like Central Khonsmia or Central Afrika, except more¡­ dead. It¡¯s hard to describe it, but the peninsula may very well be cursed by the gods, I would suggest sending some priests there to confirm if that¡¯s the case. In any event, it doesn¡¯t seem to have much agricultural potential or any other useful resources either. Establishing a few ports may be a good idea, but going further in and trying to secure the peninsula may be much more trouble than it¡¯s worth. There are some people there actually, but quite uncivilized ones only. They appear to still be many millennia behind, even more so than the Europeans or Afrikans, and definitely more than their counterparts in Central Khonsmia. They still use stone tools, make very primitive pottery, if it can even be called that, and are still nomads ¨C that is, they haven¡¯t settled down and don¡¯t seem to know what agriculture is. To them, even a Cimmerian barbarian warband would look like the most unimaginably advanced society, considering these primitives are still learning how to make knives and spears. We tried communicating with them, but they had none of it and always attacked us. Of course, our weapons are no match for theirs, but it still cost us a few members of the expedition, even if we compensated by putting down dozens of these barbarians. It is a good question of which species is the most advanced in Sobekida, as the humans there certainly seem to be lacking in every regard.


    As for the surrounding areas of North Khonsmia that we explored ¨C it was not too different, to our disappointment. Still full of marshes, black crocodiles, and these primitives. However, there was an interesting discovery made to the west of Sobekida. We found a river with a seemingly large drainage basin and considerable length, one potentially rivaling the Nile itself. This river ¨C called Misi-ziibi by the locals, apparently simply translating to ¡°great river¡± ¨C is also surrounded by rather decent lands for farming. I would bet that if left alone for a few more millennia, this region might produce something like our civilization, considering the somewhat similar conditions. Of course, we don¡¯t have that kind of time to wait, and the natives are still hunter-gatherers ¨C just like every other natives in North Khonsmia, as agriculture and sedentism seem to have only reached Central and South Khonsmia by now ¨C but they are at least a bit more civilized than the ones in Sobekida and there may be hope for them yet. They aren¡¯t as aggressive and were even willing to trade with us, which they apparently do between the tribes by way of this long river. I would say that this region might be a good place to start a colony, and we should be the first to claim it. After all, we are the only ones who know a thing or two about managing a great river and building a society around it. It is a bit more to the north of Kemet, that is true, but it¡¯s still very hospitable, no worse than southern Europe for the most part, at least from what we have seen so far.


    Speaking of Europe, it occurred to me that North Khonsmia may be the western equivalent of that continent, just like how South Khonsmia would be the equivalent of Afrika. Just minus the civilizations we have on this side of the ocean, of course. North Khonsmia seems to be mostly a temperate, forested region, with many rivers and some agricultural potential, as well as relatively few natural predators or other deadly animals, just like Europe. Also, lack of deserts and jungles. Sure, it may sound boring, and it is in a way, but it could be a rather untroublesome region bringing us safe profits, as compared to the more southern regions across the world, which are a constant battleground between civilizations, beasts, diseases, and natural disasters. We may want to send some Mycenaeans and Hittites to North Khonsmia, it may suit their tastes pretty well.


    Still, like I mentioned, we only explored a tiny sliver of North Khonsmia, so this is what I can say from what we have seen. For instance, we don¡¯t know how far to the west does it stretch. Does it connect to Niphu, to China perhaps? Or is the space between the two continents filled with Atum¡¯s Ocean? We also don¡¯t know how far to the north it stretches either. It could connect with Europe, but it may also be separated. Though even if it was connected, it would be so at such a northern latitude that the area might be one perpetually covered in snow. Europe is said to have such northern regions which are perpetually frozen, so North Khonsmia may very well have them as well. But, considering almost no Egyptian or Phoenician has even seen snow once, we would need better equipment for such expeditions. Again, a job possibly better left to the Hittites. North Khonsmia may indeed be a decent place for them to settle, the eastern part seems be a more mountainous area from what we have seen, so the Hittites could feel right at home. Of course, colonization of this continent would take decades, if not centuries, considering how it may as well be uninhabited, with the locals being so primitive and spread out, and so we would need to build everything from scratch, but we might as well start talks of dividing it up between our OFK allies to avoid trouble later. The continent might not look like much right now, but I believe we could make it very useful for ourselves, especially if we take opportunity of Misi-ziibi, what some now call the Western Nile.


    <u>Central Khonsmia</u>


    But enough about that lifeless husk up north for now, let¡¯s talk about the real meat of this thing, what I imagine you wanted to hear about the most. Central Khonsmia is where we, luckily, first landed, and the place which is of most interest to us right now. Like I mentioned, it is connected with North Khonsmia, and so is together with it in a single continent, but I separated it here because it is completely different from North Khonsmia and bears little resemblance in any regard. However, Central Khonsmia itself can also be divided into two regions ¨C the archipelago and the mainland.


    The archipelago, which we now call the Tainoan ¨C as the natives living there are called Taino by the Olmecs ¨C consists of many islands, on some of which we first landed on the way to the land of the Olmecs, and this island chain serves as a sort of protective wall, mostly separating the Atlantic Ocean and the Tainoan Sea, the latter serving as a sort of inner sea for Central Khonsmia (like what the Euxine Sea is now to the Hittites, or what the Mediterranean may soon be to the OFK). This archipelago consists of two large islands, one being long and thin, and the other more oval in shape, two mid-sized islands, possibly similar to Alashiya in size, and dozens of tiny islands, those being located mostly to the north, near Sobekida, and to the east, connecting to South Khonsmia. Most of these islands are inhabited, but also by primitive hunter gatherers, often not too dissimilar from the ones in the north. However, these tend to trade occasionally with the Olmecs and the other Central Khonsmian peoples. But other than them, the islands are unclaimed, and so we have already set up a few outposts there, to help with resupply for new expeditions and to continue trade with Central Khonsmia.


    The Tainoan islands have a tropical climate, one perhaps most similar to western Afrika and other Atlantic islands around it, from what we have seen. In terms of resources, there doesn¡¯t seem to be much, and conducting agriculture might be difficult as well. Still, the islands have potential for us. For one, the rather small and primitive populations would be extremely easy to subjugate, if we chose to do so, and colonists would quickly become more populous if even a few dozen thousand settled in, I would say. Of course, the Olmecs might see these islands as part of their sphere of influence, but we could easily enter into an agreement and give them some islands while dividing the remaining ones between the OFK members. One might ask then, why would we even need those islands? Some might say that they are worthless, but I would beg to differ. Believe me, I¡¯m far from a man who wants to conquer the world and colonize every little corner of it, but the Tainoan offers us a very unique opportunity and I think we should use it. Like I said, these islands can offer easier resupply for our ships travelling between the Old World and the Khonsmias, as they are the first land that is reached after traversing the Atlantic Ocean and they offer easy further access to North Khonsmia, Central Khonsmia, and South Khonsmia. Or at least the important portions of these continents. These islands could be our trading hubs for the region, places through which we could more easily contact the inhabitants of the remainder of the Khonsmias, and possibly even military bases for the army and navy, in the event we needed to conduct some military action in the region. If we wish to interact with the Khonsmias in any meaningful way, we will need such or similar outposts in any event, and I would say it would be better to establish them on these islands, rather than on the mainland, where they would be more vulnerable to outside attacks. The islands, meanwhile, would be surrounded by the sea and our unparalleled ships, and there are also plenty of them to be divided between us, Hittites, Mycenaeans, Olmecs, even the Alashiyans, Amorites, and Puntites, if they want to get in on this.


    But the Tainoan islands are only a means to an end, of course. And that end is Central Khonsmia, the mainland one. It is a sort of isthmus, which connects North and South Khonsmias, though it is much narrower in the south, and thus we decided to geographically assign the region to North Khonsmia. The isthmus also has a peninsula ¨C the Yucatan peninsula ¨C which is right to the east of the Olmec civilization. Central Khonsmia is also mostly of tropical climate, being almost entirely covered in jungles. However, the people here are much more advanced than their counterparts up north or in the islands. The locals in Central Khonsmia have actually invented agriculture, and apparently have practiced it for millennia already, if what we have been told is true. Yet the food they grow is quite different. While here in Neburu, Europe, and Afrika the main grain being grown is wheat, in Central Khonsmia ¨C and in South Khonsmia too ¨C it is replaced by corn, of which we have brought you samples, so you could see how it looks for yourself. This isn¡¯t too surprising for us, considering we did discover, centuries ago already, that the people in Niphu grow a different grain as well, that being rice, so by now we know that wheat isn¡¯t as universal as it previously has been thought to be. Other than corn, Central Khonsmians also grow a variety of other plants. This includes food such as tomatoes, beans, squashes, papayas, and pineapples. They also grow some plants for other uses, such as cotton for textiles and the native agave for writing materials (the equivalent to our papyrus). That¡¯s not even mentioning the more esoteric cultivars, such as chili peppers, which are used as an extremely powerful spice, and tobacco, which is a sort of a drug, similar to hemp and opium, though much less potent. Or so I have been told by my crewmates.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    So, the selection of produce in Central Khonsmia is certainly impressive, but what¡¯s even more impressive is that all of this is done even with the relatively poor quality of the soil there. Indeed, the soil is not very productive on the isthmus and there is not much of it either, yet the locals have adapted to the situation and made the best of it. They use irrigation techniques, not too dissimilar to the ones used in Mesopotamia, to make agriculture more effective, store food to make up for the loss of produce in bad times (which is why they grow corn so extensively, as it can be stored for a long time), and use slash and burn techniques to make way for more agricultural areas by cutting down and burning parts of the jungle. Quite resourceful people, if I do say so myself, unlike their northern neighbors, who have access to more land, longer rivers, and much better farmland, yet they still haven¡¯t settled down and started farming.


    While for the most part I only singled out the Olmecs from this region, they are not the only agriculturalists, far from it. They only seem to be a bit ahead of the curve, having established an actual civilization, but the rest of Central Khonsmia is farming and trading almost as well and may soon create more local civilizations. It¡¯s a somewhat similar situation to what was happening here about two millennia ago ¨C the Sumerians founded the first civilization, but the surrounding peoples, the Elamites, the Hittites, the Levantines, and us Egyptians of course, were not too far behind and not many centuries later we had our own civilizations too. So the same goes for Central Khonsmia, and the people there all share some similarities. They are sedentary, are involved in agriculture, have some sizeable settlements, have markets and engage in trade, wear more intricate clothing, produce some luxury goods, have their own religions with well defined gods, and build some interesting architecture. The Olmecs differ in the fact that they have a more centralized society, with their state containing the capital city and the surrounding areas and other towns. However, before moving to the discussion of the Olmecs I would like to mention some other peoples who seem to be closing in on them in terms of societal advancement. Of these, the two most prominent groups seem to be the Zapotecs, living to the south of the Olmecs and bordering Atum¡¯s Ocean, and the Mayans, living to the east of the Olmecs, mostly in the aforementioned Yucatan peninsula. These Mayans are also the ones we saw having built something similar to pyramids, though much cruder than ours, of course. Still, that is a most interesting development indeed. Could the Mayans be to the Olmecs what we became to the Mesopotamians here?


    As for the Olmecs ¨C well, they certainly have a civilization, I cannot deny that. They live in the northern part of Central Khonsmia, just to the west of the Yucatan peninsula, and they have access to the Tainoan Sea but not Atum¡¯s Ocean yet. Whether the civilization already emerged as a unified one, like here in Egypt, or was a collection of city states, like in Mesopotamia, for some time, is still unknown to us, but right now the civilization is quite centralized and one would not be wrong to call it a kingdom. Thus we have given the country the official designation of the Kingdom of Olmeca, interchangeably used with the Olmec Kingdom, and the local officials seem to be satisfied with this arrangement. The capital, known as Itzamatul, has about fifteen thousand inhabitants, which may not seem like much to us now, but it is the largest city in the Khonsmias, from what we have found, and it is still very impressive. It has a large marketplace, many temples, and an impressive palace for the king. The king himself, who I had the pleasure to meet, is named Tlacolotl, the fourth to be exact. He is a young man who was very eager to meet us outsiders, and while it took us a while to communicate with him and the other Olmec officials, we eventually managed to do it and he allowed us to set up an embassy in his capital. From what he told us and what we explored, the kingdom is ruled rather loosely, and while Itzamatul is the religious and economic center of the Olmecs, the other cities have some autonomy, though they still have obligations to the crown. The other cities are not very large, all having a few thousand inhabitants at most, but they are nice as well. The capital is located on the Coatzacoalcos river, which has a few tributaries joining it, and this valley is the heartland of the civilization, being quite densely populated, possibly having a couple hundred thousand inhabitants in total. Meanwhile the whole kingdom also contains a few other nearby river basins, and so its combined population may be over half a million, but it¡¯s difficult to say for sure.


    The Olmec Kingdom is said to have been around for more than three centuries, which is not too long, but enough time to establish a proper state and refine it. After all, the Mycenaean Confederation emerged not too much earlier than that. The Olmecs don¡¯t seem to be a very warlike people and instead seem to be more of a cooperating and trading type, like our Phoenicians, so I believe we should get along with them pretty well. And, just like the Phoenicians, the Olmecs also focus on making luxury items, including various figurines, drinking vessels, mosaics, face masks, and other artifacts, all made from jade, magnetite, basalt, greenstone, or obsidian, materials acquired either locally or traded with surrounding settlements. The Olmec heartland around the Coatzacoalcos river is also quite productive agriculturally and so exports foodstuffs all around in order to buy up all the luxury materials, which makes the capital so opulent even compared to some of our cities which are twice or thrice the size. Of course, there are also these huge heads, about which I wrote extensively in my first report, which surround the capital and could be found in some other cities. We were told that these heads represent former kings, priests, and other important local men, which makes sense. And the Olmecs also have their own calendar and writing system, which we noticed during our first visit, but only know are starting to fully understand. The Olmec script is written on rock slabs and the aforementioned agave leaves, and consists of pictorial symbols. You can see it in one of the attached tablets, the symbols seem more esoteric, but the logic is the same as for the ones we still use ceremonially.


    The Kingdom of Olmeca is certainly an advanced society and might prove to be a great ally for us. I don¡¯t believe we should interfere with them too much, we should let them continue advancing, but trading and sharing discoveries would certainly benefit both sides. Central Khonsmia is a very interesting region and it may prove to become yet another important battleground, if, say the Mayans or the Zapotecs rise to challenge the Olmec dominance, especially if those groups are supported by the EC. But in any case, if there is one region we should definitely leave to the locals, it is mainland Central Khonsmia, as it would be a shame to destroy the only true civilization on these continents and subjugate the only peoples who have achieved something worthwhile there. If we want to expand and colonize, we should focus on North Khonsmia, South Khonsmia, and the Tainoan islands ¨C where we have already started our limited expansion ¨C but a strategy of cooperation with the Olmecs would give us many more benefits. If other civilizations emerge in the region ¨C and I¡¯m sure they will, soon enough ¨C we should cooperate with them just the same. As long as the EC doesn¡¯t get involved, in that case we should be willing to get our hands dirty to kick them out. Knowing their destructive potential, they should be kept as far away from this great land of opportunity as possible.


    <u>South Khonsmia</u>


    Just like with North Khonsmia, we haven¡¯t discovered that much of South Khonsmia yet either. However, from what we have seen, it seems to be a rather large continent, one possibly the size of Afrika. South Khonsmia is completely surrounded by water, except an extremely narrow point in the north, where it is connected by an isthmus to Central Khonsmia, but the connection is so narrow that I believe the designation of a separate continent is well deserved. For reference, the isthmus at that point is more than two times narrower than the one connecting Lower Kemet with the Sinai peninsula, and since we deem Afrika to be a separate continent from Neburu, so South Khonsmia must be a separate continent from the north as well.


    Of South Khonsmia, we have explored the northern coast, as well as a portion of the eastern coast and a small part of the western coast, the one adjacent to Atum¡¯s Ocean. What¡¯s to the west of this continent, we do not know yet, our ships do not travel much around Atum¡¯s Ocean, but we may be able to start doing that in due time. To the east, though, it¡¯s a much clearer picture. South Khonsmia and Afrika are completely separated by the Atlantic Ocean, and the further south one goes, the wider the gap becomes. We know this since we sailed around Afrika decades ago and saw that it was completely surrounded with water, with the exception of Sinai, of course. Thus South Khonsmia cannot connect with it and either connects with some undiscovered continent to the further south, or is also surrounded by water and so allows the Atlantic and Atum¡¯s oceans to join, just like how Afrika allows the Atlantic and Indian oceans to join.


    As for the climate ¨C what we discovered of South Khonsmia has been almost exclusively tropical climate, filled with jungles, just like in Central Khonsmia and in Central Afrika, which makes sense, since the part of the continent we explored is roughly equal in latitude with the latter. Though curiously enough, we have not encountered any major deserts in the Khonsmias. If we go by the theory that there is similar climate according to latitudes, then there should have been a massive desert in the northern part of South Khonsmia and in Central Khonsmia, yet there are no deserts there and only jungles. Maybe deserts are a unique phenomenon of Afrika and Neburu only?


    But I digress. The northern and eastern coasts of the continent are the ones we explored the most, going inland in some places but never too far. Like I mentioned, they are filled with jungles and so we did not find much that was unexpected, after having already explored the Tainoan and Central Khonsmia. The natives there are an interesting kind though, as the region seems to be in a sort of transitionary stage. Some tribes are still hunter gatherers, while others have already adopted agriculture, and more and more seem to be switching every year, according to our Olmec contacts. So the inhabitants there are much more advanced than the ones in the Tainoan and North Khonsmia, but still have a long way to go to reach the Central Khonsmian level. Still, it is good to see progress happening ¨C before long, much of the continent will have fully adopted agriculture, I would say. The most prominent theory right now is that agriculture is spreading there from the north, from Central Khonsmia, which seems more and more like the heartland of the Khonsmias in every way after every discovery we make. We concluded this from the fact that agriculture seems to be the most intensive in the northern part of South Khonsmia, adjacent to the isthmus, also quite noticeable on the western coast and the northern coast, and the more on goes south and east ¨C that is, away from Central Khonsmia ¨C the less agriculture there seems to be. And everything else that comes with lack of it: few and tiny settlements, low population density, beasts outnumbering people, and so on. The eastern coast is almost exclusively populated by hunter gatherers, and I imagine the same story would remain if we went further south along it.


    And what do these people in South Khonsmia grow? Well, mostly the same foods and other items that the people of Central Khonsmia grow, just at lower quantities. The climate is similar and since agriculture seems to have reached the continent from the north, having similar crops is understandable. However, there is one major exception. Rather than growing corn as the main grain, South Khonsmia grows a plant known as cassava instead. The products of it are similar, in that they are also tubular, but they are brown on the outside, rather than yellow like corn, and white on the inside. They are also edible whole, unlike corn, of which only the kernels on the outside are edible. A most interesting development indeed. And speaking of these tubular plants which the Khonsmians seem to grow so much and eat as their main source of sustenance, there may be a third one yet as well. We have heard reports that to the further south, in western South Khonsmia, people grow a plant known as a potato, which is similar to cassava, except more yellow on the outside and the inside.


    That interested us greatly, and we started inquiring more about that place. And the more we asked, the more curious information we received. The western coast of South Khonsmia is a very mysterious land to us, but it may hold something of great value. We heard about these potatoes, but we also heard about seasoned agriculturalists, who have been doing this for millennia. We heard of settlements, towns, even large cities being in the area. We even heard about pyramids having been built there. And not any pyramids. Not like the crude ones in Olmeca or in Mayan lands. No, massive ones. And what¡¯s even more bewildering, they were supposedly built thousands of years ago. Right around the time our own pyramids were being built by the likes of Djoser, Sneferu, and Khufu. We have heard reports of civilizations in the area, of kingdoms, and not even current ones only, even ones which are said to have vanished centuries ago.


    Of course, these are all just stories, we cannot confirm their validity until we see everything for ourselves. Yet, there has to be some truth to them. The rate of agriculture does not decrease when going south along the western coast, like it does when going south along the eastern one. These potatoes also seem to exist, we saw a few making their way to us when we traded with the locals. So these reports might be truer than we first expected them to be. I believe our upcoming expeditions should focus on this exact region, because we must figure out what is actually going on there. The region may be a separate center of civilization for the Khonsmias, similarly to the case of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley. We may actually discover another true civilization there, who knows. And this one could be even older than anything in Central Khonsmia. If we reports are true, it would be far older than the Olmec civilization. If they are true, it would be the first civilization (or a successor of one) to have emerged in the Khonsmias. This would be a massive discovery, its importance cannot be overstated.


    North Khonsmia may be the most uncivilized place in the Khonsmias, Central Khonsmia the most prosperous one, but South Khonsmia is right now the most mysterious one indeed. There is a lot to be discovered there. The EC may be thinking the same right now, so we should get ahead of them and prevent them from snatching South Khonsmia from us with their grabby hands. And yes, these may turn out to only be rumors, and the whole continent may turn out to be worth not much more than the North. But I somehow believe these tales, even if some call me foolish for that. I believe that we can strike gold by continuing to explore the south, and that we can find some peoples who are even more advanced than the Olmecs. Or maybe some¡­ who might be our equals.

 On the Golden Age of Inventions (Part 1)

    On the Golden Age of Inventions


    Report by the engineer Zephon Botrys


    It is true that the inhabitants of these lands, stretching from Kemet to Mesopotamia, have always been industrious, and have been creating all kinds of inventions for at least three millennia by now. The wheel, various writing scripts, bronze tools and weapons, irrigation and sewage systems, improved building techniques, chariots, bigger and faster ships, and much more. But one would also have to be blind to not have noticed the increase in the rate of such inventions in the last few decades. These days, it seems as if a new major invention is created every year, not to mention all the unsuccessful ones which spawn seemingly every day now. This would have been rather unimaginable in the age of Ramesses II, I would say, as in previous centuries such advancements took much longer to be achieved. Something changed in the universe, and because of that we are now advancing at a seemingly unstoppable pace.


    Different groups have different explanations for this phenomenon. The priests say that the gods blessed us by giving us more intelligence so we could advance faster, generals claim that it was due to increase in warfare between major powers and the need to create new weapons to compete with them, while others say that it was pure luck and nothing more. Yet none of these explanations seem very logical to me, and I believe there must have been something more. And I have my own theory, in fact. I believe that this golden age of inventions, which we are living in right now, began about eighty years ago, during the first years of the rule of Ramesses III. As you may now, that time period was highly precarious, not only for Egypt, but for the existence of civilization itself. We had a series of unprecedented natural disasters ¨C such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions ¨C as well as an exceptionally hot period which brought severe droughts. Ones which could very well have resulted in extreme famines. The people were getting restless as well, and many speculated that Egypt, Hatti, Mycenae, or Karduniash might have a revolution any moment. Not to mention the mysterious barbarians from the north, who seemingly came from Europe after a series of famines hit the continent, and attacked us and the Mycenaeans. Peoples such as the Sherden, a group now almost completely integrated into our society and forgotten, but at that point they were as threatening as the Hittites.


    No one probably knew it at the time, but those years, the first decade of Ramesses III¡¯s rule, seem to have been a turning point for all our civilizations here. We could have perished and the tri-continental region could have been set back by many millennia. The consequences could indeed have been dire, and they are still the speculation of many scholars and fiction authors alike. Yet we managed to avert disaster, and seemingly came out much better for it, though it did take some time. Ramesses III did indeed decide to help the Mycenaean and the Hittites in their time of need, even if the latter contribution only resulted in a stab in the back for us at the time. Even still, helping the Hittites might have been necessary ¨C with the world having been so connected, a single piece falling could have brought down many other civilizations, and leaving Hatti to die might have resulted in destruction of Egypt as well. A controversial view, for sure, but one that is being adapted more and more often these days, especially now that the Hittites are seen as allies and not some barbarians.


    But what does this have to do with inventions and technological advancements? Well, I believe that the civilizations came so close to destruction, that the leaders and the people were shocked enough already by the experience, and decided to act swiftly by making new inventions to avert any possible future disasters. The gods probably didn¡¯t make us more intelligent, our brain capacity has always been the same, but they may have given us a serious warning. If that was the case, we definitely understood it and acted accordingly. Because the next time, it may not be a warning. The next time, we may not have so much luck. The next time, we may face even more serious problems, and so we have to prepare for them. And these preparations came in a variety of ways. Higher focus on international cooperation to prevent any civilization falling and so causing harm to everyone else. Discreet increases in the budget allocated to research and development. Further professionalization of armies, so that farmer conscripts wouldn¡¯t need to be relied upon in times of crisis. Creation of various scientific and engineer divisions. Promotion of private entrepreneurship, which could help the state as well. Higher investment in medicine, so that plagues wouldn¡¯t devastate the populations as much anymore. Finding better agricultural methods, so that famines wouldn¡¯t be as devastating. Diversification of economies, so that the treasury wouldn¡¯t be empty when the funds from it are most needed. All of this, I believe, was started eighty years ago, possibly by Ramesses III himself, after he completed the expedition to the Mycenaean Confederation. And, with the kingdoms being so interconnected, it quickly spread to our neighbors and then their neighbors.


    Of course, the wars of the period might also have contributed, firstly to military inventions, but those soon had civilian applications as well. The anti-barbarian campaigns, the two decade long Second Hittite-Egyptian War, the Assyrian-Kassite War, requiring international intervention, the Great Powers¡¯ War, and, finally, the OFK-EC War, and the ongoing cold war between our factions. Warfare is changing, it is no longer about seasonal campaigns involving a few thousands peasants raiding a village, it is now about armies of hundreds of thousands of professional warriors fighting for the control of almost every corner of the civilized world simultaneously. The increase in the invention rate had already started, but these massive wars gave it even more momentum, as everyone now needed bigger and better weapons to fight their similarly sized foes. For example, the Second Hittite-Egyptian War prompted us to massively increase our navy and start building bigger, four and five and even six-banked, ships in order to link up with the Mycenaeans and try to liberate Alashiya from Hatti. The Assyrian-Kassite War had the Assyrians create various new siege engines, such as the siege towers and catapults, to have an easier time taking the highly defended Kassite cities in Babylonia. The Great Powers¡¯ War gave us explosives, so we could destroy each other¡¯s armies and fortifications quicker, and the OFK-EC War, of course, resulted in guns, even if, in a functional form, they did come a couple years too late. That is also not mentioning all the improvements in soldier training, in medicine, fortifications, and societal developments, such as the inclusion of women in the army, also a result of the OFK-EC War and the depletion of army aged males from the preceding Great Powers¡¯ War.


    All this was done not for some wish of great societal development, only for the sake of survival, same as decades before during the crises in the first years of Ramesses III. But it worked, and we not only survived, but also set the foundations for many new developments for centuries to come. Our standards of living increased, and so did populations, increasing by the millions in many of the major states. With that, the economies grew and further propelled new developments, with the income from taxes, at least here, being much larger than ever before, even with the decrease in tax rates. And so, we continue pushing forwards, pleasing the gods greatly, if I do say so myself. We already advanced more in this century than we did in the previous millennia, and our progress is not stopping anytime soon, it seems. Military, agriculture, transportation, medicine, communication, construction, and many other developments have been made, and many more are being experimented with right as we speak. Having explained how this new golden age of innovations has come to be, and given the general overview of the situation and of the trajectory on which we and our allies and opponents are on, I would like to now move on to more specific fields, with their actual new technologies and other innovations, discussing them all in more detail.


    <u>Agriculture</u>


    Agriculture has been slowly but steadily improving for many millennia by now, but, seeing how devastating droughts and subsequent famines can be, it was nonetheless among the first few spheres to be focused on and targeted for further development by the governments of Ramesses III¡¯s time. One of the first such changes was the switch to the three-field system from the two-field system, which had been in use for many millennia by that point. The two-field system, first developed in Mesopotamia, involved planting crops in one half of the field, and leaving another one without sowing anything, so that it could recover. The next year, these fields would be switched, so that the one which recovered would be sown while the one which was used for growing crops would be left without sowing. A simple enough system, but the problem with it was that it left 50% of the farmlands as unproductive at any point in time. Naturally, since the soils here along the Nile and in Mesopotamia are so fertile, using even half of their capacity was good enough most of the times, but famines were still possible. And the near famine of eighty years prior demonstrated the faults of such a long-used system. So the switch was made to the three-field system ¨C a field would be divided into three parts, rather than two, and each part would have a cycle of growing one crop (cereal, mostly wheat), then another (legumes, such as lentils, as they were discovered to fertilize the soil), and finally would be left without any sowing, being used for animal grazing. Thus, by diversifying the crops and increasing the number of fields, the farmlands became more productive, as now, instead of being efficiently used only 50% of the time, they could be used 67% of the time. There may certainly still be room for improvement, and some are even theorizing and experimenting with a four-field system, but the three-field system was still certainly a massive improvement over the previous method, and allowed us to feed many more people than before, which is what I believe contributed highly to our immense population growth. Seeing such results, other countries followed shortly, with Mesopotamia making the switch only a couple decades later, and by now almost every civilization uses the three-field system, with its first mention being right here in Kemet, seventy-eight years ago, from what records I could find.


    Efficiency was also improved by moving away from subsistence farming to massive conglomerate plantations. Such attempts can be traced back to the rule of the Third Dynasty of Ur in Mesopotamia, almost a millennia ago, but, as we all know, that ended in failure once the empire collapsed. Still, the idea persisted and reemerged about four centuries ago, both in Assyria and here in Egypt. And in both cases, it was due to slavery. The Assyrians conquered everything around them and so gained hundreds of thousands of slaves, which were sent to work in plantations, held by Assyrian nobles, while we conquered Kush and had a similar system there. In general though, as nobles became more and more wealthy and powerful everywhere, they started buying up farms and building large estates, containing farmlands as far as the eye could see, with thousands of peasants working them. There was also, of course, the increase in the lands held by the priests and the governments. More recently, lands have begun to be bought up by self-made Phoenicianists and the companies they hold. That is not to say that subsistence farms don¡¯t exist anymore, they certainly do, but these days one would be more likely to find a peasant working for a noble, priest, company, or the government, than himself. The crisis of eighty years ago, of course, also had an effect on this, as many people were driven to destitution, while the more powerful players had more leftover funds to sustain themselves, and later, once the crisis ended, buy up the farms of some desperate peasants. This also depends on the country, as here in the Commonwealth we have many subsistence farms still, especially now that we have abolished slavery, but Assyria has most of the farmlands under government control, while in Babylonia they are almost entirely divided between the major megacoporations. Yet the trend is similar everywhere.


    And while some may decry this as some terrible thing, it is far from it. The early subsistence farms were horribly inefficient, with every farmer having to be not only a worker, but also an expert on farming techniques, a merchant (to sell the crops), and more to manage his farm. Now, with these acquisitions and mergers of the farms, everything can be done more efficiently. The farmers only have to worry about doing the actual work of farming, while what crops have to be planted and how and where they should be sold is decided by the owner, or some assistant of theirs, so the process is streamlined. This means that more crops are grown, they are traded more efficiently, and so everyone has more food and more wealth, as the situation comes closer to the equilibrium. The landowners profit greatly, of course, but so do the tenant farmers, as they farm more efficiently and so are left with more produce than they would be left with if they farmed independently, even factoring in the rent they have to pay to their landlords. The only way this would result in a worse outcome for the farmer would be if the farmer was very intelligent and could figure everything out himself, but in that case, he wouldn¡¯t be a peasant then, would he? He would be a manager of some company, a scribe, or even the landlord himself.


    I must also mention the emergence of scholars and scholarly works discussing agriculture. For a long time, this field was seen as a self-explanatory matter, and few tried researching it more. However, the near collapse made the scholars reconsider this and dedicate resources to studying agriculture as well. Over the previous few decades many respected scholars have written significant works on agriculture which helped societies improve their methods and achieve better yields and efficiency. These include Egyptians Petubast of Het-Nesut and Sneferka of Iunu, the Babylonian Zababa-Il of Kish, the Elamite Hishur of Susa, and the Mycenaean Andokides of Pylos. The Mycenaeans in particular started researching this field extensively, as for them it really was a matter of survival. They have always relied on imports from us for sustenance, and so developing methods to increase their own meagre agricultural yields was, and still is, seen as a priority. The Hittites also seem to be thinking the same thing, and starting their own initiatives to promote agricultural studying to improve their own farmlands. While a century ago, agriculture was a niche and almost non-existent topic in scholarly circles, now it is a highly respected field, prevalent in almost every country with a capacity to have any serious scientists.


    This rise in scientific agriculturalism did result in many benefits, one of them potentially being the aforementioned adoption of the three-field system. Other discoveries include concepts such as selective breeding of plants and animals, so that only ones with desirable characteristics would remain and continue producing and multiplying. We have been engaging in this for millennia, knowingly or unknowingly, but now this is being researched even further, so that weak animals and inadequate plants would be phased out, while better ones would remain and produce even better breeds, which would, of course, help in raising efficiency. Naturally, it can take a long time to see results from such a method, but it is always worth investing in the future, and already we are seeing some, if relatively small, gains because of this practice.


    So in this way we got better animals and plants, but what about better soil? Well, the agricultural scientists thought about that as well, and they have indeed discovered ways to also increase the efficiency of the soil itself. Granted, the soil here in Kemet and Kush around the Nile, and that in Assyria and Babylonia is already great and unrivalled in the known world, with the possible exception of the Indus river, but there is always room for improvement. For centuries we have already been using fertilizers such as manure, fish, wood ash, and various minerals, with decent results. Most of these discoveries relating to fertilizers had been made in Babylonia, and spread around from there. And now, the newest major discovery was also made in Babylonia, about forty years ago. That was still during the era of the Kingdom of Karduniash, specifically during and after their war with Assyria, which nearly resulted in complete destruction of Karduniash. Due to this, the Kassite elites hired many local Babylonian scientists to figure out how to improve the soil, so that the country would have more resources and be able to support a larger population, and in turn a larger army to resist the Assyrians in the future. And these scientists did indeed make a new discovery, this being the usage of gypsum on the soil. Gypsum is a sulfate mineral which has been found to be a great fertilizer and, luckily for the Kassites, there was plenty of it around them, both in the then unclaimed Zagros Mountains and in Anatolia, held by Hatti, which was an ally of Karduniash. Of course, Karduniash still fell, for a variety of reasons, but soil was certainly not one of them. And now, because of them, we have knowledge of this fertilizer and are using it quite extensively, with the OFK getting most of it from Hatti, while the EC gets it from Elam and Lullubum.


    Of course, all this that I mentioned are only discoveries of things and laws of nature that already exist, and I did not even mention any actual technological inventions. And technologies have been very important in this regard as well. Firstly, we have improvements in irrigation, which have been taking place for millennia already here and in Mesopotamia, but have intensified even more in the last sixty years or so. Irrigation has been used extensively to make agriculture viable in areas where normally few crops or nothing at all could previously grow, and in this sphere both we and the easterners have always been improving. The Mesopotamians invented the modern aqueducts ¨C ground based or elevated watercourses made to carry water from the source to their destination ¨C a few decades ago, though the earlier iterations had been created by the Indus Valley and the Minoan civilizations more than a millennium ago. The Elamites, meanwhile, adopted the usage of such aqueducts while also introducing underground ones to transport water to harder to reach areas, since it was easier to make the water flow from the underground rather than trying to make it bypass large mountains. We ourselves have also made some developments in irrigation, such as the enlargement of Lake Moeris under the pharaoh Amenemhat III about seven centuries ago, so that the lake could store surplus of water from the Nile during its floods, and then use this surplus to help irrigate the farmlands during dry seasons. Further improvements have been made over time, and now we barely need to worry about lack of water here. Still, we have even more plans for similar designs, such as bringing in the further oases into the irrigation network as well and using them for similar purposes, which would also help connect the country better.


    Another advancement concerns the tools used for agriculture, specifically the plough. We already had good ploughs for a long while and didn¡¯t feel the need for creating a new version, but the Hittites did, since their soil is not nearly as fertile and needs more power to bring nutrients to the surface. Thus, the Hittites experimented with new ploughs and created a greatly improved version about fifty-five years ago. This one is larger, sturdier, made of iron, which is abundant in Hatti, has a larger front plate to overturn more soil, and has wheels, thus acting something like a chariot, except for farming rather than for warfare. We knew little of such an invention for a long time, as we were enemies with Hatti, but now that we are together with them in the OFK, they shared the designs, which were adopted in Mycenae and are spreading to other places as well.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    There is also of course the matter of buildings which help conduct agriculture. One such building is the windmill, which is a structure which converts the power of wind into energy, by capturing the wind with sails or large blades. This energy forces the wheel on the outside of the mill to spin, which in turn makes the inside mechanism start working. And this inside mechanism can be used for a variety of purposes, but mostly windmills are now used either to pump water or grind grain, thus saving farmers many hours and giving them more necessary resources. Windmills are first reported to have been built under Hammurabi, the king of Babylonia about seven centuries ago. Over the centuries, the Babylonians improved on the design and built more windmills, though the reign of Nebuchadnezzar seems to have had the biggest expansion of the number of windmills, built both by the government and the megacorporations of the EC. However, windmills obviously require winds, and strong ones at that. And strong winds mostly occur near seas and especially oceans, so Babylonia, being a land-based kingdom with a tiny coastline, doesn¡¯t benefit that much from these windmills in relative terms. Yet there are countries which could certainly use windmills efficiently, and they seem to be doing just that. The Mycenaean Confederation, being mostly composed of islands and coastal cities, is perfectly suited to capture wind power, and it began constructing windmills about thirty years ago. Hatti also started building some windmills, mostly after the war a few years back, on its northern coastline with the Euxine Sea and also some on the southern coastline with the Mediterranean Sea. Alashiya, Dilmun, and Magan, being almost or totally surrounded by water and in turn fast winds, built many windmills in the last few years as well and are rapidly expanding this sector.


    Just like one can capture energy from the winds, so can energy be captured from the flow of water. Thus we have watermills, which work similarly in concept to how windmills work. These watermills have a large wheel, placed on a river or some other body of water, and the movement of water forces this wheel to move. The wheel, in turn, forces the mechanism inside the mill to move, and this can be used for similar purposes as the windmill. That includes the grinding of grain, cutting and grinding of wood, and, most notably, powering the cotton processing machines in cotton mills. The watermills are used for textile production even more than they are used for agriculture, and so I will return to them in another section, but their agricultural uses are still not to be disregarded, as, just like windmills, they can save many hours and process resources much more efficiently than a human could by hand. Watermills were experimented with for centuries, but the first working models were introduced in Assyria a few years ago, specifically as these cotton mills, necessary for the new Assyrian textile factories. By now, watermills are integral to the economy of Assyria and have also spread to Babylonia, where more are being built every day. Watermills work the best with large rivers and so it¡¯s natural that the Mesopotamians were the first to adopt them, though we are not too far behind them and have some of our own watermills on the Nile, both in Kemet and in Kush.


    Finally, there is one last matter in regards to advancements in agriculture which is very new and quite unexpected. This is called the Khonsmian exchange, and it involves us trading with the newly discovered continents of Khonsmia. It turned out that the people there are growing many completely different plants than what we are growing here in the tri-continental area. Naturally, we started trading with the Khonsmians, buying their produce and paying in ours most of the times. We gave them samples of wheat, onions, apples, and coffee, while in exchange we received corn, chili peppers, cacao, and tobacco from them, mostly by trading with the Olmecs. Of course, the effects of this exchange in the long term are only being theorized now, as we are only now trying to grow these plants here in our countries, but some believe that this could help greatly in many regards. Scholars are studying the implications of these new plants on the soil and thinking of how they could be introduced so as to increase the number of fields, and so increase the efficiency of farmlands, medics are saying that these new products could help diversify the diet and so give people more necessary nutrients, thus potentially strengthening us and making us healthier, while the chefs are thinking of dozens of new recipes which combine our local ingredients and those of the new world, though I imagine that such dishes could only be afforded by the wealthy elites for a long time, as trade quantities are relatively miniscule right now. Still, this development seems to have greatly and unexpectedly helped us and might make our populations increase even faster than before, and the same should be the case on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.


    <u>Medicine</u>


    While famines can indeed be highly devastating, plagues are just as destructive to a civilization, if not more. After all, a famine can be solved by importing more food, even if that drains the treasury, while containing and neutralizing a plague is much more difficult and for most of history has been basically impossible. We had quite a serious plague here a couple centuries ago, during the reign of the pharaoh Amenhotep III. It ravaged most of the Levant, from Ugarit to Ashkelon, as well as Hatti and the Mycenaean Confederation. We Egyptians didn¡¯t get the worst of it, but the effect was still felt. The reports are quite conflicting, but it seems that the plague took hundreds of thousands of lives, if not millions. The Mycenaeans seem to have been the most affected, and it took them many decades to truly recover. Suddenly losing a significant portion of your population for no apparent reason is never a good deal and so we have always been thinking on how such disasters could be averted. Of course, here in Egypt we always did have a strong medical tradition, with research papyri containing significant medical discoveries having been written continuously over the previous millennia, so we were ahead of the rest of the world from the very start ¨C our intricate mummification and burial processes would certainly have given us an advantage in better understanding how the body works. Still, we needed to do better if we wanted to avert disaster, because the next time the plague might hit us even harder than it did the Levant or Mycenae.


    The crisis of Ramesses III¡¯s time incentivized this even further ¨C even though there was no plague at the time, it seemed like the end times were indeed coming and so that a plague was not too far behind either, which prompted alchemists and other scientists to try to think of a solution. One discovery which was made rather soon was on how these plagues spread in the first place. For a long time, it was thought that plagues and all other illnesses just materialized out of nowhere, or were sent down by the gods, and so there was no pattern or reason to them. Yet the alchemists of eighty years ago discovered that this was not the case. The Enskerka Papyrus proposed a new theory ¨C since the first major plagues of such a scale occurred only once the world, or at least this region of eastern Mediterranean, was quite well interconnected, with people interacting relatively often with their counterparts in other countries, couldn¡¯t it be that the humans themselves were spreading diseases to one another? After all, all the previous plagues seem to have been contained within a single city or a single country at most. If the plagues are random then global plagues should have been often encountered in the past as well, but we know of none such plagues from the records. Thus Enskerka theorized that most mass diseases would begin by a person (or an animal) getting in contact with some tiny particle containing the disease, and then would, unwittingly, spread it to others by touching them or even standing too close to them so that the particle could get to other hosts as well. The disease could then spread exponentially, first to the first host¡¯s family, then to the people their family interacted with, and so on, until the whole city is infected, and other cities would become affected by merchants coming to them, also unknowingly carrying the disease from the originally infected city, if it had not been sealed off before too late.


    This was a controversial theory indeed, and was opposed by many priests and even fellow alchemists and doctors, as they could not accept that such terrible things could be the consequences of humans and other beings simply interacting with each other. Yet, as time went on, the theory became more and more accepted, especially after our investigation in Assyria thirty-six years ago. A minor disease was highly prevalent among the Assyrian soldiers, the same one which had sprung up in Karduniash a few years prior. The Assyrian soldiers were, of course, returning from the same Karduniash after the Assyrian-Kassite War, and before long much of Assyria seemed to be infected as well. Thus proponents of Enskerka¡¯s theory now had some real data to back up their claims, and the theory became the accepted one about three decades ago. Even the priests seemed to not challenge it anymore, as the idea that we are responsible for creating such problems was a better alternative than claiming that the gods want to destroy their own creations for no apparent reason, as the latter would only undermine the priests and their authority.


    We learned how diseases spread, and so now we can better prevent that. Just like we have emergency plans for unexpected invasions or natural disasters, so now we have ones for containing diseases. This involves sealing off affected cities, restricting land and naval travel for persons whose health is not verified, setting up testing points where medics can see and register who is infected, isolating infected people from the others, distributing supplies to affected regions so that people wouldn¡¯t need to unnecessarily leave their homes and risk infecting others, washing hands and entire bodies more often and more thoroughly so that these disease particles would hopefully be washed off, and putting on outfits which would cover the entire body ¨C including gloves, glasses, and masks ¨C so that it would be more difficult to penetrate for the disease. How well would all of this work is still a question, as we haven¡¯t had a large-scale disease here yet, but it is a start, and the medics are working on these issues as hard as ever, from what I have heard in my Thotherite circles.


    Speaking of preventing diseases from spreading ¨C a related discovery which was made a couple decades ago was that some diseases are spread through sexual contact. This was observed when during one week a whole cast of men went to a doctor¡¯s office for the same problems, and it was discovered that the only common variable between them was that they all had went to see and have intercourse with a popular courtesan who had come to the local brothel from Phoenicia for a short while. This was, of course, completely in line with the thesis of Enskerka Papyrus, and only further validated it, but now there arose a need to prevent sexual diseases, as the solution of simply separating the people and trying to control who has intercourse with who was deemed impossible, so the medics wanted to create some protection so that the people could be safer while engaging in the same activities. Other than the promotion of the usage of some substances discovered centuries earlier and written about in earlier papyri, new ones were experimented with and given to some brothels, which sometimes became important sites of observations. The visiting scientists weren¡¯t very welcome most of the times, but that would change once the owners and workers of the establishment were compensated for participating in these trials, while more customers would flock to these locations, since the perceived risk of disease was lower there.


    However, there was some private development in this sphere as well, since this is a very lucrative market, after all, and it came in the form of the company Tyrian Textiles creating thin phallic sheaths, which would prevent direct contact between sexual organs and so prevent the spread of sexual diseases, while still not taking away any of the pleasure. They are made from silk and, for cheaper options, cotton. Another advantage of this product is that it also prevents pregnancies, and so it quickly became very popular everywhere from Kemet to Elam, as the potentially mild loss of pleasure was seen worth it to not have to deal with diseases and unwanted children. Or so I¡¯ve heard. There is also another contraceptive, derived from the plant known as silphium ¨C of which we are now the only producers ever since we conquered Tjehenu, the eastern Libyan lands ¨C which became prominent about a decade ago, though the scientists are still debating its effectiveness. Still, a lot of progress was made in this sphere in the last few decades and the people are now safer for it.


    In general though, just like with the agricultural sector, the medical field expanded quite a bit in these last few decades from the reign of Ramesses III. Like I said, it was always very important here in Egypt, but it became even more crucial recently, and now new medical schools are appearing everywhere, to prepare a new generation of combat and civilian medics who would know the newest and most effective techniques to treat their patients. Previously, this was much more of a theoretical field and the practitioners of it just appeared through trial and error, which is what was changed, as now medics are trained in official institutions, gain official certifications ¨C of a similar type as ones gained by people who finish scribe schools ¨C and can work in an official capacity, which both helps us gain many more doctors to fulfill the demand, and also makes sure that the patients receive the best possible treatments. Of course, they are not always saved, there are still many issues and diseases that even the most skilled doctors cannot cure, but at least we don¡¯t have to lose citizens to trivial injuries and illnesses anymore. Other countries have also adopted such models, to a lesser or higher degree, with the most medically advanced countries behind us being Assyria, Elam, and Mycenae.


    The emergence of easily accessible medical services is also a development not to be understated. Previously, if a person had an injury or an illness, they would have to seek out a local alchemist or medic who could hopefully help them, but there would be no guarantee that the situation would be improved or even that it wouldn¡¯t be worsened. Healthcare was highly unreliable, and only the wealthiest could afford to hire personal doctors to look after them. However, now with the emergence of a prominent middle class here in the Commonwealth and in other countries, demand emerged for something between a shady neighborhood alchemist and the exorbitantly expensive private physician. Luckily, there was supply now as well, owing to all the graduates of these medical schools, as there are only so many noble estates to work in, so most of these new medics had to look for work from less affluent customers. Thus, about twenty years ago, private clinics began popping up all around the country, serving everyone from a local peasant to a travelling merchant, as long as they can pay. These clinics can range from simple ones set up inside a small apartment, to massive hospitals which are larger than most apartment complexes. They can also contain personnel ranging from just one doctor, to a team of dozens of doctors, alchemists, nurses, administrators, cooks, and security guards. The largest one is right here in Men-nefer, with a capacity for about 500 patients and 200 workers, and it is still rapidly expanding. These institutions have the required certifications and look more professional and so people are more likely to trust them and visit them, which brings many patients to these hospitals, and many shematys which keep them running. Such hospitals are private and are most prevalent here in Kemet, in Retjenu, and in Babylonia, where they are often built by the megacorporations who use them as incentives for recruitment. In some places, however, the government sometimes compensates a portion or even the full cost of the medical procedures, such as the case in Assyria, where the government pays the cost for the lower income patients who could not afford the procedures on their own. Here we also have some similar policies, such as compensating the cost of any treatment for any current and former members of the military.


    Now, we have all these institutions, the hospitals to house patients, and educated professional to take care of the, and that¡¯s good. But the problem is that medical procedures are often rather painful, and so many people choose not to go anyways, because the operation may be more painful than just suffering through the symptoms. This is an issue, and the alchemists have been experimenting for decades to find a substance which could help with this, by removing or at least lessening the pain, so that the procedures would not be as dreadful and would give the patients a better experience. They turned first to drugs, specifically opium, which we grow in abundance here in Kemet and Kush. Opium makes one rather sleepy and less aware of the surroundings, which is exactly what the doctors needed, as a barely conscious patient is better than one constantly fidgeting and possibly screaming. The pleasure which is given by opium also helps negate the effects of pain from the procedure. Thus opium began to be used extensively in medical facilities a few decades ago, and even the military makes sure to always have a consistent supply of opium for injured soldiers, but a few years ago, a new substance was invented. During the OFK-EC War, as the front saw dozens of thousands of injured soldiers who needed urgent treatment, a need arose for a more efficient painkiller, and one was created by a Iseret, a female field medic. She managed to extract a certain substance out of raw opium, and the final product was about six times stronger than opium, which helped in treating soldiers immensely. This substance was named Serketine, after our goddess Serket, who, among her other functions, heals venomous stings and bites, and other such attacks, and so it was an appropriate name for a war time drug used in medical operations. It quickly spread to the civilian sector too, and is now popular all across the OFK and the EC. Some even say that Serketine may be a combat multiplier just as important as guns before long.


    There is another major development in the medical sphere, and it relates again to the plagues and other diseases, but it is very recent and not highly tested, so I left it last. It is about the recently released Behdeti Papyrus, published just a couple years ago. Many dismiss it because of the lack of testes cases, but I still think it is a very interesting idea and one which may become very important. It deals with how diseases could be prevented, however, instead of focusing on conventional methods like isolating patients or wearing masks and gloves and what not, it approaches the problem from a completely different angle. That is, the author ¨C the prominent Egyptian-Canaanite alchemist Behdeti Nezemab ¨C discovered two versions of a certain disease while travelling deeper into Afrika, and while one of these versions was lethal, another one resulted in far fewer complications. The theory was then that if a person was infected by the less lethal disease, he wouldn¡¯t be infected by the more lethal one, and while it may be uncomfortable for a while, it would obviously be preferable to debilitating illness or death. So Behdeti experimented and tested out his theory. He took a piece of skin from a native infected with the less severe version of the disease, ground it into powder, and injected into a still healthy native. That second native, naturally, became infected with the disease. So then, after a few days, Behdeti did the same, except injecting the same test subject with the more severe version of the disease. And surprisingly, the native test subject did not experience the more severe symptoms, which means that the theory was correct. There have been more tests with similar outcomes afterwards, though the Behdeti Papyrus is still under heavy scrutiny, and many do not fully trust the results. Still, I believe this could be a massive discovery, and if it holds up, we may have much more protection from any plague or other disease than previously imaginable, and this could save millions of lives in the long run.

 On the Golden Age of Inventions (Part 2)

    <u>City infrastructure</u>


    With the people fed and (relatively) healthy, disaster has been averted, and, as a bonus, the population started increasing, quite rapidly in fact. And not only here, but in most other civilized countries around us as well. And where do all these people go? Certainly not the farmlands, as they are already full, and with the increased efficiency there is little more demand for farmers. So, moving to the cities became the only logical choice, one which was made by millions of people over the previous century. I must admit however, in this regard the EC has us surpassed and usually leads in city developments, due to their societies having a much longer and stronger tradition of urbanization. From what I know, the portion of urban inhabitants in the EC as a whole is about 45%, close to half, with specific civilizations reaching over 60%, 70%, and even 80% (those being Babylonia, Dilmun, and Magan, respectively). Still, we are slowly catching up, with our urbanization level being just above 25%, while it was barely 10% during Ramesses III¡¯s time. Hatti and Mycenae are also improving in this regard, while the top spot in the OFK is taken up currently by Alashiya, which has a respectable 35% or so of population living in cities. What I am saying, is that urban developments are now an important issue in every civilization, as urbanization is increasing everywhere, and the cities are not tiny settlements of a few thousand inhabitants anymore, they are now massive centers with populations in the dozens or hundreds of thousands of people. From the latest data, there are currently eighteen cities with a population of over one hundred thousand inhabitants (with the exception of Mycenae, Hattusa, and Susa, they are all here in the Commonwealth, Assyria, and Babylonia). Our capital Men-nefer has just recently surpasses half a million people, which is a great achievement, though it is still in the second place, behind Babylon with its population of near seven hundred thousand. The age of cities has certainly begun, or at least restarted.


    But this has its own problems too. Mostly the fact that at first there was nowhere near enough housing for all the newcomers. Even four decades ago one could see thousands of homeless people camping in and around Men-nefer due to shortage of places to live in. A similar scene could be seen in most other cities in the known world, I imagine. Of course, even now we have this problem, but to a much lesser extent. One thing which helped alleviate this demand was the emergence of construction companies which started massive building projects, mostly focusing on housing. Many former zoning and building restrictions were removed and expansion of cities became a possibility. So cities these days are on average not only much more populous, but also much larger in terms of area, with many layers of newly constructed walls. The most famous of such building companies who profited greatly from these developments must be the Boktnassar Construction Conglomerate, which has a near monopoly on the construction sector in Babylonia, but is highly prominent in most of the EC. Here in the Commonwealth, Ankhtakelot Holdings, Inc. is the largest construction company, though it is not nearly as massive, as many other companies are competing in the field as well. In any event, this is now quite a lucrative business, as there is always demand for buildings to be constructed.


    The most important invention in this regard is, of course, the apartment complex. While they have been around for a long while now, for most of history people have lived in single family homes, since there was never a lack of space for houses. Yet now, land in cities is becoming a greatly valued asset and developers are commissioning more and more apartment complexes, as opposes to single family homes. This works great for both sides ¨C the developers gain a lot more value from their land, and the people have more places to live in. Not only are there now more apartment complexes, but they are larger themselves as well. Previously, an apartment complex had at most two floors and maybe five total apartments, whereas now we are seeing three story, four story, and even five story (as of a few years ago) complexes, with as many as forty apartments inside. Such apartments are usually able to comfortably house up to six people, so one such complex can have over two hundred occupants, which is highly efficient. But, like with most developments mentioned, there is constant advancement, and the Babylonians are said to be building six story and even taller complexes in Babylon, Isin, Uruk, and other popular cities. And there are now whole neighborhoods of apartments, so the possible population density is rapidly increasing in cities. I imagine that before long, each apartment complex could house a small town, while these neighborhoods could be considered cities themselves.


    That is not to say that single family homes aren¡¯t being built anymore, not at all. They are also being built at a much more rapid rate than before. With the expansion of the upper-middle class, there is a high demand for individual homes as well, so these are being built as well. Houses, country manors, vacation villas, and even little palaces are being built all around and such developments bring great profits as well, as the people commissioning them are willing to pay a lot. There are even specific construction companies which specialize in building such luxurious housing, as opposed to the ones focused on mass market apartments. So, no matter what one¡¯s preferences are, there is plenty of housing to choose from these days, at least in places like Kemet, Assyria, Elam, and, of course, Babylonia.


    With cities expanding at such a rate, distances within them become longer as well. And while the cities are dense and so most people still walk towards their place of work or entertainment, there are now some options to reduce these travel times. Since most cities are located next to or around a river, ferries are now becoming quite popular. Boat transport has been a thing for millennia now, of course, but it was mostly reserved for between city travel, whereas now, with the distances in the city increasing, it is becoming widely used in cities as well. As for transport on land ¨C that demand is filled by horse-drawn carriages. Again, an invention first used for between city or country travel, and now, during the last few decades, adapted to suit travel within city limits as well. Both carriages and ferries work rather similarly. They have private options, as well as more public ones, as peoples¡¯ routes match quite often. All these services are paid of course, either by paying for a single ride, or paying for a monthly subscription ¨C a concept pioneered in Babylonia three years ago, as they noticed that such transport is taken by mostly the same people and so a subscription was introduced to make transactions easier and save time. A person pays a lump sum at the start of the month and receives a ticket, the functions of which depend on the transportation company¡¯s policies. Some tickets allow one to travel for free a set number of times, others allow unlimited rides along a certain route, and others (often most expensive ones) allow unlimited travel anywhere within city limits for that month. These services have regular schedules, and one usually doesn¡¯t have to wait long before getting into a ferry or a carriage, as passengers are picked up at the most popular routes as frequently as every ten minutes. This gets people to work quite quickly and efficiently and the chance of someone being late to work is greatly reduced. Both ferries and carriages have a speed more than double that of an average human walking, with the fastest carriages currently available reaching an average speed of 170 rods per hour.


    Other than transport, the cities have more of other essential services as well. I already mentioned the hospitals and doctors in the previous section, so healthcare is now also rather easily accessible in the cities. Same goes for the medjay (and other forms of police in other countries). We have had them for many centuries, but, with the cities expanding, their numbers have increased as well. Men-nefer just by itself has ten medjay stations, up from merely two five decades ago, and most other respectable cities also have at least three, so that crime could be effectively reduced and that even if one station falls to insurrectionists or whoever, there would still be enough servicemen to stabilize the situation. Crime is at a high point, that¡¯s the unfortunate reality, but at least now we have better methods of dealing with and hopefully preventing it. The medjay sometimes have even better equipment than the army, having armor, guns, and special medjay chariots, carriages, and boats to deal with anyone from a petty thief to a highly organized terrorist cell. Over the last decade we have also built many prisons to house the criminal populations. While the most serious criminals are executed, killing all of them would be a waste, so we now house criminals who committed less serious offenses in these prisons, putting them to work on some menial government projects before their term is up and we see that they have learned their lesson.


    We also have firefighters now, a branch which has emerged over the last decade, as arson ¨C accidental or deliberate ¨C is becoming a serious issue as well, and we need to prevent fires from spreading and destroying much of the city. Firefighters also have their own special equipment and vehicles, as well as methods of dealing with the fires, involving new compounds created by the alchemists to combat fire more effectively. Some firefighter groups are private, guarding only select houses and neighborhoods, and others are public, taking care of entire cities. Babylonia mostly has private firefighter companies, but here in the Commonwealth we have public ones, as is the case in Assyria and Elam. And there is also a new method of calling such emergency services (doctors, police, and the firefighters), devised by the Babylonians a few years ago. This involves a network of bells placed throughout the city, which can be rung to call a specific service to the neighborhood, and from there the coming rescuers can be directed to the specific building or area by the locals, which greatly reduces response times from having to go all the way across the city looking for help.


    Another area of interest, while not relating to emergency matters, but still just as important, involves water delivery and sewage systems. I already talked about water delivery to agricultural fields, but in the last decades we have also improved in regards to water delivery to the cities and to homes. This development is mostly due to the improvement in making pipes. The first ones appeared in Mesopotamia millennia ago, but they weren¡¯t very sturdy and only saw limited uses. We have also been using them in a limited capacity for a similar period of time, as did the inhabitants of the Indus Valley civilization, which had the most advanced plumbing and sewage systems from what we know. Supposedly, some of their engineers left the region during or after the civilization¡¯s collapse and travelled to Elam and Mesopotamia, where they were hired to improve such systems. Another important addition was the discovery of lead in what is now Lullubum, as this material was realized to be well suited for piping. So, with this new expertise and new materials, the Mesopotamians began rapidly increasing their pipe production over the last century and so introducing more and more homes to water delivery and sewage systems. We are not too far behind either, and while most of our pipes are currently made of copper, the Hittites have a large supply of lead and so we could trade with them to acquire it and improve the quality of our pipes. Though even now most middle and upper class homes have pipes delivering water to their homes for cooking and cleaning, so that the residents wouldn¡¯t need to go outside to acquire it, and other pipes removing waste from these homes to the appropriate areas, which helps us keep the cities clean and the people healthier.


    People also need places to work, and so unemployment was just as big of a problem as homelessness for a while, but it was also mostly solved. Many new industries are booming and companies are establishing workshops and factories in every growing city. I will go in depth on this matter in another section, but suffice to say that these days, anyone who wants to get a job in a city, can rather easily get one. Of course, the aforementioned construction sector is a lucrative field, but one can find many opportunities for employment from companies and government agencies in other areas, such as manufacturing weapons, assembling furniture, making textiles, and more. The service sector is also booming, and so employees are needed for working in shops, restaurants, bars, and other such places, so there are plenty of jobs which aren¡¯t physically demanding as well. I should also mention that women are starting to work in such jobs more and more often as well, rather than just staying at home, though that is the case only in select countries and regions ¨C Kemet, Retjenu, Assyria, and Elam to some degree. Still, the industry and service sectors are seeing massive unprecedented growth, and this is a self-propelling cycle, as people are moving into the cities, jobs are being created as there is now a larger workforce, which drives even more people to the cities (since even a rather lowly industry worker can often make more than an average peasant), and this makes more companies move in, creating even more jobs, and so on. While agriculture is still the dominant field in most countries, that may not last for long, as these other sectors may soon overtake it.


    There are also plenty of new jobs for the upper-middle and upper class citizens as well. These companies need scribes, overseers, managers, and other such employees, so there are many open positions for the literate and educated class. Banks are also being established everywhere, as more and more people need loans and other financial services, and so there are great opportunities in this sector as well. And for ones who want an even more interesting and exciting job ¨C they don¡¯t have to look further than the stock exchanges. The first stock exchange was established in Byblos thirteen years ago, and now there are other ones in Ashur (though it is said that there existed a stock exchange in Ashur about eight to six centuries ago as well), Babylon, Susa, and Men-nefer, our one having recently merged with the Byblos exchange to create a unified stock exchange for the entire Commonwealth. These places employ only the most distinguished scribes who know how to calculate very well, and the employees mostly spend their days managing the portfolios of their rich clients, buying and selling stocks and derivatives of them to create the highest possible profits. A new product which was recently introduced was the sale of government bonds, so that just like how people could invest in companies through stocks, so they can now invest in our great country through bonds. The returns are not as high, because the country naturally cannot advance as quickly as one specific company, but the upside is that the returns are almost guaranteed, as the government isn¡¯t collapsing any time soon, while companies are much more volatile, and many have already gone bankrupt.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Finally, there is, of course, the entertainment. People can¡¯t only sleep and work all the time, they need some entertainment too, and the cities do certainly provide that as well. Other than the traditional avenues of going to a bar, a restaurant, or a brothel, cities now offer a variety of other activities. Firstly, we now have theaters, which show regular plays of various events, mythological, historical, and fictional alike, and they draw in hundreds and sometimes even thousands of people. Theaters originated here a few decades ago, but have recently spread to Assyria, and, surprisingly, the Mycenaean Confederation, the citizens of which seem to enjoy this activity the most. There are also concerts, popular basically everywhere, as notable musicians and musical groups gain more and more recognition and so people want to listen to their songs and instrumental tracks being performed live. The largest recorded concert took place right here in Men-nefer two years ago, when the group Kushites With Temperaments, led by the famous musician known as Lime Stone, came by and performed for over ten thousand listeners. Since then, they have also gone to perform in Hatti, Assyria, and Punt. Sport competitions have also become big over the last few years, especially since the first Olympic Games held in the Confederation last year, and now one can easily find something to watch, be it a competition between local clubs, between cities, or even between countries such as during the Olympics or other such major tournaments. The most watched sports these days are wrestling, boxing, chariot racing, and various team-based ball games, for which new stadiums are constantly being built.


    For the more intellectually minded, there are activities too, naturally. Many new libraries, private and public, have been built in recent times, which act not only as centers of knowledge but also as meeting places for like minded individuals. Various clubs and philosophical schools also have their own lounges, with the Thotherites probably being the most prominent of such groups. So suffice to say that there is something for everyone in most major, and even smaller, cities, which are currently thriving and doing better than during any previous period of time. With plenty of housing, job opportunities, a large selection of goods, enough security, and all kinds of entertainment, it is no surprise that everyone is currently flocking to the cities, and this trend will only probably continue in the coming decades.


    <u>Textiles and other industry</u>


    So, the people have places to live in, but they also, usually, need clothes. That issue, luckily, has also been taken care of in recent times. While many industries have advanced over the last few decades, the most notable development is, of course, in the textile sphere. The watermills which I already mentioned helped greatly here, as they began to be used to power the mills where textiles are created. Rather than having to make them all by hand, which takes a lot of people and time, textiles are now created with the help of machines, which speeds up the process, while also making the textiles more uniform and so the output is more reliable. Specifically, these machines are the new spinning and weaving frames, first created in Assyria about a decade ago. Assyria has always had a tradition of textile production, so it is not surprising that the most recent developments in this area also came from that country (even less surprising considering it happened under Ninsina¡¯s rule, who is the first female Assyrian ruler, and textiles have traditionally been made by, of course, women). The import of cotton to the EC in large quantities is also an important factor, as the material has traditionally been grown in the Indus Valley, but over the years made its way to Elam. And more recently, in the last decade, cotton made its way from Elam to Assyria, since both countries are now in the same faction. Soon enough, cotton became seen as a better material for making textiles than, say, linen, and so became much more widespread.


    So how does this all come together? Well, three years ago this resulted in the building of the first cotton mills¡¯ complex in Ashur, which made used of all these developments ¨C watermills on the Tigris to generate energy, spinning and weaving frames inside the buildings to use that energy and make textiles faster, and cotton being the material of choice for the creation of these textiles. This first complex had positions for more than three thousand workers, and so was able to produce textiles efficiently and at comparatively extremely large numbers. The success of this complex resulted in the opening of a similar one in Mari, though that one, as we all know, was the site of a terrorist by the Assyrian Liberation Army (since then the complex has been rebuilt though). Still, that did not stop this development and now there are five more such complexes in Assyria, with the total employment being in the dozens of thousands, and still growing. It is reported that at this point, Assyria produces nearly half of all textiles made in the tri-continental area. We are trying to catch up to them in this regard, or at least make sure their monopoly is not as strong. Cotton has been grown in Kush for centuries by now, and so we started focusing on expanding this industry to have more of this material, while also opening our own cotton mills in Kemet and Kush. We may not be able to match Assyria in terms of output anytime soon, considering how much of their economy is focused on this sector, but we can at least prevent their products from completely flooding the OFK markets and so making us dependent on an EC country for such a crucial resource.


    However, we do have a certain trick up our sleeve in this sphere, though it is still very experimental by this point. Watermills are great and they provide the necessary energy, but rivers are not always completely reliable, and so that means that the watermills aren¡¯t either. In turn, the mills may not always be fully productive either. So our scientists have been thinking how this could be fixed. I am personally working on this project as well, and I have devised a protype engine which could help solve this problem. In short, this engine would generate steam, lots of it in fact, so much so that it would push the water in the way we desire and so keep the mills running at all times that we need. This steam would be generated by burning some flammable substance, of which there would be large quantities available. We first experimented with wood, but we found that it generates relatively little steam, and there is also the fact that wood is not so abundant and would be better used for shipbuilding and other such matters. However, we recently discovered a much better material, one which generates a lot more steam, and one which couldn¡¯t really be used for anything else than burning anyways. And that would be coal, of which the OFK now has plenty, thanks to Muwatalli¡¯s conquest of Cimmerian lands to the north of the Euxine Sea. One of the regions which he conquered is Donbas and it is home to massive quantities of coal, which the Hittites have already started mining. It wasn¡¯t Muwatalli¡¯s first intention when embarking on that campaign, as he was mostly interested in punishing the Cimmerians and acquiring fertile agricultural lands, but Donbas was along the way and so easily became an additional benefit of the campaign. We have negotiated a purchase of some of that coal so that we could experiment more with it, and, if this works out as expected, we will set up a permanent trade route. I cannot promise anything in regards to this steam engine, but, if it performs as expected, it could be of great use not only to the textile industry, but to many others as well.


    And while there are, of course, some men employed in these cotton mills and other textile producing facilities, women do still make up the majority of the employees in this field, both in Assyria and here in the Commonwealth. Most other industries are often restricted to only male employees, so the textile industry was the natural choice for many women who wanted to get a job of their own and not be completely dependent on their husbands for income. So the advancement in textile technologies has resulted in women entering the workforce in much higher numbers than previously ¨C many times more women got employed this year than even a decade ago, for example. Of course, so far this change is restricted to Assyria, the Commonwealth, and Elam to some extent, but other countries may follow suit before long as well. It just makes sense, after all ¨C just like most countries decided to allow women in the military to have much larger armies, so I imagine most countries and companies will open up more work positions to women, so that the GDP of the given country or profits of the company would increase accordingly. It will take time, even more so for conservative societies like Hatti, but such market forces cannot be resisted for long. I admit, I may be speaking a bit prematurely here, considering women have started entering the official workforce in large numbers less than a decade ago, but some results can already be seen, and the trend will probably only continue.


    There have been some advancements in other industries too though, and I feel I should mention them as well, even if they are not yet as significant as the changes in the textile field. The furniture industry, for example, has grown in recent decades too. With hundreds of thousands of new houses and apartments being built, there is naturally going to be higher demand for furniture, as those homes can¡¯t be empty. Some prominent furniture companies have emerged, which consolidated local productions and started making furniture more efficiently so that the market demands could be met, and huge profits acquired. Such companies have factories for production, and while they don¡¯t have some major new technologies (equivalent to the spinning and weaving frames of the cotton mills), they have streamlined the production process by having different groups of workers make different parts of an item, before it is all eventually assembled by the last group at the final stage. This method saves quite a lot of time for everyone, and, just like with textiles, the furniture is more uniform, which was not the case when every craftsman was making a furniture item by themselves from start to finish. These factories are located mostly in the Mycenaean Confederation, Elam, and Retjenu, since these are all regions with nearby sources of wood, the main material used for furniture production. Hatti also has plenty of wood and it looks like they might also open some of their own furniture production facilities in the coming years.


    There is also the matter of weapons. I will go more in depth about specific armaments in the final section, but for now I will only shortly mention the production methods. By now, the days of individual metalsmiths making weapons are largely gone, except for specific circumstances (such as nobles commissioning a unique chariot or sword just for themselves, as these items couldn¡¯t be mass produced in factories). Armies now have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and there are also thousands of garrison soldiers, law enforcement officers, prison enforcers, and so on, which means there is often demand for literally millions of swords, shields, spears, and other weapons. So, just like with furniture, companies have emerged to fulfill this demand by opening large factories where the workers are divided into different groups for different tasks. This increases the rate of weapon production and so keeps the army well stocked with supplies, though, again, not all countries have adopted this model yet. But at least the Commonwealth, Babylonia, and Elam have, so neither the OFK nor the EC has a large advantage in this regard. As for what armaments are being made at such mass scale ¨C basically all of them at this point. There are factories for swords, shields, spears, bows, arrows, light armor, chariots, explosives, and now even guns. Not to mention expanded shipyards for everything from the smallest boats to massive royal flagships. Safe to say, shortage of weapons is not a concern for most countries anymore.


    Lastly, there is one more development worthy of mention. Writing has historically been a rather painstaking task, requiring knowledgeable scribes and a lot of time, but more and more documents need to be written as our countries expand both externally (by conquests or other territorial acquisitions) and internally (by population and city growth). Simplifying the writing systems a few centuries ago did help, but the process of writing down words was still slow. Yet it may not remain so for long. The Babylonians have just invented something known as the printing press, which is a mechanical device which imprints the needed symbols onto a surface, usually a clay tablet in their case. It shouldn¡¯t be hard to adapt such a machine to suit our needs, as we would only need to cover the symbols in ink and then have the machine imprint these symbols on a papyrus scroll. It is said that a single scribe operating one printing press can be as efficient as nearly a thousand scribes writing by hand. We should definitely look into this development, as this could allow us to create a much more efficient administration and help in every other matter relating to writing, possibly saving us millions of shematys.

 On the Golden Age of Inventions (Part 3)

    <u>Transportation</u>


    With our world being so interconnected, transportation is now more important than it has ever been and so technology has advanced in this sphere as well, naturally. First, there is the matter of land travel. While most civilizations were founded around major rivers, and so most transportation was done using those rivers, some states don¡¯t have such an extensive network of waterways and so have to rely on travelling by land. This includes Hatti, Retjenu, Amurru, and Elam, but land transportation can have uses in river-centered countries or regions too, since those same rivers or seas may not be always reliable and sometimes a land route may be needed to accomplish the task. Thus, most countries by now have invested in some sort of land travel. The most popular option is, of course, horse drawn carriages. They came in use a few centuries ago, but became much more prominent about fifty years ago. This development started in Hatti, where larger and faster carriages were first introduced to transport officials around the large tracts of land, but civilians soon started using such carriages as well. They then trickled down to the Levant, and in turn to us here in Men-nefer, and to the eastern civilizations. Carriages are now the primary way of getting to different cities if there is no river-based or sea-based connection and there are options ranging from luxurious carriages, transporting a single person or a single family, to large commercial carriages which can transport up to twenty people at a time. And, as I mentioned, such carriages are now used not only for travel between cities, but for travel within cities, mostly in the large urban areas in Babylonia and here in Kemet, though they are being introduced in more and more locations every year. As cities expand and walking everywhere becomes more and more unfeasible, carriages may become essential for most people.


    The problem with carriages is that they are still relatively small, and the largest carriage can only carry barely a tenth of what an average ship could carry, which makes water transportation still much more preferable. However, the Elamites have been working on improving the efficiency of carriages. They do have some rivers and a long coastline, but some of their cities are located deep inland, and, more importantly, all their resource rich areas are in the mountains far from the coast and from most rivers, which makes land transportation crucial for them. So what did the Elamites do to solve this issue? Well, they started laying wooden tracks, known as wagonways, on their most important routes. This helps in several ways ¨C first, the carriage is locked onto that track and so is less likely to go off course, and second, the carriage can be pulled much more easily along the way, due to less resistance from the ground, which means that horses can draw bigger carriages. That, of course, means that more copper, tin, lead, or any other resource can be transported with a single trip. To be exact, it appears that these wagonways allow horses to transport four times as much material in a single trip, meaning that efficiency is quadrupled. This is quite a significant development, which was first started about two decades ago under Shilhak-Inshushinak, but has been improved since. The Hittites may be building their own wagonways in the near future as well, considering they have similar geographical issues that Elam has. I would say that even we should look into this, since we also have some places which are not that well connected to the Nile or the Mediterranean Sea, such as the gold mines of Kush. Using wagonways in such places may really help us.


    Another rather recent development in the area of land travel is the extensive usage of supply stations. These are small stations scattered throughout most of the civilized world by now, and they are there to help maximize the potential of carriages. For a fee, a traveler can have their horse changed for a less exhausted one, get the carriage repaired, the wheels fixed or changed, and get some more water and food supplies for the road ahead. Such stations exist in cities, small towns, villages, and even in the middle of nowhere. In fact, those in the middle of nowhere are often the most profitable, since they have no competition and if anyone travels along that road and needs supplies or maintenance for their carriage, they have no other option than to turn to that single station, which then can raise prices way above the market rate. Of course, there is also the caveat that such stations can be attacked by local thugs or even foreign barbarians, and there would be nowhere near enough time to get the law enforcement involved, so this comes with risks too. Still, supply stations are often crucial for long distance travel and they help to shorten the total travel time due to all the benefits they provide.


    Let¡¯s now move on to water-based travel, since, despite all the inventions simplifying and speeding up land travel, it is still by far the most popular and most efficient method of transporting goods and people. And water travel is doing just as well as land travel in terms of new inventions, so it doesn¡¯t seem like it will be giving way anytime soon. One notable advancement is the digging of canals, which help connect different bodies of water. By now there are plenty of canals all around the tri-continental area, but the most important ones must be the Euphrates-Tigris Canal and the Pharaonic Canal. The former, as one would expect, connects the Mesopotamian rivers of Euphrates and Tigris at the point where they are nearest to each other (right next to the border between Assyria and Babylonia), and this helps both Assyria and Babylonia greatly, as trade can now be efficiently done not only on the north to south axis, but also on the west to east one. This one was planned for a long time already, but was only finished about a decade ago, when both countries were unified by Shilhak¡¯s conquests. The latter canal, meanwhile, connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. More exactly, it connects the easternmost distributary of the Nile to the Red Sea, which means that all the ships travelling between these seas must still pass our territory in Kemet and pay our tolls (if it was located more to the east, that income would go to the region of Retjenu, and while we would still gain some income from the canal, it would be not nearly as much). There is also the famous canal between the Nile and Lake Moeris, built centuries ago. Other than these, there are plenty of minor canals, mostly in Mesopotamia, but also some in Elam and even the Mycenaean Confederation. Apparently the Mycenaeans are digging the Corinthian Canal right now, which would allow ships to bypass the Peloponnese peninsula (would make for a quick sea route between Delphi and Athens, for example), and this could be a great boon to the Mycenaean economy.


    The ships themselves received some improvements too. They are now bigger, faster, able to carry many more passengers and cargo, and in general more formidable than ever before. In this sphere it has been mostly us in the Commonwealth (Egyptians and Phoenicians specifically) who spearheaded the advancements, with the other civilizations just adapting our inventions. The Mycenaeans have been doing pretty well in this sphere as well though, since they are also very much a sea-based civilization and so they naturally need the best ships available. One advancement which is often overlooked, but one which was extremely important, is the usage of new and improved sails and more of them in total. Previously, ships would have only one sail, but in the last few decades we have been experimenting with outfitting ships with two, three, four, and more sails, ones of more unconventional design as well. This allows the ships to capture more wind and so get more power, which makes them much faster than the old models. Some say that this development was crucial for discovering the Khonsmias, as otherwise the ships would not have been able to reach these western continents. Currently, our best ships can travel at about 1.24 leagues an hour, or almost 30 leagues a day (about the naval distance between Men-nefer and Ashkelon), so sea travel takes much less time than previously and makes trade and other international dealings much easier.


    Yet there are also other important developments which allowed us to reach such distant lands as Khonsmia. These were mostly inventions made by the Phoenicians, who have been exploring the planet for more than a millennium, and so they know a thing or two about such matters. First, there is the magnetic compass, invented about seventy years ago. It¡¯s a device which shows the directions of the world and it has an arrow-like needle which always points north. Why? We are not sure yet, but the Phoenicians have discovered that some metals can become magnetized, meaning that they will pull other metals or get pulled by them themselves. And so they created such needles which would be pulled to and point to the north, as apparently the north heavily attracts such metals. Again, we do not know how this works exactly, and we would need to send an expedition to discover what truly is there in the far north and why it affects these metals in such a way, but for now, we are just happy to have discovered such a useful tool. The compass shows the north, and from that other directions can be inferred and so the course of the ship determined, which makes it easier to correct it and set the ship on the right path. Another Phoenician invention is the astrolabe, which works as a sort of miniature model for the universe. It was first created about sixty years ago and improved over time, with the current version said to be quite accurate. It is a metal disc with some cutouts, and this allows a navigator to somewhat reliably calculate astronomical positions. Knowing the positions of various stars can definitely help in navigating the vast oceans, as there are no landmarks in the water to rely on, so the sailors must turn to the skies. Lastly, there is the sextant, another Phoenician invention, created about fifteen years ago. Phoenicians are the primary glass makers in the world, and so they know how to work with this material well, which led to the creation of this invention. The sextant is an item which utilizes a few small glass panels, which reflect the light from an astronomical object and allow to measure the angle between that object and the horizon. In essence, the sextant allows one to measure the distance between two objects, which, again, helps greatly in naval navigation, where otherwise it can be very difficult to estimate how far away something is.


    All these Phoenician inventions, combined with our improved ships, allowed the Commonwealth to explore much of the world, which was previously unknown to the civilizations in the tri-continental area. We sailed around most of Europe, around the entirety of Afrika, reached China, and, of course, reached the Khonsmias, all in the last seventy years or so. We are exploring new islands and new coasts almost every year now, and our world maps are becoming larger and larger. The gods surely must be pleased that we are finally discovering what they left for us here. We are advancing at an unprecedented pace in this field, and before long, possibly in less than a century, we may explore the entirety of this planet.


    <u>Military</u>


    Last, but definitely not least, is the military sphere, where many significant inventions and advancements have been made over the last century. However, the foundations for this have been set much earlier, centuries ago. And they were set right here in Kemet. As you know, when the Hyksos were defeated and Egypt reunited about four and a half centuries ago, we switched from having a conscript army to maintaining a fully professional standing army. We needed to have such a reliable force which would be on full alert at all times, so that such calamities as the Hyksos invasion would never repeat again. It was an expensive development for sure, but it worked, as we had the largest population and the most wealth of any country, and so could afford to continuously pay our soldiers, rather than just raising peasant conscripts in times of need. This, of course, resulted in our armed forces becoming by far the most equipped, trained, and experienced ones in the known world, assuring our supremacy over Afrika and the Levant. By now some other countries have also adopted such a model, including Alashiya, Assyria, Dilmun, and Magan, and to some extent Babylonia and Elam (the last two get enough volunteers to not need to resort to press-ganging, but conscription is still officially in force there). The more conservative societies ¨C Hatti, the Mycenaean Confederation, Punt, and Lullubum ¨C still mostly rely on conscription, though even they are starting to employ some full-time soldiers to be always at least somewhat prepared.


    But why is this development important? Well, I will leave the moral considerations about the rights of a citizen to the philosophers, but I am more interested in how this affected the development of military technologies. And I would say that the transition to professional standing armies greatly accelerated military developments, since now a soldier is being equipped not only for a single season¡¯s campaign, but possibly for many years. The soldiers are more trusted, they are not as likely to desert, they are also more experienced and know how to handle weapons, which means that there is less risk and more utility in giving them better armaments. That means that there is more value in developing new and better weapons rather than only using old ones, since one now knows that those new inventions will not be wasted on untrained peasants. Of course, some military advancements have been made by countries only relying on conscripts as well, but overall, it seems that states which have professional armies tend to innovate more, as they are interested in making every soldier as powerful and deadly as possible, whereas conscript armies rely more on mass human wave tactics, since they have a large pool of potential soldiers and every one of them is easily replaceable. That is to say, professional armies focus on quality, and in turn make inventions, while conscript armies focus on quantity, and either don¡¯t care about or can¡¯t afford to use inventions on such a scale.


    Before I move on to the exact inventions, I would like to comment on another change in army compositions in recent years. In previous centuries, all soldiers were men, and usually ones belonging to the dominant ethnic group of the respective country. However, the recent OFK-EC War challenged such notions and showed us that the gods of war don¡¯t care about any gender or ethnic notions. Shilhak-Inshushinak employed all sorts of soldiers, including women from Assyria and Elam, and minorities such as Hurrians, Lullubi, Levantines, and even Indians. Basically, anyone who wanted to join his forces was more than welcome to do so. And that had terrifying consequences for us, as he established the largest empire ever seen in just a couple years. So we had to adapt to match him. The Commonwealth armed forces now have women, Kushites, Canaanites, and Phoenicians in them, as well as some Libyans, Edomites, Moabites, Arameans, Amorites, Arabs, Nilotes, and Horus knows who else. Our allies in the OFK haven¡¯t been so quick to catch on to such developments, but even they are moving in the right direction ¨C the Mycenaeans are already employing some Thracians and Illyrians to help maintain their colonies, while the Hittites are finally accepting Luwians and Palaics in their ranks. This is only natural, since once conscription is removed, the army has to fully rely on volunteers, and then it makes sense to allow anyone who wants to enlist (as long as they are physically and mentally able) to fill in the gaps. The armies are thus allowed to grow quicker, and they are now at an all time high in terms of personnel, despite conscription being at an all time low. The result is that both the armed forces and the civilian sectors are much more efficient, since, for example, a strong Kushite who wants to join the army can do just that, allowing a less enthusiastic Egyptian, who would have been in his place, to continue farming and so providing necessary resources for the state. The approval of the government is also increased, since people who want to join the army can do that, while those who don¡¯t can be of use to the state in many other ways, which is always good.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Let¡¯s now move on to actual new inventions. A notable one is the use of explosives. This began eleven years ago, at the start of the Great Powers¡¯ War, as we were thinking about ways to whittle down the Hittite army. Before long, Egyptian and Phoenician scientists and alchemists discovered ways to create such reactions which would result in explosions, and the advancing army led by Muwatalli proved to be a great test subject. The early explosives were not very powerful and could not do too much damage to armies or cities, but everyone saw the potential of such a technology, and everyone started working on their own version. By the end of the OFK-EC War, almost every country had some sort of explosives, and even specialized grenadier units, which were lobbing bombs at the opposite side, with varying levels of success. The damage was still felt though, so much so that we needed to include the terms of the use of explosives in the updated version of the Knossos Conventions during the Damascus Peace Conference. But explosives by themselves were, for the most part, only a means to an end to what is quickly becoming a much more significant technology.


    I am talking, of course, about the guns. These deadly, concealable, miniature bows which shoot out small explosions with relative precision. We have been working on such designs from the start of the OFK-EC War, hoping to make a weapon which would counter the Elamites and render their numerical advantage void, but the war ended before the invention was finalized. Still, the EC remained and so with another potential war on the horizon, the scientists and engineers continued working on the design of the new weapon. And so four years ago, we made our first guns. Tirynthius¡¯ campaign against the Thracians was a great testing ground and allowed us to notice the flaws and improve the guns, making them more reliable, stable, and accurate. A more recent mass scale field test was Muwatalli¡¯s campaign in Cimmeria, and we took some lessons from there as well. It is no secret that the EC has guns now as well, as word spread fast these days, and so they must have tested their own designs as well, in Lullubum or some similar place. For now though, guns are still only used by specialized agencies, such as the Kemet Intelligence Agency and the Eastern Coalition Secret Service, by some law enforcement units, high ranking officials in the armed forces, and wealthy civilian citizens. But, as I mentioned, we already have large gun factories, and the production of guns is increasing exponentially, which means that use will follow accordingly. I will leave the specifics of mass gun adoption to the generals and admirals, but I am confident in assuming that the next war between the OFK and the EC, even if it took place within this decade, would be fought primarily with guns, and not with swords.


    Guns only solve a part of the equation, however. Field battles are crucial, but so is siege warfare. The simple invention of city walls many millennia ago caused serious headaches for many aspiring conquerors, who were stopped by a necessary siege for months or even years, due to the lack of abilities to overcome those walls. So, as one would expect, siege weapons began to be developed. First came the wheeled siege ladders, which were invented here in Egypt, possibly more than a millennium ago. Our cities are well defended, and so we needed such inventions to reunify the country during the intermediate periods, as well as to take down Canaanite rebel strongholds. Another one of our inventions was the battering ram, also first used nearly a millennium ago. This one focuses breaking down the gates and is often used at the same time as the ladders to split the attention of the defender. However, the Assyrians have improved the battering ram over the centuries, adding a whole structure on top of it, including more wheels, walls, and a roof (to protect from enemy arrows and other projectiles), while the ram itself is outfitted with a metal head, often resembling some fierce animal. The Mycenaeans created some siege inventions as well, such as the siege hooks, which are hooks used to pull down portions of the walls and so make bypassing them easier.


    However, the biggest development in siege warfare came during the Assyrian-Kassite War about three decades ago, as the Assyrians were invading Karduniash, yet were faced with many well-fortified cities. The Assyrians wanted quick results and so started working on better siege equipment, which yielded great results for them. First, they created siege towers, which are large towers with wheels, with a few dozen men inside. Basically, they function as siege ladders, except they are protected from all sides and can offload many times more soldiers at the same time. This made scaling the walls much easier, and the Kassite defenders were often found unprepared for such assaults. Yet sometimes even scaling the walls doesn¡¯t help, if there are enough defenders on the other side. So what did the Assyrians do? Well, they invented the catapults, which are devices able to launch massive projectiles, such as large rocks, pieces of a collapsed wall, or, more recently, cluster bombs, at the target, usually a less reinforced portion of the wall. That particular portion of the wall is then destroyed and makes for an opening for soldiers to enter the city. Assyrians guarded their technologies for a while, but they still managed to spread outside eventually, and catapults and siege towers are now used by many kingdoms. And while these are currently the best weapons against walled cities, that may not remain so for long. The invention of guns gave our scientists and military leaders a new idea ¨C what if we made our guns massive and able to breach such walls? This essentially would make for a much more powerful catapult and is what we are working on with our OFK partners. These guns ¨C these cannons ¨C would be larger than humans, and would have to be drawn on wheels by horses, but they could potentially launch massive projectiles with extreme force and render most defenses useless. If this development comes true, walls may not remain necessary anymore, simply because, even if they were made of the finest and sturdiest bricks, they would be no better than ones made of papyrus.


    While not as impressive and fancy as guns and potential cannons, there are some equally crucial developments used behind the fighting lines as well. There are the medical field camps, for one, which help reduce casualties by patching up wounded soldiers and either sending them to the reserve or back to civilian life, but in any case, the outcome is better than having a dead citizen. As I mentioned in a previous section, the invention of the opium-based painkiller Serketine also helps greatly in operations, as the wounded are more sedated and so it is easier to treat them. Over the last few decades we have also advanced in matters regarding logistics, as soldiers are now much better supplied by weapons, food, and everything else that is necessary. More supply routes are active at any one time and they are served by the aforementioned carriages and supply ships, which make sure the soldiers are never lacking the required resources for fighting. New technologies in transportation reduce travel times, and so armies can be supplied quicker. The result is that we can now wage campaigns further away, as well as ones which last longer. The Mycenaeans are campaigning deep in Illyria and Italy, the Hittites are fighting in the far north of Cimmeria, the Elamites and Lullubi are venturing far into Iranian lands, while we can easily reach the Libyan lands in the west and the Nilote lands in the south ¨C all of this was hardly conceivable even a century ago. Of course, we are still far from being able to support a campaign in, say, China or Khonsmia, but we will get there in time, I am sure of it.


    So far I have been mostly talking about land warfare, but naval warfare has seen its fair share of inventions as well. Ships have been slowly upgraded over the last few millennia, but we received the largest impetus to improve our navy during the Second Hittite-Egyptian War, starting over sixty years ago. Its initial purpose was to liberate Alashiya and kick the Hittites out of the island, and for this task we naturally needed ships. Before that, the best we had were small three-banked ships, with three rows of oars on each side. During the war, however, we (with Phoenician help, naturally) designed and built some fours (four-banked ships) and even fives near the end. We still didn¡¯t get Alashiya in that war, but it prepared us better for the Great Powers¡¯ War, where we did finally manage to liberate the island, owing to our new ships.


    By the start of the war, we had not only hundreds of fours and fives, but also some sixes, and so the Hittite navy was no match for our fleets. During the Great Powers¡¯ War and the OFK-EC War, some sevens saw service, though they weren¡¯t very popular, and the ships only continued increasing in size. Grand admiral Khaemtir¡¯s flagship, the RKS Sobekhotep, was finished during the war, and this eight-banked beast headed the mission to transport Muwatalli and his Hittite exiles back to Hatti. Development continued after the war, and the Elamites constructed their own flagship, which apparently is ten-banked, and there is possibly even a twelve-banked one in construction as well. There is probably a limit on how big these ships can get, but developments can be done inside as well. Just like the soldiers, the sailors and the marines may also receive guns before long, which would make them much more effective combatants. The use of fire in naval warfare is also an important development, which began a few decades ago, and it involves marines shooting fire arrows at enemy ships and even setting whole ships on fire to then send them to the enemy and so break their formation. Fire can destroy ships much quicker than anything else, and so fleets now number in the hundreds of ships, sometimes even thousands, as a navy always needs to be prepared to lose dozens of ships or more even in simple engagements. And this trend will only continue, especially once we finalize the designs of cannons, as they could easily be mounted on warships, making them more destructive and naval battles much deadlier.


    Lastly, there is another, less well known and more esoteric, field of warfare. That is chemical and biological warfare. Some ignore these fields, stating that such warfare is prohibited by the Knossos Conventions and so has no bearing on reality. And while it is true that such methods are prohibited by international law, the question is whether the opponents will always adhere to such laws? Tiglath-Pileser certainly didn¡¯t, Muwatalli didn¡¯t (at least at the start of his reign), and Hakkarpili treated it more like a checklist of what to do. One can never truly be certain of what the enemy will use, and so most states, secretly, of course, work on developing some of their own biological and chemical weapons, so that they could be deployed to even the odds if the enemy resorts to using them.


    As one would expect, the Hittites and Assyrians of recent ages are spearheading such developments, or at least had been before the war. The Hittites are known to have used diseased people as weapons, sending them to enemy territories in large numbers so that a plague would spread there. Assyrians, meanwhile, have used a parasitic fungus to poison enemy wells and so cause much of the population of the attacked city to fall ill or die. Both countries have also used poisoned weapons to make them more lethal, including spears, swords, and arrows, all tipped with strong poison. There is also the matter of animals, which are used in a variety of ways. For example, the Hittites and Mycenaeans are known to have been flinging venomous snakes and scorpions at each other¡¯s positions during direct and proxy wars, while the Assyrians made additional use of their catapults by launching dead or diseased animals over the walls to the besieged Kassite cities. And one must also not forget sulfur, which is a mineral being mined for little else other than being able to burn it and so release toxic gases. The Assyrians are said to have used it during the Assyrian-Kassite War, which resulted in thousands of additional deaths (mostly civilian ones), and possibly even during the Great Powers¡¯ War in a limited capacity. Hakkarpili was also discovered to have had a stockpile of sulfur, to be used as a last resort to retain his power, but he was never able to execute this plan, since even his loyalists probably realized the insanity of trying to spread poisonous gases in their own cities and lands and what the long-term consequences of this could be. Elam is also reportedly building up such a stockpile, and while the Elamites are not likely to resort to such methods, it is still not impossible that they would bring out such weapons, especially if they were on the losing side.


    Warfare is changing, and it barely resembles warfare of a century ago in any area. It is advancing at an unprecedented pace, and I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s for the better. I am all for inventions and advancements in most fields, but I don¡¯t know if this is the field where innovation should be cheered on so much. Of course, we have no choice but to advance in order to match our enemies, we must participate in this arms race to maintain our supremacy and even existence, but it may have consequences. Already, the armies are much larger than ever before, and so are the casualties. The Great Powers¡¯ War and the OFK-EC War resulted, combining all countries, in more than half a million casualties in total. And with inventions such as explosives, guns, cannons, more potent poisons, and toxic gases, future wars may have even higher casualty numbers. This is not even accounting for the creation of something even more horrifying, something which, say, could level entire cities in a moment. We don¡¯t have such weapons yet, but who knows if this will always remain the case. I just hope that by avoiding all those calamities nearly a century ago and setting ourselves on the path to accelerated advancement, we will not create something which would be even more destructive than any natural disaster. Because if that happens, well, Horus help us all, for no one else will be able to.

 Reports to the Pharaoh and all the other short stories now part of The Khonsu War

    Just a quick update, which I thought I''d post here, since this is the most popular of my stories. Reports to the Pharaoh, along with the other 5 short stories I posted here, is now part of The Khonsu War (book III of The Bronze Horus series), available on Amazon in eBook, paperback, and hardcover formats. While all the stories will still remain here, and you can continue reading them for free, if you want a polished, edited, and complete version (while also supporting me financially, which I would really appreciate), you may want to check the book out.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    It is chronologically the third entry in the series, but, as you may have seen while reading these stories, the contents of The Khonsu War are more independent of the previous entries, and so it can also be a decent starting point if you are interested in the series. If you end up liking it, you may want to buy the first two novels - The Rise of Kemet and The March of Deshret - afterwards to see how the universe got to this point.