Campaign 24
Turn 4 Newsfax
DEADLINE FOR TURN 5 - 30th October
A great response to the last deadline, please keep it up as it looks as if we're going to be able to keep the flow going. As to last turn, lots of new events - the disappearance of Scotland to the ever growing England, Flanders annexed by Normandy, Khemer attacks the Champa and Leon integrates with Navarre. Ooops, almost forgot, now I see why everybody's wetting themselves about the horde! Only Ivan and myself know where it is but I'm sure some of you can guess.
The Newfaxes
I'm sorry that the current newsfaxes have not yet been completed. All I can say in my defence is that I'm hoping to get them finished by Friday. I have posted all but Western and Northern Europe, Africa, India and South East Asia.
Not all of you might know but on turn six I shall be conducting diplomacy for cities and regions seperately. This makes this turn the last turn before this comes into effect. Also, on turn six support costs will be charged. On turn eight the costs of actions WILL depend on the terrain the action is performed in. I'm not sure if the chart is the same (or even in) the 5.4 rules version so if anyone wants to let me know I'll update it.
Thanks to all of you who have paid so far. I just wanted to point out the new turn costs format (have a look at the Fees page)
Newsfax Entries
As some players have spent some time writing some excellent newsfax entries I thought it only fair that I put them here for all to see.......
From the Papal States........
"Following
a long and arduos journey from France, where the Pope had been
trying to mediate peace between the French and Burgundians, in
appalling weather, the aging Pope Sylvester II became gravely
ill. Upon arrival in Rome he died peacefully in Castel Gandolfo,
his dying words named the able Bishop of Ostia, Mario Montini to
succeed him. The Conclave of Cardinals met and after much
deliberation chose, in line with the Pope's wishes, Bishop Mario
who took the name Pope Clement II and prepared to build on Pope
Sylvester's achievements.
"The Pope Clement II, Bishop of Rome, doth hereby issue the
following Papal Bull. The Papacy, does hereby declare that it
will stand before the darkness of barbarity and paganism that
surround and threatens the precious light of Christian Europe.
"In order
for the light to be preserved, during the years from 1025, a
tithe of one twentieth shall be assessed on Christian Europe. The
income from this tithe shall start to be collected from 1030.
"The tithe shall ensure the growth and protection of
Christendom. It will not be used to enhance the Papal States, but
shall rather buttress the states in the forefront of the battle
against the pagans and infidels and be used to spread the word of
Christ, to the ignorant and misguided. The distribution of the
tithe to those in need shall thus, replace the heretical concept
of usury discussed and dismissed at the Council of Lyons.
"Yours in Christ, his Holiness, Pope Clement II."
About Scotland........
A dark cloud of
gloom hung over the royal chambers in Perth The valiant effort to
crush MacBeth had failed and Norse raiders again ranged freely
through the lands. As Kenneth surveyed his realm it took all his
strength of character to not despair. Was it within his power to
reverse the tide of hopelessness that threatened to wash over his
realm?
And still there was more bad news. Travelling merchants brought
tidings of a further threat from the south. His avarice and
ambition not sated by the conquest of Wales, Rufus of England was
casting his covetous glance upon Scotland. A call to arms had
been made throughout that land as Rufus prepared to march north.
It was utterly impossible for Kenneth to act against all three
simultaneous threats. Indeed, such were Scotland's straitened
circumstances that even a single incursion could not be resisted
with any prospect of success.
It was with this background in mind that Kenneth made his fateful
decision. Gathering such loyal followers around him as could be
mustered through the kingdom, Kenneth bade them move north to the
Highlands. There, behind the safety of the mountains, he hoped to
maintain an element of royal control over his shrunken realm. His
actions came none too soon, for news quickly reached him of
invasion from the south. Kenneth was little concerned whether it
was Macbeth or Rufus, and so died without knowing who sealed his
fate.
Every day the invaders drew closer. Racing against time, Kenneth
assembled the royal household and its effects. State documents,
tax records and the royal seal were piled into wagons and sent
north. Only once this work was complete did the king think of
joining his kinsmen in the Highlands.
He left the palace with his family and a small band of personal
guards early one misty morning. Hoping to make good time on the
journey north and conscious of the approaching foe, Kenneth's
haste proved his undoing. Taking a wrong turn at a fork in the
road outside Perth, he and his retinue rode on through the gloom
unaware of their mistake. Unbeknownst to them, they were
travelling south, oblivious to the invaders' fast-approaching
advanced guard pounding up the road towards them.
When the end came, it came quickly and predictably. Discerning
mounted figures coming towards the royal party through the mist,
Kenneth rode forward to meet them. He greeted the harsh demand to
halt and identify himself with royal disdain, "Who are you
to make demands of your anointed king? Step forward scoundrel
that I may see the man who denies me respect."
Reports of survivors of this encounter now fall prey to the
confusion of battle. What is clear is that Kenneth and his
retinue had stumbled into an advanced party of southern invaders.
Too late did he recognise the peril as the foe spurred their
steeds towards him. The ensuing fight was brutal but short.
Kenneth's personal guards fought valiantly, but were cut down
almost to a man defending the wagon carrying the queen and
Kenneth's youngest son. Hardly fifteen minutes passed from the
first encounter until the royal retinue lay in red ruin. In their
haste to plunder the riches at hand, the invaders did not
hesitate to butcher anyone in their path.
It was only after their bloodlust had abated that they
interrogated the few survivors from the massacre. Learning that
it was the royal household, the prisoners were set to identify
the bodies of the slain. One by one, the royal family was
accounted for. The Queen and the child Duncan lay slain in a
wagon. Kenneth's other son, Alexander, so recently come of age,
had fallen at the head of the royal guard. The body of the king
himself was found some distance away. Surrounded by the bodies of
eight assailants, his mutilated remains lay in a ditch by the
side of the road.
So it was that the line of Kenneth came to an untimely end.
New Rules
The following are new rules and clarifications to be used in LOTE 24.
New Horde Rules
These are the proposed new Horde rules for
Lords 24. They will allow for hordes to generate gold and NFPs
whilst still retaining that essential horde feel
Size Divisor
That for nomadic culture type, a steppe region with an control
status of NT or higher count as having the equivalent of a royal
road in it for the purposes of the ISD calculation and CCR only,
since for the nomads these regions where basically wide highways
for them to move across. Also the actual size divisor for nomadic
empires with HBZ centred in the steppe lands of Eastern Russia or
Central Asia or Manchuria should be 5.
Horde Status
The results of horde diplomacy should be At War, Hostile,
Neutral, Feudal Ally, Ally and Friendly only. Other types of
control status cannot be achieved through horde diplomacy.
An At War result will mean that the horde becomes an active NPN
horde. Hostile means
they will attack each other if possible. Friendly means the horde
and its regions (horde block) are absorbed into the main horde
and horde block. Feudal Ally and Allied status apply only to the
horde and not to the regions belonging to that horde block. The
horde block will then begin to regenerate a new horde.
CCR Checks
Each region or horde outside the CCR will undergo a separate CCR
check.
Diplomacy
It is possible to use diplomacy on or pacify any region. These
regions will generate cash and NFPs for the horde. The maximum
status for a non-steppe or desert region is EA. The player
decides when a horde is no longer nomadic, rather than just by
pacifying a cultivated region.
Support
The support costs for Steppes is raised to 0.1 and
Cultivated/Int. Cultivated to 0.3