A Selfish Gift

[nbarclay]

Another story, inspired by another interesting event from a game.

February 12, 790 AD

The Minister of Foreign Affairs rushed into Xerxes’ office, out of breath in his haste. “Emperor Xerxes,” he said, “a messenger just arrived from the Iroquois. They just offered to share their knowledge of Chemistry with us, and all they want in return is an updated set of maps.”

“Fantastic!” the Persian leader exclaimed. “I was starting to get worried that our old allies from the Indian campaign had forgotten us. I’ve heard rumors that some of our neighbors are learning how to equip new units they call cavalry with the guns similar to the ones our scientists just finished learning how to make, and the knowledge of Chemistry will put us a step closer to being able to counter that threat.”

“Be careful, Your Majesty,” his Chief Advisor warned. “The Iroquois never do anything without a reason, and I seriously doubt that they have our best interest at heart. Remember how ruthlessly their mounted warriors fought in the war against India, and how much more they gained from the alliance than we did. What if they cast their eyes toward our lands next?”

“Poppycock,” Xerxes replied. “If they wanted to fight us, they would hardly be offering us such a fantastic deal, would they? Wouldn’t they want to keep us as backward as possible?”


April 17, 790 AD

“Emperor Xerxes!” the again-breathless Minister of Foreign Affairs exclaimed. “We just got another message from the Iroquois. Now they are offering us knowledge of Metallurgy as a gift! I find it hard to believe, but the High Firaxians must be smiling on us.”

“Smiling on us indeed,” Xerxes replied with an avaricious gleam in his eyes. “That will put us in a position to start research on Military Tradition itself. When we build a road to distribute saltpeter through our empire and finish that research, our musketmen and cavalry will be a match for any soldiers in the world!”

“I don’t like it,” the Chief Advisor said. “In all our dealings with the Iroquois, and in all the dealings other nations have had with them, the report is the same. They never give anything away, and they charge the highest price they can possibly get for what they sell. And now they sell us one technology for practically nothing and offer to give us another? They have to be up to something.”

“What could they possibly be up to?” Xerxes challenged. “Everyone knows you don’t give gifts to an enemy. Perhaps they recognize our superiority and they want to ensure that we remain on friendly terms.”

“Perhaps,” the Chief Advisor responded. “But you know the old saying: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And having a nation as selfish as the Iroquois suddenly turn generous definitely sounds too good to be true.”

“I also know another old saying,” Xerxes said. “Never look a gift horse in the mouth. The matter is settled.”

“Just so long as the gift horse is really a horse and not a tiger in disguise,” the Chief Advisor muttered under his breath.

December 19, 790 AD

The Persian Minister of War slowly walked into Xerxes’ office, looking like he’d seen a ghost. “The Iroquois just declared war on us,” he said in a voice laced with shock. “Worse, ever since the Iroquois taught us Metallurgy, people have been taking blocks away from our Great Wall to build other things with them. There are holes now that Iroquois cavalry can ride through easily, so it won’t protect us anymore.”

“So that was what they were up to,” the Chief Advisor said, his emotions a mixture of admiration and dread. “They knew that once we learned how to make cannons, we would no longer care about maintaining the Wall, and they used that knowledge to manipulate us.”

[SKILORD]

Interesting and pretty good.

Actually it is very good, if a tad bit blunt.

[Nylan-Nolan]

Good...very good.
The only thing I would reccomend editing would be the thing about the wall. I like the idea about disrepair, but the part about people taking blocks? Drop that, and this story is professional grade.

[nbarclay]

Thanks for the compliments (and to those who complimented my previous story as well). Having the wall fall into disrepair was my first idea, but even a few years isn't enough for a Great Wall to fall into sufficient disrepair without a bit of help. So I fell back on what I could think of off the top of my head that could make a wall useless relatively quickly.

Actually, now that I think about it, a couple other thoughts occur to me. An earthquake might have damaged the wall and the people didn't bother to rebuild it, but could the Iroquois really count on that in their planning? Or the Persians might have simply stopped manning the wall once they discovered Metallurgy. But I didn't think of those ideas at the time, partly because I was tired from playing a long time and partly because I was in a hurry to get the story written and get back to my game.

[unscratchedfoot]

Using great wall blocks in metalurgical applications is bit farfetched. As for reducing a wall by accident, the only way I heard of was when East and West Germany united; pieces of the wall were sold as souvenirs. In your case the wall is made obsolete by cannon but selling pieces to tourists is not good enough to make a story. Its kinduv of a case of painting yourself into a corner.

Good try at lateral thinking though. Looking forward to some more material from you.

[Nylan-Nolan]

Maybe the wall was torn down because it was obsolete? I don't know, I was just thinking. Again, great story

[ChrisiusMaximus]

I think you did well here to write a story about a game concept!

Certainly no other story here has tried to embelish on this concept of the game, and you did well to be able to build a short piece around this.

My only question is this, did this actually happen to you ? is the AI clever enough to do this sort of thing ?

Or is this something you did to make attacking the civ with the great wall easier ?

If this was the tactic of an AI then I am amazed

Looking forward to more from you nbarclay

[nbarclay]

It was a tactic I used against an AI, which inspired a story written from the perspective of the AI civ.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

well first you are very devious but secondly that is brilliant, what an excellent stunt, and as Scratch said a most abstract story!!

I like it great tactic

[unscratchedfoot]

Originally posted by ChrisiusMaximus
well first you are very devious but secondly that is brilliant, what an excellent stunt, and as Scratch said a most abstract story!!

Chrisius, the only thing abstract here is your comment.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

yes sorry scratch you didnt say abstract did you, you said lateral thinking

[Nylan-Nolan]

Again, woderful stuff. And what does lateral thinking mean? It rings a bell, but I can't put my finger on it.

[Paddy]

bring it on nbarclay