The glorious saga of the Matlenoko

[Rosacrux]

The history of Matlenoko


The Great Saga of the Matlenoko

This is my second story here – the first was just a little humorous piece, but this one is more detailed, demanding and serious. Read it carefully, it even gives away my basic strategy. The Matlenoko is a rather modified Aztec civ (abilities now industrious/commercial) The rest still carry their original names.


In the mist of long-gone history, a kingdom of great strength and virtue arose from the fertile land around the great lake Padjuma. Those people have set the foundation for the great civilization we are living in and we all are in debt to those brave men and women who worked hard for thousands of years to create our great civilization. The whole world owns those people a great deal.

So, here it is. The history of the Matlenoko

Our history starts long ago, 6300 years before this date. A small band of people separated from the Iroquois tribe, who was at that time holding the north part of what we call now the Puolamoka continent.

The Iroquois were a warring society, valuing military virtue and prowess above all. The breakaways were not interested in that way of life. They were farmers and worked the bronze well and their ways were considered a blasphemy among their compatriots.

So, they decided to leave and find a place for their own – the certain circumstances cannot be defined properly, but it must have been after a major catastrophe that happened around 4000 BC, possibly extensive floods. We can’t guess with certainty. But this small band of the Iroquois tribe set forth to find more fertile lands and a new home away from their warring kinsmen.

They traveled southwest and finally found the ocean, the Great Water of the Matlenoko legends. They continued southwards, and finally found the Wonaka Mound, then faced eastwards. They finally reached the plains surrounding the Padjuma Lake. They settled there, bewitched by the beauty and the fertility of the surrounding area. Their first time was called Matlenoko, which in the ancient language reads “The blessed”.

It was a good choice, but dangers emerged. The presence of barbaric tribes – some of them very warlike – dictated a different approach by their part. They started forming a cast system and the main cast – gained great power over the years – was that of the warriors. The first distinguished Matlenoko warrior cast was that of the Jaguar warrior, as it has passed to us with the legends that surround the early Matlenoko history. The tribe has discovered the alphabet and writing pretty early, so they kept extensive records of the great feats of those fearsome warriors. The one that survives to our days fully is the “Temukaka altinaiko”, the “Mastered in the Art of War Legend”, an epic of forty stories loosely connected and with a common theme – the mighty Jaguar Warrior Kalipoatli.

Jaguar warriors were capable and well trained. They could move fast, strike fast and retreat fast. They were the mainstay of any Matlenoko army for more than 3000 years – in various editions of course. But it’s still early to talk about armies.

The first contact with another tribe was way past their settling. After they have extensively mapped out the whole southern region of Puolamoka, they found another tribe, along the western coastline. It was the English, the “seafarers who came across the ocean”, as their legends stated. They wouldn’t present much of a threat for the Matlenoko at this stage, but they looked pretty expansionistic at time and they had already contacts with the original Iroquois tribe as well as another tribe living in the northern part of Puolamoka, the Teinenko.

Using their newfound friendship with the English, the Matlenoko were now able to advance in the primitive sciences and also contact their former kinsmen and the peaceful and very advanced Indians. From the latter they learned many interesting advances – especially the working of iron, with which they managed to create deadly weapons that would suit them well in the troubling times to come. The rich plains around Padjuma were home to many horses too, so they would trade this valuable good with their neighbors.

Around 2320 BC the Matlenoko tribe has found four cities, spread all around Padjuma. They managed to fight off the early aggression of their barbaric neighbors, but eventually they had to face a great threat: The Uprising. All the barbaric tribes of the north were forced to move south, because of the very aggressive stance of the Iroquois. The Matlenoko had to fight endless hordes of ravaging barbarians, but they managed to get through this without great losses and with a very strong military, that helped them in the future.

Another landmark in the Matlenoko history was the forming of the first Republic. The despotic system they followed since the start of their history couldn’t satisfy the needs for greatest development in every aspect, and since the culture and science were pretty much established and adored in their society, they had to figure out another way around things.

The discovery of the Republic was gradual but seems like it was established after a long period of anarchy, which ended around 900 BC, with the establishment of “The First Republic”. The rulers of the era mentioned in the annals are Tualapotli and Takalamitli, and they seem to have done a great work, promoting the sciences and the arts and favoring free trade.

By the time, the Matlenoko have spread towards the ocean and also the area in the east of Padjuma, creating more and more cities. Finally, in their expansion, they had to stop, when they met the English to the East, and the areas controlled by the Iroquois and the Teinenko to the north. To the south they progressed with ease, but had eventually to stop because of the great Atzapuatli jungle and the fringes of the Huahari desert.

The Matlenoko were lucky enough to find extensive deposits of dyes, gems, gold and iron, and if you add in it the horses abundance and their traditional silk “industry”, one could easily understand that the early development was quite easy for the Matlenoko. Their elected leaders could rule a large and wealthy empire, from their palace in Matlenoko.

With such a level of development, it doesn’t come as a surprise four dwellings of each the English and the Iroquois, as well as two Teinenko villages have deliberately decided to join the Matlenoko and accept their ways. Oh, it was a Golden Era for the Matlenoko for sure. In that very era they managed to build one of the Great Wonders of the ancient world, the legendary Pyramids, followed by another one, the Colossus in the coastal city of Tanacatlan.

But that couldn’t last forever. The Jaguar warriors seemed pretty outdated at time, when the first hordes of mounted warriors appeared on the northern borders at 845 BC. The “War for the horses” was the first of a series of warring events that shaped the world at these times. The weapons of iron carried by the mighty swordsmen were a decisive factor, along with the superior tactics by the Matlenoco cavalry and the newly invented catapult. The Matlenoco sided with the Indians to fight off the attacks of their kinsmen, and they succeeded, destroying the military of the Iroquois and capturing four of their cities, thus gaining absolute control of the eastern part of Puolamoka. The Teinenko have taken their share from the loot and three cities of the – once fearsome, but now in ruins – Iroquois. Only their capital, and two more cities stayed in their control.

The new, quite impressive in terms of size, empire of the Matlenoko needed an adjustment to work properly. The old capital at Matlenoko was too distant from the northern provinces and this got settled only a few centuries later, when Tiahutziko became the new “Amilta”, the Matlenoco capital. Another palace, the “Forgotten Palace” was build in Tominokatli, to serve as an alternative point of governing – actually, gradually it became a “Namaramilta”, a “southern capital”.

Another golden era started for the Matlenoco, with vast advance in the sciences. Soon enough, ships that could cross the ocean were coming out of the harbors of their coastal cities, establishing contacts with the other two massive continents in our world, the Gurland and the Ne-Toi-Ran.

In Ne-Toi-Ran they met three flourishing civilizations. The industrious Chinese, the Militaristic Japanese and the theocratic Egyptians.

In Gurland they met their equal – the leaders in the scientific race Greek. Only one of the other four civilizations was trying to compete, the mercantilist French. The other three – the Germans, the Roman and the Russian – were way behind in terms of development. The Roman had quite a military, but they couldn’t wage important wars as they lacked in terms of placing and economy.

The Matlenoko society has always been trade-oriented so by using their ships Matlenoko merchants began crossing the sea thus establishing trade routs with most civilizations. The legendary Wonaka silk was sought after in the whole world at the time, and also precious stones, saltpeter, iron, coal, and incense – goods distributed to the civilized world creating vast amounts of wealth for the Matlenoko society.

Their neighbors were in awe of their prime way of living and lots of them decided to join their empire – but the corruption staggered in the outpost cities of the empire, making it hard to maintain a decent infrastructure.

Despite that seems too much wealth isn’t always a good thing. The mighty empire became lazy over time. Oh, yes, the scientists kept on (with the aid of the Greek scientists, of course) and the economy really produced wealth for everybody… but the Matlenoko forgot the lesson taught to them ages ago by the raging barbarians: Do never believe you are safe.

The once trusted allies, the Indian, changed their ways, when a new ruler of great might establish a communist regime. They sided with the English, the Japanese and the Chinese, forming the famous “Coalition of the four stars” – and their aggression against (primarily) the Egyptian, started off the War Of The Three Continents, as we now call that massive war.

The Matlenoko thought they could stay out of it – they carried on with their commercial ways and believed their wealth and supreme culture would keep them out of reach. Oh, how wrong they were. A combined surprise attack of the Indian and English military, along with a number of Chinese troops landing on their shores, alarmed the once fearsome warriors.

But before they managed to mobilize their –weak, now – forces, the ongoing forces ransacked three of their cities. The nationalistic fraction was currently in the lead of the nation (not an empire any more, since the great Democratic reform in 790 AD introduced by Tlelamenko Oti) and they figured out that the only way to gather adequate forces to guard their cities, their resources and key points, was to mobilize the whole nation for war.

So they did, and Matlenoko started to fight back. Many tens of thousands of Matlenoko citizen drafted to man the riflemen regiments, who took the defense of the cities. The once famous Matlenoko cavalry, once feared by their enemies, was reborn of its ashes and new weapons came into play – the first use of cannons in history was during this war.

And what a war it was… a real world war. Only the weak Iroquois and the French managed to keep themselves out of the rumble – the rest fought terrible battles for decades, until some visible outcome could be decided.

The Matlenoko sided with the Greek, the Russian and the German. In the later stages of this war, the Roman came into it, in the side of the “Coalition of the four stars”, but they hadn’t much luck in it: Their forces were annihilated by the Greek-German-Russian army in three great battles, and they had to give up the 2/3 of their empire to the winners. The Greek were a great naval power too and at the time only the English had the potential to fight them in the sea. But with the English busy in Puolamoka, the Greek ships ruled the seas. They launched an impressive offensive in the Chinese mainland, and even though they seemed to be stagnant for a few months, they managed to conquer 6 of the Chinese cities in the next few years of the ongoing war.

The Matlenoko lost one more city to the three-sided offensive, till they managed to hold off the Indian in the battle of Katanaka River. The Indians lost half of their army in that battle, which was fought around the city of Ipahanja, along the river Katanaka. After this massive strike, and the stagnant ongoing of the English, the Matlenoko cavalry – with massive use of the cannons too – took out the Chinese forces, clearing one front and securing the city of Apelamoko, lost during the early stages of the war.

Then they went on an impressive two-front offensive. To the West, they set pressure on the English and to the north-northwest to the Teinenko. In a matter of months the lost cities were taken back, but the advance into enemy ground was another story…

After a bloodshed that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people from all sides, and lasted many years, the Matlenoko has gained half of the Indian former empire and one third of the English. The latter had to face another threat, as the Greeks landed a massive force on their southwest fringes, causing the loss of three cities and valuable saltpeter and coal supplies.

The war ended gradually, while one after another the powers of the “Coalition” plead for piece. Huge reparations had to be paid to those on the winning side and even a couple recently conquered cities changed sides at that time.

The war has left the Matlenoko as the dominant force in their continent (they controlled three times the ground of the other three states altogether) and the Greek with a valuable outpost in Puolamoka, a greater outpost in Ne-Toi-Ran and the dominant force (but not the only power) in Gurland. Three civilizations suffered great losses and were reduced in numbers, power and size considerably: India and English, and also Egypt. They, along with the Iroquois, couldn’t play a decisive role in history any more.

The Chinese also suffered great losses to the Greek, but they retained a modest status, and the Japanese didn’t bleed much and managed to stand on their feet soon after the warring ended.

There was no other war as great as this one. Many skirmishes were fought in the years to come, by all the great nations. But the War of the Three Continents was the only real world war.

The greatest warring event of the next centuries – resolving in the demise of the Chinese empire – was “the Mineiko Campaign”, during the 14th century. Matlenoko had an alliance with the Japanese at time and their former friends, the Chinese, did have some serious trouble with them.

The outbreak was inevitable and the Matlenoko – now maintaining a strong military despite their basically peaceful ways – had to assist their allies. They landed quite a force on Ne-Toi-Ran and considering they were the only ones with access to the new devastating weapon, the advanced tank, they managed to destroy the forces of the Chinese, with assistance by the Japanese military. Even though the Matlenoko forces have “liberated” at least 8 cities on Ne-Toi-Ran, they kept only two (with valuable oil and uranium resources in them) and let the Japanese and the Russian (who have joined the coalition in the latter stages of the war) get the rest.

But the Matlenoko got most of the war reparations and they used those to secured their position in the lead of the world. The Puolamoka – called now “The Eastern Continent” – became the center for literature, arts and human studies, as well as the sciences.

Great monuments have been established and new ideas flew to all over the world originating from the Matlenoko Democracy. Great scientists have given their names to famous institutions, as the renowned Newton University. Great anthropologists have brought into light the Theory of Evolution explaining on how the species evolved to their current forms.

New forms of power have been discovered – the electricity was produced primarily by the great dams, the sun has offered another clean power source and the atomic power has been used to produce great power plants – and destructive weapons, that were never to be used.

As the whole world was coming to an understanding, the United Nations was formed to establish a permanent understanding between the nations. Gradually, and through the years, the peaceful global society the Matlenoko helped so much to evolve has given the Matlenoko Prime Minister the title of the First General Secretary of the World.

In 1602 AD the world was finally united, under the leadership of the Matlenoko and with the participation of the whole humanity. A new era has begun. An era where even the stars seemed ripe for the taking.

…and so ends our story. And the Matlenoko shall live on in the world’s history as the greatest of the civilizations ever faced the earth. They have our gratitude.

[Grundel]

Very well written. I love the creative use of Pronouns to describe your world

Keep it up.