The 7 Queens

[EQandCivfanatic]

I've been told that this is a good site for feedback on stories. So i have decided i might as well post this story of a IP game.


----------------------


In the dark year of 4000 BC there was no order to the universe. Then a miracle happened. The Great Creator formed a new planet out of rock and dust, giving it mountains, plains, desert, and tundra. He then pupulated the earth with animals. Soon after, He gave life to 7 ageless children all one way or another in his own form, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Isabella, Ragar Lodbrok, Bismarck, Brennus, and Alexander. Each were given their own separate kingdom in the world. Soon people began populating the planet in great cities like Thebes or Madrid. But the 7 children of the Great Creator all knew one thing. They could only be killed by a mortal blade. To prevent this they each had 6 children much like themselves. They all turned out exactly identical. They were ageless. They were invincable against all but a mortal's blade. So began the 7 Queens of Egypt.

Queen Cleopatra the True watched from her window in the great Palace of Thebes. She saw the masses of people visiting the newly built Colleseum, the public libraries, and the Temple built to the Great Creator. All the cities of Egypt were like this. Culturally great, luxurious, and large. Even the jungle cities of Memphis and Giza were not excluded from the wealth. Ivory from Thebes, Wines from Heliopolis, Silks from Memphis, and Incense from Elephantine all added great wealth and happiness to the cities of Egypt. It was times like these that helped her remember how it all began.

Soon after she created her 6 children, she sent 5 of them off on exploration tasks to the north and south. Apparently Thebes was located on a long penninsula so there was no real need to scout west or east. She kept her most beloved, Cleopatra the Blessed, with her in the governing of Thebes.

The 5 children sent to scout soon met the Celts who were living in the southern Jungle and the Spainish who were located in the fertile grassland south of the Jungle. Isabella and Cleopatra soon became great friends exchanging technology and swearing a pact to always provide the other nation with the latest discovered technologies.

The ones sent north soon discovered the backwards French, who were isolated mostly thanks to the location of Thebes which blocked expansion southward. The French had fertile lands and were growing rapidly.

For a long period of time new cities were founded like Memphis in the southern jungle, Heliopolis in the northern plains, and sevral other cities founded in the jungles and desert of Egypt. As technology advanced new ways of communication were discovered. Things began to be written down by scribes in Egypt's great cities. Goods began traveling across the nation from one city to another. Two nations were newly discovered, Greece and Germany. Both were steadily growing nations though not nearly growing as fast as the Spainish or Egyptian empires. The Celts seemed to be stuck only founding one other city besides their captitol of Entremont, Alesia.

Around this time Cleopatra's friend Isabella refused a demand from the aggressive Germans to the west and went to war. It was a phony war. No reports of any major battles ever came to the ears of Cleopatra the True although reports came in quite often that Bismarck was quite unpleased with the great friendship between Spain and Egypt. The war ended nearly as soon as it begun.

For many years after the peace continued with the world's nations expanding and growing steadily larger. Wonders were built, like the Pyramids of Paris, The Oracle of Athens, or the Collossus of Heliopolis. However, the Celts had managed to found their third city in a place that cut off the Spainish main nation with their source of Iron. Already talks of war came from both nations.

Forcing herself back to the present, Cleopatra called for her daughter Cleopatra the Warrior. "My child, I wish for you to take the newly formed Army of Thebes consisting of the 3 new swords regiments and one of the Thebes garrison spear regiments and take them south to Giza were a archer regiment will meet you. You are to take this army further south to Alesia and show the world the power of the Egyptian armies." Her daughter nodded her assent and began her great task.

Egypt's first war had begun.



Here's a picture of what the world looked like at the time.

Yellow= Egyptian Empire
Light Blue= Spainish Empire
Dark Green= Celtica
Pink= France
Dark Blue= Germany
Light Green= Greek Empire

[EQandCivfanatic]

-Giza, Southern Egypt-

Ramses was a archer. He thought of himself as a simple man just trying to make a living in a noble profession. He had joined the 2nd Giza Archers just so he could provide for his family. He was now on his usual patrol of the city walls with his squad. As he was peering out to the north (even though it is next to impossible to see anything in a jungle as thick as the Giza Rainforest) he spotted banners of a massive army. Fortunately for him they were the glorious yellow banners of Egypt.

-Cleopatra the Explorer's house, Giza-

"Greetings, sister! It brings great memories to see you once more!" Cleopatra the Warrio and Cleopatra the Explorer hugged and for about an hour reminicsing about their past together in Giza. "Now to business, I have the archer regiment i promised to mother all ready for your army. An assembly of the troops has been called and they are awaiting your command," said Cleo the Explorer. "Thank you sister, hopefully we will meet again after this war ends."

-Giza Rainforest, 2 miles away from Alesia, Celtica-

Ramses was on guard duty again. Being on guard in a jungle like this was always a frightening expirence. The calls of the wild animals and the occasional animal attacks were enough to keep anyone on edge. The rest of the regiment had heard rumors of the war on the Spainish front that their Spainish allies had taken and burned the Celtic town of Lugdunum and the Celts had counterattacked taking the town of Murcia. The generals and Cleopatra (the Warrior) had been in the "war room" tent for more than 24 hours and the bulk of the forces believed that the attack was to take place in less than two days. Ramses was not too eager to go into battle. He was almost tempted to desert like some of his friends from the 2nd Giza, but he knew what kind of animals awaited the hapless traveler in the jungle and would much rather take his chances with a Celtic axe than a 20-foot cobra which were believed to live in the jungle. At least you could shoot a Celt.

Suddenly the marching trumpets sounded for the regiment to fall in. The generals must have made their decision. The Egyptians were to begin the 2 mile march through the jungle to Alesia.

-Alesia, Celtica-

Brennus the Defender, the chosen son of King Brennus the True was the one charged with protecting the city of Alesia from the Egyptian invaders. His forces were mostly devasated by the Egyptians and had only a 1/4 of a warrior regiment left protecting Brennus. Fortunately the Egyptians had lost all of their sword regiments and the one archer regiment remaining was launching their final attack.

"My lord! The Egyptians have broken through the wall!" cried Brennus' aide who was quickly shot by one of the many arrows falling around them. Running over to check on the young boy who had rushed to warn Brennus he swore to make at least one Egyptian pay in blood. He looked up to see a small squad of men wading towards his house through a group of resistors. So be it, Brennus thought, I will die for my father . He posed by the door to his house to await the first Egyptian to enter so he could show them the power of a Celtic warrior.

-Meanwhile-

Ramses was attacking once more, he had already used up his arrows and was already using the short sword provided to him by the supplier at Giza. Most of the Celtic line had already broken and surrendered. Yet to be located however was the son of Brennus who was rumored to be living in the town. The commander of his squad was already dead and he had 3 other men with him. Now they were wading through yet another group of Celtic resistors with nothing but crudely made stone weapons.

"Ramses! There's another house ahead we havent cleared yet!" "all right, short swords at ready prepare to move in!" The first Egyptian mvoed in to be gored on a spear. A vicious looking Celt charged out crying, "FOR MY FATHER!" The Celt speared his way through the rest of Ramses squad and turned upon him. "DIE EGYPTIAN DOG!" The Celt charged at Ramses and Ramses ducked and tripped the Celt causing him to fall over onto his own spear.

As the Celt lay dieing in front of him, Ramses leaned against the wall nursing his own wounds. Hearing the noise of cheering from the surviving Egyptians outside, he thought, I guess we won just before blacking out.

[EQandCivfanatic]

-Queen Cleopatra the True's Palace, Thebes, Egypt-

"I appoint you Brigader General Rameses of the 6th Alexandria Swords, please rise." Ramses rose from his kneeling position in front of the Queen. "Thank you my Queen." Ramses began the walk down the aisle out of the palace to the 5-course reception outside at the newly built Hanging Gardens of Thebes. While dining with the upper classes of Thebian society Ramses thought back at what had brought him to the place he now found himself in.

He was the latest general appointed to command a swords regiment from Alexandria. Already several new regiments had been formed and were patroling on the Celtic and the new Spainish border. The war with the Celts had ended about 10 years before and he had been instantly promoted to general of his archer regiment when it was discovered that no officers remained alive anywhere in Alesia and when the survivors discovered he was the brave man to kill the Celtic king's son. Soon after peace was made with the Celtic government and a few years later the Spainish government retook Murcia and made peace as well. After some minor skirmishes with some minor tribes to the west, Ramses was called upon by the Queen Cleopatra the True herself. And here he was.

And here he was, surronded by the upper class of Egyptian society drinking with the rich and powerful of Thebes. He was a general now, one of the top people in the Egyptian armed forces. Hell, I could get used to this, thought Ramses. He had been given his own personal home built by Celtic slaves in the center of Thebes near the Palace and Hanging Gardens.

Several hours later, after saying goodbyes and once again thanking the Queen, Ramses arrived home. His wife and children were away in Giza visiting her parents so when he got home he just went straight to sleep.

Turning once more with his blade, Ramses cut through another Celtic warrior and heard the yell of his compatriot asking to check out the house. The Egyptian rushed into the house to be gored on a spear. The wild Celt covered in the blood of the man he just killed ran out of the house yelling a war cry of...

"Wake up! General! Wake up!" "Who the hell are you?" growled Ramses. "courier sir! The French have declared war and are advancing on Alexandria as we speak. You have been requested to join your new regiment." "Damn, let me leave a note for the wife and i be on the way."

Ramses stepped into carrige awaiting outside and took one last look at his home before embarking off once more into war.

And the carridge rattled off into the night, north to Alexandria.

[vovan]

First of all, welcome to Poly.

It is always nice to see new authors join our community, and since you are the second CFC convert in as many days, it is especially interesting.

As you will soon notice, we do have a little more feedback than CFC. But if you read stories by our "native" writers, you will notice that most of them depart from the classic pattern of action reports. I strongly encourage you to check out some of the stories from the "Story Contest History" list, to see the best of Apolyton.

So, like I said, there haven't been many stories like yours lately. So, it is nice to see one of the classic-style civ fictions. Good stuff it is

[EQandCivfanatic]

I have read the History of the story contest in fact. I have read most of the stories on these forums. They are all really good.

[SKILORD]

As you will soon notice, we do have a little more feedback than CFC. But if you read stories by our "native" writers, you will notice that most of them depart from the classic pattern of action reports. I strongly encourage you to check out some of the stories from the "Story Contest History" list, to see the best of Apolyton.

The stories at CFC have devolved from action reports to glorified comic books. (Don't tell das i said that) They will not even feedback a story unless it hasa pictures (Manifest Destiney is an example here, though EQ did note that he was a Southron before the pics.

You belong here EQ. Nice job with the 7 queens.

[EQandCivfanatic]

OOC: here's the next installment. And SKILORD i agree with you entirely about CFC's recent stories. I admit though that screenshots give a story a bit of personality.

-Encampment of the 6th Alexandria Swords, 17 miles from Alexandria, Egypt-

Ramses overviewed the map of the area. Apparently at least 3 regiments of French spears had entered near Mount Alexander and were escorting large amounts of people seemingly heading to the grasslands and tundra south of Spain. The local governor had sent a emisarry to the French settler party only to receive the man's head in a basket and a French declaration of war. The 6th Alexandria was apparantly the only regiment in the area with any offensive capability. Fortunately the training recieved at the Great Barracks of Alexandria enabled the swords men to have a sginificant advantage over the much more poorly trained spears of France.

A clatter of hooves outside the tent distracted Ramses from his work. Horses were not often found in Egypt and only recent trade routes with Spain allowed horses to enter the nation in numbers enough to pull the main civic leaders of the nation's carridges.

Grabbing his nearby sword and hiding it under his desk, Ramses awaited the arriving horseman to see if he was friend or foe.

Fortunately the horseman was part of Egypt's only cavalry regiment, the 7th Memphis. They had been assigned to the area to scout for French advances and to occasionally raid French mines and farmlands. This boy apparently was one of the conscripts from the slums of the city.

"General Ramses," the boy said with more authority and militaristicness than his manner implied, "General Heine of the 1st Heliopolis Spears has reported movements of French horsemen towards the city. He requests your assistence to drive them back." "Tell General Heine," Ramses said, " that Alexandria has enough problems of their own and to defend his own city with his own troops."

(Competition between regiments was constant in the Egyptian military. Generals were very protective of their assigned turfand sometimes would refuse to help other generals just to see the other general fail and be humiliated. This wasn't capable of being controlled until much later. Anyways, back to the story)

"General Heine thought you would feel this way sir," said the scout,"He says he sincerely apologizes for your past differences, and he really needs your help this time around." "Well you go back and tell that b****** that he is getting no help from me." "As you wish General."

Looking back towards the layout of the French camp nearby, General Ramses began to formulate the plan in his mind for the upcoming battle, although memories of his past in Giza kept returning to mind...

It was a dark night in Giza, the only lights came from the lights of the tavern ahead. But that was not his destination, he was heading toward the alley between the tavern. Suddenly to his side he heard the voice of his friend Heine calling for help. He knew gangs were frequently fighting in this part of the city. He drew his short sword just recently given to him by the local blacksmith for his newly recieved job as an archer. Inching his way towards the alley from which he heard his friend's voice he continued slowly and cautiously into the narrow lane.

Just as he entered the lane he saw a long shadow behind him caused by the lights of the tavern. Turning around quickly he saw only the sight of a stone club descending toward his head.

The galloping of hooves awoke Ramses from his sleep and there was sudden excitement among the troops who were celebrating their victory against the French by drinking vast amounts of vintage Heliopolis wine.

Ramses recognized the figure of the scout who he had yesterday sent back with a insult for that damned Heine. "What the hell do you want now, boy?" Ramses yelled at him, "I sent you back!" "Heliopolis has fallen general," said the scout, "The French overwhelmed the guard and left many people dead in the streets. The general barely escaped to his other regiment stationed along the French border along the Seine River."

Ramses considered this. He didnt like that b****** Heine much but a whole city shouldn't have to suffer for that. There was only one thing to do.

"SOUND THE MARCH! ON TO HELIOPOLIS!"

[EQandCivfanatic]

here is the map of the time. There are some spots that look like cities without a nation's color surronding them. Those spots are some kind of bug which has been seriously annoying me while trying to make screenshots.

[Centauri18]

Makes sense that the immortality of the leaders would be passed on to the children, and so they'd want to have a lot of children. Kinda like Mass Regicide, huh? A very good idea.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Cracking story and as vovan said welcome to poly.

[EQandCivfanatic]

this IS mass regicide, it's a game between me and (on these forums) Prince Jason. Fighting enemy kings is annoying as i am sure jason would tell you if you asked.

[Centauri18]

Oh, okay.

[vovan]

Very nice. I think we've only had one account of an MP game so far, so this is a good diversion.

[Centauri18]

I just checked a thread documenting which civs were useful and which weren't in MP. In my story, I ended up eliminationg all the so-called "nearly useless" civs without even realizing it. Weird!

[EQandCivfanatic]

-Heliopolis, Egypt, 10 years later-

"ONWARD! 6th Alexandria charge!" Ramses called out to his men. This was the most recent attempt that the French had tried to cross the Seine River to the north and take Heliopolis. The French had been sending a steady stream of lone regiments of swords, archers, and spears. THe Egyptian swords were normally able to defeat the poorly trained French, although the army was unable to advance thanks to the need for a massive build up for an attack on the French city of Orleans. Some sword regiments had been lost in the fighting around Heliopolis although they were quickly replaced by the mass well-trained and armed recruits from the barracks and iron foundries of Alexandria.

Soon after the French were defeated once more at the Seine River and the survivors fled north to rally once again at Orleans to prepare for yet another attack on Heliopolis.

Ramses sat at the desk his old enemy, Heine, had once sat. Heine had died in a brave attempt to retake the city using the spearmen that had been sent to guard the fords along the Seine River. Ramses's regiment had arrived just in time to see the spearmen lower the French flag and replace the banner of Egypt above the city's Great Collossus.

Now everyday the ranks of the Egyptian army swelled as the city of Alexandria was a mass production line of soldiers, sending them non-stop to the city of Heliopolis. Soon would be the time to strike.

-Orleans, France-

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP. The Orleans militia, being all that remained of the French army in the city, had braced a few feeble wooden beems up against the Great Gate of Orleans. The Egyptians had just moved the battering ram into place and were slowly breaking the gate into splinters as Joan the Fighter watched from her palace in the center of the city, her city, which she had founded almost 2000 years ago.

The great temples and libraries of Orleans were in flames from the catapult shot and the lit arrows that were constantly streaming into the city. The sky was darkened from the black smoke from the city buildings, turning the fair French day into a dark Egyptian night. Already most of her forces were destroyed when she attempted to break the seige with the army stationed in the city. But, alas, the Egyptians were too many, and now Joan was worse off then when she started.

THUMP, THUMP, *CRASH*, the gates burst and the Egyptian swordsmen swarmed into the city like a dark cloud ruining a fair spring day. The Egyptians were cheering like madmen, with the siren-like sound of the Thebian yell emanating from the mass of men swarming into the city and towards Joan's Palace.

Calling to her 5 loyal and well armed mercenary German bodyguards, Joan the Fighter grabbed her sword and went to meet the men burning her city.

-------------------

"Come on, men! Put out the fires as soon as you can, Cleopatra wants the city intact!" cried Ramses to his men. Waving his sword at a company of nearby swordsmen he shouted, "You over there! Come with me! We are going to the Palace!" The men cheered and joined Ramses at double-time speed toward the local governor's palace.

Upon reaching their goal the Egyptians were dismayed to see the 5 largest men any of them had ever set eyes on. What was even more worrisome was the massive swords held by each "Germans," Ramses heard one of the soldiers mutter to another. Indeed, they looked like the Germans they had seen in marketplaces in Heliopolis and Alexandria and the swords looked, to Ramses expirienced eye, to have been forged in the great blacksmith factories of Hamburg. What was even more unusual then the 5 giant men was a woman dressed entirely in armor standing in front of them holding a sword near the equal of that her bodyguards had.

"Surrender to the army of Egypt and your lives will be spared!" called out one of the captains nearby Ramses. Instead the woman drew her sword and charged toward Ramses and the nearby soldiers with the giants right behind them. At the sight of this, several Egyptian soldiers began to edge backwards nervously toward from the point which they came.

Ramses at first took this as a joke, until the German men gored 5 of his finest men in the first minuite. Ramses rushed toward the nearest German with his sword flashing in the air. Seeing him, the German's face broke into a wicked grin, sensing yet another kill in the making and rushing towards Ramses with his blood covered raised and prepared to strike. Ramses ducked low and rolled forward, tripping and surprising the German who was quickly slain by one of Ramses captains. Ramses brandished his sword ready to strike at yet another German guard only to find his blow blocked by the woman. After a few exchanged blows, Ramses realized he was no doubt dealing with one of Joan's immortal daughters as she fought like a master.

THe exchange of blades continued as Ramses drove Joan into the palace past French soldiers who had been struck by arrows early in the seige, past the stone statues at the enterance, past the magnificent drawings created by aritists in Paris. Upon reaching the furthest chamber of the palace on the uppermost floor of the palace, both combatants were running low on steam.

Joan struck yet another blow at Ramses only to be blocked and countered by his sword. At this point Joan's sword was broken, leaving her defenseless. The shouts of Egyptian soldiers came from below as the final German fell and Ramses' men came to help their general. "Finish it, Egyptian," said Joan,"You have won." With one swift movement by Ramses, Joan the Fighter's leadership of Orleans had ended and the first blow against France had fallen.

The end of France had begun.

[Prince Jason]

nice addition! perhaps the best one! Fighting scenese were done like a pro!

Jason

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Great stuff like PJ says.

[Centauri18]

And I agree with the fact that CivFanatics has gotten stingy when it comes to its stories. Only one person replied when I posted Pax America over there. And they really seem to ignore your story when it isn't actually based on a game. It truly sucks.

[SKILORD]

Awesome EQ.... Awesome.

[EQandCivfanatic]

Thebes, Egypt-

The carridge rattled down the brick street past the Workshop built by a great inventor, past the great temples and libraries, and past the Great Hanging Gardens. The goal of the carridge was not any of these magnificent places, but instead the greatest building in all the World, the Palace of Cleopatra. Not even the Great Library of Madrid could equal the wealth and stature of the Palace.

Ramses was nervous. Very few men besides the bodygaurds of the Queen had ever entered the Palace in all its history, starting even when it was only a cave carved into the hillside. Rumors of the interior of the Palace and what it was like in there was the oft fantasy of many young Thebian boys, who all at one point or another gone on bets or dares to try to get inside, only to be brushed aside by the bodyguards, which just increased the rumors and fantasies. Now Ramses was to go there for the greatest honor that any Egyptian could ever have. He was to be given the Medallian of Anubis, which granted the immortality of the rulers of the world to the bearer of it.

-Later-

Ramses felt the gentle weight of the medallian upon his shoulders as he knelt before Cleopatra the True. The ceremony had been brief and this time there was to be no reception, no crowd of Thebian nobles, and no constant handshakes with others. He had been called to Thebes for business.

He was now in the "war room" of Egypt, deep within the section of the Palace in which the foundations had been laid. This was the actual cave where Cleopatra first led from.

"General Ramses," said Cleopatra the Warrior,"As I have been called to serve my mother by negiotating with the Greeks who have been threatening us for some time, I will be leaving full command of Egypt's armies to you. Your successful planning and tactics at the Battles of Orleans, Tours, and Lyons shows that you are indeed the best candidate for the job, which is the reason you have been chosen for the Medal you now wear."

She layed a map of the Franco-Egyptian penninsula in front of Ramses, markers showing the positions of the Egyptian and known French armies. She began a flowery speech to Ramses on how the Egyptians would conquer and so on and so forth,

The map showed a advantagous position to the Egyptians. With the recent capture of Lyons and the French Iron supply, the great armies of French swordsmen had begun to dry up and the army garrisoning Orleans had been greatly relieved as the French began sending easily repulsable horsemen and archers against the dug in Pikemen and Longbowmen behind the great city walls. Occasional attempts had been made by the French to regain the towns of Tours and Lyons, but the modern Egyptian army, well equiped with Medieval Infantry and the occasional Knights were easily able to repulse them. The Great Lighthouse of Lyons provided the Egyptian navy with a benefit and many French galleys had already been sent to the bottom of the Mediteranean Basin.

"....you for your time and pateince General," said Cleopatra, drawing him out of his study of the tectical situation. "Hopefully we can capture Paris itself within a few days?" "One can only hope, my lady," replyed Ramses, "My men are ready to fight." As Cleopatra left Ramses returned to the map to plan the war.

Striding away from the Palace to his carrige waiting to take him home to his wife who was sick and dying from a disease that had been spreading around the city, Ramses was mentally preparing himself to see his wife and sons after 20 years of campaigning against the French.

Far above him at the top of the Hanging Gardens, a shadow watched like a bird of prey waiting for its chance to strike. "It is almost time, Ramses," the figure whispered, "Almost time."

OOC: Thanks for the encouragement from y'all.

[vovan]

Quite an enjoyable chapter, that last one is. Keep up the quality, and bring up the frequency a notch.

[SKILORD]

damn vova, you beat me.

Yeah EQ, it was quite nice

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Super Dooper

[Prince Jason]

nice eq

Jason

[EQandCivfanatic]

I'm going on vacation for the weekend. Most likely I'll end up writing the rest of this story (or at least as far as me and Jason have played) this weekend, so frequent additions should begin.

[EQandCivfanatic]

OOC: back from vacation and ready to write yet another chapter. I think I will have to separate this into a trilogy or greater as there will most likely be a huge gap as I am just about where me and Jason have left off on the game.


-Paris, France-

The Egyptian catapult shot continued to fall upon the people of Paris. Rock after rock crushed the buildings and people of Paris. The walls of the city had continued to hold steadfastedly against the shot. Being the strongest fortifications ever built in the known world, even the largest rocks the Egyptians managed to hurl against the city just bounced off. The French continually responded with their own catapults from the center of the city, killing many of the Egyptian beseigers.

Admist this confusion on the 1238th day of the seige in the midst of the night, a dark figure strode across the Great Plaza of Paris through the shadows cast by the black shapes of the buildings around him. In what was once the great marketplace of Paris, which bustled nonstop day and night with merchants from across the known world, there was no sign of life except for a pack of stray dogs fighting over what appeared to be a dead body lying in the street and the occasional flutter of curtains in the houses nearby as the frightened townsfolk stared out wondering if they were to be the next to be killed by a stray catapult shot.

The figure walked across the Plaza toward the gate where the final French swordsman regiment were desperately holding against the Egyptian onslaught, besieged by arrows, battering rams, and catapult shot. Even now yet another regiment of Egyptians was pounding at the gate.

Drawing his sword the figure charged the gate. Unaware at first of what was happening, three of the French swordsmen fell quickly to the blade. Not all of them could turn to face the new threat as they still needed to brace the gates to prevent the Egyptians from breaking through. A nearby swordsman clumsily tried to counter the unexpected attack, but was quickly impaled by the blade.

Furious at this almost 20 swordsmen charged the figure, most to be cut down by the blade which seemed because of the shadows to be without an owner, cutting and slashing through the weak French armor in a great dance of death. By the end no Frenchman remained standing to face the dark figure and his sword.

To the great surprise of the Egyptian troops at the gate, and to the ones who were hurling themselves at it in a desperate attempt to ram it down great misfortune, the gates swung open to the Egyptians who were greatly surprised to see those resisting already dead.

With a great cheer, the Egyptians charged into the city.

The great city and French capitol of Paris had fallen, the war would soon be over.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Nice but short ! anyways looking forward to the next stage of this wonderous saga.

[EQandCivfanatic]

-Paris, France-

"4 Pharohs and 2 Queens, full house, i win," said the soldier. "Damn, I had a striaght. Damn your Memphis luck," said Ramses, setting the men arround the table into laughter. People from Memphis were well known to be the most skilled gamblers in the world, having many casinos built around the city.

Ramses was sitting around a table with 3 of his men, playing the game of poker which had migrated to Egypt from Spain. Of course, the rules changed a little, from 5 cards to 6 as well as the Pharoh taking place of the Queen and the Queen taking place of the King. His luck had been good tonight, winning a home in Paris as well as a good deal of gold. Of course, he was wealthy enough already. He played these poker games to mingle with his men, see how they were faring in life, and to raise their spirits somewhat.

"Well, I've won enough tonight, I am going back to headquarters now," said Ramses, rising from the table. " I wish you win luck and good winnings, gentlemen." Muttering thanks to Ramses the Egyptians returned to their game.

Leaving the brightly lit bar and entering into the darkness of the alleys and streets of Paris, Ramses began the mile walk across town to his headquarters in the ruins of the Palace.

Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps in a nearby alley. As curfew was upon the citizens of Egypt, this could mean no good, thought Ramses, drawing his sword and moving towards the sound. The French resistence had been active recently, stirring up unrest and occasionally riots. It took 3 regiments of the new muskets to keep the city under control.

Causously entering the alley, Ramses felt cold steel underneath his neck. "Surprising General, that a man such as yourself could be caught off guard by such a simple trick. I thought you were above that." Coming out of the shadow in which she had been hiding was Joan the Fighter, looking not a day older than she did when they had met in Orleans at the final battle outside the palace and just as well armed.


OOC: Will be continued tomorrow.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Cracking stuff

[vovan]

Kinda on the short side, but thumbs up on this, any way.