I'll give this a shot again. Probably will be able to keep up if im there from the beginning [hider=The Little Deer] [U][B]Character Sheet[/b][/u] [b]Name:[/b] Hirutila Saljamanna [b]Appearance:[/b] Hirutila is a short man, about 5'5". His skin is a light tan color, and his face betrays his age, being slightly scared and worn, about what one would expect from a man in his mid 40s. He has wavy black hair, down to his shoulders, usually tied back, typically with a wide brimmed black hat. He has a short beard, slightly graying. [b]Bio:[/b] Hirutila Albareikissunus Saljamanna was born in the city of Karlei, on the island of Sardinia, where he was raised until the time he was 13, when his family relocated to Carthage (Vandalic: Karkheda). Hirtula's father, Albareik, had elevated his family into the middle-class of Vandalic society by the foundation of a mercantile business shipping wheat from Vandalia to the Balkans and Anatolia by way of the Ostrogothic capital city of Bizantia (Byzantium). Albareik was killed in an argument in Bizantia when his son was about 17 years old, leaving the business to be inherited by him. Hirutila was able to make a living as a merchant, expanding to make routes westward to Saxony, until a storm in the atlantic destroyed a fleet of ships, sending Hirutila into debt, forcing him to sell off what was left of his business to avoid being jailed. At the threat of being tracked down by debtors, Hirutila ended up fleeing to Corsica, and Island at the fringe of Vandal rule to avoid detection by any debtors. It was there that he encountered the Chadian outlaw, Rago, who had fled to Europe to escape being prosecuted for his crimes of theft in Chad. An agreement was made between the two, who began a career of raiding the Mediterranean with a group of hired raiders from Europe and Africa, taking whatever they could and returning to Corsica. By the Age of 40 Hirutila and his warband had become a major raiding force in the Mediterranean, though the career came to an end when he was captured in Egypt, and imprisoned. For the last 5 years, he has been rotting away in prison, seemingly left to die. [b]Age:[/b] 45 [b]Skills:[/b] An accomplished sailor since he was 17 years old, Hirutila is a strong, agile individual, capable of great feats of strength and agility. He's skilled in the use of a sword and polearms. Having to survive in hiding on Corsica, he's gained a great amount of skill in repair and maintenance of his equipment, even learning how to make his own weapons. But he really doesn't need weapons, and is more than capable of just beating up his opponents with his fists if necessary. Being a merchant by trade for most of his life, He's good with navigation, and management of money and resources. He's also multilingual, speaking, in addition to his native Vandalic, Greek, Gaulish, Saxon, Persian, Hausa, Libyic (an Indo-European language native to the Sahara), and Egyptian. He's also capable of making and deploying a notable incindiary item called 'Gothic Fire'. Most likely originally created by Greeks, it became associated with the Ostrogoths, who used it to defend their maritime interests. It burns very hot, and is capable of burning on water. [b]Personality:[/b] Any carelessness that he once had was crushed very harshly by the destruction of his business and the forced exile of himself that lead to his adoption of piracy. While jaded from a string of bad luck that leaves him appearing harsh and abrasive to those he meets, Hirutila tries not to let it get the best of him, and tries to maintain as positive an outlook as he can. He is a devoted Okhemarite Buddhist, and tries to live up to the standards set by the religion, though he is obviously forced into a situation where he must compromise his values for his own survival every day. However, he abides by the precepts of not swearing, not drinking excessively, and avoiding killing as much as possible, though he finds that it often is impossible not to kill. His ultimate goal is to get enough wealth from piracy to be able to return to his normal life. [/hider] [hider=The Green Sahara] [U][B]World Sheet[/B][/U] [B]Name:[/B] The Green Sahara [B]Summary of History:[/B] The rain never left the Sahara, leaving what had become a dry wasteland in our world to remain a lush and fertile grassland. Dominated by the 3 Great African Seas: The Moorish Sea, The Sea of Chad, and the Punic Sea. Home to various nomadic tribes and some powerful kingdoms, the North of Africa is much more relevant in the world. After the conquests of Carthage, in which the emergent Carthage utilized its massive abundance of resources to utterly eradicate its rival Rome, and Alexander, and the rise of the Hausa empire of Chad, the Sahara was dominated by Three Major powers, The Carthaginian Empire, The Ptolemaic Kingdom, and the Chadian Empire, with the powerful Seleucid Empire exerting influence. Following a Jewish revolt taking place in Seleucid territory, the Ptolemy's backed the rebels, declaring war on the Seleucids. The Seleucids called their ally, the Carthaginians, into the war, prompting the Ptolemy's to call in the Chadian Empire. The War ultimately ended in favor of the Ptolemys, who backed the creation of and Israelite Kingdom, and forced the Seleucids to renounce their claims in Asia Minor and the Levant, ceding lands to the Ptolemaic allies of Pergamum and Galatia. Carthage was hit harder, being forced to renounce all its territories outside of Africa, withdrawing from Iberia and ceding its Italian territories to the Celtic Kingdom of the Senones, and release the Kingdom of Epirus as an independent state. Carthage and The Seleucids never rose again, with the remnants of the Seleucid Empire being destroyed by the arrival of the Parthians, and the Carthaginians facing destruction at the hands of the Vandals 3 centuries later. Around this time, the teachings of a man named Siddhartha Gautama began to spread across the Hellenic world, attracting followers from all walks of life. The first to officially convert to this new religion on a national level was King Attalus II of Pergamum, who sent out missionaries to the Galatians and the Macedonians. The Migration Period was kickstarted with the arrival of the Huns, who pushed Germanic, Celtic, and Slavic peoples southwest into Europe, Africa, and Asia. The first to fall were the Gaulish Kingdoms, which saw them migrating south into Iberia to escape the Goths, Franks, Saxons, Frisians, and Vandals, later being pushed northward into the Northwest of Iberia by the Vandals. The Vandal Kingdom was destroyed by the Goths, who forced the Vandals out into North Africa, where they destroyed the last remnants of the Carthaginian Empire. The Goths established a powerful state in Iberia, with the Northwest of Iberia being divided between various small Celtic Kingdoms, ruled and inhabited by Gaulish Exiles, native Celtiberians, and Britons fleeing from the Anglo-Saxon invasions, gradually expanding south. Italy saw itself invaded by the Burgundians, who took all of the Cisalpine Italian lands up to the Tiber river, with the Senonian Kingdom of Italy remaining in control of the South. The Balkans saw an influx of eastern Germanic Tribes who settled along the Danube, and Slavic tribes after that. The Kingdoms of Macedon and Epirus were conquered by the Cherusci and the Ostrogoths, while the Germanic Heruli, Lombards, and Marcomanni settled in the Northern Balkans, only for the Heruli and Marcomanni to be pushed across the Danube and the Lombards to be relocated to the Adriatic coast by the arrival of the Slavic Antes, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Rus. The Area of Germania, which largely saw itself depopulated, was resettled by Slavic tribes moving up to the Rhine, save for the Alpine region, which remained under the Authority of the Alamanni. Meanwhile, in Africa, the Bantu migrations saw Bantu speaking tribes move east in northward and southward directions, encroaching on Saharan nations, particularly upon the Chadians and the Nubian kingdoms. Western African Kingdoms began to take advantage of the long trade routes from their lands to East Asia to become extremely wealthy and exert influence on the greater continent, culminating with the political unification of much of western Africa under the Ghana Empire, a direct rival to the increasingly weakening Chadian Empire. The Vandals, who had recently arrived in Africa, were also becoming rich off of facilitating Trade between West Africa and the western Mediterranean. Egypt remained something of a power, with holdings in Arabia and parts of the Levant remaining after the death of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, with the new Isaurian dynasty, founded by a Syrian born general Philippos Isauros. More turbulence was brought with the arrival of nomadic peoples from the east, who came to hold dominance over much of the steppe lands, first with the Avars invasion and conquest of Pannonia, and the arrival of the Magyars soon after. Now Turkic peoples are found across Central Asia, reaching into the Middle East. Religion in the Mediterranean and the Sahara is dominated by "Bouttismos Okhemara", Greater Vehicle Buddhism. A western offshoot of Mahayana Buddhism, born from the intermingling of Buddhism and Greek Philosophy, it has rapidly spread across the Middle-East, North Africa, and Southern Europe. The religion has also incorporated dominant religious traditions such as the Greco-Egyptian Cult of Isis (applying many of the practices of the Isis cult upon the worship of the mother of Buddha, Maya). Ultimately, Okhemara Buddhism is a religion that stresses self-cultivation with the ultimate goal of escaping from rebirth and reaching the realm of Nirvana (Greek: Nibbana) through attaining the state of Eleutheros (freedom). In contrast, the region of "Transalpine Europe" is a totally different world from the south of the continent. Organized religion and philosophy of the Hellenistic world have barely penetrated into this realm, mostly being inhabited by the most distant of Germanic and Slavic peoples. They are technologically lagging behind the Mediterranean and Near East, becoming less advanced the further northeast one goes. The area is mostly unchanged since the migration period, with the old Polytheistic religions of old being dominant. Norsemen utilize the complex river systems of the east to trade with the people of the Middle-East, keeping contact between the north and south alive. However, northern Europe exists at the periphery of civilization and is largely irrelevant on a global scale. Currently the year is 1250 AD using our Gregorian calendar [b]Important Nations (Great Powers, etc.):[/b] Kingdom of Vandalia, Kingdom of Egypt (Isaurian Dynasty), The Ghana Empire, The Empire of Chad, Kingdom of Libya, Persian Empire (Sassanian Dynasty), Israel (Hasmonean Dynasty), China (Song Dynasty), Visigothic Kingdom, Armenia, Kingdom of the Magyars, Kingdom of Italy (Senonian Dynasty), Kingdom of Axum, Lombard Kingdom, Burgundian Kingdom [b]Overall Technology Level:[/b] High Middle Ages to Low Middle Ages [b]Map:[/b] Will add later once its done [/hider]