Discovering Empires Finding War

Book 7 “Discovering Empires Finding War” Contents Maps Prologue Chapter 1 January 93 AD Paulsland-Spy Chapter 2 January 93 AD Himyarite Colonies-Now What Chapter 3 February 93 AD Texas- Preparing to Leave Chapter 4 February 93 AD Mesoamerica-Gaia’s Blood Chapter 5 February 93 AD Rome- New Province Chapter 6 March 93 AD Africa-Return Chapter 7 April 93 AD Red River- A Different Situation Chapter 8 April 93 AD Himyarite- Playing Politics Chapter 9 May 93 AD Paulsland-Expanding the Navy’s Responsibility Chapter 10 May 93 AD Egypt-Business Chapter 11 March 93 AD Missouri-Trading Partners Chapter 12 June 93 AD Paulsland- Ceremony Chapter 13 July 93 AD Rome- Crushed Chapter 14 July 93 AD Minnesota-FOUND IT! Chapter 15 August 93 AD Paulsland- Best Bad Decisions Chapter 16 August 93 AD Cuba-Visit Chapter 17 August 93 AD Satavahana-Weapons Trader Chapter 18 September 93 AD Paulsland-Potion Chapter 19 October 93 AD Paulsland-Defense Chapter 20 October 93 AD Paulsland-Politics Chapter 21 September 93 AD Paulsland-A King’s Corrupt Family Chapter 22 November 93 AD Mesoamerica-War Chapter 23 November 93 AD Paulsland-Spy’s Journey Chapter 24 December 93 AD Texas-Visiting Home Chapter 25 January 94 AD Texas-Congress Chapter 26 February 94 AD Paulsland-Tech Tree Chapter 27 February 94 AD Mesoamerica- War Crimes Chapter 28 March 94 AD Rome- Meeting with the Emperor Chapter 29 April 94 AD El Paso- Tiwa Chapter 30 April 94 AD Teotihuacan-The Worst Victory Chapter 31 May 94 AD Paulsland-Refugee Chapter 32 May 94 AD Paulsland- King's perspective on immigrants Chapter 33 June 94 AD Flattop Mountain-Man Camp Chapter 34 June 94 AD New Orleans-Trade Chapter 35 July 94 AD Madagascar-First Mission Chapter 36 July 94 AD Texas-Family Reunion Chapter 37 July 94 AD Texas-Private Conversations Chapter 38 August 94 AD Minnesota-Alliance Chapter 39 September 94 AD Himyarite-The Worth of Prostitutes Chapter 40 September 94 AD Eudaemon-Diplomat Chapter 41 October 94 AD Cuba-Counter Attack Chapter 42 November 94 AD Paulsland Capital-Offensive Display Chapter 43 December 94 AD Rome-The Emperor’s Banquet Chapter 44 December 94 AD Mesoamerica-Submission Chapter 45 December 94 AD Texas-A Son’s Desperation Chapter 46 January 95 AD Southern Border of the Trade Alliance-How to Start a War Chapter 47 January 95 AD Texas-It’s War Chapter 48 February 95 AD Soto La Marina River- Slaughter Chapter 49 February 95 AD Soto La Marina River-Hard Decisions World Map 95 AD Maps Prologue Gandore and Filkith were watching John with great interest. John had just led the men of the Trade Alliance into a Mesoamerican nation and crushed it, then captured men from that nation, castrated them, and those who survived the castration were brought back to tribes all over the Trade Alliance. This was of supreme interest to Gandore and Filkith because every Mesoamerican nation had technology and know-how that the Trade Alliance did not. Gandore and Filkith’s species was in the habit of trading technology with other species that had technology they did not. Each species with FTL often had very different ways of looking at the universe. A species that had dramatically different body chemistry because they evolved on a gas giant, or were a silicon-based lifeform instead of a carbon-based lifeform, viewed the universe differently. The elements may be the same, but how elements work under the pressures of a gas giant is very different than how they work under the pressure of a rocky planet. How biochemistry works in a carbon-based lifeform is different than how they work in a silicon-based lifeform. A child who grew up on a gas giant could do experiments with a chemistry set that someone from a rocky planet would have to build a massive industrial complex with the sole purpose of producing the same amount of pressure to copy. And it would likely be the only complex on the planet doing those experiments. It was just cheaper to trade science between wildly different species than to produce the same science on your own. And so they watched with incredible interest because if humans ever became intelligent creatures, they would trade tech with humans, and this was setting a precedent. They were disappointed to see that, except for John, every tribe that took slaves put them to work doing manual labor instead of learning from them. They treated the other humans like robots instead of extracting the knowledge they clearly held. It was only John who took the time to learn what his slaves knew. As they watched John, he did something that actually impressed Filkith. “Did you see that? John actually did something intelligent.” Gandore smiled and said, “Yes, it only took twenty-two years.” “They are still thousands of years away from FTL, so we cannot expect too much from them. That being said, John took their knowledge of how to make quicklime and immediately made concrete. He combined his knowledge with the knowledge of the slaves to make something supremely practical.” “I am pretty sure he already had most of the knowledge on how to make concrete. He just didn’t know what quicklime was.” “Even so, this is a big step in the right direction for North America. By now, the rest of the world has had concrete for hundreds of years.” “The bigger question is whether he will spread the knowledge around.” “He has shared his knowledge freely so far.” “I have no doubt he will share his knowledge, but spreading it is another matter. His nation does not appear to desire stone buildings. Compared to their log homes, stone buildings are significantly nicer, but besides John, no one who went to Mesoamerica is building with stone. If they do not desire this knowledge, it will not spread and can certainly die.” “That could be a problem. The human world has a history of knowledge spreading simply because the party with the best technology attacks and conquers their less technologically advanced neighbors. Right now, Mesoamerica is weak compared to the Trade Alliance, so there is no chance that they will succeed in attacking the Trade Alliance and spreading their technology through conquests.”