Vote tally - Empire of the Lion: An Ethiopian Civ Quest
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[X] The Harari Campaign: With the death of the emperor Baeda Maryam, the Sultans of Adal whom he struggled so hard to force into tribute have declared their oaths null and void. While the Sultan has kept his insolence to sending no tribute, his emirs have begun their old patterns of raiding into the imperial lowlands and terrorizing Christian subjects. One in particular, an Imam named Mahfuz, lord of the city of Harar, is more daring than all the others. Leading a force of elite Malassay warriors, he has led a devastating raid into the imperial borderlands during the season of Lent, just as the ritual fasts and holy observances have left the borders near defenseless. He has crowned this blasphemy by looting churches and monasteries, the stolen wealth of which he has taken back to Harar. This crime must be avenged. The clergy and the army alike urge the emperor to march east and make his name by conquering Harar and seeing this Mahfuz to deserved end.
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[X] The Tsehafi Taezaz: Already one of the most powerful men in the imperial court, the Tsehafi Taezaz, or Imperial Scribe, is perhaps the most powerful appointed noble in the empire, responsible for recording all the emperor's orders and commands, issuing laws and proclamations, and keeping track of the titles and lands handed out by the emperor. The current Taezaz, Lemuel, is hailed by the Mekwanint as a capable and efficient organizer who has already proven himself capable of running an imperial court. Yet, he is a Jew, and many in the court bare teeth at the thought of letting him rise any higher. His long years in the bureaucracy and at the side of the last emperor may prove a boon.
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[X] The Empress Regent: Briefly regent of an empire and mother to a king, the former empress Romna now has little to her name beyond her pride and the clothes on her back. Deserted by most in the court after her ambitious gambit failed, she awaits her fate in Axum with her most loyal retainers and allies. Many expect her to be packed off to a monastery to wait out her days in solitude, but some few voices, the preacher Kabede among them, remind the emperor that mere days ago this woman nearly bent an empire to her whim with little more than words.
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[X] The Wej Campaign: In the Wej region to the southeast of the Ethiopian highlands dwell the Maya tribe, skilled archers and warriors who have long served as mercenaries for the emperors. On learning of the emperor Baeda Maryam's death, however, the Maya have begun shirking their duties, abandoning the borders, and sending no tribute. It is said they even dare to raid the valuable salt caravans which pass through their lands, threatening the beating heart of Ethiopian trade. Outraged, the merchants have demanded the emperor do something about this injustice. The Maya king, Gojan, is known to be an opportunistic and clever warrior, who has fought in many battles. Many of the Dejazmaches advocate a quick and brutal war to put the Maya back in their place — a triumph over a warrior such as Gojan will win respect and fear from all the tribes surrounding the empire.
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[X] The Bitwoded: Bitwoded Amda Mikael, builder of a dozen churches, father of a dozen sons, and lord of a dozen lands, was the most powerful man in the reign of the emperor Baeda Maryam. Widely supported and widely liked, many expect the honor of being the emperor's right hand to be near-automatically granted to him once more. Beloved by the clergy for his charitable donations, Mikael has deep connections among the Islamic merchants of the Horn, which he has used to build his outrageous fortunes. A close ally of the Bahr Negus, his gold-coated fingers can be felt in nearly every corner of the empire.
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[X] The Harari Campaign
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[X] The Imperial Expedition: War has always been among the emperor's first resorts with the powers to her east. The Sultans of Adal and Ajuraan are powerful and haughty, and too often it has been necessary to shatter their walls and their pretensions at royalty...and yet, there may be another way. A merchant by the name of Nasr, hailing from Yemen, has suggested another course: an imperial expedition, a show of might and wealth that would cow the high lords of the Horn of Africa without a drop of blood spilt. March the splendor of Ethiopia through Adal and Ajuraan, visit the cities that have so long defied imperial power, and imprint indelibly on all their minds who is lord and master. Who could see the host of the King of Kings, and not know fear for all their days?
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[X] The Empress Regent
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[X] The Bitwoded
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[X] The Imperial Expedition: War has always been among the emperor's first resorts with the powers to her east. The Sultans of Adal and Ajuraan are powerful and haughty, and too often it has been necessary to shatter their walls and their pretensions at royalty...and yet, there may be another way. A merchant by the name of Nasr, hailing from Yemen, has suggested another course: an imperial expedition, a show of might and wealth that would cow the high lords of the Horn of Africa without a drop of blood spilt. March the splendor of Ethiopia through Adal and Ajuraan, visit the cities
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[X] The Imperial Expedition
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[X] The Tsehafi Taezaz
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[X] The Wej Campaign
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[X] The Queen Mother: Traditionally, the Emperor's mother plays a dominant position in the state. With the early death of his own mother before his ascension, the late emperor instead elevated the last of his father's wives, the Queen Eleni — his mother in spirit if not in fact. Intelligent, well-educated, and shrewd, the dowager empress served her stepson with an iron fist and a silver tongue, eclipsing the actual empress Romna. In her youth she was a princess of the Hadiya tribe to the far east of the empire, a fact which has won her much love from the outskirts in the years since, and she has emerged in her time in the court as an outspoken defender of the emperor — a strategy she has achieved by appeasing the nobility and granting them autonomy to avoid civil war, working instead to centralize power on the imperial person. The Queen Mother is, some suggest, far too powerful to be ignored outright.
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