Ansongo's writing system is the Punic script used by Carthage. A few centuries ago, a Mandinka king had the script and its grammar taught to his jalis and the royal family. Over the centuries, the writing systems of Ansongo and Carthage have diverged into Southern and Northern Punic. Southern Punic uses determinatives in order to better fit the tonal language of the Mandinka people.
Hannibal's Wake
- Thread starter leopard9
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Ansongo's writing system is the Punic script used by Carthage. A few centuries ago, a Mandinka king had the script and its grammar taught to his jalis and the royal family. Over the centuries, the writing systems of Ansongo and Carthage have diverged into Southern and Northern Punic. Southern Punic uses determinatives in order to better fit the tonal language of the Mandinka people.
Chapter 13: Diadochi Ghosts
Diadochi Ghosts
Seleucid I Nicator - The diadochi that founded the Seleucid Empire
321 – 353 CE
In 321 CE, a war ignited between Egypt and Kush over Egyptian accusations of Kushite piracy and a long-simmering border dispute over the second Nile cataract and a burgeoning harbor town that was named “Dendera”, if one was Egyptian, or “Khufu”, if one was Nubian. The Restored Kingdom had advanced in lock technology to create specialized canals that could bypass some of the smaller river cataracts and carry small and medium sized boats, typically river barges, up and down the Nile farther than they had in the past. This made expansion further south more tenable than in the past centuries and the pharaoh Hakor determined to Egypt’s security by capturing the heart of the Nile. A Kush weakened by consistent skirmishes with Aksum was little match to an Egypt that possessed modernized Ptolemaic phalanxes and had learned well its lesson of the famed Nubian archery in 150 BCE. And so what began as a skirmish between the two kingdoms over border markings and piracy disputes soon became an outright war of Egyptian conquest as the pharaoh saw an opportunity to accomplish a goal that was over four centuries old. Nubian soldiers fought fiercely for their homeland as they retreated, making use of hidden hill forts to harass the Egyptians behind army lines, but the course of the war could not be denied. Between 322 – 324 CE, the Egyptians enacted a near total blockade on Meroe’s Red Sea coast preventing the nation an avenue from financing their war or gaining foreign help. The more mountainous terrain allowed the Nubians to resist the invasion for several years, but the Egyptians slowly made their advance until the year 326 CE when Egypt captured Kush’s capital Meroe, and with it the reigning King and Kandace. Alarmed at the progress Egypt was making and at the possibility of having an expansionist empire as its neighbor, Aksum reversed course in its own slower conquest against Meroe and sent Aksumite soldiers to help its northern neighbor resist the Egyptian campaign. So in 329 CE, the Kingdom of Kush had effectively ceased to exist. The northern two-thirds of Kush was now a client state of Egypt and the southern one-third was governed by a formerly noble Nubian family that had been elevated to royalty by the Negu Wazena. This new rump state’s main purpose was to serve as a buffer between Egypt and Aksum. But Egypt was not satisfied: it knew of Lake Tana and planned to bring the entire course of the Blue Nile under its rule.
Seleucid I Nicator - The diadochi that founded the Seleucid Empire
321 – 353 CE
But as Egypt massed its forces for a conquest of Aksum, it was then that Parthia launched its invasion of Egypt in earnest in 332 CE. Egypt’s strategy when dealing with an eastern war was simple: keep the invaders from crossing into the delta, bleed them dry in the Sinai. Osroes II was the mastermind behind the invasion of Egypt. The ghosts of the Diadochi generals still haunted the Levant, plotting their wars. Egypt’s Nile delta was immensely productive agricultural land and made Egypt a regular exporter of grains and other crops to both its north and south. Capturing Egypt would be “like capturing the heart of the Mediterranean” according to Osroes II and would provide the grain needed to feed Persia’s armies as they conquered the rest of Asia Minor and pushed into Eastern Europe.
Egypt was ill prepared for this war after their battles with the Nubians and Aksumites and was surprised by the suddenness of the engagement with the Parthians. To worsen the situation, much of Egypt’s army was stationed in its newly captured territory from Kush and so couldn’t immediately face the invaders with their full force. And so the Pharaoh Ahkemis II committed to a desperate plan designed to deal with invaders from the east: keep the barbarians from crossing into the Delta, bleed them dry in the Sinai. Egyptian armies retreated from the Levant’s interior, being careful to hold crucial ports and intentionally drew the Parthians through the Levant into the Sinai. The generals were wary of battling in a more open environment where their skeleton forces were in far more danger of being outmaneuvered. In the Sinai’s high mountains and plateaus, the numbers of the Parthians wouldn’t have the same advantage, and the Egyptians’ familiarity with the Peninsula would result in minimal losses.
Or so Egypt thought.
The improvements to the Parthian forces as well as an extensive spying network meant that the Sinai didn’t slow them down as much as the generals had hoped. The fighting was fierce, but the tide of war couldn’t be denied. Soon the Persians were at the entrance to the delta itself. And it was then that Rome offered an alliance to the Egyptians. Rome had steadily been expanding through Eastern Europe, conquering the Balkan peninsula, and steadily chipping away at the strength of Capua the last couple of decades. As the Roman Republic expanded, they had skirmishes with Parthian expeditionary forces that were interested in conquering Greece to reunite Alexander’s empire. Rome had fought wars with Parthia over the decades, and while the Romans had better tactics they had honed against Capua to the south and the barbarians of the north, they couldn’t match Parthia’s numbers. In truth, Roman leadership agonized over what to do about an insatiable Parthia. And then Parthia invaded Egypt’s lands and it seemed like Jupiter himself had provisioned for Rome.
The Roman Republic hastily made an alliance with the beleaguered pharaoh to help Egypt drive back the Parthians and asked for only one thing in return: the island of Crete. Ahkemis II was loath to surrender Crete, as they used it for a source of timber as well as an important trading port, but it was a mark of Egypt’s desperation that the terms were deliberated for only two weeks before being agreed to. The formidable Roman army and legions were dispatched to the eastern border of the Egyptian delta to drive back the Parthian forces. After five years of hard fighting, a peace treaty was drawn up. Parthia would keep half of the Sinai Peninsula and all of Egypt’s Levant territories, except for a few ports in the Judea region. Rome officially was the new master of Crete and now enjoyed a status with Egypt as “most favored ally”, meaning that Roman merchants would enjoy special trading privileges throughout the Egyptian Empire.
And through this turmoil, the Two God Path continued to spread. Alexandria was by now a nexus of the Path where the High Priest of the faith resided. Granted, the Sons of Osiris, a militant offshoot of the Egyptian state religion, were a constant thorn in the side for the Two God’s followers, desecrating temples and harassing believers. But Meirism added more to its number daily, and the authorities were content to let the peasant cult be under the ruling of the new pharaoh. The religion and its followers had steadily spread down the Nile into Meroe and Aksum from 60 – 120 CE but Amanirenas, the Kandake of Meroe, feared the growing influence of the religion among the common folk and the unpleasant implications for the long-term survival of the imperial godhood cult. So, in 118 CE, when she decreed the Order of Expulsion to all who followed the Path, the second largest group of Meirism followers either began to practice their religion in secret or dispersed to Aksum or Egypt, causing the Meirism following populations of both empires to swell, eventually contributing to the conversion of the negu of Aksum. In Aksum especially, people seemed drawn to this new faith and became enthusiastic converts, especially those of the lower class. To be under the constant protection of benevolent gods that did not care about the number of children one had was a relief to many. Eventually, the negu of Aksum, Azaba was persuaded by his wife who had converted to the Two God Path to entertain one of her favorite priests. After years of listening and in 210 CE, in an open field in the shade of the baobabs, he converted to Meirism. The years of the Parthian invasion also weakened the clout of the Egyptian gods, leading to many more peasants, and increasingly the nobility, turning toward the Father and the Mother for solace and guidance.
And yet despite its success in the Nile region, Meirism was unable to replicate its spread within the Punic Sea. While the Two God Path had initially spread into Carthage, it came relatively late compared to the Nile Valley. Observing the social upheaval the religion caused and seeing their rivals the Egyptians converting, the Carthaginians became more determined to resist the new faith. To that end, the oligarch-dominated government worked with the priests to standardize the Punic pantheon as well as create a sanctioned book of the faith to combat Meirism. And so while Meirism gained small footholds in the Punic Sea, especially among the Sicilians and Libyan chiefs, it was largely shut out from the region.
When all was said and done, Northeast Africa and the surrounding regions had seen over 30 years of near-constant war and many people migrated from the region, searching for a better life. This included many people that had clustered around the Middle Nile and now faced displacement and oppression from the Egyptian colonizers. Packing what they had, they headed into the Great Desert upon the Western Road, hopeful for a new life.
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Wait, people are leaving the Nile Valley for the freaking Sahara?
What do you have up your sleeve here?
Also, I look forward to seeing a reformed Punnic religion.
What do you have up your sleeve here?
Also, I look forward to seeing a reformed Punnic religion.
Well, it's not so much the Sahara as they're moving along the Western Road to the civilizations to the west such as Ansongo and Mao (based around Lake Chad). They know that there's something out there, and the near-constant warfare have made parts of the Nile Valley an undesirable place to live.
As for the reformed Punic religion, I too am eager to see what comes from it. It struck me the other day that this world is probably going to be more polytheistic than OTL, with perhaps an idea that there's some greater unknowable god at the head of the pantheons.
Gaul is host to a hybrid Germanic-Celtic culture with the Germanic people being dominant. Spain is on paper controlled by Spain, but Germanic people have been coming into Spain in increasing numbers for a couple of centuries now. Germania is divided into various states right now. I need to do more research about the history of the region.
Chapter 14: Feasts and Conspiracies
Feasts and Conspiracies
Late May 360 CE – The Twilight of the Dry Season
Late May 360 CE – The Twilight of the Dry Season
Modou carefully wove through the evening crowds as he traveled to the Merchant District of Goundam to meet with Bailo, the most powerful merchant in the city, some would say in all of Ansongo. He was a jali that served the province-master of Niono and would periodically travel between the province’s capital and Bamako to report back to the imperial jalis. This gave Modou unique opportunities to form networks all over the empire and as of late, he’d spent more time traveling than his job required, a fact that he and his province-master worked to conceal. He wore a dark blue cotton cloak that concealed his identity while disguising him as a merchant of means and so was not to be bothered on his journey. Not too long ago, even an unaccompanied woman would’ve been able to walk the streets of Ansongo’s biggest city without worrying about unwanted aggressive attention, but fewer soldiers now patrolled the city and even formally safe areas were suspect.
Gods, let us be on the right path.
Past the small three-story buildings used to house travelers, merchants, and pilgrims, past the four-story mudbrick houses that held up to 20 families, past the slaves that were on one task or another for their masters, he turned into the Merchant District, where only the wealthiest merchants lived. The stone-paved streets were better cleaned here and well-lit from torchlight and the houses were larger and better decorated, with vibrant designs on their outside walls and intricately carved doors. There was even a wide canal from the Niger running through this section that was flanked on either side by several types of flowers and trees, and they perfumed the air. But even here there were signs of decay. Many of the stones used to make the street were cracked and chunks were missing, and the canal’s water level was lower than it should be, even during the dry season.
The greatest empire in all Creation, and look how the Baturu clan has abused the gods’ gifts.
After making sure he was not followed, he turned onto a narrower street and knocked on an expansive three-story’s door. The door was made of dark wood and inlaid gold, and featured a carving of a leopard lazing in an acacia’s branches with one eye open and the other closed. While less familiar men and women might pause to admire the artwork and remark on the wealth of its owner, the meaning was clear to Modou: never let your guard down around Bailo, no matter how tranquil he might appear to be. Besides Lamin, he was the smartest man Modou knew, and was always looking to expand his knowledge, economic, scientific, or spiritual. Loose words said around Bailo had a way of coming back to vex those he deemed competition. While Modou was lost in thought, the door opened and there stood Nyima, Bailo’s senior wife, a tall, handsome woman who was nearly as dark as the night but with a smile that could rival the sun.
“It’s good to see you Modou”, she said as she made the traditional gesture of welcoming a friend. If she found it strange that he wore the clothes of a merchant, she gave no indication.
Modou returned the gesture and said, “And likewise, Nyima”.
Once the door was closed and locked, Modou heard Bailo.
“Modou! Come over here, you old man!”
Bailo was already in the eating room. Bailo was a tall stout older man with deep brown skin and eyes so dark they were like black glass. He frequently used a cane after a caravan attack perpetrated by some Tuareg raiders had left him with an irreparably damaged left leg, and today he wore a copper pendant made of two interlocking rectangles. Several plates of sorghum flatbread were on the table, along with red rice, several bowls of a variety of vegetable relish, native and exotic fruits, several generous cuts of seared eland meat, and a whole roasted juvenile honeyed ostrich cooked with spices from the southern forests.
“We will talk afterwards, but now we will eat”, Bailo said as he sat down along with his three wives and 10 children. “Modou, do be sure to try the sorghum bread with the first bologie relish, the spices of both combine into an entirely new flavor…”
After the feast, Bailo’s wives and children cleaned the room and then left the table to retire to their rooms while Modou and Bailo stayed seated, drinking ụtọ ano, a drink of crushed kola nuts and squeezed marula fruit.
“So, we agree then?” The question itself was a formality. Modou and Bailo had been friends for most of their lives and while they differed when it came to matters of women and gods, any fool could see that the Baturu clan was running unchecked to the harm of all in Ansongo. But still, Modou needed to know that Bailo was committed to ousting the Baturus from power.
“Yes, the mansa three months ago passed a decree that 30% of my goods and earnings would be considered imperial property. No doubt to fund the construction of some dry season palace or other useless vanity. And what do we see for the increased taxes?” Modou’s voice had steadily been rising throughout his diatribe and now it seemed to crescendo.
“The caravans are more poorly guarded than ever before. Just last week Juma told me how the guard across the desert was half of what it usually is. He lost a third of his returning cargo to a Barbary raiding party and then he was forced to give forty percent of that to the imperial coffers. I’ve had to start hiring mercenaries to guard my wares, and some of them are as likely to steal as to protect my cargo. And the canals and irrigation streams go without repair, driving up the price of grain and making the drought even worse. When Lamin moves against the Baturu clan, he will have my support and resources, along with that of the many other merchants disgruntled with their policies, including the Desert Foxes*. What of the palace jalis and the military?”
“The jalis except for those of Bani are united behind Lamin and they have great influence among the common people. The province-masters as well are weary of overreaching royals who think they can govern their provinces from Bamako better than they can. As for the army… their loyalty is divided and many of the common folk still look upon the Baturus fondly.”
“Well, Dembo still has at least another five years in him before he passes the throne to Ebou II, may the Father and Mother save us from that. Dembo was a good man and ruler once, but Ebou II knows nothing but excess and hears his own voice above all others. Between now and then, they too will have to see the damage the Baturus are doing to Ansongo and so come to our side.”
Modou privately doubted Bailo’s reasoning, but hoped it was sound. Of the eight high-generals, five of them were fiercely devoted to the Baturu clan, and trying to convince them to commit treason would accomplish nothing but the summary executions of the conspirators and subsequent purges throughout the government. After a few more hours of talking, Modou bid goodbye to Bailo and Nyima and went back into the street on his way home to the jalis’ quarters, deep in his thoughts.
A mansa was the spiritual focus of his empire, and through him flowed the will of the gods. But what happened when the mansa so blatantly disobeyed the gods by neglecting his people? Was a father worthy of respect if all he did was drink palm wine and eat from his wife’s garden?
His wandering thoughts had led him on a different path than the one he’d taken to Bailo’s home and as he passed the gathering place for religious ceremonies, he paused. There as the centerpiece was a large circular open space partially enclosed by gleaming curved stone white walls with the likenesses of the gods carved and painted into them. It shone with the light of the full moon pouring into it. All at once, Modou was overcome with anxiety for this plan to save Ansongo from its once proud rulers and a love for Ansongo and its people. Quickly he went to the gathering place and said a small prayer. As he did so, he became filled with a renewed sense of purpose and continued on his way home.
Yes, there were still more people, clans, and secret societies that needed to be brought into the fold before such a rebellion could be launched. Fighting would be inevitable, but hopefully brief, lasting only a few years. And once the dust settled, a new competent mansa that knew his political limits, both formally and informally, would reign.
*The Desert Foxes is the name for the most prominent secret society of merchants in Ansongo. So named because the richest merchants typically make their fortune through the trans-Saharan trade.
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This is certainly interesting 
Out of curiosity how are Minorities such as Gays Lesbian and Trans people treated in your world and are women allowed to own property?
Out of curiosity how are Minorities such as Gays Lesbian and Trans people treated in your world and are women allowed to own property?Women are certainly allowed to own property and many are traders and merchants in their own right. However, female traders are more common in a domestic sense while almost all long distance traders are male. The Path of the Two Gods also allows for female worship leaders, though their opportunities and authority are limited compared to male priests of Meirism. With LGBT people, it's about the same as OTL.
Any thoughts on this latest chapter? I'm not the best with dialogue and POV chapters, but I tried to convey friendship and familiarity between Modou and Bailo and a sense of place within Goundam along with an underlying tension. In your opinion, did I succeed? Let me know what you think.
Chapter 15: The Crocodile's War
The Crocodile’s War
An Ansongoan general about to lead spearmen into battle.
360-372 CE
Populist and political frustration with the Baturus and their allies had been building for several years now but there were still alliances to cement within the military and among the province-masters before the royal clan could be overthrown. The leadership of the conspiracy foresaw several more years of plotting ahead. This careful planning was undone by the chance events of a single day in June 360 CE. In mid-June at the beginning of the rainy season, the mansa Dembo went on a lion hunt with a small number of trusted soldiers and friends and never returned. As Dembo stooped to drink from a river in privacy, what he thought was merely a disjointed log lunged out of the water, grabbed him in its mighty jaws and upon dragging him back into the water, ended his life with a single roll. His soldiers heard his cries, but they were too late. All they could do was gape in horror at their dead mansa and the emerald crocodile that for all the world seemed to be smiling. On the same day his friends brought back his torn and bloodied clothes back to Bamako, Ebou II ascended to the throne and Ansongo began to spin off its axis. Dembo was viewed by the conspirators as a man who had once been a good ruler that overtime, had allowed the temptations of office and the softness of peacetime to cloud his judgement and had started to use the coffers of Ansongo to fund his luxuries. In contrast, Ebou II had matured in this luxury and sloth and had never known anything different. Worst still, he seemed to be dull-witted and previous small battles he had led had ended poorly, due to him ignoring the advice of seasoned commanders and pursuing his own course.
An Ansongoan general about to lead spearmen into battle.
360-372 CE
Word spread out from Bamako into the surrounding provinces that Ebou II was now mansa, and the conspiracy against the Baturus were divided about what to do. Some argued that it was better to act now, while Ebou II’s grasp on authority was tenuous. Waiting to act, risked Ebout II winning the greater loyalty of the high-generals, the province-masters and the common people. But then there was the other side that urged that the plan be stuck too. Right now, Ebou II still had too much support from the upper levels of the bueracracy and while the high-generals had little regard for Ebou II, they were still loathe to turn against the imperial family. The participants of the would-be rebellion looked to Lamin for guidance, and Lamin in turn studied to Ebou II to determine his course; perhaps the responsibilities of the throne would provoke a change in him. When only a week later, Ebou II maintained that the 30% tax would be maintained on all caravan goods and moved to impose a similar tax on goods that were transported on the Niger River, Lamin made his decision and the course of Ansongo was set. And so in 360 CE, the frustrations of the upper class against the Baturus boiled over into open rebellion. A series of conflicts memorialized later as “The Crocodile’s War” took place during this time. In 360 CE, a group of four imperial jalis had grown in influence and when the current mansa’s incompetent son Ebou II ascended to the throne, the jalis along with three high-generals staged a coup and installed Lamin, the chief imperial jali and rumored half-brother to Ebou II as the steward of Ansongo. Ebou II, along with all but a few members of the Baturu clan were exiled to the Lake Chad centered kingdom of Mao. If they had only known the chaos their actions would unleash unto the region, perhaps Ebou II would have remained king.
There had been several dynastic disputes in Ansongo’s history, but they had always been quelled in a few years. What distinguished the Crocodile’s War from other succession struggles was the length and bitterness of the conflict.
The Baturu family was furious at their exile and instead of going to Mao, swiftly withdrew from Bamako to Bani, their ancestral province in the southeast. They declared Lamin to be a false mansa and illegitimate ruler. They, along with the province master of an adjacent province who was a member of a cadet branch of their family raised an army of 30,000 infantry and 40,000 cavalry to defend themselves and retake the empire. The jalis and generals allied with Lamin in response commanded the faction of the core imperial army that was more loyal to the three high-generals than the royal family of 35,000 infantry and 50,000 cavalry. Several battles took place that revealed the inexperience of Lamin’s army and weakness at the core of the regime. In one such battle, one of Lamin’s army, a force of 5,000 engaged with Ebou II’s army of 4,200 men. Lamin’s army lost 2,058 while Ebou’s lost 704. In another battle, Lamin’s army of 32,450 lost 10,500 men whereas Ebou only lost 8,645 out of a force of 28,000. And while battles were being waged, political intrigues became a constant reality in Bamako. Officials, jalis, and generals suspected of loyalty were either outright executed after a hasty trial or were relocated to non-strategic parts of Ansongo.
In 362 CE, Koury, the westernmost province declared its independence from Ansongo. Ansongo quickly sent a section of 5,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry to subdue Koury but this detracted from its campaign in the east to bring the Baturu clan back under its sway. With a tripartite civil war underway, the trans-Aai Meweran and Western Road trade slowed, depriving Ansongo of its lifeblood. To compensate, Lamin enacted harsher taxes on the hinterland, which while paid, served to increase resentment against his rule. Five of the eight experienced high-generals had joined the Baturus, leaving the four jalis with inexperienced commanders and this showed in their initial performance. In a way, the Baturus had the advantage in the conflict: they merely had to resist Ansongo’s advances whereas Ansongo had to reconquer the eastern provinces and hold them. The other jalis and high-generals counseled Lamin to leave the Baturus alone for the while and to focus his energies on reconquering Koury before over provinces followed their example. In 363, Ansongo and Bani settled into a ceasefire though each accused the other of rebelling against the proper authority. Lamin, against the rightful mansa Ebou II, and the Baturu clan against the Mandinka gods. During this time, Lamin dropped all pretense of being the steward of Ansongo and declared himself mansa, establishing the Mariko dynasty.
After two years of tension-filled peace, Ansongo launched a renewed campaign against Bani in 364 CE. With time to fortify its position and hire Kanembu and Nok mercenaries, Bani stood firm and casualties, both military and civilian, mounted on both sides. During 365 CE, a coalition of Berber and Fulani clans struck from the north, incorporating part of northern Ansongo into their own personal fiefdoms, effectively bisecting Ansongo. While Lamin was able to reclaim that territory, it took two years to accomplish and fighting a war on two fronts is never easy. Psychologically, it was a great blow to the Mandinka to have been invaded by a group that many believed to be inferior and uncultured. It also showed that Ansongo was not regarded as the power it had once been. Fighting raged back and forth among the countryside until finally in 368 CE, the Baturu clan fled to Mao after several prominent Baturus were killed in a decisive battle and Ebou II himself was captured. During this same battle, two of Lamin’s sons, Birom and Jaasi, were struck down as well. There in the midst of the dry season Ebou II dressed in a simple goatskin was dragged out in front of a cheering crowd of both nobles and peasants to be executed. He was to be killed by the standard executioner, but Lamin, half-mad with grief, broke precedent and intervened. Stepping in front of the executioner, he took out a gold and steel dagger and pulling Ebou’s head back by his hair, slashed open the false mansa’s throat, splattering his blood on a baobab’s bark and let the corpse fall to the ground. The only thing Lamin was recorded to have said about the execution was, “Let him lie there and the sun will reveal his true nature.” And by Lamin’s decree, Ebou’s body stayed there in the shade of the baobab for two days before it was thrown into a modest burial plot. Nobles and peasants alike gossiped of the erratic action of Lamin and how though Ebou II was disgraced, it was not right for one of royal blood to meet such an ignoble end. And there was the matter of sacrificing him to the baobab in the same manner one would kill a cow or an eland. Surely the gods were not pleased.
Shortly after the flight of the Baturus, Bani sued for peace and was reincorporated into Ansongo. Though he had finally achieved his goal, Lamin had become an old man during the course of the war and after reigning for just five years, he voluntarily left his position of mansa to his son, Adama. Adama had not been his first choice as his successor, but his two boys were dead and Adama was his last son. But even now, not all was well.
Ansongo was greatly weakened by the Crocodile’s War. Fighting had occurred during both the dry and wet seasons, damaging agricultural output and leading armies, especially mercenaries, to raid the countryside for sustenance. Eight years of civil war caused military and civilian deaths and internal migrations on a scale previously unimaginable. Roads had degraded and in some cases trade had simply stopped. Over 570,000 souls had perished as a result of the war. Ansongo’s coffers were drained from the fighting and many of its citizens had been impoverished by the war, and though many were no longer slaves, for that had been one of Lamin’s earliest decrees as mansa, they were poorer than they had been in the Full Bloom of Ansongo.
And then the nomads invaded from the east. They were a particularly successful offshoot of a group of gradually melding Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic tribes that dwelt west of the Blue Nile and north of the Aksumite mountains. They had been migrating to the west for a few generations now; perhaps the decades of violence along the Nile were the impetus for their migrations. They were armed with the Nubian bow, a weapon far stronger than the West African varieties, and they used it against a weakened Ansongo to devastating effect. Because of their bow mastery, the Mandinka named them the "Karoo" (literally bow) people. They settled around the easternmost part of the Niger River and soon began adopting aspects of Mandinka culture and established several city-states. There were many people who claimed in secret that the barbarian violation of Ansongo had been brought about by Lamin’s personal execution of Ebou II. Ansongo had fallen from the undisputed artistic, economic, scientific, and military power of West Africa to a nearly failed state with nomads gnawing at its edges and invading its borders. Many contemporaries thought that Ansongo was in the twilight of its existence, but much was left to come for the broken empire.
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Around 11 million people. This is a very high population for late antiquity Sub-Saharan Africa to support, but the advent of giant eland semi-domestication and their integration into agricultural practices of West Africa has given the region a higher population than it had IOTL.
So, that's just over 5% of the population dead in 8 years. Proportionally, that's around 2.5x more deaths than the American Civil War! Of course, that's not too surprising, given the length of the conflict, for a late-antiquity society; being quite a bit more vulnerable to famine and disease in times of great conflict. I'll be very interested in seeing how this calamity will affect the society and culture of West Africa, as well as if and how Ansango can rebound from it. Great timeline, and keep up the great work!
Thinking out loud about Ansongo's historical impact:
First off, most of the effects of Ansongoan cultural diffusion will only be seen in western Africa and parts of west-central Africa. The biggest is literacy. Ansongo uses the Southern Punic script which is adapted for tonal languages and many of the neighboring savanna states have already or will adopt the script for their own practices. I can see Southern Punic being used through west and west-central Africa once literacy gets kicked off. In fact, many of the succeeding savanna states will very closely copy the political structure of Ansongo. Ansongoan cultural (which is predominately Mande culture) will have a greater spread in the area, and elites of other societies will claim Ansongoan ancestry and dress in Ansongoan clothing and use that as part of their legitimacy to rule.
Tamed giant elands have spread through west Africa at this point, but several distinct breeds from Ansongo will also spread through the area, such as "clay (red) colored", "night (black) colored", and "cream (off-white) colored". The variety of horns found on giant elands in the wild will have increased as human choice enters the process. Straight, curved, spiraled, gently swooped will all be found in tamed giant eland breeds. Among farmers, long-horned giant elands are more popular because they're more self-sufficient in feeding themselves as elands in the wild use their great horns to break off tree branches so they can feed on the leaves. For military matters, shorter-horned giant elands are preferred as the rider is less likely to impale themselves on their mount and longer horns can get in the way of a spear or a sword.
The epics of Ansongo will spread through the forests of west Africa and will be adapted to better fit into the local mythology and values of the area and some gods may even be adopted into local mythologies as either gods or powerful spirits. And though it may be rudimentary, Ansongo's understanding of medicine is heads and shoulders above its local neighbors due to its recording of observed illnesses and what physical and spiritual treatments are effective. So Ansongoan physicians and medical texts are highly regarded in the region and well off rulers may even sponsor promising local healers to attend an Ansongoan school of medicine so they can better treat illnesses back home.
There's also Ansongo's coinage that while used by the elite, is also used in trade routes by well-off merchants, sparking ideas in the minds of the people they meet.
Is there anything you guys want to know about Ansongo's historical impact that I might not have thought of?
First off, most of the effects of Ansongoan cultural diffusion will only be seen in western Africa and parts of west-central Africa. The biggest is literacy. Ansongo uses the Southern Punic script which is adapted for tonal languages and many of the neighboring savanna states have already or will adopt the script for their own practices. I can see Southern Punic being used through west and west-central Africa once literacy gets kicked off. In fact, many of the succeeding savanna states will very closely copy the political structure of Ansongo. Ansongoan cultural (which is predominately Mande culture) will have a greater spread in the area, and elites of other societies will claim Ansongoan ancestry and dress in Ansongoan clothing and use that as part of their legitimacy to rule.
Tamed giant elands have spread through west Africa at this point, but several distinct breeds from Ansongo will also spread through the area, such as "clay (red) colored", "night (black) colored", and "cream (off-white) colored". The variety of horns found on giant elands in the wild will have increased as human choice enters the process. Straight, curved, spiraled, gently swooped will all be found in tamed giant eland breeds. Among farmers, long-horned giant elands are more popular because they're more self-sufficient in feeding themselves as elands in the wild use their great horns to break off tree branches so they can feed on the leaves. For military matters, shorter-horned giant elands are preferred as the rider is less likely to impale themselves on their mount and longer horns can get in the way of a spear or a sword.
The epics of Ansongo will spread through the forests of west Africa and will be adapted to better fit into the local mythology and values of the area and some gods may even be adopted into local mythologies as either gods or powerful spirits. And though it may be rudimentary, Ansongo's understanding of medicine is heads and shoulders above its local neighbors due to its recording of observed illnesses and what physical and spiritual treatments are effective. So Ansongoan physicians and medical texts are highly regarded in the region and well off rulers may even sponsor promising local healers to attend an Ansongoan school of medicine so they can better treat illnesses back home.
There's also Ansongo's coinage that while used by the elite, is also used in trade routes by well-off merchants, sparking ideas in the minds of the people they meet.
Is there anything you guys want to know about Ansongo's historical impact that I might not have thought of?
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So, it's broadly similar to the legacy of Rome IOTL? Very interesting. How about architecture? Any buildings/structures that might survive into the modern era?
There's palaces made out of a combination of stone and mudbrick and there are rudimentary apartment-style buildings that are a few stories high that hold families in large cities like Goundam and Bamako. Mudbrick is still the main building material in this area, though even humble dwellings are typically given a coat of paint and wealthier ones will have murals and carvings put onto the outside of their walls and can often be a couple of stories high. Compared to OTL, there's a lot more structures made out of stone, due to the greater ease of construction with giant elands instead of just using human labor, and the greater wealth of Ansongo. There's canals and bridges in parts of the Niger River to make travel and transport easier throughout the empire, the Niger isn't perfectly navigable and has several areas where it "flattens" out so some engineering as can be accomplished in late antiquity Africa is needed to make the Niger the commercial and transportation artery of Ansongo. There's also military forts scattered around Ansongo, with notable concentrations near tributaries of the Niger and on Ansongo's borders to be able to respond quickly in a time of crisis. Many of these forts are again made out of a combination of mudbrick and stone, some are made completely out of painted stone. After the Crocodile's War, several of these forts have been destroyed and have yet to be rebuilt, leaving Ansongo vulnerable.
There's also venues with seating for religious ceremonies, dancing, performances, and of course, wrestling. The raised semi-circle of stone that Modou prays at in "Feasts and Conspiracies" is one such venue for religious rituals and dancing. There's also a near fascination in Ansongo, especially in large cities like Goundam and Bamako, with carved wooden and stone doors, as they're very pleasing to look at and are an easy shorthand to communicate that the owner has both wealth and an appreciation for art.
Your mention of nomads nipping at the Ansongo Empire's heels brings something to mind, and I apologized if you already covered it and I just don't remember. Where are we with camels ITTL? Because they are going to change the face of the Sahel when they become established there, even if elands are already present. IIRC it was about 0 AD that camel-back trade empires like ancient Ghana solidified.
How closely are they being copied? I'm assuming it began around Ansongo's golden age, but was it still more or less favored in its waning days?
Are those breeds or just new fur phenotypes? Or are the colors just names for the breeds? I would think color morphs would be more plastic across the breeds, though there'd certainly be phenotypes for color and fur patterns that would be more consistent for some breeds than other.
As it stands only ~300 years have passed so while all captive elands would have been undergoing similar selection pressures, diversity in the tame population would only just start to show visible features. By this time there would be some basic types you can maybe call 'breeds' (or proto-breeds, but the whole definition's blurry anyway) derived from labor-based isolated populations. Some examples I could guess right off the bat would be a division between agricultural/labor animals and elite/military animals. People would select for the adult bull's massive bulk for the former and a more gracile, speedy build for the latter. With that general trend it's the little sub-regions both breeding in isolation and interacting with each other that bring your real phenotypic diversity.
Early domestications take in a lot from wild stock; more than previously assumed actually. Things like color and horn shape would be mutations that appear through inbreeding and perhaps hindered by the supply of wild genes so that depends on how common wild elands are and how developed the land is, affecting isolation. Animals owned by nobility have the capability to further separate them from wild and 'common' stock, increasing prevalence of artificially selected traits.
300 years is a little on the short end but still feasibly realistic for basic differentiation and maybe some unique traits. I think I can realistically see some fur phenotypes popping up here. Melanism is a relatively common morph so might be one of the early ones actually. Come to think of it, their access to literature from Carthage might very well have information relating to animal breeding and if they're doing this deliberately then I definitely have faith in the alloted time, but I still think the really unique breeds are at least a few centuries off.
So, trade networks. You've said before its immediate cultural influence has stayed in the general region of West Africa, but has it really? The Mali IOTL had goods all the way from China; Ansongo doesn't have to be that extreme but indirect distribution I think could spread goods, and potentially ideas, quite far barring any physical barriers -- as long as a group of people has a neighbor to trade with you could see something go a very long way.
Between camels in the Sahara and elands in the savannas Africa is about to become way more connected than OTL.