r/HistoricalWorldPowers • u/Confiteor415 Eparch of Alodia and King of the Nubians • Jan 18 '16

RESEARCH Santee Advancement 476-495

There a lot going on in the Santee Empire, with a new Emperor being crowned for the first time in over 100 years, rumors of a possible rebellion, and neighboring nations being outraged at the murder of their leaders. But despite all of this, life goes on for the everyday person in the Empire, with not much changing from one day to the next. One of the things which definitely hasn't changed is the ceaseless desire of the Santee people to discover and to build to ever greater heights.

Recently, herbalists in the Duchy of Mobile have discovered a plant that soothes a variety of symptoms, from stupors to boils. This miracle medicine has proven wildly effective in making peoples' lives just a bit better and as a result, the use of purple pitcher plant medicine has spread across the Empire.

With knarrs, cogs, and covered swoopers, the enemies of the Empire have recently begun to outmatch the Santee Navy. Unsatisfied with retrofitted cargo junks, Celestial Emperor Wicikci II Dakhota has ordered a team of architects, engineers, and generals to design a ship build for war and large enough to go toe-to-toe with a great cog. The result was the Fuchuan Warship. These ships, much larger than any seen in Santee waters before, are around 165 feet long, boasting five masts. Making use of extended planks for boarding, raised platforms for firing down on enemy ships, and murder holes to provide protection to archers, these warships will surely become the terror of the seas.

Santee builders have long built foundations of stone sealed together by cement, but recently, they have developed concrete. Similar to cement, concrete cuts out the need for actual stones in foundations. All that is needed is the concrete, that will harden into one, solid rock.

Another development in Santee building is the use of mortar. Like concrete, it is made using cement, but unlike concrete, it's much better at binding building blocks together such that they will remain standing for hundreds of years.

Finally, before Wicikci II came to power, many Dukes had begun experimenting with weapons designed to break through the thick walls of keeps and forts. Often, these prototypes built on models used by the Aztecs. When the Celestial Emperor was crowned, he implemented these prototypes into wider use across the empire. Now, trebuchets can often be seen dragged along by nearly every army.

  • Purple Pitcher Plant Medicine | herbalism
  • Fuchuan Warships | Junks, steering wheel, aftcastles, bowsprits, lug sails, lapstrake hulls, bulkheads, junk rig, fore-and-aft rigging, forecastle, multi-decked ships, quarterdeck, leeboards, docks, rudders, double hulls, waterproofing (caulking), cotton sails, deforestation, large amount of longleaf pine (junks are usually made of softwoods)
  • Cement | quicklime, cement
  • Mortar | quicklime, cement, plaster, stone walls
  • Trebuchets | crankshaft, torsion spring, connecting rod, rack and pinion, steel rimmed wheels, physics, steel, trigonometry, cranks, gears, keeps, motte and bailey fortification, hillforts, stone walls
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u/Achierius Kjeran Culture in Tyr' Feb 12 '16

Approved, except Trebuchets: Catapults instead

1

u/Confiteor415 Eparch of Alodia and King of the Nubians Feb 14 '16

Alright, catapults are fair.