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Today I have another story from Homer’s Iliad for you to tell. It’s the story of Achilles who withdraws from battle because Agamemnon treats him disrespectfully. This is how the story goes:
Chryses , a Trojan priest of Apollo, offers the Greeks rich ransom for the return of his daughter Chryseis , a captive of Agamemnon , the supreme commander of the Greek armies besieging Troy. Although most of the Greek warriors are in favour of the offer, Agamemnon refuses. Chryses prays for Apollo's help, and Apollo causes a plague throughout the Greek camp. After nine days of plague, Achilles calls an assembly to solve the plague problem. Under pressure, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis to her father, but also decides to take Achilles' captive, Briseis , to compensate himself for giving up Chyseis. You see, Agamemnon, as supreme commander of the Greek armies, thought he could do whatever he liked; he also thought he could treat everyone any way he liked.
Angered, Achilles declares that he and his men will no longer fight for Agamemnon, but will go home. As a result to this, the Trojans, led by Hector , pushed the Greek army back toward the beach and assaulted the Greek ships. With the Greeks on the verge of absolute destruction, Patroclus led the Myrmidons into battle wearing Achilles' armor, though Achilles remained at his camp. Patroclus succeeded in pushing the Trojans back from the beaches, but was killed by Hector. Only then Achilles joins the battle again to revenge his friend’s death, kills Hector and saves the Greeks.
So what is the relevance of the story to our little game? This indeed needs to be explained. There is a “plague” nowadays throughout the ALPHA Alliance camp and there is a certain misprint of Agamemnon who’s responsible for this plague. There is someone among us who believes he can do whatever he likes, treat everyone as he likes etc.
There are many stories about this Agamemnon’s arrogance. The Israelis, once a loyal friend of ours, have their own story to tell about him. The Chinese, our Allies in ALPHA till yesterday, have yet another story to tell. We (Greeks) have our story and I believe I’m the right person to tell. So, my Lithuanian friends please lend me your ears:
It all started about a month ago, when we, in agreement with our Allies, launched a campaign to occupy Central Croatia, which at the time was under Slovenian occupation. We decided to go the long way, through Italy, as not to harm our Bosnian friends. Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plans. Our first attack on Tuscany failed, as we found ourselves engaged in 3 battles simultaneously (Tuscany, Pelagonia and Crete). Our second attack on Tuscany turned out to be the largest battle on e-sim history till then and we came very close to winning it.
Just a couple of hours before this battle ended, the Bulgaria declared war to Slovenia and attacked Central Croatia. What was the reason for this? Bulgaria already had its high diamond region in Bosnia, so they were not after the diamonds. What I know for sure is that we (Greeks) did not ask Bulgaria to attack Central Croatia. They were not giving us any help by doing so; they were just putting us in an awkward situation. By occupying Central Croatia they only wanted to show “who is the boss”. (Just like Agamemnon did, by taking away Achilles’ captive).
I was CP of Greece at the time; I had to make some swift decisions. I came to an agreement with the CPs of Slovenia and Bulgaria, so that Greece would eventually take Central Croatia though a series of delicate manoeuvres. The Slovenian CP did his part of the agreement impeccably. The Bulgarian CP did not. Not only did he invent all sorts of ridiculous excuses for not doing so, but he also attacked Pelagonia, on which Greece depends for grain. What was the reason for this? Bulgaria already had its high grain in Ukraine, but the Bulgarian CP wanted to show once more “who is the boss”. (We have an expression for this kind of behaviour. We call it: “Spitting on one’s face” and dr_love spit on our face not once but twice within a few days.)
I strongly protested against Bulgaria’s hostile acts to all the CPs of our Alliance and I’d like to express my gratitude to Bato Usai for his efforts to relieve the crisis between Greece and Bulgaria. It was then I decided to secure Pelagonia and let Central Croatia go, since I knew what an untrustworthy “Ally” dr_love’s Bulgaria was. I told him to do whatever he liked with Central Croatia; this was not one of our concerns anymore.
As one can easily imagine, both Croats and Serbs would like to lay hands on Central Croatia and they both urged Bulgaria to deliver this region to them. By then, my office as CP in Greece ended and my successor unwisely renewed Greek claims over Central Croatia. In any case, Bulgaria finally decided to deliver this region to the Croats. The idea behind this decision was to provoke a war between Serbia and Croatia, so that ALPHA would come to rescue Croatia and erase Serbia from the map.
Bulgarians will tell you they declared war to Serbia only because we (Greeks) asked them to do so. Not quite so. The war against Serbia had nothing to do with Greek interests and ambitions. Central Croatia was only the bait to drag Greece into war with Serbia. Our Congress did not bite the bait and voted against the war.
The outcome of this war is known to us all: Serbia is temporarily erased from the map, but at a terrible cost for our Alliance. The Bulgarian Empire is down and the Lithuanian Empire came to the verge of destruction. One might imagine that Bulgaria would emerge less arrogant, after losing its colonies. Unfortunately no such thing happened; at least not yet. Now Bulgaria is trying to restore its Empire and my friend Bato Usai is using all his eloquence to convince the Greek people give Bulgaria a hand.
As far as I can tell, no such thing will ever happen, unless dr_love comes to his senses and stops being a misprint of Agamemnon. Our spear will always be there for Lithuania and any other trustworthy Allies of ours. But when it comes to Bulgaria’s battles, I bet Achilles will stay at his camp…
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About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.
