Part 21: 1240-1259, The War of the Assassins.

Someone tries to take advantage of the young Sultana and begins to raise troops.



He does not last long. So die all who oppose the Ogoonu.







Aoua comes of age.



She marries a lustful man with a talent for Generalship.



She then declares a holy war to retake the Atlas mountains, along with almost half of the Aghlabid lands!



The Qadirids join the war, and bring the bulk of the troops.







As the Muslim forces are pushed before us, Aoua gives birth to her first child.



Tragically, the child is twisted and misshapen, and Aous does not survive the birth.



Her younger sister, Nafissa takes the throne, she is also strong, gregarious, honest proud and brave.



We continue to make gains in converting the newly conquered provinces.







The war ends and Ghana expands.



Uncle Bankanu decides that he would be a better ruler and starts his own faction. A large gift of gold and a pardon causes him to disband quickly.



Nafissa's brother in law is also plotting something.



He is sent to the jails for that. He is a powerful general, and can not be allowed to start a revolt!



Unfortunately her reagent lowers her authority, he says it is to make the powerful factions happy, but Nafissa is not sure.



Thats not all that he is doing.



Meanwhile, she learns from those around her.







Nafissa comes of age, a strong and tough soldier. She is not the greatest of rulers, but she will have to do.



The Qadrids are once more having a civil war, and have called in the Aghlabids. This is seen as a good time to take the last bit of Qadirid land on African soil.



We mass our forces and march out main army into Iberia. This is the first time we have crossed the strait of Gibraltar, and it is only to raid.



We lose the battle, but do enough damage to their army that crossing over will be suicide.







It takes some time to subjugate the enemy, but they realize that the war is pointless, and give in.



We have forced the Qadirids to vacate Africa, lets see if we can keep them off! Of course I scour the realm for untitled Ogoonu to give land to. I'm running out I'm afraid!



Nafissia gives birth to a daughter, who she names Nafissia.







Ten thousand peasants rise up against their rightful Sultana.



We form an army and march out to defeat them.



As we are hunting them down Nafissia gives birth to a boy. I correct the spelling on the name and rejoice. He has inherited his mothers strength as well.



We also hear of an adventurous Frank, but unfortunately Nafissia's assassin bungles the job.



The Duke of Orleans responds quickly.



It seems that a feud has started.



Neither side can find good assassins however.



Apparently its very hard to find a good Hitman at this point in history.



Finally, one of Renaud's men gets a knife on target.



Spymaster Bassarou steps forward once more and finally this is over. For two people who never met, Nafassi and Ranaud spent large amounts of money and time trying to kill each other. As normal, Ghana wins.







It may not be a clean win however, as Nafassi's wound festers.



Thankfully, the illness passes quickly.



Of course, throughout all of this, Raymond, the original target has been raising troops. He is now ready.



They land in the north, and are immediately attacked by a superior force.



They then land two more forces, who combine to create a battle worth fighting.



Better generalship prevails, and the Franks are sent running once more.



The war ends, and although Nafissia would like to execute Raymond, the money she would get from banishing him is just to good. This gives the crown over 1200 gold, 800 of which is immediately spent on upgrades.







The old wound heals, and a feast is announced to celebrate.







Years pass, the country prospers and buildings are built. 34 gold a month flows into the Sultana's coffers. She has 728 gold and decides its time for the next holy war for the Snake in the Well.



All the surrounding Muslim nations join in, and we have to deal with the Qadirids first. They land support and the battle goes against us.



As we reform the army the enemy assault keep after keep, taking a large part of our land and nearly forcing an end to the war. Nafissia also gives birth to a second son.



With the battle score at 90% we finally catch their main army.



The conversion work continues as we desperately try and stay in the war.







We continue to beat down brushfires, and the Muslims continue to find fresh armies. While we have pulled the war back from the brink several times, the aggressive tactics of our enemies and the time it takes to muster our armies has gone against us.



Ghana has expanded rapidly this time, and is in no danger of losing territory.



Sorry this one took so long, I've been busy helping my brother with a move and had a few technical issues.