Post 34-First Update of 'The Golden Horde'

Starting this story has proven difficult, as the balance between history book and creative fiction is more delicate than I thought. This is the last half of the introduction i already posted.

With such a massive military, the Mongols had to bring massive trains of workers and materials behind the main branch of the army. Each group of ten thousand men was called a tumen, and subsequently subdivided in factors of ten. The most prestigious of these was referred to as the Kashik, where the Khans themselves led. It was made up of all the men in the royal family, but every individual within the khan's household, from officers to servants, served in the Kashik. Any man other than this in the Kashik was there by appointment, having proven themselves capable of leading, and in the most dire of circumstances, even the most junior members were qualified to command any other unit in the Mongol army. From here Batu and Subedai led the invasion of Eastern Europe, with the Kashik's own participation in a battle occurring at the most decisive moments.

Having lived their entire lives as nomadic archers on horseback, the Mongol army lived a life of pseudo warfare until any able bodied man reached an age of 20, when they were trained and drilled constantly in the art of Mongol war. As such, they were the most naturally gifted archers and horsemen in the known world. This would come to serve Batu and Subedai well in the battles to come, where the speed and mobility, coupled with the range of their horseman's bows, would play a pivotal role in outpacing and out maneuvering the slower, more heavily armored troops of the Europeans. The Russians first taste of this style of warfare would occur just outside the Riazan principality.

1237- On the Cusp of Battle to come soon!

Post 33-Cool News

A friend of mine just finished his second book and it's available for purchase on Amazon.

It's based upon a tour of the world he did, and is a collection of short fiction. Take a look!

The World In A Suitcase

Post 32-Beginning of Golden Horde story

Tonight i begin my story centered around the Mongolian invasion and occupation of Eastern Europe in 1236 through 1241. It'll read a lot like a historical deal for now, but i'll be posting updates through the process.

Here's the opening. It will be introductory like this for some time to help educate the reader on the going-ons of the area and period, as most don't understand the extent and severity of the Horde's invasion.

Winter of 1237- West of the Russian Ural Mountains

With a voracious appetite, the Horde, as it became known, had already pillaged and burned the countryside and holdings of the Bulgar people, who lived east of the Volga river, and taken the city of Sarai near its out-pour into the Caspian Sea. That tributary and its several bridges and roads leading West were a sign to the vanguards of Batu Khan and Subedai Bahadur that yet more rich lands lay beyond, filled with treasure for their Khans, pasture for their horses, and women for their men. They led their troops in the ways the horde had perfected. Miles apart large contingents were kept in constant contact through special arrows that whistled in the wind or by waving flags. There were couriers who bound their bodies in tightly wound silks and leathers, who rode their horses without stopping up and down the Mongol roads all the way back to the capitol of Karakorum. In this way the might of 120,000 Mongolian horseman, conscripts and soldiers pressed across the frozen Volga river. Ahead of them their many spies and scouts were fanned, into the Russian people's lands of Moscow and Vladimir, in the holdings of every Russian city. Their detailed reports told Batu and Subedai something they already knew; their approach across the vast forests of the Volga's West bank had gone unnoticed, and there was much land to be claimed. With an empire already stretched from Korea to the Caspian Sea, the Mongol army that was to become the Golden Horde entered the lands of Riazan and the Suzdal Russians, starting the conquest of Eastern Europe in earnest.

Post 31-Earth, our planet, in time lapse from the ISS

Enjoy.

ISS Time Lapse

Post 30-Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you guys are having a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm currently baking a chicken. It will be DELICIOUS.

Here's a poem titled 'The Many Forms of Inspiration'

We are people and

Animals too

Who view the world

Through eyes and

Try to label

Everything

Around us.

It is this act

Of putting a name to the

Tendrils of light

From a rising sun or

The red sky of a

Harvest moon

That separates us

From beast,

And yet we are limited,

Hindered

By it.

If not for our words

We may never have crawled

Out from the dark of the cave,

Built great cities

Grander than the imagination.

The simplest reason

For our great success is

Our ability to inspire

And be inspired,

Not to act on those musings.

We are baser beings

Who need no more

Than bright stars

To rise to greatness.

It is in our books,

Our movies,

Our very next door

Neighbors

And we will now never be without it.

Also! I've been playing a ton of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Enough to make my girlfriend miss me even more terribly than she already does. -tear-

What a relaxing week. Soon I'll be posting progress of my short story based on the Mongol Invasion of Eastern Europe. Hope to see some people respond, and as always, $upport the blog!

Post 29-An Amazing Comic

I don't think I've ever posted a comic on here before, but enjoy THIS everyone. It's absolutely mind-blowing the amount of money floating around out there.

XKCD: Money Chart

Post 28-Thanksgiving Break

Well I'm all alone here in this apartment. Not much to do but play Bethesda's wonderful new RPG The Elder Scrolls V, do some EVE Online pvp and play matches of League of Legends.

My time is fairly dominated by gaming for the moment. How awesome. Also, POETRY. This one is a POV poem from my grandmother's perspective.

So Very Proud Of You

We're just so very proud of you

For making it so much farther

Than your cousins.

They lost their way,

Unlike you and

Even though it was scary

At times,

You managed to get to college,

And to study,

So every time we talk to you,

We see you've grown

Oh so much.

It brings tears to our eyes

Because your Uncle did the same,

Those many years ago

And while you two had your differences

You moved past that

And now you know your place.

You've got to be the example,

Kid,

And we're sorry for the many roadblocks

You had when you were young.

I'm sorry I slapped you

On that drive,

Your mother is sorry

She couldn't be there

As much as she should have,

And we're all sorry we made you sit still,

Squirming and screaming to be set free.

Can't you see it drove you forward?

And,

Just so you know,

We're all watching you

And hoping you do

Great things

So I can say

“That's my Grandson.”

Come to think of it it's actually quite hard to remember my childhood, even my teen years. So this remains an opinion piece :P

Post 27- Back and it feels GOOD

MGMT- Electric Feel

A song for you folks while you read some poetry.

Where We're Going

The end

Is entirely up to us

What we choose to do

Is reliant upon

What we think everyone

Else is doing

And why we do

What we will do

Is only as important

As the way

In which we do it.

And if we're not careful,

Then there won't be

Anything we can do

Where we're going.

What Is Left

Wife.

Judy.

She doesn't want to live here anymore.

Judge.

Ruling.

Judy can take her life somewhere else.

Take.

She takes.

She's taking it all.

Kitchen sink.

Dishwasher.

Dryer.

Everything she's going to need in her new home.

T.V. Bank account. Kids.

Office chair.

Spare tire.

She doesn't forget to get a little greedy by the end.

The Mercedes.

My promotion.

She keeps taking,

Taking more than she can carry.

The house she rolls away

Down the freeway.

My soul she bottles up

Like a genie.

My memory she blows away,

The dust of a life.

She kicks my dignity down the street

And punts it into traffic.

She sucks out my words and

Eats my liver

Now I can't drink this away.

And then she slaps me to break my pride.

Anger is all that's left.

For that,

She offers to take me back.

I can't remember ever leaving.

Hope you guys enjoyed it! I'm wondering where all my loyal followers have disappeared to >.>

Post 26- I AM BACK

And may I say it has been quite a while since we did this little thing called BLOGGING.

I need to get back into that certain swing, don't you think?

Here's some poetry.

What We're Made Of

I found myself wondering this morning

And last night in particular

What we're all made of.

There's oil and water,

Dirt and grime,

Rag and bone,

Blood, snot,

Skin, nail,

Brain,

And instinct all wrapped up in us.

But we've got thought and we like to use it too.

And here's something a little less known;

The warm sense of beach sand against our toes,

The cool breeze of winter upon our cheeks,

A greater sense of knowing that we just can't place,

Something soothing and calming and understanding all at once.

Some might call it being at peace

But I call it being beside Peace

Because we're not exactly a peaceful species.

Perhaps the most interesting part

Of us

Is that one particular spark;

Patterned

Like the web of constellations in us,

Spider webbed through our toes,

The toes of dancers that curl and know the feeling

Of a matted floor or a wooden high beam,

Or the fingers of a writer

That love the curve of a pen meant to fit

Or the click of a keyboard.

That twinge in our nose hairs at the

First frost

Or the warm feeling

In the after glow

Where she's rubbing your back

And you're both smiling

At one another

Like nothing ever happened

And you're just 'Happy to be here, folks'.

And every once in a while

A couple of little transistors

Up in that head of ours

Go off in just the right sequence

And we feel happy,

Or At Peace,

And it's all leading

To one grand thought

Blooming like a rose

In the middle of fall.

Odd, but not entirely out of place.

We've all got that spark:

A little light of brilliance

That puts even sunrise to shame.