The Mississippian Empire

A new world nation in Lords of the Earth Campaign Nineteen

Welcome to the home page of the Mississippian Empire, a nation in the fictional world of Lords of the Earth.

Famous for its verdant pyramids, the cities and temples of the Mississippian Empire rival any in the new world in size and sophistication.  Centered on the city of Cahokia at the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers, it rules over a far-flung empire connected by roads and waterways and by well-trained corps of soldiers and bureaucrats.

The Mississippian Empire is ruled over by priest-emperors who make their homes atop the great mounds of Cahokia, and who are descended from father Sun himself.  The power and wealth of the priest-emperors has spread their influence down the Mississippi valley, where the power of the great mounds have made themselves felt in the rise of other "moundbuilder" societies, particularly the Natchez, the Yamasee and the short-lived Creek death cult.

Mississippian History

900 A.D. - The Mississippian Empire is already hundreds of years old and dominates the central plains of the Great Snake river.  Powtuneep is the Priest-Emperor.  

925 - The city of Namahi in Miami is founded.  Word comes to the Priest-Emperor of the fitting demise of the Creek death cult.

935 - The city of Serpentine is built in Scioto.  The Scioto join the Empire.

935 - 1016 - The Black Hole of History! (these turns are missing from the archive).

1016 - Crawling Turtle becomes Priest-Emperor.  Kickapoo is colonized.

1020 - The city of Pine Bluff is founded in Kickapoo.

1032 - Leaping Deer succeeds Crawling Turtle as Priest-Emperor.

1040 - Sauk colonized.

1044 -  The city of Manitowoc is founded in Sauk.

1050 -  Potowatamie is colonized.

1054 - The city of Topinabee is founded in Potowatamie.

1065 - Saginaw colonized.

1069 - The city or Rockwood is founded in Saginaw.  It is the last of Leaping Deer's many contributions to the glory of the Empire of the Sun.  He dies in the same year.

1070 - Swimming Beaver becomes Priest-Emperor of the Mississippian people.

1084 - Croix and Kaskinpo are colonized.  A royal road, The Great Northern Highway, is built between Michigamea and Sangamon.

1088 - Swimming Beaver dies.  His young son, Leaping Crane is the new Priest-Emperor, with Arrowhead as his regent. The Great Northern Highway is extended to Illinois.

1092 - The Great Northern Highway is extended to Kickapoo.

1096 - Regent Arrowhead outlaws the taking of slaves.  Those slaves already in the Empire are to remain slaves.  Arrowhead dies, leaving Leaping Crane in command of the Empire.  The city of Minnetonka is built in Croix.  Word reaches the Priest-Emperor of the rise of the Yamasee, a Mississippian culture that has arisen two centuries after the demise of the Creek death cult in the same place.

1100 - The city of Ken-tah-ten is built in Kaskinapo at the confluence of the Ohio and the Great Snake river.  On a clear day, one can see its temple spires from the Great Mound at Cahokia.

1105 - Leaping Crane's niece, Silver Moon, is married to the Natchez Priest-King named Flying Knife.  The Priest-Emperor sends emissaries to the Yamasee.

1110 - A grand census is undertaken to count all the peoples of the Mississippi.  They number over six and half million. The Empire began trade with the Anasazi through the latter's new port at Xinian on the Arkansas river.

1115 - Quapaw and Chippewa colonized. 

1120 - A bridge is built across the Ohio river from Michigamea to Kaskinapo.

1125 - The port city of Ugakhpa is built in Quapaw, across the river from Cahokia.

1130 - Thirty-five years after Arrowhead's proclamation, slavery is at last banished from the Empire. Leaping Crane died, and was replaced as Priest-Emperor by Hiamovi.  Kickapoo, Muskegon and Sauk are cultivated. The Great Northern Highway is extended to Kaskinapo.  Hiamovi sends a large gift of cash to the Yamasee, to help them establish their nation.

1135 - Hiamovi shows his great energy by placing five regions under cultivation (Potowatami, Saginaw, Croix, Kaskinapo and Quapaw).  He also extends the Great Northern Highway to Chickasaw.  The Empire acquires civilized technology.

1140 - The Great Northern Highway is extended south into Muskogee, in the land of the Yamasee, so that both peoples may enjoy greater trade. The Empire now numbers nearly eight million souls.

1145 - The Empire flourishes with a great number of roads, dams, granaries and public buildings.  The Mississippian trade fleet is greatly expanded.  Hiamovi's sister (Leaping Crane's daughter) Awenita is married to the Yamasee prince named Crow Dog.  Hiamovi dies and goes to the Great Spirit.  Patamon becomes Priest-Emperor. 

1146-1150 - Achak takes many warriors and settlers into Kansa, where he establishes direct contact with the Anasazi border.  Patamon continues Hiamovi's expansion of the merchant fleet.  Emperor Patamon marries the Yamasee Princess Singing Wood-Quail.  Honiahaka marries the Natchez princess Dancing Cloud.  The Emperor's sister, Mitena, marries the Yamasee prince Croaking Bullfrog.  Patamon sends a large gift of cash to the Yamasee.

1151-1155- Patamon began to construct a chain of colonies to the west, attempting to link the mighty Mississippian Empire with the legendary Californians across the great plains and beyond even the semi-mythical Skylands.  This great undertaking was begun by colonizing the region of Missouri.  Also, the Great Northern Highway was expanded as far north as Chippewa, and colonists were moved to the fur-rich lands of Nameluni.  A mighty bridge, consisting of wooden pilings and stout ropes, was laid across the Great Snake, from Michigamea to Quapaw.

1156-1160 - The Great Northern Highway has finally reached its full length, from Muskogee in the south to Nameluni in the north.  The drive to California continues as Mississipian colonists move to Oto, west of Missouri.  A second great bridge, the first link in what will become The Great Western Highway, is placed across the Great Snake from Sangamon to Missouri.

1161-1165 - The Emperor Patamon drafted the charter for what would become the North American Treaty Organization (NATO).  It obliged the nations of Mississippi, Yamassee, Natchez, Anasazi and California to assist in the defense of any one of the five nations attacked by an outside source.  The push westward continued with the colonization of Dakota. A postal road was begun running from Sangamon across the Great Snake, through Missouri and into Oto.  Elsewhere, Natchez explorers reached Cape Race in the far northeast.

1166-1170 - The Empire rested, content.

1171-1175 -  The westward drive continued with the colonization of Ogala.  The Great Western Highway is extended to Oto.  Missouri and Oto were put under cultivation as part of the westward drive.

1176-1180 - The Empire, at long last, contacts the Californian Yokuts at the foot of the great mountains by colonizing Cheyenne (the Yokuts hold the mountainous region of Shoshone.)  The Great Western Highway (still only a postal road) extends from Michigamea to Dakota.  Ogala and Kansa were cultivated.  

1181-1185 - Plans for a great celebration of the 100th birthday of White Birch, daughter of Swimming Beaver and great aunt of the Priest-Emperor Patamon, were canceled when the ancient wise woman died at the age of 98.  Nameluni and Cheyenne were cultivated.  A Royal Road was completed across Kansa, linking the Empire and the Anasazi.  Word reached the ears of the Priest-Emperor of a new people, said to be very pale, living on the distant island of Vinland.

1186-1190 - The Great Western Highway extends all the way to Cheyenne.  Waves of settlers head west along the Highway.  They also settle the gold-rich Tetons.  The Natchez report meeting the pale men of Vinland and trading trinkets with them.  They have great sea-rafts with dragon's heads.

The Great Spirit of the Sun
Tom Dagget was the Mississippian player from Turn 0 (900 A.D.) to Turn 34 (1070 A.D.)  Steve Olson was the GM.

I'm Scott Nolan and I took over on turn 37 (1081 A.D.).  Colin Dunnigan is the GM.