Finally, in 1427, I make peace for 1100 ducats. I have meanwhile seized two provinces, one gold-bearing. Mutapa is now cut off from the sea. I sell another couple of home provinces to Adal to avoid going over the limit.
1432 is the rematch. This one ends in 1433 for another gold-bearing province and 1175 gold. Thereafter I send a missionary to my richest new province. (I also converted one home province earlier, which I forgot to mention).
From now on, I will be keeping notes in much less detail until westernization, as it would get pretty boring.
Between selling provinces and conversion, my four remaining home provinces are now all Orthodox. My four new ones to the south (I leave a buffer of one province in case an opportunity comes up) are all animist.
1434: centralization moves sets off an extremely annoying 3k stack of pretender rebels led by a 4 shock general
1435: Portugal, Aragon and Castille declare war on Morocco. My first contacts with the West!
1435: King dies in battle against the evil revolutionaries.
1435: Sofala converts. That was pretty fast; I got lucky there.
1438: Peace with Portugal.
1438: Mutapa declares on me as soon as the treaty expires. Fine with me. Make peace a couple of months later for 375 ducats and all the cores outside their territory. Safe for a few years, I send another missionary.
1441: Uteve converts. Start on Quelimane.
1442: Guarantee all the European countries I know in the hope of more contacts.
1443: Mutapa declares, and peaces out again a few months later for 275 gold. They seem to enjoy losing money.
1444: Uteve converts. Start on the last province (and my last missionary), Kilwa.
1445: Side with Aragon against Castille when they declare. I am rewarded with contact with Naples. Centralize and get stabhit.
1446 - one of my inflation reducers dies. A pity, but inevitable sooner or later.
1447: Smugglers. I pay to get rid of them.
1448: Regular as clockwork, Mutapa declares. This time I'm in a bad position, fighting off animist rebels. They team up with the Mutapans and force-convert three provinces, which is annoying. Such are the perils of fighting in a multireligious region with no forts.
This happens with three converted provinces, on the last occasion when the animist regiments had been reduced to 0 troops. Frustrating.
On the bright side, I pick up another 325 ducats in the peace settlement.
A new, lousy king comes to power a couple of years later.
1452 - dragged into war against Castille again due to that guarantee. I'll probably dishonor it if this happens again.
1453 - do exactly that when Portugal declares on Morocco. Prestige isn't as important at this point as not unduly tanking my relations with the colonizing powers.
1454 - guess what Mutapa does? Another 325 ducats in the peace treaty next year.
1456 - Judge dies. He's had a good run.
1457: Innovative slider move, the last before westernization. After much thought, I finally switch to tribal despotism (we switched out due to collapsing earlier). Stability is -3. Later the year, dishonor the guarantee of Aragon. Prestige sucks, but it generally does before forts, as it's impossible to avoid losing the occasional province in battle.
1459 - last inflation adviser dies.
1460 - You could set your watch by Mutapa. I only get 225 gold this time. Later that year I return to +3 stability.
1465 - Mutapa does not disappoint. A mere 200 ducats.
1467: Mamluks declare on Yemen, my vassal. I honor the call as the Timurids are on my side. I lead the alliance for some reason. It's the Mamluks, Candar, and Kazakhstan vs. me, Yemen and the Timurids. Kazakh tries to peace out almost immediately. I hold out - might be able to extort some gold as alliance leader. I later get 200 gold from them.
1468 - slider innovative. Now fully prepared for westernization, as soon as I get the right border.
1468: new leader, only 5 admin unfortunately.
At some point the Timurids peace out but I don't get a pop-up. Weird.
The war with the Mamluks lasts until 1473. The Mamluks keep taking unfortified provinces in Yemen, then backing off, allowing me to relieve them. In southern Egypt, I assault a lot with my king but can't kill him off. Finally give up and pay them 25 gold to go away when Mutapa declares. Peace out with Mutapa for 350 a year later.
In 1474, I get a bunch of pretender rebels and decide to let the country break. This pays off:
I promptly sell Quelimane to Aragon. (That's the reason I've kept a non-core, wrong-religion, no-gold province all these years).
The era of westernization is upon us in 1475. Not too bad for a nation which starts that far away from Europe.