In the Footsteps of Magna Charta - An English AAR

coz1, no appology needed. I'm the last person you should explain yourself to as I'm quite bad myself at writing posts even though I try to when I see a AAR I think is good. Reading chapter 5 of Into the West atm amongst the rest I'm doing. That said, it's good to see you back here. It's very understandable if people stop reading when I get on and off like this in my writing. It's just that lots of things are happening and sometimes I jus thave to take a month or two off to fix things. Just like now; thought I would have to pause again, then a day later I update cause I got time somehow, and now I don't have time again... =/ hehe oh well, I hope that most of you can keep up with it.

I did try to read up a bit on the net about naval terminology but it was difficult... tried to get as much into my head without suffering from cognitive overload. To tell you the truth there will be a LOT of updates that cover sea faring since I am planning on colonising a lot. Perhaps we'll even see a person or two as favorit i repris. Can't say it in English, sorry. =| Let's just hope that you'll enjoy it people. Until next update; sayonara!

Lord Blekinge, I see. Thought you were Swedish just because of the avatar flag. Check my location for... my location. You're welcome to visit my blog to know more in detail what and where I am studying; it's in my signature.

My European expansion is hopefully over; I'd like to fight some colonial wars now instead of my core provinces. A lot of the French provinces have become English core and French has also been added to my list of natives. Now I just need to wait until 1700 or so when Celtic is added too. I do however still have a free Orleans and Brittany surrounded by my red France. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet because I cannot start another war. I am at "tarnished reputation" and it seems as if it never goes down, been like that for 40 years.

Instead I am trying to colonise and the following updates will cover that more up close. North America is of course a target, and later on there will be some wars in India. I am trying to go fairly historically, so in 1650-1700 I will be able to focus on some naval warfare in India while keeping the American colonies under control. What will of course not be historical is France will never fight over NAmerica, instead I'm hoping to have some great clashes with either Spain and or Portugal in the Americas, Philipines and those areas. What I'm aiming for is I guess the stuff England/Britain got during its peak hour. Might get some stuff sooner and some later, depending when I get conquistadores/explorers but I hope to get India, America, Australia, some pieces of Africa before 1819. Guess I'm missing the Napoleonic wars too. =)

Lord Blekinge, yes I'm going to play as Sweden as well once I do get EU3, but that will take quite a while. Miso katsu is something I haven't tried yet, but I guess I will some day. I've eaten a lot of other sorts of katsus though. About Tokyo, but I'll prolly get some guidance from a frind of my father's who's living there, and I'll be going with some friends. But thanks for the offer.

Jalex, I am playing with the AGCEEP, and after checking the forums before, I've been informed I will not be able to transfer my game to Victoria, only vanilla games are able to do so, unfortunately.

Everyone, the colonies are on their way, as I will cover the beginning of the English expansion overseas in the coming updates. That is why I'm posting now, to let people now I haven't abandoned this AAR in any way. Studies are tough here in Japan and that is why I have not been able to truly focus on my AARs. Now during Christmas break I have been able to write a little bit and I will soon post my latest update, in a day or two I hope.

However, I must inform that I cannot continue this AAR longer than to 1541. Something has happened with my EU2, I don't know but the trading system is totally f**ked up, sometimes I have 30 merchants in a trade centre. Instead, I am saving my saves on the harddrive to play once I get home to Sweden in 6 months. I hope the bug will not be featured on my real ocmputer. Instead I'm having Hoi2 shipped to me from Sweden =S, so I can play that. I do have saves ranging to 1541 though, and I think I am going to write my updates until then, and then wait until I get back to Sweden.

In the Footsteps of Magna Charta - Chapter XXXVIII



English province of Cornwall
January, Year of our Lord Fifteen Twenty-five


Terrence Young was a man of the sea. Others called him boy, but with his fourteen years he liked to call himself a man. His father was already dead since a long time ago, and all he had as a memory of him was a poorly painted picture that hung on the wall at home. He had been a sailor but Terrence did not know if it was the sea or something else that had taken his father away from him and his mother. All he knew was that his mother did not blame him for disappearing, but Terrence had never been told if she truly held a grudge against him, or if it was because of her love for his father that she did not grieve. Neither did she go against Terrence’s decision to become a sailor just like his father when he told her of his plans for the future. Instead she encouraged him saying, you will become a fine sailor, just like your father was. Terrence knew what he wanted to become, but he also had to adapt to the market’s demands. He had already been a deckhand on fishing vessels but the money was poor and with the meagre payment his mother was allowed as a widow, Terrence had to work hard to support his family. All his siblings were younger than him and were eating up their family’s resources rather than adding to it. Terrence had to find a position on one of the larger ships going across the Channel, or even down to the newly acquired African provinces that everybody was talking about. It would seem that Fortuna smiled upon this young man as plans took place at the same time some hundred miles away, in the heart of London.


English province of Anglia
January, Year of our Lord Fifteen Twenty-five



Henry, who was relaxing with a bit of tennis during the unusually sunny January day, signalled to his opponent that the match was paused for the moment before turning to the counsellor who had interrupted his game. He patted his brow lightly with a handkerchief even though he had not broken a sweat from the exercise. Still, it was something he needed as his gut was giving him more and more pain lately and his physical condition was deteriorating due to the drop of activity.
He reached for the sealed parchment that the man held loosely and broke it with dignity and feigned un-interest. The counsellor knew Henry well though, and could see through his charade as his liege lord was always interested in his growing lands to the south. His forefathers had worked too hard to acquire it to have Henry not interested in such a prize. He opened the rolled paper and read the message to himself quietly.

“To His Highness King Henry of England and of France and Lord of Ireland,

I hope that these tidings find you in a good condition my lord, but let me be bold and skip the required formalities, for news has reached me in Paris from one of the regional governors of a bold captain that is willing to follow in the footsteps of the late Cabot. With funding from the state he is willing to dare the seas of the north, to explore the waters beyond what Cabot discovered and see if there is a possible western way to India, or if that fails, explore the possible coastlines that Cabot mentioned in his logs. There may be more of the Americas that the Spaniards still have no discovered, if God wills it. His name is James Cooper and he is now waiting in Provence for an urgent reply from His Highness.

With respects,
Howard Townshend, National Governor of France”

Henry read the message again to reassure himself of what was written. He had been seeing to the navy ever since the unfortunate death of Cabot more than twenty-five years ago. First together with his father the King, and after his death, all by himself. It felt like ancient times. The Royal Navy that he had instituted was barely non-existent despite his efforts to extend the fleet. It had been a miracle that the Spaniards had reacted with such mildness in his last attempt to cheat his way around the agreement that England was going to have a limited fleet that could not compete with the Spanish one. They might have been too occupied with the thought of the Americas. Henry thought of the riches he was hearing about that the Spanish empire was taking in lands that lay unexplored to all but the currently mightiest of empires in the whole of Europe. England might be bigger land-wise, but the riches from the land where gold lay open on the ground certainly made Spain the richer of them both. Perhaps with this Cooper, things could change.




English province of Anglia
March, Year of our Lord Fifteen Twenty-five



The recruiter gave Terrence a doubtful glance. It was hard to differ between boys his age, they could well be thirteen or seventeen, everyone was different. But this young fellow in front of him looked pale and thin as ever, not the kind of sailor he was supposed to be looking for. Still, looking at the meagre line of men behind the boy, he might not have that much of a choice in enlisting the fellow. After a few seconds of hesitation he approved him with a grunt.
Terrence took the light feather pen and dipped it into the ink. He had never tried writing with such a luxurious pen before, only with crude charcoal bits, but he knew how to write, and wrote his name in not so elegant letters. The recruiter snatched the paper from the table as soon as he lifted the pen and gave it a hard press with his seal, making the contract official.
The recruiter snorted and gave him a sarcastic smile without joy.
The brutish-looking helpers shuffled Terrence to the side to make way for the next man in line, wanting to sign up for what Terrence only had heard would be the expedition of a lifetime. Good pay, riches beyond belief if they found new lands, and promotions, perhaps a county of his own. A true servant of the King! There was no end to the possibilities. His head spun at the thought of it all. That is why he had been so surprised when he had seen that the recruiting line to the ship Legion that was supposed to travel to these distant lands, had been barely ten yards long. Could so few really want to see the undiscovered world? Despite the promises of greatness there were only a handful of men, some old, some his own age, that were willing to brave the unknown. He had travelled across half of England just to attend the recruiting process. As Terrence slowly made his way away from the ship that lay anchor the next man in the line presented himself to the recruiter.
The words died away in the surrounding noise around Terrence as he steered his way home, content with his signing up with this new English expedition.


English province of Anglia
May, Year of our Lord Fifteen Twenty-five


The wind had picked up well since the last month, a good sign for Cooper. He was holding his hat tightly as he boarded his ship, now under the specific protection of the English Crown. The recruiting process had been slower than he had imagined, but they had still been able to muster a crew enough to manoeuvre the uncharted seas he thought. His regular crew had stayed back in France, not taking the risk to follow their otherwise to trusted captain. He had been assigned a newly recruited crew of pure English, as he called them. He himself was of French blood, not wanting to admit it to himself though. He tried to think himself as English, with all that it came and meant. To say he was excited about this voyage, to be able to follow in the footsteps of the man who inspired him, Cabot himself, was an understatement. The King of England had been generous enough to have the logs of Cabot copied in haste for Cooper to use. The originals would be left back home in England, safely guarded. He understood the Crown’s wish not to lose such precious items. Now as he stood on the familiar deck of his ship that he had commanded for almost ten years, and worked on for far longer, he felt invigorated. His family would have to wait a long time to see him again he guessed, but it was all part of what he was doing, and his wife had assured him that she and their two children understood fully. It meant they also knew of the possible dangers he might come to face, and the fact that there was the possibility he would not return home.
Of the crew, so far he had only met his officers in person and knew their names, before the trip. It was nothing that concerned him, as he would not mingle very much with the rest of the crew anyway, despite the fact that he was not of noble birth. He would have far more important tasks ahead of him.
Cooper nodded contently. There was nothing he liked more than an organised crew and a fully prepared ship.
The fluttering white silk sails caught the strong wind like a vertical bag filled with water and pushed the ship out of the port in a south-easterly direction. They would travel first to Ireland for a re-supply of absolutely fresh water and a few recruits still waiting on the Emerald Isle, and then towards the unknown North.




Terrence watched as he saw his home town disappeared faster than he had imagined. The large three-masted galleon was far quicker than any of the small fishing boats he had ever worked on. The city of London shrunk to just a small town from the distance and Terrence wondered if this is how his father also had felt during his first journey with one of the bigger sailing ships. He was interrupted in his thoughts by noticing a man standing beside him, leaning against the railing with his elbows, looking at London with the same eyes as Terrence believed he had had himself just moments ago.
The man turned his head towards Terrence, not fully, just enough for the boy to see more of his face than just the profile. Still looking at the green-blue sea that was racing by them, he shook his head slowly and answered in the negative.
With that the First Mate removed himself to the front of the ship to inspect the rest of the crew, but Terrence could feel that he would have the eye of the man he just had been told off by, for a long time before he could get in his good graces again. He threw one last look at the isle that had been his home for fourteen years and then turned his attention to the ropes hanging from the sails that were lying in a disorder on the wet deck. If he was supposed to get through on this journey, he would have to obey orders, he knew that. It would help though, had the First Mate been just slightly the more concerned man, he thought, before he picked one of the thicker ones up and started circling them into a neat pile.

Languish and KuzuX - Thank you for reading and replying! It's fun to see that I get some comments and not just an increase of the "readers" number. I hope that you will find the coming updates as enjoyable as the last ones. Especially chapter 40.

Fulcrumvale and stnylan - Yeah it's amazing what a bit of deluded ideas about growing up can do to a 14-year-old. I hope you'll read chapter 40, while he's a bit of a maniac there, I hope I am showing a bit of his childish side as well... :S Or something like that.

In the Footsteps of Magna Charta - Chapter XXXIX



The North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Newfoundland
July, Year of our Lord Fifteen Twenty-five


For two months Terrence had kept the decks clean, tied ropes, seen to the animals, and tried his place amongst the sails high up in the rig. He had even tried the look-out’s post, but despite his adaptation to the sea the extreme rolling up in the mast had made him slightly seasick and he preferred his place down on the deck. During these two months they had not seen any land, as Cooper wanted to proceed as quickly as possible towards where Cabot had turned around. The captain was confident that they would find land in the direction that his inspiring role model had travelled. Of course, Terrence and the others had not been informed of much except a brief explanation that they were heading to the far north, and so they had been equipped with better clothing that they could use in the far colder waters they were pushing through at the moment.

Still, the thicker clothes made little difference to the fact that the water was turning bad. While they had plenty left, both for themselves and the animals, if they did not find a coast soon with fresh water, Terrence figured they would likely be in trouble. This trip was different from any other he had ever been on, no friendly port as far as the eye could see, no fresh supplies in the nearest port as he was used to when travelling in the waters between England and France. He had willingly signed up for it, knowingly. He was at the Captain’s mercy. They would not turn back before he ordered it.

The mist that they were sailing through was thick enough to cover anything further than twenty yards from the ship. They went slowly with the sails taken down as they did not want to risk capsizing. With the fog and almost non-existent breeze it was impossible to know if they were near land or still on the open ocean. Terrence kept a wary eye on the waters as he scrubbed the deck. It was high noon, and yet the weather was acting this strange. Never had he seen such fog, but then again, they were in another part of the world and not back in good old England. For all he knew, they might be sailing right next to Cathay or even the Indies, and they would be missing it all!
They grabbed the long line with tied markings for each fathom and lowered it quickly into the calm sea. Terrence held a securing hand on Jacobs while the leaned over and began to measure.
The First Mate repeated the number to the Midshipman who in turn delivered it to the Acting Lieutenant on deck.
Gaston the First Mate nodded approvingly and signalled the pair to stop the measurement.
With a light grunt, Terrence and Jacobs went back to their chores. It would prove less than a day however, before they were assigned for other duties.



The scout’s wailing sent the whole crew to their feet as they had slept and awoke to the morning sun rising. Gone was most of the fog of last day and instead far to the horizon a low but distinct feature that could be nothing else but dry land could be spotted. The alarm of the crew even made the Captain-Admiral who most of the time kept to himself studying in his cabin, come onto the deck to see this new found land. He was not slow to act.
The Lieutenant cried out the orders and the crew flew to their posts, climbing the masts. It would still take them half a day at the least, Cooper figured, and he wanted to make sure they had secured whatever supplies might be found on this unknown piece of land, be it fruit, water or anything else they could scour. But what drove him most of all, what excited him, was the prospect of claiming the land that was now within reach. His predecessor had been absolutely right, only unlucky enough not to go the required extra sea miles to discover it. Now he would follow in his footsteps and explore this possible northern route to India, and whatever lands there might possibly be in between.


Unclaimed province of Belle Island
July, Year of our Lord Fifteen Twenty-five


For five days the small expedition had stayed and explored the beaches and nearby forest of this, to them all, new land. Fresh water had been found in a nearby spring and the barrels with putrid water had been exchanged for clear, fresh ones instead. The landing parties had been equipped with hand guns and swords, in case there would be a native presence in this far-off land, but so far the English had not been disturbed. Already from the first day carpenters, builders and engineers had begun with a small outpost located further inland so it would not be so exposed on the rocky beach. Already the English red and white fluttered wildly from the flag that Cooper had carried with him during the first landing, being the first to set his feet on his discovery. The Captain-Admiral had ordered another five days of stay and rest before heading out again. A small party of some thirty men were prepared to be left behind, something that had been decided already before the voyage. If land was discovered, they were going to stay during their time according to the contract and establish a small outpost which via possible future voyages could navigate. Crude tents had been raised which would serve as their housing before they could erect more proper living quarters. Terrence was not part of this crew.




On the eighth day however, after Cooper had lost all home of seeing a native, either out of curiosity or to establish whether this was the Indies or not, Terrence could not figure out which, Terrence’s friend Jacob suddenly roared with excitement and pointed vividly towards one end of the forest. Terrence and the lot of the other sailors helping the engineers with their construction looked up to see what ruckus their comrade was yelling about, and in the end Terrence could spot a human figure amongst the trees and undergrowth. The man seemed not frightened at all, instead he seemed curious just like the sailors were of him, yet he would not move from his position at the edge of the greenery.
They all kept their eyes on the apparent native while one of the other Midshipmen rushed down to the beach were Cooper was inspecting the beaches together with the doctor and the rest of the ship’s officers. As soon as the Captain joined the crew however, the man by the forest disappeared into its dark green cover, not to be seen.
The rest of the officers nodded their agreement and the rest of the day was spent going through the crew to find anyone who was willing to be left behind until the next ship arrived at their new outpost. Apart from the original thirty-one men, another eight, three English and five Irish, would accept. Cooper reasoned that losing them would not hinder the efficiency onboard the ship. They were all equipped with a hand gun each from the ship’s arsenal and another two barrels of gunpowder was shipped ashore from Legion. Two days later without further contact with the natives of the land, Cooper set out to follow the shoreline south in order to find some sign of Indian civilisation. That way he would soon find out if this indeed was India that they had found, or if by a miracle he would be as lucky as the Spanish-chartered Colombo and even find a new continent.