The Old Regime and Revolutions: AAR Thread

[Sid Meier]

All AARs will be posted here:

Rewards will be:

+1 or -1 Dp Slide
-1 Inflation
-3 Badboy
250D (For before 1520)
400 After 1520
600 After 1620
Conversion of Provence wwhose cost is equal to the worth of AAR Reward.

And yes you can split AAR reward to say .5 deflation and 125D

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Anyone showing up before the scheduled game time will receive an "on-time cookie". This will be either -1 inflation or -3 BadBoy Points. You must ask what cookie you want in the AAr

Note* AARs must include a map of some kind to show progress.

[Dr Bob]

Portugal: The Taming of North Africa

War had raged for many years, the heathens of Morocco, Algiers and Tunisia had fought against the Christians, they had attempted to stop the Reconquista and failed and now Portugal was finally ready to take the fight to the african shore under the military genius Pereira.



War with Morocco was reasonably easy, Pereira did not have to even fight an army till 4 out of the 5 fortified moroccoan provinces had fallen to the valiant Portuguese, the other army being under the command of Dr Bob-Alvares, a promising commander but nothing of Pereira's brilliance. However the strong naval strength of the islamic heathens had thrown the Portuguese fleet back to the homeland, and the Tunisians had even invaded the Algrave itself, forcing Periera to lift his seige and destroy the marauding army.

Alas the new Portuguese town of Maderia had fallen as well to the islamic hordes, leaving much of the portuguese nobility without a place to go in the summer when the plebs came out to enjoy the portuguese climate. Periera was pushed to greater efforts and delivered, capturing the entirety of Morocco and handing a lenient peace to them, 2 provinces and submission of the Emir of Morocco to the King of Portugal ad infintum.

However Periera was not done yet, and approached the King with a most ambitious scheme, to take the rich centre of trade in Alexandria from the filthy mameluk oppressors.

The new Portuguese fleet of 50 galleys was ready with 10,000 infantry and 10,000 expensive Portuguese cavarly (the horses having to be imported from Spain). The city of Alexandria fell after a determined relief force of 20,000 infantry and 15,000 cavarly was halved by Periera. Unfortunately attrition and combat had worn down his force to little more than 10,000 men and the armies of Egypt had gathered in Cairo to hold it. Periera decided to become a raider, and he did well, Mameluk armies were never safe and soon the entire country had gorund to a halt for fear of the lighting avengers as they were nicknamed in Arabic. Alexandria was surrendered soon after and much rejoicing was done.

After this success Periera set sail from Lisbon with 7,000 troops into the sunset, and was never seen again. Many wonder if he will come back in Portugal's hour of need. Others wonder if him sailing away could be due to an incident with the King's wife, who really knows?


ontime reward = 1 deflation
AAR reward = 1 deflation

[Absolut]

S.P.Q.V

Senatus Populesqus Qua Venixia

The Senate and the People of Venice

Tommaso Mocenigo, the Doge of Venice was a noble man. He was leader for the greatest nation upon the face of the earth and he was very proud of that. His family had lived in Venice as long as there had been a Venice and he sincerely loved his town and country. He was convinced that he would serve it well.

Venice had somehow gotten in to a war with Hungary and Croatia and as the Doge had little interest in the Balcans at the moment he made a thrust in to Croatia and forced them to accept a White Peace. Venices hunger for conquest had now been awaked and it would not disappear for centuries. Mocenigo felt that the Papal States was an obstacle in his dream of uniting Italy under one flag, thus a declaration of war was sent to the Pope. The Popes armies were pushed back to Marche where they made their stand. Meanwhile, the Doge concentrated on Milan and Mantova. They were quickly subdued and vassalised. The time had now come to take out the last of the Popes army so that peace could be discussed. After some fierce battles in the mountains of Italy they were defeated. War was now decleared on Naples and after a quick battle where Venice lost some 1.000 men, the whole Napoletanean army was annihilated. On the fields of Napoli lied some 25.000 corpses. Naples forts were poorly built and maintained and Naples was completely under Venetian control within a year. Troops were now sent out to pillage the conquered provinces. It was now time to take out Venices main rivals, Genoa. A declaration of war was sent to the Genoese Court and the Genoese fleet was sunk right outside of Genoa. Troops were now landed on Corsica and an army was sent from Marche to Genoa. Within a year the Genoese lands were subdued and all resistance destroyed. The main army now boarded the fleet and sailed back to Veneto, where some Genoese soldiers had laid siege on our beloved capital. After building some soldiers the Genoese army was annihilated. The last obstacle in the way of a united Italy was now Siena, which had some 35.000 soldiers defending their homelands. Mocenigo didnt want to attack them in their fortifications and instead he lured them out and crushed them like the bugs they were. After years of looting and pillaging in Italy peace was finally signed. The Papal States gave up Ferarra and agreed to be vassalised. Naples gave up a few lands in eastern Italy and agreed to be vassalised. Genoa agreed to be vassalised. Siena was White Peaced by mistake. All their money was of course taken as well.

With all this money Mocenigo decided to improve the infrastructure of the country. He started out by building a Fine Arts Academy in Veneto and promoted Tax Collectors in every new province. When this was done, Venice had a high cencus tax and were amongst the richest powers in Europe, only surpassed by Portugal.

It was now time to aquire some more lands, thus envoys filled with money was sent to Milan, one of Venices vassals and allies, to increase the relationship between the two nations. After some 200 ducats had been sent they agreed to become a part of Venice and give up all the rights they had as a nation. The cheering on the streets of Veneto knew no end. Festivities was going on all night long and on the morning several people was found in the canals. They had been drinking the previous night and when they came up with the brilliant idea to take a swim, they later realised they were too drunk to swim, and they died.

A year or two after Milan had been annexed the Doge now looked east, towards the Balcans. Envoys were sent to the Sultan in Constantinople and he agreed to give up the provinces of Zeta and Hum to the Venetian Doge and the Venetian Doge agreed to give up their claims on Albania. The future looks very bright for the Republic of Venice, very bright indeed.

To show the world what progress Venice has made since 1419, a map was drawn by the best painters in Venice.


The provinces marked in green came under direct control of Venice some time between 1419 and 1439.
The provinces marked in black came under indirect control of Venice some time between 1419 and 1439.


Here is also the Doges palace, which Tommasi Mocegani had built to celebrate the annexation of Milan.

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AAR Reward: Conversion of Ionia (ID 820) The cost of this is 269d, I didnt think it would be a major problem although if you want to you can remove 19d from my treasury. If this wouldnt work just make it a deflation.

On Time Cookie: Deflation

[Sid Meier]

Ok on time cookie rewards and a DP slide as an aar reward have been edited in pls say if you wan a different aar reward.

[El Greco]

1419 - 1439

The generation of the Ottoman Empire

In 1419, Ottomans was in war against Byzantium and Karaman simultaneously. Quick redeployment of troops has assured that the war in these 2 fronts would be victorious. A couple of years later, the provinces of Morea and Germyan has been integrated in Ottoman's land. The Sultan's great desire was Constantinople, but he had to wait for a more few years before capturing this great city. Meanwhile, Duchy of Athens was annexed.

Some years later, Sultan had learnt that our neighbours Dulcadir were organizing a plot against him, so he decided to punish these peasants. The war resulted in the integration of the provinces of Sivas and Dulkadir in the Empire. Furthermore, Sultan was very happy that the truce with the Byzantines had expired, so he turned his troops to Constaninople. After months of seige, the great City had finally fell, announcing the end of the Byzantines. The Sultan, acknowledging that this was the greatest city of all, decided to transfer his capital in Constantinople.

Parallel to all this warfare, some organization efforts have been driven in order to keep the cohersion of the Empire. These efforts included some conversions, which sometimes were successful and sometimes not.

Furthermore, the declining Mameluks seemed unable to resist in the attacks of foreign powers, so we decided that their muslim population would be better protected under the rule of the Sultan. A war hes been declared, our well-trained troops quickly crush any mameluk resistance but the stubborn Mameluk ruler would only cecede provinces of Aleppo and Syria to us. We had no choice to accept.

Here is the Ottoman Empire in 1439.



Ontime cookie: -3 BB
AAR reward: Conversion of Bulgaria

[Ican'twin]

Brandenburg 1419-1439

In November 1420 we declared war upon Holstein with their alliance with the intention to expand. Pommern was the only one to honor their alliance which was a good thing for us since they barely had any troops in sight at all and wouldn't make any resistance. Mecklenburg however immediately re-joined the alliance and brought an amount of troops back from their war against Teutonic Order which caused the victory against Pommern to take a bit longer. After we occupied Mecklenburg we signed a peace with them and in March 1423 we signed peace with Pommern and they had to surrender Hinterpommern to us.

Austria had been fighting against some of the minors in Germany and destroyed them completely. After their war we used the situation to our advantage and declared war upon Hannover, Saxony, Bavaria, Mainz and the Palatinat. Only Hannover and Saxony were involved in the war and they barely had any troops at all. Their smaller armies were soon defeated and it didn’t take long before we had all their provinces under control.



After a short war against Saxony we annexed them in 1426 and later the same year Hannover surrendered giving us Luenburg and Braunschweig. We had now increased the number of provinces under our control from 5 to 9. An increase by 80% in less then 8 years, but it wasn't enough we thought. When Austria declared war upon Poland in 1427 we did the same against Austria and went over their border with about 45k troops.



Our goal was to gain some of the provinces from former Saxony that was taken by Austria earlier. However, only 6 months later a white peace was signed. One year later though, we broke our peace agreement with Austria and once more we crossed the border. This was to be a big mistake. Poland signed a peace with Austria just days later and then we had to face Austria on our own. With no other help against the much more powerful Austria the war was already lost and the Austrians had no other intentions then to crush Brandenburg for breaking the truce and so they did. What was supposed to be a short and successful war that would have increased the power of Brandenburg was instead to become a devastating defeat. The Austrians won the battles and started to siege our provinces. After a bankruptcy and that the Austrians had over half our country under control we finally agreed to peace in which we surrendered the provinces Braunschweig, Leipzig and Wittenberg.

AAR reward = 250D
On time cookie = deflation

[ArmOrAttAk]

King Henry V was bearing down on Paris and our armies in full retreat. Most unexpectedly a diplomat arrives from him offering us a white peace. We graciously accept, and see him die in Normandie several years later.

So looking around with 70 thousand troops for something to do our vassal Provence DoWs The alliance of Savoy and some minor Italians. Great we pickup a few provinces, and a few more vassals.

Near the end of the war we see England massing troops on our borders, so we prepare for the inevitable. Preparations are such..

Richemont is put in charge of cavalry and sent to Champagne, another leader Pilliard` is in charge of infantry and sent to Orleans. As the 5 year truce is nearing and end there are 90 thousand English soldiers on our borders. We have 38k cavalry, and 30k infantry. The only troops England can see are 10k infantry sitting in Paris as bait.

January 1424 we spend all our income on 10k more cavalry in Champagne and wait for the declaration. It doesn't come so we DoW England ourselves.
30k each English armies are dispatched from Normandy, and Caux to Picardie, and Il de France. First we send the cavalry to Caux and engage the enemy:: total annihilation, Then to Il de France where our infantry have just lost and retreated:: total annihilation. Burgundy is now bearing down on Champagne and our cavalry dispatched:: total annihilation. There are no more armies to fight in the north and our cavalries besiege everything in sight.

In the south England has besieged one province with her remaining 30k, it's nearing to fall when they pull out to besiege another leaving 1 thousand besiegers. We send some idle cavalry to quick lift the 1k siege, they lose but accomplish the mission, and the besiegers are forced to withdraw due to lack of enough troops to continue. New infantry are conscripted about this time to prepare for the southern theatre. The English commander we know has a lousy 1 shock value and he can't lift the siege of Saintonge. England sends an offer to cede our northern provinces and we accept.

Total cost 18k cavalry, 10k infantry lost. For some strange reason Britanny decides it's a good time to attack us. They are quickly dealt with, and left for one of our vassals to annex. Sweden then DoWs Munster, or Erie and then stands around. Provence is on a roll though and will gladly annex them.. as they have Britanny.

So we go and prepare to gather our remaining provinces from England 5 years later. Cavalry are conscripted and sent to Scotland. Then we change our mind and move them to Ireland, 30k commanded by Dunois. Our navy is hidden, infantry positioned in the south, Richemont sits in Paris with another 20k cavalry. We are so pleased with our devious plan.. lightning strike Ireland then, by the time England can respond our cavlry will be shipped across and moving on London itself.

DoW is sent and the lightning cavalry dispatched. We THEN recieve word that England is on vacation from this HYW. Our eyes go wide with envy, and we quickly rush to vacation ourselves.

We knew how much the English loved that Ireland because she was colonizing it. It also seems the English don't have access to more than 1 or 2 k cavalry per army. Oh it was going to be sweet...

We are not bad people please forgive our past transgressions. I didn't know, but I do now and they will not happen again I assure you all.

[edit] typo

[BurningEGO]

Please, edit your post and ask which on-time cookie/AAr reward you want, ArmorAttak.

[Cicero]

AAR Austria 1419 - 1439

---- coming soon ----


rewards:

- AAR reward (as long as i manage to write my AAR in time): BB reduction
- ontime cookie: BB reduction

[SaberDancer]

Muscowian AAR
1419-1439


The Years of Troubles

In 1419 Muscowy was small, weak duchy vassalized by Golden Horde but Muscowy had great dreams. Dream of uniting all russian people under one flag, and one monarch. Achieving that goal will be hard, and will take a lot of time, blood and sweat but Muscowites were up to the challenge. In pursuit of that goal Muscowy declared war on the merchant republic of Novgorod. Quickly our freshly trained troops defeated weak merchant troops of Novgorod taking all of Novgorodian provinces except Novgorod itself. During that time Swedes took Ingria incorporating it into their own nation. Let them be, they were catholic after all. After war ended we made progress with our domestic policies and after a few years we again DOWed Novgorod to finish what we started before. This time it was over immediatly and we annexed Novgorod as a new Muscowian province. Our treasurers were thrilled, merchant center of Novgorod was bringing in huge amounts of gold that proved invaluable to the new and improved duchy. New monarch was pleased with the progress but not all russian people were united, a lot of them were in Lithuania or Golden Horde so we couldn't be satisfied. Poland in the mean time expanded rapidly, taking huge chunks out of Hungary so we grew anxious knowing good relations between Poland and Lithuania. We forged an alliance with Sweden and Austria to strike at the Polish agressor. Finally we DOWed Poland, and we started our advance into Lithuania. Immediatly we won first skirmishes and started siegeing their provinces. Our allies in Austria advanced into Hungary and Sweden was fighting on the Baltic coast. War going on great, we were winning until BB DOWed Austria forcing her to quit our war effort. Soon treachourous Sweden peaced Poland for a tiny Osel island leaving us in a war against superior enemy. We faught Poles for years, even against their superiour numbers but in the end we lost. Poles, winning this great war demanded our vassalization which we unhappily accepted. Few years after this Timurid Empire started attacking Golden Horde. Poland saw this as her's opportunity to gain a few georgian provinces and since Golden Horde ruled over russian people Muscowy joined the war aswell. Now we control northern Golden Horde hoping for a quick end of this conflict.

AAR reward 250 gold.
On time cookie: -1 inflation

I ask the editor to remove my two loans, with my AAR gold I will have around 500 gold enough to pay off 2 loans I got through that problem (extended loan when I clicked on pay loan)

[Sterkarm]

The Polish Eagle Ascends

A cold, decisive winter was approaching, but Wladyslaw had no idea of it just yet, for his mind was set upon the fruit of his labors thus far. It was a lofty goal, and an invaluable prize: Muscowy and all its peoples, subjects of the
Greater Polish Empire.

Moscow was burning, and throughout the lands of Rus, the Poles were pouring down upon city after city, raising their flag above the walls and leaving rich and well-fed. The war had begun in a flash, nearly three years ago and though Wladyslaw expected war from someone, he had not expected it from three nations at once. Yet, his actions had precipitated war, and he did not try to avoid the oncoming conflicts.

The invasion of Hungary drew wary eyes to Krakow, as much out of fear as of jealousy. Hungary was ruled by relatives of the Habsburgs, and they considered it nearly part of their empire. The Muscovites saw any strengthening of Poland as a threat to their burgeoning principality, for the Polish-Lithuanian alliance would eventually pose an obstacle to their quest for empire. Sweden was simply greedy for the Baltic coast, and any Polish holdings along it would have to be taken by force.

Wladyslaw was calm when war was declared, some might even say gleeful. His armies marched and swarmed into Hungary, halting the Austrian advance. After drawing the Austrians onto the plains, he was pushed to the Wisla, and there, with the Wisla pulsating and roaring behind them, the Poles made their stand and routed the Austrian army, nearly destroying it. After numerous battles, the Austrians sued for peace, bringing a halt to the war in the west as Poland relinquished Osel to the Swedes.

The war now turned to the east, in Lithuania, where Russians were pillaging the lands and crushing the Lithuanian armies. But Wladyslaw rode east, with nearly 60,000 men, punching through the Muscovite lines at Smolensk and riding them down. He grew too greedy and pursued them into Tula, there being defeated and pushed back. Through battle after battle the Polish armies pushed the line forward, beating back the Russian attacks, until Moscow was besieged and the Russian surrender came to Krakow.



Now Poland held power from the Baltic to the Adriatic to the White Sea. Adding to its holdings a province on the Black Sea would cement it as a major power in Eastern Europe giving it a crucial warm water port. But as the Timurids were currently ravaging the former glory of the Mongols, Poland's ambitions may soon be made obsolete by Timurid rule all the way to Crimea. Such a thing could not be allowed, so Polish troops poured into the Golden Horde, crushing army after army, facing only a few defeats. Eventually though, Shah Rukh arrived from Samarkand, and he stole the city of Sarai from Poland, evoking great anger from Jagiello. War was declared and as such far too many Poles and Mongols died for nothing. The Horde was vassalized by the Timurid Empire, and Poland was left to fight on in vain. However, Shah Rukh was a reasonable person, and quite generous. Pointless wars, Wladyslaw believed, would not seem logical to him, nor did they to the Polish king.



Cookie: -1 deflation
AAR: +250 ducats

EDIT: Also, I'd like to have my loan edited out, have plenty in the treasury.

[BurningEGO]

Erm, i dont think i gotta say this, but i will ask for -1 deflation for being on time... No time for AAr, sorry.

[peacemaker_EUII]

Spanish Empire - The Late Middle Age
1419-1439

[IMG][/IMG]

The 14th century witnessed a decline that began with the first economic retrenchment after the long, gently inflationary rise of a unified economy that had been under way since the 11th century. Castile had become a major factor in west European commerce, but the economic structure that gave rise to this was quite different from that of the most prosperous parts of western Europe. Castile's economy remained a rural one stressing the export of raw materials: above all, wool, but also leather, wax, honey, wine, and olive oil. Transshipping of sugar and silk from Granada and northwest Africa was also of some significance after the Byzantine trade had been strangled.

Castile had been turned away from involvement in the diplomatic and military affairs of western Europe, but completion of the major part of the reconquest broadened its horizon. When order was restored to the internal affairs of Castile in the first half of the fourteenth century, The Empire endeavored to pursue a logical policy of equilibrium between England and France while applying further pressure on the Muslims. For a short time in 1419, a Castilian force occupied northern Morocco. The crown also proclaimed its sovereignty over the Canary Islands; the Antequera district-Grenada was seized from the Muslims in 1427,

Besides, the Empire is planning to construct about 5 refineries to boost up the national trade income. These upcoming manufactures will also serve as a long term investment in Trade level.

AAR: 1 move toward FREEDOM slide
ontime: -1 inflation

[IMG][/IMG]

[Rinak]

Land of the Rising Sun 1419-1439

A new dawn arrived for the land of Nippon, with a great explorer promising to bring great riches to Nippon. Early attempts at diplomacy with the large Chinese Empire had been rebuffed, and so it was decided Nippon would ignore the land mass and head out to find what lay across the great ocean.

After a few years of great toiling, success was announced. A new land had been found. What would be found within it remained to be seen. The great explorer set out to explore more the coast of this land, to find what riches it held.

Unfortunately Nippon suffered a severe problem, all decisions grinding to a halt for 2 years. By the time rule was restored, the great explorer had vanished, along with the fleet sent to maintain him. This was a great loss indeed. It was decided that sitting back and contemplating this, while sending messages to the Gods for a reprieve.

A few years later this calm contemplation was broken when a mad man took over the land and launched an insane war against Korea, allied to China. This caused great hardship when the Chinese invaded, who cruelly looted the land.

Much has now been restored, and Nippon looks forwards to many years of prosperous income, and the start of a new age settling the new continent.

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AAR reward: +1 to offensive
Ontime Reward: -1 inflation

[Sid Meier]

ontime reward -1 inflation. working onaar as we speak was in town hanging out all of yesterday and im on my lappy oday.

[Absolut]

The unification of Italy and the fall of France

Venice was determined to be one of the greater powers in Europe, and had started out nicely with vassalising the mighty Pope, Genoa and Naples. The Doge was far from satisified though, the King of France had attacked some Italian minors and forced them to pledge alliegance to France. The Doge was mighty upset over this and walked back and forth in his palace trying to figure out a nice way to get back at the King of France. He first thought hed send an assasin but thatd be too simple. He thought and thought and finally came up with a most splendid idea. An invasion was the answer.

As the Venetian army was preparing to attack the devious French launched an attack on the innocent and cuddly Burgundians. This was the perfect time to go to war and take back what was rightfully Venices lands. War was decleared and after winning a few battles Venices battle hardened armies sieges were laid on Lyon, Geneva, Nice, Tolouse and Dauphine. One after one they fell and Venices army advanced north to aid the Burgundians. A big battle was won on the plains outside Paris. The Veneitans continued their killing spree for a while until they were stopped in Berri and had to retreat. Reinforcements soon arrived and the French were defeated by Burgundy. War was now decleared on Provence, a French vassal and their army was annihiliated in Piemonte. The Venetian legions now continued to western France to make sure France couldnt build any more troops and to assure a Venetian victory. This was quickly done as all the resistance had been crushed several months before. France was now defeated, although Venice did not want peace until a peace could be reached with Provence. As this proved hard France was peaced and only then did Provence feel that it would be good to give up Piemonte to their rightful owners.


Here you can see the Venetian armies running around and having fun in the French countryside.

Venice now withdrew their armies from French territory and Burgundy proceeded with collapsing the French government, a move most which Venice whole-heartedly support.

Venices vassals was now going to be annexed, at least the ones realising the strength of Venice. Some money was sent to Genoa and despite Venice being really nice to them they refused to be annexed and broke the vassalisation. The Doge was very upset so he killed some homeless people and continued to try and annex his vassals. Money was sent to the once might Pope and he accepted to become a part of Venice right away, smart as he is. Some money was also sent to Genoa to see if they wanted to be vassalised again. They didnt want to. Only after a few years they agreed to be vassalised. It was now Naples turn to acknowledge the greatness of Venice and after a few tries they accepted annexation.

Venice is now one of Europes big powers, along with Austria and perhaps Poland. Its cencus taxes is only surpassed by Austria and China. Venices armies are the best trained, most experienced and biggest in the world. The future looks bright, very bright indeed. The collapse of France was also a good thing for Venice and it meant that Venice now has one enemy less.


The Burgundian embassy in Venice, included in this AAR for no apparent reason.


The Venetian realm after the war and the annexations.

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AAR Reward: Conversion of Lesbos (ID 1955, costs 262, take 12d from my treasury should you feel the need to)
On Time Cookie: Deflation

[Dr Bob]

A Tale of Espionage, Adventure and Portugal


Enrique Alvares was walking towards the seat of power in Portugal, and defacto, the world. The long marble corridors of Lisbon were created to show visiting dignitaries Portugal's might, and stun them into submission. The priceless masterpieces dotting the corridor certainly impress me, thought Enrique, although the money could surely be put to better use investing in his line of work.

Enrique was a selfstyled explorer, adventurer and buisnessman. It was thanks to him and the hundreds like him that Portugal had tamed the wild frontiers, bringing civilisation to the wilderness and riches to the motherland.

Walking into the Grand Chamber Enrique was ushered up to King Alfonso himself. The usual human scum of courtiers and syncophants was absent, something noted with a mixture of trepidation and pleasure. The colonies would have killed that lot off within weeks. Alfonso rose and bowed to the King.

"Rise my good Captain, I would speak to you on a matter of urgency and grave importance. You know of the resurgence of the Mohammedean faith? Yes, of course you are a bright lad and know of the world beyond our borders. Well with Muscovy teetering on the brink of collapse fighting the Mongol Hordes the Vatican has uncovered an insidious plot to topple the north into darkness."
Enrique looked stunned, he did not think that such doings were part of the Papacy's authority and he could not believe that a plot could have been so important as to ask for Alfonso's help, for surely that is what was needed from him.

"Sweden has been an unsteady convert to Christianity at the best of times, and the Pope has reason to think that a convoluted plan has been in motion for years to make Sweden the newest convert to islam. What little we know is sketchy, but here are the details. Agents of islam have pestered the country for years, but have been kept down, partly by the Army and the King's guard, but mostly by the actions of the Duke of Uppsala. This Duke has risen to prominence by being able to hunt down and stop these "bandits" when they looked like taking huge swathes of the country. Indeed he was totally unknown before these troubles.
This anomaly was observed by the Vatican agents and a thorough check was launched on the Duke, and much to his Holinesses surprise one thing leapt out at him. This Duke had been on diplomatic visits to the Aden, Cairo, Ankara, Baghdad, Astrakhan etc etc. Sweden has not had dealings with these nations in all of history."

"You mean he is loyal to the heathens?" Enrique finally caught the point.

"Yes, either he was converted, bought or assasinated and replaced. Now this would be bad enough but the last piece has fallen into place just recently. The Duke was put in command of the army during the war and decided to raise the armies wages, doubling, even trippling some of the men's money. The army is of course payed for by the King, who did not realise this until a week ago. The King is hanging on the tip of bankruptcy, and should he fall, his family will be relegated to minor nobility at best. And there is only one clear candiate for the throne, the Duke of Uppsala. The victory over the rebels and the Danish have made him popular and the army will support him due to his extravagant payments to them. Sweden shall have an islamic ruler, Muscovy shall be squashed between them and will fall. Christendom will face an assualt from the north and from the south and we do not know if we can face that tide again, one Mongol invasion taught us that..."

The last statements echoed around the throne room. Enrique could imagine it now, Poland and Lithunia crushed under a wave of mongols, Austria overwhelmed, the divided Frankish empire swept under and ottoman fanatics on the plains of Italy.

"Holy Mother, my King how can we stop this?"

"The King is in debt of over 200,000 Venetian ducats, you shall take to Stockholm this bag containing gold and jewels minded in the Congo of value 300,000 ducats and pay off the King's debt. It is a heavy price demanded of my country, but we must pay. The alternative could be total and utter defeat for all we believe. Travel fast and watch for agents of the enemy.
God Speed, Knight of Christ "

With a final nod Alfonso dismissed him and Enrique practically ran from the room. A devout Christian, nothing could have motivated him as much as the thought of failure in this venture could. He would need a horse, letters of passage-which he noticed were attatched to the bag, and arms and armour. Time was of the essence and he was out of Portugal by sundown, and across the border to Spain on the second sunrise.

Spain was a land of peace and prosperity, the end of the reconquista had brough only good to Iberia and travel was fast and safe with the Castillian Guards patrolling the roads.

The same could not be said of France, the ongoing war between the Duchy of Burgundy and the house of Valois had sundered the land, food was scarce and mostly diseased and peasents had turned to banditry. So many bands patrolled the roads that stealth could not be always used to avoid them, although that was the best way. Men bred in farming villages could not hope to track a man who had rescued his commander from a mali village carrying only a rusty belt knife. But incidents were sadly commonplace and although sometimes the bandits would not dare to rob someone wearing full plate armour and carrying a hefty broadsword sometimes starvation or inebriation would cloud their wits enough.
These fights were barely worth the name as the half starved peasants would fall to a few strikes or run after their leader went down, cut clean through.

The blood of many men was on Enrique's hands before he was into the Holy Roman Empire and out of the forsaken lands of the french. But God's will be done said Enrique to himself and he would surely not wish failure upon this venture.

The only encounters of note in Germany were the several meetings between Enrique and a hooded and mailed stranger in inns along the bredth of Germany. Such could be dismissed as coincidence, but Enrique did not believe that, coincidences were either God's work or the work of enemies and it was best to be prepared. The assumption was made that he was being watched and followed but Enrique could be reasonably sure that no obvious move would be made in force till out of the authority of the Emperor, a knife in the dark was far more likely. Enrique never slept in an inn for this reason, he kept to his saddle day and night, resting only when his horse looked like collapsing from exertion. And then only in the woods with a solid vantage point over the road.

Paranoia was better than being dead after all.

The penultimate stage of the journey was done on ship, by laying an elaborate false trail he evaded pursuit in order to reach the port of Hinterpommern, sending the pursuers off to Holstein. Hiring a boat was done easily with application of gold and threat of sword and a month after leaving Lisbon he made landfall in Stockholm.

Racing past the custom officals with more liberal application of gold Enrique headed straight from the Vasa town house. But sucess was not going to be so easily obtained and every route to the house was blocked by gangs of sword and dagger armed thugs. Each group consisted of between 10 and 18 professionally trained bullyboys.

Muttering to himself, Enrique made the sign of the cross and prepared for the end, not even the rugged Portuguese frontier man could fight 10 armed men and expect to win. With a cry of "For Maria!!" Enrique hurled himself at the last barriers, they were taken totally unaware and Enrique had taken 3 out before the rest reacted. Throwing caution to the wind Enrique ran for the estates, feeling a sword gash open his thigh and another stab into his back. He barely registered the pain or blood gushing out. Breaking straight through the door he ran into the King of Sweden himself.

"Very well, Uppsala, if I make you my heir will you provide for my family after the...the...ruling."
"Certainly my King, I will not let such a great man as you suffer. Now please sign here"

"Stop Uppsala you heathen traitor. Your plan will never come to fruition, you can go back to your masters and tell them you failed. King Vasa I bring a gift of gold and jewels worth 300,000 ducats from the King of Portugal, I hope they can clear your debt and allow you to punish the man who got you into it." Enrique broke down, coughing blood but he could hear the command given to arrest Uppsala.

"I have done it my God, I have fulfilled your command" was all Enrique could manage as the blanket of darkness covered him. He did not hear the rapid instructions for a doctor and the frantic efforts of the Queen to stem the bloodflow.


AAR reward: deflation (a narrative so no pictures, although i could always draw one of the journey if needed)
Ontime reward: deflation

[Absolut]

You are just weird...

[BurningEGO]

Hey, i liked that AAr. I rarely read any, but since it was our dear Bobby who wrote it, i had to. Quite good i must say.

[ArmOrAttAk]

# If you didnt post anything saying you could be late, or if you couldnt play a session, you will be AIed. There will be no edits for your nation for being AIed. But if you tell us in the forum, we will ghost your nation.

name = "February 13, 1424 : France declared war upon England."
name = "February 15, 1424 : Burgundy joined the war on the same side as England in their war against France."
name = "February 17, 1424 : Muscowy dishonored a Military Alliance she had with England and Burgundy."
name = "February 23, 1424 : Provence joined the war on the same side as France in their war against England and "
name = "Burgundy."
name = "February 23, 1424 : Scotland joined the war on the same side as France and Provence in their war against England "
name = "and Burgundy."
name = "February 23, 1424 : Bourbonnais joined the war on the same side as France, Provence and Scotland in their war "
name = "against England and Burgundy."
name = "February 23, 1424 : Orleans joined the war on the same side as France, Provence, Scotland and Bourbonnais in "
name = "their war against England and Burgundy."
name = "July 2, 1424 : Lorraine declared war upon Burgundy."
name = "July 2, 1424 : Strassburg joined the war on the same side as Lorraine in their war against Burgundy."
name = "July 2, 1424 : Helvetia joined the war on the same side as Strassburg and Lorraine in their war against Burgundy."
name = "July 2, 1424 : Helvetia broke the Royal Marriage she had with Burgundy."
name = "July 2, 1424 : Baden joined the war on the same side as Strassburg, Lorraine and Helvetia in their war against "
name = "Burgundy."
name = "July 2, 1424 : Würzburg joined the war on the same side as Strassburg, Lorraine, Helvetia and Baden in their war "
name = "against Burgundy."
name = "July 10, 1424 : England joined the war on the same side as Burgundy in their war against Strassburg, Lorraine, "
name = "Helvetia, Baden and Würzburg."
name = "July 17, 1425 : France accepted peace with Burgundy on the following terms : Artois to France, Bourgogne to "
name = "France & Nevers to France. "
name = "Absolut (Venice) :just edit them back after the session"
name = "Absolut (Venice) :and perhaps a small punishment?"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :Ye"
name = "El Greco (Ottoman Empire) :I do not understand that"
name = "El Greco (Ottoman Empire) :Did fraese warned?"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :No"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :but a player may be absent for one session"
name = "February 6, 1426 : France accepted peace with England on the following terms : Calais to France, Normandie to "
name = "France & Caux to France.

---------

name = "May 25, 1427 : Eire is now granting France military access to their country."
name = "June 6, 1427 : Scotland declared war upon Eire."
name = "June 12, 1427 : France joined the war on the same side as Scotland in their war against Eire."
name = "June 21, 1427 : Provence joined the war on the same side as France, Scotland and Bourbonnais in their war against "
name = "Eire."
name = "December 29, 1428 : Eire accepted peace with Provence on the following terms : Full Annexation of Eire by "
name = "Provence"

We begin rebuilding an army to invade England

name = "Cicero (Austria) :in"
name = "****** (England) :IN"
name = "Shy Kid (Sweden) :in"
name = "Sun King (France) :who's not here?"
name = "****** (England) has left the game!"
name = "Sun King (France) :who left?"
name = "Absolut (Venice) :a ghost"
name = "El Greco (Ottoman Empire) :ghost"
name = "Sterkarm (Poland) :******, he was a ghost"
name = "Sun King (France) :2 people gone i think we should call the game"
name = "Sterkarm (Poland) :call the game? no way"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :only one player gone btw"
name = "Absolut (Venice) :Rinak and Lyko"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :the other asked to be ghosted"
name = "Sun King (France) :who is the other?"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :rinak"
name = "Sun King (France) :what country?"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :Japan"

So I'm under the impression he's still here like when you play quake and your name shows up more than once then it quits out.

The preparations continue

name = "April 2, 1431 : France declared war upon England."
name = "XP-Comp (Portugal) :France"
name = "XP-Comp (Portugal) :England is Ghosted"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :France"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :YOU BROKE 2 RULES ALREADY"
name = "Sun King (France) :england is not ghosted"
name = "El Greco (Ottoman Empire) :are people so stupid?"
name = "Absolut (Venice) :yes they are"
name = "Sterkarm (Poland) :england is ghosted"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :England is ghost, damned idiot"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :Oh well"
name = "Timur's EGO (Timurid Empire) :i will give you some godlike inflation plus a few loans"
name = "Sun King (France) :well i see his name"
name = "Peacemaker_EUII (Castile) :maybe France truly did not know that..peace Engalnd now France!!"
name = "Sun King (France) has left the game!"

I really didn't know what I should do, and i was pretty pissed off at the insults being flung at me, so decided to leave the game and sort it after since it was a few minutes before quitting time anyway. I'm waiting on ICQ for people to show up..

name = "Absolut (Venice) :anyone mind playing a little longer?"
name = "August 15, 1433 : Duarte rose to the throne in Portugal."
name = "Sterkarm (Poland) :not me"
name = "Saber (Muscowy) :i'm fine with that"
name = "Led Zeppelin (China) :nope"
name = "El Greco (Ottoman Empire) :nope"
name = "Peacemaker_EUII (Castile) :i can for sure"
name = "Shy Kid (Sweden) :not really"
name = "December 1, 1438 : The revolters in Franche Comté have defected to the crown of France."

When I return to the game I'm short 800 ducats, 200 are left in the treasury. Our inflation is at 3 when I never mint, and 4 provinces have been edited to Burgundy although we only took 3 in the peace(Helvetia took Franche Comte). Even our vassal gets abused losing Eire to England. Did those 3 provinces really account for 80% of Frances income?

And that's just the beginning, I continued the game for the sake of playing. It's very fun when the clock is ticking and I can do things. It's so hard to find a game, I'm in one, might as well stick it out and try to have some fun. I'll post the next chapter later.