Asian Pearl - A Filipino AAR

[thebigboss-89]

Asian Pearl
A Filipino AAR

Part I

Introduction
The most successful of the European colonial powers where Spain, their great armada stretched across the Atlantic and far into Asia. Queen Isabella I of Spain moved her hand over a blank spot of the world map, a place where no man had ever set foot before. A place far beyond Africa, even further away then India. She arranged an exploration fleet, and set them of into the unknown.

The fleet had been given orders to find a reliable trade route to India and then go further across the Asian seas. From a port in Andalucía they would set sail towards St. Helena then the edge of Africa, in between the Madagascar strait and finally arrive in India.

On armada, consisting of a dozen ships in varying sizes, lived and worked several soldiers, priests, scribes, and ofcourse merchants. Even a couple of scientist where stuffed onboard.


Everything seemed to work just as planned, but the voyage took its toll on the crew. Passing the African ‘Cape’ went smoothly, but after only a couple of days a violent storm pulled the ships almost apart. Trying to gain control over the fleet they steered towards the African coast only to find themselves loosing two ships against the cliffs. The stormed refused to subside and went on for days.

When the storm was finally over the crew tried to locate themselves, but during the storm a lot of their navigational instruments had been lost or destroyed along with several dead men. The captain took his 'last chance' towards India, unfortunatley he made a fatal error and choose the wrong course, it took weeks until they fully understood their position. They now tried to move towards the north, which they assumed was where India laid, yet the ocean did not want them there it seems and threw them into the distant unknown.

The Spanish queen never saw her beloved armada again, and for her the map remained blank.

However that’s only the beginning of the story, the armada was more or less destroyed by the waves and wind. Hunger and thirst plagued the crew, most of the men onboard died on those ships but Gods plan did was not for them to die, so the rest was miraculously saved from certain death by a humble trading ship. The crew knew nothing of this new land but where welcomed like kings.
They had been taken to The Philippine Islands.

[thebigboss-89]

Asian Pearl
A Filipino AAR

Part II

The last remaining men from the spanish armada had been taken to an amazing place; clear white beaches branching out from the lush djungle, and the ocean was crystal blue. There where only 9 of them left, two priests, one captain, one researcer and five experienced sailors.

The filipino traders who had recently picked them up from the violent waters outside of Indonesia where amazed by the spanish clothing and jewelry. which they had obtained from the last remaing ship of the armada, even though it was'nt much it seemed to spark a level of interest in the merchants minds.


The Philiipines where at the time not a functioning nation, but a mare coalition of waring tribes and warlords. The westerners where summoned to one of these tribeleders; Maka Laksh (later known as Matthev I) He was the currently the most powerful man in his land. A series of meetings accured between the two parts over the following years.

The spanish where strangely welcomed to the land, even so many of them wanted to leave. But thier hope became weaker and weaker with every passing day, eventually they started to understand the language and, thanks to Maka Laksh, they got thier own home. Leader Laksh was very eager to understand the world around him, he himself had never been outside his own land. He was the one who more or less forced the spanish to learn the language so that they could tell him about everything they knew.

And tell him they did, everything they had learned they passed on to Maka Laksh. He studied like a school boy, absorbing every drop of information, and so did his "court" around him. He was not at all suspicius of these westerners, why will we never know.
Along with Laksh growth of information grew his power; the entire province that we today call "Manila" was secured and the other tribes was forced into the wilderness. For the first time a Filipino nation could be shown to the world, and no one would influence it more then the spanish survivors.

By now every part of Maka Laksh administration was influenced by western ideas, not only that; after long conversations with the two priests from the Armada he decided to convert, becoming the catholic king Matthev I. This happened in the Lords year of 1505, the conversion affected the court only and went smoothly, the majority of the Filipino elite within Matthev I realm converted over the years to come.


wow so much text! ...sorry
The Game beginns in the year 1505

[Urcules]

nice! count me in

[canonized]

This looks mightily excellent ! I'll be watching Wonderful intro !

[Capibara]

Very interesting start, I'll be following

[Milites]

You have grown strong in the map making force young padawan!
A nice intro and intriguing setting, I'll follow

[thebigboss-89]

thank you

[slokiller]

If this is your new project, I look forward to following the adventure.

[CatKnight]

Original premise and a strong start! I'll be watching

[Ksim3000]

I'm in! Let's see what you do!

[Babington-Smyth]

Quality intro! subscribed

[Throne]

Ah, perfect, finally an AAR for a Catholic Asian nation. (which is also Spanish I presume?)

Do you plan to conquer the surrounding heathens?

[canonized]

Ah, perfect, finally an AAR for a Catholic Asian nation. (which is also Spanish I presume?)

Do you plan to conquer the surrounding heathens?

I'm hoping for this to happen as well !

[Treppe]

Interesting start indeed.

[Enewald]

Oi, filippinos. Not often seen.

What happened to kurds?

[thebigboss-89]

Ah, perfect, finally an AAR for a Catholic Asian nation. (which is also Spanish I presume?)

Do you plan to conquer the surrounding heathens?

catholic yes, spanish no. filipino is the primary culture.

Im planning to be a major power in asia yes, but who knows what will actually happen.

[thebigboss-89]

( Oh and by the way, I viewed my AAR on another computer, I could not see any my uploaded images anyone else having problem with this? )

[Treppe]

I can see them all .
Perhaps they were blocked by the browser on the other computer.

[thebigboss-89]

Oi, filippinos. Not often seen.

What happened to kurds?

Kurdistan is paused, sorry. but I just wanted to make something completely different, this one too is inspired from one of my friends. (the kurdistan AAR was insired by a kurdish friend and this one is inspired by a filipino friend )

[thebigboss-89]

Asian Pearl
A Filipino AAR

Part III

National Overview
The Philippine islands are situated on the strategic border between south east Asia and the vast pacific ocean, the Filipinos thereby become the last civilized people until you reach south America. For this position the Philippines has been referred to as “The backdoor to Asia”.
The nation is rich in both tax and production, but will need state-funded exploration and colonization to harvest its riches. Since most Filipinos do not live very civilized, nor Christian, a massive campaign must take place in order to form a united Filipino nation under God. In 1505 the province of Manila is the only place where common sense and orderly behaviour is practised, it is from here king Matthev I must expand his power.


The savages outside of Manila are mostly pagan/animist though some Muslims live in the southern islands. The Manilan population are more complex, consisting of pagans and small amounts of Muslims, only the court and some nobles walk the true path to God. This will without doubt cause difficulties in an early stage of the game. (the “wrong religion / -30% tax” penalty)


Politically, the south Asian world is dominated by the Muslim traders from Aceh and Malacca. However, the Chinese Ming are the overwhelming superpower of east Asia, they got the biggest army, fleet and economy. Large amounts of land lay free for the taking for those who can colonize.


With the Spanish survivors came our two national ideas; ”Quest for the New World” and ”Scientific Revolution”. Matthev I was convinced that these two ideologies would give the Philippines an edge over her neighbours.


In the next update the actuall gameplay will begin