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^ My question as well, though I can see the advantage in having more allies and weakening Burgundy, while keeping them as a buffer against France.

Anyway, great update. :)
 
He said that their would be no excessive conquests in Europe. I myself do not agree with that because, as I have said before I am a ruthless warmonger and shameless expansionist who is always either at war or preparing for one and wants as much territory as I can possibly grab.
 
Good update, I too am a bit puzzled about the lack of territorial gains, I look forward to finding out why in due course.
 
Good update, I too am a bit puzzled about the lack of territorial gains, I look forward to finding out why in due course.

I'm normally against constant war and land grab...Unless of course the AAR dictates constant war and land grab...in this case...I might be wrong, but I think it was best not to have expanded...this way a sort of a good guy image is displayed for allies and the world.

As for allies...Sybot have you thought about wine and dinning the French...sort of buying (with ducats) their alliance. Fighting wars with the French can be good...then, they'll trust you as a trusted ally...and, not their next meal.

And, Sybot...the entire AAR is great!
 
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True, the French do tend to attack anything that moves anywhere near them. That would mean that not only do you avoid looking like a meal and gain a powerful ally, you will have plenty of opportunities for expansion. I do think you should conquer the Burgundian lowlands however, and there is a very good reason. That reason is that with you constantly shilacking Burgundy, they will start to look like a very good target to the French. That could lead to the French attacking Burgundy and stripping them of their lowland provinces. If that happens you will have France as a neighbor (never a good thing) and you will then have your route of expansion West blocked. However, if you conquer as the Lowlands first, it increases your strength if you have to take on France. I would take all but a small, either take over the lowlands entirely from Burgundy, or take every province in the Lowlands that does not border France. After you do that, try to get an alliance with France. have your men positioned on the border with Burgundy and declare war. France will likely join in and you then take all the provinces that border France by getting to them before France does. once you take them, keep the war going until you France takes their southern provinces. make sure you give France at least Nevers so that they get something in the war. You now have a Western border that is securely anchored on a very strong ally. Also, as you get stronger and if you feel up to it, you are in the perfect position to strike at France if they start getting too big for their breeches.
 
Thanks everybody for responding. As for the reason I didn’t take anything from Burgundy this time, there are three main reasons.
1- I’m still burning off the infamy from earlier conquests, so I didn’t want to add too much to that. Taking anything from Burgundy would cost 4 infamy per province.
2- I stated in the first post that I wasn’t going to do any excessive expansion in Europe. That mean I won’t take a lot of territory without some good reason.
3- As mentioned, Burgundy is a nice buffer for France. I know I can handle them, the BBB is another matter especially if I seized one of their cores from Burgundy.
Range: I’ve had reasonable relations with France for most of the game so I might try your idea in the chapter after this one. It’d be nice to not worry about anyone in mainland Europe.

Chapter Ten: Colonial Madness

At one time, Burgundy had been the strongest nation in the Empire besides the Emperor’s own. It stood as a bulwark on the western border keeping away France and England, with the only cost to the Empire being a few of its smaller members getting forcibly absorbed. Now that those nations had stood up and fought back, that image was shattered.

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The major powers of Europe could smell blood in the water and began to make their move to grab what they could.

Friesland was no exception. Ernst I was regretting not taking anything in the last war while it was still available, so when one of his newly independent allies joined in the fray he was happy to assist and take at least a small slice.

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Burgundy’s situation was so dire that even its only real ally, England, abandoned it.

Frisian and Trierian forces moved across the border and began to besige the unguarded northern regions of Burgundian territory. However, it seemed that France had focused too many of its troops against Burgundy as their allies against it had been able to make significant gains in the south and force a somewhat harsh treaty on them.

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With England still to fight, France made peace with Burgundy without taking anything. This gave the Burgundians a second wind as they could devote forces to fighting the other invaders.

It wasn’t enough to save them completely though, as they were forced by Bohemia and Milan to grant independence to most of their South German and Wallonian lands (very annoying as I was on the verge of taking Liege...)

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It did buy them the room they needed to counterattack the Frisians and Trierians to the north however.

The main army marched into the Lorraine and engaged the Germans there, crushing them completely.

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As he wasn’t the one in charge of the war, Ernst decided to bail out and take what he could before the Trierian king signed some humiliating peace treaty that forced him to give up his conquests. In the aftermath of that betrayal, Trier ended up becoming a vassal of Burgundy once again.

With Burgundy weakened further, there seemed to be no immediate military threat to the kingdom, allowing Ernst I to focus on building its wealth even further.

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He finally completed Hendrik I’s program to emulate the economy of Holland, allowing goods to flow freely into and out of the country. Also, his and his uncle’s work to defeat Burgundy and bring Friesland to the political fore had been acknowledged as the even the peasants of Holland and Gelre began to think of Friesland as their rightful rulers.

Further reports from Portuguese explorers came into Europe, describing in increasing detail an massive untamed land far to the west. This place had caught the king’s interest at first, but now he was certain he wanted Friesland to be among the first nations to exploit it.

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An expedition lead by Willem Roorda was financed by the king personally, with the aim of investigating the new world and if possible establishing a Frisian base camp there. The small fleet departed for the Azores, which would be the staging area for the mission.

However, Ernst never got to find out what was there, as soon after the fleet arrived at the Azores he seemed to go mad with glee. Apparently the excitement of launching the expedition and the possibilities of what it might find was too much for him.

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He was found in his room in a pile of coins, dead due to accidentally choking on a small gold piece in his insane cavorting through the money. His son took on his father’s quest and ordered the fleet to sail onwards from its base. Johan II, named for his great-uncle, was more or less the same has his father. Raised in great luxury he had learnt how to deal with other people in the ruling class, but not much more than that.

Upon arriving in the New World, Roorda discovered that the Portuguese were already establishing a significant presence on the new continent. He knew that his king would not be pleased if all the resources of the New World slipped away from him, so he immediately got to work establishing an outpost on one of the islands in the region.

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Upon establishing the camp, they were approached by the native peoples of the island. However the approach was treated as hostile act by the defenders, who had not seen these barbarians before and in the ensuing violence a good number of them were killed.

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It did give reason for Johan II to deploy an extra guard force to the region, and encouraged people to travel there to tame the violent lands. A town quickly sprang up around the harbour of the camp as more and more people sought their fortune in the New World. It wasn’t long before the small outpost became the primary stopping point for Dutch colonists heading further west.

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The town was named Port Hendrik, after the king who had led Friesland to glory in the Old World. Now he had returned, if only in spirit, to lead them to glory in the New World. Roorda continued exploring the continent, mapping out the northern coastline and eastern seaboard of the new continent, before investigating a large island chain to the south. Most of this was still out of reach for colonial convoys crossing the Atlantic, so they were forced to divert to the colder mainland (ah, the joys of colonial range...)

Meanwhile, in Europe Burgundy continued its downward slide. While it had staved off imminent destruction in the earlier war and had begun to re-conquer the land it had once held, that didn’t save it from the shifted focus of its larger neighbour.

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France took some of the territory that it rightfully claimed, with the intention of repeating it in future. Perhaps it would have been a good idea for Johan II to turn his eyes back to Europe.

Doing so might have saved his life. As it turned out, he had inherited the sin of obsession from his father and he waited eagerly for any and all news coming back from Americas, a name given by the Portuguese to the new land. Despite the fact that it took months for messages to cross the ocean, he only listened to messengers from across the sea and only gave orders to them. In the end, his isolation from the normal flow of politics in Europe drove him mad.

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In his final moments he realised he was becoming like his father and took his own life to die with some honour remaining, something Ernst I had not managed. The court had been expecting this outcome for a while and invited one of the sons of the King of Münster to take the throne before the body was even cold.

Koenraad I was a far more competent leader and he too was interested in the New World, albeit in a much healthier fashion. Friesland’s interests there had grown from nothing to some significant holdings in just a decade, so it was clearly the best way for the nation to grow. Out in the wilderness there was no Emperor or established kingdoms to hold back their growth.

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Portugal had good few decades head start though, so they could easily block any further expansion if they wanted the continent to themselves. Koenraad had to carefully consider whether they needed to be removed, for the future of the New Friesland colonies.

To be continued...

So, a vote for my readers. Since some people seemed disappointed with the lack of conquest, here’s the opportunity to change that. Should I declare colonial war on Portugal? Here are the relevant pluses and minuses.
+Most of Portugal’s colonies haven’t grown into cities yet, courtesy of a lack of colonial maintenance on their part. This should make them easy to grab.
+I can easily match Portugal’s military strength in the Americas.
-Attacking them could bring in England and Castille, so I won’t be able to do any fleet movements after the declaration as they’d just get sunk.
-North America isn’t that rich, it might be better to not take colonies I’ll have to spend money on to save it for the Caribbean. However, my colonial range is so poor even with two 4-star advisors that it’ll be decades before I can reach there.

What do you think?
 
Smash the Portuguese, take your rightful place as master of the frozen wastes of the New World. If they haven't grown into cities all the better, means you can steal more of them for less bb :D.
 
This is a fun ARR. Keep it up! I'm really enjoying it.

As for Portugal...England will most certainly come at you. The English navy can get awfully strong...and, if you don't have a navy to protect your colonies...well, you get the picture.

As for Castille...they might not care. Castille is more afraid of France. There's that France again...(a land powerhouse)

Instead, look to be active in your backyard...its spring...the fight has only just begun.
 
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Anything that risks you taking on the British in a naval heavy conflict is a bad move. Try to stick to European wars to keep that money rolling in; then you can build you navy and dominate the world!
 
This calls for a very careful examination of Portugal's diplomatic situation. Is there any way of getting into a war with them via warnings/guarantees/allies or vassals that doesn't involve Castile and/or England?

If so grab those colonies, Portugal alone probably isn't that much stronger (if at all) than Friesland.
 
I echo PrawnStar's sentiments. However if there is no way to draw Portugal into war via diplomacy, check how many transport ships England, Castille and Portugal have respectively. If the number is small enough, simply declare war having already moved sufficient forces to the American theatre. Beating back amphibious landings is usually none too taxing.
 
PrawnStar's suggestion is probably best. Whatever you decide, good luck. :)
 
The answer to this one in my opinion is rather simple. Can you defend your homeland on land against a potential English invasion. If you can or if there is not threat of that happening, then you should be clear. Make sure you know how many men the Portuguese have in their colonies and ensure that you either a. seize the colonies quickly and thereby ensure a quick peace with Portugal b. send half your army to the new world and keep the other half in the old before you declare war and declare war. Before declaring war on Portugal though, you should make sure you cannot declare war on them indirectly through alliances or guarantees of independence. While I love myself a few European wars, you should nip the Portuguese problem in the bud. If you do not take down the Portuguese soon, they may grow and become a New World giant. If that happens, you will have a long, potentially bloody war on your hands. You cannot afford to have your only current route of expansion in the New World blocked.
 
So the votes are in:
Attack: 2
Don’t Attack: 2
“Prawnstar’s Suggestion”:p: 3

I’ll take that as attack as long as I know I can handle it, then. I checked out Portugal and there was no way to get them in a war on their own, but at the same time Castille and England both had a decent amount of war exhaustion so I was hoping they would decide to bow out of this one. In fact, England did just that when I quickly tested it. I didn’t get so lucky in the actual game though...

Chapter Eleven: Securing New Friesland

The potential for war with two of the greatest naval powers in Europe was risky, but Koenraad Ibelieved the eventually profits to be worth it. The colonies that presently made up New Friesland were somewhat poor and lacking in useful resources, but the Portuguese territory had large quantities of valuable fur that would earn a tidy profit when brought back to Europe. The preparations for war began.

First, a stockade was built around Port Hendrik as well as a large expansion of the port facilities to house the bulk of the Frisian fleet. They had no chance of matching the English and Castilians in Europe, so most of the fleet would be sent there. Along with the fleet, the entire Army of Friesland was brought to reinforce the Roorda Expedition forces. Koenraad joined them personally to oversee the war efforts from a place where he could communicate to the front effectively. In the meantime, he trusted General Eelsma to use the Armies of Flanders and Oldenburg to defend the homeland.

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With the troops in place, the attack began.

As expected, England and Castille joined in to defend their ally’s colonies. It was questionable whether they could arrive in time to save them though.

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The immense disparity in naval forces was obvious, leaving Koenraad glad that he had brought the fleet to the colonies where it would at least be useful.

The initial movements of the war went well, as the smaller Portuguese defenders were easily overrun by the Frisian army and their colonial navy was defeated in detail by the main European force of Friesland. In Europe, the only action was the Army of Flanders moving in to besiege Calais. It was lucky that Eelsma decided against deploying the remaining army anywhere, as a sudden stab came from a mostly unexpected direction.

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Hesse took the opportunity to invade Münster, which had previously been its vassal. On behalf of the King, General Eelsma joined the defence despite the risk of compromising the coastal defences.

The war on the land in the Americas was won outside the walls of Port Hendrik itself, where the main Portuguese force was crushed.

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Everywhere else, Frisian forces had swept through and seized the small Portuguese towns that made up their colonies in this region. Only the island of Unamakik was spared, as it was determined that the colony there was too large to simply absorb into New Friesland. It was an outstanding victory.

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However, the war on the sea was different matter. Far larger Iberian and English fleets were already approaching the region, forcing the Frisian fleet to hide in port while the armies steeled themselves against invasion from the sea.

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As the Portuguese and English forces started landing in an effort to retake the colonies, Koenraad realised it was time to get out before the situation really started to turn against him.

It was lucky that the King of Castille was the one in charge of the war, as the Castillians had little interest in the New World. Most of their efforts were focused on their conquests in North Africa and so they didn’t really care about the fate of Portuguese colonies. They hadn’t even devoted any forces to the conflict, when even Aragon had sent its galleys across the Atlantic. Koenraad sent out messages offering peace to the strongest Iberian nation.

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Friesland was let off with only some minor political concessions, not exactly a fair trade for the colonies they’d taken, but that wasn’t Castille’s concern.

With peace secured in the Americas, half of the Army of Friesland was left in New Friesland to guard the new territories while the rest left for home along with the fleet to assist in the war against Hesse. It was much to Koenraad’s surprise when he returned home to find the war already over.

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General Eelsma had forced the Hessians to surrender with just a single army, effectively negating what Friesland had lost in making peace with the Iberians.

Now that the 16th Century had begun, one hundred years after Hendrik I had begun his plans that had brought Friesland to where it was, Koenraad took the time to survey the political situation in Europe.

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Mediterranean and North Africa: 1500

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Western Europe: 1500

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Eastern Europe: 1500

There was little in Europe that interested Koenraad for the moment, as the only immediate threat to the nation left was France. He had been sending out messages of friendship to them and even married his daughter to a member of their royal family, but the French weren’t interested in full diplomatic ties with the Dutch. They already had Burgundy on the ropes, and England had made little headway on the continent even while France was consolidating so they weren’t really in need of help.

As such, the attention of Friesland stayed fixed across the sea on New Friesland. The influx of Dutch colonists was already beginning to overwhelm the original Portuguese settlers, but the Iberians were already working on new colonies to replace what they’d lost.

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They would have to be dealt with sooner or later, but Koenraad decided to wait for the current colonies of New Friesland to develop before stirring that hornet’s nest again.

Friesland wasn’t the only nation that had its sights set on the west.

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The English had also declared their intention to settle the New World, adding another power to contend with in the future. However, for all their bluster they didn’t immediately begin settling so it seemed that Friesland would have some time to get established before another competitor arrived.

Rumours of great lakes further inland on the new continent reached the ears of Frisians, and that the water from them drained into the Atlantic Ocean through a river in the vicinity of New Friesland. Such a vital trade route could not be ignored, so Koenraad designated that spot for a trading city to control the flow of money and resources that would eventually come down there.

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New Amsterdam, named for the great Dutch trading city. However, it wouldn’t be the capital of the province. Koenraad had other plans for the location of the city of New Groningen, intended centrepiece of Frisian life in the New World.

To be continued...
 
Nice! that's exactly the sort of war you want :)

Is it time for a burst of frantic colonial expansionism to shut off as much of North America as you can or are you thinking longer term of a transoceanic relocation?
 
Well fought. I have to admit I am rather looking forward to future colonial wars however!
 
If you cannot get an alliance with France, you should start planning on and preparing for taking them down. Force them to release as much of Southern France as you can and when there are no more Southern French states to force the release of, start taking over Northern France and take as much of it as you can for yourself. Make sure you have a strong ally to back you up and can reach France, of course.
 
Prawnstar: I’m not sure how much of North America I want. The Carribean is far more profitable so I might end southward expansion in NA and just seal off the inland of what I’ve got once my colonial range reaches there.
morningSIDEr, sjones25: Thanks!
History_Buff: That’s good advice, but I’ve already said that I won’t force the release of non-HRE same-culture minors. I’ll have to beat France the old-fashioned way (just conquer everything ;)) if it comes to that.

Just to note, I’ve got a ton of work coming up for the last week of term so I won’t be able to post the next update until next weekend. See you then.

Chapter Twelve: Religious Matters

The remaining men of the Roorda expedition were dispatched south along the coast to force the natives away from the area around New Groningen. The primitives in that region had already proven themselves dangerous when they interfered with operations against Portugal

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That area was intended to become the jewel of the Dutch colonies in the Americas, so no mercy was given to those who tried to oppose the expedition forces.

Events in Europe were brought back to Koenraad’s attention with the surprise election of Christian I Sanders of Luneburg as Emperor.

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While the Sanders dynasty had ended in a fit of madness in Friesland, it had gone from strength to strength in its Hannoverian neighbour and ties between the two nations were a strong as ever.

This brought the king back to thinking about that. The Hannoverian nations had always been good allies; at least once the Hansa was gone, so perhaps cultivating further relations in northern Germany was a good idea. He first turned to his brother, the King of Münster, who was struggling to run his small kingdom.

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His elder sibling was more than happy to have some responsibility taken from his hands. Despite their ages, Koenraad had been a ruler for longer than his brother so had a much better grasp on running things.

In the time that had diverted Koenraad’s attention, his plans for New Groningen had gone right ahead.

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Much of the focus of the nation was on this project, so it was given a strong guard.

The celebrations were short lived, however, as unsettling news emerged from the failing nation of Burgundy. They had repeatedly suffered excommunication at the hands of their enemies, and as a result a long-standing hatred of the Catholic Church had built up in their ruling class. Still, it was shock to all of Europe when they outright denounced the Pope and declared the founding of a new church within their own country.

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Religious fervour spread quickly through Burgundy, bringing most of their nation into the church within years. To make matters worse, the new heresy began to spread through the rest of Europe as well as more and more people began expressing their dissatisfaction with the Vatican.

Friesland was no exception, as the lower classes flocked to the new faith and the promises of independence from Rome and the true word of God that it offered.

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One by one, the Frisian cities overflowed with heretical worshippers and the army was deployed en masse to try and keep the peace while Koenraad called for calm and tried to assess the situation. He’d never been that much of a religious man. He’d paid his dues to God and the Pope, but more than that hadn’t been of interest of him. The current crisis was way out of his league, so all he could do was try to come up with a way to reconcile the two sides.

Then things got more complicated.

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The King of Bohemia also displayed his dissatisfaction by splitting from Rome, although with different rhetoric to the Burgundian branch of the reformation.

That seemed to be the tipping point, as the newer faith caused even more of an uproar and the whole country seemed to be on the edge of civil war.

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Koenraad continued to try and secure an agreement between the various religious factions, but it seemed futile. He wasn’t willing to begin slaughtering his own countrymen over this issue just yet, but the situation might not let him take that luxury.

In the chaotic situation very few in Old Friesland noticed the passing of Willem Roorda, the man who had brought Friesland to the New World.

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The people of New Friesland, mostly untouched by the situation in Europe, did notice however. A grand funeral was held in Port Hendrik, and the colonial fleet was named the Roorda Fleet as a permanent memorial to the man.

To make things worse, unknown agents funded a large number of revolts amongst the dissatisfied Protestant populations in Flanders.

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The army was still capable enough to put them down, and the infiltrations ended after a few months. It was a mystery who caused them or why, but Burgundy was the most likely answer. They may have been trying to soften up Friesland for an invasion, but upon seeing the army efficiently dispatch the rebels decided against it.

The Reformation was quickly spreading through Europe, although it seemed to be mostly focused on the periphery of the Empire.

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Friesland seemed to be suffering the worst of it as the only Catholic nation to have so many non-Catholics within it and still not have converted. In an effort to stem the flow of this heresy, Catholic leaders met and declared that a “Counter-Reformation” would begin. Koenraad didn’t join it initially, as he was still trying to reconcile the different faiths.

It seemed an impossible task and that Friesland would pull itself apart soon enough. If something wasn’t done, everything his predecessors had worked for would be undone. But then...

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The Protestant city of Utrecht sent a message of support, stating that even in these turbulent times they were still Dutch and would not betray the kingdom to Burgundy or any other enemy.

That made Koenraad realise. The Dutch people were now fully united behind Friesland, religious issues or not. Perhaps it was time that it became officially the nation for all Dutch people

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However...there was a problem with that.

Becoming the Netherlands would leave out the group that had been an integral part of Friesland’s efforts to unite the Dutch people. Oldenburg was the first city outside of Friesland to acknowledge it and they had dutifully been working behind the scenes to support the Dutch as they pushed the Burgundians out. Luneburg, Brunswick and Münster were all close Frisian allies and Koenraad himself was half-Hannoverian. The Dutch and Hannoverian cultures had defeated Burgundy and gotten where they were together, and that had to be acknowledged. Therefore...

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(Notes: Same as Netherlands formation, except it has a couple of extra requirements and gives you cores on all Hannoverian-culture provinces instead of all Flemish-culture provinces. I would have a new flag for it, but I’ve had some trouble editing them. Also forgive the poor grammar, apparently commas mess up the localisation files.)

Emboldened by the declaration, Koenraad began to seriously think about the religious future of the nation. Now that all of the Netherlands was truly part of Friesland, not just the single province, something like this chaos would not stop its people or its ruler. There was much work to be done and just sitting around issuing edicts and calling for calm wasn’t going to do it!

To be continued...

As implied, I’m leaving Koenraad’s decision up to you. Which should we go for?

Protestant: Nine provinces, but as a relatively small, trading, colonising nation it doesn’t offer many bonuses.
Reformed: Four provinces, including both Groningen (in Friesland province) and New Groningen. I wonder if that means its telling me something. The bonuses are much more suited to my aims, but it is the weakest religion at the moment.
Stay Catholic: The religious zeal modifier keeps me from reconverting any provinces for the moment, but the counter-reformation has begun so things are not that hopeless for trying to fight back against the heretics.