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Enewald: It’s not evil if it’s us. Now, those evil imperialist Castillians…
General_BT: There’s plenty of places to turn. I could continue pushing the Muslims back, focus on colonisation in the Indian Ocean area or start building a powerbase in Europe.
morningSIDEr: I don’t like having this much luck though, it feels cheap and I have to try and explain it in character. You’re right on the other point though. Alexandria’s probably one of the most interesting nations in this scenario in the mod (I’d put Toulouse and Bohemia up there too since they deal with early heresies).
Boris ze Spider: Considering that I’m Greek, they’re French and we both have a ton of Arabic culture provinces I’ve got no chance of getting cores from them.

Thanks to everyone else who replied!

The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Three: Sacrifice

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It didn’t take long for Ptolemy’s religious policies to start taking effect. The Nubians were the first to embrace the true faith and they would not be the last as conversion continued through the next decade.

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Meanwhile, the Byzantine war came to an end with significant gains for the Empire. The islands of Naxos, taken by Trezibond through marriage, finally returned the Byzantine control after being the spark of the war with Venice. Further lands in Anatolia and Georgia were also taken, including a border with the lands of the tumultuous Golden Horde.

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Ptolemy yearned for further expansion and the opportunity presented itself when the Muslims of Cyrenaica rebelled from Castille and pledged their allegiance to Algiers. He only brought his subjects from Jerusalem into the war though, not wanting to risk irritating the Emperor as he dealt with his own problems. Jerusalem would soak up attacks from Algiers’ allys in the east.

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It did not go entirely to plan, as a lack of coordination between the Alexandrian and Jerusalem fleet allowed an attempted liberation force from Algiers to land. So far from their cities Alexandria essentially had the home field advantage and wiped out the army.

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Shortly afterwards, the Jerusalem fleet caught a squadron of Algerian ships off the coast of Greece and the Alexandrian fleet moved to assist and wipe them out. With most their naval power gone, the Algerians accepted the loss of the region and it fell under Alexandrian rule.

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It wasn’t long before Ptolemy had abandoned management of his new conquest to its new governors and was back in Alexandria as his son had fallen deathly ill with an unidentified sickness. Ptolemy had always been a devout man, but it was more out of desire for power and influence than a true spiritual connection. Now he pleaded with God at his son’s bedside to spare him and it seemed that Heaven listened. The following more the fever had cleared and Kallinikos was spared.

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However there seemed to be a price for that miracle. Shortly afterwards Ptolemy caught the very same disease and passed away. A selection of Greek nobles took the reigns of power for the young and still recovering prince.

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Castille proposed an alliance, thinking that the nobles would be eager to defend the still young kingdom by securing allies beyond the immediate region. However, the true motive became clear as it was discovered they were caught in a losing war against their Iberian rivals. Not wanting to get caught up in battles on the far end of the Mediterranean, the regency council refused.

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Meanwhile the Byzantine Emperor was campaigning in the Steppes. Ultimately it came to little more than a waste of Greek lives, although minor concessions were secured from the Horde and they were undoubtedly weakened against their much more threatening Russian and Lithuanian enemies.

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Almost twenty years had now passed since the founding of the kingdom and it remained stable and prosperous. Many Greeks saw Alexandria as another sign of the return of the Empire to dominance after centuries of weakening. As such a massive influx of immigrants entered the capital from the homeland and already the native inhabitants were coming around the Greek way of thinking.

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Kallinikos I ascended the throne in 1419 with great celebration from the people of the flourishing city. However, he was a different man to Ptolemy. The last moments of their time together and his father’s sacrifice made him seriously introspective on the nature of God. He had little desire to go crusading and sought to strengthen the kingdom from within both in matters of faith and finance.

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The new king commissioned a great work of art to glorify his father as the kingdom’s founder, intending to display his devoutness as ultimately greater than his desire for power, as he had seen in the final moments. He also gave some time to setting up a proper system of tax collection in major cities as he believed that a true kingdom did not rely just on the spoils of war to sustain itself.

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In more distant affairs, the Bohemians suffered under the strain of heresy. The Hussites were becoming a force to be reckoned with, but it remained to be seen whether this movement would prove as successful as the Cathars did.

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Not all went according to Kallinikos’ will, as an attempt to placate rebels in his father’s last acquisition by lowering taxes backfired and they had to be put down by force.

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On top of that, it seemed that he would soon be tested further as the Byzantines continued their campaigns. This time the crusaders along the Anatolian coastline were the target, with their fellows in Jerusalem unable to help them as subjects of a Greek ruler. Once this campaign was done there would be little legitimate territory left to reclaim for the Empire and who could know where their hunger would take them and their Alexandrian allies.

It is currently 1424.

To be continued…
 
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I expect to see you PU the Byzantines at some point in this AAR. There isn't enough space in the middle east for two Greek empires, and you should be the one reaping the reward of all these wars after all :p
 
I say go with the pu, if you can inherite Jerusalem you can always just release them again as your vassal if you don't want the land :) Which is always a nice thing!
 
Ah, good to have another Sybot AAR. I'll be following. :)
 
Enewald: Not really early, you get them at Prod 4 in DW.
Rabid: Correct, something will have to be done about our friends to the north sooner or later. :D
Boris ze Spider: I’m Orthodox, so no chance of conversion to Prot/Reformed.

Thanks to everyone else who responded as well!

The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Four: Roman Courage, or Roman Stupidity?

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The war against the Knights didn’t last much longer. They surrendered the entirety of the Anatolian coast back into Byzantine hands and retreated to their island holdings. Already word was filtering into Alexandria that the Emperor planned further campaigns to re-establish Roman dominion, although he was remaining tight-lipped on the target.

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It didn’t dissuade Kallinikos from continuing his efforts, as he sought whatever legal recourse possible to finance the construction of tax infrastructure in the kingdom even if it meant robbing the dead.

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Stricter tax enforcement did not go down well with the serfs, and murmurs of discontent continued to spread amongst the lower classes. While Kallinikos sympathised, in his eyes the feudal order was all that kept the Greek leadership being overthrown by the majority so he refused to loosen feudal restrictions.

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He also began funding expeditions down the Nile deeper into Africa. While the terrain was harsh and the locals unfriendly, there was a lack of the organised resistance that there had been in the Muslim regions. Greek settlers soon discovered that most of the hospitable places along the Nile were settled already by Nubian tribes. At first they tried to live peacefully, but the Nubians were not eager to share the limited resources with foreign newcomers and tensions began to rise.

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It was unfortunate for the project, as the king’s attention was elsewhere. The Byzantine plan had been decided and it was a bold one, some might say insane. The Emperor longed for the days of the Roman Empire and was willing to launch an all out invasion of Italy to begin reclamation of Rome. Opposing him was an alliance of Italian states, the Pope and the distant but dangerous English.

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Immediately, Kallinikos had the fleet depart towards Greece with reinforcements. However the Byzantine fleet was strangely missing, allowing the Neapolitan fleet to slip and deliver a minor but decisive defeat to Alexandria. Forced to seek refuge in Anatolia, the navy began repairs while the army took the slow way to the front.

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Access through Hungary and Aquileia were secured in an attempt to combat Milan, which was embattled in its own separate wars. Unfortunately those wars had come to the end by the time the Alexandrians arrived and the full strength Milanese army drove them off.

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With the military occupied elsewhere, the natives of Dongola took the chance to rise up and wipe out the Greek settlers. Such barbarism angered Kallinikos, but with a major war on there were no forces available for reprisals.

(Yes, I am doing this deliberately. Colonisation would be far too easy otherwise.)

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The location of the missing Byzantine fleet was eventually determined when the Emperor proudly proclaimed he had forces marching on London. The real question that concerned Kallinikos was where the English army was during this.

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In Egypt, that’s where. The English landed as far west as possible to avoid Byzantine fleet patrols and began marching towards the Nile. The moment the king found out he immediately recalled the army from Greece where it had been recovering from the mauling at Milanese hands. It still had to take the long way through Armenia and Jerusalem with English and now Castillian ships joining the enemy dominance of the seas.

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Strangely, they did not go for Alexandria directly and instead focused on spreading out and securing all the surrounding areas of the country first. This was a fairly smart move as it prevented reinforcements from being raised, but it did give a chance for the leftover Alexandrian troops to fight a guerrilla war striking wherever the English occupiers were weakest.

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Castille’s entry into the war had provided some benefits. Their Aragonese rivals were eager to finance anyone opposing them. It came at a crucial time as most of the major cities in Egypt were under siege and unable to provide for the war effort.

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Losses continued to mount up, most prominently the king’s younger brother and heir apparent, Ioannes, who fell sick in besieged Cairo as supplies diminished. Kallinikos promised to dedicate a church to him once the war was over.

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As soon as the main armies had returned they descended upon the English with righteous fury at the occupation of their homeland. All the smaller siege forces were hunted down and the primary English army, tired and diminished from months of fighting the searing heat a long way from home, was defeated conclusively at the mouth of Nile itself.

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Meanwhile, the Empire was discovering itself how much it had overreached with this effort. The main army continued to mess around in Italy, taking regions only to immediately lose them to a pursuing Italian army large enough that neither side wanted to risk a direct engagement. A variety of enemy forces were moving freely through the Greek countryside and causing havoc in their absence.

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With his country free of enemy troops, Kallinikos was able to negotiate his way out of the war with only minor tribute paid. Enough damage had been done for him to be more than willing to let the Emperor handle his own mess.

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Finally free of the war effort, a regiment of guards were sent with the next wave of colonists in the south. This time, the natives organised an enormous army to drive the Greeks out and once again slaughtered the defenceless colonists. This was too much, and Kallinikos ordered the full might of the Alexandrian army forward. This time the Nubian army was wiped out, and every village with a certain distance of the Greek settlement razed to the ground. This time, the colonists would be there to stay.

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The survivors of the Alexandrian campaign were taken and sold into slavery and soon the colonists began raiding some of the more outlying villages to continue this lucrative trade.

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It looked liked the Emperor was learning his lesson as well, as he had withdrawn from Italy entirely, bought peace with the English and was now mopping up the remaining invaders. Would he be able to hold onto this when planning his next war?

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Continuing the good news, word came that the final holdout of Islam in southern Egypt had finally been dealt with. Finally, Orthodox Christianity reigned undisputedly along the entire known length of the Nile. There remained a lot of work to do however to ensure that Alexandria was strong enough to survive the whim of the Byzantine Emperor’s grandiose designs.

The year is currently 1436.

To be continued…
 
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Great update, exceptional writing. I like how you stay with the Byzantines, makes for interesting situations. :D
 
Makes you wish the Emperor would let you know his plans.

Emperor: "Okay, Kallinikos. I'm going to attack pretty much all of the Catholics in the area."
Kallinikos: "Sounds like a good plan. When is do we strike?"
Emperor: "Last month."
 
Just wanted to let you know that I love this and it made me download Miscmods (which I'd never heard of) and give it a try. :) Question though, I only messed around with the Shattered Europe scenario but are the new countries (Alexandria, Jerusalem) able to be released into the main historical start as well? - I'd not be lazy and check but work makes me sad.

*edit* as in being at work makes me sad.
 
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Wow, great AAR. Ill be following this for sure. Ill have to check out the misc mods as well. I have always wanted to play the shattered Europe Scenarion as well.
 
Darkstrom: Unfortunately not really. Jerusalem can be released under specific circumstances, but that's put of regular HTTT/DW, and Alexandria is only available in the Peace of God scenario. Similarly the Iberian Muslim nations in Shattered Europe and new natives in Dark Continent can't be gotten in any other start.

Thanks to everyone else as well. I'm glad I'm getting this mod some attention, and it reminded me to credit the actual creator in the op in case anyone thought I made it. :eek:o
 
Very good updates and as has already been said, it really is to your credit that you didn't reject Byzantium's call to arms. It makes things far more interesting and a bit more realistic in a roleplay sense, aiding your good ally despite their being little chance of benefits from the war for yourself.
 
morningSIDEr: I learnt a while ago that it’s more interesting to roleplay instead of just minmaxing my way through and easily winning the game. No offence to Prawnstar and others like that; sometimes reading about steamrollering and WC just isn’t very fun.

Thanks to everyone else who responded!

The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Five: Race for the Steppes

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The war between the Byzantine Empire and the Catholic alliance finally drew to a close as the last of the invaders were pushed from Greece. It had ended on even terms, but overall it was a major humiliation for the Empire. The only thing that had been accomplished was the subjugation of the Albanians while the entire invasion of Italy had been a humiliating failure. The Emperor’s attention began to turn in a more palpable direction.

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Meanwhile, the Hussite heresy had been quashed and pushed to more remote regions. With the continuing pushing back of the Cathars by France, it looked as though heresy was finally defeated and Catholicism was set to enter a new age of unity across western Europe.

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The peasantry continued to struggle against the burden being placed on them, with some demanding that a corrupt Greek noble in southern Egypt be removed. Kallinikos was not in any mood to alienate his supporters in the nobility and refused, instead preferring to come to the noble’s defence. It was a crucial time and he needed every ounce of support he could muster to complete his latest project for the realm.

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The Emperor was far too distracted to offer his weighty backing into the venture. The Golden Horde was in the process of imploding and every nation bordering it was making a bid for the lands. It was becoming a race between the Catholics of Lithuania and Hungary and the Orthodox Russian principalities and Byzantium with the winner gaining a route directly into the east.

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Kallinikos had left control of the economy to the Alexandrian mint as he continued negotiations. In his stead, the skilled Master Melisurgos implemented his plan for the economy to scale back the inflation that had occurred during the last war.

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Byzantine and Muscovite forces continued to march east, but now they were coming up against fresh horsemen and rebellions were sweeping their conquests. They would soon have to withdraw or risk losing the lands to rebels and then the Catholics. If they could hold onto what they held, the way east would be almost closed to their rivals. The Emperor was considering requesting aid from Alexandria when the news reached him.

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Kallinikos was dead. An illness had taken him as he had succumbed to the stress of implementing his final venture. But, that final venture was worth everything in his eyes and he had not regretted giving his life to complete it.

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Jerusalem and Alexandria were now one whole Kingdom. It had taken years of wrangling with the French nobles ruling the Levant but finally negotiations had been finished and they would be willing to swear their lands to Kallinikos’ son, once he came of age. A great celebration crossed the Orthodox nations once they learned that Jerusalem was in their hands once again, while Rome sent a protest and demanded that the Catholics of the area be given special rights. For the moment that would have to be the case, as it would be far too big and expensive a venture to convert the whole land.

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To the south, the Greek Nile colonies were reaching the point they could be properly fortified. With that success, greedy eyes looked further down the river for more lands to expand into.

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Governing Jerusalem was a completely different kettle of fish to Alexandria. Most of the population in Egypt was concentrated in Alexandria and Cairo, making dealing with rebels a matter of keeping those populations satisfied and the sparsely populated outskirts suppressed. The populations of Judea and Syria were not nearly as easily contained and they rose up in far greater numbers that the standing Alexandrian army could not handle. Additional troops had to be assembled in Egypt to deal with the new paradigm.

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Only the best were recruited to police the lands, even if it meant discarding thousands of able-bodied men. Now Alexandria was regarded as having one of the most skilled armies in the known world. (Max Quality)

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Having learnt their lesson from the last time, the next set of colonist brought military escort with them from the get-go. With proper guards they could afford not to completely wipe out the locals, at least for the time being.

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As operations against rebels continued, scouts reported large armies moving through Syria. Further investigation revealed that the empire of Tamerlane was still fighting at full strength after all these years. It was a worrying portent for many who considered the power of the eastern hordes broken following the collapse of the Golden Horde.

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The next time peasants demanded redress the regency council was willing to accept it. They had no desire to rile up the population while dealing with continued uprisings in their new territory.

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Finally Theodoros I reached the age of majority and took the throne. He had grown up in the era of Alexandrian dominance of the region and was now eager to continue expanding that control. With nothing between him and fresh Muslim lands to convert to the east and south there were plenty of opportunities for just that.

It is now 1448.

To be continued…
 
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