Malurous: Its definitely an interesting development, especially if Austria manages to get back the HRE at some point. Two Empires vs One; who will win…
Boris ze Spider: Thankfully there are other avenues of expansion.
Killshock: Oman isn’t really a threat and taking the provinces would probably be more trouble that its worth. As long as they’re bogged down fighting Persian rebels, the Timurids, and Iraq I can ignore them.
Thanks for all the other replies as well!
The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Sixteen: Showdown in Central Europe
The formation of Spain brought Emperor Michael out of his introverted outlook and into the immediate area at least. The unexpected advance of Pagan Africans into Christian Ethiopia was something that could not be allowed, although he refused to authorise an invasion. Instead, Ethiopia was declared to be under Alexandrian protection and efforts were made to improve relations.
He also got around to fully absorbing Armenia into the Empire, making it the fourth kingdom of the Crown.
Affairs much further afield were not his concern, even as Europe was set aflame by religious wars. After a meteoric rise by the Klatovists of Bohemia, a Catholic alliance led by Austria-Byzantium and the Croatian Holy Roman Emperor engaged in all-out war to determine the dominant faith. Lithuania was part of this alliance, and they requested that Michael send at least some support to the war effort.
He wasn’t willing to get involved in what was clearly an affair of the Western Church, but he did take the chance to root out Klatovists that had sprung within the Empire. As the agreement with the nobles of Jerusalem only applied to Catholics, this would be a useful way of advancing the true Christian way behind their backs.
Clearly the moral support was enough, as the Croatians declared victory over Bohemia and that the Holy Roman Empire remained aligned with Rome. Austria also made peace a while later taking some land. Croatia’s happiness was short lived however as their constant declarations of war on minor powers had annoyed the electors enough for them to pass the crown to another, still Catholic of course, ruler.
Meanwhile exploration and expansion across the Indian Ocean continued apace. A series of islands were settled and named the Kallinins, after Michael’s infant son Kallinikos. The time was rapidly approaching when Alexandria would begin setting foot in Asia proper, and a lot of construction work was going on around Arabia to assemble a proper fleet in the Indian Ocean.
Bringing Ethiopia into the fold turned out to not be as important as anticipated. Mutapa collapsed on its own, with an Orthodox kingdom forming in Adal. Relations were quickly opened with them and they were brought under Alexandrian protection as well.
A brief border war broke out in the Caucasus region resulting in the concession of a large portion of Georgia’s Caspian coast.
Michael passed away peacefully not long after. Alexandria remained strong and was only growing stronger, but like the Emperor before them the nobles ruling the country in Kallinikos’ stead were isolationist and refused to go to war.
This really annoyed many of the explorers and would-be conquistadors in the Indian Ocean, as they had managed to uncover the true political shape of Asia after meeting with traders in the Kallinins. Of biggest note was that Brunei had recently suffered major losses, making an attack on the largest remaining Muslim empire viable. That would now have to be delayed.
That did not mean the assembled navy would go to waste however. Portugal had learned of Alexandria’s explorations and now had its own designs on Asia. It was time to find out if Alexandria had what it took as a colonial power in the East.
The year is now 1551.
To be continued…
And Madrid is close to border with Portugal, whereas Pyrenees offer some safety to Barcelona?
