The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR

Enewald: It was that or be forced to retreat by Burgundy, and I felt the update was large enough already.
Boris ze Spider: And I’m thankful they didn’t, so now they have a chance to rebuild and be a decently powerful enemy in future. All too often I see England completely shatter and get written off for the rest of the game.
Malurous: I forgot to mention in the update I guess. Basically I hid my army in Rajputana until I got a WP, since they couldn’t reach any province except Kutch.
Rifal: That’s what I like about this mod, the alternate histories make a nice change from vanilla EU3.
morningSIDEr: I’ll have to keep an eye out for that...just in case.
Arakhor: I’m glad that people are encouraged to try this great mod by my AAR!

Thanks for all the replies!

The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Twenty One: The Great Southern Land



Continuing the invasion of Italy would almost certainly bring more and more Catholics against the Empire, and while the Pope theoretically swore fealty to Kallinikos he could not be counted on to keep that up if liberators came. It was time to let the situation in Europe cool off and focus on other areas of expansion. This Kallinikos decreed despite the protests of the anti-Catholic groups. The target was Brunei, which remained in a state of anarchy.



The Aceh region fell easily and was absorbed into the Empire. At the same time, events in Spanish Malacca caught the Emperor’s eye. With a civil war between claimants to the crown going on in Spain the colonial garrison had been withdrawn and rebels were running freely through the region. A chance to remove Spanish influence from the region could be looming.



All the wars in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia had both boosted and damaged the Empire’s standing in the world. While people across the world admired the accomplishments of Alexandria they also feared the Orthodox war machine would be turning their way next. Skilled diplomats worked to mend this image, but it would be a long time before the situation normalised.



It was time to slow down and consolidate while that went on. A review of the religious situation in Europe was also in order. The seemingly unstoppable Klatovist advance had been halted by the counter-reformation and the loss of one of the more prominent supporters, England, to radical Anglicans. Austria had reclaimed the Imperial Crown and was working to force the minor member of the Holy Roman Empire back to Catholicism. Bohemia continued its expansionist policies but Imperial Austria and the incredibly wealthy Burgundy opposed it. It was only a matter of time before another major religious war engulfed Europe and made the wars in Italy seem like a side-show.



With aggressive avenues of expansion out of consideration the most obvious path was to find places where no appreciable civilisation existed and colonise them. The increasing hostility of the African interior had halted efforts there so money was available to spend abroad. The commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, Admiral Boumbalis, was ordered to sail east and map out more of the East Indies. However, he discovered something far more. A massive continent lay just beyond sight.



Meanwhile, Malacca broke away from Spain and was almost immediately brought into the Alexandrian sphere for ‘protection’/



Admiral Boumbalis completed his circumnavigation of the new continent, returning with amazing stories of an enormous land almost completely empty of civilization. It was named Notiosi and plans were immediately drawn up for colonial expeditions. It remained out of reach for time being, but that would soon change.



Kallinikos passed away peacefully in 1588, succeeded by his son Theodoros III. The new Emperor was a much more skilled leader than his father, and he had been brought up in a culture of outspoken Orthodox dominance. As such he was capable of seeing how the extreme actions of the clergy and the nobles supporting them would only lead the Empire to ruin if allowed to continue unabated.



He was still a religious man himself of course, and one of the first acts of his reign was to deal with the Muslims in Malacca and remove any chance of Spain taking the area back. A massive missionary program was established in the region to begin converting it.



The annexation of Malacca caused anger among many Muslim minorities in the Empire.



Theodoros’ aim was to strip away many of the privileges of government held by the upper classes and pass them onto bureaucrats that answered directly to him. A large Imperial bureaucracy based on the administrative monarchies appearing in Europe would do much to moderate the extremist tendencies of nobility, but the plan was not without resistance. The Emperor chose to suppress the complaints even though it worsened his image further rather than suffer delays.



The reforms took years to push through completely, but it was worth it as the Empire was modernised and ready to face the rapidly approaching 17th Century.

(The Empire government can be reformed in Miscmods twice, in line with the appearance of Admin. and Const. Monarchies (Gov Tech 19 and 32). Each reform improves Magistrate income and admin efficiency, as well as granting the Imperialism CB in the final upgrade.)



While politics took most of the Empire’s attention, the first colonists had finally arrived in Notiosi. A whole continent was open to Alexandria alone. Was it the promised land, or a largely uninhabitable wasteland? Either way it could only advance the Empire’s goals to rule it.

The year is now 1597.
To be continued…

Enewald: An advantage of having cores on the Indian Ocean (well, Red Sea but close enough) from the very beginning.
morningSIDEr: Indeed. Right now Portugal is the only other Christian nation with territory east of Cape, so the whole region is open to me.
Arakhor: Constitutional Monarchies also get it in Miscmods, so I think it’s a little too widespread, but Empire was definitely a government that deserved it.

Thanks for all the replies!

The Pharaohs Return: An Alexandrian AAR
Chapter Twenty Two: Masters of India



Colonisation of Notiosi continued as settlers moved further east and discovered more habitable regions. Now that the Kallinin islands were a suitable departure point almost all of the East Indies and a portion of the new continent were within reach.



In the ruins of Lithuania a new power was rising. Muscowy had emerged from the chaos of the Rus principalities as the undisputed dominant force. Despite the Lithuanians being former allies Theodoros began courting the ones who had usurped them for potential future, and properly Orthodox, allies.



The missionary program was a rousing success. Almost all of the Aceh and Malacca regions now officially followed Orthodox ways, although there remained a lot of work to do before the area was properly integrated.



Admiral Boumbalis was ordered to continue his explorations, as rumours of rich islands filled with valuable goods were heard amongst the traders of Malacca.



Right behind him came many Alexandrians eager to begin exploiting the resources of this new land. With Spain’s holdings gone there was no one else with the supply lines to properly establish colonies in the region, so the region was ripe for the taking by the Empire.



The delicate balance of power in India was shattered. Broken by revolts in Dehli, Rajputana could no longer put up a credible threat to Kandesh making them the dominant power on the subcontinent. One of the first orders of business was to remove foreign influence from the valuable centre of trade in Kutch.



This time they had learned from the previous war and already had troops positioned in Rajputana, preventing the Kutch Garrison from escaping. Despite taking heavy losses to the superior Alexandrian troops they achieved victory and ultimately wiped them out.



On the other side of India, the Army of Malaya invaded to open up a second front. They weren’t enough to face the massive Kandeshi armies straight on, but they only needed to hold the beachhead long enough for reinforcements to be shipped in.



Unfortunately they would be waiting a long time for them to come. The Indian Ocean Fleet was intercepted by the Kandeshi fleet as it entered the Persian Gulf. Having watched the Alexandrians sailing past their shores for decades, they had learnt much about shipbuilding and now had a fleet to match the Empire’s. It didn’t help that the Indian Ocean Fleet was far outdated, using old Carracks instead of the more modern Caravels. As word of the defeat reached Alexandria, a large shipbuilding program was ordered to get Caravels into the Indian Ocean so the technological advantage could properly be pressed.



With no hope for reinforcement, the Army of Malaya was forced to flee and seek refuge in neutral Orissa. This was not much of an issue for the army, but it meant that all of Alexandria’s holdings east of India were now completely exposed to attack.



Meanwhile war broke out as Mutapa attempted to rebuild its old conquests in Adal. This front could be reached by land, so Alexandria was more than happy to divert a single army to assist.



Kandesh took full advantage of their control of the seas, launching an invasion of now undefended Aceh.



They also struck at Alexandrian colonies wherever they could and claimed the territory for themselves.



Persia and Croatia both took the chance to jump on the distracted Empire, both providing their own major hindrances to the war effort against Kandesh. Persian forces crossed into Iraq and tied up the forces that had been slated to reinforce the East Indies, while Croatia battled with the Mediterranean Fleet and removed any chance of it reinforcing the Indian Ocean.



With several Caravels added to the fleet, Theodoros was willing to risk sending it out once again. After picking up the Army of Malaya from Orissa they continued towards the East Indies. While the Kandeshi fleet was still attacking colonial holdings they were able to sneak past and start liberating seized islands.



Despite this success, the Emperor lacked confidence in the fleet’s ability to fully secure control of the Indian Ocean. Almost all of the Empire’s money was being poured into the colonies of Notiosi and the East Indies and he considered them far more important than the small foothold on the Indian subcontinent. He sued for peace with the Kandeshi ruler. Alexandria gave up Kutch, all political influence in India and paid reparations. For the first time in a very long time, Alexandria had suffered a clear defeat and lost territory.

With the big distraction gone, Persia quickly requested a ceasefire which was granted. Mutapa also surrendered, meaning that conflict with Croatia was the only war still going. Once that was over, Theodoros would have a lot of thinking to do. Would he give up on India and let the new superpower of the Indian Ocean continue to grow while focusing further east and hoping for it to collapse, or give up on the peaceful colonial strategy, build up the military even more and attempt to take down Kandesh directly?

The year is now 1605.
To be continued…