The Grey Eminence - A Narrative/History AAR 1399-1821

Morrell8: Why ever not?! It'll be fun!
Other Guys: I'm going to assume that Masters isn't having a drunken party with some French guy with some stolen claret. Now, if this was a parody or I wasn't running out of space in the story I might well have done it differently, but yeah, I'm gonna assume that his wild assumption is correct! I would love to do a parody though of this whole time traveller thing. That'd be kind of cool. I mean, imagine if some Valley Girl got sent back to 1399.


Chapter 43a – The Last Years of Henry VI

Summarised from Chapter 10 of ’Britannia Triumphant’ by Lady Mendenhall.

The last 19 years of King Henry’s reign was one of continued expansion and growth for the British Empire. As the King grew older he retired more and more from public life. Illness from his time in South America came back to haunt him later on in his life, with the result that his public appearances became fewer.

On the cultural and economic front, this era saw a rise in innovations. It was in this time that steam power was discovered to be a useful tool, the electrograph’s early prototypes were developed, and breech-loading cannons were first trialled aboard warships.
During 1777 the current system of currency was introduced, dispensing of many of the older forms of coins, and issuance of paper money for larger transactions. Though disruptive, this reform strengthened the economic viability of the Empire. From thenceforward the system of coins would be pence, shillings and pounds, also called crowns. With this went many of the old abuses of office and judicial grants.













In the military sphere, a series of strong Wheat Chief Ministers led to rapid expansion abroad. In India victories over the native princes doubled the British sphere of influence there. The massed armies of valiant cavalry which had once humbled Britain were now hopelessly outclassed by the rifle armed infantry and heavy artillery.
These campaigns, fought with a minimal amount of British casualties, were made possible by revolutions in supplies. Canning of food and purification of water enabled the armies to move further in harsh terrain than even their enemies.







In a war with the Spanish started by the short lived Barley Chief Minister John Dalton, British forces intervened to help the rebels in South America achieve independence. The slight contradiction involved in British forces helping rebels so soon after repressing their own was not lost on many. John Dalton furthermore was a Barley, and therefore not popular with his own party, and in the next election George Alten of the Wheats was swept into power, as the Barleys split on foreign policy.



On a more personal note, King Henry’s only failure was that his only heir to survive infancy, Prince William, died in 1778. The Prince had followed in his father’s footsteps for the most part, being stern, serious and sober. However, on his 38th birthday he was persuaded to go on a hunt, despite the fate of many British princes in this regard! Regardless the Prince’s horse reared and fell, the unfortunate William expiring soon afterwards.
The King had to turn to his brother James, a man not of the most brilliant intellect or military skill, but a gregarious and well liked man. Though already thirty-three he had married the beautiful and influential Caroline Adams, and she was pregnant already with their first daughter Anne. The succession was assured.



The King celebrated the marriage and pregnancy of his brother and Princess Caroline with a grand ball in the capital. However, the exertions taxed the seventy-seven year old King too much, and his health declined rapidly so that just two days over a year later King Henry VI died. He had been in almost every way an admirable king, and for fifty two years he had brought Great Britain to heights of power undreamed of before. When he died he left a powerful state, not knowing that a great crisis was just about to break.

Morrell8: Heirs in EU3 have a habit of dying...a lot. If I play again I'm going to double the MTTH of these heir killing events!
Loki/Blsteen: By this stage the AI was no challenge so I made my own crisis...as you shall see!

Chapter 44 – The Calm Before the Storm

5/2/1820

By the time Lady Mendenhall and her passengers arrived at Parliament House there was already a considerable group of people present. Many were half asleep or looking decidedly ruffled. As her Ladyship pushed through she sought out the officer in charge of the soldiers. Colonel Wyndham, commander of the London defence regiment, and the man who had assisted them in their raid on Masters’ house.
“Lady, you seem to be into the thick of things again,” he said, slightly disapprovingly.
“Indeed, Colonel, but now is not the time for this. What we need to do is move quickly and quietly. If the traitors learn about our presence they may be crazed enough to detonate their explosives.”
“I have thought of this already. I have set up a block on both sides of Parliament to stop anyone getting in. I have men watching the street also.”
“Excellent. This man here is Elijah Hill, son of the MP. He will be able to guide some of your men to the house entrance so you can stop any of them escaping from there.”
The Colonel looked at Elijah, seemingly unimpressed by the young man being his sole source of guidance. “Captain Jones, take your men quietly down the road. Hammers down, no firing. Don’t go in until you get the signal, or nine o’clock.”
When they were gone he turned back to Lady Mendenhall, John and Tempest. “Do you know where it is in the basement?”
“No, but I have an idea. Tell your troops to follow us. They are under my command now unless you are there,” her Ladyship stated.
This seemed to rankle even worse with the Colonel, but finally he relented. She was a peeress after all, and there was little he could do to deny her. “Very well, Lady,” he finally conceded.

John had been into Parliament before a few times, but never to such places as her Ladyship now led them.
“Do you know where you are going?” he asked, almost running to keep up. They were a fair way ahead of anyone but Tempest.
“Of course I do, John!”
“Let me guess, you built it?” he asked wearily.
She grinned. “Now you’re learning! Even so, knowing exactly where is the issue.” Like on the train a new side of her Ladyship had emerged, an excited, playful side. “Let’s see…east, west…south! Come on!”
She darted down a passage, eventually coming to a heavily locked door.
Tempest came up and set to work on the door first with a lockpick, but then with a crowbar. Eventually the old door was forced open and they headed into the basements.

The old basements of the Parliament ran for miles, and no one knew exactly where everything was. As they went lower they often had to make diversions or double back. They were running out of time, and the minutes were ticking by. Already it was a quarter-to-nine. If the soldiers on the outside went in without support from inside, disaster might result.
Even her Ladyship was getting frustrated, and when they came to a final door she gritted her teeth and punched the door in a rare display of temper. Her fist actually dented the door, and the old timbers fell apart and she shoved her way in. “I am not impressed,” she growled.
John noticed that her bleeding knuckles healed within seconds as they forced their way in. Wisely, he made no comment and obedient followed.

They came at last to a very old part of the sub-basements. There, the water level had risen to make occasional areas damp or even flooded. It was there that they found their target. Nearly underneath the centre of the building was a room through which they could see that a hole had been knocked in the far side. In the shadows they could see a shielded lamp glowing.
Her Ladyship pulled them to a halt. In the echoing silence John was sure that they’d been overheard, yet he detected no sign of it. Even his breathing sounded loud.
Lady Mendenhall dropped back to talk with the officer leading the troops with them.
“Captain, make sure your men are loaded, but hammers down. One stray shot could kill us all. Use the bayonet and take no prisoners until you are sure things are safe.”
He nodded. It was clear that one false move could spell disaster.

John, her Ladyship and Tempest were crouched as near as possible to the hole without being observed.
As they were about to spring forward a dark figure came to the entrance to talk with the guard there. John could just make out the words in French.
“Any sign of trouble?” It was the voice of the leader John had heard earlier.
“No, sire. There was a noise before. Rats, I suppose.”
“Make sure it is rats. I am going upstairs again. If anything happens, fire your gun.”
“Yes, sire.”
While the guard got up and took his lantern directly towards John and the others, the leader headed deeper into the basements and vanished into the gloom.
The guard got closer, and was about to cry out, but Tempest had him around the throat and dragged him into the shadows. There was a wet, meaty sound, and the guard slumped to the ground.
“Tempest, go after that other man. Take no chances. John, come with me.”
“Lady, what did he mean when he said ‘sire’?” John whispered.
“Ah, I rather fear the leader of these criminals is the King of France…or believes himself to be anyway. Descended in unbroken line from the deposed monarchs…the one I deposed in 1479. I rather think they have a grudge against me!”
“Is he really that?”
“I’ve not made too extensive a study, but it’s certainly possible, though since the line has passed through the female line he could never have been King in the old days. I doubt that matters though. No time for talking though, come on!”
John braced himself for what was to come, took a deep breath, and followed her Ladyship to the final great struggle. Part of him wanted to stay, told him that it was foolish and dangerous, but he overrode it. This was the very danger he had known he might be in. All he could do was survive in any way possible.

Sarayakat: Thank you! Not too long to go, but I'm so glad you liked it! If you haven't already, check out my other AAR, The Eternal Exile.
Sethanon: Yes, even after 350 years!
Loki: Yes, enemy of my enemy is my friend!

My commenters were quite right. By this stage there was no enemy left that challenged me...so I made my own crisis. I am not entirely happy with how it turned out. Problem is that 5 other countries declared war on Rev France at once since they had no army etc...so I had to act quickly. If I had better control and more time I would have let this continue for longer. Like the Civil War you can see what I tried to do at least!


Chapter 44a – The French Revolution

Summarised from Chapter 11 of ’Britannia Triumphant’ by Lady Mendenhall.

When King James II ascended the throne none could have imagined that within a few months a crisis would shake Great Britain to its core. The King’s brother, now in his mid-forties, was a skilled enough leader, and the resulting disaster was not due to him.
The Chief Minister at this time, George Alten, had performed valuable service, but was sickening quickly and he died just a few days before the disaster. His successor William Case was barely into his office when the tide struck.

What was this disaster? This disaster was simply that 2/3rds of France broke away in rebellion. The cause of this uprising was many-fold. Once an equal partner in spirit at least, the French had seen the conquest of America and India with little input from them. They provided many of the soldiers and sailors, but few of the highest ranking generals and admirals.
Financially, France still provided a massive amount of production and business, but most of the colonial products shipped through Britain, leaving many of people in central and southern France stuck in a situation they couldn’t improve in.
Finally, nationalism played a big role in the matter. As France’s share of the population became lessened so too did many think that London was not a fit place to rule France from. The old Valois Kings were talked about as great heroes overwhelmed and tricked from their inheritance by the English. The desire for restitution became so great indeed that many opted to emigrate into the Holy Roman Empire or beyond.
These disaffected Frenchmen found a ready beacon in the shape of Philippe Daguerre, a powerful French nobleman and a descendant of the ancient Valois line of Kings. The last rulers of France had been deposed and exiled, but over time the family had been allowed back into France and settled in Burgundy after its annexation. To them the feelings of injustice had never faded, and they secretly plotted a rebellion with many nobles and other leaders. Originally planning the uprising in 1788, Daguerre knew King Henry VI was ailing, and so waited until James II ascended. For all their resentment, many French had held Henry in high regard.

The rebellion, when it came, was far stronger than had been expected. From their base in Dijon the rebels raised the banner of rebellion across all France and marched a hasty force on Paris. Simultaneously the British armies in France were rocked by defections and desertions, leading to massive tumult.
In Paris, only the quick actions of certain young officers such as Henry York and William Clinton saved the city by demolishing some of the city’s bridges until reinforcements arrived.



After this initial success things rapidly started to go downhill for Revolutionary France. Many French were still loyal to the British Crown, or at least not happy with the new regime. Furthermore, the British acted quickly, isolating the new nation. What’s more, the new French nation angered liberals by proclaiming itself a monarchy, with Philippe Daguerre as King.
Internally, the government of William Case fell, replaced by the extremely talented Arthur Steel, a man of prominent French and English ancestry. He immediately called on Parliament for a powerful response.
Moving swiftly, the British mustered three large armies and invaded from Holland, Normandy and the south.
The war that followed was ferocious, but the British wisely handed out pardons to all who wanted them, and worked on the divisions in the French state.



After two years of fighting over all of France, everything came down to the siege of Dijon, the capital of the French state. With the war turned against them, many shifted their loyalties back to the victorious British.
After a siege of over thirteen months, Dijon fell. In the fighting ‘King’ Philippe died, and his regime collapsed.



The war was cataclysmic, destroying great portions of the French countryside. Furthermore many businesses based in France went under, and cultural production in this area was disrupted for a decade.





For those soldiers wounded in the war they petitioned the King for a pension scheme, and King James appeared before the troops in London and personally directed settlements in the north of France, changing the complexion of that area permanently.







Compared with that excitement the rest of the decade passed smoothly, with only a further increase in British in India and a major revolt in Savoie caused by disaffected defeated French Revolutionaries. With this, the 18th century came to a close.

Yes, I used the wonderful save game editor to do it.

I think there would always be a degree of discontent that 'foreigners' were ruling them. Much like people today like the Basques want their own state, even though being part of Spain has been good for them.

I could see when I was writing this though that the French might feel marginalised by the wealth of America and the industrial revolution. By 1800 because of the colonies all the French cultures made up about 5% of my total income, a bit more of my tax. Basically they'd feel like inferior junior partners in a union they didn't ask for.

In any case OOC wise I needed something to happen...because when one gets to this size there is very little to do apart from eating another chunk of India. Note the date of the French Revolution too? I always have some fun with dates where I can....

Tanzhang: Popular uprisings and militias I think...just like the real French Revolution. Because of game constraints I simply couldn't let the AI have the time it needed to organise a real state.
Sather: Haha, indeed!

Chapter 45 – The Final Battle Part 1

5/2/1820

Every minute seemed like an hour to John as he waited. Finally, her Ladyship gestured. The British soldiers, each one of them carrying a bayonet tipped rifle, advanced as quietly as possible. With the rebel sentry out of action, the enemy had no warning when the soldiers burst in.
Almost at the same moment, far above, the sound of gunfire sounded as the soldiers from the road begun their attack.
John, if he was honest with himself, tried to stay out of the way as much as possible as the soldiers charged in. He had his gun in hand, but remembered her Ladyship’s words, and did not plan to use it unless needed.
The room inside was large, with a large set of pillars arching from the ceiling. Around each of the pillars a collection of heavy barrels were stacked.
Driven by desperation, the elite soldiers knew they had to move quickly to stop any of the explosions going off. If even one barrel went off it’d set off the others, and at the least kill most people in the room. With bayonets lowered they burst through the hole and charged.
Unwittingly the rebels made it easier. They were huddled in four groups around fires, well away from the barrels. As it was the soldiers were close enough to catch the rebels by surprise, or were between others and the barrels.
Guns blazed as the rebels fired, but even they fired carefully; none of them seemingly wished to become suicidal. The soldiers meanwhile went forward with the bayonet, piercing several of the rebels in the first few seconds. Their enemies had no comparable melee weapons, and were cut to pieces.
Within seconds most of the rebels were down or surrendering. It had all happened in less than a minute, and just one British soldier had been wounded, and none killed.

John entered the room as the fighting was over. There was a bit of chaos still as soldiers went to and fro, herding prisoners to the far corner or piling the bodies in a heap. The wounded soldier was being treated for a bullet to the shoulder.
Her Ladyship was there, directing operations with the officer. She had not drawn a weapon, but was using her stick to give orders.
It was as John joined a couple of engineers who were dismantling the bombs that he saw a movement. He turned, no one else seemed to have seen it, and it took a few seconds for him to see what had happened.
One of the bodies had moved. John looked again, and was about to say something when everything changed.
Bursting from the pile of dead, a man dived towards one of the sets of barrels. In his hand was a burning wad of cloth ignited by matches. He was heading right for an open barrel of gunpowder. If he hit it would explode, possibly setting off the others, but at the least killing John and everyone nearby.
Shouts, a missed shot from one of the soldiers, and the man got closer and closer.
John froze for a half second, unsure what to do. Then, the burning bundle illuminated the face of the rebel. It was Masters, the wounds on his face still oozing blood.
Acting more out of desperate fear than any precision, John fired the gun. Masters was only ten feet away and presented a full target, so John’s bullet did hit. Indeed, it hit Masters dead in the chest and pitched the man forward on his back with a crash. The burning wad fell to the stone floor and spluttered out just feet from the barrels.
John, joined by two soldiers and her Ladyship, rushed forward to secure him. Looking down, John saw the murderer of his mother, the man who had tried to kill him several times before.
Masters coughed and looked up at him, but didn’t speak.
“You…you killed my mother,” he said. It was rather pointless as the man was dying.
Master laughed, a horrible, coughing sound. Bloody foam was starting to collect at his lips. “Least you got balls, boy,” he managed to choke out, and then lay back.
John turned away, shaking his head and looking down at the gun in his hand. The knowledge that he had just killed a man wasn’t alleviated by the fact that it had been his enemy.

A gentle hand touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry it came to this John, but thank you regardless. Good shooting,” her Ladyship said by his side.
“I didn’t even aim, it was all just luck,” John replied.
“Well, luck or no, it was still well done.” Her Ladyship frowned suddenly. “Daguerre. Where is Tempest? Captain! I need some of your men, there’s one rebel still at large.” She looked at John. “He is not getting away again. That ridiculous claim to the throne dies today.”
John nodded. “I’ll come.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll come back for you.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m coming. I’ll be alright.”
“Very well then. Come along, John Adams…let’s go find the usurper.”

Arakhor: True...but Masters didn't have 6 fingers either.
Momento Mori: As you know, her Ladyship leaves nothing to chance.

Chapter 45a – A Global Empire and the Second American Revolution.

Summarised from Chapter 11 of ’Britannia Triumphant’ by Lady Mendenhall.

The time from the turn of the 19th century until the present has been one of consolidation and expansion for Great Britain.
On the military front two short wars led to the destruction of Brabant and the vassalisation of Savoy. These wars, provoked by these states by their harbouring of French revolutionaries, were short, and often the armies arrayed against the British crumbled with hardly a shot being fired.
What’s more, new and innovative weapon, tactic and doctrine systems have made the British army unquestionably the premier force in the world. The industrial revolution has made the mass production of weapons and equipment easy, even in such remote places as Australia, China and Mexico.






On a personal level, King James II deteriorated as he aged, showing signs of madness. The unfortunate King was treated by the best physicians in the British Empire, but he retired from most public engagements and fulfilled his duties as monarch only during times where his condition was stable. At other times his daughter Princess Anne proved to be a reliable and popular regent. Though some grumbled about a woman taking this role, it was clear that the King was neither capable of performing those duties, and the monarch really had so little role in modern politics that it was hardly a real issue. The power lay with Parliament, not the monarch, and it meant that even if the King was ill it offered not disruption to the nation.





The greatest shakeup for the last two decades has been the Second American Revolution. However, that name is a misnomer.
While the first revolution had considerable public support and legitimate grievances, this did not. American Revolutionaries demanding independence were few in number and committed numerous terrorist acts across 1814 and 1815. The leader of this insurrection was a radical businessman William Jefferson. Together with a collection of disreputable criminals he organised risings across America. Many of those on board were generally disaffected locals or hired mercenaries.
The war itself was much smaller than the previous conflict, and British troops took time to suppress it, but in most cases the popular will was with them.
The most shocking act of this whole drama was the criminal attack on Hartford, Connecticut. This attack on the 4th of February forever stripped the veneer of patriotism from these rebels, as they attacked and killed the Governor and other civilians in cold blood. So senseless and brutal were these attacks that they dramatically turned public opinion against these outrages.







King James barely lived to see this triumph however. A final bout of madness on learning about the American Revolution had left him near senseless. When he died in July 1815 his thirty-six year old daughter Anne took over, crowned as Queen Anne Seymour in a grand ceremony in London on the 20th of July 1815.



And it is with the Queen that our story finishes. The line of succession is secured, with her Majesty giving birth to a healthy son Charles in 1810. What’s more, she has another son named Edward, as well as a sister and brother as well.

Britain has come a long way since 1399, and it is now undeniably the most powerful nation in the world, and arguably the most powerful state since ancient Rome. A summary and possible reasons for this success will be discussed in the final section.

(And here the game history finishes. There's a summary and such to come.)