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Hi, everyone. Thanks again for the continued feedback and encouragement. I'll be getting another update up here pretty soon, either in the next hour or so or later today.

You'll all be pleased to know that I have finished the playthrough! Saruhan does, in fact, survive until 1821. What I'm going to spend time on now, in between writing up the remainder of the EU3 AAR at a pace of one per day or so, is working on the conversion. The world actually ended up as quite a mess, so I'm going to be creating a slightly "cleaned up" version of the 1821 map, trying to get some borders cleaned up, splitting up nations that have two wildly different regions (a particular problem in the Americas; Venezuela occupies both its normal location and... Ohio), etc.

I'll be posting "final" maps, when I reach 1821, of both versions of the world before carrying over to start the V2 game (which I will not officially do until I finish writing up the EU3 AAR). That won't be for a little while, though, as we're only up to the early 1600's on the current AAR.

EDIT:
Of course, I just realized that my timing SUCKS: the V2 expansion is coming out on 1/24. I'm going to assume that it will invalidate the converter for at least a week or two, if not more...
 
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Great work finishing it! :)

Looking forward to seeing more.
 
(This will be a double update since not very much of interest is happening over the next couple of stretches.)

A New Hope - 1620-1633

After sleeping for the first time in the Sultan's bedchambers, the newly-crowned Ahmet I Candarli rose, dressed, and walked to his council chambers for the first meeting of his advisers. He had not slept well, even with the opulence of his room, spending much of the night wondering if he was up to the task. Ahmet knew that although he had a way with people, he was not the most educated of men. Living up to the changes that Hizir the Great had brought to the Saruhan Empire was a challenge he wasn't sure he could meet.

While listening to his advisers read reports on the state of the Empire, he looked up and down the table, watching the various men as they either spoke or listened. He decided that some of the advisers were fools but that some... some would be useful. He would give those men a chance to serve and to show that they were worthy of the praise a sultan can deliver.

The sultan nodded after hearing a description of the potential unrest in Greece once they heard the news of a new ruling family. Turning to the council's spiritual leader, Ahmet smiled. "I think that I know how we can head off any problems. You will take your clerics into Greece, help explain to the people there, especially the believers that the throne is blessed, that I rule not for the glory of my family but for my people, exactly as the Saruhanoglu family did as well. I leave it to you, my friend, and the Imams under you, to bring this wisdom to Greece that it might unite them further with the larger Empire."


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Macedonia had the honor of being the first Greek province to be converted to Islam after Ahmet I gave the church free reign. Over the next fifty years, the majority of Greece's population would come to follow the Sunni branch, completely unifying the Saruhan Empire in terms of religion.

Ahmet took his responsibility to the preservation of the Empire's rule quite seriously, and in just under a year after taking the throne, a son and heir was born. The Sultan promised that this child would have the best in education: the finest tutors and as much worldly experience as possible before he came of age. Ahmet had no illusions that he would be remembered as a great sultan, but he wanted his son to have the best chance to do so.

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Unrest in the north of the Empire arose again as Qara Koyunlu nomads that had rode out of Persia began raiding across the border into Alania and Georgia. An army was sent to quell the region; Dagestan would be fully colonized and folded into the Empire.

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With the north being properly secured, the council and the Sultan watched the war between Oman and the remainders of the Mamluks carefully. They came to a decision that for several reasons, it would be wise to expand southward. Primarily, the Sultan wished to gain access to the Red Sea for trading purposes, but by driving between the two warring factions he also felt he could prevent either nation from absorbing the other and becoming a true threat to peace. Two armies moved to the southern border and waited to see which nation would gain the upper hand.

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Once it was clear that the war between the Egyptians and the Arabians was over, the Sultan ordered his armies to cross into the Negev and Sinai.

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There was only one major battle in the war, as a large Omani army came from the Egyptian frontier. It was met by superior Saruhani forces and defeated handily. After that battle, Oman's army was too depleted after their war with the Mamluks to put up much resistance.

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The Sultan followed the war with very close interest, but it wore on him. The stress of running the empire combined with having to order men into battle for the first time in his life drove him to a brief breakdown. Luckily, a medicus was able to help him get a proper amount of sleep, which led to the episode coming to an end.

After the conclusion of the war, with the large numbers of al Misr Arabs now under the Empire's rule, the culture was considered an important part of the nation.

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Finally, news was brought to the Sultan's court in the form of an ambassador from the far north. The Romanov Duke of Ryazan had achieved sufficient power over his region that he declared that his nation would take on the name of the people that lived there, creating a new throne. The kingdom of Russia was born.

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This is a continuation of the previous post, so no narrative is included.

The Empire Strikes Again - 1634-1636

Back in the southern Empire, after a few years of relative peace small raids took place across the newly defined Oman-Saruhan border. Understanding that this represented a challenge to the stability of his still young rule, Ahmet I spent little time before agreeing to send the armies back into Arabia.

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The armies moved first to secure the border provinces; these would be the goals for the war. They then moved south to protect against counterattacks and to force the Omani leadership to submit to the Empire's demands.

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The first major battle took place in Jabal Shammar: a depleted Saruhani army that had recently completed a siege was attacked by the main Omani army. Luckily, the Empire's allies in Iraq came to the army's aid, helping to hold this force off long enough for the second Saruhani army to come from the north and drive them off.

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After this fight, the two Saruhan armies split to push the war further into Arabia. The smaller army turned to Qatar; there it would lay two successful sieges, but would be set upon by another major Omani army and be wiped out.

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Shocked at the unexpected loss of this army, the Sultan agreed to cut the Empire's losses. A peace was negotiated with Oman in which the Empire took control of their desired region, but unfortunately before the allied Iraqis could gain sufficient support within the war to claim their own war spoils.

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Shortly afterwards, colonization of the final Qara Koyunlu province was completed.

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The first order of business after the 2nd Omani war was to raise a replacement army for the one that was lost. There were rumblings of war coming from the North, and the Sultan wished to be prepared if the armies of Europe came to liberate lands that were being converted to Islam.

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As it turned out, these rumors of war were true... but the hidden sword was not pointed at Saruhan.

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Where this war would lead between the two powers, nobody knew, but Ahmet I ordered multiple armies to the northern borders to prevent any spillover from the conflict.

The Sultan also had one other task he felt he needed to complete to feel secure in his rule. The Saruhanoglu family had comfortably been ruling two domains for some time: the nation of Saruhan and the remnants of Syria. Ahmet decided that this arrangement was no longer needed, and he demanded that the Syrian lands be officially folded in to the Empire at large.

This would be Ahmet I's last act as Sultan. After 20 years of rule, the stress of the office was too much for him, and he suffered a heart attack. His son, Hizir V, would take the throne.

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Intermission 2: A Look at the World, 1642

The year was chosen not for any significance, but because that's the closest convenient save game I had to 1650. Go figure. I promise that I have a savegame at 1700 and 1750.

I'm going to post these without commentary for the moment, though I reserve the right to add some later.

First, some maps of the world.

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And then a couple ledger lines as requested:

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British colonialism in Egypt instead of challenging the monster Vigayanaga, I see. They're well established in Mexico as well.

Is it possible for Russia to annex the horde they have vassalized?

All in all, a nice consolidation, and some great updates.
 
Some great updates consolidating the middle east! Now all that remains is to turn your attention to Europe.
 
This will be a triple update to make up for the lack of updates the last few days.

The Golden Rein of Hizir V - "Hizir the Trader" Part 1: 1636-1647

Following the sudden death of his father and his coronation as Sultan, Hizir V spoke with his ruling council and explained his desires for the Empire under his reign.

"We have spent the last decades responding to the acts of others. The Empire has been focused on securing its rule and simply surviving. My father succeeded in ensuring our future, it is time now that we take advantage of that security and expanded our influence and wealth. We now control our own destiny, so we must seize upon that."


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To the north of the Saruhan Empire, two other titans would begin a clash that would last over many years. The relatively young Russian nation began moving against Prussia to reclaim lands populated by Russians. This war would result in a large chunk of Prussia's possessions being ceded to Russia; future wars would further divide Prussia.

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Watching this war take place from afar, Hizir V looked at the populations of his own lands, deciding that it might be wise to at least attempt to grant autonomy to some areas that were less easy to control. As such, he released the Qara Koyunlu people into a vassalage. This experiment would eventually fail as they were unable to prevent being absorbed by Persia, and ensured that Saruhan wouldn't attempt it again.

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Though the sultan had declared that the nation would be looking to its own needs in the future, this still did not preclude supporting the Empire's allies when they are in need. Long-time ally Iraq moved against the larger Persia to reclaim Iraqi territories; Saruhan supported this war and helped Iraq grow, increasing the Empire's buffer against Persia.

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Meanwhile, in a minor development, the nation of Castille annexed the crown of Aragon. In the palace, the Sultan of Saruhan sighed in relief, glad that there would be no interference in his quests from that legendary source.
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Closer to home, documents detailing the connection of the Georgian people to that of the Empire came to light; Hizir V moved to claim the crown of their remaining lands while also conquering a small province that had reclaimed the name of the old Byzantines once again.

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Finally, the Sultan was informed that the population of the Thracian province had sufficiently chosen to follow the truth if Islam; this brought the majority of Greece under its sway.

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This is part 2 of a triple update.

Part 2: 1648-1662

In the north, Russia once again moved against Prussia in an effort to reclaim Russian lands. The Prussians were rather solidly beaten back; the rise of the Russians as a major power encouraged Bulgaria and Saruhan to reestablish their alliance as a move to protect themselves against the larger northern neighbors.

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With the Empire becoming unified under Islam, the Sultan and his clerics agreed that softening the stance towards infidels in other nations would keep Europe from viewing them as a major threat. Saruhan would, he said, focus more on leadership within the Muslim world rather than looking to expand Muslim rule over more lands.

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In the mining province of Erserum, the Sultan attended the groundbreaking for the first step in his plan to bring the Empire into the future. A manufactory, where Erserum metal would be turned into high-quality weaponry, would be built. This would not only bring more gold into the Empire's coffers, it would encourage further development into weapon technology. The industry of the Empire would continue to expand over the length of Hizir V's rule.

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On the Iberian Peninsula, the Castillians would declare war against Portugal in an effort to unify the peninsula under their rule.

It... went badly for them.

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Once again, friction along the Omani border (this time at the remnant of their rule in Egypt) led to a war between Oman and Saruhan.

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The armies of the Empire quickly moved to secure the Egyptian provinces, while also marching deep into Omani territory, including Medina.

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With Oman's only large army defeated decisively, they quickly surrendered to Saruhan.

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After completing the brief war against Oman, the Empire would move to complete its destiny as the preeminent Muslim nation by taking control of the holy city of Mecca. The tribal Hedjazi people were occupying the city, clearly unworthy of both the sacred nature and of its economic worth as a trading center on the Red Sea. The Sultan sent an army to claim Mecca, but apparently the Mamluks had claimed to protect the Hedjazi.

The sultan chuckled to one of his generals and, shrugging, ordered an army to move into Cairo as well.

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Final part of a triple update.

Part 3: 1662-1674

The war against the Hedjazi and Mamluks was swift, as expected. The holy city of Mecca and the ancient Egyptian city of Cairo were both now under the control of the Empire.

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With this, the Saruhani Empire now controlled a significant portion of the Middle East, including all Greek/Georgian lands, all Turkish lands, and a very large chunk of Arabic lands.

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In addition, upon building a trade center in Judea and taking control of the one in Mecca, the Empire started moving towards having a robust economic income.

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In the last war with Oman, Saruhan forced the release of Haasa. Upon a request, the small nation accepted vassalization under Saruhan, earning the protection of the Empire in exchange for access to their economic growth.

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Shortly afterwards, the Empire's allies in Iraq declared war upon Oman.

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This time, unlike the Iraqi-Persia war, the Empire will make an effort to make its own gains against the Omani. A quick strike deep into Oman and Saruhan claims central Arabia while also forcing Oman to legitimize the Saruhani occupations of Medina and Egypt.

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Upon the news of the conversion of Crete, the entirety of the Saruhani Empire is now fully under the sway of Islam; only the people of Mecca still primarily follow the Shiite sect.

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Because of the swift assault upon Oman by the Empire, Saruhan was out of the Iraq-Omani war fairly quickly. The war would drag on, however, with Omani armies eventually laying siege to all of Iraq but failing to actually occupy much of the country. The war took long enough that the truce with Saruhan wore off, allowing the empire to reenter the war, this time not only freeing Iraq from the Omani counter-attack but claiming the entirety of the coastal region of the western Arabian Peninsula.

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Nice work against Oman , now Irak is safe!
Maybe it would be wise to start fighting the rampant inflation.
In the north , a giant has awackened , and it looks like Castille declared war with its armies overseas! :D
 
Nice work against Oman , now Irak is safe!
Maybe it would be wise to start fighting the rampant inflation.

At this point in the game, I've given up on actually *reducing* it and am satisfied with simply keeping it from increasing further. Every time I would get a couple percentage points off of it, I'd get the STUPID event that either gives you +3% inflation or a level 4 Mint Master *and* -2 Stability (when I already had a level 5 or 6 Master of the Mint).
 
You can't circumvent the 20 image limit by making multiple posts - any posts made within an hour count as one for this purpose. You have nearly thirty images in about half an hour there.

No sense making any fixes now since each post is fine on its own, but please remember this in the future.
 
You can't circumvent the 20 image limit by making multiple posts - any posts made within an hour count as one for this purpose. You have nearly thirty images in about half an hour there.

No sense making any fixes now since each post is fine on its own, but please remember this in the future.

Whoops, I'm sorry. I will definitely keep that in mind in the future. *goes to re-read the forum rules*
 
Working on the next update now... trying to decide if I just want to do a quick wrapup of the entire game rather than keep on writing, so I can get started on the V2 game (haven't started playing that one yet). We'll see; if there's nothing really worth writing about, I'll do a couple quick capsule-posts to finish up the EU3 AAR.

EDIT: grr, the next set of pictures are ready, but my webhost had a breach and had to reset everyone's FTP passwords. Soooo, just waiting for my new one to kick in, and I'll get the next post put up.
 
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