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Neoteros

Second Lieutenant
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Sep 14, 2010
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The DVX in DXV - A Verona AAR (MEIOU 5.3.1)​

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PROLOGUE

Un cinquecento diece e cinque,
Messo di Dio, anciderà la fuia
Con quel gigante che con lei delinque.


(Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio, Canto XXXIII)​

More or less 700 years ago, a man named Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri was sentenced to exile by the political authorities of Florence, a city in which the factions of the Guelfi, supporters of the Papacy, and the Ghibellini, supporters of the Empire, used every means possible to rise to power, means that included exile of the rivals as well as murder and civil warfare. Obviously, he turned out to be the man who gave us the Comedy, a poem that soon earned the epithet of Divine due to its absolute perfection. But in between the detailed descriptions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, and the theological and philosophical arguments that came natural with a poem that had the afterlife as its subject, Durante (simply known, even in his time, as Dante) also expressed his anger against the political and religious establishment quite clearly in his verses, as fit to a man that had been exiled from the city in which he lived his whole life, going as far as putting several well-known political figures of his time in Hell. But, sometimes, he was not that explicit: in particular, the Purgatorio features three verses that have as their subject the rise to power of a five-hundred ten and five, god-sent, that will slay the beast, with that giant with whom it commits crimes. Almost everyone views in the beast and the giant allegories for both Papacy and Empire, but the numeric allegory given to us by Dante has caused many a scholar to bang his head against the poet's work. Many of them see in these lines Heinrich VII of Luxembourg, but in the past some claimed that the man in question was Cangrande della Scala: five-hundred, ten and five, if written down in Roman numerals, look like DXV, that stands both for DVX (Dux, commander in Latin) and for Dux Scaligerus Veronensis, Veronese commander of the della Scala. For the sake of this AAR, i decided to take this interpretation as true: in the start date, the leader of Verona is Cangrande II della Scala - he has the same name of his ancestor. A sign of destiny?

Dante viewed in the DXV the man who would bring peace to war-torn Italy by reasserting the rule of the Empire over its territories. He was really delusional about the real power of the Sacrum Romanorum Imperium, I know. But I will make Dante's dream come true, and bring the rule of the della Scala to the Empire, and the rule of the Empire to Italy. At least, what Dante thought Italy was: basically, all the lands in which the Comuni were. So, no islands, no Naples, no Papacy, no Genoa, no Piedmont, no Venice.

Stay tuned, update coming soon.
 
I don't think I've seen a Verona AAR before. It'll be nice to see if there are any great diffenrences/new mechanics in the latest MEIOU release. Good luck.
 
That was an excellent introduction, so well written :) . However, it seems you only want to become Holy Roman Emperor. It wasn't too difficult for me as Brandenburg, once I vassalize some electors and pay off others. What will your limitations be in this goal? Otherwise, I wish you good luck.
 
That was an excellent introduction, so well written. However, it seems you only want to become Holy Roman Emperor. It wasn't too difficult for me as Brandenburg, once I vassalize some electors and pay off others. What will your limitations be in this goal? Otherwise, I wish you good luck.

The biggest challenge, will be letting the Italian states I mentioned to live: Venice will surely be a major pain in the a**e. I may annex north-central Italy, but the historical reasons I gave will force me to deal with the remaining states via other means. Also, i'll not try to pursue deeds like conquering Lubeck or something, for Italian city-states only dealt with the peninsula alone. Verona's a merchant republic though, so I'll probably follow in the footsteps of Venice and Genoa and try to get a foothold in the Eastern Mediterranean once I've gained a coastline, but nothing more. All in all, i'll take the middle ground between Dante's dreams and plausible history.

HELPING FLORENCE OUT

I discover that I'm surrounded by enemies...

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As you can see in the picture above (click to enlarge), we border Milan, Venice and Mantua, all of whom have a claim on our lands. What to do? In order to prevent getting pounded by superior forces, I seek out an ally. Florence. Florence, that is currently on a war with Pisa, as obvious for a state that basically wants to control the whole of Tuscany. The problem is, they have quite a few allies... but soon, the problem reveals itself to be an opportunity:

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Florence was already steamrolling everyone. So, I take a seat and enjoy the show, waiting for the moment when the war is won by anything but name, and that will be the moment when I'll send my few troops to defeat the last, weakened enemy troops. In the meantime, we try to do what merchant republics are supposed to do, and it pays off.

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The fact that we're trading in sulphur, widely known to be associated with the dephts of Hell, just reinforces our status of greedy, soulless capitalist p****s. But what worries me, it's not that my socialist self is engaging in un-red activities, but that Lithuania, in the corner, is falling prey to the Christians. Despite the fact that we haven't even sent a toenail in enemy territory, Switzerland (that came to the aid of the Pisans) is already trying to piss us off. Majorly.

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So, when the Veronese mob tried to pick up their forks and torches...

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Well, if you have seen the image above, you know what I did.

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Hopefully, I will not end up like this adorable son of a b***h. In other news, Hungary has annexed Bosnia. That shape, doesn't it look like a fat Alien?

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It's time to stop joking, though. It's time to invade Switzerland.

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Unfortunately, a 9.000 soldiers-strong Swiss army is revealed to us, sieging some allied province. But as soon as I manage to send more troops...

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Much ado about nothing. At least, we have a new ally now.

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