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CzokletMuss

The Emprah
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Apr 20, 2012
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This Is Madness
-
Story Of The Crumbling Europe


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In the grim darkness of the collapsing Christendom, there is only war.
And heretics. And Aztecs. And Mongols.
And a good chance of a horrible, horrible death.

Welcome to the Crumbling Europe.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE STORY CONTINUES IN EU4
-
THIS IS MADNESS 2 - IMPERIUM SINE FINE


CK2 2.01, 1066 OPM start, Ironman, very hard difficulty


INTRODUCTION

Hello there! The decision about writing this crazy AAR wasn't thought throught but with a setting like this, it was the only right thing to do. It's not my firsta AAR here, I wrote also "The Necronomicon in Byzantium - Horrible Tale of The House Angelos" few months ago but alas, my save got corrupted and the AAR was abandonde. This one however is in the Steam cloud, so it shouldn't happen again.

Important things to know:
1. I'm not a native speaker :)
2. It's gameplay/narrative AAR.
3. The save will be exported to EU4 (I hope by the time it happened, all the issues with converter will be fixed)
4. Ironman, hard difficulty, OP event troops and two giant hostile empires = challenge is real. I'm not sure whether I'll survive to the 1453 at all.
5. Don't expect a happy ending - Europe in this game is a quite grimdark place.
6. Yes, I really like House Angelos.
7. Maps were created using info from this thread.

MAPS OF THE CRUMBLING EUROPE

A.D. 1264 (start of the AAR)
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A.D. 1353 (spoilers!)
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A.D. 1444 (spoilers!)

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[size=+3]PROLOGUE
1264
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
[/size]​

The year is 1264. The first Basileus of the House Angelos is old and he's going to die soon, leaving the Empire in the hour of its greatest need.

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Since the Mongol invasion and the reformation of the Tengri faith, the brutal conquest was unstoppable.

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Nor the East nor West were strong enough to stop the invaders. So called "Holy Roman Empire" was neither holy, neither roman, nor it was empire. Reduced by its Cathar leaders to several counties somewhere between the mighty Templar Knights and Breton Band state, it was just a mere shadow of its former self. What's ironic is that the crusade which liberated Acquitaine was led by Pechenegs dynasty - the same Pechenegs who, having suffered from a Crusade decades ago, converted to Catholicism and swiftly conquered Kingdom of Poland. In an act of revenge for all the atrocities they suffered from the Latins, powerful Hungarian-Polish union defeated the Germans.

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After two succesful Mongol invasions of Armenia and Mesopotamia, Byzantium finally managed to stop the Ilkhanate. It would be impossible however without carefuly chosen time of assasination of the Khan Belgutei The Great, conqueror of Easter Europe and one of the mightiest leaders in the world.

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Weakened Ilkhanate started to fall apart. Its vast realm was united by nothing more but a sheer brute force and now Russians, Persians, Greeks, Arabs and other enslaved nations filled with righteus anger rose against their Mongol masters. There wasn't a month without rebellion or religious revolt - armies have risen to liberate once independent kingdoms. Alas, the hapiness of basileus' subjects was very short-lived - the new threat has arrived.

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It seems that the God has forsaken His children - new wave of bloodthirsty conquerors arrived unexpectedly and swiftly overwhelmed first Norway and then Portugal. The Christian faith itself faces now danger of total annihilation, forced to fight both Tengri Mongols and Aztec savages. United by basilues Markos the Saint who mended the Schism, it's still torn apart by various heresies and the holy orders still loyal to their Catholic heresy don't want to help the Greeks in the inevitable conflict.

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The year is 1264. Basileus Markos feels that what he have struggled all his life to preserve - the True Faith and its shield and defender, Basileia Rhomaion - may not survive against the tides of history. His children are skilled and dedicated to continue his work but will they be able to repeat what he miracously achieved during his long reign? Surviving both the Mongols invasions and Muslim jihads may have used all the luck the Greek empire had. Markos fears that his death will mark the end of short renaissance of Empire's strength and what follows is death, slavery and darkness. Will the pagan hordes triumph? Will the first emperor of the House Angelos be alos the last one? Only time will tell.

May God help us all.

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Thank you! First chapter should arrive in a 2-3 days.


Nah, where's the fun in that? :)
Watching Europe getting smashed by Mongols+Aztects+Mercenary/holy orders ? Well, what is more fun ?
Now you just halved the invasions Ilkhanate would've done without you :(
Well anyway, those empires will all fall when tehir event troops end due to op rebels.
Maybe Timur can pick up all those rebels and become at least as big as Ilkhanate? Well but you won't let it ofc :D
 
Watching Europe getting smashed by Mongols+Aztects+Mercenary/holy orders ? Well, what is more fun ?
Now you just halved the invasions Ilkhanate would've done without you :(
Well anyway, those empires will all fall when tehir event troops end due to op rebels.
Maybe Timur can pick up all those rebels and become at least as big as Ilkhanate? Well but you won't let it ofc :D
There is always probability they I'll loose. All it takes is one failure, one lost battle when I loose most of my army - and I have lost another de jure kingdom. Two or three lost invasions and I'm too small to resist. And Timurids won't hesitate to DOW me either.

So yeah, I expect playing in the shadow of certain, painful doom :)
 
Nah, it's Ironmana - no cheats allowed. And that's why Ironman is so cool - with real risk of failure, there is real fun. When I can type in console "5000 gold" anytime I want, all it's left is boring map-painting :)
 
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I have only one thing to say: awesome! :D
 
Okay, first and last (?) update before the first chapter:

[size=+1]STATE OF THE WORLD[/size]

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