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So chess has arrived in Prussia?

Btw, what is the Crown of Prussia called or does it not have any specific name?
I've brought chess up a few times in the past. Sviendorog plays it with a Bishop in England... so yes, at least a variant of it... probably Persian. It was in the Thrace region of Europe within the 1200. Historically it didn't spread to the Baltic until the 1500's. But whatever, there is an in-game event so it has some legitimacy.

Not really, I've usually referred to it as a crown of steel or iron. It is supposed to be simplistic in design, but I assume in time it would have been "upgraded" to a flashier form.
 
Homelands
Chapter Twenty Three: Asses to Ashes
Part 5


Prelude:
The Grand Caliph was expanding at a sluggish rate in 1225. Much of its progress into Germany had been halted by the Alps, but now it was turning its attention northward to the Lowlands. Raids increased in frequency and intensity. In the spring of 1225 the violence spilled over in Antwerp when the city was sieged by a combination of forces from the Grand Caliph and Dutch converts to Islam. When the city finally fell three months after the siege began the violence spilled into the country-side. The Caliph in Toledo demanded his armies arrest all perpetrators whether they be Muslim or Christian. But it was too late, Christian Revisionists were spurred into motion by claims that Christians were being arrested for practicing their faith. The Caliph, now in a very sticky situation sent word to his Emirs that the practice of all Abrahamic religions was legal in the realm and to not anger the Christians anymore. By the end of 1225 the Caliph had surrendered Antwerp back to the Christians, dubbing it a money pit. However, for the Christians the damage was done. Islam now had a permanent hold in the Lowlands, a powder keg ready to explode at any second. The Revisionist's reaction was to begin a new series of Inquisitions the left thousands of Muslims dead and many more displaced. The sign to the Caliph was clear, if you give up any territory you people are at risk of death, so don't back down.

Caliph1225.png

The Caliph in 1225, Dark Green represents areas that experienced frequent raids by Muslim troops.

Caliph1225provs.png

Another view of the Caliph at the same time showing the different Emirates within the large state.

September 24th, 1225

Meinekinus paced around his desk. The violence of Antwerp was casting a bad light on Christianity as a whole. There was no way to describe the events other than a pillaging or a rape of a whole city. He was torn, he felt it was his duty as a monk to defend all Christians no matter their language or doctrines... but this... this was unbelievable. The Revisionists had killed every Muslim regardless. Women were left dead and raped, naked in the streets. Children had been burned screaming in cages. He shook with anger. No real Christian would do such things. Absolutely not. It was absurd.

There was a quick pounding at his door and from the hallway stepped in Theodor von Weimar, the Patriarch of the Prussian Unionist Church. Originally his capital had been in Weimar, but risks of war pushed it into Memelgrád. Even though he had been elected, and of a different doctrine, he was basically a puppet of Meinekinus and the Patriarch of Prussia. "You called to see me, your majesty?" Theodor asked with a concerned scowl.

"Yes, Theodor, I have a request," Meinekinus said solemnly, "I want the Unionist Church to join the Patriarchs of Prussia and of Constantinople in issuing a Bull of Excommunication to all practicing Revisionists."

"All of them?" Theodor asked quickly and quietly.

"Yes, all of them over the age of ten."

"What about the Norse? What is their stand in the ordeal?"

"Well," Meinekinus started, "So far the Norse seem to be on our side in the matter, but they do not believe that excommunication is the proper path."

"May I speak freely for a minute, sir?" Theodor asked.

"Yes."

"Your majesty, I am forced to agree with the Norse here, I don't believe that excommunicating fully half of all Christians everywhere is the proper method. In the best case scenario we get a few converts from the uncertain group, in the worst it is an all out war between us and the Revisionists. And honestly, we in Germany cannot win that war. Unionism's position is precarious enough. If we do too much, I fear the German King will crusade against his own people in Weimar and Brandenburg, many lives are at stake."

Meinekinus sat silent for a few minutes, he had not thought of it that way. "Theodor, you are right. This is why I called you to speak with me." Theodor gave a slight bow in gratitude for the compliment. "No... what you say I now fear to be the truth... To be honest the reason we believed it would help is that it would say to the Caliph that we are not his enemy. But alas, I don't believe it would help much there as well." Meinekinus paused again, tapping his fingers against his desk. "I shall send word to our Patriarch and to Constantinople of your wisdom, I think they too shall heed your warning."

"Thank you, your majesty. I am lucky to have superiors who respect the counsel of others."

"Now I must ask you a question."

"What is it, m'lord?"

"What do you think of what has happened in Antwerp?" Meinekinus focused his eyes on Theodor to watch his face for any give away to his inner thoughts.

Theodor was dead silent as he thought, he worked his ideas into a coherent thought and began to speak. "I believe... your majesty, that no real Christian would ever do such things as burn entire mosques with women and children inside of them. Those who would are monsters. But... on the other hand... the quality of life in Germany is far below that of Prussia, Rome or even the Caliph. They are envious, and they are hungry, and they need someone to blame. That is what has made Revisionism so popular. It gives people not only someone to blame, but legitimizes their anger and allows them to act on it. Revisionism has gained popularity because unlike Unionism, which preaches tolerance; or Orthodoxy, which preaches self bettering; or Islam, which preaches self control... Revisionism preaches hate... and it is easier to hate than to respect, or grow or ration."

"Too much so, Theodor." Meinekinus shifted his attention away from Theodor and out into the city and port behind him. It was a sad truth. In this new world it seemed Orthodoxy's only ally was Islam at this point. If it were truly the popular belief that God and his son wanted their followers to kill women and children, he didn't know what to think. Somehow he felt stained, dirty. "Just between me and you, Theodor, I would never let your people come to harm. If the German King wants to kill Unionists, he will have to get through Prussia first."

"I appreciate the guarantee. I fear it might be a necessity."

"I know, that's why I am giving it to you." Meinekinus smiled and patted Theodor on the back.

The patriarch left, leaving Meinekinus alone again. The Prussian King walked over to the window and looked out over the port and the city again. The scene was a placid one. A blue sky with a few white clouds covered merchants selling their wares, children running to and fro, in the distance the church bells rang out a marriage of two young nobles. The last few flowers of summer remained and the trees were still fully green. He smiled thinking that it was a beautiful day and many more like it still awaited the great nation. Soon it would be fall and the city would settle down as the snow approached and eventually, like a great bear, would fall asleep for the winter. Feasting on ale and mead the people would enjoy the break from the tedium of life and from the Baltic to the Black Sea snow would drift over the landscape, wiping away the old year and bringing in the new.


End Chapter Twenty Three
 
A religion of hatred?
Either side must falter and fail, or Central Europe might be soon quite depopulated. :p
Revisionism is a lot the movements that sprang up during the plagues in Europe, when people burned Jews and heretics willy-nilly. In essence, it represents blind fury.

How exactly an ass change to ash? :D
Dzintis was an ass and all Prussian rulers are cremated, so the ass is now ash. ;)
 
The pot has boiled over. The drums of war are a beatin'!

That they are... but for now we get a...

Preview of Asia!
(Beta)

That's right, ASIA! In this new history the Mongols never made it to Europe, so what were they doing in Asia? Namely conquering everything and converting people to Buddhism and Hinduism! Yes in this game Hinduism has a larger role and occupies a larger area. Generally the history is left up to the player to decide as it is anyone's guess how it got to be this way.

Countries-1.png


Religion-2.png


Generally comments and ideas are welcome, but also needed is for the gaps of history to be filled.
 
Does this also mean that more Asian territory is of the Mongol culture-group?

Also, did you add on a Japan mod or is that the standard Japan for MMP. If so, it seems quite unbalanced; southern Japan has more provinces than Buddhist China. That alone looks to make the game much less interesting (totally unbalanced).
 
Does this also mean that more Asian territory is of the Mongol culture-group?

Also, did you add on a Japan mod or is that the standard Japan for MMP. If so, it seems quite unbalanced; southern Japan has more provinces than Buddhist China. That alone looks to make the game much less interesting (totally unbalanced).

It is not MMP, it is MEIOU, though MMP has something similar. It is for the sengoku mod, representing the war states period of Japanese history, though it is compensated by the face that most of the provinces have lower tax and manpower bases (for instance if one province had a tax base of 5 and it is now three provinces their taxes would add up to roughly 5). So far, no one has had much problem with it, and seeing as Japan is in constant war for much of the period I have never seen a Japan take over the entire world. On the other hand we also see less of Japan being conquered by China, which is pretty unrealistic as well, but quiet common.

The big thing is, with MEIOU, most countries now have many times their original number of provs. For example Thailand now has far more then its vanilla counter part as does Vietnam. It is all about compensating and scaling up, though I cannot claim to be an expert.
 
De-balkanize Japan- in the face of the Mongol foothold and Mongol threats, Japan may have unified. Hell, have a Shogun inherit the Emperor and unify Japan. At least have one nation unified.

In addition, severely reduce China's pops; they will be a pain in the ass in Vicky otherwise.

EDIT: In addition, take Buddhists out of Indochina and maybe move them into China; Confucianism would not be as powerful against the Mongol Buddhists, and the Khmer Empire would have been Hindu preconquest. Ergo, conquering Mongols would go Hindu, since Theravada would not reconcile nor catch on with uberviolent Mongols. I must also ask what the red non-Shinto faith is.
 
De-balkanize Japan- in the face of the Mongol foothold and Mongol threats, Japan may have unified. Hell, have a Shogun inherit the Emperor and unify Japan. At least have one nation unified.

In addition, severely reduce China's pops; they will be a pain in the ass in Vicky otherwise.

EDIT: In addition, take Buddhists out of Indochina and maybe move them into China; Confucianism would not be as powerful against the Mongol Buddhists, and the Khmer Empire would have been Hindu preconquest. Ergo, conquering Mongols would go Hindu, since Theravada would not reconcile nor catch on with uberviolent Mongols. I must also ask what the red non-Shinto faith is.
I am not sure if I am going to physically move this over to Vicky, and if I did... I'll deal with pops then rather than try to balance out all the world now. That is one question I did have, when did Confucianism arise? The red is Mahayana Buddhist. I am okay with expanding Hinduism as it seems like a cool idea.

Lastly with debalkanizing Japan, I will disagree. The mongol invasions were not the only cause of it falling apart and it will balance the region more.

Awesome to the nth degree!
I believe so as well. :cool:
 
Confucianism was already around, but it is used as the religion for China/Korea in EU3. Also, Canton should have Buddhists as it does in EU3- they would not have gone the Confucian pink faith. Hell, just have Zen/Shinto Japan, Confucian (type of Mahayana) Korea, Theravada China, and Tantric (Mongol/Tibetan Mahayana) Buddhism in Tibet and Mongolia.

As for Japan, I merely worry they will be invaded by the strong multi-province states of China... Maybe the Mongols reject navies after the failed invasions? Maybe the states act like the Greeks and fight each other, then fight the Persia-esque Chinese oppressors? I just want an eventual unified Japan. Maybe even an Ainu Shinto Japan. That'd be cool alt-history.

Also, can you explain the different greens? I now the dark grey-green is Pagan, but what are the two greens in Arabia/Persian Gulf? And what religion is Socotra?
 
Confucianism was already around, but it is used as the religion for China/Korea in EU3. Also, Canton should have Buddhists as it does in EU3- they would not have gone the Confucian pink faith. Hell, just have Zen/Shinto Japan, Confucian (type of Mahayana) Korea, Theravada China, and Tantric (Mongol/Tibetan Mahayana) Buddhism in Tibet and Mongolia.
Honestly, Asia is technically out of the scope of the history that we "know" so justifying anything is hard. I am willing to shift the existing religions a bit... maybe I'll cut Confucianism down a bit, confining it to the north and east, but honestly there is no way to say in a history as altered as this that one idea is more probably than another.

As for Japan, I merely worry they will be invaded by the strong multi-province states of China... Maybe the Mongols reject navies after the failed invasions? Maybe the states act like the Greeks and fight each other, then fight the Persia-esque Chinese oppressors? I just want an eventual unified Japan. Maybe even an Ainu Shinto Japan. That'd be cool alt-history.
I have never seen it as a problem, especially since in vanilla that one way-ward war would result in large portions of Japan being under foreign domination. Smaller provinces ensure such a result is only one or two provs lost that will quickly revolt away under the Shogun's armies.The Japanese states are in a semi-state of war. There is a shogun, the sole leader of Japan, he controls the military. If states chose to fight his power a civil war sparks, if they win... they gain power to possible become shogun.

Also, can you explain the different greens? I now the dark grey-green is Pagan, but what are the two greens in Arabia/Persian Gulf? And what religion is Socotra?
In the west light green is shiite and green is sunni. Dark green in the west is specifically Austronesian pagan.
 
What do you mean? As in a modding in Prussia over a conversion?

Yes, as I've suggested, I might do the Vicky and HoI time lines purely through story telling as I already have ideas for these time frames and honestly don't want to deal with the AI's disregard for my ideas.
 
Homelands
Chapter Twenty Four: Call to War
Part 1


Prelude:
King Karnak of Hungary took little time leaving his mark on the Kingdom of Prussia. His grandfather, Meinekinus the Pious, died at the age of 58 in the autumn of 1225. Karnak, upon hearing the news, quickly moved his base of operations north to Memelgrád. He left Hungary and Bohemia in the hands of feudal lords, ruling the regions indirectly through their guidance. The first thing Karnak did was have the records changed, his family name was not "Leofricson" or anything of the sort, it was "of Hwicce" (áv Hwike in Prussian). He then began to personally drill the troops, calling up thousands of knights from around the Kingdom. Hungarian knights in their white and red garb stood next to Prussian knights in their black and white. The targets Karnak had in mind were numerous, but one in particular stood out, Alania. For years the Alans, a collection of Muslim tribes outside of the influence of the Turks, had raided the southern borders of Prussia. Local Princes had resorted to their own raiding tactics, especially in the regions controlled by the Dormandies. Azowians had begun to form militia parties to raid Alan territory for revenge and to capture back what was rightfully theirs. Karnak was sympathetic to their cause and by the end of 1225 had decided that in 1226 he would authorize an all-out invasion of Alan territory.

Alania2.png

Alania in Purple next to the Principality of Azow (part of Prussia, Red). In Yellow is the Seljuk Sultanate. In Green is Mordvia. In Pink is the Roman Empire.

November 5th, 1225

Serlo Dormandy was the second Prince of Azow, a title his father Hyg had been granted by King Sviendorog himself. Like his father he had grown up in the saddle of a horse. He was only eighteen, young and strong, and from atop his horse he looked over his lands in a never-ending search for raiders.

"Vet, Prince Serlo!" a voice called. Serlo turned around to see it was the forward team he had sent to scout closer to the river. "We didn't find anything. Either the Alans are getting craftier or they have given up for now."

"What do you think is most likely?" Serlo asked, wiping his face with his sleeve.

"The fox doesn't stop stealing chickens," his subordinate answered quickly.

"Very true, I wonder then where they are sneaking in." Serlo ran his hand through his beard as he thought. "I bet it is farther south, closer to Turk country. Let's move!" The Prince dug his heal into his horse's side and clicked with his tongue, taking off with a violent jerk and galloping south toward the border with the Turkish lands in the Caucasus. His men followed him with the sergeant blowing a horn to gather the rest of the troops. Soon almost hundred men were racing south to where in the distance a pillar of smoke rose upwards.

"Quick! We must hurry!" Serlo shouted over the pounding. He tried to get his horse to move as fast as possible and as he got closer he could see Alanian raiders trying to load up carts and flee. The Prince pulled out his bow and very carefully aimed it at a soldier. Even in full gallop he knew how to steady his aim and without thinking downed the first raider he got close enough too. But as he prepared another shot a raider blundered out in front of his horse, tripping the horse and sending Serlo crashing into a hay pile.

Azowians.jpg

Azowian Cavalry

Now with his horse down, probably for good, Serlo drew his sword and stood out of the hay pile, dusting himself off. One enemy ran toward him with a pitchfork. Serlo ducked under it and came up alongside its shaft. Before the other could react he ran his sword through his chest and removed it to look for a horse.

From his right voices cried for help, without thinking he kicked down the door to the house and found several children huddled in a corner. "Stay put! Don't move until I come and get you... Hide under the hay mattresses." The children nodded and did as he said. Leaving the house, he found his horse had stood back up, and ran over to saddle up again. Once again on horseback, Serlo headed to join up with his soldiers who had encircled the town to prevent raiders from leaving.

"How many are there?" Serlo asked as he joined up with his commanders.

"About a hundred or so. Lightly armed. They don't seem to have any leadership."

"Well, let's root those bastards out!" His men cheered wildly and the all charged into the city, cutting down any remaining raiders. As the citizens began to reemerge, the fires were dealt with and the elder was able to speak with Serlo about the issue.

"We lucked out, you go here pretty quick."

"When did the raid start?"

"About five minutes before you showed up."

"And you have no men to fight?" Serlo asked, his concern evident on his face.

"We need all the men healthy for the farms!"

"No excuse, you are lucky we were here or you wouldn't have any farms for them to tend!"

"We've never seen these raids so far from Alan territory. I am sorry, your majesty."

"I can forgive you, but we need you guys to make some changes around here. I am going to stay here with my men, tomorrow we are going to erect a watch tower for the town and train some soldiers for you."

"Thank you, Prince, you spread blessings across all the lands!" Serlo nodded and walked over to his commanders who plotted their position on a map.

"Vet, Prince!" one soldier saluted as Serlo joined them at the table, "You wanted to know exactly where we are, and we have a good idea."

Serlo looked at where they had marked their travels out and shook his head, "That can't be right, we are fully thirty leagues from Alania. Was it the Turks?!" Serlo exclaimed.

"No, we checked the soldiers, they were Alans... they are getting bolder."

"We are going to have to contact his majesty in Memelgrád. I am not going to deal with this every day of every week of every month of every year or my entire life," Serlo said flatly. "All I need is permission. Once we have that... no more patrolling around... we invade. Alania will be ours!"

Around him, the troops cheered, the thought of an actual war enticed them, it was something new for them to do. Each one wanted to prove his might and bravery to his Prince. It is the way of the settlers of the deep south. Far from the help of Memelgrád they made their own living. Survival was life, something all Azowians knew.