1400
Well, all things being equal, that was a bit quieter than was to be expected. Essentially the emperor is out of cash and being a bit fiscally prudent, and is rather scared of some large locals, so we sat tight ... and got on with what we're good at.
So, whilst they've exhausted all the local regimes with legitimacy problems, they've not married off every eligible person, so Wallachia was next on the banquet circuit:
... but obv not dumb, our royal family may have their uses but they don't trust our military zeal:
meantime, my brother in the church popped in to point out the sort of problems that might occur if we do go Catholic:
However, not eveyone is convinced that Byzantine minor royals are sex gods:
By mid-summer things over in Anatolia were hotting up. Little brother was on the rampage and Candar put an end to one dynastic inheritence gamble ... and we never got the groom back either:
However, fear does help, Wallachia suddenly decided we might be good for fighting after all:
However, the years other recurrent grumble, other than the cost of all the marriages was money ... possibly the two were related. Bosnia and Epirus did us a favour by paying to take 2 self-styled 'great-men' away and brother heard rumours they were eyeing up church revenues as well.
But it was in that godforsaken corner of Greece, Morea, that they actually found someone brave enough to both count and tax the locals:
However, all this fussing in Morea had already upset Achaea. One check at their list of guarantors rather put the Emperor off doing much more than being mildly offended though:
So we ended up the year with 4 minor royals married off (and one already dead), an ally and some sort of dispute with Achaea, 1 more ship and no wars. In the meantime little brother has got his hands full. Not only are the Timurids still pretty active, Candar is well on its well to becoming a power to be reckoned with:
Problem with the spying part of sex and spying is it costs money - which we don't have, but then so does building an army. What we really need is for little brother and his new chums to upset someone big and nasty, and preferably with a navy.