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How dare you! The Augustus would never commit such a horrific deed! Who's paying you for spreading such disgusting lies? House Doukas? Barbarians from the East? It doesn't matter - expect a visit from agents of Skrinion Ton Barbaron. The imperial interrogators have their ways of making scum like you sing like a bird. Your employers won't save you - your fate depends on the mercy of the Throne now.

Erm... The power of Christ compels me to withdraw my false accusations. I believe I was possesed by one of those Aztec demons and I was helpless to fight its vile machinations. I will retreat to a distant, undisclosed, monastary and pray for my redemption for the remainder of my time.

Now, with that out of the way, let's focus on the future of the Empire. I'm glad to hear you're persevering, even with patch changes and corrupted saves throwing you curveballs. I guess that, as long as you can keep the Aztecs from attacking during the CKII phase, you might be in a better position to deal with them in EUIV (when you no longer have to worry about the complete destruction of your Empire in a few short wars, or all those uppity Doukai who stand ready to challenge your claim to the throne).
 
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I will retreat to a distant, undisclosed, monastary and pray for my redemption for the remainder of my time.

I forgive you, but will Czokletmuss? Perhaps at the Monastary then you will learn not to question the absolute purity and grace formed by the Glorious Saint Markos, (My his soul be blessed and praised) the formidable Bulwark against the Infidels, Xenoi, and Heretics. The Holy Roman Empire and Pisans are Orthodox in name only, no doubt in secret service with the blasphemous Bishop of Rome. May the blessed CzokletMuss God give you salvation
 
I have found your AAR yesterday and have read it up to date by now and... wow, it's great. A grimdark europe, court intrigues in Constantinople, a fight for survival against the tides of the hordes... its exiting, enthralling and quite well written. I will definitely follow it from now on, so much is sure.
Your Ill-Khanate really puts fear in me. I'm playing at the moment the crusader kingdom of Edessa (first the duchy, then the renamed Kingdom of Armenia) and I'm in the late 11th century, so the Mongols should arrive soon. Right after I broke the muslim empires in the region, so I can't use them as a shield. Nice Job braking it, hero.
By the way, I wondered what happened to the Golden Horde in your game. Didn't they arrive at all or were they beaten?
 
Everytime I am reading this AAR I am afraid more and more of the appearance of the Aztecs in my own game. Almost a century in (Old Gods start). The AI has done some progress in expanding the empire but my machinations as a Duke did more to that than I did for my Duchy. I brought Bulgaria and Georgia into the fold after using marriage and dagger and my house rules the empire. The only thing I need to do now is kill my Duke so that I continue as the emperor but I wonder...Should I expand up the Crimea or leave it to the Cumans so I can have a buffer when the Hordes arrive? And what about Arabia? The seljuks will arrive there too and who knows what else....

Anyway enough with mine. Your situation is quite critical (then again when it wasn't in this game :) )

I suggest you make a string of assassinations, kill both Timur and his successors, replacing their leaders in such quick succession will cause internal strife and perhaps might spark seceding Tengri lords to rebel before they convert them. If that happens it might prompt the stronger Ilkhanate factions to retaliatory strike said seceding rebelling Timurids and in the end create absolute chaos to their realms, resulting in multiple same strength magnates locked into eternal war. Well in theory at least.

You mean the Aztecs, right? According to wiki between 1250 and 1350.
And yeah, I've tested the converter once or twice so the New World is going to be a really... different place.

Yeah the Aztecs, typed in a rush.

I keep studying the map in EUIV and try to cross reference their holdings in Europe from what you post and what they have in the Americas and...I think the war in EU4 will be a manpower one. And not only that but the colonies in Africa will decide the victor. Perhaps you need to remove the Aztec African presence from CK2 to allow you to colonize Africa unhindered in EUIV.
 
Sorry for not answering to your comments - I'm finishing the next chapter which should be out tomorrow and when it's released I'll answer for all of them :)
 
CHAPTER 23
1390-1395
BEHOLD NOW BEHEMOTH

Kingdom of Poland was defeated.

Once again savages from the Far West were victorious and although king Niezamysl Spis was in control of only few counties which once were part of Germany, the borders of Christendom were yet again pushed back by the innumerable armies of the invaders. The western provinces were lost and now the Aztecs were even closer to the capital of Kingdom of Poland was – in fact as close as the Lithuanian pagans and horse-lords were. The fate of Germany was sealed on 22th April 1390 with every German, save for the refugees seeking shelter in Pisa, under the rule of ruthless savages.

But it was far from over.

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On 6th July 1390 the Cult of Huitzilopochtli declared invasion on English refugees inhabiting isles of Zeeland. Led by Alexander of Godwin this pathetic remnant of once mighty kingdom of England was nothing more but a disorganized band counting no more than 50,000 men and women. Even after the fall of England they were following the usurpatory Bishop of Rome. Calling themselves “Catholic” they could not hope for any help – what was left of Cathar realms was now part of growing Aztec dominion and petty kingdoms of Scotland and Leon were on the verge of collapse due to heresies, raids of savages and spreading diseases. Malnourished and hopeless, huddled on small isles of Zeeland and virtually defenseless the Catholic heretics were doomed the moment the terrifying cultists decided to wipe them out. Still, knowing the fate of those who were captured by the jaguar-warriors of Cult of Huitzilopochtli, the Englishmen were determined to die with a sword in their hands and to not be taken alive. They had nothing to lose and at least they could spare their women and children great horrors by putting them out of their misery. This of course would lead their souls straight to Hell, for suicide is a sin against God – but being unrepentant heretics the eternal fire was their only future.

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Despite its best efforts, the Imperium failed to protect the Kingdom of Poland, which caused many of the aristoi to think that the authority of the Throne may not be absolute. If the Imperial Army can't protect allies of the Imperium, they said, could it really protect the Romans? House Doukas was thriving on a growing disappointment cause by failure of the Polish campaign and soon Augustus was forced to react. A display of power was much needed to show every citizen of the Imperium the glory of the Throne and with large armies still assembled nearby Polish borders the best way to do so was judged to be a victorious war. But Augustus decided to achieve not one but three goals at the same time – finish the reconquest of Moesia and reclaim ancient imperial provinces from treacherous Pisans and thus ensure aristoi that the power of the Throne could not be challenged. Both of these conflicts were swift and brutal. Khagan of the Horde, facing a total collapse of his realm, did not care to protect the lands of his subject and before the accursed khan of Bulgaria died of syphilis on 27th June 1391 the news of successful reconquest of Moesia must have reached him. Pisan merchants, on the other hand, showed some resistance but with most of their troops fighting in Aquitaine they were unable to defend themselves for long and soon the Imperial Army was triumphant. The peace treaty was signed on 8th January 1392 and although the Imperium won, an open hostility between Republic of Pisa and Kingdom of Aquitaine was a growing concern not only for imperial merchants. One of the last surviving Christian kingdoms, the realm of Aquitaine was able to survive so long despite sharing borders with the Aztecs only because the king was paying tribute to the invaders. For the Kingdom of Aquitaine was controlling the only trade route connecting heretics from British Isles with merchants from Mare Nostrum and all the goods transported to the North had to pass through it. The savages from the Far West could of course crush both the heretic kingdoms and Aquitaine within weeks but for some reason they were satisfied with a heavy tribute imposed on the Latins. But it took more than gold to satisfy the hunger of the savage beasts – the Latins were forced to provide the Aztec dominion with 10,000 slaves every year, 5000 men and 5000 women, so that the savages could flay them alive as a sacrifice to the Dark God Xipe Totec. This unholy pact with the invaders from the Far West was without a doubt a terrible sin, even despite the fact that all of the slaves were barbarians, be it Mongols, Berbers or Beduins. But it did guarantee the safety of good Christians of Aquitaine. Obviously, greedy merchants of Pisa themselves wanted a bigger share of the lucrative trade with the heretics from British Isles. Slowly being forced out of the Imperium and facing competition from imperial merchants they were desperately looking for new sources of income. And so, using their superior military, they were in a state of constant warfare with Kingdom of Aquitaine, willing even to spill Christian blood only to be given more contracts and privileges from their Aztec employees for pecunia non olet, as the Pisan proverb said.

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Before the Augustus could dedicate more thoughts to this matter however, a great triumph was to be held in Konstantinoupolis to celebrate glorious victories of the Imperial Army and reclamation of thema Moesia. A splendid parade at the Hippodrome together with a long procession of captive barbarians send a clear message to all those who dared to doubt the power of the Throne. It was during this grand ceremony when the news from the East arrived – khagan Ukhuna Csikid was defeated. A powerful faction of the horse-lords led by high chief from distant Bjarmia proved to be too much for small forces of loyalists to handle and Great Khan had no other choice but to surrender on 22nd February 1392. A dozen or more small chiefdoms became independent, with former lieutenants in the Horde now as sole rulers of their petty realms. Fragmentation and collapse of the mighty Ilkhanate was a fact – the worshippers of Tengri were unable not only to stop the Sword of Islam but also to unite against the common threat. The success of imperial doctrine expressed the ancient maxim divide et impera was astonishing – the greatest enemy of the Imperium during the past 50 years was falling apart and not a single Roman soldier had to pay with his blood for this spectacular victory. The whole City was celebrating, for it seemed like a dawn of a new era for the whole Christendom, saved forever from the raids of a bloodthirsty horse-lords.

And then came the news.

On 5th March envoys of Scourge of the East appeared in the Queen of Cities and asked for audience with the Augusts during which they handed over a letter from Timur himself – Iron Khan declared invasion on the province of Syria.

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In an act of sickening treason, malicious Sword of Islam betrayed the Imperium which was helping him in his fight against the worshippers of the Dark Gods with gold and advice and decided to carry the banner of Prophet onto the holy city of Antiocheia. Abominable tyrant and his Shia zealots were not satisfied with the rivers of Mongol blood spilled in Khiva and Persia and in their arrogance decided to raise a hand on a Throne in a blasphemous attempt to repeat disastrous Muslim conquest of Syria. But this time, unlike during the dark years of 634-638, the Imperium was more than prepared to face the enemy. The envoys of Timur were flayed alive and on the same day Augustus ordered to assemble all forces – once again the Romans were about to face ghazis fighting for their false Prophet.

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But before the main bulk of the Imperial Army could arrive in eastern provinces of the Imperium more bad news reached Konstantinoupolis. On 2nd May 1392 the invasion of Zeeland was over – terrifying Cult of Huitzilopochtli won. All the remaining Englishmen were said to be dead, either by the hand of the Aztec cannibals or their own, and according to rumors only the Cathar king of England was said to survive the massacre, abandoning his subjects and escaping by boat to Brittany. Another heretic kingdom was destroyed by the invaders from the Far West and although there was never any hope for England, the Fall of Zeeland was one of the most brutal examples of Aztec conquest, for the savages spared no one. Many were horrified by these atrocities and took them as a sign of things to come – alas, among them was porphyrogenneta Martha Angelos, queen of Poland and daughter of the Augustus, who died on the same day the news about a slaughter of the Englishmen reached Innowrocław.

But the worst was still about to come.

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Having subjugated every single petty realm of the Mongols on the Arabian Peninsula, sultan Khaireddin Aghlabid declared on 21st September 1392 that the Shia Caliphate, broken by the Romans decades ago, has been reborn. It was on this day, when hundreds of ships from Imperial Navy were breaking through waves of Mare Nostrum with thousands of Roman soldiers on board hoping to reach eastern ports before the hordes of Timur's ghazis arrive, that the Augustus realized his mistake. With the restitution of the Caliphate all of the Shia, not so long being nothing more than another dying false religion, become united. Believing that prophesied mahdi, be it caliph Khaireddin or Timur the Lame, has arrived to this world to save the followers of the Prophet and defeat all evil, the Shia were no longer the prey for Mongol slavers or Roman themata guarding the limes. They became predators, with all their energy dedicated to destroying the Imperium and the Horde – a cruel twist of fate which could've been easily circumvented if only the Augustus decided to eradicate the Shia scum earlier.

Alas, it was too late – tens of thousands of fanatic Mongol ghazis were marching on Antiocheia to fulfill the order of their master and conquer the holy city. But this time they were about to face the whole might of the Imperial Army.

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Brave soldiers of themata were doing whatever they can to slow the advance of the ghazis and to give more time to tagmata and mercenaries – and with God's blessing they were victorious. Great battles were fought on the deserts of Syria and in every single one of them the Imperial Army was victorious. As an impenetrable shield the Romaioi formed a barrier for the waves of barbarian locust. Army after army of Shia fanatics was shattered by the citizens of the Imperium serving in themata. Thousands of barbarians were wiped out and although Imperial Army was paying for this glorious victories with blood for every fallen Roman there were five or ten barbarians killed by the defenders of the Imperium. Shia zealots, despite all their fury and desperate attacks, were unable to continue their advances and were limited to burning the cities and villages east of Damascus.

And then a news reached the City which frozen the hearts of the Romaioi - on 7th March 1393 Caliph declared jihad for Arabia.

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Hoping to use the political turmoil and terrible civil wars within the Horde to achieve his own goals, Khaireddin Aghalibd was not satisfied with the restoration of the Caliphate – he wanted to reclaim all of Arabia for the Crescent and glory of false god Allah. This war couldn't have been started in a worse moment for the Horde – with khagan unable to defend even himself it seemed that there was nothing which could stop the Shia from reconquest of the whole Arabian Peninsula within months.

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In the meantime vast armies of ghazis, the same ferocious warriors who conquered Khiva and Persia, were all but annihilated by the brave soldiers of themata. Fueled by righteous anger and love of their Augustus, heroic Romaioi managed to not only stop the Shia but also to inflict so many casualties on them that by the time tagmata and auxiliaries arrived in Syria the invading forces were decimated. This miraculous victories wouldn't be possible if not for porphyrogennetos Michael Angelos, grandmaster of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, who fighting side by side with monk-knights of his Order personally led many devastating charges and as a monostrategos of the East was in command of all the eastern themata. It was because of his exceptional virtues and great skills that the Imperium managed to overcome the constant furious assaults of the ghazis.

Soon the situation was looking so bad for the invaders that Sword of Islam had no other option than to personally led his troops, hoping to face the Romaioi in one decisive battle.

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In this desperate attempt to regain the initiative, Timur the Lame amassed almost all of his ghazis into one colossal army and marched on Antiocheia. But both tagmata and mercenaries have already arrived in Syria and Iron Khan was about to face the full might of the Imperial Army. It was decided that the Imperium was going to meet the barbarians in the field and that if Timur so badly wants to die with his soldiers, so be it. And so, after marching for days through the desolate desert, the gigantic imperial army combined of eastern themata and monk-knights of the Brotherhood led by Michael Angelos together with fresh forces of tagmata and mercenaries led by doux Konstants IV Gavras and doux Tiberios III Angelos arrived on the plain of Halbah on 13th May 1393. It was there where just a few days later the momentous battle between Romaioi and Timur's army took place – battle which was to determine the fate of the war.

When almost 75,000 Roman soldiers and over 60,000 of Shia zealots finally collided in a titanic battle, they say that one can felt the earth trembling and a terrifying noise as if one was amid a violent storm when the initial charge of the ghazis shattered on the Roman shields. The battle was incredibly bloody – with both armies suffering from shortage of fresh water no prisoners were to be taken. Wave after wave, charge after charge the fanatic Shia couldn't brake through the lines formed by imperial soldiers. Like a wildfire consumes the forest, the brave Romaioi were laying a great devastation on barbarian locust, with thousands of barbaric warriors from the East dying left and right.

Victory was near. But the power of Iron Khan could not be undone.

Porphyrogennetos Michael Angelos, who was in thick of battle since the very beginning and who personally sealed hundreds of barbarians, suddenly saw the dark banner of Scourge of the East approaching. Nearby it he saw a tall rider on a black horse surrounded by elite guards giving orders to what seemed to be generals among the infidels. It was Timur himself who arrived on battlefield. Knowing that he was presented with an occasion to end the war right in this very moment, grandmaster Michael Angelos ordered his monk-knights to change formation and prepare for a charge. Tall rider must've noticed this but unexpectedly his guards moved away from him, leaving a way for the Romaioi to attack him. Michael Angelos understood what this meant – a duel. And so he ordered his men to stay in place and he alone charged on a sole rider, determined to slay him and thus win the battle and stop the threat from the East once and for all.

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And then abruptly, in a middle of the charge, a tall rider raised his hand – and all of a sudden porhpyrogennetos Michael Angelos fell off his horse. Son of the Augustus and grandmaster of the Brotherhood was dead before he hit the ground, killed by a blasphemous black magic of Timur. Suddenly the screams of the dying ones and noise of the battle all stopped and for a moment only a dead silence was surrounding the tall rider. Then he raised both of his hands into the sky which immediately darkened – the moon began to consume the sun. Night has felt on the battlefield of Halbah and it was obvious for everyone that Timur carries much more power than any mortal man could hope to posses – Iron Khan was a servant of the Dark Powers.

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In the following chaos the formation of the Imperial Army was finally broken – with their beloved leader murdered by a tenebrous curse the Romaioi lost all their courage and soon thousands of imperial soldiers, terrified by abnormal ekleipsis of the sun. According to some, eastern daemons appeared on the battlefield to fight for their master and many of the fleeing Romans became their prey. Disorganized retreat quickly turned into slaughter when panicked imperial troops were dying by the thousands from the hands of the ghazis who, as they say, were not influenced at all by the darkness.

It was a disaster.

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Titanic battle ended on 4th June 1393 – from almost 75,000 Romaioi more than 55,000 were massacred on the fields of Halbah and the surviving 15,000 were quickly hunted down by armies of Timur. Not a single Roman soldier survived the onslaught – the ships of the Imperial Navy sailed back to the City empty. Just like the disastrous battle of Yarmouk fought between the Romaioi and the Sunni Caliphate which began on 15th and ended on 20th August 636, the tragic battle of Halbah changed the fate of the war and was widely regarded as one of the most decisive battles of the 14th century. Imperial Army was broken – having suffered gigantic casualties it couldn't do anything to save Syria from the invaders.

And so on 28th July 1393 the Augustus was forced to surrender – Iron Khan was victorious.

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Sack of the holy city of Antiocheia began on 30th July and ended two weeks later. All churches and cathedrals have been desecrated. Monks, nuns and clergy were burned on stakes put on top of the piles formed of liturgical books and holy icons. Chalices, altar candlesticks, bells and crucifixes alike were melted and used to mint gold coins with depiction of Scourge of the East on them. It is said one could see the dark smoke from the burning city as far as from Hierusalem. When it was finally over less than 15,000 of 300,000 of inhabitants of the city were still alive, enslaved by the ruthless ghazis. Iron Khan ordered his subjects from the depths of Asia to move in to the city and repopulate it. The great cathedral suffered greatly – the building was looted, all of its occupants violated or slaughtered and while elderly and infirm who were hiding in the temple were killed, women and girls were raped and the surviving Christians were chained and sold into slavery. One of the ghazis climbed the pulpit and recited the shahada: la ilaha il allah, muhammadun rasulu-ilah wa aliyuun waliyyu-illah; “there is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God and Ali is a friend of God.”

As tens of thousands of Romaioi were fleeing from Syria to neighboring themata more disastrous news reached the City.

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On 27th August 1393 an incredibly blood civil war within the Horde ended – Great Khan defeated all those who opposed him. Once again Ilkhanate was united under khagan and although it was achieved only through brute force it was enough for the barbarians, for above all they hated weakness. Still there was some time for the Imperium – khagan Ukhuna Csikid was going to be unable to rule personally for at least few more years. But whatever was achieved by Timur for the Imperium was now lost – the Horde was about to once again become the Beast it used to be. And the Imperial Army was crippled for a long time – even elite tagmata lost more than half of its troops.

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The casualties were even greater among the monk-knights of the Brotherhood. With majority of the commanders and the grandmaster himself slayed by the infidels during battle of Halbah the Order had to reorganize – and, unexpectedly, it was Leon Doukas who was chosen as the next grandmaster. And so the power and influence of the House Doukas was growing while House Angelos had to deal with the aftermath of Halbah. Many among the aristoi were accusing the Augustus that the campaign against Timur could've been easily won. If only, they were saying, someone competent was in charge of the eastern themata instead of Emperor's son there surely wouldn't be such devastation. Agents of the Doukoi were spreading lies that allegedly Imperial Army gathered in Syria to face ghazis suffered terrible losses even before facing the enemy due to insufficient supplies. The lack of fresh water and exhausting marches through the desert in full sunlight killed hundreds and greatly weakened the imperial forces and all of this happened because of inexperienced and overconfident porphyrogennetos Michael Angelos. These were all terrible lies obviously, for it is known that the Imperium lost only because of the powerful and blasphemous magic used by Iron Khan – House Doukas by attacking the heroic porphyrogennetos was just trying to discredit the Augustus himself. In the following months powerful factions of aristoi formed, hoping that they can use the weakness of the Throne for their own gains.

Syria was lost, holy city of Antiocheia was desecrated and barbarians were growing in power – something had to be done. Timur the Lame, Scourge of the East and Sword of Islam, had to die.

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But it was not an easy task – even the agents of Skrinion Ton Barbaron were unable to get close to Iron Khan to end his life. Not only that but the source of Timur's power was in distant lands, laying further away from imperial limes than even Persia was – it was of utmost importance to know more about this new terrible enemy of the Christendom. After months of searching while the unrest among aristoi was still growing finally a barbarian merchant from Persia was found by the imperial spies and brought to the City where he demanded an audience with the Augustus. His tales of a mythical realm of Hindustan and his knowledge about the structure and customs of Timur's dominion was proved later to be invaluable. He was paid generously and in return he offered a gift to the Throne – an eunuch who, according to him, was born and raised in distant Hindustan. Now the plans to remove Timur could be finally put into motion.

But threat to Christendom was not limited to the East.

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On 28th March 1395 second invasion of Norway began – Nochehuatl Acatl was determined to finish the work of his ancestors and finally wipe out what was left of Christian realms in the North. Norsemen led by king Hans Stilbolt known as the Half-Hand due to his injuries received during one of the Romuva raids on Swedish strongholds on Baltic coast couldn't won – and they knew it. All that they could hope for was to die in battle against the invaders and not in chains as their slave.

Despite this terrifying news, the Augustus was determined to have his revenge on Iron Khan and finally on 9th April 1395 the orders were given to the imperial agents – Timur's violent life was about to end.

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And on the same day the accursed Hindustani eunuch carried the secret orders of his masters.

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Thrilling. I like how the incredible imperial propaganda, ähm, I meant the true and grand imperial historiography tells the tale of the brave and grand victories of the imperial army before the Battle of Halbah. And surly, only black magic and the influence of devils and demons was able to stop you from certain victory! But that it merely a setback. Yes, I would even say, it's all part of a cunning plan of the Angelos dynasty! Let the Khan think he has won and overstretch himself while at home the treacherous Aristoi come out of there hiding like vultures. And then, they will both be crushed by the rightful imperial might!

*looks to a nondiscriptiv person in the shadows* Right that way? Yes? Good. … of curse I'm a true believer!
 
I realize I must tread carefully here, given my recent lapse... So here goes: as always, the contrast between the obviously falsified and misleading screenshots and the shining truth as reported in the Imperial history is very revealing. Is there any reason why possibly some minor skirmishes that did not involve Timur the Witch-Khan directly ended up with such a huge disparity in losses? Surely the barbarians from the East can't be technologically more advanced or tactically more sophisticated than the Bastion of Christendom, the Roman Empire?

This defeat is a hard blow. Losing Antioch and Syria is bad enough - losing most of your army is even worse. I hope for a respite for the Empire, but with Timur, the Il-Khanate and the Aztecs all circling like vultures, I don't expect you'll get one.
 
I realize I must tread carefully here, given my recent lapse... So here goes: as always, the contrast between the obviously falsified and misleading screenshots and the shining truth as reported in the Imperial history is very revealing. Is there any reason why possibly some minor skirmishes that did not involve Timur the Witch-Khan directly ended up with such a huge disparity in losses? Surely the barbarians from the East can't be technologically more advanced or tactically more sophisticated than the Bastion of Christendom, the Roman Empire?

This defeat is a hard blow. Losing Antioch and Syria is bad enough - losing most of your army is even worse. I hope for a respite for the Empire, but with Timur, the Il-Khanate and the Aztecs all circling like vultures, I don't expect you'll get one.

This.

I am also very interrested in your "out of the book of Truth of Holy House Angelos" strategy. As far as I can tell, the outsiders always outnumbers you, either dramatically or by a nice number. But the loss seems so huge. I see there the action of all the combined cavalry of the easterners. Yet, on the battle of Halba, you have a huge number of archers and heavy infantry which could have balanced in the skirmish phase the battle. The strength of each leader seem balanced, with at least a 20+ martial general on each flank. So, the utterly defeat and losses are still a mystery for me.

Edit: also why the chief of Azerbaïdjan wanted to kill you ?
 
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The "old world" will tremble before the might of the Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, the Aztec Empire!
Tlaloc, god of Thunder, rain and earthquakes will bring terrible disasters upon the blasphemous infidels of this continent!
Thousands and thousands more will be sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca, god of night, sorcery and destiny, none can stop the purging of this continent, not even the city of Constantine!
Tonatiuh, the Great Sun God himself leads the righteous Aztec people to their triumph!

But seriously, things are not looking good for the Empire, i hope that the Iron Khan can be stopped before his hordes stand at the Gulf of Bosporus.
 
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The "old world" will tremble before the might of the Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, the Aztec Empire!
Tlaloc, god of Thunder, rain and earthquakes will bring terrible disasters upon the blasphemous infidels of this continent!
Thousands and thousands more will be sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca, god of night, sorcery and destiny, none can stop the purging of this continent, not even the city of Constantine!
Tonatiuh, the Great Sun God himself leads the righteous Aztec people to their triumph!

But seriously, things are not looking good for the Empire, i hope that the Iron Khan can be stopped before his hordes stand at the Gulf of Bosporus.

Such Blasphemy!!!
 
Well good luck. Paradox seems to be first company that patches games too often!
Haha, yeah something like this :)
I understand completely your fear about a war on a duchy CB against the Aztec .Truly, House Angelos is the only bearer of the Heavenly Mandate given by God and Iesus Kristos Themselves to your house. This divine mandate explain why the Roman Empire will crumble - and with it the foundation of Earth - should another house took the Throne of Saint Markos.
Precisely - it's too much of a risk to be even considered as long as eastern limes are under a constant threat of invasion. Glory to the House Angelos!
Nice to see you've locked the two unstoppable Hordes in war with each other for the foreseeable future. However, it would be best to let them remain as such, because if one prevails over the other, the victor will emerge stronger than ever before. So, assassinating strong leaders is the way to go?
Was there ever any doubt about this? Death is the only answer. And yeah, I hope both Hordes will eventually collapse due to constant wars and internal conflicts.
Erm... The power of Christ compels me to withdraw my false accusations. I believe I was possesed by one of those Aztec demons and I was helpless to fight its vile machinations. I will retreat to a distant, undisclosed, monastary and pray for my redemption for the remainder of my time.
Truly you should pray for mercy of Our Lord, sinner, for the Throne has none.
I forgive you, but will Czokletmuss? Perhaps at the Monastary then you will learn not to question the absolute purity and grace formed by the Glorious Saint Markos, (My his soul be blessed and praised) the formidable Bulwark against the Infidels, Xenoi, and Heretics. The Holy Roman Empire and Pisans are Orthodox in name only, no doubt in secret service with the blasphemous Bishop of Rome. May the blessed CzokletMuss God give you salvation
That's the spirit of a true servant of the Imperium - Augustus would be proud!
Now, with that out of the way, let's focus on the future of the Empire. I'm glad to hear you're persevering, even with patch changes and corrupted saves throwing you curveballs. I guess that, as long as you can keep the Aztecs from attacking during the CKII phase, you might be in a better position to deal with them in EUIV (when you no longer have to worry about the complete destruction of your Empire in a few short wars, or all those uppity Doukai who stand ready to challenge your claim to the throne).
Thanks, I was really concerned about a possibility of losing all this due to save corruption - it would be such a shame to not be able to continue this in EU4! We're talking about a global scale and another 400 years and without any doubt a lot of xenoi blood has to be spilled before Romaioi will be even with the invaders.
I have found your AAR yesterday and have read it up to date by now and... wow, it's great. A grimdark europe, court intrigues in Constantinople, a fight for survival against the tides of the hordes... its exiting, enthralling and quite well written. I will definitely follow it from now on, so much is sure.
Thank you very much, I appreciate it :)
Your Ill-Khanate really puts fear in me. I'm playing at the moment the crusader kingdom of Edessa (first the duchy, then the renamed Kingdom of Armenia) and I'm in the late 11th century, so the Mongols should arrive soon. Right after I broke the muslim empires in the region, so I can't use them as a shield. Nice Job braking it, hero.
Oh boy, that wasn't a good idea. I suggest you conquer Cyprus quickly before the Horde arrives - you know, just in case. It's in de jure Greece so it'll take some time before they'll declare invasion on ERE; btw how are the Romans doing in your save?
By the way, I wondered what happened to the Golden Horde in your game. Didn't they arrive at all or were they beaten?
I will show this in "Chronicle of the House Angelos - part 3" but long story short - the Ilkhanate devoured it.

Everytime I am reading this AAR I am afraid more and more of the appearance of the Aztecs in my own game. Almost a century in (Old Gods start). The AI has done some progress in expanding the empire but my machinations as a Duke did more to that than I did for my Duchy. I brought Bulgaria and Georgia into the fold after using marriage and dagger and my house rules the empire. The only thing I need to do now is kill my Duke so that I continue as the emperor but I wonder...Should I expand up the Crimea or leave it to the Cumans so I can have a buffer when the Hordes arrive? And what about Arabia? The seljuks will arrive there too and who knows what else.... Anyway enough with mine. Your situation is quite critical (then again when it wasn't in this game :) )
Well, as you can see Italy is a good choice if you are looking for a save heaven - it's far enough from the Hordes and several de jure kingdoms away from where the Aztecs land, so I suggest you start thinking about conquering Sicily :)

I suggest you make a string of assassinations, kill both Timur and his successors, replacing their leaders in such quick succession will cause internal strife and perhaps might spark seceding Tengri lords to rebel before they convert them. If that happens it might prompt the stronger Ilkhanate factions to retaliatory strike said seceding rebelling Timurids and in the end create absolute chaos to their realms, resulting in multiple same strength magnates locked into eternal war. Well in theory at least.
That's the plan basically - if everything goes well, the East will fracture in dozens of petty realms. But then again, when antything went well in this game? :>
QUOTE=Pilot00;17172151]Yeah the Aztecs, typed in a rush.
I keep studying the map in EUIV and try to cross reference their holdings in Europe from what you post and what they have in the Americas and...I think the war in EU4 will be a manpower one. And not only that but the colonies in Africa will decide the victor. Perhaps you need to remove the Aztec African presence from CK2 to allow you to colonize Africa unhindered in EUIV.
The Empire should set its sights on East Africa and India
That's a good idea but I would have to time the attack so that the Aztecs are busy somewhere far away from Africa. Plus when I convert the save I won't be able to play Ironman anyways, so I'm thinking about using some mods and tweaking the converter since it's rather rough on the edges. But before yesr 1444 comes a lot can change.
Noooooooo! The monstrous horse-lords have stolen a pentarchy seat and the Emperor! They must pay for their sins. Luckily in EUIV, you'll have technology on your side.
Ahem - you know there's something like High American, don't you?
So, the Grandmaster died while facing Timur the Witch-khan. Interesting.
Witch-khan of the East. I like it.
Thrilling. I like how the incredible imperial propaganda, ähm, I meant the true and grand imperial historiography tells the tale of the brave and grand victories of the imperial army before the Battle of Halbah. And surly, only black magic and the influence of devils and demons was able to stop you from certain victory! But that it merely a setback. Yes, I would even say, it's all part of a cunning plan of the Angelos dynasty! Let the Khan think he has won and overstretch himself while at home the treacherous Aristoi come out of there hiding like vultures. And then, they will both be crushed by the rightful imperial might!
*looks to a nondiscriptiv person in the shadows* Right that way? Yes? Good. … of curse I'm a true believer!
But of course, it was just a part of another brilliant plan of Augustus designed to destroy the enemies of Iesus Kristos and His beloved Imperium. God is with us and so we have to face daemons and spirits of Darkness - but even Diabolos and the Dark Powers worshipped by xenoi are dust compared to the might of One True God. The Imperium shall be victorious and the barbarians are going to pay with blood for what they did!
It is said that no man can kill him...
May God have pity on his Orthodox and only church, and on Holy House Angelos.
Let's just hope he doesn't have war oliphants elephants. And yes, among all the Great Houses of the Imperium blessed House Angelos shines like a dome of Hagia Sophia in the sunlight.
I realize I must tread carefully here, given my recent lapse... So here goes: as always, the contrast between the obviously falsified and misleading screenshots and the shining truth as reported in the Imperial history is very revealing. Is there any reason why possibly some minor skirmishes that did not involve Timur the Witch-Khan directly ended up with such a huge disparity in losses? Surely the barbarians from the East can't be technologically more advanced or tactically more sophisticated than the Bastion of Christendom, the Roman Empire?
Well, some traitors whisper in the shadows about mistakes made by the strategoi, something they call "misclick" while ordering the armies to march. Others say it was because of the attrition that the huge imperial forces shrank before they faced the enemy. But not even agents of House Doukas are mad enough to claim that eastern barbarians are more civilized than Romaioi!
This defeat is a hard blow. Losing Antioch and Syria is bad enough - losing most of your army is even worse. I hope for a respite for the Empire, but with Timur, the Il-Khanate and the Aztecs all circling like vultures, I don't expect you'll get one.
I don't know when exactly the next chapter is going to be ready but I can already say that yeah, the Imperium won't catch any break

This.
I am also very interrested in your "out of the book of Truth of Holy House Angelos" strategy. As far as I can tell, the outsiders always outnumbers you, either dramatically or by a nice number. But the loss seems so huge. I see there the action of all the combined cavalry of the easterners. Yet, on the battle of Halba, you have a huge number of archers and heavy infantry which could have balanced in the skirmish phase the battle. The strength of each leader seem balanced, with at least a 20+ martial general on each flank. So, the utterly defeat and losses are still a mystery for me.
It was totally my fault; you see, the Timur and his atrition-resistan army was marching to the coast:
0NOVpGj.jpg


So I prepared an ambush for the AI - classic manouver really:
YlJiFxl.jpg


What I didn't notice however when checking when they are going to arrive in county (so that I can make it so that my reinforcements arrive few days later) was that they weren't attacking the bait (my main army) at all:
OYDAzBe.jpg


Before the main army arrived, morale was low and casualties were already quite big. So that's why I lost only using blasphemous magic and terrible dark spells Iron Khan was able to won the battle of Halbah.
Edit: also why the chief of Azerbaïdjan wanted to kill you ?
I wanted to murder Timur so that his son (13 years old if I remember correctly) would inherit the realm. It didn't work out obviously...
The "old world" will tremble before the might of the Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, the Aztec Empire!
Tlaloc, god of Thunder, rain and earthquakes will bring terrible disasters upon the blasphemous infidels of this continent!
Thousands and thousands more will be sacrificed to Tezcatlipoca, god of night, sorcery and destiny, none can stop the purging of this continent, not even the city of Constantine!
Tonatiuh, the Great Sun God himself leads the righteous Aztec people to their triumph!
Such Blasphemy!!!
YgHaBcn.jpg

But you know what? This could be an awesome AAR - would anyone be interested in getting this save converted to EU4 so that he can use it for making Inca/Aztec/Horde AAR in alternate timeline (in regard to my AAR)?
But seriously, things are not looking good for the Empire, i hope that the Iron Khan can be stopped before his hordes stand at the Gulf of Bosporus.
It will never come to this - the Angeloi protect!
 
Ahem - you know there's something like High American, don't you?[QUOTE/]

I mean the Timurids, they'll slowly fall behind, so at least they will no longer be a problem. That is unless they Westernize, or destroy you first.
 
Ahem - you know there's something like High American, don't you?

I mean the Timurids, they'll slowly fall behind, so at least they will no longer be a problem. That is unless they Westernize, or destroy you first.
The problem is High American is treated as Western when EU4 decides whether you can westernize. So every country sharing a border with Aztec dominion is going to be able to westernize (I kid you not).
 
The problem is High American is treated as Western when EU4 decides whether you can westernize. So every country sharing a border with Aztec dominion is going to be able to westernize (I kid you not).

I know about the Aztecs, but the Timurids are mongol, so they'll won't get high American.