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The attorneys that I sent after Steven Spielberg for stealing my title will soon be in touch, sir. ;) Otherwise, fine work. :)

Gah, knew I shoulda looked around and checked the title more, Oh well, My apologies.

Cathay is wising up here, and that's necessary. Ushering in the new era with a modernized banner and name for the country, two successful wars against their most obvious threats, and securing the heir is all fantastic. Here's hoping Diane earns her nickname from her enemies, not her citizens.

The Great Aegyptian Empire already falling into civil war is a shame, I was hoping they'd stabilize and be the region's major power.

Yea, the East ended up being a bit of a mess, a Shame too becuase it had such a cool balance of power in Ck2, only for the converter to royally screw all but Persia in that region.

Man, abandoning incest really has worked wonders, hasn't it?

Turns out every other ruler not being a Lunatic tends to help. Who knew? :p

And so it begins, I'm excited to see what if anything you've done to the New World.

I don't wanna disappoint but I did pretty much keep it vanilla this time. Mostly becuase I do intend on colonizing and any sort of fun nations I throw in the New world will find themselves killed really quick. However I do have good news in that the AI is now MUCH better at colonizing. There will be no less than 5 big players in America, and several minor ones as well, So thats nice.
 
Yes, surprisingly small gains from the war, very restrained.
 
Cathay grows stronger and keeps its allies happy. A simple affair, but still excellent all the same.
 
I already have to go back and reread this in order to properly understand what Cathay managed to accomplish in that last war. But I think it's good that you managed to crush Germany, since now you have no actual enemies with borders.

So since you converted as Zunist that means the Treaty of Tordesillas event won't fire right? So instead of there being a few blobs in the New World we might get a bunch of colonial nations forming right?
 
Why did I not receive notifications for this?! Missed too many updates already!:mad:

A bit late to the party, but here's to Cathay restoring its empire. I see you've removed your cores. Will you add back claims at some point?

This may have been pointed out already, but the flag of Cathay looks suspiciously like the Guomindang's symbol. Looks like Sun Yatsen and Chiang Kai-Shek arrived early here.:p
 
Yes, surprisingly small gains from the war, very restrained.
Very. But Cathay needs more land to secure her back while venturing out into the great unknown!
 
Chapter 4: A Kiss and a Rose
Chapter 4: The 1st Solar League
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Peace in Central Europe, did not always mean peace everywhere. While Cathay, Ferrara and Bohemia lorded over their victory unrest was picking up elsewhere, notably in Britain where the English Monarch had died suddenly at a young age while engaged in a war with the Scottish to the North. England, previously a governorship of Cathay, and even centuries later the ruling elite of the Kingdom saw little need to involve the nobility in establishing the formal rights of the monarch and other classes within the country.

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This had also meant that no laws of succession had been drawn out should the King die without a legal heir. Now of course the King was dead and the capital was in the hands of Lord Regent Idris of York one of the powerful vassals of the Kingdom, but whos closest royal relation was to the King of Sweden, a foreign power.

Worst still was that the previous King William's wars within the Isles had made enemies of the Irish (Who had Northern Ireland taken from them), The Welsh, and of course Scotland who now were all eagerly supporting rival claimants within the great Power's court in hopes that chaos in England would give them opportunity to retake thier lands.

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The Kingdom of Ireland, knew immediately that it's isolation from Britain proper set it at a disadvantage in England and so found a sponsor not on Britain itself but further across the Straights of Dover in Queen Elizabeth of Cathay. The Cathay had no reason to return to the Green Isle in the future and were eager to offset England's future power in the region as well as to establish a valuable alliance.

Ireland of course was the major stopping point for traders wishing to avoid the Pirates and so held a large navy for protecting both the Island and it's trade interests in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. With the Irish on board, any future Naval power of england would be heavily offset by rival powers, perhaps doing more to weaken the Kingdom than any temporary dynastic unrest.​

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In Bohemia's sphere events were also moving quickly. In Poland King Konrad had re-established the rights of the Sjem upon his succession to the Throne there and to officially organize the Kingdoms of Bohemia and Poland into a more perfect and permanent political entity, the Sjem was given powers to rule the Kingdom of Poland in Konrad's name in perpetuity. The Sjem as their first act would be to establish a ruling council away from Krakow, eventually choosing the City of Warsaw on the Vistula River.​

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Bohemia meanwhile formally declared war on the Kingdom of Denmark citing that the Kingdom of Denmark had no rightful claim to the Pommeranian lands the crown currently occupied. Bohemia's claim of course was just as frivolous but, of course Bohemia had allies and the might of the Polish crown behind it. Denmark lacked both such things and soon found itself quickly being overrun.​

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In Cathay Elizabeth II was enjoying her newfound status as one of the Great Monarchs of the world yet again. With new and exciting technologies populating the regions of southern France Elizabeth saw such a time to be an opportunity to invite artists, intellectuals and famous nobles back to Ventralis for a grand ball.​

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While mostly a waste of Money, the Elizabethan Ball would bring with it the mind and loyalty of one Rodrigo de Valenz a bonafide 'Renaissance Man' who had made several strikes in fields both artistic and scientific. Rodrigo and Elizabeth's shared interest in the fields of Science and art would lead to Elizabeth's creation of several academies dedicated to art, science and the military throughout the nation.​

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Such advancements would well and truly being what was known as The Renaissance north into France and Cathay. Ventralis while not the heart of the Renaissance would become yet another organ in the engine bringing progress to Europe. Decades in the future, Rodrigo de Valenz and his workshop both would be considered vital parts of what made the renaissance what it was, and dozens of cultural interpretations would make the most famous man in Elizabethan Cathay one of the most famous in history.​

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In this time, the Duke of Burgundy impressed by the Cathay to his northern border and fearing for his safety against the Germans and Occitans around him, formally swore fealty to Elizabeth II. Though such an arrangement was more symbolic than practical as the Crown of Burgundy remained almost fully autonomous only sending a small amount of tax and political support to Cathay in comparison to Luxembourg which was for all intensive purposes part of Cathay itself with only nominal independence.​

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In this time the tensions in England finally boiled over following the assassination of Lord Regent Idris of York. Idris, honorable to the last had located the bastard son of King William in Scotland, and intended to name the boy King. Upon hearing of this news, a member of the Royal Court, Henry of Lancaster had his personal guard, as well as the local London militia arrest Idris and force a confession that Idris intended to name himself King, where afterwards he was promptly executed by Henry's favored claimant, the young Prince Roger of Wales.

In response, Idris' daughter Constance declared a revolt and started a march on London with aid from the Scottish and Idris' favored heir, William of Lothian. Who many onlookers abroad expected to marry Constance of York provided house York stood victorious.​

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Ireland in the meantime had secured Ulster yet again and made moves to guarantee it's protection against whoever claimed victory in the English Civil War. Ireland would enter into a treaty of protection and mutual respect and friendship with Cathay, with Cathay being the obvious and dominant partner in the relationship. A compromise but one that would ultimately keep the Emerald Isle safe.​

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Elizabeth meanwhile prepared for a second round against the Hanseatic Republic. The intent was clear, with germany Humbled and the Hansa in full collapse the rich dutch lands needed to be secured by Cathay first and her Swedish allies after. The war would also provide ample opportunity for the Crown Princess to test her new toys, adopted from the spanish not long after the Elizabethan Ball.​

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Gunpowder had already been a stable of armies for well over a century. Brought from China Europeans first simply used the material as it was intended for fireworks and parlour tricks. It did not take long before sappers began to use it in large quantities to undermine walls, and later develop cannons to siege castles from afar. The Germans while not the inventors of the Arquebus had brought it to the battlefield enmass and this had impressed Princess Diane that her Mother's Infantry first doctrine required such a weapon fielded in quantities never seen before to be the future of armies across Europe.

After all, Feudal levies needed to be trained sometimes for months, and had equipment of varying quality, something that Royalist forces in Cathay's past had abused during the various civil wars of the Empire, where the more professional royal guard would easily deal with the primarily unprofessional armies of the outer provinces. With the army smaller than ever before Cathay needed every last edge over the quantity based armies of its enemies and using miniaturized cannons over crossbows or longbows to Diane was simply a natural evolution of warfare.​

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The War ultimately would be a slaughter and the Hansa would beg for peace in short order, ceding more of the Netherlands to Cathay but also very importantly, the province of Neva to Sweden. Neva was especially significant becuase of its position within Russia. The Hansa had originally take the province for control of the Neva river, and thus control of the trade coming from Russia and with Russia now developing the city was in a crucial place for the future. Sweden of course was now in control of the city and thus in control of the Russian trade coming into the Baltic Sea.​

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With the success of her doctrine, Elizabeth turned south to Avalon to exploit the situation in England as much as possible. After all with England in the midst of one of its worst civil wars yet the Avalonians, whos only notable ally was England were once again alone. No time was wasted and the Imperial army left the Lowlands and turned south.​

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Like against the Hansa the war was short, quick and relatively bloodless. One major battle marked the day and the Avalonians, fearful of Cathay's Arquebusiers quit the field almost immediately, and later sued for peace ceding the remainder of Normandy and Anjou to Cathay, a harsh deal that would be looked on with unease by most of France and Germany but one that would ultimately end the Threat of Avalon, forever.​

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With two successful wars the Course of Cathay was certain, Guns were the future, what had seemed like pure lunacy a mere decade in the past had humbled two nations that had given Uther the Hammer pause. The ability to quickly train and mobilize an army using a more standard weapon had power. Gunpowder had finally provided a means of producing large amounts of such weapons for the army, and Elizabeth herself would ultimately take a special interest in their engineering and construction.

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A New Age of warfare was dawning, One not of individual skill at arms or prestige on the battlefield, but of Gunpowder.



 
Yes, surprisingly small gains from the war, very restrained.

If you will look at the peace deal you'll see exactly why, Rome was quite the heavy weight to take, and chewed up a large amount of warscore, but it was worth it to keep Sicily from growing too strong.

I already have to go back and reread this in order to properly understand what Cathay managed to accomplish in that last war. But I think it's good that you managed to crush Germany, since now you have no actual enemies with borders.

So since you converted as Zunist that means the Treaty of Tordesillas event won't fire right? So instead of there being a few blobs in the New World we might get a bunch of colonial nations forming right?

Yep, No ToT, Its a complete free for all. You guys will see the results.

Why did I not receive notifications for this?! Missed too many updates already!:mad:

A bit late to the party, but here's to Cathay restoring its empire. I see you've removed your cores. Will you add back claims at some point?

This may have been pointed out already, but the flag of Cathay looks suspiciously like the Guomindang's symbol. Looks like Sun Yatsen and Chiang Kai-Shek arrived early here.:p

Nah dont need the claims they are easy enough to come by in Eu4, and I can use the extra tax on my Monarch Points.

And Yes, that is the National Chinese Sun, I originally was going to make a Zunist one buy my MS paint skills are fairly lacking, so I stole it. Looks rather nice though, and it will mean in the far future I can use a roundel that was actually used IRL for pictures far later in the campaign.
 
Nah dont need the claims they are easy enough to come by in Eu4, and I can use the extra tax on my Monarch Points.
I assume you'll be going for full reunification then, for the extra challenge?
And Yes, that is the National Chinese Sun, I originally was going to make a Zunist one buy my MS paint skills are fairly lacking, so I stole it. Looks rather nice though, and it will mean in the far future I can use a roundel that was actually used IRL for pictures far later in the campaign.
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek smiles upon you. The Japanese better tremble in fear!:p
 
Cathay's influence and power grows. The Renaissance is an entirely appropriate term :D
 
Two more successful wars, making Ireland a tribute state, and being at the heart of the Renaissance of gunpowder... For such a rough start, Cathay is bouncing back quite nicely.
 
Chapter 5: The Spanish Wars Begin
Chapter 5: The Spanish Wars
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While a balance of Power was being established in Central Europe and Civil War being fought in Britain the Situation in Spain had remained eerily quiet. Andalucia had as predicted asserted its authority over the lion's share of Iberia but remained thwarted by other minor powers with foreign allies. The only power that the Andalusians could openly go to war with was the Knights of Santiago who due to their religion found themselves strapped for allies.

After some time Andalucia had even managed to drive the Knights out of Iberia proper save for a small amounts of loyal coastline. Coming from high of conquest the Kingdom of Andalusia formally declared thier intent to unify the Peninsula, drawing in a feared enemy, The Growing Power of Ferrara to the East.

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For the Ferrarans a Unified Spain simply was unacceptable, Nonetheless a Spain unified by Andalucia would challenge Ferrara's control over the Western Mediterranean and her Trade lanes to Her allies in Western Europe. Thus backing the Knights of Santiago the Kingdom of Ferrara arrived on the continent with intent to contain the Spanish situation. However that too would not go according to plans, as the Knights quickly found themselves unable to retake thier home territories and the Ferrarans found themselves bogged down within the arid spanish interior.​

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After years of Stalemate the worst finally had come about, the Complete Collapse of Andalucia upon the death of the Monarch leading to the open revolt the great merchant cities within the Kingdom. The Ferrarans having made peace for some minor monetary concessions had of course achieved what they had set out to do by proxy but had earned them the Ire of most of Europe who watched has spain descended into complete anarchy.​

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Bohemia meanwhile was continuing their push up the River elbe, seizing all the Lands up to the Baltic Coastline, as well as the city of Berlin for themselves from the crown of Denmark. While these lands were relatively poor, this move was very significant for the balance within the Bohemian-Polish Union as now the Bohemians no longer required the Poles for access to the sea. This meant that Polish Taxes on trade levied by the Sjem could now be ignored, and over the next few decades Berlin would becoming a buzzing hive of activity as a major city along the Elbe river and Bohemia's access to the sea.​

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Elizabeth now entering old age had set forth a new Policy. Despite years of investigation and no results Elizabeth remained certain that lands far to the west not only existed but could be found and claimed. Forces within court of course would make such a policy a fantasy and instead directed much of the Prestige and international influence of Cathay on other far more important matters such as the formalization of Dejure and Governorship laws, as well as Emergency provisions for the army to save on maintenance costs during warfare.​

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Internationally, with Chaos in Britain, Cathay expanded it's sphere of minor allies to Include the Crowns of Caledon and Wales, both in an effort to contain england but also to ensure the fighting within England itself would not spill over to other countries as it had in spain. Eventually this sphere would expand yet again to include the Princedom of Poitou to the South as well as several other French minor states.​

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A successful monarch in almost every respect Elizabeth finally passed complaining of stomach pains. While in the past accusations of poison would immediately float around, Medical science Elizabeth herself had supported had quickly revealed she had died of bleeding from her stomach.

Her Successor would be the now Famous Diane the Terrible, for she was feared the world over for her skill at arms both on and off the battlefield. Diane, not nearly as eccentric as her mother wasted no time settling into the affairs of ruling the new Cathayan state and continuing the reforms of her grandfather. The most significant of these reforms would be far ahead of its time.​

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Known popularly as the 'Roman Acts' Diane banned or dissolved thousands of redundant and useless titles in use in the country, formalizing the nobility in a far more restrictive and structured class, and unlanded Counts, Barons and even Dukes within the country has their titles officially stripped. However these reforms would come two sided as such an act alone would greatly anger the second estate.

With the dissolution of redundant noble titles, those that remained would be formalized and guaranteed by law, and thus the granting of Nobility in exchange for monetary or other payment was banned in entirety. The only way to become a Noble was through act of the Sovereign, or through blood relation or marriage. Similarly this also extended to ranks within the army tied to the nobility, meaning that Diane now had full control over Generalship and leadership within the army.​

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The result of these reforms would first and foremost be the dissolution of the Autonomy of Luxembourg. After nearly a century the Princedom had finally been reabsorbed by the Khitan crown. Prince Robert of Luxembourg would retain the title until his death, where it would be reclaimed by Diane, his Granddaughter. From that point forwards the Crown Prince or Princess of Cathay would be given the title Princedom of Luxembourg while the Second in line would often be given the title Prince of Normandy.​

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On matters of Warfare Diane remained on the cutting edge, adopting widespread use of Bronze cannons as soon as they became available for use. In doing so, the Price of Copper skyrocketed, notably in Sicily who controlled a valuable mine in Bulgaria. As the only other source of Copper readily available for Cathay was in Germany, the Sicilian-Khitan copper trade would soon become an essential aspect of Diane's foreign policy.​

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Of course as expected Diane would go to war, notably with the Dukedom of Brunswick, which was wracked with a long regency and few allies. The war of course was mostly to ensure the continued advance of Cathay along the Northern Coastline of Europe.

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In short order Brunwich was surrender a significant portion of it's northern Coastline to Diane. Though Brunswick ultimately was not Diane's ultimate goal, as it had few allies and little territory actually worth Taking. However the army needed a warmup for the main event. After all there were far larger fish to fry.​

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Like her mother before her, Diane would march on Germany.​




 
I assume you'll be going for full reunification then, for the extra challenge?

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek smiles upon you. The Japanese better tremble in fear!:p

Actually no, becuase Tributaries, and also becuase I wanted to avoid becoming too much like France. It'll make more sense at the time, but the situation in Southern France in particular gets rather interesting.

And so, Avalon is a de facto Brittany.

They don't even last long enough for that unfortunately. :p I didn't show it but Poitou basically went to war with them almost immediately after I beat up on them and they took peices of Brittany, only some of which gets released before the next screenshot Showing the channel region.
 
Can the Knights take advantage of the Spanish chaos I wonder?

And farewell Germany, or so it seems.
 
Good bye Luxembourg. Looks like Cathay will be both France and Netherlands of this timeline. Also, Germany is once more a Khitan punching bag...I guess.
Fretherlands? Netherfrance? Francerlands?