Chapter 3
Peter was feeling quite happy with himself. Controlling 85% of the Holy Roman Empire he was looking forward to be named the Holy Roman Emperor. He was in for a nasty surprise. The Pope, Julius II, named Isabel y Fernando, the co-monarchs of Spain, joint Holy Roman Emperor despite them not owning a single province anywhere near the Holy Roman Empire. Peter sent an angry letter pointing out the Julius' obvious mistake to him. He soon received a letter back from Julius stating, "Questioning my decisions will get you ex-communicated." Now Peter was a religious man, and although this insult consumed most of his waking thoughts, he decided his didn't really want to risk the wrath of God's representative on earth (and therefore God himself), so he let it simmer in the back of his mind and instead arranged for the assasination of Maximillian, the former Holy Roman Emperor and monarch of Austria, whom Peter was sure had put Julius up to this absurd decision. Peter felt there was no good reason to leave Maximillian in a postion to possibly cause him any future problems.
However Julius II's insult continued to torment Peter. Peter's obsessing left him rather narrowminded, so much that some of his decisions destabilized the Empire (+1 narrowmindedness, stability -1). It reached an extreme later in 1507, and he had to be confined for his own protection (Temporary Insanity of the Monarch).
This perceived weakness of the monarch caused some the nobles to ally with Lithuania early in 1508 (nobles ally with foreign power, stability -2). Lithuania having little territory worth taking and not wanting to upset the rest of the Europe further so soon after the annexation of Austria, Peter made the decision to avoid war this time. However Peter's continued obsession about his disloyal nobles forced him to be confined again in 1510 (Temporary Insanity of the Monarch again).
1511 was a better year. Peter regained his sanity, diplo-vassalized Bavaria, and married Louise, the daughter Albrecht IV, the Duke of Bavaria. The union was blessed with the births of Dietrich in 1512, Gertrude in 1513 and Volker in 1515.
1512 saw an attempt made to diplo-annex Denmark, but Hans, King of Denmark, angrily declined to become part of the Kirstein Empire and cancelled his vassalization with the Empire. Hans slipped and apparently fell out of a window in one of the higher towers of his castle a short time later . The new monarch Christian II was more agreeable and Denmark was revassalized (diplomatically) in 1514 (1513 having been spent fighting corruption at a cost of -1 stability and 100 ducats).
Peter was getting frustrated. France, England, Portugal and Spain had all made major discoveries in the New World and had started to send over colonists and traders. Despite pouring considerable sums of money into improving his naval technology (level 5 in 1507, level 6 in 1513), he had been unable to get even one conquistador or explorer to undertake an expedition into the unknown for him. Even worse, despite fairly good relationships with all the colonial powers, all had been consistently refusing his attempts to trade (or even buy) maps of the new world. Then in 1514 came news of something called the Treaty of Torsedillas. Peter's frustration turned to rage at the news that the entire New World had been divided between Portugal and Spain. Peter wanted war. There was only one problem: no Casus Belli. And considering his reputation was already very bad he couldn't just declare war without a good reason. So he sent warnings and insults to all the colonial powers hoping someone would take the bait. Unfortunately the colonial powers just ignored him, which enraged him even more.
Finally in 1516 Francois I of France made a mistake. Francois had recently been map-hunting in Iberia himself (having occupied the provinces of both Lisbon and Madrid while in a recent war) and now swollen with pride, he made the error of insulting a diplomat of the Empire. The Empire immediately declared war on France and were joined by our allies and vassals, Denmark and Bavaria. France was joined by Eire, Savoy and Bohemia. Sweden, falsely believing the Empire could not handle a multi-front war, declared war on Denmark 3 days later and was joined by the Norwegians. The Empire joined in the war against Sweden and Norway, but Bavaria dishonoured our alliance. After reassuring words from Peter, Wilhlem IV, the new Duke of Bavaria rejoined our alliance. Several weeks later Scotland joined the French alliance. The nobles of the Empire were enthusiatic to be at war as well and a gift to the state (+100 ducats) was added to the treasury.
The war went well and the provinces of France soon fell to us. First Zeeland, then Flandern, followed in quick succession by Artois, Calais, Bourgogne and Picardie. The Empire refused multiple offers of peace from France as the goal was Paris and the maps in the royal palace. Paris (and the maps to 247 new provinces and sea zones) were finally ours in the spring of 1518, and France accepted our offer of vassalization. Unfortunately there were only 10-15 uncolonized territories to be found, which combined with the Treaty of Torsedillas, would make future colonization difficult.
The war with France over, Peter had time to focus on two other disturbing events. In 1516 the Pope had named Carlos I of Spain Holy Roman Emperor. Peter decided he would just ignore the Pope from now on as the Empire was firmly in his control and there was nothing the Pope could do about it. The second event was the Reformation. While Peter could see why people would be upset with the Catholic church and some of the Pope's assine decisions, most of Europe was Catholic and he enough problems with his reputation as it was. So he decided to let the Protestants do whatever they wanted (increase tolerance to Protestants to maximum), but send missionaries to try to convert as many back to Catholism as he could.
The next few years were spent destroying regiments of the Swedish and Norwegian armies as the Danish army no longer existed and the bloodthirsty Swedes obviously couldn't recognize a lost cause. Meanwhile Peter (and the Empire) become even more narrowminded (stability -1), but settled a boundry dispute with our vassals Bavaria (stability +1). Finally in December of 1521 the Swedes realized the error of their ways and agreed to peace terms (152 ducats to the Kirstein Empire). Denmark went bankrupt several months later. Bavaria declined our offer to become part of the Empire in 1522, and the revolting provinces of Silesia and Wielkopolska defected to Bavaria from Poland that year.
1523 saw our first colony established in Aires. Peter declared war on the Maya later that year figuring if there wasn't very much unoccupied territory to be colonized, he could at least take some of the territories occupied by other countries. The war went well, and Maya gave us Tlaxcala and Guatemuela for peace. Christian II of Denmark, having gone through bankruptcy and a difficult war in the last ten years, and feeling his prospects were better as part of the Empire become Duke of Denmark, as the Empire added the provinces of Jutland and Sjaelland (Denmark diplo-annexed) in 1524. Zapotec was the next target and soon gave up the provinces of Tehuacan and Tehuantepec for peace. Bavaria seeing the increased power of the Empire also agreed to join a short time later (Bavaria diplo-annexed in 1525) adding the provinces of Bayern, Arnsbach, Brandenburg, Silesia and Wielkopolska.
1525 Summary
Provinces 46
40 cities(36 in Europe)
2 colonies
4 trading posts
Manpower 180
BB Points 28
Monthly Income 119
Census Taxes 402
Stability +1
Inflation 16%
Technology
Land 11
Naval 6
Trade 3
Infrastructure 3
Alliances none
Vassals France
1525 Screenshot of Europe - 450kB
1525 Screenshot of Europe - 200kB
1525 Screenshot of Central America
Peter was feeling quite happy with himself. Controlling 85% of the Holy Roman Empire he was looking forward to be named the Holy Roman Emperor. He was in for a nasty surprise. The Pope, Julius II, named Isabel y Fernando, the co-monarchs of Spain, joint Holy Roman Emperor despite them not owning a single province anywhere near the Holy Roman Empire. Peter sent an angry letter pointing out the Julius' obvious mistake to him. He soon received a letter back from Julius stating, "Questioning my decisions will get you ex-communicated." Now Peter was a religious man, and although this insult consumed most of his waking thoughts, he decided his didn't really want to risk the wrath of God's representative on earth (and therefore God himself), so he let it simmer in the back of his mind and instead arranged for the assasination of Maximillian, the former Holy Roman Emperor and monarch of Austria, whom Peter was sure had put Julius up to this absurd decision. Peter felt there was no good reason to leave Maximillian in a postion to possibly cause him any future problems.
However Julius II's insult continued to torment Peter. Peter's obsessing left him rather narrowminded, so much that some of his decisions destabilized the Empire (+1 narrowmindedness, stability -1). It reached an extreme later in 1507, and he had to be confined for his own protection (Temporary Insanity of the Monarch).
This perceived weakness of the monarch caused some the nobles to ally with Lithuania early in 1508 (nobles ally with foreign power, stability -2). Lithuania having little territory worth taking and not wanting to upset the rest of the Europe further so soon after the annexation of Austria, Peter made the decision to avoid war this time. However Peter's continued obsession about his disloyal nobles forced him to be confined again in 1510 (Temporary Insanity of the Monarch again).
1511 was a better year. Peter regained his sanity, diplo-vassalized Bavaria, and married Louise, the daughter Albrecht IV, the Duke of Bavaria. The union was blessed with the births of Dietrich in 1512, Gertrude in 1513 and Volker in 1515.
1512 saw an attempt made to diplo-annex Denmark, but Hans, King of Denmark, angrily declined to become part of the Kirstein Empire and cancelled his vassalization with the Empire. Hans slipped and apparently fell out of a window in one of the higher towers of his castle a short time later . The new monarch Christian II was more agreeable and Denmark was revassalized (diplomatically) in 1514 (1513 having been spent fighting corruption at a cost of -1 stability and 100 ducats).
Peter was getting frustrated. France, England, Portugal and Spain had all made major discoveries in the New World and had started to send over colonists and traders. Despite pouring considerable sums of money into improving his naval technology (level 5 in 1507, level 6 in 1513), he had been unable to get even one conquistador or explorer to undertake an expedition into the unknown for him. Even worse, despite fairly good relationships with all the colonial powers, all had been consistently refusing his attempts to trade (or even buy) maps of the new world. Then in 1514 came news of something called the Treaty of Torsedillas. Peter's frustration turned to rage at the news that the entire New World had been divided between Portugal and Spain. Peter wanted war. There was only one problem: no Casus Belli. And considering his reputation was already very bad he couldn't just declare war without a good reason. So he sent warnings and insults to all the colonial powers hoping someone would take the bait. Unfortunately the colonial powers just ignored him, which enraged him even more.
Finally in 1516 Francois I of France made a mistake. Francois had recently been map-hunting in Iberia himself (having occupied the provinces of both Lisbon and Madrid while in a recent war) and now swollen with pride, he made the error of insulting a diplomat of the Empire. The Empire immediately declared war on France and were joined by our allies and vassals, Denmark and Bavaria. France was joined by Eire, Savoy and Bohemia. Sweden, falsely believing the Empire could not handle a multi-front war, declared war on Denmark 3 days later and was joined by the Norwegians. The Empire joined in the war against Sweden and Norway, but Bavaria dishonoured our alliance. After reassuring words from Peter, Wilhlem IV, the new Duke of Bavaria rejoined our alliance. Several weeks later Scotland joined the French alliance. The nobles of the Empire were enthusiatic to be at war as well and a gift to the state (+100 ducats) was added to the treasury.
The war went well and the provinces of France soon fell to us. First Zeeland, then Flandern, followed in quick succession by Artois, Calais, Bourgogne and Picardie. The Empire refused multiple offers of peace from France as the goal was Paris and the maps in the royal palace. Paris (and the maps to 247 new provinces and sea zones) were finally ours in the spring of 1518, and France accepted our offer of vassalization. Unfortunately there were only 10-15 uncolonized territories to be found, which combined with the Treaty of Torsedillas, would make future colonization difficult.
The war with France over, Peter had time to focus on two other disturbing events. In 1516 the Pope had named Carlos I of Spain Holy Roman Emperor. Peter decided he would just ignore the Pope from now on as the Empire was firmly in his control and there was nothing the Pope could do about it. The second event was the Reformation. While Peter could see why people would be upset with the Catholic church and some of the Pope's assine decisions, most of Europe was Catholic and he enough problems with his reputation as it was. So he decided to let the Protestants do whatever they wanted (increase tolerance to Protestants to maximum), but send missionaries to try to convert as many back to Catholism as he could.
The next few years were spent destroying regiments of the Swedish and Norwegian armies as the Danish army no longer existed and the bloodthirsty Swedes obviously couldn't recognize a lost cause. Meanwhile Peter (and the Empire) become even more narrowminded (stability -1), but settled a boundry dispute with our vassals Bavaria (stability +1). Finally in December of 1521 the Swedes realized the error of their ways and agreed to peace terms (152 ducats to the Kirstein Empire). Denmark went bankrupt several months later. Bavaria declined our offer to become part of the Empire in 1522, and the revolting provinces of Silesia and Wielkopolska defected to Bavaria from Poland that year.
1523 saw our first colony established in Aires. Peter declared war on the Maya later that year figuring if there wasn't very much unoccupied territory to be colonized, he could at least take some of the territories occupied by other countries. The war went well, and Maya gave us Tlaxcala and Guatemuela for peace. Christian II of Denmark, having gone through bankruptcy and a difficult war in the last ten years, and feeling his prospects were better as part of the Empire become Duke of Denmark, as the Empire added the provinces of Jutland and Sjaelland (Denmark diplo-annexed) in 1524. Zapotec was the next target and soon gave up the provinces of Tehuacan and Tehuantepec for peace. Bavaria seeing the increased power of the Empire also agreed to join a short time later (Bavaria diplo-annexed in 1525) adding the provinces of Bayern, Arnsbach, Brandenburg, Silesia and Wielkopolska.
1525 Summary
Provinces 46
40 cities(36 in Europe)
2 colonies
4 trading posts
Manpower 180
BB Points 28
Monthly Income 119
Census Taxes 402
Stability +1
Inflation 16%
Technology
Land 11
Naval 6
Trade 3
Infrastructure 3
Alliances none
Vassals France
1525 Screenshot of Europe - 450kB
1525 Screenshot of Europe - 200kB
1525 Screenshot of Central America
