Return to motion!
(Jan 1, 1936 - Dec 31, 1936)
Hello, hello.
Yes, the Mega-Campaign is up and running again, 17 days ahead of schedual! Thanks to some commitment, I was able to finish this mod in only five hours, not including the other five hours previously put in (That's 11 for those of you who are bad at math
). Now, Good night and good luck!
January 1st, 1936 was no special day to the Byzantines. It was a day to nurse hang-overs from the New year's parties they were probably just returning from. The economy in their country was strong, bolstered up by the tribute paid by the surrounding nation and the members of the commonwealth. Every man had a automobile to drive to work, and every woman had a telephone in the house. In seven days it would be Christmas, and the entire nation would be drunk again... except the muslim and pagan populations that existed throughout the Empire.
Byzantium's neighbor to the north, Poland was not in such a great condition. Bread lines were close to a mile long, and soup lines even longer. The soviet government that had set itself up in Warsaw was draining the country's economy away along with the economies of its two puppets, Lithuania and Latvia. The meager Polish army, with its ranks bolstered with conscripts and civilian militias, was a rag-taged group who in theory, posed no threat to Byzantium.
Byzantium's ally in the east, Japan, was also preparing to honor the January 8th celebration of Christmas. Having been converted in the 1600's, Japan was devoutly Orthodox, like most of the christian nations out there. They, along with Byzantium, had sent troops to fight with Korea in gaining independence from China. The war, which was reaching its 30th year, had taken the lives of many men from all around the world.
An increasingly fascist China began to scare other asiatic nations, several of which were communist. The illegalization of orthodoxy (in a nation that was 67% orthodox) was the cause of the Korean revolution. Korea was the first region converted by Byzantine monks, and was very close to the Empire. When China went back to paganism, the Koreans tried to become their own nations, hoping for Byzantine full involvment. Instead they got 20,000 soldiers and in 1927, 500 tanks; all commanded by Germans.
Liberia, other-wise known as the Empire of Benin, was gaining strength in western africa. Between 1400 and 1700, Benin had fought several wars with Orthodox Mali, and to great sucsess. The nation retained a strictly pagan culture, but slowly, modern life was creeping into the back-water nation. Their main source of income was the slave trade, something that still flurished in nations like China and on the plantations of Byzo-Brazil.
So, as the people of Byzantium when though this day with head-aches and worry of un-wanted pregenancies, one man was recovering from a particularly back hang-over. That man was Wilhelm III Dukas, the Emperor of Byzantium and Patriarch of the Orthodox faith. He slept until noon, hoping that by then he could balance himself enough to walk over to his desk and start signing Imperial orders, instead he felt dangerously ill. He called for a maid to bring him a pail just as he started to feel the affects of last nights alcohol. Next to him was his wife, Isabel von Barcelona. She, too, was hung over, but unlike Wilhelm was able to remain asleep. When the maid arrived she was not alone, Wilhelm's twin sons, Otto II (and heir apparent) and Karl XI followed her asking him what the royal party was like (they had stayed with their Uncle, Prince of Bulgaria); behind them was Erwin Rommel, commander of the Krimean Iron Guard and and head of the Polish division of the National Intelligence Agency. Wilhelm got up slowly, walked over to his desk (with the help of Rommel) and had a glace of coffee. He had the boys shooed out and ROmmel waited for the door to close behind the maid before beginning.
"Morning, sir. Quiet a party you had last night."
"Yes, quiet. But, I have a feeling in my gut that you are not here to inquire about last night's festivities. What do you need?"
"Sir, the intelligence my people have gathered points to a Polish build up on our borders. I am asking for you to respond with our own build up."
(Why can't we be friends?)
(Now I remember!)
"I'm guessing you want it all under your command?"
"Actually, I was thinking of von Kluge, commander of the Darcienarmee."
"I was thinking the same thing. Yes, please. Orchestrate the build up and tell von Kluge of the plan, and if you would; please open a diplomatic meeting with those damned Magyars*."
"Yes sir, right away!"
Long story short, the was a massive build up between the Poles and the Byzantines, but through Rommel's diplomatic work (and blantant threats of invasion) forced the Polish government to seced Bohemia and southern Poland to Byzantium, thus giving Byzantium access to the rich coal depots of the region. Even so, a fierce build-up continued.
(Byzantium 1: Poland 0)
As the months ticked by, very little changed in Byzantium, several more armoured divisions were created for the impending was with Poland, along with more soldiers. But else where in the world there was much going on:
- The communist government of the Chagatai Khanate was quietly replaced by Byzantine operatives
- Korea, after 30 years of constant war, surrendered to China. Over 13,000 Germans had died in the war. Many Korean refugies fled to safety in Japan.
- Japan declared war on China in order to take revenge on the annexation of Korea
- Lithuania seceeded about 50% of its land mass to Poland
- Several small nations, including the Orthodox Theocracy of Guatamala and Ethiopia were annexed by the Byzantine Empire diplomatically; they all retain limited autonomy.
- The Chinese fleet was entirely sunk after a four-day battle with the Japanese fleet.
- German scientists discover Pluto, run out of things to do other then begin designing a nuclear weapon....
- Sweden elects left, much to the horor of fellow Commonwealth nations. Byzantine marines quickly fix the problem.
- Peru annexes Ecuador, one of its several puppet states.
- Laos realizes that it is named after the singular form of "lice."
- Poland annexes Germany, who, a week before, had joined the Commonwealth. Many Byzantine citizens and other Commonwealth nation demand the invasion of Poland to free the Swedish population that made up the small baltic nation.
- In the Amerika (part of Byzantium), people are scared sense-less when someone reads a passage from a scary book, assume the Mexicans are invading. Then they realize they are 2000 miles from Mexico, and Mexico is a poor, communist back-water... and go back to daily tasks.
And that ends this year! On to '48!!
*Poland was ruled by Hungarians during most of CK and converted so, Bohemia (which was annexed to Poland during EUII) was ruled by Poles and also converted. Polish people lived mainly in Gotland and western Poland. Norhtern Poland is actually Swedish, like Germany.
+ Also, I didn't finish the flags and shields, but I doubt this matters as much as finishing the game. If a nation's flag changes half way through the AAR, you now know why.
- Mr.C
