Empire of the Mediterranean: An Interactive Aragon AAR

[Michaelangelo]

((I finally got around to attempting a test conversion to see what happens and I've started making a list of potential issues. Some are simply fixes or something I can adjust in EUIV, while others I will need help with. I've decided to make a Google Doc to keep track of any issues I find, as well as some ugly borders that may need to be fixed. I'll post a link in the table of contents just in case. Now I encourage anyone who has the time or just wants to help to download the save file on the front page and run it through the latest version of the converter (I used 1.0E). Just examine the state of the world and take note of any discrepancies or errors that pop out to you. Feel free to run the game and make note of anything else weird that happens. I'll share my Google Doc, so if anyone is up to this, just add to my notes. If you don't want to help that way but do know something about Victoria II, you can also add notes stating how certain issues can be fixed. I've already come across a few things that I'm uncertain on how to fix. Anyway, here is the Google Doc: EotM Conversion

Certain issues I've noticed can easily be fixed. For the religion ones, I'm just going to convert all our Christian provinces to Catholic. We'll just have to pretend they're all our version of Christianity. I can also probably fix the problem of the game using vanilla names too, as well as the wrong colour for our Hispania. Not quite sure how flags are handled, but if I can just copy over our old one from EUIV that would be best, otherwise someone will have to make a new one for us. I can easily rectify border issues in-game, so that will be dealt with. Same goes for odd-placed cores. I did notice that our armies and navies converted over fairly well, so that's one good thing.

There are certain issues though that I'm not familiar enough with to likely solve on my own. I noticed culture did not convert and likely just used the vanilla ones. In certain areas this did not matter, but I've noticed a few that don't fit our current story. For example, we have Austrians in Northern Italy right now, but in Vicky 2 they'll be Italians. The Catalan people have also returned from the dead and replaced the Aragonese, and all those people in the Balkans the Greeks assimilated decades ago are now magically back. It's more of a pain than anything, but ultimately doesn't make a huge difference. Any tips would be appreciated. The bigger issue is with colonies. I've noticed certain provinces in Africa and Asia have converted over as states instead of colonies, meaning they are treated like our European territories in that the people living there can vote and have better rights. This certainly does not fit, especially since the placement of these states is odd. North Africa, Arabia, bits of West and East Africa, continental India, our Chinese and Korean possessions, and a small part of Borneo are considered states. I imagine this will greatly throw off elections with so many non-Europeans voting, so if anyone knows how to change states to colonies, I need to know. Hispania and Transdacia/Wallachia also start with no government, although I suspect it has something to do with enlightened despotism or the use of a custom religion. As for my last concern, I'm sure someone knows an easy way to do this. I'll need to adjust the reforms for every European nation to match what makes most sense. If someone knows how to change those without spiking up dissent or whatever, that'd be helpful.

So anyway, if anyone wants to help either by looking for potential issues that need to be addressed or providing solutions for those problems, I'd appreciate the help. I won't be starting the official conversion until we cover the gap years and I've written up some rules, so at this moment it's just troubleshooting to prepare beforehand for it.))

 

[zenphoenix]

((I finally got around to attempting a test conversion to see what happens and I've started making a list of potential issues. Some are simply fixes or something I can adjust in EUIV, while others I will need help with. I've decided to make a Google Doc to keep track of any issues I find, as well as some ugly borders that may need to be fixed. I'll post a link in the table of contents just in case. Now I encourage anyone who has the time or just wants to help to download the save file on the front page and run it through the latest version of the converter (I used 1.0E). Just examine the state of the world and take note of any discrepancies or errors that pop out to you. Feel free to run the game and make note of anything else weird that happens. I'll share my Google Doc, so if anyone is up to this, just add to my notes. If you don't want to help that way but do know something about Victoria II, you can also add notes stating how certain issues can be fixed. I've already come across a few things that I'm uncertain on how to fix. Anyway, here is the Google Doc: EotM Conversion

Certain issues I've noticed can easily be fixed. For the religion ones, I'm just going to convert all our Christian provinces to Catholic. We'll just have to pretend they're all our version of Christianity. I can also probably fix the problem of the game using vanilla names too, as well as the wrong colour for our Hispania. Not quite sure how flags are handled, but if I can just copy over our old one from EUIV that would be best, otherwise someone will have to make a new one for us. I can easily rectify border issues in-game, so that will be dealt with. Same goes for odd-placed cores. I did notice that our armies and navies converted over fairly well, so that's one good thing.

There are certain issues though that I'm not familiar enough with to likely solve on my own. I noticed culture did not convert and likely just used the vanilla ones. In certain areas this did not matter, but I've noticed a few that don't fit our current story. For example, we have Austrians in Northern Italy right now, but in Vicky 2 they'll be Italians. The Catalan people have also returned from the dead and replaced the Aragonese, and all those people in the Balkans the Greeks assimilated decades ago are now magically back. It's more of a pain than anything, but ultimately doesn't make a huge difference. Any tips would be appreciated. The bigger issue is with colonies. I've noticed certain provinces in Africa and Asia have converted over as states instead of colonies, meaning they are treated like our European territories in that the people living there can vote and have better rights. This certainly does not fit, especially since the placement of these states is odd. North Africa, Arabia, bits of West and East Africa, continental India, our Chinese and Korean possessions, and a small part of Borneo are considered states. I imagine this will greatly throw off elections with so many non-Europeans voting, so if anyone knows how to change states to colonies, I need to know. Hispania and Transdacia/Wallachia also start with no government, although I suspect it has something to do with enlightened despotism or the use of a custom religion. As for my last concern, I'm sure someone knows an easy way to do this. I'll need to adjust the reforms for every European nation to match what makes most sense. If someone knows how to change those without spiking up dissent or whatever, that'd be helpful.

So anyway, if anyone wants to help either by looking for potential issues that need to be addressed or providing solutions for those problems, I'd appreciate the help. I won't be starting the official conversion until we cover the gap years and I've written up some rules, so at this moment it's just troubleshooting to prepare beforehand for it.))

((To change states to colonies, you need to go into the individual province files for the ones you want and change the "colonial=0" to "colonial=2" or something. I'm not sure about specifics as I've never done that before..))

 

[wzhang29]

((You can fudge around with the pop culture in [your V2 directory]\history\pops\[date]\[country].txt. As for the Catalans, just change the localization to Aragonese. No one knows the difference ))

((For gov't, just change the "government = [blah]" line in ~\history\countries\[TAG - country].txt. Political reforms are in the same area. If you want to change the Upper House composition to reflect the IC one that's there too.))

 

[Michaelangelo]

((To change states to colonies, you need to go into the individual province files for the ones you want and change the "colonial=0" to "colonial=2" or something. I'm not sure about specifics as I've never done that before..))

((Okay, took a gander at the files and saw what you meant. Seems to me that it doesn't include the line colonial=0 for those that are that level, but I did find some with colonial=2. I might test it out if I have time. So what would colonial=1 be then? Just curious.

I guess that means I have to edit the province files for half of India and Africa, as well as small parts of Arabia, China, Korea, and Borneo....

))

((You can fudge around with the pop culture in [your V2 directory]\history\pops\[date]\[country].txt. As for the Catalans, just change the localization to Aragonese. No one knows the difference ))

((For gov't, just change the "government = [blah]" line in ~\history\countries\[TAG - country].txt. Political reforms are in the same area. If you want to change the Upper House composition to reflect the IC one that's there too.))

((Yeah, I was thinking about doing that for Catalan. I'm assuming based on a quick perusal of the documents these are all the POPs for the historical regions sorted by province number? That'll be a pain to fix up.

Glad that it is all conveniently in one file. I noticed it does say absolute monarchy as government, but that definitely does not show up in game. Since it only affects Hispania and Wallachia, I suspect the custom religion is the actual culprit, seeing as Scandinavia was also an enlightened despotism and didn't have the problem. I was also wondering if there's a way to change reforms after the game has started, since there is the possibility players may try to pass one even when the in-game parties do not permit it. Will be good to know how to manage that beforehand.))

 

[zenphoenix]

Okay, took a gander at the files and saw what you meant. Seems to me that it doesn't include the line colonial=0 for those that are that level, but I did find some with colonial=2. I might test it out if I have time. So what would colonial=1 be then? Just curious.

((There are two colonial levels: protectorate and full colony. I think the latter is colonial=1.))

 

[wzhang29]

((Yeah, I was thinking about doing that for Catalan. I'm assuming based on a quick perusal of the documents these are all the POPs for the historical regions sorted by province number? That'll be a pain to fix up.

Glad that it is all conveniently in one file. I noticed it does say absolute monarchy as government, but that definitely does not show up in game. Since it only affects Hispania and Wallachia, I suspect the custom religion is the actual culprit, seeing as Scandinavia was also an enlightened despotism and didn't have the problem. I was also wondering if there's a way to change reforms after the game has started, since there is the possibility players may try to pass one even when the in-game parties do not permit it. Will be good to know how to manage that beforehand.))

((You might want to check out what your Ctrl-F can do

If the game has already started, you can either:
- commit the biggest faux-pas of the game - save editing
- or make an event, and to the effects add:

option = {
    name = [option name]
    political_reform = [reform option]
    social_reform = [reform option]
}

All reform options are in ~\common\issues.txt in this format:

[reform name] = {
    [reform option] = {
    ....
    }
    [reform option] = {
    ....
    }
}

))

 

[05060403]

((You might want to check out what your Ctrl-F can do ))

(( Or even better Ctrl+H. That can help out a lot as well ))

 

[wzhang29]

(( Or even better Ctrl+H. That can help out a lot as well ))

((Oh right

If you have all province files necessary open I think you can Ctrl+H --> Replace All in All Opened Documents for an easy problem solved

EDIT: wait they don't put colonial = 0 in provinces that are states. Too bad ))

 

[Michaelangelo]

((There are two colonial levels: protectorate and full colony. I think the latter is colonial=1.))

((I assume there's a difference between the two. Obviously not having touched this game in so long has left me very rusty on the mechanics. ))

((You might want to check out what your Ctrl-F can do

If the game has already started, you can either:
- commit the biggest faux-pas of the game - save editing
- or make an event, and to the effects add:

option = {
    name = [option name]
    political_reform = [reform option]
    social_reform = [reform option]
}

All reform options are in ~\common\issues.txt in this format:

[reform name] = {
    [reform option] = {
    ....
    }
    [reform option] = {
    ....
    }
}

))

(( Or even better Ctrl+H. That can help out a lot as well ))

((Oh right

If you have all province files necessary open I think you can Ctrl+H --> Replace All in All Opened Documents for an easy problem solved

EDIT: wait they don't put colonial = 0 in provinces that are states. Too bad ))

((Yeah, for the cultures I was probably just going to use replace all for the ones I needed to remove. And yeah, the colonies one doesn't have it, and even if it did I'd have to be careful not to accidentally turn one of the African nation's provinces into a colony.

Glad to know it can be easily changed by a custom event. Just wanted to make sure that was an option. I'm guessing Vicky 2 saves are not as easy to fiddle with as EUIV?))

 

[wzhang29]

Glad to know it can be easily changed by a custom event. Just wanted to make sure that was an option. I'm guessing Vicky 2 saves are not as easy to fiddle with as EUIV?))

((They can be fiddled with (some things are clear such as diplomacy and country borders), but the last time I tried that I corrupted the save and thought it was a Windows 10 problem.

And besides, that's cheating. Custom event creation counts as a mod ))

 

[wzhang29]

Not quite sure how flags are handled, but if I can just copy over our old one from EUIV that would be best, otherwise someone will have to make a new one for us.

((Just noticed this part. Flags in both games are .tga files, however the 128x128 size for EU4 will have to be scaled down to 93x64 for V2 (which will be pretty ugly if you ask me, especially when we're still dealing with heraldry). There are also five for each country depending on the government, but I suppose that we can just make new ones if the government changes.))

 

[Michaelangelo]

((I've finally finished up preparations for the gap years and can begin that whole process. I'll start by explaining about what will happen.

For the 15-year-gap between 1821 and 1836, we’ll be doing semi-interactive updates covering roughly two years each. After every update, the players will be presented with three or more issues to vote on, using the alternative vote system if a specific vote has multiple options. These issues can range from internal problems to international crises. They will be presented in a fairly linear matter, in that the outcome of certain votes will determine certain predetermined events, although I will make adjustments as we go along and have to wing quite a bit based on the sheer number of variables involved. I may also slightly alter the results of some votes, granting modifiers to certain sides based on previous choices.

It should be noted that all votes will be conducted OOC, so each player will have one vote. VP, character’s parties, and all that will have no bearing on this. You may still IC as your character if you want, but everything will be determined OOC. You may not present laws during this period, for I will be using the gap years to adjust our existing laws to fit with Vicky 2. GM-required actions such as coups and assassinations must be held off on unless I grant special permission or they are part of the gap years’ mechanics.

Obviously, since we will not be using the game here, I will have to decide every outcome. As I’ve stated, most paths are predetermined. I will be relying on logic to determine how each vote impacts Hispania. For example, if there’s a famine and we decide to buy foreign grain to feed the people, unrest will be less of a problem but the treasury will be drained; however, if we do nothing we can keep the treasury full but make people very angry. Crushing a rebellion by force may be more effective in removing the threat, but it may pull our army away from other key areas. Things like that. Resources and such will be spent and earned based on our actions. I’ll try to be as realistic as possible, but with so much going on at once it's likely I'll miss something.

I'm also using a new mechanic just for this called stability. Stability is a value for Hispania ranging from 0 to 100 that determines just how stable the government is and its ability to act during certain threats and challenges. Higher stability means Hispania can respond quicker and better to threats, but it also means the government is unlikely to implement changes or reforms while it is able to maintain order. Lower stability means the government is more willing to accept reform to prevent unrest, but is less able to act against threats both internal and external. Stability will rise and fall with each choice made during votes. The value will be kept hidden at all times.

Each vote may have thresholds required for certain levels of success or failure. If stability is high enough, the outcome may be more likely to be positive, but if stability is too low, things may go horribly wrong instead.

Each player will be granted the ability to lower or raise stability once during the 15-year-gap. If you’d like Hispania to be better able to deal with the many problems plaguing it, you can then choose to raise stability during a key vote. On the other hand, if you want Hispania to reform further and don’t give a damn about the consequences, you can choose to lower stability instead. If stability drops far enough, a dramatic change in government may occur. It should be noted that there will be certain times where lowering or raising stability will be more effective than normal, or may even backfire and give the opposite effect. They will also impact some of the votes occurring at that time or the results. Timing is key.

I'll write up the first update some time today and then we'll get to the first vote. Not quite sure how I should time things. I think I'll give 3-4 days for each vote and players can discuss matters during the vote if they want.))

 

[Michaelangelo]

1821 - The Beginning of the End​

1821 was destined to be a time of change. Whether that change would be for the better or not was yet to be seen. Shortly after addressing Parliament at the start of the year, Emperor Alfons IX succumbed to another bout of exhaustion and was confined to his bed. The Emperor's poor health prevented him from intervening in state affairs and ground the administration to a halt. Crown Prince Pere did his best to step in, but he was not his father and was limited by the fact he was not officially emperor yet. Parliament was unable to act for a time, for ultimately no act could be passed without Crown approval, and the Emperor was in no condition to give his approval. There were calls for a regent to be appointed, for there was a document prepared by the Emperor beforehand naming one, but Crown Prince Pere hesitated to permit it, hoping that his father would recover soon.

While the government was unable to act efficiently, the Greeks continued to be quite vocal. The Crown and Parliament had yet to recognize the referendum they had forced, and they wanted an official response. The referendum had shown that a majority of Greeks favoured joining Byzantium, although most of those who voted in favour lived in or around Athens, while the response was more mixed in Mylasa and Rhodes. It was clear though that a definite settlement needed to be made. Either the referendum had to be recognized or a compromise sought, otherwise there would be trouble. Many of the Greeks had calmed down for the moment and seemed favourable to accepting their inclusion into the Citizenship Act as a suitable compromise, although not everyone shared this opinion. They all waited for a response, hoping that the moment the Emperor recovered they would receive their answer.

The Emperor was not destined to recover. The months dragged by and Alfons's condition worsened. He was barely conscious, unable to speak with visitors most of the time. Doctors were called, but none could find a cure, stating that old age had simply caught up with the aged man. After four months of being bed-ridden, Emperor Alfons IX finally passed away peacefully in his sleep in mid-April at the age of 81.

The death of Emperor Alfons IX was met with much sorrow and a grand funeral was held in Valencia, with citizens showing up in vast numbers as the Emperor's body was carried through the streets. The Emperor of France, Kings of Scandinavia and the UKA, and Basileus of Byzantium all attended to show their respects. Alfons had led Hispania for 66 years and left an impressive legacy behind. His memory would last for a long time, yet many could not help but look to the future. Hispania had become what it was mostly because of Alfons and those that surrounded him. Now the question was raised of how his successor would follow his legacy.

Shortly after the funeral, Pere was crowned Emperor Pere VI de Trastámara, Emperor of Hispania, Caesar of Rome, King of Bavaria & Transdacia, & Protector of the Greeks. When the new Emperor first went to address Parliament, he stuttered and was barely able to get out a few sentences before Empress Jeanne intervened on his behalf. It was clear that Pere was not comfortable standing before Parliament, and combined with the grief from losing his father, he had difficulty maintaining his composure. After Parliament closed for the day, Pere withdrew for a time, refusing to speak to anyone other than his wife Jeanne or brother Joan.

As the months dragged on, it became clear that Pere could not follow his father's model of governance. While a gentle soul that cared deeply about the people of Hispania, he was indecisive and lacked his father's brilliance. He often refused to get involved in political debates and left Parliament to handle state affairs. Yet Parliament was further handicapped because Pere hesitated to appoint a Prime Minister. While Prince Joan had served as the previous one, law dictated that when a new Emperor was crowned he had to make the appointment. Thus Joan and the entire Cabinet were limited in what they could do, for they had not been legitimized by the Crown and they could be held accountable for any action taken. Parliament pressured Pere to appoint a Prime Minister, but he proved unable to make up his mind. His father's advice stuck with him and he was afraid that appointing anyone outside the family would ruin the nonpartisan element of Cabinet Alfons had tried to create. While Joan was a logical choice, Pere knew the man was biased, and unlike his father Pere doubted he could keep Joan in line. Throughout this all, Jeanne kept whispering in his ear, begging him to take the position himself. Only the Emperor could serve as a neutral Prime Minister and preserve the peace. However, Pere's fear of further responsibility and his doubts that he could manage such a position prevented him from acting, even when Jeanne promised that she would do all the duties for him. Either way, Pere would have to make a choice eventually.

As the final choice was delayed, factions began to form at court and in Parliament, pushing for their preferred candidate for Prime Minister. Prince Joan had a strong backing, for the man had political experience and had proven himself as Prime Minister already. With uncertain times ahead, a strong figure was needed. Despite being more than qualified, Joan clearly favoured the right, and that obvious bias prevented an overwhelming surge of support. Those who did not favour Joan drifted towards Jeanne instead. She was a more conciliatory figure and had a greater appeal to all sides in Parliament. Many recognized that despite being a woman, she had a shrewd mind and a knowledge of statecraft. There were those that had no trouble believing that the country would be in safe hands with Jeanne helping her husband along. However, even those who recognized her skill had trouble picturing her as Prime Minister, for the idea of a woman in charge, especially after the late Empress Dowager's time in power, was not something favoured by many. Even Jeanne did not dare try to claim the position for herself, knowing her support was limited. Instead she supported Alfons's old strategy of the Emperor serving as his own Prime Minister, although she wished to help him in any way she could. There were a few who still pushed forward the idea of her as Prime Minister, but they were small in number. She'd only truly consider that with overwhelming support, but for now she would whisper in her husband's ear, trying to get him to agree to serving as his own Prime Minister.

These factions quarrelled for a time, pushing forward their preferred candidate. Pere seem disinclined to act. While having no Prime Minister seriously hampered Parliament, it could still function, even with the Cabinet in limbo. Perhaps Pere hoped the choice would be taken for him, since for the moment it was not vital the decision be made. Eventually though, fate would intervene.

Sometime during 1821, the volcano Tambora in Indonesia erupted. The explosion devastated the nearby islands and ash flew into the atmosphere, spreading worldwide and causing strange phenomena in the atmosphere. Tsunamis struck the nearby Indonesian islands, devastating the coast. The global temperature dropped, leading to crop failure across the globe. Disease was rampant. Every nation on Earth was impacted in some form or another. As for Hispania, its possessions in Indonesia were hurt the most. Most coastal cities were destroyed by tsunamis, and those closer to the volcano were wiped out entirely. The sky was blackened with ash and plant-life withered and died. Closer to home, the temperature was already dropping and farmers experienced a difficult harvest. Indonesia may have been hit hardest, but people were starting to suffer back in Europe too. It was clear that something had to be done or good Hispanian people would starve.

With this global crisis now needing attention, Pere could no longer delay. He needed to appoint a Prime Minister. Not only did the matter of relief efforts need to be debated, but the Greeks were still waiting for an answer. All of these would be addressed as the year came to an end.


((Time to start the first vote for the gap years. We will have three things to vote on: the future Prime Minister, the Greek referendum, and relief efforts. For the first, you have three choices: Joan, Pere, or Jeanne. Keep in mind that with Pere it would be Jeanne doing the work, seeing a some might see it as unseemly for her being Prime Minister herself. For the second, the options are to recognize the referendum and hand over our Greek lands to Byzantium, amend the Citizenship Act to include the Greeks as a compromise, or send in the troops to prevent a potential rebellion. For the last, it's mostly a matter of whether the government funds relief efforts or not, although you can also choose where the relief should be focused.

Now for how these votes will be handled. I didn't want to do a traditional vote where you get several options and the one with the most support wins. I decided this because that usually means the vote becomes far too diluted if more options are added, with options able to pass with under 50% of votes if there are 3 or more options. Instead, we will be doing alternative votes. With this you will instead be ranking all options in order of preference. When I tally them, an option will only pass with 50% of the vote. If none have that, the one with the lowest support will be removed and those people who picked that as their first option will then go to their second option, and so on and so on. Hopefully that makes sense. Anyway, here is the vote.

Prime Minister: Joan/Pere/Jeanne

1.
2.
3.​

Greek Referendum: Recognize the Referendum/Amend the Citizenship Act/Send in the troops

1.
2.
3.​

Disaster Relief: Send relief to all of the Empire/Focus relief on Indonesia/Focus relief on Europe/Don't send relief

1.
2.
3.
4.​

Remember, put them in the order of preference, otherwise I can't count your vote. The vote will last until Monday at 12PM PST, although I may extend the deadline if I don't feel that it's long enough. Also, players may make use of the stability feature I mentioned. You can attempt to provide stability for the government or destabilize it, provided you announce so before the deadline. Feel free to write up in what form you are stabilizing or destabilizing the government, although this isn't mandatory. Keep in mind you can only do this once for all the gap year votes.))

 

[Mach Twelve]

Prime Minister:
Joan
Pere
Jeanne

Greek Issue
Amend
Release
Purge ((Funny isn't it?))

Disaster:
Europe
Even
Nothing
Indonesia

 

[DragonOfAtlantis]

Prime Minister:
1. Joan
2. Pere
3. Jeanne
Greek Referendum:
1.Amend the Citizenship Act
2. Recognize the Referendum
3. Send in the troops
Disaster Relief:
1. Send relief to all of Hispania
2. Focus relief on Indonesia
3. Focus relief on Europe
4. Don't send relief

 

[hirahammad]

Prime Minister:
1. Joan
2. Pere
3. Jeanne
Greek Referendum:
1. Amend the Citizenship Act
2. Send in the troops
3. Recognize the Referendum
Disaster Relief:
1. Focus relief on Europe
2. Send relief to all of Hispania
3. Focus relief on Indonesia
4. Don't send relief

For those who don;t understand the Alternative Vote, here is a simple video explaining it.

 

[DragonOfAtlantis]

((Btw @Mach Twelve, I think the second vote was either Indonesia, Europe, the entire Empire or none.))

 

[Michaelangelo]

((Btw @Mach Twelve, I think the second vote was either Indonesia, Europe, the entire Empire or none.))

((Obviously I wasn't clear enough. DragonOfAtlantis is correct. I'll change Hispania to Empire to make it clear it means both options are chosen.))

 

[zenphoenix]

((Private))

It had scarcely been a couple months after the conclusion of the tournament when things started falling apart. First, it seemed he was the only one to remember the tournament. It was probably for the best, as he looked like a madman going around asking about the tournament of the dead. Second, that angel's prophecy was starting to come true, and he started heeding the warning.

Alfons fell sick again. This time he would not recover. For four months the government was paralyzed as the Crown Prince refused to organize a regency council. Four months as the vultures started circling. And then the Emperor was gone.

He attended the funeral and all of the ceremonies. He said a few words at the memorial service, but he couldn't say much as he was choked with both grief and fear. Fear that this was the moment when Hispania would fall apart.

In his opinion, Pere botched his first speech to the Parliament. Not only had he not been able to get past his stutter, but it looked like his wife was running the show for him. He obviously lacked Alfons's charisma and strength, but he had made a vow to Alfons to support Pere, and he would keep that vow. And yet he was indebted to Joan for his help in that trial several years ago, and he knew how ambitious Joan was. Regardless to say, he was willing to risk supporting Joan for Prime Minister if it meant the stability of Hispania. He just couldn't trust Jeanne, after she refused his generous offer to help Pere. His lawyer was still fuming about that incident.

Then the Greeks decided this would be a good time to demand unification with Constantinople or extended citizenship. While he had no problem with either choice, it was clear he had to favor one over the other. As he objected to the exclusion of the Greeks in the Citizenship Act, this was a good opportunity to push for a reform and calm down those Greeks. Failing that he could always push for the government to recognize the referendum and make the whole thing Constantinople's problem.

And as if things couldn't get worse, a blasted volcano erupted, causing widespread famine and mayhem. It was here where he was at a loss as to what to do. He could concentrate on the Indonesians, who were hardest hit by the volcano as they were closest. But that would anger the Hispanians in Europe and be fatal. He could focus on the empire, which encompassed the Indonesians, which was the best compromise he could find at the cost of angering a few Indonesians. He could try to support sending relief to all of Europe, which would be way too expensive. Then Hispania could also just do nothing, but that would anger everybody.

Was this what the angel warned him about? Disaster after disaster hitting Hispania? And what did that mean? Were the end times finally here? And was he ready?

He couldn't let his fears get the best of him, so he calmed himself down, packed his bags, and got a ticket for the next train to Valencia. Running around and screaming wouldn't do anybody any good. What would was working with Parliament in a civil manner.

((Public))
Prime Minister:
1. Joan
2. Pere
3. Jeanne
Greek Referendum:
1. Amend the Citizenship Act
2. Recognize the Referendum
3. Send in the troops
Disaster Relief:
1. Send relief to all of Hispania
2. Focus relief on Europe
3. Focus relief on Indonesia
4. Don't send relief

 

[Arcas Cronifer]

(( Although I've not played the game, I cannot resist the temptation to take part in the vote this time. If you don't consider it legit, feel free not to take my vote in account. BTW, it's a brilliant idea to have included the Tambora eruption into your story, I guess you know about the book that was published about it last year by G. d'Arcy Wood - the only difference being that in OTL it happened in 1816 instead of 1821. ))

Prime Minister:
1. Joan
2. Jeanne
3. Pere

Greek Referendum:
1. Recognize the Referendum
2. Amend the Citizenship Act
3. Send in the troops

Disaster Relief:
1. Send relief to all of Hispania
2. Focus relief on Europe
3. Focus relief on Indonesia
4. Don't send relief