1536-1541 – The Greek Rebellion
Yet again Aragon was on the road to war. The fleet was pulled out of the mothballs, but fortunately it had not been docked in Gibraltar for that long after the Castilian War. It would only take 2-3 months for the ships to be fully prepared. The new general, Alexandros Kostopoulos, was given command of the army in Naples to replace the retiring von Thun. Aragon would be ready for any threat that presented itself.
Even with a conflict building in Western Europe, King Ferran III made a trip to Constantinople to visit his cousin, the current Emperor Andronikos V. The man had no heirs and an unstable succession in Byzantium would inevitably affect Aragon. Many back in Aragon worried that if Ferran did not intervene, Andronikos would pick a co-emperor who was hostile to Aragon and pro-Orthodox. King Ferran had a deep conversation with the Greek emperor and convinced him that their cousin Maurianus would make a capable co-emperor and successor, for he was a Palaiologos and was highly pro-Catholic and pro-Aragon, what with being married to Ferran’s cousin Alejandra. The emperor, who was somewhat easy to influence, eagerly accepted Ferran’s proposal and Maurianus was brought to the capital to serve as co-emperor. Aragon had gotten its way, but only time would tell how the rest of Byzantium would respond.
The aggressive expansion of the Mamluks had not gone unnoticed. Chancellor Jaume Limmona deferred to King Ferran on the matter, who decided that Aragon would not ignore the Egyptian menace. An embargo was put in place and a public declaration made that Aragon would not so blindly ignore the Mamluks’ actions. They would be a rival from now on.
Even with this all going on, it was the war against Provence that needed to be dealt with now. Aragon answered France’s call-to-arm, bringing it into war against Provence, England, and Liege. Lucca had dishonoured the alliance, a smart move if they wanted to survive the wrath of France. Forts in Navarra, Girona, and Granada were all garrisoned to ensure that the enemy couldn’t sneak into Aragon.
The war wasn’t a concern for Aragon’s two intrepid explorers. Both Alejandro Sancho and Ferdinand Xaver Lübecker set sail south to begin their circumnavigation of the globe. When they reached Africa, they both headed southwest, sailing down the coast of South America. Accusations and taunts were thrown back and forth between the two fleets as they sailed side-by-side. Neither trusted the other to let him out of their side. ((I tried placing Sancho in South America and Lübecker in Africa to get them to go opposite ways, but both sailed the same way.))
Provence wasn’t considered much of a threat, since they had been embroiled in war for the past decade. The two armies in Iberia marched northeast to go after Provence’s capital, as well as the land claimed by Aragon. France was able to dispatch an army in the region before Aragon’s troops arrived, but the frustrating part was when Provence signed a peace with Savoy, taking Nice. That was one more province to siege.
Rumours circulated court that the last few wars, including the current one, were attempts at grabbing more power by the king. Ferran III merely shrugged off the claims, for he knew his cause was just and he would rule by example. Let the court and people see his intentions through his action.
Provence’s navy made an appearance in the western Mediterranean and the Aragonese navy sailed from Gibraltar to catch it out in the open. It manoeuvred around the Baleares, trying to dodge the fleet, but Admiral Ferdinant II de Almeria was not letting them get away. He finally caught them off the coast of Sardinia and dashed them against the rocks. Provence’s entire navy was sunk with a single cog taken during the battle. The cog was sent back to Valencia to join the transport fleet. With the transport fleet not needed immediately, funds were invested in upgrading the cogs into flutes.
Back on land, Provence fell to Aragonese troops, giving Aragon control of the enemy capital.
Down in Africa, Colonist Miguel Villanova helped the colony of Karou become self-sustaining, taking a serious financial burden off of the Crown. The treasury was no longer losing ducats trying to fund multiple colonies. For now, the Crown would focus on Muturu, but didn’t necessarily need their colonist for that. Villanova instead headed back to St. Helena to aid the growing colony there.
France and Luxembourg faced off against England and Provence in an epic battle outside Bourgogne. The enemy had more forces to begin with, but they didn’t count on reinforcements from Brabant. The predominant power in the Lowlands had apparently joined the war some time after Aragon did. Their assistance could well prove crucial in crushing the enemy.
By March of 1537, both of the explorers reached the farthest extent of the charted waters of South America. Soon they would be sailing into the unknown. The whole affair had turned into a race for them. One day Sancho and his ships would be ahead, while the next day Lübecker and his fleet would be out in front. Both wanted to be the first to circle the globe and make it back to Aragon. Neither knew what lay to the west.
It was deemed that the Castilian colonies taken during the recent war were no longer in threat of revolt, so the conquistadors could resume their exploration efforts. The two set off into the wilderness in hunt of gold and whatever wonders they could find.
France continued to dominate the battlefield. Aragon did not have to worry about battles as they besieged Provence’s southern provinces. Most of the enemy forces were up north. This made Aragon’s job easier as Avignon fell. Military access arrangements of both sides of the army finally allowed General Kostopoulos to march up from Naples to besiege Nice. General Francesc Gabriel Gerard Miquel Bernat de Loarre headed northwest for Provence’s land up in Brittany, which were being ignored so far, while General En Alfonso Narzis de Montcada focused on taking Draguignan.
The Greeks did their part by assisting the French in the Battle of Maine. The enemy forces were too scattered and small to put up much resistance.
The Mamluks faced a setback in their constant expansionist plans. They had been unable to take Rhodes and Venice put up enough of a fight to make them bleed. Now the Mamluks were forced to back out of the war they started. The Knights forced some war reparations out of them as they retreated in disgrace.
The administration of the many new colonies and the islands taken from Portugal did not take that long to arrange. The question though was what to do now that these colonies were now fully under Aragon’s control. The king decided that it would be best to create a unified government for the colonies and appoint a governor. A viceroy could serve as a liaison between the colonies and Aragon. As the court hashed this out, word arrived from the PapalState that the Pope had decreed that Aragon had exclusive rights to colonize the region know as Brazil, a welcome surprise. Now the court would just have to decide on a name. For now they would use Nova Arago until something better was decided upon.
Draguignan fell in August of 1537, shortly followed by Nice. With all of southern Provence under occupation, General Montcada marched for Brittany, where Anjou had already been taken by General Loarre, while Genera Kostopoulos headed for Provence’s eastern provinces. The French were battling the English in Franche-Comte, but didn’t need any assistance. The French had excellent leadership and had no trouble dispatching the enemy.
Maine fell in mid-September and the French managed to take Franche-Comte with Aragon’s help. The conquest of Brittany continued and Kostopoulos went after a nearby fort. The French had no trouble crushing any resistance either.
October brought tragedy, not that anyone in Aragon was even aware of it. Explorers Sancho and Lübecker had been sailing west into open water for months. Supplies were low and their ships were being pelted by the waves. Their competition was turning into a fight for survival. They kept going until the end, but the relentless ocean took them both. Their ships were lost somewhere in the Pacific, although many claim that land had been spotted just over the horizon and perhaps, somehow, the two explorers had survived. For now, they were lost to the known world. ((Both
@Andre Massena and
@wzhang29 have had their characters die, although if they wish they may include some IC about washing up on Hawaii and struggling to survive if they’d prefer that, since they were so close to the islands. Could make for an interesting story.
))
While the fate of the explorers was indeed tragic, it was not known, unlike the conflict that arose in Byzantium. Emperor Andronikos’s choice to favour Maurianus as his successor had provoked many within Byzantium who were tired of Aragon’s influence or who were pro-Orthodox. Ioannes Kantakouzenos, who many had considered Andronikos’s chosen successor before Aragon intervened, raised an army and attacked Constantinople in an attempt to throw off Aragon’s dominance of the empire. The city was captured and the emperor and his successor forced to flee to Athens. A second army had captured Macedonia. With over 30k rebels threatening Byzantium, something had to be done.
An effort to recall troops from Provence was ordered immediately. The transport fleet headed out towards Navarra, hoping to catch one of the armies in Brittany as they marched south. The army was picked up in Gascogne, but the English, using spies or some unknown source of knowledge ((or AI cheating skills)), somehow knew that the transport fleet was there and intercepted it after it left port. The main fleet tried to intercept, but did not arrive in time. The entire transport fleet was sunk and with it the 10k men aboard the ships. The king fumed at the news and grieved for the lost lives, but Byzantium still had to be saved. How that would be managed without any transports was a problem. Ten flutes were immediately placed under construction.
Conquistador Miguel de Leon faced hardship after hardship as famine, disease, and the constant native attacks wore down on the men. Men died off one by one until only four were left. These four fled home, and a black slave who was among them offered his service as a conquistador, seeing as Leon was not one of the survivors. King Ferran III did not think the idea of hiring a former slave a good one, no matter what he learned. He turned the man away and waited for a more suitable replacement. Much to everyone’s surprise, Leon wandered out of the wilderness a few days later. The man was alive and would return to his exploration in due time. ((The game technically killed you off
@zenphoenix, but the event doesn’t explicitly say you died. Since you died last update, I felt it was okay to consider you one of the survivors.
))
The rest of Brittany fell by December and the army under General Loarre started the long march east. He’d have to wait for the new transports to be done to get to Byzantium, unless other arrangements were made. For the moment, the only plan in place was hiring an entire new army of 10k from Epirus and Athens. It would take time for the men needed to be found, but it would at least mean an army in Greece. After some consideration, military access through Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary was arranged. It would be a long march, but it was the only way to reach Byzantium. The army under General Kostopoulos abandoned its siege and joined Loarre in his march east.
In more pleasant news, the colony of St. Helena had finally become self-sufficient. Pablo David de la Iglesia y Maig, whose family had been funding the colony for years, would get to enjoy yet another island influenced by the family. ((
@Idhrendur you are free to name the colony whatever you want and you get extra VP until your current character dies.))
With St. Helena no longer in need of his services, Colonist Miguel Villanova accepted a contract from Antonio di Arezzo to colonize the Falklands. He headed out for the islands immediately.
France settled its first peace with Liege, taking their home province for themselves. At this point only two provinces in continental Europe remained unoccupied and the enemy only possessed about 7k men. Victory seemed assured.
The war was mostly being ignored, at least by King Ferran III. France and its other allies had it well in hand, but the real threat was in Byzantium. The pretender’s forces had converged on Edirne, but that also opened the way to Constantinople. As the armies under command of Generals Loarre and Kostopoulos reached the Balkans, they marched for Constantinople. As regiments were recruited in Athens and Epirus, they headed for the Greek capital too under General Montcada. By July half the transports were ready and were sent to blockade the capital to assist the siege there.
By September, Edirne fell to the enemy, opening up the rest of Byzantium to attack. The rebels moved into Plovdiv and Burgas, but did not run into any Aragonese armies. As long as the siege on Constantinople was left undisturbed, the empire could be saved.
The two conquistadors ran into a tribe similar to one encountered earlier that involved separating the men and women. Seeing as the last time the expedition had gotten involved quite a few men caught some very nasty diseases, it was decided that they better not participate this time.
All the continental enemy provinces had fallen and the French launched a surprise invasion of England. Over 20k Frenchmen landed in London, threatening the English capital.
In late December, the New World expedition encountered strange mounds that one man thought could be some abandoned pyramids. A massive digging process occurred as men dug away the dirt with whatever tool they could find in the hopes they would be the one to find gold. Much to the disappointment of all, the only thing they found was dirt.
Efforts to improve the army continued. New forms of training were implemented that were designed to ensure troops were more organized and operated much faster. A key quality was ensuring that Aragonese men could prepare for anything, before or after a battle. The Aragonese army would be ready for anything.
With the acquisition of the Castilian colonies and the exclusive rights to colonization granted to Aragon by the Pope in Brazil, the Atlantic Trading Company was able to use its monopoly to great effect. Goods were flowing into Aragon from the New World and the entire kingdom benefited as a result.
England found itself in a difficult position as Scotland declared war on them. With France besieging their capital, they were in no position to fend off two invasions at once.
In April of 1539, the Aragonese forces in Byzantium faced a major breakthrough. Nearly 30k troops had gathered to siege Constantinople to throw the rebels out. It had taken until now to accomplish that. The city was retaken and the emperor returned to his home to rule again. Now the other provinces had to be liberated and rebel armies crushed.
With the transport fleet rebuilt, the fleet was sent to Africa to go pick up the army there. Aragon needed all the men it could get to destroy these rebels.
Even while this was going on, the war against Provence wound down to its conclusion. France had crushed the opposition enough to force a peace out of Provence. They took the three provinces in Brittany that Aragon had handed over to France for occupation. What truly annoyed many at court was that Savoy was returned land instead of giving land to Aragon. It seemed an insult to give a neutral power their land back but ignore an ally. Perhaps it was a result of the lack of participation at the end.
Plovdiv and Burgas were soon reclaimed, but the enemy was then on the move. The rebel army had taken Tarnovo and was moving to take back Burgas. It was decided that the rebels had to be stopped here. All three armies converged on Burgas to set up a defence and fend off the rebels. The Aragonese forces put up a valiant defence, but the rebels were fighting for a cause dear to them in their own homeland. They lost nearly half their numbers, but they forced the Aragonese armies to flee to Athens.
The defeat did not deter the generals in Greece. Once they reached Athens, they immediately bolstered themselves and marched right back, planning to focus on retaking Tarnovo, Macedonia, and Edirne. The rebels had split with half in Burgas and half in Constantinople.
It was clear that Aragon needed a strong army to ensure such failures never happened again. The plan to raise 10k men was put through and a recruitment effort done in Iberia. When it finished, Aragon would have 50k men in its army, as well as 8k mercenaries aiding the conquistadors.
A Moroccan spy was caught in Madeira trying to forge a claim on the province. Such a thing was a minor annoyance, for Aragon had been forging claims on Morocco’s land for years.
Just as Tarnovo was retaken, the Byzantine army arrived in the province, having returned from France. Led by Traianos Palaiologos, the general was aghast to learn that his family had been deposed and rebels were rampaging through his homeland. Without consulting the Aragonese generals, he launched an impromptu attack on the rebels in Burgas. The three generals followed him with their armies, knowing that to abandon him now would lead to defeat. The rebels were weak now, with Aragon having weakened them considerably. The rebels could not face the furry of Traianos and his men with Aragon’s backing. The rebel army was crushed, although the pretender fled to the second army besieging Constantinople.
Traianos’s furry did not end there. Learning that a pretender threatened the City of World’s Desire, and worse yet that they had already desecrated it once, drove him into a frenzy that sparked a second impromptu attack. Yet again, Aragon went along for the ride. The rebels stood no chance. Outside the walls of Constantinople, the rebels and their dreams were crushed. Now all that was left to do was to root out the rebels in the occupied provinces.
With Byzantium mostly secured, the army heading over from Africa was sent back, with the transport fleet redirected to Nova Arago. There were rumours that Denis Philippe de Montségur wished to set out for the northern continent instead of tagging along with Leon all the time. It was time to make his own discoveries. Transporting him there was the least the king could do.
Just after Montségurleft, Leon encountered someone who claimed to know the location of the Fountain of Youth. The entire treasury and then some were emptied to fund this effort. If this fountain did indeed exist, it would belong to Aragon.
Conquistador Leon’s search quickly resulted in ridicule as he sent back what he believed were diamonds to Aragon. When it was discovered that he had actually found quartz, people began mocking him back in court. Finding the fountain would surely regain respect for him.
It did not take long to get into yet another debacle. The conquistador participated in a feast to gain trust with a friendly tribe that had recently conquered another. Little did he know that the food at the feast was not pork as he suspected, but the flesh of the enemy tribesmen. When word reached the king of this event, he did all in his power to remove all traces of its happening. Rumours of cannibalism would not only destroy Leon’s reputation, but also that of Aragon’s. The event was quickly shoved under the rug and never mentioned again.
In August of 1540 back in Europe, Macedonia was finally retaken. All armies converged on Edirne to liberate the final province. The Greeks seemed too busy protecting their capital to aid the siege. Despite that, it was retaken by September. Perhaps Aragon’s continued interference in the east provoked Lithuania to consider them a rival.
Rumours of disgruntled peasants in Beafada met the ears of the army in Africa. Military access was arranged through Mali and the rebellion crushed as it rose up.
By September, Montségur finally reached the northern continent, landing in a region known as Florida. He immediately set out exploring this barely explored land.
Some changes were occurring in Aragon as a whole. The recent rebellion in Byzantium, which had deep religious elements to it, had spurred a strong movement in support of the Church. Heresy would not be tolerated and the Inquisition had to be better prepared to deal with it. There was also the constant competition between Aragon and the Italian states for trade. The Crown further encouraged merchants to trade in Aragon, which was becoming easier with Aragon’s control of Naples.
Speaking of matters of faith, with the defeat of the rebels and Maurianus proposed as successor to the Emperor, the Catholic faith was growing stronger. Only Constantinople still had a majority of the population following the Orthodox faith. Even then, missionary efforts were in progress and it was quite possible that Catholicism would take hold their too. Soon Byzantium would be a strong Catholic nation like the rest of Europe.
With no immediate threats on the horizon, the main fleet was mothballed to save funds to help pay off Aragon’s loan. The transport fleet headed for Greece to start shipping armies home. One was sent back to Iberia, one to Italy, and another stayed behind in Greece.
Montségur faced a similar embarrassing situation as Leon as he found what he thought were diamonds, but what turned out to be quartz. At least his problems weren’t as bad as Leon’s. Men had grown tired of the constant travel through the wilderness and tried to run off to live amongst the natives. Leon had them rounded up and flogged.
The massive size of the army and its ability to reach almost any part of Aragon’s empire made some nobles worry. Some nobles were starting to fear that the men from their lands that they contributed to the army were being instilled with a discipline that focused on loyalty to the king and kingdom over their own lord. The tradition pecking order was being disrupted. The possibility of the army being turned against them was also on their minds. The lesser nobles had experience enough of that in the past.
Montségur’s expedition was abruptly cut short when a scout inadvertently provoked a native tribe by giving them a gift that symbolized war to them. The conquistador was killed in an ambush and most of the expedition murdered. The attempt to explore the northern continent would only occur if another conquistador could be found. ((Sorry
@alscon but the game killed off your character. Feel free to make a new one. Conquistadors sure have a low life expectancy.))
Elsewhere in the New World, the colony in the Falklands was bringing in more and more fish. The waters around the islands, just like St. Helena, seemed filled with fish. Not the most profitable of products, but one none the less.
Either through election or through a Papal blessing, the excommunication on Tuscany was rescinded. Perhaps Aragon and Tuscany could put the whole dispute behind them.
In May of 1541, the treasury finally had enough funds to repay the loan it taken out a few years ago. The treasury was now empty, but at least they had no debt.
((Just for future reference, this is the extent of colonial Brazil and thus the region the Pope gave us exclusive rights to colonize.))
Presenting His Majesty, Ferran III de Trastámara, King of Aragon and Protector of the Greeks.
The last few years have been hectic for us all. The war with Provence was an easy one, as expected. The French did most of the work, as befitting the one leading the war effort. A bit disappointing we received nothing, but we did our duty. Of more concern was Byzantium. I did not expect so many Greeks to rise up over the succession. It is good though that the matter has been dealt with. Perhaps now we can grow even closer with our Greek friends. We went through much hardship together. Now perhaps the people of Aragon can relax now that peace has been restored.
With the expansion of our colonies, I also now need a viceroy to better communicate our will to our colonial subjects. Such a representative will serve on the Council.
((First of all, thanks to Keinwyn for designing that Byzantine Succession event. The update would have been much less interesting without it.
As for our usual business, ministers have until
Monday at 12pm PST to propose their plans, and anyone may present possible laws until then too. Remember that anyone can ask to financially back a colony and the colonist may approve their request, although I have a list of a couple colonies to create first. We also need to name our colonial nation, unless everyone prefers Nova Arago. Just throw out some names and I’ll make a list we can vote on. We will also need a viceroy for our new colonial nation on the Council, so people are free to ask for that position.
Pensioners:
@Firehound15
Dying:
@GameHunter5303
@Emperor Brad))
