Ethiopia: Putting the "Holy" Back into "Holy Roman Empire"

[eugene171]

In the land of Ethiopia, a rumor has begun circulating. In far-off lands, some mad king is claiming to be the "Holy Roman Emperor". There's some garbled reports of an infallible conduit to the words of God, seated in Rome.

What emperor who is not a descendant of Solomon could be considered "holy"? Why exalt Rome? The Romans killed Jesus, we hate those guys!

The time has come to show a world full of heretics and heathens some old-school biblical fury! Dust off the Ark of the Covenant, it's time to spread some holy wrath!

Part I: Arabia and the Shaky Truce
Part II: The Age of Exploration
Part III: A Weak Welcome to the Western World
Part IV: Growing Pains and Retaking the Holy Land
Part V: Mamlukacide and Other Messy Affairs
Part VI: Ottomans and Marriages
Part VII: Putting Solomonids on Thrones
Part VIII: The Elector Shuffle
Part IX: New Gondor
Part X: Holding On
Part XI: Pushing the Palatinate
Part XII: Long Live The Emperor
Part XIII: Bears and Frogs
Part XIV: Unification
Part XV: Pentarchy Restored
Part XVI: The End
​

As a disclaimer, this is my first ARR, so I'm still sorting out the best way to crop and host pictures and all of that. There will be a lot of pictures per update, sometimes more than 20, so it'll be split into multiple posts.

 

[tnick0225]

Oh nice always fun seeing an Ethiopian AAR

 

[sorem]

Ethiopia is a personal favourite of mine, a unique country that few people play, it'll be interesting to see what strategies you have come up with.

Can't wait for the first part

 

[eugene171]

Part I: Arabia and the Shaky Truce


There it is: The full extent of the lands we know of. Everyone withing sight, aside from those damn Egyptians, can easily be conquered, if we play our cards right.

How's the king?



He's pretty good. We'll keep him alive as long as possible. The heir isn't too great, so he'll be leading our armies to glory..

A quick survey of neighbors shows that Adal is much weaker than us, and has no allies. let us pounce and vassalize them while they are ripe! in the mean time, our two diplomats should placate the Mamluks, and fabricating a claim on a neighbor. Why not Hedjaz?



Perfect.

Hedjaz has declared war on Najd, it seems. While the heathen armies are busy smashing each other up, we shall sweep in and vassalize Hedjaz!



In a fun turn of events, Hedjaz made peace with Najd, but Yemen smelled the blood in the water, and declared war right before i vassalized. This put me into a war with Yemen, who was then attacked by Oman.



That didn't go well for Yemen, but now Oman has gained a sizable foothold on the Arabian Peninsula. It will take more than one war to bring them under our control.



What's this? that useless (1/2/2, i think) heir of ours has died? and how is his replacement? now THAT's a Solomonid that can lead us to victory!



Adal is annexed into the glorious 'empire', and now we can fabricate a claim on them. Najd has been subjugated by the Mamluks, though our diplomats continue to keep the Mamluks happy, and Hedjaz provides a nice buffer to prevent any friction at the border.



The empire is coming along nicely, but our final goal is not yet in sight. we will need to explore. If we colonize a few provinces along the way, all the better. A certain empty patch of land between us and Swahili is looking especially tempting...



We colonize this land gap, and take the fight to Oman. Two quick wars return their stolen property to Yemen (plus some extra), then vassalize Oman itself.

Nothing to the north is available for conquest, unless we want to go after the (inconveniently) strong Mamluk army. let's take it to the south!



A quick war with Swahili (assisted by the unholy but strong armies from the Arabian peninsula) gives us this: the southernmost province we can see. Time to hire an explorer, and get discovering!

End Part I

​

 

[Kazmir]

Interesting approach. I've always wanted to have a go with Ethiopia but have been under the illusion that you are horribly overpowered by your (Arabian) neighbours and need to rely way too much on luck. I'll be following!

 

[dodedo]

good start! Do yo intend to conqer all of Africa?

 

[eugene171]

Part II: The Age of Exploration

Interesting approach. I've always wanted to have a go with Ethiopia but have been under the illusion that you are horribly overpowered by your (Arabian) neighbours and need to rely way too much on luck. I'll be following!

I had to be sneaky and only enter wars in which there were already Muslim troops in play, beating my enemies for me. Early, this was Najd and Oman, later it was my vassals helping me out. You still are horribly overpowered until westernizing.

good start! Do yo intend to conqer all of Africa?

My goal is to become Holy Roman Emperor. Everything else is secondary, and gives me more money and manpower

Part II: The Age of Exploration​

The explorer reports back that the lands to the south do indeed stop, and curve west. We shall follow this land until something interesting happens!




There seem to be some followers of odd religions out there, but our passing goes by unnoticed. Rounding curve after curve, we finally see something familiar: Crucifixes of the Christian faith! They are not receptive to allowing us to dock in their ports, so we must turn around and plan our next move. What's happening to the east these days?



Oh. We want to remain on the Mamluk's good side until we learn the secrets of the far-off Christians we have encountered. There seems to be a large, complex system of marriages and unions, as the people of Castille say:



Whoever this "England" character is. Probably won't be a big deal. We continue to dominate Swahili, eventually vassalizing them and returning their land, as they like to revolt too much.




We establish a little colony to the south, such that we may leap-frog our territory over to these new Christians. Our colonists report that they find...



Gold! this is the perfect thing to help with our 'inflation' problem. These new gold reserves will surely stabilize the nation's finances



Look at that nice red arrow, pointing up. Up is the best direction. Speaking of up, the Mamluks allow our explorers to traverse their land, showing us of some new countries up to the North. There's even another Orthodox nation up there! Truly fascinating.



The seas nearby have gone mostly untended, and a huge pirate fleet is amassing to our north. strategy: avoid it!



We establish a colony near the Kongo: they don't seem to notice. Once it becomes a city, we can attack them!



A time of fortune! we have hired a Master of the Mint to help with this inflation, and Portugal has some land nearby. We shall settle next to them and learn their ways.





The colony has finished. Deep breaths, everyone. It's time to westernize...

End Part II

​

 

[Haramir]

Nice AAR, Keep it going!

 

[generalolaf]

I'm going to try this now. Well done!

 

[MiniaAr]

Very good start, keep it on .

 

[Grundius]

I like it, subbed. Looking forward to how you will sway enough electors to your side. And then... I think it would be worthy of an extra achievement if you manage to reform the HRE (besides the already existing reform HRE achievement)!

Good luck!

 

[Unthariel]

I like it. Subbed.

What's your religious unity like btw? I doubt it that you've managed to convert all of the muslims in Adal...

 

[Kazmir]

Congrats, you are basically the dominant power in Africa already. After westernization which direction will you be heading? Conquering up north and around the Mediterranean or towards the riches of India?

 

[eugene171]

I'm going to try this now. Well done!

I'll freely admit that my first start was a lucky one, but the general strategy of "keep the Mamluks happy, dominate the Arabian Peninsula explore to find western cores" is the best way to do it.

I like it, subbed. Looking forward to how you will sway enough electors to your side. And then... I think it would be worthy of an extra achievement if you manage to reform the HRE (besides the already existing reform HRE achievement)!

I'd love to see and "Orthodox HRE" achievement as well, to keep it open to a number of weird play options.
I'm interested to see how it works too. I'm pretty sure if i can make enough of them orthodox, I can diplo-vassalize them (maybe aggro-vassalize), which should work. Should.

What's your religious unity like btw? I doubt it that you've managed to convert all of the muslims in Adal...

It fluctuates from ~70% to ~90%. The extra missionary from Mecca is helping a ton, and colonies are balancing out the annexed vassals in terms of percentages.

Congrats, you are basically the dominant power in Africa already. After westernization which direction will you be heading? Conquering up north and around the Mediterranean or towards the riches of India?

North for sure. I've gotta cross the Mediterranean to get at those fickle HRE electors.

Part III coming tonight, currently playing thru a yet-unnamed part IV. Thanks for all the support and wishes!

 

[JanBDim]

I'm following! You've set a very difficult goal for yourself, I hope you can achieve it.

 

[MiltonS]

Fantastic start! Looking forward to seeing how you do. I think I'll try an Ethiopia game now!

 

[brifbates]

I haven't tried Ethiopia since the set-up changes in 1.2. In 1.1 it was brutal since the Mameluks would regularly claim your land and attack before you knew about Cairo to try and appease them... :/

Good luck with your highly ambitious goal!

 

[homy_dog34]

Excellent! Definitely following this AAR!

 

[eugene171]

Short update today, been playing a lot and not writing a lot.

We are greeted with out Westernization with a world we never knew existed: this far-off land full of heretics known as Your-rope.



They all appear to be following perverse versions of our Lord, aside from a few small states and the "Russians". I like the Russians. We'll become friends, maybe. There is a strangely large patch of land taken by a crusading Holy Order of Teutoic Knights, which would be admirable, were they righting for the right thing. What's the state of this "Holy Roman Empire"?



The Palatinate? That tiny, cleaved patch of land? and they've only enacted 3 reforms? This will be easy, eventually.



We claw our way up from a shattered sense of stability, and things are looking all right. We've got colonies building, our tech is cheaper, so we're actually advancing, it's a great day to be...



Portugal? I thought you were our friend!! There is not much photographic evidence of the disgraceful fighting that followed, but in the end, several of our colonies near Mali were seized. Castille joined in the 'fun', making sure there was no hope. Enjoy your colonies, Portugal. They've earned you a spot on "Solomon's S*** List"

After the war, things started to get hairy. People stopped trusting in our king, rebelling in the streets, and insisting on all sorts of silly reforms. But in the end...



We did it! Spears are cast aside for swords, 'armor' and 'horses' as well as 'cannons' are all discovered, which will make this whole war business much better. Suddenly, we are on par with our neighbors to the north... The Mamluks look nervous. As well they should.


End Part III


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[Grundius]

Time for some payback.

When you vassalize electors be careful... when you control an elector in such a way the value that determines whether the others vote for you gets a penalty. I think your only shot will be to vassalize a majority of the electors. On the other hand, getting enough authority with all the states in the HRE following a different religion will be somewhat easier.