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Arcvalons

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Feb 21, 2010
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Hello, everyone. This is my first AAR, and will probably be a rather short one. Instead of using the game as a means to tell the story, this will be more or less a playthrough of the game with just enough story.

In this AAR, I will lead the Aztec Empire from a fragile regional power in central Mexico, to a world power spanning the entire North American continent. I will also try to spread my influence through the world as much as I can, without tarnishing my reputation too much ;)

If everything goes fine, I might even take this game of Europa Universalis 2 to Victoria.

A few things that you should probably know:

1. I changed the name from Aztec Empire, to Mexica Empire.

2. I made it so the Mexica Empire is on the Latin techgroup, this is justified in the story with a much more innovative Mexica Empire that eventually engages in trade enters with the European civilizations. As such, high level technologies are going to be researched only until the 1600s and 1700s.

3. I changed the monarchs completely, this is also justified in the story. You might notice that they are quite competent, and this is in revenge for the original file having a mediocre monarch active for nearly 300 years.

4. I might have given myself some extra colonists once or twice.
 
Prologue


The Mexica arrived in the Valley of Mexico from the north towards the end of the 12th Century. The poor nomadic awaited the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy: that the wandering tribes would find the destoned site for a great city whose location would be signaled by an eagle eating a snake while perched atop a cactus. They saw this vision on what was then a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco, and not deterred by the unfavourable terrain, they set about building their city. Tenochtitlan, founded in 1325, would become the center of a great civilization that would dominate nearby tribes culturally and politically.

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Founding of Tenochtitlan


In the early 1333, a young and ambitious man by the name of Ilhuitemoc seized power and would become the first Huey Tlatoani (great spokesman). This man was powerful and mysterious, he had come from the far and unknown lands in the south, it was said nobody could even touch him in combat, and that he had a silver tongue which he was able to use to submit nearly anyone to his will without needing to use force. In the coming decades, he was able to unite the more than forty altépetl (city-states) in the Valley of Mexico into a single tlahtohcāyōtl (kingdom) ruled from Tenochtitlan, not by war and conquest, but by a clever network of royal marriages and diplomatic moves.

As the Huey Tlatoani, Ilhuitemoc reformed the entire political and religious system of the Mexica society. He had greatly reduced the power and influence of the priests, and centralized most of it on himself. He also encouraged scientific expeditions that would help to expand the Mexica's knowledge of the world.

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Ilhuitemoc as Huey Tlatoani.
 
Huey Tlatoani Ilhuitemoc IV Cuauhtzin (1452-1502)

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The year is 1419. The current Huey Tlatoani of texhe Mexica people, Ilhuitemoc IV Cuauhtzin, is the direct descendant of the legendary leader that unified the Valley of Mexico. Directly south of the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl lie the Zapotec Tlahtohcāyōtl, and even more to the south lie the Mayan Tlahtohcāyōtl.

Our relations with the Zapotecs are rather tense, while relations with the Mayans are actually quite good. This is often attributed to the many joint expeditions between the two kingdoms, and the various royal marriages through the years.


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Following the reforms of Ilhuitemoc and his descendants, the various altépetl continued to lose autonomy in favour of the central authority in Tenochtitlan, and much of the power once held by the priests had been transfered to the Huey Tlatoani himself. The relevance of the priests and religion had been greatly diminished in society. Soon, religious education became less and less important. When cities started to expand, paved roads were beginning to be built between them, and scientific expeditions and settlements were being sent to the north, the government in Tenochtitlan began to encourage education in maths and science instead.


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Unfortunately, not everyone was happy with this, and a group of priests encouraged open rebellion against Ilhuitemoc IV in the region of Jalisco. They would be promptly crushed.:rolleyes:

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It seems our neighnbors are also suffering from revolts. Many in the kingdom , including Ilhuitemoc IV, suspect the priest that started the revolt in Jalisco was somehow linked to this revolterers. If we don't do anything, more come from that place!


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We ask our neighboring kingdom if they would let us search for this dangerous people in their lands. They refuse, so they could be protecting them, or even supporting them! Obviously, we cannot allow this, so Ilhuitemoc orders the warriors of the kingdom to prepare for war.

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About three years later, the territories of the Zapotec are incorporated into the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl.
 
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A new EU2 AAR? Let's give it some love since they are rare beasties nowadays ;)

Of course I'm quite keen on the American natives even if only in EU3 :D
 
Good luck. Nice to see there's still people playing EU2 and care enough to make an AAR in this somewhat deserted subforum.
 
Huey Tlatoani Ilhuitemoc V Tecuauhtli (1452-1502)

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In 1452, Ilhuitemoc V Tecuauhtli ascends to the position of Huey Tlatoani. Like his predecessor, he is very competent in all areas, and is very popular among his subjects.

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The Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl in 1452 was going throught change. The addition of the lands that previously formed the Zapotec Tlahtohcāyōtl had started to weaken the central authority. Also, various scientific investigations were being aimed to create a vessel that could sail the large oceans; while the mexica had long since mastered the rivers and lakes, the new monarch thought the next logical step were the vast oceans to the east and west.

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The allied Mayan Tlahtohcayotl was peacefully unified into the Mexica Tlahtohcayotl through royal marriage a couple of years after Ilhuitemoc V Tecuauhtli became Huey Tlatoani. The years of mutual co-operation and exchange of scientific knowledge, in addition to the increasingly overwhelming penetration of mexica culture into the Mayan Tlahtohcayotl, greatly facilitated the unification.

However, this had weakened the central authority exponentially, as the ability of the Ilhuitemoc V Tecuauhtli to rule this vast realms from Tenochtitlan was extremely limited. Nobles and priests from the former Zapotec and Mayan Tlahtohcayotls demanded a degree of autonomy, staging a few minor revolts through the following years. Those were prompty crushed, of course.

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Expeditions were sent to the north, and settlements were created as more land was being discovered. Much of this land was not completely empty, various altlepetl were discovered in these places, though their total population in each new area was never more than a couple thousand. In time, the mexica settlements in this places would grow into cities, and the mexica culture would take over that of the original inhabitants of the area.

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At the turn of the century, Ilhuitemoc V Tecuauhtli had grown old and ill, and he would die a couple of years into the new century. He would be remembered through mexica history for the union of the Maya Tlahtohcayotl into the Mexica Tlahtohcayotl, and the expansion northwards that had culminated in the discovery of various new societies. During the following years, the mexica would trade, form alliances, and wage wars with many of this people.
 
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1500 already?

Navajo annexed, who's next?
 
Huey Tlatoani Ilhuitemoc VI Cuauhtemoc (1502-1555)

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In 1502, Ilhuitemoc VI Cuauhtemoc became the new Huey Tlatoani.

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During the first months of his reign, a mayan expedition found something that would forever change the destiny of the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl and all her people. In the region of Isthmus, a region that the mayans had been preparing to explore for years, a settlement inhabited by mysterious people clad in metal and mounted on giant beasts had been discovered. Some among the members of the expedition believed Quetzalcoatl had returned, but most of them, having grown in a highly secularized society, dismissed such claims as being nonsense.

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Soon after, this mysterious people began to appear at various points outside the de-facto territory of the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl. They did not know this lands, and so, they appeared to be exploring them.

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Envoys of the Huey Tlatoani made contact with them, and tried to strike a deal with them. They would exchange their knowledge with ours, we would both learn about each other and about the mysterious world we all live in. Unfortunately, they declined, and immediately expelled the royal envoys threatening them with their metallic weapons. The Huey Tlatoani immediately ordered the fortification of the most important altépetl, and ordered the warriors to be ready for any kind of attack. If this mysterious people did not want to cooperate, it was probable they were preparing to attack

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Large forces of warriors were sent to the regions in which the mysterious people had been sighted, and engaged in a few skirmishes against the mysterious people, and eventually the skirmishes escalated into battles.

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More of this mysterious peoples were soon sighted all over the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl. However, they were not aggressive towards the people, it was only when they encountered mexica warriors that it escalated into violence. The Huey Tlatoani deduced that sending the warriors only served to provoke the mysterious foreigners, and quickly issued orders to avoid these situations, and sent messengers to improve relations between the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl and the foreigners. After a couple of years, the Huey Tlatoani exchanged basic knowledge with the visitors.

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Meanwhile, settlers from the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl arrived to the regions beyond the great river, founding new altépetl in the name of the Huey Tlatoani. However, some of the local tribes were to aggressive for their own good, and the Huey Tlatoani was forced to send warriors to protect the growing altépetls in the region.

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New foreigners arrived from the sea east of the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl, these new people did not establish settlements as the previous ones had done, instead they seemed to be mapmakers and explorers. A couple of them reached Tenochtitlan, and were more than happy to exchange maps and discoveries with the Huey Tlatoani. It was through this means that the people of the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl learned about the concepts of continents called Europe and America (among many other european concepts); more european expeditions would arrive to the americas in the following years, and trade between the continents would flourish through the colonies that the european powers had established in america, and the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl which could be considered the most powerful political entity in the continent.

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Soon after, a Cherokee messenger would arrive in Tenochtitlan with a message for the Huey Tlatoani. The Cherokee were involved in a drawn-out war against neighboring tribes, and hoped the mighty Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl could turn their war in their favour.

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He was already old, and he had witnessed the beginning of what would eventually become the most influential changes for the people of the continent; but before passing away he would help the cherokee win their war, and in exchange the Mexica Tlahtohcāyōtl would receive a small outpost in north america.
 
Very nice to see that many people are still playing the old good EU II :)