(Sounds like Im talking to myself here, but anyway, many updates)
In the end the heir reached 16 years old and was elected Prince-Mayor 3 years later. Under his guidance, Sicily grew exponentially.
We first concluded our expansion into Africa until we could turn that Sultanate into the Republic of Africa. We left the Tulinid there, now weaker than us militarily they turned unto the heretic Myphysites in the south, all good for the weakened Orthodox Church.
Then the Shi'ates in Greece went into civil war. We also forged an alliance with the only other remaining Orthodox realm, Tauricia oh the other side of Greece. As the Turks appeared from the eastern steppes, adamant to retake Persia, the Arabian Empire was in trouble. As they went busy, we threw the dice...and invaded Greece.
Bringing Tauricia into the fold just to keep Greece busy on their borders long enough for us to land, we managed to crush them and establish a beach-head in Greece. Serving as a launching point to retake Constantinople and put an end to the heretical bout the Byzantines had fallen into (The Emperor has been iconoclast for 3 generations at that point), but also block the Holy Roman's expansion in the east.
The Turks kept a steady expansion in the east, bringing the Arabian Empire to a manageable power level. The Andalusians in the east fell into a string of civil wars and decadence, buying us time to catch up with them. Not forgetting our eternal competitor in trading, we kept grabbing a trade port from Venice whenever we could, to the point where the Byzantine Emperor, now holding a tiny, scattered realm of 20 holdings, vassalized the republic of Venice and...turned it into a duchy, leaving us the sole republic to do business in the world.
Making one of our loyal bishop into an Archbishop by granting him Constantinople and Adrianopolis, we hoped he would recreate the Patriarchy. Since he seems rather uninterested in the matter, we decided to retake the Holy sites in Greece to give the church enough moral authority to compete with the heresies in the area. It didnt take long for the re-conversion to start flooding. The Orthodox church is back where it belongs.
The year is now 1063. Venice and the Byzantine Empire are no more. The Holy Roman Empire runs the world, holding an empire spanning from England to Crotia, encompassing northern France and all its de jure holdings. Italy follows them as a catholic power to reckon with, but the Republic of Sicily is slowly gnawing at their core realm. The rest of of the christian world is slowly disappearing. Aquitaine and Alba are slowly being swallowed by the Germans while Asturias, still alive, is having a hard time surviving the Andalusian onslaught.
The Muslim world is divided in 5 realms. The Andalusian and the Arabians running the show for that religion, but the rising Turks are not to be put aside, actually giving a headache to the Arabs as they are trying to retake Persia. The other two powers are but a shadow of their former selves. The Tulunid of Africa, who used to hold all of Africa as well as holdings in Greece and Sicily, holds the broken remains of a falling empire, mostly due to the rising power of the Sicilian Republic. The Shi'ates for their part are running for their lives. Formerly having stolen Greece from the Arabians as the schism occured, they are now losing every war with the Sicilians, to the point where they lost Constantinoples as well as most of the lands of the dead empire west of the capital.
In the north, Ruthania used to run the show, but a civil war crippled them and they never recovered. What is left of the Norse, who now are mostly catholics, managed to organise under the Svipjod's banner, while Hungary ate all they could in Russia and its surroundings.
The Catholic church still is the most practiced religion, mainly due to its Holy Empire's power, however, since the fall of Rome to the Sicilians some 40 years ago, the Pope have lost its appeal and heresies are starting to arise. Maybe will it be the downfall of the mighty empire.
The Sunnites are the good second religion, with 2 Empires strongly practicing it. The Caliph's authority greater than the Popes seems to have the most promising future, at least as long as the Orthodox church doesnt have a Patriarch head.
The Orthodox church comes 3rd, having recovered from a mostly deadly blow when Constantinople was conquered by the Arabs. However, with the Sicilian relentless holy reconquest of the dead empire, the Greek Shi'ates are quickly returning to the religion of their fathers. If the Sicilians manage to recreate the Empire, as they aim to do, maybe will the Orthodox Church come on top.
The Slavic pagans having reformed themselves about a 100 years ago under the guidance of the Ruthenians, it comes in 4th rank as the most practiced religion in the world. Most of them have reformed (Only 3 old slavic counties left), however, now that Ruthenia have broken apart, its future looks dim.
Finally the Suemonesko pagans are not to be ignored. Mostly united under the Perm banner, they havent reformed yet. Luckily for them though, they are pretty much isolated from the organised religions who could convert them, their only threat being the Slavic religion, who have other things to focus on of late.
Beyond that, only the Shi'ates deserve a mention, if only for the power they used to hold. They might, however, disappear very quickly, with only 8 counties left following their doctrine, most of them having fallen under the Sicilian onslaught, their total conversion might be coming very soon.
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