Chapter 1 - On the Hunt, 1444-1461
"But Emir, you cannot possibly expect us to reconquer our lost territories in Castille...it's, it's impossible!"
So, let's get our bearings here, we have truces with Castille, Aragon, and Portugal, and we have high relations with Morocco. Our leader is a 1 1 0, not the best but could be worse, and our economy is doing as well as you'd expect (it's not doing well). Our first moves are going include us securing an alliance with Tunis and possibly Ottomans and Morocco, and taking out Tlemecen.
This is our situation in 1447 (the first 3 years were relatively generic opening stuff).
Diplomatic Situation in 1447
On the 28th of June, 1448 we declared war on Tlemecen to seize Dahra, which will increase our trade influence in Sevilla and beyond, because we didn't have military access through Portugal, we had to ship our units across the Strait of Gibraltar, not ideal but can be utilised.
The fighting was bloody, costly, and dealt a massive blow to our economy, but thanks to the heroic deeds of the Moroccan military to waive off the Tlemecen defenders, we were able to sqeeze 15 ducats out of them and seize a few provinces, including the war goal, during the war our truces with Portugal and Aragon had ended, and I was scared half to death that they were going to pounce while we were in Tlemecen.
A closer view of the territorial gains.
Economic situation in 1450, as you can see we are in dire straits as there isn't a steady source of income through trade and taxes, we will have to mothball the fort that we took in the war in order to get more money to pay off the loan we took before.
Allied Ottomans in September of 1452, now we have security in knowing that the Castillians will pay dearly if they try to conquer us in the future.
In 1448 our dearest Emir had his first son, Sa'd of the Nasrid dynasty, long live Sa'd! (He also has better stats, now all that needs to happen is for Muhammad to die soon)
It is with great regret that I report, our glorious leader Muhammad IX Nasrid has died at the age of 56, he is succeeded by his son Sa'd, who is not yet of age to rule the Emirate, the regency will decide the fate of the Emirate now.
We're having quite a bit of rebel troubles here, no wonder we're taking all of our monarch points into that, oh well, the tech will come soon-ish.
Thank you very much!
Aha! Tunisia is at war with Tlemecen and our truce timer is up! Now would be the perfect chance to declare war and sneak in some more land before confronting Castille...wait what do you mean the regency won't allow a war with Tlemecen?
Diplo Tech time! We shall party throughout Granada tonight!
Diplomatic mapmode in 1461, we've done pretty well for ourselves these first 17 years, we've gained land from Tlemecen, and we've secured alliances with The Ottomans, Morocco, and Tunis, things are looking up for Grenada (besides the 2 loans we took).
Now certainly nobody could ever expect an Andalusian inquisition at this point, and they might be right, but Granada is certainly one tough cookie of an Emirate with a trash economy and numerous separatists trying to break away, but no matter, the mighty Granadan army will wipe them in an instant! See you tomorrow most likely, have a good day!
