Return of the King, Part 1
The Patriarch was gone. Pskov was no more. The Princes of Pskov had declared a new nation, Russia, and had claimed the Byzantine Mantle. The nobles of the new nation were in disarray. It had been 62 years since the last new ruler had been selected in the nation. In that time, the Patriarch had destroyed any of the former ruling family who had shown the least inclination towards independent thought.
The ruling families of former Pskov and former Muscovy were now one group. Where before they had been enemies since the days of their distant ancestors, now they had to rule as one.
Six men emerged as leaders of the new nation. From Pskovian lands emerged a young baron, Ivan Shuiski. From Novgorad emerged a young duke, Burvash Yalichev. From Lithuania arose a young prince, Semen Struysinov. From the Moslem lands to the South arose a man known simply as Vorotinski. Finally, a young Russian whose parents were a cousin of the last Czar of Russian and a Pskovian general emerged. This man was named as Ivan IV Grozny.
Quickly and relatively painlessly, the other contenders bowed out easily and threw their support to the Pskovian/Russian noble. Within a fortnight, he was crowned the Czar of the Russian Empire as the new nation came to be called. The people changed their name in an attempt to put their evil and terrible past behind them.
The Russians wanted nothing more than to be left alone as they tried to rebuild a nation.
This was not to be.
On April 1, 1572, the alliance of Denmark, Sieberburgen and Wallachia declared war. They declared that the evil that was represented by the Russians was not erased by a name change.
On April 2, 1572, the alliance of Brandenburg, Sweden, Mecklenburg, and Saxony declared war. They declared that the people that had followed the rape of Europe perpetrated by the Patriarch must pay for his crimes.
The new Russian nation mobilized to meet the onslaught.
The lone ally of the Russians was Georgia, a nation of dubious help.
On July 1, 1572, Wallachia, beset by internal problems of its own, offered Russia a White Peace, which was gladly accepted.
Perhaps the Russians could ride this out?
On August 10, 1572, Poland, Spain, Siena, Navarra, and England declared Russians enemies of the world and declared war.
