I think it would suit you more seeing your posts in CK2. Histories about the rulers of Sagaria were interesting, but in warfare, cultural and society posts you shined the brightest
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Renasceria means "rebirth" in Medieval Latin (at least the version that was spoken and written in Sagaria). So yes, the Renasceria is this timeline's version of the Renaissance. I decided to change the name since France isn't anywhere near as influential in the areas of culture and learning as Sagaria is.
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Wow, thanks for the kind words! <3I think it would suit you more seeing your posts in CK2. Histories about the rulers of Sagaria were interesting, but in warfare, cultural and society posts you shined the brightest
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"Renaissance" is french world, but it originated in Northern Italy still it makes sense to have it in latin, because I think this world is much more "papal" and "postcrusade" than otl so I think it fits
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I did not know that, but it makes a lot of sense. And yeah, this alternate timeline is definitely much more Papal and Catholic than OTL, although as can be seen in "Renasceria and Reformation," the Catholic Church itself is going down a different path compared to what it did in OTL."Renaissance" is french world, but it originated in Northern Italy still it makes sense to have it in latin, because I think this world is much more "papal" and "postcrusade" than otl so I think it fits
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Whoa, the doctrine of celibacy has been rescinded? Dang, you're not kidding about this timeline's Church going down a different path.
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Exploration and Trade - 1354-1611 AD
The Age of Discovery began at the end of the Black Death in 1354 AD, when the Mercantile Clans of Sagaria began to launch trading expeditions to the east through the Red Sea, establishing trade routes to India, Iran, and East Africa. At first, sailors used world maps based on the work of Ptolemy to plot their courses. By the late 15th century, however, they had begun to draw their own maps based on the observations of traders and new surveying techniques, as the invention of the magnetic compass and the navigational quadrant enabled increasing accuracy.
The desire to find the Spice Islands and a sea route to China drove innovations in shipbuilding, navigation, and cartography. Knowledge that quickly spread to the rest of Europe in the beginning of the 16th century thanks to the printing press. Between 1507 and 1516 AD, Sagarian explorers such as Nalash Lirinu Edutirou and Ciristina Salena Felan explored and drew up detailed maps of Southeast Asia and East Asia, while also making trade deals with the peoples they encountered as well as buying land. One of the most notable and important of these was the purchase of Jeju Island from Korea, which turned into a major trading hub in the region.
The ever increasing wealth that was flowing into Sagaria made many other European realms more than a little envious of the Kingdom. However, given that Sagaria held Sinai—which had come to be seen as the Gateway to the East—and the Pope had ruled that the Kingdom had a monopoly on all maritime trade east of the Mediterranean, there was little to nothing any other realm could do to challenge their primacy.
The events leading up to the Reformation began to change this state of affairs as Papal authority weakened in Western Europe. Even so, West Asia and Africa were an insurmountable barrier preventing the other European powers from accessing the wealth of the east directly. However, some were not deterred by this. Enter Duncan MacIntyre, an Irish navigator and a subject of the Kingdom of Scotland, who conceived of the idea of reaching Asia by sailing west. Like other navigators of his day, he knew that the Earth was round—it is a myth that the common belief of the time was that the world was flat—but he accepted Ptolemy’s incorrect estimation of its size. Thus he believed that East Asia was much closer to Western Europe than it actually was. The realms of the British Isles had been great seafarers for much of their history and over the years they had adopted many of the innovations made by Sagaria, allowing their ships to sail further away from shore. Because of this, MacIntyre believed that the British kingdoms were in a perfect position to attempt his ambitious voyage, and in 1509 AD, proposed his plan to King Kenneth IV of Scotland. Kenneth IV brought MacIntyre's proposal to his advisors, who opposed it on the grounds that MacIntyre's estimate for a voyage was only a quarter of what it should have been, as they knew that Ptolemy’s estimate of the Earth’s size was incorrect. After many setbacks, MacIntyre opted to instead go to the English court where he managed to persuade King Edmund III to fund his voyage in 1512 AD. MacIntyre departed England that same year with three ships.
MacIntyre lands in the Caribbean.
When MacIntyre spotted the islands of the Caribbean in 1512 AD, he assumed them to be part of Asia. Three further voyages in 1513-1516 AD, 1518-1520 AD, and 1522-1524 AD failed to convince him that he had in fact found a previously unknown continent. It wasn’t until 1521 AD when Sical Diren Talafar, a Sagarian explorer and navigator who led several voyages to the western lands on behalf of England, realized that they weren’t part of Asia, but of a continent new to the Europeans, which she called “Terra Nova,” or the “New World.” Not long thereafter, cartographers began to label the new continent “Sicalia” in her honor, and within only a few decades, the name became permanently affixed to the landmass.
Following MacIntyre’s return from his first voyage to report his success to King Edmund III, word of his discovery of new lands began to rapidly spread throughout Europe. The English were initially disappointed with the discovery, as the indigenous people of the Caribbean had little to offer in trade. Instead the islands came to be the focus of colonization efforts, resource extraction, and cash crop farming. The locals were subjugated and enslaved to be used as a cheap source of labor, but Old World diseases and overwork rapidly decimated their population. Because of this, the English began to import slaves from West Africa in the mid-16th century, creating a triangular trade system where Europe sold textiles, rum, and manufactured goods to Africa, Africa sold slaves to Sicalia, and Sicalia sold sugar, tobacco, and cotton to Europe.
The majority of the English who colonized the Caribbean were Catholics who had come to escape religious persecution in the homeland. Additionally, many English sergals had refused to accept the Protestant faith, and so migrated to the colonies. With Catholicism becoming the predominant religion in the Caribbean, tensions eventually grew between the English and their colonial subjects.
Diseases from the Old World are estimated to have wiped out 80 to 95 percent of the indigenous population of Sicalia.
Arguably, the most impactful legacy of the European discovery of the New World was the MacIntyrian Exchange. When Duncan MacIntyre first landed in the Caribbean, he brought with him an assortment of horses, mules, sheep, goats, cattle, chicken, and cats—all of which were unfamiliar animals to the indigenous Sicalians. From there, a widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas began to flow from the Old World to the New and vice versa.
The introduction of Old World diseases was by far the most dramatic aspect of the MacIntyrian Exchange, as it is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of 80 to 95 percent of the indigenous population of Sicalia. Of course, the introduction of numerous invasive animal and plant species, the resulting famines and civil strife, as well as European aggression most likely contributed to these numbers. European colonists and African slaves largely replaced the indigenous populations in most of Sicalia. Meanwhile, the introduction of potatoes, maize, tomatoes, and chili peppers transformed the cuisine of the Old World. Potatoes in particular became an important staple in the European diet as they yielded two to four times more calories per acre than grain did and could be grown in lands formerly thought unfit for use as farmland. Potatoes, along with other New World crops, lead to an estimated 25% population increase in the Old World.
The Swedish colony of Silvermark in 1541 AD.
The Swedish colonies of Silvermark and Peru in 1570 AD.
It did not take long before other European rulers took an interest in the New World. In search of silver and gold, Sweden established the colony of Silvermark on the southeastern coast of South Sicalia in 1527 AD. They were later followed by other European powers, such as France, Frisia, Galicia, Castile, Saxony, and Scotland. Although the Swedes did find silver in Silvermark, it wasn’t until the late 16th century when they found an abundance of it in the mountains of Peru. This attracted the attention of the Mercantile Clans of Sagaria, who relied on bullion for their trade with China. Marin Calas Edutirou, the Matriarch of the Mecklenburg Clan, met with King Björn IV of Sweden in Dagskrona in 1578 AD to propose a deal wherein Sweden would sell 80% of all silver and gold extracted from their Sicalian colonies to Sagaria, and in exchange Sweden would be allowed to purchase trade goods and hire mercenaries from Sagaria at a reduced price. Björn IV eagerly took the deal, which would become known as the Treaty of Dagskrona. This agreement firmly established Sagaria as the one truly global trade empire and provided it with all the bullion it could ever need, while setting the stage for Sweden to become one of the greatest powers in Europe.
The Treaty of Dagskrona would also motivate Sagaria to explore and chart out the Pacific Ocean, as it was obvious to the Mercantile Clans that it would be more efficient to transport gold and silver from South Sicalia to China via an eastern sea route rather than through the bottleneck of Sinai.
The English severely underestimated the Mesosicalians.
England’s own quest for gold and silver in the Sicalian mainland was disaster after disaster. Between 1537 and 1545 AD, the English sent multiple armed expeditions to explore the Yuckatan peninsula and later other parts of the Mesosicalian east coast, where they would end up battling the locals, and every time most of the men sent were either killed or captured. Mesosicalia at this time was a giant patchwork of city-states, kingdoms, and small empires, each vying for power over the other. Although Old World diseases decimated their population, the Mesosicalians were able to adapt. And while the European invaders initially had the advantage of having guns, horses, and steel, these would be stolen and turned against them in a matter of years. And because the sergals of Britain were defecting to Mercia in droves, England had too few sergal troops to send on these expeditions to make any difference. The indigenous people of Mesosicalia proved to be so resilient and resistant to foreign occupation that they weren’t fully subdued until the end of the 18th century, and even then it was only because their conquerors made several concessions with them.
England was only ever able to colonize the far north and south of Mesosicalia, regions that were too rural and sparsely populated to effectively put up a fight against them. Even so, the northern territory of Mechicko was the only colony on the Sicalian mainland that the English were ultimately able to hold on to.
The growing trade power of England in the mid-16th century attracted the attention of the Mercantile Clans of Sagaria, who began to view the English as potential rivals. This coupled with the fact that England was Protestant whereas Sagaria was staunchly Catholic resulted in a growing sense of animosity between the two powers. Although Sagaria would continue to trade with England, the Mercantile Clans began to take steps to sabotage English trade and colonization. They prohibited them from hiring Sagarian mercenaries and started funding the enemies of England, such as Scotland and Mercia. The Treaty of Dagskrona also served to help Sweden, a longtime Sagarian ally, become a major colonial power in the New World. Additionally, the Mercantile Clans began to use privateers to weaken English trade. However, this would end up backfiring as several privateers turned to piracy and went after the Swedish treasure fleet in addition to English merchant ships. The English also began to hire privateers to go after Swedish trading ships and treasure fleets. This of course prompted Sagaria to use warships to escort Swedish ships carrying gold and silver from the New World to Taiwan and the Baltic Sea. This was the dawn of the Golden Age of Piracy, which would span from 1570 to 1700 AD.
In 1542 AD, the Kingdom of Maghreb began to explore and chart sub-Saharan Africa, as improvements in naval technology made maritime trade routes more appealing than by going through the Sahara as the Berbers had done traditionally. Furthermore, the discovery of the New World had created an interest in exploration for its own sake, and so they began to send ships to survey the coast of sub-Saharan Africa. Maghreb explorers such as Yula Awan and Mennad Yusuf led these voyages and mapped out the coast of the entire continent of Africa in great detail. The Kingdom Maghreb created an extensive maritime trade network that reached all the way to East Africa, although they never ventured past the Horn of Africa as the sea north and east of it was considered to belong to Sagaria. Even so, the Maghrebs found their new trade routes to be quite profitable.
Maghrebi colony in South Africa in 1600 AD.
The Maghrebs established an outpost in South Africa in 1555 AD that was intended to supply passing ships with provisions. This quickly grew into a full-fledged colony by 1564 AD, and in 1597 AD England established a small colony of its own to the west of it.
Although Sagarian explorers were the first Christians to discover Australia and charted its coast, they never had any interest in the continent as it did not seem to have anything of value. It did end up drawing the attention of Abyssinia, however, as the Coptic Kingdom wished to have a colony of its own. Of course, as Sagaria had what it considered to be a God-given monopoly on all maritime trade in the east, this immediately drew its ire, and so envoys from the Mercantile Clans were sent to Abyssinia in 1602 AD to discuss this with King Iskander III. As the Sagarians had no interest in Australia, they gave the Abyssinians permission to colonize the continent on the condition that they refrain from trading with India, Southeast Asia, or East Asia. Iskander III agreed to these terms.
The Age of Discovery finally ended in 1611 AD, when nine Galician ships under the command of Alvaro de Villena completed the first global circumnavigation by sailing from Europe, around South Sicalia, across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and then around Africa.
Yes, Duncan MacIntyre is basically just Irish Christopher Columbus. I am very creative.
Excellent update as always. It's wild to see what a vastly different world is forming. Yet despite all this, history continues to rhyme with our own.
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And the Americas are discovered.
It's interesting that the Mesoamericans survived as independent states, though - that should have a great effect on world history.
It's interesting that the Mesoamericans survived as independent states, though - that should have a great effect on world history.
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Sagaria and the East - 1444-1700 AD
While the other European powers competed against each other in the New World, Sagaria focused all of its efforts on Asia. Although the Mercantile Clans as a whole funded and helped organize trade and colonization efforts, it was Clan Felan of Sinai that did all the work and was ultimately in control of everything Sagaria did east of the Mediterranean. Even so, Clan Edutirou of Mecklenburg were careful to keep Clan Felan on a short leash by forbidding them from selling any eastern trade goods to anyone in the west other than the Mecklenburg Clan. Because of this, Clan Felan were only able to sell those goods for a fraction of their worth, making Clan Edutirou exorbitantly wealthy at their expense. However, there was little they could do to change this state of affairs as the entirety of their fleet was in the east, which left their northwestern coast vulnerable to attack by the other Mercantile Clans. And even if that was not the case, Clan Edutirou always had the option to bribe a Sagarian army to march to Sinai over land, as they had done in the past when Clan Felan attempted to rebel. Furthermore, no clan in Sagaria had its own army, as this was against the laws of the realm, and so even though Clan Felan could deploy armies, these were loyal to the state first and foremost. Even if some commanders could be bribed, Clan Edutirou with its greater wealth would always be able to outbribe them. It was for all of these reasons that Clan Felan came to the conclusion that maximizing trade good output was the only way to increase their cut of the trade profits. This is what motivated them to pursue their expansionist policy in the east.
In 1460 AD, Clan Felan declared war on Tamilakam, and by 1462 AD they had completely subdued the Indian kingdom along with its allies. The peace treaty that the Maharaja of Tamilakam was forced to sign almost tripled Clan Felan’s territorial holdings in India. This marked the beginning of their aggressive expansion in Asia, and from 1460 to 1700 AD Clan Felan gradually conquered the entirety of India and the East Indies through a combination of diplomatic annexation, purchase of land, establishment of settlements, and warfare.
Of course, the manpower to accomplish this was immense, but in 1476 AD Matriarch Rahel Niran Felan solved this by requesting that the sovereign and commanders of Sagaria provide them with armies to help protect and expand their holdings in the east. In exchange for this, the Clan of Sinai would found well-maintained colonies for their combat veterans in the eastern territories.
In contrast to Sagaria’s old wars of expansion in Europe, where humans were driven out of the conquered territories to make room for sergal settlements, Clan Felan established the sergal colonists as a ruling class in their Asian holdings. To increase profits, Clan Felan also made significant alterations to the agricultural landscape of India and the East Indies by forcing the natives to focus heavily on cash crops instead of food for the local populace. Naturally, this resulted in numerous devastating famines that decimated the native population.
Sagaria’s colonial empire in 1520 AD.
Sagaria’s colonial empire in 1700 AD.
While Clan Felan focused on colonization and resource production in India and the East Indies, they went for a different approach in East Asia. This was mostly because the trade goods they wanted to acquire there were manufactured goods, such as processed silk cloth, porcelain, and lacquerware, the production of which were more or less dependent on the societies in that region. As such, Clan Felan deemed trade to be much more preferable to conquest. They colonized Taiwan in 1514 AD, purchased Jeju Island from Korea the following year, and acquired the Kuril Islands in 1547 AD. Clan Felan used these islands as ports and outposts for their trade in East Asia.
Although normally quite isolationist, the Chinese were intrigued by the sergal traders. Of course, this was not their first encounter with their species—commander Fenas Sersa Edutirou led a band of merchant-mercenaries to China between 1272 and 1295 AD, and they made quite a good first impression on the locals. Emperor Aizong of the Qi dynasty permitted Clan Felan to trade with China, and they even managed to persuade him to allow a sergal clan to settle in Haizhou in 1519 AD. This clan would be loyal to the Emperor and serve him as his personal retinue, and they would act as a diplomatic channel between Sagaria and China.
Japan was in the middle of the Sengoku period at this time, with various samurai and clans fighting for control over the archipelago. Despite the Japanese suspicion of outsiders, Clan Felan managed to take advantage of this state of affairs in 1542 AD by meeting with Oda Noboru, the leader of the most powerful clan in Japan, and offering to provide military as well as economic support to help his war effort in exchange for a trade exclusivity deal. Noboru agreed to this and with the help of Sagarian mercenaries, he succeeded in unifying Japan in 1553 AD. Noboru took a liking to the mercenaries during the war and made some of them samurai, and with the subsequent establishment of the Oda Shogunate, he would allow them to settle Etchū.
Between Clan Felan’s dominance of virtually all maritime trade in the east and the Treaty of Dagskrona, which secured the flow of silver from South Sicalia to East Asia, an enormous amount of wealth ran through Sinai and into the coffers of Clan Edutirou. Clan Felan was only allowed to keep a small fraction of this, but its Matriarchs and Patriarchs accepted this arrangement for the most part, as it did not seem feasible to alter it. This would change in 1633 AD, when Lushia Elescar Felan became the Matriarch of the Clan of Sinai. Having clawed her way up to her position at the relatively young age of 23, Lushia was as cunning as she was ambitious, and where her predecessors had seen obstacles, she saw opportunity.
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By the 1630s AD, roughly half of the Sagarian army was stationed in the eastern territories. Although they would fight on behalf of Clan Felan, these troops did not serve them, but were nominally loyal to the sovereign. Because of this, Clan Felan was not able to make them act against their own interest or that of Sagaria. However, Lushia had recognized a growing discontentment among their commanders. In the Kingdom of Sagaria, the commanders held a great deal of political power as they were the ones who appointed the sovereign and kept them on the throne, and they typically chose one of their own for the position, which ensured that the ruler of the Kingdom saw to their interests. However, in practice it was only the commanders stationed in Europe who could exercise these powers, as those in the east were simply too far away from the capital to exert their influence, and thus the sovereign served only as the representative of those in the west. Lushia took advantage of this and suggested that Sinai be made the center of economic and political power in Sagaria, as it was the midpoint between its eastern and western territories. She convinced the eastern commanders to threaten to secede in order to force those in the west to accept this arrangement. Not wanting to risk a civil war, the sovereign and the western commanders saw no other option but to agree to the ultimatum, as it seemed to them to be a perfectly reasonable compromise. Although they had been in the pocket of the Mecklenburg Clan Matriarch, the commanders of the west turned against her and forced her to grant the Sinai Clan a number of concessions, the chief one being control over the sale of eastern goods in the west. While the Kingdom's capital would remain in Sagaria proper, the city of Suez became an administrative center and the site where Sagaria's commanders would meet to appoint all future sovereigns.
With her control over the eastern trade, Lushia began to pit the Mecklenburg and Cretan Clans against each other, turning them into competitors and enriching Clan Felan at their expense, while also weakening them. By 1650 AD, Crete and Mecklenburg had become subordinate to Sinai. Lushia further cemented her position as the head of the Mercantile Clans with the construction of the Suez canal, which was completed in 1671 AD, as it allowed her to consolidate their fleets into one. Finally, she formally reorganized the Mercantile Clans into one centralized organization led by Clan Felan. This made them even more powerful than they had been before, and following Lushia’s death in 1674 AD, her handpicked successor—Durita Cifiri Felan—went on to reform Sagarian property laws in 1689 AD. Previously, all property within a given clan’s territory belonged to that clan, but Durita’s reform permitted them to sell property rights to third parties. This allowed the Mercantile Clans to effectively seize control of every business venture, every industry, and every natural resource in Sagaria in only a few decades.
It's surreal to see a Suez Canal constructed in the late 17th century. Also, Lushia and Durita put the Medicis to shame. Sounds like a full monopoly over all of Sagaria has been achieved. That can't be good for the lower strata.
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Add to that that they already had a near monopoly on virtually all Indian, Southeast Asian, and East Asian trade goods in the west.
With that in mind, I imagine the rest of Europe not in Sagaria's sphere must look quite a bit different. The sergals have effectively become this timeline's Great Britain. Only a matter of time before they begin to industrialize.
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Ah, expansionism propelled by a small elite for glory and power. Sounds familiar
Dividing the clans is a very prudent move.
Dividing the clans is a very prudent move.
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Purple Phoenix - 1289-1720 AD
Empires have risen and fallen since the dawn of history. Most empires rise only once and then die. But some empires are more enduring, being continually reborn before they meet their final demise, as was the case with ancient Egypt. Two empires, however, could be said to have attained true immortality—China and Rome. Both of these empires became so legendary in their respective geographical regions that upon their destruction, local rulers and barbarians fought over the right to claim their titles or to restore the empires themselves, thus ensuring that they would always rise again in one form or another.
The sack of Constantinople.
Despite the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, the Roman Empire survived in the east up until 1164 AD, when the sacking of Constantinople at the end of the Third Crusade caused the Empire to shatter into a number of smaller realms. Like the Warring States and Sixteen Kingdoms periods of China, the many realms that had once been part of the Byzantine Empire vied for supremacy in the hopes of one day restoring it.
The Empire of Thrace was established in 1289 AD when a Greek revolt led by Hektorios Sikelos ousted the rulers of the weakened Latin Empire from Constantinople. This revolt was entirely political in nature, rather than religious, as Thrace at the time had already been thoroughly converted to Catholicism, and Hektorios himself was a Catholic. Having driven out the Latins, Hektorios was declared the Emperor of the Romans by the people of Constantinople. Of course, the rulers of the other Greek realms refused to recognize him as such, as did the Patriarchs of the Orthodox Church. As for the rest of Europe, including the Papacy, they simply referred to Hektorios as the Emperor of Thrace. This was mostly for political reasons, as no one wanted to sour relations with the Holy Roman Empire.
Emperor Apollonios II
Although the Emperors of Thrace were Catholic, they worked to maintain peace between the two branches of the Christian faith and cultivated good relations with the Orthodox Church. They reaped the rewards of this policy of tolerance in 1398 AD, when Emperor Apollonios II was recognized as the legitimate Emperor of the Roman Empire by the Patriarch of Constantinople. At the time, the Empire of Thrace didn’t hold much territory outside of the capital, but between 1402 and 1409 AD, Apollonios II managed to gain control of several small Greek realms, including parts of Sicily and the southern tip of Italy, through a combination of diplomatic and military means. From there the Empire grew rapidly, and by the early 16th century it had become the largest and most powerful of the Greek realms. The Empire of Thrace would continue to launch a series of unification wars until the 18th century, thereby reforging what had once been the Byzantine Empire.
Of course, centuries of cultural and religious changes, as well as the adoption of many western innovations made this new empire distinct from the Byzantine Empire, even though both referred to themselves as the Roman Empire. This is why historians would later make a distinction between the two by referring to the old Eastern Roman Empire as the Byzantine Empire, and the new Eastern Roman Empire as the Empire of Romania.
With its strategic location and having gained full control of the Bosporus and the Hellespont, Romania came to grow wealthy. Its Emperors reinvested much of this wealth to further develop the economy with the aid of foreign advisors who had been invited from the west. They also invited several sergal clans to settle down in Constantinople, Abydos, Macedonia, Athens, and Achaea with the intent of employing them in their military.
This economic boom, as well as the influx of new people and ideas, allowed Romania’s culture to flourish, which in turn led to the Roman Renasceria—a renewed interest in their pre-Christian forebears. While Byzantine art had more of an abstract and symbolic character to it, this new art movement in Romania went for a much more naturalistic and realistic approach, using the techniques that had been developed in the west. Classical sculptures depicting ancient Greek heroes and legendary emperors abounded, as did paintings portraying saints and scenes out of Greco-Roman history or mythology.
The Holy Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire had almost always been at odds with one another, as both of their rulers claimed to be the one legitimate Roman Emperor. With the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Holy Roman Emperors first appeared to have won this dispute. However, this began to shift in the 15th century, as the Holy Roman Empire gradually lost territory and grew weaker, whereas the splinter states of the Eastern Roman Empire were reunified and reborn as Romania. With the conquest of Basilicata, Apulia, and Campania in the late 17th century, Romania began to exercise a much greater degree of influence over the Papacy. This was in sharp contrast to the Holy Roman Empire, which had little to no influence in Italy. Because of this, Emperor Nikomedes II of Romania was able to pressure Pope Nicolaus VIII to declare him to be the one true Roman Emperor in 1698 AD.
Empire of Romania in 1720 AD
Yes, game-wise Romania is technically just using the Greece tag, but given how long the Greeks clung to the Roman identity in OTL and given how much territory they managed to retake, I honestly felt it was more appropriate to have them reestablish the Eastern Roman Empire than to establish a Greek nation.
Ah yes, another big shift in the course of European history. Though I admit it's rather strange to see a Greek state take on the name of what in our reality is a completely different country. Not that it doesn't fit, though.
Rise of Mercia - 1418-1802 AD
The Duchy of Mercia split off from the Kingdom of England in 1418 AD, and although England managed to retake the Mercian heartland, the independent Duchy survived in Lincolnshire, an area heavily populated by sergals. Mercia itself was ruled by a sergal Duke named James Anashiff, who had served as a vassal of King Henry III of England before rebelling in response to his acts of tyranny.
Despite its small size, England was never able to fully reconquer Mercia due to the fierce resistance of the local sergal population. Over the course of the following decades, Mercia strengthened its position, established a new legal framework, and reformed the army so as to take full advantage of Lincolnshire’s large sergal population. Following James’ death in 1438 AD, he was succeeded by his daughter Adela, who in turn was succeeded by her son Alfred, who proved to be a brilliant politician and military strategist.
In 1468 AD, Alfred launched a war of conquest against England and ended up taking its southeastern lands by 1473 AD, including the capital of London, forcing the royal family and their court to relocate to North Yorkshire. With this victory, Alfred declared himself King and would later be crowned as Alfred I of Mercia. Of course, this kind of dramatic expansion would’ve typically led to rebellions within the newly conquered territories, and it would have had it not been for Alfred’s political aptitude. England had a centuries long history of tyrannical rulers who leaned on the Divine Right of Kings to justify their rule, and as such Alfred sought to make a clear break with this tradition and gain the support of local rulers and landowners by granting them more privileges and more say in how the realm should be governed.
Although Alfred’s successors would continue to expand Mercia’s borders, none would be as successful as him and only made small territorial gains. As the English built up their colonial and mercantile empire in the 16th century, they began to fight back more effectively thanks to their growing economic power, and even managed to reconquer some lost territory.
Despite most sergals’ adherence to Catholicism, as the reformation spread like wildfire throughout the British Isles, Mercia ended up adopting Protestantism in 1563 AD. Although it would be declared by royal decree that there would be freedom of religion and peace between Catholics and Protestants, religious conflicts and violence would persist until the beginning of the 17th century.
Naval battle between England and Sweden.
England’s fortune began to turn in the mid 17th century due to the disruption of their trade caused by pirates and the Mercantile Clans, as well as a series of wars against Sweden which resulted in the loss of England’s colonies in the eastern seaboard of North Sicalia.
The final nail in the coffin for England was arguably the declaration of independence of the United States of the West Indies in 1743 AD. Following the loss of its many other colonies, England had become entirely reliant on the Caribbean for its economy, so this event proved disastrous. The Caribbean Revolutionary War that followed was further exacerbated when the Kingdom of Scotland seized the opportunity to reconquer lands previously lost to the English. This war on two fronts ended in a total defeat for England, reducing it to a small rump state.
Despite these losses, however, the English still retained two of their colonies—Mechicko and Cascadia—and while they were not as valuable as the Caribbean, they were nevertheless prospering. When Mercia launched a war to conquer what little remained of England in 1787 AD, the royal family and their court fled to Mechicko, thus establishing the United Kingdom of Mechicko and Cascadia. Their union would not last, however, as Cascadia would end up declaring itself an independent kingdom in 1802 AD.
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