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RedTemplar

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Mar 10, 2010
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The Eastern Vikings
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Baltic Mega-Campaign, Part 3

Hello AARlanders!

Long have I eyeballed this part of the forum, but never have I entered the hallowed halls of the Victoria 2 AAR section... Until now! So here I am to introduce myself to this section of the AAR world and lay down the first post for my soon-to-begin next AAR project -- The Eastern Vikings, Part 3!

This project began almost a full three years ago in CK2+ with Part One in May of 2017, which chronicled the dynasty of an Oeselian patriarch by the name of Sulev Karasi in 769 AD. From there, we built up a sprawling Estonian Empire that reformed the Suomenusko faith, survived both Mongol and Aztec invasions, and stood against united Christian Europe in the Crusades.

From there, in Part Two we saw that empire crumble under rebellion and build itself back up to greatness, only to have its centuries-old dynasty die off and its glorious empire replaced with the world's first great revolutionary republic. And now, we get ready to start Part Three as we follow Estonia and the rest of its neighboring world powers through the industrial revolution and beyond! We've got Native American monarchies, a thriving Incan Empire, Arabia and Persia fighting to be the greatest Orthodox realm on the earth, and the Irish ruling an empire that threatens to put the real UK to shame... It should be a lot of fun to run through.

Gameplay-wise, this is straightforward. I'm playing the standard vanilla game with all of its expansions, on normal difficulty. I suspect that normal is going to be plenty hard enough -- I have never played Vic2 before this campaign, and I fully expect that part of the fun will be watching me fly this glorious republic into the side of a mountain in a beautiful, fantastic fiery wreck. I'm here to tell a story, I make no guarantees that my country will actually succeed :D. I will use console commands only to repair a game-breaking freak bug or to fix something that seems clearly and entirely out of place and illogical.

As far as the AAR goes, I tend to follow a history book/documentary style of writing that has become fairly comfortable for me over years of writing. Updates will be as short-term or long-term as needed to capture important moments and ideas, depending on what happens in-game. I will most likely continue to write in that similar style unless something really catches my fancy and pulls me in another direction.

I'm currently finishing up the final few posts of a Synarchist Mexico AAR in Hearts of Iron 4, but I want to put this introduction post in place and start to write some introductory posts while I lead up to when I finally start gameplay. I will do my best to provide a summary of major world events and the history of each of the major nations over the course of several scene-setting posts, but feel free to skim over the previous two editions if you want to get a feel for the world we're stepping into.

I look forward to having any and all of you along for the ride -- watching stories unfold with friends is the best part of the AAR forum after all!

Also: I need to give major thanks to @Idhrendur for a lot of gracious assistance with the EU4 -> V2 conversion process that made this continuation possible!

So with that, the coming days will see the beginning of laying the foundation of the world as it is at the start of the AAR in 1836. Here's a quick, high-level preview of our world map:

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Ahh fantastic! Glad to see this up and running. :)

Now do something about hideous Germany and do it quick! :D
 
Welcome my good friend.
 
Europe - 1836 AD
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Estonia - The Anchor of Eastern Europe
The roots of the Republic of Estonia (Eesti Vabariik), which dominated Eastern Europe in 1836, began with with the establishment of the Kingdom of Estonia in 823 AD by Vilivald Karasi.


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The Karasi dynasty itself began with Sulev Karasi, who in 769 was chosen to govern over the island of Saaremaa. With the island came guardianship over the Kaali Crater, a sacred site in Estonian mythology where their chief god was believed to have come to earth many centuries in the past. Sulev defeated the sons of the rival Harjumaa clan and conquered their tribal lands. His son, Vilivald, formally adopted the title of "King of Estonia" in 823 AD. This tribal kingdom would slowly expand its borders outward, conquering neighboring rival ethnic groups and resisting the incursions of Norse invaders as it grew.

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In 898 AD, Raak Karasi -- a spiritual zealot who plucked out his own eye seeking the favor of the gods -- elevated the authority of the Estonian crown by declaring himself the "Tietaja" -- the high priest of a formally organized religion that compiled, consolidated, and codified a proper religion out of previous threads of Baltic and Finnic mythology and folklore. Raak set the chief god of his people and the protector of Saaremaa, Taara, as the chief god of the pantheon and celebrated the birth of his new religious cult by sacrificing the King of Poland in a ceremonial fire. Raak, who would go on to be mythologized even further by his people after sacrificing his left hand, having to wear a mask to cover the disfigurement of his face from disease, overcoming smallpox, and surviving a violent assassination attempt, was the second ruler to form a proper institutional religion out of their local mythology. The Swedish pagans built the Forn Sidr religion out of their prior Norse folklore, and reformed Zunism took hold in the Middle East.

During this rising medieval golden age, Estonian vikings -- fueled in equal measure by religious fervor and the desire for wealth and fame -- became notorious for their raids from Scandinavia all the way to the Mediterranean. At the height of their prowess, an Estonian warband led by Tietaja Tasulemb sacked Rome in the early 10th century and captured Pope Benedict IV, who was later sacrificed to Taara in a massive victory feast.

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But while the 10th century began with prosperity and conquest, it ended with a bitter and humiliating defeat. After the Great Schism of Christianity in 970, the Black Plague swept across the European world and claimed millions of lives, ravaging the Estonian military and economy. Then, as an Aztec invasion was punishing western Europe, eastern Europe came under the relentless assault of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. Although the Estonian army famously became the first European force to defeat the Mongols in combat at the famous Battle of River's Edge, a series of crushing defeats eventually led Tietaja Ohevald to swear allegiance to Genghis Khan in order to preserve what remained of his kingdom.

Estonia would serve under the Mongols for only one generation, though. Ohevald's son Vilimeel, who many believe orchestrated the murder of his father, waged a clandestine war against the Mongol Empire from within. After gaining the confidence of the two Khagans succeeding Genghis Khan and successfully having them both assassinated, Vilimeel sowed enough paranoia and fear in the leaders of the various Mongol clans that the empire fractured and eventually shattered, allowing Estonia to reclaim its national sovereignty.

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Estonia would then go on to swell to the zenith of its power, absorbing Scandinavia, Muscovy, and large swathes of the Steppes to build a sprawling Estonian Empire and spreading the Suomenusko faith across eastern Europe. The Tietajas enjoyed immense wealth and influence, though uprisings and political infighting became more commonplace as the realm grew. Still, Estonia represented one of the most powerful realms in the world -- certainly the most powerful pagan realm on the planet -- and accordingly drew the ire of its Catholic neighbors. This antagonism between Suomenusko and Catholicism led to the historic First Polish Crusade, which pitted Estonia and its allies against Catholic Europe for the first time in open, all-out war.

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Called by Pope Innocent II in 1229 AD, the First Polish Crusade lasted an incredible eight years as Catholic nobles from all across western Europe gathered together to pry Poland away from the Estonian Empire by force of arms. The war was grueling for Estonia, and over half of Tietaja Agul's army was defeated -- particularly thanks to a historic loss to King Biagio of Italy's critical intervention. Still, Estonia proved its mettle by defending its borders against united Catholic Europe, and in 1237 AD, the First Polish Crusade was deemed a failure and called off.

From this point onward, Estonia's dominance in Europe would continue all the way into the 15th century. A short-lived Second Polish Crusade failed almost immediately, and even after the throne passed from the main line of Sulev's succession to a Muscovite branch of the Karasi dynasty, Estonia continued to rule unquestioned over eastern Europe.

That dominance came to a decisive end, however, in the middle of the 15th century.

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In 1447 AD, King Ott Karasi of Muscovy rallied his fellow vassal kings in Perm, Finland, and Sweden to declare an open revolt against Tietaja Yavlad, and a bitter civil war brought Estonia into a war against its own people during a time the rest of the European powers were expanding outward. With the aid of his allies from Kiev and Bohemia, Yavlad was able to win several significant battlefield victories, but he ultimately suffered a humiliating defeat and was forced to acknowledge the independence of his vassals. Suddenly, the sprawling, near-invincible empire that stretched from the Steppes to Scandinavia was reduced to a fraction of its size.

It would take many years for Estonia to recover from this loss. Taimi I, the first female Tietaja and ruler of Estonia, forged a critical alliance with Italy during her reign, and Estonia began to slowly wage a war of reconquest against Muscovy and Perm. Meanwhile, a growing rivalry developed between Estonia and East Francia, which would later become the German Empire, as religious, ethnic, and political tensions led to frequent wars between the two neighboring states.

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Estonia would never recover all of its lost territory, but through the Renaissance and beyond, it would slowly re-emerge as one of the primary leading political and military powers of Europe, emerging as one of the strongest among seven major European powers. By the 18th century, the Tietaja was once again one of the greatest leaders on earth. However, that would quickly change thanks to a tragic accident and an even more tragic succession.

On May 8, 1764, Ott Karasi, the heir to Tietaja Nahkol, died in an incident which was labeled a hunting accident but which many believed was an assassination by an increasingly malcontent Estonian revolutionary element. The throne passed to Aho II Eskola, a member of a cadet branch descended from the Karasi line. Aho was crowned emperor, but the Suomenusko church refused to name him Tietaja, and for the first time since its inception, the leadership of the Suomenusko faith was handed on to someone other than the leadership of Estonia.

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Aho would do his best to hold his empire together, but increasing public unrest and the massive expenses incurred by multiple foreign wars eventually broke the back of the order and led to the destruction of the imperial government. After the imperial army quashed multiple attempts at a rebellion, an uprising in Saaremaa finally succeeded in occupying the imperial capital. On July 3, 1782, Aho -- the last Estonian emperor -- was publicly burned alive to usher in the era of the Republic of Estonia.

The revolutionary government was aggressive in its desire to abolish the old order with the institution of elections and the limitations of the privileges of the noble classes, but it was not as bloodthirsty as some believed the eventual revolution would be. The noble houses of Estonia were still permitted to retain much of their influence and property, but their role in the government was severely reduced and many voluntarily sacrificed significant portions of their wealth in an effort to appease the more violent arms of the movement and retain their security.

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By 1836, the Republic of Estonia's western border extended to Stettin and Cotbus, stretched north as far as St. Petersburg along the Finnish border, eastward out to Moscow at the border with Perm and the Persian Empire, and as far south as Crimea and Bulgaria. The sprawling republic was the third most populous nation in the world with a total population of 61.62 million people. Only Vijayanagar and the Chinese Empire had larger populations, with 131.69 million and 391.36 people respectively claimed larger populations.

Estonia's most significant border was with Germany, the nation's perennial archrival and opponent in many wars over the centuries. The long-reaching German border had been the site of a great many battles over the life of both countries, and was dotted with fortifications on both sides created over the course of that long rivalry. To the north of Germany, Estonia bordered its three puppet states, formed as "daughter republics" during the early years of the revolutionary government: the Elbe Republic (yellow) and Jutland Republic (red), formed from previously Estonian territories deemed too expensive to control directly, and the Guelder Republic (purple) created from territory taken from Holland in war.

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The most radical activists of Estonia had been largely shut out by the middle of the 19th century, leading to a much more balanced and conservative republic than some of the Revolution's most ardent progressives may have hoped for. The government was dominated by its more conservative elements, who enjoyed nearly twice the electoral support as their liberal and reactionary counterparts. Suomenusko remained the most dominant religion by far, and the largest ethnic groups of the republic were those with the longest cultural ties to Estonia, resulting in a respectable degree of unity across the republic.

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Estonia had been a major economic player and a leading trade power as far back as the Golden Age of Sail, and it was in the area of commerce and business that the country was the most advanced. Estonia did, however, lag behind many of its European neighbors in industrial advancements. President Huvameel Maasik's lack of focus on rapid military advancement had also left the republic's army trailing behind a powerful neighbor like Germany, long known for its well-disciplined and cutting edge army.

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As a constitutional republic, Estonia was the only one of the Great Powers not ruled by an absolute monarchy, placing it in a unique place on the world stage. Its two allies -- Italy and Arabia -- were longstanding relationships dating back to Estonia's imperial period, and were the critical reason that Estonia had been able to overcome formidable military powers like Germany and Persia. These relationships had been strained at times by a difference in governing philosophy, but the three nations remained in close cooperation after decades and even centuries of mutually beneficial cooperation.

With powerful neighbors on all sides, Estonia needed to remain vigilant and careful in military and foreign policy. Any expansion would likely come at the cost of a massive, multinational war -- something many in the country had little appetite for. Barring military expansion, Estonia had just as much of an opportunity to focus on economic and cultural growth, seeking to become a leader during a time of significant global change.

Either path remained viable, and the sprawling republic as a whole would need to struggle to determine which road to walk down into the upcoming 20th century.
 
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Great recap. The stage is all set for the Estonian 19th century to be played out!
 
Great recap. The stage is all set for the Estonian 19th century to be played out!

I'm excited! I still think I'm going to blow it though haha... But time will tell! Going to do a few posts to recap the major areas and big players of the world, and then gradually get my way started into gameplay.
 
I'm excited! I still think I'm going to blow it though haha... But time will tell! Going to do a few posts to recap the major areas and big players of the world, and then gradually get my way started into gameplay.

At least in Vicky there's no possibility of the endgame involving a nuclear stockpile. :p

(That said, you can look forward to hundreds of thousands of random and assorted revolutionaries... :D)
 
As the only major republic in the world, Estonia has its work cut out for it. Hopefully there will be more nations become democracies, that would be a good thing for Estonia as it get ride of ideological rivals.

Pretty funny that Germany isn’t on the Great powers list now despite its size, how the mighty have fallen it seems.:D
 
A whistlestop tour of where we came from, and where we are.
 
As the only major republic in the world, Estonia has its work cut out for it. Hopefully there will be more nations become democracies, that would be a good thing for Estonia as it get ride of ideological rivals.

Pretty funny that Germany isn’t on the Great powers list now despite its size, how the mighty have fallen it seems.:D

I think it will be soon! Because I converted from a savefile just after Persia's independence war, Germany's army is very damaged right now. Once it rebuilds militarily I think that will change and it will edge out either Italy or Andalusia. Or me :\
 
Europe - 1836 AD
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Germany - The Ancient Superpower
Of all of the nations dominating western Europe in the 19th century, none had a lineage as long or as storied as the German Empire. Although the actual political entity properly known as "The German Empire" was not formed until the 17th century, the kingdom itself traces back to the Carolingian Empire formed in the 8th century under Karl Karling, who came to be known by the name Charlemagne.


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The Carolingian Empire collapsed rapidly after Karl's death, as his heir, Gualtari, was an unpopular drunkard who was denied a proper coronation by Pope Gregory IV, leading to the beginning of the empire's rapid disintegration. France and Holland quickly broke from the crown, and Byzantine Emperor Christophoros II -- Charlemagne's grandson on his mother's side -- invaded and incorporated what remained of Gualtari's crumbling empire into Byzantium. This would last for nearly half a century, until a widespread rebellion and militant uprising led to East Francia and Italy breaking free and forming independent kingdoms. Not long after Karl had united nearly all of Europe under one crown, the continent was divided into a multitude of local powers once again. Located in the heart of Europe, East Francia managed to remain safe from both the Mongol and Aztec invasions, allowing the kingdom to gradually expand and increase its power while clashing with its perennial medieval rival, France.

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East Francia kept its name, which hearkened to its ancient Karling heritage, all the way until the 17th century, when Walther IV von Erbach invaded Holland, ruled by another arm of the powerful von Erbach family, which had long been an ally to East Francia. On November 24 of 1662, Walther proclaimed himself Emperor of Germany, declaring his intention to unite all ethnic Germans under the rule of a single great empire. This German Empire gradually consumed nearly every nation around it, taking land from France, Holland, and even the crumbling Byzantine Empire.

While France had been the principle nemesis of East Francia in the middle ages, its greatest rival throughout the early modern period was the alliance of Estonia and Italy. That alliance was first forged by Tietaja Taimi I, who secured Estonia's first alliance with a non-Suomenusko power. Neither country could compete with Germany on equal footing -- the German army was long known for its exceptional technology, discipline, and skill, frequently defeating armies twice as large in open combat. But the combined power of this alliance, which later expanded to include the Arabian Empire, was often enough to prevent Germany's efforts to expand into any of these three nations.

The sole great exception was the landmark War of Persian Succession, a massive global conflict that briefly overturned the entire balance of power worldwide.

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In 1759, the long-running Pezhman dynasty of the Persian Empire came to an end with the death of its last ruler, and the throne of Persia passed to Gustav von Erbach -- a cousin to the very same dynasty ruling in Germany. Gustav was crowned Goshtasp IV of Persia and ruled until 1776, when he died heirless. Upon his death, his cousin, Kaiserin Gortrun I, asserted her claim to the succession as the next most suitable member of the dynasty. She was quickly opposed, however, by the 17 year-old Arabian Emperor Jahan IV, who argued that Persia should be ruled by an Orthodox Christian and not a Catholic, nominating himself for the role.

This succession dispute quickly erupted into a major war which saw Germany-Persia, Andalusia, and Finland pitted against Estonia and Arabia to determine the future of the Persian crown. The war took place as Estonia's simmering revolution was coming closer to an outright boil, and the army was weary from years of putting down rebel elements within the country. Germany-Persia, with only marginal assistance from allied forces, was able to defeat both Estonia and Arabia, forcing both empires to not only acknowledge the dual monarchy, but also to surrender land to the German Empire. Most famously, the peace terms saw Constantinople, the venerable capital of Orthodox Christianity, handed over to Germany and ruled, for the first time, by a Catholic power.

Unfortunately for Germany and fortunately for the rest of the world, this union of the German and Persian crowns would last less than a century. In 1821, a Persian pretender secured the aid of Estonia, now a thriving republic, in waging a war of independence to separate from Germany and create a new ruling dynasty. Around the same time, Arabia and Italy joined forces to wage their own war to try and reclaim Constantinople from Germany.

Over the course of a bloody three-year conflict, Germany succeeded in pushing back Arabia and Italy, but were eventually overrun by zealous Persian rebels and ultimately defeated. In 1824 AD, Anushiruvan Zand was crowned the new Emperor of Persia, restoring the empire to Orthodox rule once again.

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Roughly a decade later in 1836, the German army had only slowly begun to recover from the massive loss of life sustained during the Persian War of Independence. The country was large, stretching from France in the west to Constantinople in the east and housing the fourth largest population in the world, and it had the budding industrial wealth of a small number of factories to help it prepare for its journey through the upcoming period of industrialization. Army and industry were Germany's leading technological strengths, but the nation was surrounded on three sides by powerful enemies: Italy to the south, Arabia to the east, and Estonia and its daughter republics to the north. To make matters worse, these countries remained faithful to their generations-long alliance while Germany had no allies in 1836, meaning that if the Kaiser wished to engage any of these three great world powers, he would likely have to fight all three at once -- and do it by himself.

Andalusia - The Iberian Melting Pot
Andalusia, more than perhaps any other region of the world, represented the most dramatic intersection of various cultures, religions, and peoples in 19th century Europe.

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During the early Medieval period, multiple incursions into the Iberian peninsula from foreign powers led to the region being divided between as many as a dozen different realms at any given time. The western end was largely controlled by Portugues duchies, but in central and eastern Iberia, land was claimed by French invasions, Viking raids, and other efforts from the outside to claim a portion of the peninsula as the Reconquista raged on. But no invasion was more significant than the arrival of the Aztec Empire in 1005 AD.

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With its fierce warriors and overwhelming numbers, the Aztec Empire quickly subdued every major power in Iberia before moving on to capture some three quarters of Italy and parts of France and Aquitaine. For over 150 years, the people of Iberia were subject to the harsh rule of the Aztecs, with dissenters being sacrificed to their bloodthirsty pagan gods in retribution. Several generations of Iberian natives knew nothing but Aztec rule, and that would continue until the Aracen Rebellion in the late 12th century.

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Under the leadership of the legendary hero Adfuns Aracen, Catholic, Orthodox, and Muslim Iberians joined forces and defeated what remained of the Empire, eventually driving Aztec rule out of Europe entirely. Adfuns' successful rebellion led to the creation of Andalusia, a state which survived and thrived from the 12th century all the way through to the 19th.

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Andalusia took control of substantial portions of France during the excommunication wars that eventually set the stage for that kingdom's disappearance from the world stage entirely, and also built multiple sizable colonies in northern Africa, South America, and Indonesia. The South American colonies were eventually conquered by the Inca with assistance from Estonia, but the African and Indonesian colonies remained under Andalusian control into the 19th century.

Andalusia boasted one of Europe's most diverse populations, from native groups like the Portuguese and Basque to Occitans and French and even a minority of Nahua (5.6% of the national population), ethnic descendants from the Aztec Empire who had converted and assimilated into Andalusian society, congregating in the south around Granada. With its back to the Atlantic Ocean, Andalusia had ample opportunity to seek prosperity over the seas. However, neighboring significant world powers like Italy, Germany, and the Celtic Empire meant that increasing its power base in Europe would be a steep challenge.
 
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I’ll be very interested to see how many of these large, multinational empires can survive the Romantic era undivided. Surely we’re gunna see a hell of a lot of crises in this version of Europe.
 
I am sad to say that the passage of time has made me forgetful of so many details of this timeline, especially the CK2 era. I had utterly forgotten the "union" of Carolingian and Eastern empires.
 
I am sad to say that the passage of time has made me forgetful of so many details of this timeline, especially the CK2 era. I had utterly forgotten the "union" of Carolingian and Eastern empires.

Well, therein lies the benefit of these recap posts! I'm excited to get back into this world.
 
With the benefit of having read part two only last week, I on the other hand experience a strange feeling of deja vu. :p

I do wonder whether there is any clamour amongst the German people for a renewed unity with the Eastern realms.
 
Europe - 1836 AD
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The Celtic Empire - The Colonial Behemoth
The Celtic Empire was first formed in the early 12th century, when Uamnachan Ua Neill Noigiallaich, after his kingdom of Ireland had conquered most of the British Isles, declared himself Emperor over Ireland and all of Albion. Thanks to being separated from the rest of mainland Europe, the region had been spared from the Aztec Invasion that punished Iberia and Italy, and the Celtic Empire was long able to remain detached from the religious and political turmoil on the continent. This was, perhaps, its greatest advantage -- while countries like France, Germany, and Italy were fighting over one another's land and influence, the Celtic Empire expanded with relatively little opposition. Although all of Albion would not be subdued until well after the Middle Ages, the region continually prospered.


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The empire did eventually claim land on the European continent, however, when it laid claim to the Breton peninsula and captured the region to complete its hegemony over all of northwestern Europe's Celtic ethnic groups. Aside from this, however, the Celtic Empire rarely was engaged in direct efforts to capture land in Europe. Most of the time, the Celts were content to maintain their network of alliances and assist in the wars of their mainland partners without seeking stretches of territory for themselves. But in 1836, the greatest claim for the Celtic Empire's status among the Great Powers was not at home, but overseas in the New World.

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After the horror that was the Aztec invasion of Europe, many in the Old World were hesitant to explore overseas, lest they stumble into the heart of the bloodthirsty empire that had ransacked their homes many centuries earlier. But as the first explorers began to chart the Americas, it became apparent that the once-mighty Aztecs had been almost completely neutered, replaced by other powerful states, the most notable of them being the Navajo Kingdom. As exploration gave way to colonization, most of Europe's powers sent soldiers and settlers to carve out new homes in this newly-opened land. Most of them, however, only succeeded in establishing small settlements, many of which either were reconquered by the natives -- as in the Case of the Incan reoccupation of Andalusian colonies -- or simply failed to grow to any great size.

By the 19th century, all of South America was under Incan rule, and Central America and Southern North America were dominated by the Muisca, Navajo, Maya, and Cheyenne states. Only three foreign powers still held colonies, all of them in North America. The Arabian Empire had focused its colonization efforts in Oceania, but still maintained a colony in Baja California that bordered the Navajo. Along the Pacific coast, the Chinese colony of Alaska stretched from Alaska proper down into northern California, where it bordered the Navajo. The Navajo had, for many years, been a tributary of the Ming Chinese Empire, but eventually ceased their payments and declared themselves free of foreign influence.

However, even the Navajo, who ruled the largest kingdom in North America, paled in comparison to the massive colonial holdings of the Celtic Empire, which ran from northeastern Canada, through the midwest, down to Alabama and out as far as Idaho and Columbia to the west. Celtic colonization spread in earnest when the country embraced its own reformed Protestant faith in the aftermath of the failed French Reformation, as the mission to convert the New World was married with territorial expansion and spread rapidly. So expansive was the Celtic Empire's American colony that two of the empire's five largest ethnic groups were Native Americans.

Control of such large holdings in North America afforded the Celtic Empire access to many of the New World's riches, but it also came with its share of complications. The northeast, which was settled early and heavily with migrants from the Celtic nations, was largely Christian and culturally similar to its parent realm. But further to the south and west, the colonial populations were increasingly Native Americans who held on to their particular religious beliefs, causing no small degree of friction with their Christian overlords. The wealth of North America was at the Emperor's disposal, but if nationalism were to take up deep roots in the Americas, the entire colonial empire could be threatened with collapse.
 
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All in all, I'm hoping to do probably two more of these posts. One to look at the east (Arabia, Persia, and Asia) and one to highlight the New World. Not every country needs a particular writeup, as some -- like Italy -- don't have an especially remarkable, long-running story that hasn't already been addressed in the other history posts. If all goes well, those remaining posts will get wrapped up this week, and I'll soon be on to kicking off gameplay in 1836!