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Your pictures look very neat but I'm finding them to be a little too trimmed down. It can be kind of hard to follow exactly what's going on sometimes, especially considering all the nonstandard countries you are using. Maybe you could include some more maps with some of your peace or war screens?
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We feel your pain!
Doesn't everyone? Though this would be less fun with god-kings all the time.
Sure thing! Some people on Reddit were expressing the same notion. Also, it's time for a 'state of the world' update.
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48a. The World, 1450
The World, 1450
This was the known world shortly after the death of Konstantios IV.
These were the lands held by the Empire and its vassal state Ethiopia.
This was Iberia. León and Toledo were in a truce, but Castillian rebels on the Azores were warring for their freedom.
Britannia was divided between the Empire, England, and Scotland.
The Holy Roman Empire ruled central Europe
but was still a very decentralized empire
dominated by Denmark in the north and Bavaria in the south.
The partial withdrawal of the Golden Horde from Scandinavia had allowed Norway to grow stronger, but there was no real organization to the Baltic region.
The Golden Horde dominated north-eastern Europe, but there were several powerful nations between them and the HRE.
The Empire had taken most of Persia from the Timurids, and had made contact with other Central Asian nations to the East.
The Empire had also come to dominate Arabia, though there were a few newly independent states, and the Golden Horde still had a strong foothold.
Eastern Africa was divided between Gondar and Adal, but Ethiopia was an Imperial vassal, and was holding out well.
These were the religions of the known world.
The cultures of the known world. Note the spread of Greek and Tartar cultures, as well as the strange mix of cultures in Britannia.
Some internal statistics of the Empire.
And the friendly diplomatic relationships of the Empire.
This was the known world shortly after the death of Konstantios IV.
These were the lands held by the Empire and its vassal state Ethiopia.
This was Iberia. León and Toledo were in a truce, but Castillian rebels on the Azores were warring for their freedom.
Britannia was divided between the Empire, England, and Scotland.
The Holy Roman Empire ruled central Europe
but was still a very decentralized empire
dominated by Denmark in the north and Bavaria in the south.
The partial withdrawal of the Golden Horde from Scandinavia had allowed Norway to grow stronger, but there was no real organization to the Baltic region.
The Golden Horde dominated north-eastern Europe, but there were several powerful nations between them and the HRE.
The Empire had taken most of Persia from the Timurids, and had made contact with other Central Asian nations to the East.
The Empire had also come to dominate Arabia, though there were a few newly independent states, and the Golden Horde still had a strong foothold.
Eastern Africa was divided between Gondar and Adal, but Ethiopia was an Imperial vassal, and was holding out well.
These were the religions of the known world.
The cultures of the known world. Note the spread of Greek and Tartar cultures, as well as the strange mix of cultures in Britannia.
Some internal statistics of the Empire.
And the friendly diplomatic relationships of the Empire.
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49. The Persian Plan
The Persian Plan
The wars for Helvetia had been won, and the Timurid lands were quickly being pacified. Konstantios finally felt he could lay down his crown. He died in his sleep, 103 years old. The succession passed to his nine year old niece, Zoe. While the court scrambled to put together a regency council, a distant cousin in Rouergue proclaimed himself the rightful Emperor. He even raised 4,000 troops for his rebellion, which was swiftly put down.
A female Empress, while not unprecedented, was seen as uncommon. The legitimacy of Zoe's rule was questioned by many. Manuel Rhagabe was brought on to the council of regents to address this issue. He began marrying less members of the Doukas family to other royal families to ensure their would be another heir. He spread rumors and tales of Zoe's life. Not all of them were true. Perhaps not even many of them were true. But the result was a steadily growing acceptance of the new Empress.
Meanwhile, Philemon Melissinos took advantage of his greatly increased authority. He had seen that waves of noble horsemen could not forever win on the battlefields of Europe, and so he began the greatest reforms of the military since Gaius Marius.
First, he insisted that the various dux would drill the men that they recruited for the Imperial armies. They would not just be given a spear and sent to war.
Second, the infantrymen would train with longbows in addition to the usual pikes. This would allow infantry formations to weaken enemy formations before breaking their spirit in melee.
Thirdly, he began a massive recruitment of infantry to add to the all-cavalry armies.
Finally, he named the armies in the only appropriate way for the Empire.
Once this was complete, he retired from the regency council, dieing shortly thereafter.
In late 1455, Zoe began ruling the Empire herself. She was skillful enough as a ruler, but was not exceptional in her abilities. She continued sending loyal nobles to begin administrating Timurid lands.
And when her cousin Michael was born, she took such a liking to him that she named him heir, even though he was from a distant branch of the family. Her habit of taking him to meetings of various dignitaries would have been normal, advisable even (how else would a future ruler learn? she would always insist), if not for the fact that he was still an infant. Her more trusted advisers were able to convince her to wait until he was older, but not before there had been some diplomatic incidents.
In July of 1467, all of the Timurid lands had been placed under Imperial control. But they were underdeveloped, suffered from near-constant rebellion, and bordered Muslim nations to the East. While the Empire's view on Islam now seems xenophobic and strange, at the time it was a very real issue. The most successful invasions of the Empire had been by Muslim empires. To blame it on the religion is now properly recognized as foolish, but in the 15th century, religion was one of the main sources of decision making in the Empire. The Persian question was thus very real. So Zoe elevated a priest in the Has Monastery* to rulership over the province of Azerbaijan. While Metropolitan Ibn'La-Ahad was not allowed an independent foreign policy, he was given full control to rule in Azerbaijan. And as rapidly as she could, Zoe began giving him more provinces in the Persian region.
Meanwhile, noble families were frustrated in their efforts to find more Imperial appointments for their sons. Some used trickery and guile to replace every non-Greek official that they could in Britannia.
Others clamored for Zoe to reclaim the Castillian region for the Empire.
The Leonese war was a swift victory.
And the Toledo decision to attack Leon, while a distraction that sped the war against them, proved to be their saving grace against immediate annexation.
The increasing stability of Persia allowed trade to flow along the old silk road. Imperial citizens developed cravings for spices. The merchants of the Empire pushed for a sea route to India to be discovered.
When Michael died on his first hunting trip, Zoe was overwhelmed with grief.
But her (matrilinear) marriage with King Totse of Kiev eventually produced an heir of her own body, little baby Konstantinos.
* Actually the Hashshashin, but the localization glitched, and I only noticed it later.
The wars for Helvetia had been won, and the Timurid lands were quickly being pacified. Konstantios finally felt he could lay down his crown. He died in his sleep, 103 years old. The succession passed to his nine year old niece, Zoe. While the court scrambled to put together a regency council, a distant cousin in Rouergue proclaimed himself the rightful Emperor. He even raised 4,000 troops for his rebellion, which was swiftly put down.
A female Empress, while not unprecedented, was seen as uncommon. The legitimacy of Zoe's rule was questioned by many. Manuel Rhagabe was brought on to the council of regents to address this issue. He began marrying less members of the Doukas family to other royal families to ensure their would be another heir. He spread rumors and tales of Zoe's life. Not all of them were true. Perhaps not even many of them were true. But the result was a steadily growing acceptance of the new Empress.
Meanwhile, Philemon Melissinos took advantage of his greatly increased authority. He had seen that waves of noble horsemen could not forever win on the battlefields of Europe, and so he began the greatest reforms of the military since Gaius Marius.
First, he insisted that the various dux would drill the men that they recruited for the Imperial armies. They would not just be given a spear and sent to war.
Second, the infantrymen would train with longbows in addition to the usual pikes. This would allow infantry formations to weaken enemy formations before breaking their spirit in melee.
Thirdly, he began a massive recruitment of infantry to add to the all-cavalry armies.
Finally, he named the armies in the only appropriate way for the Empire.
Once this was complete, he retired from the regency council, dieing shortly thereafter.
In late 1455, Zoe began ruling the Empire herself. She was skillful enough as a ruler, but was not exceptional in her abilities. She continued sending loyal nobles to begin administrating Timurid lands.
And when her cousin Michael was born, she took such a liking to him that she named him heir, even though he was from a distant branch of the family. Her habit of taking him to meetings of various dignitaries would have been normal, advisable even (how else would a future ruler learn? she would always insist), if not for the fact that he was still an infant. Her more trusted advisers were able to convince her to wait until he was older, but not before there had been some diplomatic incidents.
In July of 1467, all of the Timurid lands had been placed under Imperial control. But they were underdeveloped, suffered from near-constant rebellion, and bordered Muslim nations to the East. While the Empire's view on Islam now seems xenophobic and strange, at the time it was a very real issue. The most successful invasions of the Empire had been by Muslim empires. To blame it on the religion is now properly recognized as foolish, but in the 15th century, religion was one of the main sources of decision making in the Empire. The Persian question was thus very real. So Zoe elevated a priest in the Has Monastery* to rulership over the province of Azerbaijan. While Metropolitan Ibn'La-Ahad was not allowed an independent foreign policy, he was given full control to rule in Azerbaijan. And as rapidly as she could, Zoe began giving him more provinces in the Persian region.
Meanwhile, noble families were frustrated in their efforts to find more Imperial appointments for their sons. Some used trickery and guile to replace every non-Greek official that they could in Britannia.
Others clamored for Zoe to reclaim the Castillian region for the Empire.
The Leonese war was a swift victory.
And the Toledo decision to attack Leon, while a distraction that sped the war against them, proved to be their saving grace against immediate annexation.
The increasing stability of Persia allowed trade to flow along the old silk road. Imperial citizens developed cravings for spices. The merchants of the Empire pushed for a sea route to India to be discovered.
When Michael died on his first hunting trip, Zoe was overwhelmed with grief.
But her (matrilinear) marriage with King Totse of Kiev eventually produced an heir of her own body, little baby Konstantinos.
* Actually the Hashshashin, but the localization glitched, and I only noticed it later.
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I approve of the viceroy of Azerbaijan, but it's a shame you missed off the diacritic mark on the ï.
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I approve of the viceroy of Azerbaijan, but it's a shame you missed off the diacritic mark on the ï.
Whatever are you talking about? :happy:
Thanks for pointing that one out. May as well get it right if I'm going to bother!
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Care to recommend me a fourth national idea? It's easy to think of ones that work well from a gameplay perspective, but it'd be nice to chose one that works from an RP perspective. Ideas?
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The Renaissance came from Byz originally. So patron of the arts perhaps?
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I'd agree with Patron of the Arts. I'm certain the Empress would be very interested in making sure that all of her subjects think of the Empire as a legitimate restoration of the Roman Empire, and pouring money into the arts and 'Romanizing' her territories would do wonders for assimilating the residents to the idea.
That said, if the Renaissance is going to be a Byzantine thing in this timeline, I'd suggest taking Patron of the Arts as the sixth NA and then take Scientific Revolution as the seventh to represent the flowering of art and science at about the same time. In that case, I'd suggest Unam Sanctam for the fourth NI both to show the 'One God, One Empire, One Emperor' ideology of the Byzantines as well as this timeline's version of the Inquisition as the Catholics continue to decline.
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Poor Zoe, losing her heir like that.
You'd really think this family would stop going hunting after awhile. I've gotten that event so much.
That's the one I had been thinking of, actually.
I really like that idea. I think that's what I will do.
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50. Kings of Leon
The Empire declared war on Toledo as soon as their truce ended. A few other nations came to their defense. Notably, León did. But it was no enough to save Toledo, which was annexed. The same nobles that gained appointments in newly Imperial Toledo insisted that the region of León be brought under Imperial control.
Many of the families that had not been pushing for new Imperial appointments for their sons began to recognize that by not becoming agents of the Empress, their power had been curtailed, and that this trend was likely to continue. They privately wondered if the more major appointments that many of them held might eventually cease to be hereditary. They began asserting their local powers again, resisting the work of the lesser agents (who answered directly to the Imperial government). But some money flowing through the hands of Zoe's more covert agents uncovered enough embarrassing secrets that these families were brought in line.
The war against León was quickly won. But the region of León was too large and rich to be seized in one war. So a few provinces went to the Empire, and Badajoz became independent.
Not surprisingly, Zoe promptly declared war on Badajoz. What was surprising was that León came to their defense. It was not much of a defense, and León was forced to both give up their claims to rule much of Iberia and to release Beja and Castillo Branco as sovereign states.
After that peace, Badajoz was completely absorbed.
The nobles of the Empire looked north again, to Northumberland.
But Zoe delayed any action. Her reputation was bad from the Iberian wars, and not getting any better thanks to the Greek nobles' work to supplant locals in Britannia. However, Bavaria soon made a legal case that since the Empire had not sought to force their claim to rule several provinces, that the Empire had in fact abandoned that claim. It was nonsense, of course, but the kind of nonsense that would make ruling those provinces later troublesome. And in the immediate, Zoe suffered a tremendous loss of prestige. She needed something to restore the people's faith in her, and only a victorious war could suffice in the near-term.
And then the nobles complained about commoners being giving military commissions. Zoe needed the legions strong, so she refused to forbid the occasional practice of meritorious promotions, and the nobles again worked to resist her rule. Other nobles took to fighting amongst themselves. Fortunately, a gift from the state was able to buy peace between them. The discovery that Imperial agents were taking inordinate bribes didn't help the stability of the Empire, either.
But the victory against Scotland did help her prestige.
As did the war against England, where the Legions proved the usefulness of their new pike square tactics.
When Zoe restricted the privileges of the nobles yet further, Bartholomaios Melisurgos, an insane noble who claimed to be the rightful Emperor rebelled in Suakin. His insanity was demonstrated by the fact that he rebelled in a province where XVII. Legio was garrisoned.
With the acquisition of Northumbria, Zoe listened to request from her nobles again. After all, nobles who felt they had a say in the government were not so inclined to revolt. A faction of Iberian nobles claimed a navigator in their employ had proved there was a western route to India. As this would benefit the western Empire if discovered, Zoe agreed to send an explorer at the first opportunity.
But when Konstantinos died while on a Tuna fishing expedition, Zoe became wary of sending more people over the sea. Konstantinos' son, Konstantios, was soon after declared heir.
And in 1499, Zoe declared a series of wars to reclaim several Imperial provinces, before their current owners could claim they did not belong to the Empire.
Many of the families that had not been pushing for new Imperial appointments for their sons began to recognize that by not becoming agents of the Empress, their power had been curtailed, and that this trend was likely to continue. They privately wondered if the more major appointments that many of them held might eventually cease to be hereditary. They began asserting their local powers again, resisting the work of the lesser agents (who answered directly to the Imperial government). But some money flowing through the hands of Zoe's more covert agents uncovered enough embarrassing secrets that these families were brought in line.
The war against León was quickly won. But the region of León was too large and rich to be seized in one war. So a few provinces went to the Empire, and Badajoz became independent.
Not surprisingly, Zoe promptly declared war on Badajoz. What was surprising was that León came to their defense. It was not much of a defense, and León was forced to both give up their claims to rule much of Iberia and to release Beja and Castillo Branco as sovereign states.
After that peace, Badajoz was completely absorbed.
The nobles of the Empire looked north again, to Northumberland.
But Zoe delayed any action. Her reputation was bad from the Iberian wars, and not getting any better thanks to the Greek nobles' work to supplant locals in Britannia. However, Bavaria soon made a legal case that since the Empire had not sought to force their claim to rule several provinces, that the Empire had in fact abandoned that claim. It was nonsense, of course, but the kind of nonsense that would make ruling those provinces later troublesome. And in the immediate, Zoe suffered a tremendous loss of prestige. She needed something to restore the people's faith in her, and only a victorious war could suffice in the near-term.
And then the nobles complained about commoners being giving military commissions. Zoe needed the legions strong, so she refused to forbid the occasional practice of meritorious promotions, and the nobles again worked to resist her rule. Other nobles took to fighting amongst themselves. Fortunately, a gift from the state was able to buy peace between them. The discovery that Imperial agents were taking inordinate bribes didn't help the stability of the Empire, either.
But the victory against Scotland did help her prestige.
As did the war against England, where the Legions proved the usefulness of their new pike square tactics.
When Zoe restricted the privileges of the nobles yet further, Bartholomaios Melisurgos, an insane noble who claimed to be the rightful Emperor rebelled in Suakin. His insanity was demonstrated by the fact that he rebelled in a province where XVII. Legio was garrisoned.
With the acquisition of Northumbria, Zoe listened to request from her nobles again. After all, nobles who felt they had a say in the government were not so inclined to revolt. A faction of Iberian nobles claimed a navigator in their employ had proved there was a western route to India. As this would benefit the western Empire if discovered, Zoe agreed to send an explorer at the first opportunity.
But when Konstantinos died while on a Tuna fishing expedition, Zoe became wary of sending more people over the sea. Konstantinos' son, Konstantios, was soon after declared heir.
And in 1499, Zoe declared a series of wars to reclaim several Imperial provinces, before their current owners could claim they did not belong to the Empire.
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Whilst such behaviour is perfectly in character with an expansionist empire, I found that splitting up a country's former heartlands by making them release independent states was so effective that I simply stopped doing it if they had a land bridge from their capital and cores on the territory.
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What with the holidays this week, I'll probably be a day or two late with the next update.
In the meanwhile: what are your recommended army setups? I'm running the Legions as 8/7 Int/Cav stacks right now, but it's worth adjusting, I think.
In the meanwhile: what are your recommended army setups? I'm running the Legions as 8/7 Int/Cav stacks right now, but it's worth adjusting, I think.
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I've decided to put this on hiatus/irregular updates for a bit while I focus on converter work. Sorry, everyone!
Maybe check out The Hohenzollerns megacampaign, The Grand Dutch State, or The Serpents of the Nile in the meanwhile.
Maybe check out The Hohenzollerns megacampaign, The Grand Dutch State, or The Serpents of the Nile in the meanwhile.
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Funnily enough, I'm halfway through the CK2 Hohenzollerns after seeing it advertised in the author's signature.
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I know we are on break here, but I just did a complete read-through from CK2 to here and I am loving it!
I look forward to when this resumes!
I look forward to when this resumes!
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+1
Great AARs, Idhendrur! Love the Mongol emperors, if only you could get to see how they looked in the EU games...
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