The Struggle Between the New and the Old
1566 - 1581 AD
The Tension of Time
The difficulty with which the Latin Empire overcame Castile during their war in the 1560's highlighted what was a growing weakness within the Empire -- a struggle to embrace new technologies and new ways. The Castilian army made extensive use of modern firearms, and its tactics were suited to its style and equipment. The Empire, on the other hand, had lagged in its military development and fielded a force that still based itself largely around traditional heavy cavalry commanded by a stern "old guard" of noble leaders; a tactical disadvantage that cost many lives during the occupation of southern Castile. The Imperial Army was worryingly outdated, and this was symptomatic of a wider issue within the realm.
In terms of technology, the Latin Empire was several steps behind its competitors, but there was tension in the different areas of the Empire with regards to advances in ideas. Cordoba, whose capital city was a center of art and learning, was quick to embrace new trends and technologies. Sicily, itself at an intersection between the German, Italian, and Muslim worlds, was a place where new advances were welcomed eagerly and pursued regularly. But Constantinople was a place steeped in tradition, a bastion of tradition at the expense of newness. When the Counter-Reformation began and new norms were called for at the Council of Trent, the Empire's clergymen resisted it. In Greece, the conquering Crusaders had left many traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church in place, permitting the use of the Eastern Rite liturgies of Chrysostom and Basil so long as loyalty to Rome was maintained. Similarly, the Christians of Cordoba were long practitioners of the Mozarabic Rite, and pushed back against attempts at further standardization of Roman liturgical practices.
The Latin Empire was increasingly holding to the past, but Emperor Aurelio was determined to ensure, at the very least, that its army did not continue to fall behind its opponents. He directed his top military counselors to study the changing weaponry and tactics of the most advanced European kingdoms and adapt them for use in the Imperial Army. The result was a force of offensive-oriented musket infantry and heavily armored hussars, which saw its first action alongside Hungary during an invasion of Ovruch in 1570.
The success of the reformed army was almost immediate, and field battles against Ovruch and Lithuania proved very successful. Aurelio praised the development of a suitably modern army, and promised that its newfound strength would soon be turned against Castile. He kept this promise in 1578, when he once again invaded his Iberian rival to continue his war to claim all of the peninsula for himself.
The Battle of Coimbra in the summer of 1678 showcased the new army's strength, when it decimated a Castilian army force that would have presented a much more steadfast challenge during the previous campaign. While the first leg of the invasion was hard-fought and challenging, the second was not. The Imperial Army swept aside Castile's defenders, and it was not long before sieges dotted the Iberian countryside again.
This time, Aurelio laid claim to the Portuguese coast, a region which Castile had conquered less than a century prior. With Portugal back under control of the Latin crown, Castile was now surrounded by the Empire on three sides, with the Atlantic Ocean to its north. Castile had gone the way of Rum, reduced from a legitimate contender to a minor power whose threat was marginal, at best. Aurelio celebrated the victory of this second stage of his Iberian campaign at length, and vowed that he would not rest until the entire peninsula was captured back.
Integration and Separation
One of the most difficult challenges of unifying the Latin Empire was dealing with Sicily. Sicily had been ruled by Norman kings from the de Hauteville dynasty for centuries, with Sicily only becoming part of the empire during the brief rule of that dynasty over Constantinople. Sicilian culture was markedly different than the Basque and Greek cultures it shared a flag with, and even for many years after Cordoba came into the fold, Sicily resisted efforts to increase the authority of the crown over it.
Over time, it became clear to Sicilian leadership that the dream of a united Kingdom of Italy under the de Hauteville line was highly unlikely, and that as the Holy Roman Empire grew and consolidated its own power, it was likely that they would come and conquer the remainder of Italy if they were to separate from their overlords. Ultimately, in 1578, the last de Hauteville vassal King stepped down, replaced by a local governor reporting directly to the Emperor. The full integration of the Latin Empire's lands was then complete.
Overseas, the opposite was happening -- as the Empire's colonial ventures grew, the size and population of the colonies began to grow to the point that they necessitated their own governmental structure.
At the northern edge of the Great Archipelago, Crown Island had gradually been almost completely colonized, with only small regions on its southern end remaining untamed. As more settlers flooded to the region, their settlements began to expand past simple pioneer villages into proper New World cities. Under the direction of Emperor Aurelio, a Viceroy was appointed to oversee the colonial state of Aegadote, governing the region directly while reporting to (and sending tribute to) the Imperial Crown.
Around the same time, colonial projects were expanding outside of Crown Island. On the northwestern island of the archipelago, whose southern end was dominated by the Inuit Native Council of Crambastamos, a small island was colonized to serve as a port for ships exploring further west. This project eventually expanded onto the mainland island, and explorers pressed westward to continue to probe the expanse of the main western continent.
It took decades of exploration by multiple pioneers and their accompanying soldiers, but over time, the shape of this great continent to the west became clear. Through exploration, it was learned that the majority of its organized tribal states were clusted in the eastern end of the central deserts, with at least one isolated civilization on the southwestern edge. To the northwest, a colony established by Malacca was found, and the first Latin colony was established along the southeastern coast to further extend the range of Latin sailors.
Curiously, however, very few colonies of foreign nations were found during these expeditions. Other than the Malaccan colony discovered at the northwestern coast of the largest continent, a small English settlement on the Viking island of Vinland was the only other one discovered by Latin explorers. What had been anticipated as a race for the New World had seemed, in fact, to be progressing very slowly and with very few participants.
