Chapter 1: Rise of an Empire
The great empire of Ethiopia lies just west of the Red Sea, though it lacks a coastline of its own. It stands as one of the most powerful realms in the Horn of Africa, which is otherwise divided amongst a plethora of heathen sultanates and principalities. To the immediate north and west lie the Coptic realms of Alodia, Kaffa and Medri Bahri, potential rivals and allies. Beyond them wait the Mamluks, the greatest power on the Red Sea.
Ruling Ethiopia is the great Negusa Nagast Yara Yakob Solominid. This brilliant ruler, known for his righteous and zealous nature, is relatively young. Hopefully he will have a long and prosperous reign. Unfortunately his heir, Ba'eda Maryam Solominid, is far less impressive. Perhaps he will be able to prove himself in battle...
Though a large realm, the empire is not a prosperous land. Most of it's provinces are poor and sparsely populated. Additionally, the people of the southeastern reaches follow the teachings of Islam, something that will have to change. Driving the Sunni faith from the empire will be difficult, but thankfully...
...our possession of Askum draws provides us with a plentiful supply of holy men, who will be used to establish monasteries and spread the word of Christ (I chose the "Send Monks to Establish Monasteries" bonus as my blessing. Given the number of Sunni provinces I'll have to convert, it seemed more useful than the other options). Combined with our rulers zealous personality (+1% missionary strength), it should allow us to convert our heathen subjects in a reasonable amount of time.
While Ethiopia is more powerful than her neighbours, it is not amazingly so and will require allies for both offence and defence. Kaffa, Adal and Yemen are all rivals, leaving Alodia and Medri Bahri as the most likely candidates for friendship. An alliance is quickly secured with Alodia, but our relationship with Medri Bahri is limited to a royal marriage (for now). Negusa Menas Bahri is 67 years old and lacks heirs. With a little luck, this wouuld present us with an opportunity in the near future.
Joyous news, as our ruler takes on a new consort, Eleni. Now if only I could do something about our heir.
Speaking of Ba'eda, it seems the emperor has found a use for him. Technically our war goal is to seize the territory of Gambela from Kaffa, but in truth we want to subjugate our pretentious little neighbour (rival
us, will you!?!). With no allies and a weak military, they're an obvious target for our ambitious prince.
While our army invaded Kaffa, the emperor's court is rocked by the decision of one of the realm's most influential nobles to take holy vows. Impressed by Galawdewos Eshete's pious zealotry, the emperor considered giving him funds to establish more monasteries in the east (hire him as an Inquisitor), but decided to delay such plans until after the war. Eshete's vows also removed him as a threat to the throne, reducing the strength of the nobility. As a result the emperor felt confident enough of his position to appoint another influential noble to head of the Ethiopian army (I used the noble estate to gain a 40 tradition general, a vast improvement over the crown prince). Amusingly, the new general's name is also Ba'eda Maryam, of the Asres family.
The new general soon proved his worth, defeating Kaffa's army in the field. The shattered remains were pursued across the border and permanently scattered. General Asres then began to besiege Kaffa's strongholds.
Welcome news from the east - the sultanate of Adal was been dragged into a losing war with Ajuuraan and Warsangali. If we had not been embroiled in a conflict of our own, we would certainly have used the opportunity to strike at Adal ourselves.
More interesting news from abroad. Negusa Menas Bahri has died without a male heir. The nobles of Medri Bahri chose to accept the husband of his daughter, Taqla Haymanot Solominid, as their new Negusa. But as Negusa Yara Yakob was the head of the Solominid dynasty, Taqla would of course have to bend knee to his rightful liege...
While General Asres brought the war in Kaffa to a conclusion, the crown prince led the rest of the army north. Even as he led his forces across the border, Kaffa's last stronghold fell. It would retain some independence (for know), but would serve as Ethiopia's vassal.
Taqla's army refused to engage our forces, perhaps sensing the inevitable. While our troops lay siege to the capital, however, Alodia declared war on them, perhaps hoping to seize some land for themselves before it was secured by Ethiopia. What's more, the experience gained by our troops in battling Kaffa paid off, as they improved their tactics and morale, becoming a more seasoned, professional force.
Occupied by both Ethiopian and Alodian troops, Medri Bahri surrendered, accepting the emperor's claim to their throne. The Alodian army, recognising their chance to seize territory had passed, slunk back across the border.
Ethiopia had secured its position as the dominant power over the Coptic African realms. Kaffa was a vassal, Medri Bahri was under union and Alodia was an ally. The emperor considered launching an invasion of Adal, but just as his troops prepared to cross the border, Ajuuraan ended its war with the sultanate. While victory would still have been likely, the emperor instead chose to bide his time and instead concentrate on matters closer to home. The invasion of Medri Bahri had resulted in some instability in the realm and much of the country remained in Sunni hands, something which the conquest of Adal would only exacerbate (down a point of stability for declaring war on Medri Bahri and as I'd just spent a load of admin points on bringing up my tech I hadn't yet been able to bring it up yet, plus my religious unity still wasn't great. Taking provinces I'd need to core and convert wouldn't help with that).
The subjugation of our weaker neighbours led to some changes on the diplomatic front as well. We had risen above the local powers, meaning Yemen and Adal could no longer be realistically viewed as worthy rivals. We were now in a position to challenge the Mamluks (they were the only country I could choose as a rival). We also secured an alliance with Warsangali, in an effort to secure our eastern flank. They could prove useful in a war with Adal and would discourage aggression from Ajuuraan, who were a rising power to the south.
Galawdewos Eshete was finally given the financial backing he needed to begin building new monasteries in the south and east, speeding up the conversion of the Sunni peoples there. The emperor also decided to celebrate his victories over his neighbours by building a new temple in Gonder, on the shores of Lake Tana.
Meanwhile tales reached the emperor of strange new developments in the Christian lands far to the north, beyond the shores of the Mamluk territories. The Renaissance had begun.
A number of relatively peaceful years followed, though the emperor did have some difficulty maintaining stability within his borders. No sooner had the realm recovered from the disruption caused by the invasion of Medri Bahri than did the sighting of a comet rile up the people again, further disrupting his plans (seriously, the event fired the month after I'd brought my stability back up to zero). Finally order was restored, further assisted by the emperor's decision to protect the privileges of some of the newly founded monasteries. While this reduced his influence over some provinces, it benefited the realm as a whole.
Tensions with the Mamluks continued to worsen. Word has reached the emperor that the Copts of Egypt were being persecuted. A strongly worded letter was issued to Cairo, but the response from the Sultan was nothing less than contemptuous. While this was a legitimate cause for a military response, we were unfortunately not in a position to take on the Mamluks and their allies. Yet.
A group of nobles rose up in revolt in the south, but were quickly put down. To the south, Ajuuraan secured its hold over its newly conquered territories, making it apparent that they were a rising threat (they were now powerful enough for us to rival).
With Ajuuraan menacing us from the south and the Mamluks looming to the north, it was decided the time was right to deal with the threat on our eastern border. Our troops had improved their master of the spear (Mil tech 5), giving us the edge in any combat. They quickly marched across the border and crushed the enemy army outside the capital, completely destroying the enemy army in a single battle. A lengthy siege of the heavily fortified city then followed. Thankfully, while Adal's allies in Arabia (Yemen and Najd) answered their call to arms, they seemed disinclined the cross the Red Sea and did not interfere with our efforts to occupy the sultanate.
A group of Sunni rebels rose up in revolt in Shewa, but they were unable to capture the province before Harer fell. General Asres first defeated a second army raised by the Sultan before marching to the relief of Shewa and crushing the rebellion. Our Alodian allies meanwhile captured Adal's last holdout in Zeila, allowing us to bring the war to a close.
With the loss of the great trade-city of Harer, Adal had been effectively reduced to a city-state, holding little more than the port of Zaila and the surrounding hinterland. We had also seized a strip of sparsely populated coastline in Assab, finally granting us access to the sea. The capture of Degehabur granted us a border with Warsangali, so that we and our allies could come to the other's aid if need be.
Ethiopia had risen to a position of great strength in the Horn of Africa. We had the best troops in the region. We had subjugated two of our neighbours and crippled a third, removing the most immediate threats to our power. Our monks were making steady progress converting the heathens of the south and east. Our economy was still nothing impressive, but our troops remained the best in the region, allowing us to rely upon a smaller army for security.
The remnants of Adal would need to be absorbed, but out main concerns were the Mamluks and Ajuuraan, who would need to be confronted at some point. Ajuuraan was not particularly powerful, but was allied with Warsangali and other states to the south, so a war of aggression would place us at a disadvantage - but likewise they could not declare war on us without alienating their allies. The Mamluks, on the other hand, were much more powerful than Ethiopia.. Their army was easily twice as large as our own, meaning they would prove a threat even if their allies in Arabia did not join them. Until they were dealt with, Ethiopia's hold over the region was in question.