"The fear of war is worse than war itself."
-Seneca
An Empire Of Faith, Part IV
The Cast,
Augustus I, King of the United Kingdoms, Holy Roman Emperor
King Ferdinand V, King of Iberia
Lord Piers de Chalons, The British Ambassador
His Most Catholic Majesty, Augustus I, King of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and France,
King of Jerusalem, and Holy Roman Emperor
Augustus, Prince of Normandy was born more in the mold of his grandfather, Georgius I, an able General, Diplomat and Ruler. Augustus was crowned as King of the United Kingdoms on the 6th of May 1692. He would be King in changing times, Leon, once an upstart fiefdom in the 1450’s Civil War, then England’s enemy and now their ally, had unified the land once known by the Roman Empire as Iberia, seeking a sense of Grandeur and substance for this new country, Leon pronounced itself the Kingdom of Iberia, and its King Ferdinand V, King of all Spains. Saxony was treading ever closer to its dream of unification. Austria, thwarted in the west by Britain seeked out a new Empire in Hungary and Bohemia, attempting to unite the fragmented Protestant states. And yet, like a galleon in stormy waters, Britain stayed as it always had been, the Empire was strong, and was getting stronger, the Bank of England and an organised army of tax assessors had the economy under control, true regulation of the precious metals in the Pound Sterling ensured that it stayed strong in the face of more debased currencies. The Americas were rich and the people content, a strong government had stopped any unexpected dissent.
By 1692, the wars of Spanish unification were over, the final war had been silent, the Aragonese lacked any army to fight off Leon, Britain itself patrolled the Mediterranean and kept a close eye on the Aragonese colonists in South Africa. The Royal Navy fought in small engagements off the Valencian coasts and kept an eye on Egypt, Aragons old vassal, but nothing much came of the war for Britain. For Leon, it was the end of a bloody struggle, centuries long for the unification of their country. Only now, did Iberia feel she could stand with the giants of Europe. The Royal Court and Parliament were glad of the unification, now Britain had a truly strong ally in Europe. The diplomatic feelers sent out to Saxony were disappointing in their results, Britain had been unable to come to an agreement with Saxony and relations soured further.
America was now no longer conquerable by quick annexations of subjugations of the local populations, only slow and steady colonisation would finish the dream of a unified New England. Augustus however understood what the Empire required, new markets, new land, new luxuries, more prestige. The capture of South Africa had opened up India once again, India was everything Britain wanted, Augustus proposed an invasion, all out war against the mess of alliances that covered India. Parliament agreed, as it usually did now, without a strong and contradictory voice it now existed to ratify the Kings rulings.
In 1694, the Army of India was prepared, shuttled from Ceylon by Royal Navy Merchantmen in landed says after the official declaration of war. Eight British Frigates circled the Southern India coast in order to protect the invasion fleet. But the Royal Navy had vastly underestimated the Indian fleets. The Indian ships swarmed from their ports and descended upon the Navy frigates harboured off the coast of Malabar. The Frigates fought bravely but were surprised and greatly outnumbered, the invasion fleet was in the midst of landing the Army of India when the Indians attacked, seven of the ten Merchant men were sunk by the quick moving Indian warships, and with them seven thousand men, three thousand men reached the shore and dutifully began their work. The Survivors carried to the news to the Maldives who sent a fast ship to Plymouth, there it reached Parliament in Westminster, needless to say there was uproar in both houses, the Anglicans demanded an inquiry into the loss of the Battle of the Malabar Coast, both parties agreed upon the raising of twenty seven thousand men and the despatch of the Home fleet to India. Britain would not concede defeat to such a nation.
It took two years to raise and train the men, the three thousand men of the erstwhile Army of India had captured Malabar and with it, a usable port, capable of harbouring the home fleet and the new East Indiamen headed to Ceylon. In 1696, Britain was ready to recommence the war. The Royal Navy transported the new army to Malabar while British Warships patrolled the Indian coast and destroyed any Indian ships found. The British armies inflicted heavy defeats on the numerically superior Indian troops, who were, for the most part, armed with Spears and Shields. The Indian Princes were tough to negotiate with however, and the abundance of fortresses made the war interminably slow. Many Commanders resorted to deadly assaults upon the Indian fortresses in order to quicken the pace of the Invasion. Nevertheless, by 1699 almost half of the subcontinent was under British control. Augustus’s envoy, Lord Piers de Chalons, offered peaceful negotiations with the Indian Princes. However, de Chalons could, after months at the table, walk away with the province of Madurai, but it was a safe port for Britain and the first stepping stone in the conquest of India.
While Britain was busy with India, Iberia had ambitions of its own in Algeria. While British troops guarded the American Frontier and the newly captured Indian provinces, Iberian troops had invaded Algiers and inflicted heavy defeats upon the badly organized Algerian army. By 1699 almost all of North West Africa was under Iberian control, The Parliament, though wary of this development saw in it the chance to recover the port of Tangiers, and the southern Pillar of Heracles. Morocco held Tangiers, in fact, it was the only land it had left, it also held a catholic population, converted centuries ago by Bevan III. Great Britain was compelled to invade Tangiers, not only to gain total control over the gates of the Mediterranean but also to relieve the Christian populace kept under the Islamic yoke of Morocco. Tangiers held a minor garrison that was put under siege by the three thousand strong Gibraltar garrison and captured by August of 1700. As the new Century dawned, Britain had gained control of the gates to the Mediterranean .
The 18th Century opened, Britain’s power in Europe and abroad grew steadily. Iberia, the newest world Power had consolidated its hold on South America and had annexed the Incan Empire. The British Italian and Alpine states were maintained by the watchful eye of the King and Parliament, Milan had founded small colonies in South America as had Genoa, so recently freed and handed over to the British Empire. Saxony had pushed deep into Poland and extended its borders to engulf the entirety of the Polish Kingdom. Hungary had now been split between Austria and the Empire of Byzantium. Russia was still split between the perfidious Ming, the Empire of Byzantium, the Principality of Muscovy and the Republic of Novgorod. Algeria, despite its losses in the Iberian war of Aggression had made great gains at the expense of Egypt. The Timurid Empire had maintained its borders with Europe but had repeatedly attempted to expand its border eastwards.
