And the Rest of the Friggin' Century - 1450 to 1500 (Part 2)
Our magistrates in the 1480s are mostly sitting around, bored, waiting for new provinces to grow large enough for forts, so I spend two of them on removing the Mixtec core from Mixtec, our Center of Trade. No particular reason why.
The Tarascan Empire extends its rule into Central America for the first time as the Honduran principalities (mostly Maya-influenced Chibchan peoples, I suspect) are conquered and colonized.
Pipil joins Honduras soon afterwards, and at long last, all the provinces in the Mesoamerican region are under our control.
Inexplicably, the value of our COT drops off - it's grown too big, and the Andean kingdoms have decided to end our monopoly by creating one of their own, frustratingly inland where I can't send merchants to. A pox upon them!
... What's a pox? The Tarascans don't know yet.
The movement of Tarascans through Maya lands to conquer and colonize Honduras spells a demographic shift, as the more sparsely-populated Maya highlands take on an increasingly Tarascan character.
In late 1492, no interesting news arrives from the Caribbean. The Europeans must be busy fighting over how many angels fit on the heads of pins. Meanwhile, the Tarascan Empire, which has been growing and innovating for a century and a half, is expanding into the Chichimeca lands of the north.
When Tizoc III dies in 1493, Huitzihuitl I rises above his brothers in the vying for the throne, owing to his magnificently unpronounceable name.
With most of the provinces we wanted to control by 1500 secure, we switch back to Grand Army from Colonial Ventures, raising a further 30,000 troops to guard the Atlantic coast of our Empire.
After all, the day of the reckoning will swift be upon us. Speaking of the culprits themselves, as we reach 1500 CE, let us have a look at the distant lands of Eurasia...
Where Iberia has united under the Spanish Crown, the early-game favorites of England (or Great Britain) and France have both splintered. The former seems to have been split apart after a crushing defeat at the hands of Spain, and even Oldenburg has grabbed the province of Yorkshire (their loss). Norway, kicked out of its homeland, has expanded in the void left by Britain instead, and has set up shop in Scotland. France's fate is more mysterious, but Burgundy has filled the void, and the entire region seems to have become Austria's playground.
Austria, meanwhile, has expanded into Croatia and Hungary, and is perhaps about to expand into France as well. Neither Austria nor Bohemia is the Emperor, however - that honor goes to the powerful nation of Brandenburg, which has stood up admirably against Poland. Speaking of which...
By Jove!
Poland is a continent-bestriding behemoth, stretching from Silesia to Chechnya.
The Byzantines appear to be a respawn, as the Queen of Cities itself is Epirote at the moment. The Ottomans have mostly focused on Syria, but also seem to have bypassed the more desirable routes of conquest to go beat up on poor Serbia. In Italy, meanwhile, Milan looks to be the ascendant power.
Up north, where the air gets cold, Sweden is the greatest power, and looks poised to duke it out with a sturdy-looking Denmark for control of Scandinavia. Novgorod the Great stretches deep into Siberia, and Estonia is clinging to life as an OPM in Osel.
In the Middle East, the Jalayirids have been pushed east into Persia, and an Iraqi Arab state controls most of Mesopotamia. The Ilkhanate successors are all clinging to life, but Iran is largely a ridiculous, jumbled mess. The Egyptians have suffered heavily at the hands of the Hafsids and Syria, which is curiously based in Palestine. Yemen has grabbed pieces of Arabia and Egypt here and there.
To the east, India has largely been divided in three parts between three major Islamic sultanates - Delhi, Deccan, and Bengal.
Finally, in the Orient, there's no sign at all of the hapless Yuan. The Ming have taken their place as the regional punching bag, and are in the process of being ripped apart by minor Chinese feudal states and a hugely powerful Joseon which may yet become the great power of this region.
Thus is the state of the world in 1500. It is about to be changed forever by the meeting of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, because it appears that the Spanish have reached the Caribbean...