Mosiac Earth 7: Asia and Austraila

[Imajin]

From The Journal of Governor Kocharian

April 9

....Today, we reached the capital of Ramazan. The Emir there ruled over a population consisting of a mix of Greeks and Turks, who formed a slight majority. The Armenian presence of the nation was almost non-existant. Much of the old Cilician Kingdom was held by Karaman, to the west. He was at first reluctant to join our nation, and rightfully so, for who wishes to cease being a soverign? And conversion seemed to be right out.
However, we held a demonstration of the Alavardi's power outside his palace. The Artillery especially had an amazing affect on him. I believe he saw our weapons destroying the walls of his palace before his eyes...
Later that day, he became a Christian- Not of our Armenian brand, but Orthodox, for he did not wish to take an Armenian as his wife, and took the name Paul, and signed an oath to the King of Armenia. In return he was granted the title of King of Ramazan...
In return for his conversion, he did ask for one thing, which we willingly granted. You see, the lands of his new subordinate kingdom and our ancient nation are separated by territory of the Dulkadir, which we took for him, with the border on the Euphrates. Several guards of the Alvardi, who were Kurdish, were stationed there, and they expect some small conflict....
Now we go to the Karaman Emirate to the west, a land that covers much of old Cilicia...."

[Imajin]

Kara Yusuf's Tent
Federation of Black Sheep Turks
April 9th

Kara Yusuf Shah- for he had taken that title, and deservingly, for who but one chosen by Allah could have been saved so majestically, in a blaze of light eradaticating the armies of the Illkhan in the distance?
And yet, it was odd, as not only were the Illkhan's armies destroyed, but much of his own land was gone. In the north reports came of Christian Churches, while in the south reports came of Mosques, but in unfamiliar and large cities.
Kara Yusuf Shah was confused by this situation, but with many of his Black Sheep Turks gone, dissapeared in a blaze of light, it was best to discover what had happened. He ordered an emissary, Mutafa Alzir, to enter the lands to the south- Better to deal with fellow Muslims than with unknown Christians.

[Condottiero]

Manila Royal Palace
April 9th, 1886


King Carlos VI had ordered one ship to go to Hong Kong. Obviously there was something weird going on. The secret telegraph room, those messages from America, the message of the Argentinians and the lack of news from the British. The fleet of Lord Cunningham should have arrived three days before to carry the second regiment to Shanghai and they had not appeared. He did not fear that the British had changed mind about letting the Philippines to have colonies in China, but the action of the French or the Americans. If he could at least restore contact with the Japanese, those ex-samuray troops would be quite handy! He ordered his assistant to send a fast ship to Hokkaido.

[Galbatorix]

Originally Posted by Imajin

Kara Yusuf's Tent
Federation of Black Sheep Turks
April 9th

Kara Yusuf Shah- for he had taken that title, and deservingly, for who but one chosen by Allah could have been saved so majestically, in a blaze of light eradaticating the armies of the Illkhan in the distance?
And yet, it was odd, as not only were the Illkhan's armies destroyed, but much of his own land was gone. In the north reports came of Christian Churches, while in the south reports came of Mosques, but in unfamiliar and large cities.
Kara Yusuf Shah was confused by this situation, but with many of his Black Sheep Turks gone, dissapeared in a blaze of light, it was best to discover what had happened. He ordered an emissary, Mutafa Alzir, to enter the lands to the south- Better to deal with fellow Muslims than with unknown Christians.

General Rezah HQ
Alepo
April 11th


the advance had been quite easy. the population opened the doors of the twons and said something about mongols. he was surprised. more when he see the black sheep turks there.

he offered them their protection in the name of the shah of persia and sent one cavalry regiment with them.

then he met his staff. "so we have already occupyed Halep, Dimasq and Hammam. let`s see if tomorrwo we have al-Quds, Haffa and Beyrut. we will had to ask the fleet to start moving to round africa to go to the mediterranean.

[Imajin]

The ITS Anna Comneni
Empire of Trebizond
Armenia-Trebizond
April 11th

Emperor Alexander III stood on the deck of the large ironclad ship, The newest of the Basileus class, and the largest. Nearby, the smaller Megas Doux ship Adrianople followed.
He thought about the journey ahead. Hoepfully, his ship would scare off the Turks. From what he had heard from the Christians in the 'Outside World', they thought the year was 1400. If so, John Paleolougus should be still in his city, praying for his brother's return with aid. And John wasn't even an Emperor, but a Regent... And in Constantinople, thought Alexander, perhaps he could fulfill the ancient dream of the Trapezuntine Emperors- To become Baselius in Constantinople itself.

From The Journal of Governor Kocharian

April 12th

"..today, we obtained for the King the Protectorate of Cilicia. When we entered the Emirate of Karaman, we... the Emir's heir was apparently dead, murdered by one of our weapons, and we still do not know how he got it...
The Emir staunchly refused to have anything to do with the Kingdom of Armenia, despite the advice of many of the Greeks in his court. His capital city of Karaman was swarming with Greeks...
Eventually, we left the city, and reluctantly planned to attack it, as per our orders. However, we were approached by a greek man, however, he was truly only half-Greek and worshipped in our Apostolic Church, who was an important man in the city, named Constantine Angelus. Angelus offered us an interesting possibilility. It seemed he wished...
It seemed odd to support a coup, yet we decided to do it. We provided Angelus with a man from our party, John Rokaraban, who was excellent at long-distance shooting. He shot the Emir from a window...
Eventually, Constantine Angelus, with only covert assistance from us, gained the support of most of the troops in the city, and the Emirate of Karaman became the Protectorate Kingdom of Cilicia...
And so we set off to Tigranocerta, and then I was to go to Trebizond myself, to tell the King of the good news."

[DuQuense]

It seemed odd to support a coup,

As if shooting the headman is somehow worse that attacking and shooting hundreds of Peon Soldiers.

[Imajin]

Originally Posted by DuQuense

As if shooting the headman is somehow worse that attacking and shooting hundreds of Peon Soldiers.

Well, you have to have morals! After all, a war is far more dignified than a coup! Well, at least that's how Kocharian thinks.

[Bulgaroktonos]

Somewhere in Burma
April 12th, 1886

General Pearson stood over his maps. The Burmese were operating in and around the northern highlands making it difficult to track down. In combat, they weren't much trouble, it was simple pinning them down. Using cordon lines and small groups of soldiers in the dense jungle, especially the Gurkhas, he was having no problem killing them.

What was the problem was keeping himself supplied. The roads were constantly thick with mud, and communication lines were constantly being cut by the few Burmese savages that knew what they were. They had been out of communication with London for nearly a week. Last he had heard something strange had happened to the Empire and indeed the world; some kind of melange of countries its seemed.

And as he looked at the relatively close border with Tibet and China, Pearson recognized that this situation also provided Generals with a certain amount of initiative "agreeable" circumstances that presented ample opportunity.....

[Galbatorix]

Halep. new persian province of syria
April, 18, 1886

the caravan of the shah had taken just ten days to arrive to Halep. the shah was exhausted although he used to hunt in the marshes of Basra. the long march had been interrupted by some tribes of beduines that tried to get personal favours, others had tried to resist and there were also some celebratiosn. the turks, the primitive turks that lived in this new middle east offered as vasals to the persian emperor against the mongols. ?were there mongols? he wondered.

finally he received news that dimasq has finally fallen and that amman had been taken. however the resistance in Al-Quds was stronger and the small force send there was forced to retreat to amman. jaffa and beyrut were negotiating with the emirs sent there that were also worried by the mongols and by the armenians that were rumored that were occuping cilicia. he will send some delegation to tiganocerta to speak with the armenian prince. after all he was a persian subjet.

one thing was sure the britis did not worry him now. he could lose beluchistan in exchange of syria and palestine. beluchistan will come later

[General_Paul]

Imperial Palace: Edo, Japan
April 12, 1886
12:35 PM


Emperor Mutsuhito glanced out the window to see the harbor in the distance. The ships that came with them: The american battleship USS Pennsylvania, the Prussian cruiser Prinz Eugen, the british corvette HMS Valiant, and about 50 or so american, british, and french merchentmen sat at the far end of the harbor. Across the harbor from them, sat a detachment of Japanese naval forces, mostly torpedo boats, and cruisers, but a battleship, the IJN Daimyo, and her picket ships.

"Emperor, if you would come with us, we have some things to go over." The emperor nodded, as his advisor lead him down the hallway to a door 500 feet from his office. "Sir, we found this door about a week ago, after the incident with the lights in the sky." It reads: "International Cable, Restricted". "What is this room?" Mutsuhito asked. "We have no clue emperor, we haven't even had the gaul to open it yet."

"Well, open it then!" The advisor followed the Emperor's advice. The door opened, and reveled a room filled with wires, and lights. "Well, read off what these things are saying!" Once again, the advisor went and read the first telegram that was listed."

"Hello, this is russia, does anyone copy?" The emperor nodded. "Well, send them a response!"

To: Russia
From: Imperial Japan

This is Japan <Stop> We have recieved your transmission <Stop> We would like to get in touch with the czar <Stop> And begin discussing trade <Stop>


Mutsuhito Meiji
Emperor
Imperial Japan

[Condottiero]

Manila. Philippines (Kingdom of Spain)
April 14, 1886
2:04 PM

Message to Japan:
Do you have any idea of what is going on? We have received weird messages but this month's Nagasaki's convoy has not arrived.

[Lauranthalas]

April 12th
Transmission to JApan
Moscow

Thanks for responding <stop> since our Czar is very busy we would like to ask if you would accept a delegation from Vladivostok <stop><stop>

[Imajin]

ITS Anna Comnena
Waters outside Constantinople
April 12

"Go!" screamed the King-Emperor Alexander III, "Attack the Turks first!" The Turkish Army fled at the ship's mighty guns at first, however, then turned their cannons at the Comnena. However, the ironclad hull held strong.
The battle raged, as the Adrianople caught a awful hit from Turkish cannon, and was forced to leave the battle, limping awfully and demanding repair. It was then that Alexander III made his fatal mistake. He crossed over to the Andronicus II, and ordered it to head towards The City itself. He headed towards the city's ports, making a grandoise fool of himself by standing on the front of the ship.
However, then a Turkish cannon made a lucky shot at the Andronicus. The ship only shook, but it was enough to send the man, a King and Emperor by title, yet still mortal, falling into the water, and ending this expedition.
Michael Paleolougus, who disagreed with the King-Emperor's sudden plan to attack the very city, decided to call all of the ships back to Trebizond.

[Galbatorix]

Halep (new persian province of Syria)
April 19, 1886

message from the empire of Persia to the princedom of armenia

i suppose the alterations that our world have sufered since the christian first of april have afected your realm. in our alternative realitity armenia was a loyal vasal of the shah and we hope that this good relationship is kept. we have seen worried how you are treating muslim believers in cilicia. we suggest you to limit yourself to ocupy greek and armenian areas in anatolia leaving all turk and kurd areas to the empire of persia. cilicia will be given back to their muslim governosr and armenian forces will retreat to armenian territory.

Naser ad Din
Shah of Persia and feudal lord of armenia and the caucasus

[Imajin]

To: The Imperial Government of Persia
From: The Royal Government of Armenia

The Kingdom of Armenia was never a vassal of your nation in our lands. We know that many nations from the year 1400 AD have been transported into our world, and many nations from other worlds as well. Perhaps you are confused.
However, as the territories we have taken over in Cilicia and Ramazan are part of historic Cilicia, and they are from 1400 AD, we feel compelled to note that, though official censuses have not been held, there are large Armenian populations in those areas, left from the glourious Kingdom of Little Armenia that once existed there, and in 1400 had barely fallen. There is no brutality towards Muslims in the Protectorates, or in Armenia Proper.
Quite simply, the Royal Government of Armenia has accepted the new realities on the ground, and have mnoved to protect a population that in our world was wiped out. I hope that you will understand, however, as a gesture of good will, we will allow the ruler of Ramazan to choose to return to his former faith if he so wishes, while staying under our protection.

Thank you,
Robert Askarychan
Governor-Regent of Armenia

[Imajin]

The Problems facing Armenia-Trebizond as of April 20, 1886

Simply put, it was a mess.
The Personal Union between Armenia and Trebizond had merged the countries in many ways, but also kept them separate. Land-locked Armenia perhaps could survive alone, but Trebizond only had it's small archers, and would need to do a massive military buildup, which the Senators did not want.
A major point of the contention now arising had it's basis in the Robertic Law of Succession, signed by Robert I of Armenia, and in theory barring females from the throne, though it was written complexly. Trebizond had no formal succession law, whoever got the throne- and always it was the former Emperor's heir- got it.
The late Alexander III had left one child behind: Alexandria Zangezura, who had been born and raised in Trebizond and was twenty-one. Thus was the crisis of succession. The Trapezuntines had no problem with a female ruler, as it had happened before, and the nobility preferred it. After all, a female would be easier to control than a strong male, or so they think.
However, as has been said, the Robertic Law does not allow it, as it is commonly asserted. The House of Zangezur's tendency to have but one child has not helped the situation much.
Thankfully, Governor-Regent Askarychan has not pressed the issue, though he had not officially recognized Alexandria as heir. However, among those who want to break the personal union, seeing the Zangezurs as too assimilated into the Greek culture of Trebizond- The very reason the position of Governor-Regent was established- Have seen Robert Askarychan as the obvious choice to begin a new royal house.
The probelm continues. The Trapezuntine Senate is expected today to confirm Alexandria as Empress of Trebizond. Weather Askarychan will do the same remains in question, as right now, he has not taken a side.

[DuQuense]

The Council Could declare Alexandria to be a Man, and name her Emperor Alexander.

[DuQuense]

As this is 1400, not 144? [Fall of Constantinople] Even if the Fleet failed It would have made it easier for the Greeks to Repulse the Siege.

[Imajin]

Originally Posted by DuQuense

As this is 1400, not 144? [Fall of Constantinople] Even if the Fleet failed It would have made it easier for the Greeks to Repulse the Siege.

It probably did... However, I'm only focusing on how this affects my nation...

[Galbatorix]

Amman
April 19

the city is going to surrender to our army. we ask for reinforcements to conquer al-Quds and the palestine.
commander Ali Jatami of the persian army.