Unholy Roman Empire

[Midgard]

Anatolia

My lord Despot,

As per your instructions, I have lived amongst the savages for several years now, sharing in their toils and vicissitudes, all the while gathering information that would prove necessary to bring about their downfall. For too long the Turk has stained the lands of Anatolia, draining its fields of their vigor and its land of its spoils, lording over the cities that rightfully belong to the only true Romans in the land. They even have the audacity to call themselves the Rum Alliance, as if the sound of the noble name of Roman Empire could somehow dignify their savage and barbarous ways! But, I must digress, for my personal sentiments are of little use for your time spent on matters of state importance.

The Turks (I refuse to call them Rumanians, for it is a grave blasphemy to aspire the Roman name to them) are organized in most peculiar way. Not unlike the Latins (although of little semblance to the truly civilized peoples), their society is a group of many tribes, some stronger, some weaker, that all recognize the authority of the leader, called Sebastokrator after an old Roman fashion (a further blasphemy, if I may add). Their legends speak of a prophecy supposedly attributed to Theodoros IV, born of a Turkish mother himself, that one day the Turks shall take back the City and restore the Empire to its ancient glory; as a sign of that, their pathetic fur-clad leaders call themselves by the title second only to that of a basileus.

The tribes themselves vary wildly from one another, some of them settled and industrious in their evasive pursuit of true civilization, some of them little more than nomadic bandit gangs with their muskets and sabers. It is said that Sebastokrator David has maintained his throne largely by manipulating the nomadic tribes against their settled brethren, and letting their venomous rage expel itself upon each other rather than against him.

Other than paying its yearly tribute and supplying soldiers for the Turk army when called upon, each tribe is practically an independent entity unto itself, free to pursue whatever destiny it chooses as long as it pledges allegiance to the Sebastokrator. Indeed, some of these people that once upon the time proudly carried the Roman eagle on their shoulders and upon their banners, have fallen so far as to convert to the heathen Mussulman heresy. Such are the depths the Turks have fallen into when held without the guiding hand of the Hellenes such as ourselves.

Although such division has proven to be of gravest danger to the Latins and to our own sadly damaged Empire, the Turks seem to be strengthened by it, as though their armies are numerous almost to the multitude of fabled Hordes of Tver, their warriors are tough, skilled with bow, sword, and musket alike, and fearless to no end. It is truly that the savagery of the frontier tribes meets the finesse of the Sebastokrator’s own elite guards, and the discipline of the iron-clad warriors of Latinikon, themselves the Papists fleeing their former Unholy sovereigns in the years past towards the Turk lands. It is, however, also the heel of fabled Achilles of the Turk chiefdom, for just as the clans rally behind the Sebastokrator and his banner when faced with the Russian druzhina or Persian deghans, they fall upon one another as soon as the fighting is done, accusing their rivals of unimaginable things all the while committing said atrocities themselves.

It is thus true that the so-called “Rum Alliance”, or, as it should better be named, “the Turk Atrocity” is an abomination of the Roman name, and of the Roman spirit, just waiting to be cleansed off the face of this ancient land. I pray to our Lord and Savior every day to see the beauty of Nicaea again, and to return to these lands not a clandestine agent, but a soldier of the victorious army of true Romans, and to bring us one step closer to regaining our noble heritage.

Ioannes Sakis
Agent, Nicaean Imperial Diplomatic Corps
1631


In the name of Allah, merciful, all-compassionate,

And so it began that the Greek and the Turk have unsheathed the swords of vengeance again. These are the most troubling developments in Anatolia, even more so that the Russian hawk watches hungrily, waiting to pick up the pieces of the oncoming struggle. Yet, in the struggle that spells misery and desolation for the Greek and the Turk alike, there are opportunities that are granted upon us by the mercy of Allah.

While our enemies exhaust themselves, throwing walls of flesh and steel upon the walls of stone, fighting sword with sword and cannon with cannon, who is to say that our Muslim brothers in Anatolia would prefer to labor under the Christian heel when they could join with their brethren in faith to the East? And who is to say that the Christians, heathen though they may be, would not be willing to throw themselves at the ground at Shahanshah’s feet for brave deghans to assist in their endeavors, or for weapons to slaughter each other with?

Today is truly the great day of jubilation for Persia, for its enemies are busier than ever opening up even more roads for the followers of the Prophet to achieve wealth and true security from the Christian threat.

Reza Ghazzavi
Merchant of Isfahan
1632

[G.Bone]

It has been a century since the Unholy Roman Empire was founded and Emporer Heinrich crowned in the Puritan glories of Johannist Rome.

A century since Emporer Heinrich was ruler and the world has gone to ruined.

In the north, the power of the Baltic League has gained considerable traction compared to what it had at it's founding. England has just come out of a sixteen year long civil war with it's government firmly under the control of one Rufus Black Bard. Jockeying for the position as heir to the throne is Crown Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, viewed by most Dutch folk as a traitor and embarrassment to his nation.

To the North is the Union, where Queen Christinia Margarie rules with a velvet gautlent. Most people within Sweden refer to this as their 'Golden Age' for it is the Swedish army that has stationed itself in five different realms - Novgorod, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Lithuania. However, due to her conflicts with her new husband from Novogorod, her son, Prince Gustav of Denmark is looking into oppertunities that the League has.

The League itself - mostly referring to Northern Germany, Orange, Ghent, and Poland - has become quite a player. Several different factions have formed within this entity with the House of Orange becoming the main leader to rally behind. Of course there is the matter of getting access to the Avalons, which has become quite hairy due to the English Civil War

The English Civil War has not done wonders for North and South Avalons. Because of the issue of sovereignty, Columbia has declared itself to be a New England. While Rufus does has his plate full of war ravaged England (including the now subservient Scotland and Ireland), there is the age old conflict with New Breton. A slow and steady conflict is growing between the two entitites to the point that a war will break out sooner or later.

Meanwhile, the Carolines, the one colony of France that has been loyal to the crown, is slowly turning this conflict to it's benefit.

The Blood Sea is a mess, as always. The only real thing that has come out of it is Rufus and the Virginia Anne Colony. Due to the ruckus going on in England, much of the interest of the League has been concentrated on this lonely guardian to the mess that is the Blood Sea. Just recently it swallowed up Kuba and looks hungrily at South York Island*.

In South Avalon, the matter is exploration. There is a Cathay colony near the Darien Penninsula, however, there is no united front to exploit it. Sagunya has declared it's independence by invading Hybrazil. New Hope - the Spanish colony south of Sagunya iis becoming a supply depot for the never ending Moorish Wars.

There is a rumor that somewhere to the West there is Cathay...

France is cheerily going on as it has for the last two centuries or so. Their government has become an oligarchy of the nobles. This has been proven with the kicking of Louis XII and the appointment of King Petan I - a former Army general. His policy has been curious to say the least, providing that kick where the UHRE is slowly kicking itself, selling bits of the Ghentish State to Orange, and generally focusing on new oppertunities that lie outside of Europe.

Spain and Aragon are in a personal union thanks to the Moorish Realm. The war is never ending and thus their keen focus on New Hope. They have become quite zealous in their Catholic beliefs and it is the only place that the old Papist structure is fully alive.

The Moorish Realm is a confederation of various states focused on THE WAR. It is becoming heavily Africanized due to this draw of manpower from the south. Moorish Islam is looking more and more like Persian Islam due to this influence. Much of the Maghreb and Ghana are client-states.

Italia is a mess. South Italia is ruled by Aragon, Hungary and Sicily. There are various colonies south of Sicily, right on the ashes of what used to be Catharge. Aragon, in a twisted sort of logic, has created a New Macedone at the very tip, in order to guarentee it's "guardianship" over Sicily. Catholics are a heavy majority in these lands.

North Italia is the fiefdom of the Reichstag, who recently let the Emporer have some power. Central Italia is becoming more Puritan due to the concessions that the Reichstag had to make in order to supply France with mercenary soldiers. Key cities such as Milan, Venice, and Genoa have their own chartered rights in exchange for "some" authority that the Emporer has over them. There is some movement in Venice to break the hold that Hungary has over the Adriatic.

The Unholy Roman Empire is a mess. The Imperial Diet is the government of the land and has totally reverted to what it was in the HRE.. Austria is the main "heart" of the moribund Empire. The Puritans have made it their own. Southern Germany is also within the Imperial circuit although Middle Germany is looking towards the League.

Hungary is an Empire. It controls much of the Balkans and Eastern Europe. It did have a personal union with Kiev in 1612. This has fallen apart. King Stephen X is currently looking at the Greek Principalities as his next morsel.

Kiev has turned the Crimean into it's own personal lake. It does control Constantinople and Trezbond.

The Caliphate has broken into three seperate entities: Egypt, Persia, and Palestine.

Egypt is more of the "Traditional Islamic" state with a close association with the Hijaz. It currently maintains a close protection of Palestine and has converted much of Eastern Africa. Contacts with Indiyia and Cathay have been made.

Persia controls everything west of the Rum Alliance and Palestine. It is currently focusing on what lies in the East. It's known as the more radical branch of Islam due to it's mergence with the "Fire-Worshippers".

The Tverian Hordes is a curious entity. In 1583 it allied itself with the Muhguls, whom promptly took it over. Since then it has waged war against the Union, causing Poland to join the League. It does have a reputation of being devastating, even to the point that the Spanish want to learn from them.

[Nicksplace27]

Very, very interesting. I like it, but where is the map? And maybe just maybe world map is in order?

[G.Bone]

A better map of Europe can be seen at post 360 on the previoius page

The key to the world map is as follows;
light teal - unexplored
Dark Blue - Member-states of the Baltic League/claimed terr. of the League
Lightish Blue - UHRE
Brown - Hungary
Teal - Greek principalities
Motley yellow- Rum Alliance
Yellow - The Union
Dark Gray - Spain
Pinkish color below Tver- the Caucausian Khanate
Dark Green - Kiev
The colors SW of Kiev - Wallachia & Roumania
Peach - Sicily/"New" Italia
White- Aragon & it's colonies

[Midgard]

…And They Shall Reap The Seeds Of Vultures (Intermission - 1632)

It has been a hundred years since the Unholy Empire first spread its wings over the charred and ravaged landscape that has been Europe, and over the course of the century, it could be argued that the promises of the Johannist faith had began to ring hollow. Where peace and power were claimed were only strife and ruin; where prosperity and strength were once offered now were only misery and impotent weakness. Where mighty powers of the day once stood, there were but splinters of them, new realms bound together more by fear of what lay outside than by common bonds of faith, trust, courage, or nationality. One after another ships sailed towards the sunset, carrying hopes of thousands of the poor, the destitute, the disinherited, and the exiled with them, as the promise of the Avalons became the only one that still held true in the age of darkness. Thus, our story resumes one hundred and two years after Ulrich the First was crowned the Unholy Emperor in Rome.

While we believe the reader is somewhat familiar with the powers of the day, let us make a brief recap of their state. In the West, where once proud French dreamed of restoring Charlemagne’s empire and, maybe, even that of Constantine, the miserable, strife-ridden “kingdom” of France continued its unspectacular existence under Petan I, the general whose luck was such that he managed to depose the ruling dynasty and crown himself king with only the general apathy of his subjects to answer to for accusations of regicide. The Empire of Britain, an empire in all but a name, ruled with an iron hand of one Rufus, nicknamed the Black Bard, ruled the waves, forcing once independent kingdoms of Ireland and Scotland into little more than subservience, all the while bending, yet not breaking under Rufus’ attempts to institute the republican rule yet again.

To the south, the Spaniard and the Moor are still locked into an endless struggle that continues on the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, in the mountains of Iberia, deserts of Morocco, and streets of the cities until the only ones remaining are the dead. As the sword of Christianity meets the curved blade of Islam in Granada and beyond, the only place where the spirit of the crusade still lives as more than a futile dream knows little other than constant devastation, and an orgy of bloodletting that lasted for centuries and will last for many more as all that stray even a slightest bit from the rigid path of Catholicism are made to pay in blood for their transgressions in the lands north of Granada.

In the east, the once-proud Empire of the East is no more, replaced by six squabbling statelets with ambitions of an empire, but with true power dependent on that of their more powerful neighbors – or, if one wishes to call them that, their masters. Hungary, Morea, Thessalonika, Smyrna, Cilicia, and Rum desire Constantinople, the only claim to legitimacy in the world of pretenders to the throne of Byzantium, yet the Emperor of Kiev, now calling himself basileus of the Romans as one of his innumerable titles, is not prepared to give up the greatest jewel of his crown without a fight.

In Africa, the so-called “New Macedon”, ruled by the Palaiologoi of late Byzantium under protection of Aragon claims to be the sole true inheritor of the Empire – to the extent that the lords of Salunka still cling on to the title of a basileus, long abandoned by all but the ruler of Kiev; the Italian Catholic refugees make for uneasy neighbors between the new lords of Tunis and the great Caliphate of Egypt, the light and the sword of Islam.

In the north, the power of the League grows as it absorbs more and more member states, going as far as allying with and incorporating once-proud republic of Novgorod, now happy to receive protection the League offers from the ever-present threat of Tverian hordes. Once upon the time, Tver was yet another of the Russian cities, strong enough to throw off the Khan’s yoke and to curb the power of their rivals – only to fall once again to the eastern invaders, this time from within, becoming the heirs of Saint Vladimir as much as the heirs of Genghis Khan in the great Tverian Moughul Empire that stretches from one end of the earth to another across the wastes of Sibir.

And in Europe, the Unholy Roman Empire is neither Unholy nor Roman nor even an Empire anymore – rather, a collection of southern German states and few cities in Italy held together by the mutual agreement of their rulers, the Reichstag instead of anything else. The Puritan faith’s victory over Catholicism did not prevent Puritanism and its strange Johannist sibling from falling into disarray, as political and economic considerations let the matters of faith fall to the sidelines; indeed, some Papist strongholds remain in Italy to this day, just waiting for a chance to revolt away from the Unholy Crown.

Such is the scenery of Europe in the year of 1632.

[G.Bone]

Cloak And Dagger (1632 – 1640)

If the last time we visited the Unholy Empire in year 1530, the events described therein could be best explained as a loud scream of shock that made the world tremble, the year of 1632 opened with more of a whimper. This was no time for spectacular events of global magnitude; colonization of the Avalons long became paramount to the well-being of most European powers, and many of their battles were now fought beyond the Pillars of Hercules, leaving only the most brutal and unforgiving of conflicts for the tired old landscapes of Europe. Therefore, from things grandiose and magnificent in design and nature, we shall shift our attention to the conflict that shaped the fate of Eastern Christendom and sown the seeds of distress and ravage in Anatolia.

Ever since the dissolution of the Eastern Empire and inheritance of Constantinople by Kievan prince through his blood ties with the last legitimate Byzantine dynasty, the Greek princes of the Balkans and Asia Minor have only tenuously recognized the new Tsar-Emperor’s authority at the very best, and chose to blatantly disregard it most of the time to where the four competing principalities of Morea, Thessalonika, Smyrna, and Cilicia began to see themselves as true heirs of the latter-day Roman Empire, unlike the upstart usurper who spent more time in Kiev than in Constantinople and his successors.

Further adding fuel to an already tense situation was an entity known as the Rum Alliance, itself claiming continuity with Byzantium despite only superficial similarity in religion, organization, or national makeup. The Rum Alliance, essentially a loose organization of small Turkic principalities bound together by mutual defense agreement and recognition of authority of sebastokrator (the hereditary ruler of Rum), claimed its rulers’ descent from the cadet line of great Ergutruli Emperors as its chief advantage over the Greek principalities that, in their eyes, were a legacy of internecine fighting and essentially treachery on the part of Greek lords that failed to preserve the Empire of the old days.

In 1633, these tensions finally erupted into a full-scale war when the Despotate of Smyrna and its erstwhile ally (or a vassal, depending on one’s point of view), the Principality of Cilicia retaliated against the raids by Turkic tribesmen. The war was to last for the large part of the decade, and in it was buried much of the hope of reconciliation between these fragments of shattered Byzantine state.

Despite some initial successes, the Greeks were soon turned back, and after suffering a crushing defeat at Tarsus in 1635, they could only impotently watch as the Turks advanced all the way towards Mediterranean, taking numerous cities along the way and laying siege to Cilician capital Adana. Desperate, the Despot of Smyrna asked for help of Morean and Macedonian Greeks, knowing well that as much as their own Imperial claims conflicted with his, an independent Greek state in Anatolia was far preferable to them to a juggernaut of destruction the Turkish army has become.

In 1636, Adana has finally fallen to the Turks, who advanced into Smyrnean heartland of Asia Minor. It was only then that the Morean and Macedonian reinforcements began to pour in, finally turning the tide at the Battle of Nicaea, where a large Turk army was practically annihilated to the last man. Still, this was not enough to claim victory for the exhausted Greeks of Smyrna, for the war has taken a great toll on their economy, manpower, and resources. When the Moreans flat out refused to lead the advance into Anatolia, claiming that their duty was to protect their Greek brethren, but not to fight their wars for them, the Despotate of Smyrna teetered on the edge of total collapse.

Already Cilicia with its largely Armenian population was absorbed into the Rum Alliance; no help from anywhere else could be forthcoming. In 1638, Despot Kyriakos II fell to a palace coup in Nicaea, leaving Smyrna with little choice but to accept the puppet ruler the Moreans installed. This in turn nearly led to another round of infighting amongst the Greeks, as the Macedonians accused Morea of depriving them of the bitter victory they fought to obtain.

It was only through some skilled diplomatic movements by Despot Basil Stavros of Morea that the Macedonians were placated with cessation of several coastal areas and numerous islands in the Aegean Sea; still, the embers of future conflict were still present for years to come, creating one of the main obstacles for the eventual movement of Greek reunification many years later.

The main significance of the Anatolian War was not in its casualty count, which was rather severe for both sides involved, and not in the territories exchanged, which, even after the fall of Cilicia, were still rather small. Instead, it was the last gasp of the idea of Byzantium restored as a multinational, multi-ethnic Empire it once was, where both Greek, Turk, Bulgar, Arab, and other peoples worked together for the furthering of ancient Roman glory. From now on, the former Empire’s Greek and Turk successor states were truly separate entities, each sworn to reach its objective of retaking Constantinople to the detriment of the other, yet each unable to gain a decisive advantage that would allow it to subdue or, better yet, to completely destroy the other.

Indeed, the Kievan “Byzantium” had more in common with the diverse and cosmopolitan origin of the old Empire than any of its claimant successor states with the possible exception of Tunis, ruled by Paleologus dynasty, where Greek, Berber, Arab, Spanish, and Italian influences made Salunka into a thriving metropolis that became a center of trade in the Central Mediterranean rivaling the glory of Alexandria itself.

The other result of the war was the establishment of Morea as the strongest and most prominent of the Greek states of the Balkans and Asia Minor. Even though further reaches of Anatolia were lost to the Greeks, with the removal of Smyrna as an effective non-entity, the battle of Greeks for the legacy of Byzantium polarized into two factions – one led by Morea, covering southern half of Greece proper as well as Epirus and extending into the Adriatic coastline, and another one led by Thessalonika, known as Macedonian Despotate, consisting of region of Macedon bordering Kievan and Hungarian domains in the north, and Morean territories in the south, with a number of strategic fortresses and towns on the Asian side of the Aegean. Further east was the Rum Alliance, still tenaciously clinging on to the idea of Byzantine inheritance in theory, but practically embracing their Turkic origins and seeking their own path through the history; despite the Alliance’s apparent strength in the Anatolian War, it had little practical power to begin a coherent offensive war effort due to its internal divisions, uniting behind the sebastokrator only in times of mutual need. Finally, the Kievans and the Hungarians, still bitter rivals after the failure of their ill-fated dynastic union, watched hungrily from the sides, ensuring to the best of their ability that no one side gets sufficiently strong to wipe out all of their magnificent achievements in the Balkans and Asia Minor.

While the East was torn once again by fratricidal war, the West experienced turmoil of a different kind. Ever since the death of Heinrich IX, the Unholy Emperor has been little more than a convenient figurehead, essentially serving as a formal head of state and a mitigating factor between the various factions within the Reichstag. Ironically, the one tenet of earlier Unholy Empire’s organization that survived the turbulent century after its establishment was the limitation of the Emperor’s powers to allow only his rule of the “Imperial Cities”, the territories that were in practice frequently too independent-minded to be subdued by any of the Empire’s prominent families, or that bought the Empire off to be left alone to do what they wished to – the very practice that instead of giving the Unholy Empire its newfound strength, further contributed to its grave weakness and division. That said cities were usually either in far north of Germany, where the Empire existed in name only, or in Italy, where the nationalist and, sometimes, even Catholic sentiment was still going strong, only added to the problem. Thus, when in 1635 Maximillian III von Saxe-Gothburg was elected to the Imperial throne, the position he inherited was a precarious one at best.

Maximillian himself goes down in history books as a somewhat underwhelming figure. Only moderately ambitious, yet endowed with surprising amounts of sheer vanity, the Imperial title itself was the height of his aspirations, and would have remained so if not for the somewhat peculiar circumstances surrounding his election.

After the passing of his predecessor Henry-Ludwig, the one thing the Reichstag could truly agree on was that a weak, figurehead Emperor served their ends perfectly well - the disagreement was over who this individual would be. Several of the Empire’s most prominent families vied for one of their own to be elected, throwing their considerable diplomatic weight around with varying effects; the houses of Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Wittelsbach, and even the resurgent, now fervently Johannist house of Habsburg were amongst those pushing their respective candidates and promising concessions of every kind to the lesser, but more numerous nobles making up most of the Reichstag. In the end, however, none of their candidates seemed to satisfy sufficient majority of the electors.

Heinrich of Luxembourg was suspected of Catholic sympathies; Karl of Lichtenstein was known to have never embraced the Johannist faith, instead retaining his Puritan religion; the power and the influence of Wittelsbachs was such that very few thought it wise to elect Johann, and the name Habsburg still carried with it a terminal stigma of the old Holy Empire’s legacy. Still, a choice had to be made, and it had to be satisfactory not only to the Johannist majority of the Reichstag, but also to a large number of Puritans, mostly hailing from the Northern and Central Germany – the areas where the Johannist faith never truly took root despite having many of its origins in the area. Therefore, the electors’ choice fell upon Maximillian, a relatively minor candidate known mostly for his considerable wealth officially amassed through Baltic trade, and unofficially attributed to more than a few ties with various pirate groups that sprang up in wake of civil wars in England and France. More significant, however, was Maximillian’s covert agreement to promote interests of the Puritan minority in the Reichstag, despite his own professed Johannist faith, for despite Johannism being the driving force behind the Empire’s establishment, its political significance has long outpaced its religious message, which, at its core, was simply a more extreme, anti-Catholic version of Puritanism.

Within a year of Maximillian’s election, his Puritan supporters began to grow restless, expecting not only an extension of Johannist privileges to them, but also support in their undertakings in the Reichstag, and even the right to send missionaries into Italy, where the Papist shadow still simmered, refusing to die completely. Still worse for the Emperor was that to the Italians themselves, the generic Puritan faith with its separation of worldly and spiritual matters was much preferable to the more rigid and militant Johannism, which, while drawing heavily on the Puritan set of beliefs, became a state ideology more so than a genuine religion.

In this climate, the Empire stood at the crossroads as to where it would focus its still considerable strength. A strong hand and even a stronger mind was needed to bring the squabbling barons divided amongst the regional, religious, and political lines to work together for preserving the unity of their nation – but such leadership was in short supply in 1630s.

Powerless, Maximillian watched as parts of Germany allied to the Baltic League ceased to pay their annual taxes by large; endless politicking in the Reichstag stalled its ability to act decisively. Indeed, some of the northern cities went as far as mint their own currency, pledging their allegiance to the Empire in name only, and even that only due to the Emperor originating in the north of Germany. Worse yet, a year of particularly bad harvest in 1638 made apparent that Middle and Lower Germany and Austria were ill prepared to deal with such an occurrence, while the central Imperial authority blundered about without being able to provide for all during a cold and particularly unpleasant winter. As if this was not enough to add to the divided Empire’s miseries, a group of Italian cities, headed by Milan, Genoa, and Venice, normally at odds with each other, petitioned the Reichstag for more self-governance, implying that should the Reichstag not satisfy their demands, they would withhold necessary supplies for the parts of Germany where they were needed the most.

More threatening was the implification that the Italian cities would be quite ready to leave the Empire and join in with some of its potential rivals, such as the Aragonese, the French, or even ask for the Egyptians’ protection.
The petition left Reichstag’s apparent unity in shambles. Some, in particular the Habsburgs, called for a military expedition to subdue the unruly Italians and to lay waste to their lands, resettling fertile Italian territories with loyal Johannist Germans while eliminating the last vestiges of the city-states’ independence. Still others believed that the effort involved in planning such an expedition, and the risk of it failing would simply be too much for the fragile Empire to handle; instead, as long as the Italians paid their tribute and provided their considerable navy for Imperial service, they argued, the Latins could do whatever they wanted.

From the beginning, there was little the Emperor could do that would not alienate at least some of his subjects. While Rome was still the official capital of the Empire, for all practical purposes all governance was conducted from Vienna; still, had Italy finally gone its own way, what claim would the Empire have to long-lost glories of Ulrich’s reign? How would it be able to retain its prosperity, and to remain a power in an increasingly more chaotic Europe? And if the Emperor’s powers were realistically limited to just about the ability to claim the title itself, how could even a relatively hapless figurehead such as Maximillian allow them to be eroded even further?

When the Puritan leaders proposed that the Italians be allowed to elect their own Viceroy, subject to Imperial approval, to conduct their affairs while still allowing them to remain within the Empire, the proposal was met with much skepticism. After all, both the Johannists and the Emperor favored strong-arm tactics when dealing with attempts at breaking away such as the one at hand. At the same time, Maximillian could not afford the withdrawal of Puritan support, which could have brought him down as easily as it attributed to his elevation. In late 1639, after more veiled threats from the Italians, the Emperor threw his formal support behind the Puritan proposition.

Whichever angle the situation is viewed from, it is hard to see any advantage that this arrangement might have procured for the Emperor, and thus the choice he followed was merely the lesser evil amongst all the possible options. While it meant that the richest cities of Italy became more akin to somewhat reluctant Imperial vassals instead of true subjects, at least they stayed in the Empire. Maximillian could at least console himself with the fact that even if he himself lacked powerful leadership abilities, he would not be the ruler under whom the Empire finally dissolves.

Indeed, by 1640 many within the Empire doubted its ability to survive for much longer – to great amusement of the outside parties, the most significant of which, the Hungarian Empire under Stephen X, was just approaching the zenith of its power. The defeatist attitude prevailed on the Reichstag floor, inside the ancestral castles of aristocracy, even on the streets of great merchant cities that slowly but surely drifted away from the Imperial sphere of influence. By then, even many in predominantly Johannist Central Germany began to believe that closer ties with their brethren to the north were needed to protect themselves from another famine such as that of 1638, and to ensure continuous prosperity within their territories.

It is widely believed that by 1640 Maximillian III became rather obsessed with the idea of preserving the Empire, even if it meant lessening its grip over the outer territories. Maybe, he thought, it would be the next Emperor or, God willing, the one after him that would receive the ignoble recognition as the last of the Unholy Emperors – but the Empire of Ulrich, or at least the most valuable portions of it, had to be preserved.

Already a Johannist believer, Maximillian found justification for his actions and beliefs in the religious writings, in parables of the Perfecti, and even in sayings attributed to Ulrich von Wittelsbach after his ascention to the Empire. The Empire had to be Unholy, and it had to remain Roman, even if some short-sighted leaders focused more on Germany than they ever did on Italy.

To this effect we could attribute the most monumental and, indeed, the most important decision of Maximillian’s otherwise tepid reign. In 1640, despite pressure from the Reichstag to do otherwise, the Emperor declared that he would make his court in Rome, ostensibly to follow on the ancient tradition, and, behind the scenes, to keep a wary eye on the Italians, for the Reichstag trusted the new “Viceroyalty of North Italy” even less than the Emperor did. Besides, would the Emperor’s absence not make the Reichstag’s power even greater, and its influence paramount in Germany?

Knowing well that Maximillian was no late Heinrich, owing his position largely to the Imperial Diet and having little ambitions beyond maintaining his throne, the Reichstag leadership in an increasingly rare show of unity bade the Emperor farewell, sending a large contingent of German troops as well as a number of loyal ministers to accompany him on his journey towards Rome.

[G.Bone]

The torches lit dark hallways of the Haroldian palace as silent silhouettes of the guards stood like metal gargoyles, oblivious to the rumors that spread like plague through halls of the palace, streets of the city and soon, undoubtedly, through the chambers and receiving rooms of kings, queens, emperors, and lesser rulers throughout Europe and the world. Rufus, the Black Bard; Rufus, Terror of the Blood Sea, Lord Admiral of the Seas, Master of the British Fleet, and of many other titles whose grandeur was underscored only by the dreaded power they held over the mariners and the cannons of Great Fleet lay dead on the seventh day of August, In One Thousand Six Hundred and Thirty Eighth Year of the Lord.

Even now, the surviving nobles from the War cast fearful eyes upon one another, expecting it to be yet another of Rufus’ many games to weed out those of treacherous and disloyal disposition; the silent guards gave no answer to their inquiring looks and wordless pleas for mercy should the worst have happened. How many of them knew the truth, they wondered? Was it, indeed, true, that dreaded Rufus and his insane ideas are now fast on their way into embrace of the grave worms and decay? Would the old ways come back?

One man knew the answer, and yet it pleased him immensely to silently watch the nobles, merchants, Fleet captains, and even the commoners drawn from the Parliament attempt to hide their nervousness, and make small talk trying to forestall the terror of anticipation. For a moment, he considered making them wait for another hour or two before making an announcement; watching them guess their fate and their master amused him.

It was not that Frederick Henry, the Crown Prince of Orange and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland did not possess much compassion for the soul of his one-time friend and benefactor, it was just that the taste of real power was so… fulfilling, that all other concerns were but specks in the glowing prism of satisfaction. Let them say what they want, he thought; the old maniac would not have lasted much anyway, and that abominable habit of eating these… lemons… just let them think this killed him, if the civil war did not.

Behind him stood the others – Red Beard, Egill Canute, and Maria of Hampton; all warriors of the Fleet, and commoners to the last. Frederick Henry noticed few brows raised in the direction of Mahund Yabu, whose dark skin and shaven head looked in stark contrast with the well-groomed English nobles, regal ladies of stature, courtesans of the shipyards, merchant princes, and the hesitant awkward nature of the Admirals of the Fleet simply standing there, not fitting at all with the spartan nature of the court. They will have to get used to it, he thought to himself.

There was no doubt where the real power lay, and one legacy of Rufus that was going to survive him was this. No public matter, big or small, important or otherwise, occurred without the Fleet’s approval. And within the Fleet, parentage, grooming, or money mattered little. What good is a noble pedigree amongst the roar of mighty cannons as the great galleon maneuvers itself to tear a hole in a fleeing Frenchman? What good is the great estate in Sussex if its holder mysteriously is appropiated towards the sun-baked blood-soaked lands of the Moorish Realm? Only the ablest moved on, and the rest joined their equally renowned, equally important, - and equally dead predecessors at the bottom of the ocean.

Now, he thought, was the time. As he cleared his throat, he noticed that the murmur in the hall completely ceased, as if on command. He smiled. ‘Tis better that they know their master right from the start. The kingdom – nay, the British Empire was now his.

[G.Bone]

...nay, the British Empire was now his.

Alex Nochbe stopped writing. He had high plans for this new beginning. After all, so many things had come out of _them_ as of late. It was high time to write something new, something grand, and of the heritage of the Empire.

He stared at the written prologue. Then he looked at the previous pages he had written. It had been hard getting the dispatches from the various sources. He literally had to bribe half his advance away just to get the pre-Imperial Intelligence records. The Moors were quite crafty at getting their money's worth.

"You finally done with the piece?" came Everette's voice.

Alex Nochbe looked up. Everette had just returned from stepping into the other room. The shadow of the wire-lamp outlined the features of the nobility that his family had - the famous Orange chin, the Hannover brow, and the charm that any respectable lord owuld have.

"Yep-" replied Alex. He quickly put the page into the book. The wire lamp also outlined the heavy abuse that the printer's bloc had gotten from his fingers. Alex patted the printer's bloc.

Everette walked towards the desk. He picked the book up. He rifled through it. Alex looke dup toward's his friend's face.

"It's good work-" said Everette.

"And?" came the rejoinder.

"I'm sure it'll gain some audience" spilt the words. Everette placed the book back on the table. There was no sound as it was placed in a space on the table.

"Well?"

Everette shook his head.

"There's nothing to say Alex. You know what's popular. Sorry-"

Everette gave a sympathetic smile towards Alex.

[Othniel]

This is really quite excellent. I think I'll nominate for a turtledove.

[Midgard]

Originally Posted by Othniel

This is really quite excellent. I think I'll nominate for a turtledove.

Thank you!

[G.Bone]

Would anyone be interested if the TL was continued?

[Nicksplace27]

Originally Posted by G.Bone

Would anyone be interested if the TL was continued?

Yes, please continue!

[Othniel]

Yesh Please.

[G.Bone]

Histories of Our World
Part 2
By Alex Nochbe, BA, SD, FE, QB

I begin this tale with a dedication of Everette, my fellow companion on the Moorish Web, and fellow editor. May he die a thousand deaths. May Fortune spit on his decaying corpse in the middle of the Hawking Sea.

With that said,

The years 1635-1642 represented a very cold "chill" that both Europe and the League had in the sense of politics. Stadtholder Maurice, as shown in the previous dispatches, did not like his elder son being in a position of power. To say that the citizens of Orange hated him is an understatement. It was at the point of King Frederick Henry's ascension of the British Throne and the declaration of the United Kingdom(s), that Stadtholder Maurice was killed in his home by a Spanish assassin, no doubt taking up on the supposed "Black Contract" that had been placed upon his head by Spanish authorities, supposedly mistrusting King Petan's new policy towards the League.

Needless to say, this troubled the League to the point that while having an Orange Prince in England was good, having two realms under his (already) militant reign was not good. Thus it was Fortune's most excellent casting of the dice that Queen Christinia Margarie the Great (attached after her funeral) also passed into the great beyond, by what method, no one knows. It was at that point in which League politics kicked down the door and rectified a new political landscape of Northern Europe.

In 1637, Prince Gustav was elected Prince of Orange due to his marriage to King Frederick Henry's sister. From 1637 to 1639, the League openly deliberated with the Council of Elders and Prince Sten Sture Ivan the Young on whether or not should the claim of Prince Gustav should be allowed to ascend the Swedish crown or should King Frederick Henry be given issue. Then there was the matter of Novgorod, Lithuania, and Poland to be dwelled upon. Finally, at the bequest of King Gustav of Orange (whom had taken the throne in 1638) who wanted to gain popularity in the League by going after the Spaniards whom killed his father-in-law, the crown of Sweden, Novgorod, and Lithuania was passed on to Crown Prince Sten Sture Ivan the Young whom took the name King Sverker II the Young. In the matter of Poland, Crown Prince John Casmir was appointed King, as one would expect in Polish politics (which was even a mess compared to League politics and Reichstag), who took up the name Władysław IV, nicknamed the Crafty.

It is within this period that the Danish citizens chose to seperate themselves from the Swedish Crown and vote in King Gustav as their own monarch. Needless to say, this proved to be quite messy. King Sverker II the Young did protest against this, even to the point that he openly recruited his father's allies to the East, and made the motions to invade Denmark. (This period, as one should note, is nicknamed by most historians as "The Kingswap".) This messy affair was soon put aside when King Fredrick Henry made the offer to King Sverker II the Young on the matter of merging the Swedish Navy into the British, thereby giving them a close associate status as one had in the League, and having a hand in the Avalons.

It was at this point that King Sverker II the Young was soon nicknamed King Sverker the Stupid by most of his Swedish counterparts and is still held as such in the modern day.

Now, the reader of this grand and historical tale, should notice that the League had grown from just simply a regional alliance to what the UHRE hoped to be, had it not been for the whole Italia Affair. It should also be noted that within the two years between Queen Christina Margarie the Great and King Sverker II the Young, Sweden was run by the League and not by any Swedish noble families. While there was some difference of opinion on whether or not should Brandenburg get the lion's share of the profits or Denmark, Sweden was, for those two years, a subject of the League.

With that point made, King Sverker II the Young's reign was officially started in 1640. Most unfortunately, the act of merging the Swedish Navy with the British proved to be his undoing, for while he was inspecting Talinn Shipyards, he too was assassinated by an unseen crossbowman. The perpetrator was never found.

Faster than what any one could see, King Frederick Henry offered himself as the regent of Sweden. Faster than anyone could realize, Fleet Admiral Haakon the Lame (of Oslo) accepted, and quickly gained military order over Norway as well as Stockholm. While the League attempted to control King Fredrick Henry's grab for power through the personage of King Gustav of Denmark & Orange, the Swedish nobles accepted Fleet Admiral Haakon the Lame and annointed him as King Christian Henry the First (otherwise known as "the Lame" due to a childhood injury).

This did not go well with the League nor Lithuania. A great big conference was held in Hannover in 1642 (King Christian Henry I gained support and years through the founding of a Rikstag similiar to the League but restricted to the nobles, military, and leading merchants) upon the "English Problem". The conference itself lasted three long weeks. It is said that there was much shouting, much abusing, and much damage to Hannover's "grim" reputation.

(It is from here that Hannover soon earned the reputation as "the second Amsterdam" or simply put it "Vienna in the North")

The Hannover Compact, signed in June of 1642 not only solved the problem of the "Kingswap" years, but also outlined the exact political "game" that the League would operate on for future reference. The key principles of the Compact is as follows;

1. That no monarch shall committ an offensive action without the consent of the League's members nor the leading populace of the realm at hand. If the case of the latter does come to being, hold an election of the leading nobles in which 2/3rds must be accounted for in the favor of the applicant, and sufficent notice submitted to the League
2. That the League shall committ it's mercantile fleet unto it's own custodial oversight. However, upon the case of naval matters of war, deferrment of command should be placed within British-Danish-Orange control, as well as a flag in which the League must be shown as the entity it is.
3. That the League shall move towards further democratic reform towards it's citizenry when the time is ripe, however the citizenry should be treated as human beings with religion not as a tool in which the Imperial Diet is so oft of marring up, and that half the tolls and taxes in transporational matters should be given unto the League for further development of the peace by the signed nations.

(My apologies towards the Fredrickhenry Insitute of Historical References. I managed to borrow this without asking. I am truly sorry about this.)

As one might notice, it was the third principle that soon propelled the League into it's Golden Age. The main architect of the Hannover Compact was Margrave Frans (the Beardless) of Oldenburg, who soon gained prominance through the Novogorod Issue of 1645. However, these inner politicking did not seem to matter when Spain suddenly became a fully united realm, sued for peace, and turned to France for "correcting it's wayward course".

[Othniel]

Its very nice. Not really much to say beyond that but prehaps to get Midgard to work fast in the Timelines and Scenario Forum.

[G.Bone]

Histories of Our World
Part 2
By Alex Nochbe, BA, SD, FE, QB

In 1642, Spain and Aragon had been chums for quite some time. There had been some observation on the Avalons and how England seemed to grow even though it had gone through a massive civil war. The Moors seemed to be emulating England in all it's positives. There seemed to be a general lack of progress within the Moorish War, even to the point that Crown Prince Carlos Ferdinand II spoke of it to Pope-in-Exile Benedict IX.

So, in 1642, King Ferdinand III was planning on to formally invade Granada once more again with his mighty cannons of thunder, when a Moorish sniper shot him in the heart. While this provided much mayhem within the surrounding lands of King Ferdinand III's camp, King Carlos Ferdinand II saw an opening. In September of that that same year, he sent forth a message to the Council of Elders that he wanted peace. Shocked out of their minds, the Council of Elders agreed. Thus it was settled that for ten years, both entities would ignore each other along a demarked line, and that peace would hold for that duration.

In the meantime, King Carlos Ferdinand II quickly had Aragon formally united with the Spanish crown. Both armies were to be one. Both navies were to be one. Even the formal language used in Madrid and Barcelona were to be one (with allowances given, of course).

This process took time. While this merging was done, King Carlos Ferdinand II made curious proclaimations throughout the land that seemed to gain him popularity. One of these proclaimations was that France seemed to be ...off the beaten track of promoting Catholicism to the world. This quickly gained ground within Aragon due to the fact that it was predominately Roman Catholic and that the Pope-in-Exile Benedict IX seemed to be the logical and more respected head of the Catholic Church (in Exile).

It can be said that King Petan did not like this. In fact, he had some words for the "upstart of a prince". Certain motions were made and Aragon was soon learning how damaging extra taxes on French goods could make. However, no one could deny the swift popularity that Kign Carlos Ferdinand II seemed to have as he traversed the kingdom and gave the common folk a dream that some day Spain would be the master of the Avalons and that they would rule the faraway Spice Islands with an iron fist.

King Carlos Ferdinand II soon proved his mettle when the UHRE fell into a sharp decline when both the Chancellor and the Emporer fell to a plague. Chaos soon enveloped the twin realms of the UHRE. The Imperial Diet - in one of it's stupid moves that proved to be it's undoing - cut all ties with the Viceroy of Italia in fear of the plague reaching Vienna.

In 1644, Corscia declared itself "Free from the Puritan yoke". Genoa sent it's own fleet to stop this. It was soon met with the Aragon Navy, sunk, and Corsica annexed in the newly declared "Spanish Empire". Not soon after, Naples pushed forward, capturing an entire crust of villages on the northwestern coast of Italia, even to the point that it got five miles near Rome. There was a battle. There was even a shelling. Faster than anyone could imagine, Rome fell back to Catholic hands, even though it was proclaimed a "saving of the souls from the plague!".

In 1645, the Imperial Diet attempted to send troops to recapture Rome. Hungary soon prevented this by sending it's own troops in the fray. Three years passed with the Viceroy of Italia becoming dismembered as fast as any man could with enough men and troops. Much of the army employed within Italia were from the frontier along the Moorish border. A good number of them were from the African colonies, diluted in the years in their exile, ready to become rich in recovering from the homeland.

There were some key cities that did hold out against the Catholic menance - Milan, Venice, and Genoa - all did their best to thwart Spanish troops from burning their ships and trade. These three cities proved to be a godsend for the UHRE, who attempted time after time to gain back the Viceroy, and even to send some measure of aid towards the recovery for Rome.

It is said that the best German footsoilder could not hold his own against hardened Spanish spearmen and Aragon artillery.

Three years passed with King Carlos Ferdinand II becoming as powerful as the League. He personally restored the Papacy with Pope Benedict IX giving him his personal thanks. He personally lead the burning of the Genoan Shipyards, confiscating many of their ill-gotten wealth from the Moorish Realm, and claiming Genoa in the name of the Holy Father. King Carlos Ferdinand IX was, as they say in New England, on a roll.

In 1648, the Imperial Diet sued for peace. It had to, as Chancellor Karl of Innsbruck pointed. They were being hammered by the Hungarians past the given territory that had been won by a discarded treaty, past the normal given boundaries of Austria, and even to the point that the UHRE had to fight for it's own existance. Priests, it was said, were recruited to help fight against the Hungarian hordes.

It was a very bitter day on August 22st of 1648 that Chancellor Karl of Innsbruck formally signed over Rome to the Spanish Empire. What was left of the Viceroy had been lumped into the UHRE, now an empire only in name. Venice and Milan were quickly promoted to their own Viceroyalties in order to retain them in the UHRE. This did work, and in 1650, both Milan and Venice formally broke away from the UHRE.

France was cautious during these years. They did accept the offering of territory that King Carlos Ferdinand II gave north of Genoa. They even accepted the treaty that French goods would have a special status in the new Spanish Empire. The only troubling thing was that France could not take advantage of the situation. France was busy expanding the Carolines to the point that they would have wealth to use, busy in crushing Sagunya to the ground and making a new colony that would be loyal, and getting access to the Cathay markets by any means possible.

King Petan died in his sleep in 1650. He was quickly heralded as "Petan the Just" and buried in the Hall of Kings. General Phillipe Petan, his son who had been serving as the Governor-General of the Carolines, was offered the throne. He denied the offer but passed it on to his sister, Marie Petan, who had earned her reputation by opening up Egypt to French goods as well as overseeing the tricky routes that French convoys took in order to get to Egypt. Marie Petan accepted to the surprise of many, ascending the throne as Queen Elanore in January 1651, and quickly organizing the French state as if it was the navy.

Needless to say, this proved to be quite disrupting to the European political scene...

[Midgard]

Good stuff, glad to see it continued! I will do a bit of proof-reading for G.Bone's pieces, and add them to UHRE TL in the Timelines forum - hopefully I can get to it today once I am finished with the next update for "Julian"

[G.Bone]

Histories of Our World
Part 2
By Alex Nochbe, BA, SD, FE, QB

So where did I leave off?

Ah yes - 1650...

With the formal collapse of the Viceroy of Italia, the UHRE was formally kicked. It was only a matter of luck that France did not invade from the west, for the UHRE would truly have been erased from the map. Of course there was the matter of Germany - namely the south - that needed to be addressed.

In 1645, Novogorod and Lithuania was recognized as their own sovereign entities. To this effect, the League appointed who were their kings - a notable general by the name of Jan Sobiesky, who ruled as the Duke Jan III Sobiesky - and Filaret Bovorsky - who was elected as Prince of Novgorod - even though he was not of the Swedish line. It was upon this issue that the League did acknowledge that Sweden did have issue with the succession of Novogord and built in a clause in which if there was no hereditary heir to the Prince, therefore the successors of Prince Gustav's line could inherit the (fallen) Empire once more again.

But this seemed trivial to the collapse of the UHRE as a political entity. The League did not want France nor Hungary to pick up the pieces of Southern Germany. There was still some pride in the German peoples left, even though it had been clouded by the HRE and it's successor UHRE. Thus it was that in 1647, preperations were made, and when the Treaty of Innsbruck was signed in '48, the League declared that it was doing a "favor" in protecting Germany from any Hungarian intrusions.

The UHRE did not stop them. Troops from Brandenburg, Hannover, Koln, and Munich marched in to key cities within South Germany and declared it "under the protection of the League". They did stop along the natural borders of Austria. In return for this allowance, the League proclaimed that it would help it's southern neighbor through arms and recruited men from the former stronghold of the (now moribund) UHRE.

In 1651, France declared war on the UHRE. Chancellor Karl of Innsbruck quickly sued for peace with Hungary to combat this threat. Alas, it was too late. The UHRE was forced back to it's moutainous strongholds of the Swiss cantons, where a bitter fight for the UHRE's mere existance took place. By 1652, the UHRE collapsed into a mere federation of various fiefdoms fighting for the same religious cause, but never more the Empire that it used to be.

It was with that action that the League quickly declared sovereignty over the Austrian/Swiss states. Margrave Frans (the Crafty) of Oldenburg managed to get away with this by a dual proposal that the League was suficiently "containing any hostilities to whit that would cause destruction of God that man has known for the past century and half". Negotiation over the moribund corpse of the UHRE commenced that following year with both Hungary and France recognized as parties whom "won the issue". Hungary was appeased through free tariffs and half the confiscated wealth from the Austrian states. France was appeased by the former but declined any other offer from the League.

As a reaction to this talking over the head, Fredrich of Innsbruck (brother of Karl), declared Austria as "no friend of the League" and formally broke away from the League's control. Austria would now become a Johannist state. Hungary sent troops in and soon only Innsbruck, Vienna, and all states bordering the Swiss Cantons were semi-independent. The other lands were soon cleansed of their "Puritan plague".

That was known as the "Dark Years" by the League.

Also within that period, several different Intelligence Services were founded. Britian created it's "Ravens of Death", targeting dissident movements within Ireland as well as New England, most famous for their ability to snipe their enemy from a consideable distance away. The House of Orange founded the Ministry of Intelligence, also keen on assassinating those whom had went after Stadtholder Maurice, but also sabotage of key Spanish installations throughout Europe. As a belated note, the League also developed it's own version, just simply known as the Preachers. Margrave Frans (the Crafty) of Oldenburg did manage to pull these intelligence networks together through the Oldenburg Petition of 1655 with the key acknowledgement that the House of Orange and England would be the point of reference if a war would break out.

Yet this 'picking of the corpse' paled to what the Tverian Hordes did in 1658...

[Midgard]

This is getting rather ugly... in a good way, that is. UHRE being finished for good is... not unexpected. It would have been interesting "AH of AH" to see what would have happened if Heinrich managed to gain an upper hand... but then again, Europe seems to be going away from the Roman past and references.

Good cliffhanger there... I'm very intrigued to see what the Moughuls DID do in 1658...

[G.Bone]

Histories of Our World
Part 2
By Alex Nochbe, BA, SD, FE, QB

In 1658, the Tverian Hordes gave land back to the League. They even sued for trade goods coming from the Avalons. Many people were perplexed by this sudden move - this sudden 'opening' of the frigid Tverian curtain - just utterly confused that the Tverian Hordes would do such a thing.

Of course in 1658, the League had business both in the UHRE and the Avalons....

The Avalons had been going quite rocky in the Dark Years. New Breton had formally declared war on New England, who then declared war on New Breton, and the Hawking Lakes soon began to turn red. To say that New England had been eyeing New Breton's lands was an understatement. Upon annexing the territories along the Huron Plain, New England troops promptly cleansed it of any survivors that may have lingered on, and quickly made it in the mark of the "Puritan Faith".

The Carolines were quite happy with this turn of events. In fact, much of their increasing budged surplus had come from encouraging the bitter infighting of the two colonies. Much of this wealth benefitted it's Mother Country who then continued on the cycle, proud that at least one colony was being good, and that it had a growing base in which ships could get to Egypt/the Moorish Realm.

Also during these years, Sagunya was "reformed" through hired German mercenaries as well as Moorish pirates whom seemed to be out of a job. Hybrazil was quite happy with the "reformation" of Sagunya. With that out of mind, Hybrazil reformed itself, with one eye towards New Hope, which had hit gold within the deposits that it found. Hybrazil was not pleased by this. RHEC was soon formally adopted as "The Company", formally merged within the Colonial Government, and adapted to combat such needs so that South Avalon "would not fall to the Catholic menace".

Virginia Anne did annex Kuba. It also managed to successfully charter about half of the pirates that frolicked in the Blood Sea. The rest were "persuaded" to join Virginia Anne in the riches that Cathay held within it's colonies along the Cathay Sea.

However, the curious thing was the Moorish Realm. Without the Spanish to occasionally beat, the Moorish Realm did seem to lack a purpose in life. The main orientation of the Moorish Army/Navy was booty. The main purpose in life was to wage war upon the Spanish/French coasts. Without that, the Moorish Realm would collapse as the UHRE did.

Thus it was that the Council of Elders thought of a new method to amuse their military; harrassment of New Hope. The Moors did hold ports that were quite close to New Hope. They even managed to chart much of the South Avalon coastline to the point that Hybrazil was one of their main trading partners. To this effect, the Council of Elders dictated that with the fall of New Hope (sufficiently hiding it from Spain to show that they really did like the truce) would help fill in that void that Spain occupied.

The ironic thing was that the first fleet that they launched to 'raid' New Hope fell off the chart. It actually landed in a place covered with mountains, trees, and ice. It seemed a virigin land. There were no Spanish to raid but there was the significant promise of a new life. The first fleet promptly claimed it in the name of the Moorish Realm and called it Nassau, after the fallen Stadtholder. Word was quickly brought to the Moorish Realm and soon torrents of eager warriors fled to Nassau.

Then of course they encountered the New Hope fleet. A fight was commenced upon a convoy of eager immgrants to Nassau. The Moorish Realm finally had a war, and unknown to the Spanish Empire, a good percentage of the African mercenaries that was utilizied against Spain was used against New Hope. It is said that entire villages and kingdoms were recruited to counter New Hope and settle Nassau to the promise that it was.

Needless to say, Hybrazil saw an oppertunity, and took it. The war lasted approximately 10 years with the first being a war that beat New Hope and the second over the spoils. By the time the Council of Elders had actually gotten hold of the situation, Nassau had become the second Medina for the African peoples, with a semi-frigid relationship with the Hybrazilian Navy commencing. It was that point in which Sagunya asked to become allies with the Moorish Realm in 1671...