Magna Rhomagna

Prologue

''And he tossed the coin, and as it fell on the table, it started to spin around itself; his death, or his life, head, or tail.''

Arad, Timisoara Province, The Vlach Monarchy - 1444

-Perspective of Daniel Iulesti-

He was a proud man, lord Grigore was, on his black stallion; proud and strong and tall. Count Iulesti could only stand there and admire the man that only 4 years ago marched besides his late father, King Andrei Grigore IV, the Monk as he was known, as a child and prince only, against the invading Crimean Tatars. The Turks tried to use the Crimeans in such a way as to exhaust the vlach armies, so that they may one day push over the Ireccea line, named like that after the diplomat and advisor of King Andrei that had the brilliant idea to establish an imaginary line which at all costs could not, cannot be broken by the turkish armies. But enough of it, for as great as the last king was, Daniel was not here to think of him, but to think of this new one, a hopefully better king, King Dragos Grigore I. While King Dragos was only partially Palaiologos, and that part from his mother, Queen Irene Palaiologos, after Constantinople fell in 1442, Dragos was quick to claim the crown of the Byzantine, the Rhomanian Empire, for himself and his Dinasty. However no one recognized such insane claims, coming from a barely 24 years old prince turned king, in a parvenus Kingdom that raised out of the dirt only thanks to a quite capable king, a rebellion in the neighbouring kingdom Hungary and a well-placed alliance with Bosnia. However today, the count was ready, as were all the 18.000 soldiers, to show the world that his King intends to stay true to his promises and claims, and to get Rhomania back on it's feet. From Arad, the army was to be lead by Count Iulesti, Duke Petru of Braila, and the King Himself Dragos through the Banat all the way to Belgrade. While many knew that Dragos was quite exprienced in fighting, having won most tourneys in the Kingdom and being the spearhead of King Andrei's armies in Moldova and Bassarabia, no one was really sure what he would make of this war, for one thing is to be a captain of an army, another is to be the leader in a war. There was also the fact that Andrei, called the monk for a good reason, was thought by many to not be Dragos' real father, since he was a rather pious man. Many think even now, after 24 years, that Dragos is the child of Queen Irene and a mere saxon count, descendant from the saxon merchants that lived in Transylvania for some centuries now. Dragos didn't look like his father or mother either, his father having brown hair, amber eyes and being a small, brawny man, if rather fat in his last years. The queen was quite dark-skinned, like most mediterranean people, and with no particularly eye-catching features. Dragos on the other hand was blonde, he had green eyes, was tall and handsome, and quite skinny, the only thing making him look a bit more corpulent being only his muscles. He has tender white skin, with no imperfections whatsoever, just like a young princess. He had tender lips, and long eyelashes, aswell as perfectly shaped eyebrows. The only features that weren't pleasant were his pointy nose, and his big ears, though his long, back-lenght hair covered them at all times. As a child he was almost all day in the royal library, leaving only when he had to sleep and to answer nature's call, or when he was summoned.The library, now named Dragos' Library, was filled with many books brought by his uncle, Alexandros Palaiologos, for he really cared for the little lad, and did much to set him on his path. Only after he turned 16 did Dragos begun to train fervently, practicing with swords, spears, shields and axes all day long, supposedly after one day he got out of the library and told his personal servant that he found out he had to train lots from now on; after being questioned in a humble manner why, the prince is said to have answered ''I have to, it's what I must do to win.''
Alas, the man was loved by his people, and many respected him, if anything, only out of respect for his father.

At dawn, the army started marching from the outskirts of Arad, but not after packing their tents, and after a Bosnian envoy informed Dragos that after two days from today, the Vlach and Bosnian armies are supposed to meet in front of Belgrad.

''The coin, as if blessed by God, or rather cursed by Satan as it seemed at the time, fell on its tail, and so I was spared.''

Battle of Voivodina, December 1444
From the top of the highest hill, where his tent was, the king observed the snowy plains of Voivodina, as the Serbs were heard approaching the hills on which the romanians were camped. It was a snowy day, and not much could be seen 100 meters in front of you, yet the earth trembled, and so it was clear: They were marching. The Danube was frozen, and so they could easily pass over it. There was no advantage in it, at least not for the vlachs. A servant announced: 'Count Iulesti arrives, your majesty!'
And so Daniel reported, bowing in front of the king before talking in a rushed, out of breath manner: 'Your majesty, the Danube is frozen, the enemy is marching at a faster pace then expected!...What shall we do your majesty? May I order the men to retreat to a better position?'
'No.' A calm, wise voice declares, in a relax, and slightly toughtful tone. 'Y-your majesty?' The count said, confused. 'This is a perfect position, my dear count. We shan't let confusion and negative emtions cloud our thoughts. This is no way a count acts, after all.' Said the king, in a teasing manner. 'Y-yes, your majesty, I'm deeply sorry for my mistake, I deserve no pity for my errors, yet, I ask of you, can you explain to me how this position is good for us?'

'' 'You are so naive' he said. Like always, he knew better. He threw the coin, and in a second decided my fate. You see, I was ordered to do something that will change my life and our relationship forever.'
'So it is true then?'
'Yes.'

Informations O.O.C.

Magna Romagna is an alternate history that I have been planning for a while now. It is written in a story arc-esque manner, and involves Romania, the balkans in general, and as the story expands, the entire world. The country we will be focusing on the most is Romania however.

The story begins in 1444, after the conquest of most of albania by the Ottomans. Though to understand this thread better, we ought to begin with the year 1432, when Hungary fell into a civil war, which lead to it's division into Transylvania, Slovakia, Croatia and Pest. These were the main duchies/kingdom that, lead by a hungarian noble, took part in the civil war to take the throne of Saint Stephen for themselves. King Andrei was tied in an alliance against the then much stronger Serbia with Bosnia at the time, however when the Crisis of Pozony
(as it is known now due to the king falling from a window while drunk at the castle of Pozony) started Andrei took advantage of the situation and made a secret deal with the Bosnians to aid them in their quest to extend their territories to include Croatian lands, with the condition that the Bosnians would then help the vlachs conquer Transylvania. By the end of 1432 half of croatia belonged to Bosnia, and after the treaty of Ragusa was signed, Bosnia doubled its size. 4 months later, in the spring of 1433, The Vlachs started pouring their troops into Transylvania, and, aided by the vlach peasants and the bosnians coming through Pest, Transylvania was declared fully under the controll of Andrei in April of 1444. The 5 of April was the date Transylvania was declared vlach territory, after 2 months of rebellion and a mini-civil war due to Andrei wanting to confiscate much of the riches of the Saxons and the Szekelys, aswell as the hungarians in the region. In May the Bosnians declared war on Serbia, and, aided by the vlachs, Montenegro and the south-western half of Serbia was annexed to Bosnia, while Serbia agreed to be guaranteed by both Romania and Bosnia, so that in case of a Turkish attack on Serbia both balkanic states could join the war to defend Serbia. Many consider this to be the war that transformed Serbia in a vassal of Bosnia and Wallachia, so no one knows why Dragos wanted to attack Serbia again.
As for the Crisis, Croatia still has the upper part of IRL Croatia, Slovakia united with Pest and the Hungarian crown now has a habsburg on its throne.
ajm643.jpg

1 - Wallachia
2 - Transylvania
3 - Moldavia, currently a March of the Polish Crown.
4 - Hungary, or at least what remained of it.
5 - The Ottoman Empire
6 - Serbia
7 - Bosnia
8 - Serbian territories
annexed to Bosnia.
9 - Croatian
territories annexed to Bosnia.
10 - Croatia
11 - The Archduchy of Austria
12 - Albanian territories annexed to the Turkish Empire.
13 - What remains of Albania.
14 - Poland
15 - The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, currently lacking a heir.
16 - The Duchy of Milan, currently lacking a heir.
17 - Bohemia, currently lacking a heir.
18 - Silesia, vassal of Bohemia.

----------------

I want to establish from the beginning the pronunciation of the names and the places, so here we go:
Dragos - the s sounds like shell, or shut up, or shush.
Iulesti aswell.
Wallachia. The W sounds like the V of vaccine; ll is a simple L, like in like;
ch is like the H in Hector. Similarly vlach will sounds something like vlah.
The H in Rhomania is not to be pronounced, but only written.

Thanks a lot for taking your time to read this new thread of mine. I really hope you will enjoy it, and please excuse any mistakes; please excuse me if it seems like it was written by a rabid dog, it's my first time doing this. :D:eek:
Also, thanks Paradox Interactive for their EU4 1444 map. All credits go to them for their map, and for providing me with the inspiration needed for this thread.
 
Chapter I - Dragos Grigore
part one

Battle of Voivodina, December 1444


-Perspective of Daniel Iulesti-
''How naive you are, my dear count.'' He told me, proceeding to point at the valley in front of us. ''You see that valley? When the Serbs will march towards us, our archers will have them right where they wanted. They will be an easy target, even with the snow and the wind, while we here on the hills will be hard to reach, and hard to hit due to low visibility. We will exhaust and lower their morale, and most of our fighting soldiers won't even have to lift a finger. Now...I have a special mission for you Dan. I intend you to order my cavalry to follow you. You will then march along this hill to our right until you are a few hundred meters away from us. From there you will wait for a trompet signal, which will cause you to move your troops towards the valley, and then turn to your left and march alongside the hills as you order the cavalrymen to increase the pace. At this point you will be galloping towards the serbian army which will be either already fighting our men, or trying to engage them. Is everything clear?'' Asked Dragos, with a tone full of authority.
''Yes your majesty!''

And so I took the cavalry units, around 6.500 men, and obeyed my lord. As I started our march, we heard infinite arrows pouring onto our enemies as some of them screamed and some of them, probably the captains and the generals, ordered the others continue the march through the snow. One last look back at our soldiers, which were relatively relaxed, although ready to engage, assured me that this will be a victory for us.
After passing over 3 or 4 hills now, I ordered my men to stop, but only just, for the trumpet called and so we begun descending towards the valley, then turning to our left. As I gave the signal, the galloping was so intense that snow was visibly shaken, and the sound was like that of a thunderstorm. Indeed, that's what we were, we were the thunder, called by the lightning, which were our soldiers on foot, ready to scare and decimate our foes. As we approached, we could already see the serbs engaged in a ferocious battle with our men. We stormed their flank, and broke their formation as our army, previously a bulwark of men, was beginning to stretch itself at the command of the duke of Braila, creating a chain of men that were pushing the serbians back, from the cavalrymen to the other flank of the enemy. Slowly but surely, in half an hour, most of their units were decimated, and the ones that started running were picked on by our archers. As the blizzard stopped, we begun to pick the armor and weapons of the enemy bodies that we could find, as ordered by our king. We were also picking banners and heads for some reason. Well, our men to be exact, I didn't do any of that disgusting stuff.
I was in the tent of the King, drinking in order to celebrate our victory, for tomorrow, we had to meet the Bosnian host near Belgrade, and begin the siege.

Belgrade, Serbia - The day before Christmas, 1444

''Surely we can postpone the siege, your majesty.'' said a Bosnian General.
''Why? So that we celebrate while the serbs sneak away? Surely we can postpone the celebrations. God is infinite and eternal, he can wait another day.'' Answered the King.
''My liege, that is not ap-..''
''Spare me, priest'' Said Dragos as he interrupted a priest he took with him on his war. Then he smiled, as he knew he had a better plan.
''Order your men to camp in front of Belgrade and begin the celebrations. I will do so aswell. But be ready to lay the siege as soon as I give the signal.''
''Then why should we begin the celebrations in the first place?''
''Because I say so, old man. That is, if you don't want his majesty the king of Bosnia to find out that his most trusted ally the king of the Vlach Principalities broke his alliance with him because of his general.''
''N-no your majesty. I will do as you order. What will be the signal then?''
''I will send one of my men, and as soon as I do, you start ordering your men to pack their camps and start the siege.''
''Yes your majesty.''

---------------------------

Christmas, 1444 - Belgrade

As the Serbs celebrated the birth of the holy Child in their houses, on the streets and on the roofs heavy objects could be heard dropping from the sky unto their city. As the men came out in the unbearable cold and darkness, many saw round things on their streets, and as they picked them up, they discovered to their horror that they were the heads of the serbs that fought in the battle of voivodina. The heads had serbian banners nailed to them aswell, and such an image proved to much for many peasants and nobles, which had their christmas night ruined, as they thought of only the horrible things that could happen if this Dragos invaded their city.
Then, as the guards on the walls analyzed the brutality done to their fellow soldiers, an envoy appeared in front of the gates with a white flag and a proposal. As he came to his majesty's court, to everyone's horror after the vlachs started raining heads of the deceased on Belgrade, he proposed to leave the city intact, and the king and all of his subjects alive and well, if they would surrender Belgrade and start to discuss the peace terms. The serbs, already beaten and with most of northern Serbia under foreign occupation, with no armies left, accepted. They asked then the envoy when these talks will begin, hinting that it is not probable for the king to have suggested this very day. The envoy pointed out that the king demanded the talks to start exactly from today, on Christmas. While the king was outraged, he finally accepted after the envoy pointed out what Grigore will do if he is refused.
However, as the Vlach king and the bosnian diplomats were welcomed into the city, the siege started, prompting a confused and worried Serb King to ask Dragos why there is still a siege, to which Dragos replied: 'I just want you to be reminded at all times during our peace conference in what situation you and your country are; to be more precise, that of having your capital besieged, and no army left to defend it.'

1 January 1445 - Belgrade

The Serb King announced to his court, in a gloomy manner, almost depressed, that the Serb Kingdom is now a vassal of the Vlach Crown.
One year later the kingdom of Serbia was united with the Vlach Monarchy without any festivity or ceremony, the burocracy of Dragos simply stating that from now on the Serb Kingdom is no more, and that Serb lands are now vlach lands.
A year of 'matching' followed, 'matching' being a term Dragos used when he ordered the burocracy of the country to start 'making Serbia match more their new Vlach rulers.' During this year serb men, then the male children, then finaly the rest of the family, were all arrested, and then transported by carriage to vlach lands, were they were given the house of a vlach family. In exchange, that vlach family would be 'taken on a special trip ordered by his majesty' to Serbia where a new house was waiting for them. While the Serbs were placed all around the principalities, the vlachs were placed in concentrated areas, as to create a vlach demographic which won't desire a return to Serb monarchy, but would rather have to love the king, for he is a vlach like them. As such, in one year, the demographics changed dramatically:
Serbia - 1445 |Serbia - 1447
72% Serbs 40% Serbs
12% Vlachs 47% Vlachs
8% Albanians 8% Albanians
3% Hungarians 3% Hungarians
2% Greeks 2% Greeks

Kosovo - 1445 |Kosovo - 1447
52% Albanians 50% Albanians
47% Serbs 19% Serbs
1% Greeks 1% Greeks
23% Vlachs
-Note-
For kosovo, most albanians lived around the country side, while vlachs replaced the serbs living in cities. So while the serbs still exist, and the albanians still are the majority de facto, de jure, in the cities, vlachs dominate.
Similarly for Serbia proper, most of the serbs that still live in Serbia live in the country side, while most people living in the cities/towns/villages are now vlachs.
In Romania, most serbs have been dispersed around the country, giving them only one option: to slowly integrate into the romanian society, to speak romanian and to become romanian.
This is all part of Dragos' plan and the plan of the burocracy his father created on advice of his son and he himself improved. I will be talking about the burocracy and the plan in the next post.

Now, the map!
mrdcpd.png

Note the yellow line that represents the Ireccea Line. The bosnians and the vlachs in particular view it as the final frontier, the holy border that must not be penetrated by the turks, and from which the infidels must be driven away.
 
Thanks! And yeah, it is. I'm used to work on EU4 maps, since I plan my empires in the game, so I will be using these kinds of maps. I hope there is no problem.
 
Thanks! And yeah, it is. I'm used to work on EU4 maps, since I plan my empires in the game, so I will be using these kinds of maps. I hope there is no problem.

It's fine, but if you are using the screen cap function could u make it bigger? Just more pleasant on the eye.
 
It's fine, but if you are using the screen cap function could u make it bigger? Just more pleasant on the eye.
Currently working on a giant, detailed map that will let me show the progression of time and every small territorial changes in most of europe, north africa and part of the middle east.
 
Alas, praise Jesus, Allah, Confucius, Vishnu, the Emperor and all the other guys, I have finished it. Kind of. Sort of. Kind of sort of finished partially the map I was working on. And after 4 hours, I can finally declare, it's here.
*Trumpets*

29os4qx.png


Aaaand -Notes-

First of all, the map is dated the year 1447, though it has some timeline inaccuracies, like the Papal State not owning the Republic of Firenze which it conquered.
Second of all, the map is bigger. Just feel free to download it and check it for yourself.
Third of all, yes, everything is by me. I have found a blank white map with the rivers of europe/north africa/middle east, and decided to try my hand at a historical 1444 map. Probably 1 hour and 30 mins was just me checking for the most accurate historical maps and borders. Even the blank basic yellow of the map took me 5 minutes to come up with, due to my amazing *sarcasm* RGB color skills. Everything is made in Paint.net (not paint) and most of the colors of the states are borrowed from Paradox Interactive's game Europa Universalis 4.
Now that we got past those tehnical points:
The red line around france/central-north italy is the border of the Holy Roman Empire. It took me almost 1 hour, and it isn't finished. I stopped at Hungary. Needless to say, I would have given an arm and a leg just for someone else to do it instead of me. It was a horror.
The big blob in Germany is not a state per se, but rather the Holy Roman Empire, a loose confederation of small counties, duchies, free cities, kingdoms, principalities, republics, archduchy, etc.... The more I will update the map, the more states I will add inside the HRE, untill I will have all the electors, the big duchies, the theocracies, the free cities and the Hansa, aswell as Switzerland.
Most of the map is still not done. I will keep updating it until there is everything.
The borders are mostly based on historical maps that I searched and compared between each other, trying to find the one that was most true to reality. Some small parts of the borders, like the northern border of slovakia, I have made by hand without any real knowledge it, which was a pain in the a** to transcribe. Other borders are based on the EU4 borders, like the Calais one, which, albeit it might not be that historical, I did not find it to be repulsive, ugly or to not fit in, so I transcribed it.
Feel free to ask me about any state you might not recognize on the map, or anything you find unusual.
Thanks again for checking this new thread of mine. I will make a new post tomorrow, since I'm exhausted now because of the map.
Also, if you wanna use the map in anything, just PM me, and I will be happy to let you do so. I just wanna know beforehand. :p
Enjoy the map.:)
 
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