I'm curious as to what the impacts of a very early-adopter Nicaean Empire may have looked like.
So William of Rubruck is meant to have travelelled throught the Nicaean Empire on his way home. What if he'd enabled (either by mentioning it in passing, or otherwise) the Nicaeans to know to try and harness it? Could they have used it earlier in hand cannons? Could they have imported the knowledge from the Mongols, and later form a "Moscow" style arrangement with them?