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 ====== Empty America - Archived Text Copy Version ======
-NOTE: The Empty America timeline was originally posted at [[offtopic:soc.history.what-if]], originally a Usenet group and later a Google group.
+NOTE: The //[[Empty America]]// timeline was originally posted at [[offtopic:soc.history.what-if]], originally a Usenet group and later a Google group.
-All text below is copyright of the timeline's author, **(C) Doug Hoff**, and is published on AH.com with permission, originally via reposts by board member [[offtopic:Constantinople]] (see main article on the timeline).
+All text below is copyright of the timeline's author, **(C) Doug Hoff**, and is published on AH.com with permission, originally via reposts by board members [[offtopic:Constantinople]] and [[offtopic:Strategos' Risk]] (see main article on the timeline).
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 [FN52.08] A very truncated retelling of the founding of the Empire.
-**[[timelines:empty_america_-_archived_version#51|Previous chapter]]** | **[[timelines:empty_america_-_archived_version#52|Start of chapter]]**
+**[[timelines:empty_america_-_archived_version#51|Previous chapter]]** | **[[timelines:empty_america_-_archived_version#52|Start of chapter]]** | **[[timelines:empty_america_-_archived_version#Dictionary|Next chapter]]**
+----
+==== Dictionary ====
+Dictionary of Empty America (1260-1410) - 1
+[Note - EA has been liberated from the tyranny of the narrative. The remainder of the TL is going to be presented in the form of a rather ad-hoc Dictionary, through which the history of the period can be pieced together.]
+**ABU'L-HASA**. The "Black Sultan" of the Maghrib. With his Andalusian and Aragonese allies, Abu'l-Hasa ousts the Mongol occupiers from Tunis in 1341 and pushes the border of the Khanate of the Karachus back to Egypt, where his forces are routed and he is slain.
+**ALFHEIM**. [OTL's Cape Town, South Africa] Loghport named after the home of the Elves in Norse Mythology. Founded in 1323 by Domstollander pirates preying upon the European and African trade around Cape Válijörd, which the Norse corsairs do with great success. In the 1340s, it occurs to the Norsemen of Alfheim that they could simply extract 'tribute' from the maritime nations, which would be easier and less risky than trying to take down the increasingly numerous and well-armed merchantmen. So the pirates change tactics, and regular tribute rolls in from Mali, Morocco, Venice, Aragon, and everyone else who does not want their ships seized in far-off waters. Alfheim metamorphoses into a port city supplying the merchantmen it once pillaged. And it expands, with settlements moving out into the hinterlands. Initially, the immigrants are primarily the pirates clans from Domstolland, but others follow, drawn by fertile lands and excellent climate. The Norse pagans of Alfheim, true to their freebooting roots, are
+open-minded about who can settle in their vicinity - never mind race or religion, so long as the tribute keeps rolling in to the ruling oligarchs - the descendants of the corsairs who founded the loghport. The settlers are a polyglot bunch, but the big groups tend to be religious refugees. Italian Patarenes [Cathars] begin arriving in the 1350s once the Republic of Rome repudiates the hated Yasa and religious toleration. Similarly, when John Wycliffe and the Lollards were banished from England in 1381 and then turned
+away from Avalon by John III, they came to Alfheim to settle and worship freely.
+And then there are those who do not come freely - the slaves. The Alfheimers raid the surrounding area aggressively, bringing back large hauls of slaves to work area farms. They also take tribute from Mali and Morocco in the form of slaves. By the end of the 14th Century, Alfheim is a full-fledged slave state - a minority of European freemen living from the labor of large numbers of black African slaves. The Patarenes, the conscience of Alfheim, begin to fade in influence as few white locals convert and more and more go apostate. Similarly, the Lollard faithful keep to themselves, paying their protection money but living in sort of an internal exile. Other settlers - Basque Republicans, German Unreformed Spiritines, Sicilian Roman Catholics - facing the psychological isolation of living at the bottom of the world, start shedding the attitudes and beliefs that they brought with them and absorbing those of the Norse ruling class. Between the piracy and the slave-raiding, Alfheim society begins to take on a ruthless, amoral utilitarianism exceptional for even Medieval warrior states.
+**ANNWYFN CRUSADE** (1292-94). In 1291, Roman Catholic Pope Callixtus III authorizes the mercenary Grand Catalan Company to make war upon the schismatic Welsh of Ultima Thule in what comes to be known as the Annwyfn Crusade. As Callixtus is a puppet of the Khan of the Fu-lang [Chinese - "Franks"], the crusade is now widely seen as the first Mongol attempt to gain a foothold in the New World. The initial attack, the "passagium particulare," led by Roger de Flor is foiled through the efforts of the pirate Reynart the Fox and a renegade Nangiyan naval officer, who is also a member of the White Lotus Society. The follow-on assault, the "passagium generale," which is larger and led by Berenguer de Entenza, was more successful, but the efforts of Reynart and his Nangiyan allies have bought the Welsh time to flee deep into the interior of Ultima Thule, where they establish the Commonwealth of Dewi Sant [roughly OTL's Missouri River valley] with its capital at Cunedda [OTL's St. Louis].
+**ARGOS, EXARCHATE OF** [OTL Island of Grenada]. Sole Byzantine possession in the New World. In the late 1280s, two expatriate Genoese families residing in Byzantium agree to pool their resources to exploit an island in the Ursulines. By this point, however, the solidarity among the Genoese that the destruction of Genoa has wrought is fading, and neither family trusts the other to govern the proposed colony and, after much wrangling, jointly request the Emperor of Byzantium to take titular sovereignty over the island and administer it through an Exarch. The families will nominate the candidates for Exarch and the Emperor will choose. Initially, Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus resists the proposition - he wants either total sovereignty over the island or none at all, fearing to set a precedent that could be applied closer to home. However, once the Genoese families promise him a suitable split of the revenues of the island, he "reluctantly" agrees.
+Argos struggles initially, with expenses far outstripping profits from the venture. However, in 1292, Vandino Vivaldi returns to Constantinople, having successfully reached the Indian Ocean by sailing around the southern tip of Africa. The greatest treasure he brings back with him was a small nutmeg tree [myristica fragrans] he acquired in Kilwa on the Zanzibar Coast. The Genoese families of Argos, on the verge of bankruptcy, sense salvation and pay the last of their fortunes to acquire the tree, which they transplant to the island, praying it will thrive. Their prayers are answered. Within a few years, Argos is covered with thriving spice plantations. The increase in supply runs down the price, a little - it is no longer literally worth its weight in gold - but the Genoese plantation owners cartel it and keep it massively profitable.
+Once European sea power penetrates the East Indies in the mid 14th Century, it is only a matter of time before more spice plants are transported to the Ursulines for cultivation. In the 1340s, cinnamon and cloves arrive in Argos, and the good times keep rolling. For decades, the planters turn a very tidy profit for themselves, and they also ruthlessly cheat the Exarch out of the Byzantine share of the profits, kicking back enough to placate the local authorities but not nearly what is due. That is until a singularly capable Byzantine civil servant named Demetrios Rendi arrives in the early 1360s to scrupulously audit the books at the beginning of what would be a long and momentous career in the service of the Empire. Backed by the Emperor, who is anxious for additional revenue, Rendi successfully imposed Byzantine authority on Argos, making it a major contributor to the Imperial fisc, the funds going to support the revitalization of the Byzantine army and fleet in the late 14th and early 15th Centuries.
+**AVALON, KINGDOM OF**. [OTL's South Carolina] Capital: Camelot [Charleston]. Plantagenet possession on the eastern seaboard of Ultima Thule, formerly the County of Avalon, After the failure of Edward III's effort to throw off the shackles of Baronial Rule in 1337, he flees to Camelot in Avalon to escape imprisonment and possible execution at the hands of radical Barons. After Parliament formally abolishes the English monarchy, Edward, while not recognizing the establishment of the Commonwealth, feels the need to improve the standing of his sole remaining domain. So, Edward elevated Avalon from a mere County to a full-fledged Kingdom in it's own right. During Edward III's reign, Avalon becomes one of the most prosperous domains in Ultima Thule. Plantation agriculture expands greatly, moving deep inland along Avalon's numerous watercourses. Rice, indigo, tubbaq and bhang are the most common crops, all of which are exported to Mu-lan-P'i and elsewhere at a significant profit. Edward, who was repulsed by the filth of London, makes Camelot a model capital for his realm, employing a corps of slaves to clean the streets and destroy vermin and vigorously enforcing public sanitation measures. These measures, along with the closure of Camelot to sea traffic after the plague reaches the Ursulines, are largely credited with sparing Avalon the ravages of the Great Mortality in 1349-50.
+Dictionary of Empty America (1260-1410) - 2
+**BARTOLUS DE SAXOFERRATO** (1317-57). Greatest Republican political philosopher of the early 14th Century. His early writings on the institutions and law of the ancient Roman Republic crystallize the political interest in republican government and establishing the basis for the founding of the new Republic after the successful uprising against Mongol and Venetian authority in Italy. Bartolus himself played no active role in the uprisings, and refused any formal position in the new government, but he did draft the Republic's Civil Code.
+**BASQHIS**. Itinerant Buddhist teachers. Many were dispatched from Yuan China to the Khanate of the Franks in the early 14th Century, primarily to work in the service of Mongols who adopted Buddhism and had appenages in Europe. The Basqhis made few converts in the Khanate of the Franks, but had more success pagan Lithuania, which by the end of the Khanate period is one-fourth Buddhist, with numerous temples.
+**BOCCONIO, MARIN** (1267-1302). Rebel leader of the short-lived "Republica de San Erasmus" movement 1300-02. At the beginning of the 14th century, disaffected Venetian settlers on San Erasmus rallied to Bocconio's standard, demanding greater openness within the Venetian government as well as representation for the Ursuline colonies. His movement fails to attract wide popular support, however, and Bocconio's forces are pushed back into the interior or the island, where they are eventually wiped out by Venetian loyalist troops. Bocconio himself was captured and transported to Venice, where he was tortured and put to death for treason.
+**BORDEAUX**. Formerly French city annexed, along with much of Guyenne, to the Kingdom of Castile during the first partition of France in 1292. Bordeaux's deep-water port provides excellent access to the Cantabric Sea and Castile's overseas colonies.
+**CAMELS**. Mainstays of the caravan trade from Aragonese Hy-Brasil [OTL's Louisiana and East Texas] to Yen Men, the camels of Ultima Thule [about 20% longer than Asian camels] are initially difficult to tame but Arab trainers brought to Hy-Brasil from Tarshish [roughly OTL's Columbia] succeed where Europeans fail.
+**CANATIES**. Local name for Central and West Asian slaves transported to the Ursulines in the 13th Century. Derivation of the name for such slaves sold in Egypt during the same period. Canatie, or Cuman, language and culture are largely submerged by the influx of large number of slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, but remain an important presence in the older European colonies such as San Erasmus [Cuba] and the Kingdom of Foix [Hispaniola].
+**CIVITAS DEI**. "Godly State." A term most widely used in reference to France from the death of St. Louis in 1250 to the fall of Paris and flight of Philip IV in 1292. After the miraculous routing of the host of Batu Khan and the sacrifice of Louis IX, it is widely believed in France that their monarch and state were favored by God and somehow first among the kings of Christendom. This belief encourages a militant piety in France and a merging of patriotic and religious feeling that, in turn, feeds cesaro-papalist ambitions of the Capetian kings.
+When Pope Gregory issued his Accommodations, altering Catholic doctrine to permit the merger with the Greek Orthodox Church in 1262, the French Council - which had largely governed the French Church since the fall of Rome - excommunicates Gregory and elects one of their own, Simon de Brie, as Pope Martin IV. This election is particularly noteworthy because Phillip III, acting as Patricius, cast the first vote for de Brie. Martin IV is not recognized as Pontiff by a majority of Europe - the Catholics of the Fu-Lang Khanate are bound to Celestine V in Rome, and the monarchs of Iberia and the Isles choose to remain loyal to Constantinople, preferring theological problems to recognizing that the King of France has a role in electing the pontiff of the Catholic Church.
+Pope Martin establishes himself at Reims, with the blessing of the King Louis X. Louis cedes the city, site of the meetings of Pope Stephen III with Pippin the Short, and of Pope Leo III with Charlemagne, and whose archbishop had primacy in France, to the papacy. Thus the Gallican Popes are bound to the French Monarchy. The popes of Reims share the fate of the French kings - after the fall of France, the sitting Gallican pontiff, Honorious IV, is captured by the English forces, tried and convicted of heresy, and burned at the stake.
+**"CONVERSATION WITH A CONSTITUTIONAL PEASANT"**. Anonymous English anti-royalist pamphlet from the 1330s in the form of an encounter between King Arthur and a peasant who is surprisingly well-versed in republican ideology. On the surface, King Arthur's ridiculous attempt to justify monarchy to the skeptical and clever peasant, which ends with him simply resorting to force, mocks the concept of royalism and divine right. On a deeper level, the peasant's slogan-spouting derides the affected scholarly
+airs of those who simply lift the terminology from republican literature (particularly that imported from Italy) without genuinely understanding it.
+**DEL TEGGIA, ISOLATA**. [OTL's Singapore] Island at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, seized in the name of Aragon by the Italian mariner Angelino del Teggia, then commanding a three-ship flotilla of exploration in the employ of King Peter IV. Del Teggia obtains the allegiance at gunpoint of the local villagers, raises the banner of Aragon, and builds a fort. Because of its strategic position astride the Malacca Straight and the spice trade, Isolata del Teggia becomes one of the most hotly-contested pieces of real estate in the world. In 1352, Norse corsairs from Alfheim seize Del Teggia, rename it Válijörd, and enlarge and reinforce the fort. Venice, while paying tribute to the pirates of Alfheim out of expedience, will not tolerate them controlling yet another choke-point of world trade, and dispatches a small fleet in 1355 to attack Válijörd. The corsair fortress falls to the invading Venetians. Unfortunately for the Lion City, a rumor beings that the mercenaries hired for the campaign will be left behind to garrison the island, and they mutiny, seizing the ships and forcing them to sail back to Europe. The Norse prisoners, who had freed themselves during the mutiny, reoccupy the fort and resume their piracy. In 1366, a squadron of Nangiyan ships, looking to interdict Yuan contacts with the Erkut Khanate, take and hold Válijörd on the orders of Haiyang Emperor. After the fall of the Yuan, however, the expense of maintaining the outpost cannot be justified. With the Mu-lan-P'i take on Confucian rectitude, the Haiyang Emperor offers the island back to King Martin I of Aragon, from whom it had been unlawfully taken. King Martin accepts shortly before his death in 1410.
+**DUSAN, STEFAN UROS IV**. (1308 - 1365). Emperor of the Serbs and commander of Erkut, Serbian and Byzantine forces at the Battle of Malatya, June 20, 1339, which breaks the back of the il-Khanate's vassal Seljuk Turk states and secures Anatolia within the orbit of the Khanate of the Erkut. Following the battle, Dusan's forces and Mongol cavalry range throughout the land, burning mosques and slaughtering Turks whererever they find them. The devastation is only stopped by a direct order of Khan Janibeg. But by then, it is too late. Much of the surviving Turkish population of Anatolia is on the move, fleeing towards the borders of the il-Khanate and what they hope
+will be safety among their fellow Muslims. The furious Khan orders Dusan to relinquish control of the conquered territory to Byzantium, but also to resettle the depopulated areas with Serbs, which he reluctantly does over the course of the next five years. The Byzantines also move back into Anatolia in significant numbers as the Empire restores the smallholders who traditionally formed the backbone of its military. The Serbian and Greek populations of Anatolia, both Orthodox, eventually reach a wary understanding and peace settles over the land which, by the end of the 14th Century is 65% Greek, 20% Moslem and 15% Serb.
+After the death of Stefan Uros IV Dusan, political infighting wracks Serbia, forcing Khan Nawroz to intervene. He installs Dusan's son, as Emperor Stefan Uros V, appoints a Darugha to oversee Serbia's affairs and, for the first time, stations Tammachi troops on Serbian soil. Stability restored, the Serbian Empire remains one of the Khanate's most powerful and loyal vassal states throughout the 14th and early 15th centuries.
+**ERKUT**. Mongolian term for Christians. One of the alternative names for the Khanate of the Franks or Khanate of the Fu-lang used among the Mongol overlords of Europe is the Khanate of the Erkut.
+**ESHI KHATUN**. The "first lady," a Mongol term commonly applied both to the Christian Virgin Mary and the Lithuanian pagan goddess Ausra.
+Dictionary of Empty America (1260-1410) - 3
+**GLASS BOTTLES**. Introduced for widespread rum and wine storage and transport in San Erasmus [Cuba] in the mid 14th Century. In the wake of the Great Mortality, the Venetian government, eager to spur the recovery of its domestic glass industry, decrees that all wine and rum transported to and from San Erasmus must be transported in glass bottles. This, of course, is utterly impractical, given that even the numerous large Venetian glassworks could not possibly keep up with demand.
+But the decree does speed up the adoption of glass bottles for both wine and rum. It is an expensive development, but in the years following the plague, a great deal of wealth is suddenly made liquid in the form of unexpected inheritances for the survivors. Many who are not expecting inheritances for years, or were distant relations of the deceased and who were not expecting inheritances at all, reap the windfall of numerous deaths in the family. Sudden riches, combined with a spirit of hedonism that comes from being passed over by the scythe that cuts down approximately a third of Europe, fuels the demand for luxuries. This, of course, includes the tubbaq, bhang, sugar, spices and rum exported by the Ursuline colonies. In San Erasmus, the decree has an odd effect. Venetians on the island long complained that wine transported from Europe in wooden casks oftentimes went bad due to the long voyage in the heat of the summer. This discontent helps fuel the widespread consumption of rum and fruit-juice drinks instead of wine, but also the development of indigenous viticulture. Local magnates, eager both to diversify their holdings and to distinguish themselves in service of the Republic, experiment with Spanish grapes, attempting to find a type that will flourish on their island. By the end of the 14th Century, they have some success and are bottling wine on estates in western San Erasmus.
+**HESPERIDES, ISOLE DE**. [OTL's Bahamas] Technically a possession of the Republic of Venice, through the early 15th Century, the Hesperides are largely unpopulated, with the exception of some pirate refuges.
+**HOLY LETTER OF ST. SOPHIA**. A message, purportedly written by God, which appears on the altar in the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople during Orthodox Holy Week, 1345. It foretold the coming of a great plague and the downfall of the Khanate of the Franks. The Greek Catholic Church, seeing it as a propaganda blow against the Khanate, releases it to the public. The letter becomes the first major Christian document to be printed with movable type and circulated to a mass audience in pamphlet form. Indeed, the miraculous appearance of the letter so catches the imagination of Europe, it causes a spike in adult literacy so that believers could read it for themselves. The Letter's popularity vexes the Reformed Christian clerical establishment, which denounces it as a 'forgery by Greek heretics.'
+The predictions in the Letter are somewhat borne out with the arrival in Europe of the Great Mortality in 1348 and the military disasters which follow and shake the foundations of the Khanate. As the plague ravages Europe, Italy rises and expels its Mongol overlords and their Venetian satraps. When the tammachi garrisons are ousted from Italy, and Roman Republic is proclaimed in the North, the nobles of Sicily and Naples offer their allegiance to the Peter IV of Aragon. The sole exception is the city
+of Amalfi, which boldly declares its independence and stoutly maintains it against all challengers.
+In 1350 the plague destroys the army that Khan Janibeg had assembled on the French coast for his invasion of England. Both of the Muslim il-Khanates break their titular allegiance to the Khanate, leaving the Kingdom of Jerusalem as the Khan's only possession in the Middle East. While the Khanate trembles, it does not fall, and the Letter's popularity plummets when it becomes clear that its prophesies will not be fully realized.
+**HRAFENMARK, COMMONWEALTH OF** [OTL's roughly speaking, Ohio]. Norse Pagan Commonwealth founded in 1255 by Domstollander political exiles. Hrafenmark's government follows the Icelandic model - a weak central government and political domination by a group of powerful families. The economy of Hrafenmark is overwhelmingly agricultural, with tenant farmers working on behalf of large magnates. Hrafenmark's ongoing blood-feud with Domstolland complicates the politics of northeastern Ultima Thule. Crossing the religious divide between Christian and Pagan, Hrafenmark aligns itself with Vinland and Niwe Wessex as needed.
+Like the other Nordic states of northeast Ultima Thule, Hrafenmark sets aside its traditional rivalries, declares a truce with Solbjorgland, Vinland and Domstolland and sends representatives to the 'Great Allthing' in 1300, called by the Domstolland Folkhagi to meet the threat of the Khan's seizure of Iceland. Although Hrafenmark's representatives agree generally with the Vinlander delegation that the crisis had been unnecessarily provoked by the Domstollanders' execution of the Khan's ambassadors, they also agreed that joint action was necessary - the ancestral homeland of the Nordic peoples of Ultima Thule had to be redeemed from the invaders.
+Although a majority of the ships are provided by Domstolland and Vinland, Hrafenmark troops serve with distinction in the expedition to Iceland, routing the Khan's German infantry using traditional Norse tactics for unmounted combat. Although it is agreed in advance by the three governments that, after securing Iceland, the invading forces should raid the northern coasts of the Khanate proper, the Vinlanders and Solbjorglanders fall out with the pagan Domstollanders and Hrafenmarkers and intramural fighting prevents further action against the common foe.
+**JASIRAH AL-KHALIM** [OTL's Sao Tome y Principe] "Empty Islands" First overseas colonies of the Empire of Mali.
+**KARACHUS**. Or "qarachus." The Mongol term for the 'dark ones' which, somewhat improbably, comes into common European use for both black Africans and the independent Egyptian Khanate founded in 1355. The African slave trade begins in earnest in the last years of the 13th Century, when the government of Venice reluctantly permits plantation owners on San Erasmus [Cuba] to import slaves directly from Africa, rather than requiring that any slaves going to the Venetian Ursulines be transshipped through Venice proper. The Chinese in Mu-lan-P'i - perpetually short of manpower for their mines and fields - also open their ports to European slave-traders and Chinese merchants become themselves heavily involved. Throughout the 14th century, Chinese junks are a common sight in the West African slave ports, and in many parts of Mu-lan-P'i - especially in mining areas - African slaves come to outnumber the Nangiyan inhabitants.
+**KING'S BATTLE PRAYER**. "Lord, You know how busy I will be today, so if I should forget You, please do not You forget me." Traditional Niwe Wessexian Royal prayer before battle, first spoken by King Crispin III facing the armies of Domstolland at Chertsey [Springfield, Massachusetts] on June 6, 1336. The straightforwardness of the prayer, conceding that in the din of battle, the King could forget his God, exemplifies the qualities that Wessexmen valued in their kings - honesty, humility and lack of pretension.
+The Kings of the House of Miles generally possessed these traits in abundance, and under their rule, the Kingdom of Niwe Wessex developed its reputation for sturdy (if unimaginative), monarchs, loyal and brave nobles, enterprising and thrifty yeomen, and content peasants.
+**KONGMING SHIP**. The world's first lighter-than-air vessel, invented by Hung-Te Hsiao. A bureaucrat with the government of Mu-lan-P'i stationed in Jen Men [San Francisco], Hsiao has a lot of time on his hands. Unlike most Nangiyan scholars (and non-scholars, for that matter), he is decidedly interested in Fu-lang [European] learning. Although Hsiao has no illusions that the overall level of learning in the West was superior to that of China, he does believe that each culture could learn from the other. He frequently cites the adage, "we see with two eyes, the Fu-lang see with one eye, and the rest of the world is blind." Hsiao learns Latin from missionary priests in Jen Men and reads any Fu-lang books that came his way. For reasons unknown to this day, he latches onto the Aristotelian model of the universe, even at a time when the Fu-lang were abandoning it, and telescope observations are definitively disproving it. But Hsiao is not to be budged. He is convinced that, if he could make a sufficiently persuasive demonstration of Aristotelian principles, he could get the attention of his fellow Nangiyan scholars and convince them of the brilliance of Aristotle. One day, he is looking out his window, lost in thought, when he sees a paper lantern drifting loose in the breeze, the heated air inside it causing it to rise. This is Hsiao's eureka moment, and he immediately plunges into research. He comes across passages in 'The Ten Thousand Infallible Arts of the Prince of Huai-Nan,' which describes the practice of making egg-shells fly using a bit of burning tinder. Hsiao set out to recreate the practice on a grand scale.
+Through his office, Hsiao has access to a lot of silk, confiscated from smugglers. He retains some seamstresses to turn it into a large, vaguely egg-shaped envelope, which he then attaches by a netting of silk cords to a wicker basket, sizable and sturdy enough to carry a man. He consults early treatises on man-carrying kites for some of the basics and, after stumbling across a copy of 'Lacquer Table History,' by Yo K'o, sensibly outfits himself with a rudimentary parachute.
+Finally, in the spring of 1407 the ship is ready and, buoyed by air heated by a brazier in the basket, the Hsiao ascends gracefully into the clear blue sky over Jen Men. The flight causes a great deal of alarm amongst the good citizens of the city, which is not at all alleviated when Hsiao unfurls a banner reading "Fu-lang Learning." Crowds swarm around Hsiao when he lands, and he is promptly arrested and brought before the authorities, who demand to know the secrets of his flying vessel. Hsiao agrees to cooperate, expounding upon Aristotelian natural philosophy as demonstrated by his 'Kongming Ship.' The administration is not particularly interested in Aristotelian principles, but once they learn where Hung-Te Hsiao got his materials, they insist that he turn over the ship and the designs to the government, which he does. The Nangiyan military quickly adopts the kongming ship for reconnaissance purposes and it almost immediately leaks to the other powers of Ultima Thule.
+**LULL, ST. RAMON**. (1235-1315) Famous Greek Catholic missionary to India. Throughout his career in the late 13th and early 14th century, Lull converted thousands of Indians in the Calicut region. He was also renowned for bringing the ancient community of 'Thomas Christians' into communion with the Greek Catholic Church. Lull's success is widely attributed to his personal charisma, piety, and his open-hearted approach to the local culture. The latter is the hallmark of Greek (as opposed to Latin) Catholic missionaries. For example, Lull did not oppose the caste system and, in absorbing the Thomas Christians, did not disband the Palliyogams, or parish councils, who held temporal authority in the local churches. The enduring Christian presence in India as the third great religion on the Subcontinent is traceable to the efforts of Lull and his converts. Canonized by Pope Basil II in 1436.
+**MADINAT AL-SALAM**. "City of Peace." Capital of the Emirate of Tarshish [roughly OTL's Cumana, Columbia and environs]. Several years after the discovery of what would turn out to be massive quantities of gold, the men who govern Tarshish on behalf of the Caliphate of al-Andalus feel confident enough to establish their effective independence from Cordoba. In 1305, the Hajib [governor] declares himself Emir of Tarshish and negotiates a treaty of protection with the Haiyang Dynasty in Mu-lan-P'i. In return for Nangiyan protection, the Emir opens Tarshish's ports to the Imperial Navy and agrees to pay a significant tribute (in gold, of course) to the Emperor in Jen Men.
+The arrangement is mutually advantageous. It gives the Haiyang both cash (which it does not really need, but is never refused) and a strategic position with which to act against the Mongol puppets of the Nanhai Dynasty under the Song heir, the former Duke of Yin. Having a port on the northern coast of Terranova is particularly important for Haiyang, since the Nanhai have secured the allegiance of the trading towns of Zhongmeizhao [OTL's Panama] and the Haiyang need a base in the area to conduct anti-Mongol operations.
+Relations between the Emir of Tarshish and the Caliphate in al-Andalus are, of course, poor from the start. The Caliph's government is angry about the coup, and once Cordoba finds out about the discovery of gold, the anger turns to the rage of thwarted greed. Short of naval power themselves, the Caliphate tries to convince its partner Venice to strike against Tarshish. The Doge, learning of the Emir's treaty with the Haiyang, demurs. The other Ursuline powers similarly decline to get involved - even with a big pile of gold as a prize, nobody wants to take on the Haiyang, the 800 pound gorilla of the New World.
+The Emir does establish a very productive relationship with the Empire of Mali, trading gold, bhang and tubbaq for large numbers of African slaves, who are put to work in the mines and on plantations. Unlike most of the Islamic and Christian slave powers of the New World, the Emirate takes an interest in the religious life of its slaves and converts them to Islam, after first obtaining a fatwah stating that a pagan slave who converts to Islam must remain a slave. The Emir's government is more religiously conservative than the Andalusian Caliphate and sees expanding Dar al-Islam as a religious mission. By the end of the 14th Century, Madinat al-Salam is the largest Islamic city in the New World, a polyglot mix of Arabs, Berbers and black Africans (slave and free), all speaking the language of the Prophet.
+**MAUPERTUIS, ILLA DE**. [OTL's Key West] Base of operations for the infamous Ursulines pirate Reynart the Fox and his ship the Tiberon. After the death of Reynart and his second, Isengrin, thwarting the Grand Catalan Company in the Annwyfn Crusade, the young Jewish pirate known as Chantecler took command of the Tiberon. Operating from Maupertuis, Chantecler and his men raided the Ursuline seaways for years. They ultimately retired, remarkably wealthy, to Serendib, where their exploits were legendary. Maupertuis was abandoned and remained unpopulated through the beginning of the 15th century.
+**MAQURRA, KINGDOM OF**. Christian kingdom in northeast Africa, south of Egypt. Maintained good relations with both the Khanate of the Franks and, subsequently, the splinter Khanate of the Karachus. Brought into communion with the Greek Catholic Church by St. Ramon Lull in the late 13th Century prior to his departure for Calicut.
+**MUTAKALLIMUM**. Practitioners of 'kalam,' Islamic natural philosophy. Through the early 14th century, the mutakallimum cleave closely to Aristotle. However, as with Christian natural philosophers, the exposure to Chinese ideas by way of Mu-lan-P'i brings about increasing criticism, then finally rejection, of the Aristotelian view of the universe. The swiftest advances in learning are made in al-Andalus, where the restraints were loosest and cross-fertilization with Christian Europe the greatest, the
+Scientific Revolution of the early 14th century blossoms, with the Mutakallimum in the vanguard.
+**NANGIYAN**. Mongol term for Southern Song Chinese. After the fall of the Southern Song, it refers exclusively to the Chinese inhabitants of Mu-lan-P'i.
+Dictionary of Empty America (1260-1410) - 4
+**PAI-LIEN CHIAO**. "White Lotus Society." An extremely wealthy Buddhist secret society organized in the former territory of the Southern Song in China during the late 13th Century. Dedicated to the subversion of Mongol rule, the Pai-lien Chiao organized and participated in numerous minor revolts and local insurgencies prior to the overthrow of the Yuan. The Pai-lien Chiao spread to Mu-lan-p'i in the early 14th Century, where it served both as a conduit for intelligence to the Yu-shih t'ai [Haiyang secret police] about the state of affairs for the anti-Yuan government of the Haiyang Dynasty based in Jen Men [San Francisco] and as an agent of subversion for the Yuan puppet dynasty under the heirs of the Duke of Ying (the last of the Song, pulled out of exile to serve the Mongols in Mu-lan-P'i) in Shanjing [Caracas, Peru] and Yinshang [OTL's Potosi, Bolivia] and the Mongol-aligned military government in the Pheng-lai [Hawaiian] Islands. The Society's coffers were enriched by both governmental funds and business operations - primarily copper, silver and jade mines - it covertly owned in Mu-lan-p'i.
+Evidence suggests that the Pai-lien Chiao's covert operations range throughout the world. It is instrumental in transferring gunpowder technology to anti-Mongol European forces in Ultima Thule, notwithstanding the Haiyang Emperor's strict ban on any sharing. Within Europe, agents of the Pai-lien Chiao funnel money to the insurgent Roman Republic, with great success. The great triumph of the Pai-lien Chiao was in maneuvering the renegade Mongol conqueror Timur into attacking the Yuan in 1404. The resulting series of titanic battles in north China shattered the military power of the Yuan Dynasty, setting in motion the subsequent collapse of Mongol rule in China and the rise of the indigenous Ming Dynasty.
+**PATRICIUS**. Defender of the Roman Church, which entitled the holder to cast the first vote in a Papal election. Until the 11th Century, this power resided in the Emperor of the Romans, then went unclaimed. In 1285, King Phillip III, shortly before his death, asserted it for the French Monarchy over the French Catholic Church.
+**PREVOT DE MARCHANDS**. Head of the municipal government of Paris under the Capetian monarchy. The authority of the Prevot de Marchands was limited to the affairs of merchants, with other officials holding command of the garrison. However on 6 June 1291, Phillip IV left Paris to avoid being trapped between the pincers of Toqto'a Khans onrushing armies, and the citizens of Paris rose with fury at their betrayal by their 'Holy King.' Assembling at the Cathedral of Notre Dame, the Parisians declared themselves
+a self-governing commune, and placed the Prevot de Marchands, the popular Étienne Marcel, at their head.
+**QUILON**. City on the Malabar Coast of southwest India frequented by European traders and missionaries. Quilon was the home of one of the Apostle Thomas' "seven and a half churches," and many Syriac Christians prior to the major missionary effort by the Greek Catholic Church in the late 13th Century. St. Ramon Lull brought most of the Syriac Christians into the Greek Catholic fold, although splinter groups endured. Quilon is the seat of the Greek Catholic Archbishop for the area.
+**ST. RICHARD OF WALLINGFORD** (1292-1356). Defrocked English Abbot, scholar, critic and translator of Roger Bacon's 'Letters from Jen Men' and progenitor of the European Scientific Revolution of the early 14th Century. Wallingford departs England in 1331 for Cadiz with the Inquisition hot on his heels. He settled into the great 'City of Books' in the midst of its own intellectual revival, sponsored by the liberal rulers of the Andalusian Caliphate. In Cadiz, Wallingford developed and systemized the scientific
+method of reproducible experimentation and observation and published his masterwork, "The Supremacy of Reason." He invents the first working spring-driven chronometer, which - upon being substantially improved in the 15th Century - eventually permits the calculation of longitude. Richard, along with ibn Tamiyya, experiments with Chinese designs for the telescope. Canonized by the New Reformed Universalist Church, Cambridge, England, 1557.
+**RIDDERMARK, KINGDOM OF THE**. [OTL's roughly Indiana and Illinois] A Nordic state founded by exiles from Vinland. Throughout the early 14th Century, Reform Christian missionaries filter into Vinland, despite the official ban on Reform evangelization and the activities of the Inquisition. The inroads of the Reform Church are aided by a high-level conflict within the Commonwealth government over whether to grant Vinland's allegiance to pope in Constantinople or Rome. The decentralization of Vinland's government also helps - individual nobles who convert to Reform shelter other converts from the Vinland civil courts and the Inquisition.
+By the 1350s, the issue of religion has reached the boiling point. Well over one-third of Vinlanders are adherents to the Reform faith. The Church is demanding that the Logretta act to suppress the "heretics." However, the Vinlanders are not so inclined. Their cousins in Norway and Denmark have already adopted religious toleration as official policy, and so they take a page from the Scandinavian playbook, so after much acrimonious debate, the Logretta passes the Great Sidrlog [religion law], proclaiming official toleration. However, several prominent Catholic families are convinced that the introduction of heretical Reform Christianity endangers the souls of all Vinlanders, and they are determined to save themselves. Obtaining a land-grant from the Roman Pontiff, in 1357 several hundred families and numerous priests (both lay and in orders, primarily Cistercian) embark upon what by now is a traditional "obygd leid" (wilderness journey) of the faithful or political exiles.
+The Vinlanders stake their claim in what they call the Riddermark ("knight's wood") and convene an Althing, which elects Ôzur Geirsdóttir, the patriarch of one of the largest and most respected trek clans, king of the Riddermark. Every man swears an oath, not just to his King, but also to defend "the true Christian religion." The people of the Riddermark then set out to tame the wilderness and establish themselves. The individual families claim large tracts of both the forests in the south, towards the Thiazis [Ohio] River and the prairie. Each clan establishes what is, in essence, its own autonomous territory, with only minimal obligations to the monarchy. In contrast to the other Norse states, which tend to be composed of smallholders, the Riddermark is largely made up of great estates - either of secular lords or of the various religious orders - farmed by peasants. The men of the Riddermark, as befits those who dominate a realm of vast grasslands, are formidable horsemen. With a comparatively weak monarch, who must largely depend upon his own resources to conduct policy, the Kingdom of the Riddermark tends to stay out of the conflicts among the Norse states of northeast Ultima Thule, although skirmishing with the pagans in Hrafenmark [roughly speaking, Ohio] has become an annual ritual of raid and counter-raid.
+**RIVOALTO, REPUBLIC OF**. [OTL's Martinique] Ursuline possession of the Republic of Venice which declares its independence after the breaking of Venetian naval supremacy by Aragon in 1349. Rivoalto is the richest of Venice's sugar islands, but seethes with discontent during the mid-14th Century. Inspired by both the contemporary and ancient Roman Republics, the government of Rivoalto is aggressively neo-classical, with a Senate and an tripartite Consulate.
+**SHAMBHALA**. [OTL's Machu Picchu] Massive Chan [Zen] Buddhist temple complex high on Wudan Mountain, constructed in the mid to late 13th century. It is thought that Emperor Ningzong himself, upon hearing of the magnificence of Wudan Mountain, ordered that a great temple be built there, and directed revenues for its construction, which continued through the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty and was completed under the Haiyang Dynasty.
+The Monks of Shambhala are expert practitioners and teachers of Shàolínquán, or Shaolin unarmed combat. After the fall of the Southern Song, and the founding of the Haiyang Dynasty in Jen Men, the pai-lien chiao became active in Shambhala, recruiting many of its monks to teach its agents Shàolínquán. After the arrival of the Duke of Yin - Emperor Shénzong of the Nanhai Dynasty - and the rising of the Shanjing [Caracas, Peru] and Yinshang [OTL's Potosi, Bolivia] garrisons in favor of the "legitimate" Song Emperor, Shambhala becomes a center of covert resistance to the puppet Emperor. The monks expand their sanctioned regimen to include armed combat, which renegade monks had been teaching from the founding of the monastery.
+**SHI MIAN MAI FU**. [lit: 'Ambushed From Ten Sides,' popularly known as "House of the Flying Daggers"] A Nangiyan secret society modeled on the pai-lien chiao, but with entirely different reach and objectives. The shi mian mai fu originates in late 14th Century Zhongmeizhou's trading pavilions, where members of the Nangiyan commercial middle class are exposed to the republican ideas of Italian and Vinlandic traders. Those who founded the shi mian mai fu combined these ideals with traditional Chinese notions of the well-being and virtue of the bu yi [common people] into a unique democratic, egalitarian ideology and dedicate themselves to the overthrow of dynastic government and its replacement with a government based upon universal suffrage.
+The shi mian mai fu work to achieve their goals both through education and propagandization of the bu yi and direct action against the Haiyang Imperial government. As they score stunning successes ambushing army patrols and assassinating police officials throughout Mu-lan-P'i, their agents are credited with nearly superhuman skills in armed and unarmed combat, including the distinctive and phenomenal ability to kill with thrown knives that gives them their popular name.
+**SIGER DE BRABANT** (1240-1292). Theological founder of the unified Reformed Christian Church. Born in Flanders, Siger is taken to the Khanate of the Fu-Lang as a slave with Batu Khan's retreating armies after the Battle of Ghent (1250). His intellectual gifts shine bright and early, and he is manumitted and given a monastic education. He draws the interest the Mongol authorities and rises quickly in the administration of the Khanate. He first comes to the attention of the Great Khan, however, after he is selected to represent Western Christianity in a series of debates with Mar Yaballa III, the Nestorian patriarch, over what a true Christian believes. The Great Khan is impressed with Siger's forensic skills, and taps him to bring order to the doctrinal chaos that is Reform Christianity. He is charged with leading the Council of Constance that will formulate a doctrine and creed for the Reformed sect. Those who will adhere to these precepts will be deemed true Reformed Christians. Clerics who vow to do so will continue to be exempt from taxes and the corvee as true preachers of one of the darqan religions of the Mongol Empire.
+Siger devotes his formidable intellect to the task, quickly outshining all the others on the council and bending the collective effort to his will. When all is said and done, Reform Christianity is purged of much of its Catholic residue, but important doctrines remain. While veneration and intercession of the Saints is kept, doing the same for saintly relics is condemned as idolatry. Siger simultaneously rejects the iconoclasm of the more extreme Reformists, permitting both statuary and decoration in churches and processionals, so long as they are not, in and of themselves, worshiped as idols.
+Mary, as Mother of God, also keeps her privileged position within the Church. The centrality of the sacraments to salvation is confirmed, but Siger breaks the power of the clergy as the sole custodians of the sacraments. Thousands of men and women have taken up the ministry as lay preachers, and their power to administer the sacraments - which they are doing anyway - is affirmed, so long as they swear the Creed of Constance and adhere to the Reform Rule.
+Apostolic poverty is absolutely mandated, both for the individual clerics and their churches and monasteries. The former must divest themselves of their personal wealth, and the latter must give up their lands other than those needed for the church and monastic buildings themselves. The clergy must live on alms or by the sweat of their brows and are not permitted to own serfs or exact labor from peasants. These strictures have the intended effect - they cause many of those posing as preachers in order to escape the exactions of the Khanate to lapse back to their non-clerical status.
+Among the Council's innovations is its adoption of both liberty of conscience and freedom of inquiry. Adapting to the Yasa's mandate of freedom of religion, Reform Christianity condemns forced conversion and the persecution of non-believers, including Jews. The Council also takes up Siger's enthusiasm for reason as well as faith. No inquiry regarding the nature of the material world, the Council decrees, can be deemed heretical, so long as it does not deny the existence of God, Christ or conflict with
+other core tenets of the Church. Even heretical beliefs, asserts the Council, have their value, since refuting them sharpens the belief of the Faithful. Also, if the facts discerned about the material world seem to conflict with matters contained in Scripture, the conflict may be deemed to be the result of a imperfect reading of Holy Writ. This liberality enables Reform Christendom to survive through the Scientific Revolution.
+**SUKUN**. "breadfruit." Discovered by Chinese explorers in Eastern Ocean [Pacific], a starchy tropical fruit that rapidly becomes a staple in the Ursuline Islands. Sukun trees are astoundingly fecund, with a single tree producing up to 800 fruits per season. Once cooked, a breadfruit has a taste similar to freshly-baked bread. The transplantation of breadfruit is credited for increasing the profitability of many of the Ursuline sugar and spice island, since less money had to be spent on imported foodstuffs. Once brought to the western regions of Africa, breadfruit triggered an agricultural revolution of sorts, leading to a population surge and subsequent increase in the slave trade.
+**TAOISEACH**. Chief executive of the Irish Commonwealth, which is founded in 1377 at the conclusion of the Great Civil War. The Taoiseach is elected by the Barons of Ireland assembled in the Oireachtas [Parliament]. Between them, the institutions of the Taoiseach and the Oireachtas bring overarching stability to Eire.
+**TEA**. Chinese beverage immensely popular with the Mongol overlords of Europe. Through the 13th century, ortok merchants monopolize the tea trade, hauling from China to Europe via caravan. However, after Vandino Vivaldi's successful voyage around the southern tip of Africa, more explorers push further and arrive in China's port cities, inaugurating the seaborne tea trade between the Khanate of the Erkut and Yuan China. European nobles, aping their Mongol overlords, also begin drinking tea and imports skyrocket through the 14th century. The exploding popularity of tea also greatly increases the demand for sugar, which drives further development of the plantation colonies in the Ursulines and Terranova.
+**VALDEMAR IV**. Highly capable King of Denmark (1340-44) then King of Solbjorgland (1346-75). King Valdemar IV ruled Denmark as a vassal state of the Erkut Khanate, working quietly but steadily to reassert Danish independence after the Tatar invasion of the late 13th Century, establishing close contact with the Norse states of Ultima Thule and earnestly undermining the authority of the resident Darugha. Unfortunately for Valdemar, Khan Janibeg gets wind of his efforts and orders his ouster, which the Danish nobles duly carry out in 1344, under threat of renewed Mongol invasion. Valdemar, deciding that he would rather reign in hell (i.e. Ultima Thule) than have his head chopped off in heaven, flees for the New World, where (after much misadventure) he takes up the then-vacant throne of Solbjorgland. Never one to recognize resource limitations, Valdemar makes Solbjorgland, which is one of the least populous of the Norse states, a player in the power politics of the Lakes region.
+**WOLOF**. A sedentary African people whose primary domain was south of the Senegal River. Highly skilled horsemen, practiced in the capture of slaves. Annexed to the Empire of Mali after being repeatedly defeated in the early 14th Century by Mansa Musa's armies. The Wolofs' skills at equestrian combat and experience in the slave trade gave them a privileged position in the Empire, playing an invaluable role in the crushing of the Songhay by imperial forces in 1360. After the absorption of the Songhay into the Empire, large numbers of the Wolof moved into their pasturelands, seizing them for farming and raising horses. Their efforts, along with those of Andalusian merchants, who brought modern military techniques and Nangiyan weaponry to Mali in the early 14th Century, helped make Mali the most powerful state in Western Africa.
+The Wolof also play a prominent role in the maritime expansion of the Empire which follows the seaborne pilgrimage Mansa Kankan Musa I to al-Andalus, Egypt and Mecca in 1324-24 and his subsequent decision to make Mali a naval power. Wolof captains and crews quickly become renowned for their daring voyages. By the mid 14th century, Malian ships have pushed around the southern tip of Africa and are operating in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea. They establish themselves at Vohemar on the northern tip of Madagascar and on Zanzibar, where they work the East African trade.
+**WU-PEI SSU**. "Armaments Court" of the government of Mu-lan-P'i, responsible for development, manufacture and distribution of weaponry for both the army and navy. From the late 13th to early 15th Centuries, the Wu-Pei ssu's Jen Men [San Francisco] workshops are centers of brilliant innovation in firearms advancement. The Nangiyan technicians of Jen Men take the lead in casting large cannon out of both iron and bronze. The latter is preferred, and the abundance of copper within Nangiyan territory make widespread use of bronze in cannon manufacture practicable. The Wu-pei ssu also makes rapid strides in the design of lighter guns, including the breech-loading naval pivot guns (with removable mug-shaped powder chambers) which bristle from the railing all Nangiyan warships by the early 14th Century. The Wu-Pei ssu also develops the flintlock firing mechanism for shoulder and hand weapons after rejecting both matchlock and wheellock designs as cumbersome and impractical. The spring powered steel and flint mechanism is derived from a spar torpedo prototype developed in the late 13th Century. The Wu-Pei ssu also altered the traditional "fire-lance" design into a firearm that was to be braced against the shoulder and a smaller hand-held weapon.
+The Wu-Pei ssu continuously tinkers with gunpowder manufacture methods and formulas, developing coarser powders for field, siege and naval guns and finer grains for hand weapons. They also perfect grinding of powder using wheel-mills to produce a greater quantity of more uniform powder in a shorter period of time, and the use of a screw-press to squeeze damp powder to half its former volume, which produced more explosion for less powder.
+The Jen Men Wu-pei ssu was also not afraid to build upon the innovations of others and the systematic nature of its work (which it tries, but fails, to keep secret) inspired similar efforts in other countries. Castilian armorers - fully aware that spinning projectiles are more accurate - develop rifling for long weapons at the end of the 14th Century and this development is taken up and improved upon by the Nangiyans. Dissatisfied with the slowness and difficulty of ramming the conical bullet down the barrel, and dismayed that streaks of lead become embedded in the grooves, degrading the rifling effect, the Nangiyans work hard to develop an alternative. A new technician recalls that, when he was a sailor traveling in India, he learned that local hunters used blowguns which shot a needle with a tuft on the trailing end. When the hunter blew into the tube, the tuft expanded under the pressure, sealing the tube behind the needle and propelling it out at high speed. He and his fellows worked to adapt this concept to rifled firearms, eventually developing a conical bullet with a hollow cup-shaped base. The bullet is smaller than the diameter of the barrel, so it can be loaded quickly, and when it is fired, the exploding gas expands the cup, which grips the rifling and spins the bullet. With a single development, the Wu-Pei ssu works a revolution in warfare, but it is just the latest of many.
+**YIH-PUN**. Nangiyan name for 'Japan,' known to Europeans as 'Cipango.' Falls a Mongol and Korean force in 1274-75, Yih-Pun remains a province of Yuan China until the collapse of the Yuan in 1410. During the occupation, many Japanese - particularly whalers and fishermen - fled the oppressive Yuan taxation and conscription and take up residence in Mu-lan-P'i, primarily in the northwest Dayu [Vancouver] Island region.
+Dictionary of Empty America (1260-1410) - 5
+**NEUFCHATEAU**. [OTL's Norfolk, VA] Capital of the Duchy of Cocagne [roughly between OTL's James River and Pamlico Sound], a feudal dependency of the King of France. Cocagne is a tubbaq and bhang colony of middling prosperity, with much suitable land but not nearly enough hands to work it. Through the 13th Century, the Duchy relies upon a steady but small trickle of immigration from France, peasants who wish larger holdings and lighter feudal duties. But Cocagne does not even begin to fully realize its potential until the beginning of the African slave trade in the early 14th Century, when thousands of slaves are brought to work the bhang and tubbaq fields. Slavery is an institution of somewhat questionable legality under French law, but the Duke issues a comprehensive slave code, based upon the ancient Roman model. The Cocagnois planters, unlike their counterparts in the Ursulines, have their chattel baptized into the Church, in compliance with an edict of the Gallican Council, then in residence in Neufchateau.
+While Cocagne is technically a tributary of the French King, feudal Obligations lay very lightly on the Duchy until the Fall of France in 1291. King Phillip IV, having fled south from Paris before the Khan's armies closed off the escape routes, roamed the countryside, seeking to rally resistance to him. However, the wide-ranging Erkuk cavalry, and Phillip's own obsession about not being trapped in a castle like Frederick was in Italy, hamper his efforts. In the end, after the Battle of Paris and the English, Castillan and Aragonese invasions, Phillip slips into Dieppe just as the English forces close in and flees France by ship.
+After a very uncomfortable journey across the Britannic Ocean, Phillip arrives in Neufchateau to a dutifully warm welcome from René II, Duc D'Cocagne. The presence of the King in Neufchateau - even under such tragic circumstances - greatly enlivens the already ebullient social scene of tournaments, feasts and poetic entertainments. The Tournaments of Neufchateau, which have been drawing contestants from every Christian state on the east coast of Ultima Thule for years, soar to even greater heights of prestige. But not all is lively court life - in the King's wake come boats laden with refugees, mainly French nobles forced out of their castles by Mongols, Hungarians and Germans who were rewarded for their wartime services with confiscated estates. These angry and restless expatriates prove to be an increasing irritation to the Cocagnois, who resent being treated as provincial rustics by the more "sophisticated" men who let metropolitan France fall to the Erkut. Duels abound. In the meantime, the King and his retinue are eating their hosts out of house and home. Providing accommodations suitable for a monarch and his courtiers is straining the Count's resources to the utmost. When the courtiers begin complaining loudly that René is not fulfilling his duty of "hospitality," it begins to look to René like Phillip is groping for a pretext under feudal law to displace him and install one of his court favorites in his place.
+René and his ancestors have worked far to hard for him to abandon his birthright without a struggle, so he closets himself with his most trustworthy retainers and comes up with a plan. The first step is to start a war. This is not difficult, since Cocagne has been skirmishing off and on with the knights of the County of Drengeard [roughly Chesapeake Bay and environs] for some time. The Orders in Drengeard are highly orthodox Catholic, and the consider the Cocagnois to be schismatic. Combine that with the expansion of Drengeard settlement south towards the Cynwise [OTL's York] River, and the result is nearly constant tensions and periodic small battles on the borders.
+So René dispatched some knights to sack and burn several small Drengeard settlements that were on territory he claimed, and bring back whatever loot (including slaves) that they could get their hands on. Several weeks later, a Cistercian Monk, acting as Drengeard ambassador, arrived in Neufchateau and demanded redress. René, with Phillip's backing, tells him off and claps him in a dungeon. René then musters his forces, now swollen by the King's retinue and numerous refugee knights of France. The Drengeardians are too quick for them, however - knowing that René would reject their demands, they have assembled their forces and strike into Cocagne immediately. After several fierce battles, the Cocagnois and French forces - commanded by the King, of course - drive the outnumbered Knights of Drengeard back from the frontier, and push into enemy territory. It is there that the invading forces encounter the stiffest resistance. While besieging the Ceaster St. Grimbald [OTL's Rockville, MD], the King's army is attacked by a combined army of Drengeard knights and Niwe Wessexmen. The latter are on private business, defending lands they hold in Drengeard, rather than acting on behalf of their King. In the ensuing melee, King Phillip is slain and the siege is lifted. The Cocagnois and their French compatriots slink back to Neufchateau, demoralized.
+Ever since the Battle of St. Grimbald, it has been a subject of some controversy whether René went to war hoping that Phillip would be killed, or simply thinking that the King of France could possibly acquire some territory in Drengeard of his own, and thus cease to be a burden upon Cocagne. Either way, the Duchy of Cocagne no longer has to support a monarch in the style to which he was accustomed. The funeral is, of course, expensive, as is the mausoleum in the Cathedral of Neufchateau, and the mourning is seemingly sincere, but beneath it all, one could clearly detect a note of relief amongst the Cocagnois. Peace is quickly made with the County of Drengeard, and the haughty French immigrants are put in their place - dispatched into the rather uncomfortable wilderness to carve whatever lives they can make for themselves - and life more or less returns to normal in Neufchateau.
+**QAH'WA**. [coffee] Non-alcoholic drink popular in the Islamic world. Originating in Ethiopia, coffee spread throughout dar al-Islam and then, by the early 14th Century, to Europe. The limited supply of qah'wa keeps prices high and maintains its status as a drink for the elite. However, the Muslim settlers in Tarshish [Columbia] begin growing qah'wa in the 1380s and by 1410, it surpasses tubbaq as Tarshish's most profitable agricultural export, and qah'wa prices drop and it becomes more accessible.
+**SALA AUSRINE**. [OTL's Curacao] Sole Ursuline possession of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, named after Ausrine, the Goddess of the Morning Star. Lithuania, which was preoccupied by its relationship with the Erkut Khanate and the Khanate's other Eastern European vassal-states, largely sat out the European rush to grab New World colonies until the 1350s, when the breaking of Venetian maritime supremacy opens up opportunities for numerous marginal powers. Lithuania, which is exempt from the Khanate's Venetian monopoly, has hosted hundreds of German traders since the fall of the Empire and when the Duchy acquired the Templar lands on the Baltic, it expanded its native maritime presence significantly, so it was well positioned to exploit the power vacuum created by Venice's decline. When the Captain of the Lithuanian ship "Laukuva" stakes Grand Duke Algirdas' claim to the island, it is hoped that it will turn out to be a profitable sugar island like the other Ursuline possessions. Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear that Ausrine is much too arid for sugar agriculture. Ausrine, however, has an excellent harbor at Tverai [OTL's Willemstad], and the island becomes a thriving emporium for the African slave trade. Tverai is a singularly cosmopolitan port town, teeming with merchants and sailors of all origins and faiths. In addition to a Lithuanian sacred grove, Tverai boasts an Andalusian mosque and churches for every Christian denomination - and row upon row of merchandise godowns and stone slave pens.
+**XIAOYIN**. [platinum]. Nangiyan "little silver." Rare metal found by Nangiyan miners in Zhongmeizhou [Central America] and the Muslim miners of Tarshish [OTL's Columbia] intermingled with gold ore. The reactions of the two groups could hardly be more different. For unknown reasons, the Nangiyans do not care for xiaoyin, and the mining companies are allowed to sell it to jewelers, who work it into items for the Feizhou [Africa] trade. On the other hand, xiaoyin becomes so prized in Tarshish that the government forbids its export and requires miners to exchange it for gold at a fixed rate. It is an indication of how much the Emir cares for xiaoyin that the official rate is very close to the black-market rate. Emir Hisham IV becomes utterly obsessed with xiaoyin, both for its rarity and its appearance and nearly bankrupts Tarshish with his spending on Nangiyan xiaoyin bullion and jewelry.
+Dictionary of Empty America (1260-1410) - 6
+**OPHIR**. [OTL's Minas Gerais, Brazil] and environs] Colony of the Kingdom of Castile in Terra Nova. Unlike its more maritime-oriented neighbors, Aragon and al-Andalus, Castile is a late entrant into the scramble for colonies in the New World. However, Alfonso X "The Learned," took a great interest in the lands across the Ocean Sea, although Castile's ambitions in that direction were hampered by the lack of access to either the western or southern coasts of Iberia. Other projects consumed Alfonso's attention until the end of his reign, but he passed his fascination on to his son, Sancho IV, who took the throne in 1284. Sancho opportunistically aligns himself with the Khanate and joins in the general attack on France in 1292, acquiring Guyenne in the process. Bordeaux is an excellent port and gives Castile a first-class outlet to the Cantabric Sea, rekindling Castile's interest in overseas expansion. In 1295, Sancho charters an expedition to found a colony in the hopes of establishing a base for expanded trade with Mu-lan-P'i. The flotilla, which departs in 1296, is commanded by Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán. The political machinations that resulted in Sancho ordering Guzmán to lead the enterprise are complex, but he is an effective and intrepid commander of men. The best information available suggests that it is possible to cross Terranova from East to West, and it is Guzmán's task establish a Castillan claim on the coast of Terranova, then forge inland, blazing a trail to Mu-Lan-P'i.
+After a rough crossing, Guzmán's ships explore the Terranovan coast, putting in frequently for fresh water and whatever food they can find. After weeks of cruising, they discover a simply spectacular harbor [Guanabara Bay], and Guzmán decides to found his settlement at the foot of a mountain near the harbor. He names both the mountain [OTL's Sugarloaf Mountain] and the town "Catayo" [OTL's Rio de Janeiro], after the legendary city that was the gateway to the realm of Prester John. Guzmán also lays claim, in the name of the King of Leon-Castile, to a large and ill-defined area that he christens Ophir, after a Biblical land of vast riches. He and his men spend months clearing land and building shelter, including a stockade from which to repel any potential attackers. After all is in readiness, Guzmán and his party strike out into the wilderness, determined to find a way across the continent to Mu-lan-P'i. After marching for months and enduring great hardships, Guzmán's men stumble back into Catayo, exhausted. While they discovered no Nangiyan settlements, they did come across numerous species of Terranovan megafauna - olifaunts [mastodons], tarasques [glyptodonts], giant ground sloths and other exotica. Don Guzmán gives his explorers some much needed rest, then decides upon another tack.
+Guzmán determines that further exploration of the coast is called for, to see if there is a way to cross Terranova by water. He knows that, several years earlier, the Vivaldi expedition managed to find its way through the Straight of Satanaxio [OTL's Straight of Magellan] far to the south, but he hopes that perhaps there is a navigable river that could take them far enough into the interior. Guzmán takes several ships into what he christens the Rio Hiddekel [OTL's Rio Plata] and voyages up the Pishon [Uruguay] and Gihon [Parana] rivers, but does not find his passage to Mu-lan-P'i.
+Lack of determination is not one of Guzmán's flaws, so he strikes out overland yet again, only to be driven back. It is on his third trip that his men discover gold in the mountains. This, of course, changes everything. Guzmán, who is a very good subject of King Sancho IV, immediately sends word back to Castile - he will need men to dig mines and he will need ships and soldiers to protect them. The lure of gold is irresistible, and Castile does not lack for men ready to make their fortunes. Soon they are arriving by the shiploads. Guzmán, the newly-minted Duke of Ophir, oversees it all. He founds a mining settlement, Quivira [OTL's Ouro Preto, Brazil] to serve the gold fields and fortifies Catayo against attack. The attack is soon coming. In 1301, Venice, still at the height of its power, declares war on Pedro and assembles a fleet and a mercenary army to take Ophir away from him.
+This is the chance that Jaime II of Aragon has been waiting for. The House of Barcelona has been itching for some payback against the Most Serene Republic since it brought a Sartak Khan's Erkut army to Sicily in 1265, snatching it from the hands of Pedro III. Now it is time to take Venice down a peg or two. Jaime quickly aligns with Sancho - who, since Castile is completely outclassed by Venice when it comes to maritime power, thankfully welcomes the addition of the sizable fleet of Aragonese galleys and round ships. In May of 1301, the two monarchs mass their fleets at Valencia, and simultaneously pull off the diplomatic coup that dramatically alters the shape of the war. The Caliphate of Al-Andalus, Venice's loyal ally for decades, has refused to enter the fray. The Muslims of al-Andalus have been pushing away from Venice in small ways for several years, urged on by bitter memories of Venice's assistance in the Mongol conquest of Dar al-Islam and their alliance with the destroyer of Baghdad, Hulegu Khan. The Caliph's adroit diplomacy has subtly helped to keep Castile and Aragon at odds for years, and now that the two most powerful Christian monarchs in Iberia have joined forces, he is certainly not going to invite a renewed reconquesta by entering a war which does not involve Andalusian interests.
+The Caliph's actions enrage the Doge of Venice, Pietro Gradenigo, and the Venetian government vows to retaliate, once the Allied threat is dealt with. With the Caliphate neutral and possibly covertly bargaining with the enemy, Admiral Andrea Dandolo has no choice but to move the Venetian Western Fleet from Cueta to Amalfi, where they take on a full compliment of oarsmen and soldiers. The Khan has asserted a more benevolent neutrality and allows his maritime ally to use his primary port in the Mediterranean. Pedro and Jaime are in no position to protest.
+On June 15, 1301, the Aragonese and Castillan fleets pounce upon Dandolo's ships in the Conillera channel off the coast of Majorca. It is the last of the great pre-gunpowder galley battles, and the Allied ships annihilate the Venetians. Gradenigo purportedly dies when he receives news of the defeat, and his replacement, Admiral Dandolo's father Giovanni, is elected Doge. Venice, without allies and with the western Mediterranean - the gateway to its colonies in the New World - in the hands of its enemies, sues for peace.
+The treaty is remarkably lenient and realistic, considering that Aragon and Castile simply do not have the power to take the fight up the Adriatic to Venice proper, and the Khan would never allow them to advance overland. Also, Venice, Aragon and now Castile all have to live together in the New World, and no one power can exclude the others. Some small, sparsely settled islands change hands - Venice transfers Rivoalto [Martinique] and San Marco [Dominica] to Aragon, and Isola da Fiori [Guadalupe] San Pietro [Montserrat] to Castile.
+Ophir is secured for the time being, and with the war concluded, the Castillan settlers redouble their efforts to extract as much gold from the hills around Quivira. Slaves from sub-Saharan Africa start arriving in great quantities, a development that, in the years to come, will profoundly change the face of Ophir.
+**[[timelines:empty_america_-_archived_version#52|Previous chapter]]** | **[[timelines:empty_america_-_archived_version#Dictionary|Start of chapter]]**
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