Europe (The Kalmar Union)

Europe is the second smallest continent but holds the largest number of independent states. It is bordered to the West by the Atlantic Ocean. To the north the various states of the Kalmar Union stretch from the icy wastes of the sub-arctic islands to the Great North European Plain. To the east the huge nations of the Rus' touch Siberia and the Far-East. To the south the Mediterranean forms a barrier between the wealthy Iberian and Italian states and those nominally subject to the Caliphate. And in the centre lie the multitude of states forming the Holy Roman Empire and Francia.

In classical times Europe was dominated by the Mediterranean civilisations of Greece and Rome. As Rome collapsed under the weight of barbarian incursions the centre of European power shifted northward to Germany and Francia. And when those centres fell into internal conflict and decline an explosion of peoples from Scandinavia shook up the continent whilst the threat of Islamic incursion into Europe's heartland was contained at either end by the states of Iberia and that of Byzantium. The disintegration of Charlemagne's empire provided the fuse to light innumerable wars as power coalesced around Francia and the Holy Roman Empire. Later, religious conflict, as Christianity began to divide into different creeds, provided another cause for bloody and endless conflict.

European Nations
(*) = denotes leagues of sovereign states

(HRE) = Member of Holy Roman Empire (Fr) = Member of Francia (KU) = Member of Kalmar Union

Not all of the minor HRE states are shown.