Merveilles du Monde (Map Game)

After a long trek through Asia spanning two decades, Venetian explorer Marco Polo published the compiled journal of his travels in 1295. He described in great detail the Near East, with its many castles and fortresses held by many mighty empires. He entered the Gate of Iron, through which Alexander crossed into the East millennia ago. He toured the eight kingdoms of Persia and witnessed scores of miracles and wonders, many of which he dared not publish for he felt his audiences would not believe what he wrote. He described in great detail the exploits of the great Kublai Khan, the intrigue in the Emperor's court, the sprawling landscape of Yuan China, and the massive battles that took place during his stay.

Marco Polo named his work Livre des Merveilles du Monde - Book of the Marvels of the World. In publishing these journals, he brought knowledge of the eastern world back to Europe and vice versa. Just like that, the world got a little bit smaller. The Holy Roman Empire - locked in a state of interregnum with no end in sight - became aware of the wars of Kublai Khan. The faltering Byzantine Empire and its breakaway state of Trebizond became the subject of discussion from Lisbon to Kathmandu. The wealthy Abu Bakr II of Mali would seek to follow in Polo's footsteps, paving the way for the rise of Mansa Musa. The Kamakura Shogunate of Japan defeated wave after wave of Mongol forces while, an ocean over, Mesoamerica was still reeling from the fall of the Toltec Empire.

Merveilles du Monde is a spiritual successor to the Principia Moderni franchise. It sets the clock back to the year 1295, in the Late Middle Ages - in other words, an era of great change and great suffering - an era in which nations rose and fell - an era in which power was cemented ...

Map

Moderators

• Greed: Crim (talk)
• Pride: Nathan1123 (talk)
• Wrath: Feudy McPlagueface (talk)
• Gluttony: Tullin (talk)
• Sloth: Solace (talk)
• Envy: Dren (talk)
• Lust: Topaz (talk)

Important Pages

• Rules and Algorithm
• Religion
• Holy Roman Empire
• College of Cardinals
• Nations
• Flags
• Treaties
• Wars
• List of monarchs

The Game

1550

With Pope Zephyrinus II still vacant from Rome after several years, the College of Cardinals in Rome elects Francis Xavier as Leo XII.

The Scrooby Congregation of Manchester unites with another group led by preacher John Smyth, forming the largest group of Presbyterians in the British isles. The city of Portsmouth begins to house a sizeable Wagnerist minority, with a native named Cyril Burt publishing an extensive and soon widespread new translation of the Bible in English, known as the Burt Bible.

In Europe with deveolopments in Pistol technology, the Pistol replaces the use of the lance. The wheellock pistol is used with the cavelry, the pistol only being afordable for those who have enough for a lance.

The summit level canal between Alster and the Trave in Germany ceases to be navigable.

In West Africa a war breaks out between the Ashanti Empire and the Oyo Empire. Ashanti Warrior-King Agyenim Tuffour leads the rapid conquest having secured support among his people through marriage and charisma. His leadership proves impressive and he personally strikes down the Oyo Emperor in the heat of battle.

The Viceroyalty of New Spain imports chocolate to Europe from Mesoameirca, the traditional delicacy of the Huestec elites, is now being served in compact candies among European nobility.

Prince Peter V of Moldavia abdicates in favor of his son, Alexander III. Being a rather ambitious military background, Alexander reorganizes the military of Moldavia in preparation of further expansion. This new military is largely composed of Cumanian vassal clans across the lower Bug River

In the heart of the densest part of the Yucatan, the City-State of Tayasal throws off Spanish control of the region, utilizing the harsh conditions of the jungle to ensure their independence, as the last remnant of the ancient Mayan Empire. This effectively creates a "hole" in the Viceroyalty in the middle of the Yucatan.

The Sabhani Empire launches their campaign to unite the Ganges River, invading the Janpur Sultanate to the south. The achieve a decisive victory at the end of the year by capturing the city of Lucknow.

Altan Khan, a direct descendent of the Genghisid/Yuan dynasty, takes control over the Buryat Khaganate in Central Asia. Having consolidated power over the disparate Mongolian clans that have migrated since the fall of the Northern Yuan, he seeks new ways to legitimize his rule as successor of the Great Khans. So far he primarily does this by standardizing Buddhism in the region, and encouraging the Northern Silk Road.

In Borneo, the Brunei Sultanate begins to greatly expand and vassalizes the states immediately bordering them. The Sultan Saiful Rijal reaches out to the Spanish and Portuguese for purchasing modern armaments for his nation, in exchange for access to the spice trade.

Anna of Bavaria (1475-1550), an unmarried aunt of Duke Otto VI/VIII of Bavaria, dies of natural causes.

In Wales, Teleri ferch Cadfael (1497-1550), sister of Duke Myrddin II of Gwynedd, dies of a disease.

• Celtic Confederacy: With the end of the war with France, the economy is the formost issue on the Kings mind, as the economy has been left in shambles by the war. With several years now having passed since the end of the war, he becomes increasingly aware of the English domination of many trade routes traditionally plied by Celtic Traders, and although there is a strong desire to reclaim these, Kenneth knows we are in no position to challenge another power in our current state. Hence, he seeks to open stronger trade relations with the Spanish Empire, who we have historically had good relations with. In order to ensure this goes through, he proposes the marriage of his son, David, to a Spanish Princess, and an official alliance between the two countries (Spanish response needed). A number of impoverished Irish and Scottish men also begin taking indentured servitude contracts in the Spanish colonies, in order to seek a better life and hopefully send some money home to their families once their contracts dare up, something that is encourged by King Kenneth as a way to help establish ties with the Spanish. An explorer by the name of Archibald Wallace, descendant of the famous William Wallace, also comes to Kenneth with a proposal for a company to explore the New world. However, due to the economic circumstances of present Scotland, this is unable to be done. Instead, he heads to England, and asks to enter the Service of England as an explorer. (ENGLISH RESPONSE NEEDED). The CCC also makes an offer to the Ashanti Empire to sell them excess equiptment and the latest in Weapons technology for a high price, to help them in their war with the Oyo Empire, and also seeks to open trade relations (MOD RESPONSE NEEDED).
  • England Diplomacy: Archibald Wallace is accepted into the service of RETEC, the company managing England's exploration and colonisation in Meridia.
  • The Ashanti purchase a small number of western arms, but are hesistant to invest too greatly in the expensive, difficult to maintain, and complex weapons.
• Tsardom of Russia: Temyruk and Nestoras Manikis manage to put down much of the revolt after linking up with Sergey Volkov whose Cossacks had been under siege over the course of the Winter by the Tatar rebels at Tsaritsyn. Temyruk's circassians attack the Tartar flank drawing them away from the fort. They are drawn just south of the River where Manikis leading the mounted steltsy and Cossack carry encircle them and massacring the rebel forces on the west bank of the Volga around the ruins of old Sarai. In the campaign that follows under the overall command of Manikis The Cricassian, and Rus' forces carry out a campaign of slaughter cowing much of the Tatars into submission upon reaching the city of Astrakhan they find much of the population has fled the city while only really the sickly or dead remain there. In the area around the city of Astrakhana ghastly scenes of ritual sacrifice remain with the mangled corpses with the backs cut open, or half decapitated in piles. The funny thing noticed, however, is that those being killed aren't just Rus' but also Tatars leading to a great deal of confusion amongst the Russian forces. The Kniaz Yaroslav meets the war host at Astrakhan accompanied by his entourage. After some investigation into the origins of the Tatar uprising it is discovered that a new group of raiders had arisen a few years prior in the region coming from the Lands to the North. They had developed a following amongst many of the unhappy Tatars with their treatment under the Rus'. While most of the Tatars who fought against Rus' were just discontented serfs and children of former Tatar nobles or men whose women or daughters had been married off to Rus' and other new comers in the region, a group of Paganist fanatics under the leadership of a Terrifying Mystic who the native Tatars believe to be a demon. It is believed by the Tatars and the others that they were the ones who massacred the garrison in Asktrakhan and then soon proceeded to kill even the Tatars and as months of bloodlust swept over the region of Astrakhan. Many of the survivors of these deaths and those caused by the Rus', begin flocking to the small town of Rurik outside Tsaritsyn Where they seek the protection of St. Dimitry from the violence engulfing the Steppes. Konstantin once more offers his support to the former supporters of Sigismund in the elections. Administrative ad military reforms continue. New roads  connecting the various riverways, alongside new mule stations, and a growing postal system are built to better relay information and supplies across the expansion realms of the Rus'. Drilling of the Kiev, Moscow, Tver, and Novgorod levies continues forming the core force of the Russian army, and as tensions in Poland and Moldavia grow, with the recent mustering Moldavia's forces. An envoy from Kiev is sent to Alexander of Moldavia (his nephew) requesting information as to why the young Kniaz is mustering his military. (Mod response). The education of the Dimitry the Younger's (1539) education oand formal martial training begins under Yuri Stroganov in Novgorod where he is provided with a very strict orthodox teaching of theology so as to attempt to avoid the same dubious behaviour of his older brother. It is decided by that The Stroganov's younger daughter Sophia (1541) shall marry him while the older Irene Stroganov shall instead wed Sergey Volkov to improve cooperation between the Stroganov and the Volkov families. Furthermore, the Stroganovs are granted large estates along the Kama river up the Volga provided they can fortify and consolidate these lands. The Moscow Arsenal continues to produce armour, weapons, muskets, and culverians. Wheelocks are imported from the Greeks for the Hussars and Cossacks which combined with the Shashka being adopted by many of the Cossacks picking up on the designs of the Circassian allies. Ironworking around the arsenal starts to develop for tools, as Moscow steadily grows. Stables are also built around the arsenal to accommodate the increased demands for horses. Cattle, and Horse Husbandry in Kazan is promoted by the Stroganovs as well as exploitation of salt reserves in Kazan and the Perm region as demand for horses, hides, and salted meats grow as military expansion and reforms continue. Graneries and warehouses for storage are also built to provide To ensure State reserves of supplies for the military, church, and for the serfs of the state are Plenty.
  • The Sejm of Poland concur with the Tsar to support the Zbaraski family.
  • Prince Alexander assurs his uncle that his ambitions for the good of the Moldavian people will be beneficial for their Slavic allies in Russia
  • Konstantin's emissary inquires into a possible purchase of the rest of the Don region would be possible in exchange for Russian support in Alexander's campaigns. Furthermore, Konstantin I offers to partially finances and provide assistance in the form of officers and mercenaries to train and bolster his army.
  • Alexander doesn't want to relinquish all that region, but is willing to make a deal for a smaller cession of territory in exchange for financial and mercenary support only.
  • Konstantin agrees but requests that Rus' who live or have businesses in the region be allowed to carry on and that The Russian Crown can continue to rely upon the local Cossack communities to bolster the Russian defences in Eastern Front. Promising to come to the Aid of Moldavia as a friend and Family of the Tsar. (Mod response required).
• Georgia: Georgia accepts the deal with Russia dividing the North Caucasus. Irene begins writing on the recent history of Georgia - not only describing the events, but also adding her commentary. These writings would form the first chapters of the “Nathaniad”. Meanwhile, George’s son, Simon, marries Ana Guramshvili. By the end of the year, she has a daughter named Barbare.The military continues to be reformed under the direction of George. The heavy cavalry are outfitted with lighter lances. They are also outfitted with pistols, which they will use to break up the enemy ranks before switching to melee. Caucasian horses are bred with steppe horses to improve their stamina and increase their speed; however, since the resultant crosses are smaller and thus unable to carry heavy loads, heavy cavalry mounts continue to be of the Caucasian (particularly Armenian) variety. The use of horse meat, blood, and entrails in food becomes popular. Milk from horses also becomes popular. It is consumed both raw and fermented (which also causes the milk to turn into an alcoholic beverage). However, as horse milk doesn’t have casein, it cannot be turned into cheese. Horseback riding and mounted archery continue to be common pastimes - especially among the elite. Polo is introduced into Georgia, with Nathan himself known to be an avid fan of the sport. He orders the construction of polo grounds in all three of Georgia’s capitals, organizing a polo competition shortly following the completion of the one in Tabriz. The "Europeanization" of the Georgian aristocracy - particularly in western Georgia - continues, in a bid to distance themselves from Persianate culture, which is rapidly falling out of favor. The number of Christians residing in Georgia's peripheral territories is strengthened, with thousands of Armenians being resettled in areas with a strong Muslim presence. The Albanians continued to be assimilated into the Heretian population. The economy continues to flourish due to the export of silk and cotton, and the development of the textile industry. More mulberry and cotton plantations are built. Military expansion continues: the artillery corps is expanded, more muskets and other gunpowder weapons are produced with the expansion of the Tbilisi Arsenal, while more state-owned stables and studs are built. The cities of Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin are fortified, with the installation of defensive cannons and thickening of their walls.
• Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di" With the Spanish Sending troops ariving in Lotharingia, and thus arriving in the City of Atrecht. 5,000 German mercenaries arriving and the 10,000 soldiers send by the king of Spain himself, Thus the left over 1,000 Belgians Burn the Bridges and flood the Somme and then Begin together with her allies to build. Thus Ditches and mounds between the layers of the city walls. The Soldiers attempting to build a new wall with wood, stone and any other material and placing dirt between these walls. The excrement of the inhabitants often being used between layers as they solidify and are able to be used as compartmental walls and to keep some of the in its place, while also giving some waterproofing to the walls, the plan being to ensure Food by shipments via the Scarpe a tributary of the Scheldt river. The plan being to supply it using small ships which bring in food and building material from the north, although this does face the issue that most of the city is south of the city. Thus the last journey trough the city done by the poor and those who are less able pulling carts and sleds across the city to reach the walls to reinforce it. Jean Frans ordering all Dirty fat to be given to the army in city as the fat is used for lubing equipment and to help make wicks for the punaisiers. While in Luxembourg the Army under old but still healthy Paul de Kremer, and his army of 36,000 continue their defence, building walls and waiting for the Enemy to come. Dulle griet being readied to fire on the enemy, as the cannon does require some work to get back work and improve their qualities. While this all is going down the Groot Belgische raad continue's the writing of the "Nieuwe Groot Belgische Wet" as to finaly reform Belgia into a new and more modern state instead of one based on two century old law.
• Empire of Ayutthaya: This year, Tabinschwenti passed on due to an assassination attempt by a noble family hailing from the city of Ava while out on a hunt for a rumored white elephant started by those in league with the conspirators. Across the Empire, in regions discontent with Ayutthayan rule, local nobles overthrew and slaughtered officials assigned to oversee their cities as well as eliminating the Capital Defense Corps forces in those cities with some officials being able to escape due to the loyalty of the Capital Defense Corps officers. After hearing of the chaos breaking out across the Empire, Bayinnaung who was conducting business within the Khmer vassal helping to fortify their position and ensure their stability takes a portion of the Ayutthayan-Khmer forces active in the reion fortfying it and marches toward the city of Ayutthaya which has remain loyal due to the work of the enlarged local garrison and officials within the city as well as local residents from the Japanese quarter.. Deciding to attack both the Malay Peninsula and Phitsanulok due to being trapped between them geographically, Bayinnaung would divide his forces with the larger portion of his forces being put under his command and attack Phitsanulok. Binnya Dala commands a smaller force directed at attacking and securing the Malay Peninsula starting with Six Pagodas Pass where a garrison force is left to hold it while Binnya Dala continued onward. Both campaigns take a good portion of the year with the remaining cities in Siam quickly submitting to Bayinnaung after he conquered Phitsanulok and marshalled forces to Six Pagodas Pass with a portion of the forces being reassigned to Binnya Dala for his siege of Malacca which fell along with the rest of the Peninsula allowing for the Ayutthayan Navy to be put under Bayyinaung. The naval forces in Malacca are prepared to dispatch ships carrying troops and supplies to Dagon which has been besieged by opposition forces with loyalist forces holding the city. In the Tenasserim Coast, Smim Htaw has mobilized his forces to Six Pagodas Pass to block Bayinnaung's armies from advancing through it and removing him from his position as ruler of Martaban.
• Abbasid Caliphate: These year would mark the end of the Ash'athite rebellion, with Shah Ariyāramna al-Gurkāni Mirza storming the compound at Malayer and systematically execution of the Ayatollah and his affiliates that constituted the original Ash'athites. The Ash'athites would not dissipate completely however, but wouldn't formally organize again until the collapse of the Abbasid Empire in the 17th century. Either way, the end of the Shi'ites rebellions that once hindered Arabic expansion would aid in the Caliphate's final march, leaving Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman to lead the final march on Yazd in an effort to capture the last Safavid monarch and exert total dominance over Iran. He leads 50,000 men. (Algo Needed).
  • Gurkani Sultanate: Shah Ariyāramna al-Gurkāni Mirza of Persia would rule Iran for a period of 45 years, and much of his early years as Shah would consist of quelling a variety of rebellions while maintaining Sunni hegemony over Persia. The capital, Efsahan, would begin its reconstruction this year, taking on architecture reminiscent of the Greco-Roman and Achaemenid influence.
• Kingdom of Morocco: Actual, developing and modernizing few of the population is bring up its search they construct more new thing some half of territory in the desert is being Controlled by the monarchs and its sultan by the way a new law its establish from the speech of multi-culturism and enjoyable of religions way expect, the bank are giving more money and its support in term of development so far most of Europeans merchant come mostly in the Coast part a way in the view the berber-among speaking recruiting some upgrade and pay a lot the council in Morocco demands a way to develop a new period and strategy hope is going be good at least that the government has search its trade in positives.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. Simon and Azaria have a second kid a boy named Avery. Vivien has a girl named Matilda. With the new military weapon called the pistol our army adapts to the use of it and adopts it into the arsenal of weapons that we use. We send about 50 assassins to Friuli Venezia Giulia with assassin gauntlets on their arms that have phantom blades. They also have the newly made pistols on them for close quarter combat. These assassins are to kill the government of the nation. After a few days we send 25,000 troops into the nation for an invasion led by General John Zápolya. Then our navy sends 40 ships to blockade the ports and coast lead by Petar Keglević. (Algo needed)
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.
• Kingdom of Portugal: The king visits all of the colonies while also meeting with the captain of the 1550 expedition. Then he travels to Gordes where he ives an important speech. Meanwhile, the king passes the Mauritius Integration Act which integrates Mauritius as a full scaled province with the same status as Sao Tome, Azores and the Madieras. The flag of Portuguese Mauritius is the Portuguese flag defaced with the picture of the Dodo.
• Wagenaar Colonies: Following the defeat of the French attack outside of Broekden in 1548, that city has largely recovered. Sjerd Groenewoud, the prominent trader who led the men of Broekden in battle has his leadership praised by the council, which lends further credence to his ideology of expansion. Therefore, Broekden continues to expand into Mikmaq lands to gain a greater foothold in Ruysch (also known as Meridia). Fishing and whaling continue to lend themselves to the prosperity of Broekden. Meanwhile, up in Kebeck, the economy is driven by trapping, trading, and fishing (mostly for herring). Here, too, expansion continues as more people from Europe (mostly from Belgia, but also Catholics and Columbites from majority-Jungist states) decide to move to the new world.
• Kingdom of England: With the aid of the contingent of soldiers, RETEC establishes several farms and military fortifications beyond Atlantic Harbour, along the coast of OTL Atlantic and Cape May Counties. Though, because of the large population of soldiers RETEC's Meridian colony continues to face pressure in terms of food supply and other resources. Tensions with the Lenape also remain high as they are some clashes between farmers and tribespeople. Francis Beaufort, one of RETEC's leaders in Atlantic Harbour, suggests an organised military campaign to subjugate/drive away the Lenape in the vicinity of the settlement in order to make the colony more secure. Thomas Colonna, 2nd Earl of Southampton, who arrived from England this year to be Atlantic Harbour's new administrator following the departure of Philip Courtenay, 3rd Earl of Bristol, is somewhat reluctant, but with RETEC mercenary commander Henry Borgburg also supporting such a move, the RETEC leaders begin to strategise and prepare troops for this plan. The English Parliament continues to provide funding for RETEC's efforts, though with the simultaneous deployment of English mercenaries to Lotharingia they do not supply RETEC with any additional troops at this time. Meanwhile, in England, the increased prominence of the Scrooby Congregation in Manchester causes tensions with local Catholics and alarms the English clergy. The English Inquisition focuses its operations on the Manchester area to halt the spread of Presbyterianism, with Alexander Anderson's mercenary company providing the Inquisitors with security and enforcement. Some Parliamentarians suggest outright expelling the Irish immigrants that are the core of the Congregation from England; there are many discussions in the Parliament about this suggestion, though Queen Margaret and King Edward X are hesitant about it, worried that it doing so may have negative consequences on England's foreign relations. Nonetheless, late in the year, with the support of Archbishop of Canterbury Reginald Pole (and effective neutrality of the co-monarchs). the Inquisition begins arresting Irish Presbyterians and expelling them from England, forcing them to go to the Presbyterian settlements in France or elsewhere in Europe. However, other parts of the Church in England, such as religious orders like the Mercedines, are not happy with this operation which they see as overly aggressive. The English Parliament also gathers some of the English army near Manchester in order to put down any revolts, though they see this operation as the optimal strategy for preventing greater unrest in this area in the future. The 5,000 English mercenaries sent to Lotharingia remain active there. Lincolnshire priests continue gathering funds from nobles for the reconstruction of the spire of Lincoln Cathedral, benefiting from the political support of Queen Margaret and King Edward X. The English Parliaments also funds the improvement of roads and related infrastructure in Cornwall and southwestern England, in order to increase domestic trade and improve the overall economy in this relatively backwater region. Sessilía Sturlungur (1485-1550), the widow of King Edward VII of England, dies of natural causes. Beatrice Beaufort (1481-1550), aunt of Queen Margaret of England and mother of Henrietta Grey, 4th Marquess of Dorset and Robert Grey, Archbishop of York, dies of a disease. Elizabeth Beaufort (b. 1527), daughter of Henry Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Lancaster, marries John Talbot (b. 1520), son of Francis Tuchet, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury. Edmund de la Pole and Frances de Vere have their second child, a son named Richard (b. 1550); and Thomas of York the Younger and Maud of Gloucester have ther second child, a daughter named Bridget (b. 1550). With Francis Xavier being elected as Pope Leo XII, he is succeeded as Patriarch of the Western Church by his fellow Jesuit and close friend Ignatius of Loyola (b. ~1491).
• Saxony: Kolias Kape continues his stay with the Iroquois Confederacy, becoming quite respected. He learns about its culture, and introduces European culture too. He teaches some of the Iroquois to speak German, and soon some Iroquois children are being taught German. He also discusses religion with the Iroquois, and attempts to introduce Jungism and Christianity to them, and while some are interested, most do not care for this. After discussions with chiefs, he recognizes on behalf of the Old World, the Iroquois Confederacy as an independent nation of the world, and declares himself Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire to the Iroquois Confederacy. Having attempted to map a considerable portion of this region of Meridia, Kape sends some of his men on to explore other parts of the continent while he intends to remain among the Iroquois for another year. Meanwhile, back in the actual Duchy of Saxony, Wolfgang voices his support for the Arlesian Pope, Zephyrius, despite having sent troops to aid Lotharingia against Arles a couple of years ago. He points out that the Cardinals cannot elect another Pope merely because the Pope they already elected happens to be out of the country. To cool the situation, he suggests that Francis Xavier is given the title Regens (Regent) Leo, to govern the Papal States and lead the Roman Church in the Pope's absence. (Mod Response).
• Roman Empire: Andronikos counter offers, he proposes that Trieste become a Roman protectorate. He does demand that it host a Roman Garrison in a pair of fortresses, one north of the town and the other to the southwest, to be constructed by Rome. He proposes to limit the total garrison to 4,000 men as well to appease Italian fears. Finally, to discourage further fighting and perhaps ease tensions between both sides he maintains his offer of a marriage between Kaisar Manuel and Princess Ippolita of Modena. (Mod Response, Please) The death of Strategos Dragut weighs heavily on both Andronikos and the naval staff of the empire. Command of the Roman fleet passes to his favorite officer, Strategos Aris Matakos. The administration of the empire decays rapidly as the ranks of the Tagmata, who served in all offices of government, were severely depleted at Trieste. Thus, unhappiness with the new Senate, combined with a general failure of government to support the population during the war, creates unrest in Constantinople. Merchants demand access to the emperor, and a boycott on grain imports is imposed by the guild of grain merchants to force the government to comply with their demands for power. Andronikos is enraged by this move, but lacks the support of the city's inhabitants and is unable to quell the dissent. Outside of the capital and its political chaos, the strain of war weighs down the people. The demands on ship-captains and merchants reduces the volume and quality of trade, and with tax revenue equally reduced the waging of the Trieste campaign increasingly requires higher taxes.
  • The Italians accept this deal for the time being

1551

The election of the king of Poland becomes slightly contentious between Sigsmund's younger son and brother, named Casimir and John, respectively. Although most nobles are in favor of John, who is crowned as King John II of Poland, this causes instability in the nation, which Prince Alexander of Moldavia wishes to capitalize on. Alexander leads an army of 20,000 troops to invade Poland.

After the campaigns of the Byzantines against the Italians near Trieste, growing unrest takes place within their provinces across Greece and Peloponnesia proper. The large number of Italian immigrants to these regions, intermixed with the previous Latin population of previous generations, erupts into violence with neighboring Greek Orthodox communities. The Orthodox in the regions blame the Catholic population for the deaths of the Byzantine armies in the invasions of Italy, which results in the massacre of 70 Italians in Corinth.

The Tian Dynasty launches a punitive campaign against the Four Oirot Khaganate, to subjugate them into the tributary system once again. The Mongols prove highly resilient and cost the Tian significant resources.

Belgian settlers along the Uruguay River in Meridia encounter tribes of the Guarani people, who are fierce warriors that dominate the region this far deep into the jungles. The Guarani are less interested in attempts by the Belgian private companies to trade.

The fifth outbreak of sweating sickness in England. John Caius of Shrewsbury writes the first full contemporary account of the symptoms of the disease.

The growing power of the Brunei Sultanate across Indonesia allows for Muslim states to become more powerful in their regions. The Makassar Sultanate fully unites the island of Sulawesi, and the Manguidinao Sultanate subjugates the southern half of Mindanao Island.

In Wales, Catherine Asburgo-della Rovere (1480-1551), mother of Duke Myrddin II of Gwynedd, dies of a disease.

In Portugal, Constance of Thuringia (1480-1551), widow of former King John II of Portugal, dies of natural causes.

In Arles, Marcuse of Bruce-Anjou (1482-1551), uncle of King Louis II of Arles, dies of natural causes.

• Mali Empire: The civil war reaches a conclusion this year as the Mossi kingdom is fully re-annexed again. The native Mossi rulers that were not killed in battle were imprisoned in Niani, and the kingdom itself was partitioned into four kingdoms: Ouagadougou, Tenkodogo, Fada N'gourma, and Yatenga. These were originally vassals of Mossi, which were now made direct vassals of the empire. The rebel states of Baol and Salum were likewise absorbed by neighboring kingdoms, solidifying the imperialist faction of Waalo across the Maghans of the Gbara. Aswed Zahri returned to the Manding core with the southern armies of the empire, having completed his work in the subjugation of Burkina Faso. The death tolls recorded for his actions have made him a gravely infamous figure in later generations, but contemporary to his own time he was hailed as a hero. The generation following the death of Mamamoo is often viewed as a dark time of Mali's history, and for many people this is largely blamed on Mansa Musa III himself. Musa, however, may not have had as much control over the situation as we may think. The Jaesh Al-Ghul (ghost soldiers) necessitated a new restructure of the military, which had largely remained unchanged since the days of Simba I, but at this point the power of the military rested solely in the hands of the Southern Viceroy, Aswed Zahri. Luqman Al-Lebu was officially recognized as the Northern Viceroy, but after the Mossi campaign Aswed was not relinquishing his share of the imperial army. Economically, Musa attempted to reach out to restore the Saharan caravan trade, and sent envoys to both Tunis and Cairo to re-establish diplomacy with the Wileyats of the Abbasid Caliphate, but this action was strongly blocked by the allies of Waalo in the Gbara. Nonetheless, the envoys reaching Tunisia and Egypt offered to arrange a marriage with his second daughter Zaynab (b. 1522) (Abbasid Response), and to improve relations with the ruler of Egypt. He further sent his eldest daughter Zuhur (b.1520) to be married to the ruler of Morocco. (MOD RESPONSE). Musa's third son Ahmad (b.1528) was installed as the ruler of Yatenga in Mossi, and married to a woman of the former dynasty there named Awa (b.1535). Culturally, art and music in Mali continues to stagnate as religious conservatism takes hold across the empire, in both Yunni and Sunni circles. Mamamoo was often considered the penultimate philosopher of Mali's "Golden age", and after his death the only notable philosophical writings are exclusively commentaries on his work, or his hagiography. Most new works of literature and poetry at this time come from the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Senegal River, as the vassal Serar Kingdoms compete with each other for economic and political supremacy, along with the Babani people farther north. In the west, Mansa Musa officially recognizes the colonies of Bebaghad to annex the coast of Meridia from Kambina (Recife) as far south as Jadid (Rio de Jenairo). Each one of the half-dozen colonies along the coast were nominally under the authority of the respective Serar or Berber state that sponsored them, but effectively the Bebaghad Colony acted as a single entity under the direct control of the Gbara. Musa's second son Simba (b.1521) was named the first "Viceroy of the West", which would prove to be a temporary office. In order to enforce this new administration, the Serer navigator Ilyas Joofa is sent to subjugate the Ceata people using 3,000 troops and 600 cavalry, using the advanced technology of arquebuses and two cannons. (Algo request). This, however, was only the start. Rahi Mukhamil led a more ambitious campaign for the subjugation of the Tupinanda people across southern Meridia, after they had rejected the Islamic religion presented by Imam Musa. 5,000 troops and 800 cavalry are sent to Zimzalabim (Bahia), and recruit as many native allies as possible among the Tamoia people before marching on their Tupi rivals. The promise is made that any of the Tamoia or Tupi that supports the Empire will be given all the settled lands acquired, and made a direct imperial vassal, after they convert to Islam. (Algo/Mod response.)

• Georgia: The "Europeanization" of the Georgian aristocracy - particularly in western Georgia - continues, in a bid to distance themselves from Persianate culture, which is rapidly falling out of favor. The number of Christians residing in Georgia's peripheral territories is strengthened, with thousands of Armenians being resettled in areas with a strong Muslim presence. The Albanians continued to be assimilated into the Heretian population. The economy continues to flourish due to the export of silk and cotton, and the development of the textile industry. More mulberry and cotton plantations are built.Military expansion continues: the artillery corps is expanded, more muskets and other gunpowder weapons are produced with the expansion of the Tbilisi Arsenal, while more state-owned stables and studs are built. The cities of Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin are fortified, with the installation of defensive cannons and thickening of their walls.
• Empire of Japan: With Maguidanao, having secured much of Mindanao partially with Japanese assistance as promised with the prior vassalization agreement, the Japanese zaibatsu begin investing into the port of Cagayan to help develop it into a more widescale port. Some other investments are put into the Rusung archipelago specifically to help more notably develop its agricultural base. Sugary specifically on Samar Island has begun to take hold as a primary product of the region with notabe other sugar production going on across Visayas, Japanese, Tondo or otherwise affiliated. At home Jomei finally pins down a small group of Daimyo running a corrupt and illegal trade ring and exposes them to the Diet. Noting some of the slumped taxes as of late alot of this is blamed on these Daimyo having secured an illegal major source of untaxed income. This in reality is somewhat in relation to the Ikko-Ikki revolts which the Emperor and high Daimyo noble families have tried to find a way to distract from. Emperor Jomei is relatively happy with the success of the colony of Kenzo and authorizes full funding for another colony farther south set up by a small group of former soldiers with intent to bring their families at some point. Their small colony is started as a fort is is named Fort Tokawa with set up to develop the lands around it as a small town. Natives have been contacted in varied amounts between these two areas and a small amount of trade is embarked upon which is actually instrumental in the first year of survival for Fort Tokawa. The exodus of Jizamurai to the settlement of Kenzo continues having gone from roughly 100 settlers initially to nearly 800 in the last five years. This seems to be stemming from many looking for a new life in a colonial region that is not cold and inhospitable. To the north, however, in Arasakura the claims and direct control along the coast has continued heavily as many far ranging outposts and lumber camps have been established. The entirety of Arasakura boasts a population of roughly 2,000 since the establishment of the colonies. Some pushes are made to discovery veritible crops that can be grown in the colonies farther south that would maximize the value. It is noted that rice yields in the Kenzo colony are much lower than in the homeland. However, with Tabako (Tobacco) having been introduced by the Romans and Spanish in recent years it is noted that Tabako can be grown and is taken up until other crops can be taken. While not necessarily having been important or popular in Japan the use of Tobacco has started to see an upswing as the more aristocratic elite have taken up using the product. An upswing in agriculture and rice yields have been noted in Manzhuguo as more people have developed or settled the lands. A notable effect of longtime intermixing of Japanese and Manchus in the region has seen some of the less independently minded Manchus take up more Japanese culture, tradition, diet and many other habits. It is clear that many of the Jurchens have begun to assimilate a bit more clearly. Some of the more independently minded ones to the north, however, entrench in their own tradition and wish to maintain their cultural independence. However, with so much open territory and a relative lack of infringement on the vast Manchu province lying between Manzhuguo and Siberia. It is noted, however, that a few of them have moved to Korchin to become a bit closer to their historical brethren in Korchin. 

• Tsardom of Russia: With the final suppression of the remaining Tatar revolts in the region of the Former Astrakhan Khanate, things start to quiet down. Unfortunately, however, there are scant traces of the group led by the Mystic to be found other then the stories circling of their dead from survivors of the attacks, and from former rebels. It is generally agreed upon that leniency will be the policy taking as a more conciliatory means of securing the people in the region. more to be added later.
• Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di": With the Guarani people turning to more violent means,  Willem smit begins to think of manners to make the Shepherds able to defend themselves more easly. Thus Willem Smit is thinking of getting more guns and even allowing guns to be bought without any tolling, this meant to make it cheaper to import guns. Willem Smit planning on having a small army of combined Belgian force, this force mainly existing of around 15 horsemen equipped with Swords, pistols, short spear and an iron helmet, 25 infantry split amongst punaisiers and pikeman, with a small detachment of ten logistics members. The plan being to set up a small barrack upstream the tweeplaat revier, as the shephards often follow said river. In Ruysch news arrives of the Kingdom of France trying to expand their influence over the Wagenaar famyljebedriuw holdings of Broekden and Kebeck, this News filling the people of Frisia with joy. Thus a total of 1,000 Frisians shortly there after join the Koninglyke krijgweer Belgia, thus the defense of Arras/Atrecht totals 17,000 soldiers most of these being Spanish or Germans. As these soldiers continue to build up the walls and improve the the suplies and the flow of the Scarpe River in order to receive bigger ships. While in Luxembourg the 36,000 soldiers under Paul Dekremer continue their build up of the city, adding star pointed defence around the city of Luxembourg although this is not the best of craftsmanship due to haste and the fact that many of these works are performed with the army and the local poor. Each year of the awaited siege making the city more and more of a fortress, Paul Dekremer wanting to wait to further offensive actions until the army is able to properly fortify border cities and towns. For this aid for the future offensive he sends diplomats to Russia offering work to cavalry and artilerist veterans of war in return for money and possible loot. (Russian response). Russians are very well known for their great cavalry such as in the regions around Ruthenia and Caucausus.
• Kingdom of Portugal: An expedition lands in Cape Baltimoro (OTL Baltimore) in what is named Sebastianland after King Sebastian. (permission from steph and Nate.) The king visited the town of Sebastiano near Porto where he unveiled the new statue of King Sebastian. Meanwhile, the Portuguese North American colony is founded with Afonos de Gonzales being appointed its first governor. In Cape Baltimoro, a tribe which the Portuguese calls Susquehannock begins attacking the settlement. Hearing of this, the king himself travels there to solve the situation. With the help of a translator, the king peacefully manages to solve the situation and even meets with their chief. (Mod response of the outcome of the meeting).
  • The chief of the Susquehannok are willing to negotiate Gonzales as long as their lands are not violated.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. We lost the war against Friuli Venezia Giulia last year. Our army retreats and goes back home. With Moldavia sending troops to Poland to get their vacant throne we watch from the sidelines and see what happens before doing anything. Endre and Isabella have a second child a girl named Trinity.
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.
• Majapahit Empire (Civil war): after Neyrajilaben staged the war against the House of Rasaja. Many people and many vassals sided with them. He got the presence and support of the governor of Bandar Supandi. Adji Supandi, as he comes with over 2,000 men entirely musketeers to serve as skirmishers in the field. The three Mahayardas of Timor and Yamaha and Sibuerito sided with the Aristocracy. Giving arround 6,500 soliders to serve against the declining House of Rasaja. As the Javanese aristocracy successfully fields arround 10,000 in the island of Bali seizing it ports completely. Adji Supandi sends ships to serve as transportation for the troops in Bali. As Adji Supandi leads his navy to defeat the House of Rasaja's small riverine navy in the Brantas. He completely destroys the fleet scoring control over the Brantas River. Thus, Trowulan is in danger. Lampung sides with the declining House of Rasaja after beeing promised to gain such more autonomy in future. As they sent 2,000 troops to defend up trowulan, as they quickly reached there before Adji Supandi seize of the Brantas River. The aristocracy in madura Island scores a victory against a small 100 garrison in an lighty defended by wooden walls. The aristocracy fielded arround 5,000 troops there. 600 of those are the crew of the fire trebuchets, who proved capability against the wooden walls burning them all. Hearing all the news of the advancing aristocracy. Pi quickly fields his royal army of arround 7,000 men and putts it quickly in Trowulan. He tries to send a small navy to defeat Adji Supandi's guarding navy in the Strait of Sunda to let more Lampung troops come in. Sadly they were defeated heavily. As the House of Rasaja's Lantakas and Cetbangs stood no chance against Adji Supandi's European canons. With the Co-admiral Gereyaniha taking over the field to show his might. After that he moves into Sunda territory to link up with the huge army of the rebeling aristocracy there as 15,000 soliders rebelled in the command of Atriosnibangi. The emperor Pi tries to send a small skirmish force to deal some damage to the rebeling aristocracy in Sunda but soon they were caught off guard and were forced to retreat. Neyrajilaben leads 10,000 with Adji Supandi's fleet command to secure the island of demak. As they defeated the House of Rasaja's war canoes. They crossed the river and had minor skirmishes with some anti-aristocracy forces in demak. Fully occupying them after the engagements. Now only 7,000 of the best Pi soliders and 2,000 Lampung soliders will stand against the huge assembled army and fleet going to Brantas numbering arround 38,500 men. With the command of one governor. And three aristocracts. Pi tries all his best in panic to strengthen Trowulan's fortifications as fast as he can as his paranoia of any surprise Seige at its HIEST. He vegans shouting and murdering his servants for any minor mistake. As it is only a matter of time. The Co-admiral Gereyaniha and the admiral Adji Supandi leads their almighty fleet with over 4,000 troops and many Seige wepons to speak of with European Seige Canons to go all in Bandar Lampung. The huge port was seized by the aristocracy forces after a long term fight. Giving acces to more ships that can be used for transportation and more in the upcoming Seige of Trowulan. With only a few months.. Preparing starts to get in effect. As.. The SEIGE OF TROWULAN will begin. Next... Year..
• Empire of Ayutthaya: Bayyinaung launches an assault against the forces of Smim Htaw in the Battle of Six Pagodas Pass forcing Smim Htaw to withdraw farther up the Tenasserim Coast with Bayinnaung in pursuit. Meanwhile, at Dagon, supply convoys are engaged by a fleet of ships comandeered by Smim Sawhtut's forces suffering a pretty serious blow to the naval capabilities of Bayinnaung's faction. An evacuation of both men and supplies from Dagon is undertaken on the remaining ships leaving Dagon to fall into enemy hands with the evacuees comprised of various ethnic backgrounds such as Burmans, Shans, and Mons. In an attempt to stop the armies of Bayinnaung from advancing past Martaban, Smim Sawhtut's forces are dispatched to aid Smim Htaw's in driving back the invading forces of Bayinnaung but remain vastly outnumbered with Smim Htaw being driven back to Martaban. At Martaban, Bayinnaung manages to crush the defenders by years end and begins to consoldiate his position as Smim Sawhtut's forces withdraw back into Pegu proper.
• Roman Empire: Having made peace with the League of Como Andronikos hopes to keep the peace. Having lost many close friends and allies, he is in many ways a broken man. The violence in the Peloponnesus calms after news of the peace, but the remnants of the Tagmata are deployed there to help prevent either unrest or violence. The men chosen for the task are known to be exceptionally loyal to the emperor who asks them to protect the Italians and Greeks alike. The wedding of Kaisar Manuel and Princess Ippolita of Modena is the only bright spot this year as the unrest in the capital subsides for a few weeks surrounding the ceremonies. However, there is great instability and weakness in Andronikos’ leadership without the Tagmata. He makes attempts to rebuild the force, drafting in new recruits, but the expense of the effort is too great for the strained treasury to bear, and the lack of qualified officers makes such efforts nearly pointless. Having lost his core powerbase and neglected or angered the powerful merchant families, Andronikos’ son Manuel conspires with these mercantile factions to take the throne from his father. Manuel, while not a loyal son, is a competent leader on the surface. However, he possesses greed to the same degree he lacks wisdom, which is to say he is not a thoughtful or well meaning man. Rich in his own right, he capitalizes on the unrest in the capital, bribing several Stratigoí ton Themáton to support him over his father. Though these men are military, Andronikos’ overt preference for the Tagmata has alienated many. With the support of four Themata, the navy, and the rich banking clans, Manuel launches his coup. He first brings the troops loyal to him into the city under the guise of wanting them to participate in a parade to celebrate his father’s victory over the Italians. With the vast majority of the Tagmata stationed in and around Corinth those loyal to Andronikos are few in number. Exactly one week after his wedding, the young Kaisar’s men dispense with his father’s allies, essentially murdering those officers that support the Kaisar-Autokrator and forcing the ordinary soldiers to choose surrender or death. Under the shadow of darkness, an elite contingent of officers breaks into Andronikos’ private residence where he is to be apprehended. However, the plan goes wrong. The officers do not catch Andronikos sleeping as had been planned, but rather find him furiously writing an order at his desk. The struggle leaves Andronikos slain along with several of the invaders. Manuel then crowns himself Kaisar-Basileus of the Greeks and Romans, Autokrator of the Roman Empire. News of the coup spreads quickly across the empire. Andronikos’ largely conservative supporters are disgusted by the events and quickly rally around Manuel’s 3rd Cousin once removed, John. John, who styles himself as Kaisar-Basileus John XI, rallies these supporters who form an informal army of 9,000 men in Thessaly. They march east to catch the young new emperor off guard before he can raise troops to defend the capital. Manuel’s men in the capital, having been paid-off return to their homes leaving the new emperor with limited resources as John’s army approaches. The bankers and commercial interests of the country manage to re-secure the support of the Themata employed in the coup and in total Manuelian forces number 12,000. Ignoring what few military advisors remain, Manuel departs from the city to catch John’s forces at Kavala. The two armies meet on the plains of Thrace near the Maritsa River. John’s army carries the Vergina Sun, the symbol of Macedon as Manuel’s bears the imperial banner. Arrayed out before each other, both armies carry Roman equipment, fight with Roman tactics, and shell each other with Roman artillery. The battle initially favors Manuel, whose greater numbers allow him to devote more forces to the flanks and attempt an encirclement. However, John’s troops prove both more loyal and more willing to stand and fight. They begin pushing back Manuel’s center, which crumbles and begins to route. By the end of the day, the loyalist center teeters on the edge of collapse, while the Verginaian flanks themselves have nearly broken. Both sides retreat in order as the sun sets. During the night, a detachment of loyalist troops are sent north from where they will encircle the enemy and capture John. However, on the opening of the second day of battle, John’s army is nowhere to be seen, having left in the night. It too has marched north and intercepts the flanking party, scattering the smaller force in a dramatic encounter. Having lost 3,200 men, Manuel is forced to retreat to Constantinople with John on his tail. Unable to cut the capital off from supply John takes the time to assemble a larger army but sets up a siege to force Manuel to terms. Inside the city, Manuel rallies his allies and secures the loyalty of most of Anatolia’s elites, subduing those that choose to resist. He also has a son by Ippolita late in the year, who he names Herodotus.
• Abbasid Caliphate: Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman would return to Cairo this year, deciding that Damascus would be more suited as the center of the Caliphate following the conquest of Iran. During the later years of Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman's reign, humanist ideas would become more concentrated in the Caliphate due to the export of the Taymiyyah Order to the Gurkani Empire and the restoration of the Muʿtazila in Iraq and Syria, ushering in a new period of rational ideological thought that would ultimately lead to the Second Islamic Golden Age. Through these later years, a number of concepts would be cemented to secure the longevity of the Caliphate, including the introduction of the Millet system to maintain authority over the Arabian peninsula and Ifriqiya and further administrative powers being given to the Ulema. The dynasty under Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman that accumulated as a result of his expansion and continued child-bearing under a variety of concubines as well as his wife, Aisha, would result in the formation of a succession crisis, which would ultimately lead the imprisonment and execution of a multitude of Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman's children. This would leave Ibrahim bin Mehmud (c. 1523) as the heir apparent, while Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman's other children included Abd Manaf (c. 1525), Abu'l-Fadl (c. 1529), Ihsanullah (c. 1530), Fakhraddin (c. 1541), and Mukhtar (c. 1547). The second eldest son of the Caliph, Abd Manaf, would marry the daughter of Mansa Musa III of Mali, Zaynab, while Ihsanullah would marry the third eldest daughter of Gurkani Sultan and Fakhraddin would be placed in an arranged marriage with the second eldest daughter of the Janannid Sultan. The works of Nikolay Turgenev are mass-produced through the printing press, being translated into Arabic and being adapted into the Islamic world by a variety of scholars at the House of Wisdom while the original manuscripts are stored in the Great University of Alexandria. These works would become influential to the role the Caliph exerted over the aristocracy, but would later flourish in the later state of Arabia erected during the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate. Exports are marked at a higher tariff to better alleviate the economy.
  • Gurkani Empire: Following the conquest of Persia, manhunts for the now illegitimate Shah Alqas Mirza begin across Eastern Iran, however, much to the surprise of the Gurkani dynasty, Shah Alqas Mirza would never be found, with contemporary DNA testing proving that Alqas Mirza would settle in Herat before moving into a sedentary life outside of the politics of Iran. However, much of the Safavid dynasty, including son and former heir of the former Savadid Shah Ismail Mirza, Ebraham, would be placed in the court of Sultan Ariyāramna al-Gurkāni Mirza, whose reign would last nearly fourty three years, although much of the early years as Sultan would revolve around the quelling of a variety of rebellions instituted by disciples of the Ash'athites and remnants of the Safavid military. Re-construction of Efsahan, Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd would be conducted through a variety of architectural influence, mainly Abbasid and Greco-Roman. Sultan Ariyāramna al-Gurkāni Mirza would declare himself Padishah of Persia. The remnants of the silk road continue to remain highly profitable, with exports consisting of carpetry, copper, gold, leather, and a variety of fruits and spices, with cotton making up a significant export for the Empire. While localized Shi'ite communities maintain primary domestic autonomy, policies to collectivize the Shi'ite population under authority of the Gurkani dynasty are done through a variety of methods, such as allowing the Shi'ite clergy into the Court of the Sultan and held theological debates in Efsahan and Yazd. In the conflict against the Qizilbash, policies to eclipse the power are conducted, including the positioning of the Taymiyyah Order in Yazd and the creation of a slave army based on the ghulams introduced by the Savafids and the various ethnicities that flourished during the Georgian Empire, although most of these policies wouldn't be cemented until 1557.
• The Spanish Empire: after an overwhelming victory in Peru, the capital, Cusco lies in waiting. With support from allies and Spaniards, the grand finale of the march comes. The men use shock and superior tactics to their advantage. The objective is to kill the other claimant and bring Peru under proper authority. Some begin to find Pizarro more worthy of choice especially through the allies found within the oppressed tribes like those of the cloud forests. They worry this new Emperor may do more harm to them than any good even after supporting them. Meanwhile, in New Spain, road developments and land investments continue. Cleared land in need of settling are made in Venezuela. The Mouth of the Mississippi is explored by Carlos Santos. He founded the Colony of Rio de Esmeralda, the green color brought upon in Summer where the water would turn bright green marsh. The land is very suitable for agrarian investments and so an attraction of cheap labor is needed. The Governor of Rio de Esmeralda is appointed to Santos's brother, Francisco Santos. Elvin now very old and all his siblings near passing on to heaven has left him saddened but glad his nephew stays close by his side. Alvin also comes to visit time to time but not as often. Nonetheless, a distant cousin is reached out to in France. The House of Foix, the Albret branch. The lates t French developments have sparked a lot of issues within the nation. Crippling National Debt, high levels of Heresy, Expensive Wars leading to large amounts of deaths and persistent failures, and the alliance with a Caliph would leave the population absolutely torn from the monarch. It can be seen that the monarch was of no good to France nor the Catholic people. Therefore Henry de Foix secretly is given support to be new claimant to the French Throne. This notice is sent to many nobles in deep secret in order to ensure secrecy at utmost cost that support would be given in weapons supplies, and money to finally rise up in both the catholic class and noble class but also in the clergy and military against the French King. Propaganda articles would begin to be spread out through 3rd party sources in order to prevent tracing to the Spanish Crown. Through these methods, rebellion would be instilled on the French. Rio de La Plata sees much more expansion upstream as the region continues to bless Buenos Aires as a colony of success. In response to the rebelling Mayans, an expedition of 7,500 men set out.
  • Henry Foix is not generally supported in France at this time, asside from a couple of ultra-Catholic nobles
• Kingdom of England: At RETEC's Meridian colony, the OTL Delaware Bay and River are officially named the Courtenay Bay and River, respectively, after Philip Courtenay, 3rd Earl of Bristol, who was the first RETEC administrator of Atlantic Harbour (and also after Co-King Edward X of England, who is from the House of Courtenay). RETEC's ships conduct more surveys of Courtenay Bay and the lower reaches of Courtenay River, while in Atlantic Harbour the administrator Thomas Colonna, 2nd Earl of Southampton and Francis Beaufort, along with the English soldiers led by Henry Borgburg, continue planning a campaign to drive away hostile Lenape tribespeople from the colonial farms in OTL Atlantic and Cape May Counties. 5,000 English mercenaries remain in Lotharingia, though as far as the English Parliament can tell the situation there appears to be calming down, so the parliamentarians think the mercenaries may not need to be deployed there much longer. Lincolnshire priests continue gathering funds from nobles for the reconstruction of the spire of Lincoln Cathedral, benefitting from the political support of Queen Margaret and King Edward X. In the Manchester area, the English Inquisition continues arresting Irish Presbyterians and expelling them from England with the aid of Alexander Anderson's mercenary company, with the goal of preventing the civil unrest that may result if the Protestant population were allowed to build up uncontrolled. Several religious orders, such as the Mercedines and Jesuits also begin operating in this area, with the goal of convincing any native English converts of the Scrooby Congregation back to the Catholic Church by more diplomatic means than those of the Inquisition; as part of this strategy, they also focus on performing acts of charity. The English Parliament continues to provide funding for RETEC's Meridian operations and the Inquisition, and this year also provides funding for the expansion of improvement of some large sheep farms in rural England in order to increase the wool production, potentially for international trade. The English economy continues to improve thanks to the increase maritime trade accessed by English merchants due to the negative economic situations of the Celtic Confederacy and France. Reginald Courtenay, 1st Earl of Worcester (1501-1551), younger brother of Co-King Edward X, dies of a disease, and his son Thomas (b. 1524) becomes the 2nd Earl of Worcester. Anthony Colonna (b. 1528), son of Thomas Colonna, 2nd Earl of Southampton, marries Anne Grey (b. 1524), sister of George Grey, 5th Earl of Kent. John Talbot and Elizabeth Beaufort have their first child, a son named George (b. 1551); Henry Bourchier and Beatrice Talbot have their second child, a son named Charles (b. 1551); and Robert Neville, 5th Earl of Westmorland and Catherine Asburgo-della Rovere have their third child, a daughter named Mabel (b. 1551).

1552

Pope Leo XII dies of natural causes in Rome. The Roman cardinals once again urge Pope Zephrynus II to come to Rome, or else a new successor will be elected this year.

Prince Alexander of Moldavia makes some impressive initial gains pressing into Polish territory, seizing on the recent political confusion in the kingdom. King John II, however, proves to be a natural-born tactician, and brings the Polish levies of 8,000 troops to make a defense at Obertyn.

In order to better finance their wars against the Mongols, the Tian Dynasty releases their Central Asian territories into the states of Turfan and Kashgar, retaining as much territory up to the new border at Gansu. The new Kashgar Khanate becomes a powerful state in the region due to the Chinese technology the Turks took with them.

As the Brunei Sultanate further expands their influence in Indonesia, they attack the state in southern Bornu, which causes it to split between the Kingdoms of Sukadana and Banjarmasin.

In New Spain, the Chicemeca people centralize their tribal organization into multiple states across the Sonora desert. News soon reaches Mexico City and Havana that this region in the north contains vast veins of silver.

Duke Leopold VI of Habsburg dies, and is succeeded by his son who is Duke Frederick V.

With the war waging in Java, the aristocracy got the House of Rasaja core land under Seige. It is only a matter of time until Trowulan falls, marking the end of the House of Rasaja.​​​​​​

• Saxony: The death of Henry IX several years ago sparked a period of mourning in Saxony. Wolfgang admired Henry for his courage and determination, and for toppling the Frankfurt Dictatorship ("with the help of my father", he adds). Wolfgang suggests that in Pope Zephyrus's absence, the College of Cardinals appoint an official regent to govern Rome and lead the Church until the Pope himself can be present. (Mod Response). Wolfgang receives a letter from several years ago, rather battered, detailing Kolias Kape's first year with the Iroquois Confederacy. This year, Kape develops a scheme independently of Wolfgang and the Duchy of Saxony, to incorporate the Iroquois Confederacy into the Holy Roman Empire, thus allowing the Empire to strongly influence it and yet protect it from colonization and conquest by foreign powers. His idea is no more than an idea - for the moment. A group led by Wilhelm Cederic, that split off from Kape's expedition, goes South, and by the end of the year has safely made it to Mesoamerica (although they lost several men along the way), after hearing of a "desert made of silver" in this region. The construction of a large tower known as the "Skytower" in Waldeck is started to be built. Meanwhile, Saxony's borders move very subtly southward, as soldiers posted to guard the border are instructed to move down a few miles in uninhabited territory.
• Majapahit Empire (Civil War): After Neyrajilaben and Adji Supandi and Gereyaniha and Atriosnibangi all came in ready for the last Seige of Trowulan. A minor commander Erijarban is dispatched with a force of 4,000 men to continue his conquest in Lampung. In Maringgai he meets a small resistance of few hundred troops but he managed to defeat them with constant firing of European Seige Cannon on their garrison. Taking hundreds of prisoners while losing fewer than the enemy. In metro he goes for the Seige of the fortress there. Which he quickly capitulates after the whole small garrison was killed in archer and arquebus fire without damaging the fortress. Meanwhile. Ayutthayan Rama was too generous to give us six war elephants to use them in the following Seige. They are transported by Javanese ships to Brantas River and were deployed little far away from Trowulan. All preparations are ready. The army is around now ~40,000 strong. With the six war elephants ready to wage their wrath against the House of Rasaja. Pi have managed to tame two war elephants in his stable in Trowulan. He sends them in command of the Lampung General Daccalagban. He sends out with 1,000 royal troops and 2,000 skirmishers. Pi decides to attend the battle with his two large war elephants. With him mounting on of them. The Lampung skirmishers start firing at the army of the Javanese aristocrats in distant positions. Pi mounts his elephant and rides up with one more toward the six war elephants. The following hand to hand combat while riding elephants took place. As the other four war elephants charges at the royal infantry and skirmishers stomping and killing many of them. In the following engagements. Pi falls from his elephant. He took a heavy fall and was forced to order retreat to Trowulan to defend from his defenses. The elephants proved a decisive victory that included the infantry support. Two elephants were captured. They are used to bring more supplies as spoils of war are beeing captured as well. After the retreat. The Seige of Trowulan came. Heavy fire power by European Seige Canons and archers swing like rain toward the walls of Trowulan. Ladders are placed and ropes are tied to climb up the walls as hand to hand combat begins with the best Royal House of Rasaja forces. Daccalagban was shot in the head while skirmishing with the climbing Javanese aristocracy forces. The gate is rammed up and men begin to pour. Fights in the Brantas begins to occure with all infantry and archers fight in rivers and houses. Pi ordered to stage a hit and run warfare but that soon failed as the entire royal forces were killed and captured. Pi tried to flee but he encountered some soliders that he managed to kill. But after he encountered a huge force of three thousand men he had no choice but to surrender. Pi surrenders in December 1552. Marking the end of the Javanese Civil War. Pi was forced to leave his children and leave his wife. He can only go with his Vietnamese grandmother back to Dai viet. His grandmother (wife of Manputiyja II) with threats from the aristocracy convinced Pi to declare his abdication. He was soo. Forced to flee with his wife and his grandmother to Dai viet in exile. Seeking refuge. [Dai Viet response, please]. With the war ending, it is time to proclaim a new Kingdom: THE KINGDOM OF JAWA! - also making a new constitution on the rule.
  • Dai Viet Response: Due to the generosity of the Rasaja clan to Dai Viet in the past, the remaining members of the Rasaja clan including Pi are accepted in seeking refuge in Dai Viet with them provided accomodation in Thang Long. However, Emperor Xaysethathirath still wishes to renew the former alliance with the new dynasty of Java.
• Tsardom of Russia: Tsar Konstantin is impressed by the actions of his nephew. However, the decision to attack Poland puts him in a difficult position having just give a nod of support to the Zbaraski. Konstantin I makes the decision to send out envoys to Poland declaring that they won't partake in the foolish actions of their nephew. However, Konstantin I makes it clear that should Poland decides to invade Moldavia he will be forced to intervene to protect his family, and of Russian interests. A second envoy is sent to his nephew Alexander advising his nephew of this however, Konstantin also provides a further funding to hire 10,000 Transylvanian mercenaries, and sends an envoy to Transylvania requesting this. (Mod responses required. Nate only since he is moderating the war). The murder of his cousin and close friend the Greek Tsar Andronikos, Konstnatin I sends an enraged envoy to Constantinople, In the letter he decries the actions of Manuel as Regicide and Patricide, and expresses a deep anguish for the loss of his cousin and close friend Andronikos, remembering how Manuel had seemed so bright and earnest during the family visit to his coranation in Kiev all those years ago, with their being noted tears on the parchment with which the letter has been written on. Konstantin stops short of declaring support for John. However, due to his own close ties to the Greek banking and merchant clans, and expresses in the end of this letter by saying that this is a Greek dispute and that he will not interfere in internal affairs of the Greek dynasty (Byzantine response). Konstantin and Nestoras' military reforms, With Manikis deciding to make adjustments using the elite Varyag taking them out of the Pike and shot formations reorganizing them into smaller units to act in loose cooperation with the tight pike and shot formations, who will are given lighter armour to allow for them to act in such a fashion as elite shock troops who fire volleys along with the streltsy as the armies approach, and then in more shallow lines they'll let out one last final wide volley before engaging the enemy using their Bardiches. While the Pike and shot will hold firm. Nestoras and his wife have another child a daughter named Anjelika. Development of insfrustructure across the domains of Tsar Konstnatin continue with particular emphasis being placed on roads, ports, mule stations, and now plans to develop a more modern postal system begin. The vast state apparatus created by Turgenev  and Dimitry continues to grow and consolidate under Konstantin I. Konstantin names Yuri as his chief Judge and as his right hand taking over the post held vacant since the passing of Nikolay Turgenev. The works and teachings of the sly old man instilled to the very core in Konstantin who continues to act as the patron to the growing intellectual circles of kiev and its growing printing industry rivalling now that of Novgorod. The works of Turgenev become central in Russian political thought, and Yuri Stroganov ensures that they are duely instilled in the young Dimiry who now at the age of 13 begins his formal martial training and education as well. He will enter the University of Novgorod and stay at the Stroganov estates due to the growing instability in Constantinople. Kniaz Yaroslav is deeply resentful of special treatment being given to his younger brother, fearing that it has already been decided Dimitry the younger will be declared the heir to Konstantin. This fear starts to develop into a paranoia as the young prince has gone through a depression over the last few years falling heavily into an opium addiction with his Azeri mistress Yanna who many think is a witch poisoning his mind. She gives birth to his son named Yaroslav after his father. When Yaroslav appraoches his father about marrying her Konstantin refuses outright alongside the new patriarch of Novgorod who refuses to recognize the child of a witch as anything other then cursed. This mixed with the humiliation he suffered at the hands of his brother-in-law Grand Kniaz Temyruk of Circassia who has since with his wife (yaroslav's sister) Elizabeth have now had their second child a daughter named Tanya.  The depressed prince one day comes across a preacher by the name of Father Gregory who listens to the young Prince's issues and provides him with comfort saying that god has important work for him surely. Soon after this the Priest becomes a confident of the Prince but not for the better, as this old priest feeds his paranoia. Temyruk begins reorganizing the Cricassian tribes into a more consolidated state. However, he promises to respect the traaditional internal affairs of each tribe, and opts to follow the Russian model of creating a Duma in his capital of Nalchik with representatives from each of the tribes, who are each granted a Veche to handle their own internal affairs aslong as levies and taxes are provided. Russian architects and Engineers are brought in to help him create a new capital city with modern walls, and streets. Meanwhile, The Circassian orthodox recognize the Patriarch of Novgorod as their religious leader, and Temyruk commits to converting the rest of the Circassian tribes to the Orthodox faith saving them from their pagan ways as he desires to fully unite the Circassians using the Orthodox church as a unifying force for his people much in the way that the Russians have in the past. The mustering of the Kiev and and Tver Levies begin slowly as to not alert the Poles while Konstantin I awaits for a response from Poland while plans to muster the Moscow and Novgorod Levies (RNG) in case a war with Poland breaks out, while The Garrisons at Pskov, and Smolesk are strengthened to 8,000 men each to fully take advantage of the new star fortresses built there.
  • Manuel's Response: The young Kaisar writes extensively to Konstantin who he remebers with fondness as essentially his uncle. He expresses his dismay at his father's death, having only wished to force his father to grant him the rank of Kaisar-Autokrator as co-emperor. He does ask the Konstantin forgive him, and expresses his hopes for redemption despite his flaws. The letter is noticeably stained by tears as well, as Manuel was obviously moved by his elders words.
  • Alexander accepts the support of the mercenaries. John insists that this is entirely a defensive war and will not threaten the Slavic lands.
• Georgia: The killing on Andronikos by Manuel (which not only constitutes a regicide, but also a patricide) is condemned by many - including Irene, who is Andronikos’ niece and thus Manuel’s first-cousin. Despite Irene’s attempts to get him to intervene in the conflict on behalf of John (who is older, and has more support from the Greek aristocracy), Nathan recognizes Manuel as the Byzantine Emperor. The "Europeanization" of Georgian aristocratic culture continues, with Italian and Greek culture exerting the most influence. The number of Christians residing in Georgia's peripheral territories is bolstered, with thousands of Armenians being resettled in areas with a large Muslim population. The Albanians continued to be assimilated into the Heretian population. The economy continues to flourish due to the export of silk and cotton, and the development of the textile industry. More mulberry and cotton plantations are built. Military expansion continues: the artillery corps is expanded, more muskets and other gunpowder weapons are produced with the expansion of the Tbilisi Arsenal, while more state-owned stables and studs are built. The cities of Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin are fortified, with the installation of defensive cannons and thickening of their walls.
• Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di": Paul Dekremer hearing of the news of the English parliament considering leaving, gets quite disappointing. Paul Writing to the English that the inactivity is the sign that the English volunteers are making it to much of a risk for Arles to attack thus proving their effectiveness. (English response?) De Kremer planning to use English and Hungarian troops to make sure Verdun is secured and even possible meeting with the enemy  and take actions against them. The plan being to make the enemy attack in terrain well known to the soldiers, as to give a terrain advantage. The army at both Arras and Luxembourg ordered to stay at their post but to prepare for possible movement of their army.
  • English Diplomacy: The English Parliament agrees with Dekremer's logic after reading his letter, and thus they agree to keep the English mercenaries in Lotharingia a while longer.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. A statue is built in honor of Zoltan II on the of the royal house property. The statue is made of marble and put in the royal garden to surround it with beauty. Lavender plants, cherry blossoms, tulips, Iris halophila, Iris danfordiae, Lilium carniolicum, Narcissus tazetta, Orchis italica, Sternbergia lutea, and roses are the plants that surround the statue. The garden has crops that are farmed in its own separate area so the royal cook and gardener can use for food and replant crops. Also in the royal garden is a patio with a few tables and chairs so the family can eat while being outside. Behind the royal garden is the royal cemetery that hold all the past people of the royal family. There aren't really any fancy colorful plants in this area but there are lots of towering trees that give some lovely shade. There are a few benches in this area. There is also a large area where there is just grass so the children can play with themselves and their pets. There are many fountains through out the royal yards in the back and front. A few ponds are also spotted having fish, birds, frogs, and turtles. Many artists and florists from the area come to this area to take in the beauty and capture it on paper and in their eyes. A group of circus performers that are skilled in equestrian are sent to Russia to help out the military learn to use horses. Education gets an increase in budget to be able to have the finest technology to learn how to use them and become more skilled in the work place.
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.
• Ayutthaya Empire: After securing Martaban in the previous year, Bayinnaung has launched another offensive into the Pegu region in an attempt to secure the capital of Dagon and his advance on the rest of Burma. He begins his assault with an army of 13,000 men, 41 war elephants, and 621 horses by marching on Bago. At Bago, Smim Htaw would challenge Bayinnaung to an elephant duel which Bayinnaung won forcing Htaw to retreat farther into the Irawaddy Delta with Bayyinaung’s army in pursuit. Htaw’s army battered from the retreat and there participation in the Tenasseeim Coast are finally defeated at Bassein leaving upper Burma vulnerable to his armies. Redirecting his army to assault Prome it would quickly fall by years end eroding any will to oppose the might of Bayinnaung with the rest of Burma quickly submitting with the loss of the regional powers of Prome and Pegu. After securing his claim to the throne of the Empire, Bayinnaung is crowned within the capital of Dagon and quickly goes about securing the loyalty of the Shan’s on the fringes of his empire by reaffirming the rights given to them by Tabinschwenti. He is also quick to distribute administrators not native to the regions they’re assigned to govern but refrains from appointing family and royal princes to govern regions preferring to keep them within the confines of the capital. Efforts to rebuild the Empire from the conflict are underway with major nobility from all major cities being required to send delegates to affirm their loyalty to the Rama.
• Roman Empire: John’s forces swell as he recruits more from across Epirus; however, his decision to leave a force at Constantinople backfires when Manuel’s forces sortie from the city and decimate the small army. After this battle in the early spring the opposing forces number 11,000 loyalists and 9,000 Verginaians. John continues undermining Manuel’s rule in the west, but in Anatolia, Manuel’s supporters secure the backing of several Strategoi and their Themata. However, these troops are largely unwilling to fight in a dynastic dispute such as this. The result is strategic stalemate and the effective splitting of the empire. Manuel retains the loyalty of the Esovestiarii and puts them to great effect spying on John’s forces. Both sides continually attempt to raise forces, but as much of the empire is unwilling to support either faction there is general dissunity. Constantinople experiences a period of marked unrest as the citizens are unhappy with the revolt and the murder of Kaisar Andronikos.
• Kingdom of England: At Atlantic Harbour, Thomas Colonna, Francis Beaufort and Henry Borgburg finish military preparations for the campaign to drive away the hostile Lenape tribespeople on the eastern shore of Courtenay Bay (OTL Delaware Bay) and in the OTL Cape May area, who had been aggressive toward English explorers and farmers. They set out with a force of 5,000, largely comprised of soldiers that were recently sent to Meridia by the English Parliament and led by the mercenary-trained Henry Borgburg. The force marches west from Atlantic Harbour and then north along the eastern shore of Courtenay Bay, attacking any Lenape villages encountered along the way, seeking not necessarily to wipe out the tribespeople but rather mainly to force them to retreat away from the colony around Atlantic Harbour. (Algo needed). The 5,000 English mercenaries in Lotharingia also remain there, following negotiations between Paul Dekremer and the English Parliament. The English Parliament continues funding RETEC's Meridian operations, though the quantity is somewhat reduced this year as the Lotharingian deployment is also given a temporary partial subsidy, and the Parliament also continues providing funding to the English Inquisition, which continues continues arresting Irish Presbyterians in the Manchester area and expelling them from England with the aid of Alexander Anderson's mercenary company, with the goal of preventing the civil unrest that may result if the Protestant population were allowed to build up uncontrolled. The Parliament also allocates some funding for ecclesial clinics in England in response to the recent outbreaks of "sweating sickness", in order to help victims of the disease and possibly find out more about the disease in order to help prevent or limit further outbreaks. In Lincolnshire, after gathering funding for several years with the aid of Queen Margaret and King Edward X of England, local clergy begin hiring workmen to reconstruct the collapsed spire of Lincoln Cathedral. The English economy continues to improve thanks to the increase maritime trade accessed by English merchants due to the negative economic situations of the Celtic Confederacy and France. Margaret of York (1486-1552), sister of former Kings Edward VII and Henry VIII and mother of George Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland, dies of natural causes. Anne Courtenay (1503-1552), the wife of Thomas Colonna, 2nd Earl of Southampton who is currently administering RETEC's colony in Meridia, dies of a disease in Southampton. Humphrey Stafford (b. 1527), son of Henry Stafford, 4th Duke of Buckingham, marries Katherine Boleyn (b. 1532), sister of Thomas Boleyn, 2nd Earl of Leicester. Anthony Colonna and Anne Grey have their first child, a daughter named Catherine (b. 1552); John Courtenay and Anna Asburgo-della Rovere have their third child, a daughter named Sophia (b. 1552); and Thomas Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Worcester and Mary Colonna have their second child, a son also named Thomas (b. 1552).

1553

The Roman cardinals elect as new Pope Ignatius of Loyola, who was a close associate of Pope Leo XII and fellow Jesuit leader, who they see as the best choice to continue Pope Leo XII's strategy of moderation and reconciliation with the schismatics. He takes the papal name Gregory XIV.

Poland manages to drive back the forces of Alexander of Moldavia at the Battle of Obertyn, who fall back the closest major city to regroup. John immediately follows this victory to drive a wedge between the Moldavian forces and the Romani mercenaries, forcing Alexander's army to be further disorganized. Still, Alexander is determined and raises further Cumanian levies to rescue his position.

After the Siege of Agra, the Sabhani Empire annexes the Sultanate of Janpur, absorbing the entire Ganges River valley. They proceed to pick up their victory with an invasion of the Bengal Sultanate.

After the end of the Italian War against Byzantium, the Doge of Venice retains the organization of the League of Como in Venezia for his own benefit, due to his financial and political influence over the military. He takes the opportunity to establish protectorates over neighboring Italian states, expanding his own domain.

Ashanti forces are surprisingly and soundly defeated in a major battle by the Oyo Empire under the new Alaafin Olusi. The Oyo army emerges from the battle stronger and armed with a number of captured European weapons. They begin a campaign of vengeance against the Ashanti people, looking to establish hegemony over the region.

The civil war in Mutape ends, restoring an obscure branch of the earlier Nyazwe dynasty back to the throne. This allows parts of the nation to break off independent, however, with the coast split between the Gaz Empire and the Swahili Confederacy.

• Tsardom of Russia: Seeing his Nephew's blunders on the battlefield Tsar Konstantin I begins to think that his Nephew has overstepped his own capacities and begins looking to see what the situation on the ground in Moldavia is looking like. Russian informants in Galicia and Moldavia to determine what the situation on the ground. (RNG). Clearly seeing signs of a collapse in his nephew's regime, and military Konstatin dispatches orders to Hetman Sergey Volkov to make a connection with the Moldavian cossacks located in the Don Region and east of the Dnieper River to strengthen ties with them in case the Cumans, and Tatar Vassals of Moldavian prince revolt and to prevent a complete collapse of the economy and stability East of the Dnieper. Meanwhile, word is sent to Alexander to end his capaigning or risk a complete collapse of his forces sending work of the growing discontent amongst unreliable vassals instead urging his Nephew to revert to using the Cossacks. (Mod responses required). Kniaz Yaroslav's mind continues to fog as his addiction to opium increases and the old priest Gregory steadily begins to maintain a permanent presence in his household having married Yaroslav, and his beloved Yanna in secret. The young prince's delusions of plots against him continue to grow, reaching their climax during a visit by his brother-in-law, and his family. when during the course of the dinner Temyruk is taking by surprise when Yaroslav, thinking that Temyruk is here to dispose of him on his father's orders as a disgrace, moves to stab his brother-in-law with a knife. The Circassian lord quickly parries this using his smaller blade before knocking Yaroslav to the ground. The prince starts screaming that everyone is trying to kill him, and sit his younger brother on the throne, claiming he is the greatest tsar who ever lived. Clearly seeing the mind of his eldest son faded Konstantin I with a stone face tells the guards to remove his son from his presence not showing emotion or weakness to his courtiers. However, once in privacy with his son-in-law Konstantin falls to the ground trembling wondering how he and god had abandoned his son to fall into this state. Temyruk helps the tsar to his feet and tells him it was not his doing that made the boy lose his mind, instead it his love of the pipe, and his fondness of the Azeri witch. The Patriarch of Novgorod, upon hearing of this, demands that the Azeri witch be burned alive, while the son be brought into te care of the church. Horrfied by this thought Konstatin decides to send some of his agents to quickly remove his son's family from the city before any harm can come to them, and he makes clear instructions to them that Yanna and his grandson Yaroslav must never be allowed to return to Russia proper telling them to take the child into Tartarstan or to Georgia. Catching wind of this a distraught Yaroslav hires some mercenaries the Old Priest Gregory introduces him to. Konstantin's men can reach the house where the child and wife are they are ambushed by Yaroslav's men who kill all of them without remorse, and two have their spines cut open in direct imitation of the murders in Astrakhan and on the Steppes. The inhuman screams of agony that these men let out in their final moments are remembered as the howls of rising demons, as the City of Kiev is consumed by Chaos, with more of the Mercenaries carrying out obscene acts of execution and torture in parts of the city creating chaos as the young Kniaz and his family escape. The delirious and doped up prince looks back at a city he thinks is being consumed by demons, Once members of the Pravaya Ruka and of the Varyag from the Kieven Levy enter the city some semblance of order is restored with many of of the mercenaries who partook in th attack being cut down, but the more aggressive and violent mercenaries appear to have mostly fled the city. By the morning it is determined that some 2,500 people were murdered by the Mercenaries that helped the prince and his family escape.
  • RNG: 30/100 (0 best). The envoys get the impression that the government of Moldavia is rather disorganized.
  • News of the almost-satanist activity in Kiev shocks both Manuel and John, who write to each other to assure that such behavior will not befall the empire.
  • The Cossacks offer to trust the Tsar more than the Moldavian Prince
• Roman Empire: As the empire enters its third year of civil war, Manuel celebrates the birth of his second child, another son whom he names Andronikos after his father. Though in a state of civil war, for most people life continues normally. John establishes his acting capital at Larissa from which he begins marshaling an army. However, since he maintains his goal of taking the empire he finds little support. The situation remains in this precarious balance until the summer of 1553. Manuel’s backers manage to convince several of the coastal Anatolian Themata and the Peloponnesian Thema to march for Maneul. News of this reaches John who quickly marches south to first defeat the Peloponnesian Thema before turning north and east to fight Manuel’s main army. The result is the Battle of Kapandriti. John’s numerical and tactical superiority lead to the route of the Thema Peloponnesia, and its retreat to Athens. John, unable to take Athens proper, then turns north to catch Manuel’s now expanded army. This second battle, the Battle of Kavala, pits loyalist forces numbering 24,000 against John’s Verginaian army of 14,000. Having taken the defensive lines north of the city, John’s men are able to repel the Loyalists, suffering 5,000 casualties in the process. Manuel’s army retreats from the field in disarray having suffered 8,000 casualties. John is forced to retreat from Kavala, which is occupied by loyalists a month later. Thus, the second phase of the war comes to a close. To the north in Tyras, Despot Odysseus Hasapis forms a close personal friendship with the Wallachian Voivode Mircea IV the Wise. He also begins courting the support of local leaders and administrators in Dobruja, particularly his cousin, Strategos George Hasapis, the commander of one of Dobruja’s Themata. 

• Georgia: The "Europeanization" of Georgian aristocratic culture continues, with Italian and Greek culture exerting the most influence. The number of Christians residing in Georgia's peripheral territories is bolstered, with thousands of Armenians being resettled in areas with a large Muslim population. The Albanians continued to be assimilated into the Heretian population. The economy continues to flourish due to the export of silk and cotton, and the development of the textile industry. More mulberry and cotton plantations are built. Military expansion continues: the artillery corps is expanded, more muskets and other gunpowder weapons are produced with the expansion of the Tbilisi Arsenal, while more state-owned stables and studs are built. The cities of Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin are fortified, with the installation of defensive cannons and thickening of their walls.
• Ayutthaya Empire: With Bayinnaung having managed to restore the power of the Throne, he begins to undertake measures to restore control over the Empire. The restoration of depleted Capital Defense Corps garrisons is first and foremost with the Ministry of War attempting to procure both supplies and equipments for the various garrisons and distributing War College graduates to wherever they are needed. The naval assets of the Empire survived the war mostly intact with only the war boats meant for rivers suffering damage during the campaign into Burma resulting in the acquisition of war boats from local lords by fair compensation as a temporary measure to project power along the Irawaddy River. The Ministry of Laws has overseen efforts to ensure that key nobles and saophas send their sons to the capital where a careful eye can be kept on them and to ensure the loyalties of their fathers. For his part in the war, Binnya Dala has become the chief minister of Bayinnaung overseeing matters from finances to the military of which it is noted he has a talent for. In the name of purifying the religion, Bayinnaung hosts mass ordinations at Kalyani Ordination Hall due to his belief that he is the model Buddhist king. The Ministry of Rites continues with efforts to standardize religion particularly with the banning human and animal sacrifices as well as distributing scripture and feeding monks. The Ministry of Rites has also begun a propaganda effort at the insistence of Binnya Dala by saying that Bayinnaung hails from folk heroes which is a part of the teachings expected within Kyaung schools. The Ministry of Finance has maintained efforts to restore the damage to infrastructure and cities during the war in the prior years and has also gone about constructing pagodas for use. The Ministry has also undertaken efforts to standardize taxation across the Empire to ensure that the necessary funds are available for the functioning of the Empire. With the Shan states as a part of the Empire, new units are formed comprised of men from Shan states along with hereditary cavalry and elephant corps. The people are all declared to be Phrai Luang to deny their services to nobles and bind them to the Crown and its representatives for service. The Ministry of Works has also gone about continuing the efforts of prior rulers to drain the swamps in the Irawaddy Delta and Chao Phraya Delta to acquire fertile farmland. The Thai population of Siam is encouraged to resettle with incentives from low taxation to free land being offered to promote resettlement.

• Principality of Vinland: The principality continues to recover from many years of social and political instability. However, the introduction of more and more European technologies and weaponry allows the Vinlanders to continually conquer or assimilate neighboring indigenous peoples. Fur trappers penetrate deeper into the wilderness. These new possessions are named New Markland. The current Prince is Jon, son of Eric Kuis (died 1533). Jon has a son, Mikkel (b. 1536). 
  • Esgigeland and Unamaland: The commonwealth continues to act as the breadbasket for Vinland. The commonwealth holds a Thing in Vinbergen where free folk elect Kristjan Janssen as the governor-general of the commonwealth.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. Our military sends 15,000 troops to Transylvania to retake our past lands. The army sacks all the towns passed by. (Algo needed)
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.

• Kingdom of Portugal: The colony of Cape Baltimoro continues growing with the university of Baltimoro being started this year. Meanwhile, King Antonio visits his Habsburg relatives in Austria where he spends two weeks before receiving the sad news that Crown Prince Luis has died due to a disease. This puts Crown Princess Cirí in line to the throne. Meanwhile, trading between the colonists and the natives in Cape Baltimoro begins to take place which brings a new revenue to the imperial treasury.
• Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di": While on the Mela continent Willem Smit sends an expedition of one Jersey and two Fluyts under Tom bouwer, the plan being to explore the southern tip of the Melan continent. The plan being to set up a small town with his ~120 men on the southern tip of the continent, as it seems to be a good position for whale hunting. Another benefit being possible control of the seas around it. Thus Tom setting off on the 3rd of November of the year, Willem Smit eagerly waiting for the news of his expedition to arrive back in Bergen. In Belgia Jean Frans and his 17,000 came under attack of the French in Arras, the French having to end the direct on the city although this does not end the siege. Thus Jean Frans continue's the supplying of Arras by river schelde. Jean Frans even receiving some new cannons and guns from Ghent and Bruges, these cities being well known for their Cannon and gun making. Jean Frans thus formally writing letters to the Russian tsar, knights and soldier class, Jean wanting to hire a couple thousand Russian cavalrymen. (Russian response). Jean wanting to pay them a lot and grant them and those related to them extra trade rights and the ability to be fully protected under Belgian law. Jean Frans also recruiting 4,000 Belgians of his own thus Arras being once more defended by 14,000 Belgians, although some need more experience with battle. While in Luxembourg the 37,000 troops under Paul Dekremer, continue to make a fortress out of their city as he waits for the war with France to become less of a threat then it is currently. 
• Wagenaar Colonies: This year, another group of settlers arrive from Lotharingia - in both Kebeck and Broekden. In the latter colony, which was populated earlier, the local community leaders decide that the threat posed by natives in the south of OTL Nova Scotia will only continue to grow unabated until the local Indians are subjugated. With this in mind, Sjerd Groenewoud - fresh off the victory against the French - goes before the town council and proposes war against the Gespogoitnag clan of the Mikmaq natives. Groenewoud rallies 4,000 men to the campaign, and using overwhelming force (including firearms and horses) they make war on the Mikmaq people to the southwest of OTL Nova Scotia. (ALGO please). Meanwhile, up in Kebeck, trapping and expansion down the Saint Willibrod River (OTL Saint Lawrence) continue unabated. Finally, the company begins to prepare as a new colony is planned for OTL Campbellton, New Brunswick.
• Kingdom of England: (Updates on RETEC's colonisation pending algo) Co-rulers Queen Margaret and King Edward X of England celebrate the tenth anniversary of their reign - a milestone their six most recent predecessors failed to achieve, largely due to England's dynastic conflicts. The celebration includes some feasts attended by many members of the nobility, though troublingly Queen Margaret falls ill shortly afterward and has to withdraw from the public eye. The English Parliament continues providing some funding for RETEC and a partial subsidy for the 5,000 English mercenaries that remain active in the defence of Lotharingia, and also continues funding the English Inquisition in their efforts to arrest and expel the problematic Presbyterians, many originally refugees from Ireland, in the Manchester area, with the aid of Alexander Anderson's mercenary company. The Parliament also provides funding for salt production in Cheshire and Worcestershire, in order to increase the quantity of salt available domestically for usage for food preservation in England's major cities. In Lincolnshire, local clergy continue hiring workmen with the goal of reconstructing the fallen spire of Lincoln Cathedral, and various priests across the nation also continue researching the "sweating sickness". George of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Rutland (1494-1553) dies after a horse-riding accident at the celebrations of the ten-year anniversary of the King and Queen's reign, and his son William (b. 1518) becomes the 2nd Earl of Rutland. Continuing previous monarchs' strategies of improving ties to Catholic European nations via marriages, Queen Margaret of England writes to Count Meinhard IX of Gorizia, proposing to arrange a marriage between her niece Isabel Beaufort (b. 1535) and the Count's son Engelbert V (b. 1526). (Mod response) George Beaufort (b. 1529), son of Henry Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Lancaster, marries Isabel Percy (b. 1531), daughter of George Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland. Humphrey Stafford and Katherine Boleyn have their first child, a daughter named Mary (b. 1553); William of Gloucester, the new 2nd Earl of Rutland and Frances of York have their third child, a son named Robert (b. 1553); Henry Bourchier and Beatrice Talbot have their third child, a daughter named Dorothy (b. 1553); and John Talbot and Elizabeth Beaufort have their second child, a daughter named Margaret (b. 1553).

1554

In a decisive battle, King John II of Poland crushes the armies of Alexander of Moldavia, driving him back toward the border. Even with his armies in route, Alexander puts up an impressive counterattack with what army he has remaining. In order to pursue to offensive against Alexander, King John calls together further levies at the western end of the kingdom, citing the need to fight back against the Orthodox threat, as the kings of Poland have done since the days of Wenceslas, on the frontiers of Christendom. Meanwhile, the Romani mercenaries abandons Alexander's loyalty to return to Moldavia, where the Cumanians are stirring up unrest in his homeland.

The navigator Alexander Drafigo establishes Sweden's first permanent colony in the New World at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, absorbing the Chesapeake confederacy of Natives into a protectorate. Denmark redoubles their efforts at expansion, creating forts in both northern OTL Virginia. They further send an expedition north that allies with the Lenape nation of natives.

France decides to capitalize on the weakened position of Arles by sending 30,000 troops to occupy the County of Auvergne (the enclave of Burgundy in southern France). Other parts of France have become destabilized due to internal conflicts between Gallican and Reformist religions, as the Reformist-majority region refuses to recognize the authority of the Gallican Church. The French monarchy summons dissident reformist nobles to Paris to deliberate on their complaints.

In Rome, Lord Philip Asburgo-della Rovere (1486-1554) dies of natural causes.

Lucia of Gorizia (1502-1554), an unmarried sister of Count Meinhard IX of Gorizia, dies of a disease.

A great fire breaks out in the city of Eindhoven, in Lotharingia.

Agricola publishes a translation of the New Testament in Finnish, which allows Jungist faith to spread into Russian-controlled Finland.

The first alcoholic company in the New World is founded in the city of OTL Miami, known as the New Belgium Brewing Company. 

The Gesta Danorum of Grammaticus is published for the first time by Christien Pedersen. 

Moretto de Brescia publishes the painting Saint Justina.

Hasan ibn Muhammad El Farsi, a prominent Egyptian historian migrates from Funj to Egypt.

• Tsardom of Russia: The city of Kiev in Janruary is still recovering from the the Damage caused by Yaroslav's Violent retreat from the city following his efforts to rescue his wife and son from Tsar Konstantin's men who Yaroslav deemed his enemy in the midst of his delusions that led him to hire mercenaries to keep the guards of the city busy while he saved his family from certain. In reality a concerned Konstantin had stationed some of his men to guard the family of young prince while he in an almost satanic trance howling and attempting to kill his brother-in-law. In his fit young Yaroslav managed to kill three of Konstantin's men including Vadim Gagarin his old friend and something of an uncle to the young Yaroslav, and had been trying to calm him when Yaroslav took out a dagger and jabbed it straight up Vadim's throat as he ws attempting to reason with and embrace Yaroslav. The Prince and his mercenaries proceeded to carry out a slaughter of the towns folk reaching the estates of his father where Yanna and Yaroslav the Younger were being kept. A terrified Yanna screamed as her husband slaughtered the guards and took her by the arm. In her cries of protest and fear something inside the young prince snapped and he backhanded Yanna making her hit her head and falling unconscious. Taking both the child and wife, he and his men proceeded withdraw from the city, with many of the mercenaries committing acts of extreme sadism killing slowly or grotesquely many of the townsfolk of Kiev, and even setting fire to pats of the city before the The Varyag, and other members of the Pravaya Ruka manage to restore order to the city and begin killing in mass the mercenaries cutting them down in a furious rage. Only a few on the mercenaries escape with Yaroslav, being some 50 men, while a further 600 are slaughtered by the Varyag, while some who are deemed leaders are tortured for information by the Pravaya Ruka and ten disposed of with many of them being hung from the posts along the roads and rivers toward Kiev as a show of force by Konstnatin and the Varyag to never attack Kiev. The fires in the city are quickly gotten under control, and reconstruction of the city begins. Konstantin I with a heavy heart turns his attention to the West declaring his second son Dimitry as his Heir as Yaroslav the demented flees with his band into the wild Governante of Tartarstan. Orders are sent out to find him and as well as the band of mercenaries now deemed to be the old cult of Gora who had a village all those years ago near Kazan. Konstantin I hearing word of King John II amassing forces in Southern Poland to Invade Moldavia is a clear violation of the promises of John to Konstantin I providing him with a casus belli to defend his family and allies and Orthodox Kinsmen as the defender of the Orthodox Faith since John is proclaiming a holy war himself. Konstantin orders the Kiev Levies to mobilize fully as well as the Tver Levies while orders to start mustering the Moscow levy. Meanwhile, Hetman Sergey Volkov begins mustering the Russian and Moldavian Cossacks bringing his forces to 15,000 men who start going out putting down some of the restive Cuman and Tatar tribes East of the Dnieper while a detachment of 5,000 Cavalry are sent to bolster Alenxanders forces moving south along the Dnieper and then into Moldavia proper to prevent John form cutting them off like he did the Transylvanian mercenaries. Kniaz Temyruk is ordered to muster 5,000 men and to garrison Tana, and prevent anarchy to the Don River trade which Russia has grown to depend on quite a lot. Meanwhile, the Tver levies numbering 10,000 move to Pskov as if preparing for a major invasion. This is meant to be as obviously as possible to alarm Poland and draw some of their attention north with the Army now numbering 18,000 there. While most of the Kiev levy some 15,000 men are held in reserve. The Novgorod Levy, and the small Russian fleet in the Gulf of Finland composed of 30 Baltic galleys retrofitted with cannons.
• Mali Empire: Musa's reign was coming close to an end, in which he was feeling more isolated than ever. The death of Mamamoo had left a great hole in the administration and culture of the realm, and particularly in the royal court where he had been a staple for so many years. But more aspects than that continued to felt isolated, empty as well. Musa's plans at military campaigns had all been thrwarted by the revolt of the Mossi, and general disorganization in the Gbara, which left the military history of Mali with a dull and useless feeling. Even the litature produced out of the Waalo kingdom began to plateau in the use of national epics, besides those copied wholesale from earlier generations, and instead focused on more simple poetry expounding on nature and rural society. It is genrally accepted that the Arbory of Timbuktu also disappeared at this time from written record. All Musa's attempts at foreign diplomacy had not been met, and most of his children now are unmarried for unknown reasons. The Mali Empire sends out a diplomacy to the Ashanti Empire, after their defeat against the Oyo which had been a friendly rival of Mali for many years. The Mansa offers the hand of his younger daughter in marriage to the ruler of Ashanti, and allows a limited amount of military protection for their borders and tribal vassals (Mod response). The greatest expansion Mali had at this point remained in the west with their colonies in Meridia. With the successful defeat of the Ceata in battle, Joofa establishes new forts farther inland, where he claims control over the Ceata tribal kingdom as a protectorate. Meanwhile, Ali Mukhamil continues his war against the Tupinanda, sending 5,000 troops and 800 cavalry to subjugate these headhunters and bring them to the folds of Islam. (Algo). A letter sent by Musa indicates that he does not permit any mass displacement or rampant killing of native people, but that their lands should remain in tact as a vassal state of the empire, as Mali had done in ancient tradition.  
  • The envoys return stating that the Ashanti Empire is in chaos and that no central authority could be found. They are able to uncover that the Ashanti King has been killed in battle along with two of his sons.
  • The Mali Emperor sends a force of 15,000 troops led by Aswed Zahri to bring stability in the region, fearing the rise of tensions in the south like the days of Mustafa I. Aswed occupies the city of Gonja and searches for a suitable replacement for the Ashanti King.
• Abbasid Caliphate: Emir Ibrahim bin Mehmud would be appointed as one of Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman's advisors during this time to better aid in the legitimacy of his future ascendence to the throne. He would learn after Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman, studying under his father after a lengthy seven-year tenure at the Great University of Alexandria to better prepare his intellectual capabilities, and would ultimately be granted an additional residency in Baghdad so as to contribute to the translation efforts in the House of Wisdom. Much like his father, Ibrahim bin Mehmud would study military strategy and historical conflicts, while most of his siblings would take up roles in the Court or the Ulema. The History of the Abbasid Caliphate would be recorded and printed this year sometime in Damascus under the supervision of the Caliph, with the printing press finally travelling to Baghdad this year, being stored in the House of Wisdom specifically. A variety of plays would be printed and produced this year, with much of them consisting of historical non-fiction or adaption of other works', whether it be Mohamed ibn Tarek al-Abdella Hero of the Nation (albiet published earlier; based on the Thin White Duke), Ehsan al-Matar's adaption of the classical Ethiopian play, The Mad Titan (based off of Timur's invasions during the late 14th century), Erato al-Yamin's Barbary Wars (based on the early Hafsid dynasty during their Golden Age), or Baadur al-Afzal's White Jihad: The struggle against Orthodoxy; these scripts would make up a grand majority of plays submitted and portrayed in cities like Alexandria or Cairo. Due to the enriched state of the Caliphate, a number of notable philosophers and polymaths would appear during this time as well, such as Malik al-Naboulsi, Abu Amin al-Hamid, Karif ibn Muhammad al-Pervaiz, and Madhi al-Nejd. Malik al-Naboulsi would become infamous for his lifetime ninety-nine books centered around astronomy, engineering, clock-work, calculus, and natural philosophy, while Abu Amin al-Hamid and Karif ibn Muhammad al-Pervaiz would establish the Series of Recorded History, a translation movement in Baghdad and Damascus meant to catalogue all known history in the world, both Islamic and non-Islamic (simply regarded as the "Known World"), and as such are allowed special access into the Archives of the Sharif of Mecca and the Abbasid Selected Records. Madhi al-Nejd, however, would become the most recognizable scholar during this period primarily due to his realization that Islam would best be served under the Council of Senior Scholars, and that this Council would be elective in nature so as to best serve the Islamic community as a whole. These ideas of an elective Caliphate similar to the Rashidun would culminate in the publication of خِلَافَة‎ ("the Caliphate"), which would later serve as an early concept and building block of an "enlightened" Caliphate, becoming popular for its outlandish claims of systematically "ending" the eternal Shi'ite and Sunni conflict through the means of this neo-Rashidun state. The construction of a Museum in Alexandria would mark the start of archaeological ventures in the Second Islamic Golden Age, with the House of Rum commissioning many archaeological digs across northern Egypt while establishing a secretive archive in the Citadel of Cairo and Damascus. Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman would become rather interested in archaeology and ancient civilizations during his late reign, and when he was not playing chess, he would be reading and visiting various centers of these ancient civilizations. It was said that, upon visiting the ancient Achaemenid capital, Persepolis, Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman would return to the Citadel of Cairo (where the Ulema resides) and compose the Reservation Mandate of 1554, which would establish a proto-national reservation system to prevent damage to these ancient cities and archaeological remnants, however, serious robbing would routinely occur until the late 16th century. It is likely that the Rosetta stone was found during this time, but would not formally be in the hands of the Caliphate until the 1560s. A variety of educational institutions, or Madrasas, would form during this time, with specific institutions being formed along the Eastern Mediterranean coast in Acre, Alexandria, Beirut, Cairo, Jerusalem, Tartus, Tel Aviv, Tripoli, and Tyre. Fortifications along the Caliphate-Georgia border are updated this year.
  • Gurkani Sultanate: Re-construction of Efsahan, Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd would be conducted through a variety of architectural influence, mainly Abbasid and Greco-Roman. Sultan Ariyāramna al-Gurkāni Mirza, the Padishah of Persia, would appoint his son, Adarnarseh Mirza (c. 1534), as Regent of the Sultan, establishing a precedent where the heir-apparent would be the Regent (and later Vizier) of the Sultan, in an effort to provide legitimacy toward their reign as having served under the prior Sultan. The remnants of the silk road continue to remain highly profitable, with exports consisting of carpetry, copper, gold, leather, and a variety of fruits and spices, with cotton making up a significant export for the Empire. While localized Shi'ite communities maintain primary domestic autonomy, policies to collectivize the Shi'ite population under authority of the Gurkani dynasty are done through a variety of methods, such as allowing the Shi'ite clergy into the Court of the Sultan and held theological debates in Efsahan and Yazd. In the conflict against the Qizilbash, policies to eclipse the power are conducted, including the positioning of the Taymiyyah Order in Yazd and the creation of a slave army based on the ghulams introduced by the Savafids and the various ethnicities that flourished during the Georgian Empire, although most of these policies wouldn't be cemented until 1557. Fortifications in Rasht and other eastern cities begin to be updated.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. Our military sends 25,000 troops to Transylvania to retake our past lands. This is the second year of the war against them. We try to flank their armies from both sides. Also we sack their towns. (Algo needed). Kamilia and Boris die this year of old age.
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.

• Kingdom of Portugal: The colony in Cape Baltimoro begins growing much more as more and more Portuguese settlers arrive every day, a natinal guard consisting of 100 troops is established in the capital of Baltimoro. Meanwhile, a popular local food known as clams begins to be eaten by the richer people. A daughter is born this year who they name Marion.
• Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di": With the war against France seeming to never end and the front seeming to unneededly continue.  Thus with the aproval of Paul Dekremer who wants to focus his army and navy on Arles, as the French border is harder to defend due to the great open fields of Belgia and France. Thus Jean Frans sends Francis Mortier to the French lines, where he offers a truce and peace negotiations on the white peace principle. (Mod Response). Paul Dekremer's 37,000 now finally starting to prepare for more offensive moves, this meaning gathering carts and weagons, mules, donkeys and horses. Paul Dekremer gathering animals such as ox which are able to carry great amounts of suplies, alot of food being being planned to be bought from locals in currently occupied Lotharingia. The Oxen being planned to move Dulle griet one of the biggest guns in Lotharingia, which although very powerfull is relatively hard to move. The Groot Belgische Reporting to Dekremer that the "Algemene Belgisch wet" and thus that belgian administration and law will change alot. The Raad informing him so he can propose reforms or offer ideas and advice as it is accepted that the general admiral is the base of Lotharingian defence. While in Broekzand Peninsula reports of Caloosa agression the garisons in Fort Majeimi and Damiaenburght, writing letters to Paul Govaerts the Govenor of Hemelstrand. Paul Govaerts promising to send aid and ask for help from the tequesta allies if need be, as the tequesta could be usefull for suplies. Tom Bouwer in the sound coming across big islands on the southern end of Mela, and reaching the pacific ocean, although he is forced back to return to the atlantic side due to weather and suply issue's. Tom Bouwer thus founding a small resting place with the name of Nieuw Jersey chosen for the whole southen tip of Mela and Saint Heliers as the name for the small settlement he founded.
• Empire of Japan: Following years of development the colonies in Ashioto-Taiyo (OTL West coast) have begun to develop nicely. Contact with the natives has begun to normalize and formal trade has also started to tick up with furs, and other products starting to be traded. The colony of Kenzo has become resilient and has started to become a hub for travel up and down the region. A chartered ship of the Kyoto Imperial Zaibatsu establishes itself far to the south of the original colony of Kenzo using prior maps charted by Japanese explorers. Seeing no wish to go farther south and be well outside of the range of other Japanese efforts, the colony of Amaterasu (named after the Japanese sun goddess) is established as the many Japanese sailors here said it reminded them wholly of the Japanese sun goddess. It is noted to be a perfect place for ships to dock and another location just to the north is also marked off (OTL LA) to be sent back to the Kyoto Zaibatsu to figure what much be done here while a small outpost is established in the meantime. As developments in overseas trade and exploration have more taken hold the Japanese emperor Jomei begins contracting multiple Zaibatsu, trade guilds, even rich daimyo families to chart, explore, and claims these new lands to the east for the Empire. This puts a direct halt to many other expansion efforts in Asia proper as Jomei is noted to be fascinated by these new lands. While given up to be expensive ventures, the relative stability and profitability of Arasakura is noted to be a prime driver as to why more voyages have been authorized to be sent out. Another voyage is sent which also discovers a bevy of well numbered but disorganized tribes (near OTL seattle and vancouver) and immediate trade is engaged with these peoples. The drawdown of smaller Japanese ships of the transport and trade variety occurs as much of the transport and trade fleet has been changed over to the Japanese styled Djongs which have been put toward these efforts. In the recent years multiple Carrdjongs have entered service bringing total number of these immense warships to about eight (with one being a replacement for the one given to Maguidanao).
• Roman Empire: The fourth year of the civil war sees an other period of relative peace. Skirmishes take place in Anatolia as several small Verginaian revolts are quashed. The continued fighting impacts the revenue of the state greatly, as control over the valuable regions of Thessaly, Epirus, and Macedonia provide much of the mineral output of the empire and a significant share of its agricultural wealth. To the north, the Hasapis family plots. Regarded in the capital as useful schemers, the family lives up to their name by continuing to build support around the familial patriarch Odysseus. The marriage of Odysseus’ son, Alexandros Hasapis, to Marina of Wallachia cements an alliance spanning from Dobruja north around the family. Odysseus, loyal to the empire, but seeking to expand his domain, secretly sends a letter to Manuel. He asks permission to intervene in Moldavia and secure the lands west of the Tyras River as an expansion of his Despotate. Manuel extends his blessing to the endeavor, but is unable to directly support such a move, asking Odysseus to wait until the time is opportune to prevent the need for imperial resources.
• Kingdom of England: After having fallen ill the previous year, Queen Margaret of England (1502-1554) dies this year in the royal palace. As per the agreement made by the nobility and Parliament upon her ascension in 1543, her husband King Edward X of England, previously co-monarch, now becomes the sole monarch of England. The Queen's death is suspected by some nobles to have been due to foul play, as she fell ill soon after the jubilee celebrations at which George of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Rutland also died under strange circumstances. William of York, the son of the Duke of Clarence who attempted a coup against the royals in 1548, is arrested under suspicion of having been involved in nefarious activities at the previous year's celebrations, though it remains unclear whether or not Margaret's death was of natural causes. (More to come if I have time).

1555

Russia's support for Moldavia doesn't come soon enough before Prince Alexander retreats across the border, with a remaining military of 12,000 troops. John II secures the eastern border with 15,000 troops, but is forced to turn his attention north to address the impending Russian invasion. Sweden answers the call of John's petition by sending 20 galleys and 18 carracks to blockade the Russian navy.

The Principality of Transylvania reaches out to the Byzantine Empire for help against the invading forces of Hungary.

France and Burgundy become locked in combat, as the Counties of Auvergne and Amiens remain occupied with a total of 30,000 troops, and the rest begin to skirmish across the border of Burgundy itself.

In Paris, Reformist theologian Jean Gris makes a historic moment when arguing against the existence of the Gallican Church. He was asked "why would you not accept the word of the Estates-General, which declared the King as the Head of the Church?" he responded "Tell me, if the Estates-General declared that God is not God, would you then say God is not God?", "no, of course no man can say that". "Then they cannot say the King is head of the Church".

In India, the Bengal Sultanate is annexed by the Sabhani Empire, now stretching across all of Northern India from Delhi to the borders of Manipur. Its military is largely exhausted at this point, but it has now established a regular tradition of annual campaigns.

The Malian Army in the Ashanti Kingdom suffers immensely with supply as the local Ashanti chiefs conduct informal raids against them. During their search for a new Ashanti King they hear reports of an invasion from the east. To the south of the Malian positions, Alaafin Olusi launches a campaign into the Ashanti homeland, quickly scattering what Ashanti Forces survived the battle and taking thousands prisoner.

In Japan, Mori Motonari ascends to control the Chukogu province after defeating the resident damiyo of the Ouchi clan. Mori assembles an army of 20,000 troops under his command, in the ambition of living up to his ancestor who was a powerful minister under the Kamukara Shogunate.

Alaafin Olusi approaches European Merchants from Spain, Portugal, and the Celtic Confederacy, offering thousands of captured Ashanti as slaves in exchange for weapons and armor with which to equip his army.

In England, Protestant minister John Rogers is taken before the council of London, after having been imprisoned several times for his unapologetic heresy, is now considered for being removed from this world permenantly.

The first Jewish ghetto in Rome is established.

Florence produces the first modern form of Violins.

The term negro is first coined in Spain to refer to people of color.

• Tsardom of Russia: With the attention of John II of Poland on the South and the North at Pskov, Konstantin I orders Kniaz Nestoras Manikis to feign an invasion Via Smolesk using the Moscow Levy in conjunction with Konstantin I's forces in Kiev. To attack John II's forces in the East while the Pskov and Neva garrisons numbering some 25,000 men in total between the two are told to hold tight and take advantage of new fortifications to protect against the Poles and the Swedes. Meanwhile, hearing word of the Swedish fleet blockading the Gulf of Finland Orders are issued to the smaller Russian fleet (30 galleys) are ordered to take advantage of the shallower waters along the Finnic coast forcing the Swedish galleys to Engage them alone where the Russian fleet has the numerical superiority. Meanwhile, a German shipwright by the name of Claus Hecher under the employment of the Neva shipyards proposes to his superiors to use the designs of the armoured river boats in on new galleys, this idea is approved and 3 of the new ships are commissioned. The Novgorod Levy (15,000) is held in reserve in case the Swedes or Poles invade in the Baltic region. The two armies under the command of Manikis and Konstantin invade Poland from Smolesk and Kiev respectively along the the Eastern Border. Nestoras Manikis carries out a series of daring raids deep into Polish territories across the Upper Dnieper in the Smolensk region where just out of view taking advantage of the hills and forests in the area his and Konstantin's infantry and Sappers are busy at work setting up earthwork fortifications reinforced with wooden spikes and lumber to protect against Polish cavalry while proper earthworks are built for an elevated artillery position, while 3,000 of Konstantin's cavalry moves to reinforce the depleted forces of Alexander who is camped south of the Polish Border. Alexander is told to stay in reserve and recoup and when he receives word that a major engagement is to occur he is to move out. He is also told to act as Guard to the approach to Kiev, where several Russian Sappers begin construction of a large wooden mobile fortress that can be moved along the Dnieper as needed to defend Russian territories from a possible Polish assault. The Russian positions near Smolensk near the Dnieper Drainage will be manner by the Streltsy who will fire into the enemy cavalry while the Russian Pikemen whill defend the flanks in tight disciplined formations with the Fearsome Varyag held in Reserve to defend the Artillery which will fire from fortified positions using the highground of the hills in the region to fire down on the Polish forces as they approach. The Cossakcs will continues to raid and skirmish the Poles to draw them to this position while The Hussars and Heavy cavalry will be held in reserve to flank the enemy if an opportunity arises. Hetman Sergey Volkov and the Don, and Volga Cossacks continue to suppress the Tatar and Cuman clans slaughtering entire villages to quell the unrest  While the Don river is fortified to protect the river trade routes with the Greeks. Belgia efforts to hire some Russian mercenaries is somewhat successful managing to hire 2,000 Finns.

• Mali Empire: The cultural stagnation across the empire has continued, particularly noted at this time period in the kingdom of Waalo. The chief minister of Waalo wrote a number of political satires at this time in lyrical poetry, which laments the cultural situation in Mali. He writes how the empire has lost so much of its respect since the days of Musa I, the great Lion of Africa. He says how some people decry the Keita Dynasty as unworthy for the title of Mansa, and should be replaced by better men, while others wish to destroy the empire completely. Thus, no one is left who respects the House of Musa, and honors what the nation has worked so hard for these 200 years, but are split into these factions who either seek to depose or to destroy. Even those who fein consolation to the empire will say "the Keitas have brought some people joy, but we do not care for them. We hate all emperors alike, good or bad. We hold no fault in the emperor being a tyrant, as that is simply how all emperors are." It's unclear to what extent these anti-imperial critics existed at this time, outside of the known political faction in the Gbara, and likely this work of literature was important for the propaganda of the King of Waalo. Outside of this poetry, the Serar Kingdoms outsourced much of their culture imported from Europe with their trade to Lotharingia and Germany. The most famous such work of art was the Kayorite Map, a complete map of all of Mali's internal vassals and administrations. The situation in the south has become a grave concern for Musa, and reflects what the Keita Dynasty had feared for many generations, a growing rival power out of Greater Nigeria. Aswed's forces in the south pulls back to occupy the border territories of Ashanti, while maintaining a supply route back to Gonja. The Emperor reaches out to another faction who might be more capable of securing order in the region. Mansa Musa III reaches out to the ruler of Jabal Asada, the House of Qamar, and asks for his assistance in containing the growth of the Oyo Empire. He cites how successful the military of Asada was in securing the southern territories so many years ago in the Bono War, so their military is much better suited for the wars against Oyo. In compensation, Musa will withdraw the crippling obligation of slave tribute which had been imposed on their nation many years ago. (Mod response, please). Prince Simba continues to act as the Viceroy of Bebaghad, organizing the secondary vassals of the empire into different sectors according to the corresponding coastal colonies. He appoints native chiefs as lower ministers where possible, and otherwise outsources Fulani Africans, Babani Berbers or Mande.
  • Asada agrees, raising 12,000 men to assist in repulsing the rising Oyo. However, the Asadan Army also struggles with supply so far from home, and while it is more effective at fighting in the terrain that dominates the rapidly collapsing Ashanti state it is unable to drive the Oyo back.

• Georgia: The wife of Levan, the Byzantine-born Irene, was the foremost patron of the arts during this period. She was particularly enthusiastic about ballet. While she was not a dancer herself, she helped in the development of ballet by codifying its fundamental principles (such as the five basic foot positions) and commissioning some of the earliest ballet productions. While her contemporaries did not share her enthusiasm for Western artistic tradition, Georgian art nevertheless became integrated into broader European tradition. For example, starting from the mid-sixteenth century, frescoes began to incorporate elements from the Renaissance (particularly Mannerist) style. The popularity of Mannerism (and the movement that succeeded it Baroque), was its focus on religious matters rather than secular ones. Nevertheless, many in the Orthodox clergy opposed the “Westernization” of Georgian art - first because of an associated of the aforementioned movements with Catholicism, and secondly, because of the concern that an overemphasis on technical detail would promise the art’s purpose. Meanwhile, the construction of Batumi’s Latin Quarter began during this period, in an attempt to attract foreign merchants (particularly Italians, Greeks, and Germans) there instead of Poti - then, Georgia’s premier port. Many of the buildings in Batumi’s Latin Quarter were constructed in the Renaissance style, emphasizing simple symmetrical forms in emulation of the architectural style of classical antiquity. The revival of Georgian art was underpinned by a burgeoning economy, which attributed its dynamism due to Georgia’s strategic location at the center of Eurasian trading routes (particularly the overland route of the Silk Road), and due to its lucrative exports of silk and cotton. The development of the Georgian economy was also spurred by the resettlement of Armenians (who were adept in commerce) in Georgia’s southern provinces of Syria and Assyria. While Aleppo continued to be the largest city in the region, due to the resettlement of thousands of Armenians over the course of the sixteenth century, Ar-Raqqah - previously a marginal town - had developed into a major administrative and commercial center. Georgia’s large and vibrant economy also aided its military expansion and allowed it to maintain its lead in terms of gunpowder technology. The artillery corps was expanded, while the cavalry was outfitted not only with their usual weaponry (lances and swords) but also pistols - which were fired before charging the enemy. The border cities of Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin were fortified, with Greeks being employed to help “modernize” them through the installation of defensive cannons and the reconstruction of their walls so they are thicker (and thus, more able to withstand artillery).
• Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di": A peace at last as the treaty of Abbekerke, which sorts out minor border exchanges, allows for demilitarisation of the Somme. Jean Frans with this peace now able to focus together with Paul Dekremer on the Arlesois Front, as Paul Dekremer is feeling the effects of his age. Paul Dekremer now putting his son Jan Juliaen Dekremer in charge of reforms to the Belgian cavalry, as John is already in his 30s and fully involved in the army and national politics. John being a hard working but yet unknown force in Belgia, as he often worked in logistics of the Belgian army. Thus the 37,000 strong force under Paul Dekremer prepares his army, feeding the ox, mules, horses and donkeys, these animals needing their food even more now to enable them to carry the heavy loads they will have to. Paul Dekremer wanting to ensure that Dulle Griet will be able to be used, as dulle griet shoots up to 700 lbs cannon balls which can create great damage to any city. Dulle griet being jokingly known as a city buster due to the power the cannon has and the damage it can inflict. This transport being helped with 2,000 Finns joining the fight as per request of Jean Frans, as he needed more soldiers as the peace with France was yet unsure.  While in Broekzand peninsula with stories of the Calusa getting more and more agressive Paul govaerts requests forces from both the Tequesta and Jaega. (Mod response). Paul recruiting a total of 250 soldiers acros Hemelsstrand, Fort Majeimi and Damiaenburght, and even buying some guns, horses and mules. Paul Govaerts wanting to pacify the Broekzand peninsula as he sees the great opportunity the land has great potential for new farms, sugarcane plantations and Beer breweries. This all while the Groot Belgische raad is finishing the last bits of the New Belgian constitution, as Belgium is transforming from her medieval roots into a more modern state.
  • Jeaga and Tequesta make war against Calusa with 800 troops.
• Roman Empire: The fifth year of the Verginaian Revolt is a particularly bloody year. A large-scale revolt in Anatolia leads to the Battle of Iconium wherein a Verginaian army of 5,700 men is surrounded and massacred by 18,000 loyalist troops. This battle sees the end of the Verginaian revolt in Anatolia as those leaders loyal to John are captured and executed for treason. The deaths of so many large land-owning aristocrats creates a power vacuum on many estates in the empire. Peasants, who had historically been more or less trapped on the lands of their richer overlords, find themselves in de facto possession of vast tracts of land. Maneul, looking to exploit this situation further, issues an edict granting these peasants title and deed to the land so long as they first pay a modest fee and then pay regular taxes as free-holders. To the west, Manuel sallies forth from his defensive positions at Kavala, intent on ending the war. However, John’s army catches wind of the loyalist advance and proceeds to lay a devious trap. As the loyalist army is crossing the Struma River, Verginaian forces numbering 9,000 descend upon them, the resulting clash is a resounding rebel victory as nearly a quarter of the 20,000 strong loyalist army is wiped out. In total 4,500 loyalists are killed, while the Verginaians take only 1,500 casualties. To the north, in what is growing into effectively the Hasapis Realm, Odysseus Hasapis supports Mircea IV the Wise in supporting Transylvania. The Thema Vlachia is raised by Mircea, as is the Thema Dobruja and both march north into Transylvania to support their struggle.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. Previous towns and lands that were sacked that we pushed into are annexed in our nation. The remaining troops push more into the heartland of Transylvania all the way to the capital Cluj-Napoca. Our military sacks the capital taking its treasures and loot. The government is overthrown and put into prison. (Algo needed)
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.
• Empire of Japan: Emperor Jomei seeing Motonari ousting the Ouchi resident governor while annoyed with the prospect of the Mori clan ousting a duly appointed Daimyo provincial administrator, was thus more annoyed with the Ouchi for not only losing to the Ikko-Ikki revolt, but now the Mori clan and offers him the post of the supreme Provincial daimyo of Chugoku as well as giving Motonari the position in the Joen (uppet diet) that the Ouchi once had. The Ouchi, having lost a serious portion of their lands, are essentially forced to leave Chugoku and move to a grouping of close estates near the Imperial seat to maintain a sort of protection over them. Emperor Jomei reminds the many Daimyo that in most instances infighting between nobilities will not be tolerated as it had led to the Ningbo incident which had cost the Empire greatly. This idea is reinforced heavily with the Emperors heightening of the Imperial home armies standing strength for the first time in nearly 20 years. With nearly 40,000 men in the Capital at any given moment and with a standing pool of nearly 20,000 more which could be called upon quickly in the Capital region, the Emperor makes it known that any more serious infighting will see the Imperial army intervene and that any and all issues regarding governance and administration of a territory or province or land estate should go through the proper channels. This does, however, give the Emperor wherewithall the establish more fully a unified court system for the Empire of Japan. Rather than center it in Kyoto, Nagoya, or Osaka, the High court system of Japan is established in Edo given its central location and neutrality from all of Japans major clans. Having been loyal and relatively obscure within the military structure of the empire, the Tokugawa clan is granted control of Edo as well as tasked with establishing via their neutrality, the court system of the Empire of Japan. Abroad the Japanese colonization of Ashioto-Taiyo continues with the Expansions in Kenzo, Nama, Amaterasu all continue as the open lands, light issues with natives, and the attractiveness of a new life prompt many to seek ways to reach the new lands. The status of Temporary servitude is established in which people would be sponsored and would work for a period of 5 years with an established household before making their own way in the colonies. The Imperial navy makes its first visit to the new world as well as a force of roughly 200 troops and 3 ships carrying military families are brought over and settle in the marked territory north of Amaterasu. This Settlement of Yamamoto (named after the first explorer to Alaska, and its establishment being in OTL Los Angeles) and the involved Ashigaru immediately go about building a small fort and dockyards to receive more ships. Fishing and agriculture take off in these various colonies and the initial colonies of Kenzo and Nama are noted to be inferior in positioning to both Amaterasu and Yamamoto in both agricultural yields for edible crops and in their ability to receive ships which begins to stunt their growth somewhat. Amaterasu very clearly has become the easiest colony to get set up in having soared in its initial population from roughly 300 to nearly 800 in the first two years with the local administrators reeling with the amount of requests to head to this colony. In general the need to mitigate the amount of people wanting to go to colonies is noted and for the time being a sort of Quota is established to direct people as needed rather than have them all show up to one settlement which would be currently unable to house them. Its noted that every 5 years the colonies will send over reports of their progress as well as some of their yield back as a tax and dependent on what comes out of a region in terms of yields will give further allowances for more people to be sent to further develop and settle the region. All of these colonies begin to spread up and down the coast. However, to the south of Amaterasu, it is noted that there is much desert and a sort of cordon is established preventing more settlement and claims coming down that direction. As more exploration is done multiple other points to establish colonies are noted and the report Delivered to the Emperor prompts him to try to figure out what should be prioritized next. An idea of a relatively hands off approach is delineated with restructuring of what can and will be invested every year to be implemented once the logistical hurdles are handled. 
  • Mori Motonari accepts this office.
• Vinland: The principality expands into New Markland as fur trappers establish their place on the island. Modern European metallurgy and economics also transform the island gradually.
• Abbasid Caliphate: Emir Ibrahim bin Mehmud would be appointed as one of Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman's advisors during this time to better aid in the legitimacy of his future ascendence to the throne. He would learn after Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman, studying under his father after a lengthy seven-year tenure at the Great University of Alexandria to better prepare his intellectual capabilities, and would ultimately be granted an additional residency in Baghdad so as to contribute to the translation efforts in the House of Wisdom. Much like his father, Ibrahim bin Mehmud would study military strategy and historical conflicts, while most of his siblings would take up roles in the Court or the Ulema. While humanist philosophers and a variety of scholars would aid in the construction of the Second Islamic Golden Age, the printing press' would be installed in the territories of Ifriqiya, further solidifying a daily loop of intriguing and interesting compositions and publications. This over-saturation of the printing press' would culminate in a second volumn of the classical collection, One Thousand and One Nights..\
  • Gurkani Sultanate: Re-construction of Efsahan, Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd would be conducted through a variety of architectural influence, mainly Abbasid and Greco-Roman. Sultan Ariyāramna al-Gurkāni Mirza, the Padishah of Persia, would appoint his son, Adarnarseh Mirza (c. 1534), as Regent of the Sultan, establishing a precedent where the heir-apparent would be the Regent (and later Vizier) of the Sultan, in an effort to provide legitimacy toward their reign as having served under the prior Sultan. The remnants of the silk road continue to remain highly profitable, with exports consisting of carpetry, copper, gold, leather, and a variety of fruits and spices, with cotton making up a significant export for the Empire. While localized Shi'ite communities maintain primary domestic autonomy, policies to collectivize the Shi'ite population under authority of the Gurkani dynasty are done through a variety of methods, such as allowing the Shi'ite clergy into the Court of the Sultan and held theological debates in Efsahan and Yazd. In the conflict against the Qizilbash, policies to eclipse the power are conducted, including the positioning of the Taymiyyah Order in Yazd and the creation of a slave army based on the ghulams introduced by the Savafids and the various ethnicities that flourished during the Georgian Empire, although most of these policies wouldn't be cemented until 1557. Fortifications in Rasht and other eastern cities begin to be updated. 14,000 troops, under General Mohammed bin Emran al-Baghdadi, invades state of Baloch, employing a more perfected version of the musket, likely originally designed by an Armenian weaponsmith in Efsahan, by legitimizing a lever and spring to better perfect the traditional musket while raising efficency in combat. General Mohammed bin Emran al-Baghdadi would lay siege to the city of Iranshahr this year. (Algo Needed).

1556

King John II counter-attacks against the Russian invasion near Smolensk with 18,000 troops, but pushes directly north along the Reka Udra River to bypass Konstantine's trap, in an attempt to encircle his forces, while the northern and eastern flanks near the border are defended with 8,000 and 5,000 troops, respectively. Meanwhile, Alexander uses the loaned military from Russia to make an orderly retreat from Poland completely, recovering almost all of his army back to the capital. He is immediately met with a general revolt across the Principality, as the Cumanian and Crimean hordes break off from his vassalage, which he attempts to suppress.

The Oyo Empire strikes a decisive political victory when Alaafin Olusi secures the allegiance of the Benin people through a series of key royal marriages. The result of these marriages is effectively a union between the two nations. The addition of Benin's substantial and modern army empowers Alaafin Olusi to subdue most of the Ashanti Kingdom, forcing local chiefs to swear fealty. Only the Malian-supported regions in the north of the country remain independent, though they themselves are in a state of chaos.

The Catawba people of Carolina, although once on friendly terms with the Hanseatic League, would find the colonists growing rather dependent on their resources and, fearful of the recent deaths of their fellow tribal citizens due to a mysterious plague brought over from the Hanseatic homeland, would lead to a very devastating raid on the Hanseatic colonies led by warrior Wattan, nearly expelling the German colonists on the coast, with many of them returning to the Holy Roman Empire.

Denmark sells Sweden part of central Scandinavia near the border with Norway.

Japanese explorers along the western coast hear about the Sinkyone tribe, a mysterious group that worship the spirit of the chipmunk.

The Shaanxi earthquake, regarded as the deadliest earthquake in history, would lead to the deaths of more than 800,000 peoples in China.

Tatars in the territory of Astrakhan would grow restless and rather resentful of the Russian leadership, culminating in a series of rebellions in the eastern and southern territories of Russia.

French explorer and cartography Gabriel Baschet of Brittany would make landfall along the coast of OTL New Jersey in Raritan Bay.

Fuzuli becomes the most prominent poet in the Azerbaijani language in Iraq.

• Georgia: The westernization of Georgia’s aristocratic culture continues - evident in the popularity of the Renaissance (particularly Mannerist) style, and ballet de cours. The assimilation of the Caucasian Albanians into the Georgian population continues. Meanwhile, thousands of Armenians are relocated to Syria, Assyria, and Azerbaijan, in order to bolster the respective region’s Christian population. While Muslims now face legal, economic, and political discrimination (being barred from high office, and required to pay a capitation tax), they continue to enjoy a degree of religious freedom under the milla system - with heterodox Muslims, in particular, benefiting greatly from this. The Georgian economy continues to flourish, with the export of cotton and silk; woolens, carpets, ceramics, wine, and saffron are also exported in large quantities. The artillery corps is expanded, while more gunpowder weapons are produced. Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin are fortified.
• Hanseatic League: This is the 27th year of Peter Burkhart's (b. 1499) reign. He has a younger brother, Henry Burkhart (b. 1512) who is married to Zillah of Hesse (b. 1514) and father of two sons (b.1538, 1541); a younger sister, Matilda Burkhart (b. 1514) who is married to Henry de la Mark; and a younger brother, Jacob Burkhart (b. 1519), who is married to Eleanor Courtenay (b. 1525) and father of Erik Burkhart (b.1546). Following Christmas Mass and a subsequent celebration at Burkhart Palace, Peter Burkhart suffers a seizure. He had been complaining of headaches all year, but following the seizure he is bedridden and his mental faculties are drained. In March, with no sign of recovery and following another, less severe seizure, Peter Burkhart abdicates. An election is held, and Jacob Burkhart is elected Bürgermeister of Lübeck-Hamburg. This is a surprise to many in the League considering the seniority of Henry Burkhart. However, Jacob Burkhart's naval service during the Von Kerpen War and relations with England garner him much support. Henry Burkhart is also partially blamed for the trouble with the Catawba. To punish the Catawba, the Hanseatic League declares war and sends 1,200 men on an expedition along the Cape Fear River to locate and destroy settlements loyal to Wattan. Henry Burkhart himself leads the charge. (Algo needed). Another expedition is sent south, reaching as far as OTL Charleston as they investigate the tribes responsible and punish them accordingly. Naturally, many settlements that had nothing to do with the raid on Carolingia are burned just the same. Trade with the Algonquin-speaking tribes along the Outer Banks continues to be fruitful, as many displaced Germans from the regions south of New Hanover move north. This leads to the official establishment of Jacobstown (OTL Norfolk) around the fort constructed in the region. This primarily includes people who cannot pay for passage back to the New World. Fortunes are made quickly as Hanseatic traders establish routes from Jacobstown through the Chesapeake Bay area. The Hanseatic League does not trade with the Swedish colony in the region and in fact issues an embargo of the colony. Having secured good relations with the Chesapeake Bay indigenous peoples, the League offers alliances with these groups to harass the Swedish colony. For violating Hanseatic claims to the region, the Hansa sues Sweden and demands that the colony be relocated. (Mod response needed for indigenous people, Sweden) Still, many settlers return to Germany or stop halfway at Bermuda, possibly because they could not afford the fare back to Germany yet. This leads to an influx of new colonists on the island. Many of those who return to Germany are Catholics who believe the region is becoming more safe. They are typically families of means or second-generation colonists who could afford to do so. Some may return to their family estates having been occupied by someone else, abandoned in a state of disrepair, or even completely destroyed. One man returns to his flat in Hamburg only to find it occupied by a brewery that kept many of his personal possessions for the decor. Another, who left with his mistress for the New World, returns to find his ex-wife has married his hated neighbor in his absence. Though this isn't to say these stories are all depressing - families are reunited and people see friends they never expected to see again - the decision to move back is a stressful ordeal. Suicide rates are high for ex-colonists; being the 16th century, not much sympathy is given to people who do this
• Roman Empire: Now in its 6th year, the war between the Verginaians and Manuel’s Loyalists grinds on. Manuel and his army launches a full on assault on the Verginaian forces. He throws 24,000 men into the assault, hoping to end the war decisively. Their attack manages to reach Thessaloniki, besting one small Verginaian skirmishing force during their advance. However, the army only makes it as far as Methoni before encountering a stubborn Verginaian force. The Battle of Methoni is a veritable second Thermopylea. John’s forces repel wave after wave of loyalists resulting in a pyrrhic Verginaian victory. Both sides suffer dramatically with the Loyalist Army reduced to a shadow of its former self. Only 8,000 loyalists survive the battle and subsequent retreat to Constantinople. John’s forces do not fare much better with only 6,000 survivors. Freeholders and the support they give Manuel shifts the power structure of the Empire. These small land-holders threaten even more the conservative elite, inciting greater revolt and support for John among these traditional power holders. The mercantile class wavers in their support for Manuel over his policy decisions regarding these very freeholders, but their preference for his other policies keeps most loyal. As more nobles and aristocrats flip their support to John his position grows in strength. Meanwhile, farther north, Odysseus Hasapis retreats from Hungary, having ended his and the empire’s support for Transylvania. He reforms his army, and builds his local power base on freeholding peasants in the poldered regions, and Danube merchants. With potential opportunity both north and south, Odysseus plots to become either a king-maker or a king in his own right.
• Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di" With peace with France being established, Jean Frans thus moving 12,000 of the 17,000 soldiers at Atrecht. Thus Francis Mortier becomes the General of the Somme army, Francis commanding the 5,000 soldiers left at the Somme. Francis being ordered to keep the peace and transition the region away from martial law, and reintroduce civil law. Thus Now Paul Dekremer and his 37,000 big army start marching on the city of Metz, after Jean Frans and his army arives in Luxembourg. The Soldiers of Dekremer thus advancing on Metz, Paul getting Dulle griet to face the north side of the city. This meant to make it easier to have the physicological effect without needing to the move the cannon all the way. Dekremers plan being to starve the city into surrender, Paul wanting to avoid bloodshed by just lowering their morale and food suply. Paul also making some small walls and digging trenches, this all to give the cannoniers and punaisiers cover. This also making it possible for pikemen to not get hit, although these defences aren't as good as those of the city they are more mobile and easy to replace. This does not make these small ditches and walls confortable as the men are used in standing in mud hours in end, Paul Dekremer hoping to end this war shortly. The plan being to soon rush south and liberate Mosselle from arles and possible even imperial Arles. The plan being to ensure that their government adopts friendlier stance without alienating them. This all while the Groot Belgische Raad begins to finish the "Reformed Belgian law", although some minor issue's have to figures out. In Broekzand mainwhile tequesta and jeaga soldiers arive, Willem jan reporting 800 thus with his own they total 1.050 troops. although a small force this force is very technologically advanced and prepared to fight.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. With Odysseus Hasapis the Roman general retreating from the war our troops are happy about the victory. After this long siege that successfully placed by us, at the age of 66 John Zápolya retires from the military. In the capital he is awarded several high ranking medals for this brilliants in war. Winning 4 wars that helped our nation expand. King Oliver with his first victory in war ceases to annex Transylvania back in our nation after losing it years ago. Oliver allows the people of the land to practice what ever religion they want in the region. The rest of the Roman troops are now prisoners of war and sent to prison. Peter of Arpad is looking for a wife at the moment. (Player/Mod response)
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.

• Tsardom of Russia: Konstantin hearing word of the Polish movements farther north sends word to the Garrison in Novgorod to Prepare for a siege, while 15,000 troops composed of 6,000 Hussars, 4,000 Mounted Stretlsy armed with Wheellocks, and 5,000 Cossacks to Approach to Lake Ilman to Shadow the Polish Army advancing North but to Remain outside of reach or if possible out of site of the Enemy forces. Meanwhile, an order is issued to Nestoras Manikis to lead the 15,000 strong force. When Word reaches Novgorod The recently raised Novgorod Levy is put to Work building Earthwork dugouts around the City to be manned by the Streltsy in the Levy, and by any Citizen of the city brave enough and skilled enough to use a musket. Taking shots at the enemy forces until the last moment upon which the will carry out a fighting retreat into the cityupon which time the Artillery men with begin firing upon the dugoutswhich are rigged with Gunpowder barrels to inflict as much much damage as possible on the enemy forces, and to make the terrain in the approach to the city as difficu;t as possible to traverse by the enemy forces. The young Dimitry volunteers under a different name as part of the city garrison, He is fortunately placed in training for artillery due to a lack of men to man the cannons along the city fortifications. The Pskov and Neva Garrison are issued orders to remain at their posts to ensure the cities are sufficiently manned to withstad a potential siege in case the Swedes are able to land forces in the Gulf of Finland. The Cossacks under the command of Hetman Sergey Volkov are reinforced with  3,000 circassians under the command of Kniaz Temyruk. The combined Cossack-circassian forces begin a scorched eartch Policy to subdue the revolting Cumans and Mongolian clans. Slaughering and pillaging entire villages while avoding direct engagements with the Moldavian rebels in order to weaken them. An effort to finalize the securing of the Don River under Russian Control while fighting along the Dnieper entisifies due to the large concentration of Cuman and Mongol settlements in the region. The construction of the Dnieper Mobile fotress (made of lumber) is completed and garrisoned with 2,000 men Varyag, and enough Artillery men to man 15 cannons.

1557

Pope Gregory XIV dies of natural causes. The cardinals in Rome elect as his successor Vicenzo Diedo, the Patriarch of Venice, who takes the papal name Nicholas VI.

Having outmaneuvered the Russian forces of Smolensk, King John of Poland takes a gamble to concentrate a total of 22,000 troops to lay siege to the city of Novgorod. His goal is hopefully to occupy the Russian capital and force the Tsar to terms of favorable peace. Sweden proceeds to land 1,200 troops in Finland. Prince Alexander of Moldavia is imprisoned in the capital by his brother who is made Prince Bogdan III. Bogdan proceeds to take the military east in an attempt to suppress the Turkic revolts. The Cossack commander Dimitrash defies to orders of the Circassian allies to set up a semi-independent state of his own near the Sea of Azov. 

The City of Cusco falls to the Spanish siege having been starved out for years as native allies to the Spanish have been successful in preventing supply from reaching the city. Farther to the south, however, a potent and powerful force of the Inca armies with a viable population base set up, planning on fighting a long war with the Spanish having studied and managing to find ways to counteract the Spanish tactics and technology to some degree. This unrest in the south is augmented by further attacks from the Mapuche, led by their leader Lautaro.

An outbreak of Influenza spreads across Central Asia, spilling from the Bukhara Khanate across north and central Iran.

French explorer Gabriel Baschet of Brittany would incidentally travel southward after being expelled by the English settlers present in OTL Jersey and losing his compass, later landing in OTL Charleston, South Carolina. Meanwhile, French cartography Émile Dupont would land in OTL Fortaleza, Brazil.

English settlers in Jersey suffer perpetual attacks by natives which consequently contracts the colony as the remaining settlers manage to successfully start fending off the Attacks.

Robert Recorde publishes his book The Whetstone of Wit which uses the first instances of the plus and equal signs in English.

Portemo paints Deposition of the Cross in Florence. 

Venetian mathematician Niccolo Tartaglia writes the first work on ballistics.

• Georgia: The westernization of Georgia’s aristocratic culture continues - evident in the popularity of the Renaissance (particularly Mannerist) style, and ballet de cours. The assimilation of the Caucasian Albanians into the Georgian population continues. Meanwhile, thousands of Armenians are relocated to Syria, Assyria, and Azerbaijan, in order to bolster the respective region’s Christian population. While Muslims now face legal, economic, and political discrimination (being barred from high office, and required to pay a capitation tax), they continue to enjoy a degree of religious freedom under the milla system - with heterodox Muslims in particular benefiting greatly from this. The Georgian economy continues to flourish, with the export of cotton and silk; woolens, carpets, ceramics, wine, and saffron are also exported in large quantities. The artillery corps is expanded, while more gunpowder weapons are produced. Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin are fortified.
• Kingdom of England: Though RETEC managed to successfully conquer most of OTL South New Jersey from the Lenape tribespeople in its campaigns around 1553, the subsequent series of attacks by tribespeople, aggravated by the Danish providing aid for them, has made the economic and military situation of the colony difficult to manage. Knowing that the Hanseatic League owns a colony of their own and seems to be expanding their colony toward the English one, RETEC (with the approval of King Edward X of England) approaches the Hanseatic leadership to see if they can work out some sort of deal regarding the Meridian colonies that would benefit both parties. (Hanseatic response) (More to come if I have time)
• 'Kingdom of Belgium "Vryheid is ons Reght":' With Peace and a formal border with France established, the New constitution is officially adopted. Thus fully changing the nature of Belgium, where the Merchants of the nation are the most important part of the nation. The laws clearly defining what a free company is, and royal companies and what is called the COME UP WITH NAME THINGY . Defitions of terms being made as to make the clearer and avoid terms being up to debate, this clarification and unification of law meant to Unifiy the nation. Simplification and unification being the goal of the Groot Belgische raad, while Klein Belgische raden are given the power to implement these federal laws. This all also allowing better recruitment on local level of troops, Paul Dekremer wanting a more profesional and a more constant stream of recruitment. Alltough he is not able to make this dream into reality, as Paul Dekremer is killed by a stray bullet North of Metz. Paul Dekremer dying at the age of 59, his son Jan Juliaen Dekremer thus Becoming the First Generaal admiraal of Belgium at age 35. The death of his father likely being due to some of the victory shots as were fired in all possible directions. Thus His son soon replacing him and keeping his actual cause of death a secret, the official being that he died of enemy gun fire. His father atleast living to see Metz in Belgian hands, his sons resting for a year in order to plan and organise the army to go south. While in Broekzand Willem Jan and his 1.050 soldiers wait for more suplies from Hemelsstrand.
• Kingdom of Portugal:During a visit to Cape Baltimoro,a savage tribe member of the sasquenich tribes throws a spear at the king and mortally wounding him,his last words are"Do not engage the Natives"He is succeded by his dagther who takes the name of Queen Cirí IV,As she is only 7 a regency council lead by her mother rules until she is of age.The late king is buried next to his father and crown prince Luis.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. John Zápolya son Alex follows in his father's footsteps to become a general of the army for the King. After being a captain under his father's command for a few wars he he finally gets to shine with his promotion by the King. Since its been really quiet lately the new general just does some light recon routine work by having guards and scouts on the boarders to make our nation safe.
  • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.
• Tsardom of Russia: With the growing unrest in The lands of the former Astrakhan Khanate Kniaz Anton Stroganov issues an order to mobilize 5,000 men under his command to ride south to suppress them Reinforcing the Garrison at Tsaristyn to prevent the new stronghold from falling Into Tatar or Kazakh hands and to prevent the rebellion from spreading north into the region of Kazan. He also requests reinforcements from the Qasim Khanate a long time vassal of the the Rus who provides 5,000 Qasim Raiders who are sent to Reinforce Anton and his men. Following the failure to Keep the Tartars quiet in the region Anton decides to carry out a more violent suppression campaign in the region torching the villages and slaughtering without mercy many of the Tatars of revolting villages and then withdrawing to draw in the Tatar rebels before doubling back reinforced by the Qasim Raiders This tactic is employed a couple more times in an attempt to cow the Revolting tatars into Submission. Meanwhile, in the town of Rurik, the Worship of St. Dimitry continues to grow as converted Tatars and recently settled Rus. Nestoras Manikis with 15,000 Cavalry continue to maintain observe The Enemy forces now attempting to lay siege to Novgorod, awaiting the perfect opportunity to strike at the enemy forces while the Streltsy, and Artillerymen inside the city continue to fire relentlessly at the enemy. The Young Dimitry still going by a pseudoname of Alek becomes an accomplished artilleryman using his learning of geography, and Topography his classes at with the stroganovs, and At the university of Novgorod. Word, however, starts to spread amongst the other members of the garrison of his true identity as the heir of the Tsardom of Russia. With knowledge spreading amongst the troops in the city of Novgorod that their future leader is amongst them instills i an increased desire to defend the city at all costs against the Enemy forces. and with the supply lines along the city secure my Armored river cboats escorting supplys the city will be well armed for the Siege outnumbering the Polish 30,000 to 22,000 (15,000 defending inside the city of novgorod, and another 15,000 under the command of Nestoras Manikis) and of the greater number of cannons and muskets produced locally by the Moscow Arsenal and with Stockpiles in Novgorod, Kiev, and Moscow. An envoy is dispatched to to Moldavia, requesting that Bogdan retain a small garrison strong enough to keep the Polish from being able to concentrate and states that the forces under Hetman Sergey, and Kniaz Temyruk can deal with most of the suppression of the Moldavian rebels. He also states he has no interest in interfering in Moldavian internal affairs. However, he would like the lines of communication and coopertion between Moldavia and Russia to remain strong. (Mod Response).
• Roman Empire: The seventh year of the civil war proves a less eventful year than the preceding years. With both sides nearing exhaustion, raising further troops becomes more or less impossible. John and his followers face internal dissent, and a small revolt by members of his own loyal nobles. Manuel attempts to reassert imperial control over the military, but is unable to convince local forces to take up arms for his overly-liberal regime. He is forced to address the growing chaos in Moldavia and Taurica. He orders local leaders to support the Kozakos to the north of Taurica and raise the Thema Taurica to protect the Greek ports in that region. He also dispatches a moderately large fleet to protect Roman interests in Tanais. The fleet carries with is a company of marines numbering 4,000. Tired of the war, revolt breaks out among the peasants of the Peloponnese, Thessaly, and Epirus. In Anatolia, riots break out against aristocratic land-holders as more peasants demand rights and deeds to their lands. Manuel, in no position to oppose or enflame these riots is forced to accept some of their demands. He grants the landless poor farmers across the empire the ability to claim deeds upon land they have worked, so long as they can provide proof of work for at least fifteen years. These deeds allow such farmers to buy, sell, and develop such land, but force them to pay a “landlord tax” for the next 100 years to the family from which it was deeded. This dramatic land-ownership reform contributes massively to the Mesaítáxi as local guides and corporations appear across the country.

1558

After sacking some villages near Novgorod, King John quickly retreats from the city to avoid the Russian advancement. He links up with the remaining troops in the south, then proceeds to directly attack the Russian army of 30,000 with his army of 26,000. Sweden proceeds with occupying the fortress of Turku successfully. Bogdan lost his battle against the the Turks, effectively allowing Moldavia to collapse and become partitioned between the Qasim Khanate, the Cossack state of Dimitrash, and the occupation of Circassia, while Bogdan falls back to the heartland of Moldavia to hold a defense against Poland.

Southern parts of Peru and northern Chile further destabilizes from Spanish rule, which organizes in an alliance of the Incas and Mapuche into the "Neo-Inca" state.

In the midst of the Russo-Polish War, King John II creates a more efficient system of communication between the front lines back to the capital, establishing the institution of the "Poczta Polska" (Polish Post).

The influenza pandemic spreads across the rest of the Middle East, affecting all of Georgia, Egypt, and the Byzantine Empire.

Along the ongoing religious sectarian conflict in France, cultural movement begins that has scathing Anti-Feminine rhetoric against the female line of the Premyslid Dynasty. One anonymous text published is titled The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women.

Along the Western coast Japanese explorers begin to get more and more reports of the Mysterious Sinkyone. Some sinkyone wariors being reported shouting Purnaqi, purnaqi while charging a groop of Nongatl tribes men on deer. The Sinkyone being reported to have the skill to ride deer and pacify bears without any trouble.

The Oyo Empire is able to subdue several of the smaller states around it using forces from allied Benin, newly subjugated Ashanti, and its own rapidly modernizing army.

• Kingdom of Mutapa: King Gemba Nyazame mobilizes the 10,000 auxiliary troops to the Royal guard, and marches 30,000 combined troops to the Swahili confederacy demanding they rejoin the nation and will be treated as equals in the new government. (Mod response). He also begins to reintegrate makovibra back into the kingdom using 2,000 riders to travel down the royal road seeing if it needs repairs. Scholars in Lusvingo see that water can power a small wheel on a tributary of the Limpopo. The new king continues to upkeep the roads and grow the small textile industry by investing in more sheep. 
• Tsardom of Russia: Nestoras Manikis and his 15,000 cavalry noting The movements of John II deny jim the battle he is looking for using their greater mobility and time to get within a safe distance while the 15,000 troops inside the city of Novgorod contimue to pound away at the Enemy forces inflicting grueling casualties. Meanwhile, 8,000 forces stationed at Pskov are sent to act as a second shadowing force working in conjunction with Manikis forces bringing the troops in the Novgorod region to 40,000 making any attempts by John II to break the Russian forces in the region suicidal (nate, it would be suicidal to try to win this battle, and based on what ive seen John II isnt an idiot or suicidal). 5,000 Infantry and 3,000 Orthodox Finns mostly trappers are sent to deal with the Invading Finns moving into Pikkio to prevent the Swedes from advancing further, and to use as a base camp. The Sappers there quickly  get to work building up a Wooden and Earthwork Fortifications there. while efforts to build those armoured galleys begin in earnest with a framework of the first one being completed as a larger then average galley with thickened wooden walls to make them harder to sink, with more rowers, and two sails to allow for greater mobility, combined with a large ancor near the front to allow to be dropped and allow for quick turns. At the front of the Galley is a Corvus (boarding device)  and large Iron Spike to trap and damage the enemy ships in close combat. The Galley will be able to hold ten cannons (11 if the Spike is replaced with another Cannon). Due to the specialized work required for these ships only six are commissioned However, it is thought that therse ships will help give an dge to the Russians to secure the Gulf of Finland. A port on the Island of Fotress on the Island of Kotlin begins. Anton Stroganov continues to Violently suppress The Tatar Rebels in Astrakhan making their way to the city of Astrakhan to cow the rebels inrto submission. In Kazan, Husbandry and cattle raising continue to grow as the demand for horses and salted meat for the war effort grow. Development of towns and fortifications up the Kama river continue under the oversight of the Stroganov Family who settle people from the White Sea region and from The lands around Rostov and Niznhy Novgorod offering them favourable contracts to work the land for a certain amount of years before being allowed to outright purchase their plot of land form the Stroganov family who following the model of the Ruriks parcel out certain lands for development directly by the stroganov family, and parcelling out lands to settlers to instill loyalty. As the Polish army under John II attempts to attack the Cavalry of Manikis, the Russians taking advantage of their higher mobility deny John II the engagement he desires and instead choose to skirmish the enemy forces in the vicinity of Novgorod while Russian Artillery from the city fire upon the advancing Polish forces. Dimitry the younger presence amongst the city defenders greatly boosts morale and the young Kinaz quickly comes into his own now becoming one of the officers of the city garrison along with several of the city's younger nobles, and sons of merchant families who join the ranks of the defenders. The young prince begins taking note of the tactics employed before him, and begins analyzing the topography of the region. Noting the large amounts of forests around Lake Ilmen Dimitry sends a messenger to Manikis and to the reinforcements from Pskov to use the Forest to their advantage to disappear into the woods and prevent a chase from the famed Polish Hussars, while attempting if possible to outflank them upon which time mounted forces form the Novgorod Army will come out to attempt an encrclement of the Polish forces to wipe them out. With Tana secured under a joint Circassian-Greek expedition efforts to consolidate control over the Don River are finalized. Konstantin I orders his 5,000 to the house to finish breaking the forces of the Cuman and Mongol rebels along the Dnieper seeing a complete withdrawal of the Moldavians from the region. He sends an envoy to The new cossack host of Dimitrash offering them the status as vassals of the Russian crown and promising to not bother the internal affairs of the Cossacks in the region as long as they provide military assistance to the Crown anddo not attack Russian or Greek trade or subjects in the region at the risk of facing the wrath of Kiev. Hetman Sergey Volkov also approaches them in this regard noting how the Russian crown has allowed Cossack communities to thrive under their sovereignty. (Mod response). Konstantin I further sends a letter to Bogdan promising to continue to protect him and his family. However, due to the inability of the Moldavians to control the Pontic Steppes, the Russians are obliged to secure the region in conjuntion with their vassals.
  • Dimititrash accepts this deal

• Georgia: Levan and Irene go to Russia - leaving their daughter, Tinatin, under the care of Rustam and Mariam. The reason Levan’s departure is somewhat unclear. Nevertheless, his absence creates some uncertainty as to whom Nathan - now in his sixties - will bestow the throne. Nathan does not want to bequeath the throne to Rustam, his second son, whose brash and quick-tempered disposition is unbefitting for a King. With Russia’s war with the Poles brought to his attention, Levan asks his uncle, Tsar Constantine, if he could fight on his behalf. The westernization of Georgian aristocratic culture continues. The economy continues to flourish - silk and cotton textiles constitute Georgia’s main exports. To bolster the Christian population in Syria and Assyria, and to bolster the region’s economy, thousands of Armenians are resettled there. Georgia continues to maintain its lead on gunpowder technology. The artillery corps is further expanded. The border cities of Aleppo, Ar-Raqqah, Mosul, Kermanshah, Hamadan, and Qazvin are fortified; defensive cannons are also installed.
  • Konstantin I agrees and welcomes his nephew into the Service of the Russian Tsar, placing him in command of the forces in Kiev (10,000) due to his own declining health. 
• Kingdom of Belgium "Vryheid is ons Reght": With the first attack on Mets succeding weakening the defences toroughly, Jan Juliaen Dekremer Begins his second assault on the city. This is done by continuing the barage of cannons which fire continiously on the city walls in an attempt to break the wall, Jan Juliaen even offering safe pasage for all citiziens and soldiers if they peacefully surrender (Mod Response). Thus the attack on the city continue's Dulle griet giving heavy punches, the cannon shooting 700lbs cannon balls at the city of Mets. This all while the 17,000 soldiers under Jean Frans begin to move southwards to Vigny, Frans hoping to meet the arles army at the town north of Nanzig. The plan being is to using the Horne River as a difensive line and force the arles army to cross the river. The plan being to hit Arles at many front and make them unable to take all the Royal Punches, Jan Juliaen wanting to ensure that for once and all that the Belgian border will be safe. While in Broekzand Willem and his 1,050 soldiers demand that the Caloose accept a small force of troops to investigate the current situation and calm down the recent tensions (Mod Response). Willem knowing that both answers will lead him to a great succes, the only change being the violence needed.
  • The Broekzand tribes accept.
  • Metz doesn't surrender yet.
• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. With the influenza pandemic effecting the Byzantium lands we close our boarders to the south. We ask the Kings of Bosnia, Serbia, or Albania if the have a daughter for Prince Peter. (Mod Response)

• • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.
  • Disease Theory to justify this action does not yet exist.
• Roman Empire: The 8th year of the civil war sees internal threats to both factions develop. John’s supporters grow increasingly dismayed by the lack of a dramatic victory and the seemingly endless support offered to Manuel by his mercantile supporters. On the other hand, the merchants who support Manuel are unhappy with his support for the new, growing class of landed peasants. These merchants approach the nobles who back John and Odysseus Hasapis about potentially reaching a brokered peace. The talks break down as both the merchants and nobles express incompatible demands and refuse to compromise. However, both sides continue to court Odysseus and his support. Meanwhile, the merchants 'petition’ Manuel for greater powers in the Senate. Their veiled threat forces the young Kaisar to accept their demands, granting the Senate power to suggest legislation and veto imperial policy through a 2/3rds majority. The power of the new Senate accelerates the growth of the Mesaítáxi.

1559

Pope Nicholas VI dies of natural causes. The College of Cardinals in Rome elects as his successor the Spanish priest and scholastic author John of Ávila, who takes the papal name Benedict XII in honour of the Spanish Pope Benedict XI.

John II is decisively defeated at the Siege of Novgorod, and falls back to Poland sustaining heavy casualties. Sweden is defeated by the forces in Finland and falls back to the fortress of Turku itself, supported by the Swedish navy.

In Astrakhan, a number of Tartar Muslims from villages along the Volga river would carry out self-sacrificing attacks against Russian camps in an effort to scorch fields of grain to better weaken the Russian authority in the region as well as define a line of secession from the Empire.

France settles a peace with Arles, annexing Auvergne and the other enclave of Burgundy and forcing them to relinquish their claim to Ameins. Under heavy pressure of the government of France, they begin preparing a new army of 25,000 troops on Belgian's border, having secured all other rivals, so as to press their claim to the region of Artois.

In Scotland, a Jungist mob, incited by a radical interpretation of the Thinwhitedukism, sack St Andrews Cathedral. One of the main leaders of this movement in Scotland is John Knox. In Ireland, a dense drought backed by poor resource stocking would lead to a famine that would last for nearly two years, with deaths estimated at roughly 70,000 people.

A threatening drought in much of Castile, accompanied by inflation due to the rapid flow of gold from Kolumbia and Meridia, leads the Spanish Empire to declare bankruptcy.

A massive hurricane kills hundreds of Belgian settlers in OTL Florida.

The Sarbani Empire launches their campaign southward in Gondwana, hoping to expand their realm across all of the Indian subcontinent. However, exhaustion and a lack of organization among the Sarbani's leads to a number of tactical mistakes and resources. This would aid in the Bhagat dynasty's fight against the Empire, successfully defeating the Sarbani Emperor at the Battle of Nagpur. 

In Southern India, the Nayak Federation would launch an invasion of Sri Lanka, occupying the island within a matter of months under the astounding leadership of General Charat Singh.

In Tibet, just north of India Dravya Shah establishes the Kingdom of Nepal.

The Swahili Confederacy, under the Portuguese Crown, decline the offer to rejoin Mutapa outright, and instead requests that Portugal aid in their oncoming war against the Empire to the south.

French scolar Jean Nicot proposes medicinal properties of tobacco, and introduces "snuff powder" to the French court.

Kano Motonobu establishes the Kano school of painting in Japan.

The stagnation of Mali has settled into a period of unrest across much of the Empire, with citizens and nobility alike claiming the legitimacy toward the Mansa and the Gbara to have grown weak overtime, citing shortcomings in the recent conflicts faced and flaws within the Empire's structure. This would cause for a brief affair when the Sultan of Agadez claimed that the title of Mansa has grown into nothing more than "ceremonial procedures".

In Ethiopia, the power struggle between the Emperor and the aristocracy would result in a number of small skirmishes between differing Princes over the state. Upon the Emperor's untimely death in the War against Funj, however, his eldest son had only reached the age of 7 prior to his death, leaving the aristocracy of Ethiopia to sieze much of the power from the Emperor and his Court, establishing an oligarchy in the process and limiting the influence of the Emperor, demoting the position to be purely ceremonial in action.

• Dai Viet-Lan Xang: This year, Emperor Xaysethathirath writes an edict to announce the construction of the Wat Xieng Thong Pagoda in Luang Prabang. The pagoda is built under the management of Vũ Như Ly, the son of the late royal architect Vũ Như Tô. Meanwhile, after the death of Grand Commandant Nguyễn Kim, there was a fight for the position between the trusted son-in-law of Nguyễn Kim, Trịnh Kiểm and the sons of Nguyễn Kim, Nguyễn Uông and Nguyễn Hoàng. To settle this dispute, Emperor Xaysethathirath puts each men in respective positions: Nguyễn Uông as the Grand Commandant, Trịnh Kiểm as the Governor of the Northern institution, and Nguyễn Hoàng as the Governor of the Southern institution. Meanwhile, Dai Viet makes claim to the Côn Đảo Archipelago. The Dai Viet navy is tasked to maintain sovereignty of the islands. So, the Academy of Scholarly Worthies' geographers are tasked to draw the complete atlas of Dai Viet-Lan Xang, with the addition of several islands and Trấn Tây Thành called Đại Việt - Vạn Tượng nhất thống toàn đồ (The complete atlas of Dai Viet-Lan Xang), an addition to the Hồng Đức atlas during the reign of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông.
  • Jawa's diplo: after years of negotiating. The aristocracy and the King has made their decision. They demand Pi to be handed back in order to reset the long standing alliance that had been existing before.
  • Clan of Rasaja(exile): While Pi and the rest of the clan lives peacefully. The declaration of the aristocracy and the King of Jawa has sent terror to Pi. He asks the Vietnamese emperor to refuse the offer. Promising him to serve as a general is the next Vietnamese wars. As his status of a former emperor can be abandoned easily in exchange of beeing long close to a faithful ally. As they always were.
  • Pi is handed back to Java
• Abbasid Caliphate: Emir Ibrahim bin Mehmud would be appointed as one of Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman's advisors during this time to better aid in the legitimacy of his future ascendence to the throne. He would learn after Caliph al-Abdūkʿrāhman, studying under his father after a lengthy seven-year tenure at the Great University of Alexandria to better prepare his intellectual capabilities, and would ultimately be granted an additional residency in Baghdad so as to contribute to the translation efforts in the House of Wisdom. Much like his father, Ibrahim bin Mehmud would study military strategy and historical conflicts, while most of his siblings would take up roles in the Court or the Ulema. By this time, the Taymiyyah Order's control over the Ulema and Court of the Caliph had declined rapidly, with many of the Orders migrating into Persia while seats in the Ulema were mostly replaced by the Muʿtazilites and moderate humanists. The Sultanate of Ifriqiya is released as a vassal of the Caliphate.
  • Gurkani Sultanate: Re-construction of Efsahan, Tehran, Shiraz, and Yazd would be conducted through a variety of architectural influence, mainly Abbasid and Greco-Roman. Sultan Ariyāramna al-Gurkāni Mirza, the Padishah of Persia, would appoint his son, Adarnarseh Mirza (c. 1534), as Regent of the Sultan, establishing a precedent where the heir-apparent would be the Regent (and later Vizier) of the Sultan, in an effort to provide legitimacy toward their reign as having served under the prior Sultan. The remnants of the silk road continue to remain highly profitable, with exports consisting of carpetry, copper, gold, leather, and a variety of fruits and spices, with cotton making up a significant export for the Empire. While localized Shi'ite communities maintain primary domestic autonomy, policies to collectivize the Shi'ite population under authority of the Gurkani dynasty are done through a variety of methods, such as allowing the Shi'ite clergy into the Court of the Sultan and held theological debates in Efsahan and Yazd. In the conflict against the Qizilbash, policies to eclipse the power are conducted, including the positioning of the Taymiyyah Order in Yazd and the creation of a slave army based on the ghulams introduced by the Savafids and the various ethnicities that flourished during the Georgian Empire.
  • Sultanate of Ifriqiya: Sultan Yousef ibn Ibrahim would offer his eldest son and heir, Hakim (b. 1532), to the Court of the Mansa in Mali, in hopes of strengthening relations between the northern and western realm [Mali Response Needed]. Due to the adoption of the printing press, pirated works from Europe see en-masse translation into Arabic and Berber, enlightening the period of darkness in canonizing Ifriqiya. This would formally occur upon the publication of "Barbaria", the canonical history of northern Africa since its independence from the Umayyad Caliphate. Piracy begins to increase under the authority of Admiral Nasser Barbary.

• Kingdom of Mutapa: Gemba offers the Portuguese full northern coastal rights and his weight in in gold if they decide to help us instead.(Portuguese Player response) He also offers the Gaz Empire an alliance and offers to upkeep the roads built in the nation. (Mod response.) Scholars continue to experiment with the water wheel while textiles begin to bring in good money. Looking to reestablish access to the coast, old maps are brought out and Gemba sends and expedition past the great escarpment. Gemba army makes great use of horses riding the Swahili flatlands with great haste. He begins to move his forces towards the coast aiming for the fishing town of Mzizima. King increases mining efforts in preparation of founding a new port city. His interest in metals leads to send a scholar to find one of the small blast furnaces in the Indian quarter of lusvingo and writes how it works. And sees the hardened iron coming out of it. He takes his findings and has books made a at the library.

• Kingdom of Hungary: Trade along the Danube River is prospering due to goods being brought into our nation to help rebuild our nation. The university continues the growth of people being eager to get in and learn from the best. Trade increases with people importing bulk technology and ideas from other nations. While our agriculture sector exports a ton of crops all over Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The military academy continues to expand in size. The economy is booming throughout the nation feeling healthy. Population is growing a lot these past few years. The mass production of printing presses have increased. Publication has increased a lot with books and papers all throughout the nation. Education by the increase in books has increased tremendously. Our banks are flourishing from all the money we are getting from people putting all their money into their accounts from all the trade. The mines are doing well with the finding of more minerals to make our currency and other expensive items. The construction of a canal system made for irrigation to farm lands from the Danube River is continuing to help increase the number of crops to help the economy. With all the new guns being brought into our nation our technology as been modernizing rapidly making our army more stronger and importantly positioned. We ask Byzantium if they have a daughter so Peter can marry. (Rome Empire player respond)

• • Banate of Bosnia: Within this territory everything is doing fine. We feed off Hungary itself by prospering with trade and the economy. Our industries are doing what we can to help Hungary out.
  • Banate of Severin: The territory experiences prosperity from Hungary. Trade is going well and the economy is as well. Other sectors of the nation also do well helping Hungary out.
  • Disease Theory to justify this action does not yet exist.
•  Kingdom of Belgium "Vryheid is ons Reght": The caloosa accept Willem Jan's demand, Willem Jan marches 550 soldiers into caloosa territory. Willem setting up another military camp called Fort Kalus, and offering the tribes Protection under the RHC (Mod response). The plan being to set up client states in Broekzand Peninsula, The peninsula being renamed Panterwal .The peninsula being seen as a very fertile and rich in natural resources. The main resource in Herdersvlakte being the sheep as more and more Herders enter the land to graze their sheep and sell the their wool. The wool being needed in Belgia as the Lakenhallen require good quality and great quantity wool, the Lakenhallen being one of the main producers of goods. As laken is often sold to foreign nations for Gold which in turn is used to buy the goods from the African and Asian market. The lands used by the herders thus growing along the great river, as it provided with an easy source of water and drinking for the sheep. While in Vigny Jean Frans gets the order that directly after the battle he is to send his 12,000 soldiers, the plan being soon make peace with Arles and Messin. The plan being to establish peace and ensure continues border of Belgia to her southern border, Jan Juliaen Dekremer wanting to ensure the safety of the Belgian borders. The ultimate goal being to get trade into Belgium and have a everlasting peace and stability.
  • They accept.
• Empire of Japan: The last few years has seen the Empire restricted in its expansions across the west coast as certain amounts of administrative over-reach, lack of intense direct support from the homeland, and in finality the need to break certain Japanese traditions regarding red meat to augment food supply occuring. This restricts quite a bit of the expansion and focus instead goes from trying to secure more coastal territory to expanding the existing settlements. Kenzo, Yamamoto and Amaterasu see an increase in population. However, the small fort to the south of Kenzo has become depopulated due to a rampant lack of food and poor water. This prompts the failure of a trade guild associated with the Kyoto Zaibatsu and a new ship is contracted by a larger associative trade guild to re-establish the colony. 100 men arrive renaming the settlement Fort Tanaka after the expeditions leader and he sets up the post a bit farther south attempting to avoid some of the water and food issues. The former colonies inhabitants are given a traditional burial and a shrine is built on the remains of the colony. Back in Asia, the Japanese support for Maguindanao and Tondo in their expansion efforts sees more territory in Mindanao and Tondo expanding lightly in Masbate island. The Japanese army embarks on a series of training operations for its army. This year the abilities of a regional army to be sent abroad is tested as Motonari Mori and an Imperial General, Hideyoshi Tetsuko (of the famed Tetsuko clan) are sent with 20,000 troops to Manzhuguo. The force arrives and immediately begins to train alongside the 10,000 strong Manzhuguo regional army. The two armies begin to train heavily in order to test their training and mettle. The Imperial army in order to save money for this operation is demobilized for the duration. However, with many able to just simply take their weapons home or being close to their barracks, they are able to respond should the need arise. The expanding trade influence of Japan now reaches India as multiple open trades are conducted with the myriad states in India hoping to increase trade income from the region. Trade has also notably increased from the Abbasid Caliphate as the two empires have started much more regular trade again following their titanic but distant war.

• Roman Empire: As the civil war approaches the one decade Odysseus Hasapis sees his opportunity. He raises his forces from Tyras and his personal allies in Wallachia and Dobruja. These men he compels to march south to end the fighting. He aligns himself with Manuel against John, bringing to bear a new force of 18,000 men and an experienced general. With this new influx of troops and finally a good leader Manuel and Odysseus go on the offensive. Their assault proves more successful than before, but after a series of missteps, John’s superior generalship proves enough to reach a tenuous stalemate. In the interests of the empire, the Senate, an organization of several prominent nobles, and Odysseus himself demand an end to the fighting. With 24,000 men raised and the tacit support of the various Strategoi of the Themata, they demand that John and Manuel either cease fighting and come to an agreement or they will find someone else in the Palaiologian Dynasty or elsewhere to serve as Emperor. They also demand greater rights and the formalization of such rights under a new legal code. This new code grants protections to all property owners from seizure and redistribution by the government, reduces the power of the emperor even further, and extends senatorial voting privileges to all landowners of a defined wealth value. A consortium of bankers, flush with money repaid from Georgian and Russian loans offer Spain a bailout in exchange for a percent of their Meridian gold imports over the next few decades. (Mod Response)  
  • Spain would agree to this for no more than 2%
  • Done.
• Saxony: The Catholic Jessen League, illegal since the backlash against Catholics that followed the Wittenberg Massacre, orchestrated by the League, devises a plot to assassinate the entire Supreme Ratia by stocking large amounts of gunpowder underneath them as they gather to vote in a new President. They have been preparing for this for years, and their spies have infiltrated the Ratian Union government itself. (RNG for assassination).
  • Mod Response: The gunpowder does not ignite and the UJRR finds it. They have suspects, but no firm leads.

1560

Influenza slowly spreads into West Africa through the Saharan trade routes, ultimately spreading across the much of the eastern territories. The spread of the sickness, in addition to the unrest that has begun to circulate following their failure in securing Ashanti, has led to a schism among the aristocracy and the structure of the Mali Empire, leading to a myriad of Emirs and Sultans in the East to exert their own authority over much of Bornu, although this does not currently disrupt the Gbara. Meanwhile, descendents of the Children of the Antouman relocate to Jabal Asada.

In the war against the Funj Sultanate, Emperor Menas of Ethiopia begins to rely further on the aristocracy of Empire, ceding power to the nobility in an effort to supply and provide resources to take avenge for his father's death in the Battle of Kassala. This would mark a shift in the Ethiopian Empire, for the Emperor's continued reliance on the nobility would mark a shift in the balance of power.

A total solar eclipse can be viewed from Europe. The Starkists in the Hanseatic League, as usual, believe this to be a sign of the end times. A preacher in Brunswick gathers supporters to March on the city and take it over. By the time the plan is executed, twelve people show up, the others believing the attack was to take place the following week. By the following week, the Starkists have forgotten about the eclipse.

A daring raid on Spanish treasure ships by pirates becomes infamous throughout the Caribbean. The same thing happens to a Lotharingian fleet later this year. These two events concern traders and cause a significant decrease in trade through the West Indies. The Golden Age of Piracy has begun!

In Lotharingia, a rodent plague causes a significant decline in the squirrel population.

• Mali Empire: Emperor Mansa Musa, third of that name since Sundiata, was soon close to the end of his life. He read all the epics and history of the Mali Empire, from the early life of Mansa Musa I, through the Prophecies of Abu Yunus, through the conquests of Ibn Ismail and Yahya Qamar. And Musa knew that all the history of Mali, their great books of history and foreign-produced maps, was preserved for all time, for later generations to remember and be proud of, and no one can ever take that away. And Musa was happy. Because it was never power or knowledge that he was seeking, but peace. All the people of Niani came to mourn and weep at his feet, and begged him not to go and leave them, but he told them to take comfort. All good things must end, except for Allah only. The time for weeping has passed, and the time has come to instead be grateful of the blessings we still have. "Death", he said, "Is a blessing from God, to remove us from this world after we have lived long enough to benefit it. If we lived forever, in our corrupted carnal state, the world would only get worse and worse". This was a paraphrase of the work On Death by Idris of Segu. He also further quoted the Sundiata, which have been words held fast by ever emperor since the first Keitas "God works with us in mysterious ways. You may be a king, and there is nothing you can do about it. You, however, may not be so lucky, and there is nothing you can do about that either. Each man finds his way already marked out for him and he can change nothing of it." And with those words, Musa left this life, the last great king of Mali, and Uli his son succeeded him. These words have since been spread across the empire, as a mantra of the West African dialects that are shortened to "No worry" or "Hakuna matata". Mansa Uli III was previously the King of Wagadugu, having been installed after the Mossi king was executed. Uli conceeded to the Gbara with the decentralization of the Mali Empire, effectively granting further autonomy to the indirect vassals of the empire. The imperialist faction from the Waalo Kingdom strongly opposed this, and even threatened to place his brother Simba on the throne instead. Uli knew that a civil conflict would soon appear, but there was nothing he could do to prevent it, seeing the ultimate decline of the Mali Empire as inevitble. His son, Addas, had a different idea. Addas approached a shaman in the remote rural countryside of the Senegal River, the exact same place Musa I traveled to after being exiled. The shaman first asked Addas if he wants his future told, and to this Addas refused, saying that he already can see the future of Mali before his eyes, its inevitbly decline and fall. To this the shaman asked, if he wants to see a different future. This was now a startling revelation to Addas: every Shaman sees multiple possible futures, visions of other worlds, but only one ever comes to pass. So Addas said yes, he wants to see a new fate for Mali, as any other world should surely be better than this one. 
• Kingdom of Portugal:Queen Cirí visits the town of Gordes where she holds a speech meantioning the soon to be 200 years of Portuguese rule.After this she travels to the different colonies and funds infrastructure and hsopitals to increase population.The funeral of King Antonio takes place this year,thre eyears delayed due to a series of unfortunate events srruonding his body.
• Kingdom of Belgium "Vryheid is ons Reght": More fury and anger Jan Juliaen Dekremer attacks with his full army the city of Metz, Jan Juliaen once more demanding the surrender of the city. Jan Juliaen seeing the siege and their refusal to surender, causes unneeded death and distruction. Thus Dekremer Jan Juliaen continue's the attack and fires Dulle griet more and more cannons balls at the walls of Metz. This bombardment combined with a charge eventualy captures the city and High the Fearless, a great arlesois general and leader. With this capture of a great leader, The Groot Belgische Raad now pushes for peace. Thus the Groot belgische sends a message to Arles offering peace, and a truce until the peace treaty can be signed (Mod response). Jan Juliaen Dekremer also looking into heavier taxation of the realm as to be able to give some money to both Spain, Hungary and Russia for their aid, as the troops were send in to help Lotharingia. Alltough this name change was only a form of formality, the Help from Hungary coming due to the ties between the Hungarian king and Godfried I of Belgium. The economy mostly trade towards Germany and Europe slowing down greatly, as many cities and places were destroyed or disrupted by troop movement. The plan being to greatly reduce the Belgian army and relly more and more on the Local Guards of the Klein Belgische raden. Which are slightly less diciplined but have greater morale and more geographic informed about their own region, and alot cheaper. In Panterwal with the Calusa accepting vasalage, both Fort Majeimi and Damiaenburght  growing from Millitary camps into towns. These millitary posts getting more merchants coming for the trade that can be done with the natives and the land that's available, where they can hunt and aquire very dangerous furs and pelts. Thus Majeimi and Damiaenstad becoming into being even if they are still part of the millitary towns, they have more towns and a population of 800 for Majeimi and 600 for Damiaenstad. This succes being in great contrast with Nieuw Jersey which has trouble atracting any people outside the original crew of the ships.
• Tsardom of Russia: Capitalizing on the successful expulsion of the Polish army from Novgorod Manikis and the young Dimitry no longer acting under an alias and instead joining the Aged Manikis to fight. A reorganization of the Novgorod and Tver Garrisons begins to prepare for an invasion of Poland. Meanwhile, the young Levan is brought up to assist with the reorganization and prepare for the uncoming campaigning season. The health of Konstantin takes a serious decline due to the stres in his personal life and the managing of the state and war. construction of the new war galleys continues. posting full thing tomorrow sorry cant to tired rightnow. 
• Saxony: Wolfgang, the Duke of Saxony, suspects the Catholics were behind the attempt to blow up the Supreme Ratia last year, and heightens anti-Catholic laws in his Duchy. Once again, the Jessen League has only made things worse for themselves. Nevertheless, they are persistent, and decide to try again. Large amounts of gunpowder are smuggled into an area behind the Supreme Ratia building where all the garbage is dumped, disguised as rubbish. By the end of the year, everything is ready. (RNG for assassination). Meanwhile, Northen Catholics elsewhere in Jessen resent the Latin College of Cardinals' continued electing of an antipope despite having already accepted the Pope of the NCC. In an imitation of the Gunpowder Plot conducted by the Black Hand years before, they smuggle large amounts of gunpowder into the city. In advance, they bribe the head of the Papal secret police a large amount of money, with more to come following the incident, with possibly lands and titles granted by the Pope too. (RNG assassination). Meanwhile, Saxony offers to help Hansea protect their overseas territories in exchange for a Meridian territory for itself. (Hanseatic Response). Kolias Kape the explorer developed what was known as the "Kape Plan", during his stay with the Iroquois and independently of his European sponsors, to incorporate the Iroquois Confederacy into the Holy Roman Empire. After convincing various Iroquois chiefs, and most important of all the High Chief Hiawatha (who was never seen, but rather communicated supposedly via the entrails of dead birds and the sun), Kape prepared a hastily compiled treaty, engraved onto a rock, to confirm the Iroquois Confederacy as a member-state of the HRE, and sailed back to Europe, with the "Iroquois ambassador to Europe", Chief Hochadler (one of the first native Meridians to set foot in Europe). He presented the treaty to the Holy Roman Emperor, who was initially confused but confirmed the Iriquois as part of his Empire. Wolfgang, the Duke and Prince-Elector of Saxony commissioned the construction of a tapestry depicting all the previous Dukes of Saxony: Engelbert I, Henry IV, Wenceslaus III, Engelbert II, and Edmund Alwin. Among them are their numerous friends and fellow rulers: Henry of Bohemia, the Counts and Dukes of Lenzburg, the Thin White Duke, the Beauforts and the Yorkists, the side-burned hero of the snowy west, Ermenaric, the Count of Nassau the poet, the adventurer Shadrach de la Marck, Wolfgang of Thuringia laughing with Edmund Alwin, Agnes the Duchess of Hesse, denouncing and assassinating the various Popes lined up elsewhere in the picture, her short-tempered father Hermann, the Archbishop of Mainz, surprised by his birthday party, William II of France wearing a dress and high heels, Charles the Duke of Brandenburg with his 'phantom time theory', Sir Dolphus Thurn and Frederick of Hohenzollern, Philip II the Upright poisoning people with arsenic disguised as liquorice, Sigismund II of Poland, the Princes of Finland, the Kings of Hungary, the great Tsar of Russia, the Meises with their tablets and angels, the Jungs and Freud and Breuer, King Henry of Denmark with his beloved dogs, Wilhelm Jekyll the legendary musician and singer, Emperors Ottokar and Jaromir and Henry IX, with Hugh the Heir glaring down, Louise de la Marck flaunting her Madchenhose, the Head of Celle, the skeletons of great beasts on display at Wittenberg University, the Engelberts - dogs, and hats - and all the other wonders of the world. 
• Roman Empire: Odysseus and his allies make progress in compelling peace. John and Manuel agree to lay down their arms and marry their daughter and son respectively to end the rivalry. John will be named a Kaisar and granted some limited powers within the government, only checked by the Senate. Manuel will continue on as Emperor. The end of the fighting sees a re-stylization of the empire. The Verginian Star is added to the Imperial Penant, to reflect the return of John’s faction to the imperial fold. The resulting flag features the traditional Betas in the lower left and upper right quadrants and Verginian Stars on a blue field on the upper left and lower right quadrants. Recovery from the civil war begins in earnest as the Senate convenes in full to explore paying off imperial debts, compensating soldiers on both sides, and overall reunifying the people under a moderated, senatorial rule. Odysseus Hasapis’ story does not end there though. He is quickly elected as Speaker of the Senate, a position of his creation, granting him power over legislation rivalling even the emperor. His capital at Tulcea, though not a rival to Constantinople in size, grows massively over the next decades into a large administrative center commanding nearly unprecedented control over the Danube and trade in the east.

• Kingdom of Mutapa: Gemba continues his campaign paying men to seize trade shops that come close enough to the coast in the Swahili confederacy. The town of Gemba is founded (OTL Maptuo) and stolen ships are held there. He offers Gaz to rejoin the nation (Mod response). Gemba continues to upkeep the roads and begins to fortify the gold regions. Research on the water wheel continues. Textiles begin to undergo dying techniques with intricate patterns. This textile type becomes very popular among the populace. Envoys are sent north. 

• Kingdom of England: With the support of King Edward X of England, RETEC continues their previous diplomatic efforts to try to approach the Hanseatic leadership to see if they can work out some sort of deal regarding the Meridian colonies that would benefit both parties. (Hanseatic response)
• Poland: Poland gathered troops and invaded Moldavia to push it to east of Southern Buh.

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