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*'''Thuringia:''' “The assassin came at dawn. He dipped a dropper into a vial of poison, and carefully dispensed it, drop by drop upon the emperor’s sleeping body. He was discovered soon after, before the full poison could be discharged, but not before the harm had been done. Our emperor had been placed into a great sleep, but he would surely recover. This left the fate of the empire on the back of the High Steward, who ordered the utmost care be given to the emperor for his speedy recovery, and the High Steward began the process of governing temporarily, as best he could.” The Justiciar had finished his report and began to sit back down at the long table of the cabinet. The Thin White Duke rose. “Thank you,” he said. “Now we must get back to work, and begin the emperor’s plan.” The men shifted in their chairs. Several spots remained vacant after deaths or depositions; there was no archchancellor still since the death of Diether von Isenburg, and no High Chamberlain since the death of Herman III. The Grand Marshall had been fired, and the Master of Ships absent as always. “Jan Žižka will be appointed the new Grand Marshall,” he explained. Jan had been an undefeated, masterful general across a dozen wars, and his name was famous across Europe. When he entered the assembly turned their heads to look. He was escorted by William and Jaanai, two knights of the Imperial Guard. “And he will most definitely be needed,” the regent continued. “For it is time that the empire awaken from its indifference to violations of justice. For when it becomes clear that there is injustice being perpetrated against the people of the empire who the Emperor is sworn to protect --that whenever any form of government under his sovereignty has become set on the destructive of these ends, or if any entity has perpetrated any act of immoral and unjust behavior against anyone-- it is the right of the righteous individual to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. We charge that Lenzburg has broken his sacred vow and has committed such grevious acts. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that the states of our empire long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce our people under absolute despotism, it is our right, it is our duty, to throw off such insubordinate states, and to provide new guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these members of the empire; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present confederacy in Helvetia is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world: he has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has refused to submit himself humbly in accordance with the laws of the land. He has refused to cease hostile actions detrimental to the state and to all states, jeopardizing our public security. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” There was a great pause after this speech. “And what is the action?” asked Kaspar von Roggendorf. “You can’t,” interrupted the cupbearer. It was Aymon von Lenzburg. The regent raised any eyebrow. The cupbearer stood up. “You will not achieve such ends,” he said. “You don’t know what Lenzburg can-” “I soon I will return to feasting with them,” said the regent. “They watch me, Lausanne. Day and night their eyes are on me, noses sniffing for some whiff of treachery. You saw them, the arrogant Duke of Lenzburg and his nephew, that smirking worm who wears an emperor’s name. Behind them both stands another, clinking coins. That one has bought and paid for several of my servants and two of my knights. One of his wife’s handmaids has found her way into the bed of my own fool. Caught red-handed in the act of conspiring against us, with plans to kill. If any should wonder why my letters say so little, it is because I dare not even trust the writers. Priests are supposed to put aside old loyalties when they don their cloaks, but I cannot forget that he was born a Lenzburg and claims some distant kinship to the Lenzburgs still. Foes and false friends are all around me, Lausanne. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The man’s fingers coiled into a fist. “My son came to Switzerland a guest. He ate Lord Lenzburg’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with friends and they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Lenzburgs choke upon their fables. I drink with you, jape with Engelbert, promise Ulrich the hand of my own beloved granddaughter … but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lausanne. The north remembers. And my son is home now, the farce is almost done.” “That is madness!” shouted the Bishop over his panting breath. The regent looked up once more into his eyes. “Madness? No….this is Germany.” The bishop began to gather his things. “By the authority of the Emperor, you are under arrest.” The guards began to grab him. “I hereby charge you with the murder of Wenceslaus, and the conspiracy against Henry.” The bishop looked up in shock as the guards began to drag him away. “Ah yes, you thought I wouldn’t find out...you thought you had hid your involvement so well. The man made a fatal error in his hubris, thinking he was above the law, and above justice.” The other men of the cabinet nodded. The regent continued, “We have delivered an ultimatum to the Swiss Confederacy, that they must immediately forfeit the lands they illegally acquired and continue to hold illegally, in violation of most recently the Decree of 1479; they will forfeit the lands they took from the Kingdom of Germany, notably the land that the Emperor swore was rightfully Bavaria. They will answer for their crimes, notably the multiple murders of fair and just rulers and servants of the state.” '''(Algorithm request)'''
 
*'''Thuringia:''' “The assassin came at dawn. He dipped a dropper into a vial of poison, and carefully dispensed it, drop by drop upon the emperor’s sleeping body. He was discovered soon after, before the full poison could be discharged, but not before the harm had been done. Our emperor had been placed into a great sleep, but he would surely recover. This left the fate of the empire on the back of the High Steward, who ordered the utmost care be given to the emperor for his speedy recovery, and the High Steward began the process of governing temporarily, as best he could.” The Justiciar had finished his report and began to sit back down at the long table of the cabinet. The Thin White Duke rose. “Thank you,” he said. “Now we must get back to work, and begin the emperor’s plan.” The men shifted in their chairs. Several spots remained vacant after deaths or depositions; there was no archchancellor still since the death of Diether von Isenburg, and no High Chamberlain since the death of Herman III. The Grand Marshall had been fired, and the Master of Ships absent as always. “Jan Žižka will be appointed the new Grand Marshall,” he explained. Jan had been an undefeated, masterful general across a dozen wars, and his name was famous across Europe. When he entered the assembly turned their heads to look. He was escorted by William and Jaanai, two knights of the Imperial Guard. “And he will most definitely be needed,” the regent continued. “For it is time that the empire awaken from its indifference to violations of justice. For when it becomes clear that there is injustice being perpetrated against the people of the empire who the Emperor is sworn to protect --that whenever any form of government under his sovereignty has become set on the destructive of these ends, or if any entity has perpetrated any act of immoral and unjust behavior against anyone-- it is the right of the righteous individual to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. We charge that Lenzburg has broken his sacred vow and has committed such grevious acts. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that the states of our empire long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce our people under absolute despotism, it is our right, it is our duty, to throw off such insubordinate states, and to provide new guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these members of the empire; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present confederacy in Helvetia is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world: he has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has refused to submit himself humbly in accordance with the laws of the land. He has refused to cease hostile actions detrimental to the state and to all states, jeopardizing our public security. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” There was a great pause after this speech. “And what is the action?” asked Kaspar von Roggendorf. “You can’t,” interrupted the cupbearer. It was Aymon von Lenzburg. The regent raised any eyebrow. The cupbearer stood up. “You will not achieve such ends,” he said. “You don’t know what Lenzburg can-” “I soon I will return to feasting with them,” said the regent. “They watch me, Lausanne. Day and night their eyes are on me, noses sniffing for some whiff of treachery. You saw them, the arrogant Duke of Lenzburg and his nephew, that smirking worm who wears an emperor’s name. Behind them both stands another, clinking coins. That one has bought and paid for several of my servants and two of my knights. One of his wife’s handmaids has found her way into the bed of my own fool. Caught red-handed in the act of conspiring against us, with plans to kill. If any should wonder why my letters say so little, it is because I dare not even trust the writers. Priests are supposed to put aside old loyalties when they don their cloaks, but I cannot forget that he was born a Lenzburg and claims some distant kinship to the Lenzburgs still. Foes and false friends are all around me, Lausanne. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The man’s fingers coiled into a fist. “My son came to Switzerland a guest. He ate Lord Lenzburg’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with friends and they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Lenzburgs choke upon their fables. I drink with you, jape with Engelbert, promise Ulrich the hand of my own beloved granddaughter … but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lausanne. The north remembers. And my son is home now, the farce is almost done.” “That is madness!” shouted the Bishop over his panting breath. The regent looked up once more into his eyes. “Madness? No….this is Germany.” The bishop began to gather his things. “By the authority of the Emperor, you are under arrest.” The guards began to grab him. “I hereby charge you with the murder of Wenceslaus, and the conspiracy against Henry.” The bishop looked up in shock as the guards began to drag him away. “Ah yes, you thought I wouldn’t find out...you thought you had hid your involvement so well. The man made a fatal error in his hubris, thinking he was above the law, and above justice.” The other men of the cabinet nodded. The regent continued, “We have delivered an ultimatum to the Swiss Confederacy, that they must immediately forfeit the lands they illegally acquired and continue to hold illegally, in violation of most recently the Decree of 1479; they will forfeit the lands they took from the Kingdom of Germany, notably the land that the Emperor swore was rightfully Bavaria. They will answer for their crimes, notably the multiple murders of fair and just rulers and servants of the state.” '''(Algorithm request)'''
 
**Bohemia: Acting on behalf of the emperor while he is incapacitated, the Thin White Duke raises the army of the empire and of Bohemia and its personal provinces, joining them with the army of Thuringia, and marches to aid the Bavarian attack against the Swiss. The Army of Brandenburg is raised and kept in reserve in the region to defend Bohemia’s lands from surprise attack, as is another army in Prague, while the main army marches toward Augsburg from the north. Bohemia asks that its allies join the war. Bohemia writes to Austria, stating that the Austrians have been a historic enemy of the Swiss, and ask that Austria join this war in which it seeks to gain the areas of western Tirol that were once part of Austria. The nations of Modena and Florence are asked to join, as they seek to see the Italian cantons of Switzerland returned. The allied nations of Wurttemburg, Mainz, Hesse, and all German states who are willing to aid their emperor, are called to also join. To southern states like Wurttemburg, territory from northern Switzerland is promised. The marriage with Burgundy is accepted and aid from them is requested. To all else, Bohemia assures them that they mean to liberate the many, many princes of Swabia who the Swiss have annexed, and have no intention of taking any territory themselves. '''(Mod and player responses needed; algorithm request)'''
 
**Bohemia: Acting on behalf of the emperor while he is incapacitated, the Thin White Duke raises the army of the empire and of Bohemia and its personal provinces, joining them with the army of Thuringia, and marches to aid the Bavarian attack against the Swiss. The Army of Brandenburg is raised and kept in reserve in the region to defend Bohemia’s lands from surprise attack, as is another army in Prague, while the main army marches toward Augsburg from the north. Bohemia asks that its allies join the war. Bohemia writes to Austria, stating that the Austrians have been a historic enemy of the Swiss, and ask that Austria join this war in which it seeks to gain the areas of western Tirol that were once part of Austria. The nations of Modena and Florence are asked to join, as they seek to see the Italian cantons of Switzerland returned. The allied nations of Wurttemburg, Mainz, Hesse, and all German states who are willing to aid their emperor, are called to also join. To southern states like Wurttemburg, territory from northern Switzerland is promised. The marriage with Burgundy is accepted and aid from them is requested. To all else, Bohemia assures them that they mean to liberate the many, many princes of Swabia who the Swiss have annexed, and have no intention of taking any territory themselves. '''(Mod and player responses needed; algorithm request)'''
  +
**'''Engelbert, Heir of Württemberg:''' "Damn your perfidious cries your dog! My sister is Swiss as are her children, and I will not have them throw off the shakles of one man just to be enslaved by another! My father will not hear of this, as he is too weak and feeble to lead. I am not slave, and I will not fight for a kingdom of conquerors who stand against my German brothers in Bern, Zurich, and Basel. I shall fight for the Swiss!" Engelbert storms out of the gathering, clearly a different man than his father. Württemberg goes to war.
 
*'''Hanseatic League:''' As a new year dawns and the Baltic thaws, the non-stop trade of the Hanseatic League continues to guide German economics into a daring, new age. Every year, representatives of the Hanseatic League (Ratssendeboten) meet at an assembly in Lübeck known as the Tagfahrt. However, since the mid-14th century, the aldermen of the League have had the true say in what happens in these meetings. The League has come a long way since the days of its early inception. Civility reigned; if a consensus was threatened that may benefit the League as a whole, an alternative idea was not proposed. Something, after all, is better than nothing. Now, however, the central states of the Hanseatic League dominate trade and therefore hold significant sway over the politics of the region. The Hanseatic League recognizes four men who represent the entire central political entity and who also hold considerable sway over those who may not be governed by Hanseatic ideals. They are as follows: the Bürgermeister of Lübeck and Hamburg - '''Simon Burkhart,''' who share a mayor and who hold the final say in where shipments throughout the four regions go; '''Frederick II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg,''' who determine the prices of salt; the Prince-Admiral of Rostock Christopher von Warnow, who holds a permanent hereditary military position; and Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, '''Hermann von Bardewik,''' who holds significant sway over ecumenical politics in the Baltic. Houses Ascania and Welf have an agreement to alternate control over the Principality of Lüneburg, which has kept the peace for some time. This also prevents the region from slipping out of the hands of either house. With Pomerania-Stettin being brought ever deeper into the fold of the Hanseatic League, trade along the Baltic becomes more lucrative than ever. The Baltic Duchies also see a heavy increase in trade due to the lack of organized interference from Pomerania. However, piracy continues to affect the Baltic. Rostock and Kiel shipyards pump out bulks en masse. To protect their convoys against the pirates, the Hanseatic League employs ships known as the Orlogship. These ships have historically been equipped with crossbows and catapults. The Hakenbüchse (Arquebus) is becoming increasingly common on Hanseatic Ships. Others are being fitted with the Culverin, a small cannon that yields devastating results at close range. Nine carracks are built at Kiel with another six being built in Rostock. They join the convoys that already criss-cross the Baltic and North Sea in a seemingly unending parade. The Hanseatic League has been responsible for defusing a number of close calls that could have easily led to war simply with the power of her pocketbook and navy. The fortifications around Cuxhaven and Heligoland are expanded, stoneworks rising ever higher to defend the coastline of the entrance to the North Sea and the Baltic. The North Sea is becoming safer by the day, as Hanseatic pirate hunters pacify the region and ensure North Sea trade remains as profitable as possible. '''A shipyard is constructed in the Scottish Kontor, from which hulls and parts are sold to the Celtic Confederacy.''' The rise of shipbuilding industries abroad bring tradesman from Europe into the North Sea trade. Occasionally, they are responsible for teaching Scottish and English shipwrights how to build seafaring ships. '''In England, the ''Hanseatic Merchant Adventurers of England'' are formed. They are traders who hold an alliance with many English wool and cloth traders who saturate the German market in exchange for German wares.''' In inner Germany, the Hanseatic League works on influencing the cities already under a Hanseatic contract, especially Münster and Tecklenburg. The newly-acquired Oldenburg begins to offer offers of representation to nearby cities. '''With the outbreak of war in the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic League wishes to keep the German economy afloat. In order to remain neutral, the Hanseatic League requests that all declarations of independence and allegiance within the League remain legal throughout Pomerania and Livonia. (Mod Response)''' As the Holy Roman Empire falls deeper into war, the Hanseatic League wishes to ensure that both sides are able to represent themselves on the field of battle. '''As a result of this war, the cost of weapons rises in Hanseatic markets, though they remain less offensive than many free cities throughout the Empire.''' Despite the outbreak of war, the League wishes to extend its influence throughout Europe. Understanding that Arles is in need of arms in the face of aggression, '''the Hanseatic League offers the construction of a Kontor on the Mediterranean to allow Baltic and Rhine trade to enter the region.''' As the financial power of the League grows, the identity of the trade empire seems to envelop the traders throughout Germany. '''To ensure that the Rhine states, which carry a significant sway within the Empire, remain accounted for, the archbishop of Münster and the free city of Cologne are offered full representation within the League (Mod response needed, this would grant me control of the cities.)''' This would allow a centralized Hanseatic economy, within and without the League states.
 
*'''Hanseatic League:''' As a new year dawns and the Baltic thaws, the non-stop trade of the Hanseatic League continues to guide German economics into a daring, new age. Every year, representatives of the Hanseatic League (Ratssendeboten) meet at an assembly in Lübeck known as the Tagfahrt. However, since the mid-14th century, the aldermen of the League have had the true say in what happens in these meetings. The League has come a long way since the days of its early inception. Civility reigned; if a consensus was threatened that may benefit the League as a whole, an alternative idea was not proposed. Something, after all, is better than nothing. Now, however, the central states of the Hanseatic League dominate trade and therefore hold significant sway over the politics of the region. The Hanseatic League recognizes four men who represent the entire central political entity and who also hold considerable sway over those who may not be governed by Hanseatic ideals. They are as follows: the Bürgermeister of Lübeck and Hamburg - '''Simon Burkhart,''' who share a mayor and who hold the final say in where shipments throughout the four regions go; '''Frederick II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg,''' who determine the prices of salt; the Prince-Admiral of Rostock Christopher von Warnow, who holds a permanent hereditary military position; and Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, '''Hermann von Bardewik,''' who holds significant sway over ecumenical politics in the Baltic. Houses Ascania and Welf have an agreement to alternate control over the Principality of Lüneburg, which has kept the peace for some time. This also prevents the region from slipping out of the hands of either house. With Pomerania-Stettin being brought ever deeper into the fold of the Hanseatic League, trade along the Baltic becomes more lucrative than ever. The Baltic Duchies also see a heavy increase in trade due to the lack of organized interference from Pomerania. However, piracy continues to affect the Baltic. Rostock and Kiel shipyards pump out bulks en masse. To protect their convoys against the pirates, the Hanseatic League employs ships known as the Orlogship. These ships have historically been equipped with crossbows and catapults. The Hakenbüchse (Arquebus) is becoming increasingly common on Hanseatic Ships. Others are being fitted with the Culverin, a small cannon that yields devastating results at close range. Nine carracks are built at Kiel with another six being built in Rostock. They join the convoys that already criss-cross the Baltic and North Sea in a seemingly unending parade. The Hanseatic League has been responsible for defusing a number of close calls that could have easily led to war simply with the power of her pocketbook and navy. The fortifications around Cuxhaven and Heligoland are expanded, stoneworks rising ever higher to defend the coastline of the entrance to the North Sea and the Baltic. The North Sea is becoming safer by the day, as Hanseatic pirate hunters pacify the region and ensure North Sea trade remains as profitable as possible. '''A shipyard is constructed in the Scottish Kontor, from which hulls and parts are sold to the Celtic Confederacy.''' The rise of shipbuilding industries abroad bring tradesman from Europe into the North Sea trade. Occasionally, they are responsible for teaching Scottish and English shipwrights how to build seafaring ships. '''In England, the ''Hanseatic Merchant Adventurers of England'' are formed. They are traders who hold an alliance with many English wool and cloth traders who saturate the German market in exchange for German wares.''' In inner Germany, the Hanseatic League works on influencing the cities already under a Hanseatic contract, especially Münster and Tecklenburg. The newly-acquired Oldenburg begins to offer offers of representation to nearby cities. '''With the outbreak of war in the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic League wishes to keep the German economy afloat. In order to remain neutral, the Hanseatic League requests that all declarations of independence and allegiance within the League remain legal throughout Pomerania and Livonia. (Mod Response)''' As the Holy Roman Empire falls deeper into war, the Hanseatic League wishes to ensure that both sides are able to represent themselves on the field of battle. '''As a result of this war, the cost of weapons rises in Hanseatic markets, though they remain less offensive than many free cities throughout the Empire.''' Despite the outbreak of war, the League wishes to extend its influence throughout Europe. Understanding that Arles is in need of arms in the face of aggression, '''the Hanseatic League offers the construction of a Kontor on the Mediterranean to allow Baltic and Rhine trade to enter the region.''' As the financial power of the League grows, the identity of the trade empire seems to envelop the traders throughout Germany. '''To ensure that the Rhine states, which carry a significant sway within the Empire, remain accounted for, the archbishop of Münster and the free city of Cologne are offered full representation within the League (Mod response needed, this would grant me control of the cities.)''' This would allow a centralized Hanseatic economy, within and without the League states.
   

Revision as of 02:05, 20 April 2020

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.

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 ...

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1480 Map MdM

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1480

By an overwhelming victory, King Henry III of Bohemia is elected as King Henry VIII of Germany, and can now negotiate with the Pope on his potential status as Emperor. This election, affirming the power of the Premyslid dynasty for the time being, gives opportunity of organizing and solidifying the offices and duties of the Empire.

Pope Honorius VI dies of natural causes. A new conclave is held to elect the new Pope.

At the suggestion of the Alderman of Lubeck, officers of the Imperial immediacies opens an investigation in the mysterious death of Emperor Wenceslaus. They haven't made any breakthroughs yet but they feel they are on a good lead.

The largest calibre of cannon at this time period is developed in the Byzantine Empire, known as the "Dardanelles gun", or colloquially called the "Ok-Boomer".

The forces of Majapahit and Dai Viet are defeated by Demak at the Siege of Bintara, forcing the Sultanate to become effectively independent fort he time being. This further diesatablizes the empire and allows for further development of Muslim states in Indonesia.

As the Atlantic Ocean gradually sees more traffic of Spain and Portugal exploring the region around North Africa, there begins several disputes of sovereign waters between various merchant fleets.

Although Cyprus has not completely fallen to the Hafsids, the ongoing Siege of Nicosia results in the kingdom falling into local unrest and chaos. Venice sends as much support as they can to sustain the Crusaders.

The Hindustani armies sweeps into southern India to pillage various major cities in Maabar, also known as the Pandyan Kingdom.

In Mali the giant forest hog population begins to once more decline, this being due to the big food requirement combined with their nocturnal tendencies and their inability to cope with high temperature and sun exposure. Thus the population begins to drop drastically with exceptions being in KWAC held Sherbro Island and Jabal Asada, where they continue to strive.

An earthquake in Egypt destroys what little remains of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Antonio Vivarini paints the mural Adoration of the Magi. Vecchietta constructs the altarpiece fort he Cathedral of Sienna.

  • Kingdom of France (House of Capet): William II has his 25th birthday in March of this year. His marriage to Beatrice of Savoy proves to be an unhappy and unfruitful marriage, as they have produced no offspring, and seemingly have not attempted to, with Beatrice spending nights in a different room, if not a different building, at the king's request. Rumors begin to surface that the king may be homosexual, after he is seen spending more and more time with a man named Hercule, who he attempts to appoint to a high government position. According to one account discovered after his life, William would often apply makeup, remove hair from his body, and wear wigs, with one detractor claiming he "prostituted himself", and that he styled himself Hercule's queen. He allegedly admitted to his uncle the Duke of Berry that if a doctor cold provide him with a means to possess a vagina and undergo sex reassignment surgery, he would pay the person half of France's treasury, which led to a falling out between the king and his uncle. In this year the king founds the Order of St. Michael as a prestigious order of chivalry. The king takes interest in overseeing the military, deciding that one in every five soldiers will be equipped with an arquebus, and to meet this goal he commissions craftsmen to oversee the expansion of the nation's firearm production. The king also takes note of the ongoing strife in the British Isles and welcomes any news from the isles. William becomes interested in dance and promotes the ballet de cour. Domenico da Piazcenza is hired to come to France from Italy, where he will publish books on dance and etiquette, and train the king in the art of ballet. The king is skeptical of how Burgundy and Arles have seemingly been united, but nonetheless William sends word to Arles that he seeks positive relations with them.
  • Thuringia: In the spring after that winter Wolfgang was becoming more of a man back then, and his father had him volunteer once more to fight in that war. When I came back to the front, he thought, we still lived in that town. There were many more guns in the country around and the spring had come. The fields were green and there were small green shoots on the vines, the trees along the road had small leaves and a breeze came from the sea. I saw the town with the hill and the old castle above it in a cup in the hills with the mountains beyond, brown mountains with a little green on their slopes. In the town there were more guns, there were some new hospitals, you met Saxon men and sometimes women, on the street, and a few more houses had been hit by the cannons. It was warm and like the spring and I walked down the alleyway of trees, warmed from the sun on the wall, and found we still lived in the same house and that it all looked the same as when I had left it. The door was open, there was a soldier sitting on a bench outside in the sun, an ambulance was waiting by the side door and inside the door, as I went in, there was the smell of marble floors and hospital. It was all as I had left it except that now it was spring. I looked in the door of the big room and saw the major sitting at his desk, the window open and the sunlight coming into the room. He did not see me and I did not know whether to go in and report or go upstairs first and clean up. I decided to go on upstairs. The room I shared with the lieutenant Rinaldi looked out on the courtyard. The window was open, my bed was made up with blankets and my things hung on the wall, the helmet in an oblong tin can, with a pouch on the same peg. At the foot of the bed was my fiat trunk, and my winter boots, the leather shiny with oil, were on the trunk. My sword with its blued accent and the lovely dark walnut, cheek-fitted, handle, hung over the two beds. The lieutenant, Rinaldi, lay asleep on the other bed. He woke when he heard me in the room and sat up. ‘Ciaou!’ he said. ‘What kind of time did you have?’ ‘Magnificent.’ We shook hands and he put his arm around my neck and kissed me. ‘Oughf,’ I said. ‘You’re dirty,’ he said. ‘You ought to wash. Where did you go and what did you do? Tell me everything at once.’ ‘I went everywhere. Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples, Villa San Giovanni, Messina, Taormina - ’ I talk like a time-table. ‘Did you have any beautiful adventures?’ ‘Alilano, Firenze, Roma, Napoli - ’ What’s enough. ‘Tell me really what was the best.’ 'In Milano.' 'That was because it was first. Where did you meet her? In the Cova? Where did you go? How did you feel? Tell me everything at once. Did you stay all night?’ ‘Yes.’ 'That’s nothing. Here now we have beautiful girls. New girls never been to the front before.’ 'Wonderful.’ 'You don’t believe me? We will go now this afternoon and see. And in the town we have beautiful English girls. I am now in love with Miss Barkley. I will take you to call. I will probably marry Miss Barkley.’ 'I have to get washed and report. Doesn’t anybody work now?’ 'Since you are gone we have nothing but frostbites, chilblains, jaundice, gonorrhoea, self-inflicted wounds, pneumonia and hard and soft chancres. Every week someone gets wounded by rock fragments. There are a few real wounded. Next week the war starts again. Perhaps it starts again. They say so. Do you think I would do right to marry Miss Barkley - after the war of course?’ 'Absolutely,’ I said and poured the basin full of water. 'To-night you will tell me everything,’ said Rinaldi. 'Now I must go back to sleep to be fresh and beautiful for Miss Barkley.’ I took off my tunic and shirt and washed in the cold water in the basin. While I rubbed myself with a towel I looked around the room and out the window and at Rinaldi lying with his eyes closed on the bed. He was good looking, was my age, and he came from Amalfi. He loved being a surgeon and we were great friends. While I was looking at him he opened his eyes. 'Have you any money?’ 'Yes.’ 'Loan me fifty ducats.’ I dried my hands and took out my pocket-book from the inside of my tunic hanging on the wall. Rinaldi took the amount and pocketed it without rising from the bed. He smiled, 'I must make on Miss Barkley the impression of a man of sufficient wealth. You are my great and good friend and financial protector.’ 'Go to hell,’ I said. That night at the mess I sat next to the priest and he was disappointed and suddenly hurt that I had not gone to the Abnazzi. He had written to his father that I was coming and they had made preparations. I myself felt as badly as he did and could not understand why I had not gone. It was what I had wanted to do and I tried to explain how one thing had led to another and finally he saw it and understood that I had really wanted to go and it was almost all right. I had drunk much wine and afterward coffee and Strega and I explained, winefully, how we did not do the things we wanted to do; we never did such things. We two were talking while the others argued. I had wanted to go to Abruzzi. I had gone to no place where the roads were frozen and hard as iron, where it was clear cold and dry and the snow was dry and powdery and hare-tracks in the snow and the peasants took off their hats and called you Lord and there was good hunting. I had gone to no such place but to the smoke of cafes and nights when the room whirled and you needed to look at the wall to make it stop, nights in bed, drunk, when you knew that that was all there was, and the strange excitement of waking and not knowing who it was with you and the world all unreal in the dark and so exciting that you must resume again unknowing and not caring in the night, sure that this was all and all and all and not caring. Suddenly to care very much and to sleep, to wake with it sometimes morning and all that had been there gone and everything sharp and hard and clear and sometimes a dispute about the cost. Sometimes still pleasant and fond and warm and breakfast and lunch. Sometimes all niceness gone and glad to get out on the street but always another day starting and then another night. I tried to tell about the night and the difference between the night and the day and how the night was better unless the day was very clean and cold and I could not tell it; as I cannot tell it now. But if you have had it you know. He had not had it but he understood that I had really wanted to go to the Abruzzi but had not gone and we were still friends, with many tastes alike, but with the difference between us. He had always known what I did not know and what, when I learned it, I was always able to forget. But I did not know that then, although I learned it later. In the meantime we were all at the mess, the meal was finished, and the argument went on. We two stopped talking and the captain shouted, ‘Priest not happy. Priest not happy without girls.’ ‘I am happy,’ said the priest. ‘Priest not happy. Priest wants Lotharingians to win the war,’ the captain said. The others listened. The priest shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Priest wants us never to attack. Don’t you want us never to attack?’ ‘No. If there is a war I suppose we must attack.’ ‘Must attack. Shall attack!’ The priest nodded. ‘Leave him alone,’ the major said. ‘He’s all right.” ‘He can’t do anything about it anyway,’ the captain said. We all got up and left the table. Looking around the capital Wolfgang he begun to get to know some of the other electors and princes, and had seen the people who would be around him on the government job. There was the knights, about seven of them now, all dressed in their fairly ornate armor and carefully crafted white tunics, that looked like it would be too bothersome to even have to put on before a fight, let alone to let it all be too dirtied by the constant fighting and warring they were expected to do. All around that circle the talk was of war most likely. There were Greyhands like a wise old bear that heard known of that talk, for he was too good for mere rumors it seemed, but deep down he never left a good rumor unturned, simply to study it and see why the people were saying it. Jaromir was wise too, Wolfgang hoped, but he was louder and more fierousius. Every night he would be seen entertaining the other guests, laughing like a storm and pouring another round, his thunder roaring across the room from his imposing frame. Every so often his brother “One-Eye” came in and joined too, but he would always stop himself after a while, as if he felt guilty from too much laughing. And Wolfgang finally found out which eye he had lost. It was his left. No doubt, when the laughter stopped they were all serious fighters, none of them stooges. It had been one morning early in the week, when everyone was miserable because the weekend was over, and they were passing through the streets of the city with the new emperor, and a man leaped forward, then another, then another, until he was surrounded by a dozen men, all thirsty looking and ragged, with their swords drawn. Someone thought he heard a man shout that “your death is here, crazy emperor,” least that’s what that someone told Wolfgang at one point or another. But either way, soon after, a dozen men all leaped at the emperor, swords drawn, hacking and slashing at the man, but there was a couple guards there, I think Conrad “One-Eye” and Jaanai the Younger, and somehow they managed to fight off and kill every last man. Except one, that one the emperor captured himself, because of course the fearless emperor could not allow himself to look craven, so even he fought a few too, really turning it into three against twelve when all was said and done. And they interrogated the one survivor, and tortured and prodded him, until he coughed out, “Lenzburg”. Spymaster Conradin made sure of that, Wolfgang wagered, but either way there was some great mistrust in the air and some great uncertainty, with the rumors floating around that there was nothing Lenzburg wouldn’t do for his own personal gain. They all talked of this, in a hushed tone of course, as one day Eberhard II himself was supposed to arrive to become the grand cup-bearer, which Wolfgang thought of as an excruciating job. Then, days and days past and it seemed that the old man on the mountain wasn’t coming down, either out of fear of his life or his reputation, so some other Lenzburg showed up in the capital. That just made everyone else angry; I think it was Sigismund, who the emperor legitimized, or Johann the new High Medicus, and Falconer Edmund Alwin de la Marck who scoffed at that, saying it was a ridiculous turn of events. So, the emperor said a new cup-bearer would be appointed, but there were rumors that somewhere a Lenzburg would surely be appointed. The Thin White Duke thought it wise of course, he was saying that the cup-bearer ought not to be a poisoner, otherwise he would just poison the cup, and Wolfgang supposed that made a lick of sense. He talked with Philip of Habsburg, who was a fairly proud looking prince from Brandenburg, and he carried out his role as standard-bearer with extreme prejudice for all things prestigious, and he always wore the most fancy clothes around the capital, with a retinue of a bunch of flowery looking soldiers, with garlands and flowers wrapped around the chainmail. The Nassau poet was there too for a while. Now, I first met Ermanaric von Nassau not long after my appointment was done and we all split up for the night. There was talking that he had just gotten over a serious illness that I won’t bother to talk about, except that it had something to do with the miserably weary situation, and I couldn’t help but feel that feeling that everything was dead too, Wolfgang thought. With the coming of Ermanaric began the part of my stay in Aachen you could call my life on the road. Before that I’d often dreamed of going back west to see the country, always vaguely planning and never taking off. Ermanaric is the perfect guy for the road because he actually was born on the road, when his parents were passing through Frankfurt am Maine, in a jalopy of a wagon, on their way to Paris. First reports of him came to me through Kaspar von Roggendorf, who’d shown me a few letters from him written back in Nassau. I was tremendously interested in the letters because they so naively and sweetly asked Kaspar to teach him all about treasury affairs and all the wonderful intellectual things that Chad knew. At one point Jaanai and I talked about the letters and wondered if we would ever meet the strange Ermanaric “the Poet”. This is all far back, when Ermanaric was not the way he is today, when he was a young writer shrouded in mystery. Then news came that Ermanaric was out of school and was coming to Aachen for the first time; also there was talk that he had just married a girl called Agnes. One day I was hanging around the capital and Kaspar and Jaanai told me Ermanaric was staying in a cold-water pad in East Aachen, the Lotharingian side of town. Ermanaric had arrived the night before, the first time in the city, with his beautiful little sharp chick Agnes; they got off the road and cut around the corner looking for a place to eat and went right in the old inn near the post office, and since then that inn has always been a big symbol of Aachen because of him. They spent money on beautiful big glazed cakes and cream puffs. All this time Ermanaric was telling Agnes things like this: ‘Now, darling, here we are in Aachen and although I haven’t quite told you everything that I was thinking about when we crossed the Rhine and especially at the point when we passed the reformatory which reminded me of my jail problem, it is absolutely necessary now to postpone all those leftover things concerning our personal lovethings and at once begin thinking of specific worklife plans...’ and so on in the way that he had in those early days. I went to the cold-water flat with the boys, and Ermanaric came to the door in his shorts. Agnes was jumping off the dining table; Ermanaric had dispatched the occupant of the apartment to the kitchen, probably to make coffee, while he proceeded with his love problems, for to him the arts was the one and only holy and important thing in life, although he had to sweat and curse to make a living and so on. You saw that in the way he stood bobbing his head, always looking down, nodding, like a young boxer to instructions, to make you think he was listening to every word, throwing in a thousand ‘yeses’ and ‘That’s rights.’ My first impression of Ermanaric was of a young Lucas Sassingnón - trim, thin-hipped, blue-eyed, with a real Rhinelander accent - a sideburned hero of the snowy west. In fact he’d just been staying on a ranch out in Munster, before marrying Agnes and coming to the big city. Agnes was a pretty blonde with immense ringlets of hair like a sea of golden tresses; she sat there on the edge of the table with her hands hanging in her lap and her smoky blue country eyes fixed in a wide stare because she was in an evil gray Aachen pad that she’d heard about back east in Bohemia, and waiting like a longbodied emaciated surrealist woman in a serious room. But, outside of being a sweet little girl, she was awfully dumb and capable of doing horrible things. That night we all drank beer and pulled wrists and talked till dawn, and in the morning, while we sat around dumbly drinking some more in the gray light of a gloomy day, Ermanaric got up nervously, paced around thinking of his next big story and decided the thing to do was have Agnes make breakfast and sweep the floor. That’s when I ended up going home that first day. During the following week he confided in Kaspar that he still had doubts about his writings and he kept reading him off fragments of those half-completed poems he always started; Kaspar said I was a writer and he should come to me for advice, but I only barely knew the art of prose and was certainly not as dedicated to it. Meanwhile, Ermanaric had gotten a job as the head of the theatre and of the arts, had a fight with Agnes in their Stolberg apartment - God knows why they went there - and she was so mad and so down deep vindictive that she reported to the Imperial Guard some false trumped-up hysterical crazy charge, and Ermanaric had to move out of there. So he had no place to live. He came right out to west Aachen, where I was living with my father and all the Thuringian delegates, and one night while I was studying there was a knock on the door, and there was Ermanaric, bowing, shuffling obsequiously in the dark of the hall, and saying, ‘Hello, you remember me - Ermanaric von Nassau? I’ve come to ask you if we could write together.’ ‘And where’s Agnes?’ I asked, and Ermanaric said she’d apparently whored a few dollars together and gone back to Prague - the whore!’ So we went out to have a few beers because we couldn’t talk like we wanted to talk in front of my Father, who sat in the living room reading the news and spouting out anti-Swiss rhetoric. He took one look at Ermanaric and decided that he was a madman. In the bar I told Ermanaric, ‘Hell, man, I know very well you didn’t come to me only to read me your poems, and after all what do I really know about it except you’ve got to stick to it with the energy of an opium addict.’ And he said, ‘Yes, of course, I know exactly what you mean and in fact all those problems have occurred to me, but the thing that I want is the realization of those factors that should one depend on Socrates’ dichotomy for any inwardly realized…’ and so on in that way, things I understood not a bit and he himself didn’t. In those days he really didn’t know what he was talking about; that is to say, he was a young aspiring poet all hung-up on the wonderful possibilities of becoming a real intellectual, and he liked to talk in the tone and using the words, but in a jumbled way, that he had heard from ‘real intellectuals’ - although, mind you, he wasn’t so naive as that in all other things, and it took him just a few months with the rest of the court to become completely in there with all the terms and jargon. Nonetheless we understood each other on other levels of madness, and I agreed that he could stay at my house till he reconciled with his wife and furthermore we agreed to go out to France sometime. That was the winter of 1478. One night when Ermanaric ate supper at my house - he already had the job in the imperial cabinet - he leaned over my shoulder as I was writing a note for the government meeting, and he said, ‘Come on man, the theatres in Paris won’t wait, make it fast.’ I said, ‘Hold on just a minute, I’ll be right with you soon as I finish this speech,’ and it was one of the best speeches I’d ever say in front of our emperor. Then I dressed and off we flew to west in search of a stage big enough for his ambition. As we rode in the weird void of empty forest between Lotharingia and France, we leaned on each other with fingers waving and yelled and talked excitedly, and I was beginning to get the bug like him. He was simply a youth tremendously excited with life, and though he was a romantic, he was only romantic because he wanted so much to live and to get involved with people who would otherwise pay no attention to him. He was romancing me and I knew it (for room and board and an audience for his poems, etc.), and he knew I knew (this has been the basis of our relationship), but I didn’t care and we got along fine - no pestering, no catering; we tiptoed around each other like heartbreaking new friends. I began to learn from him as much as he probably learned from me. As far as my work was concerned he said, ‘Go ahead, everything you do is great.’ He watched over my shoulder as I wrote speeches and learned my confidence for politics, yelling, ‘Yes! That’s right! Wow! Man!’ and ‘Phew!’ and wiped his face with his handkerchief. ‘Man, wow, there’s so many things to do, so many things to write! How to even begin to get it all down and without modified restraints and all hung-up on like literary inhibitions and grammatical fears…’ ‘That’s right, man, now you’re talking.’ And a kind of holy lightning I saw flashing from his excitement and his visions, which he described so torrentially that people in the streets of Paris looked around to see the ‘overexcited nut.’ In France he’d spent a third of his time in the theatre, a third in the bars, and a third in the library. They’d seen him rushing eagerly down the winter streets, bareheaded, carrying books to the theatre, or climbing trees to get into the attics of buddies where he spent days reading or hiding from the law. We went to Paris - I forget what the situation was, two playwrights - there were no playwrights there; they were supposed to meet him in a cafe and didn’t show up. We went back to the wagon where he had a few things to do - change his clothes in the shack in back and spruce up a bit in front of a cracked mirror and so on, and then we took off. And that was the night Ermanaric met Ludovico Ariosto. A tremendous thing happened when Ermanaric metLudovico Ariosto. Two keen playwrights that they are, they took to each other at the drop of a hat. Two piercing eyes glanced into two piercing eyes - the holy writer with the shining mind, and the sorrowful poetic writer with the dark mind that is Ludovico Ariosto. From that moment on I saw very little of Ermanaric, and I was a little sorry too. Their energies met heado n, I was a lout compared, I couldn’t keep up with them. The whole mad swirl of everything that was to come began then; it would mix up all my friends and all I had left of my family in a big dust cloud over the Parisian night. Ludovico told him of all the writers out in Italy, all going about making plays and crafting works in each and every renaissance town. And Ermanaric told Ludovico of unknown people in Germany like Johann, the clubfooted poolhall rotation shark and cardplayer and queer saint. He told him of Kaspar von Roggensorf, Big Ernestl, his boyhood buddies, his street buddies, his innumerable peers and curiosities, his heroes, heroines, adventures. They rushed down the street together, digging everything in the early way they had, which later became so much sadder and perceptive and blank. But then they danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’ What did they call such young people in Germany? Wanting dearly to learn how to write like Ludovico, the first thing you know, Ermanaric was attacking him with a great amorous soul such as only a poet can have. ‘Now, Ludovico, let me speak - here’s what I’m saying…’ I didn’t see them for about two weeks, during which time they cemented their relationship to fiendish allday-allnight-talk proportions. Then came spring, the great time of traveling, and everybody in the scattered gang was getting ready to take one trip or another. I was busily at work on trying to keep up with the happenings back in Aachen and when I came to the halfway mark, I got ready to travel back for the very first time. Ermanaric had already left. Ludovico and I saw him off at the south edge of Paris. Upstairs they had a place where you could make engravings for a couple coins. Ludovico took off his hat and looked sinister. Ermanaric made a profile shot and looked coyly around. I took a straight picture that made me look like a 30-year-old Italian who’d kill anybody who said anything against his mother. This picture Ludovico and Ermanaric neatly cut down the middle with a razor and saved a half each in their pockets. Ermanaric was wearing a real western business suit for his big trip back to Aachen; he’d finished his first fling in Paris. I say fling, but he only worked like a dog in cafes across the city. The most fantastic cafe occupant in the world, he can write an alternate history essay at 40 miles an hour into a neat couple of pages, and stop at the dinner time, jump out of the creative mind, leap into another game somewhere cross the bar, win a game or two of whatever the drunken lads were playing, back swiftly into writing a poem by candlelight; then clear to the place he was staying at, sprinting like a track star, hand a copy off to a friend, leap into a newly arrived wagon before the driver even realizes, leap literally under him as he steps out, start the horses with the door flapping, and roar off to the next available spot, arc, pop in, brake, out, run; working like that without pause eight hours a night, evening rush hours and after-theater rush hours, in greasy wino pants with a frayed fur-lined jacket and beat shoes that flap. Now he’d bought a new suit to go back in; made from a tailor in downtime Paris, with a watch and watch chain, and a great pile of papers with which he was going to start writing in an Aachen rooming house as soon as he got back to the job there. We had a farewell meal of franks and beans in a small cafe near the Seine, and then Ermanaric got on the wagon that said goodbye and roared off into the night. There went our wrangler. I promised myself to go the same way when spring really bloomed and opened up the land. And this was really the way that my whole road experience began, and the things that were to come are too fantastic not to tell. Yes, and it wasn’t only because I was tired of the politics of the capital that I wanted to get to now Ermanaric, and my life hanging around the capital had reached the completion of its cycle and was stultified, but because, somehow, in spite of our difference in character, he reminded me of some long-lost brother; the sight of his suffering bony face with the long sideburns and his straining muscular sweating neck made me remember my boyhood in those towns near the front in Lotharingia with the Priest and the Major and all them. His dirty work clothes clung to him so gracefully, as though you couldn’t buy a better fit from a custom tailor but only earn it from hard work, as Ermanaric had, in his stresses. And in his excited way of speaking I heard again the voices of old companions and brothers under the bridges, along the wash-lined neighborhood and drowsy doorsteps of afternoon where boys played and sang while their older brothers worked in the crafts. All my other current friends were ‘intellectuals’ - Kaspar, Johann the Philosopher and his low-voiced serious staring talk, my father and his critical anti-every-thing drawl - or else they were pompous nobles from round Germany like Philip and his laurelly attire; Edmund Alwin the same, sprawled out in the bird house tending to the falcons. But Ermanaric’s intelligence was every bit as formal and shining and complete, without the tedious intellectualness. And his non conformity was not something that sulked and sneered; it was a wild yea-saying overburst of joy; it was wild, the west wind, an ode from Paris, something new, long prophesied, long a-coming. Besides, all my Paris friends were in the negative, nightmare position of putting down society and giving their tired bookish or political or psychoanalytical reasons, but Ermanaric just raced in society, eager for bread and love; he didn’t care one way or the other, ‘so long’s we can eat, son, y’ear me? I’m hungry, I’m starving, let’s eat right now!’ - and off we’d rush to eat, whereof, as saith Ecclesiastes, ‘It is your portion under the sun.’ A western kinsman of the sun, Ermanaric. Although my Father warned me that he would get me in trouble, I could hear a new call and see a new horizon, and believe it at my young age; and a little bit of trouble or even Ermanaric’s eventual rejection of me as a buddy, putting me down, as he would later, on starving sidewalks and sickbeds - what did it matter? I was a young man and I wanted to take off. Somewhere along the line I knew there’d be other people, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me. When I found out that Ermanaric had passed away I felt a weird type of way about it. The man had somehow gotten back to Nassau but it was hard to adjust to life once more. He had completed some hundred plays, 1,000 short stories, and what seemed like a million poems, but every so often he used to send me one here and there, but they slowly stopped coming, and I wondered if he still was feeling insecure about the whole thing. It was a shame too, and got me thinking about all those nights he was smiling and writing furiously in the cafes in Paris, and then in the day chasing down various art critics and staggers across the city to shove a new novel into their hands to read. I was wondering what happened for a long while, but I figured it’s hard to be happy like you were in your 20's forever, and he was quickly approaching the point where the early twenties become the mid twenties, and that’s a whole other world that raises a lot of questions; you start thinking what the hell am I doing with my life, writing these stories if no one ain’t ever gonna read them. Every day you put on a new face and pretend to be whatever character you’re playing at the moment, and they expect you to really get in his shoes and understand what’s going on. It’s a tough life being a writer, especially when it seems no one’s really connecting with how you feel. So I made sure I left Aachen early one morning with enough time to spare and made my way to Nassau to see it for myself. Everyone was expecting me to say something I suppose, since I was the real lord of the room with my highly prestigious clothing and my expensive looking regalia that made me feel like a fool for not being more like myself now more than ever. Finally I said I owe at least that to the man, so I stood up and decided I’d read a little poem that Ermanaric had wrote one day back in Paris, that probably no one had ever read before except us, especially not out loud, and it felt weird that for once in their lives, maybe because they were being forced to by the eternal gun-point that is the societal pressure to show up and attend a funeral, they were gonna hear Ermanaric’s words. And worst of all there was that body in the casket seemingly listening to, and it wasn’t exactly the man I remembered, no, Ermanaric was full of life, and he wondered what he’d be thinking right now. “I made a mistake. I went down one road where there was a blue feathery rose, held it up to her and asked, ‘is this yours?’ And she looked and said ‘No that belongs to an animal.’ She left after that and I haven’t seen her since. she’s not at her place. I keep going there, leaving notes stuck into the door. I go back and the notes are still there. I take that Aachen imperial cross, cut it down from my neck, tie it to her doorknob with a shoelace, leave a book of poems. When I go back the next night everything is still there. I keep searching the streets for that last blood-wine horse she drives with a weak heart, and the horseshoes hanging from wore nails. I run around the streets an inch away from weeping, ashamed of my sentimentality and possible love. A confused man running in the rain ... wondering where the good luck went.”
  • Hanseatic League: As a new year dawns and the Baltic thaws, the non-stop trade of the Hanseatic League continues to guide German economics into a daring, new age. Every year, representatives of the Hanseatic League (Ratssendeboten) meet at an assembly in Lübeck known as the Tagfahrt. However, since the mid-14th century, the aldermen of the League have had the true say in what happens in these meetings. The League has come a long way since the days of its early inception. Civility reigned; if a consensus was threatened that may benefit the League as a whole, an alternative idea was not proposed. Something, after all, is better than nothing. Now, however, the central states of the Hanseatic League dominate trade and therefore hold significant sway over the politics of the region. The Hanseatic League recognizes four men who represent the entire central political entity and who also hold considerable sway over those who may not be governed by Hanseatic ideals. They are as follows: the Bürgermeister of Lübeck and Hamburg - Simon Burkhart, who share a mayor and who hold the final say in where shipments throughout the four regions go; Frederick II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who determine the prices of salt; the Prince-Admiral of Rostock Christopher von Warnow, who holds a permanent hereditary military position; and Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Hermann von Bardewik, who holds significant sway over ecumenical politics in the Baltic. Houses Ascania and Welf have an agreement to alternate control over the Principality of Lüneburg, which has kept the peace for some time. This also prevents the region from slipping out of the hands of either house. With Pomerania-Stettin being brought ever deeper into the fold of the Hanseatic League, trade along the Baltic becomes more lucrative than ever. The Baltic Duchies also see a heavy increase in trade due to the lack of organized interference from Pomerania. However, piracy continues to affect the Baltic. Rostock and Kiel shipyards pump out bulks en masse. To protect their convoys against the pirates, the Hanseatic League employs ships known as the Orlogship. These ships have historically been equipped with crossbows and catapults. The Hakenbüchse (Arquebus) is becoming increasingly common on Hanseatic Ships. Others are being fitted with the Culverin, a small cannon that yields devastating results at close range. Nine carracks are built at Kiel with another six being built in Rostock. They join the convoys that already criss-cross the Baltic and North Sea in a seemingly unending parade. The Hanseatic League has been responsible for defusing a number of close calls that could have easily led to war simply with the power of her pocketbook and navy. The fortifications around Cuxhaven and Heligoland are expanded, stoneworks rising ever higher to defend the coastline of the entrance to the North Sea and the Baltic. The North Sea is quickly becoming safer by the day, allowing goods to flood into Dublin and now as far away as Reykjavik. The League, happy with its progress in Bergen, works on renovating its routes into the Rhineland. Damaged bridges or unprofitable routes are located and redrawn throughout Germany. The price of weapons, including swords, spear-tips, arrowheads, and cannons falls with the news of Bohemia winning by electoral consensus in the Imperial Diet. The investigation hits a stone wall as money stops being funneled into the project. By December, the investigators have accepted new cases and have moved on. The good news drives alcohol prices. To congratulate Bohemia-Brandenburg in their ascension, the Hansa sends much ale and marzipan. A beer-making savant delivers a shipment of ale; it is smoky and dark, with a hint of sweetness. Those able to taste it before it was sent to Bohemia say that it is the best beer they have ever had and would like the beer-maker to make more. When asked, the savant admitted even he wasn't able to make a batch quite like the first one - he left his recipe book out in the rain and it got waterlogged. The rise of a new Emperor is not the only good news. Simon Burkhart is being made spymaster of the Holy Roman Empire. This is bittersweet, however, as this means he will be away from his beloved Lübeck. In his stead, he appoints his eldest son Johann Burkhart as his regent. He travels with Johann, who will be taking Maria Premyslid as his wife. The two are wed in a beautiful ceremony that Simon uses as an excuse to display the extravagant wealth of the Hanseatic League. Johann and Maria travel back home while Simon gets to work in Bohemia. Recognizing the rising importance of inland cities such as Müster and the Free City of Cologne, the Hanseatic League wishes to give these cities full representation within the League and invites their leaders to become Aldermen within the Hansa. Doing so would effectively integrate them into the inner cities of the League. The Archbishop of Cologne, however, would remain independent, as has been the case for centuries. (Mod Response Needed).
  • Dai Viet: The remains of the Dai Viet army returns to Dai Viet with embarrassment. The military went through a recruitment progress to rehabilitate from the casualties. Arquebuses are still being produced by factories managed by Cuc Bach. The Emperor sends Thanh Toai back to Majapahit and, although the Dai Viet-Majapahit coalition has lost, the Emperor, through words of envoys accompanying Thanh Toai convinces the Maharajah to cede to Dai Viet the city of Banjarmasin in Borneo, to make the Dai Viet domain closer to Majapahit and their rival Demak to benefit future campaigns. (Mod Response) Now that the warfare is temporarily over, funds are now being spent on economic development as usual, with the progress of hard labour of reclaiming virgin soil and exploiting minerals and natural resources done by prisoners of war from Demak, that has been castrated. The army is being put on guard against possible threats. The farmers and workers are encouraged to work laboriously as always.
    • Majapahit doesn't want to give such an important province, but they are willing to cede control of important ports and some small islands.
  • Hindustan (Hindustani Dynasty): Envoys are sent to Madurai to offer peace terms to the Maabar Kingdom. The Hindustani envoys offer a border at the Kaveri River and vassalage to the Kingdom of Maabar. (Maabar Response). A Group of traders and envoys are sent to Oman to hammer out deals for the facilitation of trade. The Hindustani delegation offers the traders of these nations unrestricted access to Indian cities and trade networks and allows them to set up quarters in the trading area of these cities and also allows them to use existing financial infrastructure in India (based on Islamic capitalist ideas). (MOD RESPONSE).
    • Oman asks to have exclusive trading  privileges to southern India, and their support in facilitating their trade to east Africa
  • Poland-Lithuania: The remainder of the reign Casimir IV's expansion continues, to be controlled and developed in the principalities and the states fully That Polotosk is being controlled so well the Germans also saying that Poland is well advanced and their own economy such thanks that the king improved those areas and follow those economy, just like the other nation it's in territorial respectively the military quickly throughout that was turning into an organized tactical and establish states from in territory's vassal of Poland the Baltic-Polish continue while the population grow up and more discusion peace with buddies' the nobles took an interest to had an organized economy into one-party that can hire money and paussible establish more policy to encourage them and had more class as aways the north areas are being christainized up and more cities is constructed they play a signifcant role (just like OTL, BTW) indeed and export some good stuff that they founded and paid by the agriculture people Warsaw become the most active trade and key of economy which is advanced more money is up and affected the size and such money mostly ships merchant are from the Western Europeans people and some areas are recovering and arranged large portions throughout outside the river shipping moved north, southward transport being less profitable and often were purchased in the tradepost of Gdansk the Polish nobles took them as a positive notes and agreement and its own follow economy system in one by piece and most of the kingdom are serious for for the development of msocial and trade most of territory is comprised it through with Poland's noted and Casimir IV engage artisan and rest to encourage to work and win money the Germans are suprised that the Poles and Lithuanians continue their progress according to some neighbors and some thing that are in slow progress in economy key's respectively and thus a rather ongoing development in Poland. Meanwhile, Casimir IV allows them to establish more money and areas and fund it and alllow the population growup and more ships are positining well constructed.
  • Papal States: With the death of Pope Honorius VI, his Fisherman's Ring is broken by Cardinal-Secretary Youssef II el-Hadathi. After a mass is celebrated for his soul in the Basilica of Saint Peter, the deceased pontiff is buried in the Basilica in the tomb made by Antonio Pollaiuolo. Due to Honorius' death, he isn't able to crown Henry III of Bohemia as Holy Roman Emperor. The ceremony will need to wait until the end of the Conclave. The pope was able to finish the book "History of the Papacy" last year. In the book he separate the History of the Papacy in phases that start with the "Primitive Papacy". Some other phases in the book are the "Papacy of the Council" that started with Pope Saint Gregory XI and finished with Pope Pius II, when started the "Papacy of the Inquisition". This book and the "Annals of the Famous Kingdom of Poland", a work in 12 volumes and in Latin language that covers events in Western Europe, that was also write by Pope Honorius VI are added to the colection of the Vatican Library. The construction of the Apostolic Palace, Cappella Magna, Gregorian Tower and Cortile del Belvedere continue. The number of acidents in these constructions decreased greatly since the creation of the workplace safety laws. Under the sponsorship of Prince Arsæll Esturlungio, Pinturicchio paint great frescos in the Rocca Abbaziale, some examples are the "Delilah Cutting Samson's Hair", "Saint Thorlak preaches in Iceland", "The pope visits Iceland" and the "Baptism of Christ". Philip of Habsburg and Luchina Della Rovere have a daughter named Catherine. Seeking to make ties with important families in Europe, Giuliano Della Rovere convinces his sister Luchina and her husband Philip von Habsburg to arrange a betrothal between their daughter Isabella and Edward, heir of the Kingdom of Scotland. They agree and a formal proposal is sent to the Scottish King asking the betrothal of Isabella with Edward. [Scotland response needed, please]. Philip also writes to Queen Katherina of Spain offering his daughter Eleonor in betrothal to one of the Queen's sons, so they can marry when reaching the age [Spain response needed, please]. After the mourning for the probable death of their son Cesare, Rodrigo Borgia and Vannozza dei Cattanei have a daughter named Lucrezia. While the cardinals are in the Conclave, the people pray to God that the new pope be a good shepherd to Christendom.
    • Scotland dip: King Robert agrees to the proposal of a betrothal between Isabella Von Habsburg and his son Edward, happy to create ties between his dynasty and a prominent family in the Papal States, since he has pretty much secured alliances with everybody he really needs to in the British Isles and surrounding areas.
    • Republic of Ancona: The death of Pope Honorius VI is mourned by the people of Ancona and a mass is celebrated for his soul in the Cathedral of Ancona. New ships are build in the Arsenals of the Republic.The Elders start a project to make the Republic a great center of art. For this they create the Academy of Ancona, seeking to bring artists to the Republic
    • Duchy of All Bavaria: All the people of Bavaria mourn the death of Pope Honorius VI, and Duke Albert IV orders a vigil held for him across All Bavaria to celebrate his papacy and honor him in death.
  • Kingdom of Ayutthaya: With the war in Majapahit now over and the Demak Sultanate a separate entity, envoys are dispatched to Demak to recognize it as an independent entity and hammer out a trade deal between Ayutthaya and Demak (Mod Response). Diplomats are also dispatched to the Majapahit territories north of Jambi to encourage them to break away and become tributary to Ayutthaya using Majapahit's recent defeat by Demak as an example of its inability to protect and secure these regions (Mod Response). Foundries across Ayutthaya have been modified to produce the improved Ayutthaya arquebus, lela, and lantakas on a larger scale and have taken feedback from the initial users of these weapons to improve them. The Commerce Guild has increasingly expanded its reach across the Nusantara and Ayutthaya due to the weakening of Majapahit resulting in greater membership and profits. The development of Ayutthayan Sumatra continues underway with its port facilities and fortifications due to its strategic position and vulnerability. The Temmengung continues with his efforts to stamp out the growing corruption to ensure that the taxes needed for Ayutthaya's continued functioning arrive in its treasury. Nobles continue to receive encouragement to develop their lands with the development not being mandatory but insisted upon by the officials assigned to help plan and organize them. The Navy continues to conduct patrols across the entirety of Ayutthaya's waters and trade routes with the decline of Majapahit having affected the naval power balance by a great deal. Rama Trailokanat has seen fit to provide patronage to artisans and entertainers across Ayutthaya to keep the people happy. Infrastructure maintenance and development continues to remain a priority for the Penghulu Bendahari. .
    • Demak opens a trade deal with Siam
    • Jambi accepts a tributary status
  • Rossiya: Mikhail III and his new wife Elizabeth have their first child a son named Dimitri. Codification and stadnardization of laws continue to bring the other Rus cities in line with Tver and Novgorod. Trade continues to grow into the interior of Eurasia as trading posts extend toward the Urals through Qarim and Koni territory, and the Fur trade sees a massive upsurge as the disruption caused by the war steadily comes to an end. Mikhail also begins looking to alleviating the large amount of displaco following the storming of Moscow and Ryazan by trying to orgainize Freeholder estates on the frontier regions to allow for growth, especially along the Volga River. Military reforms continue with the shoulder stock being integrated into the design for Rus arquebuses. The recent aquisition of Culvarians from the Hansa also allow for an expansion of the Grand Kniaz's arsenal. An offer is made to secure the freedom of Vad the Impaler from Hungary and bring him under the service of the Rus, with Mikhail taking an interest in the Impaler, and as a means of removing a thorn in the side of Hungary by placing him under the eye of the Grand Kniaz. (Hungarian response needed.)
    • Hungarian Dip: In correspondence with Radu, Stephen X agrees with this proposal, however, would like to note that Vlad will be regarded as an outlaw should he ever be spotted west of the Zbuch River.
    • Kingdom of Wales Dip: King Edmund, having a great appreciation of this man's talents, whos exploits are heard all the way to Cardiff, makes a counter proposition, offering to take that man to the far away British Isles, were he won't be able to bother the great King Stephen X of Hungary ever again.
    • Kingdom of Scotland Dip: We agree with our Welsh ally and add our own voice to the proposal, pointing out that Russia is not all that distant from Hungary itself and that it is likley that they will use him against them in the future, especially considering the fact that Rossiya is an Orthodox nation that will most likley use him against Catholics in the future, well we, as fellow Pious Catholics far from any orthodox presense, can put him to uses that will not harm Catholicism.
  • Iceland: The King has a daughter he names Anna, she is baptized by the Cardinal. As the king leaves the Akureyri theatre an immigrant attacks the king with the intention of killing him, while the man attacks a nun kicks the attacker's jaw and the front of his tongue flies upon her robe. Then she punches on the back of his head and he falls to the ground, the king makes him a Senatrix and she will choose her successor and her successor. The grand king continues economic reforms and the grand roads continue to be built. Maritime technology is improving with people studying the byzant ships. The king reaches out to Denmark and offers them an alliance based on their viking heritage. (Mod Response Needed).
    • King Olaf considers the closer diplomacy, but doesn't commit at this time
  • Duchy of All Bavaria: Albert IV continues his efforts to make the reunification of Bavaria as smooth as possible. The former Landshut household has been fully incorporated into the royal household in Munich, and is now primarily responsible for administering the Kingdom. With more administrative power at his disposal, Albert IV starts on some moderate reforms, especially of the tax collection system. He hopes to keep taxes at the current rate, or even lower them, and instead tries to increase the efficiency which they are collected by deploying his royal household to more closely oversee the collection of taxes at the local level. In order to placate local nobles, who previously had full control over tax collection, Albert IV vows they will continue to collect their mandated portion of the taxes and gives them a one-time sum in exchange for the rights to collect taxes. For now, the use of this system is mostly concentrated around Munich and Regensburg, with the rest of the Duchy operating on the old system, but the royal household plans to continue to expand it in the near future. taking advantage of the low prices for the weapons across Germany, Albert IV continues to modernize the Bavarian military by purchasing the most recent weapons. Using the patchy census data he has, he and his household are able to assign how many troops each region should be able to raise in the event of war, and how many standing troops should exist in the Duchy. Right now, the Duchy has a standing army of roughly 8,000, with the potential to raise a total of 60,000 if needed. The treasury also sets aside funding to pay merchandise, should they ever be needed. He also begins to increase weapons production around Munich, specifically of firearms and cannon. In particular, designs for a new cannon modeled after the Dardanelles gun recently invented in Byzantium are drawn up, with plans for a smaller version to begin production in the near future. Wanting to forge a stronger alliance with Poland-Lithuania and increase the power of his relatives, Albert IV sends an envoy to Poland-Lithuania suggesting that George of Bavaria be given a prominent place in the Polish military, citing his demonstrated potential before he married. [Poland-Lithuania response] Trade continues to grow, especially with Poland-Lithuania, and Albert IV starts to use his small standing army to patrol the highways of Bavaria to keep them safe for merchants, offering merchants from any nation access to Bavaria's safe roads in exchange for a small fee, though the fee is waived for the Duke's close allies. In addition, Albert IV sends an Envoy back to Arles, apologizing for the late reply and gratefully accepting the offer of the alliance if it is still good. [Arles response]. After giving birth to another son, named George, Albert IV's wife, tragically dies of complications during birth.
  • Kingdom of Bohemia: As the unchallenged emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Henry III begins to carry out his promised reforms. The 1479 diet produces a series of changes that greatly reform the empire (see the empire page), including the creation of a better judicial system to crack down on feuds and acts of violence, outlining of the process of creating laws, creating new offices in government, and dividing the empire into administrative divisions for more efficient taxation and mobilization. When word reaches the emperor that the pope is dead and therefore can’t crown him, he is proclaimed emperor anyway, ending that tradition (just as Maximilian I did in OTL) from now on. Otto de la Marck is appointed to the newly created office of Superintendent General of Sports, and he is expected to help formalize the rules of sporting so that the first tournaments can officially be held in 1481. Last year, the Emperor issued three great challenges for the contenders for the Kingdom of Switzerland (see last turn), which causes a craze as dozens of people, low and high born alike, travel the empire in search of the solutions. Nobles prove to have the greatest advantage, owing to their ability to freely travel, pay large amounts, and raise men to help them, but a handful of lowborn men become famous for their valiant efforts as well. Philip of Habsburg, noted for his proud and pompous demeanor, decides he is clearly gifted enough to solve the unfortunate murders in Konstanz. He travels to the city with a great entourage and stays in the city in high style, becoming minorly distracted by parties and aristocratic matters. Eventually, noting that there was gold dropped at the scene of the crime, he tracks the bags of gold down to a local merchant named Karl and has him arrested and interrogated, wagering that the man may have broken into the house and done the murders, and he continues to investigate further. Meanwhile, a local Swissman named Georg von Erlach arrives in the city and begins his own investigation. He is attacked by ruffians supposedly hired by Philip, and Georg realizes he will have to dodge the other contestants in order to succeed. Karl’s brother, Klaus, also makes a case that the merchant wouldn’t have had a motive to do the crime, that he simply dropped off that money the day before, but Klaus mysteriously disappears soon after. In Lotharingia a great hunt for the Beerwolf continues, as hundreds of peasants venture into the woods in all directions, searching high and low for the mystical beast. Imperial Guard Ernest “the Bastard” declares that he will prove himself as a great warrior, and leads a small band of hunters into the woods, into the most perilous part of the forest. Another noble, Kilian von Bibra, hires hundreds of men to search the forest and chop down every last tree if needed. At one point, two hired peasant bands of two nobles engage in a skirmish in the woods as a proxy war of the two houses’ longstanding feud. A soldier of the Greek War, Ernest Frederick, finds himself caught up in the conflict coincidentally while passing through the forest as a vagrant. The fighting triggers something in him and he snaps, accidentally wounding a sheriff’s deputy after the sheriff harasses him, and he flees into the woods. Sheriff Otto von Jori starts assembling a mob to track him down for the crime, but Frederick keeps escaping their grasp, trapping the deputies in makeshift traps. Ernest becomes distracted by this development, seeking to carry out the Emperor’s justice, and he joins the hunt for Frederick as well. Finally they chase Frederick into town where he burns down the sheriff’s house and goes on a rampage through town, culminating in him cornering the sheriff. Before Frederick can slay the sheriff, Ernest intercepts and talks him down, causing Frederick to collapse into tears. He reveals he was the last survivor of an elite unit of mercenaries during the war, and still struggles with nightmares from his experiences. Ernest sympathizes with him and decides he will spare the man for his crimes, taking him back to Aachen, and removing himself from the contest for the remainder of the year. Elsewhere, the emperor’s son Henry "the Black" decides to search for the lost relic of Saint Germananus, but soon realizes he has no idea where to start. He travels first to Auxerre and spends months investigating and searching there, with the locals sending him on quest after quest. He eventually assembles a team of other knights; Winand Raitz “the Engineer”, Jantis “the Jackal” Jett, Bonaventure “the Monk”, and Florian Geyer. He reaches a small fortress in the countryside and demands entry, to which the local noble refuses and instead taunts him. One of Henry’s companions, Winand Raitz “the Engineer”, elects that they should build a “Trojan Horse” to sneak their way into the castle, and they build a giant wooden horse for this purpose. When the horse is left in front of the castle the defenders let it in, but Henry soon discovers the peasant mob he hired to be inside the horse slept in and forgot to get inside. The group abandons that lead and instead splits up to search the countryside. Sir Florian encounters a camp in the woods where a Black Knight guards and the two are forced to duel. After a lengthy fight the Black Knight’s arm is severed, but he continues to duel with his other arm, to Florian’s amazement, before finally dying. Sir Jantis ventures elsewhere and receives a message shot by an arrow from a nearby keep, describing a damsel in distress. He fights his way inside, killing all those in his path to reach the damsel, before discovering that the “damsel” was actually a young man who was annoyed that his father was forcing him to marry a woman he did not like. Bonaventure “the Monk”’s travels bring him to a small town seemingly only populated by young, beautiful women. He fights in vain to avoid the advances of the women, trying to stick to his Christian vows. Luckily, Jantis arrives just in time to “rescue” Bonaventure from the clutches of the women clawing at his robes. Elsewhere Sir Winand finds an old hermit living in the woods, who gives him clues of a nearby cave. The group eventually regroups. They head to a nearby cave where it is rumored that Saint Germanus was martyred, and they uncover an inscription detailing the castle where his body was taken to. Returning to the old hermit, he agrees to help them solve the riddle of the inscription and lead them to the castle, if they can answer a question of his own. He asks, “what is the hardest thing a man can do?” To which Henry answers, “to tell the truth.” The hermit agrees to lead the party to the castle, but they soon discover the castle is actually the one from earlier in the year that they had failed to infiltrate. Henry begins making preparations for an army to arrive to siege the castle, before he receives word that he has been in the wrong place the whole time; he was hunting after the remains of Germanus of Auxerre when he was supposed to be searching for Germanus of Granfelden. Distraught for wasting the year, he returns to Germany with his knights to try again next year. Meanwhile, in Aachen, Spymaster Conradin dies leading some to speculate he was murdered. He is replaced by Senior Alderman Simon Burkhart of the Hansa, and the Emperor decides to also offer Burkhart a marriage proposal between one of Burkhart’s children and Conradin’s sister Maria. Sigismund of Brandenburg-Bohemia also dies and is replaced with his brother Johannes. Elsewhere Charles "the Ghost of Lechfeld" becomes high skeptical with all the murders going around and begins his own investigation, which bridges into conspiracy theory very quickly. His findings lead him to a theory that the Pope may have falsified about 300 years of history, and that it’s actually the 1100s, and that the Pope is now assassinating people who question the calendar.
  • Kingdom of Wales: Further preparations of our defenses are organized from King Edmund personally, such as construction of fortifications in the Anglo-Welsh borders as well as strengthening of the existing ones, for the inevitability of the threat that the long awaited English invasion would present us. Given that this phase of the War of the Roses is pretty much over, as a comeback from the defeat at Glouchester seems highly unlikely and we are facing an unprecedented threat from the times of the Welsh War of Independence onward, we call upon all those pro-Yorkist Welsh nobles to rally with their King in the defense of the realm, as this has just turned into a war for the very survival of our nation. Noticing the passive stance of England, even more crackdown takes place against the disloyal Yorkist nobility, as King Henry VI's inaction gives us the necessary time to solidify our realm and purge our realm from traitors in the face of the upcoming English invasion, giving our utmost importance into this, with our 10,000 men under the leadership of the 23-year-old Myrddin (Merlin) ap Cadfael (Bruce) of Gwynedd continues to conduct a crackdown against traitors to the realm in the Northern and Central Wales regions, with the entirety of his forces, 10,000 men, (including the Hanseatic mercenaries) after hearing rumors of incitement of rebellion in support of King Henry VI of England from amongst the Anglo-Norman pro-Yorkist nobility in Wales. The two newly established printing shops in Cardiff and Caernarfon have proven to be commercial successes, continue circulating best sellers like the Welsh language version of the Bible, "Sinclar's Adventures", "King Arthur, the Progenitor of Wales" by reknowned Welsh author Lewys Glyn Cothi and other already popular books, now rendering them affordable even for the lower nobility, the merchant class and the commoners. With the ongoing war, construction of new caravels and ships for our navy is halted in its entirety for the time being, as the vast majority of our resources are dedicated into our army. With the conflict in Ireland finally finished, Myrddin (Merlin) ap Cadfael (Bruce) is finally reunited with his wife, Catherine of House Wales-York and they have a happy accident, later this year their son is borned, who is named Cadfael ap Myrddin. The Welsh force of 8,000 men under the personal command of King Edmund assists King Robert III of Scotland's forces to finish up the Irish who continue to resist his divine right to rule the island and solidify his hold over Ireland, before they would set to return home. Another 3,000 men arrive to the now fortified town of Kilkeel, in the Ulster region of Ireland, then the entire force of 8,000 men sallies forth under the command of King Edmund to reinforce the forces of King Robert III of Scotland against the remaining Irish forces and assist his ongoing efforts to pacify Ireland essentially under his rule. The support of the entirety of the Welsh fleet under the command of Admiral Cadfael ap Alisdair of Gwynedd is instrumental in crossing the sea swiftly once again, as High King Eadbhard of Eiru has choosen not to oppose our fleet in the Irish Sea. [ALGO REQUESTED]. Those nobles found guilt of disloyalty to their King, inciting unrest in support of the vile King Henry VI of England, continue to be imprisoned and striped of their titles when found guilty after receiving fair but speedy trials. These titles, either revert to the royal domain, or get awarded to the King's principal supporters, the native Welsh nobility as opposed to the Anglo-Norman nobility. The only exception to this case is in the case of formerly stripped titles from pro-Lancasterian nobles, most prominent among them Owen Tudor, who are able to get back a part of their domains as per our initial agreement. The ongoing war serves to further the worship of Saint Owain (Lawgoch), although already extremely popular on its own, now becomes a rallying cry for the Welshmen as they go on to clash with unprecedented ferocity against King Henry VI's detested English forces. With the Eiru fleet having yielded us the Irish Sea, our entire navy, under the command of their newly appointed Admiral and loyal ally, Duke Cadfael ap Alisdair of Gwynedd, proceeds to place a blockade on the High Kingdom of Eiru accessing the Kingdom of England, in coordination with the Scottish navy, to disallow any sort of trade and military assistance taking place within the two respective kingdoms, Eiru and England. [NAVAL ALGO REQUESTED]. King Edmund continues to promote the reconciliation of his realm, divided into two similar yet starkly different halves, the Pura Walia region, dominanated by the independent minded Welsh nobility and the Marchia Walliae region, dominanated by the Anglo-Norman nobility, by encouraging the adoption of Welsh customs and traditions by the Anglo-Norman part of his nobility, furthermore encouraging marriages between the Anglo-Normans and Welsh noble families, with a bit more success thus far, as a few more Yorkist supporting loyalist Anglo-Norman noble families that have good relations with King Edmund only follow suit by adopting some Welsh customs and traditions and/or intermarrying with the Welsh nobility for the time being.
  • Kingdom of Portugal: All of Portugal is cheering, as Queen Cirí III gives birth to a son who she names John, taking the name from John I of Portugal. The Queen pays a visit to Gordes, Santo Andre and Cape Bojar, where she holds speeches about the importance of these places to not only the former Malian slaves but also the portuguese settlers. In Santo Andre, the trade town is expanded inward, where a bigger trade post is built called Santo Cirí (OTL Sago). The promising explorer Dias comes to the queen's court asking her fund his future expedition.
  • Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di" Trade and mercantalism continues in Africa by the KWAC. The KWAC, enjoying their giant forest hogs as they are introduced to Sherbro iIland and are already in hoekbaai, pigs being the biggest source of meat for merchant food. A new dish becoming popular with Merchants which is very Lotharingian in original meal, this being Rice with chicken, hog and a small bit of blonde Lotharingian beer and curry. This becoming a dish in the courts of Jabal Asada and is loved by governor  Adriaen Beyaert the KWAC govenor over Hendrico. Adriaen being a great lover of blonde beers which are almost impossible to get in Africa due to differences in climate and religion, Islam not allowing the consumption of alcohol thus Muslims don't brew it either. Adriaen bringing his wife with him and shortly afterward being reported that his wife is pregnant as she hadn't seen him in more then four years. This son being called Sebastiaan Beyaerts, his son being one of the first births in KWAC history of Europeans in Africa.
  • Hafsid Caliphate: As Caliph Ahmad III prepares the next step in his grand scheme, Grand Vizier Al-Najm II rallies the armies of the Caliphate. With pirate reports indicating that a large conflict between the Greeks and Latins resulted in hefty casualties on both sides, including a significant percentage of Cypriot forces. Caliph Ahmed III realizes this as the perfect opportunity for the next movement in his grand scheme. Now posessing control over Cyprus outside of Nicosia, Vizier Al-Najm II decides that they shall need more manpower to complete this task. Now pulling resources from the island for their own use and establishing small garrisons in major cities, slave troops numbering 2k from Libya arrive at Cyprus. One of these slave soldiers, known as Arif Amini, shows his loyalty to Vizier Al-Najm II after preventing an attempted assassination against him. As such, Vizier Al-Najm II declares him the Emir of "Nahazira". With siege weapons arriving, Vizier Al-Najm II leads one final attack on Nicosia, sieging them from all directions and showing no mercy. [Algo Needed]. The long-lost and unknown son of Vizier Al-Najm II, Ibrahim, continues to be raised by his Ibadi uncle and aunts, wishing he could leave and venture off into the great sea like his "deceased" father, while the long-lost and unknown daughter, Laiha, continues to defy historical expectations as a female in Ifriqiya.
  • Mamluk Sultanate: We respond time the recent destruction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria by organizing a reconstruction effort to rebuild the lighthouse to its former glory, hiring workers from across the land to aid in the reconstruction effort. In Yemen, we also begin reconstruction efforts, building local reconstruction corps to aid soldiers in rebuilding the port city of Aden after the barbaric Christian forces ransacked and pillaged they city, leaving death and destruction in their wake. The caliph makes a decree encouraging Muslims to move to Aden to help repopulate it after the killings and enslavement of the people there by the barbaric infidel forces of Abyssinia. We install Juhaina Tahirid as monarch of Yemen, being one of the only acceptable candidates to ascend the throne from the Tahirid family, she becomes Sultana of Yemen in March, with a provisional regency council ruling before her in partnership with the head of the occupation force. We install Juhaina as a de facto vassal of Yemen and she is used as a surrogate to implement policies favored by the Egyptian government. Despite them not trusting us, we allow the Shi’ite Muslims to continue on with their lives and to live in peace and outline a sector of the city for them to live in peace in, effectively acting as a commune. Due to the Ethiopians betraying our trust, just like the brutish Christians they are, we hire former Yemeni pirates as privateers to attack and raid Yemeni ships and basically go about their previous business by under Egypt and Yemeni protection. We also use Yemen as a place to build a naval presence, seizing Yemeni resources and decominishing any remaining Yemeni ships to be used to build ships for a Indian Ocean fleet to defend against any future Ethiopian attacks. We direct Yemeni privateers to stay clear of Indian trade ships and to not disrupt the Pan-African trade route thing too much and to just focus on Ethiopian ships, both civilian and military. [SECRET] we send agents to Ethiopia with the task of breaking the Sultan of Yemen and his son, or at least one of the two out of Ethiopian captivity and taking them back to Yemen. (MOD RESPONSE NEEDED!). [END SECRET]. Local governates continue to build up road infrastructure to promote and preserve trade through Egypt and out. With a blessing from the Caliph, numerous Islamic cultural sites continue to open up, and any current Islamic cultural sites expand and grow into major centers for Scholars and philosophers to discuss Muslim philosophy and the Quran, while the project to rebuild the Libraru of Alexandria continues at great speeds. ‘’’We once again send invitations to Muslim scholars and philosophers across the Muslim world, from Mali to Iran, offering them to help in the reconstruction efforts of the library of Alexandria by gathering up some important Islamic literature to be stored in the library. (PLAYER/MOD RESPONSE NEEDED, I GUESS). With Georgia facing a revolt, we begin a massive recruiting campaign in both Egypt and the levant, encouraging people to join the army, and divert 10,000 troops from Yemen, with local Egyptian forces aiding in rebuilding their military to eventually take the place of Egyptian forces there, and send these 10,000 troops to the Levant to meet with 20,000 other troops who gather into one army of 30,000 troops and rally at the border with the border with Georgia or whatever .. with that, we march our 30,000-man army toward Mosul, with it Beijing a major fortress in the way, and then, if victorious, move on to Baghdad with the hope of surrounding, besieging, and taking the city and hopefully the rest of Mesopotamia with it. With the Mamluk army heading east for Mosul, the Caliph issues a Jihadagainst the Georgian Empire, calling for Muslims through the Georgian empire to revolt and to support the advancing Egyptian forces. (MOD RESPONSE NEEDED ON HOW EFFECTIVE THE JIHAD AND CALL FOR REBELLION IS). [SECRET] We offer Muslim nobles in Mesopotamia to join the Mamluk forces and to revolt against Georgian rule, in exchange they will get to keep their nobility and wealth and even expand , and will even earn a place in the royal court. (MOD RESPONSE NEEDED) [END SECRET].. We continue build up our Red Sea fleet, building five ships a year.
    • Scholars from Esfahan come to Egypt.
    • About 5,000 troops are collected from Muslims in southern Mesopotamia against Georgian rule.
    • Yemen isn't your vassal.
  • Empire of Ethiopia: Efforts to refill the Imperial treasury through a combination of increased tariffs and taxes as well as cutting expenditures seems to be paying off, as the treasury slowly recovers from the effects of the war with Yemen. Major construction funded directly by the Emperor largely ceases while subsidies and charitable donations are largely cut. In addition, the Emperor raises the percentage of dues paid to the Imperial Merchant’s Guild (which is then used by the Imperial government), justifying it by stating the new markets in India will make the merchants even wealthier and thus the percentage can be raised slightly. It is in this year that the Emperor Tewodros II dies, falling ill shortly after his return from Yemen and never truly recovering. The Emperor has a grand funeral in which his body is carried through Barari to the Hall of Champions and from there to be interned in the Imperial Mausoleum. The Prince of Kaffa, the 18-year-old Tewodros III is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia, with his coronation attended by the nobles and aristocrats of the Empire, including his uncle Amda Seyon. He continues his father’s fiscally sound motives to recover economically. However, his interest in the military far exceeds his father’s, having heard from his uncle fascinating stories of his time as a mercenary in Europe. The new Emperor often meets with his uncle, discussing plans for an expansion of the Ethiopian army and navy after the Empire’s economy recovers enough. For now, however, both the Emperor and his uncle agree that a policy of fiscal conservativeness is prudent to allow for a greater growth of the military later. Seeking a bride to bear him an heir, the Emperor Tewodros III reaches out to the Sultan of Hindustan, asking if he has any female relatives he’d be willing to marry to the Emperor and become Empress of Ethiopia. [HINDUSTAN RESPONSE NEEDED]. Strange stories begin reaching Ethiopia from Mali merchants in the East of an army of pig-men who have invaded the Kongo, destroying everything in their path and devouring the land until nothing remains. With Yemeni ships once again attacking Ethiopian shipping, the Emperor sends word to the Sultan of Hindustan requesting an Indian fleet be sent to police the Yemeni coast. Additionally, the Empire expels all Mameluke merchants from its territories, seizing their ships and merchandise and using it to refill Ethiopian coffers. The Emperor also publicly issues a decree granting any Ethiopian ship license to search and capture any Mameluke or Yemeni ship attempting to enter or leave the Red Sea. Ethiopian privateers based in Beri quickly begin sallying out to capture any Egyptian or Yemeni ship sailing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Due to the fact the ships entering or leaving the Red Sea must sail within 20 miles of Ethiopia’s largest harbor, this should severely disrupt Egyptian shipping.
    • Hindustani Response: The Maharajah offers the hand of his youngest daughter Rani Viti of age 16 to be married to Tewodros III (Rani being the title).
  • Swiss Confederacy: As the Central Council expected following the agreement between Bohemia and Saxony, King Henry III of Bohemia is elected King of Germany. The Central Council and Eberhard, Duke of Lenzburg now pay close attention to see if the Bohemian faction follows through with its promises, particularly ending the general hostility in the Holy Roman Empire and the anti-Swiss propaganda. When the Central Council hears about the "King of Switzerland" competition, a few become angry, seeing this as an insult toward the nation and its government. However, Duke Eberhard studies the competition and title in detail and, after coming to the conclusion the title is purely ceremonial and does not actually violate the authority of the existing Swiss government, decides it is a silly concept but not worth breaking the truce in the Holy Roman Empire over. A few relatives of the Duke actually become interested in taking part in the competition, including Peter III of Geneva-Lenzburg, the second son of Count William IV of Geneva; and Engelbert von Lenzburg, Duke Eberhard's son and Count jure uxoris of Württemberg. Meanwhile, the Central Council and the Swiss bishops support the Papal candidacy of Ortlieb von Brandis, the Bishop of Chur, Grand Inquisitor of the Swiss Confederacy and General Commissary of the Church. 2,000 soldiers of the joint military of the Confederacy remain in the Kingdom of Arles to aid Protector-General Aline and Queen Aline against the rebels there, though as it appears the rebels have largely been defeated the Central Council expects the soldiers will be able to be recalled soon. In the meantime, the guild of Zürich and other merchant groups in the Swiss Confederacy begin making plans for a joint maritime trading company that would be based out of Arles after the end of their civil war because of the deal in which Arles would give greater trading rights in their seaports to Swiss merchants. The merchants consult boatbuilders in Lucerne, Constance (in the eponymous Cantons) and Bregenz (in the Canton of Montfort) to recruit some of them to create ships for the maritime trading company once it begins operating in Arles, probably in the city of Nice. Duke Eberhard congratulates Amadeus VI of Geneva-Lenzburg and Queen Cyrilla III of Portugal on the birth of their son. Duke Eberhard writes to Hermann III, Landgrave of Hesse and King Domnhall V of Iceland, proposing to arrange a marriage between Hermann III's son Louis II of Hesse (b. 1458) and Domnhall V's aunt Frigg Sturlungur (b. 1448). (Hesse response) (Iceland response) The Central Council continues their diplomatic support of King Robert III of Scotland in his conflict with Ireland, though they do not want to send any mercenaries out again yet and also anticipate this may not be necessary as Scotland appears to be on the brink of defeating the Irish armies. As a truce appears to have been established between the Saxon and Bohemian factions in the Holy Roman Empire, the Central Council is less concerned about war breaking out in Germany than it was the past few years. Consequently, the joint military of the Swiss Confederacy moves away from fortifying the northern borders and instead focuses on improving the fortifications of the city of Schwyz, where the Central Council is convened, by building new moats outside the city walls. Domestically, the government works on improving roads and other infrastructure in the eastern Cantons of St. Gallen, Werdenberg, Sargans, Glarus and Thurgau in order to aid civilian movement and trade and boost the economy. John Courtenay (1471-1480), the eldest child of Godfrey Courtenay, 15th Earl of Devon, tragically dies of a disease; his younger brother Edmund (b. 1474) thus becomes the heir to the earldom. After hearing about the King of Switzerland competition, Peter III of Geneva-Lenzburg specifically takes an interest in the challenge about the shoes of Saint Germanus of Granvelden. He knows that Germanus was the abbot of the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval, which still exists in the Swiss Canton of Bern. Thus, Peter III travels to the Abbey and asks the monks living there if they know of the location of the Saint's remains. In order to give his requests more authority with the monks, he seeks the help of Bishop of Basel Caspar von Mühlhausen, who agrees to help him because of Peter's relatonship to the Lenzburg family and specifically Aymon von Lenzburg, the current Bishop of Lausanne. (Bohemia response)
    • Peter III's investigation leads him to a number of leads. He discovers a monk in town (the same one that Jan Jakob met), who claims the shoes are in Luxeuil Abbey in Burgundy. With the help of the Bishop, Peter also manages to uncover more clues in the abbey, including a forgotten tomb in the abbey supposedly belonging to Germanus that could be opened. They also find a book in the abbey's archives claiming that when Germanus was slain, Duke Eticho took many of his artifacts with him to a specific spot in Delémont.
  • Kingdom of Scotland:With the complete destruction of the remaining Irish forces in the second battle of Armagh, we rapidly move to invade and occupy the rest of the country, first fully securing control over Ulster and then moving into central Ireland and quickly seizing most of the country, stoping at each now I defended castle And town to secure the vassalage of their now unable to defend themselves lords, with those who refuse having their keeps and towns sacked and themselves taken prisoner. With great speed on our side we finally meet the Irish forces in battle once more, 3,000 against 14,000 forces which massively outnumber them, each side led by their respective kings. however, as a gesture of mercy King Robert meets with “King” Eadbhard before the battle under a banner of truce, with both guarded by their large respective personal retinues of knights and soldiers. There, under the flag of truce, Robert speaks of his great respect for Eadbhard as a warrior and expresses admiration for the valiant, of very misguided, defense he put up against his forces in this war for the fate of Ireland. He states that he has no desire to see more blood spilt between fellow Gaels, who should be brothers but instead have acted as enemies, and as a final act of mercenary offers Eadbhard a final chance to surrender, and promises leniency for himself and his family and a comfortable exile in far away Rome if they agree to leave Ireland and never return, give up their claims to the throne, and acknowledge him as the king by surrendering here. King Robert also states that, for the sake of avoiding further spilling of blood between the two sides in this war of brothers, he will allow any Irish lord who changes sides and acknowledges him as king before this final battle, to return home to their lands without having to participate in the battle, and with promises to protect their rights and not punish them for fighting the invasion after the battle is won and the war has ended. However, if we are forced to face them in battle, we fight them with all the ferocity of warriors who know they have won and know they must win this battle in order to end the bloodshed, with our superior numbers allowing us to easily surround and encircle the Irish forces and quickly take them out of commission, before they are driven from the field fleeing if at all possible. (MOD RESPONSE NEEDED, OR ALGORITHM IF THIS OFFER IS REFUSED).
  • Vinland: The population grows to 5,275. All cities grow this year. Erikoberg ends its decline, but still stagnates as its population seemingly moves to Hallrberga for a variety of reasons. Two Tvennufolk families move to Keathutberga. The country is urbanizing, with about a quarter of its population residing in Elufsker and Dogajavick.
    • Skogrfjalland: The Norse population stagnates as a proportion of the total population. Erik Hrothgarsson's gains from last year are reversed as Tvennufolk warriors from Suðrvinland retake lost hamlets. The population of Elufsker is around 610.
    • Suðrvinland: All cities grow this year. Hjalfar is happy that the Norse-occupied hamlets are recovered and the savage warriors driven out. This year's Thing at Shamyeby is full of celebrations and merriment. Here, chieftains from Shamyeby propose building an outpost north of Keathutberga, in an area the Mi'kmaq call Unamagig. However, Hjalfar rejects this idea and instead proposes that Keathutberga expand north into Unamagig territory. The Esgigeoag delegation, whom were invited to observe the Thing, note that the Unamagig tribe may be hostile. The population of Dogajavick is around 775.
    • Beothuk: The southern Beothuk are happy to be included into the Suðrvinlandic confederacy, and will participate in efforts to include their northern kinsmen into the confederacy. More northerly tribes are confederalized, although there is some scattered resistance.
  • Kingdom of Arles: We are happy that Bavaria accepts our request. We soften taxes on outer regions such as Noli to increase hapiness. (STABILITY IMPROVES?) An envoy is sent to Bavaria, offering several barrels of the most premium Arlean Rose Wine. (BAVARIAN RESPONSE). We offer the Swiss 2,000 troops to Mobilize at their northern frontier.(SWISS RESPONSE)
    • Swiss Diplomacy: Because of the truce that appears to have been established between the Saxon and Bohemian factions of the Holy Roman Empire, the Swiss Central Council currently does not think extra mobilisations at the northern border are necessary and so initially advices the troops to stay in Arles. Though, Eberhard, Duke of Lenzburg thanks the Arlesians for their offer and says that if the diplomatic situation in Germany worsens in the next few years they would be glad to have the help. However, late in the year, when they receive that anti-Swiss propaganda still seems to be getting spread in Hesse, the Central Council decides to accept the troops after all.
  • Hesse: The "marriage proposal" that the Lenzburgs broker as a third party, for some reason, involving Hesse and *checks notes* Ice Land? is obviously rejected. Herman III has half a mind to tell Lenzburg to "go to hell", having just consumed a diet of propaganda from around the election, in which it was claimed that Lenzburg was trying to take over various nations through such marriages, but decides against that. Soon it seems such anger has cursed him. In February the Margrave of Hesse and Mark witnesses his wife Sophia die of consumption. He becomes so angry he slaps his chamberlain, Alexander Suslin. In July a feast is held for the margrave's birthday, in which almost his whole family is invited. According to legend, Suslin goes up to the Margrave and delivers his present, a painting of Nemesis, goddess of revenge, and then leaves the hall. An hour later there is a great explosion, as underneath the floorboards gunpowder had secretly been stockpiled. Herman and the entire party are all instantly killed. Only his daughter Agnes survives, as she became unexpectedly sick the morning of the party and stayed in bed. The unmarried Agnes is declared the new ruler of Hesse nad Upper Mark. After the event she becomes highly paranoid and locked in a highly guarded tower, and dispatched soldiers and knights to search the land in order to apprehend Alexander Suslin, who has seemingly disappeared without a trace. She remains unsure if he is even guilty, but nonetheless searches after her only lead. She receives numerous letters from potential suitors, and some claiming to have evidence that other parties were responsible for the assassination, including at least one letter from the Thin White Duke blaming Lenzburg. She dispatches numerous knights to Switzerland to gather intelligence and check the happenings with the contest for King. One of her childhood friends, Sir Jan Jakob, becomes interested in the search for the saint's shoes, and travels to the town of Moutier near Bern to investigate. Another knight, Dolphus Thurn, travels to the Duchy of Lenzburg personally to act as a diplomat, but is secretly tasked with getting to known the Lenzburgs and hopefully discover something major while sneaking around their court.
    • Sir Jan Jakob's search in Moutier proves to lead to a number of clues about where the shoes of Saint Germanus may be located. A monk in town claims that they are probably at Luxeuil Abbey in Burgundy. Another man, seemingly an opportunist peasant, claims he can lead Jakob to the spot of the saint's death for a sum of money. Another man claims the relics of the saint were stolen and hidden in Basel Cathedral.
  • Georgia: With the Mamluks invading Georgian Iraq, Alexander sends a total of 30,000 troops to intercept their attempted capture of Mosul. Mosul itself would be defended by a garrison of 10,000 troops for now (if the defense fails, this number will be raised), they primarily arm themselves with ranged weapons (handguns and crossbows, as well as the traditional bow) though 3,000 Anatolian Turks will also harass the invaders (should they reach Mosul) at night, conduct raids, and carry messages. The Mosul garrison reinforce Mosul's walls in anticipation of a siege. The 30,000 troops are divided into two armies: one led by the Amirspasalar (Commander-in-Chief) Qvarqvare II, and one led by Alexander himself. The army led by the Amirspasalar consists of 12,000 mounted archers and 8,000 lancers; the army led by the Emperor consists of the entirety of the artillery and arquebusier corps (1,000 cannoneers, and 8,000 arquebusiers/handgunners, respectively), 15,000 mounted archers and 8,000 lancers. They are a mix of both royal troops, and feudal levies – with the feudal levies generally fighting nearer to the rear. The army led by Alexander will entrench themselves to the West of Mosul – defending its main entrance (any minor entrances would be blocked). The arquebusiers will be placed at the center, and behind them will be the artillery corps. Placed to their right and left, would be the mounted archers. The lancers will be stationed at the leftmost and rightmost wings to dissuade the Egyptians from carrying out a charge or any flanking maneuvers. Alexander's army will first fire volleys (first cannon volleys, and later volleys from the ranged troops) to inflict damage and disperse Egyptian troops, as well as shatter/disorient their ranks. After this, Georgian lancers will engage with Egyptian heavy cavalry and push them back – thus leaving the Egyptian flanks exposed. Afterward, the mounted archers will inflict further attrition by harassing the enemy flanks with waves of arrow fire; if permissible, they would attempt to out-flank them and attack the rear; or if their numbers have been whittled down, encircle them. Once the Egyptian heavy cavalry has been destroyed or routed, the lancers will then "deal the final blow" by mopping through the decimated ranks of the Egyptian army. Alexander's army will be aided by a surprise attack by Qvarqvare's army, which will attack the Egyptian rear whilst they are engaged with Alexander's army. The lancers will charge using a wedge formation to maximize their shock, whilst the mounted-archers will fire arrows at the enemy starting a distance of 100 yards, and then upon approaching them, switch to melee (using a saber). If the Egyptians had been routed already and are on the process of retreating before this, Qvarqvare's army will go forth and attack them as to annihilate/capture any survivors and put an end to the Egyptian campaign. With a jihad declared, Alexander bolsters the Christian minority (one-third of the population, and a majority in urban areas) in Mesopotamia. He also pits the Shias and Sunnis together. While the Black Turkomans have not revolted, there is much unrest due to both the declared jihad and the fundamentalist revolt by Nathan in Iran. As a result, Alexander moves his court and the state ministries to Tbilisi and fortifies cities on the Arran–Azerbaijan border, as well as upland Armenia lest the conflict spills deep into the Georgian territory. With Georgians preoccupied with the sudden Egyptian invasion, Alexander sends a letter to the Shah of Persia, Erivan saying he has to make do with the 5,000 troops he had sent last year; Erivan understands this and attempts to raise a multi-sectarian army of 20,000 mounted archers due to many of his Turkish vassals also revolting. However, this effort is rather unsuccessful, so under the advice of his Georgian mercenaries, Erivan decides to pool his resources into building a core army of 5,000 handgunners (in the style of the Georgian arquebusier corps). Allahverdi – who knows holds sway over the entirety of Nishapur and Kerman – sends Hushang again to besiege Esfahan a second time. The attack fails once again – but only just. Nevertheless, Allahverdi begins consolidating his territory and initiating pogroms against Shias and Armenians. Amidst all this chaos, the tradition of aristocratic court dance begins to be more technical – though this development is independent of contemporary French and Italian ballet de cour tradition.
  • Empire of Japan: Following years of gaining funds, sailors, and a dedicated plan the small fleet of five ships departs from the northern port of Hakodate. The fleet is espected to stop in Sakhalin, and finally Port Kowa before next year making the voyage beyond Attu island. With a few native guides having been hired (the natives knew of the whole island chain) The idea is to go east, hire new guides, go further east, hire new guides, and then see how long their supplies last. With an estimated supply for about 3-4 months, the first of the exploratory voyages will be based out of Port Kowa and will bring back new information over different voyages. At home, the political system further calms down as most of the Joen and Councillor general agree on governing policy. The relationship with the Thai kingdom of Ayyutuhaya to the south is improved as the Imperial navy begins to make port calls and providing more comprehensive piracy support much closer to the Thai coast hoping to engender further good relations. Tribute to China this year is a series of mastercrafted gold, silver, and steel icons, materials, and ceremonial weapons as well as devotion of some japanese ships to closer piracy control near chinese coastal cities. The expansion of the Iwami-Ginzan mine has left much to be desired, prompting the Emperor himself to seize control over the mines putting the Armies Engineers and rehiring many of the gold experts from the former clan owned mine. This seizure is met with little resistance as the family had been struggling for years and was delinquent much of the time on paying its employees. The first year of Imperial control over the mine sees a marketed increase in the gold and silver comming out of the mines which help alleviate the currency crunch occuring at the moment. In the Azuma Islands, a small expedition by the Kensei order charts and claims more disorganized territory attracting the natives with creature comforts as well as valuable positions of work for the growing settlement of Fort Koba. The Second fortress in the Batam island regions is put under construction to cover the rear approaches. The Navy begins looking for a way to man some of the disapparate forts in strategic locations and begins experimenting with more permanent and trained presences on its ships. As a result of positive relations with the Thais as well as the existence of a settlement on Batam island attracts the eyes of the Kumamoto Chapter of the Kensei order who bring nearly 500 men to the native settlement to act as protectors and even offer to man the fortress for the Navy.
  • Roman Empire: Basileus Michael X adopts a policy of limited imperial control. Rather than exercise control he liberalizes trade and attempts to reduce taxes at the behest of his advisors. However, the demands of the state require that most taxes remain in place. The emperor spends a great deal of time painting in the streets of Constantinople among his people. For now he remains a popular leader among the common people who see him as reducing the power of the state and the tax burden. Michael also devotes himself to music. He personally oversees the development of a new stringed instrument, the Michaelian Lyra. The instrument proves popular among sailors and comes to be known by the popular moniker Lyra Galea. Additionally, Michaels dedicates his time to searching the provinces for new and intriguing sounds. He imports Banduras from Taurican Kozakos, and adopts cymbals as a military instrument to give commands over the din of battle. His one area of reform militarily is the use of bands in battle which is formalized across the empire with each Theme responsible for a Themic Band and subordinate bands. Drums, cymbals, and fifes are adopted as standard marching instruments with a variety of stringed instruments used in informal roles. Internally, recovery from the war continues. Local governments are encouraged to take out bonds for new projects and investments continue to spur on new development and growth. The primitive patent system implemented some decades ago is revamped, by suggestion of the Sómakolegíou. Protections are extended to three years and the application process simplified substantially to allow for greater access. Otherwise, business continues as usual. Adoption of the new triggers and stocks for firearms accelerates this year as manufacturing techniques are perfected and journeymen trained in specific tasks. The "Ok-Boomer" is installed at the Golden Gate on a massive firing platform designed for use against ships or land forces.
  • Saxony: This year, a son and heir is born to Engelbert II and Maria of Brandenburg-Bohemia, named Wenceslaus. Engelbert hopes this helps to reconcile Saxony and Bohemia. Although Engelbert of Saxony lost the Imperial Election, Saxony is still doing quite well. In fact, Saxony's brief period of hegenomy over the Empire has resulted in increased power and influence, and a boosted economy. Seeing that his sister Christina de la Marck is now widowed, following the death of her husband Sigismund of Brandenburg-Bohemia, Engelbert is interested in having her remarried. Also, Engelbert offers to marry his brother, Edmund Alwin de la Marck, to Agnes, Landgravine of Hesse and Margravine of Upper Mark, although since they are first cousins once removed, papal dispensation would be recquired, as soon as the new Pope is elected. Engelbert notes that Agnes, as the sole survivor of a murdered family, and a female ruler, would need protection, and Saxony is willing to give her that, if she marries Edmund Alwin and possibly more ... (Papal Response) (Hesse Response). Meanwhile, Maria de la Marck (b.1465) marries her distant relative, Magnus of Saxe-Lauenburg (b.1470) heir to the less senior Saxon line. Her brother Shadrach, meanwhile, has disappeared mysteriously, while visiting the island of Sicily. Duke Engelbert II of Saxony offers to do anything he can to help the investigation into his father's death, which he suspects was in fact a murder.

1481

Habemus Papum! Bishop Ortlieb von Brandis is elected the new Pope, taking on the Papal name Pope Innocent VII. Of German origin, this takes a sharp turn inward toward imperial politics away from the Crusading ambitions of his predecessor. However, this opens for more controversy in the relationship between a Swiss Pope and a Czech Emperor.

In the Imperial Diet held by King Henry VIII of Germany, the Princes approves of most of the reforms proposed by the King. However, they do not approve of changing the electors from the Imperial Charter of 1357, as that charter was specifically designed for the balance of power between the existing German dynasties.

The reign of King Henry also runs into other immediate issues. The ecclesiastical offices of the empire denouce King Henry of prematurely assuming the title of "Emperor", without consulting the Pope. Meanwhile, Investigators hired by the Hanseatic League finds dozens of hired assassins who reports their employment from the Duke of Thuringia. It is not conclusive proof of their relationship to the death of Emperor Wenceslas, but it is circumstantially related.

Charles von Lechfield publishes his work that claims 300 years of history was fabricated by the Papacy, for the purpose of decieving Christians into believing it to be the end of the world. He further claims that the history of Charlemagne and Emperor Heraclius were mere fiction, as was the saints attributed to their reigns. The Archbishop of Prague denounces this publication as heretical due to these accusations, and also links it with the Taborite movement.

The personal habits of the King of France are spread across the nation by his political enemies.

Cyprus is now subjugated by the Hafsid Sultanate, with an ongoing struggle by the local Greek population. King James III is killed, but his mother Catherine Cornaro escapes back to Venice.

In Japan, the poet and scholar Ikkyu makes an incident where he stumbles through the Emperor's palace in a drunken stupor. Some  reports he even stumbled in and out of the Imperial harems.

King Olaf III of Denmark falls gravely ill.

Notre Dame Cathedral cathes fire in Paris.

The remnant Tarascan Empire produces the Calendar Sun Stone.

  • Hindustan (Hindustani Dynasty): The remaining forces chase the Maabari armies and force a takeover of the entire nation. While the forces retreat North of the Kaveri to man the four northern fortresses built by the Maabar Kingdom (Belur, Kanchi, Tirupati, and Vijayanagar) the southern portion erupts into constant conflict with several groups vying for control. In Delhi, the Maharajah dies and is succeeded by his eldest son, the ambitious and shrewd Maharajah Shamsher Singh. Maharaja Shamsher Singh is widely regarded as the Greatest Ruler of Medieval India. Shamsher Singh ascends the throne in a time of political turmoil. The state is in shambles. His father led the Empire through a golden age of cultural revival and religious transformation but the state machinery more or less perished. The trade routes were revived in the previous years by the effort of Shamsher Singh himself. The officials extract undue taxes and cesses from the people, merchants are harassed and several areas lie unadministered. Several villages outright refuse to pay the land revenue. The tax system itself is very unorganized and no clear hierarchy exists between officers. While the Dustur offers a way it is hardly adhered to and itself lacks in content required for administering such a vast Empire. The ambitious and shrewd Shamsher Singh is absolutely irritated by this state of affairs. Two Governors had attempted a revolt and a third one had to be put down through diplomacy, the farther sections of the Empire are almost autonomous and the Empire has faced several small rebellions over the previous few decades. If these problems are not dealt with, the Empire will surely collapse and a group of young hotheaded nobles, educated in the Delhi Madrassa and part of the scholarly tradition of the Hindustani nobles established by Ulugh Beg, led by Shamsher Singh set out to reform the Empire. They will go on to create a robust system that will ensure the prosperity and stability of the Empire for centuries to come.
  • Thuringia: When I first got to the border of Lotharingia near where the wild hunt was taking place, the road was crowded and there were screens of stalk and straw matting on both sides and matting over the top so that it was like the entrance at a circus. We rode slowly in this matting-covered tunnel and came out on to a bare cleared space where an old farm had been. The road here was below the level of the river bank and all along the side of the sunken road there were holes dug in the bank with hunters in them. The sun was going down and looking up along the bank as we drove I saw their dirt flinging above the hills against the sunset. They were digging traps for the creature, although they had not yet seen it, so they knew not how best to trap it. I went up to one old looking man, with a shovel digging into his calloused hands, and I asked, “what do you plan to do once you trap it?” He shrugged the question off. Then a voice came shouting in the distance, saying that the army was passing through, and I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘what army?’ We learned later that afternoon that Kilian von Bibra had bought half the forest and seized the rest by force; he was the richest man in Bohemia, or used to be at one time or another, and no doubt desired the crown of Switzerland with every penny left in his coffer. There were a lot of peasants in those parts who had never seen anything as grand as that challenge, and it was like the circus coming to town for the first time ever, when you never even knew an elephant existed, and suddenly they barge in and scare you and knock your house down; that’s what it was like for the peasants in those days. And most of them figured out a way to profit off the ruckus, assuming they weren’t too caught up in staring at the spectacle of it all, or caught up in the fervor of the hunt for the creature themselves; they were making a killing selling every item they could find to the travelers passing through, as everyone arrived in such a rush there wasn’t enough food or drinks to go around. So the peasants came out and they were selling a cow for the price of ten, offering to even butcher it for you and cook it up that night for all the men of the nobles passing through, and when the cows ran out the peasants said take the furniture right out from my house, I’ll get more later, or take the clothes right off my back. So they were making more than a year’s wage off pawning their everyday possessions to the foolhardy prospectors who came to the forest in droves. Everyone needed a place to stay, and they turned every last farmhouse into a hotel for people from Aachen, and people were advertising that they’d split their bed to the highest bidder. First thing you saw at the edge of the road was the traveling salesmen, setting up their tables and their tents, with the finest wares of all kinds for sale. But most of all there were the opportunists who appealed to the hunting, with pitchforks and spears and monster-trapping devices on full display, and maps and booklets and plain rumors for sale about the beast and how to slay it. The legend of the creature was growing and growing and the lore becoming more intricate as every last local sold a section of the story to the zealous city goers. And so those who were not too busy in the mercantile pursuits were making a living as the stooges of whatever rich noble came to down, digging his holes for traps and cutting down the trees of the forest, and searching far and wide for a beast deep in the heart of the woods. They were all being paid well for the services, and promised a portion of a fortune if one managed to catch a glimpse of the beast, and there was no shortage of nobles willing to pay handsomely for information. Kilian von Bibra was a curious case because he had industrialized the art of searching, to the point where his bureaucracy in the Lotharingian forests rivaled that of the official state, and he was practically collecting the taxes and paying the peasants for supporting his ever growing army. He came through the forest and trashed it in every direction, cutting down a thousand trees and stockpiling the wood for when the price soared, and then torching more of the trees to further trap the beast. He was working his way in from the edge of the forests on every side, slowly moving toward the center, so that he could be certain the beast was thoroughly and completely trapped. I remember when we first got to down we were stormed by a few peasants as well, as they must have confused us for the paying and employing type, so everywhere we went at first a few men ran up to us spewing their resume for monster hunting straight to our faces. It was me and Bernard “Twice-Died”, who was the emperor’s son, and Jaromir’s lad Ottokar as his squire, and the fellow Edmund Alwin, who finally got a chance to come out of the falconry on an adventure of mine, and two other knights, named Julius and Lorenzo, who were imperial fellows now that I was technically Master of the Hounds back in Aachen. Eventually I got my bearings that the army that was coming was a bunch of Kilian men, tasked with uprooting a peasant problem developing at the waystation we had happened upon while on our way to the action. As it turns out, a lot of the locals didn’t appreciate all the attention that Kilian was causing, on account of his forest fires destroying their livelihoods, or his brazen ambitions seemingly disregarding all laws and decency in the pursuit of the prize. There was one peasant fellow named Casimir who was leading a mob and training them for war, and preparing to defend the town against the workers that Kilian employed, and he was making alliances with all the other nobles who Kilian despised; there was Walter Geyer from Namur and there was Johann “the Fat” who was so large his horse seemed crushed under his weight, and he was always paying double to have people carry him around through this countryside. When we got into town there was the end result marching before us, a band of various characters with mismatched clothing and uneven spears, some with helmets and other not, unorganized and marching in the direction of the other prospectors. I remember thinking I ought to witness this, and that would prove to be a major mistake. When the battle came it was dark outside and the long light from the torches was moving over the mountains. There were big mobs of light on that mountain as groups were making their ways through the forest, but their intentions were obscured as their light came and went. We crossed the brickyard, and stopped at the main dressing-station. Edmund Alwin had warned that this was no place for a noble, but the knights were itching for battle and I was dying of curiosity, so I thought to stay close by but out of harms way, and I had the boy Ottokar stay far away from the battle. It seemed like war was around the corner and I thought it wise to learn a thing or two; word was received that some of the most hardline Helvetian detractors had begun to sow the seeds to dissidence in Bavaria; they were strongly spreading propaganda that the Swiss were responsible for the recent troubles all throughout that region, and elements of the Thuringian government were strongly urging the Bavarian government to turn fully against the Swiss, all in secret of course. There was a little shelter of green branches outside over the entrance and in the dark the night wind rustled the leaves dried by the sun. Inside there was a light. The man Casimir was at the window sitting on a box. One of the medical captains said the attack had been put forward an hour. He offered me a glass of cognac. I looked at the board tables, the instruments shining in the light, the basins and the stoppered bottles. Bernard stood behind me. Casimir got up from the window. “It starts now,” he said. “It has been put back again.” I looked outside, it was dark and the Kilian’s mob was moving on the mountains behind us. It was quiet for a moment still, then we heard cannons firing. “He brought in guns,” said Casimir. “About the soup, sir,” said Edmund Alwin. He did not hear him. He repeated it. “It hasn’t come up.” A big blast came in and burst outside in the brickyard. Another burst and in the noise you could hear the smaller noise of the brick and dirt raining down. “What is there to eat?” “We have a little pasta asciutta,” Casimir said. “I’ll take what you can give me.” Casimir spoke to an orderly who went out of sight. He came from in the back and came back with a metal basin of cold cooked macaroni. I handed it to Bernard, “Have you any cheese?” Casimir spoke grudgingly to the orderly who ducked back into the hole again and came out with a quarter of a white cheese. “Thank you very much,” I said. “You’d better not go out.” Outside something was set down beside the entrance. One of the two men who had carried it looked in. “Bring him in,” said Casimir. “What’s the matter with you? Do you want us to come outside and get him?” The two stretcher-bearers picked up the man under the arms and by the legs and brought him in. “Slit the tunic,” Casimir said. He held a forceps with some gauze in the end. The two captains took off their coats. “Get out of here,” he said to the two stretcher-bearers. “Come on,” I said to Bernard. “You better wait until the cannon fire is over,” Casimir said over his shoulder. “They want to eat,” I said. “As you wish.” Outside we ran across the brickyard. A shot burst short near the river bank. Then there was one that we did not hear coming until the sudden rush. We both went flat and with the flash and bump of the burst and the smell heard the singing off of the fragments and the rattle of falling brick. Bernard got up and ran for the dugout. I was after him, holding the cheese, its smooth surface covered with brick dust. Inside the dugout the knights were waiting for us. “Here, you patriots,” I said. “How are the horses?” Edmund Alwin asked. “All right.” “Did they scare you, Julius?” “You’re damned right,” I said. I took out my knife, opened it, wiped off the blade and pared off the dirty outside surface of the cheese. Bernard handed me the basin of macaroni. “Starting to eat?” “No,” I said. “Put it on the floor. We’ll all eat.” “There are no forks.” “What the hell,” I said in French. I cut the cheese into pieces and laid them on the macaroni. I put thumb and fingers into the macaroni and lifted. A mass loosened. I lifted it to arm’s length and the strands cleared. I lowered it into the mouth, sucked and snapped in the ends, and chewed, then took a bite of cheese, chewed, and then a drink of the wine. It tasted of rusty metal. I handed the canteen back to Lorenzo. “It’s rotten,” he said. “It’s been in there too long.” They were all eating, holding their chins close over the basin, tipping their heads back, sucking in the ends. I took another mouthful and some cheese and a rinse of wine. Something landed outside that shook the earth. “They’ve got high caliber guns to chase out the peasants,” I said, “I’ve seen the holes.” We went on eating. There was a cough, then an explosion that shook the earth again. “This isn’t a deep dugout,” Lorenzo said, and he nervously looked toward the edge of the forest. I ate the end of my piece of cheese and took a swallow of wine. Through the other noise I heard a cough, then came the chuh-chuh-chuh-chuh - then there was a flash, as a furnace door is swung open, and a roar that started white and went red and on and on in a rushing wind. I tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. I went out swiftly, all of myself and I knew I was dead and that it had all been a mistake to think you just died. Then I floated, and instead of going on I felt myself slide back. I breathed and I was back. The ground was torn up and in front of my head there was a splintered beam of wood. In the jolt of my head I heard somebody crying. I thought somebody was screaming. I tried to move but I could not move. I heard screaming voices and charging hooves across the river and all along the river. There was a great splashing and I saw more shots go up and burst and float whitely and rockets going up and heard the bombs, all this in a moment, and then I heard close to me someone saying, “Mama mia! Oh, mama mia!” I pulled and twisted and got my legs loose finally and turned around and touched him. It was Lorenzo and when I touched him he screamed. His legs were toward me and I saw in the dark and the light that they were both smashed above the knee. One leg was gone and the other was held by tendons and part of the trouser and the stump twitched and jerked as though it were not connected. He bit his arm and moaned, “Oh, mama mia, mama mia,” then, “Dio te salve, Maria. Dio te salve, Maria. Oh Jesus shoot me Christ shoot me, Mama mia, mama mia, oh purest lovely Mary shoot me. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Oh Jesus lovely Mary stop it. Oh oh oh oh,” then choking, “Mama mama mia.” Then he was quiet, biting his arm, the stump of his leg twitching. “Torta feriti!” I shouted holding my hands cupped. “Porta feriti!” I tried to get closer to Lorenzo to try to put a tourniquet on the legs but I could not move. I tried again and my legs moved a little. I could pull backward along with my arms and elbows. Lorenzo was quiet now, I sat beside him, undid my tunic and tried to rip the tail of my shirt. It would not rip and I bit the edge of the cloth to start it. Then I thought of his puttees. I had on wool stockings but Lorenzo wore puttees. All the knights wore puttees. But Lorenzo had only one leg. I unwound the puttee and while I was doing it I saw there was no need to try to make a tourniquet because he was dead already. I made sure he was dead. There were three others to locate. I sat up straight and as I did so something inside my head moved like the weights on a doll’s eyes and it hit me inside behind my eyeballs. My legs felt warm and wet and my shoes were wet and warm inside. I knew that I was hit and leaned over and put my hand on my knee. My knee wasn’t there. My hand went in and my knee was down on my shin. I wiped my hand on my shirt and another floating light came very slowly down and I looked at my leg and was very afraid. “Oh, God,” I said, “get me out of here.” I knew, however, that there had been three others. There were five of us. Lorenzo was dead. That left three. Someone took hold of me under the arms and somebody else lifted my legs. “There are three others,” I said. “One is dead.” “It's Bernard. We went for a stretcher but there wasn’t any. How are you?” 'Where are Julius and Edmund?” “Edmund’s at the post getting bandaged. Julius has your legs. Hold on to my neck, Wolfgang. Are you badly hit?” “In the leg. How is Edmund?” “He’s all right. It was a big shot.: “Lorenzo’s dead.” “Yes. He’s dead.” A cannong shot fell close and they both dropped to the ground and dropped me. “I’m sorry, Wolfgang,” said Bernard. “Hang on to my neck.” “If you drop me again.” “It was because we were scared.” “Are you unwounded?” “We are both wounded a little.” “Can we get out of here?” “I don’t think so.” They dropped me once more before we reached the post. “You sons of bitches,” I said. “I am sorry, Wolfgang,” Bernard said. “We won’t drop you again.” Outside the post a great many of us lay on the ground in the dark. They carried wounded in and brought them out. I could see the light come out from the dressing-station when the curtain opened and they brought someone in or out. The dead were off to one side. The doctors were working with their sleeves up to their shoulders and were red as butchers. There were not enough stretchers. Some of the wounded were noisy but most were quiet. The wind blew the leaves in the bower over the door of the dressing-station and the night was getting cold. Stretcher-bearers came in all the time, put their stretchers down, unloaded them and went away. As soon as I got to the dressing-station Bernard brought a medical sergeant out and he put bandages on both my legs. He said there was so much dirt blown into the wound that there had not been much haemorrhage. They would take me as soon as possible. He went back inside. “Edmund could not move,” Bernard said. His shoulder was smashed and his head was hurt. He had not felt bad but now the shoulder had stiffened. He was sitting up beside one of the brick walls. Bernard and Julius each went off with a load of wounded. They could move all right. The Fat Noble had come with three ambulances and they had two men on each ambulance. One of them came over to me, brought by Bernard who looked very white and sick. The man leaned over. “Are you hurt badly?” he asked. He was a tall man and wore a steel-rimmed helmet. “In the legs.” “It’s not serious, I hope. Will you have a drink?” “Thanks.” “They tell me you’ve lost two men.” “Yes. One killed and the fellow that brought you.” “What rotten luck.” The fire and cannons had scared off almost all of the army, and the rest were being chased through the forest by zealous peasants. Soldiers ran past the dressing-station as Wolfgang sat there, seemingly running in every direction, as best he could tell from through the window Casimir had been sitting at earlier. Bernard sat down beside me. In a moment the blanket in front of the dressing-station opened and two stretcher-bearers came out followed by the tall man again. He brought them over to me. “Here is Wolfgang of Thuringia,” he said in French. “I’d rather wait,” I said. “There are much worse wounded than me, I’m all right.” “Come, come,” he said. “Don’t be a bloody hero.” Then in French: “Lift him very carefully about the legs. His legs are very painful. He is the son of the High Steward.” They picked me up and took me into the dressing-room. Inside they were operating on all the tables. One of the surgeons bent over me. They lifted me on to the table. It was hard and slippery. There were many strong smells, chemical smells and the sweet smell of blood. They took off my trousers and the man began treating me while commenting. “Multiple superficial wounds of the left and right thigh and left and right knee and right foot. Profound wounds of right knee and foot. Lacerations of the scalp” - he probed - (Does that hurt?) (Christ, yes!) “Would you like a drink of brandy? How did you run into this thing anyway?” “I was hit by a cannon,” I said. The captain, doing things that hurt sharply and severing tissue - “Are you sure?” Me - trying to lie still and feeling my stomach flutter when the flesh was cut, “I think so.” “The pain hasn’t started yet. Bring him a glass of brandy. The shock dulls the pain; but this is all right, you have nothing to worry about if it doesn’t infect. How is your head?” “It’s very bad,” I said. “Better not drink too much brandy then. How does that feel?” Sweat ran all over me. “Good Christ!” I said. “I guess you’ve got a fracture all right. I’ll wrap you up and don’t bounce your head around.” He bandaged, his hands moving very fast and the bandage coming taut and sure. “All right, good luck and Vive la France.” “He’s a Thuringian,” one of the other captains said. “I thought you said he was a Frenchman. He talks French,” the captain said. “I’ve known him before. I always thought he was French.” He drank a half tumbler of cognac. “Bring on something serious.” The captain waved to me. They lifted me and the blanket-flap went across my face as we went out. We had all agreed that was the dumbest thing I had ever tried to do thus far in the coming days, as I sat in a bed somewhere in near Liege and watched the time pass. Kilian had brought in three cannons, which he fired randomly into the forest to scare off the peasants and other treasure seekers, and maybe even kill the beast, and then he had sent a 100 of them charging into the woods, supposedly also to scare the beast, clashing with many of us who were on the other side. But had all worked out well; Bernard let him know that Kilian was highly sorry for hurting him, and had sent generous donations to Thuringia and to the Emperor. There was talks of bringing the man to justice, so he voluntarily left Lotharingia with his tail between his legs, and the mob dispersed just as quick as it had formed, and in his rush he even left one cannon to lie decrepit in the middle of the forest somewhere. One day around dusk they had brought the soup and afterward taken away the bowls and I was lying looking at the rows of beds and out the window at the tree-top that moved a little in the evening breeze. The breeze came in through the window and it was cooler with the evening. The flies were on the ceiling now and on the candle on the table. The lights were only turned on when someone was brought in at night or when something was being done. It made me feel very young to have the dark come after the dusk and then remain. It was like being put to bed after early supper. The orderly came down between the beds and stopped. Someone was with him. It was a priest. He stood there small, brown-faced, and embarrassed. “How do you do?” he asked. “All right, father.” He sat down in a chair and looked out of the window embarrassedly. I noticed his face looked very tired.”‘I can only stay a minute,” he said. “It is late.” “It’s not late.” He smiled and I noticed he wore the markings of a non-Catholic preacher, and he sounded tired too. “I am so glad you are all right,” he said. “I hope you don’t suffer.” He seemed very tired and I was not used to seeing guests like that. “What’s the matter, father? You seem very tired.” “I am tired but I have no right to be.” “It’s the heat.” “No. This is only the spring. I feel very low.” “You have the war disgust.” “No. But I do hate war.” “I don’t enjoy it,” I said. He shook his head and looked out of the window. “You do not mind it. You do not see it. You must forgive me. I know you are wounded.” “That is an accident.” “Still even wounded, I heard of your great deeds in the forest. They say you carried a man on your back.” “No I didn’t,” I corrected. “Didn’t you refuse to be medically aided before the others?” “Not very firmly.” “That doesn’t matter.” He paused. “You still did the right thing.” I nodded. “I suppose.” “And that got the attention of the Hussites like me, and we’re happy that someone is doing the right thing.” “I don’t care much to be converted,” I said. “ “You understand, but you do not love God.” “No.” “You do not love Him at all?” he asked. “I am afraid of Him in the night sometimes.” “You should love Him.” “I don’t love much.” “Yes,” he said. “You do. What you tell me about in the nights. That is not love. That is only passion and lust. When you love you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice for. You wish to serve.” “I don’t love.” “You will. I know you will. Then you will be happy.” “I’m happy. I’ve always been happy,” I lied. “It is another thing. You cannot know about it unless you have it.” “Well,” I said. “If I ever get it I will tell you.” “I stay too long and talk too much.” He was worried that he really did. “No. Don’t go. How about loving women? If I really loved some woman, would it be like that?” “I don’t know about that. I never loved any woman.” “What about your mother?” “Yes, I must have loved my mother.” “Did you always love God?” “Ever since I was a little boy.” “Well,” I said. I did not know what to say. “You are a fine boy,” I said. “I am a boy,” he said. “But you call me father.” “That’s politeness.” He smiled. “Then I must be polite and warn you that you’ll never find what you’re looking for here.” “And what’s that?” “An answer.” The priest went up to leave and offered to do a blessing before he left, but I declined. I was drifting off to sleep soon after, hoping the pain was dulling with each day, and wondering when I’d be out of this forsaken place. I was thinking about that priest when it finally hit me, that he never even bowed; he resisted those he saw as sinful, he stood up to those who he disagreed with. The following morning I wrote a letter to the emperor informing him that I had slain the Beerwolf; he is tyranny, he is injustice, he is our fears. I said we must stand up and resist when tyrants are unjust, that it’s our right, and only when we conquer our fear that repels us from doing what is right, do we slay the great beast.
  • The Oirat Khanate would begin to practice the reformation of the old horde system. All citizen families are now required to settle in communes, and need to undergo local authority to move their communes unless in a state of emergency, such as being sacked or within the range of a battlefield. Along with this, we would begin to organize a veteran horde league of multiple cohorts and divisions of arquebuisers,  footmen and raiders, numbering 30,000 in order to combat the larger Tian hegemony to release ourselves and our vassals from tributary control.
    • Japanese Dip: Japan offers to continue the state of friendly relations with the Oitat Khanate.
  • Dai Viet: Due to Majapahit’s willingness of ceding Dai Viet an island, the Emperor decides to take Dai Viet’s previous offer, the island of Belitung. Immediately, people are sent there to develop the general infrastructure as well as the renovation of the Tanjung Pandan city and its port. The island is temporarily used for economic purposes for now, seeing that the island is close to the Ayutthayan Strait which attracts a high quantity of merchants. The army have rehabilitated to its maximum strength; 1,000 troops are sent there to temporarily protect the island. Back in mainland Dai Viet, due to the redundant of the numbers of court mandarins, portions of them are sent to Lan Xang and Belitung to be the regions’ court mandarins. The Emperor orders to dig the Hải Trì lake in the capital, surrounding the Thuy Ngoc palace and situated near the Giảng võ đường. The Hanlin Academy continues their works of compiling the Hong Duc Code of Law.
  • Iceland: The King continued his economic reforms eventually creating the title Moneychief (Peningastjóri) the first appointment was the Governor of Akureyri. Much preparation is put in a long journey which the king will personally lead.
  • Poland-Lithuania: The population become more stronger, and the activity trade throughout in the south that mean the reformation of the policy will improved a lot from the nobility Lithuanians, more ships is constructed and raise more mans the city is surrounding with merchants that are from Western Europe and release more production and hoping to continue more progress as is indeed which is good! a lot of meat and stuff in agriculture, are exported to the city trade Casimir IV improve some condition effort to build armory among the soldiers of his kingdom seeing now that his economic reform, actually improved and approved in a positive way the Lithuanian nobles has a thought that we can use some unchristianized areas for trade and such discussion port economy in an agreement is would being to settle more village and allow the economy continue the method and as along most of expansion's territory become a tradepost for city and canals immediately some citizen encourage the farmer to work again and had peace to continue together to modernizing and organizing the current society as well,Warsaw becoming a huge economy tradeport key for stuff and meets also more stuff are sold to market for merchants who are interesting and had authorizations though that Germans consisted that Poland is doing a trade economy and improving their policy that never give up which is suprising, in the Lithuanians's side is becoming a constructive zone that main goal emphasis to search the eye and hiring more people to continue in participate the soldier are improving their tactics and developing more and is used to protect territory and such fiirst approved by the governor of Warsaw the scholar attemps to continue their work of compiling and lessons's with language official and religions pratice and view by the Germans thus so far is rather an active slow development and main gain establish something interesting for next year.
  • Kingdom of Ayutthaya: After much consideration in the interest of Ayutthaya's trade and the unstable nature of Majapahit outside if Java's border, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya approaches Majapahit requesting that it relinquish control of all of its Sumatra vassals to Ayutthaya in exchange for payment. (Mod Response). Ayutthayan officials continue to work in close collaboration with land owners and nobles to develop infrastructure in their respective lands. The Penghulu Bendahari reports that with the ongoing issues in neighboring and distant regions, trade has had a decline as merchants are less willing to travel in in turbulent times. The Ayutthayan Navy continues to maintain a strong naval presence with more ships produced each year under the supervision of Laksamana Hang Tuah who had been allocated even more spending to ensure Ayutthayan naval supremacy. The Ayutthaya arquebus and cannons continue to be produced and distributed to garrisons as well as select villages across Ayutthaya for use in training to create men trained in the use of gunpowder weapons. The Commerce guild and Ayutthayan governmnet have beeworking closely together to ensure the security of merchant vessels with the solution being decided that the government would help to cover the cost of arming the vessels with weapons in exchange for payment at a later date.
    • Majapahit is not ceding their vassals to Siam
  • Archbishopric of Mainz: Cardinal Diether von Isenburg sends messages to all the ecclesiastical electors, begging them to be patient, and not to condemn Henry so quickly, over what was surely nothing more than a misunderstanding, and a laudable attempt to establish a quick return to stability in a period of uncertainy, caused by the deaths of the Emperor and the Pope so close together. He personally endorses the new Imperial Reforms, announcing that he is convinced that the new Emperor will usher in a great future for the Empire. He sends a personal message to the Pope in Rome, asking him to confirm to the Ecclesiastical Electors that Henry has his support as Holy Roman Emperor. (Papal Response). He also sends to the Pope a beautifully printed copy of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, to honor his election, and his deepest wishes that a harmonious relationship exist between the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, each strengthening the position of the other. He remains a firm supporter of the extensive reforms in the Catholic church, including the Inquisition and the Assembly of Preachers. He continues to support raising education in his Diocese. He continues to patronize the printing of releases from the Pontifical Roman Press, and other great works for the Library of Mainz. He transfers control over the Imperial revenue collection and the Imperial Treasury to the new High Treasurer, Kaspar von Roggendorf, with profound relief. He concentrates his efforts on implimenting the Emperor's new Judicial and administrative reforms, particularly the new administrative division (called Imperial Circles), which help to codify the systems he has been setting up for the last 15 years. Over each Circle, he puts a hand-picked administrator to manage the business of that region, always from a popular local noble family. Cardinal von Isenburg continues to act upon the reports of the Council of Mainz, and manage the process of integrating Darmstadt into the Electorate by bringing its laws and administration into alignment with the Electorat’s. He meets privately with Simon Burkhart, and congradulates him of his appointment to the unofficial post of spymaster, and informs him of his own network of agents he has been building for more than a decade, sugesting that they should colaborate more in the future.
    • Papal Diplomacy: Pope Innocent VII thanks Cardinal Diether von Isemburg for the gift and says that as soon as King Henry VIII of Germany comes to Rome to be crowned by the pope, he will be officaly declared Holy Roman Emperor.
  • Papal States: With the end of the conclave, Cardinal Ortlieb von Brandis is elected as the new Pope and takes the papal name Innocent VII. With a new pontiff, come changes in the Curia. Cardinal John III Peckenschlager becomes the new Cardinal-Secretary, Cardinal Prospero Caffarelli becomes the General Commissary of the Church, Cardinal Paolo di Campofregoso becomes the new head of the Association of Missionaries and Preachers, Cardinal Francesco della Rovere continues as the head of the Pontifical Roman Press, Cardinal Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini continues as the head of the Institute of Works of Charity, Cardinal Pedro VI Gonzalez de Mendoza becomes the new prefect of the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, Cardinal Berardo Eroli is the new Dean of the College of Cardinals and Cardinal Rinaldo Orsini continues as the Chancellor of the Holy Roman Church. The pontiff writes a letter to KIng Henry VIII of Germany, asking him to come to Rome so he can official.ly be crowned as Holy Roman Emperor [Bohemia response needed, please]. Pope Innocent VII declares Charles von Lechfield as a liar and madman, with his theory being declared unfounded. Using documents present in the archives of the Vatican, a document is made citing all the important facts that happened during this period and presenting evidence of its veracity. The pope places von Lechfield works in the Leonine Index (for forbbiden books) and approves the actions of the Archbishop of Prague against Lechfield. The Inquisition continue its work against heretics. The construction of the Apostolic Palace, Cappella Magna, Gregorian Tower and Cortile del Belvedere continue. The number of acidents in these constructions decreased greatly since the creation of the workplace safety laws. Andrea del Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci finish the fresco "Victory of the Rosary" in the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory. This fresco will be remembered as one of the greatest works of Leonardo da Vinci. Rodrigo Borgia and Vannozza dei Cattanei have a son named Goffredo. Philip of Habsburg and Luchina Della Rovere have a daughter named Raffaella. Seeking to improve the relations between the Habsburg and other Italian families, Philip of Habsburg proposes the marriage of his oldest son, Francesco of Habsburg with Giovanna di Montefeltro, daughter of Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino. [MOD response needed, please]. Philip sends another marriage proposal, but this time to Marquess William VIII Palaiologos asking for the betrothal of his daughter Blanche of Montferrat to Philip's son, Carlos. [MOD response needed, please]. Giuliano Della Rovere appears one day with a young boy, who he affirms to have been an orphan that was adopted by him. The boy's name is Augusto Della Rovere and he is sent to live with Giuliano's cousin, Girolamo Riario, in Forli for some years. The Holy Father creates as cardinal Micheil Cuimeanach (Scotland) and Trefor Merrick (Wales). The Arsenals of the Papal States continue to produce ships and weapons, while new troops are trained for the Papal Army.
    • Republic of Ancona: The election of Pope Innocent VII is celebrated by the people of the Republic. Ships and weapons are produced in the Arsenal of Amcona. The Elders start to fund artists to work in the Republic.
    • Marriages accepted
  • Kingdom of Bohemia: Somehow Charles' SECRET research about the phantom time theory was accidentally published, despite him specifically undertaking that research in secret and not intending to do so. And even worse the people who stole his work and published it without his knowledge (the "moderators", as they're known in the academic world), apparently even spelled his name wrong. Charles reiterates that his name is Přemysl Karel (Charles Přemyslid) the "Ghost of Lechfeld", not "Charles of Lechfield [sic]". He is frustrated that his name is now being slandered across the empire with everyone condemning him, based on a half baked version of his theory that wasn't supposed to be published yet, which even includes details he never heard of, such as “Heraclius”. Nonetheless, he assumes that a priest working for the pope likely stole his documents and published them, and the extremely quick actions of the pope and his lackeys to condemn it seems to indicate that he was actually on to something. Charles goes into hiding, traveling to Rome to oversee the Pope's actions in SECRET. In an attempt to get him to come home, the emperor writes to Charles that he is considering allowing Charles to inherit the title of Elector of Brandenburg if he drops his quest, although this announces some of Henry's other sons. The Emperor replies to the Pope that he will agree to come to Rome again and be crowned, and will serve as best he can to follow the Pope’s wishes, if the Pope agrees that henceforth the title of Erwählter Römischer Kaiser ("Elected Roman Emperor") will exist in concord with that of King of Germany, and be applied to Henry. Elsewhere in Germany, Pavel "the Samaritan", nicknamed as such for his fondness of Samaria after his pilgrimage there, his intricate knowledge of Levantine history, and his native wife of the region, Nehushta, continues his quest to acquire all there is to know from the Bible and ancient texts. He tells his wife that in this year he has a vision and decides to form a Samaritan community in SECRET in Germany, which grows slowly and carefully, only having twenty members after over a year. Henry the Black arrives in Moutier, having finally figured out who the right Saint Germanus is. He spies Peter III in and around the Abbey, but is unsure why or what he is doing. Realizing that the abbey must be important however, he decides to stage a secret heist into the facility in the middle of the night. Pretending to be window cleaners, Henry and his group of knights assume costumes and scale the side of the abbey’s library. Sir Winand the “Engineer” creates a makeshift pulley system, which allows the men to lower Henry inside through a window in the ceiling by rope. He makes his way silently through the abbey, and to his shock even overhears the Bishop of Basel engaging in “carnal relations” with a lady of the night in one of the guest rooms. He manages to find several documents on a table left out from the day before and grabs them, before trying to find his way out. Unfortunately he discovers several monks wandered into the room where his rope was, and Winand was forced to pull the rope back up. He instead tries to sneak out the front door, where he coincidentally runs into the abbot himself. Thinking quickly he punches the man in the face and flees out the door. The next day the group examines the stolen documents, only to find they had mostly stolen the abbey’s tax information. They find one note indicating that the Bishop of Basel has information and is helping Peter III, so they devise a second plan. A local prostitute named Marie is paid off to have relations with Basel and get him to spill information. After a few weeks she seemingly gets into the bishop’s company, but she tells Henry that unfortunately the bishop likes to wear a “gag”. While that avenue fails, Sir Florian luckily manages to find some information by shadowing some of the other contestants. They learn that many people are heading to Luxeuil Abbey in Burgundy, so the group decides to split up. Bonaventure and Florian depart for Burgundy, and in order to keep their actions quiet, they impersonate musicians in a minstrel show in the circus. To their surprise the circus is noticed by the ruler of Burgundy himself, and the minstrels are chosen to perform at a festival in the great hall in front of all the lords and ladies of Burgundy. Florian and Bonaventure improvise as best they can but have no instrument playing experience, and the music is noticeably unbearable. The show is so unbelievably horrible and embarrassing that the Duke of Burgundy orders them thrown in prison. Meanwhile, Henry is completely unaware of this development, and continues searching in Switzerland. He finds a map leading to the death site of the saint, but unknown to him Sir Jan Jakob sabotaged the map so that it led in the opposite direction. While they wander through the farmland where the site is supposed to be, a farmer runs out with a pitchfork and chases them off. Meanwhile, the emperor receives the letter from Wolfgang of Thuringia and declares that he is the first person to successfully solve one challenge. He writes back to Wolfgang that he is now in the lead for the title of King of Switzerland, although it’s clear that he should be cautious, lest a target be painted on his back. The news spreads to Kilian von Bibra, who wasted countless funds searching the forests of Lotharingia only to be bested by Wolfgang, and he devises a secret plot. Kilian von Bibra secretly writes to Lenzburg, saying they should ban together and plot to take down both Wolfgang and the Thuringians; through an alliance they can surely destroy their mutual enemy. Soon after the rebellious peasant and friend of Wolfgang Casimir is discovered dead. Ernest “the Bastard” decides to travel to Konstanz to join the investigation there, after his quest in Lotharingia did not pan out. He personally interviews many neighbors of the house where the murders took place in, and they all seem to agree they heard shouting from inside from a strange man, but they can’t all agree what the language spoken was, with some saying French and others saying nonsense gibberish. Ernest also secretly disagrees with Philip of Habsburg’s assessment that the murder was motivated by money, due to the fact that money was left on the ground at the scene. Philip seemingly gives up and departs back to the Papal States, although one of his relatives named Leopold travels to Switzerland to join the hunt. The Emperor declares a fourth challenge for the Kingdom of Switzerland; hunt down Alexander Suslin and find out the truth behind the great tragedy in Hesse. Later in the year he declares a fifth challenge. He receives word that there is a football club in the small town of Uster, Switzerland that is seemingly unbeatable. The emperor wishes to know their secret, and will reward anyone who can manage to defeat them in a game of football.
    • Papal Diplomacy: Pope Innocent VII welcomes Henry VIII in Rome and crowns him as Holy Roman Emperor in a ceremony in the Basilica of Saint Peter. The request for the title of "Elected Emperor of the Romans" surprises the pope. Innocent don't see necessity to call Henry with it because he was officialy crowned as Emperor, but the pontiff proposes that this title be used in the cases of Emperors that are elected but can't travel to Rome for a time. However, as soon as they travel to Rome and are crowned by the pope, this title will be abbandoned and they will assume the title of "Holy Roman Emperor".
    • Bavarian Diplomacy: In a private discussion, Duke Albert suggests to Emperor Henry that Albert IV marry into his dynasty in order to solidify the relationship between their two countries, and asks Henry if there is someone available.
    • Bohemian Diplomacy (to Bavaria): Henry agrees to a marriage proposal but has Albert wed to his daughter Agnes.
    • Bohemian Diplomacy (to the Pope): Henry makes clear that what he means is that the King of Germany upon election will automatically become the emperor, however, in acknowledgement of the Pope's great importance and prestige, he would like himself and other emperors in the future to be crowned by the Pope as well, although it would not be a prerequisite necessarily, for example in the case of either person being unavailable, the path to Italy being unsafe, or the position of Pope being vacant.
  • Kingdom of Portugal: Queen Cirí III gives birth to a daughter who they name Inez after Queen Inez of Portugal. Crown Prince John of Portugal celebrates his first birthday in Porto. Moreover, the queen goes on a tour of Lisboa to talk to the common people and hear what they have to say about the situation.
  • Kingdom of Hungary and Dalmatia: After consulting with the King of Wallachia, the fate of the treasonous Vlad is still uncertain. The fact that the Catholic nations of Britain have offered much more compelling arguments, Vlad is not allowed to leave yet. The Russian king is asked how much compensation he demands for not getting the Wallachian king. (RUSSIA RESPONSE NEEDED). The funds from the Holy Father to modernize the army are spent on new artillery pieces, and more modern and lighter arquebuses. The infantry and the cavalry are more intensely drilled than before, while the generals and officers are trained to use artillery like cannons more extensively. The steel production along the Danube river is encouraged once more, creating the finest blades and tools on the Balkan, only exceeded by the Byzantine blacksmiths. Stephen X has a child with his wife, the Austrian noblewoman Anne, named Frigyes. The boy is healthy and strong, showing no signs of any bodily imperfections. The child is baptized in the cathedral of Buda by the archbishop himself. In the city itself, the King funds large parties, giving out ale, cakes and sweets to the visitors awaiting the king outside the cathedral. However, politics do not stay away from the King during these joyful days. Stephen, a devout Catholic would like to see more Catholic influence surrounding his realm. SECRET In this year, a spy network is set up to cause disruption at the serbian court, while also gathering all kinds of information on the habits of the king and his family. The military especially is a target of the spies, including information on the staff, their shape and supply routes in case of a war against Hungary. (MOD RESPONSE, PLEASE) SECRET END The funding of new monasteries and a large cathedral in Debrecen are funded by Stephen as well, securing the support of the church.
  • Duchy of All Bavaria: Albert IV continues his efforts to make the reunification of Bavaria as smooth as possible. The former Landshut household has been fully incorporated into the royal household in Munich, and is now primarily responsible for administering the Kingdom. With more administrative power at his disposal, Albert IV continues his tax reform. So far, rates have remained the same, but taxes are no directly collected by the royal household in some areas of the Empire. This makes the system more efficient and reduces fraud across all levels, raising royal revenues even after local nobles receive their share, though at this point the total effect on the Duchy's treasury is limited. As it stands, the new system is mostly present in and around the cities of Munich and Regensburg, but in the system's second year, Albert IV continues its expansion to parts of the countryside, planning to put 50 percent of the Bavarian population under the new tax system within 15 years. Albert IV continues to purchase cheap weapons for the Bavarian military, especially investing in firearms and cannons. However, in the long term, Albert IV hopes to offset the need to purchase foreign weapons by building them in Munich, and he continues his initiatives to fund and subsidize weapons manufacturers around the region. Hoping to make Munich central to European weapons production, he announce that any foreign manufacturers are eligible to receive subsidies if they move operations in Munich, though he puts a cap on how much money he will hand out, and conditions this on them selling their weapons first to Bavarians. Development on a new cannon modeled after the byzantine Dardanelles gun continues, with the Bavarian proto-types being easier to transport but also somewhat smaller. To complement this new gun, a Bavarian engineer develops a way to load it with many smaller projectiles, essentially turning into a giant shotgun. Albert IV, Using the patchy census data he has, he and his household are able to assign how many troops each region should be able to raise in the event of war, and how many standing troops should exist in the Duchy. Right now, the Duchy has a standing army of roughly 8,000, with the potential to raise a total of 60,000 if needed. The treasury also sets aside funding to pay mercenaries, should they ever be needed. Wanting to forge a stronger alliance with Poland-Lithuania and increase the power of his relatives, Albert IV sends an envoy to Poland-Lithuania suggesting that George of Bavaria be given a prominent place in the Polish military, citing his demonstrated potential before he married. [Poland-Lithuania response] Trade continues to grow, especially with Poland-Lithuania, and Albert IV starts to use his small standing army to patrol the highways of Bavaria to keep them safe for merchants, offering merchants from any nation access to Bavaria's safe roads in exchange for a small fee, though the fee is waived for the Duke's close allies. In addition, Albert IV sends an Envoy back to Arles, apologizing for the late reply and gratefully accepting the offer of the alliance if it is still good. [Arles response].
  • We accept
  • Casimir IV fully accepts the letter.
  • Empire of Ethiopia: The new emperor continues to oversee an economic recovery as the Empire stabilizes its economy following the war. The measures taken in the previous years begins to pay off as the Imperial coffers continue to replenish at healthy rates. The policy of raising taxes and tariffs marginally while also heavily cutting expenditures on construction and charity begin to refill Imperial coffers. Literature and culture continues to flourish amongst the upper class elites, with many nobles and aristocrats now being well versed in Greek poetry, philosophy, mathematics and some basic science. Ethiopian merchants encounter merchants from the Ayutthaya Kingdom in India, and inform the Emperor of the possibility of establishing direct trade with the great spice kingdoms of the east. Seeking to resolve the issues with the Mameluke Sultanate following the war with Yemen, the Emperor sends a team of diplomats and nobles to the Mameluke Sultan, proposing a diplomatic conference to resolve the remaining issues between the two states and to help both nations rebuild trade in the Red Sea. The Empire proposes the following terms: Egypt and Ethiopia will stop attacking and/or sponsoring attacks on each other’s merchant ships and trade. Both nations will allow each other’s merchants docking rights and access to each other’s ports. Ethiopia will also allow Mameluke merchants back into the Empire. [EGYPT RESPONSE NEEDED].
  • Hafsid Caliphate: Having made the final slash against the heir King James III, Vizier Al-Najm II declares himself as the "King of Jerusalem", while the Cypriot and Venetian troops captured are summarily executed. In one of the most silent yet brutal moments in history, Vizier Al-Najm II forces Islamic conversion unto the Greek Cypriots by the sword, ending in the deaths of hundreds of innocent citizens. Due to the blockade, however, this is not initially found out by Europe until the bodies of the deceased wash ashore in islands of Aegea or in Egypt, which by then are just assumed to be dead via pirates. His skin and saif both plastered in red, Vizier Al-Najm II gives administrative control over Cyprus to Emir Arif al-Muta, who subsequently establishes the Mutayyid Sultanate of Cyprus under Hafsid Caliph Ahmad III. A successful campaign, Vizier Al-Najm II gathers all of the treasures of Cyprus and leaves to his newly-acquired fortress of Tripoli. Tired, he decides to rest for a while. Meanwhile, the son of the long-deceased Captain Jamal Rahman, Aswad, travels to the outskirts of Tataouine in search of the rumored son of Muhammad al-Janann, as a means of finally getting his revenge. He is confronted by an older 'Amr 'Uthman, who slays him orderly, but buries him in respect for having survived as long. 
  • Kingdom of Arles: We request a marriage between Agnes of Hesse and Altisi 'Sharparm. Thumas Lowen II, son of former bishop of Geneva Thumas Lowen I, becomes interested in the King of Switzerland competition. He signs up. He travels to Luxeil Abbey to search for the relics of Saint Germanus. He is accompanied by his younger brother and nephew, along with several horses and plentiful stocks of food. He chats merrily with the local residents at taverns when he rests. (HESSE RESPONSE). MORE TO COME, maybe. 
    • Thumas Lowen's chatting with the locals proves helpful, as he quickly is informed of several leads and rumors from around town. He is told of the Luxeuil Abbey in Burgundy where several contestants have begun to travel to. From another local he learns that Peter III means to open a tomb in the abbey of Moutier, and also that he ventured toward a spot in Delémont. He meets one particularly drunk peasant who even claims he knows a secret spot where the saint was killed, and will lead him there for a great sum of money. However, the Luxeuil Abbey appears to be a dead end, as he fails to find any clues there.
  • Swiss Confederacy: Hearing over the controversies over the proposed changes in the electorates of the Holy Roman Empire, the Central Council does think it is best to keep them as in the Imperial Charter of 1357, and thinks a diplomatic summit between the Emperor, the Imperial Diet and other Imperial rulers who may be interested would be a good idea. The 2,000 soldiers of the joint military in Arles are recalled back to the Swiss Confederacy as it appears the civil conflict of Arles as passed and Protector-General Lucas and Queen Aline are now generally recognised. The 2,000 troops supplied by Arles are kept in the Swiss Confederacy for now as the Central Council had heard reports of anti-Swiss hostilities in Hesse. If this situation calms down, the Arlesian troops would be able to go back to their home nation. Since the conflict in Greece appears to have petered out and the domestic situation in Germany currently appears to be under control with the extra troops from Arles, the Central Council starts to pay more attention to the conflicts in the British Isles again, though it appears Swiss mercenaries would not currently be needed there as it looks like the forces of King Robert III of Scotland have largely defeated those of Ireland. The election of Ortlieb von Brandis as Pope Innocent VII is celebrated in the Swiss Confederacy, especially in his original diocese of Chur. Pope Innocent VII's elevation has left the position of Bishop of Chur vacant; consequently, Bishop of Lausanne Aymon von Lenzburg moved dioceses to become the new Bishop of Chur, and he was in turn succeeded as Bishop of Lausanne by Benoît of Montferrand. The Central Council writes to Pope Innocent VII, suggesting that the new Bishop of Chur Aymon von Lenzburg be created Cardinal to replace him, and also proposes him to be the new Grand Inquisitor of the Swiss Confederacy. (Papal response) The rumours of the dubious private life of King William II of France worry Eberhard, Duke of Lenzburg and the Central Council, and thus they start to increase their support for the League of the Public Weal again, possibly favouring Francis Capet, Duke of Berry to replace his nephew as King if it becomes clear that William II is not mentally fit to rule France. (Mod response if necessary) The joint military of the Swiss Confederacy focuses on fortifying mountain passes and other border crossings on the western border of the nation, in the Cantons of Basel-Bishopric, Neuchâtel, Pontarlier, Lausanne and Geneva. Domestically, the government works on funding the improvement and expansion of sheep farms to increase the wool production for trade in order to boost the economy. Ísabella Sturlungur (1435-1481), wife of Henry VII, Count of Gorizia, dies after a period of illness. Blanche Courtenay and Henry Beaufort have their fourth child, a daughter named Beatrice (b. 1481). Later in the year, Edward of York and Elizabeth Beaufort have twins, the slightly elder named Edward (b. 1481) and the other John (b. 1481). In the King of Switzerland competition, Peter III of Geneva-Lenzburg writes to Lucas of Arles, asking for official permission and guidance to search for the relics of Saint Germanus in Luxeuil Abbey in Burgundy, which the Arles royal family now controls via personal union; Peter III also uses his familial relation to the Arlesians to suggest that other searchers be excluded from the Abbey. (Arles response) In the meantime, Peter III wants to open the forgotten tomb in the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval, but the Bishop of Basel objects to opening an old tomb and an argument between them ensues. Eventually, Peter III decides to write to Pope Innocent VII for permission to open the forgotten tomb in the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval, given that there may be lost relics of historical importance for the Church inside. (Papal response). While waiting for responses from Arles and the Pope, Peter III and the Bishop of Basel decide to head to Delémont, which is in the Swiss Canton of Basel-Bishopric, to look for the place where Duke Eticho took his artefacts, using the book from the abbey's archives for guidance. (Bohemia response).
    • 'The journey to Delémont proves to be helpful, as when following instructions left in the book, a site is discovered in the town with a series of items claiming to belong to the saint, including robes and even socks, but no shoes. A series of trails also spring out from the site, pointing southeast, south, and southwest respectively, which could potentially lead to the spot in which the saint was killed.
    • Arlean Diplomacy: We accept this offer. However, Thumas Lowen II will still be allowed in.
  • Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di" King John V leonard regnier shows his open support of keeping the imperial charter of 1357, as the king believes it is able to keep the balance of power. This power being the internal squabble between states in the empire against each other and squabble on the matter of imperial power. The imperial charter of 1357 being created under Emperor Charles VII king of Germany Italy and Lotharingia, the charted being the date that Lotharingia became formally her own. Thus the king sees a change of the imperial charter of 1357 as a form ending imperial recognition of Lotharingian status and rank within the sacred empire. The king Inviting the Emperor and all member states to come to an agreement in the city of Aachen, as the king want to keep the peace in the empire. (Bohemia Response) (Saxony Response) (Swiss Response) (Thuringian response) (Hanse Response) (Mod response). The king wanting to be once more involved in world politics and promote lotharingian influence and culture all over the world. This influence being very clear in Africa with the "Koninglyke West Afrikaansche Compagnie" as it extents her influence such as the giant forest hog in Sherbro Island.
    • Swiss Diplomacy: Eberhard, Duke of Lenzburg agrees with the King of Lotharingia's proposal to have a summit to resolve these issues, and sets out to travel to Aachen.
    • The new law specifically mentions and acknowledges Lotharingia by name, it is therefore not un-acknowledging it by changing voting rules.
    • Saxony: The Duke of Saxony is in bed with the flu at the moment, but sends his trusted uncle, Otto de la Marck, Margrave of Lower Mark to negotiate and resolve any issues.
  • Kingdom of France (House of Capet): King William II is very upset and distraught that rumors got out and are spreading around, and it's clear the Duke of Berry is likely responsible. Likewise, the news that the Swiss Confederacy is supporting enemies of the state and speaking out against the king completely sours the relationship with the would-be ally. A permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, is to be expanded. These soldiers are granted ordonnances to govern their length of service, composition, and payment. The états généraux passed laws that restricted military recruitment and training to the king alone. There was a new tax to be raised known as the taille that was to provide funding for a new Royal army. The mercenary companies were given a choice of either joining the Royal army as compagnies d'ordonnance on a permanent basis, or being hunted down and destroyed if they refused. France gained a total standing army of around 6,000 men, which was sent out to gradually eliminate the remaining mercenaries who insisted on operating on their own, through this measure. The new standing army had a more disciplined and professional approach to warfare than its predecessors. When that is completed, the companies are divided into the field army, known as the grande ordonnance, and the garrison force known as the petite ordonnance. In addition to these companies, French kings still will call upon men at arms and footmen in the traditional way by calling the arriere-ban, in other words, a general levy where all able-bodied males age 15 to 60 living in the Kingdom of France were summoned to go to war by the King. Furthermore, there existed throughout the kingdom countless garrisons of royal soldiers in towns, cities, castles and fortresses which were summoned to go to battle as in previous centuries; however their importance was not the same as that of the ordonnance men. The professional army in times of war is expected to reach a number of 20,000, consisting of heavy and light cavalry, archers, crossbowmen, and infantry. The French seek out from across Europe advisors and instructors, and a number of military leaders are recruited. Standing Infantry regiments to replace the Militia structure are created. The first of these—the Régiments de Picardie, Piémont, Navarre and Champagne—were called Les Vieux Corps (The Old Corps). It was normal policy to disband regiments after a war was over as a cost saving measure with the Vieux Corps and the King's own Household Troops the Maison du Roi being the only survivors. Regiments could be raised directly by the King and so called after the region in which they were raised, or by the nobility and so called after the noble or his appointed colonel. The measure to implement guns into the army is well underway, with the nation producing its own cannons and aquebuses. The king plans for a number of fortresses to also be built and garrisoned near the border. The king seeks out indisputable proof that Berry is conspiring against him, and secretly dispatches numerous spies to his court to determine the truth. The prospect of war seems possible, and the nation prepares to defend itself from a potential coup. The king also sends word to numerous other nobles across the nation, seeking alliances. France sends an alliance offer to Burgundy (Mod response for Burgundy). 
    • Arlean Diplomacy: As Burgundy has a PU with us, we refuse this request. 
  • County of Württemberg: Ulrich V sends an envoy to Rome on behalf of the clergy in Stuttgart, to petition him for approval to elevate Stuttgart's church to the status of a cathedral. (Papal response). Ulrich hopes that this will help elevate the status of the county ahead of imperial council to take place in the Holy Roman Empire, and increase its prestige in negotiations with fellow German states. In line with this reasoning, another envoy is dispatched to Poland, Bavaria, and Saxony to explore the opportunity for potential alliances with those states (respective responses from each), and help secure Württemberg's sovereignty in the increasingly unstable neighborhood in which it resides. Utilizing his grandchildren as pawns for this endeavor, Ulrich V hopes to secure alliances with his more influential neighbors before his dies, and devotes all of his time to reviewing and receiving council on the potential market of nobles available for betrothals in Europe.
    • Saxony: The Duke of Saxony is always happy to make marriage alliances. He offers to wed to a Wurtemberger either of his sisters, Christina or Louise (b. 1453 and 1454), or perhaps his relatives the Wasaborg children (b.1445-1461).
  • Hanseatic League: As a new year dawns and the Baltic thaws, the non-stop trade of the Hanseatic League continues to guide German economics into a daring, new age. Every year, representatives of the Hanseatic League (Ratssendeboten) meet at an assembly in Lübeck known as the Tagfahrt. However, since the mid-14th century, the aldermen of the League have had the true say in what happens in these meetings. The League has come a long way since the days of its early inception. Civility reigned; if a consensus was threatened that may benefit the League as a whole, an alternative idea was not proposed. Something, after all, is better than nothing. Now, however, the central states of the Hanseatic League dominate trade and therefore hold significant sway over the politics of the region. The Hanseatic League recognizes four men who represent the entire central political entity and who also hold considerable sway over those who may not be governed by Hanseatic ideals. They are as follows: the Bürgermeister of Lübeck and Hamburg - Simon Burkhart, who share a mayor and who hold the final say in where shipments throughout the four regions go; Frederick II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who determine the prices of salt; the Prince-Admiral of Rostock Christopher von Warnow, who holds a permanent hereditary military position; and Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Hermann von Bardewik, who holds significant sway over ecumenical politics in the Baltic. Houses Ascania and Welf have an agreement to alternate control over the Principality of Lüneburg, which has kept the peace for some time. This also prevents the region from slipping out of the hands of either house. With Pomerania-Stettin being brought ever deeper into the fold of the Hanseatic League, trade along the Baltic becomes more lucrative than ever. The Baltic Duchies also see a heavy increase in trade due to the lack of organized interference from Pomerania. However, piracy continues to affect the Baltic. Rostock and Kiel shipyards pump out bulks en masse. To protect their convoys against the pirates, the Hanseatic League employs ships known as the Orlogship. These ships have historically been equipped with crossbows and catapults. The Hakenbüchse (Arquebus) is becoming increasingly common on Hanseatic Ships. Others are being fitted with the Culverin, a small cannon that yields devastating results at close range. Nine carracks are built at Kiel with another six being built in Rostock. They join the convoys that already criss-cross the Baltic and North Sea in a seemingly unending parade. The Hanseatic League has been responsible for defusing a number of close calls that could have easily led to war simply with the power of her pocketbook and navy. The fortifications around Cuxhaven and Heligoland are expanded, stoneworks rising ever higher to defend the coastline of the entrance to the North Sea and the Baltic. The North Sea is quickly becoming safer by the day, allowing goods to flood into Dublin and now as far away as Reykjavik. The League, happy with its progress in Bergen, works on renovating its routes into the Rhineland. Damaged bridges or unprofitable routes are located and redrawn throughout Germany. Burkhart is surprised by the news an investigator brings back. After the League dropped the case, it would appear at least a few investigators worked on the case regardless. Men who used Hanseatic resources for a closed case are given a criminal trial. However, those who used their own funds to do so are allowed to go free. The information found about Thuringia is sent directly to the Papal States. In the meantime, Simon Burkhart uses his resources as spymaster to begin an Empire-wide manhunt for Alexander Susslin. The League works on refining its trade routes through the central Empire for ease of use and to make them a little bit safer. Meanwhile, exploration of the African coastline continues, with the Hansa sending ships past Oyo to discover what other undiscovered lands may wait for the League to find and learn about. Recognizing the rising importance of inland cities such as Müster and the Free City of Cologne, the Hanseatic League wishes to give these cities full representation within the League and invites their leaders to become Aldermen within the Hansa. Doing so would effectively integrate them into the inner cities of the League. The Archbishop of Cologne, however, would remain independent, as has been the case for centuries. (Mod Response Needed)
    • Simon Burkhart's manhunt for Alexander Suslin leads to rumors arriving from all across the empire, with a few people even claiming to have knowledge of his whereabouts for a high price. A man arrives in the Hansa claiming to have Suslin in a cage, but when he has his audience with Burkhart it becomes clear that he has actually imprisoned a random dwarf man who is clearly not Suslin, who was written to be unusually tall. The most credible sources seem to be a rumor that Suslin is traveling southwest and is currently approaching Swabia, and another that he is in Bavaria.
  • Vinland: The population grows to 5,350. All cities grow this year. Erikoberg ends its decline, but still stagnates as its population seemingly moves to Hallrberga for a variety of reasons. Two Tvennufolk families move to Keathutberga. The country is urbanizing, with about a quarter of its population residing in Elufsker and Dogajavick.
    • Skogrfjalland: The Norse population stagnates as a proportion of the total population. Erik Hrothgarsson's gains from last year are reversed as Tvennufolk warriors from Suðrvinland retake lost hamlets. The population of Elufsker is around 640.
    • Suðrvinland: All cities grow this year. Hjalfar is happy that the Norse-occupied hamlets are recovered and the savage warriors driven out. This year's Thing at Shamyeby is full of celebrations and merriment. Here, chieftains from Shamyeby propose building an outpost north of Keathutberga, in an area the Mi'kmaq call Unamagig. Suðrvinland expands along the northeastern coast of OTL Nova Scotia in the land of what they call Unamaland. The Esgigeoag delegation, whom were invited to observe the Thing, note that the Unamagig tribe may be hostile. The population of Dogajavick is around 799.
    • Beothuk: The southern Beothuk are happy to be included into the Suðrvinlandic confederacy, and will participate in efforts to include their northern kinsmen into the confederacy. More northerly tribes are confederalized, although there is some scattered resistance.
  • Chimu:Several years have passed since the seeming "defeat" of the pakatmayo. Seven years have paased, and the Inca Empire starts to recover in these years. Economy starts to work as normal, as certain trading affairs are starting to develop more. The Inca Empire started to rebuild all of the villages that were affected in this war, starting from Takunis and Sein Sein. Peace reigns into the Inca Empire, and most things have calmed down. Though, Viracocha himself is skeptical of this new peace, so he starts searching for the Leader of the Pakatmayo, who went missing 7 years ago. Some of the members of the military and the Guards start to search for the Leader, but nothing was found. Viracocha assumes that the leader went further, so he starts a deep investigation in the outer rim of the Empire. As the Empire starts to recover, Viracocha takes the decision of building a new city in one of the many villages. He thinks about a name, and he has many ideas for a name, such as Soki Inatu, Irita Kukke, and Machu Picchu. He goes with the name that is Machu Picchu, and starts to build the new City in order to stablish better protection within the Villages around it.
  • The Spanish Empire: As Queen Katherine's reign carries forward, she gives birth to two new daughters Marlies and Valerie, identical twins. Katherine feels truly blessed. As income pours in from the Atlantic Trade and with competition on the rise, a gathering of Naval Officials from across the Empire including representative from merchant companies both in Hispania and our Sister-In-Arms Lotharingia gather at Toledo for a round of meetings at the Royal Court where both King Juan and Queen Katherine will be present in the following year. Prince Elvin's fairly tan complexion quickly resembles that of the wife of Francisco I. Hispanic leaders from Nador across the Strait of Gibraltar arrive in Spain to talk about matters related to security in Morocco as well as Western Mediteranean Trade. A mission is therefore assigned for the task of reducing piracy within our waters as well as strengthening defenses at Melilla and Tangiers while constructing a new fortification at Oujda and Berkane.
  • Saxony: The Duke of Saxony, Engelbert II, is in bed with a flu, and has been all year. While he shows no signs of dying, he shows none of getting better either. However, his wife somehow becomes pregnant. Although it seems unlikely the child is his, as he has not risen from his sickbed all year, and has had almost no contact with his wife, Engelbert acknowledges that the child is his, and names her Maria Sophia. Again, Engelbert proposes that Agnes of Hesse and Mark marries his brother, Edmund Alwin de la Marck, as then Saxony and Hesse will become allies, and Saxony will be able to protect Agnes from would-be assassins such as those who murdered her family. A substantial dowry is also promised. (Hesse Response). As they are first cousins once removed, papal dispensation would be rquired (Papal Resonse). Meanwhile, Otto de la Marck, now the newly appointed Superintendant General of Sports, organizes the first Annual Imperial Tournament, a grand affair (although, at first postponed due to bad weather). Engelbert II is also rather alarmed at the findings that the Thin White Duke of Thuringia may be behind his father's death. If this is true, the Duke should be severely punished - his lands and titles taken away, perhaps even execution should be carried out on him. Although, Engelbert is unwilling to jump to conclusions just yet, he warns Henry of Bohemia that if the Thin White Duke has already assassinated one Holy Roman Emperor, he may not hesitate to assassinate another - especially as, as High Steward, he stands to become acting King should Henry die.
  • Republic of Florence: We now align ourselves with the Kingdom of Arles. The leader sends an ambassador bearing goods on a horse to Queen Aline to thank her for this alliance. Our leader starts the training of troopers by asking for volunteers to join the army. By joining the army our leader grants all who volunteer the guarantee that joining will help move their social status to knight. The royal navy is made today by the start of building a military ship in the docks of the city of Livorno. In the countryside away from the hustle and bustle of city life the rural farms are doing quite well at the moment with food growth. With Pope Innocent VII as the new Pope we send a handful of serfs on horseback bearing a small gift to him congratulating him on his new role. Guards on our northern border tighten up security. As for the rest of our nation security is monitored more closely on the boarder so that safety is acquired for our people.
  • Roman Empire: With the devolution of imperial control to the Sómakolegíou several reforms proposals reach the desk of the emperor. Notably, there is significant support for a new expansion of the imperial merchant fleet. A second proposal calls for Imperial support in retaking Cyprus from the saracens. Other proposals include even greater reduction of taxes and reforming the Tagmata. Michael, facing pressure from merchants, agrees to an expansion of the merchant fleet to 600 ships. He dedicates funds to this project and the Arsenal of Constantinople begins work producing the required 100 ships. He also works to rebuild the Tagmata, delegating much of the work to his advisors. In an effort to rebuild the Varangian Guard he sends several ships west to Scandinavia and the British Isles to recruit troops. On these expeditions, a small contingent of Scotts is recruited, bringing with them a bagpipe. Upon the arrival of such a foreign instrument in the capital it is quickly seized upon by Basileus Michael X. He sends merchants to retrieve more examples. He insists on their widespread use in the Varangian Guard as military instruments and can often be found marching with the troops in full regalia blasting on the bagpipes. Otherwise, the economy and military continue to recover. Michael does order preparations for a census next year.
  • Georgia: With the Mamlukes repelled, Alexander resolves to launch a campaign into Syria to create a buffer between Mamlukes and the Armenian duchies. To get continued support from the Shias, she emphasizes his role as the Steward of the Karbala. Nikita gives birth to twins – a boy who is named Bagrat VI, and a girl who is named Tinatin.
  • Hindustan: Shamsher Singh and his group of friends prioritize the setting up a proper system of tax collection and land revenue assessment and collection which forms the backbone of the Empire and is the source of its power. They firstly create a Tax Code, the first of its kind in India, detailing the methods of Land Revenue Assessment which is called as the Ain-i-dahsala (basically the OTL Akbar’s Land Revenue Assessment system) for the Kharaaj (Land Tax) which is now fixed at ⅓rd of the yield of crops and can be paid in either cash or kind. The Zakaat is extended to all well-to-do individuals and fixed at one percent of their annual income. The Zakaat tax is exclusively used to fund the Sufi-Bhakti movement and the Waqf institutions (which have been absorbed into the Sufi-Bhakti religious setup). Specific rules are also drafted for the Khams/Ghanimah (War booty) with the State Coffers taking away ⅗th of that and the rest being distributed on a rank ratio basis among the participating armies. It is decided that Heirless property shall be confiscated by the Government and that Treasure Troves (Dafinah) will be shared equally between the State Coffers and the person who found it. Rates are also fixed for Transit & Octroi duties, Mines and Forest products. The Tax Code is then made the first part of the new Dustur (A new proto-constitution). The Succession Laws of the Old Dustur are copied over. The Iqta system is again overhauled and reimplemented with the State maintaining records of each Iqtadar. Large parts of Hindustan still function under the ancient Village Council (Panchayat) system and this had not been interfered with by any State. The new Dustur maintains the same position of not interfering with the affairs of the Villages and contends itself with land revenue collection from these units. As far as the feudal areas are concerned, many of which were a result of land grants for salaries by previous Muslim States and the Timurids, are grouped under the new Iqtadari system. Each Iqta holder will receive a Copper-Plate inscription from the state and each Subah (Province) will maintain a record of all the Iqta holders. The lands of the Iqta will be surveyed periodically and land revenues fixed at that. The Iqtas are hereditary and the Iqtadar has two responsibilities to the State 1) Collecting Revenue and submitting the State’s share to the Subah’s Governor (Subadar) which is all described in the Ain-i-dahsala land revenue settlement system and 2) Providing the State with an army when called upon by the State. For this purpose the Iqtadars were divided into Three Grades according to the Population of their Iqta and the Revenue Value of their Iqta. The first grade have to provide a minimum of 10,000 troops, the second grade a minimum of 5,000 troops and the third grade a minimum of 100 troops.

1482

A number of Flemish cities in the Counties of Flanders and Artois stage a revolt against King John Leonard of Lotharingia, on the grounds of considering him to be a Spanish puppet. Their combined army of peasent militia amounts to 11,000 troops.

The Tian Emperor is concerned of the military activity in the north, and dispatches a military expedition to supply the border at the Great Wall.

The Tsardom of Serbia captures numerous spies working for the Kingdom of Hungary. However, Hungary succeeds to establish their spy network.

The German humanist scholar Johann Reuchlin travels to Italy to stay in the Republic of Florence. There he shares his accumulated knowledge on Hebrew studies and linguistics, including a published work on Cabbalistic magic.

Johannes Trithemius becomes a novice of studying canon law at the schools of the Archbishopric of Mainz.

The Duke of Brunswick becomes very fascinated with maps, and commissions handsomely for the consrtuction of an accurate map of the Holy Roman Empire.

In Genoa, the Italian cartographer and astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli attempts to construct a general map of the entire world, recognizing the vast unexplored ocean situated between Europe and Asia.

In Florence, Lucrezia Tornabuoni becomes well known as a writer of various plays, stories and poems.

Hugo van der Goes paints The Fall and Redemption of Man.

Euclid's Elements are published for the first time in the German language.

  • Kingdom of Bohemia: The Emperor begins working on plans to improve the military of the empire. Firstly, he decrees that a standing army will be created in the Kingdom of Germany, which will be composed from states across the kingdom, and although the number of soldiers required from each state is low and also proportional to the manpower of each state, combined it forms a formidable force of a few thousand soldiers, which will undergo drilling and training throughout peace time. During war time, the empire will use its newly created provinces to determine how many soldiers each section of the empire must provide. The imperial cities and areas directly subordinate to the emperor will be raised by him personally, while other states will be requested to follow suit. The emperor asks for an alliance with the nation of Florence, as he notes that the head of Florence is currently his Vicar of Italy, the highest imperial position in Italy Also the emperor seeks to award Lucrezia Tornabuon the distinction of Superintendent General of the Arts, to succeed the late poet Ermanaric von Nassau. (Florence response needed). Later, the Emperor also travels to Austria, and noting the importance of protecting their mutual interests as eastern state of the empire, he proposes an alliance between Bohemia and Austria (Mod response needed). The emperor works closely this year with the new Archbishop of Mainz, to further improve the military situation in the empire. Seeking to have his men gain experience, and also to aid a member of the empire, the army is dispatched to Lotharingia to aid the King there, and the Emperor hopes that in exchange for this support the King will drop his recent complaints about the election improvements. Numerous members of the emperor’s family petition the emperor to set them up with Agnes of Hesse, hoping to inherit the territory, and the emperor considers it, before deciding for now that he will abstain. Instead he considers advocating that Agnes should marry whoever the King of Switzerland proves to be. After failing to discover the lost relic of Saint Germanus the previous year, Henry “the Black” returns to Moutier. He hears of the arrest of Ari VIII Sturlungur, and vocally supports the town’s actions to arrest that clearly guilty man. His searching uncovers that some contestants seem to be congregating near Delémont, and Henry heads there to hopefully find and begin shadowing Peter III. In August the Emperor conceives of the sixth official challenge. Whoever can successfully climb the Matterhorn mountain in the heart of the Alps, prove they had reached the summit, and safely return, will be granted one point. A seventh challenge is issued in November, when the Emperor receives word that in Tirol a giant jar has been produced fill to the brim with Guldengroschen silver coins. The jar is a cylinder measuring 1.4 cubita in height and 18/10ths of a cubitum in width, weighing about 142,983 Roman ounces. The jar itself is made of fairly thick glass that appears to be about a quarter of a digitus thick. The jar is held in a room in Tirol where it is guarded by several soldiers, and during daytime hours they allow any person entry to see the jar for 60 seconds once a day. The Emperor decrees that anyone who correctly guesses the number of coins within a margin of error of 100 coins will be granted one point, and instructs contestants to secretly message their guesses everyday (discord would be best). As an added incentive the Emperor decrees that any contestant who guesses correctly will be granted 1,000 coins from the jar, divided by the number of guesses it took them to use (rounded down); this means that for every correct guess the jar’s total count will decrease.
    • Duke Andrew II of Austria would accept an alliance if Bohemia will help protect his interests from Hungary
  • Vinland: The population grows to 5,475. All cities grow this year. Erikoberg ends its decline, but still stagnates as its population seemingly moves to Hallrberga for a variety of reasons. No Tvennufolk families move to Keathutberga. The country is urbanizing, with about a quarter of its population residing in Elufsker and Dogajavick.
    • Skogrfjalland: The Norse population stagnates as a proportion of the total population. Erik Hrothgarsson's gains from last year are reversed as Tvennufolk warriors from Suðrvinland retake lost hamlets. The population of Elufsker is around 661. Warriors attack Suðrvinland but are repelled.
    • Suðrvinland: All cities grow this year. Suðrvinland continues expanding along the Unamaland coast. The Esgigeoag delegation, whom were invited to observe the Thing, note that the Unamagig tribe may be hostile. The population of Dogajavick is around 815. The Norse attack is repelled and Tvennufolk warriors take some Norse villages. War is on the horizon.
    • Beothuk: The southern Beothuk are happy to be included into the Suðrvinlandic confederacy, and will participate in efforts to include their northern kinsmen into the confederacy. More northerly tribes are confederalized, although there is some scattered resistance.
  • Iceland: The king after hearing about this Swiss competition put forth Ari VIII Sturlungur to the HRE along with expeditionary forces to search the perimeters of the Moutier-Grandval monastery. (Response needed). The king starts his long journey trying to make landfall in Nýja Domnhallslandi and try to go farther next year. With no real rules in football at this time the Wrestling champions of the year are sent to play against the Swiss team ready to break some bones.(Response Needed).
    • When Ari arrives at the abbey in Moutier he finds evidence of the other contestants having been there. He hears rumors of the recent trips sent to Luxeil Abbey and also of the other trip to Delémont. However, due to the recent break-in at the abbey in which the robber assaulted the abbot, Ari is spotted sneaking around the grounds and quickly arrested and jailed. In Uster the Icelander wrestlers prove to be much stronger than their counterparts, and when they suddenly attack the other players they manage to injure or kill several innocent people. The referee immediately declares the game forfeit and the town's guards overwhelm the Icelanders. Several Icelanders are killed while most of the rest arrested, and the town's jailer feared a mob may form in retaliation for the unsportsmanlike attack on the popular players.
  • Oirat: The Oirat Khan, hearing of a military expedition made in the North from Kham informants, would begin to prepare dispatching diplomats to the Tian dynasty's courts for a matter of diplomacy with the Tian courts, we would demand that Mongolia, Chagatai and Oirat be released from tributary hegemony, or face a Mongol coalition to press the Tian borders in the north, threatening to capture Beijing, Taiyuan and Xi'an unless accords are to be made. (Response needed). While these demands were made, Oirat nobility, merchants and supervisors would begin to utilize money earned from Silk Road trade for the development of multiple cities in the silk road's pathways and bordering crossroads, with the new economic reforms applied by the Khan. This would allow for possible merchant unions to base within Oirat. Along with this, farmlands across the rural north would be further irrigated, with new rice terraces produced to aid the export of agricultural resource. This would allow for most of our population to secure jobs, lowering the rate of unemployment and increasing economic improvement for our nation, as we would possibly outgrow the economic sectors of neighboring Chagatai, despite them owning the city of Samarkand.
    • The Tian Emperor refuses these demands, and raises further military in the north to pacify the region.
  • Dai Viet: Seeing possible threats occuring in nearby Sumatra, a fortress is ordered to be built in Tanjung Pandan. This fortress shall be used as a military base for Dai Viet's army stationed there and any more troops supplied by the Imperial Court in the future. This action is not to be made to disrupt trade there as the city still attracts merchants entering the region through the Strait. As such, a degree of Vietnamese merchants are sent to settle the island, with their accommodation being provided to them. As last year, court mandarins were sent to govern Belitung, the chief of the island is granted the title of King of Belitung by Emperor Tu Thanh. As Vijayanagara, a nation that Dai Viet has trade deals to being conquered by Hindustan, Vietnamese merchants went to a Hindustan's eastern port to reaffirm trade deals with Hindustan. (Hindustan response). Dai Viet's army gets the arquebuses suppiled by the Cuc Bach, and now most of the military personel has already been suppiled with these weapons, seeing their effectiveness in warfare, with occasion military practice in Giảng võ đường. The Hong Duc Code of Law has almost been finished its compiling progress, announces the Hanlin Academy to the Emperor, and set to be released next year.
    • Hindustani Response: Hindustan accepts a trade deal with Vietnam and allows Vietnamese merchants access to the wider Indian trade network and financial services.
  • Poland-Lithuania: More progress occurring in Western Poland to help the poor and constructed more the population continue the growup as a always more high office is establish for trades activity and send a fund to gain interest discussion and being governed by the local goverments lithuanians's and reigned by Casimir IV the scholar has first engage religion's homework and demand to pratice and had life to hire jobs in this century current some trade are from western nation such like (Flemish and stuff is actually done in OTL note) to gain more export and food with discussion and more new market is added to attract merchants coming from here two great poplation Catholic and Eastern Orthodox coexist together penetrated each other the Jewish bank are also being paid and had discussion from export and ideas and a fortress is ordered to built in eastern province from militarizing this areas and protect citizen and view by Casimir IV trade is doing well and being approved by the bank and Casimir IV they finish more stuff progress take in week and annouce in public's eye to occuring and had more population that is indeed good! the poles continue follow those economy and continue trade with the Baltic nation from Gdansk merchants are from the Netherlands and Flanders (OTL as the same) to carried grain and grain is in export Many goods and cultural artifacts continued to pass from one region to another via the Commonwealth the grain is most used stuff with Europeans and pass through the sea at the moment Commonwealth currency included the złoty and the grosz, the City of Gdansk had the privilege of minting its own coinage nowhere were the nobility as dominant as well casimir iv continue to focus and discusion with stuff and Germans see to note that Poland had a positive progress.
  • Archbishopric of Mainz: Diether von Isenburg dies peacefully in his sleep from old age, after a lifetime of labor to strengthen the power of the Emperor. Pending the approval of the Pope, Adalbert of Saxony is chosen to become the new Archbishop of Mainz. Thanks to the efforts of Cardinal von Isenburg, the Emperor now has almost total control over all the imperial immediacies, with the local rulers having authority over only local matters. The laws and taxes of the immediacies are uniform, and uniformly enforced. All major changes are either approved or initiated by Administrators of the Imperial Circles, who take their orders from the Archchancellor and the Emperor. The Administrators have less authority over the independent states of the Empire within their circles, but the laws have become more uniform, corruption is low, and the revenues are collected regularly and accurately. Von Roggendorf is pleased with the smooth regularity to the tax system, and continues to monitor it to be sure it is honest and fair. He also begins evaluate their trade arrangements and dues. He decides to offer improved trade arrangements with Switzerland, as a way to increase general prosperity, and goodwill. (Swiss Response). He also notes the rising wealth of the Hanseatic League, and begins strengthening their investment in Baltic trade and finacial opertunities in the Hanseatic states. Adelbert vows to continue his processor’s support for the Inquisition and the Assembly of Preachers. He continues his predecessor’s policies to raise education in his Diocese. He continues the patronizing of printing releases from the Pontifical Roman Press, and other great works for the Library of Mainz. Cardinal Adalbert continues to integrating Darmstadt into the Electorate, initiating the repairs of several roads and public works. He is concerned by the recent military build-ups in Hungary, Switzerland, and France. He is of the opinion that the Army of the Holy Roman Empire should be brought up to match the standard of the other European armies. He begins interviewing soldiers from Mainz who have recently returned from Greece, on their experiences in the war, forming a better picture of what needs to be done, and identifying German military men of great ability with few political entanglement who would be able to serve competently and loyally as the leader of the Emperor’s Army. He instructs Kaspar von Roggendorf to offer Duke Albert IV of Bavaria financial support in building up the military industry in Munich. (Bavaria Response). The Archchancellor offers to improve internal trade relations with the County of Wurtenburg, and possibly to accord them a more powerful posistion in the empire over time. (Wurtenburg Response).  The Archchancellor will attent the meeting in Aachen proposed by Lotharingia, to show solidarity with the Emperor, though he feels that changing the Charter of 1357 is premature, too much too soon, and will advise against it.
    • Bohemian Diplomacy: The Emperor makes a personal appearance at the funeral of Diether von Isenburg, where he delivers a eulogy to the assembled party. He calls Diether a man of unyielding service to the empire, an unparalleled administrator, and above all else a good friend. Later, the Emperor agrees with the new Archbishop's assessment that a strong military is crucial. He offers a personal alliance between Bohemia and Mainz, and additionally proposes that the two states work together in drafting legislation regarding the upgrading of an imperial army for the purpose of greater defense and easier cooperation.
    • Swiss Confederacy: The Central Council accepts having a trade alliance/agreement with the Archbishopric of Mainz.
  • Mali Empire: The University of Timbuktu continues to produce works of science and literature. The Arbory was still known to be in existence at this time, as documents reference the newly-constructed wing just for the study of birds. The crown prince Mustafa frequently participated in this study, and owned his own private managerie of plants and animals that sampled from across west Africa. The sudden loss of the warthog population had, for a long time, been attributed to the conserted policies of the Empire to exterminate them from the farmlands of Waalo. However, archaeology indicates that these efforts were not noticebly effective. Rather, it was the sheer depletion of resources as well as the far more arid climate that caused the Nigerian hogs to steadily die out. Overland trade was also increasing at this time, with the road system reaching from Daura down to the Oyo Empire effectively completed at this time. The roads of the region were nortoriously unreliable compared to more modern systems, but was definitely a vast improvement at the time, barring the use of major waterways and rivers. Sea trade was becoming further noticable with frequent contact between Spain and Portugal, now also including Lotharingia and Germany too. In an effort to rectify any potential disagreements of trade routes in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mali Empire proposes a treaty to Spain and Portugal in recognizing the latitude of sea just north of the Gorgades Islands (Cape Verde), as far south as Nkore (Accra) as Malian waters, with respect to the leased ports to Mali's trading partners. (RESPONSE). 
  • Papal States: Pope Innocent VI agrees with Emperor Henry VIII request of using the title Electus Romanorum Imperator ("Elected Emperor of the Romans"). The marriage dispensation asked by Saxony is approved by the pontiff. The death of Cardinal Diether von Isemburg is mourned by the pope and the Roman curia. A mass is celebrated for his soul in the Basilica of Saint Peter. The elevation of Adalbert of Saxony as Archbishop of Mainz is approved by Innocent VII. Adalbert and Aymon von Lenzburg are created as cardinals by the Holy Father, with Cardinal von Lenzburg being chosen as Grand Inquisitor of the Swiss Confederacy. The requests of the Swiss Confederacy and Wuttemberg are approved. The construction of the Apostolic Palace, Cappella Magna, Gregorian Tower and Cortile del Belvedere continue. The number of acidents in these constructions decreased greatly since the creation of the workplace safety laws. By request of the pope, Andrea del Verrocchio starts to work in a great sculpture of Saint Peter made of Bronze. By request of Lord Maximilian of Habsburg and of Cardinal Francesco Della Rovere, Innocent VII gives the position of Captain General of the Church to Philip of Habsburg. As Captain-General, Philip starts to train more soldiers for the Papal Army. Watching the situation in France with interest, Leonardo Della Rovere writes to Francis Capet, Duke of Berry, offering support of the Della Rovere Family to the Duke. Leonardo also proposes the marriage of his daughter Isabella Della Rovere with Francis' son, Victor. [MOD response needed, please]. Philip of Habsburg and Luchina Della Rovere have a son named Niccolò. Philip once again writes to Queen Katherine of Spain offering his daughter Eleanor as betrothal to the Queen's heir. [Spain response needed, please]. Philip also writes to Queen Aline of Arles offering his daughter Mary as betrothal to the Queen's son, Lucas. [Arles response needed, please]. Prince Arsæll Esturlungio continues to be a patron of the arts in Subiaco. Seeking to establish connections with other noble families of Europe, Prince Esturlungio writes to Frances of Britanny offering his daughter Mary Esturlungio in marriage to Frances' son, John. [MOD response needed, please]. The Borgia Family build a castle in Osimo that is named Castello Borgia.
    • Republic of Ancona: Ships and weapons are produced in the Arsenal of Amcona. Due to Leonardo da Vinci growing fame after the frescos of the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory were finished, the Elders invite him to paint frescos in the Cathedral of Ancona. Leonardo accepts and start to work. 
    • Berry accepts the Delle Rovere support
  • Kingdom of Ayutthaya: Majapahit's refusal of Ayutthaya's offer was to be expected with the Rama Trailokanat deciding to postpone the issue until another opportunity presents itself. In the meantime, Rama Trailokanat has decided to focus Ayutthaya's efforts on consolidating its current holdings and protecting the vital trade routes under its influence. Forts are constructed along the Straits of Ayutthaya to serve as a means of enforcing and asserting Ayutthayan control over the region as well serving as a security measure against pirates operating within the region. The fortifications and garrisons on Sumatra are bolstered with additional professional troops as a means of preparing for Ayutthaya's goals on Sumatra. Ayutthayan merchants continue to receive benefits and favorability in Ayutthayan held ports as a means of strengthening the Commerce Guild in terms of influence as well as wealth to ensure that the merchant class of Ayutthaya remains loyal to the government which would prevent them from supporting revolts. Tun Perak with the approval of Rama Trailokanat has undertaken efforts to secure the loyalty of government officials by practicing fair treatment of both Muslim and Buddhist officials as well as ensuring that they practice fair treatment of all religions. The Temenggung continues to develop his spy network taking care to use merchants as a source of information due to the trade passing through Ayutthaya to discover information from neighboring regions as well as root out corruption. The arquebus continues to be improved upon and refined taking into account the other variants of arquebus falling into Ayutthayan hands from overseas trade. Arquebus and cannons are still dispatched to the proper villages and government magazines for use whenever needed. The villages assigned to specialize in the development of the arquebusier and cannoneers have been given orders mandating training to occur on a regular weekly schedule to improve the marksmanship of the troops. A new part of the training at the military institutions has been developed to focus on training officers specifically meant for command over arquebusiers and cannoneers due to their uniqueness with the curriculum focusing on the study of battles utilizing these weapons as well as innovating news tactics and strategies with the weapons. After much consideration, the training of sappers and engineers has been deemed a vital nexessity with a new school being opened to train and develop this field of study with the officers/nobles to command sappers or engineers being required to study at this school. Dhammazedi has taken the year of from serving as a tutor to the young princes taking time to travel across Ayutthaya to help spread Buddhism especially into the Malay peninsula where the Muslims continue to outnumber the Buddhist population. Rama Trailokanat has ordered the construction of a cetiya to commemorate his reign as well as the construction of other remarkable buildings in Ayutthaya to demonstrate the prosperity of Ayutthaya. 
  • Roman Empire: Michael retracts further from court life into his music as the constant stream of lower magistrates drives him to forced isolation. Out of desperation and facing constant demands, Basileus Michael appoints his slightly younger cousin, Andronikos, as Kaisar (καῖσαρ) to serve as the administrative head of the empire in most regards. Andronikos proves to be an extremely competent administrator, he swiftly ensures a stable flow of money into the imperial treasury, restores the precious metal content of the Hyperpyrons to 85 percent, and begins work to reform the tax system. He also inserts himself into the Census process and undertakes a significant project to rehabilitate and standardize the counting of people within the empire. His efforts prove successful as he is able to create a standardized form that can be used by any administrator to gather data on the local area. On the face of it the decision to appoint Andronikos as Kaisar brings newfound prosperity to the empire, but Andronikos is less than loyal to his cousin who he secretely finds incompetent and totally useless. No matter, Andronikos continues building up the imperial economy, courting the support of the Syndikáto Empóron and the army. He also proves to be an ally to the scientifically minded, placing great emphasis and government support behind mathematics, optics, and philosophy. He also commissions a great statue of his and MichaelX’s Great Grandfather and Grandfather, Herodotus I and John IX. Andronikos also creates a competition, seeking designs for a bridge to span between Constantinople and the Golden Horn, the longest bridge in the world should it be built. Masters from across Italy and Greece are invited to participate in the contest for which there will be a reward and the opportunity to potentially construct such a major engineering challenge. Kaisar Anronikos does support the minor military reforms of his cousin, but has doubts as to the use of the strange Scottish Bagpipes. However, upon witnessing them used in a staged formation drill he agrees that the strange sound might break the resolve of undisciplined enemy formations.
    • [Census Response, Please]: Kaisar Andronikos, acting under the behest of Basileus Michael, orders a census be conducted. He employs local tax collectors and administrators in hie efforts, and also uses the census as an excuse to audit tax collectors that are under suspicion of treachery.
    • The population is estimated at 6.5 million
  • Republic of Florence: Lorenzo de Medici hears about Johann Reuchlin traveling to his nation. He then hears from the people in the city that Johann is sharing Hebrew and magic which is against the rules. This makes Lorenzo angry that this German would come into his nation and break laws. So several days of this he goes into the public square and announces anyone that follows the teachings of Johanna will be sentenced to prison time, then he sends guards to imprison Johanna himself. Also at this public speech he mentions that magic is for witches and not humans. Lucrezia Tornabuon becomes the most popular writer of plays, stories, and poems in the nation as of right now. Due to the popularity of Lucrezia, Lorenzo has a read aloud in his house where many noble families come to hear the beautiful stories. Since a man in Genoa is making a map of the known world Lorenzo has a band of serfs to go to this man so he can have a copy for himself. The construction of military ships continues, but since Lorenzo wants more productivity he hires more men to make more ships. The army continues to grow slowly. The construction of a university is started.
  • Swiss Confederacy: The 2,000 Arlesian soldiers are kept in the Swiss Confederacy this year, though as it appears the tension in the Holy Roman Empire caused by the events in Hesse appears to have lessened compared to the previous year, the Central Council anticipates the troops may be able to be sent back to their home nation soon. Hearing of the aggressive military mobilisations within the Kingdom of France, the Central Council's concern about the mental state of King William II of France continues to rise. The Central Council increases the amount of funding they are giving to the League of the Public Weal. Secretly, Eberhard, Duke of Lenzburg suggests to the head nobles of the League (Berry, Bourbon, Brittany and Orleans) that perhaps they should try to have William II replaced with Francis Capet, Duke of Berry, who is next in the line of succession, since William II's dubious personal life and aggressive military actions inside his own nations suggest that the King may not be mentally fit to lead their nation. (Mod response if necessary) The Central Council pays attention to the diplomatic and military situation in the British Isles, though it appears the conflicts there are calm at the moment; nonetheless, they continue to give passive support to King Robert III of Scotland. Duke Eberhard writes to Engelbert II, Duke of Saxe-Wittenberg and King Domnhall V of Iceland, proposing to arrange a marriage between Domnhall V's aunt Frigg Sturlungur (b. 1448) and Engelbert II's son Aymon Eiríkur de la Marck (b. 1452), heir to the Princedom of Finland; as they would be second cousins once removed, Eberhard also writes to Pope Innocent VII for a papal dispensation for this marriage. (Iceland response) (Saxony response) (Papal response) Domestically, the government works on recruiting peasants to be mercenaries in order to help resupply and replenish the Swiss mercenary force after the loss of life in Greece. As the Central Council witnesses the activity of the military in France, the joint military of the Swiss Confederacy continues to work on fortifying mountain passes and other border crossings on the western border of the nation, in the Cantons of Basel-Bishopric, Neuchâtel, Pontarlier, Lausanne and Geneva, just in case the unstable French King's action cause a conflict to break out in France that might threaten the Swiss border. Joan of York (1430-1482), elder sister of King Henry VI of England and widow of King Henry II of France, dies of a disease. Bishop of Geneva Jean-Louis de Savoie dies and is succeeded as Bishop by François de Savoie. Later in the year, Bishop of Sion and Cardinal Walter Supersaxo dies and is succeeded as Bishop by Jost of Silenen. The Central Council writes to Pope Innocent VII, suggesting that new Bishop of Geneva François de Savoie be created Cardinal to succeed Supersaxo. (Papal response). In the King of Switzerland competition, after receiving a letter from Pope Innocent VII approving the plan, Peter III of Geneva-Lenzburg and the Bishop of Basel open the forgotten tomb in the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval to see if the shoes of Saint Germanus or any other historically important relics are inside. (Bohemia response) In the case that the tomb turns out not to contain the shoes, Peter III will travel to Luxieul Abbey in Burgundy to search the abbey for the shoes together with the Arlesian Thumas Lowen II. (Bohemia response) In the meantime, Bishop of Basel gathers three monks from the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval and has one of them travel down each trail at Delémont to see if they can find anything connected to the death of Saint Germanus. (Bohemia response) The robes and other clothing items said to have belonged to Saint Germanus are taken to the Basel Cathedral on the bishop's orders as relics of historical importance to the Church. When Peter III receives word of Kilian von Bibria's proposal of an alliance against Wolfgang, he accepts it, though he is too busy this year to directly aid Kilian with this.
    • Papal diplomacy: Pope Innocent VII gives the dispensation for the marriage and creates François de Savoie as cardinal.
    • Saxony: Engelbert II approves of this marriage proposal.
    • The tomb is opened but to everyone's astonishment the body is completely gone. Inside there is only a strange symbol: a small wooden sword-like cruciform. In Luxeuil Abbey, Peter III fails to find any notable clues, although he runs into several other contestants, and has an unwavering feeling like he's being watched. After days searching the trails near Delémont, one of the monks seems to find something deep in the woods. Just as he's about to walk closer he hears a voice say, "In the name of the Cruciform Sword, do not come any closer." Several mysterious men walk toward with swords drawn. Luckily this is witnessed by one of the other monks in secret, but he flees in terror, leaving the fate of his fellow monk unknown.
    • Domnhall blesses the marriage.
  • Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di": The kingdom is under attack as the Flemish and Artois are revolting against King John V, The rebels being belived as peasantry funded by France. The evidence being that many of these are sponsored by the king of France, this is evidenced by the fact that many weapons used by the rebels are French-made and bought. This together with the hostilities that are still existing between the Kingdom of France and Lotharingia, gives the French support a big plausibility. John Leonard thus writing the Holy Roman Emperor Henry about this possible new threat to the empire, and that the emperor should be warry of this. (Bohemia/emperor response). Thus 20,000 soldiers of the Königliche Lotharingische Armee is readied in the City of Ghent as the king beliefs the best way to deal with the rebels is to cut of supplies to them, as the rebels lack a good supply trail like the Royal army. Thus king John Leonard surrounds his army around Bruges waiting for their supplies to run out, with wagons of carts continualy bringing food to the royal army. Meanwhile, in Africa the giant forest hog in the gambia region begin to now die out almost fully. The animals having destroyed a lot of the Malian vegetation, which the merchants see in their prices. Goods in Mali especially food increasing up to three-fold compared to the prizes before, this giving even more drive for the policy of self sufficiency. Thus the KWAC merchants begin the import of more Bono and benini slaves to increase the total yield of Rice, bananas and grain, Sherbro island being know as the KWAC breadbasket. The island population growing faster then any other holding of the KWAC due to the amount of food on the island allowing it to grow so fast.
    • French Diplomacy: The nation informs Lotharingia that France is absolutely not behind the revolt whatsoever, and even dispatches the army to aid Lotharingia against the rebels. The king also relies his information regarding the proof that the Swiss are attempting to fund rebels in France, postulating that the Swiss are probably aiding these rebels too to weaken us both.  
  • Kingdom of France (House of Capet): The king thinks it is hypocritical that the Swiss are raising an army for war, yet raise an eyebrow at their neighbors following their lead. The king’s vigorous spy network and research seems to indicate that funds are appearing in rival courts for the purpose of inciting a rebellion. The king finds it a complete violation of sovereignty and evident of a lack of basic dignity; the news of the great Swiss betrayal is broadcasted far and wide. Now that there is clear evidence that the Swiss are quite literally infiltrating foreign nations and attempting to deliberately cause upheaval, even the most level headed proponents see the writing on the wall and determine that they are nefarious. When the king began his reign he attempted to ally with them, yet they bought into maleficent rumors, which caused them to attempt treasonous actions. The news paints opponents of the king as clear perpetrators of treason, as they are quite literally conspiring with foreign powers to undermine France. As such several nobles are arrested or targeted by various other nobles across the kingdom. The king raises his personal guard and standing army and prepares to arrest Francis Capet, Duke of Berry, but he luckily dies this year of old age William makes it clear that foreign powers must immediately cease trying to infiltrate France, and states that he is training the army of France precisely to combat their attempts to weaken the nation. The nation’s military reforms continue. The development of the standing army continues, with France now able to domestically supply arms and armor, including enough guns and aquebuses to meet the quota. The fortresses on the border are being constructed and are garrisoned. An alliance is sent to the Duchy of Burgundy; William reiterates that he has no quarrel with the new Burgundy state, and notes that they are a natural enemy of several of France’s enemies, noting that the Swiss technically own half of the Duchy of Burgundy. An alliance is also sent to the Duchy of Milan. (Mod response for Milan and Burgundy). 
    • Duke James of Burgundy concedes that their relations with France have been more neuteral in recent years, and gives nominal support for William
    • Modena (repalced Milan) agrees on an alliance
  • Duchy of All Bavaria: Albert IV continues his efforts to make the reunification of Bavaria as smooth as possible. The former Landshut household has been fully incorporated into the royal household in Munich, and is now primarily responsible for administering the Kingdom. With more administrative power at his disposal, Albert IV continues his tax reform. So far, rates have remained the same, but taxes are not directly collected by the royal household in some areas of the Empire. This makes the system more efficient and reduces fraud across all levels, raising royal revenues even after local nobles receive their share, though at this point the total effect on the Duchy's treasury is limited. As it stands, the new system is mostly present in and around the cities of Munich and Regensburg, but in the system's second year, Albert IV continues its expansion to parts of the countryside, planning to put 50 percent of the Bavarian population under the new tax system within 14 years, by 1495. Albert IV continues to purchase cheap weapons for the Bavarian military, especially investing in firearms and cannons. However, in the long term, Albert IV hopes to offset the need to purchase foreign weapons by building them in Munich, and he continues his initiatives to fund and subsidize weapons manufacturers around the region. Hoping to make Munich central to European weapons production, he announce that any foreign manufacturers are eligible to receive subsidies if they move operations in Munich, though he puts a cap on how much money he will hand out, and conditions this on them selling their weapons first to Bavarians. Development on a new cannon modeled after the byzantine Dardanelles gun is no complete, and small scale manufacturing begins in Munich. Albert IV, Using the patchy census data he has, he and his household are able to assign how many troops each region should be able to raise in the event of war, and how many standing troops should exist in the Duchy. Right now, the Duchy has a standing army of roughly 8,000, with the potential to raise a total of 60,000 if needed. The treasury also sets aside funding to pay mercenaries, should they ever be needed. Trade continues to grow, especially with Poland-Lithuania, and Albert IV starts to use his small standing army to patrol the highways of Bavaria to keep them safe for merchants, offering merchants from any nation access to Bavaria's safe roads in exchange for a small fee, though the fee is waived for the Duke's close allies. Albert's new wife, Agnes, has her first child by him this year, a boy named Ernest.
    • Principality of Nassau: After his Marriage to Agnes, Albert IV assumes status as regent of the Principality. He begins to implement the bavarian tax system in Nassau. A census is taken to get a rough estimation of the population. [Mod response]
  • Kingdom of Arles: We secretly send our support to the League of the Public Weal, insuring Military support. As customary tradition, we send several barrels of the finest Arlean Rose Wine to Florence. (FLORENCE RESPONSE) We restart our production of 2.1 Carrackés, with five being produced this year. An Ok Boomer is implemented on Marseilles' city defences as a warning to any hostile ships. In Western Sahara, residents destroy a local bandit horde, must to the happiness of the settlement's governor Litirvti. 200 residents move south, in an attempt to connect the towns of Nouvelle Digne and Desért Parle to the town of Lirvirti. They form another small settlement known as Robertos, after king Robert II who initiated the Arlean Colonisation Boom. Altisi travels to Florence as a sign of mutual respect. Queen Aline has another son, a boy named Marcuse. Queen Aline protests against Burgundy being an ally of France, seeing that France is a aggressive and corrupt nation. She sends an envoy to Duke James, asking him to not support France. (MOD RESPONSE) For the first time in 10 years, the fortress line on the French Border is repopulated. New Culverins are mass produced, and Lucas I travels there to inspect the forces.
    • Pisa: the University of Pisa has very good results this year. Philippe Lowen II prepares an Ok Boomer to put on the Lowen Fort, making it look much more majestic and grand. 
    • French Diplomacy: William states that he is but a man, not the devil nor the other machinations of those who seek to destroy the concord. He is upset that the rumors have spread to Arles, and urges them to not let their opinion of a whole nation be tainted by the alleged personal preferences of the king, but to rather see past that and see the pleasant future that would ensue if Arles and France remained peaceful and cordial. He states that he would like a marriage between the two nations, and he would like to repair this sense of animosity.
  • Thuringia: They buried Lorenzo in a small cemetery near Liege. I had missed it due to my knee. That feeling was killing me, knowing I was waiting there, counting by the days. The news piled near my bedside, and I soon lost track of time. But they had told me about the funeral, and I hoped it was nice. I imagined there were a lot of nice flowers there, with orange ones and red ones, and even blue ones, which were Lorenzo’s favorite color. And there must have been a few people, other than Bernard and Julius of course. Edmund Alwin must have attended, he hoped, and Ottokar of course. There must have been a few local people there too, who were likely confused by the whole affair, but hopefully knew something important was going on, and hopefully they had some respectable behavior to behold, standing there watching it all, not knowing much about the man. I spent most days thinking about what the funeral must have been like, and then slowly drifting off to sleep. There was one day I heard a slight noise by the window, but I was too locked in sleep and still feeling a lingering pain in my knee that made it hard to move to my side on my own. I figured it was nothing. Finally I opened my eyes and saw him. He was a small, dirty man in filthy brown clothing, and he stank of horses. Wolfgang knew all the men of the place, he had seen every last person at one point as they came and went during the day, but that man was not one of them. He was gaunt, with limp blond hair and pale eyes deep-sunk in a bony face, and there was a dagger in his hand. I looked it over, then back to the man. “No,” I croaked. The word stuck in her throat, the merest whisper. He must have heard him. “It’s a mercy,” he said. “You’re dead already.” “No,” I said, louder now as my voice was returning. I tried to prop myself up to get a better look but I felt paralyzed. I tried to cry out. The man moved faster. One hand. Clamped down over my mouth, yanked back the head. The other brought the dagger, it reached up to my windpipe. The stench of him was overwhelming. I remember reaching up with both hands to grab the blade with all my strength, and there was cursing and breathing in my ear from the man, all his weight trying to press down, clawing at my face. I felt it in my hand, my slippery hands. Blood dripped on my chest. The hand over the mouth clenched more tightly, shutting off my air and I twisted my head more and more, digging into the bed below. I slammed my teeth together, catching a piece of the man from somewhere, and he grunted in pain. Blood filled my mouth. Then air too. I screamed, sucking in a taste of air. His hand lifted up, the dagger still in his hand, clutched tightly in his shaking, heavy hand. There was a light from behind. He screamed and a sword flashed above my eyes, piercing right through the man. The steel was in my eyes as it twisted. I saw a hand on the limp man’s shoulder, and he slammed him to the floor on my right, dripping sword hovering above me. “Are you alright?” asked Julius. I was catching my breath, chest heaving, hands pushed into the side of the bed and arched. I nodded frantically. I kept nodding, searching for the words. “An assassin,” he stated, putting the sword away. Two others entered now. “I’m alright,” I spat. “I’m alright, I’m alright.” I pulled myself up, I was sitting up and there was blood across my chest and on my face, and I wiped away a handful out of my eyes. I spat on the floor, most of it landing across my shirt and chin. Still breathing, tasting a foul taste on my tongue. I didn’t realize what had happened until the next day. I had stayed up all night after, my eyes darting open every time I heard another noise, all the while my body aching more and more, begging me to close my eyes. And when I finally did it was late afternoon when they opened. There was sunlight peering through the window, and I saw the letter still on the nightstand. It was my golden prize, my great congratulatory letter. It must have said I was the luckiest man in the world. There was still a stain on the floor. It was late in the evening when I finally decided to get out of bed once more and have a look around the town for the first time, and I went out with a little bit of a limp in my one leg, making sure not to press the foot down too hard on the ground. My knee was killing me if I made a big step, and it felt better to not bend the joint there much and shuffle along. I found out later that Edmund Alwin had it bad in the shoulder too, and he would probably not be dual wielding anything for the rest of his life, but at least he still had his sword hand side. When I saw him I asked, “how was the funeral.” “I couldn’t attend,” he admitted. His face was soldem, and I saw his eyes searching. “It’ll be alright,” I said. Later that day I was going through my notes and I saw one of Ermanaric’s old poems that stuck with me. It said “I know you're there. Lurking in the darkness of the night, Cowering in the shadows, avoiding the light, Crouched behind the curtain or hid beneath the bed, Awaiting the chance to dive into my head. I know you're there. With your bloodshot eyes aglowing, never showing, Watching me with a hunger, all the while knowing I fear you most when the daylight's gone, With seemingly endless hours til morning's dawn. I know you're there. With your black heart pounding in your leathery chest, Knowing too well I'll get no rest As you prowl my room like a ghostly haunt, I know it's my soul that you need and want. I know you're there. You demon from Hell. I know you can tell My fears are growing and beginning to swell Like a ticking time bomb about to explode. You sit patiently with your evils to unload. I know you're there. You pitiless beast, ready to feed On my every thought, on my every deed I can feel you staring, glaring, carrying out your scheme To enter my mind through an open dream. I know you're there. No noise you make as you devise a plan for my soul to take Back to the land of the living dead before I awake. I won't sleep, I won't close an eye As soon as I do I know I'll die.” When we were leaving Lotharingia finally I decided to cut my hair. My long strands torn off, quickly. The new hair was jagged, not well balanced. And my beard had begun to grow, what little there was to grow. It made my face look shallow and older, and I was realizing I had finally lost that boyhood charm I had back in my old days in Paris. Back when I had little fear and was chasing playwrights and trying to find where Ermanaric was at this time at this time of day, all the while wondering where I’d end up eventually at the end of the day. “You look good,” I remember Bernard saying. I was staring into a mirror, trying to see what was different and what was still there. “I don’t feel like myself,” I admitted. Before I had much time to consider what was what we were back on the road again. Each bump in the road I could feel agitating the wound on my knee. It made me feel like a fugitive, because everywhere we went I felt myself reaching for my sword across my body, and every time we passed another traveler I naturally looked away, anywhere else. We passed through Burgundy in the late summer, and we entered Switzerland when it was ending. A year had passed and little news was reaching me, and for the first time in a while the stress of needing to know what was happening at all times had begun to dissipate, and I realized I hadn’t thought about what was happening in such a long time. Laying in that hospital bed it had forced me to be bored again. It had forced me to think again. I had kept telling myself I need to do this, that I need to work on this because people are depending on me. They were taking advantage of me and my good graces and my politeness, throwing more and more work at my feet, and saying to get it all done, never asking what I wanted. And I had never even asked myself what I wanted, and I wasn’t sure if I even knew anymore, or if I had ever really know at all. But back home there was always responsibilities, and they began to spill over into my daily life every waking moment. I was in Switzerland and I had a dream every night I was in Aachen. And when I rolled over in bed I pictured the wall in front of me just like as in that little room in Aachen, and I reached out, eyes still closed with sleep, to touch that cracking paint, and felt nothing. Air. I was in Switzerland still, and the wall was behind me. Eventually curiosity got the best of me and when we arrived in Moutier I had to see the wild hunt that was ongoing. It reminded me of that forest in Lotharingia, which made me uneasy. Everywhere we went there were foreigners searching the streets, talking to locals. I was realizing that the locals had caught on. Now they sell stories for a quick penny, and they send the challengers in every direction, as if they really knew where some old legend’s shoes really were. We left that town as quick as we had came, but yet with all the foreigners and princes of Germany in one small town all at once, the news from the north began to reach me. They spoke of a marriage that had occurred with the Bavarians and my family, which I had missed. They said the Thin White Duke was rapidly training the army, raising men and drilling them constantly. The best men of Thuringia had formed a standing army, and they were parading across the state for whatever reason his father had thought of. But he was far from the talks of war, and far from the marching. When he traveled there was no fanfare, no great music playing, and no parade to see. There were no streams blowing in the breeze, alongside the flags and shouting crowds. There was no happy faces in the crowd, with little children running through the streets and alongside them, as the great crowd moved along the road, and charted their course through the city, like a river carving a valley in its wake. We were in the Alps, passing through a trail that was becoming snowier and colder with each passing day, and when it was the coldest day of the year so far, I realized it had finally got me to miss home. We passed the great mountain in the distance, peaking through the clouds as if to get a look at us, leaning over the other mountains to spy on us. As we circled around it I saw the head of the mountain follow our path. The Matterhorn was calling, and I would not answer. When we had circled all throughout Switzerland we finally came upon the city of Konstanz, and I was desperate for rest. The house where those murders had taken place had practically become a tourist attraction over the years. That house had been frozen in time, with blood still stained on the walls and floors, with chairs still carefully unpushed in to a crooked table. The locals had set up camp all around it, forbidding it from ever changing. Instead they sold trinkets and things to the travelers, and it was hard to decern who the original witnesses had even been, as more and more people bustled through the city and all swore to have seen one thing or another on that fateful night so long ago. I met Ernest again in that city, realizing it had been years since that day in Aachen when we had both been honored with various titles by the Emperor. He looked older now too, a little worn around the edges and wrinkled in the face when he smiled. “I just don’t think it possible,” he said again and again. “There’s no way someone could lift that woman all the way up the chimney. In fact, I saw the body, and the little space of the chimney, and a man would practically have to reach in there one handed, lifting up a whole woman. Who could do that?” “Hercules, maybe,” I laughed. “Certainly not you Edmund.” He was massaging his left shoulder again, but even that caused him to smirk. “So maybe it was no ordinary man,” I said. “It was a giant of man.” “Yes, a real giant,” said Ernest. I looked for myself one day, having finally made the pilgrimage to the fabled house one bright and unusually sunny day now that the days were getting shorter. It was a simple house, all brown with wooden walls and floors, and only that one window in the middle of the wall. I peered over the edge, to the great fall below. “There’s a pipe on the side,” I pointed out. “Yes,” said Ernest. “And it would take a gymnast to climb that.” And if one failed it would be quite the fall. “I tried once,” he added. There was still a sample of the hair in the building, that had luckily not been plucked away by opportunists and curious detectives alike after all these years. I held it in my hand, noting its greyish, long appearance. “It’s an alien looking fellow for sure. We ought to check the foreign parts of the markets,” I said. When we left I swore I saw something behind us, but when I turned my head, it was gone. My hand grabbed the hilt of my sword again, and I didn’t want to let up. “What is it?” asked Bernard, grabbing his sword as well. We paused, looking in every direction. I knew something was coming. Something had to come. The great action as we battled, I was sure. But there was no battle. No one was there.
  • Hanseatic League: As a new year dawns and the Baltic thaws, the non-stop trade of the Hanseatic League continues to guide German economics into a daring, new age. Every year, representatives of the Hanseatic League (Ratssendeboten) meet at an assembly in Lübeck known as the Tagfahrt. However, since the mid-14th century, the aldermen of the League have had the true say in what happens in these meetings. The League has come a long way since the days of its early inception. Civility reigned; if a consensus was threatened that may benefit the League as a whole, an alternative idea was not proposed. Something, after all, is better than nothing. Now, however, the central states of the Hanseatic League dominate trade and therefore hold significant sway over the politics of the region. The Hanseatic League recognizes four men who represent the entire central political entity and who also hold considerable sway over those who may not be governed by Hanseatic ideals. They are as follows: the Bürgermeister of Lübeck and Hamburg - Simon Burkhart, who share a mayor and who hold the final say in where shipments throughout the four regions go; Frederick II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who determine the prices of salt; the Prince-Admiral of Rostock Christopher von Warnow, who holds a permanent hereditary military position; and Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Hermann von Bardewik, who holds significant sway over ecumenical politics in the Baltic. Houses Ascania and Welf have an agreement to alternate control over the Principality of Lüneburg, which has kept the peace for some time. This also prevents the region from slipping out of the hands of either house. With Pomerania-Stettin being brought ever deeper into the fold of the Hanseatic League, trade along the Baltic becomes more lucrative than ever. The Baltic Duchies also see a heavy increase in trade due to the lack of organized interference from Pomerania. However, piracy continues to affect the Baltic. Rostock and Kiel shipyards pump out bulks en masse. To protect their convoys against the pirates, the Hanseatic League employs ships known as the Orlogship. These ships have historically been equipped with crossbows and catapults. The Hakenbüchse (Arquebus) is becoming increasingly common on Hanseatic Ships. Others are being fitted with the Culverin, a small cannon that yields devastating results at close range. Nine carracks are built at Kiel with another six being built in Rostock. They join the convoys that already criss-cross the Baltic and North Sea in a seemingly unending parade. The Hanseatic League has been responsible for defusing a number of close calls that could have easily led to war simply with the power of her pocketbook and navy. The fortifications around Cuxhaven and Heligoland are expanded, stoneworks rising ever higher to defend the coastline of the entrance to the North Sea and the Baltic. The North Sea is quickly becoming safer by the day, allowing goods to flood into Dublin and now as far away as Reykjavik. The League, happy with its progress in Bergen, works on renovating its routes into the Rhineland. Damaged bridges or unprofitable routes are located and redrawn throughout Germany. The biggest change, however, happens off the coast of Africa. Traders, many of whom must make a long journey from Germany to Africa and back, make use of a harbor on the island of Sanktiakob (Santiago) in the Kapverden (Cape Verde) islands. Interested in how this island could aid European trade through the region and needing a port of its own, the Hanseatic League requests permission to establish a Kontor on the island from Mali. (Mali diplomacy needed.) The League, wary of pirates in the region, expects to establish some defenses on the island, though to what extent is yet to be seen. Angering Mali is the last thing the League wants to do. In the British Isles, the Scotland Kontor sees extensive use as the war between Ireland and Scotland draws trade away from the region. (More to come).
  • Saxony: Engelbert II attends the funeral of Cardinal von Isenburg, who he will miss, but is pleased that the new Archbishop comes from Saxony. He hopes this will allow Saxony and Mainz to have an even closer relationship in the future. A national anthem is written for Saxony - in fact, it is written by Engelbert himself. It is called "Great Saxony", and will be sung whenever the Duke of Saxony enters a room he has not been in previously that day. Engelbert again proposes to Agnes of Hesse that she marry his brother, Edmund Alwin de la Marck, in return for a large dowry and protection against assassins. (Hesse Response?...) Seeing that the Emperor, Henry of Bohemia, is considering allowing whoever becomes King of Switzerland to marry her, Engelbert says that Edmund Alwin will step aside if Henry makes that decision. Engelbert II of Saxony privately supports Peter III of Geneva-Lenzburg in the King of Switzerland Competition.
  • Hesse: Agnes, still grieving the loss of her family, plainly rejects all offers of marriage. She becomes fairly callous and jaded with the world, seeing such proposals for what they are: an attempt to steal her family’s land. She of course is nothing but polite in official correspondence, but personally she feels cynical of how much these various suitors actually care about her, versus caring about her money and power. She remains in her tower in isolation, still highly paranoid. She greatly upgrades the army and tasks her trusted friends with training soldiers to protect the realm. She grows the royal guard and tasks them with searching the vicinity for any other treasonous plots. Sir Dolphus Thurn continues to be a courtier for the Duke of Lenzburg in Switzerland. He writes back to the Duchess that the Duke of Lenzburg ignored his attempts toward friendship. Annoyed, Agnes writes back to Thurn to keep trying, and also writes a letter to the Swiss saying they should welcome her close friend and treat him nicely, and she hopes this time her letter is not ignored (Swiss player please read that). Elsewhere Sir Jan Jakob continues the quest for the shoes of Saint Germanus. After lying low in Moutier for some time, he is sent to follow the servants of Peter III and the bishops. He arrives near Delémont, hopefully close on their tail, and also undergoes his own research to hopefully make sense of the ancient records. He looks into any information he can find on the old saint, to hopefully find whatever lead the others are currently on. (Bohemia response needed).

1483

King William II of France has cracked down on the rumors libeled against him, and began arresting nobles whose conspiracy he gathered evidence against. The Duke of Berry, Francis Capet, was also arrested, although he protested that he did not have intentions of leading a revolt. After Francis dies of old age, his son Victor Capet is made the new Duke of Berry, while under the regency of his mother Margaret de Bourbon.

Margaret immediately accuses King William for causing her husband's death, and rallies support from the League of Public Weal to raise a revolt against the King. The combined armies of the revolt assemble 15,000 men in Rouen. She also appeals to her maternal relatives in England and Italy for foreign support.

The Tian Emperor of China personally leads a capaign to pacify the Oirot Khanate, in response to their refusal to pay tribute as their ancestors had complied. This expedition consists of 20,000 troops.

Duke Ferdinand II of Braganza plots a conspiracy against King John, in an attempt to subvert the monarchy and give more power to the nobles in Portugal.

King Henry VI of England falls gravely ill, due to a hedonist lifestyle he had adopted in recent years. He makes out his will for the succession of his titles between his sons. As Ireland has gradually come under the occupation of the forces from Scotland and Wales, England feels they will be compelled to soon negotiate peace with the Scots.

At this point, the beurocratic and financial reforms of the Holy Roman Empire created by Emperor Henry VIII have been fully implemented.

The Gregorian Chapel in Capella Magna is completed.

Giovanni Bellini becomes the official chief portrait-maker for the Republic of Venice.

  • France: There is indisputable proof that Berry was actively committing treason, and blatantly undermining France and all the nobles and lands of France for personal gain, and to usurp the throne. Despite William being nothing but cordial with him, he attempted to rebel, and now a revolt takes place, to which William raises his entire army that he has been training for some time, eager to give them experience in a true battle, and raises the levies of France to crush the rebellion. He writes to the successors of Berry that he has no quarrel with them, as William has always been close with the children of the late Berry. He promises clemency to all those who surrender, and he offers great honors to all those who fight the rebels who have not surrendered. Several armies are being raised and concentrated across France. The primary army is under the command of William himself and his most prized generals and advisors. The army includes his model regiments, assembled with research and training from across Europe. The main army consists of 10,000 French infantry, 19,000 lansknechts and former mercenaries, who are all veterans of multiple wars, 3,000 lances fournies, 3,000 gendarmes, 6,000 light horse, and 72 cannons. 20 percent of the infantry is also armed with firearms, and well trained in the art of hybrid firearm-melee warfare. The army marches out to crush the rebel army in a decisive battle, and luckily is able to relatively trap them, as they are concentrated in the north of France with the sea and border limiting them, thus trapping them to the northern corner of the nation. Because of the administrative reforms made by William, he is able to move his army in such a way that he is effectively attacking from two sides, using the dense forests in the northeast of France as cover for his flank and to conceal skirmishers. Elsewhere other armies, that are also quite large when combined, garrison the border fortresses to the east as a deterrent to foreign invaders. William announces that he has no quarrel with Lotharingia. He promises that he is not responsible for their troubles and he assures them that he has done everything he can to aid the Lotharingians. He assures the Swiss and the Germans that he did not want war, and he warns them not to attack. William contends that he wants nothing more than peace. The nation extends envoys to England and Spain as well, stating that the nation of France wants no conflict with either of them. Just in case of an attack, garrisons on all the borders are manned and defenses are built, and the army crushing the rebels is expected to then main the northern border defensively.
    • Imperial Diplomacy: The regent of the empire forwards the letter that the Swiss sent to the court of Henry III to the French, so that they be made aware of the true extent of what is going on.
  • Oirat Khanate: The 20,000 strong Tian expedition would suddenly be cut off in Alxa league, as the Emperor's expeditionaries would suddenly be hit by a suppressive artillery fire into the ranks and files of the Oirat reorganized military. Suddenly, they would be attacked by a spearhead attack into their centre, as a 6,000 strong arquebusier and pikemen guard of the Oirat Imperial Army, forming 3 groups of pike squares, along with a 300 strong armed Genoese and Chagatai mercenary division initially based in Samarkand, along with a 2,000 strong cavalry division of Mongolic hussariats, would follow with them, with the Oirat guard supervised by the leaders of the Genoese mercenaries. The professional command of the Genoese mercenary supervisors, utilizing a modified version of the pike and shot formation, with pikemen forming a pike wall in an inverted semi circle formation, followed with arquebusiers filling in the space of the hollow semi circle formation. This would allow for artillery to fire a creeping barrage toward enemy positions, allowing for Oirat Imperial forces to move into the Tian formations before they could react. The strong will of the Oirati Imperial Army to defend their mainland from the Chinese invaders would produce the will and trust necessary to trust the Europeans in taking command of the encounter. With the frontlines being hit with this genius tacticology, a hammer and anvil would essentially be inadvertently created, as Mongol cavalry hussariat, armed with thunder bombs would lob their thunder bombs behind Tian formations before charging This would cause the organized formation of the Tian’s interior formation to collapse, prying open and isolating the Emperor’s guard as the Emperor would be slain in battle against the 8,000 strong organized offensive, after his royal guard would collapse under the pressure of being sandwiched in an organized group attack. (emperor’s death is approved by moderator) *reaction needed*
    Meanwhile, the main coalition’s division of 15,000, led by the Khans of Oirat, Mongolia and Chagatai from behind, with officers forming a decentralized battle formation in order to lay waste into the Chinese cities in order to seek vengeance. Guyuan Pass, one of the heaviest defended gates of the Great Wall would be captured by the quick-witted Khan of Oirat, after a bait force of 3,000, led by a known high-ranking Chagatai officer would be directed to bait the Chinese divisions into moving out of the Guyuan pass to chase after them, with the Officer launching a hit and run attack on the Guyuan pass’ walls, causing the Xian military in the area to attempt to chase after them, as the main military is concealed within the hills of Caowaxiang and Huoshizhiaxiang. The main military would soon slam a forward phalanx-shaped formation to encircle the Guyuan Chinese divisions outside the gates, as the gates would be destroyed by constant artillery fire, allowing for the quick capture of the pass, and could lead to the sack of Xian. *also reaction needed*(Morris Rossabi (2014). From Yuan to Modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 386–421 for proof of Italian cohort existence.)
    • You don't have close enough contact with Europe for mercenaries. Creeping barage is World War One technology.
    • The algo results are on the talk page: You succeeded in defeating the Chinese forces and captured the fortress at Guyun Pass. The emperor is still alive commanding the remaining 5,000 troops
  • Iceland: The King’s regent demands his uncle and Football players be set free immediately and sent back to Iceland. The king's expedition leaves Nýja Domnhallsland and tries to go further south. (Response needed). The President of Althingi offers to buy the Fall and Redemption of Man in exchange for a steady pension for the artist as well as an luxury apartment if his family would need to flee the mainland. (Response needed). In Greenland Hansborg grows and the Chief Commissioner is declared Duke of Greenland. The Chief of Money stops funding for the family in Corinth and rather funds a university in Hansborg.
  • Dai Viet: This year, the Hanlin Academy officially publishes the Hồng Đức Code of Law, consisting of 6 books, 13 volumes and 772 rules, and wrote many copies of the Code of Law to sent them to the province governances. The beginning of next month after the publish, these rules will come into place. The Code of Law were compiled from previous and current laws that were merged and edited. The basic content of the Code of Law are to: Keeping the country proactive against foreign invaders, keeping the discipline strict, encouraging handicraft and commercial along with the development of agriculture and economy/prosperity as a whole, protect porperty ownership of the people, anti-corruption and abuse of power, encouraging preserving national culture and protection of women rights. The Emperor also requires Đỗ Nhuận and Nguyễn Trực to publish the Thiên Nam dư hạ tập, consisting of 100 volumes writing about the system, rules, clerical, regulations and administrative clerical papers of the Le dynasty. The geographers have finished drawing the atlas of mainland Dai Viet, and are sent to Ai Lao (Lan Xang) and Vật Lý Động (Belitung) to draw the regions' maps. They are also sent to Cambodia to draw the country's map. (Ayutthaya response). Hoi An has began to attract a plentiful of external merchants and is a bustling trading port. The fortress in Belitung has finished being built. Funds are spent on upgrade on major ports and development of agriculture by repairing general infrastructure and upgrade of levees systems. Hearing China's campaigns against the Oirats, the fortifications upon the Chinese border is temporarily left unmaintained to spend resources on others, for now.
    • Ayutthaya Diplo: The geographers are permitted access under the condition that Ayutthayan/Khmer guards and guides escort the geographers to ensure that sensitive information about the region remains undisclosed.
  • Poland-Lithuania: Casimir IV is proud to saw that they made a law for the kingdom and official added some day, this the agricultural class is shared in social and exchanges on Gdansk the Polish border with Germany is now protected in that sector and also send to draw the details Poland begins to create principalities in its royal overlord to support the reign of Casimir IV some spent are ready added to upgrade and infrastructure some system. However, to upgrade more cities they add subdivisions to focus on the population and spend money for it and had trade with the Baltics the nobles in turn comprised two administrator that can run it and gain money for Casimir IV the development is taking slow rather in those province, the owner of a folwark usually signed a contract with merchants of Gdansk to promote the trade and had positives activity which they're working hard meanwhile the nobles has calculate that the Germans in the merchant are mostly from German land some many river in the Commonwealth were used for shipping purposes. the Vistula, Pilica, Bug, San, Nida, Wieprz, Neman The rivers had relatively developed infrastructure, with river ports and granaries some far the expansion territory is now becoming a custom port  at Augustów the people support Casimir IV to develop more and gain population to help the poor and indrustalizing and morderizing some fortifications upon the south is now securized schoolar is doing well they establish a principal and a laws for student to participates in many work which is a diccusion with Casimir IV of how the ecomony work with school. 
  • Republic of Florence: With the elections this year the eight Signoria elect Girolamo Savonarola as the new Gonfaloniere. Lorenzo is super pissed that he didnt get elected again, but with another increase of the economy the nation is doing pretty good. Girolamo sends an ambassador along with a few serfs to Bohemia to accept the alliance. Military spending has incrased this year, as Girolamo buys the best weapons for his army from sellers in the market. Ship building for the navy is going well with a little over seven ships built. Security of the nation with boarder patrol and within the nation increases. Citizens don't like the inceased security and feel their privacy is being more unavailible each day. A small protest in the city square has emerged. With this happening Girolamo sends guards to stop this from becoming a bigger issue. As citizens shout "We want Medici back" Girolamo fears this could get bad. The construction of a university is about half way done. Out in the rural areas of our nation farmers still prosper with the growing of crops. Since we care about our education of the youth, we allow our schools to be public. This means that all children both male and female are allowed to attend school. We want our youth to be educated to the finest teachers of Europe.
  • Kingdom of Ayutthaya: Ayutthayan interest in the region of Sumatra remains strong and an offer is made to Bengkulu offering them tributary status once more. (Mod Response). Rama Trailokanat invites Sunan Kudus of the Wali Sanga to visit Ayutthaya in order to meet this venerated leader and tolerant man. He is asked to give his approval/blessing to Ayutthaya to help encourage peaceful coexistence between the Muslim and Buddhist populations. (Mod Response). Tun Perak with the approval of Rama Trailokannat continues to reform the government administration system to ensure that their is equal treatment between Buddhist and Muslims in law and treatment to keep the Muslim dominated southern Ayutthaya appeased. Dhammazedi continues his travels of Ayutthaya promoting Buddhism and encouraging coexistence between Muslims and Buddhist populations of Ayutthaya. Ports and fortresses along the Malay peninsula and Ayutthaya Sumatra continue to be reinforced and developed to help ensure Ayutthayan dominance in the region with ongoing efforts between the Laksamana and Temenggung to eliminate pirates and make sure none of the merchants passing through escape the taxes in place. The Commerce Guild continues to receive favorable treatment prompting more merchants to join the guild to receive tax benefits and the other assortment of benefits members of the guild receive. Ayutthayan diplomats on behalf of the guild approach Demak requesting permission to set up guild facilities in its port.s (Mod Response). The institutions meant for the training of officers and officials continue to train noble children and promising children to fulfill the roles expected or required of them with the first batches of officers for arquebusiers and cannoneers having been produced and dispatched to the villages specializing in the training of said troops. After much debate within the halls of the military institution between those who are suppsoed to innovate new tactics and strategies for Ayutthaya in the gunpowder field, it is decided that the acquisition of Toungoo's cannons is something that should be pursued. Envoys are sent to Toungoo requesting that they provide knowledge of the siege cannon they developed in exchange for Ayutthaya providing the knowlege of the Ayutthaya arquebus, based off a combination European and Javanese designs, to Toungoo. (Mod Response). The development and maintenance of Ayutthayan infrastructure continues with the Orang Besar overseeing the projects as the infrastructure in the more recently acquired regions of Ayutthaya reach near completion.
    • Bengkulu will be a tributary.
    • Sundus comes to work for the Thailand ruler.
    • Demak approves of trading posts.
  • Papal States: The situation in France causes great consternation in Rome. After news about the death of Duke Francis of Berry arrive in the Papal States, supporters of the League of the Public Weal in the Roman curia bring to Pope Innocent VII rumors about King William II of France, accusing him of heresy, blasphemy and formication. The pontiff is horrified with such acussations, but he believes that these rumors are true due to William participation in the scandal that was the Edict of Reims. Based in it, Pope Innocent VII excommunicates William II of France. With the construction of the Cappella Magna finished, Pope Innocent VII celebrates the first mass in the chapell for the Feast of the Assumption and during the ceremony the chapel is consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Seeking to beautify the building with a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ, offset by a serie of papal portraits showing the pontiffs since Pope Saint Gregory XI, the pope asks a team of painters formed by Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli to come Rome and work in the chapel. [MOD response needed, please]. The duomo designed for the chapel by Domenico Bramante become famous. The Apostolic Palace is also nearly completed, with the Papal apartments, Throne Room and some offices finished. The Cortile del Belvedere continues to be build. Cardinal Francesco Della Rovere dies this year and he is buried in the Cathedral of Santa Maria della Pietà, in a tomb made by Antonio Pollaiuolo, who is also working in Pope Innocent VII tomb. Lord Maximilian of Habsburg and his familly attend the mass for Francesco's soul. Maximilian is very sad with the death of his long time friend. He is replaced as bishop of Poggio Miterto by his nephew, Giuliano Della Rovere. Seeking to protect Victor of Berry and his wife Isabella Della Rovere, the Della Rovere Family offers 3,000 mercenaries to help Margaret of Bourbon to defend the Duchy in case of an attack. {MOD response needed, please]. Philip of Habsburg once again writes to Queen Katherine of Spain offering his daughter Eleanor as betrothal to the Queen's heir. [Spain response needed, please]. Philip also writes to Queen Aline of Arles offering his daughter Mary as betrothal to the Queen's son, Lucas. [Arles response needed, please]. Prince Arsæll Esturlungio continues to be a patron of the arts in Subiaco. Seeking to establish connections with other noble families of Europe, Prince Esturlungio writes to Frances of Britanny offering his daughter Mary Esturlungio in marriage to Frances' son, John. [MOD response needed, please]. Captain General Philip of Habsburg continues to train new soldiers for the Papal Army. The Holy Father creates as cardinals Giovanni Colonna (Papal States), Oliviero Carafa (Latin Empire), Raffaele Riario (Liguria) and Francesco Maria Scelloni (Papal States).
    • Republic of Ancona: Ships and weapons are produced in the Arsenal of Amcona. Due to Leonardo da Vinci continues to paint frescos in the Cathedral of Ancona.
    • Berry accepts the support.
    • Marriage accepted.
  • Kingdom of Wales: As we are nearing almost a decade of inaction on behalf of the Kingdom of England to persue military action against the Kingdom of Wales and the War of the Roses having been effectively stalemated during all that time, as we were focusing on defeating militarily the High Kingdom of Ireland, the only ally of the Kingdom of England. Further preparations of our defenses are organized by Myrddin ap Cadfael (Bruce) of Gwynedd personally, such as construction of fortifications in the Anglo-Welsh borders as well as strengthening of the existing ones, for the inevitability of the threat that the long awaited English invasion would present us. Given that this phase of the War of the Roses is pretty much over unless a miraculous comeback occuers, as the defeat at Glouchester has deprived us of many good men, which seems highly unlikely at the moment and we are facing an unprecedented threat from the times of the Welsh War of Independence onward, we call upon all those pro-Yorkist Welsh nobles to rally with their King in the defense of the realm, as this has just turned into a war for the very survival of our nation. Noticing the passive stance of England, even more crackdown takes place against the disloyal Yorkist nobility, as King Henry VI's inaction gives us the necessary time to solidify our realm and purge our realm from traitors in the face of the upcoming English invasion, giving our utmost importance into this, with our 10,000 men under the leadership of the Myrddin ap Cadfael (Bruce) of Gwynedd continues to conduct a crackdown against traitors to the realm in the Northern and Central regions of Wales, with the entirety of his forces, 10,000 men, (including the Hanseatic mercenaries) after hearing rumors of incitement of rebellion in support of King Henry VI of England from amongst the Anglo-Norman pro-Yorkist nobility in Wales. The two newly established printing shops in Cardiff and Caernarfon have proven to be commercial successes, continue circulating best sellers like the Welsh language version of the Bible, "Sinclar's Adventures", "King Arthur, the Progenitor of Wales" by reknowned Welsh author Lewys Glyn Cothi and other already popular books, now rendering them affordable even for the lower nobility, the merchant class and the commoners. With the ongoing war, construction of new caravels and ships for our navy is halted in its entirety for the time being, as the vast majority of our resources are dedicated into our army. With the conflict in Ireland finally almost finished, other than sporadic fights taking place with the few remaining defiant Irish nobles, Myrddin ap Cadfael (Bruce) is finally reunited once again with his wife, Catherine of House Wales-York and they have another happy accident, later this year their daughter is borned, who is named Iona ap Myrddin. The Welsh force of 8,000 men under the personal command of King Edmund continues to assist King Robert III Bruce of Scotland and Ireland's forces to pacify up the Irish nobility who continue to resist King Robert III's divine right to rule the island and solidify his hold over Ireland, before they would set to return home. Using the fortified town of Kilkeel in Ulster as their base of operations, the entire Welsh force of 8,000 men under the personal command of King Edmund of Wales continues to reinforce the forces of King Robert III against the remaining forces of the defiant Irish nobility and assist his ongoing efforts to pacify Ireland and enforce his rule over it. The support of the entirety of the Welsh fleet under the command of Admiral Cadfael ap Alisdair of Gwynedd is instrumental in crossing the sea swiftly once again, as High King Eadbhard of Eiru has choosen not to oppose our fleet in the Irish Sea. (ALGO REQUESTED). Those nobles found guilt of disloyalty to their King, inciting unrest in support of the vile King Henry VI of England, continue to be imprisoned and striped of their titles when found guilty after receiving fair but speedy trials. These titles, either revert to the royal domain, or get awarded to the King's principal supporters, the native Welsh nobility as opposed to the Anglo-Norman nobility. The only exception to this case is in the case of formerly stripped titles from pro-Lancasterian nobles, most prominent among them Owen Tudor, who are able to get back a part of their domains as per our initial agreement. The ongoing war serves to further the worship of Saint Owain (Lawgoch), although already extremely popular on its own, now becomes a rallying cry for the Welshmen as they go on to clash with unprecedented ferocity against King Henry VI's detested English forces and their allies and supporters, viewing them all as one and the same, treacherous snakes. With the Eiru fleet completely out of the picture, our entire navy is free to focus on the Isle of Mann, which it does, as our Admiral, Duke Cadfael ap Alisdair (Bruce) of Gwynedd coordinates with the Scottish fleet and they jointly proceed to place a complete blockade on the rebellious Isle of Mann, intent of starving them out to submission as well as disallowing any sort of trade, supplies and military assistance to arrive from England to reinforce them. (NAVAL ALGO REQUESTED). King Edmund continues to promote the reconciliation of his realm, divided into two similar yet starkly different halves, the Pura Walia region, dominanated by the independent minded Welsh nobility and the Marchia Walliae region, dominanated by the Anglo-Norman nobility, by encouraging the adoption of Welsh customs and traditions by the Anglo-Norman part of his nobility, furthermore encouraging marriages between the Anglo-Normans and Welsh noble families, with a bit more success thus far, as a few more Yorkist and Lancasterian supporters alike, but loyalist to the Welsh crown above all, Anglo-Norman noble families that have good relations with King Edmund of Wales following suit by adopting even more Welsh customs and traditions and/or intermarrying with the Welsh nobility for the time being. A diplomatic delegation is dispatched to the Kingdom of England under the sanctity of the white flag, to inquire on behalf of the Kingdoms of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, in essense the entire Celtic Confederacy, what peace terms would the Kingdom of England be willing to propose to end this devastating conflict. (MOD RESPONSE).
  • Bohemia: The reforms to improve the military of Bohemia and also of the empire as a whole continue, spearheaded by the Emperor himself and the Archbishop of Mainz, and including the aid of the best generals and advisors from across Europe. Jan Žižka, a famed general of the moderate Hussites, famous for never losing a battle, is charged with serving as a chief leader of the military. The Emperor takes note of major developments in warfare taking place across the continent, particularly the build up of forces in France. He decides to mirror that development in the empire as well, decreeing that the empire build up its arsenal and domestic arms facilities to match the French production, so that Imperial soldiers will also be equipped with an adequate number of firearms. The Emperor becomes interested in the use of small cannons for the purposes of battle rather than sieges, and tasks imperial engineer regiments with designing and building cannons for this purpose. He expects to to begin employing a number of cannons, which will be built to be mobile, in every major army that Bohemia employs. By this time the overall imperial army at the Emperor’s disposal, independent of his army as King of Bohemia, numbers 18,000 infantrymen, 4,000 cavalrymen, and 2,000 other men. This number is reached by recruiting a number of soldiers, about 1-7,000 men, per imperial province, of which there are twelve. He also makes adequate infrastructure in order to raise Bohemia’s personal levies if ever necessary. This includes continued work to improve the administrative elements of the kingdom, and the creation of supply depots, military training grounds, and adequate equipment stockpiles. The alliance with Austria is accepted, as the Emperor accepts their term. Now that the Emperor has helped ensure the defense of the eastern border, the Emperor writes to Burgundy, proposing that they also form an alliance, solidified by a royal marriage. (Mod response needed.) Later, the Emperor is wounded in a hunting accident that temporarily sees him away from government for a few months, and so the High Steward fulfills his job as regent for the time being. In Switzerland the famed warrior Ernest “the Bastard” becomes the victim of assassination, and the imperial cabinet begins considering who will be the next member of the prestigious Imperial Guard to fill his vacancy. (More to come.)
  • Roman Empire: With the economy booming under the careful hand of Kaisar Andronikos revenues, and thus the treasury, swell. Debt is paid off aggressively to increase monthly revenue further, and reduce the potential for future defaults. This massive injection of government money into the economy sparks an investment boom. Loans become increasingly common among the growing middle class of land-based merchants, urban professionals, and specialized laborers. Furthermore, loans contribute to a dramatic period of manufacturing expansion as workshops appear producing all manner of trade goods. Gem cutting and glass blowing become major industries in Constantinople and Thessaloniki respectively. Thessaloniki is also notable for a growing metal refining sector as raw material is brought down from the mountains of Thrace to be refined for export or use. Basileus Michael X receives popular praise for this growth, but Kaisar Andronikos is given the majority of the credit by those in positions of power. Kaisar Andronikos, in cooperation with church authorities, sends a delegation of church and secular officials to Veliko Tarnovo to visit with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and local Bulgarian leaders to strengthen ties and show goodwill.
  • Archbishopric of Mainz: Cardinal Adalbert is pleased to support the Emperor’s military reforms. Having completed his interviews, he recommends appointing a certain knight named Hanns von Wulfestorff, who distinguished himself for his valor and military ability in the Greek War, as Lord Captain-Commander of the Army of the Holy Roman Empire, and tasking him with organizing it into a modern, professional military. (Bohemia Respnse). He instructs Kaspar von Roggendorf to offer Duke Albert IV of Bavaria financial support in buliding up the military industry in Munich. (Bavaria Response). Adelbert continues to support the Inquisition and the Assembly of Preachers. He continues his policies to raise education in his Diocese. He continues the patronizing of printing releases from the Pontifical Roman Press, and other great works for the Library of Mainz. Cardinal Adalbert continues to integrating Darmstadt into the Electorate, initiating the repairs of several roads and public works. The Archchancellor offers to improve internal trade relations with the County of Wurtenburg, and possibly to accord them a more powerful posistion in the empire over time (Wurtenburg Response.)  Von Roggendorf continues to monitor closely the income and expenditure of the empire, and keep the tax code fair and the trade revenues high. He continues to invest in Baltic shipping, and begins setting aside funds to expand the Emperor's merchant fleet, in a few years.
  • Vinland: The population grows to 5,545. All cities grow this year. The country is urbanizing, with about a quarter of its population residing in Elufsker and Dogajavick. War rages between Skogrfjalland and Suðrvinland.
    • Skogrfjalland: The Norse population stagnates as a proportion of the total population. The Norse lose the Battle of Mandberg, 25 miles south of Elufsker. The Tvennufolk defeat them and rob them of their metal weaponry.
    • Suðrvinland: All cities grow this year. The population of Dogajavick is around 825. Hjalfar leads an offensive into Norse peripheral territory. In late winter, Tvennufolk and Norse warriors engage in a battle near Mandberg. The Norse are defeated and Tvennufolk supply themselves with the metal weaponry of their fallen enemies. Hjalfar plans for an attack on Elufsker next year.
    • Keathutberga: Keathutberglanders expand along the northeast coast of Unamaland. They establish an outpost named Vinbergen (OTL Port Hawkesbury). The population of Keathutberga is about 95. They hear of the war between the two confederacies.
    • Beothuk: The southern Beothuk are happy to be included into the Suðrvinlandic confederacy, and will participate in efforts to include their northern kinsmen into the confederacy. More northerly tribes are confederalized, although there is some scattered resistance.
  • Kingdom of Portugal: The queen celebrates the 21st anniversery of her accesion to the throne. After this she goes on a royal tour visiting all of Portugal's oversea's possesions where she is warmly received. The trade from Santo Anfre continues to fund the other colonies. Dias expedition gets a final date for 1485 with the ships already being ready for the expedition. Meanwhile, the queen supports the League of the Public Weal.
  • Swiss Confederacy: When news arrives in Switzerland that war has broken out in France between King William II and the League of the Public Weal, and that Pope Innocent VII has excommunicated King William II, numerous members of the Central Council want to send Swiss mercenaries to support the League. However, Eberhard, Duke of Lenzburg, decides that some caution is needed before entering such a conflict, as the diplomats who were set up to study the various diplomatic channels and rumour mills of the Holy Roman Empire in the wake of the Bohemian-Saxon tensions a few years ago had overheard rumours that France may have several secret allies in the Empire. Pope Innocent VII clearly supports the efforts of the League, but Eberhard proclaims that before the Central Council makes a decision on whether to enter this war or not he wants to consult with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VIII as well. Eberhard writes to Henry VIII, explaining how William II has gotten involved in numerous scandals and has aggressively attacked nobles in his own nation, while the family of the Duke of Berry, who is next in line to the throne and supported by the League of the Public Weal, has a much more pious record, having led the opposition to the Edicts of Reims promoted by Kings William I and Henry II of France, which were seen in the rest of Europe as heretical attempts to seize spiritual power for the monarch. Given this situation, Eberhard in his letter asks Henry VIII if he thinks intervention in support of the League of the Public Weal would be beneficial for France and the Holy Roman Empire. (Bohemia response). The 2,000 soldiers from Arles are kept in the Swiss Confederacy this year in order to keep the nation secure as war has once again broken out in central Europe. The Central Council had heard that the recent border fortification efforts of the Swiss military may have alarmed surrounding nations; not wanting to unintentionally provoke conflict while the political situation in Europe is so delicate, the joint military of the Swiss Confederacy this year works on improving the fortifications of Zürich, the most populous city in the nation, by maintaining and structurally improving the city walls. Though the conflict in France draws most of their attention this year, Duke Eberhard and the Central Council also pay attention to the ongoing conflicts in the British Isles, though it seems the situation there has ground to a stalemate the past few years. The Central Council also pay some attention to the revolts in Lotharingia, but do not comment on them publicly and currently have no intention to send troops there given the conflicts ongoing closer to home. Domestically, the government works on improving roads and other infrastructure in the central Cantons of Schwyz, Uri, Unterwalden, Gersau and Zug, in order to aid the movement of trade goods and civilians and boost the economy. Freyja Sturlungur (1422-1483), a sister of former King Ólaf IV of Iceland who never married but led a pious life, often working with local churches, dies of natural causes. Edward of York and Elizabeth Beaufort have their third child, a daughter named Louise (b. 1483) in honour of Elizabeth's mother, Louise de la Marck. In the King of Switzerland contest, Peter III of Geneva-Lenzburg quickly flees from Luxeuil Abbey back to the Swiss Confederacy after the outbreak of war in France, and regroups with Bishop of Basel Caspar von Mühlhausen. The appearance of the concept of a "cruciform sword" in both the Abbey of Moutier-Grandval and with the mysterious men near Delémont makes the group think this must have some sort of relevance. The Bishop of Basel asks several priests at the Basel Cathedral and several scholars at the library of the University of Basel to search through their records to see if they can find any references to this Cruciform Sword or a group associated with it. (Bohemia response). Meanwhile, Peter III gathers a group of about two dozen members of the city guard of Basel and sets out down the trail in Delémont the monk who went missing went down, trying to find the monk or at least learn more about the mysterious men he encountered. (Bohemia response) Just before they set out, the courtier Sir Dolphus Thurn reaches Duke Eberhard of Lenzburg with the letter from Landgravine Agnes of Hesse. Somewhat suspicious of the Landgravine's intention due to the anti-Swiss propaganda that was heard in Hesse a few years ago, but not wanting to appear hostile, Eberhard has Thurn accompany Bishop of Constance Otto von Sonnenberg, who this year just performs his regular clerical duties, not doing anything connected to the King Contest or international politics.
    • The investigation into the symbol proves inconclusive, although they do find several instances of historical records where it seems to be recorded that the symbol was seen at the sites of other saints. Meanwhile, Peter manages to find the trail where the monk disappeared and follows it to a mysterious cave complex. Once inside he sees that the cave wall is covered in carvings and paintings. An elderly man in robes approaches and says "I am the guardian of this shrine. If you are worthy, you will find what you seek." He motions to around the corner, where it is revealed that there is a room filled with upward of 100 pairs of shoes. Most of the shoes are made of ornate materials, with some being gold encrusted, others covered with jewels, and other shoes made of pure glass.
    • Peter III, with the aid of some of the guards, searches through the room filled with shoes. Peter III tells the others of how Saint Germanus was a saint who lived a pious lifestyle and would not have shoes like the ornate ones in the chamber. Thus, Peter III has them ignore all of the ornate shoes and instead looks for the plainest shoes in the room, probably made of leather or cloth with no ornaments.
    • "You have chosen wisely says the old man." Peter and his entourage make their way to the exit, when suddenly they hear a man outside say "Not so fast." It's Henry and his handful of knights. "We'll be taking those." Suddenly there's a second voice from elsewhere in the woods that says, "No, I think we will." It's Sir Jan Jakob and a small band of townsfolk.
  • Kingdom of Scotland: With Ireland successfully pacified, and King Robert now acknowledged by the majority of the Irish nobility as “King Ríobárd of Eiru”, we begin setting up our authority throughout the kingdom. The lands of the Úi Néill, the former royal family of Ireland, in Northern Ireland are mostly seized and added to the royal domain well still remaining within the Kingdom of Ireland and continuing to be run mostly by native Irish people loyal to house Bruce. The town of Béal Feirsde begins to grow massively as a result of the fortifications erected there and the position it served as the most major base of operations for Scotland during the war. This resulted in many camp followers ending up there, many of them who settled in the area afterwords, well many peasants also ended up in the area for safety during the invasion, and now that the war is over it continues to serve as a base o fan operations in the area and a center of trade. It begins to become known as “the gateway to Ireland” in Scotland, as it becomes a center of trade as Scottish trade flows through the region. Many Scottish soldiers based in the region also intermarry with the local population and begin settling in the region as a result, essentially beginning to go native but serving as a strong base of Bruce loyalists in Northern Ireland and helping to grow the region and cause Béal Feirsde to continue growing into a small but growing city. We also continue to fight those few nobles who continue to resist us, displacing them from their lands and redistributing them to loyal relatives of those people as an effort to fight against them. We also begin to blockade the Isle of Mann in an effort to fully ensure our control of the Irish Sea, in collaboration with the welsh navy, in order to force them to surrender to us.
  • Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di": The king seeing that the French officially renounce any support for the Flemish rebels, the French even sending numbers of their own soldiers to aid Lotharingia. Thus with these troops re-enforcing the Lotharingian Royal army small attacks on the City of Bruges begin, this being mostly on the countryside on small hold outs of the rebel forces. The king prefering to negotiate with the rebels above killing his own citizens, the king thus refusing foreign soldiers for helping the fight. The king wanting to show that he is not Spanish, that he's in fact bringing Belgic culture to Hispania and Beyond. Meanwhile, with the death of Yolande Duches of Barois, there is an issue with the inheritance as due to Yolanda's policies there is no clear heir. This comes from the fact that she gave inheritances away in a semi-random manner and was unable to apoint an heir to the throne of the Duchy of Barois. Thus John V Leonard shows his willingness to pay the emperor and the nobles of Barois a sum equal to two percent of their tax revenue and more freedoms to the nobles if they him, as John V is open to give bonuses and grants. (Barois modresponse?) Meanwhile, in Africa the KWAC continues the building up of Hoekbaai and Sherbro, a lot the trade going through Dakar being moved to Hoekbaai. This being due to the close relation between the KWAC and Jabal Asada, the KWAC offering guns and technology to the emir. The KWAC being need of those as to ensure their independence of their nation, as it has always felt the breath of the Mandan korufuba. The KWAC, being friendly to both, even if the Ryk des Musa have more resources and a bigger market then the Jabal Asada, but having more competition from Portugal and Spanish merchants. On Hendrico merchants begin to arrive as to continue trade with the states such as Benin and the Oyo empire, the island thriving on slave trade, which is fully legal and not even seen as an issue. This being due the fact that slavery is not part of basic royal law, and the fact that these slaves are seen by all as deserving their fate as they are mostly prisoners of war.
    • Mod Dip: The various nobles of Barrois agrees but request significant compensation in return for their compliance (outlined in the request.) 
  • Duchy of All Bavaria: Albert IV continues his efforts to make the reunification of Bavaria as smooth as possible. The former Landshut household has been fully incorporated into the royal household in Munich, and is now primarily responsible for administering the Kingdom. With more administrative power at his disposal, Albert IV continues his tax reform. So far, rates have remained the same, but taxes are not directly collected by the royal household in some areas of the Empire. This makes the system more efficient and reduces fraud across all levels, raising royal revenues even after local nobles receive their share, though at this point the total effect on the Duchy's treasury is limited. As it stands, the new system is mostly present in and around the cities of Munich and Regensburg, but in the system's second year, Albert IV continues its expansion to parts of the countryside, planning to put 50 percent of the Bavarian population under the new tax system within 14 years, by 1495. Albert IV continues to purchase cheap weapons for the Bavarian military, especially investing in firearms and cannons. However, in the long term, Albert IV hopes to offset the need to purchase foreign weapons by building them in Munich, and he continues his initiatives to fund and subsidize weapons manufacturers around the region. Hoping to make Munich central to European weapons production, he announce that any foreign manufacturers are eligible to receive subsidies if they move operations in Munich, though he puts a cap on how much money he will hand out, and conditions this on them selling their weapons first to Bavarians. Albert IV accepts Mainz's offer from the previous year, and integrates their funding into this project. Development on a new cannon modeled after the byzantine Dardanelles gun is no complete, and small scale manufacturing begins in Munich. Albert IV, Using the patchy census data he has, he and his household are able to assign how many troops each region should be able to raise in the event of war, and how many standing troops should exist in the Duchy. Right now, the Duchy has a standing army of roughly 8,000, with the potential to raise a total of 60,000 if needed. The treasury also sets aside funding to pay mercenaries, should they ever be needed. Trade continues to grow, especially with Poland-Lithuania, and Albert IV starts to use his small standing army to patrol the highways of Bavaria to keep them safe for merchants, offering merchants from any nation access to Bavaria's safe roads in exchange for a small fee, though the fee is waived for the Duke's close allies. Albert's new wife, Agnes, has her first child by him this year, a boy named Ernest.
    • Principality of Nassau: After his Marriage to Agnes, Albert IV assumes status as regent of the Principality. He begins to implement the Bavarian tax system in Nassau. A census is taken to get a rough estimate of the population. [Mod response].
    • The rough estimate of population is about 50,000 people.
  • The Spanish Empire: with the betrothal of Juan de Reginier-Barcelona to Eleanor von Habsburg being achieved, closer relations between the two houses and ties to a larger extent of the family are achieved. The Spanish Crown is in high support of the Weal and secretly offers favors such as supplies while putting forward a secret envoy to Margaret of Berry offering supplies indirectly through hired privateers. Queen Katherine has another son, Alvin, named after the Siberian Chipmunk gifted to her by a good merchant family friend Simón Theodoro who passed early on with the idea pushed by Elvin, the Chipmunk's caretaker.
  • Kingdom of Arles: Early on in the year, Altisi 'Sharparm' travels to Florence for a meeting. However, this turns out to be a horrible one, soon Altisi storms of Florence, physically disgusted. He travels back to Arles, informing his niece of what he heard. Lucas I, being the military man he is, immediately wants to move and attack both France and Florence. However, after discussions with the more calm Aline, this is what he does. 9,000 Pisan, Noli and Arlean troops mobilise at the Florence-Pisan border led by Altisi 'Sharparm' and Philippe Lowen II. 15,000 Arlean, Saluzzo, Monacan and Asti troops mobilise at the French-Arlean Grand Fortification line led by Lucas I and Fathien Mulchaio Le Ross. 8000 Arlean, Noli, Saluzzo and Asti troops mobilise in Noli led by Sebastian Belli and young Greek general Netatki Pkysakios. Another 3000 troops are offered to Switzerland. (SWISS RESPONSE) We accept the Betrothal between Mary and Lucas II. Three more 2.1 Carrrackés are built. In an act of strength, most of the Navy sails close to the Florence Navy, as we are both more numerous and more technologically advanced. The shipment of Rose Wine is Recalled and sent back to Arles. The economy is improved.

1484

Ireland is being further subjugated by the Scottish-Welsh coalition forces. The Earls of Desmond and Tyrone remain as the largest resistence against Scottish occupation in ongoing unconventional warfare. The ongoing siege against the Isle of Mann remains as the last obstacle against the House of Bruce totally siezing power over the collapsing Celtic Confederacy.

In England, Richard Neville is slain in battle fighting against Edward and Richard, the sons of Henry VI. Three weeks later, a more devastating battle also succeeds in killing Edward Beaufort (b. 1426) and most of his supporters. As soon as the victorious Yorkist parties returned to London, they found that King Henry VI had already died of consumption, which proceeded to proclaim Edward of York as the new King Edward VI. Seeing the war as untenable with the fall of Ireland, Edward extends a three year truce to Wales and Scotland, in lieu of a longer peace treaty later on.

In France, the remaining 2,000 rebels in Picardy organizes an embassy to negotiate a resolution with King William. Margaret de Bourbon offers to lay down arms if the King will submit to capitulations of the League of Public Weal, in terms of preserving the autonomy of the nobles. Furthermore, the comprimise requires the King to fully submit to the Pope's authority, and do penance for both his own excommunication and the sins of his father Henry.

Duke James of Burgundy has a third child, a daughter named Mary. He offers the Holy Roman Emperor to arrange a betrothal to his newborn daughter to a similar minor in the imperial court.

In China, the Emperor's forces being caught behind enemy lines causes great alarm at the capital of Luyang. The crown prince assumes de facto control of the dragon throne, and dispatches the general Fei Wang (ATL character) with 100,000 troops to counter-attack the Oirot forces at the border.

Spanish merchants in the Atlantic report sugar as being a profitable natural resource, given the right amount of labor. However, navigators of Spain and Portuagl report great difficulties at calculating latitude far from the coastline, especially in the southern hemisphere.

Leonardo Da Vinci comes to work for the Duke of Modena, where he composes the painting Virgin of the Rocks. He is universally renowned for his great talents and genius, although his personality and conventions are considered highly eccentric.

William Caxton publishes Aesop's fables in English. In Bavaria, Anna Rugerin becomes the first female printer in history, publishing an edition of medieval anatomy.

Spanish poet Luigi Pulci publishes an epic lyric poem called Orlando.

In the Holy Roman Empire, Jacob the Count of Lichtenburg is exposed in an ongoing affair he was conducting with Barbara von Otterheim, a sculpture model.

  • France: The entire rebel army has been destroyed in battle, all their home provinces occupied, and their leaders captured. The king orders that all those who surrendered will be granted clemency and a pardon if they swear allegiance to him once more. He states that he never did anything to harm the nobility, so he doesn’t understand the point of the “Public Weal”, but assures them everything will continue as per the status quo. Several nobles who resisted until the end are found guilty and executed for their acts of treason, while others remained imprisoned. The new children of the late Duke of Berry are kept as wards of the king, so they can be tutored by the king, but also to preserve the loyalty of Berry. Other nobles from across the nation have their children as wards in the king’s court. Loyal nobles across the nation are rewarded. The king never broke any religious laws, but he agrees to do penance in general, and he makes it clear he never strayed away from the church or the pope. He notices that the new pope is from Switzerland, and conveniently he sided with the Swiss against him, which assures him internally that he didn’t actually do anything wrong, but rather he was attacked by the Pope for purely political matters. He believes that the pope has seemingly demonstrated that he lacks any credibility in his current form, and personally prays that the pope return to a path of righteousness, noting that the pope is now supporting tenets contrary to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. He notes that the pope is actively funding and supporting violent actions that incite rebellion, harm fellow Christians, and compromise the values of the church. The king thinks it shameful that such a church figure would corrupt the holy see so immensely, and “throw the first stone” on another based on mere rumors. Furthermore the king notes there is no point in doing penance on behalf of his father, as those aren’t his sins. The king announces to all states supporting the “Public Weal” to immediately stop, unless they want the French to support a similar league in their own nations. It is clear that all the resources of France could surely incite many problems in Spain, but William writes to Spain saying he does not want to do that, because he wants nothing more than positive relations with Spain, and he even offers a treaty to Spain promising mutual non-aggression between the two states. (Spain response needed) The military has gained considerable experience and training from the affair, and the war has led to the military having an excuse to greatly upgrade and expand. The war has also united the nation somewhat in its goal of preserving France versus the incursions of foreign powers. Border fortresses are manned all along the border, with one army tasked with garrisoning the south, and another garrisoning the southeast. A third army remains in the northeast to defend that section of the nation. Finally the king’s personal army marches east. The king makes it clear before the assembly that the nation has been attacked; foreign powers infiltrated the nation and attacked the French army and the state itself during the recent rebellion. He makes it clear that the Swiss supported and funded the rebellion, and marched on us to attack us when we were vulnerable. Thus he declares he will have no choice but to counter and defend France, and he will fight back the Swiss soldiers who were responsible for the illegal actions that took place during the rebellion. The king makes his argument clear in regards to the Swiss guilt. He notes that the Swiss have historically been a supporter of the League of Public Weal. Additionally he notes that the rebel leaders were all captured, and they all were forced to confess in order to be pardoned, thus revealing who funded them. Thirdly he notes that the the Swiss were caught in the act in Berry delivering the previously mentioned supplies and aid, as their agents crossed the border into the patrolled zone. Fourthly he quotes correspondes he had with the leaders of the Holy Roman Empire and Thuringia, as they are confirming his suspicions in the form of their publications. The king requests that his ally Burgundy come to his aid and answer his call. He reminds Burgundy that the Swiss have annexed rightfully Burgundian territory; half of the Duchy of Burgundy is currently owned by the Swiss, and offers them the chance to fight back and recapture this land. He states that Burgundy can and should act independently of Arles despite their tenuous marriage, although he would not mind if Arles answered the call of France and Burgundy, and joined their husband in battle. He calls his ally Modena to also invade Switzerland from the south to reclaim Italian land that the Swiss occupy. (Burgundy and Modena mod response needed.) The king makes it clear to the Holy Roman Empire and to the Emperor that this is not a hostile attack against the empire, as France is simply defending itself from the attack from Switzerland, and France assures them he does not want to take any territory at all, and no territory will leave the empire. The states he is defending himself from attack and wants to repulse this attack, ending the nefarious support the Swiss give to rebels and villains, and states that if anything the empire should condemn Switzerland for deliberately disturbing the peace and infiltrating foreign nations illegally. Again the French king makes it clear he does not want to be offensive or antagonistic, he is simply ending the foreign attack against his nation and repulse those who had been responsible for the rebellion.
  • Iceland: The army starts to get secondary training in Viking battle styles to be leasable to other nations. The king makes landfall in a strange place he calls Louiseland (OTL Cape Breton Island) and after putting up a fishing cabin the expedition force heads back. The King plans his next years as king of Iceland and wishes to expand Icelandic Culture. On his way back the King makes a stop in Vinland and seeing Icelandic descendants in danger the king offers the Tvennufolk Icelandic troops for help and in exchange to recognize Domnhall as King of Vinland but they would have a duke which they would appoint themselves from the ranks of their own(Vinlandic response needed).
    • Vinland: The Tvennufolk respect the offer of help but must refuse, they are a sovereign people separated by a great sea from Iceland.
  • Dai Viet: The Emperor reorganized the ministries into six ones, much similiar to the Six Ministries system of Imperial China. New law is made regarding the forbid of abuse of power into purchase of goods, both internally and externally. Abortions are also forbade to be done. Exploiting minerals are encouraged to do, and the sercurity around the mines are upgraded so that there are little to none disruptions during the mining processes. Briberies are also forbade to be taken by guards and mandarins. State-owned books granted to the regional mandarins must be in control, they shall not be used privately by the mandarins but must be used as reference for study amongs regional schools. Anti-corruption rules are also taken place with the encouragement of people reporting corrupt officials. Among mandarins who are questioned of guilt by the Ministry of Justice, any mandarins who are found guilty shall be punished accordingly and they are tallied by the Ministry of Personnel and submitted to the Court. Wages of students in the Imperial Court are increased to encourage talents in the country. Regional mandarins are required to help their region's farmers in dealing with agricultural difficulties. The Emperor orders the construction of a new household for the princesses. A palace outside of the Imperial Court is ordered to be made. In it is the Quan Canh platform which is used for the Emperor to see farmers plowing the crops. The Dai Thanh Palace in the Imperial Academy is also constructed, with that are a library and renovation of classrooms. General infrastructure in Belitung island are also upgraded. New ideas of land reforms are thought of by the Emperor.
  • Four Oirot Khaganate: Soon enough, with the capture of the great city of Xi’an by the Oirat Khanate, with a 100,000 strong army awaiting the now 40,000 men of the coalition who gathered in the city, Defensive positions are made in the Xi’an river, with the 100,000 strong army in the other side of the river. We would request a temporary ceasefire with the Tian Empire, until a peace deal could be made, meaning that if peace could not be brought in this tense moment, The golden city of Luoyang, along with the Emperor’s life would be done for. (**Chinese response**) Meanwhile, we would begin to plan the construction of the pan-Mongol road, a roadway that compasses from Aimoi until Samarkand. A message is sent to the Imperial Court for cooperation in such matters (**Japanese response**), as a new city would be planned for construction in this road, it would be named Ulaanbataar, and it’ll sit near the Bogd Khan plains, a strategic area that will be utilized for the expansion of the silk road trade, as oasis towns in the Gobi desert would be further developed, with the creation of aqueducts to supply the Gobi desert population and for the ease of Silk Road travellers. These are the conditions of the ceasefire deal: 1) A ceasefire will be initiated by both sides until it is to be broken through extensive warfare or through peace. 2) The Emperor of the Tian Empire will be escorted out of ceasefire territory. 3) The lands occupied by the opposing side will follow the constitutions and laws of the governing nations. 4) Borders will be regulated by both opposing countries, and a demarcation zone will be initiated. 5) The city of Xi’an will be governed by the Tian Empire, but military administration will be given to the coalition.
    • On behalf of the Tian Dynasty, General Fei Wang refuses to relinquish territory to the coalition
    • 'Japanese Dip: 'Japan refuses on the grounds of the Oirats current war with the Tian Dynasty. We require the hostilities with our friend and steadfast ally of China to be over before Japan engages in any sort of investment or development.
  • County of Württemberg: Having received the Pope's approval for the upgrading of Stuttgart's church to the status of a cathedral, Count Ulrich V appoints the cathedral's existing priest, Gerhard Waldschmidt, as the new Bishop of Stuttgart. No doubt hungry for additional influence, Ulrich immediately dispatches as another envoy to Rome with the intent of seeing Waldschmidt promoted to the status of cardinal (Papal response). Back home, in his capacity as the head of Württemberg's military forces, Engelbert embarks upon an ambitious military reform program, seeking to improve the war-making capacity of his people and ensure their regional prestige during times of war. Having read the controversial German author his mother commissioned years ago, Engelbert moves to incorporate his ideas into these programs. In his reforms, Engelbert utilizes the recent census information to create a total of 41 800-man rosters from the male population, of which 150 of these men will serve during times of peace. 70% are issued pikes, 20% ranged weapons such as bows and crossbows, and 10% are trained in the use of horses, all at the expense of the state. The men will serve in six-month periods during peacetime to ensure all are familiar with the system established by Engelbert, and all male permanent residents required to serve in the county's army until the age of sixty. With Württemberg's current population of 400,000, these reforms grant it an army of approximately 33,000 troops divided into 41 companies, of which 23,100 are pikemen, 6,600 are marksmen, and the remaining 3,300 cavalry. During peacetime, some 6,200 men will remain at arms throughout the year for the county's protection. Count Ulrich V accepts Saxony's proposal for a marriage to one of his grandchildren, and sends a portrait of his grandson Ulrich VIII (b. 1470) to Dresden for approval of the duke and his household. The count sends out a request for any mercenaries willing to serve for a three-year term of service within the ranks of the army. He promises them loot and prestige for their hosts. (Merc request)
  • Republic of Florence: With the economy of the nation falling again due to Girolamo rapid spending for the military, the Signoria gets worried that this could get worse in the coming years. Girolamo has a meeting with the other guild members of the Signoria to talk about how the tension of war to come in central Europe is to come soon. With our university in the city almost completely built, we ask Leonardo Da Vinci if he would like to use his artistic skills in the painting of some areas of the university. (Mod response) As for the navy we now have about 15 ships in our fleet. Our army still continues to train in the barracks. A few riots break out in the city square with people shouting out they want Girolamo excommunicated from the government. Some citizens take it upon themselves to throw bottles and other clutter at the government buildings. The citizens that were caught throwing objects at the buildings were trialed in court and then sent to prison for trying to destroy public/government property. Out of our 30k troops we place 15k near Pisa and 15k towards Switzerland, the call to arms has been accepted.
    • The Duke of Modena is paying Da Vinci a lot to stay in Milano
    • Poland-Lithuania: The nobles began to create companies for the army divided into 12 per person Casimir IV recognize, the northern vassals on his kingdom insist that the population begins to increase, and a library is added for his book and constructive the regional administration begins to see Each voivodship had its own parliament also placed roles of the states to continue to support the population and the politics of poland between its relation casimir iv constitutes and submits his ideas for programs and creates populations for men and women he continue to learn his ecomony from these europeans methods in territories,bank jew are now being payed and require to serve for merchants to follow the programm the people continue agricoling and expands some territorial the soldier programm is now fully doing the same as other doing and Casimir iv is doing a serious effort political some regions is being constructed new gallery is up,by the way Casimir IV would like establish a duchy for warsaw to gain ecomony and population working it to make a duchy from poland (Mod Reponse)
  • Kingdom of Ayutthaya: Sunan Kudus' decision to join the court of Ayutthaya comes as a welcome surprise to Rama Trailokannat who puts him to work immediately by sending him to the Malay peninsula where he is to assist the local leadership and governors in maintaining the peace and happiness of the Muslims present by encouraging coexistence with Buddhist. Dhammazedi continues on his travels across Ayutthaya to convert more people to Buddhism as well as promoting coexistence with Muslims. Demak's decision to permit the Commerce Guild to set up in its ports has helped to increase the influence the guild wields in trade due to Demak's vital positioning in trade. Ayutthayan diplomats on behalf of the guild approach the Kingdom of Blambangan on southern Java to request permission for the guild to set up its facilities in its ports (Mod Response). The guild also proceeds to set up its facilities in Jambi, Pasai, Trengganu, Pahang, and Bengkulu to further cement its position in trade across the Nusantara. The war college with its studies into gunpowder has seen fit to provide patronage to scholars who are attempting to develop a siege cannon capable of doing more than impacting morale by improving upon existing designs and making them more accurate. Fortifications across Ayutthaya have begun to receive shipments of gunpowder weapons from cetbangs to arquebus' in order to bolster their ability to defend themselves from enemy assaults. At the insistence of Tun Perak, the Rama Trailokannat has begun to deploy troops from the Capital Defense Corps to begin travelling and visiting villages in order to inspect and improve the training currently in place as a way of standardizing the troops. Land development and maintenance continues for irrigation to road networks under the oversight of the Orang Besar who have reported that development across Ayutthaya has been completed for the most part with a few isolated pockets serving as exceptions with maintenance being the chief concern for current infrastructure plans. The Temenggung has begun spreading his spy network along the existing trade routes by employing more merchants as contacts and sources of information to spread the reach of Ayutthaya beyond its borders and as a precaution to determine possible threats to the Kingdom. Rumors have begun to flow in from Lan Xang through spies and rumors of pockets of resistance to Ayutthaya over long standing grudges from previous wars. Hang Jebat and a portion of the Capital Defense Corps have been mobilized to assist the local garrisons in surpressing the uprising. Troops in the region have been ordered to surround the revolting pockets until reinforcements arrive to assist in pacifying the rebels. Arquebusiers and cannoneers have been dispatched from levies across Ayutthaya to assist in the revolt as well as experiment and test existing strategies from the war college.
    • Blambagan will permit trade from Siam
  • Kingdom of Wales: After the death of both Richard Neville and Edward Beaufort, King Edmund I of Wales shares the view of his nephew, King Edward VI of England, that this war is completely untenable, thus the proposed truce is eagerly accepted, as it would allow the Celtic Confederacy to focus on subduing the last defiant remnants of resistance to the authority of the Celtic Confederacy, in the face of the false "Ameraudur" and de facto ruler of the Isle of Mann, as well as the Earls of Desmond and Tyrone. Purges against the disloyal Yorkist nobility also comes to a halt, as the possibility of a future English invasion lessens. Crown Prince Lionel of York-Wales, who was raised with the tales of "Sinclar's Adventures" and "King Arthur, the Progenitor of Wales", is a young man overtly eager to explore the world, thrilled at the possibility of becoming one day a reknown adventurer himself to the likes of Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, contemplating on how would his life be as an adventurer. But for the time being he is united with the bonds of marriage with his betrothed, the magnificent maiden, Gwenhwyfar [Guinevere] ap Cadfael, the 15 year old daughter of Duke Cadfael ap Alisdair (Bruce) of Gwynedd and his wife, Anne Neville. Their marriage takes place in the newly restored Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, with a magnificent ceremony attended by the entire nobility of our realm and beyond. The two newly established printing shops in Cardiff and Caernarfon have proven to be commercial successes, continue circulating best sellers like the Welsh language version of the Bible, "Sinclar's Adventures", "King Arthur, the Progenitor of Wales" by reknowned Welsh author Lewys Glyn Cothi and other already popular books, now rendering them affordable even for the lower nobility, the merchant class and the commoners. With the ongoing war, construction of new caravels and ships for our navy is halted in its entirety for the time being, as the vast majority of our resources are dedicated into our army. Another 3.000 men under the command of Myrddin ap Cadfael (Bruce) of Gwynedd are transported by our entire navy under the command of Admiral Cadfael ap Alisdair (Bruce) of Gwynedd to the Isle of Mann, to his very private domain, the Barony of Cranstal to the North of the island, which for the most part is a flat and largely undefended and sparsely populated area, in order to minimize the chances of any sort of Manx force blocking our landing. They shall coordinate with whatever forces the Kingdom of Scotland can spare to assist the landing. (ALGO REQUESTED) Using the fortified town of Kilkeel in Ulster as their base of operations, the entire Welsh force of 8,000 men under the personal command of King Edmund of Wales continues to reinforce the forces of King Robert III against the remaining forces of the defiant Irish nobility and assist his ongoing efforts to pacify the island and solidify his hold over it. (ALGO REQUESTED) The support of the entirety of the Welsh fleet under the command of Admiral Cadfael ap Alisdair of Gwynedd is instrumental in maintaining our supply lines as solid as possible to our forces in Ireland/Eiru and the Isle of Mann, who are assisting the rightfull Ameraudur in subduing the very last pockets of resistance to his divine rule. Additionally the Welsh and Scottish fleets jointly continue to enforce a complete blockade on the rebellious Isle of Mann, intent of starving them out to submission as well as disallowing any sort of trade, supplies and military assistance to arrive from England to reinforce them. With the War of the Roses behind us, the unifying theme of the worship of Saint Owain (Lawgoch) perseveres, providing a sense of national unity to the Celtic Confederacy, bolstering our efforts in the ongoing wars to further solidify the Confederacy into a unified realm, capable of withstanding the test of time against the adversity of bordering the vile Kingdom of England. King Edmund continues to promote the reconciliation of his realm, divided into two similar yet starkly different halves, the Pura Walia region, dominanated by the independent minded Welsh nobility and the Marchia Walliae region, dominanated by the Anglo-Norman nobility, by encouraging the adoption of Welsh customs and traditions by the Anglo-Norman part of his nobility, furthermore encouraging marriages between the Anglo-Normans and Welsh noble families, with a bit more success thus far, as a few more Yorkist and Lancasterian supporters alike, but loyalist to the Welsh crown above all, Anglo-Norman noble families that have good relations with King Edmund of Wales following suit by adopting even more Welsh customs and traditions and/or intermarrying with the Welsh nobility for the time being.
  • Empire of Japan: This year is a momentous year as the Great Northern Expedition finally embarks. Guy Yamamoto leads his ship, the Great War Junk Haku along side 4 other smaller ships on the expedition. They immediately push on to Attu island picking up their native guides who know the island chain well and begin pushing east. As they push east they immediately discover more islands in the island chain noting that locals say the chain continues further to the east and Captain Guy Yamamoto seizes on the idea and immediately sets forth to push further east. As more islands begin to come up, they are claimed and added to the maps with a rough approximation of where they had gone being brought together. As the voyage enters into its later stages, the small expeditionary fleet runs into larger islands which apparently run up into a larger land mass. The expedition settles down for the year (at the otl Fox islands) and forages for resources for food, repairs, and just general resource stockpile. The idea is to continue the expedition the next year and continue cataloguing and finding unique new resources to bring home. A series of pelts offered up by the Aleutian islands natives have sparked much interest as they are unique and unknown to Japan as to what animals these are from, and its clear this could end up a profitable venture. At home, the escalation of the war between the Oirats and the Tian prompts many to look at the situation with great interest. Will the Oirats manage to beat the Chinese or will China enforce tributary status once again on the great northern hordes. With this in the works, the Empire marshalls together a host to bolster defenses in Manzhuguo. on top of the 10,000 strong force garrisoned in the area, as the year continues on a troop build up is noticeable. The Manzhu territorial army is reinforced by 20,000 Imperial troops from the Southern and Northern armies, and in finality by 2 of the largest Kensei Order Chapters. Interestingly enough the Kensei Order seems to have matured somewhat as their arrival in the region is highly unexpected. Arriving with a slew of their own equipment as well as direct and total support from the Admiralty, it becomes clear the Kensei Order has begun to operate almost as the expeditionary military arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy. With the Arrival of the 2 5000 strong Kensei Order Chapters, the Kyoto and Kyushu Chapers, the total strength in Manzhuguo is noted at nearly 40,000 with preparation to fight should anyone get any ideas in exploiting the issue between the Chinese and Oirats. The Japanese navy is also left in high alert and patrol routes are more closely guarded than usual as the Imperial navy begin fanning out most of its direct fleets to maintain a large and very powerful presence in the mainline trade routes comming out of Far Eastern Asian down to the Malacca Straits. The Settlements in the Northern Azuma Islands continue to grow as well as multiple smaller towns and farms have begun to pop up in the controlled territory. More territory to the west of the current lands are claimed, readied for Japanese and even some chinese settlers. 
  • Vinland: The population grows to 5,575. All cities grow this year. The country is urbanizing, with about a quarter of its population residing in Elufsker and Dogajavick. War rages between Skogrfjalland and Suðrvinland.
    • Skogrfjalland: The Norse population stagnates as a proportion of the total population. The Norse face a devastating loss at the Battle of Elufsker and lose control over the village after a 10 day battle. Erik Hrothgarsson flees to Hallrberga with his family. 
    • Suðrvinland: All cities grow this year. The population of Dogajavick is around 855. Hjalfar leads an offensive deeper into Norse territory in June. After a long battle, he takes control of much of Elufsker and one of the only smiths on the island. He immediately puts it into use by forging new equipment for his men.
    • Keathutberga: Keathutberglanders expand along the northeast coast of Unamaland. The outpost of Vinbergen is fortified this year,. The population of Keathutberga is about 85, ten families leave to fight for the Tvennufolk. 
    • Beothuk: The Beothuk aid the Tvennufolk in their war against the Norse and attack several peripheral Norse hamlets. By this point, almost all of the Beothuk swear allegiance to Suðrvinland.
  • Papal States: Due to the failure of the League of Public Weal in France and not desiring to cause more conflict, Pope Innocent VII decides to remove the excommunication placed over King William II of France, justifying that after a second analysis the evidence against William proved to be weak and those that brought it to Pope Innocent VII will be punished for spreading rumors. However the pontiff will continue watching the actions of the French king. The construction of the Apostolic Palace and of the Cortile del Belvedere continue. Seeking to beautify the Palace and the Gregorian Chapel with a serie of frescos the pope writes to a team of painters formed by Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli to come Rome and work in the chapel [MOD response needed, please]. This year the Holy Father creates as cardinals Gerhard Waldschmidt (Württemberg), Lorenzo Cibo de' Mari (Papal States), Benincasa di Benincasis (Ancona) and  Nicolas de Cibo (Arles). This year Pope Innocent VII chooses new Papal Vicars. They are: Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (Spoleto), Cardinal Lorenzo Cibo de' Mari (Benevento) and Francesco Maria Scelloni (Comtat Venaissin).  After assuming the position of Papa Vicar of Comtat Venaissin, Cardinal Francesco Maria Scelloni starts a project of turning this province similar to a city of the Italian Peninsula. With permission of Pope Innocent VII, he bring Italian artists to work in the construction of buildings like those being made in Rome and also bring people of the Papal States to live there. Captain General Philip of Habsburg continues to train more men for the Papal Army. The Arsenal of Orvieto continues to produce weapons, while ships are produced in the Arsenals of Civitavecchia and Ostia. Seeing that the Order of Bari is defenseless, Pope Innocent VII writes to the Order offering help to build an Arsenal for production of weapons and ships for the defense of the Island of Karpathos [MOD response needed, please]. Philip of Habsburg and Luchina Della Rovere have a daughter named, Lucrezia. Filippa Colonna, wife of Maximilian of Habsburg and mother of Philip and Margaret of Habsburg dies this year. She is buried in the Church of Saint Peter that was reformed by the Habsburgs of the Leopoldinian branch since they became Lords of Monte San Giovanni Campano. Philip of Habsburg writes to Gaston de Foix asking the hand of Gaston’s daughter Catherine for Philip’s son Ferdinand [MOD response needed, please]. Philip also writes to the King of Wales, asking for the betrothal between his daughter Catherine and a Welsh heir [Wales response needed, please].
    • Republic of Ancona: The Arsenal of Ancona continue to produce new ships and the Anconian fleet is expanded. New frescos are painted in the Cathedral of Ancona. Due to the presence of the Lotharingian merchant company Azienda du Blu in the Republic, Lotharingians start to live in Ancona.
    • Marriage accepted
    • Kingdom of Wales: King Edmund proposes the 4 year old grandson (Cadfael ap Myrddin (Bruce) of Gwynedd) of his most trusted ally, loyal bannerman, personal friend, as well as the most powerfull noble in the entire realm, Duke Cadfael ap Alisdair (Bruce) of Gwynedd.
  • Kingdom of Lotharingia: "Were Di" With the death of couple tousand of Soldiers and more then ten tousand rebel deaths, the Flemish rebelion ends with King John V victory. This being done by an army of only Lotharingians, the king having refused foreign help as this would've helped the rebel cause. As the rebels belived John to be a Spanish king and not a lotharingian, even if he was born in Heyst and raised in hesse. John being fluent in german, belgic and conversational in spanish, alltough his Belgic the native language of Lotharingia is the language he speaks the tongue of the land. The king giving amnisty to all the rebels who survived and granting them only short prison time and a fine of 10% of their income. This income directly being used as to pay the Nobles in Barois, as John is now recognised as John Regnier duke of Barois. The Duchy fo barois being still a seperate entity then the kingdom of lotharingia, even if they're closely connected due to the shared border and being both members of the Sacred empire.
  • Kingdom of Portugal: The final preparations for Bartolomeu Dias 1485 expeditions begins with the carrack São Cristóvão being piloted by famous navigator Pêro de Alenquer while the second of the six carracks São Pantaleão being piloted by João Infante.The plan is to sail past fernando po where they will pick up provisions and then continue down as long as they have eneough supplies to return home.In Portugal,the queen gives birth to a daugther who per tradition she names Cirí.
  • Oyo Empire: We will be finalizing our agreement with Arles. The Alaafin shall send gifts of Gold and art to Arles Queen. Next we shall send both Kwac Traditional Yoruba and Muslim constructors to the Capital in Katanga. The city is reaching a population of 50,000-60,000 people around this time and these constructors are to expand and modernise the citys infrastructure. Next the offer being sent to Mali for them to assist in the construction of the Magnificent Port of Lagos. With increasing traffic from Europeans to here it is key to facilitate the trade. Finally send missionaries to the neighboring confederacy to our west. While their official job is to convert the local population secretly agents will be among them to begin talks with local leaders about sparkin rebellion. These missionaries will offer guns and support to those that stage rebellions in the Confederacy to destabilize the region. I will even send gifts to the king of this confederacy so that they dont expect anything.
  • Archbishopric of MainzHanns von Wulfestorff, newly appointed head of the Army of the Holy Roman Empire, begins actively recruiting as many professional soldiers as he can, taking advantage of the large number of experienced men looking for better wages since the end of the Greek War. He appoints a military commander for each of the Imperial Circles, assigned to the Governor of that Circle, and in-change of all units in his Circle. Under them he begins establishing an organized hierarchal command structure, with regular training. In response to the Emperor's decision to declare war on the Swiss, he begins mobalizing the forces he can raise so far, and moving to support the armies of Bavaria and the other states of the Empire that have committed to the war. He is concerned by a war so soon, but hopes that it will give his troops a chance to bond in battle, and to field-test his modern military hierarchy. He sends observers to Wurtenburg, to study their military reforms, with an eye towards implementing similar reform himself later. Adelbert continues to support the Inquisition and the Assembly of Preachers. He continues his policies to raise education in his Diocese. He continues the patronizing of printing releases from the Pontifical Roman Press, and other great works for the Library of Mainz. The Empire is not prepared for such adventures right now. Cardinal Adalbert continues to integrating Darmstadt into the Electorate. Von Roggendorf continues to monitor closely the income and expenditure of the empire, and keep the tax code fair and the trade revenues high. Enthused by reports he has been reading about the growing foreign trade of Portugal and Spain, he orders the construction of three ocean-going merchant ships, for an expedition to explore south of Vinland, in the new world.
  • Kingdom of Arles: It seems that the tensions have died down. Lucas I decides to travel down to the Hasfid Caliphate to ensure trade support between the two nations. (HASFID RESPONSE) Tensions remain high with Florence. The 'One Arles' programme resumes, along with the upgrading of the University at Marseilles. 2 more 2.1 Carrackés are built. In Western Sahara, A small expedition is sent towards Mali, in the hopes that they can found a port to the south of Mali, to ensure valuable trading goods. There is less military spending, and more is spent on improving roads and living conditions. *secret* The Duke James, after eating his dinner, falls very ill. Queen Aline suspects it is poison. However, she does not disclose this information, as she does not want to trouble anyone. (mod response to see if James survives.) this brings Queen Aline to feel very distressed, worried that she might be next. The economy is improved. Queen Aline commissions the work of the finest Arlean Sculptor Romalt De Agrio to make a statue of William VI, the king whom started the revolution age of Arles. The painter that painted Luio Artleo's painting against the Saluzzoans start painting all 4 previous Kings and Queen of Arles. As the Oyo Empire's gifts pour into Marseilles, we are grateful and as a customary tradition, send some of the finest Arlean Rose Wine to the Oyo Empire, along with amounts of gold.
    • Pisa: The university of Pisa is upgraded, this time on the left wing as the university expands once more.
  • Duchy of All Bavaria: Albert IV continues his efforts to make the reunification of Bavaria as smooth as possible. The former Landshut household has been fully incorporated into the royal household in Munich, and is now primarily responsible for administering the Kingdom. With more administrative power at his disposal, Albert IV continues his tax reform. So far, rates have remained the same, but taxes are not directly collected by the royal household in some areas of the Empire. This makes the system more efficient and reduces fraud across all levels, raising royal revenues even after local nobles receive their share, though at this point the total effect on the Duchy's treasury is limited. As it stands, the new system is mostly present in and around the cities of Munich and Regensburg, but in the system's second year, Albert IV continues its expansion to parts of the countryside, planning to put 50 percent of the Bavarian population under the new tax system within 14 years, by 1495. Albert IV continues to purchase cheap weapons for the Bavarian military, especially investing in firearms and cannons. However, in the long term, Albert IV hopes to offset the need to purchase foreign weapons by building them in Munich, and he continues his initiatives to fund and subsidize weapons manufacturers around the region. Hoping to make Munich central to European weapons production, he announce that any foreign manufacturers are eligible to receive subsidies if they move operations in Munich, though he puts a cap on how much money he will hand out, and conditions this on them selling their weapons first to Bavarians. Albert IV accepts Mainz's offer from the previous year, and integrates their funding into this project. Development on a new cannon modeled after the byzantine Dardanelles gun is no complete, and small scale manufacturing begins in Munich. Albert IV, Using the patchy census data he has, he and his household are able to assign how many troops each region should be able to raise in the event of war, and how many standing troops should exist in the Duchy. Right now, the Duchy has a standing army of roughly 8,000, with the potential to raise a total of 60,000 if needed. The treasury also sets aside funding to pay mercenaries, should they ever be needed. Trade continues to grow, especially with Poland-Lithuania, and Albert IV starts to use his small standing army to patrol the highways of Bavaria to keep them safe for merchants, offering merchants from any nation access to Bavaria's safe roads in exchange for a small fee, though the fee is waived for the Duke's close allies. Wanting to take advantage of the chaos in Switzerland and enforce his claim, codified in the Decree of 1357, to the historic German lands under Swiss control, Albert IV declares awar on the swiss and begins an invasion with 20,000 troops. The Bavarian army is armed with a mixture of spears, axes, and firearms, and the newly manufactured Bavarian cannons feature prominently,many armed with anti-infantry grpeshot. Albert IV orders his army, and any allies who might join, to focus first on taking out any swiss defenders and forcing pitched battles. The army uses several novel tactics, including having lines of soldiers with spears or pole-axes defending lines of riflemen and cannons, essentially allowing the Bavarians to wreak havoc with firearms. In the event of major victories, Albert IV orders his forces to advance west instead of south, encroaching on Swiss territory but avoiding the alps. Albert IV asks for assistance from the Kingdom of Bohemia, suggesting they enforce their emperor's decree [BOHEMIA RESPONSE], and from the Duchy fo Thuringia, pointing out the swiss are a common enemy [THURINGIA RESPONSE]. ALGO REQUESTED
    • Principality of Nassau: After his Marriage to Agnes, Albert IV assumes status as regent of the Principality. He begins to implement the Bavarian tax system in Nassau. Nassau financially supports the Bavarian invasion of Switzerland.
  • Thuringia: “The assassin came at dawn. He dipped a dropper into a vial of poison, and carefully dispensed it, drop by drop upon the emperor’s sleeping body. He was discovered soon after, before the full poison could be discharged, but not before the harm had been done. Our emperor had been placed into a great sleep, but he would surely recover. This left the fate of the empire on the back of the High Steward, who ordered the utmost care be given to the emperor for his speedy recovery, and the High Steward began the process of governing temporarily, as best he could.” The Justiciar had finished his report and began to sit back down at the long table of the cabinet. The Thin White Duke rose. “Thank you,” he said. “Now we must get back to work, and begin the emperor’s plan.” The men shifted in their chairs. Several spots remained vacant after deaths or depositions; there was no archchancellor still since the death of Diether von Isenburg, and no High Chamberlain since the death of Herman III. The Grand Marshall had been fired, and the Master of Ships absent as always. “Jan Žižka will be appointed the new Grand Marshall,” he explained. Jan had been an undefeated, masterful general across a dozen wars, and his name was famous across Europe. When he entered the assembly turned their heads to look. He was escorted by William and Jaanai, two knights of the Imperial Guard. “And he will most definitely be needed,” the regent continued. “For it is time that the empire awaken from its indifference to violations of justice. For when it becomes clear that there is injustice being perpetrated against the people of the empire who the Emperor is sworn to protect --that whenever any form of government under his sovereignty has become set on the destructive of these ends, or if any entity has perpetrated any act of immoral and unjust behavior against anyone-- it is the right of the righteous individual to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. We charge that Lenzburg has broken his sacred vow and has committed such grevious acts. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that the states of our empire long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce our people under absolute despotism, it is our right, it is our duty, to throw off such insubordinate states, and to provide new guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these members of the empire; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present confederacy in Helvetia is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world: he has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has refused to submit himself humbly in accordance with the laws of the land. He has refused to cease hostile actions detrimental to the state and to all states, jeopardizing our public security. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” There was a great pause after this speech. “And what is the action?” asked Kaspar von Roggendorf. “You can’t,” interrupted the cupbearer. It was Aymon von Lenzburg. The regent raised any eyebrow. The cupbearer stood up. “You will not achieve such ends,” he said. “You don’t know what Lenzburg can-” “I soon I will return to feasting with them,” said the regent. “They watch me, Lausanne. Day and night their eyes are on me, noses sniffing for some whiff of treachery. You saw them, the arrogant Duke of Lenzburg and his nephew, that smirking worm who wears an emperor’s name. Behind them both stands another, clinking coins. That one has bought and paid for several of my servants and two of my knights. One of his wife’s handmaids has found her way into the bed of my own fool. Caught red-handed in the act of conspiring against us, with plans to kill. If any should wonder why my letters say so little, it is because I dare not even trust the writers. Priests are supposed to put aside old loyalties when they don their cloaks, but I cannot forget that he was born a Lenzburg and claims some distant kinship to the Lenzburgs still. Foes and false friends are all around me, Lausanne. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The man’s fingers coiled into a fist. “My son came to Switzerland a guest. He ate Lord Lenzburg’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with friends and they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Lenzburgs choke upon their fables. I drink with you, jape with Engelbert, promise Ulrich the hand of my own beloved granddaughter … but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lausanne. The north remembers. And my son is home now, the farce is almost done.” “That is madness!” shouted the Bishop over his panting breath. The regent looked up once more into his eyes. “Madness? No….this is Germany.” The bishop began to gather his things. “By the authority of the Emperor, you are under arrest.” The guards began to grab him. “I hereby charge you with the murder of Wenceslaus, and the conspiracy against Henry.” The bishop looked up in shock as the guards began to drag him away. “Ah yes, you thought I wouldn’t find out...you thought you had hid your involvement so well. The man made a fatal error in his hubris, thinking he was above the law, and above justice.” The other men of the cabinet nodded. The regent continued, “We have delivered an ultimatum to the Swiss Confederacy, that they must immediately forfeit the lands they illegally acquired and continue to hold illegally, in violation of most recently the Decree of 1479; they will forfeit the lands they took from the Kingdom of Germany, notably the land that the Emperor swore was rightfully Bavaria. They will answer for their crimes, notably the multiple murders of fair and just rulers and servants of the state.” (Algorithm request)
    • Bohemia: Acting on behalf of the emperor while he is incapacitated, the Thin White Duke raises the army of the empire and of Bohemia and its personal provinces, joining them with the army of Thuringia, and marches to aid the Bavarian attack against the Swiss. The Army of Brandenburg is raised and kept in reserve in the region to defend Bohemia’s lands from surprise attack, as is another army in Prague, while the main army marches toward Augsburg from the north. Bohemia asks that its allies join the war. Bohemia writes to Austria, stating that the Austrians have been a historic enemy of the Swiss, and ask that Austria join this war in which it seeks to gain the areas of western Tirol that were once part of Austria. The nations of Modena and Florence are asked to join, as they seek to see the Italian cantons of Switzerland returned. The allied nations of Wurttemburg, Mainz, Hesse, and all German states who are willing to aid their emperor, are called to also join. To southern states like Wurttemburg, territory from northern Switzerland is promised. The marriage with Burgundy is accepted and aid from them is requested. To all else, Bohemia assures them that they mean to liberate the many, many princes of Swabia who the Swiss have annexed, and have no intention of taking any territory themselves. (Mod and player responses needed; algorithm request)
    • Engelbert, Heir of Württemberg: "Damn your perfidious cries your dog! My sister is Swiss as are her children, and I will not have them throw off the shakles of one man just to be enslaved by another! My father will not hear of this, as he is too weak and feeble to lead. I am not slave, and I will not fight for a kingdom of conquerors who stand against my German brothers in Bern, Zurich, and Basel. I shall fight for the Swiss!" Engelbert storms out of the gathering, clearly a different man than his father. Württemberg goes to war.
  • Hanseatic League: As a new year dawns and the Baltic thaws, the non-stop trade of the Hanseatic League continues to guide German economics into a daring, new age. Every year, representatives of the Hanseatic League (Ratssendeboten) meet at an assembly in Lübeck known as the Tagfahrt. However, since the mid-14th century, the aldermen of the League have had the true say in what happens in these meetings. The League has come a long way since the days of its early inception. Civility reigned; if a consensus was threatened that may benefit the League as a whole, an alternative idea was not proposed. Something, after all, is better than nothing. Now, however, the central states of the Hanseatic League dominate trade and therefore hold significant sway over the politics of the region. The Hanseatic League recognizes four men who represent the entire central political entity and who also hold considerable sway over those who may not be governed by Hanseatic ideals. They are as follows: the Bürgermeister of Lübeck and Hamburg - Simon Burkhart, who share a mayor and who hold the final say in where shipments throughout the four regions go; Frederick II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who determine the prices of salt; the Prince-Admiral of Rostock Christopher von Warnow, who holds a permanent hereditary military position; and Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Hermann von Bardewik, who holds significant sway over ecumenical politics in the Baltic. Houses Ascania and Welf have an agreement to alternate control over the Principality of Lüneburg, which has kept the peace for some time. This also prevents the region from slipping out of the hands of either house. With Pomerania-Stettin being brought ever deeper into the fold of the Hanseatic League, trade along the Baltic becomes more lucrative than ever. The Baltic Duchies also see a heavy increase in trade due to the lack of organized interference from Pomerania. However, piracy continues to affect the Baltic. Rostock and Kiel shipyards pump out bulks en masse. To protect their convoys against the pirates, the Hanseatic League employs ships known as the Orlogship. These ships have historically been equipped with crossbows and catapults. The Hakenbüchse (Arquebus) is becoming increasingly common on Hanseatic Ships. Others are being fitted with the Culverin, a small cannon that yields devastating results at close range. Nine carracks are built at Kiel with another six being built in Rostock. They join the convoys that already criss-cross the Baltic and North Sea in a seemingly unending parade. The Hanseatic League has been responsible for defusing a number of close calls that could have easily led to war simply with the power of her pocketbook and navy. The fortifications around Cuxhaven and Heligoland are expanded, stoneworks rising ever higher to defend the coastline of the entrance to the North Sea and the Baltic. The North Sea is becoming safer by the day, as Hanseatic pirate hunters pacify the region and ensure North Sea trade remains as profitable as possible. A shipyard is constructed in the Scottish Kontor, from which hulls and parts are sold to the Celtic Confederacy. The rise of shipbuilding industries abroad bring tradesman from Europe into the North Sea trade. Occasionally, they are responsible for teaching Scottish and English shipwrights how to build seafaring ships. In England, the Hanseatic Merchant Adventurers of England are formed. They are traders who hold an alliance with many English wool and cloth traders who saturate the German market in exchange for German wares. In inner Germany, the Hanseatic League works on influencing the cities already under a Hanseatic contract, especially Münster and Tecklenburg. The newly-acquired Oldenburg begins to offer offers of representation to nearby cities. With the outbreak of war in the Holy Roman Empire, the Hanseatic League wishes to keep the German economy afloat. In order to remain neutral, the Hanseatic League requests that all declarations of independence and allegiance within the League remain legal throughout Pomerania and Livonia. (Mod Response) As the Holy Roman Empire falls deeper into war, the Hanseatic League wishes to ensure that both sides are able to represent themselves on the field of battle. As a result of this war, the cost of weapons rises in Hanseatic markets, though they remain less offensive than many free cities throughout the Empire. Despite the outbreak of war, the League wishes to extend its influence throughout Europe. Understanding that Arles is in need of arms in the face of aggression, the Hanseatic League offers the construction of a Kontor on the Mediterranean to allow Baltic and Rhine trade to enter the region. As the financial power of the League grows, the identity of the trade empire seems to envelop the traders throughout Germany. To ensure that the Rhine states, which carry a significant sway within the Empire, remain accounted for, the archbishop of Münster and the free city of Cologne are offered full representation within the League (Mod response needed, this would grant me control of the cities.) This would allow a centralized Hanseatic economy, within and without the League states.

Footnotes

Mapa de Borgia XV


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