RagusARR

[5ar]

Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro

This is my first AAR so I welcome any comments and feedback, especially about possible errors and/or advices about my writing style – since English isn’t my native language and one of the reasons why I’ve decided to write an AAR is to improve on my writing skills.

I know EU4 might be a better idea since most of the community probably moved there, but nostalgia got me lately so I chose EU3.

As you may have already guessed, the AAR is going to be about Ragusa. I haven’t seen any ARRs about that country, and considering I live in Croatia I guessed that choosing Ragusa could save me some research (at least the linguistic one) – I was wrong about that one . Since I’ve been to Dubrovnik only once in my life and that was a long time ago, people familiar with the region may encounter some smaller mistakes about the city itself and me using a few wrong terms.

A few notes before I begin:

• The start is in 1403 because I'd like to be able to do a few things on the Balkans without worrying about the Ottoman Empire from the very beginning
• In history a new Rector (Italian: Rettore; Croatian: Knez) for the Republic of Ragusa was chosen every month and members of the Small Council (Latin: Consilium minus; Croatian: Malo vijeće) and the Senate (Latin: Consilium rogatorum; Croatian: Vijeće umoljenih later referred to as Senat) every year. In the game Ragusa is a noble republic, and as such has an election cycle of eight years. That all being the case, in the ARR all the mentioned historical elections will all be held every eight years and the Rector’s family will be allowed to live with him in the Rector's Palace (Croatian: Knežev dvor) during his mandate.
  For those interested in the historical government of the Republic of Ragusa click here for Wikipedia link.
  Also note that the name of the first ruler in game (Vijece) isn’t a name but means council.
• The story will be written from multiple POV characters. I found that style more appealing to me since Ragusa is a republic.
• The language of the dialogs will of course be in English, but I may use some Latin, Italian or Croatian words or phrases in the dialogs, all of which will be translated at the end of each post.
  Most of the characters will speak Latin, since that was the official language, or Italian, being an important trade language and those two languages will be represented by English. However, the common people spoke the Ragusan dialect of an archaic form of Croatian and, considering I won’t have commoners speaking amongst themselves that often, I’m thinking of writing those dialogs in modern Croatian, or maybe even use a few words from the Dalmatian dialect (and providing you with a suitable translation at the end of the post ofc). I’m still not sure about this, let me know what you think about the idea.

I'll post the first part in about 1-3 days (if, God forbid, my Internet doesn't shut down)


The world on the 1st January 1403

Spoiler

 

[ATBKING]

Nice Choice. Havent ever seen a Ragusa. Ive seen a Montenegro though. What are your Goals?

 

[5ar]

Nice Choice. Havent ever seen a Ragusa. Ive seen a Montenegro though. What are your Goals?

Well, try to survive mostly, but while still doing something. My focus is more on trying to make a nice story, even if I don't fair so well with playing the game itself.

 

[5ar]

---

Džore Vetranović [Giorgio Vetrani] – a senior guard of the Republic of Ragusa​

1^st January 1403


The light was shining bright through the windows, in between the heavy red curtains. “It’s almost noon” I thought to myself while looking at the guard beside the other corner of the door to the Small Council’s chambers we were guarding. He was young, his eyes were looking straight forward, he didn’t even notice me staring at him. He held his halberd with a firm grip and hadn’t moved an inch since he’d got to his position, while I on the other hand would have occasionally (when nobody was looking) used my halberd as support for my upper body. “A halberd, such a stupid weapon for an indoor guard. It’s not like somebody is going to charge horseback up the stairway and across the narrow hallway into this room, although that would be interesting, at least I wouldn’t have to stand still. A sword would be much more practical. I wouldn’t have to hold it in my hand for half a day and it’s a lot faster to swing. Hell, while I get into swinging position with this halberd, someone can just stab me with a dagger in my arm and I would just drop the damn thing… Ack! My back is starting to hurt again. I hope that request for another position gets admitted soon…” I kept nagging about my position to myself. The debate in the Small Council’s chambers started to get louder. I leaned against the wall to ease my back pain. I was now able to clearly hear what the members of the Small Council were talking about…


“The situation isn’t getting any better. The Dragon of the East⁽¹⁾ might not be a problem for the time being, but the Lion⁽²⁾ licked it’s wounds⁽³⁾ long ago and is prepared to strike. Not to mention that the sudden stop of the Dragon’s conquest gives the heretics⁽⁴⁾ a chance to get back on their feet and what better way to do so than to sack a rich defenceless city such as ours. We need to develop stronger diplomatic relations with Sigismund or our libertas⁽⁵⁾ will be just a story for our grandchildren.” Ivan Đurđević was elaborating to his fellow council members. His family benefited greatly from the Hungarians, opposed to the time when Ragusa was under Venetian rule and they were one of the poorest patrician houses.

“Our freedom is guaranteed by the Treaty of 1358⁽³⁾ as long as we pay a tribute to the King of Hungary, Croatia and Dalmatia. Since all of our finances are going well and there is no sign of that changing any time soon, the fate of our republic is safe” Mateo Kabužić opposed Đurđević’s appeal for action.

“Our freedom was guaranteed by Louis I of the House of Anjou, caro Matteo⁽⁶⁾. The House of Luxemburg focuses more on the internal affairs of the Holy Roman Empire. Sigismund’s rule decentralized the Kingdoms of Hungary, Croatia and Dalmatia and he won’t come to our aid in a time of need if we don’t prove our worth to him.” Petar Menčetić mocked the young council member’s opinion.

“So what do you propose we do?” Mateo asked, confused by Petar’s quick reply.

“Well the answer is simple – slowly gain his favour. I propose we marry one of our noblest patricians’ daughters to a member of the House of Luxemburg on Sigismund’s court and also send her father as a representative of the Republic of Ragusa to gain Sigismund’s trust.” Petar said smoothly.

“And who do we send?” Mateo asked again.

“I gladly nominate myself. My daughter Maria is of marriageable age, and I speak fluent Hungarian.” Ivan quickly replied.

“The matter is settled then. Marino, send the idea to the Senate, they’ll make a draft of the proposal and the Grand Council will vote on it by the end of the day.” Petar said to the young clerk who usually sat nearest to the door. “Do we have any other issues to resolve?” Petar asked.


Mateo was saying something but I couldn’t make up what it was because the church bells started to ring. It was noon, which means my shift was at its end for today.

---

---

1. the Ottoman Empire
2. the Republic of Venice
3. the Treaty of Zadar
4. the neighbouring Orthodox kingdoms, especially Serbia
5. Latin: freedom
6. Italian: dear Mateo

NOTE: The guard is a commoner, so he uses the Croatian form of the characters’ names. Here is a list of the mentioned names in both Croatian and Italian:

• Ivan Đurđević – Giovanni Giorgi
• Mateo Kabužić – Matteo Caboga
• Petar Menčetić – Pietro Menze

P.S. - halberds

Spoiler

 

[1anrs]

Looks interesting - subbed!

 

[unmerged(103157)]

have had a few games as Ragusa, great fun
Few Tips
i went plus 2 or 3 free trade before moving sliders for westernization
Hungry will annex you
so i would dowed Montenegro from the start but not annex because it was the only thing keeping me alive
best hope in general is hope hungry gets distracted, while you raise relationships, marriage, military access, etc
ottomans will have enough trouble so don't worry to much about them
Be aggressive and opportunistic and you can add cyprus, byzantium, Rhodes, Albania, parts of greece
Hire a treasurer and you can colonize the canneries etc by around 1440

Good luck