February 1694, Imperial Palace of El Escorial, Madrid
Emperor Luis I of the Ruspoli dynasty gazes pensively out of his window at the mountainous landscape surrounding his palace, from where he rules his universal empire. He is the most powerful man on earth. And he has a mission, an age-old mission. He feels above him all his ancestors, those who preceded him on the throne of the Crown of Spain, all of whom have worked, with varying degrees of success, towards the ultimate goal. But it is he, Luis, who has the eternal honour of finishing the job. He is going to do what no man has ever been able to do, he feels. In a world eternally divided by religious wars, he will have the honour of spreading the faith of Christ everywhere, in every country, in every land, in every town, in every village, in every person. How many battles had to be fought? How many deaths? For a moment, Luis seemed to regret all those wars and conquests. But no, it had to be done. Because soon, humanity will finally be reunited by faith. And then, he is sure, all wars will disappear and divine peace will finally reign on Earth.
The footsteps of one of his courtiers snapped him out of his thoughts.
-My emperor, my emperor, I have great news to tell you
-What is it?
-Well, it's over.
-Is it really?
-Yes, really. We have received a letter from our Viceroy of Champassak in Indochina. Our Jesuit missionaries have been hard at work. All the pagan temples have been converted into churches. A large cathedral was erected in Attapeu, the last remaining pagan province.
The members of the court present were stunned; had the legend of the kings of Spain finally been fulfilled? The room fell silent. The Cardinal Minister made the sign of the cross and shouted: ‘Alleluia! God's will be done! Long live the Emperor! Suddenly there was applause, cheers and even tears. At last, the prophecy was fulfilled.
The emperor then spoke these few words: ‘My brothers and sisters of the aposlotic and Roman Catholic religion, this day will remain forever etched in the memory of mankind, because thanks to God, we have spread his message throughout the whole world. All men, wherever they may be, pray to only one God, the true God, and recognise the true faith. Henceforth, the world of yesterday, made up of wars, divisions and misfortunes, will be a thing of the past. I, your emperor, and my descendants will forever be the protectors of this unity'.
Throughout the world, a period of celebrations followed, the longest ever known. Everyone, whoever they are, is celebrating the end of the war forever.
But will Emperor Luis be able to keep his promises? Will his work stand the test of time, and above all of the new ideas put forward by philosophers who advocate rationalism, sometimes even going so far as to envisage atheism? Only time will tell.
Well, now back to the real world. This part was really long and by the end I was pretty exhausted, but hey, it had to be finished. Two weeks entirely dedicated to this run. From now on, I'll be able to boast about my achievement. In fact, to no-one around me, because no-one knows EU4 and as soon as I mention the game everyone looks at me strangely, as if I were an alien.
I think I've done pretty well, but there's always room for improvement... Now I've got to get back to studying, because the exams are coming up.