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Naples is merely reaping the harvest it had earlier sown. No need this frivolous talk of conversion @StrategyGameEnthusiast , for I am sure the Neapolitans will finally see their true destiny. Their meddlesome freedom, needless and unwarranted, is a great burden - too great for such a petty folk at the bottom of Italy to bear. The Emperor, in his grace, will relieve them of such cares.
I believe vassals of the Emperor will join HRE almost immediately if they border it. They will increase your IA when they do this, and it is a valid strategy to increase IA ( I used it in my True Tsar AAR). IIRC, you do not get any IA from adding your own provinces yourself . So you have to decide if you want the IA but suffer the -30 relations penalty, or try to get vassals who do not border the HRE .
In the following spring, another herald arrived with news that the emperor´s rival from the east had indeed crossed the Aegean and placed his banners on the castles
Agreed, I always have assumed because of high relations. The AI tags can and will also do it (see Verona & Aquileia for example) either by relations, attitude -like threatened by Venice in this case- or a mix. It´s the lack of a notification/pop-out that baffled me, and finding out randomly. In my Austria runs I tried to have more nations, by force or diplomacy, but since I never annexed them, there was no penalties stacking like in here.
Before launching his campaign in Naples, Emperor Manfredo got occupied in optimizing the best strategy to chase. He wanted to rest a little and let war exhaustion decay, as well as get his troops back home. The Alhambra great project in Granada was upgraded, with a high cost of manpower to complete it in less than a year. After all his triumphs, envious people questioned the emperor´s heritage, and straightforwardly he denied the accusations.
In July, Sardinia was incorporated into the country, and the emperor decided to replace their vassal spot with Verona, to satisfy the nobility agenda. War was declared on the duchy and their (non-cobelligerent) ally Aquileia in September.
In January 1487, Emperor Manfredo advanced the diplomatic technology (8) five full years before what was expected, to maintain Firenze´s innovativeness. This allowed him to start building shipyards on his main ports and increase the number of ships in the navy after a hard-learned lesson. The conflict was over in June, when the emperor subjugated Verona and annexed Aquileia, giving their Friuli province to the new vassal.
Once the estate agenda was fulfilled, the Emperor was capable in obtaining an important objective for him and at the same satisfying the rule imposed by his predecessor. He declared a re-conquest war on Naples on behalf of his vassal Aragon, while marking as co-belligerent the nations of Venice, Dalmatia and Mantua.
On September the 2nd, 1487, the day after receiving the reports that Avignon was now part of Firenze, the beloved Emperor Manfredo I Malipiero the Just, unifier of the realm and bane of the Neapolitans, exhaled his last breath. The control of Firenze and the empire were left in the hands of his heir, Alessio. By then completely legitimized, the new emperor had prepared for the role but would need more than simply talent to emulate his father.
The heir apparent was the newborn and seemingly average Amedeo (5/3/1), which was also considered the natural successor for the Holy Roman Emperorship according to a simple majority of the Electors (but not all like his father).
A scholar like Manfredo, Alessio was also less merciful than him. After Mantua fell, he demanded the city to be ceded to Milan. Trent suffered the same fate later in the conflict. His firm if somehow ruthless actions were observed in the international circles and earned him some respect.
But at home, Alessio was a pursuiter of harmony within his inner circle, as his view of the world was more pragmatic than idealistic, which paid dividends in the short term.
In the final stages of the war, Dalmatia was fully annexed (was thinking in force-vassalize, but they were at war with Croatia, and didn´t wanted to extend another war). Venice conceded his island capital, the fort across the channel Treviso and all their money. And Naples returned the complete state of Sicily to Aragon, their treasury and two more provinces: Acaia in Greece, and their capital as part of the treaty.
Alessio instructed for Dalmatia to be restored as a state under his protection, the Venetian possessions were gifted to Verona, Napoli became a city of Aragon, and the renamed province of Achaea became the capital of a reborn Byzantium.
Finally at peace, the emperor was able to pass another reform, even having the luxury of spending some extra imperial authority bestowing grace on princes with low relations.
By June 1490, Emperor Alessio seized Granada province from their namesake vassal (not capital), and Malta from Aragon for their Alhambra and Forts great projects and started upgrading the second one. He was interested on restoring the land for his Byzantine vassal. And he knew the perfect place to start it.
Short and mostly uneventful chapter compared to the others, I was more focused on tidying Italy before what I expect some long wars far away. Seized the great projects provinces to have their bonuses earlier, have a surplus of admin points to core.
Also was able to pass the last reform I was interested, to get the +1 diplomatic reputation, but with the relations hit for annexing princes and Milan on the chopping block, I don´t think I´ll manage another before reformation spawns. And that´s ok, I´ll try to stay away from the HRE and only return probably after switching to Reform. Then the plan would be to convert as many members as possible for the chance to get back the emperorship.
This reform will make the Emperor even wealthier, allowing Firenze to maintain its advantage over its neighbours until the conversion to Reformed. But a penalty to reform support based on the number of reforms already passed could make any further reforms harder to obtain unless Firenze's diplomatic reputation makes it irresistible.
From what I have read on the wiki, both are plaussible ways. In scenario A need a majority of Reformed nations for an event to fire. In scenario B only need to charm enough electors. Don´t know which one is easier.
The previous wars depleted the diplomatic resources, which were necessary to continue to annexation of Milan. Therefore, Emperor Alessio paused on fighting for some time, allowing the war exhaustion on Firenze and her vassals to get lower, but using this time to place relatives on their thrones. He requested from the Pope to call for a crusade on the Mamluks and sent his spies on the Egyptians.
The estimated advisor who had brought stability to the realm was gaining more power, and Alessio let him, at the cost of prestige, to maintain his diplomatic reputation.
Finally, in the summer Emperor Alessio declared the reconquest of Morea for Byzantium on the Mamluks. Using Crete as a base, and concentrating his whole navy on the sea zone, he launched the order to disembark.
The Portuguese had learned a hard and valuable lesson to not mess with Firenze, and tried to make ammends.
When the Florentine admiral passed while guarding the seas, the Mamluks sent their galleys and won the naval battle, sinking numerous imperial ships. But the first army from Florence had enough time to land and create a beachhead.
At the same time, the Pope saw an opportunity, a gift from his best friend Emperor Manfredo.
The sudden appearance of a plague in the capital forced Alessio to request cheap loans from the burghers, which were used to prevent the spreading of the disease.
His Holiness passed away, whether in battle or natural causes wasn’t known, and a new Pope came into power, and while he couldn’t be persuaded by the Florentine court, it allowed to appoint again a legate from the curia.
The new head of Christendom seemed somehow, and for unknown reasons, not particularly sympathetic with the emperor.
After a long wait, Milan was incorporated in September 1492. With another plunge in relations with the HRE princes, Emperor Alessio proposed another reform to incorporate an additional diplomat into the office and kept rotating them to improve the imperial position among the members.
The new Pope took the reason for war to dramatic measures, almost wiping Naples from the map.
When the Polish king passed later that year, another Malipiero was appointed as Monarch for the third time in a row.
It was not until March 1495, after signing separate treaties with as many of the combatants as he could for money, war reparations and annulling alliance with the Mamluks, that Emperor Alessio settled with the Egyptians.
He demanded all the Byzantine cores, their complete treasury, and a strip of land including the provinces of Sayda, Aljoun, the fort of Al-Karak and lastly Ma´an (Petra). Finally at peace, the emperor was able to start the annexation of Crete and Granada. And his pursuit for harmony in the cabinet provided once more advances and resources for his goverment. (2nd time, nice)
Then, in June 1495 in the small nation of Geneva, an unexpected event shocked the Christian world, when people begun to protest the way the Church behaved.
Comments on the chapter:
Another short one, for the cliffhanger. The reformation started waaay earlier than I expected and my regular runs. Guess that with so many tags at the beginning, there were higher chances and events to make reform desire grow.
So I have around 15 years before having the opportunity to switch to Reformed, and I would like to be one of the first for the CoR to spawn in one of my provinces and spread the centers. Which means that a following war with Mams would have to wait until AFTER the conversion. Eventually I will try to be in wars to force convert princes for the chance of a Reformed emperor.
I have the 2 great projects nearby with the ability for +diplo rep. Now I only need the money to upgrade to the max.
Then, in June 1495 in the small nation of Geneva, an unexpected event shocked the Christian world, when people begun to protest the way the Church behaved.
The little disagreement in religious terms that a small province in the Alps had was not something Emperor Alessio gave too much consideration. He was more interested in keep expanding his domains. Therefore, when Crete was annexed in August 1495, Tripoli was cordially invited to become a new vassal to take their place.
Thanks to his advisor and his own influence in the topic, the diplomatic resources were again over exceeding the space allotted. Thus, the emperor decided to over burden the Foreign Affairs office by convincing Algiers to become a vassal in September. He also ordered to release Lebanon from the conquered land in the Middle East, giving them the entire strip of land from the coast to the rock formation known as Petra. (2 relations over limit).
With the coffers topped off by the victorious war in Egypt, in January of the next year the upgrade of the great project Alhambra was started, after mildly developing the province and expanded infrastructure for a small monetary discount. Sadly, with the manpower pool in dire need of recover, the progress in the construction was slow. (Not enough bodies to throw into the pits).
Alessio’s main focus at that time was to give back to his vassals their core provinces. Aragon and Morocco had to wait until the truce with Portugal-Castile expired which would take another 2 years. But Byzantium was ready, and they had a valid reason for war on the Ottomans, who were allied with Tunis. The Tunisian lands were in the eyes of the emperor’s North African vassals. The pragmatic emperor simply threatened the Turks with war, and they kindly ceded the province of Arta back to their legitimate owners. Still, the biggest prize were the Greek provinces on Bulgarian hands. And the units were nearby after the war with the Mamluks.
However, before the hostilities started, the emperor recognized a difficulty. He had good relations with Verona, but not good enough to integrate them to Firenze. As both vassal and HRE prince, the drawbacks in the interactions had stacked during the annexations of their fellow brethren beyond acceptable levels. And while the forced vassalization penalty was fading, it was low compared to the incoming impact when Granada was annexed after 6 months. Even worse, Verona could only start the process 18 months later. Realizing that, while he could cancel or stop the work with Granada, it would have been a waste of resources and time plus the problem of extending the period being over the limit on diplomatic relations, he accepted the fate and vowed to find a way to fetch the Veronese to the realm in an appropriate manner.
The new Pope kept reminding the emperor he did not shared the good opinion that his predecessor had on the Malipiero dynasty. And the influence in the curia was not sufficient to reinstall immediately the advantages they provided.
Once the initial preparations were finished, the war for the Byzantine cores on Bulgaria, allied with Theodoro and Imereti, was launched in March. Emperor Alessio looked for a quick resolution and sent his best division (12/2/6) lead by the impressive general Datti (3/4/5/3) to the Bulgarian capital from Constantinople. A secondary army (12/2/1) marched from Athens in a pincer attack.
The remaining Grenadine provinces were annexed in June, completing the Florentine occupation in southern Iberia. Their navy and army joined the transport fleet and training regiments respectively.
With the secondary army lead by general Gattilusio playing a cat-and-mouse game on Macedonia, capturing and liberating provinces in rotation, the main army had ample opportunity to siege Burgas, which fell in 4 months.
Rather than seeking to occupy and sign separate peace treaties with the other combatants, Alessio concentrated his efforts in taking down the Bulgarian forts for a decisive and swift peace. Meanwhile, he tried to demonstrate to His Holiness that he was a devoted Catholic and commanded to burn some bibles that had been translated to the common tongue. Denmark and the Imperial Elector Brandenburg had also embraced the heretic religion that was now called “Protestantism”.
In January 1497, the Egyptians who had once called themselves a rival of Firenze and were humiliated during their war, continued experiencing a destructive spiral in the hands of the peasants.
The following month most of Bulgaria was occupied, her forts in ruins. Rather than prolonging the conflict, since he could get what he wanted, Emperor Alessio gave once again proof of his practicality and made a truce with the Tsar, only asking for the Byzantine provinces, his treasury and war reparations. The war had lasted less than a year.
Energized by the improved dealings with Verona during the burning bibles episode, Alessio saw his opportunity to repair the relation bridge and ultimately integrate the northeastern provinces. Using his influence as the leader of the greatest power in the world, sending a monetary gift, and bestowing imperial grace on his subjects, the Veronese were finally willing to become part of Firenze. The process formally started in June 1497. The emperor´s keen eye also noticed that Aragon and Byzantium had joined the HRE. (Another future hit when integrating, great).
A brand-new Lightship called the Manfredo was commissioned, and with her use of trading maps, standardized signal books and hull sheathing was designated to become the Flagship of the Florentine mainly merchant navy. And to honor a recurring strategy of his father called “fishing”, Emperor Alessio, knowing being over his numerous yet limited relations, sent a marriage proposal to the middle-aged and heirless duke of Styria. Should he died, the crown would be passed to the Emperor, while Tirol could contest it. (If they were crazy enough).
The faculty that Emperor Alessio had structured for his inner circle not only made him well connected with inexpensive intellectuals in the realm, but also the number of the potential advisors were growing.
The rest of the year was uneventful, allowing the imperial manpower to recover and the war exhaustion to diminish. Once the truce with Portugal-Castile expired, the emperor Alessio was ready to fulfill his promises to his vassals.
The war for the Moroccan cores started on the first days of 1498, with one division attacking Iberia and another the Maghreb. A third army was sent to deal with the Portuguese allies, Saluzzo and Hainaut. Firenze did not call any one of hers. But she did call one of her favorite sons to the cabinet.
The fishing strategy failed in Styria, Alessio cancelled it (at the cost of prestige since we are not papal controller anymore) and tried again, this time in Bosnia.
Lisboa fell in only 3 months, after a barrage was ordered in the coastal city by the superb general Datti. The passing of the great stateman Anastasio would delayed the annexation of Verona, and even though the emperor could have replaced him with a colleague less expensive, at the end chose a diplomat to increase the improvement in relations.
In a fierce battle outside Toledo, the Castilians were able to lift the siege after sending their entire army including mercenaries, when it seemed that the castle was about to fall (63%, dammit). Hainaut had taken the for at Trentino few days earlier. Still with numerical advantage, but with divisions in north Africa and Greece that could not participate with the opponents ruling the waves. Emperor Alessio ate his pride and called Burgundy to the fray.
When the small but well fortified city of Saluzzo fell, the emperor followed the rules of war like his father, and imposed more discipline in the ranks, forfeiting money in exchange. This was not a problem for him, with trade flowing to a node where he was master and commander, dominating 75% of the commerce. With Burgundy on path to Hainaut, the Italian army proceeded into Iberia from the north. And the Italian duchy left the fight after surrendering money, reparations of war, cancelling rival and annulling the alliance with Lisboa. The fishing failed also in Bosnia, and the Emperor refrained of trying with nations with younger rulers.
The protestants made their way to Florentine territory, where the preached to the masses without opposition in a humanist society, converting many people into their creed in Urbino.
Verona was welcomed with open arms into Firenze in June 1450, while the 3rd battle of the Pyrenees took place, where for once the imperial armies were victorious, and just in time before a relieving regiment from Portugal arrived. The latter was annihilated, and with the fort secured and the Burgundians reaching Iberia, the war was almost won. Hainaut defeated and with no army left the conflict only for money and reparations. And the religions difference was growing in Europe.
The arrogant Portuguese didn’t sit at the negotiating table until the end of 1500, with their country almost fully occupied, and with their shattered army smaller than their Brazil colony’s. Alessio again could have prolonged the war to ask for more, but pragmatism triumphed, and he demanded every Moroccan province, their full treasury, and the small island known as Cape Verde. (In a next war I should have colonial range, now I don´t)
With such good relations with Emperor Alessio, it was not a surprised when Duke Charles I de Bourgogne officially asked to join the HRE. Either to accept and lower imperial authority or anger an ally of 50 years. This was another bridge for the Emperor to cross.
Emperor Alessio decided to push forward for the entrance of Burgundy to the HRE, even at the cost of imperial authority and putting him at odds with most of the princes, because he valued his relationship with the Burgundians greatly. He could use his diplomats to increase relations with the other members eventually. Alessio upgraded his trade centers with the money from the Portuguese war, with Venice reaching world port status, and used some workforce to advance the Alhambra project.
And while the emperor was in the position to start the annexation of Morocco, he waited for two reasons: he sought to integrate Dalmatia as soon as possible due their already penalized relations for annexing other vassals; also, to get the Moroccan cores in Tafilalt. He decided to delay this war to recover a little from the Iberian campaign.
However, since there was and abundance of diplomatic resources, Alessio spent some to reduce the war exhaustion, and took the opportunity to claim the Tripolitanian claims in Tunis, with the war declared in August 1501. The Ottomans were occupied in another war, and didn’t answer the defensive call.
By the end of the year, thanks to the emperor’s support, Burgundy become a member of the Holy Roman Empire.
In February, the King of the Franks died, leaving a young and heirless Louis XII on the throne. Emperor Alessio used the vast political capital and knowledge in their court to convince the inexperienced French monarch to name a member of the Malipiero dynasty as successor. The younger ruler was happy to oblige. The emperor knew some relations were to be repaired after this move, but whichever aggressive expansion could be considered for, as far as Europe thought, was nil before it and would be back to that sentiment quickly.
By March, Tunis was almost fully occupied. Emperor Alessio chose to spend some extra diplomatic resources to provide not only Tripoli all their claims, but Algiers as well, distributing among them the other coastal provinces to get rid of Tunisian pirates once and for all. And took for himself some of their treasury as charge for good measure.
The emperor decided afterwards it was the right time to complete the Moroccan restauration and declared on Tafilalt, allied with Mzab. In December the integration of Dalmatia commenced. And in January 1503 a new institution called Colonialism spawned in Kent, England. (seriously?)
Heartbreakingly for the realm, on June 8, 1503, the pragmatic Emperor Alessio left this mortal world and was succeeded in the Florentine and Holy Roman Empire thrones by the young Amedeo, who had just reached adulthood and was considered at best of average capacities, more inclined to administration, but malevolent with his subjects.
As tradition dictated, royal marriages with subjects and allies were served continuously during the following days and months. This resulted in an also average French consort, Jeanne, when people expected a Burgundian empress. To celebrate his wedding, Amedeo ordered the construction of courthouses in the greater cities all over the country.
By November, Mzab and Tafilalt ceased to exist becoming part of Algiers and been completely incorporated into Morocco respectively. The Florentine control in northwest Africa was almost complete. The emperor had the luxury of passing another imperial reform.
The main concern for Amedeo was an heir. And trying to secure one, we went as far as to propose a royal marriage to the widowed countess of Flanders, implementing his grandfather's fishing strategy. He also spent as much manpower as he could to finally finish the upgrading of the Alhambra.
In terrible news for the country, the beloved general Datti succumbed to a prolonged illness caught during the last campaign. His adversaries tried to minimize his impact, but Emperor Amedeo knew the truth. A true champion had fallen.
In June, Charles of Burgundy and his heir passed away, causing the unexpected (not really, but way late mister) ascension of the duke’s daughter Marie to the throne. Since she had married a member of the Malipiero dynasty, for all uses and purposes, Burgundy had fallen into a personal union with Firenze.
And by the end of the year, Emperor Amedeo was ready to finish what his grandfather Manfredo had started. It was time for the final debt to be collected.
