CoN 8: Events

Over the course of The Council, many notable events occurred, between both player-controlled and AI-controlled nations. The events listed here were impactful or memorable enough to be worth writing down.

## The Struggle for Control of The Levant

The holy city of Jerusalem is an important holy site in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Historically, many wars were fought over the conquest of this city. Christian crusades and Turkic invasions led to the situation at the beginning of the Council, where the Mamluks, the great Kingdom occupying Egypt and Syria, came to own the city.

Two rising nations, however, were vying for power in the Middle East, and saw Jerusalem as the cherry on top, to truly mark their place in the region. The Holy Order of the Knights, and the Sultanate of Hormuz.

Following the slow collapse of the Ottomans following Byzantium's successful last stand, The Knights poised themselves to conquer both nations, encompassing a huge chunk of the Balkans and Anatolia. The Holy Order was determined to conquer Syria and Jerusalem, and due to their quick expansion in Anatolia, found themselves the target of a coalition. After Karaman and the Mamluks declared this war to push the Order out of Anatolia, the Holy Roman Emperor, Brandenburg stepped in to help crush the Mamluk armies. Eventually the coalition were defeated and forced to submit, giving up the Syrian coast as well as the Holy City of Jerusalem. This crusade had been a victory.

On the other side of the Middle East lay the Sultanate of Hormuz. A petty trading kingdom, the Sultan dreamed of a united Arabia, strong enough to push back against any invading force. And so, Hormuz took its time conquering land across Arabia. First consolidating Oman, then central Arabia, into Yemen, and finally along the Gulf Coast. As Hormuz finished its conquest of Iraq, The Knights won their coalition war, and the nations now bordered each other in Syria.

Ultimately Hormuz was not strong enough to challenge The Knights in time to prevent further expansion in The Levant Superregion. Dealing with constant rebellion from religious zealots, as well as separatist uprisings in the frontier vassal territories, they were simply too preoccupied to go through with their war plans. Hormuz attempted to cut off The Knights in Anatolia, only for The Knights to conquer what was left of the Ottoman Sultanate. During a recovery period in Hormuz, their capital was moved to Baghdad and rebellions continued to spark up throughout the country.

## Mamluk Collapse

The Mamluks have been a long-time enemy of both Jerusalem and Hormuz, who both had lofty goals of conquering Syria and Anatolia. Jerusalem needed the holy land to form Jerusalem, and Hormuz needed Egypt and Syria to form Arabia. While Hormuz was ultimately weaker than the Mamluks, they had a strategy to beat them and gain the uper hand to push them out of Arabia. Having had a panhandle in the region since 1444, Hormuz was not willing to let this bordergore go on any longer.

Noticing a moment of weakness from the Mamluk Sultanate, Hormuz broke their alliance and declared war. Even with military support from Mewar, and emotional support from Kilwa, the war was brutal. The Mamluks could raise huge armies with their vast and quickly-growing manpower pool, while also being able to split their armies into 3 different directions, harassing troops and capturing forts in Anatolia and Yemen. Eventually Jerusalem declared their own war to expand their territories in Syria and Anatolia, which was the nail in the coffin for the Mamluks. Hormuz, not wanting to cause a diplomatic incident, left The Knights' desired land in Syria for them, on the terms that Hormuz had free reign over Egypt and, as a result, the rest of non-Jerusalemite provinces required to form Arabia.

The Mamluks are expected to never make a recovery from this war-- with Syria under joint control from Hormuz and Jerusalem, as well as the disgusting Mamluk panhandle into Arabia erased, the Mamluks will not have such an easy time in the future with their harassment of the Levant.

## Collapse of the Mediterranean Council (1444 - 1456)

Original Player countries of Milan (Zomjey), Ragusa (Kuni) , and Byzantium (Stark) fell to an agressive Venice who sought to claim territory in the Balkans. Backed by Savoy, the Venetians held a significant advantage over the smaller Milan, Ragusa, and Byzantium. This event threatened the Council (though it hadn't been established yet). These players would opt to rejoin the game as other nations. Byzantium switched to The Knights, an island nation off the coast of Anitolia. Milan first switched to Poland, but after unfavorable reactions from Council members, they decided to play as Savoy. Ragusa switched to the Great Horde (but unfortunately would die after missing the first 30 minutes of the following session). He would then take up Dalmatia who was forced released through Venice.

I would also like to add that the fan favorite from CoN 7 who played Byzantium, King112 joined for a brief period of time. He would join as Sweden only to leave over someone saying they would help them gain independence.