Archive 26

Turn 126 - 130.

### **NPC Events:**

* **Birth of Temüjin:** Хатан эх дээд Тэнгэрээс тэтгэгдсэн, Хөх толбот Монгол Улсаа нэгтгэсэн, Мөнх Тэнгэрийн элч, Хамаг Монголын эзэн, Их Чингис Хаан. In 1162, Yesugei and Hoelun would give birth to their first child, named Temüjin, after a respecged warrior Yesugei had killed in battle quite recently. He was not, however, Yesugei's first son as Yesugei had three other children with a different wife of his (it was a different time). A timid and easily frightened child who was often bullied by his half-brothers. Yesugei was not proud of Temüjin at all and his peers looked upon him without a single shred of respect. Ironic that he would grow up to become one of history's greatest figures. Meanwhile Yesugei would also before Temüjin's birth, in 1160, become the new ruler of the Khamag Mongol following the death of Qutula Khan that year. The confederation is starting to fall apart and several places are practically independent. Karaban is lost to tribal rule again and most tribes within the confederation itself just do what the fuck they want.
* **An Interesting Jidai - S2E7, Shihonic Crisis:** Saying that the populace are fine with the Black Lotus is a massive overstatement. Following the death of Nikko and the reveal of this secret organization doesn't do much to make peasants and other unknowing people happy. Now that they know of the true culprits behind all the random killings under Nikkos rule, things start to go very much awry. Several lords want the Lotus out and either Hunichi off of the throne, or as their puppet ruler rather than the Lotus (Hunichi isn't necessarily being controlled by the Black Lotus, but many believe so). The Yamashengus have reached very low popularity and a bit of a crisis is at hand. The nobility, Samurai and Black Lotus are scrambling for power within Japan and while it is basically a Triple Threat Match, there is a noticable trend of Samurai and vassal lords teaming up to plot against the Lotus, specifically targeting the leader of the Lotus: the 32-year old Uramoto Sanjuro. Peasants are also angry, even if things are getting better in general, the damage has already been done and small revolts occur very often, most of them fail but there are several and they are continuous. Now the Tungning war is successful, even if it didn't go as well as planned, with the numerous naval invasions being thwarted to an extent until they couldn't hold out anymore and the vassal of Tujing is set up. However, with Nikko dead and the political situation starting to burst into flames, a strong revolt breaks out in 1168 against Japanese rule. And for diplomacy, the Nivkh just want to keep for themselves and really don't like that the Japanese are seeing a future of them not existing just about a decade after they started existing, but are still peaceful and have good relations with them. Zheng on the other hand are not happy and flat-out reject the Japanese request. Why? Well, because of the conquest of Tungning, who they had friendly relations with and were introducing technology too (not gunpowder tho, and also they did in a way see Tungning as a buffer). Relations between China and Japan are quite deeply hurt and the Zheng fund the rebels in Tujing. Now it does sound like Japan is fucking dying, no it isn't, but the political situation is very unstable, with several powers vying for control.
* **Oh yeah, Frederick Barbarossa exists:** And has been HREmperor since 1155 and he is one of the most successful so far. He had participated in the Second Crusade prior to being crowned so he is just overall quite the badass. He is a fan of there not being a papal schism anymore, but not a fan of any real "support" of the Orthodox faith and thus uses his HREmperor super powers to keep Catholicism in check as much as possible throughout the Empire as well as the Papal States together with the pope who succeeded Eugene III in 1164: Adrian IV.
* **Iberia is Heating Up:** The war between León-Castille and Navarre together with their ally Portucalis ended up interrupted a bit by the Bashirid Moroccans and Zubayrid Qurtubans which extended the war all the way up until 1166. León-Castille saw success by grabbing even more land and their enemies lost. However, all three original belligerents see some losses from the invading muslims. Most importantly, Lisbuna is captured and the muslims are starting to encroach further and further. This combined with both Saladin, Nur ad-Din and Kilij Arslan II of Rûm wanting to completely eliminate the crusader states brings tensions on the two "ends" of the Mediterranean.
* **Saljuq Decline:** The Ardushtegins, vying for more power, invade the Saljuqs once more, they team up with the Awalmir dynasty of the region of Khyber to defeat the Afgans. The Saljuqs are unable to do much and the Zangids under Nur ad-Din successfully fight a war of independence in which they conquer basically what is the rest of Mesopotamia. By 1164 the Zangid Emirate is independent and then something quite major happens. Nur ad-Din claims his lineage can be traced to the prophet Muhammad and also sees that since he controls Baghdad, which was the capital of the Omayyad and Akhtarib Caliphates, that the Zangids are the true fourth caliphate, not the short-lived Amirids and not Saladin's Ayyubid dynasty. Obviously Saladin sees this as complete bullshit.
* **The Albionite Isles - The Might of Henry II:** Henry II has proved that he is no joke, holding onto most of France which of course means that there is a natural rivalry between Henry II and the French king Louis VII. The English use their influence as well as some instability in Brittany to secure it as a vassal of theirs. Meanwhile the French gain support from several states, not only the Occitans but also the County of Flanders and the Kingdom of Burgundy. They all don't like the power of the English and would rather see Louis VII take back what they see as his rightful lands, part of their allegiance to France is also because of a different event. In other news, we have that event. Henry II had in 1166 appointed Thomas Becket as his archbishop. Henry believed that because of Becket's background as a chancellor he wouldn't be as powerful within the church and thus would have to rely more on him. Not so really, Becket decided to go full on church rights mode which angered Henry. The two quickly started to disagree on many things like taxation policy and other shite. By 1164 Becket fled to France due to how bad the king and archbishop's relation was. Henry had Becket's associates in England harassed and Becket had supporters of Henry excommunicated. Eventually the Pope resolved the conflict by 1167, a while after Henry II named his son, you know, the other Henry, Junior King of England. This to make sure that succession is safe so that The Anarchy II doesn't happen. So Becket returned to England and all was good until he excommunicated three more of Henry's supporters in 1169. Henry announced furiously "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and promoted in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born clerk!" Four knights took this as a command to take care of Becket. They went to arrest him, but he refused to be arrested in the church he resided in. So they simply hacked him to death. This caused some huge shock across the entirety of christian Europe and Henry's reputation was wounded.
* **Khazar Alienation:** Khazaria has evolved a lot the past centuries. It is a multiethnic empire, with Kipchak Turks in the east, Pechenegs in the southwest, Tatars in Crimea, Slavs in the northwest and Magyars in the north. At the same time the north has maintained traditional nomadic lifestyle while the south has become more and more centralized and urbanized. This has to an extent caused some problems. The main one is that laws and such aren't completely enforced in the north due to the alienation between the different regions of Khazaria. Otherwise the core khaganate is pretty stable, but the Magyar tributaries do face some conflict and infighting over tribute and resources and Kiev and Voronezh still have populations that are generally unhappy about being ruled by Steppe peeps. Crimea, which has seen a very big immigration of Tatars, who become the Crimean Tatars, starts to become the hotspot for those people as the Tatars gain a lot of power and influence in the region.
* **Overhaul of Africa:** I remade the ethnic groups, that took a long time but yeah now it is more accurate. Bleh.
* **Quick Byzantine Status:** Place remains generally fine in the mainland as well as the Italian regions, but Carail is still a sore spot. Also Vukmir done, but that's in Dragovits.
* **Decline of Srivijaya:** The Langkasukans continue grabbing lands. They would invade Sumatra and push from there but they don't get much further after the bloody siege and capture of Malacca. Langkasuka makes peace with Srivijaya, whose new capital is Palembang.
* **Zheng:** They sign a non-aggression pact with Jin. The Jin do this to so that they potentially later can invade and conquer China at a vulnerable point and have Digunai crowned as emperor of China, which carries a fuckton of prestige.
* **War of Magnus Henriksen (Second Dano-Swedish War):** In 1161 the king of Sweden: Eric IV, is murdered by Magnus Henriksen, a Danish lord with a claim to the Swedish throne through his mother being the granddaughter of the Swedish king Charles I. He claimed the throne for himself as Magnus II but his actions of assassination and unpopularity sparked a quick civil war where Magnus II was deposed by October of 1161 and later executed. Charles II restores the House of Sverker's control over Sweden. This sparks more tension between the Danish and Swedish kingdoms but Charles II dies in 1166 and is succeeded by Charles III.
* **Zimbabwe:** The Kingdom of Zimbabwe, a Shona kingdom, is formed by the unification of many tribes.
* **Inca Things:** After the Wari-Tiwanaku war, decline fell upon them both. Some settlers would found a third major city in the Andes: Qusqu, which becomes a third Incan state.
* **Rashtrakuta:** They conquer Malwa.
* **Uru Empire:** Their influence stretches further and they found a new settlement.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:**  Hunichi Yamashengu, Council (Hunichi Yamashengu)
	+ **Economy:**spice, food, dye, art, porcelain.
	+ **Capital: Shihon**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99%, 1% Chinese, Ainu, Manchu & Okinawan.
				+ **Shihon:** 350.000
				+ **Tōga:** 315.000
				+ **Hiroshima:** 225.000
				+ **Yamato:** 190.000
				+ **Fukuoka:** 180.000
				+ **Nagasaki:** 175.000
				+ **Komatsu:** 165.000
				+ **Kagoshima** 155.000
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.564.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.319.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 13.088.000
			* **Total population:** 17.467.000
			* **Religion:** 100% Shinto-Buddhism
		- **Demographics of Tujing:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 0.5%, Chinese(ish) 99.5%
				+ **Taichung:** 30.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 415.000
			* **Total population:** 445.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 99.5% Shinto-Buddhsim 0.5%
		- **Demographics of Ezo:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 28%, Ainu 72%
				+ **Sunõdorangon:** 10.000
				+ **Fuyu:** 21.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 252.000
			* **Total population:** 282.000
			* **Religion:** 88% Shinto-Buddhism, 12% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Tudar:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 18% Visayan 82%
				+ **Tudar:** 3.700
				+ **Rural Areas:** 18.560
			* **Total population:**22.260
			* Religion: 50% Shinto-Buddhism, 50% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **Rebellion:** Now that our army has solid control over Banqiao our tactics change, we send heavy infantry and can fit more soldiers in the territory, step 1: we take over the capital and push them away from it, step 2: we conquer the rest of the flat lands. Step 3: crack down on them in the mountains through defending the villages so that they starve, then we will send spear men and archers to defeat the starving rebels and take them as prisoners if they capitulate.
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:**total of 1% (Japan + puppets/vassals) 182.120
				+ 54 636 Archers. (54 636) (30%)
				+ 35 877 Spear men (35 877) (19.7%)
				+ 40 066 Swordsmen (40 066) (22%)
				+ 25 497 Cavalry (25 497) (14%)
				+ 2 000 Tawābasutā (6 000) (3.3%)
				+ 0 Yōyū-ki (0) (0% but we have 100)
				+ 9 106 Heavy Infantry (9 106) 5%
				+ 5 463 Winter Infantry (5 463) 3%
				+ 5 464 Jungle Infantry (5 464) 3%
		- **Navy:**
			* 200 Galleys
			* 140 Transport ships
			* 165 Light warship
			* 60 Medium warships
			* 25 Heavy warships
			* 4 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
		- **Ifugao:** We improve relations.
		- **Dai Viet:** A new waterway to you has been ceded by us, we would like to commence increased trade with you.
		- **Zheng:** Sorry, we wish to make this accident between our rulers beneficial in the end.
		- **Events:**
			* **Otomari:** The southern part of Ezo is almost entirely Japanese and thus the territory is ceded to Japan.
			* **Council:** From the lords a maneuver is made where they talk to the emperor, since the civil unrest they propose that they steer more while the emperor is less loved by the people, the empress agrees. The rules are that the lords steer the country in their own aspects and some are given a part of Japan to act as rulers for during 10 years, these are voted. The emperor can still kick lords and asign lordship meaning that the emperors duty is steering their state and assigning lords, they can intervene but not directly rule before the people loves the emperor enough for them supporting the emperor more than their local lords.
			* **Civil Unrest:** Due to the civil unrest the country is steered primarily by 4 people. the lord of economy in Kyushu and south, the lord of diplomacy north of the emperors state, the emperor in the center and the lord of war in Tujing. This is because those lords are most needed there.
			* **Rumors of a Coup:** The black lotus receive information that some lords are plotting against the emperor, therefore she sets up smaller black lotus outposts throughout Japan as a worst case scenario since killing the lords would cause too much unrest.
			* **The Noble Alliances:** There are 3 secret alliances forming between nobles and people of power, 1: The Faithful, these still want the Yamashengu family to run Japan, this includes the Emperor, Ishi, Central Japan, Ezo and some communications with Kysushu which is unsure, they also have the black lotus and a few major samurai. 2: The Popularists, They want the lord of economics to steer Japan which lives in Kyushu and is fine with the emperor but not a fan either, they include Kyushu, Tudar, Okinawa a bit north of Kyushu, Tujing, the Korean overseas territories and Gintama. 3. The Originals, these are north of central Japan and would love to put a military general in power which is a part of the Shengu family (his ancestor never married anyone fron Yamato). They believe that only he can rule Japan as his family caused hundred years of peace through war and won important wars.

### **Byzantine Empire:**

* **Government: Absolute Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Leo VIII
	+ **Dynasty:** Domninian Dynasty
	+ **Economy:** Most of the economy comes from trade mainly through Constantinople where a variety of things are traded. We also possess the ability to intervene in important sectors within the economy to make sure nothing goes off balance and are currently thriving. Our most valuable and prized goods are silk and purple
	+ **Capital:** Constantinople
	+ **Cities:**
	+ **Constantinople: 948,000**
	+ Adrianople: 125,000
	+ Thessaloniki: 118,000
	+ Syracuse: 89,000
	+ Athens: 87,500
	+ Cities: ~2,400,000
	+ Rural Areas: ~8,500,000
	+ Total population: ~10,900,000
	+ **Demographics:**
		- **Population:** Greek 67.5%, Minorities: Italian 10%, Bulgar 6.5% Turks 7% Slavic 5%, Other: Khazar, Arabic 3%
	+ **Religion:** Eastern Patriarchy ~94%, Other: Judaism, Eslam, Zoroastrianism 6%
* **Wars and Conflicts:**
* **Military:**
	+ **Standing army:** Total of 1% (~105,000)
	+ 39,000 Cavalry
		- 15,000 Cataphracts
			* 5,000 Cataphract archers
	+ 66,000 Infantry
		- 16,000 Akritai
	+ **Troop placement:**
* **Navy:**
	+ 49 Galleys
	+ 167 Transport ships
	+ 183 Dromons
	+ 82 Triremes
	+ 6 Venetian ships
	+ Aftokráteira tis Mesogeíou
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Venice:** We establish new friendly relations with you.
* **Events:**
	+ **Tame Carail:** We continue to try and stabilize the situation in Carail.
	+ **Council of Rome:** Because of misuse of the word "crusade" I and the Patriarch have called a Council in Rome to discuss the true use or meaning of the word, and possible denominations. After a bit we have come to agree that a true crusade is about recovering the holy land of Jerusalem against heathens (particularly muslims), while things such as this "danish crusade" is an interesting thought, its more about spreading the faith forcefully against infidels than retaking important christian territory. We do however see it as a permissible holy justification, just less prestigious.

### **Khazar Khaganate:**

* **Government: Monarchy (Khaganate)**
	+ **Khagan:** Banel
	+ **Dynasty:**Bulanid
	+ **Economy:**Most of the economy comes from trade with the Byzantium Empire and some other smaller nations. We also possess the ability to intervene in important sectors within the economy to make sure nothing goes off balance and are currently doin great.
	+ **Capital: Akashar**
	+ **Demographics:**
		- **Population: 74,4%** **Khazar, 12,69% Slavic, 9,6% Aabkhaz, 1.9% Greek, 1,4% Georgian, 0,01% Ugrian.**
		- **Total population: ~2,485k, Population (including Vassals): 2,722k**
		- **Cities: 605.92k**
			* **Akashar: 151.69k**
			* **Galgan: 119.08k**
			* **Karcha: 106.09k**
			* **Korstyam: 98.07k**
			* **Chersonesus: 35.11k**
			* **Kabalaka:** **26.07k**
			* **Aqwa: 22.25k**
			* **Thyaps:****20.98k**
			* **Mykolev: 17.08k**
			* **Charkev: 7.5k**
			* **Sartav: 2k**
		- **Rural Areas:** **~1,879.08k**
		- **Religion:** **83.5% Judaism, 12.8% Christianity, 3.7% Tengri.**
* **Vassals:**
	+ **Combined Total population:** 237k
		- **Kiev:**35 200
			* **Capital:** 15 200
			* **Rural areas:** 20 000
		- **Dénec:** 32 200
			* **Capital:**Denec 2 950
			* **Rural areas:** 29 250
		- **Voronezh:** 29 200
		- **Ulyar:** 27 200
		- **kama:** 24 200
		- **Bilyar:** 21 200
		- **Tynea:** 19 200
		- **Syrte:** 18 200
		- **Asli:** 16 200
		- **Chuva:** 14 200
* **Wars and Conflicts: (*Italics= potential war)***
* **Military:**
	+ **First army: Total of 2% 49 920**
		- 29 946 Cavalry
			* 13 878 with Spears
			* 16 068 with Swords
		- 15 531 Infantry with Swords and Shields.
		- 4 542 Infantry with Spears and Shields.
	+ **Second army:** **Total of 1% 24 960**
		- 14 873 Cavalry
			* 6 886 with Spears
			* 7 987 with Swords
		- 7 600 Infantry with Swords and Shields.
		- 2 487 Infantry with Spears and Shields.
	+ **Third Army: 1% 24 960**
		- 19 177 Infantry with Swords and Shields.
		- 2 536 Infantry with Spears and Shields
		- 3 247 Cavalry with Spears.
* **Navy**
	+ **For traversing the Caspian sea:​**
		- **39 Transport ships (trade/negotiations)**
		- **85 fishing ships** **(for fishing...)**
	+ **For traversing the black sea:​​​​​​**
		- **12 B-Galleys (For Larger Cargo and for more people to fit while traveling)**
		- **38 Transport ships (trade/negotiations with the Byzantine Empire)**
		- **34 traveling ships (travel between the Karcha strait)**
		- **112 fishing ships (for fishing...)**
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Ryazan:** and offer of trade between our 2 nations is sent to the nation of Ryazan. also, improve relations.
	+ **Kazakh Kahanate:** An offer of trade is sent to our eastern neighboor.
	+ **Ardushtegin Empire:** Improve relations.
* **Production:**
* **Events:**
	+ **Magyars:** The taxes the Tributaries needs to pay are lowered a little bit, the size of their armies are shrinked as well...
	+ **The Crimean Tatars:** The situation in Crimea is fixed by putting a trusted friend in control of the region, he will accept the Tatars while making sure that they don't try to do smth like revolting. For this to be possible, he'll need an "army". The Crimean army will be an army filled with Crimean people, 2% of the Crimean population will be the size of the army. they will patrol and make sure everyone follows the law.
	+ **Development of the north:** Seeing as the southern part of our country seems to be better off than the northern part. We start making the north more devoloped than it currently is. Farms are made, cities are being planned, the buildings are reinforced, lot's of villages are being connected by roads that leads to cities (Check picture to the right), merchants are encouraged to travel to the north as there are items that only exist there that can be sold for a good penny in other areas.

### **NPC Events:**

* **Childhood of Temüjin:** By 1170, Temüjin turned 8 years old. In tradition this is the earliest age for children to be betrothed. Yesugei thus set out to find his son someone that he could eventually marry. Hoelun, Yesugei's chief wife, suggested someone of her tribe so that Temüjin could grow up knowing more of his family and it was agreed to. However on the way there, the family stopped at a small yurt to rest and eat. The family there had a young daughter named Börte, whom Temüjin got along with very well. Yesugei and the father of Börte negotiated and they came to an agreement. Temüjin would work for the family for several years until he was old enough to marry Börte. The young Temüjin was thus basically married off, while his father returned to the rest of the family. On the way back, in 1171 mind you, Yesugei came across some feasting warriors and decided to join them. One of the warriors recognized Yesugei as the man that had killed Temüjin, as in the warrior that Yesugei's son was named after. Wanting revenge for their fellow warrior, they poisoned Yesugei's food. Now this was no poison from the Hitman games or anything, so Yesugei was able to escape and stagger back home to camp. Hoelun had a messenger summon Temüjin. However, they were too late. By the time the but 9 year old child returned to his home camp, his father was dead. Now they had no one to properly provide for everyone. Yesugei's other wives and children together with the rest of the tribe, abandoned the Borjigins. Hoelun doesn't take shit though and followed them, holding a banner aloft in her husband (and kidnapper haha yikes)'s legacy. An old man encountered them and took pity on Temüjin and his family and said to the others that they should be ashamed for abandoning the family of a warrior. This may seem like just something that happened, but it changed Temüjins future forever. Why? For the old man was killed for standing up for them, a sight the youngster would not forget. Later that night, the tribe stole the family's horses and left, abandoning them for good. Hoelun still doesn't take this shit however, she will not be pushed around and she will not let her family die out in the middle of nowhere. Together the family worked to survive, with Hoelun acting as their leader. Temüjin learnt important survival skills that again, changed him for the future. He had few friends aside from his close family, but there was a tribe that would settle near theirs sometimes and they had a boy that was a bit older than Temüjin, named Jamukha. The two became the best of friends and did many activities together like hunting and exploring. They even made themselves Anda, blood brothers. Throughout his teenage years, Temüjin's older half-brother Behter tried to cement himself as the leader of the family, as he was the oldest male. He stole spoils of hunts from his brothers and half-brothers. When this had happened on basically a consistent basis, Temüjin and his younger half-brother Belgutei told Hoelun about this, but she told them that is a fart in space compared to other issues, such as you know, keeping the tribe alive. 14-year old Temüjin was furious and the thefts kept on happening. Tired of being pushed around, Temüjin and Belgutei joined forces and tracked Behter to a secluded location. They drew their bows at him. He warned them that this wouldn't help them at all, but they didn't care. Temüjin and Belgutei murdered Behter. This also meant that Temüjin was the oldest male of the family. Hoelun realized when the two boys returned what they had done and was distraught and scolded them. Not just because murdering your half-brother is you know, not very nice, but also because this meant that Temüjin was a kinslayer. Things worsened when the Tayichi'ud, the tribe that abandoned the Borjigins captured Temüjin and enslaved him. However, Temüjin had learned much and with some wit and patience hee knocked his guard unconscious and hid in some reeds while the warriors feasted. When the warriors noticed he was gone they rode out and Temüjin was able to escape with the help of a local tribe. At 16-years old, Temüjin hadn't seen Börte in 7 years. He went to find her and he did. She had been waiting for him for all this time and did not marry anyone else. Despite Temüjins trouble with some tribes being known across the steppe, the wedding between the two proceeded. Temüjin and Börte love eachother very much and were now finally together. Temüjin received one of the finest furs available on the steppe as a wedding gift and Temüjin knew just what he would use it for. He approached Ong Khan, an old Khan of a prosperous tribe who had fought together with both Qutula Khan and Temüjin's father Yesugei who also proclaimed himself Khan of the Khamag Mongol after Yesugei died, although not many others recognized this. He offered the fur to Ong Khan as a way of recognizing Ong Khan as his father, basically because on the steppe, family means alliance. Ong Khan accepted, which meant that Temüjins family was now under protection by Ong Khan and Temüjin felt he could settle down in peace, but that is wrong. The Merkits, the tribe from where Hoelun came from wanted revenge for when she was kidnapped by Yesugei all those years ago. Now he was dead and they knew that, so they set their sights on Temüjin's bride: Börte.
* **Crusade Number Three:** Well it's that time again isn't it. Tensions have been rising in Iberia and the Near East for long. In 1172, all of the christian kingdoms of Iberia teamed up to invade the Moors and take back their lands. Two years later in 1174, Saladin declares a jihad against the remaining crusader states as well as a crusade on Anatolia, knowing that the Byzantines would become involved anyway. In response, the pope calls for the Third Crusade. The alliance of Saladin, Kilij Arslan II and Nur ad-Din is powerful and by 1175, Antioch has already fallen and soon enough the rest of the crusader states aside from Tarsos. Rûm's attack against the Byzantines allows them to recapture Angora and later Sinope in 1177. The Byzantines are "assisted" by crusader armies who still don't give a fuck about the orthodox heathens and just wreck shit for catholic jesus, even though they don't really succeed. In late 1178, the Ayyubids land in Cyipri. In 1179 Rûm sieges Konya. The longest crusade so far is still going on (this portion is referred to the Anatolian Crusade since the one in the Levant basically is over and a failure already) and of course there's also the Iberian front taking part in the Reconquista. In other news Nur ad-Din would die in 1174, but his successor As-Salih Ismail al-Malik would continue claiming to be the true caliph instead of the old geezer Saladin (who is 68 by 1179).
* **An Interesting Jidai - S2E8, Kill thy Neighbour:** Tensions are just too high in Japan for any sort of quick, peaceful solution. With a new form of government formed again as well as a war in Tungning that a fair share of people find unnecessary and costly, the originals receive a leader by the name of Otagi Takagame who leads his faction, which he names Tokugawa, against the empress and the council first in 1173. The Tokugawa control basically what is considered OTL Tohoku. A domino effect sparks from this, spawning the Matsumaki faction to quite easily taking over the more distant territory of Hokkaido, due to their neighbour Tokugawa being very powerful and close-by, the Matsumaki under Nishi Sueharu more or less become subservient to them and they don't do much other than launch raids and assaults on Ezo and the Kuril Islands. Another faction, whose leader Kujo Hidenao claims lineage back to the ancient state of Kaga, takes their place in parts of the Chubu region. Due to being in a weak position, even with the Imperial regime facing many factions, they ally with another faction, Minamoto in Chugoku, led by Akizuki Minamoto. There are two factions, Uzugami (Yamataka Hochi) and Izumi (Fujimori Yosuke), fighting mainly over the island of Shikoku and finally the faction of Tairazuto in the farthest lands west and south. Asano Tadashi and his wife Aoi are the main leaders, together with a council of economic lords. Tokugawa wants to put a loyal Shengu noble on the throne as emperor whilst Otagi Takagame can take real power as a dictator together with his Samurai (basically shogunate dude) with Matsumaki supporting them. Tairazuto is one of two factions that aren't necessarily hostile to the Imperial regime, although they still seek to overthrow the current council to install their own popularist form of regime where the richest and most prosperous hold the most power while having the emperor/empress in their pocket. The rest of the factions basically just want to overthrow the government and install their own ruler, except for Uzugami, which acts independent from the current regime, but are not hostile to them. Distant locations such as the southernmost islands of Okinawa, as well as Ezo, Tudar and the Kuril Islands basically fall to independent rule but not under any form of faction. Ezo occupies the newly ceded territory in order to protect it from factions and also partly because the decision to annex that isn't very popular there. Kind of the same happens in the small Japanese exclaves in Korea, where Goryeo occupies them for protection against any of the factions or any other potential rebels. When the Korean soldiers first entered a few skirmishes occurred through misunderstanding but Goryeo takes control for now and attempts to convince the populace that it's not an invasion for the sake of conquest. Meanwhile the war in Tujing goes quite well as most of the rebellion is put down, but with the civil war breaking out and the garrison left on the island being weakened and also conflicted, Zheng is able to fund and help the rebels to push the Japanese out by 1175. As you can tell, they aren't willing to mend relations with Japan when they refer to their situation as an "accident". Now however, they can't assist Tujing much more as they need to be prepared for an invasion from Jin that could come almost at any point. Zheng may have been weakened but they have stabilized and know that the non-aggression pact they signed with Jin is not 100% genuine. Finally, the island east of Tundo is very very far away, remote and is barely that settled by anyone of Japanese or Tudaran regime and while on-paper still part of Tudar, it de facto falls into tribal rule once more. And Dai Viet accepts.
* **The Albionite Isles - The First Real and Major Anglo-French War:** France and England don't like eachother and the so-called Capetian Coalition formed by France and nearby allies would end up in war by 1178. This due to England basically stopping their involvement in the Third Crusade by then and Henry II deciding that France's existence must come to an end. Previously in 1173, Henry the Young King rebelled against his father and came close to winning but failed. He managed through his mother be pardoned, but lost political power and influence as his father was mighty mad. Anyway back to this. France, Flanders, Occitania and Burgundy vs England and Brittany. So far the war is basically just a stalemate. Louis VII of France sought the pope and asked him to excommunicate Henry for what he had done earlier regarding Thomas Becket, but the pope at the time of that (Adrian IV) was English himself and managed to keep Henry in check, even if he didn't like Henry much because of Henry's opposition to the power of the church. The current pope Alexander III cannot really do much and he himself has problems of his own as his election was contested so he has rivals he needs to take care of (together with his buddy and supporter Frederick Barbarossa). So the first big Anglo-French war since Henry II took all that land remains as any side's game, but Louis VII has an ace up his sleeve, he looks north of England, to Scotland, for help.
* **The Volgas Power Struggle:** The Khazars begin an ambitious project of roads which will cost a lot, but with the creation of Sartav and connections sparking from there, it seems like the future will be kind. These roads will of course take a long time to be fully finished and developed and it will also take time for the more remote areas to be integrated into a centralized, more urban society. But Banel has made himself quite popular. However in the untamed lands of what used to be Volgas, where urbanization will take very long, the conflicts regard tributary stuff and influence and power sparks. Dénec, being the strongest as it holds a central settlement, basically has the most power and could in a way force their hand upon their neighbours. The northernmost states of Ulyar and Tynea become sick of this and form an alliance to defeat them. Chuva joins in too, but only through material support. Bilyar decides to support Dénec, while the rest of the tributaries remain neutral for now. Ryazan, the Kazakh Khanate and the Ardushtegin Empire all accept their respective offers made by the Khazars.
* **Second Danish Crusade:** Since 1166, Charles III was king of Sweden, but he then died in 1172. Thus, two rather short-lived an ineffective monarchs had ruled the country since Magnus II from Danesmark was overthrown. Eric V, the new king, intends to change this, as problems start to arise due to peasant revolts and such because the last few kings kinda sucked. Combine this with bad relations with the Danes and that doesn't look good. Especially since Sweden isn't ready for war against them. So Eric V approaches Valdemar I of Danesmark, who is one strong and powerful man. His offer is that the two kingdoms can work together in two crusades, one against the Estonians which would assist the Danes and then one against the Finns which would work well for the Swedes. By going on these holy missions as allies, they could mend relations and also, even if there is a law regarding crusades now, they don't give a fuck and defeating and converting heretics is holy prestige anyway. Unfortunately, the Second Danish Crusade was as successful as the first one. The Estonians are still no military joke and the region was dominated by two peoples, those who were for further christianization and those who were against it. One of the ones against this was a man named Kalevi. When the crusade began in 1176, he fought on the west coast but was defeated and pushed back. He was a poor man with a poor family and tried to rally as many friends and friends of those friends as possible to form an army. He then realized that the Scandinavians were getting further, so he had to go to somewhere else. To Novgorod. He spoke to the King of Novgorod for help, but he wouldn't provide it for someone who refused to become christian. Eventually however, Kalevi won him over by emphasizing what power Sweden could gain from this. Novgorod and Sweden both have interests in OTL Finland and borders there were not completely recognized. If Sweden held lands in Estonia too, they would effectively control the Gulf of Finland and could easily cuck Novgorod from the Baltic Sea completely. So, he decided to assist them. Kalevi returned to Estonia with the help from Novgorod and using this he rallied most other Estonian warriors who fought valiantly against Danesmark and Sweden, driving them off the mainland in late 1177 and then the Estonians, on their own, sieged and destroyed Ulvildborg which drove off the Scandinavians completely from Saaremaa and Hiumaa in 1178. Considered great men, the most powerful Estonian lords established their own counties, which would allow for better defense if the Scandinavians come knocking again. Seven of these counties are formed, with Rävala (Tallinn) being the domain of Count Kalevi the Great. The failure of this crusade worsened relations between Danesmark and Sweden and subsequent expansion in Finland was done solely by the Swedes.
* **Saljuq Decline:** Even more land is lost as the Ardushtegins capture Zarad, completely annex Afganistan and now control land stretching all the way down to the Gulf of Oman. The Persianized Turkmens are now a force to be reckoned with.
* **Eslam in West Africa:** Obviously with the Moroccans right next door, Eslam has been around in the West African kingdoms for very long, however it is not until now that kingdoms start converting to that faith, as in the rulers themselves are converted aside from just merchants and some nobles. Problems do arise from this however, as Morocco isn't the only place to have influence there. Merchants from all of North Africa would go there, so you have the Ayyubids as well. Timbuktu and Wagadou convert to the Dihyafi denomination, while Gao and Jenné convert to Sunni. Combine this with Gambia rejecting Eslam and relations with the other states decreasing due to their conversion and this is bound to lead to some blood being spilled.
* **More Crusade Shenanigans?:** Volyn' and Halych converts to Orthodox Christianity. As slavs, they are not a fan of a very important city for slavs, Kiev, being controlled by some ugly steppe horsefuckers. So, the two speak with the Grand Prince of Kiev, who remains following the "indigenous" Rus' denomination of Christianity about doing something about the humiliating defeat they suffered decades ago. Following this they speak to the Byzantine Empire. They tell them that the city of Kiev is very important to them and that the Khazars are encroaching upon lands for potential Orthodox spread (the Kievan Rus' as well as Novgorod). If the Byzantines agree to assisting Volyn', Halych and Rus' against the Khazars in a crusade, they will pay the Byzantines back by assisting them right now with assisting against the invading Turks of Rûm, along with some cash money of course and them enforcing Orthodoxy as much as possible in their lands.
* **Bruhzantium:** Sorry. Byzantium as you can see from other events, is in another interesting period of time. Relations with the Papal State has stagnated a bit, but hasn't gone back to pre-Papal Schism relations and they improve a bit after the Compromise of Rome in 1170, which states that a crusade can only be declared by the pope after a joint negotiation between the pope and the Emperor of Byzantium and that it means a war for the holy land and not any other place. Venice is happy to become better friends with Byzantium despite religious differences. In Carail, things still stay being difficult even if there's no direct armed conflict going on there. Mainly there's a struggle between peasants and some nobles spreading info and rumors about the Emperor being a big doodoohead while the Duke and other vassals spread info and rumors about the Byzantine Empire being great and these resisting peasants being traitorous and stupid ungrateful diccheads. The ultimate insults occurring are some nobles on the island converting to Catholicism. Then in what is OTL Bulgaria, there are demands from peasants for there to be more Bulgarian vassals there instead of Greek ones, to represent the people.
* **Great Zimbabwe:** Zimbabwe under a certain Munyai Nkala, their king, goes to war against some rivaling tribes and would defeat them. After this expansion, the construction of a great capital is done, which becomes known as Great Zimbabwe, a true monument and impressive piece of work, especially for sub-saharan Africa.
* **Kazakh Khanate:** A long-standing rivalry between some powerful clans leads to civil war. The Qasqaric dynasty remains in power over most of the Khanate, but the east falls to the Khuzait dynasty who worked together with a Kyrgyz dynasty called the Taalay dynasty, who also gains independence as the Kyrgyz Khanate.
* **Austria:** Through marriage they absorb Carinthia and become the Duchy of Austria.
* **Zemaiteje:** A new Baltic polity.
* **Luwu:** They conquer Buton.
* **Cool University Thing:** The University of Modena and Reggio Emilia was founded in 1175.
* **Not Tamar the Great Yet:** The Georgian king George (haha) III (not the english guy who lost his mind) had proclaimed his daughter Tamar as his heir, which was unpopular. He goes to war against some revolting nobles and after defeating them he declares Tamar, who was born in 1160, as his co-regent.
* **I did an oof:** The city is not Paraná because it's not on the Paraná river. It's Uruguá because it's on the Uruguay river okay sorry for being lobotomized.
* **Oh yeah another thing:** Cymra was invaded a while back and became part of the Gaelic Union through some royal marriage stuffystuffs.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** shit storm
	+ **Economy:**spice, food, dye, art, porcelain.
	+ **Capital: Shihon**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99%, 1% Chinese, Ainu, Manchu & Okinawan.
				+ **Shihon:** 353.000 (Japan)
				+ **Tōga:** 315.000 (Japan
				+ **Hiroshima:** 235.000 (Minamoto)
				+ **Yamato:** 195.000 (Japan)
				+ **Fukuoka:** 180.000 (Tairazuto)
				+ **Nagasaki:** 175.000 (Tairazuto)
				+ **Komatsu:** 165.000 (Kaga)
				+ **Kagoshima** 155.000 (Tairazuto)
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.564.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.419.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 13.483.000
			* **Total population:**  17.820.000
			* **Religion:** 100% Shinto-Buddhism
		- **Demographics of Tujing:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 0.5%, Chinese(ish) 99.5%
				+ **Taichung:**33.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 452.000
			* **Total population:** 475.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 99.5% Shinto-Buddhsim 0.5%
		- **Demographics of Ezo:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 30%, Ainu 70%
				+ **Sunõdorangon:** 10.000
				+ **Fuyu:** 21.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 256.000
			* **Total population:** 287.000
			* **Religion:** 90% Shinto-Buddhism, 10% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Tudar:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 18% Visayan 82%
				+ **Tudar:** 3.740
				+ **Rural Areas:** 20.060
			* **Total population:**23.500
			* Religion: 50% Shinto-Buddhism, 50% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **Japan:** Japanmainly focuses on building prestige for the Emperor, first, she announces that through the way of life and spirit she was born to reincarnate Japan and uses the fact that she controls the 3 biggest capitals in Japanese history as proof. She also takes classes by her generals in warfare and joins the battle 1187 as a general. She leads her troops into Kaga and pretty quickly takes control over the region. Meanwhile her other generals focus on Tokugawa and Minamoto, Tokugawa is a slowpoke with the lines standing still while Minamoto is slowly pushed away from their north. This is due to a temporary alliance with Tairazuto.
		- **Tokugawa:** The lines stand still but they manage to successfully push back a bit close to Ataki
		- **Matsumaki:** They raid Ezo and successfully conquer some of the kuri islands
		- **Kaga:** Dead
		- **Minamoto:** collapsing.
		- **Uzugami and Mizumi:** They exist.
		- **Tairazuto:** They push Minamoto south and eventually conquered Hiroshima, they focus mostly on keeping the economy well as they see that as the way to take power. They therefore sign a non aggression pact with Japan and move forces down to try to recapture Tujing, starting with invading from the south and liberating Banqiao so that they can find the lord of military and get him on their side. (He was lost there :( )
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:**total of 1% (Japan) 182.200 178 200
				+ 54 836 Archers. (54 836)
				+ 35 877 Spear men (35 877)
				+ 36 066 Swordsmen (36 066)
				+ 25 497 Cavalry (25 497)
				+ 1960 Tawābasutā (5 880)
				+ 0 Yōyū-ki (0) (0% but we have
				+ 9 106 Heavy Infantry (9 106)
				+ 5 463 Winter Infantry (5 463)
				+ 5 464 Jungle Infantry (5 464)
		- **Navy:**
			* 200 Galleys
			* 140 Transport ships
			* 165 Light warship
			* 60 Medium warships
			* 25 Heavy warships
			* 4 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
		- **Jin he he:** wanna trade? Zheng b angry like dat
		- **Events:**
			* **Prestige:** The Emperor dismantles the council and proclaims that "I will be the greatest woman that has ever steered Japan, just watch me" She starts throwing banquets for nobles and improves women rights a bit to get them on her side, she shares documents from old times with stories about her ancestors further proving her legitimate and she also does something that a certain old emperor did, hire a murder to kill her just to avoid it and kill him infront of the crowds. The view of her starts to shift from "who the fuck are you" to "professional badass

### **Khazar Khaganate:**

* **Government: Monarchy (Khaganate)**
	+ **Khagan:** Banel
	+ **Dynasty:**Bulanid
	+ **Economy:**Most of the economy comes from trade with the Byzantium Empire, the Khazak khanate, Ryazan and some other smaller nations. We also possess the ability to intervene in important sectors within the economy to make sure nothing goes off balance and are currently great.
	+ **Capital: Akashar**
	+ **Demographics:**
		- **Population: 74,4%** **Khazar, 12,69% Slavic, 9,6% Aabkhaz, 1.9% Greek, 1,4% Georgian, 0,01% Ugrian.**
		- **Total population: ~2,504k, Population (including Vassals): 2,761k**
		- **Cities: 612.94k**
			* **Akashar: 152.33k**
			* **Galgan: 119.72k**
			* **Karcha: 106.73k**
			* **Korstyam: 98.71k**
			* **Chersonesus: 35.75k**
			* **Kabalaka:** **26.71k**
			* **Aqwa: 22.89k**
			* **Thyaps:****21.61k**
			* **Mykolev: 17.71k**
			* **Charkev: 8.14k**
			* **Sartav: 2.64k**
		- **Rural Areas:** **~1,891.06k**
		- **Religion:** **83.5% Judaism, 12.8% Christianity, 3.7% Tengri.**
* **Vassals:**
	+ **Combined Total population:** 257k
		- **Kiev:**37 200
			* **Capital:** 15 700
			* **Rural areas:** 21 500
		- **Dénec:** 34 200
			* **Capital:**Denec 3 450
			* **Rural areas:** 30 750
		- **Voronezh:** 31 200
		- **Ulyar:** 29 200
		- **kama:** 26 200
		- **Bilyar:** 23 200
		- **Tynea:** 21 200
		- **Syrte:** 20 200
		- **Asli:** 18 200
		- **Chuva:** 16 200
* **Wars and Conflicts: (*Italics= potential war)***
	+ ***Conflict of the North:'* If the Magyars don**t stop fighting we will send 40% of our army to intervene, the army will push the Ulyar and Tynean armies away and force them to stop.
* **Military:**
	+ **First army: Total of 2% 50 080**
		- 29 999 Cavalry
			* 13 904 with Spears
			* 16 095 with Swords
		- 15 585 Infantry with Swords and Shields.
		- 4 496 Infantry with Spears and Shields.
	+ **Second army:** **Total of 1% 25 040**
		- 14 900 Cavalry
			* 6 900 with Spears
			* 8 000 with Swords
		- 7 626 Infantry with Swords and Shields.
		- 2 514 Infantry with Spears and Shields.
	+ **Third Army: 1% 25 040**
		- 19 203 Infantry with Swords and Shields.
		- 2 562 Infantry with Spears and Shields
		- 3 275 Cavalry with Spears.
* **Navy**
	+ **For traversing the Caspian sea:​**
		- **39 Transport ships (trade/negotiations)**
		- **85 fishing ships** **(for fishing...)**
	+ **For traversing the black sea:​​​​​​**
		- **12 B-Galleys (For Larger Cargo and for more people to fit while traveling)**
		- **38 Transport ships (trade/negotiations with the Byzantine Empire)**
		- **34 traveling ships (travel between the Karcha strait)**
		- **112 fishing ships (for fishing...)**
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Byzantine empire:** We are here to help you in your fight against the enemy.
* **Production:**
* **Events:**
	+ **Helping a friend:** We send the Byzantines 35% (17 528) of our main army to help agains their enemies.
	+ **Magyars:** Stop this fighting or else intervention will occur! Denec is not allowed to use their centralized position or it's power to control other states from now on, if this is not followed Denec will be split in 2 ("west and east Denec" or "Denec" and a different name, you choose Tobbe).
	+ **A new city:** A new city is formed north-east of Sartav near the border of Ryazan. It will be called "Peanza".
	+ **Development of the north:** Seeing as the southern part of our country seems to be better off than the northern part. We start making the north more devoloped than it currently is. Farms are made, cities are being planned, the buildings are reinforced, lot's of villages are being connected by roads that leads to cities (Check picture to the right), merchants are encouraged to travel to the north as there are items that only exist there that can be sold for a good penny in other areas.

### **Byzantine Empire:**

* **Government: Absolute Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Domnius II
	+ **Dynasty:** Domninian Dynasty
	+ **Economy:** Most of the economy comes from trade mainly through Constantinople where a variety of things are traded. We also possess the ability to intervene in important sectors within the economy to make sure nothing goes off balance and are currently thriving. Our most valuable and prized goods are silk and purple
	+ **Capital:** Constantinople
	+ **Cities:**
	+ **Constantinople: 960,000**
	+ Adrianople: 128,000
	+ Thessaloniki: 120,500
	+ Syracuse: 91,000
	+ Athens: 89,000
	+ Cities: ~2,400,000
	+ Rural Areas: ~8,500,000
	+ Total population: ~10,900,000
	+ **Demographics:**
		- **Population:** Greek 67.5%, Minorities: Italian 10%, Bulgar 6.5% Turks 7% Slavic 5%, Other: Khazar, Arabic 3%
	+ **Religion:** Eastern Patriarchy ~94%, Other: Judaism, Eslam, Zoroastrianism 6%
* **Wars and Conflicts:**
* **Military:**
	+ **Standing army:** Total of 2% (~218,000)
	+ 80,000 Cavalry
		- 15,000 Cataphracts
			* 5,000 Cataphract archers
	+ 138,000 Infantry
		- 100,000 Akritai
	+ **Troop placement:**
		- Princess Zoe, a suprisingly great general will lead a large army to push the enemy away from Konya into a pincer movement, and then continue to punch deep into their territory in the general direction of Kayseri.
		- More troops are moved to the north where they must either siege Sinope quickly or leave the Rum garrison to starve, and move closer to Trebizond with the assistance of a few ships
		- A relief force is sent to Cyprus while a naval blockade is set to stop supplies to the enemy
		- A large fleet is gathered to tackle the Ayyubid navy through a strong formation and leadership.
* **Navy:**
	+ 49 Galleys
	+ 167 Transport ships
	+ 183 Dromons
	+ 82 Triremes
	+ 6 Venetian ships
	+ Aftokráteira tis Mesogeíou
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Khazar Khaganate:** We ask of you to accept Eastern Orthodoxy and legalize the preaching of its missionaries, aswell as installing your own patiarch. Mind you we arent asking you to abandon judaism but to allow Orthodx christians to spread through your nation and possibly other parts of the world.
* **Events:**
	+ **Passing of Leo:** Leo VIII kicks the bucket, and is succeeded by Domnius II.
	+ **Kiev compromise:** After hearing and considering what the Orthodox states have to say but also that the Khazars are our allies we want to make a compromise so that all parties may benefit.
	+ **Bulgar representation and Carail troubles to a new system:** After going through all this stuff with people trying to seperate or agitating for liberty or independance we try to make a new system of states to better represent the people we rule over, while still all going to the power of Byzantium, for the glory of father Rome!

### **NPC Events:**

* **Adulthood of Temüjin:** Temüjin is now 18 years old in 1180, living happy with a family, believing he will live a peaceful life from here on. He is wrong. During one night while sleeping, a few of the people at Temüjins camp heard the sound of horses galloping rapidly and knew something bad was going to happen. As quickly as possible they alerted the camp. The Merkits arrived soon after and spread chaos. Not many people were attacked necessarily but Temüjin was forced to escape with his family. Thing is, the Merkits succeeded in capturing his wife Börte while the rest fled and they stole much of the tribe's supplies as well. No need for me to tell you how he was feeling after the raid. The tribe of Temüjin fled to the mountains and lied low in areas Temüjin knew by heart since childhood. Four days later he returned to the camp, which was burned. A few corpses lay in the area for those unfortunate to have been attacked by the Merkits. Temüjin vowed to always honor the mountains as the place of his deliverance, but he's also very upset and devastated over the killing of some of his tribesmen as well as the kidnapping of his wife. He went to Ong Khan, who was furious over the Merkits attacking someone under his protection and offered Temüjin thousands of men to get Börte back. He also brought along Jamukha, Temüjins childhood best friend and blood brother. He had, like Temüjin (albeit with the Tayichi'ud) been captured and taken into slavery by the Merkits and wanted not only revenge, but also to assist his blood brother and get together with him once more like when they were younger. Messengers were sent across the steppe and eventually all the forces gathered in 1181 and crossed a river towards the Merkit camp. It was too large of an operation to be completely stealthy but as soon as the Merkits realized what was happening, it was too late for them. The alliance of Temüjin, Jamukha and Ong Khan struck hard, killing several of the Merkits while the rest scattered and fled away, getting a taste of their won medicine. Temüjin eventually found Börte and rescued her, after which the armies left the Merkit camp. "News" spread fast across the steppe, one reason to why Temüjin had a bad reputation a while back after the whole kinslaying thing and getting captured and enslaved and then escaping. Now Temüjin had the reputation as a strong leader. Now it was discovered that Börte was pregnant, she had been taken as a concubine by the Merkits and in 1182 she gave birth to a son. The question of who the father was came about but Temüjin claimed the son as his, naming him Jochi. After the raid, Temüjin and Jamukha were now inseparable and it was almost like childhood again as the men spent their time riding, hunting and camping together. The two combined their camps together with the two of them as head leaders. The two together with Ong Khan continued their alliance throughout the years, defeating enemy tribes and reconquering territory, capturing Karaban (AGAIN) for example. This started a resurgence of the Khamag Mongol. Ong Khan was in his fifties and had suffered several injuries through warfare. This together with further growth of the confederation sure did lead to Ong Khan being a bit more recognized as the Khan of the confederation, but it was also difficult to manage. Thus in 1187 he employed Temüjin and Jamukha as co-khans so they could manage much of the lands, but still with Ong Khan at the top as the "true khan" even if most of the power landed in the hands of those two. This was however not a great idea, for Temüjin and Jamukha were starting to drift apart. Mainly this laid in ideology, Temüjin believed in meritocracy, but Jamukha was still staunchly traditional with power laying in the hands of family ties. Because of this and other things they disagreed over, Jamukha believed that he should have more power and be the true khan of the Khamag Mongol. All the way to 1189 the two remain co-khans, but the rift between them is growing larger and larger.
* **Crusade Number Three:** Reduced to two fronts, Anatolia and Iberia, the Third Crusade has. Yoda speak aside, the Pope already calls the Third Crusade off in 1180, as the six years were a complete failure in the Holy Land. Crusader armies and the Knights Templar were not happy over the results of this crusade. In Anatolia, the Byzantines are mostly on their own, only assisted by a few crusaders and some Khazar support. However, they don't see too much success, Cyipri ends up fully occupied by the forces of Saladin and the Byzantine ships sent to set up a naval blockade end up defeated. Although the "conquest" of Cyipri finished in 1184 would be Saladin's last assault as he would die that year at the age of 74, he's succeeded by his second son Al-Aziz Uthman. Back to naval blockade, not only have the muslims learned over time how to deal with fire ships, but Ayyubid navy is beefier than you might think and also had the assistance of mercenary vessels purchased from the Bashirid Empire of Morocco. Naval warfare in some other areas see more success to the Byzantines however. On land, Rûm is assisted by both the Zangids and Ayyubids, who overrun the remains of Tarsos and close in on Antalya and Ipsus AND Trebizond. Konya is however still in Byzantine hands and a successful encirclement took out a good amount of enemy troops and has allowed the Byzantines to push further. Trebizond is held by garrisons as well as the Armenians and Khazars but is still under threat. As the conflict drags, things become more and more complicated but more on that in a different event. In Iberia, the Bashirids and Zubayrids are not very successful, as they lose Saraqusta and Lisbuna to the christians and other lands are taken too. This is worsened by tensions and instability throughout Al-Andalus between different vassals.
* **Second Papal Schism:** Pope Alexander III as said earlier had a contested election and is a controversial pope due to being more tolerant towards Orthodoxy as well as having several rivals who want to be pope themselves. The critical mistake Alexander III does is to refer to the Byzantine Empire as the "true successor to Rome" in a few decrees. This especially pissed off HREmperor Frederick Barbarossa and he together with some support overthrew and killed Alexander III in 1184 and installed Lucius III, but he was unpopular and got deposed by Gregory VIII in 1186 who is the current pope. He is staunchly a Catholic and ends the Holy See's monetary support of the Byzantines and Christian Iberian states. He also sucks up to Frederick I not only to make a good impression but also to make sure he doesn't murder him for deposing Lucius, managing to do so because Frederick is old and also did have some disagreements with Lucius and Gregory is just good at convincing him overall to be better suited for the job. Lucius III hides out in France and another case of a pope vs antipope has occurred. France, León-Castille, Bohemia among others such as various states in Italy support Lucius III. Most of the HRE, England, Hungaria and Croatia support Gregory VIII.
* **An Interesting Jidai - S2E9, Shihon War:** No other conflict has been this large in Japanese history, this war is the biggest since the Kofun War. An uneasy alliance exists between the imperial regime and the Tairazuto faction, who try and invade Tujing but see quite a massive failure due to the people of Tungning being prepared and generally being in a better position. The failure of the invasion turns most people in Tairazuto let alone Japan itself off from trying again within any near amount of time. Kaga would manage to hold on for a while before being destroyed although remnant forces and loyalists would be a thorn in the side for some years to come. Minamoto, post-Hiroshiman conquest would go in and capture Komatsu to regain strength and Akizuko would start advancing on Toga, a former capital of Japan which would be very good to have for them. The remote Matsumaki advance and take all of the Kuril Islands under Japanese control since why not they're not too hard to take and if it's under them the imperial regime can't use them. Otagi Takagame continues a violent assault from the north even if it isn't too successful right now and the Shikoku factions are stuck in a stalemate. Right now Japan is in an unsure situation as there are also peasant revolts here and there and your run-of-the-mill bandits, deserters and minor factions moping around throughout all of the islands. Especially considering the firing of the council and the empress taking power of Shihon to herself, that makes those nobles angry. Some make their own minor factions while others scatter to the present major factions.
* **The Volgas Power Struggle:** With Khazaria breaking in the status quo is sort of restored, but not for long. The violence is stopped for a few years before more infighting occurs and also Dénec starts to assert dominance over the others once more. They and Asli join together as the other states go hostile against them. Ulyar and Tynea also fight but they pursue their own interests and do invade Kama to attempt to gain more power there.
* **The Albionite Isles - Continued Continental Conflict:** War continues to rage on. Years of bloodshed almost seem like they have no end. Called in are the Scots and Cymrans after the French make an alliance with the Gaelic Union, they start to push in a bit. The French capture Rouen and Orléans and trudge forward towards Caen. Meanwhile Henry II tries to take out Toulouse but the Burgundians are enough to stop him even if he pushes in quite far. He starts a new front by taking Calais and from that tries to start a diversion, but it doesn't go completely as planned. Whilst French morale is starting to soar more and more, England is in a more uneasy state. Henry the Young King and his brother Geoffrey revolt once more in 1183 but that revolt also fails and results in the death of both of them. Being forced to fight them and seeing the conflict kill two of his sons puts the aging Henry into a depressive state. He tries to keep his sons satisfied with positions and fiefdoms but there's growing tension regarding succession. Will it be his eldest son William, his third son Richard or his fifth son John?
* **Second Jin-Zheng War:** The Jin decide it's time to conquer China and invade in 1186. However, the success they expected doesn't occur really as envisioned. The Chinese are prepared and manage to hold the front and even push in to take back Xiyu and Luoyang. Another ace they have up their sleeve is a temporary alliance with the Tanguts of Xixia. When they join in they take large amounts of territory and even capture Fenghao. This makes what seemed to be a relatively simple war for the Jurchens a challenge.
* **Saljuq Decline:** Further decline is really all that is happening to the Saljuqs. Two emirates, Mazandaran and one centered on Hamadan run by the Marwanid dynasty secede.
* **Eslam in West Africa:** More and more people convert throughout the kingdoms although there is considerable conflict in Gambia as there are some figures of power who start to accept being taught the Eslamic faith but the king and various vassals don't want the religion at all and have constant conflicts with missionaries coming to their borders.
* **Dano-Swedish War of 1184-87:** Despite attempts to mend the relationship between the two, it just doesn't work. King Eric V, along with enforcing his control over parts of Finland and dealing with conflicting claims over the region between the Swedes and Kyrelia, declares previous pious king Eric IV (who was assassinated) as a saint, supported by Pope Gregory VIII. In 1184 Eric V acts upon a vassal's (and in a way the entire kingdom's) claim on Gotland and goes to war against Danesmark. Three years of fighting go by and Sweden would try to regain Lödöse as well and perhaps more lands there but it failed. The war in general is a victory however and Gotland becomes ruled by Sweden again in 1187.
* **Kazakh Khanate:** More instability results in the Bashkir people seceding and forming their own khanate. General infighting is occurring within the borders.
* **Tamar the Queen but not the Great yet:** With George III (still not the English guy) dying in 1184, his daughter Tamar becomes queen. Not many are a fan of this and Tamar spends her first years avoiding assassinations and arguing with the aristocracy who largely didn't support her because she has vagaga instead of payniss. Just medieval things you know. But Tamar was raised well and has gathered pretty big support anyway and seeing the world around her she knows Georgia is vulnerable and needs to strengthen, especially with the Khazars in the north and Uqaylid Shirvanis to the east. She is also quite disappointed in the lack of effort by the Armenians to assist the Byzantine Empire's struggles but she can't do much of that right now.
* **East Indies Stuff:** Srivijaya hasn't been doing well in forever and eventually lose control of Banten to a new kingdom known as Singhasari. Christmas Island has a few people on it but due to being so distant from the rest and also being barely visited the island just becomes unclaimed land (sort of) after the upheaval. Brunei would also invade and take the island of Belitung to expand their influence and power in the seas around the East Indies. Langkasuka would be threatened ever more by the power of the Chelan navy and their influence over the Bay of Bengal. Eventually in 1185 they are forced to submit to them as another vassal, except for the city of Aceh which is directly annexed. Chela also has influence over basically all of Sumatra and take their place as one of the strongest dynasties of India so far.
* **Baltic Region:** A few more states pop up: Vaiga, ~~Pepsi~~ Peipsi and Latgale.
* **Tatars:** The Tatars western Siberia have by 1189 migrated to other regions, leaving that territory occupied by Kirghiz tribes instead.
* **Para-nua:** They conquer Kaikoura-iwi but I screwed up on the map it will be fixed next turn.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:**Hunichi**,** Shugyu Yamashengoshiand Hanui Yamashengoshi
	+ **Economy:**spice, food, dye, art, porcelain.
	+ **Capital: Shihon**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99%, 1% Chinese, Ainu, Manchu & Okinawan.
				+ **Shihon:** 356.000 (Japan)
				+ **Tōga:** 318.000 (Japan
				+ **Hiroshima:** 240.000 (Tairazuto)
				+ **Yamato:** 200.000 (Japan)
				+ **Fukuoka:** 185.000 (Tairazuto)
				+ **Nagasaki:** 175.000 (Tairazuto)
				+ **Komatsu:** 165.000 (Minamoto)
				+ **Kagoshima** 155.000 (Tairazuto)
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.624.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.418.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 13.932.000
			* **Total population:**  18.350.000
			* **Religion:** 100% Shinto-Buddhism
		- **Demographics of Tujing:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 0.2%, Chinese(ish) 99.5%
				+ **Taichung:**38.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 492.000
			* **Total population:** 520.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 99.5% Shinto-Buddhsim 0.2%
		- **Demographics of Ezo:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 31%, Ainu 69%
				+ **Sunõdorangon:** 10.000
				+ **Fuyu:** 21.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 269.000
			* **Total population:** 300.000
			* **Religion:** 92% Shinto-Buddhism, 8% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Tudar:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 18% Visayan 82%
				+ **Tudar:** 4.240
				+ **Rural Areas:** 24.560
			* **Total population:**28.500
			* **Religion:** 50% Shinto-Buddhism, 50% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- M**ore of an Event**
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:**total of 1% (Japan) 182.200 178 200
				+ 54 836 Archers. (54 836)
				+ 35 877 Spear men (35 877)
				+ 36 066 Swordsmen (36 066)
				+ 25 497 Cavalry (25 497)
				+ 1960 Tawābasutā (5 880)
				+ 0 Yōyū-ki (0) (0% but we have
				+ 9 106 Heavy Infantry (9 106)
				+ 5 463 Winter Infantry (5 463)
				+ 5 464 Jungle Infantry (5 464)
		- **Navy:**
			* 200 Galleys
			* 140 Transport ships
			* 165 Light warship
			* 60 Medium warships
			* 25 Heavy warships
			* 4 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
		- **Zheng:**one more straw and Jin will fall, if we help you maybe our relations can be good again.
		- **Events:**
			* **THE WAR:**The Empress has now gotten experience within warfare and now she will prove it, she takes control over the war in Minamoto and with combined efforts with Tairazuto, they meet and legends tell that they stayed the night with each other. Meanwhile in Tokugawa the Japanese troops forces their way all the way up to Haiwa. The Empress now has quite the support meaning that nobles realize that to take power they need her. Tairazuto decides to focus on mainland Japan and thus easily conquers Izumi and Uzugami. A meeting is later held in Shihon where the future of Japan is discussed, They decide to keep the current line of Emperors but that The leader of Tairazutos son and the leader of Japans daughter will marry, creating a development of the already developed name Yamashengu which would develop into Yamashengoshi, A new and final way to rule is constructed where the Emperors, yes two, the emperor and his/her wife or man is on the top with lords that steer different areas of power which the emperor chooses from nobles. Small rebellions do occur but most are put down quickly. The marriage takes place and the new leaders of Japan are put in place, Hunichi steps down and now, time for a resurgence.
			* **Reparations:** we celebrate unity and soldiers across Japan get to shake hands and become friends again. Most of the rest of these 10 years are spent rebuilding houses and reorganizing the nobles.

### **Byzantine Empire:**

* **Government: Absolute Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Domnius II
	+ **Dynasty:** Domninian Dynasty
	+ **Economy:** Most of the economy comes from trade mainly through Constantinople where a variety of things are traded. We also possess the ability to intervene in important sectors within the economy to make sure nothing goes off balance and are currently thriving. Our most valuable and prized goods are silk and purple
	+ **Capital:** Constantinople
	+ **Cities:**
	+ **Constantinople: 970,000**
	+ Adrianople: 131,000
	+ Thessaloniki: 123,000
	+ Syracuse: 91,000
	+ Athens: 89,000
	+ Cities: ~2,400,000
	+ Rural Areas: ~8,600,000
	+ Total population: ~11,000,000
	+ **Demographics:**
		- **Population:** Greek 67.5%, Minorities: Italian 10%, Bulgar 6.5% Turks 7% Slavic 5%, Other: Khazar, Arabic 3%
	+ **Religion:** Eastern Patriarchy ~94%, Other: Judaism, Eslam, Zoroastrianism 6%
* **Wars and Conflicts:**
	+ For the time being we switch from trying to destroy the enemies navy and instead raid ports and harass small fleets if they are greatly outnumbered
* **Military:**
	+ **Standing army:** Total of 3% (~330,000)
	+ 100,000 Cavalry
		- 15,000 Cataphracts
			* 5,000 Cataphract archers
	+ 200,000 Infantry
		- 160,000 Akritai
	+ **Troop placement:**
		- Zoe will make a move southwards towards to cut off the line leading to the siege of Antalya, where noble soldiers are to make their way from Sardis to relieve the siege.
		- Other troops are sent on transports to hopefully keep the Trebizond garrison going
		- Funneling through Constantinople more troops are gathered and headed by me, to take back Angora by luring their main forces to the outskirts of Ipsus and then surrounding them with a cavalry charge, whereafter we finally push towards Angora.
* **Navy:**
	+ 44 Galleys
	+ 160 Transport ships
	+ 168 Dromons
	+ 73 Triremes
	+ 5 Venetian ships
	+ Aftokráteira tis Mesogeíou
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Venice:** We ask of you to lend many of your great vessels as we are unable to combat the enemies navy alone.
* **Events:**
	+ **More levies:** More soldiers are raised to combat muslim forces, they wont take our rightful territory!
	+ **Naval developments:** Seeing as how our once mighty navy is slowly falling apart in the modern age we make an effort to create new designs and improve the flaws the old ones had with modern technique.

### **NPC Events:**

* **Khanhood of Temüjin:** As time passes by, the life in the Khamag Mongol is relatively secure, but the situation between Temüjin and Jamukha start to fall apart faster and faster. What really sets things going happens in 1193, where Jamukha proposes that the combined camp that they have should split up. Temüjin should camp by a river with the goats and sheep while Jamukha camps by the mountains with horses. This was a power move. Jamukha comes from a lineage of higher status than Temüjin and believing in the traditional family-tied aristocracy: was asserting his dominance over his co-khan. Horses are a symbol of status on the steppe and horse breeders are a noble class. With this proposal Jamukha was basically referring himself to a noble and referring Temüjin to that of a lowly peasant. Well, we all know what happened last time Temüjin had to deal with someone in his life demanding subservience. Although, whilst they had begun falling out from eachother for years at this point, Temüjin still saw Jamukha as a friend and thus spoke to his own family, specifically his mother Hoelun (she's still alive) on what to do about this. Temüjin's wife Börte interrupted and was very angry over Jamukha's action, something she saw as a betrayal. After many, many discussions that bled into the next year, the decision was made. Temüjin's camp, along with any of Jamukha's followers who were willing to join them, would set off on their own. This effectively split the Khamag Mongol into two and so it was. In 1194 they escaped off into the night. Jamukha saw this as a grave insult, a betrayal and as Temüjin planning to take his role as the one supreme head of the Mongols. Temüjin was not in the best position, Jamukha still had the support of the established leaders, although the "official" khan: Ong Khan remained neutral in the matter which in a way practically separated his lands from the Khamag Mongol as well. The Khamag Mongol was now divided. Despite Jamukha's status, Temüjin still received several families formerly allied to Jamukha. This is because he could give them something Jamukha could not. The possibility of advancement. With their merit, they could still become trusted members of Temüjin's camp, even if they don't have a very high-class heritage. Ong Khan managed to break in before any warfare between the two former co-khans started and made a decision to try and solve this peacefully. This was to be done through both men summoning a Kurultai, a traditional form of electing a leader or forming an assembly to make decisions. Basically, if a family were to show up at the Kurultai of one of the two, that would be their endorsement. This was essentially an election. An election that Temüjin lost. Most families still supported Jamukha, who became Jamukha Khan of the Khamag Mongol Confederation. Despite the loss, Temüjin could work with this. He managed to convince Ong Khan to convince Jamukha to allow Temüjin to stay as a minor khan and it was successful. Perhaps Temüjin could still reign and live in peace. Not so. The next year: 1195, saw a cattle raid carried out on Temüjin by his old enemies the Tayichuud. During this relatively bloodless raid, one of Temüjin's followers killed one of the raiders, a distant relative of Jamukha. He decided to use this to attack Temüjin's camp with his vastly superior army. He may have orchastrated this raid to justify an attack on Temüjin or it might have just been coincidence. Regardless, that is what he did and was successful, although most of Temüjin's forces routed and escaped. To add massive insult to injury Jamukha then proceeded to execute one of the captured leaders: Tumbinai, a good friend of Temüjin who also shared his name with Temüjin's great-great-grandfather Tumbinai Setsen, and Jamukha also had 70, count them, 70, prisoners boiled alive. However, despite the rough life of the steppe, this was horrific and disgusting to even his staunchest allies. Jamukha may have defeated Temüjin, but he emphasized the divisions between the aristocratic lineages and the abused lower classes and this made more and more of the lower class allies of Jamukha change their side to Temüjin. Now at 33 years old, the Khamag Mongol has fallen into chaos again and Ong Khan ended his involvement with both Jamukha and Temüjin, not wanting to anger either of them and letting them fight on their own while he stood back. This would change however. A group known as the Jurched asked Ong Khan for help in defeating their enemies, the Tatars. They explained that they were promised help by Temüjin and that he had them send a message to Ong Khan, stating that he still recognized himself as Ong Khan's patron and that this was a sign of friendship, but promised that he would not drag Ong Khan into conflict with Jamukha. Ong Khan accepted. Temüjin also approached a neighbouring tribe, the Jurkin, and offered them spoils if they helped as well. They accepted and held a feast, but it went wrong. Temüjin's half-brother Belgutei, whom he had killed Behter together with many years ago, noticed that some of the Jurkin were attempting to steal horses. Belgutei confronted them, one of them being Buri, an undefeated wrestler. Belgutei went to wrestle Buri, but he instead pulled out his sword and slashed Belgutei across the shoulder, a grave insult. Belgutei alerted the rest of the feast, which turned into a brawl. Eventually the Jurkin escaped. The attack on the Tatars still happened, but the Jurkin never showed up. It was a great victory, especially since the Tatars had luxuries originating from China, which the Mongols never had seen before. Temüjin realized something. On the Mongol steppes, a tribe would be defeated, a few prisoners would be taken and the rest left alone, who would then most likely strike back later or join a rival clan to get their revenge that way. An endless cycle of war. He was not fond of this. Something else he wasn't fond of was what happened after the defeat of the Tatars. When he returned home with the newfound wealth, he discovered that the camp had been raided by the Jurkin. As a response he attacked and defeated them with ease, but did something very different afterwards. He put the Jurkin aristocracy on trial and had them executed, but he allowed the citizens to live in the households of his own clan, not as slaves, but just as anyone else. He then held another feast with the Jurkin and summoned forward Buri, the wrestler and Belgutei to truly settle their dispute in a match. Buri was defeated but the match wasn't over just yet. Belgutei put his knee on Buri's back and broke it, before sending him out to the middle of nowhere and dumping him there with no ability to move other than crawling. By 1199 Temüjin had sent a message to everyone else, if you surrender to him, there are great rewards to gain, but if you betray him, you will be shown no mercy. Jamukha was not fond of Temüjins actions and prepared to do something about it to protect his position as khan.
* **"Crusade" Number Three:** Is technically not even happening any more, with both popes declaring it as over, but those two popes are important in other matters. In Iberia, this point in the Reconquista ends in 1194 with the surrender of Qurtuba, leading to the christians grabbing territory, the reconquest of Lisbuna and Alfonso IX of León-Castille building the settlement of Madrid. Qurtuba's instability leads to it and the rest of Al-Andalus' collapse into several Taifas, ending Moroccan control in the area. These include the Aftasids of Batalyaws, the Tulunids of Isbiliya, the Zubayrids of Qurtuba (yep they're still in control), the Hudids of Balansiyya, the Abbadids of Murcia and the Nasrids of Granada. Meanwhile the Anatolian war, referred to some as the Anatolian Crusade, drags on more and more with no clear winner. Rûm manages to take Sinope, although at the cost of many casualties, they defend Angora and are pushed back from Antalya. The rest basically remains a stalemate with both sides not being able to do much and levies being held up makes costs bigger and bigger and the war more annoying. Trebizond holds on, through the funneling of reinforcements as well as Khazar support. Rûm basically gives up on pushing any further and focuses on defending what they hold, even if they won't gain Konya from that. By stalling the Byzantines they can force them to peace. Rûm also annexes Tarsos officially and so does the Zangids with Antioch, ending the crusader states for good. Al-Aziz and the Zangids both decide to pull out of fighting in Anatolia to focus on more important matters.
* **The Albionite Isles - Shortlived Peace:** The French had been slowly winning but still facing a lot of challenges, but that changes now. Henry II dies in early 1190, without a defined heir. This lead to Richard, William and John, Henry II's three sons to duke it out in war. This war, called the War of the Three Brothers, allowed the French to push the English back very far, leading to William dying, having been forced to the continental regions and being overrun by the French. Richard and John decided to make peace in 1192 and gave the French back a lot of land in a peace with them, ending the first major Anglo-French war which had lasted circa 14 years. The English kept Normandy, Aquitaine and nabbed Calais for themselves. They also make peace with the Gaelic Union, I just forgot to remove the occupation on the map. Anyway YAY PEACE! Well...
* **Second Papal War:** There's the ongoing issue of pope, since the second schism happened. Recap: HREmperor Frederick I overthrows Pope Alexander III and installs Lucius III. Lucius III is unpopular and gets deposed by Gregory VIII. Lucius III flees. France, León-Castille, Bohemia among others such as various states in Italy support Lucius III. Most of the HRE, England, Hungaria and Croatia support Gregory VIII. French king Philip II speaks with Bohemian king Ottokar I, plotting to reinstall Lucius as pope since Frederick I died in 1190. Gregory VIII had crowned Henry, second son of Frederick as Henry IV, HREmperor. However, the eldest son of Frederick, also named Frederick, disputed this. "Pope" Lucius III crowned him as Frederick V and he's hiding out in France as well. Anyway the plan is if they get rid of Gregory, Lucius can then crown Frederick V officially. But it doesn't really go as planned. While being smuggled towards Rome, Lucius III is discovered in Frankfurt and is captured. Henry IV realizes that the French are involved and demand they pay for his ransom, they can have him back although he has to recognize Gregory as pope. The French say fuck you and take matters into their own hands by getting him by force, starting a war in 1196. Several others join in on the war, including all those above mentioned, thus the not-even 4 year long peace between France and England ends. Some writers call this war the Second Papal War, at the same time as naming the conflict spawned from the Papal Schism of 1130 the Papal War. There is more occupation and stuff going on but I am not patient enough to do all of that HRE stuff so yeah, no.
* **An Interesting Jidai - S2E10, Pieced Back Together:** After nearly two decades of war, the different factions are defeated and integrated back into Japan. There remains some super minor rebels but they're defeated completely by 1191. Proceeding will be a period of re-organizing and re-building to bring Japan back to the calibr it used to be in. It might take a few decades, but it'll be worth it, now under new (sort of) leadership.
* **35 Years of War:** The situation of West Africa is heating up, regarding the religious turmoil and disagreements. With the ascension of Bello Bakon to the throne of Wagadou, the spark has been ignited. Bello is very much for the conversion of the entire region to Dihyafi Eslam and is known for it. In fact he spent parts of his teen years narrowly dodging a few assassinations. Gambia decides that enough is enough. They have HAAAAAAAAAD IT with these motherfucking muslims in these motherfucking lands. Now that I think about it that sounds like something some edgy islamophobe would say irl. Anyway they declare war in 1192 and not long after Timbuktu joins in on Wagadou's side. They had just the previously year declared war on Gao to convert them and now Wagadou is brought into that war as well. Finally Jenné, threatened and having the same interests as Gao, join in against Wagadou and Timbuktu as well. Mossi remains outside as a neutral power. The start of the war is a stalemate but eventually, being caught on two fronts, Wagadou suffers losses in the west while succeeding in the east. The Gambian king Birom III sees a great victory in 1199 by capturing the important trade center city of Aoudaghost.
* **The Volgas Power Struggle:** The Khazars make some effort to fight in the very north, but Ulyar and Tynea eventually defeat and occupy the orange polities, leaving the rest alone. The two declare the former Volgas confederation reborn, as the Khanate of Volgas, but both states still function independently right now. Legiev fill this in with your turn later k thanks.
* **Saljuq Decline:** It's like a broken record, constantly repeating itself. The Muzaffarids of Fars secede and attack the Saljuqs while the Turkmens of the Ardushtegin Empire also plan an invasion.
* **Second Jin-Zheng War:** Zheng would decline help from Japan because they are still not trusting them. This war continues until 1193. Knowing they can't just reclaim everything directly, Zheng would take some of the key cities they occupy while the Tanguts of Xixia take some more, including Fenghao.
* **Tamar:** Georgian queen Tamar spends the turn first building up more power for herself rather than some of her vassals, who don't really want her on the throne. She seeks out allies through family friends and thankfully she has some military buddies and she starts building up her own military elite. The different vassals however start to support this one guy named Aram, who claims to have a claim on the throne, even though Tamar and her central family agree that the male line of the Bagrationi dynasty died off when her father George III died. Nevertheless this lead to the two sides first attempting discourse, with the opposition of course trying to find ways to make Tamar seem unsuited for ruling Georgia (one of the arguments of course being the fact that she is a... you know... she). This didn't completely work but one of Tamar's advisors suggested a feast could be done in 1194 which maybe could loosen up the tight relations. Well that same advisor ended up drinking poison during that feast, killing him. He had accidentally drunk from a cup that was intended for Tamar, meaning that someone attempted to take her life. This did not stand and a civil war broke out between Tamar and Aram which lasted until 1196 when Tamar consolidated her power fully as the true queen of Georgia and installed elite warriors on her side as well loyal vassals all around. With a strong military, especially for such a small kingdom, she then looks to her neighbours and what to do with them. One thing she does is send a few units to assist the garrison at Trebizond. The other thing is to go after the Shirvanis, which is the plan at hand.
* **East Indies Stuff:** With the former vassal of Banten breaking free as Singhasari, they decide to fill the power vacuum in the Greater Sunda Islands. Bali and Lombok are quickly subdued as vassals and an invasion across the Sunda Strait into the crumbling mess that is Srivijaya begins.
* **Novgorod:** They convert to Orthodox Christianity.
* **Garamantes:** A culture spanning the region of Fezzan.
* **Tu'i Tonga Empire:** They finish their conquest of the Fiji Islands.
* **Maoris:** Para-nua founds a capital and there's a new polity as far south as you can go.
* **Baltic Region:** Kalevi stands as the most influential man in Estonia, as Duke of Rävala, however not all is well. Conflict exists between the different dukes, some of it escalating into small, brief wars that aren't necessary to mention. One big thing the states are not agreeing on is how they should go about doing things, especially when there are threats around them, which is something they also don't agree on. Some say Novgorod is the scariest right now, while others (including Kalevi, who of course received help from Novgorod to defeat the scandinavians) fear another invasion by the Danes and/or Swedes.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:**Shugyu Yamashengoshiand Hanui Yamashengoshi
	+ **Economy:**spice, food, dye, art, porcelain.
	+ **Capital: Shihon**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99%, 1% Chinese, Ainu, Manchu & Okinawan.
				+ **Shihon:** 356.000
				+ **Tōga:** 318.000
				+ **Hiroshima:** 260.000
				+ **Yamato:** 200.000
				+ **Fukuoka:** 190.000
				+ **Nagasaki:** 175.000
				+ **Komatsu:** 165.000
				+ **Kagoshima** 155.000
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.649.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.468.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 14.132.000
			* **Total population:**  18.600.000
			* **Religion:** 100% Shinto-Buddhism
		- **Demographics of Tujing:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 0.2%, Chinese(ish) 99.5%
				+ **Taichung:**40.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 510.000
			* **Total population:**  550.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 99.8% Shinto-Buddhsim 0.2%
		- **Demographics of Ezo:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 34%, Ainu 66%
				+ **Sunõdorangon:** 10.000
				+ **Fuyu:** 21.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 279.000
			* **Total population:** 310.000
			* **Religion:** 94% Shinto-Buddhism, 6% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Tudar:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 22% Visayan 78%
				+ **Tudar:** 5.240
				+ **Rural Areas:** 32.060
			* **Total population:** 37.300
			* **Religion:** 60% Shinto-Buddhism, 40% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **Tujing:** So, time to reclaim, the regiments of Japan are organized and after about 3 years of kind of rest with some few skirmishes to lower Tujings ships to the sea we launch an attack during night, the plan is to land a bit everywhere, laying focus on the capital, they don't have the population to allow for an army large enough to counter us everywhere, we will secure the sea and then move in lands, taking their farmland and the two cities, pushing them up onto their mountains where we will starve them until they surrender, this war isn't too costly because we only need a fracture of our army, but it still costs, the public will be told mostly only of great victories, using propaganda to drown out hate and argue that they Tujing will open up the seas better for us. When we take Tujing we will guard it and demilitarize it, make it illegal to own a weapon and illegal for the nation to have soldiers, relying on Japanese soldiers only. If Zheng disagrees to our request we will have a firm grip of them and rulse them almost as a part of Japan, if they agree we will guard them but let them govern themselves.
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:**total of 1% (Japan + Ezo + Tudar) 189 470
				+ 54 836 Archers. (54 836)
				+ 42 877 Spear men (42 877)
				+ 36 066 Swordsmen (36 066)
				+ 25 767 Cavalry (25 767)
				+ 1960 Tawābasutā (5 880)
				+ 0 Yōyū-ki (0) (0% but we have)
				+ 9 106 Heavy Infantry (9 106)
				+ 5 463 Winter Infantry (5 463)
				+ 5 464 Jungle Infantry (5 464)
		- **Navy:**
			* 210 Galleys
			* 140 Transport ships
			* 165 Light warship
			* 60 Medium warships
			* 25 Heavy warships
			* 4 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
		- **Zheng:**hey, if you give us your weapon technology we will let Tujing be heavily self governed and decrease the funds that they have to send to Japan to 2% of their taxes.
		- **Jin** (if Zheng joins the war against us): An alliance would allow you to reconquer your lost territory and us to secure out vassal, Imagine the alliance of Jin, Goryeo and Japan against Zheng and Xixia.
		- **Dai Viet:** Hey, we will soon be able to trade more efficiently, but since the rout is not ready yet we could send our ships to Hai Khao to sell you shit, we also improve relations
		- **Ibalong:** Eyy, we come in peace now buy rice.
		- **Goryeo:** As a thank you for your help we grant you our southern territory in the Korean peninsula, they are liking of you so the transition won't be a problem. Also, we would like a loan from you so that we can repair our country faster, we will start repaying you in about 50 years or so if that is fine.
		- **Events:**
			* **Repair:** The budget has 2 parts, repair and retake. Jin has jsut suffered war and thus we start pumping trade into them, to make us richer and them stronger, into Zheng we pump luxuries such as spice or sugar and into Lusong we sell some commercial products they yet cannot produce. We channel money into repairing damages and keeping the peace but also fighting with Tujing. The economy is becoming better but slowly.

### **NPC Events:**

* **The Mongol Horde - Part I: Enter Genghis Khan:** A civil war has been running wild in Mongolia for very long, consisting mostly of raids and counterraids against one another. The two big names are Temüjin and Jamukha. Jamukha saw himself as the future ruler of all of the Mongols and in 1200, after gaining practically full support from aristocratic families, gave himself the title "Gur Khan", which means "Universal Ruler". This was a power move, but it was also a title that Ong Khan's uncle had used before Ong Khan usurped him as Khan of the Keraites. So Jamukha, knowing that Temüjin had become friendly with Ong Khan, was now basically attempting to say "~~I have a bigger dick than both of you combined~~" "I am better than both of you". Temüjin and Ong Khan teamed up and a battle erupted between them and Jamukha in early 1202, as Jamukha had assembled a coalition of different tribes to oppose Temüjin. Shamans on both sides beat drums as war music before and during the battle. Luckily for Temüjin, it started to storm when his shamans were playing, which made some of Jamukhas troops and generals desert in fear of angering the spirits. One of them was a younger man named Subutai who also didn't really like Jamukha. Speaking of him, he had to retreat as Ong Khan and Temüjin were too strong. Ong Khan chased after Jamukha while Temüjin went after the Tayichuud tribe, which he defeated, killed the aristocracy of and had the rest integrated. Jamukha however, managed to escape into more remote areas of the steppe, leaving the other two important figures to celebrate for now. Ong Khan then later that same year had Temüjin go and attack the Tatars and this was a perfect moment for Temüjin to use a new tactic he had thought of for long. You see, traditional Mongolian warfare consisted of one tribe raiding another tribe's camp, which then led to several of the tribespeople fleeing and some defending their possessions. Eventually the raiders would seek out all the riches that they could. Temüjin realized that this left that army vulnerable to counterattack later on. So for this raid he declared that no looting would take place until AFTER total victory. Then they would gather everything, bring it to Temüjin and he would distribute it to his army, which would mean that morale would be high and no soldiers would fight eachother over the loot gathered. BUT! He also declared that a share of loot would be given to anyone widowed because of the raid. So if one of his soldiers dies, some loot that he would have gotten will be given to his family. This move stemmed from Temüjins childhood, as his father had died when he was but 8 and his family, led by his mother (still alive btw), was abandoned. This would never happen again now. And this was revolutionary for Mongolia and the support of the poor degraded from good to FUCKING HELL YEAH TEMÜJIN'S OUR MAN WOOO!! Did I say degraded? I meant upgraded. Now the battle itself... well the Tatars got fucking yeeted to kingdom come. Thing is, the system of "kill aristocracy, rest can live with us" was not going to work completely in this case. The tatars numbered in the thousands. Temüjin then showed extreme brutality in his "solution". All the Tatar men were ordered to stand by a large cart. Anyone taller than the lynchpin (the thing holding the wheels to the cart) was just straight up executed. Temüjin still had more traditions that he saw as "in his way" and had to get rid of them and Jamukha was busy trying to rebuild since he was defeated, so Temüjin had time. He reorganized the army by creating squads of ten people from different backgrounds, who had one leader that was elected by them. Ten of those formed a company of 100 men and those hundred men again, elected a leader of all one hundred of them. Ten of those formed a battalion of 1 000 men, where the general was chosen by Temüjin himself. Temüjin then declared a piece of territory has the homeland of the Mongols, that territory were the lands he had hid in after escaping from the Merkits as a youth. An area there was restricted to the Borjigin clan, where they would conduct burials and rituals. Now while there was no way to become Khan of all the Mongols without defeating Jamukha, Temüjin had the support of the "symbolic khan" of the Mongols: Ong Khan. In 1203 he proposed to Ong Khan that Jochi, his eldest son (although it's unknown if he was a result of Börte's rape after being kidnapped all those years ago) could marry one of Ong Khan's daughters. This would acknowledge Temüjin as Ong Khan's heir and remember that Ong Khan is getting old. Ong Khan's eldest son Ilga had secretly allied himself to Jamukha and wanted to convince his father not to do this. Family ties swayed Ong Khan to refuse, which was a grave insult to Temüjin. After this the 70 year old Ong Khan was approached by Jamukha who blackmailed him into siding with him so that the two could wipe Temüjin out together. He was forced to agree. Jamukha and Ilga first devised a plan to poison Temüjin while he was feasting with Ong Khan's clan, but it failed and no one ended up poisoned at all. They devised a second plan. Ong Khan sent a message to Temüjin that he had changed his mind and that Jochi could marry his daughter anyway. Whilst riding towards Ong Khan's camp however, one of Temüjins scouts noticed that Ong Khan had an army nearby and warned the others. Temüjin was devastated and furious over this betrayal and since he was riding with but a small group, he couldn't fight and had to retreat, ordering his scouts to scatter and rendezvous somewhere else. But when he got there, only a few of the scouts remained. His nearly united people were now also without a leader, which lowered morale. Ong Khan was promised by Jamukha that he would receive a large share of Temüjins riches when they defeat him, swaying him over to his side. The two planned for a moment to strike Temüjin and finally rid themselves of him. Temüjin knew that he could be struck at any moment and he pleaded to as many people as possible for them to join his army. And this is where he realized that his societal reconstruction had worked. First there were hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands. Such a large army assembled, loyal to Temüjin and he quickly made up a plan. Ong Khan made a mistake sending the message, as it detailed his exact position, where he and Jamukha were feasting. Temüjin ordered his army to head there. Even along the way there were people with fresh horses for the soldiers to switch to so they could get to the camp faster. The army crashed down on the camp, with the inhabitants completely unprepared. Still, while the camp was absolutely wrecked, Ong Khan and Jamukha managed to escape. They headed west to the Naimans and got through. When shock from the previous raid ended he realized that Ong Khan's army must have been spotted before Temüjin arrived and thus Jamukha became incredibly furious. Jamukha allied the Naimans but was done with Ong Khan and had him executed by decapitation. Jamukha knew that Temüjin was on the way and that this was THE final battle. The finale which would end with one man as Khan of all of the Mongols. To show Temüjin and his army what they were dealing with, he had Ong Khan's decapitated head stuck on a pole outside of the camp as his army, along with the Naimans, prepared themselves. First, Temüjins army arrived in the form of small squads who attacked the patroling units with hit and run tactics. Then, Temüjin arrived with full force. His formation was that of several long lines, the front line would fire arrows and then "melted" back behind the next line. The Naimans attempted to counter this by spreading their units out into a long and thin line to prevent flanking and meet the attacking archers, but Temüjin created an almost spearhead-like formation to chisel through and counterattacked their counterattack. As Jamukha noticed the Naimans as well as a large chunk of his own army being slaughtered, he once again fled. Ironically he ended up in the same lands that Temüjin had hid in when he was young. Jamukha however, was found (by Subutai, his former general who had now joined forces with Temüjin), captured and brought to his former friend in 1204. This moment was tough for Temüjin, as when he put Jamukha on trial, he even started to shed tears. Eventually he told Jamukha that he could offer a form of dual leadership, not wanting to kill his blood brother, no matter how bloody their previous fights had been. Jamukha declined however. He stated: "Just as there is only room for one sun in the sky, there is only room for one Mongol lord." and asked for nothing but a noble death. Temüjin responded with: "In accordance with your words, I shall kill you without shedding your blood." Thus, Jamukha's back was broken, which was the noble way to go in Mongolia. Temüjin was now the sole ruler. He had won. At the end of 1204, Temüjin summoned a massive Kurultai. After a massive feast, he is declared the Khan of All Mongols and bestows upon himself a new name: **Genghis Khan.** He now presided over a realm spreading from the Gobi desert in the south to the Arctic tundra in the north and the Manchurian forests in the east to the Altai mountains in the west. He started up this by naming his people The Great Mongol Nation. He then made new reforms: abolishing hereditary aristocratic titles, banned the enslavement of any Mongol, banned the kidnapping and selling of women (progressive for 13th century Mongolia), declared any child of Mongol parents to be legitimate and had livestock theft be punishable by death. A writing system was set up, a census was conducted and he also instituted diplomatic immunity and get this: freedom of religion, something unheard of before (looking at you Europe). Thus 1204 was the year that the Mongol Empire was formed. The former scaredy 8 year old fatherless boy, living in a family then considered completely useless, was now the most powerful man in Mongolia. However, his next step wasn't really clear at first since most of his life was spent in conflict and he was now presiding over peace. He initiated raids on the Xixia, which obviously meant war. Unlike the Mongols, the Tanguts of Xixia had walls and moats and much larger armies. Thus this forced Genghis to start learning siege tactics and such in order to properly fight the Xixia. And so they would, this war took much much longer, but the Mongols were quick to learn these new tactics and by 1209 the Xixia is nearly conquered by the upstart Khan.
* **Second Papal War:** Why fight a war against Muslims when you can fight a war amongst yourselves lol? The Second Papal War rages throughout the years. Specifically it goes on for 6 more years, a war that is fought over two positions: Pope and Holy Roman Emperor. Most battles take place in Western and Central Europe, with France being a major player, fighting against the English, ruled by two kings: John I and Richard I. In the east there's Hungaria fighting three bordering states: Bohemia, Poland (who joined in the year 1201) and Austria. The French push on Frankfurt rescues Lucius III from captivity, being moved towards Bavaria, whose king is Henry IV. However the coalition for Lucius is hit with bad news when Lucius dies of illness in 1202, but they recruit his protegé Daniel, from France. So now it's Daniel I vs Gregory VIII. France succeeds in holding the westernmost duchies of the HRE, being assisted by Flanders and Luxembourg. The fight against the English is more tough however. In 1204, Richard I would fall in the Siege of Rouen, but the attack itself was successful. John is now the sole ruler of England. Both brothers would receive the title of "Lionheart" from their bravery in the war. With Austria, Bohemia and some others breaking into Munich and defeating Henry IV and then Venice assisting in the defeat of Ancona and Capua and a push from Florence and expeditionary units into the territory of the Papal States in 1206 ends the war after circa 10 years total. Frederick V becomes undisputed HRE and Daniel I becomes the new pope. Austria now becomes one of the big shots in the HRE, controlling everything there except the Tyrol region. France would also capture all of the region of Lothringen aka Lorraine and the HRE is in general weakened. In an attempt to stabilize the "empire", especially with non-emperors Austria and Bohemia becoming big and strong, Bavaria is divided in two, Lower and Upper. Henry IV's son Otto rules Lower Bavaria and new HREmperor Frederick V takes the area with Munich. This along with some complicated laws are instituted to make sure the emperor still can do stuff. Other than that, along with Pope Daniel getting in place and excommunicating a shitton of people, there aren't many territorial changes in the HRE. Now you may think: "this doesn't sound like a great solution." Well, it isn't one. Especially with the Knights Templar being unhappy with the new pope. A large part of them form a new order in Raustadt, called the Teutonic Order. How will this change the future? Good question cause idk.
* **35 Years of War:** In the region of West Africa the religious conflict isn't over why can't I come up with better ways to introduce events that have wars that continue from the previous turn in them fuckshitdickcunt. Anyway Wagadou sees trouble with Aoudaghost continually held and the Gambians pushing further east even if they are losing in the south. Wagadou under Bello Bakon succeed at capturing Jenné but Mossi decides to assist them and Gao, keeping Jenné in the war. Gao also flips the Timbuktuvians completely in 1206 with a successful encirclement and subsequent push into their lands. Bello Bakon is then assassinated in 1207, with the throne being passed down onto his 21-year old son Naré Maghann Konaté. He isn't very popular and is trying his best to overcome the war, deciding to focus on Gambia. In 1209, he allegedly received a prophecy from one of his advisor, that if he married a certain noble woman, he would receive a son that would become a mighty king. He listened and would marry the woman named Kumba Sene, hoping this prophecy could turn the tide of war somehow.
* **A New Japan - S3E1:** With a new regency in place Japan has changed once more. Now to attack Tungning/Tujing/whatever right after might not have been the smartest decision and due to certain conditions like Zheng joining to assist, Japan just starting their recovery and the difficulty of navally invading parts of Tujing due to things like terrain, buuuuuuuuuuuut that doesn't mean it is impossible and you've already looked at the map and fusd0bhspjghoewh0geqpnh0r9oj+tg3wq3ighnrwe+i90kj345yu2. The initial few attacks aren't effective but a while later a force surprises them and... also fails. BUT. That attack, led by Hojo Yoshitoki, did inflict quite a lot of damage and get this, got a hold of a few samples of firearms that the Chinese were using. Fourth time's the charm? Yes. It took several battles but Tujing is secured under Japanese dominion once more by 1203, once again the attack led by Yoshitoki. Japan has now been "introduced" to firearms but still know diddly-squat about them, sort of. They don't know much and it's only a few gunny bois. Jin didn't accept an alliance, having to deal with internal things and such and also again not liking the Japanese because no one in East Asia likes Japan except Goryeo but they did warm up relations a bit.
* **The Volgas Power Struggle:** The Volga Khanate is formed for real, ruled by two co-khans, in 1202. The co-khans are Vörös Khan and Bodnár Khan. In 1207 they attack the remaining Khazar tributaries in an attempt to take back everything the old Volgas Confederation controlled.
* **Ardushtegin Empire:** Under Shah Muhammed II they conquer the remnants of the Saljuq Empire and use their power in the region to force Fars, Mazandaran and the Marwanid Emirate.
* **Ayyubid Sultanate:** Conflicts over the title of Caliph existed between them and the Zangid Caliphate ever since they named themselves that. So after the Third Crusade and both sides rebuilding, Al-Aziz, intent on REALLY proving himself as the one true caliph told As-Salih to renounce the claim but it was refused. So war happened. The Ayyubid-Zangid war lasted from 1203 to 1205 and ended a total Ayyubid victory who annexed everything, taking control of Mesopotamia. Al-Aziz now finds himself in conflict with two other entities: Rûm and the Ardushtegins, mostly because they're Shia and not Sunni but also because he's intent on somehow forming the one true fourth caliphate and to do that he will have to unite all of the Middle East under a Sunni banner.
* **"Crusade" Number Three:** With no side being able to get any farther except a siege and capture of Konya in 1200, the Rûm defense proves successful and in 1201, Byzantine generals declare a peace together with their enemies, finally ending the war. Trebizond again, survives under Byzantine rule. This means that if you count this as part of the Third Crusade, then that means that it lasted for nearly 30 years (1174 - 1201). Both states are quite economically shaken from the conflict.
* **Tamar:** She goes to war with the Armenians who have been stagnating as of recently. The victory is rather swift, with Georgia annexing a few bits of land and vassalizing the rest. Consolidating her power, Tamar becomes known as a powerful and independent woman, with some of the people in her realm sometimes (jokingly or not) referring to her husband David as a ragdoll that she tosses around as she pleases. In 1206 she sends some envoys to the Byzantine Empire, a realm she has admired for her entire life, proposing a defensive pact against Rûm and promising to assist the Byzantines should another crusade in Anatolia occur. The following year she invades the Uqaylid Emirate to get access to the Caspian and to strengthen the power of Christianity in the Caucasus. Tamar also eyes up the territory of Aabkhaziya, which would create better defendable borders going completely along the main range of the Caucasus mountains, but the territory's current controlling realm makes that problematic for now.
* **Talgat Khanate:** Another petty khanate secedes from the Kazakh Khanate.
* **East Indies Stuff:** Singhasari under king Ken Arok would defeat the weak Srivijaya and annex the south of Sumatra, establishing control over the strait there. Ken Arok would interact with the Chelas and from that convert to Hinduism, spreading it further into the East Indies, even if it has had a presence there for a while. Said diplomacy would put Srivijaya into diplomatic conflict with the Chela Empire, considering they had pretty much stabbed them in the back long ago.
* **Swedes and Russians:** Several skirmishes and fights spur up in Finland on neutral ground, mainly between Finns allied to Sweden and Finns allied to Novgorod because both sides want the land for themselves.
* **Kievan Rus':** Suffering through a rough decline since the last war with the Khazars, the principalities of Tver, Yaroslavl and Vladimir secede from the former great power.
* **Lhasa:** After centuries of decline the northern plateau of Alai falls back to tribal rule whilst the western areas of the kingdom secedes as Guge. They end up in conflict with Kashmir over land.
* **Jayavarman VII:** He presides over the height of Khmer civilization, in a very peaceful period marked by arts, culture and wealth. Guess allying with the Chelas really paid off.
* **Diriyya:** They expand their borders and fight regular skirmishes against the Qarmatians, who if you remember expelled those who later founded Diriyya when the Omanis showed up.
* **Dzukija:** The last of the Baltic tribes form Dzukija.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:**Shugyu Yamashengoshiand Hanui Yamashengoshi
	+ **Economy:**spice, food, dye, art, porcelain.
	+ **Capital: Shihon**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99%, 1% Chinese, Ainu, Manchu & Okinawan.
				+ **Shihon:** 360.000
				+ **Tōga:** 320.000
				+ **Hiroshima:** 270.000
				+ **Yamato:** 200.000
				+ **Fukuoka:** 190.000
				+ **Nagasaki:** 175.000
				+ **Komatsu:** 165.000
				+ **Kagoshima** 155.000
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.749.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.584.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 14.388.000
			* **Total population:** 18 972 000
			* **Religion:** 100% Shinto-Buddhism
		- **Demographics of Tujing:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 0.5%, Chinese(ish) 99.5%
				+ **Taichung:**42.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 553.000
			* **Total population:**  595.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 99.5% Shinto-Buddhsim 0.5%
		- **Demographics of Ezo:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 34%, Ainu 66%
				+ **Sunõdorangon:** 10.000
				+ **Fuyu:** 21.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 271.000
			* **Total population:** 313.000
			* **Religion:** 94% Shinto-Buddhism, 6% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Tudar:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 22% Visayan 78%
				+ **Tudar:** 5.700
				+ **Rural Areas:** 35.300
			* **Total population:** 41.000
			* **Religion:** 62% Shinto-Buddhism, 38% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:**total of 1% (Japan + Ezo + Tudar + Tujing) 199 210
				+ 55.000 Archers. (55.000)
				+ 45.000 Spear men (45.000)
				+ 40.000 Swordsmen (40.000)
				+ 29.000 Cavalry (29.000)
				+ 2070 Tawābasutā (6.210)
				+ 1000 Yōyū-ki (2000)
				+ 10.000 Heavy Infantry (10.000)
				+ 6.000 Winter Infantry (6.000)
				+ 6.000 Jungle Infantry (6.000)
		- **Navy:**
			* 210 Galleys
			* 130 Transport ships
			* 175 Light warship
			* 60 Medium warships
			* 25 Heavy warships
			* 4 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
		- **Events:**
			* **Scary Enemy Maybe?:** This is intriguing, we have heard words of some war Jin is in that seems scary, we should start building up for defense especially in Tujing. What if Zheng and Jin joined forces to beat me and that secret nation?
			* **Rebuild Tujing:** we guard Tujing immensely, grabing control and holding it while we construct forts all over the place with loyal Japanese guards living in them. We are slowly turning Tujing into a fort, however we also have secret routes into the fortresses that are really hard to find, literally having to dig them up to find them. The information of these routes are hidden with the emperors in their private library.
			* **Economic Buildup:** We open the trade route to Dai Viet and start trading like crazy with them, we also sell rice to Jin. We start to rebuild our economic system and the country at whole with the money we gain.
			* **EXPLOSION MURDER TIME:** Generals found guns in Tujing and so the samples where brought to the emperors. "my Empress, we have acquired the weapons that the Chinese withheld" the general brings out a gun and a prisoner that used to be a general for Tujing and so, he shoves the gun up the prisoners mouth and explodes the head of him. The Emperors where delighted and commands that research needs to be done on the weapons and that copies are to be made. The powder will be imitated and we shall within 100 years use these guns. Those where the commands and so, they are started to be carried out.

### **Byzantine Empire:**

* **Government: Absolute Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Michael II
	+ **Dynasty:** Domninian Dynasty
	+ **Economy:** Most of the economy comes from trade mainly through Constantinople where a variety of things are traded. We also possess the ability to intervene in important sectors within the economy to make sure nothing goes off balance and are currently thriving. Our most valuable and prized goods are silk and purple
	+ **Capital:** Constantinople
	+ **Cities:**
	+ **Constantinople: 1,010,000**
	+ Adrianople: 136,000
	+ Thessaloniki: 129,000
	+ Syracuse: 94,000
	+ Athens: 92,000
	+ Cities: ~2,300,000
	+ Rural Areas: ~8,400,000
	+ Total population: ~10,700,000
	+ **Demographics:**
		- **Population:** Greek 68.0%, Minorities: Italian 10%, Bulgar 7% Turks 6.5% Slavic 5%, Other: Khazar, Arabic 3%
	+ **Religion:** Eastern Patriarchy ~94%, Other: Judaism, Eslam, Zoroastrianism 6%
* **Wars and Conflicts:**
	+ For the time being we switch from trying to destroy the enemies navy and instead raid ports and harass small fleets if they are greatly outnumbered
* **Military:**
	+ **Standing army:** Total of 1% (~107,000)
	+ 35,000 Cavalry
		- 15,000 Cataphracts
			* 5,000 Cataphract archers
	+ 72,000 Infantry
		- 30,000 Akritai
	+ **Troop placement:**
* **Navy:**
	+ 44 Galleys
	+ 160 Transport ships
	+ 168 Dromons
	+ 73 Triremes
	+ 5 Venetian ships
	+ Aftokráteira tis Mesogeíou
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Georgia:** Yes that would delightful, and we would also like to give you a tribute for your amazing advances not only being from a small nation but also having it done by a woman no less!
* **Events:**
	+ **Recuperation and response:** Strong efforts are made to get the economy and morale back on track after the waste of time known as the third crusade while also making an effort to record most of the battles so we know how to properly fight our enemy in the presumable near future.
	+ **Monarchy update:** Domnius II passes and is succeeded by his younger (but still kinda old) brother Michael.