The Game

## **The Map**

* **Demographics: (recommended to put in populations for each of your cities during the dark ages, full population can be put in when you have 10-15 major settlements)**
	+ **Population:** Insert Pop (% of major ethnicities)
	+ **Religion:** % of major religions.
* **Wars and Conflicts: (Here is also where you put in the creation of new military stuff and other things related to the army)**
* **Military: (your army obvs)**
* **Navy: (if ya have one)**
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Nation:** Diplomatic action taken.
* **Events:** Insert actions nation done.

### Example:

**Osterreik:**

* **Government:** Confederation of 5 tribes, ruled by one Monarch.
* **King:** Leif Reisarmann (Born 4021 BC Died 3966 BC) (Ruled 3999 BC - 3966 BC), Leif II Reisarmann (Born 3991 BC Died 3942 BC) (R 3966 BC - 3942 BC), Leif III Reisarmann (Born 3965 BC Died 3910 BC) (R 3942 BC - 3910 BC), Hareld Reisarmann (Born 3936 BC, still alive) (R 3910 - Present)
* **Economy:** Based on trading and agriculture.
* **Capital:** Vienna.
* **Demographics:**
	+ **Population:**
	+ Vienna: 3593
	+ Rural Areas: ~10,500
	+ **Ethnicities:** 93% Osterreikese, 5% Other Germanic People, 2% Latins
	+ **Religion:** 100% Germanic Paganism.
* **Wars and Conflicts:**
	+ **Mass Recruitment:** We are going to invade the Latins soon, so we recruit many more troops.
* **Military:** Total of
	+ Spearmen: 20
	+ Swordmen: 15
	+ Bowmen: 12
	+ Slingers: 8
	+ Torchmen: 8
* **Navy:** N/A
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Magyar:** Let's work together and trade.
* **Events:**
	+ **Exploration:** We send some explorers up north and east.
	+ **Expansion:** We expand to the southwest into the Italian Peninsula.
* **Lore:** Osterreik was formed up north of the Balkan Peninsula by some Germanic tribes who were led by Leif Reisarmann as those tribes migrated from the Jylland Peninsula down to Central Europe.

## **Game Speed**

* ~~4000 BCE-1000 BCE (100 years) (30 turns)~~
* ~~1000 BCE-700 BCE (50 years) (6 turns)~~
* ~~700 BCE-500 CE (25 years) (20 turns)~~
* ~~500 CE-1000 CE (20 years) (50 turns)~~
* 1000 CE-1350 CE (10 years) (35 turns)
* 1350 CE-1600 CE (5 years) (50 turns)
* 1600 CE-1900 CE (2 years) (150 turns)
* 1900 CE-present (1 year) (119 turns)
* World Wars after 1900 (every three months)
* World Wars before 1900 but after 1500 (1 year)

## **Archives**

* Turn 1 to 5 (4000 BC - 3500 BC)
* Turn 6 to 10 (3500 BC - 3000 BC)
* Turn 11 to 15 (3000 BC - 2500 BC)
* Turn 16 to 20 (2500 BC - 2000 BC)
* Turn 21 to 25 (2000 BC - 1500 BC)
* Turn 26 to 30 (1500 BC - 1000 BC)
* Turn 31 to 35 (1000 BC - 750 BC)
* **Classical Antiquity (700 BC - 523 AD)**
* Turn 36 to 40 (750 BC - 600 BC)
* Turn 41 to 45 (600 BC - 475 BC)
* Turn 46 to 50 (475 BC - 350 BC)
* Turn 51 to 55 (350 BC - 225 BC)
* Turn 56 to 60 (225 BC - 100 BC)
* Turn 61 to 65 (100 BC - 25 AD)
* Turn 66 to 70 (25 AD - 150 AD)
* Turn 71 to 75 (150 AD - 275 AD)
* Turn 76 to 80 (275 AD - 400 AD)
* Turn 81 to 85 (400 AD - 520 AD)
* **Early Middle Ages**
* Turn 86 to 90 (520 AD - 620 AD)
* Turn 91 to 96 (620 AD - 720 AD)
* Turn 96 to 100 (720 AD - 820 AD)
* Turn 101 to 105 (820 AD - 920 AD)
* Turn 106 to 110 (920 AD - 1010 AD)
* **High Middle Ages**
* Turn 111 to 115 (1010 AD - 1060 AD)
* Turn 116 to 120 (1060 AD - 1110 AD)
* Turn 121 to 125 (1110 AD - 1160 AD)
* Turn 126 to 130 (1160 AD - 1210 AD)
* Turn 131 to 135 (1210 AD - 1260 AD)
* **Late Middle Ages**
* Turn 136 to 140 (1260 AD - 1310 AD)
* Turn 141 to 145 (1310 AD - 1355 AD)
* Turn 146 to 150 (1355 AD - 1380 AD)
* Turn 151 to 155 (1380 AD - 1405 AD)
* Turn 156 to 160 (1405 AD - 1430 AD)
* Turn 161 to 165 (1430 AD - 1455 AD)
* **Early Modern Period**
* Turn 166 to 170 (1455 AD - 1480 AD)
* Turn 171 to 175 (1480 AD - 1505 AD)
* Turn 176 to 180 (1505 AD - 1530 AD)
* Turn 181 to 185 (1530 AD - 1555 AD)
* Turn 186 to 190 (1555 AD - 1580 AD)
* Turn 191 to 195 (1580 AD - 1602 AD)
* Turn 196 to 200 (1602 AD - 1612 AD)
* Turn 201 to 205 (1612 AD - 1622 AD)
* Turn 206 to 210 (1622 AD - 1632 AD)
* Turn 211 to 215 (1632 AD - 1642 AD)
* Turn 216 to 220 (1642 AD - 1652 AD)
* Turn 221 to 225 (1652 AD - 1662 AD)
* Turn 226 to 230 (1662 AD - 1672 AD)
* Turn 231 to 235 (1672 AD - 1682 AD)
* Turn 236 to 240 (1682 AD - 1692 AD)
* Turn 241 to 245 (1692 AD - 1702 AD)
* Turn 246 to 250 (1702 AD - 1712 AD)
* Turn 251 to 255 (1712 AD - 1722 AD)
* Turn 256 to 260 (1722 AD - 1732 AD)
* Turn 261 to 265 (1732 AD - 1742 AD)
* Turn 266 to 270 (1742 AD - 1752 AD)
* Turn 271 to 275 (1752 AD - 1762 AD)
* **Late Modern Period**
* Turn 276 to 280 (1762 AD - 1772 AD)
* Turn 281 to 285 (1772 AD - 1782 AD)
* Turn 286 to 290 (1782 AD - 1792 AD)
* Turn 291 to 295 (1792 AD - 1802 AD)
* Turn 296 to 300 (1802 AD - 1812 AD)
* Turn 301 to 305 (1812 AD - 1822 AD)
* Turn 306 to 310 (1822 AD - 1832 AD)
* Turn 311 to 315 (1832 AD - 1842 AD)
* Turn 316 to 320 (1842 AD - 1852 AD)
* Turn 321 to 325 (1852 AD - 1862 AD)
* Turn 326 to 330 (1862 AD - 1872 AD)
* Turn 331 to 335 (1872 AD - 1882 AD)
* Turn 336 to 340 (1882 AD - 1892 AD)
* Turn 341 to 345 (1892 AD - 1901 AD)
* Turn 346 to 350 (1901 AD - 1906 AD)
* Turn 351 to 355 (1906 AD - 1911 AD)
* Turn 356 to 360 (1911 AD - 1916 AD)
* Turn 361 to 365 (1916 AD - 1921 AD)
* Turn 366 to 370 (1921 AD - 1926 AD)
* Turn 371 to 375 (1926 AD - 1931 AD)
* Turn 376 to 380 (1931 AD - 1936 AD)
* Turn 381 to 385 (1936 AD - 1941 AD)
* Turn 386 to 390 (1941 AD - 1946 AD)
* **Modern Era**
* Turn 391 to 395 (1946 AD - 1951 AD)
* Turn 396 to 400 (1951 AD - 1956 AD)
* Turn 401 to 405 (1956 AD - 1961 AD)
* Turn 406 to 410 (1961 AD - 1966 AD)
* Turn 411 to 415 (1965 AD - 1971 AD)
* Turn 416 to 420 (1971 AD - 1976 AD)
* Turn 421 to 425 (1976 AD - 1981 AD)
* Turn 426 to 430 (1981 AD - 1986 AD)
* Turn 431 to 435 (1986 AD - 1991 AD)
* Turn 436 to 440 (1991 AD - 1996 AD)
* Turn 441 to 445 (1996 AD - 2001 AD)
* Turn 446 to 450 (2001 AD - 2006 AD)
* Turn 451 to 455 (2006 AD - 2011 AD)
* Turn 456 to 460 (2011 AD - 2016 AD)
* Turn 461 to 465 (2016 AD - 2021 AD)

## **Players**

Simplenoise8 as Game Master

XaoZss as N/A

Memeeater69 as the Japanese Empire

Justanormal as the Muiscan Confederacy

## **Alliances**

* **Patriarch League (Byzantine Empire, Naples and Dragovits)**
* **Brunei-Kutai**
* **Tansugai Khanate-Ilkhanate**
* **England-Brittany**
* **England-Navarre**

## **Vassals and Clients**

**Vassals:**

* **Norway**
	+ Faroe
* **Ilkhanate**
	+ Rûm
* **Golden Horde**
	+ Kiev
	+ Polotesk
	+ Smolynsk
	+ Volyn'
	+ Vladimir
	+ Novgorod
	+ Latgale
	+ Estonia
* **Japan**
	+ Sistukari
	+ Atuy
	+ Lusong
* **Oman**
	+ Mosylon
	+ Uyunid Emirate
* **Byzantine Empire**
	+ Naples
* **Mali Empire**
	+ Teghaza
	+ Tadmakka
* **Chaughan**
	+ Deva
* **Dai Viet**
	+ Champa
	+ Luang Prabang
* **Singhasari**
	+ Srivijaya
	+ Bali
	+ Lombok
	+ Sumbawa
	+ Sumba
* **Sweden**
	+ Oulu

**Tributaries:**

* **N/A**

**Dependencies:**

* **N/A**

**Personal Unions (*italics* means the junior partner):**

* Japan-*Tujing*

## **Dynasties/Royal Houses**

* Palaiologos dynasty (Byzantine Empire)
* Borjigin (Mongol Empire [Yuan dynasty, Tansugai Khanate, Golden Horde, Ilkhanate])
* Saljuq dynasty (Saljuq Empire and Rûm)
* House of Anjou (England)
* House of Capet (France)
* Bahriyya dynasty (Bahriyya Sultanate)
* Hafsid dynasty (Hafsid Sultanate)
* Yamashengoshi (Japan)
* Lý (Dai Viet)
* House of Keita (Mali Empire)
* Rajasa (Singhasari)
* Chela (Chela Empire/Kingdom)
* Árpád (Hungaria)
* Marinid dynasty (Morocco)
* Betatar (Brunei)
* Piast (Poland)
* Tu'i Tonga (Tu'i Tonga Empire)
* House of Estridsen (Danesmark)
* House of Sverre (Norway)
* House of Bjelbo (Sweden)
* Nabhani (Oman)
* Bagrationi (Georgia)
* House of Saud (Diriyya)
* Deva (Bengal)
* Zayyanid dynasty (Tlemcen)

## **Extinct Dynasties**

* Eldrich (Ymiri)
* Pova (Ymiri)
* Therya (Ymiri)
* Priveé (Ymiri)
* Adolf (Sveija)
* Narmyer (Sadosfeia)
* Parchezzo (Calabria)
* Idhava (Occitia)
* Zhao (Zhao)
* Nasiir (Uruk)
* Lagash (Lagash)
* Sumerkid (Sumer)
* Phasgara (Sadosfeia)
* Dembji (Sedfaxx)
* Shabk (Vesnia)
* Ulmara (Ulmara Wadua)
* Ami (Sveija)
* Akkad (Assyria)
* Nulotia (Sadosfeia)
* Sealander (Sealand)
* Fleischer (Vesnia)
* Pagadami (Indazi Brotherhood)
* Qin (Qin)
* Ptolemaic dynasty (Ptolemaic Egypt)
* Seleucid (Seleucid Empire/Kingdom)
* Attalid (Attalidia)
* Nanda (Nanda)
* Maurya (Mauryan Empire)
* Trieu (Nam Viet)
* Kanva (Kanva)
* Julio-Claudian dynasty (Roman Empire)
* Flavian dynasty (Roman Empire)
* Satavahana (Satavahana)
* Tamil Kampara Ulanka (Ceylon)
* Nerva-Antonine dynasty (Roman Empire)
* Arsacid dynasty (Parthian Empire)
* Han (Han)
* Ishamaka (Oshima)
* Severan dynasty (Roman Empire)
* Shao (Shao)
* Kushanarma (Western Kushan)
* Xia (Xia)
* Cheng (Cheng)
* Mujahema (Kushan)
* Wei (Wei)
* Constantinian dynasty (Roman Empire)
* Kufovid (Kufovidia)
* Valentinian dynasty (Roman Empire)
* Sima (Wei)
* Vakatsur (Kampil)
* Theodosian dynasty (Roman Empire, WRE and ERE)
* Ryuka (Hiroshima)
* House of Leo (Eastern Roman Empire)
* Qiushen (Wei)
* Kurjatve (Mysore)
* Qi (Qi)
* Janvur (Karnataka)
* Justinian dynasty (ERE/Byzantine Empire)
* Shang (Shang)
* Nakamura (Shizamaki)
* Iritami (Hiroshima)
* Shiroya (Miyagi)
* House of Sasan (Sassanid Empire)
* Yamato (Yamato)
* Shengu (Nihon)
* Sahelimid (Sahelimid Caliphate)
* Gupta (Gupta Empire/Kingdom)
* Heraclian dynasty (Byzantine Empire)
* Liu (Nanzhou)
* Hyugon (Kyushu)
* Liang (Liang)
* Jin (Jin)
* Dao (Dao)
* Gyuang-dei Kaeja (Goguryeo)
* Badzanic dynasty (Khergit Khaganate/Khanate)
* Merovingian dynasty (Francia)
* Neo-Indazi dynasty (Virisha)
* Omayyad (Omayyad Caliphate)
* Isaurian dynasty (Byzantine Empire)
* Carolingian dynasty (Frankish Empire, West Francia, Lotharingia and East Francia)
* Xiao (Xiao)
* Janakiric dynasty (Khergit Khanate/Western Khergit Khanate)
* Alaguric dynasty (Eastern Khergit Khanate)
* Ying (Ying)
* Yun (Yun)
* Shu (Shu)
* Ma (Ma)
* Wu (Wu)
* Song (Song)
* Aghlabid (Qartajira and Tahert)
* Akhtarib (Akhtarib Caliphate)
* House of Knýtlinga (North Sea Empire/Danesmark)
* Xiong (Xiong)
* Mahlukya (Mahlukya and Virisha)
* House of Wessex (England)
* House of Munsö (Sweden)
* Hamdanid dynasty (Hamdanid Emirate)
* Sarranid (Sarranid Sultanate)
* Sajid (Sajid Emirate)
* Amirid dynasty (Amirid Caliphate)
* House of Stenkil (Sweden)
* House of Normandy (England)
* House of Blois (England)
* Zangid dynasty (Zangid Emirate/Caliphate)
* Khuzait dynasty (Khuzait Khanate)
* Taalay dynasty (Kyrgyz Khanate)
* Ardushtegin dynasty (Ardushtegin Empire)
* Jin (Jin [Jurchen])
* Uqaylid dynasty (Uqaylid Emirate)
* Ayyubid dynasty (Ayyubid Sultanate)
* Songtsen (Alai Empire/Lhasa)
* Pala (Pala Empire/Pala)
* House of Sverker (Sweden)
* Bashirid dynasty (Moroccan Empire)
* Rurikid dynasty (Kievan Rus')
* Khurasinid dynasty (Khurasinid Emirate)
* Domninian dynasty (Byzantine Empire)
* Zirid dynasty (Zirid Emirate)
* Zheng (Zheng)
* Bulanid dynasty (Khazar Khaganate)
* Qasqaric dynasty (Kazakh Khanate)
* House of Hardrada (Norway)
* Zubayrid (Emirate/Caliphate/Taifa of Qurtuba)
* Rashtrakuta (Pratisthana/Rashtrakuta)

## **Turns**

### **NPC Events:**

* **The Mongol Horde - Part VII: Toluid Civil War:** If there is one Mongol that isn't a ruler to be most important, aside from the generals, it most likely has to be Sorghaghtani Beki AKA Sorghaghtani Khatun. She held tremendous influence in the Mongol court, made several policy decisions herself and most importantly (right now), raised her sons to become leaders, all four of them. These four are Möngke, Hulagu (Möngke being Great Khan and Hulagu ruling the Ilkhanate), Kublai and Ariq. Möngke had been ruling since 1251 and in 1260 under his rule the Mongols conquered Nanzhou, putting further pressure on their eternal enemy of Zheng China. Mongolia had also been fighting in Eastern Europe and conquering the Levant. The Levant campaign climaxed with the Battle of Ain Jalut in September of 1260, which the Mongols lost. No worry, this has happened before and they could just return with a bigger army, but actually no. The Mongols, for the first time ever, were permanently beaten back by a combined force of armies from both the Hafsid and Bahriyya sultanates. They put further pressure on the Mongols, chasing them back all the way to Palmyra. Hulagu Khan and Möngke Khan were not happy about this. In Eastern Europe the next year, the Teutonic Order grabbed the polity of Saaremaa which prompted Rävala, the last standing Estonian state, to become a vassal of the Mongols (although more closely tied to the Ruthenians of the neighbouring vassal states). This caused another war, where obviously the Catholics funded the Teutons. Pope Alexander IV declared a crusade against the pagans, which was also joined in on by the Orthodox Poland, although mostly just to regain territory taken by the Volynians earlier. In 1261 something else would also happen, Möngke Khan would die. He had an issue shared with his predecessor Güyük, in that he never declared a successor which obviously caused tension upon his death. He had two living brothers who were the primary candidates to succeed: Kublai and Ariq. Things would go downhill. Ariq claimed the title of Great Khan while Kublai was not in the Mongolian homeland, busy fighting skirmishes against the Zheng Empire. Kublai would return however and obviously dispute Ariq's claim, leading to an election where rival factions could not get along. Well, shit. For the first time ever, the Mongol Empire erupted into a civil war.
* On one side Ariq Böke, supported by Khan of the Blue Horde (western part of the Golden Horde) Birkai, and Alghu, a grandson of Tansugai who Ariq appointed as the new Khan of the Tansugai Khanate. Alghu took power from Orghana Khatun, a granddaughter of Genghis Khan who was serving as regent for the actual Khan: Mubarak, who was but 8 years old. On the other side was Kublai, supported by Hulagu, the Khan of the Ilkhanate, and Kadan, who was a son that Ögedei Khan had with a concubine. Kadan had participated in the Mongol invasion of Poland and was known as a strong general. Birkai and Hulagu, already having bad blood and sharing borders, were mainly fighting there whilst the Mongol homeland (and conquered lands that were not part of the Ilkhanate, Tansugai Khanate or the Golden Horde) were fought about between Kublai and Ariq Böke. Thus we have the Toluid Civil War going on, named after Tolui, the father of both Kublai and Ariq. The civil war went as such: Kublai had access to supplies from the fertile lands of China, while Ariq Böke had to import resources to Karakorum in the semi-arid steppes. Kublai Khan depended on these supplies from China and therefore needed Chinese popular support to win the civil war. Kublai ingratiated himself to his subjects with the help of his Chinese advisers. He presented himself as a sage emperor capable of uniting the Chinese, Korean and his fellow Mongols, while calling out Ariq Böke as a destructive usurper. The Zheng invaded while Kublai was preoccupied with the civil war, and recovered some territory previously lost to the Mongols. Kublai gained control of three of the four possible supply lines to Karakorum. Kadan defended the territories of the former Western Xia from Ariq Böke and commanded the forces stationed in Gansu. The only supply line still open to Ariq Böke was the Yenisei River valley in the northwest. When Kublai's army advanced towards Karakorum in late 1261, Ariq Böke retreated from Karakorum to a tributary of the Yenisei. The oncoming winter then compelled Kublai and Ariq Böke to encamp their armies and wait for spring.
* In the interim, Kublai acquired more supplies and men. He fortified Beiking and the border defenses of northern China. Kadan defeated and executed Alandar, a general sent to secure the vital Central Asian trade routes for Ariq Böke. Lian Xixian, one of Kublai's Confucian advisers, commanded soldiers for the khan in western China. He won a victory against Ariq Böke's ally, Liu Taiping, in northwestern China, seizing food supplies intended for Ariq Böke's army. Lian also drove supporters of Ariq Böke out of Ganzhou. In southwestern China, his forces protected Sichuan from Ariq Böke's encroaching troops. Kublai paid Kadan and Lian Xixian handsomely for their military service in gifts and promotions. Kublai's victories left Alghu as Ariq Böke's only standing ally. In 1262, Kublai and Ariq Böke engaged in battle at Shimultai. Ariq Böke lost the battle and retreated. He returned to the region ten days later to challenge Kublai's forces near the Khingan Mountains of eastern Mongolia. The troops that Ariq Böke attacked were not personally led by Kublai, and made up only a small portion of Kublai's army. Even so, the battle ended in a stalemate. Meanwhile, most of Mongolia was now under the control of Kublai, threatening Ariq Böke's control of the Yenisei Valley supply line. A weakened Ariq Böke entreated Alghu for help. Alghu refused, and executed the envoys sent by Ariq Böke, who had demanded a share of Alghu's tax revenues. This ended the alliance between the two, but Ariq Böke had luck and saw opportunity, as a rebellion in Mongol-controlled China distracted Kublai from the civil war, and he departed to defeat said rebellion instead of further pursuing Ariq Böke. Ariq thus went to war with Alghu, thinking that he could defeat him and gain more power before Kublai could resume the civil war and thus defeat Kublai with said added strength. This basically caused Alghu and the Tansugai Khanate to switch sides to support Kublai.
* Meanwhile the battles between the Golden Horde (Birkai) and the Ilkhanate (Hulagu) had gone on for long, Hulagu's son Abaqa and Nogai, a general of Birkai fought many battles where both sides suffered devastating casualties. On the banks of the Terek River in the Northern Caucasus, Hulagu was ambushed by an army of the Golden Horde under Nogai, and his army was defeated at the Battle of the Terek River in 1263, with many thousands being cut down or drowning when the ice of the river gave way. Hulagu subsequently retreated back into the lands of modern Azerbaijan. Later in 1263, Alghu defeated Ariq Böke's commander, Khara Bukha, near the Ili River in Xinjiang, but lost his headquarters at Almalikh to Ariq Böke. Ariq had very few allies left however and several of his supporters deserted from his side following his action and atrocities against the Tansugai Khanate. When Alghu attacked in Xinjiang again in 1264, Ariq lacked the resources or the allies to defend himself. He escaped the battle, but traveled to Beiking and surrendered to Kublai, ending the civil war. The Birkai-Hulagu front was still open however. Hulagu Khan became ill during campaign and died in November 1264. While this caused a decline in Ilkhanate morale, Abaqa took the throne quickly and was assisted by both Alghu and Kublai. Birkai fought until March of 1265 where he abdicated his throne. He ended up jailed and his grandnephew Möngke-Temür became Khan of the Blue Horde. Following this, to avoid further conflict and for also being a supporter of Kublai in the most recent of times, he recognized Kublai as Great Khan. Qun Quran, who still ruled the White Horde, also recognized Kublai. Despite the cracks that the empire got hit with by this civil war, all the khans of the autonomous khanates recognized Kublai Khan as Great Khan. The Mongols were now able to do two things. 1. Continue assisting their vassals with the fight in Eastern Europe and 2. Go back to invading China again. The latter would be done by 1267, with skirmishes eventually leading to Emperor Duzong signing a peace that would give back the reclaimed territories to the Mongol Empire and also establish a pact of non-aggression for 5 years. Which you know, the Mongols will definitely honor.
* **Mamluk Sultanates | Rulers of North Africa and the Levant:** The greatest victory of the last few decades occurred as the Hafsids and Bahriyyas defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut and forced them to turn back and not return, ending their campaign in the Middle East. With their defeat, the Eslamic Golden Age had been saved and also a chunk of the Levant was reclaimed all the way up to Palmyra. Both sultanates, although mainly the Bahriyya one since it was the one being invaded and the one that countered the Mongols, became seen as truly great powers that aren't to mess with as they managed to truly defeat the big boogeyman of the world in the form of the Mongol Empire. To further legitimize their rule, the Bahriyyas presented themselves as the defenders of Eslam and sought the confirmation of their executive authority from a caliph. Sultan Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Bunduqdari (let's just call him Baibars because Jesus Chri- I mean By Allah that is a long name) placed Abu'l-Qasim Ahmad al-Mustansir (just al-Mustansir for short), a member of the Akhtarib family (which yes, still exists) in the position of Caliph. Al-Mustansir in turn recognized Baibars as Sultan. He also recognized the sultan's authority over Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, the Hejaz (although not under their control) and any territory conquered from the Crusaders or Mongols. Following the Battle of Ain Jalut, Baybars restructured the army into three components: the Royal Mamluk regiment, the soldiers of the emirs, and the *halqa* (non-mamluk soldiers). The Royal Mamluks, who were under the direct command of the sultan, were the highest-ranking body within the army, entry into which was exclusive. The Royal Mamluks were virtually the private corps of the sultan. The lower-ranking emirs also had their own corps, which were akin to private armies. The soldiers of the emirs were directly commanded by the emirs, but could be mobilized by the sultan when needed. As emirs were promoted, the number of soldiers in their corps increased, and when rival emirs challenged each other's authority, they would often utilize their respective forces, leading to major disruptions of civilian life. The *halqa* had inferior status to the mamluk regiments. The Hafsids were Mamluks, just like the Bahriyyas, but to further legitimize their rule, they claimed Arab ancestry from the second Sahelimid Caliph Omar. Their government was very similar to their eastern rivals but differed and they also were not seen to be as prestigious as the Bahriyyas largely due to not being the empire holding the institution of the Caliphate, something easily claimed by the Bahriyyas due to holding the core regions of the Ayyubid Sultanate they overthrew, holding Egypt.
* **Byzantium takes a look at itself:** And dies. Just kidding. Things look interesting however with the so-called "Purple Plague"... well... plaguing the land. Instability would lead to several figures seeing the ruling dynasty as weak, worsened by the nearby Turks of Rûm raiding the countryside with hit-and-run tactics, as well as anger within the Bulgarian people, due to both the Bulgarian peasantry and nobility being negatively affected by the Byzantine decline during the reign of the Basiliscusite dynasty. The most powerful of the nobility in Byzantium, and more specifically in Constantinople, started to form plots against the ruling family. Just before the death of Basiliscus II, his son Basiliscus (III) suddenly became very ill. He had been poisoned by assassins hired by a certain Michael Palaiologos, who intended to kill him. Still, even with the assassination attempt having failed, Michael, in his powerful position was able to convince Basiliscus II to put him as designated regent of Byzantium so when he then kicked the bucket, the infirm Basiliscus III was crowned Emperor but Michael Palaiologos became the regent who held much of the true power. Byzantium ended up in a major conflict with Rûm, who took advantage of the Empire's weakness to conquer more of Anatolia. This war, fought from 1263 to 1264, was a Byzantine defeat. The state of the army and many institutions was weak and unable to fight a great war like this, pushing Byzantium's borders back further west. As Basiliscus III finally died in 1264, Michael had himself crowned Emperor, becoming Michael II and starting the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty. The reign started off rocky due to other dynasties seeking power and the further decline and defeat the empire suffered at the beginning of Michael's regency. Michael II began the task of restoring many monasteries, public buildings and defence works. The Kontoskalion harbour and the walls of Constantinople were all strengthened against a possible new expedition by the Muslims. Many hospitals, hospices, markets, baths, streets and churches were built, some with private patronage. These attempts were costly and crippling taxes were placed on the peasantry. Nonetheless, the city grew new cultural and diplomatic contacts, notably with the Mameluks. It was however with its costs on the peasantry as said, and further angered the Bulgarians and also the regions in Italy. Michael relied on diplomacy and was able to establish good relations with the Bahriyyas. Due to both of them HATING the Mongols they could see past their religious difference and Michael also took a risk by recognizing al-Mustansir as the Caliph of Eslam. He did however, word himself very carefully and still considered the Muslims as infidels, and the Holy Land as truly belonging to Christianity. Byzantium's previous reconciliation with the Venetians also allowed the Republic to assist Michael in his endeavors in rebuilding the Empire. Despite the huge costs, Byzantium was recovering somewhat from its most recent losses.
* **In the Albionite Isles:** Over in not-yet-bri'ish-land the current ruler is King Henry III, notoriously unpopular. He fights a war with the Scots over northern lands in dispute, hoping that a victory and the reclaiming of lost territories will give some leeway into making both the peasantry and nobility more satisfied with him. This however doesn't end up happening. The English lose a pivotal battle at Jedburgh in southern Scotland and are forced out. The Scots under Alexander III (or his medieval Gaelic name: Alaxandair mac Alaxandair) defeat Henry III, claiming some more lands (not shown on the map, will fix in next turn ok) with the treaty signed in 1262. Only two years later does England find itself in conflict once more, however this time it's internal. And it's those barons again, who have been a pain in the ass as of recently and Henry is not amused. A certain Simon de Montfort, a dude from France, had arrived in England all the way back in 1229 to become the new Earl of Leicester after his father (also called Simon because of course) did the whole die in battle thing. He and Henry were first good buddies and he was involved in Henry's affairs quite a bit, including fighting wars as a knight, he even married Henry's sister Eleanor in 1238. But when those campaigns failed and Henry kept making the barons of England unhappy, the relationship soured. By 1258, a parliament was summoned in Oxford, where the Provisions of Oxford, a series of reforms, were developed. Basically a follow-up to the Magna Carta, the Provisions set up a new form of government, with a 15-member Privy Council (nine baronial) to advise the king and oversee the entire administration as a standing body. This increased representation for the barons. Henry didn't like this but accepted it. He also didn't like it when in the next year these were expanded upon in the Provisions of Westminister. He had, pretty much been subjected to a coup. The next year (again) in 1260, he paid a sum of money to the King of France: Louis IX and recognized lost territories in the past as fully French, in exchange for the king's support in getting Henry's position as king back. With the help of a papal bull, the Provisions were annulled, which made the barons pissed off. They summoned a parliament to contest all of this, but backed down due to fear of civil war. Afraid of being hunted down, Simon went back to France. And at the same time Richard de Clare, another key leader of this baronial opposition, turned his back on the barons and pledged his support to Henry. People got pissy again and things went bad for Henry when Richard died in 1262 (supposedly from poisoning) and his son Gilbert sided with the opposition. Oh and they now also invited Simon to come back. They all gathered a council in Oxford in April of 1263, fighting began and suddenly, civil war.
* Come to be known as the Second Barons' War, Simon's side was initially incredibly successful. He marched on London in October of 1263 and city peasantry rose up together with him in revolt, King Henry and Queen Eleanor were trapped and imprisoned. Simon became de-facto king, although he didn't declare himself as one, he merely wanted to reverse the papal bull that annulled all those reforms he set up. But, even if the king was in their hands, the royalist side still fought on. Now Simon might sound like a pretty cool dude (albeit, a bit of a populist), I mean he set up some of the earliest instances of parliaments ever and is fighting against the oppression of the king. But then we also need to mention the fact that he was a massive antisemite. In 1231 he expelled all the Jews of Leicester and part of his call to arms in the Second Barons' War was to cancel all the debts that were owed to Jewish people. A series of attacks on Jewish communities followed, organised by key allies of Montfort, hoping to gain by destroying the records of their debts to moneylenders. Hundreds of Jews were massacred in London, Worcester among other cities. But anyway, Henry III actually managed to escape capture through the help of some spies and bribed officials in London. Civil war was truly started at this point. In April of 1264, the rebels were defeated at Northampton, but on May the 14th the same year, the rebels win a massive victory at the Battle of Lewes and they take Henry prisoner once more. And kill him. The Pope and Henry's allies declare Henry's eldest son Edward as Edward I, King of England. Edward is a really good general and the killing of Henry among other things, causes friction within the baronial rebel movement. They suffer more defeats and on August 4th 1265, the rebels and royalists do battle at Evesham. Simon fights in this battle and by the end of the battle, he is dead, having been stabbed in the neck. The rebel cause fell to infighting and the royalists under King Edward I fight harder and harder, taking out the last rebels by 1266.
* **A New Japan - S3E6:** Japan under Yamashengu rule has been rather prosperous, a serene land of art and beauty and also at the same time a realm of bunkered up islands protected by professional expert military men following a strict code. News of civil war over in Mongolia allows a sigh of relief for the Japanese. They're safe on their isles while Zheng China is fighting to stay alive not just against Mongol invasions but also peasant revolts and trouble with the Japanese Samurai stationed in their coastal areas. They are also enjoying their prospering economy from trade with the realms in Indochina as well as natives in Tawalisi. But with the advent of Christianity starting a small spread this brings new things, positive and negative. New knowledge from the far west, albeit somewhat distorted due to travel and communication between long distances in this era, arrives but there is also inevitable conflict when a new religion with different beliefs and traditions comes into play. It is still small but has already started making authorities in "affected" regions suspicious.
* **Holy Roman Empires, Batman!:** Fucking hell is this complicated. Okay so through some serious of political intrigue or whatever, HREmperor Frederick II had been on bad terms with the Papacy since being crowned in 1220. The HRE saw success with the Fourth Crusade which was then quite quickly undone and the Fifth one failed. Frederick's relationship with the Papacy did not improve. He elected his only son Conrad to become King of Germany in 1237. After the deposition of Frederick II by Pope Innocent IV in 1245, Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia was set up as anti-king to Frederick's son Conrad IV who then died in 1254. Henry was killed in 1247 and succeeded as anti-king by William of Holland who then died in 1256. The death of Frederick came already in 1250. After 1257, the crown is contested between Richard of Cornwall, who is supported by the Guelph party, and king Alfonso X of Castile, who is recognized by the Hohenstaufen party. Essentially since 1245 there is an interregnum going on, there is no HREmperor and factions are fighting over it.
* **The Polo Family of Venice:** In the Most Serene Republic of Venice (great name guys), there exists a merchant family, the Polo family. Niccolò Polo and his brother Maffeo (insert unfunny Mafia joke here) have been traveling mostly in the eastern mediterranean to do business mostly with Venice's most powerful buddy: the Byzantine Empire. Former enemies, the Venetian-Genoese rivalry pushed Venice to become friendlier to the Greeks, although it's not an official alliance. Niccolò and Maffeo had however, left Venice for Constantinople and resided there until 1259, setting off on various expeditions to the near east in the meantime. In 1254, Niccolò's wife Nicole gave birth to a son, named Marco, who was left in the care of his mother. Niccolò and Maffeo proceeded to travel to Sarai, where the court of Birkai Khan, the ruler of the Golden Horde, was located. They stayed for a year before they moved further east to Bukhara, where the family lived and traded for three years. In 1264, Niccolò and Maffeo joined up with an embassy sent by the Ilkhanate Khan Hulagu to his brother Kublai Khan, Great Khan of the entire Mongol Empire. In 1266, they reached the seat of Kublai Khan at Karakorum. Kublai Khan officially received the Polos and sent them back with a Mongol named Koeketei as an ambassador to the pope. They brought with them a letter from the Khan requesting 100 educated people to come and teach Christianity and Western customs to his people and oil from the lamp of the Holy Sepulcher. He provided them with a paiza (gerege in Mongolian), a golden tablet that signified authority and the right to certain privileges. For Niccolò and Maffeo this meant the holder could acquire and obtain lodging, horses and food throughout Kublai Khan's dominion. Upon returning to Europe, they delivered the message to Pope Gregory X in 1268. Later when Niccolò and Maffeo returned to Venice shortly thereafter they found that Nicole had passed away and Marco was young, living with his aunt. The Polos settled down to rest and live in Venice for a while, but planned another trip to Mongolia in 1271, where they would bring 17 year-old Marco with them as well.
* **Some Overhauling ~~Required~~ Done:** North America has been overhauled and Africa has been changed up as well in an attempt to be more accurate.
* **Twin Kingdoms of the North:** Sweden and Norway. Long-time rivals but not on the level of Sweden and Danesmark. Still, the kingdoms had the same king: Birger I. The Bjelbo king introduces some policies to keep his rule going strong. He grants honorary titles to both Norwegian and Swedish lords and tries his best to maintain a balance in terms of giving away gifts and concessions and such to either side. He also makes a Norwegian prince named Haakon, whom he married his daughter Rikissa off to, the designated regent of Norway. Haakon and Birger would become good friends and issues with the Danish would sway the Norwegians toward the Swedish side in terms of the strained relationship between Sweden and Danesmark. He also established a system of small army corps of Finns led by Finnish chieftains (and other men of power within the Finns that are within Swedish borders) in Swedish Finland to add more manpower in the east against the Ruthenians. These Finnish army leaders however, had Swedish generals commanding them, in return for the Finnish leaders being paid in gold, marriages and the right to live in Swedish castles (if they were considered good enough), as well as the Finnish leaders providing the Swedes with information about their homeland that could be relevant for war, both geographically and culturally.
* **The Plains of Southeastern Europe:** Yay time for more war. Territorial disputes ran rampant between Hungaria and Dragovits. Dragovits wanted to gain back Novi Sad (Ujvidek) and at the same time get a defensible border on the Danube. At the same time the lands of southwest Dragovits, dominated by the Dinaric Alps, are also hotly disputed by the two powers. In 1267, Hungarian king Béla IV pressed his claim on the regions of Hercegovina, Podrinje and Duklja. This dragged the Byzantines into war again, that they weren't completely ready for, the defendants focus on well, defense as the Hungarians come clashing down all the way into 1270.
* **Omani-Ilkhanate Clashes:** The Ilkhanate is the autonomous khanate in the Greater Mongol Empire with the most Muslims, kinda obvious when it controls most of the Middle East. Whilst most of the population is Muslim, Hulagu Khan himself follows Buddhism. That doesn't stop the clashes that start occurring by the Persian Gulf as the Ibadi Omani Sultanate tries to spread the Ibadi denomination up north into the recently formed Uyunid Emirate of Eastern Arabia. This complicates things for Hulagu Khan who is also at the same time fighting Birkai of the Blue Horde in the Toluid Civil War. Naval and land skirmishes occur in the Persian Gulf and the Uyunid Emirate, respectively as Oman tries to sway the pro-Ibadi factions of the Uyunids to take more power in their state while Hulagu Khan's Ilkhanate fights back to cement themselves as the most powerful state of the Gulf.
* **The Little Islands that Could:** If you think that the Pacific doesn't have any civilization at all, well you're wrong. And while these peoples live on small islands and atolls, that doesn't mean they're "lesser" in any way. The Tu'i Tonga Empire proved so, but it is stagnating right now. Look in different areas however, those being in Micronesia. Two civilizations have stood out here for years: Pohnpei and Kusaie. Pohnpei specifically is interesting with its capital of Nan Madol, as it contains several artifical islands connected by canals. Both these islands stand as important in the trade between the peoples of the Pacific Ocean. BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE! Or well, two more to talk about. Ternate (or the Kingdom of Gapi), located in the East Indies, small but yet again a hub for trade, especially with nearby Tidore island, no not Tediore from Borderlands, the name is "Tidore". Finally, off the coast of South America lies Rapa Nui. Originally settled between 300 and 1200 AD, settlements like Anakena and Tahai were built. By 1270 the island has been unified. Legend tells that the first ever settler of Rapa Nui was Hotu Matu'a and that the Rapa Nui are all his ancestors. Nine clans were established over the island, sometimes fighting and sometimes trading. But by now an ariki, or high chief, is in power at the top while all the clans have a regional chief each. Taoraha Kaihahanga becomes the first ariki since Hotu Matu'a himself, unifying Rapa Nui. The island will later become well known for the great humanoid statues built by the indigenous people, known as Moai statues.
* **A Bridge Between Berbers and the Guanches:** Not a literal one. But while contact has existed between the Berbers and Arabs of Morocco and the Guanche people of the OTL Canary Islands, it's basically just been "we know they exist". Morocco has never seen any reason to conquer the islands. However, a respected scholar of theology known as Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi, originally from Egypt along with Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi (otherwise known as Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi, or just Ibn al-Banna for short), a native Moroccan mathematician, astronomer and historian, arranged an expedition to the Canary Islands along with other scholars, mainly historians and linguists. This expedition took place in 1263 where the Moroccans conducted trade, explored and interacted with the local Guanches population. They learned much, especially in terms of their religion. These peoples are spread across an archipelago and thus are all different. Guanches itself, derived from the indigenous word *guanachinet* only refers to the *guan* (people) of the island of *Achinet* (what we know as Tenerife), however the scholars would end up using said demonym to refer to all of the inhabitants of the Canary Islands. Gran Canaria however, was inhabited by the Canarii, who called the island *Tamarán*, meaning "land of the brave". Fuerteventura was called *Erbania*, with the inhabitants being referred to as the Mahorero, who also inhabited the nearby island that we call Lanzarote, called *Adara* by the natives, Adara meaning "mountain", referring to the landscarpe of the island. The island of La Palma was inhabited by the Auaritas, who called the island *Benahoare*. La Gomera, known as *Gomera* to the natives, were inhabited by the Gomer. Finally, El Hierro was inhabited by the Bimbaches, who called the island *Eseró*. The tribes proved quite different from one another. Achinet (Tenerife) had an unspecified amount of menceyatos (kingdoms) on the island and while their technological level was poor and comparable to that of the Stone Age (which is understandable since they live on isolated islands that only were visited here and there by past civilizations like the Phoenicians and Romans, who didn't really do much with them), their cultural development was considered high. The Guanches were mainly focused on agriculture and fishing in terms of gathering food and also sometimes mummified their dead. On some of the islands there was also a form of whistled speech used to deliver messages from far away and the Guanachinet celebrated Beñesmen, a new year-esque festival. All of the natives were noted as worshipping a sky god, known as Achamán (called Acoran on Gran Canaria, Abora on La Palma, Orahan on La Gomera and Eraorahan on El Hierro) as well as worshipping the sun, moon, earth and the stars, but everything, while being similar across the islands, still varied depending on the island. Shibab and Ibn al-Banna would present their discoveries to Sultan Abu Yahya ibn Abd al-Haqq and also wrote books on the Guanches. For sake of simplicity, in any future events, the word "Guanches" will refer to all native peoples of the Canary Islands, while Guanachinet will refer to the people of Tenerife. The Sultan of Marinid Morocco was fascinated, but decided conquest would not be worth it as the islands held little resources and would be (in his eyes) a burden on the Sultanate. He was however interested in more communication with the Guanches and thus the islands (mainly Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura) would start trading resources with Morocco and receiving Moroccan officials on a semi-regular basis.
* **The Golden Empire:** The land where the gold flows: Mali. A realm that has become legendary throughout West Africa and also Northwest Africa's favourite place, bringing them all the gold along with other products, crossing the Sahara through oases and cities. Uli I of the great Mali Empire brings in more connections, spanning north all the way up to southern Iberia (although mainly through the connections of the Marinid dynasty of Morocco, who also establish better diplomacy with Mali by pledging to never try to conquer their lands again), south to the trading kingdom of Bonoman and the Igbo people, and along the Sahel the connections go all the way to the Nile. After peacefully bringing Gao into his empire, Uli I would during this period go on the hajj, the Eslamic pilgrimage to Mecca. It was successful and Uli brought more prestige to his empire upon returning from Arabia.
* **Equine Spread:** Vinland long ago, when they still had contact with Iceland, brought some Icelandic horses to North America and for centuries they've bred a reasonable amount of horses. In recent years they've seen use in some warfare but more importantly, the local native peoples such as the Abenaki, Huron and Mi'kmaq have traded for these strange creatures they've not seen before. Learning how to tame them, horses became a trade commodity. The equine trade has since then spread further and become most popular in the flatland plains of America, used for labor, travel and even warfare in the form of cavalry.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Shisō Yamashengoshi
	+ **Economy:** spice, food, dye, art, porcelain.
	+ **Capital: Hiroshima**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99%, 1% Chinese, Ainu, Manchu & Okinawan.
				+ **Shihon:** 355.000
				+ **Hiroshima:** 350.000
				+ **Tōga:** 320.000
				+ **Yamato:** 220.000
				+ **Fukuoka:** 201.000
				+ **Nagasaki:** 195.000
				+ **Kagoshima** 175.000
				+ **Komatsu:** 160.000
				+ **Other Cities:** 3.004.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.970.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 15.630.000
			* **Total population:** 20.600.000
			* **Religion:** 99.2% Shinto-Buddhism,0.8% other, 350 Miyasatite Christianity
		- **Demographics of Tujing:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 12%, Chinese(ish) 88%
				+ **Taichung:** 54.000
				+ **Kaiunchō:** 22.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 749.000
			* **Total population:** 825.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 72% Shinto-Buddhsim 28%
		- **Demographics of Ezo:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 55%, Ainu 45%
				+ **Sunõdorangon:** 12.500
				+ **Fuyu:** 21.500
				+ **Rural Areas:** 294.000
			* **Total population:** 328.000
			* **Religion:** 97.5% Shinto-Buddhism, 2.5% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Lusong:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 14% Visayan 86%
				+ **Ganguyin:** 23.500
				+ **Pyngou:** 15.000
				+ **Tudar:** 9.500
				+ **Rural Areas:** 204.000
			* **Total population:** 252.000
			* **Religion:** 42% Shinto-Buddhism, 58% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:** total of ~1.75%(~385.2k) (~2.25% in conserves (495.1k)) (Japan + Ezo + Tudar + Tujing)
				+ 87.500 Archers. (87.500)
				+ 95.000 Spear men (95.000)
				+ 75.000 Swordsmen (75.000)
				+ 49.600 Cavalry (49.600)
				+ 12.500 Heavy Infantry (12.500)
				+ 5.420 Yōyū-ki (10.840)
				+ 40.000 Gunmen (40.000)
				+ 3.000 Tawābasutā (9.000)
				+ 10.000 specilized infantry
			* **Divisions:**
				+ **26 Standard Divisons:** 2.5k archers, 2.5k spearmen, 2.5k swordsmen. 700 cavalry. (65k, 65k, 65k, 18.2k) TOTAL 213.2k **(8,2)**
				+ **5 Heavy Divisions:** 2.5k archers, 800 Yōyū-ki, 2.5kHeavy Infantry, 2k spearmen, 2k swordmen. 500 cavalery (12.5k, 4k, 12.5k, 10k, 10k, 2.5k) TOTAL 61.5k **(10,3)**
				+ **8 Gunmen Divisons:** 5k Gunmen, 2.5k spearmen, 800 cavalry (40k, 20k, 6.4k) TOTAL 66.4k **(8,3)**
				+ **5 Cavalry Divsions:** 2.5k cavalry, 2k archers (12.5k, 10k) TOTAL 22.5k **(4,5)**
				+ **2 Specialized Divison:** 2.500 Specialized infantry 2.500 Specialized archers(10k) TOTAL 10k **(5)**
			* **Other Soldiers** (lose ones that can be added to amplify defence or attack) 1420 Yōyū-ki, 3.000 Tawābasutā.
		- **Navy:**
			* 230 Galleys
			* 145 Transport ships
			* 185 Light warship
			* 85 Medium warships
			* 45 Heavy warships
			* 9 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
		- **Lusong:** We would like to endevour in your increase of power, you are premitted up to 50.000 manpower for future conquests, you may not use all of it if logistics become an issue, you may also recieve help from Japanese generals, as well as the ability to request naval support. We would like for you to grab power in the region and may choose a path to do this, if things get out of hand, we will intereve as your friendly ally. Good luck!
		- **Dai Viet:** We heard of a Mongal conquest in Nanzhou? we would like further information and wonder if you would be a delight and gift us just that.
		- **Events:**
			* **Royal Manslaughter:** The then current Emperor went on a cruiselike pleasantry with his brother Shisō Yamashengoshi, as they where eying up the Tawalisi Japanese holdings rain started to fall, and thunder struck, as the then emperor went into his private lodge he soon felt a dagger in his throat, his brother had murdered him in cold blood, and soon after he set fire on the ship originating from the emperors lodge, the few people aboard the ship abandoned it and the brother speculated that perhaps lightning had struck? or maybe a candle was left in a dry room? anyhow, the Emperor was dead, meaning that his brother Shisō Yamashengoshi became the new emperor, the murder was mostly successful, the recent deceased emperors wife suspecting that it was a murder, and royal murder was common within nations, but there was no evidence. First Shisō Yamashengoshi made sure to effectivise spending like he had always wanted, tightening quality control of soldiers and decreasing standing military size whilst increasing personnel ready to be employed in the military if need be.
			* **Japanese Guns:** Firearms are improved in the sense of exploding randomly in the face of the shooter less of the time, which makes them safe enough for an expanison of usage in the military.
			* **Japanese Arsty Shit:** Shisō Yamashengoshi Daughter, Hiromtizuko was once as cold as her father, but throught the decade she read ancient arts and slowly became gifted in the arts, pursuing painting over all else, eventually resigning from the line of possible leaders to pursue a life of peace, art and obscurity.

### **NPC Events:**

* **The Mongol Horde - Part VIII: Dusk in the Land of the Rising Sun:** Kublai Khan establishes himself as the undisputed khan, the one who stands above everyone else in Eurasia, the one who rules with a ruthless iron fist. Having won the Toluid Civil War, Kublai Khan managed to have enough connections to still maintain the hold of the position of Great Khan, although not by too much. The Toluid Civil War had still separated the enormous Mongol Empire further and the westernmost autonomous khanates: the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate were busy with matters in Europe and the Middle East respectively. Kublai was lucky to be liked enough to be accepted as Great Khan by his brethren rulers in the Tansugai Khanate, the Golden Horde and the Ilkhanate. Having been raised by Sorghaghtani Beki, he knew what he was doing and had proved so when he defeated Ariq Böke for leadership over the massive Mongol Empire. Immediately he set his sights southeast. Despite the power of the Mongols, the Chinese Zheng dynasty had managed to stay independent, functioning for the most part as somewhat of a tributary state to the Mongols. But Kublai wasn't having any of this. Having been taught Chinese culture as a child, combined with the prestige of holding the title of Emperor of China, along with the ambition that Kublai had, led him to decide to end the Zheng dynasty. And so he did. Towards the end of 1270 Kublai invaded China and this time it wasn't a smaller skirmish or something, a large chunk of full-on Mongol armies on horseback went in. Together with the tactics they had adapted from those they've conquered (such as the Tanguts and the Chinese of the north which were under Mongol rule for decades),
* Kublai's forces crushed their way through, defeating army after army and successfully sieging city after city. It didn't take long before Zheng fell. In its place, Kublai declared himself Emperor of China, forming a fourth autonomous "khanate" of the Mongol Empire which would also be the next dynasty in Chinese history: the Yuan dynasty, comprising all of China as well as the northern lands of Mongolia, Manchuria and Siberia. Whilst Karakorum remains the capital of the entire Mongol Empire, Kublai now resides in Beiking, renamed to Khanbaliq: the city of the Khan. Not long after Beiking fell and Nanking looked to be next, Kublai also sent generals to Korea, to Goryeo, looking to conquer the peninsula. Kublai also sent a delegation, giving the Koreans a chance to surrender. Now something interesting with this development is Japan, who had formed a nominal defensive pact between themselves, Zheng and Goryeo so these invasions put them into conflict as well. Samurai and other Japanese-provided troops fight in the invasions, but don't change much as the Mongols still end up victorious. With Pyeng-taekon sighted, the Mongols forced Goryeo to surrender and the king of Goryeo: Wonjong, sent the remaining Samurai to escape back to Japan. They were chased down by Mongol forces, since Kublai intended to invade Japan anyways and conquer the realm that had never been conquered by an outside power. Some Samurai were caught, but most made it to Busan and escaped to the home islands. The Mongols didn't follow. Plans were needed to invade the Sunrise kingdom. However, the remaining Japanese colony on Korea was conquered and a small invasion of Ezo led to a quick conquest of the vassal state as well as the small Japanese-administered territory of Otomari.
* With the conquest of Zheng, Kublai also continued south, attacking the Vietnamese Dai Viet kingdom. The Mongols were able to take the cities that the Vietnamese had taken from the Chinese during the times of the Wei dynasty, hundreds upon hundreds of years ago. They eventually hit a climate that fought back however, as whilst they initially pushed past the capital of Thang Long, the rainforests further south, combined with exhausted troops, forced the Mongols to retreat and Dai Viet was able to retake their capital and the Mongols got no further than the edge of the city of Lang Son. Kublai attempted another invasion, this time by sea, going after the Vietnamese vassal of the Champa kingdom. This was another failure however. With this, the Mongol invasions stopped. Not just because the armies were growing exhausted and tired of Kublai's constant ordered invasions to far-off and dangerous lands, but also because Kublai's main target was Japan and he spent the years 1272 to early 1274 without ordering any invasions and instead focused on defending his newly conquered territories. In 1274, he was ready to conquer Japan. (read A New Japan for details).
* However, they were forced to retreat and were mostly destroyed by a terrible storm in the Tsushima strait as detailed in "A New Japan". What a bummer for them, eh? Kublai was mad and declared that his ambitions to conquer Japan were not over, but the Mongols were beaten back for now. Kublai Khan has ended up ruling a prosperous realm with internal improvements and good economy and all that shit, but in terms of conquering stuff he's been kinda shit at it. For the remaining years 1275-1279, Kublai enacted a policy come to be known as the Pax Mongolica, basically not conquering anything and sitting around enjoying stuff instead. Plans for a second invasion of Japan remain but are not finished yet.

* **A New Japan - S3E7: David vs Goliath:** With Kublai Khan of the enormous Mongol Empire having set his sights on Japan, the land separated by sea is forced to prepare itself for an incoming giant. Japan does have some advantages though, being composed of islands that are quite hilly and mountainous, which is not ideal for the mainly cavalry-based warfare of the Mongols. Japan also has prepared somewhat for a potential invasion through improving their fortifications among other things. Eventually the time came, as ships came from Busan down to the islands of Tsushima and Jeju, the Mongols were invading. What came to follow would be a slow, brutal campaign with lots of casualties on both sides, although less for the Japanese. The armies invading were a mix of Mongols, Koreans, Jurchens and people of various Chinese ethnicities. Now the armies were mixed and not your typical cavalry-based Mongol horde. Due to this, the Mongols were initially quite successful, taking Tsushima quite quickly and not long after fully occupying Jeju by taking over Gintama. Kublai expected that as soon as the Mongols landed on Kyushu and occupied some cities, Japan, or at least the local lords in Kyushu, would be ready to surrender. This was wrong. The Japanese very much resisted on Kyushu, using the mountainous terrain and tropical climate to their advantage, even if the Mongol armies had somewhat prepared for the different biome they would be fighting in.
* To prevent help from the non-mainland Japanese territories, invasions from Quanzhou and nearby cities to Tujing commenced and were largely successful, it still took a few months but the island was occupied. Here, there was even heavier resistance though, especially from the native population. Mongol generals under the order from Kublai enacted propaganda campaigns to try and quell the rebellions, portraying the Japanese as tyrannical rulers over Tujing and the Mongols as liberators. This was somewhat successful but not by much. The general in charge of the invasion who then governed Tujing: Tugan Seruun, tried a brutal technique to make the island submit: having the entire royal family in charge of Tujing (who of course in turn were vassals of Japan) executed. That entire branch of the Yamashengu tree was wiped out, save for one woman: Kusunoki, who had fled the island as soon as she heard the Mongols invaded, and she moved to Okinawa. This brutal slaughter enraged the residents of Tujing even more however and a major uprising started. Some of Tugan's own men turned against him, tired of the fighting they had to do in Tujing (again climate and such made things difficult for the invading force) and also disgusted with his brutality.
* Meanwhile the invasion continued from Tujing to Okinawa, although Kusunoki managed to escape from the main island to the northernmost islands, which the Mongols would never get to. The campaign saw the Mongols only through sheer numbers (as Kublai funneled more soldiers into Tujing from China and then to Okinawa from Tujing) manage to best the forces of Yambaru and occupy that whole island. But the sweltering heat, tropical climate, supply issues and guerilla tactics used by the Okinawans would doom the campaign from moving any further north.
* A mainly Ainu and Jurchen army composed of only foot soldiers and archers would invade from Ezo into Hokkaido and take some northern lands before attempting a bold move towards Sapporo, which was defeated rather easily and pushed back towards the coast in the matter of only a few weeks.
* Back to Kyushu, which was eventually, again after months of sieging and battling, occupied by the Mongols completely, this occupation however was not stable as again, there was resistance and the armies suffered from rebellions, attrition etc., still Kublai ordered his generals to push forward. Hiroshima, the capital of Japan, was not too far away and he hoped to be able to finally get the Japanese to surrender if he could take the capital. But his weakened forces were not able to do this. An invasion into southeast Honshu and an invasion into Shikoku began, but the Samurai and other Japanese forces and militias were ready, not letting the invading armies occupy much more than the coast they landed on before being beaten back. In 1275 the occupation of Japan by the Mongol Empire, more specifically the Yuan dynasty, reached its height. It included both the islands of Jeju and Tsushima, the vassal state of Tujing, parts of Okinawa, all of Kyushu, coastal strips of land in Honshu and Shikoku and finally the very tippy top of Hokkaido.
* The Hokkaido campaign was easily pushed back to Ezo and that invasion was abandoned, being a generally bad idea to begin with. After the devastating Mongol defeat at the Battle of Shimonoseki on Honshu, the campaign fully fell apart. Tujing was soon enough abandoned by the Mongols, moving back to China, but not before Tugan Seruun was captured and decapitated by the local militias formed during the rebellions, who then declared a new government while parading in Taichung with Tugan's head stuck on a pole. This also trapped the forces in Okinawa, who soon enough surrendered pretty much without a fight. On Tsushima and Jeju, there were notable stealthy acts of resistance against the Mongol occupiers as several of the officials of the occupying forces, along with some Japanese and Korean politicians who were bribed into helping them post-invasion, were assassinated. The Mongols abandoned Tsushima when they heard of a Japanese naval invasion incoming. Meanwhile, Jeju found itself in essentially a mini civil war after an uprising. This uprising was led by several men trained in combat of various forms, including a Samurai trained in stealth known as Jin Sakai. He was one of the assassins who had weakened so much of Jeju and Tsushima's occupying forces, being nicknamed the "Ghost of Jeju and Tsushima". The uprising expelled the Mongols just before some Japanese soldiers from the mainland arrived to assist.
* And here's where things get worse for the Mongols. In their moment of retreat, the fleeing armies on the transport ships ended up in a typhoon that devastated the forces. Some of these hadn't even seen battle and had been sent in to first help secure Kyushu and then assist in invading the rest of Japan. This means that Kublai lost thousands and thousands of men, not all of which were wounded or anything, to the forces of nature. Only a few ships made it through and back to Mongol-occupied Korea. The failure of the invasion of Japan definitely caused Kublai Khan to grow unpopular and whilst the other Mongol khans formally and on-paper pledged their allegiance to Kublai as Great Khan, they really started to distance themselves even more from the Yuan dynasty from this moment forward.
* **In the Albionite Isles:** England has been through quite a decline in the most recent decades under the rule of king John and later Henry III. Currently, King Edward I is in charge and is looking to revive English power in the region. His first action is to reform administration, law and other things to ensure everything runs effectively in the kingdom. He then pondered over exactly how to stabilize his realm. England's northern neighbour and rival: Scotland, was in a strengthened position after the weakening of England along with their victory over England in a war not too long ago. The Scots' fellow Celts in Eire and Cymra were also in position of unified realms, which means that the conquests that England made in OTL wouldn't really be possible here. England also possessed one other major neighbour: France, who was especially dangerous since it could only be a matter of time before King Philip III of France might strike at Calais and/or Gascony. Then he remembered something. Brittany. The duchy was ruled by his brother-in-law: John II, so he approached and proposed an alliance which John accepted. He then looked to Iberia. Edward had recently heard of Philip III seeking friendship and diplomacy with the Kingdom of Barcelona after the latter's recent wins in the peninsula against the Muslims. Whilst such an alliance wouldn't threaten England specifically too much, he still feared the power that the French could have with that. Thus he sent diplomats to Galicia, León and Navarre to establish friendlier relations and to speak about trade routes from their coasts to the southern coast of England. With Navarre he also approached King Henry who had already spoken to Edward about wedding his daughter Joan with Edward's eldest son, also named Henry. The two were officially betrothed and Henry of Navarre allied Edward of England. This made Philip III not very happy about this, since Henry of Navarre was married to Blanche of Artois, who is Philip's uncle's daughter. This sounds kinda dumb but that marriage had brought Navarre closer to France. Whilst he did not start a war over this, Philip was still mighty angry. Through two allies, England now kept France somewhat at bay. Edward next looked to find some way to weaken the other kingdoms in the Albionite Isles in favor of his realm, but right now he sticks to cleaning up after his predecessors.
* **The Polo Family of Venice:** So now, Niccólo, Maffeo and Marco Polo went on their journey into the eastern lands under rule by the Mongols. The current Pope Gregory X had received the letter that Kublai Khan gave to the Polos on their first travel to Yuan dynasty China. The Great Khan asked for hundreds of missionaries and some lamp oil from the Holy Sepulcher. The Pope could only provide ten friars to serve as missionaries, but was able to provide the oil. These were given to the Polos as they set off once more to China. It was not an easy journey, despite the stability of the Silk Road that the Mongols had achieved through their conquests. The Polos traveled through Persia and Ilkhanate had seen better days, so the traveling Italians had to take some different paths due to local unrest here and there. They also needed to make a stop in Herat due to Marco becoming sick, but he would get better. Things were definitely calmer in the region known as Transoxiana to Europeans, corresponding for the most part to the westernmost areas of the Tansugai Khanate. In Ili, the capital of the Tansugai Khanate, they were given a warm welcome and feast from the Tansugai Khan: Serübei. Marco Polo, still a young man, had been documenting as much as possible throughout these travels and looked forward to the final stop in Khanbaliq, where Kublai Khan resided. Him, Maffeo and Niccólo would end up there in 1275, entering into the court of Kublai Khan himself. The Great Khan, despite his anger over the failed invasion of Japan, was pleased with the Polos having returned, this time with Marco. He was also glad that the Pope had delivered the oil he wanted as well as the missionaries, even if they were fewer than requested. Kublai was especially intrigued with Marco, who had been documenting practically everything he had seen. He employed Marco first as a writer and later as a full-on diplomat as it became clear that the Polos would stay in China, traveling throughout East Asia and sometimes further too.
* **Mamluk Sultanates | Endeavors in the Sahara and Hejaz:** The two Mamluk Sultanates: the Hafsids and the Bahriyyas are not necessarily allied with eachother but are friendly due to their shared history and their dynasties sharing origins as well... having origins as Mamluks, slave soldiers of various Muslim realms, in their case the Ayyubid dynasty. The Hafsids move their capital to Qartajira and look to focus on politics regarding their neighbour Tlemcen and the nearby powers in the Mediterranean such as Genoa, the recently independent Arborea and of course the Byzantines who are still in hold of southernmost Italy, Sicily and Malta. The Hafsid sultan Yahya II is wary of this and recalls that a previous dynasty that held the lands of Ifriqiya, the Aghlabids, had a brief reign over Sicily and Malta, something that he thinks would be good to weaken the Byzantines further and also strengthen the naval capabilities of his own realm. Right now though, he knows such a war would be too risky, especially since the Hafsids counterparts in Egypt, the Bahriyyas, are good friends (sort of, more like positive acquaintances through circumstances) with the Byzantines at the moment. Speaking of the Bahriyyas, they go about strengthening themselves both through expansion and in religious terms by going to war against Hejaz, who had become independent under the Hasanid dynasty. By controlling Mecca, one obviously has more prestige and power within the Eslamic world. But the Rasulid dynasty in Yemen had similar ideas, not necessarily to control Mecca, but to gain power from expanding into the regions of Najran and Asir and also to strengthen themselves as Sunnis in face of the rise of the Ibadi denomination of the Eslamic religion which has coincided with Oman becoming a stronger and stronger power in the region. These two wars cause some friction between the Bahriyyas and Rasulids, however they compromise, dividing Hejaz between themselves and allying through a marriage between the heir of Egypt to a daughter of Yemens Sultan Yusuf I, as a counterweight to the Ibadi circle centered on Oman and also including the Uyunids, the Ahfaris of Dhofar (sort of), Mosylon and the Ifat Sultanate (sort of).
* **Your Typical Eastern Roman Situations:** The Palaiologos dynasty came into power in the Byzantine Empire not too long ago and under Emperor Michael II he managed to bring the Byzantines out of decline, albeit through taxation and pissing off some of the non-Greeks in the Empire such as the Bulgarians. After a minor revolt in Varna in 1272, Michael realized he needed to truly stabilize the population. Whilst the institutions of the Empire were in good shape again along with the economy, letting too many people get angry at his rule could reverse this development. So first of all he looked to please the angry peoples, he allowed certain official uses of the Bulgarian language for the authorities in the Theme of Bulgaria. He also gave strategos (governor) Atanas Penchev the nominal title of "King of the Bulgarians" even if the man himself was not a king and Bulgaria was still a province of the Byzantine Empire and not an actual kingdom. Outside of that, Michael made efforts to keep his realm unified in these tough times while also not bankrupting the whole empire. He continued his efforts regarding trade with the Mamluk Bahriyya Sultanate and also made trade agreements with the Golden Horde, specifically regarding trade in the Black Sea and surrounding the Crimean peninsula. Michael even went ahead and took church bells and certain other religious objects and selling them to those interested. Obviously this doesn't make the church in Constantinople all too happy, but Michael makes sure to not go too far with this policy.
* **The Plains of Southeastern Europe:** Béla IV would succeed in occupying the claimed lands, but attempted to go further inland into Byzantine territory. This would prove a mistake. in 1273, he was hit with an arrow in the neck at the Battle of Bitola. Days later, Ruthenians and Mongols from Volyn' would invade, attempting to conquer Subcarpathian Ruthenia by sieging Ungvár. Scrambling, the new king Stephen V retreated his armies from Byzantium, sending some nobles to agree with to a peace with the Greeks. Said peace would give the claimed regions to Hungaria, but Byzantium would not have to pay much in gold. Said region also belongs to the city of Ragusa, a very important trade city on the Adriatic. Due to the Byzantines holding it, the city of course fell under Byzantine laws, something that certain other powers, mainly Venice (despite being friendly with the Byzantines at this point) weren't the biggest fan of, same for Ragusa itself, even if Byzantine protection was good. However it has now failed obviously. Long story short, the Republic of Ragusa becomes independent from the Byzantine Empire, now offered protection from Hungary, which they accepted. They're also very influenced by fellow Merchant Republic state Venice, but it is still not a vassal state and instead for the most part fully independent and sovereign.
* **Something Something South America:** First of all, big overhaul of all the ethnic groups on the continent. Second of all, due to internal struggles, the Tiwanaku Empire falls apart, mostly into small realms run by the neighbouring Aymara people. This event also sparks migration up north into Qusqu and for a few groups, further north than that. Speaking of Qusqu, they remove the other old South American culture of Wari, conquering them and spreading themselves north all the way to border the Kingdom of Chimor. There are also inhabitants of Wari that start to join other migrating Quechua people in moving north. They settle in other mountainous areas of the north along the Andes mountain range, as far as the Sierra Nevada mountains all the way up in OTL Colombia.
* **Taíno Chiefdoms:** Small chiefdoms start appearing in the Caribbean, specifically the archipelago known to us as the Greater Antilles. These chiefdoms are formed and controlled by the Taíno Arawak people.
* **The Golden Empire:** Mali is doing great, holding onto most of the important gold and salt mines in the West African region, and even those not within its borders, like Chinguetti or Tadmakka, are still under heavy Malian influence, an influence that is also somewhat being challenged by the Moroccans to the north, currently under the rule of the Marinid dynasty. The two powers in West Africa and North Africa respectively look to clash again as they are both fighting over influence over the cities on the Cross-Saharan trade routes.
* **More African Kingdoms:** New polities spring up on the vast continent. These include the Wanga Kingdom on the northeast coast of the largest lake on the continent, Dagbon, located between Mossi and Bonoman, and Mankessim, on the Aida coast.
* **Omani-Ilkhanate Clashes:** For quite a long time now, Oman has been spreading the Ibadi faith in eastern Arabia and the Horn of Africa. With their endeavors in the Uyunid kingdom, this puts them into conflict with the nearby Ilkhanate which both is not Ibadi and also does not want further Omani influence in the Persian Gulf. The Omanis have the upper hand, their superior navy dominating the gulf and them establishing better relations with the Uyunids than the Ilkhanate. Oman also has backed off slightly in terms of being directly involved in war, with the Sultan Abul Hassan II instead paying mercenaries and pirates to harass the Persian coast, looting cities like Gwadar, Chabahar and Hormuz. At the end of 1279, Fadl IV ibn Muhammad, emir of the Uyunids, officially converts to the Ibadi faith. Abaqa Khan of the Ilkhanate, believing the Uyunids would submit to Oman, declared war on the Uyunid Emirate. Here comes a war based on conflicting interests between two powers.
* **Collapse of Shewa:** After a long decline, rivalry with neighbouring Abyssinia and invasions from the Ifat Sultanate, several realms separate from Shewa and the kingdom falls into somewhat of a dark age, at least in terms of power and influence compared to its new neighbours. Meanwhile their invaders, the Somalis of the Ifat Sultanate, is thriving, especially through trade and relations with the nearby foreign Arabian power of Oman.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Shisō Yamashengoshi
	+ **Economy:** spice, food, dye, art, porcelain.
	+ **Capital: Hiroshima**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99.5%, 0.5% other
				+ **Shihon:** 350.000
				+ **Hiroshima:** 345.000
				+ **Tōga:** 320.000
				+ **Yamato:** 220.000
				+ **Fukuoka:** 175.000
				+ **Toyama:** 162.000
				+ **Nagasaki:** 161.000
				+ **Kagoshima** 161.000
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.994.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.568.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 15.952.000
			* **Total population:** 20.520.000
			* **Religion:** 99.5% Shinto-Buddhism,0.5% other including 400 Miyasatite Christianity
		- **Demographics of Tujing (Uncertain):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 11%, Tujingan 89%
				+ **Taichung:** 51.000
				+ **Kaiunchō:** 20.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 729.000
			* **Total population:** 800.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 75% Shinto-Buddhsim 25%
		- **Demographics of Ezo (Capitulated):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 50%, Ainu 50%
				+ **Fuyu:** 19.500
				+ **Sunõdorangon:** 11.500
				+ **Rural Areas:** 282.000
			* **Total population:** 313.000
			* **Religion:** 97.5% Shinto-Buddhism, 2.5% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Lusong:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 22% Visayan 78%
				+ **Ganguyin:** 26.500
				+ **Pyngou:** 17.000
				+ **Tudar:** 10.500
				+ **Rural Areas:** 212.000
			* **Total population:** 266.000
			* **Religion:** 58% Shinto-Buddhism, 42% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **War on the Continent:** The emperor was sitting by his lunch table when the horrible news broke out by his messenger, just 2 days ago the Mongols entered Zheng and soon an invasion of Goryeo was likely, reinforcements where sent to mainly Goryeo but also a few to Zheng, however, after the start of this conflict our few victories was overwhelmed by defeats and eventually we had to pull out of the continent, just like we thought would happen, Zheng had seemed like an old man and the korean peninsula had always been very fluid in war due to the positioning of land. Some soldiers where lost but the majority succeeded the naval transport back home
		- **Defense of the Holyland:** After we lost in Asia we started to prepare for the inevitable, mobilizing our people and making sure that mainland Japan would never fall, then they came, the monsters Pillaged and burned, many people moved out from cities and especially many from south moved more north due to the mongol presence in Kyushu, the Ainu territories where lost and it all seemed from their perspective that we would give up. Now that was incorrect, enemy feet had struck the Japanese soil and it only lit the fuse to what had been building up in Japan for centuries, Nationalism, The current dynasty had always ruled Japan and when intruders come into our holy nation, they shall be crushed, people didn't fight for their lives, they fought with their lives, the territories the mongols captured where difficult to hold and ass the emperor amassed larger and larger armies they had no choice but to flee for their lives.
		- **War of the Scorching Sun:** The mongols have left mainland Japan, and they have been kicked out of island and former territories, now Japan is enraged, and so the breath of war burns hot in Japan. Japan starts to stabilize from it's bloody defense and due to the newly birthed highly nationalistic mentality the nation is changed in it's foundation, the government decentralizes itself by making every territory have it's own militias ontop of the pledged troops to the national army, this is to make sure that whatever happens in main land Japan, there will always be soldiers to stop it, men and women are funneled into training programs and the army becomes the primary focus of the nation. Now it is time for us to make a move.
		- **Thrust into Karafuto:** With the Mongols controlling the Ainu and Ezo, our beloved brotherstate, we cannot stand and watch, therefore early in the decade we launch invasions onto Fuyu, Otomari and Sunõdorangon the invasion focuses on quality over quantity due to the supply issues and harsh terrain, we send veterans and specialized infantry to use the terrain as an advantgage. The invasions land troops next to the cities, creating a pincer attack on them before other troops try to land into the cities as well, after we establish control we will focus on encircling whatever forces we can and connect the fronts, then we will try to rally the locals with the fact that we have common enemies, and together we will push the mongols out of the Ainu lands, establishing an Ezo with more independence than previously.
		- **Goryeo:** While the campaign up north is starting to launch the Japanese fleet will focus on destroying whatever mongol ship they can while an invasion force gets themselves ready. Raiding will commence all over the mongol seas with a focus on spreading the mongols thinner by the coast before we launch a huge invasion of Goryeo, instead of doing the expected and invading the south directly, the focus will be put to the south east and south west, using Gintama as a base to supply an invasion of Gwangju, with the south east focusing on Seorabeol, pushing west towards Pyeng-taékon, after we have landed east and west, another sizable army will land on a weakened south to make sure that none can escape, Naval ships will be present to make sure that their soldiers have to travel by land if they want to live. If we manage to get a foothold of south Goryeo, we will naval invade Hamhung and raid Supin heavily, making sure that Japan rules the waves. The goal isn't to win, the goal is to make sure that the mongols won't see Japan or Goryeo as something worth fighting for. If we manage to push forward, we will do so until we reach the Taedong river, where we will hold the riverline and utilize the mountainous terrain in the north east. The occupation would focus on militarizing the people as much as we can there.
		- **Tujing:** Tujing dealt with the Mongols themselves, which has turned them independent, but since we are allies and has the same enemies we are going to deal with them diplomatically, however we do wish to use Tujing as a base of operations and put enough army personnel there to make sure it shall never fall again.
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:** total of ~3%(~623.5k) (~1% in local militia (208k)) (Japan + Tudar )
				+ 144.000 Archers. (144.000)
				+ 153.500 Spear men (153.500)
				+ 116.000 Swordsmen (116.000)
				+ 74.000 Cavalry (71.500)
				+ 20.000 Heavy Infantry (20.000)
				+ 6.4 Yōyū-ki (12.800)
				+ 75.000 Gunmen (75.000)
				+ 3.200 Tawābasutā (9.600)
				+ 25.000 specilized infantry (25.000)
			* **Divisions:**
				+ **40 Standard Divisons:** 2.5k archers, 2.5k spearmen, 2.5k swordsmen. 700 cavalry. (100k, 100k, 100k, 28k) TOTAL 328k **(8,2)**
				+ **8 Heavy Divisions:** 2.5k archers, 800 Yōyū-ki, 2.5kHeavy Infantry, 2k spearmen, 2k swordmen. 500 cavalery (20k, 6.4k, 20k, 16k, 16k, 4k) TOTAL 92.4k **(10,3)**
				+ **15 Gunmen Divisons:** 5k Gunmen, 2.5k spearmen, 800 cavalry (75k, 37.5k, 12k) TOTAL 124.5k **(8,3)**
				+ **12 Cavalry Divsions:** 2.5k cavalry, 2k archers (30k, 24k) TOTAL 54k **(4,5)**
				+ **5 Specialized Divison:** 2.500 Specialized infantry 2.500 Specialized archers(25k) TOTAL 25k **(5)**
			* **3.200 Tawābasutā for sieges**
		- **Navy:**
			* 210 Galleys
			* 135 Transport ships
			* 165 Light warship
			* 78 Medium warships
			* 41 Heavy warships
			* 8 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
		- **Lusong:** Don't start any conflicts as we already have too much on our plates, we also want you to focus on building docks for the Japanese fleets to use as bases.
		- **Tujing:** We both have beaten the mongol menace back to where they came from, and together we can make sure that they never mess with us again, we want to continue military cooperation as we did when you where our subjects, and on top of that, we propose that we install the last living member of your royal dynasty on the throne, as well as marry her with the prince of Japan, that way, we shall forever be bound as brothers, as equals through a union. This terms of the union can be discussed as we are heavily interested in working with you.
		- **Events:**
			* **Princess of the Dead Dynasty:** Word travels it's way to the emperor that Kusunoki Yamashengu somehow survived the catastrophic annihilation of that side of our family tree, search parties are sent towards the south of our empires and after lengthy searches and information gathered from locals, the search party found her in a tavern room, that she had bought with her mothers necklace. Anyhow she was transported back to her distant family in Hiroshima, where she is kept in security, secrecy and comfort.
			* **War of the People:** Not only soldiers are fighting this war, the people are working overtime, and if they are occupied they fight till their last breath, this brutal conflict has claimed thousands of lives, over a hundred thousand, the population has even declined, and the economy is stagnating, all so that we together can show the mongols what happens when you bite the sleeping dragon

### **Muiscan Confederacy:**

* **Government:** Tribal Monarchy
	+ **Ruler:** Tisquesusa Aquaminzaique I
* **Economy:** The economy is barter-based, as currency has not been invented. Main comoddities are traded such as food, furs, gold and gems.
* **Capital:** Chunta
* **Demographics:**
	+ **Population:** Muiscan 97%, Quechua 3%
	+ **Religion:** Muiscan belief 97% Inti 3%
* **Wars and Conflicts:**
* **Military:**
	+ **Tribal levies**
* **Navy: (None)**
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Nation:**
* **Events:**
	+ **Birth of a Confederacy:** In the large village of Chunta lived a man named Tisquesusa Aquaminzaique, second in line to the chiefdom of his village. Because of his left-handedness, he was revered as one with a close connection to the spirits and the gods. Holy he was, having undertook a pilgrimage to every holy site of his people, attending as many rituals and services as he could. On his travels he was fascinated by the people so similar yet different from him, especially the people that 'came from the sky'. The Incans from the south dazzled him with the knowledge and items they brought with on their journeys up north. Scholarly and diligent as he was, he learned as much as he could from them and begun having ideas of a different world view, a different culture...a new nation. When he returned from his final journey he found out that his family had been cursed with a plague, leaving him to become the chief of the village. With his newfound power, a desire for unity and an ambition the likes of which the tribes in the region have never seen, he went on a great spree of subjugating, conquering and diplomatically assimilating dozens upon hundreds of tribes in the region. With his battles and hardships he learned of tactics and governance, leading to a sweeping wave of prosperity after the devastation of his conflicts had settled. Thousands bent under his leadership, following him through the deepest jungles and the tallest of hills. He had won the unwavering loyalty of not only his people, but also those seeking refuge from distant lands, beginning to adopt their ways into his own. He proclaimed himself king by 1288 at the age of 36, setting the seat of power in his hometown of Chunta, with a palace beginning to be constructed in the side of a cliff. Hailing from a polygamous culture he had taken on many wives, but his primary wife, Zorahua, had already given him an heir; a left-handed daughter. The decided succession law, sinistromanual cognatic primogeniture, or equal left-handed firstborn.

### **NPC Events:**

* **The Mongol Horde - Part IX: Secession, War and Foreigners:**
* **TMH 9-1 | Post-Invasion and Domestic Events:** Going into the 1280s, Kublai was not happy, for rather obvious reasons. Whilst the Yuan dynasty was still a stable regime with a economy doing quite well (especially with the Silk Road safer than ever) and other things like culture flourishing, the Great Khan himself was not too liked by several of the ruling class, even those outside the Yuan dynasty such as the Golden Horde and Tansugai Khanate. The Great Khan's authority over the entire Mongol Empire was very much quite nominal at this point, but it was still exercised in small margins such as khurultais and other meetings being held across khanate lines as well as the Great Khan involving himself (even if very little) in matters concerning the other khanates. Also the other khanates do provide some tribute to the Great Khan. But by now, Kublai was not doing much of this and grew unpopular with his funding of the failed invasion of Japan costing gold and resources, some of which were provided by the other three khanates.
* Kublai would be stunned (in more of a confused manner than scared manner) when the Japanese invaded Korea. He definitely didn't see that coming and he was a little bit scared of what would come, but still confident enough to believe he could defeat them rather easily. Which was incorrect, although the Mongols were successful in defeating the campaign lead by Japan, **as you can read in the turn below**. This delayed the Mongol plans for a second invasion of the land of the rising sun. So let's take a look at some internal matters in the Yuan dynasty from 1282-1284. Whilst war had been going on for quite a bit now, the Mongol-led dynasty in China was thriving quite a lot, even if Kublai Khan had grown somewhat unpopular. Institutions were still functioning, corruption was actually held at quite a minimum in the various administrative divisions and the realm saw good harvests. Mostly business as usual, aside from Korea which of course had been quite devastated after the Japanese invasion. Also here Kublai Khan seemed to have his grandfather Genghis awaken inside of him, because he was incredibly angry over some of the Koreans helping the Japanese cause. So, he rounded up a ton of people, some of which were known to have collaborated with the enemy and some of which were considered "suspicious" and promptly had them all executed or tortured, some to death.
* This horrific action caused the deaths of thousands of Koreans and it can be argued that many of them were completely innocent. Whilst the Mongols were known for brutality, especially in the past, this was seen as horrific by several high-ranking nobles and made Kublai more unpopular among them. Kublai stopped the massacre, but decided instead that many of the Korean nobles (mostly from Seorabeol or nearby) were to be "exiled" to the more remote lands of what we today call Manchuria, a land populated by Jurchen people as well as a group known as the Jurcho-Koreans. They had existed for very long, but never held any noble titles really, they were for the most part just a minority group mainly consisting of peasantry. The nobles were sent there not to work as nobles there, but were effectively demoted to be laborers. Interestingly this would start to bring the Jurcho-Koreans together more, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
* Now, Marco Polo time. He continues to just travel around and write about fucking everything he sees, extensively planning a book that can give his homeland: Europe, a view into what this massive empire actually is. In 1283 he would travel to Almaty, where he was lucky to run into a state visit of the city by the Tansugai Khanate's royal family. Thus, the khan: Kaidu, was there. Marco would meet Kaidu and exchange pleasantries and all such. Despite Kaidu not being a fan of Kublai (who was Kaidu's cousin)'s rule, he respected Marco Polo. However, the more important thing that occurred here was Marco seeing a wrestling match between a rather burly Kirghiz man and surprisingly, a woman. But not just any woman, a woman named Khutulun, who was Kaidu's daughter and his favourite child. Khutulun won the match and also wowed Marco with her fighting skills and beauty. Kaidu would explain to Marco Polo that his daughter was a strong wrestler and won match after match. She had become rich from these matches, not just in terms of coins, but also in terms of horses, apparently holding a herd numbering in the tens of thousands.
* Long story short, Marco Polo fell for Khutulun after they met and talked to each other and Khutulun seemed to like the Venetian back and yes, Marco, despite being nearly 30, was not married. Kaidu accepted them interacting and Marco writing about her as long as he didn't try anything stupid. Eventually Marco Polo asked Khutulun to marry him. The response caught him off-guard. It wasn't a "no", it was a "sure, if you can beat me in a wrestling match". And so they had a match and Marco Polo got his ass handed to him on a silver plate, but he fought as good as someone like him could and Khutulun respected him and pretty much also fell in love with him. So despite winning, she went along with it anyway and the two married with Kaidu's blessing. There was one issue here however, when Kublai found out, he was not happy. Kaidu and Kublai were not friends and now one of Kublai's courtiers were tied to Kaidu's family. To clarify somewhat, Kublai was the son of Tolui, Genghis Khan's fourth son, whilst Kaidu was a son of Khashi, a son of Ögedei, who was Genghis Khan's third son. Kublai kicked Marco Polo and his father and uncle out of the Yuan dynasty in 1284, just a few months before the second invasion of Japan, making them live in the Tansugai Khanate instead. This pissed off Kaidu, but then made him happy cause now he had the Venetian traveler on his side.
* Polo and Khutulun now plan to travel and write more about the Tansugai Khanate, parts of the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate, this seemed like it could be better anyway since Polo had for the most part only been in the Yuan dynasty and at that mainly at Kublai Khan's court. So this here could be a nice change of pace. Marco's father and uncle: Niccolò and Maffeo were given diplomatic positions by Kaidu, who sent them first to the Ilkhanate to propose a marriage between the relatively recently crowned and unmarried Ilkhan Arghun and Kaidu's second daughter Sechen. They would arrive there in 1286. Arghun would accept, then send Niccolò to Constantinople to negotiate issues between the Byzantine Empire and the Ilkhanate (mostly concerning Rûm), while sending Maffeo back to Ili to inform Kaidu of the accepted marriage request.
* **TMH 9-2 | Second Attempt:** In June of 1284, Kublai was ready to unleash his wrath upon the Japanese. Not only had his initial invasion gone awry, but the island-dwellers had the nerve to attempt a counterattack which delayed the second invasion which Kublai had planned ever since he forcefully ended the first campaign. Still, after the enemies had been defeated, Kublai had not changed his mind. One could say that this move exacerbated his desire to conquer the islands. And so it was, in the following year after reforming the invasion plans and building up the necessary forces and all that, the Mongols went to conquer Japan. 1285 becomes the year of the second invasion. This time, the Mongols went and focused on the islands of Gintama and Tsushima first, still sending another force to Kyushu, just west of Fukuoka. Not long after they went after Tujing, which wasn't originally the plan but since hearing of the new Tujing regime establishing ties to Japan (they don't have the full details though), they added that in.
* On Gintama, which was in some need of rebuilding, the armies would take over the island rather quickly. The Samurai and assassin Jin Sakai, known as the Ghost of Tsushima and Gintama for his covert operations in the last invasion which helped disrupt the Mongol navy and retake the islands between Japan and Korea, would fight here in the open but eventually was forced to retreat with other armies to Tsushima. Here, the first responding Japanese transport ships would aid the garrisons in causing this battle to be more drawn out. The landing in Kyushu's purpose became to mainly establish a foothold and hold attacking forces off before spreading further into Kyushu with more help after the fall of Tsushima. However, Tsushima took more time than expected, partially due to the actions of Jin Sakai and other assassins and spies. The Battle of Toyotama broke out at the end of 1285. Jin Sakai had been compromised attempting to assassinate the commander in charge of this invasion: Balagachi. Sakai managed to escape but the Mongols tracked him to the village of Toyotama where a numerically superior Mongol force attacked the garrison, which was slightly unprepared.
* The most notable part of this battle was a duel between Balagachi and Jin Sakai, where Sakai lost his left hand before managing to impale his tachi (a katana) through Balagachi's gut, fatally wounding him. Sakai, badly wounded, would then attempt to order a small retreat and use hit-and-run tactics to slow down and whittle down the Mongol forces, but he was hit in the right leg with an arrow and shortly thereafter riddled with several more, killing him. His death was noticed and a portion of the Japanese garrison rushed the Mongols in a suicide-esque move to attempt to stun the enemy and allow the rest to retreat. It kind of worked and the Japanese retreated further east on Tsushima. However, the Mongols caught up and only a few escaped to the mainland. Jin Sakai's corpse was decapitated and Balaguchi's second-in-command: Toghon-Usun, had it raised on a large pole in Toyotama to show dominance and scare the civilian population into submission. From there, the Mongols in Gintama and Tsushima invaded into the mainland, those in Gintama going to the Goto Islands and then into westernmost Kyushu and Nagasaki while those in Tsushima going to the foothold near Fukuoka. From there the Mongols seized Nagasaki and sieged Fukuoka, with another army splitting off to cut Kyushu in two and move towards Hiroshima.
* They would meet the main Japanese army at OTL Yufu, west of Oita. The Battle of Oita would determine the war and it would go favorably for the Japanese, as they managed to defeat the exhausted Mongol army, before then continually attacking the army with smaller forces to slowly whittle them back. Another army also showed up from Kagoshima to assist this endeavor and another came to the aid of Fukuoka. Kublai was angry and had his armies retreat out to Nagasaki by the beginning of 1286. The Siege of Nagasaki would become a long and brutal campaign, taking a few months, but Japanese attacks in the Korea Strait, disrupting supply lines, caused attrition that forced the Mongols to retreat to Gintama and Tsushima. Several members of the Yuan court requested Kublai to give up but try to negotiate a peace with the Japanese where the Mongols would gain Gintama and Tsushima. Kublai refused however, simply wanting to conquer ALL of Japan.
* But before we continue with that, let's talk about the invasion of Tujing. The devastated island has only had a few years to rebuild and the military regime on the island fights hard but is forced to retreat by late 1285. The officials left behind are viciously slaughtered again, but most survived and moved to the Ryukyu Islands. Back to mainland matters: Kublai would send new invasions from the islands in the Korea Strait which ended up in a typhoon (just like last time), devastating most ships. When they landed near Fukuoka they were immediately attacked and had to immediately retreat, ending up AGAIN in the typhoon. Then another counterattack came from Japan, as they reconquered the undermanned Tsushima, recovering the head of Jin Sakai and delivering it to Emperor Shiso in Hiroshima alongside some other things. Said things were the remains of Toghon-Usun, those being his head and limbs which had been cut off from the torso. This grisly move after the killing of Toghon-Usun was ordered by Hojo Munemasa, younger brother of the late Hojo Tokimune, who died in the Japanese Korean Campaign that came before the second invasion of Japan by the Yuan dynasty. The couriers who delivered these also brought along a letter from Munemasa, describing and announcing the reconquest of Tsushima. He would refer to the typhoon that wiped most of the Mongol army and bring up the typhoon that helped the Japanese in the previous decade with the first invasion. Believing it to be divine intervention, he wrote to Emperor Shiso that Japan had been saved by "kamikaze", meaning "divine wind".
* Not long after this, the Japanese invaded Gintama and would rather quickly liberate it. Thus, Kublai's second invasion also failed and he finally gave up on conquering Japan. He sent diplomats to Hiroshima to declare that he would no longer attempt to conquer the Japanese Empire. But, Tujing was still occupied, but not for long as an army raised by the military leader of Tujing: Ruang Yu-ting in Kagoshima would travel to Tujing and invade. The Mongol armies retreated completely before the reconquering force reached Taichung. These news of Kublai failing a second time spreading throughout East Asia and into the other Mongol khanates would be humiliating for Kublai Khan.
* **TMH 9-3 | Matters of the Golden Horde and Asugan the Unifier:** The Golden Horde has seen better days. For a while now, the division of the khanate into two wings, the Blue Horde and White Horde, has caused some friction. The khanate is in theory a diarchy where the two khans work together, but since the capital of the entire realm is Sarai, in the western wing (the Blue Horde), not to mention that the western wing also contained more cities and was in general more developed, the khan of the Blue Horde was de facto ruler of the whole thing. This has led to a few minor conflicts over the power of the Blue Horde contra the White Horde as well as general dynastic conflicts. Remember that the khans on both sides all descend from Genghis Khan's firstborn son Jochi, with the khans of the Blue Horde descending from Jochi's son Batu and the khans of the White Horde descending from Batu's brother Orda. In the year 1280, both khans in the Golden Horde would die, first Möngke-Temür of the Blue Horde, succeeded by his youngest child and only son Asugan and later, Qun Quran would die after ruling the White Horde for nearly 30 years. He however, had no male heir, so Qun Quran's late brother Sartaqtay's son (and thus Qun Quran's nephew) Köchü became the new khan. Here came issues, mainly as Köchü was not a fan of playing second fiddle to the Blue Horde and thus sought help and power from the Yuan dynasty and Kublai Khan. This was an issue because Asugan like his predecessor had grown tired of Kublai and wanted to focus on Europe, he also realized that the division of the Golden Horde into the two wings was destabilizing the empire and wanted to emerge as its sole ruler.
* Asugan sent demands for bigger tribute to Köchü, in an attempt to subordinate him further, but this was rejected and the relationship between the two sides obviously deteriorated. Asugan had some luck though, Köchü did not have a lot of support amongst his court and was also not too well knowledgable in how to rule despite him not being a child or anything. This was followed with Asugan deliberately riling Köchü up through various means such as forcing merchants crossing through to give some of their wares (or pay some other form of tax) before continuing into Köchü's lands or enforcing new tariffs on silk, horses etc. Even a form of propaganda was used, exaggerating Köchü's inexperience and painting him as a failure and the reason for the less developed nature of the White Horde (even though it's more because the Blue Horde was the dominant wing and that the Blue Horde held more settlements and had to a degree embraced urbanization there, although most of the settlements that aren't villages or small towns are inhabited by non-steppe people (mainly slavs, though in the heartlands of the Khazars they have a significant truly settled population). Asugan saw Köchü's as a rival that needed removal, as though Köchü's predecessor had no children, the line of succession for the White Horde was more stable than the Blue Horde (more descendants and especially more male members and thus more possible heirs). A kurultai was held in 1282 in Yaikyrau, in an area on the borderlands of the two wings (which aren't fully defined per se but certain settlements and such are agreed upon to belong to one side or the other). This kurultai was a gathering to discuss a way to end hostilities.
* But it went the other way around. Asugan looked to try and pressure Köchü into being subjugated further under Blue Horde rule, still met with fierce resistance. Then things got bad and Asugan's previous shenanigans nearly blew up in his face as Köchü's closest advisor (and wife) Qotota after feasting felt ill and died suddenly. Believing her to be poisoned (although she wasn't, at all), Köchü was furious and attacked Asugan and the kurultai turned into a bloody massive fight, ending with both sides leaving and a state of war existing de facto between them. Both sides had prepared or whatever and they raised large armies and fought each other brutally. An important battle was the Battle of the Emba River (1284), where Asugan and Köchü both personally lead armies. Asugan won and captured Köchü, bringing him back to Sarai without ever having to go to the White Horde capital of Akmola. Months went by until an agreement was reached in 1285, where Asugan Khan overthrew Köchü and became the first Khan of the entire Golden Horde since Jochi (and the Golden Horde didn't even really exist at that point). Now Asugan had things to deal with, he had to deal with the still existing Köchü supporters, managing the large chunks of land he now held, doing something about a major revolt breaking out in Rumenia and also doing something about Kublai Khan. See Kublai was unhappy with the events in the Golden Horde, worried about the power that Asugan had amassed and he demanded Asugan to give back the lands of the White Horde to Köchü or one of his nearby family members. But Asugan said fuck you to that and, being quite anti-Kublai in general (and his recent failure with his second invasion of Japan), decided to do something drastic: he effectively ended his recognition of Kublai Khan as Great Khan of the Mongol Empire by stopping diplomatic contacts and ending the tribute which was pretty much the only thing keeping the other khanates "within" the Mongol Empire. This was a very, very big deal. Kublai was pissed but too busy to act (for now).
* **A New Japan - S3E8: Reprise, Bloody Reprise:** Clearly, there was ambition in Japan following them managing to defeat the Mongols. So yeah, invading Mongol-run Korea after the failed invasion is a ballsy move to be sure. Though ballsy doesn't always mean it is going to work. Which... it kinda didn't. The campaign lasted for about a year. The Japanese were able to secure a foothold outside Busan and successfully siege it, however a counterattack would arrive not long after that. The Gwangju attack is initially successful, but it doesn't reach all the way to the city. With the Mongols pouring in soldiers and resources, they were able to push that attack away completely and on the waves, they utilise the Chinese navy to chase away (and attempt to destroy) the transport ships carrying Japanese soldiers, as well as go after other Japanese ships. This leads to the Battle of Ulleungdo, taking place not far away from the small Korean island of the same name (Ulleungdo). It ended up being somewhat of a stalemate though more in favor of the Yuan dynasty as they managed to stop the Japanese attacks on Hamhung. The attacks in Supin would work however, and the smaller town would be hit multiple times. In the grand scheme of things it didn't do much though, since the settlement is a more minor one in the area around Korea and also the locals would eventually adapt and fight back more efficiently, still though riches and prisoners would be taken by the Japanese.
* Anyway back to the main action by Busan, the Japanese samurai and general Hojo Tokimune would use deceptive tactics to make it seem like the Japanese were retreating from Busan, before traveling with a portion of his army to Seorabeol. Arriving there, he would manage to rally up some peasants who became militia forces, as well as getting unhappy citizens to rise up as well. Through this, Seorabeol would be taken. However, obviously the Yuan dynasty was quick to go after them now and simply, the Japanese counterattack campaign grew more and more taxing and both sides suffered from attrition and nearly every battle would slowly devolve into stalemates. Then Kublai himself did an interesting thing. He ordered a military tactic of his own. Shortly after the attack in Gwangju had been fully defeated, forcing Japanese soldiers to retreat, although not everyone made it, he decided to attack. Attack where? Gintama. The navy would be sent out first to "bombard" the main port of Gintama, as in basically through any means, damage and destroy the ships there. This was a little successful, but when Kublai ordered soldiers to step onto the island and occupy it, things went less well. Soldiers on Gintama had gotten the time to prepare themselves and were ready to thwart any naval invasion attempts. The first attempt from the Yuan dynasty kind of worked as battle got as far as into the city streets, but were then pushed back.
* Kublai was able to use this as a bit of a distraction to make Japan pay attention to that more than the mainland campaign. Having gathered a large army for months at this point in 1282, he then ordered it to go after Seorabeol, but then covertly split it and sent two armies, one to Seorabeol and one to Busan. The army of Seorabeol was actually caught off-guard when the city was suddenly put under siege. Hojo Tokimune fought bravely but then realizing it was a lost cause, organized his forces to retreat and also avoid Busan upon hearing it was also under attack. He personally led his forces in this escape and presented himself to get the Yuan forces focused on him. This got him killed by the Yuan forces, but bought time for the Japanese soldiers he had commanded, who made it quite far. While there were groups who got captured and/or killed, a surprising amount managed to escape to the town of Sacheon and escape to the mainland of Japan.
* Busan fell not long after this and the Yuan dynasty successfully defeated the Japanese invasion. However, Japan had managed to force the Yuan dynasty to spend resources fighting them (the Japanese also had to deal with this however, so it was a slight bit of a double-edged sword). They also successfully occupied two Korean cities and inspired the population to stand up for themselves to an extent. Basically, it was a win and a loss for both sides to varying degrees.
* Otherwise, in the cold lands of Sakhalin, home to a few settlements although small and minor, the Mongol invasion had somewhat devastated parts of the entity known as Ezo. But, the invading party had also replaced the regime completely in favor of one lead by military commanders, displacing and/or killing those in charge initially. Upon the liberation of the island, the various Ainu people were no longer completely unified, since the leaders in charge of Ezo were no longer there or even dead. Still, Otomari and Fuyu, upon being liberated, find themselves with new leaders in the form of Ainu statesmen. Both of these pledge their allegiance to Japan as Atuy and Sistukari. The northern half however, the most remote and least "urbanized" area, fall into tribal rule by the Nivkh people, though the chieftains of said tribes are able to form a loosely organized confederation, though not completely peacefully.
* Then, in 1284 came the Second Mongol Invasion of Japan, **described in the event above**. A dramatic chain of events, where Japan would triumph once more, even with the loss of Jin Sakai and the re-occupation of Tujing. The formation of a second typhoon during this invasion would spark the belief of divine intervention occurring and assisting the Japanese in defeating the Mongol invaders, thus being referred to as "kamikaze", divine wind. After these turbulent few decades, Japan is somewhat drained of military commanders, its military has been quite exhausted and the southern regions (not including most of the Ryukyu Islands) are ravaged and in need of rebuilding. But in this battle of David vs Goliath, David has won.
* Finally, Tujing agrees to a royal marriage leading to a personal union, where Tujing handles things for quite a bit on their own whilst having close ties to Japan. Tujing serving semi-independently is argued to be good for bureaucracy, as the military and navy and all that is handled by Tujing itself with Japan not having to worry much about controlling and maintaining things there. Not to mention, the Tujingites(?) are obviously more accustomed to their own culture so popularity can be more easily attained by that regime.
* **Palaiologos Purple (1):** Emperor Michael had practically saved the Byzantine Empire. For the time being lololololol. No but in all seriousness, whilst Arborea (Sardinia) seceded a while back, the empire remains mostly stable. He established good relations with the most troublesome non-Greek group in the empire: the Bulgarians, even now in 1281 setting up a system of recruiting Bulgarian warriors into an elite form of troops, focused on the Bulgarians skills in light cavalry. They had originated as good horse archers much like other steppe peoples, but after having settled along the Danube, that had faded somewhat, but light cavalry in general was still a good skill of theirs. Anyway back to the point. Michael died the following year in 1282 and the throne passed to his eldest son Andronikos. Michael had raised him well and Andronikos made sure to do his best to be popular in a realm which has been stabilized and seen some uptick, but is still rather fragile. He seeks to focus on diplomacy, both domestically and in foreign matters, attempting to solve problems peacefully. It generally goes quite well and his reign goes on in just an okay manner, no massive accomplishments but no horrific decline either.
* Then, as mentioned in a previous event, Niccolò Polo, the Venetian traveling merchant would arrive to Constantinople in late 1286. Andronikos had heard of him before and knew of his son being a traveling writer over in the far east. The merchant came with diplomatic purposes, having been sent by Arghun Khan of the Ilkhanate to negotiate settling various conflicts over the border between the Byzantine Empire and the Sultanate of Rûm, still run by the Saljuq dynasty (specifically Sultan Mesud II) and a vassal of the Ilkhanate. Now Rûm was not very happy with being a vassal, as recently the Ilkhanate has suffered from decline and lost a major war against the Omanis, causing it and Rûm to be weakened, which also becomes a problem with the Bahriyya Mamluks close by as well. Under Mesud II and some of the sultans before him, Rûm has also seen an increase in Sunnis rising up against the Shi'a majority, something that was established all the way back when the Saljuqs first conquered most of Anatolia. Andronikos offered Niccolò a pretty hefty amount of money to join his court and instructed him to act as a spy, to support the Sunnis of Rûm in an effort to destabilize the Sultanate in favor of the Byzantines, along with deceiving and misleading Arghun Khan back over in Persia. He also offered sweet trade deals for Venice if Niccolò did this. He decided to go with the better money and accepted this endeavor. He went back to Venice to make this deal, strongly bettering relations between the Republic of Venice and the Byzantine Empire. He was then sent to Aqyar to speak with the relatively autonomous Tatars within the Golden Horde, to negotiate a special trade deal between the Republic of Venice and Aqyar.
* This was brought up to Asugan Khan, who accepted it, glad that this would bring further riches from the west into his new regime over the Golden Horde. Thus, so far Andronikos' administration has managed to further improve the Byzantine economy and strengthened its position as a great power in the Balkans and Western Asia. Things are looking up.
* **End of the Swedish-Norwegian Union:** The personal union between these two northern kingdoms was not as stable now as it was when it was first established by Birger I (previously known as Birger Jarl). Birger I died in 1266 after a short illness, being succeeded by his son Valdemar. Now while Birger had managed to make the Swedish-Norwegian Union itself stable, Sweden itself was less so. There was manner of conflict between Birger's sons: Valdemar (who was elected king), Magnus, Erik and Bengt, mainly between the two eldest, those being Valdemar and Magnus. Whilst no direct hostilities were going on, the conflict centered on Magnus and Erik not agreeing with Valdemar being the one to be elected king, the two considering him to be too aloof and not well-versed enough in politics. He was also previously revealed to have had one affair and was rumored to have had several more. Valdemar got Bengt on his side, appointing him into important positions focused on religious matters, as Bengt was pretty much the most devout out of Birger's sons.
* King Valdemar's middle brothers seemed to be rather correct concerning their brother. He, objectively, wasn't awful but didn't rule particularly well and he continued to have many affairs. He also had to deal with a major uprising led by Filip Knutsson and Olof Larsson, two half-brothers of the House of Sverker, which previously reigned over Sweden, the half-brothers objected to the election of Valdemar and sought to claim the kingdom for themselves as co-regents following Birger's death. Magnus gave military advice to Valdemar in an effort to quell the rebellion as quickly as possible, but Magnus ignored him and sent in a force which was outnumbered and which was defeated. This led to Valdemar then personally leading a larger army together with Magnus to Västmanland (where the uprising was taking place). At the Battle of Herrevadsbro, the rebels were defeated, Olof was killed and Filip was taken captive and later executed. Despite the brothers working together for the good of the kingdom, it did not really restore their relationship much.
* Valdemar's not-so-great leadership and scandals of various nature worsened conditions further. After another affair scandal in 1273, this time with Jutta, the sister of his wife Sofia who was the daughter of the late Danish king Erik IV, Valdemar's court got very mad, not to mention the Pope's view on Sweden was not good due to Valdemar's sins. Magnus spoke with the Queen, telling her to convince Valdemar to redeem his name in terms of faith and it worked. Valdemar went to Rome in 1275 on a journey to ask for absolution, which was granted, as long as Valdemar pledged himself to being chaste for the rest of his life. He accepted and headed back to Sweden. He chose Sofia as regent while he was gone. Magnus and Erik took this opportunity to construct a large network of conspirators to depose Valdemar and install Magnus as king. Magnus was chosen because Erik was sickly and Bengt wasn't interested in becoming king, but he was brought over to Magnus' side through him being promised to be given a strong position if Magnus became king. Even King Erik V of Danesmark was brought into the fold. Once Valdemar returned in August 1275, he was surrounded in Kopnhavn, arrested and sent to Sweden. There he was forced to give up the crown and disinherit his son Erik. He was then put in jail at the fortress of Nyköpingshus.
* Magnus became King Magnus III. Erik (Magnus' brother, not Valdemar's son nor the King of Danesmark) was made Duke of Småland and Bengt was made Duke of Finland. Erik wouldn't last long though, as said he was sickly and he would die just 3 days before New Years' Day 1276. Magnus III sought positive relations with Danesmark, although not very successfully. Erik V helped Magnus since he really didn't like Valdemar, whom had secretly banged his cousin (Queen Sofia), but still disliked Sweden due to... well all the wars the two kingdom were involved in previously, especially considering Danesmark had not too long ago lost Skåneland and Bornholm. The alliance between Magnus III and Erik V ended up being temporary indeed, Magnus convinced Erik V to have a non-aggression pact however in exchange for Danesmark having Bornholm returned to them.
* Magnus ended up being quite a good king. He strengthened the power of the crown and reformed the system with Alsnö stadga, as well as electing his oldest son Birger to be king in advance and making said Birger's younger brother to become duke of Södermanland upon succession. He had a lot to deal with however, such as bigger German influence through the Hanseatic League and the burgher class in Stockholm increasing in power through German immigrants, as well as trying to stabilize the union with Norway, which had been somewhat neglected under Valdemar and whose authorities were on not the best terms with the ruling Swedish dynasty. Magnus married his youngest son Valdemar to a Norwegian princess to attempt to secure succession and please the Norwegians. The king would present one of the first real realm-spanning law books in 1278 and pledged to reform Norwegian laws in accordance, under supervision from Norwegian nobles and with respect to Norwegian tradition. This didn't go as well however as the nobles of Norway were not too happy with how the King had previously strengthened his powers, weakening the power of the church and nobility as a consequence. Small reforms were made and published as a new Norwegian law, although it was not on the level of the Swedish one. Magnus was not very happy with this, Alsnö stadga also only applied in Sweden and the King was unable to get the Norwegian nobles from accepting it in their lands.
* Magnus III also had difficulty pushing Birger to be heir in both kingdoms. The Swedes were happy with him becoming their king, even with the inevitable sibling rivalry as brothers Erik and Valdemar also wanted to have power and were afraid that their oldest brother would end up doing the same as their uncle, the former King Valdemar. Then, Magnus would become ill in 1288, likely food poisoning, and die the next year. On his deathbed he hoped that at least even if Birger wouldn't become King of Norway that his younger brother Valdemar, married to Princess Ingeborg of Norway, would. But nope. The Norwegians instead elected Ingeborg's father: Erik Magnusson (Erik II) as King of Norway. Birger II stands as the current king, with his brother Erik being Duke of Södermanland and his other brother Valdemar being granted position as Duke of Finland.
* The Swedish-Norwegian Union is over and seemingly did not provide that much for the two realms outside of the initial accomplishments under Birger I. For Sweden especially, Erik V of Danesmark is looking increasingly focused on regaining Skåneland and the slight instability after the sudden death of Magnus III provides opportunity.
* **In the Albionite Isles:** King Edward I had inherited a kingdom in somewhat of a decline. Things had just not gone well for his predecessors. But here he was, having now improved the standing of the monarch whilst still respecting the previously signed Magna Carta and Provisions of Oxford. His foreign policy also made England seem stronger than before in comparison to its archenemy France. There was somewhat of a difficulty of where to go next, as there was no real room for easy expansion. But, he would maintain his established alliances to counter the power of the English' nemesis in France, hoping to hold on to the remnants of the old Angevin Empire and also regain Normandy, he saw the possibility to block the French out from the Atlantic completely by reconquest alongside his alliance with Brittany. During these years Edward marked himself down as effective, but brutal. He would institute punishments such as being hanged, drawn and quartered for high treasonous crimes, quickly used on some of his political enemies to mixed effect, it made him controversial but also feared. He could also then collect the coffers of said punished people. He needed it to finance the building of lots of castles for additional protection of England and another way to get the funds for this was following a trend that existed not just in England but in most of Europe: being horrible to the Jews, confiscating their property and then expelling them starting in 1289. Oh medieval times, you and your horrific antisemitism...
* **Collapse of the Tzuul "Empire":** The Tzuul Empire was a confederation loosely unified across parts of the Amazon through trade, cultural exchange and most importantly: the snake-worshipping religion of Yuan-ti that spread across their lands. By the 1280s however, the confederation had splintered into separate confederations corresponding to various native tribes that had lived within the Tzuul lands. This was caused both through petty wars within the "borders", ecological trouble, but mainly religious changes, with certain tribes starting to venerate different gods within the Yuan-ti pantheon along with veneration of new, created gods, which not everyone agreed on. Conflict thus sprung kind of in the form of one tribe worshipping one god as the "top god" of the entire pantheon, whilst another tribe did so with a different god, to simplify. With the split, the Mharajo Confederation stood as the most developed and "strongest", it controlling the two oldest permanently organized settlements in Zehirkrel and Chuultan.
* **Mamluk Sultanates | Endeavors in Arborea and Nubia:** Off to a good start are the Mamluk Sultanates in North Africa, in a time where this area along with the Levant is thriving, whilst Mesopotamia is tied to Persia which itself is in a shoddy position with internal unrest under the Mongolic Ilkhanate that are suffering from wars with their own and other powers. Said other powers include Oman, currently in the business of getting a fuckton of spices from India and spreading Ibadism all around and then there's central Arabia that is just full of random nomadic tribes mainly minding their own business and/or going to war with one another and sometimes dealing with the surrounding unified political entities in the region. Oh yeah back to the two Mamluk Sultanates. The more powerful entity controlled by the Bahriyyas, have a lot on their hands. Their overall authority has ambitions for expansion and sit comfortably with their main rival: the Ilkhanate, suffering along with the Bahriyyas having surprisingly good relations with the Byzantine Empire, which are maintained by the new Emperor Andronikos.
* To the east, Arabia, the birthplace of the Eslamic faith, is facing influence from the Ibadis who have had a strong rise due to the efforts of Oman, could this be an issue for the Sunni status quo of the Hejaz, the location of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina? To the west, the Hafsids stand as allies, at least for now, who generally hold a more preferable naval situation, standing close to the various central and western Mediterranean islands, along with holding cities like Qartajira, the former Kartha of the ancient Arunsioi Empire. Northwards lies two realms across the sea, the Byzantines, who despite being heretics have managed to secure good relations through trade and stellar diplomacy, and Arborea, a loosely unified realm formed out of the Sardinians finally breaking from Byzantine authority. Seeing opportunity along with having read of the previous Aghlabids who expanded Arab and Eslamic authority into the Mediterranean islands, alongside wanting to restore balance after the Balearic Islands were taken by the Christians in Iberia, Sultan Abu Asida Muhammad II starts an invasion of the fledging state, despite his predecessor Yahya II not going through with it and seeing it as too risky. The news are disturbing especially to Italy with the Muslims occupying more than half of the island by the end of 1289 and this move also expands Hafsid power in the seas and gets in the way of merchant states like Genoa and Venice.
* The so-called "Last Crusader State" of Cyipri is baffling however and obviously not liked. Finally, to the south lies the lands of Nubia and the Beja people, the former still being run by 2/3 Christian states: Alodia and Makuria (Nobatia being gone for long by now) and the latter seeing mostly unorganized tribes and three small polities known as Qita'a, Bazin and Jarin. Qita'a in particular is interesting as it holds the settlement of Oosook, a somewhat important trade stop on the Red Sea. Controlling more of the Red Sea and the elimination of Christian powers stand as two goals that the Bahriyyas could go towards.
* **The Golden Empire | Abu Bakr's Odyssey:** Mali is another Eslamic region that is doing quite well right now, consistently building up their civilization and realm mainly through their wealth. Court life however has been difficult. After the death of Mansa Uli I in 1271, he was succeeded by an adopted brother known as Wati (before later changing his name to Uli II), who only lasted until 1275 and who only took power by defeating his adopted brother Khalifa. With his sudden death came said guy (Khalifa) to take power and he tried to restore stability within succession which worked to an extent and he would establish a few libraries and work on infrastructure to make him popular. It worked but Abu Bakr, eldest son of Uli I would gain allies and begin a plot to take the throne as he believed it rightfully belonged to him since he was son of a former Mansa but also an actual full-blooded member of the Keita dynasty. He succeeded in his attempts by deposing Khalifa in 1284 but continuing the various reforms and laws that he was instituting. To stabilize things further he would establish a proper concrete "constitution" for a council that would advise and assist the Mansa, thus also actually reducing his power somewhat, done mainly to keep the court from falling apart, although he would not always follow his own rules. He also declared that only descendants by blood of his grandfather Sundiata Keita AKA Mari Djata, the founder of the Mali Empire, were eligible to succeed to the throne.
* Mansa Abu Bakr was interested in both religion by embracing Eslam and being quite devout, building many mosques and other religious buildings, but he also liked old legends and would have stories he found particularly interesting from many of the various people groups living in his realm written down. One from the Wolof people living in the far west by the Atlantic Ocean spoke of a great unknown land laying across the waters, housing spirits that were served graciously (you know, as gracious as slavery can be) by jaam, the slave caste in Wolof society. This legend, combined with the presence of Moroccan ships sailing along the West African coast (and them having previously engaging in contact with the Guanches people on the OTL Canary Islands), gave him an idea. He would first conduct expeditions throughout his lands to start a minor mapping project and he would build a fleet, to counter Moroccan influence in the sea and to later explore and find this land. However the latter would have to wait. The building of military ships alongside previous tensions would bring about a war in 1286, centered on Teghaza.
* The Mansa would convince the city-state to stick with the Malians and counter the overreaching power of the Moroccans, promising that under Mali's protection the mainly Tuareg population would be left to do as they please and the walls and people of Teghaza would be protected from invading forces and bandits. Also, the war started with Morocco's Marinid Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq or just Abu Yusuf Yaqub for short, declaring Moroccan suzerainty over Teghaza and marching soldiers toward it, so Teghaza was threatened. Mali would see luck though, as the Sultan died mere months after the war began and his inexperienced son Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr took over. The war saw minor naval warfare between the two with Mali's fleet proving to have potential though it definitely did not outclass the Moroccans. However on land Teghaza stood strong and defeated all siege attempts with Malian help until the young new Sultan offered a peace. Teghaza would be a Malian vassal and so would Tadmakka after Abu Bakr convinced them with just a tiny bit of hostility and manipulation. By the end of the 1280s, Mali had managed to stabilize and was on an apparent continued path forward. Next step: the naval expedition to the west.
* And finally for a quick-ish sidenote: the conflict over control over the trade routes crossing the Sahara, along with the growth of a powerful merchant class in the two neighbouring trade hubs of Ouadane and Chinguetti, leads to somewhat of a centralization in that particular area. The two main trade leagues of either city (which have been properly fortified with walls decades ago) decide to work together to defend these lands and to secure all that nice merchandise for themselves. Hakem N'Ait of Chinguetti and Zeyn Toufiq of Ouadane marry their sisters to one another and form the Emirate of Adrar, a diarchy with two Emirs ruling over mainly their two cities in the Adrar Plateau, where the realm gets its name from, and the other claimed lands being secured and regulated through small trade posts and through a system of paying nomadic tribes to keep the outskirts of either city in exchange for well, being paid and also nice trade deals and even being allowed to rest within the city walls.
* **Pale Men of the Northeast and the Ancient Acquaintances:** The success of Vinland was causing shifts in the way that the natives of surrounding areas in America were living. And the Kingdom, whilst very much decentralized and the local population mostly doing their own thing, was expanding its influence in general. Look at Anticosti Island (which is what we call it in our timeline), referred to as Notiskuan by the Innu, Natigostec by the Mi'kmaq and named Njörðreyland, meaning "island of Njörðr", Njörðr being the Norse god of the sea, in case of the Vinlanders their religion has very much mixed in to various degrees with the native beliefs of their neighbours. The island is a very popular spot for trading between Mi'kmaq, Innu and Vinlander peoples and to secure further protection over the Gulf of Odinselfr (Saint Lawrence), the settlement of Langrtré (meaning "tall trees") is built on the far west of the island. Back to the religion thing, under the current king Víglundur II and his predecessor king Seifur, their religion has become somewhat more organized, with written sagas produced over recent centuries are codified and accepted. The sagas hold creation myths and other mythology concerning the various gods and stories about them, some of these stories are interpreted in ways that establishes rules and regulations for the Vinlander Asa belief or whatever the fuck the religion's name would be god this is shit. Still it is nowhere close to something like Christianity in Europe, while areas have shamans that take care of religious matters, pretty much everything outside of OTL Newfoundland is still loose when it comes to how the religion functions and varieties are very local and widespread.
* In other news, the interactions here have led to many different things like the previously mentioned spread of horses that find use mainly in the big plains, changing the culture of the native tribes who come to possess and use said animals. Writing has also been spread more thoroughly, with native tribes adopting and/or modifying the alphabet used by the Vinlanders, mainly the latin script but some runic inscriptions as well though mostly used for symbols for gods rather than used for writing like in Europe during the Viking Age. So yeah the Vinlanders have become a people worshipping various gods and sacrificing to them whilst their religion also includes veneration of ancestors and spirits and other differences from the initial Norse religion (again it varies across the lands of Vinland with no overarching religious hierarchy, closest thing being the king but he only accepted a good chunk of sagas as the written accounts of their religion). Speaking of the king again, Víglundur II is a king who engages in a lot of diplomacy and seeks peaceful relations. He is not very interested in expanding since the lands outside OTL Newfoundland (Vinland proper) are rather loosely connected to the rest of the kingdom anyway. Visiting the Mi'kmaq, he would be brought to a site on a small island in the Pitupaq Lake on the island of Unamak'i, which yes is separated from the rest of the OTL Nova Scotia peninsula. The site itself is Mnuki, an important spiritual location for the Mi'kmaq. There he would give his respects to the local leader and provide them with some gifts. The local sakamaw (chief), named Kitpu Npukik (Eagle Eye) would accept these graciously and became especially friendly to the Vinlanders.
* **It's Like America, But South - Ata:** Ata means "one", as in the number, in the Chibcha language. In what we know as South America, there was a sprawling and growing "structure" in the northern Andes highlands in modern-day Colombia. Here the Muisca Confederation would form, alongside the Tolima and the northern Zenú and Tairona. Muisca and Tolima stand as the most organized (still loosely obviously) polities, each having a larger permanent settlement where an accepted leader lives. The earlier collapse of Tiwanaku and earlier than that: Huari, brings Quechua-speaking people to migrate north in search of better lands. Not all of them would be accepted by the powerful polity centered on the city of Qusqu and a period of migration carried the migrants as far as Muisca, though with smaller populations than those arriving in Qusqu or Chimor and also of course over periods of time. Through these migrations they would bring language, cultural traditions and technology, to both Muisca and Tolima. No major populations of migrants would go further north than this, though some are believed to have reached as far as the northern coast. Meanwhile, the Uru Empire is something quite similar to the former Tzuul and also the League of Xibalba located in Central America, as in it is a loose confederation of Uru settlements and tribes in alliance with one another. The main difference to Xibalba is that the prosperous Ejhué is recognized as the main settlement and thus the sole capital of the confederation.
* **Omani-Ilkhanate ~~Clashes~~ War:** The clashes between the two sides escalate so much that it turns into an all-out war despite no declarations from either side. After a major trade ship in Khasad on a trip to Nawanagar in Gujarat was intercepted and sunk in 1283, Oman was tired of fucking around and retaliated majorly. Newly crowned Ilkhan Ahmed Tekuder, brother of Abaqa Khan who died in 1282, was not prepared for this. Omani armies crossed into Hormuz and also from the Uyunid Emirate up along the Mesopotamian rivers, using surprising speed to claim Basra, Ahwaz and Qufra. The Ilkhan panicked and sent an army first to deal with Hormuz, which was successful albeit with large casualties. But the big deal was the Omanis marching towards Baghdad, which isn't the capital, but still a major city of course. To put it simply, Ahmed did not do very well. Already he was dealing with being an unpopular ruler amongst his council and court and he was not really a man of military knowledge. So needless to say, his forces sent to defeat the Omanis just outside Baghdad failed, it was a rather close battle but still the Ilkhanate lost, giving the Omanis a chance to siege Baghdad. This sounds ridiculous and for a reason, as Sultan Musa III bin Jabir Nabhani of Oman wasn't intending an actual full siege, but to occupy the settlements outside the city walls and to present his army as capable of sieging the city, even though they did not have the resources necessary.
* And this actually worked. Ahmed Tekuder, in all fairness, didn't get much of a chance to do much, he was overthrown in 1284 by surrounding nobles and replaced with his nephew Arghun, now Arghun Khan, who negotiated a peace as soon as possible. In the peace, Oman would gain the island of Hormuz, the coastal trade cities of Gwadar and Chabahar and the island of Bubiyan would go to the Uyunids. Now, the Persian Gulf laid firmly in Omani hands and of course, they would set up various taxes for those wanting to pass through the gulf, including traders coming from both the Indian Ocean and those passing from cities on the gulf like Hormuz and Bushehr. More money for the Omanis and more Ibadi for the cities they gained. Yay.
* **New Great Power of Maritime SEA:** SEA for Southeast Asia, that is. Singhasari, having tied their influence across the region and expanding trade connections to mainland SEA with places like Mergui and cities on the Gulf of Siam, was definitely the major-est power in the region. Maharajadiraja (King) Kertanegara had previously defeated the Mongols but had other threats to watch out for. The two main rivals in the archipelago are Langkasuka and Brunei. To combat the latter, the Singhasari would attempt to strengthen their hold on Borneo by beginning the construction of a city there to make the collection of taxes more efficient and thereby justify their claim on the territory there. They would also aim to secure good relations with the Bugisa Kingdom, known for its fishing economy. Meanwhile Brunei would extend its influence northwards, establishing trade posts and relations with the various tribes of the loose Tagbanwa Confederation on Palawan Island. It nears itself to Tawalisi and the Kutai Kingdom to strengthen its own position and through its geographic location also seeking greater contact to the small trading realms of Gapi, Jailolo and Sangir.
* **The Chaughani Empire's Event:** The Chaughani Empire has stood against the Mongols for quite a while now, having gone from an empire based on expanding to more of a protective entity in northern India after the appearance of the Mongol threat. [...] With this support, this temporary alliance of Chaughan and Gujarat invades to assist the rebelling Sindhis in their struggle for overthrowing the loyal Emir to achieve freedom.
* **Pied Piper:** The legend of the Pied Piper is later said to have occurred in 1284. It tells of a musician in multicolored (hence "pied") clothing appearing in the town of Hamelin in Saxony during a rat infestation. The piper would offer to help driving out the infestation with his musical pipe in exchange for some gold. Whilst he would do just that, playing music to lead the rats out and into the river and drowning them, the authorities would not follow through on the promise of payment. As revenge, the piper would return later and use his pipe again, this time leading the town's children out of the town, never to be seen again. It might be that some kind of incident involving a ratcatcher occurred and provided the inspiration for the legend. Nothing much else to say here other than "insert stranger danger joke here".
* **~~The Polo Family of~~ (Just) Venice:** Venice would continue their usual doings under Doge Giovanni Dandolo, enjoying the benefits of the Silk Road and its far contacts to East Asia. It would still be a rival of the other various merchant states mainly Genoa and would be equally angry over the Hafsid invasion of Arborea. Giovanni Dandolo would also be interested in Egyptian affairs through its recently alright-ish relations with the Byzantines and would write in his journal in 1286 that the Bahriyyas access to the Red Sea down to parts of Africa and the lands to the east and beyond was very convenient and bring up that if land did not block the Red Sea from the Mediterranean, it would be an amazing opportunity for trade. Hmm, interesting thought, no?
* **The Crusader King:** The County of Cyipri has managed to end up in an interesting position. It had previously been a target of multiple invasions and other attacks first during the numerous Roman-Persian wars and Byzantine-Persian wars, and then later as well when the Arabic Caliphates rose up. Right now however, despite being smack dab in the crossroads (over water) between the most powerful Christian realm (of the east that is) and the most powerful Muslim realm, it is actually mostly free of influence from either side not counting immigrating intellectuals/workers and also trade. This mainly due to both of those realms being too busy with other stuff to really care all that much about Cyipri. It is also the last remaining and longest lasting Crusader State, having been established in 1244 after the end of the Fourth Crusade. Its first Count was the French noble knight Jacques de Laval, who became Count Jacques I. He was not that popular initially, but then fought a small muslim invading force trying to take back power and defeated them, although he was critically wounded and died of said wounds in 1246.
* He had a wife but no children so the county passed to his younger brother Henri. Henri took great pleasure in studying the island he ruled over, especially its culture which of course was influenced by both the Greeks and muslims. He died in 1262 and his son Jacques became Count Jacques II, who became infatuated specifically with the Greek culture on the island and by embracing much of it became quite popular. Then he died in 1281 from illness and his 13-year old son Philippe became the new Count. Philippe is the ruler who has seen the most independent rule and much like his predecessors he embraced Greek culture. In 1288, just after his 18th birthday, having studied history about Cyipri and noting his realms origins in a crusade, he declared Cyipri to now be the Crusader Kingdom of Cyipri. Philippe in accordance changed his title to "Crusader King" and in regards to becoming more Greek, took a new Greek name as his regnal name: Tobias (OMG SELF-INSETRTTTR!"!"!). Also technically Tobias is just a Greek variation of a Hebrew name but shush.
* **A Few Inventions:** Said inventions are few, but interesting. In Italy, eyeglasses would be invented by the year 1286. In Yuan dynasty China, scientists and military scholars would invent the successor to the fire lance: the hand cannon, pretty much the first ever firearm, it comes to some use in the second attempt to conquer Japan, but in a small amount and it does not do really any difference to the overall war. Finally in the city of Udupi in Hoysali, an early cotton gin using worm gear is invented.
* **Mesoamerica Reworked:** It has been reworked to make more sense. The more northern lands are dominated by several city-states run by various native peoples. The Mayan state has been reworked to be more similar to the otl League of Mayapan, still called Xibalba as a cult focused on Xibalba (the realm of the dead in Mayan mythology) is dominant throughout the realm. Said realm is an alliance between the city-states of Uxmal, Mayapan and Chichen Itza, holding considerable power over the Yucatan, easternmost Mexico as well as today's Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and parts of Honduras through vassal territories.

### **Muiscan Confederacy:**

* **Government:** Tribal Monarchy
	+ **Ruler:** Tisquesusa Aquaminzaique I
		- **Tribal Authority:** Absolute.
* **Economy:** The economy is barter-based, as currency has not been invented. Main comoddities are traded such as food, furs, gold and gems.
* **Capital:** Chunta
* **Demographics:**
	+ **Population:** Muiscan 95%, Quechua 5%
	+ **Religion:** Muiscan belief 95% Inti 5%
* **Wars and Conflicts:**
* **Military:**
	+ **Tribal levies**
* **Navy: (None)**
* **Diplomacy:**
	+ **Nation:**
* **Events:**
	+ **Continued Expansion:** More tribes are subjugated to the north, increasing realm size.
	+ **Cultural fascination:** Tisquesusa spends more time learning the insights, culture and technology of the southern migrants, and integrating them into his kingdom.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Shisō Yamashengoshi, Mokuzai Yamashengoshi, 1264-alive, Ruled: 1286-pressent
	+ **Economy:** trade economy derived mostly from waterbased trade routs as well as internal land and water based trade routs where we sell specialized commodities and competitive products (better priced spice, sugar and such)
	+ **Capital: Hiroshima**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99.5%, 0.5% other
				+ **Hiroshima:** 350.000
				+ **Shihon:** 345.000
				+ **Tōga:** 320.000
				+ **Yamato:** 220.000
				+ **Fukuoka:** 175.000
				+ **Toyama:** 162.000
				+ **Nagasaki:** 161.000
				+ **Kagoshima** 161.000
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.984.000
				+ **All cities:** 4.558.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 15.932.000
			* **Total population:** 20.490.000
			* **Religion:** 99.8% Shinto-Buddhism,0.2% other including 1.200 Miyasatite Christianity
		- **Demographics of Tujing (Personal union):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 13%, Tujingan 87%
				+ **Taichung:** 52.500
				+ **Kaiunchō:** 20.500
				+ **Banqiao:** 11.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 735.000
			* **Total population:** 819.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 64% Shinto-Buddhsim 36%
		- **Demographics of Atuy (Vassal):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 60%, Ainu 40%
				+ **Otomari:** 21.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 194.000
			* **Total population:** 217.000
			* **Religion:** 98% Shinto-Buddhism, 2% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Sistukari (Vassal):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 50%, Ainu 50%
				+ **Fuyu:** 19.500
				+ **Rural Areas:** 88.500
			* **Total population:** 108.000
			* **Religion:** 81% Shinto-Buddhism, 19% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Lusong:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 29% Visayan 31%
				+ **Ganguyin:** 27.500
				+ **Pyngou:** 19.000
				+ **Tudar:** 13.500
				+ **Bōeki Kairō:** 6.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 242.000
			* **Total population:** 310.000
			* **Religion:** 73% Shinto-Buddhism, 27% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **Out of Game Readjustments:** Due to the percentage system not fitting a nation this large I will move to a number based military personnel system. This will lower active personnel to more realistic (yet really strong) levels.
		- **Japan Undefeated:** This war has been a continuous back and forth between the largest nation in Asia and the most efficient nation in Asia, The mainland remains undefeated and our islands are in our firm clasp, but the continent of Asia is a tough nut to crack, however due to the recent nationalistic and holy uproar within the Japanese people and leadership, peace is no longer an option, not now anyways, and so, this gruesome war will continue.
		- **Reorganized:** following the Korean happenings Shisō Yamashengoshi knew full well that Goryeo is in dire need of their ally, being who he is, stubborn and calculating, he did something that surprised people, he resigned from the throne in favor of his son, making him quite the early emperor (even though he's well into his 20s.) Instead Shisō appointed himself as the supreme grand commander of the army, with laws written so that the title will cease when the war ends, and that it inherits to the emperor of his bloodline. Now having to only focus on the army he splits it into 3 parts. 1. Homeland defense and battle support, 2. future main army, 3. springboard armies. Now what does these names mean? you'll know shorty, what's important is while the other 2 armies do their tasks, army nr. 2 will go through some important changes, including a heavy emphasis on counter cavalry tactics, utilizing the environment as natural barriers, and loading the army up with a very condensed amount of guns, a horse might survive a shot, but not a hailstorm. This reformation took about 2 years to finish.
		- **The Slow Approach:** Now, what was wrong with the last campaign? it didn't last long enough to make the war too expenssive for the mongols, so new plan: win the attrition war. But winning an expense war against a much larger foe isn't very easy, which is why we'll take it slow, and let the giant stumble. First of, while the 2nd smaller but more efficient army is being reorganized the 3rd army start the year of with more covert missions into Goryeo, using the cover of night to smuggle arms into Urban villages. Reassuring the Koreans that their brothers are coming, and that when we come, their liberation will be near. Not only that but people with lighter military training and a knowledge of korean (often Korean in ancestry) are placed with the village people to make sure everything runs smoothly. Another thing the Springboard army does a lot is naval combat and port strikes against The mongol military fleet, making sure that our strongest card will remain the strongest. Thirdly, the most military action that the springboard army is in charge of is taking control of Islands that are near the Korean mainland, and holding them with fierce resistance, the Koreans will know that we aren't waiting around, and the Mongols will too. Securing Island footholds are the first step of this very lengthy plan Shisō is envisioning. When the 2nd army has been reformed, it is time for the snake to strike it's poisonous bite. Primarily, the control of the islands Geoje, Namhae, Jindo and Sinan as well as the smaller silands surrounding them will suddenly strike with the newly organized 2nd army which the Mongols haven't seen before, striking into the mainland like a carnivorous plant. The objective will be to siphon as many spears into the hands of farmers as physically possible, with the 3rd army mainly focusing on swiftly moving to 2nd army positions under threat as aid as well as a for of conduit for rebellion, recruiting militias into themselves and working hard with the navy to overthrow the regime from within. When a larger city finally is taken, Shisō will take leadership for the time being and form a smaller council of prominent figure heads that has shown themselves. The rebellions norther into Goryeo might be able to at least give enough time for the southern rebels to take river lines while the north occupies the mountains, the primary focus will be to have as high of a kill/death ratio possible against the mongol army, therefore after the ambitious push, defenses will immediatly start being constructed, with further out Goryean territories being more guerrilla in their defense. Meanwhile, the navy will now focus on dominating the strait, and transporting more weapons to fuel the embers of rebellion until the fire is too much for Mongolia to carry. Shisō is not leaving, if he wins he will die as a savior, if he dies before that it will be at the tip of a blade.
		- **Why Spears?:** So why would we give primarily spears to farmers? well they are really cheap to produce, only needing a tip of metal in raw materials, and spearmen counter cavalry, using the dead of night spear men militia could easily hunt for resting mongol parties. Although other weapons are of course also provided, such as shields and bows to counter horse archers.
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:** total of 195.000
				+ Army 1: 95.000 Trained primarily to defend Japan and it's islands, usually stationed all around the place with decent equipment and training, although during peacetime only 25% is actively standing on guard duty. Some guns but primarily bows and spears.
				+ Army 2: 40.000 Main battle army, highly trained this is the cream of the crop with a primary focus on overwhelming gunfire, heavy as well as light cavalry and spear-men (most spear-men are usually supported from the 3rd army)
				+ Army 3: 60.000 A really good and well equipped multi-role army, great for supporting other armies as well as moving with mobility with their lighter weight or hauling equipment for other places due to the lack of their own (mostly just bows and spears, better armor than army 1 and quite a few guns and horses)
		- **Navy:**
			* 205 Galleys
			* 151 Transport ships
			* 155 Light warship
			* 91 Medium warships
			* 40 Heavy warships
			* 7 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
			* **Nivkh:** We declare that any outside enemy of the Nivkh is an enemy of Japan and we will support you if the mongols return to your lands.
		- **Events:**
			* **God Is With Nihon:** A second Typhoon is all it takes to encourage the Japanese and it's vassals that god is in fact with us in these hard times, a surge in spirit and Shinto-Buddhism is the result of this echo.
			* **Kublai Khan Can Suck My Nuts:** Due to the failures of the Khan, he starts becoming the butt of jokes in Japanese culture, songs about his failures, drawings that depict him as fat and ugly. Anything mean really, this does have the effect of an increased racism against mongols which is understandable since the homeland is basically seen as holy land at this point. Myasatite Christianity also grows.
			* **Shooty Shooty But For Horses:** due to this lengthy conflict we have now been able to fully use guns in combat scenarios, and with time new techniques of gun making are created, mainly due to the resilience of horses sturdier guns are produced that allow for more and stronger black powder, which lets the gun shoot thicker and deadlier bullets, these are then used on some of the gunmen to more easily kill the thing the mongol menace is riding on.
			* **Jin Sakai:** With the loss of a hero the entirety of Japan mourned, and for his efforts the Emperor held a ceremony where whatever pieces they could find of him was cremated and put into a fine silver embroiled gold urn, which was then sent to the closest temple to his home village for display.
			* **Bōeki Kairō:** From Japanese moving from the war and the growing importance of long range trade, a new city formed from 2 nearby villages emerge in Lusong with the name of Bōeki Kairō.

### **NPC Events:**

* **The Mongol Horde - Part X: The Consequences of Empire and Devastation:** Woo boy, so much war and... just more war. Such a large entity might have been bound to end up out of control but the actions of those in power have definitely managed to accelerate the hostilities. Still it remains mostly stable, not much internal strife in terms of the common folk and the Silk Road remains active and prosperous despite the splits that have occurred before this turn and during this turn. But yes, Kublai Khan is still locked in conflict with Japan. With the failure of his second invasion, he has essentially given up his dreams in conquering the islands, but he refuses to let the Japanese counter-invasions succeed.
* **TMH 10-1 | Ruthenian (and Lithuanian and Lettigallian and Teutonic) Revenge:** Ah yes the Golden Horde, run by Asugan Khan. He had some things to do, there was still domestic management to get to working on and the Rumenians were revolting alongside unhappy Ruthenians who also wished to leave their status as vassals of the Mongols. Yeah Eastern Europe is pretty much burning and in disarray during this turn to simplify. These lands, especially the Baltic region, had been in various stages of war or instability for a long time as conflict between pagans and christians, Catholics and Orthodox and etc. By now, the Lithuanian vassal ruler Prince Mindaugas: ruler of the city of Vilnius and de facto ruler of the entire realm of the Principality of Vilnius, has managed to push back the Teutonic Order alongside the Lettigalians of Latgale. Whilst unable to take the important city of Riga as the siege goes nowhere, they reach and take Schaulen (known to the Lithuanians as Šiauliai) and threaten Königsberg.
* Then, the notable Great Revolt of Novgorod broke out, led by minor nobles and common people refusing to stand still as vassals of the Mongols anymore. The Tsar however, named Andrey Alexandrovich, was afraid to join in. He was given gold by Asugan Khan to convince him to stand against the rebels and to help him in said endeavor. It was successful and Andrey enraged many of his subjects by standing on the side of the Mongol occupiers. He was however, forced to flee as the city of Novgorod came under siege quickly by an overwhelming amount of soldiers, burghers and peasants all united in their goal to free themselves from their current status and now they had a second goal: to depose Andrey.
* **TMH 10-2 | The Long Japanese War:** What was thought to have been ended... did not actually end. The Japanese turned out to be more willing to drag this conflict on, Mongol retreat did not deter them. Perhaps seen as a good and honorable move, but also a destructive one for both sides of the war. Emperor Shiso and his successor Emperor Mokuzai were zealous enough to attempt counter-invasions, so much so that even though the Mongol invasions are separate and there were pauses between hostilities, historians would in the future call this conflict the straight up "Mongol-Japanese War" and the Mongols would know it as "The Long Japanese War".
* All the details of this war would be a lot to write down but essentially it's hell on earth. The Japanese would aim for a highly diverse strategy not too dissimilar to their current enemies who have previously essentially looked at their conquered subjects ways of doing war and ordered them to do those things but under the Mongol banners. The Korean rebellions succeed in distracting the Mongols and adding another front, but no one unified revolt is capable of being formed and the Mongols face the rebellions with absolute brutality, purging villages of those revolting, those simply opposed to the current rulers and even just those suspected of being involved with the revolts. Japanese firearm cavalry ends up not really successful, but their spear tactics are. To counter, the Mongols emphasize hit-and-run tactics as well as using more cavalry archers and non-cavalry units to meet the spearmen of Japan. This would be responded to with longer spears and such. Despite the ineffectivity of firearms at this point, all the effort of using them would lead to further development and this occurred on both sides in regards to tactics and weaponry, they would see further development and experimentation due to how large this war was and how much the Japanese and Mongols constantly tried to one-up one another.
* Of course, this also heavily impacted those who actually had to make these weapons: laborers of higher standing such as the weaponsmiths or just regular smiths who might have been used to farming tools but now all of a sudden had to make hand cannons, and also the laborers of lower standing who had to waste away working inhumane hours in mines to get all the needed iron ore. Constant bloody battles in Korea would leave the land devastated and the population so as well. The destructive conflict took its toll on the main battlefields: scorched, stained with blood and filled with the corpses of soldiers and unlucky peasants. But also the two major powers whom were essentially fighting a proxy war suffered, both Mongol and Japanese coffers significantly drained, thousands dead and exhausted armies. The military elite classes have grown in power on both sides as a consequence. Emperor Shiso suffers some lowered popularity and criticism for pursuing invasions into the mainland and causing all this death and destruction, when he could have left the Mongols to stay as they seemed to retreat for good now. Kublai Khan, having failed his second attempted conquest of Japan and it resulting in this added desolation, alongside him already being seen as an old and out of touch drunkard, grows even less popular. He would grow less and less active in court and spend most of his time in his chambers as the end of the 1200s arrives.
* **TMH 10-3 | A Second Split:** The seeds had been sown long ago and a few measures were put in place to stop it. It has arguably been delayed but the process kept on going. The individual khanates of the Mongol Empire are separating from one another more and more and it seems the Empire as a unified entity is about to collapse completely. Asugan Khan of the Golden Horde had reshaped his realm significantly by eliminating the diarchy and unifying the Blue and White Hordes under himself as sole leader, but now had to face the trouble of keeping the rebellious Slavic vassals in line, difficult to do when the revolts of Novgorod were going in the right direction for the rebels and in the wrong direction for the Horde. He looked to other, minority groups within his empire for assistance. He needed to bring them more together to get morale for his armies in this conflict. The more than less settled but still horse-proficient Khazars of the North Caucasus were an easy pick, given their powerful status within a good chunk of the Golden Horde's domain. The various peoples of the Volga such as the Magyars of the former Volgas realm, as well as the Mordvins and the nearby Bashkirs were approached and recruited too. But how do you get them motivated to fight for you? Well, the Khazars were guaranteed to keep their semi-autonomous status within the Horde and the others were given something not really previously touched by the Khans of the Golden Horde: specific privileges to settle certain areas and build cities.
* Certain areas of the Golden Horde were becoming more and more organized through actual settled proper cities and greater infrastructure being built, traditional roads were improved, connecting cities and improving mobility (although not on the level of something like some of the more urbanized realms such as France, England or the Byzantine Empire) and this was more and more sought by all peoples within the Golden Horde as that meant better trade which means better economy and shit. Now there were other gifts too but it wasn't the easiest to deal with, especially when it comes to the very south of the Horde, bordering the Caucasus Mountains. Here, various peoples such as the Circassians, Aabkhaziyans and Dagestanis had local conflicts over land between each other and the Khazars whom had taken power over much of the region for a long time now. Asugan did his best to solve these conflicts in the short-term to get these North Caucasians on his side, by introducing certain laws the Khazars ruling over these lands had to respect in accordance with their cultures, something not easily enforced but enough to get many along. A larger change was him allowing these North Caucasian people to settle in the rather sparsely-populated areas of OTL Ukraine, which would definitely not lead to conflict with the mainly Pecheneg peoples who live their nomadic lifestyles there. Asugan became quite popular, although quite a bit of that also comes from the fact he was trying to portray all his subjects as people who should be unified against the revolting Slavs who should be grateful that the powerful Mongols are their suzerain.
* South of those Caucasian Mountains lays the weakened Ilkhanate, a realm whose ruling Mongol authority have over time changed from their own local beliefs and East Asian religions to the local Eslamic faith. So Arghun Khan, in line with the turmoil his realm has gone through since losing badly to the Omanis, not to mention how little he cares about the Mongol homeland and its current ruler (who dares to tax him and his subjects), would follow in the footsteps of Asugan and officially secede. This made him independent of Kublai as a de jure liege and thus had no responsibility to provide taxes or anything to Kublai, but also meant Kublai had no reason to assist his realm either (not that that really would happen in this situation anyway). Arghun Khan dedicates himself now to Kaidu, the Tansugai Khan, as they had marriage ties. He also has to see the independence of the Sultanate of Rûm when its vassal Sultan Kayqubad III was overthrown and replaced by Mesud II who declared himself independent of Ilkhan rule. Arghun Khan proposed a peaceful compromise, allowing this if one of his sisters could marry Mesud's son (also called Mesud) and this would be accepted.
* **A New Japan - S3E9: A Titanic Korean War:** One could say that Emperor Shiso of Japan's unwillingness to give up on what he has decided to do is both a pro and a con. As the Emperor was clearly seeing opportunity along with having the willingness to free the Koreans, he would attack back at the Mongols leading to lots and lots of fighting and death and shit, which you can read in **TMH 10-2**. These last few years saw incredibly pressure on the overall population of the empire due to the war effort against the Mongols and news of the brutal battles in the Korean peninsula spread in the cities and villages, with varying accuracy of course and all manner of stories being told. In the lands where Christianity was first introduced to Japan, the few christians there would hold ceremonies in respect of fallen soldiers and lead to a small spread of peasants adopting the religion in some way, not really abandoning their Shinto/Buddhist beliefs but adopting certain traditions from Christianity into their religious lives. In other news, the Nivkh tribal authority accepts the offer of protection from the Japanese, seeing it as a recognition of their polity alongside of course being protected whilst retaining their independence.
* **Palaiologos Purple (2):** Back to the Byzantine Bempire... wait. Anyway, things are looking mostly alright for Emperor Andronikos, the Empire is mostly stable and has successfully recovered from past issues and he's quite popular. He seeks to manage Bulgarian lands further however and take more power there, believing that whilst the past actions done to keep Bulgarian people from revolting are good and necessary, more is needed to keep them from straight up exploiting the privileges some of them got (such as the strategos of the Theme of Bulgaria being allowed to have the nominal title of "King of the Bulgarians") and potentially use that to usurp power from the Emperor or the Empire in general. Even when you're one of the most powerful people in Europe and arguably, the world, it might still be wise to watch out for any opportunity to lose power or find any potential plots threatening you.
* Him sticking his nose further into Bulgarian business does come across as controversial to an extent, but he doesn't directly piss off Strategos/"King" Theodor Dachev so that's positive one could suppose. Andronikos was smart enough to realize he needed balance in the relationship here so he could receive Bulgarian help while not giving them too much power that it would become a future threat.
* **It's Like America, But South - Bosa:** Through smaller conflict, various tribes north of those loyal to the Muiscan Tisquesusa are successfully subjugated into the Muiscan Confederacy. The ongoing migration of peoples who lived in the fallen Tiwanaku and Huari civilizations continues slowly. Some areas such as the Chimor Kingdom are for the most part accepting of these arriving strangers, but news/rumors of conflict breaking out for various reasons among the migrants and the people they encounter spread throughout the area of the northern Andes mountain range. Btw "bosa" is Chibcha for "two".
* **In the Albionite Isles:** What have you heard, what have you heard? Of dear old King Edward. I don't know where I was going with that... but let's talk about Britain's pre-evolved form in England. Edward I is still working like the busy little bee he is, spamming castles like he was Badmeatball/bRUH/LDBS/Memeeater69 in Age of Empires 2 in fitting places (which in his opinion are near the borders of Scotland and Cymra) and otherwise he sends diplomats to work with Brittany and Navarre and also negotiates things with Aragon, later Catalunia. Meanwhile in Scotland, King Alexander III finds himself in trouble as his only son (also named Alexander) dies in 1295. The Scottish succession is now in deep trouble. The King seeks to put his eldest daughter Margaret, wife of the King of Norway in line to serve as a form of regent and get his other daughter Marjorie's son Malcolm of House de Lundie, problem is he is not in Scotland right now and also not very popular. Edward I sees great opportunity here, looking to a man known as John Balliol and promoting he be elected to the throne. He gives great support to Balliol and totally won't exploit him should he be elected King. But Alexander III is still in said position so let's not get ahead of ourselves I am fucking worthless at writing events.
* **Nordic Nonsense [Ett]:** After the sudden passing of his father, Birger Magnusson was now King of Sweden as Birger II. He was young and obviously inexperienced, being taught by a powerful noble by the name of Torkel Knutsson, the Lord High Constable of the realm. Now Birger was the eldest of his siblings obviously and had power on his side, but because the House of Bjälbo isn't as conflict-free as one might think, the brothers would end up fighting just like their father had with his brothers. Not just yet though. Birger gave his brothers Erik and Valdemar the Duchies of Södermanland and Finland, respectively as they came of age. Birger had two major issues to look at, first the strengthened state of Danesmark under Erik V which could be a threat to the southern areas of Sweden's borders and second: conflict within the spiritual privileged class (the clergy) over privileges established by his father Magnus, where various bishops believed they were too restrictive to the clergy and biased to the nobility.
* The King began by attempting to solve the first issue by ordering the forging of more war equipment, taxing the clergy for a certain amount to fund it. Obviously not popular amongst them, but Birger II promised it was a temporary thing, as if that would help much. During this point he also began using his father's decision in Alsnö stadga very much, essentially he knighted people he thought worthy to make them members of the nobility and to get them on his side. One of the first people was a fellow who had been closely tied to his father and fought for him as a knight against pro-Valdemar rebels after Magnus was put on the throne: Johan Eriksson. He would be knighted and use the heraldic symbol of a sheaf for his now noble family, to be inherited by his son Kettil Johansson. If you don't know what a sheaf is, google it, but the important thing is that the Swedish word for such a thing is "vase". Birger II pissed off the clergy more with this, as more nobles meant more power to them. The King knows this and is prepared, but he isn't as prepared for two other things: the jealousy of his younger brother Erik and the soon fully-prepared plans of another Erik, Erik V of Danesmark.
* **The Golden Empire | A Successful Landing:** Mansa Abu Bakr has been the most effective Mansa of the Mali Empire since Uli I and arguably the best since Sundiata/Mari Djata, the founder of the empire. He is someone that was needed after the struggles with succession that plagued the empire for a number of years and he doesn't intend his recent accomplishments to be his last. With the civilizations within his realm prospering, the Mansa went ahead and made three major decisions. First he made religion more strict in a way that was certainly controversial but not too risky, making it mandatory for all people in political positions be Muslim and establishing a form of jizya (taxes on non-muslim citizens to simplify) in an attempt to firmly establish Eslam as the dominant religion although this would not mean that it would be illegal to not be a Muslim. Secondly, the Mansa would make an agreement with the Mossi king that the two realms would work together on bettering trade between their realms and also ensure peace. Here they made a written agreement, something the Mossi had not done before, at least in terms of politics. Somewhat of an exchange of cultural traditions and technology occurred here, the Mossi griots (storytellers and keepers of oral tradition) were introduced to the ways of writing that the Malians worked with.
* Finally: thirdly, in 1294, Abu Bakr received news that the naval expedition west was ready and so it was launched. One could say that the Malians were lucky to hear the legends that inspired this and it is lucky that those legends were partially true (the whole thing about there being land off the coast of the Mali Empire's borders) because the sailors discovered land. Several splotches of land. Islands. Known to us in OTL as Cape Verde (or Cabo Verde), it was not true that another humanoid race lived on the islands, they were uninhabited not counting the fauna. Upon returning to the court of Abu Bakr at Timbuktu, the Mansa was intrigued. At the moment he didn't see much value in these islands but he still instructed the head of the exploration: Abdoulaye ibn Bakary al-Niani, to do his best to build a society there where the people living there can live how they wish whilst protected by Mali and staying in contact with Mali. Thus the settling of OTL Boa Vista occurred, this colony would be named Manzar Jayid (good view in Arabic) and become a loose client of the Mali Empire. So far, these news have not spread anywhere outside of Mali's borders.
* **Die, Viet!:** ~~Great pun Toby.~~ The Vietnamese have stood as a strong and stable power, pretty much usurping the Khmer from the number one position. But now things have changed. An alliance, definitely fragile but still an alliance, was formed between the recently formed Sukhothai Kingdom and the long-lasting Khmer Empire. Despite being enemies not long ago when the Thai separated from their Khmer overlords, they both saw the need to push the Vietnamese back to a position more favorable for the Thai and Khmer (hey that rhymes). Thus through a royal marriage they established themselves as allies and hoped for peace in their time before advancing on Dai Viet in 1292. In this war, the Vietnamese fought hard but didn't manage, after 5 years of war a peace would be secured. The Khmer and Thai would claim lands from the state of Dai Viet, Luang Prabang would lose its northern lands inhabited by the Phunoi people, becoming a vassal territory of Sukhothai. The state of Champa would also now be transferred to become a Khmer vassal. The balance of power shifted back to the Khmer being the premier power, although they face somewhat of a threat in their "ally" Sukhothai. Speaking of the Sukhothai, a major diplomatic incident concerning a border dispute with Langkasuka ends up starting a war between the two realms.
* **The Great Lakhnau Revolt:** Maharaja Govindaraja IV of the Chaughani Empire is a mixed bag of a ruler, generally doing well with administering the realm as well as assisting the nearby Sindh realm in breaking free from Ilkhanate suzerainty. But he has caused quite a stir. He has one brother: Prithviraja, who is currently his heir. The Maharaja does have a son, named after him, but he is illegitimate and many disagree with the Chaughan ruler attempting to make him his heir. The brother obviously does not like this either. Govindaraja IV has also become controversial for largely accepting Zoroastrianism more over the traditional Hinduism that the realm practices. Now there is some syncretism between the two religions, especially over in the west where many Zoroastrians live after centuries of settlement after they were pushed out of Persia by the Muslims, but the central and eastern lands are not quite like this and the Hindus reign as the elite across the Kingdom in general. With Govindaraja IV being accused of abandoning his faith and attempting to weaken the Hindus, unrest has grown combined with the troubles of succession.
* In 1298, the Maharaja grew tired of his brother's actions and banished him from his court and declaring his illegitimate son to be the true heir to the realm which didn't sit well with Prithviraja and his supporters. They rebelled against the Maharaja starting in Lakhnau, Prithviraja's seat of power. The rebels hope to take over the eastern areas of the realm and hopefully convince the Devas (a ruling dynasty in Bengal whom are vassals of the Chaughani realm) to join their side to depose Govindaraja IV. Said ruler has gotten the Sindh realm to join in on the loyalist side in the civil war.
* **The Aïr Split:** The Sultanate of Aïr loses influence over the city of Bilma and go so far as to invade it to keep it under their control, but they fail and so Bilma forms its own Emirate, seeking support and protection from the Kanem Empire.
* **Mamluk Sultanates | A Mere Jaunt Away From Corsica:** Over in the Mediterranean, the Hafsids are invading the island of Arborea/Carail/Sardinia, taking advantage of its rather recent separation from the Byzantine Empire. The Sultan hopes to restore Muslim power in the Mediterranean and threaten Italy and unfortunately the Arboreans were unable to find much help. They employed the Knights Templar to assist but they failed to stop the Hafsids, who conquered the island in 1294. However, there are obviously nearby realms who are concerned with this, mainly Genoa since they are now right next door to this new Muslim dominance just south of their land in Corsica.
* **Catatonic Catalans:** The Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Barcelona become one-ish. Through a royal marriage established a few decades earlier between King Alfonso III of Aragon and Queen Constanza of Barcelona ends when Alfonso III dies in 1293, the couple's eldest child and only son Eduardo (named in honor of King Edward I of England who isn't a direct ally of Aragon but him and Alfonso had good relations with one another) taking to the throne of Aragon. Not long after, the but 17-year old Eduardo takes matters into his own hands rather quickly by gathering support to force his mother to abdicate the throne of Barcelona, which she agreed to, becoming Queen Mother in 1294. Eduardo I was now King of both Aragon and Barcelona, but only 2 years later in 1296, the young King declared his two titles would be merged into one, called "Catalunia". The courts would be merged but most of the other two things separating the two realms (like various laws) would stay. Thus this wasn't directly a personal union but also not a full-on political union either. The nobles and vassals expected that if he had two sons, Eduardo would give one kingdom to either.
* The King's reasoning for this merge was not really based on ethnicity or anything like that, even if there were some similarities between the Aragonese and the Catalunians, it was more a power move of his own but also to counter the power of Castile which had managed to evolve from the personal union of Castile-León to a realm dominated by the Castilian side. Now, whilst the King had support in gaining both crowns, not all the subjects of the King were too happy about his actions in merging the Kingdoms further. Despite the King initially being King of Aragon, he had moved his capital from Zaragoza to Barcelona and there were those who worried that he was going to favor the Catalunian side of this union more than the Aragonese one and some also believed that him merging the titles of King into one gave the King too much power. Eduardo stands currently as a powerful but controversial King.
* **Final Nail in the Rashtrakutan Coffin:** The Rashtrakuta dynasty had ruled in Maharashtra for a long time ever since they overthrew the Pratisthana dynasty hundreds of years ago. They had initially called their land "Pratisthana" but eventually the name of the general area they were ruling became "Maharashtra". Not too long ago their kingdom broke apart and now, in 1296, the Yadavas conquer the remainder of the lands ruled by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. The dynasty itself still exists but is low on existing members as other powerful dynasties in the Indian subcontinent: both those ruling full sovereign realms and those belonging to vassal rulers, are usurping their power.
* **Dragovitic Elevation:** After consolidating his power, Duke Stefan Uros of Dragovits declares himself King of Dragovits and is recognized as such by the rest of the nobility as well as his patriarch. Thus, he now leads the Kingdom of Dragovits.
* **Chela Kingdom:** Dies. Their male line comes to an end and the closest male heir takes over under the Mudaliar dynasty.

### **Japanese Empire:**

* **Government: Monarchy**
	+ **Ruler:** Mokuzai Yamashengoshi, 1264-alive, Ruled: 1286-pressent
	+ **Economy:** trade economy derived mostly from waterbased trade routs as well as internal land and water based trade routes where we sell specialized commodities and competitive mainly colonial products (better priced spice, sugar and such)
	+ **Capital: Hiroshima**
		- **Demographics:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 99.5%, 0.5% other
				+ **Hiroshima:** 261.000
				+ **Shihon:** 170.000
				+ **Tōga:** 157.000
				+ **Yamato:** 138.000
				+ **Fukuoka:** 122.000
				+ **Kagoshima** 115.000
				+ **Nagasaki:** 95.000
				+ **Toyama:** 64.000
				+ **Other Cities:** 2.310.000
				+ **All cities:** 3.432.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 12.168.000
			* **Total population:** 15.600.000
			* **Religion:** 99.8% Shinto-Buddhism,0.2% other including 7.600 Miyasatite Christianity
		- **Demographics of Tujing (Personal union):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 16%, Tujingan 84%
				+ **Taichung:** 53.500
				+ **Kaiunchō:** 21.500
				+ **Banqiao:** 12.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 754.000
			* **Total population:** 851.000
			* **Religion:** Buddhism 54% Shinto-Buddhsim 46%
		- **Demographics of Atuy (Vassal):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 61%, Ainu 39%
				+ **Otomari:** 21.500
				+ **Rural Areas:** 198.500
			* **Total population:** 222.000
			* **Religion:** 97.5% Shinto-Buddhism, 2.5% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Sistukari (Vassal):**
			* **Population:** Japanese 53%, Ainu 47%
				+ **Fuyu:** 20.000
				+ **Rural Areas:** 92.000
			* **Total population:** 112.000
			* **Religion:** 79.5% Shinto-Buddhism, 20.5% Ainu paganism.
		- **Demographics of Lusong:**
			* **Population:** Japanese 30% Visayan 70%
				+ **Ganguyin:** 22.500
				+ **Pyngou:** 19.500
				+ **Tudar:** 15.000
				+ **Bōeki Kairō:** 7.500
				+ **Rural Areas:** 258.500
			* **Total population:** 332.000
			* **Religion:** 80% Shinto-Buddhism, 20% Anitism
		- **Wars and Conflicts:**
		- **Unbroken Will, Sunken Spirit:** This war, it has taken a toll on Japan-Tujing, it has taken a toll to every class of citizenship, god is with us, but at what cost? we can't give up out Korean brothers, but this war will be the death of Japan-Tujing and Yuan both if this continues as we do, change as always is in order. War always changes. The war won't end, but the scale of our campaigns will lessen as we go back to our roots. Landing boots on the island is not very efficient for how many lives are lost with what we gain, therefore our goals need to shift. 1. make sure that the Mongols may never be able to challange us at sea and 2. make sure to help our Korean allies as best we can. The following doctrines will guide this decade.
		- **The Sea:** With the shift to naval spending the majority of military actions will regard the sea, any mongol controlled islands far off the Korean coast will be seized and invested into naval bases, our ships will harass any mongol vessel and make sure to approach combat only with superiority, our navy is stronger, we won't give them the chance to trick us as we exercise precision, caution and persistance. **The Land:** The Korean peninsula is ridden with the blood of many, many thousands of soldiers including the largest battles in Japanese History, the mongols are endless, they're a hoard. As sea takes a more prevelant role our land armies are to focus on securing our home islands as well as what korean Islands we seize. The army will be ready to act but most travel back to their homes, a sort of short notice redeployment is put in place. If the Yuan comes then military action will take place, but as long as this stalemate is in place the land army will rest for now, we can't break before when the final strike comes, if it ever does.
		- **The Shadow:** The Mongols have been merciless to the koreans, there is no way their action will be forgiven anytime soon, resistance has to wait, but in the meantime we'll attempt to build networks of resistance so that when the moment comes (if it does) the koreans will be ready. This means smuggling weapons into villages, hiding them in caches and training locals so that they may train others. We can't let the koreans think that we've abandoned them. We want everyone to know that their brothers to the east will never forget what they had, and that one day liberation will come.
		- **Military:**
			* **Deployed units:** total of 190.000
				+ Army 1: 95.000 Trained primarily to defend Japan and it's islands, usually stationed all around the place with decent equipment and training, although during peacetime only 25% is actively standing on guard duty. Some guns but primarily bows and spears.
				+ Army 2: 40.000 Main battle army, highly trained this is the cream of the crop with a primary focus on overwhelming gunfire, heavy as well as light cavalry and spear-men (most spear-men are usually supported from the 3rd army)
				+ Army 3: 55.000 A really good and well equipped multi-role army, great for supporting other armies as well as moving with mobility with their lighter weight or hauling equipment for other places due to the lack of their own (mostly just bows and spears, better armor than army 1 and quite a few guns and horses)
		- **Navy:**
			* 227 Galleys
			* 160 Transport ships
			* 168 Light warship
			* 95 Medium warships
			* 44 Heavy warships
			* 9 Ni~Tsu-ryū
		- **Diplomacy:**
			* **Yuan:** The loss of life in our conflict has been staggering, for all parties involved, Goryeo is a wasteland where it should be prosperous. Perhaps we could reach an agreement as this war is more of an expense than a gain for both of us, this isn't what the great Yuan nor the ancient Emprie of the Rising Sun should waste their precious people on. We offer a deal of sort, one to end this conflict with no victor, where we both gain. Neither of our wargoals will be satisfied but we hope that we are both satisfied in the end. **1.** Goryeo will be split in two, North of the Bukhan River will belong to you under full mongol occupation, south of it will be under cooperative occupation where it is lightly occupied by us, say 80-20 with us being the majority, so that we cannot conduct an invasion by land and so that you have insight to the truth of our word. **2.** South Goryeo, let's call it Taiyō Minami, will have an open border for the Yuan, with trade being conducted freely on your end there. It will not have a standing army and only field guards for the cities and villages and to keep the roads safe. **3.** There will be a non-agression pact between Japan-Tujing, Taiyō minami, Lusong, Sistukari, Atuy and Yuan. **4.** Yuan ships will provided safe passage and assistance from the Japanese-Tujingan fleets, including civilian ships to conduct trade in Japan if interest exists. **5.** If there is desire to conduct warfare against entities outside of the east we are bound to assist you with our naval power for the next 50 years. **6.** You are to treat the population of Goryeo humanely. Consider this offer as this battle is endless, Where we have an army on sea you have an ocean of soldiers by land, this solution is more benefitial for the both of us.
		- **Events:**
			* **Reshaped Military Economy:** With how long we've been at war certain resources has become overly pricy such as iron and gunpowder, the classes are struggling to keep up and so the campaign has been altered to soothe the effect of this conflict, the focus has shifted from the expenssive resources involved with weapons to what we do best, boats. Due to the stop of the bloody campaign smiths can go back to their more usual work, gunsmithing still being kept higher than usual but mostly from the innovation of it, they've gotten quite reliable at it. This shift causes naval settlements to have increased demand for people as the empire focuses their military spending on ships, getting the fleet up to bigger numbers and higher standards, this increases the cost of wood which is less of an issue than iron, because frankly, there isn't much of a housing issue due to the effects of the war.
			* **Ports of Lusong:** Lusong has grown into a major part of the empires coffers and as the Mongol war slows down the elites are looking to expand their grasp over the wealth that the lands southbound may hold, the army is fatígued, very fatigued, but in courts between major figures there has been open discussions about the wants of that wealth.
			* **The Boys Came back Home:** As the war has slowed down may families finnaly can sigh a sigh of relief as their sons and daughters come back home from the fighting, although they haven't settled down yet completely the tensions between the elite and commonfolk seems to be settling down, for now.
			* **Lady Sapporo:** It was a late winter night in the midst of all the chaos as Mokuzai rested his elbows at the frosty cap board of his Sapporo luxury villa. He was thought to be alone when the pale and warm hands embraced him from behind before the figure of a woman was felt against his back. He was worried for his life before his cold lips where silenced by her embrace. After the stress had subsided he got his chance to turn around and find out who this perpetrator was, his childhood friend stood there, blushing. It was lady Yui Hayashi, the head of the Sapporo clan. While the hug was amorous the conversation after was not, it was pleasant. But as the night continued and local wine was enjoyed, they woke up next to eachother, and throughout the year that trend would continue, she made his heart beat like his wife didn't and likewise did he make her heart beat like her husband didn't. He never thought that he could be impure like this, but he we addicted. Mozukai then stood by his balcony railing once more, looking up at the stars. "What to do when the two perfect feathers are parts of different birds, and neither of them can fly" Is the last thing he said before the next year began.

### **NPC Events:**

* **The Mongol Horde - Part XI: This is the End:** "Hold your breath and count to ten." It might be crazy to think that the Mongol tribes were only united a century ago, since they established a gargantuan land empire and have spread into ruling lands as far west as Ruthenia and Persia, not to mention conquering all of China.
* **Western Europe at War:** The actions of Edward I of England has brought
* **Nordic Nonsense [Två]:**
* **Palaiologos Purple (3):**
* **Mamluk Sultanates | Crusades, in the 1300s?:**
* **It's Like America, But South - Mica:** Oh those funny little mountain-dwellers. No I'm not talking about the Norwegians. Here
* **The Golden Empire:**
* **Lakhnau Revolt Continues:**
* **Moroccans and the Guanches:** Time for the necessary giant lore dump about some obscure tribes that no one cares that much about, yay.
* **Tawalisi Events:**
* **Temne:** Over recent decades, there have been a growth of powerful chiefs amongst various Temne tribes in today's Guinea. Oral tradition tells of a legend seemingly occurring some decades before this turn, where two sons of a powerful chief feuded over the inheritance of their father's property. The older believed that he of course should have it, as he was the eldest. The younger, on the other hand, believed he was the more competent and their father's favourite son and deserved it more. The legend states that this led to the younger being exiled alongside his descendants, in-laws and supporters which led to him establishing a tradition of electing an heir to a chiefdom rather than direct primogeniture. Said legend is said to explain the differences in society between the Temne of OTL Guinea and those of OTL Sierra Leone. Regardless, with the powerful chiefs of Guinea gathering together, they made a pact to rule their peoples together, merging villages they owned and building onto them and thus creating the great settlement of Forécariah, a center for the Temne Confederation.