1381

In Europe, around the rising center of arcane magic, 1380 had instead been the *Year of the Magna Carta*. Aquitaine unvelied MC 2.0, then England, Scotland, Arelat, Ireland and Castile each revealed their own slightly different version. United Britannia came together on the concept. Beyond, Aquitaine led a new Western-European Commonwealth on the concept. Government by charter was the way of the future.

In some cases, magical power translated into political power – and saved lives. Henry Bolingbroke negotiated Sicily back to Italy without firing a shot, the German Prince-Bishoprics were divested without a war, and now-Prince Edmund assumed the Achaea from Queen Joanna after an alchemy-assisted purchase. Crown Prince Edward of England had gotten married, then acceeded to the throne of Scotland. *Without a war*. King Rick got engaged and brought peace to Prague, though a few shots were traded with the old *Salic* successor of Charles IV.

The Western Hemisphere, still mostly unknown to Europe, continued to be ravaged by giant beasts. English explorers had moved to the lower continent while Aquitaine dug deeper into the upper. The Aquitaine effort was now far enough along that they founded the *Citadel of Cascadia* in the middle of the monster-infested continent.

By the end of the year, Prince Edmund's Achaea had quietly absorbed Morea. The Eastern Mediterranean's collective head snapped as they realized the Plantagenets were now operating in the region. On the opposite side of the world, the Aztecs and Mayans tore each other apart in the brutal *War of the Blood Crowns*.

## **World Events**

* **The Principality of Ginestra:** In January, Charles of Durazzo (duke of Slavonia, Croatia and Dalmatia), and his cousin Louis the Great (of the Poles and Hungarians) purchased the Black Sea fortress at Ginestra from Aquitaine. This would be the capital of a new principality that would stabilize part of the unincorporated former Kievan' Rus territory near the Principality of Crimea. There were complex dynamics behind the scenes...
* **The Teutonic Demobilization:** February saw Winrich von Kniprode, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, announce the withdrawal of the order from northeastern Europe. This might've sent the area into a power-vacuum except for the CMC filling the gap, with four distinctly *Ricardian* *Regiments* ensuring security.
* **March:** James of Baux is captured by the Ottomans near Romania while attempting to raise an army. Delivered to Constantinople as a political gift, he was executed by hanging, officially ending the line of pretenders to the Latin Emperor of Constantinople.
* **The April Miracle:** Also known as the "Rise of the Sufis," a phenomena was coming out of Mekkah: mystics who could heal in similar veins to Jesuits. Their particular order internalized the majority of their practices, externally emphasizing peace and equality. It was heavily ascetic in terms of worldly wealth, but otherwise emphasized sensual experience; for them, the five senses pointed to the sixth. After enduring short and bloody persecution, itself sparking war between aristocratic and common factions, other Sufi factions gravitated towards the healers' beliefs and gradually influenced all of Islam.
* **May:** the Kingdom of Dali, in what might've been the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, experience a zombie uprising by the recent plague-caused deceased. The Miao and Yao peoples are at the edge of extinction, but fight and save themselves with liberal use of cleansing fire. The zombie effect, similar to what was experienced during the London Apocalypse (but without the cold), begins to afflict the Ming Dynasty. By the end of the month, orks have risen to afflict the areas. The orks are no friends of the zombies, but they're no friends of humans, either.
* **June:** The Hungarian-Croatian Coalition completes their Black Sea offensive. With the Castle Ginestra as the capital and stronghold, they pour in resources to prepare the area (what might've been Odessa) from the inevitable counterattack of the Golden Horde, who had otherwise subjugated that sparsely-developed territory as their own.
* **July:** Roughly two and a half years after the *Burning Frogs of Cairo*, Hajji I succeeds Alah-ad-Din Ali as Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. The Egyptian government continues to be [marginally] controlled by rebel leader Barquq out of Alexandria. The Cairo Citadel is still manned, but not willingly. The city is still mostly deserted, but there are rumors that orks are taking residence in the ruins.
* **August:** Kęstutis overthrows his nephew, Jogaila, as Grand Duke of Lithuania. Jogaila is allowed to remain as governor of eastern Lithuania. This marks the beginning of the Lithuanian Civil War.
* **The Dissolution of the Mamluks:** By September, the Mamluk Sultanate, formerly of Burning-Frog Cairo and most recently suffering a massive rise in orks along the Nile River Valley, had also endured the the "soft" loss of the levant and the Sinai as the kingdoms of Israel and Zion built up. With the anti-*all*-slavery Sufi Islam now in vogue (tamping demand), and the CMC controlling much the Black Sea slave-harvesting area, the regular Circassian reinforcements in this martial-labor pyramid scheme were no longer rolling in. This proved to be too much, and the Sultanate disintegrated.
* **The Numbers of China:** The Ming *lijia* census, begun in 1371, is formally concluded in November. China was staggering through the airborne plague and the continued zombie/ork war. As much a search for survivors and non-toxic water, they count ~15,500,000 people and rapidly dropping. Notably, it was found that orks do not rise as undead – but this begged the question to why humans do.

### **Date Unknown**

* Sonam Drakpa deposes Drakpa Changchub, as ruler of Tibet. The plagues have ravaged Tibet (like everywhere else), but the undead and orks have mostly stayed in the lowlands.
* Timur conquers east Persia, ending the rule of the Sarbadar dynasty. While the Himalayas are largely ork-free, the wild boar of the central Asian region seems to make up for it. Also discovered: the orks are pretty good horsemen.

## **The Sphere of Magic**

### **January**

* **Aquitaine + Bohemia:** Richard celebrated his birthday in Prague, and wed Anne the following week. As this was 1381, as of "I do," he assumed the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margravate of Brandenburg (in the neighboring Kingdom of Germany). Anne was suo jure queen (and margrave) in his absence, and she held court with authority. Aquitaine, Arelat and Bohemia were now united under one crown, and even if the *Commonwealth* wasn't an empire, the Ricardian crown unavoidably was.
* ***HMS Discovery* reaches south tip of Western Hemisphere:** After exploring and mapping the eastern coast, exploring a massive river and jungle, meeting dozens of native tribes and teaching them English (via *Books of Learning)*, the *HMS Discovery* finds they are heading back north up the rocky western edge of the continent.
* **The Duchy of Beothuk:** Some three months after establishing Kaskaskia in the middle of the upper Western Hemisphere, the CMC needed a foothold on the upper east coast (physically closer to Atlantis). On what would've been Newfoundland in another timeline, the OM/RANP established contact with the human survivors in the area, adopted the tribe and formed a CMC-supported native polity.
* **Byzantine Treaty Extension:** John V Palaiologos lobbied for an extension of the 18-month treaty offered by Prince Edmund of the Peloponnese. Murad and the House of Osman was also a factor in the negotiations, but it was telling the Noble Plantagenet *didn't classify them as a valid threat*.

### **February**

* The **French ascension into the CMC:** The Estates General have worked out details that make the jump to the *Grande Charte* possible. Ultimately ending in the same spot, but in a uniquely prickly French path to get there, the effort was championed by the dynamic duo of French Duke Charles VI and Dauphin Édouard. A mere week later, France made the jump to the CMC, now ensuring peace with nearly everybody that it had been at war with over recent memory.
* ***HMS Explorer* reaches south tip of Africa:** After exploring and mapping the western coast of Africa, including a deep dive into a river the local call the Kongo, while meeting dozens of native tribes and teaching them English (via *Books of Learning)*, the *HMS Explorer* finds they are heading back north, up the gentle eastern edge of the continent.
* **Ottoman Treaty Extension:** Roughly two years from the beginning of the *Burning Frogs of Cairo*, the militancy of the Beylik was considerably diminished. There were a dozen other contributing factors, the biggest was having no match for the Jesuit healing miracles, and it drove the Sultan to seek an extension with the *Noble Plantagenet*.
* **The CMC Proactive in Prussia:** the history of the Teutonic Knights was well-intentioned but checkered. That was par for the course when political action followed religious mandates and was no different here. What might've dragged on centuries longer, through plague and a slow dawning of the Age of Reason... was upset by the quick onset of the *Incidence of Incidents*, the healing miracles of the Jesuits and the return of Merlin's magic. In this case, the SA had reached out on behalf of the CMC and "persuaded" the Knights to withdraw from the State of the Teutonic Order (essentially extended Prussia up through Livonia).

### **March**

* **Westminster, rebuilt:** The town and massive palace complex of Westminster is finished rebuilding, including protective wards. There are separate town walls, including its own moat, with active flow from the Thames. Within the city walls, the town of Westminster is a modern support complex for the Palace (and heavily populated by the extended Plantagenet family). Perhaps the most important are wards; the apotropaic magic that seals the area from another attack like the Devil's Teardrop.
* **Upper WestHem Kingdoms:** six months after founding Kaskaskia, the potent military magic of Aquitaine had brought much of the regional megafauna in check. That, in turn, allowed rebuilding the locals after the Claw-Fang Apocalypse. Given the fractured, depleted state of regional tribes, the RANP/OM guided the process based on surveys of the survivors and what cultural roots there were against the points of geographic contiguity. Almost overnight, there were three Imperial Federations and dozens of component kingdoms.
* **The Italian Magna Carta:** the Royal Republic of Italy officially adopts a version of the Magna Carta. A week later, with the approval of Italian parliament, the RRI officially joins the Commonwealth.

### **April**

* **NP Aztec-Mayan March Duchies:** Four months after ending the War of the Blood Crowns, the CMC took steps to stabilize and develop the fighting factions. The Noble Plantagenet assumed the culturally unclaimed (though not unoccupied) marches between them, turning into march duchies. Working out from there, they unified the respective Aztec and Mayan city-state conglomerations into kingdoms. From there, they developed exports that would eventually ship back to Europe, now creating a self-sustaining and fair markets between the hemispheres.

* **England cedes France to Aquitaine:** two years to the day after the Dominus Exorcus, King Edward IV makes his announcement from the Throne Room of Westminster. He has soaked in the glory of uniting France and the British Isles. He lived to realize the drive of his father, but surviving the Dominus Exorcus has shaken him. He placed the care of beloved France in the hands of the man who saved Paris.

### **May**

* **RISE *of the* ORKS:** across Eurasia, wild boar and domesticated pigs mutate into humanoid monsters. It's estimated that 10% of regional-afflicted humanity perished overnight (the losses heaviest in critical agricultural areas), and another 10% of humanity lost over the next few weeks. The devastation, especially in the wake of the plague, was catastrophic.
* **OM invents *Frozen Smoke:*** amidst the chaos of the orks, the OM releases a surprisingly durable alchemical invention. Frozen Smoke or "solid air" is fireproof, waterproof has remarkable thermal and acoustic resistor properties, and most versions are non-toxic. Even with thin layers, it is miracle-level insulation for structures and even carriages.

### **June**

* **London's Automaton Conference:** amidst the ongoing *War of the Orks*, the RANP-OM held a conference to spur the deployment of the thinking and calculating machines that been in development since at least May of 1379. The promise of agricultural labor was absolutely necessary, especially given the orkish bloodbath of the farms. Literary contemporaries Geoffrey Chaucer and John Gower document the event for the world, which is welcome news against the latest chaos.
* **The Kingdom of Bohemia enters the CMC:** In a blisteringly fast 6 months, lately accelerated by the orks, the Crown of Bohemia introduced the charter and now saw it ratified by the Bohemian Diet. As was the trend, once the charter was ratified, it was a short jump to Commonwealth.
* **The *HMS Explorer* reaches the Red Sea:** the Mamluk Sultanate still controlled most of the coast of the sea, the western side along Egypt, but the state of the Empire's decay is evident when they arrive at Suez to find it occupied by the... *Noble Plantagenet*. Mamluk authority had already disintegrated in the face of the NP claiming the Sinai for the future kingdom of Zion.

### **July**

* **The Torchbearers:** The Commonwealth of the Magna Carta, under the direction of CrownCom, now certified their own regiments: *the Arms of the Charter*(AoC). This would be the tip of the spear, the defenders of the light, and the primary interface for CMC military action. Behind it would be the Regiments of the component countries as support. Their first battles were against the persistent, rampaging hordes of orks.
* **Dire Bears of the Western Hemisphere:** the orkish phenomena is not found in the western hemisphere, but largely because there were neither native pigs nor boars there. On the downside, giant bears (about the size of normal elephants) have joined the fray of the zoological gladiator pit of the west.

### **August**

* **Western Hemisphere trade:** getting a foothold against the monsters, both the Aztecs and Mayans harvest local foods (et al) and begin shipping to the new world. Cacao, Coca, Vanilla and pants with pockets lead the massive hits in European markets.
* **Aztecs adopt the Magna Carta:** with the Noble Plantagenet amply proving both their credential and their intentions, the Aztecs look solidify their alliance with the masters of magic. In a rapid evolution from city-state conglomeration to unified kingdom, they adopted a version of the Magna Carta and were accepted into the CMC.

### **September**

* **The Kingdoms of the Levant:** The CMC establishes the Kingdoms of Israel and Zion. Israel occupies Jerusalem to the coast and north. The Yin to the Jewish Yang, the Christian *Kingdom of Zion* starts to the immediate east of Jerusalem and takes most of the Sinai to the south. The border between the two stretches from Jerusalem to the coastal town of Arīsh (itself now a Zion city). Where certain cities in Western Europe seem to hum with magical power, Zion hums with divine (SNS-psionic) power as Jesuit and Sufi mystics alike saturate the area.
* **Sinbad ahoy:** The *HMS Explorer* reaches Basra, what would eventually be the home port of the fictional Sinbad the Sailor at the north end of the Persian Gulf. The RANP found it to be a contested city, skirting skirmishes between the Mamluk and Mongol factions. Given the action here (and toward the Levant), this is an "exciting" time to arrive in Basra. Again, the Royal Academy mapped the city and left a copy with the local governate.

### **October**

* **Mayans adopt the Magna Carta:** the Mayans are measured, and also more under siege with the density of the fauna of the jungle. While they are Jesuit-influenced in terms of human relations, their rage against the gods turns them inward on an almost-Buddhist path of peace. Politically, the city-states unify as a kingdom, claiming the entirety of the Yucatan peninsula and slightly down the Pacific coast in related cultures. Like the Aztecs, they reach for the advantages of the CMC.
* ***The Academy*:** opened in Anglet, the *Aquitaine Arcane Academy* is the southern counterpart to *Wandstone*. The Academy would serve the civilians of southern Aquitaine and France, Arelat and Iberia. The water-themed magical construction is absolutely mind-blowing to the people of the region, evoking the *aqua* of Aquitaine.

### **November**

* ***Rods of Water*:** for about half the cost of a warhorse, these devices could conjure *magical* water. That water disappears after x-time, so while its pure, it's not for consumption. It can be used to clean and extinguish fires, and for that, it is a Godsend.
* **UB + CMC:** *United Britannia* joins the *Commonwealth of the Magna Carta*. What took negotiation and statesmanship given the expenses was pushed over the threshold of ratification with the deployment of the AoC to central western England to combat an ork surge. Perceptions were positive, but the spin varied: from inside, the Commonwealth was a brotherhood. From the outside, it was an *empire*.

### **December**

* **The Orks of the North:** the *HMS Discovery* reaches lands' end of the Western Hemisphere. It it brutally cold, with ice blocking passage and exploration any farther north. What is seen close to what would've been known as the Aleutians: *orks*. While no native humans are found, the bigger boar-type orks are found riding Inuit-style boats. Some are seen riding dire wolves and in one case, losing a battle to a pair dire polar bears. Seeing the orks in boats, with heavy/fast mounts, amounts to dire news.
* **The Fabric of Society:** with the Aztec pants selling as fast as they could be imported, it was influencing style in London and Western Europe. The problem was that Aztecs weren't producing them fast enough to keep up with the demand. This pushed forward the RANP inventions that were otherwise in scattered markets, now shining a light on the patent and licensing strength of the CMC.