So I became the undisputed world hegemon as Byzantium and decided to try something else, as the Knights of Malta. Malta itself defected to the Knights, so I went from having Rhodes to Rhodes and Malta. I made a modest living on piracy in the Meditteranean, preying upon Mamluk ships, where I also happened upon the chance of a lifetime - a 100 army tradition general for only 50 gold. With that general I conquered Tlemcen, vassalizing them whilst taking a single province. From there I created a small West African archbishopric. As soon as the port in Tlemcen was finished, I sent off a single colony to Trinidad.
Then the Spanish attacked, with the Portuguese and all of Aragon and the Meditteranean islands. They seized all but two of Tlemcen's lands, including my own. Destroyed my fleet, forcing me to disband nearly all of my soldiers (all but two thousand made it to Trinidad) and the Knights spent the next two centuries being bullied by Ottomans, Mamlukes, Spaniards, Portuguese and all their allies in the Italian peninsula gradually abandoned them. The archbishopric, alone in West Africa, was conquered by Mali.
Then the protestant reformation happened. The Knights at this point had only one ally, the Papal State - and nonetheless converted to protestantism to continue expanding from Trinidad. After decades of expansion, where the Knights' economy recovered and pulled out of debt to become the 11th most powerful force in the Americas, the Knights really began shaping up. Over time a fleet grew until the pirates of the Caribbean were able to challenge even the Portuguese and Spanish. Although the Knights weren't able to stop the Spanish from conquering Mexico, the Knights themselves had a modest Empire stretching from Florida to Panama and all the way down to Chile.
Rather strange is that the Knights' only ally in the world was the Papacy in Rome. This is even stranger because the Knights are the only protestant nation in the world, with the Germans subjugated by a Catholic Australia, all of Scandinavia ruled by Catholic Swedes and Britain Catholic as well. I imagine there must have been some great conspiracy where the Knights accepted expelled protestants in some form of controlled opposition.
At first incapable of waging direct warfare on the Iberians, the Knights invested heavily in espionage and sabotage. Pirates in the Caribbean, rebels in Mexico and Morocco - making way for the war effort to follow, as the Knights gradually constricted their control over central America. And from there? The world.
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Topic: Europa Universalis IV (Read 465446 times)