The year is 1502. Several massive wars have taken place, so far the three largest being (in chronological order) the Roman invasion of France, the war of the Romans and the war for Iberia. The Roman invasion of France was quite insignificant if you ignore the hundreds of thousands dying, with the Legions of Rome not having enough transport ships to bring their troops from Asia/Asia Minor to Italy to fight the French, resulting in a white peace and few long-lasting effects. In the war of the Romans the Holy Roman Empire attempted to invade the Scandinavian Empire. The Scandinavian Empire called upon the aid of the Roman Legions, and the Holy Roman Empire called upon the aid of the Ilkhanate horde and the Serbian Armies. Only France, Britain and Spain stayed out of this war, and understandably the clash between four of the five largest armies was horrendously bloody, nearly resulting in the total collapses of the four great Empires. To give a hint for how badly it wounded the Empires, it is the only time in the entire history of the Serbian Empire that it ran out of men. Taxes had to be lowered and autonomy raised for the grieving survivors just to avoid total dissolution of the Empire.
The war went on too long and no one wanted to continue fighting except the Kaiser; yet the Kaiser was forced into accepting a white peace after the Serbian Empire withdrew from the war. By the end of the war the Scandinavian Navy and the Roman Navy had been demolished (by the Serbs) and the Ilkhanate and HRE had their navies demolished (by the Romans and Scandis) leaving only Britain, Spain and Serbia to rule the seas. The Serbian Czar also had to spend gold 14,000 ducats in gifts and relief funds to the beleaguered Empires, including the Serbian Empire the cost would be even higher - as the war had nearly ended in the collapse of all four great Empires. With Serbian gold mines and all the gold they had accrued over 700 years, the Empires restabilized, and no one wished to repeat such a bloody conflict. The Serbian Czar began working to try and improve relations with all the Miroslavs, and also began expanding throughout Asia and Africa, eventually conquering so far south that the Serbian Empire at last reached the southern West African coast.
Fast forward several peaceful (enough) decades where the British, Spanish and Serbians race to be the first to explore the world. When at last the first Serbian exploration fleet set off from Iceland to discover Greenland, they were dismayed to find 4 British ships sailing past Greenland to their home isles. Nonetheless, the Serbians continued to explore and whilst they explored they colonized inwards to Africa, creating safe trade routes in central africa where once there was only desert and angry tribesmen. The Serbian settlers also appeared to be quite unusual people who didn't mind being told to colonize as long as they did it their way. In one case the town being built by the colonist was rejected by the settlers, and they built their own town right next to it which became the colony's city instead.
In another case, they set up a colony all of their own volition.Several colonies were started up and their colonists withdrawn before they even finished, just so those colonists could found more colonies at a rapid-rate.
This was very expensive, but the Serbs had the wealth to do it.
Through all these mega-wars, gargantuan armies, navies, advisers and the infrastructure development, the Serbian coffers nearly halved in the period of a few decades; there was still over 100,000 ducats left, but Czar Jeanne I wished for that wealth to never dip below 100k (equivalent to 1M in ck2 shekels). Just under 40,000 ducats alone was spent in refurbishing all of the farms from Serbia to the Nile and Ganges. The Serbian market share in grain quickly shot up from being barely there to being the world-leading supplier, and the people prospered with such bountiful harvest that they were convinced the Czars of Serbia were anointed by divinity.
The Spanish attempt to colonize also began and ended around this time at West Africa. Which was annoying, because the Serbians wanted to take it all. Luckily for the Czarina Serbia Miroslav, the Iberian war broke out between the Ilkhanate & the HRE vs Spain & France. This war was incredibly bloody and resulted in the French losing ground to the HRE. Although the Iberian peninsula experienced no territorial changes, in this time Spain's colony was attacked by natives and the Catalonians there killed and enslaved. Shortly after it was resettled by Serbians, with a small army setting up camp.
The British Miroslavs set up shop in the Caribbean and on some islands near the African coast. Both British Miroslav and Serbian Miroslav should get along just fine, since their greatest colonial rivals are the Aztecs and Incans.
Also slightly historic was this little milestone of achievement. An event spawned, demanding the creation of a flagship. No expense was spared and the warship was christened flagship Vojislav... Only it was created in Eastern India. It successfully made the journey from the easternmost portion of the Serbian Empire, through south Africa, through West Africa and the Mediterranean to join up with the 1st Alexandrian Fleet. The Serbian oceans were truly connected for the first time.
Around this time (or before this time, since it started with a previous Czar), whilst invading the noble Republic of U-Tsang (which reformed as Tibet), the Ming Dynasty briefly invaded Tibet and brought their borders up to the Serbian Empire. The Ming Dynasty lost this territory to rebels, who defected to U-Tsang very quickly, but this nonetheless opened up diplomatic channels between the lands of Cathay and Bombay. For centuries the Serbian Empire had received merchants, travelers and several prominent advisers of the medieval Serbian Empire were in fact eunuchs from the far east. Now they finally had direct contact.
Czar Berbat Miroslav saw the vast Ming Dynasty beyond, that controlled most of the world's tea. He thought conquering it would be one of the most difficult endeavors he'd ever faced, but then he thought again.
What need did he have for the tea market when he already controlled most of the world's goods?
Hoping to be able to access the Empire of Ming's maps and trade routes, great gifts of gold were sent, diplomatic envoys were sent and even a royal marriage was proposed and accepted. The ruling dynasty in the Empire of Ming ruled over the distant land of Korea and the Empire, so their dynasty seemed prestigious enough to marry with the great Miroslav family.
Unfortunately they did not reveal their maps or trade to Czar Berbat Miroslav, even when they asked for Serbian help to stave off a Mongolian invasion. How did they expect Berbat to fight an enemy in unknown lands beyond the Tibetan plateau?
At any rate, the Chinese Emperor died without an heir, and then Berbat died far too young leaving the Empire to his daughter Jeanne I and a Regency Council. During the 9 years of Regency the Serbian Empire endured total peace, as the Regency feared going to war (whilst Jeanne I looked forwards to conquering her enemies). Royal Marriages were reestablished with the new Ming family, and whilst the Serbs enjoyed peace the Ming endured endless rebellions.
It sucked to be Ming.
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Topic: Crusader Kings 2 is released. (Read 2112599 times)