Welcome back, my friends

To the show that never ends,

We're so glad you could attend,

Come inside! Come inside!



Alright, on account of some schedule slips, its seems that I, /u/Lurking_Chronicler_2, get to narrate two parts in a row. What a time to be alive.



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So, this part starts out with an overview of Taiwan, where the outbreak of heresy has intensified. There's not been any in-game repercussions (yet), but who knows how it might affect Taiwan's shiny new Mandate in the future.

The heresies (I think there's three now? Dang) definitely don't seem to be hampering the surprise attack on Angkor Bandy- though I suspect the long, narrow passage through rough terrain will accomplish that. The Khmer definitely made a wise choice in selecting settling locations.

And it's good they have such defensible terrain- their army is looking rather scarce at the moment, almost entirely clustered at the frontlines near Angkor Bandy and the Burmese border.

On the topic of Burma... well, they'll probably survive this part, though I don't think the same can be said of Mottama.

Further south, we get a nice view of East Africa, which has been inexplicably transported across the Indian Ocean. A Korean worker looks on in awe.

The Dutch have been awakened by a combination of volcanic eruption, followed by a revolution of disgruntled citizens calling themselves "communists"- who've successfully transformed the East India Company into the East India Commune. In celebration, two outposts have been founded on Sumatra.

The Sulu are doing pretty well, failed settling expedition aside.

Zooming in closer, we get a glimpse of the Sulu's reverence for a strange being named Cthulhu. I'm sure this wont have any spooky repercussions down the line.

The Sulu capital has the biggest congregation of Cthulhuists, who watch the waves with anticipation.

My home civ is doing pretty well, riotous fratboys aside. Maybe some chocolate will calm them down a bit- seems to have done wonders for Wittenberg.

The Khmer troops appear to be falling back a bit- Might not be a bad decision, given that the two enemy melee units nearby are low-health warriors.

Mottama does not look to be nearly so lucky, even though the Burmese allies of Buenos Aires appear to be a major thorn in the Khmer's side.

Okay yeah, this won't take too long.

Thought so. Only a third of the Taiwanese forces on screen are melee units, and none are close to where they need to be.

Celebrating their successful defense, a Khmer spearman gets a little too carried away and decides to charge the enemy frontlines all by himself- not a very smart move.

Mottama is still taking damage, but the Khmer appear to be on the verge of running out of melee units themselves...

Back in the Philippines, a bunch of sapphire miners have decided to try their hand at colonizing instead of mining.

Some Suluese cultists have the same idea. I don't think Sulu has Optics, though, so they might be stuck there for a bit.

The Khmer appear to be bolstering their army somewhat. That or rearranging their troop formations. Either way, the Kloists in Angkor Tom continue to fume about the Aimeist pretensions of their government.

Guess I was wrong, this front is going nowhere fast.

In addition to completing the National College, we've also built the Great Library! This should keep our science up.

Over on the right side, you can see a close-up of the Sulu Pyramids. I really like the golden capstone- it's a nice touch (capstone, even...) of detail.



Oh, and Tom Sux I guess.

The Khmer army slowly inches towards the Burma/Buenos Aires front, though they've got even worse terrain to traverse than the Taiwanese.

Speaking of which...

Frustrated by the lack of success on both domestic and international fronts, Taiwan decides to Reform Aimeism, likely hoping to better stamp out the various sects in their territory.

Taiwan, Khmer, and Sulu formally take steps to legitimizing their empires, and the Dutch engage in the time-honored communist tradition of rebranding their nations with unnecessarily long names.



Meanwhile, the Khmer build the Statue of Zeus, puzzling both Kloist and Aimeist citizens alike- who *is* this 'Zeus' fellow anyways?

The Sulu have encountered the Dutch. One step closer to getting a World Congress.

Evidently the city of Butuan's been founded. This'll help secure our national copper stockpile.

Needing a way to motive Burmese citizens to fight in the war against the Khmer, the common people have been given the right to vote.



Normally I'd try to make some reference to the politics of real-life Myanmar, but I don't really know much about that tbh.

Welp. I suppose the name is accurate.

The war here continues to stall, though I spy an audacious Taiwanese cavalryman who's somehow managed to infiltrate the Khmer core.

A Lifese (?) archer wanders over to Mommy Aime.

Taiwan appears to have two Great Prophets. I wonder how the AI plans to use them.

Here's an overview of Tonkin. Taiwan actually has a pretty respectable number of military units here- problem is, they're all disperse across the jungle.

Ew who drinks caffeine

Burma is safe for the moment- the Khmer are currently distracted by Buenos Aires and the occasional Taiwanese raiding party.

That's a good thing, judging by their core- Burma really doesn't have much in the way of a defensive force.

If it wasn't for the nearly-dead Khmer trireme wandering around I'd suspect this of being a duplicate photo that somehow got put in.

Goodness, the Dutch are having quite the population boom! Evidently communism does wonders for your fertility rate.

Not a whole lot has changed back on Java, though.

Borneo's starting to fill up with units, though most of those belong to city-states.

The Flores Sea continues to be calm and relaxed.



A little too calm, if you ask me.

One more civilian unit and the Sulu will discover the art of teleportation a few millennia ahead of schedule.

The Philippines is a very trade-centric civ, and I'm happy to say that our AI doesn't appear to be screwing that up.

And once again, we end this part with a shot of my home civ, the Philippines. On to stats!