Get the rest of the story: The Legacy of House Mlechchha

From 1500 – 1552, Bharat started laying claim to the riches of the Pacific, establishing colonies in Lampung, Indonesia, South Australia, and Te Ika a Maui. Not alone in its colonial ambitions, two other Great Powers – England and Andalusia – have begun their journey west.

Continued colonial growth is likely to be the greatest source of Bharat’s expansion of power. Her core, though, is still in Asia, and she won’t be able to ignore her neighbours. Indeed, the years up to 1605 saw plenty of action around the homeland…

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Theatres of Influence

In the latter half of the 16th century, Bharat really engaged with the nations around her. Her influence extended to two primary theatres: East Asia, and the Middle-East and Africa.

Middle-East and Africa

Heirs of the Abbasid Caliphate

The Abbasids are a significant force from 769 onwards in Crusader Kings II. They are subject to occasional decadence revolts if they can’t control themselves, resulting in other families taking over a (usually weakened) empire.

In my CKII campaign, I kept an eye on the Abbasids as, once I’d conquered India, I was likely to bump up against them, or their successors, if I wished to continue expanding. They could also have endangered my own plan to unify India had they taken some necessary counties.

The Abbasids saw strong, unrestrained growth up to the middle of the 10th century, but then started losing some small sections of their empire thanks to their decadence. Between 1000 and 1152, the Abbasid Empire was replaced by the Sultanate of Persia, headed by house Ali. It was still a force to be reckoned with, but its sphere of influence was firmly in the Middle-East, with little concern for the Mediterranean in the way that the Abbassids had managed.

The Sultanate passed from house-to-house before it landed with Ali; this house grew the borders of Persia in new directions, but ceded land to the new superpower of India up to 1300. Once more, decadence saw titles pass from Ali to the Uwaysids, who were then to become the successors to the greatness of the Abbasids into the Age of Discovery and beyond. They were a Great Power, no less.

In the 16th century, the Uwaysids suffered one tragedy after another. Ming declared war on them in 1508, then the Umayyads in March 1512, and Byzantium and Bharat in 1526. More wars came later – including additional conflict with Ming – and the Great Power began to crumble in 1554 due to internal conflict.

In 1555, Byzantium called a crusade against the Uwaysids. Eventually, the world became too much, and the Uwaysids dropped from the Great Power list in April 1567, after eight centuries of greatness…

Khivan Provocation

One of the states that splintered from the various decadence revolts of the Abbassids and their successors was Khiva.

As the Uwaysids declined, Khiva often took advantage of the situation. On the 1st of April 1570, I received an insult from them. Perhaps it was their idea of a joke, but it would come back to bite them as, in July 1570, the Bharathi-Khivan War of Honor began.

Just 15 months into the conflict, I was able to capture a number of counties and a significant chunk of their trade power (though, really, this wouldn’t amount for much given their geographic location). What I hadn’t taken into account in declaring this war was the need for a stockpile of Diplomatic Monarch Power to make demands.

Khiva would presumably think again before insulting the honour of Bharat, but they did so again in November 1584. At this point, they appeared as a defeated bully, trying to keep up appearances on the world stage. I let it slide, though left my options open for the future.

Crushing the Neighbours

It wasn’t just the Khivans that liked to give me a good reason to start claiming land. The Bistamis did so in June 1581, and by August 1582, they were my vassal. In May 1604, I crushed Baghdad for their insolence and took approximately half of their land in a peace deal in October 1605.

Ajuuraan Reconquest of Hobyo

In an attempt to spread some influence across Africa, I had built an alliance with Ajuuraan, on the east coast of Africa. I should have expected, really, that they would call me into a war that would have little to do with me and, indeed, in December 1590 I received a Call to Arms against Axum – perhaps the greatest power of Africa – and Malindi.

Quite who decided it would be worth interrupting the plans of the world’s greatest power to reconquer a single province – Hobyo – is anyone’s guess, but that’s where I was . December 1590 saw the start of the Ajuuraan Reconquest of Hobyo.

This was not the easiest region for me to reach, especially since my entire navy was concerned with routing trade. After four years, the war ended in a White Peace (of course, decided by Ajuuraan), but I least earned 23 favours to be called in should I wish to engage in African affairs in the future.

East Asia

On the other side of the burgeoning Bharathi Empire is East Asia. Everything in this part of the world was decided by Bharat or Ming, with lots of tiny states unable to act for fear of stepping into one of our spheres. Most were tributaries to Ming, others laid in waiting for me to make a peaceful claim on their land.

I thought it more important to develop diplomatic relationships here than in the Middle-East since Byzantium was friendly and Ming was not. I therefore wanted to make sure Ming couldn’t run rampant on my eastern border. I dissolved an alliance with the Quadririds, a major Middle-Eastern power, so that I could vassalise first Ayutthaya (February 1597), and then Lan Xang (December 1601). The goal was to eventually annex these nations.

The First Colonial Nation

Most nations that embark on a mission of colonialisation will eventually find themselves forming a “colonial nation“. The Americas and Oceania are divided into “colonial regions”, and if five cored overseas provinces exist in a single one of these regions, a colonial nation will emerge.

It’s worth noting that its possible for multiple colonial nations to emerge in a single region from different colonising countries.

December 1509 saw Bharat’s first venture in colonising the South Pacific. It was natural, then, that colonisation continued on to Australia and New Zealand. 45 years after beginning this journey, in December 1556, the new colonial nation of “Bharati Australia” emerged.

This is the default format for naming colonial nations in EUIV, but you’re allowed to rename these nations. To mark the heritage of Bharat, the nation was renamed “Shaant”, the Hindi word for “Pacific”. In 1580, Bharat started subsidising this new colonial nation. It could, after all, be a great asset in future military engagements, and would help realise that Pacific Dream…

Spawning Institutions

In 1561, I noticed something disturbing…

My increased tech cost (161%) resulted in my adjusted score dropping below Byzantium’s (despite my development being about a third greater than theirs) so, for the first time in my EUIV history, I wasn’t the world’s greatest power.

Up until this point, I’d waited for institutions to slowly drift from their origin point and into my empire. This was agonisingly slow, but I didn’t know there was a way around it.

But there is a way around it!

If you develop your provinces, then you increase the percentage progress towards adopting an institution. I don’t think I’d bothered with development until this point, but now I had a good reason to go for it. I developed the shit out of Barind and managed to spawn the Colonialism institution. Finally!

It was then a matter of developing the provinces around Barind – which, from the image above, you can see have begun adopting this Institution – until I reached the requisite number of provinces having this Institution so that I could embrace it nationally.

I did the same thing with the Printing Press, so I was able to catch up with Institutions by 1577 and regain my top spot on the Global Powers board. Even better, in 1600, the Global Trade Institution originated in Chittagong, one of my own provinces. Finally, an Asian Institution!

Looking to the Far Far East…

There are a few provinces left to mop-up in the South Pacific by 1600, but I really want to start making claims on land in the Americas. Because of my colonial range, I’ll need to use one of the Pacific islands as a launching point.

Hawaii was to be that launching point. In March 1605, I sent my colonist, and started planning my conquest of the far Far East…

Economic Growth

Monthly Income

Bharat’s monthly income found new highs and lows as it swung between wars, colonisation, and enjoying the fruits of its labours.

Wars were the only reason for negative monthly incomes, while the positive monthly income fluctuated quite significantly due to colonisation efforts, as explored in Part 4.

Trade

In 1552, Old World trade looked like the below.

By 1605:

Bengal has surpassed the English Channel as the most valuable trade node. The former grew in value by nearly 45% over a period of 53 years. The main reason for this growth was the same as the growth seen from 1500 to 1552: additional redirection of trade from Malacca due to more light ships protecting the trade.

Interestingly, the value of the Malacca trade node itself has declined slightly. There is some trade now flowing from the colonial nation of Shaant (Australia), which largely ends up in Bharat’s coffers thanks to strategic placement of Merchants.

These maps were generated with the EU4 Trade Visualizer by Junuxx. This tool allows you to examine your save files for this sort of trade data.

The Situation in 1605

The Great Powers have shifted.

Some observations:

The gap between Bharat and second place is widening.

Austrasia is growing stronger, replacing Byzantium for second place.

Ming is suffering because of an increased tech cost. It can take some time for Institutions to spread that far east.

The Uwaysids have fallen off the board and have been replaced by the Quadirids. This isn’t the first time the Quadirids have been on the board; they first replaced Carpathia between 1444 and 1500.

Borders have moved. I’ll now start including the New World as it’s becoming relevant.

One thing that’s clear from the map is that the Uwaysids are but a shadow of their former selves. They’ve made way to Khiva, Byzantium, and Ming. Ming has grown surprisingly little over this time-span.

The European nations are now colonising in earnest. England and Andalusia both have colonies in North and South America. Andalusia additionally has a colony in South Africa. Austrasia is colonising the North American east coast.

All of this growth looks superficial compared to the growing blob of orange across the South Pacific, with the appearance of Shaant being a major difference between 1552 and 1605.

Separately from all of this, Bergslagen has subsumed most of Scandinavia and is well on their way to imposing their will on the the whole region. They’re still not strong enough to be considered a Great Power, but perhaps they’ll settle some colonies of their own in the near future.

Next Time

I’m fast running out of room to expand in the South Pacific. With Hawaii on its way to becoming a core province, Bharat’s greedy gaze turns to the North American west coast and its natives.

Get the rest of the story: The Legacy of House Mlechchha