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Introduction - Nation Selection
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The Tenth Crusade had succeeded. The Christian League formed by Aragon had led Venice, Macedonia, and Poland to victory against the Black Sea Pact. The soldiers of the Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Tatarstan had fought bravely and valiantly, and had suffered for it. While the Tatars could dig in behind the Dnieper and the Iranians in the Caucasus, the Ottomans had no such luxury and in the end would suffer the most. They received the full force of the crusade, armies in the hundreds of thousands clashing across the length and breath of the empire.
It could not hold. It would have been swallowed whole by the wolves that tore into it, had it not been for the worker's revolution that stalled then halted the enemy's advances. Much of the empire could not be saved from imperial clutches but Anatolia held and with it the Socialist Republic of Turkey survived the onslaught. It fought them to a standstill and forced a ceasefire, quickly finding international recognition in the Comintern. The United Socialist Republic and Iberian Union acted as intermediaries to ensure Macedonia abided by it, giving their fellow communist country breathing room to recover. Officially bringing an end to the crusade to an end in 1910.
While at the same time Egypt's independence ended quietly, a mere stroke of the pen signing away the nation's once bright future and condemning it to servitude. It would become the crown jewel of the Venetian Republic. It's hopes for greatness dashed like ships against rocky shores. Its citizens subjugated as the country would be transformed into a breadbasket and cotton plantation to feed the empire's coffers.
The victory would not last long. In the wake of the war Aragon grew confident, its king thought the country invincible, so high on his own righteousness that he eagerly blundered into war with the Italian League within the same year. The alliance of petty kingdoms and city states proved a match for the would-be conqueror, unifying under Provence's leadership to reverse Aragon's fortunes and drive them from the peninsula entirely. Stumbling from defeat to defeat, its chances at a recovery would never come as the Maghreb Uprising would see much of its North Africa territory liberated by oppressed peoples. Venice's aid would come too late, proving ineffective and leaving its flank open.
Hungary, sensing opportunity, would charge into Illyria and Dalmatia, overrunning the undermanned forts and wrenching away much of the Adriatic Coast from the republic. In its futile defense of its territory, it called upon its ally, Macedonia, for aid, only for the kingdom to occupy much of Venice's Greek lands and forced Athens to declare an independent Hellenic Republic. The new republic was joined at the hip to the kingdom in an alliance of brotherhood. Egypt too fell under Macedonia's sway, nominally under Venice's control, much of its colonial government purged and replaced with Macedonian officials. Only the governor would remain, serving as a puppet to make their take over appear as legal as possible. On its border Aragon, humiliated, still retained control over Syria and Palestine.
The latter of which would be reborn as the Kingdom of Jerusalem, more commonly known as Levant or Oltremare for its rising population of Southern Italians. The crusader state would set about destroying every Muslim and Jewish landmark and artifact it could get its hands on, destroying the Dome of the Rock and Wailing Wall in the process. It has united the whole of Islam against it and wages a protracted war of attrition against its own subjects with unrest threatening to spill over into neighbouring countries.
Thus an uneasy status quo settled across the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. It was a tense peace that everyone knew wouldn't last. The only question was how it would break down.
Which nation will you play as? You can only pick one.
[] Turkey
The Ottoman Empire fell during the Tenth Crusade, despite its best efforts to modernize, but was hampered by institutional inertia plaguing reformers every step of the way. It was nearly conquered completely, had it not been for the communist revolution led by a cadre of younger officers and multiple socialist parties. It's a testament to their abilities and the spirit of the workers that Anatolia could yet still hold. The state was recognized, introducing sweeping reforms to modernize and industrialize Turkey, receiving aid from its allies in the process. As a somewhat underdeveloped nation, a significant portion of its population was rural and semi-literate. The country undertook its first five year plan. It was a modest success, though one which suffered from numerous setbacks.
In truth however, the revolution was more akin to a military coup than a true mass movement. While the leadership were members of communist parties that aligned with the workers to secure power, many older institutions have been allowed to persist beneath them out of sheer inertia. Co-oped and repurposed, much of the state is governed by an improvised ad-hoc system built to survive the war. General Hassan who led the revolution now leads the country in peace as Chairman, presiding over an united front formed from various parties dubbed The United Communist Party. Its largest factions, the Red Turks and Free Officers, both attempt to pull the party, and by extension the country, in their ideological direction as Chairman Hassan plans to reshape the revolutionary state during the second five year plan.
[] Egypt
Egypt had fallen under Venice over the years, who organized its captured coastline into an overseas department, as integral to the republic as Greece or Cyprus. An uneven system of democracy was introduced, which only allowed Venetian citizens to vote. Egyptian Christians and Jews were extended this privilege, while Muslims were not and excluded as a whole from political life. During the 10th Crusade this fig leaf illusion of independence was quietly shattered as the Venetian governor, Francesco Marcato, dissolved the throne with the stroke of a pen. The king caved without resistance, bringing the whole of Egypt under Venice's control. Its soldiers prepared to march on Sudan, planning to control the entire length of the Nile and the Horn of Africa too in due time.
Such ambitious plans would not come to pass however, as the subsequent Italian Crisis would see Venice lose much of its empire to Hungary and Macedonia. Its former ally intervened under the cover of establishing stability during the crisis, seizing Egypt. The overseas department was re-organized into a colonial mandate jointly managed by Venice and Macedonian, but in truth the former had lost all control. Governor Marcato now rules as a puppet to his new Macedonian masters, kept in place to give their takeover a fig leaf of legitimacy. An irony not lost on the man. Marcato however is not without his options. The first post-crusade election will be held with the Christian Alliance Party and All Egyptian Nation Congress vying for political power, presenting an opportunity to upset the imposed order and purge his enemies, should Marcato try to tip the scales. Whoever wins will alter the course of Egyptian history.
This is my first quest. I'm a bit nervous and excited to do it, so I hope everyone enjoys it. I was inspired to work with DoD when I saw lackluster mods based off it for Hearts of Iron 4 and thought how I'd go about it to set up fun conflicts while retaining some of the more out of there country paths. That's part of the charm of DoD I find. It took a while for this to crystalize into its current form and I had a lot of help from
@ArvisPresley in sorting out the wider setting.
The format for this quest was heavily inspired by Weygand's The Red Flag Flies Union of Britain Quest and the game Suzerain. I'm definitely keeping it very light on stats. They're less important than making decisions and then living with the consequences of them. The setting for this is based on Divergences of Darkness for Victoria 2. It's a mod with a wildly different timeline that has several points of divergences back in the fourteenth century and subsequent knock on effects caused by said changes. It can be confusing for newcomers, while those familiar with the mod will want to know what events unfolded from 1836 to now.
In regards to country lore I'm more familiar with somewhat older HPM versions of the game, but I am aware of the fan fork project. Ironically I had similar ideas as them in some regards. Otherwise I will be taking a broad strokes approach to background lore. If there's something that I like from one version of the mod I might include it here if I can. The mod's lore is nearly a decade old and spread out for dozens, if not hundreds, of various threads. If something's 'wrong' then that's okay. There's a lot of leeway with the finer details of the world's history. I'll provide info posts on sections of the world to help give context.
