That's all of Byzantium that's left on 14th October of 1399. The Byzantine capital itself, Constantinople, and our Morean holdings on the other end of Aegean Sea.
The gigantic light green blob you see all around us is the Ottomans. Not only they occupy most of of our claims (Balkans, Anatolia), they also have a chance to get a fancy mission that gives them bonuses if they kill us and conquer Constantinople.
Greece is predominantly occupied by Venice, with its vassals of Naxos and Corfu, whilst Achaea and Cyprus are both to some states in Western Europe. Epirus is independent, but Naples has claims on it, and will surely come knocking down on it soon.
It's a long, loooong road from here to undo the damage and restore the Imperial Purple Blob, but its doable.
First step is to...
Start reconquering the areas held by the little Turkish guys. Candar, Karazan, Dulkadir, Ramazan.
Pretty sure I saw Ottomans get 'Vassalize Dulkadir' mission and they're bordering Timurids, so our light-green doomfriends will be occupied for a while.
As our (re)conquest of Candar continues, advisors across the Eastern world become available; we hire a Lithuanian Master of Mint and a Wallachian Master Recruiter, supplanted by true Byzantine statesman.
Trebizond in the meanwhile gets vassalized by Timurids; I'm not sure if that gives Timurids that automatic war trigger against us when we seize Candar...
Byzantine noblemen be blessed! 100 ducats this early in the game is truly a treasure trove.
So far, so good! The other bonus of holding Turkish provinces is that we can recruit their units who come with 2 or even 3 'pips' more than Eastern European units of Byzantium.
Our next target will be Ramazan Sheikhdom; they have only one province, and border our prospective next target, the Karaman.
Constantinople gets its own Metropolitan, a modded modifier that helps with keeping big cities less prone to revolts. It cuts their tax income a little bit, though.
*teeth_grinding_noises.wav*
I can beat up Karaman OR Ramazan alone, but not both at once. We retreat for now, to build more cogs and recruit more Muslim cavalry.
Emperor Manuel scores a diplomatic victory!
Georgia, while squished between nomadic hordes and the Ottomans, has just enough troops and ships to help us beat the Turkish minors.
An interesting situation has developed - Morocco has decided to punt Ramazan, leaving us only Karaman's forces to contend with.
We will fight them for those 3 juicy provinces, then! Just to be on safe side, we will call in Georgians for help, too.
Ha ha! Our plan was successful! Only Najd and Yemen, two distant sultanates (on the wrong side of Arabia to boot) replied to Karaman's call for help.
Georgians turned their backs on us, but that's alright. We can handle Karaman by ourselves, now.
From 2 to 7 provinces in five years, that's some good strategy, right?
After some negotiations, we obtain two allies; landlocked Wallachia, and the somewhat maritime Kingdom of Naples.
If not for Naples, we would be very much dead, for Morocco has Ottomans (or had, I haven't seen them join the war) as allies.
AWWW FUCK.
Neapolitean marines are besieging Ottoman provinces, Serbia and Wallachia are duking it out, whilst the dreaded Ottoman Army is nowhere to be seen.
And I had to take a loan for this war. The only saving grace is the fact that its Morocco who's the war's leader. If we manage to force them to sign peace, Ottomans will have to follow their lead.
HELL YEAH.If it only weren't sacriledgeous, I would smooch the Sultan.
Just why!?
Fortunately for us, the Mamelukan fleet is at the Red Sea.
I've bribed Serbians into white peace, but Bosnians are very stubborn. We must save our capital from them!
Giving nobles of Byzantium way too much priviledges is a risky scheme, but the only one we can afford now.
They sprung up in Thrace, ready to maul the Moroccans into bloody pulp.
Finally, Morocco decides to send a request for money.
We're still at war with Tlemcen, but we can handle that.
At long last, the Berbers of Tlemcen send an offer that we can afford, thanks to some events and whatnots.
Our Prestige is abyssmal, our Army non-existant, and loans and revolt risks loom over the Empire. May Christ save us all!
