1000-1100
Affalon:
Nova Hibernia lost a major war with the Patrickians, led by Toton III, in 1012-1023. This war cut off their western expansion, with St. Communus River Valley passing over to Patrickians; Nova Hibernia was also forced to pay an admittedly-small tribute to Patrickia. Regardless, life went on, as Nova Hibernian refugees from the Valley settled down along the western coast of the Atlantic, in South Nova Hibernia (OTL Maine) and in Diarmaida (OTL New England south from Maine). A Patrickian prince, Erik, fled with some supporters to the island of Sandland (OTL Long Island).
Toltecs, far to the south, were struck hard by the diseases, collapsing into civil war. Still, the winners begun rebuilding the empire... Mixtecs meanwhile built a rival state to the south.
In 1078, a Spanish noble, Sancho Rodriguez, reached the coast of Alfonsia (OTL Virginia). The Third HRE, back then led by Alphonso IV, was, much like the rest of Western Europe, filled with tales brought by Snowish merchants. Alphonso IV was determined to trick the arrogant Snowish barbarians and to take over the trade of Affalon for himself; Sancho's was the second expedition sent (the first one was lost), and although it was blown off from its original course, it did establish a short-lived Spanish colony. Although it was abandoned after a few years, the further explorations, combined with a certain amount of luck, allowed a more permanent colony in Nueva Alfonsia (OTL Florida) and the establishment of the (unstable) transatlantic trade route. Ofcourse, the Northern Path was still preffered; but now, the Spaniards had their own goods to ship from Affalon.
Europe:
Snowish and Geldish raiders thoroughly devastated England, causing it to collapse altogether into warring states. Eventually, Agbert I of Northumbria reunited England (with captial in York), but it was considerably set back by this "time of troubles".
Franks, led by Karlis II, used the decline of English and Severoslavian pressure to build up an empire of their own. The Franks had a natural target - Occitania, and they struck against it in 1001. The mercantile Occitanians were no warriors, albeit after the rout of their "army" at Toulouse the resistance stiffened as citizens took up arms and defended their cities and towns. But against superior military might, the results were predictable - a bloody massacre. The Third HRE tried to save the remaining Occitanian territories in Provence, Languedoc and Septimania, but Karlis II crushed the Spaniards at Beziers and at Monaco. The ensuing invasion of Italy was grounded to a halt by the autonomous cities, but the death of Emperor Pedro I at Monaco caused great instability in the Empire, which became even more decentralized. Eventually, the Spaniards agreed to pay a monetary contribution and recognized Karlis as the ruler of Occitania.
Gradually, the Third HRE somewhat recovered, with commerce being revived and with exploration of East Affalon (see Affalon) and West Africa (see Africa). Decentralization nonetheless became widespread, but it wasn't entirely a negative thing, as all regions of the HRE were now much more defensible. However, the initial unhappiness of the emperor with this arrangement caused the loss of Sicily and Malta to the Byzantines, who bribed the local nobles.
Geldish chiefdoms during this time begun reuniting under seven different rulers; this eventually, after several wars, resulted in the creation of five Geldish states: Jylland (Jutland), Sjaelland (Copenhagen, surrounding regions, Bornholm, Gotland, parts of Scane), Trondheim (much of Norway, without the southern coast), Vikland (southern coast of Norway and western coast of Sweden, plus some inland Norwegian regions) and Svealand (the rest of Sweden).
Severoslavia during this time became increasingly feudal as well, having become the target of many Geldish raids and Prussian invasions.
Moravia ceased to exist during this time - the resurgent Byzantines conquered as far north as the Carpathians and Dniester after an intensification of Moravian raids on Byzantine soil, whilst the Severoslavians annexed Moravian territories in Czechia and Carinthia using chaos that ensued after the Byzantine victory at Devin.
Indeed, generally the Byzantines have recouped from their past defeats. Under Leo VIII (r. 1064-1091), Byzantines underwent military reforms, creating a more powerful and mobile cavalry army; it proved its worth in Moravia and elsewhere (see Middle East). Other reforms, of administrative and religious character, allowed the further stabilization of the Byzantines, and an expedition to Crimea kicked Khazars out of the peninsula with abysmal casualties. Byzantium was on the rise.
Prussia had some hard times now. Not only was it fought back in Severoslavia in 1020s, but it was also defeated on the Neman by the Balts, whilst the Khazars put an end to all Prussian eastern ambitions in a decisive battle at Sluck - after which the Prussians not only paid a monetary indemnity, but also lost all lands east of Neman and Bug. Those lands weren't very important - but now, Prussia was closed in with no hopes of expansion any time soon. Decline set in...
Baltland, in spite of occasional Slavic and Esti rebellions, remained a viable force, though it, too, was stagnating. Wars with Khazaria eventually saw some gains on the southeastern border, but that's as much as they got.
Barakid Khazaria was increasingly weakened by the wars with Byzantines, Turkic raids and internal strife. Still, as Sluck has proved, it still was a power to be reckoned with.
Africa:
Idrisids faced some troubled times late in the century, losing Tangiers to the Third HRE in 1195, and generally stagnating. Still, it remained a notable force, expanding south into Sahara, until coming into conflict with the rising Berber empire of the Almoravids (similar to OTL ones generally, though details are different)...
Fierce desert warriors and puritan Muslims, the Almoravids were a rising force that expanded violently in all directions. Islam spread peacefully as well, southwards, by the means of trade.
South from the Almoravids were the warring kingdoms of Ghana and Tuareg.
Fatimid expansion southwards faced increasing resistance, but nonetheless they overran Alodia; after that, logistics and danger of overstretchment stopped them short. Fatimid Egypt was also faring well, economically. Not all was well for them in the Middle East, however (see Middle East).
Abyssinia continued to rise in power, conquering Islamic states to its east (mostly in OTL Ethiopia and northern Somaliland).
Middle East:
Byzantines have recouped from previous defeats in the end of the 10th and the beginning of this century. Under the energetic reign of Leo VIII, they finished their expansion into Palestine, pushed Khazars out of Armenia and even took over Mesopatamia, greatly wounding the Buwayhid Empire.
Qarmatians reached the height of their power during this time. Led by al-Muttabi, they took over Hejjaz, Dubai, Oman and Yemen, thwarted a Buwayhid invasion and imposed a very strict Ismailite version of Islam on the entire Arabian Peninsula. However, their empire was very shaky and increasingly loose, due to problems of communication.
Buwayhids were facing defeat on all fronts, eventually collapsing into civil war. The result of it was an appearence of a weakened Persian Sunni state in the west (east from Mesopatamia, west and south from Khorasan/Dasht-e Kavir) and of several Sunni/Shiite Turkic states in the northeast; eventually, all those Turkic states were consumed by the Samanid Empire. As for the Persian state, Jalid Sultanate, well, it lingered on, mostly because nobody of its "neighbours" (Byzantine Empire, Barakid Khazaria, Samanid Empire) wanted its territories all that much and feared that an invasion would strenghthen the interests of the others.
Samanid northwards expansion led to furthering of tensions with Khazaria.
India:
Hindu Shahis rose to pre-eminence during this period, fighting off Samanid raids and uniting the Indus Valley states, eventually extending their hegemony as far as Chambal. In opposition to them, Chandellas and Karakuris rose to importance in the east, whilst an united, though weakened, state re-emerged in Gujarat.
Virayendra led the Cholas to a crushing victory against the Calukyas, solidifying Cholan hegemony in Deccan at the expense of eastwards, maritime expansion (this allowed the Kadiri Javanese to become increasingly powerful there).
East Asia:
Steadily, the butterfly effect penetrated the steppes. A talented Khitan general who didn't exist in OTL, by the name of He-ku-ta, befriended the Jurchen tribes and with their assistance overthrown the Liao Dynasty in 1089, founding his own Lung Dynasty. The powerhouse of the Lung, as of 1100, stood poised to strike against Song China...
Meanwhile, Mongol tribes to the northwest united into a tribal confederation to resist the Lung Dynasty.
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OOC: I changed my plans, as you can see, making only a short chapter about the major events that inaguarated the 12th Century. This is because I am now very interested in a certain new project (yes, Symphony, the one you asked me about).
IC:
1104-1119
Several important developments happened in the world during this time.
Spanish Imperial forces entered the Carribean Sea in 1104, establishing trade posts, devastating natives and beginning intrigues in Tolteca, which was only beginning to recover from the civil war. They also came into contact with Mayans, where the plagues resulted in a final collapse of most of Mayan urban civilization... apart from northernmost Yucatan, where Cocom rulers of Mayapan used the power vacuum to create a semi-feudal empire.
Agbert I strenghthened England, militarized its society, assembled a vast, Viking-imitating fleet and conquered Snowland in an epic war of 1111. Snowish refugees fled west en masse, albeit some remained and tried to fight on from the interior. This was the Viking War. Agbert didn't limit himself to devastating SOME of the raiders, though - he also devastated and subdued Trondheim, another source of irritation. Everywhere, he was merciless, being traumatised in youth by sights of Snowish and Geldish looting.
The Geldish refugees from Trondheim spread across Geldland, causing trouble and agitating for an united campaign against England. Snowish refugees were more important - the Affalonian states were beginning to lag behind and lose much of their early impulse by this time. Snowlanders, however, revived this. Those who went to Patrickia won great respect as warriors, and assisted expansion across St. Communus River, bringing Patrickia into conflict with the powerful tribal confederation of the Cree, which at the time was also expanding - towards the river. Some Snowlanders came to Nova Hibernia, where they were accepted on the principle of "my enemy's enemy..." and contributed to colonization of Diarmaida's immediate interior. A few came to Sandland, allowign the settling of the nearby regions, and leading into conflict with another native Affalonian tribal confederation - the Mohawk League.
Meanwhile, Baltland scored a major victory over the Khazars at Muroom. This allowed a shift of the borders southwards, to the northwestern part of the Volga and to river Moskva further west.
Almoravids crushed the declining Idrisids in a series of battles, most notably the one at Marrakech, where the superior training and devoutness of the Almoravids proved vital. North African culture went into temporary decline under the puritan Almoravid reign, which displaced Idrisids everywhere outside of Tunisia, where they maintained a politically- and militarily-weak, but culturally-rich existance.
Shahis expanded southwards, conquering Gujarat but being confronted by the stronger (then Gujarat, not then they themselves) Paramaras. Cholas meanwhile begun paying more attention to Sumatra and the like, abandoning the absurd plans of conquering the Hoysalas.
Finally, the Lung forces crushed the incompetently-led Song armies. The error of the Song military (or, rather, anti-military) policy was fully exposed, as Lung Khitans, with their iron discipline, not only destroyed the Song forces at Ping and at Chengdu, but also managed to cross the Yangtze and brutally impose their rule on all of China thusly. Now, Lung China came into being, and was eager for further expansion - perhaps against the Tanguts and Mongols in the west, perhaps against Korea and Japan in the east.
After all those changes, a new era has dawned upon the world. New empires displaced old ones, whilst other empires were set into decline.