OOC: Each update will be accompanied by a song lyric. The first person to tell me the name of the song it comes from and the artist/band who performed it originally gets brownie points. These may or may not turn into bonuses, I'm mostly just curious to see who shares my taste in music.
Pre-Update
We turned our gaze to the castles in the distance
It has been over a year since the series of massive wars that laid waste to Europe, crushing cities, devastating nations, and laying waste to entire cultures. In the aftermath, surviving nobles, skilled warriors, and opportunistic hoarders have begun to gather wealth and followers, ready to forge a new Europe, with themselves at the head, of course.
Player Kingdoms
Stalintopia
In a somewhat anachronistic turn of events, a man named Josef Stalin, styling himself Emperor, has built a castle in the wrecked city of London. His efficient administrative work in restoring the city to at least some of its former glory clearly impressed a former general known as William Braveheart, who joined the budding nation immediately.
Ni!
A somewhat eccentric nobleman by the name of Lord Shrubbery founded a kingdom in Barcelona. Despite his somewhat irrational requests for all recruits in his army to chop down trees with deceased fish, his sense of humor and debonair charm has won him many loyal followers.
Latium
Augustus Nicolai Machiavelli has embarked upon a campaign to restore the glory of Rome, and his first act as Imperator was to construct a castle in the ruins of the city. His leadership skills helped him to quickly rally people to his cause, but many are distrustful of his shrewd, manipulative nature.
Sweden
King Gustav Vasa formed the first (and so far only) Scandinavian kingdom. A barrel-chested Swede of the highest order, his impressive physical prowess and dashing good looks have endeared him to many within the influence of his capital city in Stockholm.
The Ottoman Empire
A battle-hardened general self-styled as Sulemain the Magnificent has brought together several of the nomadic Turkish tribes into a resurrection of the Ottoman Empire. Many are unsure of his motives, and some believe his warlike nature will lead him to hostile conflict with the new European nations before long.
Wallachia
In one of the least expected moves of the past year, a castle has been built in central Romania. Its monarch, Josef cel Frumos, is a relative unknown at this point, but those in his region speak highly of his combination of tactics and training techniques.
Castille
Phillipe Rosario de la Cuadra, a rogue general who staged a failed uprising in Barcelona against the kingdom of Ni!, fled to southern Castille and began his own kingdom. It is a commonly held perception that he is out for revenge and has the strength and leadership abilities to make life very difficult for Lord Shrubbery if given the opportunity.
NPC Kingdoms
Scotland and Wales
Angus Macduff, a Scottish tribal warrior, has protested the establishment of Stalintopia by building his own castle in Glasgow. A strategist known as Arthur Berwyn has done the same in Wrexham for the Welsh. While these two kingdoms are much smaller militarily than Stalintopia and not openly hostile (yet), some of Emperor Josefs advisors are beginning to worry.
The Irish would have formed a kingdom
but then they discovered alcohol had survived the apocalypse.
Lyon
Jacques Amiot has founded a city-state within Lyon. At this point, the minister shows no sign of being expansionist, instead preferring to rebuild the infrastructure of the lands surrounding the city itself.
Germany
The new German Kingdom, founded in Hamburg by General Edwin Von Gutenberg, has many options in terms of expansion. Will it move into mostly empty central Europe, or challenge Sweden for Scandinavia?
Venice
Marco Benitolini, in opposition to Machiavellis Latium, founded Venice. The Venitians believe they have legitimate claim to become the head state in Italy, and they dont see whats so great about Rome anymore anyhow. In fact, Benitolini himself has been quoted as saying, Wheres your fancy Sistine Chapel now, suckers?
Hungary
While Budapest doesnt seem like a logical contender for a central European power, Vilmos the Wise apparently intends to make it so. This country is still rather small, but has the opportunity to expand in all directions, so its future is rather open at this point.
Muscovy
King Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov I has declared himself ruler of Moscow, and backed up his claims by constructing a castle within the city. Currently the country with the largest military outside of Stalintopia, and without any competition from other nobles at this point, Muscovy seems certain to become a regional power at the very least.
Greece
The Athenians have united behind a young minister called Stelios Spiro, and the new Greek kingdom is seeking to unite the isles under its banner and establish itself in the Balkan region. None of the other city-states have yet reorganized, though there is no telling whether the Athenian kingdom will instigate resistance.
Constantinople
In response to the founding of Greece and the Ottoman Empire on either side, the Europeans and Arabs living in and around Constantinople have forged an uneasy truce. While one of the richer nations in this early stage, the union between the two conflicting groups is unstable, and the nation as of yet has no definite leader, instead being ruled by an oligarchy.