Ab Urbe Condita

Emperor Charlemagne forcibly convenes the Eighth Council of Nicea, rejecting the verdicts on the Iconoclasts before reading The Libri Carolini, outlining unified calendar measures and ushering the beginning stages of the Small Reunification.

The rejoining of Eastern and Western empires under a unified Christian dynasty unlocks a virtuous spiral of growth, with expanded peace and thriving arts and sciences at both courts. This prosperous time extends for the greater part of a half century.

Reared from birth as Louise I's heir, Pepina's untimely death triggered a succession crisis, civil war, and later, the partition of the Carolingian Empire

War and uncertianty coupled with a half decade of lost leadership expedited the precipitous fall of a unified Europa, and the prosperous lands left to Charlemagne's ancestors in disarry, it would take years for Greater Francia to recover, and even then, as a partitioned land, no longer unified.

In search of food, land, and especially wealth, the northern warriors raid, pillage, and ultimately settle throughout parts of Britannia, Ériuendel, upper Germania and Francia Magna. In Ériuendel their strength overwhelm the native population, within Francia claims on land and titles promised after the Righteous Queens Rebellion expedite their settlement.    Though their leaders and motivations vary by clan and region, by the late eighteenth century the entire continent is beset.

With various Ostmen armies pillaging throughout northern Francia, Rollo the Danelander emerged as a dominant force amongst the warring tribes. Mustering hundreds of ships, and possibly as many as ten thousand men, Rollo sailed up the Seine and besieged Paris for a full season. Though he was eventually repulsed by Charlotte III ‘The Sloth’ - after accepting a massive bribe to break the siege - parts of his army settled in Rouen and upper Seine valley.   Rollo’s great uncle, Halfdan, had sacked various towns and monasteries during the Righteous Queens Rebellion on behalf of Charlotte Raven Hair’s army. Though no written proof emerged, Rollo still held all Halfdan’s land claims were still owed to his bloodline, inclusive of large portions of upper Francia.

Two decades after his first emergence on the political stage, and thousands of victims in his wake, Rollo formally presses Halfdan’s claims and Charlotte ‘The Sloth’ cedes huge swaths of upper Western Francia to Rollo to rule quasi-independently. The conditions are two fold: Rollo must commit to defending the Seine’s northern entrance from other Ostmen, and he and his nobles must convert to Christianity.   The new territory is dubbed Normandy, and the settling of the area, intermingling of inhabitants, and rise of Christianity as the dominant regional religion thanks to the downward push of the nobles, accelerates the integration of the Ostmen and Francian cultures. Rollo’s heirs would rule for the next hundred years.

As the middle of the nineteenth century brought more death, disease, and conflict to the continent, leading Christian bishops and cardinals searched for ways to stem the particularly virulent bloodshed in Francia and Upper Germania, or at the very least, guide it away from the churchmen and growing impoverished and despoiled people of Europa.   Pax Dei was soon declared, or Peach of God, calling on contintntal knights to grant clemency and safe passage for clergy members, children, church lands, and peasants more generally as they continued their wars for land, titles, and plunder. Though initially shunned, Pax Dei became widely accepted by mid-century, with holy days, peace feasts, festivals, and most importantly, tournaments, held to help foster community but also redirect the population's penchant for violence.

Though partially intended to quell the scourge of noble violence, the declared Crusades instead ignited intolerance and bigotry. Pockets of sectarian hostility spread throughout Francia Major, Germania, and Italia, culminating less than a year later in the Pauper’s Crusade, a disorganized, mainly peasant army intent on fulfilling the Pope’s desire to retake Jerusalem.   Led by Peter the Hermit, the lightly armed rabble managed reached Constantinople, but not before cutting a swath of destruction across the various communities throughout central Europa. Without immediate Muslims to fight, they turned their aggression against their Jewish neighbors, mascaraing and destroying dozens of communities before their eventual obliteration in Anatolia by the Turks at the Battle of Civetot.

Though the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries brought challenges to the centralized power of the The Western Romanorum Imperium , particularly by wealthy and militarily strong city-states across Italia’s length, by Servilius’ time, municipalities such as Venitia, Ravenna, Florence, Naples, and Genoa among others, operated nearly independent of the Imperium’s authority, using their money and influence to drive favorable policies across the wider empire.   Emperor Servillius III’s decree moved the capital away from Ravenna, centralizing power on the peninsula back at Magna Roma. Though this move was initially effective, it did not fully stem city-states’ push for independence. Instead, in combination with the help of an uneasy truce with the Pope, Servillius merely required tribute of men, material, and capital from each region. In this way, the west reunified, though his autocratic power as the The Caesar of the Western Romanorum Imperium was severely curtailed.   The days of the Emperor as the central figure and driving force of the Western Empire were over.

King of Britannia and the Outer Isles, Edward I, crossed into Francian lands before the winter frosts subsided, bending the knee in front of his new liege Philip IV and, at least initially, pausing hostilities during the Discordant Era.   Despite the gesture, Edward and Philip would be at war in less than ten years. It would be the last time Britannian would pay homage for over a hundred years.

After rounding up and arresting most of the Templar’s, Francia moves to topple the last Templar fortress and their main area of operation. They are slow to mobilize though, and the assault does not begin until Christmas Day.   This affront is seen as further proof to the Templars that they are on the right side of God, while also destabilizing Philip IV’s attempts to isolate the group from his other enemies.

In response to the Treaty of Gwaskogn, Philip IV calls for Edward I to once again pay homage to him as king of Francia, and for Edward to forsworn his peace with the Templar Knights. Edward refuses, and instead sails additional soldiers and equipment to further aid La Rochelle.   Philip seethes, orders his armies to invade all of Aquitaine, lands traditionally held in personal union with Edward’s Plantagenet ancestry.   Thus begins the last years of the Discordant Era, and the Century War’s precursor years.