CONQUEST OF THE NEW WORLD

December 1st, 1500 AD

In the dawning moments of the year 1500, the earth felt the wrath and benevolence of God. Stars descended from the heavens and split the ground, exuding unknowable gasses, taking the form of shimmering portals to paradise. The prophesy of the half-time after the time was proven true, as our foresaken land fell at once to conflict over the spoils of the new world. Amongst the carnage great miracles and terrible magics are worked – in the Low Countries, the Virgin Telse exhorted the waters of Dithmarschen to, by the grace of God, sweep away and exterminate the Danish army, while in the old new world now known as the Americas, the Porto, Pedro Cabral, lays claim on Brazil after emerging victorious in a battle between gods, his ship's chaplains calling down angels of war upon the lizard-snakes of the savage Mesoamericans.The terrible theology now unveiled – that God is not the only divine force at play – has caused further chaos and destruction.

Both worlds are wracked with war and conflict. It is a time of great uncertainty and immeasurable potential, that, by the grace of God, we shall sieze!

- Chronicle of an anonymous monk

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You are a Serb, and your country is lost. For as long as any can remember, the Turks have ruled the land and shackled your people to the Ottoman Empire. Nobles-in-exile live under the aegis of Hungary, as warriors on the border. Ever they scheme and fight to retake the country so long lost to the Jihad. You are one of these minor nobles, your ancestral lands denied and known only by the stories passed down by your ancestors, you burn with righteous fury and hate for those who capitulated to the Turks and now lead attacks against Christian peoples.
You have heard tales of the doors to paradise, of the great riches and adventure to be found within... One day, whilst escaping an Ottoman warband, you happen across a misty forest glade, containing just such a portal! Perhaps the answer to your disposession lies within – either the riches to gather a host of hosts and begin the Reconquista Serbia, or new lands to settle and keep away from the Turkish menace...

==SERB MODE ACTIVATED==
''Only true Serbs can survive in this most difficult of endeavours''

Your family is effectively bankrupt, being rootless and penniless - deep in debt to local Hungarian merchants, only your status as a noble and an active enemy of the Ottomans saving you from prison, or worse.

Your father's father's father was at the battle of Kosovo, where he fought bravely but in vain alongside Prince Lazar, witnessing his mournful prophecy and demise. Rather than serve under the fratricidal Bayezid and traitor Serbs, he fled the country to raise up the Despotate (of which you are nominally a subject, under Jovan Brankovic).
You resolve to fulfill Lazar's prophesy and build a Kingdom of Heaven in the new world.

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Your picked scouts return from initial observation through the portal. The lands beyond change subtly with the reduction of mist, from swampy eastern foliage into drier, more southerly plants. The woodland continues all around, but becomes noticeably sparser to the northwest, where there is a hilltop crowning the forest. Above everything, though far in the distance, can be seen mountains to the north.

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A merry christmas is spent encamped and at play, the sound of drink and rolling dice from every corner of the army. You spend the time finding an army of rogues willing to die for the chance at adventure and riches, beguiling young hussars with tales of daring fights with the Turk.
The older men scoff at the arrogance, but know well the value of 'your' new discovery – the rumours of which have spread all across the south after only a month (nobody else knows the portal's location). There is little banditry or fighting to be done in the winter season, but you prepare and map the lands around the portal and have scouts venture a little further into the new world, where they find the coastline and some islands in the distance.

At the height of the revelry, a group of priests storms into the camp, arguing vigorously amongst themselves until they reach your table.
“Commander! We know you are to the new world! We beg you, render patronage to a disciple!”

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Marinko accepts your invitation to join the expedition to the new world and the holiday passes with much celebration. On the morning of the first day of the new year the parade is a little unsteady as men are still recovering from the carousing, but the captains of the infantry are drawn up before you and await a decision on the delegation of command for the ambush party. A lookout on the glade's hilltop is at your side, with news of sightings of great fires in the northern plains and strangely glinting  ships in the southern sea.