It is a dark time for Europe, a continent on the brink of destruction.

When the Mongols arrived in Russia, none were prepared. They swept eastward with an unstoppable power that made even the greatest agnostic view them as an instrument of Satan. Neither the Russians nor the Byzantines could stand against them, and Orthodox Christianity was crushed underneath the hooves of a million horses. But they would not stop there, as the Kingdoms of Poland, Hungary, and even Denmark fell in turn. Even the Holy Roman Empire could not stand against them, and they surrendered themselves to the Mongols to serve as their vassals. When the Mongols came none were prepared, and now they rule all of Europe east of France and Italy.

But if Christianity is facing extinction, Islam is on the brink. The Timurids were their demons, and they were no less terrible. The Egyptians were conquored utterly and the Turks pressed to their farthest reaches, doomed to be picked apart by the twin vultures from the east. And yet all is not quite lost, for there still stand noble Christian Kingdoms capable of bring battle to the pagan hordes.

England has subdued Scotland and Wales and is at peace; from their island they are in the enviable position of being able to launch attacks on the mainland at will.

Portugal has subjugated the Kingdoms of Leon and Castille, fulfilled the Reconquista, and unified Iberia under their rule. They face no immidiate threat from the east, and with the Moors in Africa swearing fealty they should be able to develop a rich land, well able to resist invasion.

His Holiness has not been idle either. In the face of this existential threat to Christianity he has chosen to expand his temporal power, and now rules most of Italy while acting as a barrier to the Timurids in Africa. He has even allied with the heathen Turks, a true sign of how desperate things are.

And then there is the Kingdom of France, which has just finished fighting it's own existential threat over the past two centuries...