Tsardom of Russia

[cfmonkey45]

Tsardom of Russia
Царство Русское

National Information

Leader: Tsar Pytor Alexeyevich Romanov
Capital: Saint Petersburg
Westernized: Yes*
Religion: Orthodox Christianity

Diplomacy

Allies

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Friendly

Kingdom of Denmark

Neutral

Safavid Persia
Qing Empire
Habsburg Empire

Unfriendly

Ottoman Empire

Hostile

Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Sweden

Characters

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Peter I
Title: Tsar of Russia
Skill: Administrator

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Catherine I of Russia
Title: Empress consort of All the Russias
Skill: 7

Advisors

Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich - Heir to the Throne

Administrator

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The young Alexei was brought up by his mother, who fostered an atmosphere of disdain towards Peter the Great, Alexei's father. Alexei's relations with his father suffered from the hatred between his father and his mother, as it was very difficult for him to feel affection for his mother's worst persecutor. From the ages of 6 to 9, Alexei was educated by his tutor Vyazemsky, but after the removal of his mother by Peter the Great to the Suzdal Intercession Convent, Alexei was confined to the care of educated foreigners, who taught him history, geography, mathematics and French. One of his teachers named Kyle Holland, influenced young Alexei the most.

Boris Sheremetev

General - Level 4

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Menshikov was born on 16 November 1673 in Moscow. It has been disputed by his enemies whether his father was a stablehand or worked on a barge; it's more likely that he was of petty noble stock. As the story goes, he was making a living on the streets of Moscow as a vendor of stuffed buns known as pirozhki[1] at the age of twenty. His fine appearance and witty character caught the attention of Franz Lefort, Peter's first favorite, who took him into his service and finally transferred him to the tsar. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favorite and confidant.
.
During the tsar's first foreign tour, Menshikov worked by his side in the dockyard of Amsterdam, and acquired a thorough knowledge of colloquial Dutch and German. He took an active part in the Azov campaigns (1695–1696) against the Ottoman Empire, and acted as subordinate to Boris Sheremetev, who was commander-in-chief during the retreat before Charles XII in 1708, subsequently participating in the battle of Holowczyn, the reduction of Mazepa, and the crowning victory of Poltava on July 8, 1709, where he won his field-marshal's baton.

Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov

General - Level 2

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Menshikov was born on 16 November 1673 in Moscow. It has been disputed by his enemies whether his father was a stablehand or worked on a barge; it's more likely that he was of petty noble stock. As the story goes, he was making a living on the streets of Moscow as a vendor of stuffed buns known as pirozhki[1] at the age of twenty. His fine appearance and witty character caught the attention of Franz Lefort, Peter's first favorite, who took him into his service and finally transferred him to the tsar. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favorite and confidant.
.
During the tsar's first foreign tour, Menshikov worked by his side in the dockyard of Amsterdam, and acquired a thorough knowledge of colloquial Dutch and German. He took an active part in the Azov campaigns (1695–1696) against the Ottoman Empire, and acted as subordinate to Boris Sheremetev, who was commander-in-chief during the retreat before Charles XII in 1708, subsequently participating in the battle of Holowczyn, the reduction of Mazepa, and the crowning victory of Poltava on July 8, 1709, where he won his field-marshal's baton.

Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin

Admiral - 2

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Apraksin brothers were launched to prominence after the marriage of their sister Marfa to Tsar Feodor III of Russia in 1681. Fyodor entered the service of his brother-in-law at the age of 10 as a stolnik. After Feodor's death he served the little tsar Peter in the same capacity. He took part in military amusements of the young tsar and helped to build a toy flotilla for him. The playfellowship of the two lads resulted in a lifelong friendship.

In 1692 Apraksin was appointed governor of Arkhangelsk, the foremost trade port of Russia at that time, and built ships capable of weathering storms, to the great delight of the tsar. While living there, he commissioned one of the first Russian trade vessels to be built and sail abroad. In 1697 he was entrusted with major shipbuilding activities in Voronezh, where he would supervise the construction of the first Russian fleet. He won his colonelcy at the siege of Azov (1696). He was nominated the first Russian governor of Azov in 1700. While Peter was combating Charles XII, Apraksin was constructing fleets, building fortresses and havens in South Russia, notably Tavrov and Taganrog. In 1700 he was also appointed chief of the admiralty, in which post (from 1700 to 1706) his unusual technical ability was of great service.

Having pacified the rebellious Astrakhan, Apraksin was summoned to Moscow, where he was put in charge of the mint and the armoury. In 1707, he was appointed president of the Russian Admiralty. The following year, he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ingria, to defend the new capital Saint Petersburg against the Swedes, whom he utterly routed, besides capturing Vyborg in Carelia. On February 25, 1710, aged 48, he became the third Russian ever to be elevated to the comital dignity.

Apraksin held the chief command in the Black Sea during the campaign of the Pruth (1711). In March 1711 he was in command at the Siege of Vyborg. Taking this Swedish fortress in June, he was invested with the Order of St. Andrew and appointed governor of the conquered provinces (Estonia, Ingria, and Karelia). He commanded the Imperial Russian Navy in the taking of Helsinki (1713) - materially assisting the conquest of Finland by his operations from the side of the sea - and the great Battle of Gangut (1714). That same year he assisted the tsar in launching a new harbour in Revel. Earlier, in 1712, he held parley with Turkey, which ended in the destruction of Taganrog and the surrender of Azov to the Ottomans.

From 1710 to 1720 he personally conducted the descents upon Sweden, ravaging that country mercilessly, and thus extorting the peace of Nystad, whereby she surrendered the best part of her Baltic provinces to Russia. For these great services he was made a senator and General Admiral of the Empire.

Tikhon Nikitich Streshnev

Administrator

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Tikhon Nikitich Streshnev was a Russian boyar and statesman during the reign of Peter I of Russia, one of the first members of the Governing Senate and the first governor of Moscow after the post was reformed by Peter.

Tikhon Streshnev was the son of boyar Nikita Streshnev, who was a distant relative of Eudoxia Streshneva and voevoda in Yefremov and Vologda.

In 1666 Streshnev was a solicitor, in 1668 he became a stolnik. Together with his uncle, boyar Rodion Streshnev, he mentored the young tsar, Peter I. After his accession to the throne in 1682, Streshnev's influence grew considerably. The day after the coronation, he received the rank of okolnichiy and in 1688 that of boyar. In 1690 Streshnev became as the head of the Razryadny prikaz the head of the military of Muscovy, although he never took part in the real military actions. To the period of his absence in 1697, Peter left to govern the state Prince Romodanovsky and Streshnev.

History of Russia

Early History

By the 16th century, the Russian ruler had emerged as a powerful, autocratic figure, a Tsar. By assuming that title, the sovereign of Moscow tried to underscore that he was a major ruler or emperor on a par with the Byzantine emperor or the Mongol khan. Indeed, after Ivan III's marriage to Sophia Palaiologina, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, the Moscow court adopted Byzantine terms, rituals, titles, and emblems such as the double-headed eagle, which survives as the coat of arms of Russia.
At first, the Byzantine term autokrator connoted only the literal meaning of an independent ruler, but in the reign of Ivan IV (r. 1533-1584) it came to mean unlimited rule. Ivan IV was crowned Tsar and thus was recognized, at least by the Russian Orthodox Church, as emperor. Philotheus of Pskov had claimed that, once Constantinople had fallen to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the Russian Tsar was the only legitimate Orthodox ruler and that Moscow was the Third Rome because it was the final successor to Rome and Constantinople, the centers of Christianity in earlier periods. That concept was to resonate in the self-image of Russians in future centuries.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible and the Time of Troubles

Russia remained a fairly unknown society in western Europe until Baron Sigismund von Herberstein published his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (literally Notes on Muscovite Affairs) in 1549. This provided a comprehensive view of what had been a rarely visited and poorly reported state. In the 1630s, the Russian Tsardom was visited by Adam Olearius, whose lively and well-informed writings were soon translated into all the major languages of Europe.


Apollinary Vasnetsov. Arrival of heralds to the Kremlin. 20th century depiction.
Further information about Russia was disseminated by English and Dutch merchants. One of them, Richard Chancellor, sailed to the White Sea in 1553 and continued overland to Moscow. Upon his return to England, the Muscovy Company was formed by himself, Sebastian Cabot, Sir Hugh Willoughby, and several London merchants. Ivan the Terrible used these merchants to exchange letters with Elizabeth I.

Despite the domestic turmoil of 1530s and 1540s, Russia continued to wage wars and to expand. Ivan defeated and annexed the Khanate of Kazan on the middle Volga in 1552 and later the Astrakhan Khanate, where the Volga meets the Caspian Sea. These victories transformed Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state which it continues to be today. The tsar now controlled the entire Volga River and gained access to Central Asia.

Expanding to the northwest toward the Baltic Sea proved to be much more difficult. In 1558 Ivan invaded Livonia, eventually embroiling himself in a twenty-five-year war against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, and Denmark. Despite occasional successes, Ivan's army was pushed back, and the nation failed to secure a coveted position on the Baltic Sea.
Hoping to make profit from Russia's concentration on Livonian affairs, Devlet I Giray of Crimea, accompanied by as many as 120,000 horsemen, repeatedly devastated the Moscow region, until the Battle of Molodi put a stop to such northward incursions. But for decades to come, the southern borderland was annually pillaged by the Nogai Horde and the Crimean Khanate, who took local inhabitants with them as slaves. Tens of thousands of soldiers protected the Great Abatis Belt — a heavy burden for a state whose social and economic development was stagnating. These wars drained Russia.

Ivan IV was succeeded by his son Fedor, who was mentally deficient. Actual power went to Fedor's brother-in-law, the boyar Boris Godunov (who is credited with abolishing Yuri's Day, the only time of the year when serfs were free to move from one landowner to another). Perhaps the most important event of Fedor's reign was the proclamation of the Patriarchate of Moscow in 1589. The creation of the patriarchate climaxed the evolution of a separate and totally independent Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1598 Fedor died without an heir, ending the Rurik Dynasty. Boris Godunov then convened a Zemsky Sobor, a national assembly of boyars, church officials, and commoners, which proclaimed him tsar, although various boyar factions refused to recognize the decision. Widespread crop failures caused the Russian famine of 1601–1603, and during the ensuing discontent, a man emerged who claimed to be Tsarevich Demetrius, Ivan IV's son who had died in 1591. This pretender to the throne, who came to be known as False Dmitriy I, gained support in Poland and marched to Moscow, gathering followers among the boyars and other elements as he went. Historians speculate that Godunov would have weathered this crisis had he not died in 1605. As a result, False Dmitriy I entered Moscow and was crowned tsar that year, following the murder of Tsar Fedor II, Godunov's son.

Subsequently, Russia entered a period of continuous chaos, known as The Time of Troubles (Смутное Время). Despite the tsar's persecution of the boyars, the townspeople's dissatisfaction, and the gradual enserfment of the peasantry, efforts at restricting the power of the tsar were only halfhearted. Finding no institutional alternative to the autocracy, discontented Russians rallied behind various pretenders to the throne. During that period, the goal of political activity was to gain influence over the sitting autocrat or to place one's own candidate on the throne. The boyars fought among themselves, the lower classes revolted blindly, and foreign armies occupied the Kremlin in Moscow, prompting many to accept Tsarist autocracy as a necessary means to restoring order and unity in Russia.


The Time of Troubles included a civil war in which a struggle over the throne was complicated by the machinations of rival boyar factions, the intervention of regional powers Poland and Sweden, and intense popular discontent, led by Ivan Bolotnikov. False Dmitriy I and his Polish garrison were overthrown, and a boyar, Vasily Shuysky, was proclaimed tsar in 1606. In his attempt to retain the throne, Shuysky allied himself with the Swedes, unleashing the Ingrian War with Sweden. False Dmitry II, allied with the Poles, appeared under the walls of Moscow and set up a mock court in the village of Tushino.

In 1609 Poland intervened into Russian affairs officially, captured Shuisky, and occupied the Kremlin. A group of Russian boyars signed in 1610 a treaty of peace, recognising Ladislaus IV of Poland, son of Polish king Sigismund III Vasa, as tsar. In 1611, False Dmitry III appeared in the Swedish-occupied territories, but was soon apprehended and executed. The Polish presence led to a patriotic revival among the Russians, and a volunteer army, financed by the Stroganov merchants and blessed by the Orthodox Church, was formed in Nizhny Novgorod and, led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, drove the Poles out of the Kremlin. In 1613 a zemsky Sobor proclaimed the boyar Mikhail Romanov as tsar, beginning the 300-year reign of the Romanov family.

Early History

The immediate task of the new dynasty was to restore order. Fortunately for Russia, its major enemies, Poland and Sweden, were engaged in a bitter conflict with each other, which provided Russia the opportunity to make peace with Sweden in 1617. The Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) was ended with the Truce of Deulino in 1618, restoring temporarily Polish and Lithuanian rule over some territories, including Smolensk, lost by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1509.
The early Romanovs were weak rulers. Under Mikhail, state affairs were in the hands of the tsar's father, Filaret, who in 1619 became Patriarch of Moscow. Later, Mikhail's son Aleksey (r. 1645-1676) relied on a boyar, Boris Morozov, to run his government. Morozov abused his position by exploiting the populace, and in 1648 Aleksey dismissed him in the wake of the Salt Riot in Moscow.
After an unsuccessful attempt to regain Smolensk from Poland in 1632, Russia made peace with Poland in 1634. Polish king Władysław IV Vasa, whose father and predecessor Sigismund III Vasa had been elected by Russian boyars as tsar of Russia during the Time of Troubles, renounced all claims to the title as a condition of the peace treaty.

Russia's southwestern expansion, particularly its incorporation of eastern Ukraine, had unintended consequences. Most Ukrainians were Orthodox, but their close contact with the Roman Catholic and the Polish Counter-Reformation also brought them Western intellectual currents. Through the Ukrainian Academy in Kiev, Russia gained links to Polish and Central European influences and to the wider Orthodox world. Although the Ukrainian link stimulated creativity in many areas, it also undermined traditional Russian religious practices and culture. The Russian Orthodox Church discovered that its isolation from Constantinople had caused variations to appear between their liturgical books and practices.

The Russian Orthodox patriarch, Nikon, was determined to bring the Russian texts back into conformity with the Greek texts and practices of the time. But Nikon encountered fierce opposition among the many Russians who viewed the corrections as improper foreign intrusions, or perhaps the work of the devil. When the Orthodox Church forced Nikon's reforms, a schism resulted in 1667. Those who did not accept the reforms came to be called the Old Believers; they were officially pronounced heretics and were persecuted by the church and the state. The chief opposition figure, the protopope Avvakum, was burned at the stake. The split subsequently became permanent, and many merchants and peasants joined the Old Believers.
The tsar's court also felt the impact of Ukraine and the West. Kiev was a major transmitter of new ideas and insight through the famed scholarly academy that Metropolitan Mohyla founded there in 1631. Other more direct channels to the West opened as international trade increased and more foreigners came to Russia. The tsar's court was interested in the West's more advanced technology, particularly when military applications were involved. By the end of the 17th century, Ukrainian, Polish, and West European penetration had undermined the Russian cultural synthesis—at least among the elite—and had prepared the way for an even more radical transformation.

Russia's eastward expansion encountered relatively little resistance. In 1581 the Stroganov merchant family, interested in fur trade, hired a Cossack leader, Yermak Timofeyevich, to lead an expedition into western Siberia. Yermak defeated the Khanate of Sibir and claimed the territories west of the Ob and Irtysh rivers for Russia.

From such bases as Mangazeya, merchants, traders, and explorers pushed eastward from the Ob River to the Yenisei River, then to the Lena River and to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. In 1648 Cossack Semyon Dezhnyov opened the passage between America and Asia. By the middle of the 17th century, Russians had reached the Amur River and the outskirts of the Chinese Empire.

After a period of conflict with the Qing Dynasty, Russia made peace with China in 1689. By the Treaty of Nerchinsk, Russia ceded its claims to the Amur Valley, but it gained access to the region east of Lake Baikal and the trade route to Beijing. Peace with China consolidated the initial breakthrough to the Pacific that had been made in the middle of the century.

Military

Infantry

Spoiler for 'Recruits': 

Among many of the poor classes, especially in the military before the Petrine military reforms, there were few modern weapons to be seen. Many still carried with them instruments of medieval origin, and some are still used as auxiliaries, skirmishers, or fodder.



Sword/Bow/Polearm 5,000
Militia Training 10,000
_________________
Total 15,000

Spoiler for 'Recruit' Infantry: 

Among many of the poor classes, especially in the military before the Petrine military reforms, there were few modern weapons to be seen. Many still carried with them instruments of medieval origin, and some are still used as auxiliaries, skirmishers, or fodder.


Matchlock Musket 15,000
Militia Training 10,000
_________________
Total 25,000

Spoiler for Old Russian Infantry: 

Among many of the poor classes, especially in the military before the Petrine military reforms, there were few modern weapons to be seen. Many still carried with them instruments of medieval origin, and some are still used as auxiliaries, skirmishers, or fodder.


Matchlock Musket 15,000
Sword 5,000
Regular Training 30,000
_________________
Total 50,000

Spoiler for Russian Line Infantry: 

One of the most important changes Tsar Peter made to the Russian military was the establishment of a standing army composed of conscripts, referred to as "recruits," with an officer corps promoted based on merit and not preexisting class. By 1721, Russia's military was comparable to that of most Western European powers, although it was completely untested.



Flintlock Musket 20,000
Regular Training 30,000
_________________
Total 50,000

Cavalry

Spoiler for Cossack: 

Hailing from a fierce nomadic and warrior-based cultural tradition, the East Slavic settlers of the Don and Dneiper Rivers established themselves as admirable, but fiercesome foes. By the time of Tsar Peter's ascension to the throne, most have been subjugated to the Romanovs in a shaky alliance. Regardless of politics, the Cossacks make up an integral part of the old and current Russian military.

While many serve in infantry regiments, the remainder, being trained with horses, serve as cavalry. Although most of their weapons are outdated, they make excellent scouts and are superb for ambushing foes.

Bow 5,000
Lance 5,000
Sword 5,000
Light Mounts 30,000
Regular Training 30,000
_________________
Total 75,000

Spoiler for Don Cossack: 

Hailing from a fierce nomadic and warrior-based cultural tradition, the East Slavic settlers of the Don and Dneiper Rivers established themselves as admirable, but fiercesome foes. By the time of Tsar Peter's ascension to the throne, most have been subjugated to the Romanovs in a shaky alliance. Regardless of politics, the Cossacks make up an integral part of the old and current Russian military.

While many serve in infantry regiments, the remainder, being trained with horses, serve as cavalry. Although most of their weapons are outdated, they make excellent scouts and are superb for ambushing foes.

Carbine 25,000
Sword 5,000
Light Mounts 30,000
Regular Training 30,000
_________________
Total 90,000

Spoiler for Petrine Cuirasseurs: 

Based off of their western counterparts, the Tsar has established dragoons as a necessary alternative to the mounted Cossacks and to compensate for the lack of any existing cavalry within the Russian Army. Dragoons are typically trained as both infantry, using their horses to quickly maneuver around the battlefield and reposition themselves accordingly, and as sabre-wielding cavalry.

Carbine 25,000
Sword 5,000
Medium Mounts 60,000
Regular Training 30,000
_________________
Total 120,000

Spoiler for Petrine Dragoons: 

Based off of their western counterparts, the Tsar has established dragoons as a necessary alternative to the mounted Cossacks and to compensate for the lack of any existing cavalry within the Russian Army. Dragoons are typically trained as both infantry, using their horses to quickly maneuver around the battlefield and reposition themselves accordingly, and as sabre-wielding cavalry.

Flintlock 40,000
Medium Mounts 60,000
Regular Training 30,000
_________________
Total 130,000

Artillery

Spoiler for 6 lber: 

Regular-30,000
Swords-5,000
6 Pounders-30,000
_________________
Total 65,000

Spoiler for 12 lber: 

Regular-30,000
Swords-5,000
6 Pounders-50,000
_________________
Total 85,000

Elite Troops

Spoiler for Streltsy: 

Originally meaning "archer," the Streltsy were the main guardsmen and elite infantry of Tsarist Russia before the Petrine military reforms. Often they wore red and yellow uniform to identify themselves. As elite soldiers, they often fought in caracole formation, where the first line would fire a volley, then move to the back to reload while the next line fired, allowing them to maintain a steady ready of fire in combat. They also employed wooden platforms and barriers to give themselves increased range and protection in combat.

However, despite their skill, they were notorious for actively engaging themselves in court politics, which eventually led to their dissolution by Peter the Great.

Matchlock Musket 25,000
Sword 5,000
Bows 5,000
Veteran Training 75,000
_________________
Total 110,000

Spoiler for Preobrazhenskii: 

Resulting from a childhood fascination with western culture and military practices, the Preobrazhenskii were created as the elite infantry of the Russian army and eventually as the Tsar's new alternative to the notoriously unreliable Streltsy.

Flintlock Musket 40,000
Sword 5,000
Veteran Training 75,000
_________________
Total 120,000

* I am operating under the rules given to scottishranger in the last WA 1715, that I can either start half westernized at half income, or I can be westernized, but have 70% of my troops unwesternized. I'm am proceeding with the latter option.

[Double A]

If you made one more unit, you would get another western one.

[cfmonkey45]

?

[Double A]

70% of 11 is 7, but 70% of 12 is 8 (rounded down each).

Therefore, if you made 12 units, you could have 4 westernized units, as opposed to 11 with 3.

[cfmonkey45]

No, it's for your army. Like, I make 3,500,000 worth of troops, and 10,400,000 of those are Westernized.

[Double A]

Oooooh.

That's a bit different. (also it's 1,050,000)

I was just saying because you gave Streltsy matchlocks.

edit: Now I see the problem. You priced your matchlocks for your Streltsy at flintlock price, and you did the same with your Preobrazhenskii's flintlocks (at rifle price).

[Majonga]

A Swedish Diplomat has arrived and requests an Audience with the Tsar, or anyone else who has authority to treat with him.

[RVFVS]

An Austrian official arrives to the the Tsar.

[cfmonkey45]

The Peterhof Palace


Inside the beautiful, new, although sparsely furnished Peterhof palace, Tsar Peter awaits his guests. Peterhof Palace's construction began in 1714 as the crown jewel of the nanscent city of St. Petersburg. Following with Tsar Peter's westernizing attitudes, the palace was given the Dutch name of Peterhof and serves as his summer palace.

Tsar Peter allows the Swede to enter into his presence. The room is noticebly lacking in the traditional Strelsty, which have been superceded by the Preobrazhenskii who sport a rather impressive display of both modern military attire and the new martial attitude of the Russian army.

"What matter does the King in Sweden have for us?"


The Austrian diplomat is shown into an adjacent waiting room where he is greeted by Tikhon Nikitich Streshnev, an official advisor to the Tsar. In broken German, he replies:

"Good day to you. What do you wish to discuss with the Tsar?"

[Majonga]

The Swedish diplomat steps forward and bows deeply, displaying his respect for the Tsar of all Russias.

"I bring word from my King, Karl XII Kirgarkung, ruler of the Swedish Empire. I am instructed to inquire into Russia's stance with the Swedish Empire and whether it is their intention to continue the Great Northern War, If the great Tsar is willing, the King of Sweden would be willing to discuss peaceful negotiations."

[cfmonkey45]

"We would be willing to negotiate a peace if the following subjects were discussed:

1. The Status of Livonia and Estonia
2. The Status of Finnland
3. Rights to the Baltic Trade Route

[Majonga]

Sweden's positions on these topics is thus:

1. Estonia is a Swedish Province and we refuse to acknowledge the capitulation of 1710
2. Neither will we accept Russian control of Finland, due to their occupation in 1714, these are Swedish provinces captured and occupied by invading Russian forces
3. Sweden is willing to evenly split the income of the Baltic trade route between, Russia, Sweden and Denmark. Only with a fair division can we hope for peace.

[Rebel Jeb]

A diplomat from Egypt arrives to speak with a Russian official. He is well dressed and has a confident air about him.

[cfmonkey45]

The Peterhof Palace

A diplomat from Egypt arrives to speak with a Russian official. He is well dressed and has a confident air about him.

Tsar Peter gives mixed glance towards the Ottoman representative, considering both their historical rivalry, which has at times been quite acrimonious, and the recent conclusion of the Pruth Campaign against the Ottoman Sultan with the Treaty of the Pruth.

"What does the Sultan wish to present to us on this day?"

Sweden's positions on these topics is thus:

1. Estonia is a Swedish Province and we refuse to acknowledge the capitulation of 1710
2. Neither will we accept Russian control of Finland, due to their occupation in 1714, these are Swedish provinces captured and occupied by invading Russian forces
3. Sweden is willing to evenly split the income of the Baltic trade route between, Russia, Sweden and Denmark. Only with a fair division can we hope for peace.

The Tsar scowled.

"We will not be deprived of our birthright as Great Power by paltry Swedish gentrymen. Return to your King and relay him the message that without Livonia there can be no peace."

[Majonga]

The Swedish Diplomat bowed deeply once again

"It is regrettable that it should come to this, I will return immediately to my majesty to inform him of your disposition"

[Rebel Jeb]

Tsar Peter gives mixed glance towards the Ottoman representative, considering both their historical rivalry, which has at times been quite acrimonious, and the recent conclusion of the Pruth Campaign against the Ottoman Sultan with the Treaty of the Pruth.

"What does the Sultan wish to present to us on this day?"

The Egyptian bowed at the Tsar. "Good day, great Tsar. I have come to request a proposal from the Sultan." He withdrew a letter from his pocket, handing it to the Tsar. "We...acknowledge our past differences, but the Sultan wishes for the future to be more peaceful. He proposes a non-aggression pact between us. He has already signed, and requests you do as well. He feels this can help us both, as he has no intention of interfering with Russia, and we hope you feel the same."

OOC: Time is 3 turns.

[cfmonkey45]

The Tsar looked perplexed. The Ottoman Sultanate and the Tsardom of Russia were not currently at a state of war. This matter with the Ottoman Sultanate was most puzzling.

"We believe that the Peace of the Pruth sufficed for now. However, if the Sultan wishes to rescind his demand that Russia cease interfering in Polish matters, amongst other things, and terminate the peace in favor of a new one, we would be be inclined to listen."

[Rebel Jeb]

OOC: Sounds good. Didn't know of the treaty, thanks.

[RVFVS]

The Habsburg diplomat smiles.

"We wish to speak of the Ottomans...and possibly of an action against them."

He sits back.

[cfmonkey45]

Tikhon moved to close the door.


"Let us speak privately, so as not to arouse the ears of any lesser men."