Please excuse the back tracking, but I feel its necessary for the devolpment of the plot and future events, I will try to intergrate it as a flash back the best I can.
Chapter 3: Colonial ventures, A New Byzantium
Byzantium walked into the thrown room and took a deep breath. He sighed as he sat down next to the Emperor, trying to get his mind off of the wars and conquest he thought back to first time he estabilished a colony in the new world.
It was the early 15 hundreds a few years after the new world had been discovered by Spain. Byzantium planed to estabilish claims there to ensure that he would not nearly lose again, being on a different continent can help with that. The Byzantine expedition landed somewhere on the coast of modern-day Massachusets. Byzantium was the first to step off his armor shinning in the sun. It was a sunny mid summer day when they arrived, hot and hummid, but the temperatures were no different in the summers of the Middle east if not cooler, so the troops were not effected by the heat in their armor.
Byzantium took a flag of the imperial eagle, and started to search for a great place to estabilish the first Byzantine colony in the new world. He stumbled upon a hill with a river in the area, he instantly thought it was a great spot for a city.
"Men gather round me, I want this to be a day remembered in the anals of history! On this day 1501, July 15 I declare this land in which myself and my troops stand to be the colonial holdings of the Byzantine Empire, and as such the new lands here shall be named New Byzantium!" The men cheered as Byzantium planted the Imperial Eagle into the ground upon the hill. He then turned around and shouted, "Ok men I want a fort up before that sun sets! Hop to it troops." He walked down to the river and took a drink of it when he saw across it England setting down his own flag. Byzantium to say the least was angry, "Hey Arthur piss off this is my land! Now get the hell of before I march over there and pluck that god damned saint George's cross out of the dirt!" Arthur turned over to see Byzantium and replied, "To hell with you prat its my land I came here first!"
The first day went on and a fort was built on top of the hill with the imperial flag on it. Arthur however was building housing for the colonist. Byzantium gathered a few select troops not to many to seem threating, but not to few to not get the message across. He marched down pistols hustlered and sword in hand, "Arthur I will give you one last chance get off my land or face the wrath of my troops!" Arthur was in a tight position as he had not brought that many troops with him to establish a colony as he wasn't expecting much resistance. Arthur however was not about to give up, "To hell with you, my few troops could take on however many troops you have here!" This was just what Byzantium wanted to hear, "Ok, come out boys lets show this English dog who he is messing with." A whole battialion of troops came out from the fort and marched down to Byzantium, "Now Arthur care to reconsider that statement and get off my lands?" Arthur had no choice he would just have to find some other piece of land to colonize. "Damn you Triestan, if you weren't so damn paridoned with your holdings, I would have had this land." Arthur stormed off muttering a curse only to have Russia pop up right in his face, "Damn you, get out of here!" he pushed Russia back into the portal. Arthur had left and told the colonist that they were heading south.
Only few could take any land that belonged to the Byzantines, as they were masters of defensive warfare, infact it was maditory for the Byzantines to build a fort in their colonies before they would build any infrastructure or housing and every colony would have its own small army set aside to defend it.
Byzantium actually enjoyed setting up colonies, as it reminded him of better days when he was at the hight of his and Rome's power. Byzantium walked along the quickly developing colony of what he called New Constantinople, which would be the colonial capital for this land when he ran into a little boy. "Are you lost little one?" the little boy laughed and ran away. Byzantium smiled and followed the little boy, thinking that he was just wanting to play. "Ok little one I will follow." He did as such and followed the boy out to the river where there was nothing, but an open field and the little boy. The boy was short and very innocent. Byzantium staired at the boy and noticed that there was something about him he liked and he asked, "What's your name? Mine is Triestan." The boy cocked his head thinking about the answer when out of no where came Francis and Antonio, along with their friend Gilbert who had found a way to sneak out of Poland's house for a while to explore this new land. "Well kid if anything I would suggest we get you out of here and away from the pervert, the man who's far to nice, and the… narcissist, trust me bad influences." He grabbed the childs hand and started to lead him away when Francis noticed him and shouted, "Hey where are you taking that little one?" Byzantium turned around and shouted, "None of your business, I am just leading the child back to my colony! I followed him out here and I am tacking him back ok." Francis was fine with that answer and Antonio was daydreaming, but Gilbert was not satisfied, "I don't know I think he's hiding something." Byzantium picked the kid up and ran, he had knew the moment he got the chance to study the child that he was his, his child, but he didn't know how or when it had happened he just knew that the child was his colony and he had to get him back before any of those people could try and take him away.
Byzantium stopped remembering the moment and decided to continue some other time. He stood up and walked over to the war room getting ready to move on Egypt in order to take back the land that rightfully belongs to him, but before that could happen he received a message declaring that the Grand Duchy of Austria, and the whole of the Holy Roman Empire, excluding a few select members have declared war on him. "Sigh, Austria must be pissed that I stole the Balkans from him oh well its his funeral." So the Austro-Byzantine war has begun!