Summer, 1501

"VLADISLAV!!!"* rings out from below as he flies silently into the Carpathian forests. Alduin, the World Eater, Bane of Kings, had been release at last from his slumber. He almost wished he had killed the pathetic man who had freed him, but knew that killing one of their petty Kings would make these humans suspicious. No, he needed time to track down the rest of his generals, and begin raising more of his brethren from their earthen tombs. Letting one telltale thu'um pierce the sky, Alduin heads East, for the Urals.

Meanwhile

Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin awoke screaming, the voices of the damned and dying to come echoing through his head. Immediately surrounded by guards, he ordered them to bring him the Cihuacoatl of Tenochtitlan and the Book of Destiny.

Cuitláhuac rushed into the royal chambers to see what has upset his younger brother so badly, the Book of Destiny clutched in his arms. But when he saw the look in Motecuhzoma's eyes, he need not speak to understand what had happened.

It was time, and preparations must be made.

Spring, 1504

Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, Governor of the Indies, had finally received the fleet of ships he had requested from Spain, and set out immediately to establish relations with the mainland Indians. Finally approaching the shoreline, he and a few other explorers set out by rowboat for first contact. Landing their craft, he approached a group of Indians who had gathered to see the excitement, and in his best memorized Tamil said "We mean you no harm. We come from great land of Spain. We like to trade for your spice."

Much to his disdain, the Indians seemed to not understand his speech. Maybe he had memorized it wrong? But more confusingly, a tall warrior seemed to be approaching him. And he was carrying a very strange looking arquebus. 'I didn't realise that the Indians had arquebuses,' he began to think, 'and why is this one pointing his at me...'

Summer, 1506

The first attacks came quickly, and without warning.

Moskva was the first to fall, being so close to Alduin's base of operations in the Urals. Within an hour half the city was burning. Vasili II Ivanovich, Grand Prince of Muscovy, however, would not surrender his city without a fight. And what a fight it was (93). Showing Alduin that these humans were not to be taken lightly, Vasili single handedly downed two dragons with a bombard, and nearly hit Alduin himself. However, Alduin made him pay dearly for that, and Vasili was no match for Alduin up close (22).

Word reached Wola mere minutes before the attack. Jan of Opole and Sigismund I the Old were nearly coming to blows in their latest fight over who should be crowned King of Poland following the death of Alexander Jagiellon. Neither had expected, however, the age of dragons to return, and lay their long-held plans to waste. Jan of Opole, eager to cement his right to rule Poland, steps outside to meet the threat head-on (30). He is immediately burned to a crisp. Sigismund, on the other hand, decides to make his way out the back and attempt to flee into the countryside (82). This is the first sighting of the undead that the dragon menace brings with them, as Sigismund hacks his way through a column of ancient Polish dead (60). He escapes with an arrow in his shoulder and some cuts and bruises, but hopes he will live to fight another day.

The events of the day quickly reached Buda, where Vladislaus was contemplating new war plans against the Turkish menace. His heart immediately sank with dread, but then rose again with recognition. Rushing to his study, he removes an old sheet, revealing the golden armor and sword he recovered from those caves years ago. He knew then what had to be done.

Entrusting his quickest horse to his most competent messenger, he gives the boy a single note, to be brought to Emperor Maximilian. It read:

The stories of old are true, and the dragons have returned. However, I believe that they did not hoard gold as we may have believed, but rather protected it, as it may be the only substance capable of truly harming them forge as many weapons and pieces of armor as you can, for I fear that I shall not have time to do the same. Do not let them win.

With that, Vladislaus began to prepare his own defenses. He would stall the dragons here, or die trying.

Meanwhile

What first appeared to be a dark wave to the Portuguese fisherman that first saw it quickly became clear as a fleet the size of which had never been seen before. Defenses were quickly erected around Lisbon, only to be torn down by massive cannon bombardments from the largest ships of the fleet. Guards who attempted to halt the initial landing crew were cut down quickly by the muskets of the gold-plated invading force. Unable to be stopped, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin walked directly into the royal palace and up to Dom Manuel I, where he spoke in perfect Portuguese, "We must speak, for you are all in terrible danger."

Spring, 1507

For 6 long months the Second Dragon War had plagued Europe. Buda had fallen quickly (13), but not before Vladislaus II had cut down a dragon and 8 dozen undead to ensure the escape of himself and his family (91). From there the dragons moved south, turning Belgrade into firewood (9) and Constantinople into a series of burnt-out kebab houses (37). However, the seemingly unstoppable march of the dragon armies is halted at Jerusalem, where forces of seemingly holy energy disintegrated any undead that came within 100 meters of its walls (100), and gold-tipped bolts off of ballistas seemed to home in on dragon targets. After suffering heavy losses, the army retreated, and has not yet returned.

Bolstered by the advance warning from Vladislaus, and given time thanks to the southward push of the dragon armies, Wien quickly became the most fortified city on the continent. When the dragons arrived, still shaken by their failures at Jerusalem, they were met by the most organized resistance they had faced yet (84). Many died in the fighting, but after a second push many of the walls were destroyed (50), and by the third the city was as good as dead (11). Maximillian himself held the last line of defense, giving his children time to escape. They made it out, but he too was no match for Alduin, and despite landing a scarring blow on one of his wings was felled by the power of his thu'um.(59).

Enraged by the losses inflicted over the last month of battle, Alduin ordered his army to make a statement. Heading north, they had the undead legions surround the city of Prague. The dragons broke down the walls and other defenses as the legion entered, cutting down every man, woman, and child in their path (24). Reaching the palace at the center, Vladislaus II Jagiellon steps out in full golden armor, ready to make his final stand. This is short-lived, however, as a crossbow bolt pierces his heart (8). Unfortunately, Vladislaus does not stay dead for long, nor do the rest of the people of Prague. The Dragon Army had a new legion, and a brand-new commander.

Meanwhile

During this time, the Mexica forces began to integrate with the newly-formed European Defense Force, made up of Portuguese, Spanish, and French soldiers, as well as those from the Lowlands (The English chose not to be involved due to their new Brexit Who-Cares-What-Happens-Off-Our-Islands policy). Equipped with gold-plated swords, crossbows with gold-tipped bolts, and Aztec-inspired muskets complete with gold musketballs, the EDF marched East to face their foes head-on. To the north, troops from the Lowlands see immediate success against the northern dragon armies in the fields and forests of Germany (57 vs 25), bringing hope to the area. To the south, however, things are not going as smoothly. Both sides see major losses in the battles for Italy (63 vs 80), but after the losses of both Commander Doria (24) and Pope Paul III (Tamás Bakócz) (43), morale crumbled along the peninsula.

The deadliest battles, however, were in the Swiss alps. A major contingent of the EDF attempted to take down the bulk of the dragon headquarters in mainland Europe, but were met with fierce resistance by the dragons themselves. Heavy losses are incurred by both sides (75 vs 93), but the dragons eventually win the day, with much of the credit going to their home field advantage. For about a month after that, the dragon raids stopped as they recovered their forces, but even this break wasn't enough to prepare the EDF for what came next.

Summer,1507

The attack on Paris was swift and unexpected.

As a major EDF base of operations, it was expected that the city would come under attack eventually. What was not expected was the entirety of the dragon military descending from the sky to burn every trace of the walls and defenses to the ground within an hour. Fighting was fast and dirty, and at first the Parisians seemed to be able to hold off the invading undead force (27 vs 23), when suddenly the ground shook. Les Innocents suddenly sprang to life, centuries of Parisian dead crawling out of the earth and making war in the streets. The result is a massacre (20 vs 99), with the newly raised dead killing any living creature they could find. Even the famed ASAP Gang, Paris’ unofficial internal defense force, could only hold off so many undead before succumbing to their sheer numbers (75). Within the day, Paris had fallen.

The rest of France soon followed, as the EDF retreated to the Pyrenees, understanding that if they lost here, mainland Europe was surely lost. Unfortunately for them, this is exactly what happened. To the north (66 vs 86), south (53 vs 79), and right in the middle (42 vs 79), the dragon armies survive heavy losses to push back the European Defense Force. Retreating posthaste to Lisbon, Motecuhzoma returns to his armada and turns back to Mexica. “I am sorry,” he says before leaving, “but the war is lost here. I must prepare my people for when the dragons inevitably show on our own shores. May the Gods guide you.”

Without the support of the Aztec troops, Madrid quickly falls (15). Lisbon fights back fiercely but ultimately succumbs to the dragons as well (69). However, a second attempt at moving north found the dragons once again repelled in the forests of Germany (98 vs 57). Unable to continue at their current rate of losses, the dragons retreat to the Swiss Alps and begin to consolidate their holdings. Europe has new masters, and they will not be leaving anytime soon.

Maybe someday the Aztecs will return, or the dragons will leave, or the Europeans will be able to mount a new reconquista. But until then, the Age of Europe is teetering on the brink of extinction, and may never recover.

As many of you are surely aware, EP Season 7 has been on a slow descent since it started back up. The misjudgement of sheet completion time damaged the early-season momentum we had going for us, and the inevitable mod burnout caused by so much of the mod team having increasingly busy schedules in real life has left us unable to continue the season at any level that we feel is acceptable. We had high hopes for this season, and we know many of you did as well, and all we can say is that we are sorry it has to end this way. We really do wish that there was a way for us to salvage this season somehow, to restore any real semblance of timely moderation, but try as we might we cannot.

We hope that you enjoyed this season, as short and problematic as it may have been, and we hope that next time we give this a shot that we can commit more fully and enter more prepared and ready to give it our all. But until then, letting the season continue as it has would be unfair to all of you putting time and effort into this sub, and we can at least let it end with a bit of dignity (even if much of europe was lost to the dragons). The discord will of course remain open, so we can continue to banter and meme as long as we wish, but the sub will be unmoderated, and the offseason will be considered to have officially begun.

Thank you all for being fantastic parts of this amazing adventure. We literally could not do any of this without you, and only hope that we can live up to your inspiring commitment next time around. We hope that everyone enjoys the rest of their summer, and we love you all.