The King of the Romans and his frenemies in Mainz and the rest of the Reform party have attempted to re-organize the Holy Roman Empire over the past decade. This effort has been one of the largest since the end of the Interregnum period and the formation of the Golden Bull of 1356. However, this period has been fraught with the European monarchies raising into activity once again that all cause shifts in the center of Europe. One of the last vestiges of the Empire that survived the Golden Bull of 1356, the Hanseatic League, is going through a crisis that threatens its mere existence. Furthermore Maximilian, head of the House of Habsburg, lead a massive army into the Balkans at the behest of Pope Alexander VI's crusade proclamation that lead to masses of lower German nobility and ruling houses dying on the field of battle.

One of the largest factors that was negotiated through the Imperial Diets of 1495 and 1500 was the Reichsregiment, a permanent government made up of electors and Princes, and the Reichsmünzordnung, a comprehensive coinage and monetary reform for the Empire. This was done only because of a major compromise between Maximilian and the Imperial Reform Party, in which the monetary reform was granted for the permanent government of the Princes. While the Reichsregiment has been mostly establishing itself and dealing with administrative shifts to this new government instead of the Emperor's court, the Reichsmünzordnung was quickly implemented. Mints would be shifted through legal means to produce a new, ostensibly united currency that would not undermine the exclusive rights of existing mints. While this currency was provided an exchange rate officially to the variety of regional imperial currencies, outside of Salzburg very few mints actually produced this new imperial currency. Local lords and electors desired control over their own coins. The ability to devalue the coins through new alloys was an incredibly lucrative option for lords and something that is explicitly denied should the imperial coin be minted.

The coinage situation in the Holy Roman Empire would only get worse with Lubeck's Rat being expelled by a rebellion of lower burghers and peasants. The administrative and economic center of the Hansa was completely overturned and the rapidly changing situation regarding Hanseatic status in various states like Denmark, England, and much of the Northern HRE has only worsened this chaos. An emergency Hansetag was hosted in Cologne, the center of the Rhenish section of the Hansa, in which primarily only German and Dutch representatives were able to arrive due to the speed at which the Hansetag was held. A large navy is being actively gathered by its members to strike Lubeck, and a message is sent directly to Maximilian and the Reichsregiment both asking for imperial confirmation to return the rightful Rat to rule in Lubeck. The official letter from the Hansetag also requests imperial support in the Hanseatic League "re-affirming its rights and privileges in its constituent regions" to the Emperor only. The Hanseatic messages are careful to not implicate the League as a concept, but rather utilize large and important guilds in Hanseatic cities as legal cover. The Dutch Hanseatic merchants also send a message to Philip of Burgundy independently, asking him to get his father to "protect Dutch mercantile interests above Hanseatic or any other costs with the Baltic states that provide goods and purchase our English wool." There is also reports of isolated incidents of conflicts between Reichsritter and Hanseatic merchants, and "armed forces of local lords" seizing Hanseatic goods in Frisia and regions around and in the Duchy of Holstein. Hundreds of petitions from burghers and magnates in Hanseatic cities are arriving in the Reichskammergericht and Aulic Council demanding repayment and protection as is afforded to them.

This situation is compounded by the loss of nobility and important members of ruling councils throughout the Holy Roman Empire. This is most notable in the regions of Swabia and the Rhine, although there are exceptions such as the Duchy of Pomerania. General peasant unrest is at an all time high for the past few decades, and lost tax revenue is felt by many of the aforementioned regions. However, there are specific regions where radicalization and local politics have lead to more violent reactions by peasantry. These are:

• The Duchy of Wurttemberg has discovered a large group of a few thousand peasants have marched on the town of Weinsburg and are sieging its castle which is believed to be on the edge of falling. The local lord of Herrenburg has also arrived at Ulrich's court, claiming the peasants of his towns and manors have removed him from his lands by force

• The Margiavate of Ansbach has seen unrest and violent peasant activity in the towns of Oberdachstetten and Colmberg.

• The Duchy of Cleves has lost a manor-castle in the town of Goch to peasants and there is news that the group of peasants are attempting to raise up nearby farming estates

• The counties of Erbach, Hohenlohe, and Limpurg are dealing with roving bands of bandits and peasants leaving their farming estates to join these groups

• The Archbishopric of Munster has pockets of a few thousand peasants a piece around the towns of Meppen and Bramsche

M:

Tax efficiencies of all claims within the aforementioned regions have been slashed until the issue are addressed. Peasant revolts are occurring, and developments may come as time goes on. The Hanseatic situation has not had a significant economic effect.....yet, but it is on the cusp of interrupting Imperial Reform efforts. The Reichsregiment lead by the Archbishop of Mainz is attempting to step in to resolve some of the issues, and the Imperial Court system has been ground to a halt.