[h2]ETHIOPIA[/h2] [img]https://i.imgur.com/w0RPaoC.png[/img] [h1]REFERENCE MAP OF ETHIOPIAN EMPIRE[/h1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/szraxLw.jpg[/img] [h1]POLITICAL MAP OF ETHIOPIA'S CENTRAL AUTHORITY[/h1] [img]https://i.imgur.com/IlvCJmv.png[/img] [h1]HISTORY[/h1] On December the 12th, the old warhorse and Emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II, passed away. He was born during the [i]Zemene Mesafint[/i]: The Age of Princes, or warring states period of Ethiopia, where warlords roamed the highlands vying for power through blade and black powder. He saw the return of the Empire, and in middle age he was selected to lead it. By the end of his reign he'd more than doubled the size of the Empire and decisively defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa, cementing Ethiopian hegemony in the region. Then he died. His heir was an eighteen year old boy with a baby face and an impulsive streak that broke away from tradition. He was crowned Iyasu V. The events surrounding Iyasu V's ascendancy to the throne of Ethiopia were fraught. Seen as a ne'er do well and a possible heretic, he was not embraced by the [i]Mesafint[/i]: the nobility of Ethiopia. He befriended and actively appointed Muslims within government, an act that scandalized the [i]Mesafint[/i] further. Global politics complicated matters. Iyasu V came to power in 1913. A year later, Europe was at war. The European war mattered because all of Ethiopia's borders were with colonial holdings of the European warring powers: specifically, Britain, Italy, and France. They feared his reported friendship with the Dervish rebels in Somalia who were haunting the European powers there, and his alleged interest in the Central powers further worried them. So the Europeans sowed mistrust and armed members of the [i]Mesafint[/i] who opposed Iyasu. A coup was launched. Iyasu's father, Mikael of Wollo, came to his aid. History shifted here. In our timeline, Mikael was defeated and the [i]Mesafint[/i] coup succeeded. But in the Precipice timeline, Iyasu's friends in the Muslim world made a move. The Dervish of Somalia entered the war. Khalid al-Himyari, an ally of the Mad Mullah of Somalia, supported Mikael of Wollo at the Battle of Segale and turned the tide. Iyasu V defeated the coup and joined The Great War on the side of the Central Powers. The Ethiopian and Dervish alliance quickly caused the Allies to abandon Somalia, and shortly thereafter Eritrea, utilizing arms given to them by Germany. In return, Ethiopia agreed to support a campaign to drive the British out of East Africa, entering British East Africa from the north while the Germans under General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck came from the south. The British put up a stiff fight but nearly lost all their East African forces in the region at the Battle of Eldama Ravine in 1919. This caused the British to pull back to Mombasa. The Ethiopians took Fashoda in 1921 after a short siege. The ceasefires put an end to active fighting and the beleaguered government of Iyasu paused to take stock. In the twenties, the Mad Mullah died. Khalid al-Himyari went back to Somalia and, through a campaign of intrigue and violence, kept the Dervish state from falling into Civil War. The Peace saw Ethiopia given protectorship of the land it had already taken, due to the fierceness in which they contested it was their right, that their control would ensure stability in the region, and the simple fact that contesting their right would mean war. For the Ethiopians, this meant a new identity. Propaganda became art and history, proclaiming the importance of the "Five Victories": Adwa, Segale, Eldama Ravine, Fashoda, and The Peace. Iyasu died in 1935 of cancer. His twenty year old son, Yohannes V, took over his father's project of reforming the government. Fear of European supremacy allowed a loose feudal confederation to form, but Yohannes wanted to bring it more together. The Empire Yohannes inherited looked like this: [b]Ethiopia[/b]: Still ruled by its traditional feudal forms, which would take time to iron out. He worked by strengthening the central government and giving it direct control any time the opportunity arose. [b]Medri Bahri[/b]: Eritrea, who's native Tigrinya were given a lot of autonomy under their [i]Bahr Negus[/i], or Sea King. The [i]Bahr Negus[/i] commands Ethiopia's navy, giving it a lot of pull and respect within the Ethiopian government, while staying in the Imperial fold to avoid the threat of an Italian return. [b]Daraawiishta Sultanate[/b]: The Dervish state is still controlled by the al-Himyari dynasty. Primarily Muslim, it is a de-jure subject of the Emperor of Ethiopia, though almost independent to the point many maps show it as a separate nation. The Iyasuan dynasty is interested in folding it more into the government. [b]The East African Protectorates[/b]: Mombasa, Nairobi, Acholiland, and Buganda. These small governances are hardly ruled so much as colonized. Ethiopia simply retains economic dominance and as much peace as they can afford. [b]Sudd[/b]: The Ethiopians took Fashoda for strategic regions, blocking the British from launching assaults from the north. They retained this land for military reasons, but have hardly thought about governing it, to the point the border is hardly defined. A series of jungles and infamous marshes, it is a hard land. [b]Imperial Djibouti[/b]: Held on to more directly by the Emperor than most of Ethiopia itself is. Yohannes died of influenza in 1951. His son Sahle, the same age as Yohannes when he ascended, became Emperor at 20. There is much doubt over the character of Sahle, who seems as impulsive and immature as his grandfather, but without the guiding hand of Menelik in his youth or the crisis of his young adulthood to shape him. Ethiopia is running on inertia, its frontiers brimming with [i]shiftas[/i] (outlaws) so effective they are oftentimes likened to the biblical Maccabees. If the Empire can reform, it could become the most powerful state in Africa, if not the Indian Ocean. If it fails, it could return to its [i]Zemene Mesafint[/i] in bloodier style and devolve into a failed state rivaling Russia for horror.