Recaps

Ernst expanded East Africa’s influence while Britain tried to isolate it, and he used covert support for Afghan rebels to divert British attention. At home, he pushed water conservancy, industry, and education, while the story ended with new medical research and plans for his family’s future.

• Ernst chose to develop Nacala and Pemba together and outlined East Africa’s urban and economic clusters, while deciding against industrializing the arid south too heavily.
• East Africa occupied Pontianak, declared Lanfang a colony, and appointed Willert governor as Britain began seeking allies to contain East African expansion.
• Ernst answered Britain’s sanctions with plans to use third-country trade routes and secretly divert British attention by supplying weapons to Afghan resistance forces.
• Andrei delivered the weapons through Afghanistan, and Murat and Ilya organized an uprising against the British in Kabul that ended in defeat and a retreat.
• Ernst expanded nationwide water projects and used a school visit to the Third State-run Farm to show students the value of mechanization, labor, and agricultural development.
• As census figures revealed East Africa’s growing population and drought strained the highlands, Ernst ordered water conservancy work to continue and assessed the country’s standing among world powers.
• Ernst and Karina agreed to have more children while waiting at the hospital, then inspected effective Mamba antivenom and pledged support for further research.

Ernst advanced East Africa’s infrastructure, industry, military training, and diplomatic reach while negotiating Sigmaringen’s expansion into Chad and securing permission to develop the Southern Ryukyu Islands. The arc ended with East Africa establishing a foothold on Miyako Island as Japan watched with concern.

• Constantin asked Ernst for a landmark, and they chose Dar es Salaam’s hundred-meter Civilization Lighthouse, designed with a Goddess of Peace, lions, and a globe.
• East Africa expanded trade despite British sanctions, reformed Chinese medicine, trained oil workers in Romania, and built a vast military training base near Juba.
• Ernst assessed East Africa’s population and economy, then hosted Prince Karl and offered Sigmaringen territory in Chad with East African transport, logistical, and immigration support.
• East Africa opened Soko Port while keeping its gradual trade policy, and officials reported population growth, agricultural dependence, scarce medical resources, and plans to industrialize using cheap Black labor.
• East African officials suppressed illegal schools and religious organizations, while Ernst promised Archduke Ferdinand more naval ships and proposed securing the Southern Ryukyu Islands.
• Ambassador Richard secured Li Hongzhang’s permission for East Africa to develop the Southern Ryukyu Islands, and East African ships began carrying troops and supplies there.
• East African commanders landed on Miyako Island with five armed merchant ships and more than three hundred personnel, while Japanese intelligence recognized the strategic threat.
• Ernst backed bicycle factories and military bicycle development, and Leiden persuaded Kevendi’s factory to machine bicycle bearings while describing the army’s stricter standards.

An outbreak in Rovenaad Village remained contained as East Africa tightened quarantine and weighed the settlement’s future. Meanwhile, Japan’s resistance to East Africa’s occupation of the Southern Ryukyu Islands escalated into a naval clash, then ended in negotiations that left East Africa administering the islands for the Far East Empire.

• Claire ordered Rovenaad Village isolated after residents’ accounts suggested Tie Li’s hunting and eating wild monkeys had caused the outbreak, and Mogwell arranged guarded, disinfected deliveries rather than sealing the village off.
• Ernst joined Archduke Ferdinand’s expedition to the Southern Ryukyu Islands, while Japan protested East Africa’s occupation and organized a blockade using fishing boats.
• East African agents redirected a Japanese protest crowd into the Russian Legation, where rioters caused extensive damage, and Japanese officials tried to blame the ensuing disturbance on student leaders.
• Glais ordered the Miyako Strait closed after Japanese vessels obstructed East African construction and transport, while Andre encouraged local laborers to consider immigrating to East Africa.
• Takashō Morita feigned surrender and launched a surprise attack on East African ships, but East African gunboats defeated the flotilla and Glais ordered the strait blockaded.
• Kader demanded an apology and compensation from Japan, and Japanese officials chose to compromise over the Sakishima Islands rather than risk a war.
• Kudo Yasuyoshi agreed to concede the Southern Ryukyu Islands and accept East African passage and development rights in the Miyako Strait, while Kader maintained that the Far East Empire held sovereignty and East Africa administered the islands on its behalf.

East Africa expanded its infrastructure, industries, and overseas ambitions while Britain encouraged the Transvaal Restoration Army to oppose it. The arc ended with Ernst demonstrating the royal automobile and explaining plans to develop its market across East Africa, Germany, and Austria.

• Kells reluctantly accepted the dean’s assignment to lead preliminary ginseng trials in Swaziland.
• Ernst approved East Africa’s territorial agreement for the Southern Ryukyu Islands, ordered defenses and communications infrastructure, and designated the islands as a future Pacific Fleet base.
• Ernst directed officials to compensate or relocate residents affected by water projects and warned against adding immigration before the administration could manage its workload.
• Ernst and Prince Karl discussed railway plans through Hesse Province and explored Romanian-backed bonds to finance an extension that would help Sigmaringen transport resources to Chad.
• East Africa expanded railways, mining, and manufacturing as Constantin toured Harare’s tobacco and chromium industries and assessed the city’s development.
• Ernst inspected Bagamoyo’s shipyards, encouraged gradual technical development, and planned to make submarine research a key naval project based around Lake Tanganyika.
• Britain backed the Transvaal Restoration Army and promised support for reclaiming territory from East Africa, while tensions with the Orange Free State grew and East African agents monitored the factions.
• After New Year celebrations, Ernst showed Constantin the royal automobile, gave family members rides, and outlined plans to expand automobile production and sales across East Africa, Germany, and Austria.