1286 - Venice, progressing onwards

Such wonderful inventions such as Lenses and Clocks have been developed. How much longer before enterprising voyagers use them to chart the oceans I wonder?
A surprise for me over in Turkey as Marco Polo decided to tag onto one of my Diplomats. Seems to give Trade and Movement benefits to the Character he joins so not sure why he can appear as Retinue for a Diplomat. However it was nice to see him make an appearance.
A few of my Assassins were turning 60 so tried out a few trickier missions with them, mainly so I could see the Failure film sequences with the hope of seeing the other Snake Failure sequence. Was rewarded with this particular one, which is quite a laugh. Unfortunately one of my younger Assassins got killed during one of his missions and so have a slight shortage now of competent Assassins. Raised one in Nuremberg and he has acquired a Handgun -007 eat your heart out. Still need to train him so he is more effective though.
Bucharest and Bran have fallen, the Hungarians must be struggling for cash one of their field armies turned Rebel just as it was heading to retake Bucharest. Their other Field army decided to attack my army which was heading their direction and despite losing a Ribault and Ballista crew for little damage in return, I used the Terrain to wear down the 3 units of Feudal Knights while peppering them with Crossbolts till they were worn out and thinned enough to use the light Cavalry to drive them off. Have had a few battles against various Rebels that have appeared and used lesser forces to drive off a stronger force which has resulted in a few Men of the Hour promotions.
A bit concerned about my Family Line as my Faction leader and Heir are both approaching their 60's and the Heir doesn't have any children. What happens if they both die in the same turn? Will I have a Civil war to determine my Families rightful lineage?
Bordeaux and Toulouse fell to my Armies after finishing off the English in Caen. The Spanish tried to recapture Toulouse but my superior firepower (3 units of Arquebusiers and a Ribault which has a longer reach than I realised) put this army to flight before it could build enough Siege equipment to even think of attacking the walls. Have an Army heading over to Bruges to take this from the Danes. Put an army on the Bridge between this territory and Antwerp to prevent any relieving force arriving. A Stalwart defence over a couple of turns by the Captain in charge has meant that Antwerp will be ripe for the taking as soon as I have Bruges.
The Poles have declared war, mainly by trying to blockade a few of my Ports however they aren't anywhere near powerful enough to take on my Navies. The Danes on the other hand gave me a surprise by nobbling (OK- annihilated!) my North Sea Navy, which I considered to be quite powerful, and has meant I have had to put together a hasty Navy from my French Territories to replace it in time to complete the Nobles request to Blockade Toledo. Managed to with the reward of 3 Galleass (boy do these ships pack a punch - I am working on Cannon Foundries in cities with Ports so that I can get the Cannon upgrades for ships when/wherever I need to replenish my Navies).
Will see if I can persuade the Poles to keep their attacks to a minimum till I have finished the Mongol Horde, which has now arrived at the edge of my Territory with Turkey (border between Aleppo and Edessa) after being herded South to Edessa by my Armies. One of the Mongols did besiege the City of Edessa but failed to capture it. I'm beginning to think these Mongols are more talk than action. Had a fantastic battle vs. one of their army Stacks which included Trebuchets and Rockets. Can't wait for my Monster Ribault to make it's way over to the frontline and see how it compares to the Mongol Rocket Launcher. Came to the realisation that Mortars are only good for attacking Towns/buildings or for giving you a brilliant Birds-eye view of the battle/enemy as you follow it's shot (use the Delete key). Still to see the effects of a Culverins explosive shot in action. Have taken the Horde down to 7 full stacks and several remnants. Best one was taking out the Mongol Faction leader with an opening (fire) shot from a Bombard. It still took a lot of the battle to persuade the rest of the army to run away but it was a lovely shot to start a battle with.
Moving people with Architect retinue around as several cities are requiring their walls upgraded and Bologna/Constantinople are ready for expensive buildings which will give me Musketeers (Royal Arsenal) and Ornate Plate (Armoury Factories). At 15,000 Florins each it is quite a chunk of cash so the 10% Discount will be welcome. Will soon (in about 16 years) have the best gunners with the best armour with Infantry and Cavalry to protect them. Hopefully in time to travel to the New World (if anyone discovers it). Meanwhile I need to gain some more territory as my building programmes are starting to cripple my economy.