Chapter 14 — The Iberian Crucible
By the time Edward's diplomats sailed back from the East, Iberia had become the boiling pot of the Holy War.
The Holy League's zeal had shifted into a fierce strategic push to reclaim prestige: Iberia — Spain and Portugal — became their focal point. Coastal sanctuaries were fortified; priest-kings rallied peasantry with promised miracles and crusader banners.
Edward, now with a secure northern foothold and Eastern partnerships, did not hesitate. Iberia sat astride Atlantic trade; its colonies in the Americas and the Pacific were strategic prizes. The plan was decisive and multifaceted: secure Iberia's coasts, destabilize Holy League supply lines, and assert influence over the transatlantic colonies — all while the Church of Innovation proclaimed "liberation through industry."
[System Notice]Strategic Campaign: Iberian Theater — Stage Active.Primary Objectives: Secure Iberian ports, annex Cuba & Philippines, convert former kingdoms into protectorates (Spain & Portugal).
The Holy War in Iberia
The Iron Vanguard landed on the coasts of Andalusia and along Lisbon's harbor simultaneously. The Steam Navy blockaded major ports; airships broadcast manifestos in Castilian and Portuguese: "Work and welfare, not fear and tithes." Local merchant councils, exhausted by raids and shortages, negotiated with Edward's envoys for guaranteed trade continuity.
The Holy League's bishops rallied resistance with fire and mana, but they lacked the industrial logistics to sustain a protracted defense. Where priests promised miracles, Edward's teams fixed wells, built grain mills, and paid—big. Factories that produced textiles and agricultural machines created jobs; the common people had less interest in legend when their children ate.
Skirmishes erupted near Seville and Lisbon. The Iron Vanguard's disciplined brigades, their steam rifles and mobile rail batteries, outmaneuvered feudal levies. The fighting was sharp, brutal, and often localized, but one after another, key port governments negotiated protectorates in exchange for security and infrastructure.
[System Update]Major Port Surrenders: Cádiz, Seville (partial), Lisbon (partial).Civilian Support: +22% in Coastal Regions due to relief & jobs.
Cuba: The Gateway of the Atlantic
Cuba was the first overseas jewel to fall into Edward's orbit. British ironclads and chartered merchant convoys steamed to Havana's harbor under a banner of medical relief after a devastating hurricane and waves of food shortages. The Cuban elite, facing famine and unrest, welcomed aid.
Edward's agents moved with surgical diplomacy: engineers repaired sugar presses, refitted docks, and trained local shipwrights to produce iron-reinforced hulls. The Church of Innovation's missionaries opened schools and clinics; in exchange the governor signed a Treaty of Protection — effectively annexation as a Crown Dependency with autonomy over internal matters but integration into Edward's trade network.
[System Notification]Annexation: Cuba (Crown Dependency Model).Strategic Advantage: Atlantic Hub — Logistics & Sugar Exports + SignificantFaith Spread: Church of Innovation Growth Rapid (Caribbean).
The Philippines: Pacific Anchor
The Philippines presented a different challenge — archipelagic, distant, culturally diverse. Edward used a mix of diplomacy, naval demonstrations, and targeted aid missions. When a typhoon hammered the central islands, the Innovator fleet arrived with engineers and supply convoys. A small coalition of local leaders welcomed the relief and the promise of better harbors.
Edward negotiated protectorate treaties with the archipelago's principalities: autonomy for local rulers in exchange for ports, telegraph stations, and industrial workshops. Annabelle's shipwrights built a regional repair yard in Manila; factories for canning and textiles rose along the coasts. Spanish colonial officials, financially exhausted and isolated from the mainland, capitulated in return for pensions and safe exile or integration into the new economic order.
[System Notification]Annexation: Philippines (Protectorate Agreement — Local Autonomy Maintained)Strategic Bonus: Pacific Supply Chain Established; Coal & Sugar Logistics Secured.
Liberating the Former Kingdoms — Spain & Portugal
The campaign's final phase in Iberia was political theater and hard power stitched together. Edward's diplomats met with moderates in Madrid and Lisbon: merchant oligarchs, reform-minded nobles, and city councils tired of piracy and religious extremism. The Church of Innovation offered reconstruction funds, debt relief, and industrial charters — along with membership in the Continental Council and legal protections for local monarchs to retain ceremonial roles as figureheads.
Spain and Portugal — battered, bankrupt, and politically fractured — negotiated protectorate status rather than outright annexation. Their monarchs ceded foreign policy and colonial oversight to Edward's Empire in exchange for domestic autonomy, pensions, and the guarantee of their dynasties' ceremonial continuity. The treaties framed this as "liberation" from the Holy League's suffocating theocracy and a path back to prosperity.
[System Update]Protectorates Established: Kingdom of Spain (Protectorate), Kingdom of Portugal (Protectorate).Effect: Colonial Oversight Transferred; Internal Monarchies Retained as Figureheads.Faith Spread across Iberia & Colonies: Rapid (State patronage + infrastructure).
The World Reacts
Europe was awash in opinions. Some monarchs denounced Edward's "imperial overreach." Reformists and merchants praised the free trade and new capital flows. In the colonies, workers and local rulers embraced factories and schools; at the same time, there were pockets of resistance and guerrilla attacks by diehard Holy League militias.
Edward, in a dispatch read across the Cathedral Network, framed it plainly: "We do not conquer merely to possess; we integrate to uplift. Our protectorates will keep their heritage while gaining tools for their endurance." The phrasing worked where steel could not: it eased tensions among moderates and gave local elites face-saving terms.
[System Summary]Colonial Holdings Expanded: Cuba (Annexed), Philippines (Protectorate), Iberian Protectorates (Spain & Portugal).Global Faith Spread: Church of Innovation Influence — Significant in Atlantic & Pacific trading routes.Holy League Integrity: Severely weakened but still active (pockets of militias & zealots).
Night on the Manila Quay
Edward walked under foreign stars in Manila, the air heavy with salt and new industry. Children read in the new schoolhouse; fishermen repaired iron-reinforced nets. In the cathedral-turned-institute, a local priest recited the Doctrine not as erasure of old ways, but as a new hymn: "To labor is to pray; to measure is to honor the Maker."
Charlotte joined him, weary but steady. "We've gone farther than I imagined," she said. "Spain and Portugal as protectorates. Cuba annexed. The Pacific looks different."
Edward's gaze traveled to the dark horizon, where the silhouette of the Innovator cast a metallic shadow. "We have to be careful," he said softly. "Protectorates must not feel like chains. The faster we bring prosperity, the less resentment will fester."
Annabelle arrived with a crate of prototype water purifiers. "And faster means better tech," she said with that bright, dangerous grin. "More schools, more jobs, more looms — and maybe fewer priests burning oil in futile sermons."
He laughed, low and content. "Then let us be practical missionaries."
[System Log]Campaign Status: Iberian Crucible — Completed (Protectorates & Annexations achieved).Next: Consolidate Protectorates; Increase Local Integration; Suppress Holy League Pockets.
Steam sighed in the night. The world map had been redrawn by engines, sermons, and treaties. The Church of Innovation's bell rang from London to Manila, and the age of steam spread like a tide—welcoming, coercive, glorious, and irrevocable.
End of Chapter 14