In the course of Mikolai's preceding journey (see Chapters 1-99), he passed through land territory ruled by three major empires, one lesser kingdom, and briefly through sea territory patrolled by a fourth major empire. Of course, many of the greatest rulers of our time (and several lesser ones) have pretense to inheriting the purple mantel of the Roman Emperors of old.

* Emperor Koschei I the Undying of the Golden Empire (now deceased) ruled from a city called Rome, sometimes Rome-Upon-Tanais by way of clarification, and usually Tanais by the locals. According to him, the city of Tanais became the third Rome after he received certain fleeing senators from Byzantium (Constantinople) who elected him to the position of Emperor of Rome.

* Sultan Allaedin I of the Great Sultanate is the present ruler of Constantinople, and holds the title of Sultan of Rum. In addition to territories east of Constantinople, he governs a substantial portion of western territory once governed by the Eastern Roman Empire, known generally as Rumelia.

* Emperor Sigismund II of the Gothic Empire rules a considerable portion of what was once the northern part of the Western Roman Empire, including most territories north of Venice. As with his ancestors ranging back to the days of Charles the Hammer and Charles the Anvil, he was crowned Holy Emperor of Rome by the priesthood of Rome.

* Emperor Leon I of France, sometimes called Leon the Usurper or "the Corsican" by his critics, is known as the "Emperor In Rome" following his visit to the city, and his troops provide security to the Vatican City against the "occasional unpleasantness" of material political concerns.

Then, of course, we may mention two notable pretenders, who are fairly insignificant on the global stage:

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* Constantine XIII of Negroponte, a claimant to the throne of Constantinople in exile.

* Alexios VI of Alexandria, a claimant to the throne of Constantinople in exile.

Note that Prince Vladimir, discussed in a forthcoming volume, titles himself as Prince of the Romans and makes no pretense to being an emperor.

image [https://i.postimg.cc/BQv4LF62/europe.png]

Mikolai's Voyage

Note that the map above follows the common convention of placing east at the top. When our story began in Chapter 1, Mikolai described himself as being in a garrison somewhere in Ruthenia. We may infer that it was west of the Tanais River and east of the Slavutich River. Vitold (introduced in Chapter 1) comes from substantially further west of the Slavutich, near the border with Lithuania and Avaria. Katya (technically seen and heard in Chapter 2, but not named by Mikolai until Chapter 8) originates from Khazaria, the eastern part of the Golden Empire, far up the headwaters of the third great river of the Golden Empire, the Kama River, though immediately prior to being transferred to General Spitignov's special task force, she was stationed at the small town of Muzga in the north, near the Lithuanian border.

Mikolai's voyage took him across the Slavutich by rail through Khoryvsk, one of the most significant cities of the Golden Empire, and thence to Wallachia, on the northern side of the great Istros River. Wallachia borders Avaria and Rumelia, and Mikolai crossed the Sarmatian mountains into eastern Avaria, crossing the Sarmatians again into the borderlands between Lithuania and the northern part of the Gothic Empire. From there, he traveled south to Vindobona on the great Istros River, then further south into the Republic of Venice. After reaching the city of Venice itself, he took to the sea, sailing north of Crete (one of the Seven Great Isles ruled by Emperor Leon I), stopping off briefly at Negroponte, and then traveling through the waters ruled firmly by the Sultanate (and its capital city of Constantinople).

From there, he crossed the Axine Sea, entered the Cimmerian Strait, and arrived at land in the middle of Cimmeria, the heart of the Golden Empire - in particular, the imperial capital at the mouth of the Tanais River.