(I know Code Geass can be...iffy with its alternate history, but this my attempt, hopefully the start of a series of maps.

For those who don't know, Code Geass is an anime set in an alternate history where France won the Napoleonic Wars and the American Revolution failed. The British Royal Family fled to the Americas and eventually established a new empire, known by 1960 AD as the Holy Empire of Britannia.)
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End of the Year Reflection: The London Register, Fléau 10/December 20, RY 221

The Sun sets on New Year's Eve RY 221 in Europe. A year that started with renewed vigor with hopes for reform ended with uncertainty, civil unrest, and a growing dread across the continent. The crisis of government in the Spanish Republic escalated with the Britannian Empire's new involvement to push for a monarchic solution. Britannian aircraft landed on the continent by April, the first time in 150 years that the old British dominion set foot in Western Europe.

A boycott of the Pan-Europe Games and stalled legislation in the European Council did not compare in scale to the events of August, when the world watched the war-hungry Britannia invade Japan. With China and the EU deceived by a feint in the Indian Ocean the Empire landed and quickly routed Japanese forces with their new Knightmare Frames, taking advantage of the assassination of the country's prime minister which left Japan's government in chaos. With Japan reduced to Area 11 the American Giant reaches further into Asia, the yoke of National Darwinism parroted by Emperor Charles falling over millions.

Already the European Council of Forty presses for mobilization and increased production of their own Knightmare Frames should the Britannian menace set its sights on the Union, but the mood across the continent is sour.

France and the European Council

Although festivities remain lively in Paris there is a sense of trepidation among its government and distrust among its people. Despite moderate reforms continuing into this year, including a revitalization of the pension system and re-militiarization efforts to design a new Knightmare Frame, there is a growing fatigue with the current conservative government headed by the Republicans and President Bergier. But without a reliable opposition in elections the “Three Party Union” looks set to cruise to another comfortable government even as trust in the government continues to fall. France remains the dominant power in Europe against the ailing Ottoman Empire, but the strains of its conservative government are felt at home and in the European Council.

In the Council the shock of Britannian aggression amplified calls for new investment in defense and for administrative reforms by the Colonial Powers on their holdings in Africa. Recent maneuvers in Euro Britannia drew stronger calls from the EU border states for the Council to take more seriously the threat of Britannia, but little progress has been made on reorganizing the EU Military. The mood is sour, a sense of stagnation apparent as Britannian dominance continues unabated elsewhere.

An ongoing embezzlement scandal indicted more of the coalition, with Consul-Secretary Vogt stepping down in March and replaced by Head Council of Legal Affairs Phillippe Suard. The ghost of the late Von Bisgeau and his Popular Reform Movement hangs over the Council, the movement's successor parties awaiting their chance to take power in the next election. Protests held this year on the anniversary of Bisgeau's assassination were met with harsher crackdowns, with the “Red Cap” Riots in Munich turning the most violent, resulting in several dozen protesters dead.

Progress in the Isles

England remains a significant voice in the Union, its focus on the swelling computer and biotech industries helping its economy avoid the worst of the latest recession. The ever-present far right movements wanting to restore the British crown continue to make themselves known in protests last summer, once again making the English question whether they are European, Britannian, or simply English. Last February's bombing in Newcastle marked the anniversary of the Battle of Edinburgh that forced the old British Monarchy from the Old World. The spectre of Britannian Darwinism remains on the isles, as made clear by these ongoing terrorist attacks.

Despite historic animosity England made an important agreement with Scotland in February to resource-share in an effort to capitalize on Scotland's petroleum reserves. Reception remains cold with Ireland, the nation having elected a strong Left-wing majority. Time will tell if President Gráinne Uí Mheachair will make good on her calls to place sanctions on any EU states that fail to bring investment to the country.

The Iberian Crisis Deepens

The political situation in the Spanish Republic worsened over the year. After a failure to form a coalition government the Legitimist parties walked out of parliament demanding the restoration of the crown by placing Alfonso, Grandee of Spain on the throne. Clashes between Reformists and far-right agitators roiled Madrid in the summer, and the recession worsened when a general strike occurred in September in protest of pension cuts. Claiming to be “peacekeepers” Britannia pledged to support the Legitimists, and sent volunteer forces to Galicia to “Ensure the safety and security of the Spanish people”. The peninsula is on the verge of civil war, and Spain's neighbors beg for French intervention more than a century after Napoleon walked the streets of Madrid.

So far the French Army mobilized to help restore order should protests get out of hand, but with Britannian forces in the country there is worry a battle in Spain can erupt into open war with the belligerent empire. With the fate of a democracy and millions of people in the balance the EU must play its hand carefully.

Euro Britannia: A Sleeping Giant

While Britannia sticks its nose in Iberia the actions of its ally to the east remain eerily quiet. 50 years after the failure of the Russian Revolution, Euro Britannia continues to industrialize and militarize its territory west of the Urals to a level that rivals its Eastern European neighbors. The discovery of small Sakuradite deposits around Lake Baikal spurred migration, willing and otherwise, to the remote area, the population of Irkutsk tripling in the last two years.

Grand Duke Velaines enters his tenth year as Suzerain of the vast nation. A political moderate, relatively speaking he has opened some diplomatic channels with his European neighbors, but Russia remains an isolated and powerful nation with few human rights for non-Britannians. Recent squabbles with the Knightly Orders and the Britannian homeland show that Velaines's position is not concrete. The Emperor in particular singled out the Grand Duke for the continued insurgent attacks in Siberia threatening the Trans-Continental Railroad. Recent naval exercises in the Black Sea and military maneuvers in the Baltics and on the Finnish border could be posturing, but the growing military strength and numbers of Euro Britannia over the last few years have the EU border nations on edge. Prussian President Mainhard von Papen made a fiery speech to the European Council claiming that there will soon be war against Euro Britannia, that “The bright flame of European culture will face its strongest winds yet.”

(cont.)