When King Eoghan I ascended to the throne, he had inherited a kingdom heavily in debt, thanks in no small part to the costlybattles fought by the Irish between the English and Scottish, leaving him with very little freedom in spending his finances.

Yet he was also a man of great ambition, claiming that he was sent a vision by God himself, telling him that the Irish were destined for greatness, destined to establish and rule an 'empire upon which the sun never set'. With a heavy debt to settle though, his ambition would have to wait.

Throughout the first year of his reign in 1491, he sent diplomats to the nearby Kingdoms of France, Spain and Portugal, and to Norway and Denmark, to obtain favourable trading terms for Irish merchants, and gain an inroad into the lucrative European markets at that time, as a great war was being fought between two alliances of European nations: the Holy Roman Empire's member states, and the Latin Alliance between France and Spain; he was forced to turn down France's request for aid due to his financial predictament, and the lack of soldiers and sailors to cover the entirety of Britain.

Though his kingdom's debts were being paid, money was trickling very slowly into his treasury, giving Eoghan I no small amounts of headaches.

In 1492, however, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, stumbled upon the New World, and brought back the news that there was a paradise to be explored. This catalysed a wave of colonists sailing from their homes in Europe to explore this brave new world, even as Europe itself was gripped in near-endless wars.

Eoghan I, desperate to alieviate his kingdom's financial debt, tasked an Irishman named Cathal Cunningham, to stake a claim on this new world, and establish the first overseas Irish Dominion.

The expedition landed in the southeastern part of the northern continent, what would be known as Hudson Bay, on 21st March, and proceeded to establish the colony of Nova Hibernia, in honour of their homeland.

Colonisation was progressing with relatively little trouble, but in December, later that year, the colonists were caught unprepared by the terrible winter that made their winter season pale in comparison; over fifty out of the sixty-four colonists that first arrived died of the harsh winter. Only gritty determination kept the last few alive.

Nearby, the native Iroquois tribe had taken pity on the Irish colonists, and they began to teach them the ways of survival in the new world. One of them was the trapping of the local beavers, and using their fur to craft clothing capable of warding off the cold.

Astonished with the quality of the beavers's fur, a sample of it was sent back to Britannia, along with some of the dark wood harvested from the forests.

Almost immediately after King Eoghan I approved of their quality, it was sold as a valued product by Irish merchants all across their home country and Western Europe, bringing in much needed revenue into the Irish treasury, allowing Eoghan I to fully repay all his Kingdom's debts.

With his Kingdom's debts repaid and a steady surplus of ducats filling the Irish treasury, Eoghan I decided to bring his dream to fruition; he immeidately sent a diplomat to the Papal States, with a request for Pope Gregory XIII to grant his plans for empire legitimacy.

Though it took at least a few days for a decision to be made, Pope Gregory XIII granted his blessing, much to Eoghan I's elation. With political clout gained from the Papal States, Eoghan I declared on 28th May 1498, the creation of the Irish Empire, and crowned himself Emperor.

This was deemed heretical and illegitimate by some of the Irish nobility, who immeidately declared a rebellion in parts of England and Scotland.

Eoghan I did not hesitate to personally lead his troops into battle against the rebel nobles, and through his tactical brilliance and decisive leadership, he had come to be called Eoghan the Great, a title he wore with pride.

For two years peace reigned in his growing Empire, the Dominion of Nova Hibernia experiencing great economic growth thanks to its timber and fur-trapping industries and ongoing trade with the local tribes.

In 1500, the Renaissance began to spread outwards from the Italian peninsula, and took much of Western Europe by storm. With the Renaissance came the spread of a sepratist Chistrian movement known as Protestanism, which quickly gained many converts among both the nobility and pesantry.

With the Papacy viewing the Protestant movement as a threat to their power, they immediately outlawed Protestant worship throughout Western Europe, and sent Inquisitors on alert for any trace of Protestant priests and converts.

While Eoghan I was not Protestant and remained Catholic, he became increasingly sympathetic to the Protestants who were becoming victims to the Papacy's attempts at subverting their movement. He henceforth declared that the Irish Church would no longer follow the Papacy's doctrine, and placed his support for the Protestant movement.

This elicited great outcry from the Papacy, who immediately excommunicated Emperor Eoghan I and denounced the Irish Empire.

Almost immediately afterward, the Pope called for a crusade against the Irish Empire, hoping to quash the Protestant's support in Britannia.

To quell any thought of it, however, the Holy Roman Empire had chosen that moment to invade France and Spain, with the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania allying themselves with the Holy Romans. To add further insult to injury, the Kingdom of Hungary was occupied in a war with the Ottoman Empire, and the Crowns of Denmark, Norway and Sweden had become converts to the Protestant religion, so they saw no reason to take part.

Left with no political allies in Western Europe, the Papacy was forced to deploy its troops in a long detour around Spain and France by the Mediterranean Sea and the Bay of Biscay, before finally reaching the English channel, where the Papal Navy was immediately waylaid by the Irish Navy just off the southern coast of England.

The crusade against the Irish Empire ended in a disaster, and this forced the Papacy to grudgingly let the issue go as it licked its wounds.

Emboldened by the victory against the Papacy, he issued a decree ordering ecclesiarchal reforms in the Irish Church to increase its tolerance towards other religions and cultures, cementing its seperation from the Papacy.

Soon afterwards, on 12th January 1504, Eoghan I passed away after thirty-three years of blessed life, his reign ended early by illness.

With his death, his only daughter Aednat was poised to take the Irish throne, and was officially coronated Empress on 13th January 1504.