MILAN - “THE PHANTOM MENACE”?

VENICE SAFE AT LAST?

The stalemate in the North has continued throughout the year, though there are signs that it is slowly resolving itself as the seemingly inexorable advance of Piero “The Spider” Medici appears to have ground to a halt, for now at least. Although Medici was cheered by the news that Saluzzo had finally fallen to his besieging army, several attempts to take Montferrat and to advance into Provence have met with resistance from Milan and the Turks. Meanwhile a Florentine army in Pontrimoli was decimated by an outbreak of the stinking miasma that so devastated Italy last year.

The Princes of the Peninsular are looking with some amazement at the steady resurgence of Milanese power. Recent reports are that the Duke of Montferrat has thrown his lot in with “Il Moro” rather than bow to the Medici yoke, however, it is rumoured that his decision may well have been influenced by the appearance of a rather large sack of ducats in his treasury. Sforza’s apparent “return from the dead” to become a power to be reckoned with has led one anonymous minister of a neighbouring power to describe the Duke of Milan as “The Phantom Menace.”

“Il Moro” has shown a callous opportunism in recent weeks, culminating in an advance into the Venetian territory of Carinthia. Milan’s vicious attack on one-time ally Venice has dampened the celebrations following the destruction of the Turkish fleet that had menaced the city from The Lagoon for nearly a year. The victory over the Sultan’s fleet seemed to stifle growing criticism of His Serenity the Doge, however, this new blow may give heart to his critics in the Senate. Il Moro’s new act of perfidy was described by Senator Lucasi as “a vile repayment for past Venetian support, Sforza’s like a poisonous growth, it’s the revenge of the cyst.”

A GM Writes:

Interesting turn. Please could I have your orders in next week - 16th May.