A whole New World
1485 A.D.: Swedish monks invent the printing press, mainly so they don't have to hand-copy so many freaking manuscripts any more. The Holy Texts of Awesomeness begin to be mass-produced and spread across the land.
The rate at which my religion will spread without me having to do anything now far surpasses any other world religion. This will bring a steady stream of new believers and, more importantly, new tithers. The next order of business is researching gunpowder. My navy already has cannons, but the so-named tech allows me to begin replacing my melee infantry with musketmen.
1490 A.D.: The Great Prophet makes Awesomeness the majority religion in bustling Aarhus, Denmark.
Far across the sea, Swedish explorers come ashore in the New World, encountering the indigenous Romans. They are an advanced society, and followers of Hinduism.
Well, I beat Columbus by two years and missed the real-world Norsemen by almost 500. Still, I am the first Western nation to get here. So that's something.
1495 A.D.: A group of Roman diplomats sets sail on a Swedish ship to establish an embassy in Stockholm. A similar embassy is established in Rome, marking the first formal diplomatic exchange between the West and the East.
1500 A.D.: Swedish scouts liberate a group of captured Austrian settlers that had been captured by forest brigands. The Austrians express their gratitude.
I'm hoping this will start to patch things up with Austria, who still are less than thrilled with me settling cities on their borders.
Awesomeness becomes the majority religion in the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
