The spice(s) must flow… across the Mediterranean. For the noble Republic of Venice, recent years have brought on a crisis that has threatened not just territory, but the lifeblood of the Republic’s empire: trade. As the Ottoman Empire surged across the eastern Mediterranean under Suleiman the Magnificent, Venetian merchants have seen their routes imperiled and their island strongholds fall under attack. As the storm clouds of all-out naval warfare begin to gather in the east, Venice is isolated and economically strained, all while having to navigate often-deadly internal political feuds. Now, the Serenissima must navigate a perilous new reality: defend its fragile trade networks, preserve its wealth, and decide whether diplomacy, alliance, or renewed conflict will secure its place in a Mediterranean fraught with intrigue, politics, espionage, and war.

Topic one: Trade War- Maintaining Economic Preeminence in the Mediterranean

The Ottoman Empire is on the advance throughout the Mediterranean, having just taken the Hapsburg stronghold of Klis along the Adriatic Sea in their ongoing conflict with the Danube monarchs. Alarmed by the Turk’s belligerence, the Venetian Republic fears an attack on Dalmatia; a smattering of city-states with cultural, linguistic, and economic ties to Venice going back centuries. If they were to fall into Ottoman hands, Venice could lose control of the Adriatic and, with it, their access to the Mediterranean Sea. Already, an Ottoman fleet idles in the Strait of Otranto as a yet-unclenched hand around the republic’s throat—ready to throttle it at any moment. It is now paramount that Venice retain its access to the Mediterranean through the Adriatic corridor—and that necessarily entails keeping the strait open.

topic two: Maintaining the Serene Seas- Military Operations & Alliances

While the presence of an Ottoman fleet in the Otranto Strait is undoubtedly ominous, maritime warfare is an enterprise the Venetians are well-acquainted with.  Though their standing navy is small relative to their peers, Dalmatia and their other colonial holdings maintain prolific shipbuilding industries that can readily convert trade galleys into cheap, nimble warships at a rapid pace and a cheap price.  This capability is, however, contingent upon their sustained control of these municipalities—and not to be taken for granted.  While the Venetian periphery may be able to fend off an incursion into the Adriatic by Ottoman vessels, none stand a chance against a terrestrial attack on their eastern flank.  To compensate, it might be prudent to look for allies in Western Europe as a bulwark against whatever might be stirring in Istanbul.