Over the past few months, the War for the Holy Land had reached a stalemate. The crusaders had seized acre and, with its fall, so too did much of the surrounding area end up in the hands of the Catholic Church. As a response to the losses they had suffered, the Byzantine-Timurid Alliance made a strategic withdrawal to Jerusalem, where they regrouped with allied forces from the Province of Egypt.
During the months since the Crusade had begun, tens of thousands now lied dead, and the Catholics had begun to purge the lands that they conquered. Germany had remained neutral, as their allies had not called upon them for support. Instead, they provided military aid in the form of weapons and armor to the Byzantine and Timurid forces.
While waiting for hostilities to reignite, Sultan Salan of the Timurid Empire used this limited timeframe to rush his soldiers through the training required to use the muskets and cannons that they had purchased from the Reich.
