Tjakari: I like cliffhangers. 
The assault on Mecca naturally has the Syrian Muslims riled up, plus the Imperial government does treat them like dirt. It’s not to the level of the Copt treatment of the Egyptian Muslims but that is a really low bar to clear.
HanEmpire: The Mad Mahdi of Mecca is one of history’s little mysteries, despite the best efforts of historians.
The Romans are really mad right now and aren’t in the mood for this sort of thing. Gentleness isn’t even being considered. As a proportion of the Empire’s population the Arab Muslims aren’t that big, but they make the vast majority of the inhabitants of inland Syria and Palestine. So wiping them out poses significant security problems, particularly with an aggressive Shah.
Soverihn: Rhomania is definitely having a bad decade. As for Iskandar, he will quite likely be the greatest of the Shahanshahs. He is already in the process of reforming the army. There are still strong feudal contingents maintained via timars but he is increasing the number of standing troops. The Shahsevan are just the first.
Djacir: Coastal Syria is overwhelmingly Greek Orthodox, as well as Aleppo, Damascus, and Jerusalem/Bethlehem. The Imperial government has no fears of disloyalty there.
Gianni rivera: Iskandar is interested in grabbing some border provinces, but not in destroying the Roman Empire. He doesn’t think such a thing is possible.
Evilprodigy: Iskandar is a faithful Muslim but has absolutely no patience with religious fanatics, who he considers to be mostly stupid, undisciplined cowards. There will be more on this in later updates.
As for Roman attitudes to the Serbs, there’s a lot of resentment there that has been festering for a long time. The Romans view the Serbs as ungrateful treacherous bastards who rebel at the drop of the hat and who are disgustingly eager to side with any Catholics invading the Empire. So there is a very strong sense of schadenfreude with the Serbs being persecuted by Catholics.
Belgrade is one of the larger Serbian towns but under King Vukasin who orchestrated Serbian independence during the Time of Troubles the political and economic base of Serbia shifted south to Ras. Under Hungarian administration it has not changed.
HanEmpire: The fighting in Japan but there has been enough time for the Shimazu to lick their wounds (Yamage was in 1582). It did help that the Chosokabe’s Portuguese allies were off trolling the Romans.
Stark: The Empire will strike back.
Darthfanta: The non-Anatolian Muslims are counting on Ottoman support, or at least for Iskandar to keep the Romans too occupied to deal with them.
Norlag: Iskandar’s goals are to take the Georgian territories south of the Aras. These were originally Ottoman territories which were then conquered by Timur II. The Georgians then wrested them from Timur II and kept them. Iskandar also wants the Black Stone remitted to his custody so that he can return it to Mecca (the Romans suspect this to be a front for setting himself up as Protector of the Holy Cities and they’re right). He also is interested in wresting some Roman border territories but has no set goals here, waiting to see how the fortunes of war turn.
Noblesse Oblige: If the Shimazu had managed to reach their position just a few years earlier they would have a good shot at becoming shogun. Unfortunately for them, since 1582 after the Shimazu were heavily defeated at Yamage, the Azai have managed to unify Honshu.
Arrix85: Having everybody be murderous religious fanatics gets old after a while. The substandard Roman performance in Egypt is partly a mix of bad luck, overconfidence, and flat-out incompetence. There are a lot of old Roman officers promoted on the basis of seniority in the long years of peace so there is a good amount of dead wood lying around.
Evilprodigy: Do you remember the source for the Novo Brdo mines still producing into the 1600s? From what I’ve read, I think it was Franz Babinger’s Mehmed the Conqueror and His Times, those mines were playing out already by the time the Ottomans conquered them.
Although hyper-intensive mining would help explain how Andreas Niketas was able to keep taxes low whilst still accomplishing his many projects, all those wars, building the White Palace, laying the groundwork for Pepper Fleets less than twenty years after the fall of Egypt.
HanEmpire: Iskandar is a moderate Muslim. He wants the Romans out of Mecca, but he blames religious fanatics for incurring the wrath of the Romans. Further atrocities are just going to make them more intransigent. Of course there is nothing fanatics hate more than a moderate.
There will be more on Iskandar’s mentality regarding the Romans in future updates.
Tyg: A lot. Egypt’s population is less than 3 million now, it may have been more than twice that before the Black Death.
Chosen Chaos: Right. The Romans got cocky and the Idwaits got very lucky.
Casval: Exactly. The Romans can’t be strong everywhere and they’ve got too many interests and too many enemies, although better diplomacy and a calmer Demetrios might have helped alleviate the latter problem.
