Succession and Survival: El Principat de Catalunya, 1705 CATALUNYA

The year is 1705. War tears across Europe as centuries-old familial dynasties collide in a struggle to determine who will assume the throne of the Spanish Kingdom. In the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, the Principality of Catalonia stands at a crossroads. Choosing to back the Habsburg claimant, Charles III, against the Bourbon Philip V, Catalonia throws itself into a battle that is not only dynastic, but existential. As Charles III establishes his court in Barcelona, the city becomes a political and military flashpoint, embroiling itself in a clash between its medieval heritage and the changing world that lies ahead. The Principality has remained for centuries part of the territories of the Crown of Aragon, and therefore subsumed into the Kingdom of Spain, but it has nonetheless retained much of its medieval autonomy and heritage into the 18th century. Yet much of this autonomy lies in peril as Bourbon troops encroach on Catalonia…

In this continuous crisis committee, delegates will assume the roles of Catalonia’s nobles, military leaders, clergy, and political officials as they navigate shifting allegiances, defend their autonomy, and reimagine the role of their region in a new world order. Crisis updates will demand urgent responses to Bourbon military pressure, internal dissent, and foreign diplomacy, among a myriad of possible complications that may arise. The committee will explore the delicate balance between survival and sovereignty, tradition and modernity, faith and ambition, stability and reform. As war escalates and internal tensions mount, delegates must make difficult decisions about governance, diplomacy, and the future of Catalonia. Whether through military resistance, political negotiation, or institutional reinvention, the fate of the Principality lies in their hands.

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