Add 1825 snapshot: technology levels, complete world state before V3

Technology: extreme regional inequality spanning 100+ years
- Leading cities ≈ our 1910-1920 (electricity, auto experiments, dreadnoughts, machine guns)
- Mid-tier ≈ 1890-1900, Lower-tier ≈ 1860-1870, Backward ≈ 1800 or earlier
- Same empire can contain 1920s cities and 1800s rural areas

Full state-by-state survey:
- Italian Empire: Napoleon age 70, still ruling, empire institutionalized
- England: world's naval/commercial superpower, global colonial empire
- New Song: most populous, recovered industry, Australian colony
- Germany: Europe's largest industrial economy
- Ilkhanate: diminished but great power, Persian core intact
- Japan: Pacific industrial power, approaching Tier 1
- France: republic, recovering, continental only
- Complete table of 25+ states with tier ratings

Napoleon confirmed ALIVE at V3 start (1836, age 81)
- Better medicine + no exile → survives
- Dies shortly after game start → first major V3 event

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

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@@ -2579,15 +2579,158 @@ Territory = Western Roman Empire core + Balkans + western Anatolia. **"Mare Nost
 
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-## 1836: V3 START — TO BE DEFINED
-
-Final checkpoint needed: the exact V3 opening state for every country.
-Key remaining questions:
-1. **Great Khanate**: Serfdom status? Reform or revolution imminent?
-2. **Portuguese South America**: Two exile courts → independence? Fragmentation?
-3. **Australia partition**: Song east, Kalmar/England west?
-4. **India final map**: English coast, Ilkhanate NW, Song Bengal, indigenous interior?
-5. **New France / North America**: French colonies → independent? English satellites?
-6. **Italian Empire**: Post-Napoleon stability or succession crisis?
-7. **Japan**: Tier 1.5 by now? Pacific power?
-8. **Second Industrial Revolution**: Steam? Railways? Electricity? Who leads?
+## 1825 Snapshot: The World Before V3
+
+### Technology Levels: Extreme Regional Inequality
+
+600+ years of industrial history, but innovation has been uneven and interrupted. The second industrial revolution is COMPLETE for leading nations. The gap between the most and least advanced regions spans ~100+ years of technological difference.
+
+**Leading cities** (Song coastal cities, English industrial belt, Milan/Rome, Isfahan/Tabriz, Osaka/Tokyo-equivalent, Hamburg/Lübeck, Prague):
+≈ Our timeline's **1910-1920**
+- Widespread electricity (urban lighting, factory motors)
+- Early automobiles (experimental/luxury)
+- Wireless telegraph (experimental)
+- Telephone networks (major cities)
+- Dreadnought-class steam ironclads
+- Machine guns, modern artillery
+- Chemical industry (synthetic dyes, explosives, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals)
+- High-speed railway networks
+- Steel-frame skyscrapers, modern sewage/water systems
+
+**Mid-tier industrial cities** (French cities, Aragonese, Kalmar, Korean, Egyptian cities):
+≈ Our timeline's **1890-1900**
+- Railway + telegraph mature
+- Early electricity
+- Steel industry
+- Modern rifles, early machine guns
+- Steam shipping
+
+**Lower-tier cities** (Moroccan, Great Khanate urban, Indian colonial ports):
+≈ Our timeline's **1860-1870**
+- Partial railways, telegraph
+- Basic steel
+- Breech-loading rifles
+- Some modern infrastructure
+
+**Most backward regions** (Great Khanate serf estates, Indian rural, African interior, American frontiers):
+≈ Our timeline's **1800 or earlier**
+- Manual agriculture, no mechanization
+- No railways, no telegraph
+- Muskets or pre-firearm
+- Near-total illiteracy
+
+**Within a single empire, technology can span 100+ years**: Manchester vs rural Ireland, Isfahan vs East African interior, Milan vs Libyan desert, Song Shanghai-equivalent vs Sichuan mountains, Moscow (telegraph/railway) vs Ukrainian serf estate.
+
+### Italian "Roman" Empire (1825)
+- **Napoleon: age 70, in power 37 years, still ruling**
+- **NOT defeated, NOT exiled** — no equivalent of Moscow 1812 or Waterloo. No continental-scale land power to swallow him.
+- More advanced medicine + no exile hardship → healthier than historical Napoleon at this age
+- Empire fully institutionalized over decades of stable rule
+- **Territory**: Italian peninsula + Illyria (personal union) + North Africa (Tunisia→Libya, colonial provinces) + western Anatolia (colonial province) + Byzantine vassal + Bulgarian vassal
+- **Rome** = imperial capital, one of the world's most advanced cities
+- Railway: Rome-Milan-Naples-Florence network + extensions to Balkan/North African provinces
+- Navy: Mediterranean dominant (dreadnoughts)
+- Science/industry: Tier 1 (Renaissance tradition + imperial investment + 50 years of stability)
+- **The succession question**: Everyone knows Napoleon will die soon. His heir rules Illyria but untested. Will the empire hold? V3's first major event.
+
+### England (1825)
+- **World's dominant naval/commercial power** (like historical British Empire ~1900)
+- Coal + iron → the most advanced heavy industrial economy
+- London = global financial center
+- **Colonial empire**:
+  - North America: New England → Great Lakes → Mississippi west (largest N. American power)
+  - India: entire eastern coast + West Bengal (strategic balancer between Song and Ilkhanate)
+  - Australia: western coast settlements (competing with Song east coast)
+  - Various Caribbean/African/Pacific holdings
+- Technology: Tier 1, possibly leading in some areas (steam engineering, naval technology)
+- Political system: constitutional monarchy with powerful parliament (evolved from noble republic)
+
+### New Song (1825)
+- **World's most populous state** (population explosion from Columbian Exchange)
+- Reunified ~175 years ago, post-civil-war recovery complete
+- Industrial base: southern-built new industry + recovered northern factories
+- Innovation renewed (civil war + competition drove it)
+- **Territory**: China proper + recovered Sichuan + recovered Western Protectorate (Hexi/E.Xinjiang)
+- **NOT controlled**: Jianzhou Republic (Liaodong), Mongol Khanate
+- **Overseas**: Malacca (direct), East Bengal (宣慰司), Australian east/north coast (largest presence), SE Asian fragments (nominal)
+- **Vietnam/Burma**: autonomous within Song system
+- **Korea**: independent but in Song cultural/economic orbit
+- Railways: expanding network connecting major cities
+- Technology: Tier 1 (vast capacity but innovation speed competes with England/Italy)
+
+### Greater Germany (1825)
+- **Europe's largest industrial economy by total output**
+- Hanseatic federal system stable (~450 years since unification)
+- Railway network complete (Ruhr-equivalent industrial belt)
+- **Territory**: Low Countries → Austria/Switzerland (+ Silesia)
+- **Vassal**: Grand Duchy of Poland (Gdańsk + Poznań)
+- **Ally**: Bohemia (tight alliance but independent)
+- **Colonies**: West African coast, German Caribbean + Central America
+- Technology: Tier 1 (industrial depth, university system, applied science tradition)
+- Rival: Italian Empire on southern border
+
+### Ilkhanate (1825)
+- **Diminished from golden age but still a great power**
+- Lost: Egypt (independent ~1700), Malacca (to Song ~1700), western Anatolia (to Italy ~1815)
+- **Holds**: Persia (core, industrial) + Iraq + eastern Anatolia + Central Asian vassals (Khoqand) + Indian NW puppet states + East African coastal provinces (Sudan → South Africa, possibly including seized Portuguese Cape Colony) + Sinai/Palestine
+- Constitutional merchant government (since ~1575 "Glorious Revolution")
+- Technology: Tier 1 in Persian cities, colonial periphery much lower
+- Persian industrial core intact → capable of rebuilding
+- **Cold war with Italian Empire** over Anatolian border
+
+### Japan (1825)
+- **~150 years since forced opening, fully industrialized**
+- Technology: Tier 1.5, approaching Tier 1
+- Pacific empire: Hokkaido + Sakhalin + Kurils + Kamchatka (continuous) + Alaska + Pacific NW outposts
+- Strong navy (Pacific dominant)
+- Active in international trade
+- Competing with England for Pacific/Australian influence
+- Northeast Asian friction: Jianzhou, Korea, Mongol Khanate
+
+### France (Republic, 1825)
+- Continental France only (lost all overseas except minor remnants)
+- Republic (~60 years old), stabilized
+- Absolutist reform → industrialization with continental resources
+- Burgundy remains independent (guaranteed by balance of power)
+- Large population → economic potential
+- Domestic industry developing but lost coal/iron resources (those are in England)
+- Technology: Tier 2 (recovering, not leading)
+- Rival: Italy (replaced England as primary threat)
+
+### Other Key States (1825 Summary)
+| State | Tier | Key Feature |
+|---|---|---|
+| Bohemia | 1.5 | Small, highest per-capita industry/education. German ally. |
+| Kalmar Union | 1.5 | Shared crown confederacy. Swedish iron industry. Vinland colony. Arms trade profits. |
+| Aragon | 2 | Diminished (lost Italy). Keeps Sicily/Sardinia/Languedoc. Pope-in-exile. Catholic bastion. |
+| Jianzhou Republic | 2 | Micro-industrial state. Sakhalin + Kamchatka posts. NE Asian friction. |
+| Morocco | 2 | NW Africa (→ Mauritania). Limited industry. Large territory. Sunni. |
+| Korea | 2.5 | Independent, nationalized mining/industry. NE Asian pressure. |
+| Burgundy | 2.5 | Small, landlocked, high-end manufacturing + education. English ally. Survivor. |
+| Egypt | 2.5 | Independent (since ~1700). Sultan + Al-Azhar + parliament. East African colonies. Sunni center. |
+| Castile | 2.5 | Iberian interior + Portuguese protectorate. Catholic. Medium industry. |
+| Mongol Khanate | 3 | Mining/pastoral. Nationalized Song mines. Sparse population. Bering awareness. |
+| Portuguese S. America | 3 | Two exile courts (Portuguese + French kings). Independence pressure. Multiple viceroyalties. |
+| Great Khanate | 3 | **Serfdom crisis**. Huge territory (Volga→Ukraine→Hungary→Kazakhstan→direct Poland). Industrial backwater. |
+| Bulgaria | Vassal | Italian vassal (Napoleon alive → can't leave). May break free post-Napoleon. |
+| Byzantium | Vassal | Italian vassal (surrounded, can't leave even post-Napoleon). High autonomy. |
+| Illyria | Union | Italian personal union. Integrated but distinct South Slavic identity. |
+| Granada | Minor | Still exists? Castilian tributary Muslim enclave. |
+| Eastern Chagatai | Minor | Western Xinjiang remnant. Squeezed between Song/Khoqand. |
+| Various Indian states | Minor-3 | Fragmented interior: Maratha-equivalent, Rajput states, Deccan sultanates. Being colonized. |
+| SE Asian Chinese polities | Minor-2 | Autonomous republics/kingdoms. Nominal Song connection. |
+| Songhai | Minor-2 | West African empire. May still exist (no Moroccan invasion in this timeline?). |
+
+---
+
+## 1836: VICTORIA 3 START
+
+### To be finalized:
+1. Napoleon dies shortly after game start → succession crisis = first major event
+2. Great Khanate serfdom: the core political crisis for that playthrough
+3. Portuguese South America: independence movements / fragmentation
+4. India: ongoing scramble / colonial competition
+5. North America: English vs French colonial rivalry
+6. Australia: Song vs England vs Kalmar partition
+7. All country borders, starting laws, and political situations
+8. Religious map final state