State of the world:
Lithuania went Revolutionary but I beat them for the achievement. Mughals were formed by Tabarestan and promptly went into HUGE debt. Japan split the island with Ouchi and lost Kyoto to them near the end of the game. They're also a constitutional republic. Kedah was exiled to NZ where they regrouped. Sunda has much of Indonesia is the 8th GP with under 500 development because I kept eating all the other powers. Portugal is based in Alaska, France in South Africa, and GB in Argentina. Castile got the BI, but failed pretty badly partially because of that distant territory and partially because I conquered Aragon, and was ultimately wiped out. Muscovy started failing in the 1500s and never recovered.

I took Exploration late game to fill out some of Africa and get Laughingstock. I already had all of the Caribbean and much of the eastern U.S. and Brazil by that point from conquest. Ultimately I conquered most of the Thirteen Colonies and Louisiana regions and a good chunk of California and Colombia. The Suez Canal was built in the mid 18th century. Practically all of my Afro-European lands are Catholic because I took Religious. Mughals are my only ally, though France, Poland, and Lithuania were allies for most of the game before I backstabbed them.

Florence>Tuscany>Italy>Roman Empire 1.22 ironman

Started a normal Florence game, not planning farther than wanting to form Italy and have Mediterranean hegemony. Around 1700 when I already controlled most of Spain, Germany, and North Africa I realized that Mare Nostrum was possible with absolutism and client states, so changed tacks to do that. Diplo vassalized Denmark when they were mostly confined to Iceland and fed them most of Scandinavia and created client states Macedon, Northern France, Berlin, and Cafa to help me out. Conquered to Novgorod to get Fanatic Collectivist. Took Hormuz to get Trade Hegemon but sadly didn't have enough time to fight Ming for Malacca.