Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, Part 1

Hello and welcome to the Eurovision Grand Final! 15 civs have earned their way into the final, and will now compete against each other, the Big Five (the UK, France, Germany, Italy), and the host, Israel in a domination-only battle to determine the who will hold the pretty crystal trophy.
Speaking of Italy (with Mahmood's "Soldi") and Israel (with Kobi Marimi's "Home"), they show up here, joined by Croatia with Roko's "The Dream", Albania with Jonida Maliqi's "Ktheju Tokës", and Azerbaijan with Chingiz's "Truth".

They're joined by France with Bilal Hassani's "Roi", North Macedonia with Tamara Todevska's "Proud", Russia with Sergey Lazarev's "Scream", and Slovenia with Zala and Gašper's "Sebi".
The mods I'm using for Italy and France- Victor Emmanuel III and Charles de Gaulle- tend to be rather ineffectual in these games, but in a stroke of luck, have spawned with room to spare.

By the way, yes I moved Russia's starting location to mine in order to keep things fair, as Russia had originally started surrounded by rainforest.
We now see Greece with Katherine Duska's "Better Love", Finland with Darude and Sebastian Rejmann's "Look Away", Georgia with Oto Nemsadze's "Keep On Going", Ireland with Sarah McTernan's "22", Spain with Miki's "La Venda", and Latvia with Carousel's "That Night". It's really crowded here.

Moving south, we see Serbia with Nevena Božović's "Kruuna", Germany with S!ster's "Sister", Hungary with Joci Papai's "Az én apám", Moldova with Anna Odobescu's "Stay", and Portugal with Conan Osiris's "Telemóveis". Canberra is where Russia had spawned, by the way.

Off the mainland, we have a mini-continent populated by cities from non-qualifiers.

After 10 turns, most civs have settled their second city. An assertive settle from Albania, and a questionable one from Azerbaijan.

I realize I forgot to take a shot of the UK, so here they are with Michael Rice's "Bigger Than Us"! aka #BigGerthAnus
The UK locks down on the isthmus while Italy moves to contain British expansion eastward. France's Bilal Hassani, bold as ever, plops Lyon down in the middle of the desert.

Rhodes and Vantaa are questionable settles, while Latvia has been cornered and now in fact forced to pull an exclave second city, instead of voluntarily doing so.

Nothing too crazy happens farther south.

Jekabpils is finally founded between Tiblisi and the city states, concerningly close to three different foreign capitals. Somehow I don't think the two-part Latvia strategy will work again.

Our first war shows up on turn 34, with Hungary against Moldova! Iasi is exposed. If Germany joins in, newly settled Baia could fall easily.

A bunch of third cities show up in the north; Heraklion prevents Finland from settling further west.

Meanwhile Turin is founded far, far north. Mahmood seems to be locking down things strategically, but not quite in the right order.

Iasi falls and burns. Will it be a smart move?

Azerbaijan expands intelligently.

Ireland is the first to a religion as it prepares for battle along with Spain and Latvia.

Somehow I don't think Jekabpils will last too long as a Latvian city.

Will Croatia repeat its strong showing from the semi final?

And Ireland seeks to take Riga. Poor Latvia.

With Iasi gone, Germany makes moves toward Moldova. Portugal is the first to four cities.

Albania takes on Israel! There's a lot of forest there, however.

By the grace of Jon Ola Sand, and probably due to budget problems, Spain makes peace with Latvia without taking Jekabspils.

The S!sters skip Baia and head straight to the big prize of Chisinau.

Baia goes to Hungary in a peace deal and.. it also gets razed. Nice, Joci.

Amidst the siege, Moldova has founded Eastern Orthodoxy. Priorities.
A lone settler sneaks out of Chisinau. It's Anna in disguise, fleeing. Her citizens tell her to "Stay" but alas

The UK joins in to fight Israel! Israel's hosting is clearly unpopular.

Anna did not make it. She wouldn't have gone far anyway, as Portugal joins the war.

Or perhaps she's joined the Telemóveis fanbase...

Portugal snipes Chisinau from Germany, and all is calm once more in the south. Moldova, I'm sorry... you get... no points.

But West Latvia- aka Jekabpils- has finally changed hands! To... Ireland, in a peace deal. At least Riga stays Latvian for now, I guess.

A look at who's founded which religion. This is a CHRISTIAN game

Surprisingly, Jerusalem falls to the UK! Kobi now resides in Rishon LeZion, backed up against a mountain range and the Albanians.

Croatia joins in on the fun!

Russia aims for Georgia with quite a lot of troops.

And Spain turns toward Ireland, for either Dublin or Jekabspils. Toss a coin.

A Northern Showdown erupts with Greece and Russia declaring war on Finland! It's probably something to do with Sebastian's vocals.

The Spanish target was indeed Jekabspils.

And Rishion LeZion falls to Albania, eliminating Israel in second to last place.

Spain finally takes Jekabpils as Russia embraces Tbilisi.

Tbilisi falls, but at least Oto was On His Way to Gori.

Damn, the Telemóveis fanbase is huuge. Portugal sits at 7 cities, with a settler on the way.

Jonida remembers all the fun she and Chingiz had in the semi finals, and decides to reenact the drama

S!sters Try To Take Another Capital (NOT CLICKBAIT)

Jekabpils je Srbija!

tfw you order an attack but forget there's a whole mountain range in the way

Roko joins Jonida in Balkan solidarity.

Sergey Screams his way into Gori, sending Oto On His Way to rest in peace. In the greenroom of course. I swear.

Jonida decides to be a dick to Roko and takes Xidarlan in the peace deal.

Michael is offended by this behavior against his bro Roko and makes his thoughts known to Jonida.

Finland is really piling on the wonders. Also, Russia now has a border to attack through. let the winter war begin again

Fun fact: This was when I realized I had disabled the World Congress, and since the game was going quite well, I decided to let it be- apologies if you were looking for WC drama to happen

Hungary attacks Spain, by marching through Canberra.

And France attacks Slovenia!! Clearly Bilal has a problem with Zala and Gašper's attitude.

Michael's point is made and he makes peace with Jonida.

Ireland makes peace with Russia and gives away... Cork.

The Hungarians are actually damaging Barcelona.

Unfortunately, Bilal is not a great military strategist and fails in making his point against Slovenia, losing most of his military. I really thought Ljubljana could fall.

And hello it's turn 100 so let's take a look at the stats! Russia, Italy, and Hungary lead population. Russia leads by quite a margin.

Russia also leads by a lot in production, with Finland and Portugal trailing.

Albania and Portugal fill out the podium in military size.

In technology, however, it's actually Hungary and North Macedonia leading!

Culture doesn't matter quite as much in domination as the others but here we see Russia leading once more, with Italy and France not terribly far behind.

I'm chopping this final up into smaller parts, and the next part will be up within the week!