I've decided to start another Crusader Kings AAR with the added bonus of playing an Irish (well, sort of) faction. In order to finish it however I have decided to set out with a Four Step Master Plan (tm) :
1) I have a set goal: Become King of Ireland. Piece of cake.
2) I'm starting in 1337 so I have a deadline.
3) ???
4) Write best Crusader Kings AAR ever.
I am playing the Counts of Desmumu, though I'm using the more period appropriate: 'Earls of Desmond'. Medieval Ireland didn't have Counts (we had Earls like England) and Desmond was the anglicisation of Desmumu. I'm playing the latest Beta.
So without further ado:
Part 1: Where there's a will...
Above: Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond. A modest man with much to be modest of.
Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond was not a man overly cursed with undue imagination. However it was the birth of his son (also called Maurice) the previous year that had stirred this dormant part of his personality. Or perhaps it was his marriage, the year before the year before to a member of the historic O'Brien family that had done it.
Above: Countess Margaret. Far too noble to care about such a vulgar thing as money.
Or it may just have been something in the water. Whatever the case something happened to the 1st Earl of Desmond that would change the course of Irish history.
"You've been spending a lot of time speaking with those scholars," noted his wife over another breakfast that saw her husband musing over crumbling codexs and family trees, "what are you planning husband dear?"
The Earl glanced up, deciding to give up trying to decipher a particularly archaic piece of Irish text and confide in her - after all it concerned them both.
"My dear you would agree that we both come from very prestigous families?"
She thought on it before replying: "Well we are half agreed anyway. My family is indeed very prestigous."
"Hmm. Anyway I believe that our son is - technically - the rightful heir High King of Ireland."
"That's very nice I'm sure, but there isn't much we can do is there? King Edward isn't even satisfied with being King of England - I believe he wants to be King of France too. Not really the sort of man to hand over the Kingdom of Ireland to a one year old."
"I'm aware of that," he said rather testily, "but I'm thinking in the long term: maybe not our son, our even his, but his line has the blood and status to become King of Ireland."
"Oh?" A sceptical eyebrow. "Just how are we to manage that?"
Maurice hadn't quite figured that one out yet, but then again it was only nine o'clock in the morning.
1) I have a set goal: Become King of Ireland. Piece of cake.
2) I'm starting in 1337 so I have a deadline.
3) ???
4) Write best Crusader Kings AAR ever.
I am playing the Counts of Desmumu, though I'm using the more period appropriate: 'Earls of Desmond'. Medieval Ireland didn't have Counts (we had Earls like England) and Desmond was the anglicisation of Desmumu. I'm playing the latest Beta.
So without further ado:
The Fitzgeralds: Earls of Desmond
Above: The scenic Earldom of Desmond, 1337
Above: The scenic Earldom of Desmond, 1337
Part 1: Where there's a will...
Above: Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond. A modest man with much to be modest of.
Maurice Fitzgerald, 1st Earl of Desmond was not a man overly cursed with undue imagination. However it was the birth of his son (also called Maurice) the previous year that had stirred this dormant part of his personality. Or perhaps it was his marriage, the year before the year before to a member of the historic O'Brien family that had done it.
Above: Countess Margaret. Far too noble to care about such a vulgar thing as money.
Or it may just have been something in the water. Whatever the case something happened to the 1st Earl of Desmond that would change the course of Irish history.
"You've been spending a lot of time speaking with those scholars," noted his wife over another breakfast that saw her husband musing over crumbling codexs and family trees, "what are you planning husband dear?"
The Earl glanced up, deciding to give up trying to decipher a particularly archaic piece of Irish text and confide in her - after all it concerned them both.
"My dear you would agree that we both come from very prestigous families?"
She thought on it before replying: "Well we are half agreed anyway. My family is indeed very prestigous."
"Hmm. Anyway I believe that our son is - technically - the rightful heir High King of Ireland."
"That's very nice I'm sure, but there isn't much we can do is there? King Edward isn't even satisfied with being King of England - I believe he wants to be King of France too. Not really the sort of man to hand over the Kingdom of Ireland to a one year old."
"I'm aware of that," he said rather testily, "but I'm thinking in the long term: maybe not our son, our even his, but his line has the blood and status to become King of Ireland."
"Oh?" A sceptical eyebrow. "Just how are we to manage that?"
Maurice hadn't quite figured that one out yet, but then again it was only nine o'clock in the morning.