1130
Broadswords. Heh. Broads. Oh, what was that? Something about Adrianopolis?
Oh right my cunning plan to take Adrianopolis that is so cunning that I've already started marching my armies. Well as you can see this is the Count of Adrianopolis, and fourth in the line of succession is one oddly named Zenobios Dukas
Who is a courtier in the Principality of Nikodemeia. Okay I guess you can't see it here because he's still a courtier in Nikodemeia but trust me this will work.
Heinrich d'Ardennes, King of not only Germany but Burgundy and Italy as well!
Let's compare. Here's Byzantium. Weak.
Decaying.
Half of Greece and Anatolia are gone, mostly the richer provinces too. Crete is gone. Cyprus is gone. Rhodos is gone. Antioch is gone. The only gains they have made are annexing the scattered Fatimid territories in the Near East (the Fatimids having moved to Spain, go figure) as well as Turkmenistan off-screen, which are base .60 drains to the economy more than anything. And it's
still ruled by Drago Cherven, who still has that Realm Duress trait, which still is having an effect on the peripheral principalities...
Meanwhile, here's GERMANY! Stretching from the North Sea to the Adriatic Sea, not only has it managed to keep its starting formidableness mostly intact, but managed to expand as well, taking Genoa and pushing the French border to Marseilles. If there was a France. Which there isn't any more. At all.
And so, despite the Byzantines being much closer to Nikomedeia than Germany, the Germans are a better choice of kingdom to join. Crap did I say Nikomedeia and give it away?
All right fine, I'll say it. My plan is to kill enough of the Adrianeopolitan line of succession so that the county falls to Zenobios Dukas. Under Adrianople's succession laws the Prince of Nikomedeia will then be next to inherit. Thus after I assassinate the new boy-count, the Prince of Nikomedeia will have Adrianopolis. I declare war on him and win. There.