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Truly rejoicable, I've awoken my reader-base! Welcome back all, have a cookie.

Allright, my prediction about getting an updated finished for yesterday evening was slightly optimistic, but I got half a chapter finished. Tonight I'm going to the cinema with my lass though, so I'll try to have it up tomorrow. :cool:
 
Snugglie said:
Truly rejoicable, I've awoken my reader-base! Welcome back all, have a cookie.

Allright, my prediction about getting an updated finished for yesterday evening was slightly optimistic, but I got half a chapter finished. Tonight I'm going to the cinema with my lass though, so I'll try to have it up tomorrow. :cool:
Well... for that... we can wait one more day. :cool:
 
Chapter XIII

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The 13th of April, a day marked by heavy rain and storm-winds, Arnulf van Brunesheim died at an age of 55 years. Due to the bad luck of, after the death of Godfried the Elder, living in the same duchy as Eckhard von Blankenheim he never became the marshal of the duchy, something that probably grieved him to his death. If it did, he did not show it however. The signum of Arnulf was to not speak least it was necessary, and thus he had remained a loyal body-guard for the duke until the end of his life. He was buried in the church in Breda, from where he and his family stemmed and left a widow, Adriane, left in life.

Soon after his death message came in form of a young man in red cape, speaking horrible German.

---​

Godfried looked up from his book towards the door, where someone knocked briskly. He said ‘Come in’ and awaited the impatient visitor. It turned out to be the deacon, Albrecht, that looked even more distressed than usual.
“Albrecht? What is it?”
“Milord, there is someone down in the grand hall that… or at least we THINK that he is looking for you. He was rather hard to understand.” Albrecht said, looking resigned.

Godfried raised his eye-brows. “Hard to understand? What man is this?”
“That is the thing sire; we do not know completely. All we know is that his German is incomprehensible, and he does not understand a word of Flemish. You better talk to him.”

Godfried sighed and spread some sand over the wet ink in his book to make it dry quicker. “Good gracious, I wonder what this might all be about.”
“A clue that might help you sire – although I have to admit that it does not help me – is that his cape, which is red, is decorated with two golden lions.”
Had Godfried not been interested before, he was now surely wondering what a messenger from William the Bastard wanted him.

The stranger waited in the grand hall, where receptions and feasts occasionally were held. He had short blonde hair and a prominent beard, with brown eyes looking out from deep eye-sockets. He was built as a warrior with wide shoulders and muscular arms, and indeed – his cape bore the arms of the king of Anglia – William de Normandie, called either “the Conqueror” or “the Bastard” depending on what opinion you held of him. Both were of course true, but the mighty – and rather brutal – king himself logically preferred the prior.
“Here he is milord.” Albrecht said, and walked forward to the man that looked outrageously at Albrecht. It seemed as though the knight had been kept waiting for a long while. “Here he is sire, the duke of Lorraine!” The knight kept on looking quizzically at Albrecht. “There – him!” Albrecht said, pointing at Godfried and repeating the word ‘duke’ over and over again, slower each time. After a few tries, the knight irritably waved away Albrecht.
“I come speak! King mine, wants me speak!” the knight bellowed, his voice echoing in the hall. Godfried had a hard time remaining serious, for not only did the high knight speak a ridiculous German, his accent was horrible as well. A problem had now arisen though, for there was no-one in Andernach that was known to speak the language of Anglia. But then again, their king was now French, Godfried thought.
“Sir knight, maybe a conversation in French would suit our needs better?” he tried, feeling content as the knight’s rather grim face lit up.
“An excellent idea, duke Lorraine! I have been trying for hours here to talk to this imbecile,” he waved in the direction of Albrecht, who looked as if he had no idea what was going on, “and his minions. Finally, a cultivated person!”

The knight’s voice was loud and deep, and sounded clearly through the halls. Through the corner of his eye, Godfried saw a red-haired woman – easily recognized as his French-born wife, Camila that stemmed from Bourges – curiously turn her head towards the stranger. With a small smile on her lips she leaned backwards on a pillow to follow the conversation. The knight did not notice.
“It is all very well and nice to throw compliments at each other, on that we agree. But tell me now; what is your errand here?” Godfried said, once again looking at the knight.
“Ah… ah! Yes, of course.” from inside his travelling-coat he picked up a parchment-roll which he unrolled and read aloud from. “I, William, king of England and all of England, am now taking up the battle against the heathen yoke of our Holy City, Jerusalem! As wished by the Holy Father, the Pope, and by God himself I will now – unaided, it seems! – free this holy place as a monument of the faith of the English people –”
“Yes, thank you, sir knight.” Godfried said, indicating that he had heard enough. “What does king William want with this proclamation, for I assume that you are not the only messenger riding around in Germany, and probably in France as well?”
“Indeed he has got a purpose; all of England is at what against the heathens now, and indeed we are mighty, but Jerusalem is far away and our gold reserve is not endless. In fact,” the knight leaned forward as if to tell something that wad for Godfried’s ears only, “I personally, and so does the king I’ve heard, doubt that the war can be won single-handedly. We need the help of our fellow Christians. So now is the question; can we count on the help of Lorraine?”

At the last words he stiffened and got a more formal tone. Godfried did not have to think long before being able to deliver an answer.
“I respect your king’s will to take up the battle with the heathens, and wish him good luck,” he started. The knight looked slightly resigned, feeling in what direction the answer was going. “But we are a part of the Holy Roman Empire and we are ruled by the Emperor, and that is nothing we can get away from that easily. So I say to you, knight, and to your king; if you convince the Emperor to join the crusade, then it is also my battle. Until then, I am sorry to say that I cannot help you.”

The knight sighed. “You are hardly the first one to say that. I thank you, duke Lorraine, and hope we see each other again.” And with those words, and the regular exchange of polite phrases, the knight left Andernach to proceed on his long trip.

Godfried jumped slightly as someone sneaked up on him and tapped his back. It turned out to be Camila, who laughed at his violent reaction.
“Easy, Godfried, easy.” she said, smiling. “What did that handsome knight want from you?”
“He wanted my troops and my gold, dear.” Godfried sighed, breathing out heavily. “And those I am not willing to grant him until our Emperor has decided to sacrifice his as well.

---​

In March 1081, another one of the elder courtiers not in the council disappeared. This time in the form of Richwara von Sponheim, another one of the high Bredan nobles, that requested to retire from Earthly life and spend her remaining years in a monastery. Godfried granted her request, partially since he saw no reason to deny a request like that, and partially because he frankly did not have any bigger use of her in the managing of the realm.

In May 1082, King William of England died. The mighty warrior was found dead in his chambers, seemingly having died in sleep. ‘Finally an end of the reign of the Bastard’, said some, and ‘An unworthy end to the reign of the mighty Conqueror’ said some, but they would all be ruled by William’s oldest son Robert Curthose instead. Already before the death of his father, Robert Curthose was described as mean and vile, and what would come out of his reign was only to be seen in the stars.

No matter what, he decided to keep another Jerusalem-politic than his late father. He started out with suing for peace with a majority of the small sheikdoms, and instead focus on Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the marshal of the duchy of Normandy was by midsummer 1082 leading an effective siege of the Holy City.

With the death of king William, his urging to the rest of the kings of Europe to join the crusade was generally considered passé, and thus Robert Curthose was this only supported by Scotland in the battle against the Turks. This triggered a collective sigh of relief in the ducal council, since England’s successful crusade also meant that there was no likely reason ever to give support in the form of large amounts of money and men.

Shortly before the death of king William, although Godfried got to know about it significantly later, was the death of Theodor von Altenbaumberg; his old spy-master, that had been “promoted” to the far-north county of Oldenburg due to rumours of severe disloyalty. He had died promptly and suddenly, and the county was now ruled by his four-year-old son whose name was still unknown to Godfried. He had mixed feelings over the death of his old rival; on one hand, it was a relief that Theodor no longer could trouble him, for he was truly a liability. On the other hand, Godfried could not master to be happy over the death of another person; he was also worried for the isolationist tendencies that first Theodor and now his wife – the de facto-ruler of Oldenburg until the 18th birthday of his son – had been, and were showing. It did not bode well for the future, and Godfried decided to send an emissary to Oldenburg within a close future to try to establish a stronger contact.

---

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---​

Thus endeth the thirteenth chapter.

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So some old courtiers, and even an old king, are dead. Poor William. Scotland and Germany are now joining in on his Crusade... after he's dead. But apparently Godfried is going to try to avoid joining the Emperor's Crusader Army... despite his promise to answer the call if Henrich did. Unless his promise was to William alone, in which case he owes nothing to Robert.
 
crusaderknight said:
So some old courtiers, and even an old king, are dead. Poor William. Scotland and Germany are now joining in on his Crusade... after he's dead. But apparently Godfried is going to try to avoid joining the Emperor's Crusader Army... despite his promise to answer the call if Henrich did. Unless his promise was to William alone, in which case he owes nothing to Robert.
Aye... complicated, 'tis the word :)
 
Just read through this, Snugglie - very nice. The Duchy is interesting and the goal a solid one. I like the narrative too. Godfried has certainly grown as a character and you've surrounded him with many colorful folks. Nice graphics too. :cool:
 
Ah. Jerusalem.

Worth the trouble, every time.
 
coz1 said:
Just read through this, Snugglie - very nice. The Duchy is interesting and the goal a solid one. I like the narrative too. Godfried has certainly grown as a character and you've surrounded him with many colorful folks. Nice graphics too. :cool:
Why, thank you very much! :) Hope you will enjoy it as much in the future -- if everything goes as planned, I've got almost four-hundred years of gameplay. If even more goes as planned, and I still haven't lost interest, I'll have yet another fivehundred years. ;)

Nice to have you on.
RGB said:
Ah. Jerusalem.

Worth the trouble, every time.
I can't help but think of a thing my late grandfather said when he had been in Israel about ten years ago;
Grampa said:
I can't see why on Earth they are fighting over that bloody stretch of sand...
 
Snugglie said:
...I've got almost four-hundred years of gameplay. If even more goes as planned, and I still haven't lost interest, I'll have yet another fivehundred years. ;) ...
Fivehundred more years? Does this mean you will be continuing this AAR into EU3, Vicky, and HOI2... or are you using the unlimited time patch for CK and you will be taking the middle ages into the 20th century? :confused: I'm guessing the former.
 
crusaderknight said:
Fivehundred more years? Does this mean you will be continuing this AAR into EU3, Vicky, and HOI2... or are you using the unlimited time patch for CK and you will be taking the middle ages into the 20th century? :confused: I'm guessing the former.
O_O The latter sounds rather horrid.

Well... I wouldn't say PLANNING on, especially since there ftm is not -- as far as I know -- a proper converter between EUIII and Ricky. And I'm doubtful about saying planning as well, because then I am putting quite a pressure on myself... Many are the Grand Campaigns taht are left unfinished.

But let's just say that it would be a delight to eventually bring Lotharingia into the 20th century. We'll see how everything develops ;)
 
Gottfried seems like a rather decent fellow, not celebrating the death of his rival.
 
General_BT: A humble man indeed. His oldest son, however... :D
King of Sand: Thank you very much, glad to have you on board.
 
Okay, dear readers, I want to ask you for advice.

As most of you -- and hopefully all -- have noticed, I try to imitate a tattered and torn piece of parchment when doing my maps, including -- making a try having -- jagged edges.

Well, for one, this takes quite some work at times since I am not that good with Gimp -- and I can't even use Photoshop... -- and for second, I've been thinking if there might be a way that simply looks nicer. Thus, below I provide my latest map, from some chapters ago, with either jagged edge or a more traditional frame.

lotharmap4.gif


lotharmap4b.png

So, readers, time to say your opinion; which one shall I go for for -- at least the close -- future?

Note: The decision of this will not delay the next chapter, or any of the ones coming afterwards.
 
I must say that personally I prefer the jagged edges. But if it is taking too much of your time, I won't mind if you switch to the other style. Whatever keeps this AAR rolling. :cool:
 
I would say that given the type of person Godfried is, his maps would be well taken care of. The Jagged edges also seem to imply that Godfried does not succede at uniting his desired kingdom, as though this is some lost map of a failed plan as opposed to a treasured map detailing the rise of a great kindom.
 
I like the frame, actually. The jagged edges look nice but the map needs to be aged too for the complete effect. The bottom one looks nice.
 
King of Sand said:
I would say that given the type of person Godfried is, his maps would be well taken care of. The Jagged edges also seem to imply that Godfried does not succede at uniting his desired kingdom, as though this is some lost map of a failed plan as opposed to a treasured map detailing the rise of a great kindom.
Hm... You know, that is a very, very good point there actually. I hadn't thought of that before. But yes, it might be an idea to vary the looks of the maps depending on the ruler's personality... I'll definitely look more into that.

And crusaderknight and coz1 , thank you for your advice as well. Now, I've got some chapters of quite much happening coming up next, and hopefully I'll have time to put one up today. :)
 
Hey again guys. Seems like the next chapter will take a while before it's published; a horseload of schoolwork have popped up, seemingly from nowhere, and as it seems now I have no time whatsoever for AAR-writing.

If I could have my way, I wouldn't do anything else, of course. Sadly I can't, and my future grades have started worrying me more and more lately. So be prepared for some wait, and I'll put even more effort than before into it as soon as I can.
 
No worries. Education is very important. We can wait. :cool: