Mecklenburg: When the bull charges

Latin ofcourse :rofl:

English was not at all a dominant language at that time : But there is the possibility that both learned Latin

Next update coming up in the following hours (finally )

Reports had been steadily accumulating on Jyllands desk. His upcoming wedding had proved to be a lot more than he waged for.

A priest had to be persuaded to baptise Semira and immidiatly afterwards hold a wedding ceremony. He also had to think out a plan to get to do his bidding. He was not stupid enough to think she would just do as he wanted her to do. He would have to get some leverage to insure she would not turn on him whenever she got the opportunity. Perhaps a child would help. The prospect of a child obtaining his fathers riches might help in her cooperating with his plans. He needed someone to watch over Northern Africa and especially the gold he needed so direly.

THe moment she had a child he would send her and the child to North Africa. She could handle the North African vassals there as well as oversee the exploitation of Sus. She would understand the need for secrecy and if it was gold that would one day be her son's than Jylland was sure she would keep everything a secret. Kessler could give her the military support she might need.

That sounded about right. He orderded one of his soldiers to find a newly arrived priest, one fresh of the boat and eager to please. Now for the reports:

The first one came from Rettin, short and to the point:



It seemed that converting really was his cup of tea. As long as he didnt come near the mines it would be fine. The moment there were no more infidels to convert, was the moment he would worry about Rettin once more.

The next report was from Blois : Simply stating he had brought Tripoli under their banner. Nothing more nothing less.

He stated he was going for Tunisia and Marocco next.








He had to get an heir soon and than send Semira over to take care of all those vassals. He would soon have more pressing issues to concern himself with.

I actually liked CK a lot. Twas a tad easy, but you could rp to your hearts content: I hope the upcoming patch will fix the CTD's and some of the more retarded facets of the AI.

That's just the way the cookie crumbles Capibara: I just tend to seize any chance I have to create a strung out country that will net me plenty of enemies.



The ceremony was short and private, Semira did not want her family to attend her wedding and her family obviously didn't want to attend her christening.

The woman however did not seem bothered at all. Even during the ceremony she seemed busy thinking about God knows what.

Jylland was actually a tad sad about how pragmatic Semira proved to be. The wedding night was not a dissappointment, but he would have liked her to at least show some feelings. He felt like everything was just part of a plan of hers, a plan that did not involve any concern for his welbeing. If she would be a bit sad or happy or angry then Jylland would feel like he was still in control. Things being as they were however, Jylland was wondering what he got himself into.

She was obviously planning on keeping him to his promise. She demanded to be present at every meeting Jylland held and he had to admit her knowledge of the local customs was a great aid. He just didn't like the fact that she made demands. He couldn't refuse her demands since he promised she would get the opportunity to do as she always wanted. Perhaps he shouldnt have lived as a hermit for all those years. A single attractive female could now prove to be his downfall. Too late now though, he would try to make the best of it.

His original plan of sending her to Sus once she gave him an heir lost a lot of it's appeal. Giving her access to a huge amount of gold and a son to succeed him did not seem to be the best of plans, now that he knew her a bit better.
He was wondering how Blois would reacts when they met, hopefully the man would hurry and finish up the campaign in the desert. It was not the same without him. Perhaps it would be best to just recall Blois and let Kessler finish the campaign. That would mean there would be noone to oversee Sus, but that province had only given him headaches so far and any gold exploitation still seemed years away.

Problems, problems everywhere. Even at this very moment a new problem was arising. He was holding a meeting with some people who worked for his own company, he had appointed them to oversee the new cloth trade that would be carried out from Armor.

But as he could have known problems arised the moment he had set sail for Granada.


"Im sorry my Lord, but there is just to much cloth coming from Burgundian towns. They are selling for prices that we just can't compete with. They produce too much for us to be able to keep up."
"You could not have thought of this before I left, could you Markus?"
"I didn't know they would go under our price on purpose my Lord!"
"I guess you didn't. Well then what on earth do you want me to about it?"
"Perhaps , ehm , perhaps my Lord can persuade the king to wage a war against Burgundy? They can't reach our lands, but we can reach theirs! We can destroy their industry and then move out once again. Our navy will keep us safe."
"A war against Burgundy you say? Because you can not create an efficient business and run the risk of being fired, you want our soldiers to march to war?"
"Well, what else can we do my Lord?"
"It seems there is noone competent left on this entire earth, get out of my sight."
"My lord!"
Markus quickly scurried out of the throne room, happy he was allowed to keep both his job and his head. At least for the time being.

Now this problem. His new cloth trade that he had such high hopes for was going to end up in failure, since the man he appointed to oversee the operation managed to attend the Burgundian traders to their activities in such a way that they decided to nip them in the bud.

A war just for this might seem a bit too much. Jylland got the new map he had one of the muslim cartographers create, those people were extremly crafty, the map was far more accurate than the one he bought in France.

Burgundy seemed to be too much to chew, not matter how he looked at it. They would never be persuaded into attacking them, since they could not gain anything from a war.




Jylland needed more allies. He decided to accept the offer from the Swedish ambassador. It was not the best ally to have, but noone else seemed interested in an alliance with Mecklenburg. He would summon the man later this afternoon and make his decision known. Perhaps he would have to send an emmisary of his own to the king, someone who could convince the king that it was the king himself that agreed to the alliance. It was still to early to start acting like the king, at least without covering it up.

He could use some of the gold Blois had send over with a ship to buy some gifts for the king. Some things that would keep the jester happy.



That Blois really was a capable man, he would have to give him a title sooner or later. Perhaps colonel or something like that. Disgruntled employees were something Jylland didn't not want and not rewarding talent was a sure way of getting people disgruntled.

Jylland decided that to solve the cloth issue, he would have to get closer to the fire. It was of the utmost importance to deal with this, it was his personal wealth that was on the line. He thought that it would also be a good opportunity to show his new wife to his Majesty, it would undoubtedly please the oaf.

It rained as always. Semira had never seen so much rain in her life. Ever since they reached France it had rained almost continously. This miserable piece of rock received more rain in a week than her home country in a year.

She had been presented to the king in the same way her father would show a new horse to a relative. She endured it, the same way she endured the whole marriage with Jylland. It might be an unpleasant business, but she knew that her day would come.

She walked into the room Jylland had received. The inevitable map was lying on Jyllands desk, showing the problem area. Jylland told her all about his problems, the fool seemed incapable of doing things on his own. It seemed that most of his success could be accounted to his faithfull aides instead of his own compentece. The man was a good merchant, but he should have stayed out of the realm of the nobility.

It seemed a war was raging between the armies of Burgundy and Hainaut. Small stones depicted their respective armies on the map as far as Jylland knew where those armies were. The fact that it took weeks or sometimes months to get proper information was something Jylland always seemed to forget. But Semira didn't. She knew all about war. Her forfathers once ruled the entire Iberian peninsula, but were reduced to nothingness because there heirs forgot about war. Her father knew this very well and made sure his male heirs were thought all about war. He couldnt refuse his daughter request to be allowed in the same lessons as her brothers, so she was taught by the best teachers her fathers gold could buy.

The war had already been raging for some months know and both countries had to be tiring. Burgundy could not march their main armies to the front since they were not allowed to move across French soil. Hainaut could not muster the forces to deal with Burgundy and as such the war exhausted their capability to wage war.

A chance was here, the amounts of soldiers represented by these rocks had been steadily depleted, she wiped away half the rocks. Just four Hainaut rocks remained. More than this the Hainautians could not have she thought. She knew that the Hainautian holdings were extremely rich, both in trading potential and manpower. No matter which province they could take, it would mean a huge advantage. The promise of cloth would be enough to persuade her husband into going to war, it might not be cloth they would get, but it was sure her future son was going to benefit greatly from any gains made in these lands.

"You want me to go to war for some silly cloth as well?": Jylland was suprised, he didn't expect his wife to favour any conquest in the rainy north. She had been very passionate this night and Jylland suspected is was because she wanted something from him.
"You don't want your business to be ruined do you?"
"Ofcourse I dont want that. But a war just for cloth seems a tad too much don't you think?"
"It's not just cloth. It's huge cities and huge amounts of prestige and wealth.": Semira had to bite her tongue, she almost gave him a verbal lashing. The man was slow, but if she would be insolent he would deny her this request just to annoy her, spoiling the chance they had.
"It's for your son, Jylland."
"My son? Are you pregnant? What?": Jylland had hoped for an heir, but he definitly didn't expect one so soon. Semira however was not planning on spending her time with him in bed in vain and had used every trick she could remember hearing other woman around the palance talking about in order to get pregnant as fast as possible and to make sure it was a boy.
Jylland was overthrown by the news. Not just the fact that he was going to have a son, but that she finally used his name. She still looked at him like he was something you would have a servant remove from the bottom of your shoe, but it was a huge improvement.
"A son you say. Are you sure?" She nodded.
"A son. Yes and you must make sure he has a proper inheritance once you pass away."
"Inheritance? But Semira, I'm not the king. "
"Not yet.": She said and she knew she had him. He might have been thinking about being a king and creating a line of merchant kings, but to actually start working towards that goal had been one step to far for him. A son however would be the push he needed to actually go ahead and grab what he should have grabbed long ago. And if it's was a daughter she would just have to get pregnant again.


"And that is my King, why we should attack Hainaut and take what is rightfully ours.": those were the words Jylland used to end his hour long speech.
The king seemed bedazzled by the long tirade of words: "But ehm Jylland those are christians we will be fightning. I didn't like it when we attacked the Bretons, but since they were under the influence of the devil as you said, it was neccesary."
"They are not true christians, my lord as I just explained. They have hoarded all of the church's riches and kept them for themselves, as I just explained. Do you want me to repeat my speech, your Highness?"
"O, please don't! I remember it all too well. You are right, they are not true christians! Please do as you think is necessary, Jylland."
"Thank you my King, for the faith you place in me. I will take my leave and prepare for the invasion."


Jylland had recalled Blois from Africa. He didn't want to risk anything, if this went wrong they would be in deep trouble. He had promoted Blois to colonel and increased his salary. He even promoted his other guard to captain to please Blois. It didn't seem to make much of a difference to the man.

"Blois, this should be easy: You will take with you our largest army, the Armee of Lubeck and with out you squash the remaining Hainautian forces and take what ever you can take. I give you the full authority to decide when to pull out. There is not much difficulty in this task, Semira says they are all but beaten."
"Sir."
"Off with you then, good luck colonel."

Excerpt from the Kaiserliche Bibliothek:

It was not clear, when Reichs Marschall Blois was recalled from Africa. All we know is that he was recalled after defeating the remaining Algerian forces.

After returning to the Fatherland he got promoted to Oberstleutnant, the youngest to have ever received that rank.

He was immidiatly dispatched to the Low Lands in order to get back the lands that were rightfully ours.


The national army was placed under his command as well as the entire fleet. The operation was not as remarkable as his other actions however, the enemy had already been soundly beaten in other wars. The landing in Holland went as planned, resulting in the annihilation of the remaining Hainautian forces.


However this was nothing but a prelude to the darkest day in the history of our glorious empire.

On may the 6th 1407 a day that will forever life on in infamy, the treacherous English and their many allies, jealous of our success, declared war on our empire.

comagoosie said:

Semira is smart, I wonder why she doesn't run the country, she could do everything Jylland has done and in half the time

Click to expand...

We will just go with the flow and see where all of this ends up. I'm not writing with a script, I just do as feel like I should do.

Fightning against Christian? No no you are wrong, they are just infidels hiding under the papal wing :rofl:

Mecklenburg: Using currency.​

The emissary from the king was running towards the Generals headquarters. He was bearing ill news and hoped General Jylland would not use him as a scape goat. It would not be the first time higher ups would take it out on the messenger. He was send by the king himself, he got the fastest boat that the French could provide him with and hoped he would be in time.

"Special envoy from the king, let me through. I have urgent news.": He screamed at the guards while he approached the headquarters.
THe guards looked at each other shrugged and made way. The emmisary ran through the entrance not stopping for a minute. He just kept running. He only stopped for a moment, to ask a maiden where on earth the General was.
After he found out he went straight on, not looking left or right.

Jylland was having a conversation with Semira enjoying their quick and almost bloodless victory in Holland with a nice cup of imported coffee. Semira had gotten Jylland addicted to the drink, he spend many a ducat making sure they always had their supply of fresh beans.

Jylland heared yelling coming from the hallway. Some idiot was screaming about being an emissary from the king, bearing news. He wondered what it could be about. Perhaps the king had another vision proclaiming that they should all return to Lubeck and leave their prices behind. That would really be something. Jylland shouted at the guard to let the screaming fool in.

"My General, I bring you news from the king!"
"Yes I guessed as much, I could hear you shouting even if I was at the other side of the damn North Sea."
"My Lord..."The envoy seemed distressed." My lord.. I am very sorry to have to say this."
"Yes yes, I already guessed that you wouldn't be hurrying like this if you had some good news. Spit it out man, I am having some quality time with my wife."
"The English declared war!"
"?"
"I said that English declared war sir!"
JYlland just looked at the messenger, the news did not seem to actually reach him.
Semira decided to take matters into her own hands, she had already expected a response on their conquests. Rich lands such as Holland could not be taken without the major powers reacting. Because France backed Mecklenburg, although they did not want to ally, their only enemy that could lash out were the English and their cronies.
"Get out little man, if you want to keep your head." : She send the envoy of, before Jylland could have the man executed. She had seen her father react in exactly the same way when he heared about the Mecklenburgian invasion, but punishing the messenger did not do any good, it only served to sooth a mans feelings.
"Jylland we need to act. Jylland?" She shook his arm.
"This will cost you your fortune if you dont act. Think of your unborn son!"
"My son?" Jylland seemed to snap out his daze. "My son, ofcourse. Where did that annoying messenger go?"
"He left, Jylland."
"A smart move, he is lucky to keep his head. What do you think we should do now darling?"
"Request that admiral DeBusque and colonel Blois come over here and plan out our defenses. I'm afraid that we can never keep Armor, our navy is no match for the English war ships." Semira already knew that their problems were not limited to just the navy. The combined English Brabantian and remaining Hainautian forces outnumbered their forces in Holland 10 to 1. They couldn't not keep Granada either, Portugal and Aragon would make sure of that, fielding over 30k soldiers against their small Granadian Home Force.

Their allies in Ireland would be overwhelmed. Granada and Armor were lost causes. But Semira did not dispair, Jylland's trading company made sure they had ample monetary supplies. Blois capabilities would make sure they would not loose their main army. Too bad admiral DeBusque would not be able to show his skills, since their navy was just too small compared to the English Royal Navy.

They would have to try to make their losses as insignificant as possible. She already knew what the English really wanted. Uniting their islands under one banner was their main purpose. They would only want to add insult to injury by asking for more. Semira already had a plan. She would have Jylland spend some of his money raising hirelings. Then Blois could take care of any invading armies in Northern Europe. Some more hirelings would hopefully be raised by Kessler, who was left in charge of southern Europe and Africa. He would have to fend for himself, but according to Jylland the man was capable enough.

Armor was a lost cause and she would not divert any attention to it, according to Jylland that snake Rettin was smart enough to go into hiding, probably taking the king with him. At that was left was to wait for the English to tire and then buy them of as cheaply as possible.

Excerpt from the Kaiserliche Bibliothek:

After fierce fightning put up by Reichs Marschall Blois in Northern Europe and Marchall Kessler in Africa and Spain, it became clear that our fledging empires man power reserves could not cope with a war of this size yet. Almost all able bodied man were recruited and it seemed that even if the empire would survive it would take years to recover.

Reich Marschall Blois defeated multiple small invading armies send by the evil English and Marschall Kessler took care of the plundering Portugese hordes. The navy could not do anything about the English supremacy at sea however and the future seemed grim. As the huge Brabantian armies marched upon our fortesses in Holland it became clear.

In what would be know as the only defeat Mecklenburg would have to admit, Empress Semira took matters into her own hand. Because of her excellent diplomatic skills she managed to reduce the damage done to the emire to a minimum. By giving up the worthless claims the empire had on the Irish islands and the sands of North Africa, but demanding the English to accept the Mecklenburgian ownership of Holland she set the first step into the great future of the Reich.

Don't worry : I've got plenty of hope left: I didn't loose anything of value and I'll be taking back what is rightfully Mecklenburgian sooner or later