Me, Floris

quantum: The profit is really great: I earn more money from trading than of fiefs and such, due to that tax inefficiency. Trading has come a long way since 0.8 .

Alexspeed: You're welcome . There was a time of peace ahead of me, so I wanted to make one of prosperity too. Great to hear you're using it.
The trade routes are long and complicated, but also can be easy broken down into smaller ones.
Thanks for the salt-route between Tulga and Ichamur! Hadn't found that one yet.

Dear Diary,

Today I made an important decision. An act of aggressiveness, unheard of in the past. But it was necessary for the greater good of Calradia, and my ascention to emperor one day. It all began a month ago, when I started another trade round. The past time I had begun to equip my close companions, and myself, with the best armor I could find. This took some time, and costed quite a lot of money. There were some very profitable trade routes I exploited more than once. After the elimination of the Vaegir most other factions didn't dare to touch me, so I could ride and buy in peace. And so I did. I travelled through the lands of the Nord, visited Swadia and rode to Rhodoks' cities. But when I arrived in Yalen, I noticed that the war between Swadia and the Nords was going too well for the Nords. They had recently conquered the royal city of Praven, leaving Swadia with just Suno under their guidance, along with Kelredan castle and Telvarin castle. I had to do something, or else all of Swadia would fall into Nord hands.

So instead of continuing to make the full trade round I had started, I shortened it to get as quickly as possible back to my troops station in Bulugha castle. I brought all of my elite forces to my capital, Khudan, and then selected a few that would accompany me. Of course I kept my 25 loyal Sarranid mamlukes, but I also gathered 50 Swadian sharpshooters and 30 Swadian sergeants. With this siege army I went to Khudan, to let my wife sent my declaration of war to king Harlaus of Swadia. When I entered the great hall, I saw a crowd: a lot of people had heard of the wonder that is called 'Holland', and had decided that they wanted to join my side. I had to elbow my way through them all to find my wife, to conduct some state business.


A lot of people were drawn to Holland: around the corner even more men were standing around my wife. Go to DPC to see them.

when I finally reached my wife Nelda, she pointed out to me that lord Grainwad and lord Taisa had a major difference of opinion: that several of my lords were torn between choosing sides, and that their quarrel was hitting the stability of my country. That had to stop, but unfortunately Grainwad wasn't present in Khudan. Lord Taisa was, and I told him he needed to tone down on my good friend Grainwad. He would, but I would have to talk to him too. And so I would: this problem had to be resolved. But first I needed to do some state business.

Lords Plais, Stamar and Taisa all hadn't had any fiefs and my relation with them deteriorated fast. To put a stop to that, I decided to give them some responsibility. I assigned Rivacheg to Plais and the castle of Bulugha to Stamar, while giving the village of Udiniad to Taisa. Also I promised myself I wouldn't take in any more vassals without the means to reward them: else their relation would deteriorate endlessly. While I was at it, I assigned the villages of Shapeshte, Vezin and Fisdnar to myself. With my kingdom well divided among my vassals, and more waiting to be taken under my wings, it was time for action. It was time to gather forces and claim the last pieces of a dying kingdom: it was time to declare war on Swadia, to fight them instead of the other way around. And so I did today, the 16th of April.


I declared war on Swadia.

My declaration of war is my first real act of aggression, and quite a lot of my companions and vassals were surprised by it. But if I won't do it, the Nords will conquer Suno before me. Having Praven is a good step to launch a campaign against the Rhodoks, but with Suno it really can't be avoided. And once they conquer the Rhodoks, nothing can stop them. I have to halt their advancement now. Because. This. Is. Holland!



*****
Gameplay notes
Now I'm using the Historic Castles Project - the British Isles, in which six castles have been replaced by very good replicas of old British castles.
Here is a picture of Floris' current stats:


The fall of Praven has opened the southern lands to the Nords, something I can't allow to extend to Suno.

Enewald: The lion must sharpen his teeth . Those Nords are indeed a beast that needs to be controlled. They have been growing for quite a long time now.

White Daimon: Thanks! I shall .

Dear Diary,

Last month I declared war on the kingdom of Swadia, in order to annex their last holdings, including the city of Suno. But in order to do that, I needed quite some forces. I rode around and managed to get lord Plais behind me. My first encounter with Swadian forces was actually pretty close to Rivacheg: I met count Mirchaud, who I charged. I defeated him stunningly, and managed to capture him. Of course I let him go: he became a true friend by doing this. Then I moved on to the city of Uxkhal, from which I would lead my campaign against Swadia. Just before I reached the place, I heard the kingdoms of Swadia and Nords made peace. Good: now there was no danger anymore of Nord nobles stealing Suno away from me.

At Uxkhal I met count Grainwad, whom I pledged my support in the dispute between him and Taisa. Of course my relation with Taisa was hurt really much by this, but Grainwad was following me more loyally than ever. I urged him then to sent word to all nobles to assemble at Uxkhal: my campaign needed to start from there, since it was my main base of operations against Swadia. Thus Grainwad and Delinard joined me in my quest for Suno.

On 21 April I arrived with quite an army at the gates of Suno, where king Harlaus himself had taken seat. I ordered Artimenner and his team of skillfull engineers to construct the siege ladders, and stormed the place after the four hours of construction. The fighting was fierce, especially around those ladders: bodies were spread all around. Many men died during the storming, many more got wounded. 322 defenders died, against 67 of my allies and 31 of my men. But in the end we overcame the walls, and breached the city. Just like with Rivacheg I met resistance in the cities, which Firentis and I quickly oppressed. But when we ran enthusiastic into the throne room, the men hiding behind the throne surprised us. Luckily my men were capable and together we quickly slayed them. Suno, and the two surrounding villages of Iyindah and Ruluns, was mine now.


A short extract from the show in DPC displaying the siege of Suno.

After the city had been captured, I ordered both Plais and Grainwad to stay behind while I rode back to Khudan. Not only to replenish my men, but also to assign my newly conquered fiefs to new vassals. Three fiefs, three new vassals. They were waiting for me in the hall of my capital. I assigned Suno to lord Doru, the person in my hall with the highest reputation, Ruluns to lord Naldera and Iyindah to lord Alagur. After this state business, I returned with a fresh army to the field: Kelredan castle awaited to be conquered by my troops.

On the road I met four lords, who joined me in my quest for this castle. Together we arrived at the place, where the Swadian lords were licking their wounds. Artimenner immediately started to work on a siege tower, and after 48 hours we finally stormed the place. It was a lot easier than the city of Suno, due to that tower. Together we ran up the walls, and took over the towers, from which we shot the defenders down on the square. The moment none of the enemy was standing anymore, I entered with the lords the great hall, where we were ambushed. Many sharpshooters were waiting us there, and before I was able to pull down my shield, they had taken me down. My companions dragged me away, and we had to start the siege all over again. The tower was taken down too and had to be build again. After 48 hours we stormed once again the walls. Using the same tactics, we overcame the few defenders left. This time there was no-one waiting for us in the throne room.


My men were ready to push the siege tower towards Kelredan castle. Courtesy of DPC and the PPP.

The only places left under Swadian control, were Tevarin castle and the neighbouring village of Balanli. Before I would exterminate Harlaus and his loyal subjects, I needed to replenish my men once again and recruit two more nobles for the recently conquered castle and village. So I rode hence and forth to Khudan, and returned to Suno with a fresh siege army. I gave Kelredan castle to lord Kumipa and the village of Chide to lord Urubay. After I returned to Suno, I rode immediately to the last Swadian outpost.

At Suno I had gathered my lords Grainwad, Montewar, Beranz and Delinard to accompany me towards that castle. When we approached the place, all Swadian lords fled in every direction, some even towards us, like count Ryis and Khavel. Of course I met them in the field, and crushed their small armies. I captured count Ryis, but let him go. Then I laid siege to Tevarin castle. In four hours the ladders were prepared, and we stormed the place. In hindsight we didn't need those ladders, since the gates were wide open. But still we had to climb countless stairs until we finally reached the enemy. In this old mote castle we fought and overwhelmed the defenders. The last Swadian outpost had fallen.


The army marches forward to take Tevarin castle, as is now shown in DPC.

The last free nobles of Swadia roamed the woods, hunted down by my forces. I didn't find them all, although some of them decided to go to my capital in order to join my faction. I did fight against Mirchaud, and helped Delinard out defeating count Klargus. The last stroke I made was against king Harlaus himself: hunted like an animal he fled through the woods, but I was able to catch up. All those nobles had fought bravely, but now it was time for them to move on. Back in Khudan I had expected more of them to see in my throne room than I did. I rewarded Tevarin castle to lord Grainwad, who had quite a lot of support among the nobles, and the village of Balanli to lord Vuldrat. After this I rode out and both recruited new men while trading some goods around the Khergit khanate and Sarranid sultanate, making a short round ending up once again in my capital Khudan.


The kingdom of Swadia has been eliminated.



*****
Gameplay notes
Here is a picture of Floris' current stats:


The kingdom of Swadia has been absorbed by the kingdom of Holland, but in the meantime the Khergit Khanate took over Dhirim and surrounding lands form the Nords, effectively connecting all their holdings.

They're the connection between my largest territories . So unless someone else decides to have a fight, I'll go for them. But I'll have to prepare: refill my fallen men en such.

You're right: I'll think more of that next time.

Dear Diary,

After my final war with Swadia, in which I took the last of their territories, I returned home to Khudan, back to my wife. It was peace again, but for how long? When I returned to the great hall, Nelda told me that it was becoming more difficult with each passing day to maintain not only my fiefs, but also the entire kingdom. She needed help. And so I searched for a few capable men to help us out. It didn't take long to find them: Khudan had become a beacon of light for not only the former Vaegir people, but now also for old Swadian citizens.

First of all I degreed that the primary culture of my kingdom should be Swadian. People at the court would have to dress to the latest Swadian fashion, talk in their manners and behave in the old Swadian ways. Those resemble most my manners at home, and if I want to unify all the distant parts of my kingdom, if I want to unity the old Empire, I'd need something in common for all the people. Everyone will eventually need to learn Dietsch, but that might go a little slower than Swadian, since I'm the only one here who has real skills in it.

Then I hired Aubrey de Vere, one of the most successful merchants of Khudan, to be my personal chamberlain. He's a financial wizard, which is a blessing with such outstretched lands which all need to be taxed. His first suggestion was to separate the royal treasury and my personal pouch. That way the costs to maintain the state wouldn't meddle with my personal spending freedom. I liked that idea, and donated 10,000 denars to this royal treasury. Then I decided to have a look at the tax level of all my fiefs. The villages of Tismirr, Vezin and Bhulaban seemed to flourish, just like my city of Khudan, so I raised their taxes to high. On the other hand, Shapeshte, Uslum and Shulus were poor, so I dropped theirs to low. Fizdnar was unremarkable, so I kept their taxes normal. With these changes and the financial injection my kingdom could survive for at least two weeks without any income.


Aubrey de Vere is my personal chamberlain, and takes care of most financial affairs in the kingdom.

The second person I hired, was Miles de Gloucester. He would act as constable to the royal army, keeping it fit for duty and ready for action. The first thing he did, was inventarising the status of the royal Hollandic army. In total there were 1413 men stationed in 4 cities and 5 castles, while there were also 1562 men in the field. That's an army of 2975 men protecting Holland against the other four kingdoms. He also suggested to sent someone out to get the men I wanted to train. I had been riding around for quite some time now and hadn't had the full army I demanded to guard Khudan. Sending out someone was a little more expensive than going out myself, but it would take me a lot less time, which I could spend on making more money form trading. I ordered him to send three men out to the field to gather 50 Swadian peasants each. Once they would arrive in Khudan, I'd take them with me and train them during my trade rounds.


Miles de Gloucester is constable and keeps my army in top condition.

Thirdly I hired Herfast as my chancellor. He had been viewing all the fights in the arena for the past year, visiting tournaments in all major cities. If there was one person at my court who knew the world and, more importantly, knew what lords wanted, it was him. I could let him arrange to send a message to any lord to follow me, although without any war that would be quite useless. Also I could let him send a gift to any lord: he suggested that if I would send something, I'd gather 150 Ale, Oil or Wine first. That's something to remember: I'd really needed to gather more resources for in my treasury. So I first send my wife out to buy some bread in town. 200 breads should be sufficient for now.


Chancellor Herfast will take care of my relation with my vassals.

After I had conducted this state business, I rode out to make another of those extensive trade routes. When I just left Khudan, a pleasant surprise awaited me: Ymira had returned, and wanted to join my group once again. She had travelled throughout all the kingdoms for personal matters, but was ready again to serve my needs. Of course I equipped her as well as the rest during the trade route. She will need to train hard, just like some of the other members, but she's smart enough to realise this.Also on the trip the strange dream about an error on opcode returned. Remembering my solution to let it go away last time, I ordered every vassal I encountered on my trip to go to Khudan. By the time I returned to my capital, I had spoken quite a few of my lords, although I still needed to find a few. Now I'm in my capital: all seems in order.



*****
Gameplay notes
I'm from now on using the mod Diplomacy 1.10beta, together with the rest of the mods I named earlier. This mod gives a lot more diplomatic possibilities, including more ways to regulate the taxes of your fiefs and negotiate alliances and truces. Check the link for a full overview of all the possibilities. And it's good to know I had no problem combining it with all the other mods I used so far. The only problem I encountered, was that some of the new warhorses I had bought were switched to other new horses.
Since Floris' stats haven't changed, I'll show you the financial report of 26 May 1259:


The main thing that has happened, is that the Sarranid has stricken back to the Rhodoks and retaken Shariz and surrounding villages. They're fighting over that city ever since I got there.

I know, and I'll have to do something about it. More trading it seems, since that's the most profitable way to make money.

Thanks . I really like creating those pictures: I improve my skills in Gimp while creating this AAR .

So far I encountered only two problems with all those different mods: the crashes with enormous armies due to the battle sizer during a siege, and some item problems. I discovered that if you install multiple mods which change 'item_kinds1.txt', some items in your old savefile might get exchanged for others. I had that problem with some horses after I installed Diplomacy, and also with the mod I add in the next chapter. But I found it only of some minor inconvenience: for the rest all seemed to be in order.

I haven't found any more handy kingdom management mods yet, but maybe I'm overlooking something. I did find a mod which I discarted: Thel's facepack. This mod makes the faces of the characters more smoother (only the skin, not the hair). Although it looks indeed pretty well on a little browner characters, I thought it looked absolutely terrible on really white chars like Ymira. That's why I won't be using that one, although others might disagree with me.

You're doing pretty well then! I haven't reached the 1000 yet. Next time I'll start a game I'll wait a bit longer too to allign myself to someone.

Dear Diary,

In May I enacted quite a few bureaucratic reforms. This lead to a better financial regulation of my kingdom, and a better organisation of my army. Now I've gone a step further, by ordering all my men to wear the colours of Holland at all time. I'm forcing my ways on them, turning Calradia truly into a new Holland. Others have followed my ways, but they will always stay behind. Haven't I defeated two factions and started my own in just two years, while they struggled for centuries?

I decided I should hold a large feast to celebrate. There was a lot to celebrate, which I hadn't done yet: the Independence of Holland, the recent victories in the war and the current reforms. But in order to hold a feast, I'd needed supplies. A lot of supplies. So I set out to the trade routes to gather them. On the road I fought with some bandits. When I rode deep in the Nord territories, I realised that while I had set out to earn money, I had forgotten to inventarise what I'd need for the feast. So I returned to Khudan. The moment I set foot in my hall, a messenger from Sanjar khan arrived: the enormous Khergit khanate had decided that my kingdom should be part of their domain. The Khergit thus declared war on Holland.


Me and my men rode towards some bandits, displaying our brand new tunics with Hollandic colours. A full parade is shown in DPC.

A declaration of war. Aw well, this will give me a chance to conquer all of the old Vaegir lands, and maybe even connect Uhhun castle to my holdings. But first things first: I took the grocery list for the feast. I'd need quite a lot of food in all different kinds of variety, different kinds of drinks like ale and wine, spice to display my wealth, and oil, to light the lamps. For the spice I would need to go to Tulga, a Khergit city. No spice for now then. But the rest was obtainable. Then I returned to the state affairs: I lowered the taxes for all my holdings, so people would like me more pretty soon, and the prosperity would be raised. I would need everyone's support in the coming war, and I expected my villages to be looted anyway. I also sent out messengers to assemble all my lords at Khudan: I'd needed to start a new campaign over here. I also send out messengers to all my lords to convey that I really needed them in my field army.

Instead of waiting, I went out to the former Swadian cities, to trade and obtain some of the necessities for the feast. In Uxkhal I bought much bread and grain, in Suno there wasn't much for sale and in Praven I bought quite some ale. My saddle bags were pretty full after this shopping, so I went back to Khudan to drop it off. On my way back I was notified that the city of Rivacheg was under siege, so I'd have to go there and help the defenders out. When I arrived in Khudan, the battle at Rivacheg had already started, so I hurried that way. Lords Stamar, Alagur, Delinard and Naldera had already arrived, and were defending fiercely. I stood by their side on the walls while the main Khergit army stormed the place. We were with 604 men, while they had mustered 760 warriors. Only we had the home field advantage, and used it to its full extend. From the walls I shot many of the oncoming men with my crossbow, which I refilled from my fallen soldiers. I shot until the enemy stopped with their attack: they hadn't run out of soldiers, but didn't want to sacrifice all they had.


By copying my style, the nobles did make the battlefield a more colourful place, although it's not that well visible on the security camera's that I had posted all over the castle.

The battle was disastrous for the Khergit, so they broke up and rode away in all directions. When they had gotten out of sight, I rode back to Khudan, to drop off my siege army and gather 94 mamlukes. That Khergit army could be very irritating, so it was time to hunt some Khergit nobles. I rode out and defeated quite a few noyans: Belgaru, Dundush, Imirza, Fraichin, Gastya, Imirza, Ulusamai and even Sanjar khan himself. I also captured Tonju noyan. I didn't let them go, since they could build up a new army and form a thread. But when the khanate after a few weeks 4500 denars offered, I accepted that and let him go.

In the meantime I travelled to the old Swadian lands, along to the Nord cities, to gather more food and drinks. But not everything was for sale. For example, I couldn't get any fresh beef from the cities or villagers. Dried meat was a problem already, but fresh.... No way I could obtain that with hard denars. So I rode to the Khergit village of Dirigh Aban and stole some cattle. I'm not proud of it, but it had to be done. I drove the beasts back to Khudan, and slaughtered them. The beef will be kept fresh in both my chest and my household inventory, so no need to worry about that anymore. I still need to find some pork and chicken, but they seem even more rare. I destroyed the lairs of tundra bandits and sea raiders, but neither had any of this.


With thanks to the PPP, who followed my every footsteps, I got a recollection of the attacks on the bandit lairs.

I wasn't ready with the gathering, and even though I could hold quite a party, I didn't want to waste anything on a mediocre feast, but it had to wait for now. Both the Nords and the Sarranid decided to declare war on the Khergit Khanate. I hadn't pushed them hard yet, but now time was of the essence. With two more armies marching through their lands, dividing the current largest kingdom of Calradia, I had to take my spoils of war. It was time to fetch my siege army and capture some places.



*****
Gameplay notes
I now used the Epic Heraldry Mini-mod for Warband 0.65, in which the troops wear the banners of their lords on their cloths and shields. Once again the horses of my party were screwed up, so I had to buy - again - new horses. A valuable lesson to be learned from this: whenever you add things to the item_kinds1.txt, items will be screwed up in your savegame. But so far it has been acceptable.
Both Floris' stats and the map haven't changed, so I'll show you instead a movie poster:

Haha, yes, although the Khergit have even more trouble, since they have to face three hostile forces, not two.

Sorry for my absence the past few days, but it had been pretty busy over here. Not only did I had a few exams, there were also exciting elections here in Holland (the European one, not the Calradian one ) which had gripped my attention. Expect the next chapter within half an hour.

There's much land between the different parts, so it will take much time and fighting to connect them all. But I'll do my best .

I've got now 15 vassals roaming around, with each at least one fief assigned. No-one is left out . The number of lords will grow the coming time.