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Vishly became what he did because of my own over-hyping. At the same time, I had so many courtiers that I was constantly getting the "X thinks s/he is a better (position) then Y" and I had some awesome advisors so I was mashing "Exile" all the time. I had to expand on what he was doing and make it a bit more fun then "Then Vishly exiled half the court".

You just had to spoil my self-pity! :D

I love me some info on the caliphate and the west.
 
Do you need Finnish names for Siberian places? :p
I'd love to see some, but I doubt it will be used right away.

You just had to spoil my self-pity! :D

I love me some info on the caliphate and the west.
Yup, that is what I live for. What kind of info are you looking for? I can always show you guys more from the modern maps. ;)
 
Bastions
Prologue Three: The Kings of Kings
Part 36


se ármæs uw tea we milánæt sind spæksed tán ænik stul kades.
The arms of those we love are stronger than any steel chains.​

The Zähringers' victory over Sweden and Norway shifted the power of the Caliphate east. The Caliph awarded the victorious Germans with parades and titles, crowning them the Dukes of Sverge. Sweden and Norway were left as rump states controlling the northern Lappish regions. In Caliphate, a power struggle was brewing. The Caliphate was ruled by the bin Abbas dynasty, established in Toledo and then consolidated in Barcelona. Like Prussia, many in Iberia spoke a hybrid language, called Istimari. Istimari was a strongly arabized form of Catalan. The other popular native language in Iberia was Vasque (also known as Basque). In France and Germany the native languages tended to remain untouched. The exception was Dutch, which fell into retreat under the harsh rule of the Germans. Breton and Vasque also expanded into the holes left after the Carthaginian exodus. The Caliphate was linguistically and politically divided into three regions: Iberia, Gaul, and Germany. Iberia included the Iberian Peninsula and Sardinia. Sardinia would eventually be transferred to the Gaulish region. Gaul included France and Northern Italy as well as Corsica. Germany included Germany, Switzerland, the Slovenian lands and the Netherlands. The Caliph was advised by the most powerful of his vassals, which at the time included the de Beauce dynasty of Northern France and the von Zähringers of Holstein-Tirol-Sverge. But the Germans were ambitious and wanted to regain their authority as Emperors, and control from within the Caliphate was the best means.

In Prussia, Vishly clamped down on his Kingdom harder than ever. In Memelgrád he completed a massive fortress, dubbed Castle Vishly, which would serve as his palace and military base for the rest of his life. The fortress dominates the skyline of the city even to the modern day. The King feared a return to conflict as the Fraternalists found compromise in his young son, Gunvald, who he had disowned and even went about destroying evidence of their shared bloodline. Gunvald was eventually married to Viba Hadad, the daughter of a prominent member of Prussia's international community, in 1327. The Hadad family had come to Prussia during the reign of King Karnak as cannon makers, but were stripped of rank and title by King Vishly for being Muslim. Gunvald restored many of their titles and ranks in his own realm in order to gain a strong business ally as well as a seasoned weaponsmith. Viba was not, however, a Muslim. She was a Christian by choice, though many accused her of being a Frandist. Frandists were Muslims in Western Europe who had many Christian-like beliefs. Her family was not foreign in appearance, as put by many present at the wedding, Viba herself was three quarters Prussian.

1327 also brought about another series of purges in Vishly's court. Amongst the dead were Marshal Árás Kæstótis and General Juhán Ramondssun, both accused of fraternal sympathies. By 1329 the dead had expanded to include Gunvald's adoptive father, Nigul, and his favorite brother Doyvát. Nigul was assassinated in the open in what was called at the time "nothing less than a public execution." Gunvald named his first son with Viba Doyvát in honor of his brother, but paid his respects to Nigul by keeping the business up and running and by continuing support for the fraternal movement. Vishly wanted to make sure that his son did not have any time to find comfort; he made his intentions known to invade the rest of Finland, thus uniting the region for the first time ever. Of course, Finland is close to Estonia, and the King would put pressure on Gunvald to help supply the war, probably at his own personal expense. The young Duke prepared for the worst, a sneak invasion of Estonia. And he did so by reorganizing the Guard into the Knights of Estonia.
 
Under the sea, :p, in a place where no mortal soul can stumble upon it.


I have begun work on the last three prologue updates... We are almost out of the wood... almost... so close... The winds of the Baltic call to me...

Maybe by the time you finish with the prologue, I will have finished reading it. :p I'm going through it, but I must say it is quite intimidating when you haven't been keeping up with it. Oy-vey! Once I'm done, I'll have more to comment besides this:

Great writing, I love your detail in the back-story. Well worth the time needed to read it all. :)
 
Bastion
Prologue Three: The Kings of Kings
Part 37


hie sie se sunæs uw feomæræs, uw cepás, uw elá siewkolpá...
They are the sons of farmers, of merchants, of street women...​

By 1336, Finland had been united by King Vishly, who had himself crowned King of Finland as well as commissioning an expensive crown to be made so that all would recognize him as "King of all Prussians" as he affectionately enjoyed being called. He hoped to remind all Prussians, everywhere, that he was their guide, their master, and their father-figure. But in the southern reaches of the Kingdom, the Carpathian rulers of Hungary were getting tired of living under Vishly's rule. They drafted the Treaty of Freedom, which declared their intention to leave the Kingdom with Gunvald as their King. They drafted that Gunvald would be made to give up his claim to the throne of Prussia in exchange for their freedom. But they also cited the laws of Hungary, which insisted the oldest male inherit the throne so Butovit was not the legal heir to Hungary. They did this without consulting Gunvald, and when the document was released he was put in extreme danger. However, in a rare instance of kindness, Vishly did not restart the purges; instead he quadrupled the taxes on the Hungarians and used the money to fund more luxuries around Castle Vishly.

After the execution of Phillip of Austria, an important fraternal ally, the Carpathian Princes demanded that Gunvald give a timeline for his revolt. He demanded at least five more years of waiting and planning, but the Carpathians, impatient from years of waiting, talked him down to two. Gunvald was uncertain of their chances, but committed himself to following through with his promises and the hopes of his supporters. But cracks were already appearing in the fraternal side. Many were put off by Gunvald's insistence of using professional soldiers, as well as his centralistic leanings. Though an ally of the middle class, Gunvald was an autocrat and his solution to Prussia's growing problems was to divide the nation into small, homogenous components led by local Dukes and Princes. The thrones of Prussia and Poland were reserved for his family. As the time to war ticked down, in 1339 Memelgrád was hit by a freak plague and the royal court was scrambled to Mariengrád. With the King's court disorganized and many members dead from the plague, the fraternalists believed the time had come to spring their attack.

In 1340 the war began as Vishly's court tried to move back up to Memelgrád. Despite the lack of professional troops and the disorganized nature of having several nations each fighting their own war for independence, the fraternalists had a major numerical advantage, made even better by the support of the Azowians and the Duchy of Courland-Livonia. The Azowians, who were normally staunch monarchists, had grown tired of Vishly's harsh methods and switched sides just in time for the war to start. The Russian territories rose quickly and overthrew Vishly's advisors and governors. In Smolensk the Flag of Estonia a vertical split of sky blue and gold flew over the ramparts and in Pinsk the middle class attempted to overthrow the monarchist count. It was soon obvious that this war would be as long and grueling as the last.
 
D-d-d-double Update!

Bastions
Prologue Three: The Kings of Kings
Part 38


...hie sie min kalpæs un cinitán hie in æm...
...they are my people and they fight for me...​

King Vishly's heir was Prince Butovit, the new Prince of Prussia. But the royal house hold had many children, most forgotten to the tide of history. Until King Gunvald II, most Princes often had to fight for their right to succeed. It reached its peak under Vishly who actively set his sons against each other. One famous example was the rivalry between Butovit and his younger brother Vilhelms. But at the beginning of the Second Fraternal War the most well known was that between Butovit and Gunvald. They met on the battlefield several times as their armies tried to get an advantage over the others'. Outside Vilnius the two met and Gunvald was only saved at the last minute by a lucky break. He was left scarred but more determined than ever to end the civil war. The Baltic front of the war was notorious for its static lines of control and slow pace. Neither army was able to achieve a victory strong enough to effectively defeat the other; both armies lacked the proper equipment to siege the massive fortress cities that the other controlled.

Amongst it all, the clergy began to protest the continuing war. They warned Vishly that he was ruining the nation. Those that did so died on the stakes. One man who escaped was the Patriarch, Nikoljás Ándrussun, who committed suicide in 1344 by jumping out of his room naked into the snow below. His death was used as propaganda by both sides. King Vishly blamed the Army of Estonia for his death, despite that they had not even been near the capital in a year. For the fraternalists the eventual release of Ándrussun's suicide note gave their cause strength. But the Patriarch was quickly replaced with one far more loyal to Vishly. But it didn't seem to matter as church attendance dropped as the war worsened. The capital and its sister city (Mariengrád) were taking the hardest hits. The Army of Memelgrád and the Army of Mariengrád were the only forces between the Army of Estonia and the Army of Finland and the capital. The war seemed lost for the fraternals briefly in 1345 when Butovit managed to capture Kurs and seemed to have an open path to Riga.

In 1347 the monarchists started losing. Mordvia was able to successfully sue for peace and immediately divided itself into four states. Butovit was also poisoned by his brother Vilhelms, though Vilhelms had really been trying to capture him for interrogation. Prince Butovit had been about to defect to the fraternal side and fight alongside his brother Gunvald. Vishly replaced Butovit with Vilhelms, but was losing support within his court. Few liked Butovit who was known as brutish and vulgar, but even fewer liked Vilhelms who bordered on the sociopathic. By the end of 1347, Prince Doyvát of Estonia had entered the conflict. The young Prince was instrumental in getting support for his father from nobles who had been loyal to Vishly. Their support was necessary to lessen the pressure on the Army of Estonia. It also gained Gunvald the support of Prussia's second capital: Kiev, a major step toward victory. Despite all of this, the biggest event of the war was yet to come and few saw it coming.
 
Bastions
Prologue Three: The Kings of Kings
Part 39


...un in tas cannáj æs ænlik hiem se læŝ ápmakshaná upuræt, sá moggán hie kámtdien kræsálæt lebæt
...and for that I can only offer them the best training so they might live to see tomorrow.​

With Prince Butovit dead and Prince Vilhelms so close to the throne he could practically taste it, the war took a more frantic pace. After months of dealing with rebellions and desertions, Vilhelms lead the Armies of Memelgrád and Mariengrád to meet the Army of Estonia outside of Memelgrád itself. Gunvald and Doyvát were under pressure to end the war as Hungary and Austria were granted independence. More seemed on the verge of gaining theirs so Prussia could concentrate on ending Gunvald's rebellion. Outside of Memelgrád, on September 18th, 1348, a battle was fought that would become infamous as the "Pyrrhic Draw". Both sides left in a worse position then they were in before the battle and neither side was able to effectively win. Doyvát managed to kill Prince Vilhelms, but Gunvald was captured by the enemy. Doyvát, now the leader of the fraternal movement, tried to argue that Vishly would not kill his only surviving heir and plunge Prussia into a terrible succession crisis. But his compatriots would not listen and soon threw in the towel. The Second Fraternal War ended soon after the battle as the nobles of Prussia gave in.

Doyvát and his mother Viba fled south into Galich. There they hoped to be close to their allies in Hungary and Carpathia while never fleeing Prussia itself. There Doyvát left his mother under the care of a local sympathetic nunnery and took up arms as the "Black Count", antagonizing local monarchist troops and rulers. He became a sort of folk hero, fighting a battle long ago lost, but never losing hope and in doing so gave hope to those who had supported him in the past. In 1350 Doyvát began a secret relationship with the daughter of a major monarchist ruler, but she eventually betrayed him and the Prince fled Galich northward into the city of Pinsk. There the Prince became a local celebrity. He was well loved and well taken care of. He wed the daughter of the mayor in a major celebration during the summer festivals. In 1354 Doyvát the younger was born. All the while, unknown to all but a select few, Gunvald was alive and slowly wasting away in a dungeon in Mariengrád.

Finally, in 1356, word spread that Vishly was on his deathbed. Doyvát called up his loyal knights and marched on Memelgrád. There they found many pretenders waiting for the news of Vishly's death, but Doyvát was able to force his way to the front of the line, so to speak, and entered Castle Vishly. There he confronted the King and informed him that he was deposed. By the point Vishly was alone. Deserted by his wife and surviving children, he was left to lie on a bed that had been placed in the throne room. Doyvát had the bed removed and took his rightful spot on the throne of the regent of Prussia and then began his search for his father. A month later father and son were united in Mariengrád. It was also the first time Doyvát had ever met his grandmother, whom he sentenced to death. Gunvald was brought to Memelgrád and was crowned King Gunvald II. And there we left off...
 
Hmm, I had forgotten about that...

They are commies!

Well, they were. In the last update they are mentioned as having left the Soviet Empire several years before.


Anyways... I AM DONE! Bwuhahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha! Real updates to start soon. Tell your friends!
 
Anyways... I AM DONE! Bwuhahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha! Real updates to start soon. Tell your friends!

Wohoooo! Though, I'm still not done with all of this yet. Can you postpone the update until I finish? *holds his serious face for as long as he can* :D

....................................

No, but seriously, can you? :p I'm excited for it.