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Very good AAR. How did you do maps? Photoshop?

Thanks, and welcome to the forums. :) Yeah, i'm using photoshop, working on blank map from Mappa Regnorum mod as a base.
 
Ok, it wiil be useful for me to learn to use it. Photoshop helps to make exellent AARs.
I'm fan of Paradox games from russian forum.
P.S. Sorry for my english, it's rather bad.

Good luck then. Your english looks ok to me. :)
 
Great update, I especially liked the map of the holdings of the various Polish Noble Houses. Good to see Poland expanding a bit again as well. How big is Turov-Pinsk anyway? (How many provinces?)
 
Good update. I liked how you followed the new royal dinasty, instead of the Piasts. Also, I noticed that the "di Torres" are Kings of Italy. The "di Torres" of MR are the "Torchitorios" of DVIP, right ? How did they managed to get Italy ? Heh, maybe I will pull that off in my AAR about them.
 
A very interesting layout, clearly all the power is in the hands of a few great houses. Should make for interesting internal politics.
 
What a turnaround. The Piasts had seemed a bit useless, but I hadn't guessed that they would lose the throne.

Sviatopolk needs to whip up a nice big fiefdom for each of his sons, so I would be quite worried if I was a small Russian neighbour of his.
 
Kuld von Reyn - Turov-Pinsk (actually they also have titles of Vyatka, Polotsk, Tver and Minsk) have 21 provinces. Rus' is pretty much divided among two powers: T-P and Chernighov-Muscovy-Novgorod_Seversk-Ryazan. I think I'll make an European situation report with map soon.

Paraipan - Hmm. Let me dig through savegames.. Matilda di Canossa took German crown from von Frankens in late 1000s, so they were left with Italy and Burgundy. In early 1100s von Frankens lost Burgundian crown to a guy named Fosco da Corregio (he has no parents on character screen, no idea how he get this title). At this point di Torres family rules only single county in Sardinia. In 1145 they are dukes of Sardinia, and di Torres is doge of Venice. In 1158 Torres-led Venice joins kingdom of Italy. In 1166 von Franken king of Italy has no sons, and character screens shows juvenile son of Duke of Sardinia as his successor (duke's wife is king's sister). In 1186 grown up kid is king of Italy.

RGB - Yep, hopefully. Though with 13th century coming, I wonder how Mongols would perform. Last time I was stronger, yet got completely destroyed.

Alfredian - Yeah, still - they did better than OTL Piasts of the period.

the_hdk - Thanks. CoA's are actually historical ones, based on appropriate names (with exception of Latvian Goseck which didn't exist as a noble family name according to google). It even seems that Gozdawa originated somewhere near that period and in Masovia, (as in my game).


New update soon, I think. Here's a little sneak peak:

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Looks like it's time to go crusading, huh? In my experience, crusading is very rarely worth it considering how ridiculously expensive - both in manpower and in gold - it is to send a force down there, but it should be interesting to see how the Gozdawas fare down in the Holy Land nonetheless.
 
Polish Crusades, never enough of those :d
 
LOGO-1.png





Świętopełk I the Crusader (Krzyżowiec)
1160-1198
Duke.png
Duke of Masovia-Silesia 1188-1193
King.png
King of Poland 1193-1198


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Traits:

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Zealous,
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Chaste,
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Valorous,
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Modest,
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Martial Cleric,
crusader.png
Crusader.


Świętopełk was elected and crowned king in year 1193, at age of 33, encountering no opposition. Being a pious and religious man, he was eager to reincorporate Prussia into the kingdom, but not by arms but by diplomacy. During his time as duke of Masovia-Silesia he managed to establish cordial relations with duke Władysław Piast. Świętopełk married his daughter, Kunegunda, and sent two of his sons as fosterlings to Truso castle. Unfortunately, Władysław died few months after Świętopełk's coronation. His son Bolko wanted to remain independent, and being a direct successor of Bolesław III the Blind, still regarded Gozdawas as usurpers. Thus, by autumn of 1193 king gathered his forces and went to war with duchy of Prussia.

Even though royal army, drawn from Masovia, Kraków and Wrocław, was much larger than Prussian, Bolko's military talent enabled him victories in several battles. Świętopełk himself became seriously wounded during these fights, loosing power in his right arm. Indecisive, bloody war dragged on for several months, into 1194. In the end only Chełmno land was wrestled away from Prussia. On the way back, wounded Świętopełk made pilgrimage to Gniezno, and according to chronicles day after long prayers in St.Adalberts cathedral he regained power in his arm. King saw this as a miracle and a sign from God, and vowed to become first Polish ruler to join crusade against enemies of Christendom. Late 12th century saw significant expansion of Islam, with almost whole Iberia in Berber hands, Seljuk Turks pushing Romans out of Asia Minor and conquering Constantinople, or converted Cuman horde threatening Rus' and Hungary.


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Emblem of the Order of Dobrzyń.



During year 1195 Świętopełk was preparing for a long and dangerous journey, which emptied royal treasury. He also reorganised his realm before leaving. He gave duchy of Volhynia to a trusted knight Leszek Grzymała, Mazovia-Silesia to his eldest son Mieszko, and created new archbishopric in Kuyavia and Chełmno land. With Pope's permission, he created Polish knightly order, giving them Dobrzyń land in Kuyavia. Finally, by July of 1196 35,000 strong crusading army (with 5,500 knights) was assembled in Kraków, and set south. Świętopełk could not reach his destination by land, because of Seljuk presence in Asia Minor, so he marched with his host to Rashka in Principality of Dioclea. He arrived there in May of 1197, and hired Venetian ships to carry his men across Mediterranean. Due to disease, desertions, and conflicts with the locals while travelling through Hungary, Polish army counted 28,000 at this point. Crusaders' fleet enjoyed good weather while sailing, but in May was attacked by Berber pirates in the vicinity of Crete. Sea battle was won, but several Venetian vessels were sunk. They finally arrived in the Levant by late summer with 19,000 men, landing near Antioch which was recently lost by Burgundians to Fatimid invaders.


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Polish crusaders at siege of Antioch.


Świętopełk assisted Burgundian, Italian and Scottish crusaders during siege of Antioch. City was vital for survival of duchy of the same name, which save for principality of Edessa, was completely surrounded by Muslims. It was finally taken by October, and during following months Polish army participated in several battles with armies of Fatimid Caliphate invading from the south. By early 1198 this invasion was successfully fended off, and ambitious Świętopełk decided to go straight for Jerusalem, to deliver blow to prestige of Muslim rulers and give morale and inspiration to the Christians. It was bold plan, considering that his army was only 14,000 men strong.


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Świętopełk's Crusade.


Polish crusaders bypassed emirates of Tripoli and Damascus, fighting with small Arab armies on their way, and arrived on Fatimid territory in August of 1198. There, Świętopełk faced caliph Al-Aziz himself, who desperately attempted to stop his advance. However, even though he ruled vast and populous realm, decades of warfare with crusaders took it's toll on morale and numbers of his warriors. Polish king was victorious, and soon afterwards he captured Haifa, Jaffa, and besieged Tiberias - last stop before Jerusalem. His 7,000 strong army was tired after months of constant fighting, but prospect of capturing the Holy City being at hand, kept morale high. Al-Aziz attacked Poles once again, and failed to brake the siege. However, Świętopełk himself was unluckily hit by an arrow and died due to infected wound after several days.


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Poland in year 1198.



Marriages and children.

Kunegunda Piast (1159-)
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Daughter of Duke Władysław I of Prussia, grand-daughter of king Bolesław III the blind. She gave birth to three sons:
- Mieszko - born in 1182, duke of Masovia-Silesia since 1195.
- Bolko - born in 1183.
- Leszek - born in 1188.
 
uhh nice. unlucky for the King so close to Jerusalem. I wonder what the army will do next. go on on go back?
also what with the new captured territories? :) enough to form a new state?

Did the Duchy of Antioch and Edessa form on their own or with your help? :) also I wonder who are the rulers of them? :)
and Cumans converted? lol nice. I wonder how that happened, (I had that once too)
 
uhh nice. unlucky for the King so close to Jerusalem. I wonder what the army will do next. go on on go back?
also what with the new captured territories? :) enough to form a new state?

We'll see, army is 6,000 men strong, and Haifa province was already annexed (it belonged to small Fatimid vassal). If I capture Tiberias (which is very likely) I would be able to create title of duke of Jerusalem. Unfortunately I lack money to do so (-4000 debt due to crusading).

Did the Duchy of Antioch and Edessa form on their own or with your help? :) also I wonder who are the rulers of them? :)
and Cumans converted? lol nice. I wonder how that happened, (I had that once too)

Antioch belongs directly to Burgundy, Edessa is ruled by Germans but became independent somewhere along the way. As for Cumans - I don't know, but they have big chunk of Caucasus, whole Azerbaijan and parts of Persia and are ruled by Persian dynasty.
 
Great update. The huge debt you're in is more than a bit worrying though. Good luck getting out of that situation.

I once started as Cornwall, captured Delta while accompanying the English king on a Crusade, and ended up ruling all of Egypt and Arabia, most of Northern Africa and most of the Holy Land a century or two later. The worst part was that this empire became so stable that I ended up being bored to tears about halfway through the game. I used the same difficulty settings as you as well. The Delta province is overpowered in Crusader hands due to how many soldiers you can raise in it once you've captured it. n_n'

Also, great job editing the "Polish crusaders at siege of Antioch." image.
 
That's just stuff of legend, the King dying just before he can get into Jerusalem.

Who leads the Crusading army now?

Also, does the Dobrzyn Order have its own tag...or?