Enig og tro til Dovre faller: A Norway Death & Taxes AAR

loki100 said:

good progress with the colonization but that Poland is scary .. hopefully it'll fall apart under pressure from its neighbours, also looks like the Ottomans have done rather well

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I'm actually very pleased with how well the various AI powers are doing. A strong Russia, France, Castille, Poland, and Ottomans. And neither Austria nor Bohemia are exactly weak.

And, the current state of Europe at the end of this update: -



Fingers are crossed for some defections from Pommerania to Denmark. And some money events, lord knows Norway needs them. Its always a bare bones economy.

theconfusedone said:

Since the English seems to want to be Scandinavian so bad, why don't you reward them a second wave of Norse invasions of the British Isles?
But still, Vinland FTW!

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Oh, all sorts of reasons. Mainly my possession of sanity. Holding the Danish throne is a big step, however.

I'm keeping up. Norway starts with high free subjects slider which I've kept for just such purpose. The excellent shipwrights NI has basically kept naval tech ahead of time on its own, and I'm generally in step with France/England/Castille. I'd have trouble stepping ahead with my finances as they stand though. The only advisors I've hired thus far are mints, because every loose ducat helps.

A Golden Age

With Denmark now under heel, and unhappy to be there, Christoffer had a full plate of affairs to manage, with borders with Sweden and England, no allies, and continuing efforts to consolidate Greenland under Norwegian rule. Novgorod and Brittany both appealed to the king for alliances against their larger neighbors, which the king had been eager to accept until the court denoted that such alliances were the countries' attempts to survive impossible situations. Towards the end of the year, some good news came in, affirming that Greenland could be considered self-sufficient in its entirety. Discussions began about colonizing Vinland. The project was, however, forestalled by the need to continue funneling money in to Denmark in a bid to improve the Danes' opinions of Norway and Christoffer.

He did however accept an offer of alliance from the Hanseatic League, to mixed reactions in the court. The league was not a significant power, but an alliance there extended the security of the currently vulnerable Denmark to the empire. It took most of Norway's profits for over two years to be invested in Denmark's recovery before his steward there was able to say the people there no longer reviled the king. When the news came through, the steward was ordered to take less expensive measures to continue improving his popularity there, so that Norway could expend her treasury on her own affairs. Meanwhile, in the British isles, Castille had managed to land her armies and overwhelm the English there in support of her ally, the Teutonic Order. England's suffering was of keen interest to king and court, as the court had suggested that an invasion of the British isles might be possible in the Scottish hinterland.

Unfortunately, England overwhelmed the Teutonic Order before Castille could overwhelm England, and as a result, England seized more land in the baltic, and leaving the Order to rot.



In the summer of 1467, the king commission the first settlers to head for the new world, confident that a year of savings would cover the need for supplies that would no doubt be encountered. Several months of quiet followed, before a senior diplomat and ambassador from Sweden came to court in Oslo bearing a series of maps illustrating the fact that the Swedes had been administrating land which had clearly been ceded to Norway during the last war.



More years of quiet progress continued for Norway. The court urged the king to caution before attacking Sweden - who had had their independence guaranteed by Norway. Instead, the Norwegian treasury was focused almost exclusively on colonization efforts and infrastructural development. One of the king's more extended family members joined the navy instead of the army in this time, demonstrating a phenomenal understanding of and propensity for naval warfare. Shortly thereafter, the nation's merchants and wealthier craftsmen made a gift of a little over 100 ducats to the royal treasury, as a thanks to the freedoms they enjoyed in trade and in office.



This was quickly spent on renovating the fleet - upgrading old carracks to a newer and more modern design, carrying more guns, men, and all-roundedly safer for ocean ventures. The king - always eager to do battle - rode once again with the army to fight Swedish rebels in Vastergotland. However, the reckless man charged in to battle personally, and was rewarded with a stone throwing him from his saddle, and a boar spear piercing his heart.

What was poor news for the king's family on a personal level, was brilliant news politically, however. Hakon was too young to take to administration immediately, and so the court were once again left with the details - and the first thing that was done was the dissolution of the Danish crown.



The acquisition of the Danish peninsula and capital would quickly inflate the economy - these lands were, by Norwegian standards, incredibly rich. The good news was short-lived, as Sweden decided to make use of the king's death and new regency to declare war in a bid to reclaim her lost lands. She called her allies in Portugal to assist, but Portugal, busied fighting with Castille, were quickly bought out of the war with 25 ducats, leaving just Sweden and Norway to fight. The Hanseatic league, who had had alliances with both Sweden and Norway, opted for neutrality.

The Swedes quickly marched in to reclaim their lost territories - but the Norwegian army opted to simply maneuver around, aiming straight for Stockholm. The superior Norwegian fleet blockaded the Swedish fleet in to port, and the Norwegian army - larger than the Swedish now by almost 3,000 men, began to occupy Swedish soil, while the Swedes were wary of even assaulting the walls of the fortresses of Varmland.

The two armies met in battle, with Norwegians defending occupied Swedish soil in Bergslagen. The freshly appointed Bjorn Arnesson took command of the Norwegian army against the commander-less Swedish army. The Swedish army suffered a narrow defeat, but were run down as they attempted to escape to Stockholm. With no army, it was a matter of time before Sweden surrendered. Unfortunately, the Admiral Norrheim died with pneumonia during the blockade over the early months of 1473, but the fleet was still stronger than the Swedish, and their fleet was kept trapped in port.

It took longer than had been anticipated, but Sweden did eventually surrender, and after a second crippling war, it was hard for anyone in the Baltic to deny that Sweden's back had been broken.

loki100 said:

this remains really well balanced ... you're in a good position but have so much to juggle ... & a number of potentially rather scary neighbours

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Heh. just finished the update, I imagine you'll feel a little better for me.

Just Stockholm and Skane needed for a Scandinavia formation. Trouble is, England holds one of those.

Sorry about the time between updates. A new job recently has been tying up time. I should get said time today, though.

Malurous said:

Good to see Denmark inherited and your core(s?) and Swedish land conquered.

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I got one from the boundary dispute, and another from "Attack Sweden!" mission.

Upsetting The Balance

With the war in Sweden concluded, and the Fins given their own country once more - under a more appropriate christian leadership - the 13 year old Hakon Bildt married a princess from the new Finnish Soop dynasty. Finland was free from Swedish rule, certainly, and Sweden was weak. But Finland was weak too, and would need Norway to survive the coming years. The fleet ferried troops across the Faroe and Shetland isles to put down heretical uprisings that had sought to exploit the chaos of war, before moving further out to Vinland to dispatch pirates of a similar mindset. The fleet returned home reporting that England was fighting on the continent - or rather, her lands on the continent were being occupied by France, the Empire, and Poland. It seemed her grasp on the European coast was being shaken, at least. Unfortunately, this meant little to her holdings in Denmark and Sweden.

News from Vinland returned with the fleet, informing the capital that the island was self sufficient - and thus that Norway was quite possibly ready to move on to the mainland. Hakon came to age shortly thereafter, relegating the nobility to their advisory capacity once more. The English war in Europe was eventually concluded with France seizing a small section of the British Netherlands. Other than this, however, Norway and Europe were quiet for some time. After some time spent allowing supplies and coin to gather in Oslo, more colonists were dispatched, this time to the mainland of the new world. The misplaced duchy of Hannover continued its bid for independence in the former duchy of Holstein - now divided between Holsteinian and Brandenburger administration. The news that the queen of England had been excommunicated for her crimes against the faith - warmly received in Oslo - was accompanied by the baffling news that Hakon had inherited the throne of Leinster. Maps had to be drawn out to illustrate the location of the minor Irish kingdom to the king, at which point he laughed raucously, pronouncing. "I may be the king of Norway. I am little more than the Captain of Leinster - if it deserves such a grand title."

Hakon accepted the honour, but did little more than acknowledge it, seeing the throne as little more than an ineffectual distraction. Unfortunately, the Irish kingdom quickly led to Norway being at war with Scotland. More fortuitously, however, England had guaranteed the kingdom's independence, and utilized this as an excuse to declare war on Scotland. This meant that, by means of extended alliances, Norway was, of a sudden, at war with Scotland, Friesland, The Teutonic Order, and The Hanseatic League, with England as her primary ally. And better yet, the rest of her allies bowed to Norway's leadership in the war.

The fleet quickly left port to ferry the main army to the Scottish highlands - Hakon assumed England would handle fighting the diminuitive knightly order, whilst he took the opportunity to expand Norwegian dominance of the North Sea. As soon as Norwegian troops arrived in Scotland, Edinburgh began to appeal for a white peace, something that Hakon quickly dismissed. The emperor quickly occupied Lubeck and Ostpreussen, allowing Hakon to selfishly extract money from the order and the league respectively, having made no efforts to it. Friesland also appealed for a white peace, which Hakon accepted, unconcerned with what the minor duchy might have to offer. England had already eliminated the Scottish army by the time Norwegian troops landed in the isles and highlands, enabling quick and uncontested occupations. Finnish troops were, curiously, the first to arrive in the Scottish capital. As soon as the occupation of Edinburgh finished, Hakon extracted more islands, and the Scottish highlands from the Scots, in a comfortable return to viking times.



With the war over, the 2nd army was stationed in Scotland to suppress potential rebels, whilst the main army returned to Oslo. This allowed time for the rather more ministerial Hakon to create a Viceroyalty in Vinland, dispatching a small collection of minor nobles to the isle to oversee its growth, and promising more such titles in time. A few months passed, before the court began to urge the young king to action - Sweden now, in truth belonged to Norway. And it was time to illustrate that fact to Europe. The king marched with the army to the border, where he waited for the winter to end. The fleet was also dispatched to retrieve the second army. Sweden still had fast allies in Portugal, but Sweden and Portugal both were in decline, and king and court were in agreement that Sweden could be fully occupied before Portugal could cause genuine troubles. Austria also joined the war as allies of Portugal, when the war began. But it was felt they were too far away to cause trouble, despite their growing strength. The 4000 strong army outside Stockholm was quickly annihilated as Norwegian troops swept across the border, and the siege of Stockholm was quickly underway.

Inexplicably, Bulgaria was pulled in to the war, and Bulgaria, in turn, pulled their allies of France, in to the war. This both baffled and terrified the king, who had foreseen no such possibility. Fortunately, France seemed disinterested in the war. Eventually, however, they began to dispatch small armies to the North sea islands. The fleet dived in and out of port to fight the Swedish and Portuguese fleets in turn, beating each of them in to submission individually and repeatedly. With Portuguese troops in Finland, the fleet moved to bring down the army to drive them out, so as to turn on the French in Scotland. The Portuguese troops were defeated by Norwegian and Finnish troops, and the second army began to run them down, whilst the fleet picked up the main army to ferry it to Jutland, where French troops had been landed. A large portion of the French fleet was caught to the west of the peninsular by Norwegian ships, and in a running battle along the Dutch and Hannoverian coastline, 2 french ships were sunk, 2 captured, and 1 norwegian ship sunk. As Portuguese troops landed in the capital, the king opted to swallow his pride and acknowledge a defeat to the Portuguese, but giving them no material gains. It was felt necessary if Norway was to fight France, whose fleet was not quite strong enough to fight Norway's without Portuguese assistance. The French fleet was caught attempting to leave port - likely to ferry troops back from Scotland - and already battered from her last engagement, 12 of her ships were sunk, leaving her with just 6. The challenge for the king now was simply to annihilate those already on Norwegian soil.

Swedish pirates in the baltic tied up the fleet for several weeks, before the second army could march across the Alands Hav to secure the Scandinavian mainland - and to free the main army to reclaim occupied soil. The French troops in Denmark were the biggest issue, as France had managed to land almost 15,000 men there before her fleet was sunk. The plan was to simultaneously attack from the north of the peninsula with the first army, and from the sea with the second army. The French, seeing through this plan, assailed the first army as it arrived in Jutland. The poor composition of the French army, and the refusal of their knights to dismount to fight in the Danish lowlands, made the initial defense viable alone. The reinforcements arrived late in the battle, and secured Norwegian victory by weight of numbers. The captain who had led the Norwegian fleet thus far was granted a small title, and promoted to admiral of the fleet. Knut Leifsson had excelled thus far, and was now officially in charge of the fleet. Hopefully his expertise would guarantee the seas for the rest of the war.

Every last Frenchman was driven across the Peninsula - and with no fleet to escape to, rounded up or executed. With the French dispatched, the fleet picked up one of the armies, and sailed it to the north sea isles, to set about liberating Norwegians there. First, however, were the Austrian troops attempting to overwhelm the Iceland garrison. Austria's "fleet" was composed of 5 ships - the only challenge was catching it. Until of course, the Austrians made the mistake of sailing in to the baltic - trapping them as the Norwegian fleet returned from Iceland. The French still had an army in Scotland, by merit of their holding of Northumbria. And this was the next challenge to be dealt with. Austria now had a single ship deploying troops to try and chip away at the isles, much to the king's annoyance, but France was naturally still the primary enemy. As the war continued, and Norway's truce with them expire, Scotland joined the war too. The French troops were eager to get across the straights to the western isles, which Norwegian troops had recovered, and so Leifsson opted for a simple trap. He allowed them to do just that. The army there was ferried to Orkney, and when the French arrived in the western isles, Leifsson blockaded them, enabling 20,000 Norwegian troops to march on 10,000 Scottish. The Scots were driven back to their capital, whereupon they quickly agree to a white peace.

The French army in Scotland was going to have to wait - as the main army was ferried back to Denmark to once again liberate the danes from foreign occupation - this time the Austrians had simply been left alone too long. With Austria's 3,000 men easily eliminated, they were willing to accept a token gesture of coin to abandon their pointless efforts. This finally left just Norway and France. But the king was incensed with France's decision to even participate, and feeling that he could gain the upper hand, intended to punish the French king. He had no intention of simply concluding an eventual white peace. The French finished the occupation of the Western Isles and began to march on the 8,000 strong Norwegian army in the Highlands. The outnumbered Norwegians were defeated, but Knut arrived in time to deny the French pursuit across the straits in to Orkney.

The French busied themselves trying to occupy the highlands once again - but the Norwegians had stripped the land bare, and when Knut returned from Denmark with reinforcements, he quickly recaptured the Western Isles, before marching on the French in turn. It took several weeks of chasing the French across the highlands, but they were, at great cost, annihilated also. With the French now finally removed from Scotland, the army was to - yet again - return to Denmark, to clear up French troops. Hakon unfortunately died - no doubt of stress - as the war continued, suffering some sort of collapse as he clutched his chest and trembled following his meal in camp. His son Magnus, a mere baby, had once again to rely on the court to make his decisions for him.

The 2nd army arrived in Denmark to deal with the French there, whilst the main army was deployed to Northumbria, to seize the French holdings there after liberating the until-now-forgotten 'kingdom' of Leinster from French occupation. The troops in Jutland were eventually rounded up and eliminated once more, and a quick recapture of Denmark meant that the French had finally been driven from Norwegian soil throughout Europe. With the last king's feelings about France still resounding in Oslo, a spy was smuggled in to Paris, to determine the feasibility of an invasion of France proper.



The decision there was rather easy to make. It was observed, however, that Utrecht, the land France had seized from England in her last war, was now stranded, as France fell under Norwegian blockade. Troops were dispatched there to occupy it, whilst France was forced to simply watch. She and the empire were far too cool in their relations to allow her troops to march to its defense. The occupation eventually finished in the January of 1490, at which point the high command saw no further way of harming France. The blockade had been bleeding her trade for almost a year, by now, and the spy in Paris could reliably report that the only thing keeping the uproarious peasants of France in check was the inflation-driving size of her army.

France was eager to appease the nobles who came to make peace with her, and their in depth knowledge of the French situation allowed them to barter hard at the table, eventually coming away with two things. Firstly, that France would pay Norway the sum of 250 ducats, as reparations for her unjust war. And secondly, that she would free the Flems, granting them their kingdom, and ripping the jewels out of the French crown. Metaphorically, of course.



With that monster of wars concluded, the very wealthy kingdom of Liege offered Norway an alliance. Eager to curtail the threat of France in the future, and to secure their new allies in Flanders, the court quickly accepted on the king's behalf. The newly inflated treasury was used to fund a new wave of emigration to the new world, alongside several renovations of the economy, and a new ship.