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delra

Master of Orion
34 Badges
Jan 27, 2008
26.138
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  • Europa Universalis IV
  • Victoria 2
[Beta AAR] Winter is Coming: Dukes of Kiev.

Chapter 1. Veni.

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This is me, Duke Iziaslav of Galich, Kiev, Volhynia, Smolensk and Turov. By the amount of titles I hold you can easily notice I am as powerful as it gets in the Middle Ages, but that doesn't mean I'm going to have it easy. Holding titles and securing their inheritance for the right person might be as challenging as acquiring them. One trip on the stairs and it could all fall apart. My capital is still in Galich and I am urged to maybe move it to Kiev, the richest city of the Rus and a comfortable seat for a future king.

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I'm kind, brave and honest, also chaste and naive appeaser. This will make a good amount of vassals like me throughout the game, especially those of clerical state. My gregarious wife is a good diplomat, this also gives me a bonus to vassal relations.

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Green traits are popular with the church, red aren't and I don't have even one red trait, at least not yet. Being popular with the church means not only that I will go to heaven after I die, it also means more church levies and taxes and might be exactly what I need to tip the balance to my side in case of a war. Bishop of Kaniv for example slightly likes me already, and this means his money are at my disposal and his troops won't stay at home when I go to war. For that reason you really want to be more pious than your enemy.

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My family situation is an interesting one and there could be a good book written about all the family connections, direct and indirect, at the beginning of the game. One thing is for sure, I'm of the viking blood. My grandfathers were the duke of Novgorod and the king of Sweden. My ancestry can be traced back right to the brave Rurik, my father was the 6th son of the 3rd son of Rurik's grandson actually.

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We Rurikovich dynasty are a big family, unrivalled as far as the amount of land we hold is concerned. This is good and bad news. Good because I can always call on my sons, brothers and nephews to aid me in war. So whoever attacks me might have to deal with entire Rus at once, provided I don't ruin my family relations but keep them in good shape so my calls for help are answered.

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Bad news because whenever I want to fight one of my own, it'll cost me prestige for weakening us as a group and making us vulnerable to external threat. So blood protects my position and titles, but also blood prevents me from gaining more of them via normal conquest. One of the goals is securing Rurikovich rulers on as many thrones as possible, pressing our claims and removing claimants of other dynasties.

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My younger son rules in Novgorod, my third bastard son has a county there and is his vassal. My oldest son is still unmarried and unlanded and he is my direct heir.

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The law of the land is Gavelkind, which means that all my possessions after I die will be divided between my direct heirs evenly. So all the duchies and counties I hold will be split in two parts. With one exception, my oldest son will inherit all my vassals and they will become his. My bastard son so far has no claim at anything, but he's of our dynasty and is somewhere in the queue to the throne in case his older brothers should perish prematurely. Agnatic-Cognatic law means that my little daughter also has her chance to inherit, but this might only happen if there's no male heir involved. In general, my older sons should watch their back once those two grow up and start plotting.

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All this might seem boring, but it's a crucial part of what I'll be doing as the ruler and understanding inheritance and family connections might lead me to great things, while neglecting them might set me back a few centuries as far as reaching the hegemony over the whole Rus goes.

I have family ties outside of my dynasty as well. My wife is an aunt of the current King of Poland (not that he cares...), my sister is the queen mother of Hungary. But those aren't strong alliances and could use some refreshing.

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There are two things everyone should remember about Hungarians, one is that their language is incomprehensible for anyone else in Europe, second is that the teenage Hungarian king is a nephew of the Holy Roman Emperor which allows him to call 20 000 swords from Germany to aid him in conquest, which means he isn't to be messed with. His luck might change though as the Holy Roman Emperor title often changes hands, so if he dares harm us, we can get back at him when he loses his protection and then there won't be any mercy for him.

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Polish king, Boleslaw the Bold is a professional bully and his favorite pastime is putting friendly rulers on the thrones of neighboring countries. He holds Silesia with a firm grip and looks greedily at Pommerania as his next step to greatness. I happen to hold Jacwiez, which is technically a part of Poland and Poles might ask for it eventually. Luckily for me, Mazovia is currently in hands of Boleslaw's incapable brother Wladyslaw Herman who has no strength to push his claim for it against the whole Rus. Polish situation is a risk but a chance also. Boleslaw might marry a princess from a powerful dynasty and have a heir that will be able to continue his father's great expansion. Or he may die and leave the kingdom to Herman who will lead it to a quick demise.

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To the south are the Pechengs, they are Pagans, so noone really wants to be associated with them. I already have made inroads into their duchy of Moldavia and ousting them from there would break their power for good eliminating them from the picture. It would give me border with my potential allies in the Byzantine Empire, so much needed access to sea, rich coastal Black Sea provinces and a few more territories to levy from in case Poland, Hungary or my own family get too greedy. I'd be also helping my nephew in Hungary to conquer Wallachia for himself. And of course I am going to win a lot of favor with the church.

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For the end of the first chapter, let's look at Rus itself. First thought, it's big, second thought, it isn't as much divided as one would assume. As I mentioned before, my son rules Novgorod where we all originate from. My brothers are dukes of Ryazan and Rostov, and my uncle's grandson is the duke of Polotsk. There's no quarrel between us just yet, Novgorod and Polotsk will be busy fighting Pagans of the Baltics to turn their rich coastal provinces into a source of wealth and power for themselves. Ryazan and Rostov will be busy holding their border against the many powerful rulers of Khazaria. All four of them will often call for my help, and it will take careful planning to decide whether I am going to help them to prevent Rurikovich domain from shrinking, or not help them and make it easier to take away titles from my own later on.

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The main axis of division within the Rurikovich dynasty in the early years will be between me and my son in Novgorod trying to secure Tver and Smolensk for our branch of the family against the interests of my brothers in Ryazan and Rostov. The conflict seems imminent, because neither of us seems to be keen to back down at this point.
 
[Beta AAR] Winter is Coming: Dukes of Kiev.

Chapter 2: Vidi.

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This is my council, a number of selected and trusted courtiers and vassals who perform vital tasks for my domain. They aren't the worst bunch one could hire and to be honest I am very happy with the selection. It's time to put them to work.

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Directly to the east of me is the duchy of Pereyaslavl. It's one of the richest lands of Rus and it also is one of not that many duchies which only consist of one county. It would considerably weaken my brother Vsevolod from Rostov if I took it away from him and it would refocus his attention to the north of Rus where he has to hold the border against the heathens. That's my Chancellor's first task, to try to prove, legally or not, that I have a claim to Pereyaslavl. It will take a long time and it will cost me a lot of prestige and money, but in the long run, I simply can't allow Rostov to think of expansion in my part of Rus.

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My Marshal has a more mundane task to perform, he's sent to Kiev to try to raise more levy. He's a skilled guy and his sheer presence in the province has already resulted in a small surge of potential recruits. He might expand it even further in the future and of course his effect will get stronger and stronger as I start constructing military buildings in my future capital. Russians have natural tendency for heavy infantry and in the next chapter I am going to improve my facilities in Kiev to reflect that and allow me to levy some better heavier units for future wars.

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My Steward will join him in Kiev and start collecting additional taxes there to improve my treasury by quite a solid margin. He can perform a more interesting jobs if asked to, but at this point I'm not really able to afford him do anything else. He could be researching or speeding up construction instead, but I am not pressed for time as much as I am pressed for money at this point. I expect other Rurikovich rulers to do the same, try to squeeze every possible coin out of their subjects to get ahead in the race to control the kingdom, so I am forced to do the same. Can't allow myself to be weak here.

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Now the interesting stuff. We might be powerful and rich, but we are already falling behind the west in technology. Even Poles or Hungarians thanks to their contact with the Holy Roman Empire, and by contact I mean wars, are more advanced than us and this gives their armies a considerable advantage over us. Their kingdoms are more straightforward to rule, unruly vassals are easier tamed when noble or religious custom provide with means to address that. This is where my Spymaster really can shine. I can send him to the beacon of civilization in the eastern part of the map, Constantinople, where he will inspect their castles and armies, but also their customs and try to bring some of their advancements back to Rus. This is a long-term investment and it is setting me back quite a bit as far as cloak and dagger activity at home goes, but in the long run every piece of technology he can bring back home is priceless. For example, him getting knowledge of Byzantine castle building would let me muster the most powerful army in Rus, or him learning about their city markets would make my tax returns considerably higher than those of my competitors.

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Last but not least, it horrifies me to notice that there might be subjects in my kingdom who aren't of one true faith. And aren't even of one of the false faiths. Between white on the map Catholics and yellow Orthodox counties I can see something that should not be there, they are Pagans. And my very capable Lord Spiritual has to address that immediately. I could let Pagans function inside my domain, but they are naturally rebellious and I'm afraid some of Kievian nobles might start following their ways and turn against me. Not to mention it gives Poles an excuse to maybe ask Pope's permission to christianize our lands by sword. So Lord Spiritual is dispatched to Podlasie to convert local nobles and then populations to one true faith, which coincidentally is also my own. This reminds me of something.

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My Piast wife isn't Orthodox yet! She kept to her family's ways and stayed Catholic. The church isn't happy of that and it also puts a strain on our marriage. I could just ask her to convert, but she won't agree to do so. I could also employ my Lord Spiritual on my court to work towards her (and other courtiers') salvation by persecuting beliefs other than mine, but he's already departed to christianize Podlasie. Maybe some other time then, when she likes me more, maybe I'll buy her something nice first? If I can't manage my own wife, how can I expect others to believe I can manage a whole kingdom?

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Now to more pressing matters. My oldest son, Yaropolk, he's a church-educated man, still unmarried, still unlanded. He's humble and content, unlike his deceitful younger brother, Duke Mstislav of Novgorod. He's a card I can play in many different ways. If I exclude him from the line of succession somehow, it means Novgorod inherits Galich upon my death and all other titles. This would make my younger son Mstislav the most powerful ruler in the whole Rus, who could later get Rostov, Ryazan and Polotsk to become his vassals by promise of introducing the elective law. This would put my branch of family at risk of losing their supremacy but ensure Rurikovich hegemony in the Rus.

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On the other hand, Yaropolk is still unmarried and noone can tell if Mstislav will outlive him or will be a better ruler of Rus. Mstislav and his 1-year old son might as well die tomorrow in a plague or a war, and then there would just be my bastard son and my little daughter in the line of succession, against Poles, Hungarians, Pechengs, Khazars and worst of all, my own family. Marrying Yaropolk into a powerful dynasty would give me a strong alliance and would ensure his own safety after he inherits from me.

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After a really long pondering of all my options, I decide it's too unsafe to gamble the future on just one son and decide to betroth Yaropolk to Anna Doukas, 13 years old daughter of the Basileus himself. This will grant me an alliance with the all-powerful Byzantine Empire, the pillar of Orthodox faith and allow my son to have their swords at his disposal whenever he might need them. It will also involve me in defending the Christianity from the Turk who's pushing harder and harder on Byzantine borders. If I help Byzantines in their wars, I can expect their help in mine, and having them as an ally alone will make other rulers very careful when treading around me.

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In the end, I could just change my ducal laws and exclude Mstislav from inheriting any titles, which will of course anger him and put me in a tight spot in wars against my brothers, he just won't help me secure more lands if he's not going to inherit any of those. It'll also be very difficult to switch such laws, I need to rule for a long time for people to listen to my will, and I need them to be loyal to me. This is a problem, because my holding of so many provinces directly has made my vassals quite unhappy.

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I need to shrink my own domain and cede control of counties to others to appease my vassals enough to follow my will to exclude Mstislav from inheritance. This is just a plan though, any of my sons might outright die and spin the whole thing into a whole different direction, I am balancing on the rope here, trying to secure a strong heir, but this plan might as well be my undoing later on.

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And finally, I need to organize support of the church behind my actions. And unlike all I've done so far, this is something that can be done by harming others. It's time to test Pecheng power over Moldavia, and for this war Rus should march as one. If they come. Will they?

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[Beta AAR] Winter is Coming: Dukes of Kiev.

Chapter 3. Deus Vicit.

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Before we march to war, we need to raise levies. Since I personally hold everything in Galich except for one county in Moldavia, the bulk of the army comes from my own demesne and I'll be the one paying the entire cost of their upkeep. Feudal system has its advantages, one of them is the fact that in exchange for land, my vassals are meant to help in combat and share a part of the burden with me. For that reason I am going to spread some titles between my most faithful commanders in this war to reward their sacrifice. What better way is there to distinguish between those who are capable or incapable of ruling.

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Another downside of me holding such a big demesne is the fact that my vassals aren't very happy about it. And their loyalty is the main factor when evaluating how many troops they are going to send to my war. Beloved kings, who rule a long time without any tyranny are those who can squash their enemies easily because every soul in the kingdom will come to fight for them. And tyrants, well, they will have to rely on mercenaries because none of their subjects would put their head on the chopping block for them. I am a pious ruler, a good one with a lot of solid traits and even with all that, they still are strongly opposed to me because of my holding of too many titles. They know how to demand the rights of the feudal world to be respected by their ruler.

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In the worst case scenario, when they outright hate me, they will send noone, and it's very painful especially in the case of feudal vassals like counts and barons who hold the castles where the best troops are trained. But it also hurts the general number of cheap light troops from cities and bishoprics that come to my aid. City and church troops are less elite, but they heavily increase the numbers of the army and my heavy infantry might not be enough to combat the light troops of the Pechengs. With this war I learn that I really need to work hard to win the loyalty of my subjects if I want to survive on the throne.

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I jumped into this war head on without ensuring loyalty of my vassals. This gives Pechengs a fighting chance, but it also gives me a chance to award the titles to those courtiers who distinguish themselves in combat rather than giving them to just anyone. I have 8 counties to grant, and Moldavia will bring 4 more count titles along with attached cities and bishoprics. I tell my commanders all that before we march against the Pagan. There's a lot to win here for everyone, Moldavia is big and rich, they will be rewarded handsomely.

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My son in Novgorod is the first to answer my call to arms proving his loyalty to his father and making me doubt my previous decision to exclude him from inheritance in favor of my older son. The second answer comes from my brother Vsevolod in Rostov, which makes me feel very guilty about the secret mission of my chancellor to fake claims on one of his counties. My another brother who's ruling Ryazan also answered positively a couple days later. The last one was my uncle's grandson in Polotsk, he hesitated the longest and that teaches me a lesson for the future. The closer the family is, the more willing they are to fight on my side. So I can count on Novgorod much more than on Ryazan and Rostov and they are still more faithful allies than Polotsk despite them all being my direct family. In the end though, we all go to war together honoring our viking blood and making our ancestors proud.

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I gather my 3000 loyal troops in Kiev. Since they all are from my own demesne, I am paying the entire cost and it puts me in a very bad financial situation. This war can't last too long or I am going to simply go bankrupt and will be forced to commit some nasty sins to get back into the positive, from the sin of usury to the sin of confisaction of church property. My courtiers Yamelyan and Rodislav will be commanding the right and the left wing of the army and bishop Stanislav of Lvov was elected as the main commander by the army. Crown authority in Rus is too low to allow me to change commanders so their good martial stats are a really good occurence. Only a king could change laws of the land to something more strict and I'm not a king yet. Not always as good commanders will be chosen to lead the army, but I hope I will be able to take charge of the troops in case of a major battle.

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I look carefully what my family was able to muster, because with a dense net of mutual claims in a short while I might be fighting against any of them. My brother from Rostov with his 2500 troops seems to be the strongest of them, but the army of Ryazan isn't much smaller. My son in Novgorod gathered only 1500 soldiers and Polotsk barely fielded a 1000. With my 3000 even as disliked as I am at this point by my vassals, I can say I am the most powerful ruler in the Rus. But my side of the family seems to be weaker and should my brothers unite against me, I run into a risk of being badly beaten.

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Pechengs, a pagan but brave and militaristic tribe mustered 2500 troops of their own and they laid siege to Troki immediately. They have a huge advantage as far as archery goes and thaught by past experiences of my family when fighting against the steppe tribes I decide to not risk my entire army to fight a field battle. It's a safe play to wait for other dukes of Rus to arrive and fight the Pagan together when our numbers offset huge advantage pagans have during the skirmishing phase. I choose to besiege Peresechen for now.

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My original plan to maybe have armies of my family members wear down the Pagan first before I fight him didn't work out. They are too cunning to risk their troops in such a way and they also decide to play it safe and instead of the open battle against all the pagan archery just choose to lay waste to Moldavia taking castles and cities which gives them gold, prestige and piety. This kind of lack of cooperation and will to sacrifice their own soldiers is very smart of them, but also puts our whole eastern crusade in a jeopardy. Please guys, someone has to start killing the pagans here.

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Soon after, the Iasi castle in Peresechen falls to us! My courtier Yemelyan is awarded the county of Turov for this success of his troops. Meanwhile the Pagan has taken the Torki castle and I can see this wasn't popular with my hot-headed brother who's leading his army of Rostov right there rather than playing it safe and sieging in Moldavia like others have chosen to do. I decide I can't let him win all the glory, this is the right time to unite our forces and test the strength of the Pagan in a field battle. Should I not help my brother, he might lose to the Pagan bringing a shame on my whole family and nullify our current success in the war.

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15th November of 1067 the joined armies of Rostov and Galich under the direct command of duke Iziaslav of Galich surprised the Pecheng forces under the high chief Kabuksin (also known as the Pagan) during their plunder of the city Suceava in Torki. I commanded our crusader forces personally in the following battle of Bogdana and the Pagan led his infidel horde directly as well, so we met face to face (historians will argue: Duke of Kiev chose to not participate in combat personally). We took moderate (historians will argue: huge and embarassing) losses in the first phase of the battle when our archers and light cavalry couldn't skirmish as effectively as pagan horse and foot archers (historians will argue: Russian skirmishers were slaughtered) but with god's help (historians will argue: massive numerous advantage in heavy infantry) once the two lines finally met, we've beaten the Pagan and forced him to run with the remainder of his army back to Moldavia. It costed us a limited number of losses and it will take a few years to heal those back (historians will argue: Kievian cavalry and archery regiments ceased to exist and will need to be rebuilt from scratch). Three of my courtiers leading heavy infantry detachments from my baronies via their bravery in battle have won themselves their own fiefs. I want everyone to memorize how well bravery in battle is rewarded.

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After a short council, Kievian army chose to pursue the Pagan back into Moldavia while the soldiers of Rostov pledged to take over the siege of Torki to remove the pagan garrison from there and retake the province. In the battles of Varzaresti and Bohopol, Kievian troops led by duke's son Yaropolk have obliterated the remainder of pagan armies, for which the duke awarded counties of Vyazma and Smolensk to his brave son. Yes, he had to prove himself just like anyone else. All the skirmishes reduced my army a lot so uncapable of their own assault on the walls the remaining 1000 of Kievian troops have joined my brother in the siege of Olvia afterwards. With pagan armies dispersed and their own chief gone only God knows where there's just their castle walls which separate us from victory.

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Ophusia fell to the Duke of Ryazan soon after. Forces of Kiev and Novgorod joined together in their siege of Belgorod. Duke of Polotsk was still sieging Birlad, depleted in the battle Rostovian army was still busy retaking Torki and Ryazan pushed on his own into Oleshe. All this takes a horribly long time and costs an awful lot of money, but in the end it's a worthy investment. Titles are granted to courtiers leading troops as they distinguish themselves. If I am to award someone a fiefdom in exchange for his oath to take up arms whenever I call on him, I need to make sure he's capable of such command.

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The news of the military successes and my granting of titles to those who have distinguished themselves have won me a lot of favour back at home. In the early Summer another 1800 troops are raised across the Rus and sent to aid Polotskian siege in Birlad. The Pagan is beaten and it's all about the spoils of war at this point. Every castle we take, every city we plunder, every temple site we burn down wins us gold, prestige and piety and whoever lays more waste and takes more provinces with his army, gets the bigger chunk of that. My family members aren't going to stand by when such an opportunity arises, they are as greedy as I am and they can get a lot from this war at little expense because the plundered burnt down provinces in the end will become my responsibility while they return home in the glory of victors.

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In the meantime, while my brothers win honors for themselves razing pagan cities, I am out of money myself and this means I am out of prestige as well because I can't pay for my troops and am forced to borrow money wherever I can. My armies haven't taken any significant castle yet and my battles against pagans were with huge numerical advantage so there was no real fame in winning them. The war is won, even if it's going to last a few more years to seal the fate of the Pagan, but I can already see that my gains from it will come at a huge expense. I dived into this war too soon and too hastily, and it's a good lesson for the future.

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So I am quite relieved that the Pagan has finally given up and decided it's time to surrender and acknowlege all my claims. I win Moldavia in this war, but from the war itself I win no prestige, little piety, I lose all my cavalry and archers and I make my brothers from Ryazan and Rostov who have taken the most pagan castles very rich and popular with the church. In the end, as far as the war itself goes, it seems like a huge win for the Rurikovich family, in which I haven't participated all that much despite having the biggest army in Rus. I have to acknowledge that my brothers played it smarter than me and it's clear I didn't prepare sufficiently.

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So, was it worth it? Oh yes. Of course it was. I hold the duchy of Moldau now. It's a huge rich duchy right at the coast of the Black Sea. Pecheng power is broken in half and our enemies got a chance to learn what happens when Rus marches together against someone. I didn't win much piety and favor with the church for killing pagans, but remember that now in Moldavia I get to setup new bishoprics to convert the local population to the one true faith and granting lands to the church is what the church likes more than anything. Four new bishoprics are established in the conquered lands, four new cities start paying taxes to myself and my vassals and unlike my current cities, those will trade by sea with the overseas lands netting considerably more income than my inland Rus lands. I'm a very happy ruler at this moment.

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Bam! Not a week later my son and heir Yaropolk is dead and this teaches me another lesson, how little all my planning and scheming means. I wanted him to show his bravery first before I granted him titles, and he got wounded in one of the very easy battles against routed pagans. He died of that wound soon after and with him just by one arrow died my betrothal to the daughter of the Basilues and my hopes and dreams to renew the Kievian-Byzantine alliance. My other son, the duke of Novgorod is the only heir at this point and he has two boys of his own, but they are still in their infancy which means they might not survive to ever wear a crown. My brothers are stronger than ever, my coffers are empty and my castles are deserted due to huge losses from the war. On top of everything, my lord spiritual has angered the pagans of Podlasie and Jacwiez in his mission to convert them and they have risen in rebellion against me. Does it ever get easy?

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Great AAR, I really enjoyed reading it and it makes me wanna play the game even more. Dangit for having to wait till the 7th of Feb :(
 
Something is wrong with Kiev Rus' starting setup in CKII.

I'm not a history buff but even wikipedia says that Izyislav's primary title was (Grand) Prince (Duke) of Kiev http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iziaslav_I_of_Kiev. So I think his Demesne should be called Kiev and the capital should be Kiev. Halych became capital only after final disintegration of Kiev Rus' in early 13th century.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not criticizing developer just pointing out that something there could use little attention.
 
"... historians will argue: ..."

Hilarious, simply hilarious; many thanks delra. :)


Regarding army control: many thanks for the input, too. Now we know that you can't choose the leaders of your army directly except with high crown authority, a concept I don't understand so far.
 
Great read !
 
Thank you for the AAR. :)

What titles would you need to get to create a kingdom in the region? Wouldn't that make sure that whatever succession rules you had, the realm would continue united?
 
Quite a good read you conjured up there Gelra!

I find it especially pleasing that you put some thought in your actions showing us all a lot of detail and providing quality insight.

May I ask a question though, I understand that red blood drops used to designate members of your dynasty. What do the prevalent yellow and the single black drop mean? Those seem to be members of the your dynasty as well.