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Chapter 19: Croatians seize an opppertunity​

(1179-1191)

Coming in early once more the teacher was happy to see that the class was empty. This gave him an oppertunity to sit down for a minute and just relax. He had nothing to get ready for this class, though tomorrows would be a very exciting one. It would show why this Domotor is considered one of the most important men in the Balog line. The teacher had been sitting there for so long and was so distracted by his own thoughts he didn't even realize that the Balog was sitting in one of the chairs.

"Sir, why are the Balogs so important?"

"Well it's because they went from a minor family to holding many of the thrones of Europe and shaped the history of the age."

"Well then who is your favorite Balog in history?"

"That is a difficult question to answer to be honest with you. There are men like the First Balog, Tamas Altmannfi, who made the family what it is. Then there is Domotor the Greater here who was the first to bring a country under a Balogs rule. Then there were other Kings and Queens who made an impact. I don't really have just one favorite."

"Okay Sir. Me, I think it was the third King of Hungary." Before the teacher could comment on her choice all the students began pushing into the classroom. So instead the teacher just nodded and took his place at the podium.

"Welcome students. It's great to see you all today. As we left off Domotor is growing in power and marrying off his children. The wife of his son, Levente, was imprissoned and later executed. The year 1180 brings more sad news for Domotor I fear. You see on April 11, 1180 his wife Zsofia passed away. With her death his eldest son Konrad became the new Count of Bihar at the age of eleven. Only a few days after his wife's death Domotor became betrothed to Aelflaed of Godwin, daughter of the English King. The following year they were wed and she gave birth to another son for him. This child was named Zolton after his grandfather on his mother's mother's side.

"Domotor now had six children, five sons and just one daughter. The eldest Peter the Bastard was just coming of age when he had his last child. Since the boy would recieve nothing from him as an inheritance Domotor married him off to Sbyslava of Tot'ma in the far north. This young woman was the Countess of Chud and Zaozerye, making him a Count through marriage. This also ensured no fighting between Peter and Konrad after Domotor's death.

"The next big event to occur was the death of the man who had imprisoned Domotor all those years ago. This meant that when Zsofia married Kristof the following year he was not only Count of Vas but also heir to the Duchy of Transylvania. Her brother and heir to the Balog family Konrad had also married Sophia. She had also given birth to a son, however, this child was not a son of Konrad's as he had not touched her yet when she started showing signs of pregnancy. This was the Bastard child of the King Salamon II. Domotor grew enraged by this action by the King for two reasons." Picking up his book the teacher began reading from it.

'I can not believe the man I call brother, friend and King would fall to do such an action. Salamon Arpad who is suppose to look out for all men in the lands of Hungary has made a fool of me. He dared impregnate the woman who my son was married to. He first kills the future wife of one of my sons and now he dares have a child with another of my son's wives. I swear before God that I will see the Crown of Hungary taken from his family. If I do not succeed then I will ensure that I leave my family in a position to take this vengence.'

Setting the book aside the teacher looked out at the class. "So you now know of Domotor's darker side and why the Balogs began their desire for the Hungarian throne. It will take some time, but they will eventually see the throne and crown taken from the Arpads. After this even the Balogs will never marry an Arpad again. Following the baby incident the King decided to declare war against the lands of Bohemia in an attempt to place Gabriel Csanad as the new Duke of Bohemia. For a few months 13,000 Hungarians come together to march north, a thousand of these men are soldiers from Balog lands. Just as they begin moving into Bohemia, Queen Doroteja I of Croatia uses this oppertunity to try and take back Krizevci.

"The Beohemians had no soldiers to speak of and so by the 7th of May 1190 after only two years of fighting they surrendered and the Billungs no longer ruled Bohemia but the Csanad's did. With this victory Hungary moved south to deal with the Croatians that had already captured Krizevci and was begining to move north. For the next couple of years the two armies fought back and forth. However, before they engaged one another the Balogs abanded the war and their men returned home. It took some time but eventually Hungary won out and Croatia gave up their claim on Krizevci.

"This war may have ended, but it gave Domotor an idea."
 
Very interesting AAR; easy to read format, updates neither too short nor too long. I'd like to see some screenshots, but as you said in your OP, you had problems with your capture program.

Keep up the good work!
 
Chapter 20: Domotor seizes a throne​

(1192-1204)

"Today is an exciting day students. Because today you will get to see the Balogs first 'Great War'. They have a few in their time. This it their first though some people try to argue that Tamas Altmannfi's deposing of Duke Almos of Nyitra to be their first 'Great War'. I, however, do not include it among the list for three reasons. First, it was a short war. That war lasted only 3 years while this conflict will go on for 12 years. Secondly, they only fought for a small amount of land. A mere three provinces against Gemer. Lastly, they were close to equal in power while this conflict has an entire kingdom fighting the lands either controlled by Balogs or allied to them. For these reasons I believe this coming war to be their first 'Great War'.

"So besides the three that went to Europe this past week, who believes they know who Domotor is going to be attacking?" The teacher got two answers. The first was from a girl in back and the other from a boy two rows in. The girl guessed Hungary while the boy said Croatia. "Why do you believe Hungary?"

"Because he is going to get his vengeance for what the King did to his children's wives. It is the most likely target."

"But he would lose that war. The Arpads control to much land and men. Croatia just lost a war to the Hungarian, so they are probably low on money and men while the Balogs have a lot of each since they did not fight against Croatia in the last conflict. Also by defeating them the Balogs will find themselves on more even footing to defeat the Arpads."

Smiling to the boy the teacher nodded and said, "Indeed. This war will be between the Balogs and the Croatians. You see the sister of the former Queen is married to Domotor's nephew Mark. He would attempt to see her placed on the throne just like the Hungarians had done in Bohemia. Though he would not go against them alone. In total there will be five provinces all fighting against the Croatians. Gemer and Feher led by Domotor who is Commander of the coalition, his son Konrad and Konrad's wife Sophia which adds Bihar and Fejer to the group and finally Vas will heed the call as well. Domotor would also hire the mercenary group 'Rus Band' to once more fight under the Balog banner.

"For the first year the war went in the Balogs favor. However, on the 28th of June 1193 King Salamon II will die leaving the throne to his eldest son Samuel. Samuel II will call Domotor back to Pressburg where he will swear fealty to him and fight in his Grand Tournament. This tournament will go very well for Domotor as he took second place. Upon his return to Croatia and his war he will learn from his son that he had engaged the Croatian army and completely destroyed them with only losing a little more then four hundred of their men. They had also captured two of Croatia's provinces and were moving further and further south. It was then in 1195 that two events occured that would greatly hinder the progress of the war. The first was the death of Duke Imre I of Transylvania. With his death the new Duke decided to leave the Coalition as it would be dishonorable in his eyes for a Duke to follow a Count. This grew the anger of Count Konrad who sword to take the man's position as Duke. The other was that the Balogs were running out of money. Unable to afford them any longer Domotor was forced to disband the 'Rus Band' and continue the war with his own men.

"Then in 1197 King Samuel II passed away after only four years as King, leaving his eldest son Pal as the new King. Once again Domotor was called north to pay homage to a new King and fight in a tournament. This one he was the first one defeated in. After his great showing the previous tournament I could only believe that he lost on purpose to return to his men. No matter though the war continued on. The Balogs captured all of eastern Croatia by this time and were moving west. For the next five years they fought minor engagements between each other and Domotor gained more and more of their land.

"In Hungary the land was collapsing for you see over these past five years the Dukes of Pest, Nyitra, Morevia, and Pecs all rose in revolt to claim their independence following King Pal I's coronation. The Dukes had no love for their new King. The only Duke who did not get involved on either side was Kristof of Transylvania. But he would die a mysterious death shortly after the revolts were put down. This made the new Duke, Domotor's grandson, Imre. Hungary wasn't the only eastern nation having troubles though. For you see by 1203 all of the Byzantine Empire in Europe had collapsed and claimed their own independence along with a large portion of Novgorod.

"At last on the 14th of March 1204, Domotor had succeeded in his goal. All of Croatia had fallen to his sword and Princess Anna was crowned Queen of Croatia, Mark Balog was crowned King and their daughter Csilla Balog was named heir to the Kingdom." Looking at the class the teacher finally said, "And that ends our third week. What will happen in the coming week? Will the Balogs finally take the crown of Croatia? Will Domotor take another throne for himself? Will Konrad truly name himself Duke of Transylvania? You will find out on Monday."
 
I'm sorry to say that this AAR is obviously closed and finished. For you see eleven days after this post there was an accident at work and I lost one finger and the use of two others. Along woth that the papers i had of this aar are gone. I am now Paul Half-Hand.

Anyways for those who were reading this I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for all the feedback. I plan on writing another when I find the oppertunity to. I'm not certain who to play as though. I would love suggestions, though my only request is for the person to be a count.


When I get a chance I will post a small what I remember after post when I'm on my computer and not my cell phone.

What I can say is that the Balogs at the height of their power held the thrones of England(united with Scotland and Wales and much of northern France), Denmark(which had half of northern Germany), Italy(which was only Rome south, all of northern Italy was under HRE) and my character was King of the Balkans(he held all the Balkans; Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, and Russia up to Chimera).

This all happened after the Golden Horde collapsed though. Though it was Imre who kept them from going past Hungary.
 
Thanks.

I'm pretty functional now. I lost the left index and screwed up the long and ring finger in subsequent surgeries to try and fix the index.

I can still do most day to day things though buttoning shirts makes me want to kill myself. Also my typing went from 100+ wpm to a messily 43.
 
Thanks.

I'm pretty functional now. I lost the left index and screwed up the long and ring finger in subsequent surgeries to try and fix the index.

I can still do most day to day things though buttoning shirts makes me want to kill myself. Also my typing went from 100+ wpm to a messily 43.
That is completely screwed up. I am hoping worker's comp kicked in.

Hopefully you can get back to your old speed and we can get some new material.
 
Paid for all surgeries, recieved full pay along with additional vacation time of two months while out of work, and recieved a check for 30,000 for injuries sustained. I returned to my job and I am put on light duty with bump up in pay grades. So now I chill all day and get paid for it. I can also say I need to go home because the pain is to bad and still be paid for an entire day.



I plan on starting another one but not sure about who to play as. Any suggestions? I like playing as a Count but I also really like crusaderknights new AAR where he is starting as a King in a more fictional setting. With the game already going a hundred years it is interesting to see what this fictional landscape will have occur.

Though I also kind of want to play in Iberia too. Get away from those blasted Mongols.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your accident; I wish a speedy recovery!
 
Paid for all surgeries, recieved full pay along with additional vacation time of two months while out of work, and recieved a check for 30,000 for injuries sustained. I returned to my job and I am put on light duty with bump up in pay grades. So now I chill all day and get paid for it. I can also say I need to go home because the pain is to bad and still be paid for an entire day.



I plan on starting another one but not sure about who to play as. Any suggestions? I like playing as a Count but I also really like crusaderknights new AAR where he is starting as a King in a more fictional setting. With the game already going a hundred years it is interesting to see what this fictional landscape will have occur.

Though I also kind of want to play in Iberia too. Get away from those blasted Mongols.
Play as Paul Half-Hand using the character creator. That would be a blast. Make him a Viking or something. :D
 
Paid for all surgeries, recieved full pay along with additional vacation time of two months while out of work, and recieved a check for 30,000 for injuries sustained. I returned to my job and I am put on light duty with bump up in pay grades. So now I chill all day and get paid for it. I can also say I need to go home because the pain is to bad and still be paid for an entire day.



I plan on starting another one but not sure about who to play as. Any suggestions? I like playing as a Count but I also really like crusaderknights new AAR where he is starting as a King in a more fictional setting. With the game already going a hundred years it is interesting to see what this fictional landscape will have occur.

Though I also kind of want to play in Iberia too. Get away from those blasted Mongols.

Hey, Etzel. I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. And to think I'd complained about mere RSI. I wish you find a way to adjust and get up your wpm a notch or five. 43 is like more than most people ever get to, though, anyway. I'd get you a Jack on me, if it were geographically possible. I find it to be a good painkiller sometimes. (Without excess, of course.)

If there's one thing fitting for an American in such circumstances, I think it'd be trying to find an ancestor of your own in the old country (not presuming that to be England, of course) or wife's or some friends' or a city's namesake and playing as those guys (preferably at count level, yeah, as you say). For example, I know a piss-poor guy who's technically a German baron (I'm not even sure he speaks the language) and I've been very tempted to load it up as one of his, which would make me need to play as a Saxon count due to the game's limitation on playing as barons. England is surprising in that everybody ends up being somehow related to William the Conqueror for all the social mobility and lack of stiff boundaries, with only the actual title holders being the proper nobility. I see the Warenne in your signature, for example, but there are so many to choose from. How about you dust off a historical novel or two (or an $2 good-for-nothing-but-airplane paperback of newer print) and get some ideas from there?

Alternatively, you could look for a declining great dynasty (e.g. the Hohenstaufer in some later starts or the de Lusignan after the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem or the d'Ivrea (County of Macon in French Burgundy) in 1066) and try to bring them back to meaning, which is also a nice roleplaying background for all the blobbing done by the "writAAR".

If you want something really exotic, you could try these guys, the "Dukes of Silesia" in Poland (from the earliest starts up to about 1138 or a bit after), who shouldn't really be in the game and certainly weren't dukes (they were royal palatines, magistrates, governors, not vassal rulers; but a different theory actually makes them Danish... so yeah) but there's a theory that they were descended from the dynasty that ruled those parts before the Poles got there (which explains why "Wlost" sounds like "Owner/Lord" and their holdings were located in all the strategic places). That was a long time ago but, ironically, the family still survives until the present day, including a leftist feminist writer (no kidding).

Though I also kind of want to play in Iberia too. Get away from those blasted Mongols.

Raymond of Burgundy should be around from the 1080-ies and at some point he's going to be married (regularly) to the vastly more powerful Urraca of Castille, the Jimena heiress and Queen of Castille and Aragon. Himself, he's a d'Ivrea, i.e. Anscarid, descendants of the Kings of Italy from before HRE moved in. So you'd have good roleplaying incentive for your offspring to claim empire in Spain (Urraca actually did use the Spanish emperor title), kingdom in Italy and who knows what else. The funny thing being that you essentially start as a Prince Philip, married to the Big Woman (who has claims on your land, I think, and at any rate you're certainly in her de iure) controlled by the AI. Not sure about the vassalage but even if you start independent, you may need to kneel to her for obvious reasons. :D

Play as Paul Half-Hand using the character creator. That would be a blast. Make him a Viking or something. :D

One good thing about Normans is that you can plausibly work them in basically anywhere in the Mediterranean on the pretext of being given land for service.
 
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