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Chapter 1​



The High Chief, Varaka, and the Muromians' surroundings. Varaka is a very pious man - chaste, zealous and honest - and he has three sons: Shkay, Uchva, and Nalka.

Like the provinces he rules over, he is a Mordvin and a Finnish pagan.

The Muromians form one of the five tribes of Volga Finns, all of whose names begin with M. Further away, Rurik the Viking king rules Holmgar∂r, there are pagan Slavs to be found among the Radimichi and Severians, and on the steppes there are Tengriist Bulgars, Khazars and Pechenegs too.





The Finnic holy sites are fairly spread out - while one, Ryazan, is right next to us, Perm is quite a way away, Rurik won't give Novgorod up easily and Saaremaa might as well be on the moon.

Varaka's realm is the smallest one of the Finnic tribes, but he has a small advantage in that he is the only one to directly control all his chiefdoms.

Despite this, he sets himself an ambitious goal:



Ruthenia is to the south and west of the Muromians, stretching through the Meshchera and Slavic tribes as far as Könugar∂r, another Norse kingdom.



Varaka marries a priestess from the Merya lands and elects not to collect a Royal Aid duty, since he needs to get himself out of the negative prestige hole he fell into by marrying such a lowly woman.



Some years pass and while there has been some war, the Muromians have not participated in it. Yet. Being the pious man he is, chief Varaka hosts the Ukon juhla festival in Murom.



Come 874 the time for subjugation has come - the subjugation of the Meshchera, who themselves took out a Slavic tribe, the Severians.



Varaka makes use of a small mercenary band, and is able to fight Meshchera forces piecemeal - this was the stiffest resistance they put up.



The Meshchera are defeated and Varaka becomes their king. This puts him in direct competition with Dyre, king of Könugar∂r.

In the 12 years so far, Rurik has taken out the Merya, as well as some Russian tribes. He's now finishing up the Meshchera. Soon, he may come calling for Vladimir and Ashli, since they fall into his sphere of influence, de jure Rus.

The Maris subjugated the Mordvins, too.
 
Awesome! My first game was re-creating Riurik's Empire, but I'd love to see how yours works out.
 
Thank you for the kind words. mike the knight, punching Vikings is quite high on the list of priorities. Glad to have you on board, es333 and Avindian.

Chapter 2

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The next tribe to be subjugated are the Radimichi.

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They are weak, and their conquest is very short.

While the Muromians have been adventuring there, the Norsemen of Könugar∂r have been fighting the Kryvichi - war is not a long way away from now. It's enough to make king Varaka stressed.

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The Muromians continue to build up their power-base by subjugating some of the Mari - since the land is Mordvin it won't put up too much resistance. Some money has been kept behind for mercenaries, should the Norsemen attack.

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Varaka falls sick… he may well not be long for this world.

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Sure enough, Dyre the Stranger attacks. The war in Volga-Bulgaria can wait, for now.

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Varaka dies, and by custom his land is divided up between his three sons. Shkay, the eldest, becomes the next high chief of the Muromians.

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Shkay meets Dyre's host with his levies and a small mercenary band. Hopefully with the vicious Vikings out of the way for a bit he can concentrate on the Mari, whose men he has not yet fought.

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Sadly, he will never fight that 3,000-man army, since his brother has him killed first.
His titles pass to Varaka's second son, Uchva.
 
Just when you have established your rule ,a succession occurs followed by a murder .I hope this will not tear apart the realm !
 
As a pagan, succession wars can be very tough... vassal opinion for short reigns is tremendously reduced, I saw the penalty in the region of -50.

Chapter 3


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Under the new high chief, Uchva, the Muromian force returns to defeat the Mari troops.

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They then go back to fight the Norsemen.

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Uchva falls sick… clearly 9th century Murom is not a healthy place.

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Fortunately Dyre the Stranger cannot keep sending warriors, so he sues for peace. Perhaps Uchva could set his sights on Kiev, now.

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Uchva finishes what his father started; once the main Mari army was defeated, they put up very little resistance.

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The realm doesn't stay at peace, as Rurik attacks while a Mordvin chieftain is rebelling. He wants Ruthenia, which is all the Muromian land but two counties.

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The chieftain is dispatched with an assault on his holding before Rurik shows up.

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Rurik's army numbers about 6,000, and his men are better armoured than the Finns'. Uchva makes use of a large mercenary band to do his work for him, paid for by prisoner ransoms.

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Rurik is defeated - after his troops were beaten he was no match for the Muromians and all their money.

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He dies a week later, dishonoured. Uchva spies an opportunity and attacks Helgi son of Rurik, beginning the Muromian subjugation of the Rus'.

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Uchva appears weak to the Könugar∂ians and Dyre attacks him again.

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Maybe Uchva was weak, but now he is dead. His only son, Nuyaksha, a boy of five, succeeds him.
 
Ah, Tamius - long time since I've met you outside the OT forums :D.

That was quite a fast-paced succession of rulers :D. Also, Ukko reminds me of Korpiklaani ;).

[video=youtube;bgKDQnfJQYk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgKDQnfJQYk[/video]
 
Booo on such a weak Rurik! You shame Odin falling to the Murovians so easily! Speaking of them can't you make a kingdom yet?
 
Maybe he was weak ...I hope his son will be stronger at this bloodlust times

Nuyaksha's going to have a hard time of it, I predict - the vassals won't like the fact his realm stands to be inherited by his older sister.

Ah, Tamius - long time since I've met you outside the OT forums :D.

That was quite a fast-paced succession of rulers :D. Also, Ukko reminds me of Korpiklaani ;).

Nice to see you, too. I suppose I ought to finish reading your AAR ... :)

Booo on such a weak Rurik! You shame Odin falling to the Murovians so easily! Speaking of them can't you make a kingdom yet?

I don't have enough land for Ruthenia or Rus'; I have enough for Volga-Bulgaria, but Mordvin characters cannot create any of those titles, or indeed the Russian empire. I'll probably be a duke for quite a while now.

Chapter 4​

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Dyre the Stranger surrenders to Nuyaksha. While he has been fighting Helgi and Dyre, an independence faction sprang up in Kerzhenets - which Nuyaksha is dealing with through the Pecheneg band.

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Helgi, weakened by the succession in Holmgar∂r, is subjugated. Now the Muromian realm extends to the Baltic sea. The conquest comes with a name change, meaning the High Chiefdom of the Muromians no longer exists. It also comes with insta-loss of the war against Kerzhenets for some odd reason.

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Not to say that Nuyaksha has not been weakened by the succession - 535%!

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You might be able to see that all the warscores are not that high, and that the 1900 men Pskov has (chief Ovtay got them from a peasant revolt against Rurik and kept them; and he's trying to subjugate Rus') outnumber all the Muromian loyalists.

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Nuyaksha scrapes together just enough money to hire a band of mercenaries and beats Ovtay while outnumbered. He surrenders shortly.

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The mercenaries pay for themselves when the holdings are looted - holdings that used to be mine - and that gives them the impetus to knock out a few more rebels. These two were both Mordvins.

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Two more surrendering lords and the only one left is Helgi.

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He is the last one to give in and Nuyaksha rules the land again. He takes the opportunity to dispossess those disgraced lords of their counties and replace them with new ones.
 
A hard time for the young lad but full coffeers are the bets companion for a ruler !

I've been stockpiling money with the aid of a Large Feudal Tax, to hire mercenaries in case I get a nasty rebellion or a holy war when I least expect it.

Chapter 5​

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The independence faction return, but unfortunately for them they've picked a time when Nuyaksha is at his strongest.

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I thought Novgorod sounded a bit… Slavic, and unfitting for the king of the Muromians.

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A new title and a new, prettier colour. You may be able to see that the independence faction ended because Dyre the Stranger conquered the leader.

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He'll pay for that, and maybe Nuyaksha will become the king of Ruthenia.

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Him and his silly upside-down coat of arms!

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While his people are at war, their leader becomes an adult and ensures the succession, naming his son after his grandfather.

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Becoming a father doesn't stop him from bravely leading his men.

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Dyre was weakened by his Russian subjects rising up against him, so subjugating him was not too difficult.
 
Wtf, violet Scandinavia?

And expansion is soo easy in TOG as pagans, I'll wait for some stabilising patch + updated mods to even try it ;).

Other than that - good work, Finnish Russia - well, it will be the first time I'll see it ;).
 
Wtf, violet Scandinavia?

It's always been this way on Mac. The sea is purple too, and I'm not aware of any way to fix it.

Other than that - good work, Finnish Russia - well, it will be the first time I'll see it ;).

Sadly I can't form Russia :(

You expand like a monster ! I wait for the inevitable succession crisis :p

I've only been trying to subjugate those who might be a threat to me...

Chapter 6​

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With every new subjugation comes a new independence revolt. For some reason, led by a Mordvin who I landed, rather than a jumped-up Viking.

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Nuyaksha becomes the first Muromian ruler with a nickname.

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He is then badly injured in battle, and retires from commanding soldiers to his capital to recuperate. He employs his arch-enemy Helgi son of Rurik as his commander, with a martial score of 34.

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The independence faction destroyed, Nuyaksha can hold the Ukkon juhla festival back in Murom.

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Helgi then proves himself as a traitor and rebels.

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Peasants and sell-swords choose to follow Helgi and his forces grow considerably.

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The extra men are not enough and Nuyaksha's men take victory in a crucial battle.

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Helgi is imprisoned, his titles taken away and he is left to die.

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Maimed and sick … could this mean that Nuyaksha will die soon?

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Apparently it could.
 
An interesting one, I would got my OCD kick in loong ago. You just go with the flow, no power gaming. Or even reloading saves. Kudos for that. :D
Also, if you would like to be able to create and empire at some point, you can always mod it in. Removing empire's often BS cultural/religious requirements is not a huge crime I reckon.
 
All hail the Finnish overlords of the steppes, brutal to their enemies, fatal to their vassals!
 
My only advice on the Empire matter is to not make a second kingdom until you have the gold and land necessary to make the empire you want. You can check now all the conditions for making empires so at least you have something to move for.