This is SpAARtenos - A Neapolis story of Misery

Selzro said:

I wholeheartedly approve of that move. Loading the first page has gotten annoying for me, so consider this my first contribution towards a more manageable second page.

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Thank you! I shall do my best to make this page equally annoying, unless a torrent of comments should ruin my evil plan.

Chapter 3 - To Fight the (un)Holiest of Wars - 1160-1174

Unlike many young kings before him, King Trainanos was blessed with a most reasonable regent. Orestes would happy celebrate the new king by ripping the sad "Romans" a new one.


"Punch them in the snout to establish superiority" is by now official Spartenosi policy.

Indeed, the sooner the Byzantine Empire was no more, the sooner the reign of a Latin Empire could be established.

But first Thrace must also be secured. In that regard, however, the budding war with the Byzantine was most rudely interrupted before it could even begin.


YEEeeeeeeeesssss.

Needless to say, every single levy in Sicily was raised and as many mercenaries as could possibly be afforded (and probably a bit more than that) were hired.

But then:


NOOOoooooo.

(I realize that was a terrible screenshot. My bad)

There was a choice to make:

- The Jihad for Africa could possibly be won. Although it would be a tough war, Sicily was easily outnumbered 3:1, and so it would require some finesse and a lot of death by attrition. Doing so would also almost certainly remove any possibility of being the winner of the Crusade for Greece, and also quite possible the chance of Catholicism even succeeding

- The Crusade could receive all the attention. If Christendom was to be successful, it would give the winner control of one of the largest de-jure Kingdoms and drive the Seljuks back from advancing further into Europe. Furthermore, Sicily could muster at most a combined army of approximately 20k (with full levies and mercenaries) and as such, it might not even contribute the most. Sadly, it would also mean the almost certain loss of Sicilian Africa.

The choice was, after a little consideration, obvious: Greece must be regained for Catholic Jesus. Sicily was first on the ground in Seljuk Greece, and soon fought the first major battle, followed by another in cooperation with the Papal forces:



The county of Phillopolis was almost completely abandoned and Sicilian forces seized it.

Meanwhile, the Jihad for Africa wasn't going all too well, despite Venice's "help":



In 1162 the Crusade continued, still mostly carried by Sicily and the Papal States, when another great battle occurred which, by itself, was an astounding success.. however, when the Byzantines tried to attack the demoralized troops, Traianos was forced to concede defeat to the Byzantines to get them off his back. There were more important battles to win.


You don't want to know what the surrender cost.

During the Crusade King Traianos came of age, which meant that he could actively participate before the end... sadly, Stephania seemed to have left him a little too much to his own devices.


His brother, the once passed over in succession, prince Phokas duke of Sardinia, was still heir.

No matter, he would serve. Soon he was engaged to the young princess Maria of Aragon. And, as news arrived from Africa, he could not afford to fail after the costs of the crusade became apparent.



There was, however, time to spend a few days to unite him with his better half:



And then off to fight the last battle of the Crusade. A mere skirmish after the last few wars, that exhibited that the Seljuks were just about done:



And so the Crusade was won, and the Spartenos Dynasty could now claim itself to be kings of Greece, but at a high cost - Africa was lost and the crown was heavily in debt.


Which was mostly a problem because HOLY FRICK VASSAL LIMIT.

You will not be bored with the handing out of titles (or more honestly: Stealing half of Traianos' vassal's unlanded courtiers) with two notable exceptions:

Orestes was given dominion over Cyprus and Crete as lord mayor. He already had a reserve of cash and would soon create the Republic of Cyprus by himself and the state sponsored republic was reborn.



While the idea of moving the capital to Constantinople was exceedingly alluring, the Thrace region was instead handed over to a cousin of Traianos and son of Stephania... with one change: The county should henceforth be ruled from the Hagia Sophia by the Arch-Bishop of Thrace!


Keeping the holiness in the family.

As if that wasn't glorious enough, he was soon made into a cardinal without any involvement on Traianos' part.

Afterwards followed a few quiet years as the throne saved up to create countless ducal titles, only interrupted by the idiotic rebellion of a Byzantine vassal.


Yoink again.

Hell, after running his new lands and learning not to poison the Serbian patrons of his shortly owned bar with salt or soprano music, Traianos had turned out quite competent.



Following the Crusade, the Suljuks fell into another regency as a three-year old took the Shan title. There should be no more trouble from him for many years.

This was true. But it is also leaving out one tiny little detail: The title refers not only to the Crusade and the Jihad for Africa, but also...


IT NEVER ENDS. Also, check out that bitchin' Georgia.

Wait, why were they going for Sicily instead of bloody Greece, situated right next to the only Sunni power that could really defeat the Spartenosi forces? The Kingdom that the Caliph himself held after winning against the Byzantine Empire? The one that isn't right next to the Pope and the HRE?!

... Well, worst case King Traianos would have to kick out the arch-bishop of Thrace (which, for some reason, he had gained claims to?) and move all the expensive war trophies there. But let's not sacrifice the goat before the infidels are defeated.

The armies were ordered to march to Constantinople. Aragon and Hungary soon answered their alliances and the Pope and Knights Hospitaler offered to join by themselves. Go God brigade!

Two 10k arms stacks were joined in Greece, initially repelling the continuous onslaught of 2-3k stacks from all the little Emirs.



Indeed, it seemed like this would be a slow road towards inevitable victory until a forgotten detail became apparent: The new boy Shan wasn't going to sit idly by. Sicily was now fighting stacks of 10k+.


That battle was only won because of fleeting to the hills and use of proper generals + a small holy order. I'd make a joke about the (moral) high ground, but Obi-Wan ruined it

Back home in Sicily, the allies were actually making themselves useful.


Largest surprise thus far, to be honest. Maybe Traianos should let the Hospitaler keep their Sicilian cribs?

In 1169 king Traianos concocted a crazy plan to try and attack the holdings of the Caliph, a good way inside the Levant, in order to force a fast end to the war.


Don't fret, they were mostly mercenaries paid for indirectly by the Pope, and hence, double expendable.

As you can see, it did not push war score to 100% as hoped, however it sent it high enough that a white peace could be forced..

But where's the fun in that? - Catholicism is just about the only religion with 50%+ authority, and it requires work to keep the other fools down in the dirt!

Meanwhile the allies of Sicily decided to drop this whole 'helping' thing and sit around while letting Sicilian holdings get besieged. It seemed Sicily had to do everything by itself.


Dammit you guys..

After then, the war became quite a boring affair as the Shan had depleted his most bloodthirsty levies. Traianos managed to become bored during the war and took up falconry.


Some of said "Rabbits" were large, bipedal and had tried to charge Traianos with a saber.

He also turned deliriou.. Er, I mean zealous.


In all fairness, that meteor probably was a virgin.

Clearly it was a sign: Time to end this long-winded conflict.


If only the Shan understood to raise every vassal's levy and attack in one huge stack, this would have been a very short update.

In terms of more personal relations, which there was no time to report during the war, Traianos had a standard Spartenos marriage with Maria which started with love, continued with hate and resulted in 5 children, after which Maria promptly died of "pneumonia" the same day she gave birth to her last son.


I don't want to know.

Their children were:

- Princess Euphemia born 1166. Oldest and first ward of Traianos. Would have been a good warrior-queen, for she is STRONK and BRAVE.
- Prince Sergios born 1171 and heir apparent. Named after Count Sergios (our starting character) Like the rest, not really old to have anything like a personality.
- Prince Orestes born 1172, named after the family doge, former warden and chancellor extraordinaire.
- Princess Anastasia, born 1173, named because the game suggested it and it's a pretty name.
- Prince Innokentios, born 1174, named by Maria with her dying breath (it was just a noise she made as a dying cough, but it was such a nice gesture that nobody bothered to correct King Traianos)

His last unmarried sister, Hypatia, was married off to the son of the Queen of Portugal, who wasted no time in calling Sicily into a war for Algarve. (Which she lost before Sicily could even get there).



As the last holy action of this update, the Knights Hospitaler were booted from the boot, and their 8 baronies restored to the vassals of Sicily. Clearly they had no idea how to properly use them.


Traianos lets his vassals plot all they want. Better they spend their energy killing each another than him.
Also, the people of Aragon sure don't like that king. You'll all get to see why he's on Traianos' death list in the next part, by the way


End of Chapter



(What? The ruler isn't going to die at the end of every chapter, that'd be too predictable)

Crimson Drakon said:

Congratulations on winning the Crusade for Greece! Yes, Africa was traded in return, but the Spartenos now have the opportunity to form the Latin Empire one day! And good going with the defense of Sicily from the Jihad!!

Looking forward to see what is the reason of the plot

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Turns out that completely wiping out the Byzantines is a time consuming process! But yeah, worth it - there might never have been another chance to take all of Greece, as large parts were losing de-jure status.

fabiolundiense said:

A Crusade and a Jihad all at once... *gulp* You did well ! A pity the good Knights didn't continue the good fight. I guess Paradox thinks that if you can really count on your allies, the game would be too boring.

What I'm wondering is: who's going to be the next Despotess?

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fabiolundiense said:

This is such a good work, I took the liberty of nominating you for this week’s Weekly AAR Showcase

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It's really odd how sometimes the AI does nothing, while other times, they do *too much*, getting killed deep in enemy territory.

As for the next despotess.. You'll see.

And thank you for the nomination! This AAR is also going much faster and better than I expected at first. I'll look up the thread shortly. I am not sure if it is customary to wait with writing a reply that combines a response with the next nomination the following week?

Selzro said:

Congratulations! Both on the showcase and on winning Greece! It must have been nail-biting to risk both losing Africa and not gaining Greece at the same time.

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Yeah, I had to just watch Africa slowly get invaded. On the bright side, it was really the best option and Africa was only three duchies, against a dozen in Greece - and the latter was more defendable by far.

Asantahene said:

Count me in! Love the humorous updates and the depth of the detail. Very nice style of AAR.

And haven't you done well so far. Bravo!

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Thank you! I'm trying to keep it from being as detailed as my EUIV game though, as remarking on every choice got very tiresome at the end of the AAR, yet it felt like I had to uphold tradition. If this AAR was as detailed, you would see every event in the raising of the royal children! (which isn't a bad thing necessarily, many great AAR's are very detailed, creating a more slow, novel-like feel, but it's not what I'm aiming for here). Each update will likely at least contain 10 years and I'm trying to focus on what's really relevant, strange or funny. /end rant, stay tuned.

(I actually had to edit out smilies because of how long this update is. Damn)


Chapter 4 - To Spend a Lot of Time Doing Too Little - 1174-1207

Let me be the first to admit that very little expansion happens in this update. Most cash was put into building subholdings in the royal demesne and building up the capital baronies to increase power relative to vassals. Meanwhile, vassals were quite annoyed because of certain actions taken by Traianos, enough that keeping their armies constantly raised seemed.. unwise.

But let's not get too caught up in who failed to rage enough against enough fools. The sad, misguided, Greek Emperor-in-Exile had grown complacent and a claimant to a Bulgarian duchy had mysteriously come into possession of a barony in Sicily.



Sadly only 2/4 counties were gained because the title became contested.. Which makes little sense as the Sicilian troops would just have flushed the pretenders out as well, but fine.

To console himself over his dead wife and the Byzantine Emperor cheating at war, Traianos sought a new wife.


A Proud, Sloth, Wroth, Cynical Theologician? So she's a lazy disbeliever who can explain precisely why she is, while screaming at you across the dinner table, but she can't be bothered. Works for me.

He also tried to fight the independent Spoleto for the claims of the count of Benevento, but once the HRE decided to help and started to send tens of thousands of troops south, before 100% war score could be achieved, it was time to consider just how much Traianos was willing to sacrifice for one county.


You shouldn't send huge swathes of men to die for land. Well, not unless we're talking huge tracts of it... or very expendable men.

Sadly, Traianos was out of easy targets because of truces, including the with the with the Byzantine Emperor. Luckily, said truce was technically only with Emperor Lauren.


The path to becoming Emperor instead of the Emperor is fraught with many technicalities.

In the meantime, the number of elector dukes had become rather disconcerting in Greece. It was time to swallow a bitter pill.



Switching the electorate law to primogeniture of course caused a backlash - A rather gruesome -100 modifier, that would haunt King Traianos for a long while, despite almost every bloody ungrateful duke in Greece only being nobility thanks to him.

To ease tensions a little, and considering that Sicily had a grand total of three dukes and Greece around 15, Greece was made the main title as you can see above. It was sad day for the Byzantine Empire, it wasn't even the largest purple blob anymore.

Once again trying to acquire actual allies (despite evidence that they're really not helping much at all), the oldest daughter of Traianos was married to the Crown Prince of Aquitaine, which was sadly one of the few stable Christian realms other than Norway and... Overseas Norway?


You don't want to know what's going on in Rus.

In a futile attempt to improve himself by going on a pilgrimage to Rome (What? Nobody said they had to be more than about 150 kilometers), the court chaplain managed to 'experiment' with two heresies.


Not yet!... I mean, no Sebastion, bad court chaplain! Two times dungeon followed by release for you!.

Home from his pilgrimage, King Traianos decided that it was time to help out the royally supported Republic of Cyprus by entering bold and dynamic negotiations with their only rival.


Sadly, Venice's core competencies were not synergized and they had to give away to market flux.

On the less businesslike front, Traianos had his first child with his Croatian bride, Princess Parthena. A few years later she would be followed by Princess Iouliana. Crown Prince Sergios had the gall to almost die as a child. His brother may seem more skilled, but Traianos is not going to waste a decent heir to superstition.



No sir, the crown prince would not be lost to superstiti--



Well now. That changed things. Prince Orestes, the second in line to inherit, had become far more skilled than his older brother at a younger age and suddenly there was a bloodless way to remove Prince Sergios from the line of succession. Needless to say, it was taken.

Catholic God then blessed Traianos for his pious decision, though they were mainly mediated through the unspoken interdimensional horror who guided his every actions as his forefathers had been, by making the two largest muslim nations start a prolonged struggle for an irrelevant stretch of sand.


Seriously? That's what? 5 counties in the middle of the desert?

But celebrations were short lived, before war could be declared against the Fatimids to regain lands in Africa, the ungrateful dux.. douxoi.. douxi... Dukes of Greece rebelled demanding lower Crown Authority. The war would take a significant toll on levies for a prolonged time.


Once again. They are rebelling against the ruler who liberated Greece from the Muslims and granted them all their lands.

Most vassals which still held more than 20 relations, despite being imprisoned, were released. If they didn't seem like they'd ever quiet down, their ducal title was revoked and handed to a vassal. While there was an obvious danger in releasing so many former rebellious vassals, it seemed the best long term way to increase stability by increasing opinions.

And there was work to be done:

- The Byzantine remnants held lands in Bulgaria, Cherson and the Levantine Coast. The Latin Empire cannot be created until they are gone.
- The loss of Africa needed to be avenged.
- Since the first five children of Aragon had been born to Princess Maria of Aragon, who had been second in line on the death of her father, after one of her elder brother drank wine that was a little bit too spicy for him - they had all inherited strong claims to the Kingdom of Aragon.

First: The slow destruction of the Byzantine Empire:


There must be a faster way to do this. Arrows point to the remaining holdings of the Byzantine Empire. Why the Muslims have not thrown them into the Mediterranean, I do not know

Meanwhile, the Kingdom had accumulated almost 3000 ducats and spent the vast majority to build cities in all counties. The entire royal demesne is now filled out with sub-holdings.

And the two oldest sons of King Traianos came of age.. and it turned out that he had made a major mistake.



Prince Orestes had turned out quite unlike his namesake and Sergios had become by far the better candidate to the throne, but he was now a monk. After much consideration and meditation on how to undo the damage and make his foolish son give up his eternal vows, the answer became apparent:

He must be given a taste of what he was missing out on. Their mother had been a princess of Aragon, after all.


No Sergios, you're *not* joining a holy order while also fighting for your claim on Aragon. Bloody teenagers.

In the middle of the war, a freak inheritance slowed down the war effort as a superduke inherited large parts of Aragon, while being a vassal of Castile.


Did I mention that Sicily tried two other times to take Spoleto, which a vassal had claim to, and failed it twice because the CB became invalid? I'm just saying, could be worse.

However, in the end, the war turned into a victory.. for a few years, until Sergios 'the Usurper' was thrown off his throne by a faction and then subsequently unlanded. It didn't matter though, It was expected that the takeover would be unstable. The main objective of making Prince Sergios forget his silly vows succeeded after he tasted real power, he was now the crown prince - and he now had an inheritable claim to Aragon.


Not to mention he got to keep the badass epithet.

To make up for Prince Orestes missing out, he was married to a claimant to Spoleto so that it could finally be incorporated into the Kingdom... A few months later, Orestes became celibate, making the entire thing quite pointless. It would seem that cruel lady luck simply does not want the Spartenos dynasty to expand in Italy right now.

Now you might remember Traianos' elder brother Samuel, whom I remarked was quite unremarkable? Some time ago Traianos allowed him to take the vows as a Knight Templar. He's been moving up the ranks. Meanwhile, the cousin (son of Princess Stephania) that had been made Arch Bishop of Thrace had become a cardinal.. and wasn't quite done there either. His brother, on the other hand, had been handpicked as the family patrician.


Go team Spartenos.

But as you can see above, that's not all. Because the last of the three sons of Stephania was now the brother of both the Pope and a duke-level patrician, the Queen of France agreed to a regular marriage despite him "only" being the cousin of Traianos.. No children came of it, as Komitas would soon die, but Stephania had raised a Pope, a patrician and now a king. I'm not even sure Traianos completely represents the main line any more, and neither was he. In an attempt to compensate for his torn ago, Traianos created two more king titles, one of which was obviously fake.


There may, in fact, have been a few years between the creation of these titles, not that anyone can tell... Right?

I teased about the situation in Rus before, and since it was about time the second daughter of Traianos got married, here's the scoop:

Rus was fragmenting and slowly losing to the pagans of the steppes. It is quite concerning which effects this will have on the rapid expansion of the mongols. Meanwhile, the third son of Traianos was married to a Portuguese princess.. who died after 6 months, thereafter he was engaged to a Croatian princess. Croatia will come into Spartenosi hands one war or another, and for now Traianos would help it expand.



There was some unrelated tension afterwards regarding a minor murder of the Croatian crown Prince (in order to push said princess up the order of succession), but these things happen in Noble families. He'd cool down sooner or later. The war between him and Traianos is actually an irrelevant detail, he's backing a civil war against the king while Traianos is backing the establishment.


Best part? Engagements makes the AI completely ignore their opinion.

After pumping his cousin Pope for enough cash that Traianos managed to have negative relations, the chance soon came to make it up to him as he called for a crusade for Jerusalem.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was still held by the Queen of France and at the time, but Traianos decided that it was best to aid in the crusade anyway. In part because of the whole God business and in part because it'd provide another target than Greece or Sicily for the next Jihad.

So kind was his heart, in fact, that when he was informed on the way to the holy land that the Fatimid Sultan had issues with rebellious vassals, he immediately stepped in to relieve him of them.


He's a helper.

Prior to the Crusade, during his short stint as King, Crown Prince Sergios had married princess Violante of Aragon of his own volition. She was the daughter of the former king and sister of the one who had dethroned him and usurped his county. And she was 9 (correcting from 11 which I wrote earlier) years his senior. Not that Traianos minded much, as she had already managed to give him two grandchildren - with a third on the way (and soon fourth!).

Once Greek troops actually hit ground, only the personal levies of Traianos was present. Drawn out wars against Aragon and holy wars in Africa had left most vassals with between -30 and -40 malus for having used their levies so much (and another minor rebellion of three dukes had been suppressed before the crusade, ending with a white peace.) However, this was a good option to give Crown Prince Sergios, after having easily been invited home after his new liege left him landless, and every half-important vassal of Greece some crusading experience.


Group trust exercises were a little more dramatic in the middle ages. Great bonding experience though.

The Greek Vassals weren't allowed a complete rest, however, as they were asked to take the Byzantine scrap out of Bulgaria, leaving the "Byzantine Empire" split between Crimea and the Levant.


Please cease to exist already.

The Crusade became a rather drawn out affair, which was honestly used mostly to regenerate vassal trust to avoid another rebellion and forging claims on _all_ Byzantine holdings in the Levant. Meanwhile, there was some time to observe some interesting tidbits:

- The HRE was ruled by the ambitious Kaiserin Kunigunde Salian. She crushes rebellion after rebellion and by the end the update, ruled the HRE undisputed.
- The Iconoclasm heresy became the state religion of the kingdom of Rus, likely connected to the fact that Orthodox religious authority was failing with the defeat of the Byzantine Empire and the slow advancement of the pagans in the Eastern lands.
- The king of super-Georgia has been in hiding for reasons unexplained for the vast majority of his adult life. He's now about 40.
- The youngest daughter of Traianos, Iouliana was married to the crown prince of Hungary. He hated his father and accepted an invitation to court. It took all the restraint in the world not to abuse it and perform a matrilinial marriage.

The Crusade for Jerusalem would eventually be won by the Pope, but the lands and titles handed over to the rightful Queen of France and Jerusalem.



Sadly for Queen Gudrid, others thought she was not so rightful after all, and she would soon lose France to a usurper after moving her capital to Jerusalem, followed by a declaration of Muslim invasion. At the end of the update, Jerusalem has almost fallen.

But the forces of Islam had one last challenge to issue before the end of the chapter. The Fatimids were an ungrateful bunch and did not appreciate the help Traianos had rendered in dealing with their rebellious vassals.



The Pope managed to remain outraged by the succession law change to primogeniture, since he was a dynasty member, and also had a -150 modifier because Traianos had been a bit too eager to hustle him for cash. The Kaiserin was still busy showing her unruly vassals that the so-called "Salian law" no longer applied. In other words: The Spartenosi had to deal with this challenge on their own, and only the Hospitaler and the new king of Croatia offered any real aid (surprising allies, considering their history with the Spartenos dynasty)... That is, until Pope Urban II died and the new one happily sent a large donation for mercenaries, if nothing else... Then he died and third pope in line joined the Crusade proper. Remarkably, the last three new popes have all been Greek!

It it worth nothing that the contested lands were deserts, albeit with access to water. A large part of the plan was to let the Fatimids suffer as much attrition as possible walking across the deserts and sieging the holdings, while the Spartenosi army would move about using transports, attacking much weaker stacks or performing bold tactical advances away from the enemy as needed.


Case in point.

Slowly but surely, the superior Fatimid numbers dwindled to attrition and greater losses in combat. The allies of Greece/Sicily even managed to be helpful and land in hostile territory.



And after just three years, when Fatimid numbers were low enough and Traianos felt daring enough to order his disposable merce.. proud defenders of Christianity to storm the weakest of holdings. The Jihad was over.



Having served as the head of the Spartenos Dynasty for 48 years since he was just 12, liberated Greece, lost and regained most of Africa, empowered the standing of his dynasty and given hell the one enemy to whom he had to admit shameful defeat previously, Traianos Spartenos, King of Sicily, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria had proved himself a worthy successor of Kalinka Spartenos. Knowing this, he went to bed and never woke up again.


His only regret was not pushing those 4 claims he had made on the Byzantine Empire, missing the chance to give them one last sucker-punch.

The old king is dead, long live the king.



I'll leave the update with one last touch of the strange ways history plays out: It was prince Orestes who ended up taking the holy vows:



End of Chapter




After chapter considerations

After this session, I had to admit that it had been too long and I wanted to break it into multiple parts... But I soon realized that very little land actually changed hands in this period and that very little actually happened.. Besides, I wanted a proper ending to the chapter. I will try to keep sessions below 15 years in the future.

After this, it is time to get more active. King Sergios seems like he'll be able to have good relations with his vassals and will likely not get bogged too much (but who knows, considering the loops this game throws at you sometimes). I haven't shown you every little thing, but I spent a lot of time setting up the dynasty and achieving inward perfection so as to not worry about it later.

But first I think there will be a short intermission with the state of the house of Spartenos and the world. This was a long session, after all.

alscon said:

I've wanted to say something meaningful since the beginning, but haven't found anything. Oh well, nothing meaningful is better then nothing!

The doux of Moesia likely didn't share your positive opinion about taking land from Muslims - being teleported to rule over some barony to provide a claim is cruel after all.
And those female rulers: Kaiserin Kunigunde combating the Salian law, and queen Gudrid af Oddi of Jerusalem. Wherever this dynasty comes from, they've made their way comparable to the Spartenoi.

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Yeah. The Norwegians have been particularly successful in this game after winning the war for England, installing themselves in Norway, England, Jerusalem and France.

fabiolundiense said:

What an amazing dynasty, and what an adventure !

Ah, the things that happen to one’s sons.... Keeps us on our toes, to say the least !



You are very welcome I’m not sure what is customary, I think you can just post there as you like.

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I did and have now passed on the torch. It really motivates you to get some feedback - hell, even negative, but constructive, comments are good, though people rarely bother. I suppose you just don't reach AAR's you don't like.

Asantahene said:

Wow: Traianos was a bit of a badass. Amazing that you got a -100 malus for going primo-I only ever saw -50 in my Scotland game (or did I miss something?)

A really full and eventful reighn and exciting too

Look forward to the next...once you've had a break of course lol

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Selzro said:

He went primogeniture in two kingdoms... Thus the most successful ruler in Christendom was also the most hated.

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Asantahene said:

OMG of course

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I wouldn't say 'most hated' but it certainly put a damper on things, because the vassals that gained the most tended to be the most rebellious! Note that there were no rebels in Sicily proper, even if they got the same malus.



Chapter 4.5 - To make a short stop, look around, and realize things could be worse.

OBS: For the sake of flavor, I've recently installed 5 portrait packs. This means that some character, such as Queen Violante, has had some rather rapid and remarkable facial surgery to fit in. The heads of the Spartenosi dynasty after Doux Kyriakos are unaffected, possibly because of a rather big contribution of Norman genes.

Let's take a look at how the world outside the Kingdom of Sicily, Greece etc. is doing.

World:



- In Iberia, No large Muslim realms remain, likely leading to catholic victory.
- The last Jimena king is King of Galacia, which is isolated to one county and a few random left in France after the inheritance. Castille-Aragon is ruled by the house of Aragon, Portugal by a naturalized Breton dynasty, Leon by an Irish one.


Made Barcelona your capital, did you? You'll pay for unseating the rightful king you good for noth.. sorry, getting caught up in the mood.

- France still split between Aquitaine and France Proper. Queen Brigida of France is of the Norwegian house of Oddi, which also ruled England for a while. Her father was king of England and her mother the ruling queen of France - the only reasons the realms did not unite was because England was still elective after the Norwegian conquest. Her sister, Gudrid, rules Jerusalem (thanks to gavelkind splitting the realms), but the Kingdom of God is on the brink of destruction.


Have I mentioned that they are almost 100% identical, despite not being identical twins?.

In other words, Norway, England and France are now all ruled by Norwegians.

- May I present Alba, the Scottish-Irish kingdom, lead by an Irish Queen, but about to be inherited by a Welsh heir. Celtic Renaissance, anyone?



- England is still ruled by a Norwegian king and is now almost entirely Norwegian on the county level.
- Scandinavia is pretty unremarkable, save the success of Norway and Denmark after Sweden went Germanic for a short while. Norway is also ruled by the same house as England.



- The Holy Roman Empire has reunified and only Genoa remains independent. It is ruled by 28-year old Kaiserin Kunigunde Salian. There sure are a lot of ruling queens these days.


First Civil war I see her lose.

- Hungary is quite boring, while Croatia has taken a beating from Venice.


Princess Neda of Croatia is married to King Sergio's 0 diplomacy brother, Innokentios. It is hoped that he behaves himself, because no rebels would ever support him in claiming the throne, so this is his once chance at power.

- Rus and Eastern Europe is not doing very well. It is dominated by medium large bands of Pagans and the Ruriks outside the miniature realm of Ruthenia have been replaced by a no-name iconoclast dynasty, which appears to be losing territory. I do not predict the Golden Horde, should they arrive, will face much opposition.


Yes, he is indeed losing a holy way to Byzantium, a realm now limited to Cherson and four counties in the Levant.

- Super Georgia is the large surprise here, doing strangely well after being ruled by a king who hasn't been seen in decades. His one heir is an iconoclast Rurikid, so maybe he should come out of hiding and sire some children?


God I wish I could rename him King Agsarkan 'the ninja' of Georgia.. Actually, that portrait looks really good! Now all do, but I don't regret those 10 euro spent.

- The Seljuk realm is still enormous, but the Seljuks have become quite decadent, and it is soon time for the Khanates... Add that to them having a minor rebellion that looks awfully tasty.


He is indeed losing a holy war to the Ninja King.

- The Fatimids have swallowed up Abyssinia and are likely gather strength for another blow. Maybe the Spartenosi should strike first?



- The Almoravids have remained very quiet, ruling the North Western part of Africa for many years. Should they turn their attention on Iberia or Sicily-Greece, they may be trouble.
- Jerusalem is at the brink of destruction and could only be saved by an untimely intervention from a nearby power. This should be considered if only to keep the Seljuks busy with them in the future. On the other hand, if the Norwegian crusader Queen should fail, perhaps it is because God wills another, more deserving, more pious kingdom to win the next Crusade? *hint, hint*



- The Byzantine Empire endures, annoyingly. I do think I've discovered why they manage to keep escaping death, though.


Currently, Greece does not have a decent CB to use nor a claimant willing to join the court.

- I really don't care about India, unless they start fighting the Seljuks.
- Only Catholicism and Hindu have more than 50 religious authority!


A bit boring, to be honest.

The Realm

- Here is our new Despot and his ruling Queen. Both armed with righteous claim to the kingdom of Aragon.



There's a few things to note here. Despite the age difference of 9 years (corrected from the 11, which I wrote earlier. The mistake was that the screenshot in the previous update was glued together from screenshots a while apart.), Violante has given birth to four children and is pregnant at age 45! Gotta hand it to her and Sergios II: They didn't let the biological clock outrun them, despite the age difference. Other than that, they actually like each another without being 'lovers'. I swear, if the "fallen in love" prompt comes up, I might just decline it because they don't need it!

King Sergios I is quite well-liked even after taking the throne, he only had to bribe half his vassals with money and useless titles to keep them above 50 relations.

- The siblings of Sergios II are Euphemia (married to the King of Aquitaine), Orestes (A useless, celibate fella whose children could have inherited Spoleto), Anastasia (married to the king of Ruthenia) but died at age 25, Innokentios (married to the oldest daughter of the king of Croatia) and his half sisters Parthena (married to.. er.. Neophytos Spartenos of the Merchantile Branch. They are quite distant and I suppose that sort of thing is unavoidable) and the youngest Iouliana (Married to the king of Hungary)

- The children:


D'aww, he named his oldest son after his father.

As you can see, Traianos takes after his mother in appearance, not that that is a bad thing. Demetrios and Sturakios may cause trouble if they are not shipped off to bishoprics, made monks or taught some complacency. Amazing little Gabrielia will likely be kept for a while after she comes of age, as emergency heir or tutor.

The dynastic overview. For the the sake of my sanity, only living members and previous rulers. Consult previous map for other interesting characters before this point. I had to work with an 1600px image to make it viewable, right-click if you actually want to see:



The realm itself:

- Surprisingly, Greece is now the third largest realm in the world. I'm not feeling it with a grand total of 30k possible levies, but the numbers don't lie.



- The realm has an income of about 33 ducats/month and levies of up to 7k, with the realm able to supply up to 22k. The royal demesne stretches from Capua to Rhegion in the south with no baronies ever since centralization had to be lowered to medium. Crown Authority is High to avoid inheritance shenanigans and should any vassal feel unhappy about that, they're welcome to make Sergios II come over there to change their mind.

The plan:

Hard to tell, there are overall three options to do right now since steps to expunge the Byzantine Empire are not present at the moment:

1: Save Jerusalem to keep the Seljuks distracted.
2: Attack rebelling Seljuks.
3: Claim Aragon (would rather wait as to keep a vassal king they won't rebel against and educate their heirs Greek)
4: Face down the Fatimids to regain the last bit of lost Africa.

End of intermission

Asantahene said:

Nice informative update...why can't you sort out last of Byzantine Empire again?

Click to expand...

No decent CB's at the start of the update :-/. The claimants to Cherson and Antioch were very reluctant to come to the winning side!

alscon said:

Great overview. The Norwegians are sure strong in this world, as obscure as their past may be.

Sergios' family life seems to be good, so good that he doesn't measure the age difference (9 years, BTW). But how can someone named Innokentios be an asshole?

Click to expand...

Ah, fixed the error I made before based on screenshots some years apart. As for Innokentios, it was because of the 0 diplomacy and refusal to perform his royal duty and produce claimants to Croatia.. This Session it got worse as he started to rob the realm of resources (you'll see)!

fabiolundiense said:

I admit that I haven't even tried a lot of the AAR's. The Game of Thrones, After the End or other non-historical games don't appeal to me, although they might be an interesting read. I too am motivated when people comment.

Interesting update! How powerful a court you already have! Can't wait to see you claim an imperial crown :closedeyes:

Click to expand...

Neither can I! Although the question of what to do with the Kingdom of Greece is a conundrum. Destroying it would prevent the Latin Empire from getting good de-jure borders, keeping it would anger vassals because the capital stays in Neapolis, giving it to someone, even the Crown Prince, is too dangerous.

Asantahene said:

V

Yup I'm kinda with you there Fabio

Click to expand...

Then let us prepare to become the Emperor instead of the Emperor! Even if we have to do it one county at a time!



1207-1223 - To Replace the Old with the New - Part 1

Lacking any decent CB to strike at the ERE, King Sergios II had no choice but to abandon the tradition of punching it to establish dominance and instead turn to the Seljuk rebels:



This would turn out to be a mistake. It's not that the rebels put up more resistance than expected. Not in any common sense anyhow. No, they suffered from the fact that the Seljuk Shan or Sultan or whatever he called himself had failed in the one of the most sacred tasks of a liege lord:

Keeping his vassal's holdings neat and tidy.

The rebellion was centered in central Anatolia and the North Sea coast, yes, but the "fastest" way to get 100% warscore was a silly trek across central the Middle East. Add to this that twice the great army stack was twice hit by a larger rampaging decadence revolt (that eventually lost) and that Sergios II had been too stingy to buy enough mercenaries to simply assault the holdings and this became a rather long affair.


Seven Years. Seriously.

During the war, there were family matters to attend to. First the birth of his new (normal, so I'm not showing him) son, Phokas.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem had held the line against the invasion, though one could still argue that the holy warriors of Catholicism needed to work on their creativity.



During the war, Crown Prince Traianos came of age, followed a few years later by Princess Gabrielia, and it appeared that the prosperity of the Spartenos dynasty was ensured.



Now, as you can see above, Gabrielia was quite the queer and lustful character and also a skilled diplomat to use as a secondary tutor. There was only one solution.


Strangely, trapping her in a building populated only by other women didn't seem to faze her.

Sergios II also fell in love with Queen Violante.. And it had all simply been too good to simply refuse it, despite the dangers of it becoming yet another classical love-hate Spartenos romance. Spoilers: It never did.



Also? This gem:


"The wise", you say?

Sergios II's useless brother, Innokentios, had failed to create a Spartenos heir to inherit a claim to Croatia from his bride, was completely unskilled in every aspect and now held the piety of the realm as hostage to go and play holy warrior! (mind the dates)


Fine. Just get out of my sight.

Princes Staurakios and Demetrios had failed to become neither competent nor even accepting of their father's reign and would likely cause issues for Crown Prince Traianos. Besides, Greece had little need of allies. They were granted most holy bishoprics. In the newly conquered duchy in central Anatolia. Under the rule of a newly landed claimant to Antioch.


The Spartenos dynasty has a proud tradition of proudly importing cash from the pope in exchange for the service useless dynasty members.

Prince Phokas was spared, since he was too young to have a claim, and the third bishopric was granted to an ambitious distant relative that was about to become doge-elect. No thanks, the "wrong government type" malus is bad enough.

Speaking of said claimant to Antioch:



After landing in sufficient forces to simply storm the castles, and while dirturbing(ly welcome) came from the East, the war with Byzantium was a short affair.


The Mongols knew what Sergios II had only just remembered: The duration of a war is inversely proportional to the firepower you bring along.

Pleased with the bloodshed, the monsterous gods of the RNG decided to shower a great gift upon the Spartenos dynasty to be used in the time to come.



Being the de-jure King of Bulgaria allowed King Sergios to convince three Realms to swear fealty. One required a polite request, the two others were a bit more obstinate.



In the meantime, Crown Prince Traianos' new bride soon revealed herself to be in possession of an extra bridal gift for the entire court. King Sergios thanked her with a sample from his special personal stash of wine.


Luckily they were only married for a few days, so there was no reason to suspect Traianos caught it.

Instead the Crown Prince was engaged to a Russian princess with sexy stats and claims to Croatian lands... A couple of months after marrying this beautiful princess, he of course managed to produce a bastard.


Oh well, the line is secured and worst case there's some new blood for the church.

Being quite tired from the usual family drama, King Sergios II decided to spend some time experimenting with aeronautical technology.


Don't worry about Meldrick, he's survived far worse.

Much wiser in the ways of the world, it once again became time for war. Between 1118 and 1122, Both the Almoravids and Fatimids were engaged in civil strife. A minor swarm of mercenaries were hired and every levy too in order to storm their holdings before they could properly respond.



Greek Africa was restored (and more)! And the strange constant flux of new popes kept the coffers of the Kingdom ever well supplied. These were great times Catholic Christendom!


*whistle*

Then it felt as if the evil gods of the RGO felt that the Spartenos dynasty was getting just a bit too haughty, and decided to bring them down a notch:


Oh Traianos. Didn't your father teach you not to copulate with anything with more than five boils?.

Which.. well, it wasn't too bad. The two jerk sons were passed over since they had been made bishops and Prince Phokas was no slouch. The Spartenos dynasty marches on.

One thing though: His betrothal was to a very unskilled princess of Jerusalem just to get a dynastic claim. It obviously wouldn't do for the future king! She was replaced with a Croatian princess, though Sergios II was also very tempted to marry him to the daughter of king the Catholic Ruriks of Ruthenia, it was about time that Croatia was included into the royal demesne in the near future..


Though there's some concern that every single Croatian claimant married into the house of Spartenos has failed to produce any offspring.

But seriously. The Rurikids are doing a decent job trying to salvage the crisis in Russia.


Especially by converting, considering the state of Orthodox Christendom.

End of chapter 5 part 1