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Sorry for the lack of updates, everyone. Between the holidays, working on the converter, wanting nothing to do with CK2 after working on the converter, save scumming whenever I fail to understand what the Imperial Reconquest CB gets me (the only save scumming I do outside of terrible misclicks and crashes, for the record), and a ruler who's yet to offer any natural narrative breakpoints, it's been hard t o assemble an update. But this is not abandoned!
 
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That's good to hear! Eagerly awaiting.
 
Excellent. What happened to the Empire's total holdings during the time before he got back the title?

Addressed in the coming update.

Well, that certainly didn't take long. Although I suppose if born in the purple means anything, it was inevitable.:D

Long may the children of Konstantinos remain Augustus!

I know, right?

Good job getting back your true place in the cosmos.;)

Thanks!

both mongol hordes converted to the true faith, amazing. islam is DOOMED in EU3. and will probably be non existant by vicky. btw, great aar. made me pumped to go play some c
k2 myself :p

I doubt much will happen to it in central Africa, and it may well stay strong in Malaysia. But other than that, yes, it's fading away fast.

That was a remarkably quick restoration. Both Mongol Hordes are now Orthodox and one of them is the Emperor's father-in-law. Time to expand the Empire.

Just so. There's a reason this update took awhile.
 
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29. River and Islands
Konstantinos had reclaimed the Empire for his family line, but the internal warring had left it a wreck of its former self. There was a war to weaken the right of the Emperor even more than the existing wars had lowered them. A war that was lost the moment it became his to fight.

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The role of the Emperor could not be weaker except if it was completely removed.

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As well, territory had been lost from the Empire. Egypt and Jerusalem had wholesale declared independence. A portion of Sicily was controlled by Norway. Ferrara was independent, Verona had sworn fealty to the Germans, and Genoa had fallen to Iberian Muslims.

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Now, Konstantinos was diligent, honest, and charitable, but he had not many ambitions of his own once the throne was recovered. Fortunately for the Empire, he was close to his wife, and she was both just and proud. Her sense of justice encouraged him to restore a proper hierarchical balance to the Empire. And her pride encouraged him to continue reclaiming the old western Imperial lands. By this time, wars were mostly fought by the Scholai Palatinae.

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This was Sardinia. Long an Imperial territory, it had eventually slipped from control after the loss of Justinian's conquests. It had ended in the lands of the germans, though on occasion a county would achieve independence…only to be swiftly conquered by muslims. The northern end of the island had yet to be reclaimed by the germans, so Konstantinos took advantage of the opportunity to restore it to the Empire.

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While waiting for truces to expire, Konstantinos held a grand tournament to both celebrate his reign and to keep everyone's fighting ability sharp.

Eventually, all italian lands not held by the Empire instead swore fealty to the germans, with whom Konstantinos had a truce. He saw that there was only one Mediterranian island not controlled by Christians…

These were the Balearic islands. Long ago conquered and settled by the Empire, they had fallen to muslims. They achieved independence for a long while, before being conquered by France in the early 12th century. All but Minorca achieved independence in the late 1250s, but were not able to withstand the powerful Iberian Dhunnunid Sultinate. The Dhunnunids were largely beaten in Iberia, but held Mallorca until 1293, when Emperor Konstantinos declared war for it.

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As truces expired or other rulers' vassals rebelled, Konstantinos declared war to reclaim old Imperial lands.

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During this time, prince Konstantinos came of age. The Emperor found him a suitable wife, and according to long tradition placed him in charge of the barony of Blachernae, where he could gain experience is leadership, but be close to the Imperial court.

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Between another set of wars, Konstantinos attempted to invent a flying machine. It went about as well as one might expect.

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The Egyptian campaigns were eventually enough that Konstantinos could declare that he was rightfully the King of Egypt, usurping the title from the existing holder. All the former Egyptian vassals agreed to swear fealty to him, though the former king stubbornly held onto his remaining land.

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However, When the kingdom had been granted to the Duke of Alexandria, the former king agreed to be his vassal. In Early 1305, the Egyptian campaign was completed!
 
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29a. Interlude: More Maps
Here are some maps:

The Empire just before Niketas was deposed.
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The Empire just after Konstantinos recovered it.
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The Empire now (March 1305).
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There's an ugly grey spot in the Levant...;)
 
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I really do have to agree. That grey spot must be...liberated.
 
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It seems the AArland Choice Awards for Q4 2012 are opening up. Go and vote!

 
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30. East and West
During the truces with European rulers, Konstantinos had waged a campaign against Egypt, waging war against vassals who had rebelled against the Egyptian king. He eventually conquered enough that he could usurp the kingdom, and once he had granted it to one of the new vassals he had set in place, everyone was willing to swear fealty.

The Egyptian campaign won, he began a campaign against Jerusalem. This one would likely take longer, as the vassals of the king displayed no rebellious tendencies.

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When his truce with the Germans expired, he immediately fought a war for the duchy of Susa.

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That complete, he turned his gaze west.

This was Toulouse. Of old it was an Imperial territory, though it was later overrun by barbarians of all stripes. After being conquered by the Franks, it was made part of the duchy of Aquitaine. After years of Frankish infighting, the Carolingian Franks reconquered it, and Charlemagne organized it as part of the kingdom of Aquitaine. While the Frankish authority faded, leaving the Capet dynasty merely kings of France, Toulouse still swore allegiance to them. It stayed loyal through civil wars, Muslim invasions, everything (though some of the coast fell under English rule in the early 13th century). Finally, in 1310, Konstantinos declared war on France to regain it for the Empire.

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It was one of the riskier wars fought by the Empire in quite awhile. The King of France sent a massive army (nearly as large as the collected forces of the Emperor) to break the initial sieges. The Scholai Palatinae gathered in order to withstand this army, the last ten thousand arriving by boat after the battle had begun. The gathered Scholai Palatinae were able to smash the French forces in what was a decisive battle, and the rest of the war was just sieging and winning foregone battles.

After the king of France surrendered, Konstantinos again tried to take advantage of the duke of Provence rebelling against his liege in order to declare a war on the duke for the duchy.

During this war it was discovered that Gerasimos of Perre, the King of Croatia, was trying to fabricate a claim on the Empire. Furious, Konstantinos sent men to arrest him. But Gerasimos escaped and began a rebellion.

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Unfortunately for him, 27000 of the Scholai Palatinae were idly sitting out the war for Provence. They were sent by sea to Croatia, where they quickly put down the rebellion.

Both wars won, Konstantinos again looked to the western sea. He noticed that the old king of France, the one to whom he had a truce, had died…

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This was Iberia. Long a territory of the Empire, it had fallen to wave after wave of barbarian invasion. Eventually, it was overrun by Muslims, with just a small Christian foothold in the north remaining. But the christian kingdoms pushed back, regaining most of northern Iberia by 1066. From then on, there was a constantly shifting series of wars and alliances among Christian and Muslim kingdoms. A few times, it looked as if the Muslims would control the entire peninsula. In the late 12th century, an eastern Iberian Muslim kingdom even conquered much of Aquitania from France, though two Christian kingdoms held the western half on Iberia at that time. Those Christian kingdoms fought and critically weakened the Muslim kingdom, but themselves fell to civil war, which allowed other Muslims to conquer much of the Christian lands. In the latter half of the 13th century, France had its revenge, pouring over the Pyrenees and conquering a significant amount of north-eastern Iberia. The christian Kingdom of Leon slowly regained power, and by the time that Konstantinos declared war on the powers in Iberia (France; Seville, during a rebellion from Leon; Leon itself; and the Almoravid Sultanate) for the Mediterranean coast, Leon held the majority of the peninsula. France held the lands north of the Ebro, as well as the duchy of Galacia in the northwest, and inconsequential Muslim kingdoms held the remaining territory.

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By the time those wars were complete, Konstantinos' truce with Jerusalem had expired.

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After the war for Ascalon was complete, he was again able to usurp the kingdom, and the duck of Oltrejourdain agreed to swear fealty to Konstantinos. The duke of Jerusalem (formerly the king) would not so agree.

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With the Jerusalem campaign again waiting for a truce to end, Konstantinos fought a series of minor wars whenever a truce expired. Though he waged fewer than expected.

When two simultaneous civil wars broke out in France, the opportunity was to great to miss. Konstantinos, an honest man, was unsure, but his wife, heir, and advisors were proud, and longed to see the Empire restored to its full glory. He yielded to their pressure, and began declaring war on the various rebels.

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The wars were successful, but before the last of them was fully concluded, Konstantinos XIV died, succeeded by his oldest son, Konstantinos XV.

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Some more advertising, this time for the AARLander:

 
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...the duck of Oltrejourdain agreed to swear fealty to Konstantinos.

Quack, quack.

I know it's probably just a typo, but the mental image was great :)

That ex-King of Jerusalem has something coming to him, though...
 
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The new emperor looks Mongoloid a bit
 
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You have truces with people, not to them. Interesting update - I look forward to your new Mongolian overlord. :)
 
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You sure like your Konstantinoses.:p
 
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