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unmerged(25815)

Corporal
Feb 16, 2004
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Preface: I came up with this idea while playing a GC with France, and i discovered that you could release the huguenots as vassal, so then you could play as them. It seemed like a pretty good idea for an AAR, mainly because I don't think anyone has done it before.

The problem is that you need to wait until 1560 to release the huguenots, so I began a game at the Age of Exploration as France, and played through till 1560 trying to maintain a european balance of power. When I did reach 1560, I invoked a temperorary insanity of monarch event(you'll see why in the intro), released the Huguenots, then switched to their view, took a loan, started an army, switched back to France, invoked Excellent minister to reverse Insanity of the monarch, and declared war on the huguenots.

So now begins the first, that I know of, AAR covering the Rise of the Huguenot Empire. 1560-?


Intro: The Birth of the Kingdom

It was a cold, windy night when Guy du Toulouse, count of Guynenne, called in his messenger. He beckoned him into his dimly lit study, and pointed to the Netherlands.

"They are free, but us french reformists still live under the yoke of Paris and Rome. But not for long. Oh no, we will not wait to be recognized this time. Tell the council I wish to meet them immediately."

The messenger left, bearing summons to the other councilors. Within three days, by the 3rd of January, the Reformist Council was in session. Many were speaking of acting immediately against the king, but Guy knew otherwise.

"Why rebel? My agents in the court tell me the king is unwell in the mind. In his current state, I believe that he can be convinced to release us, giving us the time we need to get our feet on the ground before the Armee du Roi pays us a visit. If he refuses us this request, we can say that we gave him a fair chance before we rose against him."

...

The Court of Francois II

Francois- hello, Ducky! come here to PAPA! I COMMAND YOU, COME TO ME!

the duck remained where it was, bobbing gently just out of reach.

"DAMN YOU! Guards, have that duck taken away and hanged...no...roasted. I like duck stew."

Royal advisor: My liege, the reformist council requests its own state. Should I have them all killed?

Francois: What are you cRAZY?! I WILL GIVE Them their state. there has been enough bloodshed today.

Advisor: My all-high lord, perhaps...

Francois: GUARDS! Have this man hanged! He cursed in front of me! Perhaps- what foul language.

...

Guy was amazed. He kept on sharpening his sword for he knew he would still need it, but the king had agreed! There was one mere problem: The new kingdom was broke. None of the nobles wanted to give money, so Guy had convinced their new king, Louis du Bourbon, to borrow money from the "national bank" a.k.a. the purses of the nobles on the council. It didn't matter. with the 200,000 ducats they had raised, Guy had gotten approval from the king for creation of a new army, which he knew they would need all too soon...

...

The Court of Francois II

Francois: WHO LET THIS HAPPEN?! I WANT THESE DAMN HERETICAL NOBLES'S HEADS ON PIKES LINING THE WALLS OF PARIS! NOW!

...

And so it began- the War of Huguenot Secession
 
sounds good so far, will you be trying to reunite france as the huges or do u plan to live with the french
 
killerdude11-My national provinces are only the south of France, but we'll see what'll happens
jwolf- The huguenots start off slightly smaller than the rest of france. They get Poitou,Guynenne,Cevennes,Limousin,Languedoc, Maine, Bearn, and Dauphine. I hope to get screens up, but i'm having technical difficulties.

Part I: Baptism of Fire

Chapter 1:

Guy stood in the royal chambers in the palace in Toulouse. The situation looked bleak to say the least. France, Austria, and Munster were united in their will to crush the Huguenots. Guy had hoped that Austria would refuse to honor their alliance, but God saw fit to test Guy's will. Austria was easily the most powerful power in Europe right now, and Guy needed allies if he hoped to survive. The king had agreed to plead for help from Spain, but those damn Spanish dogs had refused. At least they had had a little time to work with before Francois had come to his senses.

"Boy, ride to the army camp in Languedoc, tell them the king wants Gascogne taken from the infidel french."

"Yes, milord"

Guy closed his eyes. This war would be a good fire for the country to be forged in. Like a phoenix, they would rise from the ashes of the battlefield ready to punish all who opposed them.

...

The Court of Francois II

Francois- tell the general that I want Maine taken immediately! We will attack the periphery of these huguenots before cracking them open like a nut.

Advisor- I will sent out the summons for a new army.

...

The court of He Who Is

He Who Is- I hate it when they fight in my name! don't they read the freakin' book? Well, it should be interesting nonetheless. What's happening?

The Son- The huguenots have begun a siege of Gascogne, and the French have sieged Maine. The French would use their other army, but the Venetians declared war on the Austrians, so they have sent a regiment to deal with them.

...

A messenger rode across the draw-bridge at Toulouse. He dismounted and then ran to the royal chambers.

"milords, they have taken Maine and march on Poitou as we speak, with a host over 24,000 strong."

The messenger bowed and left.

Guy- Damn! My lord, we must immediately begin levies for troops. The siege of Gascogne is near done, perhaps with the new soldiers we raise and the troops with your cousin at the siege we can turn back this invasion.

Louis- there is not enough time. The Venetian war is over. The combined hosts of Austria and France will be powerful enough to bring us back under the whim of Francois. We must settle for peace. We will take Gascogne, then hope that gives us enough bargaining power to bribe the french.

...

The Court of He Who Is

The Son: Why do the Huguenot's not raise an army? They could at least render the french army incapable of sieging Poitou.

He Who Is: Do not be fooled, my Son. The French are merely marching through Poitou. Francois smells victory and is greedy. He hopes to destroy the Huguenot army outside Gascogne, for he outnumbers it near 2:1, but there is one factor he has counted on.

He Who Is: The french might outnumber the enemy but these Huguenots feel invincible, and they will fight to the last man.

...

Henri D'Orouz was a simple farmer from Languedoc, but now he felt like the Angel of Death. He had leather armor and a old blade, but he felt like a knight today. These damn catholics, papal cronies if you asked him, fell to his sword by the score. Here came one now. Henri made a quick series of jabs, making his strength seem small, then came across with a huge swipe that caught the catholic off-guard, off-balance, and soon to be dead. He fell to the ground, and Henri knew he was doing God's work as he sent his blade into the catholic's chest. He looked for more victims but was met with the backs of the retreating catholic army.

...

The french emissary stood before Guy. He cleared his throat.

Emissary: My government wishes the following terms in aggrement to a peace accord- the rebel reformists will pay 9,000 ducats in indemnities to the french government.

Guy: WHAT? After the battle Of Gascogne?

Louis: We agree to your terms.

The emissary bowed and left.

Louis: we may have won a victory, but the french will only wear us down, for they can field larger armies faster than we, so we will give in for now, but France will not be strong forever, and the instant her sword arm weakens we will strike.

...

On April 8th, 1561, the Huguenots paid 9,000 ducats, and the french armies withdrew from southern France. The following two years were spend creating an army and trying to find allies, which proved fruitless. Then the moment Louis had prophocized came to pass. The french government sided with the moderates in their War of Religion, and their realm was in rebellion.

...

Guy rushed into Louis's chambers in Toulouse.

"My lorde, we must attack now! Auvergne, Lyonnais, Bourgogne, Orleanois, Vendee, Armor, Artois, Caux- all have been captured by the french rebels. They are not as organized as the regular army. we could assualt and take many of these before we could be stopped!"

Louis: Do you realize what you are saying? we have no Casus Belli, we have a truce. Our realm would be as unstable as France!

Guy: WE must take the chance my lord. Charlemange, Caesar, Alexander the Great- they did not sit idly by while their enemies were unable to oppose them. We must strike now. No noble would dare rebel.

Louis: You are right. We must strike order the Guynenne regiment to head for Gascogne, and send the Languedoc regiment to Auvergne to assualt the fortess.
...

And so it was that on may 18th, 1563, the Huguenots declared war on the French, who were abandoned by the Austrians, who were fighting Poland at the time.

Next post: The Baptism of Fire continues
 
Interesting tale so far. I think perhaps the only problem with the Huguenots will be a lack of events. That must have been some stability hit you took at the end. Hopefully its benefits will outweight its detriment.
 
Very brave move. May the dice roll high.
 
Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Turbulent Times

Toulouse

"Milord, we have taken Auvergne and we are marching on Lyonnais. Gascogne will not hold out much longer."

Guy: Excellent. The french army is too distracted in the north to stop us. If we are able to keep Berri we will finally have a route to Maine. We will be victorious in this war.

Louis: We must be too greedy. As soon as the french turn their attention to us, our fortunes will turn. we may be stronger than the first war, bu even we cannot oppose france with out allies.

...
The Court Of He Who Is

He Who Is: They're fighting in my name again. I hate it when they do that! My Son, it may be time for your second coming.

The Son: Hold on, I'm fixing myself a tuna-fish sandwich.

He Who Is: You know I put mercury in those things, right?

...

Toulouse

Guy: Bring me the french emissary. My lord, we have Auvergne, Lyonnais, Berri, Gascogne and Vendee and without a single sword raised against the French army.

Emissary: My lord the holy Francois II wishes peace. You have proven yourself valiant, so he will give you Auvergne, Berri, and Lyonnais in exchange for a lasting peace this time.

Louis: Excuse us for a moment.

The emissary exits

Louis: I believe we should only take Berri just to make Maine contiguous with the rest of the kingdom, for Auvergne and Lyonnais will undoubtedly resent rule by reformists.

Guy: We must take it NOW! France will rise again, and we need to be ready for it. Not only do we gain more territory, but we deprive of that imbecile Francois of it.

Louis: we do not constantly want to be fighting France, for our sword will dip at some point, and it is better to be surronded by allies than enemies. You are correct though. We will not see peace with France any time soon, so we must be ready.

Guy opened the door and beckoned the emissary in.

Guy: We agree.

As the french emissary was leaving, another foriegn emissary came in, this time clothed in the royal colors of Savoy.

Savoian: I regret to inform you that my king has seen it fit to declare war on you.

He turned and left, leaving the room in shock. The Huguenot armies had been diminshed through the assaults of the war, and now they need to make an about face, march across the entire kingdom and hope that they could stop the Savoy invasion.

...
The Court of He Who Is

The Son: Sucks for them.

...

The fields of Dauphine

Henri D'Orouz lay under the dead body of a horse from the Savoyian cavalry. He was still alive, but snow was beginning to fall and the horse was crushing his legs. He could only assume that the Huguenot army had been victorious, for thier banners still flew over the field of battle. In fact, now that he looked around, the commander's tent was situated maybe 30 feet away. The Savoyians had nearly broken the Hueguenots, but then the Languedoc regiment had arrived, but the battle had raged near the command tent. Henri could hear mutter curses coming from the tent and he saw two tall noblemen leave the tent and pass his way.

Nobleman 1: 25,000 ducats! We annihilated their army and could have marched into Savoy itself. The king is too damn soft! And now we have to put down an uprising in Berri. They've already captured the city for god's sake!

...
Toulouse, August 1st, 1565

Guy simply stared at the parchment. It was in french but it seemed like a foreign language. It said that the Catholics had seceded from the french crown. Perfect he had thought at first. Then he read the list of provinces the catholics had claimed. Caux, Picardie, Calais-all perfectedly normal- Orleanois, Bourgogne, Gascogne-fine, but it was the last one that got him. Berri.

Berri had been revolting and so it was natural that they would join these Catholics, but this was a serious blow to the Huguenots. Guy still had yet to inform Louis of this treachery. It could wait till tomorrow, right now Guy needed a drink.

August 2nd

Guy: There is only one course of action, milord. We must declare war on these Catholics. They are just like us five years ago; they have no army and no money. we can take back Berri if we strike quickly.

Louis: You're rather blood-thirsty, aren't you Guy? Very well, sent them the declaration of war. I do grow so weary of this constant fighting, and so do the people.

...
The Court of He Who Is

The Son: That came out of left field.

...

Berri was recaptued from the Catholics, and they were convinced to give it back to the Huguenots after some "discussion". France settled with the Catholics on the grounds that the Catholics fork over their treasury, all 37,000 ducats of it. The Huguenots did manage to make an alliance with England after much buttering up, and to Guy's surprise, the French joined it.
Over the next seven years, Louis put down revolts in the newly captured provinces, repaid that loan, and beefed up the army. He knew that any serenity at this early point in the kingdom's history was an aberration.
...

Next Post: Sudden Savoyian Scuffles!
 
Chapter 3

Screens will be up within the week, but anyway back to Guy...

Chapter 3: Those Damn Catholics
...

Toulouse, June 1st, 1572

Guy: DAMN! Milord, the Savoyians have declared war on us, and Eire has dishonor her alliance with England, France, and us.

Louis: It is not surprising. Eire is trying scratch out a living like us. Our troops are still in Lyonnais, putting down the revolt?

Guy: Yes, my lord.

Louis: Good...good. I will ride out to them. We will have a victory this time.

Guy: of course milord.

...
The Court Of He Who Is

The Son: Well, I suppose that's karma. The Savoyians suddenly declare war only to have the Huguenot army in Lyonnais and the French one in Niverais. They aren't going to survive this one, will they?

He Who Is: I don't see a victory in the cards for them.

...
The Royal Cemetary, Toulouse

The King's Honor Guard stood perfectly still as Louis du Bourbon, first monarch of the Kingdom of the Huguenots and pierced with arrows, was lowered into the grave.

Guy: ... and he died as he lived, in the heat of battle. His last words were of the kingdom, asking me to make sure it stayed strong, and I will fufill that promise.

Later...

Henri di Navarre: I'm going to be king?

...

April 7th, 1573, On the road from Savoie to Pietmonte

Henri D'Orouz glanced warily at the French column marching with the army. The English were alright in his opionon, because they were non-Catholic, but these french were papal lackies, hanging on the pope's every word and command. They could fight though. Not that the Huguenots needed any help. The English, who were infinately more helpful then these tag-along french, has landed in Pietmonte, defeated the Savoyians, then retreated with their remaining 2,000 troops. The Savoyians were no threat, and word was spreading that King Henri, who seemed to excel at everything he did,(monarch stats: 5,5,5), would demand vassalization from the Savoyians to make sure they didn't get uppety again.

...

Henri, in the city of Pietmonte, February 15th, 1575

Henri: As the king of the Huguenots, I demand that Savoy immediately begin paying half of their tax income to their new suzerain, Me!

Savoyian: we will fling cows at you!

Henri: CHARGE, CHARGE!

A cow arced over the walls of Pietmonte

Henri: RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!

Despite all the silliness on the part of both sides, the Savoyians eventually accepted Henri's terms


...

And Now For Something Completely Different:

Name something brown and sticky:

Answer: A Stick :rofl:

All right, that's enough of that, back to the story


...
The Court of He Who Is

The Son: I don't think any of the readers were expecting that. And I wonder if they caught the reference?

He Who Is: That's why its completely different, and I'm sure they caught the reference.

...

The next four years passed uneventfully with the notable exception of spain imposing a embargo on the Huguenot merchants in Andalusia. But, on June 1st this small break ended.

...

Toulouse, June 1st

Guy: Milord, if we ever wish to Bearn contigous with the rest of the kingdom we must go to war with the french catholics, and now is the best time, for we have the allies of France and England, our army is 35,000 strong and as far as we can tell, the Catholics are weak. Also Gascogne would be invaluable for its docks, for your navy consists of 1 transport ship.

Henri: very well, send out the proclaimation, and ready the troops.

Two days later...

Messenger: Milord, the English are pleased to fight by our side again, but His Majesty Henri II of France must regretfully refuse to join you in this endeavour.

Guy: Damn Frogs!

...
The Court of He Who Is

The Son: Those Huguenots move quickly! Already they besiege Gascogne and Bourgogne.

He Who Is: Yes, but watch those french.

...

Toulouse, September 17, 1579

French Emissary: I regret to inform you that just yesterday my lord Henri signed a military alliance with the French Catholics, and so our nations are now at war. Good day. :eek:

He bowed and left

Guy turned to Henri

Guy: I think it's going to be a long war.

...
April 23

Henri, who had assumed command of the Southern force that was siegeing Gascogne, was riding through the Pyrenes mountains headed for Rousillion straight from the capture of Gascogne when a messenger rode up next to him.

Messenger: Milord we've taken Bourgogne and are marching on Orleanis. The Dauphine Regiment is heading for Franche Comte as we speak.

Henri: excellent

Messenger: There is bad news. A french host, 20,000 strong, is marching through Poitou. We believe they are headed for you, milord.

Henri: Excellent. Ride to their general and tell him I eagerly await his coming in the fields of Rousillion.

...
June 7th, 1581
The Court of He Who Is

The Son: Oh, looks like that Huguenot general Chambly is a little too flush from his defeat of the french outside Orleanois. He over-pursued, I believe. He is currently outnumber three to one in Ile-De-France.

He Who Is: The war is beginning to turn against the Huguenots. Their Southern army, under their king, is tied up in the siege of Provence and half of their Northern army is sieging Vendee while the other half is being butchered in the fields of Paris. And a second french army is marching south towards Lyonnais.


...
Toulouse, February 3rd, 1582

French Emissary: My lord Henri wishes to cease this pointless blood-shed. He will give you Provence, Rousillion and Franche Comte in return for an immediate cessation of hostilites.

Guy: Tell your king that his offer makes me feel all sunny inside and that we accept.

The emissary blinked, nodded then left.

...

Toulouse, April 18th, 1582

The Bavarian emissary stood before Guy, who had been promoted to Marquis in Henri's absence.

Emissary: Ve regret to invorm you zat we feel it necceshary to declare vor on your country.

Guy: No thank you, I just have the soup of the day.

Emissary: Austria and Strassburg vill also be joining us in our vor against you.

Guy glanced at the guards standing at attention.

Guy: No, I think our checks will be seperate.

...

The Court of He Who Is

The Son: not looking good for the Huguenots...

...
May 4th, 1582

The fields of Caux

Henri: We must take Caux quickly, for Austrian armies already siege Franche Comte. Commence the assault.

...

Toulouse,March 18th, 1583

Bavarian emissary: Ve vill acshept pesh on the following terms: You vill pay 150,000 ducats and ve vill call off the Austrians.

Guy: That's a pretty steep bill for one serving of pea-soup, but sure.

One Month later...

Savoyian emissary: The king of Saovy has seen it fit at this time to throw off the yoke of reformist oppression and now sees it fit to rid the world of your kingdom.

Guy: God damn it! April is not a good month for us.

...

Picardie, the Catholic capital, August 7th, 1583

Henri: it's going to be a long siege.

...

Henri D'Orouz stood with his company, awaiting orders. Even though they had trounced the Savoyian army in all encounters, the King saw fit to recall them to quell the increasingly regular revolts. The King had paid 25,000 ducats for peace, but Henri D'Orouz had learned that if you crossed the Huguenots, you never came out on top.

...

For two and a half years henri beat his head against the walls of Picardie and in the sautumn of 1585 it fell. By November, the Catholics had agreed to Henri's demands: Vassalization and seccesion of Gascogne to the Huguenots. It had taken near seven years, but the Huguenots finally had a contigous kingdom.
...

Next Post: Who Knows?

...

***READ***
I have played to 1588, and established a colony in the Magenllanes, but other wise i'm stumped. I will take any suggestions at this point, and yes i know that other posters(hee hee) have already done this, but I have no idea what to do. I'll probably have screens to look at soon, so that might help, but I would like any suggestions on what to do.
 
I like it all the way, especially the court of He Who is.
 
Screenies!

Here's a screenie


10492784.bmp


The Huguenot Kingdom and Close Environs, 1585

The Huguenots are in orange.

Photobucket.com automatically resizes pictures, sorry

Anyone know a better site, one that doesn't resize pics?
 
Last edited:
Very nice writing, Senior Ding Dong. BTW, Can the Huguenots form France?

As for your picture predicament, I recommend tryng HERE
 
_Arcadian_- thanks for the site.

I considered just copying the event that allows Provence and the rest to form france, however the huguenots are without a event file, and while I was able to find the country code, FPR, I decided to skip giving them that event, because the reformist nobles would probably never have taken on the crown.
 
I like way things are going so far, but

"Messenger: Milord, the English are pleased to fight by our side again, but His Majesty Henri II of France must regretfully refuse to join you in this endeavour.

Guy: Damn Frogs!"

Religious differences set aside do you really think a frenchman would that about another frenchman? ha! I thought it was funny and just wanted to make sure everyone caught it. :)
On what to do next: Your country religion is Reformist, right? It's time to REFORM your Catholic brothers, especially in spain.
 
Well, I think unifying France and changing into it would be most appropriate (don't forget the CB shields). That was more or less what happened historically, n'est ce pas?

But imagine a Reformed Louis XIV! Convert all of France, get the Austrians to release a Reformed Hungary, perhaps a Reformed Scotland... but Moderate France must die! :rolleyes:

About accepting the crone, you might say that Henri IV de Navarre acted on his own initiative and the Reformed nobles were faced with a fait accompli. But just continuing with that ugly orange won't be fun I think.

You might even add some flavor with Reformed France, perhaps some civil war involving irate Catholics or unruly nobles (Calvinist nobles were historically for some reason even less docile than Lutheran or Catholic ones :confused: )
 
klink said:
On what to do next: Your country religion is Reformist, right? It's time to REFORM your Catholic brothers, especially in spain.

I actually have been considering that, especially since they embargoed me, giving me a casus belli on them.

I was thinking of uniting all of france under the reformist banner, but it would be very annoying to remove all of france's colonial provinces, so I decided all have to diplo-vassalize them, then diplo-annex. the bad news is that by doing this, I'll probably trigger bad-boy wars, which I would like to avoid.

But hey, france is worth a couple of those, right? After the unifaction, I might try the title of Defender of the Faith on for size.

Look for a update early next week, in the meantime, I got some subjugating to do ;)
 
Have you ever considered vassalizing France? It may be tricky seeing as how you might need to do some overseas occupying, but vassalizing can be very well worth it. You can gain some hassle-free income without worrying about rebellions and such.
 
Chapter 5

Thanks to _Arcadian_ for helping me with the screenshot business

Here it is

The political state of the Huguenot kingdom and environs, 1585.bmp


The political state of the Huguenot kingdom and environs, 1585



Part 2: The Descent

Chapter 5: The First French War of Religion

Royal cemetary, Toulouse ,August 1588

Guy's body was laid down next to that of Henri di Navarre, 2nd monarch of the Huguenots. Guy had died of a heart attack after hearing the news that Henri was dead. This was widely regarded as a bad omen, for Guy had led the rebellion from the tyranny of the french, catholic kings and Henri had expanded his empire enormously , colonizing the Magellanes as well as securing all of southern France for the Huguenots.

However, life went on, and Guy's son, creatively named Guy II, was named the royal advisor and Philippe de Mornay rose to the throne. Phil, while an excellent diplomat, was a mediocre admistrator and warrior.(5,3,3). Thankfully, Guy II wsa just as bloodthirsty as his father.

...

The Royal chambers, Toulouse, september 1588

Guy II(Now called Guy): My liege, the time is ripe for another short victorious war against the infidel French. With the Catholics under our wing, France is split down the center by our alliance, meaning we have divided, all we need now do is conquer.

Philippe(now called Phil): Very well. It certainly won't help our reputation, but nuts to that!

Guy: excuse me, my lord?

Philippe: I said I find your consul wise as always, Guy.

...

The Court of He Who Is

The Son: Short and victorious my buns. I almost feel sorry for them.

He Who Is:I suppose they had it coming. I mean after so many victories.

...

Toulouse, August 1589

Messenger: Milord, urgent news from our ambassador in Paris

The breathless messenger shoved a envelope into Phil's hands, bowed, and left. Phil opened the letter, began reading, then shot to his feet, mouth gaping.

Guy: Milord? What is it?

Phil gave Guy the letter then turned to look out the window.

Guy: My God...How? We're gonna need more troops.

Phil: Damn right we will! The catholics, gone! All because of some event At the Walls of Paris. Damn that French king! I can't believe the catholics let themselves be absorbed back into france. That is going to make those damn Bourbons even more eager to gobble us up!

Guy: We'll need another 15,000 troops, but the french will have a hard time swallowing this bone!

...

Toulouse, June 1st, 1590

Guy: well, the messenger should be arriving with the declaration of war right about now.

Phil: I do so hope you're right.

Guy: The plan is flawless. The Languedoc regiment moves into Vendee, which is completely undefended. the Gascogne regiment moves into Bourgogne, where it will lay siege and hopefully attract the notice of the Armee du Roi of the French, which will move to stop it, and will be trounced by our superior forces, and sent into retreat, straight into the arms of the Poitou regiment. Even if somehow the French win in Bourgogne, they will pounced upon by the Poitou regiment.

Phil: Well, at least God is on our side.

...

The Court of He Who Is

He Who Is: Hah! Did you catch that last part? Like I'm actually going to intervene just because their kings can't get my message clear!

The Son: Very funny. In case you've forgotten, I did die to save these people.

He Who Is: I still care for them, but their arrogance to assume that I will make it my mission to serve them.

The Son: I get the feeling the Huguenots will need divine intervention to save them. The have grossly misunderestimated the size and morale of the French, who are burning for revenge.
...

Toulouse, October 1590

Guy stared at the reports streaming in from the front.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The French were supposed to be pushovers, but they didn't seem to realize that. The Gascogne regiment were badly beaten in Bourgogne, and had retreated to Franche Comte, where to everyone's surprise,a French army, 20,000 strong, had invaded from Lorraine. The Poitou regiment had fallen into a trap in Bourgogne and had sustained 40% casualties. The other side was supposed to sustain that type of defeat, not the Holy Huguenots! Vendee had been little better. another french army had materialize out of the north, sent the Languedoc regiment in to full retreat, then moved and taken Maine. The combined armies of the Huguenots, pre-war, had been 46,000 men strong. After 5 months of brutal fighting, only 27,000 remained, 60% of the original force. Now the French lay siege to Franch Comte, Berri and Maine. They had been sieging those for a month now, almost the same time the declaration of war had come from Strassburg, who was allied with Savoy, Bavaria, Munster, and Austria. Two weeks later Mecklemburg, along with Brandenburg, Prussia, and Saxony had joined in the feeding frenzy. The Huguenots were now at war with effectively all of central Europe. This was not good

...
Toulouse, January 7th, 1591

French emissary: We demand Maine in repayment for the hurts you have inflicted upon France, and military access to your country.

Phil: I Agree.

Guy: Phil, a moment.

The French emissary bowed and left.

Guy: my lord, you are wise, but HAVE YOU GONE PSYCHOTIC? MAINE? It was one of the original provinces during the rebellion!

Phil: Our army cannot stand against them, much less the rest of europe too. We will retake it, I promise. Consider it a lease, we lease them maine, they lease us survival!

Phil called the emissary back in.

Phil: We accept you terms.

...

The Court of He Who Is

The Son: Well, that taught to Huguenots a lesson. I'm surprised they were able to buy off both Strassburg and Mecklenberg so cheap. It's like they had help...

*Glances at He Who Is*

The Son: I wonder who it was.

...

By 1593, the Huguenots had settled for peace with everyone they were at war with, generally giving tribute. Philippe realized that the instant the truce expired, the French would be back at his throat, so he needed time to make a new, stronger army, but that was time he didn't have...

Next Post: The Second French War of Religion!
 
LOL, badboy certainly got the better of you there! You deserved it too :p

Let's hope you'll inherit France before the golden age (at least leader-wise) of Louis XIV begins!
 
TheBee said:
LOL, badboy certainly got the better of you there!

Yeah, that's what I thought at first, but France has gone crazy, making it their mission to kill me. Wait till the next post