It cares because it wants the most awesome lands of Western Europe that's all. I don't even see the point in asking this question
Consecrated blood waters my fields: a Hvitserk megacampaign
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It cares because it wants the most awesome lands of Western Europe that's all. I don't even see the point in asking this question
it cares because it wants the most awesome lands of western europe that's all. I don't even see the point in asking this question
:-D
Of course, it's obvious to all.
Frodi has earned a reprieve, but judging by his guilty conscience while writing his recollections, I suspect he'll be erring in his judgment again soon.
Halfdan is a hands-on kind of leader (or should that be 'heads-off kind of leader'?). Must be fun to play with him as your ruler: if you're at all roleplaying, the whole world must be your (bloodstained) oyster right now.
As far as the HRE Britanny gambit, I suspect they want it because it's the nearest westernmost territory in Europe that's not already in the Viking sphere of influence. If the Germans can take it, they can use it as a staging point for an expedition to fabled Cathay - running screaming from all the nasty Vikings and Mongols that are about to spoil their day.
Halfdan is a hands-on kind of leader (or should that be 'heads-off kind of leader'?). Must be fun to play with him as your ruler: if you're at all roleplaying, the whole world must be your (bloodstained) oyster right now.
As far as the HRE Britanny gambit, I suspect they want it because it's the nearest westernmost territory in Europe that's not already in the Viking sphere of influence. If the Germans can take it, they can use it as a staging point for an expedition to fabled Cathay - running screaming from all the nasty Vikings and Mongols that are about to spoil their day.
I only actually have a single county there.
It cares because it wants the most awesome lands of Western Europe that's all. I don't even see the point in asking this question
I have a sneaking suspicion you aren't entirely objective about this.
Glad you approve.
To some, anyway.
Frodi has earned a reprieve, but judging by his guilty conscience while writing his recollections, I suspect he'll be erring in his judgment again soon.
Halfdan is a hands-on kind of leader (or should that be 'heads-off kind of leader'?). Must be fun to play with him as your ruler: if you're at all roleplaying, the whole world must be your (bloodstained) oyster right now.
As far as the HRE Britanny gambit, I suspect they want it because it's the nearest westernmost territory in Europe that's not already in the Viking sphere of influence. If the Germans can take it, they can use it as a staging point for an expedition to fabled Cathay - running screaming from all the nasty Vikings and Mongols that are about to spoil their day.
In terms of pure "hey I'm having a blast with this game", being stuck with 2.0.4 means that I've missed out on a lot of the improvements to the game. Such is life, I suppose.
I am thinking that the next update is coming tomorrow. I won't swear to it, but it's quite likely. I do apologize in advance -- I know some of you might be expected a big "state of the world" style update for 1000 CE, but wars with the HRE are not conducive to pausing and taking screenshots. I do think you'll like the update: big things are happening!
Chapter 13: The gods have spoken
Halfdan the Cruel looked at one of the camp boys and his eyes twinkled. "Bring me Skullsplitter, boy, and I'll give you your first ale." [1] I winced. Halfdan had made this exact same offer a hundred times or more during his campaigns and never once could a boy lift it. Nor could he this time either. That axe was deceptively heavy.
"Your Majesty, might I make a suggestion?"
"Go ahead, Frodi."
I took a deep breath. "Is it really worth fighting the Empire of the White Christ for a single Thane?"
Halfdan sneered, ever so slightly. "I am not surprised that of my advisors, it is you who recommends surrender before a single drop is spilled." However, his face cleared up. "That is precisely why you are my advisor." He picked up Skullsplitter and gestured me to follow him outside the tent. "This is no ordinary war, Frodi. It is not for plunder or for land. The Emperor of the White Christ has called upon his god to aid him in this confrontation. It is not a battle for dirt; it is a battle for the gods."
I understood. I also knew that Chancellor Egill had been missing for days; I wondered if that might be part of his plans, but that was not for me to know. While I mused on my own role in this holiest of wars, one of the boys ran up with a message. "Your Imperial Majesty, it is a letter from one of our Norse brothers to the east. He wishes to join our fight."
Halfdan smiled. "Of course he may! In fact, Frodi, it is my standing order that all who wish to spill the blood of the White Christ's followers may do so with my thanks." [2]
By the fall of 999, we had gathered our forces, to sail across the Channel and lay siege to the Empire's lands.
I would take the right wing of the army, while Dyre commanded the center. The Emperor himself, with our heavy infantry and archers, planned to take the left. We were to sail for the province of Zeeland, get provisions, and begin our campaign in the dead of winter, when the White Christ's army would not expect it. Some prisoners from an early campaign told us that the White Christ planned to return in the coming year and begin Ragnarok. The Emperor simply laughed and remarked that he had better kill as many as he could before he ended up in Valhalla, lest his stories not be very good.
The enemy had moved a small army to Zeeland, but we rapidly shoved them aside. We then went on an expedition to relieve the siege of Brittany and siege castles in the west until the waters thawed. Halfdan had no real interest in castles. He wanted to seek out and destroy the White Christ's armies. We took the province of Braunschweig and the province Osnabruck to draw them out of hiding. (I could have sworn I saw Chancellor Egill at some point in Braunschweig, but the Emperor assured me I was mistaken.) Suddenly, in the summer of 1000, we received word from our longships up the river Rhine. The Emperor's army was marching north! We moved rapidly to intercept, and the Battle of Kleve began.
The enemy's skill was... contemptible! Only followers of the White Christ would put their ruler in charge of the weakest flank! So many of their troops were lightly armored, perhaps because of their summery weather. Even I had no qualms about ordering a direct assault against their flank. They fought like men, but in the end, they ran from the field like the cowards they were.
We spent most of the rest of 1000 chasing the enemy as he tried to retreat to his castles in the south. The Empress arrived shortly after our victory in Kleve, announcing she was pregnant and that she planned to give birth on the site of her husband's greatest victory. Oh, how the men cheered. At the Battle of Groningen, we encountered the last remnants of the White Christ's army. A well placed arrow struck the Emperor in the thigh, and for a moment we all feared the worst. He ripped the arrow out of his leg and tore the archer's head off almost with his bare hands. The White Christ's army was obliterated
We went to winter quarters in 1001, to allow him time to heal, when we heard news of a land called Vinland, discovered by a cousin. The Emperor kept us up half the night, discussing the ability to plunder such a land. He swore a blood oath to Odin and all the gods that he, or his heirs, would possess this rich land and use it to bring doom to the world. I politely reminded Halfdan that we were in the middle of a war. The Emperor snarled for just a moment, but grudgingly nodded. "It is as you say, Frodi. We must burn their homes and their castles if we are to win. Thoughts of Vinland must wait for another time." By the following spring, the Emperor of the White Christ approached us under flag of truce and begged us to leave his lands and plunder elsewhere. Halfdan waited for a moment, when out of nowhere popped Chancellor Egill! After a few moments of muttering, Halfdan agreed.
As the army marched towards Zeeland and our longships, the Empress made good on her promise and delivered a second son to Halfdan. The child was named Frodi, after Frodi the Great. Halfdan always joked that he named the child after me, but I knew better.
We returned to Jorvik with Prince Frodi in tow. I spent much of the voyage back trying to figure out what the Chancellor was so interested in that he convinced the Emperor to stop plundering and return home. In September, he finally told me.
"Frodi, the Emperor has smashed the White Christ. Imagine, if you will, his Empire backed by all the Norse. Would we not be unstoppable?"
We wasted no time in attacking Braunschweig.
The Chancellor's plan was perfect. He spent time in the ear of the Duke there, convincing him to rise up against his liege, while at the same time he convinced many of the Duke's courtiers that the Duke was weak and unmanly, and that the White Christ had failed them. It was a masterstroke and before the year was out, we added this new Thanedom to our Empire. Annoyingly, the Seer of the White Christ refused to give up his "church." I almost pitied him when his head was found ten miles from the rest of him. It is not wise to thwart the gods. Over the next three years, we waited. [3] The Emperor had a third son, Bersi, while Prince Frodi became Thane of Uppland.
On 23 January 1006, the Emperor Halfdan issued a proclamation. I found a copy years later and have pasted it into my journal here.
Halfdan I said:
[1] We will not be using the old Norse names if I can at all avoid them. Too much work to type.
[2] I got so many offers I stopped keeping track.
[3] I think I had to kill three or four bishops before we finally got a Norse ruler for the last holy site.
Thanks for reading!
May I suggest the emergence of a mixed culture akin to standard English? It'd require a bit of modding but I'm sure it'd make things easier. The Norse culture eventually whittles away as it is in Scandinavia, maybe Britain could have it's own.
I agree. I think VIET got Anglo-Norse but you'd have to check with them. (Britto-Norse also but it won't serve much unless you decide to be protector of the Welsh and Cambrian
) Anyway good job defeating the Christians and defending the most valuable thanedom of you empire that is Rennes
Yay, you finally reformed the Norse faith. Not only that, but you crushed the army of the HRE. Now the tricky part will be limiting yourself for four centuries so you still have a challenge in EUIV.
He has his house rules! Besides, he can convert anytime he wants to 1444; since that's how the converter works. So if he gets bored and has nothing left to do, he can either ask me about a house rule change, or convert to EUIV.
He has his house rules! Besides, he can convert anytime he wants to 1444; since that's how the converter works. So if he gets bored and has nothing left to do, he can either ask me about a house rule change, or convert to EUIV.
Not much left to do with those house rules, since he's conquered most of his goals. I forgot you could convert to EUIV at any time. Hard to explain a couple centuries gap in a narrative though.
Easier in what sense?
I agree. I think VIET got Anglo-Norse but you'd have to check with them. (Britto-Norse also but it won't serve much unless you decide to be protector of the Welsh and Cambrian
Anyway good job defeating the Christians and defending the most valuable thanedom of you empire that is Rennes
Wait, the Vietnamese are Anglo-Norse now??
Indeed.
It is a struggle, but see below.
He has his house rules! Besides, he can convert anytime he wants to 1444; since that's how the converter works. So if he gets bored and has nothing left to do, he can either ask me about a house rule change, or convert to EUIV.
You're exactly right, that I can convert whenever. I am not going to shed my excess territories right away (and there's a very good storyline reason for not doing that), but I will do so. What is your preference, Sakura_F: early export or modify the house rules?
Not much left to do with those house rules, since he's conquered most of his goals. I forgot you could convert to EUIV at any time. Hard to explain a couple centuries gap in a narrative though.
Papering over the 15 year gap in NRI (ages upon ages ago) was one thing, but you're right that a gap of hundreds of years will be quite a bit more challenging.
I liked the reference to the Second Coming of Christ (since it's the millennium and these sort of things happen like that). I guess it's not that far-fetched that Halfdan must be seen as the Antichrist by the quaking massess of Christendom - so in that sense, Armageddon shouldn't be too far off (and then the Second Coming and all that - theology is not my strong suit).
The holy places have been conquered, the faith has been restored... I wonder how much longer the gods will let Halfdan continue down this path: will there be more conquest, or has he fulfilled his gods' plans?
The holy places have been conquered, the faith has been restored... I wonder how much longer the gods will let Halfdan continue down this path: will there be more conquest, or has he fulfilled his gods' plans?
I personally think it'd be okay to keep on conquering all you want, but once you're ready to convert, a mysterious rebellion would occur and all your territory outside the British Isles and Scandinavia would break free. It's practically cliche now in AARs when converting to purposely set free a bunch of land, but it'll make things more of a challenge later on without making the remaining portion of CK2 uneventful.
You might well have put more thought into my AAR than I have.
Oh, there will be more conquest -- I can promise you that!It's certainly something to consider. I personally favor releasing nations early, I'm just waiting for a good storyline opportunity to do so.
The final chapter of the Frodi saga is coming this weekend, probably. I've promised myself I would use my break to finish my current dissertation chapter.
So, the new forum prevented me from posting the next update, obviously. I hope to have a fresh update for everyone perhaps this weekend!
As I said in your other AAR I caught up with this, and I must say that it was a very enjoyable read. Looking forward to read more of the Whiteshirt dynasty! I appreciate how you adapt the writing to each character, and I also liked the "modern" update.
I appreciate how you adapt the writing to each character, and I also liked the "modern" update.