Haw Dywedyd “Mynydd” Na Myned Drosto - A Welsh Megacampaign Part 1

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Chapter Two
One Kingdom Rises, Another from the Ashes
1069-1078
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Still, Ffransis sails down south to help is brother-in-law with his war against the Holy Romans, soon arriving at Eu and joining up with the Norman armies.

Meanwhile, the new walls at Eryri are finally completed after two years of construction. Even if the walls and towers are basic, it is a layer of defense that the castle didn't use to have.

While marching with the Normans they spot a much smaller army Holy Roman army trying to siege down Argentan. The combined Norman and Welsh army attacks the Holy Roman army, easily defeating the much smaller army and causing it to retreat back to the Holy Roman Empire.

The war was taking a toll on Gwynedd though, the duchy now in debt from almost four years of war and the peasant levies wishing to return home. Ffransis is forced to disband the army and return home despite William trying to get him to stay and continue the fight.

Returning back to Eryri does allow Ffransis to return to matters of the Duchy and his family. Around this time Mabyn developed a curious personality, always asking questions about everything even if it wasn't appropriate for a three year old girl to know.

Ffransis would also see the arrival of Nest to his Duchy. Nest was the daughter of Prince Maredudd II of Deheubarth, who had tried and failed to overthrow her father, getting exiled from the Duchy for it and coming north to Gwynedd in the hope that Ffransis would help to push her claim. Ffransis would never use her claim, but did end up allowing her to stay for as long as she liked.

Elsewhere, a new heresy emerged known as Catharism in Croatia. This new heresy has managed to sway several nobles of the Kingdom of Croatia but not the King himself. The Cathars gnostic views on Christianity immediately made them the enemies of the wider Church, sparking a persecution against them. Despite this, they do manage to spread to Ravenna and Luxembourg where they entrench themselves.

Around this time Ffransis would grow to admire the Carthaginian general Hannibal, especially his encirclement of the Roman army at Cannae where he almost annihilated the Roman army then and there. From then on, Ffransis would employ some of the tactics Hannibal deployed against the Romans in his own wars and battles.

He would also create a Men-At-Arms regiment of one hundred bowmen for the army. Unlike the peasant levies, these were men that were specifically trained to fight in the army fulltime, making them much better than the normal peasant levy but also more expensive to upkeep.

After a few years of peace Ffransis declares war on his southern neighbor for the province of Ceredigion, which was de jure part of Gwynedd but under the control of Deheubarth.

Ffransis takes his army and marches it south to lay siege to Aberteifi, wanting to take the goal of the war first before doing anything else.

But the enemy army itself lays siege to Llandrindod, which would fall before Aberteifi would. Ffransis decides to break off the siege and face the army in battle to prevent the fall of Llandrindod.

As soon as Maredudd II heard of Ffransis marching toward him he broke off the siege and fled north to Rhaeadr Gwy in an attempt to escape. He is however caught there, losing the battle and being forced to retreat.

During the war Adelais would become pregnant again with Ffransis' children.

Ffransis would also receive a Call To War from William. Several Norman and English vassals were revolting against his rule and he required Ffransis' aid in the war. Ffransis would decide to focus on finishing his own war first before going to help William once more.

As the war continues, Adelais gives birth to twin sons. Ffransis will name them Urien and Bleddyn.

The birthing of the twins was apparently difficult and one of them would've died if it wasn't for a Pagan Polabian woman named Dobroslava who happened to be there at the time. She was apparently looking for a place to stay and decided on Gwynedd. Ffransis allowed her to stay for helping his wife as long as she converted to Christianity. She agreed to this.

On March 7th, 1075, Aberteifi finally surrenders to Ffransis, giving him control of Ceredigion.

After the siege, he moves to once again face Maredudd II who was sieging his territory once again. Once again, they flee north where they once again battle at Rhaeadr Gwy and once again are forced to retreat.

Ffransis would receive two more Call to Wars from William: a populist uprising being led by a surviving member of the Wessex dynasty and then a peasant uprising that managed to take over the entirety of the Duchy of Northumberland.

Ffransis chases down the remainder of Maredudd II's army to the capital of Sir Gaerfyrddin, killing all but two hundred and then laying siege to their capital, allowing the survivors to flee and attempt to siege Llandrindod again.

After taking their capital Ffransis forced them to negotiate, Maredudd II forcing to cede Ceredigion to him and ending the war.

Shortly after his victory Ffransis would declare himself King of Wales, something that Deheubarth wouldn't recognize. Morgannwg would and would eventually accept vassalization under King Ffransis.

Ffransis would increase the size of the bowmen from one hundred men to two hundred before marching to aid William in his many wars, deciding to march all the way north to Bernica to end the peasant revolt first.

For nine months he lays siege to Bebbanburg in Bernica, eventually breaching the walls and forcing the peasants to stand down.

As he is marching south to Norfolk to deal with the revolting nobility, Adelais gives birth to another son named Sior.

He sieges down Norwich, the last holdout of the revolting nobility, sieging them down and then moving on to Middlesex to put down the populist uprising.

But it was too late to deal with the populist uprising by then. They forced William to negotiate, taking most of England and proclaiming Eadgar Eadwardson of Wessex the King of Hampshire.

Almost all of England joins the Kingdom of Hampshire with it's capital centered in Hampshire. Only York stays with William, the Kingdom of England being exiled with him to Normandy.

The alliance with William in the end proved to be for nothing, relations between the two breaking down shortly after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Hampshire.

 

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Chapter Three
New Allies and Plans
1078-1086​

Seeking new allies after the alliance with William fell apart, Ffransis manages to betroth Mabyn with Prince Bror, the son of King Erik of Sweden, giving him a new powerful ally.

Speaking of Mabyn, in celebration of the betrothal Ffransis takes her out hunting at the mountains near Mathrafal. As they were hunting they stumble upon an already wounded dear, having been hit with a bow earlier but never being found by the hunter who had shot it. Without hesitation, Mabyn took aim with her own bow and brought down the wounded deer herself.

Upon returning from the hunting trip, Ffransis declared war on Deheubarth again. This time, it was for Brycheiniog just to the south of Ferlix. The purpose of this war was to connect the kingdom with Morgannwg, whos count recently accepted vassalization under Ffransis.

Before sieging down Brycheiniog, Ffransis marches south and meets the much smaller Deheubarthian army outside of Caerdydd, which they were attempting to siege down. The Deheubarthian army is absolutely slaughtered by Ffransis' much larger army with only six men escaping from the slaughter.

After the slaughter, Ffransis orders the army to siege down Brycheiniog. As the garrison was just about to surrender, an enemy army of two hundred suddenly appears to idiotically attack Ffransis' much larger army. Needless to say the Deheubarthians were all killed for their trouble. It didn't even help the garrison as they surrendered a few days later.

(I have no idea why the AI did this, they just charged my much bigger army for no reason.)

Meanwhile, Mabyn grew infatuated with one of the knights in the army. She was finally able to meet this knight in person, coming away from the chat with a phrase and diligence that would stay with her for the rest of her life: "Work hard, and you can master anything."

As he was sieging down Caerfyrddin, the army manages to capture the enemy prince Owain. Ffransis forces the young prince to negotiate, Deheubarth being forced to give up Brycheiniog to the kingdom.

Mabyn's infatuation with the knight soon turns into an attraction to a different person: Lord Blegwrd, one of Ffransis' vassals. She finally confessed her feelings to Blegwrd only for Blegwrd to reject her bluntly and harshly.

This apparently started a vengeful streak within her, having reportedly sent Blegwrd a chicken's head for rejecting her the way he did.

In other matters of the family at the time, Adelais had been pregnant for a while and finally went into labor. It was a tough birthing that resulted in a stillborn daughter at the end. Ffransis was crushed by this news, spending a few days in his room before returning to ruling.

Continuing to seek new allies, Ffransis betroths his first born son, Urien, to Princess Sorcha of Scotland. This gains an ally with King Malcolm III of Scotland, the second strongest kingdom in the isle below Hampshire.

After the stillbirth, Adelais becomes pregnant again. This time, she gives birth to a healthy baby girl named Catrin.

In celebration to the newest member of the family, Ffransis has a feast with one of his vassals: Lord Bedwyr. The feast went well and Ffransis left the feast having gained a friendship with Bedwyr.

Around this time, Ffransis decides to experiment with different tactics besides the ones he's been using that have been inspired by Hannibal's own tactics in battle. He decides to experiment in manipulative tactics and perform a wargame around that.

It goes poorly, Ffransis' army unable to hold their ground in the wargame, suffering a swift and decisive defeat. This earns him the nickname of 'the Foolish' from his army which spreads to the rest of the kingdom. His knights suggest to just stick with what he knows.

Some documents appear around this time that claim that the Earldom of Shropshire under the King of Hampshire was owned by a Welsh prince long ago and therefore rightfully belong to the King of Wales.

The validity of these documents is still questioned to this day as some of the documents contain the handwriting of Ffransis' bishop Frantisek. Ffransis doesn't use these claims right away though.

In 1084, Mabyn comes to age. She had a fiery and opinionated personality, and while she was given a scholarly education, she much preferred to travel and hunt instead of doing anything studious.

Speaking of Ffransis' children, Bleddyn tried to preach among the other children of the nobility only to become the target of a small fight. Urien, his slightly older twin, throws himself into the fray to help his younger twin, even taking a rock to the face that was meant for Bleddyn. From then on, Urien would be known for being absolutely fearless and caring for his younger twin.

In 1085, Ffransis receives a call to war from Erik, requesting aid in his war against Denmark for his claim on the province of Skane. Ffransis agrees and prepares to set sail with his army to Denmark.

Before leaving he does welcome a new son to the world, Rhydderch. He doesn't celebrate the birth for too long, setting sail with his army.

There isn't a lot to do on a boat sailing to Scandinavia so he and his army would pass the time by exchanging stories. One topic was the fight between King Philippe of France and the Pope. They didn't know what the fight was about, but after the fight Philippe denounced the Pope and claimed that the Ecumenical Patriarch Andreas II was the true head of Christianity, converting to Orthodoxy from Catholicism.

Several of his vassals would follow but most still followed the word of the Pope. It wasn't known if the populace would convert as well or if the kingdom would fall apart because of his decision to convert to Orthodoxy.

The army soon reaches Denmark and lays siege to Sjaelland while the Swedish army dealt with the Danish army at Varend. After a couple of months the Welsh breach the walls, moving on to siege down Skane.

As they were sieging down Skane the army found a thief that they decided to hang. Ffransis had taken along Urien in the hopes that he would pick up some military skills, witnessing the hanging of the thief. Asking Urien on his opinion of the hanging, Urien would say that the thief shouldn't have reached for more than he could handle.

After sieging down Skane the Danish king would surrender the entire province to Erik. With the war won, Ffransis and his army is able to return to Wales to focus on other matters.

 

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Chapter Four
Deus Vult? Deus Vult!
1087-1097
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One of these matters was declaring war on the Kingdom of Hampshire for Shropshire in 1087.

Ffransis leads his army out to siege Shropshire down, meeting the Swedish army along the way, King Erik agreeing to help after Ffransis joined him in his war against Denmark.

After sieging down Shropshire, Ffransis moves the army south where he gets attacked by the combined Castilian-Anglo-Saxon army at Westbury. The swedes were just to the north luckily and quickly joined the battle, turning it in their favor and winning the battle.

The combined enemy army retreats north where they try to siege Shropshire. Ffransis instead moves north from the recently captured Hereford and fighting them with the Swedes once more. They win the battle and cause the army to retreat once more.

Ffransis moves south to siege down Worcestershire while the Swedes move north, running into the combined enemy army once more but they are able to take care of it by themselves.

After the siege of Worcestershire, the King of Hampshire is forced to talk, ceding the Earldom of Shropshire to Ffransis and ending the war.

Ffransis isn't able to go home just yet though. To the north, the king of Scotland had died and the kingdom had been thrown into civil war by the succession. The King's only son was suppose to inherit the kingdom but he had died and the kingdom went to Princess Sorcha, the future wife of Prince Urien.

Ffransis had thought that their own army would've been capable of handling the revolt, but they apparently had different priorities in Iberia.

As Ffransis marches north to Scoutland, both Urien and Bleddyn come of age. Urien had a personality similar to his older sister Mabyn's while Bleddyn was a known troublemaker, often fighting with other kids and causing problems around the castle.

Still, Urien was now married officially to Queen Sorcha. The marriage was unchanged from when Sorcha's father had made it with Ffransis so their children would be of the Fane dynasty instead of Sorcha's own dynasty.

Bleddyn got the short of end of the stick in marriage, getting married to a random daughter of an Italian count.

Urien would end up leading one of the armies in Scotland, only to get ambushed by one of the revolting armies and imprisoned. (He'll manage to get out later.)

Ffransis wasn't having as much luck either, getting attacked by a bigger army at Lanark and forced to retreat to the south.

As Ffransis reorganizes the army, Sior comes of age. Sior would become known for his dishonorable and disrespectful ways to almost everybody around him.

Heading back north, he is able to put down one of the revolts but there was still one more revolt with a much bigger army than what Ffransis and Sorcha had.

While the last revolt does have more men, Ffransis had money to use. Using most of his money, he buys up the mercenary group, Wake's Guard, to help fight the revolt.

The three then combine their forces and move to face the revolting army in battle, battling them at Callander. It was a close battle in the hills but the Welsh and Scots manage to make it on top of the revolters.

The two armies meet again a little later at the battle of Aberfeldy, another close battle that the Welsh and Scots win. This battle forces the revolt to surrender, ensuring Queen Sorcha's rule over Scotland.

Ffransis returns to Wales to rule for a while until news starts to spread. Pope Alexander has been spending the past few months touring around the Catholic world. Once he returned to Rome, he made a public speech denouncing the recent treatment of Christian pilgrims in the holy land by the Muslims. Citing this treatment, he declares that there will be a great Crusade for Jerusalem, inviting every able-bodied Christian peasant and ruler to partake in this Crusade, promising that all who joined would be guaranteed a spot in heaven.

Ffransis promises his support almost immediately, making preparations to sail to the holy land once the signal was given by the Pope himself.

But for now, he would have to wait a few months before it could happen. He spends this time experimenting with alchemy and turning lead into gold.

He once again spends most of the kingdom's gold by securing a shipment of lead sugar from some merchants that just sailed in from Italy, getting one of the ingredients he needed for his project.

The second ingredient he needed was seaweed. Unable to buy seaweed from the local traders he instead levies a new seaweed tax on the kingdom to get what he needed, much to the peasants ire.

With the required ingredients needed he begins the experiment.

The experiment goes wrong however. After burning the seaweed and mixing it with water all it produces is a brown sludge. He tries to mix the lead sugar into the sludge but no reaction occurs with the brown sludge. While it was a failure to produce gold, the sludge does end up being a good fertilizer for his garden.

The trouble with the alchemy doesn't end there though. The peasants, angry at the ridiculousness of the seaweed tax and already having to pay high taxes, demand Ffransis to lower the taxes levied on them. Ffransis does remove the seaweed tax but refuses their demand to lower the taxes as the money would be needed for the Crusade coming up soon.

The peasants revolt in response, surrounding Eryri in a siege. Ffransis responds by sending the army out, which easily crushes the peasants. Their leader ends up being captured and publicly beheaded as an example to the others.

After the revolt, the final preparations for the Crusade were finished, the Pope declaring that it was time for the Crusade to begin. Ffransis raises the army and sets sail for Jerusalem, being the first Crusader army to land in the holy land.

Only to be met by a much larger Muslim army and his army to be completely slaughtered.

Ffransis manages to escape the battle with several of his men, and when counting the losses he realizes that his son Sion wasn't among the men who survived. Sion's body being one of the corpses littering the battlefield now.

 

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Chapter Five
Finally United
1097-1109​

Ffransis grieved over his son's death but continue the fight in the holy land. Ffransis and the survivors of his army would join one of the Crusader armies that had just arrived while the army was replenished at home.

While in the Papal army during the Crusade, an injured soldier is brought in to the medical tents. With the army doctor nowhere to be found and only Blegwrd with him, Ffransis is forced to put his medical skills to work to save the man's life.

Miraculously, Ffransis manages to save the soldier's life with Blegwrd, stopping the bleeding on the man. Ffransis would come out of this more medical experience than he did coming in.

At home, the army is replenished enough that it could be sent back to the holy land. It arrives a few months later, just in time to take part in the siege of Jerusalem itself.

With the arrival of his army, Ffransis is able to partake in the Crusade fully once more. He and his army would become instrumental in the siege of Jerusalem.

Back at home, Duke Cadwgan pushes his claim on the remains of Deheubarth. Cadwgan ends up winning against Deheubarth, taking the duchy along with their recent conquest of Dublin on Ireland while still remaining as a vassal under Ffransis. Wales was now officially united under one ruler.

Back in the holy land, Jerusalem falls to the combined Crusader army under Ffransis. With the fall of Jerusalem the Muslim armies surrender.

Jerusalem and the surrounding area becomes part of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem under the Polish Queen Malgorzata.

In recognition of Ffransis' service in the Papal army and his help in the siege that ended the war, his daughter Mabyn is granted the Duchy of Oultrejourdain to rule within the kingdom.

Returning back to Wales, Ffransis uses some of the money he had gotten from the Crusade to construct a tradeport in Eryri, providing more income and development to the capital.

Rhydderch also comes to age at this time, completing his education in stewardship despite the fact that he was still inexperienced in it. He would often be described as a villain that caused trouble around the kingdom.

In 1101, Ffransis declares war on Hampshire again. This time, for a claim on the Earldom of Herefordshire, once again in a claim that Hereford was once Welsh and therefore should be apart of the kingdom.

Instead of going in immediately, Ffransis waits for the Swedish and Scottish army to come in to reinforce. The swedes arrive without any trouble but the Scots are ambushed while making their way south where Urien, once again, gets captured by the enemy.

As he marches to Hereford with the Swedes, Ffransis uses his clout with the Pope from the Crusade to get some money from him for the war. His request is accepted and the money is used to buy the Wake's Guard to bolster his ranks in the war.

He quickly sieges down Herefordshire when the Anglo-Saxon army arrives. A larger force goes south to battle with part of the Swedish army while the smaller part of it fights Ffransis.

Just as he was about to win the battle the larger part of the Anglo-Saxon army reinforces the battle, but the other half of the Swedish army also joins the battle. With the two combined they beat the Anglo-Saxon army and force it to retreat.

As Ffransis sieges down Worcestershire the Anglo-Saxons attack again with the same strategy, this time with the Castilians attacking the Swedish army at the same time.

This strategy doesn't work the second time either, both of the armies being forced to retreat and allowing Ffransis to continue the siege.

In the battle with the Swedes, the Castilian king is captured. The swedes also send a call to war to Ffransis, getting attacked by a Sami tribe while their armies are busy helping Ffransis.

Getting close to Hampshire itself, King Eadgar surrenders to Ffransis' army in 1103. He is forced to cede Herefordshire to Ffransis and to also release Urien.

Ffransis then sails north to help his Swedish ally. The Sami tribe turns out to be extremely far north in Finnmark where even in June there was snow on the ground.

As he arrives to siege down Finnmark he receives news that his wife, Adelais, had contracted Cancer. With no physician currently in the kingdom he immediately sends for one.

The court soon receives Margrete, a physician from Norway who was willing to become the court physician along as she was paid a hansom sum. Wanting to save his wife, Ffransis agrees to the price.

Her solution to the cancer turns out to be the removal of part of Adelais' face. The treatment does alleviate her symptoms but doesn't cure the cancer completely, also forcing Adelais to wear a facemask.

Spending a few months sieging down Finnmark, well into the winter that kills half of Ffransis' army alone, he finally breaks the walls of the tribe capturing the High Chief's wife and son. This forces the Chief to surrender and allow Ffransis to return home.

He doesn't return home to good news though. Despite the good treatment of the cancer, Adelais ultimately looses the battle to cancer. Her death causes great grief to Ffransis, promising to never marry anyone again in mourning.

To try and take his mind off of his wife's recent death, Ffransis decides to start a project. This project was to translate Aristotle's Physica into Welsh, as there was no Welsh translation of the Physics.

He would spend many sleepless nights working on the translation, often being found asleep on top of his translations, falling asleep in the middle of the night. Still, he forces himself to complete this translation.

Even if it did cause him much unneeded stress.

As he continues his translations with his scribes he would often come into debates on how it should be translated. One notable debate was the translation of 'as we hold two feet and spirit's rising edges of hunter'. His scribes insisted that the translation was correct but Ffransis was convinced that was incorrect, spending time to try and come up with something more fitting.

One night, almost falling asleep on top of his translations again, one of his scribes manages to convince him to go and get some sleep and let the scribes do some of the work while he rests.

As he continued to get closer to completing the translation, he got more and more drained with his work. Eventually secluding himself to finish the translation until it was done.

This seems to have done the trick as he returned from seclusion with a completed translation of the Physica. The translated copy turned out to be well done, so much so that Ffransis' translation of the Physica continues to be used by the Welsh to this day.

With his project done, he orders the upgrading of the walls and towers around Eryri, adding bastions and curtain walls to the structure of the castle.

He also increases the authority of the crown, giving more powers to himself much to his vassal's displeasure as it came with an increase to levies and taxes to the king.

He then decides to go on a pilgrimage, choosing the recently conquered Jerusalem as his destination.

While traveling on his pilgrimage, in Bavaria he and his party are ambushed by bandits. Even in his old age, he doesn't hesitate to draw his sword and fight the bandits away with his party.

And in Anatolia, his party finds themselves in an area with no nearby churches, having to settle with giving mass out in the open. As the mass is given a storm ends up rolling in. The priest continues to give mass but many in the congregation return to their tents. Ffransis doesn't and continues to listen to the priest in the rain, even if it did end up giving him a cold.

He does eventually reach Jerusalem, traveling around the city to see all the holy sites, even getting to see his daughter who was still ruling the duchy in the kingdom.

He would soon return to Wales. In his writings on the trip he would remark: "The priests and bishops have changed in their treatment of me upon my return, but it feels like nothing about me has changed."

With his return, he declares war on the small Irish Count of Athlone, looking to expand his holdings in Ireland.

He lands in Dublin, or Dulyn as it was being called now, where the Athlone army was trying to siege down the city. He quickly lands and slaughters the army to only five survivors.

He marches to Athlone and proceeds to quickly siege down the county. Instead of giving it to a Welsh, he instead gives it to an Irish noble as long as he renounced his heresy and promised to be loyal to Wales.

After the war he would stumble upon a book about early Christian traditions, describe how early monasteries would use trances and visions to commune with Heaven and the Heavenly Father. He would become curious enough to try one of these methods out.

He would get some of the required powders and lock himself in a room. When returning from the room he would claim to have seen a strange light and hear a pulsating sound.

This would become a strange habit of his, trying again and again to repeat the first vision he saw but never being able to get the same results as the first time.

Meanwhile, the Pope founds the first Christian holy order in the city of Ostia, christened as The Knights Templar.

The exiled Kingdom of England continues it's slow decline, getting split into two by France and the Normans being overthrown by the Capet family.

France experiences a collapse of their own. The rulers are still Orthodox but many of the Catholic rulers have broken off from the Kingdom and away from the Orthodox rulers.

 

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Chapter Six
Years of Quiet and Grief
1109-1132​

His new Irish vassal would quickly die and be replaced by his son, Donnchad. It was Donnchad who suggested to Ffransis to learn the Irish language, if he was going to take more of Ireland it would only be good for Ffransis to know the language of the Irish.

He agrees to it, having Donnchad tutor him in the language. In several months he was speaking basic Irish with Donnchad and his Irish subjects.

Speaking of Ireland, in 1113, Ffransis declares war on the small count of Leinster to the south of Dublyn. The count has allies though, starting a minor Irish coalition against Ffransis.

The coalition quickly moves to Athlone and begins a siege. Ffransis quickly sails over and fights them there in the marshes of central Ireland.

The coalition is able to use the marshes to their advantage despite being heavily outnumbered. In the marshes, they are able to corner and kill Ffransis' son Tewdwr.

The death of Tewdwr enrages Ffransis who has the coalition army slaughtered, though a thousand still escape into the marshes.

Ffransis then marches south and sieges down Leinster, capturing the king Domnall and forcing him to surrender his county, ending the war and expanding his holdings into Ireland once more.

In Hampshire, the king dies and King Eanhere ascends to the throne, but not without trouble. Several of his vassals have risen up against him throwing the kingdom into a civil war.

Ffransis decides to try and take advantage of his chaos, declaring war on Hampshire for Worcestershire and calling in Scotland and Sweden to aid him.

Hampshire isn't the only kingdom to get a new king. King Erik III in Sweden dies and is replaced by his son Bror. Bror agrees to come into the war but also requires help as the Kingdom of Denmark has declared war to get Skane back.

Ffransis quickly sieges down the goal of Worcestershire before marching north to face the Hampshire army who were trying to siege down Shrewsbury.

Ffransis and the Scots corner them at Shrewsbury, having failed to flee in time, winning a nice victory against them.

Marching to Warwickshire, Ffransis finds the rebel army sieging down Warwick where he faces them in battle.

In the battle however, Bleddyn and Rhydderch are killed by the enemy, getting cornered and struck down.

With Urien being his only surviving son left, these deaths finally break the old king. When the armies retire for the night he retreats into his tent and refuses to come out, even as the next day dawns. He ends up putting his grief to paper to cope with the stress.

The Welsh win the battle, but at the cost of two of his sons.

His family was in tatters. Many of his sons had grandchildren before they died so it wasn't all lost, but it was still reduced to Urien and his two daughters.

So he breaks his marriage promise and marries to a Norwegian noblewoman named Thora Gudrodsdatter Bille.

In the war, the Welsh army sieges down the capital of Hampshire, forcing the king to come to peace and cede Worcestershire to Ffransis.

Worcestershire is given to a Welsh noble in the court and renamed to Swydd Gaerwrangon.

Ffransis sails to help his Swedish ally but it was too late to really help at this point.

He tries to siege down Sjaelland again, but is unable to breach the walls before Bror surrenders.

Angered by the loss in the war, two of Bror's vassals revolt. With Bror's army only close to a thousand men strong and Ffransis nearby he asks him to help.

Ffransis agrees and starts to march north to aid his fellow king, seeking to siege down the revolting vassals before they can do too much.

As he marches north, Thora gives birth to a baby girl named Ragnell.

Sieging down their capitals, the revolt is put down and the vassals are thrown into prison.

Returning to Wales, Thora gives birth to a new son that is named Serigi.

He also receives a request to an alliance from the Petty Irish Queen of Munster. He doesn't accept the proposal.

In Eryri, he upgrades the hunting grounds in the capital, expanding the grounds and constructing hound pens with the lodges.

Thora gives birth to another daughter, confusingly named Ragnell as well. (This was just me not paying attention to the names that were randomly given.)

It's around this point that the Kingdom of Wales is considered to have enter the High Medieval era.

One night, while trying to sleep, Ffransis hears a noise outside of his window followed by a voice calling out for Catrin, his daughter. Ffransis gets up and opens the window to see that it was his Steward Padarn, having managed to climb up to Catrin's window. Ffransis isn't exactly happy by their development as Catrin was already married.

Ffransis also founds a new Holy Order at this time at Caer Gybi on the island of Ynys Mons. Under Grandmaster Rhicert they are christened as the Knights Hospitaller.

The Duke of Deheubarth also expands the kingdom's holdings in Ireland, taking the province of Connacht from the local count there.

Ffransis gains a claim on the Earldom of Gloucestershire at this time though the surviving documents on this claim are dubious. He uses this claim almost immediately to declare war on Hampshire once more.

He goes and sieges down Gloucestershire pretty quick as the Swedes and Scots arrive to his aid.

After sieging down Oxfordshire as well he hears that the Hampshire army was close to reclaiming Gloucestershire. He immediately marches to meet them in battle and to relieve the siege.

The Hampshire army doesn't retreat and instead fortifies themselves along the Severn River to face Ffransis' slightly smaller army, but the Scots and Swedes join the battle as well.

The battle is a slaughter, with half of them dead and the other half fleeing from the battlefield.

Ffransis moves south to siege Wiltshire while the Swedes and Scots chase them north, catching up to them and slaughtering them once more.

Ffransis soon arrives to the capital at Winchester, sieging it down and forcing the king to surrender Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire is given to another Welsh noble and renamed to Swydd Gaerloyw.

As Ffransis continued to grow older and his health continued to slowly decline his relationship began to deteriorate with Queen Thora. He didn't marry for love and their relationship with each other showed it.

News began to quickly spread across the Catholic world as the Pope had declared a Second Crusade for the Kingdom of Syria. Seeking to take part in one last war before dying, Ffransis throws his backing behind the Crusade.

As the preparations for the Crusade is made Ffransis joins Bror in his war for the throne of Denmark, having gotten a claim on the entire kingdom. Ffransis arrives and proceeds to siege down Sjaelland, which has become a tradition to him.

After sieging down Sjaelland he moves south to Nykobing on the island of Lolland.

The war ends up going pretty quick after Lolland is sieged down, the king of Denmark surrendering and the kingdom being annexed into Sweden.

Just in time for the Second Crusade as well!

He gathers his army and sails south to the Kingdom of Jerusalem to land in Acre before marching north to his target of Damascus.

The Scots had also joined and agreed to meet Ffransis in Damascus so he could see his son Urien. However, when the two armies meet Urien is missing. When Ffransis asks where his son is he instead receives bad news. His son had died in battle a few days earlier against Sheik Ma'n.

The loss of his last son completely cripples the King, his new heir now being Cedwyn, his great-grandson who is also the heir to the Kingdom of Scotland.

Completely secluding himself from his army, he still orders the army to march south to siege down Hauran.

There, in the desert, a soldier checks his tent to find the king dead in his chair. At the age of 87, he had died of natural causes , leaving the Kingdom to his 12 year old great-grandson. Before dying, he had written something in front of him:
"Fy meibion, dwi'n eich gweld chi nawr."

 

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Chapter Seven
Dreams of Prydain
1132-1144
​

While Wales received the news and mourned the death of King Ffransis, Cedwyn was made King of Wales being his great-grandson. But, only being 12 when he inherited the throne a regent was placed to rule in his stead until he was old enough to rule on his own.

Cedwyn was the grandson of the late Prince Urien, who's own father and Urien's son died at a young age due to a maiming while hunting in the Highlands of Scotland. Cedwyn was the complete opposite of his great-grandfather, quiet and soft-spoken who was more interested in reading books and talking things out rather than solving his problems with a sword. Cedwyn was also a craven, being afraid of many different things throughout his life.

Cedwyn was already betrothed to Sarrazine, the Princess of the exiled Kingdom of England in Normandy. She was a Capet though, the Normans having been overthrown in the Kingdom of England a while ago.

Unlike her future husband, Sarrazine was a bold and cynical woman. When the two marry in the future she would become the marshal bone in Cedwyn, pushing Cedwyn to do things that he normally wouldn't do.

But right now, there was a Crusade to still win. With Ffransis gone, command of the army was given to Donnchad for the rest of the Crusade. He would lead the Welsh army to siege down the mountain fortress of Baalbek.

As the army sieged down Baalbek, a large Muslim army was spotted marching to them, being a small army isolated away from the rest of the Crusading forces. Unable to run away in time, Donnchad accepted his fate and ordered the army to dig in and prepare for a battle.

Just as they were about to meet, a smaller Crusader army suddenly appeared to attack the Muslim army, delaying the army long enough for the main Crusading army to respond and counterattack with the Welsh.

All of the armies would meet in Byzantine territory for the Battle of Jusiya. Now greatly outnumbered by the Crusaders, the Muslim army is beaten back and forced to retreat into the desert, the Crusaders winning a great victory.

The battle of Jusiya would prove to be what decides the Crusade in the Christians favor. The Muslim surrender and give up the Kingdom of Syria to now Queen Eleri, the cousin of Cedywn and member of the Fane dynasty. As she was unmarried, this means that the Kingdom of Syria was now in the hands of the Fane dynasty.

It had taken over a thousand years, but the Celts were now in Asia once more.

Back in Wales, many of Cedwyn's vassals saw him as a weak ruler who could be forced to do as they wish. So, a faction was started to get Cedwyn of lower the authority of the crown, to gain a bit more power within the kingdom once again.

They were correct in this. Being completely outnumbered by his vassals Cedwyn had no choice but to accept their demands and lower the authority of the crown.

His vassals weren't the only ones picking on Cedwyn. Many of the children in the court would pick on the young King, especially one named Mungo, the son of one of the kingdom's knights. Mungo would coerce the other kids to pick on Cedwyn, like to deliberately avoid and ignore him.

It eventually got to the point that Cedwyn couldn't take it anymore. Most would assume that he would resort to violence, but he instead finds Mungo and has a talk with him.

It isn't known what Cedwyn said to him, but after the talk Mungo stopped bullying him.

One day, while playing with his guardian Edryd, Cedwyn hears a strange noise that causes him to stop. Cedwyn spends close to an hour searching around the bushes and rocks of the garden until he finally finds the source of the sound under one of the thorn bushes. The source was a tiny kitten hiding under the bush, alone and terrified.

Cedwyn couldn't leave it by itself and, after getting permission from Edryd, takes the kitten for himself.

Cedwyn would name the little brown kitten Swansea. She would become Cedwyn's closest companion and the center of a few legends.

On December 28th, 1135, Cedwyn finally comes of age in a extravagant ceremony in Eryri. He had changed very little besides becoming a person that was known to be very trustworthy.

Shortly after being officially crowned he marries Sarrazine in another extravagant ceremony. Unlike Ffransis who would require payment to attend his weddings, Cedwyn would allow anyone to come without any payment needed to attend.

Sarrazine hadn't changed much either, besides becoming a bit protective of the king.

It doesn't take long for her to become pregnant with their first child, becoming pregnant only three months into their marriage.

Several months later in October, their first son Nynniaw, is born.

Swansea proves herself to be a boon to the royal family and the castle, being such a proficient hunter that the castle became rat free in only a few months. It would become a tradition that Eryri castle would always have a couple of cats to reduce the rat population.

Cedwyn isn't able to rule Wales in peace for very long. In November of 1137, the Earl of Oxfordshire declares war on the kingdom for his claim on Gaerloyw, calling in a couple of fellow Earls to aid him.

He raises the army and puts the army under the command of the Duke of Mathrafal, his Uncle, to fight the enemy armies as Cedwyn himself had little marshal capabilities. They take out one of the armies trying to siege down Gaerloyw while the Oxfordshire army runs off and leave his ally to die.

The Earl of Oxfordshire also calls in the Duke of East Anglia who himself has an army almost equal to the Welsh army itself. Cedwyn uses most of the kingdom's gold to hire the Iron Arm's Company to fight for him and bolster the army.

This turns out to be a good idea as the Earl of Cheshire declares a separate war for Amwythig, calling in more vassals within the now Kingdom of England.

These wars were quickly sliding the kingdom into debt, but one Mayor Andreas helps by giving Cedwyn a a small gift of fifty gold pieces to keep the war going.

The war with Oxfordshire thankfully ends quickly as they siege down Oxfordshire itself and take the Earl's son as hostage, forcing him to surrender his claim.

The army then moves north to beat back Cheshire who have sieged down Amwythig and were trying to siege down Felix but they manage to flee before they could be caught.

They are eventually caught to the south of Felix in Clifford where they are forced to retreat back to England.

During this time, Cedwyn is tutored in the Irish language by Duke Conallan. In a years time Cedwyn was speaking fluent Irish, Irish officially becoming a second language in the kingdom along with becoming one of the languages the future kings of Wales were required to learn.

It's also around this time that the old Queen Sorcha of Scotland died of natural causes. King Cedwyn suddenly finds himself the new King of Scotland along with all of it's vassals.

He would begin to encourage the recelticization of Scotland but would give some duchy titles to the Scots, like a branch of the Fane dynasty that has assimilated into the Scottish culture.

Complaints about Swansea start to come in around this time, becoming known to scratch and piss on things that guests to the court often brought in. It isn't known what causes his behavior in her but it is known that Cedwyn spent quite a bit of money helping the guests to replace their things after Swansea got done with them.

In 1140, Cedywn finally wins the war against Cheshire and their allies that had been brought in, forcing the Earl to drop her claim on Amwythig and pay reparations to the kingdom.

Cedywn also uses his dedication to the church to gain a bit more money to add to the coffers.

Serrazine has their second child and first daughter named Denis.

Cedwyn would become known for treating his vassals well in an effort to earn their loyalty instead of through fear. This is demonstrated by a decrease in taxes on his vassals in 1141.

In a legend on Swansea, it is said that she once brought a scroll to Cedwyn, the scroll being sealed by one of his knights Robert. In curiosity on why his cat brought him this Cedwyn opens the scroll to find that Robert has apparently been plotting to kill some of Cedwyn's other knights. It is known that Robert was banished from the kingdom at this time and that it was because a scroll was found implicating him in the act, but it is assumed to be a legend that it was his own cat that brought him this evidence.

Legend or not, Swansea was a great companion and comfort to Cedwyn, often following him around wherever he went and laying down on his lap. The two were inseparable.

On August 22nd, 1143, the Kingdom of England would fall into a civil war against a couple of it's vassals. The King of England died at a young age and a new king was elevated, though he proved to be unpopular as evidence to the uprising.

Due to Cedwyn being related to the Norman Kings by blood he did have a legitimate claim on the Kingdom of England.

Not wanting to waist an opportunity at the Kingdom of England, he declares war on the Kingdom for his claim on the same day as the civil war.

He raises the army and sends it south to siege down Wiltshire, the goal being the capital at Winchester in Hampshire.

He also gets some extra money from the Pope for the war, though he most likely lied to the Pope in what this money would actually go to.

In Syria, the first cadet branch of the Fane dynasty is founded by Eleri herself, christened as the Fane-Damascus dynasty.

The army sieges down Wiltshire as one of his allies sieges down Winchester itself.

After sieging down Wiltshire the siege at Winchester would have to be abandoned, the English army being sighted trying to siege down Morgannwg. The army is marched north to expel the army.

They corner the army at Morgannwg itself and slaughter it, making them retreat back to their lands.

With the English army gone, they march back south to siege down Winchester once more.

Another legend about Swansea appears at this time, alleging that she would often leave small gifts of gold for the King. This is assumed to be just a legend as well.

In 1144 the siege of Winchester would be finished. As the army finally breaks into the castle, they find the King Osraed trying to escape, capturing him and showing him to the king.

With the king captured it effectively ends the war. Osraed is forced to give up the title of King and give England to Cedywn.

With most of the Isles now under Cedwyn's rule along with the crowns of Wales, Scotland, and England, Cedwyn is able to enact the first step of his dream. The dream of an empire where the Celts can flourish, the dream of an empire where the Celts would no longer be driven further to extinction, the dream of Prydain.

On the 21st of November, at the age of 24, Cedwyn, with the blessing of the Pope, is crowned the Emperor of Prydain.

 

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Chapter Eight
The Great Revolt
1144-1150
​

Problems with the conquest of England come immediately. There was immediate unrest among the Anglo-Saxon peasants along with the Anglo-Saxon nobility, their country having been taken over for the second time in less than a century.

It didn't take long for the Anglo-Saxon nobles to present their ultimatum to Cedwyn, led by Duke Gamall Oscytelson of Kent they demanded that Cedwyn release England and give it to Earl Osmund of Derby, effectively renouncing his claim.

Not wanting to lose England, he rejects the ultimatum.

Most of the Anglo-Saxon nobility and even some of the Scottish nobility rise in revolt against Cedwyn. If he wasn't going to accept peacefully they would make him accept by force.

Cedwyn raises the army along with several mercenary groups to help fight, sending them first to siege down Cheshire.

During this chaos Tudwal founds the Fane-Linlithgow cadet branch of the Fane dynasty. Needing someone loyal and who he could trust, Cedwyn gives Tudwal the Kingdom of Scotland to rule, also giving him the task of dealing with the Scots that were revolting.

After sieging down Cheshire they move to Derby but meet the Anglo-Saxon army, who have managed to combine themselves and face them at the Battle of Derby. The Welsh beat the army back though, making the army lose cohesion and retreat back down to the south, allowing them to continue the siege of Derby.

Continuing to siege down Derby, the Welsh are suddenly met by a much smaller Anglo-Saxon army that they easily repulse. It turns out that this army was sent to distract the Welsh army so the Anglo-Saxon army could push north without being stopped.

The Welsh army marches north and attacks a section of the Anglo-Saxon army. They don't get any reinforcements though as the rest of the army was instead distracted by a different army nearby belonging to one of the loyal Anglo-Saxon counts.

After beating the small part of the army, the Welsh wheel around to aid Cumberland's army against the revolt, forcing them back south once more.

Meanwhile, news reaches Cedwyn that Caliph Abdul-Madjid had called a Jihad to retake Jerusalem, though Cedwyn is unable to provide assistance.

During the war, the Petty Queen of Mann, Muirne II MacMuirne joins the Empire of Prydain on her own accord. With this the Isle of Mann and Ayrshire join with the Kingdom of Scotland under Prydain.

While sieging Dunholm, the Welsh army gets news of the enemy's movement to the north once more.

The army finishes the siege of Dunholm before intercepting the Anglo-Saxons at Carlisle, the outnumbered Anglo-Saxons being forced to flee south once again.

The long civil war was beginning to take it's toll on Cedwyn, though he thankfully had friends like Bleddyn and his cat Swansea to help him destress and relax a bit.

His stress was also noticed by his vassals as well, notably Duke Cadwgan who offered Cedwyn his aid to help alleviate some of his burdens. Duke Gamall tried to convince Cedwyn that Cadwgan couldn't be trusted, but since Gamall was leading the revolt against him Cedwyn just ignored him.

Sieging down the revolts in the north, the army moves south where the revolt has had free reign for awhile. They find the Anglo-Saxon army at Caerloyw, beating them back and forcing them to retreat.

They also fight them again at Caerwrangon, beating them back again.

Back in Eryri, Cedwyn's cat Swansea dies of natural causes. His dear cat's death hit him hard, personally burying her in a small marked grave in the garden. Swansea's grave is still there today.

Counting south, the depleted Welsh army meets the equally depleted Anglo-Saxon army for the last time in the marshes of Winterstoke. The battle is hard fought as the Anglo-Saxons use the marshes to their advantage, but the Welsh are able to beat them back and force them to retreat.

This would be the last battle in the civil war as Garmall and his fellow vassals are forced to surrender on the 15th of November, 1150, ending almost six years of civil war in Prydain. All of the vassals that had revolted would be imprisoned, their titles confiscated, and their land given out to Welsh nobles instead. The dream of a new England being dashed by the Celts.

Cedwyn could reign in peace once again.

 

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State of the World
1150
​

The entire world isn't just Prydain and the isles though, there has been plenty of things going on around the world at this time as well. So, let's step back a bit from the isles and take a look at the rest of the world.

This is Prydain and the isles in 1150 AD. At this point, Prydain owns most of what used to be England and Scotland, reversing the encroachment of the Anglo-Saxons and Scots in only a few decades. A few Anglo-Saxon counts are still independent, being left in limbo after Cedwyn pressed his claim on England. Norway also continues to hold onto The Hebrides and the tip of Scotland in the north.

The strongest countries that are still independent from Prydain are in Ireland, the island being split into four. Under the Empire of Prydain, Catholic Irish rule under the permission of Cedwyn, though Insular Christianity is still the majority religion on Ireland and among the independent Irish nobility.

The northern part of Ireland is owned by the Petty Kingdom of Ulster under the reign of Corccan mac Culdub of the Neill dynasty. The Neill dynasty claims to have descended from the kings of Ailech along as descendants of one of the Nine Hostages.

As a ruler, Petty King Corccan has been a thorn in the side of Prydain, often launching raids into Prydain Ireland and along the coast of Scotland, running off before the armies can respond. Someone will need to be done about them eventually.

The second Petty Kingdom of Ireland was in the south, the Petty Kingdom of Munster under the reign of Tigernan mac Deirdre of the Briain dynasty. Like Ulster, they performed similar raids on Prydain Ireland and on Wales itself. Another Irish Petty King that would need to be dealt with in the future.

The last of the independent Irish is actually the Earl of Ossory, Caeman mac Donnchad of the Gilla-Patraic dynasty. Unlike the Petty Kings, Ossory don't conduct raids into Prydain. Perhaps they would instead accept vassalization?

Far to the north, where the days are shorter and the ice more prevalent is the lonely island of Iceland. Because of it's distance from mainland Europe and it's relative isolation, news about the island at this time is sparse. It was inhabited by the last people to speak Old Norse though they have long accepted God as their patron at this point. The island was strangely split into two between the Duke of Island and the Count of Austrland, but the two nations had good relations with each other strangely.

In Scandinavia, the three kingdoms have returned with a possible forth one under the Sapmi Duchy of Giemajohka being closed to forming a kingdom of their own, having abandoned their pagan gods for the one true God. The Finns, however, continue the worship of their own gods, their lands slowly getting encroached on by the Swedes and the Orthodox Russians.

Sweden didn't get to hang on to Denmark for long. After the death of Bror, Denmark split off from Sweden under the rule of one of Bror's sons, only to get overthrown by the Danes and the crown given to a cadet branch of the Estrid dynasty.

After the death of Bror, his son Dag was given the crown of Sweden. Dad hasn't done much with the kingdom besides taking over some Finnish land to the east and lose a bit of territory to the Norwegians.

The second strongest kingdom in Scandinavia is the Kingdom of Norway. Under the rule of King Orm, Norway was able to expand slightly into Sweden but Orm was now dead with his kingdom now under the rule of his three year old son Skule.

France has been a chaotic region ever since it's conversion to Orthodoxy, many of it's stronger Catholic vassals having broken away by now. This breaking of the kingdom has just allowed other powers to move in, like the Bretons taking Normandy and the Iberian Muslims taking bits of the coast. In fact, the Duchy of Languedoc to the south is actually ruled by Andalusian Muslims.

In the north is the Kingdom of Brittany, the only Celtic Kingdom that isn't under the thumb of Prydain. Ruled by King Caradoc mab Iarnbud of the House of Rennes. Caradoc had expanded the kingdom into the Duchy of Normandy, doubling the size of the kingdom.

France has been in chaos since the first king to convert to Orthodoxy had died, losing some of it's more powerful vassals and then going through a period of several different kings. The current king is Errard Bourgogne who is only four years old. Only time will tell if this dynasty sticks or if it's instability will continue.

The strongest of the Catholic breakaways in France is the Duchy of Aquitaine under the rule of Andre Poitou. There are the bulwark of Catholicism in France as the Kingdom of France continues to get more and more Orthodox.

The Holy Roman Empire has been mostly stable, though they have lost much of their Italian holdings at this point besides Milan, a couple of enclaves, and a province on Corsica.

Italy itself is a mess of various duchies and foreign kingdoms. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily has collapsed as well with some of it's holdings even going to the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Some Muslims in Africa have even managed to take most of Sardinia for themselves.

In Iberia, the Reconquista hasn't gone as well as the Catholic world had hoped. Many of the Catholic kingdoms have been absorbed by the Muslims with the last Catholic kingdoms being in Asturias and the Muslims even now taking bits of the French Coast.

Back to square one.

The strongest of the new Iberian Muslim kingdoms is the Sultanate of Dhunnunid under the rule of Sultan Fadl ibn Hilal. The sultanate has led the sudden resurgence of Islam in Iberia with the Sultanate of Badajozid.

Speaking of resurgence, Byzantium has seen a bit of a resurgence itself. Expanding back into a Balkans, Georgia, retaking Antioch, and even taking a part of North Africa. Time will tell if they will continue to see this luck.

In North Africa, Algeria and Tunis find themselves fractured and divided though this isn't a story shared by the Almoravids and Aggurids.

The Almoravid Berbers have been able to stay together, even expanding a bit into Algeria and Sub-Saharan Africa under Amir al-Umara Ghani ibn Ibrahim, though he is old and likely to die soon.

Just south of the Almoravids are the Aggurids, another kingdom of Berbers. The current ruler is the young Amir al-Umara Hussamaddin ibn Aggur. His own father had made the kingdom, uniting many of the nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara and even gaining control of the trade routes through the desert.

Not much is known about what is south of the Aggurids and sub-saharan Africa other than that it's a large collection of pagan tribes. The Sunni and Ibadi have been apparently pushing their pagan gods close to extinction though they are still worshiped along the coast.

A similar story is happening in Eastern Africa with it's pagan populations being pushed closer to extinction by the Coptic Christians and the Sunni Muslims.

The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem survived the Jihad against it along with Syria. The old Polish rulers had gotten overthrown and replaced by the Norman Hautevilles who have since adopted the Polish customs of the nobility.

The Crusader Kingdom of Syria has continued as well under Queen Eleri, though they haven't been able to expand much against the Muslims themselves.

The Middle East itself has gone through a period of instability with Yemen and Oman themselves completely collapsing.

The Seljuks themselves almost faced a collapse as well but they were overthrown and the Karatayids managed to halt the collapse instead, though they were unable to stop several vassals from splitting off.

The Kievan Rus' had completely collapsed after the pagan Pechenegs took over Kiev itself, the kingdom splintering into a dozen warring Russian kingdoms and duchies. The Byzantines have even taken a slice for themselves. The strongest Russian kingdoms are currently Novgorod and Karachev.

The vast steppes are a mess of tribes and nomads, though Cumania, Kipchack, and the Great Liao have carved out great kingdoms of their own in this lawlessness.

There was apparently once a great Empire called Tibet, though that has apparently completely collapsed into a bunch of warring states trying to piece it back together.

And while little was known about India there was apparently news from there that a new kingdom had risen. Who knows how long it'll last.

British Isles Religious Map

European Religious Map

African Religious Map

Middle East Religious Map

Asia and India Religious Map

 

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Chapter Nine
Taming Ireland
1150-1163
​

In 1151, the first thing Cedwyn did was deal with the independent Anglo-Saxon Earls in the middle of England who have been independent ever since Cedwyn took England. Instead of outright invading them he offered vassalization to all of them. It was either be vassalized under the Welsh and possibly keep their titles or get invaded and definitely get their titles taken away. All three of them accepted vassalization under the Empire of Prydain.

Cedwyn also welcomed a new daughter into the world, naming his new daughter Delyth. At this point, Cedwyn and Sarrazine had a lot of children running around in the castle.

Speaking of children, Cedwyn's eldest son, Nynniaw, finally comes of age in 1151. He was described as a content man who was often outspoken against the church. He was also a master at secrecy and planning though he often tasks others to do his plans for him rather than doing them himself, possibly eluding to a lazy nature.

Unable to find any daughters or relatives to power kingdoms and empires around Europe, Cedwyn settles with marrying Nynniaw to Beorhtwynn Heahberhtdohtor of Evesham, the daughter of a Captain of a Anglo-Saxon mercenary band.

After the marriage ceremony, Cedwyn's spymaster speaks to him in private. She had apparently heard rumor of a plot to kill Cedwyn though she didn't know who it was or if the rumor was true. Still, Cedwyn took the threat seriously, never being seen without guards from then on and even sleeping with guards outside his bedroom.

It was at this time that the Earl of Berkshire died. With no sons to inherit the Earldom, the Earl willed Berkshire to the Duke of Tuscany of all people. This effectively put Berkshire into the control of Tuscany, 1678 kilometers away from the closest lands under the control of Tuscany.

Outraged by this, Cedwyn wrote a letter to Duke Pietro II of Tuscany, demanding Berkshire back as it was rightfully his. Pietro II said no and that he would have to take it by force if he wanted it back.

Cedwyn was happy to oblige him.

As the army moved to siege down Berkshire his spymaster burst into his throne room with a couple of guards, dragging a kicking and screaming Beorhtwynn. The Spymaster had apparently found proof that Beorhtwynn herself was apart of the plot to kill him. His own daughter-in-law.

He had Beorhtwynn thrown into the dungeon for now, thinking of just banishing her from Prydain until Nynniaw came to him and begged for Cedwyn to release her, promising to talk to her and convince her to abandon being part of the plot. Cedwyn eventually relented and released her, but if she were to do something like that again she would be banished, or executed at worst.

Letters are found at this time, buried among a pile of letters found in a secret room in Eryri castle, that Cedwyn's great but also younger uncle Godwyn had been caught cheating on his wife. It isn't known how Cedwyn responded to the letter but considering that Godwyn continued to rule Caint and that the letter was buried in a pile of letters that Cedwyn apparently didn't want this to get out.

It was also at this time that the leader of the plot to kill Cedwyn was found, getting dragged in chains to Cedwyn. It was Gamall, the old Duke of Kent, now Caint, who had all of his titles seized after the Anglo-Saxon revolt against Cedwyn. For plotting to kill the emperor he was either banished or executed. Letters at the time didn't say what happened to him and he is never mentioned again in any future letters at this time period.

In the war, the army had sieged down Berkshire while Tuscany had landed an army in England that was slightly bigger than the Welsh army.

Not wanting to face that army outnumbered and with some of their allies coming in, Cedwyn got some money from the Pope that he used to hire a Gaelic mercenary company to shore up his forces.

With reinforcements from the mercenaries the army attacks one part of the Tuscan army at Dover. Outnumbered by twice as many men and with the other Tuscan army strangely not reinforcing the battle, they lose with nearly two thousand casualties and retreat from the battlefield.

The two armies retreat to Berkshire to possibly regroup and siege down the surrounding area, but the Welsh army chases them down and catches the larger of the two.

They are caught at Chertsey where they are forced to fight against the Welsh army, getting cornered on the banks of the Thames where they are unable to run. As a result, this part of the Tuscan army is almost completely slaughtered, the men trying to flee being forced to try to flee through the Thames, most of them that tried this drowning in the water. The few that do survive flee into the country side, possibly integrating with the locals and being the source of the small Italian heritage in the area.

After the slaughter, the army moves after the last part of the Tuscan army at Newbury, fighting them in the forests just outside of the town. While it isn't a slaughter like at Chertsey most of the Tuscan army is killed at the end of the day.

Back in Eryri, Sarrazine gives birth to another son that is named Drystan. He is born with a clubfoot however, greatly impairing his ability to walk for his entire life and making him the target of bullying throughout his childhood.

Back at the war, the survivors of Newbury are found in East Anglia near the town of Beodericsworth. They try to retreat but like in Chertsey, are completely slaughtered with only a few survivors escaping from the battle. Like at Chertsey, the survivors are taken in by the locals and assimilate into the local culture.

After the slaughter of the two armies the Duke of Tuscany finally agrees to peace in 1156, agreeing to give up Berkshire to Prydain and restoring Welsh rule to England.

After the war, Cedwyn's first daughter Denis comes of age. She was strangely given a martial education but would never use that education having become deathly afraid of fighting and even at the sight of blood.

Nynnaiw also has his first child with Beorhtwynn, Cedwyn's first grandson. In his father's honor, Nynnaiw names him Cedwyn after his own father.

A problem for the Empire at the time were the independent Irish states. Their rulers were hostile to Prydain, often raiding into the Ireland that Prydain owned, even raiding the coasts of Scotland, now Alba, and Wales.

Cedwyn finally had enough of it in 1158, declaring war on the three independent Irish nations to finally bring them into the empire.

The Welsh army lands in Dulyn where the Ulsterite army was sieging the city. They quickly march out of the walls and meet them in battle, forcing them to retreat north where they instead start sieging down the land in Alba.

The first target was the Count of Ossory, their army trying to siege down Leister. The army marches south and meets them at Loch Garman where they are all slaughtered, allowing them to siege down Ossory.

While having plenty of gold for the war, many of the nobles used this war to give gold to the Emperor in the hopes of getting close to the Emperor. Even Cedwyn's friend Bleddyn gave money to the cause, though it was more as a gift instead of something to get close to the Emperor.

Cedwyn also raises the authority of the crown to how it used to be during his great-grandfather's reign and before his vassals forced him to lower it as a child. There was plenty of grumbling about it but none of the vassals objected to it.

In 1159, Ossory is sieged down with his son and heir captured, with this the Count is forced to surrender. The first of the independent Irish states being subjugated.

The next target was Munster. Here, they tried something that was unconventional for the Welsh so far, splitting the army to siege down more than one province. The sieges would last longer with fewer troops but would be able to siege down more places at once.

Nynnaiw and Beorhtwynn have another son that is named Algwyn.

With the army split in half, one half goes up to start sieging down Ulster while the other finishes Munster. With the entire petty kingdom occupied, the king is forced to surrender. Munster being subjugated into the empire as well.

Cedwyn's second son and Duke of Mercia, Macsen, comes of age at this point. He was described as a cruel and twisted man who got pleasure from watching his enemies get tortured, also being stubborn and refusing to give an inch to anyone. He was always resentful of Nynnaiw for being the next in line to be emperor while he would only be left with England, despite already having a duchy of his own to rule.

The second army moves north to help the first army in sieging down Ulster. The Ulsterite army was up in Alba instead, being allowed to siege it down unopposed for now.

In France, it's period of instability continues with a Catholic suddenly coming onto the throne, a member of a Bourgogne cadet branch being the first Catholic ruler of France in close to a hundred years.

Back in Alba, the second army finished sieging down the capital of Ulster, moving into Alba to finally deal with the Ulsterite army that has been left to siege Alba unopposed.

They are found in Linlithgow, battling them in the plains and winning a victory over the Ulsterites.

In the battle, they actually manage to capture the king's son and heir. With this bargaining, they force the king to come to talks and surrender Ulster to Prydain.

Ireland had finally been pacified and absorbed into the Empire, another member united with it's Celtic brothers. The Kingdom of Ireland is made and given to the loyal Irish Catholic vassal to rule and to control the still Insular Irish.

Cedwyn was close to uniting the isles under one Empire. All he needed to do was kick the Norwegians off of the isles and then the isles would be united under Celtic rule, no longer divided among each other and being forced to bow to foreign kings. It would be the Celtic Isles!

The Pope had different plans though.

 

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Chapter Ten
Prydain is Celtic, not Norwegian. Don't like it, you know where the door is.

1163-1180
​

As Cedwyn prepares things for the Third Crusade his spymaster returns to him again. Once again, she has heard rumors of a plot to kill Cedwyn, but doesn't know who it is. Gamall, the previous person who had tried to kill Cedwyn, was brought in for questioning but claimed he had no part in this new plot.

Either way, Cedwyn gets some extra guards again and this time has them around permanently.

In the autumn of 1064, the Third Crusade for Galicia is declared against the Sultanate of Badajoz. With the Catholics pushed back to Asturias in the Reconquista, the Pope thought it would be a good idea to declare a Crusade to help gain back lost ground.

Cedwyn sends the army south to Iberia, landing in Coruna where they march down to Tui to siege the province down in the Crusade.

The siege of Tui is done quickly and the army continues their march south, aiming for the two forts in Porto now.

Back in Prydain, Cedwyn receives a new carpet for the castle as a gift, a plush red carpet that was exquisitely made and soft to the touch. While the carpet was inconspicuous Cedwyn thought otherwise and had the carpet sold for some gold.

In Porto, the Welsh army finishes sieging one of the castles there. With the other castle being sieged out already they decide to march south once again, this time to a mountain castle that controlled an important pass in the mountains.

It turns out they didn't need to however as the Sultan surrenders to the Crusaders and gives up his land in Galicia.

While there were plenty of benefactors all clambering for the lands, the Pope decides to give the conquered lands to the already existing Kingdom of Galicia and it's king, Tello Muniez. It was only fair that the already existing kingdom got the lands that were rightfully theirs to begin with.

Finding himself with a surplus of gold from the Crusade, Cedwyn decides to use the gold to upgrade Eryri Castle by giving it a new Keep. Keeping it up with the rapid development being seen in Eryri in general.

Cedwyn also changes the succession laws of Prydain at this point, moving it from Partition to High Partition. Instead of the lands being partitioned equally among his sons, the heir would get the majority of the titles and the rest would get what's left over. The council approved this unanimously though a couple of Cedwyn's son complained about this law change.

With Welsh control over most of the isle secured this period saw a lot of Welsh speaking people moving into the Anglo-Saxon speaking lands. Cheshire was one of the first provinces in Prydain that saw the Anglo-Saxon speaking population become a minority as the Welsh moved in. It's around here that Cheshire is renamed to Sir Gaer.

The leader of the second plot to kill Cedwyn was also found. It was the daughter of the deposed Wessex king Aelflaed. It isn't known how she was leading the plot all the way in Chernigov in the Ukraine, but a letter was sent to her husband to keep an eye on her so she wouldn't try this again.

On the 13th of January, 1168, Cedwyn's daughter Delyth comes of age. She was known to be a compassionate person who was quite involved with the church. She also became well-versed in matters of gold and finances.

Nynniaw and his wife also have their third child and son, who is given the simple name of Erb.

In these times of peace and quiet Cedwyn took some time to educate some of his children, specifically his daughter Madrun. While watching her play with the other children Madrun gets pushed by Conallan. Expecting her to either retaliate or cry, Cedwyn moves to help her but she instead gets back up and takes Conallan away to have a talk. The two come away from this with a better relationship and Madrun becomes known for being a forgiving person.

Cedwyn also spent these times reading books like he used to. While going through the castle library one day he happens upon a strange book. Curious, he takes the book to find that it is actually a Cathar Bible. Immediately, he turns it over to the priests for heresy.

Continuing with the expansions to the castle, towers are added to the walls for extra defense. This was mostly just in case though as no one has sieged down Eryri in a long time.

While the isles are united under one crown there were still places that weren't under the control of Prydain. Case in point is the Kingdom of Norway which still had holdings on the isles in the form of The Hebrides and Katniss. On the 10th of January, 1171, Cedwyn sends their King Bard a declaration of war for The Hebrides.

As the army moved north things were happening in the court. Cedwyn's daughter, Denis, was caught in a scandal in a extramarital affair with Polish guest named Bogumil. The scandal blew up even more when it was found that Denis was pregnant with Bogumil's child. This scandal would be a stain on the Fane dynasty for a while after.

Things have been mostly quiet in the war with no sign of the Norwegian army or their allies. The army split into two to siege down the Inner and Outer Hebrides respectively. Once the Inner Hebrides were taken the army moves north to take Katniss, and when the same happens to the Outer Hebrides Orkney is the next target as well.

After Katniss is taken the first part of the army moves south as the Norwegian army had been finally sighted. They chase the Norwegians for a while before finally cornering them at Hereyjar. The armies were closely matched, the Norwegians using the islands and the crossings the Welsh had to do effectively.

Then the Welsh allies joined in on the fighting and the Welsh were able to tip the scale of the battle with numbers alone, beating back the Norwegians and forcing them to retreat.

But as they scour over the bodies from the battle they come across the Norwegian King Bard, who had been wounded in the fighting and was unable to escape with his men, resorting to trying to hide among the corpses of the dead. He is found and imprisoned.

Now imprisoned, Bard is forced to negotiate with Cedwyn, being forced to give up the entirety of the Hebrides to Prydain though he was allowed to keep Katniss for now.

There would be some problems in taking The Hebrides though. At this point, The Hebrides were thoroughly Norwegian. Their customs were Norwegian, their language was Norwegian, and their ruler was still Norwegian. The Norwegian duke was allowed to continue ruling The Hebrides as long as he remained loyal to Prydain, becoming a vassal under the King of Alba.

The Norwegians still hold Katniss though at the tip of Alba, the only province in the way of truly uniting the isles under one crown. There is also the matter of the islands that Norway owned but Cedwyn wasn't as interested in those as he was in taking Katniss. There was a truce with Norway though for four years so he would have to wait before he could move against Norway again.

For now, he went back to ruling his empire and keeping an eye on his vassals. The Kingdom of Alba would fall into a civil war as the Queen of Alba goes against her Scottish, Gaelic, and now Norwegian vassals.. This is just the start of a period of instability among most of Prydain's vassals.

Continuing with the development of the castle, a second curtain wall is built behind the first and older curtain walls of Eryri.

Cedwyn II, Nynniaw's son and Cedwyn's grandson gets betrothed to the princess of the Holy Roman Empire Ilsa, starting relations between Prydain and the Holy Roman Empire.

Cedwyn also takes time to visit his son Prince Macsen in Mercia, going undercover with his guards. After a night of drinking the two were heading back to Macsen's castle when one of the soldiers started arguing with Macsen about military tactics. The argument quickly turns hot and causes Macsen to get angry, angry enough to raise his fist at the soldier to hit him.

Cedwyn quickly intervenes and talks to Macsen. Realizing what he was about to do in front of his own father, Macsen reigns in his temper and pride for once and lets the soldier off the hook, remaining silent for the rest of the walk back.

Madrun comes of age as well. She was known to be a compassionate and caring person, having a great sense of justice and a look that was pleasing to the eye.

Unable to find anyone good for her, Cedwyn settles with marrying her off to the old Serene Doge of Pisa.

The farms surrounding Eryri get expanded as well, new barns and storehouses being built for the peasants to use.

After four years pass and the treaty expires between Prydain and Norway, Cedwyn declares war on Bard again for Katniss.

The army is split into two and sent north to siege down Katniss and Orkney.

After sieging down Katniss and Orkney, one part goes to siege down Shetland while the other stays and waits for a response from Norway. They don't wait very long as news soon reaches the armies.

The Norwegians had expected Cedwyn to declare war again, using the four years to gather some allies and instead of landing in Alba they land in the south in Kent.

The armies are scrambled from their positions in the north and sent south to fight the Norwegians and their allies.

Arriving in the south, the army combines and attacks the Norwegians at Hastings as their allies were sailing away to do something else.

Their allies scramble to get off their boats and aid the Norwegians, but even with their reinforcements they are unable to win the battle. The battle is still bloody though with a total of four thousand men dying in the woods of Hastings.

Back at court, it is written that there is a noticeable change in Sarrazine. She had apparently become distant, rarely appearing at court, becoming absent from the royal chambers, and becoming so lost in thought that she is often found staring blankly at walls and needs to be reminded of what she was doing before.

The Welsh find the Norwegian allies at Portsmouth trying to siege it down. They attack them in the woods outside of the town and unlike in Hastings it is a lot less bloody, forcing the enemy to flee from the battlefield.

As the army works to siege down the castles that the Norwegians and their allies took, they flee up north where they take back Katniss and Orkney, undoing the progress made in the war.

The army is forced to sail back north to deal with this, but the enemy army simply sails back to the south to siege down England again.

On the 2nd of August, 1179, Sarrazine is found dead in the royal chambers. Her death strikes Cedwyn deeply as the two have been with each other for most of their lives. Cedwyn would spend several days locked in his chambers mourning her death, only being seen to open the door for food and water.

Considering how she acted toward the end of her life, it is theorized that Sarrazine contracted Alzheimer's which was the ultimate cause of her death.

Even as he mourned the death of his wife there were plenty of women fighting to try and become his next wife. One, a woman named Constanza, tried a direct approach with the emperor by cornering him in his garden and singing to him. He rejects her outright and even declares that he wouldn't remarry as he was already old and nearing the end of his life.

After several more battles and the Norwegians with their allies repeatedly sailing back and forth between Alba and England they surrender Katniss to Cedwyn.

The entire isles were now once again under Celtic rule, united under a single crown that wasn't just another foreigner ready to claim the isles for themselves.

In the conquered Gallaibh, what used to be Katniss, Cedwyn makes the Gallaibh Declaration. He declares that the isles were now unified under one ruler and under one crown, that all Celts would no longer have to fear the Normans, Anglo-Saxons, or the Scandinavians, that all Celts can now flourish under the united Prydain.

For uniting the isles under Celtic rule, his subjects would bestow him with a title that would forever be given to all future emperors of Prydain, a titled that hasn't been used in many centuries.

From then on, Cedwyn would be called 'Pendragon'.

 

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Chapter 11
Hold It Together
1180-1197
​

With the realm in peace and the isles united Cedwyn returned to Eryri to continue to rule. Home once more, Cedwyn passed the Absolute Crown Authority Act, fully placing the crown above all the vassals along with making the vassals contribute more levies and tax. There was much grumbling about it behind closed doors among the vassals, but nothing public.

Cedwyn's grandson, Cedwyn II also has his first children with Ilsa. They are a pair of twins named Cadfael and Lleigy, a boy and a girl.

Cedwyn then decides to hold a feast and invite all of his vassals to it, to celebrate the fact that the isles were under Celtic rule once again.

The feast was going well until Neithon and Drystan got a little too drunk with each other. The two excused themselves from the table and made their way over to the castle stables along with a couple of others. Several minutes passed before chaos erupted at the feast when Neithon, Drystan, and several others somehow rode a bunch of animals from the stable into the feast hall, the feast then turning itself into a stable as the people that weren't drunk tried to settle the animals down and get the riders off.

Despite the wounds and some broken bones, everyone actually had a good time, everyone going away in good spirits and a story to look back on and laugh about.

In 1182 the empire was rocked by a scandal when it was found that the Queen of Alba, Elaine Mostyn, was pregnant with the child of Mayor Dafydd when it was thought that it was her husband's. This was enough for her to legally be imprisoned, but Cedwyn never did.

Continuing with the development in Eryri, Cedwyn continued to build up the city starting with adding aviaries for the hunting grounds.

Not everyone was happy with the development of Eryri though. Many peasants in the are could remember when Eryri was just a small town and not a small city at the center of an empire. Many peasants were also unhappy with having to pay taxes for the development of the town. In 1184, a large group of peasants petitioned the king to lower the taxes but Cedwyn said no.

So the 2000 peasants rose up in a rebellion with a separate peasant revolt rising up in Staffordshire.

The army was raised and split into three groups, one group heading to Shrewsbury to deal with the Anglo-Saxon peasants while the other two marched north to Eryri.

But when they arrived to Eryri and the surrounding areas they found the countryside devoid of revolting peasants. All 2000 peasants had heard of the army coming and commandeered several ships, sailing to Dulyn instead of facing the army.

One part of the army was sent to sail to Ireland and face the peasants in Dulyn. The Peasants, with no military experience of their own and the army having plenty of experience, were absolutely slaughtered by the Welsh army. Not a man was spared in the slaughter saved for one.

The man leading the revolt, Iago Aberdaron, was captured in the battle and sent into the dungeons, being the only survivor in the slaughter of the peasants he led.

Iago wasn't even a peasant, instead a member of the minor noble family of Aberdaron. He used to be part of the army but was discharged after "his personality and character were brought into light".

For leading the peasant revolt Iago was publicly beheaded in Eryri.

In other scandals around the empire, evidence arose that Prince Godwyn and his daughter were in an incestuous relationship. Considering that the letter to the emperor about this was buried in a pile of other letters it's assumed that he didn't want this getting out.

Cedwyn's second grandson, Erb, comes of age. Unlike his own father Nynniaw, Erb was a zealot through and through, going to masses every Sunday and generally involving himself with the church. Other than that Erb was a content man that didn't want for much other than the Kingdom of God.

Erb is married off to a Lombard noble named Guntrud.

Development in Eryri continues with the addition of Hunting Towers in the Hunting Grounds.

Cedwyn was becoming an old man at this point. It is written that the old emperor grew slower and feebler as he approached his death, getting tired more quickly and everything taking more effort to get done.

Cedwyn is said to have known this as well, claiming that he was afraid that if he closed his eyes that he wouldn't open them again.

And that is what happened. On that fateful night in 1186, Cedwyn was found dead in his bed, having died peaceful in the middle of the night. The Pendragon, the founder of Prydain, was dead.

Nynniaw was crowned the next Pendragon, but already at the age of 49 it was expected that he wouldn't reign for very long. His first decree as Pendragon was to announce a week of mourning for his departed father.

We've already talked about Nynniaw and his personality though there is still a bit to cover. Nynniaw cynicism on the church had only grew as he aged, along with his plotting skills.

We can talk about his son and heir the 29 year old Cedwyn II. Like Erb, Cedwyn II didn't share his father's views on the church and was a very zealous man instead. Cedwyn II was also a very patient man who had inherited his father's laziness, which was often mistaken as cowardice. Cedwyn II was educated in finances and handling money, not very well though as he was already racked with gout at a young age.

There was also the matter of Nynniaw's brother Macsen. In the inheritance of the empire Macsen got control of the Kingdom of Lloegr to rule under the empire. Nynniaw and Macsen did not get along and now Macsen was in control of the strongest kingdom in the empire with a claim on the empire if he ever wanted to push it.

In fact, Nynniaw's relationship with his vassals were tenuous at best. The church didn't exactly endorse him because of his cynical views and he was very much unproven to his vassals.

Nynniaw himself didn't help very much with his relation with the church. Just a week into ruling the council was already arguing about things, but this argument was following him to his bed. Tomos, the Patriarch had suggested to divert resources to the army at the expense of the peasants. Nynniaw instead drafts a decree to continue the development of Eryri as he wasn't expecting to use the army any time soon. This angered Tomos and thus the church.

Nynniaw manages to secure an alliance with the Kingdom of France though, which has recently returned to Catholicism. This was a good thing as there were factions already plotting against the empire, like one that sought to lower the authority of the crown and Macsen was already plotting to get himself installed as emperor instead.

Cedwyn II has his third child, a son that he names Nynniaw after his own father like Nynniaw named him after his own father.

Nynniaw did manage to improve his relations with one of his vassals, King Conallan, the new king of Ireland. Nynniaw managed to secure the transfer of Dulyn and Connacht to Ireland from Deheubarth and gave him approval of his development projects in his new capital of Dulyn.

In Alba, there was a tumultuous transfer of power. Muirchertach MacMuirne Ivaring had overthrew Queen Elaine and took the crown of Alba for himself. Muirchertach was a member of the old Ivaring dynasty which was founded by Ivar the Boneless a little over three centuries ago. The Ivarings have, however, assimilated into the local Gaelic culture from their holdings on the Isle of Mann.

Elaine didn't take herself getting overthrown very well, almost immediately rising up to take back the crown of Alba for herself once again. With more troops than what Muirchertach had it was inevitable that should would take the crown back.

If Muirchertach didn't contact Nynniaw. Nynniaw was still very much an adulterer and could legally be imprisoned. Muirchertach promised that he would be loyal to Nynniaw as long as he imprisoned Elaine and made her give up her claims on Alba.

Nynniaw took this deal and a day later Elaine was in prison.

She didn't languish there for very long though as Nynniaw told her that if she renounced her claims on Alba that she would be free to go. She agreed and Nynniaw now had a new, loyal vassal.

This didn't end Muirchertach's problems in Alba though.

But that wasn't Nynniaw's problem. Nynniaw was looking over the Cetchatthach family tree of his Irish vassal when he stumbled upon something: Conallan's daughter and heir, Emir, was not his daughter. After searching for a bit he was sure that the true father was instead Mayor Rhydog, one of the Welsh mayors under the Irish king.

As Nynniaw collected evidence the rumor began to go around. Conallan was already suspecting Emer and Rhydog. Nynniaw soon presented his evidence that Conallan was not the father of Emer and that it was instead Rhydog, a huge scandal that would explode across Ireland but win Nynniaw Conallan's trust.

Muirchertach's problems in Alba continue to spiral.

In 1190, Nynniaw received a call to war from the King of France. He was pressing his claim on Normandy which had recently split from the Kingdom of Brittany and won it's independence.

The armies are raised and set sail for Cherbourg to aid the French.

They land in Cherbourg and march south to Avranches, preparing for a long and grueling siege.

Only for the war to suddenly end as the Norman Duke surrenders to the French.

France was now a little bigger, but they still had a lot of work to do to reunite the lands to it's former glory.

With extra money left over from the war, Nynniaw uses it to continue the development of Eryri, turning the port in Eryri into a proper tradeport and even giving it shipwrights.

Several years of peace go by until the Pope announces the Forth Crusade from Rome and encourages all Catholics to take part in it.

The target of the Crusade this time was apparently the Sunni Armenian Chiefdom of Diyarbakr on the border of the now large, Kingdom of Syria.

The Kingdom of Syria was still very much Catholic and still ruled by Eleri, now 81 years old. She was calling herself Malika now, having assimilated into the local Mashriqi culture of the Levant.

Nynniaw declared his support of the Crusade and then went to bed. In the morning he was found dead in his bed, dying peacefully in his sleep much like his father. He only ruled for 11 years.

Cedwyn II was now Pendragon of Prydain at the age of 39. Still ridden with gout everyone was expecting his rule to be the same length, if not shorter, than his father's reign.

The new heir to the empire was Cadfael, Cedwyn II's oldest son. Cadfael was a kind and gracious soul but suffered from a lisp that he had ever since he could talk. Coupled with his lisp, he was often found speaking in tongues in what the church called a possession.

A new court was gathered and immediately things didn't look good. Many of Cedwyn II's vassals were distrusting of the new emperor, many were angry at the authority of the crown and Macsen was already plotting to take the throne for himself.

It was back to square one.

 

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Chapter 12
Crumbling?
1197-1215
​

Cedwyn II's first act as Pendragon is to pull out of the Crusade, much to the church's ire. Cedwyn II saw the realm staying together as being more important than the Crusade, though he does give the Crusade some gold for his absence but that didn't make up for it.

It's a good thing he did so as well as there were factions already popping up across the empire. The strongest was led by Macsen himself which was to install Duke Drystan of Hwicce, a distant cousin to Cedwyn II, as Pendragon of Prydain. Macsen had a claim to the empire himself so it's not really known why Macsen passed it up other than to possibly install a puppet on the throne. The other kings of the empire were apart of this faction as well, making it a dangerous faction.

There was also the problem of Cedwyn II's gout. He would hire a renown physician named Marie to try and treat the gout.

However, Marie's idea of treating the gout does the opposite and instead makes it worse. How an enema was suppose to help cure the gout is unsure.

Early in 1198, Macsen and his faction makes their demands known to install Drystan as Pendragon. Cedwyn II doesn't give up the throne however, sending the messenger back to Macsen and raising the army.

The situation didn't look good though. Only Wales remained loyal to the crown, the rest of the empire joining Macsen. The only silver lining is that The Holy Roman Empire joined in and was sending troops over.

The first part of the plan to fight the rebellion was to take off the head of the snake, being Macsen and Lloegr. As the army moves to siege down Lloegr they find the Saesneg (Welsh for English) army trying to enter Wales at Trefynwy. Considering that it was just the Saesneg army by itself they are easily repulsed.

The Welsh army is then split into two, equally sized groups. One group of the army was to follow the Saesneg army back to their capital while the other half stayed in Wales to defend as the Irish and Alban armies were sighted coming down.

While the first group sieges down the Saesneg capital, the second group attacks the Albans and Irish by attacking the weaker group of Albans that were defending the back at Tegeingl. The Irish army turns around to reinforce the battle, but even with these reinforcements the two armies are beaten back and are forced to retreat.

With the Irish and Albans gone the Defending army focuses and trying to pin down the Saesneg army, eventually able to pin down a section of it at Shrewsbury.

The defending army then goes to chase down the second part only to find them in a battle against the recently arrived Holy Roman army. The Welsh join the Holy Romans in the battle, slaughtering the army with their massive numerical advantage.

The two armies split and move into Lloegr only to suddenly meet each other again. The Holy Romans got into another battle with the Saesneg where they managed to capture Macsen in the battle, effectively ending the civil war.

King Conallan and Muirchertach would get out of being imprisoned for taking part in the revolt but Macsen would be a different story as he was actually imprisoned.

Macsen would be forced to give up ALL of his claims on the empire in return for being let out of the prison. He would accept this and be released, but still cause trouble by trying to unsuccessfully support pretenders to the throne with no backing but himself.

In Eryri, Cedwyn II upgrades the castle further by making into a Concentric Castle with the addition of a second wall and raising the old wall to be higher than the new one. This project would still take a couple of years to do.

In Alba, Muirchertach would die and be succeeded by his eldest daughter Muirne II. She would prove to be a lot more loyal than Muirchertach.

To try and improve his relations among the vassals, Cedwyn II would throw a feast and invite all of his vassals to it, including Macsen.

Surprisingly, they all arrive, including Muirne II. Cedwyn II would find time to meet with her at the feast, the two of them becoming fast friends which gains him a loyal vassal. There are, of course, rumors that the two were sexually involved but there is no evidence that the two were ever in bed together.

The feast ends up going without a hitch. His wife, Ilsa is apparently a large part of this as Cedwyn II thanks her in the feast before wrapping it up. All of his vassals go away from the feast with a much better opinion of the Pendragon.

After the feast Cedwyn II decides to go on a pilgrimage. While wanting to go all the way to Jerusalem, his gout wouldn't allow that and he would have to settle with heading to the Vatican in Rome.

He would sail across the channel and go to the Vatican through France, his first stop being Paris which was still under the rule of an independent Orthodox count. While in Paris, he would run into a priest preaching to a crowd that the end of near. Cedwyn II was a zealous man who knew The Bible inside and out and he knew that The Bible itself says that no one could know the date that the Judgement was suppose to take place. Cedwyn II shouts the priest down in a debate that turns the crowd against the priest and sends him running.

Traveling in Southern France, Cedwyn II grows to appreciate the countryside and towns of the area. Specifically, the town of Nimes where he would greatly enjoy the town's still standing Roman architecture.

He would soon reach the Vatican itself, spending time touring around the city along with seeing the many Christian sites the city had to offer.

Then he returns back to Prydain, not truly a pilgrim in the eyes of God.

At home Cedwyn II's son, Cadfael, has his first child with his wife Haldora. The son is named Cedwyn, making him Cedwyn III. Even at a young age Cedwyn III was described as pleasing to look at compared to others.

Cedwyn II's own wife also gives birth to another son named Deheuwant.

Cedwyn II would also take time to raise his other son Nynniaw. While taking him out hunting, Cedwyn II loses him for a while before finding him with a wounded Deer. The Deer was covered in a bunch of cuts, the smiling nynniaw giving the Deer a slow and torturous death. Horrified by this, Cedwyn II brings him away from the Deer and gives him a stern talking to, having him go out and find another Deer to kill PROPERLY.

Cedwyn II tries to have another treatment from Marie to cure his gout.

Only for it to very much end up like the first treatment. Marie tried to use leeches for the treatment and placed them on his face instead of anywhere where the gout was affecting him. Cedwyn II began to rightfully wonder if Marie was actually a physician.

In 1202, Cedwyn receives word that far off in the steps, a man named Temujin has risen up among the warring steppe nomads, having sworn that he would conquer the entire world. When Cedwyn II asks the messenger who brought him this news why this was important enough to be brought to his attention the messenger just shrugs and says:

"There hasn't been any other news lately."

Development in Eryri continues with the addition of a killing field to the castle that enemy soldiers could be funneled into, something that many German castles have been adding.

The Welsh expansion into England continues with the majority of the population in Devon now speaking Welsh.

Speaking of England or Lloegr, Macsen's rule was being challenged by an earl named Io, many of his vassals being tired of his tyrannical rule.

The revolt does actually succeed and Io Coel is placed on the Saesneg throne, a member of the cadet Coel branch of the Fane dynasty.

Macsen was demoted into the Duke of Mercia, being left to brood in his old lands before he inherited Lloegr.

In Wiltshire, the Anglo-Saxons were replaced by the Welsh as well.

Nynniaw also comes of age. Similar to his father he has become a zealot of the highest order, though his arrogance and greed clouds his faith.

Nynniaw is married off to the princess of Sapmi, getting another powerful ally to the empire.

Cedwyn II and Ilsa have another child, a daughter named Sannant.

With the killing fields finished the castle is further upgrading with new baileys being added to the walls.

In the steppes, Temujin's kingdom was expanding. It wasn't close to conquering the whole world but he was trying to reach his goal, though it's probably still just a dream at best.

In 2016, Cedwyn II receives a call to war from Sapmi. They had declared war on the Kingdom of Bjarmaland and required assistance in the endeavor. Cedwyn II answers the call to war and raises the army to make the long journey to the frozen lands of Northern Russia.

The army finally reaches Finnmark by December, but the waters into the White Sea by this time were almost entirely covered in ice. Many of the Welsh ships had to be abandoned as they get stuck in the ice.

And exactly on the first day of 1207 Cedwyn II dies. As he was climbing the stairs to his bedroom his gout acted up, causing him to fall down the stairs and break his neck in the fall, killing him instantly. At 25 years of age, the youngest a Prydain emperor had been crowned so far, Cafael was crowned as the new Pendragon.

From the sources at that time, Cadfael wasn't as zealous as his father but was a kind, humble, and honest man that had such a way with words, even if his lips did impair his speaking abilities. He did have a quirk in that he would often, and suddenly, start speaking in tongues and fly into rages over the smallest of things.

These events were often triggered by various events and it would often take time for him to snap back from it. Sources at the time say that he has been like that since he was at least six and claim that he was possessed by a demon. Looking back at Cadfael from a modern perspective it is instead likely that he suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder.

The first thing Cadfael did was reorganize the council. While the church did endorse him, despite his possession, many of his vassals were skeptical of him, something that was fixed with a speech and some gifts of gold, avoiding the instability his father experienced early in his reign.

The next thing to focus on was the war in the north. The two Welsh armies had landed at their objectives with no issues besides supply issues. Still, they dig in to siege down the tribal holdings there in the north.

As they sieged the area down two Bjarmian armies appeared and attacked one of the Welsh armies with another section of it on the way.

Welsh reinforcements arrived to make the armies even, but with the weather and extremely unfamiliar terrain the Welsh are defeated in battle and forced to retreat to Sapmi lands.

With Cadfael's poor grasp of combat he instead stayed back in Eryri to focus on ruling. The local church just received a large donation of gold from a wealthy but childless man who wished the gold to go to something good. While Cadfael's patriarch wanted part of the gold to go to Cadfael, Cadfael decided to give all the gold to the poor of the city instead.

Back in Sampi, the war has become a defensive war. Both the Sampi and Welsh armies got beaten by the Bjarmians so the Welsh took a defensive stance along the border on the Onega, hoping that if they do attack that the woods and river would aid in beating them back.

The Bjarmians don't do that however, instead marching off somewhere to the south. Cautiously, the two armies advance into Bjarmia, still maintaining a defensive stance as they do.

The advance doesn't last too long however as the Sampi king, Asllat II, suddenly announces the end of the war in a white peace. The Welsh armies were obviously furious at this. They were just turning the tide of the way and now thousands of Celts had died in the cold north for nothing!

Back in Prydain, Macsen throws a revolt himself and gets back the throne of Lloegr. His new rule will sure to be long and pros-

Only to almost immediately push his luck and start a new revolt against him.

However, in the middle of the war Macsen suddenly dies and his son Dyfnarth becomes King of Lloegr, though the revolt doesn't stop.

Like the Cowardly villain that he was, realizing that he would likely lose against the revolt drinks himself to death in the middle of it.

Dyfnarth doesn't get to rule long enough to prove himself to be not like his father, getting deposed by the revolt and getting his own son, Huw, installed as the new King of Lloegr.

Not that this new peace in Lloegr lasts long though.

In 1214, Cadfael decides to finally start Cedwyn I's dream of getting Brittany into the empire. Starting with the province of Leon.

The army is split into three and almost immediately things go wrong. One section of the army was to land at Leon, but was met by the Breton army at the landing sight, forcing a section of the army to the south to march up and aid them.

The reinforcements join at Brest where the battle was taking place. With the new reinforcements the battle goes in their favor and the Bretons are forced to retreat.

The sieges continues with several more battles. In the last battle the Welsh find the King's son and heir in the battlefield. With this valuable hostage, the King is forced to surrender Leon to the empire which is given to a loyal Breton to govern.

 

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Chapter Thirteen
The Things I do for the Bretons
1215-1240
​

At the start of the new year in 1216, Lloegr continues it's spiral of instability with two new revolts against the new King Huw. One revolt was against his tyranny and the other for a claim on the kingdom. It especially didn't help that Huw much preferred the Castilian language and customs over Welsh after his time being raised in Galicia.

Despite these instabilities in Lloegr, Welsh culture and language continued to expand into the Anglo-Saxon speaking areas. The next area to become majority Welsh was Derby, which became Darbi.

Back in Eryri, Cadfael's first and eldest son, Cedwyn comes of age. He was given a martial education and, while a good soldier in his own right, didn't have the knowledge to lead an army into battle. He also had a complicated personality. While a kind and compassionate man he was known to be arrogant and lazy, often shirking his duties to do other things instead.

Cedwyn is married to Countess Adelasia, the Italian countess of Paganija in the Byzantine Empire on the coast of Dalmatia. Usually the wife would go to live with the husband, but since Cedwyn was unlanded and Adelasia landed Cedwyn went to live with her instead.

The truce with Brittany expires quickly, so on the 15th of September, 1216, Cadfael declares war on Brittany again, this time to vassalize the king into the empire.

The army is split into three and sails to Brittany to siege it down, one part of the army landing in Vannes to siege down the capital. Brittany isn't alone in the war however, the Norwegians sailing down and attacking the army sieging down Vannes at the Battle of Gwened. The Welsh army was slightly bigger, but one of the armies nearby was still sent to Gwened to aid in the battle.

With these reinforcements the battle is easily won for the Welsh.

After sieging down a few more provinces the Breton king finally agrees to terms of peace, formally becoming a vassal under the empire and finally bringing the Bretons into the fold.

In 1218, Haldora and Cadfael have their forth child and third son, Arthfael.

In Lloegr, it's period of instability comes to an end with Cadwgan winning and getting his claim over the kingdom, overthrowing the Castilian Huw. He would be a bit rebellious at first, but some gold is enough for him to remain loyal.

Far off in the steps, the Mongols continue to grow.

At the end of 1218, there is a bit of a diplomatic incident. The Chancellor, Conallan, was invited to the coronation of Duke Kolman, an independent French duke to the south of Brittany. While there, Conallan would get drunk and proceed to gravely insult the Duke. Cadfael would have to pay some gold to the Duke for this incident to be forgotten about and to save Conallan's reputation.

In 1219, several unique guests would visit Cadfael in Eryri. A group of Arab Muslims from Arabia would come to the court request asylum. Why they couldn't choose any of the other kingdoms or even the closer Muslim kingdoms from where they came from is anyone's guess, but Cadfael allows them to stay in the court as long as they convert.

Cadfael's daughter, Hunydd, also comes of age. She was a very studious and intelligent lady by the time she had come of age, being very forgiving but also ambitious and a bit lazy.

She is betrothed to Ramon, one of the princes of Galicia.

The development of Eryri continues to the point that it is one of the most developed areas in the isles though a few areas still beat it. The peasants, as usually, weren't thrilled with the continued development of Eryri and came to Cadfael for a lowering of their taxes. Unlike the previous kings and emperors, Cadfael granted this and allowed the peasant to go with lower taxes for a while.

Cadfael's second eldest son, Elfin, is betrothed to Eleanor di Canossa, the daughter of the Duke of Tuscany. The Duke and his family were actually Norman, some of the last Normans in Europe and the remains of the Normans that used to own Southern Italy.

In Brittany, the king is overthrown by a member of his family, Ewsannec. As usual, some gold guarantees her loyalty but there is a problem that she is Orthodox instead. (Something I didn't notice until I was editing this screenshot.)

As Cadfael got older he began to get more paranoid of things, this attitude not helped by his daughter encouraging this behavior. This would be the start of Cadfael's paranoia streak at the latter half of his life.

Elfin comes of age at this time. Despite his lisp, Elfin was very handsome and the target of many women throughout his life. He was a brave and ambitious man but was also surprisingly calm and much preferred to talk things out rather than fight.

Cedwyn was next in line to become the Pendragon when Cadfael dies, but an issue had arisen in this. Cedwyn had assimilated himself into his wife's court. He was still very much Welsh but was now Orthodox instead of Catholic. This could be an issue to the stability of the empire so, in a first for the empire, Cadfael designated an heir to the empire and made his new heir Elfin.

Back in the steppes, the Mongols were continuing to expand and were now close to bordering the Muslim world. It seemed like they were taking their conquest of the world seriously. Still, they are still very far away from the isles so they definitely won't be an issue.

Cadfael got most of his information on the far off Mongols from the merchants that now often sail into Eryri Harbor, often from the rare Russian merchants who had more information on them but still not incredibly reliable. Like how the Mongols had magic that could level entire cities, horses that could cross the entire steppes in a day, or how the Khan himself liked to cook his enemies alive and then eat them in a grand feast. All stories though, surely.

The Welshification of Lloegr continued next with Oxfordshire, becoming Swydd Rhydychen.

In 1230, the Breton Queen convinced Cadfael to declare war on Duke Kolman of Armagnac. He controlled Nantes which was de jure part of Brittany. On the 10th of November he does so and sends a declaration of war to Kolman. It will surely be an easy war.

The army is split into three and sent to siege down Nantes, Montaigu, and Thouars simultaneously. This turned out to be a mistake however.

The enemy army attacks the army at Thouars. They are able to use the hills to their advantage, but they were outnumbered with enemy reinforcements coming in. One of the nearby armies joins the battle followed by the other one, but it isn't enough and the three armies are forced to retreat up to Brittany where the enemy army follows to lay siege to Vannes.

While they siege down Vannes, the Welsh army uses this time to recover for a while before attacking a smaller part of the enemy army in the woods of Combourg.

But their reinforcements come in and the battle becomes close to even as they use the woods to their advantage. Still, the larger numbers of the Welsh army now combined result in a victory in the battle, chasing them back south where they lay siege to Nantes, this time being more cautious and staying together.

In Eryri, Cadfael's paranoia continues with the hiring of some agents to watch over the castle and the empire.

It turns out they would be needed as the King of Alba, Koz'ma, gets some blackmail on the Pendragon. Cadfael has no choice but to comply with whatever demand Koz'ma had for him in the future.

As the war continues, Pope Ioannes declares the Fifth Crusade, once again for the Kingdom of Jazira. It was to aid the Crusader Kingdom of Jazira itself, which has found itself being pushed back by the Muslim ever since the Crusader Kingdom of Syria split into two. Prydain pledges itself to the Crusade but continues to focus on Armagnac.

In Eryri, there is some family troubles. Elfin's wife had a very tough birthing to the point that it was sure that she was going to die delivering the child. Still, Elfin's son, Padrig, is born but at the cost of his wife.

He would be forced to remarry to Agnes Runese, an intelligent woman who would make a good pair to the widowed prince.

Back in the war, the Armagnac army had been sighted back in Brittany, ignoring the occupied Nantes to siege down the castles behind the front. The Welsh army returns north to face them at Vannes, but they escape into the hills of Central Brittany, resulting in a standoff that lasts a few weeks as the Welsh gather strength again.

After several weeks of waiting for the other side to make a move, the Armagnac army starts to move, trying to move deeper into Central Brittany. The Welsh take a risk and attack them into the hills of Porhoet. Despite the hills, the attack goes well and they are forced to retreat back south again.

Koz'ma finally uses the blackmail to force Cadfael to lower his levy contribution to the empire. With few other options and the blackmail hanging over him, Cadfael is forced to accept this.

In 1233, close to three years into the war, the Fifth Crusade begins. Prydain had pledged soldiers to the Crusade but were still tied up with the war against Armagnac. Armagnac hadn't joined the Crusade so the war was still going on. It is decided to continue to focus on this war before helping with the Crusade as this was more important.

With the blackmail, Armagnac war, and now the Fifth Crusade, Cadfael has a mental break, spending a few hours ranting at his courtiers before going to bed. In the middle of the night, he leaves without telling anyone and then returning in the morning drunk, having spent the entire night at a local tavern drinking his problems away. This would be the start of his alcoholism.

With the war going in their favor, the Welsh relax a little and split their armies into three again, one being sent to watch the Armagnac army as it sieges Nantes, waiting for the other parts of the army to finish their own sieges before attacking. It goes wrong though as the Armagnac catch wind of this plan and attack the army waiting for them. Reinforcements are quickly scrambled up to the battle to aid them.

Even with all three armies in the battle and close numbers, it doesn't go very well. The Armagnac army had the advantage of being together, so the Welsh are forced to retreat to Brittany again, all their gains now in danger of being reversed from this one battle.

Thankfully, after this battle the Armagnac army strangely marches south and isn't seen again in the war, allowing the Welsh army to recover and return to sieging down castles. Eventually, Duke Kolman agrees to peace and cedes Nantes to Prydain, the war for Nantes finally ending after five years.

The tired and weary Welsh army was immediately sent to participate in the Crusade. It wasn't looking too good however so it was questionable that the Welsh army would be able to turn the Crusade around.

The Welsh land in Syria and march north to lay siege to Mayyafariqin with several other Crusading armies nearby.

And just as the garrison was about to surrender, the Welsh receive news that the Pope had called off the Crusade. The Catholic faith already struggling a bit in the face of various scandals, this just gets more people to stray away from the church.

Hoping to relax a bit, Cadfael is instead met with another peasant mob demanding taxes to be lowered again. Unlike last time where he agreed to their demands, he sends them off with none of their demands met.

This just causes the peasants to revolt again, rising up across Wales. Most would make the strange decision to commandeer some boats and sail to Lancashire. The rest stay in Wales.

The army is risen up and split into two, one to deal with the peasants in Wales and the other to march north to deal with the peasants that landed in Lancashire.

The peasants would be easily slaughtered by the army, their leader, Senyllt, captured and throne into the dungeons. He wouldn't languish there for a long as he would instead be released rather than executed like the other peasant leaders have been so far.

Cadfael doesn't get to catch a break however, as his wife Haldora dies at 66 from complications related to her obesity.

 

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Second State of the World
1240
​

(It's only ten years out to 1250, where I originally wanted to do this State of the World, but it didn't feel right to just put up a ten year long update and interrupt it with a State of a World so here's the second one.)

The world has changed quite a bit since the last time we took a bigger look at it. At this time, Prydain is at it's height with the recent conquest of Nantes to create a united Brittany underneath the empire.

The current Pendragon of Prydain is Cadfael, now almost 60 and the longest reigning Pendragon since Cedwyn formed the empire. Despite his supposed possession and problems with alcohol, he's brought the empire to new heights.

Looking as some of his vassals, the strongest vassal in the empire is Lloegr under King Tomaltach. After Lloegr's period of instability, it has stabilized when Tomaltach's father took the throne for himself, then giving the throne to Tomaltach when he suddenly died in battle. While he spoke Welsh and followed Welsh customs, Tomaltach was originally raised Irish and came from the Neill dynasty in Ireland.

The next king is King Dubhghall of Ireland coming from the Ruairc dynasty of Irish kings. Ever since the formation of the Irish Kingdom, it has been mostly peaceful with it's own vassals rarely revolting against the king themselves.

And in the north of the empire is King Rogvolod of Alba. After a shorter period of instability similar to Lloegr's own period, Rogvolod had come to power in Alba. His hold does still look tenuous as some vassals are already revolting and the Norwegians vassals in the north are also looking to revolt pretty soon as well. (I'm not sure how, but when I last looked at Alba all the vassals in the north were Norwegians and have been spreading Norwegian culture across the north of Alba.)

Far to the north is the lonely island if Iceland and the people that inhabit it. The island had actually been united under the Oddi dynasty and has been under the rule of Jar Ulfhildr for some time now, a dwarf strangely enough. The Pendragons of Prydain have had aspirations of conquering this lonely island, but no plans have ever materialized to do it.

To the east, the Scandinavian kingdoms have changed very little. Denmark has recently gone under the rulership of a new dynasty, the Egge dynasty. Denmark hasn't done very much other than expanding very slightly into the chaotic lands of Pomerania.

The biggest and strongest of the Scandinavian kingdoms is Sweden under Erik III. The kingdom has been expanding into Finland for a while now, but the Finns have recently seen the light of God so that expansion has been halted. Other than that, they own a port on the border of Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire, and a port in Pomerania.

Norway hasn't done much since the lost of The Hebrides and Caithness to Prydain, content to sit by with the borders the way they are.

The Kingdom of Sapmi has seen a fall from grace from their heights early in Cadfael's reign. The incredibly disjointed Kingdom of Estonia has split off from them coupled with another revolt in the south that is still going on, Bjarmaland joining in on this as revenge for the war several years ago.

To the south, the Catholic French have done well in taking back their lands. Still, there are a collection of independent counts around Paris and anarchy in the south among the holdouts of French Orthodoxy.

In Hispania, Galicia and Leon have done well in reversing the tide against the Muslims, but there is still a lot of work to be done to fully remove the Muslims from the peninsula. Even Pisa has joined in, taking a chunk around Barcelona for themselves.

The Holy Roman Empire has lost most of it's Italian holdings at this point, moving themselves back into Germany and instead expanding down into Croatia.

Italy is a mess divided up among the few holdings the Holy Roman and Byzantine Empire still hold, Jerusalem holdings, Pisa, a small Kingdom of Sicily, the Pope, and then Tuscany, the strongest Italian country in Italy besides the Pope himself.

In Northwest Africa, the Adherbalid Sultanate has seen itself collapse slightly as Sub-Saharan African nations move north once more, Mzab rising up to take it's place instead.

Sub-Sahara Africa has seen many changes since we've last looked at it. Various kingdoms have been popping up in the area and the various pagan faiths have been replaced entirely by either Sunni or Ibadi Islam, only a few places still practicing the old pagan faiths at this point. It'll be interesting to see if Sunni Islam will claim another part of the world or if Ibadi Islam will claim it's first major part of the world.

In the rest of Africa, Byzantium has been slowly expanding down into the Sahara while Nubian and Somalian paganism has suffered a similar fate to the ones in Sub-Saharan Africa, becoming completely extinct and replaced by either Coptic Christianity or Sunni Islam.

Ever since the fall of the Seljuk Empire, the Middle East, and specifically Arabia, have been in a chaotic state with various duchies and counts fighting for control of their areas. The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem has been using this chaos to expand down into Arabia and even into Egypt.

Unlike Jerusalem, the Crusader Kingdoms of Syria and Jazira have seen a complete collapse with the rest of the Middle East. Catholicism is still strong in the area but it's only a matter of time before the Muslims return.

The Karatayids have been unable to stabilize the situation they've inherited from the Seljuks and have even fallen down a little further. With the Mongols now breathing down their necks it doesn't look like they will be able to reverse this situation at all.

In the north, the lands of the Russians are still very much divided among various kingdoms of varying sizes, a state that isn't good with the Mongols slowly approaching over the horizon.

In the lands of Russia, the only Kingdom that is doing good for itself is Bjarmaland, though it might not be stable for very long with the recent crowning of the five year old Everkki II, an Orthodox Christian in a land that is still mostly pagan.

The Mongols have grown into a massive power within the steppes, threating all that they border. Genghis had died a little less than a decade ago, leaving his son Jochi to rule the empire. Still, the empire is no less threatening with Jochi in charge.

Tibet is still divided among Buddhists, Hindus, and pagans, but now the situation is dire with the Mongols bordering them and threatening the plateau with invasion.

India is in a safer, but no less dangerous situation than Tibet, being equally divided with only a few united kingdoms dotting the region.

Prydain religious map mode.

Northern Europe religious map mode.

Europe religious map mode.

Africa religious map mode.

Middle East religious map mode.

Russia religious map mode.

Steppes religious map mode.

India and Tibet religious map mode.

 

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Chapter Fourteen
The Tale of Two Empires
1240-1260
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After the death of his wife Cadfael chooses not to remarry, already an old man with plenty of children. Welcoming a new member of the family does help with his grief with the loss: a grandson named Sieffre.

After the disastrous failure of the Fifth Crusade heresies have started to pop up around Europe, people becoming disillusioned with the church and looking for different churches to follow. Specifically in Northern Italy, Adamites and Cathars have begun to pop up, eroding the church even more.

In Eryri, where problems with heresy were nonexistent currently, Cadfael orders an upgrade to the Hunting Grounds with new stables.

This would be Cadfael's last act as Pendragon. Forcing himself to stay away from alcohol in order to get rid of his dependency on it, Cadfael suddenly suffered from a seizure. His courtiers tried to help but the seizure would take his life then and there, ending his rule at the age of 64. Elfin, his designated heir, is crowned the next Pendragon at age 35.

Elfin was an accomplished diplomat much like his father, even if his lisp that he inherited from his father held him back slightly in speaking. He was a very handsome man who was apparently very brave and ambitious, hidden under a calm exterior.

The first thing Elfin does as Pendragon is go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem, this time deciding to go by boat for the entire way there as it would be faster than walking the entire way through Europe.

Still, the trip by boat is long and in some cases uncomfortable. There wasn't a proper place for mass on the ship so they had to make do with holding mass outside on the deck of the ship, often getting caught in the wind and rain.

After weeks of sailing, Elfin reaches Jerusalem. He spends several days in the city, seeing the sights and holy places, even mingling a little with the Polish nobility before sailing back home.

Once back home, Elfin commissions an Epic to be written, hiring a famous, but local, bard named Tewdwr to help write the Epic.

Elfin and Tewdwr could've easily made it about Elfin, but he instead dedicated it to his family, specifically to the founder of the dynasty: Ffransis Fane.

The two of them do take some mythical elements to the story, notably with Ffransis finding Excalibur, the famed sword from Arthurian legends, and using it for himself and to push his claim for the isles. The church didn't like these additions, especially that it was instead being written in Welsh rather than Latin, but the two simply ignored the opinions of the church and continued writting.

The two took many inspirations from Ffransis' own colorful military history, often placing more mythical spins within these stories. One case being when Ffransis fights the Anglo-Saxons who fielded a dragon in battle against him, using Excalibur to slay the beast and win the battle.

Soon, the two finish the epic: The Legend of King Ffransis Fane. It would become a famous epic across the isles, still widely popular in the isles today and often held in the same regard as King Arthur's legends.

After finishing the epic, Tewdwr leaves the court for other places. He pretty much disappears from the historical records after this, besides the rare book or manuscript that is claimed to be written by him found in Germany and Scandinavia.

Welsh continues to spread across England, next to fall being Warwickshire and Lincolnshire.

Lloegr falls into another civil war, this time against the tyranny of King Tomaltach. He had be imprisoning his vassals and they finally had enough of it.

The civil war doesn't last for very long though. Tomaltach is killed in battle against the rebels and his son, Taithlech, takes power.

Padrig, Elfin's eldest son, comes of age. While having a lisp similar to his father's, Padrig was known for his good looks and nothing else positive. He enjoyed stuffing his face with food and women, leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake of his many relationships. Other than that, he was also known to be extremely fickle, always changing his mind on something several times before coming to a decision.

His eldest daughter also comes of age soon after. Glynys had good looks similar to her older brother and an intelligence to back it up. She was known to be a kind and very rational person, with a love of God and the church.

In 1255, Elfin receives a message from an ally in the Holy Roman Empire, asking to back Prince Ferdinand's claim on the empire against Magnus. Elfin answers the call and raises the army.

The army is split into two and land in Holland where they begin sieging down the local castles.

Elfin stays back in Wales. As he's sitting in the castle something suddenly crashes through the ceiling. It was a mangled, rotting corpse covered in various rashes and bumps, exploding in gore upon impact with the floor of the castle after crashing through the ceiling. The body was launched by Rogvolod of Mann, the Duke of the small island that was camping nearby. It isn't known why he did this as he quickly disappears before the guards could apprehend him. The corpse, what's left of it anyway, is quickly disposed of.

Shortly after the corpse is disposed of Smallpox begins to spread throughout the castle, infecting Eflin's daughter Ysbail with it.

Elfin approves of a procedure that could help her. It does help alleviate the infection but lives Ysbail disfigured.

Then his second eldest son, Padarn, contracts Smallpox.

The same procedure is done on him with the same results, alleviating the symptoms but permanent disfigurement.

After these infections it would move on to the courtiers before disappearing from the castle, the only ones surviving it being members of the Fane dynasty.

Meanwhile, the war wasn't going too well. Magnus still had a large army of almost 25000 men which they use to surprise part of the Welsh army sieging down the capital of Aachen.

The army is routed back north to Holland.

In Holland they recover for a while before returning to the fight, joining the Rebel army at a battle in Munster.

It turns out to be a mistake, with one of the rebel leaders being captured in the battle.

The Welsh army once again spends some time recovering in Holland before moving with each other to Aachen. As they siege down the capital a small contingent of the Holy Roman army attacks them. It seemed like the Welsh were going to win.

And then the reinforcements arrive. Once again routing them back to Holland where the Welsh stay for the rest of the war, a great humiliation to the army.

In the battle at Aachen, Padrig is killed. A stray arrow pierced his helmet and went through his eye, killing him instantly.

Hearing of his son's death, Elfin suffers a mental break from the grief. He very much loved his son despite his flaws and his death broke him. Like his father before him, he turns to alcohol to quell his pain.

Padarn coming of age doesn't help his grief. Ever since the surgery Padarn had been forced to cover his face with a mask as it was now too disfigured to be shown in public, much less in private. His beautiful face, permanently ruined.

Considering that his heir was now dead, Elfin needed to choose a different heir. After some consideration he makes a decision. In another first for the empire he declares his eldest daughter Glynys the heir. A lot of his vassals protested this decision, even though she was married matrilineally to a Greek noble.

In the war with the Holy Roman Empire, it suddenly ends. Emperor Magnus had died from complications related to gout, the claim having to be abandoned.

 

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Chapter Fifteen
Once More into The Fray
1260-1275
​

The war with the Holy Roman Empire comes to a close just in time for Ysbail to come of age. She was very much a gentlewoman to the core even if she could be shy and stubborn at times. She didn't let her disfigurement stop her.

She is married off to the Prince of Denmark, Thorvald Kristiansen. This gets an alliance with the county he ruled over and possibly with Denmark in the future.

The rest of the empire wasn't idle during the war. While the war was going on the Duchess of Deheubarth died, willing the duchy to her son Hakon, the Duke of Iceland. This effectively made Hakon a vassal of the empire, bringing Iceland into the empire without a drop of blood being spilled.

Elfin continues the development of Eryri, expanding the docks greatly after many complaints of merchant ships being unable to find a spot to unload on the docks.

In 1262, Elfin's friend Gwerthern dies. He was a distant member of the Fane dynasty though wasn't much of a noble. The drinking buddy to Elfin, his death hits Elfin deeply.

Cynan coming of age doesn't help much. Cynan was an irrational man and, despite getting a scholarly education, very much hated books and preferred to be doing something active instead.

Cynan is married to Visclavara Garceiz, a Castilian noblewoman. Cynan decides to go and live with her in Castile instead of staying in Prydain.

Expansions of the docks in Eryri continue with the docks becoming a proper shipyard for the navy.

Glynys finally has a child with her husband, a son that is named Cadwared who would inherit her good looks and intellect.

Civil wars in Lloegr continue. Civil wars have become so commonplace in the vassal kingdom that it was begun to believe that the throne of Lloegr was cursed. It was surely all rumors though.

In 1266, Empress Agnes dies at the age of 60 from old age, apparently dying in her sleep next to Elfin. Agnes and Elfin very much loved each other so her death absolutely crippled the Pendragon.

So much so that Elfin returned to drinking his problems away.

His drunken stupors were eventually ended by his aunt Sannant forcing him out of the tavern, taking him away from the alcohol by dragging him around with her in her activities. The activity helped Elfin to take his mind off of Agnes and return to his duties.

One of these new duties was the contruction of new granaries. The current granaries were getting old and it was starting to show with mice and rats often finding ways into the granaries and running the crops inside.

In 1268, Pope Victor, the first Pope to hail from Prydain, called for the Sixth(?) Crusade to be prepared. This Crusade would be against the Dhunnunid Sultanate in Hispania, once again as an aid to the Reconquista.

Lloegr falls into another civil war, though one that doesn't result in Dyfnarth II getting overthrown.

After almost a year of preparation the Crusade is officially called with armies from all over the Catholic world pledging their aid in the Crusade.

Elfin pledges the armies of Prydain for the Crusade, sending them south to Castile. Upon arriving the army is split into three and settle themselves in for a siege in Burgos.

Immediately, things don't go well for the Welsh army. The Dhunnunid army combined with several local Muslim armies attack the southern most army at Palencia with close to 30000 men.

The rest of the Welsh army moves in to reinforce but it's very much futile. Heavily outnumbered they are forced to retreat all the way to Navarra.

After resting for a bit in Navarra the army marches back south to join the Crusading armies once more. As they march however, Cynan falls with Typhus. Being the leading force of the Welsh Crusader army his death would be a crippling blow to the army, so they find a local physician to treat his Typhus.

Whatever the physician did worked as a few days later Cynan was up on his feet and leading the army again.

As they siege down Molina the army catches wind of a small Muslim force that was marching nearby. Not wanting them to meet with the still large Dhunnunid army they find and fight them near the mountains of Siguenza.

Despite outnumber them the battle is still hard-fought with the Muslims using the hills and mountains to great effect. Still, the Muslims are routed from the field and the army marches south to siege down Madrid.

As they siege down Madrid the Pope gathers a big enough Crusading force to finally face down the Dhunnunid army in the field as much of the army had died of attrition at this point, routing the army from Castile completely and forcing them back south to Andalusia.

After sieging down Madrid the Welsh move down south again to siege down Toledo. As they do they are attacked by the smaller, but still greater, Dhunnunid army.

Just as the Welsh were about to lose both armies receive news that the Crusade was over. The Sultan had surrendered and agreed to give up his lands in Castile. The commanders on both sides of the armies tried to continue to get their men to fight, but with the Crusade over no man on either side wanted to continue fighting, so the eventually left the battlefield.

The newly conquered lands were given to Queen Blanca Perez of Castile, considering that the lands were de jure hers by right.

For their participation in the Crusade, the Welsh army is given a large sum of gold as thanks. Elfin uses the money to add Granges to the farmhouses and to even build Tithe Barns for the clergy.

Lloegr falls into another civil war, this time against Queen Hunydd, the daughter of Dyfnarth II. Dyfnarth sadly died in battle during the Crusade against one of the princes of the Sultanate.

Sieffre and his wife Elisabeth have their second daughter named Clarisant. In celebration of her birth a party is thrown in the castle.

After the party Elfin retires to his room. It isn't until morning that he is found in his on the floor just in front of his bed, dead. Having collapsed on his way to bed. To this day his death is still a mystery.

 

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Chapter Sixteen
Highs and Lows
1275-1290
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It was 1275 and Pendragon Elfin was dead. Glynys was crowned as the first female Pendragon in the history of the empire. She was known throughout Europe as an intelligent and beautiful lady at the time, a known zealot and very much loved talking though she was very much known to be paranoid. There were also rumors that she was a flagellant, whether out of her devotion to God or she had a masochistic side to her isn't known.

Her husband was Svetozar, a Russian that was raised in Byzantium where he assimilated into the Greek culture there. He was a trusting and temperate man who was also very kind and generous. He wasn't one to seek attention and was content to be in his wife's shadow and allow her to rule without interference from him. Their marriage was arranged from the connections the Fane family had in Byzantium. (There are a bunch of vassals in Byzantium who are now from a Fane cadet branch at this point, especially in Pontus where one of the cadet branches rule.)

Despite being married for some time the two have only had one child, a son named Cadwared. He had inherited his mother's intelligence and beauty, but there isn't much else about him at the time.

The first thing Glynys does as Pendragon is arrange a marriage for Cadwared. He ends up being betrothed to Nada, the princess of the small Croatian Kingdom.

Her very early rule also saw the Welsh become the majority in Cornwall, replacing the Cornish who were still in the area. (The Cornish were actually added in CK3, but by the time I got here there were no Cornish characters left.)

Many across Europe would try to curry favor with the new Pendragon, including Kaiser Benedek of the Holy Roman Empire who gives her some new carpet as a coronation gift.

Though there were also plenty of people who disliked the new Pendragon, culminating in an infamous assassination attempt early in her reign, though the attempt failed thanks to the work of her physician.

When that attempt failed some of her vassals decided to revolt. The Queen of Ireland, the Queen of Lloegr, and the Duke of Deheubarth came to the Pendragon with a petition to lower the authority of the crown.

She said no and kicked the three out of her court, causing the first civil war in a long time in Prydain.

The army is raised and actually combined into one with a band of mercenaries who agreed to help for some gold, then marching south to first take care of Deheubarth.

Finishing the siege of the Deheubarthian capital, the army marches north to expel the Irish and Deheubarthian army laying siege to Eryri. Upon arriving they find that the Irish army had escaped and left the Deheubarthian army which they engage instead.

It's a slaughter with only seven Deheubarthians escaping from the battlefield, crippling their presence for the duration of the civil war.

Marching back south to Deheubarth, the army sieges down another castle before once again marching north as the Irish had returned to Eryri. When they arrive they find that the Irish had escaped again, abandoning the Saesneg nearby.

Heading back south they slaughter another Deheubarthian army that was attempting to rally at Abertawe.

They then once again march north upon hearing that the Irish army had been sighted with the Saesneg army. They find the Saesneg army but the Irish had escaped again.

During the civil war, Cadwared came of age. Similar to his mom he very much enjoyed talking and had lofty ambitions for when he became the next Pendragon, but he wasn't exactly the nicest person and his mouth often got him into trouble.

Back in the civil war, the Irish were finally pinned down outside of Eryri in Llandudno.

The battle is a bit rough for the Welsh but becomes a Welsh victory.

With this battle the civil war comes to an end. All who partook in the revolt are arrested, though the Duke of Deheubarth doesn't stay in prison for long and is released on an oath of loyalty, the Queen of Ireland and the Queen of Lloegr remain imprisoned.

Something seemed to click between Cadwared and Nada as only two years into their marriage they have a son named Pedr.

With the civil war over Glynys takes the time to relax, agreeing to come to a feast being thrown by the dwarf king of Alba, Nannid. One of the two vassals, the other being Brittany, to remain loyal in the civil war.

The feast has a rough start with a slight delay in the food after an apparent accident in the kitchen. Glynys remains courteous though and doesn't complain about it unlike the other guests.

At the feast, Glynys gets to talk to Homlaug, the Duchess of Moireibh. The duchess was actually a member of the Norwegian Yngling dynasty but had assimilated into the Gaelic culture.

She also gets to talk to Nannid, with the two of them becoming close after the talk and the feast.

She returns to Eryri a lot more relaxed than after she left.

Almost immediately, she is invited to another feast being thrown by Mona, the Queen of Brittany.

This feast has a bit more a rocky start. Mona herself gets too drunk and when she tries to stand up she ends up vomiting all over Glynys. Safe to say that Glynys didn't take too kindly to this.

Thankfully, the rest of the feast goes well and Glynys returns home without too many complaints.

Back in Eryri, she receives a petition from Queen Deirdre of Ireland to be released from prison with a payment of 200 gold and an oath of loyalty. It is agreed upon and Deirdre is released.

Queen Effros of Lloegr would petition for the same thing. Glynys once again agrees and Effros is released.

In some goings-on around Eruope, the Slavic king of Denmark inherits the Duchy of Armagnac from his father.

There was news from Arabia that a pirate king from India had apparently been conquering parts of Arabia for himself.

The Mongols were still very much massive but had lost a lot of their steam, getting stalled in the Middle East.

The kings of France also seemed to have abandoned their French ways for Occitanian customs.

Back in Prydain, Nannid dies and is replaced by his son Dubcenn.

Cadwared and Nada also have another child, a daughter named Angharad.

Glynys would also make a major change in succession within Prydain. Instead of the titles being partitioned among the heirs, the designated heir would be given ALL titles within the empire, with none of the titles being partitioned to the other heirs. A succession law similar to Byzantium's.

Effros doesn't get to enjoy freedom for very long as she dies and is succeeded by Gilla-Patraic, an Irish ruling over a bunch of Welsh vassals.

Safe to say that he doesn't get to rule for very long, being replaced by Taithlech II, the Duke of Mercia.

Dubcenn doesn't rule for long either in Alba, dying from complications relating to his gout. The throne goes to Rogvolod II who was a dwarf similar to Nannid, his father.

 

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Chapter Seventeen
Where's Martin Luther when you need him?
1290-1306
​

One of the first things that Glynys does in 1290 is betroth her grandson Pedr to Lykke, the princess of Denmark. Denmark wasn't a powerful kingdom, but with their recent acquisition of Armagnac it would be nice to have an ally that bordered Prydain.

Glynys also begins the process of learning Gaelic from Rogvolod in an effort to become closer to with her Gaelic subjects.

In several months she would have the basics of the language down, Gaelic slowly becoming another court language similar to how Irish had.

She would also take time out of her busy schedule to personally tutor her grandchildren. Pedr would develop well as her tutor, becoming a charming and eventually compassionate young man.

Angharad would become more interested in food than in her studies, preferring to spend time in the kitchen with the chefs and spending her free time tasting foods from all over Europe.

At this time, Pedr would also become cynical and atheistic, supposedly after watching the hanging of a thief who's only crime was stealing a bag of grain from a local tithe barn, later pondering why God would allow such harsh laws to be handed down like this.

Glynys also spent much of her focus on her only son Cadwared. For the first time in the Prydain's history there was concern in the succession and it was all because of Cadwared. He was very much morally bankrupt, doing as he pleased with little regard for others which concerned his future vassals and Glynys herself. So much so that she eventually decided that Cadwared's flaws needed to go.

The first attempt at changing his behaviors was to have him hold court in Glyny's stead for a day. While he held court very arbitrarily and with little care for laws or manners, he didn't struggle in holding court and didn't learn anything from the experience.

The second attempt was to have him make a list of names of people that he wronged in the past and to go and apologize or do something to make up for it. Most people expected that this wouldn't change his character either until he returned a few days later.

Whatever happened over those few days seemed to have completely changed him. From an uncaring and arbitrary man to a man who very much cared for the law and ruling justly, going out of his way to make up for any wrong doings that he had committed.

Glynys would also undertake in a project to urbanize Northern Wales as, outside of the cities, Northern Wales was still very much an underdeveloped and rural area. She would attempt to change this by ordering the construction of a new city in Rhuthun and a new temple in Aberystwyth.

Then in late 1297, Glynys suddenly died at the age of 61. She had likely died from an infected wound relating to her flagellation habit.

At 31 years old, Cadwared was now the new Pendragon. With his personality change being truly permanent he came to the throne with no fears among his vassals on how he would rule.

The first thing he does as Pendragon is educate his children in his mother's stead. At this time, Angharad would begin to show a controversial sexuality, at least for the time, going after girls as much as she would boys. She would very often get rejected by other girls, though her father encourages her to keep looking.

Cadwared would end up ruling by loyalty and not fear, doing what he could to ensure the trust of his vassals and their loyalty to him.

In 1299, just before the turn of the century, Pedr would come of age. A compassionate, though cynical man, he would share his ambitious side with his father. He was also considered good looking and very intelligent.

Angharad would come of age shortly after, getting married to Callisto, the Serene Doge of the now large republic of Pisa, a republic that stretched from Italy, the Cote d'Azur, and Catalonia.

Shortly after this, Cadwared and Nada would have their third child, a daughter who is named after Glynys.

Immediately, the alliance with Pisa is put to the test when Cadwared receives a call to war from Callisto for the county of Viennois which was under the Kingdom of France. Cadwared accepts the call to arms and raises the troops.

The army sails down to Avranches in Prydain Normandy under the control of Brittany, and march to their first target of Alencon.

During the war, Cadwared continues the urbanization of the Welsh countryside started under Glynys, ordering the construction of another city in Corwen.

During the war, the Eighth Crusade is also called. The target this time is Syria, the Crusader Kingdom of Syria having almost completely collapsed at this point and reduced to a rump state between Byzantium and Muslim Armenia, allowing the Muslims to retake what was lost from Syria.

Unlike previous Pendragons of Prydain, Cadwared decides not to partake in the Crusade, though he still sends money to finance the effort.

Back in the war with France, the army attempts to march to Paris even though the French capital had long been at Dijon at this point. As the army nears Paris they hear news of the much larger French force just south of them marching after them.

They attempt to march north as fast as they could past Paris, but the French catch up and easily defeats them at Beauvais.

The Welsh army retreats to Brittany while the French march back south to deal with the Pisan army.

After half a year of resting and gathering reinforcements the Welsh march back into France, this time to Saumur.

In the nearby Holy Roman Empire a surprising event occurs. Ecgfrith, a member of the Fane-Dover cadet dynasty had been elected Holy Roman Emperor.

This would normally be cause for a celebration when a member of your family is declared the emperor of the strongest state in Europe, but Ecgfrith left with a part Prydain something that causes great rage in Cadwared, swearing to retake Caint sometime in the future.

Speaking of empires, the Mongol Empire far off in the steppes collapse. With such a massive empire, the empire was split among the sons of the Khan as one man would be easily overwhelmed trying to run the massive empire. With the death of Khan Ukhuna, none of his sons got along with each other leading to the split of the massive empire.

And just like that, the largest empire the world had ever seen collapsed back into a disorganized mess of nomadic tribes. Mongolia itself and China far beyond would remain united under the descendants of Genghis Khan for now.

Back in France, the Welsh army gets surprised by the French army suddenly returning and attacking them at Saumur. (Definitely not because I got distracted by the collapse of the Mongols and forgot to pause.) Once again, the Welsh are forced to retreat into Brittany as the French march south once more.

In good news however, Brittany has been under Prydain for long enough that it was officially considered de jure part of Prydain.

The war goes on for a few more years before Pisa surrenders and forgets their claim on Viennois. With the war finally over, Cadwared can focus on getting Caint back.

 

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Chapter Eighteen
The Clash of Titans
1306-1321
​

After the war with the French things quiet down with the birth of Ffelis, Cadwared's second granddaughter. Still, his focus was on a war with the Holy Roman Empire, though the army was still battered from the French war and the treasury needed to be restored before any action could be taken against the Holy Romans.

In news of the Crusade, it is a success with the kingdom of Crusader Syria being established over what used to be Palmyra. They even have lands in the middle of the Holy Roman Empire for some reason.

Pedr and Lykke have their third child, their first son who is named Cadwared after Cadwared. (Also, I don't know why Lykke is bald. After the new content pack Paradox dropped all of the Scandinavian characters have become bald.)

At first, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with Cadwared II, that was until he got his first injury. It was just a scrape from a fall, but the wound wouldn't stop bleeding and it took considerable effort to get the bleeding under control.

He would survive, but it would be something he had to deal with for his entire life.

Cadwared II's condition doesn't seem to deter Pedr and Lykke though as they quickly produce a fourth child named Marchell, who would be known for her intellect and beauty that has become a staple in the Fane dynasty at this point.

And finally, after years of preparations, the army was ready and the treasury was full. On December 4th, 1312, Cadwared declares war on the Holy Roman Empire to reclaim Caint.

The army is raised into three groups along with a fourth group consisting of mercenaries, immediately marching south into Caint to begin sieging the area down.

Though they overestimate how long it would take for the Holy Romans to gather their forces and sail to the isles as they end up on the isles faster than expected. After shaking off their surprise, the Welsh army gets together and attacks the Romans outside of Canterbury.

The fighting is rough, but eventually the Welsh start carving through the Romans and achieve their victory over the Romans.

The Welsh split back up to continue the sieges they've left behind, allowing the Romans to siege down Hampshire behind them though the Romans do eventually return to try and take back Surrey. Once again, the Welsh gather back up and attack the Romans at Chertsey.

As the two armies clash, a separate group of Romans hears of the battle and rushes to join the fight. Their arrival helps shore up the forces already there, but they are too late to change the course of the battle.

As the Welsh comb over the battlefield after the fighting they stumble upon a great prize. Found trying to hide among the bodies is the Holy Roman Emperor himself, Ecgfrith. He is captured and taken prisoner.

In chains, Ecgfrith is forced to surrender to the Welsh. A great clash between two empires, over in just fifteen months.

On March 9th, 1314, Prydain was united once again.

In other news at the time, Crusader Syria doesn't last very long. In the time it took for Prydain and the Holy Roman Empire to fight, Crusader Syria had been reduced to just one province. They even lost their lands in the middle of the Holy Roman Empire.

During this time, Cadwared continues his mother's urbanization program by expanding it into Lloegr, staring with the regions bordering Wales and in Northern Lloegr.

In 1316, Glynys comes of age. Glynys is very much the opposite of her namesake, while having her beauty and intellect, had none of her kindness and was often described and mean-spirited.

Still, she's married off to the Despot of Serbia, Kaisarios. A despot under the thumb of the Byzantine Empire.

The alliance that comes with it is used quickly, Kaisarios calling Cadwared into a war against a peasant rebellion.

It's crushed extremely quickly though, before Cadwared could even raise the army in aid.

A few years later in 1321, Clarisant comes of age as well. She was very much an atheist, but had a great sense of justice that she had got from Cadwared.

She is married off to Corradino, the lowborn Serene Doge of Pisa, once again cementing an alliance with the powerful merchant republic.

And just like the Serbian alliance, Cadwared is immediately called into a war with Pisa, this time against a rebellion against Corradino. A coalition of nobles who sought to be rid of the lowborn Doge.

 

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Chapter Nineteen
The Years of Stress
1321-1332
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Receiving the call to war, Cadwared raises the army to aid his new ally, setting sail for the Mediterranean.

The war did take the empire by surprise though. Despite having a sizable amount of gold in the treasury, even raising the army for a campaign that only lasts a few months would leave the coffers of the empire empty and on the edge of going into debt. Getting money from the church or gifts from vassals like King Dunacan of Ireland were common during these times to keep these wars funded and to keep the empire from going into debt.

The army soon arrives and splits themselves into three parts. One part lands near Barcelona and immediately starts a siege.

The second part lands near Pisa itself, first trying to siege down Luni before heading to Pisa to retake it for the loyalists.

The last part lands on the coast of the Cote d'Azur, marching inland to siege down Carcassonne.

Back in Eryri, old age was beginning to take it's toll on Cadwared. Only 56, he was already dealing with various bodily pains, struggling to lift even basic things, and becoming tired more easily. Even he himself could tell that his time on this Earth was running out.

With the sieges in Hispania done, the first army marches north to aid the third army in their siege of the Cote d'Azur.

The second army runs into trouble. Scouts spot the rebel army marching their way, causing the third army to retreat south and then board their ships to avoid the rebels.

However, the rebels just stay in Genoa, even when the Pisan army lands and starts retaking Pisa, which gives the second army the confidence they need to land once again and aid the Pisans in taking back their capital.

After retaking the capital, the rebels suddenly march south to them. The Pisan army gets into their boats and leave, but the second army had to march further south to board their own boats.

But as they were boarding their boats in Piombino, the rebels catch up and they are forced into a battle.

The second army is completely slaughtered on the beaches, not one man escaping from the rebels that day.

Back in the Cote d'Azur, the first and third armies march to Nice to retake the province from the rebels.

After retaking Nice the two armies move into Genoa, one of the heads of the rebellion.

Seeing the Welsh army preparing their siege, the rebels surrender to Corrandino. All who were part of the rebellion are imprisoned and their titles revoked to be given to more loyal vassals.

Back in Eryri, Cadwared's late reign sees a period of rivalry and quarreling within the family, specifically between his grandaughter Ffelis and Empress Nada. Whenever Ffelis would come to visit the two would argue almost constantly over every little thing, especially over family things and what Ffelis considered the 'un-Faneness' of Nada, whatever that was.

One argument between the two got so out of hand that Cadwared had to step in before the two actually tried to kill each other. Ffelis tries to get Cadwared on her side, but he instead admonishes both of them for their behavior, comparing them to two shepherds fighting over a sheep. This admonishing from the Pendragon gets the two to stop fighting, but arguments between the two still happened occasionally.

Cadwared II, Pedr's son, comes of age at this time. Like many in the Fane family he was gifted with a way with words and great charisma, though he was described as irrational and often found doing foolish things that would put himself in danger, considering his condition.

He would be married to Gerberge, the bastard daughter of Emperor Ecgfrith of the Holy Roman Empire who was still ruling. The two were family as Gerberge was technically part of the Fane-Dovers in the Fane dynasty, but were very, very distant cousins at this point.

Marchell would come of age shortly after, known for her intellect and looks that were a staple of the Fane dynasty at this point, though not as accomplished of a diplomat as so many others in her family. While a humble person, she was cruel and often arrogant.

Marchell gets married off to Dionysios, one of the sons of Basileus Theodoros, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

Then on a fateful night of 1329, Cadwared dies in his sleep at the age of 63, having spent 32 years ruling as the Pendragon.

At 46 years of age, Pedr becomes the next Pendragon of Prydain in an elaborate crowning ceremony.

It is said that Pedr had a great relationship with his wife, Empress Lykke, who would often get him gifts and other things, a relationship that wasn't common among arranged marriages in medieval Europe.

And he would need his wife's love. Almost immediately, the stresses of ruling Prydain pile onto Pedr. (I don't know how he became this stressed. He came into power with two stress levels and the game kept throwing events where I could get nothing but stress.)

In what seemed to be his way of coping with stress, he would often go into town and spend hundreds of gold on various trinkets like fabrics and threads.

But as he settled into his new role he would be able to destress a bit, helped by his wife Lykke, who's relationship would flourish into actual love for each other.

His various friends would also help the new Pendragon to destress and relax a bit, including Duke Berenger, a vassal under Pisa that Pedr had met during a short stint in Pisa.

And after almost two decades of the two producing no children, they would welcome a new daughter into the world by the name of Sara.

They would throw a celebration for Sara's birth, though it would be cut short by a messenger interrupting the festivities.

It was a message from France. The King was demanding the return of Avranches and Caen in Normandy. Failure to do so would result in war. The populations of Avranches and Caen were Breton at this point though, after spending several decades under the Kingdom of Brittany and then in Prydain.

So it would be war then.