De facto borders are mostly fine — if anything, they are too lenient on the Cornish/Welsh (Devon and maybe Pengwern were likely lost before 769).
However, here's something I think needs adjustment in particular: Dorset and Somerset were lost around 700. It's possibly that this was a longer process like part-by-part going from e.g. 690 to 730. My point? In 769 it's still quite early for those counties to be considered culturally Anglo-Saxon (not impossible, but that would have been a quick resettlement) and parts of the de iure k_Wessex. There are probably people still alive (including maybe the current ruler of d_Cornwall) in whose lifetime those counties were still Cornish/Welsh.
In real life, Saxon conquests almost invariably proved final and irreversible. Hence, it shouldn't be too easy/frequent to see Welsh and Cornish rulers getting their lost territories back. However, it should be possible (the borders were a front line).
Solution:
— Separate small duchy for Somerset and Dorset; and/or
— strong personal claims to those counties at least on the old Petty King of Cornwall (when he dies, those are going to degrade into weak claims, requiring a regency, female holder etc.)
Next, Elmet (roughly Yorkshire) fell in 627, fell again in 633 and didn't change hands except a minor part going over to Strathclyde maybe, in the 11th century. But there seems to have been a surviving Welsh community in the North. How about a baron or something? Or a claimant?
Gododdin (roughly in Lothian/North Northumbria) was possibly still in existence in some rump non-independent form in 769, though that's not very likely. Still, there could be some descendants of recent holders, exiled claimants, all the resulting fuss of a recent conquest.
Archenfield (maybe a barony in terms of size?) in Herefordshire (then a rump state for the earlier kingdom of Ergyng was an 8th century political/cultural conquest that didn't assimilate for like 1000 years thereafter. This may be already reflected in the existing borders/allegiances in the 769 start, though.
TL;DR the most important thing here and perhaps the easiest would be to give the old Petty King of Cornwall personal claims on the counties of Dorset and Somerset, maybe giving those a separate duchy or even leaving them in de iure Cornwall rather than fast-integrating them with Wessex proper into one duchy for the Saxons.
Estimated effect: Almost totally depending on personal stats, the old Petty King of Cornwall is actually capable of having a minor advantage in troop numbers above Wessex (largely because he has a demesne of 2 counties and Wessex has 1 county plus vassals). With the Marshal's Train Troops mission and a reasonably full treasury, it would be possible for him to win if he jumped at an opportunity such as Wessex not having strong allies on the outside or having its levies depleted after an important battle somewhere else. After the Petty King's death, his son is already likely to be a grey man and lose even the weak claim if he doesn't press it before himself dying and being replaced by a ruler with no personal claims. The AI would not likely make good use of this too often, but sometimes it would. This is largely consistent with a certain real-life capacity for the Cornish to occasionally get their act together and win a battle/war delaying the Saxons.
(However, I'm not agitating for an ahistorical result to become the norm. Again, this is just to trigger some chance for the AI but especially create a window of opportunity for a determined and capable human player. Cornwall is a good start for trying to turn the tide. You can always fabricate claims, but that's long and expensive (where every coin counts due to possible mercs on both sides) and you shouldn't have to fabricate those claims. You should need to fabricate claims to maybe counties like Chester that used to be Welsh but were lost like 150 years earlier. Or d_Rheged that may have actually been inherited peacefully by Northumbria through a marriage.)
However, here's something I think needs adjustment in particular: Dorset and Somerset were lost around 700. It's possibly that this was a longer process like part-by-part going from e.g. 690 to 730. My point? In 769 it's still quite early for those counties to be considered culturally Anglo-Saxon (not impossible, but that would have been a quick resettlement) and parts of the de iure k_Wessex. There are probably people still alive (including maybe the current ruler of d_Cornwall) in whose lifetime those counties were still Cornish/Welsh.
In real life, Saxon conquests almost invariably proved final and irreversible. Hence, it shouldn't be too easy/frequent to see Welsh and Cornish rulers getting their lost territories back. However, it should be possible (the borders were a front line).
Solution:
— Separate small duchy for Somerset and Dorset; and/or
— strong personal claims to those counties at least on the old Petty King of Cornwall (when he dies, those are going to degrade into weak claims, requiring a regency, female holder etc.)
Next, Elmet (roughly Yorkshire) fell in 627, fell again in 633 and didn't change hands except a minor part going over to Strathclyde maybe, in the 11th century. But there seems to have been a surviving Welsh community in the North. How about a baron or something? Or a claimant?
Gododdin (roughly in Lothian/North Northumbria) was possibly still in existence in some rump non-independent form in 769, though that's not very likely. Still, there could be some descendants of recent holders, exiled claimants, all the resulting fuss of a recent conquest.
Archenfield (maybe a barony in terms of size?) in Herefordshire (then a rump state for the earlier kingdom of Ergyng was an 8th century political/cultural conquest that didn't assimilate for like 1000 years thereafter. This may be already reflected in the existing borders/allegiances in the 769 start, though.
TL;DR the most important thing here and perhaps the easiest would be to give the old Petty King of Cornwall personal claims on the counties of Dorset and Somerset, maybe giving those a separate duchy or even leaving them in de iure Cornwall rather than fast-integrating them with Wessex proper into one duchy for the Saxons.
Estimated effect: Almost totally depending on personal stats, the old Petty King of Cornwall is actually capable of having a minor advantage in troop numbers above Wessex (largely because he has a demesne of 2 counties and Wessex has 1 county plus vassals). With the Marshal's Train Troops mission and a reasonably full treasury, it would be possible for him to win if he jumped at an opportunity such as Wessex not having strong allies on the outside or having its levies depleted after an important battle somewhere else. After the Petty King's death, his son is already likely to be a grey man and lose even the weak claim if he doesn't press it before himself dying and being replaced by a ruler with no personal claims. The AI would not likely make good use of this too often, but sometimes it would. This is largely consistent with a certain real-life capacity for the Cornish to occasionally get their act together and win a battle/war delaying the Saxons.
(However, I'm not agitating for an ahistorical result to become the norm. Again, this is just to trigger some chance for the AI but especially create a window of opportunity for a determined and capable human player. Cornwall is a good start for trying to turn the tide. You can always fabricate claims, but that's long and expensive (where every coin counts due to possible mercs on both sides) and you shouldn't have to fabricate those claims. You should need to fabricate claims to maybe counties like Chester that used to be Welsh but were lost like 150 years earlier. Or d_Rheged that may have actually been inherited peacefully by Northumbria through a marriage.)
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