Scotland the Shrewd

[Wämö]

Great AAR. Nice to see a successful Scotland. Keep it up.

 

[stnylan]

He sounds like the sort of ruler who saves up problem for his heirs to deal with. I wonder if they are up to the challenge?

 

[Slasher]

In the next few updates it gets interesting....keeping the images down to ten is the hard part however......but there is still a bit of change to go

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

This

or this

Would then be a nice new Coat of Arms for your unified Celtic kingdom

The top one is by LordScod and the bottom one by Birger

 

[Ayeshteni]

This

or this

Would then be a nice new Coat of Arms for your unified Celtic kingdom

The top one is by LordScod and the bottom one by Birger

Very nice - hope he gets to use them. Of course the top one includes Cornwall, so he will have to thump the English somewhat.....

...sounds like a plan.

Ayeshteni

 

[Jape]

Very nice - hope he gets to use them. Of course the top one includes Cornwall, so he will have to thump the English somewhat.....

...sounds like a plan.

I second that. To Kernow!

 

[Slasher]

Chapter 4: The Holy Crusader​

The year is 1125, a new king reigns over the Kingdom of Scotland. His name is Donald Dunkeld and is the last son of Malcolm the Great, the visionary who changed the course of Scottish history. His brother, Duncan Dunkeld, was the previous king yet did not produce a strong enough heir to succeed from him, hence the passing of the crown to his now elderly brother. Donalds reign is expected to be but a transitional one, while his 3rd born son, the religious, yet strong Maelbrigte is groomed to be king once Donald finally meets his maker.

King Duncan wasn't in much of a state to go on large expeditions for the glory of Scotland, he instead chose to stabilise the holdings of Scotland and act as a caretaker to the crown. As part of his duties was to direct his spys in neighbouring nations to look out for possible security risks.

In 1126 his spy master rushed into the throne room.

"Your Highness, I think you will need to look at this!"
"What is it, don't tell me there are assassins after me, I am not ready to die!"
"No sir, you are perfectly safe, it seems that other nations don't even care about you living, in fact, they seem content in you living."
"Fools, I will show them, I will live another 62 years and crush all thier nations!"

As yelling that impossible threat Donald stood up and with power of a much younger man, yet quickly slumped back down on his throne in a fit of coughs and wheezes.

"Okay, well just tell me what you heard, get on with it."
"Look at these charts, England has pretty much mobilised thier whole nation to fight against the heathens in a crusade, the worst thing is the list here is only the half of it, they have many more men who were in training when our spys were doing recon work."

"I see, I understand why we must avoid England at all costs, station spys on the border, and tell the chancellor to make good with the English crown, sweet talk them, now...I have a doctors meeting to go to."

In 1128 Donalds luck, and heart gave out and he passed away. After a three year, uneventful reign, the king who would be known as the old man who feared death like no other, passed away. Donald would never be a king to be remembered and would only be known as a son and father and two famous kings, of Malcolm and Maelbrigte respectively.

Maelbrigte was not a particularly skilled contender for king but at the young age of 24 already had a large wealth of experience in the governance of provinces and had a massive belief in himself and in God, always good for a ruler in these times.

In the early years of Maelbrigte's reign he had a bit of trouble from his vassals, and his recently acquired vassals in Western Ireland (orange in the picture below) rebelled and declared thier independence from the Kingdom.

In 1130 the duchy of Munster decided to declare war on the recently independent county of Osraige and to protect the interests of Scotland Maelbrigte decided to join the war against Munster, to not only gain a little land but to stop Munster getting more. Desmumu was captured with ease. The Duchy of Munster is neutralised for the forseeable future.

By 1137 Maelbrigte was getting kind of bored with the situation in his kingdom and the Christian community was jealous over the Scottish advances into Ireland and the Kingdoms reputation was tarnished. A solution to get things up and running ran through the palace in the form of the Marshal.

"Your majesty, the Duchy of Atholl have declared war on the heathens of Viscaya and Navarra!"
"How did this happen?"
"I believe that Atholl was trying to arrange for a deal for the shipping over of some mercenaries to help in a challenge for your throne yet the provinces took the money and ran. What do you think we should do? Punish the Duchy or help them against the heathens."
"Ever since I was a child I believed that religion came before country. With my work with the counties of Scotland and later this crown I got steered off my religious path, not to mention our relative isolation from religious enemies. Yet this gives our nation a great opportunity to prove ourselves in the eyes of the church and finally get our reputation up so we can continue our exploits in Ireland. The Crusades are focused in the capturing of Burgos, if my memory serves it was once the capital of the Kingdom of Castille, I am sure if all goes well we could swing around and give it a visit. Assemble the armies."

With that the armies of Scotland were assembled, and once again they did not dissappoint, easily capturing some prime real estate in Navarra.

After the success of this attack Maelbrigte kept his armies moving, the army of the holy would continue to punish the heathens. This resulting in the capturing of many provinces, including Burgos, the purpose of the crusade. In 1145 the war was well underway but by 1147 peace was granted and Scotland now had a healthy holding in the north of the Iberian peninsula.

By 1154 England could no longer handle the hostile forces within its own country and Maelbrigte could but laugh and wait for his own nation to gain enough reputation to take this land off the English.

Yet before he could put his plan into action in 1155 Maelbrigte died in his sleep, with dreams of a United Kingdom with Scotland as controller and God as the master, a fusion between a great wordly and otherworldy power.

After his death Scotland was once again placed into jeopardy, to face the coming years with caution while trying to keep thier conquests together.
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Will Scotland gain sufficient reputation to take England over and continue conquest of the Iberian peninsula, or will they fall apart like has been threatened so many times before. Stay tuned, next episode some big things will happen.
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Okay, I know this update has been less in depth as other chapters, but not much happened really as my reputation is really bad, so bad it causes vassals to go down in loyalty, even if all other factors mean they have large positives to thier relationship with me, and it takes far too long to repair itself. Hopefully I can rectify the situation and future chapters will be better. But however there is still plenty of action to come, hopefully England tries to attack me again, test out my armies a bit on a more equal setting.

 

[Ayeshteni]

Nothing wrong with quiet periods, if it means the others are juicy and bloody.

A disintegrating England eh? Um, excuse me for one moment please........




















MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA*cough, cough, ack, ahem*



Sorry, couldn't resist.

Ayeshteni

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

But still some very successful wars

 

[Olaus Petrus]

Scotland is becoming a great kingdom. Expansion into Iberia might be wise, if you get more opportunities. Things look good in British Isles too. Soon Ireland will be yours and England has become weak.

 

[stnylan]

The next King must surely leap at the chance to advance into England.

 

[Murmurandus]

Just read the whole thing, nice piece of writing...

 

[Slasher]

The next king first needs to stabilise Scotland, it is hardly united....

And also as for England, they used the crusades well, in the point I am at the moment, a few updates ahead of the current chapter, England holds lands in North Africa, Northern Italy, England and deep inside Russia. So annexing the crown is possible with current holdings if I moved fast but the addition of the Russian territory is too much, so I need to wait and continue building until they hopefully get rid of the Russian province...the fact is England has heaps of vassals all over the place so I will have to carve them out until thier primary provinces aren't so spaced apart so I can annex them outright. As the situation stands atm I have enough people to take and hold thier primary provinces but by the time I get to the Russian province they have gotten thier act together and taken the fight to me....as they are still considerably stronger...

 

[Slasher]

Chapter 5: The Wrath of Allah

Duncan Dunkeld the Second was a man who should never have been given the crown. He was a corrupt and angry man who's only skill was causing mischief. In the last years of his fathers reign he succeeded in talking the southern most Iberian provinces of Scotland to declare independence from the Kingdom and when he was called up to do duty as king he had recently sired a bastard with a servant wench in his Iberian county.

The sons of Maelbrigte were fiercely competitive and when Duncan was granted the throne his brother Dunchad, the Count of Molina was already plotting his brothers downfall.

You see, Dunchad Dunkeld had lived under the rule of his kind father, never having hardship and when he gained his own province in his brilliant fathers conquests he started turning his county into a military stronghold, as he believed that a strong military power would surely put him above his brothers for the ownership of the crown. His brother Duncan was given more provinces and was stronger by his fathers death, hence giving him the throne. At the point Duncan was given the crown Dunchad threw out any loyalty to Scotland, he felt that his brother had connived his way into the crown that was rightfully his...and he would die and crush Scotland, while acting as the good guy, eventually getting the throne and magically turning back the fortunes...it will be like pre-arranged conquest. Now to find some allies to put the plan into action.

The Muslims at the time of the crown being given to Duncan were in a state of shock. Where had these mighty Scots came from and thrashed them so soundly...why had they done what no other nation had ever done to them before. So when it was said that a brother of the King of Scotland was coming to the land of the Fatimids a state of military alert was ordered. When Dunchad came to the palace of the Fatimids he was held in awe, so this was the great wealth the crusades have been called to get, and the mosques...amazing structures. Once he had taken Northern Iberia for himself he would have to look at building some of these magnificent structures.

Dunchad was brought to the throne room where the leader of the Fatimids, Dunchad didn't know if they had kings in Muslim land, asked him to be seated. The Fatimid leader spoke up with a thick accent Dunchad hadn't even heard amongst his conquered Muslim courtiers, perhaps he had not been in Iberia for long, and hails from a far off place not seen by Europeans eyes.

"What is it that brings you to my land son of Dunkeld."
"I need your help, a great injustice has been done to both my people, and your religion, and it must be rectified."
"Go ahead, what is this injustice you speak of?"
"My people should right now be under the benevolent rule of myself, as I am the true king of Scotland, and your religion has been brutalised in the north, so I offer you some of the southern provinces in return for your help, and from that point on justice will be done and we will live in harmony. I ask you to conquer the Scottish holdings in Iberia."
"Why come to me with your proposition?"
"Your Kingdom had a multitude of vassals, nearly all of Southern Iberia, now, I know that your own strength is not enough to take on Scotland by itself, hence why I want you to convince your vassals to war with the Scottish, and only join the war yourself until you have the whole power of the south on your side."
"So you want me to spill the blood of our people for your ambitions and a few southern provinces?"
"Your kingdoms lands are right next to Scotland, they have aggressively been grabbing land, if you do not go by my plan you will soon be next, attack when they least expect, they will need the help of my mighty army, and I will not give it to them...deciding thier fate."
"Hmmm, interesting, I will talk to the vassals and soon you will have your war."
"Thankyou, you will not regret this decision, this will bring in a new golden era!"

And with that the traitor of Scotland began his trek home, in the knowledge he would seen see Iberia in flames, yet he will come out the winner. In 1155, soon after the crowning of Duncan II, war was declared in Iberia, while Dunchad sat back and watched. (The Kingdom of Fatimids direct kingdom is in the green circle, the rest are vassals or allies of the Fatimids)

The Second Iberian War started getting ugly in 1156, in January 29 1156 the Muslims hordes started pouring into Scottish land, the Scots had earlier taken a few Muslim territories but the sheer weight of number game the momentum to the Muslims.

By March 25 1156 the Muslim juggernaught and gained even more momentum, with the whole of southern Iberia joined in the fight against the Scots, and the Fatimids had decided to get some land for themselves before thier vassals got it.

In the throne room of Duncan II the king sat in horror while hearing the news of the war. Even the elite Scottish troops that were sent over had been wiped out, Scotland had nothing left, the Muslims just had too much, but there was one more way to possibly force a peace so as much land as possible can be salvaged. Duncan II called in his Chancellor.

"You called for me your majesty?"
"What news of my brother Dunchad, has he assembled his army against the heathen?"
"The count of Molina seems to be claimed he his a devoted ally and is marching his troops into Muslim land, yet our spies tell us that his troops are still in the county, sitting back and doing nothing."
"Send another messenger saying if he does not do it he will be invaded. Stupid fool."

A few months later information returned on what had happend with Dunchad. The Chancellor rushed into the throne room.

"Your Majesty!"
"What is it?"
"The Count of Molina has refused military aid of any kind and said that he has claimed your throne for his own, and if you do not abdicate Scotland will be crushed!"

As the blood rushed up to his head, his face went red and the veins started popping out from his head the chancellor knew the king must be left alone, and off the chancellor went.

From outside the throne room the guards heard a multitude of crashes and bangs, curses and yelling. Followed by sobbing. Duncan II didn't want to be king anymore, it wasn't like the carefree days in Iberia. As he lay on the floor in a pool of his tears with a mess of broken cups, swords, and all kinds of kingly items Duncan II cursed his bloodline and the fact he could possibly known as the king who gave Europe and Scotland to the heathens. The only thing that could save him now was god, and from this day forth Duncan II tried to repent all his past sins in churches and monastries and hating heathens like he hated his siblings.

Yet even with gods good luck in August 26 1156 Scotlands Iberian provinces had been taken and the Muslims continued to mop up the vassals of Scotland over the coming years.

With the conquering of Iberia by the Muslims Dunchad Dunkeld went to enforce his plan, with the northern provinces of Iberia given to him and the Muslims forcing Duncan II to abdicate. Dunchad on this occasion was not even granted an audience with the Fatimid king, he was but given a message saying:

"Did you really think we would do all the dirty work and keep a deal with a powerless county, without Scotland your power is nothing, you signed your death warrant. Never hire a wolf to do the job of a dog, the wolf will always kill his master. You and your county are now part of the Fatimid Kingdom, Allah be praised!"

And with that line given by the messenger an assassin sped around the corner and stuck a knife into the back of Dunchad Dunkeld, the traitor of Scotland. The betrayer had been betrayed. Dunchad in his selfishness, had perhaps doomed Scotland for, in the end, no reason.

Scotland in 1160, before the Muslim Invasion.

It was only a matter of time but in 1160 the Muslims invaded southern Ireland hereby commencing the First Irish War.

By May 4 1161 the northern France provinces were under attack and would soon be reduced to a singular province.

The Muslims had made good ground by November 11 1161, taking two provinces in Ireland.

Throughout 1162 there were various battles, with the best of Scotland and the Muslims battling each other, and at stages it looked like the Scots had beaten off the Muslims and then another large army would show on the Irish shores.

By October 11 1163 much of the Scots Irish holdings had been taken, with only Urmumu being in Scottish hands, yet only 8000 troops were still able to fight, and by the end of 1164 even more Muslims were pouring in and Scotland was forced to bribe the Fatimids into a shaky peace....such ended the First Irish War, and reduced Scotland to her original Scottish provinces.

Still Duncan II sought solace in the lord, and had, in recent years garnered much respect among the Christian community, and soon after the war he was voted to be Papal Controller, and despite his nations losses he gained much prestige over his valiant effort against overwhelming odds. Yet the outside world saw nothing of the reality, only what thier messengers told him. Duncan II was a feeble man only fit for menial jobs, he had inflated Scotland, yet it was more unstable then ever, and it was doomed to crash down in the future, Duncan II just hoped it was not in his reign, he could not deal with any more stress.

The former playboy of the Iberian provinces had gotten old indeed and in 1167 Duncan II became almost completely infertile.

In 1167 a vassal that had somehow sprung up near the southern tip of Iberia called for help against the Fatimids yet Duncan II knew that he would never fight again. And, despite initial gains his vassal was destroyed with no support from Scotland, and in the middle of 1168 they were on thier last legs and made a valiant stand in the captured province of the Fatimids, such spelled the deathblow to the Scots in Iberia.

In 1170 Duncan II died, some say it was old age, and some say he took poison, but the fact is one of the most inept Kings of all time had died, and no one really cared, he had lost the overseas holdings of Scotland and had reduced them to the provinces held at the start of the centry, minus some Irish provinces.

The future was not rosy for Scotland, the only heir was Duncan II's bastard with the Iberian wench. It seems that Scotland has hailed in a dark age. Yet still no word from the English. There is blood in the water and the sharks are circling. When will they strike?
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Such ends the advance of the Scots, will it mean the death of Scotland all together? Will they even get back on thier feet? Tune in next time to find out!
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Apologies for the lack of updates....had Exams, all done now....

 

[Ayeshteni]

Oh dear. The Great Scottish Venture looks a tad..... shaky.

Ayeshteni

 

[Murmurandus]

Ooops, little mistaky to maky...

 

[Slasher]

It was crazy, I was at war with no one and my rep was decent then the whole of Southern Iberia destroyed me...and Dunchad Dunkeld decided to join them...damn those evil Fatimids!

On a side note how many images can be posted in one post?

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

I believe 10 images per post.

So if you want more images then you have to make several posts.

Nice to see, that the Dunkelds are having some troubles

 

[Slasher]

Chapter 6: Malcolm the Bastard

Malcolm II was the child of Duncan II and a pretty Iberian wench in the carefree days of his fathers rule in Porto. The Scottish Monarch procedures did not care too much about legitimacy, only about the strongest heir at the time, and as the Duke of Atholl Malcolm II had this strength. His time as Duke gave him decent diplomatic saavy to keep everyone in Scotland in thier place, without the troubles of his father, who, even through his terrible ruling skills had managed to stablise the collapse of Scotland. In 1170 Malcolm II was crowned King of Scotland.

Like usual the vassals decided to be a little troublesome, as they do with every new king. In 1172 the Duchy of Oxford decided to revolt against the new king, and were crushed accordingly, this would show the rest of the vassals that he would not be lenient to those against Scotland, and annexed Northampton accordingly, so that such troubles would not occur again.

In 1175 Bohemia decided an alliance would suit both Kingdoms, Malcolm II saw no reason to deny such a request.

Malcolm II found it humourous in 1176 when a messenger from the Pope stormed into the palace pleading for a Crusade to liberate Roma, which had been taken by the heathens. How could the church possibly expect to be obeyed and battles to be fought in its name when they cannot even protect thier own lands. Yet Malcolm II was bored so decided to send a expeditionary force to Roma.

Two thousand, three hundred plus men were sent on the crusade under the persoanl leadership of Malcolm II, he was no military man but in the days he lived in Porto he would always get into scraps with local boys. Since his time in the Duchy of Atholl he had not done to much in a military sense but still yearned the fight, and he would do so for the rest of his reign.

Unfortunately by the time he reached Roma it had already been liberated, but not one to miss a good fight Malcolm II turned his attentions towards the Kingdom of Zirid.

Malcolm II was promptly defeated in the Zirid heartland in 1177, and he ran back to Scotland with his tail behind his legs and many dead lying in desert graves.

In 1179 a report was taken and nations rated, and Scotland really saw its true power in the world, hell, even some of the heathens were stronger, thier old arch enemies the Kingdom of Fatimids were one and a half times more powerful then Scotland.

As 1182 was closing down Malcolm II was once again aching for a fight, in November he called in his Marshal.

"Time for battle, prepare the troops, I will be in charge like usual."
"Against who are we fighting sir, we are at peace?"
"I don't know, who's closer, I want more land, and also feel like a bit of fighting is in order to keep our troops tough."
"Westmorland will be a good target, we don't have enough prestige to declare on Northumberland, and we are not yet strong enough to try and take on the heathens again. Yet attacking Westmorland will put us into direct confrontation with the Kingdom of Norway, and they are many times stronger than us."
"Norway is not a problem, we will beat them into submission, we shall start the attack in December."
"In the middle of winter, are you sure that is wise?"
"We are Scots, the roughest of them, a few cold days cannot stop us."

The Marshal wandered off muttering about Malcolm II's Iberian heritage. Malcolm II heard this and promised that he would prove he was a true Scot on the battlefield.

On December 2 1182 a small Scottish army had laid siege to Westmorland to gain the province and also await the rest of the Scottish army which will beat of the Norwegians who will come to the aid of thier vassal.

January 11, 1183 the province was taken yet the real battle was looming just ahead.

From June to August the Norwegian army assembled and in September they defeated the Scottish army holding Westmorland and siezed the province itself.

Yet, in November the Scottish army was assembled and like a knight in shining army Malcolm II charged into battle, November 22, 1183 was the day the two large armies met in battle. Scotland had the numerical advantage and Malcolm charged the victory home with reckless abandon.

Now all that was left to do was mopping up, and Malcolm II refused to leave his troops until the surrender of Norway. This would be his downfall as in a simple cleaning up of the remaining Norwegian forces on August 8 , 1184 ended with Malcolm II being killed charging into the fray as he usually did, but his luck had finally run out.

Through Malcolm the Bastards battles he had actually lost alot of martial skill, as he never was one for tactics, preferring to fight people as your basic soldier would do, this would leave alot of confusion among his generals, as the Martial of the armies had been stripped of his post at the beginning of the First Norwegian war.

Malcolm II desperately wanted to be known as a great man, and mentioned in the same sentence and Malcolm I and Maelbrigte. It is possible with more time he could have achieved this but his reckless lust for battle to try to give him some kind of respect from his Scottish people and acceptance among his nobles as an equal Scot proved to be his unravelling. The history books will grant him the status as one of the shortest ruling kings and a man of questionable descent. Malcolm II of Scotland, Malcolm the Bastard. Is dead and buried. The long line of bad kings continues, when will relief be granted.
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With Scotland stabilised will they be given a king who can steer them into the right direction to get them in a strong world position or will the string of bad kings continue until they are attacked by a dangerous neighbour and smashed into nothingness.
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All right, a shorter update but oh well....I think I am caught up with the other forum....so next update will be all new content!!!

 

[Ayeshteni]

Scotland at the bottom of the league tables again, eh?

Aye.