That Holy Roman Empire is scary. Using Germania as a buffer against the pagans while crushing fellow Christians and distracted and divided Muslims into their super-empire.
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The People of the Forest
- Thread starter Dunaden
- Start date
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Yes, I'm glad the Mongols were weakened by the time they reached my borders, but they hold a lot of ground. Tibet crushed the Muslim kingdoms that might have threatened India, basically closing the door on the subcontinent. Most of the smaller realms have been swallowed by their larger neighbors leaving mostly Empires standing. Even the few smaller scattered realms that do exist are ones that gained their independence from one Empire or the other, rather than realms that have survived the whole time.
Yes, the Holy Roman Empire is a monster, it has recovered from the spilt with Germania and grown even stronger than it was when they were unified. It is someone I can't stand up to at the moment, the switch feudal gutted my strength as most of my eastern provinces have no economy or development.
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1250 – 1254 A Little Give and Take
1250 – 1254 A Little Give and Take
Following the negotiations with Duke Chlodomer, Vechkas returned to Riga, dismissing his levys once the Steyrian gold was safely in his coffers. He found upon his return that he had missed some family news while he had been focused on the wars. His sister Putyayka had arranged marriages for her two oldest children, the twins. Tyushten, Vechkas’ nephew, had married a Uyghur refugee named Yilgun Shalçi, who had fled west during the Mongol attacks on the Uyghur Clans. His niece, Inyava had been betrothed to High Chief Eilif of Bergslagen, a few years ago, but was now married as the young High Chief had come of age. Putyayka’s youngest child Tul had become ward of Vechkas’ spymaster High Chieftess Tikshayka.
He also learned of the death of his uncle, High Chief Puresh ‘the Holy’ of Ostrobothnia (from the Great Pox it is rumored). This led to the land and titles being inherited by Vechkas’ cousin and mentor Koshel 'the Strong'. The new High Chief Koshel 'the Strong' of Ostrobothnia now had new duties and responsibilities that would prevent him from being Vechkas primary general and advisor on military matters. But this didn’t stop Vechkas from moving forward with plans already in motion.
The Merry Men had been left in Britannia for one purpose, to continue the restoration of Britannia. Claiming the Duchy of Essex had been an excellent start, next on the agenda was the Duchy of Kent, currently held by the King of England, half of his remaining lands. King Iwær ‘the Merry’ was part of the Christian Defensive pact against Urallic aggression along with the Knights Templar and a dozen more Christian realms, but Vechkas assumed, rightly, that any war would be over before any, other than the Knights, could respond. Once the war with Steiermark ended, he enjoyed a few months of peace, and then launched a new Holy War for the Duchy of Kent.
The war for Kent started with a few small skirmishes, in one the local levies rolled over Mayor Eadric of Burnham and his newly raised levys camped outside of Burnham in Bath. The Mayor himself was captured in the confusion. To the north, the Templars who had quickly pledged their support to King Iwær, came up the Thames with 5,000 men and slaughtered some recent levys in the "Battle" of St. Paul’s.
But that was just the prelude, the real Battle of St. Paul’s soon began as the Merry Men returned north to meet the Templars. The Merry Men fell upon the Knights along the muddy shores of the Thames, where the Knight’s cavalry mounts were useless and killed or captured one third of the Templars, close to 1,600 men, sending the rest fleeing East. A German knight, Liutbert Babenberger, was captured.
The Merry Men had followed after, hunting stragglers from the fleeing army near Abingdon, when the full strength of the Templar army arrived. Here the true test began as 17,000 Templars attacked the 10,000 strong Merry Men Warband. The Merry Men did not have an overwhelming victory, but they won nonetheless at Abingdon or as it also called, the 3rd Battle of St. Paul’s. The Merry Men lost 1,600 men while killing only 2,300 knights, but did succeed in driving off the larger army. They would hunt down and kill more stragglers at Farnham.
Vechkas was still in Riga at this time. He led a hunt to kill a dangerous bear, and then presided over a peijaiset held to commemorate the successful hunt of a bear and the freeing of its spirit. During the hunt he met a great hunter and warrior named Varmanpaz who Vechkas persuaded to join his household.
He set his spymaster, High Chieftess Tikshayka 'the Purifier' of Bashkira, to reminding vassals of their obligations, High Chief Samatu II of Zyriane got the spymasters message and High Chief Tutyra of Pomeralia was also reminded of his obligations.
Other news came to court Queen Chindyayka of Ruthenia had died of natural causes and her son is crowned as King Meltsayka II of Ruthenia. Cherava, Vechkas’ former lover and mother of two of his children, married Prince Dobrinya of Estonia. King Mordvinko of Norway has defeated King Stinian II of Nubia and claimed Telemark, taking it from some young girl. To the west, Grand Mayor Leofric 'the Butcher' of Hwicce died, the first ruling merchants of Hwicce. But Leofric’s son was still a boy, so a new Patrician House took control of Hwicce under Grand Mayor Rædwald of Devon. Further afield, in news from China, Emperor Jingzu Borjigin has died, Gaozu Borjigin now sits the Dragon Throne. Some good news is that he is no friend to Christians.
The news of most immediate interest was that Vechkas’ distant kinsman Viryas Kardazid has begun gathering men to try and steal one of the crown of Merya, Sarkel was pillaged by raiders on the southern boundary, and a new Catholic uprising had arisen in Szekelyföld, in eastern Pannonia.
As the Merry Men were tied up in Britannia, Vechkas once again the hired a mercenary band, the Rus Company, to deal with rebels and the raiders, as well as any Christians coming toward Riga.
Back in Britannia, the war for Kent continued. Many of the Christian world has pledged their support to King Inwær 'the Merry' of England, yet so far, only the Knights Templar have joined the battle. The Templars tried again to dislodge the Merry Men, sending 14,000 knights against the 10,000-strong warband at Lambeth to no avail, again being thrown back. The next battle at Fulham was also won against Templars, where 5,300 knights were killed, while the Merry Men lost barely a 1000 warriors. A Polish Templar knight Täbär Boyan was captured after that battle.
Then the real work began, taking control of Kent. It started with the siege and capture of Surrey, Southwark, Woking, and then Farnham in Surrey. This was followed by the taking of Selsey and Chichester, Lewes and Hastings, and finally Pevensey taken by storm in Sussex. Kent was now held Vechkas’ men.
However, this was still not enough to convince King Inwær to surrender half of his tiny Kingdom, so the war continued. After defeating the Templars again in the Battle of London, which saw only 1 in 6 knights escape, leaving over 5,000 dead, the Merry Men headed west toward the other half of the Kingdom of England. They quickly fell upon Bath, slaughtering a small army at Burnham and then swept through the various holdings, taking first Bath, then Burnham, Wells quickly followed and Bristol until finally, Cleeve falls.
King Inwær 'the Merry' of England would not have to see half of his Kingdom torn away, as he died during the last months of the war due to poor health. Instead, it would be his 13-year old son, the newly crowned King Eadwine II of England, who would be the one to receive the terms of surrender. Emperor Vechkas has won the Holy War for Kent and King Eadwine II is down to two counties in his Kingdom as he moves his capitol to Bath.
Surrey gives Vechkas a county as well as two temples and a city and Sussex gives him a county as well as two temples, a city, and a castle. Vechkas holds onto the higher county titles and Pevensey castle in Sussex for the moment, but quickly awards veterans among the Merry Men with positions and titles within Kent including the Temple of Hastings, the City of Lewes, and the Temple of Chichester in Sussex and the Temple of Farnham, the City of Woking, and the Temple of Southwark in Surrey.
Meanwhile, down in the Carpathian mountains, the Battle of Gyulafehérvár ends the Catholic revolt, with the peasant leader Araslan captured and sent in chains to Riga. As Vechkas is bleeding money from treasury, he immediately dismisses the mercenaries. The crown is once again in debt.
Queen Ælflæd of Scotland, knowing of Vechkas' financial issues, offers to help by buying the Barony of Forteviot, which is an imperial holding within in her own capitol of Gowrie, Vechkas agrees for the sum of 200 gold. He will use a substantial portion of that new gold to usurp the Duchy of Kent from the Duke Sigehelm of Ulster.
Vechkas has already decided what to do with his new lands, though his Council disapproves. Against the wishes of the Council, Vechkas grants his eldest son, 15-year old Malyaka, the newly captured Duchy of Kent including both Surrey and Sussex. The Council was against giving these lands and titles to a bastard, despite him being the Emperor’s bastard. Vechkas also arranges a betrothal of Malyaka to Valdava Kardazid, the genius daughter of Chief Shkay of Ladoga.
The two quick wars claiming Essex and Kent have frightened Vechkas' Christian neighbors and they continue to promise aid to each other, flocking to join the Defensive pact against him. But they are soon distracted by another threat. Shia Caliph Bahir II has called for a Jihad to claim Egypt… again. This will be the third Great Holy War fought for Egypt in past 50 years, first the Sunni, then the Catholic and now the Shia are fighting for that prize, currently held by King Seisyll 'the Pilgrim' of Egypt who has barely had time to get settled in.
Vechkas is focused on happier news, his betrothed, Kat Numid, has come of age, by all reports a strong, intelligent young lady. High Chief Num 'the Wicked' of Pechora brings his daughter to Riga and they marry in a grand celebration. And Vechkas collects duty to help rebuild the treasury drained by the mercenaries and the usurping of Kent.
For the first time in the 28 years of Vechkas’ reign, the Empires of Britannia and Volga-Ural finally have an Empress.
The celebrations didn’t last long. They were cut short by news from the west. In July of 1253, Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire declared war on Volga-Ural, a Holy War for Meissen. It appears the Kaiser had no interest in defending Egypt against the Shia Jihad.
Vechkas’ uncle, Warchief Tul 'the Cruel' of the Sons of Kaleva, immediately offers his support in the Holy War. The Sons of Kaleva have almost 13k men, most of them based in their home at Kremenchuk in the east. But Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire has close to 100k men.
Vechkas’ kinsman, High Chief Kichay, rules Meissen, but Vechkas has little hope he can hold it. Vechkas has no gold for mercenaries and even with the Sons of Kaleva, he can't hope to match the Germans in the field, even if his armies were fully recovered from the last war, he has less than 30k men. He will let the war play out, hoping for some opportunity, but he is not willing to waste his men’s lives when there is little chance of victory.
Back in Britannia one of the vassals of Wales, Duke Leofwine ‘the Spider' of Meath has usurped the County of Bath from King Eadwine II of England, leaving him the single county of Dorset as his Kingdom. Yet King Eadwine still refuses to accept vassalization and Vechkas' protection despite the fact that most of Vechkas’ vassals in Britannia have been allowed to practice their Catholic faith in peace.
More troubles began to plague Vechkas’ court. Chief Kardaz of Mezen murdered his spymaster, High Chieftess Tikshayka 'the Purifier' of Bashkira, her 3-year old son is now High Chief Naruchad of Bashkiria. Grand Mayor Rædwald of Hwicce accuses the court diviner, Priestess Mel'shay, of vile heresy, and Duke Eadfrith V of Lancaster used a favor to get Queen Eadgyth 'the Frog' of Wales to join all his factions, factions against the crown. Grand Mayor Rædwald of Hwicce would die of poor health before he could present all his evidence against Priestess Mel'shay ending that enquiry. Patrician Hereweard of Dorset would become the new Grand Mayor of Hwicce. Then Cherava 'the Unchaste' died of an infected wound, causing pain and grief to the two children they shared, their son High Chief Malyaka of Kent, who had just come of age, and young Tekay, Vechkas’ ward.
Less disconcerting news was that Hetman Chipaz of Bresz Kujawski has died and Vechkas has inherited the Barony. King Inzhay 'the Hideous' of Nenetsia, hearing this, immediately asked for land for his younger sons, but Vechkas declined. And one of the woman in his household, Chichayka, tries to seduce Vechkas,, but he puts her off as he is not interested in married women.
Then another war came to Volga-Ural. Vechkas’ kinsman Viryas has raised a Host of 13,000 men to try and claim the Kingdom of Merya from Vechkas. Vechkas welcomes this news, as this is a war that Vechkas can win, so he gathers the Merry Men and additional levys and goes in search of this adventurer.
He caught up with the bulk of Viryas’ Host in Polotsk and brought them to battle at Rascony. Battle of Rascony saw almost half of Viryas' Host killed and the rest put to flight. The survivors of Rascony were hunted down and caught at Daugavpils. Battle of Daugavpils saw the end of Viryas 'the Chaste's dream of claiming the Kingdom of Merya.
Returning Viryas to Riga in chains, Vchkas heard two new rumors from the furthest ends of his Empire. In the east, the Protector General has gone on the offensive, attacking Rajkumar Kalkurna, Raja of Kathmandu and heir to the Ayudha Kingdom. Is this a prelude to an Invasion of India by the Western Protectorate?
Even stranger news comes from the west, from his vassals in Ireland and southern England. Rumors of exotic strangers in weird looking ships making landfall all along the Atlantic coast, not just in Vechkas’ lands, speaking no known language, trying to buy land in exchange for obsidian beads, colorful feathers, and gold. After refusing their offers, local rulers were apparently threatened with terrible curses and the might of a great emperor from beyond the Atlantic Ocean. If this foreign Emperor does attack, hopefully his wrath will fall upon the warmer lands of the Holy Roman Emperor or the Umayyad Caliph rather than cold shores of Vechkas’ islands in Britannia.
The Roman armies marched through Meissen unopposed. With over 40,000 men in the area, still only a fraction of the Kaiser’s full strength, not even the fanatical Sons of Kaleva are willing to offer battle. The Sons of Kaleva are content to keeping the Christians from advancing deeper into the Volga-Ural Empire. There is no chance of dislodging the Christians, so Vechkas is forced to cede the Duchy of Meissen to Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire.
Following the negotiations with Duke Chlodomer, Vechkas returned to Riga, dismissing his levys once the Steyrian gold was safely in his coffers. He found upon his return that he had missed some family news while he had been focused on the wars. His sister Putyayka had arranged marriages for her two oldest children, the twins. Tyushten, Vechkas’ nephew, had married a Uyghur refugee named Yilgun Shalçi, who had fled west during the Mongol attacks on the Uyghur Clans. His niece, Inyava had been betrothed to High Chief Eilif of Bergslagen, a few years ago, but was now married as the young High Chief had come of age. Putyayka’s youngest child Tul had become ward of Vechkas’ spymaster High Chieftess Tikshayka.
He also learned of the death of his uncle, High Chief Puresh ‘the Holy’ of Ostrobothnia (from the Great Pox it is rumored). This led to the land and titles being inherited by Vechkas’ cousin and mentor Koshel 'the Strong'. The new High Chief Koshel 'the Strong' of Ostrobothnia now had new duties and responsibilities that would prevent him from being Vechkas primary general and advisor on military matters. But this didn’t stop Vechkas from moving forward with plans already in motion.
The Merry Men had been left in Britannia for one purpose, to continue the restoration of Britannia. Claiming the Duchy of Essex had been an excellent start, next on the agenda was the Duchy of Kent, currently held by the King of England, half of his remaining lands. King Iwær ‘the Merry’ was part of the Christian Defensive pact against Urallic aggression along with the Knights Templar and a dozen more Christian realms, but Vechkas assumed, rightly, that any war would be over before any, other than the Knights, could respond. Once the war with Steiermark ended, he enjoyed a few months of peace, and then launched a new Holy War for the Duchy of Kent.
The war for Kent started with a few small skirmishes, in one the local levies rolled over Mayor Eadric of Burnham and his newly raised levys camped outside of Burnham in Bath. The Mayor himself was captured in the confusion. To the north, the Templars who had quickly pledged their support to King Iwær, came up the Thames with 5,000 men and slaughtered some recent levys in the "Battle" of St. Paul’s.
But that was just the prelude, the real Battle of St. Paul’s soon began as the Merry Men returned north to meet the Templars. The Merry Men fell upon the Knights along the muddy shores of the Thames, where the Knight’s cavalry mounts were useless and killed or captured one third of the Templars, close to 1,600 men, sending the rest fleeing East. A German knight, Liutbert Babenberger, was captured.
The Merry Men had followed after, hunting stragglers from the fleeing army near Abingdon, when the full strength of the Templar army arrived. Here the true test began as 17,000 Templars attacked the 10,000 strong Merry Men Warband. The Merry Men did not have an overwhelming victory, but they won nonetheless at Abingdon or as it also called, the 3rd Battle of St. Paul’s. The Merry Men lost 1,600 men while killing only 2,300 knights, but did succeed in driving off the larger army. They would hunt down and kill more stragglers at Farnham.
Vechkas was still in Riga at this time. He led a hunt to kill a dangerous bear, and then presided over a peijaiset held to commemorate the successful hunt of a bear and the freeing of its spirit. During the hunt he met a great hunter and warrior named Varmanpaz who Vechkas persuaded to join his household.
He set his spymaster, High Chieftess Tikshayka 'the Purifier' of Bashkira, to reminding vassals of their obligations, High Chief Samatu II of Zyriane got the spymasters message and High Chief Tutyra of Pomeralia was also reminded of his obligations.
Other news came to court Queen Chindyayka of Ruthenia had died of natural causes and her son is crowned as King Meltsayka II of Ruthenia. Cherava, Vechkas’ former lover and mother of two of his children, married Prince Dobrinya of Estonia. King Mordvinko of Norway has defeated King Stinian II of Nubia and claimed Telemark, taking it from some young girl. To the west, Grand Mayor Leofric 'the Butcher' of Hwicce died, the first ruling merchants of Hwicce. But Leofric’s son was still a boy, so a new Patrician House took control of Hwicce under Grand Mayor Rædwald of Devon. Further afield, in news from China, Emperor Jingzu Borjigin has died, Gaozu Borjigin now sits the Dragon Throne. Some good news is that he is no friend to Christians.
The news of most immediate interest was that Vechkas’ distant kinsman Viryas Kardazid has begun gathering men to try and steal one of the crown of Merya, Sarkel was pillaged by raiders on the southern boundary, and a new Catholic uprising had arisen in Szekelyföld, in eastern Pannonia.
As the Merry Men were tied up in Britannia, Vechkas once again the hired a mercenary band, the Rus Company, to deal with rebels and the raiders, as well as any Christians coming toward Riga.
Back in Britannia, the war for Kent continued. Many of the Christian world has pledged their support to King Inwær 'the Merry' of England, yet so far, only the Knights Templar have joined the battle. The Templars tried again to dislodge the Merry Men, sending 14,000 knights against the 10,000-strong warband at Lambeth to no avail, again being thrown back. The next battle at Fulham was also won against Templars, where 5,300 knights were killed, while the Merry Men lost barely a 1000 warriors. A Polish Templar knight Täbär Boyan was captured after that battle.
Then the real work began, taking control of Kent. It started with the siege and capture of Surrey, Southwark, Woking, and then Farnham in Surrey. This was followed by the taking of Selsey and Chichester, Lewes and Hastings, and finally Pevensey taken by storm in Sussex. Kent was now held Vechkas’ men.
However, this was still not enough to convince King Inwær to surrender half of his tiny Kingdom, so the war continued. After defeating the Templars again in the Battle of London, which saw only 1 in 6 knights escape, leaving over 5,000 dead, the Merry Men headed west toward the other half of the Kingdom of England. They quickly fell upon Bath, slaughtering a small army at Burnham and then swept through the various holdings, taking first Bath, then Burnham, Wells quickly followed and Bristol until finally, Cleeve falls.
King Inwær 'the Merry' of England would not have to see half of his Kingdom torn away, as he died during the last months of the war due to poor health. Instead, it would be his 13-year old son, the newly crowned King Eadwine II of England, who would be the one to receive the terms of surrender. Emperor Vechkas has won the Holy War for Kent and King Eadwine II is down to two counties in his Kingdom as he moves his capitol to Bath.
Surrey gives Vechkas a county as well as two temples and a city and Sussex gives him a county as well as two temples, a city, and a castle. Vechkas holds onto the higher county titles and Pevensey castle in Sussex for the moment, but quickly awards veterans among the Merry Men with positions and titles within Kent including the Temple of Hastings, the City of Lewes, and the Temple of Chichester in Sussex and the Temple of Farnham, the City of Woking, and the Temple of Southwark in Surrey.
Meanwhile, down in the Carpathian mountains, the Battle of Gyulafehérvár ends the Catholic revolt, with the peasant leader Araslan captured and sent in chains to Riga. As Vechkas is bleeding money from treasury, he immediately dismisses the mercenaries. The crown is once again in debt.
Queen Ælflæd of Scotland, knowing of Vechkas' financial issues, offers to help by buying the Barony of Forteviot, which is an imperial holding within in her own capitol of Gowrie, Vechkas agrees for the sum of 200 gold. He will use a substantial portion of that new gold to usurp the Duchy of Kent from the Duke Sigehelm of Ulster.
Vechkas has already decided what to do with his new lands, though his Council disapproves. Against the wishes of the Council, Vechkas grants his eldest son, 15-year old Malyaka, the newly captured Duchy of Kent including both Surrey and Sussex. The Council was against giving these lands and titles to a bastard, despite him being the Emperor’s bastard. Vechkas also arranges a betrothal of Malyaka to Valdava Kardazid, the genius daughter of Chief Shkay of Ladoga.
The two quick wars claiming Essex and Kent have frightened Vechkas' Christian neighbors and they continue to promise aid to each other, flocking to join the Defensive pact against him. But they are soon distracted by another threat. Shia Caliph Bahir II has called for a Jihad to claim Egypt… again. This will be the third Great Holy War fought for Egypt in past 50 years, first the Sunni, then the Catholic and now the Shia are fighting for that prize, currently held by King Seisyll 'the Pilgrim' of Egypt who has barely had time to get settled in.
Vechkas is focused on happier news, his betrothed, Kat Numid, has come of age, by all reports a strong, intelligent young lady. High Chief Num 'the Wicked' of Pechora brings his daughter to Riga and they marry in a grand celebration. And Vechkas collects duty to help rebuild the treasury drained by the mercenaries and the usurping of Kent.
For the first time in the 28 years of Vechkas’ reign, the Empires of Britannia and Volga-Ural finally have an Empress.
The celebrations didn’t last long. They were cut short by news from the west. In July of 1253, Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire declared war on Volga-Ural, a Holy War for Meissen. It appears the Kaiser had no interest in defending Egypt against the Shia Jihad.
Vechkas’ uncle, Warchief Tul 'the Cruel' of the Sons of Kaleva, immediately offers his support in the Holy War. The Sons of Kaleva have almost 13k men, most of them based in their home at Kremenchuk in the east. But Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire has close to 100k men.
Vechkas’ kinsman, High Chief Kichay, rules Meissen, but Vechkas has little hope he can hold it. Vechkas has no gold for mercenaries and even with the Sons of Kaleva, he can't hope to match the Germans in the field, even if his armies were fully recovered from the last war, he has less than 30k men. He will let the war play out, hoping for some opportunity, but he is not willing to waste his men’s lives when there is little chance of victory.
Back in Britannia one of the vassals of Wales, Duke Leofwine ‘the Spider' of Meath has usurped the County of Bath from King Eadwine II of England, leaving him the single county of Dorset as his Kingdom. Yet King Eadwine still refuses to accept vassalization and Vechkas' protection despite the fact that most of Vechkas’ vassals in Britannia have been allowed to practice their Catholic faith in peace.
More troubles began to plague Vechkas’ court. Chief Kardaz of Mezen murdered his spymaster, High Chieftess Tikshayka 'the Purifier' of Bashkira, her 3-year old son is now High Chief Naruchad of Bashkiria. Grand Mayor Rædwald of Hwicce accuses the court diviner, Priestess Mel'shay, of vile heresy, and Duke Eadfrith V of Lancaster used a favor to get Queen Eadgyth 'the Frog' of Wales to join all his factions, factions against the crown. Grand Mayor Rædwald of Hwicce would die of poor health before he could present all his evidence against Priestess Mel'shay ending that enquiry. Patrician Hereweard of Dorset would become the new Grand Mayor of Hwicce. Then Cherava 'the Unchaste' died of an infected wound, causing pain and grief to the two children they shared, their son High Chief Malyaka of Kent, who had just come of age, and young Tekay, Vechkas’ ward.
Less disconcerting news was that Hetman Chipaz of Bresz Kujawski has died and Vechkas has inherited the Barony. King Inzhay 'the Hideous' of Nenetsia, hearing this, immediately asked for land for his younger sons, but Vechkas declined. And one of the woman in his household, Chichayka, tries to seduce Vechkas,, but he puts her off as he is not interested in married women.
Then another war came to Volga-Ural. Vechkas’ kinsman Viryas has raised a Host of 13,000 men to try and claim the Kingdom of Merya from Vechkas. Vechkas welcomes this news, as this is a war that Vechkas can win, so he gathers the Merry Men and additional levys and goes in search of this adventurer.
He caught up with the bulk of Viryas’ Host in Polotsk and brought them to battle at Rascony. Battle of Rascony saw almost half of Viryas' Host killed and the rest put to flight. The survivors of Rascony were hunted down and caught at Daugavpils. Battle of Daugavpils saw the end of Viryas 'the Chaste's dream of claiming the Kingdom of Merya.
Returning Viryas to Riga in chains, Vchkas heard two new rumors from the furthest ends of his Empire. In the east, the Protector General has gone on the offensive, attacking Rajkumar Kalkurna, Raja of Kathmandu and heir to the Ayudha Kingdom. Is this a prelude to an Invasion of India by the Western Protectorate?
Even stranger news comes from the west, from his vassals in Ireland and southern England. Rumors of exotic strangers in weird looking ships making landfall all along the Atlantic coast, not just in Vechkas’ lands, speaking no known language, trying to buy land in exchange for obsidian beads, colorful feathers, and gold. After refusing their offers, local rulers were apparently threatened with terrible curses and the might of a great emperor from beyond the Atlantic Ocean. If this foreign Emperor does attack, hopefully his wrath will fall upon the warmer lands of the Holy Roman Emperor or the Umayyad Caliph rather than cold shores of Vechkas’ islands in Britannia.
The Roman armies marched through Meissen unopposed. With over 40,000 men in the area, still only a fraction of the Kaiser’s full strength, not even the fanatical Sons of Kaleva are willing to offer battle. The Sons of Kaleva are content to keeping the Christians from advancing deeper into the Volga-Ural Empire. There is no chance of dislodging the Christians, so Vechkas is forced to cede the Duchy of Meissen to Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire.
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That is one BIG unHRE. Even worse than being married, the woman making goo-goo eyes at the emperor, was a honeybee worshiper not a reindeer worshiper. Spymasters have slightly shorter lifespans than spear-catchers at the all Volga-Ural Games. Thank you for the update.
The HRE is frightening and I am glad it only wanted a small piece this time. All sorts of foreign types fled into the EMpire fleeing the Mongols in the East, so they are willing to do much to find a new home. My spymasters continue to have the life expectancy of an Archangel in the movie Ring of Fire.
I'm not feeling inspired at the moment to write this story for some reason, need to play further ahead to find an event or thread that will pull me back into the story.
In the meantime, I am posting another short AAR to keep you entertained and clear my head. you can find it here if you are interested:
Last Chance at Valhalla
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Thank you for the update (even if in another AAR for me to read). Good luck with the writer blues.
1255 - 1258 Visitors from a New World
1255 - 1258 Visitors from a New World
Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire did not have much time to celebrate his victory over the pagans, within two months he was dead. His successor was an unusual choice. His name was Siddray Mutamin, the Duke of Baden, but while his family had adopted German culture, he was actually descended from a lord from the conquered provinces in Iberia, an older Andalusian family that had converted to Catholicism when their lands had been stripped from the Umayyad Caliphate. Even stranger was that he was a dwarf. But it seems his family’s vast wealth and influence had won over the anyone put off by Siddray’s origins or physical differences. Kaiser Siddray had also earned the nickname 'the Sword of the Lord' while fighting in the latest Crusade. One of the new Kaiser’s first acts was to complete what his predecessor had started and usurp the Duchy of Meissen titles from Chief Kichay of Lower Silesia.
Vechkas could do little about that, instead he continued to sort out some issues left over from his own latest conquest of Kent. The subsequent invasion by Viryas’ Host had distracted Vechkas from dealing with the prisoners collected in this war.
Vechkas quickly arranged ransoms of Mayor Eadric of Burnham, Baroness Eanswith of Bristol, and Sir Ecgfrith of the Knights Templar. A fourth prisoner, a beautiful Anglo-Saxon mystic named Cynechild, Vechkas took as a concubine.
In the summer of 1255, there was an unexpected development, his 14-year old son and heir was elected as the new High Chief of Sjælland. The problem was that in order to claim this inheritance, Koshel would have to swear allegiance to King Leopold 'the Usurper' of the Catholic Kingdom of Saxony and become his vassal. For the moment, as Koshel was still underage and Vechkas’ ward, he could keep the boy in Riga. But in less than two years, his son would come of age and be expected to travel to Saxony and take up his position as High Chief of Sjælland, placing the heir of Volga-Ural Empire in the hands of one of their sworn enemies. Even now one of Vechkas’ vassals was leading the Scanian conquest of Sjælland, one of Koshel’s new titles, against King Leopold. All the more reason to keep Koshel out of Saxony for as long as possible.
Vechkas main focus was to stream line the hierarchy in the Empire in order to reduce the number of vassals who reported directly to him. This reorganization would let him focus more on raising and training levies and less time spent dealing with minor problems from all across the Empire. He needed to raise the number of troops he could rely on in order to match the Holy Roman Empire’s strength. The only good news was that the new Kaiser was not a warrior and general like his predecessor, dealing more in schemes and plots, skills that which may have helped him become elected Kaiser, but did not endear him to the knights and soldiers of the Empire. This had reduced the estimated strength of the Empire by almost a third, but still gave the dwarven Kaiser almost 65,000 troops he could rely on, which was more than Vechkas’ could muster at the moment.
Working first with High Chief Hasaba of Perm, the current Voice of the Empire, he began transferring vassals from his direct control to higher ranked local vassals who could better address their concerns, and creating new titles to fill in gaps between lower ranked vassals and his court.
He started at the more distant parts of the Empire where it could taka year for messengers and responses could take a year to be exchanged. First Vechkas looked to King Pokshayka 'the Old' of Volga Bulgaria, who rested in his dungeons for joining in one of the revolts. Vechkas banished the traitor from the Empire, making his son King Tylemache III of Volga Bulgaria. To appease the new King for the treatment of his father, Vechkas transferred vassalage of High Chief Dergun 'the Cleansing Flame' to him, who was a de jure vassal, one of the complaints that had made his father turn traitor in the first place. This was followed by the transfer of additional vassals to Volga Bulgaria, Chief Orunza of Alaburga and Chief Vechkas of Khlynov.
Then at Hasaba’s urging, Vechkas created the title of the Kingdom of Perm. Hasaba obviously hoped to be receive this title as he was already High Chief of Perm, but he was disappointed and sent home to Perm to swear allegiance to his new King when Vechkas instead granted the title of Perm to the 5-year old High Chief Naruchad of Bashkiria. This made the High Chiefs of Komi, Ural, Perm and Zyriane, as well as the Chief of Izhma, vassals to the young King Naruchad of Perm. To replace Hasaba, Vechkas appointed Chief Esdem of Sibir as the new Voice.
Next, moving north, Vechkas created the Kingdom of Suomi. This he granted to Chief Shkay of Kallevesi, making the High Chiefs of Ostrobothnia and Suomi his vassals. Vechkas then created the Duchy of Skåne and granted it to Chief Viryay of Bornholm making the Chiefs of Halland and Scania his vassals. He then transferred the vassalage of the new Duke of Skåne to the King of Sweden. In the south, he also transferred the vassalage of High Chief Mordvinko 'the Tenacious' to King Surt 'the Drunkard' of Wallachia.
When all these changes went into effect, Vechkas found that by streamlining the hierarchies within the Empire and therefore dealing with less vassals directly, he was able to pull significantly more levys from those fewer, stronger vassals. His strength continued to grow as his vassals got their own houses in order. Hopefully, it would soon grow large enough to rival even the Holy Roman Empire.
Surprisingly, Vechkas found his Empire’s strength had become equal to the Kaiser Siddray’ much sooner than expected, not through a growth of his own levys, but by a sudden and drastic drain on the Holy Roman Empire’s resources. The reason for this was that world had changed suddenly and dramatically, and this new world might end up quite different from the old one.
At first, the only news he could find was that the Empire had become entangled in a war in their holdings in Africa. The story came in pieces, but apparently some unknown foreign invaders had landed on the African coast and were trying to take control of one of Kaiser Siddray’s vassal’s lands. King Dietwin ‘the Evil’ of Maghreb had called for his liege’s help against a massive army. The Christians were soon calling it the Sunset Invasion as they claimed these invaders had come from a land on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Vechkas was doubtful at first, but his advisors, as well as some of his vassals in Norway and Iceland, reminded him that some of their people had reported visiting lands far to the west, Greenland and Vinland, though they had only reported meeting savages there, not an organized realm that could threaten the Holy Roman Empire. He was also reminded of the strange visitors that had been reported in Iceland and Ireland a few years earlier.
Once he accepted that some foreign invaders had crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he began to see it as an opportunity, the Holy Roman Empire was under attack by a force that was reportedly chewing up the Christian armies, and the Kaiser was sending more soldiers to try and stem this invasion, sending them to the part of his realm that was furthest from the Volga-Ural borders. This was an opportune time to weaken Vechkas’ most powerful enemy by taking lands from them.
But as Vechkas and his Council were trying to determine the best blow to strike that would permanently weaken the Kaiser, three events would happen in quick succession that would force him to put any plans of taking advantage of the Kaiser’s troubles on hold.
The first was the rise of several powerful factions within in his own Empire, the most powerful being vassals seeking to gain independence. Most of these were either followers of the Old Germanic Gods or just border realms in the east and south, and some of the newly conquered territories in the west. Surprisingly, most of his Catholic vassals in the British Isles did not join this faction. Vechkas found himself spending gold and making promises over the next few months to try and forestall this faction from moving forward to a full-fledged revolt.
The second event was reported by his bother-in-law, High Chief Skuli 'the Hunter' of Iceland. He sent a report that a massive army had landed on the west coast of Iceland. He estimated it numbered 100,000 men, but that seemed unbelievable. The strange thing was that it appeared to have almost landed by accident. His scouts reported that the bulk of the fleet that had delivered the army had appeared to run aground and smashed against the volcanic rocks of the shoreline. A sizable fleet, almost a thousand strange ships, remained offshore, but not enough to transport this massive army. They were stranded. The foreigners salvaged their supplies and materials from the wrecked fleet and built a well-organized camp on the Icelandic coast and then just sat there. They appeared to have enough brought enough supplies with them as they were not raiding his brother-in-law’s lands for food yet they did not appear to be suffering from starvation. They appeared to be waiting for something. Vechkas feared it was a declaration of war against his Empire, so he didn’t want to commit to starting a new war with the Kaiser, when he might be fighting the same enemy shortly.
A month later, Vechkas received another report from Skuli, the foreign fleet had sailed away after approximately 6,000 men had boarded the ships. The fleet had been last seen heading south. At first Vechkas was worried they were heading for his lands in Britannia, but reports from Ireland and Cornwall confirmed spotting this strange fleet, but said that it had continued south past Brittany. The only conclusion that Council could come up with is that the fleet was heading for Africa to join the fight against the Holy Roman Empire. This seemed to be confirmed when a few months later the fleet reappeared off the coast of Iceland and another contingent of troops were loaded aboard before it turned around and sailed south again. This slow ferrying of troops from Iceland to Africa continued over the next few years. This relieved fears that these strange foreigners were planning on invading his own Empire in the near future.
The third event happened early in 1258. Tietaja Pentti called for a Great Holy War against Germania to claim the Kingdom of Bohemia from young Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia. Vechkas felt it was more important to support the spiritual leader of his faith than start a separate war against the Christians for his own gain, so he joined Great Holy War against Germania instead of taking advantage of the weakened Holy Roman Empire.
Kaiser Anselm 'the Holy' of the Holy Roman Empire did not have much time to celebrate his victory over the pagans, within two months he was dead. His successor was an unusual choice. His name was Siddray Mutamin, the Duke of Baden, but while his family had adopted German culture, he was actually descended from a lord from the conquered provinces in Iberia, an older Andalusian family that had converted to Catholicism when their lands had been stripped from the Umayyad Caliphate. Even stranger was that he was a dwarf. But it seems his family’s vast wealth and influence had won over the anyone put off by Siddray’s origins or physical differences. Kaiser Siddray had also earned the nickname 'the Sword of the Lord' while fighting in the latest Crusade. One of the new Kaiser’s first acts was to complete what his predecessor had started and usurp the Duchy of Meissen titles from Chief Kichay of Lower Silesia.
Vechkas could do little about that, instead he continued to sort out some issues left over from his own latest conquest of Kent. The subsequent invasion by Viryas’ Host had distracted Vechkas from dealing with the prisoners collected in this war.
Vechkas quickly arranged ransoms of Mayor Eadric of Burnham, Baroness Eanswith of Bristol, and Sir Ecgfrith of the Knights Templar. A fourth prisoner, a beautiful Anglo-Saxon mystic named Cynechild, Vechkas took as a concubine.
In the summer of 1255, there was an unexpected development, his 14-year old son and heir was elected as the new High Chief of Sjælland. The problem was that in order to claim this inheritance, Koshel would have to swear allegiance to King Leopold 'the Usurper' of the Catholic Kingdom of Saxony and become his vassal. For the moment, as Koshel was still underage and Vechkas’ ward, he could keep the boy in Riga. But in less than two years, his son would come of age and be expected to travel to Saxony and take up his position as High Chief of Sjælland, placing the heir of Volga-Ural Empire in the hands of one of their sworn enemies. Even now one of Vechkas’ vassals was leading the Scanian conquest of Sjælland, one of Koshel’s new titles, against King Leopold. All the more reason to keep Koshel out of Saxony for as long as possible.
Vechkas main focus was to stream line the hierarchy in the Empire in order to reduce the number of vassals who reported directly to him. This reorganization would let him focus more on raising and training levies and less time spent dealing with minor problems from all across the Empire. He needed to raise the number of troops he could rely on in order to match the Holy Roman Empire’s strength. The only good news was that the new Kaiser was not a warrior and general like his predecessor, dealing more in schemes and plots, skills that which may have helped him become elected Kaiser, but did not endear him to the knights and soldiers of the Empire. This had reduced the estimated strength of the Empire by almost a third, but still gave the dwarven Kaiser almost 65,000 troops he could rely on, which was more than Vechkas’ could muster at the moment.
Working first with High Chief Hasaba of Perm, the current Voice of the Empire, he began transferring vassals from his direct control to higher ranked local vassals who could better address their concerns, and creating new titles to fill in gaps between lower ranked vassals and his court.
He started at the more distant parts of the Empire where it could taka year for messengers and responses could take a year to be exchanged. First Vechkas looked to King Pokshayka 'the Old' of Volga Bulgaria, who rested in his dungeons for joining in one of the revolts. Vechkas banished the traitor from the Empire, making his son King Tylemache III of Volga Bulgaria. To appease the new King for the treatment of his father, Vechkas transferred vassalage of High Chief Dergun 'the Cleansing Flame' to him, who was a de jure vassal, one of the complaints that had made his father turn traitor in the first place. This was followed by the transfer of additional vassals to Volga Bulgaria, Chief Orunza of Alaburga and Chief Vechkas of Khlynov.
Then at Hasaba’s urging, Vechkas created the title of the Kingdom of Perm. Hasaba obviously hoped to be receive this title as he was already High Chief of Perm, but he was disappointed and sent home to Perm to swear allegiance to his new King when Vechkas instead granted the title of Perm to the 5-year old High Chief Naruchad of Bashkiria. This made the High Chiefs of Komi, Ural, Perm and Zyriane, as well as the Chief of Izhma, vassals to the young King Naruchad of Perm. To replace Hasaba, Vechkas appointed Chief Esdem of Sibir as the new Voice.
Next, moving north, Vechkas created the Kingdom of Suomi. This he granted to Chief Shkay of Kallevesi, making the High Chiefs of Ostrobothnia and Suomi his vassals. Vechkas then created the Duchy of Skåne and granted it to Chief Viryay of Bornholm making the Chiefs of Halland and Scania his vassals. He then transferred the vassalage of the new Duke of Skåne to the King of Sweden. In the south, he also transferred the vassalage of High Chief Mordvinko 'the Tenacious' to King Surt 'the Drunkard' of Wallachia.
When all these changes went into effect, Vechkas found that by streamlining the hierarchies within the Empire and therefore dealing with less vassals directly, he was able to pull significantly more levys from those fewer, stronger vassals. His strength continued to grow as his vassals got their own houses in order. Hopefully, it would soon grow large enough to rival even the Holy Roman Empire.
Surprisingly, Vechkas found his Empire’s strength had become equal to the Kaiser Siddray’ much sooner than expected, not through a growth of his own levys, but by a sudden and drastic drain on the Holy Roman Empire’s resources. The reason for this was that world had changed suddenly and dramatically, and this new world might end up quite different from the old one.
At first, the only news he could find was that the Empire had become entangled in a war in their holdings in Africa. The story came in pieces, but apparently some unknown foreign invaders had landed on the African coast and were trying to take control of one of Kaiser Siddray’s vassal’s lands. King Dietwin ‘the Evil’ of Maghreb had called for his liege’s help against a massive army. The Christians were soon calling it the Sunset Invasion as they claimed these invaders had come from a land on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Vechkas was doubtful at first, but his advisors, as well as some of his vassals in Norway and Iceland, reminded him that some of their people had reported visiting lands far to the west, Greenland and Vinland, though they had only reported meeting savages there, not an organized realm that could threaten the Holy Roman Empire. He was also reminded of the strange visitors that had been reported in Iceland and Ireland a few years earlier.
Once he accepted that some foreign invaders had crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he began to see it as an opportunity, the Holy Roman Empire was under attack by a force that was reportedly chewing up the Christian armies, and the Kaiser was sending more soldiers to try and stem this invasion, sending them to the part of his realm that was furthest from the Volga-Ural borders. This was an opportune time to weaken Vechkas’ most powerful enemy by taking lands from them.
But as Vechkas and his Council were trying to determine the best blow to strike that would permanently weaken the Kaiser, three events would happen in quick succession that would force him to put any plans of taking advantage of the Kaiser’s troubles on hold.
The first was the rise of several powerful factions within in his own Empire, the most powerful being vassals seeking to gain independence. Most of these were either followers of the Old Germanic Gods or just border realms in the east and south, and some of the newly conquered territories in the west. Surprisingly, most of his Catholic vassals in the British Isles did not join this faction. Vechkas found himself spending gold and making promises over the next few months to try and forestall this faction from moving forward to a full-fledged revolt.
The second event was reported by his bother-in-law, High Chief Skuli 'the Hunter' of Iceland. He sent a report that a massive army had landed on the west coast of Iceland. He estimated it numbered 100,000 men, but that seemed unbelievable. The strange thing was that it appeared to have almost landed by accident. His scouts reported that the bulk of the fleet that had delivered the army had appeared to run aground and smashed against the volcanic rocks of the shoreline. A sizable fleet, almost a thousand strange ships, remained offshore, but not enough to transport this massive army. They were stranded. The foreigners salvaged their supplies and materials from the wrecked fleet and built a well-organized camp on the Icelandic coast and then just sat there. They appeared to have enough brought enough supplies with them as they were not raiding his brother-in-law’s lands for food yet they did not appear to be suffering from starvation. They appeared to be waiting for something. Vechkas feared it was a declaration of war against his Empire, so he didn’t want to commit to starting a new war with the Kaiser, when he might be fighting the same enemy shortly.
A month later, Vechkas received another report from Skuli, the foreign fleet had sailed away after approximately 6,000 men had boarded the ships. The fleet had been last seen heading south. At first Vechkas was worried they were heading for his lands in Britannia, but reports from Ireland and Cornwall confirmed spotting this strange fleet, but said that it had continued south past Brittany. The only conclusion that Council could come up with is that the fleet was heading for Africa to join the fight against the Holy Roman Empire. This seemed to be confirmed when a few months later the fleet reappeared off the coast of Iceland and another contingent of troops were loaded aboard before it turned around and sailed south again. This slow ferrying of troops from Iceland to Africa continued over the next few years. This relieved fears that these strange foreigners were planning on invading his own Empire in the near future.
The third event happened early in 1258. Tietaja Pentti called for a Great Holy War against Germania to claim the Kingdom of Bohemia from young Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia. Vechkas felt it was more important to support the spiritual leader of his faith than start a separate war against the Christians for his own gain, so he joined Great Holy War against Germania instead of taking advantage of the weakened Holy Roman Empire.
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It seems like Germania is on its way out...and this isn't good news for the People of the Forest if it means that it'll be consolidated back into that HRE.
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I’ll admit… I didn’t see THAT coming. And I like the somewhat peaceful landing in Iceland. Imagine it going something like:
“Who are you?”
“We’re here to sacrifice Christians to our gods on bloody altars, pillage their riches and take their women as ours!”
“We do that too! Have some salmon!”
“Who are you?”
“We’re here to sacrifice Christians to our gods on bloody altars, pillage their riches and take their women as ours!”
“We do that too! Have some salmon!”
Then again, if the Empire is to be broken by the Aztecs, them earning back a few more kingdoms to shore up the defences might not be the worst case. A buffer state between the Sunset invader and the People!
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Hopefullly most of the event troops will have perished before the People of the Sunset and the People of the Forest meet Thank you for updating.
Germania and the Holy Ropman Empire are such a twiested mess, each containing pieces and parts of Kingdoms and Duchies throughout Rurope and Africa, that it will take decades to tear them apart from the outside piece by piece, the only way they will die fast is internal independence wars.
Yes, pagans just seem to get along better than the more organized religions with more rules to break. As I mentioned above, The Holy Roman Empire, and the Volga-Ural Empire for that matter, are too large to be taken in one bite, it'll take a while to chew through them,
This first war between the Aztecs and the Holy Roman Empire lasts for years, much blood will be spilled.
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