Heresy Part 4: Succession Matters
So, here's the state of the Realm as of the beginning of this part:
Large tracts of land in Iberia, North Africa, and a relatively large foothold on the Middle East. As well as Sicily. I have no religious map for you but as far as I'm aware every province and direct vassal is all well and Catholic.
The rest of King Bro's rule was, to say the least, fairly uneventful. However, there were 4 things of importance to come out of it. The first, was the betrothal of his son to the 3rd daughter of the King of Egypt, in order to secure a claim on it.
The second, and arguably more important task was that of the raising of his heir. He was already shaping up to be a good successor, but his name was too long and he shall henceforth be know as simply "Rand" (I'm also going to rename him and add a prefix to the Kingdom of Sicily in the next part)
He eventually became a Brilliant Strategist, vastly overshadowing his father in the martial arts and becoming on par to his grandmother and great-grandfather.
However, going back a few years, King Bro launched one of his 2 final expansions. This one was designed to slowly increase his land holdings in Africa through de jure conquest means.
While the Dragon Family (they'll henceforth be named as such when termed as a whole/kingdom because of their dynastic banner) had crushed the Muslims many times before, the Sultan of Al-Mawsat could still raise impressive armies, and all his holdings were of Muslim caliber. Many allies were called in, including the King of France despite his prior treachery. They mainly sent a token force, but that was to be expected considering how soundly they had been crushed. Bro only raised about a third of the realm's levies. While overall the former Mauretanians could amass men equal to a third of the Sicilian levies, their men were scattered across the land and they were not using boats. Their rally groups were torn apart before they ever posed a threat. Around a year later, the county was taken and handed off to either an unruly vassal or an al'Thor. Or both. In either case, there was one final war in Bro's reign, that arguably had the biggest impact on his realm in terms of domestic power shifting. While I don't have a screen of the actual war, I do have a screen of the Pope granting me sanction to fight it.
This sanction was then used to press a holy war claim against a single province. Why, some might ask? The answer lies in the newly created Duchy of Benevento, who needed an al'Thor to rule it. However, Bro did not want to give his existing landed family any more power than they already held. So what happened was this war, in order to gain a territory that could be handed away easily to another al'Thor who could then get the Duchy. The war was even less eventful than the one against Mauretania. How could it, when faced against a 5 county Emir. He was able to muster an impressive 5000-5600 men, but that army was crushed in a naval landing of around 7500. They lost and the war was ended then and there, though through technicality it actually lasted a few more months. The county, and Duchy, were given off to another Lews Therin al'Thor. He was relatively powerless, but that's exactly how Bro preferred the vast majority of his vassals. He died soon after, and I don't have a picture of his death, but the text was "ascended to the Kingdom of Heaven." You could've told me how he died, though it was probably through Natural Causes.
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King (aldob)Rand(ino) ascended to the throne at the tender age of 17. He however, was anything but tender. He was a Brilliant and ruthless Strategist, with a cruel streak. This alienated a few of his vassals, but it helped his fear factor. As usually happens, a succession crisis occurred. This one was not as pretty and secure as the previous ones had been. All the powerful Dukes and Duchess' plotted to usurp the throne. It didn't help that most of them were al'Thors with legitimate claims to the throne. This was rectified quickly. Rand's father, Bro, had foresight and knew that there would be immense power struggles in the near future. So, near the end of his reign, he hoarded cash and built up a massive treasury. In the span of 3-4 years, he had gone from being rather short on cash to over half of the wealth of the HRE at it's peak. This large stockpile of cash, as well as a few spare titles he had floating around served to pacify most of his vassals. Save one. The Doge of Venice had staunchly refused and sort of friendship with the new king. And so he was made the Court Jester. He would rebel soon after.
And rebel he did. He went to war in an attempt to gain independence, hoping to serve as the spark of revolution. Instead of Dukes flocking to him, he was met with silence and refusal. He quickly realized that alone, he would never win, but decided to try and resist anyway. It was a foolhardy decision. He was beaten within the span of months and imprisoned, having the jewel of his crown, Venezia, stripped from him and added to the personal demense of the King, for it was a very rich jewel indeed. Unfortunately, trouble was a-stirring. Prior to his death, Bro had made the succession law of Algiers match the rest of his Kingdom's turning it into Agnatic-Cognatic. This would come to bite him in the arse years later as the french king, outraged by this and seeing a kingdom that could've been brought into the realm leave his grasp, decided to backstab his allies in the Kingdom of Sicily and declare war again, this time claiming the throne of Algiers for his son.
It was incredibly annoying and had come at a rather poor time, as the vast majority of the realm was unskilled with war. Tam di Cefalu, one of the bastard children of Aliscia, unparallelled marshal of the realm with a martial skill of 20, had died, leaving a man with only a skill of TEN to succeed. It was a chilling portend of the state of the realm when the only good marshal was a bastard. The french, as you could see above, landed a small army in Sicily, thinking they'd have an easy time. They were wrong. A large army of 7000 men came down on them and crushed them. It then proceeded to mop up the remnants. However, at the end, only 2000 men remained. Battles and garrisons had taken their toll. However, help came from an unexpected front. A political alliance of his brother to a Croatian princess had actually secured the Croatians assistance. 2000 men marched down to Palermo to assist with the defense. About a month after that, a small army of 2000 men landed across the straight of Sicily. Smelling an easy victory and outnumbering them 2-1, King Rand decided to attack. Unfortunately, there were 3 key factors that decided the outcome of this fight. One, the inability of his own generals to do anything. Two, the 20+ stats of the french flank leaders. 3, the natural terrain was very much in their advantage. This is what caused the loss of that battle and King Rand losing one of his hands. He was maimed and from then on was known as King Rand Half-Hand (man, it's like this game is just a fan of the book series! So many references I wasn't even trying for!). However, that didn't deter rand, who attacked them again from the same side of the straight and defeated the second last french army. There was only one left, marching across the land of the HRE in an attempt to (I think at least, more on that in just a bit) attack me. A landing force of 4500 men caught them and slaughtered them. Also, funny tidbit:
Apparently the french have tamed bears for their war effort. We're all screwed.
Back on track, the lack of Frenchmen was worrying. More importantly, where were their large armies? They almost rivaled Sicily in levies. The answer came from the HRE:
The HRE was attempting to take over France. If it succeeded, this boded VERY ill for the Dragon Family. France and the HRE previously matched Sicily 1-for-1 with levies. What would happen if the two of them were forcibly merged, depriving the Dragon Family their revenge over the Capets? Complete annihilation when the HRE turned its eyes south. Fortunately, the war it seems ended either inconclusively or in a white peace. France was saved to be raped and pillaged another day by the Dragons.
Checking the ledger, I noticed I was able to raise around 23000 men. I was elated until I realized I was in second place. Poland could raise 2000 more men than me. How was this travesty possible?
Oh. Crap
Poland had absorbed Hungary and Denmark into itself. It now posed enough of a threat to the Dragon Family to begin seriously considering how to curb its power. That would come in time though, for their realm would fall apart when Heresy spread everywhere.
Now, there were of course minor details, like a super-powerful doge threatening to revolt. This was solved by sending my spymaster to establish a spy network among his courtiers and then send assassins after him. Two batches were necessary but he died and his successor was bribed to shut up and obey. Best of all, none of it was ever publicized.
And now, a recap
The total ruler score is over (9000) 25000. This is mainly due to Aliscia, who is widely renowned as the Greatest and Longest-Lived Monarch of the Future Dragon Empire. She ruled 43 years, from 26 to 69. She ruled hard but was known as the Just. She expanded the realm to approximately twice it's former size and secured alliances with the powers of Europe. She was never given the moniker, but she will always be known as 'the Great'.
Going back a generation, King Tancred inherited at the young age of 19. His father had died in Africa, far away from home to a Muslim spear. Coming to power on a shaky throne, he held the realm together, defeated the Africans, and tripled the Realm, expanding into North Africa, Jerusalem, and I believe Venezia, though that was probably Aliscia.
Even further back is the progenitor of the Dynasty. A dynasty that now has over 30 members of which roughly a third or so is landed all started from the loins of a single man and his two sons. King Rand the Dragon was known as a harsh and cruel ruler, but one who showed considerable compassion for his family and the subjects who deserved it. He expanded the small Duchy into a kingdom, adding the jewel of the Mediterranean into his demense before going to war with the Africans and dying on foreign soil.
Going ahead 3 generations, King Bonaventura was never bred for great things. He kept hoping his mother would die eventually, kept hoping to his 40's. When he finally died, he was old and was forced to turn to familicide to secure the succession. He never expected to do great things but that changed with the Holy Roman Empire turning their eyes south. Over the span of 11 years, he fought the HRE and came out victorious, showing the world that the Dragon Family is here to stay. He then died 9 years later, having done little compared to his ancestors, but he was an important ruler nonetheless.
Which brings us to our current ruler. King Rand the Second is on a shaky throne. Some of his vassals openly hate him and it is only through his relations with the other combined with his own personal riches and levies that he is able to keep them in line. In time, hopefully he can solidify his rules and lay low the great Kingdoms of Europe. Great times are coming for the Dragon Family, most of which involve infidelity, rape, murder, and general mischief like that.
Also, Aliscia was a whore. I mean, she screwed her own bastard son when she was 35 years older than him!
Religious map is in the next part. MA is about 65%. As mentioned, I will access the save files and change around Aldobrandino's name and that of his heir, as well as add a title prefix to Sicily for kicks and references.
So, here's the state of the Realm as of the beginning of this part:
Large tracts of land in Iberia, North Africa, and a relatively large foothold on the Middle East. As well as Sicily. I have no religious map for you but as far as I'm aware every province and direct vassal is all well and Catholic.
The rest of King Bro's rule was, to say the least, fairly uneventful. However, there were 4 things of importance to come out of it. The first, was the betrothal of his son to the 3rd daughter of the King of Egypt, in order to secure a claim on it.
The second, and arguably more important task was that of the raising of his heir. He was already shaping up to be a good successor, but his name was too long and he shall henceforth be know as simply "Rand" (I'm also going to rename him and add a prefix to the Kingdom of Sicily in the next part)
He eventually became a Brilliant Strategist, vastly overshadowing his father in the martial arts and becoming on par to his grandmother and great-grandfather.
However, going back a few years, King Bro launched one of his 2 final expansions. This one was designed to slowly increase his land holdings in Africa through de jure conquest means.
While the Dragon Family (they'll henceforth be named as such when termed as a whole/kingdom because of their dynastic banner) had crushed the Muslims many times before, the Sultan of Al-Mawsat could still raise impressive armies, and all his holdings were of Muslim caliber. Many allies were called in, including the King of France despite his prior treachery. They mainly sent a token force, but that was to be expected considering how soundly they had been crushed. Bro only raised about a third of the realm's levies. While overall the former Mauretanians could amass men equal to a third of the Sicilian levies, their men were scattered across the land and they were not using boats. Their rally groups were torn apart before they ever posed a threat. Around a year later, the county was taken and handed off to either an unruly vassal or an al'Thor. Or both. In either case, there was one final war in Bro's reign, that arguably had the biggest impact on his realm in terms of domestic power shifting. While I don't have a screen of the actual war, I do have a screen of the Pope granting me sanction to fight it.
This sanction was then used to press a holy war claim against a single province. Why, some might ask? The answer lies in the newly created Duchy of Benevento, who needed an al'Thor to rule it. However, Bro did not want to give his existing landed family any more power than they already held. So what happened was this war, in order to gain a territory that could be handed away easily to another al'Thor who could then get the Duchy. The war was even less eventful than the one against Mauretania. How could it, when faced against a 5 county Emir. He was able to muster an impressive 5000-5600 men, but that army was crushed in a naval landing of around 7500. They lost and the war was ended then and there, though through technicality it actually lasted a few more months. The county, and Duchy, were given off to another Lews Therin al'Thor. He was relatively powerless, but that's exactly how Bro preferred the vast majority of his vassals. He died soon after, and I don't have a picture of his death, but the text was "ascended to the Kingdom of Heaven." You could've told me how he died, though it was probably through Natural Causes.
______________________________________________
King (aldob)Rand(ino) ascended to the throne at the tender age of 17. He however, was anything but tender. He was a Brilliant and ruthless Strategist, with a cruel streak. This alienated a few of his vassals, but it helped his fear factor. As usually happens, a succession crisis occurred. This one was not as pretty and secure as the previous ones had been. All the powerful Dukes and Duchess' plotted to usurp the throne. It didn't help that most of them were al'Thors with legitimate claims to the throne. This was rectified quickly. Rand's father, Bro, had foresight and knew that there would be immense power struggles in the near future. So, near the end of his reign, he hoarded cash and built up a massive treasury. In the span of 3-4 years, he had gone from being rather short on cash to over half of the wealth of the HRE at it's peak. This large stockpile of cash, as well as a few spare titles he had floating around served to pacify most of his vassals. Save one. The Doge of Venice had staunchly refused and sort of friendship with the new king. And so he was made the Court Jester. He would rebel soon after.
And rebel he did. He went to war in an attempt to gain independence, hoping to serve as the spark of revolution. Instead of Dukes flocking to him, he was met with silence and refusal. He quickly realized that alone, he would never win, but decided to try and resist anyway. It was a foolhardy decision. He was beaten within the span of months and imprisoned, having the jewel of his crown, Venezia, stripped from him and added to the personal demense of the King, for it was a very rich jewel indeed. Unfortunately, trouble was a-stirring. Prior to his death, Bro had made the succession law of Algiers match the rest of his Kingdom's turning it into Agnatic-Cognatic. This would come to bite him in the arse years later as the french king, outraged by this and seeing a kingdom that could've been brought into the realm leave his grasp, decided to backstab his allies in the Kingdom of Sicily and declare war again, this time claiming the throne of Algiers for his son.
It was incredibly annoying and had come at a rather poor time, as the vast majority of the realm was unskilled with war. Tam di Cefalu, one of the bastard children of Aliscia, unparallelled marshal of the realm with a martial skill of 20, had died, leaving a man with only a skill of TEN to succeed. It was a chilling portend of the state of the realm when the only good marshal was a bastard. The french, as you could see above, landed a small army in Sicily, thinking they'd have an easy time. They were wrong. A large army of 7000 men came down on them and crushed them. It then proceeded to mop up the remnants. However, at the end, only 2000 men remained. Battles and garrisons had taken their toll. However, help came from an unexpected front. A political alliance of his brother to a Croatian princess had actually secured the Croatians assistance. 2000 men marched down to Palermo to assist with the defense. About a month after that, a small army of 2000 men landed across the straight of Sicily. Smelling an easy victory and outnumbering them 2-1, King Rand decided to attack. Unfortunately, there were 3 key factors that decided the outcome of this fight. One, the inability of his own generals to do anything. Two, the 20+ stats of the french flank leaders. 3, the natural terrain was very much in their advantage. This is what caused the loss of that battle and King Rand losing one of his hands. He was maimed and from then on was known as King Rand Half-Hand (man, it's like this game is just a fan of the book series! So many references I wasn't even trying for!). However, that didn't deter rand, who attacked them again from the same side of the straight and defeated the second last french army. There was only one left, marching across the land of the HRE in an attempt to (I think at least, more on that in just a bit) attack me. A landing force of 4500 men caught them and slaughtered them. Also, funny tidbit:
Apparently the french have tamed bears for their war effort. We're all screwed.
Back on track, the lack of Frenchmen was worrying. More importantly, where were their large armies? They almost rivaled Sicily in levies. The answer came from the HRE:
The HRE was attempting to take over France. If it succeeded, this boded VERY ill for the Dragon Family. France and the HRE previously matched Sicily 1-for-1 with levies. What would happen if the two of them were forcibly merged, depriving the Dragon Family their revenge over the Capets? Complete annihilation when the HRE turned its eyes south. Fortunately, the war it seems ended either inconclusively or in a white peace. France was saved to be raped and pillaged another day by the Dragons.
Checking the ledger, I noticed I was able to raise around 23000 men. I was elated until I realized I was in second place. Poland could raise 2000 more men than me. How was this travesty possible?
Oh. Crap
Poland had absorbed Hungary and Denmark into itself. It now posed enough of a threat to the Dragon Family to begin seriously considering how to curb its power. That would come in time though, for their realm would fall apart when Heresy spread everywhere.
Now, there were of course minor details, like a super-powerful doge threatening to revolt. This was solved by sending my spymaster to establish a spy network among his courtiers and then send assassins after him. Two batches were necessary but he died and his successor was bribed to shut up and obey. Best of all, none of it was ever publicized.
And now, a recap
The total ruler score is over (9000) 25000. This is mainly due to Aliscia, who is widely renowned as the Greatest and Longest-Lived Monarch of the Future Dragon Empire. She ruled 43 years, from 26 to 69. She ruled hard but was known as the Just. She expanded the realm to approximately twice it's former size and secured alliances with the powers of Europe. She was never given the moniker, but she will always be known as 'the Great'.
Going back a generation, King Tancred inherited at the young age of 19. His father had died in Africa, far away from home to a Muslim spear. Coming to power on a shaky throne, he held the realm together, defeated the Africans, and tripled the Realm, expanding into North Africa, Jerusalem, and I believe Venezia, though that was probably Aliscia.
Even further back is the progenitor of the Dynasty. A dynasty that now has over 30 members of which roughly a third or so is landed all started from the loins of a single man and his two sons. King Rand the Dragon was known as a harsh and cruel ruler, but one who showed considerable compassion for his family and the subjects who deserved it. He expanded the small Duchy into a kingdom, adding the jewel of the Mediterranean into his demense before going to war with the Africans and dying on foreign soil.
Going ahead 3 generations, King Bonaventura was never bred for great things. He kept hoping his mother would die eventually, kept hoping to his 40's. When he finally died, he was old and was forced to turn to familicide to secure the succession. He never expected to do great things but that changed with the Holy Roman Empire turning their eyes south. Over the span of 11 years, he fought the HRE and came out victorious, showing the world that the Dragon Family is here to stay. He then died 9 years later, having done little compared to his ancestors, but he was an important ruler nonetheless.
Which brings us to our current ruler. King Rand the Second is on a shaky throne. Some of his vassals openly hate him and it is only through his relations with the other combined with his own personal riches and levies that he is able to keep them in line. In time, hopefully he can solidify his rules and lay low the great Kingdoms of Europe. Great times are coming for the Dragon Family, most of which involve infidelity, rape, murder, and general mischief like that.
Also, Aliscia was a whore. I mean, she screwed her own bastard son when she was 35 years older than him!
Religious map is in the next part. MA is about 65%. As mentioned, I will access the save files and change around Aldobrandino's name and that of his heir, as well as add a title prefix to Sicily for kicks and references.
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