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I, Otto von Nordheim, by the grace of God Duke of Bavaria, Count of Kempten and Oberbayern do solemnly place my seal upon this treaty and shall abide by its terms on pain of excommunication.
 
Sancho Jimenez, Rex Hispaniorum, King of Navarra, Aragon, Leon and Castille, congratulates both parties - Bavaria for getting Saxony back into the Holy Roman Empire, and Saxony for redeeming themselves. :)
 
X Olaf Yngling, King of Norway and Sweden, the Wends and the Goths. His mark. Witnessed this day, third after Michaelmas, year of the Lord 1087, by Geir Jonsson.
 
I, Borivoj Premyslid, by the grace of God Duke of Bohemia and Moracia, Count of Praha do solemnly place my seal upon this treaty and shall abide by its terms on pain of excommunication.
 
The Bagratuniad:

The Long Death of Bagrat Bagratuni:

While Bagrat IV was by no means poor in great deeds, nor deprived of great events to define him, it is only his death for which he is particularly remembered in the modern age. Though to give him his due, he did find an interesting way to meet his maker.

According to the story, on the Christmas of 1066, the King struck out towards the mountains of what was then the North of the country, determined to enjoy what hunting the season would allow. Apparently, this was rather little, and as evening drew near the King and his party, by this time tired and grumpy, decided to make camp in a small valley that was sheltered from the harsh winter winds by a stark granite ridge. But sleep would meet with no greater success than the previous days hunting, for:

"...half-way through the second watch of the night, there was a great flash, such that it seemed as if we were illuminated by a bright summer's sun, the clouds seemed to boil, and as they parted, my skin prickled as if sun-burned. For a moment, I could see my own bones, glowing redly within my skin. A great roar, like the trumpets of judgement day, overtook us, and in fear I prostrated myself on the ground, lest the army of God take offense at my sinful life. Then the whole Earth seemed to buck, smashing by body as hard as the kick of a horse, and like many of the men, I was insensate for a time. My next clear recollection, is the light of dawn coming at us over the mountain, for a moment, I did not realise what had happened, then I saw: like a loaf of breat met with a great mallet, the entire East flank of the mountain was stove in. By that time, the King was already long gone." -excript of the testiment of Smbat the large-nosed, King's huntsman

By the time the huntsmen found the King, many were already starting to feel somewhat ill, though the King was filled with an expansive energy, excited by what he had found in the crater on Mount Dzhimara, he drove them to return to the capital by the most direct path, ignoring the protestations of his party.

By the time King Bagrat arrived back in Kutaisi, some of his companions could barely stay on their horses, and many were afflicted by the same strange burn on some portion of their skin. Even the King, for all his energy, had a gaunt and sickly look. The story holds that when he went to greet his wife, she did not recognise him until after he had embraced her.

After a days rest, he gathered his court and his hunting party, informing them that he would die, and soon, as, in all likelyhood, would those who had hunted with him that day. For they had all had a brush with the divine, and their bodies, stained in sin, were doomed thereby. But God was not unmerciful, and he had been given a mission, not only for himself, but for all of Georgia, by which heaven might be attained.

Within a few weeks of the King's return, all of the huntsmen would indeed die, carried away by the same strange malady. The King himself grew gradually worse, yet somehow, despite the terrible sickness, he would write three books: The Will and Testiment, in which he gave guidance to his successors, particularly his son Grigori; The Conversation on Dzhimara, recording his purported conversation with an Angelic being; and Christian Morals, a commentary on morality and the meaning of being a Christian.

When Bagrat finally died in the early months of 1067, his wife is said to have cried in joy, saying: "At last, God is satisfied with his work, and released him from his suffering." The 13th century chronicler Basil of Theodesos, quoting a now lost work, reported Bagrats last words were: "You're five years early."

Immediately after his death, Bagrat was acclaimed as a servant of God, paving the way to his eventual confirmation as a saint in the mid 13th century, though the cult of Saint Bagrat was established well before patriarchal confirmation of his status as such.

While a modern historian cannot give credence to the superstitions of an age of ignorance, there is no doubt that even if one discounts the idea of Bagrat actually recieving an angelic visitation, something amazing did that place. Firstly, before that fateful Christmas, for all Bagrat was evidently a skilled war-king and competant diplomat, there is nothing to presage his output of frankly insightful writings (indeed Gabriel Sefareli would comment on exactly this point in his own commentary of Bagrat's writings, writen within a decade of Bagrat IV's demise). Secondly, one of the starkest differences between Bagrat's reign and that of his son, Grigori, is the lack of internal threats. As M. Ambrose suggested in his paper "The Mausoleums of 11th Century Kutaisi", there is a chilling intersection between the legend of Bagrat's last hunt, the quiescence of Georgian court politics for a generation after, and the unusual number of noble mausoleums for people who died between January of 1067 and April of 1067. Thirdly, there are a series of uncanny predictions in the Testiment, most notably of the Mongol invasions in the 13th Century...

But while we can say that certainly something happened to Bagrat and his hunting party, there is still no solid evidence for what, exactly, that was.


btw, I'd like it if you could de-stress Eprem for my AAR reward please (he's one of Grigori's bastards).


fasquardon
 
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Well this is my arr for session one and two. First thing first my goals for the first seesion are.

1. have fun = done
2. learn how to player mp better = ? u guys tell me
3. become king of Bohemia = yes and no
4. invade poland and take land = yes

2nd session
1. have fun =done
2. learn how to player mp better = ? u guys can tell me
3. invade silesia and get some land = no
4. invade silesia and get them to drop claim on duke of bohemia = yes
5. ally with Duke of Bavaria = yes

lets start off with this my first mp game and one of my few ck games and first dk game. my first ruler was Borivoj Premyslid. He had lots of kid first off. He was a vassle germay and because germany was puting bohiemia into dept -~560 i joined with Norway. After some time of building up my $$$ become king of Bohemia which was a huge mistake. When i was at war with poland i was attacked by bavaria and germany. I quickly made peace with poland i gained 2 areas and one i gave to silesia. Bavaria i made peace by giving them cheb. Germany would not be bought off and i ending give my heir to be all the land i had under my rule in hope i would still have a bohiem to play as and it worked.
session gains and lose:
cheb war lost to bavaria
usti nab laben and plzen lost to germany
gained krakowstie and cieszyn war with poland
give cieszyn to silsia

notes:
1.leaveing hre bad idea
2.should have got the duke of moravia tile right way used it to put claim on opole and attacked silesia and gained all 3 areas and duke tile.

session 2
well i am the duke of bohemia and moravia now. not a lot done did ally with bavaria and rejoined hre. I attacked silesia and had them drop their claim on my duke of bohiem.'

gain and loses : none

notes: none

if i could get the 150 gold pls thank u
 
All right, strategy timeout again. I'm sure my character-based stuff will catch up eventually. Anyway, this session (eight years) was completely dedicated to war. In particular, to subduing Sweden. I mentioned last week that I wasn't totally enamored of being able to make two claims and be six provinces closer to a Usurp Title, but it turns out Johan was ahead of me. Sure, you can force Swedish Dukes to submit - but when you do, they tend to become surly and Rebellious, and then you have to re-subdue them just when you're using their troops to besiege the last remaining province of the Swedish King. It took me seven years of hard campaigning to get to the point where I finally controlled 14 Swedish provinces. I really did get the feeling of trying to occupy a rebellious and unfriendly countryside, having to rush troops hither and yon to deal with the latest rising against my rule. As a simulation of feudal warfare, it is truly excellent! I smash Uppland, I leave the Duke in place because not doing so would piss off everyone else (in game terms, I'd get badboy I seriously did not need a that point), I go off to crush some other rebellious duke - I come back in two years and find that Uppland has rebelled again. In the end I did conquer Sweden, but only at the price of massive stability loss (currently at -3, ouch) and Brittany rising against me. I'm not totally sure I'll be able to re-subdue them, either; my regiments are very badly depleted indeed, by this time. Twenty years will by no means be too much for recovering from this little lot.

Meanwhile the diplomatic picture elsewhere has shifted. I now have a rival in the Baltic, Denmark, played by Sterkarm. Who, incidentally, has grabbed up parts of Sweden that clearly belong to me. (Kalmar Lan, I'm looking at you.) Fortunately he seems to have run himself into somewhat the same kind of trouble as me with his rapid and massive expansion, and like me he is dealing with the tail end of a civil war and Realm Duress. It remains to be seen whether we can reach an accommodation, or will have to fight a grinding war to settle who is top dog in the Baltic. At the moment I'm prepared to be accommodating, and so I suspect is Sterk; neither of us is in any shape for further warfare, thanks kindly.

Issues elsewhere are troubling: Leon continues expanding, by now controlling most of the Italian peninsula and enough of France to almost link up its two domains by land. But treaty of Wurttemberg or not, I'm just not in shape to do anything about it. Also, Scotland has (quietly, quietly, and very skillfully) maneuvered his heir into Kingship of England. He doesn't say much, Cuthu, but clearly he knows how to play! He's about to unite the British Isles at one stroke, unless someone can do something. And that someone is not going to be me, I can't fight even an AI England, much less a human one.
 
Too bad, I'm sure KoM will come out top dog eventually ;)
As for the rest of you guys, good playing, just love to see RP :)
 
The Duchy of Bavaria - Session 3 Part 1

Yet another Part 1, Part 2s will follow eventually!

Crikey what a session - I've ended up more-or less where I wanted but not how I expected to do so, it remains to be seen whether that is good or bad...

Even before the session started things had gone awry. My basic plan was to march on Holland, secure a lightning victory then march on Paris to finish it off and get out of the war before getting bogged down. Finally, once clear of my war with France and my (68 year old) duke in the grave I'd march to the aid of Bohemia who wanted to punish Silesia for getting an overly generous peace. This is where things got unstuck - looking at Bohemia I could see he had a truce with Silesia which would have made that a bad option considering only one province was at stake. My suggestion was to have been that Bohemia attacked Mecklemburg and Stettin whilst I took Holland, once free my troops would help him clear up any resistance (which would have been limited as the troops from these provinces were off fighting Norway and Saxony at that point). This is where things came unglued though as Bohemia's PMs were full so my message to attack the pagans never arrived!

As it turned out I don't know what happened to Silesia as then the next thing went wrong. I mobilised my vassals troops (my own troops were in the service of the Emperor - as planned) leaving just the Count of Nürnberg who was the rival to my heir so that I could dispossess him before my heir took over. Disaster struck - Nürnberg refused to give up his title twice, bleeding me of prestige. Then, before my Duke's armies reached Holland he died! I'd gone through the scenario using the save probably at least 20 times and in none of them did these two events happen - argh! Luckily my heir was at the head of my full army at this point and we declared war on Holland and crossed the border, as expected France declared war on me. Now, it turns out Lower Lorraine also had his sights on Holland and I hadn't realised there was a human player there (big error on my part) - but not to worry, I knew from my trial runs that nothing could stop me getting those provinces (I had expected Germany to attack Holland if I left it too late reaching the border) so I thought I was safe. And indeed Holland fell to a combination the troops from me and Lower Lorraine - but I had more troops and my Duke was there so provinces were going to me. Success! Crash to desktop! Corrupted Saves! Argh!

OK, so we've rewound and my original Duke is alive again and my troops are on the march - but Lower Lorraine now knows what I'm up to, I no longer have the initiative and he declares war on Holland before my troops arrive. As my Duke is now alive and off somewhere else fighting on behalf of the Emperor I can't even 'steal' the sieges, so I'm forced to threaten Lower Lorraine (definitely not in the plan!!!). Fortunately we avoid coming to blows and I allow him to take both of the richest counties and the duke title, and he allows me a single county on the coast (which is enough to make the war worthwhile). Lorraine had the upper hand there so I was quite lucky really - although Lorraine isn't strong enough to withstand a long-term vendetta from me so I guess it was the right decision.

Now we come to the next thing that went wrong - not having the troops from the richest Dutch provinces my Army of the North is much, much smaller than I was expecting at this point. Still, I have just enough to take Paris - so off we go. A bit of careful manoeuvring and I side-step the French armies allowing them to come into contact with the Imperial troops that the King of Germany has sent. I reach Paris and lay siege, its walls begin to crumble, its citizens to starve. My leader goes to bed looking forward to marching through the gates of Paris in the morning, but wakes up to find all my vassals have gone home! Gah! The siege now turns against me and with my tiny force it becomes inevitable that the French army will reach me before I can force terms - this happens and after a variety of defeats and inconsequential skirmishes I'm forced to abandon France and disband my forces.

My vassals' troops are much depleted after so long at war, but my ally Bohemia needs some assistance in finishing off Silesia (now controlled by the AI) which presumably he declared war on at some point. I muster a ragtag band and send them around the main battlefields and into Silesia's rear province. Finally though, my Duke dies and I take the opportunity to reclaim my forces before pledging once more to the Roman Emperor. Also, I pray that Germany will make peace with France (which it does eventually, thanks be to God) and assess my situation.

My vassals' forces have been torn to shreds, but I've survived my succession without any rebellions from my vassals. Up to this point I've marshalled my resources almost perfectly, I have major road networks in both my core provinces and at its peak over 1,000 gold in the bank - all despite a very serious and costly war. I have one extra province for my adventure in the West. My prestige isn't too bad, but much lower than I was expecting to have at this point after (in my practice runs) taking Holland and defeating France. My last session was pretty static, and I can't afford to let this one end in the same way - time is running out so I have to act!

Now that I have my core armies again I can mount one more major operation. Mecklemburg has now been taken by Denmark, so that's out. I am however still at war with the Cumans, making Stettin (a vassal of the Cumans) a natural target. I have the most developed siege technology in the known world so a lightning march is in order - I do this, and clear the pagans from the shores of the Baltic in short order. In agreement with one of the other players (not actually sure who :eek:o ) I leave the final pagan I'm at war with after knocking it out and wait for the expected peace with the Cumans. It comes and finally the brave Bavarian troops who have seen almost 10 years of continuous, brutal and hard fought warfare against superior forces can return home victors.

Like Norway and Denmark I face internal dissent (due to a stupid selection by me on an event right at the very end), but I think I can weather it - certainly I don't face any imminent rebellions. Finally...the session closes and I can breath easy once more.

So - where do I stand? First off - my aim in keeping the HRE intact and Bavaria an influential member has been overwhelmingly successful. Beyond that though, I now control the Southern Baltic shores. This is excellent, but I had hoped to be in control of Holland with Bohemia sitting where I am now - not in the plan, but I'm not complaining. Denmark owes me a debt of 200 gold, and I hope that he will return the favour (and my 200 gold!) one day - this is also very good. I'd much rather have an ally than be claiming land left-right-and-centre. My lands are fairly prosperous, I have major road networks in Kempten and Oberbayern. This has given me advanced siege technology compared to my neighbours, which means an attack on me is risky. The downside is that in offensive terms I'm totally crippled until I restore my vassals' confidence in me.

And the risks are certainly out there: England is about to inherit Scotland. León hasn't met any serious opposition yet and has been consolidating its gains successfully. Survival (in competitive terms at least, I don't think a direct assault is likely) for me, Norway, Saxony, Denmark, Bohemia and Lower Lorraine is going to depend on diplomacy. So, some sort of treaty is even more urgent than ever before...I'm now formal allies with Bohemia and Lower Lorraine so we have the beginnings of solid mutual defence pact at least - I just pray that it holds together and we can bring some more people in.

Have fun
Finn
 
King of Men, this Yngling business is really intriguing and makes me want to read your previous threads to see just how such a family/organization could come about. I got this real Draka vibe from it.

Everyone else, please do keep it up! Though some maps would be pretty nice.
 
I confess to a fairly large amount of Draka inspiration, yes. Although the Ynglings, being part of a long-running MP game, don't have the author on their side. :D Anyway, by all means do read the Great Game AAR linked in my sig, it's nice background for this one and also, I dare to hope, not too bad in itself.
 
The Ynglings did have the Prince of AARs on their side, though (which meant they could have the "Free People "slider all the way up to its most liberal end and still be ruled by a psycho dynasty of dynastic supremacists). You did fantastic work on the Great Game AARs, although I am so sick and tired of the Ynglings and sincerely hope this is not going to be a repeat of the last run in style. :D
 
Well, hey, the Ynglings are the freest people in the world! They just happen to be free people who are also psycho dynastic supremacists. As for the strils, who cares if they're free or not? They'll do as they're told, or else! Anyway, my Freedom slider climbed away from serfdom pretty proportionally to the growth of the Yngling population. :)

And hey, if you're tired of them, imagine how I feel about the fascist swine. At least you can stop reading if you like. :p
 
The Last Will and Testament of Heinrich von Nordheim

To His Imperial Majesty, King of Germany, Burgundy and Italy, Rightful Roman Emperor, Duke of Luxembourg, of Swabia, of Austria and of Upper Lorraine, Count of Luxembourg, Franken, and Pflaz, Count of Bologna, Livorno and Genoa, Count of Plzen and Mantua, Heinrich von Franken I - Heinrich von Nordheim by the grace of God and the force of arms Duke of Bavaria and Pommerania, Protector of Holland, Count of Kempten, Oberbayern and Stettin - do hereby, before all my vassals as witnesses and in front of the world, present to you my final will and testament.

Since our ancestors travelled from Troy to defeat Brutus and the Philistines, carrying with them the relics of Saints Odo and James we have stood together. It is to you therefore that I turn in my hour of gravest need. Of late my enemies have hatched a plot of lies against me, claiming that I withheld moneys from the Holy Church - the chest of Gold beneath my bed was not mine, but placed there by a noble knight recently returned from the Crusades - which explains its eastern aroma, which contrary to the opinion of the Papal Legate does not smell of incense. Truly I intended to donate this money to charitable causes the very next day. Also the documents commissioning a new tourney ground and tapestries for my castle bearing my seal are clearly forgeries. My new cloak - a wonderful gift from a loyal retainer who does not wish to be named lest he is seen as currying favour with his Lord. Nonetheless these lies have been allowed to propagate to His Holiness, Bishop of Rome, the Successor Peter, Pope Landone and I now find myself excluded from the Mother Church under the ban of excommunication.

Therefore in this time of dread danger to my house and kin I bequeath my lands, titles and all my possessions such as I have been able to gather to my noble brother and successor Siegfried von Nordheim, Count of Foggia on the moment of my death. Should through ill-fortune my titles pass to another then I and on behalf of my heirs and successors to bequeath one tenth of my annual income for ten years and also the title and claims of Pommerania and my undoubted everlasting loyalty to those that restore my line to the Ducal seat of Bavaria. Should, oh woe of woes, my house be extinguished then it is my wish that you oh noble Lord, successor to and equal of Solomon in wisdom, see that my beloved Bavaria retains its independence and is placed under whomsoever you see fit to rule.

I place my seal, as do my witnesses, on this the 29th day of December in the year of grace ten ninety-four and place this document in your hands as one last filial request from your loyal servant.

May God keep us all

OO Seals of Bavaria and Pommerania
O Seal of Foggia
O Seal of Innsbruck
O Seal of Tirol
O Seal of Niederbayern
O Seal of Slupsk
O Seal of Marienburg
O Seal of Salzurg
O Seal of Danzig
O Seal of Cheb
O Seal of Nürnberg
O Seal of Westfriesland
 
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Ynglinga Saga

1. Olav ruled Norway alone after the death of his brother Magnus. Olav was a tall and well-shaped man; all say that none has seen any man with a more beautiful or a nobler aspect. He had golden hair which fell handsomely to his shoulders, sharp eyes and powerful limbs; he was for the most part quiet, and no speechmaker at Ting. But at feast he was merry, glad of drink, talkative and kind-spoken.

The saga in OTL goes on to say that he was a peaceful man as long as he ruled Norway. Well, we can't be having with that!

2. At this time Geir Jonsson comes into the saga. There are many tales told of him, but there is little said about his family or birth. Some say that he was stolen by trolls as a youth, and fostered on their milk; for all the tellers agree that he was uncommonly large and strong, and swift as a wind in all sport and battle. A week after Yule in the year after King Harald had met his bane in England, Geir came to King Olav's court, which was wintering in Bergen. There he asked to join the King's hird; but King Olav answered "As you are a large man, you would surely eat for two. Can you also fight for two?" Then Geir replied, "Sire King, choose three men of your hird, and let them wrestle; and we shall see who is standing at the end." But the King said it would be unfair to take three men, when he had only asked for two; and he chose the two best wrestlers in his court, Ketil Amundsson and Torvald Store, and bade them try the newcomer's worth. This he quickly showed; for he threw both men to the ground in such a short space that it seemed to all present that he had used magic. Then the King took him into his guard, and gave him a golden ring; but this he later gave to Torvald Store, so that there would be no feud between them.

This bit we've already seen from Geir's perspective. Now for some news.

3. Now there is to tell of Geir that he soon showed himself to be the most skilled weapon-bearer in the court; neither at sword-play, archery or spear-casting was there any to compare with him. Nor was there any great mystery to this; for every day, from prime to sext, he could be found practicing his weapon-craft. Some laughed at this, and said it was foolish to spend so much time on a single skill; but most admired his dedication, and he soon became name-strong. After a while some of the younger men of the hird began joining Geir for weapons practice; and although he showed himself a stern taskmaster, he was not loathe to teach them all his tricks and feints. "For," he said, "in battle all may depend on the man to your side, and it is well if he is a strong warrior; it is foolish for any man to withhold his teaching from his own comrades, even though he may thus remain the foremost man in their band." Thus their skills grew rapidly, although there were still none who could match Geir for simple strength and size, and he therefore remained the foremost man of his hands in the court.

That'll teach 'em to sit about drinking all day!

4. Of King Olav it was said that he was a peace-willing man, little given to quarreling with his neighbours; and also there had fallen at Stamford Bridge so many of Norway's best men that there were few who thought it good to arm for further war. But Geir Jonsson was not of this mind; often he spoke to the King of the need to restore Norway's glory by some great feat of arms. At last the King tired of his badgering, and said, "Very well; if you are so minded for war, I shall give you ten ships, and you may take them where it pleases you." To this Geir responded : "That is well spoken, and worthy of a son of Harald. I shall take the ships to Brittany, and join the King of Scots in his campaign there; and I think much good for Norway will come of this."

Thus Geir outfitted ten ships; and Magnus, the king's brother, also sent five ships, and another five came from various parts of the land, outfitted by young men who wanted a part of the booty; for at this time it was still the custom in Norway to go in west-Viking. They sailed for Brittany in the spring, and had good winds all the way. Upon landing, they found that the war-arrow had passed through the country, and most of the men were fighting the King of Scots further to the west; therefore they were able to take a rich tribute from the towns in that land. Now there were some in the host who said that they had done well, and wished to go home and enjoy their wealth; but Geir said, "I'll not have it said of me that I sailed in Viking, and came home with my sword still dry. I will go west, and try my luck there; but those of you who wish to leave, may do so." At this there was some muttering in the host, but no man wanted to look a coward in front of his fellows; and so the end of it was that they marched west as Geir had said.

Now after they had marched for some days, they came upon an army going east. The chief of that band was Hoel Jarl, who in that time was ruler in Brittany. When he saw Geir's host, he sent to inquire who was its leader. Geir named himself, and they held parley; there Joel said "Now I see there are three times as many Bretons as Norse on this field; so I think it is right that I should judge the case between us, so we may have peace. Now these are the terms I will give you: You shall pay me all the treasure you have taken from my lands, but you shall have surety of your lives and limbs, providing only that you go back to Norway and give oath never to return." Then Geir said, "Those are hard terms; I do not think we are so few men here that we need to take up such an offer." But Hoel held to his terms, and the end of it was that they parted with no peace between them, and each prepared his men for battle.

Now Geir gathered his chief men around him, and spoke thus: "It is true that the Bretons have more men than we do, but that is not all the tale. For I see that many of their men are wounded, and many others are not well armed; I think that the Scots have given good account of themselves, even if they were perhaps driven from the field. Here is what we will do: We will array ourselves in swine-fylking; I shall take the point, and you Torvald and Harald Unge follow me. When we advance, be all silent until I give the signal; but then set to the worst war-cries you know; I see many youths in the Breton host, and it may be they will not be too eager to advance against the Norse. We will aim for Hoel's banner, and break his shield-wall there. Once we have defeated his best men, the rest will flee. Those of you on the outside of the fylking must hold up your shields and run towards his line as hard as you can; it's not swords but shields will win this day for us."

Now when it came to the battle, it went as Geir had said: The Norse host advanced in silence, but when they were only a dozen paces from the Breton line they gave a terrible cry, and those at the front said they could see a great shock run through the Bretons. Then they ran at the shield-wall, and pushed the front men aside with their own shields, breaking into the line; Geir fought at the front with a huge axe, so heavy that no other man could wield it, and wherever he struck a man fell. After this the axe gained the name Man-biter. So he came to Hoel's banner-man, and slew him; and when the Breton banner fell the whole host ran, and many were killed.

After this Hoel was brought before Geir, who spoke thus: "Now I think it is I who shall be judge of the dispute between us. Will you take mercy from my hands, and let me decide; or would you rather go to your death still at feud?" And Hoel agreed to peace on these terms. So Geir said, "Here is my judgment. You, Hoel, shall take your lands and hold them as a fief of my master King Olaf, and each year you shall send him a tithe of the land-tax; but in exchange, I shall give you back half of the booty I took from your towns." And this was agreed, and sworn on iron.

Now when Geir returned to Norway from this faring, King Olaf asked him how it had gone; and when he heard the tale, he was greatly pleased, and gave Geir a rich farm for his own, and also the stewardship of Viken. And after this he was much inclined to listen when Geir counseled war; for he was eager to emulate his father Harald, and become a renowned warrior and king. Of this we shall hear more later.

Oh yes, we most certainly will! Just for one thing, I'm currently campaigning to remind comrade Hoel of what he agreed to. Somehow vassals who are forced in this manner to swear on iron have a tendency to unswear by the same iron a little later. But, as the saying goes, are we not Ynglings? We know how to deal with that. :D
 
The Bagratuniad:

Bagrat's Angel:

"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it..." (Isaiah 2:2)

Bagrat's Angel, also called the Dzhimara Entity, or the Hermit of Dzhimara, is an oracular figure of profound influence on Georgian political and social evolution. The Angel occupies a key position in the Georgian world view that evolved in the late 11th century and early 12th, being the raison d'être for the Bagratuni propheteocracy that evolved from the earlier Georgian monarchy, and also for the conciet of chosen-ness that infused the Georgian Nation during the same period (see also: the Davidic myth).

Strictly speaking, niether the cult of St. Bagrat, nor the wider Georgian church, hold Bagrat's Angel to be an angel at all, but rather a human soul of angelic aspect. (Such distinctions were not carried over into the folk myth, however, hence "Bagrat's Angel" has become the common parlance.) According to the official myth, Bagrat's Angel was from Parousia, where it - held to have no body, and thus no gender - lived an idylic existance, until, by the actions of "those who sleep in the dust of the earth", the Restoration was put in peril, and the Angel was forced to descend to Earth, where it sought out the wisest and strongest of the sons of David, Bagrat Bagratuni, to give his sons and grandsons the mission of preserving the proper cosmic order. This is perhaps the most confused plank in the legend of St. Bagrat, as concepts like Judgement Day and Parousia are used more as if they are places than eras, which is the general usage, furthermore, the identity of "those who sleep in the dust of the earth" is exceedingly vague, to quote "The Conversation":

Bagrat: Then who are these men of dust? And why to they seek to overthrow Christs dominion?
Angel: Men of dust and mud, who can guess at their purpose? Do they even know what they do?
Bagrat: How can they not know what they do?
Angel: Can you name every sin you have made, and against whom you made it? Even men of light and tide cannot count all their sins. The worst sins are always made while a man is looking in the wrong way.
Bagrat: So they will destroy the Restoration by looking in the wrong way?
Angel: Maybe.
Bagrat: Maybe?! This is the great mission my people must do? _Maybe_?
Angel: Maybe is the hardest of missions, the easiest to stray. And a thousand maybes might change a world while you sleep.
Bagrat: But the Bible says Christ will come again, by the will of God, as sure as night follows day.
Angel: Yes, the will of God is sure. But what of men? Does Christ's restoration matter if all mankind has died from the Earth?
Bagrat: This can be done?
Angel: Sadly.

In other words, there is no strong moral antagonist built into the cult of St. Bagrat, and while some folk traditions have re-imagined "those who sleep in the dust of the earth" as the army of the anti-christ, it is far more likely that rather than being an army of evil, the men of dust are rather ordinary people, compare to Daniel 12:2: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." In other words, the men of dust are mortal men standing at the moral crossroads, holding the power of terrible maybes, but also not yet inherently evil. In this context, it is clear that Judgement Day and Parousia are not meant to be places, but rather states of being. The Angel itself is not meant to be a supernatural being, but rather a cipher for the good man who rises up to fight evil and sloth by going among his fellow men. Such an interpretation puts the genderless nature of the Angel in an interesting light, for, in a time when good was strongly associated with the male, Bagrat's Angel is purely good, unburdened by preconceptions of gender (see also: sexual politics in Bagratid Georgia).

A Glossary of Terms:

Parousia (Greek, "appearance and subsequent presence with") - God's Kingdom on Earth, that which comes after Judgement day

propheteocracy (from the Greek prophetes for an interpreter of an oracle or of hidden things, and kratos, for power or rule)

The Restoration (Orthadox term for the second coming)

fasquardon
 
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Onboard the Science station Zheng He’s Dream
August 14th, 2206


Professor Yang floated weightlessly around the machine admiring it’s complexity, its power, and most of all how just darn cool it looked, after all he was only 20 he was entitled to whimsical thoughts every once in a while, the Ministry of State Security wasn’t all knowing. Arms crossed he asked. “tongzi, Zhou status report.” Dr Zhou strapped into her seat replied “preliminary simulations are nearly complete we will be ready to move forward to the next stage of testing once Dr. Yuri arrives.” Doctor Yuri was the Russian member of the team, the main research experiment onboard the station was performed by a team of 15 scientists and engineers not including the technical staff. 8 members were leading Han Chinese scientists, all pioneers in the fields relating to quantum mechanics, the remaining 7 members were differing participating engineers from Zhonguo’s long time allies. two Spaniards, one Greek, one Indian, one Russian, one Japanese, and one American. Grand total of 15 senior researchers.

Yang pushed off from his control consol and floated to the other side of the room, checking the various feeds from the simulation, everything looks good to go he thought, he was going to be famous once this project was declassified, honored as one of China’s most brilliant engineers and would get to greet Chairman Mao Anyang of the Communist Party of China. He may even get a medal. He shook away the fantasy as trivial as Dr Yuri strode or should it be said “floated” in. “greetings tovarish Zdravstvujte oh my manners! Ni hao!” he smiled in that open Slavic smile that a lot of Russians seem to be sporting. It was kind of starting to get annoying. “ni hao tongzi Aleksandr. I hope you enjoyed your lunch break but we are nearly ready to do our first test please Doctor double check my readings and we can begin as everyone else arrives from break.”
Dr Yuri floated over to the control and read the data readings from the simulation, nodding at every page of out put until he grunted in disapproval. “Here!” He stated pointed at one of the equations “the readings here are off, I suggest adjusting the inner 3rd gyro by .03 microns to fix it.” Zhou in her seat frowned, sceptical. However Yang took a closer look, he wasn’t if Yuri was right, it looked odd, as he could have swore that the parameter Yuri was suggesting was already done last night (funny how traditional thought patterns of “day” and “night” continue to exist on a space station when neither exists) it was gut instinct it seemed but he decided that Yuri was right. “Zhou, adjust it by .03 microns as he says, it looks like the correct course to take.” Zhou looked a bit upset, she didn’t like Yuri very much but on the toher hand she could never stop talking about Yuri when he was not there, women he thought, they never ceased to confuse him. His thoughts dissipated once the others arrived, all them conversing in Mandarin poutonghua the common tongue of the world, well at least the parts controlled by the Comintern and its colonies.

Colonies! It is finally happening, colony ships have been arriving all day loading up colonists and leaving, its happening in MY generation, engineers had been working for DECADES on making Faster-Than-Light travel a reality and now, during the heyday of my career it finally is.Yang thought to himself, some 10 habitable worlds have been begun to be colonized, another 5 have been prospected and another 10 probes have deemed viable for experimental terraforming. What amused him was the sabre rattling being done by the Ynglings, oh they had their own Ming-Yamaguchi Slipspace drive, not called that but its obvious if you look at the published papers they reversed engineered their own and they were colonizing a few worlds of their own, but they lacked the resources or the manpower to make an effective effort at colonization, Yang himself was a stern believer that all of Humanity deserved a chance to spread throughout the stars, but their pretentious overcompensation of the Yngling “Hird” while amusing gets annoying after a while. They were beaten damn it, accept it! Sighing in disbelief at the most recent news broadcast he heard he went back to finishing the preparations for the test while is colleagues go into their seats.

Doctor Francisco Yatre buckled himself in and said “Dr Yang, I believe we are ready.” Zhou ever the smart mouth “If you are finally done floating around please seat yourself.” Yang debating answering with yes mother but decided against it, he didn’t want to risk his peer’s wraith. He buckled himself in and said “Once everyone is ready give me the green light on our terminals so we can proceed with the project. Zhou activate stage 2 of the powering up process of the Tachyon Accelerator. “Stage 2 complete” Said Zhou as the massive superconductive gyroscope began moving, “proceed to stage three” continued Yang. “affirmative” answered Yuri. The metal rings began turning faster, more energy was being funnelled into the rings, the energy field creating a Cherenkov Effect was clearly visible now. “Stage 4” “Yes tongzi” this is it thought Yang the final stage, Stage Four was the unlocking of the accelerators rings so that they could proceed to spin faster allowing the energy being gathered into that one microscopic point to reach a critical mass of sorts resulting in a massive controlled burst of tachyon and theta particles, the goal was to send a packet of information 5 minutes into the past directly into the mainframe, programmed as to not create a paradox to revealed itself until 1 minute after the experiments completion. A large noise was building up as the field began to get bogger and bigger until the Oroburos activated, a particle accelerator designed to send particles into the building tachyon field to contain and constrict it and it was working!

So engrossed was he and his team that they didn’t notice a visitor floating into the room. “Woah!” the visitor said, “amazing! Just amazing! You managed to stabilize the tachyon field using a brilliant design utilizing the inverse square law of thermal mechanics! Amazing to achieve this without say erm I don’;t know another 3000 years of trial and erro your all bloody brilliant!” Everyone turns around stunned that this oddly dressed new comer had floated into the room, much less got onto the station! After a moment of silence a stunned Yang stammers “Who, wha… Who are you!?” The newcomer thought for a moment and said. “Well, I’m the Doctor”, “Doctor Who?” “Just that The Doctor”. “Why are you here?”

“Well I wanted to see this fancy experiment of yours and to warn you that its just about to go completely wrong!” “WHAT!?” Yang immediately shifts his eyes to the controls as warning noises start to blare out, “Shut it down!” Cried Zhou “We don’t know what’s going to happen!” “Too late….” A pale Yuri said. “Its self sustaining, it will take too long to cut off the microwave power feed from Earth and this is about to do something any second….” All they knew next was light, a bright blue light for what seemed to be an agonizing eternity before it finally faded and all was quiet. Yang was first to recover being the youngest asking “Is everyone all right?” Slowly everyone assented. “What happened” “I don’t know” “Someone check the scanner and send a message back to FleetCom and to the Ministry of Technology….” Zhou unbuckled herself and pushed off to the communications terminal looking up the information checking the news and the date to see what happened. “Its August 14th 2206” She sighed with relief. “We didn’t get pushed into time, I do not know what has happened. A beeping sound commenced, startled Zhou checked her email and “Ayieeee! It’s the data packet! It was send 6 hours ago and only arrived now!” Her surprise turned to elultion “We did it! We sent information through the past! Everyone was relieved when Zhou screamed. “What the ****! Its gone! It is all gone! What has happened to history!” Yang was scared, scared for the first time in his life at a level he had never known, pale he tentitavely asked “whats wrong Zhou?” Zhou once she finished screaming. “Zhongguo! Its gone! Radioactivity levels abnormal, the political map and news broadcasts make no sense! And the computer is having difficulty connecting to the World Information Network!” She would’ve kept going on but Yang had reached her by then and puttinga firm hand on her shoulder calmed her down. “Lets see…..” his vice trailed off and he went pale. “Its all in Norwegian! This… This must be a timeline where the Great Struggle was won by them and not China…. How can this be? The math said nothing about sending us to a parallel time stream…”

Calmely a voice form the back said. “You didn’t. You didn’t go anywhere, it is the Universe that has changed on you, not you from them.” Yang was in shock. “How? Did we do this!?” “No.” The man, calling himself “Doctor” calmly continued. “You didn’t cause this, someone else did, and he did a very bad thing, whats going to happen is that these Norwegians will do their own time experiments soon, it will go horribly wrong and the quantum singularity formed will tear apart time and space tearing apart the universe at an exponential rate destroying everything, everywhere and the very fabric of time itself, I must stop it and you’re the only ones who can help me.” Miko, The Japanese Quantum Theorist asked “How Doctor-sama can we? Our machine is not meant to transport people through time and space just information!” You won’t have to, its not the machine I need, its you, all of you on this station, heck even the janitors, but we must hurry allons-y! We need to get everyone off of the station quickly and as much equipment we can scavenge! Yang recovering from his shock asked why. “Because your about to in 20 seconds get a warning saying that a number of hostile Norwegian orbital defence ships will be approaching our position, we can fix the timeline or at least contain the damage but I need your help.” The computer lit up and made a noise, Megan Carter, the American scientist went to it, “6 unidentified vessels are approaching to our position, according to this they are heavily armed and we have 5 hours before they are in maximum weapons ranged” her face paled and continued. “What do we do Senior Researcher? I don’t know if we can trust this Englishman but he seems to know what is happening to us” Professor Yang breathed in deeply, his moment of either fight, or flight. Such decision making was foreign to him, he never was in this deep shit before. “Alright Doctor, we’ll go with you, but first you must tell us exactly what we are going to do by helping you?” The Doctor responded. “Well first off, my space ship is a bit damaged, just a tinny weasely bit damaged and your stations equipment is the only one within range that has what it takes to help and everyone on this station are the only ones brave, and smart enough to be a help not a hindrance, what we are going to do is dissemble this machine, and all of the needed control consoles and power conduits and move them to the inside of the TARDIS- “A what?” Asked Yang. “TARDIS T-A-R-D-I-S, Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, its my time machine but in a bit of a need for spare parts if you know what I mean.” Incredulous Yang assented and technician teams once briefly briefed began moving the scavenge able equipment to what seemed to be the inside of a small blue box, it took about 5 minutes for everyone to realize that it was bigger on the inside, a good thing as apparently it usually takes an hour for humans to recover from the “culture shock”.

4 hours later with the dead line closing, everyone was and the equipment was safely aboard the “TARDIS” and the now adjusted machine was ready for use. “So how are we going to fix this Doctor?” Asked Yang. “We’ll Yangy, what we’ll do is send whomever volunteers to different points of divergence in history and try to fix it, by well, any means necessary if your up to it, there are rules though we cannot further wreck the timeline inorder to save it, so no assassinating important historical leaders directly, no introducing the natives to advanced technology and please do not kill your own grandfather!” Yang beginning to be mildly amused despite the severity of the situation, asked “so where are the point of divurgence?” The Doctor thought for a moment stroking the machine then yelled “Eureka! Isn’t it obvious, well if I remember by History of Western Civilization prior to 1500 correctly there are a few odd spots, a Mr Geir if I so believe seems to appear often enough in Early Yngling history.”

“Geir Jonsson!?” Yang spoke aloud shocked. “I knew him when I visited the University of Berlin! He was a Professor there in Quantum mechanics, a brilliant one at that, he’s responsible for this!? I geuss I am not all that surprised, he seemed to hate my guts, he hid it well.” “Hmm, good to know that, okay so we can trace the divergence to be 1066 CE, we have 2 options, we could try to take him out, but I believe it is too dangerous and it will be too late to stop the divergence by the time we can stop him so suggestions people?” Said the doctor. Yuri had the idea. “Doctor, maybe we send someone there to some neighbouring Kingdom and try to contain him? Not crush Norway or ruin the timeline further but maybe possibly contain the breech until the 1500’s when we can send these others to China? Its no good to send Chinese to Middle Ages, they’ld get killed, but once Europe is settled and starts reaching out to the world as it did, we’ll need someone in China at the ear of the Emperor to see things through…?”

The Doctor nodded solemnly. “Aye, that might be the only possible course of action, Aleksandr Yuri, you understand that you may very well die in the past if not to a violent one but to old age as we try to repair the timeline?” Yuri nodded. “I understand, there can be no turning back now.” “Alright, lets allons-y.”

On August 15th, 0100 hours, Aleksandr Yuri, naming himself Aleksandr Rurikovich taking a plausible and hard to look into family tree and travelled back in time to Kyiv to see if he can create a strong enough Russian state to ward off the Norweigians, yes Polands place in the OTL may be extinguished by this as traditionally the Russians never could unite to ward off the Poles, Yuri had some reasons of his own, he did to some degree hope to rid Mother Russia of its long history of servitude to the Norweigians and the stupid Polaks. Now he may get his chance.

Increase my lowest loyal vassels loyalty by 20% please, if you feel you lack the time please give me 150 gold, I would have posted this 12 hours earlier but it took 12 hours to write.
 
-Mission statement:

To travel back in time to the important eras of post classical era history and at speficied points of divergence transport agents tasked with the mission of in some way aiding prespecified nation-states in their historical development through means of purely political and tactical aid to contain an early rise of Norweigian power that could cause a paradox and jeopordize the Universe.

-Objectives: Aleksandr "Rurikovich" will aid the Rurikovich family in uniting the Russian Principalities into the a Unified Russian state to prevent early European hegemony by Norway, it is a calculated risk that our original timeline will remain irreparible but this and a followign series of "patches" should contain the breech in the space-time continuum, history will be altered but this way only modestly.

Long term constants to be respected: China's rise as a great power, not nessasarily as "the" great power of the 19th and 20th centuries but close enough that its regional might is unrivaled.

Norways prescense and control by the Yngling Hird, while to Yang's opinion unfortunate must be respected, Norway must always exist as a Great Power, only its growth is whats needed to keep in check.

Spain's role as the empire where the sun never sets or at least some form of a large spanish dominion over the southern hemisphere throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

A large block or singlular nation in western europe and eastern miditeraniums to provide a fulcrum in european politics. Many smaller nations are acceptable as longas Balnace of Power Politics hold sway throughtout the years 1550 and 1870.

A consistent stream of invention, within 5 years of discovery, the human progression of science, mathametics and tehcnology will progress as it did following the Kennedian Model.

Russia or Poland as a major east european nation is required but must remain consistent.

Agents starting with Yuri will be sent and retrieved once it is believed that their actions have been deemed sufficient. Yuri will be sent in 1066 retrieved, his age reduced and send back at key intervals to guide Rus.

Yang and Zhou will go to Ming Dynasty China to guide the Emperors going as "husband and wife" (to Zhou's protest) as scolars. The same way strategists and moralists toured the great courts during Sun-Tzu's time.

Francisco Romulo Yatre will be sent to Spain at differing periods of Spains growth.


Victorian and Modern China, Bailan Bradley will be sent aided by Tina Choi.



OOC I need to read Harry Turtledove's CrossTime traffic novels I thinks.
 
I guess I should come out of lurking status now, those are some pretty elaborate goals the chinese have, I think there will be a few european nations who wont be very willing to oblige. Great thread, so was the great game read that all the way from ck to the end.