Here's the synopsis so far (after 5 years):
Our first need, replenish the council:
Marshal: Rosso of Nablus and Emmanuele, Count of Murcia are our preminent military minds but are far too valuable on the
battlefield. Mayor Berto of Gaeta is less important, due to his advanced age.
Spymaster: Demetrio, Lord Mayor of Amalfi and Ercole di Rammala are equally skilled, but only Ercole seems driven to
take the post, while Demetrio is more concerned with marriage and siring an heir.
Court Chaplain: Maria's father is a suitable priest, and prosletyzing to the Mohammedeans outside our palace gates will allow him to stay close to his child.
Chaplain sent to convert Ascalon. Marshal sent to train troops in Ascalon. Spymaster sent to scheme in Ascalon. Steward sent to increase tech in Ascalon. Chancellor sent to improve relations in Amalfi.
Troops demobilized from Ragusa and Murcia, House Orsini's retinue relocated to Ascalon.
13 March 1159: City of Tursi founded in Taranto, becomes new county capital.
November 1159: Massive measles epidemic in northern Italy and the Adriatic, smallpox epidemic in southern Germany and eastern/southern France.
2 Feb 1160: Prince Pal asks his infant daughter for help with finding a wife. o_0
Also, the Pope declares embargo war on Venice and its lunatic, cannibal Doge -- a trait no doubt inherited from his Pecheneg mother's people.
Father is betrothed to 12 year-old Princess Sophia Doukas, to ensure that the Byzantines remain friendly. We may hold the Holy Land, but we are surrounded by hostile Mohammedeans, and Byzantium is nearer than Rome.
We decide to delay joining the Holy Father's war effort, as Venice is currently swept with the same measles epidemic as Italy. We will not send our followers into a plague den.
7 July 1160: Our fears prove prescient. While leading an army of the righteous, Pope Eugenius III has fallen ill with measles leading his host through the hills of Bari.
1 Sep 1160: Lord Mayor Demetrio contracts measles.
Oct 1160: A pestilence of typhus has spread from the Sinai into Ascalon.
1 Jan 1161: The Sicilians have joined Venice, and lay siege to Lucera. The Holy Father's host of 10,000 men fights before the gates of Venice. Although we could hope that the war ends soon and that Lucera will hold out and the measles epidemic will sicken the Sicilians, we cannot leave that to chance.
The levies from Orvieto, Capua and Napoli are raised and assemble in Benevento.
7 Feb 1161: The Pope, maimed in the battle of Venice and still sickened with measles, dies besieging the Grand City. Cardinal Oreste di Treviso, Bishop of Oderzo, ascends as Pope Anastasius V.
16 Feb 1161: Doge Guglielmo Morosini (the cannibal) dies barely a week later of smallpox.
21 Apr 1161: Battle of Lucera -- We are defeated at great expense, but the Sicilians are weakened enough that they lift the siege of Lucera and cross the straits of Otranto to begin a long trek up the Adriatic to relieve Venice.
25 Jun 1161: Father contracts measles.
30 Jun 1161: Muslim raiders simultaneously land in Taranto and Orvieto.
18 Nov 1161: The raiders are repulsed in Orvieto. The raiders in Taranto fled to their ships as soon as our troops began to march in their direction.
3 Dec 1161: Father has recovered from his illness, and becomes Regent.
5 Mar 1162: A Venetian army is repulsed outside Tramonti.
Mar-May 1162: Our army in southern Italy captures all the Venetian trade ports in our lands. The main city of Venice and its fortress of Pallestrina are in Papal hands, while the great Holy Host continues to lay siege to other parts of the island.
5 May 1162: Tiziano Ziani is elected Doge of Venice, the fourth Doge in less than two years and the third consecutive Doge from the Ziani family. He too, is beset by smallpox. Meanwhile, the typhus scourge has passed from the Holy Land.
Oct 1162: The remnants of the Venetian-Sicilian alliance trouble our lands in southern Italy, and we lack the strength to oppose them in the field. We pray that the Holy Father continues to cow the Venetians in their homeland, to soon force an end to this war.
Dec 1162: Rialto and Jesolo have fallen to the Papal forces. Only the suburb of Lido remains.
11 Mar 1163: Ascoli has fallen to the Venetians.
25 Mar 1163: Doge Tiziano succumbs to smallpox, and Pellegrino Dandolo is elected Doge of Venice. Lido falls about the same time.
13 Jun 1163: Princess Sophia Doukas attains her majority and is married to Prince Pal.
The small Yousiffid Emirate (Oultrejourdain) is engaged in an internecine power struggle, and the rebel sheik's lands border
our own. We have accumulated a great deal of reserves in our treasury, enough to hire and maintain one of the more notable
mercenary bands.
The Company of the Star is hired and dispatched north to maul the rebel's main forces in Galilee. Our forces assemble and
march south to the Negev. We must make haste, lest other Moslem sheiks and emirs flock to their banner.
25 Aug 1163: The Pope joins in the defense of Granada from the Zirids.
25 Nov 1163: Princess Sophia has abandoned her Eastern ways and converted to Catholicism.
3 Jan 1164: Knights of Calatrava founded.
31 Jan 1164: The Company of the Star crushes the rebel Yousiffid forces at the battle of Wadi Musa. The enemy's will is broken and he surrenders the Negev and Wadi Musa (which we rename Monreal). His northern holding of Beirut is already occupied by our neighbor, Count Girgen of Tyrus, and he soon takes posession of it, completely unlanding the rebel sheik. Monreal is a Zikri stronghold and a potential source of trouble. Father departs for these to spread the Gospel, and we send the Marshal as well to suppress any uprising, at least until popular passions subside.
We have added to our lands, but at great cost. The treasury is nearly empty. In all the furor of war, we failed to note that Venice bowed before the Pope's might and the war is over.
TL;DR:*Plagues killed the Pope and half a dozen Doges. We managed not to get sick.
*Pope smacked Venice around some.
*We took advantage of a neighboring Muslim rebellion to grab two more provinces in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in a lightning-quick war (~7 months).
We're over our limit by 2 now (Father as Regent isn't nearly as diplomatic as the last guy), so we should divest ourselves of two provinces. But which ones and to whom? Do we spread the love in the Holy Land, or continue to leave Italy behind and focus on consolidating our demesne in the Levant?
Also, we now control 51% of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Which means, if we can break away from the Pope, we can found a new Kingdom. Or, we can wait around a while and see if the Pope declares himself King-Archbishop of Jerusalem (not sure if the AI will do that or not).
Thoughts? We're not quite 6 years old yet, btw. So I think the Kingdom question can be tabled, because we might need to be out of regency to create the kingdom, and probably to leave the Papacy.
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Topic: Crusader Kings II Dynasty Succession Game (Persus13) (Read 50214 times)