1243 - 1251: The Council of Ascalon
Lazzaro and his cronies, not least including Countess Clorinda of Darum (how satisfying it shall be to see that meddler in chains!) and that wench Anastasia, have raised supposedly seven thousand men between them, but in practice this number is much smaller; our forces are already gathered together, whilst they must still muster. As such, a defeat in detail should be entirely possible, sending our five thousand against a thousand at a time.
My niece Agnese is due to achieve adulthood soon. Given her intended marriage, her lack of ambition is problematic. I have elected to deal with this as my father dealt with me; by continuously riling her up until she asserts herself. Of course she hates me, but she will make a fine Orsini with that drive. My other ward, Vittorio, has proven a touch disappointing. He has learnt his skills well enough, but does not exceed my present spymaster in ability. I will no doubt parcel him off with a castle somewhere in the future. Finally, my niece Constanza is proving a keen study and may have a promising career ahead of her as a scholar.
On a cheerful side note, I had a visit from the gaoler today. Apparently Count Pancrazio of Murcia, a guest in my dungeons since even before I took the throne, has died. He did enjoy a twenty year stay in our tenth-finest suite, one with a real latrine and everything. I always hated that prick, but the dungeons seem just a little more empty now. On the bright side, his successor is a manipulative bastard who leads a faction and wants one of my titles, so if I ever need to I do have an excuse to put that one away.
Although not a serious threat to the castle, Countess Clorinda managed to bring two thousand troops against our seat at Ascalon. Employing requisitioned galleys it was easy enough to bring our troops to the Holy Land and crush them, but we paid a heavy enough price for our victory. Both Gudbrand and Ettore, my flank commanders, were slain in combat, leaving their baronies free for me to reassign. I have recruited some new commanders from abroad to fill the gap, but those two men were long-standing friends and there is a certain heaviness to my heart that we should have lost them not against the infidel but our own people.
The hospital in Alexandria recently completed expansion of a new wing that its former masters had commissioned; a dedicated leper colony, to keep those tainted by illness away from the general populace. How effective that is I honestly have no idea, but it makes the peasants less nervous and so probably is worthwhile for that alone. To my distress, the cost of employing such measures in the other hospitals in our realm would be... punitive.
Thank the Lord for Csaba, who has managed to extort an extra war levy from the peasantry in Ascalon. This should pay for some expansion, at least.
On the slopes of Umbriatico, we fought our most decisive battle against the rebels, engaging the majority of their forces. We were able to capture one of the rebel Mayors, far more useful for ransom money than as a captive. This is particularly useful because our long-standing trade route between Ascalon and distant realms is costing a great deal of money to sustain.
I am getting sick and tired of all these forces in my homeland. This month we diverted from a lengthy siege of Amalfi to take care of a Venetian force that had actually lifted one of our occupations of the rebel cities in order to put it back under guard. On the upside, this has hastened the end of the stupidly long Embargo war His Holiness is prosecuting.
Mayor Umberto needs to take better care of his lands. Count Hugo, my most favoured commander, was attacked and robbed passing through Umberto's lands. The Mayor is hardly happy about it, but I have instructed Umberto to pay reparations for Hugo's losses. My ward and niece, Agnese, performed excellently in soothing the prides of both parties whilst I dispensed judgement. She has become quite the charismatic negotiator.
Lazarro, the bastard, had the ill grace to die of natural causes before I could punish him myself. A new Lord Mayor has been elected by the council of commoners that supported Lazzaro, one Guigliadore. There is little to speak of the man; besides a lust for money appropriate to his calling, Guigliadore is a pious Catholic and well-read. Unfortunately, he is unwilling to see reason and surrender without further fighting.
Guigliadore's is not the only graduation. My nephew Malacresta achieved his majority, proving a capable if disappointing (and overly trustworthy) commander. As betrothed, he was sent away to England to father a new Orsini branch that may rule the county of Hereford. I have no idea whether a future Duke may be able to seize that opportunity to take a portion of England for their own, but at the very least it will help spread the Name.
His Holiness, Leo Exx, has finally gone to stand a little bit closer to God. None other than our own Court Chaplain, Jacopo, has risen to become the new Holy Father, Anastasius VI. Sadly, he holds little of the love and respect for us he had before, presenting a lukewarm front to our requests, but he has deigned to appoint me Chancellor for the Papacy, as is only befitting my frankly astonishing powers of persuasion (if I do say so myself).
Time to clear house. Amalfi has fallen, and with it the last hopes of the rebellion. Yet the Council has not been the only threat of late. I recall, of course, Count Landolfo of Murcia, heir to the long-standing guest of my dungeons. Landolfo has been gathering support for years to try and restore the traditional Gavelkind form of inheritance within the Duchy, no doubt to break apart the many Ducal titles the Grand Dukes of Ascalon have held and will continue to hold in the future. We are, of course, His Holiness' primary vassals and strongest, and I hardly think it appropriate to dilute such power amongst multiple dukes; it would only dilute our purpose. Fortunately, Landolfo's plotting gave me an excellent excuse to introduce him to the same hospitality his predecessor enjoyed.
Landolfo joined the ranks of the gaoler's flock yesterday. This morning Mayor Guigliadore, Countess Clorinda, Countess Anastasia and a host of other rebellious fools came for an inauspicious stay as well. Really, the cells are almost bursting.
Now that my opponents are safely behind bars, I think it is time to send a message to the Council that would dare to demand more power. My cabinet now stands dominated by those who support me, nay, love me. I can count absolutely upon their support to rid one last barrier the Council would place upon me; I hardly think a Grand Duke need the approval of his furniture to declare war, that most principal of sovereign duties.
The best part is that Countess Anastasia even had the gall to complain about her accommodation. Not that I needed an excuse to downgrade her lodgings, but it was a fine reminder. The good news is that one of our cells was just freed up, giving the other occupants more space. The fantastic news is that the rats at the bottom of the old castle well just got a new room-mate as well.
Perhaps, in future, people will learn what happens when you insult the House of Orsini.
The Council, such as it is, has agreed to my wise and just decision. Their power exists now in name only.
I think, upon reflection, that only certain nobles need to remain in my power. Anastasia, of course. Landolfo. But others are worth the ransom to release, even (as much as I regret to admit it) Guigliadore. The state needs wealth, for it has been bled dry by years of warfare. Time and past time for us to focus on reinforcing and stabilising our own.
Three years of civil war, and five years of holy war before that, have left my skin withered and my temples grey. Even my beard begins to shift towards a snowy white. All my years of stewardship, of trying to do the best by my people, seem to have come to little enough. I have decided that it is time for a change. I need not spend my twilight years in dusty councils or passing judgements, not when I can celebrate these best times of my reign. More to the point, there are unpopular decisions I need to enforce, and a reputation for popularity could well serve.
More than that, I have occasion for celebration, for which I have asked some of my vassals around for a bout of carousing. The public explanation for our feast is the charting of a new city in Ascalon, built to take advantage of the province's current prosperity. The private is a little personal joy. I have the gaoler check in once a month on the old well. It looks like sometime in the last thirty days, poor Countess Anastasia wasn't able to catch quite enough rats not to starve.
I think a feast is entirely in order.
It takes longer to arrange a good feast than you might imagine, though not so long as to not make a few attempts at the poor Countess' widower's life. We haven't pushed him off his castle tower yet, but it's a matter of time. We also took the liberty of spending some of our swelling treasury on expanding hospitals throughout our personal holdings in the realm.
Money is becoming less of a problem, now. After so many years of conflict I had forgotten how much war was a drain upon the treasury. Now we make some thirty ducats monthly in tax, even after the cut His Holiness takes from our vaults. With this sort of wealth we have been able to afford the effective expense of two new cities in a handful of years.
So much for the great Jihad for Syria. Now that the Byzantines have finally resolved their civil war (with a victory for established order, of course) they brought the awesome might of their combined armies and drove the Yazidi back into the desert. They have had about as much military success as my son, who has claimed bankruptcy (despite, I note, a large cache of gold in his own account with the Templar Bank) and insisted that I bail his band of armed ruffians out. Well, if it keeps him away and likely to get a sword through his chest I'm all for it.
I find that a good feast can really bring people together, much as a great height can really pull people apart - once they hit the ground, anyway. Count Ippolito, the last trace of Countess Anastasia's insult to our house, has had to be Counted (tee-hee) in over twenty different pieces. Everybody has put together my complicity in the act, but it was still pleasant to toast the child's end with my good friend Count Sergio. To round off the partying I announced another of my many nephews, Nazareno, Count of Apulia in his stead. Helping to spread the Name!
Sometimes the Lord grants us our wishes in the worst possible way. I have long disparaged my son, wished for a better heir. I even sent him away in the hopes of his death. Only now that he lies riddled with cankers, insensate with pain, do I feel pity for my child. My son.
But not enough.
Perhaps the rounds of festivities are nothing more than a distraction, but I work to keep the people happy and amused, and my vassals enthralled with petty pleasures. I add another jewel to the Ducal coronet, this time for the Duchy of Alexandria, and pass my time watching trained monkeys perform (and bite their owners, far more amusingly) and men kill one another on horseback. It helps to pass the time.
It is over. A final cup of poppy-dosed wine and my son's pain is at an end. Young, healthy, hopeful Fiorello stands to inherit now, and I wish him all the best of what I can give him. Frustratingly, His Holiness has taken Fiorello into his own court, limiting my influence over the young boy. I will do all I can to change that. With no further need for the mercenary band, I have relieved its men and returned them to our own keeps.
As with the intended Jihad, the so-called Great War for Germany has faded into failure against the Empire's armies. These distant wars fade under the oppression of constant revelry, binding my vassals to me with good times and holding great feasts and festivals. I even laid out the foundations for a new planned city in Ascalon, La Forbie, with expansions for a new port to organise further trade. I have to say, I am exhausted by watching acrobats. I never want to watch these morons again, except in agony.
[NB: I planned to change the name of the city to Fiorelli, but for some reason I can't change city names by clicking them any more. Maybe it's incorporated into the DLC that lets you do customisation of dynasties and stuff, which I don't have.]
I am doing my best to set up a strong future for my grandson and heir. One of my grand-nieces is showing signs of the greatest potential, despite her young age, so I have taken the liberty of betrothing them. They are separate enough in generations for there to be no fear of... breeding difficulties. The Occitain branch of the family under Count Sergio is having some success at repatriating our extended family branches back to proper Italian culture.
I have tried to get back to my younger roots, employing poetry as a way to cope with all this forced revelry. I recently encountered a bard who came to our court and we spent a few welcome weeks together working on an epic to commemorate the achievements of our House. Perhaps one day I will even complete it.
After a century of membership in His Holiness' ranks, it is generally agreed that the Duchy of Benevento, one of our held titles, may be considered a subject duchy of the Papacy, rather than the defunct Kingdom of Sicily. In spite of this rather amusing centenary, not all is well even in peacetime. I was recently forced to deploy the levies to crush a horde of raiders in southern Jerusalem, and even despite the greatly advanced hospital at Abukir, Alexandria has been ravaged by years of consumption and become rather depopulated. It will take decades, no doubt, to recover the prosperity it once enjoyed.
After years of exhausting carousing, none of which has done anything to alleviate my stress, I have finally acquired a repuation as a socialiser and holder of grand celebrations. I have decided to top it all off with one last grand feast, replete with a great banquet of roast boar, swan, peacock, cheeses and the finest wines, and even the (chaste) company of my beautiful daughter-in-law, Princess of Abyssinia.
The simple truth is that, having done so much, with our goal in sight, it is hard to maintain the drive of our youth. I suppose I shall carry on, in the name of the House, but life lacks the same vibrancy it once did. I am glad, at least, that the tedium of all these feasts is at an end.
The threat of the Mongols has not passed with Genghis Khan's death. Ogedei Khan, his grandson, has sacked the great city of Baghdad, burning hundreds of years of history and knowledge. Although he ruins the works of the Caliphs, there is only so much time before the Horde comes to face us as well. I hope to prepare, though His Holiness has me spending all my time fabricating fictitious claims upon those lands he wishes to seize.
As I wait for the fifth year anniversary to pass, ready to implement the final stroke of my vengeance against the long-dead Lazzaro, successes and failures abound. My nephew and marshal, Sergio, encouraged me to invest in the production of an armoured chariot of sorts - it did not pan out. Sergio is now nursing the effects of a heavy gouge to his leg, but it should not cause lasting damage. Catholicism is spreading freely within the Duchy of Alexandria, which I am glad to hear, and most amusingly of all none other than Guigliadore himself has the audacity to demand a county for his "years of loyal service". I turned him down with all the grace and charm I had and then ensconced myself in my study and laughed until my sides felt fit to split.
My work is finally done. There is not a single councillor who does not love me, after years of revelry and entertainment. All those lords I have not personally injured or destroyed hold me in great esteem. It was but a formality to dissolve the Council as anything other than a clique of advisors with no more power than any other noble in the realm.
There is but a single authority beneath God, and that authority is the Holy Father.
There is but a single authority beneath the Pope, and that authority is me.
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Topic: Crusader Kings II Dynasty Succession Game (Persus13) (Read 50196 times)