Another update of how things are going...
Excellent news:
Lubeck is no longer suffering from being looted! Hooray! ... but, thanks to my actions, Lubeck is in revolt! booooo
My position with the church is poor
should I atone for my sins, I'll lose a bunch of gold and prestige... should I claim he is a false Pope, I'll be excommunicated.
I have little choice but to Visit the Church. Once.
Time to send Krzeslaw off to be raised
to the nannies with you boy!
He is now
selfish.
Here is the start of many people getting pissed and leaving:
My character traits are far from 'good'. I am prettu sure that in the next couple of years I go through something like 4 different marshals, and a couple of chancellors too... oh well.
All this work is hard
crap... now I'm
stressedOctober 17, 1073 is a sucky day
Mecklenburg has decided I am not worthy of living. In Dec 1066 I could have
possibly put up a fight. I could raise ~1000 men and they could raise ~2000 men. As it stands now, Mecklemburg's single capital province regiment is 3 times my entire army's potential
please don't kill meI offer a very nice peace deal...
NO! WAIT! I
almost offered a
tooooooo nice peace deal... luckily I was smart enough to look over the contract before submitting it- as it was I'd have become their vassal in addition to giving up my claims...
no thanks. I revise the treaty and send it without the submitting to be their vassal part:
Much better.
So good in fact, that they accept:
Sorry guys, but I had
no chance in that war... and those claims meant nothing anyways, since he is pagan.
BUT here comes the twist:
I accidentally
received 94 gold in the deal. My intent was to
give all my gold away... While I
did manage to catch my mistake of offering to be their vassal prior to sending the offer, I
never caught the fact that I took their gold until
right now... Now, having made that realization, I figure this 'war' was actually
good for me... The claims were useless to start with since he is pagan, so I basically gave away worthless crap in exchange for 94 gold. Well... I gave away worthless crap and nearly 300 prestige, I should say... but look at me, I'm a club footed, hostile, indulgent, stressed, energetic, selfish, *pauses for breath* -you get the picture...
(No wonder I was shocked to have missed that I could afford an improvement)
I build a forestry to help supplement income and decrease build times
Little 5 year old Wlodzimierz needs to be educated
To the army with you, son!
Hah! Despite my rebellious province,
horrendous standing among peers, and appalling standing with the church... in the eyes of the common people I am a redeemed knight!
Fools... but I'll take it. This actually proves to be a
very useful event for me... it fires two or three more times over the next few years. removing several negative traits- thank you reputation!
Go away revolt!
I give in to their demands. My prestige is low enough as is that an additional drop of 2 can't hurt...
Much time passes and my province grows... I have been saving money to support a military action
manpower is at over 1000, with space to ~double.
Even though I just decided to save money, I now decide to spend it:
A training-grounds will speed my recruitment time up.
Who is that at the door? Opportunity?
Rostock went independent. Now is the time to act!
Step one: Declare war
Step two: Mobilize and march, or, sail....
Step three: decline the many peace offerings
Step four: educate a chi- oh wait... not this is not a step in the war, this is off topic:
I send Krzeslaw to the army
both sons are turning out to be pretty well rounded.
Step four: ready for combat
Step five: win battle and siege province
Step six:
get shaftedthe elder chief or whatever the heck you call a pagan Duke joined the siege... His rank supersedes my rank... he will get control of the province. Asshat.
Awesome (
*)
(
*)that was sarcasm...
Back to the daily grind...
at least the training grounds will speed up my recruitment process...
Oh how cute, my sons are friends
My wife and I are having problems
I can't really afford to lose her at the moment, so I make amendments... aka I give her 45 gold.
I must have done
something right...
Lubeck is Catholic!
Ten months of love is all 45 gold can buy, it seems
It is not worth keeping her happy... I figured she was important because she is my steward, but after the cost of paying her off before, I've only just returned to my original money level... so it is not worth playing the 'pay off your wife' game. I hate you too honey.
I'm 40 years old and have essentially achieved
nothing... Nobles think I'm weak, God thinks I'm weak... my wife hates me... I'm club footed...
Well, at least I have an honorable reputation, and I can forever be known for the man in charge when Lubeck changed to the true fatih...
Hopefully my sons will do better
oh, and my brother:
Another year creeps by
I am
the same... I don't like that. I need to achieve
something in my life. Had Lubeck not been looted, I'd be heck of powerful right now... I know it...
Oh well, no point crying over spilled milk. My manpower has recovered and there are weaklings to crush (and convert...)
War time.
They stand no chance:
My crippled ass leads the troops into battle!
Victory!
I liberate the province
and take it for my own
... now... a wise man might quit now, while ahead. But at the moment I am not sure if I have the wise trait or not, so we will assume I don't
The Curonian Tribe is pretty weak and closer to more fertile pagan hunting grounds... with my army already mobilized I might as well take them out. Their lands will be an excellent jumping point for future conquests. Also, assuming I can get Memel or Kurs that would leave me with only one more province (Zhmud or Zem...something....alians) needed to create a Duchy. From there it is easy street- or at least thats what I like to think. Part of the reason this area is so easy to conquer is because
it sucks. The lands are poor and sparse. It takes 5 of these provinces to field the same army that
one province farther west or south can field. Oh well... got to start somewhere.
Oops
The Curonian's ally wars me. They are sissies too so I'm not worried.
More boats!
Ahhhh Fudge.
ignoring the HUGE elephant in the corner (seriously, there
is an elephant in the corner, don't you guys see it? its talking to me, in my head) for the time being I order my marshal to engage the Saracean pirate's flagship...
what Saracean pirates are doing in the Baltic Sea I
have no idea but it is what it is...
And it "is" a dead marshal Oh well... he'd probably have just left my court in a week like the rest of them anyways.
Now to address that elephant:
I am schizophrenic. Awesome (
*).
(
*)that was sarcasm...
Now I can lead my troops to battle by myself!
well, myself and all the other people telling me what to do from inside my head, that is.
I'm sure my men are
very confident in me..
Somehow we win
Its a good thing too, cuz I was about to start killing my own knights to turn the battle in my favor- the voices said that would help.
Hah! Sissy!
I suppose news that a crazy Wend Catholic man was on the lose and decided I wasn't worth the risk. I accept their peace and their 71 gold.
What the heck!? Where do these guys come from:
It is only 165 men, against my hill fort... I think I may be able to out last them
Ugh.
I take Memel and continue to Kurs
While tempting, I turn down the Curonian peace offer
Wlozimierz, you little blackguard you
I successfully take Kurs and negotiate peace
Hah! Fools! I am no longer a nobody! I am a crazy guy with four provinces!
So many enemies, so little time
This is
NOT my son Krzeslaw.
When the moneylenders came demanding a payment against my loan I closed my eyes, spun in circles, and told them the first thing I see they can have as payment
Hmm
Now I sleep in a tent.
And here is where I leave off for now:
Family tree:
Dad
-Budivoj, 44 (Goron)
--Wlodzimierz, 14
--Krzeslaw, 12 (Little)
-Henrik, 21 (Andrea)