screenshot Let's Play Crusader Kings II - "Reconquista"

[Acacia Sgt]

13 minutes ago, blah the Prussian said:

It's over, Ummayads! I have the high ground!

Also, I always thought Alladin took place in Central Asia, like maybe Samarkand.

Admitedly, its been long since I last looked up about it, but I do remember that his homeland is meant to be China. Just, with a complete retool of the place. I suppose the author wanted to use East Asia for the exotic angle, but kept the culture more at home for the readers? Most likely.

[blah the Prussian]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Admitedly, its been long since I last looked up about it, but I do remember that his homeland is meant to be China. Just, with a complete retool of the place. I suppose the author wanted to use East Asia for the exotic angle, but kept the culture more at home for the readers? Most likely.

Eh, alternate history Islamic China.

[Acacia Sgt]

Chapter VII – A Life Fulfilled

May 7, 786AD – February 13, 789AD

 

Spoiler

Before we begin, with the last war our score made it over the next milestone: 2000.

I know of that one. I played it in Age of Empires II. That’s two down. And still more to go. Now, let’s begin proper, shall we?

Another thing we can do now that Froila has turned 12. It’s important for the country to start to know of young Froila. Hopefully, this won’t go with much trouble.

Next, some more gold gifting, to Mayors Lupo of Santander and Froila of Logroño. Speaking of, I decide to finally pay back the 350 gold I owe to the Jewish Merchants. I decided for now to keep my gold threshold at 300’ish.

Due to Demesne, I give away the minor titles of and the county of Alto Aragón itself. The lucky chosen was Marshall Suneario. This removes him as my Marshall, but I can just put him back there and back to Asturias de Oviedo to work on Training Troops.

One last thing. I still have the POW’s from the war, and there’s still no offer to accept ransoms. Hmm, for now, I’ll put them under House Arrest and see what happens.

Now, let’s go!

May 13

 

It’s good to see the children getting along. Also, take note Aurelio is already contemplating about his eventual death. Well, he is over 70 now. Considering the times, it’s already quite the feat he has lived this long.

May 22

 

Refusing his offers makes me lose 50 piety and lower his opinion slightly. Yeah, no, let’s instead help Froila here.

June 2

 

A Sephardi Jew fleeing persecution has arrived at our court. Has an excellent Diplomacy stat, so of course I wouldn’t refuse (we can’t refuse anyway).

June 9

 

Another good outcome.

June 11

 

Unfortunately, to say things went bad with her father is… well, quite the understatement.

July 14

 

Same thing as last time, except the penalty for refusing is loss of Prestige instead of Piety, and same thing for what Froila gains, Prestige and Martial instead of Piety and Learning.

August 3

 

Unfortunately, same bad outcome happened with Mayor Suneario of Villablino as with the Baron above. Oh well, can’t win them all…

August 16

 

But at least this went alright.

August 20

 

Well, that could’ve gone better, but the current result was not a disaster, so I guess it’s fine enough? Ah well…

 

September 9

 

The “kid reading letters” event fires again, but this time is with Alim, one of the POW’s that they still refuse to pay a ransom for. You know, most of them are kids, and still in a malleable shape. I don’t think I’ll release them back for now…

But with like, all 8 of them or so. So how was it, dump them into a fortress now and call it a day?

Also, when it says ‘House’ Arrest but your House happens to be a Castle. As I don’t want to give Aurelio the Cruel trait, sorry kid, but you’re getting the 30 prestige loss.

September 10

 

Uh oh. Maybe this is just a temporary thing, right. Right?

It can’t be helped. With the King’s age, it’s inevitable.

September 26

 

And thus, the kids will start to assimilate into our ways. Starting with Alim, here.

October 6

 

It’s time to start with a feature I’ve put on hold, until now. Construction. There are six things total we can build in this game. Castles, Churches, Cities, Hospitals, Forts, and Trading Posts. Any given county has a varied number of slots. The first three share the same slots, and these range from one to six, depending on the county. For the last three, it’s a straight one per county. Although Trading Posts have a further restriction in that it’s only one per region and must be part of a trading route. A coastal trading route, or on the Silk Road. Oh, also, only Merchant Republics can build them, and aren’t restricted to just their own lands.

In any case, these have further construction options, to increase their usefulness. You need Economic Advances to build certain Ranks, but thankfully Asturias begins with all Rank I Economic Advances. Usually you can only increase what you directly control, but as the King, I can do that with any building in the Kingdom. Still, I’ll only focus on what Aurelio directly controls and let my vassals deal with their own, since the benefits are highest when are the most direct.

So, first things first, let’s focus on the Castle of Oviedo.

Castle Walls are among the cheapest upgrades, and their bonuses are varied, but small. Still, it’s a good start as any

 

November 6

 

For this, I’d rather choose the bottom option. The top one is big Opinion hit from the Baron, and while I could replace him afterwards, I’d rather not bother with that.

November 27

 

Ah, it has begun. The Castilian culture is starting to emerege.

December 31

 

One last thing before we move into 787AD. Countess Vistravara has already come of age, and apparently has already set her eyes on the throne for she has founded a Faction for just that. Well, she does have a weak claim on the throne, but come on…

In a more reasonable route, she has joined Count Rodericho’s Increase Council Power faction.

January 25

 

Remember that Sephardi Jew? He has now died of poor health. Quiet unfortunate.

February 3

 

Another of the POW Corrins kids, Rafiqa, has become Visigothic.

February 14

 

Another invitation from Count Silo to go carousing. Apparently, the King can still party despite being Infirm.

April 14

 

More gold gifting. To Mayors Gundemar of Burgos and Johan of Gijón. It might look like I’m only giving gold to the mayors, but it must do with how long the modifier lasts… and that the mayors do give the most gold overall.

May 19

 

The revolt at the Umayyad’s is finally crushed. I could’ve jumped in to try to take something, but again, that type of revolt would’ve caused the guy to surrender instead of fighting out both the Sultan and myself.

June 7 – July 6

 

Carousing with Silo. He overdrunk again in June 22. Tsk tsk tsk.

On a more positive note, June 25 saw young Alim becoming Visigothic. He is finally ready.

July 13

 

Now if only she had converted beforehand. Such a shame. With still no possibility for ransoms, I may have to set them free on my own. And who knows, perhaps I could invite them to my court properly now. Well, I’ll wait and see…

September 22

 

Another kid, this time Prince Theodoricho, is trying to read letters. Are they really that fascinating for the kids? Anyway, sorry kid, but you lose 30 prestige instead of dad becoming Cruel.

On a more positive note, the castle walls at Oviedo have finally been finished. About time we had some proper extra defenses here. The castle itself only starts with Stables I, which grants some Light Cavalry soldiers. But now with Castle Walls I, it can now give some more bonuses to other things.

September 27

 

Young Rafiqa converts to the Catholic faith.

In October, I see I can invite some more people into my plot to kill the Sultan. Is it even worth it at this point? This scheme has lasted for almost 20 years and nothing has come out of it. Well, it might still happen…

October 22

 

They were two who join my scheme. Sheikh Abderrabmen of Salamanca, who is also the Sheikh of Porto, Braganҫa, and Castelo Branco. And Emir Sa’d of Saadid Emirate, Emir of Zaragoza. These two come from failed uprisings against the Umayyad. In fact, we even fought against Sa’d for his piece of Aragón a few years ago in a previous update. It seems he hates the Sultan more than Aurelio if he’s willing to work with him to kill the Sultan.

November 19

 

Speaking of the Sultan, he has now declared Holy War on the Chief of Massat, to conquer it. The Chief is an Ibadi, which just shows you the Sultan’s campaign against the Ibadi continues. And probably because he’s trying to regain power from the stuff I’ve already taken from him.

December 13

 

More gifts to, you guessed it, more Mayors. This time to Suneario of Villablino and Airmanagildo of Tudela.

December 19

 

Oh no! It has happened. Poor Aurelio, his time is almost upon us. How much longer? No one knows…

Being Incapable carries certain penalties. As mentioned, our Designated Regent will take the reins.

December 20

 

Which, if you remember, its Mayor Gundemar of Burgos.

Being Incapable means we no longer have an Ambition or Focus, and can’t assign new ones. There are other limitations, which I bring up as they become relevant.

Also, my Demesne has dropped to 5. I must give away one of my counties. I choose to grant our High Almoner, Mauregato, the County of Navarra. For some reason this causes Bishop Friednand to stop being our Court Chaplain. Not sure exactly why. Anyway, I replace him with Liuvericho, the Court Physician. I sent him to Roma. On hindsight, when I did it I had forgotten if Calatayud had converted or not back to Catholic majority. So, don’t expect me to correct that for the rest of the update. Oh well, I’ll see to that in the next one.

To wrap this up, I give Countess Vistravara the High Almoner title now left open, and gift Count Rodericho some gold.

The arrival of 788AD is not a cheery one, now…

January 19

 

Count Roderico left the the Seniority Succession Faction. I also take note of another in-fighting between Umayyad Emirs.

March 24

 

Countess Vistravara dissolved her Faction to claim the throne.

June 10

 

I got enough Military Technology Points for another Advance.

This will be quite helpful for sieges, both mine and against enemies.

Also, the following Decision had popped up since the Culture Change event, but only now I noticed.

At this point it might not be a good idea, since Castilians are still an emerging culture, and thus, still a minority in the Kingdom. Then again, the penalty in Opinion for having different cultures isn’t that big. I still chose it. And despite the description, it seems none of the princes and princesses assimilated. Oh well…

July 2

 

Time to build some more Castle Walls I. This time it’s for the Castle of León in the county of... well, León.

July 19

 

Baron Mauregato of Castrobarte, my Chancellor, died of severe stress. Man, now I take it back about not being happy he didn’t present the results I wanted. Anyway, he had no heir but King Aurelio, so now I get the Barony. Normally I would give it away, but Aurelio’s Demesne went back to 6, so there’s no need. Besides, Aurelio is compatible to lead Baronies, so might as well.

So, I appoint Prince Adelfonso as my new Chancellor. This time, however, I sent him to Sow Dissent at Porto. Looking at the Revolt Risk map, Porto has a higher threat of revolt than other Umayyad sheikhdoms. At least, from those next to me. This could be a good point to grab more land soon.

July 21

 

Another thing I put on hold, but the time seems right for now.

Creating Duchies, Kingdoms, and Empires. Once you control enough De Jure titles and have the gold, and sometimes piety as well, for it. I can create a few things already, but for now, I start with the Duchy of Asturias.

And now King Aurelio is Duke of Asturias. By the way, once titles are created, if they change hands, what you do is instead Usurping the title, not create them.

August 25

 

The Umayyad finally took Massat. Damn, can their expansion into North Africa not be stopped?

August 26

 

The Byzantine Basileus Konstantinos V died of severed stress. Wow, Aurelio lasted longer than his younger father-in-law. Anyway, his son Cristophoros is the new Basileus. It might not mean much now since Aurelio himself can die any moment now, but…

The offer is accepted on September 2. Next step would be an Alliance offer, but I won’t do it due to two things.

1)    The Byzantine Empire are currently in a Civil War (apparently, the rebels want Elective Monarchy), and chances are he’ll drag me to help him, which can be a distraction short-term.

2)    The alliance will break once either dies. In fact, making this Non-Aggression Pact is kinda useless since it too will break once Aurelio dies.

But I still did it. Oh well, doesn’t hurt…

September 4

 

Another of the captured kids, Hussayn, assimilates. This time to Castilian, since Aurelio is now Castilian himself. A good way to start spreading it, I’d say.

October 20

 

Another kid assimilates, Tanaz.

October 31

 

Time to start building more Castle Walls. This time in the Castle of Santinalla del Mar, at Asturias de Santinalla.

The remainder of the year happens without much of note. And neither the beginning of 789AD.

By mid-February the time almost arrives to elect a new Law… which I would’ve, but that’s another restriction with Regencies. No passing Laws.

February 13

 

It happened…

We knew it was coming… and his time finally arrived. His best achievements, done later in his life, show it’s never too late to start. He forged the first stepping stone in the Reconquista, in a path his descendants would follow to the very end.

But now, his time on Earth came to an end.

Things are going to change. By default, Foila’s heir is Aurelio’s second son, Agila. Liuvericho has left our service, most likely since he was only here in the first place due to Aurelio hiring him. Would need to find another Court Chaplain and Physician then. Mayor Gundemar of Burgos will continue to be the Regent, for the last two years Froila has left to come of age. There are things to do, now that Froila is in charge (well, almost fully in charge), but that will be for next time.

So, a new beginning awaits us. But how things will fare from now on? We’ll see… later…

 

Until next time.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Acacia Sgt

[henrymidfields]

Good to see that the Reconquista is fully underway! Now, to take Catalonia and/or Castille! Say, how do defensive pacts work in this game? Are they like in the Civ series, except the pacts only kick in with same-religion allies? And long live Froila II!! (Wait, since when did we have a Froila I? Oh, right, he was historically the predecessor...)

I also noticed that Aurelio, Corrin, and (Ale)Xander do not have Phoenix mode sieges anymore. What's going on? hahahaha

Edited February 12, 2017 by henrymidfields

[Excellen Browning]

On 10-2-2017 at 8:59 AM, blah the Prussian said:

Eh, alternate history Islamic China.

Hmmm... I should conquer China and convert it to muslim in a EU4 game. Wondering if I want to do it with a Horde, Indians or SEA.

[Acacia Sgt]

4 hours ago, henrymidfields said:

Good to see that the Reconquista is fully underway! Now, to take Catalonia and/or Castille! Say, how do defensive pacts work in this game? Are they like in the Civ series, except the pacts only kick in with same-religion allies? And long live Froila II!! (Wait, since when did we have a Froila I? Oh, right, he was historically the predecessor...)

I also noticed that Aurelio, Corrin, and (Ale)Xander do not have Phoenix mode sieges anymore. What's going on? hahahaha

It seems it does only apply for same-religion membership. Best example I see is with Karl, and the three different pacts against him. Muslim, Pagan, and Christian.

Oh no, there are still some 0 death sieges going on. Chapter VI had like 2-3 of those, hahaha.

[Acacia Sgt]

So, how you people spent Telegraphist Day? Hopefully fine. Well, let's continue, shall we?

Chapter VIII – The Sultanate Strikes Back

February 13, 789AD – March 14, 791AD

Spoiler

Before we start, a good thing I noticed. Prince Silo no longer has the Sickly Trait. It seems he could overcome whatever that was ailing him. Good to know his life is no longer in peril… maybe.

Now, let’s do some preparations.

February 14

It seems I was wrong. Luivericho stopped being the Court Chaplain, but he’s still the Court Physician. I promptly put him back there, and indeed, Calatayud still has Sunni majority. So, I sent him to Proselyte there.

Like his father before him, I have Froila enact the Decision to assimilate into Castilian. And as before, his siblings didn’t, despite the description stating as such. I also gift gold to Count Rodericho. This is because he’s the head of the Increase Council Power faction, so it might convince him to dissolve/leave it. Aurelio’s death also caused the Crown Focus to remove itself. I put it back at Asturias de Oviedo.

While I’m not going to go in detail about Froila until he comes of age, I’ll just mention for now that he has inherited Aurelio’s Holy Relic (a finger of John the Baptist, supposedly). Well, makes sense. Doesn’t give a lot of a Monthly Piety bonus, but you know, any amount helps.

One more thing to do is that I’ll be releasing all my adult prisoners. It comes to my attention that most of them were from Syria! I’m trying to think exactly why. Considering some of my POW’s were the wives of the Emir, I could already try to picture a guess. Anyway, might as well, there’s little use they can give me imprisoned. At least, the ones that aren’t coming of age while captive.

Next thing in line:

Yeah, yeah, Froila can arrange a marriage involving his own mother. And the very next day of his father’s death at that. To be fair, we’re going to start receiving proposals to marry her off anyway, and let’s face it, sending her off to marry someone else can be pragmatic.

 

Take Prince Karl here. He’s like, he’s not exactly in the “main” part of House Karling, but he’s still a Karling, and a Prince of Bavaria to boot, and currently residing in the county of Saintois. Surely that means for something down the road. Ah well…

Last thing, Froila’s Demesne is 5, which means I must get rid of something. I chose that Barony, Castrobarte, so I keep the Counties themselves. And now, the true beginning.

Now, let’s properly begin, shall we.

February 24

Countess Vistravara is at it again, remaking the faction to seek the throne for herself.

February 25

The arrange marriage is accepted, and done immediately. Bye mom!

March 17

Oh! He finally takes the initiative himself. This could be bad…

He wants to retake Aragón. We won’t let him!

I raise my personal levies, and go after… well, might as well. The Sultan will gather a lot of forces, at this point I must rely on allies coming to my aid.

March 19

Count Rodericho left the Increase Council Power. It didn’t dissolve, for now Countess Vistravara took over its leadership.

March 24

And probably because she’s now leading two factions, she dissolves the one for taking the throne.

March 28

We engage those 57 soldiers at Zamora.

April 4

gg Umayyad

Of course, it’s still going to take a while for any Frankish soldiers to arrive here.

April 7

Our first victory and… uh, those totals don’t add up in either side! I think the reason is that some of those casualty tallies are fractions, which get rounded up. So, it means some just merely lost limbs or something. Or our single dead guy was pulling triple-duty.

Anyway, no warscore is won.

In another note, Prince Mauregato has disbanded the Seniority Succession Faction. We can expect this from Holy Wars, since “Defending Against Infidels” is an Opinion Modifier that grants +40! That’s big, and applies to every Vassal and Courtier.

The rest of my forces will be arriving at Zamora throughout the week.

There’s like almost 2K soldiers right below us, but it’s from that war between Emirs, they’re focusing more on their fight than the Sultan’s war against us, so they’re ignoring us. Good thing. I don’t want to fully face the Umayyad’s might.

April 28

The Sultan has called for help from Sultan Umar of Africa. This could make things worse…

May 12

We receive another offer of help. This time from Count Melliau of Domnonia. Domnonia is one of the Breton counties. It’s a little surprising Karl has ignored them, considering his conquest of Bavaria has shown he’s willing to go after fellow Catholics. Anyway, the Count’s levies aren’t as big as Karl’s, but any help counts.

May 26

It seems Prince Mauregato has started another faction for the throne. Ah well…

June 13

I also release her, also to Syria. I’m sure we’ll soon have someone who will instead head into the Umayyad Sultanate. One problem is that distance pays a factor if we can invite them into our Court once we release them. And of course, the other side of the Mediterranean is too far away!

June 21

León’s Castle Walls I have been finished.

August 1 – October 3

So, as my levies continue to siege Zamora…

THEY’RE HERE!!!

It’s no use, I can’t move my levies out of the way in time. I promptly disband them. This caused the Umayyad forces to change course to start sieging the Aragonite Counties by October.

I promptly call forth again my levies and move them to Navarra to be on standby. Karl, any moment is good now…

October 20

Santinalla del Mar’s Castle Walls I have been finished.

November 1

One of those betrothal arrangements made back when King Aurelio was alive can finally be fulfilled. The one between courtier Agnes with Ragnachar Australdling. Well, make it so! It gets accepted on November 6.

November 16

On a stroke of fortune, I get a notification that the Calatayud defenders raided the Umayyad camps. This buys me more time as I wait for Karl’s troops to arrive.

November 20

The last of my levies arrive at Navarra.

December 16

 

There’s nothing more to say, the war is already over. We just need to have the Umayyad understand that throughout 790AD.

January 23

Starting with stopping their siege on Calatayud. At this point my forces are tailing Karl’s, reinforcing them on January 27, just to give them that extra boost. You never know with the RNG…

I also note that the Umayyad in-fighting in the west has ended… only for another to start.

February 22

Clash of giants, I’d say. And my forces are there in the middle. Warscore jumps to 21%.

February 24

King Froila II has finally come of age. The Regency has ended!

Now where have I heard that one before… Anyway, quite a good outcome for Froila’s education here. Also, I know it says Fruela. In fact, it seems the game renamed him on its own. It’s… weird, because I can’t seem to find why. Maybe the game bugged out on determining Froila/Fruela? Beats me. Well, I am going to call him Fruela then, if the game is doing it now.

And one last bonus, it seems. The other option would’ve give him Cynical, which we don’t want.

So, now that he has come of age, time to assign an Ambition and Focus. It will be the Groom an Heir Ambition and Family Focus. Gotta prioritize the continuation of the direct bloodline. And speaking of, time to go through the marriage with Countess Brunechildis now that both are of age. I know, there’s that -200 prestige since she’s just a count, and Fruela a King.

We need to designate a new regent. I decide to throw Prince Mauregato a bone and give him the position. One more thing is to start construction of Castle Walls on the Castle of Palencia, at the county of Burgos. While already de jure, it’s time to officially nominate Prince Agila as the (current) heir. “Nominate”, since we’re Elective Absolute. Finally, since the regency is over, I can enact a law.

Increase tax on the clergy. Changing it from 30/20/-60 to 40/10/-70, as you can see. Yeah, they’re not going to like it, but that discontent won’t last for too long.

So, let’s now see the state of King Fruela II of Asturias.

Like his father, he’s specialized in Diplomacy (it hasn’t updated yet, but the Family Focus gives +2, so it’s 20 now), but also has a respectable amount of Learning. This is good, since that also means faster technology points gain. You’ve seen above what Charismatic Negotiator and Patient did, so now I show the impact of the rest of his Traits: Honest, Brave, and Kind.

March 2

The wedding goes underway. Same as with King Aurelio, I have the option to obtain gold or prestige from it. This time, I choose the prestige. This is because it gives me +200, negating the loss due to rank disparity.

By the way, even if she moves to my court, she’s still countess of Mallorca and Menorca, and they’re still part of the Byzantine Empire. Though fun little fact, that civil war for Elective Monarchy in the BE? She’s one of the rebels, heh.

March 8

Karl’s forces start to move to Kunka, so I promptly do the same. Meanwhile, my Breton allies are… wandering all over Aragón and Aquitaine. They’re going to do that for the rest of the war, not doing anything to help. Ah well… Karl is all I need, anyway…

March 26

Another battle happens at Kunka.

April 18

The battle at the Wilayah of Kunka is over, bringing warscore to 35%. And we begin to siege.

April 26

Refusing is an opinion hit with the Bishop. I’d rather avoid that.

May 25

The Pope Sergius II has died. The Conclave appoints his successor: Anastasius III.

June 7

Prince Mauregato dissolves his faction for the throne. Good.

July 10

The main Umayyad force has circled our forces and is sieging again Calatayud.

July 23

The Wilayah of Kunka is captured, and warscore is now 41%. Also… uh, it’s definite an error somewhere that it displays over 33k soldiers as the Initial amount, but I’m not sure exactly why.

Also, the best thing has happened. Karl’s forces have “chained” to mine. What this means is kinda the same as merging units, but since they’re not under my control, they still count as a separate unit. But, being “chained”, it means I can move them and they move at the same march speed as my forces. That’s right, I’ve effectively gained ‘control’ of Karl’s forces instead of the AI doing it!

Thus, I promptly move them over to Calatayud. By the way, enough time has passed that the Umayyad haven’t fulfilled their war goal that the warscore is now slowly ticking up for me. Good!

August 13

Our armies clash in Calatayud.

August 25

Even more great news! It even pleases His Sanctity. Speaking of, Liuvericho will be sent to Roma to Increase Relations, since I don’t have any other county in need to proselyte.

September 3

Brunechildis has become pregnant. King Fruela II has been off to a good start in his first year as King.

September 9

The battle at the City of Alhama de Aragón is over. Warscore is now 67%. We now move to Molina to start sieging there.

September 18

We arrive at Molina, but it seems the retreating Umayyads also went there, and recovered that another battle broke out! Their morale is still low, this won’t take long…

September 26

The battle at the Mosque of El Pedregal ends quickly. Warscore is now 72%. Take note we’ve already went beyond the 50% needed to White Peace. But why stop there? We’ll force them to enforce demands! Which exactly, since we don’t have a war goal? You’ll see… you’ll see…

Though not before 791AD, as the first siege lasts months.

January 13

The Wilayah of Molina is first to fall. Warscore goes up to 80%.

I also note the Umayyad in-fighting to the west has ended.

January 28

As we conduct our next siege, on El Pedregal, we receive a notification many of the defenders have succumbed to starvation.

February 11

The Castle Walls I of Palencia are finally finished.

March 2

Prince Agila is now 12 years old. Time to assign an education focus. His childhood traits are Haughty (Martial +1), Willful (Intrigue +1), and Indolent (Intrigue +1). Currently, his highest stat is Martial. And because of the traits, the seemingly most optimal course of actions is…

Martial education. Also, I already arrange a betrothal for him. Duchess Halderudis of Orleans. Though she currently resides in the county of Blois. It gets accepted on March 19.

March 27

The Mosque is captured, and warscore is now 87%. We also captured the wife of the Wâli. Well, standard procedure, off to House Arrest.

March 29

The Umayyad start to siege Zaragoza. Onward to stop them!

April 5

The first son of King Fruela is born, also named Fruela. Well, complete name is Fruela Froilaz. Probably to differentiate? Same as his father, the Pride Childhood Focus for him. Also, it happened. Now that Brunechildis has a child, the heir to Mallorca and Menorca is now him. Hahaha, if I’m not mistaken, Asturias will now inherit them once Brunechildis dies and Fruela Jr remains alive long enough! If I’m not mistaken.

April 21

Our forces reach Zaragoza. One most battle!

May 14

The battle at the Castle of Zaragoza ends in victory! Warscore is now 100%!

Look at those terms. Almost 600 gold!

There’s a few things we can do with our newfound money. But, first things first, I can ransom my POW, so I do so.

The Sultan’s situation isn’t good. He now had negative wealth and piety. His forces are still currently a fraction due to combat losses. The question is…

Do I dare?

YES, I DARE!

A war is over, but another has just begun. What will be the outcome? Find out next time! So, until then.

[blah the Prussian]

It makes sense that they were from Syria given that the Andalus royal family were exiles from the Syrian Umayyads.

[Acacia Sgt]

Chapter IX – From Sea to Shining Sea

March 14, 791AD – September 2, 794AD

Spoiler

The Umayyad will pay for daring to attack us! Pay no mind we’ve been attacking them almost non-stop for the last 20 years.

 

But first, let’s use up a little of the money we gained.

Castle Towns’ main purpose is to increase our income. They cost almost double than Castle Walls, so I start only with Oviedo. We can’t spend too much money, after all, we might still need to hire mercs. Other than that, I create the Duchy of Galicia (with the counties of Coruña and Santiago), for some extra prestige.

So, let’s begin, as I move my levies, both personal and the vassals’, to Ugell.

May 26

Prince Mauregato has reestablished the Seniority Succession faction.

June 1

The Wâlia POW from the last war has been returned.

June 2

My Chancellor, Prince Adelfonso, has sowed distrust between a Mayor and the Shiekh, over at Porto.

June 9

Count Wifredo of Calatayud died, from something he ate, apparently. His son, Sans, has inherited the title.

June 11

I gift gold to Countess Vistravara.

June 21 – September 27

My troops arrive and siege Urgell. Umayyad troops, however, also arrive on September 26 and we fight.

October 11

Count Rodericho of Albarracin died of depression. His son, Wimarano, has succeeded him.

November 11

We won at the Wilayah of Puigcerdà. Warscore goes to 10%, and we continue to siege.

It seems the time has come for me to hire mercs. The chose the Irish Band. Since they appear at Oviedo, I promptly move them over to Urgell. Something that won’t happen until 792AD.

January 8

The High Chief of Masmudid has come to the Sultan’s defense. Oh great, this better not be too bad a situation.

January 24

Luivericho has increased our relations with the Pope.

February 1

The Sheikh of El Rif has joined the war in the Sultan’s defense.

March 9

The Wilayah of Urgell is the first to fall. Warscore is now 14%.

March 22

Our Marshall has triggered Levy Reinforcements.

April 18

The City of Pallars is next, bringing warscore to 21%. Gotta love a 0 casualties siege, huh.

April 24

Time for another Advance, this time to Light Infantry, as that’s the next thing I have the most of, after Heavy Infantry. It also affects Archers, though I don’t personally have those. My hired mercs do have archers, but I’m not sure if they’re affected while under my service.

April 29

Young Hussayn has converted to Catholicism.

April 30

The Castle Town I has been finished at Oviedo.

May 15

Some things don’t change, as the letter reading event trigger with Hussayn. Well, say goodbye to 30 prestige, kid.

May 26

Another kid has come of age. As you may see, however, we’re going to do something different here. Recruit her to our court in exchange for her freedom. She has quite the excellent Stewardship stat with 19 (could’ve been a little higher if she didn’t have the Gluttonous trait). Though, she is going to have limited opportunities to put it to use, considering things.

July 9

The Umayyad’s allies have finally reached the area. They might try to attack again all at once.

August 14

The Wilayah of Puigcerdà is the last to fall. We also capture the mother and sisters of the Wâli. Warscore is now 25%. He’s willing to pay ransom, so I make the offers. Will help recover part of what I’ve lost paying the mercs.

Time to move to Larida, and fight off the enemy.

August 25

Our forces clash with theirs.

August 26

Prince Mauregato disbands his Seniority Succession faction.

August 27

One of the POW’s is ransomed. Next offer is done.

Ah, having to put up with the whims of younger brothers. Looking for the toy brings some prestige loss, and Silo may gain the Fussy trait. Offering to buy another brings no prestige loss, though he may still become Fussy. I decide to buy another.

August 29

So much for that. Younger brothers… I sympathize, Fruela. Silo did end up becoming Fussy.

September 1 – September 7

The other two POWs are ransomed. Also on September 7, Prince Mauregato starts another faction for the throne.

September 22

We won against the coalition at the Mosque of Solsona, bringing warscore to 38% and we start to siege.

September 26

A bit of a conundrum. Giving in is 70% of gaining Lustful. Refusing is 45% for Chaste. Lustful has a big Fertility positive modifier, which is good to ensure a big number of offspring, and +1 to Intrigue. On the other hand, it also carries some monthly piety loss, and drops Church opinions. Chaste… well, you can see there, mostly reversing the effects, and the +1 is to Learning. I chose that one… and the RNG dictated for Fruela to indeed gain it.

And so, the years continue without much of note, and we go into 793AD…

January 8

Prince Theodoricho has turned 12, and you know what that means. With how his Attributes and Traits are, I put him on Martial Education.

And I arrange a betrothal for him to marry the daughter of Duke Godomar of Lower Lorraine. They reside in the county of Metz. The proposal is accepted in January 16.

March 22

The Umayyad have gone around my troops and are starting to liberate Urgell. Once I finish a siege, I’ll go and confront them.

March 25

Luivericho once more fulfills him mission in Roma.

April 2

To my surprise, the Umayyad dissolve and reform their levies. Best I see is that they had to quickly fight some raiders, but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, the forces at Urgell now are much less to worry about.

May 13

Prince Adelfonso sowed distrust between a Wâli and the Sultan. Good, good, but if it had been a Sheikh/Emir instead of a Wâli, it could’ve been better.

In any case, I decide to move him. Instead of Porto, he’ll now do his job at Zamora.

May 21

We took over the Wilayah of Larida, bringing warscore to 42%. Now to move back to Urgell… which we arrive at May 31.

June 24

We clashed at Puigcerdà, and emerged victorious. Warscore is now 48%. Now to head back to Larida to continue sieging it.

July 3

Liuvericho once more does his job.

Bottom options turns him Cynical. So, we take the top option. The RNG dictates he indeed becomes patient.

The next day my forces resume their siege on Larida.

July 8

Almost all our Corrins have converted and/or assimilated, but we still have a few missing out for a full tally. Another, Hakam, becomes Catholic.

July 20

More Levy Reinforcements thanks to our Marshall.

August 9

The City of Cervera is next to fall, bringing warscore to 54%.

September 7

Prince Mauregato disbands his faction for the throne.

September 18

So, this shows up. The top and middle options show up because our Diplomacy is high enough. Bottom one has no immediate effects. Middle option gives Prince Agila the Gregarious trait, but it also gives King Fruella II the Chatterbox trait, lowering Diplomacy by 3 and Vassals’ opinions by 10. It lasts for 5 years. Top option gives Agila the Honest trait, but also makes Fruela II to be Too Honest, giving a -10 to General Opinion, also lasting 5 years.

It was a hard choice of the three, but I ended up going with the top option. 5 years can easily come and go… hopefully…

October 13

Well, well, well, what do we have here. We may not be Norse, but this is still an important announcement, because now we can start to see these guys come knocking. It’s a big change into our current state of affairs. But well, we’ll deal with that when they start to get here.

November 2

The Mosque of Solsona is the last to fall. Warscore is now 61% and we move over to Turtusha. We arrive on November 14, also in time to see the Umayyad coming back towards us for another round.

December 1

We fight!

December 27

We beat them at the Wilayah of Tarragona. Warscore is now 73%.

And so, our siege resumes into 794AD.

January 9

Another coming of age. She’ll be recruited as well. However, she’s still Sunni. I had to gift her gold before I could order her to convert. Which happened in January 22.

February 26

Alim has also come of age. Unlike the others, his progress was less than stellar, gaining the Indulgent Wastrel trait. I still recruited him, though.

March 6

Brunechildis becomes pregnant again.

March 8

Another sibling turns 12, this time Princess Menenda. With the traits Brooding, Timid, and Haughty.

Her highest stat is in Martial, but the Traits combination is more optimal for Stewardship. At least it’s not her lowest stat (that’s Diplomacy). Also, I betroth her to a son of Duke Hilderic of Ferrara, in the northeast Italian peninsula. It gets accepted on March 13.

Also, I just noticed, but the Emir of Toledo took more land in North Africa. Damn, whenever I weaken the Umayyad somewhere, they just keep regaining strength elsewhere.

April 16

Speaking of, the Umayyad have attacked me again, this time at the City of Turtusha.

May 23

Warscore is now 86%. At this rate, I may just need one more siege…

June 16

Another kid assimilates to Castilian, Maryam.

June 30

Okay, maybe not just one more. But capturing the Wilayah of Tarragona brings us to 91% warscore. So close!

July 5

We receive a notification that Prince Mauregato wants to fabricate a claim on the Duchy of Asturias. Hmm… the option to imprison him shows up, but it’s only 33%. Well, right now I don’t want to deal with another uprising of his, so I’ll let this be for now. Depending on how long it may take him.

August 26

My Marshall suggests me that Bishop Munio of Canga de Onís could be made Commander. Well, Munio wouldn’t really excel at the job… but he’s still with some of the highest Martial stats among the non-commanders. Even if he could do better in another job, I still accept the suggestion, since there’s no other position where he could do better that could be available right now.

August 30

And with the City of Turtusha, we get the remaining warscore to end this!

Look at that. We finally have a coast with the Mediterranean! Soon we’ll push more heavily south, but for now we made it all the way east in the peninsula. And most importantly, now that we control both edges of the Pyrenees, we’ve effectively cut off the Umayyad from having a border with the main part of Europe. WE’RE THE ASTURIAN WALL, PROTECTING EUROPE FROM THE MUSLIMS.

Also, take note of more name changes now that we took over the counties:

-       Barshiluna to Barcelona

-       Turtusha to Tarragona

-       Larida to Lleida.

Nice, huh.

Another campaign done. What will come next? Our truce means no war with them for 10 years, but on the other hand, the Sultan is already pretty old, being in his 60’s now. Perhaps said truce may not last for long…? Well, find out next time!

 

So, until then.

[blah the Prussian]

Things are overall looking up. Could you possibly press the claim of one of the Umayyad kids?

[henrymidfields]

Whoa! Congratulations! Now you've effectively built Trump and Le Pen's wall against the heathens...hehehehehe. >:D

[Acacia Sgt]

Chapter X – Life and Death

September 2, 794AD – June 12, 797AD

Spoiler

Well, same drill as usual. Get rid of the excess Demesne. Since it’s 6, I can keep one of the recently conquered counties. As such, I chose Barcelona. Among the people I gave counties to, they included Luivericho. Though to not knowing better, I thought I had to rehire a new Court Physician, so I enacted the decision for it. But turned out I just had to reappoint him as the Court Physician, same way with his Court Chaplain position. Oh well…

 

Another thing I did was to force Prince Mauregato to give up on his plan to claim the Duchy of Asturias. He accepted. Regarding schemes, I decide to enact a new plot, this time to kill Prince Abdallah, one of the Umayyad Sultan’s sons. Not his direct heir, though. I plan to disrupt the inheritance chain by only leaving the weakest links. So, Abdallah must go. So, to begin, I gift gold and invite Wâli Musa of Bordj.

And now, let’s us begin.

September 7

Both Mauregato and Musa accept my demand and offer.

September 11

Count Suneario of Alto Aragón has joined the Increase Council Power faction. So, I gift him gold, to make him reconsider…

September 20

Well, seems our candidate here is… yeah… totally trustworthy, people! What witch? That blood payment is totally FOR SCIENCE. Anyway, accepting is a 25 Piety loss, and 10% chance of King Fruela II get the trait of Infection. In addition to her becoming the Court Physician. Yeah… no, I refuse her offer, and just reappoint Luivericho.

September 30

Our Spymaster brought more Technology Points from Constantinople. RNG dictates: Culture.

October 5

Fruela II’s second child is born. Another boy, Gutierre Froilaz. I assign him the Thrift focus. On hindsight, having a second son was kind of a less than optimal outcome partially, but of course, hindsight. You’ll see what I mean later…

October 10

Next person to bribe to join our plot is Mayor Akin of Relizane. At this rate, I hope we do go somewhere with this one, unlike Aurelio’s plot to kill the Sultan. In any case, he accepts joining on October 27.

November 14

Young Hakam assimilates to Castilian. You know, it comes to my attention, with some of the kids already coming of age… some of them were captured as early as being just one year old… or even just months old. That’s probably worse than Corrin’s situation when you think about it, maybe.

December 22

Oh dear, that doesn’t sound partially good. Honestly, I’m not sure if there is a difference with what I pick, so I chose the top one, just to have him care, haha. Still, not a good note to enter 795AD.

February 24

First sibling to come of age. And can arrange his marriage with Duchess Halderudis of Orleans. Which goes through on March 1. Despite things, Prince Agila will move over to Blois, rather than the Duchess moving here. Unlike Brunechildis who moved from Menorca to Asturias despite still ruling over the islands, Prince Agila doesn’t really have anything to rule over, so he is the one who moves.

Speaking of Brunechildis, turns out her sickness was much worse than we thought.

It’s lupus, nah, it’s never lupus, cancer. Her days are numbered…

March 4

Raider have landed in Santiago. These usually only come in the few hundreds, so it’s a simple matter of just raising my own levies. Sometimes, vassals will raise their own and fight them off, but depending on things, it might not be quite effective, since their own levies aren’t as big.

March 5

Another of the kids, Maryam, becomes Catholic.

March 8

Wait, Karl, what are you doing!? Yeah, so… that happened. Admittedly, I’m not quite fully versed on the religious mechanics. All I know is that this is a reduction to the moral authority of the Catholic Church. They’re going to replace like 2/3’s of the College of Cardinals, as well, since most of them were from Francia itself, and they’ve thrown their lot with the Anti-Pope.

Such an interesting development…

April 7

My levies fight the raiders.

April 20

And we chased them off from the Bishopric of Tùy. Good riddance.

May 4

Next person to join our plot (once again with some bribing), it is Emira Toda of Alger. I suppose I should mention now that there is a different way to do this. Sadly, I didn’t think of doing it until sometime later, so there is still going to be individual updates for now. She accepts on May 14.

June 1

Like the Pope, Anti-Popes get replaced when they die. I do wonder if they have a College of Cardinals and stuff, but since I’m not aligned with him, I can only check the status of the true Pope. That’s right, I don’t accept some wannabe authority outside Roma!

June 27

Time to build another Castle Town, this time at Santinalla del Mar.

September 26

Well, this… um, No Character (?) guy wants to write a medical book. I’m sure it’s supposed to be Luivericho, since he’s the Court Physician, but… anyway, I’m still offering patronage, just in case. Or maybe even he doesn’t care what I do.

October 2

The next of Fruela’s siblings, Princess Sisenanda, has turned 12. Her traits are Brooding, Timid, and Idolizer. With these, her most optimal education focus is Learning.

Yeah, all three are there, but one as a negative. Still, I think the other two will counteract it. Also, I arrange a betrothal for her with the Welsh King Bledrig, from the Petty Kingdom of Deheubarth, located in southern Wales.

October 5

Prince Mauregato has gone into hiding again. This leaves me momentarily without a Regent, so I appoint Mayor Johan of Gijón to replace him.

October 17

King Bledrig accepts the betrothal.

October 26

Prince Mauregato’s faction for Seniority Succession has disbanded, again.

November 7

And then he founds another faction for the throne. Seems his time in hiding didn’t last that long.

And so, the rest of the year passes without much of note, and we enter 796AD.

January 1

Next to bribe to invite to our plot is Khaireddin ibn Abdallah, a simple courtier, who joins in January 14.

January 25

My court Chaplain brings another success in raising good relations with the Pope.

April 26

Knowing she has cancer, this is quite bittersweet, when you think about it.

June 13

We can enact two Advances, a Military and Economic one. Quite good bonuses and unlocks all around.

June 16

The top option is a chance for her to gain the Kind trait. Bottom, well, you see she gains Zealous. I went with that one.

Also, the Castle Town I at Santinalla del Mar is finished.

July 5

It finally happened, Brunechildis succumbed to her cancer. It is a moment of grief for all and take note what we gain from this.

So, the situation is thusly, Brunechildis was Countess of both Mallorca and Menorca, both part of the Byzantine Empire. The way inheritance works over there, or at least in the islands, means that now both Fruela Jr. and Gutierre have inherited an island each. Both have moved over there, which means their education and stuff is now out of my reach. So, there’s one thing I must do now: Change my heir from Prince Agila to Prince Fruela Froilaz.

Here’s the thing: Fruela Jr, now being Fruela Sr designated heir, means that once Sr dies, Jr will inherit Asturias. He will move back, but since he is also Count of Mallorca, Asturias will gain the place! Yes, we would obtain Mallorca without having to fight for it. We simply just gained claim over them through marriage. Also, take note that for now, the reverse is also true. Since Jr is still a kid, his heir is his father, so if he dies, Sr inherits Mallorca. So, if Jr remains Count of Mallorca, we as Asturias will eventually inherit the county, no matter what.

But there lies a problem: Gutierre. He has inherited Menorca. As with Fruela Jr, since he’s still a child his heir is his father too, so if something happens to him, we obtain Menorca. But since he’s not Fruela Sr’s heir, this means that once Gutierre grows up, marries, and gets a child of his own, his heir will change, and Menorca will remain out of our grasp. You could see where I am going with this. If we want to obtain Menorca, at least in the relatively near future, Gutierre would have to die before he has a child of his own.

But well, the kid is still like, only almost 2 years old. We still have plenty of time to decide what to do about this. Could we really resort to kill family members to increase our own power? Well, I’m sure we could equate this to something from real life, maybe…

Anyway, moving on from this...

This certainly looks like too soon. But remaining single isn’t as beneficial in this game as in real life being married is. So, I arrange a betrothal with Uen, the daughter of King Canuall of Pictland.

July 9

In what are certainly shocking news, King Karl died of severe stress. As if this playthrough hadn’t gone ahistorical already. Now Karl is dead, he didn’t even become Emperor Charlemagne (there is an event for that, name change and all). And the way he set up inheritances, his two eldest sons inherited the kingdom, splitting it into West Francia and Middle Francia again, like before it was. Except for one important detail…

Inheritance: You had one job…

Yeah… uh… that happened… I’m not even going to try to decipher what the heck Karl did (well, he did have the Insanity trait).

The region is not going to be doing great for the following years, in fact, Middle Francia will fall into Civil War for Elective Monarchy on July 18, so let’s… just focus on us… okay…

July 23

King Canuall accepts the betrothal proposal. Uen is still like, 10 or 11, so this will take years, anyway.

Also, I notice my Demesne fell back to 5, most likely because Brunechildis died. Therefore, I grant the county of Barcelona to a courtier, Pedro.

July 27

Sultan Abd-al-Rahman gained the Incapable trait. Seems he too will soon depart this world.

September 30

Count Pedros is being quite grateful of his recently given county that he has founded an Independence faction. Tsk, I must bribe him to see if that makes him reconsider.

October 13

More raiders have come, this time to Navarra. I raise my levies again, but the raiders left a few days of sieging. Beats me why, considering they weren’t looting. You see, from what I see, raiders can do one or both things: siege the county, or loot it. Siege is standard, but looting means they steal a certain amount of daily gold. For their home area to get the gold, they must return alive to it. That’s pretty much how raiding works. Only certain cultures can raid. I’d go in more detail, but at this rate I’ve said only what applies to us. More or less.

October 29

That Independence faction is disbanded. Good riddance.

November 1

Seems the Orthodox got a resurgence, reversing their position with the Iconoclast again.

November 14

More raiders have arrived to Navarra. Yeah, we’re going to see this happening often. Damn Vikings…

November 17

Prince Alfontso (yes, with a t) has joined the Increase Council Power faction.

November 30

I gift gold to both Alfontso and Countess Vistravara.

Also, next sibling to turn 12, Prince Johan. With the traits of Playful, Willful, and Rowdy, he’s fit to a Martial Education, even if Martial isn’t exactly his highest attribute. I arrange a betrothal for him with Princess Geila, the daughter of King Adelchis of Lombardy.

December 9

Prince Alfontso leaves the ICP faction.

December 11

King Adelchis accepts the proposal.

December 24

Prince Theorodicho has come of age. With traits like Brilliant Strategist and Brawny, he has quite the Martial stat. Which I use with…

Start a mercenary company. So, what does this means? Well, I can have a mercenary group that can be hired like any other (and even hire them myself if I need to). Part of their monthly income will be mine when they’re at work. Though, as you can see, they start small. With just three guys. But don’t worry, they will gain more members and strength as time goes on.

And thus, we enter 797AD.

January 11

My levies start to fight the raiders at Navarra.

January 29

We fought them off at the Barony of Tafalla.

February 26

Bear hunting, huh. Count Silo of Coruña wants to come. Sure, why not.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a bear to be dissuaded with a picnic basket or something. The top option gives 10 prestige, but also the Depressed trait, and 30% chance for Silo to gain the Wounded one, and a -5 to Opinion. Bottom is simply an opinion increase with Silo, but it avoids the Depressed trait, so definitely going with the bottom option.

March 26

Prince Mauregato disbands his faction for the throne.

April 9

This was a tough decision. As you can see, keeping the trade route means 200 gold. The other option is a 25 prestige loss. However, the Trade Route modifier does give good tax boosts. So, after much deliberation, I do end up paying 200 gold to preserve it.

May 27

Well, so, recently I just noticed…

Yeah, the Umayyad keep gobbling up more and more of North Africa. This is quite unfortunate.

On the flip side…

Another Advance. Increasing Legalism gives more law options to enact. It’s best to expand our options.

June 12

It finally happened. The Umayyad Sultan has finally died. His son, Prince Hisham, has inherited the Sultanate.

Well, I think this is a good point as any. Some… well, quite the changes have happened in just these three years. So, what does the future holds? Find out next time!

 

So, until then.

[blah the Prussian]

I love it when CKII gives you these stories.

[Excellen Browning]

So when is the glorious reconquista going to continue?

[henrymidfields]

Just out of curiosity, I wonder what's happening over in East Asia. Are you able to check?

[Acacia Sgt]

On 21/2/2017 at 3:51 AM, Excellen Browning said:

So when is the glorious reconquista going to continue?

Next chapter, most likely.

11 minutes ago, henrymidfields said:

Just out of curiosity, I wonder what's happening over in East Asia. Are you able to check?

No, we can't. India is the farthest the playable map goes to the East. Then you just see a small piece of non-playable land labeled Burma, then it's the edge. On the other hand, the original map didn't extend this far east, it was added in an expansion. And considering they're still making expansions to this game... then who knows. Maybe they may go even furthest east if they still continue expanding the game. But at this point... I kinda would think they shouldn't. Crusader Kings, back when first released, was mainly focused on the state of the Crusades (hence the title), with just mainly Europe and the Middle East, and a 1066 starting date. But now that the map extends to India and Ethiopia thanks to expansions, and even starting dates as far back as 769... maybe it's just me, but I think they need to stop at some point instead of covering the whole world and stuff. Or rename the game Medieval Kings, heh.

[blah the Prussian]

There is a mod that has all of Eurasia, called Umbra Spherae, but it's incomplete and East Asian societies aren't represented properly. It's a good start, though!

[Acacia Sgt]

Chapter XI – Pushing South

June 12, 797AD – July 7 801AD

Spoiler

The death of the Sultan brings forth an important change. That our Truce with the Umayyad is gone. The way this works is that Wars and Truces are done with people, not nations and the like. Therefore, I had a truce with the Sultan, not the Sultanate. And now, with Prince Hisham becoming the new Sultan, I could declare way again, if I so whish.

But for now, I want to do something first.

I switch my plot to him. Reason is that Hisham’s heir, his son, is still just an infant. If I kill Hisham, then that leaves an infant in charge, and since he will require a regent and stuff, this could be a good opportunity to destabilize them. Though once again, I’m doing this as a Plan B, since the plot to kill Hisham’s father never went anywhere through the twenty years it was active.

Now, for this case, I’m now doing something that will make things easier for me. You can toggle for invitations to be done automatically. From what I’ve seen, it automatically sends invitations to people who will join the plot as soon as they want to. I find it best to just leave that aspect of plotting on its own.

So, let’s begin, shall we?

July 6

More raiders land in Santiago. As usual, I raise levies and go after them. We fight them at August 5.

August 15

Count Monnio of Urgell died a natural death. His son Froila has inherited. Considering Froila is not even one year old, seems Monnio secured the continuation of his bloodline just in time, eh?

August 27

And the Bishopric of Santiago has been saved.

Doing a quick check on who has joined my plot so far, we got three people already. Princes Abdallah and Sulayman, and Emir Bahir of Toledo. The fact two of Hisham’s brothers have joined the plot says much.

September 7

Another revolt has erupted within the Umayyad. You know what this means…

Kick them while distracted. For now, I only raise my personal levies.

September 16

My levies start to arrive at Soria. They will continue to do so through the next two months.

September 27

Another kid comes of age, and I recruit him into my service.

October 1

Sheikh Sa’id of El Rif has come to the aid of Sultan Hisham.

November 25

Count Mauregato of Navarra died of Gout complications. His son Mauregato Jr has inherited. Hmm, another kid, though this time he’s six years old…

Nothing of note goes on and soon we enter 798AD.

January 1

Apparently, the Sultan had gone into hiding. Hmm, didn’t noticed. Anyway, the option to go into hiding only shows up when you know someone’s out to get you. However, since I received no notification that my plot was discovered, then it means that either another plot to kill him got discovered, or it’s due to the revolt wanting to off his head. Beats me.

January 18

Disease has broken down into our siege.

February 2

More technology points from Constantinople, which ended up being Military. Which allows me to…

Time to strengthened our cavalry now. Which also includes camels and elephants, but naturally, we don’t have those.

February 24

Troops from El Rif have started to siege Burgos.

In another note, another sibling comes of age, so off to fulfill that betrothal arrangement.

March 2

The marriage arrangement goes through.

Also, next sibling to turn twelve, Prince Silo. With the traits of Fussy, Haughty, and Idolizer, I therefore choose the education of…

March 26

Prince Mauregato never knows when to quit, for once more he has created the Seniority Succession Faction.

May 15

The event about offering guidance to one the kids has appeared again, once more due to our high Diplomacy. This time with Maryam. Once more I chose the option that gives the Honest trait. This has the side-effect of prolonging King Fruela’s Too Honest modifier. Oh well…

June 7

The defenders at the Wilayah of Soria launch an unsuccessful last stand raid. And I say land stand because…

It killed off the last of them and their defense of the place. Warscore is now 4%.

June 10

More Levy Reinforcements thanks to my Marshall.

July 4

And our Court Chaplain increase our relations with the Pope.

July 12

Sultan Hisham has gone into hiding again. In other news, another unsuccessful raid on my siege, this time by the defenders of the next place under siege, which was…

August 9

The City of Almazán, bringing warscore to 13%. I decide to pause my sieges and go after the El Rif forces in Burgos. Which we attack on August 24.

September 3

More raiders arrive, this time at Asturias de Santinalla.

September 5

It happened. Prince Mauregato finally died, from natural causes. His son, Airmanagildo, has inherited the county of Astorga.

September 15

So, this happened. Don’t know what exactly triggers it, but Bishop Munio does have the Depressed trait, so that’s one factor, at least. Anyway, I don’t know what happens if I summon the Council, and I ended up choosing the bottom option anyway. Let’s help him out, shall we.

September 21

And the battle at the city of Burgos ends, and warscore is now 15%. I move my force to attack the raiders, but they flee on their own. It’s hard to say if they can’t loot any more, or I scared them off. Anyway, I move my levies back to Soria, resuming the siege on October 10.

December 26

 Well, so much for trying to become his friend. The bottom option angers the Church, so I go for the top option. But the thing is, Bishop Munio is the best person I can have for Court Chaplain. So, I promptly put him back there and back to Roma.

Not starting 799AD on a good note, eh.

January 10

Even more raiders arrive, this time to Asturias de Oviedo.

January 12

High Chief Awzal of Masmudid has joined the war. Not much worried, since the Umayyad themselves are still tied down trying to suppress the revolt.

January 14

Uh oh, my Spymaster got caught! At least he was only imprisoned. For his replacement, I employ the service of Hussayn, and send him to… that’s right, Constantinople to Study Technology.

January 26

More raiders arrive, this time to Coruña.

February 6

The Mosque of Osma is the last to fall, giving me full control of Soria and warscore to 22%. Yeah, looks like at this rate I’ll have to beat the armies themselves if I want to quickly advance warscore. For now, I head north to fight raiders. Which we engage in March 15 with the ones at Oviedo.

February 21

Mayor Gundemar was released back to us. Seems Basileus Bosporios was merciful with him.

April 1

We’ve kicked the raiders off from Oviedo. Now, I’m not going after the raiders in Coruña. You see, they don’t have enough men to siege, and they’re neither looting. They’re pretty much just sightseeing or something. They will leave eventually, but I never noticed when exactly. Therefore, I’ll ignore them for the time being. I dissolve my levies and recall them, so I can gather the unraised levies that have reformed from recovered losses and stuff. And move them into Valladolid to start sieging.

April 28

Choosing the top option is a huge opinion loss from him. I go with the bottom, in which I don’t do anything about it, at least for now. I don’t want to deal with this sort of stuff during war. Even if the loss of tax paying from the opinion loss can be negated with imprisoning him (as I’d have a valid reason for that) and putting someone else in charge.

May 5

My levies start to siege Valladolid.

May 22

Bandits raid my camps.

June 7

Another offer for diplomatic guidance, this time to Prince Johan. This time, however, only the option to make him Honest shows up, not the one for Gregarious. I still choose, rather than not extend the Too Honest modifier.

June 11

This time, the defenders lay a successful raid on my levies.

June 21

They launch another successful raid.

July 7

The top option has a chance to give him Brave, however, I go with the guaranteed Brawny trait. I think it’s better for him on the long-run. Also, note the Diplomacy +1. Literal strong-arm diplomacy, most likely.

July 11

And now disease breaks into my camps. Sheesh, this siege is not going well at all!

September 24

Next sibling to come of age.

October 9

I think she’s the last of the original POW kids. Or almost last. I recruit her into my court as with most of the others.

October 27

Baron Rodericho of San Pedro de Périx died a natural death. He was succeeded by his son, Ranimiro.

It also comes to my attention that the Umayyad changed color, so a lighter shade of green. Looking over, it seems Sultan Hisham has created the Sultanate of Andalusia. Interesting…

November 11

More raiders have arrived at Asturias de Santinalla.

November 17

I start construction for a Castle Town in León.

And with nothing much of note, the VIII^th century comes to an end, and the IX^th begins. Let’s see what the year 800AD brings…

February 12

I get a notification that a daughter, Winidilda, was born from Count Wimarano and Rafiqa. Take note that she’s not the count’s wife. A bit of a shame, as Winidilda was born with the Strong trait, which is like Brawny but with better modifiers in some areas. I assign her the Pride childhood focus.

February 25

Finally, we capture the Wilayah of Valladolid, bringing warscore to 26%. You know, at this rate, I do would want to fight the Umayyad, just to speed things up. On the other hand, the revolt has been keeping them busy, they’re pretty much ignoring me. Maybe I just think this because of how unlucky I was with this siege. For now, I go to fight the raiders at Asturias de Santinalla.

The time has come to enact another law.

Increase the available levies of my nobility, from 20/40/-40 to the new totals. Yes, they might prefer to pay taxes, but on average they carry more levies. Pretty much, with all three types of vassals I’m doing the opposite of what they want.

February 26

Okay, now this is the last of the kids, and so the last I recruit into my court.

March 26

My levies attack the raiders.

April 16

And we save the city of Santander.

So, time to a change of strategy. I gift Mayor Johan of Gijón some gold, then dismiss my levies, then recall them again plus my vassal’s. Time to speed this up. Onward to Valladolid again!

May 3

We start to arrive at Valladolid.

May 12

Same event as with the Bishop from earlier, except I have another choice available, since he’s a Count. Ensuring they don’t join factions is a good thing.

June 7

Over thirty years into the game, there’s barely any of our initial Counts around. I think the very last is Count Silo of Coruña. Or more like, was, for his time has finally come. A natural death, whatever exactly that means. His son, Adelgaster, has succeeded him.

I need a new Steward, so I choose Luivericho for the job, to Collect Taxes at Oviedo.

June 16

Got a notification that someone from the defenders has turned traitor, and is helping us.

July 5

And the city of Tordesillas falls, bringing war score to 37%.

July 10

Raiders have arrived at Viscaya.

July 12

I gift gold to Count Suneario of Alto Aragón, since he has joined the ICP faction.

July 27

The last place to siege is succumbing to starvation.

August 1

My Chancellor has sowed distrust between Emir Friednand and Sultan Hisham. I should point out the Sultan is still in hiding, making my plot go nowhere for the time being. On the other hand, remaining too much time in hiding can trigger bad stuff, but perhaps I should not mind much he’s not actively governing his realm.

September 5

We repel an unsuccessful raid on our siege. This is going so much better compared to Valladolid’s.

September 20

More technology points from Constantinople, which ended up being Economic.

October 6

The betrothal of Princess Sisenanda with King Bledrig of Deheubarth (in southern Wales, if you remember) can now be fulfilled. Since this time the King made the marriage proposal instead of me (so he most likely sent it days earlier and only now I receive it), it happens automatically.

October 8

More levy reinforcements thanks to our Marshall, but more importantly…

The Mosque of Segovia is ours and warscore, now at 43%, will slowly rise since we now have our war goal fulfilled. Still, it’s a long path to 100%. Well, time to do something quite daring. I’ll march strait into the Umayyad capital and siege it. Hopefully this won’t make them change their mind and focus on us rather than on the revolt, but I’ll still risk it.

October 19

Sad news have come, Princess Menenda died of Great Pox. That makes her the first of Aurelio’s offspring to die. She was the one I betrothed with someone over in Lombardy.

October 30

I receive that event about turning a kid either Kind of Zealous, this time with Prince Silo. I go for the latter.

November 6

León’s Castle Town I has been finished.

November 11

Took until now, but Count Suneario finally left the ICP faction.

November 21

I was right, the Umayyad have mostly just focused on crushing the revolt. It’s a very good thing they continue to ignore me… sounds almost too good to be true…

November 24

Next sibling to come of age, and can now arrange marriage from his betrothal with Princess Geila of Lombardy. Hmm, maybe we can get them as allies? We’ll see… In any case, the proposal is accepted on December 1.

December 4

My army finally reaches Qurtubah, the Umayyad capital, and we start to siege. Warscore has only climbed to 46% so far, so yeah, this is a better alternative to increase it than waiting or fighting directly with them.

801AD will be the year. By the way, those raiders at Viscaya are now just idle. Hmm, maybe if they stay there long enough I can go after them after the war and retake what they looted.

January 25

On an unfortunate note, disease breaks into the sieging camps.

March 1

Liuvericho succumbs to cancer. While his daughter, Menenda, will succeed him as Countess of Lleida, I need to find replacements for the Steward and Court Physician positions. For Steward, it’s going to be Count Pedro of Barcelona, and like the ones before him, going to Collect Taxes at Oviedo. For Court Physician I enact the decision again to search for a suitable candidate.

I also gift gold to Count Adelgaster of Coruña, for he has joined the ICP faction.

March 20

And our candidate. He has very good traits, and is cheap to buy his services. Sorry kids, but the King comes first. The only downside to Gutierre here is that he’s a Fraticelli, considered a Catholic heresy. I can’t make him renounce those ways, so I guess he’ll remain one for the time being.

April 20

More Economic Technological Points from Constantinople.

April 23

Count Adelgaster has left the ICP faction.

July 7

The Wilayah of Alcolea is ours, and warscore jumps straight to 100%! This is probably not so much because it was their capital holding, but rather because we also caught 17 POWs, including the Sultan’s son (and heir) and daughters, his wives, and one of his brothers (ironically the one who is a member of our plot to kill the sultan). So basically, we hit the jackpot and caught enough VIPs to bring them to the negotiations sword table.

With the war over, Hisham’s son and brother are automatically released, but the women instead remain still our prisoners. Well, you know the drill, sending them all to House Arrest, ransom the adults, and mold the new batch of Corrins into our ways.

Ah, look at that. Our next step in the Reconquista. But we still have much of Iberia left to recover.

And that’s another war out of the way. By the way, I am going to be conducting the Reconquista with a certain order in mind. First, it was taking the areas bordering Francia so they wouldn’t beat me to the punch (since the De Jure Barcelona Duchy is currently considered part of the De Jure Aquitaine Kingdom), now it’s to take over the De Jure areas that aren’t under my full control. Which meant the Duchy of Castile, now fulfilled, and next is León, currently an Emirate because the title has been created already, but by the Umayyad (they own at least 51% of the county/sheikhdom total, which is one of the requirements). Having that one under our full control is special, but how so? Well, you’ll find out… eventually…

So, until next time.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Acacia Sgt

[henrymidfields]

22 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

No, we can't. India is the farthest the playable map goes to the East. Then you just see a small piece of non-playable land labeled Burma, then it's the edge. On the other hand, the original map didn't extend this far east, it was added in an expansion. And considering they're still making expansions to this game... then who knows. Maybe they may go even furthest east if they still continue expanding the game. But at this point... I kinda would think they shouldn't. Crusader Kings, back when first released, was mainly focused on the state of the Crusades (hence the title), with just mainly Europe and the Middle East, and a 1066 starting date. But now that the map extends to India and Ethiopia thanks to expansions, and even starting dates as far back as 769... maybe it's just me, but I think they need to stop at some point instead of covering the whole world and stuff. Or rename the game Medieval Kings, heh.

That's a bit of a shame. I would have liked to see how Japan would have come differently in your run.

On the other hand, I see you've got a new batch of Corrins to brainwash. Maybe I should call your leader King Garon II, and your son (Mark-Ale)Xander I. (LOL)

[Acacia Sgt]

This is more of an annoucement, but it is quite important for those who don't know it yet.

So with the newest expansion, Monks and Mysthics, being released on March 7, there's the subject on the matter of what to do with it regarding to the LP. First of all, regardless, I will buy M&M. But the question is, will I use it on the LP? Most of the DLC will be mechanic changes that are probably not an issue to trigger with an existing save file. There are some slight map changes involved as well apparently, but none that may be too much of a problem or would matter at this point, from what I think at least. If my save file can handle the transition of suddenly adding M&M, I will continue with it.

As such, I won't play (too much) until I can find out. Don't worry, I have enough material for a few updates, so the LP itself won't be paused.

So, until next update.

[Acacia Sgt]

Chapter XII – Surpassing one’s Father

July 7, 801AD – November 25, 804AD

Spoiler

We start doing the same drill as always, remove excess Demesne. Except I am keeping the Valladolid county. Instead, I’m granting Nájera county to Hakam Hakamid, one of the ex-POW’s; and Soria county to Manrique, a random courtier. Next order of business is to have our Court Chaplain sent to Proselyte Soria, as it’s now Sunni majority. There’s barely any Catholics majorities left in the rest of Iberia. There’s going to be much more proselyting in the future.

I’ve also had enough points to increase this. Asturias de Oviedo is a coastal county, after all. Though don’t expect to see much of a fleet. In fact, I’ve only seen galleys be used as transport ships. No naval combat seems to exist. Or if it does, I’ve yet to see it. When it comes to the new batch of POW’s, first order of business is to place them under House Arrest, then ransom Princess Amsha, one of Sultan Hisham’s daughters, for 74 gold. She’s already 16, outside my grasp to conduct her education, so might as well. I also order the construction of a Castle Town for Palencia, at Burgos. And now, let’s begin!

July 20

Princess Amsha is returned. The next one to ransom is Sultana Kamala, one of Hisham’s secondary wives. Just 10 gold this time, which shows you how much Hisham must value her.

August 1

Kamala is returned, and I send the next ransom, this time for Sultana Shogofa, the other secondary wife (tertiary, then?), again for 10 gold. Also, raiders arrive to Santiago, and I raise my levies to fight them off.

August 3

Our Spymaster reports that Count Adelgaster of Coruña seeks a claim to the Duchy of Galicia. I suspect it’s him, and not Countess Vistravara at Santiago because Coruña is the De Jure capital county for the Duchy, so likely he feels more entitled to it. AI characters always favor the default De Jure capitals, even if they can be moved.

August 9

Shogofa is returned.

August 31

My levies start to fight the raiders at Santiago.

September 7

Count Ferran of Zaragoza succumbed to cancer. He was succeeded by his son, Artau.

September 17

The Steward collects a tithe in Oviedo, of 60.33 gold. Don’t ask me how we can have point something of gold. Maybe someone broke a coin in pieces…

Speaking of gold, the time has come to build a Hospital at Oviedo. I had been putting it out for a while now, but I think the time is right. There’s one reason for it. Remember when I got that notification that Oviedo gained the Prospering trait? Well, it’s because of one detail about it.

The one negative modifier to counties prospering is the rise of disease susceptibility. Even the game itself tells you to build hospitals to counter that. Unfortunately, the basic hospital won’t give us that much of a benefit for now. Hospitals also have sub-types of structures to build, but we’ve yet to unlock any of them. For now, I’ll just build the basic hospital.

September 22

We drove the raiders out of Santiago, but not before we captured their leader. Score! Sigurðr here is the brother of Ormr of Vestiland (western Iceland). Ormr here is currently in the red, so he can’t pay me any ransom. I guess I’m keeping Sigurðr as my prisoner for the time being.

And now, the time has come to finally drive away those raiders at Viscaya. Yeah, they’re still there, just chilling, since they can’t siege and aren’t looting. But I need them gone, otherwise I can’t raise VIscaya’s levies without being crushed by them due to their low numbers compared to the raiders.

December 28

We arrive at Viscaya, and hopefully by 802AD we’ll have expelled them from Asturias.

January 12

And we finally drove them out. They stayed there for like… how much time again? I think it went around a full year…

January 18

Huzzah! Soria became Catholic majority. I’ll return him to Roma to keep working on improving relations with the Pope. Also, the Icelandic guy can now pay the ransom of his brother, so I promptly make the demand.

January 21

Our Marshall triggers more Levy Reinforcements. I should probably switch his job since we’re not currently at war. But well, hindsight. And now more raiders arrive, this time to Oviedo. So, I move my levies over.

January 25

The ransom is paid and Sigurðr is released.

February 7

Prince Alfontso joins the ICP faction. This is the faction that will be most headaches throughout the game, I can tell. Anyway, I gift him gold.

February 18

My levies fight the raiders in Oviedo.

February 24

It also came to my attention I never arranged a betrothal for him. So, I do now, with the sister of Chief Dub-dá-Lethe of Connachta. Over yonder on the Emerald Isle. Which is accepted on March 2.

March 4

At the very least, we’re getting something out of fighting raiders. I choose the last option, that gives Unyielding. As you can see, I prefer defense, since usually I’m always fighting armies larger than mine. Since I try to ensure to fight defensively since terrain bonuses only apply to the defender, then might as well ensure I can win battles through attrition. And on the other hand, it can negate terrain penalties if I’m the attacker.

March 12

And we fight them off the Bishopric.

March 20

And now even more raiders arrive, this time to Navarra. As being in the more southern parts of the map, it really tells you the dedication of these guys to go all the way over to us. On the other hand, the ability to raid isn’t just for the Norse culture. I think even some like the Irish can raid. But I never got the hindsight to check that out, and judging from the names of the guys raiding me, it seems if they can, they are not doing it with me. Probably the Anglo-Saxons are being more appealing targets to raid.

In another note, I also gift gold to Countess Vistravara, so that maybe we can dissolve again the ICP faction.

April 22

This time, the raiders didn’t bide their time, and quickly left before I could crush them.

April 26

Well, sure, why not. 11 gold is like, nothing I can’t recover in just one month. And speaking of prospering, Asturias de Oviedo has prospered enough that it has advanced to the next level: from Prospering to Flourishing.

Yep, I now need more than ever to unlock those hospital upgrades.

May 9

Prince Alfontso finally leaves the ICP.

May 26

Fruela’s new betrothal arrangement has come of age, and now the marriage proposal comes in. This is something I sometimes find amusing. Even if you send the proposal, you may also receive one. If you accept, then your own proposal is rejected, since the characters are already married, but don’t worry, nothing really happens because of that. Because of this, I don’t dare to decline their proposals, since then I don’t know if they’ll accept mine because of the decline.

June 2

First POW kid to come of age, a sister of Sultan Hisham. There wasn’t enough time for her to change her ways, so I just ransom her. Just 10 gold, but I would release her regardless. Considering the Decadence mechanics, it’s in my best interests to ensure the Sultan can get more family members. Hence why I had also offer ransoms for the wives way earlier. Sometimes, you want to ensure your enemies can’t continue their bloodlines; but when fighting against Muslims, you do want that instead. Again, due to the Decadence mechanics. She gets released on June 8.

June 24

The Castle Town I was finished in Palencia.

June 29

The revolt against Hisham’s tyranny was finally crushed. They served their purpose of being a good distraction well. Too bad they couldn’t win. Could’ve been good to destabilize the Umayyad.

July 26

Content is a fantastic trait for your vassals to have, since it’s basically insurance for their loyalty. It’s the opposite of the Ambitious trait when it comes to that. For us… well, it gives monthly piety, so I guess we can still find use for it? It’s better to have it with the vassals than with oneself. Absolutely.

September 16

This showed up. Hmm, a call of help, huh. Top option is a higher opinion increase while the middle one lowers it slightly. The thing is, Munio is already at max opinion, since we are friends after all (which gives a full +100 modifier to opinion), so let’s take the bottom one, to get something out of it other than an opinion increase.

September 18

The event to turn a kid Honest or Gregarious pops up again, for another of the POW kids, Jeddjiga. This time, however, I’ll decline on either. You see, Jeddjiga is already 14, so I doubt we can have her assimilate or convert in time. So I better not extend bad modifiers on Fruela if I can help it.

September 26

The Barracks that were in construction in Valladolid were finished. These are the level II status of the building. It’s nice when the enemy develops the buildings for you before you take them, no? Anyway, I now start construction of a Castle Town there. Gotta keep increasing my tax sources and incomes.

As an aside, I should note that buildings like Hospitals don’t really notify you when they’re finished. The one at Oviedo is already finished, but only until now I took note. Also, checking on my plot, I see another Umayyad Prince, Talib, has joined. Hisham is still in hiding, though, so my plot is still with no place to go.

October 6

And I get the gold as payment to help Bishop Munio. But I don’t think this is going somewhere. At the very least, nothing else came from this. Well, another event did pop up, but… well, you’ll see.

November 22

The betrothal arrangement I made for Prince Silo can now be fulfilled. It goes through on November 29.

December 8

Karl Karling died infirm. If you remember, he’s the guy we sent mother dearest, Anthousa, to marry after King Aurelio died. I suppose that amounted to nothing, then. I can and did invite her back to my court.

But that didn’t happen before we entered 803AD.

January 1

Since she arrived right on New Year’s. I know, the New Year was not on January 1 during these times. It was on April 1 (people unaware or who refused to accept the change were the first April Fools, and where the term comes from, in fact). But I suppose for simplicity’s sake, it’s in January 1 in this game. And yes, I know I’m only mentioning this, decades after the game began. Ah well…

April 3

Finally, we start to receive assimilation and conversion events. First for young Z’ergha, who assimilates to Castilian.

April 8

Well, we got this event. Bottom options gives 10 prestige, but I decide to ask for advice, which was to Bishop Munio.

May 4

Unfortunately, we didn’t get promising results. Fortunately, it doesn’t carry a negative consequence. Just not a positive one.

May 14

Once more the event that someone is slandering us. This time from Count Pedro of Barcelona. I enact the same option as before, to see if we can “convince” him to stay out of factions.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t work quite well. On the flip side, this gives us the justification to imprison him with no consequences. With a 68% of success; but I’m not going to pursue it. Between dealing with raiders and on the later the Umayyad may attack me, I rather not distract myself too much, in case trying to imprison Pedro goes wrong. Am I being overly cautious? Maybe…

May 25

The Anti-Pope died. His successor is Eugenius II.

May 26

The county of León gains the Prospering trait. I should soon have to build a Hospital there as well, soon.

June 14

I don’t know who this third friend ever is in these events… but ah well, 5 prestige gain is 5 prestige gain.

July 28 – September 6

This showed up. Top option removes 50 prestige, but doesn’t allow the thing to escalate. However, I decide to not let such accusations get thrown just because! But, as you saw, they were indeed going in a bad direction. Once more, backing down is 50 prestige loss, but well… still went with bottom option again. And I get 100 prestige out of the whole ordeal, but at what cost? Ah well, it’s just Connachta, no big loss considering the circumstances.

September 12

Valladolid’s Castle Town I is finished. In other news, checking my plot, someone else has joined. Emir Is’mail of Aslamid Emirate. He’s the guy who had rose in revolt.

October 29

Count Pedro of Barcelona joined the ICP.

November 25

Another POW kid, Z’ergha, converts to Catholicism.

And so, we move on into 804AD.

January 13

Count Wimarano of Albarracin died of Great Pox. He was succeeded by his son, Diaco. In more positive news, Fruela’s new wife, Uen, is now pregnant.

 

February 25

 

 

Another POW comes of age. She remained a Sunni Bedouin, so I can’t recruit her into my court. On the other hand, there’s no acceptance for ransom, so I guess she’ll stay my “guest” for a while longer.

May 13

The time has come to begin building a new building type. This time for Militia Training Grounds, starting with Oviedo. These offer light infantry and archers, which get added to levies.

As the year progresses, it comes to my attention that Sultan Hisham is still in hiding. For me, this is a good thing. Despite being tempted to call off my plot and restart it, so that he can come out of hiding and allow my plot to have a shot at him, I decide to keep him there. Being in hiding for too long can be bad, after all. So, let’s keep him there as long he’s willing to do so. And even better, his son and heir is also in hiding. For children, prolonged hiding is even worse, as it can disrupt their educations, meaning less positive traits when they grow up. Sometimes, doing nothing is the best thing you can do. And let your enemies succumb from within, worrying over a threat that will never come.

August 15

 

First kid born from the new marriage, Milia Froilaz. Her childhood focus will be Etiquette.

 

October 12

 

Bishop Munio has managed to increase our relations with the Pope.

 

November 9

 

Another culture assimilation with the POW kids, Paywand, becoming Castilian.

 

November 19

 

 

A request for more troops for the mercs. Sure, let’s give them some more.

 

November 25

 

More technology points thanks to our Spymaster. They ended up Cultural points.

 

And now, this will be the stopping point. Why? Because…

 

 

Not only have we made over 5000 points now, surpassing another bloodline in the scoreboard, but also Fruela’s personal score has now surpassed that of his father. And in less time too! Granted, Aurelio had less time to work with, since at game start he’s in his 50’s, but still…

And so, another update done. By the way, I looked up more about the upcoming expansion. Turns out, whenever Paradox has released an expansion for CKII, it also releases a free patch, which updates the game to the mechanics the DLC will work with. So basically, even if I don’t buy Monks and Mystics, the game will still receive content when it updates. But don’t worry, if my save file ends up being incompatible with the new game version, Steam allows me to change back to a previous version, so the LP is in no danger of being discontinued. Granted, it’d be a shame if I can’t have this LP be up to date, but oh well, such is life. I still hope the save file can be compatible with the upcoming patch, though.

 

So, until next time.

[blah the Prussian]

I feel like no historical ruler ever has the evil plan "And THEN I'll give him as bunch of wives to make him decadent and have a revolt!"

[Acacia Sgt]

To be fair, they are already his wives. I'm just returning them, for a fee.

Chapter XIII – Success Through Inaction

November 25, 804AD – September 14, 807AD

Spoiler

So, we continue with simply focusing on developing our lands, since our truce with Prince Hisham means we must wait for it to expire. I’m not breaking it myself due to the huge prestige loss. And he is still in hiding so our plot is going nowhere. As such, nothing worthy of note happens for the rest of the year, and so, we enter 805AD.

January 18

Time to start construction on more Militia Training Grounds, this time at Santinalla del Mar.

January 20

At first glance it sounds like he is doing good... but then look that its classified as being envious. Hmm...

February 10

My Marshall triggers another Levy Reinforcements, and at this notification I finally got reminded I should change his job since we’re not in war. His new job? Research Military Tech, still in Oviedo. What it does is that it speeds up the technology spread (by +105% due to his Martial stat). Since Asturias de Oviedo has already a few military advances over the rest of the kingdom, I think it’s time to help spread them out, so the rest can catch up.

February 14

Once more my Court Chaplain increases relations with Roma.

March 16

Uen once more gets pregnant.

April 3

Got the chance to enact another Economic Advance:

Increasing Castle Tax will be a more direct benefit than with other types of buildings, since I personally control baronies.

April 20

The Militia Training Grounds I at Oviedo are finished.

May 1

Another person joins my plot, Emir Faruk of Toghan Emirate. Plot power at this point is now a respectable 55.7%, but well, it amounts to nothing if the target is still in hiding. But well, keeping him there is what I want, so…

May 24

I get a notification that Simin, Sultan Hisham’s main wife and one of my prisoners, died. An unexpected development. Unfortunately, I forgot to check her character page to see if she had any sickness related traits, since that would be the most likely reason she died.

May 26

In a different note, I order to build Militia Training Grounds at León.

May 28

Next kid to come of age, another of Sultan Hisham’s daughters. Another one to ransom, for 74 gold like the other daughter. It also comes to my attention that Sultan Hisham has turned from Bedouin to Andalusian.

June 1

She is returned to the Umayyad, and in the meantime, another kid converts to Catholicism.

June 14

King Bledrig of Deheubarth offers an alliance. Sure, I take it. It’s not like he will expect me to go over there to Wales to fight his wars, right. Right?

July 11

Uh oh, this isn’t good. Top option is a straight imprisonment for Gutierre, but I’d rather not have to change Court Physician already. Bottom will instead anger Anthousa, and a 10% of becoming bitter rivals. Yes, bitter rivals with your mother. So, I choose the middle option. It still strains relations with Gutierre, but pleases mother all the same.

Looking over, I see she has the flu. Yeah, he botched up treating the flu. I suppose back then it was more of a problem than it is now…? Either way, she now has as well the Ill-Treatment trait, which worsens her condition.

July 19

Once more a Sephradi Jew has come to my court. Has a very good Intrigue stat, but well, from past experiences with other Jews who have arrived to my court, I never have the chance to ever give them a job. Will he be any different? Maybe…

July 26

Asturias de Santinalla is the next to gain the Prosperous modifier.

August 12

I notice that the King of West Francia, Badegisel, has died. His heir is his son, Badegisel II. He’s still a kid, so his own heir is his uncle, the King of Middle Francia. I should note that the King of Middle Francia is also childless, though has already come of age, so his heir is Badegisel II. So basically, at this point, the moment one dies, the Francias will reunite.

August 19

Don’t know if it’s a prelude to an epidemic or not, but now Princess Milia has come with the flu.

August 27

Fortunately, Gutierre made a much better work this time around. I went for the top option, the bottom one is just a 10 prestige increase. A bit weird, since it’s Fruela who gets the increase, and not Gutierre? Beats me why’s that…

September 30

After a period of absence, more raiders have arrived, this time to Asturias de Oviedo. You know the drill.

October 14

I received a notification that Fruela’s brother, Prince Johan, has a daughter. A shame it wasn’t a boy, since the mother is a Lombard princess. Anyway, I put her on the Humility childhood focus.

October 15

Instead, Fruela is the one that gets a boy as his newest kid. García Froilaz. He will get the Duty childhood focus.

October 17

My levies arrive at Oviedo to fight the raiders.

October 26

And we save the city of Gijón.

November 25

Our Spymaster acquired more technology points, economic points.

December 4

Took quite a while, but finally something happens regarding our Holy Relic. Bottom options angers the Church, changing their opinion by -10 for a full year. Middle option grants 30 prestige and piety, plus rising their opinion by +25 for a year. Top option, as you can see, only grants the piety, but also gives the Humble trait. And the option I choose. At this point a flat 30 prestige increase is of little concern, and while nice, the +25 opinion from all members of the Church only lasts for a year. The Humble trait is long-lasting, and gives monthly piety. I could use that more, on the long-run.

December 25

More raiders have arrived to Santiago. You know the drill.

806AD opens with a big irony. Or at least, I’ve only noticed it until now.

January 1

The King of Lombardy, known as the “Son of Lucifer”, yet helping the Pope. Amazing. Unfortunately, their ordeal might be problematic, for Middle Francia has the soldiers to rival Lombardy and her allies.

January 7

The Militia Training Grounds I at Santinalla del Mar are complete.

January 19

Another request to supply men for the mercenary company. I comply.

January 23

Our Court Chaplain increases relations with Roma.

January 26

Our levies start to fight the raiders.

February 8

And we drive them off from the Bishopric of Tùy.

March 1

Uh oh, we’ve been reached by a Camp Fever epidemic, in Tarragona. Fortunately, this was the farthest it ever got. Unlucky for Tarragona itself, but fortunately for the rest of us.

March 31

Another even of Court Physician Gutierre botching up medical treatment, once more with Anthousa. I once more chose the middle option. That said, though, if it happens a third time it’s off to the dungeons for him.

May 15

The Militia Training Grounds I of León are done.

June 5

Raider have arrived to Calatayud. From Umayyad lands, who most likely threw them out, considering Calatayud is land-locked. I am not going to raise my levies. They aren’t looting or sieging, and they left on their own not that long after.

June 10

It finally happened, we got someone in the College of Cardinals! This could be great… if it wasn’t that the guy is already 76. Yeah, I don’t see this guy becoming Pope. Too bad.

July 10

More Militia Training Grounds to start building. This time at Palencia.

August 14

Uen becomes pregnant once more.

September 15

It’s always good to have these events pop up, since being able to become friends with vassals is one way to ensure their loyalty. As such, always take the chance and avoid the bottom option.

October 1

The camp fever epidemic had also reached the Balearic which, if you remember, is where Fruela’s two eldest sons currently are. Fruela Jr has long secluded himself, but Gutierre has not. And in fact, he’s already developing symptom traits. Will he be an unlucky victim of the epidemic and us the lucky new proprietors of Menorca? Let’s find out…

October 2

Unfortunately, it seems the attempt to make friends with Prince Alfontso has took a turn for the worse, resulting in the outcome that turns them into bitter rivals. Ouch.

October 14

I take note someone is now willing to pay ransom for one of my remaining POW’s. Prince Sulayman of the Umayyad towards his wife, Princess Jahaira of Africa. I send the offer, then, which goes through on October 28.

November 2

It happened! Young Gutierre’s symptoms developed into camp fever. Will he survive?

December 3

Another kid becomes of age. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any assimilation or conversion events, so I ransom her. To her grandfather, the Emir of Badajoz

 

December 10

More raiders have arrived at Oviedo. Sending in the levies.

December 19

The ransom is done, and Zwina is returned.

December 29

My soldiers arrive at Oviedo. We fight them off into 807AD.

January 11

And the barony of Noreña is saved.

February 2

My Chancellor has sowed distrust between Emir Friednand and Sultan Hisham. On hindsight, I should probably be considering of changing the Chancellor’s job. I don’t really feel like I’m really going somewhere here. Maybe.

February 16

Count Pedro of Barcelona has joined the ICP. I gift gold to both him and Prince Alfontso, to make them drop out.

March 15

King Fruela has a new daughter, Fronilda Froilaz. I assign her the thrift childhood focus.

March 22

I gift gold to Countess Vistravara, the current leader of the ICP.

March 26

I’m guessing this was triggered since King Fruela has the Patient trait. The bottom option just gave 5 piety, but as you can see, the top option brought me a very good outcome, and quite likely to be the better of the two. At least, the good outcome of the top option. Don’t know if there’s a bad outcome for this.

March 31

Count Pedro left the ICP.

April 6

Well, it happened, Fruela Jr has come of age, which means…

For once, we fulfill an ambition. Although, can we really say that it was fulfilled since Fruela Jr wasn’t really groomed by his father? And well, you can see the results when we aren’t there. The good sides are, he got the Scholarly Theologian and Shrewd traits. On the other hand, he got two of the Deadly Sins, Envious and Proud. Mind you, in this case, they aren’t really that of a nuisance. Only Envious since it adds to Intrigue, which Fruela Jr doesn’t excel at. Proud give +0.5 monthly prestige. Yeah, just because they’re the Deadly Sins doesn’t mean they’re completely bad gameplay wise. How about that.

Anyway, time to choose a new ambition. I opt for War Chest, like with King Aurelio. And this time, I’ll make sure to fulfill it!

April 8

Remember that event with King Aurelio about choosing to pick a hobby between books and falconry? Well, it triggered for Fruela as well, and I also chose the books option. Except this time…

He finds more success in it, unlike his father.

May 13

Another of my POWs died. A tragedy, it was Z’ergha, one of the kids. From dysentery.

May 25

Another of my bishops gets appointed Cardinal in Roma! This time Bishop Munio. He is certainly coming a long way, huh. That brings a total of two Asturian cardinals. This is great. And Munio is only in his early 50’s, he still has plenty of time left. You think he could rise to become a Pope? Who knows!

June 7

Got enough points to raise another Advance.

As you can see.

June 27

The Militia Training Grounds I of Palencia are finished.

July 8

There wasn’t a notification, but I just noticed Cardinal Berengario (one of the two Asturian cardinals) is no longer there. Did he die? Well, he was already in his mid-late 70’s. It seems impossible for me to check. Now that only leaves Munio as the only Asturian cardinal.

Also, checking my plot, another has joined. Emir Abdul-Wahab of Chishti Emirate. But, as you know, my goal is not to really kill Sultan Hisham, but leave him in hiding indefinitely.

August 6

The fruits of our labor. We shall rise to greatness. The other option only gave us 15 prestige. But why content ourselves with that?

Also, checking on Sultan Hisham’s condition… I think our job is almost done. In a roundabout way. He’s still in hiding, but he’s inflicted with cancer, he caught camp fever from the still on-going epidemic, he’s bedridden… all this adds like about -10 to his Health. He won’t survive the year, my estimate.

August 8

More raiders have arrived to Santiago. You know by now how this goes…

September 8

And we begin to fight those raiders.

September 14

And it happened. It was the camp fever that got him. Sultan Hisham is dead. My plot dissolves, since it’s no longer needed. His son, Prince Jabir, becomes the new sultan. This also means our truce with the Umayyad is gone. Hmm…

And another chapter done. Not the way I expected it to end, but it was still an outcome I wanted. So, until next time

[blah the Prussian]

What's the Umayyad's decadence level?

[Excellen Browning]

BOOOOOO

TWO UPDATES IN A ROW WITHOUT SPILLING THE BLOOD OF THE HEATHENS

BOOOOOO