We have three sons and 1 daughter, our eldest son is our 5 year old heir Constantin (who is actually our father's son with our wife but we do not know this).
We inherited our realm, the Kingdom of Ireland, from our father, King Uilliam the Just, and finished contributing Ireland's forces to the Holy Crusade of Jerusalem.
Now we embark on our goal to fully unite the island and turn Ireland into one of the strongest Kingdoms around.
1124-1128 War on the island of Ireland.
We press our claim on Tyrone, our armies are raised and we call in the Kingdom of England as an ally.
Fighting in Tyrone gains us the 'Brave' Trait. We then take in our son Constantin as a ward, with the intent of making sure his upbringing is done well and we get a good adult heir.
We join the County of Glamorgan in their war against the Duchy of Mercia (who is independent of England), if we can finish our war with Tyrone quickly we will go try to help.
Looks like one of my romps with a mistress got me another son, I decide to legitimize the bastard and even give him my own name. Again this happens just a few months before my wife is pregnant with another (non-bastard) child. My father had 9 children, this will be my 6th and I'm only 25!
The siege of Tyrone ends and we usurp the title of Earl of Tyrone (which we can keep thanks to our size 6 demesne)
To celebrate the expanding of the Kingdom I order a summer fair to be held in Dublin and release the few people in my dungeon.
The fair is fairly low tempered, although I gain some prestige and piety from a few events.
I hear that Prince Seoan, my half-brother and Count of Glamorgan in Wales is gathering mercenaries to try to press his claims on Ireland.
In September 1125 I go on a great hunt, I let one of my courtiers get the big deer but it was fun none the less. My newest son Mael-Martain was born (and I believe I just got another mistress pregnant, I'm going to have a passel of spawn!). I took the second deer kill on the hunt and overall got quite a bit of prestige. I followed this up immediately in November with a Feast! The hope is to keep everyone happy with these events as we recover our Levies for the next conflict. The feast is a roaring success with several events increasing vassals opinions of me and no negatives.
My half-brother Stefano reaches maturity and leaves my wardship. He is an Underhanded Rogue, Temperate, Charitable, Kind and Humble (along with being a legitimized bastard). I betroth him to Princess Helen of Scotland (who is 10 at the time) which will tie us in an allegiance with Scotland.
England gets a Jihad called directly against them for Jerusalem, we honor our allegiance to join in but suspect we won't be able to help and will just watch them loose.
We launch our War to Claim Connacht and immediately Prince Seoan (our half-brother) declares his war against us and sends over 6000 men to attack us. I can't back down now so I attack Connacht and quickly crush their army and settle in for a siege.
The forces of Seoan move into Tyrone with a force of nearly 6600 men, our entire force is about 5400 men so once our siege of Connacht finishes we will likely have to raise a mercenary force to kick these guys back to Wales.
Once the siege of Connacht is over we give the Earl of Connacht title over to our half brother Stefano and prepare to attack the forces of Seaon in Tyrone. A mid sized mercenary force is conscripted, joins with our force and then attack the forces of Prince Seoan in Tyrone. We smash their forces and lift the siege of Tyrone. Then the vassal levies and mercenaries are sent home and my main forces chase the remains of Prince Seoan's forces halfway across Ireland. I gain the Master Rough Terrain martial focus. We capture Prince Seoan and finish this side war in December 1128.
1129-1135 Growth and Unity of the Kingdom of Ireland
The Pope has consumption! The Jihad for Jerusalem is successful so England looses Jerusalem! Screw it, we're holding a Grand Tournament like our father wanted to before he left for Jerusalem.
Our wife is again pregnant! We gain the charitable trait preparing for the Grand Tournament. Oh no! We got the Great Pox (Syphillis I believe, its an STD in any case)
My youngest (and probably last as Great Pox gives a massive fertility penalty) son is born, we name him Donnchad. My wife then contracts Pneumonia and dies. Time for a new wife (or should I, I do have an STD don't I?). I marry Galiena Mac Duib, a 22 year old Scottish noblewoman who has very high stewardship (I didn't want to shrink my Demense).
The Anti-Pope dies and a new Pope (Hormisdas) is named. In January 1131 the Earl of Oriel, Carthalan Ua Neill Noigiallaich and the Earl of Ulster Dungal Sithrigi both swear their fealty to me. Earl Ruaidir of Tyrconnell refuses to swear fealty to me however so it looks like we're going to have to have 1 more war to unite the island.
We create the Duchy of Ulster and Duchy of Connacht and distributed the titles around so that the vassals aren't too strong.
The real Pope dies and Pope Zachary II is named. And my wife Galiena is pregnant (despite my Great Pox!). I gained the Cruel trait when I told my lover I loved my wife more than her and then one of my courtiers let out that I wanted to kill the Duke of Munster to recover my titles from him, this wasn't a fun stretch of time.
My newest son, Art, is born and I continue to sire my eldest two sons.
The Duke of Ulster (our Half Brother Stefano) is attacking the Duke of Munster claiming the County of Breifne. We gain our claim on Tyrconnell and begin our war of conquest. We raise the armies and assault the county just in time for King Domnall to die from his Great Pox!
King Domnal dies, his eldest son (who is just shy of 16 and so technically still a child, also remember he is actually his 'father's' half-brother but they don't know that) Constantin becomes the new King of Ireland!
Unfortunately Stefano sees us as a rival so we get a -100 diplomacy with him - this may lead to a revolt later we will have to keep an eye on this.
I turn 16 and become a Duitiful Claric, I am Kind, Charitable, Temperate, Honest and Humble. I marry Gerhild von Zahringen who has a massive stewardship bonus (I have a level 7 demense max now) she is a Midas Touched Scholar who is Brave, Proud, Patient, Ambitious and Just.
We win the war to claim Tyrconnell and immediately follow it up with a Grand Hunt and then a Grand Tournament to celebrate the uniting of the Island!
We inherit the County of Desmond from Earl Faelbe when he dies childless after a period of illness. This brings us up to the 7 county max of our Demense. We also gain the Zealous trait which should hopefully help us to attain the Piety to fulfill the 'Paragon of Virtue' ambition we have set for ourselves.
The King of Norway sets up a new Anti-Pope named Symmachus II. There have now been two anti-popes! (Hopefully there are two at the same time so I can get that achievement).
1136 Status
We have successfully united the island of Ireland, although the Duke of Ulster (our uncle) is fighting our Kinsman the Duke of Munster for the County Breifne, this may prove to be an issue as he sees us as a rival so we will likely never get him friendly and he has a force about 70% of ours - we can't let him take Breifne and get his force even higher.
Elsewhere in England King Harold IV 'the Wise' still considers himself King of England and Jerusalem which is probably why he is depressed hopefully his passing will cause some strife in England.
Scotland has gotten their top county back from Norway and the County Atholl back from the Petty Kingdom of the Isles but they are still four counties strong.
Of the 8 counties that make up the Kingdom of Wales, 3 are held by England, 2 by the Petty Kingdom of Dheubarth and 3 are independent.
Once we clean up back at home we will have to choose between trying to take the Independent portions of Wales or Scotland.
Elsewhere on the map the biggest shakeup I believe is that the Holy Roman Empire is becoming quite a beast as they retook northern Italy (and the Papacy) and absorbed Poland.
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