We are 12 years old having taken the reigns of the kingdom at a very young age (5) following the death of our father King Constantin 'the Holy' when he was only 25 years old. We had to fight three seperate conflicts of rebellion and civil war before grasping fairly stable control of our Kingdom.
We lead our Dynasty, House Ua Cheinnselaig, which has 133 total members, 70 of which are living and a total prestige of 470. Besides all of our titles there are several other Earl and Duke titles in Ireland held by our dynasty and also several Baronry and even one Duke title (the Duke of York) held by our dynasty outside of Ireland.
1150-1153 Lets see what this rulling things is all about again
We settle in to see if we can't get some of our vassals to like us a little more, marry off some relatives, etc.
In 1151 I gain the Homosexual trait!!! Later we learn that prince Uilliam is raising troops in an attempt to attack us once again - I wish we had finished him off the last time!
I gain the Just trait in 1152 and learn that Prince Uilliam will be attacking in October 1153 so about a month before I will raise my levies and group them together, I'm also saving all my money in case mercenaries are needed. I also gain the ambitious trait.
Late in 1152 King Edern 'the Great' of Alba declares war on us to enforce a Nobleman by the name of Ruaidhri's claim on the County Ormond. Their forces march into our lands and engage us at our rally point of County Oriel. Nearly 8000 men stand on each side and the swords of the Irish and Scotch(/Breton) cross for the first time.
The battle is a success and although we do suffer some losses we are able to chase the remaining army of Alba around Ireland and destroy it to the last man. The King of Alba accepts defeat, pays us a hefty sum and then releases Ruaidhri to us for imprisonment (and loss of his claim).
Another Crusade for Jerusalem is announced and we decide to join, we likely won't be able to participate at least until we reach adulthood and make sure Prince Uilliam's claim is put to rest - but it will bring us prestige and piety and the good graces of the pope and our bishops so we join! Shortly after I fall ill but it passes by mid 1153.
We take a look around where the Crusade is happening and see that the Holy Roman Empire has taken over the Byzantine Empire - they own like half the map now!
Prince Uilliam announces his war to reclaim his claim (which is now to the County Tyrconnell as he lost his claim to all of Ireland in the last war) so we raise our armies and move them to Tyrconnell to wait.
1154-1166 Embarking on my own Journey
We reach adulthood! We are a Fortune Builder, Kind, Just and Ambtious, unfortunately we are Deceitful and secretly Homosexual. We take a prestige hit for marrying a relative of a Bishop but she has very high prestige like our own so hopefully our Demnse max size will stay up there. We get our prestige back by not taking our Royal Aid Duty and our wife, 21 Year Old Queen Mathilde Billung, who is Midas Touched, Kind, Dilliget and Ambitious (if a little Proud) takes her place at our size - and our Demnse max goes to 9! we have room for two new titles, time to go a viking!
Our war with Prince Stefano begins to tick to the positive in 1155, hopefully it will be over soon and we will be free to pursue other things - although the Crusade looks like it isn't going well maybe I should send a small army there just to get the trait.
And so I split off a portion of my army (around 700 men) and take personal command. We sail across the channel to France and then start moving through the Holy Roman Empire (first through Germany and then through Byzanthium)
We arrive on the border of the Holy Land in mid 1156, we enter the Province of Beirut and realize that our force is but a drop in the bucket compared to the fighting that is going on, and that they are loosing! We gain prestige and piety for being there (and the Crusader Trait) but King Amalgaid is no fool and immediately begins the return trip even before engaging in anything but an abortive siege of Beirut.
King Amalgaid gets sick trapsing back through Greece in late 1156. We hear of the death of Prince Stefano and that his son Eogan inherited one of his titles while another man inherited two of his others. This is good news and we return the messenger with orders to transfer the title of Duke of Ulster back to its rightful owner (I took it from his father). This makes him happy and takes away our -10 penalty from having too many duchies as a King.
King Amalgaid's army returns to the Coast of Normandy in mid 1157 just as word of the failed Crusade reaches the area. They embark on ships and return to Ireland shortly after. Despite the failure of the Crusade Amalgaid is looked on with high prestige and piety thanks to his involvement and he even looses his illness (must have been homesickness).
Our sister (and Heir) reaches maturity in late 1157 and we Betroth her (matrialineagially) to a young Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, with their strength as an ally we should be able to continue our expansion.
In 1159 fate smiles upon me and despite all my flaws I am able to impregnate my wife Mathilde (I imagine I did it simply due to my love for her and her desire to have children). My son is born in August and we name him Ardgar unfortunately he is sickly and may not survive.
In September of 1161 we finally have the warscore to finish Prince Uilliam's Host Claim on Tyrconnell War and imprison him. We get a prestige and money bonus from this and decide to Hold a Grand Tournament! And also to celebrate that my wife is pregnant with our second child (and that our two year old son is no longer sickly!)
I am victorious at the Grand Tournament (+100 Gold, +300 Prestige!), my daughter Aigness is born and our alligieance with the Holy Roman Empire is sealed and forged in a short war (that they won without our help of course).
1162-1166 Back to expansion
In mid 1162 we decide it is time to press our claim to the County of Gwent in Wales. We conscript the Holy Roman Empire to help and our armies begin to march to Wales. A small detachment of their troops tries to invade Ireland itself but the home guard is able to crush them easily.
Unfortunately during the conflict King Amalgaid slips into a depression - apparently war in Wales and expanding his empire is just ho-hum to him. Later he falls ill - hopefully we can finish this conflict before he dies!!
The illness fades in early 1163 and our siege of the Captial of County Gwent is successful. Unfortunately the County Gwent army gave us the slip and is now in County Ulster about to successfully seige the capital - I believe I will let them wear themselves down.
Finally all three sieges in County Gwent fall and we usurp the title of Earl of Gwent - we could usurp the title of Duke of Dheubarth as well but that would give us a penalty for having too many held duchies (and I don't want to give it away right now) so we may wait on that.
Or not! I realize that the Countess of Glamorgan (the last county in the Duchy of Dheubarth) has an heir who is of my dynasty, and she is old so she will pass soon and make Connal Ua Cheinnselaig my vassal - so I usurp the title of Duke of Dheubarth and offer her vassilization, which she accepts!
1166 Status - 100 Years since we first reigned!
After all of these shakeups I take a look at my vassals and only two, the Duke of Munster and the Countess of Glamorgan have negative opinions of me (-12 and -28 respectively) and I am the heir of the Duke of Munster (and he has a 60 year old wife so hopefully no surprise children and i'll get a Duke and Earl title back).
I am still depressed but I just took over stewardship of my 6 year old son and heir Ardgar so maybe that will ease the depression.
We hold all of Ireland and an entire Duchy in Wales with fairly healthy lines of succession, and we are the personal lord of 8 counties. Hopefully I can raise up my heir with high stewardship and get him a good wife so he doesn't have to give any of those away - but if he does it will help him to get good vassals at least.
Elsewhere the Kingdom of Alba is nearly fully united and England has been quiet for some time. France has been fully taken over by Aquitaine and just a tiny portion of the Byzantine Empire has broken away from the Holy Roman Empire.
My hope is that I can at least hold out until my son is grown and in good shape to take over the Kingdom. I'd also like to finish conquering the rest of what is independent in Wales (two more counties) and then I should be able to form the Kingdom of Wales, but that will likely be my Son who does that.
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