We are 31 with a 32 year old wife and three children including our eldest son and heir 12 year old Prince Mael-Sechlainn mac Oengus Ua Cheinnselaig is growing into a fine young man.
We recently participated in the Catholic Church's Crusade for Portugal as well as putting down a large claim to our throne in Northern France and a peasant revolt in Wales. We stand as the mightiest King of Ireland. And so we begin...
1295-1299 Holy Wars and Expansion in Lithuania
We declare a De Jure war for the County Zhmud in Lithuania in early 1295.
My wife is pregnant in late 1295 and in July 1296 our Daughter Orlaith is born.
Out daughter Princess Condal comes of age in 1296 and we are able to secure a Matrilineal Marriage with a Prince of the Byzantine Empire once more securing them as our allies (and should give us some good offspring as he has lots of good traits and so does our daughter).
The War for Zhmud ends in March 1296 and we pass the Earlship of Samogitia off to a Kinsman. We immediately enter into anothe war for the County Semba. We aren't using any levies in these wars, only our Retinue. The war for Semba ends in June 1297 and we immediately declare a Holy War for Livonia (against the Duchy of Estonia).
Our heir Prince Mael-Sechlainn comes of age in May 1298 and we marry him to a 16 year old genius German girl, I am a sucker for the genius trait it seems.
During the fighting in Lithuania we gain the 'Unyeilding' and 'Siege Leader' martial focus traits. Unfortunately shortly after we gain the trait 'maimed'.
We win the war in December 1299 and inherit 4 titles. We pass these out and recover the Retinues and levies (we had to raise our levy in Lithuania during the war). Soon it will be time to invade Scotland. We also are able to create the Duchy of Linvonia and pass this to the new Earl of Tartu (3 year old Mael-Patraic Ua Cheinnselaig).
1300-1303 Intrigue and war in the British Isles
In 1300, while Scotland is involved in a war to try to revoke the Countess of Atholl we pounce on them and claim two of their counties.
Shortly after the start of the war my wife Alberade becomes pregnant (war must make us a horndog).
Our Grandson Flaithbertach is born, unfortunately he is not a genius... but I'll love him none-the-less.
Unfortunately King Oegnus dies in battle against the Scots and in May 1300 our son King Mael-Sechlainn of Ireland becomes King.
Unfortunately this once again robs us of our chance to take counties from Scotland (as that war ends, our father's claims no longer valid). Instead we offer to Join the Countess of Atholl's war of rebellion against Scotland.
I decide to give my brother the County of Tyrconnell (I need to reduce my Demesne by one, it makes him and the Duke of Ulster friendly with me while not making any stronger vassals.
My father's last son is born, named Conall in September 1300.
We help the Countess of Atholl remain the Countess of Atholl in 1302 and our vassal, the Duke of Connacht takes the County Carrick from a Scottish revolt. We are able to form the Duchy of Galloway immediately and give it to the Earl of the Isle of Man to keep the Duke of Connacht from gaining any more power (he now has 3 counties and a duchy, more power than any other of my vassals).
We are able to take the County of Carrick title from the Duke of Connacht due to our weak claim on the title, we pass this to a new vassal and hopefully balance the vassal powers a little more.
1303-1310 Back to Lithuania as a new King
We declare a De Jure war on Scalovia in January 1303 to continue to unite Lithuania and by January 1304 we have won. We create the Duchy of Samogitia and give our new Duke and Earl titles to a new vassal.
Shortly after, in May 1304 we declare a De Jure War on Memel to bring that County into the Kingdom of Lithuania as well. This war is over by March 1305 with another victory.
We follow this with a De Jur war for Liivimaa in May 1305, if we take this we will have all but two Counties of Lithuania (and those two are held by the Kingdom of Denmark - definately a bigger decision to attack them)
Turns out Liivimaa has a 7000 man army, but we assault it immediately and are able to beat it with basically the same size force. We chase them around for a few counties until we have them totally beat (and a warscore of 74%) when we then start the siege of the county.
My wife is pregnant with our second child and in April 1306 our daughter Lerthan is born (a genius!)
We win our war in Liivimaa in 1306 and then revoke the title of the Countess of Liivimaa (because she is a 'dirty Romuvann') we give the title to a new vassal.
I take over as guardian to my 6 year old son Flaithbertach in May 1306.
We announce a Holy War for Estonia against the Suomenuskos there (this may draw Finland into the war but I think we can take them again). Looks like Sweden just took half of Finland in a holy war (they are Catholic as well) so we shouldn't have to worry about them.
My wife is pregnant in camp in Estonia, and in December 1307 our Daughter Dubchoclaigh is born. In March 1308 a bastard son of ours is born and our lover names him Oengus, we are forced to legitimize the namesake of our great father.
The Holy War for Estonia is ended in May 1308 and we gain 2 Counties and a few Baronries. We are also able to creat the Duchy of Estonia. We make new vassals for the Baronries and give the Earlships to two young kinsmen of mine and make the weaker one the Duke of Estonia.
We immediately turn around and declare a de Jure War for Narva (the last county in the Duchy of Estonia). During the conflict our wife Gunhilda is pregnant once again, and in May 1309 our daughter Lasairfona is born another genius! (too bad my heir isn't...)
We finish the war in Narva just around the same time, unfortunately our legitamized bastard son Oengus dies a sickly infant at the same time as well.
We have to put down two seperate peasant revolts in Lithuania in 1310, maybe I need some better vassals?!?
1311- Back to the Court in Ireland
I fall in in March 1311 but it passes quickly. My wife is pregnant again in 1312 and in August our son Ualtar is born.
Like our father, we gain the nickname 'the Wise' in 1313. We gain the lustful trait in 1314. And our wife becomes pregnant again shortly afterwords just before I lost the lustful trait again. Our daughter Aine is born in March 1315. I get the lustful trait back in late 1315 and impregnate a lover, fortunately my daugher Aife is claimed by a courtier.
My son comes of age but unfortunately there are not very many good wives available. I marry him to the girl with the highest stewardship and some good traits but she dies of depression not two weeks after coming to court. His next wife has great stats and traits but is 37, hopefully she will make him at least one child and then die so he can get a better wife in a few years when the next good crop is available (wow that was bad).
I gain the possessed trait in 1317 and later in the year my wife becomes pregnant - while I was away!
Later in the year we declare war on Scotland/Alba in an attempt to take the County Lothan, really it is to help out the King of Norway from letting them loose Katanes.
'My Son' is born in February 1318 and we name him Gilla-Crist
We are still in the middle of the war with Scotland in 1319 when the Pope declares a Crusade for Aragon! Likely the Holy Roman Empire will claim the lands but we have to try to at least be a part.
We loose the charitable trait it June 1319 but make it to Aragon with our full army. We take down a few small Aragonese armies and then settle into 4 sieges. Looks like the HRE can't join because they are in a seperate war with Aragon, but Venice has a higher warscore than us - at least we get the Crusader trait.
Our grandson Lochlann is born!
The Catholic Crusade for Aragon ends, the Duchy of Orleans takes over Aragon. Even as the armies are marching back towards our lands the Duchess of Dehuebarth becomes rebellious, seeking a claim on the Kingdom of Wales - and so we attempt to imprison her. Unfortunately it leads to rebellion with our forces in France.
We are able to get them to Normandy and back onto boats then to Wales to crush the rebellious army and lay siege to the two rebellious counties by the beginning of the next year (1322).
Perhaps sensing that it was their best time to act, Sumonesko rebels rise up in Estonia in early 1322, but we are able to put them down with our 7000 man Retinue in Lithuania.
The rebellions in Wales are put down in early 1323 and the Kingdom settles in to wait out the truce with Scotland/Alba.
1323 Status
We got lucky that the Holy Roman Empire didn't get Aragon in the last Crusade, but they continue to expand to the East. We are approaching the last 100 years of the game so if they don't break up soon we are going to have to start trying to break off chunks.
We are slowly breaking down Scotland/Alba. The truce with them lasts another 6 years and we are going to try to pounce once that is up.
Lithuania is all but united with just a few counties (owned by Denmark and Rus) outside of it still, we are likely done there for a long time unless we are attacked. I was hoping to grab Aragon to give us another area to expand into (we could take all the rest of Iberia not under the HRE) but we didn't get that lucky. We do have our Dynasty in control of the Duchy of Normandy in Northern France and in Leon in Iberia though, we might be able to use those as footholds to claim spain and/or france - either would be interesting. Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment