The Tmutarakan Dynasty:

Hello folks! This dynasty is being done because I recently did stints in EU: Rome and EU: III and I thought it was time to dust off CK and give it a spin. After some careful consideration, I have decided to take an unusual county over as my own. Let me tell you about Tmutarakan.


In 1066, this nation was ruled by the 16 year old Gleb Rurikovich, after the previous ruler was killed after being poisoned earlier in the year, by a Byzantine assassin. The county went back to the ruling family of Chernigov and Ryazan, and was given to the son of the ruler.

Nevermind, I just realized that I am the firstborn son of the Prince, so I get the entire principality when my dad dies. I don’t want things that easy. It was perfect too. I’m trying to brainstorm if there is any way I can prevent it from happening, but it would be a really circuitous route. I would have to have a difference inheritance law which gave the County to someone else, and then die, so my father’s Principality would go to a brother but mine would go to my wife’s brother or something, but then I lose, due to the dynastic nature of the game. Not smart.

Ah well, I was really digging this dynasty too, with the location, the name, and everything.

Who else, then?

I could do the adjacent Principality of Cherson, two provinces. But then I’m already at Duke level. I could just do a random Count nearby – like the Count of Galaz in the Byzantine Empire or…I got it…

The Yegorlyk Dynasty

The Kingdom of Alania existed in the Caucasus Mountains from the 8th-9th centuries until absolutely destroyed by the Mongol Invasions in 1238-39. They would be invaded by the Caliphate and allied with Khazaria in the times before 1066.

In the 1060s, a Georgian-Alanian alliance was forged that would last decades. After the Mongols completely smashed the area, Tamerlane would finish the job, destroying forever many of the cities and dispersing the people of Alania, making it a memory of history.

In recent years, the people of the area, North Ossetia, have taken on the named Alania in order to give themselves a greater connection to history that places like Armenia and Georgia had, and to strengthen their international argument that South Ossetia is worthy of nationhood as a people with natural borders.

The five province Principality of Alania features three Counts and a Prince with two provinces of his own. As the ruler of Yegorlyk, we are the most exposed Christian province in the area. We are surrounded on three sides by pagans. As Orthodox, it will be our responsibility to Christianize the Pagans by conquering their land.

Thus, these are my goals for Yegorlyk:

1). Grow Economically
2). Capture the nearby Pagan province of Kasogs
3). Grow steadily
4). Declare ourselves a Prince, and break free of the chains of Alania
5). Forge a nation from the Pagans, converting them, and creating a mighty nation in the region for Christ.

(I have about 170 years to make a nation strong enough to stand up to the Mongols. Possible?)

Here is our court:

Count David of Yegorlyk
Age 27

4/4/9/5 (That’s Martial, Diplomacy, Intrigue, and Stewardship)
Gruff Diplomat


No Issue

Married to:

Burudukan
Age 17

5/7/8/5
Court Education – Still waiting result

Currently our Spy Master


Laws:

Semisalic Progeniture (my preference)
Traditional Custom (I prefer Feudal Contract)
Ecclesial Balance (not bad)

I change our tech advances to Siege Equipment, Farming Techniques, and leave it on Noble Customs.

I move to Feudal Contract

Despite being Orthodox, my people are Pagan, and that’s something we’ll have to fix soon.

Right now, Kasogs has a ton more troops than me. This will not be one of those blitzkrieg wars from me right out of the gate to gain land. We could take the other two adjacent provinces – Sarpa and Kuban, but they aren’t hot, and I’d prefer the very strong economy of kasogs as an early grab. They are also part of a large pagan tribe, whereas the Kasogs are by themselves. I also want to get them before Georgia or Alania do. I want to be the one with their economy.

Will be worth reading to find out, at least!

Here is a print screen of the initial map.


http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/9308/yegorlykbeginning.jpg

Will be worth reading to find out, at least!

I hope so!

As you can see, the grey blob is Alania, and the northernmost of the grey provinces is me. Just south is Kasogs, in a bad color job, because it’s next to a grey nation but not of us. Bad map! Anyway, you can see the pretty blue is Georgia, the deep green above is they very large Tribe of Cuman, the purple is Byzantium. The deep red if Itil, the capital of the Kharzian tribe, and Jewish. There are other nearby Jewish provinces as well, including our province of Kuma, right beside it. The puce green is two small sheikdoms – Derbent and Albania.

Okay, since I am taking the slow path on this one, at least in the early game, then let’s just lean back and relax. Is everything ready?

We’ll take a day or two, get my courtiers, and then see what’s up and who gets what role.

Watch out for the Cumans. They're extremely dangerous.

Watch out for the Cumans. They're extremely dangerous.

We'll see just how dangereux they will be with me! I eat pagans for breakfast, Muslims for lunch and the Khazarian Jews for a tasty dinner. Or at least that's the plan.

Dec 27, 1066 – I was given two additional courtiers:

Sangipan of Yegorlik, appointed my Marshal because he is my only male courtier (Martial of 5)

Rusudan of Yegorlik, appointed my Chancellor (Dip of 6)

Now I want to try and find a wife for Sangipan, to become a courtier for me, with a high stewardship.

Dec 29 – Our liege has made Kuma now a County, instead of ruling it directly.

Feb 6, 1067 – My wife is expecting!

Feb 9 – The daughter of the King of Georgia agrees to marry my courtier (she’s 24 and never been married). I appoint her my Steward.

Feb 1 7- My courtiers are already expecting

Apr 10 – My wife is Ill

June 26 – My wife became an Amateurish Pettifogger

Oct 9 – Our son, Aton, was born. I know have an heir. YAY!

Oct 23 – A miracle worker offers to heal my wife and we accept, and she is no longer ill.

Dec 19 – A weird thing happens. Our Prince swears fealty to the King of Georgia, so we are now Georgian. That is weird.

It's actually a smart move on the Prince's part. More protection from the Cumans and other nasties in the area, and Georgia is one of the weaker kingdoms, so rebelling to go independent further down on the line won't be too hard.

Dola,

I usually don't play that far East, but if your Prince's main county is part of the territory needed to form the Kingdom of Georgia, that's another reason why he joined.

Jan 13, 1068 – We discover the two farming method and I move my emphasis to Farming Equipment.

Mar 4 – My two courtiers are expecting another child after having a girl.

Mar 25 – My wife is expecting again

Apr 24 – I get an event. The nobles say they will not trust a leader with a different religion. I choose to crush them. Result – 75% chance province is looted for a year, and 75% chance it converts to Orthodox. I now have a Looted, Revolting, and Orthodox province

July 6- Rebelling peasants are starving and returning to the field. I choose to open my coffers and help them. We spend some ducats, and the province loses looted and revolting.

Aug 20 – In case you don’t remember them from before, the County of Suenik has accepted annexation under the King of Georgia as well. We are expanding all over the place.

Nov 30 – We have a daughter named Irina

Dola,

I usually don't play that far East, but if your Prince's main county is part of the territory needed to form the Kingdom of Georgia, that's another reason why he joined.

It's in Khazaria, one of the hardest crowns to forge. Can you imagine a harder place to make your king?

Feb 19, 1069 – My courtiers are expecting their third child.

May 2 – I get an event – a Pretty Wench Catches My Eye. I choose:

Refuse the Impulse. Gain 25 piety and a chance of becoming chaste, which failed.

May 24 – We discover wood ploughs. I order our people to look at architecture

June 8 – Kasogs wisely joins the Tribe of Cuman, the big green blob

Aug 20 – Byzantium has its fourth Principality declare independence. Two have been brought back into the fold after wars.

Sept 8 – We discover Divine Right. I next want to study spiritual art

Dec 14 – We are expecting our third child

Mar 2, 1070 – Three more principalities go rogue, but Byzantium just brought one in, but one, Trebizond, won its freedom and is now independent

Sept 13 – We name our son Itaz

Nov 3 – Cuman is finally at war. They are not marshalling troops from the small provinces, but they have one of their own nearby, one with a nice economy. Let’s see what happens

Nov 25 – I order a Forestry built

Dec 21 – My wife falls ill again.

Dec 23 – We are expecting a 4th child.

Mar 4, 1071 – I choose to raise my firstborn son myself.

Mar 25 – Another miracle worker heals my wife

Apr 12 – I send my daughter to a local noble

Apr 25 – We discover Basilican Structures. I have my people change their focus to mining

May 18 _ I can see Turk armies besieging Cuman in a nearby province, so I am getting ready for an attack of opportunity.

June 12 – We discover the shortbow.

July 19 – I choose to fall in love with my wife. We are now friends, and I gain Chaste.

Aug 20 – The Turks just took three provinces from Cuman. None that close, but dangerous stuff.

Sept 27 – We have a daughter – Borena

Nov 1 – We learn the handaxe

Nov 26 – I hand my second born son to the monks. I need a Diocese Bishop still.

Enjoy your dynasties immensely. I didn't get a chance to comment on your recent EU III dynasty, but I would like to see you reload the save before your were excommunicated and see if you can get further. I thought it was quite an interesting position to play.

Feb 10, 1072 – The Principality of Trebizond joined Georgia. Hopefully, we’ll have a strong state pretty soon. That’s good to keep off the baddies with, I suspect.

May 6 – My eldest is afraid of the dark. I choose: address the cause. He gains Trusting

June 15 – In the past month, three principalities won independence from Byzantium. Not looking good. The Turks are winnign a war against nearby Armenia, and if they annex it, they will border Georgia on all sorts of places, and war is inevitable.

The nearby Cuman provinces have stagnated in their number of troops, but I went way down when my province was looted for those couple of months, so I’ve been building my troops back up again, but it may be getting close to spin taking time, based on the low numbers of nearby forces I;m seeing.

Aug 26 – Armenia was just annexed by the Turks.

Nov 5 – My fourthborn is to be raised by nannies.

Nov 6 – I accept a fosterling from Manych

Nov 26 – One of our daughters, Borena, has died.

Jan 12, 1073 – We learn the battering ram and I order us to focus on offensive terrain.

Enjoy your dynasties immensely. I didn't get a chance to comment on your recent EU III dynasty, but I would like to see you reload the save before your were excommunicated and see if you can get further. I thought it was quite an interesting position to play.

Thanks, I appreciate it!

May 6 – Let me show you a map of how things have changed.


http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/583/yegorlyk1073.jpg

As you can see, the big blue splotch is Georgia. You’ll note Suenik is completely surrounded by the Turks and their Orange-Yellow color. You can also see them north of Itil now. See all of the land borders between us? I suspect a Turk-Georgian war is just a matter of time.

You can see how Georgia has really grown with Alania, Trebizond and Suenik added to it. You can see colors other than Byzantium purple to the left as the state is having problems, but the County of Tmutarakan is now Byzantine after pledging to it, so everybody is changing.

I am trying to decide if I have enough armies to strike now, or if I need to wait. I believe I can strike and take a province, but what will the counter attack look like? Can I rely on my fairly large Georgian blob to back me up and keep away Cuman after I stab into her heart and tear out a nearby province. It would be very good for Georgia to expand now, to use that growth to counter a future Turkish threat with more money and armies.

I currently have 709 troops and I expect I could have around 2000 when it is all said and done, but that will take years to have. Right now, here are the numbers for adjacent Cuman provinces:

Kuban – roughly 350
Sarpa – Roughly 380
Azov – Roughly 400
Tana – Roughly 280
Saray – Roughly 900 – not too near me

I think I’d want to strike at Kuban, the first one. The one most isolated from the rest of Cuman.

You know what? Let’s live dangerously. I DOW Kuban

June 7 – We defeat the Kubans after the Abkhazia army is sent in to help. A siege begins

June 9 – Cuman forces arrive in our district.

June 17 – We crush some Azovian troops that arrive to break our siege

June 21 – I decline a peace offer for 71 ducats with Kuban

June 23 – Georgia accepts peace for ducats (stupid) with Cuman. Pissed, I DOW Kasogs and move in.

July 10 – The King of Georgia and my Count arrive, defeat the large Kasogs army, and then begin a siege.

July 24 - As it gets close to the end. Georgia ends with peace. I spend 100 prestige to DOW them again, because I WANT THE LAND and my liege is an idiot not to.

Sept 18 – On the very day I win the siege, the Prince of Alania has a white peace with Kasogs, so I have no time to try and get ducats or the land. Nothing. Even the Prince of Alania doesn’t want anything. Furious, I DOW YET AGAIN and lose another 100 prestige. Screw it.

Nov 16 – The Prince of Alania dies and there is a new one, a infant less than one year old. I declare my independence from these idiots. We are now at war with Alania.

Dec 2 – We win the siege of Kasogs and annex it. We are now at peace with Alania for some reason, and now on our own. But we got Kasogs.


Kasogs – 4450, Alan culture and pagan religion. They have Court of Justice, Royal Post, Training Grounds and Forestry. They are currently giving us roughly 4 ducats, twice as much as our own province.

I now have a prestige of -37, but I think, all-in-all, it was worth it.

Everybody still like me. I have max relations with all of the Georgians, King, Prince of Alania, everyone, so I suspect I can come back under the fold if it gets too cold out here.


Independence, and Kasogs - a good year.

Man, what a bunch of wusses those guys are.

Good work grabbing Kasogs. I think Georgia's negotiating peace with Cumans was smarter in the long run, though.

Dec 27 – The County of Manych declines to form an alliance with me.

Jan 11, 1074 – I accept an alliance with the Prince of Pereyaslavl. They DOWd Alania who DOWd back and probably think me a good ally, but I am not forced to join the conflict, and I have an ally with about 15-20 provinces. They are pretty far away, I don’t expect anything major to happen.

Feb 2 – I get a Religious Clergy preach a Different Faith event and choose to crush them. This time, just a 40% chance of conversion. But I’ll take that. It did change to Orthodox, looted, and rebelling.

Feb 15 – it is no longer looted

Mar 3 – My firstborn wants to know where heathens come from. My answer is: Men like us, but unbeliever enemies and unfortunately he gained Hostile – ick. I was hoping for merciful or zealous, but nope.

Mar 30 – I accept a fosterling from Tmutarakan. I offer one of my courtiers four daughters as well, it seems like a good idea.

April 13 – The Count accepts

July 15 – War breaks out between Cuman and Khazars (Itil). I watch for an opening.

Nov 12 – Expecting a 5th child

Nov 25 0 Khazars falls to Cuman. Never had a shot. That’s a very valuable province that will probably go to the Turks soon. Shoot.

Feb 6, 1075 - Irina becomes ill

Apr 17 – I give in to demands in Kasogs, and the revolts ends and I lose a tiny bit of prestige.

May 28 – My firstborn becomes friends with the fosterling from Manych

Aug 10 – We have a son and name him David after me

Sept 16 – We pay a miracle worker to heal my child

Nov 23, 1075 – We have entered the Crusades era

Man, what a bunch of wusses those guys are.

I can;t tell you how pissed I Was.

Good work grabbing Kasogs. I think Georgia's negotiating peace with Cumans was smarter in the long run, though.

I disagree, but I guess we'll see soon enough.

Mar 22, 1076 – I must have missed it, but Georgia is now at war with some muslims. Trebizond lost her vassal, so Georgia lost another province. They needed to get those from the war, I totally don’t understand her actions there.

Apr 21 – I order Training grounds built in my province.

June 16 – War begins. The Turks DOW Suenik. Georgia DOWs the Turks. Battle begins

There are a lot of nearby provinces that are Orthodox and under Turk control, so hopefully Georgia can bring a few under her, but I doubt it. I think it will be another win for the big bad. I think they get Suenik and maybe a province from Georgia too.

Aug 26 – We discover Relic in Yegorlik, and I move my advisors to focus on Popular Customs

Jan 2, 1077 – Georgia captured a Turkish province, can they get enough momentum to win the war?

Mar 7 – My firstborn wants to know if God exists. My answer is: Certainly, let me tell you all about him. My firstborn gets Zealous this time.

Mar 15 – White peace between Georgia and my ally, so they can keep focusing on the Turks.

Apr 23 – We go hunting with the King of Georgia, and he is now my friend.

May 24 – Another hunting trip for boar and the Prince of Alania is now my friend. Despite being 3.

July 11 – We are expecting our 6th child

Aug 1 – Suenik has captured a Turkish province. Will land be exchanged in the peace deal?

Aug 14 – I hand my son David to the nobles for training

Oct 26 – Suenik is taken and annexed and that province they had taken is gone.

Nov 3 – Seeing a chance, the Tribe of Cuman DOWs Georgia. I await an opportunity to strike, not only to gain land for myself, but to help my former friend. Besides, if Georgia falls, things may not look good for us.

Dec 21 – The Georgian capital fell to the Turks.

I DOW Cuman. I have armies of 1175 and 841.

Our allies join us

Jan 1, 1078 – Both armies arrive in Kuban and attack the defenders

We lose ot the 450 troops in Kuban after fighting their 15 martial skill general. Yuck.

Jan 10 – I ordre both armies to Kuban.

Jan 24 They arrive in Yegorlyk, and we arrive in Kuban with the other army and both begin a siege I send my defeated army to end a siege in Abkhazia

Mar 6 – We were insulted in a tourney by the Chief of Kuban. We gain a claim on Kuban and a rival.

Apr 1 – We defeat the siege of Abkhazia

Apr 4 – Thieves Guild in Yegorlyk

Apr 6 – They destroy our Forestry in Yegorlyk

Apr 9 – Victory in Kuban over a Cumani army

Apr 24 – We defeat an Azov army in Kuban

Apr 26 – We have a daughter

May 25 – We capture Kuban and annex it

Try to relieve a siege in Kasogs, or try and do more damage elsewhere.

June 17 – My ally took a Cumani province from one of their vassals permanently.

July 4 – We win a battle against a small Cumani army

I go to relieve the Siege of Kasogs, and although I have a few more troops, the King of Cuman with his 12 martial skill is there - not looking good.

July 16 – Whew, we relieve the siege – barely.

September 16 – My army loses in Azov. Another siege has begun, in Yegorlyk.


Sept 23 – In a losing battle, our Count dies!

The new count:

Aton of Yegorlyk
10 years old

Martial Education, Parental Upbringing, Zealous, Trusting, Hostile

Martial – 9, Diplo – 4, Intrigue – 2, Stewardship – 2.

Oct 1 – Our allies take two more provinces from Cuman and declare peace.

Oct 14 – Kuban is now rebelling from the siege here

Nov 17 – I manage to lift a couple of sieges with my new count with his higher martial skill

Nov 23 – We go hunting with the Count of Tmutarakan, and we are now friends

Nov 30 – We take a Heathens Are Splintered event and take White Peace with Cuman.

Kuban – Currently rebelling, with a 4350 supply limit, the Cuman Pagans here make us 0.6 ducats annually, currently.


Unfortunately, none of our three provinces are in the same duchy. I need to proclaim myself a prince. Kuban is Azovian, Kasogs is Abghazian, and Yegorlyk is Alanian.

Kuma and Alania provinces are now Cumani. Several provinces have been lost to the Turks, and Georgia is still fighting a two front war. I tried to relieve pressure, and I took a Cumani province, and my ally took three more – but it was not enough. Cuman perfectly timed their DOW on Georgia, perfectly aligned to hit them when they were already in too deep against the Turks.

Feb 9, 1079 –I give in to popular demands and the revolt in Kuban is over

The Manych court joins us, as the Principality of Alania removed them from power when their lands were taken.

Mar 5 – Georgia has been dispatched and destroyed. Cuman took a few of their provinces, the Turks took a bunch of provinces, and only a few scattered ones are left. Let me get you a map.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4826/yegorlyk1079.jpg

As you can see, there are just three Georgia provinces left, and none in the King’s demesne. Meanwhile, Cuman and the Turks have both made major advances, and I’m looking around for fellow Christians. I am now next to Tmutarakan, and perhaps Byzantium might be my next pledge. Georgia screwed up in several ways – one is they should never have gone to war with the Turks over Suenik – they should have let it go, and if they did go to war, they should have warred to win. They failed to do that. Cuman has been smart.

I would love to attack and annex Manych aka Prince of Alania, but in CK you have to have a claim on a fellow Christian land in order to take it, and I have no such claim. Right now, it would be easier to take on the Christians than the Pagans/Muslims

If I had my choice as to which province I want next, it would be Abkhazia, a valuable province with port access. Azov would give me two of the three provinces in the Principality of Azov and the ability to claim that title. Those would be my two targets.

Mar 27 – Georgia took the Prince of Kartli’s title. Then he stripped the Prince of his lands so Georgia could have a demesne. I need claims so I can take some of these provinces before the Turks and Cumani come back. It’s the only way the Christians can survive - unite under my flag. I am the only Christian nation in the region to expand successfully through war.

I send a female fosterling to our ally’s court

June 6, 1080 – After a year of quiet, we discover Offensive Terrain in Yegorlyk, and I order our supply limit to work on Defensive.


July 13 – We develop Business Practices in Yegorlyk

Aug 18 – My dad dying while young has made me hate god, and I gain Skeptical and lose Zealous

Sept 15 – Cuman DOWs us.

I mobilize my forces. I will need to keep all of my armies together under my great Marshall to have a shot at this.

Sept 23 – I send my youngest brother to the army for training

Oct 2 – A random principality far away in the Byzantium hold DOWs us. Weird

Dec 2- After a lot of winning battles, and breaking sieges, we get a Heathens are Splintered event and I take it. White peace for all.

March 10, 1081 – After nothing, White Peace with Byzantium and her vassal.

I decide to send a fosterling to Byzantium

Oct 21 – I am asked to take in a bishop, and I appoint him my Diocese Bishop finally!

Jan 21, 1082 – I take a Georgian fosterling

I'm shocked it took that long for the bishop event to fire.

I'm shocked it took that long for the bishop event to fire.

Me too! I've never seen it take that long before.

Mar 22 – I wasn’t ready a year ago, I’m ready now. I have both my armies merged in Kuban. I DOW Sarpa, which brings Azov and Cuman and their allies into the fray. I then move into Tana, the headquarters of Azov.

Apr 12 – We crush the 500 strong army in Tana and begin a siege with my 3800 troops

Apr 29 – A siege starts in Kasogs

May 5 – We are attacked by Cumani troops in Tana

May 12 – We win

May 28 – Tana falls to us. We annex it.

I disband the Kasogs army and reband it in Kasogs, under the control of my great marshal. Battle begins with the Cumani forces, lead by their chief.

June 15 – We win in Kasogs and kill the Cumani Chief. They have a besieging unit in Tana

July 12 – My army lifts a siege that just started in Yegorlyk

July 19 – I organize Tana troops, around 100, to slow down the siege in Tana until I can get there and relieve my newest province.

July 26 – We lose.

July 30 – Tana falls to an ally of Cuman.

Aug 5 – We arrive in Tana

Aug 16 – We defeat them. Currently, we have no sieges on my provinces, but Tana fell and needs to be recaptured.

Aug 26 – Itil sends a peace offer for my 101 ducats and I accept. I am now at war with Cuman alone. I am engaged in battle in Kuban.

Aug 28 -= We win in Kuban. Decision – attack Abkhazia or play defense and try to keep Cuman from beginning a siege. Hmm. North or south.

Sept 10 – We defeat Cumani troops that had just arrived at Tana, as I thought. Back to Kuban, and thence to?

Sept 12 - Rebels have started in Abkhazia. I’ll skip it for now.

Oct 1 – Another battle won in Tana, and again I head back south.

Oct 25 – Win in Kasogs against a small sieging unit

Nov 12 – I choose to honor a pagan shrine in Tana and it becomes prosperous and we lose some piety.

Nov 25 – Victoire in Yegorlyk

Jan 5, 1083 – We get a event of a tournament nature, I am insulted, I push it, and I gain a claim on the Prince of Alania.

Feb 12 – Victory in Kuban

Feb 26 – Victory in Tana

I DOW Azov to get some more land.

Mar 25 – We win in Azov and begin a siege

May 14 – We capture Azov. We annex them and take a ton of money, which helps our situation a lot.

Now I have to go and raise a few sieges, but none have more than 1000 Cumani troops on them.

May 30 – We win against troops in Kuban

June 1 – We win in Yegorlyk after assembling my army there and defeating the troops.

June 11 – We win in Tana.

June 15 – Tana is now looted

June 27 – Kuban is now revolting

July 10 – We win in Yegorlyk

Aug 4 – We defeat a sizeable army in Tana and move to Sarpa to begin a siege

Aug 23 – I use the blood money to hire 1000 Norse mercenaries and add to our army in Sarpa

Sept 15 – Tana stops being looted

Sept 20 – We win in Sarpa against a major force trying to send us out

Sept 23 – Revolt spreads to Yegorlyk

Oct 5 – We take Sarpa in peace negotiations after it falls to us. We also get some more cash.

Attack Saray or head back in and hit some bad guys. I head back in.

Nov 19 – We win in Kuban

Dec 27 – We win Kasogs

Feb 9, 1084 – I take a Heathens Splintered event and we are at a white peace

Azov – This province has a road network, thieves’ guild and fishing wharf. It has 4350 sl, Cuman Pagans. .61 ducats made here

Tana – Cuman Pagans, just thieves guild, currently prosperous, 0.45 ducats, 4350 sl

Sarpa – 1.01 ducats, prosperous, nothing built here, 4350 supply limit and they are Cuman Pagans.

This war kept me in the north and away from the rich Georgian southern province,s but I still made out.


I start looking for a bride.

The one I want is the Georgian King;s daughter – and she’s 14, so I’ll wait for a bit.

Feb 12 – The Turks just took a heavy chunk of Byzantium’s provinces.

Feb 22 – I DOW Alania while I have my extra norse army with me.

Mar 22 – We defeat the Alanian army and begin a siege.

Mar 25 – Abkhazia declared independence from Cuman, since the rebels have had it all this time!

May 17 – We capture Manych, and then take the prince title and a bunch of gold and leave. I don’t get the land, jus the Prince title.

We are now the Prince of Alania.

I claim the Prince of Azov title. We are back in Georgia’s rule (since we took the title of something under Georgia’s umbrella)

We are now a double Prince. Who wants maps?

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7494/nowdukeofalania.jpg



As you can see, I have marked our space, our Ally’s, Turks, and Cumani provinces. The purple is the Byzantines. The orange province next to us is also the Turks, a province they took from Cuman. Despite its color, Abkhazia is not a part of Georgia or us.

July 5 – I send a fosterling to Abkhazia

My intention to start giving away province to counts when they turn Orthodox by event.


Aug 1 – Abkhazia is vassalized by Georgia and made into the Duke of Abghazia. Smart move by Georgia, I was angling to vassalize them myself.

Sept 14 – Jewish rebels have captured Kuma, the province formerally held by the Prince of Alania, and taken by Cuman.

Oct 16 – Having finished my education, I become a Brilliant Strategist!


Prince Aton of Yegorlyk
17

Brilliant Strategist
Skeptical, Trusting, Hostile

Martial – 17, Diplo – 4, Intrigue – 9, Stewardship – 8

That’s not bad. Obviously I’d prefer a better diplomacy skill, but for your first kid, that’s not bad at all. If I were not Trusting, I would have an 11 intrigue.

Nov 18 – We develop Nautical sailing

Jan 20, 1085 – We develop Divine Duty. I order my supply limit to look at Profane Art

Feb 1 – I order a library in Kuban

Feb 15 – We discover Statues. I order my supply limit to look into the Seven Arts

May 5 – Sarpa is now rebelling due to the religion issue

May 17 – For a long time, my court looked like a child school, with all of the young ones running around and few adults. Many are now growing up. For example, one just because a 17 diplomacy Grey Eminence.

June 15 – Meet my new wife. I take a duty of more than 100 ducats as well.

Princess Ripsime Bagratuni
16, eldest daughter of King of Georgia

Martial Cleric, Temperate, Just

Martial – 12, Dip – 11, Intrigue – 8, Steward – 15

July 15 – My wife is expecting. I use the dowry to purchase training grounds in Yegorlyk

July 19 – Alania falls to rebels. I have a good feeling these rebels may take another Cumani province, and then bring them all back to our yoke eventually, like with Abkhazia

Sept 16 – The Jewish state of Kuma has wrested free of Cuman

I organize some troops and send them over. I want to take them now, before Cuman gets any ideas.

Sept 26 – I DOW Kuma and order my troops, stationed in Manych, into her province.

Oct 19 – We defeat the troops and initiate a siege

Dec 10 – We give in to some demands and a rebellion ends in Sarpa

Jan 10, 1086 – We take Kuma. A Manych army was with us, and since he has a claim to the land, he took it and annexed it, but still its good for Georgia to regain land we lost, and good for me since I expect I’ll eventually get that land under my banner.

Feb 18 - I marry my sister, Irina, to the grandson firstborn of the Prince of Trebizond. She’s pretty good as a courtier, actually.

Mar 4 – I gain rebellious rather than change my policies to fit my liege’s. I also gain a claim on King of Georgia

I’m marrying off a few of my courtiers. Want to make my domain a bit smaller.

Apr 11 – We have a daughter – Rusudan

May 1 – I marry two of my great courtiers, the son of Miriam and my courtier from before, and my silver-tongued chancellor great chick I have as well.

May 14 – Road Building gained in yegorlyk

June 9 – My Diocese Bishop dies

June 20 – Alania has declared her independence.

Aug 18 – They reject a vassalization offer from me, the Prince of Alania. I order a library in Sarpa

Sept 25 – Alania pledges herself to Georgia. That gives me an idea. I order my troops to march to Georgia, which I can now do since Alania is now us.

Dec 23 – 4000 troops under command of my Prince with his 17 martial arrive in Georgia. I DOW on my liege. I want to take them and then claim the King title for myself. Then I get all of the Georgia vassals, and in one stroke, I am King of Georgia and in a very good position.


Jan 11, 1087 – We defeat the Georgia troops and initiate a siege.
Jan 30 – Having fosterlings in my court makes my wife want to have kids more - +2 to her fertility.

I grab the title on Georgia’s count title for the province.

Feb 5 – We win the siege, and I take the title, King of Georgia and the province, Count of Kakheti, and some gold!


Kakheti – With a church, roads, training grounds being built, Thieves Guild and Smugglers Guild, this Georgian Orthodox province of 2350 is not currently fulfilling its promise with just 5 ducats to us, but it could be a lot more if we got rid of the guilds.


We have the following vassals:

Prince of Abghazia – With just Abkhazia as his demesne
Count of Manych (A rival, with rebellious, but also depressed) – With Manych and Kuma
Prince of Trebizond – With just Trebizond
Count of Alania – With just Alania

Maybe the Count of Manych will kill himself soon?


Our capital was moved to Kasogs.

I use blood money to build a library in Tana.

Woot, King title numero uno!

Woot, King title numero uno!

Yup! Let me get you folks a map with ME as the King.

http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/240/nowgeorgia.jpg

As you can see, I gained a ton of prestige, but I’m in the hole with piety.

In 21 years I have become a King. I have 12 provinces under my crown. Before this short war, I had 6. I doubled it in one go.

My next goal is to be able to fend off the Cumans and Turks. I would like to retake Imertitia from Cuman (the province surrounded by us), the wealthy Saray, and Jewish Itil and perhaps some other provinces. One more victory against Cuman and I think we will be basically done. They are down to 8 provinces.

Taking the 4 Crimean provinces would be nice too

Feb 12 – I ally with the Principality of Coloneia, that’s the greenish country you’ve seen at the tip of the screens I’ve made for you next to Trebizond, in Turkey. It’s been there a while after winning independence from Byzantium.

Feb 18 – Expecting another kid

Mar 5 – They reject a vassalization offer. I thought it would be worth trying.

One of the Crimean provinces has broke free of Cuman and now at war with them. That should keep them occupied for a year or two until I am ready to strike fast, and furious and take them out.

Apr 28 – I was previously telling you when my capital, Yegorlyk, got an advance, but now that it has changed, should I slide to telling you what Kasogs gets? They developed the short sword today.

Here is my court, post War

Chancellor Yeva Siwnik, Dip 14
Marshal Kandak of Yegorlyk, Mar 11
Steward Ripsime Bagratuni, Ste 15
Spy Master Huddan of Manych, Intr 12
Diocese Bishop – Taus of Yegorlyk

Taus is a son of Miriam and my courter from the last generation. Courtiers worthy of a king!

July 2 – We discover Stonepit in Kasogs and I order a Tile Factory built here

Oct 10 – Thieves Guild gone in Azov

Nov 19 – We have a daughter named Borena

Dec 1 – I order a Tile Factory in Yegorlyk

Dec 15 – One of the daughters of Miriam/Sangipan marriage now has a 17 diplomacy and becomes my new chancellor.

Jan 7, 1088 – Rebels in Manych. I marshal the Sarpa army to head in, take them out, and disband before the end of the month.

Jan 28 – Successful

Mar 28 – I lose the Rebellious trait. Disappointing, because I liked the bonuses it gave my stats and prestige.

May 9 – For about the past ten years, I’ve been getting all of these buddy-buddy events for my girls, and they’ve formed a major clique in my court, with a ton of them in the in crowd, and all friends. It’s funny.

May 22 – I send my youngest sister to Byzantium;s court as a fosterling

June 16 – Tile Factory ordered in Kakheti

Aug 12 – I gain Romantic after choosing that the friend of my enemy is not necessarily my enemy. +1 to martial and diplo, -1 to intrigue and stewardship, and extra prestige annually

Aug 26 – Expecting a third child we are

Here’s my plan for war with Cuman when it happens.

Send my Kakheti army at Imertia, and take it.

Combine my two mains to strike at Saray.

Leave the others unactivated (too expensive)

Once Imertia falls, I bring that army north to DOW and besiege vassals of Cuman, while I keep the two Kuman armies from Itil and Saray on their toes with my larger army lead by me.

Then, once I have Imertia, Saray, Itil in my hands, and perhaps both of the northern provinces, I move to Crimea and slowly DOW and take each of their provinces until I have taken all of Cuman. (actually I discovered a couple of Cuman provinces far, far to the north, but all in the area.)

Then I have added 7-8 provinces to my total, and are in a much better strait to take on the Turks if I need to.

Feb 7, 1089 – The Prince of Trebizond is now my friend

Feb 10 – My ally was annexed by Byzantium

Feb 28 – Byzantium declines to be my ally.

Mar 13 – Poultry Domestication in Kasogs.

Apr 25 – My chancellor is now depressed

Apr 27 – We have a son and name him Aspar

I am saving money for a future war with Cuman, in order to not go into the red.

Aug 10 – The Prince of the Aegean Isles is now my friend

Sept 2 – I sent him a fosterling, my second daughter

Oct 20 - Due to the draining of marshes and flats, Azov is now prosperous

Jan 7, 1089 – With hundreds of gold (I make a ton a month from my provinces and I am not losing any due to a large demesne), I get in position to DOW Cuman.

Jan 17 – I raise my firstborn daughter myself

Jan 27 – I DOW Cuman. I order troops into Saray and Imertia

Feb 9 – We arrive in Saray and begin fighting

Feb 15 – The siege of Saray begins as we crush the 1900 troops here.

Feb 23 – We defeat troops from Itil in Saray

Mar 4 – Saray falls and I order my troops to Itil

Mar 17 – We crush forces in Itil and finally arrive in Imertia

Mar 26 – We win in Imertia and the siege begins.

Cuman forces arrive in Tana and begin a siege, and it becomes looted and rebelling.

Apr 13 – Itil falls and I order my forces back

May 11 – We force them from Tana.

I DOW Sarkel and move northward

May 15 – After going hunting, the Count of Tmutarakan is now my friend

May 27 – Imertia falls, and I disband the army rather than move it north and keep paying money for it. We win in Sarkel.

June 21 – Sarkel falls. I dow Don Portage and move east

June 22 – Sarkel sends me 285 gold and I annex it.

Sept 3 – We have taken Don Portage and I get 178 gold and the province in peace.

Oct 11 – I DOW Crimea and order troops there

Dec 12 - - We arrive and being a siege

Dec 15 – My spy master comes to me with proof that my only son is not fathered by me, and I refuse to believe her. I need an heir. I lost trusting and gained suspicious

Jan 7, 1091 – revolt in tana, and I assemble the Azov army to put it down.

Jan 10 – Crimea falls. I annex it and take a bunch of gold (190). I DOW Low Dneiper and order my forces in.

Feb 1 – We defeat the rebels.

Feb 17 – Lower Dneiper falls. I DOW Lukomarie and move in.

Mar 23 – I accept an alliance with Byzantium

Apr 1 – I give in to demands in Tana and the revolt ends.

Apr 12 – We take Lukomarie. I DOW Chortitza. I get 85 ducats from the peace. The final CUman army is in Chortitza with all of their final armies together –about 1750 total.

May 10 – We defeat their armies and begin a siege.

June 13 – We capture Chortitza.

We take them all, and get a ton of gold, and some serious badboy. We’ll need major cooling off.

Our new provinces:

These are all Cuman and Pagan:



Chortitza – 4350, way away from me, and nestled between our former ally and our current ally – and nicely tucked away safe. Struggling – 3 ducats made here. Roads, tile factory, court, royal post and forestry

Lukomorie – Also tucked back, nice and safe. Nothing but thieves guild. 1 ducats, 4350 supply limit.

Lower Dneiper – 4350 as well, just thieves and smugglers guilds, 1 ducat.

Crimea – fishing wharf, roads and forestry – 4 ducats, 4350 supply limit and currently rich

Don Portage – courts, roads, forestry, 2 ducats, poor. Just north of Tana and Sarpa and east of Sarkel

Sarkel – 3 ducats, rich, also has roads, forest and courts. East of Sarkel, north of Tana.


Other provinces:

Imeretia – Georgian and Orthodox. Struggling. Just a 2350 supply limit. 2 ducats, royal post, forestry, fishing wharf, roads and court

Saray – Turkish and pagan. 5 ducats, court, royal post, tile factory and forestry.

Itil – Turkish and Jewish. Struggling, 4 ducats, court, roads, post, wharf and forestry.

Nice little war there, grats!

Nice little war there, grats!

Yeah, I was Cuman's pimp on that one

Map?

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/5347/georgia1091.jpg

Purple is Byzantium, our ally. Orange are the Turks. White is another pagan tribe. The green province north of my two new ones was recently new Cumani province. That blue province to the west of Sarkel past the river is a one province pagan, but I can’t take it. This is about as north as I want to go, and I expect my expansion days in the future to go south, or west. Or both!

Note our prestige, piety and gold, post war. Not bad stuff, eh?

I don’t want to give away provinces until they are Orthodox. When a ruler is not me, I can’t be sure they will make the province orthodox. Manych has been in the control of Orthodox rulers forever and its still pagan.

So I’ll stick with 60% money due to my large demesne for now.

June 29 – An event occurs and I decide to trade a claim I’ve had for a while on some random Byzantine province for lowered badboy.

July 4 – I marry my sister to the Emperor of Byzantium.

July 13 – Highway robber band formed in Lower Dneipr

Sept 4 – I forbid a pagan ritual in Don Portage.

Sept 6 - I order a Monastery built in Kakheti

Sept 10 – I have religious tensions in Saray. I crush them, and it becomes Orthodox, looted and rebelling. Excellent!

Oct 1 – Instead of building a bunch of stuff, I’ve been giving gold to my vassals to keep them from getting uppity due to my bad reputation.

Oct 27 – Revolts start in Chortitza after I tell them I don’t care about their holy ground

Nov 15 – Saray is no longer looted

Jan 12, 1092 – After a fosterling is being bullied by my daughter, I hold her accountable and gain Just.

Jan 13- Tana is no longer looted

Feb 1 – My wife has been assassinated, and we don’t know who did it.

Feb 4 – I take a duty of 166 after I marry the 16 year old 3rd daughter of the Prince of Charsianon, a Prince of Byzantium

Feb 7 – When Byzantium DoWs a Turkish vassal I do not come to her aid. That’s just stupid. I;m not ready for war vs the Turks, and certainly not in an offensive war I didn’t even plan.

Feb 11 – After reclaiming wastelands and forests, Kekheti is now prosperous

With a low intrigue and super high disloyalty, the Count of Manych has become a problem. Instead of constantly throwing money at him, I will try and assassinate him. I have a great intrigue, and my spy master has an intimidating intrigue. This is a good shot, I feel.

Success but the new guy is pissed off at me, despite not being found out. He probably suspects so I give him a gift of all of my gold to get him up to feasible level.

Mar 18 – Ascetism in Kasogs

I offered the new Count a wife but he declined

Apr 17 – I give in to demands in Chortitza and the revolt ends.

July 29 – Sarpa’s prosperous-ness is set back to normal

In order to stop this issue with the Count of Manych – I give the Prince of Alania title to the Count, and he takes the Count of Manych as his vassal.

Oct 20 – Training grounds ordered in Saray

Nov 7 – The Turks took Byzantium province itself from Byzantium

Feb 17, 1093 – We marry a courtier off. And we get this, and you ready:

16 year old, Boz-Uraz of Manych

Midas Touched, Prodigy, Energetic, Zealous
Stressed

Martial – 12, Dip – 15, Intr – 9, Stew – 15

If he weren;t stressed, he;d be even better. He came to my court as a fosterling, and I;ve raised him to this, but then the home disappeared so he is staying with us.

He is a great Duke candidate or courtier. He is my new steward, but he could also be my new general.

I marry him to my Chancellor and hope they have some miracle babies


Apr 25 – I forbid the celebrating of a holiday in Tana and luckily avoid the chance at revolting.

Apr 29 – Chained Leather in Kasogs

May 15 – Forestry ordered in Kakheti

May 22 – I choose a court education for my eldest daughter

July 1 – Three nearby Turkish provinces have been captured by rebels, but the Turks are usually pretty good at putting them down. We’ll see if they can get these ones before they become a separate tribe.


July 20 – I am now the friend of the Emir of Kermanshah.

July 24 – I am now the rival of the Bey of Lower Volga

Aug 26 – My second wife is now with child

Oct 1 – I give in to demands in Saray and the rebellion there ends.

I wanted to have Saray, Itil, Yegorlyk, Kosags, Crimea, and Kakheti in my demesne forever. The others I’ll give away.

I create the Count of Lower Dneipr, because it is severely damaged. I give it to family. It will increase my money a lot, but I hate to give away pagan land, yet in this case, an exception is made.

Mar 10, 1094 – After I refuse to lose a friend just because there was a power inequity in our relationship, I gain humble.

May 8 – We learn Three Fields System in Kasogs

May 22 – I will raise my son myself

May 23 – We have a daughter named Burudukan in honor of my mother

June 2 – Lose some piety when I choose to honor pagan shrines in Azov

July 9 – We discover Salt Refineries in Kasogs

Aug 28 – Our infant dies.

Nov 8 – The Turks have been freeing all of the rebel controlled provinces with ease.

Dec 12 – I choose to back my child in getting in scraps with other kids – he gains Stubborn.

Jan 19, 1095 – The smugglers are hanged in Kakheti and removed.

May 5 – The Prince of Karvuna is now an ally.

Jun 16 – The Seven Liberal Arts in Kosags

Dec 20 – Scalemail in Kosags

Feb 2, 1096 – Banded Mail discovered in Kasogs

Mar 1 – My mother died and I reinhertied Imeretia. I give it as a Bishopric to my Diocese Bishop. I also inherited a metric ton of money.

I take the Prince of Crimea title.

Templar House in Kakhati
Library in Kasogs
Tile Factory in Itil and Crimea


Mar 6 - I grant the title again

Mar 23 – My son gains Amiable after he is encouraged by me to make friends

June 22 – I will be educating my son at court. The army was very tempting, he has a good martial skill already, but I Went with a more well rounded education.

Aug 6 – Crimea gets his with Dysentery.

Aug 22 – I choose not the call the estates general, and our prestige rises, but the chance of raised stability failed.

Sept 10 – We have a Zealous Firebrand in Kuban and I choose to behead him and luckily, no revolt.

Nov 17 – We are expecting another child

Jan 15, 1097 – The Prince of Abghazia is now Rebellious

Jan 20 – I fell in love with my wife. She is now my friend. I become chaste

Jan 21 – Don Portage now has a normal level of prosperity

Apr 28 – The new Count of Tmutarakan is now my rival

May 6 – Mariam has passed.

June 27 – Dysentery ends in Crimea. For now.

July 23 – I accept an alliance offer from Byzantium

Aug 14 – We have a daughter and name her Irina

Jan 23, 1098 –There’s a pretty big rebellion going on in Ryn Desert – we’ll see if the Turks comes and help or if it will lay there for a while.

May 15 – There was a rebellion in Kuma, but the Count of Manych managed to put it down on his own.

June 27 – Expecting child again

Nov 30 – I hand Irina to the nannies for rearing

Dec 24 – I get a Burghers uprising event and choose to crush it in Itil. Itil is now Orthodox, Rebelling, Looted and still Struggling.

Dec 27 = Chortitza starts rebelling

Jan 14, 1099 – Itil is no longer looted.

Feb 26 – I get a nasty event. It says that it’s hard to control provinces too far away and Sarkel gets a thieves guild, smugglers ring, and highway robber group. Nasty

Mar 23 – Daughter named Irina. Apparently we wanted two named that.

Mar 26 – Revolt spreads to Saray from Itil. That’s not good either. This is not the good event year.

Apr 17 – I forbid the celebration of a pagan feast in Tana

June 19 – I accept a fosterling from Alania

July 6 – Rebels in Kuban

July 18 – Defeated

Aug 3 – Revolt in Tana

Aug 11 – No more

Oct 12 – We gain Disloyal Vassal Outmaneuvered and gain a claim on Imeretia

Oct 14 – Thieves in Sarkel are hanged and their guild is no mo’

Dec 23 – Due to growth in towns and hamlets, Don Portage is now prosperous

July 11, 1100 I choose to disallow a festival of pagan nature in Tana again

Aug 16 – Our old ally says no to a new alliance after we lose the Byzantium one because all of their vassals are wanting freedom.

Sept 10 – Rebellion in Tana

Sept 17 – Well, there used to be one there

Nov 1 – Our old ally is going through realm duress and his counties are splitting off in droves.

Nov 7 – The Turks recaptured Ryn Desert from the rebels

Do I want to take provinces from Itil?

They aren’t bad, but I can; take too many more Pagan provinces right now for my demense.

Plus I don’t want to badboy up over provinces from Itil. But, this is a defensive war, so I don’t get as much badboy from them. Hmm. I’ll need to think about it.


I mobilize my Saray and Itil forces.

Nov 27 _ I send my combined forces against Itil, led by the King himself.

Dec 9 – We win in Uzens and begin a siege

Jan 7, 1101 – We deal with a popular revolt in Itil by giving in to some demands.

Jan 8 – Uzens falls. Their force we took out has moved to Saray and begun a siege.

Where to go next?

Feb 10 – Saray falls and I order more troops to take out the Itil forces and regain Saray.

Feb 28 – We win in Yaik and begin a siege

Mar 28 – We capture Yaik and I order my troops to Bashkir

May 10 Bashkir falls

May 23 – Rebellion in Chortitza

May 29 – Put down

June 8 – We recapture Saray

June 25 – They recapture Yaik

June 28 – I forbid a pagan feast in Kuban

July 8 – The Yegorlyk army has arrived in Yaik and is attacking our last enemy there while my main is besieging Southern Ural

July 20 – We lose in Yaik

Aug 5 – Southern Ural falls

Aug 7 – The Count of Manych is now my friend. That’s a new one

Aug 20 – We defeat their forces in S Ural

Sept 10 – We get a new rival – Prince of Cherson

Sept 25 – Theives Guild formed in Crimea

Sept 27 – Aristolean Logic in Kasogs

Oct 22 – We take Yaik and now look to peace negotiations. What do I want?

I make them give me all of their gold, refuse all of their claims on my territory (except for the next two, obviously) and take Yaik and Uzens.


Yaik – Building a Tile Factory, currently rich, roads and extensive roads, forestry, royal post and court. Cuman and Pagans. Currently make for us 4 ducats. Just a supply limit of 2120. No Hill Fort.

Uzens – Currently build extensive road network, court, forestry, roads, Cuman Pagans, no hill fort, 2 ducats currently.


I use my blood money to pay off my vassals that have gotten pissed without money being tossed their way, and also to bring me out of debt.

Nov 22 – I got a prince in Greece as a new rival. Who cares

Jan 9, 1102 – I grant the Count of Chortitza to my old general from long ago. I grant Lukomorie to a good courtier to whom I am not related. I then give the Prince of Crimea title to this guy, and he takes the Count of Chortitza and Lower Dneipr under his wing.

I don’t like giving away pagan land, but I need to.

Jan 21 – No more thieves in Azov

Feb 4 – We are expecting another kid

Apr 7 – Sculptures in Kasogs

We are making about 100 gold every other month, so I will save a bit and start building Hill Forts in Yaik and Uzens

Apr 21 – After towns and hamlets grow considerably, Kakheti is now rich.


May 16 – I accept a fosterling from the Prince of Trebizond

May 21 – The Prince of Cherson died and now we have one less rival on our border – yay.

June 11 – Thieves Guild forms in Sarpa

July 11 – I marry my eldest daughter to the Prince of Charsianon’s grandson, and in line for succession. I get more than 500 gold from the dowry and purchase two forts in our new provinces with the money.

Aug 1 – Rebels have again captured Ryn Desert

Aug 30 – Smuggler’s Ring broken up in Sarkel

Sept 29 – Once again, I choose not to call the Estates General, and instead gain some prestige and stability!

Oct 2 – Cathedral Schools spread in Kasogs

Nov 5 – We have a son and name him Bedros

Nov 11 – I gain Weak Willed after I choose not to become a rival with the Prince of Charsianon

Nov 17 - My second born son has just inherited that Princedom after he died. If he had died a month ago, my second son would not have gotten it. The bad news is that I will be unable to shape my second son’s life, in case my first born one dies.

Apr 1, 1103 – I have gained the Prince of Abghazia as a new friend

Apr 3 – My Marshal wants recognition and I reward him generously.

May 5 – Because Byzantium is hemmorging vassals, many near us have gone rogue. Including, Tmutarakan.

If only I had a lower badboy…

June 28 – Frontal Charge in Kasogs

Aug 24 – Thieves Guild formed in Azov

Sept 28 – Light crossbows in Kasogs

Oct 7 – I take a fosterling from Manych

Oct 27 – bad year at the fishery in Crimea and I help them out with some ducats

Dec 13 – Local Merchant Houses in our capital

Dec 29 – I honor pagan shrines in Uzens

Dec 30 – My second daughter returns from Abghazia to my court, and I will wait to see what she learns from her education before I decide to marry her off. There’s a possibility she could be a courtier with the right mix of abilities.

Apr 13, 1104 – The province east of Ryn Desert, Emba, has declared independace fromt eh Turks, so maybe they won’t be able to get to Ryn Desert in time to keep it from also going solo. Four provinces to our south have fallen to rebels, but again, the Turks usually clear them up before things get out of hand.

May 11 – My daughter came back not good at all, so I send this naïve wirepuller to another court, as soon as I find one worthy for the daughter of a King and a King’s daughter (her mother was my first wife, the daughter of thee King of Georgia I)

June 17 – I marry my second daughter to the second son of the Prince of Armenia Minor

With my dowry money, I order a small castle built in Kakheti

June 19 - I used an event to claim the title of Tmutarakan.

July 17 – I sent my youngest Irina to Byzantium to be a fosterling

July 23 – Highway Robbers caught and killed in Sarkel

Oct 15 – I order Training Grounds in Crimea

Jan 12, 1105 – Tana is so poor, I decide to hand it to one of my courtiers, even though its pagan, just to free up another spot.

Apr 25 – I accept an Abghazian fosterling

May 5 – My son and heir is now 16, let’s wife shop

I’m having a great deal of trouble finding even so much as a county that is currently dynastically vulnerable and has the right laws to allow me to inherit through the daughter. I am resigned to just find a good mother.

May 15 – Mass Scale Conversions turns Kuban Orthodox, and I give it to my Diocese Bishop as the new Count of Kuban.

May 17 – My son has married the eldest daughter of the Duke of Apulia. Here she is:

Heria de Hautville
16

Wise, Lazy, Deceitful, Court Education
Stressed

10/8/10/11

The stressed isn’t great, because it reduces her fertility, but I don’t need 15 kids, just good ones.


May 21 – Azov prosperity set to rich

Sept 16 – I have gained the Bey of Ryn Desert as a rival

Sept 23 – My son is now Silver Tongued

Our Prince:

Aspar of Yegorlyk
16

Silver Tongued, Amiable, Stubborn

9/10/6/10

Feb 8, 1106 – My daughter in law is now a gruff diplomat

She’s pregnant though.

July 25 – Rebellion in Manych

Aug 26 – Destroyed

Oct 11 – Don Portage starts rebelling

Oct 17 – I think it’s a silly superstition when pagan priests see an evil omen in the skies over Sarkel, but no revolt occurs.

Oct 29 - Smugglers Ring formed in Sarpa

Nov 7 – Rebellion begins in Sarkel

Nov 18 – Defeated

Dec 22 – Kasogs now has mucial instruments

Dec 28 – Kakheti now has a Small Castle – nice!

Jan 12, 1107 – I give in to demands and the revolt ends in Don Portage


Jan 13 – My grandson is born, and named after me.

Apr 4 – They are pregnant again

June 1 – Thieves guild disbanded in Sarpa

Nov 1 – The Turks are reclaiming rebel controlled provinces, including Ryn Desert and several to our south in Armenia and lower Georgia

Apr 1, 1108 – T Guild formed in Yaik

Apr 8 – I order a library built in Itil

Apr 15 – Two of my Principalities have DOWed the free Principality of Coloneia. I join them in order to be nice.

May 3 – Smugglers Ring formed in Kakheti

Aug 20 – 4000 Crimean troops arrive in Trebizond to help lift the siege by our mutual enemy.

Sept 1 – We win. I order our forces into Chaldea

Sept 17 – We crush them in Chaldea, and then I disband. If my vassals want to pursue sieges or fighting, they can, but I helped to take out their armies, and weakened them.

Nov 7 – My vassals capture Chaldea

Dec 17 – The Prince of Crimea died and his son takes over.

Mar 12, 1109 -Chaldea is retaken

Mar 26 – Smugglers Ring destroyed in Sarpa

Apr 20 – Thieves disbanded in Yaik

May 20 – The Prince of Trebizond has taken the Prince of Coloneia title as well, plus the province of Koloneia, which he has appointed a Count to lead.

There is now a Count of Chaldea who has the province of Melitene, and I offer him a White Peace.

May 29 – He declines.

Aug 8 – I look at the Prince of Trebizond’s screen again and see he now has a new County – Napoli. At some point in time in the last three months, Napoli has joined our kingdom. Wierd. Probably an inheritance.

Sept 29 – Byzantium is down to just two vassals. Everybody else has gone rogue.

Let’s see a map:



http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4859/georgia1109.jpg



I brought the Emperor up and you can see just how many people are currently at war with him. Crazy! The grey blob is the CHIEFTAIN of Hungary – yup, a pagan took over, and it’s half pagan and half Catholic.

Welcome to the crazy room, with a -12819 prestige for the Emperor.

The King of Sweden inherited the King of Bohemia, and has been expanding madly. The Papal States have just trounced through the HRE and taken tons of provinces. England has almost all of Ireland but Scotland has taken a few English provinces. The Iberian peninsula is almost all Arabic, and they’ve solidified around two powers, and taken out most of the Catholics. France is solid.

Oct 12 – A 12 year old fosterling committed suicide. I’d hate to explain that to a parent.

Dec 10 – Broadswords in Kasogs

Dec 19 – Chaldea offers a White Peace, which I accept

Jan 7, 1110 – I order a library in Kakheti

Jan 14 – Because it is very hard to control provinces away, I get a nasty event. Don Portage is now looted and rebelling.

Feb 3 – I give in to demands and the rebellion in Don Portage ceases

Feb 16 – The Prince of Cherson is now my rival

Mar 1 – I order troops in Yegorlyk and Kosags to assemble and to move to Kuban.

Mar 16 – I DOW Tmutarakan

Mar 23 – Don Portage recovers and is no longer looted

Mar 26 – We arrive

Apr 3 – We win

Apr 23 – The small castle falls to us. I disband my armies.

I take it and a bunch of gold.

Tmutarakan – 11 ducats are made by the Orthodox Russians here. Court, Small Castle, roads, extensive roads, Tile Factory, Forestry, Royal Post, Forestry, and Library are all here. It’s a very wealthy province for here, and it immediately becomes the wealthiest one I own, but it is in part because it is more developed than Kasogs, Saray, Itil and Karakheti. I order a Training Grounds here with my blood money.

Apr 28 – My son’s wife has become mad.


Nov 25 -My son’s firstborn son is now ill

Dec 27 – My vassals stupidly DOW Hungary. I order my Crimean regiment roused and take it out.

Jan 21, 1111 – We win in Oleshye.

Jan 24 – We repel an attack in Sarkal. I then disband that army.

Feb 1 – The siege in Oleshye is won by the Emperor of Byzantium.

Feb 16 – We win in Olivia and begin a siege

Feb 22 – Our grandson loses illness when we pay a miracle worker

Feb 28 – Olivia falls

Apr 24 – We take Sugrov and I take it in peace.


Sugrov – West of Sarkel is this province, with 7 ducats being made for me, moneylenders under construction, and it has: Court, Roads, Extensive Roads, Royal Post, Forestry, Tile Builder, Library and Training Grounds. 4470 supply limit. They are Cumani and pagan


I also got 388 gold and I order: Library in Crimea and Roads in Saray

June 1 – Uzens is now looted

I did gain some claims from the war, and hopefully that event will fire where I can give them up for lowered badboys

July 8 – Inadequate soil prep drops Crimea to prospoerous


Sept 19 – Uzens recovers

Sept 22 – The County of Coloneia had declared independence, but they were retaken today by the Prince of Trebizond

Jan 9, 1112 – I get another Distant Province looted and revolting in Don Portage

The nearby Byzantium provinces fell to Hungary.

Feb 10 – Rebellion in Don Portage

Feb 13 – I finance a great feast in Sarkel

Feb 21 – Rebellion defeated

Mar 5 – Brickwork Structures in Kasogs

June 10 – Prosperity in Kakheti set to just prosperous

June 17 – We defeat a small rebellion in Don Portage

June 21 – Monastic Schools spread to Kasogs

Nov 4 – Don Portage now is inflicted with Dysentery

Dec 1 – I build a monastery in Kasogs

Feb 5, 1113 = Don Portage is no longer prosperous, just normal after arable land was deserted

Mar 24 _ I order a library in Saray

May 28 – My son;s wife is no longer crazy

May 30 – There is a new King of Hungary and he is a normal Catholic. That’s bad Hungary had taken all of the pagans around me, and I could Dow them easily and take them as I wanted, but now I have to use the slow path

June 7 – We get a culture change – Itil becomes Alan culture

Aug 1 – Rebellion in Don Portage

Au 22 – Defeated

Sept 2 – Dysentery ends

Sept 10 _ I married a 16 years old daughter to a son of a prince. I took 900+ gold. With it, I:

Monastery in Yegorlyk
Small Castle in Crimea
Glass-works in Kakheti

Nov 26 – I tell the pagans in Yaik I don’t care about their holy ground, but no rebellion

Jan 7, 1114 – Crimea starts rebelling against me.

Jan 28 – I choose to crush the pagans in Sugrov. It is now Orthodox and Looted

Feb 20 – We crush a rebellion in Don Portage but my Marshall is badly wounded

Apr 2 – My heir is now friends with the Prince of Alania

May 12 – Sugrov is no longer looted.

Aug 30 – Sweden just took a bunch of Hungary provinces in war, including those near me.

Mar 3, 1115- Mine ordered in Kakheti

Mar 6 – The Pagans are demanding blood, and rebelling in Sarkel for a while

June 1 – Same event as above but for Sarpa

Byzantium is rebuilding its empire from the dregs of the previous one, now that its realm duress has ended.

I DOW the Tribe of Lower Don. I need a land connection between my halves without going through the sea.

July 12 – We have taken Lower Don and added it to my flock:


Lower Don – 2 ducats, has a thieves guild, road, forestry and royal post. Pagan Cumans. Currently Poor.


Oct 3 – Don Portage recovers and is no longer looted

Dec 5 _ I marry my last daughter to the son of a Cypriot prince

Dec 30 – Warhammers learned in Kasogs

Jan 4, 1116 – Tile factory in Lower Don

Feb 3 – I give in to local demands in Don Portage and the rebellion ends

Mar 15 – Library in Yegorlyk

Sept 29 – Dysentery arrives in Lower Don

Dec 5, 1116 –


50 Year Review:



50 years ago, we were the Count of Yegorlyk. Now we are the King of Georgia, Prince of Azov, and Count of 15 provinces.


Of our nation’s 28 provinces, here is the breakdown:

Religions:

Pagan: 12
Jewish: 1
Catholic: 1
Orthodox: 14


Cultures:

Cuman: 15
Alan: 6
Georgian: 2
Turkish: 1
Russian: 1
Greek: 3 (Napoli, Trebizond, Koloneia)



Kingdoms:

Georgia – 5 of 10
Armenia – 1 of 26
Byzantium - 1 of ???
Sicily – 1 of 17
Khazaria – 20 of 52

Map!

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/3018/georgia50yerareview.jpg

As you can tell, I’ve gotten to the place where I am getting enough money to invest regularly. Here is the monthly change from my seven vassals:

Prince of Crimea - +0.1
Prince of Alania - +4.2
Prince of Trebizond - +1.5
Prince of Abghazia - +0.4
Countess of Imeretia - -1.9
Count of Tana - -3.2
Count of Kuban - -3.4

What this means is I give about 100 gold to the Counts and Countess about once each every 8 months or so. So I’m pocketing about 350 gold every 8 months. That’s getting invested back into my infrastructure.

Apr 19, 1117 – Composite Bow discovered in Kasogs

May 17 – We defeat a revolt in Uzens

June 15 – Small Castle ordered in Itil

Sept 1 – The countess of Imeretia has died.

Aug 5 – I go with silly superstition in pagan omen seen in Azov

Oct 1 – Glass-works ordered in Kasogs

Dec 17 – Thieves form a guild in Crimea

Feb 28, 1118 – Smugglers rounded up and executed in Kekheti

May 5 – Prosperity in Lower Don set to normal

Aug 1 – Small Castle ordered in Saray

Sept 8 – Rebellion in Don Portage

Sept 19 – Put down

Feb 5, 1119 – Boiled Leather discovered in Kasogs

Feb 15 – We have another culture change event and Saray is now Alan

Apr 5 –Rebellion in Uzens.

Apr 17 – No more

May 30 – Our 51 year old King is now ill

July 2 – Dysentery leaves Lower Don

Aug 22 – Large Ships Building in Kasogs

Oct 15 – The Beydom of Lower Volga declared independence from the Turks, and I’m sure will be smacked back down soon

Dec 13 – Our King;s illness became an intestinal worm

Jan 14, 1120 – I give in to demands in Sarpa and the revolting there ends

Feb 6 – And that’s how long Lower Volga was free before being retaken today by the Turks

Feb 8 – I order a Small Castle in Kasogs

Mar 6 _ Rebellion in Azov!

Mar 15 – Well, not any longer

July 10 – Promissory Note in Kasogs

Nov 27 – At the age of 53, King Aton of Yegorlyk has passed. He had 3137 prestige, 387 piety.

His traits:

Chaste, Skeptical, Selfish, Modest, Just, Reckless, Suspicious, Weak-willed, Romantic, Hostile
Brilliant Strategist


Long live the new King:


Aspar of Yegorlyk
31

Abilities: Mar: 8, Diplo: 9, Intrigue: 5, Stew: 9

Stressed, Amiable, Stubborn
Silver Tongued

-25 prestige, 0 piety


Here is the problem with Aspar. His three rivals? They are the Steward, Chancellor and Spy Master. Ick. Here are our current advisors:

Chancellor – Maria of Yegorlyk, 17 Diplo
Spy Master – Keren Siwnik – 14 Intrigue
Steward – Boz-Uruz of Manych, 15 Stewardship
Marshal – Manuel Spartenos, 16 Martial
Diocese Bishop – Aspar Berdzenishvili


And I can’t just give provinces away to my courtiers that don’t like me, because that would hurt their loyalty.

Aspar cannot control as many provinces, due to a lower intrigue. We are going to have to give away some provinces. Disappointing, I know.

On the other hand, he has a much better diplomacy, and his vassals are much less likely to want to go walking.

I give Azov to this really good blind courtier I have. I give Lower Don to this cruel old countess who was once our crown;s Spy Master. I give Don Portage to my uncle, who was once our marshal for a while, but got badly wounded, and is now fit for becoming a count. I am his heir, since he has no kids, and that one may come back to me someday. One of the young scions of the Manych family is given Sarkel. I grant the Count of Crimea to a very well-rounded courtier with no weaknesses and yet no major strengths. I give Sarpa to the Prince of Alania. My best courtier (13, 9, 9, 10) is given Yaik, on the border with bad guys. If we manage to add more territory, he could be my new Prince of Itil. Finally, I hand a celibate marshal the province of Uzens, again to help with its defense (he has martial of 11).

Nov 28 _ I grant the Prince of Azov title to the blind Count of Azov. The counts of Kuban and Tana now report to him.

Dec 3 - I strip the Prince of Crimea title from one count, and give it to my the one in Crimea province.

Our demesne:

Segrov
Tmutarakan
Saray
Itil
Yegorlyk
Kasogs
Kekheti


My max I can have is 7 without financial problems, and I have kept the 7 most valuable provinces. All of these are Orthodox. They are also all over my Kingdom, so I can rally forces from anywhere.

I change my courtiers so now I have a 14 diplo, 13 stewardship and 11 intrigue person in those various roles, instead of the ones who are my rivals.

I’m only getting 60 ducats a month, due to my divestiture of lands.

Jan 9, 1121 – Thieves Guild forms in Itil

Feb 25 – I already reinherited Don Portage and I give it away again to his new bride

May 6 – Yegorlyk’s prosperity is back to normal

May 21 – My stress turns to depression

Sept 1 – Small castle ordered in Yegorlyk

Nov 12 – My second born, training at the army, becomes friends with the Marshal.

Jan 8, 1122 – Mine in Itil, Monastery in Sugrov

Jan 22 – Light chainmail spreads to Kasogs

Feb 14 – Iroen Edged Wood Ploughs in Kasogs

Mar 19 – Royal Post in Kakheit

May 21 – I gain modest after I choose not to distribute extra wealth to the barons

Sept 1 – Mine ordered in Kasogs

Sept 29 – Chronicle Writing Spreads to Kasogs

Oct 1 – Extensive road network ordered in Saray

Dec 25 – I reject an alliance offer from the King of Poland – too far away

Jan 2, 1123 – The County of Koloneia inherited the County of Chaldea and Melitene and they are now a part of my Kingdom!

Jan 26:

We would like to announce the marriage of:

Aton of Yegorlyk II, Heir to the Throne of Georgia (9,11,13,9 – currently)

To

Claere van Loon, Daughter of Count of Loon (14, 15, 11, 13 – currently)


Claere is our new chancellor

May 1 – Thieves Guild hanged in Itil

May 4 – Striping Ploughing in Kasogs

July 1 – Templar House ordered in Kasogs

Sept 9 – Glass-works in Sugrov

Oct 21 – My daughter become a flamboyant schemer

Oct 26 – I marry my only daughter to the Prince and firstborn son of the Principality of Antioch

Dec 19 – My heir, Aton II becomes a scholarly theologian – 9/14/13/10 stats

Jan 25, 1124 – Goatherding spreads to Kasogs

I get my armies ready

Feb 10 – I DOW Itil

Feb 19 – Our army, led by my 16 martial Marshal arrives in their capital and begins to attack the pagans

Mar 8 – We win in Bashkirs

Mar 25 –Bashkirs falls

May 15 – We arrive in Southern Ural

July 11 – S Ural falls and I take both:


Bashkirs – Building a hill fort, Pagan, Cuman, with Court, Road, Forestry, Library, Tile Factory, Moneylenders, Glass-works and Mine. Prosperous and making 7 ducats.

Southern Ural – These Pagan Cumans have a small castle, Court, Road, Forestry, Library, Tile Factory and Royal Post, and make 4 ducats while they are rich prosperity.


I give Southern Ural away to a decent courtier. I’ll hold on to Bashkirs right now.

I create the title Prince of Itil. I give it to the Count of Yaik. It’s sad, because I lost a pretty flag for a boring one.

Nov 1 – I order a Medium Castle in Itil

Jan 8, 1125 – I order a Royal Post in Yegorlyk

Mar 8 – Typhoid Fever spreads to Tmutarakan

Mar 15 -= The Pike arrives in Kasogs

May 30 _ all of a sudden – hope strikes. The province of Guria, formerly the home of the Georgia crown and since captured by the Turks has just switched its allegiance to a North African muslim nation for some reason – inheritance or war whatever. I DOW it.

July 21 – My Kakheti forces arrive in Guria.

Aug 3 – We win!

Aug 21 – My second born son became Misguided Warrior, and that;s a waste of what could have been a great military talent

Aug 29 – We take Guria and I disband my forces.

We are still at war with that Sheik from N. Africa though.


Guria – Orthodox, Georgian, just a fishing wharf and that’s it, not even the normal hill fort. Currently poor, and making just 1 ducat for us.


We now have a land connection with Trebizond and her vassal. We also have retaken one of the lost provinces. Great stuff all around. It’s a super poor province, so I intend to spruce it up a bit, and then give it away.

Sept 1 – Forestry ordered in Guria

Sept 16 – My steward has passed. I appoint my wife as steward

Oct 4 – I order a Royal Post in Bashkirs

Nov 14 – Typhoid leaves Tmutarakan

Dec 27 – My mother in law, and my father’s second wife has passed today

May 9, 1126 – My third born son became a flamboyant scholar. That was real waste of a natural 11 diplomacy. Feh

May 19 _ I crush religious tensions in Bashkirs. The province is now looted, rebelling and orthodox.

Aug 1 0 I order a Civilian Harbour in Tmutarakan

Sept 1 – I order a Hill Fort in Guria and a Church in Yegorlyk

Sept 14 – I give Bashkirs to my 3rd born son

Dec 9 – Fairs spread to Kasogs and we accept a white peace offer from the Kingdom of Zirid

Apr 1, 1127 – I order a small castle constructed in Sugrov

June 11 -I order a school in Kasogs

June 14 – A courtier departs for another court. That’s one of the rivals of the King, and the former Spy Master for Aton

Sept 8 – Scholastics spreads to Kasogs

Nov 10 – I accept a fosterling form the Count of Manych

Nov 23 – I marry my second born to a Polish courtier and immediately appoint her my new Steward. I’m a little surprised that her 9/14/10/14 self got to 19 without getting married off. She is Midas Touched, Proud, Valorous and Gregarious – so no major personality issues either.

Mar 12, 1128 – I get a great event and my stability increases by one to +2

Apr 1 – I order my civilian harbor upgraded to a naval one in Tmutarakan

May 1 – I order a Mine for Yegorlyk

June 1 – Tile Factory ordered in Guria

Aug 3 – We accept an alliance with Byzantium

Aug 8 – A rebellion in Guria is put down

Sept 12 – I order a church is Kasogs

Dec 7 – None of my three sons has yet to have a son of his own. Two daughters to my first born son, nothing to my second, and finally a pregnant wife to my third

Feb 1, 1129 - I order a civilian harbor in Itil

Mar 1 – I order a school in Yegorlyk

Oct 1 – I order a Mine in Sugrov

Oct 29 – I get an event and choose to spend some prestige to keep my claims. I lost 100 prestige and kept my claim. It was saying I was too senile for my claims.

Dec 3 – I order a small castle in Guria, and then look to give it away. I give it to my second born son

Mar 9., 1130 – My spy master died, and I make my son, Aton II, my new one

July 26 – Jongleurs in Kasogs

July 28 – There has been a murder in the court! The suspect is my wife. I have to submit justice, and I have her killed. There was some evidence pointing her way. One of my courtiers has passed as well.

I take a wife from mainland Europe and with her 17 intrigue, she immediately becomes my Spy Master. She’s just 16 and its possible we could have a kid or two. I also took about 800 in dowry, and I use the money to finance a medium castle in Saray.

Oct 29 – Sickness and depression took our King today, as he killed himself.

Our King had 689 prestige and 151 piety.

Our rulers:

David of Yegorlyk, died 1078 in battle
Aton of Yegorlyk, ruled from 1078 until 1120, died of intestinal worm
Aspar of Yegorlyk, ruled from 1120 until 1130, died of suicide
Aton II of Yegorlyk, ruled from 1130-???


Aton II:

Age – 24
Stats: 9, 14, 13, 10

Coward, Trusting
Scholarly Theologian

With two daughters. Pregnant Wife.

No rivals in our kingdom, just a random courtier elsewhere. His only friend is the middle brother, currently Count of Guria

Nov 6 – School ordered in Sugrov

Here’s an interesting fact. How did Aspar become depressed, and then commit suicide? Occasionally an event will fire where a Courtier says, I can do That! And wants to take a job, but 9 times out of 10 they are worse than your current person, so you tell them No. Well, there is a chance that the person you say no to will become stressed. Once, while prince, Aspar asked, was told no, became stressed ,and eventually that stressed became depressed and he committed suicide. Take no illness or stress for granted


Dec 14 –Romanesque Vaulting in Kasogs

Jan 7, 1131 – I order a large church in Kasogs

Jan 26 – We have a daughter
Mar 25 – Saray is now prosperous

June 1 – The Turks are losing some provinces to civil war. They take them back, but still. Yet me show you

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/8009/georgia1131.jpg

Suenik was just independant and retaken. You can see the large chunk of land in the west coast of the Caspian. You can see Emba, just across the Ryn Desert, is now free. The white province is Usturt. If I wanted to establish a presence, I would move an army down the Caspian and take a bunch of the light green provinces but they have low value, and I suspect the Turks eventually would want to take us down. So far, I haven’t pissed in their pie, and they haven’t pissed in mine. Now, I think I could take the Turks. They have a manpower of 126k, and us 88. But, they are all over the place, in Iberia, Africa, Turkey, and all over the traditional areas of Persia and so forth. I have 88k manpower despite having around 30ish provinces. We have much more concentrated forces, and I think we would blast through them in Armenia, and then up in the Urals, and then down the east coast of the Caspian, and we would easily grab a ton of provinces, I suspect. However, most are crap. Here are the base values of nearby Turk provinces:

1.21, 0.57, 0.63, 2.02, 0.48, 0.30, 0.48, and Suenik is 0.65. Here are the light green provinces in revolt: 2.18, 2.91, 0.46, 1.92, 3.0. The green province at their base is: 3.0

All of the high value ones are the Caspian Sea provinces. The high one in the Turks is the one just south of me along the coast, and the rest are quite valuable. DOWing them right now and taking a bunch of high value provinces would be useful. However – bad thing. We would have an extended border with the Turks, the Turks would likely want to take the provinces back at some point in time, we have no land connection, and it makes us too spread out – it’s too hard to support them with my other provinces.

Where else to expand, though? I have gone everywhere. There are Turks to my north now, and Christians to my west.


Yeah, I gotta do it.

I order armies to assemble.

I DOW Derbent.

I order Itil and Kakheti to assemble and move to Derbent’s lands.

June 30 – More provinces spit off, including some valuable ones on the east coast of the Caspian, and the super valuable Kwarism.

Aug 1 – I DOW Usurt and order my Saray army to sail there

Nov 18 – The Turks captured Derbent but we grabbed Albania

Nov 27 – Smugglers Ring formed in Kakheti

Jan 5 – Usturt falls to us. I DOW Kwarmizm.

Jan 13 – We take Albania in peace. I order forces to hop the Caspian to focus on where the real battles will be. We also got some gold which will help against our deficit.

Apr 1 -0 Our realm lost a stability

May 1 – We move into Kwarmizm

May 19 – We win two battles, Kara Kum and Kwarmizm. Sieges begin in both places.

May 20 – Kwarmizm falls. I DOW their vassal and keep moving.

June 12 – I Have to disband an army due to financials

July 12 – We capture and take Dihistan.

July 21 – We take Usturt, Kara Kum, and Kwarizm from various people, as well as some gold. Here are our new provinces:


Dihistan – Near the southeast corner of the Caspian, we make 8 ducats from the Muslim Turks. They have tons of things in the province. Too many to list. Currently prosperous

Kara-Kum – 5 ducats, north of Dihistan and on the Caspian, Muslim Turks, they have many things, but are missing some.

Usturt – North of Kara-Kum up the Caspian, poor, 5 ducats, thieves and smugglers here, Muslim Turks, Roads, Mine, Forestry, Fish Wharf and Glass-Works.

Khwarizm _ Ahh, the jewel of the east. This is the Byzantium of the area. The poor Muslims and Turks make 16 ducats are us, and have Library, Moneylenders, Roads, Extended Roads, Forestry, Mine, Glass-Works, Tile Factory and Court of Justice

Albania – Rich Muslim Turks make us 11 ducats in this west coast Caspian province. It has tons of stuff in it, but it is very alone.


I will need some serious cooling down time, but these are all great catches, and better yet, because Aton II’s intrigue is high, we can keep them all in our Demesne for now, and are making more than 120 ducats monthly.

Want a new map?

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/2001/georgia1132.jpg

Emba joined another Muslim country. There is a three province nation to my east, and I will take it eventually now, because they are valuable. Albania looks very lonely. Let’s just hope it can last for a while.

Oct 7 – I order training grounds in Albania

Jan 28, 1133 – I send my middle daughter to Byzantium as a fosterling

Apr 4 – I order a small castle in Khwarizm

May 15 – At the age of 63, our Diocese Bishop died. We have no replacements.

June 21 – Tile Factory for Kara-Kum

July 1 – And is Usturt as well

Aug 13 – I crush religious tensions in Khwarizm when th enobles say they will not follow a non-Muslim, and it is now rebelling, looted and orthodox

Aug 29 _ I gave in to demands and the revolt ends less than a month later.

Oct 1 – Mine ordered in Tmutarakan

Oct 8 – My wife is pregnant! Pleasebeaboypleasebeaboypleasebeaboy

Feb 1, 1134 – Small castle ordered in Albania

Feb 21 – I send a fosterling, my third daughter, to Cherson’s Prince

May 11 – Due to the draining of marshes and fens, Dihistan is now Rich

May 14 – Just three days later, Kasogs is now prosperous

June 11 – I crush burghers in Albania, and it is now Orthodox and Looted

June 15- Usturt is now revolting and looted after I get an event that tells me its hard to have provinces too far away

July 14 – We have a son! We name him Uturku

Aug 10 – I give in to local demands and Ustust is no longer rebelling against me

Oct 17 – I order a Monastery in Saray and Training Grounds in Kara-Kum

Dec 1 – Training Grounds in Usturt

Jan 15, 1135 –I order glass-works in Tmutarakan right after I get glassblowing there

May 5 – Small Pox arrives in Kara-Kum

July 2 – My wife and I become rivals after I refuse to pay her 1000 gold to make amends for something or other

July 18 – I will raise my son myself

July 23 – Peasants in Usturt refuse to acknowledge me because of my religion, so I crush them. It is rebelling again, still looted, oh and Orthodox.

Aug 4 _ I give in to demands and the rebellion ceases

Aug 25 – I order a library in Kara-Kum

Oct 1 – I order another built in Usturt

Oct 13 – Training Grounds ordered in Khwarizm

Nov 15 – We crush a rebellion in Usturt

Nov 17 – I grant an itinerant bishop a place in my court and he’s really strong, a Master theologian.

Jan 29, 1136 – Khwarizm is no longer looted!

Jan 30 – Mangonel discovered Kasogs – this is a true invention – no other province has this

Apr 29 – Romantic Poetry to Kasogs

May 5 – The Kakheti Guild of Thieves is no more

June 17 – Church ordered in Saray

June 21 – My son gains stubborn after being told to wait until later when he asks where children come from.

Aug 24 – I order a War Academy in Khwarizm

Oct 30 – Usturt is no longer looted

Nov 4 –Neither is Albania

Dec 19 - I accept a fosterling from Guria

Mar 3, 1137 – Our mine collapses in Usturt and I order another built

July 1 – I order a Medium Castle in Kakheti

July 11 – Reserves spreads to Kasogs

Oct 1 – I order a Church in Tmutarakan and Sugrov

Oct 6 – I encourage my son to play outside when he wants more and more toys. He gets Stubborn again, but since he already had it, nothing happens.

Nov 3 – Church in Itil

Feb 4,1138 - Monastery in Albania

Apr 1 – Small Castle ordered in Usturt

Aug 1 – Apostolic Poverty spreads to Kasogs; I order glass-works in Yegorlyk

Aug 23 – And in Saray too

Sept 1 – The Count of Melitine was inherited by a principality in Byzantium and is no longer ours.

Sept 25 – I order a Monastery in Khwarizm and another in Dihistan

Oct 22 – I fund a royal feast myself for my nobility.

Jan 15, 1139 – I gain a new rival, the Count of Khopyor, just north of Sugrov, Don Portage and Sarkel

Mar 22 – Emba was conquered by Hungary.

July 17 – Music Notation System in Kasogs

Sept 1 – I order that a medium castle be built in Sugrov

Nov 7 – Ryn Desert has joined Egypt, as has Turkmen.

Hmm

I organize the Dihistan army and DOW Turkmen -Egypt DOWs us back

Nov 30 – We win a battle in Turkmen and initiate a siege

Dec 25 – We fend them off again

Jan 10, 1140 – Turkmen falls and we take it.


Turkmen – The Turkish Muslims make 7 ducats for us, this is inland and the small Turkish triangle between us and the Muslims to our east. They have almost everything here already, but I order a Monastery here. They are rich right now.

After some consideration, I decide to grab Ryn Desert while I have a chance, despite it not being anything close to a good province



Feb 15 –

Ryn Desert – There is nothing in this Turkish Muslim province but a fishing wharf and then thieves, smugglers and highway robbers. I order a Hill Fort built here, and then give it away to a Count. It is making 1 ducats for us/him.


Feb 18 –I claim the Prince of Merv title

Mar 19 – I refuse the impulse when a pretty wench catches my eye.

I don’t know how – inheritance, alliance, whatever, but the former province of Trebizond – Theodosiopolis, is now under the auspices of a far away Tribe. However, the land has since gone Muslim, so I am not attracted to it immediately like I would be if it were still Orthodox

May 1 – I order a Templar House built in Albania

May 16 – Missile Barrage spreads to Kasogs

May 28 – After the Prince of Itil dies, my awesome Marshal inherits it. I need a new marshal. There are no male courtiers in my court old enough to be a Marshal. Wow.

June 17 – I gain the Prince of Cherson as a rival

Aug 24 – I take a Heathens are Splintered event to go to peace with Egypt

Sept 9 – I am at the head of 5000 troops in Trabezous to put down a rebellion here while the prince was out fighting vs Egypt. I decide to grab Theodosipolis now. I was waiting to cool down to take the rich provinces to my east by the Caspian, but these provinces have opened up, and its rare you get a chance to get them, so I should while I can.

I DOW them

Oct 17 – We have defeated their troops and begin a siege.


Nov 10 – We take it:

Theodosiopolis: Arminian, Muslim: getting just 3 ducats despite it being rich. Thieves and roads here, and that’s it. I order a Hill Fort, and turn it over to the Prince of Trebizond.

Nov 17 – Small Pox leaves Kara-Kum

Feb 10, 1141 – I order a Templar House constructed in Dihistan

Mar 6 – There are other opportunities that have sprung up. Tabaristan and Lower Volga have both gone to another Muslim nation in Africa, and thus are prime for plucking. Tabaristan is on the south side of the Caspian. Lower Volga is a poor province, but taking it makes sense to close in our borders.

The Turks are experiencing Realm Duress, and I expect more provinces to fall. Which means we may get better targets before it is all said and done, plus I still have lots of badboy, so I’ts not like I want to pump it up right now by taking a metric ton of provinces Sure, I’d like more, and I can take more, but you can’t expand too quickly.

Mar 21 – And just like that, another target presents itself after by Sarkel and Sugrov, as a pagan provinces declares itself independent from Hungary. Taking it closes borders and makes total geographic sense. It’s a target geddon

Apr 9 – I send my son to the army

Apr 26 – The Prince of Alania is now my friend

July 1 – The Count of Kuban has declared independence from the Prince of Azov

July 24 – My troops from yegorlyk crush the Kuban forces and then disband, so it can be recaptured by one of my vassals.

Sept 21 – The Prince of Azov retook it.

If I were Byzantium, or one of the Principalities seeing this, this would be the shot to grab a few ex-Turkish provinces and regain some strength, but Byzantium is again hemmorging provinces because it has a super low prestige (like-6000 or so) and no one wants to follow him.

Oct 1 – I order a Templar House in Turkmen

Oct 19 – My firstborn daughter become just a Flamboyant Schemer, so I look to marry her off.

Nov 23 – I marry her to a grandson of a Prince in Byzantium, and I get 1300 in marriage duty. I look to spend it. I order a Medium Castle in Kasogs

Jan 28, 1143 – My wife is expecting

Feb 7 – I take a Heathens Splintered event to go to peace with the Emirate of Almeria, with whom I was technically still at war over Theodoliopolis

June 1 – I order a Grand Palace in Khwarizm

July 4 – I order an extensive road network built in Yegorlyk

Aug 11 – Dysentery arrives in Sugrov

Oct 5 – We have a daughter and name her Borena

Oct 21 – Extensive Road Network ordered in Itil

Nov 13 – Unfortunately I have gained the Count of Imeretia as a rival.

Jan 1, 1143 – We order a small castle built in Kara-Kum

Jan 9 – The little prick in Imeretia chose to be disloyal and is now rebellious

Jan 15 – Astrology and Astronomy spread to Kasogs

Feb 4 – I gave the Count some gold to bring him to happy levels, and then demand he relinquishes his County-ness.

Feb 16 – He gave it up. I give it to the Prince of Abghazia, it’s one of his

May 7 – Dysentery leaves Sugrov

June 1 – If I were Byzantium, I would DoW the Turks right now, and retake Byzantium

July 21 – I get an event and pay to bring in a knight to train my son, and he does, his Martial goes up one

Nov 2 – I order Windmills in Sugrov

Nov 26 – We are expecting our 6th child.

She's still sleeping with him even though she's technically his rival? On a sidenote, what is your recipe for those rebellions in your provinces ending so soon? They always last forever when I play.

Jan 7, 1144 The wealthy Bulgar provinces to my north have gone rogue from the Turks. Too many targets!

Feb 15 – I marry my second-born daughter to the King of Poland.

Mar 1 – In less than a month, my daughter is already pregnant and the Steward of Poland

Apr 1 – I order a Civilian Harbor in Usturt

May 29 – What am I waiting for?

She's still sleeping with him even though she's technically his rival? On a sidenote, what is your recipe for those rebellions in your provinces ending so soon? They always last forever when I play.

I assemble a huge army that can kick their ass. I move it over and demolish their army. I begin a siege, and then when it is about to fall, I disband my army, and let my vassal retake it.

Sometimes I don;t bother. If a really poor County gets uppity against a wealthy one, then I don;t bother, I'll just let that one take its course.

What am I waiting for?

Let me show you a map, and explain.

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5690/georgia1144.jpg

Okay, here we are. Here’s my current situation:

My vassals get -5.9 monthly loyalty due to my badboy
They get +1 due to my prestige
They also get +4.5 due to my awesome diplomacy
Now, they get +0.5 from Scutage and +1 from my laws.

Thus a vassal of mine right now is getting +1.1 from my laws, scutage, badboy, prestige and diplomacy

However, each vassal gets a little different bonus due to its various traits and how they align with mine. For example, the Prince of Alania gets -1.1 for my traits, so it is sticking at +0.0 at 71 overall loyalty. The Prince of Abghazia is +2.4 for my traits, so +3.5 overall, monthly.

So, I’m right by the line. If I push too hard, we go over. I certainly could increase my badboy a bit, but I don’t have a lot of wiggle room right now. So, if I push, I want it to be for the right provinces.

Let’s look at the map. Focus on the Turk area south of my main provinces and north of Albania. That’s what I want to take – Derbent and Semender. Of all of the Turkish provinces, they are the ones I want the most. They have values of 2+ bas value per provinces – about on the level of Yegorlyk. They are on the Caspian Sea, and taking both would give me a land connection to Albania. However, the two vassals are actually quite loyal, despite everything. I would push my nation for one or both of these easily, but they are not on the radar.


The two blue provinces at the bottom of the Caspian are two that I want to take someday, and they are available now, and have a value of about 2 each. That’s good stuff. However, they would expose me too much, and I don’t want to do that again.

You can just see the beginning of the 6 Bulgar provinces to the north of me, with the red strip. Those have some provinces with a value about equal to Saray and Itil and Tmutarakan. I had never expected to go that far north, since they were Turk provinces, but now that they aren’t, grabbing them before Byzantium does is important. Byzantium is all up in Russia, and is the King of Russia, but currently they are warring with their former vassals, but that will end soon enough, and when it does, I want to beat them to Bulgar. However, if you take those, you are saying “Come Get Me First, Mongols!”

Lower Volga is hard to make out on that map, is the blue wedge, just my color, between Bashkirs on one side and Don Portage on the other. See how beautifully it blends my kingdom together?

While it is nice, I have no desire to take the greenish province on the east of Caspian, it’s too low value vs other targets. Desh-i-something or other when rogue by Crimea, and it fits right in my profile like Lower Volga does but it is a lower profile target right now, despite being about 2in base value because I need to take Turk targets of opportunity.

What am I waiting for? Do you see those Turk provinces just south of Dihistan? Those are my targets next, I think. The Emirate is lowering his loyalty all of the time, and the provinces that will go with him include the three tantalizing ones to the south and east of Dihistan. This is one along the Capsian Sea, and the one below it, and the one east of it. It would lock off the Dark Blue nation from the Turks, making it mine at my leisure. It would give me valuable lands continugous to my own, and it gives me lands that I doubt will be available in one or five or fifteen or twenty years down the road, and that;s what I have to think about. I want:

6 Bulgar provinces
3 Kharzia provinces to my east by Aral Sea
Emba – cheap province
Lower Volga
Desk-i-Ksomething
Prince of Beson’s two provinces, (the white ones by Crimea in previous maps)
Derbent
Semender
The three provinces to the south and east of Dihistan
The rest of the Provinces around the Caspian
The remaining Armenian provinces

And I have to not only prioritize them by value, and by window of opportunity, but by when the window shuts. Lower Volga could be available for a while. Emba the same. Derbent and Semender are not available right now. Bulgar might be around for a few years. Kharzia will be. The Caspian Sea is not my first priority. Etc. Frankly, by value, the next provinces to go after are Kharzia and then Bulgar, but this is the long scheme, and if I don’t jump at opportunities that may shut soon, they may not open back up for a while (or ever).

That’s what I’m waiting on. It’s no sense jumping on a window that opened that may be open a while, when another is creeping.

July 8 – Well, it just happened. I order my forces assembled in the South Caspian for war.

I DOW them and move in

Aug 17 – Our child was stillborn

Sept 27 – We completely destroy one of their units and begin a siege. I order some units on, under my marshal’s guidance

Nov 13 – Highway robbers formed in kakheti

Nov 20 – We capture Gurgan and I order my 9500 troops to Nishapur

Jan 8, 1145 – We captured Nishapur and I order my forces to their capital – Khorasan

Mar 21 – Khorasan falls. Now, what do we take. How far to push?

I take 500 gold and Gurgan.

Screw it, I take the other two as well. I now have three more provinces. I give away Usturt so that I can control my 15 provinces. Let’s take a look at our awesome bounty.


Gurgan – South of Dihistan, and on the coast of the Caspian, lies this Persian Muslim province. 8 ducats are being made from this prosperous province, with almost everything already built in it. It’s a nice province, and it took us a while to capture because of the medium castle here. I order a Monastery here.

Nishapur – South of Gurgan, this Persian Muslim province features a rich amount of 9 ducats being made for us. It has many things built in it already, but only a hill fort for defense. I order training grounds here.

Khorasan – Ah, the jewel of the area. Despite thieves, smugglers, AND highway robbers, this province is still making us 13 ducats. Although it is missing a lot of things, it has some later game things like Windmills and Grand Palace. I order training grounds constructed. Persian and Muslim as well

The base value of Khorasan is 4.79, Nishapur 3.19 and Gurgan 1.66. For reference, Khwarizm is a base 5.03, Tmutarakan is 3.77, Kasogs is 3.67, Yegorlyk is 2.51, Saray is 3.77, Itil is 4.24, Kakheti is 3.05, Albania is 2.45 and Sugrov is 2.50. The most valuable provinces we have in Georgia, but not in my Demesne are:

Alania: 4.12
Kuma 3.34
Chaldea 2.81
Napoli 2.49 (under control by rebels right now)
Trapezous 2.45
Abkhazia: 2.31
Imeretia: 2.28

Hmm, it looks like the Byzantines either took or inherited Koloneia.


Our poorest five provinces by BASE value (not current value), are:

Azov – 0.28
Lower Dneiper and Uzens – 0.43
Kuban and Tana – 0.46


Do you see why these three were worth the risk and the wait? Now, there are the base values of the three provinces between Khwarizm and Khorasan (the dark blue ones) – 2.91, 4.5 and 6.75. See why they are an ultimate target?

Here are the valuable ones in Bulgar – 4.95, 2.25, 2.56, 4.21, 2.81 and 2.56.

However, some have gone back to the Turks and some have been conquered by a large pagan nation to the north. That opportunity has passed, (in its current state).

Now, here is Lower Volga – 0.67. Here is Dest-i-kipchak – 2.25. Here are the two Cherson provinces – 2.29, 3.00 (but I have no claims, and to manufacture them takes prestige and badboy). Not the same category, right?

Derbent – 2.15, Semender, 2.25


Just one prince, Alania, is losing loyalty each month – all of the others are gaining still. That means my only vassals losing loyalty on a monthly basis are cheap to keep up counts. Just two counts are losing loyalty – Usturt and Don Portage

If this were one of those games where attacking and taking lands from religious enemies did not give you badboy, then I would be rolling in provinces right now. I would have taken half of the Turks in the last few years.

However, I can DOW them without a claim, and take their land without a claim, so it’s till easier. Still, I can’t imagine Europe getting pissed off at a Georgia or Armenia that took ten or 12 provinces from the Turks in the 12th century. Would mainland Europe think Castille is doing bad things and reaching beyond itself and what is proper if it grabbed 12 provinces in the Reconquista?

June 16 – The emperor of Byzantium is now my friend! (with friends like these…)

July 8 – I order a Monastery in Kara-Kum and a mine dug in Saray

Aug 26 – My son gains forgiving after I punish him for thinking the peasants were like little slaves to be controlled at his beck and call

Nov 9 – A revolter in Dwin, has declared himself free of the Turks, and he’s Orthodox! I offer him vassalization, because way out here, it’s me or death.

Nov 12 – He declines. Not a smart play. You are a really bad provinces (basevalue is 0.31, with nothing built in it at all, except roads and a hill fort. He can have, when full, a few hundred troops total. Ick.)

For the first time, every vassal of the Turks Chief is getting negative value. I don’t think the Turks are coming back from this one. The Egyptians have taken way too many provinces Byzantium came back because no one took their vassals in the intervening years. The Turks ate a few, and others grabbed one or two here and there, but they were able to revassalize them, and conquer some others, post realm duress. But here, the Egyptians have taken a ton of provinces, and other tribes have as well. We chopped off some. They have permanently lost the east Caspian to me, and you’ve seen how valuable some provinces like Khwarizm and Khorasan are. They are out of Iberia completely. They took some of the provinces to my north, but lost several to another tribe. I just don’t see them regaining their power.

Nov 23 – The Emperor died and our friend goes with him.

Dec 22 – I order Monasteries in both Khorasan and Nishapur

I really am seeing myself as Byzantium East. The East Caspian is my Turkey – wealthy provinces that will likely put me over the top in power.

Mar 24, 1146 – My son comes to me and asks why the church is so rich when everyone else is poor. I tell him that is because they are getting heaven. He gains generous. I was hoping for that 50% chance at Zealous, but ah well.

July 1 – I order a Templar House in Sugrov and Saray

Sept 7 – I assembled the Albania army and took out some rebels in Dwin for them

Nov 6 – Derbent goes independence. I have to follow and DOW it and order my Albania troops in

Nov 21 – I order a Templar House in Gurgan

Jan 9, 1147 – We take Derbent:


Derbent – 6 ducats are made in this struggling Turkish Muslim province. Many things are built here, and I order training grounds to be added. This province is north of Albania.


I will go after Semender if I get a chance. For now, I will spend a bit of money to keep people happy. Right now I’m making like 180 gold monthly, so I have plenty of coin for everyone. After this addition to my nation, I still have mostly happy vassals

Jan 14, - My wife committed suicide. I look for another.


The province of Shemakha has gone rogue. This is the one south of Albania along the coast, but I want to keep myself focused on the Semender prize. I cannot overextend for anything else – eyes on the prize.


Jan 20 – Vaspurakan went rogue as another one province Orthodox nation. Very poor too. Hope it lasts!

I take 1600 gold in duty for my new wife from a county in France. I appoint the 16 year old as my new steward.

I use the coin to build a medium castle in Tmutarakan

Feb 1 – My third daughter has turned 16, and with 12/12/10/14, I want to see how she turns out from her education before deciding to marry her off to a courtier and keeping her here or shipping her off.

Feb 3 – Okay, let me tell you what is going on. The Prince of Trebizond’s grandson and heir has taken over the Principality of Athens. All of his kids have died, and just this one heir remains, and his only grandson. He is 52. When he dies, all of his provinces will go to the Prince of Athens. He has many province s- Napoli, the two in Trebizond, Chaldea. I don’t want to see him go, he has been a loyal subject for many years, and his provinces give me much happiness in my realm. Hover, his grandson is just 7. Who is his heir? His grandfather, the Prince. So, if the grandson dies before the grandfather does, then suddenly my realm inherits the Prince of Athens. Nice huh?

Time to send out an assassin. I want more provinces.

Success! Our Prince gains the following provinces:

Koloneia back!
Atheniai
These Counts – Dorostotum, Hellas, Demetrias

So in one shot, we gained 5 provinces with no badboy, for one of my vassals.

Mar 9 – I order a Templar House constructed in Kara-Kum

Apr 28 – The Prince of Abghazia is now my friend!

May 12 0 Another Orthodox one stater formed in Karin, a province with a massive 0.11 taxvalue. This stuff is crap. The Armenian provinces are very poor in places.

June 9 – We gain a friend with the Prince of Itil

June 21 – My third daughter matured, and wow, is she ever good:

Maria of Yegorlyk
Age 16

Martial – 12, Diplo – 13, Intrigue – 17, Stewardship – 14

Elusive Shadow, Prodigy, Just, Honest

It is too bad she can’t be my heir.

No way am I giving her up. She would be my best Spy Master, tied for my best Steward, my best Marshal if she wasn’t a chick, and one less than tied for my best Chancellor. They only reason she would not be my best is because I handpicked my Chancellor when I married again.

Males in my court – Diocese Bishop Belor of Kasogs, 3/8/13/7, age of 41; Respendial of Kasogs, age 55, 11/2/4/3; and Aton of Kasogs, with a 0/7/1/6 and 38 years old.

Not a lot of choices. If my bishop were 10 years younger…

I marry them anyway and hope.



July 23 – I order a Spinning Wheel in Khorasan and a Small Castle in Nishapur

Oct 15 – My new wife is expecting

Oct 25 – Thieves Guilds formed in Dihistan

Nov 2 - We start on an extensive road network in Kasogs

Nov 10 –I order a Small Castle constructed in Derbent

Dec 5 _ I crush a religious revolt in Derbent and the province is now Orthodox, Looted an Revolting.

Dec 9 – Smugglers hanged in Kakheti

Jan 5, 1148 – Derbent is no longer looted

Mar 29 – Today my nobles came to me and asked me to open up my succession laws to benefit them. I get angry and storm out, no concessions, and a few of my vassals loyalty drops. The Count of Sarkel gained Rebellious

May 4 – Distant Trading spreads to Kasogs

July 12 – We have a daughter and name her Irina

July 29 – I give in to demands in Derbent and the rebellion here ends.

Aug 24 – I have another religious tensions event, and I again choose to crush the resistance. Gurgan is Orthodox, looted and revolting

Sept 16 – We are expecting another child

Sept 24 -I order a medium castle in Albania

Nov 15 – Spreading to Kasogs is Letters of Credit

Jan 11, 1149 – A little one province Orthodox in Turkey DOWd the Prince of Athens, and I join my vassal in war against them.

May 20 – The Prince of Karvuna is now my friend

May 22 – I order a Smithy built in Khorasan

June 1 – I give in to demands in Gurgan and the revolt ends

June 15 – I have another daughter

July 16 – My son gain temperate when he asks why get so fussed about life and I agree with him

Aug 11 – the highway robbers terrorizing Kakheti have been rounded up and slain

Sept 9 – I order a Civilian Harbor in Kara-Kum

Sept 18 – My wife is expecting again

Nov 14 – Gurgan is no longer looted

Nov 23 – I order a Medium Castle in Nishapur

Apr 26, 1150 – That little one province nation was captured by the Prince of Athens – Herakleia

May 3 – I order a Naval harbor in Itil

May 6 – Get an event saying a rival is now embroiled in a war and now is the perfect time to strike! Yeah, sounds good! I DOW a small principality in Turkey and I get a claim against him. I will let my vassals attack or not as they choose, and only defend if he arrives – the goal was to get the claim.

May 20 – We have a son and name him Kankhusy

July 11 – I order a Forestry built in Derbent


July 26 – We would like to announce the marriage of

Uturku of Yegorlyk, 16, heir to the King of Georgia

And

Eirene Choumnos, 16, daughter of the Prince of Achaea

(6/9/9/10)

If we manage to kill his male heir, then my grandson from this union should inherit the whole thing.

Also, the Count of Manych is currently the heir to the prince of Nicaea who is 61 years old. That may happen soon.


I appoint my son to be my new Marshal, pending the resolution of his military education


Aug 7, Meat Livestocks discovered in Kasogs

Sept 23 – I order a medium castle built in Khorasan

Dec 22 – Our second son is now ill.

Another succession problem – The Prince of Trebizond/Athens/Coloneia successor is his grandson – age 15, with leprosy and stressed. If he dies, his successor is the Prince of Rhodos. So, if the grandson dies while Prince, and before having a son of his own, we lose everything that Prince has – which is a lot. However, the Count of Rhodos has the 15 year old leper as his successor too, so if the leper gains the province from the 52 year old Prince with pneumonia, and I kill the Count of Rhodos, then we will gain that County.

Feb 11, 1151 – I accept a white peace offer from the Prince we were at war with. Result? A new claim on the Prince title, and that’s it.

Apr 1 – The Count of Sinope declared independence from Byzantium, and then asked to join us, so I said yes. They are next to Herakleia.

May 12 - I order a Monastery in Derbent.

May 19 – I have positioned 7500 of my troop sunder my personal command in Bashkir, and I DOW the Tribe of Sames. My goal in this war is to take Bulgar and Kama. Both have a solid value, and that would sort of give me protection for the two province pagan nation to my north with two great provinces.

June 19 – We have defeated the army and captured Bulgar. Now I move onward and northward

July 20 – We captured kama and scattered the defenders

Sept 111 – After a rejected peace proposal, they accept.


Bulgar – This province, north and west of Bashkir is Russian and Muslim. We are currently making 7 ducats here. It has thieves, smugglers, and robbers. I order a Court of Justice here.

Kama – The Muslim Russians here make us 7 ducats and it’s not that developed. I order a Tile Factory here. North of Bulgar.

How about a map of the lower area?


http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/5798/georgia1152.jpg

Because so much of the land near me ins in my color, but not mine, I drew the borders of my nation. You can see where Lower Volga is at top, and where the borders are in Turkey and Caspian.

The purple is Byzantium, the green is Egypt, and the orange, in the few places you can see it, are the Turks. There is a white emirate, a dark blue emirate, a forest green Chief, and the blue my color is Sheik, so they are all united. I just don’t see the Turks coming back from this. They are hacked.

The blue provinces in south Turkey are not mine, hence no outline. I put yellow stars by provinces that are in the queue and I want to take, and are currently held by non-Christians.


My son has had a son, but still has not had his military training reveal itself.

Apr 19 – Letters of Indulgence discovered in Kasogs

May 19 – My son became a Knowledged Tactician.

May 22 – A province just west of Desht, a pagan, just went independent after being captured by rebels. Add it to the queue.

June 1 – I order a War Academy in Tmutarakan

June 4 – The Theives Guild is disbanded in Semender

June 11 – Byzantium DOWs Sames, which is who I just two the two Bulgar provinces from.

Sept 2 – You know how the Count of Manych was supposed to inherit several provinces from Byzantium when that guy died? Well, the 31 year old Count died today before the 64 year old noble did from Byzantium, and I get nothing. His son, who inherits the county, is not the next heir.

Dec 14 – I order a small castle built in Bulgar

Dec 23 – Naval harbor in Albania

Jan 12, 1153 – Small castle ordered for Kama

Mar 30 – I get an event. My friend (Prince of Karvuna) is in war. Should I go to his aid? I choose not to go to war with Byzantium. That’s just silly. I failed to gain any traits though.

June11 – I order a small castle in Semender

Aug 15 – The Prince of Karvuna is no more.

Aug 30 – Bulgar’s highway robbers are killed

Sept 3 – I order a glass-works built in Itil.

Sept 19 – My steward died. I have to appoint a 10 stewardship person, and my money monthly drops to 125 from 165.

Oct 24 – I order a smithy built in Nishapur

Apr 4, 1154 – My second son died today from his illnesses.

May 19 – The Turks are down to 4 vassals.

May 24, I’m going to do something I shouldn’t, but I just can’t help myself. I order an army assembled under the guise of myself, and sent to Turkey.

June 17 – Small Pox arrives in Gurgan

July 1 – Windmills ordered in Tmutarakan

Sept 8 – Our stability increases to +2

Oct 16 – I sailed 6000 troops under my command to Byzantium and DOW the Turks.

Nov 10 – We defeat a small forces and initiate a siege.

Dec 24 – I order a mine in Nishapur

Feb 22, 1155 – We no longer are experiencing Small Pox in Gurgan

Mar 1 – We capture Byzantion

Mar 12 – The Turks decline a peace offer for Byzantium

Mar 16 – I order the Napoli army to assemble and head to the Turkish province of Palermo and take it.

Apr 20 – My half brother lost his prince-ship and rejoins us in Georgia

May 2 – Iron Ploughs in Kasogs

June 15 – I order a Monastery in Bulgar

July 8 – We have another daughter

July 13 – I order another Monastery in Kama

Aug 29 – The Turks take peace:


Byzantion – Smugglers, Robbers, Rebelling, and Poor – despite this, it makes us 7 ducats annually. Greek Orthodox. I order a smithy here.


There were many other provinces worth taking right now, but I felt this was simply too good of an opportunity to pass up. I give up Derbent to a nice courtier that we got when we got many of those from my half-brothers ex principality.

Sept 2 – I successfully assassinated, but was discovered, the Prince of Achaea’s only son. Now my grandson is his direct heir

Sept 25 – I order a War Academy in Nishapur

Oct 1 – I order a Grand Shipyard constructed in Tutmarakan

Nov 11 – We gain a thieves guild in Kasogs. Yuck.

Nov 14 – Byzantium just took a ton of provinces from Sames.

Dec 16 – I order a library built in Semender

Apr 20, 1156 – A rebellion in Byzantion is put down by Byzantium as they cross with several armies.

July 1 – The Count of Khopyor was inherited or pledged to the Prince of Athens/Trebizond/Coloneia, and another province is added to my nation.

Aug 24 – Bulgar smugglers defeated

Nov 28 – Small Pox in Tmutarakan

Nov 29 – I order a Monastery in Byzantion

Dec 4 – I order a War Academy in Saray

Jan 17, 1157 – Small Pox is in retreat

Feb 15 – I order a training grounds in Bulgar

Mar 14 – Another ordered in Kama

Mar 17 – We are expecting a child

Mar 23 – I order a smithy in Sugrov

Apr 21 – Highway robbers in Byzantion killed

July 18 – After a peasant uprising, I crush the people in Bulgar. It becomes Orthodox, looted and rebelling

Aug 1 – I order a Monastery in Itil

Aug 13 – Now I order a medium castle in Semender

Nov 25 – We have a son, who we apparently name Lois

Dec 5 – Today, at the age of 50, our King has died of old age. He had a Piety of 621 and a prestige of 3651.

Our new King:

Uturku, age 23

16/8/10/8

Knowledged Tactician
Temperate, Forgiving, Generous, Deceitful, Modest, Wise, Loyalist, Stubborn


I have a lot different skills than my father. I cannot have nearly this large of a demense, and I am making less money in provinces, and my diplomacy is not as high, so my vassals aren’t as loyal. I start spending some money.

I claim the Princes of Sarkel and Derbent. This increases my prestige by 200, and helps with vassal loyalty

I give out about 1200 gold to various courtiers to get their loyalty up. My most important vassal - the Prince of Athens/Coloneia/Trebizond is my friend, so that’s a nice plus. My wife is infertile due to depression, and I have just one child – a son.

I give away Sugrov to a courtier, and the Prince of Sarkel to the Count of Sarkel. Don Portage and Sugrov report to him.

I grant Turkmen and Dihistan and the Prince of Merv title to one of my best, young, courtiers.

Kara-Kum goes to a minor courtier, with amazing stewardship, but weak elsewhere.

I give Kakheti to a great courtier. It’s no longer on the edge of the kingdom, and I was only keeping it for the money.

Finally, I give Gurgan to my Diocese Bishop, who is quite good. It’s time to promote him after good service.

Because of all of the provinces and titles I gave away, my badboy dropped massively. I have a very small badboy, which means I can go shopping. My badboy is -1.5 for my vassals. That’s nothing.

Dec 6 – I DOW Bilyar. I want two of their provinces before Byzantium takes them

Dec 22 – Bulgar is no longer looted

Feb 11, 1158 – We have won battles against both of their provinces I am aiming against, and I order a library built in Kama

Feb 14 –We capture one of the provinces

Apr 2 – We take the second province, but we don’t have a high enough warscore to take them both, so I move to their third province.

May 25 – We took their third province and I try something a little different. I take the two provinces I want and I force vassalize the Turkish Muslim to be a count of mine in the third. Let’s see how that goes. Our BB is now -3.1 – still not bad at all:


Bilyar - 17 ducats are made for us in this rich Russian Muslim province to the east of Bulgar and Kama, and north of S. Ural and Bashkirs. It has a ton of stuff, and there is nothing more I can build here save a church.

Votyaki – Makes 12 ducats, prosperous, Russian Muslims, north of Bilya and east of Kama, tons of stuff here too.


Then I vassalized Zyriane

June 22 – I send the Prince title and Semender to the Count of Derbent.

June 25- I DOW Syrt

July 17 – I accept a fosterling from Alania

July 23 – Syrt falls and we take it:


Syrt – North of the Lower Volga, the rich Russian Muslims make us 10 ducats here. This province was previously Egyptian but had rebelled, and I wanted to take it while I had a window. I order a small castle here.


I give Albania to the Prince of Derbent. I give Syrt away to our old Marshal Respendial.

I have one more battle to wage, and then I’ll be good for a while.

July 20 – I order a Civilian Harbor built in Byzantion

Sept 4 – I DOW Sharukan

Nov 9 – It falls


Sharukan – This Pagan Cuman province is the new border out here, and connects Sugrov with Chortitza. It also fully encloses the pagan Dest-i-kipchak. 8 ducats are being made here. I order a small castle built.


I give it away to a lovely courtier. We now are at -3.6. We started with -1.5, and after taking four provinces and vassalizing a fifth, we didn’t change that much.

I mean, sure, we need a little cool down time, but we are still looking good for more expansion as the need is seen. I have encapsulating Lower Volga and Dest-ikipchak, so I can take them at my leisure.

All five of these additions are in Khazaria. I now have 32 of 52 Khazarian provinces. I need 25 to take the King title. Dest and Lower Volga are both in. I would just need one more to be in.

Jan 7, 1159 -I order the construction of a War Academy in Khorasan

Apr 10 – I gain the Prince of Nicaea as a rival

Apr 18 – I give in to demands in Bulgar and the rebellion there ends.

May 7 – My wife committed suicide, and since I have just one child, I go searching for another.

May 16 – I marry a 16 year old with 11/14/10/14 stats from Finland.

May 20 – Mint is discovered in Kasogs.

June 16 – Rebellion in Byzantion

June 27 – Destroyed!

July 2 -=Lois died today, so I am the only son of my father that lived. He had 10 children, 7 were girls. Of the three boys, two died very young.

Nov 23 – Vodyaki is now orthodox, looted and rebelling after I crush revolting nobles.

Dec 13 – The peasants in Vodyaki are starving, and I open my coffers to help them. It costs me a few hundred gold, but the province is no longer looted, no longer rebelling, and I gain some piety

Dec 21 – Theives are rounded up and executed in Bulgar

Jan 15, 1160 – I decline an alliance offer from Poland

Mar 7 – I give in to demands in Byzantion and the rebelling ends

Mar 13 – Mass Scale Conversions in Bilyar – it’s now Orthodox

Apr 1 – I order a Naval Harbor built in Byzantion

May 1 – I order Templar Houses in Kama and Bulgar

May 22 – Poland just DOWd a province I need to take, so I order my Tmutarakan regiment assembled and moving.

July 7 – I DOW Desht-i-Kipchak

July 28 – Khorasan becomes Orthodox after I crush the nobles who would defy me. Also looted

Aug 14 –


Desht-i-Kipchak – This internal province has Cuman Pagans. The struggling people here are making 7 ducats. It is missing most things, so I ordered a Tile Factory here. I have no long term desire for it, so I give it away to a courtier.

Sept 15 – The County of Dorostrum DOWs the Prince of Athens et all. I agree to help bring this wayward county back to our line. I order the Byzantion regiment assembled and moving. I will destroy the army, and maybe start a siege, and then let the prince finish.

Oct 1 -0 I order a Monastery in Tmutarakan

Oct 27 – Dorostrum is recaptured by the Prince and retaken.

Nov 3 – Thieves killed in Kasogs

Dec 15 – I inherited Bashkirs today. I order a Medium Castle here, and then give it away again.

Jan 8, 1161 – I accept an alliance offer from Byzantium

Mar 20 – Khorasan is no longer looted

Apr 1 – I order a War Academy in Kasogs

Apr 27 – Ballads spread to Kasogs

July 26 – Smugglers in Khorasan defeated

Aug 18 – The County of Lukomorie is DOWing the Prince of Crimea – another of ours going wayward. Again I join the war.

Dec 13 – One of my vassals has stupidly DOW’d Egypt, and now we are all in.

I don’t want any Egyptian provinces. I was hoping to stay out of this war. I make an offer to Egypt. Peace for 500 ducats. A nice sum

Jan 2, 1162 – They reject my offer. IU order troops to Melitine.

Feb 20 – Lukomorie is brought back into the fold

Feb 25 – After Mass Scale Conversions, Nishapur is now Orthodox

Mar 6 – We capture Melitene

Mar 18 – They reject a peace offer for Melitene and gold

Apr 15 – Two provinces south of my Caspian holdings have fallen to my large armies.


Melitene – This province was once ours, but fell to the Turks. It is Orthodox and Armenian, looted and poor. I give it back to the Prince of Coloneia. It makes 6 ducats for us

June 1 – I order a Grand Palace ordered in Tmutarakan

Aug 11 – Emba has gone independent but they reject vassalization

Mar 1, 1163 – I order a Grand Palace in Nishapur

Apr 4 – I got a nasty event today. The Chief o the Seljuk Turks is now my rival. Ick. This is a new guy, and they are now out of Realm Duress

Jun 22 – Malaria arrives in Nishapur

Aug 1 – I think Training Grounds make sense as the next construction project in Byzantion

Dec 12 – I order the construction of a Grand Shipyard in Itil

Feb 23, 1164 – Smuggler’s Ring broken up in Byzantion

Mar 7 – Medium Crossbows spread in Kasogs

Apr 1 – I gained a claim on my rival – King of Turks

Apr 8 – I fall in love with my wife

June 1 – I order a War Academy constructed in Byzantion

July 14 – At some point in time, the Count of Zyraine converted to Orthodox. The Bey of Qom is this guy’s heir, and vice-versa. This guy is 35, and the Bey is 56, so hopefully the Bye will die first, and our Count will gain Qom and add it to our nation. Qom is two provinces south of Nishapur.

Feb 1, 1165 – I have all of this money and nothing to spend it on. I’m making, literally, 195 ducats a month. I have thousands. So I am giving a few hundred here and there to counts in underdeveloped territories, so they can use it to build them up.

I order a War Academy in Bulgar

Aug 1 – One of my Princes inherits a small province in Turkey from Byznatium. Yay!

Aug 18 – Our stability increases to +3!!!

Jan 30, 1166 – Tmutarakan is now Alan after a culture change

Mar 13 – I get an event – Assassins sent by rival. They fail. The Turks sent them.

July 1 – I order a Grand Shipyard built in Byzantion

100 Year Review


Dec 1, 1166

Here is our Demesne, and how much gold we are making a month from it:

Byzantion – 36
Tmutarakan – 15
Kasogs – 13
Bulgar – 14
Kama – 8
Bulyar – 17
Votyaki - 11
Saray – 14
Itil – 14
Khwarizm – 21
Nishapur – 9*
Khorasan – 24

Nishapur is currently under a Malaria epidemic, and it’s taxes are cut down significantly as a result.

Of these, all are Orthodox except for Kama.



Our Prince Vassals –

Prince of Abghazia
Prince of Alania
Prince of Athens, Coloneia and Trebizond
Prince of Azov
Prince of Crimea
Prince of Derbent
Prince of Itil
Prince of Merv
Prince of Sarkel

How many provinces are in my kingdom? 63


My son is still in line to succeed the Prince of Achaea, and when he does, we will get that Princedom after it comes to us, giving us the four out most provinces of Greece. It means we would have most of Greece between the Prince of Athens and that of Achaea.

We have the Count still in line to inherit Qom if that guy dies first.

How about some maps? Let’s start with the Black Sea and Turkey.


http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/4436/gerogia100years.jpg


I circled all of the things that are mine, and in the case of Lower Volga, what is not mine. You have a nice, clear map there. Byzantium really used the Turk dissolving event to respread out across Turkey. They have taken tons of provinces from the former Turk provinces from Egypt, and other Muslim nations.

As you will see in a bit, Byzantium and me won a bit from the Turk dissolution (sorta, they are still there) but the real winners are Egypt. I brought up the province of Byzantion so you can see it to the left.

Here is the north:


http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/182/georgia100yearsnorth.jpg


Oh, note the gold, piety and prestige and stability on the screenies. As you can see, Russia is basically under Byzantine control exclusively, and I have the back end. The Brown provinces are the Tribe of Sames. I’m as far north as I want to go in this direction. I may try and grab the two blue provinces that are not me before Byzantium does. I brought up the province of Bilyar, so you can see it to the left.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/2050/georgia100yearssouth.jpg


Here you can see our Caspian holdings clearly. I put a yellow star on Qom so you can see where we may inherit a province in a bit. The green is Egypt, and they got a lot of good lands, the Lebanese area, the Azeri area, the area to my south and such. The ones they lost to Byzantium in Armenia are crap, and are no major loss. There was no Egyptian province I wanted, really, and still not with a major exception, to be seen in a bit.

The Turks are there, and losing a war with the greenish-blue tinged tribe. This Blue tribe you see I want tons of their lands. I want their two up north – Lower Volga and that other one, and then I want to move east from Nishapur and take all three of those provinces on the South side of the Caspian. I eventually want their ones between Khwarizm and Ryn Desert. Then I want to take all of the Egyptian and their provinces between Albania and that area – it includes some nice ones, and some enhh ones, but no crappy ones. I have no desire right now to expand inward from the coasts. Most of the provinces start getting bad as you go inland to the deserts. That’s not the case everywhere, but it is in many areas.


My badboy drop for my vassals is down to just -2.8, and it definitely time to take that out for a spin. My options are – a mega war with the Sultenante of Zenata (The blue guys that are my color), a smaller war to absorb the three provinces in this area to my east, or grab the two white provinces to the west of my land in the north-western area of the Black Sea.

Ultimately, I want all of the coastal provinces in the Black and Caspian seas. If I can do that, I’ll be happy.

We are getting closer and closer to the invasion from the east. My manpower right now is…209007.

Here are my goals in a war with Zenata – Lower Volga, Mountain Cheremisa (the two up north by me); Azerbaijan (to give me an outpost in an area I want to take), Tabiristan, Manzandaran, and Gilan, along the Caspian.

Most of those are not rocking a super high value, but are just solid.

Dec 17 – I go hunting with the Prince of Azov and we are now friends

Dec 19 – I accept a fosterling from Guria

July 5, 1167 – malaria recedes from Nishapur

July 27 – We get a Culture Change in Votyaki, and it is now Alan

Apr 4 – My wife has announced her pregnancy

Sept 15 – I marry my son to the Countess of the province next to Byzantion – Kaliopolis. It’s not that valuable, but it was the only one exposed. She;s not a bad wife, but a tad older than I’d want (23) but very feasible. Now, their son, my grandson, will inherit Kaliopolis, and when the Prince of Achaea dies, my son will take that over, and when I die, we get a lot of stuff.

Sept 19 – The Principality of Nicaea has gone rogue against Byzantium and I join them in their war

Sept 30 – For some stupid reason, Nicaewa landed troops in Byzantium, and I arrange the 20000 to defeat them

Oct 2 – We win, and I order my troops to pursue.

Oct 9 – Dysentery arrives in Byzantion

Oct 29 – We capture Prusa

Nov 7 – And now the Dysentary it is leaving. That was fast.

Nov 20 – We defeat an army in Nikomedeia

Dec 10 – We capture it, and vassalize the wayward prince for myself:

Prince of Nicaea has Nikomedia, to the east of my holdings in North Turkey, Prusa just south of those, and then two vassals – Vasapurakan in Armenia, and another in Russia. Both minor. We now have the corners of Turkey by Byzantion.

Apr 14, 1168 – We have a daughter and name her Maria

June 8 – Okay, Byzantium captured the Principality and took their lands. We lost the Prince, but, we gained a claim on the prince title and two of the counties, and we lost no badboy doing so. I am at -2.4 badboy for my vassals right now.


July 27 – My son had a son – Aspar. Strategy successful, and this dynasty should continue.

Dec 16 – I give away Kama to a nice courtier

Jan 7, 1169 – I get ready for a big war. I order my Kasogs army to move to position.

Apr 18 – I order a Medium Castle in Khwarizm

June 3 – I order a Grand Palace in Bulgar

July 18 – I have 12500 troops in Nishapur, ready to attack east, 6500 troops in Vaspurakan ready to attack Azerbaijan, and a few troops in Kakheti assembled to attack Kartli, a group of 5000 men from Saray ready to hit Lower Volga, and finally, an army of 8400in Bulgar. Here’s my plan.

DOW the enemy. DOW Azerbaijan, Mountain Cheremusa, Lower Volga and Tabiristan and move my armies in. Then move on, and keep attacking. That’s the goal.

Here we go. I send the declarations of war out.

July 29 – The siege of Kartli has begun

Aug 5 – We win in Lower Volga and begin a siege

Aug 7 – We win in Mountain C. and begin a siege

Aug 15 – We captured Kartli

Aug 17 – We capture Lower Volga.

I disband the Saray and Kartli armies.

Aug 20 – The siege of Azerbaijan begins

Sept 1 – After a long battle, we defeat 4500 troops in Mountain C

Sept 8 – The Siege of Tabaristan begins

Sept 10 – Mountain C falls and I disband the Bulgar army

Sept 29 – Tabaristan falls. We move east

Oct 14 – Azerbaijan falls. I disband the army

I take Mountain C and Lower Volga in peace.

Nov 20 – The siege of Mazandaran began today

Dec 10 – It fell. On to Gilan

Jan 11, 1170 – We begin the siege of Gilan

Feb 15 – I became friends with the Sheik of Jaffa

Feb 20 – Revolt in Lower Volga.

Mar 2 – Put down

Mar 6 – Gilan fell

I take Azerbaijan, Tabaristan and Gilan and Mazandaran

I offer peace for Kartli

Mar 20 – Peace offer rejected.

Well let’s look at the provinces right now. We have a major demesne modifier, so the values for ducats will be lower than you’d expect. But here we go:


Lower Volga – Finally! It took forever to take this thing. It needs a lot of help. I ordered a Hill Fort built here, it makes three ducats, and I am handing it off to the Prince of Itil right now. Muslim and Pagan.

Mountain Cheremisa – Finnish and Muslim. 6 ducats made here. I ordered a Medium Castle here. I hand this to a courtier.

Actually, let me give away some stuff right now, to make this a bit more fair. I hand away Votyaki. All of the four other provinces I’ve ordered a Monastery in. I give Bulgar away to a great courtier. I will keep Bilyar so I have a nation up top to use in war and such. Plus it’s worth the most money of those up here.


Azerbaijan – 9 ducats, rich Muslim Persian, in the middle of the territory I want to expand into. Just two provinces away from Gilan and three from Albania.

Gilan – The most valuable of the three Caspian provinces I took, making 12 ducats, the rich Muslim Persians here give me a valuable province – strategically and its solid financially.

Mazandaran – The poor Persian Muslim people here make us 7 ducats a month. This was the poorest province in the south I took, but it was important to grab it now.

Tabaristan – Right next to Gurgan, this Persian Muslim province is making us 7 ducats as well, despite being rich.


I claim the Prince of Mazandaran title. I give Mazandaran to my best courtier, and then give him the Prince title.


My son has taken over the Prince of Achaea.

After giving away all of those counties, my folks are now at -4.6 badboy – which is still very manageable. For the next few years, if I come across a great window, I can open it up and take it. I could still get Kartli in peace with Zenata.

I can take the title King of Khazaria any time, but I’m not interested.

Apr 12 – The Count of Usturt is now a rival. Blast!

June 24 – Kasogs is now learned in clothsmaking. I order a Spinning Mill here

Aug 15 – I order a War Academy constructed in Itil

Oct 1 – I order another spinning mill, this time in Tmutarakan

Apr 24, 1171 – That window just hit. The Sheikdom of Edessa declared themselves free of Byzantine rule. I move the Azeri army over.

Apr 27 – We are expecting another child

June 1 – I DOW Edessa

July 24 – Edessa falls. This worked before, so…I make them my vassal. No badboy.

July 30 - We order a Grand Palace in Byzantion.

Aug 27 – Mangyshyk keeps sending armies into Khwarizm and attacking me, only to get rebuffed by me. If they don’t stop it, I’m going to DOW and take them.

Sept 12 – We gained Qom after the Bey there died.

Sept 25 – I order a Dye Works in Kasogs

Nov 10 – I order smithy in Azerbaijan and Tabaristan and a Spinning Mill in Gilan

Jan 2, 1172 – We have a girl

Jan 8 – I order a Dye Works in Tmutarakan

Feb 1 – Kartli is offered for peace by Zenata and I take it.

Kartli – Muslim Georgians make 4 ducats here. There’s not a lot of value here, and not a lot of stuff built. I order a small castle constructed, and then I give it away. This was the final province in Georgia.


I create the prince of Kartli title. I gave Kartli and then the Prince title to the 12 year old Count of Kakheti. He is looking pretty good already. I took this province in order to: Expand my domains by one, stop the Byzantine expansion in Armenia, create another Prince title, and round out my Georgian provinces.

My badboy is -3.9 with my vassals – still really strong.

Mar 1 – After an illness, my son has died today! My grandson is now Prince of Achaea. My son was a very solid – 9/11/12/6. Not amazing, but pretty good. My grandson is just 3, and could easily die before 16. We’ll just have to hope and see.

July 17 – Chainmail spreads to Kasogs

Sept 11 – Grand Palace ordered up in Itil

Dec 26 – Grand Palace ordered in Kasogs

Jan 30, 1173 – Templar House in Azerbaijan, Grand Shipyard in Gilan

Feb 27 – Medium Castle ordered in Tabaristan

Mar 2 – I get an event I haven’t seen in a while – Distance makes it hard ot control – Saray gets a Thieves Guild, Smugglers Band and Highway Robber Ring.

Nov 18 – The Turks and Egypt have gone to war, which is good, because if I can hit Egypt at just the right time, I can take a bunch of her provinces

Jan 12 – Here is my anti Egypt plan.

Assemble armies in Edessa, Azerbaijan, Nishapur, Sinope, Gilan and Albania. DOW Egypt and several vassals. Move:

Sinope into Paphlagonia, a lousy province in Turkey, but one of the few left that is not Byzantine or me in the area. Allows me to claim a Prince title.

Gilan into Tabriz, one of my high profile targets. Take Tabriz out of the equation and get it into my win pile. Then move on.

Nishapur into Lut. Not to win, not to take land, just to annoy and harass and keep the Egyptian armies to my south bottled up.

Albania into Shemakha, a Caspian province and another high priority target. Take it and move on

Edessa to play defense from many Egyptians south. If they are not coming, go take Bira, a high profile target.

Azeri to play defense initially, as it is virtually surrounded by Egypt. Then go where neede.d

Targets, in order of priority:

Shemakha
Tabriz
Shirvan
Bira
Nisibin
Suenik
Paphlagonia

If I can take the first six, I will be all along the Caspian, and have the entire area around Azerbaijan. I will connect Gilan and all points east with Azerbaijan and Edessa and Albania. We will also ring the Byzantium Armenian provinces, leaving them without the ability to move in any obvious directions.

That’s my goal.

Mar 4 – I get the Emperor of Byzantium as my rival. Damn

July 1 – I go to war a bit early after Egypt attacks Byzantium, and I go to out ally’s defense. A defensive war I was about to start! I have armies on the way already. I order up armies in Azerbaijan, Sinope, and Gilan and Nishapur to begin their tasks, while armies are en route to Edessa and Albania as we speak.


Aug 9 – We start a siege in Paphlagonia, Tabriz and Shirvan.

Aug 19 – We begin a siege in Suenik

Aug 21 – I defeated them in Lut

Aug 27 – We lose in Shirvan

Aug 30- We capture Lut and move on

Sept 1 – Paph. Falls to us

Sept 2 – We arrive in Bira and begin a siege

Sept 4 – Suenik fell to Byzantium, and not me. I order our army on.

Sept 6 – We win a battle in Qwivir and begin a siege of an Egyptian possession.

Sept 18 – We take Bira, and since the Bey is a 73 year old man who’s son is a Bey of the Turks, I don’t want him to die and it goes over and we lose it, so I take it now in peace. I order our army on.

Sept 13 -Tabriz falls. I order the army on

Sept 26 - We capture Qwivir in the south.

Oct 12 – The siege of Shemakha begins

Oct 22 – We win in Shirvan and begin a siege

Oct 24 - -While fighting, a bit of problems in GIlan. I crush the rebels and the province is Orthodox, looted and rebelling

Nov 12 – Smugglers rounded up in Saray

Nov 17 – We win a battle against Esfahan in the south and begin a siege

Nov 27 – Shemakha falls

Dec 10 – Nishiban falls

Dec 12 – Shirvan falls. Time for some negotiations. Wait, Byzantium went to peace, so I order troops back to Suenik.

Dec 27 – They recapture Lut

Jan 24, 1176 – Suenik falls. Now let’s to peace

After taking Nishbin, Shemakha, and Shirvan, I don’t feel we’ll be able to grab paph in this run though, so I order a peace with Tabriz and Suenik as the prizes.

Feb 4 – They reject peace so I push on. Obviously I need to prove a point

Feb 17 – We capture Esfahan. Maybe now they’ll shut up and take peace.

Mar4 – We are at peace.

Our new provinces:

Nishiban – Muslim, Arab, 4 ducats, ordering a sawmill, west of Azerbaijan

Bira – Muslim, Arab, between Nishiban and Edessa, 3 ducats, working on medium castle

Suenik – Just north of Azerbaijan, and inland. Muslim, Armenian, working on hill fort, thieves, smugglers, highway robbers

Shemakha – south of Armenia, along Caspian Sea. Persian, Muslim, Rich, 6 ducats, working on medium castle

Shirvan - South of Shemakha along coast, next to Azerbaijan and Gilan. Poor, Persian, Muslim, 4 ducats, working on Monastery

Tabriz – Inland province between Gilan and Azerbaijan. Rich< Persian, 5 ducats, thieves, smugglers, Muslims, working on sawmill


I look to unload some of these. I make the title Prince of Tabriz

I give away provinces – Suenik, Bira, Shemakha, and Nishiban. I keep Tabriz and Shirvan for now.

I give Saray to the Prince of Itil right after ordering Windmills there. I make money from it, but it’s not anywhere near the front anymore.

There are only two Caspian provinces left. Emba and Mangyshlak

After all of that, I am at -4.5 badboy from my vassals. I probably should have pushed for Paph. Ah well.

Maps?


http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9903/georgia1176.jpg


I drew lines around my provinces. As you can see, I have connected most of the parts of my kingdom. This war was more about strategy than economic value. Remove easy options for Byzantine expansion, connect my lands, remove Egypt from the area, and so forth. Now my eyes will turn east. If everything stays as it is now, I suspect my next war is against the three dark blue provinces to my east. This war was for strategy, the next is for gold.

June 12 – Typhoid Fever arrives in Nishapur

June 16 – malaria arrives in Khorasan

Aug 15 – I give in to demands in Gilan and the revolting here ends

Sept 21 – The rash of Typhoid Fever cases in Nishapur has diminished and we proclaim an end to the epidemic

Dec 17 – My Marshal dies and I have no men left in my court to even be a Marshal

Mar 7, 1177 - I get a religious tensions event in Shirvan and I crush the clergy. Orthodox, looted, rebelling

Apr 1 – I got the Warrior Fleeing from a Distant land event and a warrior enters my realm and becomes my new Marshal.

May 24 – I order the construction of a Library in Tabaristan

Jun 6….and a windmill in Tabriz

Jun 8 – I refuse to go to my ally’s help when they DOW France. I want to fight non-Christians.

July 11 – I give in to demands in Shirvan and the rebellion ends

July 18 – Bilyar is now Alan

Aug 23 – Smugglers killed in Tabriz and their scourge on the people there ends.

Oct 6 – Tabaristan is now looted, rebelling and Orthodox after the clergy were crushed.

Nov 1 – A templar house is being built in Gilan

Nov 5 – I decide to build one in Shirvan as well

Jan 18, 1178 – Knowledge of ironworks spreads to Kasogs

Feb 19 – Tabaristan is no longer looted

Apr 8 The Prince of Cherson declared independence and I join Byzantium in war against them. I order the Tmutarakan unit assembled.

June 6 – I give in to demands and the rebelling ends in Tabaristan

June 16 – We arrive in Cherson and begin a siege while they are besieging the Byzantine province in the area.

June 22 – Malaria in retreat in Khorasan

July 7 – Cherson falls and I order them to Theodosia

Aug 7 – I submit orders for the construction of a Monastery in Tabriz

Aug 10 – Thieves now in Shirvan

Sept 21 – We capture Theodosia. I order vassalization, expecting that Byzantium will come in again and retake them, but it gives me claims on lands I absolutely want for later.

Sept 27 – Long swords spread to Kasogs

Oct 24 – We are asked to place a Bishop in my court, I agree, and I now have a Diocese Bishop

Nov 16 – Shirvan is no longer looted

Nov 17 – The thieves are rounded up in Shirvan the very next day

Feb 1, 1179 – I order the building of new training grounds in Tabaristan. They should be completed in about 10 months.

Aug 1 – Byzantium has captured both of Cherson;s provinces, and I’m just waiting to see what happens next.

Nov 2- Mace spreads to Kasogs

Dec 1 _ True to their word, the builders are done in Tabaristan in ten months, and I order a civilian harbor next.

Jan 19, 1180 – Gilan no longer looted

Jan 23 – Cherson is absorbed into the Byznatine Empire, and I gain claims on all of their provinces and the Prince title.

Mar 8 – Spinning Mill ordered in Tabriz

Apr 1 – I order the construction of a Huge Castle in Byzantion at the cost of 5000 ducats

May 6 – Windmills are requested in Shirvan

Jun 8 – Thieves caught and killed in Tabriz

Aug 1 – I order a Smithy in Gilan

Sept 6- Knowledge of how to use a wind wheel arrives in Kasogs

Jan 8, 1181 – It’s time. I organize armies in Azerbaijan and Gilan. My targets are not what you expect but two other provinces adjacent to mine of value – Kurdistan and Dailam.

I DOW the Kingdom of al-Murabitids. They are in control of Jerusalem and constantly in war. They have all of their troops rallied and near Jerusalem to fight against the 20ish European powers they are at war with, and the Turks, so I intend to grab a few of their provinces near my Caspian holdings.

I was expecting my next war to grab the three eastern provinces I’ve wanted for a while, but this a good opportunity to grab two provinces I want.

Jan 21 – Ryn Desert goes rogue and I DOW him. He became a Heretic and is using that against me. I hope my vassals will clean him out.

Feb 6 – My Itil army arrives in Ryn Desert. I want to blast their army to make this easy.

Feb 8 – My armies arrive in their targets and the sieges begin.

Feb 15 – We crush the heretic army of Ryn Desert and it is destroyed. I disband my Itil army. No one has DOW’ed him yet, but my guess is that someone will

Feb 26 – We fend off an assault in Kurdistan

Mar 21 – Dailam falls

Apr 25 – I order Windmills built here in Kasogs

Apr 30 – We drive off another assault in Kurdistan

May 8 –

Kurdistan – Next to Azerbaijan, Nisibin and Tabriz – this Muslim Persian province was just ordered by us to build a sawmill. Prosperous, 6 ducats, thieves and highway robbers

Dailam – 7 ducats, Muslim, Persian, thieves, already working on a medium castle when I took it, next to Gilan and Mazandaran.


Both fit into my profile very well and are among the few valuable interior provinces in the area.

Somehow, the Count of Mesopotamia defected to us – the Prince of Athens et all.

This throne has been mega successful for us

June 4 – I re-vassalize Ryn Desert after no one else attacks it

I give Tabaristan to the Prince of Mazandaran

Aug 7 – I build a mine in Shirvan, and then give it away to a nice little countess

After that, I am at -3.6 because of reputation, so I can still grab in a window of opportunity. I will wait a few years to do the war I’ve been waiting and preparing for.

I now have over 7000 prestige

Aug 19 – Thieves in Kurdistan now defeated

Jan 9, 1182 – After refusing to accept peace with al-Murabatids several times, I lands troops in Kirkuk and begin a siege.

Jan 12 – And then three days later I take a Heathens Splintered event and white peace

Mar 1 – I order Templar Houses in Tmutarakan, Nishapur, Khorasan, Itil and Khwarizm

Mar 27 – Critical Bible Interpretations spread to Kasogs

June 27 – A smithy is ordered for Kasogs

Aug 9 - Windmills seem appropriate for Kurdistan’s hills, let’s build some.

Aug 25 – I order Dye Works in Tabriz


Jan 8, 1183 – Smugglers killed in Kurdistan

Feb 17 – Medium Castle ordered in Bilyar

June 13 – I DOW Lut after they go rogue from Egypt

July 4 –

Lut – Muslim, Persian, 2 ducats, poor, thieves, south of Nishapur. I give it away immediately after spending some money on a small castle.

I create the Prince of Khorasan title. I give it to the Count of Gurgan who now oversees the Countess of Lut.

Oct 10 – Monastery ordered in Kurdistan

Oct 27 – War Academy ordered in Tabriz

May 24, 1184 – I order a Large Castle in Dailam

I marry my first daughter to a courtier. Since I have just one male heir, I don’t want to risk the dynasty. Plus, I need more courtiers, and I may need her as an advisor in a bit.

May 29 – A small county in Turkey DOWs Byzantium in rebellion, and I Join them. It’s right between Meletine and Tyana and Koloneia. I expect that, again, Byzantium will retake after I vassalize it, but I want the claim, so I order armies in Koloneia and Tyana to invade.

May 30 – Zealous Firebrand in Gilan and we now have a rebellion there even after I kill him.

June 28 – After defeating the local army, we begin a siege in the County of Kalisereia

June 30 _ The Prince of Mesopotamia goes rogue and Byzantium asks for our help, but nope. I would love to get them, but they are way too big to vassalize. Or are they? Let me take another look before I say no.

In fact, I say yes, and order armies in Bira and Edessa into their capital of Taron.

July 24 – We defeat the Prince of Taron and begin a siege

Aug 11 – We capture Kaisereia and vassalize them

Oct 10 – We vassalize the Principality of Mesopotamia after their one province, Taron, falls

Now, I expect all of these lands to go back, but it’s great to get a ton of claims on valuable land


Nov 1- You are about to see me do something I almost never do. A Bishopric west of our holdings in Crimea and above has gone rogue and no one is doing anything about it. Pereyslavl is a valuable province, and our Orthodox brethren are in the hands of a Catholic Bishopric. I grab a claim against it.

I DOW it, and order troops from Sharukan and Chortitza to invade.

Nov 11 – The siege of it begins

Jan 22, 1185 – It falls

Pereyaslavl – 17 ducats made here, Orthodox, prosperous, I ordered a monastery here. This is a perfect outpost on the west edge of my empire to have in my control for all purposes west.

Since I am getting old (50), I usurp two Prince titles from Byzantium. This gives me claims at no badboy, and costs half the normal cost. My prestige drops from 7600 to 1500. I might as well do so now while I can

Oh, my grandson is a brilliant strategist and he married just for a chick, not for a dynastic gain. Ah well.

Mar 5 – Taran is captured by Byzantium

Mar 7 – Rhodos declares independence from the prince of Mesopotamia and I join them in DOWing them. I order an army there to take it and vassalize it myself instead of letting Byzantium take it back.

Mar 16 – Byzantium re-absorbs Mesopotamia and I gain a ton of claims. I am now the only power at war with Rhodos, the independent province.

Apr 15 – Windmills ordered built in Itil

Sept 12 – 21000 troops form Byznation arrive at Rhodos

Oct 16 – Rhodos is now our vassal

Oct 26 – There are several provinces next to us in the Black Sea that are very vulnerable. I have my sights set on a better target right now though

Nov 24 – White peace between Byzantium and Kaisereia, so it is now permanently ours, for no badboy cost. Nice.

Jan 16, 1186 – Yet another Byzantine province has joined the Prince of Athens et all. That dynasty is amazing.

Feb 26 – I grant Gilan and the Prince of Tabriz title to one of my courtiers

Mar 3 – We get a culture change in Byzantion – it is now Alan

May 22 – Small Pox arrives in Khorasan which huts because in a few months I was going to use its army. I order it assembled now and just bounces my plans forward.

I order the Khwarizm army organized as well.

I DOW the Sultanate of Qarakhind. I order my armies in from both sides

June 1 – We arrive in Maverannahr and attack the assembled troops here

June 9 – As the general of the army, I personally defeated an army much bigger in Maverannahr. I order my troops on because their army is retreating to their middle province, where the Prince of Merv is besieging with just a couple thousand, and 13000 retreating troops are about to hit him, so I am moving in to help.

June 20 – We win in Bukhara and I begin a siege here.

June 30 – Double Entry Bookkeeping arrived in Kasogs

July 10 – The Khorasan army arrives in Merv and initiates a siege

July 14 – We drove back an attack to remove us from Bukhara

July 16 – I order a spinning mill built for the people of Itil

Aug 1 – Merv falls and I disband the Khorasan army.

Aug 12 – Bukhara falls and I order my troops back north

Sept 14 – We win a major battle in Maverannahr

Sept 22 – I order windmills in Pereyaslavl

Nov 3 – It falls.

These are all Muslim and Turkish

Merv – 8 ducats, I order a Monastery here. I hand it to the Prince of Merv. It’s valuable but not too much so. It’s not the gold of the area.

Bukhara – 16 ducats, Rich, I ordered a Monastery here. This is much better, but it’s not the magic of the area either.

Maverannahr – 22 ducats, prosperous, I order a Monastery here too. This is just as valuable as Khorasan and Khwarizm.


I order a Templar House in Tabriz and then hand it to the Prince of Tabriz

I am at -4.5 now, with my vassals, and that’s not too shabby.

I still have no clue why the Turks never bothered to take these three provinces. They are highly valuable.

Base Values:

Merv – 2.81
Bukhara – 4.05
Maverannahr – 6.07

My other highest before now:

Byzantion – 13.72
Khorasan - 5.4
Alania – 5.47
Khwarizm (which is struggling to be fair) – 4.96

Others in the 4’s are Kasogs (barely at 4.05), Trapezous, Itil, Saray, Pereyaslavl, and Bulgar

Dec 26 – The Count of Bashkirs is now a rival.

Aug 15, 1187 – Small pox is receding from Khorasan

Sept 14 – A rebellion in Suenik spills over into Azerbaijan, and now they are rebelling as well

Nov 1- Dye Works ordered for Itil

Nov 11 – The County of Khopyor has gone crazy and DOWs its boss, the uber-Prince. I join the war with them and order my Kasogs regiment up and moving

Dec 17 – We defeated the army and begin the siege

Dec 22 – I think a War Academy would suit Pereyaslavl very nicely

Jan 8, 1188 – Khopyor falls and it is retaken by the Princedom.

Mar 13 – The revolt spreads to Kurdistan

June 9 – I give in to local demands the revolt ends in Azerbaijan

July 3 – Windmill ordered for Bukhara

Aug 1 – We just finished that huge castle in Byzantion

Sep 10 – Two more provinces under one count have joined with my Uber-Prince. These guys are a machine

Feb 1, 1189 – Smithy ordered in Itil

June 8 – I order a Monastery in Bilyar.

July 7 – I want to avoid a major war right now, so there are a couple of minor provinces in Turkey under the auspices of a smaller Muslim nation. Taking them before Byzantium or a major Muslim nation does would be great.

Aug 10 – The Byzantine emperor died and the new one is not interested in an alliance.

I DOW the Kingdom of Hammadid. I order the Byzantion army into Dorylaion and the three adjacent armies into Lykandos

Sept 19 – I give in to demands and the revolt in Kurdistan ends.

Oct 2 – We finally won in Lykanos

Oct 23 – Dorylaion falls and I disband the army

Oct 29 – Lykanos falls.

Jan 23 , 1190 –I order a library in pereyaslavl. They haven’t been interested in peace

Feb 27 – I activate the Rhodes army and send them to the enemy capital in the Lebanon area.

Mar 25 – I order a sawmill in Dailam

May 7 – The revolt spreads again into Azerbaijan from Suenik.

June 7 – After winning in Tyrus, the Rhodos army begins a siege

July 20 – Now they accept my peace proposal


Lykanos – Next to three of my provinces in Meletine, Tyana and Kaisereia. I order a Sawmill here. Struggling, Armenian, Muslim, 4 ducats.

Dorylaion – Poor, 5 ducats, I ordered a Monastery here. Adjacent to Sozopolis. Orthodox and Greek.


These were strategic land grabs, not super valuable ones. I hand Dorylaion to my marshal and promote a new one. Despite the badboy hit, I will retain Lykanos for now, in order to invest well in it. I think it will look good afterwards.

Map?



http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4826/georgia1190.jpg



Note the HUGE amount of gold I can’t find a use for. I’m getting 260 a month until I decided to keep Dorylaion (now its 240 a month with the demesne hit)

You can see some of our gains in the Greece/Macedonia area through our awesome Prince. I expect one of my targets for the next war to be with the blue tribe that has my color – Zenata, again. Then I’ll just take a bunch of the provinces to my south in Armenia Minor and Turkey.

Some of those gains went to the Prince of Itil. The one next to Byzantion that I was going to inherit anyway, Sozopolis, Lykia and a few counties in the Russian area. I am about to inherit two more Russians after this guy dies and leaves them to the Prince of Azov.

You know what? I should try and assassinate him, because the Prince of Azov is 58, and could die anytime.

I send in an assassin.

And I crashed the game, hold on.

Luckily I saved it here.

Success and I kill him. But, I am discovered and my badboy is now at -5.1 and needs some cooling down time. However, we gained two new provinces. Two for one badboy.

Let me show you Russia and the northern part of my realm


http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1446/georgia1190mark2.jpg


As you can see, we’ve collected the occasional province here and there by my vassals. The two with yellow stars the ones I just got from the inheritance via assassination.

My desire to spread into this area is a strong zero. Russia can rot for all I care. I am focused on Persia, Turkey, Armenia Minor, and the Black Sea. Not Russia.


My eldest daughter is killed in retribution.

Sept 17 – My chancellor, with a diplomacy of 18, dies of old age. I appoint my second daughter, with one of 17, to be my new one.

Dec 25 – Very quietly, one of the counties in the Byzantine circle went rogue, peacefully.

Dec 27 – Guils spread to Kasogs

Feb 3, 1191 – The King Uturku has died. Long Live the King! He has been Beatified. He had a piety of 1093, prestige of 2474.


His Heir and grandson:

Aspar II of Yegorlyk
22 years old

11/3/8/7

Cruel, Modest, Coward, Brilliant Strategist

Prestige 359, Piety 5


He had three children. One was stillborn, one was a boy who died at age 2, and the last a girl who died at age 1. He is still young enough to have children, but he’s had just three in 6 years.

The combined courts result in these courtiers:

Marshal Kuluk Triakontaphyllis – Martial 12
Steward Georgia of Alania – Steward 16
Chancellor Budurukan of Yegorlyk – Diplomacy 17
Spy Master Maria of Yegorlyk – Intrigue 17
Diocese Bishop – Buriberdi of Kasogs

My Steward and Spy Master are in their 60s and were courtiers for my grandfather and his father before him.

My first order of business:

I order castle upgrades in the three southern Greece provinces I was supervising. I then give away them to some nice courtiers. I hand the Prince title away as well.

I claim the King of Khazaria and Prince of Bukhara. I give the Prince title to the Count of Kara-Kum

I hand Lykanos away. I have no desire for it, and I have courtiers to give it to, unlike my grandfather.

Our badboy is now just -1.8.

The next thing I do is hand some gold to various vassals to ensure loyalty. I give over 5000 gold away. My hope is that most of that gets spent in infrastructure development in various places.

Due to my low diplomacy, I will not be able to go anywhere near the badboy levels of my predecessors. Many of my vassals are in the +2 overall mark, and that’s with a -1.8 badboy. If I were to jump to -5.1 like my grandfather did once, that would be a big problem for a while. I gotta keep in on the low. These major wars with a ton of provinces gained may not apply much to me. I may try one out just to see.

My concern is that, with stressed, I could fail to get my wife pregnant, since Stress gives you -3 fertility. Or, my stress could turn into something worse – like madness or depression. Remember the king who committed suicide after having stress turn into depression? I was named after him. That cannot be a fortelling of the future.

Apr 10 – I order Spinning Mill in Khwarizm

Apr 28 – Time for one of those small wars. The County of Emba was captured by Muslim rebels, and then they declared themselves independent.

I DOW them and order the Khwarizm regiment in.

June 12 – We have taken Emba. It’s a lousy province, struggling, Muslim, no ducats made, thieves, highway robbers, smugglers – nasty. But taking it shows I am willing to continue the expansion policies of Kings past.

I give it away after I order a Hill Fort here

My badboy is now -2.4


June 20 – I order Templar Houses in – Maverannahr, Bukhara, Bilyar and Byzantion. I order a Large Church in Itil and Tmutarakan.

I need to get my piety up from -10

June 30 – I order a Monastery in Dailam

July 13 – I gained the count of Ryn Desert as a rival. So in addition to him being a heretic, and rebellious, he is now my rival. Great. That’s not going to be a problem at all.

Aug 17 – I gain Romantic after choosing that my rivalry is just personal to prevent me from being rivals with more of my vassals.

Aug 24 – I order a Templar House in Pereyaslavl

Feb 17, 1192 – Very worried about my ability to have a kid, I do something I probably shouldn’t have done. I assassinate my wife. It worked, no one knows.

Time to look for a breeder. Many other Yegorlyks have great abilities, but I do not. Ideally I can find one with Lustful or Indulgent, which makes her a lot more likely to have kids.

Unfortunately, I can’t find anyone with the right abilities, so I’ll have to stick with stats for now.

Feb 27 – Our new wife:

Hildegaard, age 17

11/13/13/17 stats

Energetic, Charismatic Negotiator, Pragmatic

July 4- I order a Dye Works in Khwarizm

Sept 21 – Three of the provinces in the Byzantine circle have declared for three of my princes – Itil, Mazanadar and the Uber-Prince. Three more provinces without fighting or firing a gun.

Oct 27 – I give in to demands in Azerbaijan and the rebellion there ceases

I order a church in Azerbaijan while I;m here. Templar House in Kurdistan

Jan 20, 1193 – I send a fosterling to the Prince of Samos

Feb 1 – I order a Templar House in Dailem

Feb 27 – My steward dies, and I appoint my wife as the new one

June 4- Wonder of wonders, my wife is expecting!!!!!

Remember, this heir may be the one fighting the Mongols, so Georgia needs a good one.

June 9 – Kasogs discovers dismounted knights

Sept 27 – Troubadoors spread to Kasogs

Oct 9 _+ The church wants some extra gold, since my lands are doing well. I choose to give them some, with a 50% chance for a stability drop, and a Piety raise. The other options are a 100% drop and much higher raise, and then refuse, and gain skeptical. I get a piety boost, and luckily, we dodge the -1 stability

Oct 12 – I order a church built in Khawarizm

Nov 18 – I order a church in Bilyar as well

Dec 19 – I order – Church in Nishapur, Khorasan, Bukhara, Maverannahr

Jan 11, 1194 – Luckily, the Count of Ryn Desert died. Yay!

Mar 1 – Meet our heir, Suarn of Yegorlyk.

Mar 25 0 I order a church built in Pereysaslavl

June 6 – I order a large church in Azerbaijan.

For a while my ally was a small county in Southern Italy, and they went to war with a one province muslim nation on Sicily. I went with them. Then they lost, and now they are allies with that nation, and went to peac,e but I am still at war, so I have ordered our Napoli army assembled and moving to that province..

June 30 – We drove away the muslims from Siracusa, and are besieging them now.

Sept 9 – A pretty wench catches my eye. I indulge my sense, hoping to get lustful. I failed, but I do have a basted son named Aton.

Sept 15 – I capture and take Siracusa in peace:

Siracusa – 12 ducats are made by the prosperous Greek Muslims. On the rest of Sicily you have the Turks, Croatia, the county of Reggio, and the Sultanate of Zenata. I order a Medium Castle built here.


What am I doing in Sicily? Well, we have Napoli, it’s not that far away, I have tons of Greece, it’s not that far away, it’s in the hands of Muslims, it meets my criteria for taking. I didn’t think I would take it any time soon, but a door opened, and I drove through it.

Sept 25 – My bastard son gained honest after I chose not to kill him when my Spy Master told me there was a way to off him. I want him. This is a good thing.

Oct 3 – Poland is having Realm Duress

Nov 18 – Mangyshyk has gone rogue from Zenata. I DOW them and order in the Khwarizm army

Jan 30, 1195 –

Mangyshlak – This Muslim Turkish province was the last one on the Caspian. I order a Tile Factory here. It’s Struggling, with thieve,s and making just 3 ducats I hand it off to a cousin.

Mar 28 – Epiros switched from Byzantium to my perfect prince.

Let’s look at all of the provinces that the Prince of Trebizond has brought for me:

Initially, it was just his province in Trapezous.

He brought in the Principality of Coloneia. Chaldea and Koloneia. He had Meletine for a while, but it went back to Byzantium, and thence to the Turks until I recaptured it for him.

I captured Theodosiopolis for him.
He gained the prince of Athens Title, with the three provinces that go along with that. Other provinces he got:

Napoli
Epieros
Thasselenike
Philippolis
Dorostotum
Herakleia
Khopyor
Mesopotamia
Taron
Torzhok
Livs
Velaliyi Luki
Veliky Ustag
Corfu


That’s NINETEEN provinces him and his predecessors have brought in for me. That’s crazy awesome.

Oh, it appears we lost Rhodos, Byzantium inherited back. Boo

May 17 – I send my heir to the monks. He gains modest.

June 1 – I order the construction of training grounds in Dailam

June 13 – And a large church in Khwarizm

July 2- Large Churches in Khorasan and Nishapur

Aug 21 – Large Church in Bukhara

Aug 24 – After rebels in Emba defeated the local army, I ordered in Khwarizm troops and busted them up.


Oct 3 – I have become Crazed, -5 to my attributes

Nov 16 - Corfu DOWs Athens. I order my Siracusa army up and to move out.

Apr 30, 1196 – I send my bastard to nobles.

May 6 – We win in Corfu and begin a siege

Aug 1 – I order up a smithy in Tmutarakan

Sept 17 – I vassalize Corfu and took 500 of their gold.

Sept 22 – The Muslim nation of Tao declared independence from Byzantium after rebels controlled it. It’s in Armenia and right beside me.

Dec 1 – I DOW Tao and order an army I had arrive in Guria into it

Dec 29 - We vassalize the muslim Tao, and then I send 300 gold to the guy to help build his realm.

Of that large encircled area of Byzantium nations we had, they are down to just three provinces

Why do that?

I claim the King of Armenia title. My third one!

Jan 16, 1197 – My Diocese Bishop dies and I have no replacements

Apr 10 – Probably because of my low diplomacy and craziness – many of my vassals are becoming rebellious. I;m also only making 80 ducats a month, not enough to keep paying everyone down. I lost 1000 gold in the last year, despite bringing in an extra 500 from Corfu

June 1 – I order Waterwheels in Byzantion

June 5 – I have a lot of Yegorlyk’s in my court right now, and one just became an 18 Martial Brilliant Strategist! Nice! He’s my new Marshal

Sept 2 – I marry that awesome Marshal to a 16 year old Muslim from Persia that just finished her ecclesiastical education and is now orthodox, and really good. I like bringing new blood into the family when I can

Sept 25 – The Inquisition spreads to Kasogs


Apr 9, 1198 – Half Plate spreads to Kasogs

June 1 – I;m again having the occasional vassal get rebellious

Aug 15 – The one province Muslim of Teluch has formed right below my provinces in Meletine and Lykanos. Normally I’d DOW it and take it right this second, but now I have to play it close to the vest with my 0 diplomacy

Nov 16 – I order a Monastery in Siracusa

Jan 11, 1199 – I give away Dailam to a nice courtier

Mar 2 – Chortitza has DOWed and declared themself free from Crimea. I join Crimea’s war against them. I order the Pereyaslavl regiment in.

Mar 3 – After I crush tensions there, Maverannahr is now looted and Orthodox

Mar 30 – We win in Chortitza and I disband the boys and let Crimea finish it

July 22 – Chortitza is retaken by the prince of Crimea

Aug 15 – Maverannahr is now free from lootage

Aug 27 – After clothmaking spreads there, I order a spinning mill built in Bukhara

Sept 22 – My son will be given a court education

Dec 4 – My 55 year old mother died and I inherited her 1000 gold and county. I give it away after ordering the construction of a Medium Castle and it lowers my badboy a bit more.

It’s now -1.5

Dec 10 – I crush the nobles in Bukhara and its now rebelling, looted and Orthodox

July 16, 1200 – I order a smithy in Siracusa

Aug 3 – Bukhara is no longer looted

Aug 29 – I get a Bishop to my court, and we get a Diocese Bishop finally

Nov 28 – Dye Works ordered in Bukhara

May 8, 1201 – I give in to demands the rebellion ends in Bukhara

Aug 26 – Our stability drops to 2 due to poor management

Oct 17 – I order a large castle in Siracusa

Oct 23 – I order a smithy in Maverannahr

Nov 8- I’ve never actually had a crazy king before, and now I can say something else is new. My King has retired to a Monastery to live out the rest of his life there. I’ve never seen that with a monarch before. Courtiers, sure, leaders, no. It has got to be the crazy in him.

New King:

Suarn of Yegorlyk
Age 7

Court Training, Modest

3/5/5/4

Of course, he’s still young and developing

I claim the Prince of Khwarizm title, which gives him a total of105 prestige

I hand out gold, but the despite low scores, the people seem to really love me. It’s probably my low badboy (-1) and the fact that I am not crazy.

I anticipate going to war soon, and grabbing some territory. Probably a small war here or there to remind people that we exist.

Nov 23 - I DOW the one province rebelling Muslim nation of Aintab and order armies from Edessa and Meletine to move in

Nov 27 – Egypt does not like us trying to poach one of their wayward provinces and DOWs us back

Well, I wasn’t looking for war with Egypt, but I’ll take it – Egypt has been leaking provinces lately, and is much weaker than you may think. They only have about half the provinces in Egypt itself, let alone elsewhere. There’s no many provinces I even want.

Jan 11, 1203 – I send my bastard half-brother to court for education

Jan 12 – I take peace for 853 ducats from one of the Egypt minors. I need the gold

Feb 8 – After a 2 month long battle, we lose in Aintab

Mar 16 – We win in Aintab and win a siege

May 19 – The Count of Yegorlyk is now my rival

Oct 30 – Rebellion in Bilyar after a Firebrand preacher arrives

Dec 8 – Today is the biggest WTF??? Moment in Crusader Kings ever. I just inherited….Byzantium? How did that happen? I save the game, and reload, because I must not have been paying attention or something.

Okay, the Byzantine Emperor was 45, and died of old age. His only son is a bastard. They have semisalic primogeniture. How am I that? My mother doesn’t even have a dynastic name? The Emperor of Byzantium is Stepan II of Murom. Is that a a family name I married into? Let me take a look and see if I can find the intersection.

Okay, I found the connection between the three kids after me. They are the sons of a Yegorlyk female (sister of my grandfather, the one who was never king but whose generation missed being King)

I found the connection. Here it is. The reason I don’t recall the name is simple:

Buriberdi, the son of Uturku was married by his father for political reasons to Simonis of Murom.

They had three children:

Aspar II
Rusudan
Eiriene

Aspar II had one son, me, Suarn of Yegorlyk

Rusudan married Saris Rostilovich and had three male children

Eiriene married Andronikos of Alania, the Count of Manych and Kuma. They had no children.


Simeon of Murom was the Emperor of Byzantium. He had eight children, only two of which were males.

The oldest boy was Rurik of Murom, who died at age 19 without any children

His other boy was Stepan II of Byzantium, who became Emperor. His only child was a bastard boy.

The oldest of the daughters was Simonis of Murom. Her four heirs are me, and then the three boys of Rusudan. Thus, we are the four heirs of her brother, who died without any direct heir.


That means, we have in many ways, just won the game.

At this point, how hard is it to take on the Mongols? Map time!


http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/733/byzantiumgeorgia1202.jpg

And let me get you a more Russian one


http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/4218/1202taketwo.jpg

I’m sure you can see how effective I’d be vs…well…anyone really.

It’s a bit big for a gift. And I can’t reload and keep going as just me. This guy was 45 and severely wounded with a 44 year old wife. He’s not spawning a man child before dying. This happened because of a marriage I did a long time ago, and I honestly didn’t even notice I was their heir.

King of Khazaria, Armenia, Georgia, Rus, and Byzantium.

I inherited about 20 Prince titles






I create the King of Bulgaria title.

Now I’m six Kings

Once my personal demesne provinces get back up, I’ll have about 500,000 in manpower, at least.

So, I have a question I need to figure out. Do I keep going on?

I was thinking about trouncing the Mongols, and then finishing the Black Sea area and Persia, Turkey, fighting for more provinces peacefully from Byzantium, etc. Then at the end of the dynasty, hopping to EU3 and trying it out there for a while.

But now? Do I want to play until 1400, another 200 years, when the game is a foregone conclusion?

Nah, I’m thinking I won, yay me!

On the other hand, part of me would like to take it to a few opponents. I have 23 provinces and roughly 20 prince titles. I can drop my BB several times, and I expect I could take a few from an enemy, then drop my b, and then take a few more – etc.

Dec 13 – 5 days later I finally take Aintab in peace


I want to finish out the pagans in the north. Finish Russia, and then blow through and finish taking the high Baltic area – Latvia, Estonia and so forth – basically Livonia. I want to blast through the rest of Turkey and Armenia Minor. I want to blast down from my Caspian holdings to the Persian Gulf and have land connections from the Mediterranean and Aegean through the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, to the Aral Sea and Persian Gulf and then up to the Baltic Sea. That's crazy.

Did they change it in the expansion so that the Mongols would still attack once you reached a certain manpower level? I know way back when they'd just sit there and do nothing if your manpower was over a certain limit.

No clue, I've never been this big this fast from a one province.