Avon Las Observes

[Bullfilter]

@Bullfilter has produced shrimp that he has placed on both grills.

Nice reference! Funny thing is that it was an Aussie (pronounced Ozzie for those unaware) ad but pitched for a US audience, so Paul Hogan said ‘shrimp’, which here is really only ever used to describe someone who is small. We would have said throw a prawn on the barbie, and shrimp always sounded so strange coming from such a quintessential old Aussie like Hoges! But we knew why it was done and became part of the folklore here.

workmen hanging the seven #1 banners in the great hall

They must have hundreds of them left over from past celebrations.

The Kaiser has a thirty-one thousand man army to protect the Empire's peace.

Wow. Only a Mongol horde would cause them any worries and I guess that time is gone.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Another fun update! It's always good to see a fan of the Duke, and I appreciate the my return to the action.

Thank you for replying. This one was fun to write. It is best to be a fan of all westerns around @Macavity116's grandmother or you shall find the wrong end of a yardstick. I could not resist having the @RustyHunter hunting, but hunting with the $6 million dollar man might give you an unfair advantage.

 

[Midnite Duke]

The music of an armoured shoe never disappoints.

I would much like to start a campaign that runs backwards in time
but such a thing would require at least a gigabyte of screenshots, and careful organisation.
though it would be fun to end on a ruler called Benjamin Button.

Thank you for replying, One advantage would be while usual mega campaign order requires you to tie end of one to beginning of next. If you go backwards, logic will not matter. Who is going to after reading HoI and Vicky, going to look back and see that Vicky ending did not match HoI start? You already have the name for your custom CK dynasty!

 

[Midnite Duke]

Nice reference! Funny thing is that it was an Aussie (pronounced Ozzie for those unaware) ad but pitched for a US audience, so Paul Hogan said ‘shrimp’, which here is really only ever used to describe someone who is small. We would have said throw a prawn on the barbie, and shrimp always sounded so strange coming from such a quintessential old Aussie like Hoges! But we knew why it was done and became part of the folklore here.

They must have hundreds of them left over from past celebrations.

Wow. Only a Mongol horde would cause them any worries and I guess that time is gone.

Thank you for replying. That ad campaign has earned every penny. The HRE does change capitals with every new Emperor and each banner does have the year on it. Can you imagine how many young men will relocate a banner to their Heidelberg University dorm room by 1400. The HRE is very proud of being the only #1. You picked the wrong episode to praise HRE army. It is smaller than in 1275, 1300 or 1325. There is a Big 5 power with a larger army in 1350. The Mongol Empire has been passed by their cousins, the Tartaria Empire.

I try to slip in little references whenever I can. The Shrimp on the Barbie had to be delivered by an Aussie. @Le Jones was our English chancellor since he is from UK and @RedTemplar was HRE chancellor because he is writing about HRE. I like being able to go through Big Valley/Fall Guy/Night Court in one sentence. Robert Louis Stevenson writing a bio of Jack Sparrow to go with his Long John Silver is just a small nugget. Our AGoT mod writers get to fly with the dragons.

 

[Midnite Duke]

@Macavity116, thank you for replying! I am so glad that your family enjoyed this belated birthday present for your grandmother. Her royalty check will be in the mail just as soon as I receive mine. Audie Murphy looked like the man that Jim Anderson wanted Betty to date. But he had lived a life that Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King would shy from. The only one that I have met is Blake, I did know that Akura is super evil and not just a typical rebellious teen. Writing backwards, while challenging, seems to be fun and less likely to get stagnant as you go down branches that do not move the story forward.

 

[Macavity116]

Writing backwards, while challenging, seems to be fun and less likely to get stagnant as you go down branches that do not move the story forward.

Emphasis on "challenging"! Prequel stories are like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, but some stranger assembled half of it while you weren't looking. Also the stranger is yourself and you had no idea what you were thinking back then.

 

[Midnite Duke]

21June1359 al-Baretoun Duchy, Egypt Kingdom, Arabian Empire

The Arabian Empire's second de jure kingdom is Egypt. Egypt will have the first differences between my observations and the current Wiki. While in the Wiki Egypt has only eight duchies, my Egypt has nine duchies. Cyrenaica is in the Wiki Maghreb Empire, but my westernmost Arabian Empire duchy. This could be a de jure shift, but I think that it is un-updated Wiki. The al-Baretoun Duchy is renamed from the Wiki's Roman name of Paraetonium. The duchy has increased from two to three counties with the addition of Siwah from the Alexandria Duchy. Al-Baretoun Duchy is sandwiched in Egypt's western desert between the Coast of Egypt (Mediterranean Sea) and the Eastern Sahara Desert with the Alexandria and Faiyum Duchies to the east and the Cyrenaica Duchy to the west. The three counties, al-Baretoun, Siwah and Zygra, all have desert terrain. The 21June1359 rulers are:

Al-Baretoun (duchy and county): Sultan Nuraddin (Terteroba) of Egypt, 42yo Egyptian Catholic. Al-Baretoun is the duchy's northeast quadrant along the Med.​

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Siwah: Sheikh Gierholt (Bogorski) of Siwah, 32yo Polish Catholic. Siwah is the duchy's southern half bordering the Sahara.​

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Zygra: Sheikh Begluk (Beglukid) of Zygra, 46yo Cuman Catholic. Zygra is the duchy's northwest quadrant along the Med.​

​

NEXT will be Alexandria Duchy. (Readers would you like current culture, religion and holding numbers added for the counties. I am at 21June1379 so the answers for al-Baretoun and Alexandria may have slight errors.)​

​

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21June1359 Dyrrachion Duchy

Ten years have seen Duchess Jelena go from a shy 17yo succeeding her shrewd mother that she viewed with trepidation to a 27yo Duchess comfortable in her rule. Her infatuation with her 49yo handsome, outgoing husband has grown into a mature love that has produced two children. When she participated in the Syria Crusade, she became the first Progonovic to lead Dyrrachion troops since her great great grandfather Gjin overthrew Duchess Epiphania and claimed the Duchy for himself. Doux Gjin and Doux Alek led Byzantine Empire armies. Her mother, Duchess Milka, did receive Serbian Armor of the Cross from the Pope for Estonia Crusade contributions but was too young to lead herself. She also has become the first Progonovic to face a revolt when Count Pyrros of Kastoria and her aunt Countess Dubravka of Zeta demanded elective succession while Duchess Jelena was returning from the crusade. With every penny that she could find (loans from Templars and Jewish bankers), Jelena's mercenaries defeated the traitors. After seizing both counties, Duchess Jelena introduced the pair to Grgur the Axman. Pyrros lost his head and Aunt Dubravka was confined to her new quarters (house arrest) in Dyrrachion castle with Duchess Jelena carefully monitoring her aunt's drinking. Jelena makes her husband, Chaghagan, Count of Kastoria. She is ruling three counties just like her grandfather Doux Konstantin.

7 October 1349 64yo Holuikhan Ajai, maternal grandmother, dies in her sleep. (According to Wayback's Intelligence Officer @alscon, Genghis Khan being an Ajai instead of a Borjigin is very unusual.​

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3 December 1351 65yo Boša Progonovic, great aunt, dies in her sleep.​

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9 March 1353 76yo Antonia Kontostephanos, paternal grandmother, dies in her sleep. (71yo Doux Gjin remains the oldest on my family tree page which consists of rulers, spouses and their children.)​

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26 March 1352 Chaghagan Ajai and Duchess Jelena welcome daughter Biljana Progonovic.​

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26 December 1353 Chaghagan Ajai and Duchess Jelena welcome son Dragos Progonovic. (Dragos is the first boy born in Dyrrachion castle since his great grandfather Konstantin Progonovic, 4 April 1284. Biljana and Dragos pass @JabberJock14's amateur paternity test. @JabberJock14's rule is that all of a couple's children will be born on the same day of the month. I have found that unless the woman is being unfaithful that all of her children will be born on the same day of the month. My favorite is a concubine who had a child with her 'man' and after his death one with his cheating grandson, with both children born on same day of month.)​

​

27yo Duchess Jelena is residing in Dyrrachion castle with 7yo daughter Biljana and 53yo aunt Dubravka. While 59yo husband Count Chaghagan and 5yo son Dragos officially reside in Kastoria, they spend most of their time in Dyrrachion. Count Chaghagan is Dyrrachion's Sakellarios and Dragos is sharing a tutor with his older sister Biljana. 49yo father Doux Dorotheos II and infant half-sister Borislava reside in Epirus. Jelena's relationship with her daddy has descended from disdain to disgust as his duchy does not allow female inheritance and he will not die to give her a claim.

Jelena gained three diplomacy, five martial and seven learning while losing two intrigue (9-11-12-3-10) with her total exceeding her husband by one. (I do not know what mentoring that @DensleyBlair gave to Duchess Jelena during the 1350 tour, but it definitely helped. She gained charitable, diligent, crusader, zealous, chaste, stressed, religious philosopher and theology focus while losing cynical and aspiring poet. She will switch from theology to intrigue focus as she has learned that Dubravka's husband (moved to Crete) is plotting to kill Dragos.

This decade has seen a successful Syria Crusade and an unsuccessful Egypt Jihad. Like the 13th century Egypt Crusade, the Pope refused to divide the spoils as he had a legitimate claimant (French Catholic half-sister of the starting Sultan and aunt of the ending Sultan). She is also the great-granddaughter of Sultan Saladin and a final Ayyubid on Syria's throne. At the 1275 check, two top twenty-one nations had four figure treasuries. Egypt with less than 2K and Syria with over 90K.

Jelena's liege Basileus Innokentios is fighting two wars to remain Byzantine Emperor. 1 July 1357, Duchess Xene of Thrace revolted after Basileus Innokentios tried to seize her duchy. 9 March 1359, Sultan Sharaf of Jerusalem declared that the excommunicated are unfit to rule. (He should have declared for his de jure territory that Byz rules.)


NEXT: We will celebrate twenty years of Duchess Jelena or meet a new ruler.

Thank You for reading and I would appreciate comments for this type of post. Do you want separate posts for ducal checks and Dyrrachion's family? What information would you like added or dropped to either one? Do you want me to drop one or both of these reports?

 

[Midnite Duke]

Emphasis on "challenging"! Prequel stories are like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, but some stranger assembled half of it while you weren't looking. Also the stranger is yourself and you had no idea what you were thinking back then.

Thank you for replying. Half of the puzzle is done. Readers can barely remember the beginning when they get to the end of one story. So hopefully with prequels, readers will have forgotten everything so anything in a prequel is logical.

 

[RustyHunter]

Another good update, things in the duchy seem to be going well. Jelena seems like a solid ruler, and she's certainly growing into her position.

Duchess Jelena introduced the pair to Grgur the Axman.

I found this line especially good!

 

[Midnite Duke]

Another good update, things in the duchy seem to be going well. Jelena seems like a solid ruler, and she's certainly growing into her position.


I found this line especially good!

Thanks for the reply. The Civil War was tricky as I was very worried about running out of money and losing my mercs before I could defeat the count. The first five rulers had a steady climb in total points from low 30s to low 60s. Jelena had very unusual tutoring with five different tutors. Her mother assigned her to a genius courtier. Emperor called her to court and assigned her to a minor courtier so that she may become Greek. Emperor change and Jelena goes to Aunt Dubravka. New Emperor takes Jelena under his wing so that she may become Greek. Emperor change, back to Dubravka, to Basileus Innokentios with result that she does not become Greek but does become Fortune Builder like Innokentios. Jelena gaining 13 points to mid 40s is one of the best decades that I have ever seen for an adult. I was shocked to see Jelena and Chaghagan in love after one year of marriage. But it is a beautiful March-October romance. He is gregarious and attractive while she is shy. They both are fortune builders. The decade saw her going from ten points below her husband to one above. She has seen that one better than other will not work as her mother's weakest stat was better than her father's strongest. How her father got to Bulgaria is one of the puzzling subplots? The Komenos Doukas family is a major Byz dynasty and his mother was Greek as well. Little Dragos will be a heart breaker as he is attractive like his father.

The world checks have added to the family narrative. 1200 saw Princess Georgia, zealous Orthodox, in the largest Orthodox nation at the time her Catholic son turned 16 and the first option on the marriage rings be a 14yo Orthodox cousin of the Orthodox Mongol Khagan!!! 1225's Duchess Milka's duel with Jack Sparrow was the high point of her reign. The sword being dropped from a dragon makes a better story than the meteorite event. Duchess Milka was definitely shrewd enough to value the story. Duchess Jelena's growth after going to meet the world leaders seems very reasonable.

With two council members named Grgur, it seemed like a good tough name for the executioner. She wanted her aunt to fear for her life before announcing clemency and house arrest. Dubravka is celibate (after six children) and a drunkard, thus Jelena feels that Pyrros took advantage of her aunt. Dubravka is also mourning Milka as they were best friends. Jelena is running a friendlier, more open court than her mother. There were no odd courtiers in Milka's court while Jelena has two unlanded council members.

 

[Kage265]

I am back from going on a little field trip with the kids of Dyrrachion using the Wayback Machine (Don't tell the rest of the crew, I didn't exactly ask for their permission). Late-game crusader states are incredibly rich thanks to the crusader treasury so no surprise that the Syrian Sultana(?) can be the Mansa Musa of this timeline and destabilize the Mediterranean economy. Best of luck to Jelena, that constant moving from Constantinople to Dyrrachion must have had a big influence on her life experience.

 

[DensleyBlair]

(I do not know what mentoring that @DensleyBlair gave to Duchess Jelena during the 1350 tour, but it definitely helped. She gained charitable, diligent, crusader, zealous, chaste, stressed, religious philosopher and theology focus while losing cynical and aspiring poet.

I think the answer is that she saw my own aspirations towards poetry and decided that under no circumstances was that an advisable lifestyle to adopt…

 

[Midnite Duke]

4 March 1350 Miss Swiss Enterprises HQ in the Alps

Board Chairwoman Heidi sips a cup of hot chocolate and gazes at her childhood visage on the box and reflects back on her first meeting with the AmazingAdventurousReaders and the Dragons in an Alpine meadow many years ago. In one instant, she was a simple mountain girl tending an injured dragon and in seemingly the next moment, she is Europe's leading businesswoman. Looking around the table, she sees her childhood friend/assistant TRB820, next is her daughter and COO Gretel, then is board member and AAReader Admiral @Kazanov and current AAReader Captain @DensleyBlair, the Dyrrachion couple Duchess Jelena who is sitting silently while her husband, Chaghagan, is entertaining everyone with stories of the Far East. The group is awaiting the HRE's representative, Chancellor @RedTemplar. They have gathered to plan the AAReaders voyage east where the world's #2 and #3 are at war. Heidi's twins, Gretel and Hansel, are eagerly anticipating the trip. Gretel is envisioning sales to warring nations, while her MasterChef brother is dreaming of new foods, spices and techniques to enhance his reputation as Europe's top Chef. Heidi tries to hide her surprise when her secretary ushers in not the HRE's Chancellor but rather its Marshal @LPDK 356. He informs them that @RedTemplar's horse had stepped into a gopher hole, while he is not seriously injured, his doctor, Marcus Welby, does advise rest. @RedTemplar will also need to find a new steed and meet with Ben Matlock because Dewey Cheatem is threatening to sue because the gopher's home was destroyed. While the HRE will not officially send troops to Persia, @LPDK 356 states that with retired Lombard General @Highland Confederate guiding the Magnificent Seven mercenary group and your dragons supplying air cover that should prove sufficient security and the Dirty Dozen mercenary group will be on standby.

27 March 1350 Fars Province, Persia

Spot and his rider, @Thaiga, have planned a daily two shift patrol of the skies. A senior dragon (Spot, Ebony, Ivory, Daffodil) would by joined by two younger dragons on each patrol. The senior dragon would carry a veteran crossbow sniper (@Macavity116 or @RustyHunter) as well as its rider while the junior dragons would be unarmed. Speedy and @Tsar Monarchist have established a communications team that has daily dragon flights between the meeting and Miss Swiss headquarters with Dyrrachion as a way point along the route. While the Magnificent Seven is securing the perimeter, Vin Tanner tells General @Highland Confederate that an old storyteller once told him that the secret to a great life was "faster, horses, younger women, older whiskey and more money".


1 April 1350 Rajasthan Empire (capital Hastinapura is on its eastern border)

While Samrat Ayeshah III and his steward @Eurasia finalize a trade agreement with Gretel, Grand Vizier @Eludio briefs the AAReaders on the status of Rajasthan. The Rajasthan Empire is #2 for the fifth consecutive check. Rajasthan gained seventy-four holdings (442) during the quarter century and is now in 130 counties. Rajasthan's 14th century second quarter leadership timeline:

22 April 1318 19yo Hamir Ghurid inherits the Rajasthan Empire.​

​

17 August 1327 28yo Samrat Hamir dies suspiciously. His 6yo son Ayeshah Ghurid inherits Rajasthan. (Samrat Ayeshah III is the second youngest Big Five Ruler but the longest reigning.)​

​

28yo Hindustani Sunni Samrat Ayeshah III is a hot tempered Brilliant Strategist (7-19-9-3-1). He controls the empire, two duchies and four counties. (@Eludio says that he could handle one more holding.) Samrat Ayeshah III's vassals include three kings, fourteen dukes and eight counts. He has gained fifty-six bad boy points with Easterns, Christians, Muslims and Pagans banding together to say 'no more'. Rajasthan's sixty-four thousand man army (Big Five's largest) is engaged in an offensive war.

28 February 1349 Samrat Ayeshah III launched a conquest of Istakhr county (OTL southwestern Iran) from the Iraq/Persia/Daylam Sultanate. (Sorry, no war score as Anne Howe is busy helping @Nikolai count ballots. Dewey Cheatem and @Eludio are trying to spin this as the Ghurid family trying to regain a piece of their Persian heritage.)​

NEXT: We will cross the valley to hear from the Caliph. (Our last stop before returning to Dyrrachion will be our newcomer.)

THANK YOU: To the Lord for protecting @RedTemplar during his recent auto accident. @RedTemplar, best wishes and may Dewey Cheatem not cause any problems.

To TRB820 for being an amazing sister. Happy Birthday!​

​

To Andy Griffith, Robert Young and Steve McQueen for entertaining us many times on screens large and small.​

​

To @Highland Confederate for Reges Langobardorum. This is a new CK2 AAR based in Lombardy. It is your choice whether the Magnificent Seven is old school (Brynner and McQueen), new school (Washington and Pratt) or some combination.​

​

To Tom T. 'the Storyteller' Hall for the wonderful songs. May you rest in peace.​

​

To everybody for reading and commenting.​

 

[Midnite Duke]

I am back from going on a little field trip with the kids of Dyrrachion using the Wayback Machine (Don't tell the rest of the crew, I didn't exactly ask for their permission). Late-game crusader states are incredibly rich thanks to the crusader treasury so no surprise that the Syrian Sultana(?) can be the Mansa Musa of this timeline and destabilize the Mediterranean economy. Best of luck to Jelena, that constant moving from Constantinople to Dyrrachion must have had a big influence on her life experience.

Thank you for replying. I hope no one wonders why the Wayback Machine needs several bags of penny ballast on outward voyages but not on inward. Usually all of the crusading nations get a share, but Syria got everything. Syria is flexing its financial weight and cleaning up its borders. Egypt looks like an EU4 colonizer. A county on Red Sea, Black, area on Baltic, huge swath into Kanem Bornu. They might want to be Emperor of Kanem Bornu. The Syrian lady is a Queen as she is French. Her grandfather was a French Catholic Emir/Chancellor for Sultan Saladin. Jelena's final trip was to Abydos and not Constantinople. She got to hear the Basileus say "You are Fired" to the Prince-Bishop. For game purposes, she probably lost some base points to her stats during the tutor yo-yo.

 

[Midnite Duke]

I think the answer is that she saw my own aspirations towards poetry and decided that under no circumstances was that an advisable lifestyle to adopt…

Thank you for replying. I am sure that she does not want to compete with you. Her growth in this decade looks like the world tour really did happen.

 

[DensleyBlair]

Does Hansel fit his masterchef duties in and around his activities as a supermodel?

To Tom T. 'the Storyteller' Hall for the wonderful songs. May you rest in peace.

I’d missed this news! How sad…

 

[Midnite Duke]

Does Hansel fit his masterchef duties in and around his activities as a supermodel?

I’d missed this news! How sad…

Thank you for replying. I think that the supermodel is from the next generation, unless Gretel is getting 50% agent fees.

The next day, we lost another Music Hall of Famer from Kentucky. Don Everly rejoined his brother, Phil, in Heavenly Harmony on 21 August.

 

[DensleyBlair]

The next day, we lost another Music Hall of Famer from Kentucky. Don Everly rejoined his brother, Phil, in Heavenly Harmony on 21 August.

I’d missed that news too… How sad!

 

[Highland Confederate]

4 March 1350 Miss Swiss Enterprises HQ in the Alps

Board Chairwoman Heidi sips a cup of hot chocolate and gazes at her childhood visage on the box and reflects back on her first meeting with the AmazingAdventurousReaders and the Dragons in an Alpine meadow many years ago. In one instant, she was a simple mountain girl tending an injured dragon and in seemingly the next moment, she is Europe's leading businesswoman. Looking around the table, she sees her childhood friend/assistant TRB820, next is her daughter and COO Gretel, then is board member and AAReader Admiral @Kazanov and current AAReader Captain @DensleyBlair, the Dyrrachion couple Duchess Jelena who is sitting silently while her husband, Chaghagan, is entertaining everyone with stories of the Far East. The group is awaiting the HRE's representative, Chancellor @RedTemplar. They have gathered to plan the AAReaders voyage east where the world's #2 and #3 are at war. Heidi's twins, Gretel and Hansel, are eagerly anticipating the trip. Gretel is envisioning sales to warring nations, while her MasterChef brother is dreaming of new foods, spices and techniques to enhance his reputation as Europe's top Chef. Heidi tries to hide her surprise when her secretary ushers in not the HRE's Chancellor but rather its Marshal @LPDK 356. He informs them that @RedTemplar's horse had stepped into a gopher hole, while he is not seriously injured, his doctor, Marcus Welby, does advise rest. @RedTemplar will also need to find a new steed and meet with Ben Matlock because Dewey Cheatem is threatening to sue because the gopher's home was destroyed. While the HRE will not officially send troops to Persia, @LPDK 356 states that with retired Lombard General @Highland Confederate guiding the Magnificent Seven mercenary group and your dragons supplying air cover that should prove sufficient security and the Dirty Dozen mercenary group will be on standby.

27 March 1350 Fars Province, Persia

Spot and his rider, @Thaiga, have planned a daily two shift patrol of the skies. A senior dragon (Spot, Ebony, Ivory, Daffodil) would by joined by two younger dragons on each patrol. The senior dragon would carry a veteran crossbow sniper (@Macavity116 or @RustyHunter) as well as its rider while the junior dragons would be unarmed. Speedy and @Tsar Monarchist have established a communications team that has daily dragon flights between the meeting and Miss Swiss headquarters with Dyrrachion as a way point along the route. While the Magnificent Seven is securing the perimeter, Vin Tanner tells General @Highland Confederate that an old storyteller once told him that the secret to a great life was "faster, horses, younger women, older whiskey and more money".


1 April 1350 Rajasthan Empire (capital Hastinapura is on its eastern border)

While Samrat Ayeshah III and his steward @Eurasia finalize a trade agreement with Gretel, Grand Vizier @Eludio briefs the AAReaders on the status of Rajasthan. The Rajasthan Empire is #2 for the fifth consecutive check. Rajasthan gained seventy-four holdings (442) during the quarter century and is now in 130 counties. Rajasthan's 14th century second quarter leadership timeline:

22 April 1318 19yo Hamir Ghurid inherits the Rajasthan Empire.​

​

17 August 1327 28yo Samrat Hamir dies suspiciously. His 6yo son Ayeshah Ghurid inherits Rajasthan. (Samrat Ayeshah III is the second youngest Big Five Ruler but the longest reigning.)​

​

28yo Hindustani Sunni Samrat Ayeshah III is a hot tempered Brilliant Strategist (7-19-9-3-1). He controls the empire, two duchies and four counties. (@Eludio says that he could handle one more holding.) Samrat Ayeshah III's vassals include three kings, fourteen dukes and eight counts. He has gained fifty-six bad boy points with Easterns, Christians, Muslims and Pagans banding together to say 'no more'. Rajasthan's sixty-four thousand man army (Big Five's largest) is engaged in an offensive war.

28 February 1349 Samrat Ayeshah III launched a conquest of Istakhr county (OTL southwestern Iran) from the Iraq/Persia/Daylam Sultanate. (Sorry, no war score as Anne Howe is busy helping @Nikolai count ballots. Dewey Cheatem and @Eludio are trying to spin this as the Ghurid family trying to regain a piece of their Persian heritage.)​

NEXT: We will cross the valley to hear from the Caliph. (Our last stop before returning to Dyrrachion will be our newcomer.)

THANK YOU: To the Lord for protecting @RedTemplar during his recent auto accident. @RedTemplar, best wishes and may Dewey Cheatem not cause any problems.

To TRB820 for being an amazing sister. Happy Birthday!​

​

To Andy Griffith, Robert Young and Steve McQueen for entertaining us many times on screens large and small.​

​

To @Highland Confederate for Reges Langobardorum. This is a new CK2 AAR based in Lombardy. It is your choice whether the Magnificent Seven is old school (Brynner and McQueen), new school (Washington and Pratt) or some combination.​

​

To Tom T. 'the Storyteller' Hall for the wonderful songs. May you rest in peace.​

​

To everybody for reading and commenting.​

Thanks for adding me into the story, I wasn't expecting and feel honored by it. I would think the Magnificent Seven to be a combination of older and newer elements. This would allow a variety of different approaches to a single problem, giving an advantage. Useful when fighting for gold.

 

[RustyHunter]

Thanks for promoting me to dragon-rider! That's pretty hard to beat!