Avon Las Observes

[Midnite Duke]

1 March 1250 near Dijon, France

Commander @codie of the French Foreign Legion brings the AmazingAvonReaders to camp on the Ouche River shore.

Liridon Progonovic: How does @HistoryDude and Uncle Visar make this look so easy?

@Austregisel: All day "this is the wrong brand of water", "I do not like riding next to him", "I get horse sick, if I am not in front row" and "are we there yet"!


The AmazingAvonReaders enter Dijon Castle, passing below banners proclaiming "1200 #1", "1225 #1", "1250 #1". The Holy Roman Empire continues to be #1 gaining 37 holdings to 624 in 177 counties. The capital has been moved from the Black Forest to the westernmost point in the contiguous Holy Roman Empire, Dijon. (There are two exclaves in Eastern Spain.) The timeline of the Emperorship:

23 April 1222 24yo Berthold von Zähringen is elected Emperor.​

26 March 1241 After ruling for almost 19 years, 43yo Kaiser Berthold dies a cripple from battlefield injuries suffered in the Empire's service. 38yo Magnus von Hohenstaufen is elected Emperor. Kaiser Magnus is a grandson of the legendary Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa.​

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47yo German Catholic Kaiser Magnus' schooling has allowed him to be midas touched. While Kaiser Magnus is temperate in food and drink, he has been known to make decisions on a whim with his patience long lost. His stewardship is a ray of hope on a blah 0-5-10-0-7 stat line. Kaiser Magnus currently controls two counties as well as the empire with three kings, thirty-two dukes, five counts and five barons in his service. The Kaiser's advisors are urging him to add three holdings to increase his powerbase.

Kaiser Magnus is currently trying to burn off ten 'bad boy' points that has fellow Christians in an uproar. The only current war for the Holy Roman Empire's twenty thousand man force is helping Clotaire of the French Revolt defend Farafra province (western Egypt) from a Sunni Holy War led by Sheikh Abdul-Azeem of al-Asyutiya. In an ironic twist, Kaiser Magnus is currently in a truce with Clotaire after reclaiming for his family, the county of Dijon. The current holder of Farafra is the Countess that recently lost Dijon to Kaiser Magnus.

Sunset finds the AmazingAvonReaders gathered around a campfire devouring German and Italian sausages of all types with the Kaiser's special Dijon mustard liberally spread atop the 'dogs'. As the AmazingAvonReaders relax from their meal, troubadour @Tyler96 sings about the deeds of the von Hohenstaufen dynasty.


SHOUT OUTS: @Tyler96 comes to us from the 'Chronicles of Conradin'. This is a tale of the von Hohenstaufens. While it is over two years old, now is a good time to catch up as @Tyler96 catches up on his schoolwork.

@codie is a visitor from 'French Lions'. 'French Lions' celebrated its first birthday earlier this month. For readers of @JabberJock14, you will some familiar figures but from a different viewpoint and with a different brush from the RNG paintbrush.


Next, we will journey with Visar and Alek as they try to do Doux Gjin's bidding. Then, we will head east to our two newcomers. The last chance to make me do extra research is upon us.

 

[Bullfilter]

The Blob looks unstoppable.

Anyone who eats a medieval sausage is braver than the fiercest warrior: beware the risk of “died while attending to chamber business”. Though I’m sure the Emperor only serves the best, and the mustard will kill anything noxious off.

 

[Midnite Duke]

The Blob looks unstoppable.

Anyone who eats a medieval sausage is braver than the fiercest warrior: beware the risk of “died while attending to chamber business”. Though I’m sure the Emperor only serves the best, and the mustard will kill anything noxious off.

Thank you for replying. The HRE is centuries ahead of time being a bureaucratic state instead of being dynastic. The Princes seem to like electing semi-weak emperors that can be controlled. Ambitious vassals have free reign knowing that the big bad emperor will protect them. The HRE like the original Roman Empire needs to be weakened from the inside before outside forces will have a chance. Can the Empire get to 1000 holdings or will there be an implosion are the major questions? My last three games (1204, 1220 and 1241 starts) have seen one or the other.

I am sure that at least one AmazingAvonReader has a fully stocked bag for eating, drinking, allergic and sexual emergencies. Whether that person shares is another question! When praying to the porcelain gods, how do you assign blame among the sausages, excellent German beer and the good German wine. The Emperor has a statement that all maladies were caused by smuggled French wine. (Though Kaiser Magnus and King Fulk both probably own more French vineyards than the King of France.) With the capital in Dijon, I could not resist the mustard reference. Maybe Commander @codie was really a colonel.

 

[Midnite Duke]

1 March 1250 aboard the 'Purple Steward' off the Irish coast

Lt. @JSB217118: Can we trust him?

Commodore @diskoerekto: Alek, Always! That Baltic Pirate, 'Silver Ghost', Never! But if he betrays me, I will take his head to the Rurikids for enough gold to retire in luxury and sell his other parts for enough to have a pretty maiden as well. He reminds me of someone.

@JSB217118: He looks like the one that the AmazingAvonReaders call Bull Fighter though with a braided beard, eyepatch and Polish accent.

@diskoerekto: I wonder if the 'Silver Ghost' believes that the world is upside down with summer in winter with giant rabbits that carry their young in pouches like Bull Fighter.


Bréifne castle, Ireland

Count Daigre: Barbarian run back to your mountain cave and take your Frenchy king with you.

Visar Progonovic: See your flock of sheep on that hillside. Watch what a grieving young man will do to fulfil his father's last request. While those men share your regard for King Fulk, you are seen as killing their beloved Queen T.

Alek Progonovic: Men, roast mutton for lunch.

Visar: My nephew and I will spend the afternoon with our niece while you will prepare YOUR queen's remains for transport home.

Alek: Count Disgrace, Take Good Care of my Niece and pray that I do not need to VISIT you again. Remember my father was called the Balkan Boogeyman for a reason.


21 March aboard the Byzantine flagship 'Phoenix' in Constantinople harbor

Queen Lule and Doux Alek, flanked by their Uncle Visar and Basileus Manuel II, await the coffin bearing the remains of their father to be brought aboard and placed next to the one containing the remains of their sister. 1000 men of General Gijn's prestigious Byzantine Ranger Battalion formed two rows on the pier. First came two soldiers carrying a rod that had General Gjin's famed (many say feared) battle tunic draped upon it. As the men bearing the coffin reach their lined comrades, rather than stepping between the lines, the coffin is passed down the line, allowing each man to provide a final service to his beloved general. Both coffins are draped with the flags of Dyrrachion Duchy with Gijn's bearing the flag of the Byzantine Empire as well. Not a single English standard was seen.


24 March HRE border in the northern Balkans

Liridon Progonovic and @Austregisel watch anxiously as the protection for the AmazingAvonReaders is transferred from Commander @codie's French Foreign Legion to the hard riders of Serbian strongman @marko river. @marko river was amazed that he would not only get to attend his idol's funeral but would be paid for it. Liridon wanted to be in time to say bye to the uncle that had inspired him. For the AAReaders, they wished to show respect for the man who once (1200) was their guide and twice their host (1225 and 1250).


27 March Krujë Castle

After a service that included eulogies by Catholic and Orthodox Bishops, Basileus Manuel II and Doux Gjin's friend from another century, @Bullfilter, the coffins are carried to the Progonovic family crypt. They will join Gjin's parents Count Progon and Countess Blerta, his brothers Dimitrije, Aleksander, and Zamyr, his wife Duchess Agalina and his sons Muzaka and Pëllumb in eternal rest. The procession was witnessed by many; some to remember the mountain girl who became queen on a faraway island, some to honor the man who had ruled the mountains for almost thirty years, some to ensure that the Balkan Boogeyman was indeed gone. @Fool Esquire in remembrance of a little girl who loved his photos would carry a wreath on behalf of the AAReaders. The legend of the Balkan Boogeyman would grow as parents made their children behave by telling of Doux Gjin. One who used the legend would be Vlad Dracula.


Krujë Castle was the seat of power of the Progoni dynasty, the first rulers of an independent Albanian state between 1190 and 1216. Today the castle contains a museum dedicated to Skanderbeg (EU4 players, the super Albanian general at game start).

SHOUT OUT: @marko river comes to us from 'In the split of Christianity'. He is based in neighboring Duklja 1066. His play style may be the complete opposite of mine. While I try to respect the wishes of my characters, he is a master manipulator and user of cheesy (his words) tactics (I prefer to eat my cheese.)

Thank you for reading. Next we journey southeast to one of our two newcomers.

 

[Bullfilter]

AmazingAvonReaders call Bull Fighter

though with a braided beard, eyepatch and Polish accent

Very true to life. Well, kinda

I wonder if the 'Silver Ghost' believes that the world is upside down with summer in winter with giant rabbits that carry their young in pouches like Bull Fighter.

Almost certainly.

Vale Doux Gjin

 

[diskoerekto]

I'm keeping an eye on Silver Ghost, that's for sure!

It was so interesting to witness the details and intricacies of a royal funeral, to someone who spends his time on ships away from nobility

 

[Midnite Duke]

Very true to life. Well, kinda

Almost certainly.

Vale Doux Gjin

Thank you for commenting! I hope that the 'Silver Ghost' will enjoy the Letter of Marque that Basileus Manuel II issued to the 'Silver Ghost' for unspecified services rendered. You do have to be very careful when approaching Christian ships. Between 1245 and 1275, the Emperors went from Orthodox to Catholic to Orthodox to Catholic to Orthodox. Different Emperors with only the transition from Manuel to his son being of the same religion.

 

[Midnite Duke]

I'm keeping an eye on Silver Ghost, that's for sure!

It was so interesting to witness the details and intricacies of a royal funeral, to someone who spends his time on ships away from nobility

Thank you for commenting. The Purple Steward and the Silver Ghost will meet again! Spoiler Alert! Commodore @diskoerekto, mark your social calendar for in sixteen short years Houses Laskaris and Progonovic will unite. Doux Alek will marry Princess Georgia, a granddaughter of Basileus Manuel II.

 

[marko river]

Interesting approach to AAR. Keep up with humor

 

[Midnite Duke]

Our first newcomer in our 1250 check is no stranger to seasoned AmazingAvonReaders.


1 April 1250 Archa Castle in the mountains along the Turkish/Syrian border

Liridon Progonovic and @Austregisel are carefully shepherding the AAReaders through a receiving line with the Sultan of Syria and Arabia when a large smile crosses the face of Sultan Saladin. Sultan Saladin hobbles through the AAReaders line to engulf @Specialist290 in a mighty bear hug. The two spend the remainder of the reception catching up and reliving the afternoon fifty years ago when the visitor from the future befriended a scared four year old in a desert castle along the Indian Ocean.

With the gain of 91 holdings to 196, the Sultanate of Syria and Arabia rises from #7 to #4. This gain is mainly the result of the Sunni Caliph restoring Egypt to the Ayyubid family after a victorious Sunni Jihad. The 196 holdings are spread over 60 counties. As in 1225, the leadership timeline for the dual Sultanate is simple.

18 December 1199 Saladin Ayyubid inherits the Sultanate of Syria and Arabia.​

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54yo Levantine Sunni Sultan Saladin despite his clubfoot has become a brave tough soldier with a strength in diplomacy helping to overcome his weaknesses in intrigue and learning (14-9-9-0-2). Besides the two king rank crowns, Sultan Saladin personally leads a duchy and four counties. He has ten dukes, four counts and nine barons assisting him.

Sultan Saladin and his thirty thousand man army are currently engaged in one conflict.​

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They are engaged in a Holy War for Quena county (upper Egypt, two counties east of Farafra where Sheikh Abdul-Azeem is fighting Clotaire of the French Revolt and Kaiser Magnus). Sultan Saladin's adversary in Quena is the Catholic Queen Rannveig of Norway. Anne Howe and her squad of bean counters are giving Sultan Saladin a seventy point lead.​

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In the Eastern Mediterranean

Three hours after dropping off the AAReaders, Commodore @diskoerekto and his faithful crew confront a sudden vicious storm. A mast breaks and renders the brave Commodore unconscious with his mangled right leg pinned. Lt. @JSB217118 renders care to his wounded skipper and fellow crewmembers while keeping the heavily damaged 'Purple Steward' afloat despite the bumbling efforts of mate Gilligan. The breaking dawn unveils the 'Dancing Matilda' under the 'Silver Ghost' sailing from the mists to aid the stricken 'Purple Steward'.

Though safely towed to the Byzantine naval base on Cyprus, the 'Purple Steward' is salvaged with her wheel going to the 'Crimson Clover' under Commodore @JSB217118's command. No one lost their life but several sailors including Admiral @diskoerekto lost limbs. The Admiral spends the remainder of his naval career in Constantinople as the Chief of Naval Research. Nurse Mary Ann vows to keep Admiral @diskoerekto happy and healthy until death shall part them. The 'Silver Ghost' and the 'Dancing Matilda' fade back into the mists of the Mediterranean and Black Seas in search of plunder.


An apology to Sultan Saladin, when I first met you in January 1200, I never expected you to reach adulthood much less become the first leader to be in the top five fifty years after your first appearance. He has survived fifty years in a job that saw four predecessors murdered within twelve years with ZERO intrigue.

A special thank you to my friend and expert on all things dealing with the Turkish region, @diskoerekto. I reached out to him when I could not find any information on the Syrian capital of Archa. His best idea is Artah on the road from Antioch to Aleppo.

Everyone, thank you for reading. Please join us next time as we travel northeastward to reach 1250's second newcomer. There is still time to make a guess and force me to do bonus research. (I have played to 1275 thus the research would have a 1275 instead of 1250 base.)

 

[Midnite Duke]

Interesting approach to AAR. Keep up with humor

Thank you for replying. Welcome to the AmazingAdventurousReaders. Avon is definitely unique. Would you mind naming a ship to transport AAReaders from India to Dyrrachion? Adventure Syria 1250, just went up and I hope it meets your humor quotient.

 

[Austregisel]

Interesting how Saladin here have poor stats, even more in martial xD greatly decreasing his potential probably, and yet a powerful Sultan of two Sultanates.

 

[diskoerekto]

Three hours after dropping off the AAReaders, Commodore @diskoerekto and his faithful crew confront a sudden vicious storm. A mast breaks and renders the brave Commodore unconscious with his mangled right leg pinned. Lt. @JSB217118 renders care to his wounded skipper and fellow crewmembers while keeping the heavily damaged 'Purple Steward' afloat despite the bumbling efforts of mate Gilligan. The breaking dawn unveils the 'Dancing Matilda' under the 'Silver Ghost' sailing from the mists to aid the stricken 'Purple Steward'.

Oh no!

Though safely towed to the Byzantine naval base on Cyprus, the 'Purple Steward' is salvaged with her wheel going to the 'Crimson Clover' under Commodore @JSB217118's command. No one lost their life but several sailors including Admiral @diskoerekto lost limbs. The Admiral spends the remainder of his naval career in Constantinople as the Chief of Naval Research. Nurse Mary Ann vows to keep Admiral @diskoerekto happy and healthy until death shall part them. The 'Silver Ghost' and the 'Dancing Matilda' fade back into the mists of the Mediterranean and Black Seas in search of plunder.

Hey a happy ending Something quite rare in CK2verse...

A special thank you to my friend and expert on all things dealing with the Turkish region, @diskoerekto. I reached out to him when I could not find any information on the Syrian capital of Archa. His best idea is Artah on the road from Antioch to Aleppo.

They have some mean food there as well!

 

[Midnite Duke]

Interesting how Saladin here have poor stats, even more in martial xD greatly decreasing his potential probably, and yet a powerful Sultan of two Sultanates.

Thank you for commenting. Saladin's 34 points is actually second among the five rulers. In 1200, Saladin's life expectancy was measured in days not years.

 

[Bullfilter]

the bumbling efforts of mate Gilligan

Another one to show your age, my friend!

the 'Dancing Matilda' under the 'Silver Ghost' sailing from the mists to aid the stricken 'Purple Steward'.

Ourah!

Nurse Mary Ann

Very nice - another nurse-patient romantic adventure

Hey a happy ending Something quite rare in CK2verse...

Yes, better Constantinople than shipwrecked on an island with a bunch of misfits.

PS: Saladin has certainly done well for himself.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Oh no!


Hey a happy ending Something quite rare in CK2verse...


They have some mean food there as well!

Thank you for responding and the help. A leg for a an Admiral's star and Mary Ann's seems to be a star. Bob Denver and Dawn Wells were once special guests of a Teddy Bear show that was held at a hotel where I was working. What is the speciality of Artah? Is Artah in Turkey or Syria? Thank you for the help.

 

[JSB217118]

Interesting how Saladin here have poor stats, even more in martial xD greatly decreasing his potential probably, and yet a powerful Sultan of two Sultanates.

One of the dumber things about this game.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Another one to show your age, my friend!

Ourah!

Very nice - another nurse-patient romantic adventure

Yes, better Constantinople than shipwrecked on an island with a bunch of misfits.

PS: Saladin has certainly done well for himself.

Thank you for commenting. My young friend, I am proud to have been born in the 50s. Saladin would certainly have a spot on CK biography week. His naivete (0 intrigue) and clubfoot would certainly make him very sympathetic. Shortly after bestowing Egypt to Saladin, the Caliph would be killed by Doux Gjin while defending Saladin from the Byzantines.

 

[Midnite Duke]

One of the dumber things about this game.

Welcome back Commodore, thank you for commenting. Among dumb things, would stats not be fairly representative even make the top ten. Your ship is another example of my age as it pays tribute to a 1968 song by Tommy James and the Shondells.

 

[diskoerekto]

Thank you for responding and the help. A leg for a an Admiral's star and Mary Ann's seems to be a star. Bob Denver and Dawn Wells were once special guests of a Teddy Bear show that was held at a hotel where I was working. What is the speciality of Artah? Is Artah in Turkey or Syria? Thank you for the help.

The closest settlement to what used to be Artah is the Turkish border town of Reyhanlı, more or less. To be honest, I don't really know what was special about Artah, but from where it stands, my guess would be a stop on trade route?