King Gunnarr, House Skala
(Historian’s note: The first of House Skala to begin the tradition of autobiographic diaries, the zealous and crusade-like Gunnarr thought of himself as an arm of the greater Damascusite faith, and focused most of his thoughts and energy on these matters.)
King Gunnarr, Part 1
"The Jihad King"
June, 936
Today, I understand my role in the world.
I have spent three months since the death of my father cementing my rule, but now it is time to look outwards. You see, we of Skala reside directly on the border separating the Eastlands from the Westlands – separating the Damascusite believers from the corrupt Jolanists. While our unique faith and culture still thrives in the Damascus Sea, our people have been largely contained for nearly two centuries now, ever since the old Caliphate broke apart. The greatest threat to our people comes from the zealot Mazandarian Empire, which sprawls without end.
But they are not my concern, for I now reign over the other border – that of the west.
Unlike the zealots to the east, the Jolanist followers are fractured – though a unifying pope far away collects their money, actual lords are bound to no code of honor, and nothing stops them from stabbing each other in the back at a moment’s notice.
This will be our strength.
Nearly thirty years ago, the Jolanist King Iziaslov invaded from the Westlands, humiliating my father in a war that ended with their occupation of Abydos and the spreading of their corrupt faith onto our own lands. Things have changed though; their king grows old and Skala has grown in strength. It shall be my goal to first take back our lands, and help to revitalize our own people in the decades to come. As we are threatened in the East, we must gain strength elsewhere to revive the strength of the Caliphate age and ensure the defense of the Holy City Damascus.
I plan to assemble an army this autumn.
August
The damned Duchess Helena has forced us to delay the invasion by going to war with Duke Bersi to the south. That foolish woman has been our Crown’s most powerful subject for over seven years now, and yet she still finds reasons to feud with the others.
In the meantime, I have assembled the armies from my own domain to try and raid the infidels occupying Abydos – at the least, we can get a better sense of how strong they are.
September
I received word last week that Bersi is trying to rally the other vassals to his side – a fact that wouldn’t be surprising given his weak position in the war, were it not for the fact he had proposed a coalition to give my advisory council legal control over decisions in Skala.
I’m not completely surprised by this foolishness; his role as my Spymaster has been purely ceremonial, the only open position on the Council. His idea of intrigue is about as developed as that of a child, so he apparently decided to loudly come up with this scheme instead.
Though I’m not a fan of Helena – a woman whose only talent seems to be keeping her heart beating after 53 years, Bersi has pushed me onto her side. I sent for a courier to summon her here so I could appoint her a role as Musician
(an important role for the Damascusite tradition), he came back today with word that she would have to delay her duties until after the war, for she had actually decided to don the battle helmet and "command" some of the soldiers herself.
Hopefully not too many, or she might actually find a way to lose her war.
October
The invasion is back on. Despite my own vassals’ distractions, the Anatolian Sultan (as he is colloquially known, given the impossible length of his official title) sent word he would support our invasion.
My own raiding army has already entered Abydos, but I have sent for them to return home and regroup with all the forces my remaining vassals can muster.
December
The army has been assembled, and Anatolia’s own army is just now entering our own borders to prepare the invasion. From what we know, Iziaslav’s army is equal in strength to my own – but alongside our allies, we will crush them.
June, 937.
Damn it all.
Rather than meeting up with the Anatolian army and attacking as a single force, the armies were split up and defeated one-by-one.
As our army waited for the Anatolians to arrive, we learned that the Duke of Samos, a vassal of mine, had fully committed his own forces to the war, apparently aiming to take the islands to the west for himself. However, his army was caught in Abydos, and our own nearby forces marched in to assist, assuming our combined numbers would defeat the Westerners early. Instead, the army arrived to find the Samos forces already routing, and despite having a slight advantage in numbers, our own army was defeated. None of the generals seems to be able to explain in any detail why the battle was lost, which almost certainly means their presence was the reason.
In the meantime, hearing of our plan, the Anatolians had sailed across the Strait to invade from the north. Our army moved to try and help them once Iziaslav attacked, but they were too far away.
Now we are marching East instead – apparently there is another smaller infidel army that somehow made its way into the middle of Duke Bersi’s land. Meanwhile, the nearly full strength army of Iziaslav moves into our own land.
January, 938
As it turns out, Iziaslav convinced armies from the entire neighboring region to join his war in protection of their heathen faith. As our army approached what had initially been reported as a force of about 1000 men, their numbers turned out to be triple that. Fortunately, my army was able to escape the region without being attacked.
It seems that Iziaslav has no heart for battle though – as we marched north and finally met up with the surviving Anatolian forces, the two main Jolanist forces did not attack us. The larger of the two was reported to be securing the surrounding territory near Abydos, while the other one had marched straight for the Anatolian Sultan’s court, which they now occupy. In a final effort to shift the balance, we have ferried forces across the strait to invade their northern city, and as I write this the larger enemy army marches towards us. Once we win this battle, we can secure a foothold in the Westlands and march towards Iziaslav’s own court.
April
The battle was a disaster.
Somehow again, the infidel managed to rout our superior army in battle, and we were driven back into Skala.
However, we were fortunately able to take advantage of Iziaslav’s meek nature and avoid any other damage as of yet. The enemy forces marched straight through our territory into Anatolia, where they are moving to force their Sultan to end the war in humiliation. Though this defeat stings, it could have ended much worse for us. In the meantime, I have sent my armies home – we must grow stronger if we are to fight the Westlanders.
I have ordered the construction of some fortifications and such in important locations, to ensure our own lands stay free from invasion. Later, we shall begin expanding the army itself.
August
Bersi is dead.
After all the time and men wasted on the stupid war between Helena and him, his death of cancer ended the war without victory for either of them – being sonless, his lands now fall under my dominion by law. I imagine Helena will not be too happy about this, but the extra land and taxes will go a long way towards growing the army.
My wife has taken over his role as Spymaster as well, and she is trying to set up a network in the west to learn some of their secrets for the next war.
October
The expansion goes well, thanks to the extra funds. Forts and castle walls are being developed near the western border, along with my own capital. Any complaints Helena may have had about not gaining any of Bersi’s titles are currently drowned out by internal issues with her own vassals, who have raised up arms against her. Meanwhile, the fighting formally came to an end with the humiliation of the Anatolian Sultan.
December, 939
The expansion continues at a quicker pace than expected, thanks in part to the Grand Mayor of Skalanon, our great city located on the mouth of the Black Sea. The role that the two houses of Skalanon’s merchant republics plays in our realm is unique – they are masters of trade, both within the city itself and in several coastal outposts across the entire nation. Their skills have brought much wealth to us over the years.
Earlier this year, he got into conflict with the Infidels on the other side of the strait, and my own soldiers took advantage of the distraction to do some raiding in Abydos, where we managed to secure some good plunder before returning home – most interestingly, a strange chest that the blacksmiths have been unable to break open.
April, 944
It has now been six years since the war ended, and things have gone very well since then. The army has grown in size and strength by a fair amount, and my own power has expanded after banishing a minor Count who was caught scheming to seize the entire Kingdom.
Great effort has also been made to enhance our army this time around, studying foreign methods and developing our own. I am now confident we are ready to attack Iziaslav on our own and finally remove the heathens from the Eastlands.
