Dkulja - The Jewel of the East

[CountArach]

Dkulja – The Jewel of the East
Or: How not to play CK

This is our mighty Empire! The glory of the East! The jewel in the Crown of Empires!

See it? No, not that big purple one – do you really think I would be caught dead with that colour? Puh-lease. No, you can see my mighty Empire if you look closer… no, closer still…

Yes! That’s it!

We are the mighty Duchy of Dkulja…

-------------------------

Alright, welcome to my AAR – Dkulja – The Jewel of the East. It will be an AAR of roleplaying my characters, hopefully with some humour (Though not an overpowering amount) mixed in. It will also be a chance for me to show off my complete inability to win at CK. If I survive more than 100 years I would be impressed.

I am aware another Dkulja AAR is currently in progress, but we have different playing and writing styles. I prefer a more first-person, personal approach with a very slow gameplay (Hopefully not boring though). I’m playing CK 1.05 with the Alternative Scenario Setup v1.4 as the Duchy of Dkulja (In case you hadn’t figured it out).

So yeah, welcome to my AAR!

 

[CountArach]

Index

Book I - Mihajlo Vojislavljevic
Chapter 1 - Family Ties

 

[CountArach]

Book 1 – The Reign of Mihajlo Vojislavljevic

Chapter 1 – Family Ties
The following is from the quill of Velimir Ercegovac, royal scribe. It was spoken to him by the most blessed ruler Mihajlo Vojislavljevic, Duke of Duklja.

As my life draws to a close I feel the need to reflect on my lifetime’s accomplishments, such as they are. No doubt in the future some historian will write the history of the glorious House of Vojislavljevic and I thus thought it wise that they should have access to my own account of events. Hence they shall be most capable of writing the truth of the matter.

All stories must have a starting date and I thought no better than the last days of December in the year 1066 of our Lord. I had only recently ascended to the throne following the death of my father. My brother acquiesced to me, being the largest landholder of the two of us (having the title Count of Zeta prior to this).

Much of the start of my reign was absorbed with internal intriguing in my court, leading to a situation where I was in complete control of my subordinates, constantly playing them off against one another. A good deal of violence was thrown into the mix, though I think it best to spare you the details of my exploits in that regard. I am sure my most esteemed scribe agrees with me. Seeing his nodding and the increased pace of his writing I can only assume that means he agrees with me.

I think it best at this time to reflect on my family as it then stood. First was my wife Maria, a daughter of a minor noble in Achaia. At this time she was 47 years of age to my 51. She was indeed my second wife, my first having died in childbirth after our second child together.

By my first wife I had two sons, Vladimir and Konstantin Bodin, both of whom had grown into strong Serbian men. However, even by their age (36 and 31) neither was married. Konstantin had been too busy with his training for the priesthood and Vladimir had a strange moustache that was altogether unattractive. I figured that the only way I could get him to marry was to arrange one for him.

By Maria I had my son Petrislav, a strong man, broad of shoulder and good with a sword. These were the reasons I had named him Count of Rashka and Hum, despite his brothers having seniority over him. Duklja had gone too long without strong men and this was no time to let familial relations get in the way of the advancement of the Duchy.

One thing that is worth mentioning in my eyes is that all of my relatives are Orthodox. Though I mourn for their souls each night as I pray and though I often confront them openly about their faith, trying to get them to repent they refuse to. One day one of these sons of mine shall rule the Duchy and bring all of my peoples to hell. I do what I can for my people’s souls in my life in the hope that they shall join me to serve in heaven. Yet, I do not hold high hopes.

That will just about do me for tonight. Let us go forth to the chapel – I feel the need for another prayer.

 

[stnylan]

I really did like the first post. Had me fooled.