Empire on Wings (Orthodox AAR)

[FondMemberofSociety]

Hello everyone! And welcome to Empire on Wings!

As the start-up says, there are no goals in CK2, with the only condition that amounts to losing being your title(s) passing on to a non-dynastic heir.

So, I have set up a few goals for meself in this playthrough:

1. I start with zero (0) points, in the year 936
2. Every Roman Emperor that ascends the throne despite the previous dynasty not being extinct and has a Martial of less than 10 causes me to lose one (1) point

(However, health traits are disregarded)
3. Every Roman Emperor that belongs to the same dynasty as the previous one causes me to gain one (1) point
4. If 3 is achieved and the current emperor has a martial of 10 or more, I gain one extra point
5. If 3 is achieved while the previous Emperor did not die of murder or combat (duels and in battles), I gain one extra point (extras from 4&5 could stack)
6. Every independent realm converted to Orthodoxy by me means one point more
7. If I hit negative points, I lose
8. If the current Roman Emperor belongs neither to the Byzantine culture group nor the Orthodox faith, I automatically lose


Now you might be thinking "Duh, this is another Greek 'make Orthodox Rome great again' AAR, we have tons of those", but actually this is me

WE WILL MAKE LITHUANIA GREAT! ... And maybe tag Rome along.

Very well, until next time!

 

[Bullfilter]

This sounds like a somewhat unusual set up. Good luck!

 

[RustyHunter]

I'll be curious to see how Lithuania can influence the Byzantines. The high chiefdom of Yatvingia is probably my favorite pagan start since forming Lithuania is always fun!

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Empire on Wings
Record I
The Beginnings of a Great Lithuania​

Men say that tall tales start small, and indeed, the saying fits the tale of the lazy, gluttonous, arbitrary High Chief Kernius Lithua very well. For a grand total of three years, 41-year old High Chief Kernius of the High Chiefdom of Lithuania gained a grand total of one province - his rightful inheritance, divided amongst himself and his 83-year old uncle by his father perhaps. Unfortunately, the Zemaitijans resented the elderly man's unchecked tax farmers, rising up in rebellion. Kernius intervened to restore his uncle's lands, but try as he might, he could not transfer the land back into his uncle's hands.


At age 74, Basileus and Autokrator of the Romans, Romanos Lekapenos, died of depression. Though held in low regard by his ward, "the boor" Romanos was an accomplished commander that campaigned successfully in the name of Deus et Roma. Still, by associating his sons with him on his throne, he planted seeds of great unrest for the empire.

(The historical Constantine VII, in his works, does call Romanos a boor. He does not like his adopted father, maybe a tiny bit, but certainly not much.)


His ward with a scholastic bent, and legitimate heir to the Roman throne, Konstantinos, was a pathetic commander. Long live Konstantinos VII!

(As an unrepentant Makedon fanboy, "previous" in Rule 3 counts from Constantine VII's father. According to Rules 3&5, I currently have 2 points.)


However, while he himself is not fit for command duties, Konstantinos inherited a war going strong against the Roman Empire's many enemies. This victory would bolster his legitimacy in the minds of his soldiers, despite him almost having nothing to do with it.


Progress for Kernius, meanwhile, was tragic from a bard's standpoint. After inheriting Deltuva and holding in his hands all of the inheritance promised to the Head of the Lithua House, he wasted away his years with the finest food available in the cold Baltic region procured by hunting and gold, only his food-lust prompting him to claim the rich region of Minsk as his own, for more tribute in the form of pickled boar's heads. The conquest of Selija was entirely not planned for, and was mostly a drunken overreaction to a Selijan bard's unruly behavior in Vilnius. Should the rest of his reign continue in this fashion, he would indeed be merely another forgettable persona in the great river of history.

(I tried to get The White Bear eludes me, but failed. For ten years in a row. I've read somewhere I could reasonably expect it after five to seven years (this isn't actually finding the bear after all), so for me this clearly was not worth the effort.)


But it did not. Reports on and tales of the mighty Kievan Rus, warring simultaneously with nomads to its east and south, and Svjpod to its north, a hair's breadth away from becoming an empire stretching from sea to sea and tiny Lithuania's neighbor, shook Kernius from his alcoholic stupor. The bards claim that his love of the Lithuanian people, the sons and daughters of Dievas, blessed him with newfound clarity of sight. But the answer may be as simple as a weak ruler's natural reaction to the growth of a powerful neighbor.

Still, as the gluttony that defined Kernius' earlier reign was not lost, many jokingly claim he was preparing for a great quest to sample Kievan Rus' delicacies.

A great plot to seize Zemgale fell through, as the claimant backed by Kernius broke away after claiming Kaunas, Zemgale, and Kernius' eldest daughter wedded under a false pretense of alliance. Played by his own cards, Kernius was forced to make the alliance a genuine affair and continue his quest of expansion with a setup that he could barely work with.


While he had won a few rounds of flyting through alcoholic rage and very loud fist-poundings, even earning the nickname "the Merciless" for his scathing blabbers, Kernius was old, angry and just lost a round of flyting when he made an impulsive decision that would not only change his own reign, but become a defining episode in the history of the Lithuanians. He would unite them all. Lithuanians, Lettigalians, Prussians. One people. One King of Lithuania.

And thus began a story men have often accredited to the greats, but started this time by an old, arbitrary glutton, no longer lazy thanks to his energetic hunting hound's daily nudging to start workouts in the cold Baltic morning.

Emptying his treasury (as Kernius miserably realized, amassing great wealth from raids and whatnot for delicacies was not a strategy that could really work along the Baltic coast) for Pecheneg mercenaries, the High Chief of Lithuania began his legendary rampage across all of what would become his kingdom. Curonia, Livonia, Latagale, Yatvingia, Samogitia - if his brothers in faith and blood cannot accept a leader, an overlord whose greatest military action was also his greatest blunder, they will learn the hard way he is a changed man. Not terribly capable, but changed enough.


Still, as Kernius' sudden interest in Mazovia demonstrates, he did not change that much. In an attempt to cut the threat down to size, he launched an attack on Liw, as Mazovia could threaten Kernius' precious Pruthenian holdings once he had them. However, the Lithuanian host was ambushed en route, proving extremely costly - and made releasing the encroaching bishops for some extra gold necessary. This small war of pathetic gains nearly cost Lithuania its unification, and has been remembered before the appearance of its formal writing system as "the Woe of Liw".


In the end, it was Pruthenia that proved the toughest enemy in the War of Lithuanian Unification. Though, as a commander that drinks to stay sane on the battlefield, Kernius did not realize why there were so many peoples speaking a language he did not understand amongst the ranks of the Pruthenians.


It turned out the Pruthenians themselves had dominated Poles in the west, not involving themselves in homeland matters. When these lands fell to the Romuva along with Pruthenia, in one fell swoop, Lithuania had become more than a kingdom.

The Children of Dievas had an empire in all but name.



However, Kernius himself was not long for this world. Ever the fine eater even on campaign, the first King of Lithuania fell to gout and stress at the age of 58. Freed from his middle-age shackles of sloth and arbitrariness, in his old age Kernius was still remembered as impulsive. But, he was also famed for his kindness to fellow Lithuanians, his patience and diligence in the training of his troops, and last but not least his courage on the battlefield, serving both to scar his face and provide him with endless material to write about after learning the ropes of poetry. A plotter by education, King Kernius "the Merciless" would be forever remembered as "the Father of Lithuania".

Only time could tell how much weight the title would carry.

Kynaz Kernius Lithua, reigned 951-953

The King is dead. Long live the King!​

 

[Bullfilter]

Off to a bright and breezy start. So, if the only points you generate yourself are for converting provinces to orthodoxy, does this mean your next king is aiming to convert himself! And is there any way you think you will one day be able to influence Byzantine succession politics, or is that just being left to the vagaries of the game?

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Off to a bright and breezy start.

Let's just say that Montvilas' reign surprised even me, and is headed towards a suitably climatic end (if he does die in its course).

So, if the only points you generate yourself are for converting provinces to orthodoxy, does this mean your next king is aiming to convert himself!

Yes of course. No reformed Romuva play this time around (tried that, even easier than reforming Germanic and Bon, these are the only three I've ever seen the AI manage).

And is there any way you think you will one day be able to influence Byzantine succession politics, or is that just being left to the vagaries of the game?

I started this play based on a what-if of "what if the Romans called for outside support from Poland-Lithuania instead of Kievan Rus during Bardas' rebellion?" So yes, I plan to someday influence Roman succession, there is an autokill situation associated with it after all.

 

[NarcomancerPL]

I started this play based on a what-if of "what if the Romans called for outside support from Poland-Lithuania instead of Kievan Rus during Bardas' rebellion?" So yes, I plan to someday influence Roman succession, there is an autokill situation associated with it after all.

Poland-Lithuania? Are you aiming at creating it?

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Empire on Wings
Record II
Unmappable Trials​

Old Man Lithua left three sons before he passed: Kernius, Gimbutas and Montvilas. Gimbutas, the middle brother, would stand out because he was so... not outstanding compared to his older and younger brother. Where his older brother combines the beloved tropes of the Good King, the do-no-good that straightened up and father of a nation, and his younger brother the martial genius and the one who completely unified Lithuania, Gimbutas was mostly remembered for trying to keep up a pretense of government in Kernius' wanton days, an accomplishment soon forgotten in the shadow of the great kynaz.


Few remember the days wherein he held the reins of government with his mother and niece, and butting heads with the then-decadent Kernius. Sadly, Gimbutas himself could not tell the tale either, having predeceased his brother before he suddenly showed his true strength and potential.


Unlike Gimbutas, the youngest brother Montvilas lived to see the death of Kernius, as he was over three decades the junior of both his brothers. An accomplished commander with pathetic diplomatic skills, Montvilas has demonstrated the paranoia and capability in the covert arts befitting a youngest sibling.


Ultimately, whatever designs he had on his brother were annulled by gout, stress and old age. Having made his name during the War of Unification, the youngest Lithua was already named the heir prior to Kernius' death: perhaps, in the darkest corner of his heart, he could thank the evil spirits for taking his brother before he ran out of patience and launched an assassination plot.


Shortly after his ascension, he quickly reclaimed Kaunas, rightfully belonging to the King of the Lithuanians. It barely counted as a show of strength - his vassals, still cold towards the young upstart, were not impressed.


Briefly turning our gaze to the south, we see the Roman Basileus has taken another wife. It appears the last Basilissa, the Basileus' connection to the Lekapenos family, has died of an illness.


Before his council has stopped fuming against the young upstart, Montvilas has swiftly dealt with the so-called "Kaunas-Zemgale issue", completely unifying Lithuania. The problematic "Duchy of the Zemgalians", which even sparked an adventurer's war, was abolished, allowing Tukums and Riga too be properly reunified with the wayward province into one duchy.

Though still plagued by internal issues left by Kernius' "Perkunas' Smiting", on paper there were now two powers of equal caliber on the Great European Plains: the Kingdom of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Kievan Rus'. The nightmare of the Rus taking Vilnius by storm seemed a distant possibility now.

With survival as an independent people fading into the background, Montvilas needed to work upon another aspect of his reign: legitimacy.

He was just too young and too undiplomatic to stop people from getting pissed off at his actions. It meant he was good at flyting, though. In an effort to keep him away from social gatherings in order to keep him alive, Kernius even made Montvilas marry a Rus woman a decade his senior.


Deciding alcohol would be a good way to close distances, he decided to party with his vassals and make some friends. The young king needed many things for what he wanted to do next, and friends rank very high up on his requirement list. Friends meant laws passed, laws passed and acknowledged by the realm was legitimacy, and Montivilas needed legitimacy. Simple as that.

In the meantime, however, the heir to the old knyaz was helplessly petty and grudge-bearing. In fact, so petty that just seducing a vassal's wife was not enough - he had to make the affair public, and after he did, he made a rival out of poor Lubartas.


As if that still was not enough, he wanted the man's head after his death. He got it.

With unification complete and a hot-headed king sitting on Kernius' throne, Lithuania temporarily ran out of targets for war. Thus began the "Short Peace". A battle-tested but undiplomatic ruler trying to navigate the politics of Vilnius in an attempt to bolster his legitimacy and gain tighter control of his realm means, for its neighbors, relative peace. The court flowed with the flux caused by the trade of favors and backstabbing, even the kynaz was not above the occasional plotting. Still, his power could be projected much more directly. Raids as far as Germania were conducted during the Short Peace, and the prestige and gold slowly cowed and nudged the chiefs and priests to his side.


In an effort to appeal to the priests, and more importantly alleviate the chronic priestly recruit shortage which was a hallmark of the Kernius period, Montvilas used up much of his income to sponsor a new temple at Deltuva. Lavished with gold seized from the Catholic infidels, it would be a magnificent construction once completed.

The gesture was necessary: his priest at court held huge sway over the hearts of his councilors, which meant his approval was required for everything proposed by the king to pass. Simply sacking priests would not do - they belonged to the same network, so no matter how many were sacked, the next one would almost always take up the same position, and angering the priestly community as a whole was not a price worth paying for finding those that would cooperate.
(When I screencapped this, my priest at court called in favors from three of my councilors. I could wait, but I didn't want to, and it made narrative sense.)

Where Kernius' achievements could be easily put on a map, Montvilas began the thankless job of turning the great mass brought together by his brother into a coherent whole, and these trials remain unmapped. Learning from the neighboring states of Bohemia and Germania, the tribal coalition founded by Kernius was beginning to seem more like an actual state by the time Montvilas was satisfied. He held the power to revoke titles - if it meant the council had a say in then who he should give it to, it was a fair trade.

During one of said "learning" sessions, Lithuanians learned about the stupidity of its feudal neighbors.


In their haste to defend their raided capital, the Bohemians crossed the upper reaches of the Elbe only to walk right into a Lithuanian ambush. Needless to say, the river was not kind to those who fell in.


Asides from raids, the bishops were also a welcome source of income. They were rich, and thus could almost always afford their own ransom. They also provided interesting knowledge that was not reliably accessible for the Vilnius court.


Interesting knowledge, such as a change of emperorship in the Roman Empire. Romanos Lekapenos had associated his elder sons with him on the throne: naturally, a rebellion against Konstantinos rallied around his younger son. As the empire was the biggest importer of the Black Sea slave trade, news from New Rome was met with mild interest from the Vilnius court, who are one of the many exporters.

Rumors speak of the new Basileus' brilliant blue eyes. An oddity, because neither of his parents had blue eyes.

(Total points: 1)


Vilnius remains unsure of the implications of Roman news, so they acted on changes much closer to home. The old High Chief of Minsk, perennial enemy of the House of Lithua, has died of old age, leaving five young daughters and a baby son. Unfortunately for the young boy, one of his elder sisters has recently become Montvilas' second queen after the sudden death of the first.

Even with support from Mazovia and other Slavic tribes, the war was still very one-sided. Montvilas now holds Minsk through the familial link between him and his new wife, though if Praxida fails to produce a son, the subsequent plan of future annexation is likely to fail.


To the east, the monster named Kievan Rus which breathes down the neck of the Lithuanians has splintered in two: Kievan Rus proper and Novgorod. Indeed, back in the times of Kernius there was already talk of a war to break apart the huge eastern blob, and now it was done sans outside interference. The power of the new king - should we say lack thereof - made him an attractive target for Montvilas and Vilnius.


Where concerns previously existed that taking all of Kievan Rus would tie down Lithuania in the Baltic, the Black Sea and Svjpod's designs for Ingria, Novgorod's independence has largely negated such a dangerous situation following the conquest of Kievan Rus. With the Kievans in shambles and the consequences of victory no longer a problem, Lithuania is shivering at the prospect of ending the nightmare once and for all.

Its king shares the sentiment. The one war to decide the fate of Europa Orientum was about to begin, and Montvilas fully intends to be the victor.

---

Poland-Lithuania? Are you aiming at creating it?

To a certain extent I already have. The Kingdom of Lithuania has both Lithuanian and Polish vassals.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Good Luck with your AAR. As Byz is Rome 2 and Russia is Rome 3; are you trying to be Rome 2.5? Thank you for updating

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Good Luck with your AAR. As Byz is Rome 2 and Russia is Rome 3; are you trying to be Rome 2.5? Thank you for updating

I'm mostly producing self-copium for a mechanic I'm hoping that might be implemented in CK3 - that you have to actually recruit soldiers, so the Rus Varangian Guard of Basil II's times could transition into the Komnenid Anglo-Saxon Varangian Guard.

In my case I'm failing to come up with a good name. So far as I know Lithuanians don't use axes much, so maybe they get a name like "spear-wielding foreigners" or "forest warriors" from the Romans.

As for now I could only manage the "ethnicity matters" mechanic by allying with the Roman Emperor always and have to actually march my troops out, which is supremely annoying.

 

[Bullfilter]

To the east, the monster named Kievan Rus which breathes down the neck of the Lithuanians has splintered in two: Kievan Rus proper and Novgorod.

So this is the first big strategic opportunity for the new and warlike king’s reign. Definitely a suddenly low-hanging fruit - so long as there aren’t any pesky allies the Rus can call on to interfere with the kerb-stomp. (Kerb-stomped fruit can be very messy, after all )

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Empire on Wings
Record III
The Great Dnieper War​

To speak of Montvilas' reign is to speak of Lithuania's rise from one of the many powers in central and eastern Europe, to "the monster between the two seas". All of that laid upon one grand effort, one that exhausted all the resources of a young ascendant people. The Great Dnieper War.

Of course, undue importance was attached by later generations on how Montvilas the great and holy prepared for the greatest war in Lithuanian history up to that point. He was actually more concerned about spiting the chief of Latgale, who had tried to assassinate him some years previous, before getting seriously worked up for the oncoming war.




Despite the chief of Latgale holding three provinces in the four-province high chiefdom, Montvilas awarded the title of High Chief to the chief of Selija, comfortably shutting the man up in his own corner of the world, silenced.

With his petty grudge settled, Montvilas turned his hawkish gaze towards ... Rome. News about Rome too often meanders up the Dnieper into eager ears at Vilnius.



Oshin, son of Romanos Lekapenos, was deposed by another faction in the ever-shifting tides of Roman politics. In favor of...


Leon VII, son of the late Konstantinos VII, who was deposed by Oshin Lekapenos.

(Total points: 3)

While this information might be of use to the Hungarians and Bulgarians, with Kievan Rus and the Pechenegs between Lithuania and Rome, there was little Lithuania could do about it. A situation Montvilas intended to change in various ways, for various reasons, through various methods. War with Kiev was at the very bottom of the to-do list.

The king planned to party some more. And the thing about alcohol and people not thinking straight is, this crazy plan worked. Former enemies were placated and brought together. Some vassals became so much more.


Livonia, which Kernius went so far as to call "the scar of Lithuania", finally had a lord willing to cooperate with Vilnius. No, cooperate is too light a term: to turn from enemies into the most reliable of allies. True friends. Under the influence of alcohol and honest conversation, the old spider of Livonia made peace with the young lion of Lithuania. As could be expected, old man Baise became Montvilas' spymaster.

For four years the king prepared his realm for the Great Dnieper War, worried about the prospects of its Slavic chiefs joining Kiev if the frontlines collapsed. These worries proved to be decisive in making the king take a more cautious approach throughout the war - and thus, able to salvage his greatest mistakes.
(There is actually no in-game mechanic for your vassal chiefs to defect to their co-religionists. However, narratively speaking, such a concern, such a risk, is most certainly not unfounded.)


January 31st, Anno Domini 964. The day the Great Dnieper War started, and thus one of the most important dates in central European history.


To those with only a cursory knowledge of the war, Lithuania held an enormous advantage, and should not have struggled as much as it did. However, slight digging reveals substantial Russian and Polish chiefs that chose not to fight the Kievan Rus, either out of common identity or because they just hate the worshippers of Dievas that much. Lithuania's advantage laid in its monster of an overall commander, not numbers.


The war's first year was surprisingly uneventful. The sheer bulk of the Kievan Rus meant they had to recall troops from various directions to counter another invasion, which happened in the middle of Svjpod's invasion of their northern coastal exclaves, while the more geographically compact Lithuanian army quickly mustered and struck along the Dnieper.



As if some camaraderie is shared between the two powers ripping at Kievan Rus together, the king of Svjpod proposed a betrothal between his prince and the kynaz's niece in the middle of both our wars against the Kievans. The gesture was appreciated, and the betrothal was sealed.

Alas. Though the battlefield was uneventful, the home front was not. Tragically eventful.


The kynaz's second wife and his lover, Queen Praxida of Lithuania, High Chieftess of Minsk, reigning in Novgorodek, lost her life in a freak accident involving wild beasts. Though a Ruswoman from the Minsk area by birth, Praxida was raised at old Kernius' court and spoke better Lithuanian than Rus language. Having known each other since her early days, Montvilas was one of Praxida's tutors. Despite his brother being her captor, a bonding still occurred between the two, though wary of his brother's wrath, Montvilas did not dare separate himself from Praxida's mother, who was also his first wife by decree of Kernius, and only kept the young girl as his concubine. After her mother's natural death, Montvilas and Praxida finally married, the young king making a point of opening Kernius' "treasure hoards for food" to share his happiness.


The entire affair was made even more tragic when the king learned his queen died while pregnant. Many blame the king's irrational obsession of protecting Vilnius on the early death of Praxida, and the emotional scars that messy affair left Montvilas with. Indeed, if he was thinking straight, the First Battle of Vilnius may not have proved the turning point of the Great War.


Brushing aside the warnings of his generals, the kynaz made a beeline for Vilnius through Novogrodek, now held by Praxida's eldest sister after her untimely death, willing to risk the river to get to Praxida's children before the Rus breach the walls of Vilnius.

Alas, a river is a river, and it does not give a damn about your flowing heartbreaks. Tired from the hasty river crossing and spotted by Rus scouts patrolling nearby, the First Battle of Vilnius was a resounding defeat for the ill-prepared Lithuanians. For the first time in his life, Montvilas tasted defeat in the air. After one and a half year of war leading up to 1st Vilnius, the kynaz found himself unable to withstand the Kievan host, who was calling for support even from the flanks of the Lithuanian kingdom itself, where small chiefdoms like Mazovia and Silesia run rampant on its southern lands.

There was little he could do except empty the treasury and keep the war going with mercenaries. However, Lombards and Cumans and Pechenegs had none of the motivation of the Lithuanians and Lettigalians and Pruthenians when it comes to fighting in the forests and plains of the north. It was said in the third year, Montvilas grew as despondent as his hired army, suffering even more setbacks, coming on the verge of total defeat after losing the 2nd March on Kiev and 3rd Vilnius.

However, by the third year, his efforts to keep the war out of the traditional Lithuanian heartlands paid off. While Vilnius sits upon the frontlines and for this reason was attacked again and again, life was largely peaceful in the rest of Lithuania proper. Taking breaks from their monotone life in peace, the people heard tales about Montvilas their king - the love story shared with Praxida, her tragic early death, his first heroic strikes into the heart of darkness, the tragic downturn borne out of his love for the children of his beloved and his faltering war against the nightmare of the Romuva: all of that was spun together by the wandering priests of the gods, and this newest addition to the epics of Lithuania moved listeners to tears. And by the thousands they flocked to the banner of their brooding, despairing kynaz.

The war turned once again at Vilnius. Indeed, 4th Vilnius was a battle that deserves all the attention it gets in Lithuanian history.

One could comfortably claim that, as a people, when did the lines between Lithuanian, Lettigalian and Pruthenian blur, forming one Lithuanian identity? 4th Vilnius.

Tactically speaking, though, 4th Vilnius was no miracle - horse archers were simply the bane of infantry on plains, while spirited but poorly trained pikemen made sure the Kievan cavalry could not be spared to chase away the horse archers. If he was truly, invisibly wounded by so many reminders of his beloved's death, Montvilas' composure did not show, did not break, as befitting a king. His command performance was as good as usual.

In later mythologizing of 4th Vilnius, storytellers claim Praxida's voice brought him to an unprecedented level of tactical genius.

After 4th Vilnius shattered the last of the Kievan host, the Lithuanians went on a rampage into Rusland, seeking to repay the destruction wrought be the 4 Battles of Vilnius tenfold. They even missed the king of the Kievans they accidently captured while marching from Drutsk to Slutsk, who was leading his huscarls while leaving overall command to one of his generals.

The war soon came to a close when the kynaz himself was notified of the enemy king's presence amongst his captives. After four years of tragedy and darkness and bloodshed, Lithuania has stepped out of its own nightmare at last.

With the corpse of its nightmare in hand.

Central and Eastern Europe just after the Great Dnieper War. Montvilas would soon conquer the High Chiefdom of Minsk for Praxida's son.​

 

[RustyHunter]

As could be expected, old man Baise became Montvilas' spymaster.

You don't want to get on his bad side! That's probably the highest intrigue skill I've ever seen!

(There is actually no in-game mechanic for your vassal chiefs to defect to their co-religionists. However, narratively speaking, such a concern, such a risk, is most certainly not unfounded.)

It seems logical to worry about, but it's nice to know your vassals can't betray you.

Montvilas did not dare separate himself from Praxida's mother, who was also his first wife by decree of Kernius, and only kept the young girl as his concubine.

That's a very Crusader Kings thing to do, although at least he actually loved Praxida.

One could comfortably claim that, as a people, when did the lines between Lithuanian, Lettigalian and Pruthenian blur, forming one Lithuanian identity? 4th Vilnius.

I can see Montvilas being the legendary founder of the Lithuanian kingdom, with this as his greatest triumph. Except for beating the Pechenegs maybe?

Central and Eastern Europe just after the Great Dnieper War. Montvilas would soon conquer the High Chiefdom of Minsk for Praxida's son.

It's only fair to do so. It is what she would have wanted probably.

 

[Midnite Duke]

Lithuania is Large! Do I have this correct you married your stepdaughter who had been your ward? Thank you for updating

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

That's a very Crusader Kings thing to do, although at least he actually loved Praxida.

It was actually pretty funny to notice the situation in-game. I (as Kernius) married Montvilas off to an older woman to both tie him down and to reduce the chances of him siring heirs if I decided to let my children inherit at the last moment. Problem is, Kernius went with Dievas at 58 and Montvilas, as you would later see, made it to 73.

I'm pretty sure I also mentioned Montvilas is three decades younger than Kernius. Old man's kids don't have a chance.

So when I started playing as Montvilas, it was sort of ridiculous when I saw he hit up with his wife's daughter. He was defying me right under my nose and I completely missed it! (Because Kernius used his last years looking for the White Bear again.)

I can see Montvilas being the legendary founder of the Lithuanian kingdom,

Nah, that goes to Kernius. Montvilas... well, more about his status in history later.

Lithuania is Large!

NEVER ENOUGH~ FOR ME~ FOR MEEEEEE~~~~~~

Do I have this correct you married your stepdaughter who had been your ward?

Does the concept of "stepdaughter" really apply if your entire family was captured and forcibly married off?

In a sense, Praxida was unlucky, but in a lucky way. Her father had enough gold to cough up for her two older sisters when Kernius netted the whole family except dad (her youngest half-brother was not born yet). The only reason she ended up becoming the second queen of Lithuania was - her dad the High Chief was not rich enough.

Her dad became Kernius' rival after old man made his wife into a concubine.

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Empire of Wings
A Very Short Interlude​

Very few women could both be as important in life and in later romance as Shirin, the favorite wife of Khosrau II, who not only exerted great influence on the Sassanid Empire's policy on Christians in life, but also had her love with her husband immortalized in Khosrau and Shirin, a work made some two hundred years after her death.

Of course, many women have displayed great political power. One that resonated throughout the world happened at Rome nearly two hundred years ago, where Irene deposed her son Konstantinos VI and took the emperorship for herself. There were many other examples of women gaining great political power in Rome after that, though no women who claimed the purple a second time.

All this came to Vilnius in a garbled and confusing mess, even for a warrior king like Montvilas who was famed for clarity in the realm of war. And frankly, he did not care much about history. Not only had his beloved passed from this world, her vassal chiefs even had the gall to deny her son his rightful inheritance.


A situation quickly rectified.

With that completed, Montvilas continued to brood in solitude when he was not running his newborn realm and tutoring his children. Brooding about the afterlife...

 

[Midnite Duke]

Is the king the father of his beloved's son? Thank you for updating

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Is the king the father of his beloved's son? Thank you for updating

I thought the blood drop explained things.

Of course he is

 

[FondMemberofSociety]

Empire on Wings
Record IV
Lithuania Orthodoxia​

Montvilas Lithua, Kynaz of the Romuva, Lord of the Lithuanians, Lettigalians, Pruthenians and many Poles, Bohemians, Rus, son of Dievas, thought long and hard on the afterlife. Was the tortuous war against the Kievan Rus a punishment from Dievas for his brother inducting foreigners into household worship, tainting the ceremonies? How was he supposed to understand all that had transpired during the four years of war? How was he supposed to deal with his widowerhood? He prayed, yet Dievas was silent.

How was he supposed to write all that he had been thinking of down into something compact? Montvilas was aware many of his ideas bordered on the blasphemous, and knew better than to carve them in stone.

Heartbroken and haunted and troubled, Montvilas made a momentous decision. If Dievas has made no answer when he employed the traditional Romuvan ceremonies, then he would call to Him. The God of the wandering bishops that came to his realm time and again, speaking of His resurrection and triumph over death and all foes. He sought peace for Praxida's and his own soul, and this god seemed a lot more generous than Dievas.


Of course, there is the problem of which flavor of this "Jesus" worship should Lithuania turn to. While the emissaries of the "Papa" were as ardent as their counterparts from Rhomania, here Montvilas' pride came into play. Instead of the "Catholic" branch followed by the weakling Konig Hartmann, who had lost a piece of Bohemia and some gold to Lithuania recently, the kynaz preferred the church and friendship of the most powerful state in the world.

A letter was sent forth from Lithuania to Rhomania, into the hands of Basileus Leon VII.


As expected, Leon accepted the chance to make a name for himself as a pious Christian, and to spread the love of his god far and wide. Though Montvilas could not help but question the wisdom of soaking so many people into the same river on a cold morning, the ritual brought him peace of mind, and he felt the nightmares haunting him fading away as the priests chanted.


As part of the package effort, a priest has been sent by the Basileus to Vilnius. Asides from his noted religious duties, the man also started to teach Montvilas how to write in Latin and Greek, and to manufacture parchment to write both languages on. The spread of these languages, which are the languages most laws of the known world are written in, greatly helped the cause of legalism under way in Lithuania.


The prime example of this effort would be none other than Lithuania's official transition into feudalism. With written laws to refer to beyond oral traditions, restless tribal politics bowed to the rule of law, and the kynaz's superiority over his fellow chiefs was established. A side-effect of this was, soon many chiefs began their own castle-building, law-inscribing feudalization efforts, but at the moment Montvilas was the greatest of the very few feudal lords in Lithuania.


The transition to feudalism also cost Montvilas a substantial part of his army: his subordinate chiefs, which could have been called to war as friends and allies when he was still one of them. With laws clearly marking his powers and duties as overlord drawn up, he needed to rely on himself and his household troops. A precarious road to walk, but one he was as determined to finish, like the promotion of Orthodoxy throughout Lithuania.

In many ways, Montvilas Lithua was a man sitting on crossroads. He valued the warrior virtues more closely than Christian ones, and his style of command was not born out of a combination of history studies and field training, but fighting tooth and nail in the Lithuanian forests since he was 17. A professing Christian unable to completely let go of his own pagan past and identity. As a one of the New Rome delegation's bishops would put it, Montvilas "was an illiterate Constantine".


Anyhow, despite all the problems still present in the newborn state, Lithuania was in military and territorial terms the greatest addition to the Orthodox world up to this point in time. Vibrant, aggressive, and setting its sights even further outward. As Kernius once said, "there is no need to fear a neighboring power, if there are no neighboring powers."

Of course, not all was roses and joy in Lithuania. Kernius and Montvilas' previous efforts to hammer out a working state machine have pissed off a great many chiefs already, and as the following events would soon prove, their opinion should have been taken into greater account to prevent...

 

[RustyHunter]

I hope adopting feudalism won't hurt you in the short term. I suppose you've done a good job humbling all your neighbors, but those peasant revolts can be tough!