-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Ort Hodox said:stnylan - Well, I think it's funny of you to say that, as that very topic was scheduled to be one of the points of the next update
I'll add the pictures sometime later as I have to tweak one of them and it's already late.
Hum, hum... Is anyone still actually reading this?
I am reading this too. Although during summer I'm travelling a lot, so I don't have time to follow AAR's as much as during other seasons. But when I have time (like now) I catch up the AAR's.
It seems that situation in the Russia and Balkans is interesting and could offer many opportunities for Poles to expand their realm.
Ah, good to know and thanks for your interest in this. I'll be doing an update soon, as I've been rather unavailable during the last week.
And as for Russia and the Balkans... Weeeeeell... Now, I wouldn't be talking about this if it were completely unrelated, would I?
And as for Russia and the Balkans... Weeeeeell... Now, I wouldn't be talking about this if it were completely unrelated, would I?
Interlude (I)
A Summer Afternoon
A Summer Afternoon
Thus the royal hunt ended and the parties made their way home, bearing with them memories – some good, some worse, all worth the effort. June slowly flourished into July and the month began with a couple of infernally hot days.
Walking on the embankments of Wawel, the King looked down to the Vistula to see swarms of people seeking refuge in the cold waters of the river. The thought of going to partake in such frolicking would have been a merry thing for the King – but many years ago. Now, he hardly had time to ponder upon such trifles, instead ever busying himself with matters most solemn. Difficult to explain was this solemnity of the ruling monarch, but many attempted a hypothesis.
One of the most successful scholars of the King’s humours was the ancient steward Danuta. She alone had the capacity of mind to grasp both the Kingdom’s finances and the King’s worries. And the King put his trust in her council, for she had once been a mother to him and now she was like a wife – nay, or rather much more than his real wife: a loyal friend.
She emerged from a side courtyard to join the King on his walk in the afternoon light, the Sun pouring its rays through what looked like a thick layer of clouds, a promise of a cleansing storm in the evening.
-Tell me, Danuta, have you ever wondered of a man’s destiny in his life? Of what he can and what he should achieve?
-I fear, King, that I have precious little time to spare on these thoughts.
-Yes, I know that, and you have my undying gratitude for your devotion to work. Sometimes I think that a man – or a woman – should be chosen not upon lineage, but upon what abilities and talents he – or she – displays in life. So that the offices are held by people competent to the tasks and Kings are chosen for the people. But I digress. It is convenient that we met, for I’d like to ask your council as I have asked many times before. Tell me – what have I achieved in life?
-Oh, King. You speak like you were peering death into its eyes and it is hardly the case. If anyone in the present company has to exhibit such pretences, it is me, am I not right? But to your question, my Liege, I think that you have achieved much. Not only have you consolidated the restored Polish crown, but you’ve doubled the weight of it with your gains in Lithuania. You govern not one people, but two. That is something that few mortals have achieved – yet alone held to it. Your rule in Lithuania is growing stronger by the day – your brother’s presence in the North a lasting promise of its validity. You’ve defied those who’d wrestle the throne from you and you retained your power in the face of wretched ingratitude from some of your vassals. You’ve liberated Rome, even though the splendour was stolen from you. Your efforts have elevated you high above most monarchs in the world. What can you wish for more?
-Ah, precisely, my dear friend, precisely. What can I wish for more? Before I tell you what I think about that, tell me – have my efforts elevated me above all the monarch in the world?
The steward remained awkwardly silent for a few moments, not sure as to what she should say.
-Fear not, and speak your heart. You know that I can take the truth. – added Lescek.
-No, my Lord, your efforts have not elevated you above all the monarchs in the world. There is one monarch who is of unsurpassed fame and who governs a land much vaster than this that you govern.
-You mean the Roman Emperor, of course?
-Yes, my King.
-Indeed, the Emperor. A powerful man from a powerful land. Hear, we are but dwarfs to the giants of yore – are we not? – but when I think of men like the Emperor, I cannot but think that our children will also think us giants and think themselves even smaller dwarfs. I mean, had the Emperor – wounded in a duel with the Berbers – not killed a dozen dragons single-handedly last year in Carthage, while shielding his infant nephew with his breast? Even if this story is not completely true, the mouths of all the men and women in Europe speak of only one man: the Emperor, the Emperor, the Emperor. Everyone loves him. It is as if he had but to ask of my vassals to go under his rule and they would make haste to shower him in gold for that. One feels like a mere ant in comparison with that man. What will become of our children when they come to inherit after us? What…
-… Oh, King, you lament when there’s no need. It would certainly never come to my mind to see an ant in these royal robes that I see now – and you should not look down on your achievements. Remember, there is still much life before you – if you live it wisely, and I fell you will, for I’ve personally looked that you be raised in a way warranting that – and the Emperor is much older than you. Thus, he had much more time to accomplish what he had and to reach the heights he is on today. Please, King, spare yourself the grief, for truly there’s no need for it.
-Ah. You soothe with your wisdom, Danuta. And perhaps there’s much merit to what you say. But in what you propose is precisely what ails me the more – how far a man can go, where should the extents of a good Christian’s exploits lie? Is it not unwholesome pride to slay a dragon and herald it throughout the world? Is that pride then not twelvefold if there be a dozen of those dragons and thousands of those heralds proclaiming the glory of the one who did it? I am a man of piety, you know that, Danuta. I try to abide by what the Church teaches us and to forge a testimony to my words in my deeds. I feel that I must not be like the Roman Emperor, for to try to rise above all the monarchs would be to try and build a new Babel tower. Surely, God will punish Germany and the higher he aspires to be, the more dreadful the retribution must be. It is what I expect.
-Well said, my Lord.
The King smiled, throwing the core of the apple over the wall, down the cliff, and turned to face Danuta.
-But?
Here, Danuta smiled, too. They knew each other too well to know that she accepted the King’s word without reservations.
-But you are not a monk, nor a priest. It is good when you make an example for every Christian by your words and deeds, but in claiming such excellence in Christianity you risk another sin – very similar to that of pride.
-And what would that be, dear?
-You must not forget that you are Lescek Piast, not the Earth’s saviour. Nor is the Emperor the same evil tyrant that had so revelled in infanticide in the days of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Accept it, my King – you’ve done much, but you surely owe your father – and more importantly, your children – something more done to this Kingdom, before you declare your rule complete. What about Galich?
-As for the Russian Prince, you know that I am working on it and the time is not yet.
-Is there any other Galich we should be speaking of, my Lord?
-Yes. Know that I have sent letters to Syrte, to the leader of the Teutonic Knights regiment, Klaus von Harschblut. He is to go to the Iberian Peninsula and find a man he once wrote me of. A man versed in demonology and necromancy, with special writs from the Pope; a man whom I deem of enough power to rid our realm of the witch Danuta of the county of Galich. As soon as Klaus finds him, he is to return to our realm. I have already asked Zbyszko of Bogdaniec if he would offer his sword in this matter and he agreed. I intend the witch removed and I will see no failure. Should they fail, I will have my regiments ready to march in.
-Then I trust in the success of your design, my King.
-Well, I must certainly thank you for all your wise words. It is well that you remind me of who I am, because that makes my mind set in a completely different case.
-What case is that, my Liege?
-My sons. Or rather – my son. Do you recall what did I say when we began this conversation?
Danuta thought for a while, remembering the last few minutes.
-You spoke of a man’s destiny and his fate. Is that it, my King?
-No.
-Then I fear I… oh, yes! You spoke of people chosen to the offices for their merits.
-Yes. Well, I had four sons, - here Danuta had enough tact not to point out the fifth son, bastard Zbigniew, who was now studying to become a priest some day and was intended to live in the isolation of a cloister to the end of his days –but one was taken away from me, for ever. Then came two other sons, but their mother snatched them from me, as well. I have only one son in whom I can trust and this is his greatest merit. Lamentably, he is not the one to inherit. If I forged the destiny of this country, I do intend to smith at least one more significant act of royal ruling. Mieszko will inherit everything from me one day.
-But how will that be done? That would be a dangerous step to take, if taken in the wrong direction.
-Yes. – here Lescek fell silent and turned to east again.
-King? I assure you that I will seek out a way to secure Mieszko’s inheritance. He will be your rightful heir and the Bohemian princes shall not benefit from your blood.
-Good. Very good.