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In search of whales: a Basque ARR

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overthetop_G

overthetop_G

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This is my first ARR. There is no guarantee that this will be finished, be of good quality, be updated regularly, or be engaging. I got the idea for this from some facts I found when I was bored. You see, the Basque people of Navarra are master whalers. And so, they journeyed far and wide in search of whales. In order to communicate with locals in Iceland, a primitive pidgin was developed between Icelandic and Basque. Later on, in the 1500's, Basque whalers also made a similar pidgin with Algonquin peoples in North America. So, my goal is to:
1. create a norse-basque hybrid culture
2. settle in Iceland,
3. hybridize with Algonquin peoples,
and 4., settle in greenland.

In order to do this, I am playing with the RICE mod(in addition to many others.) And naturally, I will start as Haesteinn of Montagiu. Expect the first actual update soon.

There is no guarantee that I will fulfill my goals.
 
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A Norse-Basque AAR? This idea looks interesting. I shall follow.
 
South of britanny, there is a little bit of land. Like most of the French Coastline, it touches the Atlantic. And what does the Atlantic have? whales. Sources of food, oil, candles, and whalebone, free for the taking! And so, since humans have took to the sea, they have taken whales. The norse knew this. As did the Bretons. And so they became experienced whalers. But who are the master whalers? The Basque! In search of whales they went as far as Iceland, and later in the early modern period. And so, we start this AAR on the coast of France, with a norse character in raiding range of Brittany and Navarra. Haesteinn, of course.

Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 5.18.39 PM.png

Haesteinn needed cash. He was rich, sure, but more riches never hurt. And so he raided Leon. He failed. Badly. He had chosen to leave his special troops at home, and to use his "expendable" levies instead. A wise choice, to conserve men, but one which condemned his raid to failure. For such an experienced raider as himself, this was embarrassing, to say the least. Why did he need the money? Because he needed prestige. He planned to hold events to gain prestige, and to use this prestige to invade other lands. What lands? Navarra, of course! Their king was weak, and they were already at war with the muslims. It was too easy! but he still needed prestige.
Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 5.29.32 PM.png

Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 5.32.27 PM.png

So he raided easier targets. First Wales. The welsh were weak, and easy to conquer. It was almost too easy to invade them, to raid them, and to crush their little armies to bits and pieces, and to capture their heirs.
Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 5.35.31 PM.png

Easy!

And now, he then went on a second raid, to Wales, Ireland, and Leon. Easy! And now he did his events. Feasts, sacrifices, hunts-- again and again, all for the prestige! He even supported christian pilgrims, on their way to shrines in Brittany. And now, he could invade Navarra.
Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 5.57.51 PM.png

Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 5.58.31 PM.png

By now, he was a master general. It would be too easy. By now, he had fathered several children, but his beloved wife died in childbirth, and his concubines came down with the Great Pox. In light of all of this drama, he took to whipping himself to relieve himself of stress.
Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 5.58.40 PM.png


Luckily, however, his son had come of age. He was relived that if he died, his adult son could take on his conquests for him.
Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 6.00.16 PM.png
 
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Having an heir is good.

Will you lose territory if Haesteinn died if you conquered Navarre? If so, that might be a reason to delay the conquest...

The beginning was inauspicious, but the raider managed to recover nicely!

Your chapters can be whatever length works for you. Short chapters are generally fine.
 
HistoryDude said:
Having an heir is good.

Will you lose territory if Haesteinn died if you conquered Navarre? If so, that might be a reason to delay the conquest...

The beginning was inauspicious, but the raider managed to recover nicely!

Your chapters can be whatever length works for you. Short chapters are generally fine.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your feedback. I don't understand the second sentence, though. (In the game I am already playing as Haestienns heir.)
 
I was asking if Confederate Partition was a worry. You can lose territory if you have multiple heirs, Confederate Partition, and more than one duchy or kingdom.
 
HistoryDude said:
I was asking if Confederate Partition was a worry. You can lose territory if you have multiple heirs, Confederate Partition, and more than one duchy or kingdom.
Click to expand...
Oh, yeah. Confederate partition will be a problem. Just not after haesting's death.
 
War went on. Successfully.
Screenshot 2023-11-02 at 6.00.36 PM.png


Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 3.01.56 PM.png


And victory... was his. Due to certain diplomatic realities (I.E.: I mis-clicked and mis-read the cause belli.) Haesting only secured the area around Ipsouka. An area full of whaling villages, he grew accustomed to staying in houses lit by whale-oil lanterns, and seeing huge volumes of ambergris sold to the public at cheap prices. It was a hilly land, one full of bandits. Yet it was the land that he would call home. The land of the future whalers.
Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 3.20.10 PM.png


With this, he entered the Iberian Struggle. The arrival of the Haesting family would mark a rapid decrease in the stability of the already fractured Ebro Valley region. His conquests would unify the land. But would they hold after his conquests? Only time would tell.
Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 3.20.48 PM.png

Further conquests followed; Haesting's goal was to usurp the throne of Navarra.
Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 3.24.46 PM.png


And to this end, he converted to Catholicism, formally abandoning the roots of his ancestors. As he recited the Nicene creed, he watched as the old Idols were burned at his feet, and as christian knights smashed statues of Odin, and used the remnants to line the streets of Viscaya.
Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 3.26.00 PM.png

It worked. The Ebro Valley was now completely controlled by Haesting. His conquests had even succeeded in liberating a thorn from christ's crown from the Muslim grip.
Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 4.12.25 PM.png


And so we leave Haesting. He would rule for a few more years over a land that was diverse and violent. Would his sons hold his lands? Only time would tell.
 
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Whoops! At least not conquering Navarra in its entirety probably kicks the succession issues further down the line?

That was a quick conversion.
 
HistoryDude said:
Whoops! At least not conquering Navarra in its entirety probably kicks the succession issues further down the line?

That was a quick conversion.
Click to expand...
There are partition issues, but the main problem will not be what you think.
 
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The update messed up my mods, so I'll just skim through what happened: I died, my throne went to an idiot who died in 4 years leaving the throne to his kid, who loses the throne, marries his aunt, is vassalized. He then declares independence before killing himself. Oh, and I created the whaler hybrid culture. It was a fun but stressful game.
 
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Does this mean that the AAR is ending? If so, that's sad, but I understand. I hope that you stick around AARland, though.
 
HistoryDude said:
Does this mean that the AAR is ending? If so, that's sad, but I understand. I hope that you stick around AARland, though.
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Yes, it is ending. It was a fun ride, though. I will be sticking around in AARland and I already read many ARRs.
 
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overthetop_G said:
The update messed up my mods, so I'll just skim through what happened: I died, my throne went to an idiot who died in 4 years leaving the throne to his kid, who loses the throne, marries his aunt, is vassalized. He then declares independence before killing himself. Oh, and I created the whaler hybrid culture. It was a fun but stressful game.
Click to expand...
Sorry to find this story just as it died, but you had a good run, and I hope you return to AAR writing! :)
 
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