Part XIII (865-876)
Late Year 865
======================
We take over as Dokya (firstborn son of previous king). He is 47 years old, fathered four children (all sons UGH!) and is currently unmarried. I think he will stay single for time being, as we don't have tremendous need for spouse stat bonuses and definetely don't want to complicate succession even further. Given his age I think this will be brief reign. At best he will pass crown of Perm to Quick and bright 11 years old second son - Sarin. There is no question that it will prove a challenge to arrange for clean division of lands given 3 other brothers (ranging from 12 y.o to 4 y.o).
While not young, this character is well developed and even climbed ranks in Warrior Lodge. Definetely not the worst to play as.
On the positive note Dokya is Brawny (extra health for longer lifespan), currently Warrior in Followers of Otso with enough currency to make a bid for Veterancy (giving us access to event troops!) and has 16 Martial and 15 for both Stewardship and Learning, which currently together with Midas Touched and Diligent gives him MTTH for extra building slot of 43 years and 2 months and MTTH for province modifier of 29 years and 6 months. With those values we can quickly improve his prosperity "score" even more. So the first focus is Scholarship as it grants both quick, as well as gives us something for future (more military tech points) + will help if reign goes on for far longer than anticipated. So once again we start with "Construct Observatory" decision. At this point it is basically a right of passage.
More problematic are his bad diplomacy and intrigue scores, packed together with vassals dislike (inherited mostly from his predecesor). I expect plots against us and first year or two will make or brake this reign as after that huge penalties will vanish (and they range from -50 to -70 opinion penalty so yea... it will help a LOT). Without pausing I already spot few known plots - one to claim High Chiefdom of Mari for Vechkas, that will simply go away upon unpausing because we are no longer part of the same realm. More importantly - our physically strong concubine Yar, tries to murder us with enough goons totalling some 127% plot power. We kindly ask her to refrain from such tomfoolery.
When it comes to more urgent geopolitical situations - we are caught in quite a spot. The Khazar-Lithuanian war is still ongoing but... now without us. Even though Nyev (Dokya half-sister) is married to current heir to their kingdom, we don't have even non-aggresion pact much less alliance. Our Romuvan old allies were trashed by Khazars in the last part and the only thing that could save them was our army (halfway there). Nomads are 39% done with that war, but they do have a nasty habit of just assaulting tribal walls with their doomstack for rapid win. What I'm trying to say is we most likely will be too late. Additionally Lithuanians with exactly 0 troops are in 2 additional wars (against Estonians and Yabghkumaks Khaganate). There is hope for some of those wars to carry over, tieing down Khazar forces even longer. Not feeling too keen at fighting 14.000 Nomad Riders in the foreign land with just our 10.000 tribal warriors, without both good commanders and defensive pagan bonuses.
Our smart brother, so praised by King Sarin had some lapse of judgement. He won't survive alone between us and Khazars. He would be more dangerous to me as part of my Kingdom, as he would be able to keep scheming.
Then there is an issue of Dokya's brother secession - Vechkas took High Chiefdom of Mari and some tribes in Perm and Siberia away, making his bid for power. He refuses alliance and is basically just waiting for Khazars to squash him. The same goes for our previous nomad tributaries to the south. We are once again in a race against Khazars to secure our borders, to preserve as much of previous balance of power as possible and prevent Nomads from being able to directly raid our economic core lands.
It took me some deliberation to decide on course of action. There was the dream scenario of us just grinding down Khazars in Lithuania and us achieving best case scenario. Problem being that it seems unlikely and will take a long time. In case of failure we can lose far more due to attempting to preserve Lithuanians. Far safer play it is then. Time to disband my expeditionary relief force (as I have fully replenished levies at home) to save time and become eligible to start mustering again. That said still want my main retinue force to reach Dokya's dear brother lands first. "Slowly make haste" as they say.
In the meantime I take notice of Dokya's accumulated prestige (over 1900). As it doesn't confer any additional bonus above 1000 prestige, it is smart to spend as much of it as possible until limit by starting construction in Perm. Third levels of Practise Ranges are ordered in Udmurts, Tynea and Pil'va which evens it out as Kol'va and our capital already have them. Even if we die abruptly, at least we will have something to show for our character fame. Also as our northern Nenetsian tributaries broke free, we are legally allowed to subjugated them again for that sweet lumps of prestige. There is good potential for our middle aged ruler to built up Permian infrastructure rapidly.
By November Dokya murderous concubine is reigned in and it turns out that AI controlled Dokya already submited and probably won? duel, because we get notification of acceptance into ranks of warrior lodge veterans. Nice going CK2 AI!
As per tradition something happens in December, which not always played into christmass spirit. Our smart, ambitious nephew from Dokya's "Heavenly" sister Vidyava (which was slayed by Santa btw) probably due to being Lunatic and also suffering from Great Pox decided to collect memento of his grandfather Sarin. He raided his grave and chopped Sarin's head off. Well can't say it wasn't a practise that Sarin started himself (remember commander Oshkamoshka?), but he at least didn't collect his own family skulls. Most insulting is the fact that it is a quality 1 artifact. Ukko-dammit game! Our ruler get's depressed thanks to this situation occuring... It is his 5th trait which doesn't force us over the limit but really it isn't really wanted at the moment. At least I learned that after death character garbs return to regular ones (meaning no longer warrior lodge armor). Game shows us quite nice post-mortem portrait of Sarin. Also our Permian legal code does not consider such acts as worthy of any punishment
".
The moment when your nephew steals your father (and his grandfather) skull from grave... Maybe Sarin's skull will become a nice conversation starter at next family meeting.
Before end of year I declare war on Vechkas. I decide on subjugation casus belli. Losing our once per lifetime subjugation casus belli doesn't matter and it gives slightly more for winning (extra 100 piety on top of 100 prestige). May also confer some positive opinion boost to offset negatives. No declaration of war is dropped on our southern nomad neighbours, which poured into our lands yet. Not willing to risk 2 wars at once against Nomads with quite some troops that can try to blitzkrieg our capital forces 1 by 1.
Year 866
======================
January starts with ambushing levies raised from Vologda capital. My Permian warriors are also starting consolidating to chase off various nomads and then probably siege down few tribes outside High Chiefdom of Mari and Vologda. We also receive interesting marriage proposal - Bolgharian feudal Khan Yectirek II wants our 23 y.o niece Pekshayka bethrothed to his younger son. Bulgaria currently sports slightly over 6100 troops so there is value to that. I agree as currently there is nothing better in my head for her.
Overview of our troops initial movement in Permian Brother War. There are also moves in the eastern parts of Perm
Thanks to all that I missed start of probably the biggest battle in Galich Mersky for this current war. We had suprisingly no commander as did the other side, but we catched their smaller force in forced march with our consolidates retinues. We get another notification of marriage between another niece and one Khazarian Mordvin vassal chief. Seems AI was on it's A-game when it comes to marriages, as I don't recollect making this match. Nice suprise! Month doesn't come to an end without another instance of our Marshal being utterly corrupt. So sad. We love to see it! That's another 100g generated for us. Now as always time to select new corrupt candidate for office before sending him to aprehend the old one. I find Jewish candidate with 11 martial, 2 out of 3 traits, no negatives for corruption and having already 140gold in pockets. He is also 62 years old so even if already had "abuses of office" event fired, we still will profit from him. Sadly I forgot to check all his modifiers and as he needed favour inviting, game informs me that he is "loyal servant" and will never accept invitation. Well mistakes are to be expected - I'm quite rusty due to break from playing. Battle in Vologda also ends with us having lost 60 out of almost 2800 troops to 320 enemy casualties out of 1200.
Second AI ingame sponsored conversion. I wonder how the Catholicism will shape out in this playthrough
At start of March Pomerania baptizes into Waldensianism. It's suprising because it is heresy and I didn't know it was possible. They are quite chunky and may stabilize after religion change in the long run. As I try to not commit another mistake upon inviting new Marshal, I find one courtier in Sami Band mercenary company. He is invited without issue. Would you guess who is their captain? I wouldn't. Didn't remember that I already spotted him in the one of previous parts. But hey here you go anyway with proof.
Horse cosplaying as human mercenary captain isn't real. He can't hurt you! But his subordinates can. Took 5 changes in office for Cpt. Glitterhoof to climb mercenary career ladder.
New marshal arrives and with him our arrest chance rises to 82%. We fire our shot and succeed. So extra gold for us. Our heir changes to Vechkas, and our main Permian forces are split into 4 thousands armies and sent both to Vologda to the west and past Ural mountains in the east. Somehow Khazars didn't manage to make any progress on Lithuanian front in 5 months. Maybe there is some hope for our old allies. Cheering for them.
By end of April we finish building observatory and receive +1 Learning modifier.
In May we finish siege of Ural tribe next to our capital Duchy and spot cheeky Nomads trying to move onto Perm. They are locked, as we finish taking over neighbouring tribe so it is time to punish them for that brazen attempt. We also take over Galich Mersky and our reinforcment just show up, so we can move at the same time on both Kostroma and Mari Tribes.
By August we siege down fort that Sarin himself built to prevent his son Vechkas from being abducted. Vologdian warriors came back from routing and move onto Galich Mersky tribe to recapture it.
With September comes second battle of Galich Mersky and it goes even worse. For Dokya's enemies. Despite Vechkas personal bravery in leading his warriors our numerically superior side just trounces them. Vechkas manages to survive but his forces are basically no-more, and our warscore rised to 87%.
With that Vechkas ability to resist us ceases to exist as both his and his nomadic allies forces were deleted.
Sadly (not sure when) Lithuanians surrendered to Khazars. Now they are in 2 smaller wars but we are on tight time schedule. We need to move onto Bolghars remnants in the vicinity. With that I am now able to renew our alliance with Lithuanians. Maybe it will prove crucial in future.
Late in October we are starting hunt for great beast. Not what I really need but bonuses are also decent so here we go. Dokyas chooses more skilled companion, mostly because he has quick trait. Almost at the same time our quest to unveil secrets of stars (from scholarship focus) advances and we choose military technology route.
In November game kindly makes me realise one problem that I didn't notice earlier. One probably you already noticed. My dear reader.... What is religion denomination of King Dokya
? Let's say I didn't expect to make hunt offering to Tengri gods. Then as we are on trail, we find some old man that the game presents us options to force into talking via various means. Given that both mine and my collegue (Ahvo the Moaner) diplomacy are not really high (8 and 12) I decide to go with special intimidation attempt available thanks to having brawny trait.
Quest continues and goes without hitch, as it turns out Dokya's Martial prowess is high enough to ensure that he slays Great Bear. Then as his forefather he decides to make amulet out of it and get some extra prestige. Extra 20 days of supplies never hurt! For once decent gift for this month. Of course to counteract this good luck we get call to war from our Lithuanian allies against both Estonians and some smaller nomads. We accept for now but I don't plan on sending help just yet - Khazars are their tributary so they can help take care of it for all I care. If they don't then Lithuania gets subjugated by their rival khaganate to the south, which works just fine for us!
In few last december days we finish brothers war. Now onto next target. Vechkas is on Intrigue focus and helds a grudge, but we survived the worst period and most of our vassal chiefs stopped remembering their dislike of last years under Sarin's reign. I decide to move both retinues towards Perm to deal with some small raiding parties and avoid starting war on steppes in the middle of winter. Stewardship focus is set to Dokya's son and favoured heir - Sarin that from now on will be refered as Sarin II.
Year 867
======================
New year - new hobby. Falconry or Poetry? I go with Poetry as our "Red-Cheeks" of Perm is Erudite. The choice proves correct as he soon takes up to quill, becoming Aspiring Poet.
Having had a five months break from this AAR (and CK2 in general) I notice the difference in how much faster movement is in other PDX titles. I'm having hard time believing how long does it take to traverse single province. Well other titles did have some technologies that increase movement speed of armies and Victoria 2 did had railways. But thanks to it almost nothing happens in few first months of this year.
It takes up to spring for our troops to travel home from fringes of Perm, before Dokya is ready with war declaration. So begins another round of extort tribute wars. There is also progress with military reforms as initiative of creating "Army of the Steppes" which consists of retinues more oriented to fighting horse riding nomads with our our riders is basically 5/6 done with reinforcing their numbers.
Khaganate war overview. Our infantry retinues (light infantry, heavy infrantry, archers) to the left and Army of the Steppes to the right.
Our allies answer calls to war, both scholarly and poetic pursuits advance and Khazars don't seem eager to start war against Svetitskhoveli khaganate. Don't mind if we proceed!
By June we have first of khagan vassal's capital under our control. Rest soon follows and by August we have every capital in that Svetitskhoveli khaganate without engaging main horde forces. Khagan Tugor the Evil sues for peace, offering his full surrender. Perm accepts. With that victorius war, our southern borders are secured for now. Good time to move onto Nenetsian lands to let them become our tributaries. There will be 6 targets so we can expect 1200 prestige in total. Currently Dokya has 1500 and all Permian tribes are currently constructing. So I decide to spend 500 prestige + 200 piety to convert back to Suomenusko for extra stability.
Given some relative peace I decide to summon single warrior lodge commander, due to having only one winter specialist commander and I want to operate on at least two commanders for northern wars to speed things up. Finally remind myself to pick up Patron Deity for that extra 2 Stewardship at the cost of -1 intrigue. Thanks Ukko, very cool! I need to start clearing dungeons, as I have 106 prisoners and game suggests that they may be worth over 800 gold (assuming their rulers have that much cash). More importantly - not sure how but we lost our steward on mission to colonise one of our more eastward counties with Komi families. Nothing in messages. Weird. Still I summon new candidate eligible for generating extra gold - 15+ Stewardship and Ambitious.
New addition to our Human Resources. Not bad all over all - Smart and decent.
By November Dokya makes his first friend, while working on his fields (Patron Deity event) just before first round of ransoms comes back. Gold rains! New Slavic steward arrives and is sent to continue his predecessor efforts in Yamalia to spread our culture (5.37% yearly chance). Little court reshuffling occurs: exchange Cupbearer title for Champion on our nephew to give Cupbearer to Sarin II (Jr.). Time to start accumulating that prestige.
Year ends on moving our retinues towards Nenetsian lands. Lithuanians lose their war against Estonians, and bigger Khazarian raiding party shows up in the tributary Svetitshkhoveli khaganate. I check and they are only typical nomad tourist group wanting some souvenirs.
Year 868
======================
It takes up to february to get our warriors in position for northern invasion. Meanwhile our nephew dies and is succeeded by his 11 year old son Osh. Brother Vechkas is plotting to kill us as soon as I un-tick auto-ending plots. So after sending him letter with demands of stopping that, we go onto another military expedition. I will fight against 2 tribes at the time so I don't need nothing more than retinues to bring those wars to swift conclusions.
Campaign to extract tribute from various Nenetsian tribes in the north. Nenetsian prestige farm as I envisioned it
Syrj Tribe suprisingly almost instantly spawns additional 1000 event troops. Still won't be enough but it is valiant effort on part of game RNG. To my suprise one of southern khaganate vassals moves to raid our vassal lands. Not sure why is this possible when their liege is our tributary. Weird. I think I did complain about it in one of previous parts. But hey - Velsk tribe surrenders to us, meaning we can start moving towards another target halfway in May.
Then I make some grim discovery. Decided to check up on our Mercenary Boys. Couldn't find them. Searched through whole list few times. They vanished :/. Either they went independent without any notification (not likely), something went wrong during succession or they were wiped out completly during war. So goes several thousand gold IRC (upon checking after recording they had close to 3000 gold coins). I'll have to do some investigation if we even can still make profitable mercenary company. Daaaamn! It was such a great money generator. And we also had perfect setup with Pikes. But well - there goes that investment. Unlucky.
In June we finish first round of tributary wars, so onto next two tribes we go. One of our Permian Elders/investors dies and our treasury climbs to 12.600 gold. Our permian levies are also raised to repel those pesky tributary raiders.
We proceed and to my suprise we see that one of bigger Nenetsian chiefdoms - Mezen most likely summoned Pikes from Warrior Lodge. The same event troops that Sarin utilised against various nomads in his campaigns. That's dangerous and we might need our main forces and vassals. We also proceed to observatory event step in which we get 100 military points.
Our main retinue force meets dangerous foe but rolls nicely in tactic department, which allows us to roll enemies over
Our Light Infantry and Archers retinue rolls Feint tactic which is the best option as it allows us to deal with those pesky Pikes from afar. Enemies roll only 1 shieldwall out of 3 flanks so surviving to melee phase seems unlikely. Thus we win handily.
More international news arrive - Lithuanians lost their 2nd war, so now we are looking onto possibility of having some peace time after current ordeal. As I unpause we are notified that Alan Khagan under Yabghumakhs settled his horde as tribe in southern lands of de jure kingdom of Rus. All of his realm turns into tribes. Interesting but also worrying as I suspect they will be much weaker, thus increasing chances of Khazar aggresion. They should get one time cavalry event troops and I hope it allows them to establish themselves.
Not often do I see AI settling. Let's hope it works out for them so it begins transition of hordes into tribes in vicinity.
So another year comes to an end with us watching Mezen warriors recovering from defeat we dealt them (their chief hired additional 1400 troops). We also manage to finish last of one tribe realms before change of yearly date in calendar.
Year 869
======================
First time in Dokya's reign our Spymaster presents us free technology points from Byzantium. Was waiting for it, as during Scholarship focus we have doubled our chances for it firing. We roll 50 economic points. Nice! Another of our investors dies but as he had son (already in our clutches) we will wait some time more for his money. Also moved our capital duchy warriors to bully those previous Svetitskhoveli raiders, as it is better to prevent than defend later.
Mezen manages to amass close to 3000 troops so I have to pay little attention. I think we still will win. Another guardian event fires for Sarin II (Jr.) and I chose Patient - he still can get Diligent from his trait and possibly Shrewd (he has also Quick + Deceitful so he looks promising). Upon reflection I messed up a little. Should take Ambitious as it is more difficult to acquire through focuses. But well Patient isn't terrible. Final level of Weaponsmith is also finished in Kudymkar tribe. Spent another 100 prestige for missing Training Grounds I in Kudymkar.
By March we enter another large battle with infantry retinues, as Army of the Steppes finishes it's siege and moves to join. Concentrating our forces pays off - we roll Feint again thus dealing twice as many casualties to what we are taking. One of our vassals also delegated 100 men to one of flanks thus distracting 1/3 of enemies. They make it into melee but only with last flank so the battle ends with us losing 186 men for their 1206 dead. Didn't make it in time to join with our riders!
AI utilizing Warrior Lodge units (Pikes). Not bad! Still not good enough to beat me. Still great discovery that AI is capable of utilizing such options in time of need
In May with 92% of warscore we move onto last 2 out of 4 Mezen tribes to finish the war. I don't need my levies so I disband them to save gold. No point in wasting those precious gold reserved we acquired for nothing.
By beginning of June we finish the tributary war with Mezen and move onto last target. Soon I will be able to end that string of wars and fully commit more towards internal realm managment! At least I believe so. Then last Nenetsian chief just surrenders instantly and we accept for our 200 prestige. Nice change of pace not forcing us into grueling siege! With that we secured old neighbourhood and realised first of important tasks for our current ruler.
First I analyse how likely we are to be pulled into Lithuanian wars. Seems moderately likely. But more importantly - they are no longer part of Khazarian realm. They are now part of those nomads that settled - Alanian Yabghkumahk khaganate. So I did predict correctly that Khazars will make for lousy overlords that allowed their tributary to slip through their fingers. That works better for us. With that information I decide to embark on 5 year long "See the Realm Prosper Ambition" that should end by year 874.
As our proven warriors go back, our peacetime starts with sacrifice for ancestors. I opt for Wisdom, wishing for Shrewd but getting Pet Owl for 10 years wouldn't be bad. Wise woman result could also become spouse candidate or Court Physician. That's one of options that I feel is severely undervalued. Mostly in how it populates multiple of such characters when defensive pagan religions have many courts.
Nothing brings people together more than smashing some neighbours skulls! Opinion of Vechkas in the screenshot above.
As we ended all those tributary wars, we showed our vassals how strong of ruler Dokya is. Thus we accumulated a lot of positive opinion modifier. Meaning for now even with some short-reign penalty still lingering we don't need as much prestige (which we currently have almost 2200). I decide to spend it by buying final levels of Practise Ranges in Udmurts, Tynea, Kol'va and Pil'va tribes (spending grand total of 1600 prestige).
Infrastructure overview. Kudymkar tribe is currently focused after we finished with Perm itself. Kolva is on the same level as Pilva, Udmurts and Tynea. Both parts were screenshoted at various dates thus Kudymkar is still constructing "Training Grounds I"
Time to move onto technology screen. As we are still progressing through observatory event chain (we are close to finish) we accumulated quite some military points. Decision how to spend them is easy. We need Military Organisation IV. Not only it gives us more retinue cap, bigger supply limits (to not suffer as much in our OWN lands) but it also removes pagan homeland attrition. Opening option to convert to organised religion. It improves our retinue cap by around 1800 points. As time goes I will fill it with more Hunting Parties (100 Light Infantry, 50 Light Cavalry for 75 prestige each). I also improve Construction by 2 levels in our capital as well as Tolerance. I want them to start spreading throughout the realm. Construction mostly as it reduces local build times and costs as well as unlocking more hospital options. Both (with Improved Keeps and Legalism not mentioned previously) are required for quite a few Great Works I plan for in the far future. Expecting technology spread to be a limiting factor by end of playthrough so the sooner we start the better. Also for comparison as we have currently 10/13/9 technologies in capital (military/economic/cultural), bright folks like Byzantine empire sit on 14/19/15 together with more even spread. So we still have ways to go...
Permian technological prowess comes nicely. Superior spread among same demense counties is also visible. Construction technology map mode
Time is just right for Ukon Juhla Festival. Remember not really needing it previously but now for change I will host at least one. I also uptick Great Tribal festival notification for chance bonus prosperity and maybe some prosperity ambition related flavour event.
With ongoing preparations for festival, our Spymaster grants us another 50 cultural technology points from Constantinopole. I would like economic points better as I'm completelely spent there but it is better than nothing. Still have to unlock higher Legalism levels for chance to shift vassal obligations laws even further towards taxes to maximize our future gains. Right now it is also really easy as there are no Mayors and almost no Shamans to complain about it.
During celebrations, Dokya has PTSD attack after battle of Chuvash and with it we get options. Already depressed, wroth and lustful and don't need stressed. So I pick celibate. It will allow us to pick new wife for attribute bonuses. I look around while ransoming but can't find any wife candidate willing without bribes.
Alongside rolling August I get notification about ability to start preparing Great Tribal Festival. Dokya's in! I decide to let my protegee hunt to improve his health for year at the cost of stewardship. Then I get excited for +100% local taxes bonus below but then realise it is only for a period of year. Imagine what if it was for as long as cooldown between those festivals.
Got really excited about those modifiers values until noticed how short that bonus is. Imagine possibilities!
My not great Diviner (5 Learning) spawns some event troops. I look out of curiosity and it seems we are starting to get some non-micro amount of Light Cavalry in event troops now. 144 LC out of 2815 troops spawned.
As I slowly get into my top form I remind myself that as I have Celibate trait I can pick up to two additional concubines for free prestige (even though I have Lustful as well
"). I choose 2 young prisoners. Turns out they provide reduced prestige gain. Most likely due to Dokya being Celibate I guess. You learn something new every day.
On October 5th, oldest son of Dokya (frail Ozheg) comes out of age. His education turns out less than stellar (level 1 stewardship) and he remains humble, cynical and ambitious. He is also not too fond of his father due to their rivalry. On other hand Sarin II (Jr.) became Shrewd (best curious outcome and he has Quick as well) and is waiting for Diligent. I will double my efforts into securing him as our next heir. Meanwhile our astro-studies progress giving us another 1 to Learning and 100 military tech points. We get notified that Pecheneg Khan from Uracic familly settles in Transoxiana which marks end of Persian Massalian Shahdom - pity. It was such rare combination! Upon inspection I notice it is the same vassal that has those 10.000 refilling event troops that are inheritable. Maybe it will push him into indepedence. One good thing to note is that Pechenegs stopped being tributary of Khazars. That's huge! No longer will we have to fight whole of steppes at once if things turn into military confrontation.
By November comes selection for festival competition. Something new - brawling! I decide to participate with Dokya's hoping it isn't lethal. I'm curious on what kind of nickname it can bestow. Kostroma tribe fort also fullfils it's purpose as it delays Raiders of Ilik (1250 nomads under Khazars) while our main retinue (1200 Light Infantry, 1400 Archers and 200 Heavy Infantry) marches towards intruders.
Festival continues and competition finishes. Permian King doesn't win. But son of our investor wins it all becoming "Champion of Perm". I pay him as I will inherit his wealth anyway. Also no wonder that he won being Norse, Berserker with Wroth and 92 Personal Combat Score. I definetely would not want to duel him. With such high PC score he could try to become legend in Warrior Lodge and have decent shot at finishing legendary gathering. Our diviner vanishes so I invite new one - 3 Learning, Greedy, Deceitful and no other impactful traits.
Year 870
======================
By January some Khazarian nomads make quite a journey from southern caucasus up to most eastern tribe of Perm - Sibir. I raise extra 3000 troops from Perm to bolster Army of Steppes and send them on route to deal with their 2500 riders. At the same time our regular retinue catches Khazars in Kostroma. We instantly route their 250 strong center but then roll Generic Skirmish (4.2% chance... the other choices being 47.8% for Shieldwall and 47.8% for Feint both which would be waay better) and slowly pick on other flank. The battle ends with our 60 casualties to their 300.
There is no moment for boredom as we get Peasant revolt in Syktyvar Tribe. Over six thousand troops pissed byoff by religious unrest in Suomenusko Komi province - thanks vassal! No idea what he did. Luckily it doesn't count against our no-war prosperity ambitious. So I raise rest of Permian duchy levies and call in other vassals as well as moving my main retinue towards them.
Did not expect culturally and religiously assimilated country to be a hotspot of rebel activity. C'mon vassal guy! Expected better from you. Also they instantly delete local retinue.
In March last of our old investor dies. Will have to look up new candidates after dealing with raiders and revolt. I recruit one of my vassals as Court Physician (Shrewd, 15 Learning, 88 opinion of Dokya). Noticed that brothers Vechkas that I pacified (by naming him Designated Regent) developed talent in commanding Cavalry. Not bad - he can use it for our Retinues with Light Cavalry. Thus he becomes Permian preferred commander for Army of Steppes.
Spring starts with Dokya finishing his studies of astronomy. Meaning +300 Prestige, Scholar Trait (+3 Learning) and pissing off temple vassals (whole one such character in our realm). With that our current Learning is 17. But we do have negative modifier "Out of Patience" giving -2 to every stat for 4 more years (thanks to me messing out and picking Patient for Sarin II instead of Ambitious). If you wonder what revolters do - they meander around with 21% attrition.
Barely as our relief force of 3500 troops arrives nearby, it is already too late and Syktyvar tribe falls. Pity - it losses some buildings but to my suprise it is still suprisingly well built - almost rivaling my own Permian tribes. When it comes to how our relief forces fares, well... We do get a beating in skirmish against twice as many and lighter troops. I hope Heavy Infantry will manage to win in melee as we rolled Shieldwall. My other retinues after beating raiders in Mari are almost there to reinforce. At the same time our Sibir relief force ambushed returning from Khanty tribes khazars. It is a total slaughter as I divided levy troops into strong center (3800 troops) and Light Cavalry under Vechaks on flank. We lost 220 troops to enemies 793. Sadly we get routed in Syktyvar! Almost half of our levy forces fall. Well attacking over the river into forest against more numerous opponents didn't pay off. But our Retinues are already locked on route so best of luck. Hoping their lowered morale will decide the fate of that battle.
Tribal rebelions are bloody as both sides are configured for strong skirmish phase. Unlucky rolls for our side continue.
Once again we open with Generic Skirmish on our concentrated flank :/. That's another 4.2% roll with two other possible options having 47,8% chances. But even though we take 40 casualties per day we are rapidly routing their center. Or not. Turns out they already took heavy losses and we lose again. 1500 ours for 500 of theirs. Ok I got lesson to consolidate my troops and not underestimate them so much.
As I need to wait for my routing troops to reorganize and maybe wait for Sibir force coming back, I get notification about our Steward settling Yamalia Tribe with Komi Culture. Nice. Now I move him onto last county in my personal domain not of my culture - Veliky Ustug. Kudymkar also finished it's construction of Training Grounds I. No new building is ordered as of yet.
Our Cultural assimilation progress. All will be part of Komi'mpany. Currently only 3 non culture provinces in our realm.
Sarin II Junior comes out of age with all the right traits but only level 2 Stewardship Education trait and no hair on head. The first issue can be alleviated somewhat but I'm afraid suffering from male pattern baldness is lifelong-sentence. Ironically it makes Rulership more likely and Ambitious trait as well so maybe I did genius thing by picking Patient. Still we are guaranteed at least 50% chance at upgrading education from Business one time in future and even without it (granting better MTTH for prosperity events) his stats are fantastic. Now we can give him additional court titles and our old tier 1 crown (not idea what happened to accompanying ceremonial axe from set).
Without shadow of the doubt best character to play as up to date. Still Tengri but we will make use of it. I expect great things from him.
By November we lose again (army was locked into traveling to Viled tribe) and additional 7000 peasants spawns via event. Ok now I really need to gather troops, because things get out off hand.
Last month presents us some small (750) khazarian raiders in Kostroma Tribe. Perfect for our beat up troops to chase off. Also 50 military tech points from spymaster. If I remember correctly it means he generated points from each category in succession. Balanced and to my liking.
Year 871
======================
Sadly winter attrition doesn't really affect rebels. Severe Winter still does affect us so I have to wait a little more. If it did affect event troops I imagine they would do especially poorly in our part of globe.
News from Greece on matters of faith. Not sure how likely it is for Orthodoxy to make succesful comeback but I will greet it with open hands
Something I didn't mention earlier but Greek Emperor renounced Iconoclasm together with all his powerful vassals and holders of 3 holy sites. This is really nice. Orthodoxy is slightly better as it provides ability to create holy orders and small event stat modifiers (icons). It will also work better for our prosperity focused goals RP wise. As long as moral authority remains reasonable (currently 50 vs Iconoclast 0) we will boost it to stratosphere with raiding later if we decide on that religion.
I notice it would be faster to just disband my dispersed levies and raise them again, so I do just thath. Sadly as peasants take over Veliky-Ustug tribe - we lose level of prosperity there.
It takes me up to 12th of May before I concentrate slightly above 11.000 troops in Udmurts to move out. Rebels have splitted into 3 and 9 thousands armies and nowadays they are on 92% of warscore so it is high time to strike them down. Their smaller host is close. They do keep evading me and the warscore goes towards 100%. I hope I can catch them before they force their demands.
Simualtenously: our steward proposes construction of monument and I choose prestige based option as our marshal abuses office generating us more money. New marshal is invited but he has only 6 martial and 2 out of 3 corruption traits. May prove tricky in arresting previous office holder.
On 6th of August we do catch rebels and provide them some well deserved asskicking. We can't finish them as they force their demands. Yes - I lost
". They not only take Syktyvar tribe from our realm but remove our spymaster from the picture as well (the fellow who administered that county and got deleted by rebels). I could make Sarin II (Jr.) our new spymaster but don't want to risk him getting sick in Constantinopole. New spymaster is thus procured by invitation. We will take our revenge on peasants after prosperity ambition is fullfilled. They only retained around 3000 troops so we won't have to face some absurd number of event troops.
Halfway through the month death strikes. Not us but Dokya's firstborn Ozheg. He was suffering from poor physique. It works perfectly as far as inheritance is involved. I can just give High Chiefdoms of Veliky Ustug and Yamalia to 2 younger sons, having perfect gavelkind split.
Death that works in our favour. 3 Sons to manage are a lot easier that 4 given our current demense.
Change of focus is also underway. I could do this last year but was kinda busy. Now I go towards Carousing for quick period to get rid of Depressed and somewhat help our Diplomacy. I also start Training Grounds II in Kudymkar for extra levies.
I designate Sarin II (Jr.) as prefered heir and slowly he gathers permian vassals votes to become officialy our heir. I do try invitations to Carousing but both Sarin II and brother Vechkas refuse. Won't invite our other nephew cause he is Lunatic (and can eat us at our feast). Then I try with new bohemian spymaster.
In Autumn we do proceed with arrest attempt at our previous marshal - which ends with succeess. That's 102 gold coins more for us. Enough to cover rebuilding forts effort after destruction Rebel brought to Mari and Vologda High Chiefdoms. I have also a briliant idea of making son of one of our investors our Marshal - Bagge the "Champion of Perm" is Norse, is angry (Wroth Berserker), has 24 Martial and is deceitful on top of already having 412 gold coins.
Given having some extra prestige I start recruitment of extra 6 Hunting Parties to increase our Army of Steppes by 900 men (600 Light Infantry and 300 Light Cavalry). It almost completely fills our current retinue maximum. Making us stronger especially against nomads.
Retinue for Army of Steppes. Coming along nicely as multi-generational effort.
In December we make our 3rd son Kya Permyakid Ambitious (he is also Diligent, Fussy and Indolent) hoping we get another good Administrator to speed up culture conversion. Then we start feast with our Spymaster.
Year 872
======================
Feast event chain rolls for gameboard event and we win getting +1 Diplomacy from Aprentice boardgamer modifier. Nice! Making friends with our Council would be good too! Some days later feast comes to an end giving us another +1 Diplomacy from Carouser modifier and gets rid of Depressed trait. So far, so good!
Having some time and free attention I do go shopping internationally for new investors. I waste some money on small gifts and try one favour invite. I end up with mediocre set of candidates initially but one is promising (500+ gold). Then I search some more and find way better investments. Problem is we may not inherit their wealth, due to some further family. 3 Venerable Elders and 1 Master of the Bow with combined 1800+ gold among them. Worth the effort. Let's not forget also about 400+ gold that Marshal Bagge has.
Another round of Investors. May require some extra effort but I would rather take my chances with those gold values instant of just collecting more of guests with just 100 gold coins to their name.
With March our Practise Ranges III finish in 4 tribes. Can't proceed with upgrading all of them as we only have 500 prestige. That monument is still on the way but it will help with prestige gain. Also our longtime chancellor/vassal of Votyaki Tribe dies. I can replace him with another vassal sporting luxurious 18 diplomacy and send him immedietely to Constantinopole. It's high time we start diplomatic relations with Byzantine Empire and we need to cozy up to them. Luckily it takes few days for first such event to occur, but it targeted Ecumenical Patriarch Sergios II. Sadly he can't sponsor our conversion.
Once again we collect most of our prestige bonuses. Notice how Nubile Concubines give less when our character is Celibate.
In Summer construction of Ancestral Monument is done. Forgot it also grants flat 250 prestige, but more importantly it removes -50% levy size on our capital. With that we are now having decent prestige gain even with temporarily spending almost 2 prestige for reinforcing retinues. Then Warrior-Lodge event for Patient trait fires and I'm happy to take that chance. Dokya is currently at 4 out of 5 traits and Patient is definetely nothing to sneeze at. I don't even notice that it fired while ignoring that Dokya was Wroth and replaced it. Nice! Also found some 30+ year old Suomenusko lady as wife candidate. Time to remarry as having spouse should improve our state diplomacy and make Dokya look more positive to foreign courts. It will cost us 90 prestige but we refund 50 after the wedding by not taking 15g. She also provides extra State Intrigue on which our arrest chances are based on, so truly win-win situation.
Second wife for our ruler. This time his father won't kill his spouse in duel. Lady nicely complements our character weak sides.
Both wife and few councillors refuse Dokya invitation to private feast. Ukko'Dammit. I was hoping for bedding attempt as we have still Lustful while being Celibate trait. No luck though. The same with making friends among council. But lastly our Diviner accepts.
Year 873
======================
By February merchant caravan visits us. I welcome them as I'm quite fondely remembering them as councillor source in this playthrough. They gift us another Ethiopian but not as great as previous one. He still will make for ok eunuch at court. I also start making friends with future Emperor of Byzantine Empire, as current ruler is 56 years old. It costs us far less to get favour before heir gets into office, but we are not quite yet there.
With Spring Dokya 3rd son comes out of age. He manages to become Midas Touched with 15 Martial and 16 Stewardship. He will nicely do as branch family source administrating some culturally foreign lands. Also good "spare" if something happens to Sarin II (Jr.).
Second son of Dokya's concubine. Good spare and decent administrator. His learning is somewhat low though for good MTTH on prosperity events.
In summer I name Sarin II as Champion of Perm among courtiers for extra prestige gain. Also Trainining Grounds II finish at Kudymkar Tribe. We are currently at 840 so I need to stockpile more for full prestige bonus. Would also help if Vechkas would stop giving me "Vicious rumours" penalty modifier. Might happen soon as he is stressed, depressed and has cancer. Might affect his life expectancy far more than failed secession earlier.
Death strikes again in September. Dokya's 4th son Turush was pushed out the window by Sarin II cronies. He was working on that plot for quite some time and with that only two out of 4 brothers survive. Sarin is the only legitimate child from Dokya legal wife while Kya is last child of concubine. I wonder if he will deal with his last brother too. Most importantly he wasn't catched with his murder, so no kinslayer trait and penalty.
In November we arrange for meeting with Prince Ioannes of the Byzantine Empire. We show off our erudite Dokya and it is enough to purchase favour from him... for 680 gold coins. I hope to outlive current Emperor even though he and Permian King are really close in years thanks to Intrigue infested nature of his court. There is also ability to cash in that favour in return for marriage alliance between our realms. I'm more than willing to even help them in wars to secure their existence, so they can provide Moral Authority by guarding Orthodox holy sites. It will also be good test for profitability of sponsored conversions.
By end of year we are presented with another 50 cultural technology points. It is somewhat unexpected as we are no longer on Scholarship focus, so the MTTH got substantially worse. Bohemian spymaster is on that male grind mindset it seems.
Year 874
======================
Another year and another member of family bites the dust. This time it is more expected turn of events - cancer claims Vechkas the Opressor, and his lands gets split between 3 of his boys. I'm ok with that fragmentation - it will make it easier in the future to retrieve some lands if we need. Also it leaves position of Designated Regent open for Sarin II. With it Junior is getting slightly over 6 prestige per month, meaning 72 prestige/year. Our family is still going strong with 24 living members and 7 candidates for Permian crown.
Now that we no longer need as good opinion I spend 300 prestige on upgrading Training Grounds in Kudymkar tribe even further.
By end of February as Dokya is feasting with his favourite son Sarin, game presents us really good opportunity - boardgame event again. If Sarin wins he will get the same modifier basicaly without our effort. No luck though and Father wins. Also his out-of patience wears off. Ironically it was penalty from teaching patience to Sarin, who is currently present. As of now we are looking like this 9 years after taking the crown:
Some focus work was done and some modifiers collected. Mostly done with most important aspects to develop
Little dipping into arranged marriages is made for our son - Kya Permyakid. He is bethrothed to youngest daughter of Chief of Viled tribe in high chiefdom of Veliky Ustug, that I plan on passing to him. That should help him stabilize this region as loyal base of power for our dynasty.
I ponder whether should I pass from traditional to marginal status of women but it would lock me out of ability to pass another reform for between 5-10 years. At least that's what I think. Dokya is 56 so it isn't guaranteed that he will live through that period. So I don't.
And almost immedietely on 1st of June I get rewarded for my restraint. Old Basileos that ended Iconoclast heresy has died. Now Baasileos Ioannes is emperor. Perfectly timed
.
Our plans comes together slowly. But I still need at least medium tribal organisation to be able to participate in Mass Conversion at all. So I pass Low Tribal Organisation first. Turns out it somehow resets the cooldown (I think that Council has different quicker cooldown if you enable them for passing laws). So I can pass another reform ASAP. But first before I give Title Grants&Revocations to council I pass High Chiefdom of Yugra title to Kya and make one of our bigger vassals Advisor (which turns him into loyalist)
Another legal reforms in Kingdom of Perm. More power to vassals but also more obedience will be expected from them. Also increases our vassal limit.
As the council votes (it will go through as I have ruler vote + 3 loyalists) our ambition comes to fruition. 5 year of focusing on improving prosperity and avoiding wars ended. We can now start preparing for revenge on rebels from Syktyvar tribe. But first some event's pops up in Followers of Otso lodge. Arm wrestling competition. Why not. We take on toughest, meanest warrior there is. He tries to cheat, Dokya catches him and wins after that. Then he consoles his opponent (we don't want to suicide in duel against him) and everyone is so impressed that present members gift upon him new nickname. No longer is he "Red-Cheeks. Now he is known as "the Bull" of Perm.
Months pass but the Medium Tribal Organisation doesn't. Turns out game (kind off) lied to me as 1 of my loyalist didn't vote in line with my wishes even after giving him bribe. Not sure, if him being lunatic had any part in it. Sadly with it we can't vote again before 884 :/. So no Conversion before that. Didn't know that. Will have to fix my council in the meantime. Some passage of time will help as they will be less upset about previous increase in Tribal Organisation and maybe will respect Dokya some more given his longer reign.
My unruly council is swift to accept our declaration of war for Syktyvar Tribe. All vassal chiefs are called in as are our levies in Perm. This most likely will be very swift.
News about our marshal corruption arrive. They have been quite busy in that office, haven't they lately? I was once again correct in my hunch that he was eligible for corruption event (as it haven't fired for him previously). I exchange him for Lodge Commander with 24 Martial and Greedy (who is also our loyal servant thus loyalist). I may use him as our 4th loyalist in 10 years for another voting. Shame I didn't realize that stances can change for certain subjects.
Also during this October something that we haven't seen in quite some time occurs. Kudymkar county (the one in which we are currently focusing on infrastructure) prospers. It reached second level of prosperity.
News on prosperity front. One step closer to beign eligible for prosperity events via crown focus
By november (once new marshal bonuses to arrest kick in), we perform 100% success chance arrest and then banish Bagge "the champion of Perm" to seize his 500+ gold. Bye-Bye! You can remain calling yourself the champion of Perm somewhere else.
Our 22 year old Basileus managed to lose leg and is now severely injured. It's tricky. Do I cash in favour now for bethrothal between Sarin and Greek princess or wait another 10 years at shot at getting sponsored conversion? I think I'll wait a little and see if he gets any treatment modifier.
As our permian warriors march on, I spent some renown on Warrior Lodge commander trait thinking it will help with 28% Winter Attrition, but Dokya isn't gifted enough. One of our older commanders is though. Thanks to him we avoid any attrition in our own lands. Before end of year we are on route to crash into 4000 Syktyvar peasants with our 9600 strong host. Vengeance time!
Year 875
======================
Late in January we get our showdown. It starts not overly lucky as we get Volley, Volley Harass and Harass once each to enemy Generic Skirmish and double Feint tactics. We still are winning but we could be winning so much more. If I had better luck and maybe bothered to manually organise troops between flanks. So it probably is the end for them. As I expect to hold total superiority in melee thanks to having Heavy Infantry.
Our mediocre tactic luck continues. This time I remedied previous mistake and arrived in force.
Our forces first break through center then jump onto their right flank and finish left in last days of skirmish even without getting into melee phase. We lose 280 men to their 1400. That's more like it. That alone gives us 31% warscore. Time to take over their only tribe and conclude that shameful episode. Before calendar winter ends (cause real winter in that area can last longer) we make it to Syktyvkar tribe. Siege progress goes with 30% every tick. That will be really quick. Their forces almost recovered from route. Luckily I have close to 4000 troops in Mari high chiefdom to beat them down, if they try anything funny.
But we don't get to. On 1st of May their only holding surrenders and we enforce our demands. Their troops vanished and never came back. It works for us as we vassalise their lord and he retains almost 2500 event troops. That should help if anything
. We probably will make use of them for our own goals.
I invite our chancellor to private party aiming to forge friendship. While he is already at 100 relations it is mostly due to bribe. I hope it will corce him in the future to vote alongside us. He accepts invitation.
While preparation are underway, 1500 khazarian raiders show in Kostroma. They ambush Vologdan retinues but I have my own 2800 retinue host in adjecent province so I move to help. At the same time 1000 Chimgi-Tura raiders arrive at Mansia tribe (east of Ural mountains). Our Army of Steppes moves toward them. Khazarian vassal is sent packing and I decide to harass them a little by raiding adjecent khans and hurting their manpower.
Our Basileus Ioannes is busy bee. Not only he started diplomaticaly vassalizing various Orthodox states in Anatolia, he also recovers from his serious injuries and is quelling down rebelions and civil wars. Things are starting to look up for Greeks so he becomes known as "the Just". We made good call not panick using favour.
As Autumn nears our retinues are fully reinforced and now Army of Steppes counts 2700 men. We are also getting +9.5 prestige monthly meaning 114 prestige per year. Not bad!
Partying goes swimmingly as well. Now our skilled Chancellor is our friend. This is really good ,as he is stressed but I also missed that he is Lunatic. That could result in him cannibal event :/. Luckily it didn't happen.
As we are moving back to Kostroma to deal with small 750 different khazarian raiders, 1810 Ilik Raiders come back and attack us across river. I dunno what AI expects that will happen. It goes as expected with 95 losses to their 530. Meanwhile our army of Steppes catches up to Chimgi-Turans takes 54 losses and inflicts 203 losses. Then another battle at Kostroma ends - with another 50 some casualties in exchange for 255 kills.
Year 876
======================
We start year by some revenge sacking of neighbouring nomads capitals. One such assault yields us 14 prisoners. It reminds me that I can normally loot all adjecent to my realm provinces. Was doing long-distance no-ship raiding for so long that I forgot it was default option. I do also some investigations and figure out that currently Khazars are somewhat understrenght, as they field less horde troops that their manpower limit allows.
North slowly getting independent and severing their ties to Khazar khaganate
Out of note is also the changing situation in north. Due to some subjugation of northern tribals some previously nomad land seperated from Khazars. I plan to jump and make tributary out of Veps, to not allow further Khazarian expansion north.
We share our statesmanship secrets with Basileus Ioannes to sway him even more towards us. He is impressed and his opinion of Dokya rises up to 65. What's better - we didn't spend single point of prestige or gold for that.
With month passing to February, I decide to commence war on Veps. I discovered their secret. They were doing so well partially due to being led by peasant rebelion leader with 4000 event troops. Still even without them we can expect few thousand troops from them. That's a good sign for their future usefulness.
As I start mustering troops and all call to wars are sent to my vast network of tributaries, Vepsian leader offers his surrender. This is interesting choice. We don't get 200 prestige but also don't diminish their military might (event troops). Currenntly I would rather have extra 4000 allies than 200 prestige. We accept. With that our influence reaches almost Finland!
As I'm continuing my low intensity raiding of Khazarian border land I spot previously beaten hordes again. Determined to use every oportunity to weaken them I proceed to administer another round of beating. This time Ilik Raiders present more of a challenge and we lose 230 men to their 408. Still acceptable as I can reinforce and they - can't. For comparison - they are getting 87 manpower per month. Thus their retinues are diminishing after each such battle. Currently down to 1400 from 1800. Then we ambush smaller horde and inflict 150 casualties while they recover only 32 per month.
I do the same with our eastern Horde and thanks to it we are at point of depleting their manpower reserves. I also invite our Steward and Spymaster to Carousing, hoping we get at least 1 more friend before I switch focus to something different.
In September Training Grounds III finishes being built in Kudymkar Tribe. We proceed towards last level of that structure immedietely. 400 Prestige well spent. Also we get confirmation from our Steward that he will attend our small party.
Change of Pace - isntead of 10.000 event nomads it is just 2500. Interesting test on how well are we able to deal with our eastern nomad neighbours.
New Challenger arrives in Pechenegs 2500 raiders at Sibir Tribe, where our Retinue is currently residing. They overestimate themselves and get sent packing taking 180 of our men in exchange for their 380 men. I feel like at this point we can totally conquer nomad lands east of Ural. Ilik Raiders once again come back from routing so it is yet another occasion to inflict further punishment.
We repeat the whole ordeal one more time as our guest arrives to party. But that will have to wait for another time!
.png){kind=avatar}
