Slovenia united- A Slovenian AAR

[unmerged(62478)]

​

INTRODUCTION​

Introduction:
I always wanted to make an AAR that runes over all four Paradox games (CK, EU III, Victoria and HOI 2DD A). First I didn't know which nation to take (I was thinking about Muscovy or Prussia, but there are many Russian and German AARs in the later games), but with the time I taught it would be best, to make a Slovenian AAR. Since there was not one before (At least not one about which I know).

​

Game:
I will start of with a 1066 scenario normal/furious CK game as Krain. I have edited the ruler of the country from Ulrich von Weimar to Peter von Karanten (Karanten was the first Slovenian state. I know the name sounds German, but lets see it realistically, since im a part of HRE- at least the name is slavish). I also changed the rulers nationality from German to Slavic (There was almost no, or no Slavish royal family since the anti-Frankish rebellion of Ljudevit Posavski). In my next post I will describe the starting situation and history of Slovenians till 1066).

​

Objectives:
-Keep a Slavic ruler (If not the scenario will be counted as defeat. That also means that the most of the marriages will be concluded with Slavs, so the gene pool stays mostly Slav. I know this sounds very racist, but I don't want to end up with a nation, with a German on the throne).
-Become a fully free nation till the end of the CK game (So the nation can exist on into EU III).
-Try to get as many Slovenian national provinces back as possible under my control (This totals max. 5 provinces, which I will show in the next reply. Those provinces have also been added as national provinces of the von Karanten royal blood line).
-Replace the Hapsburg empire in history.

​

Some extra rules:
-No major inheirtations (Like whole kingdoms).
-No expansion above all limits (The max. size is like the double size the Hapsburg empire would have on the end of this game if everything would run perfectly historical).
-If I reach a greater size, I don't attack anymore or rarely, if I get attacked I may destroy the aggressor, but I have to release the conquered territory as a free nation with a Slavic ruler.
-If I gain a king title there is no problem. I will change the name and type of the country when I convert the save.

​

List of rulers:
-PETER VON KARANTEN THE REVENGEFUL (1066-1093):
Lived: 47 years
Ruled: 27 years
Death: Assassination
Children: 4 males 1 female 1 bastard 6 total
Married: 2 times
Martial: 12
Diplomacy: 7
Intrigue: 7
Stewardship: 8
Total skill points: 34
Achievements: +1 province.

-KALOJAN VON KARANTEN THE FAMILY KILLER (1093-1113):
Lived: 28 years
Ruled: 20 years
Death: Illness (Lepra)
Children: 0 total
Married: 2 times
Martial: 6
Diplomacy: 4
Intrigue: 9
Stewardship: 7
Total skill points: 26
Achievements: +6 provinces and County became Duchy under his rule.

-NINOSLAV VON KARANTEN THE HERETIC (1113-1123):
Lived: 43 years
Ruled: 10 years
Death: Illness (Pneumonia)
Children: 0 total
Married: 2 times
Martial: 10
Diplomacy: 5
Intrigue: 3
Stewardship: 6
Total skill points: 24
Achievements: Defected from HRE to Kingdom of Hungary.

JOSIP SCHOLARI THE INTRIGUER (1123-1138):
Lived: 40 years
Ruled: 15 years
Death: Illness (Wound infection)
Children: 2 males 5 females 7 total
Married: 1 time
Martial: 10
Diplomacy: 13
Intrigue: 21
Stewardship: 12
Total skill points: 56
Achievements: +2 provinces.

PAVAO SCHOLARI THE LOYALIST (1138-1154):
Lived: 46 years
Ruled: 16 years
Death: Mortal wound (Castle attack)
Children: 4 males 4 females 3 bastards 11 total
Married: 1 time
Martial: 12
Diplomacy: 10
Intrigue: 4
Stewardship: 11
Total skill points: 37
Achievements: +9 provinces.

EVTIMII SCHOLARI THE BRAVE HEART (1154-1175):
Lived: 47 years
Ruled: 21 years
Death: Neutral means
Children: 4 males 1 female 5 total
Married: 1 time
Martial: 9
Diplomacy: 14
Intrigue: 10
Stewardship: 8
Total skill points: 41
Achievements: +4 provinces.

JANOS SCHOLARI THE WEAK (1175-1188):
Lived: 16 years
Ruled: 13 years
Death: Illness (Pneumonia)
Children: None
Married: 1 time
Martial: 2
Diplomacy: 4
Intrigue: 4
Stewardship: 3
Total skill points: 13
Achivements: +2 provinces

 

[unmerged(62478)]

History till 1066 and the current situation

​

HISTORY TILL 1066​

Slavic settlement:
The first phase of Slavic settlement in the territory of modern Slovenia is dated around the year 550 and originated in the area of modern Moravia (i.e., the West Slavic speaking branch). From there Slavs moved southward into the territory of the former Roman province of Noricum (modern Upper and Lower Austria regions). Subsequently, they progressed along the valleys of Alpine rivers towards the Karawanken range and towards the settlement of Poetovio (modern Ptuj).

The second phase of Slavic settlement took place after Langobards had retreated into Northern Italy in 568. Slavs eventually occupied the depopulated territory with the help of their Avar overlords. In 588 they reached the area of the Upper Sava river and in 591 they arrived to the Upper Drava region where they soon fought with the Bavarians. In 592 the Bavarians won, but in 595 the Slavic-Avar army gained victory and thus consolidated the boundary between the Frankish and Avar territories.

An early slavish fortified settlement.​

Carantania:
The Slavic Duchy of Carantania mainly occupied the territory of today's Austrian Carinthia and Slovenian Carinthia. It emerged from the ashes of the first Slavic union: Samo's Tribal Union.

Samo connected the Western and the Southern Slavic tribes. The union extended from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic Sea. Its purpose was to defend the Slavs from the Bavarians, the Langobards and the Avars. It collapsed due to the death of Samo (658) and the disconnected link between the western and the southern Slavs.

After the demise of Samo's Tribal Union, Carantanians established their duchy under the guidance of Knez (Lord) Valuk. In 745 Carantania joined the Frankish kingdom as an independent country with its own law.

​

Slovenian lands 9th century.​

German domination:
From as early as the 9th century, the lands inhabited by Carantanians, later Slovenes, fell under non-Carantanian ruler, including partial but co-operative control by Bavarian dukes and by the Republic of Venice (From 14 century on Slovenians came under the Habsburg dynasty. But the game start in the year 1066 so this is currently far from coming true).

1066:
County of Krain is a part of the HRE and it is under the dukedom of Karanten. Other neighbors are the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Croatia and the Republic of Venezia. The provinces that are considered to be the claims of the royal family of von Karanten are Istria, Krain, Aquileia, Karanten and Steiermark.

​

The ruler of the county of Krain is the count Peter von Karanten. He is not married, and has no heirs (Since he is a fictional character, I used fictional DNA for him. He is a combination of the count of Muscovy and the King of Croatia. Culture is South Slavic).

​

 

[swippy]

you have some strong neighbours, it would be wise to stay part of germany or other kingdoms in the beginning

good luck with the game and AAR!

 

[Legolas]

It's not ogres in Romania, it's vampires! Anyway, it's a nice start, and good luck

 

[unmerged(62478)]

​

PETER VON KARANTEN THE REVENGEFUL Part 1​

​

The count:
Peter was 20 years old when he stated his rule. He was appointed for the position of the count, by the Karanten duke Berthold von Zahringen (There is an umlaut sing on the a, but I dont have the right keyboard to write it). He was against the church (That much as you could be in the time without being excommunicated) and a warmonger. But man couldn't say that he was unreasonable. His first action was to find a south Slavic bride which would secure him a heir. He found the perfect candidate in the county of Belgrade. Stania Syraneres was a beautiful Greek woman, which was half slavish and Greek. But the king didnt knew that and married her (Actually I was too dumb to look at her nationality, before I clicked on the marriage preposition. Luckily it didnt have any major impact on the game, I mean heirs). There is also an other story that the king was "weak of flesh". And when he saw her it didnt really matter for him which was her nationality.

​

Stania in all her beauty.​

The kings new wife was appointed as a steward, as she had a good way with money. The second action of the king was to change the inheritations law to salic primogeniture. He also concluded few tax changes for the good of the army and bad for the church. 2 years later (More exactly on the 27 April 1068) a heir was born. He was named Pavle (In English the same name would be Paul).

The empire doesn't tolerate any defectors!:
In the year 1069 the duchy of Tuscany, with her leader Mathilda of Canossa defected from the HRE. On the start the HRE didnt want to intervene, because the duchy was a bishophy and the leader of the HRE could not afford a conflict with the Pope. Strengthened by the fact, Azzo dEste the leader of the Duchy of Lombardy defected from the empire just 2 months later. It was then when the leader of the HRE finally realized, that if he doesn't do something, the empire may fall apart. Thats why he declared war upon both duchies. The count of Krain was very angry, because the leader of Karanten didnt want to send any forces to aid the king. So the warmonger count participate in the war. And even the second heir that was born that year, couldn't make him happy either. Because the (uneasy) peace times he named him Ljubomir (In English that would mean "lover of peace").

​

From the start on, the war gone into the favor of the HRE. With their superior numbers they first dealt with Lombardy. After that, they concentrated on Tuscany. After the successful siege of Ferrara, the capital of Tuscany, the war came to a showdown. The last resistance of Tuscany was in the province Ferrara. They were attacked by Germans, which numbers were twice as high. On the start the battle was swinging in the balance and eventually in Tuscany's favor with the death of the general leading the German army (This was not the leader of the HRE. He remained in Ferrara drinking). The German army was eventually saved by the arrival of a secondary army (See picture). After the battle Tuscany and Lombardy were annexed again into the HRE. The war officially ended on 23 January 1971 (You can see the battle if you click HERE. Comments are welcome since this is the first movie Ive ever made).

The darkness that is Karanten:
Just after the war, a diplomat arrived from the count of Steiermark. He brought an infant with him. He requested an immediate audience with the count Peter. The count accepted him. The count of Steiermark wanted to accept his oldest heir and hide him, till he is grown up. The main reason for that was that the duke was fearing that a treachery was going on in his county. As trough Peter didnt find any sympathy helping the Germans, but was more interested in a full scale war, he accepted the heir of the duke anyway.

​

Just a month after that happened, on the night between the 7 and 8 march 1071 an army of Karanten sneaked into the castle of the royal family of Steiermark and slaughtered them all (In the game suddenly the ruler changed dont know why. I have only seen it because the shield of Steiermark disappeared for a second). The new count of the county became the oldest heir of the duke of Karanten (Guess who the rival of the new count is).

​

Something bad was going in the duchy of Karanten. And we would soon find out what. In the meantime of those events another child has been born. This time it was a daughter named Maria.

​

Comment:
To make this more realistic, I will make all the important decisions per the attributes of the characters.

 

[stnylan]

So, something fishy going on in Karneten?

 

[unmerged(62478)]

​

PETER VON KARANTEN THE REVENGEFUL Part 2​

The revengeful:
Here is the story how Peter became the revengeful. It all started on 7th August 1071. Ljubomir died due poor health. That brought the count to the brink of the madness (No he is not mad). And he entered a phase of isolation (who taught that looking at his personality). He became very lonely and stooped socializing. On the other side, there was the countess. She was sad in the first months, but she soon came over with. And because there was no one to "please here (I mean the count)", she began searching for a lover. And who searches finds. In the next 2 months she was often seen walking with marshal Radu. After 7 months of saddens the count, found back to his primary state. Soon after that, he noticed the strange behavior of the countess, and asked the spy master about it. He explained him the situation. The count took immediate action. On 7th he exiled the marshal (He was lucky to escape with his life). After that he had a heavy argue with the countess (She became his rival). But the king was still determined to pay her twice as much back.​

​

He found the answerer in his worst enemy- the church. On 29 September his chaplain advised him that the Pope frowns upon allowing a schismatic a position of authority (It is an event. I dont have a clue what it really does mean). This gave him the chance to exile the countess into Tuscany. She came back pregnant. No one knows if the child was from the count, which visited her once (or twice) or a lover. Well soon after she returned (6 months after the exile), she caught an illness and died 3 months later (27.8.1073). The unborn child died with her. First there was a suspicion that the king poisoned her. But he was soon proved unguilty. The Typhoid fever broke out in the county of Krain, just 2 months after her dead. It was this illness that killed the queen and which should plague Krain for years to come. The countesses death leaved the count with different feelings. Some of them were joy, some pain, relief and sadness. Well he got his revenge and was in no hurry to marry again.

​

The empire does tolerate defectors!?
On 15th August 1072 Karanten defected from the HRE (This happened between The revengeful part). The emperor of the HRE did not respond on the defection. With that Karanten became a free nation. On the start not much did change, but "the darkness" that was Karanten could not lay still for long. On 20th January 1074 the duke of Karanten was called upon to mobilize his troops against Pereyaslav. The duchy was at the time in war with Chernigov, Poland, Karanten and something that man could call Novgorod. But the Duchy was standing strong against the invaders. Their capital was occupied by Chernigov, but so was Chernigov by them (I dont have a fuller overview of the conflict, because I mostly concentrate on the area important for the nation and the story). The count arrived back very angry on 10th February 1075, seeing no action at all. His troops were called back and remained in the duchy for the rest of the war.On 1st February 1076 Bohemia defected from the empire with no consequences. The war ended by the occupation of Pereyaslav by Karanten (3rd March 1076). Some gold was payed to Karanten and with that the war officially ended.

​

The second countess:
The counts little walk towards Russia and back did brought some consequences with it. On 9th August 1075 a commoner came to the county
and claimed that the count sired his child. It was a scandal when the king accepted the bastard. Some months later the spy master made a preposition to the count, that it would be good to assassinate the bastard. The king approved the plan. But the assassination failed. Luckily no one actually assumed that the count was behind the assassination (Or maybe they just didnt want to accuse him, fearing that they could fall prey to a successful assassination). The king decided to marry again. First to prevent similar things as the bastard in his county and secondary to cover the scandal about the bastard.

​

In the meantime in a kingdom far away named Poland. The war with Chernigov exhausted the Polish military arsenal. Bringing no good out of the war, Poland became very weak. This is when Kingdom of Hungary, has taken its chance and declared war upon the weakened kingdom. In one of the first battles the Polish king was killed and his not yet adult sun has taken control over the kingdom as the new king. With this the kingdom was on the brink of destruction. The mother of the young king was Eufrozyna Poraj. A beautiful widow of Polish nationality. But her national consciousness was 0. When Poland was constantly weakening she escaped out of the Kingdom one day. She stooped by in Krain. She asked the count for a place in the county. The king granted it and married her some time later on 15 February 1076. With this she was the mother of the polish King and the countess of Krain. Poland was defeated in the war versus Hungary, but the kingdom survived.

​

Comments:
-First thanks for your comments.
-Second it may happen, that I call the count of Krain a king. Im sorry if this happened (Or countess a queen).

 

[Van der Gent]

*subscribes*

 

[Deus Eversor]

what about her son? maybe by relation through her you might adopt her son and make join two front war against hungary? you might even cut europe in half taking very good trade positioning

 

[unmerged(62478)]

​

PETER VON KARANTEN THE REVENGEFUL Part 3​

Some overall news:
On 28th April 1076 a great tourney was given by the duke of Karanten. For someone as Peter von Krain it was the perfect opportunity, to test his skills. He came high up, but was defeated in the final by the count of Aquileia, which insulted him after his victory. It all led to a diplomatic incident, in which count Peter got Friedrich of Moravia as a rival and a claim on the title count of Moravia. On 22th July 1076 the the duke of Karanten died and his son has taken over the dukedom. Count Peter was given a chance to defect from the dukedom, but he rather acknowledged the new duke. If he would deny him, he would probably get himself into a war, he would not be able to win. On 10th march 1077 the dukedom of Karanten again joined the HRE. None knows why. On 25th July Tomislav was born. He was the first child of the count and his new wife. On 20th December 1078 the pope called to arms, but the count was not nearly thinking on joining the crusade (As no one else did). On 30th June a second child was born named Ninoslav (There are more children, but now im only counting those of the count and his new wife). On 30th August 1081 it was discovered that our count, has rights on the title the count of Modena. On 16th July Maria (The only female child from the counts first marriage) was sent to the king of Croatia as a fostering. This was done mostly to improve the relations between both realms. On 25th July Veneto joined the HRE. I really dont know how the emperor succeeded in this. Some time later the count got claims on the province Vegila (Im sorry you had to read this. It was probably really boring. But the problem is that nothing really that interesting happened, so I could bring it over as a story and second in order that the whole story makes sense, you have to know some facts).

​

Enter the Babenberg:
On 1st August 1084 Pavle von Karanten (The oldest heir of the count)reached adult status. Right after that he was given the marshal position in the county, because his excellent martial and intrigue skills. But he was not as his father constantly searching for a conflict. Most of the time he was traveling around, writing poems and enjoying life. The count was very angry about that behavior. Thats why great pressure came from the count on his son. He soon became very stressed because of that (And depression came over him too). On one of his travels, he wisted the duchy of Austria. There he met Binhilde von Babenberg. They soon fell in love and married. When the count of Krain got the message about the marriage, anger has fallen over him. The duke of Austria saw the marriage with combined feelings. On the bright side he was able to marry away his oldest daughter, for a very cheap price and on the dark side, she was married with a noble of the lowest rank. Anyway much less pressure came from his side, as from the one of the count of Krain.

​

On 12th June 1085 Pavle von Krain committed suicide (Mostly because his depression and his current situation). Soon after that Binhilde discovered that she was pregnant. Later that year she gave birth to Kalojan. He was the first in the line to inherit the county of Krain and Dukedom of Austria. Well that was cough...cough..., after the successful assassination of cough..., Viktor of Babenberg cough...(Kalojan should be the one, that would bring the dutchy to its knees).

​

The county expands:
On 5th June 1087 a noble arrived from a distant land (Probably Russia which was more and more beginning to erupt in a huge conflict, between the land lords and the Byzantine emperor. He recently inherited whole dukedom of Chernigov) asking for a place in the county. He was gladly accepted, especially because of his excellent martial skills. He was immediately appointed as the marshal of the county. And on 14th June 1087 he was given Maria von Krain, the grown up daughter of the count for wife. With their skills combined, they should produce excellent warriors. On 25th July Duchy of Croatia, has defected from the Kingdom of Croatia. One of the provinces they took with them was Vegila. A province on which the count had claims on. And for a count that was constantly searching for the thrill of the drill, immediate war declaration was invertible.

​

The siege of the province begun on 8th August 1089 with 2000 men. The swift victory of over the garrison, was mostly achieved thanks to the help of the marshal, which used innovative tactics. The siege ended on 12th November 1089, with no real battle at all (Well there were 3 battles, which we have all won and there were no loses on neither side. How should I simulate that lol?). Some days later peace was concluded in which the province became a part of the county of Krain. Some months later the duchy of Croatia, again became a part of the Kingdom of Croatia (I wonder how long they will last).

​

The Holy Roman empire VS the Papal state:
In the time Krain has its little stories. The HRE expanded over all known limits. Many realm's joined the empire, many defected but were brought to justice. France was only a mere shadow under the expansionism of the HRE (Mostly when a county or duchy defected from France, the HRE immediately attacked it and integrated it into its empire. Soon after the Holy Roman emperor has seen that no one stands a chance against his conquest, he attacked the Papal state. Since there was no Christian kingdom strong enough to help it (France had a size of a bigger duchy, Scandinavian kingdoms were in constant wars, the Spanish kingdoms were too weak and had to fight the increasingly stronger Arabs, Hungary had its conquest concentrated towards Russian pagans, Poland was very weak and Byzance had its own problems, not to mention that they are an orthodox nation). Rome has fallen on 13th January 1090. With this it was integrated into the HRE.

​

A new papal state was established by the Holy roman emperor on 17th June 1090 in Julich (There is an umlaut sign on the U. In todays days Julich is a part of Germany on the border to the Benelux states. Well this is a very interesting turn of events, isn't it?). But this papal state was more or less only created, to keep the Pope under German control (Thats why it is located in Germany). In the next years 2 popes and 3 papal controllers were changed. On the end the papal controller became no other as the Holy Germany emperor himself and with that reaching the peak of his power (Soon after that a very unforeseen chain of events should happen).

​

Comments:
-Deus Eversor:
The game just doesn't work so as you think. Well only if you fight pagans and Muslims. In that case you may expand however you want. And I dont think that her son would like to become a count if he is a King. And the option isn't available anyway.
-Dont miss the next reply. The rise of Kalojan

 

[swippy]

that is one monster of a holy roman empire... i dont suggest to break out from it just yet

 

[stnylan]

That is indeed a mammoth HRE. Though with a little luck hopefully soon they will get a bad king, or series of bad events, and you can profit from the implosion.

 

[unmerged(62478)]

​

KALOJAN VON KARANTEN THE FAMILY KILLER​

The rise of Kalojan:
In 1092 the bastard Bernardin reached adult status. He married his younght friend Cornelia. She was the oldest daughter of the governor of Veneto. He was appointed as the spy master, because of his excellent intrigue skills. But as trough he should begin a life of a prestigious countier, his life as a bastard was very hard. And soon the stress turned into an ugly schizophrenia. 3 months later he demanded from the count, to make him his legitimate heir. The count rejected, since it was against his all morals. He was exiled to Karanten. But he soon came back and again filled the position of the spy master (What is the point of the exile, if those guys come back in no time?). One day he was seen being approached by the 7 year old Kalojan.

​

Five months later. It was the 5th May 1093. The count was sleeping in his royal chambers. Suddenly the door to his bedchamber opened. And an assassin got into the room, struck the count with his knife and fled into the night. The count was immediately dead. Soon after that, Kalojan has become the new count. No one denied him the position. The new count seemed as a harmless child, but it was darkness lurking inside his body. His first secret action was to repay the bastard Bernardin for his services. With that he finally got the position in the county he wanted (Secretly Kalojan was planing to have him killed anyway). His first official action was to blow a lethal strike against the bandit guild in Krain (That happened on 11th December 1093). On 7th February 1094 Kalojans mother fled from the county to Croatia. Kalojan planned to get her back. He could not risk, that anyone of his family is out of his control. On 1st September Tomislav von Karanten reached adult status (He was one of the youngest of the counts sons). He was forced to marry Kalojans mother, which had to return back to Krain on 29th September 1094.

​

One problem still remained. Many countiers wanted to see the last counts murderer dead. Kalojan could not run into the risk, that his bastard friend would be accused the murderer of the count. So Bernardins wife was accused of committing the murder. Her motive was, that she was angry on the count, for treating her husband bad. She was executed on 25 December 1094. Bernardin had some problems with the execution of his wife, but anything he would do trying to prevent the action, would get him killed.

​

The psychopathic family murderer:
Soon after the realm was fully under Kalojans control, and he was at no risk to be discovered as the real murderer of his grandfather, he started with his master plan to make sure, that no one will ever oppose him as the sole ruler of the county. It started when Maria (The only daughter of his grandfather) died in labor on 19th August 1095. Her child was also lost. Soon after that he gained a rival. It was Ninoslav, which reached the adult status on 1st August 1096. He was married with Jozsa Poth, which was a very capable spy master and thus was given the job as the one of the county. On 13th November Tomislav has gone mad and had to be put to the blade, after attacking some courtiers. The final one to kill was his grandfather from the German side. He was not married and he has already reached his 50th year of life. But Kalojan was just not the guy for waiting. He murdered the duke.

​

The assassination was discovered, but it didnt matter. Kalojan has become the duke of Austria on 12th January 1098. In only 5 years of his rule he tripled his own power and doubled the power of his realm. Only Ninoslav remained in his path (The sing on his face represents Delexsianism. But it is mostly drawn, because it looks cool and dark. But it also stands for light and syberneticy (This is not same as cyberneticy, which stands for robotics and advanced computer technology)).

​

 

[swippy]

that's one wicked kid...nice job becoming Duke of Austria!

 

[unmerged(62478)]

​

KALOJAN VON KARANTEN THE FAMILY KILLER part 2​

The "incidents" continue:
On 11th June 1099, the armies of Kalojan have been summoned by the HRE, to aid him in his crusade (Which should end in chaos). Some time later, on 26th November 1099 a large sum of money disappeared. Many heads have rolled, but the thief has not been caught. Kalojan was giving much money to fulfill his education. It was no surprise when a skilled trader arrived, to teach him a thing or two. Finally Kalojan of Karanten reached adult status on 4th August 1101. He married Richwara von Zahringen. She was an ugly and dumb woman (Skills- M:0,D:5,I:6,S:0). He mostly married her to improve his financial and prestigious status. She was assassinated on 21 June 1102. They had no children. On 17th February 1103 the HRE gained full control of Croatia and Bosnia (Well at least that would be how the lands are called in nows days). It was all a part of the HRE crusade. But this should not remain for long. The true marriage was concluded with one of the daughters of the Holy roman emperor on 11th June 1103 (Eufemia von Franken).

​

On 16th November 1103 again a large sum of money disappeared and this time even more heads rolled and again the thief was not found (It all probably happened because the disloyal steward). On the end of the year 1103, Kalojan was on a hunting trip. There he got wounded, when he was pursuing a wild boar. But he got lucky. On 21 November 1104 a healer healed him by a miracle. But the POPE got a word from that and excommunicated Kalojan. This didnt really matter for Kalojan, but it would for his successor.

​

The conquest continues:
In the time his armies were on a crusade, Kalojan unleashed the armies of his vassals (2 vassals), to conquer 3 duchies, which have recently defected from the empire. The first to fall was the duchy of Rama. It was the only province, where major resistance was encountered (I wanted to make a movie of the battle, but it would only last for 30 seconds). After 2 months of siege, the province fell. The conquest was greeted by the people. On 28th August 1107 the stability of the realm improved (1+). As trough the duke was excommunicated, the dukedom of Austria was one of the most prestigious realms in Europe. Even the king of England expressed the offer of an alliance (Which was accepted D). It seems the only one who noticed the excommunicated trait on the duke was "God" (Im atheist but the event is named "God punishes sins"). The dukes illness mutated into an ugly leper. The duchy of Rasha has fallen on 21th September 1110. The duchy of Belgrade was soon to follow on 20th January 1111.

​

Those last two conquests, have greatly diminished the reputation of the duchy. And the effects of the excommunication have also started to fell. The stability has reduced in one year from +1 to -1. But those problems should be all left to the successor of Kalojan. The Duke died of illness on 7th August 1113. He had no successors (The seed of darkness shall not spread on lol). The realm was inherited by Ninoslav von Karanten the heretic. He was the only remaining son of the first count.

​

The heretic:
Germany again became the papal controller on 27th January 1115. Soon after that the duke decided to leave the sinking boat that was HRE. The empire had huge problems with defection after the failed crusade. Wars have become everyday business. The duke decided (The only really smart decision during his rule), was to join the Kingdom of Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary was constantly expanding from the start on. They are soon to reach the starting size of HRE (Or have already by the time). That has greatly angered the HR emperor. He demanded from the Pope to excommunicate the duke. The pope has done as asked. First people were paid to spread word that the duke was a skeptic. After that the pope had all reasons to recognize him as a heretic on 16th March 1115 and finally to excommunicate him on 9th June 1115.

​

Comments:
-Ive added some ruler statistics on the first page. It sure is interesting.
-The total skill points, are the points at the moment of his death.
-Peter von Karantens skill points are probably the ones from the age of 20. So they may not be correct.

 

[Khalep]

Very nicely written, I like the style.

 

[stnylan]

So how will he cope with the excommunication?

 

[unmerged(62478)]

​

NINOSLAV VON KARANTEN THE HERETIC​

The times of inner conflicts:
With the excommunication of the Duke, the situation was worsening very fast. The stability was also on its low point (-3). On 24th November, the Hungarian king called the duke to arms. He needed every man he could get in his upcoming war against the Byzantine empire. This war would be the longest and bloodiest war of the 12th century. The main conflict area was Russia. With the constant Hungarian expansionism and the huge Byzantine realms in Russia, it had to come this far. The count of Krain didnt aid the king, because his realm was in uproar. Soon after that, many revolts started. Till the end of the counts rule, there were 10 revolts. Most of them were peasants, which were in an uproar because the rulers excommunication.

​

But the revolts were not the only problem. The duke had marriage problems. His wife was spreading nasty rumors (Well I would say fucking lies, but the event tells something else lol). Even the newest fashion he bought her, didnt change anything about that. On the end, they hated each other and no heir was born either. Even most of the countiers hated the Duke. The worst problem of them all, were the dukes health problems (Man im lucky. Without that, this realm would go down hard). He was stressed because the huge realm he had to administer, his old war wounds were aggravating (What ever that means) and painful. On the end, the sickens worsened to pneumonia, and he died just 3 days later on 19th December 1123. His rule was the shortest and the most destructive one and singed the end of the von Karanten family.

​

The Scholari family:
With Ninoslav dead, the von Karanten bloodline died out. Its successor was the Scholari family. But who were the Scholari and from where did they come from (First I know this game would count as defeat, because I didnt succeed to keep my blood line alive. But for me the game counts as a defeat, if on the end an ruler of German nationality sits on the throne, or there is none who would have at least 1% of the genes of the original ruler von Karanten)? Peter von Karanten married his only daughter Maria with the marshal Vladislav. By the time they have already died, but their children live on. The dukedom was taken over Josip Scholari. He was an excellent heir, especially because his intrigue skills (Sorry that I can only provide you only with his "dead" picture. But I messed up with some screen shots).

​

The expansion continues:
After the dukedom was taken over by the new ruler, the situation rapidly stabilized (+0!!!). On 22th August 1123 the county of Brandenburg (One of our allies), asked us for help. They were attacked by pagans from the Rugen area. The duke quickly mobilized a force and went to help his ally. By the time the oldest heir reached adult status (Pavao Scholari). If something would happen to the duke, there would be someone to inherit the realm. The conflict came to a showdown on 21st May 1124. The victorious armies of the duke, swept away those of the enemy (It was no real surprise 2300 vs 700). The war ended on 14th July 1124. The dukedom of Austria expanded for a province more.

​

We go to war!:
With the situation in the homeland stable, the duke decided to go aid his king in the war versus the Byzantine empire. He didnt had anything better to do in the dukedom anyway. His wife hated him, his son has grown up and he didnt had enough prestige to claim another title. He left with his son on 24th April 1125. The biggest battle of the war began on 13th August 1125. More than 25000 man participated in the battle of Korsum (Isn't it strange? In medieval games it is the battle of. In later games it is the battle for. Like the battle for Stalingrad). The battle was won by the Byzantine empire (You can see the battle if you click HERE). But their losses were so great, they needed years to recover. In the meantime Hungary had much lesser loses (Well thats more or less a lie, but I have only seen the armies fight. I have no detailed information).

​

Comments:
-Khalep: Thx for the compliment.
-stnylan: It seems by death.

 

[unmerged(62478)]

​

JOSIP SCHOLARI THE INTRIGUER​

The war continues:
The war versus Byzantium was long and bloody, as mentioned before. But it seems the war was just what the Scholari family needed. Especially Pavao, the first sun of the count was displaying great skills on the battlefield, even before his education in martial arts ended. The realm itself also saw great improvement (+1). The recently taken pagan lands have converted to Catholic religion. Teutonic order was conquered on 4th August 1126 by Lithuanian pagans (But they should later reappear in the province Memel. On 19th September 1126 the Duke was ambushed by Byzantines in the Transylvanian forest. He survived, but was wounded. His bishop was not so lucky. He was left behind, and later executed by his capturers. After that the Duke was forced to return to the county for recovering.

​

With the HRE sinking in chaos, the papal state gained much power. Dukes of whole Westphalia joined the state (They church super state, would engage in at least 4 wars, against the HRE and its allies, in the next 50 years). On 22th March 1127, the King of Hungary died in battle. But the war was continuing. On 25th July 1127 the county of Rasha joined the Dukedom of Austria. The duchy recently defected from the Byzantine empire. On 17th November 1127 a bastard was born. It seemed the Duke got lonely on his travels, against Byzance, and since his wife hated him, he had nothing to lose. On 12th February 1128 one of the Dukes infant sons, died due poor health. Soon after that, the Dukes wounds he was recovering from, have been infected and he died on 27th April 1128.

​

Pavao Scholari the loyalist:
Pavao Scholari was a warmonger (As his grand grandfather Peter von Karanten), but with the difference that he was fanatically loyal to his King. And he was very eager to create bonds with fellow vassals which also fought for their King. He is the vassal all Kings want. On 12th March 1129 another King of Hungary died (Well the Kingdom of Hungary lost quite many kings). On 3th December 1129 Pavao created the title Duke of Rasha. In his lifetime, he had many opportunities, too fall into the back of his King, but he always stood with him till the end. On 29th November a daughter has been born. She was named Irmeltrud (I know the name sounds rather German, but as long the heir is south slavish who cares what her name or nationality is). On 11th January 1131 the count of Heves, accepted the vassalization preposition made by the Duke. Later that year in May, the duke showed cowardice on the battlefield, by running away from the enemy. On 20th September, another heir has been born. In the time the Duke had his legal children, he had also had quite many bastards (Multiply the max number you guess with 2. Why are there only male bastards?).

​

Comments:
-Sorry for this reply being rather short, but the king died much faster as I taught.

 

[unmerged(12990)]

*subscribes*