Tales From The Crypt - Awesome Characters

[Galliun]

Sorry, I couldn't find the original topic where we discussed this. I think it involved an awesome scottish marshal or something.

Anyway, is this... approvable? Or should this be created in the AAR forums? Also, if it already was created, sorry, I haven't accessed the forums in some time

 

[Count Lake]

If you just want to discuss great characters you have had in your games, I don't see the problem with keeping it here since it it distinctly game related and doesn't really smell like an AAR.

 

[KonradRichtmark]

I just had a recent one, Marshal Mstislav the Russian Bastard, Vanquisher of the Bulgars and Bane of the Turks, Sword of the Messiah, Christian Knight Par Excellence and Champion of the Kingdom of Alania.

He was the bastard son of some Russian count, and defected to my court when daddy refused to give him his due. He had a martial stat of 14 when he arrived, qualifying for marshal right away. He lobbied me several times to fund his takeover of his half-brother's county, but I refused, thinking the guy had his priorities screwed up, that he shouldn't settle for being a count in the ass-end of Russia when he could be the Marshal of Alania, then one of the most powerful realms in Russia. I granted my favour on him by letting him marry my daughter.

Over time, he distinguished himself in battle under two successive kings, Uturku and Kuddana of Alania. He was instrumental in the defeating and eventual destruction of Bulgar, which until then had been a major threat and more powerful than me. He even led the charge against the Seljuks, my earlier archenemy which had conquered significant parts of the royal demesne earlier. And while his fame grew, so did his stats. In the end, traits and stat increase events had built him up to an impressive 18 points of Martial (and that despite me using a homemade event to negate the insanely high character stats of CKDV). And what a knight he was, with traits like valorous, modest and chaste.

When his wife (the sister of the present king) died, the king favoured him by giving him another of his sisters. However, the silly git decided to become celibate. Margaret of Alania, who had waited until 25 to marry, was not happy. Despite being a national hero (or perhaps because of it), the social stigma of bastarddom weighed heavily on him, giving King Kuddana a reputation for being arbitrary for favouring him so greatly. Yet, the stress weighed heavily upon him, making him eventually develop schizophrenia, something which significantly decreased his martial abilities. None better was available though, so he kept on marshaling at skill 13 despite his mental instability. He finally died with his boots on at the age of 50 during the suppression of a vassal rebellion.

 

[Nodscouterr]

I had another rather interesting high-martial man. Anwar al-Amiri, the second son of the Emir of Valencia, had a martial stat of 4 and other stats at 2 when he began his martial education. He soon became a prodigy as his martial stat continued to skyrocket. He became a brilliant strategist, and had a martial of 18 after his graduation. Almost immediatly after his graduation he was sent to help his father with 2000 troops in a war against the Papal state in Italy. On his way over, his navy were attacked by Saracen pirates just south of France. He ordered an attack on the flagship, and though fighting bravely, he would die in that ship and a funeral at sea were arranged by lighting the Valencian flagship on fire with him on it. He later received the name 'the Prodigy' as all of al-Andalus believed he would be the one that would kill Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, or 'El Cid'.

Worst, death, EVER!

 

[unmerged(111652)]

One my favorites would be one of my Polish kings in a game (thoughhis name escapes he as of now). He was blind, and had a lousy Martial stat, but otherwise good stats. Under him, Poland expanded vigorously, taking Bohemia, Livonia, Lithuania, and bites of Rus' and Hungary. He did not experience any larger rebellions, many provinces converted under his rule and made very good money, using them to build roads and schools.

After having taken the pagan lands around him and the crown of Bohemia, there was peace for quite for time - then, crusade! A huge host was led by the king towards Jerusalem, which was taken along with several other nearby provinces. And he died four days after the conquest of the holy city.

If I knew the game'd be like this, I would have written an AAR.

 

[Galliun]

OH MY GOD I had written A LOOOONG story about my blood line, and I ACCIDENTALLY pressed backspace when NOT in the text area. Crap. Well, rewriting... Mind you, it's a bit long. And this was all with DV: IP and it's stat-reducing events.

________

I started the game with Count Maoil Sechluinn, of the Ua Faeláin family of south (future) Ireland. He sucked, and his first born sucked much like his father, if not much more. As the game progressed, Maoil got another son in 1070, Cailean, and died not much later after that. His first born inherited, and ruled (poorly) for a long time, but I don't remember why, after he died, none of his sons inherited. Cailean, age 20, inherited the poor county (or counties, I think I had two at this point).

He did a slamming job, uniting southern Ireland with his AWESOME Martial Skill. He was the role model for the awesome character that came in the future. He kicked the Duke of Munster out of Munster, conquered Dublin, pretty much kicked ass. Until some bastards poisoned him, and he died age 24. Bastards. To date, he is the person with the highest Martial Skill ever born in Ireland, sitting at 24. At this point, I had a problem. His first born, and heir, was terrible, just waiting to destroy everything Cailean had built. But hey, let's give it a shot and not change the law.

Maolmhaodhóg (nice name) inherited, and did a regular job (probably why I don't remember anything that happened in his rule). He had two sons, a bastard and one that died of intestinal worms before his father. Maolm's brother, Toirrdhealbhach (nice names run in the family) inherited. At this point, the Ua Faeláin dinasty was in risk, because Toirr only had one son, who was depressed. Domnhall, his son, was the duchy's Marshall, boasting a Martial Skill of 14. Not much, but it got the job done. Anyway, not much went on, up until Toirr's death in 1138, followed by the suicide of his only child later the same year. It fell on young Maolmhórdha's 10 year-old shoulders to do his best to not destroy everything his forefathers had built. Oh, and while all of this was going on, Scotland was getting unified, kicking England's ass, dominating Wales and trying to get some of that sweet Ireland land.

Maolmhórdha Uá Faelain was Ireland's True King. While still an infant, he... 'convinced' the scotts to NOT invade Ireland (for a while, anyhow. DAMN SCOTTS!). He was trained in the art of war, and graduated at the age of sixteen with praise. He became a Brilliant Strategist, managing a lovely 21 Martial Skill. Once again he drove the scottish invaders out of his mother land, but not before they conquered two independent counties in the north. Maolmhórdha went on to unify most of Ireland, distributing it to his 5 sons (one of which was a bastard), and marrying off all of his 5 daughters, all of them born from the same mother. He brought war to Scotland to drive them out, and the only reason he didn't get complete victory was because the bastards had land in Egypt. He got Severely Injured in two occasions, and simply walked it off. Twice. He was also poisoned three times. Twice he lived through poison. His 38-year reign, however, ended in 1176, when he was finally killed by scottish plotting, in the eve of Christmas. He outlived one of his daughters, but four other children of his died not long after.

He was the most valorous person, and truest king all of Ireland has ever seen. His final stats:

- 22 Martial;
- 20 Diplomacy;
- 9 Intrigue;
- 13 Stewardship;

His traits are absurd, it's like the game conspired to make him the most awesome badass good-aligned character ever. He was: Chaste, Energetic, Forgiving, Generous, Honest, Just, Zealous, Wise, Trusting, Romantic and Amiable. Oh, and he was also a Prodigy. And a Crusader.

All hail Maolmhórdha, the Lionheart!

His son, however, Giola-Chríost, is a godless bastard, who REFUSES to die, even after getting severely injured AND ill twice. Damn resillient blood. Blood which, by the way, runs in the vein of the Brittany crown, Giola's cousin is the Queen's mother.

___

Sorry for the LONG post. It's just that Maolmhórdha was SO awesome, and it kinda sucks that I'll never see anyone else like him in my game =(

Edit - Amusingly, even though EVERY tax is set to the minimum and his prestige is very good, everywhere in Ireland peasants are revolting. Even the game knows how much of an ass Giola is. Cowardly bastard.

 

[Jossar]

My problem is that I've had so many good characters in this one game, that I can't really tell their achievements apart anymore. So I guess i'll go with my current ruler, Louis de Rennes.

The Emperor of Egypt, Arabia, Zirid, Africa, Jerusalem, Denmark (don't ask), the Hospitalers' Order, and who knows what else, he was nevertheless not content to rely on 150 years of his forefathers' laurels as Egyptian kings and worked together with the Kings of Sicily, France, Bulgaria, and indirectly the Il-Khanate (Another funny story: they showed up in their proper time period, marched across the middle east and were shoved back by a ridiculously powerful Seljuk Turk sultanate. Except the sultan didn't finish the job, and just left them sitting around for 40 years, so by the current game time they have once again become a wide-spanning nation) to cripple the Seljuk Turks once and for all. With the territory gained in that campaign, he proclaimed himself King of Syria and then set off to defeat the crippled Byzantine Empire, stripping the title of Emperor away from the Romans once and for all.

But that still wasn't enough: seeing that the Byzantine Emperor's personal holdings included a piece of land in Croatia, Louis decided on using that land as a base from which he could conquer a large swath of territory all the way to Hungary, defeating the strongest rulers there and proclaiming himself the King of Croatia and Hungary.

Louis is still well liked by his vassals, has an even better heir waiting in the wings, and despite the pneumonic plague spreading throughout parts of Egypt, the country as a whole has remained strong and is ready for another conquest.
_______________________

Actually Sicily and the Papacy have been pretty awesome in this game too:

The King of Sicily controls a ridiculous amount of land in Turkey from the Final Seljuk War and has vassals from Africa all the way up to England.

Speaking of England, they apparently had a godless king at some point, because the Pope (or a series of them) called the wrath of the almighty down on England and with the help of France beat the tar out of the once mighty nation. Now the Papacy controls 22 provinces across the world, and is a legitimate nation in its own right, not just by divine sanction.

 

[NexusSix]

Just having a rather freaky experience on my game.....

Playing as the Abbrafraw family with the idea of taking back Wales, tried it a long time back and the files got corrupt so i ditched it. Just been messing around today.
Anyways Gryffyd is dead and replaced by his son Emrys Abbrafraw. The next in line... ( heres the freaky part )
Is.....

Arthur Abbrafraw.
Now.... his mother is anglo saxon his father welsh.

By just stat diving I accidently married him to a Gwyneyfar Mathrafal ( Welsh )

After a grudge with the duke of Lanc's Ive just taken a piece of english soil and saw the current Godwinson on the English throne has 7 daughters and no sons. So i plan on marrying into that family to usurp the throne of England via male son of the eldest daughter
Both may well be murdered to make way for a Welsh Arthur Pendragon... whoops ... Abbrafraw Just for futher spin his grandmother was a Greek Dukas giving him links to Byzantine as his great grandfather was Konstantinous !

Funny how things work out ??
Just for the record he has a martial of 22 and is a prodigy...

Couldnt have hacked that !! Its just all worked out to strange !?!

 

[Snaake]

Any idea how the Godwinsons got back on the throne, I've never seen that happen on its own in my games (but would like to make it happen in my current one )?

 

[unmerged(195368)]

Only character I can think of is a terrible woman I had. I forget the names but she was the son of the Duke of Brandenbourg. She was crazed, had leprosey, and was schizophrenic. All her stats were zero and when I was about to assassinate her, I got the "Lets rebuild the Towere of Babel" from her and now have no money.

 

[Kapt Torbjorn]

I just had a recent one, Marshal Mstislav the Russian Bastard, Vanquisher of the Bulgars and Bane of the Turks, Sword of the Messiah, Christian Knight Par Excellence and Champion of the Kingdom of Alania.

He was the bastard son of some Russian count, and defected to my court when daddy refused to give him his due. He had a martial stat of 14 when he arrived, qualifying for marshal right away. He lobbied me several times to fund his takeover of his half-brother's county, but I refused, thinking the guy had his priorities screwed up, that he shouldn't settle for being a count in the ass-end of Russia when he could be the Marshal of Alania, then one of the most powerful realms in Russia. I granted my favour on him by letting him marry my daughter.

Over time, he distinguished himself in battle under two successive kings, Uturku and Kuddana of Alania. He was instrumental in the defeating and eventual destruction of Bulgar, which until then had been a major threat and more powerful than me. He even led the charge against the Seljuks, my earlier archenemy which had conquered significant parts of the royal demesne earlier. And while his fame grew, so did his stats. In the end, traits and stat increase events had built him up to an impressive 18 points of Martial (and that despite me using a homemade event to negate the insanely high character stats of CKDV). And what a knight he was, with traits like valorous, modest and chaste.

When his wife (the sister of the present king) died, the king favoured him by giving him another of his sisters. However, the silly git decided to become celibate. Margaret of Alania, who had waited until 25 to marry, was not happy. Despite being a national hero (or perhaps because of it), the social stigma of bastarddom weighed heavily on him, giving King Kuddana a reputation for being arbitrary for favouring him so greatly. Yet, the stress weighed heavily upon him, making him eventually develop schizophrenia, something which significantly decreased his martial abilities. None better was available though, so he kept on marshaling at skill 13 despite his mental instability. He finally died with his boots on at the age of 50 during the suppression of a vassal rebellion.

That is beyond awesome. :rofl:

 

[benkern]

I love this thread! This is what makes CK great! Not just the stories, but the fact that we guide them, and grow close to the characters. Not to say if they go mad we don't giggle and egg it on- but, the amount of times I've felt sorry when an awesome Crusader King dies is far too many for a computer game. I will be posting the next funny story that turns up in my game.

 

[EscagirlUK]

I've had a pretty awesome one. My second king, too.

King Mikolaj Piast of Poland born 1081, died 1122. He ruled for barely a dozen years. Was declared a kinslayer after a failed assassination attempt on his sister the Countess Adelajda of Poznanskie, so that her son Trond Knytling a Prince of Denmark, could inherit.

He was bitter rivals with his wife, a woman ruled by her libido, who at one time had no less than four seperate lovers.

He was the victim of several assassination attempts, the first leaving him with a deep and painful wound that cause him grief for many years, and while he eventually healed, the wound rendered him blind. The second attempt resulted in a minor case of poisoning, turning into pneumonia, exacerbated by a mortal wound gained in a war against the Principality of Kiev, a several year long battle in the attempt to become sole ruler of Lithuania. He did not survive. After death, he was Beatified.

He died a Chaste, Forgiving, Generous, Honest, Just, Cruel, Wise, Valourous, Pragmatic, Blind, Sverely Wounded, Kinslaying, Knowledged Tactitian, who had Pneumonia, and was Beatified.

 

[Lord Strange]

I think you may mean this guy, who appeared in my British campaign.
Malcolm of Molina, Marshal of the Emperor of the United Isles, Lord of all France is dead, aged 73. A mighty young man , driven from his homeland by his liege, he sought refuge in the court of King Richard. He was quickly marked out as a prodigy,a brilliant warrior, tactician and strategist. Richard promoted him to Marshal, and he led both the attacks on Wales, coordinated with the future King, at that time Duke of March. Then he campaigned against the Emir of Scotland, the result of a failed Crusade and a revengeful Jihad following. He went on Crusade, although the gains were never lasting, with the Seljuks ever threatening, but by then Malcolm's legend was great: men died just by being stared at by this man, who was valiant but cruel, and ever loyal to the crown.

His finest moment was when the current King, and indeed Emperor of Isles, claimed his cousins crown, that or France. Two kingdoms fought for many summers, until at last, in the battle of Anjou, Malcolm, standing by his King, charged forward, and cut down the young French Monarch, and handed the crown to his lord.

He was a marshal with a martial skill of 25. In other words, Ares


His sons and daughters are now flung across the empire, dukes and counts, yet Malcolm always remained in London to serve. Training in the war academy, or leading the King's regiment against rebellious vassals.

Yet at last, he was called to God's kingdom.