THE DE BLOIS SAGA - A long history of errors

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THIBEAULT DE BLOIS
Tibeault De Blois was a quite king. Duke of Champagne, count of Troye and Chartre, he did nothing to put his name in the history book apart from claiming one or two titles. With only 4 vassals, he was living for his sons and wanted to leg them a healthy kingdom. So When Eude came to life he was happy. But his happiness faded rapidly as Eude was not the most skilled person in the world. Eude would be condemned to live his entire life as a Courtier, without a wife, in the court of almost three consecutives Duke of Champagne . Phillipe De Blois was destined to rule his father’s realm as Tibeault made sure he would inherit by changing the succession law for a power driven concept and gave the title of Troye to him.

PHILLIPE DE BLOIS
Tibeault died at age 72 and Phillipe came to power. History would be change for ever. Phillipe gain prestige very rapidly by choosing a wife of prestige. The first daughter of the King of Spain was to be the one to provide an Heir to Phillipe. During her brief existence his wife gave the Duke of Champagne 2 sons and 3 daughters. Phillipe continued to build prestige by arranging wedding for his siblings as he married his two sisters to the brother of the king of England and to a very prestigious Duke in the Saxon kingdom.

Soon enough, Phillipe De Blois had enough prestige to pretend to the throne of France as he had more Prestige than the king himself. But he decided to test the loyalty of his vassals by declaring war on the Duke of Bourgogne who recently claimed 3 of his 5 titles. The war was swift and the Martial skills of Phillipe had a profound impact on it. Soon enough Phillipe had secured two provinces and the Duke of Bourgogne had no choice but to surrender his titles.

Meanwhile, Charles and Louis were born and like his father before him, Phillipe didn’t want his first child Charles to be the Heir but rather Louis who demonstrated much more potential. So it was decided that Louis would be the first the heir. And then, all hell broke loose. Still today, people say that Louis would have been king if he had survived.

In the first of a series of bad lucks, Louis De Blois died of a terrible illness along with his mother and her 6th child. Then a couple of months after that, a new pope got elected and the most dreadful things that could happen to Phillipe happened. He was thrown out of the Christian church.

Phillipe’s vassals began to betray him one by one and everyone in the realm of France was declaring wars against him. But his decision on not claiming the title of King of France payed off as the King himself began to help the Duke of Champagne and defended his realm. Phillipe’s was strong enough to resist all the assaults and began the process of consolidating his new realm. Out of the 10 Vassals he had before all this, he was now left with only 6, all of them disloyal to different degrees. Not having the favor of the pope was the main obstacle between Phillipe and Greatness. Without this obstacle, Phillipe would have been able to pretend to the throne of France.

Meanwhile, Phillipe daughters were given away to Dukes and Kings in order for their father to fulfill his dream of having enough prestige to claim the throne of France even without having the favor of the Papal state as a new king of France was in place now and didn’t seem quite as found of Phillipe as his father was.

Phillipe married a woman of great skills in the administration of the realm but she was only good at that and never gave him another child. So prior to grant the title of Count of Auxerre he arranged the wedding of his son Charles with the daughter of old friends with whom he forged an alliance. She was a great diplomat and a skilled Spy Master. But Phillipe was still frustrated by the fact that the Countess of Savoie had refused every marriage proposal he had offered. She was old and alone and had no reason to refuse Phillipe’s proposal So Phillips did the one things that would put him in the history book. He declared war on her. This decision was the reason his whole family would be someday reduced to one title and one Desmesne.

And so the war with Savoie provoked an all out war between France and the Saxon Kingdom.

All armies of the two kingdoms were gathered and war, over every south-Eastern province of France raged. Phillipe quickly took over Savoie and secured it. But It is then that Phillips understood that, not having the favor of the Pope would play a very important role as half of his vassals refuses to take the arms and help him when the King of Germany himself, invaded his lands.

Is it true that Phillips died of old age right in the middle of this war and right after Chartes, Troye and Savoie fell? The rumor has it that he saw the inevitable defeat and didn’t want to saw his realm ruined. Is this why he granted the title of Duke of Bourgogne to his only son Charles, not wanted him to hold the disgraced he brought to the family. It’s a sad conclusion for the Duke of Champagne as he died in Savoie a couple of weeks before his new castle was finished….and was ceased by the Saxon.

CHARLES DE BLOIS
So Charles de Blois inherited of all the debts and disloyal subjects of his father and had to finish the war that his father had begun without much support and troops. He tried to retake the lands of his father but was defeated at Troy. Then he tried to retake Chartres but was also defeated. This series of defeat gave him a negative prestige and a debt of 600 gold pieces before the pope decided to settle the war between France and the Saxon. As France was loosing the war and Charles was loosing more provinces every month, the new Duke of Champagne decided he would not make the same mistake as his father by being rejected from the church and signed the peace treaty.

So Charles de Blois is now the Duke of Champagne without prestige, 5 loyal vassals, only one Desmesne and a whole of 650 golds in his coffers. His two sons and 3 daughters are there to ensure the continuity of the Blois name but how will Charles be able to leg them a realm worthy of this name? Maybe by adopting the same quite politics his grand father took and hoping that his sons will not make the same errors of his father.

So it took 20 years for Charles to get back to the road of profitability. But this entire struggle made him ill and he knew he didn’t have for long. It is then that is forth son was born. From the day he sat foot in school, Charles knew he had to be the heir of his throne. So in order for him to get to that point, he decided he needed a Demesne to give to him. That’s when he declared war on the old enemies of his father who had took on Troy and he swiftly took control of it. He moved his kingdom to Troy and gave the title of count of Auxerre to his son Frederic. By now Charles was making money and all his Vassals were loyal. He had a little bit of prestige and he was ready to die. It is then that he realized that he had made the same error of his father by declaring war against the Germans. The second war between Germany and France was about to began and again, because of the Duke of Champagne. The king of France wasn’t ready for that war and he quickly lost two provinces to the king of Germans. Charles was able to make peace with all of his enemies except for the king of Germans.

Charles forced all his vassals to mobilize their troop to fight the Germans but soon realized that he was doomed when his 500 mens met the 2500 Germans Soldiers. Rheim fell and while the Germans were marching on Troy, Charles knew he had to evacuate in order to survive. So he revoked the title of Auxerre from Frederic and retreated to Auxerre. He made a peace proposal to the king of Germans : 500 credits and recognized the Germans as owner of Troy and Rheim. The Germans refused. So Charles did the only thing that could save his dynasty. He offered his own title of Duke of Champagne in order to survived….and the German REFUSED IT….They wanted him and his family dead.

Once Troy fell, the Germans went for Auxerre. Charles had to revoke the title of count of Chalon and by chance, his loyal vassal agreed. Auxerre fell the day after Charles and his family left it.

By then, all the vassals of Charles were mad at him. His prestige was in the negative and one by one, his vassals deserted him. Two of them declared war upon him. Meanwhile, the Germans decided not to pursue Charles to Chalon and made their way to Paris. The war was growing pretty thin for the king of France and for the King of Germans.

The ex-vassal of Charles, the Count of Dijon decided that he would have his revenge over his old liege and attacked him. Without any support, Charles was doomed. He tried to engaged Dijon in a peace treaty only to discover that the only acceptable proposal for the Count of Dijon would be for Charles to give up his title of Duke of Champagne.

And it was done. Charles was now with only one demesnes and a single title: Count of Chalon. Troy and all the provinces around it were under Germans control and the war was near the end as Germans troops were falling back. Charles, not only made worst than his father but repeated all his errors.

By that time, Eude, the brother of Phillipe had died, only known to the world as the courtier bouche-trou who served three liege, His family was known only for his history of repeated error that led it to one single title. Eude who died at the venerable age of 78 was supposed to be the Heir of Thibault but Phillipe took the place. If Eude would have taken his place maybe the De Blois Familly would be in a better position.

Charles is now dead. He lived over 20 year after his illness appeared. But it was with a great surprise that we saw the papal State canonized him. His Father died in the Church’s disgrace while his son is canonized. With all that he lost for the Blois family, he, at least, achieved that in his life.

FREDERIC DE BLOIS
Frederic is ready to take the lead. He got the illness of his father but he has one of the most impressive arrays of skills that France has ever known for the past 100 years. His objective: By the time of his death he would be Duke again and would have gain all of what his grand father Phillipe had conquered in his glorious days.

He took the first step toward that by marrying a Courtier in the court of a Duke in the Germany Kingdoms not for prestige but to have an Heir worthy of his skills. Everyone at the Court of Chalon was impressed by the skills this new wife had brought to the Demesne. So it was of no surprises when the first child was born off that union with even more impressive skills than his father. He was named Louis after the legendary Louis De Blois who was destined to take the Heir instead of his Grand Father Phillipe but died. Now the only thing we can wish is for him not to get any bad trait. With that much promises, Louis is due for the Throne of France.

Slowly but surely, thanks to the castle in Chalon being a replica of the one of his father in Troy, Frederic is gathering a solid army of Knights, thanks to all the favor he gives the noble in Chalon and by cutting all the taxes to a minimum. His court brings his skills to the maximum and everyone is beginning to see the real tactician he is.

Now Frederic has two choices. Take back the title of Duke of Champagne or begin by going in a crusade to get the favor of the church. He decided to go for the Duke of Champagne but soon realized that the title was now own by king of France and that it would be suicidal to go for this title. He wanted to make the count of Dijon pay for this but saw that giving this title to the King of France granted him the protection of the King.

The decision Frederic took at that moment was the first wise one his family had took as revenge always bounced to the De Blois family. Frederic told his courtiers that the Title of Duke of Champagne always brought bad luck to his family and would no longer be held by a member of the family.

But Frederic had still made a promises to become a Duke by the end of his life. So he looked at the province of Neuchatelle just south of Chalon who was without a liege. He was hesitant as is piety was not very high but when his wife died giving birth to their third child, Frederic had to do something to ensure that Louis would inherit something more than a count title.

So it was done. In only three weeks, Neuchatelle surrendered their title along with a substantial amount of money. Along the way, an army of German soldier, left behind by their king offered to join Frederic as his wife was from German blood. Thanks to it’s newly income from Neuchatelle, Frederic gladly accepted and saw the opportunity of creating his own title of Duke of Savoie. He decided to let behind the history of his father and grand father and went for the province of Valais who, ironicly, was held by someone from the De Blois family, a descendent of the brother of Phillipe de Blois.

Valais fell along with another province that allowed Frederic to become the Duke of Savoie. But doing so, Frederic had to deal with the original owner of those provinces. But lady luck was with Frederic as another regiment of German soldier joins the Duke of Savoie. So peace was offered to Frederic who was about to accept white peace but his diplomatic skills brought him a bonus of 6000 gold pieces on the eve of battle. Frederic accepted it and the battle never happened. His last move was to take over Bern who was alone, without a liege and with a small army easily defeated.

Frederic is now the most powerful Duke in the history of the De Blois family with 7400 gold in his coffer, a prestige of 400 and a piety of 75. He holds 5 provinces and has two sons and a daughter who will die a year later. His recent wedding with the sister of the King of Byzantine brought another boost to his prestige. Now he had to take care of his piety as his reputation was tarnished by all the provinces he had taken.

And his next move was to participate in the Crusade. He decided he would try and liberate the closest provinces of Spain now under Muslim control. He was joined by the king of France and together they liberated 5 provinces, 3 of which fell under Frederic control. He gave Jaca to his 8 years old son Louis, wanted him to be his heir with a bit of prestige. He granted another title to his beloved new wife.

Now his army is still powerful enough to go on another crusade but the military budget is getting thin. Frederic knows that he will never be able to assemble such a formidable army again in his life so he wants to use it as much as he can. But the rest of the Muslim provinces are strong and well tied. The King of France is still in the area so Frederic could try on taking on another Muslim liege before dissolving his army.

 

[CatKnight]

I have to admit, after getting through Phillipe I thought I was about to see the De Blois family wiped off the map. Great comeback with Frederic! I want to hear more and see where this goes! What year is it? How's England and Germany holding up?

 

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The Renaissance Of The De Blois Family

Wer're now in 1183. Jerusalem just saw the arrival of the new Templar order. The state of the world hasn't quite change since Thibeault De Blois. English and Scotish provinces hasn't been challenged yet and France is still pretty much the same except for Spain now under Muslims control. But the Muslims forces are getting thin in that region and Frederic would be the initiator of the liberation of Spain.

So Frederic is considering expanding his realm in Spain with his mighty army but after concerting with his vassals he saw that it would cost too much without being sure of succeeding. So he disbanded all of his own army, only keeping the German regiment and recalled them to Chalon.

Once there, he ordered them to take two more provinces to expand his realm and disbanded them. By that time, his son Louis was 16 and didn’t loose a time to find a good wife. Because he had so many provinces he gave one to his other son Arsenio while keeping a good eye on him not to become more powerful than Louis.

So now Frederic is 45 and he would want to add another Duke title to his list. Unfortunately all the other provinces around his are held by the king of France or by other powerful lords. He now sees the title of king of Spain being an attainable goal for his son but that means driving the Muslims out of it. The king of France also hold two provinces that he would one, so one strategy would be to declare war on the Muslims, let them take those two provinces and reconquered them on his name and then try to drive them away from Spain. So he must wait a while in order to recruit the necessary troop.

After 7 years of gathering the necessary troops to go to Spain, Frederic is now ill. But his dream seeing his son becoming a king is still alive. He gather an army of 7000 men and take the three frontally provinces of Spain, enough to get the title of Duke of Spanish March. In the process he loose a Spanish province he had already conqueered but since this province was far and isolated, he let it go. Meanwhile, the King of France liberates around 10 provinces from the Muslims. France was on the verge of pushing the Musilms back to their land.

Back to Chalon, Frederic is on his finally days of a short life of 54 years. Only god knows if a longer life would have brought the praise Frederic needed to but is name in the book. Much more known for giving birth to the Great Louis de Blois, Frederic was probably the greatest of all as he started his reign with only a title of count and ended it with two titles of Duke and 7 provinces. He was the first to waken his family to a better future. For that he was granted the name “the Wakener”

LOUIS DE BLOIS “THE EXPANDER”
Louis inherits his father titles of Duke of Savoie and Duke of Spanish March with the promess of becoming a King and decides to wait and built a little bit of prestige and piety in order to do what he wanted to do. His wife provided him with 5 children but they all died of poor health. All but one. Pierre is the first and the strongest. He does not demonstrate the talent of his father for military affairs but has better skills than him in Diplomacy and Stewardess. Louis is faced with other kinds of problems than his predecessor. His court counts very few people and only has one man. Soon his two daughters will help on the numbers but having only one man in his court impairs his hability to choose a good Marshal.

Louis will wait 25 years in order to gather enough troops to expand his realm. During those 25 years, The Duke of Milano was spending all of his ressources on a war that he would finally win. Louis, with is magnificent military skill, sees that and it’s at the age of 45 that he raises an army of 10 000 men to begin his campaign that will give him the name of “Louis The Expander”. With a Marshal not suited for that position (3 martial), he decides that his own skills will be enough and that he could put his name in the history book. His first move is a brilliant one. In perfect secrecy, he moves his army right in the heart of the realm of the Duke of Milano. On the eve of battle he declare war on him and attack his capital without touching any of his province on the way.

Within one month, The Duke of Milano has no choice but to surrender all of his titles and his 5 Demesnes. But this campaign worsens the condition of an already weak Louis De Blois. His doctor announces him that Schizophrenia is knocking at the door of his mind. The fact that is first wife died during that time didn’t helped. De decides not to loose time as he chose another wife very rapidly. It was important as Pierre was still the only son he had. If anything would happen to him, the De Blois dynasty would come to an end right in the middle of it’s greatest time. His new wife took care of that aspect as two other sons were borned.

With an already bad reputation, Louis decides that he would try something that all of his predecessors failed to achieve. Declare war on the Germany Kingdoms and try to grab 5 German provinces.

Everyone at the castle was worried as they all remembered the catastrophic consequences that a war with Germany had under Phillipe and Charles De Blois. Did Louis De Blois forget the history that brought the De Blois family from Duke of Champagne to having only a single title of Count of Chalon? Suddenly, history seems to be repeating itself. France declares war on Germany and in a blink of an eye another all out war between France and Germany is raging and for a third time, it was because of the De Blois family. But as his father was suspecting, Louis De Blois was no ordinary liege. In a swift move, he conquers 3 provinces in a month and adds the title of Duke of Provence to his own. He then took two other provinces under the direct control of the King of Germany. The ultimate battle is waged in the province of Provence when the troops led by the King of France encounter those led by the King of Germany. The two Kings facing each other. France was loosing that battle but Louis De Blois came in backup and helped the King of France on outcoming his enemy. In an historical moment, The King of Germany surrendered two titles to Louis De Blois et retreated North.

But the health of Louis De Blois got worse. What is even worse than that is the fact that his reputation is now very bad and all of his vassals are slowly becoming disloyal.

Now ill with a pneumonia, Louis De Blois becomes obsessed with vanquishing the king of Germany and repays all that was done to the De Blois family over the ages. He leads his 10 000 troops on a long march toward the capital of Germany. His victory on the king and his prestige now at 1500 allows him to claim the title of King of Germany.

But his vassals are getting disloyal day after day as his reputation is as worse as it can get. He must pay them in order to keep them from revolting.He takes the road right through Paris and take a fleet through the Norwegian see toward north Germany to attack the capital directly. The King of Germany is now alone. He lost many of his province to the King of France and to the now powerfull Duke of Lower Loraine.

When Louis arrives in the German capital, it is already under siege by an unknown count from the French kingdom. Being now a powerful Duke, Louis take over the siege operation and after three days of siege, the capital falls. Louis await the surrender proposal from the King of Germany as is only other Desmesne is now under attack by the King of France himself. Seeing that the King might take the title in his place, Louis De Blois make a daring peace proposal : The title of King of Germany and King of Burgundy with three title of count would be his….and the Germany agree.

Louis De Blois is now KING!!!!!

But Louis, in his illness forgot one title still belonging to the Ex-King of Germany : King of Italy. So he immediately re-declare war, siege the castle again and take the title of King of Italy, leaving the ex-king only with a title of Duke. His reputation already to the bottom, Louis didn't care about the consequences of such an act.

The King of Germany is now a vassal of the De Blois Family. The King that, two generations ago, led to the demotion of the De Blois family to a single title of count was now a vassal of Louis DeBlois.

Back home things are getting bad as the reputation of Louis De Blois is worse than worse. So Louis immediately disbands all the armies of his vassals only keeping those directly under his control. When the word that Louis is now King with a prestige of 7500 reach the Chalon province, the loyalty of all his vassal suddenly raise. For the first time in the history of the Family, the De Blois is free of liege and no longer part of the France Kingdom.

On his dying bed, Louis crushed a rebellion in the Lyon province and quickly decides to dissolve his army. His formidable prestige allows him to plan for the future of the family. He must claim titles that demand a lot of prestige before he dies so that is Heir could march on them. So it is Louis who decides who will be the next to fall under de De Blois Family. The kingdom of Croatia will be, one day, under the Germany realm. Along the way, he claims two other titles of Duke right south of the new Capital of Germany : Lombardia. He quickly grant the title of Duke of Savoie to Pierre but hold all other titles for Pierre to give away as this will give him much needed prestige.

Louis De Blois died at the age of 54 of Pneumonia. As his father predicted, he become the greatest of all and became a King. In only two generations, the De Blois family went from a single Desmesne and a title of count to holding three title of King, 7 titles of Duke and 13 titles of Count and a realm of over 18 provinces. Louis de Blois has earn his name of “The Great of The Family”

Now it’s up to Pierre De Blois to take the flame. After all of what his father did, everyone sees Pierre as a kid taking on a too big of a task. But Pierre De Blois has better skills than his father except for the Military skill. His experience as Count of Valais for 15 years makes him a much more experienced liege than his father was when he took over the title of Savoie. But somehow, nobody sees that. For everyone, Pierre De Blois is doomed to failure. Everyone just hopes that he will not loose what his Father gained.

 

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The History Of Kings

PIERRE DE BLOIS
The very very bad reputation of his Father will be the first thing Pierre will have to face as the new head of the Kingdom of Germany. He quickly creates a new title that his father was holding from to help him get a little prestige right at the start. His objective is to take the Croatia kingdom by the end of his life. But first he would begin by acquiring two provinces south of his capital in order to secure the access to it from Croatia.

Is about to gather his troops when he realizes that all his vassals are disloyal to different degrees because of the reputation inherit by his father. Savoie breaks from Germany and allied themselves with a Duke holding two provinces just south of his. Pierre is tempted by retaking that province but sees that doing so will render him even less popular toward his vassals. So he decides to solve that problem first before going to war. He must spend a lot of money on gift to keep his vassals under control. He also decides to give away Duke Titles in order to keep them happy and gather a little bit of prestige.

During 10 years, Pierre De Blois walks a fine line between bankruptcy and betrayal of his vassals. Being an accomplished diplomat he finally get to a point where he as a rather bad reputation instead of a very bad reputation. But all this time he was unable to go on crusades so his piety was near the 0. Only gathering troops from his own Demesne he decides to go on an old mission of his family and liberate Spain from the infidels.

Once again the De Blois are joined by the King of France. Pierre knows he is not a warrior and even if he was able to gather better courtiers, he still had only two men in it and he did not had a good marshal. It is then that lady luck stroke. A powerful Sheik holding most provinces in Spain offered an alliance to Pierre who quickly agreed. It is then that he declared war on three other Sheiks who were allied and war spread on Spain. He quickly takes a province south of Spain but had to abandon it in order to give assistance to his provinces up north of Spain. His Uncle Arsenio, now Duke of Savoie, decided to join the war with his nephew and take three provinces while Pierre has to mobilize troops from his most loyal vassals in order to defend his three provinces in Spain. Pierre is finally able to take on a new province near by the one he was defending and made peace with the three Sheiks.

But the Duke of Savoie, Arsenio, was not so lucky. Having troops spread all over Spain and in the Mediterranean sea, he was attacked by his enemy right at the heart of his capital. It is then that Pierre, King of Germany, showed his vassals that he was a good liege as he mobilized a lot of troops to quickly drive out the enemy troops from a siege on the castle of Savoie.

Pierre sees that the enemies of the Duke of Savoie are very weak so he decides that his payment for having helped his uncle will be two more provinces in Spain and that includes the renowned province of Toledo. By doing so, he was able to create two new Duke Titles raising the count to 10 Duke Titles, half of them given to vassals. The prestige and piety gathered during that Crusade (the third one of his family) granted him the loyalty of his vassals and a bigger realm.

Now Pierre, at the age of 47 in 1187, will try to do something no other liege of his family did. Waging a second crusade in his lifespan, the forth of his family. He gather an army of 16 000 men’s, the most impressive army ever assemble by his family.

Then, suddenly, on the eve of invading his first objective, he dies of old age at age of 48. Despite what everyone thought, Pierre was a proud successor of Frederic The Great. He was able to expand the realm of his father, was able to redeem his family name to a better reputation and was even canonized by the church.

CENTULE DE BLOIS
Centule took over the throne of Germany right in the middle of a difficult battle. Many in the castle of the king are thinking that the throne should have been given to his brother Charles who was showing a much batter balance of skills than Centule. But Charles didn’t know he was only held back for a couples of years from the throne. Centule did not had the prestige nor the skills of his father to rule but his Martial skill were better. So it’s with a great anticipation that his army marched on four province held by the Infidels.

For an unknown reason, all the gold of his father was lost in the power transfer leaving Centule with only 145 gold. Not a good start for the new king. So he relied on his martial skills to try and regain power. But the war did not turn right for Centule. Arriving from Egypt and middle-east, backup troops of his rival scattered around the newly acquired provinces. Centule had a hard time holding all of his territories because they were spread all around the south shore and east end of Spain.

Back home things were not going well either as the Duke of Lombardia got fed up with his troops being used by Centule and betrayed him along with another province. Seeing that he could not hold three fronts at the same time, Centule made peace with the two Sheiks he was in war with in Spain and brought back his troops to Valais.

By the time he had reached the shores of France, Centule was already sick. That didn’t stopped him from going to Lombardia and take back control of the Duke’s title. He could have stopped here but the war in Spain had cost him three provinces from what his father had and the tought of beginning his reign with less than what his father had was unbearable. So he went on claiming the title of Duke of Geneva with the count of Nice, a dream of his father. Already in the hole by 7000 gold and very sick, Centule saw one of his vassals made something he could not believe. Arsenio De Blois, the brother of Louis The Great declared war on the two Sheiks he had made peace with previously. Arsenio had already lost the war against the Sheiks when Pierre was the King and made the same error that rendered the early De Blois family famous by wanting revenge.

When the time to decide if the King of Germany would support the Duke of Savoie, he had to consider the fact that his troops were already engaged in a war against Geneva and were growing thin, he saw that he could not defend all of his newly acquired provinces in Spain if a war with the Sheiks would happen, so he refused.

By the time Centule took over Geneva and Nice, the two Sheiks had already taken four provinces from the Duke of Savoie. Arsenio was killed in the battle and his family wiped out from their title.

Centule was considering taking back the now, 6 territories taken by the Sheiks and suddently died! After only 4 years at the head of his kingdom, Centule died a month after his doctor diagnosed Schizophrenia.

Centule had the shortest reign of all and lost 6 provinces right in the middle of his kingdom to the Infidel, he drove the kingdom to bankruptcy with a dept of over 7500 gold and he leaves Germany to his only son who has the worst array of skills a Kingdom could have fear. He also brought the reputation of his family from a somewhat good reputation to a tarnished reputation. One has to wonder what kind of damage Centule would have done if his reign would have been longer.

ALPHONSE DE BLOIS – THE WISE
1237 BC. With no diplomatic skills what so ever and almost no Martial and intrigue skills, Alphonse De Blois, at the age of 12, was not destined to rule and he knew it. This is why Alphonse did the only thing wise he could do: Wait and hold the fort until someone more qualify could continue the work. And that’s what he did. In the next 10 years, Alphonse will fight his vassals’ loyalty with money bringing down the debt of the kingdom even further down. He holds three Estate General in order to keep the debt at the level given by his father. The Duke of Franconia dies with no heir and the new owner his already a vassal of the king of England so 4 provinces are lost. England begin spreading in Europe and France is slowly loosing provinces to kingdoms around them. France is no longer a superpower as it was 50 years ago.

Alphonse is diagnose with schizophrenia, a spread in his family, at the age of 15. He takes another wise decision and it’s probably this decision that awarded him with the title of “Alphone the Wise”. At age of 16 he takes the decision on not to mary and have children as he knows he would not be able to give Germany a proper king. There is only one person worthy of the throne so he give two Duke titles and an additional count title to Charles, the brother of Centule, son of Pierre, the same one who was supposed to rule instead of Centule.

At age of 23, Alphonse is very sicks and in his crazyness he decides on claiming a title his family was always wanting but never dare to claim : King of France. This move rendered him unpopular with his vassals who began to be disloyal. With no hope of turning his vassals around without bringing the coffers of gold further down, Alphonse did a very surprised thing. He declared war against the very powerful but without allies Duke of Brittany. Alphonse raised the army of all his provinces directly under his control without touching those of his vassals and marched on Nante. With the dexterity of a grand master, he invades Nante and claims the title of Duke of Brittany. The surprised attack and tactic worked and the Duke of Brittany surrender his title of duke and his title of Count of Nice. Suddenly 10 new provinces and 5 counts join the Kingdom of Germany.

On the night of victory over the Duke of Brittany, Alphonse “the wise” surrender to god and dies at the age of 24. For one king that wasn’t supposed to be anything good, he did better than his own father by adding provinces to the realm instead of loosing it. More than that, he also passed Germany’s interests before his by making sure Charles would be the heir of the throne of Germany.

CHARLES II DE BLOIS
So Charles II finally takes over the throne that was supposed to be his instead of Centule. Everyone have high expectation for him as everyone knows he was supposed to be the heir of “The Great”. Charles objective his to take back the land lost by the brother of his father and drive the infidels out of Spain once and for all.

At 44, the first thing of order to do for Charles II is to ensure an Heir to the Throne and this pass by getting rid of his current wife who, in 20 years of marriage, never gave him a single child. But in order to organize her assassination he needed money to pay the assassin. Being 5500 gold in debt was a major issue and he didn’t had the luxury of waiting being diagnosed with Stress and Depression syndrome. So he searched around for a rich Duke to be the first victim of his reign. The Powerfull Duke of Anjou was walking all around Europe, fighting the infidel. Because of this war, he was now without allies but with a lot of money. So Charles II gathered troops from his own demesnes not wanting to upset his vassals who were still nervous on the loyalty matter. A regiment of 10 000 men marched on Anjou. It took only a couple of week before the Duke of Anjou proposed peace bonified with a 7000. Charles II accepted and brought back Germany on the road of profitability in one single brilliant strategic short war that didn’t hurt his reputation. For the first time in almost 25 years, Germany was not in debt.

With enough money to do it, he organized the assassination of his wife precisely and was successful. He went on choosing a new wife which he found in the province of the newly acquired province of Nante. Two sisters were freshly in their 16th birthday with perfect skills for an Heir. He chose one and waited for her to give him a son. Meanwhile he must work on a plan B if faith would not allow him to have a son. Only one member of the De Blois family was in line for inheritance and he was the 8th in line for the Throne.. Theorodos De Blois was his name. He was the son of Ioannes who was a son of Patrikos, who was a son a Arsenio: The same one who lost the title of Duke of Savoie. But Arsenio was also the son of Charles I. So Charles II saw that as a sign. He was anyway without any other option as he killed his second wife and took on another wife without being able to ensure an heir. Apparently Charles II was impotent. So the only option he had to ensure the De Blois family would stay in control of the Throne of Germany was to find a way to bring that Theodoros forward in the line of succession. Unfortunately, Theodoros was a courtier in the demesne of the King of Croatia. It is then that Charles II lay down a brilliant plan to ensure the De Blois family a future in the kingdom.

Charles II decides to take two stone in one stroke. His father, Louis The Great, was the one who claimed the title of King of Croatia stating that someday, Croatia would be part of Germany. This objective inspired his army of 14 000 men who marched on Croatia and in one single blow right in the middle of the Country, had the King of Croatia surrender his title of King. Charles had completed the mission of his father, Louis The Great, and Croatia was now part of the Kingdom of Germany.

But the brilliant maneuver was that by doing so, Charles II was also able to bring Theodoros into his court. Charles II, at age of 47, didn’t had much time to loose. He gave Theodoros 2 titles of Count and 2 titles of Duke and changed the law of succession for Elective Law who grants the title of Germany to the most powerful vassal. With all of its new titles, Theodoros was the next in line for the Throne as the most powerful vassal of the King of Germany. A simple Courtier in the court of Croatia was, in only a month, in line for the Throne of Germany, Italy, Burgundy and Croatia.

Charles II was now the most powerful King of the De Blois family with 4 titles of King, 8 Duke and 18 Counts under him and a Country composed of 50 provinces scattered in Spain and in the north, the east and the south of Europe.

 

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Alot of text, some screenshots would be nice

 

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The Gold Era

The days of Charles II were counted as his doctors announced him he had an intestinal worm. Having secured his heir, the only thing he needed to do was to reinforce the economical aspect of his Kingdom. So during 5 years he only concentrates on building and modernizing his provinces.

Suddenly, one of his Count declares war against a small Count in a province near Geneva. Charles II sees that as an opportunity to expand his land and so in a quick move he adds another demesne to his realm. Having gathered his men, Charles II takes the decision of going for another title of King. The Venice republic will be his before he dies.

The war between Venice and Germany will be one of the longest war his family has ever fought. Venice does not have the men power that Germany has but their will to survive is strong. Charles II takes the capital and occupies it as his family always did in the past. But this time, the King of Venice would not surrender. Wave after wave of troops coming from far away Venice’s provinces hit the German troops to liberate the capital and every single time they are crushed by the 16 000 men troops of Charles II. Seeing that Venice will not surrender just by occupying their capital, Charles II decides to send three regiments from Croatia to invades provinces under Venice’s control, north east of Europe.

On his dying bed, Charles II can’t even talk so he write another peace treaty like the ones he sent several time already, refused every time by the Governor of Venice. Now controlling half of Venice demesnes, Charles II thinks that this time he will accept. Unfortunately, Charles II will never be King of Venice as he will die an hour before this title will be surrendered to him. Charles II was probably the most brilliant political tactician of the De Blois family and the first to claim another King title since Louis The Great. He manages to do 5 things at the same time. He ensured that the De Blois family will continue to rule the country using a brilliant tactic, he rebuilt the infrastructures on all of his demesne, and expanded the territory, ensured a devoted loyalty from all his vassals by the time of his death and was able to die with a honorable reputation. Canonized by the Church, Charles II will be remembered as The Perfect King. For the first time, A DeBlois king dies leaving the empire in perfect shape.


THEODOROS DE BLOIS “THE CRUSADER KING”
Theodoros is ready to take charge and the minute he takes the throne he is granted with the tile of King of Venice, thanks to his predecessor. But this title will not come with provinces as the ex-King of Venice keeps all the provinces under his Count title and refuses vassalization from Theodoros.

Having a slight tarnished reputation, Theodoros decides he would simply disband all of Germany’s troops and take a break to evaluate his option. Having been married for 5 years now, he only has daughters so the first order of business is to procreate a son. At age of 24 he still have plenty of time thought. But now the German kingdom is spread across all Europe and is very difficult to defend. Theodoros is the best military tactician to sit on the German Throne and quickly decides to expand his realm. Seeing that the Papal state is at war with two different Sheiks that happen to hold provinces in Spain, he waited until the war with the Pope was well in place and stroke at the heart of those provinces. Theodoros call for a Grand mobilization and form 4 regiments. One will stay in Europe to defend his possession and the other three will take position north, center and South of spain on the border of 8 provinces held by one of the Sheiks Joroz. Having been deserted by their troops to fight the Papal state, those provinces quickly fall under Theodoros control. In only one year, he takes 18 provinces from Joroz and completely wipes out his troops to the last men. All those provinces allow him to create the title of King of Leon. He then takes over 4 other provinces held by 2 other Sheiks South of Spain in order to create the title of King of Portugal and two other Duke titles.

Theodoros is about to clear Spain from all but one of the Infidel when he sees that his vassals are a bit wary about the fact that their troops have been mobilized for so long. He only needs them for 2 more months but that would place him in a difficult situation. So he decides to dismiss some of his troops and keeps only those that are loyal enough to him.

Theodoros is with an honorable reputation, is now very rich, has a lot of prestige and his piety is to the top. He conquered more provinces than all the kings of Germany together. In the early 30, Theodoros is already called the “Crusader King”. Now with a new son, heir to the throne, Theodoros still have 20 good years to continue his crusade. The secret objective of Theodoros is to be able to have all the provinces in Spain under his control and if that means declaring war against France who holds 7 provinces, then he will make sure he will be able to win a war against 110 000 Frenchman. He knows he will never be able to assemble such a formidable army, but with his military genius he may be able to do it with only 70 000 men. But the extradition of the French from Spain will be the last thing he will do. Before, he needs to get rid of all the Infidel. This begins by freeing the very heart of his empire : Valais and Geneva.

This time, the Sheiks holding those provinces his powerfull and has provinces all over Europe so retaliation could come from anywhere. Theodoros call for another grand mobilization and this time around EVERY vassal under his command agree on going to war with their troops. Theodoros divided his troops into five major attacking regiments and 4 defending regiments and positioned them throughout his empire. It will take a full year for him to take 7 provinces without putting any of his provinces in danger. He was able to get rid of all the infidel in Valais, Geneva and Bern who had taken those provinces when Centule was king. Finally all of his provinces in South Central Europe were united under one frontier. He bonified this crusade with 3 other provinces in Spain and one in Russia. He did that without loosing much of loyalty from his vassals and gaining a lot of Piety. This ends the second crusade of Theodoros.

The third crusade of Theodoros was a small one but a difficult one. He took on three Sheiks at the same time, one of them being the most powerful on European ground. The war was wage on two opposite fronts: One north of Europe and one south of Spain. A line of provinces going from Bern to the frontiere of Europe were held by one of those Sheiks. Theodoros ordered three regiments to take over those provinces therefore establishing a road uniting two of his provinces that were isolated for a long time. In Spain things started the wrong way as one of the Sheiks was too fast for Theodoros and took over two of his provinces and defeated two of his regiments. Those were the first battles Theodoros ever lost. So Theodoros called in reinforcement and took back the provinces, taking 4 other provinces in the process. He then crossed the Mediterranean sea and stoke at the heart of his enemy, taking two provinces including the capital Marrakech. In the end, the Sheiks offered peace with 6000 gold pieces in bonus, a welcome amount as this war cost a lot of money in sea faring.

The dream of Frederic “The Wakener” who began to free Spain by taking three provinces of the Infidel 8 generation ago is now a reality. Only two Muslims provinces remain in Spain and belong to powerful lords that Theodoros don’t want to confront as he would risk an all out war for the only the sake of having Spain free of Muslims.

At 47 years old, Theodoros has achieved something no other kings of Europe were able to achieve: Being the most powerful lord of the known world before the mighty Byzantium Empire who was the leading empire for more than 10 generation. He is 3 times more powerful and renowned than any other Liege in the world (9500 vs 3250). His coffers are filled with 6000 gold pieces, his prestige is topping the 7500 and his piety is near the 1700. Now he must begin to think about his heir. His son Romanos is ill and his ability to take over the throne is considerably reduced. Theodoros only had one son so at 47 he must now find a way to have another son. Now that his name is written in history books, Theodoros want to become a legend by taking over the…..French Empire.

So The Crusader king begin to assemble his troops. All of his vassal respond by mobilizing their troops. Three regiments are taking place around French provinces in Spain and 5 Regiments circle the French Country. Those 5 regiments would attack France from every angles possible therefore protecting any entry to Germany at the same time.

Then A new son is born. Konos is to be the heir as his born abilities are better than those of Romanos. But by the time Theodoros is deciding how he will announce this to him, Romanos dies of a long illness. The matter resolve, Theodoros declare war to the France and the biggest battle the world has known begins.

Rapidly, the old enemy of Germany and allies of France the Duchy of Lower Loraine, declare war against Theodoros who is caught by surprise as this was not planned and the frontiere of Germany near the domain of the Duchy was not protected. Suddenly there are more troops from the Duchy of Lower Loraine than France on the Map. Theodoros decides to oblige a new regiments of 5000 mens from three provinces who had refused to mobilized originally and asked them to defend Germany against Lower Loraine. Meanwhile his attack on France was brutal. In less than a year, Theodoros claimed 7 provinces both in France and Spain. But war in Germany provinces was difficult as the Duchy of Lower Loraine was spreading his army everywhere. Fortunetly those army were small and were crushed by the German army in every encounters. This is why the Duchy of Lower Loraine probably proposed a peace treaty bonified by 14000 gold.

Wanting to avoid a war on two front and needing the gold, Theodoros was quick to accept the proposal. Once all provinces from the King of France himself were claimed, Theodoros declared war against two vassals of France in Spain and he took on the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Piotou, two powerful vassals of the King of France.

The two Dukes were worthy adversary as they quickly attacked three provinces south of Germany. But the Theodoros quickly brought two regiment from north to stopped the siege on those provinces and then pushed them to take over the capitals of those liege

It is then that a very bad news came to Theodoros on the battlefield. His only son left, Konos was died of poor health. Of 6 children his wife gave him, only one had survived. So he decided to kill his wife to take on a younger one in order to ensure his name. He was successful on both counts, finding a way to even take a bride with fantastic abilities.

But by now, the armies of Theodoros were tired and demoralized as 2 Regiment of 5000 men lost a battle against a 1000 men regiment. That was a bad sign for Theodoros so he decided to take his chance now that the King of France’s moral was down before his own troops moral would be even lower. Theodoros claimed only two titles of the 10 owned by the King Capet of France : The title of King and another symbolic title – Duke of Champagne.

And Capet, King of France surrendered these titles.

Right after those titles were surrendered the Duke of Anjou and Piotou, now vassals of Theodoros offered peace with a substantial amount of money. Theodoros accepted and peace was brought back to his realm….his new realm.

The Crusader King is now with 8 titles of King, 30 titles of Duke a prestige of 8000 a piety of 1700 and coffers of over 40 000 gold pieces. He also controls the papal state and he does not have any sins and only have good qualities. Although his reputation is now rather bad because of the war with France, his prestige is high enough to overcome it. Theodoros is now ten times more powerful than any liege of the world. He is now the King of the Kings.

His realm is now composed of over 200 provinces, 40 Count, 13 Duke spreading over France and Spain. Only 5 provinces of Spain are not under his control. The symbolic title of Duke of Champagne that was taken away from his family 7 generations ago is now back in the family. All the provinces originally held by Thibeault are now held by the Theodoros except for one that was deliberately left alone by Theodoros to honor an old vow taken by Frederic “The Wakener” : Troy.

The legend says that Frederic “The Wakener” had declared Troy as being a curse to the family. All the liege before him had had many problems and since Frederic took the decision not to take back Troy, everything went well for the De Blois family. But what Theodoros didn’t know is that the real saying of Frederic was lost in time and changed to become the “Troy Curse”. The real declaration of Frederic “The Wakener” was that the title of Duke of Champagne was to be left alone as this title was the Curse.

Is this the reason why Theodoros was now with a young beautiful wife and now child on the way? Will “The Curse of Champagne” be the reason why the family line will come to an end? Could it be possible that the De Blois family, now at its apogee, will no longer exist after overcoming so many obstacles?

Now in 1257, Germany is in a position to take over all Europe before 1400. Even the powerful Byzantine empire would be able to stop Germany. All this because of one king that could become the last of the De Blois : The Crusader King