Sweden is an example of how to outwit the Legal Beagles (or what happens when Dewey Cheatem does not personally oversee). Dergun is much improved and half way through reading "See Dick, See Jane". Thank you for the update
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A new kingdom added to the pile, it's only a matter of time before Estonia is integrated into the empire.
That great holy war looked extremely frustrating but I suppose that the end result was indeed achieved
That great holy war looked extremely frustrating but I suppose that the end result was indeed achieved
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The Suomenusko Gods got what they wanted, though Arvo had been hoping to incorporate Sweden into the Empire. Dergun is doing his own part to expand the Empire.
Another Kingdom is now under the Empire's protection, Estonia has protection as a tributary, but Arvo would prefer a more permanent deal. The Great Holy War definitely ended unsatisfactorily.
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1094 – 1099 The Succession Crisis
1094 – 1099 The Succession Crisis
It seems while gods may be infallible, their representatives on Earth are not. Arvo followed Tietaja Mielikki’s advice. He married one of King Sudislav’s sisters, well the only sister available. The oldest sister, Praxida, had died of rabies in the Arvo’s dungeon’s while this was being discussed. The youngest sister, Yelizaveta, was only 11 years old, and Arvo wasn’t getting any younger. So that left the middle sister, Dobronega. She was currently married, but Arvo first took her as his concubine to dissolve this marriage. This didn’t make her happy, even though he then made her an Empress.
All that went according to the Tietaja’s plan. But then young King Sudislav wouldn’t accept an alliance with his new brother-in-law, or even a non-aggression pact. Instead, he joined the pact against the aggression of the Volga-Ural Empire. Arvo shrugged, the boy was on his own and Arvo was stuck with a wife who didn’t like men and worshipped his enemies’ God.
Arvo was tired and spent the next year relaxing and trying to make his new wife more comfortable in her new surroundings. While Arvo was relaxing, life continued in the Empire and the neighboring lands. Not a lot happened, some vassals died and the sons or daughters rose to take their places. Arvo need to find a new Voice of the Empire due to one such death and chose High Chief Zhuneg of Komi. His vassal, High Chief Sirtya 'the Sword of Mastor-Ava' of Nidaros, created a new title, the Kingdom of Lapland, making himself a King. Another vassal, King Ovtay of Nenetsia gained the nickname ‘the Brute’. Otherwise, things were quiet.
To the south of Arvo’s lands, Khagan Gokhar 'the Tormentor' of the Sathisi decided he was tired too. He decided to give up the nomadic life and founded a new Alan Empire for the Sathisi Clan along the Causasus Mountain range, with himself as the new Emperor of this Abkhazia Empire. The remaining clans of the Sathisi Horde were now led by Khagan Biræg 'the Frog' of the Dzæræhotæ Clan.
These changes to the south were what made Arvo look into how his son Dergun was doing in his war against the Bulçir. Based on the reports he received, it was not going well, so Arvo decided to bail the boy out. He formally asked King Dergun if he would accept his aid in the Ruthenian Holy War for Pereyslavl. King Dergun immediately said yes.
So after a year of relaxing, Arvo was heading back to war. He led the Merry Men south and also called up an additional 2,000 levys to assist. For the next two years he and his men traveled through Bulçir territory capturing camps of woman and children and building forts in empty grasslands. They never fought a single battle, except the so-called Battle of Ladyzhyn, when seven drunk nomads attacked Arvo’s daughter, Tekay ‘Poison-tooth’. She killed all seven on her own, though one of them took her eye.
Arvo spent a lot of time with her as she recovered and even got her a pet cat. The war ended soon after that and Arvo returned home. Ruthenia now controlled all of Pereyslavl, but control was thin among the nomadic population, Arvo helped King Dergun to begin to build settlements and marketplaces to try and get the nomads to settle down.
In the Spring of 1097, a new complication arose in Arvo’s life. His comforting of the Empress had led to a child, a son named Deryab. While the boy offered opportunities, he and his mother, of bringing Sweden into the Empire, he also threw the succession into chaos. Azyren was still in line to become the next Emperor as the designated heir, the Kingdom of Merya and the very capitol of the Empire at Yaroslavl were now to be inherited by this small baby boy.
Arvo would spend the better part of the next two years trying to find a solution to this quandary. Going through different scenarios that granted young Deryab a worthy inheritance, but leave the heart of the Empire in Azyren’s hands. But no solution was forthcoming. There were plenty of Kingdom and High Chiefdom titles Arvo could create and pile on the baby, but each new title, made the Empire title more valuable and tipped the scales, so even giving Deryab several crowns wouldn’t swing Merya back to Azyren, though at some point it would put Merya in King Dergun’s hands instead.
The only solution that offered a sure way out was the death of Deryab. But Arvo couldn’t bring himself to kill his own son. The boy was sickly and the Gods might take him sooner rather than later, but Arvo would not do it himself. Plus, if the boy died, the chance to take Sweden in one shot would be lost.
Once his more ruthless advisors realized he would not sanction the death of his son, they pushed for executing the boy’s mother, so they could at least press the claims Deryab would inherit to Sweden. The Empress had refused to convert from Catholic to the reformed faith, so no one would be too upset if she was executed, or removed in a more circumspect manner.
The Empress was not a fool and was well aware of the various hypothetical plans regarding the best path forward for the Empire, and how most of them started (or ended) with her death and the death of her son. She also knew Arvo was the only one trying to keep them both alive. So, she was forever entreating him to spare their lives
In the end, Arvo was spared having to make a final decision, when his heart finally gave out at the age of 72, not only from the stress of the succession hanging over his head, but from the continued growth of his massive frame due to his giganticism.
The problem fell on Azyren ‘the Bear’s shoulders, as he was crowned as the Emperor of Volga -Ural on August 1st 1099 in his capitol of Polotsk, while his 2-year old half-brother, Deryab, was crowned King of Merya in the Kardazid’s ancient seat of power, Yaroslavl.
It seems while gods may be infallible, their representatives on Earth are not. Arvo followed Tietaja Mielikki’s advice. He married one of King Sudislav’s sisters, well the only sister available. The oldest sister, Praxida, had died of rabies in the Arvo’s dungeon’s while this was being discussed. The youngest sister, Yelizaveta, was only 11 years old, and Arvo wasn’t getting any younger. So that left the middle sister, Dobronega. She was currently married, but Arvo first took her as his concubine to dissolve this marriage. This didn’t make her happy, even though he then made her an Empress.
All that went according to the Tietaja’s plan. But then young King Sudislav wouldn’t accept an alliance with his new brother-in-law, or even a non-aggression pact. Instead, he joined the pact against the aggression of the Volga-Ural Empire. Arvo shrugged, the boy was on his own and Arvo was stuck with a wife who didn’t like men and worshipped his enemies’ God.
Arvo was tired and spent the next year relaxing and trying to make his new wife more comfortable in her new surroundings. While Arvo was relaxing, life continued in the Empire and the neighboring lands. Not a lot happened, some vassals died and the sons or daughters rose to take their places. Arvo need to find a new Voice of the Empire due to one such death and chose High Chief Zhuneg of Komi. His vassal, High Chief Sirtya 'the Sword of Mastor-Ava' of Nidaros, created a new title, the Kingdom of Lapland, making himself a King. Another vassal, King Ovtay of Nenetsia gained the nickname ‘the Brute’. Otherwise, things were quiet.
To the south of Arvo’s lands, Khagan Gokhar 'the Tormentor' of the Sathisi decided he was tired too. He decided to give up the nomadic life and founded a new Alan Empire for the Sathisi Clan along the Causasus Mountain range, with himself as the new Emperor of this Abkhazia Empire. The remaining clans of the Sathisi Horde were now led by Khagan Biræg 'the Frog' of the Dzæræhotæ Clan.
These changes to the south were what made Arvo look into how his son Dergun was doing in his war against the Bulçir. Based on the reports he received, it was not going well, so Arvo decided to bail the boy out. He formally asked King Dergun if he would accept his aid in the Ruthenian Holy War for Pereyslavl. King Dergun immediately said yes.
So after a year of relaxing, Arvo was heading back to war. He led the Merry Men south and also called up an additional 2,000 levys to assist. For the next two years he and his men traveled through Bulçir territory capturing camps of woman and children and building forts in empty grasslands. They never fought a single battle, except the so-called Battle of Ladyzhyn, when seven drunk nomads attacked Arvo’s daughter, Tekay ‘Poison-tooth’. She killed all seven on her own, though one of them took her eye.
Arvo spent a lot of time with her as she recovered and even got her a pet cat. The war ended soon after that and Arvo returned home. Ruthenia now controlled all of Pereyslavl, but control was thin among the nomadic population, Arvo helped King Dergun to begin to build settlements and marketplaces to try and get the nomads to settle down.
In the Spring of 1097, a new complication arose in Arvo’s life. His comforting of the Empress had led to a child, a son named Deryab. While the boy offered opportunities, he and his mother, of bringing Sweden into the Empire, he also threw the succession into chaos. Azyren was still in line to become the next Emperor as the designated heir, the Kingdom of Merya and the very capitol of the Empire at Yaroslavl were now to be inherited by this small baby boy.
Arvo would spend the better part of the next two years trying to find a solution to this quandary. Going through different scenarios that granted young Deryab a worthy inheritance, but leave the heart of the Empire in Azyren’s hands. But no solution was forthcoming. There were plenty of Kingdom and High Chiefdom titles Arvo could create and pile on the baby, but each new title, made the Empire title more valuable and tipped the scales, so even giving Deryab several crowns wouldn’t swing Merya back to Azyren, though at some point it would put Merya in King Dergun’s hands instead.
The only solution that offered a sure way out was the death of Deryab. But Arvo couldn’t bring himself to kill his own son. The boy was sickly and the Gods might take him sooner rather than later, but Arvo would not do it himself. Plus, if the boy died, the chance to take Sweden in one shot would be lost.
Once his more ruthless advisors realized he would not sanction the death of his son, they pushed for executing the boy’s mother, so they could at least press the claims Deryab would inherit to Sweden. The Empress had refused to convert from Catholic to the reformed faith, so no one would be too upset if she was executed, or removed in a more circumspect manner.
The Empress was not a fool and was well aware of the various hypothetical plans regarding the best path forward for the Empire, and how most of them started (or ended) with her death and the death of her son. She also knew Arvo was the only one trying to keep them both alive. So, she was forever entreating him to spare their lives
In the end, Arvo was spared having to make a final decision, when his heart finally gave out at the age of 72, not only from the stress of the succession hanging over his head, but from the continued growth of his massive frame due to his giganticism.
The problem fell on Azyren ‘the Bear’s shoulders, as he was crowned as the Emperor of Volga -Ural on August 1st 1099 in his capitol of Polotsk, while his 2-year old half-brother, Deryab, was crowned King of Merya in the Kardazid’s ancient seat of power, Yaroslavl.
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Arvo had a Great, Great Life. Little babies wreck the plans of mortal men. Thank you for the update
Oh my, will the empire wither if someone else holds its heart? Or will it find a new center elsewhere?
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Arvo was a legend, a literal giant among men. And as Erziya 'the Bold' is seen as the father of the Kingdom of Merya, Arvo is the Father of the Volga-Ural Empire (even though his grandfather laid all the groundwork, and his father was actually the first to wear the crown).
An innocent babe can wreak much havoc.
Emperor Azyren, the King over Kings. and King Deryab who holds great power, though still a babe in arms. His death would be of great benefit to the Emperor, but his life lasting just a little bit longer could be even more beneficial.
That is a good question, will these new circumstances foster envy and greed, and finally murder, or will they be a catalyst for change.
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1100 - The End (or Beginning?) of an Era
1100 - The End (or Beginning?) of an Era
For the past 66 years, Arvo ‘the Fox’ had ruled the Empire of Volga-Ural. An Empire that had never really known another ruler. King Kezhedey ‘the Sword of Taara’ had founded the Empire in 1026, but it had existed for less than a decade before he died and his only son, a boy named Arvo, was crowned in his place. Few survived who remembered an Empire before Arvo, and most of the world outside the Empire didn’t really even know it existed until Emperor Arvo ‘the Fox’ went on his Legendary Journey to the Holy Roman Empire in 1066 and turned the eyes of the world to the northern forests.
Under Arvo’s rule the Empire had spread and strengthened the Reformed Suomenusko faith and brought most of the faithful under the protection of the Empire. Only a few Suomenusko realms remained outside the Empire’s benevolent control. The Vasyugan High Chiefdom led by the Yugra Clan survived to the east of the Ural Mountains. They had been subjugated for awhile by the Ashina nomads, but had regained their independence as the once feared Ashina had grown weaker over the past decades.
Queen Lauha ‘the Bellower’ ruled the misplaced remnants of the Kingdom of Lithuania on the north shore of Lake Ladoga. Lithuania had been a conquest of the Karjainen Kings of Suomi when Suomi was at its peak, but had split away from the crown of Suomi due to inheritance, and then lost most of lands in Lithuania proper to its neighbors, until it retained only the crown and its lands at Lake Ladoga. It was then that Queen Lauha’s father, an adventurer named Rieti ‘the Merciless’ Anttonen, had conquered the tiny Kingdom and claimed the crown himself. By that time, the Karjainens and the Kingdom of Suomi were in a steep decline, not even the marriage of Princess Lemmikki to Emperor Arvo could save the Kingdom. The lands of Suomi were slowly bring swallowed up by its neighbors, including the vassals of the Empire and Sweden. The last Karjainen King of Suomi was stripped of his lands only a few short years ago, vacating the throne.
The newest Suomenusko realm was Sweden which had been converted in a round about fashion by the Great Holy War for Sweden against the Catholic Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia. 50 years ago, Sweden had been ruled by the Polian dynasty, which had conquered it as Slavic pagans, but had then been converted to Catholicism. They were in turn conquered by a Norse follower of the Old Gods, Björn af Munso. But shortly after his conquest, he in turn was converted to the Catholic faith and became known as King Björn ‘the Confessor’. His heirs lost the Sweden when their land was stolen by a new round of Slavic pagans from the Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia, who were subsequently also converted to the Catholic faith under King Yemelyan ‘the Just’. Now with the death of King Yemelyan, his son Prince Sudislav, who had been converted from the Catholic faith to the Suomenusko faith while imprisoned by Emperor Arvo, had inherited the Kingdom of Sweden, making it pagan once again. Arvo had been scheming, before he died, to bring Suomenusko Sweden into the Empire before the Catholic missionaries could strike again.
The final independent Suomenusko Kingdom was Estonia, a long time tributary to the Kingdom of Merya and the Empire of Volga-Ural. When Arvo had been crowned, the Estonian King had held four crowns, Estonia itself, Novgorod, Vladimir and Nenetsia. Since then, through the laws of inheritance, it had been reduced down to only the crown of Estonia. The other three Kingdoms had been split off and over time absorbed into the Empire. Only Estonia’s longtime status as a tributary had protected it from being brought completely into the Empire, but the Empire had been growing tired of the Estonia’s status as a tributary and the obligations that it put on the Empire, so the situation may soon change.
The other local pagans had mostly been conquered or converted by their more powerful neighbors. While the largest populations of remaining followers of the Germanic gods were actually subjects of the Suomenusko Empire and Kingdom of Sweden, there were still a few independent pagan realms. The High Chiefdom of Lithuania, which had been founded by a Lettigalian convert to the Germanic faith, High Chief Sabe ‘the Wise’ gada Mirnyy was the last independent Germanic realm. He was surrounded by hostile enemies and it was not sure how long he would last before he in turn was conquered or converted. The last scion of the Ulfling Clan, who had once ruled all of Scandinavia under the Germanic Gods 300 years ago, King Fredrick Ulfling of Smäland, had already been converted to Catholicsm.
The Prussian High Chiefdom of Pruthenia was the last hold out of the Romuvan faith. While the scattered remains of the Kingdom of Pomerania held the last of the independent Slavic pagans. They only survived conquest or conversion by being ignored by their more powerful neighbors, but it was only a matter of time.
Young Sudislav’s inheritance of Sweden as a Suomenusko King has been one of the few setbacks to the Catholic faith in the past fifty years. The greatest setback has been, of course, Segoin’s Legacy, that split the Holy Roman Empire in two leading to the rise of the Empire of Germania. Since Segoin’s death, the Holy Roman Empire has had three Emperors, the two French Emperors Guilhelm ‘the Wise’ de Thouars and Emperor Raymond ‘the Wise’ Morgannid, and now is ruled by the German Kaiser Heinrich ‘the Butcher’ Vuodi.
Meanwhile, the Empire of Germania has been controlled by the German Abbonid dynasty, as Kaiser Thomas ‘the Monster’ succeeded Kaiser Segoin Hetanid, and was followed by Thomas’ eldest son, Walram ‘the Bewitched’, and finally Thomas’ younger son, Lambert ’the Monk’, the current Kaiser. But the Abbonid dominance may soon be broken as the electors of Germania currently favor Segoin’s son, Prince Wolfram, over Kaiser Lambert’s 13-year old son, Prince Helferich. While Segoin’s Legacy has sowed confusion at the heart of Catholicism, it still remains strong.
To the east of the Entwined Empires, are the converted Catholic Kingdoms. Poland, ruled by Queen Miroslava ‘the Cruel’ af Munsö, daughter of Björn ‘the Confessor’. While her sisters had lost their inheritance of Sweden to the Slavs, Miroslava clung to what remained of her inheritance, trapped between the pagans to her east and the Empire of Germania to her west.
East of Poland is the half of King Yemelyan’s legacy that remains Catholic, the Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia ruled by his eldest son, King Demid II. Galich-Volhynia’s fortunes rose under the rule of King Yemelyan ‘the Just’, as he conquered Sweden and claimed its crown as well as conquering additional lands in Finland and then he led all his people from the pagan Slavic ways into the light of Catholicism. But that ended with his death during the Suomenusko Great Holy War for Sweden. All of Yemelyan’s gains in the North fell into his younger son’s hands who had been swayed to follow the Suomenusko Gods. His elder son retained the Catholic crown of Galich-Volhynia, but Demid’s relationship with the Catholic Church is strained and he is known far and wide as Demid ‘Priest-Hater’. This is further complicated by the fact that his main heirs are currently his pagan little brother, King Sudislav of Sweden, and his pagan nephew, King Deryab of Merya.
South of King Demid is the Avar Kingdom of Pannonia ruled by Khan Dometa ‘the Missionary’. Pannonia is a tributary to the Empire of Germania. The Avars have had some successes in the past 50 years against the heathens under Khan Dometa and his father, Khan Gostun ‘the Hammer’. They have seized land from the Shia Fadlid Empire and Slavic Galich-Volhynia (before Khan Dometa convinced King Yemelyan to convert). But their attempts to take land from Estonia have been thwarted repeatedly by the interference of the Volga-Ural Empire.
Far to the south, the Kingdom of Sicily thrives under the Frisian King Thonkirk ‘the Unready’ Dandolo. Sicily has expanded onto the northern coast of Africa under its newest King. King Thonkirk inherited the throne through his Karling mother, following the death of Sultan Aarif ‘the Wise’ of Sicily, the son of Sultan Mutmir ‘the Crusader’ Karling, who had been crowned after the successful Crusade for Sicily.
Far to the northwest, England remains staunchly Catholic, ruled by the St. Cuthbert dynasty since it was founded. The newest monarch is King Æthelfrith of England. But there is some controversy surrounding his ascension to the throne, as Æthelfrith is a legitimized bastard born to the late King Eadberht’s common-born paramour, Godgifu. His half-brother, Prince Eormenred, was born just a few months after Æthelfrith, but to King Eadberht’s wife and Queen, Æthelburh. There are many in England who see Prince Eormenred as the true heir, rather than the bastard boy who sits on the throne. While England is the dominant power in the British Isles, the rest is held by the Welsh Seisyllwg dynasty. King Anllech holds the throne of Wales and his cousin, King Bledrig II, holds the throne of Alban.
The only other significant Catholic Kingdom is also the newest. After the successful Crusade for Jerusalem in 1085, Herbert Morgannid was crowned King of Jerusalem and proclaimed ‘the Sword of God’. The death of his only son during the Crusade left him without a strong heir and it wasn’t until 1098, when his wife finally gave him a son, Benoít Morgannid, that the succession was secured. Unfortunately, less than a year later, King Herbert was dead, and that baby’s cradle became the throne of Jerusalem. How will Jerusalem fare, surrounded by heathen enemies and a babe on the throne?
The third Christian Empire, but actually the first, is the Orthodox Eastern Roman Empire currently ruled by the newly elected Basileus Herakleios II of House Toxias. After Basilissa Sibylla of House Bodacia brought order and stability to Byzantine politics after the chaos at the beginning of the 11th century, she ruled for 32 years. Upon her death, the throne returned to the hands of House Mamoulianos under Basileus Arsenios ‘the Blessed’ who led Holy Wars against the Fadlid Empire to wrest back portions of Croatia from the Shia Empire. Upon Arsenios ‘the Blessed’s death the throne remained in the hands of House Mamoulianos, but Basileus Ioustinianos III also had the distinction of being the grandson of Basilissa Sibylla as well. However, he did not fare well and evidence of corruption was used to force him to abdicate all his titles, as Emperor, as well as King of Epirus, nine years into his rule. Basileus Herakleios II was elected in his place, but the now landless Ioustinianos still has strong support and is the currently next in the line of succession and poised to regain the throne should Herakleios falter.
While the Christians waxed stronger, the Moslems strength had begun to wane as infighting and attacks from without were fraying even the most enduring of Empires. The Umayyad Empire has ruled from Iberia for centuries and spread the power into the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. They seemed unstoppable, that is until they failed to save the Ghaznavid Sultanate from the Crusade for Sicily earlier in the century. Since then, there been some internal unrest and revolts, which until now the Umayyad Caliphs have been able to handle. But the recent the loss of Jerusalem to a second Catholic Crusade proved too much and the reigning Caliph Sadiq ‘the Lame’ who had lost the Holy City was forced to step down in favor of his kinsman Samir. The Umayyad’s still control the Empire, but their rule has begun to show cracks.
The second Sunni power, the Ma’afri Empire, was ruled by Badishah Idris ‘the Old’. But he too had shown weakness when he allowed Sicily to claim lands on the north coast of Africa. Idris had lived too long and had too many sons, wars were beginning to try and control the future of the Empire in anticipation of the Badishah’s death. Even if his chosen heir reached the throne, he might not hold it long.
Far to the east, there were still signs that the Sunni were not to be counted out. The Taid clan, who had once ruled the Seven Sultanates, were showing signs of life. They had reclaimed some of their titles and lands from those who had cast them down and were once more growing in strength.
The many losses the Sunni have been dealt in the last century have led to the rise of heresies that have challenged the Sunni faith. The most obvious was the rise of the Shia, but the Shia have also faced turmoil. The Fadlid Caliphs of Carpathia had suffered losses at the hands of the Christians, both the Catholic Avars of Pannonia and the Orthodox Greeks of the Byzantine Empire have defeated the Shia in battle and claimed territory from them. This has led to the rise of the Karkhi, who in 1073 overthrew the Fadlid dynasty and claimed the Caliphate under Musa ‘the Just’. The Shia also had a different response to the Christian threat, they did not focus solely on a renewed Jihad, as the Sunni were contemplating. Instead, they chose a darker path, with the birth of the Assassins, a religious order deep in the mountains of Persia led by Grand Headmaster Hassan of Fedayeen. This order would use deception and murder to further the cause of the faithful.
Another Sunni heresy has arisen in East Africa, the followers of Zikri teachings of Imam Akhar Zaman Hazrat Syed Muhammad Jaunpuri. Surprisingly, the current champion of the Zikri faith is the Greek Doux Boethios of Nobatia.
For the most part the Moslems were of little threat to the Volga-Ural Empire as their power lay far to the south. Between the Moslems and the Empire were the Tengri nomads. The Bulçir Horde under Khagan Kayghalagh, the last of the Khazars in the west, had lost ground to both the Suomenusko Empire to the north, the Catholic Kingdoms in the west and their fellow Tengri, the Alan nomads of the Sathisi. They are being pushed south to the shores of the Black Sea. The Sathisi are the great power of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe having driven the Bulçir west and the Ashina east of the Ural Mountains. But as recently mentioned, the sudden departure of Khagan Gokhar 'the Tormentor' of the Sathisi from nomadic life to found a new Abkhazian Empire for the Sathisi Clan along the Causasus Mountain range, may have left the remaining clans of the Sathisi Horde vulnerable. The Dzæræhotæ Clan seized power on the Steppe behind Khagan Biræg 'the Frog', but neither he nor his successor, Girgon ‘the Unchaste’, lasted more than a few months as Khagan, both dying quickly. The new Dzæræhotæ Khagan, Uruzma, will have to see if he can survive long enough to consolidate his power.
The once powerful Ashina Horde had abandoned their Tengri faith and followed the Manichean beliefs. They now cower as tributaries to the Western Protectorate which has begun to once again spread its influence westward. Further east, the Uyghur Ontutuq ‘the Tormentor’ is Khagan of the Uzur, the Manichean Horde that has been growing in strength.
South of the Uzur and the Western Protectorate is the Empire of Tibet. It is now ruled by the Kalachuri, a Hindustani dynasty, rather than the Purgyal dynasty who ruled the Bödpa Empire for centuries as Buddhists. But this was actually a peaceful transition, as after the death Tsenmo Purgyal Cham, her daughter of the Kalachuri Dynasty was next in line. However, there was some suspicions surrounding the death of Cham’s son, Tsenpo Purgyal Dragpa, which lead to Cham becoming Empress and her daughter following her to the throne. This lingering suspicion and the Bödpa and Buddhist population adjusting to a Hindustani ruler eventually saw Samrajni Kanchuka ‘the Noble’ abdicating in favor of her own daughter, Samrajni Akal of the Kalachuri Empire.
Further south is India. The Pala dynasty is no longer as dominant as it once was. The Rashtrakuta and Pala dynasties have become badly entangled. Both dynasties’ holdings have split in two, with the Pala ruling as Maharaja Mahindranarayan ‘Son of the Vinyakas’ of the Pala Kingdom and Maharina Vina ‘the Unfaithful’ of Bengal and the Rashtrakuta ruling as Maharaja Viraballala ‘the Just’ of the Rashtrakuta Kingdom and Maharaja Satyasraya IV of Maharastra. But a part of the Rashtrakuta, Maharaja Satyasraya IV of Maharastra remains a tributary to part of the Pala, Maharina Vina of Bengal.
While the Pala have weakened, the Ayudha dynasty has grown stronger. In the north, Maharaja Arjunpal II holds the Ayudha Kingdom, while to the east, his kinsman, Maharaja Bhumpal III, holds the growing Kingdom of Orissa.
So that is where the known world stands following the death of a Legendary Emperor and at the start of a new century.
For the past 66 years, Arvo ‘the Fox’ had ruled the Empire of Volga-Ural. An Empire that had never really known another ruler. King Kezhedey ‘the Sword of Taara’ had founded the Empire in 1026, but it had existed for less than a decade before he died and his only son, a boy named Arvo, was crowned in his place. Few survived who remembered an Empire before Arvo, and most of the world outside the Empire didn’t really even know it existed until Emperor Arvo ‘the Fox’ went on his Legendary Journey to the Holy Roman Empire in 1066 and turned the eyes of the world to the northern forests.
Under Arvo’s rule the Empire had spread and strengthened the Reformed Suomenusko faith and brought most of the faithful under the protection of the Empire. Only a few Suomenusko realms remained outside the Empire’s benevolent control. The Vasyugan High Chiefdom led by the Yugra Clan survived to the east of the Ural Mountains. They had been subjugated for awhile by the Ashina nomads, but had regained their independence as the once feared Ashina had grown weaker over the past decades.
Queen Lauha ‘the Bellower’ ruled the misplaced remnants of the Kingdom of Lithuania on the north shore of Lake Ladoga. Lithuania had been a conquest of the Karjainen Kings of Suomi when Suomi was at its peak, but had split away from the crown of Suomi due to inheritance, and then lost most of lands in Lithuania proper to its neighbors, until it retained only the crown and its lands at Lake Ladoga. It was then that Queen Lauha’s father, an adventurer named Rieti ‘the Merciless’ Anttonen, had conquered the tiny Kingdom and claimed the crown himself. By that time, the Karjainens and the Kingdom of Suomi were in a steep decline, not even the marriage of Princess Lemmikki to Emperor Arvo could save the Kingdom. The lands of Suomi were slowly bring swallowed up by its neighbors, including the vassals of the Empire and Sweden. The last Karjainen King of Suomi was stripped of his lands only a few short years ago, vacating the throne.
The newest Suomenusko realm was Sweden which had been converted in a round about fashion by the Great Holy War for Sweden against the Catholic Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia. 50 years ago, Sweden had been ruled by the Polian dynasty, which had conquered it as Slavic pagans, but had then been converted to Catholicism. They were in turn conquered by a Norse follower of the Old Gods, Björn af Munso. But shortly after his conquest, he in turn was converted to the Catholic faith and became known as King Björn ‘the Confessor’. His heirs lost the Sweden when their land was stolen by a new round of Slavic pagans from the Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia, who were subsequently also converted to the Catholic faith under King Yemelyan ‘the Just’. Now with the death of King Yemelyan, his son Prince Sudislav, who had been converted from the Catholic faith to the Suomenusko faith while imprisoned by Emperor Arvo, had inherited the Kingdom of Sweden, making it pagan once again. Arvo had been scheming, before he died, to bring Suomenusko Sweden into the Empire before the Catholic missionaries could strike again.
The final independent Suomenusko Kingdom was Estonia, a long time tributary to the Kingdom of Merya and the Empire of Volga-Ural. When Arvo had been crowned, the Estonian King had held four crowns, Estonia itself, Novgorod, Vladimir and Nenetsia. Since then, through the laws of inheritance, it had been reduced down to only the crown of Estonia. The other three Kingdoms had been split off and over time absorbed into the Empire. Only Estonia’s longtime status as a tributary had protected it from being brought completely into the Empire, but the Empire had been growing tired of the Estonia’s status as a tributary and the obligations that it put on the Empire, so the situation may soon change.
The other local pagans had mostly been conquered or converted by their more powerful neighbors. While the largest populations of remaining followers of the Germanic gods were actually subjects of the Suomenusko Empire and Kingdom of Sweden, there were still a few independent pagan realms. The High Chiefdom of Lithuania, which had been founded by a Lettigalian convert to the Germanic faith, High Chief Sabe ‘the Wise’ gada Mirnyy was the last independent Germanic realm. He was surrounded by hostile enemies and it was not sure how long he would last before he in turn was conquered or converted. The last scion of the Ulfling Clan, who had once ruled all of Scandinavia under the Germanic Gods 300 years ago, King Fredrick Ulfling of Smäland, had already been converted to Catholicsm.
The Prussian High Chiefdom of Pruthenia was the last hold out of the Romuvan faith. While the scattered remains of the Kingdom of Pomerania held the last of the independent Slavic pagans. They only survived conquest or conversion by being ignored by their more powerful neighbors, but it was only a matter of time.
Young Sudislav’s inheritance of Sweden as a Suomenusko King has been one of the few setbacks to the Catholic faith in the past fifty years. The greatest setback has been, of course, Segoin’s Legacy, that split the Holy Roman Empire in two leading to the rise of the Empire of Germania. Since Segoin’s death, the Holy Roman Empire has had three Emperors, the two French Emperors Guilhelm ‘the Wise’ de Thouars and Emperor Raymond ‘the Wise’ Morgannid, and now is ruled by the German Kaiser Heinrich ‘the Butcher’ Vuodi.
Meanwhile, the Empire of Germania has been controlled by the German Abbonid dynasty, as Kaiser Thomas ‘the Monster’ succeeded Kaiser Segoin Hetanid, and was followed by Thomas’ eldest son, Walram ‘the Bewitched’, and finally Thomas’ younger son, Lambert ’the Monk’, the current Kaiser. But the Abbonid dominance may soon be broken as the electors of Germania currently favor Segoin’s son, Prince Wolfram, over Kaiser Lambert’s 13-year old son, Prince Helferich. While Segoin’s Legacy has sowed confusion at the heart of Catholicism, it still remains strong.
To the east of the Entwined Empires, are the converted Catholic Kingdoms. Poland, ruled by Queen Miroslava ‘the Cruel’ af Munsö, daughter of Björn ‘the Confessor’. While her sisters had lost their inheritance of Sweden to the Slavs, Miroslava clung to what remained of her inheritance, trapped between the pagans to her east and the Empire of Germania to her west.
East of Poland is the half of King Yemelyan’s legacy that remains Catholic, the Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia ruled by his eldest son, King Demid II. Galich-Volhynia’s fortunes rose under the rule of King Yemelyan ‘the Just’, as he conquered Sweden and claimed its crown as well as conquering additional lands in Finland and then he led all his people from the pagan Slavic ways into the light of Catholicism. But that ended with his death during the Suomenusko Great Holy War for Sweden. All of Yemelyan’s gains in the North fell into his younger son’s hands who had been swayed to follow the Suomenusko Gods. His elder son retained the Catholic crown of Galich-Volhynia, but Demid’s relationship with the Catholic Church is strained and he is known far and wide as Demid ‘Priest-Hater’. This is further complicated by the fact that his main heirs are currently his pagan little brother, King Sudislav of Sweden, and his pagan nephew, King Deryab of Merya.
South of King Demid is the Avar Kingdom of Pannonia ruled by Khan Dometa ‘the Missionary’. Pannonia is a tributary to the Empire of Germania. The Avars have had some successes in the past 50 years against the heathens under Khan Dometa and his father, Khan Gostun ‘the Hammer’. They have seized land from the Shia Fadlid Empire and Slavic Galich-Volhynia (before Khan Dometa convinced King Yemelyan to convert). But their attempts to take land from Estonia have been thwarted repeatedly by the interference of the Volga-Ural Empire.
Far to the south, the Kingdom of Sicily thrives under the Frisian King Thonkirk ‘the Unready’ Dandolo. Sicily has expanded onto the northern coast of Africa under its newest King. King Thonkirk inherited the throne through his Karling mother, following the death of Sultan Aarif ‘the Wise’ of Sicily, the son of Sultan Mutmir ‘the Crusader’ Karling, who had been crowned after the successful Crusade for Sicily.
Far to the northwest, England remains staunchly Catholic, ruled by the St. Cuthbert dynasty since it was founded. The newest monarch is King Æthelfrith of England. But there is some controversy surrounding his ascension to the throne, as Æthelfrith is a legitimized bastard born to the late King Eadberht’s common-born paramour, Godgifu. His half-brother, Prince Eormenred, was born just a few months after Æthelfrith, but to King Eadberht’s wife and Queen, Æthelburh. There are many in England who see Prince Eormenred as the true heir, rather than the bastard boy who sits on the throne. While England is the dominant power in the British Isles, the rest is held by the Welsh Seisyllwg dynasty. King Anllech holds the throne of Wales and his cousin, King Bledrig II, holds the throne of Alban.
The only other significant Catholic Kingdom is also the newest. After the successful Crusade for Jerusalem in 1085, Herbert Morgannid was crowned King of Jerusalem and proclaimed ‘the Sword of God’. The death of his only son during the Crusade left him without a strong heir and it wasn’t until 1098, when his wife finally gave him a son, Benoít Morgannid, that the succession was secured. Unfortunately, less than a year later, King Herbert was dead, and that baby’s cradle became the throne of Jerusalem. How will Jerusalem fare, surrounded by heathen enemies and a babe on the throne?
The third Christian Empire, but actually the first, is the Orthodox Eastern Roman Empire currently ruled by the newly elected Basileus Herakleios II of House Toxias. After Basilissa Sibylla of House Bodacia brought order and stability to Byzantine politics after the chaos at the beginning of the 11th century, she ruled for 32 years. Upon her death, the throne returned to the hands of House Mamoulianos under Basileus Arsenios ‘the Blessed’ who led Holy Wars against the Fadlid Empire to wrest back portions of Croatia from the Shia Empire. Upon Arsenios ‘the Blessed’s death the throne remained in the hands of House Mamoulianos, but Basileus Ioustinianos III also had the distinction of being the grandson of Basilissa Sibylla as well. However, he did not fare well and evidence of corruption was used to force him to abdicate all his titles, as Emperor, as well as King of Epirus, nine years into his rule. Basileus Herakleios II was elected in his place, but the now landless Ioustinianos still has strong support and is the currently next in the line of succession and poised to regain the throne should Herakleios falter.
While the Christians waxed stronger, the Moslems strength had begun to wane as infighting and attacks from without were fraying even the most enduring of Empires. The Umayyad Empire has ruled from Iberia for centuries and spread the power into the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula. They seemed unstoppable, that is until they failed to save the Ghaznavid Sultanate from the Crusade for Sicily earlier in the century. Since then, there been some internal unrest and revolts, which until now the Umayyad Caliphs have been able to handle. But the recent the loss of Jerusalem to a second Catholic Crusade proved too much and the reigning Caliph Sadiq ‘the Lame’ who had lost the Holy City was forced to step down in favor of his kinsman Samir. The Umayyad’s still control the Empire, but their rule has begun to show cracks.
The second Sunni power, the Ma’afri Empire, was ruled by Badishah Idris ‘the Old’. But he too had shown weakness when he allowed Sicily to claim lands on the north coast of Africa. Idris had lived too long and had too many sons, wars were beginning to try and control the future of the Empire in anticipation of the Badishah’s death. Even if his chosen heir reached the throne, he might not hold it long.
Far to the east, there were still signs that the Sunni were not to be counted out. The Taid clan, who had once ruled the Seven Sultanates, were showing signs of life. They had reclaimed some of their titles and lands from those who had cast them down and were once more growing in strength.
The many losses the Sunni have been dealt in the last century have led to the rise of heresies that have challenged the Sunni faith. The most obvious was the rise of the Shia, but the Shia have also faced turmoil. The Fadlid Caliphs of Carpathia had suffered losses at the hands of the Christians, both the Catholic Avars of Pannonia and the Orthodox Greeks of the Byzantine Empire have defeated the Shia in battle and claimed territory from them. This has led to the rise of the Karkhi, who in 1073 overthrew the Fadlid dynasty and claimed the Caliphate under Musa ‘the Just’. The Shia also had a different response to the Christian threat, they did not focus solely on a renewed Jihad, as the Sunni were contemplating. Instead, they chose a darker path, with the birth of the Assassins, a religious order deep in the mountains of Persia led by Grand Headmaster Hassan of Fedayeen. This order would use deception and murder to further the cause of the faithful.
Another Sunni heresy has arisen in East Africa, the followers of Zikri teachings of Imam Akhar Zaman Hazrat Syed Muhammad Jaunpuri. Surprisingly, the current champion of the Zikri faith is the Greek Doux Boethios of Nobatia.
For the most part the Moslems were of little threat to the Volga-Ural Empire as their power lay far to the south. Between the Moslems and the Empire were the Tengri nomads. The Bulçir Horde under Khagan Kayghalagh, the last of the Khazars in the west, had lost ground to both the Suomenusko Empire to the north, the Catholic Kingdoms in the west and their fellow Tengri, the Alan nomads of the Sathisi. They are being pushed south to the shores of the Black Sea. The Sathisi are the great power of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe having driven the Bulçir west and the Ashina east of the Ural Mountains. But as recently mentioned, the sudden departure of Khagan Gokhar 'the Tormentor' of the Sathisi from nomadic life to found a new Abkhazian Empire for the Sathisi Clan along the Causasus Mountain range, may have left the remaining clans of the Sathisi Horde vulnerable. The Dzæræhotæ Clan seized power on the Steppe behind Khagan Biræg 'the Frog', but neither he nor his successor, Girgon ‘the Unchaste’, lasted more than a few months as Khagan, both dying quickly. The new Dzæræhotæ Khagan, Uruzma, will have to see if he can survive long enough to consolidate his power.
The once powerful Ashina Horde had abandoned their Tengri faith and followed the Manichean beliefs. They now cower as tributaries to the Western Protectorate which has begun to once again spread its influence westward. Further east, the Uyghur Ontutuq ‘the Tormentor’ is Khagan of the Uzur, the Manichean Horde that has been growing in strength.
South of the Uzur and the Western Protectorate is the Empire of Tibet. It is now ruled by the Kalachuri, a Hindustani dynasty, rather than the Purgyal dynasty who ruled the Bödpa Empire for centuries as Buddhists. But this was actually a peaceful transition, as after the death Tsenmo Purgyal Cham, her daughter of the Kalachuri Dynasty was next in line. However, there was some suspicions surrounding the death of Cham’s son, Tsenpo Purgyal Dragpa, which lead to Cham becoming Empress and her daughter following her to the throne. This lingering suspicion and the Bödpa and Buddhist population adjusting to a Hindustani ruler eventually saw Samrajni Kanchuka ‘the Noble’ abdicating in favor of her own daughter, Samrajni Akal of the Kalachuri Empire.
Further south is India. The Pala dynasty is no longer as dominant as it once was. The Rashtrakuta and Pala dynasties have become badly entangled. Both dynasties’ holdings have split in two, with the Pala ruling as Maharaja Mahindranarayan ‘Son of the Vinyakas’ of the Pala Kingdom and Maharina Vina ‘the Unfaithful’ of Bengal and the Rashtrakuta ruling as Maharaja Viraballala ‘the Just’ of the Rashtrakuta Kingdom and Maharaja Satyasraya IV of Maharastra. But a part of the Rashtrakuta, Maharaja Satyasraya IV of Maharastra remains a tributary to part of the Pala, Maharina Vina of Bengal.
While the Pala have weakened, the Ayudha dynasty has grown stronger. In the north, Maharaja Arjunpal II holds the Ayudha Kingdom, while to the east, his kinsman, Maharaja Bhumpal III, holds the growing Kingdom of Orissa.
So that is where the known world stands following the death of a Legendary Emperor and at the start of a new century.
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An excellent summary of events at the dawn of a new century. It reminds me that I need to do such a thing for my own AAR, as it really helps with getting immersed into the world. Thank you for the update!
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Wow, 66 years for Arvo is quite a significant reign!
The Byzantines are doing a lot better than I remembered. I guess it was facilitated by the waning of Islam in the region.
The Sathisi look like quite the formidable horde. Back in the day, they would have terrified Merya but history has turned against them.
The Byzantines are doing a lot better than I remembered. I guess it was facilitated by the waning of Islam in the region.
The Sathisi look like quite the formidable horde. Back in the day, they would have terrified Merya but history has turned against them.
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Three queens in Tibet and a fourth in line? I think their egalitarianism has survived even under Hindu rule.
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It is fun to see how the world is evolving outside your direct influence, you often get some surprising turn of events and outcomes.
You are welcome.
Yes, he had a long reign, though the first 10 years were a regency, as he was six when he became Emperor. But a long and eventful life followed.
The Byzantines were a mess earlier in the century, but Basilissa Sybilla brought stability and renewed growth in her 32 year reign.
Volga-Ural has grown large enough to have little to fear from the nomads, but Sathisi's other neighbors are not as comfortable with them. The Empire concerns have turned west to the Catholic realms.
The Tibetan Empire has had a run of female rulers. The current Empress is a drunkard with dysentery, so the 4th Empress may soon take over. If she survives that she is young and has time for many more children.
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1100 – Job Relocation
1100 – Job Relocation
Azyren ‘the Bear’, until a few days ago, High Chief of Polotsk and Latgale and vassal and Voice to his older brother, King Dergun ‘the Frog’ of Ruthenia, was still not sure what he supposed to do as the new Emperor. For the past 12 years he had been living in his modest hillfort in Polotsk, doing his duty to his brother as the Voice of Ruthenia and Commander, though his duty as Commander had almost killed him and left him disfigured while fighting against the Bulçir nomads in the war for Pereyslavl. That war had finally been won with their father’s help. Now he was distressed to learn that most of the nomads in the territory they had captured in that war had immediately broken free of the Empire on the news of Arvo’s death and returned to the Bulçir Khagan.
Polotsk was now the center of the Empire as his half-brother Deryab now held the Kingdom of Merya including the Empire’s heart at Yaroslavl. Initially, Azyren began making upgrades to Polotsk to make it a more fitting capitol, starting with an improved marketplace, but as the various courtiers, Councilors, and warbands began arriving in Polotsk, along with a vast train including all their baggage as well the Empire’s treasury and prisoners, he realized Polotsk was not suitable as the capitol of an Empire that stretched for thousands of miles from the Ural Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. It had been barely suitable as the capitol of a High Chiefdom, but as it had been his only holding, he hadn’t had much choice.
Some of his advisors said he should reclaim the traditional capitol of Yaroslavl, but Azyren refused, the inheritance laws had granted those lands to his brother and he had no claim on those titles. If he tried to revoke any of his brother’s titles without cause, he would be seen as a tyrant by all of his vassals. With the Merry Men and his own smaller Polotsk warband as well as the levys from his new territories, he could probably field more men than his brother, if the revocation was refused, but if his other vassals sided with the Deryab, the Empire would be torn apart by Civil War.
Others suggested killing the boy, but that would solve nothing, actually it would make it worse. Currently, his older brother Dergun was Deryab’s heir. If Deryab died, King Dergun would add all of Merya to his current Kingdom of Ruthenia, making him by far the most powerful man in the Empire.
But his new Council quickly pointed out, he no longer only held one holding. While he had not inherited the lands at the heart of the Empire, Yaroslavl, Merya, and Uglich. He had inherited additional lands to the west in the High Chiefdom of Latgale, Talava, Jersika, and Selija, as well as the coastal territory of Riga and Suomi to the north. After a quick survey of these new holdings, it was obvious that Riga, was the best option. It sat at the mouth of the Daugava River, downstream of Polotsk, on the edge of a deep natural harbor and was already an established trading hub across the Baltic and the gateway for trade to the interior of the Empire following the Daugava River deep into the western forests. So Azyren made the decision to move the capitol of the Volga-Ural Empire to Riga “Where the Forest meets the Sea”.
Riga had a larger population than Polotsk to draw upon for levys and laborers, though most were Estonians rather than Mordvins, but the Empire had grown more cosmopolitan as it expanded and that didn’t bother Azyren, at least they had abandoned their Catholic beliefs decades ago and embraced the Suomenusko faith. Riga was a better option than Polotsk, but it still needed upgrades. These began immediately with the construction of stone watchtowers. Azyren also spent some money to improve his other new holdings, upgrading the practice range in Talava and the weaponsmith in Selija as well as building a new barracks at Turku, the castle in Suomi.
Among the courtiers who arrived from Yaroslavl was surprisingly the Dowager Empress Dobronega. Azyren had expected her to remain in Yaroslavl to watch over her 2-year old son, King Deryab of Merya. According to her, she was here to plead her sister’s case, but most suspected her son’s Council had forced her to leave, because she still refused to give up her catholic faith. They did not want that influence around the young King. Her sister Yelizaveta had been under house arrest for years as a hostage to her brothers, King Sudislav of Sweden and King Demid of Galich-Volhynia. But now she was an adult and the Dowager Empress wanted her freed. Azyren actually agreed to this as Yelizaveta had fully embraced Mordvin culture and the Suomenusko faith. He asked her to stay of her own free will. She agreed as the Empire had been her home for the last 5 years and with her new faith she wouldn’t be welcome back in Catholic Galich-Volhynia and Sweden had never been her home.
Azyren was not the only one who had to adjust to the changes. His family was also uprooted from the the only home they had known. His oldest boy Inzhay, son of his concubine Sangasa of Udine, was now the heir to the Empire. Sangasa had also given birth Azyren a daughter, Kunava, age seven. Azyren’s other two children were newborns also born to his concubines. Kirdyava had been born to Elyuva Paas and Malyy had been born to Inyava. The new Empress Auli had not given Azyren any children in their 20 years of marriage.
Azyren took charge of Inzhay’s education. The boy was already becoming the center of political maneuvering, Chieftess Ravzhava of Izborsk had already proposed a matrilineal betrothal to Inzhay even though she was almost 20 years older than him. Azyren declined the proposal.
There were other political plots being cooked up. Azyren had shutdown any plans to move against his half-brother Deryab, but his mother was a different story. The Dowager Empress had claims to both the Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia and the Kingdom of Sweden. If she had been willing to convert to the Suomenusko faith, Azyren would have been willing to find her a new Kardazid husband and try put her on the throne of Galich-Volhynia, to bring that Kingdom under the rule of the Suomenusko faith. But as she refused to convert, Azyren would look to her younger sister Yelizaveta to possibly fill that role. But Suomenusko rulers was the lesser option, what Azyren, and his father before him, wanted was to bring all the Suomenusko Kingdoms into the Empire.
The Dowager Empress could help with that despite her lack of cooperation. If she were to die, her claims would pass to her son King Deryab, which means Azyren could then press those claims and bring both Kingdoms into the Empire. The only problem with that plan was that would make Deryab incredibly powerful. But Azyren would worry about that after Sweden and then Galich-Volhynia were safely part of the Empire. The first step was to quietly remove Deryab’s mother, Dobronega. So a plot to assassinate her was hatched. Unfortunately, while Azyren was a shrewd, brave and strong master of strategy, his kind heart and general good nature made him terrible at scheming and plotting or even how to keep a secret. Within days over, a dozen people were involved in trying to come up with a plan to kill the Dowager Empress. As you can imagine, this was a recipe for disaster.
While the dirty dozen tried to come up with a plan. Azyren focused on other issues. He had too many vassals reporting directly too him, so he wished to consolidate some of these vassals under fewer rulers. He considered creating the Kingdom of Volga Bulgaria to take care control of the individual Chieftains along the southern border. This would also serve as central command for fighting any nomad incursions. But currently it appeared he was not quite pious enough to create the title. He was close, but it would take some months of good rule to convince the Tietaja of his adherence to the faith. This was complicated in that the Tietaja was now a vassal of his half-brother Deryab, rather than the direct vassal to the Empire.
While he waited Azyren found other vassals who he could transfer out of his direct control. King Otvay ‘the Brute’ of Nenetsia had complained that the Chief of Dvina was not his vassal, even though Dvina was traditionally part of his Kingdom. I gladly transferred Chief Tikshayka vassalage to King Ovtay. He then looked further east. There were three Chiefs that were within the High Chiefdom of Pechora, but they were instead my direct vassals. The High Chiefdom of Pechora was held by High Chief Wayngachi of Kargopol, another vassal of King Ovtay. So Azyren transferred the vassalage of the three chiefs, Chief Tuhan of Koshma, Chief Dobrinya of Tobysh, Chief Virdyan of Tsilma to High Chief Wayngachi.
Tietaja Mielikki was impressed by Azyren’s generosity and humble nature and agreed that he could create the title King of Volga Bulgaria. Azyren then granted that title to High Chief Mordvinko of Qazan, making him a King over Qazan and four other Chieftains near the southern border. This all but solved the Emperor’s vassal limit issue. It was still a bit over, but that was caused by an internal revolt in Lapland which would go away as soon as that war was resolved.
Azyren next looked at the technology levels in Riga. They were below the levels in the former capitol of Yaroslavll, but with the movement of the Councilors, courtiers and warband to Riga, they were quickly brought up to speed in several fields of military, economic and cultural advances. They still did not quite equal Yaroslavl but they were soon much closer and with Azyren’s focus on Riga they should soon be Yaroslavl’s equal.
It was about that time that the first leak in Azyren’s poorly thought-out plot to kill the Dowager Empress appeared. Dobronega was enraged and scared. King Deryab was upset that someone wanted to hurt his mommy. The Kings of Sweden and Galich-Volhynia were incensed about the Emperor plotting to kill their sister (and the implications if the plot succeeds).
It was also about then that Kaiser Dietrich ‘the Butcher’ of the Holy Roman Empire died at the age of 59. He was succeeded by Wolfram Hetanid, the son of the late Kaiser Segoin who had caused the divided Empires. This was concerning at first as Wolfram had been in line to inherit Germania as well. But his hopes were dashed as the Electors of Germania switched their support to the 13-year old Abbonid prince rather than risk the two Empires being reunited.
As a new century dawned, Azyren also learned that Sangasa of Udine was again pregnant.
Azyren ‘the Bear’, until a few days ago, High Chief of Polotsk and Latgale and vassal and Voice to his older brother, King Dergun ‘the Frog’ of Ruthenia, was still not sure what he supposed to do as the new Emperor. For the past 12 years he had been living in his modest hillfort in Polotsk, doing his duty to his brother as the Voice of Ruthenia and Commander, though his duty as Commander had almost killed him and left him disfigured while fighting against the Bulçir nomads in the war for Pereyslavl. That war had finally been won with their father’s help. Now he was distressed to learn that most of the nomads in the territory they had captured in that war had immediately broken free of the Empire on the news of Arvo’s death and returned to the Bulçir Khagan.
Polotsk was now the center of the Empire as his half-brother Deryab now held the Kingdom of Merya including the Empire’s heart at Yaroslavl. Initially, Azyren began making upgrades to Polotsk to make it a more fitting capitol, starting with an improved marketplace, but as the various courtiers, Councilors, and warbands began arriving in Polotsk, along with a vast train including all their baggage as well the Empire’s treasury and prisoners, he realized Polotsk was not suitable as the capitol of an Empire that stretched for thousands of miles from the Ural Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. It had been barely suitable as the capitol of a High Chiefdom, but as it had been his only holding, he hadn’t had much choice.
Some of his advisors said he should reclaim the traditional capitol of Yaroslavl, but Azyren refused, the inheritance laws had granted those lands to his brother and he had no claim on those titles. If he tried to revoke any of his brother’s titles without cause, he would be seen as a tyrant by all of his vassals. With the Merry Men and his own smaller Polotsk warband as well as the levys from his new territories, he could probably field more men than his brother, if the revocation was refused, but if his other vassals sided with the Deryab, the Empire would be torn apart by Civil War.
Others suggested killing the boy, but that would solve nothing, actually it would make it worse. Currently, his older brother Dergun was Deryab’s heir. If Deryab died, King Dergun would add all of Merya to his current Kingdom of Ruthenia, making him by far the most powerful man in the Empire.
But his new Council quickly pointed out, he no longer only held one holding. While he had not inherited the lands at the heart of the Empire, Yaroslavl, Merya, and Uglich. He had inherited additional lands to the west in the High Chiefdom of Latgale, Talava, Jersika, and Selija, as well as the coastal territory of Riga and Suomi to the north. After a quick survey of these new holdings, it was obvious that Riga, was the best option. It sat at the mouth of the Daugava River, downstream of Polotsk, on the edge of a deep natural harbor and was already an established trading hub across the Baltic and the gateway for trade to the interior of the Empire following the Daugava River deep into the western forests. So Azyren made the decision to move the capitol of the Volga-Ural Empire to Riga “Where the Forest meets the Sea”.
Riga had a larger population than Polotsk to draw upon for levys and laborers, though most were Estonians rather than Mordvins, but the Empire had grown more cosmopolitan as it expanded and that didn’t bother Azyren, at least they had abandoned their Catholic beliefs decades ago and embraced the Suomenusko faith. Riga was a better option than Polotsk, but it still needed upgrades. These began immediately with the construction of stone watchtowers. Azyren also spent some money to improve his other new holdings, upgrading the practice range in Talava and the weaponsmith in Selija as well as building a new barracks at Turku, the castle in Suomi.
Among the courtiers who arrived from Yaroslavl was surprisingly the Dowager Empress Dobronega. Azyren had expected her to remain in Yaroslavl to watch over her 2-year old son, King Deryab of Merya. According to her, she was here to plead her sister’s case, but most suspected her son’s Council had forced her to leave, because she still refused to give up her catholic faith. They did not want that influence around the young King. Her sister Yelizaveta had been under house arrest for years as a hostage to her brothers, King Sudislav of Sweden and King Demid of Galich-Volhynia. But now she was an adult and the Dowager Empress wanted her freed. Azyren actually agreed to this as Yelizaveta had fully embraced Mordvin culture and the Suomenusko faith. He asked her to stay of her own free will. She agreed as the Empire had been her home for the last 5 years and with her new faith she wouldn’t be welcome back in Catholic Galich-Volhynia and Sweden had never been her home.
Azyren was not the only one who had to adjust to the changes. His family was also uprooted from the the only home they had known. His oldest boy Inzhay, son of his concubine Sangasa of Udine, was now the heir to the Empire. Sangasa had also given birth Azyren a daughter, Kunava, age seven. Azyren’s other two children were newborns also born to his concubines. Kirdyava had been born to Elyuva Paas and Malyy had been born to Inyava. The new Empress Auli had not given Azyren any children in their 20 years of marriage.
Azyren took charge of Inzhay’s education. The boy was already becoming the center of political maneuvering, Chieftess Ravzhava of Izborsk had already proposed a matrilineal betrothal to Inzhay even though she was almost 20 years older than him. Azyren declined the proposal.
There were other political plots being cooked up. Azyren had shutdown any plans to move against his half-brother Deryab, but his mother was a different story. The Dowager Empress had claims to both the Kingdom of Galich-Volhynia and the Kingdom of Sweden. If she had been willing to convert to the Suomenusko faith, Azyren would have been willing to find her a new Kardazid husband and try put her on the throne of Galich-Volhynia, to bring that Kingdom under the rule of the Suomenusko faith. But as she refused to convert, Azyren would look to her younger sister Yelizaveta to possibly fill that role. But Suomenusko rulers was the lesser option, what Azyren, and his father before him, wanted was to bring all the Suomenusko Kingdoms into the Empire.
The Dowager Empress could help with that despite her lack of cooperation. If she were to die, her claims would pass to her son King Deryab, which means Azyren could then press those claims and bring both Kingdoms into the Empire. The only problem with that plan was that would make Deryab incredibly powerful. But Azyren would worry about that after Sweden and then Galich-Volhynia were safely part of the Empire. The first step was to quietly remove Deryab’s mother, Dobronega. So a plot to assassinate her was hatched. Unfortunately, while Azyren was a shrewd, brave and strong master of strategy, his kind heart and general good nature made him terrible at scheming and plotting or even how to keep a secret. Within days over, a dozen people were involved in trying to come up with a plan to kill the Dowager Empress. As you can imagine, this was a recipe for disaster.
While the dirty dozen tried to come up with a plan. Azyren focused on other issues. He had too many vassals reporting directly too him, so he wished to consolidate some of these vassals under fewer rulers. He considered creating the Kingdom of Volga Bulgaria to take care control of the individual Chieftains along the southern border. This would also serve as central command for fighting any nomad incursions. But currently it appeared he was not quite pious enough to create the title. He was close, but it would take some months of good rule to convince the Tietaja of his adherence to the faith. This was complicated in that the Tietaja was now a vassal of his half-brother Deryab, rather than the direct vassal to the Empire.
While he waited Azyren found other vassals who he could transfer out of his direct control. King Otvay ‘the Brute’ of Nenetsia had complained that the Chief of Dvina was not his vassal, even though Dvina was traditionally part of his Kingdom. I gladly transferred Chief Tikshayka vassalage to King Ovtay. He then looked further east. There were three Chiefs that were within the High Chiefdom of Pechora, but they were instead my direct vassals. The High Chiefdom of Pechora was held by High Chief Wayngachi of Kargopol, another vassal of King Ovtay. So Azyren transferred the vassalage of the three chiefs, Chief Tuhan of Koshma, Chief Dobrinya of Tobysh, Chief Virdyan of Tsilma to High Chief Wayngachi.
Tietaja Mielikki was impressed by Azyren’s generosity and humble nature and agreed that he could create the title King of Volga Bulgaria. Azyren then granted that title to High Chief Mordvinko of Qazan, making him a King over Qazan and four other Chieftains near the southern border. This all but solved the Emperor’s vassal limit issue. It was still a bit over, but that was caused by an internal revolt in Lapland which would go away as soon as that war was resolved.
Azyren next looked at the technology levels in Riga. They were below the levels in the former capitol of Yaroslavll, but with the movement of the Councilors, courtiers and warband to Riga, they were quickly brought up to speed in several fields of military, economic and cultural advances. They still did not quite equal Yaroslavl but they were soon much closer and with Azyren’s focus on Riga they should soon be Yaroslavl’s equal.
It was about that time that the first leak in Azyren’s poorly thought-out plot to kill the Dowager Empress appeared. Dobronega was enraged and scared. King Deryab was upset that someone wanted to hurt his mommy. The Kings of Sweden and Galich-Volhynia were incensed about the Emperor plotting to kill their sister (and the implications if the plot succeeds).
It was also about then that Kaiser Dietrich ‘the Butcher’ of the Holy Roman Empire died at the age of 59. He was succeeded by Wolfram Hetanid, the son of the late Kaiser Segoin who had caused the divided Empires. This was concerning at first as Wolfram had been in line to inherit Germania as well. But his hopes were dashed as the Electors of Germania switched their support to the 13-year old Abbonid prince rather than risk the two Empires being reunited.
As a new century dawned, Azyren also learned that Sangasa of Udine was again pregnant.
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Oops.
Azyren's a big teddy bear. He doesn't make for a good murderer.
Azyren's a big teddy bear. He doesn't make for a good murderer.
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Yes, he has no skill at plotting and even if he did he's too nice to follow through in most cases.
Azyren is good at just about everything but intrigue, so debate and policy aren't a problem, its the backroom deals aspect.
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1101 – 1110 Starting off on the Defensive
The first decade of Emperor Azyren’s rule found him on the defensive. It started with a minor peasant revolt in Roslavl led by a man named Ingvar. Ingvar led his fellow Romuvans in defying their Suomenusko overlords. Azyren led the Merry Men, now merged with his own warband that he had led as the High Chief of Polotsk, south to find the peasants.
By the time he arrived in Roslavl, the rebels were already engaged by one of Azyren’s local vassals, but he sent the Merry Men into battle any way just to make sure. The rebels were crushed and then the survivors were offered terms. With that, the peasant revolt over.
Azyren had dealt with the rebels personally because his War Chief, High Chief Buðli of Iceland, was off taking care of his own business. High Chief Buðli was one of the Empire’s Norse vassals who still followed the Germanic gods. He had been off raiding the west coast of the Holy Roman Empire when the peasants revolted. When he returned, he wasted little time and immediately launched a war against his own kinswoman, High Chieftess Ingrid, pressing his claim on her title, the High Chiefdom of Oppland.
High Chieftess Ingrid had responded to the attack by sailing with her army toward Iceland, but she died on the way of scurvy. Her sister, Gyrið Falk, inherited the High Chiefdom of Oppland and the war with her cousin.
Azyren, left his War Chief to his war. When he returned from Roslavl, he had a new daughter, borne to Sangasa of Udine, named Sanal'ka. His niece, Terhi Karjalainen, also gave birth to a daughter, Kristiina Cumbria, who was borne out of wedlock. Azyren found a solution for her indiscretion. His newest vassal, Biyar Severnayid, had inherited Chiefdom of Thisgeta following death of his father. Azyren quietly arranged the marriage of Chief Biyar to his wayward niece, Terhi Karjalainen.
Another vassal died, the new King Mordvinko of Volga Bulgaria. Apparently, he couldn’t handle the stress of being elevated to King. Instead, he died and put the weight of the new Kingdom on his 11-year old daughter’s shoulders. Azyren accepted the vassalage of young Queen Litova of Volga Bulgaria.
The only other recent death that caught Azyren’s attention was that of Pereyslava Zakharyinich. He actually had no idea who she was, but he was more interested in how she died. She was killed in duel by Azyren’s older half-sister, Tekay 'Poison-tooth'. His older sister was still a very dangerous woman, even well into her fifth decade. She remained a Shieldmaiden and commander for the Empire.
However, the one death that Azyren had been hoping for still had not happened. His Spymaster Chief Paksyut of Belz had bragged that he had come up with a plan to do away with the Dowager Empress Dobronega. It involved arranging a cart accident, with no blame coming back to the Emperor.
But the plan began to fall apart as Chief Paksyut of Belz got drunk and spilled the details of his plan to kill Dobronega. He was so drunk he didn’t even realize he had spoken out of turn and proceeded with the plan anyway. Not surprisingly, Dobronega survived the attempt on her life and the driver of the cart was caught and implicated Emperor Azyren in the plot. Three-year old King Deryab of Merya was not happy that Azyren wanted to hurt his mommy. Chief Paksyut of Belz then had gall to ask for Chiefdom of Suomi after his blunder, which Azyren, of course, refused.
While Azyren was trying to downplay his involvement in the plot, a second peasant revolt in Korosten was almost a welcome distraction. Azyren quickly left Riga with the Merry Men to deal with the rebels leaving his Council to deal with the scandal. He had only gotten a few miles from Riga when an envoy from King Velmayka II of Estonia caught up with him. He asked the Emperor to honor his obligations as Estonia’s suzerain and help defend them against a French Catholic adventurer named Guillaume Wittelsbach. Guillaume was leading a host to claim Estonia, Azyren agreed to join Estonia in the defense of their lands. But when he learned that Guillaume was bringing his host all the way from the Holy Roman Empire’s lands in North Africa, he realized he had plenty of time to deal with the peasant revolt before the adventurer would become a threat.
Emperor Azyren and the Merry Men descended on the rebels, fighting them in the Battle of Vozviahel. After a decisive victory at Vozviahel, the peasant revolt was over. Even after dealing with the rebels there was still no sign of the invading host, so Azyren retired back to Riga.
Months passed. Much of the work Azyren had commissioned in his territories was completed, the large market in Polotsk, the stone watchtowers in Riga. The shaman of the faith continued to spread the reformed faith within the Empire. The Rovaniemi population converted to Suomenusko faith as well as Germanic followers in Medelpad.
Danilla 'the Heavenly', Emperor Arvo's former concubine and mother to two of Azyren's half-sisters and his own favorite concubine, Sangasa of Udine, died at the age of 72.
Two members of Azyren’s household, Anlaufr Viryasid and Varmanpaz Stafr, asked permission to join the Sons of Kaleva, Azyren gave permission and wished them well.
Yelizaveta Fyodyorov, the sister of Dobronega and the Kings of Sweden and Galich-Volhynia, gave birth to a bastard child, a daughter named Inyava Rigaid. This shocked her Catholic sister and scandalized her Catholic brother. Dobronega seeing it as more proof that the heathen Suomenusko religion had no merit. Her heathen brother, King Sudislav of Sweden, had survived his regency, and came into his own as King. He was not happy with the rumors that Azyren had tried to murder his sister. But there was little he can do. Not only was Azyren’s vassal, the High Chief of Agder, attacking King Sudislav of Sweden and winning, Sudislav was also under attack from a Catholic Holy War and another war of conquest for Scania.
Despite Yelizaveta’s indiscretions, Azyren’s half brother King Dergun asks Azyren for permission to marry her, most likely wanting to gain her claims on Sweden and Galich-Volhynia as well as gain possible alliances with her two brothers, both Kings. Azyren said no, instead he offered another woman from his household, Khatyako, to Dergun. Dergun accepted and made Khatyako his new Queen.
Azryen’s concubine, Inyava, and then his wife Empress Auli, both became pregnant. Nine months later, they gave birth. Inyava gave birth to a son who is named Viryas. Empress Auli also gave birth to a son who is named Puresh. Puresh is a sickly child at first, but Duke Uchva of Ural, the most skilled healer at court, successfully treated the boy and he was soon as strong as his slightly older half-brother. Duke Uchva gained further renown as a healer for this success.
There was still no sign of Guillaume’s Host.
Azyren’s concubine Sangasa of Udine then announced she was now pregnant.
Almost two years after King Velmayka frantically begged for Azyren’s aid, Guillaume's Host finally arrived in Estonia. By the time Merry Men headed north toward Estonia, King Velmayka’s army had already defeated the Host in battle. Azyren caught up with remnants of Guillaume's Host in Kakisalmi and killed half of the survivors. In less than a month, after two years of anticipation, Guillaume’s war for Estonia was finished.
Disgusted, remembering his father’s growing dissatisfaction with Estonia as a tributary, Azryen returned to Riga.
Azyren decided he was ready to become a Hero in the followers of Otso, so he sent out a challenge for a seat at the Table of heroes. The Hero, Chief Tyushtya 'the Blushing' of Borovichi, however, came to him and said there was a seat already open, so no duel was needed. Azyren was given the seat and elevated to a Hero in the warrior society, though it didn’t feel as if he had truly earned it.
Sangasa of Udine soon gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy, Danilla (named after her recently departed mother) and Surt.
Late in the Spring of 1104, a man named Shi Ting arrived in Riga fleeing from China and seeking sanctuary. A month later, Protector General Hulubu of the Western Protectorate sent an envoy looking for Shi Ting. Shi Ting begged for Azyren’s help, but in the end Azyren sent him back to China. The Western Protectorate’s influence along Volga-Ural’s eastern border had been growing steadily over the past few years, as more and more rulers were peacefully becoming tributaries. Azyren was not sure if this could be a growing threat, but for the moment he didn’t want to antagonize the Qi Empire. Later news from the east indicated that Shi Ling had been executed upon his return.
By that time, Azyren had forgotten about the man. King Velmayka II of Estonia has drawn Azyren into two other defensive wars. For the third or fourth time, Pannonia has launched a Catholic Holy War for Kuyavia. The second war involved Halsten of Tjust, a Germanic pagan, who had launched the Tjustian Conquest of Gotland against Estonia. Azyren cared little about Gotland, but he agreed to help Estonia as he had no desire to see the Catholics expand further east into Kuyavia, but he was growing tired of these obligations.
Azyren decided to focus on the war for Kuyavia, which had also drawn in the Empire of Germania who were supporting their own tributary, Pannonia. The war had been going on for a few months already with the Pannonia forces already overrunning Kuyavia. Azyren and the Merry Men immediately marched west to Kuyavia and began freeing the Kuyavia villages.
Azyren did receive some good news. One of his fellow conspirators, Shkay Sayalid, had come up with a plan for killing Dobronega involving a long fall. This plan was not leaked and did not fail. Dobronega finally had a fatal accident. She was dead and Azyren was not implicated in any way. Her son, King Deryab, Azyren’s half-brother and vassal, now had claims on the crowns of Sweden and Galich-Volhynia and lesser titles. Azyren took King Deryab as his ward, though the boy King still hated him for his earlier attacks on his mother, but his regents agreed to the guardianship.
Azyren had initially marched to Estonia’s aid with just his warband, the Merry Men, but several months after arriving in Kuyavia he was forced to retreat before advance of a much larger German Army. He retired back across the border into Belz and sent out a call for her levys to gather and join him. They, combined with the Merry Men, would give him enough warriors to match Germania's strength.
As the levys began to trickle into Belz, they brought news from Riga. Apparently, King Æthelfrith of England had declared war on the Empire of Volga-Ural in a Holy War for the island of Orkney. Azyren was not clear exactly where this island was, but was not inclined to spend much effort in defending it. He called on his vassals to deal with Anglo Saxons. Also, it appeared, High Chief Biyar of Yugra, an independent Suomenusko Chieftain from east of the Urals, had some learned of this Holy War against a fellow ruler of the Suomenusko faith and offered to join the war to protect Orkney. Azyren welcomed him on board and then promptly put the English King from his mind, as he prepared to face the Germans.
His son Inzhay also came of age during this period. He had turned out to be a brilliant strategist and an inspired leader, diligent and trusting, but cruel and deceptive. Azyren was pleased with the heir he had groomed to succeed him.
After the Merry Men and Azyren’s levys finally grouped up by the beginning of the year 1106, Azyren led them back to Kuyavia to resume freeing villages from the Pannonian and German garrisons. Before they could start, Azyren’s scouts flushed out a small German army. Azyren left a small contingent to begin freeing the villages, while he pursued these Germans. He caught up with them outside Wielun and scattered them. A messenger arrived from his smaller army in the north, saying they were under attack from a larger German force at Leczyca. Azyren rushed back to their aid and trapped the Germans between his two armies, resulting in another overwhelming victory. With Germans driven off and no sign of the Pannonians, Azyren returned to freeing the villages of Kuyavia.
In late spring, Azyren received news that his War Chief, High Chief Buðli of Iceland, had died without an heir. The distant island was now in Azyren’s hands. There was one surprise, apparently High Chief Buðli of Iceland had been liege to the Jomsvikings, a Germanic religious order, who refused to serve the Suomenusko Emperor (at least directly, anyway). Azyren appointed his half-brother, King Dergun, to take High Chief Buðli’s place on his Council as War Chief.
But more importantly, Azyren received news that forced him to turn his attention away from Estonia's wars. Almost 20,000 men had landed at Riga and were threatening Azyren’s capitol and family, including his newest son, Kezhapa, a hunchbacked boy borne by his concubine, Elyuva Paas. This army belonged to Emperor Æthelfrith of Britannia (apparently, King Æthelfrith of England had decided he would be an Emperor as well, and had crowned himself Emperor of all Britannia, although portions of Alban and Wales still remained independent). Azyren had not cared much about whether he lost Orkney or not, but this attack on his home now had his full attention.
In a forced march, Azyren and the bulk of his army, close to 18,000 men, reached home by the fall of that year. Riga and Talava had already been captured by the Britannic army. The two evenly matched armies came together at the battle of Jersika. But they were fighting on Azyren's home turf and the Brits took twice as many losses as Azyren and were defeated.
Azyren pursued the survivors, who became disoriented in the forest and ended up circling back around to Jersika, where Azyren fell upon them again, this time with the support of his vassals, led by his brother King Dergun and his Ruthenian warriors. This was even more of a slaughter and less than 3,000 Brits escaped. These survivors fled to Riga and their ships beached near Ledurga, but they were caught before they could sail and were exterminated to the last man.
The only Brits left in the Empire were the garrisons holding the villages in Riga and Talava, and reportedly, Orkney itself, but they were soon cleansed, Azyren took care of Riga and Talava, while some of his vassals sailed to Orkney. Azyren himself sent a small scouting party to England, some 1,600 men, once the winter storms had passed, to see if there would be further armies heading to Riga. The bulk of his army he kept close to home to respond to any more surprises.
The Urallic scouting party landed in England in the fall of 1107 and besieged Lindsey, the capitol of the Britannic Empire. There was no sign of any significant army remaining in England. Some of Azyren's vassals took advantage of that by sailing to the British Isles and beginning to raid the countryside.
It turned out that Azryen’s small fleet must have passed a Britannic fleet while on their way to England as another British army tried to land at Riga late in the year. Azyren’s army met them as they tried to come ashore at Ledurga and slaughtered all that made landfall. The British fleet moved north and managed to land the bulk of its warriors, approximately 5,000 men, safely in Estonia. But when they tried to march south into Talava, Azyren and all his allies were waiting. The British army was broken and scattered, and the survivors would be hunted down over the next few months. The Britannic Emperor had sent over 25,000 men to attack Azyren’s home, none of those men would ever see their own home again.
Meanwhile Azyren’s small scouting party succeeded in capturing Lincoln and then Boston. The destruction of the armies he sent against the Urallic Empire, and now the capture of his capitol and surrounding territories has ended Emperor Æthelfrith of Britannia’s plans for Orkney. He surrenders and pays a sizable sum as reparations for his unprovoked attack. The Holy War for Orkney was over and a ten-year truce was signed between the two Empires.
After freeing Riga from the British garrison, Azyren checked in on his family and was shocked and saddened to learn not only had his 8-year old son Malyy died of rabies, but Empress Auli Numid had died of natural causes at the age of only 48. Also, he was enraged when he learned that his concubine, Elyuva Paas, had become pregnant again though Azyren knew the child was not his. He had Elyuva investigated which showed Eilif of Lollard was the actual father of Elyuva's child. Azyren revealed this betrayal and tried to arrest Eilif, but he escaped and fled, abandoning his Chiefdom of Lollard. Elyuva soon gave birth to bastard daughter, Kirdyava Rigaid. Azyren set Elyuva aside, no longer his concubine, for her infidelity.
Azyren was still involved in two defensive wars for Estonia. While he had been dealing with the British, his sister and commander Tekay had been leading a small army in dealing with the Tjustian Holy War for Gotland. She had won several battles against Tjust’s allies in Lithuania and captured Zemgale and then Tervete. Azyren sent messengers to divert the scouting party returning from England and ordered them to land at Viborg on the island Gotland to take up the war for Gotland. With support from the Estonian army, they defeated the Lithuanian army, allies to Tjust, who were besieging the island. After that defeat, the Tjustian war for Gotland soon ended in early 1109.
While the two smaller war parties were dealing with Gotland, Azyren led his main army back toward Kuyavia. At the Battle of Przedborz, Azyren finally met the Avar warriors in battle, rather than fighting their German allies. The battle was won and several prisoners were captured. Azyren allowed then to be ransomed, rather than offered in sacrifice to Ukko. He then spent the next months once again freeing the Kuyavian villages, Bygdoszcz, Leczyca, Kruszwica, and Bresz Kujawski, before marching south and taking the war to Pannonia. Once across the border, Azyren quickly captured Krakow and Wieliczka. Then he decided to march directly on Pannonia’s capitol in Esztergom.
Soon after, the Siege of Komárom was won. A large number of prisoners were taken, all members of the Khan of Pannonia’s family: Ilkay, the wife of Khan Simsam and the mother of two of his children, Këlnissa, the mother of Khan Simsam, Sibel Sabir, a sister of Khan Simsam, Akgul Sabir, the daughter of Khan Simsam, Pakhtiyar Sabir, a brother of Khan Simsam, Dilek Sabir, another sister of Khan Simsam, and Gostun Sabir, the son and heir of Khan Simsam.
The Sabirs were the new ruling family after the death of Khan Dometa 'the Missionary' in 1099. His bastard son, Gostun Sabir, became the new, Khan Gostun II, but he died five years later in battle and now his son Simsam is the new Khan. Khan Simsam of Pannonia is an extraordinarily gifted man, a genius.
Following the fall of Komárom, the rest of Esztergom soon followed along with Kakath, Tatabánya, and Pest. Khan Simsam of Pannonia was smart enough to see that Pannonian war for Kuyavia was lost and surrendered to Estonia.
Azyren has successfully defended his new crown and his tributary from attacks from within and from without.
The first decade of Emperor Azyren’s rule found him on the defensive. It started with a minor peasant revolt in Roslavl led by a man named Ingvar. Ingvar led his fellow Romuvans in defying their Suomenusko overlords. Azyren led the Merry Men, now merged with his own warband that he had led as the High Chief of Polotsk, south to find the peasants.
By the time he arrived in Roslavl, the rebels were already engaged by one of Azyren’s local vassals, but he sent the Merry Men into battle any way just to make sure. The rebels were crushed and then the survivors were offered terms. With that, the peasant revolt over.
Azyren had dealt with the rebels personally because his War Chief, High Chief Buðli of Iceland, was off taking care of his own business. High Chief Buðli was one of the Empire’s Norse vassals who still followed the Germanic gods. He had been off raiding the west coast of the Holy Roman Empire when the peasants revolted. When he returned, he wasted little time and immediately launched a war against his own kinswoman, High Chieftess Ingrid, pressing his claim on her title, the High Chiefdom of Oppland.
High Chieftess Ingrid had responded to the attack by sailing with her army toward Iceland, but she died on the way of scurvy. Her sister, Gyrið Falk, inherited the High Chiefdom of Oppland and the war with her cousin.
Azyren, left his War Chief to his war. When he returned from Roslavl, he had a new daughter, borne to Sangasa of Udine, named Sanal'ka. His niece, Terhi Karjalainen, also gave birth to a daughter, Kristiina Cumbria, who was borne out of wedlock. Azyren found a solution for her indiscretion. His newest vassal, Biyar Severnayid, had inherited Chiefdom of Thisgeta following death of his father. Azyren quietly arranged the marriage of Chief Biyar to his wayward niece, Terhi Karjalainen.
Another vassal died, the new King Mordvinko of Volga Bulgaria. Apparently, he couldn’t handle the stress of being elevated to King. Instead, he died and put the weight of the new Kingdom on his 11-year old daughter’s shoulders. Azyren accepted the vassalage of young Queen Litova of Volga Bulgaria.
The only other recent death that caught Azyren’s attention was that of Pereyslava Zakharyinich. He actually had no idea who she was, but he was more interested in how she died. She was killed in duel by Azyren’s older half-sister, Tekay 'Poison-tooth'. His older sister was still a very dangerous woman, even well into her fifth decade. She remained a Shieldmaiden and commander for the Empire.
However, the one death that Azyren had been hoping for still had not happened. His Spymaster Chief Paksyut of Belz had bragged that he had come up with a plan to do away with the Dowager Empress Dobronega. It involved arranging a cart accident, with no blame coming back to the Emperor.
But the plan began to fall apart as Chief Paksyut of Belz got drunk and spilled the details of his plan to kill Dobronega. He was so drunk he didn’t even realize he had spoken out of turn and proceeded with the plan anyway. Not surprisingly, Dobronega survived the attempt on her life and the driver of the cart was caught and implicated Emperor Azyren in the plot. Three-year old King Deryab of Merya was not happy that Azyren wanted to hurt his mommy. Chief Paksyut of Belz then had gall to ask for Chiefdom of Suomi after his blunder, which Azyren, of course, refused.
While Azyren was trying to downplay his involvement in the plot, a second peasant revolt in Korosten was almost a welcome distraction. Azyren quickly left Riga with the Merry Men to deal with the rebels leaving his Council to deal with the scandal. He had only gotten a few miles from Riga when an envoy from King Velmayka II of Estonia caught up with him. He asked the Emperor to honor his obligations as Estonia’s suzerain and help defend them against a French Catholic adventurer named Guillaume Wittelsbach. Guillaume was leading a host to claim Estonia, Azyren agreed to join Estonia in the defense of their lands. But when he learned that Guillaume was bringing his host all the way from the Holy Roman Empire’s lands in North Africa, he realized he had plenty of time to deal with the peasant revolt before the adventurer would become a threat.
Emperor Azyren and the Merry Men descended on the rebels, fighting them in the Battle of Vozviahel. After a decisive victory at Vozviahel, the peasant revolt was over. Even after dealing with the rebels there was still no sign of the invading host, so Azyren retired back to Riga.
Months passed. Much of the work Azyren had commissioned in his territories was completed, the large market in Polotsk, the stone watchtowers in Riga. The shaman of the faith continued to spread the reformed faith within the Empire. The Rovaniemi population converted to Suomenusko faith as well as Germanic followers in Medelpad.
Danilla 'the Heavenly', Emperor Arvo's former concubine and mother to two of Azyren's half-sisters and his own favorite concubine, Sangasa of Udine, died at the age of 72.
Two members of Azyren’s household, Anlaufr Viryasid and Varmanpaz Stafr, asked permission to join the Sons of Kaleva, Azyren gave permission and wished them well.
Yelizaveta Fyodyorov, the sister of Dobronega and the Kings of Sweden and Galich-Volhynia, gave birth to a bastard child, a daughter named Inyava Rigaid. This shocked her Catholic sister and scandalized her Catholic brother. Dobronega seeing it as more proof that the heathen Suomenusko religion had no merit. Her heathen brother, King Sudislav of Sweden, had survived his regency, and came into his own as King. He was not happy with the rumors that Azyren had tried to murder his sister. But there was little he can do. Not only was Azyren’s vassal, the High Chief of Agder, attacking King Sudislav of Sweden and winning, Sudislav was also under attack from a Catholic Holy War and another war of conquest for Scania.
Despite Yelizaveta’s indiscretions, Azyren’s half brother King Dergun asks Azyren for permission to marry her, most likely wanting to gain her claims on Sweden and Galich-Volhynia as well as gain possible alliances with her two brothers, both Kings. Azyren said no, instead he offered another woman from his household, Khatyako, to Dergun. Dergun accepted and made Khatyako his new Queen.
Azryen’s concubine, Inyava, and then his wife Empress Auli, both became pregnant. Nine months later, they gave birth. Inyava gave birth to a son who is named Viryas. Empress Auli also gave birth to a son who is named Puresh. Puresh is a sickly child at first, but Duke Uchva of Ural, the most skilled healer at court, successfully treated the boy and he was soon as strong as his slightly older half-brother. Duke Uchva gained further renown as a healer for this success.
There was still no sign of Guillaume’s Host.
Azyren’s concubine Sangasa of Udine then announced she was now pregnant.
Almost two years after King Velmayka frantically begged for Azyren’s aid, Guillaume's Host finally arrived in Estonia. By the time Merry Men headed north toward Estonia, King Velmayka’s army had already defeated the Host in battle. Azyren caught up with remnants of Guillaume's Host in Kakisalmi and killed half of the survivors. In less than a month, after two years of anticipation, Guillaume’s war for Estonia was finished.
Disgusted, remembering his father’s growing dissatisfaction with Estonia as a tributary, Azryen returned to Riga.
Azyren decided he was ready to become a Hero in the followers of Otso, so he sent out a challenge for a seat at the Table of heroes. The Hero, Chief Tyushtya 'the Blushing' of Borovichi, however, came to him and said there was a seat already open, so no duel was needed. Azyren was given the seat and elevated to a Hero in the warrior society, though it didn’t feel as if he had truly earned it.
Sangasa of Udine soon gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy, Danilla (named after her recently departed mother) and Surt.
Late in the Spring of 1104, a man named Shi Ting arrived in Riga fleeing from China and seeking sanctuary. A month later, Protector General Hulubu of the Western Protectorate sent an envoy looking for Shi Ting. Shi Ting begged for Azyren’s help, but in the end Azyren sent him back to China. The Western Protectorate’s influence along Volga-Ural’s eastern border had been growing steadily over the past few years, as more and more rulers were peacefully becoming tributaries. Azyren was not sure if this could be a growing threat, but for the moment he didn’t want to antagonize the Qi Empire. Later news from the east indicated that Shi Ling had been executed upon his return.
By that time, Azyren had forgotten about the man. King Velmayka II of Estonia has drawn Azyren into two other defensive wars. For the third or fourth time, Pannonia has launched a Catholic Holy War for Kuyavia. The second war involved Halsten of Tjust, a Germanic pagan, who had launched the Tjustian Conquest of Gotland against Estonia. Azyren cared little about Gotland, but he agreed to help Estonia as he had no desire to see the Catholics expand further east into Kuyavia, but he was growing tired of these obligations.
Azyren decided to focus on the war for Kuyavia, which had also drawn in the Empire of Germania who were supporting their own tributary, Pannonia. The war had been going on for a few months already with the Pannonia forces already overrunning Kuyavia. Azyren and the Merry Men immediately marched west to Kuyavia and began freeing the Kuyavia villages.
Azyren did receive some good news. One of his fellow conspirators, Shkay Sayalid, had come up with a plan for killing Dobronega involving a long fall. This plan was not leaked and did not fail. Dobronega finally had a fatal accident. She was dead and Azyren was not implicated in any way. Her son, King Deryab, Azyren’s half-brother and vassal, now had claims on the crowns of Sweden and Galich-Volhynia and lesser titles. Azyren took King Deryab as his ward, though the boy King still hated him for his earlier attacks on his mother, but his regents agreed to the guardianship.
Azyren had initially marched to Estonia’s aid with just his warband, the Merry Men, but several months after arriving in Kuyavia he was forced to retreat before advance of a much larger German Army. He retired back across the border into Belz and sent out a call for her levys to gather and join him. They, combined with the Merry Men, would give him enough warriors to match Germania's strength.
As the levys began to trickle into Belz, they brought news from Riga. Apparently, King Æthelfrith of England had declared war on the Empire of Volga-Ural in a Holy War for the island of Orkney. Azyren was not clear exactly where this island was, but was not inclined to spend much effort in defending it. He called on his vassals to deal with Anglo Saxons. Also, it appeared, High Chief Biyar of Yugra, an independent Suomenusko Chieftain from east of the Urals, had some learned of this Holy War against a fellow ruler of the Suomenusko faith and offered to join the war to protect Orkney. Azyren welcomed him on board and then promptly put the English King from his mind, as he prepared to face the Germans.
His son Inzhay also came of age during this period. He had turned out to be a brilliant strategist and an inspired leader, diligent and trusting, but cruel and deceptive. Azyren was pleased with the heir he had groomed to succeed him.
After the Merry Men and Azyren’s levys finally grouped up by the beginning of the year 1106, Azyren led them back to Kuyavia to resume freeing villages from the Pannonian and German garrisons. Before they could start, Azyren’s scouts flushed out a small German army. Azyren left a small contingent to begin freeing the villages, while he pursued these Germans. He caught up with them outside Wielun and scattered them. A messenger arrived from his smaller army in the north, saying they were under attack from a larger German force at Leczyca. Azyren rushed back to their aid and trapped the Germans between his two armies, resulting in another overwhelming victory. With Germans driven off and no sign of the Pannonians, Azyren returned to freeing the villages of Kuyavia.
In late spring, Azyren received news that his War Chief, High Chief Buðli of Iceland, had died without an heir. The distant island was now in Azyren’s hands. There was one surprise, apparently High Chief Buðli of Iceland had been liege to the Jomsvikings, a Germanic religious order, who refused to serve the Suomenusko Emperor (at least directly, anyway). Azyren appointed his half-brother, King Dergun, to take High Chief Buðli’s place on his Council as War Chief.
But more importantly, Azyren received news that forced him to turn his attention away from Estonia's wars. Almost 20,000 men had landed at Riga and were threatening Azyren’s capitol and family, including his newest son, Kezhapa, a hunchbacked boy borne by his concubine, Elyuva Paas. This army belonged to Emperor Æthelfrith of Britannia (apparently, King Æthelfrith of England had decided he would be an Emperor as well, and had crowned himself Emperor of all Britannia, although portions of Alban and Wales still remained independent). Azyren had not cared much about whether he lost Orkney or not, but this attack on his home now had his full attention.
In a forced march, Azyren and the bulk of his army, close to 18,000 men, reached home by the fall of that year. Riga and Talava had already been captured by the Britannic army. The two evenly matched armies came together at the battle of Jersika. But they were fighting on Azyren's home turf and the Brits took twice as many losses as Azyren and were defeated.
Azyren pursued the survivors, who became disoriented in the forest and ended up circling back around to Jersika, where Azyren fell upon them again, this time with the support of his vassals, led by his brother King Dergun and his Ruthenian warriors. This was even more of a slaughter and less than 3,000 Brits escaped. These survivors fled to Riga and their ships beached near Ledurga, but they were caught before they could sail and were exterminated to the last man.
The only Brits left in the Empire were the garrisons holding the villages in Riga and Talava, and reportedly, Orkney itself, but they were soon cleansed, Azyren took care of Riga and Talava, while some of his vassals sailed to Orkney. Azyren himself sent a small scouting party to England, some 1,600 men, once the winter storms had passed, to see if there would be further armies heading to Riga. The bulk of his army he kept close to home to respond to any more surprises.
The Urallic scouting party landed in England in the fall of 1107 and besieged Lindsey, the capitol of the Britannic Empire. There was no sign of any significant army remaining in England. Some of Azyren's vassals took advantage of that by sailing to the British Isles and beginning to raid the countryside.
It turned out that Azryen’s small fleet must have passed a Britannic fleet while on their way to England as another British army tried to land at Riga late in the year. Azyren’s army met them as they tried to come ashore at Ledurga and slaughtered all that made landfall. The British fleet moved north and managed to land the bulk of its warriors, approximately 5,000 men, safely in Estonia. But when they tried to march south into Talava, Azyren and all his allies were waiting. The British army was broken and scattered, and the survivors would be hunted down over the next few months. The Britannic Emperor had sent over 25,000 men to attack Azyren’s home, none of those men would ever see their own home again.
Meanwhile Azyren’s small scouting party succeeded in capturing Lincoln and then Boston. The destruction of the armies he sent against the Urallic Empire, and now the capture of his capitol and surrounding territories has ended Emperor Æthelfrith of Britannia’s plans for Orkney. He surrenders and pays a sizable sum as reparations for his unprovoked attack. The Holy War for Orkney was over and a ten-year truce was signed between the two Empires.
After freeing Riga from the British garrison, Azyren checked in on his family and was shocked and saddened to learn not only had his 8-year old son Malyy died of rabies, but Empress Auli Numid had died of natural causes at the age of only 48. Also, he was enraged when he learned that his concubine, Elyuva Paas, had become pregnant again though Azyren knew the child was not his. He had Elyuva investigated which showed Eilif of Lollard was the actual father of Elyuva's child. Azyren revealed this betrayal and tried to arrest Eilif, but he escaped and fled, abandoning his Chiefdom of Lollard. Elyuva soon gave birth to bastard daughter, Kirdyava Rigaid. Azyren set Elyuva aside, no longer his concubine, for her infidelity.
Azyren was still involved in two defensive wars for Estonia. While he had been dealing with the British, his sister and commander Tekay had been leading a small army in dealing with the Tjustian Holy War for Gotland. She had won several battles against Tjust’s allies in Lithuania and captured Zemgale and then Tervete. Azyren sent messengers to divert the scouting party returning from England and ordered them to land at Viborg on the island Gotland to take up the war for Gotland. With support from the Estonian army, they defeated the Lithuanian army, allies to Tjust, who were besieging the island. After that defeat, the Tjustian war for Gotland soon ended in early 1109.
While the two smaller war parties were dealing with Gotland, Azyren led his main army back toward Kuyavia. At the Battle of Przedborz, Azyren finally met the Avar warriors in battle, rather than fighting their German allies. The battle was won and several prisoners were captured. Azyren allowed then to be ransomed, rather than offered in sacrifice to Ukko. He then spent the next months once again freeing the Kuyavian villages, Bygdoszcz, Leczyca, Kruszwica, and Bresz Kujawski, before marching south and taking the war to Pannonia. Once across the border, Azyren quickly captured Krakow and Wieliczka. Then he decided to march directly on Pannonia’s capitol in Esztergom.
Soon after, the Siege of Komárom was won. A large number of prisoners were taken, all members of the Khan of Pannonia’s family: Ilkay, the wife of Khan Simsam and the mother of two of his children, Këlnissa, the mother of Khan Simsam, Sibel Sabir, a sister of Khan Simsam, Akgul Sabir, the daughter of Khan Simsam, Pakhtiyar Sabir, a brother of Khan Simsam, Dilek Sabir, another sister of Khan Simsam, and Gostun Sabir, the son and heir of Khan Simsam.
The Sabirs were the new ruling family after the death of Khan Dometa 'the Missionary' in 1099. His bastard son, Gostun Sabir, became the new, Khan Gostun II, but he died five years later in battle and now his son Simsam is the new Khan. Khan Simsam of Pannonia is an extraordinarily gifted man, a genius.
Following the fall of Komárom, the rest of Esztergom soon followed along with Kakath, Tatabánya, and Pest. Khan Simsam of Pannonia was smart enough to see that Pannonian war for Kuyavia was lost and surrendered to Estonia.
Azyren has successfully defended his new crown and his tributary from attacks from within and from without.
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The rooster worshiping Eilif raided your henhouse and then flew away. All should worship the Reindeer! Thank you for the update
Good spanking given to the Brits!
Good spanking given to the Brits!