Valiant Nubia.

[Coombes]

Valiant Nubia , the tale of an underdog.

Georgios of Dongola

Born 1039
Reign 10??-1075, 9years played
Died 35

The Saviour of Egypt.

Georgios like all previous Kings of Nubia where concerned with one thing survival , the northern neighbours of the Fatimids look ever more likely to take his small kingdom from him but the Fatimids where quickly plagued by a massive civil war as there weak leader was unable to hold his Kingdom together. The civil war struck throughout their kingdom with the count of Sarqihya the first to break away followed by the Emirate of Medina , Damascus , El-Arish leaving the Fatimids on their knees.

Georgios saw his chance to put his name down in history as the saviour of Nubia and Egypt . Georgios’s only concern was which side he would fight for the Fatimids or the rebels , Georgios saw the Fatimids as a powerful rival and wished to see the removed from the picture but the Nubian army was far to small to make any impact against them so he attacked the county of Sarqihya then the Emirate of El-Arish in quick succession , Sarqihya fell quickly without much resistance as their army was fighting in the delta region of Egypt. The quick capture of the Sinai region came as a shock surprise to the people of Nubia and their King who had no courtiers to give his newly captured land to so stress slowly took its toll on the young king. War wounds also made the matter worse for the young King who was dead stricken for much of the last year of his reign Before his death Georgios rewarded his loyal courtiers with new land captured from the northern heathens . .This was not enough to hold of the inevitable at 35 the young kind died leaving his expanded Kingdom to his second legitimate son. During his reign Georgios managed to repulse an invasion by Cyrenaica and take the provinces of Farama , Eilat , Sinai and Sarqihya.

 

[unmerged(10416)]

Nubia?? Now, that's a real underdog.

You definitely need some rich Egyptian provinces! Then you can free the Christians of the Nile country.

 

[unmerged(10971)]

Ooh, this could get messy. But you look like you've gotten off to a good start. Let's hope you can restore the True Faith® to Egypt!

True Faith® is a trademark of Christ, Inc., and used with permission of The Divine Authority, 3 God Lane, Heaven, Afterlife 12407

 

[Coombes]

Part II, Two Kings that could of been.

Across the city of Dongola the wailing of mourners could be heard for the late King Georgios who's early death was brought on by early war wounds from crusadering against the Muslims in the North. His wife and courtiers wishing to pay due respect to the great King who won back some of the land the Coptic Nubians which was stolen by Muslim Arabs. The funeral possession was lead by the late Kings wife Syriagia whom loyal to the memory of her late husband did not remarry and the Patriarch of Alexandria who altough claiming this prestigious title lead only a small flock of Copts left in the Northern lands of Eygpt.

The isolated posistion of Nubia in the world meant few foriegn dignitaries turn up or even sent a letter let alone emissary to express their grief. Only a few lowly Byzantine Counts looking for allies care to pay respect for the valiant Crusader and defender of the Orthodox faith.

Nubia was a nation at war with all it neighbours in one sense or another whether it be on the battlefield or for the souls of Arab people. A secure sucession was vital for the Kingdom to survive with Georgios constantly fighting on the battlefield it was likely that suscum to the blow of a Muslim scimitar or the stray arrow at any time , Georgios siring 3 sons this was not the problem at the heart of the matter as history will later show.

With Georgios being on crusade or trying to forge alliances with Byzantinian Dukes and the Catholic nations of the Mediterrian it was not unexpected that rumours went about the court that his wife had not only accepted her husbands seed during these years of marriage. How could of the King found the time to father all these 5 children and why where strange noises emminating from the Queen's chamber , many ask these questions to themsevles including the Spymaster who accused the steward of the fathering one of the children , the second in line to the throne Prince Abul Gafur apparently Georgios was miles away in the Sinai when conception should of taken place. Georgios was now left with 2 sons to inherit the throne Dhiyab and the older Adhib , Dhiyab was first in line as the strongest of the children . This rule of strongest takes all worked well in times of war and when the kings heirs where passed the age of minority but chosing between a 2 year and 4 year old wasnt an easy task. In the end the council called to select the new king told the two boys the one that won in a wrestling match between them would take the throne.

Dhiyab's only major act was the conversion of Aswan to Christianity and the true Orthodox faith and the building of a new library in Nubia. It is said that the stone inscription over the entrance to the building stating Dhiyab as the builder is longer than the mention given to him in the books stored in this library. The throne then passed to his older brother Adhib . In Dhiyab's short reign the first crusade was called , directing all Catholic leaders to raise armies and make for the Holy city of Jerusalem.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

Nubia, I hope you survive long enough.

Good AAR so far

 

[unmerged(47151)]

Nubia is lucky if it survives 5 years a lot of the time.

 

[Ciçatrix]

Great so far. What verision are you playing?

 

[Coombes]

Latest version , this is the longest I have had Nubia survive , the extra province in Aswan and the fact that the Fatimids collapsed helped alot. I have nearly finished the writing up the AAR for the next King Adhid .

 

[stnylan]

Sometimes the dice fall in your favour. Here's to hoping that the good luck continues.

 

[Yakman]

Sounds interesting....

 

[GrimPagan]

Experienced the same when I tried Nubia, the Fatimids collapsed, I took out some the emirs and marched on Egypt. Quite fun resurrecting the east roman empire, but watch out for Medina, they gave me quite the hassle before I could finish off the Fatimids.

 

[Coombes]

I played on and got to the mid 1200's but then nastyness in the form of half my hard drive being deleted by my father without prior warning to put any of my stuff to disk so I plan to start a Saxon/English one or an Ulster AAR.

 

[angryclown]

What a shame

Although I think that was just Fate's way of making sure that Nubia does not survive for too long

 

[GrimPagan]

Was happy to see a Nubian AAR, as I were too lazy to make one myself, shame that it was lost.

 

[cthulhu]

I played on and got to the mid 1200's but then nastyness in the form of half my hard drive being deleted by my father without prior warning to put any of my stuff to disk so I plan to start a Saxon/English one or an Ulster AAR.

Well, that was quite a disappointing end to this story... I’m sure your other AAR is good but I really liked the more uncommon choice of Nubia.

 

[Janus Rook]

Nooo, this is why personal computers need to be personal. I can't imagine how many times my sisters have deleted things from my computer. Hey at least you didn't get owned by the fatimids though.

 

[Coombes]

All is not lost I have found my old screen shoots and my save game file . That with the game history I wrote down on a word pad document the coptic fun must go on.

 

[Coombes]

Adhid 1071-1119
Reign 1077-1119, 42years
Died 48

Ah the young Prince himself.

The solemn sound of women weeping over the lost of a loved once again filled the air of the city of Dongola , the boy King Dhiyab was dead. Even the luxury of being born into the highest of nobility wasn’t insurance against the disease and death that stalk this time , especially in malaria infested Nile valley. This left the sole heir to the Kingdom on the throne the young prince Adhid with noblemen of the court doing all they could to make sure that his older half brother the bastard Adul Gafur was able to become his heir but Adul unlike your usual bastard wasn’t the result of a fathers infidelity but a mothers. Adhid being only 8 at the time spent his early years as King as a puppet to the noblemen of the court. These where the men charged with the task of expanding his Kingdom , ensuring the young boy was educated to become a great king and to ensure that the Fatimids could not recover from there now decade long civil war.

To the north the Fatimids where locked in an endless war with their ex-vassals which was now bankrupting their nation and stretching the loyalty of the existing loyal sheiks and emirs to breaking point , with Medina now following the likes of the Emir of Damascus into open war with their master.. Of all her enemies Medina proved the most difficult for the Fatimids to defend against for she used her wealth from the holy provinces of Mecca and Medina to finance her war against her former lords. Medina on three occasions managed to seize Alexandria and twice seized Cairo but was unable to hold them due to the seize of the Fatimid army that was able to quickly overwhelm each Medina incursion but both due to poor leadership and the inability to turn victories into political successes left Fatimids in a worse position after each victory she scored due to loss of soldiers it cost her..

By 1079 the Fatimids where so weakened by 13 years of constant war they where unable to withstand a French crusader army who heeded the call by Pope Anselm to retake Jerusalem which was under Fatimid control. The French interest more in money than doing Gods work where more happy to settle with the rich northern Egyptian counties rather than seize Jerusalem. While the young naïve Adhid saw the French as Christian brothers and comrades against the infidel the Nubian regents saw the French as a double edge sword a potential ally but also a potential enemy who to them was occupying land that rightfully belong to the Nubian Kings and the Orthodox faith. The regents saw the French as a weaker enemy than the Fatimids it was quite obvious the Frankish crusaders hundreds of miles from home where weaker than the native Arabic Kingdom. The French where logistically in the a worse of position and their lands where plagued by rebellion and these new lands in conquered by the French where not crown possessions by the property of the Duke of Poitou who now was far more powerful than the King of France and the Duke was growing increasingly disloyal. The Nubian Prince being of a noble nature was quite alarm at how his kingdom was growing more powerful due to the deceit and disloyalty of other and found this most unchristian , his views where sidelined by the Regents but they new they needed to expand their lands or face a Muslim resurgence in Egypt and Arabia.

Full extent of French crusade .

In the second year of his reign Adhid’s marshal lead the army of Nubian in a second war against Cyrenaica defeating their army in a battle in Aswan. The Emirate quickly signed a peace treaty after a second army was also defeated with help from the French counts in the north , Adhid’s Chancellor managed to get Nubian a favourable peace where see received much needed gold to pay of her debts which where still plaguing the Kingdom and reducing Adhid’s ability to make war.

Adhid’s Marshall raised an army in Sinai counties with reinforcements from Nubia to take El - Arish the last Sinai county in infidel hands. The war was bloody but swift after one defeat the Nubians managed to take El-Arish while there army was besieging Eilat.

Adhid was a pious man but he saw it as his duty not to build churches but to make war in the name of God. His quest to reunite Egypt under an Orthodox king was helped when the French split into 6 factions. The French had completed their invasion by 1081 and Poitou was the first Duke to leave the Kingdom quickly followed by Champagne , Flanders, Toulouse and small 2 counties one the mainland France. Poitou managed to hold on to all the Frankish lands in Egypt but they where rebellious and over time be taken of the Duchy by rebellion and war. Adhid quickly managed to pick these Frankish counties off one by one .

Adhid oversaw some of the largest expansion of the Kingdom seeing the counties of Quena . Cairo , Tabuk , El-Arish , Delta , Asyut , Al Aqabah , Buhairya coming under Nubian control. Quena , Delta

Ahdid martial affairs where the talk of the court with no less than 3 wifes and 9 children 3 of whom where bastards. 2 of his wifes where sisters starting a long lasting relationship between the house of Dongola and the Al-Ziyar famil whom where the Princes of Cairo. His first wife was an Italian called Abelina D'Appaino whom passed her Italian ways on to her son Simonetto the 3rd son of Ahdid..

On his death his lands went to his second son the illegitimate Shahin of Dongola whom was the Count of Al Aqabah and used his strength to make himself heir after his older brother Marwan had died at 16

His move disinherited Abul-Salaam whom many considered the true King of Nubia.

Full extent of the Nubian Kingdom under Ahdid.

 

[Veldmaarschalk]

A good to see this AAR continue.

 

[GrimPagan]

Fortunate that you found your save. How are your fellow orthodox doing in the North?