(Complete) The Last Nestorian King -- CK2 w/CharlDLC 769

[JasonPratt]

Year 772

This year starts auspiciously with a little bell announcing I can choose a new ambition! Woot! Rooked out of gaining prestige for marrying, unfortunately, which plus footing my wedding bill (or rather refusing to fax a tax to pick up some gold for it) would have just about totally offset my prestige loss for marrying a lowborn woman. Argh... But still, no complaints, I wasn't sure I wouldn't have to wait 10 years for the thing to reset.

I seem to get more chances to improve my diplomacy than my learning; and it affects me a bit more in diplomacy (duh), so I choose that. I currently have 3, and if I can bring it up to 8 then I'll also earn 100 prestige which God knows I also need.

Next up, sending most of my gold to Sheikh Youkhanna of Mahra. This raises his opinion of me substantially to 48, much more than he thinks of his own Emir. The other two sheikhs in the region, aside from Yahdz himself, will be much harder to crack, as their dislike runs over (or rather under) -70 -- mainly because they're both zealots for Islam, and my being cynical now doesn't help either. I send Akin to Bayda, which if I can pick up loyalty someday will have the advantage of forming a contiguous territory bloc, isolating the sheikh of Aden from his liege in Sanaa. (Also I marry Akin to the remaining woman at court, which should make them both rather happier; and her diplomacy is good so she'll be able to help him more.)

Around April 1, the damn-fool king of Shewa, a little two county petty chiefdom, decides to declare a holy war on the Muslim nation of Shirazid: quite a choke point since most of Abyssinia lays between them.





Emir Yazd decides to help Shir defend its territory, the upshot being that about 100 soldiers from Bayda (where my vizier is parked) are marching off to Yazd's capitol for some reason, instead of marching down to the straits at the mouth of the Red Sea -- which would also be closer, since although Sanaa is next door the terrain is so rough the troops won't get there for fourth months!

I wish I could help out by sending some troops in galleys to flank Shir and help prevent Arwadid from getting across, thus helping my Miaphysite fellow Christian (even though I'm Nestorian) -- maybe also giving me a shot at collecting Berbera. Unfortunately, despite being an island nation I HAVE NO WAY TO MAKE MILITARY VESSALS! I only just now researched the tech, finally. It'll be forever before I can afford to build the yards, and a year after that before they're ready.

Sigh.

Oh well. Play the hand that's dealt I guess. I do notice my military organization tech can be improved now, so I buy the rest of its Level 1. This will help me when I start to campaign one day, especially in pagan lands (which won't count for Muslims since they aren't pagans but still.)

At the halfyear, just after August starts, I move Musa down to Bostra, in the heart of the old kingdom of Syria (now overrun by the Abbasids of course.) I already have all the military tech I wanted from Dwin, and this new area has level 7 and 8 techs for econ and culture, so that should be good.

I'm studying what little I can see of the Shewa chief's siege of the capitol fort of Harer, his first target, when the game seems to freeze -- dammit did it just crash?? I haven't saved in forever!

Phew, it was just my vizier saying he has succeeded in improving the opinion of sheikh Qawurd of Bayda. Sweet! {save game} Hopefully in a year or two I can throw some gold his way, which will bring him solidly into the green (even if not so much as some of his fellow sheikhs.) Meanwhile I'll leave Akin there to work some more, though I suspect once I've improved diplomacy one time I'm only asking for trouble. Since I don't want to risk causing diplomatic trouble, I go ahead and send Akin down to the county of Aden to see if he can work a similar miracle there.

The year ends with what looks like a counterinvasion by the king of Shirazid into Abyssinia after Ethiopia also declared a holy war on Shir (separately from Shewa's war). This is despite Shewa still besieging a main Shir capitol.

Oh and my son Athanasios comes of marriage age, and upon turning adult picks up the Grey Eminence trait which is good, he's going to need it. Next up, finding him a wife to rule our tiny nation after I'm gone.

[undercovergeek]

if the son is a grey eminence surely that makes him prime spot for your chancellor role?

what speed are you playing on?

[JasonPratt]

Not very fast right now, maybe 30 minutes a year if I just let it run.

I've got a good chancellor who has been doing well for me, so I'm loath to tic him off by handing the role over.

[undercovergeek]

cool, ive used it in the past if i need to improve relations with the son, plus i think he gets prestige, especially if its an ambition of his, and remember youll be playing this guy one day

[JasonPratt]

Well, God knows he's going to need the prestige, because I messed up how to marry his mom. ;)

Next up this year will be checking to see if there are any noblewomen in range worth him marrying (and who think vice versa).

[JasonPratt]

Year 773

Incidentally, I just realized my son's portrait changed as he matured, which is a nice touch; and then I noticed my wife's portrait also changed after she married me, which was an even nicer touch! "Honey, why did you start painting skeletal bones on your face after marrying me?" "...it represents my devotion to you." "Awww! {beam}{kiss}"

So as you may have noticed already, I gave my beard a wigsnap to something neater, because I figured Gen would like it and oh my God I'm such a sad and lonely person I need a real wife.

...back to playing CK2 then! Up next, finding a wife for my pretend son so he won't get too cozy with my African mail-order bride because that isn't creepy at all!

Unfortunately, right now the only feasible options in reach of diplomacy are lowborn women; and while a nice Kurdish woman has a freakishly high combined stat score somewhere near 50, and a few others are in the mid-30s (with room to grow), I don't want to start Athanasius off with a negative 200 prestige hit. Besides, he doesn't have the ambition to marry yet anyway. On the other hand, my other Musa, baron (or the Middle Eastern equivalent) of my city of Tamrida (a trading city on Socotra, not to be confused with my capitol which is a fort), could stand to have a better opinion of me, so I arrange him a wife while I'm at it. Then I realize his ambition was to be steward which is never going to happen with his ridiculously low score, but we'll see maybe his hot new Kurdish wife can help with that as she's a supergenius. Then I realize I've got it wrong, he isn't the sheik of that city either. He's just some guy at court. 

I will add here that if I were truly evil, I'd marry her to Musa, assassinate him since he's a bit of a stone, and then as a noblewoman she'd have a title to marry my son with! Fortunately for Musa I'm cruel and lazy, not evil.

I don't have any reason to move my spymaster or ambassadorvizier around this year, and not enough gold saved up to help offset the poor opinion of my last two enemies in Arwadid on the coast; so I spend my time trying to figure out what's happening under the fog of war in Shirazid (where much of modern Ethiopia and the Etririan coast is, thoroughly overrun by a Muslim emirate sometime before gamestart). King Oda Gosh (not kidding, that's his name) of Abyssinia seems to be doing well under the circumstances: despite a counterinvasion in Asayita, he's pressing a siege in Tadjoura, and seems to have solidly taken Harer though its ruler hasn't quite given up yet. Note that Harer was the original target of King Mekonnan of Shewa who started this war in the first place -- so he won't be getting it after all.




Oh, and Gen is pregnant. :)

Why is there a picture of a blonde writhing around in satisfaction? I'm going to say that was Gen's idea and move along.

On May 7, Ath proposes, quite reasonably and accurately, that he would make a better Grand Vizier than Akin. This is technically true: Akin is no slouch at (13), but Ath is a supergenius level diplomat at (19). Ath would be better able to protect himself from intrigue, too. On the other hand, if he goes down while out on mission (to one of my main enemies for example where Akin currently is), my game is probably over depending on what happens with our new child. I decide to take the neutral route and give Akin a chance, rather than rebuke Ath or replace Akin. Worth thinking about, though!

On May 23, while I'm chuckling to myself over King Gosh now having effectively traded territories with Emir Talut, Spymaster Musa (which would have been my rapper name back in the 80s) reports back with a huge deposit of tech points. Innnnnnn... {rolling a 3 sided die} Economy! I can immediately improve my build time and cost by .6% (not something I'll be using anytime soon anyway); or my tax rate from the temple or the castle (but not the city). In a few years I should be able to do both of those latter techs, actually; but I might as well benefit from one now, and helping the Temple infrastructure capabilities will give me more of an econ boost (since the bishop likes me more than he likes our Patriarch) so I'll take that sooner rather than later, and get the castle tech in a few years.

On June 15 I get an event probably tied to my ambition to improve my diplomacy:




Accepting this doesn't actually change anything however.

The year half-gone I check for any new landed-ladies for Ath, but none yet.

The biggest news in the rest of the world is that while I wasn't looking some ambitious Muslim unified an African kingdom along the northern coast of the continent. You might remember from an earlier screenie that only two small clusters of counties up there, quite far separate, started the game as "Africa", with several groups between. That's been sorted!




Western Francia is doing quite well, too, for those of you who care about Charlemagnish things in a Charlemagne expansion. But I don't. I don't even know if that's Karloman. And I'm not looking either. So there. (Okay it's Karl son of Emperor Pepin, father of Pepin the hunchback. While clicking around I ran into Bishop-prince Turpin of Rheims and squeed a little.)

Meanwhile on Nov 15... wow, that's my birthday in real life, too! Gen gives birth to a daughter. She wants to name her Saaman; I lop off the masculine ending (for English languages anyway), and hope this bodes well for me taking Sanaa one day and the duchy it's attached to.

In early December the game interrupts me moseying around the map to tell me "Yahkt" or someone like that died of pneumonia at age 20, and I have no idea who it's talking about. None of my court was named Yak, so far as I know. It wasn't one of my counselors or one of my barons running the city or the temple-town. Really game? Are you just making up facts to amuse yourself now?

And so ends 773, with us not dead yet.

[JasonPratt]

Year 774

I decide to retire Akin as vizier and promoting Athanasios, my son, after all. Akin won't like it but he'll still be net positive in opinion and I can give him a formal title if I decide he needs the ego boost. The transition works smoothly, and even results in Ath's diplomacy ticking up a notch to 20 for reasons I'm unable to trace. (The game should show me why but it doesn't. Did I imagine it being at 19 previously...? I swear I saw him at that a minute ago when I was preparing the switch.) I plop him immediately into Aden where he proceeds to be less vulnerable to intrigue and better than 68% likely to win me some favor each year. I may need to do something about his piety, though, as he's ticking up a slow negative drop from being cynical.

The invasion in Shir has reached the third and final county, Zeila, and I can't help but hope King Gosh makes it, though on the balance he's at zero for his efforts with one county gained, one lost, and the Emir has taken back his capital county of Harer. I wish I could send some ships and troops to help but that doesn't seem likely anytime in the next five years.

This leads into my goal for the year: SAVE UP GOLD! I've got to be able to pay for some shipyards.

I took more of a hit by demoting Akin than the game told me I would, but I made him cupbearer in his retirement so he's back to slightly liking me again (4). I'd give him some gold as a reward for faithful service but I need to save gold right now.

I could move Musa a little west into Damascus, which has slightly better tech than his current assignment, Bostra; but that's also where the Caliph of all the Abbasids lives (apparently?) so it would be riskier for him. Then again, I need the techs. Go Musa go!

I really ought to look around online to see whether there's any point keeping an agent in a county for further benefits once they've sent back some results.

Now the boy wants to get married. Well, there are no noblewomen anywhere within communication distance; though I notice the Purple Princess of the Byzantines has put herself on the marriage market! They're of an age, and even if I didn't try for a matrilineal marriage (which would be insane and nothing the Emperor would ever accept despite or even because her royal claim is actually stronger than older siblings) she'd make a good wife for him: she only has good traits, though her actual stats are a bit average. If he brings me a good result from Aden I'll send him to the heretic orthodox court and see if that helps any courting, heh.

Yay Musa! -- on Sept 20 he brings back no less than 50 economy tech points. I promptly spend it on castle infrastructure, which brings an immediate tax improvement even though I'm not building better castle tech yet (saving my gold).

Interesting. On Dec 18 Ath reports that there was an independence faction in Sanaa, led by the cupbearer Sheik of Mahra, one of my new kind-of-allies. I also notice he's still in charge of Mahra, notwithstanding his factioning. I also, by the way, notice that Sheik Talib of Taizz has gone back to ambivalence toward me; but I bet this means I can send him gold again, if I was handing out gold again.

Just as importantly, Ath reports on Dec 20 that he has succeeded in his diplomatic efforts with the Sheik of Aden! He still doesn't like me at all, but it's a good start. Well done, son guy! Alas, your diplomatic range doesn't extend up to the Purple Princess (a lass). I guess you're going to Taizz instead to keep the diplo fires burning.

We'll see about your prospects next year, son.

[JasonPratt]

Update: since things are going pretty slow for a while, I'll probably be posting 10 year increment entries until things spice up a bit. Progress is being made, just slowly. It's the middle of the Dark Ages after all, and I'm just a guy on an African island with a small court. :)

[undercovergeek]

warrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[JasonPratt]

Waugh isn't going to happen until I can get a fleet (unless I'm invaded, which would have to be by someone long-distance at this point in the game), which is several years out.

Once I have any fleet at all, though, I'm going to be dominating the local pond, at least in naval power: the only people with decent ocean power right now are far the hell away from me, and would have to sail around the African cape (not possible in-game) or (re-)take Egypt or Sinai and build a Red Sea fleet using their tech.

Not that I'll have much power to project when the time comes, though for a little island nation we have a very decent military (potentially). Quality I'm well up to par on most combat techs. My main advantage will probably be that the local Muslims (except maybe the Berbers over on the Horn itself, who don't seem to be warring anywhere) will have killed off a number of their own troops already in fighting land wars.

Anyway, I'll probably finish the 10 year bloc tonight and drop in an update.

[undercovergeek]

Mercenary fleet - waaarrggh

[JasonPratt]

...costs even more gold than buying my own shipyard, and happens not to be available anyway (yet). I would have my own cheaper permanent fleet before being able to afford to hire a merc fleet for however long.

Could be a good idea, later, of course. Also, good pirate accent melding!  O0

[JasonPratt]

Note: I didn't quite get through my 10 year plan, but I figured this was a good place to stop and do an entry. For reasons which will become apparent at the end. The game is about to change -- if I can figure out how.

Year 775

At this rate I'll need another 3 years to get the gold for the shipyards (probably at my castle) and then another most-of-a-year to construct them. Though I think I'll pick up 6 galleys for my levy by doing so, and won't have to build them separately.

By the time May 776 rolls around, Ath has already been asking about arranging a marriage; and I'm worried he'll flip or start doing foolish things if I don't find someone pronto. Unfortunately, there simply isn't any noblewoman in diplomatic range who is also Christian (of some sort). So he's going to take a 200 hit to his prestige -- hard to recover from.

That said, checking non-prisoned adult women in our religious and cultural group who are in diplomatic range, Neelab of Arsuf in Egypt, 55 stats from great traits (her strongest competitor had 54 from dangerous traits) -- but only likes me 6. That won't get any better down the list, unfortunately.

Sorry, son guy. You'll have to settle for a cute awesome exotic Egyptian girl who will give you a harsh prestige hit. I don't want you causing trouble with that great Muslim girl in Taizz and starting a war.

Sheik Sa'af agrees, and Neelab is arrives on Socotra in time for a June wedding.

In early Jan 777, my bishop finds a great philosopher right here in Socotra whom, if I hire for 12.12 gold, will grant 50 cultural points. That'll set me back about half a year from starting on my shipyards (finally), but I don't gain cultural points quickly at all and the investment should pay for itself many times over eventually. I agree.

Crap, 119.2 culture points! Whatever should I do with those?!

I don't give much of a poop about noble, popular, or religious customs right now: all they seem to do is add some bonuses (and at this point still minor ones) to the opinions of those courtiers I assign to holdings (castle, city, temple respective).

Tolerance would help me minimize the effect of cultural and religious differences on people's opinion of me (and mine of them I think). Not bad, but the last two options seem better.

Majesty would decrease the time of the short-reign opinion penalty (which seems kind of inconsistent anyway, though that may be due to the earliest possible gamestart screwing with mechanics); and helps generate more piety per month; but most importantly (for a family who has to marry non-noblewomen and who can't go campaigning much yet) it adds 2 whole points of prestige gain per month.

Legalism... hmmm... this unlocks medium crown authority and medium centralization. Centralization increases my domain size and my vassal limit, though honestly right now that isn't an issue and I can still go to "low" centralization from "minimum" already. But it will be important later if I want my kingdom to grow. Medium crown authority... I don't have the faintest clue what that does. High crown authority (like a legalism level 6 or higher) starts to unlock the highest levels of levies and taxation, but I already have everything but the highest unlocked. It doesn't seem to affect succession laws. Maybe it affects prestige? This is something an onboard CK2opedia would be handy for answering. (Why this game doesn't have a more thorough at-hand manual or glossary or index is beyond me.)

I don't have enough to pick 2, so if I only can pick 1 then I'll go with the obvious prestige uptick. Majesty 2 it is!

If my fog of war tells me correctly, the Ethiopian / Shir war has finally wound down with borders back at par. Good hustle everyone!

My son (sent over to Kathri for its round of occasional diplomacy) says an Arwadid army (of a little over 700 troops) is heading for the Umayid Emirate (modern Oman, and themselves currently besieging Dhu Zabi where the modern United Arab Emirates are). Yeah, y'all go over there and fight and die for a while...

Sadly, June 7 my son's new wife, Neelab, dies after an illness I didn't know she had; based on the crying baby in the background, I infer the "illness" was "being with child".

Their daughter was saved, however, and was named Rashida.

Hopefully my son won't want another wife for a while, as I don't want him saddled with even more of a prestige hit, and the only unmarried noblewomen of our culture group and religious group in diplomacy range are his own daughter and infant half-sister.

By March 778, the Arwadid Emir has crushed both the Umayid Emirate and the county of Dhu Zabi which the Umayid themselves were attacking: his kingdom wraps impressively all around the south of the Arabian peninsula now. My guess for his next stop would be back to Africa to smack around Ethiopia, since they're the only people he can reach by land who aren't his own Caliph of the monstrously powerful Abbasidian Empire. Of course, he might decide the time has come to invest in some ships and invade other places over in Africa. Though if he has ships, his wisest course by far would be to stomp all over us instead. Notably a Muslim just joined my court from out of nowhere -- is this what a spy looks like?

The only good news in this, aside from his troops being currently thinned and spread out, is that a number of his key coutiers like me reasonably well for an infidel.

The other good news is that I should have a few galleys in a little over a year, as I'm able to build my shipyard now (specifically on my castle so I can levy my galleys without annoying my sheiks, and so the yards will be a bit better defended.)

Athanasios, currently in Aden (the Arabian mouth of the Red Sea), says wherever Yazd's troops are going, it isn't toward us apparently, unless they're marching north to embark by ship. Possibly he has received permission to go help his Caliph in a war elsewhere: in this game, assisting a battle earns more prestige than initiating one.

On August 24, I send Ath back further east to a potentially better diplomatic target in Zadi, where he reports that a small group of cavalry is marching toward the Persian Gulf. This makes no sense to me (are they going home? from where?) until I check around in the fog of war and see sieges going on in Muscat and Dhu Zabi. Wait, I haven't provided a screen in a while:




There. Awww, did you grow too big too fast Emir Yazd? Is civil war breaking out now in that little duchy you sucked up? TOO BAD!

Weirdly, Ath reports catastrophic failure at getting a Mayor (???) of one of Dhofar's cities to like me, reducing his opinion by 2 years instead. But the actual sheikh of Dhofar, Yahya, isn't affected at all: he's still -20 (largely because he's a decent guy and doesn't like me being cruel and lazy. And an infidel of course.)

And then a few days later on (my real-life birthday) Nov 15, he reports success where it actually counts, sheikh Dhofar. Like I said, weird.

By the way, when I reported earlier that the Arwadid Emirate overran un Umayids, I didn't mean the famous Umayid Emirate up in Spain right now, but a different Emirate with a similar name.

Finally, May 27, 779.

A day of rejoicing.

A day of shipyards finally finished.

Oooh, is someone in Berbera? Hmmm... Maybe they need help...

[JasonPratt]

Year 779, late May

Now, with shipyards, I can finally project power.

King Gosh from Abyssinia (Ethiopia) either has some ships as well, or... gosh I don't know, maybe he has a splinter army cut off behind Shirazid, and since they couldn't get out they decided to attack the slightly smaller Berbera nation in Berbera County. The Emir of Shir is helping the defense. Maybe I should help the attack by my fellow Christian against, let's be honest, a duchy stolen generations ago by Muslim pirates.

Much like Shir.

And like Arwadid for that matter (where the pirates originally came from).

And like Arabia as a whole, where the peaceful Nestorians were living with the local tribes and working with the Persians when, well, you know what happened.

Wow, it's amazing how crazy one little shipyard can make me...

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. If I can get some troops over to help King Gosh, who by the way I notice has consolidated that petty kingdom which started the previous war in Shir, that will help my prestige overall (because aiding a war nets more prestige, assuming we win); and help my relationship with arguably the rightful king of the region (a fellow Christian, too, though of miaphysite Christology); and possibly result in my gaining a new county or two, from which I could also build a base for freeing Africa from Muslim incursions and then work my way across the straits to Arabia.

Here are the local independent realms, currently:






And here are the local counties, rather blotty thanks to the fog of war:




My goal now is to get some troops over to Berbera and help King Gosh. Or take over the invasion from King Gosh perhaps!

Unfortunately, while I now have a max total of 6 galleys from my domain, to be part of my personal fleet, I don't have 6 "unraised" ships. So, do I wait for my shipyards to make my ships? That would be annoying: I don't want Gosh to take the petty kingdom of Berbera first! (Even though I feel sorry for its young 8 year old king.) Argh! um... go Emir Taht, help little king Abadir!

By September 11, though, A DATE I PAUSED ON COMPLETELY BY COINCIDENCE, I still have no available ships. I'm willing to reload from my previous save (since nothing really has happened yet), but I need to know how to actually construct ships, or whether this happens automatically and if so how long it takes. I understand the point to RAISING a fleet, but I have no unraised ships to raise, only a 6 galley potential. What am I missing??

[JasonPratt]

Oct 779

Gen is pregnant again, which I suppose is good; still no ships even possible to raise from my maximum of 6. I got a chance to increase my siege tech to level 1, which seems like a good idea. I may not be the highest tech on the planet yet, but only a couple of counties where Musa has a spy network have slightly better tech than I do overall, and he's parked in one of them, Hajr (in what is modern central Saudi Arabia). The other would be Medina on the Red Sea coast; but where Musa currently is he has no chance at all of being discovered, so I'll leave him there for now.

By early December, Ath has finished his mission in Duqm for now, and no one else in Arwadid seems even a little likely to move in my direction; so I send him over to the mountains of Aksum to talk in King Gosh's court. Couldn't hurt. Gosh is about to win in the capitol county of Berbera (dangit), and I seriously have no idea how he even got there since he doesn't even have level 1 shipbuilding capabilities. My only guess is that he marched across Shir in the previous war and when that Emir won the war Gosh's army was trapped on the other side and unable to get home. So they invaded Berbera. A good idea for him! -- ruining an opportunity for me. Or my lack of ships are, rather.

Anyway. Ath is tutoring his little half-sister Saana now, which is adorable. Still no noblewomen for Ath to marry, and his prestige is so terrible I dare not marry him to another 'common' wife again.

January 780 arrives, and still no actual ships to raise as a fleet to join in the Berberstomping. sigh...

At the end of August, Goth picks up the Horn of Africa and adds it back to Abyssinia. Good for him; he earned it. Shirazid splits his two territory blocs in two, which makes this even more of an accomplishment!

On May 21, Gen and I have another daughter! (A lot of daughters in our court, by the way.) Gen wants to name her after our beautiful little island, and I agree, with a slight difference to help distinguish the names -- and to honor Gen's heritage by using her accent for "Socotra": "Scetara".

In late October, as the Feast of All Hallows approached, we learned to our amazement about a monster in our midst: a bear had come to our island from a merchant ship, apparently meant to be a pet of someone in our court, but it had grown large on the voyage here and escaped. When Athanasios heard about this he demanded to come home and join me in hunting for it. We found the bear and fought it together, father and son -- and it nearly killed Athanasios! But with extreme effort I saved him, earning even more regard from my son, who wisely decided to return to the court of King Goth (with his new story to tell at court, I hoped.)

On December 1, as I dulsutorily toured my shipyards...

...I FOUND A SHIP HAD BEEN BUILT!

It could only carry 100 troops (and support), and for my purposes I would need the whole fleet. But it was a start. At last.