Part 1: Looking around and setting the pace
So here we are, the oh so noble Doux Vahram I of Mesopotamia of the Varajnuni family.
It sure looks like we will be getting a hard time ahead with this Seljuk doomstack ready to invade the empire of our liege.
They will probably siege our holdings, burn our houses and rape our women. But that's okay. As long as Sultan Arp Arslan doesn't win the war and take our title!
We are the only living male member of our dynasty, and we have two sons (more on them later). So first of all we will be waiting out a war and raising our dynastic heirs.
Also, we will need a good wife.
When all goes well, we will try to expand our territory within the duchy of Mesopotamia. There are 4 counties that belong to us, and we will get them.
It's Karin in the north, and Taron, Amida and Nisibin in the southeast.
The current owner of the county of Karin is a Bulgarian duke mentioned already. He is a Bulgarian prince and has a strong claim on the kingdom of Bulgaria.
Well, we won't mind if he goes back there to press his claim and be the king of Bulgaria. He just has to get out of our lands!
Taron and Amida are controlled by this Kurdish Beylerbey, who actually is quite powerful. It won't be easy to get the lands beloning to us back from him.
Further down the stream of the river Tigris lives Beylerbey Sharaf I, who is happening to hold Nisibin which is rightfully ours. He also is too powerful for us to take on
right away, so it seems we will be concentrating on the Bulgarian prince first.
First things first, let's look at our advisors. The quality of the bunch is not great, but acceptable. Except my steward, we will be looking for a new one ASAP 'cause we need to make money!
My chancellor and spymaster hate me, because they are orthodox. We will have to do something about that.
I'm making my chancellor master of the horse. He doesn't hate me big time, and my court chaplain will probably convert him in the near future.
We could get rid of him, but we need his talent for diplomacy.
My spymaster is somewhat of a problem. Not only is he orthodox, but also a zealous one. I cannot accept this so I'm marrying him off.
We don't have a good alternative for him, but we'll find a spymaster wife to take his place.
So, let's see.. Where will he be going?
Yes, to Venice. Let the Serene Doge handle this zealous orthodox freak!
So, now it's our turn. We will have the ambition to get married for the piety boost and find ourselves a good babymaker.
Wow directly found a perfect one! Her name is Mariyam, she is Armenian and Miaphysite (great!) and has wonderful stats. Her 18 for intrigue will make her an excellent replacement for our spymaster.
She is also Cynical, just like us. A Hedonist, so she will make a lot of babies hopefully. And Ambitious. She won't try to do something stupid like killing our already existing sons, will she?
Speaking of sons, who is to succeed us?
Our succession laws are agnatic-cognatic gavelkind. I just have the one county, so my first son will be getting it all, but when I expand my second son will also get a share.
The conditions for something better (Primogeniture, oldest takes all) are doable. Let's hope Barney will raise crown authority something like err.. 10 years from now? And we will be happy.
Our army then, is not that impressive. We can probably try to fight some dukes and counts within the empire with this army, but we will have to build it up
to not get ass kicked by some muslims.
Speaking of ass kicking. What's up with the Bulgarian duke. We can apparently plot to fabricate a claim on his only county. We already have a ducal claim on this place, but I guess we can't refuse an opportunity to piss of the Bulgar and improve our intrigue.
No vassal of the empire is willing to join our plot at the moment, but we will work on it in the future.
Right. We are looking for some action. We will be doing a grand hunt right away. I like hunting.
Shouldn't I be preparing for the war, you say? Yes, we are. Provisions are needed and best practice is on deer.
Let's look at two more things before we take on the action. I'll show you my sons, Abulgharib and Ligos. Don't they look promising?
I will raise them both myself. Not that I'm a great tutor but hey, sons should be like their father.
The second is my council's jobs. I send my chancellor to sow dissent in Karin. Let's give the Bulgarian a headache.
My marshal is researching military tech at home. We will need the benefit in the long run.
My shitty steward is out collecting taxes at home. We need moneeeeey!
My spymaster will also stay at home to see if someone wants to kill me. For the time being, because he's leaving.
Last but not least, my court chaplain will be converting my courtiers to the true Miaphysite faith.
Action then! Our grand hunt is beginning and we'll hopefully witness something nice.
Diligent is good. Also, we didn't get wounded. So ++
Goodbye Eugenios, hope you'll have a good time scheming in Venice! Let us know when you are tired of those scheming-your-ass-out-of-the-Republic patricians.
Ah, there's our beauty! The look in her eyes doesn't promise a lovely future, but hopefully a succesful one.
We will take back some prestige we lost by marrying a courtier and she can get to work immediately, that is to scheme and make babies.
Well, that was our first ambition. We will try an easy one again for now. We will have a daughter so we can marry her off for an alliance.
Hurry up wife!
Maybe it will help her producing a daughter if she likes us. Hopefully it will prevent her from killing me or my sons too. We will give her a honorary title.
Good news! There's already a faction within the empire. This one county doux wants to lower crown authority, which we disagree with. But he may fight for it and lose.
Wow, my first adventure really turned out to be a good one. We became diligent and did not die or become maimed. We showed our true Armenian spirit by killing the wolves.
Let's hope the Turks are as easy to kill..
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, that's the first update, guys. What do you think? Too much/too little details?
Too much/too little screenshots? Am I disobeying any rules, written or unwritten?
Of course I don't know what my readers' knowledge of the game is. So if I should explain some more in the updates, please tell me.
Questions will also be answered for sure.
