We Need a Jagiellon! - A Crusader Kings 3 Story

[Amicalola]

It's really been so long since I've gotten into 2. I remember trying to pick it up again a couple years ago and being a bit overwhelmed at all the new features that DLC had added. 

I made the mistake of getting about 4(?) DLCs with CK2 during a sale, that I'd heard were 'essential.' I was also a bit overwhelmed - there was so much going on that I never quite got engaged with the basic systems. I just didn't have the time or energy, and that was as a student.

[Cyneheard]

It's really been so long since I've gotten into 2. I remember trying to pick it up again a couple years ago and being a bit overwhelmed at all the new features that DLC had added. 

I made the mistake of getting about 4(?) DLCs with CK2 during a sale, that I'd heard were 'essential.' I was also a bit overwhelmed - there was so much going on that I never quite got engaged with the basic systems. I just didn't have the time or energy, and that was as a student.

That makes sense - I started when the game was pretty new, so when I added DLCs that increased the complexity (the Rome one added retinues, and I think they balance the systems assuming that you have that DLC), I was already immersed in the base game so it was fine to pick up a new system or two each time. The DLCs really hurt an SG system, too, because everyone is playing different games - and there's some like the Rome one where you're just not going to be able to switch back and forth.

Conclave seems to add the most complexity, because it creates a different internal system; I never got that one because I didn't want to deal with that.

Some of the DLCs provide extra starting options - different religions, different time periods, etc, so it's easy to use or not use those.

[pindicator]

Sventaragis, Part One: Final Preparations

My brothers and sister are all hounding me to get them married.  My brothers, Poklius and Sotvaras, talk about all the unmarried chieftain's daughters when they are not fighting, Sotvaras somehow always having news of who was the fairest maiden in which court.  One week they will speak of a lady as if there were no other in the world for them, singing of her beauty and charm, and then the next week it will be another.  (Both are Fickle.)  This goes on and on for weeks.  My sister, Kruonis, is not so vocal but when the talk of foreign affairs comes up there is an eagerness there to hear of the great Baltic Chieftains.

Side Note: Why are there so few alliances and marriages at the start of the game?  It breaks the 4th wall for me a bit, that nobody has done any interacting before you start, except for the select few that are hard programmed in.  And it is only at the beginning that there is this bonanza of marrying to be done; when you are setting up a new rule down the line you are working against plenty of established marriages and alliances.  This also seems to make the opening of the game a lot easier, because marriages directly tie to alliances.  It seems like the whole world of CK3 would be more alive if they married off half the people at the start of the game and set alliances to that.)

Yet my attention is elsewhere, and I do nothing for them.  (Somehow I unpaused the game while looking through Lifestyle trees and 9 months went by without me realizing it.  2nd Complaint: Why does the game let you unpause in a screen that gives you ZERO indication that you've unpaused the game?)  I am off trying to gather together the internal affairs and sort my council.  My Steward, Antanas Gedgaudis, is atrocious: only a 6 in Stewardship.  My vassal Mingaila has the best in the realm at 11, and so we move him from Chancellor to Steward.  Mingaila also is the best diplomat, but my brother Sotvaras - Shy, Fickle Sotvaras - is my second best, and so I appoint him to the council.  I could have also upgraded my Realm Priest, but kicking people off the council is one way to make them angry with you and with my character's Intrigue of 3, I decide not to make too many enemies.  In the end we are left with this:

Now my council looks like so:

High Chieftess Gaila, my spouse: currently tasked to Assist Ruler.  Because my character has already picked up the Gallant tree, I have a perk where my spouse gives me 25% more bonus to stats than usual.  This is multiplicative so instead of Assist Ruler giving my ruler 20% of her stats it now gives 25%.  I could also have her specialize in providing just 1 stat, and she would give 62.5% of her stats (normally 50%).  These all round up, if you were wondering.

Dravenis, my Vaidile or Realm Priest.  He is Brave, Cynical, and Stubborn, none of which help him as Realm Priest.  But he was educated as an Insightful Thinker, good for +4 in Learning.  Brave is a virtuous trait for Vidilism so he gets extra Piety each month but that doesn't translate over to me.  We know nothing of his backstory, only that he was Lowborn.  He's unmarried, 57 years old, and has no children.  He's also my best Champion with 13 Prowess.  He is improving Religious Relations, which gives me a little bit of Piety each month.

Sotvaras Palemonaitis, my Chancellor.  Sotvaras, my youngest brother at 35 years old, is Fickle, Content, and Shy.  The shy trait hurts his diplomacy, but he had a good education, ending up with the Charismatic Negotiator trait (+6 diplo).  He is unmarried and one of the first things we will need to do is find him a wife / secure an alliance with one of our neighbors.  Right now he's tasked to Foreign Affairs, which will boost my Prestige and boost Foreign Ruler's opinion of me a little each month.

Chieftain Mingaila of Gardinas, my Steward.  I forgot to cover Mingaila's traits last month but he is Diligent, Generous, and Vengeful.  He was educated as an Adequate Bargainer (+4 diplo) and has earned the August trait for completing the August branch of the Diplomacy tree.  August is a very good branch for tribal leaders because it gives you extra prestige each month, and prestige to Tribes is like gold for Feudal lords.  We've already shown the family tree, where he is my 3rd cousin Once Removed (if I understand that correctly).  He's also likely the best all around character in the realm, except he really sucks as a fighter (3 Prowess).

Rodslaw Mazowiecki, my Marshal.  Rodslaw is a hilarious contrast of a character.  He is an Elusive Shadow, which is the highest level of Intrigue a character can get from their education (+8).  But this lifestyle does not suit him, as he is also Generous, Honest (-4 Intrigue), and Just (-3 Intrigue).  His parents really wanted him to go to Spy School and wouldn't let him follow his dreams of being a Diplomat.  I believe the school was raided by my father, High Chieftain Utenis, and Rodslaw was one of the thralls carried off as a prisoner.  It was only over time watching young Rodslaw grow up that my father discovered Rodslaw had a mind of a warrior all along (but not the body, his Prowess is 0), and so eventually earns not just his freedom but a spot on my father's council as the Marshall.  (Our very own Uhtred of Bebbanburg, except not nearly as good and I have no idea where he comes from.)  Yet Rodslaw owes no allegiance to the son when the father dies, and so there is no love between him and my character.  I start a Sway Scheme on Rodslaw because he is the only person in my chiefdom who has a negative opinion of me.

Gabija, my Spymaster, and my mother.  She is Zealou, Sadistic, and Lustful.  She is a Skilled Tactician (+6 Martial).  She is also listed as a Logistician, meaning troops she commands make better use of their Supply and can stay out in the field longer.  I can only imagine the trouble she got into when she was younger.



Looking at our neighbors, we are surrounded by stronger nations on many sides.  Our cousin Kukovaitis in Samogitia has 1,400 men to our west.  The Grand Prince Vseslav II of Polotsk commands 1,500 men to our east.  And King Iziaslav of Ruthenia has over 2,800 to our south.  North is our best bet for expansion early on: High Chief Sabe of Courland rules over 3 chiefdoms and has 800 men, and Chief Erasts of Jersika rules just the 1 chiefdom and has a little under 400.  We could also go farther afield as Prussia, Livonia, and Estonia all have similar strength armies to us; however I don't like that we can just attack and conquer whomever or wherever as a Tribe so I am going to limit myself to only neighboring or de jure counties.

With Catholics encroaching from the west and south, and Orthodox Christians in the east, it feels like us Vidilists are beset on all sides.  Strong alliances are needed, and so in June 1067 I finally find suitable matches for my siblings:




My sister Kruonis marries the strongest tribe in the Baltics: Duke Siemomysl of Pomerania.  He commands 1,600 men to my west but I fear I may just as quickly end up on the wrong end of a war defending against Poland.  He also has an unsavory look to him, and I secretly wonder if I've committed my sister to a hard life at his hand.

My brother Poklius is married to Ingrid Tokesdotter of Varending (no picture).  She is Lazy, Callous, and Wrathful, and is poor or terrible at just about everything; no wonder she hasn't married yet.  But her father is Count Toke of Varend and the last available alliance for my nation to have.  He is one of the last Asatru rulers in the game and commands 740 men as a Count in the Kingdom of Sweden.




My youngest brother and Chancellor, Sotvaras, has no marriages available that will secure me an alliance, so I decide to find him a wife that will hopefully give him children with good genetic traits.  We settle on Kiire, a lowborn woman who is Ambitious, Humble, and Brave.  She is an Adequate Bargainer, and has inheritable traits of Comely and Robust.  I could have just held off on marrying him, also, but that didn't seem fair to the poor guy.


Finally, we must get our army ready.  The Gallant tree has given us +4 to the number of Champions (or Knights) we may have.  Only our realm does not have 12 able bodies to fill those positions.  I spend 150 of my 460 Prestige to out invitations for more champions.  The call will not be answered for some time, however, and I will go to my first war with only the 9 we show here.




I spend more Prestige on some Men at Arms.  Most of the terrain around us is forests, with a few counties being plains or hills.  So I will hire warriors which fight well in the forest.  I decide on a band of Metsanvartija, the Baltic Culture's unique unit.  It is an archer which does not get a bonus in hills, but instead has a higher Damage (25 >> 30), Toughness (10 >> 14), Pursuit (0 >> 10), and Screen (0 >> 10).  In Forest and Taiga we get +10 Damage and +4 Toughness, and in Winter we get +4 Toughness and +8 Screen.  Damage and Toughness are your fighting stats, and Pursuit and Screen is for when units are retreating or fleeing from a battlefield.

We are ready.  I have waited almost a year.  If I continue to wait the stronger Christian neighbors will pick of the Vidilist tribes one by one.  We must unite if we are to have a chance of standing up to them.  I must be the one to unite them.  I do not even wait for my men at arms to fill their ranks.  I have waited long enough.  Jersika to my north is weak and has no allies.  It is time to begin.

[pindicator]

Sventaragis, Part Two: Greatest Baltic Warrior

We didn't really touch on this, but Sventaragis is a really strong warrior.  His Martial stat may be just "good", but where he really shines is leading troops and on the battlefield.  His 15 Prowess is the best in my realm and it will increase with events and traits later in the game.  He is a fantastic Commander, in part due to the Gallant tree, and has a Commander trait of 30(!).  All of this is to say that this first war was entirely my fault as the player and not Sventaragis' as a character.

On June 4, the forces of Lithuania, some 1174 levies, 9 champions, and 5 Metsanvartija, gathered at the capital and began the march north.  To reach Jersika they must cross the Daugava river, and the only ford is by way of the county of Selpils in Courland.  The trek through the Baltic forests in early summer is pleasantly warm and there are few hot days.  It takes a month of marching and hunting for game along the way.  On July 10 we arrive at the banks of the Daugava and find Jersika already embattled:




Chief Kurlemuse of Zemigalians, a Chief of Courland, has sent a raiding party against his weak neighbor.  Chief Erasts has made a valiant effort to fight off the raiders but his numbers are too few and when we arrive we see that the raiders are going to come out ahead.  Yet both armies have exhausted each other.  (Those numbers you see will swell back up as they are counting in fleeing units as well as kills, and at the end of a battle the units that retreat the battlefield rejoin their army.)  We move to cross but the raiders are quick to our presence and stay out of reach.  We blindly head to the capital and begin sieging it down.

Yet while we do so the raiders from Zemigalians sneak around us and take the opportunity to raid our lands!




This will not do and a force of 500 men is left with my brother to continue the siege of the capital while I take my knights and Metsanvartija south to drive off the raiders.

Splitting an army can be risky, and sometimes it does not pay off.  We are too slow: the raiders finish pillaging our lands before we can arrive, and the Jersikans spies see our weakness and return, defeating my brother's army.  Despite outnumbering the enemy I have taken all the best troops for myself and my brother's levies are being slaughtered by the enemy Metsanvartija.  I race back north but arrive a few days too late to save the day; the battle has been lost.




Learning my lesson, I return the following year with my forces combined.  We defeat Erasts' army at Jersika and this time do not split our troops again.  The Chieftain attacks again and again, each time more desperate but with fewer numbers, and eventually there is nothing left for him to do but sign defeat.




Jersika is a good county, on par with Vilnius by having 4 baronies.  Newly conquered provinces have 0 control, which means I get only half the levies and none of the tax.  So my first task here is to have my Marshall improve the county control.  It will take him 10 years to complete.  (This is where going down the Overseer branch could help!)  The county populace is a little upset with me because they are Latgalian culture and I am not; but Lithuanian is in the same Culture Group and so the penality is only minor, -5.




Our victory has helped lure in champions, and 3 have answered the call.  Kesgaila Alelkaitis is a Giant!  He is also far better than any other warrior in the realm.  With a Prowess of 22 he tops my character's 18, and with a Martial of 18 he is almost double that of my marshal Rodslaw's.  I am immediately in awe of his fighting and make him my new Marshal.  Kesgaila asks for 11g to be recruited.  The time to Increase Control in Jersika drops to 7 years.

Two more champions arrive and are also hired: Visvaldis is another Giant, Holy Warrior, Blademaster, and has 16 Prowess.  Rinmgaila is an accomplished Forest Fighter, Gallant, and not a Giant with 13 Prowess.

That winter my mother dies at the age of 68.  Sadly, there does not seem to be any stress gained for the loss of a parent unless your character became friends with them first.  I think there should be some small stress gain at the very least.

But in good news, my son Skirmantas is now old enough to begin his educated.  He gains the Curious trait.  This is a Childhood Trait which will help shape which way he can be educated.  Curious gives +1 to Diplomacy and Learning, and sohe will get a bonus to having one of those lifestyles.  Martial is at the opposite end and he will struggle if I try to force him down that road.  I decide that he will learn from his uncle Sotvara and become a diplomat.  Usually you want to be the guardian of your player heir so you can shape him better, because now I will not have influence over the 3 character traits he gets.  They will be influenced by his uncle's traits instead.

The following year, my levies are refilled and so a new war is needed to be found.  I settle on going north again: the chiefdom of Selpis.  High Chieftain Sabe of Courland is allied with the Chiefdom of Natangia, and combined they have a larger force than I do.  I decide to spend the prestige to call in my ally, the Duke of Pomerania.




The enemy misses their window by sieging down Jersika instead of chasing me down.  By the time Selpis is sieged the Duke's forces have arrived and combined our armies relieve Jersika.  We move to siege down the chiefdoms of Courland, but Duke Siemonysl chases down the retreating AI armies and captures the High Chieftain of the Samogitia.  Suddenly the war is won!

These wars all do have a purpose and are not just wanton expansion.  We are currently the High Chieftain (duchy rank) of Lithuania, but we are aiming to unite the Chieftains and become King.  In order to esetablish the Kingdom of Lithuania we need to control 14 counties and have 2 ducal titles.  After Selpis we now sit at 6 and 1.  I also am not able to declare a war for more than one county at a time.  Tribes get access to the Conquest casus belli, which lets you attack anybody nearby.  But at the same time, you have to have high prestige/fame to go for more than 1 county at a time.  If I can up my prestige enough to reach the Illustrious level of Fame then I can declare for a whole county.

So while my levies replenish I organize a hunt.  This will give me some time with my new vassal, Skirmantas.  Mingaila died this last winterr due to old age and he named his kid the same name I did, which was awkward at gatherings, and will only get confusing now.  So Skirmantas of Gardinas and I go hunting:




Our event gains back the gold it cost to put on the hunt and then some.  And whlie I would like to give my vassal some praise, I need the funds more.  Those ducal and kingdom titles do cost gold, after all.  When the hunt ends, we also get 150 Prestige.

Once the hunt is done, I start up a raiding party.  Raiding will loot gold from neighboring lands and then when I return the gold I earn Prestige.  But I only get to raid one county before the next war is upon me:  my ally, Duke Siemonysl, has invaded Prussia and called me to aid.

The war is nothing of note, except to show how Prussia was just hammered on all sides.  Denmark eventually will take a county right in the middle of Prussia.  Pomerania will win their war and gobble some from the west.  Poland will take the Vidilist holy site at Chelmno in another holy war.  We barely participated I get ready to siege down a county but the Duke captures the High Chieftain of Prussia and quickly ends another war.

In deciding on my next target, I am torn.  There are no easy pickings:  Courland is under a truce, my cousin Kukovaitis has more men, and Prussia the Christian states are all much stronger.  I could go north to Livonia but I so badly want to hold out until I can take the whole duchy instead of nibbling at it piecemeal.  I decide finally on Yatvyagi, using my de jure claim for the lands within the duchy of Lithuania.  Yatvyagi is allied with Prussia and Courland and combined they outnumber me, but I can call in my ally the Duke of Pomerania.




He refuses and breaks our alliance.  Fickle bastard.

I am on my own.

[Commodore]

Nice. So I never had a deep understanding of the combat engine back in CK2 and now I'm even lost-er. What do your champions do? How big of a deal is this personal prowess? I imagine you're trying to burn your remaining prime years on the battlefield before old age starts to diminish you?

[pindicator]

Nice. So I never had a deep understanding of the combat engine back in CK2 and now I'm even lost-er. What do your champions do? How big of a deal is this personal prowess? I imagine you're trying to burn your remaining prime years on the battlefield before old age starts to diminish you?

I'm not sure about the inner workings, but they've gotten away from the middle / flank system and there's just one battle and one commander.  Here's a battle result screenshot from defeating Chief Erasts at Jersika:




You can see where Levies are relatively cannon fodder while the real work is being done by the champions.  I think the Metsanvartija would have done more damage if I had more than 25 at this point.  (Just wait until the next update for what they can do.)

Your champions are like gods among men on the battlefield.  But a quick look on the wiki shows every point of Prowess is worth 10 Toughness and 100 Damage for your knight.  It is only a trait useful in duels.  I've already been in one dual which I didn't report on: my brother Poklius and I sparred and I won Prestige by besting him.  (I could have won Dread by killing him.)  So my character with 18 Prowess is running around with 1800 Damage and 180 Toughness.  Now, I don't know how that compares exactly with the 30 Damage and 14 Toughness of my Metsanvartija.  I would guess that's a per-unit stat so the 100 Metsanvartija have 3000 and 1400 combined.

I know that a battle continues until one side's Toughness is exhausted, but not so much how any of that is calculated.  The Commander Trait helps determine which side as an Advantage, which also ties in things like terrain, crossing a river, if an army is recently disembarked or in debt.

[pindicator]

Sventaragis, Part Three: Carving a Kingdom

I didn't realize it at the time, but this war would be for far more than the county of Vatvyagi.  The fallout from Duke Siemonysl breaking our alliance would impact more than just this battle.  But first we had to deal with the battle at hand.  Our numbers had grown to 1,500 men thanks to the added territories and having 2 companies of Metsanvartija.  But we were still up against more.  I sieged the tribal village in question and to my dismay the enemy forces combined and came right for me.  We would have it out in one decisive fight:




I don't know what is turning the advantage for me in these fights more: having more Champions, or having such a great Commander stat.  But this was one of the first times where I defeated an enemy larger than me, and usually numbers bear out in CK3.  Suddenly I looked like I was in the clear for this war.  So why all the opening paragraph drama?

Because my cousin, Kukovaitis, picks this moment to also declare war for the County of Vatvyagi.  And while we are not expressly hostile here, his armies are now considered hostile in the game and we can fight each other.  In addition, as soon as I the siege of Vatvyagi and win the county, his war will shift from being against the Chieftain of Vatvyagi to being against me.  Which is exactly what happened in July of 1072, right as I had sieged down Panemune.  I manage to chase down the surviving forces of Vatvyagi and winning that battle is just enough to get to 89% war score.  At the end of the month it ticked up to 90% and i was able to enforce my demands for the county of Vatvyagi.

Which of course, was only half of the fight.




For this fight I called in my last ally, the Count of Varend




You can see how eager he is to help.  But he did come to my aid, sending his 400+ men.

I also have a Martial Perk here.  I forgot to mention what I did with my first, but I decided on going down the Overseer tree.  With all the conquests I thought getting additional Control would help get the counties up and running faster, but now it helped that it also gives +5 Advantage for defending in my own lands.

My cousin does not try to siege but instead chases my armies, and we do a back-and-forth dance for a few months.  I am trying to hold out while my levies recharge (this only happens when they are in your lands / lands you control).  Eventually Kukovaitis tires of chasing me and heads for my capital.  But by April Count Toke arrives and combined our forces move to break the siege:



Not pictured are the 460 troops from Varend, though they are on the same barony as my army.

We break the siege, save the day, and a white peace is struck.  I do not want to waste time chasing his armies around and sieging down provinces just to earn a bit of gold.

Because the enforced peace treaty that is signed is only one way.  He breaks the truce by attacking me, but I am free to attack him.  And so I immediately do so, for the county of Trakai in order to connect Vatvyagi with contiguous Lithuania.  He hires a troop of mercenaries but while I am outnumbered again his armies are divided.  I defeat them in turn: first breaking the siege at Selpils and then both of his armies in turn at Veliouna.  With his armies already defeated it is just going through the motions of sieging down the province and then his capital:




It is 1075 and a harsh winter has fallen over Lithuania.  Since I am over my domain limit I decide to give my brothers each a chiefdom of their own.  Poklius gets Selpils and Sotvara gets Jersika.  I plan on making both of them High Chieftains when I conquer the remaining lands in each duchy.  But I keep all the lands within the Duchy of Lithuania for myself.  We are now at 7 counties, halfway to being a kingdom.

While I was finishing against my cousin, Courland jumped in and they will eventually take the county of Siauliai.  While they are finishing up the war I decide that now is the perfect time to raid Courland, and we come out of it with 34 Gold and Prestige. 

I try to decide my next target but the months slip by.  My daughter Roze is born now, joining my 2 sons (I don't think I noted the second son's birth in 1072).  I go on a hunt with Skirmantas the vassal and bring down another fabled beast.  With 300 Gold and 800 Prestige burning in my pocket I decide to spend 82 Gold and 200 Prestige on my first building: a Gathering Hall at the capital.  When complete it will give me 0.2 Prestige / Month and 100 additional Levies.  It isn't until June 1076 that I decide on my target:  we will go east and Raid the Duchy of Polotsk.  I still need to earn fame in order to conquer whole Duchies at a time.

Setting out from Jersika with 2,100 men we reach the capital of Polotsk and begin raiding.  The army of the Grand Prince gathers in Minsk, but my character has the Reaver trait and we double our raiding speed.  When it finishes I get the Fire & Blood event:




Capturing slaves would decrease the time for Polotsk to reach its next development level and give my capital a boost.  Yet I want Prestige for than Development and so I choose the plunder.  We also capture the Grand Prince's son and ransom him for 25g.  But I cannot retreat fast enough and the army of Polotsk catches us before we can leave the county.  Yet our warriors are stronger and my leader is a better commander and we win decisively despite being slightly outnumbered.  Emboldened I decide to go south and raid the city of Zaslawye.  Polotsk's army pursues and loses again decisively at the city.  This time they are cut down almost to the last man.  Only their 5 champions survive.




After that I am free to pillage and raid all of Polotsk.  I get the Fire & Blood event again - more plunder! - and eventually return home with 73 Gold and Prestige earned.  In addition to this, I get 150 Prestige from a random event of my wife maintaining an impeccable household.  That was just the trick, and the next level of Fame is met:  Illustrious.  I can now wage war for whole duchies at a time.

Unfortunately there aren't many good targets to expand into.  Samotigia is under a truce, Courland has found himself THREE new allies, Livonia is similar to our power. Scalovia is one of those allies of Courland.  Prussia is the one that is weak, and yet Prussia takes me directly into contact with the Catholic powers: Poland and Denmark.  But it seems that is the best way.  High Chief Milzas of Prussia has 2 duchies, both of which are 3 counties.  He directly owns the lands in the southern duchy, Masuria.  The northern duchy, Prussia, is made up of several counts all under him.  I could try to subjucate the Chieftain, but then I would end up with a very powerful and dangerous vassal.

I will give it 2 months for levies and men-at-arms to replenish an then I attack Scalovia.  In the time we were replenishing forces Chieftain Komantas was attacked by raiders from the Chiftain of Bartia, one of Prussia's vassals.  He lost most of his army and so the only troops we would need to fight would be Courlands - an excellent opportunity to destory his army and set Courland up as our next target.  On January 1, 1078 we invade.  It is a simple thing, and when the county is sieged down I give it to my Steward, Bukantas.  He has no house and is lowborn, but he has decent stats and with traits of Impatient, Trusting, and Calm I do not foresee he will cause trouble.

Next is Prussia.  They are weak from fighting on all sides, and I declare for the whole duchy of Prussia.  The war goes smoother than I anticipated: in the first battle we capture their High Chieftain and force him to sign over the lands!

The war brings me two new vassals: Chieftain Kugis of Sambia, who is Just and only 10 years old; and Chieftain Pukuveras of Bartia who is Generous, Diligent, and Cynical.  He demands a spot on the council and with his Martial rating being only slightly worse than my current, I decide to make him my Marshall.  The third county goes to me, but since I am over my domain limit I find a Prussian noble, Chieftain Prusas of Warmia, to rule the county.

That winter my second daughter, Saule, is born.

I now move on to Courland, to take the County of Siauliai.  I am only 3 counties away and I could have just tried to take the whole duchy of Courland in one war, but then my borders would be this massively mishapen thing and there are aesthetic standards to uphold.  So we will finish conquering the duchy of Samogitia, and after Siauliai my cousin's territories will be added as the final piece of the kingdom puzzle.

All is falling into place, which of course is the perfect time for something to go wrong:




The Grand Prince is still seething from my destroying his armies and pillaging his lands.  He has hired mercenaries to swell his ranks to over 3,100 men and they make straight for Gardinas.

I do not head south immediately.  Instead I bide my time, finish my sieges at Courland.  When the war is won and Siauliai taken, then I move my 2,300 troops south.  Siauliai is given to my son Skirmantas who has just become an adult.  We find him a wife among the Sami lands.  I find an 8 year old daughter of a Chieftain named Soaba, who has the Genius trait.  Her father is the Chief of Jahkamahkke and commands 1,200 fighters.

On the way south I hire a band of Finnish Mercenaries out of Salinis.  They are 328 Metsanvartija and 437 common levies.  I now have 3,500 troops moving south against the Russian prince's 3,100.




We DESTROY the siege, defeating the army so fast the neighboring 2,000 troops don't even have time to react.  They are almost slaughtered to a man and the Grand Prince is captured, ending the war.

After that there is just one more war:  my cousin Kukovaitis has the remaining 2 counties of Samotigia.  With the mercenaries still in my employ it is a very easy war.  Not so quick as we did not capture my cousin in battle, but we destroyed the armies and sieged down the capitals.

The Kingdom of Lithuania:




After my new vassals are bestowed, we end with a celebration:  a feast!  I marry some of my best champions to suitable brides, especially the two that have good genetic traits.  Hopefully there will be fighters for generations in Lithuania.

All is not joyous, however.  The winter before my wife Gaila has become sick.  She has been our physician over these years in Lithuania and she knows this is cancer.  I am happy she was able to live to be coronated queen.  And who knows, some have lived long lives with this disease.  Perhaps there is hope she may see more winters still.


***


So that is where I have stopped playing.  I may need to work on my brevity, but I left out a few neat side stories.  Rodslaw married and is still in my court, still unhappy with all us pagans.  There was a new spymaster who arrived with amazing stats.  My brother Poklius was praising his wife Kiire to me and then a few months later she seduced me - was that a betrayal or a plan?  They were without a child, after all.  The Duke of Pomerania died as the Polish King was invading his lands.  Pomerania has split into two realms. I became head of the Litihuanian culture and can now decide what we research next (Ledger for +1 Domain Limit).

Where do I go from here?  I think it makes sense to go for the Vidilist Holy Sites next.  There are 2 under our control and 2 more that are very close by.  Getting all 5 would let us reform our faith, and then in turn become Feudal - if we wanted to give up our tribal ways, that is.  We could aim for that and also for establishing the Southern Baltic Empire.  Or do we turn our attention east to the Russians and create our own empire?

[Cyneheard]

Sventaragis, Part Three: Carving a Kingdom

Where do I go from here?  I think it makes sense to go for the Vidilist Holy Sites next.  There are 2 under our control and 2 more that are very close by.  Getting all 5 would let us reform our faith, and then in turn become Feudal - if we wanted to give up our tribal ways, that is.  We could aim for that and also for establishing the Southern Baltic Empire.  Or do we turn our attention east to the Russians and create our own empire?

Rurik is not worthy of having his name across such a great land for all time. For the glory of Mother Lithuania!

But first we must resolve our internal issues by claiming our holy sites.

[Commodore]

Conquer the Baltic, ignore the backwards Russians. I hear they get Mongol problems.

[Krill]

I like reading the story threads for games like these, thanks for writing it Pin

Ps brevity is good, waffling is bad, but brevity at the cost of content can be bad as well...I like your spam.