So, this is Rollo:
As we can see, he is a shy, craven, conniving little bastard with more land and vassals than he knows what to do with. I adopt stewardship focus, getting my demesne limit up to 5 with vassal limit dropping to 17. Hmpf. Time to hand out some titles. My two counties in Anatolia seem like a natural choice to get rid of, and thus two counts in duchy of Nikaea receive a second county each.
Obviously, few things are as depressing as giving away good land to non-dynast dolts, so that is immediately reflected in Rollo's traits. Yet, with horrible penalties to income, levies and vassal opinion thus taken care of, he also becomes diligent and starts assessing the situation. Seems that stars are aligned just right: Rollo has weak and uninheritable claim on France - a kingdom ruled by an old woman with no allies, no husband and an underage heir! She does have an army, though... and my own levies are only just recovering.
Fortunately, some Muslim cleric decides to call Jihad on Jerusalem, and the sweet old queen decides it is her duty to protect Christendom. God bless her devout Christian soul!
With nothing better to do while I wait, I betroth my heir, Rollo junior, to Kaiser's sister, a girl with huge... list of claims.
Kaiser, apparently emboldened by this, joins the war with infidels and I smile as I get to observe French doomstack on its march to Levant. They arrive just in time for decisive battle.
The moment news of a failed Jihad reach European courts, Flemish troops, bolstered with mercenaries for good measure, march into France and lay siege to Paris and Rheims. In the midst of this, Rollo junior is wed and receives the county of Brunswick as a wedding gift. The erstwhile count, found to have some unorthodox religious convictions, is sent to... wherever heretics go.
Outnumbered roughly 3:1, all the French queen can do is to put down a revolting vassal in Orleans, before Rollo gets to place the French crown on his head.
Wait...! Rollo can also immediately usurp the kingdom of Aquitaine!
In February 1138, newly crowned King of France and Aquitaine Rollo the First proceeds to hand out excess ducal titles, in hopes of making his vassals hate him slightly less passionately. (As if there was something to love about the bastard!) My father Robrecht has wisely set up a lord-mayor in Smyrna, so he gets both of my Anatolian duchies. May his Republic prosper! Cologne becomes a Prince-Bishopric, and my brother gets appointed as an heir. There is no love lost between us, but he is family, dammit! And a brilliant theologian to boot.
I have no land inside Saxony, so it looks like I'll hold on to this title now. All that is left to do is to give Rollo junior the duchy of Brunswick and we are good to go.
Wait... what?
Sudden realization hits me. I'm running gavelkind. I can't give my heir a ducal title. And what's worse, he also has a baby brother now. Granted, he's a sickly infant, but...
No wonder I'm depressed AND stressed!
Bugger. Maybe focus on family will help Rollo to live a little longer and eventually see brighter side of his situation. Time to resign for the night and ponder further life choices.