Looks like I finally got back to playing CK2. To celebrate, I started a game with the Karling, descendants of Charlemagne.
If you want to get in the mood, I recommend you listen to this while reading this wall of text.
Surprisingly, I was unable to expand my small county for 2 generations. But, after a happy untimely death of the Duke of Aquitaine, Poitou and Gascony, my fiancee inherited all these lands, and the future looked bright because our son would be the lord of half of France. If he was born, what did not happen.
After the death of my wife the Duchess, our only daughter inherited Aquitaine and Poitou (Gascogne was stolen by some local count during the reign of my wife). To my surprise her kingdom was long (17 years) and prosperous. She took Navarre, and after causing a civil war that split France into two parts, became the queen of Aquitaine and Navarre.
It seems that the Karling women were far more capable that the men who preceded them, a fact that would later be proved with the men who succeeded.
With the queen's death, her son Charles IV ascended to the throne. A brilliant general, adored by his vassals, continued the work of his mother, annexing the duchy of Toulouse slowly. After small but glorious victories, the young King, already very rich, proclaimed the first grand tournament of Aquitaine, of which he was the winner.
A zealous man, he did not hesitate to answer the call of the Pope, who summoned all good Christians to recover the Duchy of Barcelona from the Moors. Leading an army of ten thousand men, he marched to Barcelona, destroying any infidel who dared to stand in his way. Finally, arriving at his destination, he assaulted and captured every miserable castle in the region. Nothing could stop him, or at least that was what I believed.
But Destiny is cruel, and there is nothing that men can do. The mighty Charles IV, King of Aquitaine and Navarre, the Young Knight, fell ill unexpectedly, and there, amid the warm Spanish beaches, he died. All seemed lost, because the king never came to have children in his ten year reign, and his brother, Prince Gilles, had been murdered in the distant lands to the east. Then ascended to the throne the young Prince André then 14 years old. If he died, all would be lost.
Well, even after all this, I kept steady and not rage quited. After all, I had the brilliant idea of ​​playing in Ironman mode. But there was no reason to despair, even though all my vassals hated me and I was stuck in a regency, I still kept a vast fortune inherited from my brother and my grandmother. When the inevitable rebellion actually happened, I smashed it with my mercenaries.
After reaching the age of majority, by following the steps of his brother, André called for a major tournament, of which he was the winner (it seems no one has guts to beat the king). He continued the work of his brother, and won the crusade, acquiring Barcelona, becoming King of Aragon. Then he continued to attach Tolouse, which would soon fall into the hands of the Karling.
Obviously, without reason for this, he was nicknamed "the Cruel" (Well, I am only sorry for the poor prisoners in the dungeons of Bordeaux).
But, as with every man of the House Karling, everything went down. During what seemed to be an innocent battle to attach another province of Toulouse, André received the classic blow-to-the-head-that-leaves-you-crippled, and died one month later. Luckily (something rare in this game), André had time to have only one child, Adalbert, who ascended to the throne, not even a year old. I just
love when this kind of thing happens.
Using the increasingly meager savings of the family, the (again) young king ended a series of rebellions. Not long after, he was defeated by the King of France and forced to return some measly county of which I never knew how I got, but even so I sacrificed thousands of men to protect it. At this point I finally usurped the title of Duke of Toulouse. And, as tradition dictates, that's when everything started to go wrong. Again.
With my infinite intelligence, I noticed the duchy of Mallorca, alone, without any allies who would come to their rescue. I saw that there was still a bit of money from my ancestors, so I decided to declare a holy war in the Duchy of Malorca. Using nothing but the troops of my vassals, I invaded the islands and started to conquer. As if from nowhere when what appeared to be the entire Muslim Spain joining my enemy, I decided to use my own demesne troops (that I usually keep as a reserve in case of rebellion). When I conquered the main island, I found myself surrounded by three Moorish fleets, eager to disembark hordes of enemies.
That's when I decided to call the Order of Knights Templar, because my coffers were being emptied quickly and I needed to win as soon as possible. Then they came. Even with the advantage of the terrain (mountains) and being on an island, I could do nothing to prevent the landing of the giant horde of Moors. After series of battles, I lost control of the island, and both sides had lost their armies. However, the warscore was in their favor and I was obliged to surrender.
I, who had spent all the money that was left, was forced to pay more than 600 to the Moors, getting into debt. And it was a terrible debt. Soon, all sorts of bandits occupied my precious lands, weakening my military capacity. To reverse this situation, I had to cede the duchies of Navarre and Poitou in exchange for money. However, before I could recover, a small rebellion emerged, and even being so small, the powerful Baby King of Aquitaine, Navarra and Aragon is having trouble suppressing it.
And, if he dies, the kingdom will be divided into three. May the gods have mercy on us.
I've already had to put down 3 Muslim revolts in Malta alone, 5 revolts total.
