Prussia: From Krusaders to Kaisers

Hello, Civ-ers! I plan to juggle two stories at once! (Venice and Prussia)

I know I said I'd do the Byzantines and that's up next. I just want to code the scenario so I don't die horribly.

But, without further ado, I present Prussia.
(Note: The story will be written in a similar fashion to AOS9001's 3000 Years of Rome)

Chapter I: The Might of the Teutonic Knight

It is the year 1224 AD. The Northern Crusades have been raging since 1193 and the Sword Brethren are making slow progress in Livonia. Konrad I of Masovia, a Polish Duke, has now invited the Teutonic Order to conquer and Christianize the pagan Prussian tribe. The Teutonic Order has experience from defending both the Holy Land and the borderlands of Hungary, and is able to call on the finest knights of Europe. A speedy subjugation of Prussia might not only decide the war in the Crusader's favor, but provide the foundations of an empire.

So some dudes got kicked out of Hungary by Andrew II for throwing a really wild party and, some other dude called Konrad invited them in to kill people. What Prussian would say no to that?
The city of Königsberg was founded as the capital and Catholicism was spread. The first order of duty was to make this the nation's state religion. Some knights and converts stayed at the city while others considered spreading out in the Baltics to increased the Teutonic Knights' influence.



Finally, an ideal location was picked out near some some surprising big timber logs and lumps of pure iron.



Prussia's first bartering was done with the Pope and they established open borders. For whatever reason, Poland randomly hated the Teutonic Knights (Konrad was known to have severe mood swings) and so did all of the other Poles. But the guildmaster shrugged and said, "Meh, it won't last that long."



The Knights then came into contact with other Germanic and Slavic nations such as Sweden and Kievan Rus'. Kievan Rus' and Novgorod (who the Knights were campaigning against) were viewed as enemies for being Orthodox. The Knights wanted the Baltics and all of Europe to be under one Catholic state - them.
The Teutonic Knights claimed Riga and the region of Livonia was annexed into their state. They would now be referred to as Ordensstaat (Order's State). They received a large army in Riga and decided to send their crossbowmen back to Königsberg. With this new army, they would be able to send troops to the Novgorodian city of Reval.



In nine short years, tensions between the Knights and the Poles erupted so much that the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword invaded Pomerania and prepared to take the city of Puck. It was risky, as the capital of Ordensstaat had a small militia.



The Polish attacked the same year and failed to take out the Teutonic Knights. Casualties were very small for the Knights and it looked like they could take Puck. However, they still had to deal with Polish cavalry stationed just outside of Königsberg. So, the Knights killed off one set and prayed that the militias would prevail in the instance of a battle.



So the Knights went up to the hills near Puck and then could attack the city later.



In the city of Libau, Catholicism was spread and another missionary was preparing to go to Riga.



Around the same time, the Teutonic Order was established in Königsberg and Libau. The Knights hoped to spread the order to all of the Baltics - but first they had to conquer them.



The Polish attack on Königsberg was an epic fail, the trebuchet attack failed to make any casualties and the Polish cavalry retreated. The Knights' attack on Puck was a different story...



The Knights confiscated a large lot of loot and what not and decided to keep the city. The Polish government became unstable and the Knights hoped it would collapse allowing them to take the rest of Poland. But, the army of Ordensstaat was very small so the Teutonic Knights had to make peace with Poland.



The Battle of Reval saw a large amount of deaths for the Knights but it was not over and only a slim majority of the city's population remained.



Three years later, the army was ready to attack again and managed to capture the city.



The Knights negotiated a treaty with Novgorod - which was somehow more powerful than them (Prussian scholars to this day don't know how) - and the war was over.



The Knights secured their state in the Baltics and made contact with many Scandinavian Catholic states. Ordensstaat would be a prosperous country and it was safe for now. But the Knights still had one group of pagans left - the Lithuanians.

Two things, one what is your avatar, two what does "code the scenario so I don't die horribly" have to do with anything? that's part of the game.

and subbed

Avatar: GIR from Invader ZIM and... Yeah, I'm going to code the scenario so provinces don't go from solid to unstable and stuff like that.

Ok thanks

Ah Prussians, good, I can watch you destroy Poland and invade Russia.

THE WORLD SHALL BE YOURS! You know, I'm 25% German.

Link to video.

Chapter II: Era of Little Progress

For the next period of time, the Knights found themselves in a sticky situation. One, the Baltic region did not have too many resources so productivity was slow. Second, the Teutonic Knights were admitted in the Holy Roman Empire, which only made their problems worse, as the Emperor often demanded Teutonic soldiers to be part of his own army.
Ordensstaat began trading with Kievan Rus', whom the Knights saw as a potential ally.



In 1254, fierce barbarians known as the Mongols were spotted near Königsberg so the Knights sent...knights to defend nearby workers.



As quickly as the Mongols appeared, they disappeared in probably suicided into Lithuanian lands. The Knights wished to launch an invasion but had little troops to do so.



Finally, the first HRE elections with Ordensstaat in them took place. In the end, a land known as "Genoa" won. Genoa and the other Emperors did nothing to improve Ordenstaat's situation and if anything made it worse. They demanded an annual tribute of Knights and a lump sum of gold or else war. In the instance of war, all other HRE members would have to declare war on the Knights, and they could not afford it.



The Pope eventually called for a crusade and the crusading Teutonic Knights wished to lead it. However, they were not an option and instead were called into the Crusade. In the end, the Lombards were chosen.



But a good thing did happen, a defensive crusade. The Teutonic Knights received an army - but it was very puny. Nevertheless, this was all they had, since the remaining Teutonic Knights were drafted into the First Crusade and the Lithuanians needed to be stopped.



So the army headed off to Vilnius to hopefully conquer the city.



But they had another problem.



The Knights called for a peace treaty but the arrogant Lithuanians demanded the city of Riga so the war had to continue. The Knights hoped to get Vilnius in order to make the Lithuanians capitulate.
Unfortunately, the Battle of Vilnius was a humiliating failure and the Knights would not be able to attack again before Riga fell. So they had to negotiate a treaty.



The Teutonic Order was spread into Riga but it was useless since all of cities in Ordensstaat had barely any production and the spreading of the guild only thrust the Knights into more debt.



The Knights began trading with Novgorod, which they saw as a powerful ally.



Yet another crusade was called for and the Knights had no choice but to participate. More and more soldiers were drafted into the Crusades and the Teutonic military was declining.



In southern Poland, the Hungarians were launching an invasion of Poland. The Knights would've loved to joined but they had no assault soldiers left.



Finally, in 1314, the weary Polish state collapsed. Many other countries were on the verge of collapse too.



In 1338, the Knights met one of the most powerful countries in Europe, Venice and many Polish cities were undergoing revolts. Surprisingly, they'd rather join the Knights than Hungary, which they saw as a bigger warmonger.



A list of the most large civilizations in Europe was published and, not surprisingly, the Knights did not make it on there. To add insult to injury, Lithuania was near the top. The Knights knew they had to increase their military but poor productive conditions failed to improve and their treasury was nearly bankrupt.



This is a map of Ordensstaat in 1356. The population was high but production was slow. The Knights needed to build banks to hopefully increase the amount of gold in their empire. They needed to conquer Poland for it's resources too. They needed a true hero to lead them out of this crisis...

I just saw that this is not in your sig

It still doesn't have its full name in your sig.
Anyway, great update, but some of your screenshots aren't working! I don't know if it's just me, but there seems to be a tiny picture of a hill and a cloud instead.

Weird, it works fine for me.

...Now they suddenly work great. Whatever you did, it worked!

constantinople said:

Hello, Civ-ers! I plan to juggle two stories at once! (Venice and Prussia)

Click to expand...

I remember when I too was young and foolish...

I wish the Ordensstaat luck. I'll need to do an RFCE AAR some time.

Don't get into any big wars with Mother Russia.

Bah, I can't seem to download RFCE++ from either of the sites in its thread. No Novgorod for me.

Chapter III: Plagues to Poles

In 1359, sick of giving troops to the HRE, Ordensstaat finally refused one of the Emperor's demands.



Unfortunately, this meant that the Knights were at war with their relatives the Germans. It did not matter, as the Germans were little of threat to the Knights, although their army could not defend a large attack.
Then, disaster struck. Just as Ordensstaat was becoming more industrious, a terrible plague struck the city of Reval. No one knows how the disease became so disastrous. There are many theories to how it began, many nationalists suggest Novgorodians poisoned the Prussians living there but we'll never know...



Meanwhile, in Poland, the city of Warsaw officially was annexed into Ordensstaat. But the Grand Master was too busy focused on the Plague to care.



The Plague continued through the Baltic Sea and through the many kingdoms of Poland and through Novgorod infecting most of Europe. As much as 15% of the population of Ordensstaat died within the first couple months.



After nine gruesome years, the plague finally began to fade away. half the population died and the army decreased by 40%. The country was once again in shambles, many of the peasants died and it would be hard to recover.



Then, Stettin revolted and joined Ordensstaat. The country was now known as Brandenburg-Prussia. But the city still had the plague, so guess what happened? No, seriously, guess what happened?



The plague came around for another attack! But this time, only in Prussia! It was known as the Prussian Plague.



Then, in 1416, something worse happened: the Polish declared their independence. A majority of the population in Warsaw wished to join their motherland but the government of Brandenburg-Prussia refused.



There were many border tensions and many Prussians moved into Königsberg
instead of being Polish subjects. The good thing was the forty year plague had ended, the bad news was the Prussian army was very weak and a war with Poland would be risky.



But, the Prussians decided to invade Poland after all.



The problem was Brandenburg-Prussia was also at war with Bohemia because Poland was its vassal. Bohemia wasn't much of threat, although there were several bohemian Bohemians wandering around Poland.
The city of Poznan and a small defense and all of its cavalry was launched at Stettin. The attack failed miserably.



Near Warsaw, Bohemian troops captured Prussian peasants, it was obvious Bohemia may be a problem after all.



In 1422, Brandenburg-Prussia captured the Polish capital of Poznan the the government once again became unstable. Hopefully, the Polish Empire would fall which would allow Prussians to sweep through ex-Polish lands, eventually.



Teutonic Knights were sent to Warsaw and successfully destroyed Bohemian lancers which were burning peasant lands. Order was restored the kingdom, besides the war and the reconstruction, and the debt and... You know what? The kingdom still sucked. It would take a while to recover, hopefully a plague never happened again.



In 1428, Brandenburg-Prussia signed a treaty with Germany, who was at war with Bohemia, but not Poland. The Prussians hoped this would bring the two countries closer together.



In 1455, Bohemia was finally willing to sign a treaty with Prussia, but it was as ridiculous as the July Ultimatum.



Knights captured Bohemian peasants as hostages, hoping to scare the Bohemians into making a reasonable peace treaty.
Elsewhere, in Gotland, Sweden collapsed. The Prussians had been eyeballing this island and not might be a good opportunity to take it.



Finally, the Bohemians were willing to sign a treaty with Brandenburg-Prussia that was fair to both countries. Which was good, because the Prussians wanted to focus on the true enemy: Lithuania.

How are you gonna get to Gotland?

Via holks.

So... the cool way.

subbed. Teutonic Knights . Although I have to say, I'm hoping for a pagan revival